Luciano Berio, Laborintus II (1965)

The text, by Edoardo Sanguineti, develops certain themes from the Vita Nova, Convivio and Divina Commedia, combining them, mainly through formal and semantic analogies, with Biblical texts, Eliot and Sanguineti himself. The principal formal reference is the catalogue, which relates the two central Dantesque themes of memory and usury, or the reduction of all things to market value. Individual words and sentences are sometimes to be comprehended as such, sometimes to be heard as an extension of the sound structure as a whole.

Laborintus II  is a theatre work which can be performed on television, in a conventional theatre, in the open air or any place else permitting the gathering of an audience. The particular space and medium selected condition the length and some of the structural aspects of the work, possible durations ranging between 30 and 50 minutes.

The principle of the “catalogue” is not limited to the text, but underlies the musical structure as well: Laborintus II is a catalogue of references (to Monteverdi, Stravinsky and myself), of actions and attitudes: 1) conventional instrumental or vocal characters or behaviours, 2) sound actions or behaviours external to or modifying the first category or imitating external models, 3) gestures and body movements associated with the first two categories, 4) gestures and body movements not associated with the first two categories.

Thus, Laborintus II is not an opera but a music theatre work – that is, a work which, to paraphrase the words of the philosopher Ernst Bloch, accepts theatre as a laboratory “reduced” to the dimensions of performance, where we test theories and practices which can be used as experimental models of real life. Luciano Berio

A. Laborintus II (Première Partie) 19:06
B.Laborintus II (Deuxième Partie) 13:56

Luciano Berio: Conductor, Composed By
Claudine Meunier:  Contralto Vocals
Ensemble Musique Vivante: Ensemble
Christiane Legrand, Janette Baucomont: Soprano Vocals
Edoardo Sanguineti: Vocals [Speaker]

-Work Details-
Year of composition: 1965
Scored for: for voices, instruments and tape
Composer: Luciano Berio
Librettist: Edoardo Sanguineti
Translator: Edoardo Sanguineti
Parts: 3 female voices
1 speaker Choir: SATB (8 Schauspieler)
Instrumentation: 1 0 3 0 - 0 3 3 0 - perc(2), hp(2), vc(2), cb(1)
Instrumentation details: flute; 1st clarinet in Bb; 2nd clarinet in Bb; 3rd clarinet in Bb (+bass cl(Bb)); 1st trumpet in C; 2nd trumpet in C; 3rd trumpet in C; 1st trombone; 2nd trombone; 3rd trombone; 1st percussion: traps drums, vibraphone, wood blocks, 2 tam-tams, springcoils, guiro, sleigh bells; 2nd percussion: traps drums, wood blocks, guiro, springcoils, maracas, claves, sleigh bells, tam-tam; 1st harp; 2nd harp; 1st violoncello; 2nd violoncello; contrabass
Scenery: 1
Remarks: "Laborintus II" may be presented as a theatrical event, a narrative, an allegory, a documentary, a pantomime etc. It may be performed in the theatre, in concert, on television, on the radio, in the open air etc.
Duration (min): 35
Dedication: to Susan and Marina



info |
http://www.discogs.com/Luciano-Berio-Laborintus-II/release/1719014
http://www.universaledition.com/composers-and-works/composer/54/work/3293

Spectrum Road, Spectrum Road (2012)

Spectrum Road is a groundbreaking collaboration between four giants of modern music: Jack Bruce, Vernon Reid, John Medeski and Cindy Blackman Santana. The collaboration was born from a shared passion for the music of legendary drummer Tony Williams.

“To be able to play and record in this band alongside three of the most creative and stellar musicians in the world is a longtime dream come true,” states Vernon Reid. “The idea for Spectrum Road first came about in 2001 and it was the ongoing belief in the kind of record we knew we could make together that made it come to fruition.”

Spectrum Road opens the ten-track effort with a blistering take on the jazz-rock barnburner "Vuelta Abajo." It's apparent from the get-go that this is no mere exercise in super-group frivolity, but a deeply attuned band speaking a rarefied improvisational language. As the recording unfolds, there's a primal urgency to the performances that ranges from the meditative beauty of "Where" to the searing intensity of "Allah B Praised." Each of these four iconoclasts play to the peak of their musical powers, yet ultimately achieve a whole greater than the sum of their individual parts. Jack Bruce's bass work anchors Spectrum Road, while he also adds vocals to three songs, including the album's centerpiece, a spellbinding version of the classic "There Comes A Time." Vernon Reid delivers one of the most inspired performances of his career. Particularly worth noting is his patient and slow-burning guitar work on "Blues For Tillmon" and a spitfire six-string barrage on "Vashkar." John Medeski shifts tonal colors throughout the ten tracks with flourishes of organ and mellotron. He brings a hefty dose of retro funk to the soaring album closer "Wild Life." As Spectrum Road's cornerstone, drummer Blackman dictates the flow, working in free time, juxtaposing delicate cymbal work against monstrous beats and fearlessly steering the quartet through a deluge of razor sharp turns.

"The band takes the electrifying music of Tony Williams as its starting point and turns it into something totally its own”, says Reid. “There's a vibe from end to end, a certain type of force and ambience that I’ve never experienced before as an artist."

Spectrum Road is named for one of the incendiary tracks on the original Tony Williams Lifetime album, but as these four musicians demonstrate on their debut recording, this isn’t a tribute band. After making rock history with Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker in Cream, legendary British bassist Jack Bruce joined the Lifetime for two records thus serving as Spectrum Road's direct connection to their muse. The group is artfully rounded out with famed guitarist Vernon Reid, of Living Colour, and multi-keyboardist John Medeski, one-third of the juggernaut Medeski, Martin & Wood. Made famous by her ten plus years backing Lenny Kravitz, Cindy Blackman Santana has distinguished herself as an impressively versatile player who’s as comfortable on post-bop sessions with Joe Henderson and Wallace Roney as she is touring with pop stars like Kravitz and husband Carlos Santana. The formidable lineup of Spectrum Road assures the legacy of Tony Williams lives on, and clearly qualifies as a major 2012 music event. (palmetto-records.com)

1. Vuelta Abajo 5:25
2. There Comes A Time 4:17
3. Coming Back Home 4:36
4. Where 12:36
5. An T-Eilan Muileach 4:28
6. Vashkar 5:47
7. One Word 4:14
8. Blues For Tillmon 5:36
9. Allah Be Praised 4:07
10. Wild Life 4:47

Jack Bruce: Bass & vocals
John Medeski: Organ, mellotron
Vernon Reid: Guitar
Cindy Blackman Santana: Drums & vocal



info |
http://www.palmetto-records.com/album.php?album=184
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=42270

John Zorn, The Hermetic Organ (2012)

This is the first volume documenting Zorn's breathtaking solo organ improvisations. Although organ was Zorn's first instrument (he often credits Lon Chaney in the silent classic Phantom of the Opera as a primal influence), in 2011 Zorn surprised even his hardcore fans by initiating a new series of solo organ concerts in churches around the world. Premiering at the historic Christ Church in Philadelphia, the word on these concerts spread like wildfire and further events were set up in Belgium, France and of course in New York. Often late night affairs free to the public, the music is breathtakingly beautiful, and distinguished by a spiritual mood that only a huge pipe organ can create. A perfect outlet for Zorn's dramatic sense of color and contrast, we hear the composer’s mind at work in all its bizarre permutations—huge blocks of sound, chords, clusters, counterpoint, drones, ostinatos, lyrical melodies and more—often all at the same time! This CD presents the climax event of Zorn’s acclaimed Composer Portrait in December 2012 at Columbia University’s Miller Theatre—a thrilling solo organ concert unlike anything you’ve ever heard.(tzadik.com)

Office Nr 4
1. Introit
2. Benediction
3. Offertory
4. Elevation
5. Communion
6. Descent

John Zorn: Organ

info|
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7399

Zoo, Trilogi Peradaban (2009)

This terrific debut from Indonesia shows how passion, rage and sorrow translate into any language. It's a concept album reflecting cultural destruction and persistence; echoing Melt Banana, Naked City, and zeuhl before devolving into folk laments with added flute.

Trilogi Peradaban consists of 22 pieces taken from three recording sessions circa 2007-2008. On the album they are divided into three distinct sections named Neolithikum, Mesolithikum, and Palaeolithikum, or New Stone Age, Middle Stone Age, and Old Stone Age. This all lasts about 40 minutes during which Zoo range from cathartic bass and drum blasts, fierce howling and jabbering, to heavy riffing, deep but abrasive melodies, pseudo-operatic bombast and peaceful acoustic ballads.

The album title means Civilization Trilogy and while this is not a blow by blow account of Indonesian history there is an underlying complexity here that had me researching. Not least, the language and the origin of certain important words. The song "Merdeka" for example is clearly a battle-cry for independence. The word itself is from Sanskrit and has come to mean "freed slave" since Portuguese and Dutch domination of the region. "Merdeka" is among the first 16 tracks which combine a punk aesthetic with the avant-rock genre "zeuhl" as pioneered by Magma. Starting out with "Manekin Bermesin" which probably means something akin to "Puppet Machine" these short, sharp, blasts of aggression use bass guitar and drumming to ignite a musical firestorm. Simple folk sounds and pacing are gradually introduced in the Middle Stone Age section; the contrast is excellent.

Christian Zander of Magma, of course invented his own language -Kobaian- whereas Zoo appear to use Javanese with snippets of Sanskrit, poetry, Islamic references and punk politics. They incorporate a traditional Aceh poem on "Kelak" which doubtless refers to the recent quest for independence in that region. I had rather hoped it was a mention of the Cardassian Damar-class destroyer starship of the Cardassian Union's Central Command in active service around the year 2376 (as per Star Trek). Oh well, we can't have everything.

"Kelak" is part of the last section of Trilogi Peradaban wherein the group exhibit signs of having been possessed by ancient ghosts who shun aggression and modern electric instruments for a mode of expression which favors acoustic sound. Here Zoo slows rhythms and supplements its spirited wailing with mournful harmony and suling (a traditional flute). Throughout the album, lead singer Rully Shabara Herman whacks the jembe (hand drum) and his distinctive voice revels in both the grinding fury of much of the record and the minimal primitivism of the Old Stone Age section.
As aforementioned, this isn't a complete map or history of Indonesia. Indeed, it could be impossible to trace a path from what scientists believe is"Java Man," through Hindu and Islamic dynasties, into European (spice-trade motivated) co-option, independence, new orders, modern democracy, and East Timor, and somehow make coherent artistic sense of Indonesia (and its 17,508 islands). The territory is now home to the world's largest concentration of Muslims. Previously it was home to the world's largest concentration of communists outside of an actual Communist regime. That was until 1965 when (with a list of names from the always helpful CIA) the military and (in the words of Tariq Ali) "Islamist vigilantes" wiped out at least a million communists and their "sympathizers." One of Zoo's songs, "Perang, Saudara," quotes the word "Babat" from Pramoedya Anata Toer, a writer from that era. I'm not sure what the word means but he apparently said as much to Dutch colonists. He was imprisoned (probably for being a leftist) but survived until his death in Jakarta on April 30, 2006.

Zoo use the word "perang" (war) quite often and their music seems to contain both cathartic anger and an accompanying desire for peaceful humanity. I suspect this is a normal reaction to hearing about times such as those when scores of genitals of murdered male communists were hung outside brothels as a warning, but it might just be a healthy rejection of MTV Asia. (brainwashed.com)

Part 1 - Neolithikum



01 Manekin Bermesin 0:44
02 Halilintar 0:38
03 Menyudahi Gelap 0:55
04 Misantrophe 1:28
05 Kupu-Kupu 1:10
06 Berkibarlah Benderaku 1:12
07 Lalat-Lalat 2:11
08 Takluk 3:54

Part 2 - Mesolithikum



09 Di Masa Depan 1:02
10 Merdeka 1:58
11 Buldoser 1:02
12 Kelana 3:48
13 Perang, Saudara 2:21
14 Manusia Manusia Kecil 3:02
15 Para Raksasa 1:36
16 Eskalator 4:38

Part 3 - Palaeolithikum



17 Gisa-Gisa (Tarian Pengampunan) 0:27
18 Doa Pengampunan 1:13
19 Luluh Lantak 1:05
20 Kelak 0:50
21 Ke Medan Perang 1:44
22 Epilog: Yang Berpulang 1:53



info |
http://www.myspace.com/zooindonesia
http://yesnowave.com/yesno032/
http://dualplover.com/zoo.php
http://progmundo.blogspot.com.es/2012/06/zoo-trilogi-peradaban.html

free donwload |
http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Zoo/Trilogi_Peradaban_1091/

Ravi Coltrane, Spirit Fiction (2012)

It’s risky, to say the least, for John Coltrane’s son to take up the tenor and soprano saxophones as a profession, yet that’s what Ravi Coltrane has been doing for 25 years, 15 of them as a leader, and his latest album, Spirit Fiction (his first on the Blue Note label), is his triumph.

He’s plowing mainly in the modal fields of his father’s legacy, music untethered from chord changes, doubly dangerous territory, not just because he’s begging comparisons but because most horn players who go that route get stuck running up and down scales for lack of anything to say or any harmonic weather vanes to follow.

Yet Ravi Coltrane, who’s 46 (he wasn’t quite 2 when John died at the age of 40), wastes no notes, and he seems to have a built-in radar that hones in on the structural shape of the music, however elusive. There’s a free spirit in his playing but it’s never random. Nor is it at all formulaic; it teems with a quiet, persistent passion. And his tone is surefooted, full-bodied, and clean. He doesn’t imitate his father, not at all, though his style has some of its roots in Wayne Shorter, in some ways his father’s most prominent acolyte; and the feel of the music and the ensemble is reminiscent of Miles Davis’ mid-’60s quintet, in which Shorter played a major role.

About a year ago, I saw Coltrane sitting in with Charlie Haden’s Quartet West at Birdland in New York City (subbing for Haden’s usual tenorman Ernie Watts). Toward the end of the set, they played Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman” (on which Haden had played in Ornette’s original 1959 recording). In the middle of the song, there’s a bridge that Ornette takes in a completely different direction. In ever other cover of the tune that I’ve ever heard, the soloist either tries to copy Ornette, note for note, or drifts into chaos. Ravi played a real bridge that followed the spirit of the original but carried his own distinctive stamp. I asked him about it afterward. He said that, growing up in California, he took lessons from Haden, in which they went over that song in great detail, transcribing each part and parsing its structure. His solo grew out of this deep familiarity with the song’s form, and the same can be said for every song (most of them originals) on Spirit Fiction.

The album consists of takes from three sessions. Five of the 11 tracks, recorded by Chris Allen at Sear Sound, feature Ravi’s quintet: Geri Allen, piano; Ralph Alessi, trumpet; James Genus, bass; Eric Harland, drums (with Joe Lovano sitting in on tenor sax on two of the tracks). Another five, recorded by Dave Kowalski, at Bennett’s, feature his quartet: Luis Perdomo, piano; Drew Gress, bass; E.J. Strickland, drums. One, recorded by Joe Marciano at Systems Two, is a sax-drums duet with Strickland. (All the tracks were mastered by Allan Tucker, at Foothill Digital.) The quartet sessions are a bit more adventurous and, sonically, more pumped-up; the quintets are more melodic and sound more stripped-down realistic. But the album as a whole is no mishmash; its various angles come off more like a prism, refracting the same rays of light. And it sounds very good. (stereophile.com)

1. Roads Cross
2. Klepto
3. Spirit Fiction
4. The Change, My Girl
5. Who Wants Ice Cream
6. Spring & Hudson
7. Cross Roads
8. Yellow Cat
9. Check Out Time
10. Fantasm
11. Marilyn & Tammy



info |
http://ravicoltrane.com/
http://www.stereophile.com/content/ravi-coltrane%E2%80%99s-ispirit-fictioni

Alamaailman Vasarat, Valta (2012)

News from the Finnish underworld, the thunder hammers again. "Valtra" is the new work, in German "power" or "power", and is of course again on behalf of the gripping sound of this bizarre band from Helsinki. The most important change: A new man at the drums hammer and a new master of ceremonies, responsible for the sheet metal department. What has changed? The nine new compositions may have become more accessible, but this by no means synonymous with means "diluted". It could perhaps be expressed thus: the energetics of the enormous volume was steered into smaller, more focused tracks, which is for the listener a better overall sound output. It is limited to no longer give priority to go to a full broadside at high speed beats (which make up course, still the icing on the cake), but they have put some more emphasis on sophisticated fine-tuning. And that includes to switch back a few times to switch gears and baladeske climes, where grapples saxophonist and clarinetist, Jarno "Stakula" Sarkula with lyrical, oriental feel melancholy or carrying funeral march music. This gives the repertoire of a high-contrast variation, which we know to appreciate. Seen in the tentative realignment has certainly paid off. Also fits well with the 15-year service anniversary. Congratulations on this and hammer at a good new album.

1. Riistomaasiirtäjä
2. Henkipatto
3. Hajakas
4. Norsuvaljakko
5. Haudankantaja
6. Luu Messingillä
7. Väärä Käärme
8. Uurnilla
9. Hirmuhallinto

Jarno Sarkula: Saxophones, clarinets and tuba
Erno Haukkala: Trombone, brass
Miikka Huttunen: Pump organ, grand piano
Tuukka Helminen: Cello
Marko Manninen: Cello, theremin
Santeri Saksala: Drums, percussion



info |
http://vasarat.com/

Neneh Cherry & The Thing, The Cherry Thing (2012)

2012 collaboration. The Thing took their name from a piece by Don Cherry: when they first got together it was to play his music. So it does make sense that they should eventually team up with Don Cherry's daughter, Neneh. Meeting in London in the fall of 2010 to record, it clicked right away as they all shared an open, free approach to the music. The high energy of The Thing's playing found a fitting counterpart in Neneh's intense style. Includes covers of songs from Suicide, The Stooges, Ornette Coleman, MF Doom, Martina Topley-Bird and, of course, Don Cherry.

1. Cashback (05:58)
2. Dream Baby Dream (08:24)
3. Too Tough to Die (05:13)
4. Sudden Moment (08:26)
5. Accordion (06:10)
6. Golden Heart (04:43)
7. Dirt (06:47)
8. What Reason Could I Give (05:18)

Neneh Cherry: Vocals
Mats Gustafsson: Tenor, baritone saxophones
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten: Bass
Paal Nilssen-Love: Drums



info |
www.smalltownsupersound.com

John Zorn, Templars - In Sacred Blood (2012)

Over a year in the making, the 6th CD in the Moonchild legacy is a testament-tribute to the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon, the legendary crusading Warrior-Monks whose 200-year rise to power ended abruptly in 1307 under accusations of heresy. With lyrics opening a new world of possibilities, the music exudes a powerful emotional intensity. Patton's versatility is at its peak, and he sings everything from Gregorian Chants and atonal melodies to hardcore screams and passionate whispers. The evocative organ of John Medeski adds a deeply religious tone to the drama, and the Dunn-Baron rhythm section is at its raging best! (tzadik.com)

1. Templi Secretum
2. Evocation of Baphomet
3. Murder of the Magicians
4. Prophetic Souls
5. Libera Me
6. A Second Sanctuary
7. Recordatio
8. Secret Ceremony

Joey Baron: Drums
Trevor Dunn: Bass
John Medeski: Organ
Mike Patton: Voice



info |
http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=7398