Exclaim.ca
July 18, 2011
Review of Wreckhouse International Jazz and Blues Festival, St. John’s, NL
“In terms of precision, the festival’s winners were Tunnel Six. The sextet played highly detailed songs with effortless grace. This might have been the best out-and-out jazz at the festival, and the audience was really into it. More bands like this would be a great way to go for this diverse, solidly attended festival in years to come.”
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eMusic
Top albums of 2011
by Dave Sumner
When the members of an ensemble sacrifice all selfish thought and throw their entire weight behind the compositions of others, it’s a transcendent moment, almost spiritual. There is a sense of a something greater than the sum of the individual parts when an ensemble serves the purposes of the soloist, while that soloist, simultaneously, plays his heart out in honor of the ensemble. Tunnel Six, six young jazzers who originate from across the U.S. and Canada and only came to meet at a music workshop in Banff, have created an album of these moments. Melodies that dare to be epic, jazz compositions that stretch out to the fringes of the genre, and a cohesion and selflessness that would indicate a collaborative period measured in years, not months, and Lake Superior is only the sextet’s debut album.
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Cadence
Spring 2011
CD Review: Lake Superior
by David Franklin
For a group of players that individually live all over North America, Tunnel Six shows remarkably skillful ensemble interaction. This is the first recording by the band, whose members first played together at a Jazz Workshop at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, in 2009, although they have toured in both Canada and the United States. Their compositions, all by band members, are quite tuneful, but also sophisticated formally and metrically. Examples include pianist Andrew Oliver’s “Lake Superior,” which begins with his slow, hymn-like intro before the ensemble enters, setting up a passionate, two-fisted piano solo. After recapitulation of the ensemble entrance, tenorist Dietschi offers a dexterous Post-Bop improvisation over a swinging medium groove, the piece ending with another recap of the ensemble section. And all those shifts are smoothly executed. “Tunnel Mountain,” by Trumpeter McCullough, begins dramatically with a forceful repetitive figure underlying short back and forth choruses by soprano and trumpet, but also contains a lyrical piano solo over drums and an active bass line. Saxophonist Dietschi’s “In Between” features shifting metes and a distorted Rock guitar sound. The players excel in the ensemble parts and improvise at a high level in an up-to-date Mainstream Modern vein.
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All Music Guide
Spring 2001
CD Review: Lake Superior
by Ken Dryden
The six promising young musicians who comprise Tunnel Six met while attending the International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. They quickly discovered a chemistry and worked to interpret the members’ compositions, touring parts of Canada and the U.S. for a few weeks prior to entering the studio to record their debut album. The interaction between them makes it sound like they have been playing together for far longer, while it is clear that each musician dove headfirst into bringing out the nuances of his fellow bandmates’ compositions, so there isn’t as much emphasis on dominating the solo spotlight as there typically is on CDs by young artists. Trumpeter/flügelhornist Chad McCullough penned the loping yet spirited “Tunnel Mountain,” which features lush ensembles, terrific exchanges by the composer on trumpet with soprano saxophonist Ben Dietschi, and an understated, elegant piano solo by Andrew Oliver. Guitarist Brian Seligman’s “Not Yet” simmers for the first few measures as the band builds the tension until the composer’s rockish solo. Dietschi contributed the mellow “Song for Masha,” showcasing his lyrical tenor sax. Bassist Ron Hynes and drummer Tyson Stubelek provide terrific support throughout this rewarding debut recording.
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Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, AB)
May 5, 2011
Most of the time they’re spread all over the continent, but ever since the musicians of Tunnel Six met about two years ago, they have shared a special simpatico that continues to grow.
“We come from somewhat different backgrounds and from all over the country,” notes trumpeter Chad McCullough. “I think that’s one of the strong points of the band, but we also have a very similar musical esthetic. Even though we write very different tunes, they all seem to have the same vibe.”
He sums up their sound as strongly melodic contemporary jazz. The three Canadians and three Americans met as participants in the 2009 Banff Centre International Jazz Workshop. Trumpeter McCullough (based in Seattle) is joined by saxophonist Ben Dietschi (Toronto), guitarist Brian Seligman (Toronto), pianist Andrew Oliver (Portland), bassist Ron Hynes (Halifax), and drummer Tyson Stubelek (New York). All six contribute compositions.
Their name Tunnel Six refers to the Tunnel Mountain that rises behind the Banff Centre, and that’s not their only play on place names. When the group reunited last year for a cross-continent tour, they had one particularly satisfying, if chilly soak after being cooped up in a van for many hours. In memory of jumping into that lake, the album they recorded at the end of that tour is titled Lake Superior.
That all-original collection of tunes has just been released. “That tour really had a huge effect in helping us sort out our musical directions. We like to break down some of the traditional roles of instruments,” McCullough explains, “like using the guitar as another horn, or at other times, like a piano.”
Tunnel Six will perform tunes from the CD Lake Superior and newer works when they hit the stage at the Yardbird Suite (102nd Street at 86th Avenue) Saturday at 9 p.m. Tickets are $18 for members, $22 for guests, from Ticketmaster (780-451-8000) or at the door.
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Edmonton Journal (Edmonton, AB)
May 28, 2010
“Tunnel Six road-testing new tunes on tour”
by Roger Levesque
A multinational jazz group with players from various corners of North America was founded last year as the musicians took part in an unforgettable, enriching experience at the Banff Centre jazz workshop.
The workshop has been facilitating this sort of thing for years, so it’s no surprise that another band has come out of it. They are worth a listen.
This time it’s Tunnel Six, named after the Tunnel Mountain location of the Banff Centre. Half Americans and half Canadians, they were bound up in an unexpectedly inspired meeting that has already spawned some fine, hard-to-classify demo tunes as their current tour brings them closer to recording a debut album. You can just call it tuneful contemporary jazz with a lot of space, considering there are six people involved.
Trumpeter Chad McCullough agrees there is nothing like road-testing your tunes before you head into the recording studio. Dates across the country are allowing them to do just that.
The horn man says the individual demands of six members, all in their mid-to late-20s, have already taught them a few things.
“I think we’ve developed a certain patience. Because it’s six people we know it can’t be a cacophony of noise. It has to be more focused, and everybody is. Everybody is so aware of their role and what everybody else is doing. There’s very little ego involved. It’s more about what the music can bring about and how we can make that happen.”
McCullough is from Seattle, while pianist Andrew Oliver and drummer Tyson Stubelek are both out of Portland, Ore. The Canadians include Manitoba-born saxophonist Ben Dietschi and guitarist Brian Seligman, both now in Toronto, and Newfoundland bassist Ron Hynes.
Tunnel Six makes its Edmonton debut tonight at 9 p.m. at the Yardbird Suite (102nd Street and 86th Avenue). Tickets are $18 for members of the Edmonton Jazz Society and $22 for guests, from Ticketmaster in advance or at the door.
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Earshot Magazine (Seattle, WA)
May 2010
Tunnel Six Preview
by Nathan Bluford
Tunnel Six’s formation was as intuitive as the music that resulted. While studying at the 2009 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music in Alberta, Canada, the sextet met by chance, proposed a jam session on a whim, decided to create a group and before anyone could think twice had recorded a premier EP. The group’s upcoming rehearsals and subsequent tour of the United States and Canada will the first time that Chad McCullough (trumpet), Ben Dietschi (tenor and soprano saxophone), Brian Seligman (guitar), Andrew Oliver (piano), Ron Hynes (double bass), and Tyson Stubelek (drums) have all played together since finishing their first recording, but they have no reservations over whether their chemistry will do anything other than improve.
The six musicians hail from a range of cities in US and Canada, and despite their bond as a group are currently based out of cities scattered along the border between the two countries, hence their not having played together since the sessions for their EP. When their tour begins with its first date in Toronto, audience members will be witnessing the culmination of a year’s worth of Skype conferences, meticulous logistical planning, and utter faith in a musical connection that became quite thick in just a couple weeks. In an art form that generally relies on practitioners’ experience with and knowledge of each other’s musical presence, it’s exciting to see a group forgoing the conventional wisdom and asserting their mutual strengths over the impediments that separation imposes.
Playing in this band has been a new experience for its members in many ways besides their unusual meeting, however. Each musician is of course involved in multiple other projects, including one based out of Seattle called the Kora Band, which is led by Oliver, features McCullough, and infuses jazz with West African styles. McCullough explains that, although each of the groups he plays in is a unique experience, Tunnel Six is “much more of a collective group thing.” The leader-less mindset that can be heard in the music is reflected in the intra-band interactions. When they met at the Banff Workshop, different members brought independently written compositions to the table, which they then processed through various suggestions and alterations from the rest of the group before reaching the versions that were recorded.
The level of interplay that the group achieved in a very short amount of time is remarkable and easily recognized when listening their self-titled EP, which is available for online listening at www.tunnelsix.com. The relatively straightforward and appealing themes that their compositions begin with almost instantly boil into expansive improvisational passages, where the rhythm section provides the lead players with a palette that expands and contracts according to a given solo’s flow. Stubelek will allow a solid beat to fracture into an ecstatic series of fills in reaction to a single note played by McCullough or Dietschi, but wait for their lines to build enough momentum before swinging back into the central rhythm. Nothing is certain or predictable: if the solo doesn’t require a straight beat then Stubelek will wait until the time is right.
Stubelek is far from being the only member who shows such astute patience. Oliver’s piano solos search for the best way to reach a looming climax at a drifting, secure pace, allowing his hands to switch roles as necessary to exploring the different routes that lay before him. Seligman and Hynes contribute silky, subtle accents and depth to the finished sound, tying the group’s personality together. Seligman alternates between glossy leads and decorative backgrounds in order to stealthily integrate Tunnel Six’s sole electric voice. Hynes’ solo on their recording of “With Without” is controlled and sturdy, utilizing an experienced sense of restraint to pick just the right phrases.
McCullough and Dietschi play confident, varied solos, and are just as comfortable playing supporting lines for each other or their other band mates as they are in the spotlight. As McCullough describes playing with Dietschi, “There’s only been one person that I played with other than Ben where it felt like he was right there with me, really listening. We can make it sound like one horn.” The tune “Not Yet” showcases this connection, as McCullough and Dietschi play a finely interwoven dual solo accompanied by Seligman and Oliver’s energetic and provocative interjections, culminating in a moment of shared intensity before taking a sigh of relief and fading back into the main theme.
Beyond the music itself, this project has allowed the sextet to reach a new level of maturity as professional artists. McCullough notes that neither he nor anyone else in the band has ever written grant proposals, planned and organized their own large-scale tour, or handled their own management to the degree that they do now. “It’s a big step for the whole band,” he says. “For me, this shows that if you put in a lot of time and hard work, it’ll really pay off. We’re all getting our names out there, people are going to be paying attention.”
Despite the short amount of time that they have spent playing together, Tunnel Six’s sound has already won over a sizeable number of fans in the right places: grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Regional Arts & Culture Council will be helping to finance the tour as well as the album that the group will be recording once their cross-continental trip is over. The future from there is unplanned, but McCullough is optimistic and enthusiastic about the possibility of another tour of equal or lesser size, along with another album. For the time being, the anticipation over reuniting with his fellow musicians and observing how they’ve grown over the past year, before displaying that level of growth for audiences in no less than thirteen cities, provides more than enough excitement.
