 The Canadian bassist and composer Michael Bates (who is also the leader of “Outside Sources”) is presenting an album with the current CD “A Fine Balance” that links his interpretation of jazz with classical influences. It also revives a bit of the tradition of the quintet of Miles Davis from the 60s. Currently residing in New York, Bates was born in Canada and began to play jazz at an early age. He began working at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and saw musicians there such as Sun Ra, Dave Douglas, Dave Holland and Thomas Chapin, who provided him with a great deal of inspiration. He moved to Tokyo in the early 90s where he studied under Yoshio Nagashima (first bassist of the Tokyo Symphony). Then he continued his studies under Don Thompson and Dave Young in Toronto. Finally, he moved to New York where he studied under Mark Helias and also performed with musicians such as Michael Blake, Dan Weiss, Peggy Lee, John Abercrombie, Michael Sarin and Russ Johnson. His music trips have led him through the USA, Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, China and Japan. Bates currently lives in Brooklyn and works as Program Coordinator for the International Jazz Workshop at the Banff Centre of the Arts. Shostakovich, Ligeti, Bad Brains, Ornette Coleman, Wayne Shorter and Joni Mitchell are the musicians whom Bates lists when he is asked, who influenced his style. “A Fine Balance” provides proof that Bates can combine a wide range of styles and create his own individual language from them. In part composed in advance and consequently set, but at times surprisingly free enriched with a lot of improvisation, he likes integrating guided elegant melodies in a stylish way as well as off-beats. The sound of the quartet is always homogenous. His congenial fellow musicians make sure of that: Quinsin Nachoff (studied under Joe Lovano, among others, and played with Jim Black, Mark Helias, Kenny Werner, Howard Johnson, etc.), Kevin Turcotte (has already played with Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler and many more) as well as Mark Timmermans, whom he got to know at the Banff Centre. Dave Douglas: "As someone familiar with Michael Bates' work, I whole heartedly recommend taking special note in the ‘Outside Sources’ project! Michael Bates is a fantastic bassist and an engaging composer who, along with saxophonist Quinsin Nachoff and drummer Mark Timmermans, is performing some really interesting new music. Michael is a very dedicated and professional musician and his band would be a welcome addition to the current new music scene. Definitely worth checking out!" Gregory Robb (All About Jazz): “Outside Sources successfully confirms Michael Bates' commitment to exploration. Bates and bandmates Quinsin Nachoff and Mark Timmermans push most of music's conventional boundaries and the blur of understanding inspires 61 minutes of musical interest...Each musician plays on the margins of musical literacy to encompass our full attention... Outside Sources is an excellent experimental jazz record.“ Time Out New York Magazine: “...As a composer, Bates serves up melodic modernism and contrapuntal elegance; admirers of Ornette Coleman and Dave Douglas will likely approve.“
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