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Bureau of Fiction | Operation Northwoods

About

Operation Northwoods is a new band formed by four accomplished young musicians who have collaborated on innovative projects together for many years. Trumpeter Douglas Detrick and saxophonist Hashem Assadullahi first met while completing their graduate studies in Eugene, Oregon, and went on to collaborate on numerous projects, including Hashem’s pub-rock band Safety Buffalo and Doug’s award winning chamber-jazz crossover band, the Anywhen Ensemble. Pianist Andrew Oliver and guitarist Dan Duval have worked together on many projects over the last decade, including genre-bending minimalist jazz ensemble the Ocular Concern and modern big band and non-profit presenting organization the Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble. Operation Northwoods was founded by these four unique improvisers and composers as a forum for the exploration of chamber oriented art music drawing on elements of jazz, minimalism, and the avant garde. The band was formed immediately after Doug and Hashem relocated to New York City, and so the few opportunities the group has had to collaborate have been very special due to their scarcity. Their debut EP, “The Bureau of Fiction,” was recorded over two days seperated by exactly two years. The result is a highly unique yet charming and accessible collection of musical oddities with a strong chamber sensibility, a playful sense of humor, and many passages of elegant grace and quiet repose. Equally appropriate as title music for a cooking show or as concert music programmed alongside the avant garde, “The Bureau of Fiction” is an exciting debut and a promising step towards great future accomplishments for this highly idiosyncratic but always fun and friendly quartet.

Personnel

Douglas Detrick, trumpet
Hashem Assadullahi, saxophones
Dan Duval, guitar
Andrew Oliver, piano

Reviews

Bird is the Worm, 5/10/2013:

With The Bureau of Fiction, the chamber jazz ensemble Operation Northwoods has created one of those special albums that hovers like a lullaby on the edge of sleep, yet crackles with a liveliness that prevents anything resembling snores from manifesting.  […] Whether sounding in unison, as on the unpretentious “One,” or as many, like at times on “Operation Northwoods Pt.2″ and “The Bureau of Fiction,” it always sounds like a singular expression of thought, of viewpoint, of creative vision.  That mutability lends itself perfectly to an environment where the complex requires a simple interface, where peacefulness and dissonance must coexist in harmony.  Balance.  And it’s characteristics such as that is why The Bureau of Fiction is an unmitigated success.

– Dave Sumner

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