Tornano in circolazione in via semi-ufficiale le registrazioni di Terry Riley in duo con Don Cherry, effettuate a Colonia (Germania) nel febbraio 1975. Le raccoglie B.Free con il titolo Terry Riley Don Cherry Duo. Ricorda Riley: "I was staying at Mary Bauermeister’s house. She was the ex-wife of Karlheinz Stockhausen. Don was staying there a lot. A German producer asked us to do a concert in Cologne that was recorded for radio, I don’t know who got hold of the tapes from the radio, but the recording sounds fairly decent. We didn’t plan anything. The best recording from those sessions is when I’m playing Persian Surgery Dervishes and Don is playing along, creating a countercurrent for it."

https://www.discogs.com/Terry-Riley-Don-Cherry-Terry-Riley-Don-Cherry-Duo/release/9844071
https://www.dustygroove.com/item/828979/Terry-Riley-Don-Cherry:Terry-Riley-Don-Cherry-Duo
http://www.soundohm.com/product/terry-riley-and-don-cherry-duo/pid/28177
http://www.innerviews.org/inner/riley.html

L'idea è venuta a George Manak, quindici anni fa, e ci ha messo del suo anche Peter van der Ham: far interpretare - inconsapevolmente - Clapping Music di Steve Reich a Lee Marvin e Angie Dickinson. Senza un attimo di tregua!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY4bL_bO8sA

La drammatica evidenza dell'incidente ferroviario della stazione di Montparnasse a Parigi, avvenuto il 22 ottobre 1895, già fu indagata con successo dagli Ex con Tom Cora nel loro fulminante Scrabbling at the Lock (RecRec, 1991). Nuovi particolari però saranno presto rivelati dai Residents, che di quel disastro furono - a quanto pare - testimoni oculari (sic).

http://residents.com/news
https://www.psychofonrecords.com/residents-ghost-hope-details-revealed

Era uscito nel 2010 in poche specialissime copie, andate subito esaurite, rimanendo poi disponibile solo in digitale tramite Ape House. Ora torna in circolazione in formato cd standard il lavoro di Andy Partridge ispirato alle celebri illustrazioni di Richard M. Powers per libri e storie di fantascienza degli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta: Powers.

A long time ago, in a library far away, (well, Swindon, actually), a shy schoolboy who loved books but was a slow reader, borrowed three science fiction books per week. He didn't read them. Instead, mesmerised by the covers, he imagined his own stories to match the cover paintings which he stared at intently for hours. Invited to tell his classmates about the books he'd read, neither they nor the teachers spotted the invention. Few, if any, teachers read sci-fi and even though the early 1960s may have been a peak point for the excitement surrounding mankind's initial steps beyond the Earth, teachers would sooner bore any potential interest in books out of children with Charles Dickens rather than risk capturing their imagination with Philip K Dick.
Decades passed. The moon was reached and then, it seemed, forgotten. The faraway galaxies became the stuff of mainstream cinema and TV. Books celebrating the work and art of an earlier generation of sci-fi writers and illustrators appeared. The boy in the library of the early 1960s, now a man in a comic book/graphic novel shop at the end of the first decade of a new millennium, discovered a book about Richard M. Powers and became a time traveller, transported back to the smell of the paper, the plastic protective library book coverings and the universe laid out, jigsaw like, on his bed. Richard M. Powers had been the principal artist, illustrator among illustrators and guide to unleashing Andy Partridge's imagination among the stars and galaxies. Andy's response was to record a sort of soundtrack to the paintings which had been so inspirational to him. The resulting album conjures, via 12 enigmatic pieces - akin to a virtual musique concrete (with the computer/editing process replacing the more cumbersome scissors/tape method) - a musical accompaniment to the variety of alien landscapes which Powers illustrated so profusely.

https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/product/406/8514
https://www.burningshed.com/store/ape/multiproduct/406/2389

Gonzo Multimedia estrae dagli archivi un'intervista di cinque anni fa a Daevid Allen e la pubblica al proprio blog (The Gonzo Daily) più o meno in coincidenza con l'uscita di un nuovo album del collettivo americano Spirits Burning - guidato da Don Falcone, nuovamente in combutta con Cyrille "Clearlight" Verdeaux - cui contribuiscono, oltre appunto al compianto Allen, molti gonghisti della prima e dell'ultima ora: Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett e Didier Malherbe, poi Ian East, Fabio Golfetti, Dave Sturt e Kavus Torabi. E ci sono anche Theo Travis, Judy Dyble, più altri del giro Hawkwind e Camper Van Beethoven: The Roadmap In Your Head.

https://www.facebook.com/spiritsburning
http://annecarlini.com/ex_cd.php?id=2151
http://www.gonzomultimedia.co.uk/product_details/15992/Spirits_Burning_and_Clearlight-The_Roadmap_In_Your_Head.html
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2017/02/gong-interview-with-daevid-allen.html

Due puntate del suo programma Latin Waves per Resonance FM Javier Chandía le ha dedicate a fine gennaio anche a Phil Manzanera, non soltanto per fargli gli auguri di buon compleanno - quest'anno per il chitarrista sono sessantasei - ma intervistandolo su iniziative e progetti, produzioni e collaborazioni del recente passato e del recentissimo presente, incluso il secondo capitolo Corroncho (Expression Records, 2017) cui danno man forte tra gli altri anche Andrea Echeverri, Chucho Merchan, Gilad Atzmon e Robert Wyatt.

http://www.latinwavesresonancefm.com/single-post/2017/01/15/LW-220117-Interview-to-Phil-Manzanera-Roxy-Music-Pink-Floyd-Brian-Eno-Robert-Wyatt-about-his-Latin-music-productions
http://www.latinwavesresonancefm.com/single-post/2017/01/24/LW-290117-Premier-Corroncho-2-by-Phil-Manzanera-Lucho-Brieva
http://corroncho.com

E sempre tramite Mixcloud si riascoltano due puntate curate di recente da Javier Chandía per Latin Waves di Resonance FM, il 12 e il 19 febbraio scorsi, a proposito delle indimenticabili canzoni latinoamericane di protesta sociale di Violeta Parra, Victor Jara, Carlos Puebla e Pablo Milanes che hanno ispirato le versioni - anch'esse indimenticabili - realizzate negli anni da Robert Wyatt. Molti brani sono proposti in originale, altri sono estratti da Ruth is Stranger than Richard, Comicopera, Nothing Can Stop Us e Work in Progress; nella puntata del 12 febbraio c'è anche una breve intervista allo stesso Wyatt.

http://www.latinwavesresonancefm.com/single-post/2017/02/09/LW-120217-Interview-to-Robert-Wyatt-about-his-Latin-American-protest-songs
http://www.latinwavesresonancefm.com/single-post/2017/02/17/LW--Meet-Robert-Wyatts-original-protest-songs

Ogni tanto la rivista israeliana Columbus Music Magazine chiede ai propri lettori di suggerire brani per compilare programmi musicali a tema da riascoltare e diffondere attraverso Mixcloud. Per il capitolo di quasi due ore dedicato a Robert Wyatt - l'occasione era il suo settantaduesimo compleanno, il mese scorso - sono state scelte tra le altre Sea Song, Memories, Forest, Alliance, Free Will and Testament nella versione Unthanks, Catholic Architecture, Gharbzadegi, Maryan, Alifib/Alife, Dondestan, Be Serious, Just As You Are, Stay Tuned e Pigs.

http://columbusmusicmagazine.com
https://www.mixcloud.com/columbusmusicblog/robert-wyatt-birthday-mix-columbus-readers-picks

E nella nutrita serie di collage creati per proprio diletto da Morten Sørlie c'è anche un enigmatico dittico dedicato a Robert Wyatt: Wyatt Leaving Eden e Wyatt Leaving Inferno.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/robertwyatt

Una pittrice di Louth, Jayne Cooper, ha un ritratto recente di Robert Wyatt nella sua collezione di dipinti su tela: al momento, e per tutto febbraio 2017, è in mostra al Caistor Arts & Heritage Centre, nel Lincolnshire (Regno Unito). Tel: 01472 851605.

Artist Jayne Cooper studied painting at Glasgow School of Art. Over the last ten years she has exhibited throughout the UK in both shared and solo shows, including the BP awards at the National Portrait Gallery, London. Jayne works from her studio in the Lincolnshire market town of Louth.

http://www.jaynecooperpaintings.com/about.php
http://www.jaynecooperpaintings.com/oil-on-canvas.php
http://28ploughhill.co.uk/content/jane-cooper-art-exhibition

Scarseggiano ormai le copie delle stampe di Alfreda Benge per le copertine di cinque album di Robert Wyatt disponibili presso Hypergallery, specialmente Rock Bottom: "Rock Bottom is one of a series of limited edition Robert Wyatt album cover art prints published in 2014/15 to celebrate Different Every Time--An Authorized Biography of Robert Wyatt, and to mark the 40th anniversary of Rock Bottom, Robert’s classic solo album. All five images (Rock Bottom, Ruth Is Stranger Than Richard, Dondestan, Shleep and Comicopera) were produced in collaboration with the artist, Alfreda (Alfie) Benge, and signed in pencil by both Alfie and Robert. Anyone purchasing two prints will receive the hardback copy of Different Every Time--An Authorized Biography of Robert Wyatt, containing a special bookplate signed in ink by Robert and Alfie. There are now only a few prints remaining in the edition".

Hypergallery
Broadgates, 47a Market Place
Henley-On-Thames, Oxfordshire
RG9 2AA UK
https://www.hypergallery.com

http://tinyurl.com/hszj8n6
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3E7OhQFsuk

A detta dei protagonisti stessi: "Wow these were three pretty amazing shows at Café Oto last weekend." E ve n'è qualche evidenza anche nei materiali audio e video che circolano sul web: Slapp Happy with faUSt.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2204426972/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/Andunemir/videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/flytomars

Recensioni, commenti e testimonianze audio e video a proposito dei due concerti del 2 e 3 febbraio scorsi all'Olympia a Parigi: Magma & Le Mëtalïk Orkestraah.

http://kosmikmu.blogspot.com/2017/02/retour-rapide-sur-le-concert-lolympia.html
http://theprogressiveaspect.net/blog/2017/02/11/magma-avec-le-metalik-orkestraah
https://www.youtube.com/user/films4music/videos

http://tinyurl.com/z78bzfa

La scena francese delle musiche innovatrici e sperimentali dagli anni Settanta in poi, tra Zeuhl, Rock in Opposition e un pochino oltre: prova a tracciarne la storia e le traiettorie il libro di Philippe Robert Agitation Frite, la più recente delle eleganti produzioni Lenka Lente.

Au gré de conversations – inédites, sinon publiées jadis dans Vibrations, Octopus, Revue & Corrigée… – avec quelques-uns de ses acteurs, Philippe Robert compose un panorama saisissant de l’underground musical français, qui documente la pratique de groupes tels que Magma, Urban Sax, Catalogue, Mahogany Brain, Soixante Etages, Etron Fou Leloublan, Camizole, Vidéo-Aventures, Heldon, Lard Free, Workshop de Lyon, Un drame musical instantané, Les I, Dust Breeders, Vomir… ou des labels tels que Saravah, Futura ou Potlatch. Entretiens avec (par ordre d’apparition): Gérard Terronès, François Billard, Pierre Barouh, Michel Bulteau, Jac Berrocal, Jacques Debout, Dominique Grimaud, Albert Marcoeur, Christian Vander, Richard Pinhas, Gilbert Artman, Pascal Comelade, Christian Rollet, Guigou Chenevier, Jean-Jacques Birgé, Pierre Bastien, Bruno Meillier, Daunik Lazro, Dominique Lentin, Jean-Marc Montera, Didier Petit, Yves Botz, Dominique Répécaud, Camel Zekri, Noël Akchoté, Christophe & Françoise Petchanatz, Lê Quan Ninh, Jean-Marc Foussat, Jérôme Noetinger, Jean-Louis Costes, Jacques Oger, Jean-Noël Cognard, Sylvain Guérineau, Julien Palomo, Yann Gourdon, Romain Perrot.

http://www.lenkalente.com/product/agitation-frite-de-philippe-robert

San Valentino con Diamanda: un'intervista in Rolling Stone, e via Soundcloud due primizie dagli imminenti album All The Way e At Saint Thomas the Apostle Harlem. Robe che neanche la Perugina...

http://diamandagalas.com

Cien Fuegos e Trost si alleano per ripubblicare la storica serie berlinese di The End, Couscouss de la mauresque ed Elements con cui la FMP documentò i primi incontri di Peter Brötzmann, Fred van Hove e Han Bennink con Albert Mangelsdorff nei roventi giorni del Free Music Market al Quartier Latino di Berlino sul finire dell'agosto 1971. I tre album sono disponibili individualmente, oppure raccolti in un box a tiratura estremamente limitata accompagnati da un poster artigianale proprio come in origine.

http://www.trost.at
http://www.cienfuegosrecords.com
http://tinyurl.com/j4h4son

Antologia di lusso per Sven-Åke Johansson, annunciata per il mese prossimo dall'etichetta Ni Vu Ni Connu (responsabile quattro anni fa del magnifico box Just Not Cricket!): raccoglierà sotto il titolo Blue for a Moment alcune registrazioni storiche del poliedrico batterista - tra cui un duo del 1978 con Alexander von Schlippenbach - e altre più recenti prodotte contestualmente alla realizzazione del film-documentario Im Schlingerland. In tiratura limitata, da prenotare tramite Bandcamp.

The box set of 9 heavyweight 180g LPs includes a collection of recent recordings made during the shooting of the documentary Sven-Åke Johansson: Im Schlingerland as well as a concert of the Schlippenbach & Johansson duo recorded in the late 70's. The compilation illustrates the protean qualities of an artist who, since his beginnings as a jazz drummer, refuses to be enclosed in a precise musical genre.

http://ni-vu-ni-connu.net/music/blue-for-a-moment-vinyl-box
http://ni-vu-ni-connu.net/music/sven-aake-johansson-vinyl-series/#c190
https://vimeo.com/202906687

Ad arricchire la mostra Mirabili mostri-L’Apocalisse secondo Baj, ospitata fino al 26 febbraio 2017 a Palazzo Leone da Perego/MA*GA di Legnano (MI), c'è un ciclo di performance dal titolo Contaminazioni-Baj e le influenze artistiche negli anni ’70-’80. Domani pomeriggio alle 16.30 è il turno di Massimo Giuntoli, con un programma di musiche sue, di Satie, Wyatt, Zappa e Hatfield and The North.

http://www.museomaga.it/eventi/285/contaminazioni_17
http://cultura.legnano.org/sale/57/122/8068

Tre volte Slapp Happy con FaUSt al Cafe Oto londinese da oggi a domenica. Meglio prenderli al volo - se si riesce a rimediare un ingresso - perché poi son già diretti a Tokyo.

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/slapp-happy-faust-two-day-residency
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/slapp-happy-faust-matinee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvCGiyYHKbU

Arpe al plurale, vapori elettronici e piccola folla di oggetti nel nuovo album di Zeena Parkins, realizzato con Nuiko Wadden, Kristen Theriault, Megan Conley, con lo zampino di Ikue Mori: Three Harps, Tuning Forks & Electronics, per la newyorkese Good Child Music.

Three Harps, Tuning Forks & Electronics represents a return to Parkins' most essential form, while extending her unique voice and musical language into the world of concert music. A translation of the music written for her 2008 collaboration with choreographer Neil Greenberg entitled Really Queer Dance With Harps, Three Harps transforms her original improvised score into a stand alone, composed piece anchored in Zeena’s pioneering use of “extended technique”. Utilizing the entire apparatus of the harp and various objects to create and process sound, Zeena and two additional harpists elicit a tangible sense of movement from their unusual processes, resulting in a harp record unquestionably like no other.

https://zeenaparkins.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.musicglue.com/goodchildmusic/products/zeena-parkins-three-harps-tuning-forks-and-electronics-cd

A volte ritornano, e più che mai in linea con i tempi correnti... Massacre, Killing Time.

Spittle Records present an expanded reissue of Massacre's Killing Time, originally released in 1981. Following the breakup of Cambridge's avant-rock legends, Henry Cow, guitarist Fred Frith moved to NYC in 1979, and soon found himself deep in the heart of the city's robust post-punk and free-jazz scenes. He performed with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher, from the group Material, as a power trio of sorts under the moniker of Massacre. The group quickly garnered a reputation around town, and around the world for that matter, as a heavy and heady band that experimented greatly with rhythm, time signatures, and tone. As Frith himself put it, "the group was a direct response to New York. It was a very aggressive group, kind of my reaction to the whole New York rock club scene." Massacre released one album, Killing Time, before disbanding for nearly 20 years. Their first wave as a group crashed fast and furiously and this one album, recorded in part live in Paris, and in part at Brooklyn's OAO Studio, is a perfect encapsulation of early '80s NYC. In addition to the original album, first released on Celluloid in 1981, this deluxe three-sided double LP includes eight bonus tracks recorded live between '80 and '81 in San Francisco and at Inroads and CBGB in NYC. Avant-jazz-post-punk-noise of the highest order from several legends and one of the most important projects Frith and Laswell were ever involved in.

http://beta.goodfellas.it/spittle_records/8033706210673-killing-time.html

Del nuovo, splendido cd di Ossatura, Maps and Mazes, scrive Cutler: "After many years percolating, this third release by Ossatura documents a quite dramatic aesthetic shift - including more acoustic instruments alongside the electronic; more settled, cyclic rhythms; more harmonic concord - even a song. On occasion reminiscent of the Necks in abstract mood, these pieces offer pools of complex, grounded, shifting textures, interpenetrated by atmospheric field recordings. Immersive."

http://tinyurl.com/hphanxr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2jW5MK08iI

E Moloko+ pubblica anche il lavoro del quartetto di Alfred 23 Harth con Wolfgang Seidel, Fabrizio Spera e Nicole van den Plas, frutto di una sessione berlinese del novembre 2015. Latte Macchiato? Nein, Malcha!

Kernstück dieser wie koreanischer grüner Tee aufgeschäumten Musik ist eine Session von Alfred Harth, Wolfgang Seidel & Fabrizio Spera am 13.11.2015 in Wedding. Die freilich nicht denkbar wäre ohne das Hintergrundrauschen von Seidels 'Total Freier Musik' mit Conrad Schnitzler und Harths 'herrschaftsfreier Musik' mit Just Music, das bereits Anfang der 80er schon mal zusammen­gerauscht ist, als Harth mit Seidels Populäre Mechanik improvisierte. Vermittelt wurde das durch eine Beuys-Connection von Schnitzler und Harth, der 25 Jahre später sein Projekt mit Spera wiederum mit Beuys-Spirit 7k Oaks taufte. Virtuell waren Harth & Seidel sich bereits für "Five Eyes" (Moloko+, 2014) wieder nahegekommen, diesmal also von Angesicht zu Angesicht. Allerdings mit massiver Nachbereitung des Sessionmaterials im Harths Seouler Laubhuette. Insbesondere infiltrierte es den Sound seiner Saxophone, von Seidels Buchla, Vibes und präparierter Gitarre und die von Speras Drumming verdichtete Percussion mit Zuspielungen von Nicole van den Plas, seiner Partnerin einst in E.M.T. Deren schamanistischer Singsang, ihre Pfeifen, Piano und Daumenklavier, dazu Gekrabbel auf Zither und Balalaika bohren zusammen mit Harths Dojirak ins kirrende und brodelnde Delirium ein Wurmloch bis ins indische Oudh. Durch das quoll die phantastische Geschichte der Begum Wilayat Mahal, die sich mit zerstoßenen Diamanten im Malcha Mahal das Leben nahm, und inspirierte zu den Titeln. Ähnlich weird, wenn nicht noch bizarrer und überwirklicher ist der akustische Gegenentwurf zu Sinn und Form, Maß und Ziel, Ersatzausdrücke: anarchisch, polymorph-pervers, unsystematisch offen, honigplastisch. Harths Laubhuettenästhetik bis hin zu "Kepler 452b Edition" (auf Kendra Steiner) ist eine Explikation dieser unbedingten Freiheit. Sein Tenorclash mit Seidels Buchla ist ein Triumph, aber wie van den Plas den Hexenbesen schwingt und was die sieben Spatzen unter ihrem Dutt da treiben, das setzt noch einige Zacken obendrauf.

http://tinyurl.com/hlktru7
http://a23h-ba.blogspot.com/2016/10/harth-seidel-spera-van-den-plas-malcha.html

Disegni, poesie e testi vari di Alfred 23 Harth in un volume prodotto per la tedesca Moloko Print: Moondada.

Moondada, mit autobiographischem Charakter und einem Zeitumfang von 50 Jahren. Das Asiatische dabei, die ganzheitliche Unschärfe und der fernöstliche Antrieb waren schon anfänglich bei mir motivierend ... Seit 1961 spiele ich Klarinette und seit 1965 Saxofon. Seit 1966 vertiefte ich mein Verhältnis zu zeitgenössischer Kunst am Goethegymnasium und machte meine Musik/Kunst öffentlich, sei es durch Strassenhappenings oder Konzerte/Ausstellungen im von mir gegründeten „centrum freier cunst“ (1966-68) in Frankfurt/Main. 1975 schrieb ich erstmalig Poetry in einer Fremdsprache, während eines Aufenthalts in New York. Dann folgten weitere Ausstellungen, Gruppengründungen, Theatermusik, Texte mit Musikbearbeitungen, Konzerte und Plattenproduktionen. Ab Mitte der 80er wurden einige meiner Künstlertagebücher unregelmässig und in verschiedenen Ausführungen veröffentlicht. 90er: Zweitwohnung in Paris. Mit dem Jahrtausendwechsel erweiterte sich mein künstlerischer Weg auch nach Fernost.

http://www.molokoplusrecords.de
http://tinyurl.com/j9mh6lp
http://a23h-ba.blogspot.com/2017/01/alfred-23-harth-moondada-moloko-print.html

Starkland pubblica una quindicina di lavori inediti di Tod Dockstader creati tra il 2007 e il 2008 e rinvenuti nel suo computer dopo la sua morte, nel 2015, tra migliaia di altri file: From the Archives.

Carefully selected from over 4,200 sound files left behind by Dockstader, who died in 2015, these were the last pieces composed by Dockstader, before dementia stopped his studio work. When thousands of files were discovered on Dockstader’s computer, his daughter Tina Dockstader Kinard encouraged a devoted enthusiast, Justin H Brierley, to shift through this extensive material. He painstakingly located hundreds of selections potentially suitable for public release, sorted through these, and eventually sent over 50 promising sound files to Starkland’s Thomas Steenland. Having worked with Dockstader and promoted his music for over 35 years, Steenland carefully reduced these to the final 15 tracks heard on the CD.

http://www.starkland.com/st226/index.htm
http://www.starkland.com/reviews/ST226-Wire.pdf

Presentato a Berlino lo scorso dicembre nei giorni del festival Spectrum XXI - e accompagnato per l'occasione da un'esposizione di scritti originali e da un concerto presso l'Anagram Books - è pronto il corposo volume On the Metamorphosis of the Musical Text, che raccoglie e rende finalmente consultabili molte partiture, alcune assai rare, di Iancu Dumitrescu e Ana-Maria Avram.

http://tinyurl.com/joop3g8
http://www.spectralmusic.org/Iancudumitrescu/EDITION_MODERN.html

All'Olympia di Parigi, oggi e domani, ci sono i Magma con ospite Didier Lockwood e una trentina di giovani scalmanatissimi allievi, Le Mëtalïk Orkestraah. Ebollizione totale!

http://www.magmamusic.org
https://www.facebook.com/MAGMA-123777837633298
http://www.parismatch.com/Culture/Musique/Magma-va-porter-l-Olympia-a-ebullition-1178717

Fa la sua comparsa in una sezione del sito dei Westbrook qualche traccia di una delle opere di Mike più raramente citate e meno conosciute, prive a tutt'oggi di documentazione ufficiale fatta eccezione per una registrazione audio prodotta nel 1994 dalla Radio 3 della BBC. Si tratta di Coming Through Slaughter, dedicata al leggendario cornettista Buddy Bolden vissuto a New Orleans sul finire dell'Ottocento e basata sull'omonimo romanzo biografico di Michael Ondaatje. L'adattamento di scena venne concepito per sette voci, quartetto d'archi e trombone a pistoni, secondo il libretto di Michael Morris redatto con i consigli di Kate Westbrook. Si può leggere una recensione del debutto londinese alla Queen Elizabeth Hall (12 agosto 1994) scritta da Rodney Milnes, e ascoltare due brevi estratti: Pontchartrain e Favourite Shirt.

"A chamber opera about a jazz musician in which the accompaniment is for string quartet is not in principle the likeliest of prospects, but then Mike Westbrook’s new piece, premiered as part of Cultural Industry’s Now You See It series at the QEH, is unlikely in other aspects as well. It is also a notable success, a new opera you want to hear again, and soon. Based on Michael Ondaatje’s novel of the same title and with a libretto by Michael Morris (who also directs) it is a poetic reconstruction of the life of the New Orleans cornet player Buddy Bolden, whose playing was never recorded and about whose career little is known. He died in a mental hospital in 1931. The fluid, dreamlike scenario treats Bolden as a Wozzeck figure, nudged towards his end by those around him: his wife, a pimp he may (or may not) have killed, a married couple with whom he enjoys a brief rustic idyll, a lowlife photographer, a schoolroom friend who becomes a policeman and follows rather than tracks him down. With a nod to history, we never hear him play, but the valve-trombonist who moves in with his wife adds a startling extra texture to the string-quartet accompaniment in the second of the two hour‐long acts. Westbrook’s lyrical, instantly communicative post-modern score wisely declines to ape jazz elements, although blues and ragtime obviously colour it, and to stirring effect. Words, music and structure pay little heed to operatic orthodoxies."

http://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk/mikewestbrook/slaughter/index.shtml