Sunday, March 30, 2014

Charlie Parker: Yardbird Suite

In 1990, YHB was moving from a predominant interest in alternative rock (whatever that seemed to mean at the time) to a wide-ranging mix of rock, world, classical, hip-hop, reggae and jazz.  With the latter, there had been an initial exposure starting in 1984 to the music of Miles Davis, mostly of that era with a look back at Bitches Brew because of its historic connotations as well as its inherent musical interest.

With the sea change in '90, though, came an opportunity to research the early history of jazz for a project at work.  This involved buying vinyl recordings of such performers as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Bessie Smith, Bix Beiderbecke and the amazing 1925 and 1927 work of Louis Armstrong and his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens.  It also meant listening to George Gershwin's notable Rhapsody in Blue, as well as wading through such pop confections that appropriated shallow imitations of jazz sounds as those produced by Ferde Grofe, Jean Goldkette and the so-called "King of Jazz," the massively popular Paul Whiteman.

It was naturally Armstrong's work, including small ensemble work with the great pianist Earl Hines and the remarkable bandleader Fletcher Henderson that made the biggest impact.  Before he became popular and settled into an entertainment mode that left the innovations of the Twenties behind, Armstrong was so far beyond his contemporaries in power, control, intonation and improvisatory ideas, in addition to his innate entertainment skills, that it was as if he occupied his own distinct musical world.

After Armstrong, the next musician in jazz who made that sort of impression was the masterful alto saxophonist Charlie Parker.  This blogger saw Clint Eastwood's well-intended, but somewhat one-dimensional film Bird, but had not heard any of Parker's music until a double vinyl album of his Savoy and Dial recordings of the middle to late 1940s was acquired.

What an impression!  It was similar to hearing the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens material--realizing that here was someone who singlehandedly led a musical form into another direction.  Years passed, though, and, while appreciation for Parker's astounding achievements remained, nothing was purchased on CD until quite recently.

Which leads to Rhino's excellent two-disc survey of Parker's short recording career of about a decade, Yardbird Suite.  This well-chosen and sequenced recording, aptly subtitled "The Ultimate Collection," takes the listener from Parker's appearance on a single by his collaborator and fellow innovator, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, from March 1945 to work done under the production of Norman Granz shortly before Parker's death in 1955.

Masterpieces abound, including Gillespie's 1945 renditions of "Salt Peanuts" and "Hot House", Parker's Savoy and Dial recordings of "Ko Ko," "Moose the Mooche," "Yardbird Suite," "Ornithology," "Relaxin' at Camarillo," "Donna Lee," "Chasing the Bird," "Embraceable You," a Gershwin and Gershwin chestnut, the mysteriously named "Klactoveedsedstene." "Scrapple from the Apple," and "Parker's Mood," and his work under Granz  from the early to mid Fifties such as "Star Eyes," "My Little Suede Shoes," "Bloomdido," and "Confirmation."  There is also a nice selection of live recordings from concerts at Birdland, the famed club named for Parker, and Rockland Palace from 1951 and 1952, the latter showcasing him with strings.

It's easy to focus on the Savoy and Dial pieces, which are, without question, where Parker's greatest work is heard, but the judicious selection of material of post-1948 work under Granz' supervision has plenty of excellent playing by the sax legend and his various bands.  In fact, the level of musicianship from his sidemen is generally top-notch, including a young and maturing Miles Davis, the master drummer Max Roach, Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Buddy Rich (on 1950s "Bloomdido"), the great drummer Roy Haynes, who is still with us, Percy Heath, and Bud Powell.

Naturally, hearing Parker create magic time after time on this recording is something to behold.  His sureness of touch, strong tone, speed, power and breathtaking  development of ideas during his improvisations is staggering.  It is easy to see why he was legendary during his short life and so influential (and daunting) to alto sax players and other musicians afterward.  He was truly in his own musical world, as Armstrong was, and others who followed, like Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.

Attention focuses too often on Parker's drug and alcohol addictions, his behavior towards fellow musicians and people close to him, and so on, but his music, starting with recordings that are seven decades removed, is still powerful and affecting, ensuring he will have a legacy for as long, probably, as music is heard.

In addition to the great music, there is a 60-page booklet chock full of essays with biographical and discographical information, as well as a number of excellent photos of Parker, Harlem during the era, and many of the musicians who played on the tracks.  As a summation of his career and a good introduction to newcomers as well as a satisfying compendium, presumably, for devotees, Yardbird Suite is a great document of the one of the greatest of all musicians, the incomparable Charlie Parker.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Richard H. Kirk: Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1

From 1974 to 1994, Richard H. Kirk was a member of the great electronic group Cabaret Voltaire, but he also maintained a solo career from time to time, starting with the remarkable 1978 release Disposable Half-Truths to 1983's Time High Fiction, and a pair of 1986 albums, Black Jesus Voice and Ugly Spirit

After his CV partner, Stephen Mallinder decamped to Australia in 1993 and a last album, the phenomenal The Conversation was released, Kirk found himself truly solo and it seemed to liberate him.  Through the 90s, he worked at a prolific pace, though once when asked how he could release so many albums, he answered in typically modest and matter-of-fact fashion that the technology made it easier.

The 90s was also the peak of the electronica/techno scene and, though Kirk did not become nearly as commercially successful as such performers as Moby, The Orbital, The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and others, he created a body of work that was highly diverse (in a world that could be immersed in a numbing sameness) and utterly distinctive.

Kirk's desire to put the music forward first and his resistance to image meant, among other things, that he employed a dizzying array of monikers for his many projects.  The most well-known of these was his Sandoz project, which began in the early 90s, with others like Electronic Eye, Nitrogen, Orchestra Terrestrial, and many more being utilized during the decade.  There were a few releases under his own name, as well, including one already highlighted here, 1994's Virtual State.

During the first part of that decade, Kirk created a label called Alphaphone that released several 12" vinyl recordings under more noms de plume.  In 1996, the Touch label, which has put out a number of Kirk-related albums over the years, issued a compilation double-disc recording titled Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1.  While there haven't been subsequent volumes, this amazing album, characteristically devoid of any overt references to Kirk, reflects someone at the peak of their powers utilizing digital technology to create fascinating music.

The five aliases employed here include Papadoctrine, Multiple Transmission, International Organisation, Cold Warrior and Robots + Humanoids.  There are three tracks from the first, two for the second, one from the third, four from the fourth and three from the fifth.  Sequencing appears to have been directed towards a more techno oriented sound for the first disc and material on the second that moved in a more ambient direction.

The variety is compelling, with the Papadoctrine and Multiple Transmission material featuring the fastest material and highest bpm, somewhat akin to the 2-disc Nitrogen album, Intoxica, that also came out in 1996.  "Hybrid Energy" kicks things off with a bracing rhythm and lots of great electronic touches, including some percussive elements that keep things moving.  "Dreamreader" slows things down a bit, though there is a steady bongo and cymbal rhythm throughout most of the 10 1/2 minute piece and some recorded voices that break up the material.  "Red Menace" under the International Organisation moniker is somewhat slower and brings in some R&B touches.  A continuing Kirk motif dealing with religious preachers is emphasized in "Antichrist," a Multiple Transmission track that closes the first disc.

The second disc has more of the atmospheric sounds, samples and slower rhythms and beats mentioned above and somewhat reminiscent of Kirk's Electronic Eye work of the period.  An air of mystery pervades the opening to "Yellow Square," the first of four Cold Warrior tracks, before a repeated guitar-like riff enters and a steady drum pattern emerges, followed by another tribal percussive groove.  Another haunting opening brings in "Walk East" which, with its Indian vocal and tabla samples, takes to a stronger ambient path though supplied with a steady electronic bass drum rhythm.  The 11 1/2 minute "Witch Hunt" has a muted snare beat followed by a variety of interesting electronic sounds, some imbued with echo, and a catchy repetitive theme takes over highlighted by a bass-like element.  "Modern Art" has a flute-like opening interspersed with more spaced-out echoey electronic sounds, some of which sounds like it belongs with Cabaret Voltaire's 1992 album Plasticity.  The fastest rhythms of the disc are here, as well, with more cool percussive touches and a five-note pattern overlaid on a three-note figure on keyboards.

The Robots + Humanoids material includes "Indigo Octagon" which has a dripping water like sound and a single-note echoed figure, with a string-like background and other notable sounds over a steady snare.  Guitar-like riffs including a cool three-note one that stands out, nifty cymbal-like sounds, and more sampled singing voices make this a standout track.  "Paranoia" is probably named for its trippy opening with more echoed sounds deep in the mix and an eerie keyboard riff leading to a eight-note bass figure that sets the tone for the piece.  The closer "Moment of Truth" has a four-note opening figure that ends in silence before repeating and then joining with a higher-toned snare and an echoed three-note pattern and a three-note percussive accompaniment.  Later in the track more standout electronic figures, including that one that sounds like a higher toned violin bring the piece to a fade out.  Kirk's way of layering sounds is as well-developed on this piece as anywhere on the record.

This album probably encapsulates the diversity and variety of material that Kirk began to develop from the early 90s with Sandoz and which has largely continued to today, though he is not quite as prolific as he was in the years after Cabaret Voltaire quietly ceased working.  There are a number of great albums from his busy mid-90s period, including the aforementioned Nitrogen release, Virtual State, the Electronic Eye album, Closed Circuit, and the amazing Sandoz release, Dark Continent.

Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1 is one of the great recordings in the 40-year career of a greatly underappreciated sound sculptor (Kirk has, many times, downplayed being a musician, so perhaps "sound sculptor" is more apt?)  Electronic music is often thought of as being one-dimensional, cold, and artificial, but Kirk manages in an album like this to show many facets of a form of music that can be more diverse and sensory than if often assumed with processed sound.  Let's hope he has much more to contribute from the evolving electronic palette from his Western Works Studio.

Richard H. Kirk:  Step, Write, Run: Alphaphone, Vol. 1 (Touch, 1996)

Disc One:  Papadoctrine
1.  Hybrid Energy  8:09
2.  Dreamreader  10:34
3.  Flesh Hunter  9:24

Multiple Transmission
4.  Low Load  8:22

International Organisation
5.  Red Menace  8:24

Multiple Transmission
6.   Antichrist  5:44

Disc Two:  Cold Warrior
1.  Yellow Square  7:06
2.  Walk East  9:35
3.  Witch Hunt 11:30
4.  Modern Art  8:37

Robots + Humanoids
5.  Indigo Octagon  8:10
6.  Paranoia  4:52
7.  Moment of Truth  8:50

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Friedrich Kuhlau: Flute Quintets, Nos 1-3, Op. 51

This was an in-store purchase from Tower Records some twenty plus years back and it can't be recalled why this recording caught YHB's eye, other than that there was some curiosity about what a flute quintet would sound like to a rank amateur just getting into so-called classical music.

Well, listening to this outstanding Naxos recording was a revelation, both in terms of the fine playing by soloist Eyvind Rafn and the string quartet of Lars Holm Johansen on cello, Kim Sjogren on violin and violists Georg Svendsen Andersen and Bjarne Boye Rasmussen as well as in Kuhlau's sure and gorgeous compositions.

The little-known Kuhlau was regarded in his time as a master of the piano as a performer and composer, but was also viewed "as the Beethoven of the flute" as a composer for (though not a performer on) that light, airy and highly expressive instrument.  In Denmark, where he lived most of this adult life, he wrote the music for Elves' Hill, believed to be the first Danish national play and his "King Christian Stood by the Towering Mast" became the royal anthem.

Born in a town near Hanover, Germany in 1786 to a father who was an oboist in the military (as were Kuhlau's uncle and grandfather) and who tutored his son initially on the flute, Kuhlau studied the piano and composition in Hamburg and began a performing career, unaffected by the loss on his right eye in a childhood accident.

When Napoleon conquered a good deal of Europe and Kuhlau discovered he was going to be dragooned into the emperor's army, he left for Denmark, which had not been seized by the French.  He soon became a favorite in his adopted country, to the extent that he was later regarded as a Danish performer and composer.  He became the royal court musician and wrote for the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, earning a handsome sum for his well-regarded work.

Despite his high income, he was a poor money manager and also had to take care of a sister and his parents, so he was continually churning out work for a music publisher who paid on order for Kuhlau's pieces.  Among Danish composers, he has the largest body of published work.

In early 1831, a fire erupted in his home and destroyed a great many manuscripts and this catastrophe proved disastrous for a man whose health was always spotty and whose parents had died the previous year.  Just over a year following the conflagration, in March 1832, Kuhlau died in Copenhagen, at age 45.

These three works were believed to have been written in 1823 and issued in Germany.  The first quintet, in D major, has a famed second movement theme and another well-known (and slower) third movement melodic statement on the violin, but the entire piece is fantastic, including the stunning finale, and reflects what liner note writer Mogens Wenzel Andreasen describes as "the musical language is elegant and gallant, but has about it something of the ruggedness of Beethoven, a testament to Kuhlah's admiration for that composer."  In fact, the influence of Mozart and Haydn also seems present to this untutored ear.

The second quintet, in E major, has a slower, more contemplative melodic theme that is highly romantic and stunning.  The third movement has a lighter touch and is beautifully rendered, as is the highly romantic finale.  By contrast, the third quintet, in A major has a powerful opening movement and a second movement that, the liners tell us, takes into account Kuhlau's great interest in folk music.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Dastan Ensemble with Shahram Nazeri: Homage to Molavi (Rumi)

This wasn't chosen based on what came before (Van Morrison's mystical Astral Weeks), but it is a nice unintentional pairing.  Through Eternity is a fantastic rendering of the mystical and spiritual music of the Sufi branch of Islam and devoted to the great Persian poet, jurist and theologian Jalalaldin Muhammad Balkhi Molvai, or Rumi, recorded by the Dastan Ensemble of Persian musicians accompanied by the superb vocalist Shahram Nazeri at a concert in Washington, D.C. in 1997.

Rumi was born in 1207 in what is now Afghanistan within the Persian empire and died in Turkey at age 66.  Theology was a family occupation, but Molavi added work as a judge and mystical poet to his life's work, the latter coming to the fore when Rumi was in his late thirties and met Shams Tabrizi, a figure of some mystery who is said to have mentored the younger man in the mysteries of Sufism.

Afterwards, Molavi became a prolific poet, composing some 2,500 ghazals, a poetic form usually between 5 and 15 couplets, dedicated the Shams Tabrizi, another 25,000 rhyming couplets known as the Masnavi, and 1,600 quatrains called the Rubaiyat (not the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, a Persian poet, astronomer and mathematician who lived a century or so prior to Rumi.)

Rumi's poetry speaks often of "love," but this is code for the relationship between the believer and the Creator, not between people and there are many other similarly "coded" metaphors, including the drinking of wine and the resulting drunkenness that symbolizes the ecstasy of mystical love.  The beautiful flow and smooth structures of his poetry, even rendered into English from Farsi, is also remarkable and YHB had the pleasure of reading Rumi's works some twenty years ago.

This gorgeous tribute to Molavi by the Dastan Ensemble is framed around the incredible vocal work of Shahram Nazeri, known as a preeminent singer of both Sufi and Persian classical music.  His clear and strong voice is highlighted by the demanding staccato (if it can be called that) embellishments that are a centerpiece of Persian vocalizing. 

Nazeri is backed by the excellent ensemble of Hamid Motebassem on the lute-like tar, the backbone of Persian classical music and setar, the latter being the sitar of north Indian classical music; Hossein Behroozi-Nia on the barbat, another lute-like instrument known as the oud in Arabic-speaking countries; Kayham Kalhor on the setar and the kamancheh, the latter being the original fiddle that is the great ancestor of those instruments found later in Asia and Europe; and Pejman Hadadi, on the tombak, a drum in the shape of a goblet, and the daf, a Sufi ceremonial instrument that is a large frame drum with rows of metal rings on the inside to make a distinctive ringing percussive sound.

This concert focuses on two types of Persian modal structures: the Bayat-e-Esfahan and the Mahur, with five pieces performed in the first and a longer single work from the second.  The first track "Dar Asheghee Peeceede'am" (Intertwined in Love) uses twenty-one couplets from Rumi.  The last piece, ""Del Meeravad Ze Dastam" (My Heart is Slipping from My Grasp) takes a much shorter sampling from the work of another masterful Persian poet, Hafez, who lived in the century following Rumi, but who had similar thematic concerns.

Persian music is among the most majestic of any in the world and this a performance by true masters of the Sufi devotional form, rendering sound in a fashion that does great justice to the spirit of the Sufi poetic paragons of Rumi and Hafez.

Monday, March 10, 2014

Charles Mingus: Epitaph

Having just finished Tonight at Noon, an interesting and well-written account by Sue Graham Mingus of her years with jazz composer and bassist par excellence Charles Mingus, this seemed like a good time to highlight a project that she and Andrew Homzy, director of the jazz program at Montreal's Concordia University, developed as Homzy worked with Mingus' original manuscripts kept by Sue Mingus.  Then, composer Gunther Schuller was brought in to conduct a concert in 1989, that was a reworking of Mingus' ill-fated and incomplete Epitaph and which was released on Columbia Records in 1990.

Mingus had attempted to create an unusual recording in 1962 that led to a disastrous scenario captured on The Complete Town Hall Concert.  Essentially, the promoter felt the performance was a standard concert and Mingus claimed it was an in-process public rehearsal.  At one point, with copyists scrambling to write down last-minute instructions from Mingus and tension growing, the volatile leader yelled to the assemblage to "get your money back" from the promoter.

This was the first recording of Mingus' music that this blogger owned, having purchased it when it came out.  Then, came the memorable experience of seeing Epitaph performed live at the Hollywood Bowl with Branford Marsalis, then at the peak of his success, opening with a trio.  Having found online the Los Angeles Times review by a less-than-impressed Leonard Feather, this blogger's enjoyment of the concert and the record must be chalked up to naivete, having only been a greenhorn jazz listener of about a year or so by that point.

Regardless of how much this music was reconstructed by Homzy based on a spectrum of material left behind by Mingus that ranged from nearly non-existent to complete, it is a fascinating sampling of the spirit of the man and his multi-faceted and highly complex and creative approach to jazz composition.

The two-disc set was recorded at Alice Tully Hall and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York on 3 June 1989 and the orchestra of thirty musicians included half a dozen who were either at the 1962 rehearsal or were wanted to perform the piece by Mingus. 

Among the veterans who played at the 1989 concert were trombonist Britt Woodman, trumpeters Snooky Young, Jack Walrath and Lew Soloff, alto saxophonist John Handy, tenor sax player George Adams, and pianists Sir Roland Hanna and John Hicks.  Younger players included trumpeter Randy Brecker and Wynton Marsalis, altoist Jerome Richardson, vibraphonist Karl Berger, and guitarist John Abercrombie among others.  The ensemble performs well, navigating through some challenging orchestration of the kind that marked some of Mingus' finest work, such as the amazing The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963) that was highlighted here previously.

The biggest crowd reaction comes with a spirited rendition of a classic Mingus piece "Better Git It In Your Soul,' but there are plenty of other fine moments, including "Moods in Mambo,"Monk, Bunk & Vice Versa (Osmotin')," and "The Children's Hour of Dream," and "Ballad (In Other Words, I Am Three)," all of which are emblematic of Mingus' particular talent for creating a large ensemble sound that merged so many different musical facets with striking uses of instrument clusters and elements of blues, bop, orchestral music and other resources in imaginative and creative ways.

The booklet has a short essay by Homzy about the circumstances surrounding Mingus' creation over years of Epitaph and the 1962 misadventure, followed by a much-longer and occasionally highly-technical "guide" to the work by Schuller.  The latter concluded by observing that "this recording, while not the perfect realization of Epitaph—can that ever be achieved?—is an enthusiastic, dedicated, loving recreation."

That it is and, although it may be true that Mingus' drive and talent for pushing musicians might have made this recording more lively and bolder had he lived to conduct it, it is a singular achievement, for which Sue Mingus, Homzy, Schuller, and the talented ensemble of musicians deserve much credit.  Obviously, in the end, Charles Mingus' tremendous compositional gifts are at the heart of what makes Epitaph his masterpiece, even if unrealized during his lifetime.