From: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com (Zorn List Digest) To: zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Zorn List Digest V3 #790 Reply-To: zorn-list Sender: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk Zorn List Digest Tuesday, February 19 2002 Volume 03 : Number 790 In this issue: - Re: dolphy weekend "Filles de Silent Brew" Re: "Filles de Silent Brew" Nino Rota Brubeck Re: "Filles de Silent Brew" Johnny (Johnnie) Ray Re: Brubeck Re: Nino Rota loren, eric, deidre, jimi and anthony RE: jimi brotz, hain and han RE: Braxton Re: dolphy weekend Question about RE: Eyvind Kang ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 10:16:58 +0100 From: "Marcin Gokieli" Subject: Re: dolphy weekend - ----- Original Message ----- From: "skip heller" > If that band had been playing together as a regular working unit, I think > they'd have been playing that stuff in the most easy, off-handed way. Look > at what brubeck managed to accomplish. And what live discs we could have... > > 'filles de kilimajro' - the best jazz album ever - > If you don't get flamed for such an unequivocal statement about a record > with actual tracable tempos and chord changes, I'll be shocked. C'mon Skip, everyone knows it's the best. I'm not very serious here, of course, but in my private top jazz chart it's certanly the no1. (with Bitches Brew, Big Fun, Dark Magus, Black Beauty, In a silent way, get up with it fighting fo rthe second spot, and out to lunch being third). For me those albums are like a part of family. I do not feel that towards any coltrane, coleman, ayler, or whoever. To bring flames: ain't "mlle mabry" the most beautiful jazz tune ever? BTW, are there any covers of the song? Marcin (who can't wait to see the Real Madrid - Fc porto thsi evening. At least champions league has won over the winter - although the battle has been hard this year... ok you americans won't get how important it is;-) - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 10:50:21 +0100 From: duncan youngerman Subject: "Filles de Silent Brew" Marcin Gokieli a =E9crit : > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "skip heller" > > > > 'filles de kilimajro' - the best jazz album ever - > > If you don't get flamed for such an unequivocal statement about a record > > with actual tracable tempos and chord changes, I'll be shocked=2E > > C'mon Skip, everyone knows it's the best=2E > I'm not very serious here, of course, but in my private top jazz chart it'= s > certanly the no1=2E (with Bitches Brew, Big Fun, Dark Magus, Black Beauty,= In > a silent way, get up with it fighting fo rthe second spot, and out to lunc= h > being third)=2E For me those albums are like a part of family=2E I do not = feel > that towards any coltrane, coleman, ayler, or whoever=2E > To bring flames: ain't "mlle mabry" the most beautiful jazz tune ever? BTW= , > are there any covers of the song? My personal fave is "Frelon brun (brown hornet)"=2E Tony's beat and those fu= nk clusters do it to me just right=2E Deconstructed James Brown=2E Weather Report/Joe Zawinul is to me the band/artist that best kept and lived up to this spirit of open-ended deconstructed ambiguous funk=2E In fact the electric Miles albums featuring Z=2E ("Silent", "Brew", "Corner") fare a few notches higher in my private pantheon than those without=2E Was interested to learn from the "In a silent way Sessions" liner notes that Mlle Mabry" was to such an extent a Hendrix homage=2E Seems very obvious to = my ears now=2E But don't take that to mean that I think it takes away from the worth of this track=2E Hendrix himself got his inspiration from so and so, e= tc=2E ad infinitum=2E Best, DY=2E - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:07:38 +0100 From: "Marcin Gokieli" Subject: Re: "Filles de Silent Brew" - ----- Original Message ----- From: "duncan youngerman" DY: My personal fave is "Frelon brun (brown hornet)". Tony's beat and those funk clusters do it to me just right. Deconstructed James Brown. *** another one I like very much is 'tout de suite'. this punctate beat is just killing. the band goes into wild abstraction, and TW is clearly the main mad man. DY: Weather Report/Joe Zawinul is to me the band/artist that best kept and lived up to this spirit of open-ended deconstructed ambiguous funk. *** I do not rate WR high, although i must say that i have only one of their records - 'i sing the body electric'. side one is interesting, but side 2 does not convince me. I like Vitous's sound on that album. Miles albums of that time are IMHO much more interesting. DY: up to this spirit of open-ended deconstructed ambiguous funk. In fact the electric Miles albums featuring Z. ("Silent", "Brew", "Corner") fare a few notches higher in my private pantheon than those without. *** It's funny to see the how zawinul's arrival changed the band - we can see it very clearly now thanks to the in a silent way box. In my opinion it's his sound that was decisive, not the compositions. DY: Was interested to learn from the "In a silent way Sessions" liner notes that Mlle Mabry" was to such an extent a Hendrix homage. Seems very obvious to my ears now. *** I didn't read the notes that carefully, so i did not find the quote (btw: there were some problems with buying it in poland, and it arrived only a few days after the relase date. I terrorized many shop owners/clerks during that sad period ;-)). But it does make sense. Best, Marcin Gokieli - - - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 23:08:05 +1100 From: "Julian" Subject: Nino Rota Just curious, in all of Zorn's many soundtrack covers, has he ever done any Nino Rota? Also, any recommendations of people playing Rota's stuff? I know of a few including The Club Foot Orchestra (good, perhaps a little straight) and the Hal Willner production "Amarcord Nino Rota" (a few standout tracks, but mostly pretty average). Any more noteworthy Rota covers out there? - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 06:34:03 -0600 From: Herb Levy Subject: Brubeck From: "thomas chatterton" > >From: skip heller > > > >Three: > > > >Brubeck was a very skilled bandleader -- enough to keep his personnel in > >place for years rather than months > > > >and: The band played often, so developing the music could happen more > >readily night in/night out. > > > >Dave is a genius. > >...and he's white! There were lots of predominately white bands that didn't get over at the time, & Brubeck frequently took a lot of grief and lost gigs for having an integrated band, so that's nowhere near a sufficient explanation for much of anything. It certainly didn't hurt in some areas of marketing the band, but Miles Davis, MJQ, Duke Ellington, Oscar Peterson and many Black jazz musicians were continually playin goto large audiences, and making VERY good money, at the time too. In addition to Skip's list, I'd add that Brubeck was very aggressively marketed to college & university audiences at a time when jazz still had more than a vestige of pop music credibility. In this way the band built a strong base among an audience that (like most young audiences - look at all the fans of Sinatra, Presley, Beatles, etc. of a certain age who never got past their high school/college idols) wasn't going to keep changing their taste very much longer. Bests, Herb - -- Herb Levy Mappings on Antenna Internet Radio mappings@antennaradio.com Mappings P O Box 9369 Forth Wort, TX 76147 USA - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 16:14:16 +0100 From: duncan youngerman Subject: Re: "Filles de Silent Brew" Marcin Gokieli a =E9crit : > *** I do not rate WR high, although i must say that i have only one of the= ir > records - 'i sing the body electric'=2E side one is interesting, but side= 2 > does not convince me=2E I like Vitous's sound on that album=2E Miles album= s of > that time are IMHO much more interesting=2E Try the 1rst ("Weather Report"), 3rd ("Sweetnighter": "Boogie-woogie waltz" = is a Z-funk high point), 4th ("Mysterious Traveler", with contrasts worthy of Mahler or the Beatles)=2E=2E=2E > DY: up to this spirit of open-ended deconstructed ambiguous funk=2E In fac= t > the > electric Miles albums featuring Z=2E ("Silent", "Brew", "Corner") fare a f= ew > notches higher in my private pantheon than those without=2E > > *** It's funny to see the how zawinul's arrival changed the band - we can > see it very clearly now thanks to the in a silent way box=2E In my opinion > it's his sound that was decisive, not the compositions=2E What about his "Pharaoh's Dance" which opens up "Bitches Brew"? An all-time musical/Miles high, Imho=2E=2E=2E > DY: > Was interested to learn from the "In a silent way Sessions" liner notes th= at > Mlle Mabry" was to such an extent a Hendrix homage=2E Seems very obvious t= o my > ears now=2E > > *** I didn't read the notes that carefully, so i did not find the quote > (btw: there were some problems with buying it in poland, and it arrived on= ly > a few days after the relase date=2E I terrorized many shop owners/clerks > during that sad period ;-))=2E But it does make sense=2E p=2E34 :(from the booklet)"=2E=2E=2Epays homage to Jimi hendrix's"The wind c= ries Mary"=2E Certain chord movements imply Hendrix's song, but then the composition takes= a totally different direction=2E" Best, DY=2E - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 07:55:17 -0800 From: Tosh Subject: Johnny (Johnnie) Ray Hi, I have read the book and thought it was pretty interesting. I didn't catch the jazz part in the book, maybe I was sleep-reading at the time. But one point I think we should make clear is that Johnny is not the spelling of Johnnie Ray's name. It's spelled Johnnie. He consistently had his name mispelled - including on the first Portishead album -where they mispelled his name when giving credit to a sample. But on another note, Ray was really an interesting music person. The biography made me check out his music - but I was also intrigued by Morrissey's tribute to him during his Smith years - by having his photo taken with a hearing aid. And then there was those great photos of him on stage during the 50's. - -- - -- Tosh Berman TamTam Books http://www.tamtambooks.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 08:42:27 EST From: TagYrIt@aol.com Subject: Re: Brubeck - --part1_39.229f337d.29a3b043_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 2/19/02 7:34:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, herb@eskimo.com writes: > In addition to Skip's list, I'd add that Brubeck was very > aggressively marketed to college & university audiences at a time > when jazz still had more than a vestige of pop music credibility. When I was reading about this part of Brubeck's career in his biography not too long ago, I could think of nothing comparable so much as Phish. Dale. - --part1_39.229f337d.29a3b043_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 2/19/02 7:34:49 AM Eastern Standard Time, herb@eskimo.com writes:


In addition to Skip's list, I'd add that Brubeck was very
aggressively marketed to college & university audiences at a time
when jazz still had more than a vestige of pop music credibility.


When I was reading about this part of Brubeck's career in his biography not too long ago, I could think of nothing comparable so much as Phish.

Dale. - --part1_39.229f337d.29a3b043_boundary-- - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 08:02:09 -0800 From: Tosh Subject: Re: Nino Rota I like Fantomas' cover of the Godfather theme in their new album 'The Director's Cut'. - -- Tosh Berman TamTam Books http://www.tamtambooks.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:05:05 +0000 From: "Kurt Gottschalk" Subject: loren, eric, deidre, jimi and anthony in no particular order. since it was asked, loren's fairly particular about the caps in his name (and i shall now labor over toward the shift key). Loren MazzaCane Connors. i don't exactly recall, but the middle name comes from a grandmother, i believe. dolphy and mingus? "mingus presents mingus". nuff said. skip, you shed new light on 'out to lunch' for me, and i kind of resent it. i've always thought there was an interesting sterility to it, but i've never considered it a shortcoming. if i don't get over it, there'll be hell to pay. i'm not sure if "stringology" is in print, but the superior "firestorm" (diedre/fred duo) on victo is. yeah, she's great. also interesting is naomi millender, who plays with ed wilkerson's 8 bold souls, a sextett heir apparent. i'll also here give props to my friend okkyung lee, who's been playing with the zorn improvs lately, and really has her own voice on the instrument. (she's playing weds at tonic, if i might go overboard.) for jimi covers, the christy doran et al 'plays the music of jimi hendrix' is pretty good, but i'm surprised no one has mentioned robert dick's sublime 'third stone from the sun.' don't remember who was looking for braxton's circle, or where in the world they lived, but there's a used sealed copy at kim's on st. marks (or there was monday) for $12. kurt _________________________________________________________________ Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail. http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 12:04:38 -0500 From: "Sean Westergaard" Subject: RE: jimi >for jimi covers, the christy doran et al 'plays the music of jimi hendrix' >is pretty good, but i'm surprised no one has mentioned robert dick's sublime >'third stone from the sun.' AAARGH! where's my brain? i just played that on the radio not 3 weeks ago! Good call Kurt. that one's got some great stuff on it, especially the cover of Pali Gap. sean - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 17:31:07 +0000 From: "Kurt Gottschalk" Subject: brotz, hain and han i'll give an up for 'shadows.' _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp. - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 18:52:19 +0100 From: "Franz Fuchs" Subject: RE: Braxton > On behalf Of Steve Smith > > It's ironic, given all the larger projects they managed to > release (like the four-disc 'Trillium' opera!) that the one > project Braxton House never managed to issue before > its current hiatus was the Skopje solo CD announced > at the very beginning. Does someone know the reason for this "interruption of service"? The webpage hasn't been updated for a very long time, too. In the recommendations for John every genre (solo, duo, quartet, standards) within Braxton's ouevre has been mentioned with the sole exception of his orchestral works, which are probably dearest to his heart. My choice in this regard is "Composition 96" (Leo), although I also like very much "2 compositions (ensemble) 1989/1991" (hatART) and "Comp. 165" (New Albion). If you'd be particular there are another two (sub-)sections of his work that are left: Braxton as pianist and his "Ghost Trance Musics". The first of these is most likely an aquired taste, but nevertheless interesting, not the least for conceptual reasons. I recommend "Seven Standards 1995" (Knitting Factory Works) which has Mario Pavone as co-leader; Dave Douglas, Thomas Chapin and Pheeroan Ak Laff complete this band. The "Ghost Trance Music" is embarrassingly underrepresented in my collection, but "Four Compositions (Washington D.C.) 1995" on the "Braxton House" label received some well-meaning reviews. Apart from that, "Compositions 10 & 16 (+101)" (hatART) is fantastic! It's one of the rare occasions that Braxton's scores are played without his involvement. The arrangements of Art Lange and the musicians (Guillermo Gregorio, Carrie Biolo, Michael Cameron, Gene Coleman and Jim O'Rourke) truly shine. Regards Franz Fuchs PS: An extensive and relative recent interview with Braxton can be found at http://mheffley.web.wesleyan.edu/ (link provided by Jason Guthartz). If I haven't miscalculated the whole "thing" amounts to ~70 000 words! It's certainly this sheer mass that has hindered an appropriate discussion on the Braxton list. As much as I admire Anthony, his jargon still bothers me. Dare I say that his "terminological furor" sometimes seems like a dead end? Maybe "bother" isn't the right word and I should substitute it with "worry", because "Braxtonspeak" has a tendency towards insularity (e.g. "quadrant-specific coalition politics" (!) on the first page of said interview) and a Heideggerian quality to it, albeit - and of course - with totally different politics. I don't want to overdramatize - maybe it's just a combination of adult reflection with a childlike joy for inventing words ;-) - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 10:02:15 -0800 From: "Patrice L. Roussel" Subject: Re: dolphy weekend On Mon, 18 Feb 2002 15:06:38 -0500 "Sean Westergaard" wrote: > > to Sanborn's credit, does anyone else remember him playing with the Arkestra > on Night Music? He and Marshall Allen did a freakout session and Sanborn > held his own. And what about a steaming solo on Priestess by the Gil Evans Orchestra (not to forget Arthur's one also)? Patrice. - - ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2002 13:03:39 -0500 From: "Jeni Dahmus" Subject: Question about RE: Eyvind Kang Matthew W Wirzbicki wrote: here's a review from opprobrium which makes this album sound really good. Has anyone heard it? (more reviews at http://www.info.net.nz/opprobrium/html/online/2/e2.html) EYVIND KANG/DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF/FRANCOIS HOULE Pieces Of Time CD [Spool]Messrs Kang, van der Schyff & Houle have produced a great rarity: the free improvised disc with near-zero dead spots, awkward transitions, or passages that go on long after the idea's been exhausted. What a joy this is, from start to finish. The variety is sumptuous: the range of instrument approaches, the ease from melody to dissonance and from arrhythmic meters to head-swaying grooves, and the constant resourcefulness of all three players. The album is filled with stunning sequences: the climax of #1, where Kang's violin and Houle's clarinet build up to a storm-warning siren; the opening of #2 (the aftermath?) with its dripping-rain notes from Kang and percussionist van der Schyff; the brief appearance of Houle's uncredited wood-flute; the switch to an Asian mode, with Kang's dancing-pitch bowing, which crosses with a Sephardic melody from Houle; the quiet flurry of Houle's circular-breathed low tones while Kang and Schyff explore their instruments' higher registers; Kang's canine whimpers... I could go on and on. The copyright on this disc says 1999, but if it's as new to you as it is to me, pick it up and see if doesn't make your best-of-2001 list. -James Lindbloom - -------------- The review above is an accurate description. Simply sublime and highly recommended.=20 Sweetness of Sickness is my absolute favorite Kang CD: funky instrumentations, wild string passages, unique arrangements, sound effects, distortion, noise, and a sense of humor. Kang even throws in a piece by Manuel de Falla. The packaging is nice, with cover art by Jesse Paul Miller, an inside diagram by Kang, and a cute little violin on the bright pink CD. The liner notes indicate that the piece "Vapors" was originally recorded as a soundtrack for Nikki Appino's film entitled Threshold. Has anyone seen this? I also recommend In the Path of Love, improvisations on classical Persian and Indian music by Kang (viola) and Persian music expert Amir Koushkani (tar). Recorded at Bear Creek Studios outside of Seattle, the album includes four unedited dialogues between viola and tar. The liner notes are extensive, with quotes from the musicians, photos, and a description of the tar: "The instrument Amir plays in the present recording is the "tar," which has three double strings. A brass pick is used to pluck them. The body of the tar is carved from a block of mulberry wood and incorporates a sound-table made of delicate lambskin membranes, and has 28 movable frets. It has a range of two octaves and a fifth." Koushkani notes that he "used a somewhat less conventional system of tuning for Tar together with a modified performance technique to create an unusual blend of three different Magham." I would love to see the Kang and Koushkani duo perform live. I heard they played at the Freer/Sackler Gallery in DC and the Asian American Jazz Festival in Chicago.=20 Another favorite is MBEK with bassist Michael Bisio and Kang on violin. The CD is comprised of improvised duets, ranging from chaotic to folk-like. The first track is an arrangement of Coltrane's Seraphic Light. Splendid. I enjoy Kang's Tzadik releases as well. At first I found some parts cheesy, then they grew on me. The melodies (NADES) stick with you. Kang's output is quite diverse, everything from beautiful melodies to totally "out" improvisations. Each time I've seen him perform, he has done something different. If you were disappointed in one of his performances, check him out again and you might be surprised. During the fall of 1999, he spent the first half hour of his Tonic gig philosophizing with the audience. Some people were completely pissed off...personally I enjoyed it. Recently I got We's Square Root of Negative One, an ambient/dub/electronica album featuring Kang, Danny Blume, Carolyn Honeychild Coleman, Chris Kelly, Gen Ken and La Scuola / 2nd grade, Raz Badawi Mesinai, and Ouk Wurmly. Yet another completely different Kang project. A Kang discography can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/kanggallery/ Jeni - - ------------------------------ End of Zorn List Digest V3 #790 ******************************* To unsubscribe from zorn-list-digest, send an email to "majordomo@lists.xmission.com" with "unsubscribe zorn-list-digest" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. A non-digest (direct mail) version of this list is also available; to subscribe to that instead, replace all instances of "zorn-list-digest" in the commands above with "zorn-list". Back issues are available for anonymous FTP from ftp.xmission.com, in pub/lists/zorn-list/archive. These are organized by date. Problems? Email the list owner at zorn-list-owner@lists.xmission.com