The Mars Volta: The Bedlam in Goliath

This post was begun just about three months ago, on 27 November 2025 and it was mentioned that, having seen The Mars Volta at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium two nights prior, it was going to take some time to process what the show did to this listener.  It shouldn't have taken this long!  Part of the issue was what seemed like a muffled sound and a mix that submerged the distinctive and impressive vocals of Cedric Bixler-Zavala, while it was also often the case that there were passages of sheer walls of sound that, for the group, was characteristic in intensity and power and definitely pushed the needle close to overwhelming, while totally thrilling.

Bixler-Zavala's harmonizing with Teri Gender Bender, partner of guitarist and instrumental mastermind Omar Rodriguez-López, was every effective, while the Cameroonian-German drummer Linda-Philoméne-Tsoungui was astounding in her playing, bassist Eva Gardner was deep and dependable in the pocket and other contributors offered stellar support.  The playing was superb, even as there were some points, especially early on, in which the band seems uncertain where to go in extending a piece.  This is understandable when a group has the ambition and audacity to push limits, though TMV has been oft-criticized for indulging in wild musical excess.

Speaking of which, the featured album here is 2008's The Bedlam in Goliath, the fourth TMV collection and, from start to finish, it is a roller coaster ride of experimentation, intensity, mystery and power.  Some of that mysterious element is from a backstory concerning the purchase in Jerusalem of a Ouija board and its purported effects on the band, crew and recording process.  Whatever the situation with that, the word "bedlam" is definitely a key one for much of this recording.  

Two tunes, "Wax Simulacra" and "Tourniquet Man," while hardly pop tunes, clock in at not much over 2:30 each, and do provide something of a break from the sheer heaviness of the rest of the album.  But, it does feel like The Bedlam in Goliath is more consistent and moves more smoothly (not quietly!) from song to song.  There is also a determined funkiness to much of the record that sets it apart from its predecessors while some of the more powerful moments, including on the last three minutes of "Goliath," most of the last 1:30 of "Agadez," and much of the closer "Conjugal Burns," for example.  "Soothsayer," the name given to the board has an eerie Middle Eastern vibe concluding with found sounds of group singing that adds to that sense of mystery, if not dread.

Rodriguez-López is a remarkable sonic architect, keeping the sound interesting and schizophrenic befitting the story of the Ouija board and what is was said to have done to everyone involved in the making of the album and the sound is heavily driven by the awesome guitar playing of John Frusciante, a consistent guest on these recordings, as well as the staggeringly propulsive and prodding percussion of Thomas Pridgen.  The late keyboardist Isaiah Ikey Owens, bassist Juan Alderete, Rodriguez-López' brother Marcel on keyboards and percussion, Adrián Terrazas-González on horns, winds and percussion and sound manipulating by Paul Hinojos all make vital contributions to this strong, unsettling and sometimes bewildering record—which seemed like the obvious choice to highlight after that concert!

Stevie Wonder: Innervisions

Astounding is an apt word to describe the incredible output of Stevie Wonder from 1972 to 1977, when he channeled his phenomenal talent and energies to churn out a series of great recordings from Music of My Mind to the double-album Songs in the Key of Life.  How anyone can definitively say that one was the best is the challenge, but, to this blogger, 1973's Innervisions is certainly a high-water mark amid one of the most astonishing runs in musical history.

He was a child prodigy when he burst on the pop scene about a decade earlier and amassed many chart-toppers while basically confined to a hit-machine mode by Barry Gordy and his Motown label, but, hearing what Marvin Gaye did in 1971 with What's Going On, Wonder immediately sought that route of artistic freedom, as well as experimentation.  In 1972, he released Music of My Mind and Talking Book, both of which reflected huge leaps of growth in his new direction.

With Innervisions, which came out in early August 1973, Wonder produced an astounding album that matched his melodic strengths with his multi-instrumental talents, including the T.O.N.T.O. (The Original New Timbral Orchestra) synthesizer.  Three are guest musicians and vocalists, as well, making important contributions to a half-dozen of the nine tracks that, from start to finish, comprise a remarkable recording.  Every tune is strong, including love songs like "Golden Lady" and "All in Love is Fair," spiritual pieces like "Jesus Children of America" and "Higher Ground," and political tunes such as "He's Misstra Know-It-All," a scathing indictment of President Richard Nixon, and the awesome "Living for the City," with a general positive uplift in "Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing."

One of the main elements that makes Innversions so strong is Wonder's ability to merge R&B, soul, funk, jazz, and rock in ways that are both forward-thinking and accessible.  Years of performing in a pop environment, in which his talent was obvious, but the opportunities for showcasing evolution and growth were limited, were finally followed by a period, not unlike what happened with Gaye, in which Wonder was able to give full expression to his immense abilities, but also his vision and ambition.  This was aided to no small extent by his associate producers, and the T.O.N.T.O. creators, Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, who encouraged Wonder to pursue new musical directions.  Again, it's challenging to pick the best Stevie Wonder album, but this one has to be a serious contender.

  

Jack DeJohnnette: Made in Chicago

The next post was going to be about a Henry Threadgill album and we'll get to that soon, but the news of the death, at age 83, of the phenomenal drummer Jack DeJohnnette, means that a tribute is being offered here to this master musician through his all-star group live record on ECM, Made in Chicago.  This great album, also part of the mammoth The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Associated Ensembles box set, was recorded in late August 2013 at Millennium Park for the Chicago Jazz Festival and is an agglomeration of titans of the Windy City's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, or AACM.

This includes the leader, his junior college classmates Roscoe Mitchell (of the Art Ensemble of Chicago) and Threadgill, the pianist and AACM founding figure Muhal Richard Abrams and bassist Larry Gray.  This quintet delivered a diverse and powerful performance program, including two pieces from Mitchell and one each from Abrams, DeJohnnette and Threadgill, culminating in a phenomenal improvised jam at the end.

Typical of the ethos of the AACM and the character of DeJohnnette, this is truly a group recording in terms of the choice of songs, but also the beautiful meshing of the performers and the listening that allowed for everyone to make their contributions in ways that varied widely but also came together beautifully.  Bassists, as per usual, are not as heralded because of their function of keeping the rhythm well grounded, but Gray does this with great aplomb.  When, he, DeJohnnette and Abrams are accompanying the horns, they are totally in sync and providing the right level of support.

Abrams is a pianist of not just great skill, but also of much sensitivity and creativity, while his "Jack 5" is another one of his rich and multi-varied compositions.  Mitchell, too, is a remarkable creator of music in composition, with his "Chant" and "This" as well as in his impressive use of alto, soprano and sopranino saxes, the baroque flute and bass flute.  Threadgill's "Leave Don't Go Away" is another of his many impressive forays into experimentation with form, though here with more standard instrumentation and his alto sax and bass flute playing is, as always, stellar.

To this listener, though, it is "Ten Minutes," which is really a little more than five minutes, that is the highlight of the album.  Here, these giants of jazz are no-holds-barred with Mitchell and Threadgill soaring into the stratosphere with their horns, while Gray and DeJohnnette charge full force and Abrams executes brilliant runs including his closing one on his own.  The ecstatic applause at the end signifies what a thrilling end to an amazing concert this was.

Jack DeJohnnette had a brilliant career as a leader and co-leader, including his album New Directions from 1978 and his early work with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis, as well as his long-standing presence in the standards trio with Gary Peacock and Keith Jarrett.  He leaves behind an awesome percussive legacy and long may he be heard!

The Monkey King: The World of Peking Opera

35 years ago, the acquisition through a coupon in a music magazine of a CD sampler from the World Sounds series of the JVC (Japan Victor Company) label was an important step in learning more about world music.  One of the pieces of which only a snipped was included was "The Monkey King," a work of what was known as Peking opera from China.  It was not until recently that the entire recording, from The Chinese Academy of Peking Opera and recorded in September 1979 at the Kokuritsu Gekijo Hall in Tokyo was purchased.  Though it took many years for that to happen, it was well worth the wait.

As the liner notes observe, Peking opera involves dance, music and theatrical presentation comprised of four aspects, including chang (song), nian (rhythmically spoken lines), zuo (using body movements and costume) and da (martial arts acrobatic movement).  So, an inherent problem with a recording like this (and perhaps not dissimilar to any Western opera) is that only half of the performance can be understood and appreciated.  But, what a half!

The amazing instrumental performance consists of wind and string instruments, percussion and vocals from the Academy, which was formed in 1951, just two years after the Communist takeover of China led by Mao Tze-Tung.  For the recording, there were nearly 50 actors and 17 musicians and the first two tracks is from a tale is based on a hero of Records of the Western Regions, a book by the 7th century scholar Xuanzhang, who traveled to India and brought Buddhism back to his country.

Track three is "Autumn River," a pantomime comedy that is derived from a scene in The Jade Hairpin, which is a story of 12th century China, while the last piece is "The Parting of Bawang and the Princess," written by an early 20th century Peking Opera figure who drew from Han and Ming dynasties classics.  What would likely be the toughest part to relate to is the vocalizing, which might seem shrill and tuneless to Western ears, but there is great charm and excellent harmonizing with the instrumentation, as well as beautiful control in the singing and speaking.  The playing of the instruments is just stellar and fascinating, particularly in the interludes between the vocals and this album is a stunning and highly entertaining experience of historic Chinese music.

Luciano Berio: Orchestra Works

The music of Luciano Berio is a rollercoaster ride of tonal color, striking contrasts among instruments and exploration of the sound possibilities of solo performers, small groups and orchestras.  Berio was also interested in reprocessing his works in varied contexts, as is the case with the first two pieces of this remarkable recording, issued by the Col Legno label from Vienna.

A previous post here was on his astounding Sequenzas I-XIV, which dynamically expounded on solo instruments of various kinds and, here, Chemins I from 1965 and Chemins IIb from 1970 take those sequences for harp and viola and place them within an orchestral context.  The result is a depth and richness to the pieces, spectacular as they previously were in isolation, that reinvents the works in notable ways, especially as the playing of these typically "softer" instruments interacts with the range of those around them.

The expansive Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra, the juxtaposition of the keyboards and their relation to each other and the orchestral instruments.  Berio once wrote that the traditional concerto was passé when he wrote this work in 1972 and 1973 because he felt that the relations between the orchestra and soloists were totally changed from the days of Baroque, Classical and Romantic composition.  He noted that this piece was one in which "the soloist develops mobile, diversified, and very unstable relationships between themselves and with the soloists of the orchestra, creating chamber ensembles."  While there are major contrasts in these interactions, which is exciting, if also disconcerting, the composer continued that "behind all these differences lies a unifying harmonic process," with the keyboards beginning alone "almost like a map consulted before starting a journey."

The final piece, Formazioni, is from the middle 1980s and the title is crystal clear, as Berio experimented with orchestral formations in arranging instrumental clusters and exploring, as one analysis stated, "relationships within the traditional families of instruments and the roles they are given to play," so that these are "defined and allotted in a new manner."  The unfamiliar and unexpected become an exercise in resolution, for the performers and for the listener, and, as an amateur, this blogger can only really go on the feelings generated and they are of intrigue and the position of being unsettled, but ultimately invigorating, especially as Berio mines both space, the quietude of some passages and then jarring densities and great intensity.

These feelings are represented in the notes by Ferdinand Schmatz, an Austrian experimental poet and essayist, who seems to write in a free associative prose poetry for these first three pieces and a more structured and far more concise way with the last.  Impressionistic throughout, Schmatz asks questions as well as offers his reactions.  It is interesting to read notes that don't inform but share reactions and this listener could certainly relate to much of it.

Rush: A Farewell to Kings

This is a bit contrarian, as the obvious first album to spotlight by the great Canadian trio, Rush, would be 1981's commercial breakthrough, Moving Pictures, while other hardcore fans would suggest 2112, the 1976 record that saved the band's flagging career.  Both are great records and there's much to be said about Hemispheres from 1978 and the 1980 follow-up, Permanent Waves, this latter was also considered for this post.

There's something about A Farewell to Kings, though, that strikes this listener as somewhat underappreciated and underrecognized because 2112 was such a major change in the fortunes of the band and then came the those albums that led up to the pinnacle of its success.  So, we'll get to those other great recordings, but give it a little love to the 1977 album, which may be best known for the 3-minute single, "Closer to the Heart," which set the table for future tunes like "Spirit of Radio," for example.

"Xanadu" also gets a good amount of attention, as it should, because the 11-minute song features the tight, intricate and superb musicianship for which Rush is renowned, while the title track begins with a sort of pastoral instrumental rumination and then turns into a crack hard rock tune with lyrics that appear to examine the hypocrisies and failings of civilization and implore listeners to "find the mins to lead us closer to the heart."

"Cinderella Man" is distinctive in that it was a rare Rush song the lyrics to which were not written by drummer Neal Peart, but by bassist/vocalist Geddy Lee, while "Madrigal," which instrumentally sounds as the title indicates, is an unusual love song.  Then comes "Cygnus X-1" and its "Book One—The Voyage" dealing with an ill-fated space expedition of the "Rocinante" (look up Don Quixote for that reference" as it approaches a black hole.  As an instrumental, it is a very impressive piece of work with all kinds of unexpected twists and turns by Peart, Lee and the great guitarist, Alex Lifeson.

As with much of so-called prog, Peart's lyrics, especially in these earlier recordings, tend to get skewered for their themes and wordiness and some also take issue with Lee's high-pitched vocals to claim that Rush was too pretentious and pompous.  For this listener, the focus is on the music as a whole, but, reading Peart's lyrics, it is clear that he took great care in his work, explored themes that are relevant and had a knack for crafting intricate stories.  Moreover, compared to most of their contemporaries, Rush was very down-to-earth and grounded and they kept the music honed to the power trio format, though the beginnings of the use of keyboards and synthesizers started around this time.

In any case, A Farewell to Kings is an excellent album, showing the rapid maturity of a band that, lambasted as they often were, made memorable and exciting music that holds up very well near a half-century later.

Andrew Hill: Black Fire

Andrew Hill (1931-2007) made his mark with Blue Note Records from this debut recorded in late 1963 and through a series of excellent albums that followed, such as Point of Departure and Judgment!, both of which have been featured here.  While there was a decided push towards so-called "free jazz" during that era, Hill, being a pianist, continued with the emphasis on modal music, working with chord changes and fairly standard rhythmic accompaniment.

Yet, he was an experimenter and explored harmony, rhythm and texture, while also displaying an incredible talent for composition and melody, even he never achieved the renown or sales of such jazz figures as Miles Davis or John Coltrane.  For Black Fire, he utilized another underappreciated player, the great Joe Henderson, who is usually seen, as Hill has been, as a hard bop tenor saxophonist, on his own albums and as an in-demand side player.

If anything, with Hill's compositions and complex comping with unusual chord structures, Henderson pushes his playing further "out" than he might otherwise have done and his keening, but tonally strong playing is uniformly excellent as he appears more than inspired.  Then, there's the masterful rhythm section of bassist Richard Davis, always solid and wide-ranging, and Roy Haynes, with that readily identifiable "spreading" sound.  Both of these masters recently left us, Davis in September 2023 and Haynes 14 months later, but they are phenomenal on this record (Haynes was a late replacement for the great Philly Joe Jones.)

As for Hill, his composing and playing are graceful, studied, mannered and, yet, still innovative and searching in a way that keeps the music tethered to traditional forms while pushing into areas that seek greater freedom for all involved.  A core element, for this untutored listener, is how tight this quartet is in working with the structures of the pieces, accompanying solos and then demonstrating their mastery in the ensemble playing as well as when they are featured.  Black Fire does have plenty of that and it never turns into an uncontrolled conflagration.

Anthology of the Music of Niger

Niger is a large landlocked nation of more than 26 million persons in the northwester portion of Africa, bordered by Benin and Nigeria to the south, Chad to the east, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west and Algeria and Libya to the north.  Four-fifths of the country is within the enormous Sahara Desert, so most of its people, almost totally Muslim, reside in the southern and western sections, the Sahel, with its capital, Niamey, in the southwestern corner along the river that gives the country and its neighbor their names.

This recording, another from the many released by the Ocora label in France, which ruled Niger as part of its West Africa colonies, was made in 1963, just a few years after the nation's independence, and it features thirteen pieces from various portions of the country.  This is music pared down to its essence, with soloists and ensemble vocals, a few kinds of lute and flute-type instruments, and percussion including hand-clapping.  The works reflect a variety of aspects of life for varying tribal groups in Niger and are  highly immersive and very compelling.

Topics of the songs include elements of weddings, tribal epics, a eulogy of workers like camel-drivers, a tale of a renowned hunter, religion and magic, love, praise of various kinds and the last, a remarkable one involving a game called charaou, in which a young man from the Peul people who is publicly lashed with a whip and encouraged by those observing with music and chanting to maintain his courage.  Other tribal groups represented are the Sonrai, Djerma, Touareg, and Hausa.

The percussion is often rhythmically complex and rich in its variations of sound and the instruments are also of great interest, but, for this listener, the most fascinating aspect is the great variety of vocalizations, including some remarkable solos as well as the choral work by different sized ensembles.  It was, obviously, brilliant that this music was recorded when it was, just after Niger became a new republic, though like many African nations after European colonialism, political struggles continue and are compounded by the increasingly drastic effects of climate change.  

This amazing recording captivatingly captures a great range of what was performed by tribes throughout the country and exposes those far away to incredible sound worlds greatly removed from their own.

Gustav Mahler: Symphony #5

Another run in the last couple of days through the ten symphonies composed by the great Gustav Mahler and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Klaus Tennstedt was a treat, especially during these increasingly chaotic, unstable and troubled times.  An EMI boxset collects these works, albeit broken up in some instances, into an 11-CD set.

These lengthy, massive works are, for this listener, highly immersive, seductive sound environments that, for the occasional heavy intensity and bombast, also have sublime quiet passages and sections with achingly beautiful melodies that belie all that is troubled in our world.  The complexity, ingenuity and innovation of Mahler is on full display in the Fifth Symphony.

The piece is justly celebrated for its fourth movement, the Adagietto, with one of the most famous of melodies in all of classical music.  Mahler worked on the symphony in 1901-1902, including during a period of recovery from a hemorrhage that nearly killed him, in a hut at a newly completed cottage in southern Austria.  Yet, the entirety of the piece is striking and memorable, from the funereal and stately first movement led off by a trumpet fanfare to the power and intensity of the second, the strength of the third and the rondo that marks the finale.

Again, there is not enough knowledge of the technical points of music for this blogger to try to weigh in on the value of the Fifth Symphony from that standpoint.  Fortunately, we have liner notes and Kenneth Dommett provides a useful quote from the composer's wife, Alma, also a composer as well as a writer and who commented "I heard in it the relation of adult man to everything that lives, heard him cry to mankind out of his loneliness, cry to man, to home, to God, saw him lying prostrate, heard him laugh his defiance and felt his clam triumph."  Dommett summarizes the movements, noting the keys, but also the feelings expressed from cries of distress to outrage to affirmation of life to triumph.

Naturally, an untutored listener doesn't need to know the structure, the keys or how color and texture are established.  The sheer range of emotion, as well as the use of the full resources of an orchestra with its huge sound but also the lighter touches found everywhere in Mahler's symphonies, are thrilling and the brilliant performance by Tennstedt and the London ensemble pulls you into this deep, rich and rewarding musical experience, a badly needed tonic just now.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse: Rust Never Sleeps

Fans of Neil Young will undoubtedly cite earlier albums (Harvest, Tonight's the Night, or others, while the compilation Decade is stunning and will be featured here in the future) as the best of his remarkable body of work, but, for this listener, hearing this music for the first time as a young teen, Rust Never Sleeps has the most significance.

While this young listener was more drawn to the primal closer "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" and the other harder-rocking tunes on the record, the blogger decades later can now see the tie to Bob Dylan's 1965 classic Bringing It All Back Home, in that the first side (of the LP, of course) is acoustic and the second electric.  "Thrasher" is a remarkable tune with some of Young's most impressionistic and yet pointed lyrics about the artistic quest, while "Pocahontas" is another rumination on the terrible treatment of indigenous Americans by whites and "Sail Away" is a great song apparently about escaping from modern pressures.

"Powderfinger" is an exceptional song, as heavy as Crazy Horse, which hadn't recorded with Young for a few years, often was, and the lyrics are simultaneously direct and vague, with respect to the fact that they tell a story of an attack by a boat on a river, but don't indicate where, when or why—then again, Young often wrote with that kind of tension of laser-sharp specifics and broad ambiguities.

"Sedan Delivery" tells another story with some striking details of pool halls, a bizarre dental appointment and erotica among the stars, though the lines "I'm makin' another delivery / Of chemicals and sacred roots," seems clear enough.  As for the closer, it definitely brings back memories of hearing the song on the radio way back when—and when I probably assumed "Johnny Rotten" was a character from the songwriter's imagination. 

Rust Never Sleeps, which was recorded in concert with most of the audience noise scrubbed, was, says the liners, "a loose-knit concept album" with the broad idea "that an artist's reach must always exceed [their] grasp," otherwise they would face "stagnation and irrelevancy."  Reportedly, inspired, at least partly, by the revolutionary effect of punk rock, Young's reference to Johnny Rotten in the bookend tracks was an acknowledgment of what he saw as the fact that rock artists "needed waking up."

Lastly, there seems to be a clear lineage between the album and the grunge movement that, after the pop/electronic sheen that permeated much of the music of the Eighties, including Young's, brought about the likes of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden and many others.  Whether or not Rust Never Sleeps is the best of his many albums over a long career, it is one that had a strong impression way back when.

Ornette Coleman: Free Jazz

Having first heard this 35 years ago (on vinyl) in the earliest explorations of jazz (along with classical and world music, to broaden listening horizons) and only having the barest of understanding of what was involved with improvisation and its relationship to harmony and rhythm, especially in that world in 1960, Ornette Coleman's 37-minute Free Jazz, recorded in one take and no editing, was really a jarring experience, but a fascinating one.  The leader stated that the goal "was for us to play together, all at the same time, without getting in each other's way, and also to have enough room for each player to ad lib alone—and to follow this idea for the duration of the album."

One of the elements of the recording that immediately stood out was the placement of four musicians on each channel, with the leader, trumpeter Don Cherry, drummer Billy Higgins and bassist Scott LaFaro on the left and bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, bassist Charlie Haden and drummer Ed Blackwell on the right.  That way, especially with headphones, you can hear the differences between the two quartets, even as the processing of the octet as an ensemble is taking place.

Coleman called Free Jazz a collective improvisation because he only wrote out the parts played by the horns prior to each solo; otherwise, the musicians had that freedom to play whatever they wanted to complement or supplement what the soloists were playing.  That meant that the excellence of the individual musicians had to be sharpened as part of this collectivity and all eight of them were masters.  

As someone who tends to focus on the rhythm sections as the underpinning of the music, it is especially fascinating to hear the differences between but commonalities among the bassists and drummers.  LaFaro had the toughest assignment, as Haden, Blackwell and Higgins were experienced participants in the leader's unusual sound world.  The soloing of these duos is also fascinating, while it's the continual driving pulse the holds all of this together.

Regarding the horn players, the varying styles are clear, but so is the ability of them to be part of that ensemble as the other support the given soloist.  Having Dolphy, moreover, play clarinet adds a richness and depth, as well as variation, in the performance, while Hubbard, a more traditional player, seems to easily adapt to this freer environment, in which, of course, Cherry and Coleman were deeply absorbed.  Also very notable are the ways in which the other wind instruments engage with the soloist.

Those having the late 1990s CD version can also hear "First Take," which is less than half the length of the originally released recording and it is very interesting to listen to it and compare and contrast it to the fuller version.  Though Free Jazz was reviled, as well as hailed, by many when released in September 1961, it encouraged to future efforts like John Coltrane's Ascension (1965) and influenced a great many jazz musicians to open themselves in terms of what was viewed as necessary or required in the music.  

With music this untethered to traditional approaches, immersion seems the only way to appreciate what this incredible album offers.  As Coleman remarked in the liner notes: "We were expressing our minds and emotions as much as could be captured by electronics."   

L. Subramaniam: In Concert

From one violinist, Laurie Anderson, to another, we turn to the astounding Lakshminarayana Subramaniam, whose Carnatic music from South India is a wonder to hear.  This scintillating live recording from the November 1983 Festival de Lille in France and released by Radio France's Ocora imprint through Harmonia Mundi, includes three tunes, two well over 20 minutes and the other a mere seven, as the master, accompanied by his late wife, Viji (niece of the great Ravi Shankar) on tambura and Varadarao Kamakalar Rao, who died last fall, on mridangam.

Known as "L. Subramaniam," the virtuoso, the son of musicians, was a child prodigy and studied under his father before he was five years old.  An uncle was vocalist Ramnad Krishnan, whose Vidwan album for the Nonesuch Explorer series became a favorite when purchased around 1990, while his brothers were also accomplished musicians, as are the maestro's three children.  He studied medicine and was registered as a general practitioner before turning to music, including advanced study in Western classical music, as his vocation.

He has recorded prolifically and this blogger's first experience with Subramaniam's music was his Karnatic Violin album, also released by Ocora.  The liner notes call him "the Paganini of carnatic music," and, whether referencing a Western violin master is apropos or not, it is also striking that the text says that he "embodies both the serenity of the Indian musician and the magnetism of a Western movie star."  Whatever this means, Subramaniam is quoted as saying that his development was done "unconsciously," though he added that, under his father, "we had a very severe daily routine," even as he stated that he and his siblings could not get enough music despite the intense study.

The master added, "I wanted to return to the sources of carnatic tradition" and "to change the function of the violin, to no longer limit its function to that of accompanying the voice."  Moreover, he set out to widen the range from two or three to five or six octaves and this meant playing longer ragas, so that "that is why I only play two or three compositions during a concert" as this was "much more satisfying. I can get totally immersed in my music."  So do we, as he follows tradition in terms of beginning a piece slowly, expressing themes and then improvising at great length, increasing complexity and expression and at frequently dizzying speed and dazzling proficiency.  In Concert is a stunning exposition of Subramaniam's sublime art within the time-honored Carnatic musical tradition going back thousands of years.

Laurie Anderson: Big Science

Why it took so long to get this album is another example of missing out for many years on an amazing landmark recording by a remarkable artist.  In this case, Laurie Anderson is both a musician and a performance artist and her 1982 debut (how she got a 7-album deal from a major label, Warner Brothers, is notable), unlike anything else that came out during that time, was a sampling of a massively ambitious project, United States, a sprawling look in four parts with nearly 80 separate pieces that examined technology, the post-industrial world and what some take to be something of a dystopian view of American life, expressed artistically, archly, ironically and presciently.

Big Science is a stunning collection that combines lyrics that are often simultaneously vague and highly personal, some seemingly critical of aspects of modern life and others that appear to be about lovers, while there are pieces that look to be about family dynamics, with a compelling palette of musical sounds including Anderson's main instrument, the violin, and keyboards, with percussion, horns, a bagpipe, electronics and hand claps.

The effects of these piece is mesmerizing.  While "O Superman (For Massenet" became a surprise hit single in England, largely thanks to DJ John Peel playing it frequently on his show, and is often cited as the centerpiece of the record, all eight tracks are excellent evocations of Anderson's unusual approach to songs.  This includes her vocalizations, use of effects, the unusual instrumentation, sense of arrangement, crystalline production, judicious use of space, and the convergence of what is often called avant-garde with popular music.

In fact, this last part may be the most impressive feat of all with Big Science; namely, that it is certainly experimental, experiential in its immersive qualities, but very relatable from a pop sensibility.  Hearing this amazing album now, moreover, it feels as if this is totally relevant as we've become more wedded to technology, displaced and, it feels, less human in our interactions (or lack of them) with each other.  As electronic as much of the record is, it has a warmth and sensitivity (as well as a good use of irony and satire) that is an especially humanizing experience.

The Abyssinians: Satta Massagana

This 1993 release, with a quartet of extra tracks, of the 1976 roots reggae classic is probably best known for the title track, which is one of the all-time great songs in the genre.  But this album is full of excellent tunes emphasizing the harmonies of the brothers Donald and Lynford Manning and Bernard Collins and such legendary musicians as the rhythm masters, drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare, along with "Horsemouth" Wallace, another great drummer, guitarists Mikey Chung and "Chinna" Smith. Chung's brother Geoffrey on keyboards and Tyrone Downie on that instrument, among others.

The combination of strong material, all of the pieces written by individual members of the trio except "Satta Massagana," which credits all of them, great playing and the singing of The Abyssinians make Satta Massagana an excellent album all the way through.  To this listener, there isn't a weak tune in the original ten tracks and the four additions to the original CD version, released on Heartbeat Records, are stellar, as well.

The CD was purchased when the edition first came out and it quickly became a favorite, even if The Abyssinians released just one follow-up record and then split up, though there was a reunion some two decades later, and they were not nearly as well-known broadly as Bob Marley and The Wailers, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Culture and other famous roots reggae names.  "Satta Massagana" has been covered countless times and "Declaration of Rights" has also been remade many times.

Donald Manning is quoted extensively in the liner notes about the group's early days and struggles, including bootlegged versions of recordings, losing out on financial rewards and other aspects that are all too familiar.  He did say, though that "everywhere we go people tell us that they never see any other group like we" and that "we are unique doing our thing."  Ruefully, he added, "if we were constant what would really have gone down" because "no one could stop us."  With Satta Massagana, there was nothing to stop The Abyssinians from making one of the all-time greatest of reggae records.

Carlos Hernández Chávez and Los Trovadores: Songs of México (I)

This 1994 JVC World Sounds release has the note on the back tray that "this disc is perfect for novice Mexican music listeners" and that certainly applies to this one.  The trio of principal vocalist Carlos Hernández Chávez, who was a founder of Los Trovadores in 1947 and died in November 2024, second vocalist Jesús de la Rosa, who joined in 1976, and third vocalist Luis Miranda, who became part of the group two years before that, are excellent musicians and made a remarkable record.

There are a few pieces with which we novices are generally familiar, including "Cielito Lindo," "La Malagueña," and "Besame Mucho," but the album is filled with great songs like "La Zandunga," "La Bikina," "Perfidia," the humorous "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás," and the combination of "El Reloj" and "Amor."  It isn't just the great solo singing and harmonizing, but the acoustic guitar work is also excellent, beyond the very high quality of the songwriting.

The liner notes remark that "although the genre of the Mexican vocal trio enjoyed great popularity outside Mexico during the 1950s and 60s," but with rock becoming very popular, "it somewhat disappeared."  Yet, it continued, "although these songs retreated into the background, there has never been any danger that such a vocal tradition nurtured over many long years would ever disappear."  

Let us hope so, especially as in current circumstances with so much dehumanization of immigrants, a great many of them Mexican, taking place, because there is so much to admire and enjoy about Mexican culture, including its musical history and traditions.  This first edition of the Songs of México may have been geared toward novices like this blogger, but it is also a potent reminder of the beauty and quality of this genre of the vocal trio.

Muhal Richard Abrams: Levels and Degrees of Light

The music coming out of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) from the mid-1960s and onward was nothing short of spectacular.  While the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton and Henry Threadgill might be some of the more recognizable names of those who emerged from the AACM's big tent of creativity, no one was more vital to the Association's existence and success than co-founder and pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams (1930-2017.)

The Chicago native had many creative interests, including the visual arts, while his musical imagination embraced not just jazz, but modern classical, including electronic music, but he was largely self-taught, finding traditional academic study not fulfilling enough.  In June and December 1967, not long after the establishment of the AACM, Abrams recorded his first album, Levels and Degrees of Light, released on the local independent Delmark label, which issued landmarks from by future Art Ensemble members Joseph Jarman and Roscoe Mitchell.

In the liners, Abrams was hesitant to explain the music, offering only that "I think the musicians involved tried to join their thoughts to mine" and the collaboration was "a kind of prayer" in which the session was "the capturing of a moment in that constant prayer."  He then obliquely stated that "what is here is what we are and what we hope to be."  To this listener, the title seems to indicate the varying shades of sound on the recording, involving quiet, contemplative passages, those building up to an incredible level of intensity, the voices of classically-trained singer Penelope Taylor and poet David Moore, and the timbres from the instrumentation.

This includes the leader on clarinet and piano; Braxton's alto; the tenor of Maurice McIntyre; Leroy Jenkins on violin; Gordon Emanuel's vibes; Charles Clark and Leonard Jones on bass; and drummer Thurman Barker.  It does sound as if everyone was totally in tune with Abrams' compositions and aesthetics.  "The Bird Song" is an astounding piece, evoking a sort of environmental calmness at the outset, including bird-like sounds, but including a stunning mass of roaring, rumbling and coruscating ensemble work towards its end.  The title track and "My Thoughts Are My Future—Now and Forever" are, however, also very compelling and reflective of the composer's remarkable range of ideas.

Muhal Richard Abrams was not nearly recorded enough, compared to the musicians and groups mentioned above, but he is a pivotal figure in the development of jazz and Black creative music for roughly a half century and future posts will highlight more of this master's work.

Joan Tower: Chamber and Solo Works

This recording, another excellent release by Composers Recordings Incorporated (CRI), which existed for about a half century from 1954 to 2003 to promote the work of modern classical music composers, is a great compendium of the work of Joan Tower (b. 1938), who is still with us and whose most recent performed piece was from about five years ago.

The album includes eight recordings spanning almost a decade from 1972 to 1981 and featuring the Da Capo Chamber Players, which the composer/pianist helped form in 1969 and which is still active, and the sextet Collage, as well as three soloists from the ensembles, clarinetist Laura Flax, violinist Joel Smirnoff and flautist Patricia Spencer, this latter still with Da Capo.  Tower performs with Da Capo on three pieces, "Amazon" and the two "Breakfast Rhythms."

Tower wrote in the liners that she was inspired by Stravinsky's ballet Petroushka and captivated by paired figure skating for "Petroushskates" and she noted that "the figure skating pairs became a whole company o skaters," or musicians, for what she calls "a sort of musical carnival on ice."  For "Wings," the composer envisioned a falcon soaring high in the sky without much movement before "the bird goes into elaborate flight patterns that loop around, diving downwards, gaining tremendous speeds."

The composer spent part of her childhood in Bolivia and credits her learning of that nation's music and playing percussion there for much of her approach to rhythm.  For "Amazon," the great South American river, with its "consistent background flow" and change in width and speed is reflected in the variations of the work, of which there is an orchestra version II.  "Platinum Spirals" is dedicated to her father, who as a  geologist and mineral engineer and the piece draws on platinum's flexibility and malleability in its score for the violin.

The instrumentation in "Breakfast Rhythms" and "Noon Dance" are the same and the second follows the other, with the second a comment on the ties between dance and chamber music, especially in following and leading.  The first was motivated by Beethoven's approach to contrasts in rhythm and texture, with an emphasis on patterns of pitch in the harmonies and melodies, as well as a focus on how the clarinet's "lyrical passages . . . lend at-home and away-from-home feelings."

Spencer's flute is spotlighted in "Hexachords," the title referring to the harmonic components of "a six-note unordered chromatic collection of pitches" where vibrato and rhythm in different registers "creates a counterpoint of tunes" to hold the listener's attention through five sections that Tower says "are most easily differentiated by a sense of either going nowhere or staying somewhere."  

The complexity of Tower's writing is both modern and, as another part of the notes suggest, still has "an accessible, tangible quality."  This listener is hardly well-tutored on the finer points of music, but it seems that the way she develops and works with harmony and rhythm and especially how she uses color with the instruments in the ensemble amply provides this quality.  This is compelling and immersive music that never fails to hold the attention and is beautifully played and well-recorded.

Bruce Springsteen: Nebraska

This album was purchased new after its late September 1982 release and for a 17-year old who'd heard familiar Springsteen songs like "Hungry Heart," "Born to Run," and a raft of other popular songs on the radio, the experience of listening to this lo-fi and reflective recording was truly a bracing experience, especially after the follow-up, Born in the U.S.A., rocketed to massive sales in 1984.

Those were the only two Springsteen albums in the collection until recently when The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, Born to Run and The River were acquired and a new appreciation for his music garnered.  Still, there's something distinctive about Nebraska that still makes it a favorite more than four decades later.  Simply put, it's the raw emotion and directness of the music and lyrics that reaches this blogger in a way his other recordings, great as they are, do not.  Moreover, it stood out amid the music that was produced during that period, when synthesizers and drum machines rose to prominence and Springsteen and his acoustic guitar were a total contrast.

It's hard to choose particular tunes as stand-outs because Nebraska feels like a unified suite of songs or something of a song cycle, though it certainly was not designed that way.  The title track is about a pair of teen serial killers and is haunting and unforgettable, while "Atlantic City" tells of a desperate man inviting his girlfriend to join him in the resort town (where the President lost a bundle in a failed casino project) as he contemplates working for the mob.  "Highway Patrolman" is a compelling tale of an officer who allows his troubled brother to escape after he chases him following another committed crime.

"My Father's House" is about a failed attempt at reconciliation between a father and son and, while dour, is very affecting and "Reason to Believe" ends the record with some glimmers of hope.  It bears remembering that American was in a long period of economic recession, even as Ronald Reagan's election two years prior was a conservative promise to renew the nation's financial prosperity.  Additionally, the fact that Springsteen recorded this on a basic four-track recorder in his bedroom had a profound influence on other musicians, even as he archived electric E Street Band renditions.

Nebraska was a bold statement, a gutsy move from a major rock star and, more importantly, an impressive artistic achievement.  Born in the U.S.A. is a great album and propelled Springsteen to the highest echelons of the music world and some of the songs were kin of its predecessor, but, for this listener, Nebraska is a more compelling recording, revealing, intensely immersive and quietly, but insistently penetrating and powerful.  In these times, it also seems very relevant and especially meaningful.

Iraq: The Maqams of Baghdad

Here is another stellar recording in the series issued by Ocora, the label of Radio France, featuring amazing music from around the world.  Recorded in the Iraqi capital and ancient city of immense historical importance in 1972, The Maqams of Baghdad, runs not too far over 50 minutes and features three compositions in this traditional style, including the Husseini, Hleilawi and Seigah, with the first and last lasting just over 20 minutes each and the middle about half that length.

The hypnotic performances by vocalist Yusuf Omar and the Al Tchaighi Al Baghdadi ensemble, including Abdallah Ali on the santur, Sha-ubi Ibrahim and Hassan Ali on djoze, Abdul Razzak Madjid on tabla, Kan'an Mohamed Salih and Dia' Mahmoud Ahmad on deff are just spectacular.  Important with any recordings of music from other lands, the liner notes by Professor Scheherazade Qassim Hassan, who taught at the University of Baghdad from 1967-1982, established that city's Center for Traditional Music, and later taught in London, Paris and Prague written nearly a quarter century later, are very information and enlightening.

Dr. Hassan wrote that the maqam vocal tradition likely dates back to as far back as the 8th century and, with deep connections to other parts of the Islamic world, given Baghdad's central location, necessarily evolved.  She added, as is the case throughout the world, that intensive modernization and Westernization, not to mention economic, political and social conflict, led to a dramatic loss of performers and a simplification of the form.  Moreover, she emphasized the fact that the maqam in Iraq, of which there were some 50 examples, was differentiated from the maqam of other Arab countries in that it specifically concerned vocalization.

These three pieces are remarkable and indicative of what often happens to the traditional music of countries around the world when conditions change dramatically.  In Iraq, Saddam Hussein took control of the nation seven years after his recording and the terrible war with Iran followed, during which Professor Hassan left for Europe.  Hussein's ouster by the United States in the Second Gulf War involved more turmoil in the nation and Middle Eastern politics is, of course, incredibly turbulent and dangerous currently.  This recording, however, is a reminder of the amazing musical history of this ancient society and its culture.

John Coltrane: Live in Japan

In July 1966, a year before his far-too-early death at age 40, John Coltrane and his quintet toured Japan amid a period of American turmoil.  The escalation of the Vietnam War, riots at Watts in Los Angeles the prior summer, the assassination of Malcolm X earlier in 1965, and the much else marked the period.  In jazz, a tumult was at hand, as well, as so-called "free" jazz arose to the consternation of critics and the horror of traditionalists, while the rise of rock, soul and R&B music were of great concern, as well.

For John Coltrane, who released his masterpiece, A Love Supreme, at the dawn of 1965 and who was one of the most popular jazz musician of his era, his relentless search for expression led him to move further away from more standard forms of harmony, rhythm and melody.  Later that year, he recorded the astounding Ascension, which confounded many fans, as well as critics, but which is a powerful testament to his current musical calling and evocative of Ornette Coleman's large-ensemble masterwork, Free Jazz, from five years earlier.

Towards the end of the year, Coltrane recorded Meditations, which may be seen as an extension of A Love Supreme, but in a far more intense, open and relentlessly searching manner, with the softer "Love" and "Serenity" contrasted with such searing performances as the awesome "The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost" and the excoriating "Consequences."  1965 was also the year when his famed Classic Quartet with pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison was pushed to its limits and then dissolved.

Jones was the first to go, unable to accept the changes that affected his inimitable style, while Tyner was increasingly concerned, as well, about his place and departed not long after.  Garrison remained as the solid grounding force of what was expanding mightily in sound, thanks to the continued presence of Pharoah Sanders and his shrieking and keening saxophone playing juxtaposed to the leader's performances and the additions of Coltrane's wife, Alice, and her stunning exploratory piano work, very different from that of Tyner, and drummer Rashied Ali, whose work fit in extremely well with the new direction.

Recorded at a pair of Tokyo dates on 11 and 22 July, the four-disc Live in Japan  (only one disc of which was previously released in 1973 as a double LP) tests the limits of the listener on every level.  First, the shortest of the half-dozen pieces on three discs is 25 minutes with the longest approaching an hour.  Those used to hearing symphonies or Indian ragas, for example, may have no issue with this at all, but it is more the sonic openness and freedom that is, perhaps, the greater challenge.  As noted above, typical ideas of melodic expression, rhythmic underpinnings and harmony among the ensemble are deconstructed and refashioned.

The sheer intensity and power of these performances can be overwhelming, even though there are moments of calm and reflection, and coruscating solos, filled with microphonics and overtones, by Coltrane and Sanders are countered by the expansive, shimmering and swirling solos of Alice Coltrane.  Garrison, as always, holds down the bottom with precision and power and, for those who take the time to list, solos to open "Crescent" with innovation and invention.  Ali's endurance is truly remarkable as he makes incredible use of his kit through these lengthy and dense pieces and his solo on "Leo" is awesome.

The two versions of "Peace on Earth" are the most ballad-like and especially powerful given the war in Vietnam and the fact that it was just two decades after America's atomic bomb attacks on Japan.  "Leo" is especially intense and any expectation (as with 1966's Live at the Village Vanguard Again) that the signature "My Favorite Things" will be anything like the hit 1960 recorded version is soon dashed by the complete reworking of the standard.

This was purchased new in 1991 and memories are very clear of sitting on an apartment balcony and taking this in through several dedicated listening sessions.  Coltrane was a near-obsession, starting the prior year with, of course, the My Favorite Things record but including his freer work, and Live in Japan is perhaps the most daunting listening experience on multiple levels, but highly rewarding at the end of some four hours of among the most intense and immersive music out there (and "out there" is meant literally!)

Henryk Górecki: Miserere

Miserere means "have mercy" and, in these particularly troubled times of war, sectional strife, deportations, political assassinations, searing heatwaves as our planet warms, and much else, this recording of Henryk Górecki's choral masterpiece of that name seems particularly timely.  The work was composed nearly 45 years ago in response to a militia's violence against a Polish union during the Solidarity movement that began in 1980 and helped lead to the transfer of power from the Soviet-backed Communist government there nine years later.

As the liner notes observe, Górecki usually avoided political and social commentary in his work, but he quickly wrote the piece with a simple five-word text: "Lord our God, have mercy on us."  Because of conditions in Poland, the work was not performed until 1987.  It is also noted that the "architectural procedure" of "Miserere" is "very close to the canon at the beginning of [his] Third Symphony," which  was first performed in 1977 and became a worldwide sensation fifteen years later when Elektra Nonesuch, which issued this recording, released a version that sold more than a million copies.

This blogger attended a live performance of the Third Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl in 1993 and it was a powerful experience.  This would almost certainly be the same for "Miserere," which the notes state "demands concentration and thoughtful consideration" because it "is a heartfelt plea for peace and understanding from a composer who believes in the values of personal individuality and compassionate responsibility."

There are three other choral pieces on this 1994 recording, including Górecki's first unaccompanied choral work, "Euntes ibant et flebantm" with quotations from Psalms; "Wislo Moda, Wislo Szara," which is about the great Vistula River; and "Szeroka woda," also based on well-known Polish folk songs.  These flow naturally with "Miserere" in terms of the composer's fondness for slower tempos, modal approaches and deep interest in textures that included sustained notes.  The Chicago Symphony and Chicago Lyric Opera choruses and, for the Vistula work, the Lira Chamber Chorus, perform with great beauty and sensitivity and this recording has been playing a lot these days as more compassion and mercy are badly needed, for people and for our planet.

Brian Eno: Ambient 1/Music for Airports

A prior post here covered the amazing first collaboration by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, 1972's (No Pussyfooting) and, at some point, we'll have to delve into the remarkable Evening Star from 1975, as well.  As for Eno's solo work, however, that has only recently been explored and it's really too bad that it's taken so long.

Ambient 1/Music for Airports, released in 1978 on Editions EG, is an astounding recording and one that has an eternal feel to it and, to this listener, does not sound as if it is almost a half-century old.  What's notable is that, as Eno did with Fripp on the aforementioned albums and then on his own Discreet Music, also from 1975, he utilized tape looping of notes that either came in small clusters of three or four or of sustained tones with the timing based on the length of tape used.  These variations allowed for the establishment of new patterns or development of sounds.

The first piece "1/1" features Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt playing a piano, while "2/1" and "1/2" incorporate the voices of Christa Fast, Christine Gomez and Inge Zeininger singing one sustained note for ten seconds and then these looped, with piano utilized again in the latter piece.  Eno once stated, "I just set all of these loops running and let them configure in which ever way they wanted to, and in fact the result is very nice."  That it is and the feeling is of immersion in the sound world created.

Not unlike Anthony Braxton, Eno, who, though, does not read music, developed a graphic score for each piece, reproduced on the cover.   Each, however, represents the compositional approach of the phrasing and looping undertaken.  Employing the strategy recommended by Donald Ayler, whose brother, Albert, was a powerful force in free jazz, especially in the last half of the 1960s, to follow the sound, not the notes, letting this music be an experience.

Eno, in fact, was inspired by sitting in an architecturally compelling airport in Cologne, Germany, but was struck by the piped-in music being incompatible, in his view, with the surroundings.  This was his concept for how such a musical environment could be developed and introduced, though he also said in an interview that the idea that a traveler could end up in a fatal plane crash was a major part of this thinking.  As relaxing and enveloping as this music is, that is certainly not the impression left for this listener!

Madagascar: Pays Antanosy Sarandra

Madagascar, an island off the southeastern portion of Africa (and probably only known to most Americans because of the 2005 film of the name) is more culturally related to the Indonesian archipelago a few thousand miles east across the Indian Ocean though it is also deeply tied to France because of the colonial control asserted by that European power for about six decades until independence came in 1960 and also has strong religious affiliations with Islam.

The Malagasy people include the Antanosy, who largely occupy the southastern end of the island, and this recording from the great Ocora label focuses on sarandra, a genre of singing that the liner notes compares to the performances of Andalusian flamenco vocalists in northern Spain.  Moreover, it is said that the genre "really comes into its own when performed at funeral wakes" as "this music plays the role of memory" and involves "a sort of emotional commentary on the deceased" and relationships with the living and ancestors.  The singing is also described as blues-like and employs many notes to a syllable in the lyrics and it is telling that "the Antanosy say they love musical expression because it makes them cry."

Instruments include the sosoly, a type of flute broadly called the sodina, and is related to the ney used extensive in Arabic music; the kabosa, or lute, and which also came from the Arab and Persian migrations of long ago and another word used is mandaly, akin to mandolin; the langoro, or membranophone, which is a two-skin cylinder-shaped drum hit with a pair of sticks; and, occasionally, the atrañatra, a xylophone played only by women and situated on their legs, jejo bory, or short lute, and the lokanga, or fiddle, though these have been falling out of favor.

A little more than half the tracks, the first 11, were recorded in Paris in 2006, while the remaining nine were captured in various locations in Madagascar between 1998 and 2000 and, while the instrumental portions can be quite remarkable, it is the vocalizations that are the most striking and evocative.  As with other music in areas of the world that are totally, or almost completely, unfamiliar, hearing this album is an incredible experience, opening vistas that help bring at least a modicum of understanding about what brings people from very different backgrounds together through the universal language of music.

Tim Berne's Snakeoil: You've Been Watching Me

With Tim Berne, there's pretty much a constant that there is no constancy in his prolific catalog of work dating back now close to a half-century.  The alto saxophonist and composer is so fascinating because he continually pushes his music in new directions through varied ensembles, instrumentation, and sonic approaches to his pieces.  While he often has groups gathered under a banner, such as Snakeoil, even these can be very different from recording to recording.

With this project, Berne was signed to ECM, the German label that made its name largely because of its long-running association with Keith Jarrett and for whom Berne's wife worked as its American label chief, and this meant more opportunity for a broader audience, especially as he had not released a studio album in eight years when the self-titled Snakeoil album was released in 2012.  This was then followed the next year by Shadow Man, and then, in 2015, with You've Been Watching Me.

Recorded at the end of 2014, the album features Berne's usual pastiche of pieces offering complex themes, remarkable dynamics, often abrupt time-shifting and incredible playing requiring musicians who can listen to and work off each other.  Piano is not an instrument heard on that many of the composer's records, though the incredible Craig Taborn memorably made a huge impact on Science Friction and the astounding The Sublime And in the early 2000s.

Here, Matt Mitchell plays the instrument and introduces electronics to great effect, adding significant color and shading.  For the rhythm section, Ches Smith uses all the resources of his drum kit, as well as vibraphone, tympani and other percussive elements and works very well with Mitchell.  There is no bass guitar, by Oscar Noriega, bass clarinet and the impressive guitar work of Ryan Ferreira, often function to develop that section of the ensemble.  Moreover, Noriega provides a remarkable counterpoint in sound to Berne's alto when they play in unison and offers impressive solos.  Berne is always a fascinating player projecting innovation and intensity buttressed by awesome ensemble support and You've Been Watching Me is another compelling and deeply immersive listening experience by a great composer and musician who should garner more attention and support for his diverse and significant body of work over the decades.

Edvard Grieg: Piano Music Vol. 2

The prolific piano works of the master composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907) have been issued by the Naxos label in many volumes recorded by Einar Steen-Nøkleberg at the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo with this August 1993 session yielding 70 minutes of works based on folk music traditions in the composer's home country.

There was great interest among many European composers in utilizing these resources, with Antonin Dvokrak and Bedrich Smetana particularly coming to mind with their work with Czech folk music, just as one prominent example, and this is a reflection of a growing nationalism arising in that part of the world, including the unification of such countries as Germany and Italy, not to mention the increasing desire of the Polish people to reestablish their nation.

Grieg tended to be best known for his "small form" work as opposed to larger-scale piano sonatas and concertos or orchestral works and the liner notes intriguingly quote from his letters regarding his popularity with audiences, but also the difficult reviews from critics.  The notes also point out the melodic bases for Norwegian folk music and the emphasis on harmony and rhythm which makes the composer's music particularly distinctive and appealing.  

In fact, it is remarked that Grieg was especially insistent regarding the importance of rhythm in works that were influenced by his country's dance traditions, while it was also noted that "harmony is at the heart of his work" with the master writing "the realm of harmony, has always been my dream world" and that there was a mystery to the tie between his sense of harmony and the folk songs that inspired him.  There are more than 45 such pieces and dances on this record, including two improvisations based on them nd two shorter works, as well.

It is said that his work was not particularly technically challenging, but that his compositions were very widely played and enjoyed, despite the lack of critical acclaim.  It is easy to hear why with this album, which is beautifully played and recorded, and is especially enjoyable in these challenging and difficult times.