Pi Recordings is proud to release Tactiles, the second album by Liberty Ellman, one of New York's most imaginative and unorthodox guitarist/composers. Featuring Mark Shim on tenor saxophone, Blue Note recording artist Greg Osby on alto sax on three tracks, Stephan Crump on bass and Eric Harland on drums, Tactiles documents sounds and concepts that have been gestating since Ellman returned to his native New York from the Bay Area in 1998. It is a fitting follow-up to the critically acclaimed Orthodoxy, which Ellman released in 1998 on his own Red Giant label. Tactiles contains nine originals, all highlighting Ellman's spiky, unpredictable lines, his arid and suggestive harmonies and his complex yet infectious rhythms.
Ellman employs a clean, unadorned sound on Tactiles, achieving rich timbral contrasts and an alluring sonic blend with Mark Shim's weighty, gruff tenor sax. Crump and Harland flourish within Ellman's rhythmic frameworks on pieces such as "Excavation, "Helios" and "Post Approval." In these workouts, Ellman crafts a dense polyrhythmic language and focuses the heated interaction with his undulating single-note lines and cliche-free chording. We also hear Osby's distinctive sound on three tracks: the majestic ballad "Temporary Aid," the midtempo funk riddle "How Many Texts" and the furiously swinging "Ultraviolet."

Tracklist
1. Excavation (5:58)
2. Clean Is Rich (6:39)
3. Temporary Aid (8:09)
4. Helios (7:20)
5. Rare Birds (4:32)
6. Body Art (5:28)
7. How Many Texts (5:21)
8. Ultraviolet (5:09)
9. Post Approval (8:07)