The Context – An appeal of music is its spellbinding quality of engaging the listener’s emotional, physical, and/or cerebral senses. The American composer and visual artist Rob Mazurek has notably poked and prodded these music-seeking faculties vis-à-vis his provocative avant-garde jazz. The multifaceted artist began his illustrious career as a talented cornetist at the acclaimed Bloom School of Jazz in Chicago. Following collaborations with the Windy City’s top jazz musicians in the mid-80s and early 90s, Mazurek became a founding member of the improvisation-heavy Chicago Underground Collective in 1994.
Mazurek’s exposure to his confidant Jeff Parker’s Isotope 217 collective inspired Mazurek’s exotic and often otherworldly electro-acoustic sound. Moreover, his experience living in Brazil from 2000 to 2007 and his subsequent refining of sculpture and painting contributed to his audio-visual artistry. In 2005, Mazurek formed the Exploding Star Orchestra by bringing together a diverse group of Chicago’s contemporary music scene. The internationally renowned Exploding Star Orchestra has premiered 10 extended suites (including Dimensional Stardust) comprising but a fraction of Mazurek’s 400-plus original compositions.
The Content – Mazurek & Exploding Star Orchestra commence their latest suite Dimensional Stardust with a creeping sonic palette that oscillates between tropical and lounge-like sounds on “Sun Core Tet (Parable 99).” The flighty flutes and pianos in “A Wrinkle in Time Sets Concentric Circles Reeling” give off a rather terrestrial ambience until the final minute of the track gives way to an electronic twinkling and mechanical speaking. The follow-up, “Galaxy 1000,” is simply put a celebratory eruption of sound. “The Careening Prism Within (Parable 43)” seemingly echoes the composition of “Sun Core” until it gets a mech-esque facelift towards the back end of the piece. Starting off minimally, “Abstract Dark Energy (Parable 9)” manifests into a fuller, calming selection.
“Parable of Inclusion” is perhaps Mazurek and company’s first inclusion (for a lack of a better term) of their beautiful string section with the piece’s showcase of sanguine violins. The titular “Dimensional Stardust (Parable 33)” fits the spacey motif of “Sun Core” and “Careening Prism,” but differs slightly in the instrumental improvisation. The nearly two-minute piece “Minerals Bionic Stereo” is equipped with disjointed instrumentation and a grinding electronic background that conjures the horror of the vacuous Tunnel of Terror from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. “Parable 3000 (We All Come From Somewhere Else) and “Autumn Pleiades” both adhere to the formula of the aforementioned parable pieces with some bossa nova guitars in the respective penultimate track and more pronounced classical strings in the closing track.
The Skinny – The otherworldly title may elicit an intergalactic soundscape, yet Mazurek and the Exploding Star Orchestra deliver a more grounded assortment of sonic pleasure on Dimensional Stardust. A distinct and refined degree of professionalism ais heard throughout the ten tracks played by Mazurek and his talented orchestral members. Paired with his accompanying eclectic paintings, Mazurek’s work on Dimensional Stardust surely resembles the avant-garde mastery of his artisanship.
The Rating – 7.9/10
Dimensional Stardust
- Sun Core Tet (Parable 99)
- A Wrinkle in Time Sets Concentric Circles Reeling
- Galaxy 1000
- The Careening Prism Within (Parable 43)
- Abstract Dark Energy (Parable 9)
- Parable of Inclusion
- Dimensional Stardust (Parable 33)
- Minerals Bionic Stereo
- Parable 3000 (We All Come From Somewhere Else)
- Autumn Pleiades
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