All'archivio video su YT, in cui già documentava sue precedenti iniziative relative all'opera di William Blake e alle splendide musiche di Mike Westbrook tratte da Bright as Fire e Glad Day, il cantante e sassofonista norvegese Knut Laasbye ha da poco aggiunto le riprese del concerto tenuto a Lillehammer lo scorso mese alla guida, come voce narrante e solista, di un quartetto strumentale più quintetto vocale.
Poteva essere il secondo album di Giovanni Maier in duo con Keith Tippett, dopo Two for Joyce. Invece sarà con Alexander Hawkins, in omaggio al Nostro: Two for Keith.
An inspired and daring collection of mostly improvised duets guided by the spirit of the great late Keith Tippett and executed by two master musicians, Giovanni Maier on bass and Alexander Hawkins on piano. In 2013, the album Two for Joyce by Keith Tippett and Giovanni Maier was issued. The album was recorded live in Trieste at the Teatro Miela, and since there stands in that room a statue of James Joyce, Keith and Giovanni decided to dedicate their work to the Irish writer, in commemoration of his sojourn in the city in the early days of the 20th century. In 2019, Fabrizio Perissinotto and Giovanni decided to record and release a second duo album with Keith, and the studio was already booked for the spring of 2020. Unfortunately, the onset of Covid put paid to everything, and then the illness and death Keith laid all plans to rest for good. Since Giovanni's musical adventures have led him with a certain regularity to cross paths with another great English musician, Alexander Hawkins (in turn a great admirer of the late Tippett) they have decided to dedicate this new duo work to Keith, with respect and affection.
Un sogno che si realizza c'è anche per l'ascoltatore: un nuovo album di Louis Philippe! Promesso per maggio - e intanto anticipato da Pictures of Anna - e addirittura presentato dal vivo a Parigi, Londra, Stade e Amburgo: The Road to the Sea.
https://louisphilippe1.bandcamp.com/the-road-to-the-sea
E' ben più esplicito il sogno di Albert Marcoeur: dare coronamento a cinquant'anni di carriera musicale con la pubblicazione di un nuovo album entro la fine del 2025, il suo dodicesimo e conclusivo ("Allez Albert, encore un p’tit avant de ranger tous les outils. Encore un p’tit, ce sera le dernier, c’est promis, ce sera le dernier!"). Uno sforzo produttivo per lui non indifferente, che vedrà il coinvolgimento a vario titolo di una trentina di musicisti e avrà bisogno del sostegno di curiosi, amici e appassionati. Della raccolta di sottoscrizioni inizia ad occuparsi in questi giorni l'associazione ça sert à ça. L'album si intitolerà V'là autre chose!
Quattro delicate miniature con sogni per tutte le stagioni (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter Dreams) e una più composita variazione sul tema (Collected Dreams) probabilmente conclusiva della serie, affidata a rare stampe giapponesi prodotte in piccolo numero da 7e.p. e soltanto in parte disponibli sul web: Bill Wells si confida in privato, a tu per tu solo con Aby Vulliamy o con Audrey Bizouerne.
https://bandcamp.com/discover/bill-wells
Della lunga e fraterna amicizia tra Phil Miller e Pip Pyle, con ampi cenni alle mascalzonate (autentiche) del Rotters' Club, inizia a raccontare Herm L Mew al Phil Miller-The Legacy. A puntate.
Chi frequenta su Bandcamp il prezioso archivio Sinclair Songs di Richard Sinclair - dedicato naturalmente ai trascorsi storici in Caravan, Hatfield and the North e Camel ma soprattutto alle numerose vicende da solista e titolare degli anni successivi - sa che i materiali lì disponibili sono spesso soggetti a modifiche, aggiunte, rettifiche e revisioni con l'emergere via via di nuove informazioni o di nuove esigenze. Tra le cose più interessanti presenti al momento, frutto di ritrovamenti recenti e quasi casuali, ci sono l'unica apparizione ufficiale della Coxhill-Sinclair Band (Reims, novembre 1975), gli Hatfields con Robert Wyatt (ma senza Dave Stewart) per la tv francese ORTF (Parigi, gennaio 1973), i nastri preparativi per If I Could Do It All Over Again (Caravan, 1969) e una versione provvisoria di Seven Year Itch (Pip Pyle, 1994).
Scegliere tra gli oltre cento brani in repertorio i propri dieci preferiti non è stato semplice, però ci hanno provato: Barbara Gaskin per sé ha indicato - in ordine cronologico - The Hamburger Song, I'm in a Different World, There Is No Reward, Grey Skies, Your Lucky Star, The Sweetwater Sea, Fear is the Thief, René and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War, When the Warcry Comes e Time's Arrow, mentre Dave Stewart ha optato per New Jerusalem, Busy Doing Nothing, Walnut Tree Walk, Henry & James, As Far As Dreams Can Go, The Cloths Of Heaven, Heavy Heart e Deep Underground, oltre a Grey Skies e Your Lucky Star preferiti anche da Barbara. Dettagli sulla scelta dei brani si possono leggere nella più recente newsletter del duo, confidando di riascoltarne presto dal vivo almeno alcuni.
Fu dopo aver visto in azione Elliot Ingber - Winged Eel Fingerling nella Magic Band di Captain Beefheart - che il giovane Henry Kaiser decise di diventare chitarrista. Ricorda perfettamente il luogo il giorno l'ora e il motivo di quella folgorazione, un lungo solo 'very psychedelic' in Alice in Blunderland, che oggi cita nel rendere omaggio al suo amato ispiratore, a pochi giorni dalla scomparsa: Elliot Ingber & The Guitar Solo That Changed My Life.
https://www.beefheart.com/elliot-ingber-aka-winged-eel-fingerling
https://joelharrison.substack.com/farewell-to-elliot-ingber
https://www.youtube.com/Mahalo-Nui
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Un ritratto del compianto Howard Riley (1943-2025) a pochi giorni dalla scomparsa è offerto sulle pagine del Guardian da Richard Williams, UK Jazz News interpella Cath Longbottom a proposito del film (Cheerfully Beyond Category) prodotto appena in tempo per cogliere una memorabile performance del pianista in duo con Keith Tippett, The Wire recupera un'intervista di qualche anno fa condotta da Julian Cowley e The Free Jazz Collective ospita un ricordo di Martin Schray: "He always tried to bring both sides together: the useful ideas and intellectual aspects of the European musical environment and the intensity and spontaneity which is displayed by the American jazz tradition. Riley’s work ricocheted between drama, space, rumbling trills, rhythmic surprises and a sparing lyricism. Hardly anyone was able to develop a theme through constant modulations, harmony shifts and subtle dynamics like him, his idiosyncrasies always remaining accessible."
https://www.discogs.com/Howard-Riley
Capace di tradurre in gesto artistico qualsiasi sua bizzarria/saviezza senile rimane Sven-Åke Johansson, che qualche giorno fa per San Valentino ha consegnato agli amanti ('Ancora una volta, con sentimento') sette classici iperglicemici in 110 copie numerate: Sven-Åke Sings With Strings.
Everyone knows Swedish free jazz legend Sven-Åke Johansson kills it on the dancefloor, making Michael Jackson look petite in his three piece suit and killer moves! Nobody flips a cymbal with more style and patience than Sven-Åke! Whether it's a carboard cymbal, a rumbling tractor, Kippenberger's events, a brassband, a fire extinguisher or a lead pipe, anything turns into a stylish instrument in his hands. We've heard him croon before as well, though never as sugary as on this one sided beauty. 7 love songs straight from his classy heart to yours! Bounce along to cheesy jazz standards backed up by Gordon Monahan on organ and Axel Dörner on trumpet, slipped into a lasered love heart sleeve and a silkscreened B side to make your Valentine's Day extra spicy.
Debuttare come titolare all'età di cento anni (e presto, a maggio, saranno centouno). Una nuova alba, Marshall Allen. Davvero!
Storia e vicende della gloriosa Free Music Production e ragguagli in merito alle sue iniziative future: dopo l'emozionato intervento offerto l'anno scorso al Cafe Oto a Londra nei giorni dell'omaggio a Peter Brötzmann torna a parlarne oggi - questa volta a Chicago, ospite della galleria d'arte Corbett vs. Dempsey - Markus Müller, curatore delle retrospettive a Monaco (Haus der Kunst, 2017) e Berlino (Akademie der Künste, 2018), autore dello splendido volume FMP: The Living Music (Wolke, 2022) tratto da esse e attuale responsabile del catalogo dell'etichetta assieme a Anna Maria Ostendorf.
Corbett vs. Dempsey is pleased to welcome Markus Müller, who will talk about his personal involvement with Free Music Production, which includes working on exhibitions at the Haus der Kunst, Munich, and the Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg, Berlin, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. These shows resulted in Müller's book Free Music Production: FMP: The Living Music. Müller will focus on the specific FMP/Chicago relationship, exemplified by Peter Brötzmann’s commitment to the city and John Corbett’s numerous activities beginning in the 1990s. Furthermore he will contextualize the remarkable recent focus on the label and various musicians FMP worked with, including the appearance of books on Hans Reichel, Cecil Taylor, and Peter Brötzmann that were published in the last two years. Müller inherited FMP from Jost Gebers in 2024 and will also sketch his future plans for the imminent reawakening of the label in the course of this year.
Esce oggi quale atto d'amore e di profonda riconoscenza l'omaggio che il Cafe Oto londinese aveva promesso al compianto Peter Brötzmann (1941-2023) e concordato direttamente con lui qualche giorno prima della sua scomparsa: sono i suoi due ultimi concerti in assoluto, quelli tenuti lì il 19 e 11 febbraio 2023 in quartetto con Jason Adasiewicz, John Edwards e Steve Noble, ora raccolti in un prezioso album (The Quartet) disponibile in varie edizioni - quella in doppio cd è la più completa - e in uno speciale box artistico a tiratura limitata.
"It is a huge honour to announce the publication of Peter Brötzmann’s final concerts on Otoroku. When we invited Peter to do a residency at Cafe Oto back in February 2023 we had no idea these would be his last ever shows and he played with such power it would have been hard for anyone present to believe he would never play publicly again. Recorded over two nights this grouping of Jason Adasiewicz on vibraphone, John Edwards on bass and Steve Noble on drums feels especially resonant and personal to Cafe Oto. The first time Peter performed at the venue back in 2010 it was in a trio with John and Steve (released as The Worse The Better kickstarting our in-house record label) so it feels fitting that the last shows he ever played here should also have that trio at its core. The quartet last played together at Oto back in 2013 (released as Mental Shake on Otoroku) and Brötzmann humbly opened the return of the group saying "It's a pleasure to be back” before launching straight into a long blast on the alto sax, swiftly met by the relentless energy and engagement of Adasiewicz, Edwards and Noble. Peter clearly wanted to play to the end. Did he know these might be his last shows? We will never know. What is clear is he wanted to go out in style and on his terms. For anyone in the room at the time or listening to these recordings it’s clear he achieved that."
Un recente solo di Susana Santos Silva è disponibile presso Bandcamp per iniziativa della berlinese Skin and Speech: Live at Xciting Festival 2024, registrato a Stoccarda (Germania) lo scorso 13 settembre. Così ricorda lei stessa, con emozione: "From the start it was silence. Nakedness. Skin mirroring the silence from where the sound emerges. The sound that is all around us from even before the silence was heard. The sound that turns into speech. Speechless. Saked. Silent. The sound that bursts into energy within our bodies. Bodies vibrating in silence. Excited by the energy flowing in all directions. Going nowhere. Just being. Present. Witnessing life."
Realizzata l'anno scorso in due distinte occasioni da Gerardo Figueroa Rodríguez e Franco Falistoco, responsabili del progetto radiofonico latinoamericano El ruido es el mensaje, è ora disponbile integralmente sul web una lunga e interessantissima intervista a Chris Cutler suddivisa in due parti intitolate, non casualmente, File Under Popular e Not As We Choose. Nel montaggio audio finale, caratterizzato da vari effetti stereofonici, alterazioni d'ambiente sonoro e manipolazioni creative nella tradizione della 'Radio Art' cara ai curatori, fa capolino qualche estratto da un concerto cileno di Cutler con Frith del 1997, anch'esso tuttora disponibile su YT.
El ruido es el mensaje es un proyecto latinoamericano sin fines de lucro relacionado con la tecnología, donde contamos historias de artistas sonoros y experimentales, principalmente mujeres, con impacto en el storytelling. Con anclaje en la comunidad y que inspiran otros artistas a contar historias con sonido, de forma experimental.
Noise is the Message is a radio production, whose objective is to take up again the languages of the radio: voice, word, music, sound effects and silence. This exploration of the language of sound is carried out from an inter-disciplinary point of view, where the genres are crossed and mixed to form a collage that has the radio as its transmitter and the senses of each listener/viewer as its receiver. We consider ourselves enrolled in the current of contemporary journalism, Radio Art and sound experimentation through play. The concerns and curiosities offered by the sound field make us aim at offering a radio that explores and exploits other uses of its language. The experimentation, the confluence of ideas, the work and record in different areas, from the urban to the rural, contribute to create in us and in those who listen to us, wide communicative and interpretative competences of the realities, to be able to insert ourselves in our communities in a more complete, critical and reflexive way. By revaluing the importance of the soundscape and its many components, we seek to rescue the meaning and importance of community life and respect for collective signifiers. The result will be a more receptive and active “walker”, committed and integrated with his acoustic and social environment. Noise is the Message is nourished by sounds to tell stories, it is radio to listen attentively and critically, it is radio to listen with headphones.
Torna oggi eccezionalmente in scena a Lyme Regis nel Dorset (Regno Unito) la Band of Bands di Mike Westbrook, con lui presente di persona per la gioia di amici e sostenitori assieme a Kate, Chris Biscoe, Pete Whyman, Karen Street, Marcus Vergette, Coach York e con il prezioso rinforzo di Matthew Bourne. Il concerto si tiene nel pomeriggio al Marine Theatre, in atmosfera festosa, con vista mare.
Mike Westbrook is a British Jazz legend, not only playing with all the biggest names but also as a composer and arranger. In his eighties, this is a rare chance to see him in concert and this is a South West exclusive. This band recently won Jazzwise’s Record of the Year, described as 'a new band, comprised of master musicians' by Andy Robson (Jazzwise). In Band Of Bands there are re-creations of Westbrook classics alongside new songs, and arrangements of some lesser-known standards, all interpreted by some of UK’s most creative and distinctive soloists.
https://www.westbrookjazz.co.uk
https://www.marinetheatre.com/mike-westbrooks-band-of-bands
Con il pensiero rivolto alla drammatica situazione ambientale e geopolitica dell'epoca attuale, assieme alla consapevolezza della propria personale fragilità, Dave Sinclair pubblica un nuovo album solista che unisce brani recenti a riprese di altri precedenti, forte di presenze illustri - Robert Wyatt, Jimmy Hastings, Brian Hopper - e del determinante aiuto di Billie Bottle assieme ad altri amici del giro westbrookiano più giovanile (Martine Waltier, Roz Harding, Vivien Goodwin-Darke): Tears In His Eyes.
Scrive nelle note: "The first important track, The Piano Player, was initially recorded for my solo album in 1976, with lyrics and vocals from John Murphy, and subsequently recorded with Caravan in 1979. Then, I completely restructured it as a solo performance for a limited video release in 2021, but the audio from it has never been on general release until now. The other tracks, although some are familiar, haven’t been released before in their present form, and have different instrumentation, singers or solos. Working on this album has inspired me to continue with music, and I still have a large back catalogue of unreleased brand-new material. The mood of this album I feel is more in keeping with the general feeling in this world right now and reflects the potential vulnerability and uncertainty of the future that lies ahead for all of us. But ‘hope’ still remains eternal!"
Una mezzoretta di preparativi a casa di Alan Gowen prima di procedere alla registrazione dell'album Before A Word Is Said, a cavallo tra la fine di aprile e inizio maggio del 1981, pochi giorni prima della scomparsa del compianto tastierista e compositore: Before A Note Is Played, con Phil Miller, Trevor Tomkins e Richard Sinclair, quest'ultimo unico dei quattro oggi rimasto a poter commentare e aggiungere a memoria qualche dettaglio.
Quando l'album tornò in circolazione in cd, nel 1995, scrisse Miller: "The music on Before A Word Is Said was recorded when Alan was extremely ill with leukaemia and the effects of chemotherapy. It is a testament to his stoicism, and to his love of music, that he could even contemplate embarking on a recording project, let alone embue it with a combination of relaxed enjoyment and steely determination. Implicit in the title is the idea that here was a man composing his own musical epitaph, a sad thought, but Alan would have been quick to discourage such sadness. Let's instead celebrate the availability of this album, and enjoy the music of one of England's finest keyboard players and composers."
https://richardsinclairsongs.bandcamp.com/before-a-note-is-played
Nyro was 18 years old when she signed her first recording contract and wrote the songs for which she is likely to be best remembered. By the time she was 22, she had become one of the most successful composers in American popular music. But at the age of just 24, she drew back from her creativity and fame, battered and drained by the sheer energy and nerve required to sustain her career. Fortunately for those of us who loved her music, that was not the end of the story. She returned briefly to the fray for three turbulent years in the mid-to-late 1970s, and then enjoyed a final decade of artistic achievement and public acclaim, before illness took her from us at the tragically early age of 49 in 1997. Nyro found her early fame challenging yet despite living under an unrelenting spotlight, she was able to create a series of utterly beautiful and stunningly unique albums.
Una seconda vita la vivono anche due album d'archivio risalenti a due distinte epoche (e formazioni) dei Soft Machine già in passato confezionati da MoonJune Records - uno grazie anche all'intervento del compianto Mike King - e ora rivisti tecnicamente da Mark Wingfield: si tratta di Drop, con Mike Ratledge, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper e Phil Howard dal vivo in Germania nel novembre 1971, e Floating World Live, con Mike Ratledge, Allan Holdsworth, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington e John Marshall dal vivo a Brema, sempre in Germania, nel gennaio 1975.
Sia Chewing Hides The Sound sia Greener Postures, album di Philip Charles Lithman (ovvero Snakefinger) usciti rispettivamente nel 1979 e 1980, vivono una seconda vita presso l'austriaca Klanggalerie in una speciale edizione deluxe che agli originali aggiunge le versioni del 1987, finora inedite. appositamente preparate per accompagnare la veglia funebre ('Snakey Wake') celebrata dai Residents in onore del chitarrista, amico e compagno di tante avventure.
The Residents met Philip Lithman in 1969. They became immediate friends and began playing music together. Snakefinger participated in many Residents projects with 1986 being a particularly good year for their working together. Plans were made to tour again in 1989, but fate decreed otherwise. While on a European tour, Snakefinger died on July 1st, 1987 in Linz, Austria. He was buried in London, and many of his friends in San Francisco found it difficult to accept a death so far from home. So The Residents organized a party, a wake. They arrived in black with black net wrapped around their bodies and each carried an open black umbrella. They went to their instruments without introduction and played a series of old English laments and Hank Williams' Six More Miles.
Debutta invece all'International Film Festival di Rotterdam il documentario sui Residents girato dalla regista francese Marie Losier, con due proiezioni pubbliche in programma oggi e lunedì prossimo nelle sedi del Festival e successiva disponibilità in streaming più o meno ovunque: Barking in the Dark.
How do you make a portrait of a music group when nobody knows who the members are? Marie Losier takes up the task and travels to San Francisco to create a documentary on cult band The Residents. There, we meet Homer Flynn, president of The Cryptic Corporation, who guides us through The Residents’ archive, sharing a variety of anecdotes related to the objects it contains. Complementing his stories with archival footage and a historical context, Losier delivers a compassionate portrait and a celebration of creativity.
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