31 dicembre 2014


Ciao Lindsay!









30 dicembre 2014


In Germania è stato visto nei cinema, e perfino in televisione; altrove circola in dvd il documentario scritto e diretto da Sigrun Köhler e Wiltrud Baier - la premiata ditta Böller und Brot di Stoccarda - con protagonista il compianto Jimmy Carl Black: Where’s the Beer and When Do We Get Paid?

“Mit Where’s the Beer and When Do We Get Paid? ist den beiden Filmemacherinnen ein berührendes Porträt des legendären Drummers der Mothers of Invention gelungen, mit dem sie weniger dem Musiker als dem Menschen Jimmy Carl Black ein Denkmal setzen, indem sie ihm nicht mit Mitleid, sondern mit großem Respekt entgegentreten. Jimmy selbst begegnet den Tiefschlägen seines Lebens, vor allem seiner Krebserkrankung, im Film mit Humor und Selbstironie. Auch das Verhältnis zu Frank Zappa, der die Mothers of Invention durch Gerichtsverfahren um ihr Geld und ihre Rechte an der gemeinsamen Musik brachte, betrachtet er ganz nüchtern: “He is dead and I’m still alive”. Die Tatsache, dass die Witwe von Frank Zappa Sigrun Köhler und Wiltrud Baier verbot, die Songs der Mothers of Invention in ihrem Dokumentarfilm zu verwenden, trägt entscheidend zur Qualität von Where’s the Beer and When Do We Get Paid? bei. Blasmusik statt Rock-Klänge, Lederhose statt Lederkluft – indem sie in mehreren Off-Kommentaren Menschen aus der Umgebung von Höpfling zu ihren musikalischen Vorlieben befragen und die örtliche Blaskapelle bei Proben beobachten, gelingt es den Filmemacherinnen auf eindrucksvolle Weise, den Kontrast zwischen dem Leben des jungen und des gealterten Rockstars Jimmy Carl Black nicht nur auf der dramaturgischen Ebene des Films zu verdeutlichen.” (Lena Kettner)

http://www.wheresthebeer.de
http://united-mutations.blogspot.com/2013/02/wheres-beer-and-when-do-we-get-paid.html

29 dicembre 2014


Senza dirlo troppo in giro la bolognese Odoya ha curato la riedizione di uno dei testi di sociologia e critica della musica più lucidi e preziosi dei primissimi anni ottanta, mai ristampato da allora e divenuto nel tempo oggetto raro - quasi quanto l'album del suo autore per l'Orchestra, Le cartoline (1981) - anche in pubblici scaffali e bancarelle dell'usato: Musica e pubblico giovanile, di Alessandro Carrera. Da non perdere (di nuovo!).

Musica e pubblico giovanile, pubblicato per la prima volta nel 1980 (da Feltrinelli), fu il primo studio a offrire un panorama vasto e documentato dell’impatto della musica rock, folk, jazz sulla cultura giovanile nei suoi rapporti con la società, le istituzioni e la politica. Frutto di cinque anni di indagini, viaggi e incontri, è rimasto un modello di ricerca appassionata e partecipe, imitato da molte pubblicazioni successive ma rimasto ineguagliato per l’ampiezza di prospettiva. Tra le pagine rivive un’intera stagione di dibattiti appassionati, grandi figure musicali, scoperte culturali che hanno segnato la vita di intere generazioni, e soprattutto il sogno che un’arte rinnovata, senza più barriere a separare la cultura alta da quella popolare, potesse fare da preludio a un rinnovamento sociale.
Questa riedizione, arricchita da una nuova introduzione dell’autore, comprende quattro capitoli inediti sul folk revival e la canzone d’autore e si presenta quindi come la prima pubblicazione completa di un’opera che ha segnato un momento cruciale della critica musicale e dell’analisi sociale in Italia. Carrera racconta come la musica abbia contribuito a costruire uno spirito identitario nelle generazioni degli anni Sessanta e Settanta, uno spirito di ribellione e riconoscimento che è uscito dalle balere per arrivare nelle piazze e cambiare il mondo!

http://www.uh.edu/class/mcl/faculty/carrera_a
http://www.odoya.it/index.php?main_page=product_book_info&cPath=25&products_id=768
http://archiviomaclen.blogspot.it/2013/02/musica-e-pubblico-giovanile.html

28 dicembre 2014


Anche Novara Jazz apre i propri archivi e inaugura una serie di pubblicazioni in cd a tiratura limitata atta a documentare alcuni concerti ed eventi delle passate stagioni. La partenza è col botto: Wadada Leo Smith con Eco d'Alberi, dal vivo al Conservatorio Cantelli il 6 giugno 2013. Wadada Leo Smith: tromba; Edoardo Marraffa: sassofoni tenore e sopranino; Alberto Braida: pianoforte; Antonio Borghini: contrabbasso; Fabrizio Spera: batteria.

One of the boldest albums we've heard from trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith in years – a set that takes us right back to his key contributions of the 70s! The recent performance has Smith's trumpet in the company of an Italian quartet – with tenor and sopranino sax from Edoardo Marraffa, piano from Alberto Braida, bass from Antonio Borghini, and drums from Fabrizio Spera – all players who are never entirely free, and instead have the cohesion of some of the best New York groups from the loft jazz years – right down to the overall conception of each track, and even the way the material was recorded. Smith sounds brilliant in the setting – still attuned to the textural experiments that have made other recent records great, but playing with a power that's definitely old school, and wonderfully soulful too.

27 dicembre 2014


L'importanza e il ruolo propulsivo per la scena jazz e progressive francese e internazionale di Jacky Barbier e del luogo di concerti e sessioni musicali da lui gestito con grande passione per quasi trent'anni a Bresse-sur-Grosne, in Borgogna (Francia), l'ormai mitico À l'ouest de la Grosne, sono già stati oggetto di un'iniziativa editoriale divulgativa qualche anno fa (Editions de l'Armançon, 2007). Tornano attuali oggi, con l'acquisizione del suo prezioso patrimonio di registrazioni audio e video da parte degli archivi storico-culturali del dipartimento di Saona e Loira, e la graduale apertura alle consultazioni anche tramite il web. Tra i primi documenti pubblicati ci sono concerti di Alain Eckert, François "Faton" Cahen, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Valentin Clastrier e Gong (epoca Shapeshifter, con Pip Pyle in formazione).

Constitué de 900 bandes magnétiques, cassettes DAT et CD, le "fonds Barbier" est un témoignage unique et inédit de presque 30 ans d'activité de la scène jazz en Bourgogne. Il est le fruit du travail de l'association À l'Ouest de la Grosne, et particulièrement de celui qui l'a créée et dirigée avec passion, Jacky Barbier, de 1976 jusqu'à sa mort en 2002. Pendant cette période, un nombre impressionnant d'artistes de tous horizons musicaux (régionaux pour beaucoup, mais aussi étrangers, notamment de Grande-Bretagne et des États-Unis, de passage en France) se sont produits sur les planches de sa salle de concert à Bresse-sur-Grosne et sont passés par son studio d'enregistrement.


audio.archives71.fr
Archives départementales de Saône-et-Loire
Place des Carmélites
71026 Mâcon Cedex 9

26 dicembre 2014


Sbirciandone il logo tra i regali sotto l'albero qualcuno si sarà forse atteso un profumo, un accessorio, o un capo di abbigliamento intimo: Then & Now è invece un doppio album che la Trost ha intitolato a Christof Kurzmann in omaggio ai suoi cinquant'anni e alle sue molteplici attività passate e presenti di musicista, compositore e produttore. Sfogliandolo fan capolino care figure quali Ken Vandermark, Mats Gustafsson, Tony Buck, Robert Wyatt, John Butcher e Margareth Kammerer tra gli altri.
Kurzmann sarà curatore e sponsor della prossima edizione del festival Music Unlimited, a Wels (Austria) dal 6 all'8 novembre 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/christof.kurzmann.7
https://trostrecords.bandcamp.com/album/then-now
http://tinyurl.com/lwggbpd

25 dicembre 2014


Natale con Sun Ra!

On Christmas Day 1976, Sun Ra read a selection of his poems accompanied by music on the program Blue Genesis over the University of Pennsylvania's radio station WXPN. The choice of poems and their sequencing offers what Sun Ra thought was most important in his writing. Here are key words like "cosmos," "truth," "bad," "myth," and "the impossible,"; attention to phonetic equivalence; the universality of the music and its metaphysical status; allusions to black fraternal orders and secret societies; biblical passages and their interpretation; and even a few autobiographical glimpses. The poems were read softly, with little expressions, the music punctuating the words, with the heavy echo and delay in the studio sometimes reducing the words to pure sound without meaning.

http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/video/Sun-Ra_WXPN_1976_side-A.mp3
http://ubumexico.centro.org.mx/video/Sun-Ra_WXPN_1976_side-B.mp3

24 dicembre 2014


All'Accademia delle Arti a Berlino, nei giorni del Workshop Freie Musik, il 2 aprile 1972 nasceva lo Schlippenbach Trio. Quel che se ne sapeva finora stava tutto in un paio di brani apparsi nel box antologico For Example-Workshop Freie Musik 1969-1978, pubblicato da FMP nel 1979; ora però, dopo un inatteso ritrovamento di nastri negli archivi dell'etichetta, è possibile ricostruire integralmente quel primo incontro di Alexander von Schlippenbach con Evan Parker e Paul Lovens. Lo documenta l'austriaca Trost in due versioni, una in vinile con i soli brani scoperti più di recente, e una in cd con le registrazioni al completo: First Recordings.

These 1972 trio recordings of pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Trio with Evan Parker on tenor & soprano sax, and Paul Lovens on drums, recorded at the Workshop Frei Musik at the Academy of the Arts in Berlin Germany on April 2nd, 1972, were found in the FMP archives and are issued for the first time ever. The music is remarkable and active free improvisation, catching these masterful players in their creative prime - highly recommended!

http://trostrecords.bandcamp.com/album/first-recordings

23 dicembre 2014


Visibile in passato gratuitamente su Vimeo, è ora distribuito come dvd-r da Matchless il film di Stewart Morgan Eddie Prévost's Blood (HajduKino Productions, 2013), breve e intenso ritratto del percussionista colto in situazioni individuali e collettive di improvvisazione e ricerca sonora. Compaiono anche Jennifer Allum, John Butcher, Ricardo Tejero e Ute Kanngiesser.

Eddie Prévost is a percussionist and improviser and music is in his blood. With over 50 years’ playing experience he is a central figure in the British experimental music tradition that continues to thrive today. This film gives us a valuable opportunity to watch Prévost in action in solo and group situations, and to hear him speak about his approach to music-making, the particular tools of his craft, and the bloodline that stretches from his Huguenot ancestors through to his own working class origins in South East London.
Incorporating footage of performances in unique locations, including a recording session at his old school in Deptford, we are invited to step into Prévost’s world and to form our own response to the music - and the man - we find there.

http://www.discogs.com/Eddie-Pr%C3%A9vost-Stewart-Morgan-Eddie-Pr%C3%A9vosts-Blood/release/6308630

22 dicembre 2014


L'etichetta Intakt propone contemporaneamente due distinti album con protagonista Fred Frith nella situazione di dialogo a due da lui tanto prediletta ("The duo is my favorite form, because it embodies ideas - about meeting, conversing, challenging each other, changing your mind, not changing your mind, running together for the fun of it - that are mostly pretty uncomplicated"): Backscatter Bright Blue, con Barry Guy, registrato ad agosto nel 2007, e Edge of the Light, con la sassofonista danese Lotte Anker, registrato a luglio nel 2010. Un interessante progetto di quest'ultima, What River is This, condotto tra composizione e improvvisazione, esce in questi stessi giorni per Ilk Records: con Anker e Frith, a inizio maggio 2012, c'erano Chris Cutler, Phil MintonIkue MoriGarth Knox, Anna Klett e Jesper Egelund.
Non bastasse, a rigirare la frithata ci pensa - del tutto incidentalmente - Lucky Locus, ripescando un paio di volumi di Guitar Solos, il secondo e il terzo, prodotti dal Nostro a metà e fine anni settanta.

http://www.intaktrec.ch/236_237-a.htm
http://www.lotteanker.com/what-river
http://ilkmusic.com/catalogue/album/what-rivers-is-this
http://luckylocus.blogspot.it/2014/12/frith-fitzgerald-reichel-bailey.html
http://luckylocus.blogspot.it/2014/12/guitar-solos-3.html

21 dicembre 2014


Mai a proprio agio in nessun formato, fin dal suo primo apparire - LP nel 1977, poi via via cd, cd-rom, concerto, performance multimediale... - né mai compiutamente risolto in alcuno di essi, Kew.Rhone. tenta la carta della pagina scritta, illustrata, letta, riletta e commentata (e ovviamente immaginata, osservata, ricordata...): se ne fa carico dal Devon (Regno Unito), egregiamente, UniformbooksPeter Blegvad, che con John Greaves ne è l'autore, benedice l'iniziativa con undici ulteriori pensieri: http://www.uniformagazine.com/2014/10/peter-blegvad-eleven-thoughts-re-kew.html

First released in 1977, Kew. Rhone. is an album by a mismatched assortment of musicians performing intricate jazz- and pop-inflected songs with lyrics about unlikely subjects and unlikelier objects, lyrics which refer to diagrams or function as footnotes, or are based on anagrams and palindromes. Kew. Rhone. would never trouble the charts, it aspired to higher things, and yet, re-released in various formats over the decades, curiosity about this categorically elusive work has grown. Now its authors and some of its connoisseurs have broken silence to discuss the record and to reflect upon the times in which it and they themselves were forged. Peter Blegvad, Kew. Rhone.’s lyricist and illustrator, excavates each song in turn, uncovering themes and sources. In the second part of the book, a consortium of writers and artists respond to the album in various ways, illuminating without dispelling the mystery of a work designed to resist interpretation even as it invites it.

http://www.colinsackett.co.uk/kewrhone.php
http://www.colinsackett.co.uk/images/pdfs/Kew%20Rhone%20Press%20Release.pdf

Uniformbooks
7 Hillhead Terrace, Axminster,
Devon, England EX13 5JL
telephone +44 (0)1297 35503
www.uniformbooks.co.uk
uniformbooks@gmail.com

20 dicembre 2014


Due bonbon per meglio sopravvivere, anche all'arrivo dell'inverno. Squisiti. Li offre Karen Mantler in trio con Kato Hideki e Doug Wieselman: Surviving You e Wintertime. Business bad, music good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p47bYOEz-38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-I23NC4AFo

19 dicembre 2014


Manca ancora qualche settimana alla pubblicazione dell'album, ma video promozionale e singolo sono già in circolazione, seppure in versione non identica a quella che ne farà parte: The Unthanks, Mount the Air.

Written by Unthanks pianist and producer, and husband of Rachel Unthank, Adrian McNally, Mount the Air is based on the themes of a one-verse traditional ditty, found in a book of Dorset songs in Cecil Sharp House by Becky Unthank, who co-writes some of the words with McNally. The piece features the playing of the world-class trumpet player, Tom Arthurs; a former BBC New Generation Artist and Elysian Quartet collaborator, now immersed in the Berlin improv scene. Mount The Air is the work of an act who still believe whole heartedly in the value of the album as an art-form. On very limited resources and makeshift facilities, they have shown extraordinary commitment and devotion to that art-form, to create their finest work yet.

http://www.the-unthanks.com/products/Mount-The-Air-Albums/p429676105/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYiMUUNu0QM

18 dicembre 2014


Una delle molte vite di Robin Williamson è raccontata dalla sua affascinante discografia recente su ECM: e il quarto capitolo - Trusting In The Rising Light, registrato a inizio anno in compagnia di Mat Maneri e Ches Smith - è emozionante quanto e forse più dei suoi predecessori.

Trusting In The Rising Light is the fourth ECM album from Scottish singer, songwriter, harpist and guitarist Robin Williamson. Its predecessors - The Seed-at-Zero (recorded 2000), Skirting The River Road (2001) and The Iron Stone (2005) - were concerned, in different measure, with responses to the work of poets including Dylan Thomas, Henry Vaughan, Walt Whitman, William Blake, Thomas Wyatt, John Clare and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Trusting In The Rising Light, however, shifts the focus onto Robin’s own songs and sung poetry. Here we have twelve new pieces, touching and thoughtful meditations on life, love, destiny, roads travelled and untraveled, the natural world, the glittering city, and the rhythm of the sea.
Williamson, born 1943 in Edinburgh and a working musician for 55 years, is in fine voice as he enters his eighth decade, his harp and guitar playing is assured and inventive, and his creative curiosity as undiminished as the sense of wonder evident in his song texts. His ECM albums have continued to explore the nexus of roots and free experiment which made his old group, the Incredible String Band, so intriguing and his collaborations with improvising musicians have opened up new and broader possibilities in this regard. Of the singer/songwriters who came to public attention in Britain in the 1960s, none has more creatively mined traditions to shape new music.

17 dicembre 2014


Il Buon Gigante che prende le sembianze di George Washington, come da celebre ritratto di Williamstown, è un'idea grafica di Ray Shulman: accompagna la riedizione estesa e migliorata - ma tuttora incompleta - del concerto che i Gentle Giant tennero il 3 luglio 1976 a Hempstead, Long Island (Stati Uniti) alla vigilia dei festeggiamenti del bicentenario della Dichiarazione di indipendenza: Live at the Bicentennial 1776-1976, doppio cd per Alucard.

Quirky English quintet Gentle Giant shot off a few musical fireworks on the eve of the 200th anniversary of America’s independence. The July 3rd gig at the Calderone Theater in Hempstead, New York was recorded for broadcast on local radio (WLIR) and surreptitiously made the rounds in tape trading circles over incipient decades. Now that patriotic performance is receiving an official release from the band’s own Alucard label. Gentle Giant members acquired a re-mastered copy from Rich Hilton and - notwithstanding a couple minor disparities in the mix - felt it was suitable for public consumption. Accordingly, Gentle Giant: Live at the Bicentennial 1776-1976 showcases the nimble rockers at their “unedited, uninhibited, and unrepentant” best. It’s the group’s first bona fide “live” album in years (arriving eons after 1977’s Playing the Fool) and is of markedly superior quality to any prior bootleg of said concert.
The significance of the occasion wasn’t lost on bandleader / vocalist Derek Shulman. “Good evening, Long Island!” greets the burly, bearded singer on disc one of the 2-CD set. “It’s a monumental evening for the U.S.A., having kicked Britain out of Boston and dumped all that tea into the harbor.” “Tonight, we’re going to make peace!”. Not that Shulman and company had anything to reconcile with this American audience, who can be heard screaming for “Giant!” well before the five-piece takes the stage...

http://www.blazemonger.com/GG/Live_at_the_Bicentennial
https://www.burningshed.com/store/gentlegiant/product/522/6183
http://www.examiner.com/review/gentle-giant-back-with-live-cd-from-1976-bicentennial

16 dicembre 2014


La ripubblicazione degli album post-Trout Mask Replica di Captain Beefheart Lick My Decals Off Baby, The Spotlight Kid e Clear Spot riuniti dalla Rhino in Sun Zoom Spark: 1970-1972 assieme a un cd di rarità e inediti - ha suscitato presso novizi e intenditori plauso e diffidenza in pari misura, ponendo diversi interrogativi di natura etica e di ordine qualitativo in merito all'operazione. La controversia è riassunta nell'accurata analisi condotta da Steve Froy in Radar Station, luogo beefheartiano tra i migliori sul web fin dal suo primo apparire, nel lontano 1998: "It’s great to see Beefheart get the full remastered box treatment especially when it’s three of his albums that seem to have been neglected over the years. None of them having a proper CD release. Lick My Decals Off Baby has been very difficult to find on CD due to the fallout from the Zappa/Herb Cohen legal wrangle. The short run issues on Enigma and Rhino still sell for top prices if they appear on the market. The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot were released in 1990 as a poor two-on-one CD package but not in a remastered form. What’s more this Sun Zoom Spark package has the blessing of Jan Van Vliet which is good to hear. So this release carries a lot of expectations .. and that’s without mentioning the extra disc of outtakes. However, along with those expectations I began to feel a few reservations...".
Il pezzo di Froy, e i numerosi interventi a commento, si leggono per intero in http://www.beefheart.com/sun-zoom-spark-1970-to-1972

http://www.beefheart.com/review-sun-zoom-spark
http://www.rhino.com/article/now-available-captain-beefheart-sun-zoom-spark-1970-to-1972
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxvy_fBSQ3w

15 dicembre 2014


A grande distanza da The Pink Violin (NMA, 1992) e Violin Music in the Age of Shopping (NMA, 1994) esce ora a concludere l'incomparabile trilogia della saga dei Rosenberg rosenberg 3.0 - not violin music, compendio in tot pagine (non numerate) della mostra curata poche settimane fa da Jon Rose attingendo direttamente - egli ultimo uomo autorizzato a farlo - agli archivi del museo slovacco di Violin: "If the two previous volumes The Pink Violin and Violin Music in the Age of Shopping upset, confused, and entertained the music industry and cultural commentators, rosenberg 3.0, through a series of allegorical and insightful articles, will help ease the pain as practitioners of music scratch their heads working out their next survival move. This new book is the very final volume in as weird and twisted a trilogy of cultural critique as you are ever likely to encounter." Un breve assaggio in anteprima è in awscdn.australianmusiccentre.com.au/documents/rosenberg_extract.pdf

rosenberg 3.0 is a pseudonymous violin arcana compiled by Jon Rose from an extremely diverse array of musicians, fans and eccentrics, all deriving from the activities of the late lamented virtuoso Dr Johannes Rosenberg. The great man's suicide in Australia's Tanami Desert in 1992 has not stopped the torrent of all things Rosenberg, and the new volume draws upon the archives of the Rosenberg Museum in the town of Violin (in Slovakia) to offer the reader a compendium of artefact, irony, and dysfunction including: a single-use computer made of stone, the Islamic violin, an investigation into the genre of Violin Metal, a warning to the world about the Learned Elders of Viol, a photo essay of inappropriate and iconic violin usage from the museum archives, a tour through the Sydney suburb of Roselands in search of live music, a high tech breakthrough used in recordings of violin music from the 16th century, the exercise of power and plagiarism through music, the decline of the jazz venue, the rise of bio-technology and the violin, the transgressions of contemporary composers, extensive definitions of music in the 21st century, and various other musicological diversions (such as the origin of the wheeling goat) accompanied by a huge cast of Dr Rosenberg's extended family, many of whom bear the same initial, J.

http://www.jonroseweb.com/archive/g_rosenberg_30.html
www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/product/rosenberg-3-0-not-violin-music
www.australianmusiccentre.com.au/article/rosenbergs-revisited-jon-rose-s-twisted-trilogy-is-now-complete

14 dicembre 2014


Qualche pagina l'avrà certamente già incontrata chi in anni recenti ha avuto modo di procurarsi anche solo qualcuno dei materiali musicali prodotti da Eugene Chadbourne, magari ricevuti per corrispondenza o acquistati nei luoghi dei concerti, offerti in fantasiose e irripetibili confezioni trash. Ad accompagnare, spesso anzi ad avvolgerlo, il supporto audio - di volta in volta un vinile colorato, un'audiocassetta incellophanata, un cdr casalingo sporcato a pennarello - erano fogli sparsi e casuali vergati a mano o battuti a macchina, con appunti, storie, cronache, resoconti di sogni e di viaggio, fitti di una scrittura soggettiva e autoreferenziale, a metà tra fiction, flusso di coscienza e diario delle minute spese. Con frequenti citazioni da precedenti racconti (Draft Dodger, Bye Bye DDR) o da articoli affidati nel tempo a qualche periodico musicale (Forced Exposure, Option, Sound Choice). Quegli scritti compongono oggi l'epico Dreamory, un volumone di 1200 pagine autoprodotto a Greensboro per la propria House of Chadula: "It is my life, up til now, and I am very proud of it". Un classico.

http://www.eugenechadbourne.com

13 dicembre 2014


Un nuovo interessante libro su Harry Partch - Hobo Composer, scritto dal musicologo S. Andrew Granade (University of Rochester Press, 2014) - mette al centro della sua vicenda biografica e artistica la cultura hobo che il compositore statunitense abbracciò, almeno in parte, negli avventurosi anni giovanili: "During the Great Depression, Partch rode the railways, following the fruit harvest across the country. Although he is renowned for his immense stage works and his use of highly sophisticated instruments of his own creation, Partch is still regularly called a "hobo composer". Yet few have questioned this label's impact on his musical output, compositional life, and reception. Focusing on Partch the person alongside the cultural icon he represented, this study examines Partch from historical, cultural, political, and musical perspectives. It outlines the cultural history of the hobo from the mid-1800s through the 1960s, as well as those figures associated with the hobo's image. It explores how Partch's music, which chronicled a disappearing subculture, was received, and how the composer ultimately engaged and frustrated popular conceptions of the hobo."
Uno dei capolavori di Partch, Delusion of the Fury, è stato di recente prodotto e portato in scena dall'Ensemble musikFabrik con la regia di Heiner Goebbels.

http://tinyurl.com/p7z4gze
http://www.urpress.com/store/viewItem.asp?idProduct=14574
http://eif.co.uk/2014/delusionofthefury#.VIdjhdKG-So


12 dicembre 2014


Ancora sotto l'emozione dei concerti dedicati a Lindsay Cooper, Kavus Torabi ha dedicato agli Henry Cow un intero episodio del programma The Interesting Alternative Show, su Phoenix FM: lo si riascolta in http://www.mixcloud.com/interestingalternative/2014-12-01-kavus-torabi-presents-a-henry-cow-special
E già che si rovista negli archivi web della trasmissione, si può voler riascoltare anche un'altra puntata degna di nota, curata qualche giorno prima da Udi Koomran e Yehuda Cotton: http://www.mixcloud.com/interestingalternative/2014-11-24-udi-koomran-and-yehuda-cotton-special

Una recensione molto analitica del concerto al Barbican in omaggio a Lindsay Cooper l'ha scritta ieri Ian Mann: "Tonight’s concert represented a risky enterprise for everyone involved but resulted in a triumph. The much vaunted Henry Cow re-union didn’t overshadow Cooper, the real subject of the evening, and the decision to play her music exclusively was wholly appropriate and totally the right decision. In fact the Henry Cow part of the performance was in some ways the least successful and certainly the most ragged, but it was a nostalgic treat for some and placing it first helped to get the audience on side. I’ve also read that the musicians involved were glad to get it out of the way early on in the proceedings. Much of Cooper’s work had a political dimension to it, unapologetically feminist and left wing, but on listening to her music both on record and tonight one has never felt oneself as being beaten about the head with a stick with regard to such issues. A compulsive composer Cooper preferred to let her music do the talking. Tonight it continued to speak eloquently, given voice by a circle of some of her oldest and dearest friends."

11 dicembre 2014


Il passaggio di testimone generazionale è ormai più che un fattore simbolico, e la visione ologrammatica a spirale dell'ultimo album - bellissimo - contempla anche un vibrante e commovente commiato. Gong 2014: wotever it is, it will change!

Scrive Daevid Allen: "The mythology of Gong is an endlessly evolving parable for both outer:inner space and multi-dimensional existence. A fabulous fable to feathertickle the fantasies of fans of future shock. But like all parallels there is an inkling of a deeper hidden truth behind the veils that could shatter all our comfortable illusions and bring us abruptly face to face with our real self. At this point, for better or for worse, we are confronted by who we really are. What do we say when we finally see our true selves? I See You!"

10 dicembre 2014


Buona notizia è che gli articoli scritti da Dave Stewart nella sua splendida serie Inside the Music, pubblicati online con incerta regolarità tra il dicembre 2009 e il novembre 2013, sono stati raccolti e ordinati assieme ad altri articoli rimasti inediti in due volumi dal titolo Inside the Music Online: si acquistano e si scaricano da Burning Shed, che da tempo si fa carico della distribuzione dei materiali della premiata coppia Stewart/Gaskin.
Buonissime sono anche le notizie di un nuovo album in lavorazione e addirittura - addirittura! - di possibili concerti dal vivo in Regno Unito, prima o poi nel nuovo anno. Magari in "local arts centres and small, atmospheric venues", senza andar per forza alla Wembley Arena...

Dave's popular audio-visual 'Inside The Music' music articles explain the inner workings of Stewart / Gaskin songs, including transcriptions of keyboard parts and vocal harmonies. Written between 2009 and 2014, the articles contain notation, audio clips (including some slower-tempo 'play along' versions), photos, extensive song and recording notes, musical insights and autobiographical details from the composer. The 'Inside The Music' series began in 2009 with a deconstruction of the Stewart / Gaskin song Jupiter Rising. The entire collection of 14 articles (five of which were specially written for this compilation) is now available for download, divided into two volumes. A fascinating, engagingly written glimpse into the unique musical mind of one of the UK's most respected keyboardists and composers.

https://www.davebarb.com
https://www.burningshed.com/store/davebarb/collection/540

09 dicembre 2014


Inizia oggi e prosegue per l'intera settimana una nuova residenza artistica di Fred Frith presso il club newyorkese The Stone, stavolta incentrata sull'incontro e il dialogo a due: Frith sarà di volta in volta con Nava Dunkelman, Sudhu Tewari, John Zorn, George Lewis, Annie Lewandowski, Ikue Mori, Shelley Hirsch, Miya Masaoka, Iva Bittová e Nels Cline. Fa eccezione l'apertura di stasera, dedicata non a un duetto ma al suo nuovo trio - con Jason Hoopes e Jordan Glenn, ed eccezionale ospite Jessica Lurie - che presto si vedrà in azione anche dalle nostre parti.
Spiega il chitarrista: "The last few years have seen recordings of my duos with Evelyn Glennie, John Zorn, Michel Doneda, Chris Cutler, and Annie Lewandowski. In the next 12 months, duos with Barry Guy, John Butcher, Lotte Anker, and Evan Parker are also scheduled for release. More than any other form this seems to be the one that resonates with me the most: intense conversations with old and new friends. For this week at The Stone, after kicking off with the FF Trio, the focus will be entirely on spontaneous and wide-ranging dialogues with some of my favorite musicians."

http://www.fredfrith.com
http://www.thestonenyc.com/calendar.php

08 dicembre 2014


Prima che scadano i tempi di permanenza nei rispettivi archivi sul web sono da recuperare gli speciali su Robert Wyatt proposti da Stafford Radio (Curve Ball, il 10 novembre scorso) e da Resonance FM (The London Ear, il 13 novembre). Ampia porzione wyattiana anche nel programma di ieri sera di Stuart Maconie Freak Zone, per BBC Radio 6 Music, con un'intervista a Robert e Alfie Benge condotta da Marcus O'Dair.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04tm3qz
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02dlwm5
http://www.mixcloud.com/radioshoes/curve-ball-november-10-2014
https://soundcloud.com/resonance-fm/15-00-00-the-london-ear-1

07 dicembre 2014


A offerta libera, anche simbolica, si ottiene da Cuneiform una selezione di brani, venti, tratti uno ciascuno dagli album, venti, pubblicati nel 2014: un buon modo per avvicinarsi all'orizzonte di interessi dell'etichetta e apprezzarne i grandi meriti. E festeggiarne nuovamente il trentesimo compleanno. Auguri!

Cuneiform – in 2014, its 30th year – features about 400 titles in its catalogue. These releases cover a broad stylistic range, from experimental rock to avant-progressive, avant-jazz and jazz improvisation, electronic/ambient/noise, and much much more. From classical minimalism to chamber rock, Rock in Opposition to Weird Americana, jazz/pop to jazztronica, Cuneiform has explored a wide world of cutting edge music and especially, music beyond genre and genres-yet-to-be-defined. The common denominator of all releases on this uncommon, artist-friendly label is the singularity and consistent high-quality of its artists. Cuneiform's innovative composers and improvisors create music true to their unique visions and their unfettered visions often defy, reshape, and transcend prior genre boundaries, transforming the musical landscape of jazz, or rock, or New Music/contemporary classical for generations to come.
Cuneiform released 20 albums of high-quality, genre-defiant music in 2014, the largest number of albums we’ve ever released in a single year! They range from jazz/post-jazz/beyond genre (Anthony Pirog; Dylan Ryan/Sand; Raoul Bjorkenheim/Ecstasy; The Microscopic Septet; Led Bib; Ideal Bread; Joel Harrison; The Ed Palermo Big Band; Thumbscrew); to avant-rock / Rock in Opposition / electro-ambient-noise (remastered reissues of Roger Trigaux’s Present; Richard Pinhas & Oren Ambarchi; Richard Pinhas & Yoshida Tatsuya; Mats/Morgan; Sonar; Jonathan Badger; Happy Family).

This 20 song compilation album, Cuneiform Turns 30, features nearly 2 hours of music selected from albums that Cuneiform released in 2014. It is available to stream or download at a price of your choosing via Cuneiform's Bandcamp page: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cuneiform-turns-30-the-albums-of-2014

06 dicembre 2014


Lo scorso 22 novembre Battiti ha messo in onda uno speciale dedicato alla Ogun per festeggiare i 40 anni di attività dell’etichetta fondata da Hazel ed Harry Miller. Piatto forte è un’intervista condotta a Roma con Hazel Miller a inizio ottobre, cui si aggiungono commenti e interventi di Riccardo Bergerone e Mike Cooper. I brani in scaletta provengono da alcuni dei più bei titoli del catalogo, con Blue Notes, Brotherood of Breath, Dedication Orchestra, Elton Dean, Chris McGregor, SOS, Viva La Black, Ovary Lodge e Isipingo tra gli altri. La puntata si riascolta in podcast frugando negli archivi della trasmissione.

http://tinyurl.com/ogun-battiti
http://www.discogs.com/label/36211-Ogun

05 dicembre 2014


Ha compiuto quarant'anni ad ottobre il Bimhuis di Amsterdam, luogo di musica tra i più prestigiosi in Europa e glorioso alfiere in particolare del jazz d'avanguardia e delle musiche di improvvisazione. L'anniversario sarà celebrato via via nell'arco di un intero anno con un'impressionante serie di iniziative e concerti, molti dei quali trasmessi in streaming da un'emittente creata ad hoc e conservati come file audio presso Mixcloud. Alcuni sono già disponibili, tra cui due programmi proposti da Evan Parker - il titolo, Might I Suggest, è lo stesso di alcune sue serie curate periodicamente presso il Vortex londinese -, concerti di Michael Moore, John Scofield, Craig Taborn, una serata ellingtoniana e una in ideale gemellaggio con il London Jazz Festival dei giorni scorsi.

The Bimhuis was founded in 1974, three decades prior to the completion of the current building. The former furniture showroom on the Oude Schans, nearby Amsterdam’s Red Light district had been acquired by few musicians who had just become members of the recently founded Beroepsvereniging voor Improviserende Musici (BIM), such as saxophonist Hans Dulfer and pianist Misha Mengelberg . It was a time of new, enthusiastic initiatives in jazz, with a conscious choice to depart from traditional approaches. In the Netherlands this led to the formation of such progressive ensembles as the Instant Composers Pool and Willem Breuker Kollektief.
The Bimhuis quickly achieved the status as the premiere Dutch venue for improvised music and the hall became a favourite spot for such renowned international bandleaders as Charles Mingus, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Pharoah Sanders and Sun Ra. The space was simultaneously made available to new Dutch initiatives, conservatory students and apprentice orchestras. To this very day the Bimhuis continues to be a spot where new bands and projects are formed in which local and international musicians collaborate.
In 1984 the building underwent drastic renovation, whose most important feature was a hall in the shape of an amphitheatre. This allowed for an intimate atmosphere near the stage, while still allowing the audience to circulate at the back of the space to the adjacent bar. A professional recording system was installed which resulted in many concerts either being recorded for LP and CD releases or radio broadcasts. By the nineteen eighties and nineties the revolutionaries from the initial years had become internationally respected band leaders.
The present-day Bimhuis opened in 2005. The characteristic ‘black box’ protruding from the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, was designed with the old Bimhuis in mind. The lay-out of the stage and access to the bar have remained the same, but now everything is more spacious, comfortable and technically advanced. The Bimhuis annually receives twice as many visitors now as the old venue did in its most successful year ever. Everyone plays there now, from stars to amateurs, from mainstream to avant-garde. In essence, the Bimhuis has basically remained the same: an important junction in the international network of improvising musicians.

http://www.mixcloud.com/bimhuis/uploads

04 dicembre 2014


Ospite qualche giorno fa ad Huddersfield del Contemporary Music Festival, Evan Parker ha presentato uno speciale brano - Twelve for Twelve Musicians - commissionatogli nel quadro dei festeggiamenti per il suo settantesimo compleanno. Ad eseguirlo con lui c'erano Neil Metcalfe, John Rangecroft, Percy Pursglove, Matt Wright, Sten Sandell, Toma Gouband, Paul Lytton, Mark Nauseef, Damien Harron, Richard Barrett e Paul Obermayer: "Since the dodecaphonic revolution, 12 has been a special number in new music", ha spiegato Parker: "In my ‘composing' with 12 elements I am exceptionally fortunate to work with 11 other musical individuals. The piece starts and ends with their musical genius as instrumentalists and as improvisers."
Il concerto lo ha trasmesso sabato scorso, e lo terrà in archivio sul web per un mesetto circa, il programma Hear and Now della BBC, che sugli eventi del festival di Huddersfield ha promesso altre tre puntate. Una delle quali dedicata al concerto del 22 novembre con le musiche di Lindsay Cooper. Yes?

http://www.hcmf.co.uk/event/show/440
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04sv2lv

03 dicembre 2014


Si scusano per il ritardo - tredici anni soltanto - ma sono comunque lieti di poter presentare il loro ultimo concerto insiemeBing Selfish and The Ideals, dal vivo al 12 Bar Club a Londra, ripresi da Duncan Reekie. Data storica anche per il resto del mondo: era l'11 settembre 2001.

http://www.bingselfish.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVEfL8JogJw

02 dicembre 2014


Nella sua vetrinetta Bandcamp Bob Drake rimette in primo piano due brillanti album realizzati in combutta con il chitarrista Lukas Simonis sul finire degli anni novanta, in un periodo in cui il chitarrista di Rotterdam non voleva/poteva più verificare con il suo precedente gruppo Dull Schicksal alcune ipotesi in fatto di forma-canzone, e non erano ancora mature le elaborate finzioni del metodo Vril, applicate di lì a poco. Il progetto si chiamava AA Kismet e fruttò i capitoli di studio Where's The Rest Of Me? e What's The Use of Crying When the Wolves Have Arrived?, con in mezzo un pugno di concerti dal vivo che in Italia il Circ.a fece appena in tempo a catturare, sul finire di novembre 1999. Ricorda Drake: "Back in 1998-2000 I was in a band called AA Kismet with my pal Lukas Simonis. We did two albums which I still think are pretty good, the first as a 4-piece band with a drummer (Cor Hoogerdijk) and a singer (Eveline Ketterings), and the second just me and Lukas with a few guests here and there. Both albums have been long out of print and have remained more or less lost in miasmas of obscurity. However, regard! the miasma has suddenly cleared… and the fabulous Meisterwerks are now available on my Bandcamp page. So have a listen or even make a purchase if your financial riches are plentiful enough to allow such frivolous dispensation to “artists” with no discernable incomes!"

https://bdstudio.bandcamp.com
http://lukas.home.xs4all.nl/english/kismet.html
http://bdblog.bdrak.com/more-old-albums-available-another-ancient-video

01 dicembre 2014


E' disponibile presso ReR Megacorp l'aggiornamento di dicembre 2014 al catalogo dei materiali in distribuzione e sottoscrizione: in primo piano i nuovi titoli - Lindsay Cooper, Biota, Stevan Tickmayer - e quelli più recenti - Steve MacLean e Bob Drake - oltre a cofanetti cumulativi appunto per Bob Drake e Jon Rose, album sparsi di John Cage, Morton Feldman, Sten Sandell, Remote Viewers, Frank Crijns, il cofanetto dei Recedents, l'album 'machinista' dell'Artchipel Orchestra uscito per Musica Jazz, antichi vinili ritrovati chissà come in edizione originale (Escalator over the Hill), copie autografe di scritti blegvadiani (Downtime) e alcuni Cassiber scorporati dal recente box del trentennale. C'è anche una lunga lista di produzioni originali in forte promozione, cui davvero è difficile resistere anche per chi quei titoli a suo tempo già li acquistò tutti o quasi tutti: http://www.rermegacorp.com