Luiz Bonfa: Solo in Rio, 1959

This is a sterling recording of the Brazilian guitarist and vocalist issued by the Smithsonian Folkways label and consisting of thirty-one mostly short pieces, the first seventeen of which constituted the original recording and the rest being unreleased tracks, showcasing Bonfá's technically brilliant playing and his earnest and warm vocals.

There are pieces that use samba, calypso, bolero, bossa nova and other "Latin" styles, but Bonfá was very much influenced by classical and jazz musics, as well, naming one of the pieces on the record after the pianist George Shearing (and the tune definitely swings) and another after Chopin.  Much of what makes this album so enjoyable is that Bonfá had such versatility in his playing and composing.

As Anthony Weller, who wrote the very helpful and informative liners, noted, Bonfá was a virtuoso, but didn't feel the need to overtly display his talents unless it was in the service of the piece and there are so many examples, including the opening "Pernambuco," the cover of the Cole Porter chestnut, "Night and Day," and the strangely-titled "Murder," being just a few examples.

The highlight for this listener, however, is the first of the unreleased pieces, the amazing "A Brazilian in New York."  On this lengthy piece, he starts with a fine classical-like melody and then adds a "Don't Walk-Walk" refrain to refer to the contradictory nature of city life's pacing and his playing is just beautiful.  When it's time to cross the street, he launches into an amazing representation of trying to make his way through the busy thoroughfare.  Uttering the word "homesick," he offers an interpretation of that feeling, with rapid runs and complex rhythms.  What follows are representations of Brazilian dances, a piano and orchestra, a samba, and then a return to the unfamiliar chaos of New York and the "Don't Walk-Walk" refrain.   This is a masterpiece of playing and storytelling.

Another highlight of the unreleased pieces is Bonfá's "Samba de Orfeu," a short (1:16) piece that marks the only time he recorded the work solo, though he made ten other versions with a band during his career.  Otherwise, there are alternate takes of album pieces that show how easily the guitarist could alter a piece by changing tempo, rhythms and feeling.

The music was recorded by Emory Cook for his own label and the remastering and editing provides for a very crystalline sound that doesn't, though, remove any of the warmth and intimacy that is a critical part of the recording's great charm, especially because Bonfá evidently did not record solo very much.

Solo in Rio, 1959 is an album that proves to provide renewed interest with each listen because of its diversity in styles and the fact that Bonfá's virtuosity is such that it meshes so well with the stylistic, melodic and rhythmic components that can be the focal point of repeated listenings.  Just listening tonight after having heard the recording a couple of weeks ago, there are different elements that come through by shifting that focus.  That's the hallmark of a master and a masterpiece.

Cecil Taylor: Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come

This is where it started.  At the Cafe Montmartre in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1962, the pianist Cecil Taylor and his compatriots, altoist Jimmy Lyons (who worked with Taylor for nearly a quarter century) and drummer Sunny Murray found the freedom to pursue a particularly creative, innovative and powerful way to play their music.

It was a revelation that was years ahead of its time and, sadly, kept Taylor from being hired for performances and signed to record deals for most of the rest of the 1960s, excepting a stint with Blue Note Records mid-decade that yielded the great Conquistador! and the remarkable Unit Structures.

But, it was Nefertiti that provided the template, the blueprint for the type of relentless emphasis on expression that drove Taylor to make some of the most challenging and technically brilliant music on piano heard anywhere.

This double-disc release on guitarist John Fahey's Revenant Records (also responsible for the fantastic Albert Ayler box, Holy Ghost, someday to be highlighted here) in 2007 provides music from both sets of the Montmartre gig.  With the exception of the standard "What's New?" the pieces are Taylor originals.

By original is meant a new direction for the pianist, who was already pushing at the boundaries of freedom in jazz from his 1956 debut Jazz Advance through the transitional recordings for the Candid label in 1960-61, featuring bassist Buell Neidlinger and budding altoist Archie Shepp.

When Taylor joined forces with Lyons, who immediately knew how to build off the leader's complicated foundations, and Murray, who sense of freedom in keeping time may have been among the greatest inspirations for the new direction, something happened that was profoundly new in jazz.

As many observers have noted, though, it wasn't just jazz that Taylor was working with.  He was classically trained at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and seemed intent on working with the modern structures of Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartok and others as well as developing his unique approach to jazz.  Taylor has often commented that his music is attuned to the rhythms of dance.

This recording was made during the course of a seven-week engagement and, though the fidelity is not particularly strong (Revenant's remastering, however, appears to have done as good a job with the source as could be expected), the playing is so exceptional that the deficiencies in sound can be easily overlooked.  It is, however, obvious that the piano in the club, apparently an upright, was not in the best of shape, but, as an exceptional craftsperson, Taylor makes the most of the situation.

He is relentless, probing, and searching in his use of notes, chords, runs and octaves during solos and provides comping behind Lyons that drives the altoist to some spectacular playing--at once, very bop sounding, but also very new and innovative.

The fact that Lyons spent most of his career as a quiet, but essential part of Taylor's Unit, while hardly doing any solo work or collaborations with others, has left him out of most discussions when it comes to the many great alto players since 1960.

As for Sunny Murray, it is tough to qualify the pathbreaking mark he set, not just here, but also in his remarkable work with Albert Ayler, Shepp and on his own.  His constant shifting in time and meter, heavy use of washes of cymbals and his unearthly vocalizing (moaning?) during his playing are hallmarks of a style that was entirely his own.  Murray's expansive approach to the kit and expressions of freedom in time gave Taylor the space to employ the full range of his technique on the piano (even one as badly maintained as that at the Cafe Montmartre.)

In 1962, another great innovator of the era, Ornette Coleman went into a sort of self-imposed exile, frustrated with the machinations of the music business and, perhaps, his flashpoint role in the controversy over where jazz was heading.  Whereas Coleman's silence, lasting until 1965, was largely of choice, Taylor's own period of near-silence was anything but that.  He was just considered to be too out there until Alfred Lion signed Taylor for that two-album deal mentioned above.  After that, the later sixties saw a few recorded live performances, including a great French set with the great Sam Rivers in 1969.

It was not, however, until the 70s that Taylor started to build a small, but loyal audience and some measure of critical acceptance and praise.  By the end of the 1980s, he was finally recognized as the brilliant visionary he had been for more than two decades and, while his output slowed over time, he passion, power and explorations continued undimmed.  This blogger had the pleasure of seeing Taylor and a quartet at Los Angeles' Jazz Bakery in 1999 and has been a big fan ever since buying Conquistador! and then Unit Structures, as well as some of the Candid recordings in the early 90s.

He's still with us--performing less, but still receiving accolades, including the Kyoto Prize (though his $500,000 cash award was embezzled from the 85-year old composer by someone he trusted--the case against the criminal is, apparently, pending.)  Whether Taylor will be playing much in public is unknown, but, after decades of near-neglect, the piano titan has finally been accorded some of the respect he has long deserved.

And, it really started in Copenhagen over a half-century ago with music that plunged forward in a world not ready to accept it and which is still provocative, fresh and brimming with invention.  For the ultimate in adventurous jazz, Cecil Taylor's music can be a breathtaking experience.

Bill Laswell: Means of Deliverance

For some people, it's problematic enough to have to listen to a bass solo, but to endure an entire album of solo bass playing?

Well, Bill Laswell has made an amazing album, Means of Deliverance (released in 2012 on his Innerhythmic label), that uses a Warwick fretless acoustic bass instrument called the Alien to create a series of textures and tones that are familiar, yet also (yes) alien, when one things of the traditional electric or acoustic bass.

He also finds interesting ways to make the Alien a melodic instrument as well as a rhythmic one and it is his ability to make the bass sing, as well as his exemplary technique and use of atmospheric textures that gives Means of Deliverance its special qualities.

As with other solo albums, most notably the excellent 1999 release Hear No Evil (Meta Records), Laswell draws deeply from the experiences of his upbringing in Kentucky and Illinois and was once quoted about the hard impression made on his musical development by hillbilly music.

Oz Fritz, who has worked frequently as a recording engineer with Laswell, points out on his blog, "The Oz Mix," that Laswell's global travels, physically and musically, are encoded in the title of this album and in its contents.  Fritz refers to Means of Deliverance as "spacecreating," which is an excellent way of putting it.  The songs have their melodies, rhythms and other elements of structure, but there is an expansive sense of space between the notes and around the sound the Alien guitar makes.

In another interesting piece on the Sonic Scoop site, Laswell is quoted as discussing how life experience and the effects this has on the musical vocabulary, languages and improvisation lead to interesting stories that can be told through the music.  This excellent post notes that Laswell and his engineers Robert Musso and James Dellatacoma, longtime collaborators, employed a three-level recording method.  First were the rhythmic elements, the leads built off those rhythms, and finally drones from an e-bow or slide.  Up to six tracks are used on the record, even with its rather spartan feel.

On one piece, Laswell's wife Gigi Shibabaw, an Ethiopian singer with great emotive abilities who also produced the record, provides a plaintive and keening vocal.  A buzzing drone accompanies the warm tones of the Alien to make "Bagana Sub Figura X" a highlight of the recording.

It should also be noted that special consideration was given to equipping Laswell's Orange Music studio with an environment, along with the excellent work done by Musso and Dellatacoma, a gorgeous, full and clear sound, enhancing the listening experience.  Moreover, the mastering by Michael Fossenkemper at TurtleTone expertly works with the low end of the bass that Laswell is so adept at expressing.  As Fritz observes, you can almost feel Laswell's fingers hitting the strings because of the clarity and cleanness of the sound.  For a solo recording like this, there's an immediacy that is really palpable.

Fritz has another valuable observation:  Means of Deliverance has a progressive presence and that is an apt way to describe one of the most interesting of the legions of albums that Bill Laswell has produced.  It is an object lesson in creating a unique personal statement on one's chosen instrument and Laswell is to be saluted for making it and taking us with him on his journey.

Ludwig von Beethoven: String Quartets (Complete) Vol. 1

This excellent 1995 Naxos release features the Kodaly Quartet, a Hungarian ensemble, performing two quartets, one in F major and the other in G major, of the sixteen written by the master and Opus 18, consisting of the two works here, were the first to be developed, coming between 1798 and 1800, when Beethoven was in his late twenties.

The F major has a beautiful first movement full of feeling, melody and drama--in fact, it is said the composer envisioned the classic vault scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as he wrote the piece.  To some observers, this quartet and the others of its time were hallmarks of Beethoven's emergence into full maturity as a composer.

Moreover, he was in a class all by himself as he introduced notions in his complex musical structures that took him beyond Haydn and Mozart, his most famed precursors.  The second movement has a particularly restrained but very pretty melodic statement and makes use of space and harmony that are very appealing.

Whereas a typical Beethoven scherzo to date was full of power and aggression, the short scherzo in this quartet is quieter and yet also playful and joyful.  The fourth movement has a strong rhythmic component that is lively and energetic, but not overly fast, and the figures move smoothly and easily.

The G major is often called the "Compliments" quartet and its light, buoyant sound is reminiscent of what Haydn produced in his remarkable quartets decades earlier.  In fact, it is said that Beethoven was directly playing off Haydn's work in this piece, while providing the level of complexity, harmonic richness and dramatic use of counterpoint that made his composing so distinctive.

His use of changes in tempo, key and harmony set him apart from his predecessors, to the point that an alleged Haydn lament that someone was needed to write minuets in a new way was probably countermanded by the amazing work Beethoven did in these and other string quartets in those years from the late 1790s until his death thirty years later.

The Kodaly Quartet plays remarkably and its quarter century together by the time this recording was made reflects the synchronicity and unifying sense of purpose that a superior group of musicians can achieve.

Asante Kete Drumming: Music of Ghana

This 2007 release on Lyrichord Records is comprised of field recordings by musicologist Joseph S. Kaminski at a funeral in Kumase, Ghana in October 2001.  The ancient form of Asante kete drumming has unknown roots, but has flourished among the Asante political division of the broader Akan peoples.  The very informative liner notes includes good historical information about the Asante and Akan.

Kete drumming, which is said to have the power to attract good spirits, was used to accompany warriors to battle, as well as court ceremonies for state visits, funerals, and executions, among others, as well as rituals honoring ancestors.  These days, the form is used for funerals, at which dancing is encouraged to assist in the soul of the deceased as it goes to an ancestor heaven.  Gestures made by the dancers invoke symbolically proverbs among the Asante.

Of a large repertoire of fifteen kete pieces, this disc presents five, varying in length from just over 9 to about 14 minutes.  Percussion instruments include the petia, or small pegged drum which is struck with sticks; the kwadum or main drum, also hit with sticks and which is played to mimic speech; the apentema, or a pegged drum hit with the hands; the abrukua, another pegged drum struck with sticks; the donno or hour-glass shaped talking drum (this instrument, however, is not featured on the recording); the ntorowa, a gourd rattle; and the dawuro, a iron bell in the shape of a boat and which keeps strict time.  The five pieces vary in tempo, with some able to played slow or fast depending on the circumstances.

The ensemble performing on the recording is the Nsuase Kete Group, which performs in the Kumase area and consists of six members led by Isaac Nketia, who is also a professional dancer and plays the petia here.  Other identified musicians are Gabriel Ololai Martey on the kwadum; Yaw Damso on the apentena; and Richard Dwoomoh on the abrukua.  Performers on the dawuro and ntorowa were unknown.

The exciting polyrhythms of this drumming is something to behold, especially if the listener is particularly into percussion music.  For those not much into drumming or African music, a full hour or so is almost certainly too much, but, for this listener, the album is a fantastic example of the power of African drumming, particularly the rich history and tradition found in west African percussion.

John Coltrane: Crescent

It's hard to argue with the oft-stated view that the pinnacle of the amazing John Coltrane's recorded work came with two classic albums recorded in 1964.  At the end of the year was the masterpiece A Love Supreme, covered here previously.  Earlier was the majestic Crescent, recorded on 27 April and 1 June, and reflecting the telepathic relationship of the leader with his remarkable band members, including pianist McCoy Tyner, drummer Elvin Jones, and bassist Jimmy Garrison.

The record is built around three pieces showing a highly reflecting, ruminative and meditative side to Coltrane that had been heard before but reached its apex on this album.  Trane's solos are phenomenal, as are those of Tyner, and the rhythm section of Garrison and Jones hold everything together for the soloists to build from.

The title piece is driven by the leader's keening and emotive statement of the gorgeous melody with Tyner accompanying simply but beautifully, while Jones employs long rolls and uses splashes of cymbals to great effect.  After about a minute and a half, a steady rhythm ensues and Coltrane soloes with economy and emotion, though there are moments where he employs overtones and cycles of repetitive notes that hint at the freer forms he moved into the next year.

"Wise One" starts with a gorgeous opening by Tyner before Coltrane comes in with a mournful and memorable melody accompanied by Jones' exclusive and excellent use of cymbal patterns.  At about three minutes in, a Latin-like rhythmic pattern comes in and Tyner soloes sensationally by keeping things simple and subdued.  At 4:45 or so, Coltrane comes in with perfect timing and keeps the mood Tyner had established--for a while.  He builds up gradually and increases the speed and intensity over his solo, while Jones focuses mainly on the cymbals for his rhythm, rather than the bass drum or snare.  Garrison, all the while, holds down the bottom end solidly and basically.

"Bessie's Blues" can be heard as an aberration, being a playful midtempo blues with a sparkling Tyner solo being the highlight and Coltrane using some overtones on his solo while Tyner lays out, but it might also be thought of as a nice break between the subdued, but substantial and sublime tracks that form the core of the album.

The third piece of that core is the lengthier and pretty "Lonnie's Lament," where Coltrane states the theme to Tyner's impressive filigreed backing and more of Jones' fine cymbal touches before the band comes in to a steady rhythm, highlighted by Garrison's stronger presence here than on portions of the album.

Tyner soloes first and is wonderfully restrained with his notes cascading sometimes like raindrops (you can almost imagine a scene in which it is raining while the song is playing) and other times his trademark block chords drive his work.  It is really a spectacular piece of work from one of the great pianists in jazz and who was truly coming into his own at age 26 as a leader as well as Coltrane's sideman.

A little after six minutes, Garrison comes in for his only solo of the record.  It's become commonplace for people to groan whenever a jazz bassist soloes, which is really a shame, because Garrison was one of the best.  His playing is always of interest in terms of dynamics, tone, strength and melodic statement.  This performance is a reminder of his immense talent.

Towards the end, Trane comes in to restate the theme and take the piece out--a generous display by the leader to allow two of his compatriots the opportunity to show the best of their art.

Which leads to the showcase for the third of his band members:  the closer is a Jones highlight called, naturally, "The Drum Thing,"  Notably, though, this track isn't just a centerpiece of the speed and power for which Jones was justly famed, but because his polyrhythmic skills are displayed fully here.

Jones starts off with a muted rumble of his drums and Garrison playing a simple twice-repeated riff of the same note while Trane plays a simple melody that is attractive on its own terms.  Then, the masterful drummer launches into his staggering solo, thundering, rumbling, pounding with total discipline and yet sounding like several percussionists at the same time.  It's not that there aren't plenty of other masterful solos in Jones' recorded catalog, but this one has a sense of restraint even amongst the power, speed and intensity that sets it apart.  This is a great close to a fantastic album.

Amazingly, the Coltrane quartet came back at the end of 1964 with something even better.  The fact that A Love Supreme was released not long after Crescent has, perhaps, overshadowed the latter.  However, Crescent is a landmark album and was something of an encapsulation and summation of what made the Quartet such a special band.  This was perfected on A Love Supreme but that shouldn't diminish the achievement of its predecessor.

The photo of Coltrane is from the 8-disc The Classic Quartet—Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings set issued in 1998.

Big Bill Broonzy: Trouble in Mind

This release on Smithsonian Folkways Records highlights the acoustic "country blues" of the great Big Bill Broonzy, from sessions in 1956 and 1957 as well as two performances from a concert at Northwestern University near Chicago.  Despite the musician's struggles with throat cancer, from which he died in 1958, his playing and singing are fantastic.

Moses Asch, the owner of Folkways Records, was determined to record Broonzy solo and to emphasize his singing and lyrics, which, in Asch's view, were often not as well-recorded in his earlier years.  A bonus is the opportunity to hear Broonzy introduce or add commentary to some of the pieces, including on "Joe Turner Blues No. 2 (Blues of 1890," "Black, Brown and White," and in his live performances of "This Train," and "In the Evening."

As remastered for compact disc, there is a clarity of sound that might be too clean for listeners who like the grittier recordings of the era as represented on the original vinyl releases.  This is certainly understandable, especially when it comes to classic blues material, but, on the other hand, the acoustic guitar and vocals do shine nicely on this release.

Among the many gems, in addition to those mentioned here, are the standard blues and folk tune "Frankie and Johnny," in which the jilted Frankie takes out her anger on her roaming lover Johnny; the hilarious "Mule-Ridin' Blues," an excellent example of the talking blues genre; the emotive "Poor Bill Blues," a personal adaptation of a tune called "Worried Life Blues"; the double-entendre loaded "Digging My Potatoes"; the plaintive "When Things Go Wrong (It Hurts Me Too)," best known in a version by Tampa Red from 1940 and best known in a rendition by electrical guitarist Elmore James; the famed standard "C.C. Rider"; and the fantastic "Southbound Train."

In truth, though, all of the nearly two-dozen songs are great, showcasing the variety of Broonzy's repertoire and use of varying styles in the blues genre.  There is a great quote from Studs Terkel, who did interviews with the musician and was a major figure in oral histories of Americans for many years.  Turkel stated that "Big Bill Broonzy was not only the greatest country blues singer I ever heard, he was one of the wisest of men. He knew the human heart as well as anyone."

As to Broonzy, his introduction to the live performance of "This Train," which had the audience singing along in a true interaction that only great performers can bring about, is hilarious and telling.  In it, he said "Well, they say that everything I sing whether it's a spiritual or folk song  . . . it's still the blues . . . Well, I'm a blues singer, what else am I gonna do with it . . . Some people call these folk songs . . . I never heard horses sing none of 'em."

True enough, but most folk wouldn't be able to sing these songs with the flair, passion and exquisite blues phrasing and guitar accompaniment of the amazing Big Bill Broonzy.

Henry Cowell: A Continuum Portrait, Volume 1

This compendium of wide-ranging works from the long career of composer Henry Cowell is titled based on the excellent performances of the collective called Continuum, which has released several recordings on the Naxos labels over the year.

Cowell, whose Smithsonian Folkways release of his own piano performances has been spotlighted here before, was an experimental composer who drew heavily on folk music, including that of Ireland, where his forebears were from, as well as other places around the world, but was also someone who combined his modernism with beautiful melodies and a strong sense of harmony, too.

These were qualities he shared with his friend, Charles Ives, as the two men, a generation removed from one another, helped usher in a distinctively American form of modern composition.

This record begins with Continuum co-director Joel Sachs performing beautiful solo piano renditions of four piano pieces that feature Cowell's trademark tone clusters and strumming of the instrument's strings along with plaintive melodies (especially on the gorgeous "Deep Color") and interesting explorations of sound, including a wild "Tiger."

A modern take on the Baroque instrumentation of flute, oboe, cello and harpsichord is featured on a quartet composition with the other co-director Cheryl Seltzer on the keyboard instrument.  A highly memorable melody and a fine collective performance by the ensemble are of note.

Humor and satire mark Cowell's "Three Anti-Modernist Songs" with Seltzer on piano and Ellen Lang, an excellent mezzo-soprano.   On "A Sharp Where You'd Expect a Natural," the lyric includes the admonition that "no rule observe but the exceptional" and that when it comes to sequencing the music "which [bar] follows which, you really needn't mind."  

With "Hark! From the Pit a Fearsome Sound," Cowell plays with the concerns of concertgoers unnerved by modern music "that makes your blood run cold" with "symphonic cyclones," a "muted tuba's dismal groan," and fancifully fictional instruments like the "sarrusophone," "tonitruone," and "heckelphone."  There's even a nod to Richard Strauss and his modern form of opera.

Finally, Cowell defends Stravinsky in "Who Wrote This Fiendish 'Rite of Spring'?"  The lyric is written from the perspective of a horrified attendee, presumably at the Paris premiere in 1913, who cries "what right had he to write the thing / against our helpless ears to fling / its crash, clash, cling, clang, bing, bank, bing?" and asks why the composer couldn't write bird-like melodies and "proper" harmony.

A contemplative and touching violin and piano suite by Seltzer and Mia Wu follows and is beautifully performed, as is a short Polyphonica for a small orchestra.  Finally, there is the Irish Suite, with Seltzer's piano and the orchestra conducted by Sachs performing the piece quietly and subtly.  This is a bit surprising, especially with "The Banshee," which Cowell played on the aforementioned Smithsonian Folkways recording with far greater volume, power and menace, as the strings are scratched and strummed to mimic the mythical banshee creature.

Henry Cowell was a true original, whose ideas of experimenting with sound, harmony and sources were exceptional in his time and remain so today.  This recording by Continuum captures many facets of the composer's long and varied career and the group and Naxos are to be given kudos for excellent work.

Landscape of the Highlands: String Music from Vietnam

This is a beautiful recording, issued as part of the Latitudes series of world music recordings by Music of the World, a North Carolina-based label, of five pieces on the dan tranh, a sixteen-stringed zither, performed by Tran Quang Hai.  Anyone familiar with the Chinese cheng, Japanese koto and Korean kayagum will recognize the beautiful and uplifting resonance of this gorgeous instrument, which also has some resemblance in places to the sound of the western harp, though the movable wooden bridges of nhan give that distinctive eastern "bent" sounds as the bridges are moved to moderate the notes.

Tran Quang Hai plays with emotion, sensitivity and virtuosity on the songs, the shortest of which is four minutes, while the others are roughly eight and nine minutes in length.  He makes great use of space, allowing the atmospheric nature of the instrument develop an environment that enhances the rich sound it can produce.  At the same time, he can utilize his prodigious technical abilities to hypnotize the listener with the cascades of ringing tones that the zither provides.

Tran Quang Hai is the fifth generation of musicians in his family and went to Vietnam's National Conservatory of Music in Saigon as well as studied with his academically-affiliated father.  In 1961, with his country in growing turmoil, he moved to France, which was the colonizer of Vietnam for decades before the French were defeated by Viet Cong forces in the mid-Fifties.  Expert on more than a dozen Vietnamese instruments, he has had a wide-ranging career composing, performing, writing and even acting and is still very busy as he moves into his seventies.

Landscape of the Highlands is a gorgeous recording, sure to please those who enjoy Asian music and, hopefully, one to entrance anyone seeking an entry to one aspect, string music, of this part of the world.

Sonny Rollins: A Night at the Village Vanguard (Complete)

As a composer of some of the best-known hard bop tunes of the middle and later 1950s and, especially, as an improviser with immense technical skill and creatively fresh approaches to harmony and melody, Sonny Rollins was in a class all by himself.  From his early work with such luminaries as Thelonious Monk, Max Roach and Miles Davis, to his first solo records, including the 1956 album Saxophone Colossus and the amazing Way Out West and then his courageous Freedom Suite, Rollins created one of the great bodies of work of the era.

For a variety of personal and professional reasons, Rollins quite suddenly withdrew from the scene in the early 1960s and was never quite the same in terms of recognition and accolades, compared to, say, John Coltrane, perhaps because jazz transformed so radically during that decade.  Yet, all these years later, the master is still very active, regularly touring and recording, generally to much acclaim.

But, if jazz is largely built on the framework of what is experienced in the live setting, then Rollins' 1957 recording of sets at the famed Village Vanguard club in New York, his first as a leader, really set a standard for how concert performances were to be recorded and regarded.  The first track featured the little-known Donald Bailey on bass and the somewhat under-appreciated drummer Pete La Roca (who worked with Coltrane for a time) and is an interesting version of the great bebop standard, "A Night in Tunisia."

But, with the tremendous rhythm section of bassist Wilbur Ware (known for his work with Monk) and drummer Elvin Jones, who really got his first serious attention as a result of this gig and went on to be Coltrane's poly-rhythmic dynamo, this album really took off.

With the complete two-disc version, released by Blue Note in 1999, a total of eighteen pieces showcase the greatness of this small combo, as Ware and Jones were supremely effective sidemen and Rollins came into his own as an improviser of amazing facility and invention (as well as a charming host introducing some of the songs in the coolest way possible.)

Highlights are so numerous, it's hard to pinpoint some over others, whether it is the evening take of "A Night in Tunisia," the excellent "Softly as in a Morning Sunrise," the surprising use of the old chestnut, "Get Happy," Miles Davis' "Four," Rollins' own masterpiece, "Sonnymoon for Two," or other standards like "I Can't Get Started," Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin," or Hammerstein and Kern's "All the Things You Are."

It's amazing to hear Rollins work his way through complex, powerful, inventive and alternately humorous and clever and then heartbreaking and serious soloing with what seems to be the most effortless ways imaginable.

Then, to have the solidly reliable and pliable Ware and the emerging force of nature that Elvin Jones was on his way to becoming as his bedrock, it's no small wonder that A Night at the Village Vanguard, presented here in the original sequence and with the leader's intros, is one of the great live recordings of jazz and a signal achievement for Rollins, one of its greatest musicians.

Cabaret Voltaire: 2x45

In 1981, Cabaret Voltaire was on the verge of a sea change.  For seven years, the trio of Chris Watson, Stephen Mallinder and Richard H. Kirk had honed their unusual sounds of manipulated and processed sound and developed something of a cult underground following from their signing to Rough Trade Records in 1978.  This yielded a series of EPs and albums that included such early classic pieces as "Nag Nag Nag," "Do The Mussolini (Headkick)," and other otherworldly electronic works that placed them in a category all their own.

Yet, there was a feeling among the members that new directions were needed.  For Watson, this had more to do with a change in occupation, as he was hired as a sound recordist for a British television network and then later went on to do notable work recording natural environments for the BBC, as well as working in the highly-esoteric band/project, The Hafler Trio.  In more recent years, Watson, as has been covered once her, has released a series of fascinating albums, largely based on his years of nature recordings, and which challenge established definitions of what music is.

As for Kirk and Mallinder, Watson's departure gave them an opportunity for reinvention of the Cabaret Voltaire sonic pallette.  To those fans who loved the early music, their move to strip down the sound, develop more defined melodic and rhythmic ideas, and engage in less manipulation and processing of instrumentation and vocals amounted to nothing less than a commercial sell-out.

On the other hand, asking creative artists to stop growing and challenging themselves is just not realistic.  Mallinder and Kirk clearly felt they had done what they could with their earlier sound and that it was time to chart different territory.  Their first efforts, however, were transitional and are documented in the remarkable 2x45, which title speaks for itself.

Six pieces originally released on two 45 rpm discs, hence the album title, include one set done with Watson and the other with Kirk and Mallinder joined by guest musicians.  On the first trio of tracks, recorded in October 1981, the group is augmented with drummer and percussionist Alan Fish, of the group "Hula" who also toured with Kirk and Mallinder when they became a duo in 1982.  These songs include "Breathe Deep," "Yashar," and "Protection." with familiar attributes like the harsh processed vocals of Mallinder, the vox continental of Watson and the processed horns and simple spiky guitar of Kirk joined by a stronger percussive presence from Fish.

"Yashar," which was remixed into something of an underground dance hit, is tamer and more subdued on the album version, but it does contain the memorable sample from a 1950s sci-fi film asking where the 70 billion people on Earth were hiding.  The metallic percussion, Middle Eastern synth lines, and catchy bass line from Mallinder are the hallmarks of this tune.

"Protection" puts an emphasis on Kirk's squawking clarinet work, interesting vocal samples, and Mallinder's trademark menacing echoed vocals, as well as a swirl of sound effects and steady percussion from Fish.

The big change comes with the second trio of tracks, which were cut in February 1982, and featured drummer Nort and guitarist Eric Random.  "War of Nerves (T.E.S.)" starts off with a sampled explanation of a horrific form of torture, complete with the nauseated reaction of the listener on the sample, before the band moves into a relaxed and, yes, even funky groove.  Then comes another of Mallinder's disembodied and processed vocals, as more vocal samples abound and Kirk and Random offer interesting guitar textures.  This is kind of a spooky, trippy tune for a band with lots of them.

"Wait and Shuffle" begins with a strange processed vocal sample and an echoed synth form before Mallinder's two forms of simple, repetitive bass are joined by Nort's effective drumming and washes of wild guitar lines, Kir's tortured horn work, and sampled sounds complete the interesting textures.

But, the album's most interesting track is the lengthy "Get Out of My Face,"which has a hypnotic synth intro with military-like sample shouting before Mallinder comes in with one of his better bass figures and the guitars again provide notable and varied expressive textures.  Mallinder's vocals are less menacing and more whispered, though offered with plenty of echo.  The opening synth undercurrent continues, with some of an arpeggio joining in early on and more sax wailing found throughout.

There is a complexity in layering sounds on this track and the other two from the early '82 session that provide a signpost for where CV would be going, albeit in a funkier, more groove-oriented direction by the time The Crackdown was recorded in 1983 after a new deal was signed with Virgin Records and the band left Rough Trade.

2x45 is clearly a transitional record for Cabaret Voltaire, but despite the shift in personnel and the expected variances in sound, it comes across rather well as a single listening experience and was an honest attempt by Kirk and Mallinder to confront the transformation after Watson's departure.  And, they lost no time, as they moved into a phase through 1985 that saw them release some of their most interesting music, albeit to the concern of the fans of their earlier, rougher sound.

But, a change had to come and, to this longtime listener, it was a necessary and successful one.

Richard Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra/Don Juan/Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche

In his long life of eighty-five years, Richard Strauss worked his way through a strong Romantic influence inspired largely by Richard Wagner, but also composed works that had a pronounced "modern" sensibility, as exemplified by operas like Der Rosenkavalier, Salome and Ariadne Aux Naxos.

Strauss was enough of a modernist to incur the suspicions of Nazi leaders, even as the composer tried to use his international stature to champion his vision of music after the Third Reich was established in 1933.  While he never left Germany, Strauss was increasingly alienated from the Hitler regime while trying to keep his Jewish daughter-in-law and his son out of concentration camps.  He managed to survive the end of World War II by four years and composed his last works in that horrible turmoil.

In his earlier years, however, Strauss developed some remarkable "tone poems" that, on this recording by The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, drew inspiration from works by Friedrich Nietzsche (Also Sprach Zarathustra) and Nikolaus Lenau (an unfinished poem being the basis for Strauss' Don Juan) as well as the German folk tale of Till Eulenspiegel, which included comic elements that Straus reflected in his music.

Also Sprach Zarathustra has become famous for its opening theme reflecting the Persian poet, Zarathustra, arising to meet and talk to the sun and which was memorably utilized in Stanley Kubrick's path-breaking film 2001: A Space Odyssey.  There's no question that this is a stirring, striking and awe-inspiring opening, though less than two minutes long.  The rest of the piece, however, is full of richness, complexity, contemplative melodies and powerful bombastic themes.  It is a powerful work from a master composer, who was still a young man of 32 when the work was finished in 1896

Don Juan was completed even earlier, in 1888, and established Strauss' reputation when it premiered in late 1889 in Weimar.  It was based on an 1844 poem from Lenau and concerns the end of the mythical lover's life when, thwarted in his aim to find the ideal woman, he decides to will his death.  This is another work of great complexity requiring superior technical facility for the instrumentation over the course of just under seventeen minutes.

Finally, there is Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche (Till Eugenspiel's Merry Pranks) a work from 1894-95, extending about 14 1/2 minutes and concerning quite a different type of legendary figure, one steeped in German folklore, though based on a real person, and possessing a comic and mischievous persona that fought against repressive authority figures, be they political or religious.  The music, comprised of themes for horn and clarinet, reflects a more playful and breezy style of performance than the other tone poems in this set.

This is another well-performed recording from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, in England and the quality of the recording is excellent.  The disc reflects the developing composer's efforts at building from the Romantic tradition but using newer compositional materials to provide a modern sound.  Future posts will cover some of Strauss' excellent operas.

Fiestas: Music of the High Andes

There is still a strong connection of the mixed peoples of the upper Andes Mountains of Peru to their pre-European heritage, though there is obviously a major admixture of the native culture with that of the Spanish who suddenly and violently conquered the Inca Empire in the early 16th-century.

The album Fiestas: Music of the High Andes is another in the admirable series of indigenous world music recordings issued by the Nonesuch Explorer Series in 1972, but recorded in June and July 1968 by David Lewiston, who gathered so much great music from around the world for the series.  It features a variety of festive public music in the major city of Ayacucho and the smaller villages of Vilcas Plazapi and Chuschi.

Several of the pieces have vocals in the native Quechua language and performances include such instrumentation as mandolins, guitars, quenas (notched flutes), harps, charangos (stringed lutes), and ensembles using brass pieces, drums, among others--some of these native and others from the Spanish.  There are Catholic religious events, such as the Feast of Corpus Christi, featured as well as community celebrations like the Paucartambo that provide the settings for much of the music on the album.

The playing is often spirited and joyous, sometimes very reflective and beautiful and always inspiring, especially from a people living in somewhat remote circumstances, removed from the urban areas of Lima and other Peruvian cities.  One wonders how much the music has changed in the nearly half-century since the recording and whether vestiges of the pre-European heritage are as strong now.

In any case, this is a great disc to listen to for the appreciation of a society and a people who live in one of the most amazing places in the world. It gives an opportunity to vicariously remove oneself from the environment in which they've become accustomed and have some sense of how differently others live, through their very particularized music--music which entertains and educates.

Andrew Hill: Judgment!

A very under-appreciated pianist and composer, Andrew Hill released a string of excellent recordings for Blue Note in the mid to late 1960s, one of which, the superb Point of Departure has already been highlighted here.

Judgment! was recorded just prior to that album, in early January 1964, and, while it may be more low key, due to the absence of a front-line horn and the use of a vibraphone as a featured solo album, this recording is just as remarkable in highlighting Hill's distinctive composing style, uniformly excellent playing and the amazing band chosen for the album.

It's hard to imagine a better rhythm section at the time than the always-steady and full-sounding bass of the great Richard Davis, another player who has never quite received the recognition he deserves, and the exciting and complex poly-rhythms of the masterful Elvin Jones on drums.

Moreover, in a significant way, the tremendous performance by Bobby Hutcherson on vibes is an additional rhythmic instrument, due to the light percussive sound it provides.  Hutcherson, though, also used his instrument for ambiance and was a masterful soloist, as well.

Hill's composing wasn't known for extremes in ways that other so-called "free" or "avant-garde" stalwarts were, but his subtle experiments with time, harmony and rhythm are, with some dedicated listening, obvious and stunning.

This comes to the fore immediately with the standout "Siete Ocho," a nine-minute masterpiece, the title of which happens to refer to the time signature of 7/8.  The playing is just impressive, starting with Hutcherson's vibes and including Hill's always-absorbing solo work as well as a nice short solo by Davis and a typically explosive excursion on the traps by Jones.

"Flea Flop" was titled by Hill because of the "jumping flea" quality of the melody and has a long and exemplary solo by the leader, some powerful soloing by Jones and Hutcherson's shimmering and echoed vibes providing a strong grounding for the piece.

"Senseless dialogue between people" is how the sing-song melody of "Yokada Yokada" is characterized in its dissonant dueting between the vibes and piano, before Hill unleashes another incredibly understated and brilliant solo that is more directly blues-connected than usual for the leader.

A tribute to the founder and long-time executive of Blue Note, Alfred Lion, "Alfred" is a lush, lyrical and gorgeous ballad that gives Hutcherson an opportunity to shine in soloing and atmospheric accompaniment, while Davis plays beautifully in the upper register and Jones, who was not given as much praise for his brush work as he should have, provides excellent support work on percussion.  As for Hill, his playing is as lyrical and economical as can be.

The title track was inspired by a poem by Hill's wife, Laverne, based on the biblical verse, John 7: 7, which has the famous admonition about casting stones.  The tune starts with some emphatic snare shots by Jones, who then slides effortlessly into a driving groove that was one of his many trademarks, while the band moves into a typically angular Hill theme.  It's hard to overstate just how fluidly and compactly Hill constructs his solos-he's never flashy, but his technique and ideas are highly advanced.  Again, Davis alternates between higher and lower notes and always seems to be in just the right spot to hold the bottom down, while Jones keeps those poly rhythms moving before putting on another drum solo clinic.  Hutcherson offers another great solo before the track ends--this along with "Siete Ocho" is a centerpiece to the album.

Finally, there is the closing "Reconciliation," which Hill identified as being drawn from the unity and harmony developed by the group in the course of creating this amazing music.  Another interesting and characteristically complex Hill theme is played three times before Davis solos to great effect, demonstrating why he was so in demand, as Hutcherson and Jones engage in excellent interplay behind the bassist.  A notable quality to this tune is the abrupt ending before the theme's last note was to be played.

The mid-90s release on CD also features a fine alternate take of "Yokada Yokada."

Judgment! is a true classic, featuring excellent writing and playing by Hill and amazing support from a special band playing at top form and thriving on the structures and environment given them by the leader.  Point of Departure had the benefit of featuring the great Eric Dolphy, but Judgment! as a more intimate record is, in some ways, more unified and consistent in its conception and playing.  It is a highlight of Hill's extensive discography and one of the great jazz records of its time.

Orbital: The Brown Album (Orbital 2)

Following about a year-and-a-half after their debut record, Phil and Paul Hartnoll took the momentum of their early work and applied a more developed, varied and complex palette of electronic sounds, samples, beats and other audio treasures to create the amazing 1993 release, generally known as the Brown Album, but titled Orbital 2 in the U.S.

Decidedly experimental sensibilities abound on this record, starting with the looped sample "Time Becomes" and the cool scratchy vinyl intonation of "Even a stopped clock gives the right time twice a day" that opens the expansive "Planet of the Shapes", which includes a tambura-like drone along other notable elements.

A definite favorite is "Lush 3-1" and its companion "Lush 3-2" that has a catchy and yet somewhat mournful melodic sensibility along with its varied percussive touches and upbeat rhythmic mix. On "3-2", an echoey female vocal provides a notable touch.

"Impact (The Earth is Burning)" is another lengthy (the first three tracks average about ten minutes) excursion into a highly-developed sonic package and has another favorite melodic theme on keyboards intertwined with what almost sounds like electronically-processed bagpipes.  There is also a driving bassline that blends flawlessly with the generated percussion and catchy and simple keyboard touches, as well.  A strange breathy vocal that utters something that may be wordless is also a recognizable part of the piece.  About 7 1/2 minutes in, a stuttering vocal sample puts the title in context as the man talks about "a cry for survival . . . for mankind and for us" indicating that there was an environmentalist message to the tune (something Orbital occasionally highlighted in its career, including on its mesmerizing "In Sides" album).

"Remind" has an acid-house feel to it after the trippy opening section and is a highly-hypnotic song as it develops through its eight-minute length, offering all manner of interesting sounds along with the driving percussion and rhythms.

The opening to "Walk Now . . ." has an eerie, ominous loop of sounds before the driving beats ensue and featuring something of an echoed two-note repetition that is another Orbital hallmark.  There are breaks using more interesting percussion and keyboard effects before the rhythms return to propel the piece along.  About three and a half minutes in a propulsive bassline enters to link with the percussion.

"Monday" has another memorable opening sample, sounding like something taken from a 60s soul record and a blend of keyboard sounds that give way to pure percussion and bass for a period before the sample returns.  The track changes subtly in its mix of elements, introducing new sounds periodically, such as a horn-like tone at 4:30 or so and which continues until the end completes a cycle with that opening sample.

One of Orbital's greatest songs is the majestic "Halcyon + On + On" which opens with a dreamy and soothing melange of warm electronic sound and piano-like tones.  A gorgeous, crystalline female voice wordlessly sings above another highly memorable bassline and guitar-like sounds and then the voice is joined by another female vocal for a short period before the bassline and percussion take over for a time.  Then the intertwined voices return and are manipulated with echo and other effects throughout the piece to create interesting variations.

Finally, these beautiful voices take the piece out and lead to "Input Out," another sampling of a voice uttering the words "input translation," while the sample is manipulated in a way somewhat reminiscent of the early experiments of Steve Reich from the mid-1960s, for those familiar with his work.

The Brown Album was a real advance in terms of structure, more varied uses of electronic and digital elements and in broadening the range of sound further from what was presented on The Green Album.  This process of growth set Orbital apart from just about any electronic act of the era, excepting perhaps stalwarts like Richard H. Kirk, The Orb and a very few others.

Subsequent albums chronicled this growth in exciting and innovative ways, including Snivilization, In Sides, The Altogether, and Middle of Nowhere.  Notably, Orbital was a rarity in the electronic scene, in that their live performances were well-received and put the band on a platform more like a rock act because of their special sonic qualities and presentation.

In many ways, The Brown Album was a marked step of growth and evolution for a band emerging from the heady days of the late 80s and early 90s heyday of electronica and creating a body of work built for the long haul--something few of Orbital's peers could claim.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Complete Piano Sonatas

Any appreciable amount of time spent listening to Mozart is an awe-inspiring experience considering how short a time he lived, the amount of varied music he wrote, and the fact that, as the notes to this great box-set indicate, "Mozart had little or not need to write down sonatas: he improvised them, making an impression on his audience on the spur of the moment . . . [he] only wrote down what he had to."  Obviously, he was a total prodigy--a performer and composer whose gifts come only on the rarest of occasions--and much of what made him such a legend in 18th-century music circles was done for the moment and then lost.

There were, in all, twenty-two sonatas by the master for solo performance on the keyboard, the four earliest, starting from when Mozart was ten years old, having been lost, leaving eighteen.  The last of the sonatas came in July 1789, a little over two years before the composer died.  This set, released in 1996 by the British Nimbus label and totaling a little over six hours on as many discs, is performed by the excellent Bulgarian-born Marta Deyanova.  The recordings were largely made in 1989 and 1990, with one track laid down in 1995 and the sound is superb.

The notes by David Threasher compactly and succinctly discuss the eighteen sonatas and a nice touch are quotes from letters written by Mozart to his father Leopold.  One of these is from 1777, in which the 21-year old informed his father that "I played all my six sonatas today" and then quoted from a Count Savioli who told Mozart that "I hear that you play the clavier [a precursor to the modern piano] quite passably."  The composer then merely stated that, "I bowed."  These six works came from two years prior to the letter.

Threasher pointed out that Mozart's earliest piano sonatas were influenced by a set of six sonatas published in 1774 by the great Franz Josef Haydn, although he also noted that Mozart's improvisatory powers were dominant in at least the first of the sextet.

In a letter to his father written four days later than the one quoted above, Mozart wrote that he had just composed a rondo for a sonata, this being a Sonata in C Major and for which he had totally improvised a rondo "full of din and sound" a few weeks prior.  This work was dedicated to a young pupil, Rose Cannabich, with a pretty andante which may have reflected strong feelings the composer had to his charge.  His next set of sonatas came, then, in 1777-78, during which time Mozart experienced difficulties working in Paris, where he was underappreciated and in which his mother died during a visit to him.

A few sonatas were written in 1783, just after his marriage to Constanze Weber and while the pair were living in Salzburg with his father.  Threasher wrote that "Mozart was aware that he would need a fund of new music for the purposes of performance, pedagogy and perhaps publication, and composed these three sonatas to fill such a need."  One of these, in A major, is among the composer's most-beloved pieces, featuring the stunning Rondo alla Turca finale.

Further works came later in 1783 and during the following year, including the famed C minor sonata and a stand-alone fantasia in that key that usually proceeds the other in performance.  This fantasia, even amongst the greatness of the other solo piano works, astounds with its jaw-dropping technicality and its beauty.

Finally, a quartet of sonatas came in 1788 and 1789 and characteristically at least one of these, the F major was written to pay off one of his chronic debts--in this case to his publisher.   Another, a C major, was intended for teaching and bore the title "Little Sonata for Beginners."  The final two, coming in 1789, remained unpublished until after Mozart's death and one, a B flat, appeared as a work for piano and violin, with the latter assumed not to have been the master's work.

As to Deyanova, who has recorded many albums of piano music for Nimbus, including works by Schubert, Scriabin, Chopin and Rachmaninoff, she was a prize-winning performer as a child in her homeland and then won international competitions in Italy, Paris and in Sofia.  After a 1969 prize-winning performance, Yehudi Mehunin wrote that "I wish Marta Deyanova the international career she so richly deserves."  Fortunately, that did happen, as she has toured the world over and, from 1978, recorded her extensive solo piano work for Nimbus.

Anthology of World Music: The Music of Pakistan

Another installment in Rounder Records' reissuing of fifty fantastic albums from around the world collected by Alain Danielou for this International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation and released on vinyl between 1968 and 1987, this album features the magic sitar playing of Mohammad Sharif Khan.

The pieces consist of two longer ragas, the "Nur Gharii" of almost 24 minutes in length and the "Darbari" of 18 1/2 minutes in duration and a shorter collection of improvisations based on Punjabi folk songs lasting about ten minutes.

Unfortunately, there is no listing of either the tabla or tambura players who accompany Khan, but the sitarist is unbelievable.  As typically found, the pieces start slowly and contemplatively, with Khan introducing themes and then improvising off them, while building tension and intensity as the rhythms and tempos get stronger.  His deft, rapid runs are played flawlessly as the pieces develop and it is really a treat to hear this master develop his playing.  The unidentified accompanists also do their parts extremely well, making these three performances real gems.

As the liner notes explain, there is no fundamental differences between northern Indian and Pakistani classical music, other than the styles employed by the various gharanas or schools.  Of course, there wasn't a Pakistan, until the Muslim state was created out of the ashes of the British empire in the Indian subcontinent.  What Danielou explained, however, is that, unlike in India, the musicians in Pakistan have not received anywhere near the support for their art.

A newspaper article from the Pakistani Friday Times in 2011 made an interesting comparison between Khan and the great Ravi Shankar, noting that Khan had a "subtler, more sinuous" manner of performance opposed to Shankar's sarod-like playing (the sarod is another stringed instrument, which Shankar's one-time brother-in-law, the amazing Ali Akbar Khan mastered--and an album with Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan has been featured on this blog.)

Notably, the article also pointed out that Mohammad Sharif Khan and Shankar performed together at a 1971 concert in Bombay, in which "these differences were brought to the fore" over the course of the 4-hour (yes, 4 hour!) performance.  One wonders if this was recorded and, if so, released, because it must've been a remarkable concert.

The Anthology of World Music series is a great one, full of interesting and satisfying traditional world music performances, and this installment, with Khan's impeccable playing, is a highlight.

Henry Threadgill: You Know the Number

This 1986 release on RCA's Novus imprint displays some impressive composing by the great Henry Threadgill, excellent playing by his diverse sextet, and fine production making for a beautifully-sounding record.

"Bermuda Blues" features great bass and cello work by Fred Hopkins and Deidre Murray, respectively, and a nice blend of brass with the leader, trumpeter Rasul Sadik and trombonist Frank Lacy performing with a highly-developed sense of interplay as well as solid soloing.

Hopkins starts off with a contemplative bass solo on "Silver and Gold Baby, Silver and Gold," before the others join in on this complex ballad.  Also notable throughout the album is how the percussion is recorded with Pheeroan Aklaff on the left channel and Reggie Nicholson on the right.  On this tune, Threadgill's piercing, keening solo stands out--very much in his style of playing and always affecting.

The opening of "Theme for Thomas Cole" has that peculiar attribute of Threadgill's arrangement of instrumentation, with the trombone, muted trumpet and alto marking out a complex and unusual theme statement, before Lacy solos with a cymbal and bass accompaniment.  Then, the ensemble comes back in with a striking way of various brass soloing.

"Good Times" is as catchy and accessible a tune as can be found in Threadgill's discography, a truly uplifting tune with all of that remarkable harmonic interplay that is endemic to the work.  The leader's gritty alto work stands out once again amidst all of the sonic expression that is also characteristic of his music.  There is also some good drum soloing and a crazy trombone solo from the remarkable Lacy, giving some spotlight to an instrument not heard much in modern jazz.

"To Be Announced" has a cool percussive opening, bass line, and a captivating brass harmony to open the piece.  Complex, yet highly listenable as that rhythm keeps things hopping while Lacy bursts into another fine solo--he proves to be the biggest surprise on this album, though Sadik's playing is also of note.

"Paille Street" sounds like it could have come from a classic movie soundtrack when it opens, perhaps because of Murray's beautiful cello playing and the muted brass accompaniment behind her.  Hopkins also plays a beautiful, rich bass to hold down the bottom, while the percussion mainly utilizes brush for a light touch.  This piece is really pretty--one of the nicer ballads in Threadgill's catalog.

Threadgill is known for peculiar titling, perhaps because naming instrumental pieces is an exercise in futility, especially when the music is this complex, dense and striking.  So, "For Those Who Eat Cookies" may not signify much, but check out that amazing interplay among the brass while the rhythm section lays it down nicely behind them.  Threadgill, who gave a lot of space to his fellow musicians to create uniformly excellent solos, staggers again with his amazing alto work, while that interplay continues to be essential to the quality of this piece and the record as a whole.

The follow-up to this record, 1989's Rag, Bush and All and the 1993 album, Too Much Sugar for a Dime may be Threadgill's high-water marks in his long, estimable discography, but You Know the Number is right up there and, if the number was 3 in ranking of his many superb recordings, that's fine company to be in.  This is a great album.

King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic

As pointed out before, thirty years ago this blogger was invited to go to a King Crimson performance and promptly and flatly turned it down because of a disgust about the perceived nature of "prog."  A sampling of borrowed albums from the patient friend revealed that the band had evolved considerably from its early days and was worth giving a shot.  And, what a show that was, though Crimson broke up about a month or so later.

When a rediscovery of KC happened five years ago (a whole quarter century later), it was just after a planned 40th anniversary itinerary was scratched due to a misunderstanding over schedules between Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew.  A couple of years later, Fripp announced his retirement from public performance and a resurgence of King Crimson seemed to be more and more unlikely.

However, once Fripp won a settlement over royalties with Universal Music Group and completed a long-developing book project, as well as other significant changes in his working life, a surprise announcement was made a year ago:  King Crimson was returning to "active service" via a tour of the U.S. this fall.

Last night, this blogger attended the second of two shows at the beautiful historic Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles and what an experience it was.  It took about a third of the show to get fully acclimated to the three-drummer front line and the sheer mass, density and intensity of the sound generated by the stellar crew of Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin and Gavin Harrison.  It also took that time to be able to recalibrate listening so that the amazing reed work of Mel Collins could be truly appreciated, as well as Fripp's always impressive guitar work.

A friend who had little exposure (pardon the unintended pun for those of you who know RF's solo career) to Crimson was thunderstruck by the drummers and the sound, but felt that the vocals were not measuring up to the immense power of the instrumental performances.  This listener felt that Jakko Jakszyk did a very good job of playing with his cool screaming schizoid man decorated guitar (and even a little flute in a duet with Collins) and his singing was good overall.

All-in-all, a powerful, involving and memorable show from a band that always strives for something different, unusual and affecting to its audience.

Which leads to the featured album . . .  The plan was to focus next on 1995's Thrak, an album with a double trio (guitars, basses and drums) that took KC into a new era of power, innovation and excellent songcraft.

But, given that last night's show featured a decided focus on the band's earlier output and that this blogger's return to the fold started with this album, this post looks at 1973's Larks' Tongues in Aspic (a title which might appear ponderously pompous in the prog tradition, especially given where bands like Yes and ELP were going in that era--yet, the title was an off-the-cuff joke from percussionist Jamie Muir that the band found funny enough to adopt.)

The band had been together only a few months after the Islands-era band of 1971-72 finished a tour of America and disbanded.  Fripp first made contact with Muir, a veteran of England's free jazz scene who quickly became a character known for his bearskin clothing and habit of biting into capsules of red food coloring to simulate blood while he prowled the stage, making strange grimaces and bashing out percussion on a standard drum kit and and what was referred to in the liners of LTIA as "allsorts," meaning bongos, metal sheets, bells, whistles and other assorted items.

He then met with Bill Bruford, who was ready to leave Yes, just as that band finished its most popular and acclaimed album, Close to the Edge, and before that group embarked on what became the oft-maligned double album, Tales from Topographic Oceans.  Bruford had admired Crimson's experimental, improvisational and innovative approaches and was looking for a new venue for his interests and talents.

Violinist David Cross was observed playing a gig and, attracted to the idea of providing a "light" counterweight to the heaviness embodied in electric instruments and the Crimson way of playing, Fripp invited the unknown Cross to join the group.

Finally, there was John Wetton, an acquaintance of long standing with Fripp, who was quickly gaining recognition for his strong sound and nimble, inventive playing on the bass, but who also sang and wrote his own material in concert with former Supertramp member Richard Palmer-James.  Wetton was ready to leave Family, a band that had achieved some success in the U.K., but with which Wetton was increasingly feeling out of place.

The quintet came together in the summer of 1972 and quickly found improvisation to be a driving force for the group, while also trying out several songs, most of which later appeared on the trio of releases issued in the next two years.

King Crimson also performed mostly-improvised concerts in Europe and the U.K. through the fall and then, on New Year's Day 1973, convened in a London studio (which lacked some of the necessities for good recording, like an experienced engineer) and made this remarkable record.  Whatever was problematic in sound quality and editing was made up for in terms of the amazing mix of sounds, instrumentation, and performance that resulted.

It's hard to imagine any other major (or minor) rock group in 1973 having the audacity to begin the album with the Africans-style percussion and avant garde sounds that opened "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part One," though the mighty crunching riffs that developed during the long track certainly pushed things into very heavy territory, while alternating with Cross's delicate, but well-played violin work.

Following a tradition of delicate ballads came "Book of Saturday," which is a fine tune that could be considered kin to "Cadence and Cascade" and "I Talk to the Wind" from earlier albums.  "Exiles" has a little connection probably to "Epitaph" in the sense that it is a lament of sorts--this one about the trials of being in a rock band--and the next album actually has a song titled "Lament."  It also has a similar quality of a sweeping, majestic instrumental sound with a fine vocal by Wetton.

"Easy Money" has heavy bells, sampled voices and laughter, some undefinable scraping songs and other unusual touches, but it is also (excepting "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 2") the most popular of the songs on this record and the one most likely to have been "radio friendly," if such a term could be applied to Crimson.

But, to this listener, the real gem of this record is "The Talking Drum," which starts off with soft percussion by Muir and then gradually and slowly leads into an extended violin solo by Cross with a menacing (perhaps) drone established by Fripp, while Wetton's performs a hypnotic repetitive bass line and Bruford comes in with a drum beat that holds everything down.  As the tension builds, it is finally resoundingly released as Wetton fattens the bassline with a huge fuzzy sound and Bruford pounds more insistently on the drums.  Then, Fripp unleashes a long guitar solo that emphasizes sound in a way that seems vaguely Middle Eastern with lots of tremolo and sustain that is unlike anything heard with rock guitar.

It was "The Talking Drum" that, when heard in Fall 2009, sparked this blogger's reevaluation of Crimson and what became a determined effort to hear as much of this amazing band's music as possible in subsequent months and years.

After a frenzied finish that seems to mimic wailing, the segue to "Larks' Tongues in Aspic, Part 2" which has become one of the centerpieces of the KC catalog, mixing intensity and softness, prototypical Frippian riffs and a dizzyingly fast, sensationally loud and cathartic conclusion to an album that may not be unified enough for some, but provides a variety, experimentalism, and juxtaposition of heavy and soft sounds that mark this as a really unusual rock record for its time--in fact, it doesn't really sound dated, because it doesn't play like an album of that era.  It almost is of its own era.

As for King Crimson's next steps, some were promoting this tour as a farewell, though its subtitle is "past, present and future," so, presumably, there may be more life in the band yet.  Let's hope so, because, based on last night's electrifying performance, there could be many more interesting musical places this band could go and there are enough who are ready and willing to go along for the ride.

Lee "Scratch" Perry: Arkology

For several years in reggae's 1970s heyday, there was no producer more eccentric, creative and successful than Lee "Scratch" Perry, who worked his magic in a rudimentary studio known as the Black Ark. 

With space at a premium and with a set-up that was basic, maybe primitive, Perry used his prodigious talent for spotting quality songs and performers with an uncanny ability to coax the strangest sounds from his equipment and a combination of found materials and the voices of musicians and singers he worked with.  The lowing of a cow, the cry of a baby and other sounds were developed in this simple studio environment.

Arkology is a masterful three-disc set of fifty-two tracks from Island Jamaica that has a wealth of famous and lesser-known pieces, many paired with dub versions, that form the core of some of the best of what reggae had to offer during its zenith. 

In addition to the house band, The Upsetters, which variously featured such instrumental heavy-hitters as the great Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare, on drum and bass, there were also bassists Boris Gardiner and Winston Wright, drummers Mikey Richards and Benbow Creary, guitarists Chinna Smith, Geoffrey Chung, Willy Lindo and Ernest Ranglin, among others; organist Robbie Lyn; melodica player Augustus Pablo, percussionists Skully Simms and Sticky Thompson, trumpeters Bobby Ellis and David Madden, trombonist Vin Gordon, sax players Richard Hall and Glen DaCosta and flautist Egbert Evans. 

Among the singers are The Heptones, Max Romeo, Junior Murvin, The Meditations, The congos, Mikey Dread and Perry's deep-toned toasting, with some of little-known performers like Errol Waler, Devon Irons, Raphael Green, and Enos Barnes turning in fine performances, as well.

Of the best-known songs, there are a raft of great tracks, including Romeo's "War Inna Babylon;" "One Step Forward;" "Chase the Devil;" and "Norman;" Murvin's "Police and Thieves;" The Meditations' "Much Smarter" and "No Peace;" The Heptones' "Sufferer's Time;" The Congos' "Congoman;" and Perry's own "Roast Fish and Corn Bread;" "Dub Revolution;" and "Party Time."

But, it's often the lesser-known tracks that are the most revealing, including Walker's "In These Times" and "John Public;" "Rasta Train" from Raphael Green and Dr. Alimantado; "Mr. President" from The Heptones and Jah Lion; and Devin Irons' "Vampire."

Finally, all the great dub versions from The Upsetters highlight the deep grooves generated by the musicians and the trippy sound effects concocted by Perry at his best.  It's been easy to play these three discs repeatedly and not tire of the contents, because of the variety in singers, excellent songs, and Perry's amazing dub concoctions.

Sadly, Perry was getting hassled for protection money, dealing with growing competition, and generally feeling greater pressure, which took its toll on his already-eccentric personality and mental state.  Black Ark was already colorfully decorated with record sleeve, 45 rpm records, photos  and all manner of memorabilia, but Perry then covered every inch of the walls with rambling statements and other writings before the studio suddenly burned to the ground in 1979.  There were denials from Perry that he torched the facility deliberately, but later he became more forthcoming.

He left the country and now lives in Switzerland with his Swiss wife and his children and has continued to make music, though mainly as a performer rather than a producer (and all the logistical and business issues that entails.) 

A couple of years ago, ubiquitous producer Bill Laswell, a huge fan of Perry and dub generally, produced "Rise Again," a highly-praised Perry album on Laswell's M.O.D. Technologies label. 

At 78, Perry is still performing and, though, it's been about 40 years since his peak years at Black Ark, this music lives on as a testimony to some of the best reggae ever committed to tape.  Long may Scratch's music be heard!

Philip Glass: Heroes Symphony/The Light

Philip Glass has referred to his music as being about "repetitive structures" than so-called "minimalism" and he certainly found an apt descriptive genre title.  Glass was the son of a Lithuanian-born record store owner and heard much modern music early on and traveled in Paris as a young man before entering Julliard, where a classmate was "minimalist" icon Steve Reich.  He studied briefly with Darius Milhaud and then studied under a fellowship with noted composition teacher Nadia Boulanger in Paris during the mid-1960s.  A period of travel in India and Tibet and study in Buddhism and the music of that part of the world had a profound influence in his work.

Simple structures in the emerging "minimalist" scene in New York in the late 1960s characterized Glass' early work and his involvement with Reich was notable, though, by 1970, he began to move into richer sonic territory and broke from his partnership with Reich.  Developing stronger harmonic relationships along with his rhythmic interests, Glass spent much of the 1970s and 1980s working in musical theater, composing some of his best-known works like "Einstein on the Beach" and "Akhnaten" and film scores.  He also created an opera, "Satyagraha," based on such figures as Gandhi, Tolstoy, and King and it marked his first symphonic work in years.

Glass' next phase, if there was one, included a move further into symphonic territory, including a trilogy of nature-inspired works, led off by "The Light," commissioned in 1987 to celebrate the centenary of an experiment by two scientists to  measure a uniform speed of light.  This late 19th century work paved the way for Einstein's theoretical explanation of the speed of light through his theory of relativity.  "The Light" does, indeed, have much in the way of repetition, but there is also significant development in tempo, volume, instrumentation and motifs that make for a very compelling and satisfying excursion as strings and brass play off one another through striking melodic themes and variations.

Glass was fascinated by the collaboration of Brian Eno and David Bowie in their sequence of German-based albums from the late 1970s.  His first symphony, a three-movement work finished in 1992 and based on three tracks from the album "Low" was followed four years later by The Heroes Symphon0, a roughly 45-minute masterpiece based on the famed 1977 album. 

There are, for those who know the record, familiar melodies and themes, including the well-known title track (it's interesting to compare how the famed guitar riff by King Crimson's Robert Fripp, who hadn't played formally in a few years, is interpolated here) and several other pieces from the highly-regarded album. 

One piece, "Abdulmajid" was an outtake and has a strong Middle Eastern flavor as well as a distinctive castanet opening, while "Sense of Doubt" has its title conveyed in the theme, filled with a motif played by the brass set against a dark upper strings element.  "Sons of the Silent Age" has a slow, stately and affecting theme with a subtle rhythm held by strings.  Another fine melodic statement with a delicate percussive underlayment distinguishes the striking "Neukoln."  The closer, "V2 Schneider" has a lively rhythm and a strong ostinato while the pieces gains speed and intensity, finishing to a strong climax for a fascinating work by a composer at the top of his game.

This recording by Marin Alsop's top-notch Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra from the U.K. was made in May 2006 and was released as part of Naxos' American Classics series.  It is also available as part of a box set called "Of Beauty and Light:  The Music of Philip Glass."

P'ansori: Korea's Epic Vocal Art & Instrumental Music

This was another early favorite when world music was being explored back in the very early 1990s and one of the main reasons was the staggering vocal performance by Kim So-hee (born Kim Sun-Ok in 1917), who began, at seven years old, her studies in the ancient art of p'ansori. 

This is the theatrical performance of one of five epic tales from Korean folk history that involve using the voice for all elements of the performance, including every character, and without scenery, lights, costumes and other elements of Western theater, with the sole exception of a pook (barrel drum) accompanist. 

The performance of a p'ansori is not only extraordinarily demanding, but can take up to eight hours.  Kim So-hee was able to stage a dazzling one at the age of 19 and eventually was given the appellation of an "intangible national treasure," a status bestowed on two of the three instrumentalists, Kim, Yoon-duk on the pook and kuhmoongo, a large six-string zither similar to the Japanese koto, and Chi, Young-hee, who performs on the p'iri, an oboe-like bamboo reed, the haegeum, a violin with two strings of silk that is viewed as a wind instrument because of its range and timbre, and the changgo, a drum shaped like an hour-glass.

The album is bookended by portions of two p'ansori pieces and these are tour-de-forces for Kim's abilities and intensity in singing, recitation and other vocalizing.  This may sound strange, but, in the early 1990s, this blogger was listening to a lot of hip-hop and marveling at the rhythmic variety and invention of many a rapper, but, in her own way (perhaps!) Kim displays an array of vocal techniques and role-playing that was more astonishing.  Again, maybe the comparisons are totally unfounded, but that's what came to mind listening to this album earlier today.

As for the instrumentals, the two aforementioned players, along with Sung, Keum-yun, on changgo and kayageum, a smaller twelve-string zither, perform several pieces, highlighting the p'iri, kayageum, haegeum, and kuhmoongo with accompaniment on the changgo.  Some of these instruments date back nearly 1,500 years and the performances are dazzling, with a variety of emotive expressiveness, rhythms and technical sophistication that make for highly enjoyable listening.

The recording was made in 1972 for the amazing Nonesuch Explorer series when the quartet toured the United States and, with so many Koreans living in the country forty-plus years later, there must be occasional performances of this traditional music in some areas.  It would be a great treat to be able to see a concert--although Kim So-hee died in 1995.  So, hopefully, there are others carrying on these traditions and offering them to audiences here in the U.S.

Meantime, this is an album to savor over and over again and to enjoy ancient music that should appeal to adventurous modern listeners.