Listen to full-album mash-up created by Mike Pride on SoundCloud.
"The tunes are alive, grooving and swinging with vibrant postbop rollick"
"The music carries a human resonance–an honesty about the beauty and the challenges, the unknown and unexpected, the anxiety and satisfaction that one experiences in parenthood. Ecstatic exclamations, mild whimsies, sweet lullabies, and turbulent confessions are all present on the album and were brimming over in the live performance."
"Written in a fit of inspiration following the birth of his first child, this lyrical, swinging session palpably demonstrates Pride's joyful embrace of fatherhood. Birthing Days .. firmly demonstrates the leader's creative virtuosity."
"Pride seems ever more emboldened to make music that’s multi-directional, shifting from inside to outside and across lots of tempos, the music is elusive, moving off a spot just as soon as you think you’ve got it pinned down. He amps up the fun, thirst for adventure and gumption for this personal statement. It’s an evolutionary step for From Bacteria To Boys .. he took a good thing and made it better still."
The distinctly gifted drummer/composer Mike Pride is prolifically active as a leader/accompanist in a wide variety of groups and genres: metal, noise, avant-garde rock, free music, and modern jazz. On May 14, 2013, AUM Fidelity will release two of the most potent albums he has created to date. Birthday Days, his deeply inspired and utterly focused new modern jazz work, was recorded within the same month as the diametrically opposed (in concept, content and title), Drummer’s Corpse, and no pair of records better represent his multifarious nature. Their simultaneous release is a major artistic statement from Mr. Pride.
Birthing Days is a magnificent display of both Pride’s far-ranging compositional prowess and the rich talents of this remarkable group. The great and gifted pianist Alexis Marcelo and bassist Peter Bitenc remain dedicated members, whose deep thought & commitment to finding the core tone and emotional approach to each composition anchor the band, while allowing utmost flexibility for the music to follow new avenues with each performance. In early 2012, saxophone phenom Jon Irabagon joined, breathing new life into the group’s sound with his virtuosic command and harmonic flexibility. The quartet’s sonic template is further expanded on three tracks here with the addition of bass clarinetist Jason Stein and saxophonist Jonathan Moritz. All of these musicians are startling and beautiful voices in modern jazz.
This book of compositions was written by Pride in a fit of inspiration, immediately following the birth of his first child, two months after the release of this group’s previous release (and Pride's AUM Fidelity debut), Betweenwhile. His brain swimming with melodies & lush harmonies, the music reflects the fullness found in his new life as a parent. The music is dense, but warmly harmonious. It demands a copy-editor’s eye for detail & accuracy, which each member of the band has in full. Birthing Days was exquisitely recorded at Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn, and then mixed to perfection by Jamie Saft at Potterville International Sound.