In a message dated 99-10-15 14:32:11 EDT, you write:
>A while back I checked out this band called free grass at the old office, I
>believe tony trishka was in the band, the rest was a blur. I was pretty
>well blown away by the music, now I am trying to track some of this
>material down, can anyone help me find recordings?
Please post any reply to the list, or e-mail me as well--I follow Trischka
and pickers of his ilk pretty carefully, but I've not herd specifically of
"Free Grass" myself.
Dave Royko
- -
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Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 16:24:59 -0500
From: "John Thomas" <jgthomas@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: RE: Cecil Taylor's _Melancholy_
Just wanted to contribute some more initial impressions on this
very interesting record...I also got _Digger's Harvest_ with Schlippenbach
& Oxley but I will wait to comment on that until I have a few more listens
under my belt...
Steve Smith wrote:
[snip]
>>And yet, I just can't go to bed tonight without mentioning that there's
>>something else altogether going on during the hour-plus duration of the
>>new FMP Cecil Taylor issue, 'Melancholy,' which dates from late
>>September 1990.
I wholeheartedly agree with Steve here, I heard many things on this CD
I have not heard from Cecil before, yet at the same time, there were
the expected similarities from previous performances. In the latter case,
the ending of the third section (Sphere?), reminded heavily of the _Looking_
piece but for larger ensemble, particularly Cecil's playing.
>>Maybe later I'll talk about specifics. But right now these are a few of
>>the things that are keeping me awake long enough to post this message:
>>- - During the first piece, at about 11 minutes in, there's a fine quartet
>>section by Evan Parker, Barry Guy. Tony Oxley and CT.
>>- - During the second piece, at about 17 minutes in, there's a stretch of
>>music that to me sounds as close to Steve Reich as CT's ever likely to
>>get in this or any other lifetime.
>>- - The third piece is just brilliant so far. About 4 minutes ago I
>>wanted to write about the first few minutes. But at this point, as the
>>section just gets better and better, I realize that I can't say anything
>>of substance.
>>- - It's a big band, all right. But you always know which horn is Evan.
>>And that's a very fine thing.
>>
Steve has picked up on a whole bunch of stuff I have missed on first listen
but here are some other things that I really found interesting:
* The great use of themes and structures in the horns in the first
part.
* The Taylor/Oxley/Guy trio when the rest of the group drops out, esp
at the beginning of the second piece.
* Use of lots of space in the music, even with ensemble, it really
doesn't blare as much as some of the previous ensembles.
* I would say Evan Parker is not particularly prominent on this disc
and personally I found that refreshing. But I am still greatly looking
forward to the quartet disc with Parker, Oxley, Taylor & Guy!
>>And if I absolutely HAVE to say something negative, well... Barry Guy
>>could have been miked more naturally, so he didn't sound so bloody
>>"amplified."
I found Guy very difficult to hear in the full ensemble passages, even in
some of
the smaller groupings similar to hearing William Parker's contributions on
the
Feel Trio discs.
>>In other words, it's yet another fascinating CT disc from FMP well worth
>>owning...
>>
>>And boy am I glad about that.
Yup, seconded. Very engrossing. I can see why Cecil complained (I think this
is mentioned in the liner notes) this hadn't been released sooner.
John
- -
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 17:52:32 EDT
From: Dgasque@aol.com
Subject: Re: free grass
In a message dated Fri, 15 Oct 1999 5:05:00 PM Eastern Daylight Time, DRoyko@aol.com writes:
> In a message dated 99-10-15 14:32:11 EDT, you write:
> >A while back I checked out this band called free grass at the old office, I
> >believe tony trishka was in the band, the rest was a blur. I was pretty
> >well blown away by the music, now I am trying to track some of this
> >material down, can anyone help me find recordings?
>
> Please post any reply to the list, or e-mail me as well--I follow Trischka
> and pickers of his ilk pretty carefully, but I've not herd specifically of
> "Free Grass" myself.
>
> Dave Royko
>
> -
I sightly remember a one-shot CD by a group called "Psychograss" that had Darryl Anger (sp?) and others, possibly Trischka (sounds like something he'd be involved in)- supposedly a bluegrass band doing Hendrix, Blue Cheer, and other 60's heavies. I looked for this in vain- never came across it.
Nice to see some bluegrass chatter here, as un-Zornlike as it may be. I've always considered bluegrass musicians to be among the best musicians around.
Anybody heard the Czech bluegrass band Bruha Trava? (sp?, again...) Supposedly this genre has a _huge_ following in that country- Czechnya/Slovenya, to be proper...Amazing to see how this form of music has a worldwide following.
=dg=
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Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 18:09:42 -0800
From: Jason Tors <jtors@organic.com>
Subject: Re: free grass
The free grass performance was really interesting, it was like it sounds,
free bluegrass, I always had this perception of bluegrass as so rooted down
in that plodding beat, it was quite liberating for the pickers [I think] to
not have those constraints. It sure sounded like they were having fun!
>I sightly remember a one-shot CD by a group called "Psychograss" that had
>Darryl Anger (sp?) and others, possibly Trischka (sounds like something
>he'd be involved in)- supposedly a bluegrass band doing Hendrix, Blue
>Cheer, and other 60's heavies. I looked for this in vain- never came
>across it.
>
>Nice to see some bluegrass chatter here, as un-Zornlike as it may be.
>I've always considered bluegrass musicians to be among the best musicians
>around.
>
>Anybody heard the Czech bluegrass band Bruha Trava? (sp?, again...)
>Supposedly this genre has a _huge_ following in that country-
>Czechnya/Slovenya, to be proper...Amazing to see how this form of music
>has a worldwide following.
>
>=dg=
>
>-
- -
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 18:47:48 -0400
From: Dan Given <lgiven1@julian.uwo.ca>
Subject: Re: Melancholy Cecil
>Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 01:00:48 -0400
>From: Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
>Subject: Melancholy Cecil
>
>Well, my fellow Zornlisters, I'll be straight with you. I'm waaaayyyy
>too tired tonight to write anything of substance about much of
>anything...
>
>And yet, I just can't go to bed tonight without mentioning that there's
>something else altogether going on during the hour-plus duration of the
>new FMP Cecil Taylor issue, 'Melancholy,' which dates from late
>September 1990.
>(a bunch of stuff snipped)
I just got this a couple of days ago, and haven't had a chance to listen
yet. But, I did take it in to the radio station yesterday and play section
2. That part of it, at least, is, as Steve says, another fascinating
recording of Cecil Taylor.
>
>And if I absolutely HAVE to say something negative, well... Barry Guy
>could have been miked more naturally, so he didn't sound so bloody
>"amplified."
>
Agreed. He sounds awful on the piece that I have listened to.I haven't
heard section 1, with the quartet segment, so can't say how Guy sounds there.
The liner notes say there were three shows at the time -- the large
ensemble, solo, and the Taylor/Parker/Oxley/Guy quartet --and calls it an
"FMP trilogy". Does anyone know if there are plans to release these other
shows, or are they more referring to the probability that FMP sponsored the
concerts? We can only hope.
I also picked up the other new FMP release -- Alexander von Schlippenbach
and Tony Oxley. I love it!! There is a lightness to this recording,
something I haven't really pulled from the handful of Schlippenbach
recordings I have (a couple of the trio, some Globe Unity.) For me, it
calls to mind Monk, Duke, and early CT -- in theory, not sound. It may
have something to do with Oxley's junk percussion sound though, which is
mostly clattering metal sounds.
Dan
- -
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 20:22:42 -0400
From: Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Cecil Taylor's _Melancholy_
Thanks for your own insights, John.
> >>- - During the second piece, at about 17 minutes in, there's a stretch of
> >>music that to me sounds as close to Steve Reich as CT's ever likely to
> >>get in this or any other lifetime.
I rather overreacted here. I can't hear this anymore. I must have *really*
been tired. Basically it's just a section where the massed horns repeat a
melodic cell over and over. It's not that unusual in Cecil's larger ensemble
music, and not especially Reichian at all. Minus one for me...
> * I would say Evan Parker is not particularly prominent on this disc
> and personally I found that refreshing. But I am still greatly looking
> forward to the quartet disc with Parker, Oxley, Taylor & Guy!
Agreed on both counts. Even if Evan doesn't dominate, he's always
recognizable. And that quartet will be one to savor.
> >>And if I absolutely HAVE to say something negative, well... Barry Guy
> >>could have been miked more naturally, so he didn't sound so bloody
> >>"amplified."
>
> I found Guy very difficult to hear in the full ensemble passages
Yes, but when he is exposed, the sound is just not very attractive. He sounds
way too amplified to my ears in such places as the trio and quartet passages
that open Sphere No. 3.
I bought two other discs last night that I've spent most of today listening to:
'Ethiopiques 3' and 'Musique du Nordeste - Volume One, 1916-1945,' both from
Buda in France, and both completely fascinating in very different ways. The
first is from the much-discussed series of releases of Ethiopian pop from the
early '70s, and if this disc is indicative I'll be going back for more. The
second compiles, in very clean transfers, music of the Nordeste tradition of
early 20th century Brazil, particularly the birth of embolada and frevo.
Remarkable stuff. Damn do I love Other Music...
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
NP - Atlanta/NYMets, top of the first, and Cecil Taylor, "Sphere No. 3,"
'Melancholy'
- -
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 20:32:09 -0400
From: Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: The last words on the New York Times?
This Sunday's New York Times Arts & Leisure section (October 17 issue)
contains three very considered responses to the Zorn piece by Adam Shatz
in the "Letters to the Editor" column. Those by Dave Douglas and Bill
Milkowski seek to politely but very firmly rebuke Shatz for the tenor of
his piece, with Milkowski in particular going to great length to mention
all of the work Zorn has done to create a community and Douglas
lamenting the fact that Shatz had not followed through on his premise
but had instead veered into an ad hominem attack. The third, by Larry
Blumenfeld, restores to their original context the quotes that Shatz
borrowed from his own Jazziz interview. All three are worth reading,
especially if you followed the debates here on the Zornlist.
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
NP - Atlanta/NYMets, end of the first, and Cecil Taylor, "Sphere No. 3,"
'Melancholy'
- -
------------------------------
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 20:37:46 -0400
From: Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
Subject: Re: Cecil Taylor's _Melancholy_
Steve Smith, in a continuing monologue, wrote:
> > >>- - During the second piece, at about 17 minutes in, there's a stretch of
> > >>music that to me sounds as close to Steve Reich as CT's ever likely to
> > >>get in this or any other lifetime.
>
> I rather overreacted here. I can't hear this anymore. I must have *really*
> been tired. Basically it's just a section where the massed horns repeat a
> melodic cell over and over. It's not that unusual in Cecil's larger ensemble
> music, and not especially Reichian at all. Minus one for me...
Or maybe I meant to type "third piece," since there actually *is* a passage between
17 and 19 minutes where the high-pitched woodwinds do play a rather minimalist
arpeggio figure more than a few times (although now, somewhat more awake, it sounds
more like a Glass figure than one from Reich). Whatever. I'll stop trying to
redeem myself now. ;-)
Steve Smith
ssmith36@sprynet.com
NP - Atlanta/NYMets, top of the second, and CT, "Sphere No. 3," 'Melancholy'
- -
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 04:12:45 +0200
From: infolit <infolit@klaipeda.omnitel.net>
Subject: set digest
- -
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 12:42:23 +0200
From: Stephen Fruitman <stephen.fruitman@idehist.umu.se>
Subject: Review: Aki Onda X 2
Review: Aki Onda, _Beautiful Contradiction_ (All Access); _Un Petit Tour_
(All Access)
A new voice emerges from Japan and immediately stakes its claim to a
territory all its own. Thirty-one-year-old Aki Onda has paid his dues in
elektro, noise and hiphop, as well as being a sought-after producer, and
now emerges as an ambitious soundscaper of great gifts. A mature hand
guides the sounds culled from collaborators as diverse as Europeans Simon
=46isher Turner, Blixa Bargeld and No=EBl Akchot=E9 and brilliant Japanese
players like Jyoji Sawada, Kazutoki Umeza and Onda himself (cassette
recorder, sampler, programming), with a handful of American avantjazz names
like Steven Bernstein and Ben Perowsky thrown in for good measure. Recorded
in London, Tokyo, New York and Paris, his first solo CD _Beautiful
Contradiction_ has the atmosphere of an imaginary movie soundtrack. Opening
with "Chrysanthemum", an ambient piece of great beauty which then gives way
to the sampler/flugelhorn/guitar duel of "Red Light", the record thus
embarks on a fifty-minute journey featuring an array of styles and
top-flight musicians so diverse yet so cohesive, and including occasional
vocals in German (the wonderfully suggestive "In Windungen" sung by
Bargeld), Turkish and English (a slightly seedy story of doomed love
growled forth by Linda Sharrock). "Rosemary" is a remarkable composition
featuring the trilling of glassharps propelled along a bed of electronics
by snare drum, while "Petal" is a short jazz chamber piece that wouldn=B4t
sound out of place on one of John Zorn=B4s Masada ensemble recordings.
_Beautiful Contradiction_ dwells at the crossroads of acoustic and
electronic music, extracting the essences of both and producing something
quite unique in the process. The final impression is that of a restless
cosmopolitan in love with sound, not merely for its own sake but for its
narrative properties.
The second and latest release, _Un Petit Tour_, is unavoidably more of a
_h=F6rspiel_ due to the preponderance of narration - reflections on love
penned mostly by Onda and told in French by several voices. The spoken
words are linked a kind of free-jazz scarlet thread, with the trumpet of
Bernard Vitet (a little bit Hassell, a little bit Kondo) and the
programming of Onda dominating. A delicate solo on the Japanese sanshin by
Jyoji Sawada (who by the way is all over _Beautiful Contradictions_,
playing a wide array of instruments and even composing one of its tracks)
leads off the track "O=F9 es-tu donc?", before other instruments begin
scraping away at its fragile veneer. The music on this release is much more
jagged than on _Beautiful Contradiction_, though the smokey, late-night
guitar/trumpet duet which closes the album is just lovely.
Both are packaged in equally handsome digipaks, with the latter featuring a
gallery of photographs by Ayako Mogi which serve well as a visual
complement to the sounds within. Aki Onda is an artist worth keeping a very
close eye on in the years to come.
The Japanese label All Access does not appear to have a web presence yet,
but can be contacted via fax at +81 -3-5466-4581.
Stephen Fruitman
- --------------------------------------
Bj=F6rn Olsson,
Inst. f=F6r id=E9historia,
Ume=E5 universitet
901 87 Ume=E5
tel. 090-7867982 fax 143374
e-post: bjorn.olsson@idehist.umu.se
- -
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 10:54:29 EDT
From: JonAbbey2@aol.com
Subject: Re: Review: Aki Onda X 2
In a message dated 10/16/99 6:46:00 AM, stephen.fruitman@idehist.umu.se
writes:
<< Thirty-one-year-old Aki Onda has paid his dues in
elektro, noise and hiphop, as well as being a sought-after producer, and
now emerges as an ambitious soundscaper of great gifts. >>
I didn't get too much out of Beautiful Contradiction myself, but one of
Onda's earlier projects, Audio Sports, put out an incredibly prescient
trip-hop CD in 1992 called Era Of Glitterring Gas (also on All Access), and
featuring, on most tracks, the trio of Onda, Nobukazu Takemura (now of Thrill
Jockey fame), and Yamatsuka Eye as the rapper, believe it or not. there are
other Audio Sports records with different personnel, including one EP with
Otomo and Greg Osby, I believe, but I've only ever heard this one. I love
this record.
Jon
www.erstwhilerecords.com
- -
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Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 11:51:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: Theodorus@webtv.net (Theodorus Klaase)
Subject: Prelapse...
How does one get a copy of this Prelapse CD?
- -Theodorus
www.freeyellow.com/members7/theodorus/index.html
- -
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Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 13:36:58 -0400 (EDT)
From: ctonelli@trentu.ca
Subject: Re: Dawn of a New Age
Perhaps, it's not so strange, aren't Bungle and CNN both owned by
Time-Warner?
> --- King Wilson <kingwil@enteract.com> wrote:
> > You know it's gonna be a wacky year when Mike Patton
