Track Premiere: ‘Silver Rain,’ by Sine Qua Non, feat. Christie Dashiell + Elite Strings

Michael Bowie casts a distinct if understated profile on the D.C. jazz scene. He’s the consummate sideman, a bassist sensitive enough to back up vocalists with a sense of interrogation and acumen, or give lift to a small ensemble of instrumentalists with his robust playing. Bowie raises the stakes with a velvet glove, breaking up his own lines with fat, sustained notes or zips up the instrument’s neck. He’s also a seriously impressive composer, which you probably didn’t know until the 2012 launch of Sine Qua Non. It’s an unorthodox combo that now works as a sandbox for his wide-ranging creative ambition—where ideas from Western classical (especially the minor-key tinge of much Spanish guitar music) run together with small-group jazz from the 1960s, ’80s pop, calypso and much else.

Michael Bowie. Courtesy Nicholas Bowie

Michael Bowie. Courtesy Nicholas Bowie

The band features Victor Provost on steel pan, Lyle Link on saxophones and flute and Mark Prince on drums; an all-star lineup of D.C. musicians, they give Bowie’s kaleidoscope compositions an energetic lift. The band is currently prepping a sophomore album, and it’s just finished recording a new song, “Silver Rain.” The Bowie-composed track starts with a sloping, mournful passage from Elite Strings, a chamber quartet, and with the help of Christie Dashiell’s glamorous guest vocals, by the 2-minute mark the music is moving on a swift and strong wind.

This is CapitalBop’s first-ever track premiere, something you’ll see us doing more of in the future. Take a listen to the never-before-heard “Silver Rain” below. And catch Sine Qua Non when they appear—with Dashiell and Elite Strings alongside them—at Blues Alley on Feb. 25 (see our listing here).

You can also peep a quick promo video for the band’s upcoming Blues Alley show below.

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About Giovanni Russonello

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A co-founder of CapitalBop, Giovanni Russonello is also a music writer and critic for the New York Times. He also teaches writing as a lecturer at New York University's School of Professional Studies. He previously served as a contributor to the Washington Post, the FADER, JazzTimes, NPR Music and others, and hosted “On the Margin,” a books show on WPFW-FM. He graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in history, with a focus on African-American history. Reach Giovanni at [email protected]. Read him at giovannirussonello.com or nytimes.com/by/giovanni-russonello. Follow him on Twitter at @giorussonello.

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