Impure

Editorial Reviews
About the Artist
Formed in 1999, Stendhal marks its first year of existence with the release of Impure. Prior to that Stendhal has been quietly gaining notoriety for its exciting multi media live performances opening for such bands as Foetus, Tapping the Vein, and Carfax Abbey.

Performers
Jeff Bera, Kevin Miller, John Yorio, and Darren Morze.

Album Description
Dark experimental rock utilizing conventional and non-conventional instrumentation. Guitars, bass, drums, vocals, water cooler jug, one way sign, metal detector, TV set, fifty gallon oil drum, propane gas tank, glockenspiel, vacuum cleaner hose, buzz saw, movie projector, piano, and AM radio. Imagine Bauhaus, My Bloody Valentine, and Einsturzende Neubauten fighting each other in a dark warehouse. Recommended for anyone looking for something that truly deserves to be called different.

Impure

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Pure Thoughts of Joy
Thoughts of Pure Joy
freshest, most inspiring jazz/world/jamband around

Impure Thoughts
Michael Wolff
Manufacturer: Razor & Tie
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B00004YRGC
Release Date: 2000-10-10

Tracks:

Eritrea
Papa Was A Rolling Stone
Euphoria
Bengal
Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)
In A Silent Way
Impure Thoughts
Mama Tell Me

Amazon.com

If you watched the Arsenio Hall Show on TV, you know the host's sidekick and piano-playing music director, Michael Wolff. After the show's demise, Wolff recorded a couple of good jazz recordings as a leader. It's Wolff's lifelong battle with Tourette's Syndrome, portrayed in the film, The Tic Code, and his Impure Thoughts, recorded with Arsenio Hall bassist John A. Williams, that refocuses attention on Wolff's music. He brilliantly blends straight-ahead swing, fusion, and Latin and East Indian polyrhythms, graced with Wolff's tasty Herbie Handcockian chords. From Sly Stone's "Thank You Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin" and Joe Zawinul's jazz-rock classic "In a Silent Way" to the exotic "Eritrea," Michael Wolff shows us great, multistylistic swing. --Eugene Holley Jr.

Customer Reviews:

Pure Thoughts of Joy.......2000-12-08

Michael Wolff continues to broaden his horizons with his latest release IMPURE THOUGHTS which features Wolff on acoustic piano, ex-Miles Davis tabla player BADAL ROY, Alex Foster on sax, Frank Colon on percussion, John B. Williams on bass and Victor Jones on drums. In the simplest terms, Impure Thoughts comes across as a collective of musicians stretching out and having a blast. From the propulsive version of the MILES DAVIS standard "IN A SILENT WAY" to the exotic Indian tones on "Eritrea" and "Euphoria" to the African infused swagger of "Bengal", you'll feel like you're on a mysterious jungle safari. And if spice is what you crave, "Mama Tell Me" incorporates a festive Latin / Cuban groove over which Wolff gets busy, but not too much so, as he slips back into the pocket and lets the band discover a new plane to graze upon. From there, the blood in your appendages keeps on flowing, as the band pulses and throbs through renditions of funk classics "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" and "Thank you For Lettin' me be Mice Elf". So, stop crowding your thoughts with impure notions and take a refreshing ride that reaches beyond and brings distinct worlds of music one step closer to FUSION PERFECTION.

Thoughts of Pure Joy.......2000-12-08

freshest, most inspiring jazz/world/jamband around.......2000-10-21

Michael Wolff's new CD, Impure Thoughts, is the freshest, most exciting new music to come along this year. It has a completely original sound-pulsing, throbbing, swirling, and moving-utilizing Wolff's unique piano style along with tablas, afro-cuban and brazilian percussion, saxophone and bass and drums.

From the opening strains of the first tune, Eritrea, the band takes off like a world beat rocket,conjuring up feelings of India, Africa, and all exotic ports of call.

Wolff's piano work bubbles, explodes, carresses, and stimulates with his own brand of harmonic colors, rhythmic drumming, and intensely beautiful melodies. He is obviously the most exciting jazz pianist of his time, and his work here will inspire other pianists to open themselves up to new ideas and sounds. The amazing interpretations of the Motown classic Papa Was A Rolling Stone, and Sly Stone's Thank You, are truly the modern day equivalent of Miles Davis' approach to the standards of his day. They groove hard, yet are mysterious and dark and sexy. These songs are mined for everything thrilling about them.

Michael Wolff's own compositions are extraordinary in their successful combining of world and funky beats, sophisticated harmonies, and soaring melodies. From the dark recesses of Bengal, to the introspective grooving of the title track, Impure Thoughts, to the final celebratory and exhilirating sounds of Mama Tell Me, this music is a gift, a revelation, and an artistic triumph. There is no music and no musician more creative in the music world today.

THe musicians in this band are legendary.Tabla player Badal Roy, from Mile Davis' On The Corner, also performs with Ornette Coleman and Pharoah Sanders; percussionists Frank Colon and Cafe de Silval, have both played with Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, and Gato Barieri; John B Williams, bassist from Herbie Hancock, Dizzie Gillespie and Billy Cobham; drummer Victor Jones, who has worked with Stan Getz, Little Jimmy Scott, and Freddie Hubbard; and the legendary New York saxophonist Alex Foster, who has performed and recorded with Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Jack DeJohnette, and currently plays in the Saturday Night Live band.

This is a band of six of the most respected, creative, and imaginative musicians in the business.

Just get this CD and enjoy the most inspiring music of the new millenium.

Dedicated to the Impure
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Dedicated to the Impure
Crypticus
Manufacturer: Razorback Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000EJ9RJW
Release Date: 2005-08-25

Tracks:

Death Toll
Bonescraper
Mortificus
The Crypticult
Cyclops Throne
Splatterstorm
Tales of the Necrospher
Cadaverous Invaders
Haunted Vomitorium
Necroborg
Cryptrap
Echoes of the Macabre

Product Description

Birthed by a Lovecraftian fusion of science and horror comes the Supernatural DeathGrind attack of CRYPTICUS! After years of secret experimentation at the Crypticult Headquarters, your Horror Host Patrick Bruss has summoned forth a malevolent musical manifestation from beyond death's infinity - A skull-crushing combination of gruesome Grind-Gore, threatening Thrash & scary Scandinavian Death Metal...all scientifically manipulated for maximum metal-neck!

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Michael Wolf is a great talent and this is one of very best recordings!!!
Pianistic genius

Dangerous Vision
Michael Wolff & Impure Thoughts
Manufacturer: Artemis Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

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2 AM

ASIN: B00063MB30
Release Date: 2004-11-09

Tracks:

Dangerous Vision
Work Song
A Love Supreme
St. Thomas
Rupak
Heart And Soul
In The Moment
Empty House
Soul Sauce

Customer Reviews:

Michael Wolf is a great talent and this is one of very best recordings!!!.......2007-03-26

From the get-go this recording impressed me. This is one of the best working units in jazz today. The last few recordings by Michael with this group have been outstanding but this is the one I keep coming back to.

Why? He covers a wide selection of compositions and styles. His ability to take contemporary pieces from other genre's and transform them into vehicles for improvisation is amazing. His playing style is clearly his own, but were I to offer an analogy for his style I would say that he has the funkiness of Horace Silver, the percussiveness and conceptions of Ahmad Jamal, with the sophistication of Herbie Hancock.

The guy can out and out play his behind off. Now realize, he doesn't let technique run away with him. It's just he maximizes on these pieces and has a unique vision of them. Just listen to "A Love Supreme", "St. Thomas" and Cal Tjader's "Soul Sauce".

There are also some originals as well that are excellent. "Empty House" and "Rupak", for example are two pieces that real high points.

"Empty House" so effectively engages you and conveys a strong, cool but expansive midnight vibe. "Rupak" comes across strong and primal, with Michael making good use of the lower registers. On both, he establishes the mood and improvises with discretion and expansiveness.

John B. Williams and Badal Roy are ESSENTIAL in this recording. John makes that bass sing. He provides a real undercurrent. The pieces wouldn't be what they are with out him. Badal is amazing. The tablas and his impeccable sense of time gives everything a unique feeling.

Mike Clark, who you might remember from his Herbie Hancock days is also in excellent form here. He's up to anything they play here. He pushes things along quite nicely. On the slower pieces he exhibits very nice cymbal technique.

You know there are alot of pianists out there bringing in the new era of jazz and it's related form. The world should sit up and take notice of this original and inventive talented pianist and conceptualist.

Pianistic genius.......2004-12-12

Michael Wolff strikes me as almost criminally underregarded. I mean, what does he have to do to get the recognition he deserves?

I'm thinking Dangerous Visions, his sixth or seventh disc as leader and third with his band, Impure Thoughts (sans Alex Foster, who, great a player as he is, isn't particularly missed here), will change all that. Basically a piano trio, augmented by the tablas of the great Badal Roy, Dangerous Visions presents Michael Wolff in an ideal setting. In the trio format, we get to hear pure Wolff, the leader freed up to present his mesmeric piano conceptions unsullied by windwood intrusion. We also get to hear his idiosyncratic (and generally brilliant) take on some of the most hoary and revered jazz standards, namely, "Work Song," "A Love Supreme," and "St. Thomas." Anyone who references that triumvirate of jazz gods (Adderly, Trane, and Rollins) either better have his stuff majorly together or forget coming out for the next round. Believe me, Wolff has his stuff together.

If Wolff is a shade too busy, we can forgive him by virtue of the boundless energy, rhythmic drive, and sheer chutzpah incessantly issuing forth from the speakers. I guess I'm particularly taken by his manic Vince Guaraldi-ish rendering of Sonny's "St. Thomas," playfully deconstructed and put back together by staggeringly brilliant Wolffian pianist moves thoroughly supported by his entirely simpatico band. Really, this is one for the ages.

I'm in love with this latest disc from Michael Wolff, which proves that if you've got the right stuff and stay in the game long enough, it'll all come together for ya.

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Promises Impure
Demented Ted
Manufacturer: Crash Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

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General | Hard Rock & Metal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00008J2UA
Release Date: 2003-02-25

Tracks:

Existence Lies Beneath
Despair
Psychopathology
Incisions
Liquid Remains
Geneticide
Between Two Eternities
Forgotten

Average customer rating:

Distinctly Different
possibly the best new jazz album of the year
freshest band on the scene
Jazz at its best!

Intoxicate
Michael Wolff & Impure Thoughts
Manufacturer: Indianola Music
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music

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Dangerous Vision
Impure Thoughts
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ASIN: B00005RGO8
Release Date: 2001-10-23

Tracks:

Badd Al
Witchhunt
Bells
Kempta
Sidewinder
Cool
Pandoras Box
Sexual Healing
Witchhunt (remix)

Customer Reviews:

Distinctly Different.......2001-12-25

Michael Wolff has put together a recording which is exciting and fun to listen to. His arrangements of the Lee Morgan classic "Sidewinder" and the Wayne Shorter classic "Witchhunt" are especially interesting. Michael's playing is melodic and well thought out. It seems as if he plays with a message -- not just spewing notes all over the place. For instance, in the middle of an up-tempo piece called "Badd Al" Michael inserts a very thoughtful and melodic solo which I found wonderful. There is a lot of variety on this CD, from the introspective "Pandora's Box" to the steel-edged sounds of "Cool." This recording is more in the "fusion" genre (whatever that is), and even though I normally do not like those sort of recordings, this one combines solid playing in the jazz tradition with originality. And the tabla really works!
Definitely 5 stars.

possibly the best new jazz album of the year.......2001-12-01

Ever wonder what happened to Michael Wolff, the keyboardist/bandleader from the Arsenio Hall show? Well, he's got a new band together now called Impure Thoughts and they just released their second aptly titled CD, Intoxicate. The band is made up of Wolff on piano & keyboards, Alex Foster on saxophones, ex-Miles alumnus Badal Roy on tablas, Frank Colon on percussion, Victor Jones on drums, and his ex-Arsenio bandmate, John B. Williams on electric upright bass. Together, they form one of the hottest new jazz outfits around.

"Badd Al" gets the CD off to a great start with its driving rhythm & loads of percussion from Roy and Colon. After a relatively laid-back sax solo, the piano slowly comes back in, temporarily changing the mood a bit. From there, the rest of the band comes back in, restoring the song's original theme and feel. The first of three cover tunes, "Witchhunt" appears in a considerably different arrangement than Wayne Shorter's original version. Williams' simple but effective bassline on the song never lets up, making it one of the more memorable tunes on the CD. A remix of the song closes the CD, but this one is far superior.

"Bells," co-written with Wolff's son, Nat, is very soothing and ultimately enjoyable. The melody is one of those that sticks in your head the first time you hear it. The next track, "Kempta," reminded me a lot of the 80's band, Skywalk, mainly due to the arrangement and Foster's alto sax sound. The next cover tune is the title track from Lee Morgan's Sidewinder album. Like "Witch Hunt," the song boasts a different arrangement, but it's one that makes you sit up and take notice. The last of the cover tunes is an almost unrecognizable version of "Sexual Healing," featuring Charlie Hunter on 8-string guitar.

Intoxicate is a vibrant and compelling effort from Wolff and his band, and hopefully a sign of much more to come. Several of the songs possess an ethereal quality about them that lures you in without thinking about it. Jazz aficionados will revel in the fact that there's finally a new group out there that isn't just trying to appeal to adult contemporary (read: smooth jazz) crowd. It's also a good starting point for those who may be new to jazz in general. Get yourself a glass of fine wine, dim the lights, and enjoy...

freshest band on the scene.......2001-11-27

i have listened to hundreds of CD's over the last few years, and Intoxicate by Michael Wolff and Impure Thoughts is the best jazz/jam/world music I've heard. This is a modern, hip, up to dote band that plays the most far reaching and creative improvisational music out there. The combination of the tablas, percussion, and drums with the amazing piano playing of Michael Wolff has never been heard before. I'm sure there has never been a recording with Brazilian berimbau and indian tablas before. The piano playing on tunes like Cool, and Sidewinder, and all the songs is unique and exciting. Full of beautiful colors and textures and exquisite runs and twists and turns.
This is the most beautiful, exciting, creative music I have heard in the last ten years. The most soulful rhythm section in popular music combined with gorgeous, fresh compositions, burning and haunting sax by Alex Foster and spiritually uplifting and soaring piano playing by Michael Wolff -this is what I've been waiting for.

Jazz at its best!.......2001-11-02

These guys are a collaboration of great great musicians with a guest appearance by Charlie Hunter in their excellent rendition of "Sexual Healing". I didn't even know it was Sexual Healing until the chorus. Just great jamming skills, and Michael Wolff is a master on the piano and keys. If you like jazz and improvisational music, get this album.