''Skin'' is a 2000 album by cellist

Erik Friedlander Erik Friedlander is an American cellist and composer based in New York City. A veteran of New York City's experimental downtown scene, Friedlander has worked in many contexts, but is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with sax ...

which was released on the Siam label and features the quartet that previously appeared on ''

Topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

''. The album was also released as a DVD

Reception

The

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by Michael G. Nastos awarded the album 4 stars stating "Because Friedlander explores many avenues of improvisation and composition, he can't be pegged; his work doesn't fit into a definable bag. You could call it great modern music, and that would be enough. The sounds are challenging, eminently accessible, and definitely compelling, marking more progress in this marvelous musician's burgeoning career. Highly recommended, and a step beyond his previous CD, ''Topaz''".Nastos, M. G
Allmusic Review
accessed January 7, 2014 Writing for

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, David Adler commented "Friedlander at times deploys his cello as though it were a second horn, joining Andy Laster's alto sax for the seductive harmonies of Mancini's "Susan." Elsewhere the cellist takes on a bass-like role, complementing the unpredictable twists and turns of bassist

Stomu Takeishi Stomu Takeishi (born 1964, in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture) is a Japanese experimental and jazz bassist. He is known for playing fretless five-string electric bass guitar and a Klein five-string acoustic bass guitar, often using extended techniques an ...

". Bill Bennett stated in

JazzTimes ''JazzTimes'' is an American magazine devoted to jazz. Published 10 times a year, it was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1970 by Ira Sabin as the newsletter ''Radio Free Jazz'' to complement his record store. Coverage After a decade of growth ...

that "The joys of this recording are many, and Friedlander is a bandleader to watch".Bennett, B.
JazzTimes review
JazzTimes, June 2000

Track listing

''All compositions by Erik Friedlander except as indicated'' # "Split Screen" - 6:28 # "Susan" (

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini, ; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flautist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Award ...

) - 3:16 # "Life, In-Line" - 3:34 # "Skin 1" (

Julius Hemphill Julius Arthur Hemphill (January 24, 1938 – April 2, 1995) was a jazz composer and saxophone player. He performed mainly on alto saxophone, less often on soprano and tenor saxophones and flute. Biography Hemphill was born in Fort Worth, Texas, ...

) - 6:41 # "Sahel Va Danya" (

Googoosh Faegheh Atashin ( fa, فائقه آتشین; born 5 May 1950), known professionally as Googoosh ( fa, گوگوش, ), is an Iranian singer and former actress. One of the most popular and prolific entertainers in Iran, her career has spanned over ...

) - 4:57 # "Reflections" - 3:47 # "Fekunk" - 6:21 # "White Mountain" - 5:06 # "Doomwatcher" - 6:01 # "Eclipse" (

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

) - 3:39 # "Golden Dawn" (

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

) - 3:42

Personnel

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Andy Laster Andrew Jay Laster (born May 25, 1961 in Bethpage, New York) is an American jazz saxophonist. Laster studied early in his career with Joe Dixon and Dave Burns, both in the 1970s; he lived in Seattle in the early 1980s, where he attended Cornish ...

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

- bass *Satoshi Takeishi -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

*Alexander Fedoriouk -

cimbalom The cimbalom (; ) or concert cimbalom is a type of chordophone composed of a large, trapezoidal box on legs with metal strings stretched across its top and a damping pedal underneath. It was designed and created by V. Josef Schunda in 1874 in ...

*The Atlas Cello Quartet: Bruce Wang, Christine Gummere, Karl R. Derricho, Peter Sanders - cello

References

{{Authority control 2000 albums Erik Friedlander albums