Adnata Ensemble 'Oku' [CS]

Double bassists Scott Colberg, Ari Folman-Cohen, Michael Isvara Montgomery, & Ran Livneh make up Adnata Ensemble. The ensemble developed repertoire and discovered a musical language during the height of the pandemic. Born of a need to feel supported in such an uncertain time, the 4 musicians created an ensemble that celebrates the bass - the support & foundation of any ensemble. The group weaves together composition & sounds with a thread of improvisation.

"It’s not often that I meet mind readers. It is even rarer to meet 4 of them simultaneously.

It was June of 2023 and I’d seen that my local Brooklyn Performance and Refreshment Institute (Sisters on Fulton Ave.) was having a concert featuring an upright bass (or acoustic bass / contrabass/ Bull Fiddle) quartet. It had been the first time I’d been excited to see a performance from an act that I hadn’t been producing in months. In true curiosity fashion, I messaged the group to let them know how excited I was to see them play, especially since I’d not been familiar with not a goddamned member of their posse.

After being seated at the bar with my companion (we were the first ones to arrive because someone was too excited), the crew walked in carrying an array of luthiered tree remains. We chopped it up a bit and they did a soundcheck. Eventually the room filled up with listeners and the proceedings proceeded.

The Adnata Ensemble lifted everyone’s spirits. The resonating tones coming from the wooden stage felt more like a dialogue between trees than accomplished bassists going at it. After the show I exchanged info with them, and a meeting was set up. Luckily, Oku had just finished up production.

If one Googles Oku, a few things will pop up, but I thought it would be more important to actually hear from a few of the gents composing the ensemble.

Monty – “Oku seeks to bring what is distant closer so that the interior and exterior are unified.”

Scott – “with Oku, there is a focus on space, unknown/unseen (unheard/what is not being played), and what is found in that space. On a human level, I think this inevitably becomes a search of self-reflection of what’s within.”

For this listener, this album Oku fits both of those descriptions closely. It is a spacious journey that never fully arrives at an expected destination, and I believe that’s the point. The lower registers vibrate and rumble to the core of the ears, and hopefully souls, of those partaking in the journey. And while I could write more about the history of this instrument, and these instrumentalists, it is the goal of Nick Turner and I to present to you a timely album that not only requires patience, but also demands that a part of your expectation must be peace of mind, body, and soul… since it’ll probably be a long, deep, and engaging journey."

Gabriel Jermaine Vanlandingham-Dunn
cow: Music/ Astral Spirits Records
(2024, Brooklyn, NY)