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exotica-digest       Wednesday, January 3 2001       Volume 02 : Number 862



In This Digest:

(exotica) Sergio
Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001
Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz
Re: (exotica) Later Lounge #2 CD
(exotica) Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!
Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001
Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz
Re: (exotica) Eden Ahbez - Eden's Island
Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001
Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001
Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz
(exotica) RE: Jazz Cowboy Ventures
(exotica) sheet music online
(exotica) Re: Later Lounge #2 CD
Re: (exotica) RE: Jazz Cowboy Ventures
Re:  (exotica) Re: Later Lounge #2 CD
(exotica) Trumpets & Percussion

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 20:15:22 -0500
From: "The Workmans" <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Sergio

I agree with your new genre assignment for Crystal Illusions title track. Do
any of you all have any other favorites by Brazil '66?  I really enjoy their
music. Some of my favorites include, but not limited to:
Reza, Moanin, Witchita Lineman, Dock of the Bay, Pretty World (probably my
fav right now) and the later After Midnight.  JWorkman, Dayton Oh (home of a
Frank Lloyd Wright doctors office building--do his works qualify as exotica
to any of you? I dig his architecture...Just to spark some conversation)
[e-mail]



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------------------------------

Date: 2 Jan 2001 19:02:15 -0800
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001

At 06:07 PM 02-01-01 -0500, you wrote:
>RAY CONIFF:  Say it with Music (A Touch of Latin)
>RAY CONIFF:  Hollywood in Rhythm
>Coniff is sort of a 'final frontier' guy for me.  I've delved wholeheartedly
>into Percy Faith, purchased generously the records of Bert Kaempfert, even
>dabbled in the Melachrino Strings and (shudder) Montavani, yet for 8 years
>or whatever I have assiduously avoided buying anything Coniff because of
>some internal bias.

I find that very interesting in that I am somewhat wary of Percy Faith and
definitely of Melachrino and Mantovani...but have very much accepted Ray
Conniff for the occasional good cuts on most of his albums.  For instance,
I really get into his version of Mack the Knife on "The Happy Beat"
(Columbia CS 8749).  He uses a lot of wordless vocals on many of his albums
which I always like.  I do shy away from anything with the Ray Conniff
SINGERS as that means the vocals are NOT wordless.  I try to test the
Conniff waters any time it won't kill me financially.

Any other Conniff albums people like or dislike?  I suppose there may be
people who like some of the Singers albums...and others who dislike what I
can get into.

I may join the Percy Faithful soon, starting with the exotica titles...any
faves in that arena?

Can't see how the M or M strings would ever be appealing to me...but
recommendations are welcome there as well.  I buy theirs mainly for the
covers!

Byron



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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 22:18:50 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz

I take it they'll "forget" to mention folks like John Zorn or the "loft jazz=
"=20
scene as well.  (hell, if they don't/barely mention folks like Bill Evans,=20
Benny Carter, & Stan Kenton...) Wynton's always been a musical conservative=20
anyway, but the scary thing is that people will watch this and think it's th=
e=20
end-all/be-all of jazz and not be aware of the omissions. Granted, some=20
people might get hooked on jazz through the program and eventually stumble=20
onto Ayler, Sun Ra, Braxton, et al. on their own and the whole series is=20
supposed to be a "broad overview" anyway, but to not even (or barely) mentio=
n=20
these people in the program ends up giving the viewer a very-skewed view of=20
jazz. (I'm assuming they won't exactly be focusing on the denser aspects of=20
Miles Davis's fusion years either....)

Ranting on,
DavidH
p.s. Check out Valerie Wilmer's book "As Serious As Your Life" for a good=20
"new"/"free" jazz-information fix. Now THERE'S a book someone should adapt=20
for a series!

In a message dated 1/2/01 4:05:34 PM Pacific Standard Time,=20
[e-mail] writes:

<< "m.ace" wrote:
=20
 > Solid sentiments, but you only sent it to me. Tell the list!
 >
 > bet Coltrane's "Ascension" gets the shaft too,
 >
 > --m.ace
=20
 Dunno 'bout overlooking the 'Trane!  But that part of his career, the most
 > critically overlooked, dense, and obtuse...    yeah I think it's a safe b=
et
 that
 > 'Trane might be acknowledged for everything up to "My Favorite Things"...=
 =20
but
 NOT
 > the 57 minute version he did in Japan!
 >
 > >
 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 At 08:43 PM 1/1/2001 -0500, you wrote:
 > >
 (it's true...   I really did...)
=20
 > >I NOTICED SUN RA'S ABSENCE INSTANTLY.   So, even though Sphere is=20
mentioned
 > >(and probably Cecil Taylor is NOT) (and Ayler) (and the AACM) (and Antho=
ny
 > >Braxton), I will abstain from viewing, and I encourage other lovers of=20
TOUGH,
 > >outside jazz to do likewise.
 > >
 > >"m.ace" wrote:
 > >
 > >> This year's PBS maxi-series from Ken Burns is on the subject of jazz.
 > >> Starts airing next week.
 > >>
 > >> Mixed review here:
 > >> http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2001/01/davis.htm
 > >>
 > >> Sounds like it's the gospel according to senior creative consultant,=20
Wynton
 > >> Marsalis. Sun Ra and Albert Ayler are among the non-persons who don't=20
rate
 > >> a mention. But it's supposed to have some really great old footage.
 > >> Hopefully they won't slice it too thin.
 > >>
 > >> m.ace  [e-mail]
 > >> http://ookworld.com
=20
 --
 Peace Out
 Choppa Choppa
 Bang Bang
 Hack=C3=BC Maim=C3=BC
 Where's da WUV=E2=84=A2?
=20
=20
=20
=20
 Sun Ra on your PC...   The CyberSpace Ministry
 http://www.live365.com/cgi-bin/directory.cgi?autostart=3Dlitlgrey
 or go to http://live365.com
 Search keyword: Sun Ra
  >>


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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 02 Jan 2001 19:29:35 -0800
From: "jonathan richardson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Later Lounge #2 CD

there are 2 more at my Borders in Bloomington. Its a great comp, but imho
the first one is better. If anyone wants me to grab one, just email me and
I'll see what I can do, cant guarantee anything, since they might be gone by
now. havent checkd Barnes and Noble, but they usually have the same mags as
Borders.

Later,

jonny
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com



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------------------------------

Date: Tue, 2 Jan 2001 20:17:50 -0800 (PST)
From: tikiman <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Hau'oli Makahiki Hou!


Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Hope everyone's staying warm +
fuzzy during the mainland's iceage... an empathetic
brrrrrrrr from all the photos we've seen. Here's an
interesting article on modern life here by a New
Yawker who mostly gets it right, 'cept his comment re
"find performances of the real stuff as well as the
hokum of years gone by". Don Tiki will be going back
into the studio in the next 2 weeks to create "future
hokum." Tried to send the whole article, but it is way
too long so here's the edited version. BTW, re birth +
death tunes... coming in I want to hear "Quiet
Village" to know that the world is a warm + enchanting
place. going out let me hear either the Staples "I'll
Take you There" or Sam Cook's "Change Gonna Come."

alohaderci,
Fluid Floyd of the Spirits
Taboo Records

Honolulu: Pacific Crossroads, Deep in Hibiscus and
History
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/12/29/living/29HONO.html

December 29, 2000 ON THE ROAD By R. W. APPLE Jr.

HONOLULU   The mythic Honolulu of grass skirts and
towering palms has been familiar to Americans for
generations.

In 1866 Mark Twain came here as a correspondent
for The Sacramento Union, extolling the beauty of "the
dusky native women" in his dispatches and marveling at
"a summer calm as tranquil as dawn in the garden of
Eden." A century later, the biographer Leon Edel found
"a beatitude of the leisure life," with hibiscus and
plumeria blossoms on his lawn and "the sound of the
ocean breaking with a regular beat."

Gathered around their radios, our grandfathers
listened to Webley Edwards and his long-running show,
"Hawaii Calls." They heard Bing Crosby crooning "Sweet
Leilani." They sailed west, some of them, on the
luxurious Matson liner Lurline; here they discovered
the charms of the ukulele, the lei and the muumuu, and
the unfamiliar flavors of fresh coconut and pineapple.
They bought Asian objets d'art at Gump's, Honolulu's
emporium deluxe, now replaced, sadly, by yet another
Louis Vuitton boutique.

The handsome Duke Kahanamoku won Olympic gold medals
in swimming, and later introduced the world to
surfing, which he learned on the beach at Waikiki,
where his statue stands today.

Statehood and jumbo jets brought later generations
to a more worldly city, made increasingly famous by
celluloid images: Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr
making love, or so we assumed, on a deserted beach;
Elvis Presley singing "Can't Help Falling in Love" in
"Blue Hawaii"; and, on the small screen, Jack Lord in
"Hawaii
Five-O" and Tom Selleck in "Magnum, P.I."...

Rich in Music and Dance

Music and dance have played a major role in Hawaiian
life from the start; Don Ho did not spring from a
musical desert. As Matt Catingub, the young conductor
of the Honolulu Symphony Pops, gently reminded me,
choral
music has a proud tradition throughout Polynesia,
especially in Fiji and New Zealand (birthplace, of
course, of the great part-Maori soprano Kiri Te
Kanawa).

Over the years, the islands have developed a special
affinity for ukuleles, adapted from the four-stringed
braguinha brought here in 1879 by immigrants from the
Portuguese island of Madeira; for slack-key guitars,
tuned lower by Hawaiian cowboys decades ago to give a
warmer, more "tropical" tone and to make them easier
to
play; and for the Hawaiian steel guitar, a horizontal
instrument, with a singing tone created by a sliding
steel fret.

Mr. Catingub, jolly, dynamic and ponytailed, is
the son of Mavis Rivers, the jazz singer, and his big
band has accompanied Rosemary Clooney on tour. The
symphony's musicians, he said,"have the ability to
play anywhere, but they've decided that they would
rather live here in paradise."...

Meantime, new life has been breathed into traditional
Hawaiian music and into the hula by younger musicians
like Keilii Reichel, an instrumentalist, singer and
hula master. The visitor can now find performances of
the real stuff as well as the hokum of years gone by.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Photos - Share your holiday photos online!
http://photos.yahoo.com/


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 01:24:23 -0500
From: alan  zweig <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001

At 07:02 PM 1/2/01 -0800, [e-mail] wrote:

I agree that Ray Conniff SINGERS records are weak. But everything else is
good, even great sometimes.  I think all the wordless vocal ones, all the
ones with "S" titles like "S'Wonderful" and "S'Marvellous", have some great
moments on them.  He never should have let the singers actually sing the
words (but I have a theory why he did.)
And his post-sixties records can be good too.  If you find the one with the
Theme From Swat (that may be the actual title) I recommend it.
As far as Percy Faith goes.. again, the Percy Faith SINGERS are sappy.  (I
think that's true of almost all the sixties Singers records with the
exception of Anita Kerr and a couple others. They always sang in unison.
Harmony went out the window  My theory is that they didn't understand rock
and thought the lyrics were enough to sell it.)
But Percy's instrumental records are almost all very very good. If you see
a Percy record and you like the tunes, chances are you'll like the record.
I wouldn't buy "Percy plays slow songs for old people" but I love his "all
Beatle" record, his "Themes for the In Crowd", his amazing "Black Magic
Woman".  And in the exotica world, he has one called something like "exotic
strings" which is very strong.

And finally, I don't blame you for dismissing Mantovani but do not dismiss
Andre Kostelanatz.  I love a few cuts on every one of his later records
I've ever heard.  The early seventies ones where the girl's face fills the
album cover.
Records like "Last Tango in Paris", "Great Hits of Today", and "For the
Young at Heart".  HIs version of "Me and Mrs. Jones",, "Valleri",
"September Song".
I'm not sure how much Teo Macero's presence matters.  There's just
something about the arrangements.  They're really really full with all
kinds of things happening and yet everything is kind of quiet at the same
time.  It's like they're "loudly quiet".

Of course I have gotten rid of almost all the records I'm mentioning in my
millenial vinyl purge but I do have remnants on CDR's.

Go buy them now!

AZ

>
>I find that very interesting in that I am somewhat wary of Percy Faith and
>definitely of Melachrino and Mantovani...but have very much accepted Ray
>Conniff for the occasional good cuts on most of his albums.  I do shy away
from anything with the Ray Conniff
>SINGERS as that means the vocals are NOT wordless.  I try to test the
>Conniff waters any time it won't kill me financially.
>
>Any other Conniff albums people like or dislike?



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 01:34:25 -0500
From: alan  zweig <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz

At 10:18 PM 1/2/01 EST, [e-mail] wrote:
>
>I take it they'll "forget" to mention folks like John Zorn or the "loft
jazz"
>scene as well.  (hell, if they don't/barely mention folks like Bill Evans,
>Benny Carter, & Stan Kenton...) Wynton's always been a musical conservative
>anyway,

Is this Ken Burns thing on PBS or something? Is it on TV at all or is it
just a rental?
Anyway... there was no way this was going to cover all the bases.  And it
couldn't please everyone, especially given that there's a whole bunch of
folks (moldy figs) who think that jazz ended in 1942 (or 41 or 40, whenever
it was that the musicians went on strike.)
It is too bad that Wynton is involved here and that his point of view once
again becomes the official view of jazz.  Then again, it could be worse.
We have this guy in Canada on CBC Radio and Television named Ross Porter.
He is "Mr.Jazz".  He's the man.
And he drives me absolutely fucking crazy.
So on the one hand, it's kind of cool that they have a show on the national
network called "On the Arts" and that they have some guy come on and tell
you the best jazz records of the past year.
But the bad news is that it's Ross Porter.
If you want to call vocalists like (Canada's own) Diane Krall or (Canada's
own and my former aerobics class pal) Holly Cole "jazz", I won't argue too
vehemently.  But when you do a list of "jazz" records and it's almost ALL
vocalists, I get annoyed.

With jazz you always have to be happy with small favours.

AZ



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 12:34:25 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Eden Ahbez - Eden's Island

(This message of mine from the 6th of December 2000 never made it to the
Exotica list:)

Basic Hip schrieb:

> Hard to believe anybody into "exotica" could so easily dismiss this
> masterpiece recording.
>
> His is a fascinating story and I highly recommend hearing more of this truly
> amazing album before offically putting it on your shit list.

What fascinates me about this album is the comparably wide range of
musical  expression on one hand, instrumentals, chorus backing vocals
and "spoken word"  lead vocal pieces, and on the other hand this sincere
guy: Here is  someone who  seems to go whole-heartedly for the idea of
primitivistic music, art and  living, I mean, someone who looks and
lives like a hippie before 1960 is a  visionairy to  me. For him Exotica
seems to have been a "message" and all the others  are a  commercial
sell-out in comparison. At least that's what comes to my mind, when I
hear the music and look at the cover.

According to the liner-notes of the reissue Eden Ahbez was a barefoot
bearded  student of Yoga, called "the Hermit" or "the Yogi". When he
gave the  sheet with  his composition of "Nature Boy", which was to
become a #1 hit for Nat King  Cole, to the doorman of the Million Dollar
Theater in LA, where Nat was to  play, he left no address or phone
number, so they had to search for him, after  Cole had recorded the
song. They found him living behind the first "L"  of the  Hollywood sign
in a sleeping bag, living from fruits, nuts and berries. This  was in
1948!

I also like this story: Eden later was married and even had a son, but
the  family still lived outdoors, their only possessions being a
sleeping-bag, a  bicycle and a juice-squeezer. Once stopped by an
officer for his esoteric  appearance, Eden calmly explained "I look
crazy, but I'm not. And the funny  thing is, that other people don't
look crazy, but they are." The cop  thought it  over and proclaimed "You
know bud, you're right. If anybody gives you any  trouble, let me know."

Micky McGowan in "Incredible Strange Music Vol.1": "Eden's Island sounds
like:  if Martin Denny had gotten together with Jack Kerouac, and
Kerouac had  gone to  a desert island and not become a beatnik"

Apparently Ahbez still lives!

Mo


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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 12:35:17 +0100
From: Moritz R <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001

Been to "The Collector's" in Bruxelles (yes, the capital of french fries
and child molesting) and spent more than I should on two albums:

1. "Tropicale" (Warner Borthers, 1958) - credited to a Tommy Morgan with
the (previously well known) orchestra of Warren Barker. A great find -
after "Far Away Places presented by William Holden" *another* great find
related to Warren Barker (why does this guy always seem to hide behind a
supposedly star musician or actor?) However, the clou about this album
is: It's exotica on harmonica! Sounds weird, but it works! Excerpt from
the liner notes: "At present, Mr. Morgan has postponed his proposed
European tour and has enrolled at his alma mater, University of
California at Los Angeles, where he is studying his Master Degree in
Music." Wrong decision if you ask me...

2. "African Jazz" - Les Baxter, an album that needs not be commented
here, except: it's a vinyl reissue! And I have to admit: I fell for it;
I actually thought I'd buy the original. I mean I didn't look very close
when I was in that shop, I was just too happy to find it. Only on the
way home I saw that it is in fact a reissue. It all looks pretty much
like the original: the original catalogue number ST 1117 is on the
cover, only any label name or logo is missing, no reissue info, it's
intentionally designed to fool you. I'm not even sure if the sound is so
great - I can't compare it to the original album. At least it has no
scratches and except that I think I paid too much for it, I'm still
quite happy with it.
Has anybody seen this reissue and perhaps know which dark source it
comes from?

Another almost 100% exotica-related post by
- -Mo



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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 09:09:06 -0500
From: "Nathan Miner" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) First old rekkid buys of 2001

<<Andre Kostelanatz>>

And don't forget his incredibly lush "Lure of the Tropics" - I don't think =
you could've crammed one more instrument between the grooves on those =
tracks!!!

- - Nate




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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 10:06:00 -0500
From: Brian Phillips <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: (exotica) Ken Burns's's Jazz

>Is this Ken Burns thing on PBS or something? Is it on TV at all or is it
>just a rental?

No, it's due to be on PBS next week.  You can buy a companion volume or the
tapes if you wish.  I agree that Jazz does seem to get short-shrifted a
great deal.  Looking in a radio trade magazine, Jazz radio stations made up
1% of the US market as of 1995.  Even New York City doesn't have a 24-hour
Jazz station (Lou, has this situation changed?), although there is one in
Newark, WBGO, which can be heard in NYC.  wonder if that increased slightly
due to the "Swing" revival, but probably not.

As for Marsalis, there are better choices, I suppose, but there are indeed
far worse (I won't defend Marsalis wholeheartedly until I see the show and
could you imagine having to watch this show hosted by Kenny
G(orelick)?  Ish.).  It reminds me of the '70s, when, if you needed Jazz on
a soundtrack, you called Tom Scott or Dave Grusin.  Nowadays, people knock
on Marsalis' door quite a bit.  Don't forget, however, at the time he came
along, if you weren't playing Rock-Jazz Fusion, you weren't worth anyone's
time and while he wasn't the best trumpet player in the world (by his own
admission), at least he got people interested in Jazz in a historical
context and for that I am quite grateful indeed.  After him, there were
younger players that actually played straight-ahead and realized that there
was something else besides the current trends.  What is saddest to me is
that what still sells is the "Fusion"-type stuff, which isn't my taste and
on a personal, cultural note, I notice that most African-Americans go for
that which supports my theory of us generally wishing to almost always plow
ahead without looking back, but then I won't go into that on this list.

I don't think anyone can be considered the official viewpoint of Jazz,
considering the mixture of influences and people that are or were involved
but hey...

...that's Jazz!

Flatted Fifth and striving towards the Talented Tenth,
Brian Phillips

P.S. Also, don't forget that Liberty Records wrote that Martin Denny's
"Exotica" was Jazz on the back of the LP.





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------------------------------

Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 12:40:44 -0500
From: George Hall <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) RE: Jazz Cowboy Ventures

on Tue, 2 Jan 2001 09:41:11, "Rajnai, Charles, NNAD" wrote:

        As far as Dick Dale and the Dickheads, I think he is
overrated.  I saw him this summer at the Club Bene in NJ and he was
pretentious as hell, and I think without any right to be.  When he got on
stage, and talked into the mic, instead of welcoming and thanking the crowd,
he complained about the eq on the mic, he wanted his whimpy thin voice to
sound more growly.  I expected to hear lots of surf guitar and all that
reverb, but he had the nerve to play Hendrix covers (who hated surf music
BTW), and Smoke on the Water and even a Willie Nelson song!  He put on a
very long show, little of which was original material.  It sounded like a
high school garage band all over again.    Give me a break.

True... I remember friends seeing his comeback tour & raving about his
between song banter etc, but by the time I saw him he'd apparently decided
people loved hearing him talk so much that he devoted maybe 40% of the set
to self-aggrandizing chit chat. This was also around the time he decided he
wasn't so much the Grandfather of Surf as the Godfather of heavy metal & was
travelling with an annoying 80's sounding rhythm duo (trebly-mid bass plonks
& cheap roto-tom sounding drums). I found myself thinking "how sad when
these old guys try to ape the Sounds of Today & miss the mark so badly"
before realizing that this is the formula for some of my favorite music
(Enoch Light plays Shaft, anyone?).
Still a kind of thrill, albeit an annoying one, to watch the man who
invented the style & still plays with the heaviest right arm this side of
Django. Side note: Dick apparenty gave Hendrix a few lessons in the early
60's, & I always thought the latter's "may you never hear surf music again"
line from 3rd Stone was as much tongue-in-cheek as anything.

        ------------------------------

        on Tue, 2 Jan 2001 18:07:15, "byost" wrote:

        ...As expected, very hit and miss, but the Bacharach tunes
are nice and the Vinny
        Bell sound-alike they got for Midnight Cowboy will make
these keepers.

Nope, that's Vinnie Bell.

        ------------------------------

        on Tue, 02 Jan 2001 18:59:56, Carl Howard wrote:

        > >I NOTICED SUN RA'S ABSENCE INSTANTLY.  So, even though
Sphere is mentioned (and probably Cecil Taylor is NOT) (and Ayler) (and the
AACM) (and Anthony
        Braxton), I will abstain from viewing, and I encourage other
lovers of TOUGH, outside jazz to do likewise.

I dunno... I can't imagine skipping some rare & potentially thrilling
footage of Monk, Ellington, Armstrong, Coltrane's nominally Favorite Things
et al because they stick to mainstream orthodoxy & skip the radical improv
stuff. Besides, bitching & moaning about these things is half the fun. I bet
David Murray's gonna watch it.



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Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 12:07:31 -0600
From: [e-mail] (Mimi Mayer)
Subject: (exotica) sheet music online

The site's name says it all: http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/. Nothing of
interest to exotica roots-diggers with searches for exotica, Arthur Lyman,
and Martin Denny. On the other hand, "Mancini" spat back 101 choices.
Search with composers' last names only. Sheets are graded on difficulty and
the site proprietors seem to have searched the world for stuff. You might
find something here that you can't find elsewhere. Happy New Year,
musicians. Mimi




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Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 16:17:48 +0100
From: Johan Dada Vis <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Re: Later Lounge #2 CD

Domenic wrote:

>And it's the January one. This one is going to be hard to find.

    yep. odly enough, the January issue is issued in the
beginning of December.

         Johan

         -----



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Date: Wed, 03 Jan 2001 13:47:31 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re: (exotica) RE: Jazz Cowboy Ventures

 Actually the story I heard (and believed) was that Hendrix's infamous "You'll
 Never Hear Surf Music Again" line wasn't so much a dis on his former teacher
 but just the opposite; Dick Dale had cancer at the time and wasn't expected
 to survive (though fortunately he went into remission/was cured)hence the
 line (i.e. since Dick Dale is about to die....) Can anyone else prove/dispel
 this story? (I thought that Gearhead magazine - among other sources - had
 this story as well)
 While I admit Dick Dale isn't the end-all/be-all of surf, he had enough good
 tuneage (mainly on his vintage instrumental tracks) to at least among the
 Royal Court of Surf.  I also had the "pleasure" of seeing Dick Dale a few
 years back though, and by the end of the first hour I was ready to fall
 asleep (you can imagine how I was by the end of the second hour).  So I don't
 think it'd be worth laying money down for a ticket if he ever comes to your
 town...
 -DavidH

 <Side note: Dick apparenty gave Hendrix a few lessons in the early
  60's, & I always thought the latter's "may you never hear surf music again"
  line from 3rd Stone was as much tongue-in-cheek as anything.>



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Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2001 14:33:20 EST
From: [e-mail]
Subject: Re:  (exotica) Re: Later Lounge #2 CD

In a message dated 1/3/1 1:25:50 PM, [e-mail] wrote:

>>And it's the January one. This one is going to be hard to find.

>yep. odly enough, the January issue is issued in the
>beginning of December.

They can't hold a candle to the old Mad Magazine...They would be releasing
the May '01 issue about now


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Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 05:10:39 +0100
From: Ton =?iso-8859-1?Q?R=FCckert?= <[e-mail]>
Subject: (exotica) Trumpets & Percussion

There was an item about Thai elephant music in a German cultural TV
magazine recently, which was intriguing enough to have me doing a=20
websearch. So here's what I came up with.



Mulatta records is currently finishing a CD of elephants in the Thai=20
jungle playing specially designed musical instruments.=20

http://www.mulatta.org/Thaielephantorch.html

The project was co-created by Richard Lair of the Thai Elephant=20
Conservation Center in Lampang and performer/composer Dave Soldier.=20

http://praxis.md/post/offline/062800

http://www.newmusicbox.org/third-person/apr00/dsoldier.html

What does David Soldier really do all day? He explains: "Basically=20
what I do is research into brain function. I'm particularly interested
in how synapses change and how that might underlie learning behavior,=20
acquisition of memory, and establishment of memory...."  =20

So what does all this have to do with his music? Evidently not too=20
much until the recent projects with the elephants and the children...=20
Soldier feels that these projects are involved with scientific=20
principles of volition and consciousness. And the line of twisted=20
logic needed to set up the recording session with the elephants sounds
like a something from the depths of a laboratory: "How can you get=20
elephants to play instruments? What does that entail? Break it down=20
into small parts. What's the anatomy of an elephant? What can they do?
What can they not do? And there are other things you have to worry=20
about like: Where are elephants? Where do they live? Well, they're in=20
the jungle. OK. How do you build an instrument that's going to survive
in the jungle? It has to survive monsoons and 100-degree temperatures=20
for months at a time. You don't have people there to tune the=20
instruments. You can't use a violin because an elephant can't tune it.
 So you have to build instruments that stay in tune." I imagined that=20
the entire endeavor might sound something like Spike Jones going=20
apeshit in a zoo. But truth be told, the music sounds nothing like you
think it would; it's calm, sedate, sparse; it's got a sort of Eastern-
influenced jazz improv feel to it - a jingle here, a rattle there;=20
patches of it are reminiscent of the more cosmic sections of Pharaoh=20
Sanders discs from the 60s; it's almost soothing - until you remember=20
that it's a herd of elephants playing it!=20




NEW YORK TIMES - THINK TANK - December 16, 2000=20
A Band With a Lot More to Offer Than Talented Trumpeters - ERIC SCIGLIANO
 =20

In the 20 years since a Syracuse zookeeper first encouraged an=20
elephant's artistic impulses, pachyderm paintings have become=20
fundraising fixtures at zoos. So it was probably only a matter of=20
time before someone decided to try these highly intelligent animals
out on another creative endeavor: music. Now the debut CD of the=20
Thai Elephant Orchestra is scheduled for release this month.=20

The band is the brainchild of Richard Lair, an American expatriate who=20
has worked with elephants for 23 years and written an encyclopedic=20
United Nations study of Asia's captive elephants, and David Sulzer,=20
a neurologist who heads Columbia University's Sulzer Laboratory and=20
works as a composer and producer under the name Dave Soldier.=20

Together they organized six young pachyderm at the Thai Elephant=20
Conservation Center, a former government logging camp near the town=20
of Lampang, where elephants now earn their keep by giving rides,=20
demonstrating logging skills and painting pictures for tourists.=20
Elephants are natural candidates for music-making. Their hearing is=20
much keener than their sight, and they employ a vast range of=20
vocalizations, many of which are heard on their CD, to be released=20
by the New York-based Mulatta Records.=20

Ancient Romans and Asian mahouts, or elephant handlers, have noted=20
elephants' ability to distinguish melodies, and today's circus=20
elephants follow musical cues. In 1957, a German scientist, Bernard=20
Rensch, reported in Scientific American that his test elephant could=20
distinguish 12 musical tones and could remember simple melodies even=20
when played on different instruments, at different pitches, timbres=20
and meters. She still recognized the tones a year and a half later.=20

There have been commercial ventures, too. In the 1850's a circus=20
elephant named Romeo cranked a hand organ while "Juliet" danced,=20
and the Adam Forepaugh and Barnum & Bailey circuses later fielded=20
"elephant bands." These "probably sounded like a herd of angry=20
Buicks," said Fred Dahlinger, research director for the Circus=20
World Museum in Baraboo, Wis. "They were all novelty acts,=20
characteristic of their times."=20

The Thai Elephant Orchestra attempts something different. Its=20
members play sturdier versions of traditional Thai instruments:=20
slit drums, a gong hammered from a sawmill blade, a diddly-bow
bass and xylophone-like renats and a thundersheet and harmonicas.=20
Mr. Sulzer said he and Mr. Lair merely showed the elephants how to=20
make the sounds, cued them to start and stop, and let them play as=20
they wished. After five practice sessions, they started recording.=20
Mr. Sulzer admits he was skeptical at first. "I thought we would=20
just train elephants to hit something, and I would tape that and=20
have to paste it together with other things." Instead, he recorded=20
the performances intact, without overdubbing, in a teak grove,=20
pausing only when outside noises intruded.=20

The players improvise distinct meters and melodic lines, and vary=20
and repeat them. The results, at once meditative and deliberate,=20
delicate and insistently thrumming, strike some Western listeners=20
as haunting, others as monotonous. Mr. Sulzer wondered whether=20
Prathida, a 7-year- old orchestra member whom he called "the Fritz=20
Kreisler of elephants," would recognize dissonance. "I put one bad=20
note in the middle of her xylophone. She avoided playing that note=20
until one day she started playing it and wouldn't stop. Had she=20
discovered dissonance, and discovered that she liked it? She=20
outsmarted the researchers."

Mr. Lair worked out a set of hand signals for the mahouts to cue=20
the elephants while he was conducting. He discovered that some=20
"figured out the meaning of the signals on their own, with no=20
teaching whatsoever." But is it music? Mr. Sulzer insists it is.=20
"I have no doubt they're improvising and composing, which is the=20
same thing," he declared. To test out the proposition, he
suggested something like the Turing test of artificial=20
intelligence: play the CD without disclosing the performers'=20
identity and then ask listeners the question. For Mr. Lair, it's
simply a matter of interpretation, as in all art: "Just as there
are a lot things they don't understand about our music, I am sure
there are things we will never understand about theirs."=20

The proceeds from the CD will go to a milk bank for orphaned=20
elephants and a school to improve mahout training although Mr.=20
Lair concedes that "profits are highly theoretical at this point."
Nonetheless, Mr. Lair, who not only advises the Conservation=20
Center but also trained the elephants for the Disney movie "Dumbo=20
Drop," is sensitive to any charges of exploitation. Elephants should
not be "incarcerated and made to do slave labor," he writes in the
new CD's liner notes. With habitat vanishing and logging banned in=20
Thailand, however, there's little alternative to tourist-camp work.=20
At least, he says, making "gorgeous noises of their own volition"=20
is light and pleasurable duty: "What better job than to be in the=20
prison band?"=20

Mr. Lair and Mr. Sulzer are devising new instruments and seeking=20
new talent. They say one 3-year-old has already proved a prodigy,=20
and another elephant camp is trying to develop an orchestra.=20
Meanwhile, a second, "easy-listening" recording, "code-named the=20
`Schlock CD," is on the way, Mr. Lair writes, mixed to be accessible
to a wider audience.=20





The Asian Elephant Art and Conservation Project.

http://www.elephantart.com/history.htm


Variations on a tune by Tadpole the elephant ("the Buddy Rich of=20
elephant percussionists") - Sarah Strickland, Lampang 8 November 2000=20

http://www.independenceavenue.com/News/World/Asia_China/2000-11/tadpole08110
0_low.shtml
or
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/World/Asia_China/2000-11/tadpole081100.sht=
ml


Electronic Music Keyboard for Elephants=20
3x1x1m, 9x3x3 ft. teak, computer, synthesizer and interface electronics

http://users.rcn.com/ritterd/elephant.html



You can download MP3 files of a couple of these pieces at the Mulatta=
 site...=20

http://www.mulatta.org/track1.mp3
http://www.mulatta.org/track2.mp3


... and apparantly all 13 tracks are available at=20

http://www.bestweb.net/~mlj/thai_elephant_orch.htm


Cheers, Ton


 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
 *** Ton R=FCckert   Mozartstraat 12   5914 RB Venlo   The Netherlands ***
 *** [e-mail]   http://www.plex.nl/~mojoto   Ph 31/0 773545386 ***
 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
 ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
 ~~~ ~~~ ~~~      Members of our staff may be available      ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
 ~~~ ~~~        for private parties after the egg dishes.        ~~~ ~~~
 ~~~   http://www.geocities.com/BourbonStreet/4264/music/w34779.ram  ~~~
 ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~


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End of exotica-digest V2 #862
*****************************