Jean-Claude Vannier, L'enfant Assassin Des Mouches (1972)

Jean-Claude Vannier is best known in Europe (and all but unknown in the United States) as a celebrated composer of film scores, and as an arranger and producer of French pop music, he has worked with everyone from Brigitte Fontaine to Françoise Hardy to Johnny Hallyday. He is also known among music aficionados as the genius-arranger behind Serge Gainsbourg's classic concept LP Histoire de Melody Nelson. That recording, with its bizarre and otherworldly blend of musical and non-musical sources, which effortlessly wound rock, jazz, pop, found-object music, avant-garde, and even funk into a seamlessly, utterly disconcerting whole, has been sampled worldwide by hip-hop artists and DJs. L'Enfant Assasin des Mouches ("The Child Killer of the Flies") is Vannier's first solo recording, and an underground Francophone (and now worldwide) classic. Inspired by the work he did with Gainsbourg on Melody Nelson in 1972, he and his ensembles Insolitudes, set out to create his own concept work, blending everything he'd been working on and extending his range with total studio and aesthetic freedom. This suite, comprised of 11 parts (with truly weird and creepy track introductions by Gainsbourg), is a wonder, a truly strange bit of '70s musicalia. This set is the terrain where soundtrack music, classical music, gauche pop, hard rock, French café music, Middle Eastern modal music, vanguard musical iconoclasty, and sound effects collide, stroke, and ultimately come into union with one another -- often in a single cut. This music is alternately violent, garish, tender, elegant, silly, and gritty. Vannier plays piano, clavinette, and flutes, and directed the orchestra. The strings here are the result of a multi-tracked string quartet sounding like a 10001 string orchestra. He used three guitarists, electric bass, a single drummer and two percussionists, a reed and brass section, an accordionist, and a choir to achieve this. Its seamlessly beautiful yet hideous juxtapositions should never have worked, but they become the face of something so far beyond their individual parts that the end result is singular in both conception and execution. L'Enfant Assasin des Mouches is to music what surrealism was to literature: a bold new step that has been unmatched in vision and unequaled in performance since it was recorded. Highly recommended to anyone interested not only in soundtrack music, but in anything adventurous. This is a truly underground classic. [The CD version, released in 2005, contains a pair of bonus tracks taken from another Vannier LP entitled Point d' Interrogation.] (allmusic.com) 

1. L'enfant la mouche et les allumettes (4:22)
2. L'enfant au royaume des mouches (3:57)
3. Danse des mouches noires gardes du roi (3:20)
4. Danse de l'enfant et du roi des mouches (2:52)
5. Le roi des mouches et la confiture de rouse (6:28)
6. L'enfant assassin des mouches (1:52)
7. Les gardes volent au secours du roi (6:55)
8. Mort du roi des mouches (3:29)
9. Pattes de mouches (0:51)
10. Le papier tue-Enfant (2:44)
11. Petite agonie de l'enfant assassin (0:31) 

Claude Engel: guitar
Denys Lable: guitar
Raymond Gimenez: guitars
Tonio Rubio: guitar
Pierre-Alain Dahan: drums
Jean-Pierre Sabar: piano
Jean-Claude Vannier: piano, little piano, harpsichord, bombard, flute, recorder, bells
Marc Chantereau: percussion
Michel Zanlonghi: percussion
Jean-Louis Chautemps: soprano saxophone
Philipe Mathe: soprano saxophone
Marc Steckar: trombone, tuba
Marcel Azzola: accordion
Pierre Llinares: bugle
Jean and Ginette Gaunet, Pierre Llinares, and Hubert Varon: string quartet
Louis Martini: choir director of the Choir of Young Musicians of France
Jean Gaunet: rule strings (note: questionable translation to English)
M. Pailleux: tuner 

info | 

http://www.jeanclaudevannier.fr/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Claude_Vannier

http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=28895

http://www.allmusic.com/album/l-enfant-assassin-des-mouches-mw0000352791

http://www.discogs.com/Jean-Claude-Vannier-LEnfant-Assassin-Des-Mouches/release/2976871

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Abraxas: The Book of Angels Vol. 19 (2012)

Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz steps out on his own to make one of the most primal and tribal installments in the Book of Angels series. Drawing on his Sephardic roots, Shanir plays gimbri throughout, giving the music a primeval Moroccan edge. Featuring the intense guitar pyrotechnics of Eyal Maoz and Aram Bajakian (who recently has been tearing it up in Lou Reed’s new band) and the atavistic drumming of Kenny Grohowski, this is Ritualistic Jewish Rock for the 21st century by a brilliant young lion from the East Village via Brooklyn/Israel! (tzadik.com)

1. Domos
2. Tse'an
3. Nachmiel
4. Yaasriel
5. Muriel
6. Maspiel
7. Aupiel
8. Nahuriel
9. Biztha
10. Zaphiel

Aram Bajakian: Guitar
Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz: Gimbri
Eyal Maoz: Guitar
Keven Grohowski: Drums

info | 

http://www.tzadik.com/index.php?catalog=8302

Goliath, Goliath (1970)

Goliath were a short-lived but very promising UK band.Their eponymous album, released in 1970, has elements of rock, folk and blues, as well as an Eastern touch. Vigorously jagged, propulsive blues rock with shards of brass and metal, played with a contrapuntal intensity which alternately empowers and submits to the tough and salacious belting of Linda Rothwell, perhaps the most sexually aggressive (and demanding) British female singer of her generation. A band with fantastic potential, they faded into obscurity.

01. Port And Lemon Lady – 4:03
02. Festival Of Light – 3:56
03. No More Trash – 2:43
04. Hunters Song – 9:45
05. Men – 3:43
06. I Heard About A Friend – 4:30
07. Prism – 6:05
08. Emerge, Breath, Sunshine, Dandelion – 3:32
09. Maajun (A Taste Of Tangier) – 4:35

Linda Rothwell: Vocals
Joseph Rosbotham: Flute, Saxophone
Malcolm Grundy: Guitar
John Williamson: Bass
Eric Eastman: Drums, Percussion, Vibes

info |

http://rock.co.za

http://rateyourmusic.com

http://prognotfrog.blogspot.com.es/2006/11/goliath-goliath-uk-1970-prog-rock-320.html

Ned Rothenberg, Power Lines (1995)

As these words are being written Ned Rothenberg is gearing up for a truncated tour of parts of the Mid West and East Coast with none other than Evan Parker. If his ability to keep confident company with the player regarded by many as the most technically proficient saxophonist of the post-Coltrane era doesn’t pique your interest in checking this disc out I know not what will. Though several years old this release is timely for several reasons. Most prominently perhaps is that the tentet assembled here is comprised of players who are now firmly entrenched in the vanguard of creative improvised music. Dave Douglas, Mark Feldman, Mark Dresser, Rothenberg himself- the roster reads like an All-Star free jazz band and from the music it’s easily apparent that it is.

Another reason for the disc’s inviting timeliness is Rothenberg’s inventive charts, which possess a startling equilibrium between intricate composition and spontaneous improvisation. The group works equally well as big band or in smaller ensemble combinations as the opening Latin-tinged noir of “Hidalgo” amply makes clear. An interlocking latticework of rhythmic meters via strings and percussion provides the base for the soloists including Feldman, Velez, Rothenberg and Dresser. “Strange Sarabande” is a loping, chamber piece with lilting arco figures and sporadic pizzicato punctuation. “Bellhop Vontz” denotes still another direction; this time piloted by a fractured bass-fueled groove. The horns and strings shuffle and shimmy in a disjointed dirge of dissenting voices until an eventual return to linear momentum. Rothenberg’s alto comes to the fore on “Crosshatch” for an extended solo doused in dour harmonics. Later sections of the piece follow an ebb and flow with the leader’s horn always maintaining a subterranean sense of direction. The final “In the Rotation” is the most orchestral sounding piece in the program and works out of a revolving merry-go-round of rhythms with cogent solo statements from nearly all of the members of the ensemble.

An added extra is John Corbett’s insightful and descriptive liner notes, which provide excellent commentary to the music. A clever, if somewhat annoying, impetus to read them is that they are the only place where personnel and the listings of their instruments can be located. Since this disc’s initial release Rothenberg has continued along a uniform path of excellence, but flashing back to his earlier efforts here is well worth the energy and expense involved. If you find yourself faced with the opportunity definitely catch him on tour. (By DEREK TAYLOR, allaboutjazz.com) 

01 Hidalgo

02 Strange Sarabande

03 Bellhop Vontz

04 Crosshatch

05 In the Rotation 

Ned Rothenberg: alto saxophone, bass clarinet

Kenny Berger: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet

Dave Douglas: trumpet

Josh Roseman: trombone

Mark Feldman: violin

Ruth Siegler: viola

Mark Dresser: bass

Erik Friedlander: cello

Michael Sarin: drums

Glen Velez: percussion

info |

http://www.nedrothenberg.com/

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=5186

http://www.discogs.com/Ned-Rothenberg-Power-Lines/release/1473693

Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention, The Ark (1968)

The Ark is a gem of a soundboard from the Boston-based venue on July 18, 1968. These are the infamous stolen tapes that "grew fins" and swam out of Zappa's studio. "Some Ballet Music" and arguably the most intense "My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama" is out there and is heartbreakingly edited with over three minutes left. (Note: those looking (and you should) for the full performance, try to locate the Twenty Years Ago...Again disc on the Evil Records imprint). The requested "Uncle Meat/King Kong (Medley)" is likewise worth the price of admission. (allmusic.com)

01. Intro 0:56
02. Big Leg Emma 3:42
03. Some Ballet Music 7:16
04. Status Back Baby 5:48
05. Valarie 3:30
06. My Guitar 6:46
07. Uncle Meat/King Kong 23:49

FZ: lead guitar/vocal
Roy Estrada: bass/vocal
Don Preston: keyboards/electronics
Buzz Gardner: trumpet
Ian Underwood: alto sax, piano
Bunk Gardner: tenor sax
Motorhead Sherwood: baritone sax
Jimmy Carl Black: drums
Arthur Dyer Tripp III: drums

Recorded at The Ark, Boston

info |

http://www.allmusic.com/album/beat-the-boots!-mw0000263307
http://zappagrita.blogspot.com.es/2009/10/ark-1991.html

Frank Zappa, Feeding The Monkies At Ma Maison (2011)

Frank Zappa's pioneering work on the Synclavier gave him the freedom to hear works that he considered too challenging for live musicians to perform, though Ensemble Modern worked hard enough to be able to play several of his works for the instrument in concert before his death in 1993. Since the technology behind the Synclavier was evolving along with Zappa's music, approximately doubling its processing and memory capacity every two years, it gave the composer greater tools to work with to realize his compositions. Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison was compiled for an LP by Zappa prior to his death, but never mastered and released, though some of the music on this CD was further edited and eventually issued in altered and brief form.

During his lifetime, Zappa often revised his compositions, especially his works for Synclavier, which grew in complexity as he utilized the instrument, incorporating nearly impossible percussion parts and abstract themes that suggested a blend of 20th century classical music and dark, eerie film music. "Buffalo Voice" was cut substantially in length prior to its appearance on Civilization Phaze III, this longer edit is just as valuable, where one can hear snippets of his orchestrations that sound as if they have roots in his writing for 200 Motels, while adding the effects of a violin played to sound like a buzzing fly and daughter Moon Unit Zappa's spoken voice. The eerie choir of speed-manipulated voices is central to "Secular Humanism," while "Worms from Hell" is an example of Zappa as the mad scientist in his studio lab, bringing to life a musical experiment that no one could have created. Both "Feeding the Monkies at Ma Maison" and "Samba Funk" are previously unissued in any form, the former a 20-minute masterpiece and the latter the most accessible of these sessions. While Frank Zappa's music for Synclavier may be too challenging for the casual fan of his music, serious listeners will find much to enjoy in this new treasury from his massive personal library of performances.

1. Feeding the Monkeys At Ma Maison (20:12)
2. Buffalo Voice (11:35)
3. Secular Humanism (6:37)
4. Worms From Hell (5:31)
5. Samba Frank (11:29)

Artwork [Lenticular Lascivity By]: Elite Packaging
Compiled By [Cd Compilation By]: Gail Zappa, Joe Travers
Executive-producer [Executricks Production], Art Direction, Text By: GZ*
Layout [Popsicle Staging, Special Effects]: Michael Mesker
Management [Production Management]: Melanie Starks
Producer, Composed By, Arranged By, Performer [All Compositions Executed On The Synclavier Dms By]: Frank Zappa
Research [Vaultmeisterment]: Joe Travers
Typography [Hand Lettering]: FZ*
Vocals [Composer's Featured Vocalist]: Moon Zappa

info | 

http://www.zappa.com

Bester Quartet, Metamorphoses (2012)

A mainstay of Radical Jewish Culture since 1997 and one of the most consistently rewarding groups out of the New Jewish Renaissance, Bester Quartet (formerly The Cracow Klezmer Band) has released six CDs of brilliant New Jewish music on Tzadik. Distinguished by a daring repertoire and a virtuosity that is always at the service of the music itself, their newest CD is one of their very best. Ten original compositions that combine a dramatic sound, classical precision and the excitement of improvisation with the Jewish tradition. (tzadik.com)

01. Hope
02. The Time of Freedom
03. The Magic Casket
04. The Life of a Man
05. Metamorphoses
06. The God Forsaken
07. The Fantasia
08. Prologue
09. Solitude
10. The Spectre

Jaroslaw Bester: Bayan
Oleg Dyyak: Bayan, Clarinet, Percussion, Duduk
Jaroslaw Tyrala: Violin
Mikolaj Pospieszalski: Double Bass
Tomasz Zietek: Trumpet

info |

http://www.besterquartet.com

Billy Martin & Will Blades, Shimmy (2012)

By all accounts from those who were there, the initial on-stage meeting between drummer Billy Martinand Hammond B-3 organist Wil Blades at the 2011 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival was a barn burner of deep, in-the-pocket funk, spiraling soul-jazz, and kinetic grooves. Apparently, the two participants thought so, too; they arranged a late-year West Coast tour, and found time to cut Shimmy in Berkley in the middle of it. Shimmy is greasy; it's full of breakbeat funk, stellar jazz improvisation, and instinctive syncopation. Of these ten tunes -- which range from just over a minute to a tad over seven -- eight were either co-authored by the pair or were written by Blades. The two covers are a fat, nasty reading of Eddie Harris' "Mean Greens" and a straight-up, New Orleans-style take on "Down by the Riverside," with gorgeous, skittering, military-snare breaks from Martin. While there isn't a dud in the bunch, there are some standouts among the originals. "Deep in a Fried Pickle" begins slowly as a rolling, deep funk noir tune, with some great wah-wah effects on B-3 and Martin's backbeat-heavy approach to the vamp allows Blades to get his big batch of chord voicings out and put them on display. It's grimy as hell. "Les and Eddie" reflects -- even with two different instruments -- the true spirit of the collaborations between Les McCann and Eddie Harris. The whomping drum funk of "Toe Thumb," with Blades adding massive, wildly distorted chords to Martin's circular soloing, makes this the meanest tune on the set. The relaxed yet ambitious summertime strut of "Little Shimmy" features startling harmonic work by Blades asMartin urges him on with nearly non-stop fills and rolls while never losing the melodic thrust. Blades' playing style is firmly inside the historic B-3 tradition; he's a deeply melodic improviser, his rhythmic invention and his sonic palette set him apart. Shimmy is everything a drum and B-3 duo record should be: its tunes are high in the fingerpop quotient, it's greasy and danceable throughout, allowing soul-jazz, blues, and funk to get all over one another. Its sense of musical surprise and tight, inspired improvising make it essential for modern jazz and jam band fans. (allmusic.com)

1. Brother Bru

2. Deep In A Fried Pickle

3. Pick Pocket

4. Little Shimmy

5. Mean Greens

6. Les and Eddie

7. Give

8. Toe Thumb

9. Dehna Hunu

10. Down By the Riverside

Wil Blades: Clavinet, Composer, Organ, Primary Artist, Producer

Billy Martin: Composer, Drums, Primary Artist, Producer

info |

http://wilblades.com

http://billymartin.net

http://royalpotatofamily.com

http://www.allmusic.com/album/shimmy-mw0002351602

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