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Incredible
Risks: Strange and Improvised Musics
Steve
Koenig
[December 2001. Originally appeared in La Folia
3:5.]
Dear Reader,
Once again I’m glad to share some more of these releases with you.
Some are fresh out of the oven, and others have been waiting for their
proper time. They’ve been coming fast and furious, and another
amazing slew of Leos and Emanems arrived just at deadline, to be covered
in detail next issue. Although I’ve only begun to dip into the
these riches and wish to report in full detail shortly, I have to begin
by recommending a new four CD set of the Golden Years of the Soviet
New Jazz, Volume One (Leo Golden Years GY401/404, 4 CDs, 4h39m,
leo.com) It contains a full disc of unreleased Sergey Kuryokhin and
another of Valentina Pomerova, and the whole set is either impossible-to-find-ancient
vinyl or, the majority of it, previously unreleased at all. If you were
lucky, you bought the rare eight CD Documents box twelve years
ago, which introduced to us the unknown Russian improviser named Sofia
Gubaidulina, now a household name. Emanem offers an another amazing
set by the London Improvisers Orchestra (Emanem 4201, 2CDs, 68:45
+ 62:33, emanem.com). I’ll namedrop just a few composers and conductors:
Evan Parker, Steve Beresford, Kaffe Matthews, Phil Wachsmann, John Butcher,
and Lol Coxhill. And these aren’t archival, but live recording
from 1999.
It might be a terrible time for the record "industry," but
for the music lover and record collector, I don’t ever remember
when there has been such a wide variety of musics, and new and reissued
releases. You just have to know where to look, hence the URL after each
release.
Abdullah Ibrahim: Ekapa Lodumo (Tiptoe LP206CD, 71:16, kochentertainment.com).
Recently a friend asked me if I’d ever heard of this musician from
South Africa, Abdullah ‘Something,’ and I smiled. Abdullah
Ibrahim had played Lincoln Center’s free Out of Doors summer festival
and he chanced on the group and grooved to them. It’s good to hear
Ibrahim with a big band. The township-based rhythms and tunes expand
wonderfully like this. The NDR Big Band are no mere pickup orchestra
but the ones who’ve perennially backed the winners of the JazzPaar
Prize, awarded to top jazz musicians worldwide; they have backed folks
ranging from Danish native Pierre Dørge to Archie Shepp and David
Murray, and that's only the few I have in my record collection. They
play with a slow burn, whether with hardcore sax and trumpet solos or
just their group orchestration, and, as this is recorded live, it builds
in intensity track by track. If the first track perhaps appears slight,
that’s only in comparison with his best work, and leads from a
simpler township beat to the final blowout numbers. If you like Ibrahim,
you’ll surely want this set, and it’s probably one of the
better introductions to his music still in print. Enja and its sister
label Tiptoe for decades have been consistently supporting Ibrahim’s
music, and here is one of the rewards. The brass is simply fabulous
and it’s easy to overlook the rhythm section because they, the
bass especially, keep things on track and moving through the seventy-two
minutes which never flag. I have a feeling this might become my favorite
of the dozen Dollar Brand/ Abdullah Ibrahim discs in my collection.
The Who: Live At Leeds, Deluxe Edition (MCA 088 112 618-2, 2CD,
LP206CD, 42:25, atavistic.com). Here’s more evidence that the universe
is ever-expanding. First a pretend-bootleg on Track (UK) or MCA (US)
in a "stamped" cardboard sleeve with lots of paper inserts
that collectors like me are slapping ourselves silly for ever abandoning
those first, rich, rough, rowdy pressings. The labels also were fake-bootleg
handwritten, and like most bootlegs of the era the music was hot and
rough unlike most official live releases, which were more ‘studiobound’
than the studio releases. Live At Leeds was an instant classic.
Short, rich, and you’d flip the sides over and over to let the
thrill live on. I never bought the first CD edition and recently caught
the expanded Live At Leeds, like the rest of the expanded and
remastered Who catalog, artfully done and chockfull of the best rocknroll
bar none. Now we have the complete Live At Leeds, in Universal’s
label-spanning Deluxe Edition series. The biggest news is somewhat disappointing:
a complete live Tommy was performed at this Leeds University
concert, but lacking flair, drama and momentum. On the other hand, what’s
most important to the Who collector (strangely, I hadn’t encountered
this Tommy on bootleg) is that it is a gruff Tommy, and
although the band often sounds as if they’d just like to get it
over with, the vocals here are ragged and rough, and if the beginning
sounds rote, about twenty minutes in they develop an engagement with
the storyline and the sonic differences in each voice make this Tommy
unique and one I need to have.
Sandoz Lab Technicians: Microverse Wallpaper/Deep Blue Giant. (20city
20C-8, white vinyl 7", 16:00, http://20city.com). My only other
SLT disc is their LP on Siltbreeze, which the press release says is
similar to this slab of Japanese vinyl. Starts out with the tape running
fwd and back, the engineer’s (?) voice a chipmunk. There is a childlike
croon which nonetheless sounds like both a trumpet and the vocoder/wah-wah
on Sly’s "Don’t Call Me..." It evolved into a Mazzacane-like
moan, with guitar and echoing percussion and blocks. "Deep Blue
Giant" featured a modal-style percussive rhythm, with various plucked
sounds adding to the mystery. Fans of free improv will appreciate this
side much. The recording is distant and distorted, appropriate to the
work. SLT uses no overdubs. If, like me, you collect (and, of course,
enjoy) this stuff, pounce. A striking sleeve: one side colorful Japanese
graphics and the other old, browned paper. The disc’s label is
especially beautiful. This quartet is from New Zealand.
Sukora: Two Horses EP (20city 20C-7, clear vinyl 7", http://20city.com).
This is one fantastic piece of sound... a mid bass extended roll with
random chucks, as if a turntable were playing a long silent groove played
on an old turntable with a penny taped to the headshell, but this is
not microsound. It is industrial: as in a factory, not the mislabeled
pop genre. Side B is whooshier, with lots of grinding clicks, almost
a Geiger counter, or a creaky door. I love this e.p. and expect I’ll
play it as often as Aube’s masterpiece Quadrotation, a box
of four 7"s.
Seth Nihil: Uva (20city 20C-9, 3" CD, 20:27, http://20city.com).
The sound of clinking bottles, keys jangling, maybe these are some of
the source materials. Then metallic scree comes in and mutated voice
that is cut for sonority; not the usual tired random radio splooge.
The tinkles become more pronounced only because the noisier components
dissipate. When you think it’s going to end, it t further evolves
with a watery plink sound, which reminds me of the sound of a grove
of bamboo in the wind. Uva holds up structurally and is a lot
more interesting than a lot of the electroacoustic stuff we’ve
been getting.
Rajesh Mehta: Reconfigurations (between the lines btl 010, 53:05,
betweenthelines.com) The trumpeter here, manning the slide trumpet,
the bass, the normal one and the hybrid and "extensions,"
is in amazing company. Ray Kaczynski, a new name to me, does incredible
percussion, a masterly painter whether doing brush strokes or rimshots.
Aleksander Kolkowski, also new to me, plays the Stroh violin and viola,
Vlatko Kucan plays a few clarinets and saxes, and the one entity known
to me, Peter Niklas Wilson, turns in a finely turned bass. I skipped
the notes about the math and the mantra because the music speaks for
itself, and luckily, the mathematics disappear into the musical performance.
A must-have for any lover of improv. One of the very best of this past
year.
Dom Minasi: Takin’ The Duke Out (CDM 1001, 55:36, cadencebuilding.com).
A fine surprise this is, the guitarist’s previous work on other
so-so discs made me think he was, well, so-so. In a trio with bassist
Ken Filiano and drummer Jackson Krall, all three shine in this set of
Ellington standards that are set quite free, live in concert at the
Knit. Krall sparkles here; never one to take the forefront, his subtlety
often makes one overlook his excellent playing with a wide variety of
collaborators. Filiano was best known as a west coast player who often
worked with reedman Vinny Golia (you must get Golia’s solo clarinet
disc on the Meniscus label) , but since moving to Brooklyn he seems
to be getting a lot of well deserved sessions.
All Ellington, all well-known standards, and all tracks rich with the
unexpected. Don’t allow the surfeit of unnecessary Ellington tribs
keep you from getting this one, superb in its own right.
Gutbucket:. Insomniac Dreams (Knitting Factory KFW-299, 49:09, knittingfactory.com).
Some tracks are like the Meters-with-free guitar skronk; others are
good but comfortable Knitting Factor Old Office downtown-style jams
on unremarkable structures. Some will like this a lot.
Terry Waldo’s Gutbucket Syncopators:. Hot House Rag (Delmark
DE-239, 64:24, delmark.com). For folks who like the New Orleans tradition,
hate the young lions, and sometimes wish they could listen to Armstrong
and crew in modern sound, this disc satisfies. It starts with "Beale
Street Blues", and smartly, trumpeter Roy Tate attempts no imitations.
This live 1971 recording now has an additional five tracks not on the
LP.
Cecil Payne, Chic Boom: Live At The Jazz Showcase (Delmark DE-529,
65:29, delmark.com). The baritone sax player, one of the creators of
bebop in Dizzy’s band with Chano Pozo, has a subtly smoldering
set here. His sound is always slightly skittering from the note, giving
it a casually gruff piquancy that grasps my attention. I’m less
than partial to jazz flute, with some exceptions (Kirk, Lateef, and
company) but Payne’s ballad work here has a surprisingly woody
tone and never veers off to become what, in some hands, is used instead
of a synth as aural-pastoral MSG. Jim Rotondi’s trumpet solos are
superb, in the bop/postbop tradition without sounding stale or showing
off with red herring high notes. Harold Mabern does his usual high-level
here, comping and soloing at the same time; rich stuff. This easily
joins my permanent collection. Payne’s explanation of the title
and "what jazz is," both in the liner notes and on the stand,
is a delight.
Vinny Golia: Clarient: 9 Pieces for Solo B flat Clarinet (Meniscus
MNSCS 008, 67:00, meniscus.com). Any solo "jazz" disc, not
counting piano. is a major test. One must have a clear vision, or allow
one to come from the work. Nothing is as bad as a bad solo sax record.
Golia’s solo effort, I believe his first (I own over fifteen of
his discs), works on every level. One positive sign is, that rightly
or not, one looks for signs of Evan Parkerisms, or Brötzmania,
or Series F solo scree, but there is none. This is Golia, melodic throughout
without being in any kind of mainstream or avant pigeonhole. I’ve
played this over and over, and last week on the subway, a Lenny Kravitz
lookalike sitting next to me asked if he could sample my headphones.
He agreed that he liked my can better than his own, but more important,
his eyes opened wide and he asked for a pen to write down the title
of this disc.
Fred Anderson: Dark Day/Live In Vienna (Atavistic UMS/ALP 218CD,
2CD, 59:21 + 73:35, atavistic.com). On The Run: Live at the Velvet
Lounge (Delmark 534, delmark.com). The seventy year old Chicago
saxophonist has a fanatical reputation, as well as detractors that say
he is merely, like the younger Ken Vandermark, a hometown hero. I’ve
heard Anderson live twice, in New York, and each performance found me
with a foot in each camp. I’ve accused him, and I’d be curious
to re-hear that live concert now after hearing these discs, of playing
as of he were at Jazz At The Philharmonic. On The Run moves both
my feet to stand firm and cheer, for this is a life affirming disc of
joy, with Tatsu Aoke and Hamid Drake making the triangle a circle. Long
pieces, deeply intense and flowing and rich. Each of the trio is superbly
attuned to the others (as well they would be after decades together)
and also takes solos superb not by it showing off, but in its connection
to the piece as a whole. Don’t to hesitate about acquiring this
disc. Now excuse me while I go back to relisten to my Anderson Okka
discs.
Then we take the way-back machine twenty-odd years back to Chicago,
at the Museum of Contemporary Art for a concert here labeled Dark
Day, where Anderson is joined by trumpeter Bill Brimfield, Steve
Palmore playing a plucky bass, and for those outside of Chicago who
think he’s a new invention, the personally affable and musically
astute percussionist Hamid Drake. This was previously issued on Message
LP 0004, and thanks again to producer John Corbett for reproducing the
original LP labels, here especially apt: an Afro-Egyptian face on a
pyramid, although Message was an Austrian label. These could easily
be any of the better Delmark releases from the time. (Delmark itself
has made each one of their AACM again available on good CD transfers.)
Like those, you can hear both a hesitant deliberacy and a surety in
the playing. These were, as the Rastas say, "conscious people,"
and although the structure seems to be clear in their minds, they soon
release all selfconsciousness and let free. If I didn’t play the
live Verona disc first, I might not have even noticed this. In the solos,
one can indeed hear roots references, postbop horns, mainstream bass
that slams nonetheless, but these are all aspects of free play. The
one piece by Drake, "The Prayer," only reveals its semi-Arabic
drumming patterns after you see the title. One notices mostly the repeating
plaintive figure given to the bass, and how midway it speeds up rapidly,
like an Indian raga (Drake plays tabla here). A striking piece to close
this concert at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. (New York’s
Museum of Modern Art continues its well-attended Friday concert series,
but sadly limits its programming to solid but hardly adventurous groups.
I don’t know what they were doing back in 1979, or what Chicago
offers now.)
The Verona concert is previously unreleased, and consists of three extended
pieces from 1979. These are extended improvisations that could easily
be taken for any current concert that included, say, William Parker,
yet still has the mindset (this is a compliment) of any extended "loft
jazz" piece of that same period. The final one, a take of "Dark
Days" from the Museum disc is slow and superb, with that playing
of Drake’s which I’m tempted to call filigree with is too
thick, rich and earthy for that. The audio is fine, the bass particularly
rich for a live gig from that time. Brimfield’s trumpet work shines.
You can hear some similarities with Roy Campbell’s work, in those
out-side top notes which revert to solos and lines with proud freebop
roots. In the UMS series there have been a frighteningly large proportion
of superb discs; this one is a must-have, hands down.
Peter Brandlmayer: Apparatur Zu Den Grundlagen Der Physik I (Durian
014-2, 40:10, durian.at/brandlmayer.html). This electronic music is
of the quiet variety. but not microclicks or quiet fields rustling.
The four pieces labeled "Experiment" use various raspy sounds,
with gong-like low thunder and quick-crescendoing smears like those
opening those opening the Stones’ "5,000 Light Years From
Home." The first one uses a delightful sand texture with an interesting
rhythm (not "beat"). Brandmayr’s music isn’t very
original, but the textures are enjoyable and it repays repeated listening.
A two-minute computer piece using overheard voices is a throwaway. This
is part of Durian’s series packaged in a thin "clamshell"
with (scant, if any) liner notes on the Website noted above. This series
is pressed, not CD-R. The Website idea is a fine moneysaver for any
record company, but Durian, please: beautiful as the design is, we want
information about the artist and the works.
Knurl: Paramecium (Panta Rhei Recordings, CD-r in folio,
44:17, movknurl@interlog.com). Five tracks of thick-textured mid-bass
noise which seem to parallel the maroonish color of the packaging and
the textured label and come at you full force like the wind in one of
those loudspeaker ads. Jet engine roar with metal scree; a perfect antidote
to the microgiltch music you were previously enjoying. Knurl’s
(Alan Bloor of Toronto) previous release was under the name Pholde,
covered positively last column.
Buddy DeFranco: Blues Bag (Koch KOC-CD-8545, 42:25, kochentertainment.com).
Originally Veejay 2506 (thank you, Koch, for having this data plus the
payers on the outside of the package) excellent mainstream clarinetist
DeFranco here uses only bass clarinet. The sidemen are all no less than
masters: Blakey, Morgan, Fuller, Feldman, Freddie Hill and Victor Sproles.
It’s a fun night at a jazz club, although recorded at United Studios,
Hollywood, in 1964. One tune each by notes-writer Leonard Feather, DeFranco’s
title track, Monk’s Straight ‘"No Chaser," Feldman’s
"Rain Dance," Ornette’s "Blues Connotation,"
Trane’s "Cousin Mary." and Diz’s "Kush."
Great tunes, great players and yet the session is merely pleasant. DeFranco’s
own liners show he understands each tune very well; the problem, I’m
guessing, is that he’s relying on his solid support, yet he needs
to get out there. He plays his bass clarinet as he does his clarinet,
but with no utilization of the extra depth it can do. I don’t know
if this is his choice, or his ability at the time, or if he’s just
coasting. Only "Kush" threatens to catch fire. Not a bad disc
by any means, but it couldn’t've been so much more.
Marlon Simon and the Nagual Spirits: Rumba a la Patato. (CuBop
CBCD 027, ubiquityrecords.com). The percussionist leader has put together
a session of Latin jazz that has no moments of fusion; this is all Latin
and all jazz. In the opening "Rumba a la Patato," for the
late congero Valdez, Bryan Lynch’s trumpet solo stands out. All
the compositions are originals. If the melodies don’t stick with
out long after, all serve as fine vehicles for solid work. "Belleza
India" is a lovely ballad with Bobby Watson offering a solo on
alto sax which isn’t merely pretty but seems to narrate a story.
Throughout, Luis Perdomo is strong and tasty on piano, both chords and
lines, many touches often recalling McCoy Tyner’s work.
Peter Warren and Matt Samolis: Bowed Metal Music. (Innova 546,
composersforum.org). Several friends have told me they love this disc,
the varying timbres of the drone of these bowed cymbals and metal sheets
they call "steel cellos." The drone’s components are
varied, but I don’t find these tones particularly interesting,
either through my trusty old Technics job or my newer California Audio
Labs player, and Martin-Logan Aerius speakers. This is a live concert,
and one continuous piece although given track numbers for convenience.
(I wish all CD players continued to carry the nearly obsolete index
feature, and disc companies spend the extra pennies to insert them.)
About 22 minutes in, things pick up pace, texture, movement. 5 minutes
into track three, it starts to take off like an aeroplane, sonically,
that is. I’ve preferred similar from Arnold Dreyblatt or Ellen
Fullman.
Brad Shepik: Short Trip (Knitting Factory P206CD, 42:25, knittingfactory.com).
Despite the futuristic copyright typo of 20001, this disc finds the
guitarist looking back. This would fit in well with any of your Kenny
Burrell or Benson-plays-guitar discs. Having drummer Tom Rainey work
with bassist Scott Colley drives the ‘tasty’ level up to the
top, if you want something light but far from vapid. Dave Douglas praises
Shepik in the liner notes, but starts by saying "I don’t want
to talk about those styles," not mentioning what those styles are,
other than that when they first met Shepik was working through Monk,
and now European ethnic musics. Douglas ends up saying forget style,
and listen to the "well crafted" music. Beautiful graphic
design.
Rick Margitza: Heart of Hearts (Palmetto PM2058, 42:25, palmetto-records.com).
The saxophonist phrases much like Stan Getz. Scott Colley’s always
dependable bass (in freeer settings is he is, well, more free) is joined
by paint-by-numbers pianist Joey Calderazzo and tasty drummer Ian Fromer.
Mainstream with nothing bad and no surprises, save the final cut, "Some
Of the Things I Am," a witty take on "All The Things You Are,"
penned by the leader. Margitza, I assume, overdubs himself with very
nice intertwining of tenor and soprano; it’s the one spot here
where playing with yourself is a true joy.
California Guitar Trio: Rocks the West (Discipline Global Mobile
DGM003, 52:28, disciplineglobalmobile.com). This release from Robert
Fripp’s new label scared me just by seeing the group’s name.
Recorded live, the trio is high spirited, and I’d recommend NPR
hook up to this one, with its clever and non-Muzak (TM) take on the
chorale from Beethoven’s Ninth, and Queen’s "Bohemian
Rhapsody." "Caravan" chugs along with an interesting
scrape, and then some fine freeplay, but the bluegrass component added
here makes an awkward mix. Although this is not my kind of thing, I
can easily recommend it for those whose guitar tastes range from String
Cheese Incident to John Renbourn.
"Timeless," Tribute to Hank Williams (Lost Highway
088 170 239-2, 42:25, universalmusic.com). The tribute album is usually
just for fans, as covers rarely extend the song in any useful way. This
album is solid with no bums tracks, reminding us just what a fine songwriter
Williams was. I’d just been listening to the eight CD Hank Williams
box (superceded by a longer longbox) and find this set ever more listenable
thanks to the variety of voices and apt performances. It opens with
Bob Dylan doing "I Can;t get You off My Mind" and closes with
Johnny Cash in "I Dreamed About Mama Last Night." Those are
no-brainers, and the EmmyLou Harris tracks shine, her "Alone and
Forsaken" is totally haunting. A treat for me is Sheryl Crow’s
"Long Gone Lonesome Blues," as I only know Crow my name, but
here she recalls no one so much as Maria Muldaur, and I intend to seek
out her other work. Keb’ Mo’ recalls 1960s Taj Mahal in the
purity of his "I’m So Lonesome I could Cry," and the
arrangement of Beck’s "Your Cheating Heart" sounds like
toy piano with steel guitar; lovely. A total winner. Brainstorm: Ask
Elvis Costello do a full disc of Hank Williams.
Henry Threadgill’s Zooid: Up Popped The Two Lips (Pi Recording
PI 02, 45:30, pirecordings.com). Strange, this. The opener has a rhythm
much like a Ray Anderson New Orleans piece, but the instrumentation
is odd. The flute adds a moody spirit once doesn’t expect with
such rhythms. The sticks of the drums are constantly continuing the
parade, but this flute takes us back to fusion mode. The guitar adds
a banjo-like feel. A decade ago you might have expected this on a JMT
disc. The sax has that sweet-sour Osby tone. Superb guitar on "Dark
Black." Some nice trombone/didjeridoo work on "Around My Goose."
After much listening I still haven’t decided if I like this, but
if I listen this much, something’s going on. For fellow rabid lovers
of Too Much Sugar... and Threadgill’s trio of Columbia discs,
expect change, but expect fascination. The rhythms still have me shaking
my head, but also my behind.
Bennett Paster and Gregory Ryan. Grupo Yanqui (Dandelion Grooves
LP206CD, 70:43, grupoyanqui.com). Solid Latin jazz. Mongo Santamaria
wouldn’t be an unfair reference. On the first three tracks, Yosvany
Terry Cabrera provides some savory sax skeetering on the edge of sour;
I like it. Paster’s piano is mainstream jazz, and not bad at that.
Then come a few with more Latin-tinge, but less sabor. No groundbreaker
but way far from fusion, although a seventy minute disc creates some
longeurs, if I may mix my idioms.
Marc Copland. Haunted Heart & Other Ballads (hatOLOGY 581, 65:55,
cadencebuilding.com). Opening and closing with a song I detest, "My
Favorite Things," and even another take midway, pianist Copland
nonetheless won points if only by sounding unlike Evans, Jarrett or
Bley. It’s still a mainstream ballad disc, though. It’s Drew
Gress’ bass that really keep this disc going, rarely playing the
expected note, but always the right one. More variety of mood would
help over the long hour; it needn’t all be ponderously slow. One
track needs to be retitled "It Ain’t Necessarily Slow."
Maybe I’ll buy a changer. The disc includes "Crescent,"
"Greensleeves," "Soul Eyes," and "Haunted Heart,"
and individually each track is enjoyable.
Sun Ra Arkestra. Sunrise in Different Dimensions (hatOLOGY 581,
65:55, cadencebuilding.com). This reissue is a must-have, with Sonny
playing lots of strong, dense clusters on the opening track. Through
his piano is strong, with none of the meandering he sometimes did on
keyboards. This 1980 Willisau concert is an excellent all around Sun
Ra intro for newbies, only lacking vocals. Free playing for sure, but
lots of standards ranging from Sissle to Strays, Morton to Monk. The
new thin packaging is a space saver, but I love the color photos fronting
and backing the original hatART CD 6099, as well as in its booklet.
The remastering does strengthen the sound, the piano in particular,
and it’s now mastered at a higher volume. You needn’t replace
it if you own it, as there are no extra tracks, but if it’s missing
in your collection, this is a solid seventy minutes of freeplay which
will reward you way beyond the next set of reissues, as this set should
never be allowed out of print.
rev.99. turn a deaf ear (Pax PR90251, 51:22, paxrecordings.com).
What a wild, fun disc, combining the avant rantings of 99 Hooker, whose
politico-social "chaos poetry" is saved from being didactic
by (I know our Editor would hate this no matter what) a fabulously ironic
sense of humor, both in the text and in the delivery. Fellow travellers
are Ernesto Diaz-Infante and Chris Forsyth with Akio Makunoi and Ross
Bonnadonna. The latter two are new to me, the former are guys who ‘make
things happen’ in terms of performances and encouraging other musicians.
The weaponry here includes powerbooks, toy and real piano, glock (!),
and of course electric guitars, not to mention studio manipulations.
The first thirty minute suite is "Das Capital Crime," the
second twenty minute confab is "Possum Ridge Paralyzer."
But song and text quotations are apt and hold up to repeated listenings.
I’ve seen this one appear on a lot of avant radio playlists. You
already know if this is for you. Sadly ironic text predictions: "It
two hundred years we’ll know, but we should've seen it coming."
I Compani. Verdi: Aida (BVHaast CD 1001, 67:33, bvhaast.com;
cadencebuilding.com). I’m at a slight disadvantage here because
I have never liked the opera Aida, and in a recent fit of housekeeping,
deleted the five LP sets that had been gathering dust. I still cherish
my Don Carlo and a few fallen staves. Nonetheless, Aida
is just the excuse for this marvelous improvising group to take the
overture plus thirteen arias and interludes to make fine music. If you
enjoy the Carla Bley Big Band or the Willem Kollektief (this is on his
label) I have no doubt you will want this too. A previous disc of I
Compani, Luna Triste (BVHaast CD 9012) has been a great favorite
of mine for over a decade, doing joy to the music of Nino Rota. In Aida,
to quote the liners: "use styles that didn’t exist in Verdi’s
time: blues, jazz, tango and circus music, larded with improvisations
and samples." They do it well. Cellist Ernst Reijseger guests on
four numbers. Two tracks have vocals by Quirine Melssen, and she’s
neither operatic nor pop, but she’s appropriate for this endeavor.
Aida will be performed with the theater group Flint. I Compani’s
leader, Bo van de Graaf, comes from an Italian circus family, and so
it all comes together.
Pearl is releasing spoken word Middle English literature. I know,
it’s hard to find a Middle Englishman these days, but the brilliance
of the story-telling skills of Trevor Eaton is astounding. In the General
Prologue and The Reeve’s Tale, by Chaucer (Pearl GEM 0160,
77:54, kochentertainment.com), one can make out a great deal of the
story, but more important, his hypnotic story telling can be listened
to as music. The rhythm and cadence, the rise and fall of his voice
for the first time made me feel I can truly understand how, although
Chaucer didn’t fit into this category, the epic poems were heard
and passed down through the millennia. I will purchase the rest of the
series as they are released. These recordings, formerly on U.K. cassettes,
have excellent sound, and the 45 separate tracks make it very easy to
navigate.
Robin Nolan Trio’s Mediterranean Blues (Refined Records,
RR 1003, 63:34, www.refinedrecords.com) is recompilation from three
previous anthologies. Guitarist Nolan is tasty and, to his credit, short
on flash, and to his detriment, short on excitement. The jacket labels
this "Latin-fused acoustic jazz." You needn’t worry about
the fuse; it’s pure jazz. As for Latin, well there is the Spanish
guitar sound, but Django is rightly claimed the influence. Run-on alert,
but I’m ticked off: Shame on George Harrison, whose Electronic
Sound, on Apple’s experimental music imprint Zapple, is
one of the great lost computer-music discs (did he actually create it
all by himself?) and was a darned shrieking mop-top after all, for his
blurb which reads, "In these days of cacacophony, it’s good
to hear some proper music!" With an exclamation mark yet! The boy
must have forgotten. As for Nolan, I’d be delighted to hear this
in a cafe, or while chatting. Exemplary sonics, and not too refined.
Any collector of Indian LPs discs is familiar with the EMI Dum Dum record
plant. As kids we used to have fun with that, all the while enrapt with
raag and filmi music. The Dum Dum Project is a dance cum ambient
ensemble of fine musicians, with a disc that isn’t quite bhangra,
nor is it trance. Export Quality (Groovy Sounds groove
05, 56:04, silvascreen.com) is what most call groove; to my taste better
for dance than for listening. Place Indian vocals and instruments whooshing
over the beats in an arena similar to Medeski, Martin and Woods, or
Spring Heel Jack. Then dance.
The Erköse Ensemble: Gypsy Music of Turkey
(Time Square TSQD 9008, 53:09, silvascreen.com). This ensemble wears
its heart in its playing, balancing that magical line between the ‘sleeve’
and the intellect, for this is very emotional music, yet it is not merely
party music. The clarinet is the historical and sonic connection here,
sounding like a middle eastern shenai, but one also clearly hears
the tzigane roots of a klezmer-like music. The rhythm section
is subtly propulsive, and nothing like those dreary eight-disc sets
of taqsim I regret buying. The disc is a winner on all fronts, with
two pages of well-written notes in small print about the history and
the structure of the music, though I wish for photos of the players
and the instruments. Recorded in Istanbul in 1991, this session is for
anyone who collects Ocoro. World Music Library, Buda and other labels
of the traditional musics. Beyond that, anyone interested in the klezmer
and eastern based jazz proliferating on the ‘downtown’ scene
will greatly enjoy this set. It’s prominently labeled "02"
on the cover, so off I search for what else this small label has to
offer.
[More articles by Steve Koenig.]
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