Si sono esibiti in duo poche sere fa a Londra, al club Scala in King's Cross, gli inseparabili Louis Philippe e Danny Manners. In serbo avevano tra gli altri True Love, The Rubens Room, An Unknown Spring, Ripples on the River, Before the Rain, Jolis Avions e Par Hasard. Qualche brano è preservato su YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Andunemir/search?query=louis+philippe

Ha fatto parte dei Negativland per buona parte degli anni ottanta, dovendosene via via allontanare per motivi di salute, ma contribuendo in modo decisivo alla definizione di tecniche, procedure, scelte estetiche e strategiche del gruppo: è scomparso qualche giorno fa Ian Allen, a soli cinquantasei anni. "For those who knew him, he was a visionary, magical, impish, playful and eccentric thinker, a true genius who was light years ahead of all of us with his ideas about art, sound, society, and technology. He will be dearly missed".

Ian was very active with Negativland from 1981 to about 1987, and his impact, inspiration, and influence on the group is impossible to overestimate. There would be no group as we know it today, no Over The Edge radio show, no “culture jamming” and no A Big 10-8 Place LP without him. Ian struggled with various serious health issues his entire adult life, and while they lead to his gradual withdrawal from active participation with the group by the late 80s, he remained a good friend and supporter, attending all of our live shows whenever we performed in the San Francisco Bay Area. With Ian’s blessings we were thrilled to recently revive and rework an early 80’s unfinished tape loop based work of his called Like Cattle Act, and made it a part of our current live set. He was part of creating Negativland’s points LP in 1981, introducing to the rest of us, on the track BABAC D’BABC, the idea of using tape splicing not just as a way to make loops and connect tracks, but as a compositional tool unto itself. This revelation led to the exploration of this technique full-on in 1983’s A Big 10-8 Place, and he played a major role in the creation of that record and its unique packaging. He was instrumental in helping to create and articulate the group’s idea of “culture jamming,” and pushed the group into making A Big 10-8 Place our first ever concept LP. From then on that was the standard for us, and nearly every single Negativland release, up to and including our current one, It’s All In Your Head, has been a concept project. He came up with the idea of making four-channel tape loops (as we couldn’t afford early expensive samplers back then) and this became a technique that was used extensively on 1987’s Escape From Noise. Ian was obsessed with the number 17, which is why it appears in various ways on so many Negativland projects and texts in the 80’s and 90’s (please note the day he died!). In the summer of 1981 he introduced the current group members to radio DJ (and now long time Negativland member) Don Joyce, and thus our weekly audio collage radio show Over The Edge was born, still broadcasting to this day.

http://www.negativland.com
http://www.negativland.com/ote

Presso il sito web di John Greaves, finalmente aggiornato, si trova nota delle attività passate e future del Nostro - al momento però nessuna traccia della puntata a Piacenza promessa per primavera - oltre a una bella selezione tratta dai materiali discografici più recenti, alcune anticipazioni sulle prossime uscite - Verlaine Gisant, New Songs e Himiko sings Greaves tra le più attese - e un'insospettata raccolta di clip audio e video prodotte per la tv e il mercato pubblicitario come autore o come speaker: "My voice at the service of the forces of capitalism. I know, I know… But it pays the rent. (And I love pretending to be an actor)".
Tutto è anche su Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/john-greaves

http://johngreaves.org.uk

Happy 70 Robert
...

Uno studio sull'interazione tra suono, significato, linguaggio verbale ed eredità letterarie nel lavoro di Robert Wyatt è quello condotto da Richard Elliott in una sua pubblicazione per la University of Sussex, dal titolo You can't just say “words”: literature and nonsense in the work of Robert Wyatt. Se ne legge liberamente una versione preparatoria accedendo al sito della facoltà di Falmer (Regno Unito), una tra le dieci migliori università inglesi. Nella sua versione definitiva il saggio è pubblicato, sempre in ambito accademico, in Litpop: Writing and Popular Music, a cura di Rachel Carroll e Adam Hansen (Ashgate, dicembre 2014).

Throughout his musical career, British musician Robert Wyatt has explored the interaction of words, language, sound and sense. His lyrical and musical delivery, by turns absurdist, infantile, angry and melancholic, deconstructs everyday phrases and invites listeners to question the borders of sense and nonsense. This chapter examines connections between Wyatt’s work and a range of literary voices, particularly those associated with nursery rhyme, nonsense verse and absurdism. A further aim is to explore the role of sense and nonsense in popular music. If one of the ways in which music differs from literature is through its ability to communicate without words, can there be a relationship between sense and nonsense in musical language that correlates with that found in literature? In what ways can musical language be said to make or not make sense? Exposure to Wyatt’s work emphasises the extent to which, as a musician, he has made use of words and vocables, even as he has occasionally distanced himself from the importance of lyrics in his music. By focussing on the literary-textual nature of Wyatt’s work, the text highlights the different demands and expectations placed on the ‘popular’ and the ‘literary’.

http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/51592/
http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/51592/1/Elliott_YouCantJustSayWords_pre-pub.pdf
http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781472410979
http://www.academia.edu/1685050/_You_cant_just_say_words_Literary_voices_in_the_work_of_Robert_Wyatt

Splendido regalo, per Joe Dworniak, Greg Bone e Chris Lapsa, la tromba di Robert Wyatt nel brano Mortalman che apre il loro album d'esordio, Fingers Pointing at the Moon: "We were so incredibly excited when Robert Wyatt offered to play a trumpet part he had conceived on our track Mortalman. When one of the UK's most treasured musical souls makes this kind of gift it creates great energy in the band and production team. It was a while ago but we are still buzzing and even more so on the run up to the album release. Now we will get to share it with everyone who is listening. Thank you Robert".

http://dworniakbonelapsa.com
https://www.facebook.com/dblmusic

Auguri di buon compleanno a Robert Wyatt - il Nostro compie settant'anni tra qualche giorno, il 28 gennaio - sono giunti ieri dal programma della BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line-Up: la puntata si riascolta ancora per un mesetto circa negli archivi on-line della trasmissione.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0505jhy

Si compie in un'unica giornata l'edizione norvegese del festival letterario a tema musicale Off the Page, con incontri pubblici, conversazioni con artisti e autori, interviste, proiezioni, installazioni e libera fiera del disco e del libro. Forte la presenza di Robert Wyatt - seppure non di persona, come fu invece all'edizione di Bristol lo scorso settembre - con la proiezione di Free Will and Testament e una conferenza di Marcus O'Dair, dal titolo Totally Wyatt, con letture e ascolti da Different Every Time, libro e album. Oggi a Oslo, presso il centro Kunstnernes Hus.

Norwegian edition of The Wire’s music literary festival with Arto Lindsay in conversation, David Grubbs on sound art, Marcus O'Dair on Robert Wyatt, Sarah Angliss talking about vintage recordings, Ken Hollings on the developing relationship between music, writing and design in the digital age, Savage Pencil on music and underground comics and many others. Plus: an independent music market, screening, workshops and more.

http://nymusikk.no/en/hva-skjer/off-the-page-2015
http://nymusikk.no/en/artikler/off-the-page-totally-wyatt
https://www.facebook.com/events/336160069888656
http://radio.nrk.no/serie/atlantis

Con un concerto domani sera a Udine (Teatro Palamostre) - cui farà seguito un incontro a Milano domenica pomeriggio (Il Circolo) - sfiora anche l'Italia il lungo tour con cui Gilad Atzmon festeggia quindici anni di attività con The Orient House Ensemble: Gilad Atzmon, sassofoni contralto e soprano, clarinetto; Frank Harrison, pianoforte; Yaron Stavi, contrabbasso; Chris Higginbottom, batteria. Il nuovo album, The Whistle Blower, il loro ottavo, uscirà a fine febbraio: un assaggio è in http://www.gilad.co.uk/listen-to-the-whistle-blowernew-album

http://www.euritmica.it/evento/gilad-atzmon
http://www.circolocircolo.it
http://www.gilad.co.uk/news/2015/1/8/the-whistle-blower-tour-starts-today-uk-italy-turkey-germany-france-

Il brano sul lato B del singolo di esordio nel 1967 dei Soft Machine, Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin', fu prodotto da lui. E in quale modo, lo ricorda bene Daevid Allen: "The thing about Kim Fowley was, he was a complete codeine freak. So he never stopped talking. But secondly, he astonished everybody by taking the 8-track master tape, and cutting, splicing the 8-track master tape. Which nobody had ever seen done... It was really wild, to make Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin'. So he made these huge massive splices, right across all of the 8-track. Because if you fuck it up, that's it, that's the end of the master." E' scomparso qualche giorno fa, all'età di settantacinque anni, Kim Fowley.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Fowley
http://www.richieunterberger.com/allen.html

http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/Kim_Fowley
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/kim-fowley-mn0000099345/discography

La britannica RPM Records ripubblica in versione ampliata l'album che Stella (Zelcer, futura signora Vander) realizzò a metà anni sessanta, ancora ragazzina: "She laid the table for the raspberry-blowing musical cheek of Jacques Dutronc and echoed Serge Gainsbourg’s raised eyebrows. Her records were fantastic – pop art-style cut-ups, inside-out psychedelia, wonky soul and rough-edged garage rock. Stella took on French pop and made it her own."

Stella was the anti-yé-yé girl. France had never heard anything like her. A Parisian schoolgirl, she was an agent provocateur who lampooned jolly pop girl Sheila, lamented that France was in thrall to American archetypes, reconfigured Bob Dylan and satirised weekend trendies. This expanded edition, first-ever reissue of the only album Stella issued in the Sixties, irresistibly captures all facets of who she was before she abandoned pop and began working with the jazz-influenced band Magma in the 1970s, whose Christian Vander she would marry. Without Stella, it is impossible to understand who Stella Vander is.

http://www.cherryred.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=4919
http://www.cherryred.co.uk/rpmshout.asp
https://www.facebook.com/rpmrecords
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stella_Vander

Il 2015 inaugura per i Magma un nuovo periodo di celebrazioni, produzioni, concerti ('Le Tour sans fin') e iniziative varie per festeggiare quarantacinque anni di attività. E' di questi giorni l'attesa pubblicazione in cd e su vinile del nuovo lavoro Slag Tanz, consegnato infine in una versione, più volte rimaneggiata nell'arco di un anno di registrazioni, dove si stempera in senso prospettico e pluridimensionale una partitura vocale di memorabile - e quasi insostenibile - impatto diretto nei concerti dal vivo degli anni più recenti. Contemporaneamente c'è anche un cd antologico ('45 ans de création hors des sentiers battus') che fa da apripista al poderoso programma di stampe e ristampe a cadenza mensile concordato con Jazz Village.

Magma is joining up with Jazz Village to celebrate its 45th anniversary with an impressive series of new and classic releases. A series of new and classic Magma titles has been scheduled for release every month from September 2014 to November 2015.  A legendary French group if ever there was one, Magma has continued to influence the course of contemporary music since their debut in 1969. Combining the energy of rock and the ecstasy of jazz, as well as numerous classical influences from Béla Bartók to Carl Orff to the Viennese school, brick by brick Magma has built a unique musical monument that is destined to be a worldwide beacon, as long recognized by their large and devoted following. During this series of releases, lasting over a year, Magma will also be on the road, performing numerous concerts in France as well as other countries where they have a strong fan base: South America, U.K, Germany, Scandinavia, Japan and the United States. Festivities kicked off in France with 3 weeks of concerts at the Triton, just outside Paris, in November 2014 and will be brought to a close in one of the capital’s largest venues in the run-up to Christmas 2015, to coincide with the release of the live box set Konzert Zünd.

http://www.seventhrecords.com/MAGMA/SLAG_TANZ/html/english.htm
http://tinyurl.com/kk92vvl

Converrà prenotarne presto una copia, perché in vinile ne saranno stampate soltanto trecento. One Night Stand, prodotto in Francia dalla rivista Improjazz, documenta l'ultimo concerto di Robert Wyatt alla batteria: era la sera del 14 aprile 1973, al Ronnie Scott's a Londra, e con lui c'erano Dave McRae, Gary Windo e Richard Sinclair, quest'ultimo chiamato a rimpiazzare momentaneamente Ron Mathewson nel progetto WMWM ipotizzato dai quattro appena qualche settimana prima. Uscirà a marzo: https://sites.google.com/site/improjazzmag

One Night Stand: Robert Wyatt (drums, voice), Dave McRae (keyboards), Gary Windo (tenor saxophone), Richard Sinclair (bass guitar). Parution en mars 2015. Tirage limité à 300 exemplaires. 25 €  port compris par chèque à l'ordre d'Improjazz. Commandez-le vite à l'adresse du magazine!

Improjazz
14 allée des Myosotis
41000 Blois (France)

A ogni cambio di calendario i frequentatori del sito Une discografie de Robert Wyatt trovano curiosità e rarità wyattiane ben disposte in coda alla periodica newsletter, un'attenzione che il curatore Jean-Paul Marillier non smette di riservare ai propri fedelissimi: stavolta è il turno di Artchipel Orchestra, Mop Meuchiine, David Fenech, un'intervista radiofonica del 1984 e un testo di Rimbaud interpretato nel 2009. In evidenza anche un paio di recensioni d'epoca, tratte da Charlie Hebdo: The End of an Ear (7 dicembre 1970) e Rock Bottom (26 agosto 1974).

http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/newsletter/40/index_site.htm
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/critiques/theendofanear.htm#charlie3
http://www.disco-robertwyatt.com/images/Robert/critiques/rockbottom.htm#charlie197

Keith & Julie Tippett sono ospiti questa sera del NovaraJazz, giunto alla sua undicesima edizione. A Novara, al Conservatorio Cantelli, con inizio alle ore 21.30. Couple in Spirit!

http://www.novarajazz.org/nj/eventi/keith-tippett-julie-tippett
https://www.facebook.com/NovaraJazzFanPage

Il film Taking the Dog for a Walk, ampio ritratto della scena della musica improvvisata britannica realizzato con il coinvolgimento diretto di molti suoi protagonisti, debutta domani in Lussemburgo nella terra del regista e produttore Antoine Prum. L'appuntamento è a Dudelange, presso il Centre Culturel Régional Opderschmelz, con vari momenti musicali dal vivo a seguire la proiezione: partecipano John Butcher, Mark Sanders, Steve Beresford, Tony Bevan, Rhodri Davies, Steve Noble, John Edwards e Alex Ward.

After Sunny’s time now, his authoritative portrait of the American Free jazz drumming legend Sunny Murray, Luxembourg filmmaker Antoine Prum turns his attention to the British free improvised music scene in this new feature-length music documentary. Branching out from a three-day festival in Berlin conceived and organised for the purpose of the film, Taking the Dog for a Walk maps the scene of British improvisers, past and present, retracing the road that led from its emergence and emancipation in the 1960s to the recent (albeit small) surge in popularity as talented new players and dynamic venues are coming to the fore. In his search for the ‘Britishness’ of British free improvised music, Prum is assisted by bass sax player Tony Bevan and stand-up comedian Stewart Lee, who talk to musicians from different generations and backgrounds to uncover the specifics of a genre that refutes the very notion of genre. Alternating with extended live music sequences, the conversations gravitate around the idiosyncrasies of improvisation, from playing in front of the proverbial ‘four men and a dog’ to pursuing a career in a milieu where success is not measured by mainstream criteria. 

With Tom Arthurs, Steve Beresford, Adam Bohman, Matthew Bourne, Eileen Boyes, Sarah Gail Brand, Karen Brookman Bailey, John Butcher, Lol Coxhill, Rhodri Davies, Max Eastley, John Edwards, Caroline Kraabel, Phil Minton, Thurston Moore, Maggie Nicols, Steve Noble, Eddie Prévost, John Russell, Mark Sanders, Victor Schonfield, Alan Tomlinson, Roger Turner, Alex Ward, Trevor Watts, Veryan Weston, Richard Williams a.o.

http://www.ptd.lu/films/taking-the-dog-for-a-walk.html

http://ni-vu-ni-connu.net/film/taking-the-dog-for-a-walk
http://ni-vu-ni-connu.net/film/just-not-cricket-the-film-working-title

Lo speciale concerto che Evan Parker e il suo ElectroAcoustic Septet hanno offerto a Victoriaville (Quebec) il maggio scorso, in occasione del trentennale del Festival International de Musique Actuelle, è ora un cd per l'etichetta Victo: Seven. "My art of composition consists in choosing the right people and asking them to improvise - ha detto Parker - and the resulting music arises from this sequence of decisions. My art of composition consists in choosing the right people and these are the right people". Con lui c'erano Peter Evans, Okkyung Lee, George Lewis, Ikue Mori, Sam Pluta e Ned Rothenberg.

http://www.victo.qc.ca/setcata/pdf/Infocd127.pdf
http://evanparker.com/electroacoustic.php

Interviste e ampie porzioni del concerto meta-cageano tenuto a Marsiglia lo scorso 19 dicembre nell'ambito del festival Nuit d’Hiver dai ragazzacci - il nome è un omaggio a George Antheil - Daan Vandewalle, Arne Deforce, Jean-Marc Montera e Chris Cutler: Bad Boys presentati da Anne Montaron nella puntata di sabato scorso del programma A l’Improviste, per France Musique.

Jean-Marc Montera est venu illustrer la thématique de ce festival hivernal (12ème édition) "Repeat or not repeat, that is not the question" en improvisant avec trois autres musiciens - ceux du quartet Bad Boys - autour de partitions graphiques de John Cage et Earl Brown. Ce quartet - qui emprunte son nom au surnom donné dans les années 20 au pianiste George Antheil - s'est formé en 2008 et est une émanation de l'EIC (Ensemble d'Improvisateurs Européens), imaginé par le pianiste belge Daan Vandewalle. Cet Ensemble s'emploie à jouer des partitions graphiques ou ouvertes (celles d'un Christian Wolff, John Cage ou Cornelius Cardew…) toute en gardant une grande liberté de manoeuvre. Les improvisations des Bad Boys lors de ce concert marseillais suivent certaines règles; elles évoluent autour de trois partitions graphiques: Variations IV et Four6 de John Cage et December 1952 de Earle Brown. Chaque musicien suit un système ou un parcours qui lui est propre à l'intérieur de ces pièces obligées. Il doit également impérativement se taire à un moment du concert (3 minutes de silence par musicien). Le tout n'est pas concerté, ni prémédité. Bien entendu, ces règles peuvent être chamboulées à n'importe quel moment... On est Bad Boy ou on ne l'est pas!

http://www.grim-marseille.com/grim/NuitdHiver.html
http://www.francemusique.fr/personne/bad-boys
http://www.francemusique.fr/emission/l-improviste/2014-2015/l-improviste-au-festival-nuit-d-hiver-1-01-10-2015-23-00

Importante evento collettivo questa sera alla Town Hall a New York per ricordare il compianto Charlie Haden, scomparso lo scorso luglio. Partecipano anche due storiche formazioni guidate in vita dal grande contrabbassista, il Quartet West e la Liberation Music Orchestra. Di lui ha detto Ornette Coleman: "Charlie would play what it meant to be human, he had a sound that gave people the idea of what music does. When you find that sound that comes from the soul, you can really do something, and Charlie did, he did something for all of us". E Keith Jarrett: "People will always love his playing, but no one will ever imitate him. He was a rare, true original. Perfect intonation, the biggest ears, the warmest, most captivating tone in the history of the jazz bass".

Family and friends, including many jazz greats, will come together to celebrate the life of jazz legend Charlie Haden (1937-2014), Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient and NEA Jazz Master who is one of the most innovative and influential bassists in the history of jazz. Just as importantly, Haden was a husband, a father, a colleague, a friend, a teacher, and a human being passionately concerned about social justice. He first came to fame as a member of the iconic Ornette Coleman Quartet, and literally changed the way the bass was played. He went on to play with Keith Jarrett and a who’s who of music’s greats, including John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Abbey Lincoln, and so many more. At the same time he formed his iconic bands Liberation Music Orchestra (in 1969) and Quartet West (in 1986) with which he performed and recorded until his untimely passing. In 1982, he founded the Jazz Studies Program at California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA.
Among the many performers will be Geri Allen, Kenny Barron, Carla Bley, Jack DeJohnette, Denardo Coleman, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell, Ethan Iverson, Josh Haden and the Haden Triplets, Ruth Cameron-Haden, Dr, Maurice Jackson, Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Josh Redman, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Brandee Younger, as well as Quartet West with Alan Broadbent, Ernie Watts, Rodney Green, with Scott Colley on bass, and Liberation Music Orchestra with Carla Bley, Tony Malaby, Chris Cheek, Loren Stillman, Michael Rodriguez, Seneca Black, Curtis Fowlkes, Vincent Chancey, Joe Daley, Steve Cardenas, Matt Wilson, with Steve Swallow on bass.

The Town Hall, NYC

123 W 43rd St. New York, NY
http://thetownhall.org/event/624-celebrating-charlie-haden-19372014

A comporre il puzzle multiculturale di Under Your Skin - ambizioso progetto editoriale lanciato qualche anno fa da Alexander Mclean e basato, almeno nelle intenzioni, sull'interazione tra carta stampata, video e web - ci sono interviste e commenti di Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Dead Prez, Cindy Blackman, Yusef Lateef, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Korn, Sepultura, Henry Rollins, Bob James, Skip Mcdonald, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Roy Ayers, Living Colour, Dinosaur Jr, Amiri Baraka, Lydia Lunch, Marshall Allen, Jack Dejohnette, Public Enemy, Lenny White, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Frisell, Esperanza Spalding, Fred Frith e molti molti altri. Tra i video più recenti - circa cinquanta i frammenti attualmente visibili via Facebook o YouTube - c'è qualche minuto di amabile conversazione con Steve Swallow e Carla Bley in occasione di una loro visita londinese lo scorso novembre.

In many ways Under Your Skin is the first exploration on the cultural diversity of music. DVD and book give a valuable insight on artists from around the globe – from Popular Music to Jazz, Hip Hop, Reggae, Avantgarde, Metal, Electronic, DJ-ing/Turntablism and Classical. The book comprises a vast affiliation of artistic and social culture in its variety and illuminates in a world-wide discussion its usefulness in today’s societies. In interviews the artists discuss their careers, their ups and downs, their tactical skills needed to bring music to the market, the light and shadow sides of touring and the effect it causes. Under Your Skin covers musicians from different generations and gives the reader a close insight into the music business which is rarely shown, from the day to day pursuits to the more humorous side of the business.

http://underyourskin.net

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

https://www.facebook.com/siobhanbradshaw3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJK8-oz1bnM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--MSTzClrt8

Dopo aver travolto con le proprie esibizioni - a organico completo e in piccole formazioni satellite - la quinta edizione del Jazz Autumn Festival di Cracovia (Polonia), nel novembre 2010, la New Orchestra di Barry Guy tornò in quegli stessi luoghi due anni dopo a compiere ulteriori misfatti: con il leader c'erano ancora, impenitenti, Evan Parker, Hans Koch, Mats Gustafsson, Trevor Watts, Johannes Bauer, Herb Robertson, Per-Ake Holmlander, Agustí Fernandez, Maya Homburger, Raymond Strid e Paul Lytton. Come in precedenza, ricostruisce quelle scorribande l'etichetta Not Two Records con un box di 4cd: Mad Dogs On The Loose.

http://nottwo.com/PelnaPlyta.php?Id=490&W=0
http://www.discogs.com/Barry-Guy-New-Orchestra-Small-Formations-Mad-Dogs-On-The-Loose/release/6357079

Concepito trentacinque anni fa da Morgan Fisher, l'antologico - e profetico - Miniatures ha avuto più di una ripresa e di una ristampa. L'ultima in ordine temporale è in vinile rosso - come l'orecchio dell'immagine di copertina - in una tiratura limitata a un paio di centinaia di copie per opera di Megaphone/Knock 'em Dead.

In 1980, as the owner of his own label and studio, Morgan Fisher was overwhelmed by the number of ideas he thought up for albums that he could now record and release. Realising that it was impossible to do everything he conceived, he decided to see how many of these ideas could be included on one album. Rather than recording the music himself, he invited 50 musicians who he admired to send in tracks of up to one minute in length. They responded with unanimous enthusiasm, and as well as receiving tapes through the mail from all over the world, Morgan also packed up his Revox tape recorder and went to several musicians homes to record them there. Original artwork for the album was contributed by the notorious Ralph Steadman. The album is an astonishing survey of the cutting-edge music of the period, and includes such gems as: The Residents singing a song from “South Pacific”; Robert Wyatt singing a Frank Sinatra song; David Bedford compressing Wagner’s “Ring Cycle”; Fred Frith shrinking the entire works of Henry Cow; Robert Fripp playing a keyboard; Andy Partridge (XTC) offering the history of rock’n’roll in 20 seconds; Ralph Steadman singing a John Donne poem; R.D. Laing playing the piano; Martin Chambers (The Pretenders) lecturing on ornithology while drumming and Pete Seeger playing Beethoven on the banjo...

http://www.morgan-fisher.com/miniatures
http://www.knockemdeadrecords.com/shop-miniatures-a-sequence-of-fifty-one-tiny-masterpieces-edited-by-morgan-fisher.html

Compie tra poco i suoi primi quarant'anni Un biglietto del tram degli Stormy Six. Il numero di questa settimana de L'Espresso ne ha in allegato una copia, per una sua serie dedicata al progressive rock italiano. Buon anniversario, ragazzi!

Ricorda Franco Fabbri: "Nel giro di poche settimane, nella primavera del 1975, nasce il primo disco «indipendente» degli Stormy Six (uno dei primissimi, comunque, per un gruppo italiano): Un biglietto del tram. È un grande successo: distribuito porta a porta, nelle manifestazioni, ma anche nei negozi (qui, dall’Ariston) finisce per vendere quasi trentamila copie, una cifra esorbitante confrontata ai mezzi, e al periodo di grande crisi nel quale la discografia sta precipitando. «Stalingrado» diventa un inno di piazza. Un biglietto del tram è un disco molto particolare. Il contenuto è politico (le canzoni rievocano episodi della Resistenza) e il suono è rigorosamente acustico: ma nelle musiche e nei testi - tutte e tutti di ottimo livello - si coglie l’atmosfera del progressive rock inglese (Gentle Giant, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum), filtrato attraverso un rigore musicale che depura gli elementi blues a favore di una scrittura cameristica di sapore continentale, mitteleuropeo. È un lavoro autenticamente collettivo: Fiori e Leddi si aggiungono come compositori, il suono del violino di De Martini plasma l’impasto globale, tutto il gruppo collabora agli arrangiamenti. Tra l’altro, alla formazione si è aggiunto stabilmente anche il tecnico del suono, Giorgio Albani, primo caso del genere in Italia."

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Un_biglietto_del_tram
http://www.discogs.com/release/2101854
http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=12416

Tra i progetti che vedono attualmente impegnato l'infaticabile Guigou Chenevier - oltre alle molteplici attività ad Avignone dell'associazione Collectif Inouï - ci sono varie esperienze di musica con il cinema, il teatro, la letteratura e la poesia, ricognizioni rock (Le Miroir et le Marteau), assoli acustici (Musiques Minuscules), lezioni di gamelan giavanese tradizionale e moderno in Indonesia (Balungan), riprese al plurale del concetto Volapük (Rêve général) e un nuovo trio (Les Mutants Maha) il cui debutto è consegnato da appena qualche giorno a Bandcamp. Tutte iniziative che enumera lo stesso batterista in coda a un'ampia rievocazione delle vicende del suo storico gruppo Etron Fou Leloublan raccolta lo scorso giugno dalla rivista It's Psychedelic Baby.

http://www.collectif-inoui.org
http://balungan.net
http://collectifinou.bandcamp.com/album/les-mutants-maha
https://soundcloud.com/lionel-malric/sets/les-mutants-maha
http://collectifinou.bandcamp.com/album/le-bal-inou

http://collectifinou.bandcamp.com/album/les-phasmes

http://psychedelicbaby.blogspot.com/2014/06/etron-fou-leloublan-interview.html

Da domani a domenica 11 gennaio sarà possibile incontrare in Italia Viv Corringham, impegnata tra Milano e Torino in varie iniziative di laboratorio didattico, guida all'ascolto profondo e performance in concerto. Le ricognizioni del paesaggio sonoro di cui è divenuta negli anni un'autorevole esperta a livello internazionale - uno dei suoi piu recenti lavori, Walking (Innova, 2013), è stato preso in considerazione per una nomination al Grammy - non hanno però soppiantato le sue passioni per musiche e canzoni della tradizione, per l'improvvisazione e per l'avant-rock. Poche settimane fa ad esempio era a Londra - oltre che per partecipare tra il pubblico all'omaggio a Lindsay Cooper - per vari concerti in solo, con Monkey Puzzle Trio (con Charles Hayward e Nick Doyne-Ditmas) e per il debutto di Seven Sisters of Smyrna con Clive Bell e Sylvia Hallett, iniziativa quest'ultima inserita nel delizioso calendario dell'itinerante Club Integral.

http://www.vivcorringham.org
https://www.facebook.com/viv.corringham
http://www.clivebell.co.uk
http://www.sylviahallett.co.uk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pc_SWMxxnhI
http://clubintegral.wordpress.com

Circolate per anni in via non ufficiale tra cultori e appassionati (anche dello Yodel) escono allo scoperto le registrazioni del concerto del cantante statunitense Leon Thomas con i britannici Nucleus - il sestetto degli esordi, a cavallo temporale tra Elastic Rock e We'll Talk About It Later - tenuto al Montreux Jazz Festival del 1970. Se ne incarica la Gearbox Records, specializzata in lussuose edizioni in vinile: Live 1970.

The first official release of the June 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival concert featuring trumpeter Ian Carr’s pioneering Nucleus performing with US vocalist Leon Thomas on a set of Thomas’ repertoire. The collaboration with Thomas is (in Ian Carr's words) a combination of the “rock thing... with the roots of the music”. Leon Thomas, vocals; Ian Carr, trumpet & flugelhorn; Karl Jenkins, oboe & piano; Brian Smith, soprano & tenor sax, flute; Chris Spedding, guitar; Jeff Clyne, bass; John Marshall, drums.

http://gearboxrecords.wazala.com/products/nucleus-with-leon-thomas
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moRNfaqfrfI
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-1970-nucleus-gearbox-records-review-by-bruce-lindsay.php
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/live-1970-nucleus-and-leon-thomas-gearbox-records-review-by-roger-farbey.php

Michael Mantler recupera alcune sue antiche partiture che furono alla base di uno dei capolavori del jazz orchestrale d'avanguardia di fine anni sessanta e le consegna a nuovi solisti e nuova orchestra per una rilettura e un aggiornamento: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Update, dal vivo al Porgy & Bess viennese a fine estate 2013 e ora cd pubblicato da ECM.
L'album originale - un doppio LP del 1968 prodotto da Mantler per la JCOA Records con Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Larry Coryell e Gato Barbieri tra i solisti - fu di grande rilievo all'epoca sia per intrinseche qualità artistiche, quale esempio di rapporto innovativo tra composizione e improvvisazione, e tra solisti e gruppo, sia perché espressione politica di integrazione tra orchestra autogestita, associazione non-profit ed etichetta discografica non dipendente dalle comuni logiche commerciali. Mantler ne parla in dettaglio in un'intervista con Steve Lake, e conclude: "The original idea was to create an orchestra that would concern itself with presenting free jazz within a larger, more controlled orchestral environment. It was also a political and social institution created to enable creative artists to work unencumbered of commercial constraints. I still love the original album for its power and excitement and the absolutely exceptional improvising – to me some of the best playing ever by those original soloists. As for the updated versions of these scores, they made it possible for me to give the compositions a new life – and the recording expresses ideally how I feel that music should sound now."

http://www.mantlermusic.com

http://www.mantlermusic.com/Records/Rec_comp/Rec_comp_sgles/jco_update.htm

Different Every Time, la biografia di Robert Wyatt scritta da Marcus O'Dair, è libro della settimana per il programma su Radio 4 della BBC Book of the Week. Curatrice della riduzione è Katrin Williams, con la voce narrante di Julian Rhind-Tutt. La presentazione è in cinque episodi trasmessi giornalmente - anche in replica - da domani a sabato 10 gennaio:

1. Jazz, pop and word games, along with family and friends, influence Wyatt's early years.
2. With his band the Soft Machine, Wyatt plays at psychedelic pop happenings and freak outs.
3. After the accident, it is life in a wheelchair. Robert adapts his playing and singing.
4. After the success of the song Shipbuilding, various memorable albums follow.
5. Wyatt much enjoys curating the Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xxrfl

Altro progetto che il 2015 condurrà presto a nuovi sviluppi è la collaborazione iniziata qualche tempo fa tra Robert Wyatt e The Future Eve, manifestatasi finora in un suggestivo mix aperto e in progress di suoni, parole, annotazioni, grafica, immagini, libretti artistici e pagine web con il titolo Kitsune (volpe, in giapponese), traendo spunto da un brano apparso in Cuckooland - Brian the Fox - e muovendo lungo le quattro direttrici in esso suggerite (Overnight, Upstream, Downwind, Overland).

"These pieces were born more than ten years ago.
A time spent as if observing planets.
Though their creation is in the past
That they have arrived is in the present."

http://ki-tsu-ne.com
https://www.facebook.com/thefutureeve
https://soundcloud.com/thefutureeve/kitsune-dat-original
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/kitsune-single/id919886804

Sembra procedere ormai spedita la realizzazione di Canterbury Tales, terzo capitolo della serie di documentari musicali scritti e prodotti da Adele Schmidt e José Zegarra Holder denominata Romantic Warriors; l'attenzione è rivolta in questo caso alla cosiddetta scena di Canterbury, sia quella storica sia quella ereditata e interpretata da musicisti di altra latitudine e successiva generazione. Nel messaggio augurale di inizio anno che gli autori hanno inviato ai sostenitori del progetto c'è l'incoraggiante riscontro di una prima proiezione di prova effettuata con successo presso un gruppo di appassionati ed esperti: "We are glad to tell you that we have completed a 115 min. fine-cut of the documentary. On Saturday, December 27 we had a test screening of the film. We showed it in a private screening to about 16 people and had a feedback discussion afterwards. We encouraged the audience to tell us if they could identify spots in the film that needed clarification. The reaction to the film was enthusiastic. We had a very constructive discussion that provided us with great feedback that will help us take the film to the final line. The next two months will be dedicated to finalize the film. We will continue the licensing process of footage, stills and music and we are aiming to go into the mastering process by the end of February."

http://www.progdocs.com/Progdocs.com/Home.html
http://on.fb.me/131ltuf
https://twitter.com/progdocs

Cuneiform Records passa da un festeggiamento all'altro - trenta gli anni compiuti nel 2014 dall'etichetta, e trentacinque ora quelli della sorella Wayside Music - guardando all'alba del nuovo anno con la promessa di cinque imminenti pubblicazioni: Mike Osborne, Dawn; Soft Machine, Switzerland 1974 (audio e video); The Kandinsky Effect, Somnambulist; Schnellertollermeier, X e Henry Kaiser con Ray Russell, The Celestial Squid. Auguri!

http://www.waysidemusic.com
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/cuneiformrecords
https://twitter.com/cuneiformrecord
http://cuneiformrecord.blogspot.com/2014/12/dawn-beginning-of-new-day-new-year-new.html