Per augurare buona sorte al nuovo album a nome dei Soft Machine, il tredicesimo di studio, si è fatto appello al fortunato appeal appunto del numero tredici: tredici il nome dell'album (Thirteen), tredici i titoli in scaletta, tredici minuti la durata del brano più esteso (The Longest Night) e il giorno tredici marzo quale data ufficiale della sua pubblicazione. E' di buon auspicio il commento di Robert Wyatt a proposito di Asaf Sirkis, nuovo in formazione (“I’ve known Asaf’s gifts for years, certainly enough to say that as far as I can see there’s nothing he can’t do when he puts his mind to it... his kit skills just keep expanding but what really gets to me are his ethereal, haunting compositions...” e lo è ancor di più la presenza di Daevid Allen nel cuore dell'ultimo brano (Daevid’s Special Cuppa): il tredicesimo.

"Whilst the line-up of Soft Machine may have changed many times since the heady days of the late 1960's, the band's spirit of musical adventure, and the ease with which it freely avoids being pigeonholed has stayed a constant - as it moves from powerful progressive jazz rock to atmospheric psychedelia to free improvised jazz to ambient loop music. The album is incredibly broad in its breadth and scope. The post-2004 band has never sounded more adventurous." (Sid Smith)

https://softmachine.org
https://softmachine.org/touring/on-tour

Quale aggiornamento sui prossimi impegni della Legacy Band, costituita un paio d'anni fa da allievi musicisti del Royal Birmingham Conservatoire con l'impegno di approfondire lo studio e l'esecuzione delle musiche del compianto Phil Miller (1949-2017) sotto la guida di Fred Thelonius Baker, Herm Mew fa sapere che un loro concerto aprirà quello dei Soft Machine il prossimo 10 aprile proprio lì a Birmingham, in una sala dell'istituto. L'annuncio è al Phil Miller-The Legacy: "Fred and I initiated another of our ideas: a student band to play the music of Phil Miller. The Phil Miller Legacy Band was formed and had its debut performance in 2024 in the East Side Jazz Club. We were so excited with their performance that last year we had a big meeting at the Conservatoire and decided that from now on we would stop having a Guitar Prize and concentrate solely on the Legacy band. The lineup for the band will change over time as some students finish their courses and new comers will take their places. It will be great to have them learning and performing Phil’s compositions. When Phil formed his band In Cahoots in 1983 the publicity that went out stated: 'In Cahoots play the Music of Phil Miller'. The Phil Miller Legacy Band will keep his music alive in the same way."

https://www.facebook.com/PhilMillerTheLegacy
https://philmillerthelegacy.com/soft-machine-gig
https://www.bcu.ac.uk/collections/phil-miller

Documentazione di una recente e ormai rara apparizione pubblica di Joan La Barbara è disponibile da pochi giorni su YT: è la presentazione quasi integrale - manca all'appello soltanto Solitary Journeys of the Mind - del suo programma Sound Paintings and Sonic Animations al festival Skaņu Mežs di Riga (Lettonia) dell'ottobre scorso, durante il quale ha tenuto anche una seguitissima conferenza-laboratorio avente per titolo quello del suo splendido album d'esordio (Wizard Records, 1976): Voice is the Original Instrument.

Joan La Barbara’s career as a composer, performer, sound artist, and actor explores the human voice as a multi-faceted instrument, expanding traditional boundaries and developing a unique vocabulary of experimental and extended vocal techniques: multiphonics, circular singing, ululation, and glottal clicks that have become her signature sounds, influencing several generations of composers and singers. "Joan La Barbara has brought her adventures on American contemporary music’s wildest frontiers, while her own compositions and shamanistic sound paintings place the soprano voice at the outer limits of human experience." (Julian Cowley)

https://joanlabarbara.com
https://www.skanumezs.lv/joan-la-barbara
https://www.skanumezs.lv/artist-talk
https://www.youtube.com/@DainisBusmanis

Documentazione audio dei giorni della Nova Convention newyorkese del 1978 apparve, come si sa, in forma di doppio LP con lo stesso nome prodotto nel 1979 dalla Giorno Poetry Systems. Trovarne oggi copia non è facile - ma non impossibile - e comunque lo si può ascoltare, assieme a diversi altri titoli di quel preziosissimo catalogo, tramite UbuWeb: ci sono John Giorno e William Burroughs naturalmente, ma anche Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, Timothy Leary, Les Levine, Brion Gysin, Frank Zappa con The Talking Asshole, Ed Sanders, John Cage, Anne Waldman e Laurie Anderson.

Il catalogo discografico della Giorno Poetry Systems si fermò nel 1993 al numero 44 con l'antologico Cash Cow, ma potrebbe presto ripartire con nuove pubblicazioni; nell'attesa, se proprio proprio non si può andare in città al 222 Bowery, se ne possono ammirare alcuni esemplari autentici in una sezione della mostra John Giorno-The Performative Word in corso al MAMbo di Bologna fino ai primi di maggio. C'è anche l'originale doppio vinile You're the Guy I Want to Share My Money With targato Anderson, Giorno e Burroughs con quel trucco (geniale) della quarta facciata a triplo solco che nessuna versione in altro formato ha mai potuto replicare.

https://giornopoetrysystems.org
https://www.instagram.com/giorno_poetry_systems
https://ubu.com/sound/gps.html

Dalle storiche pellicole originali di Howard Brookner, che si credevano ormai perdute, è tratto il film Nova ’78 (Pinball London-Bando a Parte, 2025), documento sui tre giorni della famosa/famigerata kermesse multimediale The Nova Convention allestita tra il 30 novembre e il 2 dicembre 1978 all'Entermedia Theater di Manhattan per salutare il ritorno di William Burroughs a New York dopo decenni di assenza. Ne è autore assieme a Rodrigo Areias il nipote di Howard, Aaron Brookner, che con il MoMA e la Giorno Poetry Systems ha programmato per questa sera e nei giorni seguenti le prime proiezioni pubbliche negli Stati Uniti. A Locarno e Firenze il film è stato presentato nei mesi scorsi: sul web ne circola un breve trailer.

Held in New York on November 30, December 1 and December 2, 1978, The Nova Convention was a three-day event honoring the cultural impact of the work of William S. Burroughs, imagined by James Grauerholz and co-produced by GPS and semiotext(e). The gathering included discussions, performances, and readings by Burroughs, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, Peter Orlovsky, Laurie Anderson, Julia Heyward, Anne Waldman, and others. The artist Les Levine moderated a particularly poignant conversation about science fiction and the not-yet-here future between Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary and Brion Gysin. Keith Richards had to cancel last-minute, but Frank Zappa read extracts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch instead. Howard Brookner had brought multiple camera crews to film the event, but most of the footage had been lost, only to have recently resurfaced and made into the film Nova ’78 (2025) written and directed by Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner and co-directed by Rodrigo Areias.

https://giornopoetrysystems.org/222-bowery/events/nova-78
https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/11230#occurrences
https://www.pinballonline.co.uk/nova-78

Al Roulette di Brooklyn si raccoglie questa sera - gelo e tormente di neve newyorkesi permettendo - un'intera comunità di musicisti, amici e collaboratori per rendere omaggio al grande Guy Klucevsek (1947-2025) con una rassegna di sue musiche scritte ed eseguite nel corso degli anni e per varie occasioni. In sala, sul palco o in collegamento da remoto, tra saluti, ricordi, testimonianze e messaggi sono attesi tra gli altri Alan Bern, Erik Friedlander, Volker Goetze, Dave Hofstra, John King, il Relâche Ensemble e il Bachtopus Accordion Ensemble, Bill Ruyle, Doug Wieselman e Jenny Lin: Guy Klucevsek Memorial Concert-Comin' On Home.

Guy Klucevsek, a master accordionist, composer, collaborator, and fearless punster, passed away on May 22, 2025. To honor Guy’s legacy, a group of close friends - led by his wife, Jan Klucevsek - have organized a concert to celebrate his life and music, featuring works for ensembles, solo accordion, dance, and theater, performed by artists who knew him well, often as collaborators. The music and stories told by friends will reveal Guy’s wonderful sense of humor and humanity.

https://roulette.org/guy-klucevsek-memorial-concert-comin-on-home

E figure care, anzi carissime, si ritrovano nell'eccellente E is for Edward pubblicato l'anno scorso da Black Dog & Leventhal per celebrare il centenario della nascita di Edward Gorey (1925-2000). Ne ha curato l'edizione Gregory Hischak, super esperto di Gorey e affidatario - nonché lì residente - della casa-museo del Nostro a Yarmouth Port, Massachussetts, suddividendo il materiale selezionato in otto capitoli tematici: il primo si intitola Hapless Children, cosa che dice senz'altro molto anche agli estimatori di Michael Mantler (e a quelli di Robert Wyatt, naturalmente).

E is for Edward celebrates Gorey's capacity as author, illustrator, humorist, playwright, printmaker, fabric artist, and theatrical designer, and pokes around the vast array of material he created between 1953 and his death in 2000. Including both iconic as well as never-before-seen works, E is for Edward is organized by major themes and topics that characterize Gorey’s self-authored output, including unfortunate children, uncomfortable creatures, Dance, Fashion (both ill-fitting and to die for), the genres of Murder Mysteries and Nonsense, and the recurring motifs and latent symbolism that underlie these subjects. Writer Gregory Hischak (who also moonlights as Curator and Director of The Edward Gorey House) offers both a poet’s and a designer’s sensibility to Gorey’s art. Ensconced in the wake of ephemera that Edward left within the House, the author has had unfettered access to works, collections, and, via the indulgences of the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust, has had dozens of rarely viewed notebooks, manuscripts, and artwork made available for this volume.

https://edwardgoreyhouse.org/e-is-for-edward
https://ecmreviews.com/michael-mantler-the-hapless-child

Chi entro maggio ha in programma di visitare il Buckinghamshire potrebbe voler far tappa a Milton Keynes, e non solo per via della scuderia di Formula 1 della Red Bull: al Museo d'arte cittadino c'è infatti la mostra An Arc from the Eye con i dipinti di Euan Uglow (1932-2000), oltre una quarantina tra suoi paesaggi, nature morte e i celebri nudi. E tra i ritratti poi, quello di una persona cara: Alfreda Benge.

Euan Uglow was one of Britain’s most significant 20th century painters, known for his sustained observation and painstaking technique, often taking months, if not years, to complete a work. Each picture pursues a particular idea, seeking to depict the visual reality of the concept, expressed with radiant colours and light. Uglow often had three or four active ‘set-ups’ in his Battersea studio, using particular rectangular compositions in an attempt ‘to paint a structured painting full of controlled and therefore potent emotion’. Almost mathematical in his methods, Uglow left markings on his canvases that reveal his processes, including how the passage of time affected the depiction of his subjects. Best known for his large-scale nudes, Uglow also made landscapes in the summer light of the Mediterranean and still lifes, taking up the challenge of painting materials such as plastic, as well as organic material in gradual decay, such as fruit.

https://mkgallery.org/MK-Gallery-Euan-Uglow
https://www.galleriesnow.net/euan-uglow-an-arc-from-the-eye
https://tinyurl.com/AlfredaB

Phil Minton torna ospite dell'In Situ Art Society a Bonn per un nuovo appuntamento con il suo progetto collettivo sulla voce Feral Choir, con attività di laboratorio previste nel pomeriggio e doppio concerto stasera nella tradizionale sede del Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena assieme al duo con Carl Ludwig Hübsch, Metal Breath: la diretta streaming su YT inizia alle ore 20.30.

"The Feral Choir project is a series of vocal workshops with non-professionals, leading up to performances. It originated in the late 1980’s when I was asked to do some workshops with ‘non-singers’ in the Musik Centrum Stockholm. The success of these led me to develop the idea further. The choir consists of a workshop and performance, not only for singers but for anyone who takes a delight in the freedom to experiment. I encourage participants to take a vocal leap and explore all vocal possibilities through exercises and improvisations, over the workshop period, leading to a concert. Some of the choirs have been made up of professionals, sometimes actors and musicians, but many have been amateur groups with no previous musical interest or experience. These have been particularly rewarding, and the responses from the participants have been overwhelmingly positive."

Phil Minton ist ein legendärer englischer Sänger und Improvisator. Seine Stimmarbeit ist sehr speziell. Er hat mit seinem ganz persönlichen Stil Wege geebnet, auf denen sich heute abstrakte Stimmkünstler*innen frei und selbstverständlich bewegen können. Seine Chorarbeit ist einzigartig und das hängt vor allem an seiner Persönlichkeit. Phil Minton gibt einen so genannten Feral Choir, einen Improvisations-Workshop, der sich sowohl an Interessierte des improvisierten Gesangs, aber auch ausdrücklich an Unstudierte, Laien oder Amateure richtet, die sich mit ihrer Stimme aus der Deckung wagen wollen. Jeder ist willkommen! Auch Menschen mit Stimmbruch, Flüsterer, Stimmquerulanten oder Vokaldespoten! Der Workshops ist für ca 15 Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmer ausgerichtet. Er ermöglicht die Beschäftigung mit erweiterten Stimmtechniken und die improvisatorische Auseinandersetzung sowohl mit der Alltagsstimme, als auch mit „unkultivierten Klängen“ wie Grunzen, Röcheln, Säuseln und Hauchen. („feral“ = wild, grausam).

Metal Breath: Stimmbänder im Dialog mit Metallrohren. Hübsch und Minton tauchen gemeinsam in unbekannte Klangwelten. Grundlage ihrer Interaktion ist blindes Vertrauen - der Raum öffnet sich für das Feine, das Wilde, das Überraschende, das Magische - und für die Ohren des Publikums. Unerbittlich lustvolle Musik jenseits von Idiomen. Das Duo hat soeben seine zweite CD veröffentlicht: more metal, more breath.

https://www.in-situ-art-society.de
https://www.facebook.com/events/819761504455469
https://www.youtube.com/live/_y2HmHbwcgY

A poche settimane dal novantesimo compleanno del Nostro, Stuart Nicholson parla con Mike Westbrook - trovandolo come sempre attento al presente e rivolto al futuro assai più che al passato - e ne scrive per il numero di questo mese di Jazzwise: Such Suite Thunder.

One of the greatest British jazz composers, Mike Westbrook has been a whirlwind of creativity for the last seven decades. On the eve of his 90th birthday, he reflects on his life less ordinary, his voluminous back catalogue - and his undimmed passion for musical (re)invention as well as nurturing a sense of community. In March Westbrook will be 90 years of age. Normally this would be a time for reflection. Nine decades of accumulated memories and experiences a reminder there is more behind you than in front. But only if you stop to think about it, since the past is a country Westbrook seldom visits. Throughout his life he has been driven constantly forward - completing writing commissions large and small, working up new ideas into viable projects, preparing for this gig or that, booking flights and hotels, organising rehearsals, taking care of PR, the list goes on. "When I occasionally allow myself to look back at what we've done," he reflects, "there's an enormous list of pieces - theatre shows we wrote, shows that we toured with, the five operas Kate and I wrote that were all staged in France, all the different ensembles I've worked with, small bands, big bands, brass bands and ensembles with strings - all these things going on, often at the same time, as well as just sitting down at the piano and doing a gig!". The common denominator that links all this work together is in the triumph of the unexpected. His writing does not follow paths made by others, he goes where there are no paths, leaving a trail for others to follow. Like Charlotte Bronté's Jane Eyre, he has avoided selling his soul, in his case to musical trends or fashions, to 'buy bliss': "I have been incredibly fortunate to have had this range of opportunity and have not had to become enslaved to this direction or that, or even to the jazz business. Artistic freedom is paramount, and it doesn't mean freedom without any kind of social or artistic responsibilities or commitments, quite the reverse. Just free to approach things one’s own way, that’s what I most prize".

https://www.jazzwise.com/mike-westbrook-at-90-such-suite-thunder

Otomo plays Marclay. Era scritto nelle stelle, no?

"Christian Marclay's work taught me to 'question where I stand' and 'to think from the outside'. And it taught me to put that into practice in my works and performances. At the same time, when I was young, I was desperate to escape from the strong influence of Marclay. I ended up doing a performance method that focuses on the sound of the turntable itself without using records. A lot of time has passed since then, and now I think it doesn't matter whether I use records or not. To be honest, I don't mind playing music influenced by Marclay. But unfortunately, no matter how much I'm influenced by him, I realized once again that I can't play like him. Still, I made this album because I wanted to pay tribute to Christian, who is also an irreplaceable friend. At the same time, it also contains my own history that I have built up over the past 30 years through my encounters with him. In that sense, it may be an autobiographical album."

https://otomoyoshihide.bandcamp.com

Un pregiato pianoforte a coda viennese di inizio '900 lasciato per anni a deteriorarsi all'aperto sotto le ingiurie di sole vento pioggia e neve in un giardino a Vyžlovka nel cuore della Boemia, mai accordato, mai riparato, divenuto - anche per questo - oggetto di azioni Fluxus e decrepito destinatario di composizioni ad hoc concepite tra gli altri da Gordon Monahan, Elliott Sharp, Terry Riley e Philip Glass. Ci ha messo mano, a proprio rischio e pericolo, il giovane pianista ceco Miroslav Beinhauer e Sub Rosa ne ha prontamente tratto un album: Pieces for Broken Piano.

https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/pieces-for-broken-piano

L'incontro ardentemente desiderato da Fred Frith con lo specialissimo universo sonoro di Karen Stackpole abitato quasi esclusivamente da percussioni metalliche, piatti, cimbali orientali e gong si è alfine realizzato qualche tempo fa in Nature, sessione spontanea ambientata fra le colline di California ora documentata dalla belga Sub Rosa: "I have been fascinated by the sound and potential of gongs since I first heard Stockhausen's Mikrophonie 1 in the late 1960s. When I moved to Oakland in 1999 I discovered the work of Karen Stackpole, one of the few percussionists in the world specializing entirely in gongs, and attended several of her performances. I always tried to imagine how I could combine my own sonic vocabulary with her incredibly rich array, and we enthusiastically agreed to a musical meeting which somehow kept being postponed, year after year. Finally, as my teaching career at Mills College was winding down, we succeeded in making an appointment to record together at Karen's home studio in the Californian hills. As a seasoned professional recording engineer, she had her vast and beautiful collection of gongs meticulously placed and amplified. It was a joy! Guitar as gong, gong as harmony and everything in between, an interweaving that left me breathless."

https://subrosalabel.bandcamp.com/album/nature

Con la compositrice, pianista e cantante georgiana Russudan Meipariani - di Tbilisi, ma da tempo residente in Germania - Fred Frith ha stabilito i primi contatti l'anno scorso in occasione di alcuni lavori seminariali a Stoccarda, iniziando una felice collaborazione che con il nome ab:so:lut:space si presenta in questi giorni in concerto a Berlino, Bonn, Wuppertal, Herdwangen-Schönach e appunto Stoccarda. Il concerto di questa sera a Bonn è proposto dall'In Situ Art Society in accoppiata con il trio di Otomo Yoshihide con Emilie Škrijelj e Tom Malmendier - senza escludere momenti insieme - nel quadro dell'inarrestabile The Dissonant Series, che giunge con questo al suo episodio numero 165: lo si può seguire in presenza al Dialograum Kreuzung an St. Helena, oppure in diretta streaming su YT a partire dalle ore 19.00.

Die erste musikalische Live-Begegnung von Fred Frith und Russudan Meipariani fand im Frühjahr 2025 im Laboratorium Stuttgart statt - eine erfolgreiche, gefeierte Premiere, die wie eine langjährige und vertraute Zusammenarbeit wirkte. Dabei schöpften beide Musiker:innen aus einer unglaublichen Fülle an Fähigkeiten und Erfahrungen ihres musikalischen Lebens.

Fred Frith, eine Legende der improvisierten Musik, hat mit unterschiedlichsten Musiker:innen gearbeitet, für diverse renommierte Ensembles komponiert und Musik für preisgekrönte Filme geschrieben. Frith hat die Entwicklung experimenteller und improvisierter Musik seit den 1960er Jahren weltweit maßgeblich geprägt. Russudan Meipariani's Ausgangspunkte sind klassische Musik und die polyphone Musik Georgiens. Daraus entwickelt sie seit Jahren durch ihren experimentellen Ansatz eine ganz eigene musikalische Sprache, spielt in unterschiedlichste Formationen und verbindet die Welten: akademische und nichtakademische Musik, archaische kaukasische Gesänge und westliche Musiktradition, komponierte und improvisierte Musik.

https://www.fredfrith.com
https://russudan-meipariani.com
https://www.in-situ-art-society.de
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-WF1pO6Beg

Con l'arpista Shelley Burgon aveva registrato in studio due distinte sessioni nel 2002 e 2005, decidendo infine di pubblicarle - dopo oltre vent'anni - nell'album The Life and Behavior (Relative Pitch, 2025). Pochi giorni fa Fred Frith ha affidato all'ensemble da lei guidato, il Modern Current Ensemble, la presentazione dal vivo a Los Angeles del suo composito brano Eleven Windows: ad eseguirlo assieme a loro due c'erano Jennifer Bewerse, Sharon Chohi Kim, Marta Tiesenga, Theodosia Roussos, Kathryn Shuman, Pauline Lay. Su YT si trova registrazione dell'intero concerto, compresi i set in solo e in duo proposti a inizio serata.

https://youtu.be/ElevenWindows

Presente negli ultimi anni più sul fronte delle attività performative e laboratoriali che su quello discografico, Shelley Hirsch torna con una delle sue acrobatiche (e inconfondibili) narrazioni istantanee in Vanish, documentata in forma di album digitale dall'austriaca Boomslang Records. Con lei sono Christian Weber e Alfred Vogel: "Hirsch’s unmistakable vocal world - shifting effortlessly between song, spoken word, noise, character shifts, and pure sonic exploration - meets the razor-sharp intuition of Weber and Vogel, two musicians celebrated for their adventurous interplay and dynamic versatility. Together, they create an electrifying trio that navigates between improvised music, experimental soundscapes, and unexpected lyricism, resulting in a performance that is as daring as it is deeply human - unpredictable, humorous, raw, and always alive. A meeting of three uncompromising voices in contemporary improvised music - unmissable for anyone drawn to bold, forward-thinking sound."

https://boomslangrecords.bandcamp.com/vanish

Torna allo splendore - beh, quasi - di The Camera Loves Me: intanto su Skep Wax Records con l'album Tears Before Bedtime, poi dal vivo a Londra al Water Rats sabato prossimo, e a seguire Coventry, Ramsgate, Cardiff, Gateshead, Glasgow... Jessica Griffin, cioè Would-Be-Goods: Say hello to Dr Love again...

Jessica Griffin returns with a marvelous new album as Would-Be-Goods who some él Records-heads may know from her cult classic 1988 debut The Camera Loves Me, a work of jangly ‘80s does twee ‘60s. Tears Before Bedtime is a page out of Griffin’s own book, a pleasantly galloping carousel of melody-driven guitar pop vignettes helmed by her idiosyncratic soprano that can recall at one moment Françoise Hardy, another Astrud Gilberto, and the next, Yoko Ono. Adrift in literary references, Greek mythology, and homages to Europe’s great artists, Griffin is ever the playful bard. Tears Before Bedtime takes the listener from Belle Époque Paris to a 1960s London biker cafe, telling tales of doomed love in the sultry American South and the price of a visit to see the sinister Dr. Love...

https://would-be-goods.bandcamp.com/tears-before-bedtime
https://www.facebook.com/events

E tra chi supera ogni record personale - fuor di metafora sportivo-olimpica - c'è il grande Chris Searle, che porta a compimento in questi giorni il più voluminoso dei suoi volumi (oltre cinquanta): Global Groove: Words of a Jazz Cosmos, per Jazz in Britain.

Chris Searle is a British educator, poet, anti-racist activist, and socialist. He has written widely on cricket, language, jazz, race, and social justice, and has taught in Canada, England, Tobago, Mozambique, and Grenada. He has been associated with the Institute of Race Relations since the 1970s, and is on the editorial board of Race & Class. He writes a weekly column on jazz for the left-wing newspaper Morning Star.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/author/chris-searle
https://jazzinbritain1.bandcamp.com

Non solo a Milano e Cortina d'Ampezzo, in questi giorni i Giochi olimpici si svolgono anche a Casa Zorn (e non è la prima volta): per il curling si confrontano ai massimi livelli due squadre californiane, il Rova Saxophone Quartet (Steve Adams, Jon Raskin, Bruce Ackley, Larry Ochs) e il William Winant Percussion Group (Jordan Glenn, Robert Lopez e Scott Siler assieme a Winant). Con esito non scontato: John Zorn’s Olympiad, vol. 4 - Curling.

Curling is built on long tones. As with all of the game pieces, the “rules” are unpublished, so outsiders won’t know the parameters for the improvisation. Still, we can work out some of the principles. The interactions between musicians seem to operate a bit like old-school screensavers: one long tone bumping into another (like a curling stone, natch), then another, and so on. The collisions can gain in complexity, but only so much so. Unlike most group free improv, the aim isn’t to explore a full range of dynamics or colors. The Rovas, in particular, embrace those limitations. They bring out all sorts of gritty and scratchy saxophone sounds, but they rarely rise above about mezzo piano. The rules seem to give players the option to replace long tones with repeated short notes, like those of notated minimalism. A percussion quartet is an intriguing choice for a piece centered on sustained tones. The transition from the Rovas to the Winants is surprisingly smooth, as the percussionists begin with bows and cymbals: the sounds aren’t that different from alto and soprano saxes. In a span of 20 minutes, the group also deploys drums, maracas, and the occasional mallet instrument. The fact that they are often hitting things - and thus playing lots of short notes in place of literal long tones - gives the percussion version more variety than the saxophones.

https://www.tzadik.com

E saputo della scomparsa di Ralph Towner (1940-2026) pochi giorni fa, Elliott Sharp ha voluto immediatamente dedicargli due brani imbracciando la sua 1970 Martin D12-20 a dodici corde: Elegy Ralph Towner.

In una nota scrive: "Devastating news of the passing of Ralph Towner. An absolutely original musician, his playing with the Paul Winter Consort and Oregon was always inspiring. Fortunately, I was able to see Oregon on a few occasions and their quiet but intense improvisations made a lasting impression. Perhaps the most phenomenal recording by Towner for me was his acoustic 12-string introduction to The Moors, on the album I Sing The Body Electric by Weather Report. This tribute was composed and recorded the day after learning of Towner's passing."

https://elliottsharp1.bandcamp.com/elegy-ralph-towner

Anche di Mike Ratledge (1943-2025) ricorre in questi giorni, precisamente il 5 febbraio, l'anniversario della scomparsa. Oltre a riascoltarlo con immutata ammirazione nei Soft Machine degli anni migliori si può cogliere l'occasione per rileggere cosa riferì a memoria Michael King (1957-2015), altro rimpianto protagonista della scena canterburyana, di un loro incontro di persona a Londra nell'ottobre 1994: ne diede conto per prima la fanzine Facelift nel numero 14 (giugno 1995), ora il testo è conservato nei preziosi archivi di Une discographie de Robert Wyatt.

https://www.facebook.com/MikeRatledgeCanterburySceneIcon

Tra i molti messaggi di stima e affetto rivolti ieri tramite i social al compianto Elton Dean (1945-2006) nel ventennale della scomparsa spicca quello di Leonardo Pavkovic, responsabile della celebre etichetta discografica e agenzia musicale MoonJune. Che così scrive: "I'm not sure MoonJune would have happened if I hadn't known Elton Dean since 1986, Hugh Hopper since 1998, reconnecting with Elton in 2000, and then with Hugh. It's simple: Elton's tenacity in putting together a sort of Soft Machine, my love for the band, and my proverbial Balkan stubbornness made it all possible. Elton introduced me to John Marshall in the summer of 2020, but for another 15 months, nothing came of it. Then I met Allan Holdsworth in late January 2002 in San Juan Capistrano, California, through Ken Kubernik and Chris Hoard, and the rest is history. Soft Works: Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall. A supergroup of legends, all former members of Soft Machine. And that's the beginning of MoonJune, both the label and the booking agency. Dear Elton Dean, thank you my friend for everything."

https://www.calyx-canterbury.fr/dean

Alcune copie del video sono state prodotte anche in Blu-ray-R, ma è soprattutto in streaming o in file digitale tramite Vimeo che ha potuto circolare il documentario A Bright Nowhere - Journeying Into Improvisation (HajduKino Productions, 2023) girato da Stewart Morgan Hajdukiewicz in gran parte al Cafe Oto londinese nell'estate 2022 nel corso degli incontri di musica improvvisata organizzati per festeggiare l'ottantesimo compleanno di Eddie Prévost. Vi presero parte oltre trenta musicisti, tra cui John Butcher, Alan Wilkinson, Sue Lynch, Seymour Wright e Veryan Weston, e al culmine di una di quelle sere tenne il suo ultimo concerto lo storico gruppo Amm, con Prévost e Keith Rowe in trio virtuale con John Tilbury, purtroppo assente per l'occasione. Dopo alcune proiezioni europee il film viene presentato questa sera a Berlino presso l'attivissimo exploratorium berlin, luogo deputato alla promozione, allo studio e alla pratica delle musiche (e altro) di libera improvvisazione. Prévost è qui invitato anche per un concerto in trio con David Grundy e Teresa Hackel, che sarà trasmesso in diretta su YT, per poi dialogare con il pubblico assieme al regista del film, anch'egli presente.

https://exploratorium-berlin.de
https://www.youtube.com/@exploratoriumberlin
https://vimeo.com/ondemand/abrightnowherefilm

Appuntamento stasera con Bob Drake per una delle sue dirette streaming da Caudeval (Francia), la prima del nuovo anno, utile per prender fiato nel mezzo delle registrazioni di un nuovo album e per riprendere contatto con i propri fedelissimi: "Since mid-December I've been working on recording a new album, and now have the first batch of six songs pretty much finished. I miss playing for you all, and our fun chats, so now is a good time for me to take a break from the album and do a casual fun show for you, before I set about writing and recording the next batch of songs for the album." Su Twitch a partire dalle 19.00. 

https://www.twitch.tv/bob_drake

Dai giorni trascorsi a Bologna da Iancu Dumitrescu per la preparazione del concerto con l'Hyperion International Ensemble, Lino Greco ha tratto un bel documento video, ora pubblicato su YT, contenente dialoghi e interviste con il compositore, osservazioni e riflessioni dei musicisti protagonisti, ampi spezzoni registrati dal vivo la sera del 12 maggio: in quell'occasione, guidati in scena dallo stesso Dumitrescu, c'erano Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler, Gheorge Iosif, Dan Antoniu, Octav Avramescu, Andrei Kivu, Ciprian Ghiță e Simone Beneventi.

https://www.culturabologna.it/iancu-dumitrescu
https://www.youtube.com/dumitrescu

Alla curiosità di chi non ha potuto assistervi vengono incontro in qualche modo le immagini, i video e le recensioni dei cinque infuocati concerti consecutivi tenuti la scorsa settimana a Le Triton a Les Lilas (Francia) dai Magma nell'inedita formazione in sestetto denominata Zeuhl Kommandöh: Christian Vander con Simon Goubert, Thierry Eliez, Charles Lucas, Rudy Blas e Hervé Aknin. Da consultare sono soprattutto le pagine FB dei protagonisti e, per i primi diciotto minuti del Mekanïk Destruktïw Kommandöh del 31 gennaio, anche YT.

A colpire Eurydice Anahë, da come ne scrive al blog KoSmïk muZïk, è stato soprattutto Lucas, il nuovo bassista, capace di assumersi l'impegno del ruolo e imparare le parti in meno di un mese: "La révélation de cette série de concerts est sans doute le bassiste Charles Lucas. Dans une configuration minimaliste où chaque instrument s'entend pleinement, il fallait une basse présente et "sérieuse". C’est ce que nous a proposé Charles, avec un jeu parfaitement adapté au répertoire, à la fois lourd et swinguant, et dont on pouvait ressentir la vibration dans le sol aux premiers rangs. Sur scène, de beaux échanges de regard entre lui et Simon, une concentration intense - imaginons le travail qu'il a dû fournir pour, en moins d’un mois, apprendre tous ls morceaux! Cela faisait un moment qu’on n’avait pas entendu un son de basse comme ça dans Magma, et ça fait bien plaisir."

https://kosmikmu.blogspot.com/magma-zeuhl-kommandoh
https://youtu.be/YKz3tKtAMPs

Materia bollente (e ribollente) era anche quella a suo tempo forgiata da Gestalt et Jive, spesso ricorrendo a tecniche di alterazione e deformazione sonora ibride e al calor bianco: da due distinte situazioni occorse nella regione metropolitana Reno-Meno a cavallo tra il 1986 e il 1987 - mai finora documentate ufficialmente - proviene Live in Rhein-Main, prodotto qualche mese fa da Adn con protagonisti Alfred Harth, Ferdinand Richard e Peter Hollinger, in ruvido omaggio proprio a quest'ultimo.

Live in Rhein-Main is more than just another archival release. It reconnects the thread between the group’s formative studio works and their explosive stage presence, offering a vivid window into their mid-1980s aesthetic. At the same time, it stands as a tribute 'For Holli', the late drummer Peter Hollinger whose precision, drive, and free-spirited energy gave Gestalt et Jive its heartbeat. These two concerts confirm not only the band’s flexibility and fearless improvisation, but also their lasting contribution to the cultural landscape of the Rhein-Main area and the European avant-garde scene.

https://adnrecords.com/live-in-rhein-main

ReR Megacorp lo produsse vent'anni fa, radunando in un unico box l'intera discografia dei This Heat aggiungendovi una selezione ad hoc di brani ripresi in concerto tra il 1980 e il 1981 e un ricco libretto fotografico e informativo, con interviste a posteriori e molti particolari inediti. Roba che scotta, oggi come allora: Out Of Cold Storage, disponibile presso Burning Shed.

This Heat: Charles Bullen, Charles Hayward and Gareth Williams emerged as a band in early 1976 on the leading edge of what became the New Wave. But they were always apart, more scary and more subtle. Known as the most left-field, and at the same time most hard-edged, band in the country, their concerts attracted experimental, Punk and New Wave audiences alike. In short, This Heat was a landmark band. It tore up the book and laid new rules for band composition and performance. The music was without precedent; the musicians uncompromising; the recordings hammeringly intense and the sound deep, radical, and rich. This was music stripped back to the bone but never simplified. And it hasn't aged.

https://burningshed.com/this-heat_out-of-cold-storage

E se non bastasse la promessa di un documento anche discografico del progetto Artchipel-Zappa a galvanizzare le attese di zappologi & zappofili ora ci si mette anche l'annuncio della ripubblicazione, in forma estesa e restaurata, del controverso capitolo Bongo Fury che cinquant'anni fa vide il Nostro per qualche ultima o penultima volta assieme a Captain Beefheart. Verdranno la luce brani di studio in versione alternativa, rimaneggiamenti, provini, e per intero i due concerti del maggio 1975 ad Austin, Texas da cui prese corpo gran parte dell'album originale: sa tutto in proposito Ian Beabout - esperto di audio multicanale e surround che per Cuneiform Records ha curato il recupero di molti inediti Soft Machine, Curlew e Muffins - e un po' ne parla su YT.

https://store.zappa.com/bongo-fury-50th-anniversary
https://youtu.be/LCCVb0E9BUU

A poche ore dall'evento già si moltiplicano sul web immagini, video, note e commenti a proposito dello strepitoso concerto dell'Artchipel Orchestra tenuto ieri a Rho (Milano) con un programma interamente zappiano: la scaletta ha proposto brani da Apostrophe ('), The Grand Wazoo, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, King Kong, Roxy & Elsewhere, One Size Fits All e Does Humour Belong In Music? - più una Zoot Allures a sorpresa, come d'incanto - arrangiati per l'Orchestra da Massimo Giuntoli, Beppe Barbera, Marco Fior, Roberto Ottaviano, Francesco Forges Davanzati e naturalmente da Ferdinando Faraò. Con esito felicissimo.

https://www.facebook.com/ArtchipelOrchestra
https://www.facebook.com/photo

Squillino le trombe e rullino i tamburi, ché arriva l'Artchipel Zappa.
Stasera!

Per la ricorrenza del compleanno di Phil Miller (1949-2017) pochi giorni fa Herm Mew ha voluto affettuosamente pubblicare un ritratto del marito, pur non del tutto completato, assieme a uno dei brani da lei preferiti - Fred Baker lo definì 'a magical piece for harmony and melody' - e proprio a lei dedicato: Truly Yours. Per la sezione Opus del Phil Miller-The Legacy ha scelto oltre una ventina di versioni dal vivo eseguite nel corso degli anni soprattutto dagli In Cahoots, con qualche esempio tratto anche da occasioni più recenti, offrendone alla consultazione e allo studio i file di notazione musicale. In archivio è naturalmente indicato anche l'album dell'Artchipel Orchestra che per il proprio omaggio, nel 2020, scelse quello stesso titolo. "Phil would have been 77 years old if he had lived - scrive Herm - and here is the painting of him I am working on at the moment but have not quite finished. The Opus page I have chosen to feature for his birthday is Truly Yours. Phil wrote this ballad for me in 1986. You can find it on the CD Split Second, released in 1989 track 4. You can also hear I remain on track 6. These two pieces go together. Sometimes they were played together as the Truly Yours suite. I think of him a lot. He wrote some wonderful music."

https://philmillerthelegacy.com/phils-birthday-opus-page-truly-yours

All'affetto e alla riconoscenza espressi in via diretta o indiretta a Robert Wyatt per il suo compleanno, l'ottantunesimo, si potrebbe accompagnare una di quelle squisitezze annotate a suo tempo da mamma Honor in uno dei manuali di cucina pubblicati in proprio (Crisis Cookery) o desunti dagli scritti di Barbara Pym (A La Pym). Lo suggeriva ieri all'ora del tè Jean-Paul Marillier, puntuale all'appuntamento con il primo aggiornamento dell'anno al suo impareggiabile archivio Une discographie de Robert Wyatt.

https://www.disco-robertwyatt.com

https://radiorobert.com

Gestazione lunga e complessa ha avuto anche il nuovo lavoro di Mike Johnson, il suo primo a non servirsi del nome Thinking Plague, realizzato a più riprese nell'arco di almeno quattro anni con la partecipazione - anche a distanza - di numerosi musicisti e con l'aiuto economico di parecchi sostenitori. Ora è finalmente pronto ed è uno dei primissimi titoli del catalogo 2026 di Cuneiform Records: The Gardens of Loss.

"As some will know, most Thinking Plague music and lyrics over the years were written by me, and the band has essentially been my project since the mid-Nineties. But for this album, I was hoping to be free of the some of the expectations and assumptions that come with the name Thinking Plague. I wanted to try some different things, and take full credit or blame for the outcome. One of my main objectives was to make an album incorporating an orchestra, of sorts at least, which required me to employ a lot of new people, such as a string quintet, a new flutist, an oboist, bassoonist, trumpeter, trombonist, etc. And I wanted some different musicians in key roles - like Simon Steensland on bass and Morgan Ågren and Kimara Sajn on drums, and Jeremy Kurn on piano. In my mind, it wasn't Thinking Plague. I know that some people will say it sounds like Thinking Plague, but what they should realize is that it sounds like me. Not to say that it's literally more of the same. I don't think it is. There's a lot more, and more varied, orchestral instrumentation - real players; not samples. Sometimes, thanks to the "magic" of overdubbing, it will sound like a large orchestra. Other times you can hear various winds, reeds, brass and/or string ensembles of different sizes. Also, I think the eight song-pieces on the album have more varied styles and character - some quite a bit more accessible than typical Thinking Plague music, and some at least as complex and advanced as Thinking Plague. But the aesthetic is generally more orchestral in the 20th century sense, while still incorporating some intensely "rock" elements. It's not "classical" orchestration pasted onto rock band tracks, rather, it's integrated to sound like a big electro-acoustic ensemble with many voices. It's very organic, I think."

https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-gardens-of-loss

Qualcuno già l'aveva ricevuto nella posta di Natale, in copia personalizzata dall'autore. Altri ne hanno atteso l'uscita ufficiale, pochi giorni fa: è il nuovo album di Albert Marcœur - molto probabilmente il suo ultimo - registrato a più riprese nel corso dell'estate con il coinvolgimento di un gran numero di collaboratori, una trentina circa di musicisti e oltre cinquecento adesioni anticipate. V'là autre chose!

http://www.marcoeur.com

Chi nelle scorse settimane ha sperato (inutilmente) di trovare ancora disponibile in cd il magnifico triplo album In Concerts di Mujician - Keith Tippett, Paul Dunmall, Paul Rogers e Tony Levin - pubblicato da Jazz In Britain a fine ottobre e andato subito esaurito può tornare (brevemente) a sperare: ne sono state stampate altre duecento copie. Uomo avvisato...

https://jazzinbritain1.bandcamp.com/album/in-concerts

Musica Jazz di questo mese pubblica una lunga intervista con Mike e Kate Westbrook realizzata via Zoom da Francesco Spezia: al centro della conversazione c'è naturalmente la recente edizione in doppio cd per Cadillac Records del Cortège nella versione registrata dal vivo per la BBC nel 1980, con una dettagliata esposizione dei motivi ispiratori dell'opera e delle fasi della sua realizzazione, incluse le indimenticabili esperienze condotte all'epoca a Santarcangelo di Romagna. Ma si parla anche di Mama Chicago, dei lavori su Blake e su Rossini, della Brass Band, dell'Orckestra e di Danilo Terenzi, con un accenno all'imminente nuovo album per solo pianoforte, The Piano in the Room and the Blues, la cui pubblicazione potrebbe accompagnare - o addirittura anticipare - il novantesimo compleanno del Maestro.

https://www.musicajazz.it/musica-jazz-gennaio-2026

Alla prima mano di gioco del nuovo anno - la partita di Jazz Progression è quella dello scorso 20 gennaio - già cala un poker d'assi Mike Gavin: Mike Westbrook con Norma Winstone, Stan Tracey Quartet con il Delme String Quartet, Mike Osborne Quintet e Louis Moholo-Moholo's Cultural Shock. Tutto materiale inedito, tutto possibilmente (e sperabilmente) oggetto di prossime pubblicazioni Ogun o Cadillac.

With parents who were deeply embedded in the 1960s blues milieu in London it’s perhaps no surprise that Mike ended up falling into the London music world, first as a warehouse boy for the legendary John Jack at Cadillac Distribution, then at Ray’s Jazz Shop in London where his dad worked. Fresh from the cleansing flame of punk he had his eyes, ears and pores opened by the free jazz scene, losing many girlfriends at the fierce improvisation gigs above pubs and in odd corners of London. His first business, Corvette Recordings, was a way of getting into these gigs by selling records at them. More mainstream musical education followed with the mix of American jazz heroes and UK young turks making for fertile watching in the 80s and 90s. Writing occasionally for Straight No Chaser, odd DJ gigs and a few radio outings at Resonance FM further broadened the outlook, and later work for French classical label and jazz distributor Harmonia Mundi, indie monolith PIAS and contemporary jazz label Edition Records added breadth. But those ties to the improv scene and in particular to John Jack and Hazel Miller were strong and on the former’s sad demise in 2017 he took over the running of the labels Cadillac Records and Hazel’s Ogun Records, at which coal face he struggles still.

https://www.mixcloud.com/jazz-progression

Una nuova serie di Improv Nights in ricordo di Derek Bailey (1930-2005) prende il via oggi al Roulette a Brooklyn, New York, con gruppi di musicisti diversi in ciascuna delle tre serate in programma convocati da Wendy Eisenberg, Chris Ryan Williams e Chris Cochrane: "Improv Nights was originally initiated by John Zorn, to whom Derek Bailey was a dear friend and mentor. Bailey’s passion for pure improvisation inspired generations of musicians from a wide variety of backgrounds. For these three nights we return to the Improv Night tradition that began as benefits for The Stone, and that have been, in many ways, inspired by Derek Bailey’s legendary Company Weeks. Each evening will present a rotating kaleidoscope of musicians, who will then divide into smaller improvisational units - each concert promising a unique experience."

https://roulette.org/event/improv-nights-2026-1
https://roulette.org/event/improv-nights-2026-2
https://roulette.org/event/improv-nights-2026-3

Degli album prodotti come unico titolare, non pochi in verità, quello di cui Ralph Towner si diceva più soddisfatto è il poliedrico Blue Sun (Ecm, 1983): "That was my one man band record. In that recording I played every instrument that I can play, and overdubbed. It was really an interesting project, and sounds like a lot of people, not just one person. The music I wrote for it was very nice." Il suo ultimo in ordine temporale è invece At First Light (Ecm, 2023), recital per sola chitarra classica registrato a Lugano quattro anni fa, infuso di ammirazione per gli eterni ispiratori George Gershwin, John Coltrane, John Dowland e Bill Evans. Un lascito prezioso.

https://ecmrecords.com/ralph-towner-1940-2026

Prima della piega un po' manierista presa con l'approdo all'Ecm il gruppo principe di Ralph Towner, gli Oregon con Paul McCandless, Glen Moore e Collin Walcott, fu capace nel cuore degli anni Settanta di ipotizzare mondi paralleli al jazz plausibili, desiderabili e alternativi al machismo della fusion imperante tra i contemporanei: ne rende testimonianza il percorso degli album Vanguard ed Elektra da Music Of Another Present Era a Roots In The Sky, da ripercorrere anche - o soprattutto - ora, con il groppo in gola per la perdita della sua illuminata guida.

https://oregonband.com

 

Guitarra Picante
(Ralph Towner, 1940-2026)

Annunciato, atteso, rinviato, finalmente ora è qui (ed è una delizia!): il nuovo album di Petter Herbertsson come Sternpost, affidato stavolta alla statunitense Concentric Circles, è unworld.afterpop.

Concentric Circles is incredibly honored to present new recordings from Sternpost, with a release that reminds you that sometimes a really good, fully formed album is the best way to experience music. Immersive and transportive yet also inherently catchy, unworld.afterpop is ample evidence that we are in the graces of a thoroughly gifted songwriter at the top of his craft.

https://sternpostulrika.bandcamp.com/unworld-afterpop