The feature documentary Actors of Sound, with Dingman’s original score, premieres at the 2016 LA Film Festival on Saturday, June 4. The score is performed by Dingman (marimbas, vibraphone, percussion), Jesse Lewis (acoustic and electric guitars), Bryan Copeland (upright bass), Fabian Almazan (piano and rhodes), and Tomoko Omura (violins), and mixed by Liberty Ellman.
The Subliminal and the Sublime has continued to garner glowing acclaim this fall, this time from Huffington Post, Stereophile, and All About Jazz.
“unfolding like a story in a gorgeous legato arc… a sonic gem“
– David Adler, Stereophile
“Truly one of the year’s finest recordings in any genre…
5 stars“
– Dave Wayne, All About Jazz
“The Subliminal to the Sublime is an “aural feast” to be savored. If you have 60 minutes in your frantic life to dedicate to this music, sit down in your zero gravity recliner with a fine set of quality headphones and allow yourself to be immersed in Mr. Dingman’s images. You will be renewed.“
– Ralph Miriello, Huffington Post
The Subliminal and the Sublime received glowing reviews this summer from the LA Times, All Music Guide, Downbeat, JazzTimes, Sequenza21, NextBop, Irish Times, NYC Jazz Record, and many others. Here is a sampling of what the press had to say:
“as evocative as you might hope“
– Chris Barton, Los Angeles Times
“purely and simply, a magnificent album“
– Dave Lynch, iTunes / All Music Guide
“a masterly paced arc of tension and release… Dingman’s layered compositions and intuitive performances successfully achieve his ambition.. it’s a landscape both beautiful and persistently mysterious. We’re compelled to listen, then listen even closer”
– Jeff Potter, Downbeat
“This album is meticulously assembled in the service of deep emotion. For Dingman, phenomena of the natural world, like crumbling landscapes in Pinnacles National Park, are personal. So are circles of new redwoods that grow from the roots of deceased redwood trees. His achievement, through music, is to make those natural mysteries and renewals personal for us all.“
– Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes
“There is something more here, something otherworldly, mysterious, almost numinous about Dingman’s approach that make his second release as leader one of the freshest and most unusual sounds to reach these ears this year… Wherever he finds his sound, what is striking is its utter originality.”
– Cormac Larkin, Irish Times
“a special experience for the listener“
– Christian Carey, Sequenza21
“The sprawling 62-minute work is compelling from beginning to end.“
– Miller Wren, NextBop
“Dingman’s suite has much in common thematically with the vivid Americana of Aaron Copland and equally ambitious through-composed music of Pat Metheny and cyclical works of Steve Reich… an airy, cerebrally exciting marvel of a place that rewards with multiple listens.”
– Ken Micallef, NYC Jazz Record
“Chris Dingman isn’t just a talented jazz vibraphonist: he’s a brilliant tunesmith.”
– New York Music Daily / Lucid Culture
“The Subliminal and The Sublime will lift your spirits, challenging yet reassuring, pulling you in and putting you under its spell.”
– Richard Kamins, Step Tempest
“It’s a beautiful sonic trip that you should take”
– Dave Rodgers, WTJU
“Sublime is exactly that—perfectly paced, beautifully performed.”
– Frank Alkyer, Downbeat Editor’s Pick