November 2000

Franklin Kiermyer
Auspicious Blazing Sun
SunShip

By Willard Jenkins

Drummer Franklin Kiermyer is a bit of a throwback. His quest is grounded in spiritual music. Auspicious Blazing Sun includes Buddhist monks and musicians of the Karma Kagyu, featuring chant master Umdze Lodro Samphel.

The album is reminiscent of such past pursuits of multicultural oneness of praise-song as played by Ornette Coleman and the Master Musicians of Joujouka. The chanting, though from more ancient traditions, is remindful of remarkable Sardinian vocal drones. Kiermyer, on traps, communes with the monks' voices and the various flutes, percussion, reeds and horns. The best moments, such as "Castle of the Sun," are where Kiermyer's atmospheric traps underscore the intervallic drones.