V/A - Doughboys, Playboys & Cowboys: The Golden Years of Western Swing (Box-Set)

Secret Jazz: The Swinging Side of Western Swing
by Norman Weinstein

Western Swing is a musical genre wonderfully described by its leading historian Cary Ginell as "a bastard child that neither country nor jazz is willing to accept into their own house. In my opinion they are an important part of both genres." Jazz historian Ted Gioia in this thoughtful The History of Jazz, while also omitting any mention of Western Swing, does address a key reason for its neglect among jazz listeners: For example, most chronicles of musical activity in the 1920s will draw an implicit delineation between popular music, jazz, and classical composition. Hence, accounts of jazz tend to present a polarized landscape in which hot bands (Henderson, Ellington, Goodman, Basie) thrive, develop, and change in complete isolation from other musical currents.

Such categorizations may make the narrative structure of a music history book flow more smoothly, but much is lost in the process. Strange to tell, I heard an album of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, the best known Western Swing band of all time, the same year I first heard a Coltrane album. Who I was many decades ago could not have allowed myself to conceive of Bob Wills and John Coltrane as belonging to the same musical universe. True, I heard Wills as a creator of eccentric mutation of big band swing, but the steel guitar and fiddles? And, oh, they looked so Texan redneck on the album photo, so unhip. Age brings with it an appreciation of musical hybrids, those defined out by academic music histories as well as those predicated on reverse-racist stereotypes.

'The pure products of America go crazy,' wrote the esteemed poet William Carlos Williams, and if America has produced 'pure' musical products unique to its national identity, Western Swing must be counted among them. Part of its purity of form is its wholehearted embrace of jazz. The simplest way to define the genre is to identify it as a style evolving from a hybridization of black and white Southwestern string band styles encompassing a broad variety of jazz, blues, and country music characteristics. Strings bands began in several parts of the country with fiddlers and guitarists performing a variety of old folk, blues, and minstrel tunes. When Milton Brown and his Musical Brownies, the subject of the only authoritative book on Western Swing, written by Cary Ginell, added a piano and Brown's crooning voice (think early Bing Crosby) to the string band format, Western Swing emerged. And there was one other unlikely jazz flavor instrumentally Brown added: the steel string guitar of Bob Dunn. Dunn, as unlikely as it would seem for a steel guitarist circa 1935, had as his musical idol the great jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden. So he improvised on steel guitar with Teagarden's trombone sound in mind. And less we neglect the piano man, Fred 'Papa' Calhoun certainly performed with a sophisticated awareness of Jelly Roll Morton and Earl Hines.

For any Western Swing novice on a budget, but with a deep hankering for a superbly sequenced overview of the style, there is the four disc box on the Proper label, Doughboys, Playboys, and Cowboys: the Golden Years of Western Swing. All of this suggested listening involves going to your favorite music store and veering away from where jazz CDs are displayed. It may feel a bit odd to rub shoulders with the Dolly Parton set, but the rewards are stunning. Next time you hear about 'the West Coast' jazz style, think of the wild West style as a neglected forerunner. More stars shine bright in the heart of Texas than you may have ever realized.

DISC 1: THE EYES OF TEXAS (1932-1936)

1. Sunbonnet Sue - Fort Worth Doughboys
2. Nancy Jane - Fort Worth Doughboys
3. Oh You Pretty Woman - Milton Brown & His Brownies
4. Brownie's Stomp - Milton Brown & His Brownies
5. Osage Stomp - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
6. Who Walks in When I Walk Out - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
7. Boyd's Blue - Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers
8. I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart - Patsy Montana & the Prairie Ramblers
9. Sadie Greee (The Vamp of New Orleans) - Roy Newman & His Boys
10. Who's Sorry Now - Milton Brown & His Brownies
11. Down by the O-H-I-O - Milton Brown & His Brownies
12. Barn Dance Rag - Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers
13. Never No More Blues - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
14. Too Busy - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
15. Rambler's Stomp - Doug Bine & His Dixie Ramblers
16. Eyes of Texas - Milton Brown & His Brownies
17. Yellow Rose of Texas - Milton Brown & His Brownies
18. Red's Tight Like That - The Tune Wranglers
19. Buster's Crawdad Song - The Tune Wranglers
20. Big Daddy Blues - Jimmie Revard's Oklahoma Playboys
21. Feather Your Nest - Lem Fowler's Washboard Wonders
22. Dirty Dog - Jimmie Revard
23. My Galveston Gal - Milton Brown & His Brownies
24. El Rancho Grande - The Tune Wranglers
25. Texas Sand - The Tune Wranglers



DISC 2: PLAYBOY STOMP (1937)

1. Women Women Women - Shelly Lee Alley
2. Mean Old Lonesome Blues - Buddy Jones
3. Bring It on Down to My House - Derwood Brown & His Musical Brownies
4. Corrine, Corrina - Cliff Bruner
5. One Sweet Letter From You - Cliff Bruner
6. Fort Worth Stomp - The Crystal Springs Ramblers
7. Women ('Bout to Make a Wreck Out of Me) - Buddy Jones
8. Streamlined Mama - Buddy Jones
9. Blue Guitars - The Light Crust Doughboys
10. Dirty Dog Blues - Mountain Mountaineers
11. Mississippi Sandman - Modern Mountaineers
12. Hot Tamale Pete - Bob Skyles & His Skyrockets
13. Married Man Blues - The Nite Owls
14. There'll Be Some Changes Made - W. Lee O'Daniel & his Hillbilly Boys
15. Dirty Hangover Blues - W. Lee O'Daniel & his Hillbilly Boys
16. Lose Your Blues and Laugh at Life - Jimmie Revard's Oklahoma Playboys
17. Range Rider Stomp - The Range Riders
18. Hold That Critter Down - The Sons of the Pioneers
19. Chicken Reel Stomp - The Tune Wranglers
20. Playboy Stomp - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
21. Moonlight in Oklahoma - Smokey Wood
22. Keep on Truckin' - Smokey Wood
23. I'm Confessin' (That I Love You) - Derwood Brown & His Musical Brownies
24. Just Once Too Often - The Light Crust Doughboys
25. Loudmouth - Modern Mountaineers



DISC 3: TOBACCO STATE SWING (1938-1941)

1. Kangaroo Blues - Cliff Bruner
2. Pine State Honky Tonk - Claude Casey & His Pine State Playboys
3. Better Quit It Now - Adolph Hofner
4. Pussy, Pussy, Pussy - The Light Crust Doughboys
5. I'll Keep My Old Guitar - Adolph Hodner His Texans
6. Cowboy's Swing - Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys
7. Lonesome Road Blues - W. Lee O'Daniel & his Hillbilly Boys
8. Liza Pull Down the Shades - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
9. Truck Driver's Blues - Cliff Bruner
10. My Untrue Cowgirl - Jewel Cowboys
11. San Antonio Rose - Cliff Bruner
12. Gonna Get Tight - Sunshine Boys
13. Let's Make Believe We're Sweethearts - The Light Crust Doughboys
14. Mississippi Muddle - Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys
15. Billy Boy - Louise Massey & Her Westerners
16. Good Gracious Gracie - The Light Crust Doughboys
17. Mean Mean Mama (From Meana) - The Light Crust Doughboys
18. Jones Stomp - Port Arthur Jubileers
19. Rockin' Rollin' Mama - Buddy Jones
20. Blue Steel Blues - Ted Daffan's Texans
21. New San Antonio Rose - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
22. Bob Wills Special - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
23. Pussywillow - Port Arthur Jubileers
24. Tobacco State Swing - Hank Penny & His Radio Cowboys



DISC 4: OAKIE BOOGIE (1941-1947)

1. Draftboard Blues - Cliff Bruner
2. Whatcha Gonna Do - The Hi-Flyers
3. Cotton Eyed Joe - Adolph Hofner
4. Sally's Got a Wooden Leg - The Sons of the West
5. What's the Matter With Deep Elem - Sunshine Boys
6. Li'l Liza Jane - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
7. Pistol Packin' Mama - Al Dexter
8. Forgive Me One More Time - Spade Cooley & His Orchestra
9. Shame on You - Spade Cooley & His Orchestra
10. Steel Guitar Stomp - Hank Penny
11. Boogie Woogie Boy - Porky Freeman Trio
12. That's What I Like About the South - Cliff Bruner
13. Stay a Little Longer - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
14. Oklahoma Blues - Zeke Clements
15. Oklahoma Stomp - Spade Cooley & His Orchestra
16. Nails in My Coffin - Jerry Irby With His Texas Ranchers
17. Bob Wills Two Step - Luke Wills Rhythm Busters
18. I Got Texas in My Soul - Tex Williams & the Western Caravan
19. Wildcat Mama - Hank Penny
20. Betty Ann - Jesse Ashlock
21. One Year Ago Tonight - Don Churchill & Texas Mavericks
22. Oakie Boogie - Johnny Tyler
23. Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette) - Tex Williams & the Western Caravan
24. Square Dance Boogie - Johnnie Lee Wills
25. Humpty Dumpty Heart - Hank Thompson

Box-set released by Proper Records in 1999.

disc 1 :: disc 2 :: disc 3 :: disc 4 - all@320 -

The Residents - Meet The Residents (1988)

"First issue of 'The Residents Classic Vinyl Series'. The original 1973 debut album by The Residents. The album comes in high quality gatefold cover and on 180gr heavy vinyl. The first unusual thing about Meet The Residents -- even before you get the record on the turntable -- is that you never meet the Residents: The artists haven't signed their names to their debut album. There are no faces either, only a nutty distortion of the Beatles. Which isn't as evasive as you might think, because Meet The Residents takes the vocal and instrumental innovations of the Beatles -- and Captain Beefheart -- and rockets them out into deep space. Listening to the White Album or Trout Mask Replica, you're never sure what you're going to hear from one cut to the next; with Meet The Residents, you can't predict what you'll be hearing from one moment to the next. Forget about predictions -- you can't always be sure what it is you're actually hearing. A lot of this music is utterly inexplicable, as in 'How are they making that sound?' You can't even grasp the 'well-it's-a-synthesizer' straw inexplicable, as in 'How are they making that sound?'. You can't even grasp the 'well-it's-asynthesizer' straw, because this low-budget, 1973 recording was plainly done by hand: It's basically voices, piano, and winds; some guitar, bass, drums; occasionally, brass and violin; and lotsa percussion (undoubtedly including all sorts of household items and toys and debris and who knows what else). There are some distortion effects through mic and instrumental preparations, but it's the Residents' use of tape, the tracks they've razored and overdubbed and remixed and respeeded, which makes their sound so uniquely bizarro. And all these bizarrely unique tracks are served up dripping with a deliberate eccentricity and a playfully grotesque sense of humor. Listening to this music, you can feel the Residents staring straight out at you, their teeth bared in the kind of fixed grin that's ordinarily symptomatic of clinical dementia." ~in ReR_usa

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Track list:

1. "Boots" – 1:39 (Lee Hazlewood)
2. "Numb Erone" – 1:06
3. "Guylum Bardot" – 1:20
4. "Breath and Length" – 1:45
5. "Consuelo's Departure" – 1:45
6. "Smelly Tongues" – 1:47
7. "Rest Aria" – 5:07
8. "Skratz" – 1:44
9. "Spotted Pinto Bean" – 6:36
10. "Infant Tango" – 5:58
11. "Seasoned Greetings" – 5:07
12. "N-er-gee (Crisis Blues)" – 9:42

* Bonus Tracks (Santa Dog, 1972)

13. "Fire" - 1:45
14. "Lightning" - 2:19
15. "Explosion" - 3:20
16. "Aircraft Damage" - 3:54

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Meet The Residents was recorded between 1972 _ 1973 and originally released in 1974 on Ralph Records. This record was reissued on CD in 1988 by The Cryptic Corp./Torso.

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Heiner Goebbels / Heiner Müller - Der Mann im Fahrstuhl (1988)

Using the texts of playwright Heiner Muller and collecting a wide range of imaginative musicians, Heiner Goebbels constructed a fascinating music-theater piece that mixes languages and musical styles. The text, read and sung by Arto Lindsay, concerns the thoughts and fears of an employee summoned to his boss' office and has something of a Brazil-like aura about it. Perhaps coincidentally, Lindsay interjects some Brazilian songs into the proceedings. But the highlight is the performance by this stellar ensemble, ranging from free to punkishly tinged jazz-rock to quasi-African. There are outstanding contributions from guitarist Fred Frith, trombonist George Lewis, and the late Don Cherry on trumpet, voice, and the African hunter's guitar known as the doussn'gouni. Goebbels brews a rich stew of overlapping languages and styles in a dense matrix that creates an appropriate feeling of angst, but never loses a sly sense of humor. If anything, some of The Man in the Elevator is reminiscent of Carla Bley's better known work and fans of hers as well as curious rock listeners should have no problem enjoying this one.
Brian Olewnick

Charles Hayward - drums, percussion
Fred Frith - guitar, bass
Heiner Goebbels - piano, synthesizer
Ned Rothenberg - saxophone, bass clarinet
George Lewis - trombone
Ernst Stötzner - voice
Arto Lindsay - voice, guitar
Don Cherry - voice, trumpet, strings [doussn' gouni]

Written By Heiner Müller
Released in 1988 by ECM Records

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V/A - Voices of Forgotten Worlds : Traditional Music of Indigenous People (1996)

"Another amazing double CD compilation published by Ellipsis Arts, of world wide ethnic and religious music, this time centered on the voice, on singing traditional songs. One can hear on this excellent recording sounds springing all across from South America to Japan, passing through Northern Europe, Africa (Northern and Sub-Saharan), Australia and Asia.
The small book that comes with the CD portrays an interesting initiation to the documented music on this great compilation." ~ Ludwig Vanessa

"Excellent samples of various groups and locations all over the world. The range is from Tuvan throat singers, Inuit songs, the Australian Aborigne digeridoo, three Native American pieces among others, but there is something from every geographical area and musical style. If you are interested in a wide variety of groups or would like to hear samples of various groups, this CD set is usefula as it gives a taste and an introduction to different ethnic group music styles. The accompanying booklet is a very useful resource in learning more about the music, the culture and in some cases, the performers of these pieces.
The book that accompanies the CD is superbly produced with high quality color pictures, notes about the artists, descriptions of the culture, and remarks about the recording process for each track. As a one-purchase introduction to the music of indigenous peoples, it can't be beat. But be careful for after reading about and listening to this music, you may find yourself wanting to purchase lots more music you only get to sample here." ~ amazon customers review

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Track list:

CD1
1-01 Tuva Folk Ensemble Tuvans (5:04)
1-02 Nakamoto Matsuko Ainu (1:41)
1-03 Nakamoto Matsuko Ainu (0:46)
1-04 Las Golondrinas Viajeras Garifuna (4:36)
1-05 Kantus Ensemble From Bautista Saavedra Province* Quechuan (3:22)
1-06 Ole Larsen Gaino Máhte Lemet Elle (1:29)
1-07 Elen Inga Eira Sara Migal Elle Gáren (1:19)
1-08 Bunun People Of Taiwan* Bisitaita (2:40)
1-09 Kanak People Of New Caledonia* Danse De Toka Nod (4:20)
1-10 Australian Aborigines Dalubun (2:06)
1-11 Musa Jan And Zahir Jan Pashtu Ghazal (4:20)
1-12 Jyãpu Musicians Of Guita Tol Mãrsi Mãlãsri (2:06)
1-13 Inuit From Siorapaluk* Imîna Imîna (4:44)
1-14 Inuit From Siorapaluk* Navssâpaluk Sadorona (4:27)
1-15 Maya Singers* Son Sventa N'Ahual San Lorenzo (Song For Our Lord San Lorenzo) (3:24)
1-16 Ashiq Hasan Trio Koroghlu (Azerbaijani) (0:31)
1-17 Maori People Of New Zealand* He Toa Takitini / Ka Tohia Atu Koe / Ki Okoiki (2:26)
1-18 Rashaida Rashaida Dance (4:57)
1-19 Monks Of Gyütö Tantris College* Gyütö Tantra (3:58)
1-20 Tashi Palkit And Isewang Namgyal Kidar Ghungsgot Thonpo (The High Sky) (4:33)

CD2
2-01 Honiata Musicians Of Guadalcanal Island Mbumbusa (Warrior's Cry) (1:25)
2-02 Villagers From Panueli Vinango (Voyage By Canoe) (3:45)
2-03 Ba-Benjellé Pygmies* Elengi Ceremony (Excerpt) (3:52)
2-04 Raman Sawut And Osman Oskur Nazirkhom (3:20)
2-05 Central Mekragnoti Of Brazil No'ôk-'ãmõr (Learning The Songs Of The Corn) (4:49)
2-06 Tolai Musicians* Akuka (Tubuan Dance) (3:52)
2-07 Gamelan Salunding Of Tenganan Gending Sekar Gadung (Excerpt) (4:14)
2-08 Turkmen Untitled (Turkmen Folk Song) (2:43)
2-09 Gondang Sabangunan Ensemble Batara Guru (5:40)
2-10 Wodaabe Of Dakoro* Lelore (4:40)
2-11 Bad Canyon Wellpinit Singers Stick Game Song (3:28)
2-12 Edward Lee Natay Navajo Squaw Dance (3:07)
2-13 Northern Cree Singers Of Saskatchewan* Squaw Dance Song (2:15)
2-14 Hukwe Ubi Zawose* Sote Tulifurahia Kama Siku Ya Arusi (Lyrics To Right) (6:07)

Originally published by Ellipsis Arts in 1993, reissued in 1996 as a book-cd set

linkCD1 _ linkCD2 @320

Robert Ashley - Yellow Man With Heart With Wings (1990)

"A two-part composition with narration (part one in Spanish and part two in heavily altered English) commissioned by public radio station KUNM in Albuquerque, this music has a plain, serene beauty. Part one is a narration by Guillermo Grenier in dreamy, flatly inflected Spanish, backed by a four-note synthesizer track, and punctuated by mysterious, heavily processed vocalizations. Ashley throws in extensive sound washes and other electronic figures which flutter in and out of the mix. The text, "Ideas from The Church," will later show up in the 1994 opera, Foreign Experiences. It is included in the liner notes. In part two, the four-note synthesizer line returns, this time backing an ethereal, sustained chord, and the vocals sound "like a distant rendering of the earth's electromagnetic halo."
1990 CD issue of this 1978 piece for voice and electronics. The electronics (with additional Clavinet by "Blue" Gene Tyranny) start out shimmering and subtle, slowing building up in strange, menacing fashion. The first part is in Spanish (with Guillermo Grenier providing the voice); the second part is "in English" (heavily processed vocals by Ashley) and quite radical -- easy to imagine this one sitting very high in a United Dairies-like universe."
~ in Forced Exposure

"An inspired prose-poem in Spanish and English about agriculture, and other perspectives and feelings that occur to people in cities, and to those who live outside cities. Heart-lifting."
~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide

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Robert Ashley studied with Ross Lee Finney, Roberto Gerhard, Leslie Bassett. Music degrees from Univ. of Michigan and Manhattan School of Music, worked in Speech Research Lab (psychoacoustics and cultural speech patterns) and was a Research Assistant in acoustics at the Architectural Research Lab. Co-founder legendary ONCE Group in the 1960s, co-director Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College in 1970s. Created new kind of opera (sometimes called the New Narrative opera) in works like That Morning Thing (1967), Combination Wedding and Funeral (1964), Perfect Lives an opera-for-TV (1980), e/L Aficionado (1991). Social behavior and and language illusion studies like The 4th of July for tape (1960), The Wolfman (1964), in memoriam ... Crazy Horse (symphony) (1963), The Trial of Anne Opie Wehrer and Unknown Accomplices for Crimes Against Humanity (1968).
+ info on Ashley HERE

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Robert Ashley : English voice and all instruments; except "Blue" Gene Tyranny, clavinet; Spanish voice : Guillermo Grenier

Track 1 : Spanish version running time: 26' 51''
Track 2 : English version running time: 26' 39''

Originally composed by Robert Ashley in 1978 (Visibility Music Publishers)

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Vinko Globokar - Hallo, Do You Hear Me? (1994)

"Despite the characteristic skepticism that British audiences reserve for musicians who cultivate more than one discipline, Vinko Globokar can be considered a phenomenon. Yet reasons can be adduced for his remarkable versatility. His jazz background has proved invaluable in his collaborations with exponents of free jazz and other improvising collectives. Improvisation has also been used as an educational tool. His close ties with Austro-German, French and Italian composition have given him significant insights into their historical development. Finally, his Slavonic origins have given him a unique view of the Western tradition, while heightening his awareness of various cultural, political and social problems, notably exile and alienation."

"An amazing compilation of four vivid, powerful and incredible pieces, with an whimsical mixed musical character, somewhere in between traditional academic music and subversive experimentalism. An awkward sound voyage through the performance of extraordinary musicians and astonishing compositions." ~Ludwig Vanessa

additional info about these pieces from the CD liner notes _ get them HERE

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Track List & details::



Vinko Globokar _ Michel Portal _ Heinz Holliger _ Diego Masson

Released in 1994 by Harmonia Mundi France

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Dragon Blue - Hades Park (1998)

"An abrasive assault. To say that this is a rock band would not be totally unfair. But you'd have to mention the muscular vocal lead by Tenko. And the fat, sometimes suffocating basslines by Kato Hideki. And the nervous drum chops by Sotoyama. And the free jazz guitar attacks of Imahori. And the colorful noise bursts from Otomo's hectic turntable. Maybe this is not rock music at all, then. Think of Ground Zero or Novo Tono, perhaps. But think of a a less explosive outfit, a heavier, slower and more oppressive avatar. Maybe that's how close one can get to this apocalyptic event". Ken Kercheval

1. Hades Park
2. In Convolution
3. Out Of Order
4. Hitqa Hita
5. Stagger
6. Tada Soko-Ni Ari
7. Metabolic Love Sphere
8. Stay Child
9. Boundary
10. Fragments Realm

Kato Hideki - bass
Akira Sotoyama - drums
Tenko - vocals
Tsuneo Imahori- guitar
Otomo Yoshihide - turntables

Released in 1998 by Avant.

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Shivkumar Sharma & Zakir Hussain - Rag Madhuvanti, Rag Misra Tilang (1988)

"Shivkumar Sharma is accompanied on this album by Zakir Hussain. Nimbus's importance as the first CD pressing plant in Britain meant that its recording wing had developed a keen and early appreciation of the technology and potential of CD production.
A beautiful, sensitively played pairing." ~ Ken Hunt, All Music Guide

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"Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Zakir Hussain are two titans of the Indian classical tradition. They have collaborated together since the 1980s, and are now acknowledged as the living masters of Indian music on the world stage.

A Grammy winner, National Heritage Fellowship recipient, Hussain is one of India’s most renowned cultural ambassadors and among the leading musicians of his generation. He is a master of the tabla, a classical percussion instrument made of hardwood, natural hide, and silver. At Duke, Hussain will appear with Sharma, who has enraptured audiences for over 50 years with his mastery of the santur, a hammered dulcimer famous for its lush, shimmering sound and known in India as the Shata Tantri Veena or “hundred-stringed lute.” Hussain and Sharma are simply the most accomplished instrumentalists of their kind in the world, musicians whose dazzling art remains deeply engaged in a national culture even while reaching beyond it.



Their performance, showcasing the intricate compositions from the North Indian classical tradition, is a fit end to a Duke Artists Series aimed at honoring the depth and reach of classical music today." in duke performances

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Shivkumar Sharma : santur
Zakir Hussain : tabla
Varatha Luxmie : tambura

Recorded at Wyastone Leys, 11 June 1987

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1. Rag Madhuvanti (35'31'')
2. Rag Misra Tilang (35'37'')

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Gioachino Rossini - Stabat Mater (2006)

01. Introduzione: Andantino Moderato: Stabat Mater Dolorosa
02. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Cujus Animam Gementem
03. Duetto Largo: Quis est Homo
04. Aria Allegretto Maestoso: Pro Peccatis Suae Gentis
05. Coro e Recitativo: Andante Mosso: Eja, Mater, Fons Amoris
06. Quartetto Allegretto Moderato: Sancta Mater, Istud Agas
07. Cavatina Andante Grazioso: Fac, ut Portem Christi Mortem
08. Aria e Coro Andante Maestoso: Inflammatus et Accencus
09. Quartetto Andante: Quando Corpus Morietur
10. Finale Allegro: Andantino Moderato: Amen. In Sempiterna Saecula



Katia Ricciarelli - Soprano
Lucia Valentini Terrani - Mezzo-Soprano
Dalmacio Gonzalez - Tenor
Ruggero Raimondi - Bass-Baritone
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus
Conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini

Released in 2006 by Deutsche Grammophon

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Joe McPhee Po Music - Topology (1989)

"A pivotal record in my development as a listener, this 1981 recording ended an obsessive fixation solely with free jazz by opening my ears to the possibilities of non-idiomatic improvisation, composition and electroacoustics. There was of course still enough visceral blowing on the disc to satisfy on that level, though I now began to appreciate how graphic notation can bring coherent form to improvisation. A strikingly variegated palette of sounds and emotions are employed by a judiciously assembled cast of multinational improvisors including Irène Schweizer, Radu Malfatti, Pierre Favre and André Jaume. Many startling juxtapositions stand out - McPhee's graceful themes floating above Raymond Boni's industrial-strength guitar, screaming post-Ayler overtones underpinned by delicately bowed strings and an overall mood of contemplative introspection continually stalked by terrifyingly abrasive collective improvisation. It sounds as bold and fresh today as I imagine it always will." ~by Fred Grand
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Jon McPhee was born on 3 November 1939, Miami, Florida, USA. This multi-instrumentalist/composer has established himself as one of the leading creative improvisers in avant garde jazz. McPhee played the trumpet in his school band and studied music theory and harmony in his Division Band while he was with the army in Germany (1964-65). His first recording was with fellow trumpeter Clifford Thornton on 1967's Freedom And Unity. While he was playing with the Matt Jordan Orchestra in the late 60s, he took up the saxophone as he became interested in free jazz. McPhee's first solo recordings were released on the CJR label, which he founded in 1969 with painter Craig Johnson. He gave a lecture course entitled "The Revolution In Sound" when he taught at Vassar College (1969-71), following which he struck up a fruitful association with the Swiss label, hatHUT, founded by Werner Uehlinger specifically to release McPhee's music. McPhee has sought to extend the tonal range of the saxophone, introducing grainy effects into his playing and extending his phrasing by using circular breathing.

The freedom he seeks is often clearly tied to melody, and on his early recordings was informed by the revolutionary struggles in his homeland during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Though his first recording on saxophone was with Shakey Jake (vocal/harmonica) in 1972, he soon moved to New York to work with trumpeter Don Cherry, Thornton and the Jazz Composers Orchestra. In the mid-70s he worked in Europe with Steve Lacy, among others, while remaining relatively unknown in his native America. McPhee's restless adventurism saw him adopting the clarinet, valve trombone, piano and pocket trumpet, and by the turn of the 80s he had begun to experiment with extended instrumental and electronic techniques. Influenced by Dr Edward de Bono's book Lateral Thinking: A Textbook Of Creativity, McPhee invented the concept of "Po Music" which he describes as "a process of provocation which can be used to move from one fixed set of ideas in an attempt to discover new ones". McPhee has recorded prolifically for several European and Canadian labels, including Sackville, CELP, Van d'Oeuvre, In Situ, Victo, Mode, Deep Listening, CIMP, OkkaDisk and Evidence. Frequent collaborators include bass players Kent Kessler, Dominic Duval and Michael Bisio, reed players Ken Vandermark and Peter Brötzmann, drummers Jay Rosen and John McLellan. In the late 90s, McPhee, Rosen and Duval formed the acclaimed Trio X. ~ in www.nme.com/artists/joe-mcphee

Joe McPhee (pocket cornet, tenor saxophone)

Tamia (vocals)
Daniel Bourquin (alto & baritone saxophones)
André Jaume (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet)
Radu Malfatti (trombone, electronics, percussion)
Michael Overhage (cello)
Irène Schweizer (piano)
Raymond Boni (guitar)
François Mechali (bass)
Pierre Favre (percussion)

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1. Age (10'43'')
2. Blues for new Chicago (05'32'')
3. Pithecantropus Erectus (10'30'')
4. Violets for Pia (07'38'')
5. Topology I&II (28'40'')


click on the cd back_cover pict for a detailed list of the participant musicians on this recording.



+ info on Joe McPhee HERE
Originally released on LP by HatArt in 1981

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Francisco López - La Selva (1998)

"La Selva is an immersion into the sound environments of a tropical rain forest in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica. An astonishing natural sonic web created by a multitude of sounds from rain, waterfalls, insects, frogs, birds, mammals and even plants, through a day cycle during the rainy season. A powerful acousmatic broad-band sound environment of thrilling complexity. And above all, a tour de force of profound listening".

Much against a widespread current trend in sound art and the customary standard in nature recordings, I believe in the possibility of a profound, pure, 'blind' listening of sounds, freed (as much as possible) of procedural, contextual or intentional levels of reference. What is more important, I conceive this as an ideal form of transcendental listening that doesn't deny all that is outside the sounds but explores and affirms all that is inside them. This purist, absolute conception is an attempt at fighting against the dissipation of this inner world.



[From the liner notes of the CD “La Selva. Sound environments from a Neotropical rain forest” (released by V2, The Netherlands).
Extracted and modified version of parts of the in-progress larger essay “The dissipation of music”]

+ info about La Selva @ http://www.franciscolopez.net/env.html

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track 1 _ 1:10:50''

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Lionel Marchetti - Portrait d'un Glacier (Alpes 2173m) (2001)

"Some of the best concrète, environmental works you could hear, weaved location recordings I guess from the Alpes, adorned with sound sources that come from far away to the left or right occasionally. You are always traveling, there's always movement, seamlessly, calmly, not sudden switches of environment, but a steady flow of change and new characterization. I like the use of one time sounds that don't get repeated. You want to click back and hear it again but then some other current scenario is making your mind work by then. These works are great, not since some of the best Eric La Casa or the Liminality comp have I been transported so completely. The wind, the crunch of snow underfoot, the bent branches left behind, the far away hail of a fellow trekker." ~ Manifold Records

Lionel Marchetti has blended field recordings with electronic drones and other sounds to create an incredibly dramatic recording. Recorded on the Glacier de Tré-la tête on Mont-Blanc, in France, at an altitude of 2173 meters we hear low rumbles, creaking, water splashing and sounds of footsteps crunching the icy surface all appearing out of the silence. Voices in the distance...a small propeller rescue plane overhead?

"Portrait d'un Glacier is a Series I release which puts it in Ground Fault's quiet category. While most of the CD is relatively quiet, there are moments at the middle when things get a little nerve wracking. It's very cold, dark and dramatic.

This is one of those CDs that are great to drift asleep to in a darkened room only to be awaken by the sudden "events" that occasionally happen.

"I used to hike mountains, (the Alpes), and the first time I descovered the Glacier "Tré-la tête", on Mont-Blanc, in France, with my friend Bruno Roche, I realized that we met a strange "vivacity". This glacier is coverd with stones, on 5 "kilometres" at less. It's a sort of desert where it's possible to see, on the floor, near our feet, a strange blue eye looking at us, saying : - do you want to know more about my face ?"...

In "Portrait d'un glacier (Alpes, 2173m)", I tried to find beauty of the mountain when it is able to give us an incredible geomorphic entity as the glacier; I tried to represent the breath of who is walking in a such beauty, dealing, in that way, with more than only his human condition - "the most difficult area"; but without forgetting this idea of "panic" I can feel that the mountain is danger too, an archaism I can feel under my feet, and sometimes could destruct me only with a breath..." Lionel Marchetti

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Glacier de Tré-la tête (2173m)

Ce matin, réveillé vers cinq heures

couleurs métalliques et vertes
lumière, force
tournoiement de l'esprit projeté
psychisme, sécrétion
lente humeur animale

soudain sonore

aurore en montagne

intelligence.

L.M.

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Track 1 - Portrait d'un Glacier (Alpes 2173m)..........28'40"

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Ellen Fullman - Body Music (1993)

"Body Music is music for Ellen Fullman's unique Long String Instrument, an eighty-foot long instrument with approximately eighty strings. Fullman has been developing this instrument for longitudinally vibrating long strings over the past thirteen years. Having received a BFA in sculpture, her interest in music began with the resonance of materials used in making sculpture. When she started making the Long String Instrument, she saw it as "sculpture as music;" now she has come full circle in conceiving "music as sculpture." For the most part, the music in Body Music relies harmonically on the diatonic scale. Because of the prominence of overtone content, more complex harmony is suggested. Through her studies of extended harmony, Fullman has come to realize that harmony is "dimensional."

"Composer/sculptor Fullman has been developing the Long String Instrument since 1980. An 80-foot long ax with 80 strings, concert presentation requires two to four players and a large room. The title refers to the players' need to use their whole bodies in performance, walking around the instrument, stroking and stroking and striking the strings. Tuned in just intonation and relying harmonically on the diatonic scale, the long strings create a wash of drones and overtones. - Mark Sullivan, Option

Searing, shifting textures seep into the air. Shimmering webs of overtones evoke an otherworldly string section." ~ Josef Woodard, Option

"Five more astonishing compositions on long string sculpture-instruments, including the marvelously flowing "Work for 4," performed on a 145-foot-long string installation, already a modern classic. "Space Between" surprisingly produces some sounds normally associated with electronic music, and "Body Music" suggests a kind of celestial Delta-blues with its bar chording technique. A CD that will appeal to many listeners. ~ "Blue" Gene Tyranny, All Music Guide

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1. Bass Song (14:27)
2. Over and Under (1:31)
3. Work for 4 (20:00)
4. Space Between (3:50)
5. Body Music (19:12)
6. Departure (4:04)

© Ellen Fullman : 1987, 1989, 1992
1993 Experimental Intermedia Foundation, NYC.

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Tuvinian Singers & Musicians - Choomej (1993)

Throat Singing From The Centre Of Asia

1. Gennadi Tumat: Sygyt
2. Tuva-Ensemble: Ugbashkylar Ooldary
3. German Kuular: Chomushgu Ayalgalar
4. Tuva-Ensemble: Ogbeler
5. Oleg Kuular: Sygyt
6. Oleg Kuular: Collection Of Choomej Styles
7. Oleg Kuular: Chomus And Choomej
8. Tuva-Ensemble: Ching Soortukchulerining Yry
9. Schaktar Schulban: Sygyt
10. Ondar Mongun-Ool: Sygyt
11. Bujan Dondak: Kargyraa
12. Tuva Ensemble: Adym
13. Idamchap Chomushgu: Chomushgu: Chomushgu Ayalgalar
14. Opej Andrej & Tschetschek: Tschasky-Chem Yry
15. Alexander Salchak: Cham Algyshy
16. Opej Andrej: Sygyt-Kargyraa

Tracks 1-4, 8, 12 recorded by Gunther Kasper & Gisela Bruns at Cologne, April 1993.
Tracks 5-7, 9-11, 13-16 recorded by Wolfgang Hamm in Tuva, 1992.
Produced by Wolfgang Hamm.
Released by Westdeutscher Rundfunk/Network Medien in 1993.

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Nico, Rochereau, Rocher - L'African Fiesta Volume 1: 1962-63

Hailed throughout Africa as "le Dieu de la Guitare," Nicolas Kasanda was born of Baluba parentage on 7 July 1939 in Mikalayi in the Kasai province of the then Belgian Congo. His father played accordion. In 1950, aged 11, Nico was introduced to Opika Studios by his cousin Tino Baroza and older brother Mwamba Déchaud who were session musicians there. At 14, he joined Joseph Kabaselle's African Jazz. In 1957 he took up electric guitar and can be heard playing electric guitar on 'Sophie ya motema,' recorded in 1960. In 1961 he temporarily split with Kabaselle and formed African Jazz Aile Nico before returning to Kabaselle in 1962 and 1963. (Vincent Luttman cautions that some of the early Surboum African Jazz recordings of this period thought to be featuring Nico are played by Tino Barozo. Luttman also points out, very perceptively, that Nico's later signature choppy guitar style when he is chording behind a vocalist, is based on Manu Dibango's piano technique: which was his own unique version of the montuno piano style he brought to collaborations with Kabaselle.) Young Nicolas Kasanda graduated with honours from high school and went on to college, while keeping his night job as Leopoldville's hottest young guitarist. He taught auto mechanics at the Christian Brothers school in N'djili district, Kinshasa, which earned him the nickname 'Docteur.'

Nico quit teaching and broke away from African Jazz to form African Fiesta in 1963 with Tabu Ley Rochereau, brother Déchaud, Kwamy, Mujos, Depuissant on conga and bassist Joseph Mwena. The band was joined by Roger's brother Faugus Izeidi on third guitar, with Paul Mizele and a Congolese woman singer (with a Greek name) Photas Myosotis ("Forget-me-not") on vocals; Dominique "Willy" Kuntima doubled Jeef Mingiedi on trumpet. When Rochereau split in 1965 to form African Fiesta National, Nico reformed his group as African Fiesta Sukisa, which existed until 1973. They ruled the roost in the late sixties, with endless hits. However, in 1969, the entire band, except his brother Déchaud, walked out because they felt they weren't getting their due. Nico quickly assembled a new band that included Josky Kiambukuta and Lessa Lassan on vocals. Bopol Mansiamina joined on guitar in 1970 and they kept it together for a few more years. Success eluded Docteur Nico in later life and he drank heavily, leading to his early death in a Belgian hospital on 22 September 1985. His improvisations are so surprisingly fluid and ecstatic that he truly earned the nickname 'God of the Guitar.' (musikfan.com)

01. Bilomba Ya Africa
02. Mwasi Abandaka
03. Pesa Le Tout
04. Toyei Na Sango
05. Ngonga Ebeti
06. Natuna Nani
07. Mobembo Eleki Tata
08. Mwasi Ya Bangando
09. N'soso Pembe Na Lipopo
10. Libaku Ya Nguma
11. Nalembi Nalembi
12. Cubana Na Vis-A-Vis
13. Le Chant De Malory
14. Foti Ya Ye
15. Pablito
16. Sukisa
17. Biantondo Kasanda
18. Nakokoma
19. Merenge President

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