Alternative Editions of Contemporary Music.

[mcq]

This stunning live album features one of my favourite European guitarist Raul Björkenheim formerly of Krakatau/Vesala. Now this is the type of guitar playing that does it for me. A thrilling mismash of anyone you can think of particularly Jimi's twisted blues crossed with Terje Rypdal in a foul mood ;). But this band is seriously good....

My previous experience with Bjorkenheim's playing is on Edward Vesala's masterpiece, Lumi, one of the very finest records of the Eighties - perhaps the very best, in the same way as Tomasz Stanko's masterpiece Leosia is perhaps the best record released in the Nineties, but I digress.  That new recording with the Scorch Trio looks very interesting.  

Listening tonight to Sonny Sharrock's masterpiece, Ask The Ages.  A prodigiously gifted musician, he provoked many people by deliberately co-opting licks and riffs inspired by rock and blues into his free jazz idiom.  He produced very personal music that was born out of his love for the many traditions that formed him.  The quality of the supporting musicians on display here - Pharaoh Sanders, Charnett Moffatt and Elvin Jones- bear testament to the respect that his contemporaries had for his playing.  This is very much a band record.  Sharrock is happy to sit out and listen to what his fellow musicians are playing, and you can sense him absorbing it deeply, and contributing a solo only when he is ready.  It is worth noting that, in the context of jazz produced in 1991, just how out-of-place it sounds.  The free jazz idiom is very much centred in the Sixties and Elvin Jones's polyrhythmic maelstrom (supporting alternately Sanders or Sharrock) recalls his telepathic work with Coltrane.  What makes it experimental is the variety of musical contexts that this idiom is inserted into.  I hear blues, rock, soul, gospel as well as jazz. What unites the different styles is Sharrock's unmannered and deeply heartfelt approach to his music.  Listen to the gorgeous lyricism of "Who does she hope to be?" and how plainly Sharrock states the theme and the tenderness of bassist Moffatt's obbligato playing.  There is intensity here - just listen to the extraordinary Many Mansions with career-defining solos from both Sanders and Sharrock of heartrending soulful intensity - but it never appears out of place or excessive, but, rather, it feeds into the overwhelming sense of personal lyricism that was at the heart of all of Sharrock's music.  The man is much missed.

[cybot]

Inspired by Paul's post I'll be listening to these two Bjorkenheim specials later....
Unfortunately I've no Sharrock specials on vinyl.....

[mcq]

Listening tonight to Derek Bailey's Ballads, a beautiful album that he recorded in 2002 on John Zorn's Tzadik label.  If the very definition of free jazz is the abandonment of any reliance on the jazz "tradition", then perhaps this is one of Bailey's most iconoclastic releases in its performance of a selection of some of the most beloved and widely-performed standards in the jazz repertory.  The most important thing to realise here is the sense of reverence with which Bailey approaches this music.  These are beautiful songs but the reason why they are so beloved of jazz performers is because they lend themselves so readily to improvisation.  With each of these standards, Bailey lovingly deconstructs the source material, and gradually re-assembles them in inverted form, sometimes dwelling on a particular phrase that has caught his attention, and lingering on its constituent parts.   This is one of his "easier" albums, and one I would definitely recommend to those wary of Bailey's reputation.  These performances are concise and to-the-point with no unnecessary noodling.  I find this record absolutely mesmerising, both in the gentle deconstruction of the standards as well as providing an opportunity to marvel at Bailey's extraordinary technique. A record to digest slowly and savour over many listening.  It is profoundly rewarding listening.

The really interesting thing about a lot of free jazz guitar playing is the change of perception it requires on the part of the listener.  Unlike a lot of traditional guitar playing, chordal development is abandoned in favour of something that is more oppositional to the musician's own nature. Free jazz grew from a dissatisfaction with the state of jazz development and it was recognised that, in order to advance the order of things, it was necessary to discard the inherited language of conservatory-trained musicianship in favour of something more naturally spontaneous that could adopt more easily to playing in the moment.  It is a naturally oppositional music in terms of the challenges it presents to the listener as well as to the performing musicians.  It is possible to interpret traditional forms of jazz as being entirely ego-driven, a way for the performer to showcase their considerable talent as well as a way for the listener to applaud himself on his understanding of the musician's performing aims.  In this way, music can simply appear as a consolation to many people, as well as a reinforcement of the "tradition".  Free jazz exponents distanced themselves from that approach to music.  The importance of the individual was subsumed into the collective context - nothing that any individual performer plays has any more importance than his fellow musicians, what matters is the spontaneous generation of ideas created in the moment.  Derek Bailey once spoke about the importance of disassociating the cerebral part of his playing and concentrating instead on the physical, and if that introduced a sloppiness to his technique, then so be it.  Thr challenge for the listener in that case is to re-evaluate everything he knows about the qualities he recognises about proficient musical performance in the light of what he is hearing in the moment.  And the challenge for the performer's musical performers is how to adapt to this new facet in the performance, that of sloppiness and apparent unsophistication.  It is demanding music, but very rewarding and worth the effort.

[cybot]

Listening tonight to Derek Bailey's Ballads, a beautiful album that he recorded in 2002 on John Zorn's Tzadik label.  If the very definition of free jazz is the abandonment of any reliance on the jazz "tradition", then perhaps this is one of Bailey's most iconoclastic releases in its performance of a selection of some of the most beloved and widely-performed standards in the jazz repertory.  The most important thing to realise here is the sense of reverence with which Bailey approaches this music.  These are beautiful songs but the reason why they are so beloved of jazz performers is because they lend themselves so readily to improvisation.  With each of these standards, Bailey lovingly deconstructs the source material, and gradually re-assembles them in inverted form, sometimes dwelling on a particular phrase that has caught his attention, and lingering on its constituent parts.   This is one of his "easier" albums, and one I would definitely recommend to those wary of Bailey's reputation.  These performances are concise and to-the-point with no unnecessary noodling.  I find this record absolutely mesmerising, both in the gentle deconstruction of the standards as well as providing an opportunity to marvel at Bailey's extraordinary technique. A record to digest slowly and savour over many listening.  It is profoundly rewarding listening.

The really interesting thing about a lot of free jazz guitar playing is the change of perception it requires on the part of the listener.  Unlike a lot of traditional guitar playing, chordal development is abandoned in favour of something that is more oppositional to the musician's own nature. Free jazz grew from a dissatisfaction with the state of jazz development and it was recognised that, in order to advance the order of things, it was necessary to discard the inherited language of conservatory-trained musicianship in favour of something more naturally spontaneous that could adopt more easily to playing in the moment.  It is a naturally oppositional music in terms of the challenges it presents to the listener as well as to the performing musicians.  It is possible to interpret traditional forms of jazz as being entirely ego-driven, a way for the performer to showcase their considerable talent as well as a way for the listener to applaud himself on his understanding of the musician's performing aims.  In this way, music can simply appear as a consolation to many people, as well as a reinforcement of the "tradition".  Free jazz exponents distanced themselves from that approach to music.  The importance of the individual was subsumed into the collective context - nothing that any individual performer plays has any more importance than his fellow musicians, what matters is the spontaneous generation of ideas created in the moment.  Derek Bailey once spoke about the importance of disassociating the cerebral part of his playing and concentrating instead on the physical, and if that introduced a sloppiness to his technique, then so be it.  Thr challenge for the listener in that case is to re-evaluate everything he knows about the qualities he recognises about proficient musical performance in the light of what he is hearing in the moment.  And the challenge for the performer's musical performers is how to adapt to this new facet in the performance, that of sloppiness and apparent unsophistication.  It is demanding music, but very rewarding and worth the effort.

Great write up about Derek's modus operandi and the whole concept of Free Jazz Paul. At the end of the day it's just music.....for those with an open mind to let it sing.

[fergus]

I have also posted this in the Classical Music section but thought that I would put it here too as it is very different to anything else that I have in my collection:

Jan Garbarek: Mnemosyne....







I have been listening to this 2 CD set over the weekend and it is quite unlike anything that I have heard before. Those in the Classical Music section will be familiar with the excellent vocal ensemble The Hilliard Ensemble and also of the music that they perform on this set namely Tallis, Dufay etc. However they also sing various other folk songs to their normal high standard. The difference comes with the “free accompaniment” of Jan Garbarek playing on either a soprano or tenor saxophone. I have never hever heard of this instrumentalist before but I read somewhere recently that his album that preceded this particular one, Officium, was ECM’s biggest seller ever!

On one level this sounds like Gregorian Chant being accompanied by the ravings of a solo jazz saxophonist yet on another level the fusion of the vocals and the solo saxophone is on a ethereal plane all of its own. I can see why it polarizes opinion on each end of the spectrum!

[cybot]

Nice one Fergus :)

[fergus]

Nice one Fergus :)

Very, very different for me Dermot; I have not made up my mind about it yet!

[cybot]

Nice one Fergus :)

Very, very different for me Dermot; I have not made up my mind about it yet!

Not to worry Fergus. I know people who can't stand Garbarek! I can listen to him and enjoy what he does. It's just that himself and Jarrett propped up the ECM label for years and said people got sick listening to him :) But there are two ECM albums you will definitely like. All will be revealed in due course :)

[Diapason]

I remember Officium being utterly massive but I fear I never really got it. Must give it another go some day.

[markof]

I was lucky to see/hear them perform their Officium Novum in the North Cathedral, Cork in 2011.
The performance was totally non-amplified and they used the building as a "sound box" and were able to fine tune volume, tone, reverberation, delay and resonance by moving between the main aisle/nave, transepts and main altar areas.
Garbarek made the most of the high, domed ceiling over the altar while the singers moved throughout the cathedral.

Sheer magic.

Mark.