Lucky Psychic Hut

Nick's Instant Composers Pool Nonuple Feature

2012-01-29T19:44:00.028+01:00

Han Bennink + Willem Breuker
"New Acoustic Swing Duo"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1967; #001]

Willem Breuker: soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, Eb clarinet, bass clarinet

Han Bennink: bass drum, small and large tom toms, street parade drum, snare drum, tabla, banya, vibrapan, homemade rattles, cow and temple bells, Chinese 7inch giant cymbals, scraper, Chinese temple blocks, hi-hat, iron and wooden sticks, voice

Side A

Music for John Tchicai (6'48)
Felix Meritis and B.V. (4'24)
I.C.P. 1 for Maarten Derksen (1'33)
Singing the Impalpable Blues (2'48)
Mr M.A. de R. in A. (3'09)

Side B

Gamut (21'40)

total time: 40'22

All compositions by Willem Breuker.

Recorded on November 19 and December 10, 1967 at Felix Meritis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Engineer: Gerard van Beusekom.
Recorded on B & O Beocord 2000 de Luxe, using two Sennheiser MD 421 microphones and BASF tape.
Cover design by Han Bennink.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 230 MB ]

see for an older post here

Maarten van Regteren Altena
"Handicaps"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1973; #012]

Maarten van Regteren Altena: double bass

Side A

Handicaps I (19'42)
Marja's Dream (1'40)

Side B

Strabasky (2'52)
Woody Woodpecker (3'14)
Basta (1'45)
Dog's Delight (1'22)
Handicaps II (8'59)
The Elephant (1'23)

total time: 40'57

All compositions by Maarten van Regteren Altena.

Recorded in Amsterdam on June and July 1973.
Engineer: Alwin Mulder.
Cover photograph by Pieter Boersma.
Cover design by Marja Samsom.
Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 156 MB ]

see for an older post here

Dolphy, Mengelberg, Schols, Bennink / Eeko, Mengelberg
"Instant Composers Pool"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1974; #015]

Side A

Eric Dolphy: bass clarinet
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Jacques Schols: double bass
Han Bennink: drums

- Epistrophy (Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke) (18'19)

Recorded in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, on June 1, 1964.

Side B

Eeko (grey red-tail parrot): voice (whistling, speaking and clacking)
Misha Mengelberg: piano

- Instant Composition 5/VI/'72 (3'11)

Recorded in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on June 6, 1972.

total time: 21'30

Produced by ICP Records.
Cover design, photography, lay-out and translation by Sipke Huismans.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 81 MB ]

Maarten van Regteren Altena
"Tuning the Bass"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1975; #019]

Maarten Altena: double bass

Side 1 (22'58)

Tuning the Bass
Spaghetti
The Grater
Tuning
Derek, Wilbur and the Blues
Smoking the Cigar
Tuning

Side 2 (19'06)

Ricordato
Martinez
CDL
Handicaps III
Macanudo
The Elephant II

total time: 42'04

All compositions by Maarten van Regteren Altena.

Music recorded during live performance at Frascati, Amsterdam on May 2, 1975.
Recording engineer: Alwin Mulder.
Sleeve design by Marja Samsom.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 159 MB ]

ICP 10-tet
"Tetterettet"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1977; #020]

John Tchicai: alto saxophone
Gilius van Bergeyk: alto saxophone, oboe
Peter Bennink: alto + sopranino saxophones
Peter Brötzmann: alto-, tenor- and baritone saxophones
Bert Koppelaar: trombone
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Tristan Honsinger: cello
Michel Waisvisz: crackle box
Alan Silva: double bass
Han Bennink: drums, bass clarinet

Side A

Tetterettet V + VI (4'59)
Tetterettet IX (4'43)
Tetterettet XII (1'05)
Tetterettet XIV (7'37)
Tetterettet XV (6'50)

Side B

Alexander's Marschbefehl (Mengelberg) (11'01)
Rumboon (Mengelberg) (3'39)
Kwik Kwek Kwak (Koppelaar) (3'23)
Valse Trouvée (van Bergeyk) (2'35)
Ludwig's Blue Note (van Bergeyk) (4'59)
Dank (Mengelberg) (1'17)

total time: 52'08

Compositions on Side A by Misha Mengelberg, exc. V also by Feher (?).

Recorded in Uithoorn, Amsterdam and Utrecht, The Netherlands on September 14-17, 1977 by Misha Mengelberg.
Design by Han Bennink.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 248 MB ]

Dudu Pukwana, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg
"Yi Yole"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1978; #021]

Dudu Pukwana: alto saxophone, whistle
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Han Bennink: drums, clarinet, viola, trombone

Side A

Yi Yole (Pukwana) 9'21
The King of Weasle is called Easle (Bennink) 10'46

Side B

Silopobock (Mengelberg) 18'44

total time: 38'51

Recorded by Misha Mengelberg at Uithoorn, The Netherlands on September 2-5, 1978.
Cover design by Han Bennink.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 185 MB ]

see for an older post here

ICP-Duo (Misha Mengelberg + Han Bennink)
"Bennink Mengelberg"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1981; #023]

Han Bennink: drums, soprano saxophone, trombone, etc.
Misha Mengelberg: piano

Side A

Kroeg A (4'45)
Kroeg B (10'00)
Bim A (8'05)

Side B

Jaquidic (Bim B) (11'11)
Islay Malt Jitterbug° (3'11)
Di Qui Ja (Bim C) (7'26)

total time: 44'38

Compositions on Side A by Han Bennink, on Side B by Misha Mengelberg.

Recorded by Dick Lucas in Amsterdam:
A1+2 on July 3, 1979 at De Kroeg,
B1+2 on November 2, 1979 at the Bimhuis,
B3 on June 13, 1980 at the Bimhuis,
A3 on March 28, 1981 at the Bimhuis.

Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.
Cover design by Han Bennink, 1981.

°entitled "Islay Malt Jitterburg" on the back cover (on the 'Live Soncino' album it is referred to as "Islay Malt Jetterburg")

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 190 MB ]

see for an older post here

Misha Mengelberg + ICP Orchestra
"Japan Japon"
[LP + 7-inch: IMA, Japan; #1 / ICP, The Netherlands; #024 / DIW, Japan; #1014 - all rel. in 1982
- CD issued by DIW, Japan, 2002; #454*]

Toshinori Kondo: trumpet, voice
Peter Brötzmann: alto-, tenor- + baritone saxophones, voice
Keshavan Maslak: alto + tenor saxophones, voice
Michael Moore: alto saxophone, clarinet
Joep Maassen: trombone
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Larry Fishkind: tuba
Misha Mengelberg: piano, voice
Maurice Horsthuis: viola
Han Bennink: drums, etc.

Side A

1. Salute to Fujisawa Shukoh (2'50)

Kwela:
- 2. Hap (3'28)
- 3. Boodshappen (6'57)
- 4. Welkom (2'04)
- 5. Briefkaart (3'47)
- 6. Maurits (1'41)

Side B

1. Habanera (6'21)
2. Carnaval (3'35)
3. Japan Japon (7'21)
4. Zing Zang Zaterdag (3'28)

Bonus

- Caravan (7'03) - bonus 7-inch vinyl record
- Brozziman (11'37) - bonus CD-track

total time: 60'12

All music composed by Misha Mengelberg, exc. B2 by Maurice Horsthuis, and CD-bonus by Ellington, Tizol, Mills.

Recorded live on May 11, 1982 at Shima-no-uchi Church, Osaka, and on May 17, 1982 at Sankei Hall, Tokyo.
Recording engineered by Tsutomu Suto.
Painting + design by Tomiyasu Shiraiwa.
Back cover photographs: Misuyoshi Nishida and Tsutomu Suto.
Produced by IMA (International Music Activity).
Co-produced by ICP (Instant Composers Pool).

vinyl- / CD-rip + scans [ FLAC, 305 MB ]

*see for an older post with the CD-version here

"New Movements in Jazz" - Radio Highlights from the Dutch-International Jazz Festival
Program 1: Instant Composers Pool + Guest Soloists
[LP: Radio Nederland Transcription Service, The Netherlands, 1987; #87.073]

Disc 1 of the 4-LP set ‘New Movements in Jazz’; other LP's feature Contraband, New Klookabilities and the Maarten Altena Octet (info from Sotise's post @ inconstant sol, 2008; links dead).

Steve Lacy: soprano saxophone
Sean Bergin: reeds
Michael Moore: reeds
Paul Termos: reeds
George Lewis: trombone
Garrett List: trombone
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Larry Fishkind: tuba
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Maurice Hortsthuis: viola
Ernst Reijseger: cello
Kent Carter: double bass
Han Bennink: drums

Side A

Gig (10'04)
Houseparty Starting (5'44)
Blue Chopsticks (3'44)
Change of Season (5'52)

Side B

Happenings (5'31)
Hangover Triangle (9'26)
Step Tempest (4'46)
12 Bars (6'58)

total time: 52'05

All compositions by Herbie Nichols, arranged by Misha Mengelberg.

Recorded at Meervaart, Amsterdam, The Netherlands on August 13, 1983.
Sound engineer: Arie Dubbeldam.
Mixed by Frits Bayens.
Produced by Michiel de Ruyter, Jan van Riemsdijk + Piet Hein van de Poel.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 271 MB ]

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thanks again to Nick for these new rips + scans:
"new vinyl, phono amp, or recording stream
- they sound good now!"
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Nick's Instant Composers Pool Sextuple Feature

2012-01-28T00:10:00.000+01:00

Han Bennink + Derek Bailey
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1969/1978; #004]

Derek Bailey: acoustic guitar
Han Bennink: drums, oeoe, gachi, conch-trumpet

Side A

An Old Woman is Shelling Beans Inside her Privy Parts. It Sounds "Like the Deep Croaking of a Frog" (14'45)
Suki (2'39)
Gachi = Long Tin African Trumpet (1'33)
Kst, Kst (1'38)

Side B

Good Morning, Derek I (10'49)
Chonkichonki (5'11)
Tsk, Tsk (2'28)

total time: 39'03

All compositions by Bennink + Bailey.

Recorded by André van de Water in Nederhorst den Berg on July 30, 1969 .
Photographs by Pieter Boersma.
Cover design by Han Bennink.
Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 188 MB ]

Misha Mengelberg, John Tchicai, Han Bennink, Derek Bailey
"Fragments"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1970/1978; #005]

John Tchicai: alto saxophone
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Derek Bailey: acoustic guitar
Han Bennink: drums

Side A

Fragment A (0'50)
Fragment B (8'58)
Fragment C (4'30)
Fragment D (1'10)
Fragment E (3'25)

Side B

Fragment F (3'46)
Fragment G (10'11)
Fragment H (5'14)
Fragment I (0'36)
Fragment J (0'52)

total time: 39'32

All compositions by Bailey, Bennink, Mengelberg, Tchicai.

Recorded by Onno Scholtze and Alwin Mulder in Rotterdam on March 3, 1970.
Photographs by Pieter Boersma.
Cover design by Han Bennink.
Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.
"These fragments actually are random snippets of a concert/studio performance: These were cut by Misha, then re-arranged in a different order (info from 'Willem Breuker - Maker van Mensenmuziek' by Francois & Jean Buzelin)" (info from Discogs).

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 157 MB ]

Willem Breuker Quartet + Will Spoor
"The Message" - Opera in 3 acts on a libretto by Will Spoor (excerpt)
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1971; #009]

Willem Breuker: clarinet, tenor saxophone, vocals (A3)
Willem van Manen: trombone
Peter Bennink: soprano & alto saxophone
Maarten van Regteren Altena: bass

with
Will Spoor: vocals (B1)

Side A

Ouverture (6'35)
Suffering (7'29)
Suicide Song (6'13)
Collision Stomp (5'16)

Side B

Thanksgiving Aria (6'01)
Trauermusik (10'41)
Telephone Song (1'11)
Ominous (2'39)
Final (5'09)

total time: 51'14

Compositions by Willem Breuker.

Recorded live at the Mickery Theatre Loenerslot, The Netherlands on January 23, 1971 by Alwin Mulder.
Production copy by André van de Water.
Cover photograph by Jaap Pieper.
Cover design by Han Bennink.
In conjunction with Mime Theatre Will Spoor.
Produced by Will Spoor + I.C.P.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 231 MB ]

see for an older post here

Han Bennink + Misha Mengelberg
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1971; #010]

Misha Mengelberg: piano, "Putney" synthesizer (EMS VCS3)
Han Bennink: drums, dhung, rkangling, log drums, khène, vibra-pan, kaffir piano, dhung-khar, oe-oe, elong, voice

Side A

And the Great Spotted Woodpecker.......? "Tsjik, tsjik, tsjik" or "Kik" and a Very Fast Roll (Bennink) 22'28

Side B

Where is the Police? (Mengelberg) 19'26

total time: 41'54

Recorded by Onno Scholtze with 'Steim' Equipment at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam on March 3, 1971.
Cover design by Tomas Schmit.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 154 MB ]

Han Bennink
"Solo"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1972; #011]

Han Bennink: drums, dhung, rkangling, khène, oe.oe, voice, soft trumpet, a fiddle-like instrument, prepared trombone, recording of Brazilian jungle, mokugyo, rolmo, silnyen, kazoo, etc.

Side A

Kit 1 (2'42)
Vlo Vlo Vlo Vlo Gaga (0'48)
Fiddleelddif (13'18)
Spooky Drums A (0'39)
Nervebeats (2'22)
Kit 2 (1'22)
Soft Trumpet (1'10)

Side B

Listen the Birds (5'21)
Kit 3 (4'08)
Khène + Voice (5'03)
Spooky Drums B (0'52)
Bumble-Rumble (1'35)
Lick (0'14)
Kit 4 (2'30)

total time: 42'04

All compositions by Han Bennink.

Recorded by Han Bennink at his home in Nieuwersluis, Loenen aan de Vecht, 1971-1972.
Cover design and photographs by Han Bennink.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 188 MB ]

see for an older post here

Steve Lacy, Michel Waisvisz, Maarten Altena, Han Bennink
"Lumps"
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1974/1978; #016]

Steve Lacy: soprano saxophone
Michel Waisvisz: EMS VCS3 synthesizer (nicknamed "The Putney")
Maarten van Regteren Altena: double bass
Han Bennink: drums, home made junk, vibra pan, wailophone + hanrinet(te) (A2), rolmo, bird calls, decoys

Side A

The New Duck (3'37)
Torments (10'35)
Lumps (7'14)

Side B

Snips (9'30)
Chops (11'14)

total time: 42'10

All compositions by Steve Lacy.

Recorded in Utrecht September 23, 24 + 29, 1974 by Nico Bes with Steim Equipment.
Sleeve design by Marja Samsom.

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 220 MB ]

see for an older post here

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thanks for all these new rips + scans to Nick!
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Paul Schwarz featuring Bernd Konrad - Sali (1985)

2012-01-27T00:10:00.000+01:00

[LP: Creative Works, Switzerland, 1986; #CW 1003]

Paul Schwarz: church organ
Bernd Konrad: baritone-, soprano- + sopranino saxophones, bass clarinet, enigmatic voices

Side A

1. Chinatown (11'53)
- dedicated to Roman and Paul Polanski -

2. HaMaKo (take 2) (6'58)
- dedicated to Hans Koller -

3. Dedications (5'44)

Side B

1. New Africa Sali (6'49)
- dedicated to the children of Africa -

2. HaMaKo (take 1) (7'07)
- dedicated to Hans Koller -

3. Epilogue (7'46)
- dedicated to Thelonious Monk and Marion Brown -

total time: 46'17

All compositions by Paul Schwarz, exc. A3 by Paul Schwarz + Bernd Konrad.

Recorded on December 1985 at Musikhochschule, Stuttgart, Germany by Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg.
Engineer: Johannes Wohlleben.
Cover concept, design + layout by Bernd Wendt.
Cover photograph by Tom Doch.
Liner photography: K. W. Meyer zu Uptrup (B. K.), H. Kumpf (P. S.).
Produced by Mike Wide + Juergen Abi Schmitt.

vinyl-rip + scans [ MP3-192kb/s, 67 MB | FLAC, 247 MB ]

[re-up] Morocco: Berber Music - A Marriage in the Eastern High Atlas (1973)

2012-01-27T00:05:00.001+01:00

Maroc: musique berbère - un mariage dans le Haut-Atlas oriental
[LP: Vogue, France, 1975; #LDY. 28.029]

"[...] There is a season for moussems (Saints festivals), weddings, circumcisions, and seasonal harvests that traditionally occur in the late summer months. This is a time of ilhwa (play) as opposed to temmara (hard manual labor). It is uncommon for collective music to formulate naturally in the 'off' or work season, though people are apt to make music wherever they are individually. (Katherine E. Hoffman, Generational Change in Berber Women's Song of the Anti-Atlas Mountains, Morocco. Ethnomusicology, Vol. 46, No. 3 (Autumn, 2002), p. 535)

Music accompanies all of the festival season in predominantly in collective forms. Individual performances are kept 'in check'. Through active participation of a chorus of singers whenever a bride is singing poetry on the way to her wedding, or an itinerant musician is singing love poetry over an ahidus (large collective dance of the Atlas), or a rais (plural rways, Chleuh professional musician) is singing over an ahwash (dance of the Sous and High Atlas), music still remains communal despite some soloists. In the dances, many of the dancers also play the allun (tambourine). A large number of drummer-dancers secure the power into the hands of the collective. These are but a few examples of where one performer stands out in a generally active public.

musicians chickhat (as on tracks B4+5)

Sometimes the participation in the collective dances is treated as if it were work because participation is necessary. This phenomenon occurs during the festival season in the village celebrations, where the leader of the laâmt (group of musicians of a village), elected for the season, has the power to fine those absent without good reason save pregnancy, orthodoxy, or sickness. Nonetheless, the large dance may arrive unsuspected. Possibly excited by the musical instigations of just one with a drum and all may fall together into the grand spectacle at any moment. Should it stop however, there is a problem and long discussions may hopefully start the music again.

The system of music of the Berber regions of Morocco elevates it to a status higher than that of entertainment, for entertainment would be solely for those who do not participate, or do not know the music (outsiders). It is a chance for social interaction or the remedy of intra- or intertribal problems. However, those that participate do so for a number of reasons. Tribal pride is important, but Aydoun also mentions 'des signes magico-religieux' (Ahmed Aydoun, Les Musiqes du Maroc. Editions Eddif et Editions Autres Temps Janvier 2001, p. 90). Even the 5 beat rhythms of the ahidus have rapport to the hand of protection against evil. The music has a utilitarian and spiritual value which outweighs its aesthetic value, for the small numbers that stand and observe only are few and probably outsiders from or émigrés visiting from the city.

What hurts this utopian picture of collective song and dance is professionalism. Bernard Lortat-Jacob observes that collectivism is hard to escape, and its opposite, individualism, is promoted by professionalism. Professionalism is the modern way out of the collective system for musicians. It is compatible with modern life but not with tradition:

Professionalism would require relationships incompatible with the traditional social and economic structures based on low specialization, in which a dependable mutual aid system is preferred to transactions with money. It seems only natural that there should be no professional musicians in this context... [...] (Bernard Lortat-Jacob, Community Music as an Obstacle to Professionalism: A Berber Example. Ethnomusicology, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1981), p.88)"

(from Stefan Santiago, Amazigh History and Culture, final paper, 2009 @ Facebook)

viola and tambourine (as on track B2)

Side A

Ahidus hayfa (1'52)
Ahidus amssad (3'55)
Song (izlan) (2'40)
Tambourine + oboe (5'03)
Poem (tamdyazt) (2'52)

Side B

Tamawayt (2'27)
Ahidus "of Ayt Lahssayn" (2'34)
Ahidus "of Ayt Lahssayn" (repeat) (3'49)
Song (izlan) (2'27)
Song (izlan) (2'54)
Dance amssad (1'49)
Dance hggwa (4'23)

total time: 36'45

Recorded by Bernard Lortat-Jacob (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Département d'ethnomusicologie du Musée de l'Homme, Paris).
Recorded in Tounfite, High Atlas, Morocco in 1973.
Technical realisation by Jean Schwarz, Département d'ethnomusicologie du Musée de l'Homme.
Photos by Bernard Lortat-Jacob (cover photo: Ahidus hayfa, as on track A1).

vinyl-rip + scans [ FLAC, 251 MB ]

[re-up] Steve Beresford - Eleven Songs for Doris Day (1985)

2012-01-27T00:00:00.001+01:00

[10": nato/Chabada, France, 1985; #OH7; CD-release in 1994]

"Clever cats have always thought it possible to make sarcastic remarks about Doris Day without incurring people's wrath, yet she is one of the most popular artists of film and song. She's often been treated with disdain as a harmless virginal being, though in her time she's partnered some of the most seductive figures of the screen as well as major jazzmen.

So although Miss Lucky Charm has vanished from film- and music-lovers' memories today, she's still with us in the universe of Steve Beresford, who harbours an eternal, unflinching passion for her. Here he performs several classics of the heroine of 'The Man Who Knew Too Much' (perfect, as Hitchcock used to say); there are also two songs that pay tribute to her without any pillow talk.

Deb'bora, Tony Coe and Terry Day are the soloists in this first version of his brilliant band created to perform the singer's repertoire plus the titles dedicated to her memory."

(Les Allumés du Jazz)

Steve Beresford @ the European Free Improvisation pages

Steve Beresford: piano, euphonium, melodica, vocals on A1, A3, B4, backing vocals on B1
Deb'bora: vocals on A2-5, B1, B4-6, backing vocals on A1
Tony Coe: tenor & soprano saxophone, clarinet, backing vocals on A1
Terry Day: drums, alto saxophone on B2+B5, vocals on B2, backing vocals on B1
with the participation of the Andalusian Dog on B1

Side A

I Was There (Brenner, Beresford) 3'16
Secret Love (Webster, Fain) 2'53
Let it Ring (Edwards, Duddy) 3'57
Serenade in Blue (Gordon, Warren) 4'28
Sentimental Journey (Green, Brown, Horner) 3'27

Side B

The Black Hills of Dakota (Webster, Fain) 2'23
It's Magic (Cahn, Styne) 3'06
Que Sera, Sera (Livingston, Evans) 0'58
At Last (Gordon, Warren) 3'53
I'm Beginning to See the Light (George, Hodges, Ellington, James) 2'02
Back in Cincinnati (Brenner, Beresford) 3'53

Recorded on July 31, August 1 & 2, 1985 by Daniel Deshay at Studio nato, Chantenay-Villedieu.
Cover illustration and design by Pierre Cornuel/Sara Moerdijk. Photograph of Steve Beresford by Caroline Forbes.
Produced by Jean Rochard.
"Steve Beresford thanks Jane Root a lot."

Download [ vinyl-rip | mp3-320kb/s, 81 MB ]

Al Neil - Boot + Fog (1979-80)

2012-01-25T21:53:00.007+01:00

[LP: Music Gallery Editions, Canada, 1980; #MGE 33]

"Al (Alan Douglas) Neil. Pianist, composer, visual artist, author, b Vancouver 26 Mar 1924. He studied with Glenn Nelson and Jean Coulthard but, save for some lessons with Wilf Wylie, was self-taught as a jazz pianist. Drawn to bebop by recordings of Bud Powell, et al, he began playing in Vancouver clubs in the late 1940s with his own groups and as a sideman to other musicians. Neil was a central figure in the 1950s and early 1960s at the Cellar, a musician-operated Vancouver club, where he accompanied such US jazzmen as Carl Fontana, Art Pepper, and Sonny Red. He was seen in performance at the Cellar with the saxophonist Glenn MacDonald and the bassist Don Thompson in the NFB's In Search of Innocence (1963). A Neil quartet from this period (Dale Hillary, alto saxophone; Lionel Chambers, bass; Bill Boyle, drums) was heard with the poet Kenneth Patchen on the LP Kenneth Patchen Reads with Jazz (1959, Folk FL-9718).

Briefly inactive, Neil returned to music with a trio (Richard Anstey, bass; Gregg Simpson, drums) in 1965, introducing the freer and more personal - if not, eventually, wholly eccentric - performance style that would characterize his music over the next 20 years. In a review of the limited edition LP, The Al Neil Trio Retrospective: 1965-1968 (Lodestone lr-7001), released in 1976, Richard Baker (Coda, Feb 1977) observed that Neil's music from this period 'sounded strange even to ears already accustomed to Ornette [Coleman], Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra. Neil derived as much from John Cage, Alfred Jarry, the I Ching... as from any trends in free jazz or, for that matter, bop... [D]evelopments during the intervening years make it difficult to realize what a departure these performances represented at the time'.

Music has shared Neil's attention with writing and visual art. His writings, which are often of a semi-autobiographical nature and recount some of his experiences as a musician, include poems, a novel (Changes, Toronto 1975; London, Ont, 1989), and a collection of short stories (Slammer, Vancouver 1980). In the visual arts he organized multimedia performances in the 1970s and turned to mixed-media collage in the early 1980s. Most of his infrequent concerts/readings/installations during the post-Cellar period have been in gallery settings, eg, at his own Sound Gallery and Motion Studio (1966), the Vancouver Art Gallery (1968, 1972 - as part of the one-man show West Coast Lokas - and 1989), the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (1969), Museum of Modern Art, Paris (1973), and the Coburg Gallery, Vancouver (annually, 1984-7). He also gave several concerts in Vancouver during the 1980s at the Western Front, where a show of his collages, 'Origins: Celtic Series,' was mounted on the occasion of his 65th birthday.

Neil's collaborators in the 1970s and 1980s included the percussionists Simpson and Howard Broomfield (the latter for the LP Boot and Fog, 1979, Music Gallery Editions MGE 33) and the bassists David Lee, Lisle Ellis, and Clyde Reed. A second Neil retrospective, Selections: 3 Decades, produced by Lee, John Oswald, and Alex Varty, was issued on cassette by Lee's Nightwood Editions in 1991."

(from The Canadian Encyclopedia)

more info:

Al Neil website @ Vancouver Art in the Sixties
conversation with Bill Smith, 1970 @ Vancouver Jazz
interview, 1972 @ Rick McGrath's homepage
biography by François Couture @ allmusic
biography + photo gallery @ Jazz Street Vancouver
improvised music in Vancouver @ Point of Departure

Al Neil: piano, vocals (A3, B1+2), pre-recorded tapes (A3, B1)

with
Howard Broomfield: percussion (B1)

Side A

Ruby My Dear (Thelonious Monk) 7'25
Grease Lightning (Neil) 8'40
Stonehenge (Neil) 6'12

Side B

Euclid (Neil) 10'25
Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen) 5'58
Meditation (Neil) 4'28

total time: 43'07

Recorded 1979-80 in Toronto, Canada (?).
Edited by John Oswald.
Cover photo by Carole Itter.
Lettering by Al Neil.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-320kb/s, 100 MB | flac, 149 MB ]

thanks to Nick for this contribution!

african fiesta @ 45tours on vita 1963-5 docteur nico 04

2012-01-24T03:19:00.007+01:00

Here's the final installment of the Nico Vita story, just in case the end of days has come. The last track, Kamulanga, from a YouTube post, is a mystery track. Nico Discographer Alastair Johnston believes it may be African Fiesta Sukisa, formed in the wake of Nico's split with Rochereau. Whatever the case, it's killer. Hopefully the good Docteur's Sukisa 45s will appear here at the Hut as the dust settles.

docteur nico african fiesta @ 45 tours
the far from complete vita singles 1963-5
part 04 - vita 76-128

01 76a Camalée
02 76b Kiboloso
03 77a Exhibition Dechaud
04 78a Mambo Hawaiienne
05 78b PB Zonga
06 79a Imana ya Daring
07 81a Au Complet
08 82a Libala nde bisengo
09 82b Naleli godee
10 100a Amartes
11 100b Minge Rumba Fiesta
12 101a Amasco rwe dima
13 101b Makila eyina nzoto
14 103a A Mimeza
15 103b Worriend
16 104a Indicatif African Fiesta
17 104b Nkulu Mobongisi
18 105a Asi Tu Viere
19 105b Molangi Ya Malasi
20 106a Foti Ya Ye
21 106b Le Chant de Malory
22 107b Calabosso
23 108a Sukisa
24 108b Tabalissimo
25 109a Cubana na Vis-a-Vis
26 109b Pablito
27 110a Café Rio
28 110b Majolina
29 111b Jaloux Jaloux
30 113a Carolina Carolina
31 114b Mama Ida
32 123a Kele Ya Nini Saka
33 123b Pablo Gonzales
34 128a Omeli Mavi na Tonga
35 ???? Kamulanga

cd and vinyl and downloads @ various bitrates

african fiesta @ 45tours on vita 1963-5 docteur nico 03

2012-01-23T11:44:00.009+01:00

Another day, another DL source, on a wing and a prayer...

docteur nico african fiesta @ 45 tours
the far from complete vita singles 1963-5
part 03 - vita 51-75

01 51a Natiya Zuwa Tina
02 51b Seis Linda Cubana
03 53a Ivi
04 54a Ya Gaby
05 54b L'Age Et L'Amour
06 55b Mwama Wa Mamu
07 56a Rochereau Pascal
08 57a Fiesta Kombo Ya Sika
09 57b Tozali Kozila
10 58b Contentieux Belgo-Congolais
11 59a Mama Egee
12 59b Maria Chantal
13 60a Lucie
14 60b Nadie No Puede
15 61a Santa
16 61b Tokei Koyekola
17 63b Mi Amore
18 64a Fiesta Na Milano
19 64b Mwana Ya Tabu
20 65a Sawa Ayaka Mozemba
21 65b Sey Sey
22 66a Madina 2
23 66b Nakokoma
24 67a Ba Bill Oye
25 67b Nin'zi
26 68a Mukala
27 68b Natali Yango Pamba
28 70b Guantanamera
29 71a Na Landa Baninga
30 71b Tosa Mpe Banga
31 72a Merengue President
32 72b Me Voy A Cantar
33 73a Biantondi Kasanda
34 73b Lolita
35 74a Domingo O Sabado
36 74b N'Daya Paradis

cd and vinyl and downloads @ various bitrates

Lucky Channels

2012-01-14T01:01:00.014+01:00

Channel 1 (74'09)

Channel 2 (63'16)

Channel 3 (77'50)

Channel 4 (79'22)

Channel 5 (80'03)

Channel 6 (77'36)

[6CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2012; #032]

Music compiled by Lucky in six channels, then sorted by chance, and finally selected and assembled into single files by Lucky.
Cover parts from an old postcard of Maison Kammerzell, Strasbourg, ca. 1890-1900 (from the Library of Congress).

A project for open ears.

Download [ mp3-192kb/s, 621 MB ]

Milt Franklyn + Treg Brown - More Road Runner Scores (1959-1962)

2012-01-09T21:29:00.009+01:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2012; #031]

Music and sound effects for the Warner Bros. cartoons directed by Chuck Jones.

"Milton J. Franklyn (September 16, 1897, New York – April 24, 1962, Los Angeles) was a musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros.' Looney Tunes animated cartoons.

Franklyn moved from New York to Salt Lake City at the age of three, where he went to high school and finished one year at the University of Utah. He was also the state junior tennis champion in Utah for six years. The next two years were spent at the University of California, Berkeley, then he began a term at Pennsylvania University when he was called to service in World War One. Franklyn did not serve overseas; he trained as a naval officer for three months and then the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. He returned to Berkeley to finish his education.

As Franklyn could play a number of instruments, he joined a band in San Francisco and for the next few years played at the Palace and St. Francis Hotels. He began his own nine-piece orchestra, known at various times as the Peninsula Band, the Super Soloists, and the Merrimakers, and appeared in San Mateo (1926 to June 1927), where he also owned a music store; San José (1928 to January 1929), where he was Master of Ceremonies and wrote revues for the California Theatre before moving on to Fresno and Oakland. For two years he was emcee with Fanchon and Marco at Fox West Coast in San Diego; musical director and emcee with Paramount Publix Corporation, travelling to Seattle, Denver, Houston and Toledo, and finally worked on the Loew's circuit in Providence, Rhode Island and New York City from 1933 to 1935. Franklyn quit vaudeville to go to Hollywood in 1935 and spent a year doing occasional work.

In early 1936, he joined Warner Bros, as music arranger to Carl Stalling, becoming music director in 1953. The first cartoon with Franklyn credited as a composer was Bugs and Thugs, released in 1954, though Franklyn estimated at the time his 599th cartoon for Warners was Past Perfumance. Franklyn always composed his scores at home early in the morning; he only went to the studio to watch the 30-piece Warner Bros. Orchestra record the music or to view the finished cartoon. Among the songs Franklyn is said to have composed with director Chuck Jones and writer Michael Maltese is The Michigan Rag for the 1955 cartoon One Froggy Evening, featuring Michigan J. Frog. However, the ASCAP database lists only Maltese as the composer. He became the sole composer in 1958 upon Stalling’s retirement. [...]"

(Wikipedia)

Hot-Rod and Reel! (1959) 6'12
Wild About Hurry (1959) 6'37
Fastest with the Mostest (1960) 7'04
Hopalong Casualty (1960) 5'53
Zip 'n Snort (1961) 5'42
Lickety-Splat (1961) 6'23
Beep Prepared (1961) 5'47
Adventures of the Road-Runner (1962) 26'03
Zoom at the Top (1962) 6'34

total time: 76'15

Original music composed, orchestrated and conducted by Milt Franklyn (1897-1962).
Sound effects by Tregoweth "Treg" Brown.
Coyote voice by Mel Blanc, archive sound of Road Runner by Paul Julian.
Additional voice characterizations on #8 by Dick Beals and Nancy Wible.

For info thanks to Dave Mackey's Warner Bros. Cartoons Filmography and Title Card Gallery and the Internet Movie Database (IMDb).
Compiled + ripped from the cartoons by Lucky.

Download [ mp3-128kb/s, 71 MB ]

More info about Carl Stalling and Treg Brown at my first post of Road Runner scores.

Krtek - Music for the Mole cartoons of Zdeněk Miler (1963-70)

2012-01-03T18:18:00.005+01:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2012; #030]

"The Mole (in the Czech original called Krtek, or Krteček (little mole); Slovak Krtko; German Der kleine Maulwurf; Hungarian Kisvakond; Polish Krecik; Finnish Myyrä) is an animated character in a series of cartoons, created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler.

It was first to be seen in 1956 in Prague, when Miler wanted to create a children's cartoon about how flax is processed. He wanted a strong Disney-influence to the cartoon by choosing an animal for the leading role, and decided to pick a mole after stumbling over a molehill during a walk. The first film called "Jak krtek ke kalhotkám přišel" ("How the mole got his pants") was released in 1956, and the cute main character won itself an enormous popularity in many Eastern European countries as well as Germany, Austria, India and China. Production for further episodes started in 1963 and since then, around 50 episodes have been created.

The first episode of the cartoon was narrated, but Miler wanted the cartoon to be understood in every country of the world, so he decided to use his daughters as voice actors, reducing the speech to short non-figurative exclamations in order to express the mole's feelings and world perception. They also became the bottleneck of the creation process as they were the ones who got to see the whole film first, thus Miler was able to decide whether the message of the movie was able to get to children or not. [...]"

"Music plays an important role in the cartoons, since the characters almost never utter more than emotional sounds, the most common of which is "Hello!". The original series' music uses acoustic and electric musical instruments, rather than synthesized ones."

(info from Wikipedia)

Czech composer Miloš Vacek

Wiliam Bukový (1932-1968) - Krtek a autíčko (The mole and the car) (1963) 14'27
Milan Kymlicka (1936-2008) - Krtek a raketa (The mole and the rocket) (1966) 8'39
Luboš Fišer (1935-1999) - Krtek a tranzistor (The mole and the radio) (1968) 8'14
Miloš Vacek (b. 1928) - Krtek a žvýkačka (The mole and the chewing gum) (1969) 7'27
Miloš Vacek - Krtek a zelená hvězda (The mole and the green star) (1969) 6'59
Miloš Vacek - Krtek v zoo (The mole in the zoo) (1969) 6'11
Miloš Vacek - Krtek zahradníkem (The mole as gardener) (1969) 6'56
Miloš Vacek - Krtek a ježek (The mole and the hedgehog) (1970) 8'36
Miloš Vacek - Krtek a lízátko (The mole and the lollipop) (1970) 8'11

total time: 75'40

Music and sound effects for the Mole cartoons of Czech animator Zdeněk Miler (1921 - 2011).
Compiled and extracted from the cartoons by Lucky.

Download [ mp3-128kb/s, 70 MB ]

[up-grade] Willem Breuker Quartet + Will Spoor - The Message (1971)

2012-01-03T00:00:00.006+01:00

Opera in 3 acts on a libretto by Will Spoor (excerpt)
[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1971; #009]

"Dutch saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and bandleader Willem Breuker is probably the single most well known, prolific, and influential figure in 20th century Dutch music. From his early, free jazz days to his role as long-time leader of the successful Willem Breuker Kollektief, he accomplished much in creative music from the 1960s on. In addition to performing, Breuker helped instigate changes in government subsidies for jazz and improvised music, he co-founded two important independent, Dutch labels - ICP and BVHaast - and he unabashedly mixed genres and incorporated humor and theater into his compositions, with a love of experimentation and a definite dedication to music.

On November 4, 1944, Willem Breuker was born into the final (and bare bones) winter of WWII and grew up in a middle-class home in Amsterdam East. He recalls a childhood filled with sound and music: loud neighbors, the yelling fish merchant, a marching band that rehearsed nearby, a barrel organist - all of these would leave their mark on the young boy. He first heard jazz around the age of 10, when he heard Dutch alto saxophonist Piet Noordijk (with whom Breuker would later play) over the radio. Breuker began taking music lessons around this time, studying singing, and, eventually, the clarinet. Even then, Breuker enjoyed improvising, and it wouldn't be very long before he wanted to play his own music. From early on, Breuker was listening not only to jazz such as Count Basie, but also modern classical including Béla Bartók, Charles Ives and Schoenberg. In fact, Breuker has told of being interested in just about every kind of music he heard, except for rock & roll.

He had the opportunity to learn another instrument, the bass clarinet, by joining a group which already owned one but needed a clarinetist. Breuker was eventually kicked out of the band rather publicly and had to relinquish the bass clarinet after a T.V. appearance by the band at the Loosdrecht jazz festival. The same musicians that took back the instrument would play in Breuker-led events many years later. After being denied admission to Amsterdam's conservatory, Willem Breuker began attending night school, with plans of becoming a teacher. But before he got his degree, Breuker was working professionally as a musician. Breuker was quickly more interested in playing originals as opposed to jazz standards, and so, he began composing in the early '60s. Around this time, he also performed at jazz competitions, sometimes winning prizes and, sometimes, causing quite a scandal. One of the best-known incidents involved Breuker covering some well-known songs penned by one of the festival organizers. He originally planned on including the songwriter in the performance, but the two did not get along and, in the end, Breuker played them horribly, on a plastic flute with his own, made-up words - much to the amusement of the audience and the horror of the judges. It was during these competitions that Breuker was first heard by band leader Theo Loevendie and pianist Misha Mengelberg.

Sigma Centrum Amsterdam, February 1967

Breuker was invited to join Mengelberg's quartet, but the new quintet line-up only lasted a few gigs before the two more traditional players, bassist Rob Langereis and saxophonist Piet Noordijk, left the band. Bassist Maarten Altena joined on for awhile but left after the quartet's 1967 festival appearances, leaving Mengelberg's band a trio. Meanwhile, Breuker and Bennink also had a duo project going, the New Acoustic Swing Duo, and released their first duo recording (this self-titled album was reissued in 1984) on their own label, ICP (Instant Composers Pool). Mengelberg became the third equal member of ICP and their label name quickly became an umbrella for a wide variety of line-ups. It wasn't too long before these groups included either Breuker or Mengelberg but not both, as the two musicians had clashing opinions on approaches to live performance, what ICP should be, and many other musical issues. Breuker wanted tunes and rehearsals; Mengelberg wanted instant composing. Breuker wanted more people admitted who would have equal voting rights; Mengelberg wanted the core three members to have final say. Both also had different takes on music theater, which all three got involved in during the late '60s. And so, both led their own gigs (although Mengelberg played markedly less often), with Bennink (who didn't choose sides) performing with both leaders, although more often with Mengelberg. Mengelberg and Breuker didn't record together after January 1969 until a recording session led by German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach 20 years later!

But Breuker did a lot more during these pre-Kollektief years, as well. He improvised with drummer Pierre Courbois (who, Breuker claims, was the first to play 'free' in Holland) who then introduced him to German musician Gunter Hampel. In 1966, Breuker composed a piece that addressed that summer's tumultuous political scene entitled "Litany for the 14th of June, 1966," which won second place at Loosdrecht, and earned recognition for Breuker as one of the first in Holland to incorporate national politics into music. This composition was performed a couple more times before being recorded in September, 1966 for Breuker's debut album, Contemporary Jazz for Holland/Litany for the 14th of June 1966. The first side of this album features a 17-piece band that included bassist (previously a guitarist) Arjen Gorter and Breuker's reeds teacher Ab van der Molen, while the second side is performed by a quintet including Mengelberg. That same month, Breuker performed on Boy Edgar's album, Finch Eye, and a few months later, in December, he performed on Hampel's date for ESP, Assemblage/New Music from Europe, and again with Hampel in Alexander von Schlippenbach's first Globe Unity Orchestra, which also included saxophonist Peter Brötzmann at the time. Breuker, incidentally, would perform and record in Gunter Hampel's groups well into the '70s and during one of these dates (July, 1969), would meet and perform with American reedsman Anthony Braxton. Breuker led a trio with Bennink and Altena (essentially, Mengelberg's quartet without Mengelberg) and performed in a trio with Brötzmann and Bennink in 1968. Breuker and Bennink were also part of Peter Brötzmann's landmark May, 1968 recording, the still-shocking Machine Gun, on which Breuker played tenor sax and bass clarinet.

Throughout this time, he led occasional performances for radio and continued composing, including scores for film and theatre. Some of the jazz musicians Breuker collaborated with, including Bennink, were less interested in repeat performances (rather necessary to theater) leading Breuker to work with more classical musicians during the late '60s. The more open-minded classical musicians were also necessary for some of his other compositional experiments, such as live performances using a timetable (that called for specific composers' works at specific times) instead of a score. He also toyed with a variety of instrumentations, as attested to by his works for 19 mandolins, a group including bagpipe, and his Lunch Concert for Three Barrel Organs (ICP 003). A 2-LP set referred to as "the chocolate box" (due to its packaging) that documented some of Breuker's work from 1968-70 was released on the ICP label, followed by The Message (ICP 009), written for a 1971, three-act 'opera' by a mime troupe. The early '70s brought Breuker's official split with ICP and early the following year, he was recording his Willem Breuker Orchestra. The Willem Breuker Kollektief took shape a couple of years later. (...)"

(Joslyn Lane, allmusic)

Interview with Willem Breuker by Bill Smith, 1977 @ VancouverJazz.com

Oltre Tomba, Brakke Grond Amsterdam, October 1973

Willem Breuker: clarinet, tenor saxophone, vocals (A3)
Willem van Manen: trombone
Peter Bennink: soprano & alto saxophone
Maarten van Regteren Altena: bass

with
Will Spoor: vocals (B1)

Side A

Ouverture (6'35)
Suffering (7'28)
Suicide Song (6'13)
Collision Stomp (5'14)

Side B

Thanksgiving Aria (5'59)
Trauermusik (10'38)
Telephone Song (1'14)
Ominous (2'36)
Final (5'12)

Compositions by Willem Breuker.

Recorded live at the Mickery Theatre Loenerslot, Holland on January 23, 1971 by Alwin Mulder.
Production copy: André van de Water.
Cover photograph: Jaap Pieper.
Cover design: Han Bennink.
In conjunction with Mime Theatre Will Spoor.
Produced by Will Spoor & I.C.P.
Cover scans by the anonymous provider, other scans from the book "Instant Composers Pool - 30 Years" (ICP #031).

vinyl-rips + scans [ mp3-320kb/s, 118 MB | flac, 235 MB ]

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for the mp3's + scans (4/2009), and to Nick for the flac upgrade with other scans (1/2012)!! The scans above are from anon., Nick's are in the flac-folder.

Lucky presents: The Collage in Music (1952-97)

2012-01-02T15:12:00.005+01:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2012; #029
- first posted @ Border Music and Art of the Mix, 2007]

"As technology allowed more sophisticated manipulation of sound in the studio, musique concrète evolved towards cut-up, collage and montage techniques that mixed found sounds and electronic sounds (and sometimes conventional instruments). The musical score did not disappear, but became the music itself. Musique concrète moved, de facto, closer to the aesthetics of jazz and rock music, in which the composer 'is' the performer. [...]"

(Piero Scaruffi)

See also Chris Cutler’s article about "Plunderphonia" at his homepage, and “Blue” Gene Tyranny’s article "Short History of Sound Art" (pdf @ the Diapason Sound Art homepage).

Audio collages on the web:
- Detritus.net
- Some Assembly Required
- Ubuweb

tracklist:

André Hodeir "Jazz et Jazz" (1952-60) 3'08
James Tenney "Collage #1 (’Blue Suede’)" (1961) 3'24
The Beatles "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966) 3'00
The Mothers of Invention "Brown Shoes Don’t Make It" (1967) 7'32
Tom Zé "Toc" (1975) 2'59
The Residents "Swastikas on Parade" (extract) (1976) 8'27
Christian Marclay (plays with the records of) "Jimi Hendrix" (1987) 2'54
M.A.R.R.S. "Pump Up the Volume (Radio Edit)" (1987) 4'11
Negativland "The Perfect Cut (Rooty Poops)" (1989) 2'21
Dave Soldier "Matarile" (1993) 5'39
John Oswald "Blur" (extract) (1993) 1'59
Bob Ostertag "The Man in the Blue Slip" (extract) (1994) 4'04
David Shea "Screwy Squirrel" (1994) 1'35
Milk Cult "Urine, the Money" (1994) 3'36
Django Bates "New York, New York" (1995) 4'52
David Slusser "Hip Replacement" (1997) 5'39
Rik Rue "More Than Less" (1997) 3'58

total time: 69'18

Compiled by Lucky.
Cover art from Max Ernst’s collage novel "La femme 100 têtes", 1929.
Dedicated to the German music journalist Karl Lippegaus, who made a radio feature on this subject in the late 1990's, where he presented most of the featured tracks.

Download [ CD-rips | mp3-192kb/s, 95 MB ]

[up-grade] Han Bennink + Willem Breuker - The New Acoustic Swing Duo in Japan 1984

2011-12-31T00:00:00.003+01:00

aka "Sendai Sjors + Sendai Sjimmie"
[LP: Jazz & Now, Japan, 1984; #2/#LM-1910]

"The association of these two Dutch musicians goes back into the mid-'60s European free music scene. While Bennink remained active in the world of free improvisation, Breuker opted for the more controlled arrangements and songs of his Kollektief. This live recording from Sendai, Japan, is one of the very few examples of Breuker performing outside of his ensemble or various film and theater projects after 1974. It appears to be an entirely improvised concert and it might be hazarded that Breuker's absence from this musical genre for over a decade had taken its toll. Too often he falls back on certain tricks and routines that serve him well in the more structured context of the Kollektief but sound contrived here.

For example, his solo bass clarinet feature, 'Tlam', follows his 'standard' alternation of a softly swinging straight-ahead theme and roars of screeching free noise that Kollektief listeners have heard more than a few times. Elsewhere, he seems content to follow Bennink along, utilizing cadences with a somewhat marchlike flavor or, worse, simple rambling asides that grow increasingly tired and noncommittal. Bennink gamely attempts to prod things forward (when he picks up his own soprano for a brief soprano saxophone duet, matters do pick up some), but to little avail. Not one of the finer efforts from either of these generally superb musicians, Sendai Sjors + Sendai Sjimmie is for completists only."

(Brian Olewnick, allmusic)

"Japan only release, put out by the small private press label Jazz & Now Records. Probably a pressing of round 300 copies only. The whole material on this LP is a live recording at the live club Jazz & Now, located in Sendai at August 30th, 1984. Throughout the set, Willem Breuker and Han Bennink do not disappoint one tiny bit. Comprised out of seven impossible out tunes where Breuker uses soprano/ alto/ tenor sax and bass clarinet and interlocks with the unfathomable drum/ piano/ soprano saxophone and megaphone squawl of Bennink is nothing short of the quintessential bare knuckle free form fest between two of the greatest avant players this planet has yet to offer.

Right from when the needle hits the first groove, both titans burst into life with a fierce honking and percussive rattling squeak that unleashes notes and winds into an all engulfing circular session that seems to distort and decay as it rolls along into previously unattained heights of twittering calls and answers between horns and drums, falling away and returning to base eventually. Breuker and Bennink know how to feed off each other and slowly feeling each other out, leaving enough room for each other to breath before heading skywards, gradually increasing in intensity and passion and eventually crashing down back to earth. The whole session carries a hidden magic and underlying gracefulness that will resonate well into lonely hours of the night and beyond. Fabulous stuff!! Price: 120 Euro"

(Tiliqua Records)

Han Bennink + Willem Breuker in Japan, August 1984
(photo by Louis Helmer; scanned by Neetelbaers)

Willem Breuker: soprano, alto + tenor saxophones, bass clarinet
Han Bennink: drums, piano, C-soprano saxophone, megaphone

Side A

Sendai Sjors + Sendai Sjimmie (10'00)
Kah-Wi! (percussion solo) (6'32)
Tlam (bass clarinet solo) (5'55)
A Cigar for Kunio (4'36)

Side B

Domo Louis-San! (6'58)
Kamikaze Dick (7'55)
Call from the Korean Doctor (11'01)

total time: 52'57

Compositions by Bennink & Breuker, exc. A2 by Bennink and A3 by Breuker.

Produced by Han Bennink, Willem Breuker and Kunio Nakamura.
Recorded live at Jazz & Now, Sendai, Japan, August 30, 1984 by Morio Nakamura.
Remixed by Willem Breuker.
Cover design by Han Bennink (scans by Nick).

vinyl-rips [ mp3-320kb/s, 113 MB | flac + scans, 236 MB ]

thanks to Neetelbaers (mp3's, 12/09) + Nick (flac + scans, 12/11)!

I posted their first pairing on the album "New Acoustic Swing Duo" (I.C.P. #001, 1967) here.

Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, John Tchicai - Instant Composers Pool (1968)

2011-12-24T00:00:00.005+01:00

[LP: Instant Composers Pool, The Netherlands, 1968; #I.C.P. 002]

"[...] Noteworthy on this groundbreaking recording are the sidelong tracks respectively called Amagabowl Part I and part II and the tracks Sweet Smells and Vietcong. The whole affair was recorded on May 13th and 14th 1968. It is a brilliant time piece of that era, opening up with dysfunctional piano lines by Mengelberg, against which Tchicai splatters out fractured sax lines punctuated by Bennink’s multi-facetted drum shifts and swirls. Staring off as a fragile and delicate excursion into mercurial free form territory, it isn’t before long the trio’s insanely beautiful ravaging of high-energy forms come to the foreground, zooming in and out of the well-balanced delicate sounds of thunders before veering into ravaging blizzard like attacks. The three of them build on the apocalyptic energies of Bennink’s skin shifting, alternated by Mengelberg’s almost Luciferian piano playing against which Tchicai splatters saxophone riffage ranging from almost alien-like marching bands squawk towards absinthial-huffing through bottom-end reed pumping. This is a classic and a true jewel of European free hardcore jazz. They sure ain’t coming any better than this. Highest all time recommendation. [...]"

(Tiliqua Records)

Misha Mengelberg + John Tchicai, Haarlem, March 1970
(photo by Pieter Boersma)

John Tchicai: alto saxophone
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Han Bennink: drums

Side 1

Amagabowl (Part I) (Bennink, Mengelberg, Tchicai)
1. no. A (2'54)
2. no. B (4'52)
3. no. C (2'41)
4. no. D (10'01)
5. no. E (3'13)

Side 2

Amagabowl (Part II)
1. nos. F, G, H, I (10'50)
2. no. J (2'27)

3. Sweet Smells (Tchicai) (4'41)
4. Vietcong (Mengelberg) (7'34)

total time: 49'13

Recorded at Schoonord, Zeist, The Netherlands on May 13+14, 1968 by Onno Scholtze, audio productions, Lazen.
Produced by I.C.P. (Instant Composers Pool).

Cover by Misha Mengelberg.
Silkscreen painting by De Kandelaer, the Hague.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 69 MB | flac, 240 MB ]

an ideal christmas present by Santa Nick!!

african fiesta @ 45tours on vita 1963-5 docteur nico 02

2011-12-17T15:00:00.006+01:00

Here's the second act, whatever I've got from Vita singles 26-50. The usual superlatives apply. Favorites here include Eleki Ndelo, Nella Negrita and Mamu Wua Mpoy. So enjoy. 01.1 here. Likers of my listenings might like my lookings as well. Thanks, all.

docteur nico african fiesta @ 45 tours
the far from complete vita singles 1963-5
part 02 - vita 26-50

01 26a Ma Kulutu
02 27a Africa Jazz Lipopo
03 27b Mobembo Eleki Tata
04 28b Matulekele
05 30a Mwasi Ya Bangando
06 30b N'Soso Pembe Na Lipopo
07 31a Madina
08 31b Nalembi
09 32a Eleki Ndelo
10 33a Nella Negrita
11 34b Libaku Ya Nguma
12 35a Ah! Congo
13 35b Amicale Lipopo
14 36a Mamu Wua Mpoy
15 37a Mirielle Mwana
16 39a Olingaki Nde Ngai
17 39b Rythi Mboka Muzungu
18 40a Batu Ya Congo
19 40b Donde
20 41b Prosabel Boyoma
21 42b Ndima Maloba
22 44b Paquita
23 46a M. Felie
24 50a Celibataire Niongo Te
25 50b Aura Moreno

cd and vinyl and downloads @ various bitrates

I Wayan Sula + I Dewa Gede Adi Kusuma Triananda - Master and Pupil. Balinese Gender Duets (2011)

2011-12-17T11:33:00.003+01:00

"Gender is a traditional Balinese and Indonesian ten brass-bar metallophone with bamboo echo chambers under the bars, an instrument which normally forms part of a larger gamelan orchestra. Gender is more rarely played as a duet of two instruments with the two players sitting face-to-face. That is the case here: these are two music lessons (tracks 1-8, 9-13) of master and pupil as a duet, running through the same core repertoire twice, mostly sacred music for tooth-filing ceremonies."

(Dave Sez)

I Wayan Sula, master: gender
I Dewa Gede Adi Kusuma Triananda, pupil: gender

Selasa (5'19)
Rebong (3'30)
Sulendre (3'33)
Bendu (6'07)
Alasarum (5'56)
Mesem (5'33)
Musik penutup (closing music) (7'22)
unknown (5'07)
Selasa (5'42)
Rebong (7'12)
Mesem (6'30)
Bendu (7'48)
Musik penutup (closing music) (2'17)

total time: 71'56

Recorded live in digital stereo (with a TEAC VR-20) at Rumah Putu Panca, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, with kind permission of the artists and our host.
1-8 recorded on January 2011, 9-13 on February 2011.
Recorded and mastered by Putu David-san (Dave Sez), whose services are free of charge, as are those of the musicians, the host and the occasional dog and motorbike.
Your appreciation would encourage the artists and engineer to continue providing recordings free of charge; please leave a comment if you have liked this.

Download [ mp3-320kb/s, 168 MB ]

thanks to Dave Sez (with kind permission), who dedicated this to bloggers @ Holy Warbles and Madrotter, with thanks for the encouragement.

Loverly Play World Wild Music (1987)

2011-12-12T19:11:00.005+01:00

[CD: ITM, Germany, 1988; #979.019
- LP originally released in 1987; #ITM 0019]

"Born February 24, 1948 in Edinburgh, Scotland, vocalist Maggie Nicols (or Nichols as her name was written in former days) has worked on almost every kind of project. At the age of 15 she left school and started to work as a dancer at the Windmill Theatre. Her first singing engagement was in a strip club in Manchester at the age of 16. About that time she became obsessed with Jazz and started singing with revolutionary bebop pianist Dennis Rose. From then on she sang jazz standards and originals in pubs, clubs, hotels and in dance bands with some of the finest jazz musicians around. In the midst of all this she worked abroad for a year in 1966; as a dancer and hostess in Greece and Iran with the Jon Lei Dancers followed by a six month engagement as a dancer at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

In 1968, she joined John Stevens' Spontaneous Music Ensemble with Trevor Watts, later joined by Johnny Dyani and Carolanne Nicholls (no relation), and the group performed that year at Berlin's 1st improvised music festival, Total Music Meeting with guest musician Johnny McLaughlin. In the early 70s she began running voice workshops at the Oval House Theatre (one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups). She both acted in some of the productions and rehearsed regularly with a local rock band, Octuin. Shortly after she became part of Keith Tippett's magnificent fifty piece band "Centipede" which included Julie Tippetts, Zoot Money, Phil Minton, Robert Wyatt, Dudu Pukwana and Alan Skidmore. Julie, Phil and Maggie got together with Brian Ely and formed the vocal group 'Voice'. Around this time, Nicols also began collaborating with the Scottish percussionist Ken Hyder, (who had recently moved to London) and joined his band 'Talisker'.

By the late '70s, Maggie became an active feminist and co-founded the group OVA. Not long after, she started the Feminist Improvising Group, with Lindsay Cooper. She also organized Contradictions, a women's workshop performance group that began in 1980 and dealt with improvisation and other modes of performance in a variety of mediums including music and dance. Over the years, Maggie has collaborated with other women's groups such as the Changing Women Theatre Group, and even co-wrote music for a prime-time television series Women in Sport.

Maggie has also collaborated regularly over the years with pianist Irene Schweizer and formidable bassist Joelle Leandre, including tours and three recordings as the trio Les Diaboliques. In addition to this is her ongoing collaboration with Ken Hyder. The duo incorporates elements of the traditional tunes of their shared Scottish background into jazz improvisations in their most recent project, Hoots and Roots Duo . Other projects for Nicols have included a duo with pianist Pete Nu, a singing duo with her daughter Aura Marina, a trio with Caroline Kraabel and Charlotte Hug, a duo with pianist Steve Lodder ("The Maggie Nicols Songbook") as well as Light and Shade, a project with lighting designer Sue Neal. Furthermore she has been involved with many other groups, such as the acapella group Inspiration (formerly Brixton Youth), Trevor Watts' Moire Music, Very Varied, The Lewis Riley Quartet, No Rules OK, Pulse, Gush and Al Dente with Lindsay Cooper, Elvira Plenar and Michelle Buirette

Maggie Nicols has performed internationally for several decades, for instance at the Zürich and the Frankfurt "Canaille" festivals and Moers, Grenoble,Mulhouse, Vancouver and Victoriaville Festivals. She has also given solo performances at the Moers Music Festival, the Cologne Triennale, and a number of other creative and improvised music festivals. She has worked with a great many improvisers from all over the world including drummer Günter "Baby" Sommer, British musicians,soprano saxophonist Lol Coxhill, guitarist John Russell, Dutch trombonist and violinist Annemarie Roelofs, the Australian Relative Band (with Jim Denley), tuba player Pinguin Moschner, and prolific songwriting bands Loverly and Cats Cradle.

Vocalist Maggie Nicols has been an active participant in the European improvisational community since joining the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the late '60s. As a co-founder of the Feminist Improvising Group, she has also worked to further women in improvised music, dancing and other creative arts not only by example, but through workshops and extensive collaborating."

(from the Maggie Nicols homepage)

Maggie Nicols: voice, whistle, percussion
Terry Day: alto saxophone, percussion, voice
Paul Jolly: soprano-, alto-, tenor- and baritone saxophones, clarinet, flute
Mel Davis: piano, percussion, voice
Tim Powell: Fender bass, percussion
Chris Puleston: drums, percussion

Loverly (music: Davis; lyrics: Day, Nicols) 5’10
Mexicali (m: Davis) 1’54
Makam (m: Powell) 6’24
Fifties (m: Davis) 3’17
Dear John (m+l: Day) 3’08
Fela (m+l: Davis; other lyrics: Nicols) 6’31
Apartheid (m: Davis; l: Davis, Nicols) 5’44
Are You Ready? (Nicols) 5’21
Tipsy (m: Powell) 2’15
Yoruba (m: Powell) 4’39
Albert (m+l: Day; poem melody: Nicols) 6’43

total time: 51'06

All arrangements by Loverly.

Recorded at Pyramid Studios, Luton, England.
Recording engineer: Peter Ely.
Cover painting: Terry Day.
Produced for ITM / Ulli Blobel Schallplatten, exc. 5+11 for Nato Records, and 8 for Alissa Publishing.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 74 MB | flac, 283 MB ]

People in Front of Groups - Easy-Listening Bandleaders and their Music (1955-72)

2011-12-09T00:00:00.010+01:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2011; #028]

Les Baxter - Simba (1955) 2'39
Ray Conniff - Wagon Wheels (1956) 3'16
Stanley Wilson - Pinchak Knife Fight (Malaya) (1957) 2'34
Stan Kenton - Machito (1958) 2'53
Esquivel - Fantasy (1959) 3'10
Robert Drasnin - Voodoo (1960) 2'54
Bob Moore - Hot Spot (1961) 2'21
Bert Kaempfert - Mexican Road (1962) 2'19
Laurie Johnson - Twango (1963) 2'33
The Mike Sammes Singers - The Surrey With the Fringe on Top (1964) 2'38
Herb Alpert + The Tijuana Brass - Spanish Flea (1965) 2'06
Marie France + Peter Thomas Sound Orchester - Monster (1966) 2'20
Brigitte Bardot + Serge Gainsbourg - Bonnie and Clyde (1967) 4'12
101 Strings - Re-Entry to Mog (1968) 3'27
Walter Wanderley - Baião da Garoa (1969) 3'32
Les Reed Orchestra - Man of Action (1970) 2'19
Burt Bacharach - Wives and Lovers (1971) 6'01
Antonio Carlos Jobim + Claus Ogerman - Matita Perê (1972) 7'14

total time: 58'28

Compiled by Lucky.
Cover source photo from a 1971/72 Telefunken product catalog, taken from Wegavisions HiFi Archiv.

Download [ various sources | mp3-192kb/s, 85 MB ]
thanks to the original uploaders!

Cornemuses de France / Bagpipes of France (1977)

2011-12-06T00:01:00.001+01:00

Les Cornemuses - Groupes Regionaux
[CD: Planett, France, 1991; #242027 - original LP's released under the title "Cornemuses de France" Vol. 1 + 2 by Discovale, France, 1977; #WM11 / WM12]

"French bagpipes cover a wide range and variety of styles of bagpipes and piping, from the Celtic piping and music of Brittany to the Northern Occitan's cabreta.

The Center-France bagpipes (called in French cornemuse du centre or musette du centre) are of many different types, some mouth blown, some bellows blown; some names for these instruments include chevrette (which means "little goat," referring to the use of a goatskin for its bag), chabrette, chabretta, chabreta, cabreta, bodega, and boha. It can be found in the Bourbonnais, Nivernais, and Morvan regions of France.

A distinguishing factor of most French bagpipes is the placement of the tenor drone alongside the chanter rather than in the same stock as the bass drone.

In the northern regions of Occitania Auvergne, we find the (generally) bellows blown cabreta, and in Limousin the mouth blown chabreta. The cabrette is much played in areas of Paris where Auvergnats tended to settle; this bagpipe is in most cases played without a drone, and together with an accordion. The chabrette, while having a similar name, is a quite different pipe, with a triple-bored bass drone played across the player's arm rather than over the shoulder. The form of the chabrette chanter appears similar to early oboes, including a swallow-tail key for the lowest note which is placed under a fontenelle.

The Occitan names also refer to the goat. In the Occitan region of Languedoc, and especially in the Montanha negre (Black Mountain) area, the bodega is played. This is a very large mouth blown pipe made from the skin of an entire goat. In Gascony, a small mouth blown bagpipe called boha (from bohar meaning "to blow") is used."

(Wikipedia)

CORNEMUSES DE FRANCE, Volume 1
(Auvergne, Berry, Bourbonnais, Limousin, Nivernais)

1. L'Adrienne (Auvergne) (1'36)
Bernard Blanc: bagpipes (cabrette)
Jean Blanchard: accordion

2. Chant des livrées (Berry-Bourbonnais) (1'53)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (grande cornemuse bourbonnaise)

3. Branle des Guillannées (Morvan) (1'34)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (cornemuse "13 pouces")

4. La sabottée (Berry) (1'37)
Bruno Dumontet: bagpipes (cornemuse "16 pouces")

5. La courte paille / Il est bien temps (Bourbonnais) (2'51)
Frédéric Paris: bagpipes (cornemuse "16 pouces")

6. Bourrée de Fontfrin (Berry) (1'48)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (musette "13 pouces")

7. Marche de Saint-Junien (Limousin) (2'51)
Eric Montbel: bagpipes (chabrette)

8. Bourée d'Ardentes (Berry) (1'32)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (cornemuse "16 pouces")
Frédéric Paris: hurdy-gurdy

9. Je ne veux plus garder les vaches / Bourrée de Couquignotte (1'56)
Bernard Blanc: bagpipes (cabrette)

10. Bourée à Ragot (Berry) (2'18)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (musette "13 pouces")

11. La belle s'y promène (Marche) (1'42)
Jean Blanchard: bagpipes (cornemuse Béchonnet)

12. Scottish du père Moreau (Berry) (2'21)
Mic Baudimant: bagpipes (cornemuse "16 pouces")

13. La petite veste rouge (Nivernais) (0'50)
Frédéric Paris: bagpipes (Cornemuse "18 pouces")
Mic Baudimant: vocals

14. Partons chers camarades (Limousin) (2'30)
Eric Montbel: bagpipes (chabrette)
Jean Blanchard: violin

CORNEMUSES DE FRANCE, Volume 2
(Bretagne, Gascogne, Vendée, Alsace-Lorraine, Languedoc)

15. Jean Beaubois - Quand le maître revient du marché (Languedoc) (2'10)
16. Philippe Grellier + Jacques Micheneaud - Suite montagne (Basse-Bretagne) (6'35)
17. Alain Cadeilhan - Cançon de la hialaire / À l'entourn de ma maison / Débat mon pé (Gascogne) (2'36)
18. Jean-Pierre Bertrand - La courante du pays de Mont (Vendée) (1'27)
19. Le Folk de la rue des Dentelles - Une jeune fille se leva de bon matin / La fiancée hongroise (Alsace-Lorraine) (1'16)
20. Alain Cadeilhan, Jean Blanchard, Bruno Dumontet - Suite de rondeaux landais (Gascogne) (2'24)
21. Charles Alexandre - Le pauvre soldat (Languedoc) (1'17)
22. Kevrenn de Nantes - Gwendal (Bretagne) (2'00)
23. Charles Alexandre + Jean Beaubois - En revenant de noces (Languedoc) (2'31)
24. Jean-Pierre Bertrand - Suite de branles maraîchins (Vendée) (1'46)
25. Charles Alexandre - Mélodie de la région d'Angles (Languedoc) (1'46)
26. Le Folk de la rue des Dentelles - Que le ciel me vienne en aide (Alsace-Lorraine) (2'04)

total time: 55'23

Vol. 1 (1-14) recorded at Chateau du Plaix, Lignières en Berry, France, July 5-7, 1977.
Vol. 2 (15-26): recording location and date unknown.
Recording engineer: Willy Wenger.
Produced by André Benichou and Willy Wenger for 7 Productions.

Photo of bagpipes on top comes from the cover of the LP "Cornemuses" by Jean Blanchard and Eric Montbel [Hexagone, France, 1980; #883 038].
Information collected from many sites on the internet by Lucky, no specific information in the CD-booklet, not on involved artists, recording locations and dates, earlier issue, etc.
Note: the 3 sec. silence at 3'30 on #16 is like that on the CD.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 81 MB | flac, 378 MB ]

Further listening: Last year I posted Trio Cornemuse's 'Berry-bourbonnais' (Silex, 1992), thanks to Miguel. Holy Warbles posted 2 excellent French bagpipe albums on Silex (thanks to Miguel, too), while Miguel himself posted more on his own blog Toro y Loco.

La Chavannée - Cotillon (Bourbonnais) (1991)

2011-12-06T00:00:00.002+01:00

[CD: Silex Mosaïque, France, 1992; #Y225203]

"La Chavannée
Folk group based in the Château du Plaix led by the bagpipes, melodeon and clarinet of Frédéric Paris. These well-respected musicians have released a dozen recordings over twenty years, mostly the fruits of their research within the old county of Bourbonnais. They also run a yearly folk festival as well as regular concerts, dances and workshops.

Cotillon (Silex Mosaïque, France)
One of many beautiful recordings by the most consistant of groups from Central France, essential for its tasteflu arrangements using all the standard instruments of the area."

(from 'World music: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, Vol. 1', Rough Guides Ltd., 1999)

For an english interview with Frédéric Paris visit l'Accordéonaire blog.

La Chavannée, Courcouronnes festival 2003: "Maxou" Heintzen, Marc Peroneille, Patrick Bouffard, Frédéric Paris (photo by Jean-Luc Matte, from Avalanche Compagnie)

La Chavannée
Frédéric Paris: diatonic accordion, clarinet, flutes, vocals
Eric Elsener: bagpipes (14 + 16 inches), cornet
Manu Paris: bagpipes (20 + 23 inches)
Jean-François "Maxou" Heintzen: hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes (16 inches)
Patrick Bouffard: hurdy-gurdy
Marc Péroneille: hurdy-gurdy
Eveline Paris: vocals

1. Les visiteurs (Manu Paris, J.-F. Heintzen) (2'37)
2. - Là-bas dans la Prairie
- Le Pont (Frédéric Paris)
- Vous autres jeunes gens (4'00)
3. - Branle de Montifaut
- C'est une jeune chèvre
- J'ai des bas blancs (3'14)
4. - Cotillon (François Chauvon)
- Fanfare
- Bourée (Jean-Joseph Mouret, ca. 1730) (4'39)
5. - La Chabrillan
- La Beauvoir (4'58)
6. Les deux frères (2'20)
7. La chasse à la bécasse (3'05)
8. - La Bobine (Patrick Bouffard)
- Entre-deux (Eric Elsener)
- Les vignerons (4'14)
9. - Cibi (Marc Péroneille)
- Fifine (trad., Frédéric Paris) (3'55)
10. - Scottisch à Virmoux (trad., Frédéric Paris)
- Ma cousine Clementine (J.-F. Heintzen) (4'18)
11. L'Infidele (1'43)
12. - Baillez-li
- Savez-vous (3'30)
13. - Mon habit n'a qu'un bouton
- Ou sont donc ces amats? (3'31)
14. L'oubli (J.-F. Heintzen) (2'40)

total time: 48'49

All compositions are traditional, exc. where stated otherwise above.
Arrangements by Frédéric Paris and the Chavans.

Recorded by Alain Cluzeau, assisted by Andé-Louis Guimmard + Miguel Carreno at Studio Acousti, Paris, on February 18-20, 1991.
Photos by Daniel Fresquet.
Design by Patrick Archaux.
Produced by Silex et eclats de Silex, Montreuil.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 73 MB | flac, 300 MB ]

Michel Waisvisz - Crackle (1976-77)

2011-12-04T00:00:00.005+01:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1978; #77.1 / ҒМР, Germany, 1978; #ЅАЈ-14]

"Michel Waisvisz is a composer/performer of live electronic music, who has developed new ways to achieve physical touch with electronic music instruments. Sometimes this is done by literally touching the electricity inside the instruments and thereby becoming a thinking component of the machine.

He was amongst the first to play with synthesizers on stage and very early developed and performed using gestural controllers. He also is the inventor of the CrackleBox and The Web and other instruments based on touch interaction. Together with Frank Baldé he has designed live performance software like LiSa and JunXion.

Beside the solo performances and the composing for music theatre he has collaborated with a great variety of musicians and composers: Laurie Anderson, Steve Lacy, Jan Werner (Mouse on Mars), Truus de Groot, Najib Cheradi, Hans Tutchku, Moniek Toebosch, The Nieuw Ensemble, DJ Spooky, Willem Breuker, The San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, Maarten Altena, etc.

Waisvisz was one of the first organisers of electronic sound festivals in Holland and The Touch exhibition, with electronic music instruments that can be played by the visitors, is traveling regularly through Europe.

He leads the STEIM foundation in Amsterdam where performance artists from music, theater, dance and new media art, and DJ's and VJ's, work to develop their personal electronic instruments.

Waisvisz is the founder of 'Physical Philosophy' a science where axioms are replaced by physical objects.

He also advocates that artists, in order not to have their work being polluted by the generic typicality's of the aplied tools, appropriate their tools and instruments by modification, or even complete custom builds. Waisvisz in the seventies introduced the slogan: 'If you don't open it, you don't own it'. In this realm he also more recently instigated the OIK (Open It Kit) project at STEIM. Nowadays this statement is at the root of the work philosophy at STEIM: music makers are encouraged to also play an important role in the design and building of their authentic live electronic performance instruments.

Waisvisz has made works and performances in a variety of musical scenes from starting as an independent student to working in the avant garde of new music as well as in more popular venues"

(from the Crackle homepage)

Michel Waisvisz on his Crackle box
(photo by Hans Pattist, extracted + altered from the back cover)

Michel Waisvisz (1949-2008): Crackle synthesizer, exc. 2.3 modified Putney VCS 3 synthesizer, 2.1b mouth organ, 2.1c modified spring-board build by Hugh Davis

Side 1

1. À Cheval (3'14)
2. Dutchjazzcircus (6'33)
3. Crackles (2'34)
4. Steve's Pipe (5'39)
5. First Dancesteps (1'51)

Side 2

1. a. De brug gaat open
- b. Berliner Neustadtlament
- c. Stradivrarius (13'23)
2. 4 Narrow Escapes (6'20)
3. One for the Road (0'23)

total time: 39'57

All compositions by Michel Waisvisz.

1.1 recorded on January 15+16, 1977 at Studio Steim, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
1.2, 1.3, 1.4 recorded on July 12-22, 1977 at Studio Fylkingen, Stockholm, Sweden;
1.5 recorded on October 13, 1976 on board of M.S. Clacor, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;
2.1a, 2.1b, 2.1c, 2.2 recorded on November 7, 1976 live during the 'Tоtal Muѕic Mееting' at the 'Quartiеr Latin', Berlin, Germany;
2.3 recorded on August 10, 1976 at Studio Steim, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Engineered by Michel Waisvisz, exc. 2.1a-c, 2.2 by Jоѕt Gеbеrѕ.
Cover design by Michel Waisvisz.
Back cover photograph: Hans Pattist.
Produced by Michel Waisvisz and Jоѕt Gеbеrѕ.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 56 MB | flac, 194 MB ]

thanks to Nick for yet another contribution!

Guus Janssen - Tast Toe (1981)

2011-12-03T00:00:00.000+01:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1981; #81.7]

"On the left a pile of black, on the right a pile of white sticks. It takes a while before you begin to realize just what is depicted in the illustration of the Guus Janssen tast toe (Guus Janssen takes hold) LP. Black, white, elongate; not merely sticks...

Yes, of course. The keys of a piano.

The illustration offers a perfect metaphor for Janssen's music. Something taken apart, then reconstructed in a new way, the basic premise at the centre of the vast majority of Janssen's work.

Innocence goes hand in hand with sophistication. He does not rebel against traditions but always approaches them via a detour. The order in his music always takes an unexpected form, and is so painstakingly prepared that listener is caught unaware and often inwardly amused. This talent alone, the gift to be humorous with tones, makes Janssen's work unique in contemporary composition. But there are even more reasons for labelling him as the Dutch Haydn.

Janssen is one of the few musicians active in both improvised and composed music. Yet his compositions are anything but notated improvisations, and his improvisations, however impromptu, are remarkably concentrated and bear witness to sense of form.

His recycling of 'worn out' chords, ragged progressions of tones, and his predilection for tinkering with the instruments could be labelled deconstructivism, were it not that such a pretentious term would ill-suit the playfulness of his music. Moreover, this deconstruction is just the very beginning. The constructive element that follows is every bit as important, if not the most important of all. [...]"

(from Frits van der Waa, "Guus Janssen: the construction of ramshackleness", 1994; translated by John Lydon)

(photo from the TryTone homepage)

Guus Janssen: piano

Side 1

Blokken (4'53)
1:2 (6'53)
Dik (4'53)
Uw trefpunt (2'05)

Side 2

Bakkum (7'55)
Rood, weel en bla (4'20)
Zeven knoesten (6'54)

total time: 37'53

All compositions by Guus Janssen, exc. 2/1 by Maarten van Regteren-Altena.

1/1 recorded on June 26, 1981 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam.
All other pieces recorded on June 23, 1981 at Concertgebouw, Amsterdam during the Holland Festival.
Recording engineer: Dick Lucas.
Cover by Emo Verkerk.
Photography by Sjef Janssen.
Produced by Guus Janssen and Maarten Altena.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 52 MB | flac, 154 MB ]

a double thank-you to Nick for this contribution!!

Helmut "Joe" Sachse - Solo (1988)

2011-12-02T00:00:00.001+01:00

[LP: AMIGA, German Democratic Republic, 1989; #8 56 425]

"Helmut Joe Sachse (born 1948 in Mittweida) started out in the East German jazz scene, with whose representatives he almost without exception played. Later he also performed with other international musicians: Carmell Jones, Leo Wright, Mighty Flea Conners, Charlie Mariano, John Tchicai, John Marshall, David Moss, Peter Brötzmann, Tony Oxley, Jack Bruce, Han Bennink and Albert Mangelsdorff. From the nineties onwards he began to incorporate standards - including those from rock music - into his repertoire. His characteristic art of playing has brought him labels such as the Jimi Hendrix of jazz guitar or the high priest and wizard of electric guitar. The Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper eventually named him as Germany’s greatest unknown guitarist. In 1990, his two solo records were awarded the Goldene Amiga (‘Golden Amiga’)."

(from the Doppelmoppel page on Conny Bauer's homepage)

Helmut "Joe" Sachse: guitar, flute

Side 1

La Fiesta (Chick Corea) 6'13
Ballade für Kurt Tucholsky (Sachse) 1'56
Skurrile Geschichte für Ephraim Kishon (Sachse) 4'32
Sorcery (Keith Jarrett) 3'36
Schraubenzieher-Tango für Jaroslav Hašek (Sachse) 3'04
Minimal für Christian Morgenstern (Sachse) 3'09

Side 2

Blues für Karl Kraus (Sachse) 4'17
Well, You Needn't (Thelonious Monk) 4'17
Sophisticated Lady (Duke Ellington) 3'12
Flöten-Sounds für Rainer Klis (Sachse) 3'24
Walzer für George Bernard Shaw (Sachse) 7'29

total time: 45'09

Recorded September 12-15, 1988 at AMIGA-Studio, Berlin.
Music and sound direction by Gerd Puchelt.
Sound engineered by Kay Lautenbach.
Produced by Jürgen Lahrtz.
Cover photo by Stephan Tomm, other photo by Otto Sill.
Design by Karl Groß.
Dedicated to Frank Fanselow, a long-time friend of Sachse, who died too early.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 72 MB | flac, 322 MB ]

Moniek Toebosch - I Can Dance (1977-81)

2011-12-01T00:00:00.005+01:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1981; #81.8]

"Moniek Toebosch

Born 1948 in Breda, the Netherlands / lives and works in Amsterdam

Moniek Toebosch was born into an artistic family. Her father was a composer, pianist and organ-player; her elder sister became a ballet dancer, while another sister turned out a flutist. Moniek set out on her educational odyssey, starting with the Sculpture Department of the Breda Academy of Fine Arts, then shifted to the Musical Academy only to return to the Fine Arts Academy some time later. This time it was fashion that captivated her. Yet, her graduation project was a 16mm film, since by the end of her studies she already worked with Frans Zwartjes, the future father of the Dutch experimental cinema. As for the mercurial Toebosch, she was to be a pioneer of Dutch performance art, with her interdisciplinary works uniting the practices of theatre, music, performance, video and sound art."

(biography from the Moscow Museum of Modern Art homepage)

"[...] Christine Jeffrey, Julie Tippett, Maggie Nicols, Tamia, Annick Nozati, Moniek Toebosch represent important stages in the development of modern jazz (or the legacy of jazz music), a reconsideration of the voice, an authentic approach allied to that which drove the heralds of European free music - Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, Han Bennink, Willem Breuker, John Stevens, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Maarten Altena - a significant disruption! The women affirmed other than as object of desire, but as part of the sound and political material.

Christine Jeffrey was on the first ECM production, Tamia impressed the minds at Châteauvallon with the Michel Portal Unit in 1972, Julie Tippett (formerly Julie Driscoll, beautiful white soul sister) experimented at the beginning of free music with John Stevens, Carla Bley or Keith Tippett, Maggie Nicols vocalized with Johnny Dyani, Dudu Pukwana and the Feminist Improvising Group (who were only established among those they represented), Annick Nozati, transforming the process of predecessors with her own experience; Moniek Toebosch dramatized, ironically, with the spirit which is so special in Dutch jazz. [...]"

(Jean Rochard, 12/2010 @ Le Glob, the nato blog
- translation attempt by Lucky with the help of gidouille)

photos in Moniek Toebosch's book "Als Zodanig Niet Herkenbaar Is Dit Duidelijk?", De Buitenkant 2009 (from Harry Prenger's blog, 11/2009)

Moniek Toboesch: voice

Side 1

Ja, ja (2'34)
Collages 1 (4'12)
Throatscratching (1'52)
Collages 2 (3'33)
Collages 3 (1'07)

Side 2

Love (2'20)
Chattering Ladies (2'30)
Duikflat-aha (4'49)
I can dance (2'45)
KLAP, KLAP (3x) (1'06)

total time: 26'48

All compositions, words and improvisations by Moniek Toboesch.

Recorded at Fylkingen Studio, Stockholm, Sweden, STEIM studio and Shaffy Threatre, Amsterdam, and a private studio in Bredam, The Netherlands.
Sound engineers: Dick Lucas, Moniek Toebosch and Michel Waisvisz.
Cover photo by Bo Ender.
Graphic design by Moniek Toebosch.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 37 MB | flac, 89 MB ]

thanks to Nick for another contribution!

Laurens Tan - Bass Recorder (1983)

2011-11-30T00:00:00.002+01:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1983; #83.13]

"Music does not exist in itself; its character and development are closely connected to presuppositions, often a non-musical nature, which are held by individuals or groups of individuals.

The music on this record grew from the attempt to bring together various approaches to music, which we usually keep separate or - at most - partially combine:
- music as 'dance', directly resulting from rhythmic physical movement;
- music as an object for contemplation;
- music as a performing art;
- music as the art of combining musical elements.

With this in mind, I thoroughly explored the bass recorder. New sounds arose and I developed new breathing and articulation techniques. It's up to the listener to decide whether all this produced music in its own right."

(Laurens Tan - from the liner notes; translation by Sheila Gogol)

Laurens Tan: bass recorder

Side One

Composition no. 33 (4'54)
Composition no. 11 (4'37)
Composition no. 5 (4'09)
Composition no. 28 (4'01)

Side Two

Composition no. 6 (6'03)
Composition no. 2 (3'32)
Composition no. 30 (11'30)

total time: 38'46

All compositions by Laurens Tan.

Digitally recorded on July 12 + 13, 1983 at Bach Hall of Sweelinck Conservatory, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Recording engineer: Floris van Manen (Stichting Klankschap).
Cover design: Niko Koomen.
Photograph: Willem Hekkema.
Produced by Laurens Tan.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 54 MB | flac, 143 MB ]

thanks again to Nick for this contribution!

[re-up] Han Bennink - Solo (1971-72)

2011-11-29T14:26:00.001+01:00

[LP: I.C.P., The Netherlands, 1972; #011]

"[...] The most obvious indicator of the new direction Bennink has been taking has been the dimunition of his percussion kit and the adoption of other instruments - clarinet, banjo, viola, bass clarinet, and now trombone (plus alto sax, not yet on record). Such things as the cheng, soft trumpet, Tibetan horn etc. used to be parts of his extended percussion. His first solo record (1971-2) had extended passages on some of these, solo, plus 'a fiddle-like instrument', in a way which was still in some ways an extension of his normal playing, very effectively so, and there was a strong sense of exploring the unfamiliar instrument as non-expert. (...) We normally think of a 'multi-instrumentalist' as someone who has a basic instrument, and also performs on a lot of others more-or-less for their sound-effects (AEC for instance), but Bennink has mastered each of these instruments, not of course to the extent that a specialist in any of them would seek to exhaust all their possibilities, but he has mastered them for his own purposes, up to the point where the instrument will furnish the level of musical excitement and pleasure that he demands. [...]"

(Peter Riley, 1979 @ metropolis)

Han Bennink, Middelburg, November 1972 (photo by Pieter Boersma)

Han Bennink: drums, dhung, rkangling, khène, oe-oe, "soft" trumpet, a fiddle-like instrument, prepared trombone, voice, recording of Brazilian jungle, mokugyo, rolmo, silnyen, kazoo, etc.

Side A

Kit (1) (2'39)
Vlo vlo vlo vlo gaga (0'50)
Fiddleelddif (13'02)
Spooky Drums (A) (0'38)
Nervebeats (2'18)
Kit (2) (1'20)
Soft Trumpet (1'08)

Side B

Listen the Birds (5'16)
Kit (3) (4'04)
Khène + voice (4'55)
Spooky Drums (B) (0'50)
Bumble-Rumble (1'33)
Lick (0'53)
Kit (4) (2'27)

total time: 41'59

Recordings, cover design, photographs and compositions by Han Bennink.
Recorded at Bennink's home in Nieuwersluis, Loenen aan de Vecht, 1971-1972.
Cover scans from the I.C.P. book [ICP #031].

viny-rip [ mp3-192kb/s, 58 MB ]
audio provided by 1009 (6/2009)!

Paul Termos - Solo 84-85 (1984-85)

2011-11-29T14:16:00.009+01:00

Alto Saxophone Solo's
[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1986; #86.17]

"Paul Termos was born in Hilversum, Netherlands, 1952. He studied composition with Ton de Leeuw at the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatory in the early seventies. In the same period Termos got involved in improvised music with his guitar and clarinet playing, but changed this instruments a few years later for the alto saxophone.

From the early eighties Termos took part in the Amsterdam improvisation scene and played with I.C.P., Guus Janssen, Maarten Altena and many others. From 1985 Termos started to give solo concerts and made a solo record (Claxon 86.17).

In 1988 he formed his own 10-piece-band, The Termos Tentet, which had a. o. Michael Vatcher, Wolter Wierbos and Peter van Bergen in it. This group was followed by a 9-piece-band, called Termos Dubble Express, wich had two soprano singers in the front. Both groups were recorded on CD for Geestgronden (nos. 5 and 16).

In the second half of the nineties Termos went back to pure free improvisation as his main goal (as far as saxophone playing is concerned) and played intensively duo with Wiek Hijmans and Misha Mengelberg.

As a composer Termos wrote music for different important musicians like Francis Marie Uitti, Guus Janssen, The Mondriaan Kwartet, Maarten Altena Ensemble, Dutch Woodwind Ensemble, The Volharding and The Radio Chamber Orchestra."

(biography from the Paul Termos homepage
- slight spelling corrections by Lucky)

Paul Termos (1952-2003): alto saxophone

Side 1

Kontra Dans (2'31)
Bokkenrijder (7'49)
Fontana (2'02)
Grisaille (2'39)
Mässig bewegt (4'18)

Side 2

Er was eens (2'31)
Shakes and Sounds (6'13)
Swing and Rococo (2'38)

total time: 30'41

All compositions by Paul Termos.

1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 2.2 recorded at Bachzaal, Amsterdam , The Netherlands on June 19-20, 1984;
1.4 recorded at Bachzaal on July 7, 1985;
1.3, 1.5, 2.3 recorded at Studio Dansproductie on December 7, 1985.
Digital recording and mastering by Floris van Manen (Stichting Klankschap).
Cover design by Marc Terstroet.
Photo by Chiel Meyering (from the Termos homepage).
Produced by Maarten Altena and Paul Termos.

vinyl-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 43 MB | flac, 122 MB ]

thanks to Nick for this contribution!!

[up-grades] Guus Janssen Septet

2011-11-29T00:00:00.000+01:00

"When I improvise I'm trying to polish diamonds, but at the same time I also think that the mistakes are an important part of improvisation: like having to pass through a deep valley, terror, thrashing around in search of a mouse hole that will lead to freedom. The funny thing is that it's precisely the moments of walking on burning coals, struggling to keep your head above water, that later prove to have a kind of beauty you didn't suspect at the moment itself. The valleys are important as well for they force you to take a jump out of the precarious situation, and you land somewhere that you didn't know was in you. It's a somewhat uncomfortable experience but I don't avoid it. Sometimes it yields material which later crops up in a written composition; things I never would have come across just sitting at a writing table."

(Guus Janssen, 1984 @ Frits van der Waa's homepage)

Guus Janssen Septet
[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1984; #84.14]

Ab Baars: soprano, tenor & baritone saxophones, Bb clarinet
Michael Moore: alto saxophone, Bb clarinet
Annemarie Roelofs: trombone, violin
Maud Sauer: oboe, alto oboe
Guus Janssen: piano
Raoul van der Weide: bass, cello
Wim Janssen: drums

Side 1
1. Vijzelstraat (4'53)
2. Kavel (5'35)
3. Tomaat (4'10)
4. Daarom Juist (4'30)

Side 2
1. Deurtjes (9'14)
2. Slot (4'44)
3. Pozzuoli (5'55)

total time: 39'01

All compositions by Guus Janssen, exc. A3 by Maud Sauer.

A3, A4 recorded at Bimhuis Amsterdam on November 11, 1983.
All other pieces recorded at Bimhuis, Amsterdam on December 18, 1982.
Recording engineer: Dick Lucas.
Cover painting by Alphons Freymuth.
Design by Petra Dolleman.
Photography by Charlot Wissing.
Produced by Guus Janssen and Maarten Altena.

vinyl-rips [ mp3-vbr192kb/s, 57 MB | flac + scans, 193 MB ]

Guus Janssen Septet - 85....86
[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1987; #87.18]

Ab Baars: soprano saxophone (A1, B3, B4), tenor saxophones (A1, A2, B1-4), clarinet(A1, A3, A4, B3, B4)
Michael Moore: alto saxophone (A1-3, B3, B4), bass clarinet (A1, A3, B3, B4)
Annemarie Roelofs: trombone (A1, B3, B4)
Maud Sauer: oboe + shanai (A1, B3, B4)
Guus Janssen: piano (all)
Maurice Horsthuis: viola
Ernst Reijseger: cello (A2-4, B1, B3)
Raoul van der Weide: bass (A1-4, B1, B3, B4)
Wim Janssen: drums (all)

Side 1
1. Duw (6'57)
2. Sbrodj (3'57)
3. Taag (6'24)
4. Indiaan 2 (3'54)

Side 2
1. Indiaan 1 (6'02)
2. PF (5'09)
3. Moos (7'00)
4. Plint (3'38)

total time: 43'01

All compositions by Guus Janssen, exc. "Sbrodj" by Wim Janssen.

A1, A2, B3, B4 recorded at Bimhuis, Amsterdam on August 3, 1986.
A3 recorded at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam on August 9, 1986.
A4 recorded at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam on August 10, 1986.
B1, B2 recorded at Vredenburg, Utrecht on December 1986.
Recording engineer: Dick Lucas.
Cover painting by Lucassen.
Produced by Guus Janssen and Maarten Altena.
Mastered at Polygram Transcription Centre.

vinyl-rips [ mp3-192kb/s, 59 MB | flac + scans, 201 MB ]

Thanks to paramo of the la folie du jour blog for the mp3's (5/2009), and Nick for the flac-upgrades + scans (11/2011)!!

John French - Waiting on the Flame (1994)

2011-11-28T01:35:00.006+01:00

[CD: Demon, UK, 1994; #FIENDCD 759]

"[...] Born in San Bernardino, French was still a scrawny teenager when he began drumming and singing in surf, rock and blues groups around Lancaster in the mid-1960s. Inspired by skin-pounders like rock-and-roll pioneer Sandy Nelson, Joe Morello (of the Dave Brubeck Quartet) and Jack Sperling (clarinetist Pete Fountain’s drummer), and lacking a snare on his first used drumkit, French developed an unusual, tom-heavy sense of rhythm. French and his friend, guitarist Jeff Cotton, made the rounds of several bands, including Blues in a Bottle where they met Mark Boston. John mostly stuck to harmonica and vocals at the time, emulating old Delta bluesmen and younger cats, including a local white upstart named Don Van Vliet, already known as Captain Beefheart.

At that time the Captain and his band played a raw-boned variety of electric blues, straight out of Howlin’ Wolf. Around 1963 French and Van Vliet met at a local jam session. Three years later, shortly after French graduated high school, he was singing for Blues in a Bottle when the band opened for Beefheart. On that night Van Vliet debuted some of his new, avant-garde material to decidedly negative audience response. Despite the letdown, Van Vliet perked up when a friend reminded him that French was also an excellent drummer. Thus, French came into the Beefheart fold. Jeff Cotton and Mark Boston joined the Magic Band later, becoming part of the revolving cast of players upon whom Beefheart bestowed strange nicknames to enhance the enigma. For better or worse, John French became the man forever known as Drumbo.

Although everyone in the band usually developed their own parts, Beefheart demanded center stage at all times. Recalls French, 'Don would really not allow anyone else to write music in the band, nor even solo or improvise over sections of the music. This was a bit frustrating for the guitarists, who were stuck playing the same exact thing every night. For me it was a bit more fun, as I could at least create some of my parts.'

Besides playing drums, French arranged much of Trout Mask Replica, for which he failed to receive credit on the original release. He hasn’t returned to that piecemeal manner of tune-building for his own music. 'I hear music in my head, like a stereo playing in the background. When I create, I attempt to write what I’m hearing. I think Don had this often. However, he always used the band as his ‘writing tool’, so to speak. It was unnerving to sit completely still and be at his beckoned call. During these sessions, he would often become extremely irritated if anyone distracted him, and absolutely livid if anyone suggested a musical idea.'

The band’s living situation was equally difficult. They resided communally for a time and often subsisted on a small ration of soybeans each day. Van Vliet was subject to violence, once shoving French down a flight of stairs during an argument. French’s burgeoning Christian beliefs became an added source of ridicule for the drummer. 'I think we were basically considered minions,' says French, who came and went from the Magic Band. He finally left for good in 1980, after playing guitar on Doc at the Radar Station (EMI). Following 1982’s Ice Cream for Crow (Virgin), Van Vliet went into seclusion, abandoning music to focus on a more lucrative career in painting. His bandmates have rarely heard from the Captain since.

Freed from Beefheart’s sway, French found time for a number of activities, including writing songs for the Magic Band side project, called Mallard. From 1987 to 1991 he worked with bassist Fred Frith and guitarists Richard Thompson and Henry Kaiser on two albums, now cult classics, and a mere handful of concerts. Kaiser and French have remained occasional partners on recordings like Crazy Backwards Alphabet (1992, SST), which married free jazz and alternative rock.

By the mid-1990s French had written a number of songs inspired by his Christian walk, and decided it was time to cut an album under his own name. Waiting on the Flame (1995, on the unfortunately named Demon Records) featured friends like Kaiser, Magic Band guitarist Bill 'Zoot Horn Rollo' Harkleroad, and Dregs bassist Andy West, performing French’s well-crafted, spiritually grounded tunes. French’s clean, strong baritone voice was the primary feature, though he left plenty of room for his legendary drum skills and excellent sidemen.

Sadly, the disc tanked on the market due to poor label promotion. It also seemed that too many people were still expecting French to fit the Beefheart mold. 'I do wish that the world was such that I could do my own material without being compared to Don. I felt Waiting on the Flame had some decent material and was certainly as good as a lot of stuff in a similar vein. One review I read actually stated that I was making a conscious effort to portray myself as totally different than Don. I don’t know if it ever occurred to this fellow that I am totally different than Don. I suppose that, to the public, I was viewed as an apple attempting to pass itself off as an orange.' [...]"

(from Todd S. Jenkins, "BEEF ART REPLICA: Drumbo Brings on the Magic", 12/2008 @ the Artist's Work B.e.n.c.h. blog)

Read Todd S. Jenkin's article about John French's book "Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic", 1/2011 @ the Mingus Lives blog.

John French: lead vocal, backup vocals, keyboard, drums, harmonica
Bob Adams: lead-, rhythm- and slide guitar, mandolin, backup vocals (3-8, 10, 11)
Peter Balciunas: 5-string bass (9)
Michael Benedict: soprano saxophone (12)
Scott Colby: rhythm and lead slide guitar (1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 13)
Chuck Costarella: rhythm guitar (12, 13)
Ronnie Crumbly: soprano saxophone (2, 6)
Deirdre Davis: backup vocals, low harmonies, vocal arrangements (1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
Oliver DiCicco: cabasa (7)
Bill Harkleroad: lead guitar (1, 4, 6, 9)
Henry Kaiser: lead and rhythm guitar (3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11)
Tim Lyddon: piano (1)
Jeff Mattern: rhythm guitar (1, 2, 9)
Danny McKinney: 6-string bass (13)
Sarah Shankland: backup vocals, middle harmonies (1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
Roz Thomas: backup vocals, high harmonies (1, 2, 4, 6, 9)
Andy West: 6-string bass (3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11)

It's Not Over Yet (3'47)
Don't Back Down (4'22)
Waiting on the Flame (2'30)
Goin' Through the Motions (5'23)
The Madness of Love (5'21)
Standin' in your Way (5'29)
Anything New (4'42)
My Girl Jesse (3'24)
Back from the Dead (6'30)
Heavy Load (4'29)
Teamaster (4'10)
Through a Dark Glassly (3'15)
Crowfeed Gulch (4'13)
Burundo Drumbi (6'04)

total time: 63'46

Compositions by John French, exc. 2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11 by John French and Bob Adams, and 5 by Richard Thompson.

3, 6, 7, 9, 10 produced by Henry Kaiser at Mobius Studios, San Francisco, USA.
Engineered by Oliver DiCicco.
1, 2, 4, 8, 11, 13, 14 produced by John French and mixed by Henry Kaiser.
Mastered by Paul Stubblebine, Rocket Lab, San Francisco.
Mastering supervised by Henry Kaiser.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 95 MB | flac, 384 MB ]

John French - O Solo Drumbo (1996)

2011-11-27T09:58:00.005+01:00

[CD: Avant / Disk Union, Japan, 1998; #AVAN 024]

"No doubt about it, drummer John 'Drumbo' French may well be one of the oddest drummers in rock music, but a quick glance at his CV confirms that his eccentric, brutalist, almost childlike style has brought him into some of modern music's brightest stars: Ry Cooder, Richard Thompson, Frank Zappa and Fred Frith among them. But if there's one association for which he's best known it's with Don Van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart. With the Magic Band he was given free rein to thrash out his unique rhythms, and there can be no doubt that for all that Van Vliet's own personal vision defined the Magic Band, they would nonetheless have sounded very different indeed without Drumbo.

This solo drum album on John Zorn's Avant label originated in a London concert two years ago put on by the London Musician's Collective, a concert then broadcast on BBC Radio 3's ever-eclectic Mixing It show. According to Drumbo's own sleevenotes, when San Fransisco experimental guitarist and Beefheart aficionado Henry Kaiser heard a tape of the show he insisted on producing a similar set of French's drum solos. Between them they have chosen a set of songs from Drumbo's career - Beefheart songs, Crazy Backwards Alphabet songs, songs he recorded with French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson and so on - from which French plays the drum parts, using them as the basis for his eccentric improvisations. Yes, this is pretty arid stuff - I'm not going to pretend that an album of solo drums isn't a lot to take in one sitting, and yet, and yet, it sucks you in. A thousand other drummers would take this opportunity to indulge in ostentatious flashiness, gratuitous displays of their hard-won technique. Not for Drumbo, of course; he instead allows his stark, elliptical rhythms to induce something akin to a trance in anyone who listens closely. A fascinating insight into the musical approach of one of rock music's most unique instrumentalists."

(Simon Hopkins, 1998 @ sonomu.net)

Read an article from LMC's Resonance magazine Vol. 6 No. 1, 2007 @ the Captain Beefheart Radar Station.

John French, 1989
("This is before the hair turned grey. It was fun to do this shot, I call it 'Bwana Drumbo'. Photo Credit goes to Richard Thompson (a different guy, not the guitarist.) we were looking for the Film Noir look." - John French; info from the United Mutations site)

John French aka Drumbo: drums

1. Abba Zaba Drums (4'42)
"Originally from Safe as Milk, I came up with this drum part one evening in Laurel Canyon, California as an answer to a request by Don for an "African" rhythm, at a time when I had not really heard any African rhythms. Later, I heard the same rhythm on a Library of Congress field recording done in Africa. I reasoned it could have been my "Psychic" ability. Most likely, I first heard the beat on the original King Kong soundtrack when I was 11, while watching the movie."

2. Disposable Thoughts (6'38)
"I wrote this composition originally for a band called Crazy -Backwards Alphabet, but it was recorded on the first French Frith Kaiser Thompson CD Live, Love, Larf and Loaf. Here, I have just improvised around the original parts. The title has to do with the idea of being able to plug computer chips which contain the thoughts of the greatest thinkers into our brain via some implanted interface. I would be worrying about infection. I actually saw this on one of those Public Television things. Oh no, now they're going to be calling me again for a donation."

3. Weaned from the Earth (4'04)
"While rehearsing for the London concert, this came into being during an improvisational warm-up. Although I don't consider myself an environmentalist, I always thought it would be nice if we would return what we take from the earth. Our population has the potential to increase infinitely, yet we live on a very finite planet, and act as though we don't realize that fact. This drum solo, however, is probably not the answer."

4. The Thousandth and Tenth Day of the Human Totem Pole (6'52)
"One of my favorite Beefheart compositions is included here as an answer to a request from Mr. Kaiser to play the melody on drums. I decided then to play the melody and the drum parts at the same time in order to really impress people. Four hours a day and 2 1/2 half months later, I came up with this. I had to borrow a set of drums for the session because my set didn't have enough (eight) tom-toms. I transcribed the original sheet music from Don Van Vliet's original cassette in his trailer in the desert in 1975. It was the summer and it was hot. It was originally recorded in early 1976 on the original Bat Chain Puller album and is soon to be released. I think the original version is a little better than the Ice Cream for Crow version, probably because I play on the 1976 version."

5. We are in Control? (9'47)
"Written for and recorded by Crazy Backwards Alphabet in 1985. The parts - (admittedly Trout Mask in inspiration) are attempted to be improvised on before they are actually played, so that they appear in an illusionary form after the fact. The title refers to the fact that man has dominion of the earth, and does such a great job taking care of it."

6. Bat Chain Puller: The Movie (7'07)
"One rainy day in Hollywood, behind Frank Zappa's studio in early 1976, Don Van Vliet decided to write a song from the drums up (subconsciously, I guess I have always placed drums at the bottom of the musical spectrum). As we sat in his Volvo, he turned on the windshield wipers. I wrote the main drumbeat on a matchbook cover with the idea in mind to duplicate this wiper rhythm. Does this mean Volvo deserves royalties? Perhaps an endorsement will be enough."

7. Hair Pie Drums (2'24)
"For the Beefheart fans, only the parts have been slightly altered for copyright reasons. Hair Pie was the first song in which I tried actually writing out my drum beats before playing them. It was a different approach, and I tried to have at least two different things going on in each rhythm. The first part took forever to learn. One measure of Hell. After a while, Hell became much easier."

8. Three for 5 (6'36)
"I transcribed the basic idea for this in 1969, during rehearsal for Trout Mask Replica as an attempt to play in 3 different time signatures at the same time. It is in 3/8, 4/4, and 5/4 and is not repetitive for 15 measures, at which time it begins the same cycle. I have tried to play it on several occasions through the years, but never had the patience (and still don't!) to master it . Actually I programmed each measure into a drum machine, to hear how it sounded, and learned them separately. Later, when I put them together, my brain didn't know which time signature to follow; and it was a very odd sensation, like trying to decide which presidential candidate to believe. What is here evolves into an improvisation based upon East Indian tabla rhythms."

9. P-K-Ro P (5'01)
"Don played a rhythm quite similar to this on the drums one day. He asked me to transcribe the beat to music paper. It was very difficult for him to keep playing it, and though it took me about 30 seconds to write it down, I kept telling him I didn't have it yet, so he kept having to play it for 20-30 minutes. It was a little prank in retribution for having had to transcribe all those Trout Mask parts for bass and guitar. However, he was able through his simple technique to innovate one of the greatest beats on drums that I have ever heard. I approached it here with a Cab Calloway visits Flash Gordon feel, because it always reminds me of old soft shoe / shoeshine boy rhythms from the 30's and 40's and yet still has a timeless appeal."

10. Suzanne (4'06)
"The results of my first attempt at playing a long string of difficult parts, I originally recorded this on Invisible Means, French Frith Kaiser Thompson. As a challenge, I played it to a click track which sped up approx. 1 1/4 beats per measure. I wanted to have this long reverb, like the Taj Mahal, on the slow parts which shortened in length in proportion to the speed, however, you'll just have to use your imagination."

11. Steal Softly Through Snow Drums (2'27)
"It is not common knowledge that I wrote many of my own drum parts on Beefheart's legendary Trout Mask Replica. I have included two titles from that album here for the Beefheart fans. This is not improvisation, and I tried to capture the original intensity and abandon as much as possible."

12. What's a Cobble Box? (6'57)
"Richard Thompson was talking about his love for the early Buddy Holly recordings. He mentioned to Frith (also British), Kaiser and me in his charming British accent that the drums always sounded like a "cobble box". Henry and I (The California boys) pretended to understand him for a moment, but finally asked, almost in unison, "What's a cobble box?". "Cardboard," answered Richard, "I said, 'Cardboard Box'." We all had a good laugh over the lack of translation. (I didn't have a title for this piece, and I always wanted to tell that story, "OK?")."

total time: 66'41

Compositions by John French, exc. 4 by Don Van Vliet.
4, 6, 7, 11 are arrangements by French, found within the framework of compositions employed on tracks whilst working with Don Van Vliet and the Magic Band.

John French at the drum set-up in his home studio

Recorded by Henry Kaiser and Oliver DiCicco at Mobius Studios, San Francisco, USA, in November 1996.
Mixed by Henry Kaiser at his home studio in February 1997.
Mastered by David Gans.

Produced by Henry Kaiser.
Executive producers: Henry Kaiser and John Zorn / Disk Union.
Associate producer: Kazunori Sugiyama.
Design by Arai Yasunori.
Notes on each track by John French from the liner notes, 1997.
"I would like to dedicate this album to Don and Jan Van Vliet" - John French.

Download [ CD-rip | mp3-320kb/s, 153 MB ]
thanks to the original uploader!

Liu Sola + Wu Man - China Collage (1995)

2011-11-25T00:34:00.010+01:00

[CD: Avant / Disk Union, Japan, 1996; #AVAN 046]

"From large-scale oil painting of Chen Danqing, I heard China Collage; from African music, I heard China Collage; from free jazz, blue, and rock’n roll, I heard China Collage; from Junior Wells and Aretha Franklin, I heard China Collage; from Hendrix’s guitar and Wu Man’s pipa, I heard China Collage; from Chinese opera and folk music, I heard China Collage; from ancient stages, bygone battle sites and old cemeteries, I heard China Collage; from horses, chickens and birds, I heard China Collage; from my own desire, I heard China Collage; China Collage is made from many traditional Chinese music motifs - but transformed by all that I have heard."

(Liu Sola - from her homepage)

"Though far too unusual for casual world music fans, this collaboration between eclectic Chinese vocalist Liu Sola and Wu Man, a master of the Chinese lute (or pipa), is definitely an intriguing listen for those unafraid of more avant-garde musical fusions. As the plucked pipa melodies set the musical mood with styles that range from the traditional to the contemporary, Sola's voice goes from piercing howl to soulful moan to gentle croon, never losing an ounce of its power in the process. The opening 'Festivals' is far from easy listening, with a caterwauling vocal style that could send Yoko Ono running for cover, but 'Love' is a gorgeous ballad whose mood perfectly matches its title. Though not quite as impressive as some of the duo's later collaborations, China Collage is an innovative introduction to two of the most distinctive talents in modern Chinese music."

(Bret Love @ allmusic)

Liu Sola: vocals
Wu Man: pipa

Festivals (10'33)
Love (5'54)
Death (8'48)
Life Journeys (8'52)
War (6'52)

total time: 41'19

Music composed and arranged by Liu Sola.
Pipa music consultant and improvisation by Wu Man.

Recorded at Greenpoint Studio, Brooklyn, NY on April 1995.
Recorded and mixed by Jean Pierre Sluys and Robert Musso.
Produced by Bill Laswell.
Executive producers: John Zorn / Disk Union.
Associate üroducer: Kazunori Sugiyama.
Mastered by Allan Tucker at Foothill Digital, NYC.
Design by Arai Yasunori.

CD-rips [ mp3-320kb/s, 95 MB | flac, 226 MB ]
thanks to the original uploaders!

Stephen Drury - Faith, the Loss of Faith, and the Return of Faith (1999)

2011-11-25T00:00:00.000+01:00

- Ives, Liszt, Beethoven, Stockhausen -
[CD: Avant / Disk Union, Japan, 1999; #AVAN 022]

"This recital, consisting of four works scattered over nearly a century and a half and played without pause, evocatively fills in the narrative traced by its title. We begin with a telescoped version of Liszt's Transcendental Etudes cycle, which itself follows the evolution of the simple, robust, and naive optimism of the opening two etudes through the more ephemeral hopes of 'Feux Follets' ('Will-o-the-Wisp') and the frustrated raging of the f minor etude into the cold, blackened despair of 'Chasse Neige'. The dying away of the final b-flat minor chord is interrupted by the harsh dissonance of the famous repeated chord which begins Karlheinz Stockhausen's Klavierstück IX, a meditation on entropy and disintegration. At the end, Stockhausen's music breaks apart into ever smaller and weaker fragments.

From this void comes the cloud of whirling energy and satire which is Charles Ives' pianistic take on Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'updated' parody of Bunyan's 'Pilgrim's Progress'. In Hawthorne's re-telling, the pilgrimage to the Heavenly City is greatly simplified through the convenience of the then-modern steam-powered locomotive engine. Riding in the easy comfort of the railroad car, the travelers are tempted away by the distractions of the modern world, and occasionally glimpse the old-fashioned pilgrims through the window, trudging to their goal on foot. The noise and hoopla of the railroad disappears suddenly, and we are left with Beethoven's stubborn, visionary statement of the unshakable faith shared by Ives' pilgrims, now informed by a lifetime of confronting the complexities and terrors of the real world.

In addition to this programmatic narrative, there are strictly musical elements which bind this program together. The repeated note motive which opens the second Liszt etude is developed all out of proportion in the first minutes of the Stockhausen, reverts to its original rhythm as the famous opening motto of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony as quoted by Ives, and finds both an echo and an apotheosis just before the return of the fugue which closes the Beethoven. It's interesting to note that Ives prefers to think of this motive, known as Beethoven's 'fate' motive ('thus fate knocks at the door'), as a 'human faith motive' ('the Soul of humanity knocking at the door of the Divine mysteries, radiant in the faith that it will be opened - and that the human will become the Divine!'). The hymn-like opening of the sonata is foreshadowed by the pilgrim's hymn in 'The Celestial Railroad' (both begin with a drop of a major third - as does Ives' quotation of Beethoven's Fifth). The rising fourths of Beethoven's fugue recall the superimposed fourths of Stockhausen's repeated chord. The very end of Beethoven's F Minor scherzo movement recapitulates almost exactly the brief tune which closes Liszt's F Minor etude."

(liner notes by Stephen Drury - also on his homepage)

(photo by Lisa Kohler - from Drury's homepage)

Stephen Drury: piano

Franz Liszt: From the Transcendental Etudes (Études d'exécution transcendante)
- 1. Preludio (0'55)
- 2. Molto vivace (2'17)
- 3. Feux follets (4'16)
- 4. Allegro agitato molto (4'59)
- 5. Chasse neige (5'32)

"'I thought, ‘WHAT has gotten into Mozart?’' - John Cage"

Karlheinz Stockhausen
6. Klavierstück IX (11'22)

"Klavierstück IX is electronic music re-imagined as live music on an acoustic instrument. Feedback and tape loops are created, echo and reverb effects explored, tones filtered, new sound complexes are synthesized (listen to how the sustained chords build and evolve). The trajectory is from an order which is artificial, rigid, authority imposed from above (Stockhausen was a teenager during the years of the Third Reich) to a 'disorder' which is intuitive, improvisational, personal. Robin Maconie points out in his excellent study of Stockhausen that the opening tempo 'echoes the sound of marching feet.'"

Charles Ives
7. The Celestial Railroad (7'58)

"The manuscript Ives left of 'The Celestial Railroad' is a mess, with second thoughts, shorthand revisions, deletions, and borrowings, all indecipherably superimposed in Ives’ nearly illegible handwriting. For each performer to find a unique solution to this puzzle - a personal vision, differing from any other - seems to me to be very much in the spirit of Ives’ musical philosophy.

John Cage professed a special affinity for the extremely soft bell-tones which hover like ghosts at the threshold of audibility over the hymn, and it is to his memory that this recording of those tones is dedicated."

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata in A-Flat, Opus 110
- 8. Moderato cantabile, molto espressivo (7'50)
- 9. Allegro molto (2'03)
- 10. Adagio, ma non troppo (3'57)
- 11. Fuga: Allegro, ma non troppo (8'07)

"The second movement - a scherzo in 2/4 - does it start with a strong downbeat measure or is the first bar an introduction? I opt for an unelegant, four-on-the-floor square downbeat to emphasize the crude pop music (quotations of the folk songs "Our cat has kittens" and, even better, "I'm a slob, you're a slob") which Beethoven, in a feat worthy of John Zorn, throws between the sublime ecstasies of the outer movements.

Beethoven’s fugal writing is an act of faith culminating in an outburst of joy: his faith in his subject is redeemed when he discovers that, after turning it upside down and playing it against itself one voice at half speed and the other at triple speed, he can combine the inverted form over a version of the subject going an unbelievable six times the original tempo."

total time: 59'16

Produced by Stephen Drury and Joel Gordon.
Executive producers: John Zorn and Disk Union.
Associate producer: Kazunori Sugiyama.
Recorded at John Knowles Paine Concert Hall, Harvard University.
Recorded by Joel Gordon.
Mastered by Allan Tucker.
"DEDICATION: to Margaret Saunders Ott, whose faith in me sustains me to this day."

Notes from Stephen Drury's homepage.

Download [ CD-rip | mp3-192kb/s, 82 MB ]

Thanks to Jack, who contributed this at my former Avant Records blog in 2007!

Bruno Le Tron - Valhermeil (1990)

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000+01:00

[CD: Auvidis / Ethnic, France, 1990; #B 6742]

"The Diatonic Accordion

In 1829, DEMIAN's 'ACCORDION' left Vienna (Austria) and arrived in Paris in 1830. The salon's of the upper middle class welcome it and a few years later we find the Accordion in the salon of Queen Mathilde, daughter of Jérôme BONAPARTE. In these temples of culture, it was not unfit to play tunes from the latest operas. Especially when they were sustained by this newcomer everyone in Paris was talking about.

The accordions of this period of time in history are of remarkable workmanship. They are made of precious woodwork. Marketry and engraved megal blend artistically. Each instrument establishes good taste, quality and skillfulness of nineteenth century craftsmen.

The instrument consists of a single 'melodic' keyboard. Its system allows each key to produce two different sounds, one by 'pulling' and one by 'pushing' the bellows: it is what we call 'two-toned'.

Producing only natural notes, these first models were called 'Diatonic'. Later on, an unknown person created a new support on which he combined two reeds in order to produce the same sound whether the bellow is 'pulled' or 'pushed': it was called 'single toned'. This invention was quickly applied to the left-hand keyboard which went from two to twelve bass keys. They were called 'Mixed models'.

Near 1870, while the high quality of the instrument was being confirmed (expression, lightness, its specific system), the multiplication of systems brought to life different models: The 'Diatonic pull-and-push Accordion', the 'Chromatic pull-and-push Accordion', the 'Mixed pull-and-push Accordion' etc.

Since the main concern of the makers was not musical science, there came a time of total confusion. The Diatonic Accordion was defined as such for being the one that gave one sound by pulling and another by pushing, notwithstanding if the notes were natural or altered, nor if the instrument possessed two or twenty-four bass keys, combined with a melodic keyboard of a single, two or three rows, and of different tonality. It kept that name and all the others became... Chromatic Accordions.

A variety of tunes could be accompanied on the Accordion. It thus became part of country festive events where dancing required 'Rhythm' and 'Song'. Its success was total. Thus it left the salons of the countryside...

In this recording, Bruno LE TRON brings to us a repertoire of traditional tunes and dances, most of which come from his inspiration. The dominant colour is determinedly personal, though we can slightly perceive the skies of Brittany, the mountains of Central France, or the pavings of la rue de Lappe."

(Pierre Monichon - from the liner notes)

"Bruno first got to know traditional music at the folk ball and dance Fest Noz in the Parisian region. Completely self-taught, he discovered the diatonic accordion and made it his principal instrument. His repertoire ranges from the music of the centre of France to the dances of Brittany.

It was in the studio of traditional dance and music of Frepillon, at the beginning of the 1980s where he began his career in the folk scene, then in the group Mandragore. He turned professional with Tourne-Cul round 1985 then with the Compagnie du Beau Temps. He participated in the creation of the plays 'Au-delà de l’eau' [Beyond the Water] and 'Le Grand Festin' [The grand Party]. The performances combined theatre, songs and traditional music. From these events sprang a CD for which he did compositions and arrangements, 'Valhermeil'. One year before, 1989 was the birth of Maubuissons which began with a tour on the east coast of the United States and with whom he continues to play today.

At the same time, Bruno brings to life many workshops for diatonic accordian in France and in Europe. He is the holder of a state diploma for teaching traditional music. He created in 2005 the groups 'Le Vrai Trio' [The real trio] along with Jean-François Vrod and Régis Reynaud, and 'Bopiano' with Régis Reynaud and Anne-Lise Foy. Accomplice for many years of Eric Montbel at the time of workshops and balls, at riotous improvisation, they decided in 2005 to record the CD 'Topanga' along with Laurence Charrier on harmonium... Accordion - pipes - harmonium: a trio of reeds."

(biography from the Topanga trio entry @ WKPF)

Bruno Le Tron: diatonic accordion, flute
Serge Liorzou: bombards in B flat, G and D; saxophone
Robert Amyot: bagpipes (20 + 23 inches)
Vincent Leutreau: violin

Anaik (2'56)
Valhermeil (5'32)
La rotule (6'29)
V'là l'printemps (4'00)
a. Mazurkas de Salou / b. La Picrochole (2'42)
Le trois chapeaux (3'52)
a. Le petite lande / b. Mélodie de l'Aven (4'27)
La valse de Noël (4'21)
Polka d'Aze (3'44)
'ttention la marche (5'19)
Les douaniers (3'56)
La viremouche (3'05)
Solen (2'56)
La route des avaloirs (3'41)
Zonzon (4'22)

total time: 61'24

Music composed by Bruno Le Tron, except:
5b by François Le Tron;
7b traditional of l'Aven.
Arrangements by Bruno Le Tron.

Recorded and mixed by Julien Jauny, J.J.S. Production, Le Vésinet, France, assisted by Lisa Glenn.
Cover photo by François Gaillard.
Portrait photographs from The Samurai homepage (quintet of five accordionists).

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 89 MB | flac, 353 MB ]

african fiesta @ 45tours on vita 1963-5 docteur nico 01.1

2011-11-23T00:00:00.006+01:00

Version 01.1 Enthusiast discographer Alastair Johnston has kindly provided information and files, resulting in the addition of four tracks and subtraction of one. Plus - 08a En Guantanamo, 13b Nkembo Na Nzambe, 18b Willy Mopaya, 23a Azongi Na Bomengo. Minus - 01b Tremendo Punto, which was mislabeled on Sonodisc reissues and is actually 100b Minge Rumba Fiesta. I thank him for his generosity and infinite wisdom.
According to Johnston's invaluable Docteur Nico Discography, African Fiesta came together in 1963, featuring Nicolas Kasanda on lead, his brother Dechaud on rhythm guitar and Tabu Ley Rochereau on lead vocals, with Roger Izeidi, Kwamy Munsi, Joseph 'Mujos' Mulamba, Joseph Mwena and Depuissant, adding Faugus Izeidi, Paul Mizele, Dominique Kuntima and Jeef Mingiedi in due time. Having developed his electric guitar skills with African Jazz, Nico was really sailing by this time, exploring tone and texture with a great sense of adventure and a liquid sense of time. Cascades of single notes alternate with thick clusters, generally plucked instead of flat-picked, all purring and growling with natural tube sustain and distortion, tremolo and reverb. Check out Angola Siempre for a 'Dieu de la Guitare' solo. Incredibly, African Fiesta recorded over 250 sides in just two years, with 128 Vita singles released and nary a dud among the ones I've heard. This collection comes from my own vinyl and CDs along with many many downloads from across the interwebs, with Moos @ Global Groove being a prime source. I've been warned that compilation tracks are not necessarily the same takes as the original 45s, but I don't always have multiple sources to compare. I plan to cover 25 Vita numbers each post, however many of those tracks I actually have, with downloads revised as additions turn up. A list of missing sides is included in the rar, and any digital contributions would be very greatly appreciated.

docteur nico african fiesta @ 45 tours
the far from complete vita singles 1963-5
part 01 - vita 01-25

01 01a Rendezvous Chez Labas
02 02a Bilomba ya Africa
03 02b Mwasi Abandaka
04 03b Naleli leo
05 04a Angola Siempre
06 04b Permission
07 05a Moto Abungaka
08 05b Rythmo ya Suka
09 06a Bandimi Ngaï Tata
10 06b Tembe Nde Tembe
11 07a Camalée
12 07b Seli Kutu
13 08a En Guantanamo
14 08b Keba
15 09a Pesa le Tout
16 09b Vivo Africa
17 10a Toyei na Sango
18 10b Vidas
19 13a Nico Azongi
20 13b Nkembe Na Nzambe
21 14a Conseil Monetaire
22 14b Barumbu
23 15a Boni Boye
24 17a Bisengo na capitale
25 19a Arsène Dionge
26 19b Willy Mopaya
27 20a A.M. Decantonio
28 21b Natuna Nani
29 23a Azongi Na Bomengo
30 25a Ngonga Ebeti
31 25b Godee

cd and vinyl and downloads @ various bitrates

Sun Ra and his Arkestra - Out There a Minute (1961-70)

2011-11-22T01:31:00.007+01:00

[CD: Blast First, UK, 1989; #BFFP 42 CD]

"[...] In today’s instantaneous-information and media-saturated age, it might be difficult to imagine what a revelation it was when Out There a Minute appeared in 1989. Billed as “Sun Ra’s personal selection of rare Arkestra recordings from the late 1960s,” this CD allowed a glimpse into the darkest recesses of Ra’s most obscure period. But in typical Saturnal fashion, the packaging was devoid of liner notes beyond some cryptic Ra poetry leaving any definitive information as to dates and personnel merely inferred or totally unknown. That is until the efforts of Prof. Robert L. Campbell to compile a definitive Sun Ra discography began to circulate on the nascent internet. Thanks to Prof. Campbell (and the small but avid cyber-community of Ra fanatics), one could in the coming years finally piece together the murky history of Sun Ra’s Arkestra and gain an understanding of the material that appears on Out There a Minute. The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra was subsequently published by Cadence Jazz Books in 1994 and a greatly enlarged second edition (which I still need to purchase) was published in 2000.

So, it turns out that Out There a Minute contains several tracks that were later issued on CD in their proper album context on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow, When Angels Speak of Love (Evidence ECD 22216), and Night of the Purple Moon (Atavistic ALP 264) along with two tracks from the still-out-of-print Continuation LP from 1968. I will not consider any of these tracks here except to say that Atavistic needs to reissue Continuation pronto. The remainder of the CD consists of never released recordings, some of which derive from the Choreographer’s Workshop era and therefore fits chronologically into our discussion of these crucial early/mid-sixties sessions.

“Somewhere in Space,” “Dark Clouds with Silver Linings,” and “Journey Outward” were all recorded in 1962 and demonstrate Ra’s evolution from the more swing-based traditionalism of the Chicago era to the experimental, avant-garde music that first appeared on Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow and was perfected on Secrets of the Sun. “Somewhere in Space” is a lumbering two-chord march featuring Art Jenkins on “space voice,” actually wordless, improvisatory singing through an inverted ram’s horn (see Szwed pp.192-193 for the whole story). After a while, the horns enter with a simple, but affecting batch of riffs before each picking up small percussion instruments in support of a string of rather meandering solos: Pat Patrick on baritone saxophone, John Gilmore on tenor, Marshall Allen on flute. “Dark Clouds With Silver Linings” is a more conventional Ra original with a mid-tempo blues structure but with some typically unexpected harmonic twists. Gilmore states the melody and his tenor solos glide effortlessly through the weirdly bop-ish changes. Meanwhile, Ra explores some interesting two-handed counterpoint along with his stabbed comping. The ensemble sounds a little unsure of itself when it enters with the restatement of the theme, which yields some mild inadvertent dissonance before the close. “Journey Outwards” appears to be another early example of the conducted improvisations that would characterize this period’s most important work. It opens with Gilmore on mellifluous bass clarinet over softly mumbling drums. Then Gilmore drops out as the percussion builds into a polyrhythmic African groove. Al Evans enters with some mellow, richly melodic flugelhorn statements and Ra joins in with some angular piano figures before fading out. Very nice.

The title track, “Out There a Minute,” remains somewhat of a discographical mystery. According to Prof. Campbell, it could have been recorded at any time between 1962 and 1964, but to my ears it sounds very similar to the hissy, distant quality and subtly swinging combo feel of 1961’s Bad & Beautiful. In any event, it’s another patented off-kilter blues with some slippery piano work from Ra and a spirited Patrick solo on baritone saxophone. “Other Worlds” jumps ahead to the Magic City (Evidence ECD 22069) sessions of spring 1965, with a larger Arkestra and more aggressively avant-garde approach, but probably not recorded at the Choreographer’s Workshop (for one thing, it’s in stereo). Ra plays a quietly intense introduction on simultaneous piano and bell-like celeste before the Arkestra bursts in with a hard-driving atonal workout. Throughout the piece, Ra’s piano attack is every bit as ferocious as Cecil Taylor’s and the entire 11-piece Arkestra blows hot and heavy, tossing lines around with seemingly wild abandon. But repeated listens reveal a tightly controlled compositional integrity that packs the whollop of John Coltrane’s “Ascension” into a mere four minutes and forty-eight seconds. Incredible stuff. “Jazz and Romantic Sounds” probably dates from about 1969 given Ra’s electronic organ. Also, Gilmore is notably absent, but Marshall Allen and Danny Davis duke it out on alto saxophones while Ra conjures up the “space-age barbeque music” vibe similar to My Brother the Wind Vol. 2.

These never-before-released tracks make Out There a Minute a must-have proposition for the hardcore Sun Ra fan while the whole disc is full of prime cuts and a suitable introduction for the novice. Sadly, the CD is now out print although its widespread distribution means it’s readily available in the secondary market and well worth the effort to track it down. Essential."

(Rodger Coleman, 2/2009 @ the NuVoid blog)

1. Love in Outer Space (5'03)
Sun Ra: rocksichord
Danny Davis: alto clarinet, conga
Stafford James: electric bass
John Gilmore: drums
Alternate take from the sessions of 'Night of the Purple Moon', Philadelphia or New York, 1970.

2. Somewhere in Space (8'08)
Sun Ra: piano
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, flute, percussion
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussion
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone, flute, percussion
Ronnie Boykins: bass
probably C. Scoby Stroman: drums
Art Jenkins: space voice
Recorded maybe at the sessions of 'Secrets of the Sun', Choreographers' Workshop, New York, 1962.

3. Dark Clouds With Silver Linings (4'53)
Sun Ra: piano
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone
Ronnie Boykins: bass
C. Scoby Stroman or Tommy Hunter: drums
Probably Choreographers' Workshop, New York, 1962.

4. Jazz and Romantic Sounds (4'41)
Sun Ra: organ
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone
Danny Davis: alto saxophone
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone
Clifford Jarvis: drums
New York or Philadelphia, 1969.

5. When Angels Speak of Love (4'24)
Sun Ra: piano, clavioline, gong
Walter Miller: trumpet
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, oboe, percussion
Danny Davis: alto saxophone
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussion
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone, percussion
Ronnie Boykins: bass
probably Tommy Hunter: percussion and reverb
Taken from the LP 'When Angels Speak of Love', New York, 1963.

6. Cosmo Enticement (3'06)
Sun Ra: space gong
Marshall Allen: Jupiterian flute
other members of the Arkestra (featuring percussionists Robert Barry, Carl Nimrod and James Jackson): sun harp, koto, scrapers, etc.
Percussion track from the album 'Continuation', New York, 1968.
Originally entitled "Earth Primitive Earth".

7. Song of Tree and Forest (3'08)
Sun Ra: piano
Marshall Allen: piccolo
Danny Davis or Pat Patrick: flute
Robert Cummings: bass clarinet
From the album 'Continuation', New York, 1968.
Originally entitled "New Planet".

8. Other Worlds (4'51)
Sun Ra: electronic celeste, piano
Chris Capers: trumpet
Teddy Nance: trombone
Bernard Pettaway: baritone trombone
Marshall Allen: piccolo, alto saxophone
Danny Davis: alto saxophone
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone
Ronnie Boykins: bass
Jimmy Johnson: drums
New York, spring 1965, sessions of 'Magic City'.

9. Journey Outward (4'24)
Sun Ra: piano
Al Evans: trumpet
John Gilmore: bass clarinet
Marshall Allen: morrow
several percussionists
Choreographers' Workshop, New York, 1961 or 1962.

10. Lights of a Satellite (3'03)
Sun Ra: piano
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone
Ronnie Boykins: bass
John Ore: bass
Tommy Hunter: drums
Taken from the LP 'Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow', Choreographers' Workshop, New York, November or December 1961.
Originally entitled "Lights on a Satellite".
Edited version with a few seconds removed.

11. Starships and Solar Boats (7'32)
Sun Ra: piano
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
Robert Boykins: bass (first solo)
John Ore: bass (second solo)
Tommy Hunter: drums
From 'Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow', Choreographers' Workshop, New York, November or December 1961.
Original entitled "Kosmos in Blue",
The second tenor solo by Gilmore didn't appear in the Saturn version.

12. Out There a Minute (3'21)
Sun Ra: piano, introduction
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, flute
Danny Davis: alto saxophone, flute
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone
Ronnie Boykins: bass
Clifford Jarvis: drums
Choreographers' Workshop or Sun Studios, New York, 1962-1964.

13. Next Stop Mars (11'59)
Sun Ra: piano, clavioline, gong, singing
Walter Miller: trumpet, singing
Marshall Allen: alto saxophone, oboe, percussion, singing
Danny Davis: alto saxophone, singing
John Gilmore: tenor saxophone, percussion, singing
Pat Patrick: baritone saxophone, percussion, singing
Robert Cummings: bass clarinet, singing
Ronnie Boykins: bass, singing
probably Tommy Hunter: percussion and reverb, singing
From the LP 'When Angels Speak of Love', New York, 1963.
Edited version with several minutes removed.

total time: 68'32

All compositions by Sun Ra.

Produced by Blast First.
Cover photo from OVC Video Production 1986, "Calling Planet Earth".
Logo + layout by Designland.

Detailed info from the Sun Ra discography @ The-Temple.net (last updated on January 25, 2008).
Band photos from the CD-booklets of 'Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy / Art Forms of Dimensions Tomorrow' (Evidence ECD 22036-2) and 'When Angels Speak of Love' (Evidence ECD 22216-2).

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 100 MB | flac, 345 MB ]

More Sun Ra @ the Adventure-Equation blog.

Guus Janssen - On the Line (1979)

2011-11-20T23:18:00.005+01:00

[Claxon, The Netherlands, 1980; #79.4]

"[...] Eén Nederlandse componist-pianist is erin geslaagd om, althans in zijn beste stukken, het improvisieren tot componeren en het componeren tot improviseren te verheffen. Wie onvoorbereid de soloplaat On the line (1979) van Guus Janssen beluistert, zal waarschijnlijk niet meteen beseffen dat zich tussen al die geiproviseerde stukken één, tot in de kleinste en nauwelijks meer speelbare details genoteerde compositie bevindt, Brake geheten. In dit extreme geval is het onderscheid tussen echte improvisatie (compositie) en gesimuleerde improvisatie (compositie) imaginair. Hoewel de luisteraar van het Octet of van Temet er geen moment aan twijfelt dat hij met een tot op de laatste noot uitgeschreven compositie te maken heeft, blijft hij zich bewust van het geimproviseerde gebaar, in de timing, in de obsessionele concentratie op één muzikaal onderwerp en op de steeds terugkerende 'fouten' met voorbedachten rade. Het verbaast niet dat de muziek van Janssen dikwijls in verband wordt gebracht met Stravinsky, ook al om de wijze waarop hij - wat hij zelf noemt - 'volstrekt onvoorstelbare relaties tussen bestaande elementen' aanbrengt.

Guus Janssen is een van de weinige componisten die postmodern genoemd mag worden in de betekenis die Umberto Eco aan het woord heeft gegeven en die (als we een roman door een compositie vervangen) van toepassing is op een muziek 'die tamelijk problematisch is en tooch aangenaam, zonder dat zij gerekend hoeft te worden tot de amusements(muziek)'. Maar als het waar is dat, zoals Eco beweert, het postmoderne antwoord op het modernisme bestaat uit de erkenning 'dat het verleden opgewaardeerd moet worden, aangezien het niet vernietigd kan worden' en dat dit op een niet-onschuldige manier moet gebeuren, dan is Stravinsky natuurlijk de eerste postmoderne componist geweest. Hiermee is tevens een aanzet tot verklaring gegeven van de in de laatste jaren sterk toegenomen belangstelling voor Stravinsky's zogenaamde neoclassicisme. [...]"

(Elmer Schönberger, De wellustige tandats / andere componisten, p. 13-14. De Bezige Bij, Amsterdam 1985 - .pdf @ dbnl - digitale bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse letteren)

A personal Guus Janssen portrait by Frits van der Waa (translated by John Lydon) @ his homepage.

Guus Janssen: piano

Side A

Zwart wit (2'47)
6 ft² (4'46)
Saartje (8'14)
Brake (4'08)

Side B

Kinheim (4'58)
Fifth's Avenue (4'20)
Metro oom (3'52)
Soft Pillow (4'39)
Inflation (4'38)

total time: 42'22

All compositions by Guus Janssen.

Recorded live at Theater aan de Haven, Den Haag-Scheveningen, The Netherlands, A3 + B2 on January 26, 1979, all others on September 1, 1979.

vinyl-rip [ mp3-192kb/s, 58 MB | flac, 189 MB ]

Thanks to 12tone4ever for the flac-rip, and to onxidlib for additional info!

[up-grade] Maarten Altena Octet - Tel (1982)

2011-11-17T22:40:00.003+01:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1984; #83.12]

"In 1982 it was the second time that composer/bass-player Maarten Altena presented a number of octet pieces. The music on this album was recorded live at two of the concerts given by the octet. The group that Altena has been regularly working with lately is his quartet: Maud Sauer on oboe, Paul Termos on alto saxophone, Wolter Wierbos on trombone and Altena himself on bass. By adding Kenny Wheeler on trumpet, Maartje ten Hoorn on violin, Lindsay Cooper on bassoon and Guus Janssen on piano, the quartet grew into the Maarten Altena Octet.

Altena's musical career began in the mid-sixties. At first he played a large walking bass, but soon he started moving in another direction. In 1976, he was a member of the original Instant Composers Pool. Since then, he has worked with numerous improvising musicians, including Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy and Tristan Honsinger. He played in De Volharding, a collective whose name can perharps best be translated as 'perseverance' [bravo juju posted a later one]. He was also active in the field of composed music, and performed the works of composers ranging from Terry Riley to Fredric Rzewski. Together with Teo Joling and Michel Waisvisz, he developed a unique brand of musical theatre pieces. Ever since the end of the seventies, he has most frequently been heard with his quartet - and now with his octet - enabling him to exhibit his musical approach all the more clearly.

Together with Misha Mengelberg and Willem Breuker, Altena was one of the founders of the Amsterdam school of improvisation. Rapid, extreme changes in atmosphere, sometimes to the point of absurdity, are characteristic of their music. Elements from the farthest corners of the musical world are abruptly placed side by side or juxtaposed. In Altena's case, these procedures are rooted in a very personal line of thinking, with precision, purity and clarity all playing a prominent role.

The instrumentation is such that every note is audible. Percussion can easily be done without. The harmonization is stripped, almost flat. Every trace of romanticism or sentimentality is avoided - except as an absurd note. Because the music does contain some very trite jokes, though they are usually presented as understatement. Another essential point is the strictly equal standing of the composed and the improvised elements. This makes it possible to draw from a whole arsenal of combinations. The usual theme / improvisation / theme pattern becomes a thing of the past.

The album starts off with Guus Janssen introducing TEL (Countdown) by marking the extremes of his grand piano, immediately assisted by the others. Altena and ten Hoorn come in with a riff, Sauer joins them, and then the rest. The ultra-animated riff mainly consists of thirds; the harmonic aspects are rigidly restricted. If one really wants to, one might be able to detect the left-hand notes of a boogie motif. Thus Wheeler is given free rein to add his shrill notes. Wierbos' trembling old-time trombone balladeering makes for a transition which is in turn immediately propelled into another transition in the form of jazzy block chords on the piano. The trombone is backed up by the violin and cello, and is also interrupted twice by the ensemble playing bits of disjointed minimal music half related to the first riff. TEL just gives you a hint about the rest of the music on this record."

(Rudy Koopmans, January 1983; transl. by Sheila Gogol - from the liner notes)

Maarten Altena Octet (photo by Tony Thijs)

Kenny Wheeler: trumpet
Paul Termos: alto saxophone
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Maud Sauer: oboe, alto oboe
Lindsay Cooper: bassoon, sopranino saxophone
Maartje ten Hoorn: violin
Guus Janssen: piano
Maarten Altena: bass, cello

Side A

Tel (5'22)
Improvisations (6'21)
Pukkel (8'00)

Side B

Johan van Wely (5'39)
Rottum (6'04)
Beertje (4'25)
C-Melody (5'22)

total time: 41'13

All compositions by Maarten Altena, exc. A2 which are improvisations by the complete ensemble.

Recorded on October 8+10, 1982 by Dick Lucas at the Ijsbreker, Amsterdam and Centrum 't Hoogt, Utrecht, during live concerts.
Cover painting by Cecile van der Heiden, Amsterdam.
Cover design by Wouter Hooymans, Amsterdam.
Production by Maarten Altena, Claxon Records.

"This record is dedicated to the memory of Rudy Koopmans, 1932-1983"

vinyl-rip [ mp3-192kb/s, 60 MB | flac + scans, 209 MB ]

Thanks to an anonymous contributor for the mp3's (11/2009), and to Nick for the flac-upgrade and hi-res. cover scans (11/2011) - the majority of his superb rips have been posted by onxidlib @ Inconstant Sol!

Werner Bärtschi - Triple Feature (1981-90)

2011-11-10T23:50:00.001+01:00

"[...] The repertoire of this musician, who was born in 1950 in Zürich, ranges unusually broadly from late Renaissance to contemporary music. Composers like Cage, Klaus Huber, Riley, Scelsi, Schnebel and Vogel confided to him the first performances of important works. If he does have a preference for Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt, he also stands up for "outsiders" like Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Carl Nielsen, Erik Satie, Charles Ives and Giacinto Scelsi.

Concerts all over the world, at festivals such as Gstaad, Lucerne, Zürich, La Roque d‘Anthéron and Salzburg, broadcast-, TV- and film appearances as well as numerous CDs (with a "Grand prix du disque" of the Académie de disque française) give evidence of his successful activity as a pianist. In 1980 he founded "Rezital", his concert series at the Tonhalle Zürich, and he is artistic director of the "Musikkollegium Zürcher Oberland". He always teached selected students and has initiated and directs the "Master Classes Schaffhausen".

Bärtschi wrote over 40 compositions of different genres. Marked initially by Cage and Schnebel, later by Scelsi and Wilhelm Killmayer, he liberated himself through very personal compositional experiments from the traditions of the avantgarde and admitted more and more influence to his experiences as a performer of old and new music. His immediatly comprehensible music sounds completely independent and reminds hardly the used to language of contemporary music. [...]"

(portrait photo and biography from Bärtschi's homepage)

'Klang-Klavier / Klavier-Klang'
[CD: RecRec Music, Switzerland, 1991; #ReCDec 04
- LP originally released in 1984; RecRec 04]

Werner Bärtschi: piano, prepared piano, synthesizer, tape

The Perilious Night - for prepared piano (John Cage) 12'34
Aitsi - for piano with distortion (Giacinto Scelsi) 5'51
Piano Control - for piano and synthesizer (Thomas Kessler) 14'17
Klavierstück VII (Karlheinz Stockhausen) 5'39
Aeolian Harp (Henry Cowell) 2'17
In Trauer und Prunk (Werner Bärtschi) 14'17
Van Horn Boogie - for piano and tape (Steve Ingham) 9'36

total time: 64'34

Recorded November 14+15, 1984, at Tonstudio Phonag, Lindau, Switzerland by Robert Lattmann, and on November 21, 1984 at King's Hall, at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England by N.U.E.M.S.
Sound engineer: Douglas Doherty.
Cover art by Maurice Ducret.
Design by Rose Müller.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 98 MB | flac, 157 MB ]

'Wirrnis der Klänge - Wirrnis der Seele'
[CD: RecRec Music, Switzerland, 1991; #ReCDec 24]

Werner Bärtschi: piano

1. Solo for Piano (John Cage) (21'33)

Sonata in F-sharp minor op. 11 (Robert Schumann)
2. Introduzione: Un poco Adagio (2'24)
3. Allegro vivace (8'32)
4. Aria (3'26)
5. Scherzo e Intermezzo (4'48)
6. Finale: Allegro un poco maestoso (9'19)

total time: 50'05

Recorded on August 21+22, 1990 (Schumann) and January 4, 1991 (Cage) at the Kirche Blumenstein, Bern, Switzerland.
Sound engineer: Prof. Jakob Stämpfli.
Cover art by Maurice Ducret.
Design by Rose Müller.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 77 MB | flac, 138 MB ]

'Erik Satie: Ausgewählte Klavierwerke' (selected piano works)
[2LP: ex libris, Switzerland, 1981; #EL 16 965]

Werner Bärtschi: piano

Side A (LP1 Side1)
Gnossiennes nr.1-3 (10:05)
Sonneries de la rose-croix (11:26)
Prélude de la porte héroïque du ciel (3:40)
Caresse (1:57)

Side B (LP1 Side2a)
Pièces froides nr.1-6 (11:23)
Je te veux (4:58)
Nouvelles pièces froides (5:40)
Véritables préludes flasques (2:36)

(LP1 Side2b)
Le piège de Méduse (3:29)

Side C (LP2 Side1)
Déscriptions automatiques (4:54)
Embryons dessèchés (7:07)
Vieux séquins et vieilles cuirasses (4:10)
Sports et divertissements (12:59)

Side D (LP2 Side2)
Les trois valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté (3:52)
Avant-dernières pensées nr.1-3 (3:07)
Sonatine bureaucratique (4:12)
Cinq Nocturnes nr.1-5 (13:47)

all compositions by Erik Satie
total time: 1:49:22

LP-rip + covers [Disc 1: flac, 202mb | Disc 2: flac, 212mb]

~ this is a joint-venture post of Godard & Lucky ~

[up-grade] Maarten van Regteren Altena - Handicaps (1973)

2011-11-07T00:00:00.007+01:00

[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1973; #012]

"While I was convalescing from a broken left wrist I got the idea that led to this record. Since I couldn't play anyway I thought of handicapping my bass: I put the same kind of cast on it's neck as I had on my wrist. Now my bass and I were in the same fix. This resulted in 'Handicaps I'. The recording quality is not as balanced as in the later pieces. Since I couldn't play for too long with a broken wrist, everything had to be done within a certain amount of time. 'Handicaps II' was recorded when my bass and I were in good health. The idea was inspired by women on old Japanese prints with hairpins inserted in their hair. The bows used are weaved in and out the strings. All other pieces are 'instant composings' except 'The Elephant'. This is also the only piece dubbed in one time."

(Maarten van Regteren Altena from the liner notes)

"Altena [...] was classically trained. He appreciated jazz (in 1970 he played with US bop legend Dexter Gordon), but believed that Europeans couldn't master the real thing, and so found the move towards free music liberating. Like Honsinger, Altena believed that humour belongs in music. In 1973, he'd released Handicaps [ICP 012]: a plaster cast on his left wrist was duplicated by a cast on the fingerboard of his bass. A music theatre duo with Teo Joling saw Altena brandishing Christmas tree branches, wearing model battleships, and pacing on a treadmill [...]."

(from Ben Watson's book "Derek Bailey and the story of free improvisation", Verso/New Left Books, UK, 2004, p. 210)

Maarten van Regteren Altena: double bass

Side A

Handicaps I (17'43)
Marja's Dream (1'34)

Side B

Strabasky (2'51)
Woody Woodpecker (3'11)
Basta (1'41)
Dog's delight (1'17)
Handicaps II (8'48)
The Elephant (1'19)

total time: 38'24

All compositions by Maarten van Regteren Altena.

Recorded in Amsterdam on June and July 1973.
Engineer: Alwin Mulder.
Cover photos by Pieter Boersma.
Cover design by Marja Samsom.
Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.

vinyl-rip [ mp3-192kb/s, 56MB | flac + scans, 150 MB ]

Thanks to enter the mirror for the mp3's (11/2009) + onxidlib and Nick for the flac's + scans (11/2011)!

More rare Maarten Altena albums @ Inconstant Sol!

Ferrante and Teicher - Prepared Pianos (1953-60)

2011-11-05T11:33:00.009+01:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2011; #027]

"Ferrante & Teicher's work falls into two categories: prepared piano works and easy listening. After meeting as students, and then working as teachers, at Juilliard, they began to perform as a duo, primarily with classical groups, in 1946. They became a popular act on the "pops" symphony circuit. At the same time, they began experimenting with modifications to pianos, inserting objects into the stringbed, playing on the stringbed, striking keys or strings with blocks, and generally striving to figure out how to get the strangest possible sounds. Working before the first synthesizer, they succeeded in producing outworldly, almost electronic sounds. The pair described this musical transition:

... it was while teaching that we began experimenting and creating new material for two pianos. For novelty numbers we stuffed wads of paper, sticks, rubber stops, masonite strings, cardboard wedges, and sandpaper into the pianos conjuring up weird effects (a la [John] Cage) resembling gongs, castanets, drums, xylophone, and harpsichord. Though we have gradually dropped many of these gimmicks, we fell that we have developed a musical style, and undoubtedly play in a manner that makes some former colleagues at Juilliard wince a bit.

People who associate F&T with their easy listening music are often startled to hear their prepared piano works. There is nothing quite like them in the annals of recorded sounds. [...]

Aside from a few very early albums of classical pieces, most of their albums up to about 1961, however, are entirely comprised of prepared piano pieces. However innovative and exciting this work was, however, it was tough to translate into commercial success. Their concerts were as likely to be held in gymnasiums, churches, cafeterias, and ballparks, as in concert halls. Much of what they earned went into new motors for their delivery truck. "If our wives hadn't worked," Teicher once said, "we never could have survived."

After joining United Artists in 1960, they added an orchestral accompaniment (usually arranged by Don Costa and conducted by Nick Perito) and quickly abandoned fiddling with their pianos. [...]

You can safely skip virtually everything recorded from the early United Artists LP, "Pianos in Paradise" on, though, unless you need a Muzak fix. The one prominent exception to this advice, however, is their best-selling album, Midnight Cowboy, which gained a lot of attention for its prominent use of Vinnie Bell's "watery" guitar effects. For most Space Age Pop fans, the prepared piano albums are the ones to seek out. [...]"

(from The Space Age Pop Music Page)

Arthur Ferrante (1921-2009): piano
Louis Teicher (1924-2008): piano

Caravan (Juan Tizol) 2'28
Flight of the Bumble Bee (Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) 1'33
Tabu (Margarita Lecuona) 2'42
That Old Black Magic (Harold Arlen) 2'37
Sleigh Ride (Leroy Anderson) 2'54
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Johnny Marks) 2'04
The First Nowell (trad.) 2'21
Mississippi Boogie (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'08
Man from Mars (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'23
Baja (Ary Barroso) 2'49
Dark Eyes (Florian Herrmann) 3'15
Brazil (Ary Barroso) 3'25
Poinciana (Nat Simon) 3'31
Mama Yo Quero (Al Stillman) 2'41
Tico-Tico (Abreu, Drake, Oliviera) 3'17
Mexican Hat Dance (Jesús González Rubio) 2'33
The Moon Was Yellow (Fred E. Ahlert) 2'31
Over the Rainbow (Harold Arlen) 3'24
Out of this World (Harold Arlen) 2'53
Serenade to a Star (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'28
Beyond the Blue Horizon (Richard A. Whiting, W. Franke Harling) 2'05
Yesterdays (Jerome Kern) 2'11
Chopstick Cha Cha (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'51
In the Rain (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'50
Bye Bye Blues (David Bennett, Fred Hamm) 2'01
Hurdy Gurdy (Ferrante, Teicher) 3'07
Blue Skies (Irving Berlin) 2'09
They Can't Take That Away From Me (George Gershwin) 2'42
Echo Canyon (Ferrante, Teicher) 2'03
Liza (George Gershwin) 2'20

total time: 78'15

Compiled by Lucky, 2011.
Cover photo from the Official Ferrante and Teicher homepage.
Thanks to Christian Marclay for the initial fix.

Sources:
1-4 from 'Hi-Fireworks' (Columbia, 1953);
5-7 from 'Adventure in Carols' (Westminster, 1955);
8-11 from 'Soundproof' (mono) (Westminster, 1956);
12-16 from 'Soundproof' (stereo) (Westminster, 1956) - the stereo version of 'Soundblast' (mono) (Westminster, 1956);
17-20 from 'Heavenly Sound in Hi-Fi' (ABC-Paramount, 1957);
21-22 from 'Ferrante & Teicher with Percussion' (ABC-Paramount, 1958);
23-26 from 'Blast Off!' (ABC-Paramount, 1959);
27-30 from 'Dynamic Twin Pianos' (United Artists, 1960).

Download [ vinyl- + CD-rips | mp3-192kb/s, 113 MB ]

ICP Orchestra - Live at the Bimhuis (2011)

2011-11-03T23:25:00.004+01:00

ICP Orchestra
Thomas Heberer: trumpet
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Michael Moore: alto saxophone, clarinet
Ab Baars: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Tobias Delius: tenor saxophone, clarinet
Misha Mengelberg: piano
Mary Oliver: violin, viola
Tristan Honsinger: cello
Ernst Glerum: double bass
Han Bennink: drums

1st set

Zing Zang Zaterdag (Misha Mengelberg)
Busy Beaver (Herbie Nichols; arr. Baars)
Sendai (Michael Moore)
Picnic (Misha Mengelberg)
East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) (Brooks Bowman; arr. Moore)

2nd set

String / The Leopard (Ted Curson; arr. Moore)
Double Oistrich Conandrum (Tristan Honsinger)
House Party Starting (Herbie Nichols; arr. Moore)
Reef + Kneebus (Mengelberg)
Barbaric (Hoagy Carmichael; arr. Moore)
Weer is een dag voorbij (Mengelberg)
Rollo II (abr.) (Mengelberg)

total time: 110'26

Recorded on July 1, 2011 at the Bimhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Micha de Kanter.
Source audio from the VPRO JazzLive homepage.
Photo by Francesca Patella (from ICP's homepage).

Download [ mp3-224kb/s, 177 MB ]

Charles Tyler + Eugene Chadbourne - Ghost Legends (1977)

2011-11-01T12:16:00.004+01:00

[CD-R: House of Chadula, USA, 2009; #1977B
- LP originally released by Parachute?]

"Ghost Legends was recorded live in New York on September 17, 1977. It features Eugene Chadbourne on acoustic 12-string and electric six-string guitars, and Charles Tyler on (mostly) baritone saxophone and clarinet. Sound quality is muffled but otherwise good. This is the complete tape of the performance, including 'Amber', during which the tape ran out (after only a minute). The title refers to Albert Ayler whose classic tune 'Ghosts' closes the set.

This duo worked pretty well, better than Chadbourne's association with Frank Lowe. Tyler's free jazz background and tendency to flirt with contemporary music completes the guitarist's Derek Bailey-like inclinations. The saxophonist's 'Legend of the Lawmen' and Chadbourne's 'In Between Comme C and Comme Saw' stand worlds apart, and yet their coming together sounds perfectly normal. Tyler blows a beautiful clarinet solo on 'Improvisation', one of the album's highlights; his colleague remains rather discreet throughout the show, leaving a lot of breathing room. 'Usually Not the Case' describes pretty well how the listener feels hearing this delicate soft-spoken piece where the guitarist shows an impressive level of restraint recalling Roger Smith during his days with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble.

All in all a very nice early session, Ghost Legends was reissued on CD-R by Chadbourne's House of Chadula label."

(François Couture @ allmusic)

Charles Tyler (1941-1992): baritone saxophone, clarinet
Eugene Chadbourne: acoustic 12-string + electric 6-string guitars

In Between Comme C and Comme Saw (Chadbourne) 0'30
Ghost Legends (Chadbourne) 0'16
Usually Not the Case (Chadbourne) 16'11
Memories of the Schonee (Tyler) 11'37
Amber (incomplete) (Chadbourne) 1'04
Legend of the Lawmen (Tyler) 7'57
Improvisation - 12'06
Ghosts (Albert Ayler) 8'57

total time: 58'38

Recorded live at The Brook, NYC on September 17, 1977 by John Zorn.
Cover art from the Chadbourneries blog.
"The complete existing tape from the duo concert with Charles Tyler, recorded in New York City, by request from some of Tylers most fanatic fans. A fine recording of out free jazz with me in kind of a Derek Bailey groove." - E.C., 2009

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 83 MB | flac, 223 MB ]
thanks to szakall and neurosis01!

Lucky presents - World of L-Musique

2011-10-28T22:11:00.005+02:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2011; #026]

"Legere Idee: die Regel" - palindrome by Anton Bruhin

Lesiman - Contatto Umano (1970s) 2'32
Lifetones - Travelling (1983) 5'11
Arto Lindsay - Alisa (1984) 2'30
Magnus Lindberg - Ur (abridged) (1986) 8'59
Robert M. Lepage - Le Sourire de la Jaconde (1992) 3'21
Joëlle Léandre - Hommage à J... (1994) 4'15
Battista Lena - Ferie di Agosto (1996) 5'20
Steve Lacy Trio - Pï-Pande (1996) 4'50
London Improvisers Orchestra - Ellington 100 (Strayhorn 85) (1999) 10'57
Romero Lubambo + Herbie Mann - Dipper Mouth (2002) 6'48
Rodrigo Lessa - Ponto de bala (2007) 4'47
Mimmo Locasciulli - Il bambino e il destino (2009) 3'19

total time: 62'49

Compiled by Lucky.
Cover art by Lucky Jr.
Design by Lucky Sr.
Thanks to all Lucky's.

Download [ various sources | mp3-192kb/s, 89 MB ]

[up-grade] Maarten Altena Quartet - Rondedans (1984)

2011-10-27T00:00:00.002+02:00

[LP: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1985; #85.15]

"In geïmproviseerde muziek rukt de discipline op
Maarten Altena Kwartet: Rondedans Claxon 85.15

Luisteren naar geïmproviseerde muziek is een spannende bezigheid. Waar houdt de vrijheid op en beginnen de afspraken? Vooral in de Nederlandse improvisatiecultuur begint die scheidslijn steeds waziger te worden. Na de vrolijke anarchie die musici als Breuker en Mengelberg op hun publiek loslieten hebben componerende improvisatoren als Guus Janssen en Paul Termos een zonderlinge kruisbestuiving tussen vrijheid en discipline ingevoerd.

Op de nieuwste plaat van het Maarten Altena Kwartet, Rondedans, is goed te horen dat de banden steeds strakker worden aangehaald. In vijf van de zeven werkstukken zijn de gebeurtenissen in hoge mate vooraf bepaald. Maar dat staat de levendigheid van de muziek niet in de weg. Vrolijk huppelende melodietjes worden in mootjes gehakt, en doorspekt met kale tonen en ruige klanken. Ondertussen wordt onder de oppervlakte een eigen abstract spel opgevoerd. waarin een koele, Stravinskyaanse humor overheerst. Het is een wonderlijke mengeling van ernst en luchthartigheid, die sterk beeldend werkt. Zo had het titelnummer Rondedans de themamuziek voor een film kunnen zijn.

De bezetting van het kwartet (contrabas, hobo, altsax en trombone) laat een rijke schakering in klankkleur toe, die in Koud zout, een volledig gecomponeerd stuk van Huib Emmer, op merkwaardige wijze versmelt. Ook zijn er felle timbre-tegenstellingen mogelijk, die vooral effectief zijn als er twee verschillende soorten materiaal door elkaar heen worden gewerkt.

De opname is voortreffelijk. De registratie van de spaarzame melodielijnen in het slotstuk Giacom Okaas demonstreert zelfs hoe de akoestische ruimte ook een muzikale rol kan spelen."

(Frits van der Waa - de Volkskrant van 28 juni 1985)

Maarten Altena: double bass
Maud Sauer: oboe and alto oboe
Paul Termos [1952-2003]: alto saxophone
Wolter Wierbos - trombone

side a

1. Rondedans [=Round dance] (Termos) 2'45
2. Hop (van Regteren Altena) 7'08
3. 1984 (van Regteren Altena, Sauer, Termos, Wierbos) 4'50
4. Koud Zout [=Cold salt] (Huib Emmer) 5'29

side b

1. Zwei Walzer [=Two waltzes] (Altena) 12'46
- a. Walz Zwei [=Waltz two]
- b. Walz mit Geräusch [=Waltz with a noise]
2. Twee Portretten [Two portraits] (Termos) 4'30
- a. Gemacramatiseerd Portret [Macramed portrait]
- b. Portret van Emo Verkerk [Portait of Emo Verkerk]
3. Giacom Okaas (van Regteren Altena) 4'17

Digital recording and mastering by Floris van Manen (Stichting Klankschap) on July 5, 6, 7 and December 16, 1984, at Bach Hall, Amsterdam.
Produced by Maarten Altena.
Cover design by Marc Terstroet (back cover picture from Fonos.nl).

vinyl-rip [ mp3-320kb/s, 95 MB | flac, 191 MB ]
mp3's by paramo (4/2009), flacs by onxidlib (10/2011) - thanks!

Onxidlib + andrea recently posted other rare Claxon-LP's by Maarten Altena @ Inconstant Sol (see my wishlist in the sidebar for links).

Zahar featuring Hassan Hakmoun - At the Knitting Factory (1991)

2011-10-24T22:12:00.005+02:00

[CD: Knitting Factory Works, USA, 1992; #KFWCD112]

"Hassan Hakmoun
Born: 1963, Marrakech, Morroco

Master of trance music, Hassan witnessed his first Gnawa trance ceremony when he was just 6 years old. He explains: 'My little sister had been terribly burned. She was screaming. My mother, a Gnawa musician herself, immediately brought together the local Gnawa masters from their Moroccan neighborhood. They then sacrificed a goat, removed its skin and covered my sister with it. I was terrified, but I watched the entire time. They then began to sing, drum, and play the sintir, and miraculously, my sister was healed.' That incident led the young Hakmoun to begin learning Gnawa music; first percussion, and later the bass-like sintir. By the age of 14, he was performing at Gnawa lila ceremonies.

Hakmoun was an agile dancer, and when he was about 16, he participated in a breakdancing showcase sponsored by the French Cultural Center. The American dancers were brusque at first, and intimidating with their gear, many changes of sneakers and clothes and so on. But when they saw Hassan spinning on his hands and dancing like a madman in bare feet, they became friendly, and curious. This event led to Hassan's first trip to New York, which impressed him deeply. In 1987, he moved to the city.

'We got pulled over by the cops right out of the airport,' recalled Hakmoun, 'because one of the musicians had his ney [flute] sticking out of the window, and they thought it was a gun. So they followed us, and pulled us over. That was the first impression here in America. Pulled off by the cops. Then straight up to Harlem. 137th St, between Broadway and Amsterdam. And that's where we stayed. And I looked out, and I said, ‘Oh my God, what happened to America? Is it at war?'' He soon adjusted, though, and gradually began moving his family over.

He began recording his music at home, on a 2-track recorder, and with help from Robert Browning at the World Music Institute, arranged to record his first American album, The Fire Within, a spare, powerful acoustic session. Among the adventurous New York musicians who became attracted to Hakmoun's gnawa sound early on were percussionist Adam Rudolph and jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. Together they made a groundbreaking recording of gnawa jazz fusion, Gift of the Gnawa. Hakmoun recorded his first electric band, Zahar (meaning 'luck') and widened his circle. During a performance at the Knitting Factory, Hakmoun met one of his heroes, Miles Davis, but someone he did not know was also in the audience that night, and that person, producer Daniel Lanois, introduced Hakmoun to an important collaborator, Peter Gabriel.

Hakmoun and a revamped lineup of Zahar recorded Trance in 1993, a tour de force fusion of gnawa trance and rock ‘n' roll ecstasy. Hakmoun spent time in the UK touring with Gabriel, and from there many doors continued to open. Hakmoun spent a few years living in California, while married to singer Paula Cole. They produced a CD called The Gift together in 2002. Hakmoun returned to New York in 2005 and in 2009, opened a Moroccan restaurant in the East Village, where he performs, hosts musicians, and holds court in an environment that is both 'in New York, and outside New York.'

He continues to record and perform and is today regarded as a trailblazer for many young gnawa musicians who have sought out connections with the world beyond their traditional heritage and milieu. In the age of ambient club trance, and hip hop, Hakmoun revels in the world's musical melting pot. 'If you listen to the music right now,' he says, 'you can hear Asian music, or Middle Eastern styles, samples from India, from all over the world, making their flavors. That's beautiful. It's great that these musicians are so open minded. If you have just world music itself, it cannot be played on certain pop radio stations, but because of the pop artists doing that, or the hip-hop artists, then you can hear that, and you get to know the other side. And that's beautiful.'"

(Banning Eyre @ Afropop Worldwide)

Hassan Hakmoun (picture from the booklet)

Zahar
Hassan Hakmoun: sintir (3-stringed long neck lute), vocals
Anthony Michael Peterson: guitar
Bill McClellan: drums

also features
Said Hakmoun: vocals, qarkaba (large metal castanets)
Itaal Shur: keyboards
Tito Muti: congas

Mousa (8'52)
Sadiya (6'50)
Hadiya (8'49)
Wama Wama (8'19)
Rap Song (9'36)
Najda (5'16)
Hadiya (8'03)

total time: 55'49

All songs by Hassan Hakmoun.

Recorded at the Knitting Factory, 1991.
Produced by Hassan Hakmoun and James McLean.
Executive producer: Michael Dorf.
Art design by Andrew Walker.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 81 MB | flac, 326 MB ]

Ujang Suryana (Instrumental Degung)

2011-10-21T20:03:00.000+02:00

Minimal yet playful, Degung is the musical autograph of the people of West Java. This album features some of the region’s most famous musicians, including the legendary Ujang Suryana a famous blind composer who recorded over 60 albums in a variety of genres before his death in 2005. Gamelan degung is played on very few instruments, allowing the character of each melody line to shine forth brightly.

Based on a mere handful of instruments, Gamelan degung has enchanted all of

Indonesia

with its unique combination of skilled playfulness and simplicity.

Classic Gamelan degung configuration

Developed in West Java, degung was traditionally played as welcoming music for visiting Sundanese aristocracy. Now with a much expanded base, degung has developed into a very popular genre heard streaming through radios all over the country. Live Degung is most often heard at spirited events of lighthearted respect. The combination of skill, art, and play heard in Degung has made it the musical autograph of Sundanese culture.

Sulings are a long tube bamboo which has very thinsurface. The head of which is circled with athin rattan band to create air vibration.

Gamelan degung uses only a few of the instruments found in a large Gamelan ensemble. These are the bonang, a row of knobbed gongs, two bronze keyed metallophones called sarons, a drum (the kendang), and, of course, the signature bamboo flute, called a suling. The melody is carried by the bonang and suling as the two saron support them with subtle variations. By using so few instruments, the tones and roles of each shine forth, fostering easy listening.

http://www.javasounds.org

Seuri

CD FlameTree #FLTRCD516

Seuri
Kang Mandor
Seungit Malati
Mimiti Beger
Karedok Leunca
Nganttosan
Ditampik
Anjeun Jeung Kueing

flac | scans | 256mb

Sorban Palid

CD FlameTree #FLTRCD517

Sorban Palid
Kapiraray
Urab Sampeu
Lamunan
Panineungan
Susuganan
So’ Aksi
Asa Asa

flac | scans | 255mb

Detty Kurnia - Dari Sunda (1991) / Coyor Panon (1993)

2011-10-15T23:02:00.011+02:00

[CD: Riverboat Records,1995; #TUGCD1011]

Back in the 1960's Indonesian president Sukarno, outlawed the importing and broadcasting of Western music. He ordered musicians to create their own Indonesian music; either revitalise ancient traditions or start a unique pop sound. In Sunda , the western part of the most populous island Java, in the cultural capital of the area, Bandung, pop sunda was born. The first bands to emerge only used western instruments until the 70's when traditional intstrument began to be employed.

The musical traditions of Indonesia meet the electronic technology and rhythms of the West through the music of vocalist Detty Kurnia. Well known in Indonesia since the late '70s, The daughter of a musician, Kurnia began singing at traditional music festivals at the age of six. Within three years, she was regularly performing at weddings and special celebrations. Her debut cassette was released when she was 11

Although she initially sang in the style of kulningen, the vocal equivalent to Indonesia's gamelan music, Kurnia switched to the pop-sunda style, a combination of Western pop and Sudanese music, in the mid-'70s. The transformation made her one of Indonesia's top vocalists. Signed by Dian Records , a Java-based label, in 1981, she recorded 40 cassettes over the next nine years.

Kurnia has steadily increased her following throughout the world since 1990 when her album, Rayungan, was remixed by Japanese producer Makoto Kubota and reissued in Japan. The collaboration with Kubota continued with Kurnia's next album, Dari Sunda. Released in 1991 on the pioneering Japanese label 'Wave Records. Dari Sunda remains the all-time best-selling Asian album in Japan. Reissued by the Riverboat label in 1995 as part of their Women of the World series, Dari Sunda was included on a list of five best albums by Q Magazine and hailed by Folk Roots as "an imaginative, inventive gem throughout with Kurnia's mellow smile of a voice effortlessly binding everything together."

Dari Sunda

01. Sorban Palid

02. Dar Der Dor

03. Banondari

04. Si Kabayan

05. Mamanis

06. Asih Kuring

07. Sunayama

08. Bengawan Solo

09. Duriran

10. Hana

11. Emansipasi

total time: 59:24

CD-rip [ flac | scans | 423 MB ]

[CD: Flame Tree,1994; #FLTRCD519]

The other offering here is the exquisite Coyor Panon released in the UK on the Flame Tree label in 1994, much sought after and difficult to find. The songs are a hybrid of many musical styles - Degung, Jaipongang, Calung, Pop Sunda and Kecapi Suling.

Coyor Panon

01. Sulanjana (name of traditional drama)

02. Bajing Luncat (flying squirrel)

03. Pras Pris (the sound of falling rain)

04. Oray Welang (striped snake)

05. Serat Ti Anjeun (your letter)

06. Percaya (faith)

07. Itsuki No Komoriuta (Japanese lullaby from Itsuki district)

08. Warung Pojok (corner cafe)

09. Coyor Panon (sensual eyes)

total time: 46:57

CD-rip [ flac | scans | 299 MB ]

[up-grade] Madagaskar 4 - Music of the North

2011-10-14T19:56:00.000+02:00

CD: Feuer & Eis #FUEC 720 (Germany 1997)

Madagaskar 4 - Music of the North

A continuation of the historic Feuer und Eis recordings from Madagascar by Birger Gesthuisen.

On his 1995 outing, we visit the northern section of the nation in this street level recording of accordion soloists, valiha masters, some exquisite choral music and exhilarating ensembles. Setting this set apart from the previous three volumes in the series are what Gesthuisen refers to as "traces of the Orient." These are heard in some unique tracks of an instrument called kabiro, a reed instrument, and a mouth bow used in ensembles. The Muslims of Madagascar live primarily in this area, and the middle-eastern and eastern influences are to be found in a number of tracks on the album. [cd roots]

01. Dia Mahory - Bemagnabina

02. Sida - Madame Suzanne & Choir

03. Lalao Boana - Rabekoto Apaulin

04. Dandiadasa - Moganja'i Zanaka Sambirano

05. Amia Lera, Amia Lera - Jaotoly

06. Tsiovaly - Jaosoma Joma Modrobe & Choir

07. Mangina Tsaika - Jaosoma Joma Modrobe & Choir

08. Tsy Mafafaty Olona Masary - Laozy Velonkazy

09. Amia Varavarano - Tsontsozara Modeste

10. Tiam Bady Meva - Ensemble Bemitombo

11. Ambila Mifagnelaka - Djao & Tombo

12. Mahalala Menatra - Troupe Abdallah

13. Tano Ny Azo - Troupe Abdallah

14. Rebiky - Mahatoly & Bony

15. Oa Zaho Valy - Besamy & Choir

16. Nakoula - Ensemble Jaovazaha

17. Banga Manambola Rapera - Benjara

18. Medley - Zamarasy & Choir

total time: 1:07:13

Cd-rip [ flac | scans | 420 mb ]

the other three volumes of this set here at the Psychic Hut:
- Madagaskar 1 - Music in Antananarivo
- Madagaskar 2 - Music of the South
- Madagaskar 3 - Valiha, sounding bamboo

The Recedents - Barbeque Strut (1987)

2011-10-13T20:41:00.021+02:00

[LP: nato, France, 1987; #907]

In 1982 the trio The Recedents was formed by Lol Coxhill, Roger Turner and Mike Cooper exploring the possibilities of electro-acoustic music, in which Turner initially played drumset and EMS Synthi A as a means of bending the sounds of various metal percussion instruments. This group, still existing, mixes song, jazz, punk/thrash, with acoustic detail in always shifting sonorities, and has worked throughout Europe, Canada and the U.K.

"Lol Coxhill est un charmeur dont la séduction s'exprime délicatement dans des orchestres comme le Johnny Rondo trio ou les Melody Four, c'est aussi un redoutable improvisateur et un saxophoniste aguerri à toutes les experimentations du rock.

Avec les Recedents où il retrouve son vieux compère, le guitariste de blues converti au free et puis retour à la case départ en emportant tout ce qui se trouve au parking et le batteur expansif et joyeusement acerbe Roger Turner, il nous invite à un barbecue qui fait feu de tous charbons (ardents). Les Recedents provoquent de façon réjouissante une perte des repères en explosion multicolore où la mémoire aperçoit furtivement un orchestre de Nouvelle Orléans soudain projeté dans l'espace, des grands espaces se transformant en proximité immédiate et autant de jours de fêtes. La musique très collective de ce dessin animé pour adulte invite au mouvement perpétuel."

(nato homepage)

The Recedents at the Angelica Festival, Bologna May 2010. from Roger Turner's website (photo by Angelo Rosana)

"The Recedents with Lol Coxhill and Mike Cooper & myself - electro-acoustic - right across the board - it can be very entertaining and extreme. More chancy musically - dependent on more variables working (equipment especially!), but a great, dangerous band"

(Roger Turner in a letter, 1992 - @ The Listening Room)

Our very own gidouille reminises...

I saw The Recedents in 1990, but have never heard their records. It was a delightful if very odd gig. Coxhill's suitcase full of Rube Goldberg electronic gizmos wouldn't function and he made his exasperation part of the performance. Cooper and Turner roundly ignored him and continued to play, while he muttered to himself and pleaded with them to wait for him. It was difficult to tell to what extent Coxhill's evident irritation was real, but it added a humorous edge to the proceedings. Eventually, after noisily packing everything up, he pulled out a curved soprano and played wonderfully.

The Recedents

Mike Cooper: electric lap steel guitar, acoustic National Steel guitar, self-made string instruments, table top percussion guitar, drum machine, tape treatments, Mylord metal coat rack

Lol Coxhill: sopranino + soprano saxophones, Casio rhythm/keyboards VL 1&5, harmonium, piano, Acme bird call, touch synth, voice, tape treatments

Roger Turner: drums, metal, EMS synthi-A, Chatanooga gas drum, log

Side A

1. Highly Perpendicular (5'10)

2. Nylon? (2'25)

3. Big Tensions (2'20)

4. Chinchon (9'31)

5. Jour de fête (2'11)

Side B

1. Glances Exchanged Between Nurses (3'55)

2. Côté à ouvrir (5'10)

3. Hawaiian Gravity (3'40)

4. Pearl Dropper (2'25)

5. Deterred Man (6'31)

total time: 44:33

All music is improvised as heard.

Produced by Jean Rochard.

Recorded in 1986 at Studio nato by Daniel Deshays, assisted by Maryse Gautier.

Cover art by Pierre Cornuel.

vinyl-rip [ flac, 236 MB ]

thanks to Sasha for this rip!!

Arnold Dreyblatt + The Orchestra of Excited Strings - Propellers in Love (1986-88)

2011-10-07T10:38:00.006+02:00

[CD: Hat Hut, Switzerland, 1988; #hat ART CD 6011]

"Among the second generation of New York minimal composers, Arnold Dreyblatt has developed a unigue and original approach to composition and performance. He has invented a set of new and original instruments, performance techniques, and a system of tuning. Working closely with various ensembles and in theatrical and installation projects - he creates a music with exciting rhythms and rich textures - an exploration of the potential inherent in the natural overtone series. The musicians who have performed with Dreyblatt generally come from vastly varied musical backgrounds and interests. In common is a sensitivity for an approach to music making, sonority and hearing which Dreyblatt has been developing together with musicians over the last twenty-five years. In his former Orchestra, all the members contribute to this music with their own ideas and performance techniques, gradually forming an individual musical role within the ensemble dynamic. Just as this music essentially exists only in performance, so the combined acoustic effect results from a sum which is greater than its parts.

Arnold Dreyblatt's compostions involve a re-thinking of sound making tools. Modified and newly created acoustic instruments are utilized for specific timbral effect and perform in an unusual tuning system. Traditional and non-traditional percussion instruments accentuate the rhythmic character of the music. [...]"

"'Dreyblatt's ensemble, consisting of altered, adapted, and prepared instruments are in just intonation and play drones or repeated tones, setting up heady resonances with a contiually changing and complex matrix of overtones. By adding drums and other percussion, and by writing fast, sometimes furious tempos, Dreyblatt avoids the dreamy and sometimes stultifying effect that is a part of so much drone music. The entire six-part title track is lively and vibrant. High Life is similar in spirit to La Monte Young and Alvin Lucier, with its nonstop drone and lavish array of overtones to inspect and exult in.' - Option

'Arnold Dreyblatt's ensemble performed a bright, colorful work for winds, strings, guitars, cimbalom... ...an essentially minimalist impulse and a spirit that's multi-cultural: its heavy drum beat and the freewheeling, almost manic quality of its string and wind writing made parts of the work seem a stew of primitive, ritual musics, both Asian and African.' - The New York Times"

(info from Dreyblatt's homepage)

The Orchestra of Excited Strings
(photo from Dreyblatt's homepage)

Arnold Dreyblatt: double bass body adapted for excited strings
Wolfgang Glum: drums, wood block, gardon (string drum from Transylvania)
Jan Schade: modified miniature upright pianoforte
Dirk Lebahn: double bass body adapted for excited strings
Wolfgang Mettler: prepared violin

Propellers in Love

Harmonics (6'38)
Odd & Even (9'28)
Bowing (6'06)
Pedal Tone Dance (2'34)
Propellers In Love (9'23)
Lucky Strike (2'29)

Recorded at The Black Box, Munich, Germany, in January 1986.
Recording by Steffen Seitel, assisted by Miguel Castro-Silver and Andreas Merz.
Mixed by Steffen Seitel, Wolfgang Glum and Arnold Dreyblatt.
Originally produced by the Künstlerhaus Bethanien GmbH, West-Berlin in cooperation with the Gasteig Betriebs GmbH, Munich.
An LP from the analog master was issued by the Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, in 1986 (#ST 09).

Arnold Dreyblatt: electric -, double-neck- + "Hawaiian" lap steel guitar
Paul Panhuysen: prepared electric bass guitar

7. High Life (15'29)

Digital two-track recording at Tango Studio, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, in January 1988.
Recording by Frank van Donkersgoed.

total time: 52'20

All compositions by Arnold Dreyblatt.

Recordings produced by Arnold Dreyblatt.
Digital editing from PCM master tapes by Peter Pfister + Arnold Dreyblatt.
Front cover photo: Courtesy of Kador Sándor, Horus Archives, Budapest (copy from an original by Lászlo Lugosi).
Design by Walter Bosshardt.
Executive production by Pia + Werner X. Uehlinger.

original LP cover, 1986

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 77 MB | flac, 253 MB ]

- The collection "The Sound of One String" with live and previously unreleased recordings 1979-91 has been posted @ The Mindfucker (01/2010).
- Live recordings spanning the entire career of Arnold Dreyblatt are available as downloads on his homepage.
- Dreyblatt contributed 2 tracks with The Orchestra of Excited Strings to Geduldig un Thimann's "a Haymish Groove" which i posted here.

Bali - Hommage à Wayan Lotring (1972)

2011-10-06T23:19:00.004+02:00

[2CD: Ocora / Radio France, France, 1989; #C 559076/77]

"Lotring was the man who invented the Gamelan Gong Semar Pegulingan, and this set consists of Lotring and his musicians playing his own compositions (now often played by other ensembles). This recording was made in the 1970s when Lotring was an old man. As such, it is of unique musical value."

(from Todd M. Mc Comb's Medieval Music & Arts Foundation)

"Made in the open air under the shelter of the gamelan, over a period of five evenings between October 2nd and 11th, 1972, after numerous rehearsals preceeding each recording session. Lotring would only give his accord after having listened - immediately after or the next day at home - to the recorded tapes. He insisted every time that his part, the kendang drum - be perfect, and that in as far as possible, that the cohesion of his musicians be the best possible, which, because of their age and their lack of permanent rehearsing, was not always the case. But Lotring obtained all the nuances he desired from his musicians and certain sessions proceeded in a most extraordinairy tense musical atmosphere. [...]"

(Jacques Brunet - from the liner notes, translated by Dinnie Lambert)

Gamelan orchestras
Pelegongan Wayan Lotring
on CD2 #3-5: Gender Wayangan Wayan Lotring

CD 1

Liar Samas (11'52)
Gambangan (5'02)
Kapi Raja (6'09)
Sisyan (5'13)
Candra Kanta (9'08)
Pelayon (10'26)
Solo (8'15)
Jobog (9'14)

total time: 65'30

CD 2

Legong Kraton: Condong, Pengawak, Lasem Garuda (32'50)
Tunjang (11'35)
Gender Wayang: Pemungkah (8'29)
Gender Wayang: Sekar Ginotan (6'18)
Gender Wayang: Merak Ngelo (5'07)

total time: 64'27

Compositions by I Wayan Lotring (1898-1983) in the Salendro, Ganbuh, Jagaraga, and other styles.

Recordings, texts, and photographs by Jacques Brunet.
Recorded October 2-11, 1972 in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia.
Most of this 2-CD set previously released as "Le Gamelan Balinais de Lotring" on 2 LP's by CBS, France, 1974; #88 059. #7+8 of CD 1, and #5 of CD 2 haven't been issued before.
Ocora collection directed by Pierre Toureille.

CD-rips + scans* [ mp3-192kb/s, 207 MB | flac, 830 MB ]

*English translation of liner notes included, plus a booklet of b/w-photographs.

Madagaskar 3 - Valiha, sounding bamboo (1991-92)

2011-10-04T19:24:00.004+02:00

[CD: Feuer und Eis, Germany, 1992; #FUEC 712]

"This volume focuses on what is indisputably the national instrument, the valiha, a bamboo body with strings similar to a harp or zither. Musicians recorded for this set include Sylvstre Randafison, Mama Sana, Zeze, Rossy and Tova. 23 tracks. Notes in German and English.

'The valiha is the tubular bamboo harp that is considered to be the national instrument of that remote island nation. These are the best and most beautiful recordings ever made of this wonderful instrument.' - Henry Kaiser

'This is by far the best recording of traditional and contemporary valiha music...' - Madagascar Cultural Alliance

'Volume three is a collection of the harps of this island nation. The valiha is a small zither-like instrument usually made of a hollow bamboo log of varying dimensions, surrounded by strings on moveable bridges. The word itself gives you an idea of its importance; valiha is the word for 'musical instrument.' The music is quiet, but can be highly rhythmic. The album features solo performances, duets with voices, and ensemble pieces and include some of the better known folks like Rossy and Mama Sana. Moving from music-box delicacies to swirling, percussive torrents, the twenty three tracks here offer a simple view of a rich culture unfiltered by any technological tricks or contemporary cleverness. If you need convincing, listen the funeral song 'Safa.' With only valiha, voice and drum, it evokes a thousand moods and literally raises the spirits. This is living, breathing folk music, evolving, yet always the same.' - Rootsworld"

(reviews from CD Roots)

Sylvestre Randafison
(photo from a mid-1960's Ocora LP dedicated to the Valiha and recorded by Charles Duvelle - @ the Anthems for the Nation of Luobaniya blog)

Randrianarivo + Lahikoto - Afindrafindrao (=Step by step) (m: trad.) 3'48
Tovo - Ny Wagon (=The railroad car) (m: Tovo) 3'06
Mama Sana - Magnibola Valihan'i Ramamy (=Ramamy's Valiha desires riches) (w+m: Mama Sana) 1'53
Sylvestre Randafison - Rakoto O! (=Hey! Rakoto! (trad.) 2'32
Zeze - Fitiavana (=Love) (m: Zeze) 3'08
Rossy - O' Nankaiza (Hey! Where're you going?) (w+m: Rossy) 3'05
Tovo - Mazava Antsinana (=There's a light in the East) (m: trad.) 1'58
Sylvestre Randafison + Germain Rakotomavo - O! Rey fody an'ala (=Hey! You birds of the woods) (trad.) 2'35
Mama Sana - Varavaranao (=Your door, boss) (w+m: Mama Sana) 1'47
Sylvestre Randafison - Diavolana (=Full moon) (m: trad.) 1'26
Tovo - Ny omby mody (=The cattle are coming home) (m: Tovo) 3'34
Randrianarivo + Sylvestre Randafison - Lanitra Mangamanga (=Blue sky) (m: trad.) 3'01
Mama Sana - Jangombo any Naganosegna (=Nostalgia for Magnosegna) (w+m: Mama Sana) 1'00
Tovo - Feom-Baliha (=The voice of the Valiha) (m: Tovo) 3'00
Tarika Randafison - Safa (=Dialogue) (w+m: trad.) 5'20
Zeze - Hommage à Rakotozafy (=Hommage à Rakotozafy) (m: Zeze) 1'55
Tovo - Tadiavo Jeso (=Seek Jesus) (m: trad.) 2'04
Sylvestre Randafison - Tsota (=Six) (trad.) 1'49
Tarika Randafison - Tany Mandry (=Flat land) (m: trad.) 3'57
Mama Sana - Magnibola Valihan'i Nagnosegna (instrumental to #3) (m: Mama Sana) 1'12
Rossy - Lasa Nirindana (=Runaway) (w+m: Rossy) 4'52
Tovo - Falifaly (=Happy) (m: trad.) 2'09
Randrianarivo + Lahikoto - Mahaiza Mamindra Raketaka (=Set your steps in the right direction) (m: trad.) 3'46

total time: 62'57

Produced by Birger Gesthuisen.
Digitally recorded and mastered by Bernhard Ramroth, exc. 6+ 21 recorded by Rossy on analog equipment.
Recorded between September 30 and October 4, 1991 at 'Studio Mars' and 'Studio Rossy' and on November 5 (Mama Sana / field recording), November 9, 1991 (Rakotoarisoa + Lahikoto, Studio Mars) and in March 1992 (Rossy's songs).
Cover art by Tovo.

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 124 MB | flac, 355 MB ]

thanks to onxidlib for this rip + scans of the engl. liner notes!

the other three volumes of this set here at the Psychic Hut:
- Madagaskar 1 - Music in Antananarivo
- Madagaskar 2 - Music of the South
- Madagaskar 4 - Music of the North

Madagaskar 2 - Music of the South (1989)

2011-10-04T19:05:00.004+02:00

[CD: Feuer und Eis, Germany, 1990; #FUEC 706]

Whereas volume 1 covers the urban folk music of the capital Antananarivo, volume 2 focuses on the rural music of the south, especially choral groups accompanied by various string instruments and percussion. The cover of the accordionist is therefore a bit mis-leading, only 3 tracks (#4, 9, 17) of the 21 feature that instrument, #17 presenting fisherman Jean de Dieu on an unaccompanied accordion solo. In the German liner notes Gesthuisen writes about the history of the accordion in Malagasy music, how it slowly replaced traditional melody instruments in the first part of the 20th century, only to be become unaffordable for most people after the revolution and the economy crises in 1972. The tropical climate was another reason for the decline of the accordion, it's a killer for such a delicate reed instrument, and spare parts to repare them weren't widely available.

"The two-octave diatonic accordion (gorodo), popular across Madagascar, is believed to have been imported by French colonists after 1896. Although today its sound is most often replicated by a synthesizer in salegy or tsapika bands due to the expense and rarity of the instrument, accordions hold a privileged place in the performance of tromba ceremonial music." (Wikipedia)

Tarika "Rakoto Alphonse" (from: Vatosola) - Ry-Ray Ama Dreni (=Parents) (1'47)
Akon 'ny Ravinala (from: Fianaranstoa) - Soa ny Manakavana (=It's nice to have good friends) (2'48)
Anakara (from: Manakara) - Lahy 'Anaka (=The son) (2'49)
Sery + Davavy (from: Tsarafa) - Medley* (2'35)
Victor (from: Farafangana) - Medley* (2'06)
Sambo Fitahia, Soja Delphin + 6 young female vocalists (from: Tanamasy) - Samby Tsara (=Everyone is very happy) (4'01)
7 women (5 singers + 2 drummer) (from: Manambaro) - Marary (=Bad) (2'03)
Varema Androy (from: Ambovombe) - Lamba Mena (=Red cloth) (0'28)
Varema Androy (from: Ambovombe) - Lomaly Maraindray (=Yesterday and also tomorrow) (2'46)
Trio 'Manambala' (Ambovombe) - N. N. (no title) (5'05)
Mahajamba amin Marovany (Ambovombe) - Tanambao Fahoroa (=A new city) (3'50)
Mahajamba amin Lokanga (Ambovombe) - Antsema Zoma (=Friday's market) (3'03)
Koto Jean + 4 other women (Maromiandra) - Zanaky Miray Indraiky (=The children who belong to one) (3'12)
Koto Jean + 4 other women (Maromiandra) - Doany Vorombe (4'18)
Rejnoy + Regnanatse (Marotafika) - Rebana (=) (6'37)
12 fisherwomen (choir) (Ankilibe) - Andoharano Mahavelo (=life-giving fountain) 1'57
Jean de Dieu (Tulear) - Soa Manatena (=It's good to hope) 5'21
Taika "Gilbert" (Morondava) - Laha Nandeha Liny - 2'10
Andriasy (Morondava) - Mikora (=Conversation) 3'02
Denise, Narahy, Filise + Beby Florence (drumming women) (Morondava) - Tsy to iny (=Poorly done) 1'54
Faralahy + 2 female vocalists (Marovoay) - Lera (=The clock) 3'16

total time: 65'18

Recorded between April 18 and May 14, 1989 by Bernhard Ramroth (Kerken, Germany).
Produced by Birger Gesthuisen (Moers, Germany).
Liner notes by Birger Gesthuisen (German only).
Cover photo by Rupert Parker (London, UK).
Cover design by Andrea Dieren (Duisburg, Germany).
*Accidentally reversed on CD back info (right info in booklet + on CD).

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-192kb/s, 112 MB | flac, 377 MB ]

the other three volumes of this set here at the Psychic Hut:
- Madagaskar 1 - Music in Antananarivo
- Madagaskar 3 - Valiha, sounding bamboo
- Madagaskar 4 - Music of the North

Alterations - Up Your Sleeve (1980)

2011-10-03T00:00:00.003+02:00

[LP: !Quartz, UK, 1980; #006]

"Music which juggles the sublime with the ridiculous, the familiar with the unfamiliar and which creates an ever-changing vista of sound deserve a good listen. Alterations are a group who work both within an improvising context and within the larger music culture, probing and exploring their own responses to popular and unpopular music, past and present. Imagine taking all the different forms of music you can think of chopping them up like splicing frames of a film, putting them in a bag and then scattering them like confetti from a tombola, then you'd come up with new formations in new contexts. The result is revelatory. The group archive this panorama by working on a multitude of levels, using a host of instruments as homely as guitars, piano and toy synthesizer and as banale as a toothbrush or a bicycle bell. Still, these are just the tools, it's what they do with them that arrests and startles.

Bits of the music are like a street soundscape; snatches of different musics flooding from shops and flat windows, traffic rumpus, the squabblings and chatterings of the remnants of the urban bird community and the general distancing and focussing of sounds that we take for granted most of the time. This is no easy attempt at street realism though, nor at a patchwork collage. There's far too much of the unexpected, as the four musicians work in unison or at a tangent to one another. This music has the uninevitability of an early 'Tiswas' programme with a daring coexistence of moods and attitudes. The reggae riffs and toy synthesizer effects come courtesy of Steve Beresford and David Toop of Flying Lizards and Prince Far-1 associations; the range of rhythms and squeakers come from Terry Day with all too little of his alto sax playing and the crackling and rippling guitar playing is from Peter Cusack. Together they demonstrate different ways of making music which turns corners with amazing rapidity and humour. Ultimately this is music which leaves you free to make of it what you want each time you hear it. Try it: it may well alter you listening habits."

(Hannah Charlton, Melody Maker)

Alterations: Steve Beresford + David Toop

"The music of Alterations can be seen as the cumulative result of the effect of the second-generation improvisers on the jazz-influenced work of the early free musicians. During their three-year existence this highly articulate and adventurous quartet have mapped out an area which is now their own, bringing together widely differing musical elements such as rock, reggae and various ethnic forms, and cross-fertilising them into an immensely satisfying if somewhat crazy conglomeration. 'Up Your Sleeve' avoids the bittiness of their debut album, coming across as far more cohesive and direct statement, whilst showing no compromising or softening up of the band's characteristically anarchic approach. Weaving through a mass of varying textures and situations the result vere from the subtlety of early morning birdsong to the uncontrolled ferocity of a bunch of deranged demolition merchants. Although 1980 already bossts a healthy supply of excellent releases from the artistic fringe, 'Up Your Sleeve' stands as one of that fringe's most vital albums."

(both reviews from Terry Day's homepage)

Alterations: David Toop, Peter Cusack + Terry Day

Alterations
Peter Cusack: wah-wah guitar, nylon-string guitar, electric guitar
Steve Beresford: bass guitar, piano, euphonium, violin, small instruments, toy electric guitar, snapits, toy piano, low-grade electronics
Terry Day: drum kit, percussion, cello, alto saxophone, mandolin, reeds, small instruments, crackle box
David Toop: flutes, string fiddle, water whistles, decoys, electric guitar, bass guitar, small instruments

Side A

He Feels Like a Doris Day (4'34)
Trail of Traps (11'01)
The Life and Opinions of Masseur Ichi (10'26)

Side B

Not So Dumb Deaf and Mute Heroine (2'55)
Fear of Mayonnaise (11'38)
Stand by Your Sheep (7'26)
Party Political (4'14)

total time: 52'14

All music improvised by Alterations.

1 recorded live at the BIMhuis, Amsterdam, The Netherlands on January 30, 1980;
2+3 recorded live at Palais des Beaux Arts, Brussels, Belgium on February 2, 1980;
4-7 recorded live at the London Musician's Collective (LMC), London, UK on March 9, 1980.
Recorded by David Toop and Peter Cusack.
Music edited by Alterations.
Mastered by David Cunningham

Sleeve design by David Toop (taken from Terry Day's homepage).
Band photos by Gérard Rouy, from the booklet to the CD 'Voila Enough!' (Atavistic , 2002 - as part of John Corbett's 'Unheard Music Series').

vinyl-rip [ mp3-192kb/s, 71 MB | flac, 293 MB ]

many thanks to onxidlib for providing this rip!

[re-post] Maarten Altena Octet - Rif (1987)

2011-10-01T00:00:00.007+02:00

[CD: Hat Hut, Switzerland, 1990; #hat ART CD 6056
- first issued on CD by: Claxon, The Netherlands, 1987; #87.1]

"Dutch bassist Maarten Altena (1943), one of Willem Breuker's trusted collaborators from 1969 till 1973 and a member of Derek Bailey's Company from 1976 till 1977, revealed his dadaist spirit with the solo albums Handicaps (july 1973), played with a broken wrist, and Tuning The Bass (may 1975). K'ploeng (december 1977) featured collaborations with various musicians at the border between free-noise improvisation (led by guitarist Derek Bailey), chamber music (clarinet, cello, viola, mandolin) and childish provocation (the instrumentation included cigar box, balloons, toys, crackle synthesizer).

After a trio with trombonist Guenter Christmann and drummer Paul Lovens, documented on Weavers (june 1980), a drum-less quartet with Maurice Horsthuis on viola, Maud Sauer on oboe and Paul Termos on alto saxophone became the main vehicle for Altena's unconventional improvisations: Op Stap (february 1980), Pisa (june 1980), Papa Oewa (june 1978) and Veranda (february 1982), Miere (july 1983), Rondedans (december 1984). The rhythm-less chamber approach was further radicalized by Tel (october 1982) that inaugurated the octet: bassoon (Lindsay Cooper), trumpet (Kenny Wheeler), trombone (Wolter Wierbos), oboe (Sauer), alto saxophone (Termos), violin (Maartje ten Hoorn), piano (Guus Janssen) and bass (Altena).

Altena progressively distanced himself from free improvisation and rediscovered composition, melody and the song format, becoming a sophisticated composer of the trans-avantgarde. Rif (august 1987), Quotl (december 1988), Cities And Streets (october 1989), Code (december 1990) refined his hyper-fusion for chamber jazz octet (typically, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone, violin, piano, bass and percussion)."

(Piero Scaruffi)

Marc Charig: trumpet, alto horn
Michael Moore: alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Peter van Bergen: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Wolter Wierbos: trombone
Maartje ten Hoorn: violin
Guus Janssen: piano, synthesizer
Maarten Altena: double bass
Michael Vatcher: percussion

Boa (Altena) 6'02
Rondo (Guus Janssen) 7’16
Ruis (Altena) 6’47
Rif (Altena) 11’31
De Yup (Maartje ten Hoorn) 5’21
Marre (Altena) 7’39
Dek (Altena) 3’55
Re-Mix (Steve Martland) 4’28

total time: 53'02

Recorded at The Mennonite Church, Singel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands on August 22-24, 1987 by Jared Sacks (Channel Classics Studio).
Remastered by Peter Pfister.
Cover art for the Hat Hut release by Aki Kuroda.
Photos by David Hanson.
Liner notes by Steve Martland and Bill Shoemaker.
Design by Walter Bosshardt.
Produced by Claxon Amsterdam.
Executive production by Pia and Werner X. Uehlinger.

cover for the 1987 Claxon CD
(from the Treat Yourself to the Best blog)

CD-rip + scans [ mp3-320kb/s, 122 MB | flac-im./cue-log, 227 MB ]

Chicken² Skin Music (1939-2005)

2011-09-26T16:34:00.010+02:00

[CD: Lucky Psychic Hut, 2011; #025
- posted first at Border Music, 2/2007]

“Goosebumps are in the first place a reaction to cold. The autonomic nervous system excites the muscles in the hair follicles, and they contract in order to erect the hairs. Furry animals can thus make their fur more fluffy, which improves the conservation of body heat.

Goosebumps are at the same time an indicator of emotional arousal. In scary situations the errected fur of a furry animal makes it look bigger and helps to impress an adversary. Curiously enough, we show goosebumps also in response to pleasant stimuli. When listening to emotionally moving music or viewing romantic movie scences, comforting chills go up our spine. The music industry advertises ‘goosebump music’ (…).”

(University Kiel, Germany)

Tracklist

1. “Siberian Sleighride” (Raymond Scott)
a. Raymond Scott Quintette, 1939 (2'51)
b. Don Byron, 1996 (2'50)

2. “Bakiff” (Juan Tizol)
a. Duke Ellington Orchestra, 1941 (3'23)
b. Louis Sclavis Sextet, 1991 (3'42)

3. “Tin Tin Deo” (Chano Pozo Gonzales, Gil Fuller)
a. Dizzy Gillespie Sextet, 1951 (2'39)
b. Roy Nathanson Quartet, 1990 (4'04)

4. “I Love You a Thousand Ways” (Lefty Frizzell, Jim Beck)
a. Lefty Frizzell, 1951 (2'44)
b. Barbara Manning, 1992 (3'59)

5. “Directly From My Heart to You” (R. W. Penniman)
a. Little Richard + Johnny Otis Band, 1953 (2'55)
b. The Mothers of Invention, 1969 (5'18)

6. “Interplanetary Music” (Sun Ra)
a. Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra, 1958 (2'23)
b. General Strike, 1982 (3'40)

7. “Open Letter To Duke” (Charles Mingus)
a. Charles Mingus, 1959 (4'56)
b. Bobby Previte / Hal Willner, 1992 (4'53)

8. “If 6 was 9” (Jimi Hendrix)
a. The Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1967 (5'34)
b. Spanish Fly, 1993 (3'23)

9. “The Sad Skinhead” (Faust)
a. Faust, 1973 (2'35)
b. Pascal Comelade, 1992 (1'06)

10. “Eu te amo” (Tom Jobim, Chico Buarque)
a. Chico Buarque, 1980 (5'05)
b. Chico Mello, 2005 (4'20)

11. “Ao Velho Pedro” (Paulo Moura)
a. Paulo Moura, 1986 (4'09)
b. Clusone 3, 1991(4'06)

total time: 80'00

Compiled by Lucky for Border Music in 2007, exc. 10a+b, which is an additional pair. For 5a the 1955 overdubbed version has been replaced by the earlier one.

Download [ CD-rips | mp3-192kb/s, 110 MB ]

[re-up] Han Bennink + Misha Mengelberg - Bennink Mengelberg (1979-81)

2011-09-24T00:00:00.002+02:00

[LP: ICP, The Netherlands, 1981; #023]

"[...] That confrontational aspect became stylized in the Bennink-Mengelberg duo, the most durable of all the formations to work under ICP's umbrella. You could look at that duo as a sort of loud violent chess game. Or maybe a fight between brain and muscles: Misha uses psychology to bend a duo partner in his direction; powerhouse Han can always elect to drown out the piano for an entire set. [...]"

(Kevin Whitehead, 1997 @ All About Jazz)

Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg playing chess on the train from Leipzig to Amsterdam, May 6, 2001) photo by Francesca Patella, taken from the ICP Orchestra homepage (where it is incorrectly dated)

Han Bennink: drums, soprano saxophone, trombone, etc.
Misha Mengelberg: piano

Side A
1. Kroeg A. (4'34)
2. Kroeg B. (9'27)
3. Bim A. (7'36)

Side B
1. Bim B. (10'39)
2. Islay Malt Jitterburg* (2'59)
3. Bim C. (7'03)

Compositions on Side A by Han Bennink,
on Side B by Misha Mengelberg.

Recorded by Dick Lucas in Amsterdam:
A1+2 on July 3, 1979 at De Kroeg,
B1+2 on November 2, 1979 at the Bimhuis,
B3 on June 13, 1980 at the Bimhuis,
A3 on March 28, 1981 at the Bimhuis.

Produced by the Instant Composers Pool.
Cover art by Han Bennink, 1981.

(*as written by Bennink on the back cover; the version on ICP Orchestra's 'Live Soncino' is entitled "Islay Malt Jetterburg"; the EFI Pages and others list it as "Islay Malt Jitterbug")

Download [ vinyl-rip | mp3-320kb/s | 97 MB ]
audio provided by Neetelbaers!

[re-up] Guitar Solos 3 (1977-79)

2011-09-23T00:00:00.003+02:00

[LP: Rift, USA, 1979, #1; Red, USA, 1979; #008]

"Guitar Solos 3 is the third in a series of three albums of improvised guitar solos by various musicians, and was released in the United States by Rift Records in 1979. Frith coordinated and produced the series, which began with his 1974 debut solo album, Guitar Solos."

(Wikipedia)

Side One

Henry Kaiser: guitar
1. Robert Louis Stevenson (3'35)
2. Dien Da (3'27)

Chip Handy: prepared guitar
3. Foreign Music (3'21)
4. Little Missy (1'51)
5. Total Babes (1'53)

Peter Cusack: acoustic guitar
6. Whistling with Guitar Accompaniment (7'20)

Keith Rowe: guitars
7. For A (7'21)

Side Two

Fred Frith: guitar
8. Alienated Industrial Seagulls etc. (3'52)
9. Song of River Nights (1'23)
10. Should Old Arthur (1'36)

Eugene Chadbourne: dobro, guitar
11. Memories Of Hanover Lodge (4'07)
12. Memories Of Wildey Road (4'07)

Davey Williams: guitar
13. Ezekiel (6'11)

Akira Iijima: acoustic guitar
14. Coming No. 4 (4'33)

total time: 54'46

Compositions by each player.

1+2 recorded at Walden Studios, Carmel Highlands, California on January 6, 1979.
3 recorded at home in Davis, California on December 22, 1977.
4 recorded at home in Davis, California on July 8, 1978.
5 recorded at home in Davis, California on April 1, 1978.
6 recorded in Utrecht, Holland in June 1976.
7 recorded in December 1978.
8-10 recorded at Briollay, France in October 1978.
11+12 recorded at Grogkill Studio, Willow, New York on November 27, 1978.
13 recorded at Trans Studio, Tuscaloosa, Alabama on September 28, 1978.
14 recorded at Saito Studio, Tokyo on November 28, 1978.

Produced by Fred Frith.

Info from the Discography of Fred Frith.

Download [ vinyl-rip | scans | mp3-192kb/s | 93 MB ]

Thanks to paramo from La Folie du Jour for the mp3's and gamilan for the high-res. scans! (see comments).

"Guitar Solos 2" from 1975-76 featuring Frith, G. F. Fitzgerald, Derek Bailey and Hans Reichel I posted here.