wordsandmusic: February 2007

Review: IST - I am Jesus and you're not...

More flashes of rocking incandescence in the Provincial Night...

I was sent this track a couple of weeks ago – meant to review it before but the usual madness has prevailed recently and everything is out-of-sync still...

...

so – who are IST? ..

. a band based in Leicester (just down the road from God's Little Acre..

. go for more info..

.

The track: 'I am Jesus and you're not.' (Go to their to hear it ).

Pithy and sharp – like the duration – a snappy 1 minute electronic showerburst driven by an insistent nagging guitar riff (which reminded me of something which I couldn't drag back from the memory banks – until it hit me just now – ), vocal imprecational put-down with antinomian/sectarian heretical undertones ho ho(that's not a post-punk Belfast band – but...

maybe a good name for a cover band, hey, any would-be Feargals out there?) - a wild ride of joyfully sneering hurled-at-you rapido lyrics, with the title thrown out as the chorus/hook – slashing rhythm guitar and real in-your-face rock and roll drums (cymbal crashs like dustbin lids kicked over in an alley after leaving the hostelry..

. late) ..

. A lot crammed into the 60 seconds – bursting at the seams with energy..

. wearing its influences lightly but adding to them with a freshness and deftness of step which shows their originality (unlike most conventional current 'rock' bands who seem mired in the sludge of the past – you know who I mean..

.). Regarding their sonic predecessors - among many, they name-check Elvis Costello – cue standard rant: diamond geezer no doubt but the fucker can't sing (and they can) and wants to be taken seriously in his dotage.

..what did Burt Bacharach make of it all?

(oh, hello, they name-check him as well...

interesting...

) – despite that, there's a taste of the old Stiff rawness that the Attractions had when he started out and his whiny voice sort of worked for a time – this is a plus...

maybe that's what they had in mind...

I've had the mp3 on my desktop for a couple of weeks and it nags at me to play it all the time...

These guys have some wit – there is a song on their entitled 'The Wreck of Eddy Fitzgerald,' title of which made me smile (memories of old groaning Gordon Lightfoot's only decent record). If this is what's coming out of Leicester at the moment I'd better hop an Arriva sometime and check it out..

.

'I am Jesus and you're not' is released digitally on 21st February 2007 – on vinyl/cd 28th Feb 2007..

. go grab it..

. details

IST does NOT stand for Indian Summer Time, or Springfield Institute of Technology – as far as I know..

. Or Ironic Semiotic Transitions..

. Istianity could be your new religion..

. I see that they are playing at the in Cambridge on the 17th Feb..

. if you're in the area – go seek further revelation..

. hallelujah..

.

(The photo at the top is by Kitty Valentine - Official Pink Box photographer).

Three for carnival...

Steve Lacy/Marilyn Crispell...

Archie Shepp...

Charles Mingus...

Found on Limewire...

Steve Lacy made an album of duets in 1996. This track is 'The Crust,' with the soprano saxist accompanied by Marilyn Crispell. Piano states an ascending scale/melody as a vamp against which Lacy enters and plays the jaunty theme with its undertones of Monk.

Lacy solos, nothing seemingly over-complicated – yet somehow just right. 'Taking the line for a walk,' as Lacy once summed up the art of improvisation. Crispell's solo starts in Mal Waldron territory over an insistent off-centre left hand vamp.

It gets knottier...

Agit-prop seventies style. Archie Shepp and cohorts performing the 'African Drum Suite' from his album 'Cry of My People.' Drums, skirling horns, choir: 'African drums we love you so much.

' This could be come across as a bit twee – but one remembers the temporal backdrop of turmoil, war, battles for racial identity and that counterbalances any over-reach, I would argue. Shepp blasts it out on soprano, the backing a little reminiscent in places of Coltrane's 'Africa Brass,' (plus shades of ) as the rhythm section patter away - rolling African-esque rhythms cross-fed into jazz. Again, a shadow of Coltrane over Shepp's soprano and the modal vamping piano - yet he has his own sound and the minimally-used strings give a unique texture.

Ambitious...

'Johnny Coles's is present in spirit - in the piano, it seems...

' The mighty Charles Mingus and a track from one of the great live albums, recorded in Paris 1964 – 'Fables of Faubus.' Militancy á la Mingus – dry, caustic, passionate and wild by turns. (Coles was taken ill prior to the gig.

..).

A sing-song theme and off they go - Richmond's drums a skitter-skatter, howls, imprecations, imploring solos - abrupt tempo changes, accelerando/ritardando (I love those Italian terms rolling off the tongue to mimic the time-games - as if conventional notation could come near capturing music like this). Everyone on the top of their art - check that late section with Dolphy's amazing vocalised squawks and slurs and Mingus's bass mirror - an amazing conversation..

. 37 minutes and you still want more..

.

Update – I just noticed on a random flick through the blogs that has a post about Eric Dolphy in Europe which mentions this gig. Synchronicity.

.. Worth checking out.

..

A short post – but exhaustion has taken its toll and I've run off the end of myself.

.. more to come when I 've rested up.

..



In the Videodrome.

..

with Gil Evans Ork in Japan.

..

.

..Archie Shepp on

.

..and

.

..

Steve Lacy/Marilyn Crispell
(Steve Lacy (ss); Marilyn Crispell (p) ).

The Crust




Archie Shepp
(Archie Shepp (ts,ss); Peggie Blue, Joe Lee Wilson, Andre Franklin (vo); Charles McGhee (t); Charles Greenlee, Charles Stephens (trb); Leroy Jenkins, Lois Siessinger, Gayle Dixon, John Blake (v); Esther Mellon, Patrica Dixon (c); Harold Mabern, Jr., Dave Burrell (p); Cornell Dupree (g); Ron Carter, James Garrison (b); Bernard Purdie, Beaver Harris (d); Nene DeFense (tam, perc);Judith White, Mary Stephens, Barbara White, Mildren Lane (background voc) ).
African Drum Suite




( Charles Mingus (b); Eric Dolphy (fl, b cl, as); Clifford Jordan (ts); Jaki Byard (p); Dannie Richmond (d) ).

Fables of Faubus

Made the transition..

.

I finally made the jump - over onto the new blogger..

. so far so good..

. There will be a slight backlog of posts this week due to sheer exhaustion - and other activities - recording tomorrow some demos for a friend and some family stuff..

. hopefully the show will be back on the road soon enough..

. apart from the usual, there will be a short review of last Friday's gig at the that venerable/scruffy venue on the edge of the Artist's Quarter in God's Little Acre..

. one of my favourite acoustic/folk aggregations (of which there are not many, let it be said..

.) Gren Morris and Sam Stephens. (Link to my review of their gig last year is In response to my of the recent Pete Morton gig, someone commented: 'Based on your photos, however, I'm worried that his gig appears to have taken place in a broom closet.

' Here's a photo from last Friday - which displays some of the informality of the Pack - whose present organiser Mr Marmion has continued running the Owld Place in the anarchistic, freewheeling tradition of its glory years ( coupled to his own innate sharpness about the game which has enabled it to survive against the odds). This is from the other end of the long room - under the clock. Not exactly a broom closet - just resembles one from certain angles.

Someone is coming through the door...

To keep the music going...

here's a track from 'The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady,' Charles Mingus's wild, sprawling masterpiece from 1963. I had a request for this so dug it out of the pile - enjoy. 'This is.

.. one of the only jazz albums to have liner notes written by a clinical psychologist.

..' (From Robert Spencer's review ).

Cool...

This is CD track four, which gives the last sections from the original album...

smearing, sensuous saxes and muted brass a la Duke - but given the wrenching spin to the side that Mingus's own genius perpetrated on his hero's influence. And the 'Spanish Tinge' to the fore - Jay Berliner's flamenco guitar ripples and hacked strums - alternately delicate and brutal. Rhapsodic piano, a recurring flute-led section that reminds me of generic sixties tv themes for some reason -Charlie Mariano - who throughout the whole album is probably the top soloist.

.. Amazing, beautiful ensemble colourations, accelerando, ritardando - those beautiful games with stretching time.

.. so many riches, so little time tonight (stretched or otherwise).

..

.

..also.

.. apparently YouSendIt is flashing up the following message when attempts are made to download last week's mp3's:

'File sender has exceeded his or her download limit.

The file cannot be downloaded at this time because the sender of this file has exceeded his or her download limit.
The sender has been notified by email. Please feel free to contact the sender of this file as well.

'

Not sure what this is about - maybe just a temporary blip, but feel free to contact me, as they say - I can always upload them again on another site if necessary...

Charles Mingus
( Rolf Ericson, Richard Williams (tp) Quentin Jackson (tb) Don Butterfield (cbtb, tu) Jerome Richardson (fl, ss, bars) Dick Hafer (fl, ts) Charlie Mariano (as) Jaki Byard (p) Jay Barliner (g) Charles Mingus (b, p) Dannie Richmond (d) ).
Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Track Four

We get requests.

.. Cecil Taylor/Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Tony Oxley.

..

We get requests.

.. I received one from Karonner Franz asking to re-up the Cecil Taylor/Evan Parker/Barry Guy/Tony Oxley track 'Last' from the live album 'Nailed,' recorded in Berlin in 1990, posted last March.

While I am sorting out the mp3's for later today – here it is...

A monster of a performance – I wrote about it originally so won't repeat myself – except to say that Evan more than holds his own with the Mighty Cecil. And to repeat the quote at the top of that post:

"'To play with Cecil Taylor you need the stamina of an athlete and the imagination of a god.' (Tony Oxley – from the booklet accompanying the cd).

And one final quote, from a review by Derek Taylor
'Those searching for conclusive and irrefutable evidence of free improvisation as high art need look no further.'

Enjoy..

. this track will be deleted within 7 days – along with most of the other long tracks on SaveFile as I am in the process of doing some long-overdue file maintenance.

Cecil Taylor Quartet
(Cecil Taylor (p); Evan Parker (ss); Barry Guy (b); Tony Oxley (d) ).

Last

Winter comes to God's Little Acre..

.. A snowman called Frank.

.. and some jazz.

..

Blogging has been delayed due to illness (again – boring but inevitable) but should be back on track tomorrow at the latest.

.. Meanwhile.

..The snow has arrived in God's Little Acre – here are a couple of photos of the boy Jake and Scott building a snowman – called Frank.

..































Here are some ongoing links that are for large files (over 20MB) – these are not reposts but have been up for a while and I will be deleting them very soon.

A reminder - files under 20MB, which are the majority that I post, are only up for a week (although I will usually comply with a request for a repost):

Gil Evans
La Nevada




Albert Ayler
Masonic Inborn Part One




John Zorn
Mikhail Zoetrope Part One




Keith Jarrett
Koln Concert Part One




Tony Oxley
Saturnalia




Albert Ayler
Holy Holy





Dizzie Gillespie
Oro, Incienso y Mirra




Miles Davis
Funky Tonk

Erroll Garner was incredibly popular in the fifties and sixties – this track 'Mambo Carmel,' is from his 1955 hit album 'Concert by the Sea.' Self-taught and open-eared, Garner was a gem, irrepressibly swinging on everything he played.

Crashing left hand chords and florid right hand – then suddenly he pulls back, drops the level and lightly stomps off – his left hand chording like a guitar in that inimitable style he developed. Doesn't really matter about the accompanists – sorry Eddie and Denzil - they're only along for the ride. I saw him play a couple of times in the sixties – he was wonderful.

..

Another live show.

.. Billy Bang starts off solo – a scintillating dazzle of string techniques – bouncing the bow of the strings, double stops, Ornette-style splinters of sound, almost folk melodies – followed by Hamiett Bluett in the same vein – playing way up high on the baritone to get an almost string-like squeal, descending and ascending – from gruff deep to sarcastic high.

A brief pause...

interjections from audience...

then they start up again, baritone and violin soon followed by the Asian timbres of the – playing some almost-bluesy figures and string snaps that hint at country blues, microtonally sliding across the western intonations of the other two. Recorded at the Vison Fest in New York 2002. High energy stuff.

..

Dreamily oblique piano from Bley, closefully followed by Evan Parker sounding almost breathy – he always seems at his nearest to jazz on the tenor and in a group setting.

Phillips enters way down low, testing my sub-woofers. A total trio performance, each instrument integrated in its dance across the acoustic map. Slow, almost stately, moving like deep breathing as motifs are exchanged and altered, spun back and forth.

A sudden burst of piano from Bley that announces another section where Phillips has changed to arco – the sawing timbre matched by the tenor's rasp. A more scampering pace now as Phillips returns to pizzicato. Skittering, bitten off phrases from Parker – before it suddenly ends.

.. Chamber improvisation but with a steely core.

.. interesting to compare this to Jimmy Guiffre's trio with Bley and Gary Peacock, of which I have some.

. somewhere..

.

Monk with Johnny Griffin, live in 1957. 'Coming on the Hudson,' one of those off-kilter Monk tunes where the main theme is transposed/extended into the middle eight.

Griffin solos, off and flying, finding the spaces in Monk's harmonies that few could, yet not ignoring the tune. Monk takes over – as ever the tune firmly pushed to the front of his improvisations, playing quite fulsomely here, in the days when maybe he didn't rely quite so much on tried and tested runs – the whole tone gallop down the keyboard, for example. Magical.

.. Along with Coltrane, I favour Griffin's work with Monk, much as I like Charlie Rouse's.

..

'St Louis Blues' with declaratory trumpet from Sidney De Paris and growling trombone from Vic Dickenson as Bechet swoons around them on clarinet.

Recorded for Blue Note in 1944. Pops Foster keeps it rolling strong. Hodes's piano a delight.

..

The Old Firm of Bailey and Oxley, recorded in New York, 1995.

Oxley starts off quietly, small patters and scrapes, bringing his kit in gently. Bailey follows him, abrupt treble shreds laid across the building rhythm..

. waves slowly accumulating. Bailey pointillistic, dabbing figures that gradually extend into longer, barrelling lines, a tougher vertical scrabble.

They seesaw between scarcity and abundance, long and short, Bailey reflective, spartan in gesture and volume just over half-way in as Oxley drops his levels. Proceeding..

. Oxley sending out on deep thuds and rippling metallic sounds from his various ironmongery as Bailey works the top end..

. starting to chop chords in up and down the neck interspersed with those beautiful tangles of notes – answered by steel shimmers – then silence..

. and applause..

.

Then the blues..

. ..

.. a link back to the almost-mythic Robert Johnson.

.. playing a song I always associate with Sonny and Brownie – 'Key to the highway.

' Lockwood takes it slower than they used to, an easy lope away down the road. His 12 string guitar playing a masterful frame for his voice..

.

In the Videodrome..

.

..

.

..

. ..

.

..

.Chris Corsano in

..

. and some more (why not?).

..



Erroll Garner
(Erroll Garner (p); Eddie Calhoun (b); Denzil Best (d) ).

Mambo Carmel




Billy Bang Trio
(Billy Bang (v); Jin Hi Kim (komungo); Hamiett Bluiett (bs) ).
Bangart 100




Paul Bley/Evan Parker/Barre Phillips
(Paul Bley (p); Evan Parker (ts); Barre Phillips (b) ).
Variation 2




Thelonious Monk
(Thelonious Monk (p); Johnny Griffin (ts); Ahmed Abdul-Malik (b); Roy Haynes (d) ).

Coming on the Hudson




Sidney Bechet
( Sidney de Paris (tpt), Vic Dickenson (tbn), Sidney Bechet (clt -2), Art Hodes (pno), George 'Pops' Foster (bs), Manzie Johnson (dms) ).
St Louis Blues




Derek Bailey/Tony Oxley
(Derek Bailey (eg); Tony Oxley (d) ).
Kenmare





Robert Jr Lockwood, vocal, guitar.

Key to the Highway

posted by Rod..

.