Archive: May, 2007

peter brötzmann | han bennink

Monday, May 14th, 2007

Peter Brötzmann - Han Bennink

PERFORMANCE OF APRIL 17, 1977 at the downtown loft of Denise René, New York City.

Peter Brotzmann / clarinet, alto and tenor saxophones, brotzophon, Han Bennink/ drums, clarinet, homemade junk, everything, anything.

These two exponents of German Free Jazz, Peter Brotzmann and Han Bennink, made their first U.S. appearance as part of “Berlin Now” - a month-long kaleidoscopic cross-section of the cultural life of West Berlin that was sponsored by Goethe House in New York City.

The ground-floor Soho loft was brilliantly lit. Numerous art works and constructions were hanging on the stark white walls. In the middle of the large open center space sat a piano and, to its right, a drum set. Suddenly, a few minutes after 8:00 o’ clock, Han Bennink began a frenzied assault on the drum set. He accompanied himself by furiously blowing a shrill whistle. This torrent of sound was soon joined by Peter Brotzmann, who urgently explored the upper registers of his clarinet. After five minutes of frenetic blowing and drumming that turned both their faces beet-red in color, they stopped.

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bells | Comments (1) | 562 Views

dudu pukwana and spear

Monday, May 14th, 2007

Dudu Pukwana and Spear

PERFORMANCE OF JULY 25, 1974 at 100 Oxford Street, London

Dudu Pukwana / alto saxophone, vocal, percussion, Mongezi Feza / trumpet, African flute, vocal, Victor Williams / piano; Andre Abrahamse / bass, James Mene / drums.

IN THE TOWNSHIPS (Caroline C1504)

Dudu Pukwana and Spear: Dudu Pukwana / alto saxophone, piano, vocal, percussion, Bizo Mngqikana / tenor saxophone, vocal, percussion, Mongezi Feza / trumpet, vocal, percussion, Harry Miller / bass; Louis Moholo / drums.

Tunes: “Baloyi,” “Exilani.” “Zakude” / “Sonia,” “Angel Nemali,” “Nobumvu,” “Sekela Khuluma.”
Recorded: August 25 and November 10, 1973, Manor Studio, London.

Spear has been one of the best night’s listening in London for some time now. Originally an all-South African group, a spin-off from the band that came to England under Chris McGregor’s leadership some ten years ago, they are offering the “Township” music of the South African black ghettoes, which mixes jazz influences with indigenous ideas. In a sense it is not too far removed from the bossa nova principle, though it doesn’t have that langourous softness about it. And if all you know of South African music is Hugh Masakela, forget that too! This is a hectic, totally non-romantic music, reflecting the life-style that produced it.

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mra [12:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

bells | Comments (0) | 609 Views

chris mcgregor | brotherhood of breath

Monday, May 14th, 2007

CHRIS MCGREGOR’S BROTHERHOOD OF BREATH Live at Willisau (Ogun 100)

Chris McGregor / piano, Dudu Pukwana / alto saxophone, Evan Parker, Gary Windo / tenor saxes, Mongezi Feza, Mark Charig, Harry Beckett / trumpets, Nick Evans, Radu Malfatti / trombones, Harry Miller / bass, Louis Moholo / drums.
Recorded:1974 in concert, Willisau, Switzerland.

Chris McGregor’s sextet, made up of South African expatriates, was one of the most interesting groups working in England in the mid-’60s. The Brotherhood of Breath came into being as an occasional larger-scale extension of that group. McGregor subsequently settled in France; some of the sextet members became Spear ,but the Brotherhood still was brought into being for the occasions when a gig could be set up for it. At its best this band always had a looseness, a tidal quality that belied the stiffening traditions of its relatively unconventional instrumentation, and luckily was recorded here at something near its best level of achievement.

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wood fire [13:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

bells | Comments (0) | 471 Views

steve lacy | stabs / solo in berlin | saxophone special

Saturday, May 12th, 2007

STABS: SOLO IN BERLIN (SAJ-05)

Steve Lacy / soprano saxophone.
Recorded: April 1 and November 5, 1975. Side A recorded live by Franz de Byl on November 5th,1975 during the Total Music Meeting at the Quartier Latin in Berlin. Side B recorded by Jost Gebers on April 1st,1975 in Berlin. Produced by Steve Lacy and Jost Gebers.

SAXOPHONE SPECIAL (Emanem 3310)

Steve Lacy / soprano saxophone; Steve Potts / alto and soprano saxophones, Evan Parker / tenor, baritone and soprano saxophone, Trevor Watts / alto and soprano saxophones; Derek Bailey / electric guitar, Michel Waisvisc / synthesizer.
Recorded live in London at the Wigmore Hall on 19 December 1974 by Martin Davidson.

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bells | Comments (0) | 441 Views

steve lacy | saxophone special

Friday, May 11th, 2007

THE STEVE LACY “SAXOPHONE SPECIAL”

PERFORMANCE OF DECEMBER 19, 1974 at Wigmore Hall, London.

Steve Lacy / soprano saxophone, Steve Potts, Trevor Watts / soprano and alto saxophones, Evan Parker / soprano, tenor and baritone saxophones, Derek Bailey / guitar, Michel Waisvisc / synthesizer.

“Saxophone Special” was a pre-Christmas concert at Wigmore Hall (not well publicised, seeming almost to spring from nowhere) which managed even so to pull in a fair number of people from the more usual round of celebrations. And good value it was too. The title was perhaps fair enough in view of the musicians involved, yet to my mind had overtones of JATP-style mass jamming, and so didn’t give an altogether exact indication of what it was about. In fact it was a well-organised programme, directed by Lacy. It took off from what were clearly his compositions, those quirky and rather tricky lines, always pointing in more than one direction at a time, typified best perhaps by something like “Flops” (on Franz Koglmann’s Flaps album, Pipe PR 151) and involving the musicians in some fairly complex and provocative situations.

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steve lacy and derek bailey at 28, rue danois, paris 25 june 1983 [16:03m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

bells | Comments (0) | 307 Views

else paaske

Friday, May 11th, 2007

Download “Skønne fru Beatriz” (mp3)

from “Else Paaske. A Portrait: Live and Studio Recordings 1967-1983″
by Else Paaske Label: Danacord Records

Buy at eMusic
More On This Album

The Danish mezzo-soprano, Else Paaske, has had a long and distinguished career as a concert-singer. Her work as a Lieder-singer was important but she was also a noted oratorio singer. Else Paaske is the owner of one of the richest well-schooled voices of the last decades but also as an expressive and penetrating interpreter. Her voice is a true mezzo-soprano which could never be mistaken for a soprano with limited upper range but more contralto-ish. It’s a beautiful rich voice with a perfectly controlled characteristic vibrato. It is used with great sensitivity to the varied requirements of the various songs, and she can be chillingly dramatic with an almost visible intensity.

skonne fru beatriz [2:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup

podcast, voices | Comments (0) | 344 Views

two concerts of ‘new music’

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

TWO CONCERTS OF “NEW MUSIC”

1) PERFORMANCE OF FEBRUARY 28, 1976 at Walter Hall, University of Toronto, Canada.

Music of Steve Reich / Salvitore Martirano / Musica Electronica Viva with Roscoe Mitchell

The New Music Concert series, directed by composer Norma Beecroft and flautist Robert Aitken, has been a fixture of Toronto’s established “classical” music scene for some five years. Not until this concert, however, had any attempt been made to touch base with other New Musics - specifically the Great Black Music developing out of the AACM - and even that was unintentional on the part of the producers. As it turned out, they invited Musica Electronica Viva, under Richard Teitelbaum’s direction, to perform, and Teitelbaum - in the tradition of MEV’s previous guest artists (Braxton, Lacy, Thornton) - asked Roscoe Mitchell to join. As Teitelbaum has pointed out, in the music of Braxton, Sun Ra, and many others there is a large and growing overlap between techniques drawn from the AfroAmerican heritage and those of post-Stockhausen Europe. Therefore, perhaps those of us immersed in New Black Music should pay more attention to this New Music as well (and vice versa). But - of which more later - having been subjected for an afternoon to the so-called intelligentia this music attracts, I have my doubts.

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bells | Comments (0) | 346 Views

bells | part two - free music | free improvisation

Tuesday, May 8th, 2007

Free Music | Free Improvisation

Part Two includes reviews and discussions of the work of Musica Elettronica Viva, Steve Lacy, Brotherhood of Breath, Peter Brotzmann, Han Bennink, Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Paul Lytton, Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Company, Globe Unity Orchestra, Paul Rutherford, Steve Beresford, Eugene Chadbourne, Trans, Henry Kaiser, Toshinori Kondo, Maarten van Regteren Altena, Tony Qxley, and others.

Metropolis proudly presents the re-birth of BELLS. Two times a week Metropolis will publish ‘forgotten’ and ‘unread’ material for those with an open mind, ears and eyes to discover or rediscover the revolution in Jazz. Metropolis says Thanks | Danke | Merci | Obrigado to Henry Kuntz, who made this possible after all these years. stay tuned for the r - evolution.

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bells | Comments (0) | 313 Views