The Free Jazz Network Tag Book

cristiano calcagnile & monica demuru | blastula | scarnoduo | amrn 021

Monsieur K. — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:16:26 +0000

BLASTULA

is the name of the animal embryo in one of its internal subdivision phases. Not a two-cells organism any more, not a completed organism yet.

Blastula is also the name of the duo founded in 2006 by Cristiano Calcagnile (drummer, percussionist and composer) and Monica Demuru (vocalist , performer and playright) that pursues a multilingual sonic path, with particolar attention to the relationship between writing and improvisation, drama and pure sound.

“SCARNODUO” is a beautiful, pure, neo narrative, dramatic work- performance by Monica Demuru, voice and Cristiano Calcagnile on percussions.

Download listen to Cristiano Calcagnile and Monica Demuru | Trenta

A compelling, dialogic force, crossing intimate and universal dephts, with a huge re-combinatory possibilty. Words are sounds coming from ancestral tales and future lines. Sounds are words going to inner places, touching outer limits. Really great!

Accurate graphics and all texts booklet offer the opportunity of an ever new interpretation of “Scarnoduo”, like a great story that really deserves to be told again and again.

Tracklist: 1 – Trenta 30 2 – Volere è potere 1 3 – Interludio lombardo parte I 4 – Nanneddu meu 5 – “La porta, Marnie!” 6 – Mangia la tua paura 7 – Interludio Lombardo parte II 8 – Dinghiriana 9 – Spazio profondo: – sotto la calotta – meduse’s musical 10 – Tincanta jouer 11 – Fue Fue 12 – Volere è potere 2 13 – … e nel profondo la regola 14 – Interludio “volontà e rappresentazione” 15 – Sa calarina e mosche sugli occhi 16 - A.me.ri.ca

c r e d i t s: music_Cristiano Calcagnile & Monica Demuru | recording_Nibiru Station, Novate Milanese, Italy, October 08 | sound engineer_Libero Mureddu | mixing and mastering_Libero Mureddu, EveryNowAndThen, Milano, Italy, Jan-Sept 2009 | art work_Barbara Frappi | translation_Marco Albert | production_ Blastula and Gianni Mimmo for Amirani records

Download listen to Cristiano Calcagnile and Monica Demuru | Trenta

gianni mimmo & gianni lenoci | reciprocal uncles | amrn 022

Monsieur K. — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:15:09 +0000

RECIPROCAL UNCLES

gianni lenoci _ piano | gianni mimmo _ soprano saxophone

A lifting wind revealing how sparkling is the relationship between two musicians that share intentions, derivations, approaches whole perspective dialogic moves. They both look at the sound as a morphing matter, with a plastic sculpting attitude. The goal is (again) to make distances possible knowledge areas, a contemporary, lyric meditation. The sound tree genealogy: eternal roots, changing leaves

One of Athena’s epithets is “Grey-eyed”. Her gift to the Greeks was the useful olive tree. The underside of the olive tree’s leaf is grey, and when the wind lifts the leaves, it shows Athena’s many “eyes”

Great contemporary istant compositions from a challenging duo signed by the elegant and intense touch on piano by Gianni Lenoci and the morphing sound statement of the soprano saxophone of Gianni Mimmo. A memorable recording proudly co-produced with www.longsongrecords.com

Tracklist: 1. brain prelude 2. consideration 3. one or more 4. what the truth is made for 5. steppin’ elements 6. sparse lyrics 7. news from the distance 8. almost interlude

Download listen to Gianni Mimmo and Gianni Lenoci | steppin’ elements

Jemeel Moondoc | Arthur Williams | Roy Campbell Jr. | Mark Hennen | William Parker | Rashid Bakr | Muntu Recordings | no business records

Monsieur K. — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 16:08:10 +0000

MUNTU RECORDINGS 3CD BOX.

JEMEEL MOONDOC, ARTHUR WILLIAMS, ROY CAMPBELL JR., MARK HENNEN, WILLIAM PARKER and RASHID BAKR

MUNTU RECORDINGS 3CD BOX

The digipack contains a 115 pages book with 3 essays written by Ed Hazell and Jemeel Moondoc about Jazz Lofts Era in New York City, the Black Artists Movement and musical environment, many beautiful photos, original posters, complete Muntu sessionography etc.

[quickshop:Muntu Recordings - no business records:price:40:shipping:0:shipping2:0:end]40 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide

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CD 1: MUNTU ENSEMBLE / First Feeding 1. “First Feeding” 5’09” 2. “Flight (From The Yellow Dog)” 13’57” Download 3. “Theme For Milford (Mr. Body & Soul)” 20’37”

* Jemeel Moondoc – alto saxophone * Arthur Williams – trumpet * Mark Hennen – piano * William Parker – bass * Rashid Bakr – drums

* All compositions by Jemeel Moondoc (ASCAP). * Recorded April 17, 1977 at Bob Blank Studios, New York City. * Originally released in 1977 on Muntu Records 1001. * Originally published by Moon-Jem Publishing Co. in 1977 * Photo on CD and on the cover of the box by T. Tashijan

First Feeding is dedicated to: CECIL TAYLOR, SAM RIVERS, JIMMY LYONS, ANDREW CYRILLE, MILFORD GRAVES, BILL DIXON and RASHIED ALI whose feedings have been vital to the growth of this music.

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CD 2: JEMEEL MOONDOC & MUNTU / The Evening Of The Blue Men 1. “The Evening Of The Blue Men, Part 3 (Double Expo)” 21’02” Download 2. “Theme For Diane” 19’39”

Jemeel Moondoc – alto saxophone Roy Campbell Jr. – trumpet William Parker – bass Rashid Bakr – drums

* All compositions by Jemeel Moondoc (ASCAP). * Recorded March 30, 1979 live at Saint Marks Church in New York City by Peter Kuhn of Big City Records. * Originally released in 1979 on Muntu Records 1002. * Originally published by Moon-Jem Production Publishing & Enterprising Co. in 1979 * Photo on CD by Anko C. Weirenga * “The Evening Of The Blue Men” is dedicated to Diane Moondoc.

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CD 3: MUNTU / Live At Ali’s Alley * “Theme For Milford (Mr. Body and Soul)” 36‘35“

* Jemeel Moondoc – alto saxophone * William Parker – bass * Rashid Bakr – drums

* Composition by Jemeel Moondoc (ASCAP). * Recorded April 20, 1975 live at Ali’s Alley * Previously unreleased session.

[quickshop:Muntu Recordings - no business records:price:40:shipping:0:shipping2:0:end]40 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide

Limited edition of 1000 copies!

I will not say that I have all of alto saxophonist’s Jemeel Moondoc’s albums, but close enough, with the exception of his earlier albums, released on his own Muntu label. Now, these albums are available again in a great triple CD-box, and that’s great news.The box comes with a great booklet of more than 100 pages, with a short overview of the “loft” scene in New York in the seventies, an essay by Jemeel Moondoc, a detailed overview of the music on the three albums, and a complete sessionography. Despite its limited number of recordings, the band stayed together for quite a while, with different line-ups, but still with the same rhythm section of William Parker and Rachid Bakr. The band had also some later recordings (New York Live! (1980), The Intrepid Live In Poland (1981), The Athens Concert (1982)), with Roy Campbell Jr. on trumpet. Moondoc kept playing with William Parker until now, in various line-ups and bands.

Although Moondoc clearly is the leader of the band, his main focus seems to be the coherence of the band’s sound, rather than just him playing with a rhythm section. The music consists of multi-layered improvisations in which anything could happen,

Muntu Ensemble – First Feeding (1977) “First Feeding” is possibly the most interesting discovery, with Arthur Williams on trumpet and Mark Hennen on piano, because these two other musicians do not show up in any of the later recordings. The three pieces are anchored in recognizable themes, but are otherwise long improvisational work-outs. Williams’ tone on trumpet is warm and wild, Hennen’s piano playing is pounding and extravagant, in the Cecil Taylor style. Moondoc gives lots of space to the other musicians in the three pieces, but especially on the long “Theme For Milford (Mr. Body & Soul)”, and although is playing is excellent, I really would have wanted to hear him more. But the whole thing would fall to pieces if it wasn’t so tightly held together by Parker and Bakr, who conserve the unity of the pieces, even if they let go of the rhythm and tempo once in a while. Both also get their own moment in the spotlight in the second part of the last track. The great thing about the album is its wonderful taste of the seventies: you sense the joy and the enthusiasm of the new musical possibilities that are being opened through free playing. It lacks some of the instrumental discipline we have come to know nowadays even in free playing, but it is so full of expansiveness and musical liberation that it is fun.

Download listen to “Flight (From The Yellow Dog)”

Jemeel Moondoc & Muntu – The Evening Of The Blue Men (1979) This line-up is possibly the best of the Muntu line-ups, with Moondoc on alto, Roy Campbell Jr. on trumpet, William Parker on bass, and Rashid Bakr on drums. From the book you can learn that pianist Hennen and Moondoc drifted apart musically, that the alto saxophonist wanted more openness in his music. William Parker introduced Roy Campbell to the band, when Arthur Williams could no longer play and tour, like he had introduced Bakr to Moondoc many years before.

The sound quality of this live recording is a little less than on the first album, but the music is stellar. Starting with a long meandering theme, the pieces quickly folds into a free boppish mode, with Moondoc’s playing full of confidence, and joy. The interaction with Campbell is fun. In Moondoc’s own words about Campbell: “He’s got these huge ears, he can hear shit, easily. He not only hears it right away, he can interpret it right away. He can put it right back at you. That was easy, so wonderful”. And this chemistry is almost palpable on this album. Campbell goes deep in his ensuing solo, which is followed by a Bakr and a Parker solo, before re-uniting for the theme. The second piece, “Theme For Diane”, is a slow and open-ended bluesy piece, which shows Moondoc’s sensitive side, a great context for Campbell to let us hear his bell-clear moaning sounds in response: brilliant. Again, to Moondoc’s credit, he gives ample space to the entire band, but he ends the piece is one of the saddest modes imagineable.

Download listen to “Evening Of The Blue Men”

Muntu – Live At Ali’s Alley (1975) The third album brings a reduced line-up, with Moondoc on alto, Parker on bass, and Bakr on drums. The performance was recorded in Rashied Ali’s loft : Ali’s Alley, and was never released before. The great thing about the trio format is that we now get the chance to fully appreciate Moondoc’s playing. Although free in spirit, you can hear his natural sense of melody and his boppish background. The most incredible thing is his sense of focus: the piece is thirty-six minutes long, but he can carry the entire improvisation without moving too far away from its original concept, which he keeps exploring with varying levels of intensity, sensitivity and power, without falling back on automatisms.

This is a lengthy review, but the CD box is worth it. The music itself is not always of the highest level, because Moondoc is not the great innovator in jazz nor the most incredible sax-player, but the nature of the music, the historical context, and the unbelievable quality and dedication with which No Business offered this music back to the world, make this already now one of the most recommended albums of the year. Stef Gijssels

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Howard Riley | Solo in Vilnius | no business records

Monsieur K. — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:35:35 +0000

Howard Riley – Solo in Vilnius

It was a magical Autumn day in Vilnius – Mr. Howard Riley was giving his rare solo performance at St. Catherine’s Church. The outcome is this two CD set of deep musical contemplation, freedom and lyricism. After the concert Howard Riley said that this was his best solo performance in many years.

Howard Riley : piano

This record has been made possible by generous support of UAB “Garsu pasaulis”. NoBusiness Records NBCD 12/13, 2010, Limited edition of 500 CD’s * Recorded September 11, 2009 2009 in Vilnius, at St. Catherine’s Church * Recorded, mixed and mastered by Arunas Zujus at MAMAstudios * Photos by Oskaras Anosovas * Design by Oskaras Anosovas. * Executive producer – Danas Mikailionis. * Co-producer – Valerij Anosov.

Tracklist : CD 1 | 1. Starting Up 9’41” 2. Six With Five 9’25” 3. Proof 10’18” 4. There And Back 8’42” 5. Round Midnight 7’01” 6. Secret Moves 9’15”

Tracklist: CD 2 | 7. Hello Again 7’56” 8. Space Cadets 7’39” 9. Formerly 5’15” 10. New Walkway 7’29” 11. Yesterdays 6’09” 12. Misterioso 5’52” 13. Encore 1’50”

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Vladimir Tarasov | Thinking of Khlebnikov | no business records

Monsieur K. — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:32:59 +0000

Vladimir Tarasov – Thinking of Khlebnikov

A solo dedication to a Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov by the gross master of drums and percussion, Vladimir Tarasov. The CD contains an essay “Thinking of Khlebnikov” by Igor Romanenkov. This work is included in PDF file format.

This record has been made possible by generous support of UAB “Garsu pasaulis”. NoBusiness Records NBCD 10, 2010, edition of 1000 cd’s. The CD contains an essay “Thinking of Khlebnikov” by Igor Romanenkov. This work is included in PDF file format. * All music by Vladimir Tarasov (LATGAA). * Recorded March 20th, 2009 at Haus der Berliner Festspiele in the context of MaerzMusik 2009 / Berliner Festspiele, Germany. * Sound Technician – Manfred Tiesler. * Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios, Vilnius, Lithuania. * Design by Oskaras Anosovas. * Executive producer – Danas Mikailionis. * Co-producer – Valerij Anosov.

* Vladimir Tarasov : drums, percussions

Tracklist : 1. Introduction 2. … having saddled a herd of sounds Download 3. … I’ll somehow hobble over the desolate time… 4. … bi-chiming dreams… 5. … where lived reedlings… 6. … pin, pin, pin! – rumbled zinzeever… 7. … winging golden script of thinnest veins… 8. … poles and poles, and poles… 9. … we are soundmen… Download

One could wonder whether the cultural capitals of the world have been moved to Cracow (Poland), Vilnius (Lithuania) and Lisbon (Portugal). Or let’s say that at least of some of the best and daring music nowadays is performed and released out of those cities. Again, the small labels surprise with the least likely of commercial successes: solo percussion albums.Well, not quite solo. The first is accompanied by text, the second is a percussion duet, but the lack of melodic instruments does not mean lack of musicality, as is demonstrated here.

Russian master drummer Vladimir Tarasov is possibly best known to jazz audiences from the Ganelin Trio, but he already has eleven solo percussion records in his name, and many compositions for larger orchestra too. In all, more than a hundred albums. This album is a reflection on a text on the Russion futurist Velimir Khlebnikov, which is joined on the CD as a pdf file. The text is in Russian. Tarasov’s playing is sparse, open, subtle, sometimes adding drama, but more often precise, cautious, gentle, barely disturbing silence, creating an organic harmony with a silent environment. No patterns, no repetition, just the infinite possibilities of sound, brought to such a level of abstraction that any sense of melodic evolution would be a vulgar disturbance of the purity he creates. Stef Gijssels

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Curtis Clark Trio | Taagi | no business records

Monsieur K. — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:17:12 +0000

Curtis Clark Trio – Taagi

Recorded on successive nights during May 2009 performances in Dallas and Austin, this album represents a great collaboration between jazz veteran and great piano maestro Curtis Clark and young, but very talented Gonzalez brothers – Aaron and Stefan. Piano trio at it’s best.

Taagi – which takes its title from the Apache word for “three” – is his first trio recording with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez.

* Curtis Clark : piano * Aaron Gonzalez : contrabass * Stefan Gonzalez : drums

Tracks : 1. Suite Joy/Blessings (12:06) 2. Suite Water Colors/New York City Wildlife (14:28) 3. Taagi (15:25) 4. Joy (6:16) 5. Blessings (10:10) Download 6. Beautiful Love (7:32)

This record has been made possible by generous support of UAB “Garsu pasaulis”. NoBusiness Records NBCD 11, 2010, edition of 1000 cd’s * Recorded May 1 and 2, 2009 by Dennis Gonzalez at South Dallas Cultural Center, Dallas, TX and Long Center for the Performing Arts, Austin, TX. * Mixed in Dallas by Dennis Gonzalez, May 4, 5, and 6, 2009 * Mastered by Arūnas Zujus at MAMAstudios, Vilnius, Lithuania. * Photos by Nari Mann * Design by Oskaras Anosovas. * Produced by Dennis Gonzalez * Executive producer – Danas Mikailionis. * Co-producer – Valerij Anosov.

The piano trio is a time-honored jazz institution. Trio recordings have been among the most commercially, as well as artistically, successful in the music – one need only think of Ahmad Jamal’s Live At the Pershing, Erroll Garner’s Concert By the Sea, Bill Evans’ Portrait In Jazz, or Duke Ellington’s Money Jungle. Pianist Curtis Clark previously added to the canon with 1994’s Home Safely, in the company of Dutch master percussionist Han Bennink. For this outing, he’s joined by a pair of fiery young brothers from Dallas for a cross-generational meeting of minds.

Clark was born in Chicago in 1950, began playing and composing while living in Los Angeles, and became a protege of pianist-composer-bandleader Horace Tapscott. As a teenager, he once tried to convince Ornette Coleman to hire him, even though Coleman hadn’t employed a pianist in years. Moving to New York in the 70s, Clark performed and recorded with fellow California expat David Murray, appearing on the tenor titan’s acclaimed 1982 album Murray’s Steps. Relocating to Amsterdam in the’80s, Clark worked with musicians including saxophonist John Tchicai and drummer Louis Moholo — both featured on his 1986 album Letter to South Africa – as well as Bennink. He’s released recordings under his own name for Nimbus West and Favorite Records, and currently resides in Portland, Maine.

Taagi – which takes its title from the Apache word for “three”— is his first trio recording with bassist Aaron Gonzalez and drummer Stefan Gonzalez. The brothers grew up in an environment that encouraged creative endeavor; their father is trumpeter-poet-visual artist-educator Dennis Gonzalez. They mastered their instruments early and have performed in contexts that include mariachi, hardcore punk, and experimental music as well as jazz. Besides collaborating with their father in the group Yells At Eels, which celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, they’re also part of Portuguese guitarist Luis Lopes’award-winning Humanization 4tet. Recorded on successive nights during May 2009 performances in Dallas and Austin, the album opens with the Austin performance of “Joy/Blessings,” a suite that was a highlight of the band’s sets. Starting out, the pianist’s lyrical abstraction is laced with gospel and blues gestures.

When he’s joined by the brothers, Aaron unleashes flurries of pizzicato notes while Stefan flows like a rushing river, shifting seamlessly from brushes to sticks midway through the piece. On the Dallas version, also included here, Clark gently and lovingly essays the “Joy” theme, adding a soupcon of dissonance, but not in a way that interrupts the melodic flow. Then the brothers play together as though a single intelligence guided both their hands.

Another suite, “Water Colors/New York City Wildlife,” begins with Clark in a mood of Debussian contemplation before the brothers make their entrance, Aaron shadowing Clark’s melody while Stefan churns away like Rashied Ali behind Coltrane. Stefan’s brush and cymbal work here is particularly deft, while his crisp attack in the second half of the piece recalls Roy Haynes and Alan Dawson. The title track begins as a three-way conversation before Aaron solos to good effect, his big, dark sound lending weight to his lines. When the theme emerges, it’s a waltz — another reason for the title, perhaps? – which Clark begins exploring with odd groupings of notes that recall Monk, shifting to chordal interjections that are as harmonically rich as they are rhythmically spare.

The closing standard, “Beautiful Love,” is a big band chestnut from 1931, recorded by Bill Evans on Explorations 30 years later. While the trio’s approach to the tune isn’t as oblique as, say, the one Cecil Taylor took to “What’s New” at the Cafe Montmartre back in ‘62, Stefan’s syncopations and Aaron and Curtis’ explorations are as far a cry from Evans’ reflective-but-swinging approach as that version was from Wayne King’s original. Steeped in tradition, looking towards the future, Curtis Clark and the Gonzalez brothers set a new standard for improvisational dialogue. Listen. Ken Shimamoto, Fort Worth, Texas, July 2009

Download listen to Curtis Clark | Aaron Gonzalez | Stefan Gonzalez | Beautiful Love

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John Clarke and Charles Keil in Performance Buffalo, 1984-5 | Vox Audio

Monsieur K. — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 18:03:16 +0000

John Clarke (1933 – 1991) and Charles Keil in Performance Buffalo, 1984-5

John (Jack) Clarke and Charles (Charlie) Keil were recorded at least three times performing as “Skald/Song” in the mid 1980s, and we have located two of the tapes. Paul Kluger recorded the performance at Nietzsche’s in May 1984. It’s not known who recorded the performance at TheatreLoft in 1985, nor the additional musicians involved. We have not been able to locate a third recording, made at Central Park Grill on May 23, 1986. These recordings have imperfections, such as bleed-through and tape hiss, which couldn’t be eliminated. On the recordings, Charlie plays beaten string bass, hi hat cymbals, barrel drum, finger piano, oriental gongs, rattles, and piri. He’s the author of Urban Blues (U Chicago 1968) and Music Grooves (with S. Feldman, University of Chicago 1994) as well as other books. Jack’s books include The End of This Side (Black Book 1979), From Feathers to Iron (Tomboucto 1987),and In the Analogy (Shuffaloff 1997). Thanks, Charlie, Cass Clarke, Mike Boughn, Mike Basinski, Jim Maynard, the Poetry Collection/Rare Book Room at SUNY Buffalo, Jeff Davis, Paul Kuglar and the Analytical Psychology Society of Western New York for help locating tapes and seeing us through this.

Edited by Bruce Holsapple. Photo of Jack by Paula Satow. Copyright 2009 Charles Keil, the Estate of John Clarke and Vox Audio PO Box 594, Magdalena, NM 87825. Note that on Cut 40 Jack identifies a poem as “American Syntax Without A Sentence.” He later corrects himself. The poem is “At The Edge Of Night.”

Tracklist: John Clarke (1933-1991) and Charles Keil in Performance At Nietzsche’s, May 20, 1984 1. Paul Kugler, Introduction 2. Dismantling The Nominative 3. Step Onto The Monogenous Corner 4. The Church Of The Phenomenal 5. Neolithic Man Without A Fravarti 6. Completing The Circuit Of Circe 7. God, The Urgent Requisite 8. Aeonic Residue 9. Climbing The Statue Of Liberty Prior To Her Repair 10. Cut Nominative Crap 11. Relational Destiny 12. Keil, Excursion 13. The Seeds Of The Future 14. The Kouretes Reach The Bedchamber 15. The Bridge 16. Sirian Phallocentrism 17. Ground Zero 18. Xvarnah 19. Keil, Excursion 20. Ice Chips Dark 21. (H)areMan 22. The Man Who Looks At The World 23. Hesiodicity 24. The Calm Before The Storm 25. Dim All The Lights 26. The Rekindling Of The Planet 27. Love Is When One Frees 28. Beginning The Other Side

At TheatreLoft March 13, 1985

29. Dismantling The Nominative 30. Hotspur 31. Basking In The Beams Of Life And Love 32. Ground Zero 33. “I’ve Had Enough Of This Lunar Movement” 34. Keil, Excursion 35. Completing The Circuit Of Circe 36. Through Through Through (Take One) 37. Through Through Through (Take Two) 38. Through Through Through (Take Three) 39. The Furnace Of Ophelia 40. With Wide Open Eyes She Strides Forth To Adventure 41. The Torn Leaf 42. The Return Of Hecate 43. Although I Don’t Compete With Herman Melville 44. At The Edge Of Night 45. Beginning The Other Side 46. Maruts 47. Finished For My Friend 48. If This Be Heat 49. Through Through Through (Take Four) 50. Ice Chips Dark 51. Cut Nominative Crap

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Donald Guravich and Joanne Kyger Read | Vox Audio

Monsieur K. — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:08:21 +0000

Donald Guravich and Joanne Kyger Read

This reading was part of the 2009 Duende Reading Series. Recorded in Placitas, NM September 13, 2009. Edited by Bruce Holsapple. Copyright 2009 Donald Guravich, Joanne Kyger and Vox Audio, P.O. Box 594 Magdalena, NM 87825

Tracklist: 1. Jim Burbank Intro Donald Guravich 2. Opening Comments 3. Personal Financial Loss 4. The Jobless Rate 5. Work Force Reductions 6. Code Orange 7. Compassionate Conservative 8. Small Business Loan 9. Stock Market Downturn 10. Operation Liberty Shield 11. Domestic Surveillance 12. Other Developments 13. Life Aboard The USS Constellation 14. Unexpected Resistance 15. Lunch

16. Jim Burbank & Gary Brower Intro Joanne Kyger 17. “How Does one attain that popular narratve tone” 18. fromLo & Behold, 1980 19. from Lo & Behold, 1982 20. from Lo & Behold, 1983 21. from Lo & Behold, 1984 22. from Lo & Behold, 1985, 1986 23. from Lo & Behold, 1987 24. from Lo & Behold, 1988 25. from Lo & Behold, 1989 26. from Lo & Behold,1990 27. from Lo & Behold, 1991 28. from Lo & Behold, 1992 29. Myokyo Dream 30. Memories Of The Future 31. No Escape 32. From A Phil Whalen Dharma Talk

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Keith Wilson Reads from Lion’s Gate | Vox Audio

Monsieur K. — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 15:41:24 +0000

Keith Wilson (1927-2009) Reads from Lion’s Gate, Selected Poems 1963-1986 Volume One

Keith recorded these poems in Santa Fe in 1990 for a cassette to accompany Lion’s Gate, Selected Poems 1963-1986. When Alien Kruse converted that cassette to compact disk from the cassette, he noticed two poems, “Teofilo Orozco” and “Snakeskin”, had beed dropped from the cassette, and had Keith rerecord them. Maria Kruse designed a CD insert, label and cover graphics. This 2CD edition was made available to family and friends. Vox is making both available to the public.

Tracklist: 1. Dedication 2. Frontispiece 3. The Lake Above Santos 4. Growing Up 5. To My Wife 6. The Rancher 7. New Mexico: Campsite Above Bernalillo 8. Coyote 9. Virgino 10. Placitas 11. Woodcarver 12. Trio: Billy-The-Kid 13. The Touch Of Moonlight 14. Teofilo’s Father 15. The Mistress Of My Father 16. Santa Ana House 17. Teofilo Orozco 18. Snakeskin 19. Old Man 20. The Old Man & His Calf 21. The Old Man And His Snake 22. The Drug Store 23. Old Man At Twilight 24. The Gift 25. The Voices Of My Desert 26. The Wolf Tryptych 27. Hill Man 28. Old Women Beside A Church 29. Twin Aces 30. New Mexico: Paso Por Aqui 31. The Name-Giver 32. Yellow Green 33. In Sere & Twisted Trees 34. The Arrival Of My Mother 35. Vision 36. To My Daughters 37. Day Of The Pig 38. The Old Flyer

Keith Wilson (1927-2009) Reads from Lion’s Gate Selected Poems 1963-1986 Volume Two

Tracklist: 1. The Politicians 2. Echoes, SeaFalls for Heloise 3. Birthday Poem For Diana Hadley 4. from Graves Registry 5. The Seaman 6. The Hanging Of Billy Budd 7. The Bridge, The Sea 8. Ballad Of A Sailor 9. the ex-officer, navy 10. MidWatch 11. SeaDream 12. Seacaptain 13. Seachantey: Burial Song 14. Somewhere In Washington, in Rome 15. StarChart 16. Summer Meadows 17. Transylvanian Set Piece 18. Gypsy Bears 19. The Minaret AT Constanta 20. The Casino At Constanta 21. A Prayer For Rivers 22. Love Motif: A Girl’s Song 23. One Rose Of Stone 24. The Celt In Me 25. Child’s Tale 26. Seadream 27. TheUndead 28. Hebrew Stones 29. Tunnel Mountain Campground 30. Chantey 31. Southwestern Calvacade: A Postscript

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Featured release: One One & One

Monsieur K. — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:34:47 +0000

ONE ONE & ONE

Humming Bird CDs 2 & 3

ONE: CIRCLE-CYCLE (CD 2) | Henry Kuntz / solo tenor saxophone | Recorded January 27 1998 & June 9, 1997

Download listen to Henry Kuntz | C. Dimension 9. Moon Stripe Tiger | from the CD One Circle-Cycle

ONE & ONE: 12 PATHS TO KNOWLEDGE (CD 3) | Don Marvel / time machine, prophet sampler, old turntable, live signal processing and mixing; Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, Chinese musette and Nepalese bamboo flute. | Recorded April 18, 1998

Download listen to Henry Kuntz and Don Marvel | Who Knows What Is Known? | from the CD One & One 12 Paths To Knowledge

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Click here to Download the complete album as MP3. This download contains the complete tracklist in 192kbps MP3 format along with high resolution cover art and leaflet pages in JPG format.

The solo saxophone music on One One & One (1997-98) is the dimensional opposite of that which appears on Wayang Saxophony Shadow Saxophone (2006). To use a shadow play analogy, the solo music on One One & One is like the movement of the brightly painted puppets (brightly lit by flickering flame) on the puppet master’s side of the screen while the solo music on Wayang Saxophony Shadow Saxophone is like the etheric trails of those movements as they appear in “negative” space.

The music with the amazing Don Marvel straddles multiple dimensions.

The following “Notes” for One One & One were originally sent only to reviewers.

ONE (HB CD 2)

In September 1996 at Beanbender’s in Berkeley, I gave the first performance of solo tenor saxophone I had given in some 15 years. The response was overwhelmingly positive, encouraging me to continue working in this format.

Henry Kuntz | Photo by Martha Winneker

From 1979 to 1981, I did a number of solo saxophone performances. The musical areas I was working in at that time are documented on the first two Humming Bird LPs, Cross-Eyed Priest (HB 1001) and Ancient of Days, Light of Glory (HB 1002), and by a single piece on the Humming Bird cassette, Atitlan/Luna Negra (HBT 004).

Key to my playing in this period were harmonic, sonic, and textural explorations and the dimensional use of space both for formal definition and as an implicit propulsive component in its own right. This playing was mainly rooted in the extreme upper range of the saxophone. From this position, I also attempted to put forth what I called a “new melodicism” which was based on the concept of working in this range for its own sake rather than simply using it as a place to land through emotional catharsis.

While I was happy with the results of these explorations, the physical demands of continuing to play in this way coupled with, to some extent, running out of room to maneuver at the horn’s high end forced me to put the saxophone aside for awhile. I was also finding many other possible instruments to play and explore, on each one of which a different “voice” of mine seemed to emerge. (The expressive results of playing many of these instruments, in various formats and to various ends, are documented on the different Humming Bird cassette releases and on Moss’Comes Silk, Humming Bird CD 1.)

Although I have never actually stopped playing the saxophone, I have only recently (since 1994) begun practicing it regularly again. This time, aesthetically speaking, I decided to make a fresh start with the instrument, drawing on all the different ways I had once played and explored, and remembering the influences of many different players who had inspired me to want to play in the first place.

At the same time, I have been drawing on the influences of electronic music and the particular ways it is possible to approach, create, and manipulate sound electronically. These are ways of playing which, while growing out of electronics, need not be restricted to that domain alone but may also be applied to playing traditional instruments. I include in my reference to electronics turntable artists, samplers, “noise” artists, signal processors, and those in still indefinable “categories” of sound in addition to persons engaged in so-called “pure” electronic music.

Technically speaking, I have sought to bring both a sense of “tradition” (or at least of my own tradition) along with a sense of exploration (of the unknown and barely-known edges of sound) to my current playing.

All of my playing, however, is based in improvisation. So the technical aspects of music-making are still only the groundwork for what is to follow — and that, of course, is always unknown.

Spiritually speaking, improvisation is to me — as I have alluded to elsewhere — akin to a form of shamanic art. Clarity of mind, psychic freshness, pleasure in playing: these are the core of true creation. These are the qualities I have sought to keep constant in all of my music.

ONE & ONE (HB CD 3)

With my expanded interest in electronics, the collaboration between Don Marvel and myself was a natural.

Don Marvel (1998)

Don is a deeply aesthetically-sensitive player who not only took the raw sonic material I provided him and uniquely re-shaped it but used it to create entirely new formal dimensions, sounds, textures, and structures that were likewise firmly rooted in the extended contours of my own playing.

Additionally, as part of the raw material of his turntable, he took the LPs I had made years ago and gave them new life, using them as formal, clipped, and distorted counterpoint to the “actual” new music — to the extent that even I am not always aware of what is the “current” playing of mine and what is not. This is not to mention the way in which he processed and mixed all of the music in the moment, creating layers of textural soundings, loops, and inter-loops, seamlessly inseparable from the original material from which they sprang.

I hope this record will serve to introduce Don’s genius to the many who I know will want to hear how he works.

I am grateful to him for helping to bring all of my music full-circle and into complete contemporaneity. Henry Kuntz, July 1998

REVIEWS:

JAZZ JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL | Kuntz … has never shunned the challenge of solo performance on tenor. ONE …shows that it remains one of his strengths. It contains 10 well-balanced improvisations, shuns lengthy, technical displays and rewards newcomers who might sample Song Bat and Thatched Circuits. Kuntz uses technique as a means to a creative end. He is well in control of multi-phonics but his one man counterpoint is used more as “parent line and decoration” than as a series of parallel melodic statements. Barry McRae (March 1999)

CADENCE | Kuntz pulls no punches when it comes to the direction that his music takes. There is only one road for him, and it leads to universes unknown…

His approach is to explore all the sound elements possible from the tenor, ranging across the frequency bandwidth from the lowest earthy tones to the highest banshee screeches. Your spectrum analyzer will touch all the bases. Kuntz takes a thread of an idea, toys with its possibilities at various degrees of the tonal register, and then launches into a massive attack of the sound form. His blowing technique consists of lightening fast alteration of the hertz level within the note clusters. Both his tenor and your ears get a full workout. Frank Rubolino (January 1999)

SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN | Few other musicians so completely defy description. Kuntz not only colors outside the lines, he erases them and starts from scratch every time out.

And “out” this music is. The solo saxophone disc, subtitled “Circle-Cycle,” is a tour de force of sonic alchemy, produced by working breath and tongue against reed, fingers against valves. Then, with the North Carolina-based Marvel (a.k.a. Flappy), the results sound like radio static smooches and make startling dynamic leaps, from crackling whispers to white noise explosions. Derk Richardson (October 28, 1998)

OUTSIDE # 7 | This is a 2-CD package issued on Kuntz’ label – Humming Bird Records. The sixty-one and one-half minute ONE (the gold disc) is solo tenor saxophone by Henry recorded in 1997 and early ’98. It is entitled Circle-Cycle. It consists of 10 pieces in 3 separate sections, and explores sonic territory in which few, if any, have dared to venture …at least not alone, and for such an extended period.

From 1979 to 1981 Henry’s solo saxophone performances concentrated on the upper register of the instrument. He then went on to other instruments, only returning to performance on the tenor with a September 1996 solo concert at Beanbenders in Berkeley. In this concert, Henry states, “This time, aesthetically speaking, I decided to make a fresh start with the instrument, drawing on all the different ways I had once played and explored, and remembering the influences of many different players who had inspired me to want to play in the first place.”

The result is a highly original and masterful approach to the tenor saxophone. This is not familiar territory. It is like a lonely walk on a distant planet. Not those comfy close-to-home planets like Mars, Jupiter, Saturn or Venus but rather ONE man walking out there digging and turning the solidified materials with a carefully polished axe. Yes, a mineral world, full of sharp edges, deep vibrations, and short cries and exclamations of discovery. That ONE man taking this lonely creative trip may interest only a few but like most truly creative work it’s not for everybody, just those who want it. For those, a wonderful music has been made available.

The second disc ONE & ONE is Henry in duo with the electronics of Don Marvel who lives secluded in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Henry plays tenor, Chinese musette, and Nepalese bamboo flute. Don plays time machine, prophet sampler, old turntable, signal processors and does the mixing. The 73 minute CD (the blue disc) is an intense package of further searches into the unknown.

In a universe where everyone is forced to consume “product” from completely known and mapped sources; where taking a trip means looking out the window of standard conveyance, eating in distant Macs, and sleeping in musical Hiltons & Holiday Inns, it’s good that one can get off the beaten track. It can be difficult too. Jimzeen & Wizard (February 1999)