chris

"Poco a Poco, the first Ganelin CD released by Leo back in 1988, was reissued late last year in a limited edition of 500 copies. If you missed it the first time around, don’t make the same mistake twice; this is not only one of the group’s finest documents, but one of the most distinctive visions of post-’60s avant-garde jazz available. The disc presents a concert recorded in Novosibirsk in February 1978. The recording quality, as might be expected, is brittle and thin; these are, after all, “officially” unauthorized recordings. Still, it takes little effort to get used to the sound, and the quality of the performance far outweighs such a caveat.

Ganelin’s music does not prove so very foreign to those with an affinity for the A.A.C.M., especially in its members’ multi-instrumentalism and theatricality, and the Dutch avant-garde, with which the Trio shares a particularly European brand of whimsy and an informed thumbing of the nose at tradition. Tarasov’s barreling drum assaults are reminiscent of Han Bennink’s similar outbursts, but, like Bennink, Tarasov is capable of delicacy and can also swing mightily. Ganelin conflates stride, boogie, modern classical pianism and post-Taylor tumult into an impressive arsenal perfectly suited to the band’s compression of decades of jazz history-and on occasion, native folk music-into the span of a show or even a single piece. And Chekasin, inscrutable and often seemingly detached, mines a vein not far removed from Roland Kirk or the Art Ensemble’s reedmen Poco a Poco captures a vivid suite (the pieces are titled “Poco 1” through “Poco 11”) that displays the band at its best, and if the element of visual theatricality is absent, it is scarcely missed. - Steve Smith"

"The Ganelin Trio in live performance must have been an impossibly seductive occasion. Most jazz life in the former Soviet Union centred around festivals which no doubt provided the usual opportunities for predictable caravans of musicians to practise their scales. The most important was the Autumn Rhythms Festival in Leningrad (present day St. Petersburg) where no band was invited to play two years in a row. The exception to the rule was always the Ganelin Trio. They played every year." - Steve Kulak

"Maybe not since the first Ornette Coleman records appeared has Western European jazz experienced quite such a shock of the totally unexpected as the Ganelin Trio produced." - The Wire

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Vladimir Tarasov / drums, percussion
Vyacheslav Ganelin / piano, keyboards, dulcimer, guitar
Vladimir Chekasin / reeds, flute, ocarina, voice

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Recorded live in Novosibirsk, February 1978. Remastered by Alan Mosley

Poco-a-Poco

LR101 - The Ganelin Trio "Poco 1" from Poco-a-Poco

This record of zany duets is among Eugene Chadbourne's wildest and dearest recordings, featuring selections from over two decades. These duets with Han Bennink, Derek Bailey, the late Charles Tyler, John Zorn, and others, showcase the woolliest side of Chadbourne's woolly playing and his dodging all over the musical and historical map.

The first track is an acoustic version of John Lee Hooker's "Whiskey and Women," accompanied by Bennink playing a pizza box with brushes, a giant bass autoharp played with drumsticks, and, of course, a drum kit. Chadbourne plays the tune straight (for him) at the beginning, even getting all the words right, but then veers off his National Steel onto a "communist" five-string banjo, and he and Bennink run the course, carrying the off-meter 12-bar blues as off-world as they can go, laughing all the way.

Next up is Derek Bailey and Chadbourne on two selections. The first, "In Search of Carl La Fong," is filled with commentary by both men. Bailey's guitar and Chadbourne's electric rake and electrified banjo trip and slip all over one another here, with respect and purpose, of course, but nonetheless sloppily. It's a rousing series of musical maneuvers at over nine minutes.

When Bennink and Chadbourne reunite, it's a darker, more percussive show: feedback from rhythm and lead instruments becomes the M.O. by which they create something resembling a melodic idea from the wreckage. And it's quite beautiful, as Gershwin's songbook comes through as the melodic framework for the improvisation.

The work with Tyler, "In Between Comme C and Come Saw," is balls-out space improv, though the master saxist uses his baritone in striking ways not usually becoming of the instrument itself. It becomes a kind of clogged, scraped, razor-voiced bell in the tower of noise. Tyler draws microtones out of the instrument we have literally never heard before, and Chadbourne is content to lend idiomatic support to this gracious unfolding.

"Red Lightning, Pt. 1" by Chadbourne and Zorn is hilarious. This is more in line with Zorn's Classic Guide to Strategy than anything else, in both spirit and execution -- though there are no duck calls credited on this recording. There is space here, sometimes long periods of it, where what is happening between the pair is not readily apparent; there is plenty of trickery and tomfoolery as well, leaving the listener guffawing in more than a few places.

Eugene Chadbourne - Boogie with the Hook

LR242 - Eugene Chadbourne - Whiskey and Women · Duet for Giant Bass Autoharp & Communist Banjo

"It is as though I've known, seen, heard Steve forvever with his groups, projects, and his music! It is an honour for me to see this recording released. Steve loved this duo! Improvising with Steve was always an adventure. The music was simply there, immediate, full of play and emotioins, surprises, joy, and paradoxically, full of control and freedom! "Just make music and follow it," - as Steve said so well. I would like to dedecate this to Irene Aebi, his lifelong companion and beautiful musician. Hey Steve, so long, we miss you so much!" - Joëlle Léandre 

"This recording documents a live meeting of two of the strongest and most radically different improvisers in the world. The pairing of the convolutedly logical and ironic Lacy and the aggressive and passionate Leandre stands as one of the best examples of the ability of conscientious artists to meet and create great music. Check the first track where Lacys restrained yet harmonically probing architecture joins in a stately waltz with a neo-classical bowed response from Leandre. Track two features water buffalo groans and African wood trumpet sounds from a decidedly atypical Lacy, which seems to spark the musical equivalent of raised eyebrows and laughter from Leandre. Track three starts with Lacy chanting "one more time with Leandre joining in a extemporaneous rant in French before they get to their instruments in a seamless finale. Track four is the most poignant of all; its a minute long phone message from Steve Lacy in French expressing his joy at the performance and his affection for Leandre (he passed away two years later fromliver cancer). This last track, for me, makes this CD a beautiful and touching tribute to one of the icons of music, the Satie of Jazz, Steve Lacy." - Nilnan Perera

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Steve Lacy / saxophone

Joëlle Léandre / double bass

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Recorded live at Cafe Belga, 28th July 2002. This concert was part of Lacy's farewell tour of Europe before he went back to the USA in 2002. The concert was organised by Cedric D'hondt/ Champauditif. Recorded and mastered at Odeon Mobile Unit studio. The last track is a phone message left on Léandre's answering machine by Lacy, expressing his wish for this performance to be released.

One More Time

LR422 - Steve Lacy and Joëlle Léandre "One More Time " [sample]

extract from 'tse #3' by the trio of Cyril Bondi (harmonium & pitch pipes), Pierre-Yves Martel (viola da gamba) and Christoph Schiller (spinet), from the CD 'tse' (2018)  The pieces on the CD are improvised around the basis of a pre-agreed sequence of pitches.

Tse 3: Cyril Bondi, Pierre-Yves Martel, Christoph Schiller

"From the Miller box of tapes and other archives, this music has not previously been released, taken from live performances of different Ispingo formats in the UK and Europe. The music sounds a vibrants as when played in 1973 and 1976, so many memories." - Hazel Miller.

"This previously unreleased material comes from 1970s Miller-led gigs in Britain and France, featuring two superb free-jazz pianists (the late Chris McGregor on the first; Britain's Keith Tippett on the second), legendary alto saxophonist Mike Osborne, and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. Gripping episodes abound, such as the sound of Osborne's vinegary, Ornette-meets-Ayler sax soaring over Miller's whipping bass figures on the gruffly tender Bloomfield, McGregor's fills on the riffy Quandry (made fortuitously more pungent by the off-pitch piano), and two versions of the springy, Mingus-like Touch Hungry – the first with a percussively Monkish McGregor, the second with some fine, Miles-like trumpet from Marc Charig. Those who remember Miller's heyday will love this rough-hewn document, as will fans of the South Africa-celebrating Townships Comets and Moholo-Moholo's current work." - John Fordham

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Harry Miller / bass

Louis Moholo-Moholo / drums

Keith Tippett / piano

Mike Osborne / alto saxophone

Mark Charig / trumpet

Malcolm Griffiths / trombone

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Tracks 1 - 3 recorded in London, England on June 4th 1973. Tracks 4 - 7 recorded at Chateauvallon Jazz Festival, France, July 7th, 1976.

OG041 - Harry Miller "Mofolo"

FPBJPC – “Jubilee” LP
http://www.recitalprogram.com/jubilee/
out Sept. 18th, 2020.

Limited Edition of 100 LPs
20-page color booklet with photos
‘Spiky DJ’ sticker

Purchase

R77 - FPBJPC - "At Recital’s Earth Day Gala 2019" excerpt from Jubilee LP

Music page for the record label Recital, run by Sean McCann. 