Se n'è andato pochi giorni fa dopo lunga malattia Clive Palmer, esperto banjoista - è stato insegnante dello strumento, ma anche fine ebanista e attivista sindacale - e arguto interprete del repertorio folk tradizionale britannico, noto soprattutto per aver dato vita con Robin Williamson e Mike Heron all'Incredible String Band: con loro incise l'album dell'esordio, nel 1966, prodotto da Joe Boyd, prima di mollar tutto e viaggiare il mondo, per poi riprendere le attività musicali con successivi gruppi, tra cui Famous Jug Band e Clive's Original Band. All'Incredible si riavvicinò solo in anni recenti, per qualcuna delle sue episodiche riunioni: una delle quali, il concerto al Lowry di Manchester del 2003, è in questi giorni nuovamente oggetto di iniziative discografiche, con il titolo Ducks on a Pond.
Ricordando Palmer scrivono amici e musicisti: "Skilful, dogged, creative, artistic, one-minded, charismatic, authoritative, unconventional, masterful, just a few of the many words that could be used to describe Clive. None of them quite do him justice, no mere words ever could."

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/01/clive-palmer

http://www.artcornwall.org/interviews/Grahame_Hood_Clive_Palmer.htm
http://www.terrascope.co.uk/MyBackPages/Clive%20Palmer.pdf
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/unsung/review/1098

John Butcher festeggia pubblicamente i propri sessant'anni con due giorni di concerti al Cafe Oto londinese: in sua compagnia ci sono Rhodri Davies, Magda Mayas, Angharad Davies, Gino Robair, dieb13, Guillaume Viltard, Dominic Lash, Olie Brice, Adam Bohman e Tony Buck. Auguri!

A very special two-day residency to celebrate the 60th birthday of one of the greats of improvised music - John Butcher. Featuring a line-up comprised of some of Butcher's closest and most long-standing collaborators as well as some brand-new groupings brought together specially for these two days, this should be a unmissable celebratory residency for a musician who has provided a whole host of highlights at Cafe OTO. John Butcher is a saxophonist of rare grace and power, who has expanded the vocabulary of the saxophone far beyond the conventions of jazz and other musics, to encompass a staggering range of harmonics, multiphonics, overtones, percussive sounds, and electronic feedback. But his playing is far more than merely an array of special effects: it's characterised by an intensity that propels it into strange new places that are both incredibly beautiful and deeply exhilarating.

http://www.johnbutcher.org.uk

http://cafeoto.co.uk/events/john-butcher-60

A ricordare la figura di John Stevens sabato scorso, in una giornata interamente a lui dedicata dal London Jazz Festival, c'erano anche Steve Beresford e Victor Schonfeld, in conversazione pubblica condotta nel pomeriggio per la BBC Radio 3 da Alyn Shipton.

From the Spontaneous Music Ensemble to Community Music, drummer, composer, bandleader, educator and catalyst John Stevens was a provocative force for change in British jazz between the 60s and the 90s. Musicians, critics and friends contribute to a series of reflections on the legacy of a complex and visionary figure, with talks and short performances throughout the afternoon.

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/john-stevens-remembered
https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista

Da questa settimana riposano sparse in un luogo a lei carissimo le ceneri di Lindsay Cooper, così come carissime sono risuonate per migliaia di affezionati le sue musiche la settimana scorsa, a partire dal concerto di Henry Cow, News from Babel, Music for Films e Oh Moscow al Barbican a Londra. Di questo ci sono cronache e recensioni in AMN Reviews e The Progressive Aspect, gallerie fotografiche in Traverses e una breve sintesi video alla pagina YouTube di photocronista.

Un personale ritratto della musicista e dell'amica - Lindsay Cooper: a rebel with applause - è firmato per The Guardian da Sally Potter, che così ricorda i segni del primo apparire della malattia: "I was with her when she first noticed pins and needles in her fingertips and voiced her fear that it heralded every musician’s dread disease. Some years later, her leg suddenly gave way and the diagnosis was confirmed. But Lindsay did not want to be identified with the disease or thought of as a victim, knowing all too well it could come to eclipse her primary identification with music. So she kept going for more than 10 years, touring and composing – living what became virtually a double life. The public self, a dedicated professional, musical rebel, iconoclast and virtuoso; and the private self, an intrepid investigator of illness and health, spirit and matter. Eventually, when it became evident she had lost most of the strength in her fingers, she “came out” as a musician living with MS."

http://www.lindsaycoopermusic.com
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/20/lindsay-cooper-rebel-with-applause
http://tinyurl.com/k8bpxu8
http://tinyurl.com/m26yfny
https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista

Anche John L Walters ha assistito domenica scorsa alla piacevole serata con Robert Wyatt organizzata alla Queen Elizabeth Hall londinese per il lancio di Different Every Time. Ne ha scritto per LondonJazz: "Robert Wyatt seemed amused that anyone would spend time writing a book about him. ‘It’s not a book I would have written,’ he said to Marcus O’Dair, author of Different Every Time (Serpent’s Tail) the authorised biography of the musician. ‘It’s not a subject that interests me. But thanks!’. O’Dair began the evening by asking Wyatt for his memories of the Southbank Centre. Wyatt had visited the 1951 Festival of Britain as a small boy, and in 2001 he curated the annual Meltdown festival – an experience he describes as ‘heaven’. Wyatt admitted that nervousness made him talkative, but that was to our advantage: for more than an hour we were treated to a delightful stream of anecdote, opinions, confessions, thumbnail portraits, digressions and heartfelt statements, initially coaxed by his biographer and then in response to a diverse series of questions from the devoted audience. The subject matter ranged from Kevin Coyne to Ukraine; from Henry Cow to hip-hop, and Wyatt handled his interlocutors with grace, good humour and insight."
Wyatt ricorda gli Henry Cow, e in particolare Lindsay Cooper, nel frammento catturato e pubblicato su YouTube da photocronista.

http://www.londonjazznews.com/2014/11/review-different-every-time-evening.html
https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista

C'era concitazione al banchetto del merchandising durante la serata Wyatt alla Queen Elizabeth Hall a Londra domenica scorsa: per ammirare in anteprima - e sperare di prenotarne una copia - le stampe delle opere grafiche di Alfreda Benge per gli album Rock Bottom e Ruth is Stranger than Richard realizzate e distribuite da Hypergallery, per procurarsi il libro di Marcus O'Dair pubblicato da Serpent's Tail o per confrontare i vari formati con cui Domino Records ha contestualmente prodotto l'antologia bifronte - curata in prima persona da Robert Wyatt - con lo stesso titolo del libro, Different Every Time.

Curated by Robert Wyatt together with Domino and biographer Marcus O’Dair, the double album Different Every Time features disk 1 ‘Ex Machina’, the ideal introduction for the Wyatt novice, compiling tracks from Robert’s entire career to date and acting as a companion to O’Dair’s new biography, also titled Different Every Time (released by Serpent’s Tail on the 30th of October). Disk 2 brings together the best of Robert’s collaborations and guest appearances, or, as Robert has it, ‘Benign Dictatorships’, including some very special oddities and rarities available here for the very first time.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/19920-robert-wyatt-different-every-time

Escono sempre in gruppo i nuovi Cuneiform, e quest'autunno i titoli sono sei: Jonathan Badger, Verse; The Cellar and Point, Ambit; i ritrovati Happy Family, con Minimal Gods; Rob Mazurek and Black Cube SP, Return the Tides: Ascension Suite and Holy Ghost; Anthony Pirog, Palo Colorado Dream e Dylan Ryan / Sand, Circa. In via informale si dà per sicura la partecipazione degli Happy Family al prossimo R.I.O. in Francia, a settembre 2015 - altro nome certo dovrebbe essere quello degli Art Zoyd - ma per aver conferma di date e itinerari dei concerti dal vivo di artisti e gruppi legati all'etichetta è sempre bene consultare http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/tours.html

http://www.cuneiformrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/cuneiformrecords

E' tornata da ieri a invadere gioiosamente gli spazi del Cafe Oto londinese l'Arkestra di Sun Ra guidata da Marshall Allen, con residenza artistica e concerti a raffica pomeriggio e sera fino a domani: "The space-age big band is kept alive by altoist Marshall Allen, a cohort of Afrofuturist avant-jazz genius Sun Ra for several decades. Don't expect the psychedelic Moogish world of Space Is The Place – the current Arkestra line-up is more like a traditional big band, but still packs a freaky punch. The Arkestra are currently celebrating the centenary of Sun Ra's birth as well as Allen's ninetieth birthday."

https://www.facebook.com/cafeoto
http://www.cafeoto.co.uk/sun-ra-arkestra-marshall-allen-nov-2014-residency.shtm

Robert Wyatt torna a conversare in pubblico con Marcus O'Dair in occasione del lancio ufficiale del libro biografico Different Every Time: domani a Londra alla Royal Albert Hall, a partire dalle ore 19.30, nell'ambito del London Jazz Festival. In programma ci sono anche la proiezione del documentario Free Will and Testament: The Robert Wyatt Story e alcuni interventi musicali a cura di Orphy Robinson. Prima dell'appuntamento si può far di peggio che leggere l'intervista - ottima - concessa a Ryan Dombal per Pitchfork, ricca di spunti musicali, culturali, politici e autobiografici. Con una precisa idea sul perfetto cantante pop: "When I did I'm a Believer, I shifted the chords to sound a bit more influenced by McCoy Tyner, who played piano with John Coltrane. And then I sang in my own accent, of course. It's about being comfortable with your own voice and your own way of doing things, and it's been a difficult journey. From the start, the people who interested me were women, and I'm not one. To me, the perfect pop singer was Dionne Warwick. But I thought, "OK Robert, you're not Dionne Warwick." So I thought, "Well, Ray Charles." Then I looked in the mirror and I thought, "Robert, you're not Ray Charles either. You'd better stick to being Robert. Just get what you can out of that." Benedetto uomo!

www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/an-evening-with-robert-wyatt-87546
http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/9544-robert-wyatt

Grandissima attesa ed emozione per l'appuntamento con le musiche di Lindsay Cooper interpretate dai gruppi e i musicisti per i quali e con i quali le aveva composte: Henry Cow e News From Babel, Music for Films e Oh Moscow. Il debutto è questa sera al Barbican a Londra, per il London Jazz Festival, con sucessive date a Huddersfield (22 novembre) e Forlì (il 23). Chris Cutler ne ha parlato brevemente con Rich Jevons di Northern Soul e con Stuart Maconie per BBC 6 Music.

To celebrate the life and work of Lindsay Cooper (1951-2013), four legendary bands are coming together from points halfway across the earth to perform Lindsay's music. The concerts will feature Henry Cow (1968-1978, who said they'd never re-form), Lindsay Cooper's Music for Films (1982-1986, which does what it says on the label), News From Babel (1984-1986, who never performed live), and Oh Moscow (1987-1993, assembled to play the song-cycle of the same name). Lindsay, in common with most film composers, was poly-stylistic and no respecter of musical convention; less commonly, she also understood performance dynamics and the chemistry of bands.
This concert offers a unique and never-to-be-repeated opportunity to hear some extraordinary repertoire, as well as to catch four exceptional and now legendary bands. The confirmed lineup features: Dagmar Krause, Tim Hodgkinson, Fred Frith, John Greaves, Chris Cutler, Michel Berckmans, Anne-Marie Roelofs, Zeena Parkins, Phil Minton, Sally Potter, Alfred Harth and Veryan Weston

http://www.lindsaycoopermusic.com
http://www.barbican.org.uk/music/event-detail.asp?ID=16696
http://www.northernsoul.me.uk/chris-cutler
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02b9n53

Il programma del London Jazz Festival riserva buona parte della giornata del 22 novembre al ricordo di John Stevens a vent'anni dalla scomparsa: al mattino un seminario su tecniche e pratiche dell'improvvisazione secondo alcune sue indicazioni metodologiche e didattiche (Search and Reflect) condotto da Maggie Nicols, nel pomeriggio una serie di interventi musicali liberamente ispirati alle sue idee a proposito di azione musicale e performance, e la sera un concerto con l'apporto di numerosi amici e colleghi tra cui Annie Whitehead, Jon Corbett, Louis Moholo-Moholo, Mark Sanders, Nick Stephens, Steve Beresford e Trevor Watts.

The EFG London Jazz Festival celebrates the life and work of the hugely influential drummer, leader and teacher John Stevens, who died 20 years ago, in 1994. A series of ensembles recalling the sheer breadth of John’s music will bring together friends and musical colleagues, amidst a day of reminiscence, appreciation, and workshop: a day that tells the story of a major force and continuing legacy of an immense musical spirit.

http://www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk/events/info/john-stevens-a-celebration
http://www.londonjazznews.com/2014/11/preview-john-stevens-anniversary.html
http://www.serious.org.uk/events/info/john-stevens-a-celebration

Nel numero di questo mese della rivista The Wire Julian Cowley firma un ritratto del poliedrico sassofonista Alfred Harth scrutando gli attuali orizzonti della sua incessante creatività e ricordando le vicende musicali e artistiche del passato, le collaborazioni e le autoproduzioni: Just Music e Gestalt et Jive, EMT e Cassiber, i sodalizi con Heiner Goebbels e con Otomo Yoshihide, Viriditas, Trio Trabant a Roma e Oh Moscow! tra le tante.

Al sito web della rivista c'è anche qualche brano per accompagnare la lettura:
http://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/listen_alfred-23-harth-tracks

Born in 1949, Alfred 23 Harth grew up in Frankfurt am Main in the aftermath of the Second World War, belonging to a generation caught up in the complicated process of West Germany’s emergence from the shadow of totalitarianism and readjustment to democratic values. In 2001, he moved to Seoul with his wife, artist Yi Soonjoo. His current creative base, LaubhuetteStudio Moonsun, is situated just a mile from the extensive Demilitarised Zone that runs between South and North Korea. Julian Cowley speaks to the multi-instrumentalist and multimedia artist in The Wire 369: “Nearly daily I am confronted with border issues,” he says. “Recently, during one of my regular midnight walks in the magic rice fields by the DMZ I saw a moving star, blinking on and off, with no mechanical sound. Next night, there it was again, moving in the opposite direction. During seven years out here, working in my studio, I have never seen a plane – they’re forbidden in this region. Was it perhaps a secret night flight?"

http://alfredharth.blogspot.com
http://www.alfredharth.de

Un estratto dal concerto del 15 novembre a S. Vito di Leguzzano (Vi) del trio Konk Pack - Tim Hodgkinson, Thomas Lehn e Roger Turner - è alla pagina YouTube di photocronista.

http://www.thomaslehn.de
http://timhodgkinson.co.uk
http://www.roger-turner.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista

Documentazione dei concerti del Music Unlimited 28 tenuti a Wels (Austria) qualche giorno fa si trova, oltre che alla pagina FB del festival, nelle gallerie foto e video di Žiga Koritnik, Eckhart Derschmidt, Jazz Explorer e del Wiener Zeitung:

https://www.facebook.com/festivalmusicunlimitedwels
http://www.pbase.com/ekke/musicunlimitedxxviii
http://tinyurl.com/l8myhz3
http://tinyurl.com/q7oryzj
http://tinyurl.com/l5qnyug

Nel nuovo numero dello Smith's Academy Informer spiccano la presentazione della corposa tesi di dottorato di Gary Bayley, The Music of Mike Westbrook, e l'affettuoso ricordo di alcune figure a vario titolo vicine al lavoro dei Westbrook, venute recentemente a mancare: Stephen Hewitt, Michael Kustow, David Redfern e Peter Russell. Tra recensioni e altre segnalazioni c'è anche indicazione dei due concerti londinesi del Trio il prossimo fine settimana, il 21 al Riverhouse Barn di Walton-on-Thames e il 22 al Vout-O-Reenee’s di Prescot Street: Songs for London.

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk
http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/westbrooktrio/index.shtml
http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/sai/SAI99.pdf
http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10712

Uno dei principali colpi messi a segno dai curatori del programma dell'EFG London Jazz Festival quest'anno: il concerto della Dedication Orchestra, alla Queen Elizabeth Hall questo pomeriggio alle 14.00.

A very rare opportunity to see this joyous rollercoaster of a big band. They evoke the story of five South African exiles who transformed jazz after finding their way to Europe in the 1960s. Fired by the whipcrack drumming of the one surviving member of the Blue Notes, Louis Moholo-Moholo, the music of Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza and Johnny Dyani continues to live and breathe in 'a bustling mix of freedom and discipline, of community and individualism' (The Guardian). The Dedication Orchestra brings together successive generations of musicians who have been inspired by the passionate commitment of this music. They include Steve Beresford, Claude Deppa, Maggie Nicols, Evan Parker, Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts and Jason Yarde.

Evan Parker writes: "The story of the Dedication Orchestra is long. When we started the project the apartheid system was still in place, South Africa was under the control of an exploitative white minority and Mandela was still in prison. We were the unwitting beneficiaries of that situation when the Blue Notes, escaping that regime via the Antibes Jazz Festival and Zurich came to live in London. The Blue Notes gradually evolved into the Brotherhood of Breath and many smaller groups involving Blue Notes and their new London colleagues sprang to life. Death - the unavoidable - took Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana. In each case the survivors had marked their loss with a musical offering. When only Louis Moholo-Moholo was left, we formed the Dedication Orchestra so that we London musicians could pay tribute."

http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whatson/dedication-orchestra-84370

Bentornati Konk Pack! Tim Hodgkinson, Roger Turner e Thomas Lehn sono al Centro Stabile di Cultura di S. Vito di Leguzzano (Vi) domani sera, alle ore 21.30. Il trio fece il suo debutto in Italia nel dicembre 1998 con alcuni concerti promossi dal Circ.a, dando per la prima volta seguito a un incontro avvenuto tra i tre a Budapest l'anno precedente.

Konk Pack brings together three major figures in contemporary music. For over seventeen years this group has amazed audiences at festivals and concerts all over the world with the sheer energy of its rapid-fire interplay, earning numerous critical accolades. Since 1997, Konk Pack have toured regularly throughout Europe, completed major tours of the US, and have been described by The Wire magazine's Lee Henderson as "one of the most exciting improv groups in the world."
The group have released five compact discs, and performed at major music festivals from Vancouver to Belgrade. The musics they've made individually are reason enough to take note of this trio, but the music they make together leaves audiences amazed and inspired. Konk Pack's high-energy flow of ideas generates extremely varied, evocative, distinctively coloured explorations.

http://www.thomaslehn.com
http://www.discogs.com/artist/454272-Konk-Pack
https://www.centrostabile.it/evento/konk-pack-uk-de

Tutto pronto al via per RiO Japan 2014, primo appuntamento in Giappone con iniziatori storici ed eredi attuali del Rock in Opposition internazionale: Aranis, The Artaud Beats, Happy Family, Koenji Hyakkei, Mats / Morgan Band, Picchio dal Pozzo, Richard Pinhas, Present, Le * Silo e SOLA / Lars Hollmer's Global Home Project. Dieci concerti e vari incontri a ritmo serrato, il 15 e 16 novembre a Tokyo.

The first edition of Rock in Opposition Japan, A festival devoted to truly Progressive Rock music will take place in Tokyo, Japan from the 15th to 16th of November 2014. The festival features ten international acts that are challenging, ground-breaking and revolutionary, following the spirit of the original Rock in Opposition movement.

https://www.facebook.com/riofestivaljapan

Con un volume contenente registrazioni effettuate con Phil Miller ad Amsterdam nel 2007 giunge a metà il percorso di pubblicazione della serie antologica in dieci cd dedicata al compianto Hugh Hopper, curata da Mike King: "I've been tasked with compiling a series of CD releases celebrating the life and legacy of the late Hugh Hopper and the process has been an education in his kaleidoscopic musical world. From Hugh's private archive, and additional contributions from his friends I have selected a wide range of high quality concert and studio recordings, none of which have ever been released nor heard publicly. You're in for a treat".
Memories, Frangloband, North & South, Four by Hugh by Four e appunto Heart to Heart sono i titoli dei cinque volumi finora pubblicati: tutti presso per Gonzo Multimedia: "The music Hugh Hopper is a wonder to behold, a player of high distinction with trademark sound by turns gritty and gorgeous. Gonzo Multimedia is honored to present this superb series celebrating the musical legacy of Hugh Hopper, for fans, friends and first time discovers."

http://expose.org/tape-head-redux-the-mike-king-interview

Dagli archivi della Gong Appreciation Society esce un'importante versione alternativa del primo album solista di Daevid Allen, Bananamoon (1971), con i brani della scaletta ufficiale proposti con missaggio e prospettiva sonora differenti, e molti altri materiali inediti sperimentali e preparatori provenienti dalle stesse sessioni da cui nacque l'album. Il titolo del doppio cd è Stoned Innocent Frankenstein, dal nome del lato B dell'antica edizione in vinile: "Illuminating and revealing would be ideal terms to describe these recordings - si annuncia con orgoglio in casa GAS - CD 1 follows the order of the original Bananamoon album using alternative versions and alternative mixes, none of of which have been available before, in fact until the tape was unearthed in Daevid's collection I don't think they had been heard by anyone for more than 25 years. Each track brings a new, fresh perspective. The first disc alone would be an notable and intriguing Planet Gong archive release event, but there's disc 2 as well. The second CD will obviously directly appeal to the more seasoned Gong/Daevid Allen sonic co-traveller, consisting as it does of some deep tape-loopery and 3 different slices of the title track, one of the most out there, but oddly honest tracks daevid ever recorded. Actually there are enough juicy, innovative sections for anyone with an inquiring musical mind to enjoy, not just deep Gongsters and staunch Allenites." A quelle sessioni - che, com'è noto, segnarono il primo incontro di David Allen con Pip Pyle, e anche con Tim Blake - presero parte a vario titolo anche Christian Tritsch, Archie Leggett, Robert Wyatt, Gerry Fields, Gary Wright, Gilli Smyth, Maggie Bell e Barry St John.

http://www.planetgong.co.uk/bazaar/cd/stoned_innocent.shtml

E per accorciare l'attesa da qui al 23 novembre - quando la conversazione si ripeterà, stavolta a Londra alla Queen Elizabeth Hall - si può riascoltare quello che si son detti Robert Wyatt e Marcus O'Dair a Bristol lo scorso 26 settembre, in apertura del festival Off the Page. La registrazione audio integrale - un file mp3 di un paio d'ore - è di Gary Fawle di Events in Sound.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/off-the-page-2014

Potrebbe essere più breve del previsto, e risolversi forse entro la fine dell'anno, l'attesa per il nuovo capitolo della collaborazione tra Louis Philippe e Stuart Moxham, The Devil Laughs: "The album has now been completed - all done, bar the final mastering. Those familiar with the previous collaboration between the two musicians, The Huddle House, will think they have an inkling of what's to come - in which they are not necessarily right. Louis's role in The Huddle House was primarily that of a 'super-sidekick', providing vocals, guitar, vocal arrangements (plus a bit of bass and keyboards), but clearly deferring to Stuart when it came to define the album's ultimate shape. Not on this occasion. If all the songs, bar one (whose music was written by co-producer Ken Brake), have come from Stuart's pen to start with, their development and realization were the product of an equal partnership, Louis sharing lead vocals duties on several of the dozen new tunes which compose this album and taking care of most of the arrangements, as well as playing a number of instruments. Danny Manners - in his double bass-playing guise - is also a key member of the team behind The Devil Laughs, part of which was premiered at a one-off show at the Lexington on 30 October last year."

http://www.louisphilippe.co.uk
http://www.stuartmoxham.co.uk

Ci ha pensato la giovane etichetta polacca Freeform Association a raccogliere in cinque cd le migliori e più interessanti registrazioni live del trio The Recedents: un affettuoso omaggio ai magnifici Lol Coxhill, Mike Cooper e Roger Turner e insieme un importante documento inedito a testimonianza delle loro imprevedibili/irresistibili gesta dal vivo. Il box si intitola The Recedents-Wishing You Were Here e contiene tracce del periodo dal 1985 al 2008 - alcune tratte dai concerti propiziati in Italia dal circ.a nel 1995 - qui indicate come 'electro-acoustic improvisations'. C'è anche un bel libretto informativo con materiali d'archivio, immagini, poster, cronologia, testimonianze dirette di protagonisti, colleghi e amici carissimi.

The Recedents-Wishing You Were Here is a set of five CDs containing a selection of the most interesting and technically the best recordings of the ensemble active from 1982 till 2010. Over four hours of never published music recorded on their tours in Belgium, Italy, Germany, France and England. The Recedents, as a trio in unchanged lineup, is likely the second longest performing British improvising band, just after considerably older AMM with which it had been repeatedly compared. However, from the time-distance perspective, it appears as an utterly distinctive phenomenon, an inspiration for other performers and occupying a well-deserved place in the pantheon, creating a canon of electroacoustic free improvised music.

Freeform Association is a new record label dedicated to free improvised music. Firstly, it is established to present phenomena in the field of free improvisation, especially the ones that are unusual, underrated, radical. On the other hand, it is formed to seek for and to preserve, using contemporary digital sound-reconstruction methods, the real treasures of musical culture which have been recorded on impermanent media and hidden by exceptional musicians somewhere ‘under their sofas’. The times, which are recognized as the twilight or even the end of the era of tangible media, seems to be the most intriguing moment to start a label deprived of commercial factor. More for documentation than production…

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Freeform-Association/339283086231553
http://www.discogs.com/label/496415-FREEFORM-Association
http://youtu.be/cxhxILw7ABg

Comincia oggi e prosegue per tre giorni la maratona di concerti del festival Music Unlimited a Wels (Austria), giunto alla sua ventottesima edizione. Tra i nomi in cartellone si affollano soprattutto amici musicisti da Svezia, Norvegia e Olanda, e molte vecchie conoscenze sia del collettivo organizzatore Kulturverein Waschaecht sia degli affezionati nel pubblico, avvezzi ad anni alterni a scommettere più o meno amabilmente su quale musicista si vedrà affidare la co-direzione artstica l'anno successivo. Aleggia nella presentazione del programma di quest'anno anche un cenno di saluto a Lindsay Cooper, al cui ricordo farà forse indiretta allusione la presenza in due distinti momenti di due fagottiste, Sara Schoenbeck e Katherine Young.

Das Festival Music Unlimited geht in die 28. Runde und wird heuer wieder vom Kulturverein Waschaecht selbst programmiert. Es wird ein Rekordteilnehmerfeld erwartet. Über 70 Musiker/Innen werden die 18 Konzerte des Festivals bestreiten. Das Programm verspricht wieder einige Highlights bereits im frei zugänglichen Nachmittagsprogramm: der Belgische Klangkünstler Frédéric Nogray wird in den Minoriten große Glasschalen zum klingen bringen, ebenfalls in den Minoriten treten der britische Bassist Barry Guy und die sensationelle griechische Sängerin Savina Yannatou auf. In Kooperation mit der IGNM wird ein Orgelkonzert mit Christoph Herndler in der Vorstadtpfarrkirche stattfinden. The Ex kommen mit Brass-Verstärkung und einigen der weltweit besten Bläser; die brasilianischen Chinese Cookie Poets geben ihre Österreich-Premiere; Paal Nilssen-Love mit seiner Large Unit & als Mitglied des wilden Trios The Thing; das New Yorker Trio Till by Turning spielt u.a. Sofia Gubaidulina, Elektroguzzi laden sich Mats Gustafsson ein, The Thing musizieren mit Ken Vandermark und der niederländische Sänger/Performer Jaap Blonk mit Maja Ratkje & Lasse Marhaug.

http://www.waschaecht.at/2014/MU28_2014.pdf

In attesa di documentazione ufficiale, qualche traccia dei due deliziosi concerti tenuti a Trento qualche sera fa dal dinamico ensemble Sonata Islands Kommandoh - con due distinti programmi su Magma, Coltrane e avant-rock nipponico - si trova alla pagina YouTube di photocronista.

https://www.youtube.com/user/photocronista

Prende il via stasera al club Le Triton a Les Lilas (Francia) un nuovo intenso ciclo di concerti dei Magma, dodici appuntamenti nell'arco di tre settimane per inaugurare i festeggiamenti per 45 anni di attività - molte altre iniziative sono previste a partire dal gennaio 2015, simbolica data di compleanno - e presentare per la prima volta l'esecuzione integrale della trilogia Köhntarkösz, con i tre capitoli Köhntarkösz, K.A e Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré or ora oggetto di riedizione in vinile. Auguri!

Pour célébrer comme il se doit ses 45 ans, Magma démarre son Tour sans fin en s’installant au Triton, pour trois semaines historiques de concerts. Après nous avoir présenté les différentes Epok et protagonistes de l’histoire de Magma en 2005, Christian Vander a décidé, pour marquer le coup, de s’attaquer à sa deuxième trilogie Köhntarkösz, qui pour la première fois, sera jouée dans son intégralité (Köhntarkösz-K.A- Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré): une offrande pour les amoureux de la Zeuhl, un événement mondial pour les amoureux de la musique!

http://www.letriton.com/fiches%202014-4/1105-Magma.html

http://kosmikmu.blogspot.fr/2014/07/une-trilogie-kohntarkosz-lancienne-pour.html
http://v2.seventhrecords.com/magma-19/trilogie-kohntarkosz-edition-vinyle-offre-limitee-1207.html

Una pacifica invasione del centro cittadino da parte di oltre cento tra musicisti, acrobati e danzatori (senza contare i vari staff tecnici): chi non ha potuto assistere di persona alle mirabolanti azioni sceniche e musicali degli Urban Sax a Bolzano venerdì scorso - assenti da molti anni dall'Italia, e qui invitati un po' per il bicentenario della nascita di Adolphe Sax, un po' per l'appeal ritenuto consono alla sera di Halloween - può ritrovarle nel filmato prodotto da ARTE Concert e trasmesso in diretta streaming:

http://concert.arte.tv/fr/urban-sax-bolzano

Mené par Gilbert Artman, le collectif Urban Sax fédère le talent de cinquante saxophonistes, trente choristes et vingt danseurs. Un effectif monstre qui lui permet d'investir l'espace urbain lors de performances époustouflantes. Lors de ces concerts happening, lumières, costumes, machineries et chorégraphies s'ajoutent à une musique multidirectionnelle. Un spectacle total qui transporte les lieux investis dans une autre dimension, qui force à appréhender l'environnement avec un oeil nouveau. A Bolzano, ville carrefour depuis toujours, le collectif célèbre le deux centième anniversaire d'Adolphe Sax. Un juste hommage à l'inventeur du saxophone.

http://www.urbansax.com
http://concert.arte.tv/fr/urban-sax-bolzano
http://tinyurl.com/pgkpvzj

Robert Wyatt ha cessato di far musica, stando a una sua dichiarazione ufficiale concessa alla rivista Uncut - numero 211, dicembre 2014 - accompagnata da un commento per (quasi) ogni suo album della lunga carriera, dal primo Soft Machine a Comicopera.

Robert Wyatt has revealed he has stopped making music. The singer and songwriter discusses his reasons for halting his musical career in the new issue of Uncut, dated December 2014 and out now. Wyatt also talks us through his career, album by album, right from Soft Machine’s self-titled 1968 debut to 2007’s solo Comicopera. “I thought, train drivers retire when they’re 65, so I will, as well,” Wyatt, now 69, tells Uncut. “I would say I’ve stopped, it’s a better word than retired. Fifty years in the saddle, it’s not nothing. It’s completely unplanned, my life, and it’s just reached this particular point. Other things have happened – I’m more taken up by politics, to be honest,than music at the moment. Music tags along behind it. There is a pride in [stopping], I don’t want it to go off.”

Alla notizia reagisce dal par suo Richard Williams al blog The Blue Moment recuperando tra gli immediati ricordi personali un manufatto originale di Wyatt pensato per accompagnare le registrazioni dell'Amazing Band - una sessione con Mal Dean, Veleroy Spall, Maia Spall, Mick Brennan, Chris Francis, Jim Mullen e Wyatt, effettuata nella primavera 1970 - uscite in verità solo molti anni dopo, e con copertina affatto diversa (Roar, su FMR, 1997).

Scrive Williams: "When I read, in the new issue of Uncut magazine, that Robert Wyatt has decided to stop making music, I felt an immediate pang of dismay. So I rang him up to see if he really meant it. His reply was to tell me a little story about the novelist Jean Rhys, who, after a long period of inactivity, responded to her publisher’s gentle suggestion that she might like to write another book by asking him if he’d enjoyed her last one. “Yes, of course,” he answered. “Well, read it again,” Rhys said."

http://www.uncut.co.uk/robert-wyatt/robert-wyatt-i-ve-stopped-making-music-news

http://thebluemoment.com/2014/10/30/pieces-of-robert-wyatt

Tra i suoi mille altri impegni Graham Bennett ha finalmente trovato il tempo di rivedere e aggiornare il suo bel libro Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous, uscito nove anni fa per SAF Publishing, mai ristampato da allora e divenuto oggetto raro anche sul mercato dell'usato. Ne dà annuncio egli stesso a What's Rattlin'? anticipando migliorie e integrazioni apportate al testo - ora un ebook per Syzygy - anche alla luce delle numerose pubblicazioni discografiche successive all'ottobre 2005: "Well, it’s taken a couple of years longer than expected but the revised and updated edition of Soft Machine: Out-Bloody-Rageous is now available. Apologies for the delay. In revising the biography I’ve been able to refine the narrative, update the discography, add some new illustrations and correct a few inaccuracies. It’s also enabled me to clear my conscience, after promising repeatedly for five years that the revised edition was imminent. The economics of publishing mean that it’s only available as an ebook, which I hope you can forgive. The good news is that it’s about £140/$180 cheaper than the few remaining print copies of the first edition that are on offer from the internet sharks (and the seller called Bennett Books Ltd has nothing to do with me!). Hope you enjoy it!".
Non manca nella nuova prefazione l'affettuoso saluto a quattro protagonisti centrali nelle vicende Soft Machine - Mark Ellidge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper e Kevin Ayers - che furono di grande aiuto a Bennett nella prima stesura del testo, e venuti purtroppo a mancare nel frattempo.

https://www.kobo.com/ww/en/ebook/soft-machine-out-bloody-rageous

Ha scelto la musica di Mike Westbrook per la sua tesi di dottorato presso la Durham University (Regno Unito), e così la introduce Gary Bayley: "This dissertation – the first on the life and work of Mike Westbrook – proposes that his unique conception of English modern jazz was inspired by early 1900s New Orleans culture, where live music was contemporary, culturally relevant, and had a social function. Initially intended as art for a new post-World War socialist Britain, his drawing on cultural, social, economic, and political constraints became an artistic credo. The thesis argues that jazz is primarily a cultural activity, not merely a style of music. While Westbrook has claimed that he was simply attempting to combine art and entertainment like Duke Ellington, this dissertation demonstrates how, as a trained painter, his jazz process is informed by Dada and Pop Art as well as by Bertolt Brecht’s Lehrstücke, lending his ensembles a social function as ‘mediating structures’. His central ‘brass band’ concept draws on English music-hall, circus and fairground, together with European cabaret, and his tendency towards theatrical performance was reinforced through his creative partnership with Kate Westbrook. The approach taken in this study is twofold: on the one hand field-work and extensive access to archival materials (much of it previously unavailable); and on the other hand cultural and historical interpretation. The thesis argues that Westbrook attempted a cultural revolution in broadening the terms of reference for jazz to construct a peculiarly English, polystylistic multi-media art. Accordingly, this dissertation locates Westbrook’s work in the larger cultural field of English contemporary artistic expression, rather than simply seeking to situate it stylistically within a narrower history of jazz."

The Music of Mike Westbrook è in http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10712