EARTH TO EZRA
SEPTEMBER 6, 2024
Jacob Jolliff, Max Allard, Jesse Jones, Craig Butterfield, Mark Stewart and Xak Bjerken
Now available to stream everywhere and for purchase on Bandcamp.
Ever wondered where the worlds of progressive bluegrass music and microtonal synthesis might intersect? The EZRA ensemble is game to answer the question on their adventurous second album, Earth to EZRA. Convening in an intimate studio in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, the core quartet — composer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Jones (guitars and vocals), Jacob Jolliff (mandolin), Max Allard (banjo) and Craig Butterfield (double bass) — teamed up with musical polymath Mark Stewart and keyboardist Xak Bjerken to craft a complex recording that is by turns whimsical, uplifting, haunting and otherworldly. And you can dance to it.
More succinctly, Elizabeth Ogonek describes the project, in her liner notes for the CD package, as “a wild, surreal, and totally joyful album — a ‘cycle’ to be listened to from beginning to end.” The sonic beast at the center of Earth to EZRA is a microtonal organ designed by David Rothenberg and built by synthesizer pioneer Robert Moog in the mid 1960s. The 478-key instrument divides the octave into 31 equal parts, but was never actually functional until 2023, when electronic music scholar and instrument builder Travis Johns began the meticulous process of making the organ playable.
Produced by Xak Bjerken and Elizabeth Ogonek
Recorded by Dave Dennison at Studio 9
in North Adams, MA on October 21-22, 2023
Mixed by Dave Sinko
Edited and mastered by Jeff Francis
Released with Cantaloupe Music
Jesse Jones - steel string, fretless, microtonal and classical guitars, vocals
Mark Stewart - xaphoon, chaladoo, daxophone, guitar, mandocello, percussion, vocals
Jacob Jolliff - mandolin and 13-tet guitar
Max Allard - 5-string banjo
Craig Butterfield - bass
Xak Bjerken - piano, toy piano and 31-tet Rothenberg Moog organ
This recording was made possible by Cornell University’s New Frontier Grant.
EZRA - DEBUT ALBUM
MARCH 1, 2024
Jacob Jolliff, Max Allard, Jesse Jones, Craig Butterfield
EZRA released their self-titled debut album on March 1, 2024 with Adhyâropa Records. Founded by award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist Jesse Jones, EZRA is a collective of classical, jazz, rock, and bluegrass musicians focused on the creation of genre-crossing and style-inclusive new music. The ensemble consists of Jacob Jolliff (mandolin), Max Allard (banjo), Craig Butterfield (double bass), with Jones on guitar and piano.
EZRA’s focus is centered around collaboration. The group has performed and recorded with musical polymath and instrument inventor Mark Stewart, composer Elizabeth Ogonek, pianist/Moog-master Xak Bjerken, and has been in residence at several universities, including Cornell, Oberlin College, U. of South Carolina, UNC Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, and East Carolina University. EZRA’s second and third albums, which feature these additional musicians, are already in the works for 2025.