kITTEL & CO
whorls
Philippe Cousin
Jeremy Kittel is an American violinist from Michigan. Initially trained in classical music, he discovered other musical forms such as traditional Irish music and jazz in his teens.
In his early twenties, he won a Grammy award, a testament to the early maturity of his talent. Mastering several musical genres, he composes original music that draws on traditional roots, jazz, Celtic, classical and electronic music.
For a few years now he has been performing with his band Kittel & CO and they have just published the very original Whorls. A title that refers to spiral patterns, an appropriate metaphor for the undulation between the extraordinary skills and free instincts that animate his music. A work of dazzling originality that inhabits the space between classical and acoustic roots, Celtic aesthetics and bluegrass, folk and jazz sensibilities.
Within his band Jeremy is joined by Joshua Pinkham on mandolin, Nathaniel Smith on cello, Simon Chrisman on hammer dulcimer and Quinn Bachand on guitar. The beauty of Whorls comes from its unpredictability. There are long tunes like Chrysalis in which the melodies intertwine, moving over time. Or Preludio, a rich arrangement of a piece by J.S. Bach. And for the first time Jeremy sings on two pieces: Waltz, a song about loss and the passage of time on which he is joined by Sarah Jarosz for ethereal choruses. And on the melancholy ballad Nethermead.
An album that plunges very far into traditional roots but reveals the original strength of a new acoustic, whimsical, seductive and magnificent music. An album of devastating beauty.
Compass 7 47102 – www.compassrecords.com