Per il centenario della nascita di Allen Ginsberg, celebrato lo scorso 3 giugno, Philip Glass ha raccolto in un breve ep dal titolo Allen Ginsberg-One Hundred tre distinti episodi di una lunga e fruttuosa collaborazione: un inedito (Magic Psalm, Etude No.17), un montaggio audio finora reperibile solo nell'antologico The Fall of America Vol II (Have You Seen This Movie- Distant Figure) e l'emozionante Wichita Vortex Sutra, loro esordio del 1988 - ma il poema di Ginsberg è datato 1966 - divenuto nel tempo un autentico classico.

Allen Ginsberg and Philip Glass first collaborated on Wichita Vortex Sutra. A chance meeting in St. Mark's Bookshop in the East Village led to their first collaboration, when Allen Ginsberg pulled his book of poetry off the shelf and landed on Wichita Vortex Sutra (1966), a poetic reflection of the anti-war mood of the 1960s. Glass composed music to match the rhythm of Ginsberg’s reading. The work premiered at a benefit for the Vietnam Veteran Theater in 1988, at the Shubert Theater, Ginsberg reading his poem and Glass playing piano. The work inspired a larger collaboration and became a part of the evening length opera Hydrogen Jukebox, which had its world premiere at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina in 1990.

https://philipglass.com/recordings/allen_ginsberg_100

Uno degli interpreti più esperti e fidati di Steve Reich, il poliedrico percussionista e direttore Colin Currie, è impegnato in questo periodo - e lo sarà per un anno intero - a festeggiare il novantesimo compleanno del Nostro con una serie di concerti a programma variabile in varie sedi in Europa e nel mondo assieme al proprio formidabile ensemble: la tappa londinese odierna ad esempio propone Clapping Music, Two Pianos, Radio Rewrite, Double Sextet, la prima esecuzione in Regno Unito di In All Your Ways (2026) e Quartet, composizione del 2013 che Reich ha espressamente dedicato proprio a Currie.

https://www.barbican.org.uk/colin-currie-group-steve-reich-celebration
https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/series/steve-reich-at-90

Il bell'omaggio a Terry Riley ideato in tempi recenti da Marco Dalpane, Fantasy on Persian Surgery Dervishes, è andato in scena a Bologna a fine estate per due volte consecutive - un vero tour de force pianistico in entrambi i casi - presso Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita: su YT c'è per intero il concerto del 19 settembre.

https://youtu.be/OiNAGvrC4ek

Aymeric Leroy riporta all'attenzione dei frequentatori del Phil Miller-The Legacy uno dei più bei brani presentati nel corso del doppio omaggio al compianto chitarrista ('A Life in Music') tenuto al Vortex londinese il 6 gennaio 2019: si tratta di Nowadays a Silhouette, composizione di Miller presente in Before A Word Is Said (1982), qui impreziosita dall'apporto di John Etheridge.

https://youtu.be/zmxZZ-9KHYg

Cherry Red organizza per gennaio 2027 una passeggiata in tutta calma sulla scena di Canterbury promettendo 'a unique, fascinating look at a tight-knit scene that may not have enjoyed a great deal of commercial success, but nevertheless remains a much loved element of the UK 70s rock landscape'. Con sconti per studenti e gratuità per accompagnatori. Mah...

https://www.cherryred.co.uk/dedicated-to-you-but-you-weren't-listening

Is there a Scene?
Is there a club, or some kind of hub
Where we convene, to talk about
Bands and gigs we’ve seen
Where we sing along
To the music and songs
That we call Canterbury?

https://tinyurl.com/IsThereAScene

 

Paul Dunmall sarà presente in quartetto con Percy Pursglove, James Owston e Jim Bashford al festoso Westport Sound in programma per il terzo anno a Malmesbury, nel North Wiltshire (Regno Unito), per iniziativa di Richard Wiltshire e Janinka Diverio in affettuoso ricordo di Keith Tippett. Tre giorni da oggi a domenica fitti di incontri e concerti in varie sedi attorno all'ormai celebre Three Cups Inn, dove risiede appunto il pianoforte che fu di Tippett: ci saranno tra gli altri anche Stick in the Wheel, Angharad Davies, Alexander Hawkins, Mark Sanders, Phil Durrant, Colin Webster e Rachel Musson.

Dice Janinka: "The original ethos for the event was to, in some way, keep Keith’s influence alive in our home town but has since become about offering opportunities to artists and audiences to experience contemporary music, jazz, improv and electronica. Many of the artists from the Bristol scene and beyond have collaborated with Keith and have been inspired by him and his memory and spirit will weave its way through our events and programming."

https://www.facebook.com/westportsound

Paul Dunmall sarà presto protagonista di due altre uscite discografiche curate da Jazz in Britain, in attesa il prossimo anno del volume biografico scritto da Martin Phillips, già autore di quello su Keith Tippett: "So far Jazz In Britain has released three albums in collaboration with Paul Dunmall, all recordings from the archives ie: Mujician 'In Concerts', Tenor Tonic 'That’s Our Life' and Danny Thompson’s Whatever 'On The Road'. But on the near horizon we will be releasing two albums of new music from Paul… the first is an astonishing live performance of John Coltrane’s Meditations from the 100th Anniversary Coltrane Celebration Concert in Birmingham in late September; the second will be a quartet (Paul, Sophia Domancich, James Owston and Miles Levin) playing new compositions of Paul’s, recorded the day after the Coltrane concert. And Jazz In Britain will be publishing a biography of Paul Dunmall next year as well!"

https://www.facebook.com/jazzinbritain

E' già pronto per Discus Music ma uscirà ufficialmente solo tra qualche settimana: The Heart Centre è l'album in cui, tra le altre cose, Paul Dunmall rivolge un pensiero deferente a Miles Davis, non tanto per la ricorrenza quest'anno del centenario, ma per l'importanza che per lui - allora diciassettenne - ebbe l'ascolto di In A Silent Way. E c'è proprio In A Silent Way / It’s About That Time in apertura di programma, cui seguono poco dopo Freedom Jazz Dance di Eddie Harris e in conclusione - ma solo per un cenno - Politician di Jack Bruce e Pete Brown: registrato quest'estate a Birmingham con Alex Bonney, Steve Saunders, Andrew Woodhead, Nick Jurd, Will Glaser e Martin Archer.

https://discus-music.org

Ad accompagnare la pubblicazione dell'album The Granite Variations (Ogun, 2026) il trio Sarost - sigla che proviene dai cognomi dei suoi componenti, Mark Sanders, Paul Rogers e Larry Stabbins - tenne il mese scorso uno splendido concerto da tutto esaurito presso il Vortex Jazz Club di Londra: chi non poté esser presente in quell'occasione ne ritrova ora documentazione integrale su YT.

https://ogunrecording.co.uk/sarost-the-granite-variations

Freak Out! di Frank Zappa e The Mothers of Invention compie sessant'anni. E il bello è che serba ancora molte sorprese...

"When Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention’s Freak Out! arrived in the summer of 1966, it represented a seismic shift in what a rock album could be. Released by Verve Records on June 27, 1966, as one of the first double albums in rock history - and virtually unprecedented as a debut release - Zappa and The Mothers rejected the prevailing conventions of the three-minute pop single, instead crafting an ambitious work that blended doo-wop, rhythm and blues, orchestral music, free jazz, tape manipulation, and biting social satire into a cohesive artistic statement. Set against the backdrop of a pivotal moment in American culture - amid the rise of the counterculture, the Vietnam War, and a growing distrust of mainstream values - the album skewered suburban conformity, celebrity culture, consumerism, and political complacency with a level of sophistication and irreverence that was virtually unprecedented in popular music. Its experimental structure, culminating in the groundbreaking sound collage “The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet” helped redefine the possibilities of the LP, demonstrating that a rock album could function as a unified artistic work rather than simply a collection of songs. In doing so, Freak Out! expanded the creative vocabulary of popular music and helped define the increasingly ambitious and experimental direction rock would take in the latter half of the 1960s.

Sixty years after its release, Freak Out! remains not only a landmark recording, but a bold artistic manifesto whose originality, irreverence, and uncompromising vision continue to challenge, provoke, and inspire new generations of musicians and listeners alike. As Zappa wrote in the album’s original liner notes, “Freaking Out is a process whereby an individual casts off outmoded and restricting standards of thinking… in order to express creatively his relationship to his immediate environment and the social structure as a whole.” Six decades later, that philosophy remains as radical - and as relevant - as ever."

https://www.zappa.com
https://freakoutmap.com

Dave Newhouse è assieme a Jerry King l'ideatore del secondo episodio collettivo della serie 23rd Century Music iniziata qualche anno fa con ZZAJ -Jazz From The 23rd Century: il titolo, di chiara origine beefheartiana, è My Human Digs Me Blues, e in quasi una cinquantina di tracce vede l'intervento tra gli altri di Mike Watt, Aaron Lee Kaplan, Nick Didkovsky, Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, Jimmy Ågren, Guy Segers, Rich O’Meara, Bret Hart, Walter Whitney, Scott Colby oltre a Newhouse e King naturalmente, e anche di Martin Archer, che tramite la sua Discus Music dà una mano nella distribuzione del doppio album in formato sia fisico sia digitale.

https://discusmusic.bandcamp.com/my-human-digs-me-blues

Al primo volume di Improvika l'inarrestabile Dave Newhouse ha da poco fatto seguire un secondo, altrettanto importante, stavolta con l'aiuto di Bret Hart, Robert Dansby, Forrest Fang e di nuovo Fred Frith. Con un motivo unificante: "This is my response to the woefully corrupt and fascist government we are currently living under here in the U.S."

https://davenewhouse.bandcamp.com/album/improvika-ii

Ogni motivo è valido per rievocare gli ineguagliabili The Dukes of Stratosphear di 25 O’Clock (1985) e Psonic Psunspot (1987), anche dopo l'esauriente compendio del 2019: Psurroundabout Ride torna ora in una versione Wilson/Atmos magari discutibile, ma con ancora qualche brano in più.

Between 1980 (when they were still performing live) and 1989, XTC wrote, recorded and released a series of albums from Black Sea to Oranges & Lemons that cemented the band’s reputation as songwriters and recording artists almost without parallel in the UK. They may not be as famous as other bands of the era but, to many of those with discerning ears, they’re rated among the very best, the select few who rise above their contemporaries… As if six stellar albums in ten years including two double LPs wasn’t enough, the band also issued two albums under completely different names as The Dukes of Stratosphear, an unashamedly psychedelic ensemble which phased and flanged in and out of existence in 1985 and 1987 respectively.

In 2019, Psurroundabout Ride was released on CD/Blu-ray gathering all of the Dukes’ material including the original stereo mixes, new 2019 Steven Wilson 5.1 and stereo mixes of the albums, a few additional recordings along with demos of 25 O’Clock and Psonic Psunspot. Now in 2026 Steven Wilson has once again worked his magic to create a three-dimensional Atmos audio mix that brings out all the delightful intricacies in detail. While the original psychedelic era was born of the possibilities inherent in stereo but, ironically, mostly heard via mono radios at the time and XTC’s 80s return to that genre capitalised on all the studio progress made in stereo recording over the preceding two decades, The Dukes’ output proved very well suited to the 5.1 surround sound environment in 2019. However, the combination of the strength of the original material/recordings and the possibilities of Atmos, combined with Steven Wilson’s love of the material and experience as a mixer of Atmos releases, take the material several trips further into the audio cosmos. 

https://burningshed.com/the-dukes-of-stratosphear

Grande la soddisfazione invece di Bing Selfish, che per celebrare il primo anniversario della pubblicazione del fortunato The Day I Fell in Love with Everyone racconta per immagini, smascherandoli, gli ipocriti intrighi delle élite aziendali internazionali: Charitable Giving, brano scritto da uno dei suoi più fedeli complici, Lonesome Andi Haller.

https://www.youtube.com/@bingselfish1

Grande la delusione sotto il cielo d'Ontario - e la situazione tutt'altro che eccellente - al punto che i fan canadesi di Eskimo! possono apprendere solo da oltre confine ciò di cui sono stati privati...

https://residents.wiki/Eskimo_Live!

Il maggio scorso, dopo qualche bell'annetto di assenza dalla capitale, Fred Frith tornò a Roma per un concerto organizzato da Flaming Creatures e Blutopia presso l'Istituto Polacco: suonò prima in solo, e poi in trio con Marco Colonna e Fabrizio Spera. Entrambi i set sono ora documentati su YT.

https://www.instagram.com

Tim Hodgkinson al clarinetto dialoga con l'artista multimediale Zhuyang Liu, in quest'occasione alle prese con il tradizionale strumento cinese guzheng: l'esito è in This Is What Happens, album digitale disponibile su Bandcamp (o anche in cd, richiedendone copia direttamente ai musicisti).

https://timhodgkinson.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-what-happens
https://zhuyangliu.bandcamp.com/album/this-is-what-happens

Già in passato aveva messo mano a file audio o video per (ri)creare a proprio piacere qualcos'altro: ora Ôm Perkuterr prende un po' della batteria di Chris Cutler da Bittern Storm Over Ulm (Unrest, 1974) e si inventa un grazioso omaggio ('Un clin d'œil à Henry Cow') suonando lui stesso tutto il resto. Su YT.

https://tinyurl.com/unclindoeil

A recuperare Horde (1981) e Gyromancy (1984) dalle autoproduzioni Dys a tiratura limitata ci pensò a suo tempo Chris Cutler per Recommended; ai due titoli precedenti, Mnemonist Orchestra (1979) e Some Attributes Of A Living System (1980), provvede ora - altrettanto meritoriamente - Walter Robotka per Klanggalerie: è l'epoca pre-Biota dei Mnemonists.

Against the fertile creative backdrop of late 1970s Fort Collins, Colorado, the American ensemble Biota's first recorded projects were produced under the name Mnemonist Orchestra (shortened soon after to Mnemonists). Founded by fellow scientists and community radio engineers Mark Derbyshire and William Sharp, the Mnemonists collective of fine artists, musicians, and college-town bohemians released five self-styled albums between 1978 and 1984 on the group's Dys label. Horde (1981), a seminal album of electronically processed music, garnered particular interest for its groundbreaking use of unconventional sound manipulation, musique concrète techniques, and early period instrumentation - including from the Recommended Records/RēR label, who rereleased the LP on its imprint in 1984. Following the release of Gyromancy (1984) the ensemble split into two collaborative factions: a visual-arts group, which retained the name Mnemonists, and the musical group, Biota.

https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg527
https://www.klanggalerie.com/gg549