Archive
Yoshie Fruchter of Pitom on Klezmer podcast
The latest Klezmer Podcast features an interview and tune from Yoshie Fruchter, front man for Judaic rock band Pitom. 
The Pitom debut (2008) is one of my favorites from Tzadik‘s Radical Jewish Culture series… one of the rare rock bands in the John Zorn Jewish musical revolution…
Listen to the podcast HERE, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (free).
Check out Yoshie Fruchter‘s Pitom:
Find the Klezmer Podcast on the web, MySpace, Twitter, and Facebook.
~Dan – np: Michael Kelsey – Gruvency 
Radical Jewish Culture in Paris
If you’re going to be in Paris, France, between the 9th of April and the 18th of July, 2010, check out this Radical Jewish Culture exhibit at the Museum of Jewish History. It features John Zorn, Ben Goldberg, Marc Ribot, David Krakauer, Frank London, Anthony Coleman, Mark Feldman, Sylvie Courvoisier, and more.
Info about the exhibit (in French) is below…
~Dan – np: Copeland – You Are My Sunshine
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More info at http://www.mahj.org/
Le MAHJ présente la première exposition consacrée à la Radical Jewish Culture, mouvance musicale issue de la scène underground newyorkaise des années 1980 et 1990.
En parallèle à l’exposition est organisé un programme de concerts exceptionnel : John Zorn, Anthony Coleman, Mark Feldman et Sylvie Courvoisier, David Krakauer, Frank London, le Ben Goldberg Trio (ex-New Klezmer Trio)… Les plus grands noms de cette scène. joueront dans des dispositifs pour la plupart inédits en Europe.
En 1992 se tient à Munich un événement au titre manifeste : Festival for Radical New Jewish Music. Le programme du festival est imaginé par le compositeur et saxophoniste new-yorkais John Zorn, qui s’entoure pour l’occasion de figures majeures de l’underground new-yorkais : Lou Reed, John Lurie, Tim Berne, mais aussi Marc Ribot, Frank London, David Krakauer, Roy Nathanson, Elliott Sharp ou encore Shelley Hirsch. John Zorn choisit d’y présenter une pièce intitulée Kristallnacht en remémoration de la Nuit de Cristal du 9 novembre 1938 : une pièce puissante qui transgresse les normes d’écoute, en mêlant improvisations free-jazz et klezmer, discours d’Hitler et bruits de bris de vitres.
L’événement fait date : des musiciens juifs américains jouent en Allemagne et tentent, pour la première fois, de retracer la genèse des musiques de la scène underground newyorkaise à travers des sources juives. Dans le sillage de ce moment fondateur, des tournées sont organisées en Europe, tandis que des clubs de Manhattan, telle la Knitting Factory, accueillent des festivals de Radical Jewish Music associant performances, lectures et débats, et soulevant des questions essentielles à leurs yeux : qu’est-ce que la musique juive d’aujourd’hui ? que dit la musique que l’on joue de nos origines et de notre expérience de vie ?
Dès les années 1970 et 1980, des musiciens juifs new-yorkais, très présents sur les scènes alternatives du rock, du punk, de l’avant-garde jazz et de la musique contemporaine, (re)découvrent le répertoire des musiques juives populaires, notamment celui des musiques juives d’Europe orientale, le klezmer. Ces acteurs clés de l’avant-garde musicale et de la world music y puisent – non sans un certain degré de contestation – un nouvel engagement artistique qui souligne la force du lien qui les rattache à leur culture juive, vécue comme source d’inspiration et de questionnements constants.
New York est leur foyer de création, en particulier le sud de Manhattan. Les quartiers longtemps populaires de l’East Village et du Lower East Side ont accueilli, au début du XXe siècle, les populations juives immigrées d’Europe de l’Est. Dans les années 1950, ils deviennent le refuge des avant-gardes esthétiques, depuis la Beat Generation ( Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg ,William Burroughs) jusqu’à John Cage et Andy Warhol. Espace de contestation intellectuelle, esthétique et politique, ce New York radical a longtemps gardé les traces de la culture yiddish, qui y a connu une véritable renaissance. Cette atmosphère culturelle très spécifique imprègne encore fortement les lieux, lorsque les musiciens de ce qui deviendra la Radical Jewish Culture s’affirment artistiquement, au cours des années 1980.
Dans le prolongement de cet héritage, John Zorn crée en 1995 la collection « Radical Jewish Culture » (plus de 120 titres parus à l’heure actuelle) sous le label Tzadik, devenu depuis une référence incontournable des musiques alternatives. Les albums édités dans cette collection s’inscrivent comme autant de réponses aux questions qui s’imposent aux musiciens confrontés à la tradition protéiforme dont ils sont issus.
Le parcours de l’exposition est thématique ; à travers une approche essentiellement sonore et visuelle, il revient sur les temps forts de la création musicale, depuis la scène du Klezmer Revival jusqu’aux explosions sonores du groupe phare de John Zorn, Masada, en passant par le festival de Munich de 1992.
À partir de l’écoute se déploie le contexte historique, musical et artistique dans lequel la musique a été créée. Il met en lumière le réseau d’influences des musiciens, parmi lesquelles : la Beat Generation, présentée notamment à travers la démarche de deux icônes de ce mouvement, le plasticien Wallace Berman et le poète Allen Ginsberg ; les artistes juifs révolutionnaires du début du XXe siècle, comme El Lissitzky ; ou encore la scène du rock alternatif des années 1970. Grâce à l’implication des acteurs clés de cette scène, de nombreux documents d’archives (interviews, prises de concerts et textes largement inédits) ont pu être rassemblés.
Comme le dit John Zorn, la Radical Jewish Culture est tout à la fois une mouvance musicale, un mouvement aux résonances politiques diverses affirmées et assumées, une communauté de musiciens et, plus largement, une communauté esthétique.
Commissariat de l’exposition : Mathias Dreyfuss, Gabriel Siancas et Raphaël Sigal
Avec le soutien exceptionnel du label Tzadik
Avec le soutien de l’Ambassade des États-Unis d’Amérique en France
recent jazz {Feb/Mar 2010}
So, I usually don’t do album reviews, but I get tons of music; so I figured I’d do little snippet reviews once a month or so… here are some recent jazz CDs I got recently. All of them were pretty darn fabulous…
Mycale – Masada Book Two, Book of Angels, Volume 13 (Jan 2010) I’m a BIG fan of the Masada Book Two series. John Zorn’s post prolific book of music was for the Masada quartet… until he had a spurt of writing material and wrote 300+ songs for the Masada Book Two series. Each year, 3 or 4 different artists release albums on Tzadik covering Zorn’s MB2 series (Secret Chiefs 3 and Medeski Martin & Wood have been my faves thus far). This Mycale group is the first vocal group, and I was skeptical how it’d turn out. Well, it turned out fantastic. It features vocalizations by Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (Israeli singer), Sofia Rei Koutsovitis (jazz vocalist), Basya Schecter (of Pharoah’s Daughter), and Malika Zarra (Moroccan-French singer). I am a fan!! My favorite track is “Moloch.”
http://www.myspace.com/mycalevocalgroup
Yuka Honda – Heart Chamber Phantoms (Jan 2010) Yuka Honda puts out great music – whether it be with Cibo Mato, Sean Lennon, or downtown NYC jazz musicians. This is her third CD in Tzadik’s Oracles series. It’s a breath of fresh air. Experimental yet poppy. She keeps making enjoyably melodic music that punches the envelope in the mouth. Give “Hydrosphere” a listen. I hope it’s sooner than 5 more years until her next solo record.
http://www.myspace.com/yukahonda
Mark Feldman & Sylvia Courvoisier – Oblivia (Jan 2010) The duo of Feldman-Courvoisier is a familial one in the Tzadik catalog. I always know I’ll like it. While I can’t say that Oblivia is much different than their past releases, it is an enjoyable listen. My favorite track is “Messiaenesque.”
http://www.myspace.com/sylviecourvoisier
http://www.myspace.com/markfeldmanviolin
Satoko Fujii & Natsuki Tamura – 4 records: Ma-Do’s Desert Ship / Zakopane / Gato Libre’s Shiro / First Meeting’s Cut the Rope (late 2009/early 2010) I’ve been a fan for Satoko Fujii’s for a while. Her 2009 duo album Minamo with violinist Carla Kihlstedt (or Two Foot Yard & Sleepytime Gorilla Museum) was excellent. For these four CDs, she teamed up with trumpeter Natsuki Tamura (with whom she has collaborated in the past). Cut the Rope is a bit more experimental and improvisational (fave song is the title track). Desert Ship is an acoustic quartet jazz album (fave song is the title track and “February – Locomotive – February”). Zakopane features a larger orchestra led by Satoko (fave songs “Tropical Fish” and “Desert Ship”). The Gato Libre album Shiro features a more subdued accordion and guitar alongside Tamura’s trumpet (fave song “Memory of Journey”). All four of these records are great works in modern jazz, and Desert Ship has a great chance of making my 2010 favorites list. These aren’t listed on Amazon yet, but they can be obtained from Downtown Music Gallery (my favorite jazz store, by far).
http://www.myspace.com/satokofujii
http://www.myspace.com/natsukitamura
Salvatore Bonafede Trio – Sicilian Opening (late 2009) This album is quite enjoyable, from start to finish. Salvatore’s piano work is masterful, and the drums and upright bass bounce around nicely. Sal has worked with Lester Bowie, John Scofield, Joe Lovano, Dave Douglas and more (and his musical chops show it). He threw in a couple Beatles covers and a gospel number amongst a great album of original jazz numbers. My favorite track is the opening title track, but the entire album moves really well from speakers to your ears.
http://www.myspace.com/salvatorebonafede
Peppe Merolla – Stick With Me (Feb 2010) So… drummers as band leaders. I was skeptical, but I don’t know why. Joey Baron’s done it nicely. Bobby Previte does it consistently well. George Hrab, while not in the jazz world, puts together a great band. Paul Motian is legendary. Art Blakey – do I even need to go into Art Blakey? OK, Peppe Merolla… he’s in good company of being a great jazz drummer bandleader. His smokin’ sextet is full of horns – which definitely adds to the appeal for me – sax, trombone, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums. The album swings through its hard bop edges. This is a great jazz album – plain and simple.
http://www.myspace.com/merollapeppe
More by late March/early April: including VW Brothers, Chris Tedesco, The Ullmann Swell 4, Loose Grip, Ron Miles, and February & March releases from Tzadik Records…
~Dan – np: Opeth – Blackwater Park
John Zorn 15 instead of 12
this week in the Village Voice:
John Zorn: Deciding to spend a year in NYC with no traveling has led me to one of the most creative periods in my life. In the past four months alone, he has recorded six albums and written the music for three others. He initially planned 12 Tzadik releases for 2010, one per month, but tends to underestimate his own frenetic output, as “it looks like it will be more like 15.”
So, anyone go to the Masada Marathon at Abron’s Art Center in New York yesterday or today (Feb 17-18)? How was it?
DAY 1 February 17th (Wednesday)
Cyro Baptista’s Banquet of the Spirits
Ben Goldberg Quartet
Mark Feldman/Sylvie Courvoisier
Mycale
Masada Sextet
DAY 2 February 18th (Thursday)
Uri Caine solo
Masada String Trio
Jamie Saft Trio
Erik Friedlander solo
Masada Quartet
~Dan – np: Charlie Hunter Quartet – Ready… Set… Shango!
John Zorn – Masada Book Two Marathon (NYC)
MASADA ‘BOOK OF ANGELS’ MARATHON!
February 17th & 18th
2 nights. 10 bands. 19 musicians. 1 inspiring book of music!
Written in a flash of creativity during three months at the end of 2004, the 316 compositions in John Zorn‘s Book of Angels (aka Masada Book Two) contain some of his most lyrical and inspiring music. Performed by a wide variety of ensembles over the past 5 years the music has generated 13 CDs to date, with 4 more scheduled for release in 2010. This special Marathon concert brings together 10 different groups in two evenings-five bands per night. Don’t miss this special downtown event presented at the historical Henry Street Settlement at the Abrons Art Center! $30 in advance / $35 at the door (Separate admission each night)
Tickets at https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/710455
Featuring: Uri Caine, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron, Cyro Baptista, Kenny Wollesen, Jamie Saft, Erik Friedlander, Mark Feldman, Ben Goldberg, Shanir Blumenkranz, Sylvie Courvoisier, Tim Keiper, Brian Marsells, Ayelet Rose Gottlieb, Basya Schecter, Malika Zarra, Sofia Rei Koutsovitis, John Zorn, and more
DAY 1 February 17th (Wednesday) at 8pm
Banquet Of The Spirits
Ben Goldberg Quartet
Mark Feldman/Sylvie Courvoisier
Mycale
Masada Sextet
tickets for Day 1 https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7904665
DAY 2 February 18th (Thursday) at 8pm
Uri Caine solo
Masada String Trio
Jamie Saft Trio
Erik Friedlander solo
Masada Quartet
tickets for Day 2 https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/7904675
I wish I lived in NYC!
The Masada Book Two Series (to date):
~Dan – np: Yuka Honda – Memories Are My Only Witness
* Favorite Instrumental Albums of 2009 *
Disclaimer (with a nod to Andy Whitman of Paste): No, I haven’t heard all 8,000+albums released this year. I’ve heard about 200 of them, which makes me at least 97.5% likely to be wrong. I make no claims to objectivity. These albums are my favorites from 2009. You might think that the one you’ve heard that I haven’t heard is the best album of 2009. And you might be right. So go ahead and vent. Enjoy!
As I start this post, I will say that this is all very subjective and really put together for my own purposes. I’ll also state that, yes, some of the music below does have some vocals. For the most part, it’s sequestered to a track or two on a long CD of mostly instrumental goodness. My list, my rules, and/or my breaking of the rules. With that being said, all of the artists below tend to be in the jazz and instrumental frame of reference anyway.
Hopefully my spilling out of music that I like finds interest with someone else. But if not, thanks for stopping by… check out their webpages, SpaceBook pages, yadda yadda yadda. OK, now on to the best of what’s hit my ears this year on the mainly instrumental front…
Honorable mentions: Uri Gurvich‘s The Storyteller, John Zorn‘s Filmworks XXIII: El General, Ahleuchatistas‘ Of the Body Prone, Secret Chiefs 3‘s Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini (The Severed Right Hands of the Last Men), and Skerik & The Dead Kenny G’s Bewildered Herd.
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 Osso String Quartet – Run Rabbit Run: A Tribute to Sufjan Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit (Asthmatic Kitty) :: I feel lucky that I got to witness the world premiere of Osso playing Sufjan Stevens’ Enjoy Your Rabbit at MusicNOW Fest 2007 in Cincinnati. I think almost immediately after that show, I emailed Asthmatic Kitty to see if they were going to release audio or video of that performance. Little did I know that they’d do me one better by putting Osso into a studio to record the full length stringed tribute. Huzzah! While the novelty of the initial project has worn off for me, the musical arrangements stand firm. I really dig Osso and I’m looking forward to their further collaboration with Sufjan, My Brightest Diamond, or their own pieces.   |
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 Mike Patton – Crank High Voltage Score (Lions Gate) :: Well, Mike Patton pretty much took a year off of Ipecac stuff due to Faith No More reuniting. I supposed this score satiated me, but I would have loved for Mondo Cane to make its way out the door in 2009 (as was initially promised by Patton himself). Anyway, this album has a couple of vocal tracks, but overall, it features Mike’s voicebox gymnastics and razor-edged composition schizophrenia that I’ve loved since I first got into Mr. Bungle… Fantômas… and the rest of his vast body of work… |
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 Feldman / Caine / Cohen / Baron – Secrets (Tzadik) :: This album snuck on me as I was re-listening to my 2009 CDs. It has that klezmer jazz feel as is common in the Tzadik Radical Jewish Culture series, but it also has a much more accessible feel as well. With Uri Caine’s piano in the mix, he almost adds a Vince Guaraldi aspect to the klez-jazz that permeates. |
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 Jónsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps (indie) :: Sigur Rós is one of my favorite groups, and a few years ago frontman Jónsi started an arty project with his partner Alex. At first it was a hand-printed notebook and a few musical things on MySpace, but it transformed into a full album as time went along. It’s much more ambient when compared to Sigur Rós – but definitely appeals to fans of Jónsi’s main band. In other news… they have a raw, vegan cookbook PDF on their website (for free)… holy cow… I’m totally gonna make some raw strawberry pie when the season comes around. That and many other recipes look flippin’ delicious… much like the music. Yeah, this is a music blog, right? Sorry for my drooling over “Icelandic rockstar” recipe books. |
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 Wadada Leo Smith with Jack DeJohnette – America (Tzadik) :: I love trumpet… I have some of Wadada’s other work, and I usually find it to be hit or miss. I wasn’t coming in with a lot of preconceptions or whetted appetite about this album, and after the first spin, I loved it. It’s fairly sparse sonically, with only Wadada on trumpet & flugelhorn and Jack on drums. The sound from his horns is so brilliant and melodic, yet searching. I hope they can get together for a 2nd duo outing sometime soon. This wins my “best surprise” award for instrumental albums in 2009. |
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 The Fantastic Terrific Munkle – Music To Dance To (Jazz Groove Australia) :: I got into the Fantastic Terrific Munkle via band member Julian Curwin, who put out his fantastic Tango Saloon out on Ipecac a few years ago. Munkle and Tango Saloon have similar jazz meets groove meets world music meets danceable rhythms. This one was harder to get, as I had to directly order it from Australia (but at least they accept PayPal in US dollars). I wish I could find similar luck with Tango Saloon’s second album, Transylvania (still no stateside release, and the AUD to USD conversion is killin’ me these days). |
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 900X – Music for Lubbock, 1980 (Asthmatic Kitty) :: I got this download for free from Asthmatic Kitty along with the other Library Catalog Music Series (they’re great in supplying review subjects to music bloggers), and the 900X album simply surpassed the others in the collection, if you ask me. I ended up buying it on vinyl… a great addition to the collection. I don’t know if 900x (or James McAlister dba 900x) have any future plans for further releases of this nature. I hope so. |
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 McTuff (Skerik & Joe Doria) – McTuff, Volume 1 (indie) :: Joe Doria’s tribute to Jack McDuff has turned into a great Northwest jazz quartet (and trio when Skerik isn’t available). I’m lucky to have seen them a couple times thus far. Skerik’s sax is fantastic, Doria’s hammond keeps the groove, Lewis’s drums are killer, and Coe’s guitars really know how to burn (which I didn’t really pick up on until the 2nd time seeing them live).   |
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 Roberto Rodriguez – The First Basket (Tzadik) :: Roberto Rodriguez’s Cuban-meets-Judaic music have been some of my favorites out of Tzadik the last few years… this one was a bit different. It’s a score to a film (of the same name) that follows the history of Jewish basketball… its scope covers klezmer, classical, rock, dixieland, and more. Its variety is what helped this album beat out his other 2009 album from the list this year (Timba Talmud is also really good). |
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  Medeski Martin & Wood – Radiolarians II & III (Indirecto) :: Starting in 2008, MMW set out to record three albums back to back to back, heading out on a short tour before each album and going directly into the studio and then out on the road again. They swung through Eugene in late 2008 as part of the Radiolarians III Tour. By that time, only R1 had come out; so the crowd didn’t really know the material being played. They played two sets, one set of experimental meets groove and one set of the eventual R3 material. Near the end of 2009, they released the Evolutionary Boxset (all Radiolarians albums with tons of extras: vinyl/live/remixes/DVDs)… great material from a fantastic groove-oriented jazz band. I’m stoked, as they’re coming through Eugene again in Feb 2010. Yay! |
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 Wynton Marsalis – He and She (EMI Blue Note) :: Wynton is a great trumpet player, puts on a great live show, writes and releases great music, and he’s also a jazz bigot. Sigh. |
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 Eyal Maoz’s Edom – Hope and Destruction (Tzadik) :: Great Jewish instrumental rock. I dug Eyal’s first album, Edom. It appears he’s made an official band out of it… yay. I don’t have much else to add; so I’ll leave it with Tzadik’s P.R. niblit… “Hope and Destruction presents powerful Jewish rock instrumentals from a cutting edge guitarist who combines the harmonic lyricism of Bill Frisell with the angst and skronk of Marc Ribot.” Ribot and Frisell influences… me likey. |
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 Jon Madof’s Rashanim – The Gathering (Tzadik) :: Similar but a bit rockier compared to Eyal Maoz’s Edom, Jon Madof has been on my radar since his first instrumental Jewish rock album, Rashanim (which subsequently turned into the band name similar to Edom’s recent evolution). Anyway, this is Madof’s third album under this band moniker. Guitars, bass, drums… banjo… banjo bass… jaw harp… glockenspiel… melodica… tiple… chonguri… it all sounds great!! Jon also has another band called CircuitBreaker that I’m waiting on with baited breath. |
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 Stabat Akish – Stabat Akish (Tzadik) :: From Toulouse, France, this is one of those rare Tzadik releases that fits into the “Composer Series” that doesn’t bore me to tears. Don’t get me wrong, there are some gems in the CS catalogue, but most of them are violin noodlers. This is more of the rock band variety of composers. It has elements of French street music (which I witnessed first hand in Toulouse, coincidentally), elements of Zorn’s schizophrenia, and elements of the ever excellent Frank Zappa… thanks to the vibraphone and bass marimba acrobatics. |
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 Zu – Carboniferous (Ipecac) :: I got this due to Mike Patton’s involvement… he actually sings on one track (and vocal instrumentation on another). Despite that Patton vocal song, this is definitely an instrumental band and a chiefly instrumental album. Zu is powerful rock from Rome, sometimes lumped in with the math rock scene, sometimes with metal. They have had their hand in the jazz scene in the past, too (their album placed in The Village Voice‘s 2004 jazz poll). This album is my only experience with them, but I hope to get into their diverse and vast back catalogue soon. |
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 SF Jazz Collective – Live 2009 (SF Jazz) :: SFJC 2010 will not quite be the same… they lost Dave Douglas, Joe Lovano, and Miguel Zenon – all key players in the 2007 through 2009 seasons. This 2009 season was dedicated to the music of McCoy Tyner and also features great compositions by the eight members of the band. It is truly a collective of many great musicians, not just a band fronted by a few.  |
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 Tim Sparks – Little Princess: Tim Sparks plays Naftule Brandwein (Tzadik) :: A fingerstyle guitar virtuoso, I’d heard Tim on some other Tzadik releases, but I think this one is my favorite of his. This album is a trio of Tim, Cyro Baptista on percussion, and Greg Cohen on bass. I think the added players helped fill out Tim’s sound – which was awesomely virtuosic, but a touch too sparse on prior releases. |
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 Dave Douglas – A Single Sky (Greenleaf) :: This was the third of three Dave Douglas releases this year. It features three new Dave Douglas tunes and four rearranged Douglas tunes by Jim McNeely and his Frankfurt Radio Bigband. The entire album has a great big band feel, something I’m a sucker for – obviously. I love Dave Douglas’s prolific nature – 2009 was good to his fans. |
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 John Zorn – Alhambra Love Songs (Tzadik) :: One of the more accessible albums in Zorn’s catalogue, this is his ode to his favorite San Francisco Bay Area artists and musicians: Vince Guaraldi, Clint Eastwood, David Lynch, Mike Patton, Harry Smith, and more. The music is played by the Rob Burger Trio (Rob + Greg Cohen & Ben Perowsky). The albums leads off with the very Guaraldian tribute to Vince himself – “Mountain View.” |
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 Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy – Spirit Moves (Greenleaf) :: Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy is coming to Portland / PDX Jazz Fest this coming February! I’m so stoked. This band features Dave on trumpet, Vincent Chancey (French horn), Luis Bonilla (trombone), Marcus Rojas (tuba) and Nasheet Waits (drums). The tuba really adds that bouncy backbone that I love (I’m also a fan of the rockier band Drums & Tuba). Check out DD&BE’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert (video). |
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 Sufjan Stevens – The BQE (Asthmatic Kitty) :: It is atrociously difficult to read the lettering on the front cover… maybe as easy as navigating the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in rush hour. This was Sufjan’s first foray into studio album land since the Avalanche (but that was more of a b-side collection of 2005’s Illinoise). Anyway… it’s a moving, 40 minute piece dedicated to NYC’s traffic clusterbomb. It comes with a film to accompany it, and if you get the double-gatefold vinyl, you get a spiffy comic book written by Sufjan and a fantastic full-color booklet. I like it how Sufjan “keeps it weird” when he’s “keeping it real.” |
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 John Zorn – O’o (Tzadik) :: While the music is stunning, I think longtime Tzadik artwork designer Chippy deserves a ton of credit as well. This album is the band from The Dreamers: Baptista, Baron, Dunn, Ribot, Saft, and Wollesen. It carries on that world music / surf / exotica sound, but adds the element of nature: being a tribute to rare birds (the album is named after an extinct Hawaiian bird). |
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 Tides from Nebula – Aura (indie from Poland) :: Tides of Nebula is powerful, evocative progressive post-rock goodness from Poland. They have links on their MySpace page on how to get their CD. It’s really, really, really, good. It combines the huge sound from post-rock giants like Explosions in the Sky or Mogwai, but adds a tight edge as well – similar to if Brit progressive rockers Porcupine Tree tweaked some Explosions or Mogwai songs. This is one of those bands and albums that I had no idea about even this summer, and then out of nowhere – BAM! Way up to the top of the pile. I’m looking forward to more from this great group.  |
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Masada Quintet & Joe Lovano play Masada Book Two: Book of Angels, Vol. 12: Stolas (Tzadik) :: The original Masada quartet’s last studio album was in 1999. They continued as a quartet (John Zorn / Dave Douglas / Joey Baron / Greg Cohen) throughout most of the 2000s (I got to see one of their last shows in March 2007). Zorn moved on in the 2000s with writing a 2nd book of Masada tunes, not to be played by Masada, but rather interpreted by other bands. The past 11 albums in this series have been fantastic (Secret Chiefs 3, Medeski Martin & Wood, and the Bar Kokhba Sextet (related-to-but-not-Masada) albums have been my faves). I would never have imagined that Zorn would “allow” Masada to record an album for this Masada Book Two series. Well, he didn’t (sort of). He added pianist Uri Caine and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano to the mix. A great “supergroup” album!! |
Where do I get most of these jazz and other instrumental releases? My #1 favorite source for jazz is Downtown Music Gallery in New York. Manny and Bruce and their great staff are superb… and being the official distributor for John Zorn’s Tzadik doesn’t hurt my affection for them. I usually do a monthly Tzadik order (if the releases strike my fancy), and they have a ton of other non-Tzadik jazz and avant-garde releases as well.
And, no, I’m not affiliated, I don’t get a commission, and beyond my initial “big tax refund / gotta get caught up on Zorn order of 2005,” I haven’t gotten a discount with DMG. I just love and support what they do.
My Other Favorites of 2009 Recaps:
- Fave Concerts of ‘09 are recapped *HERE*
- Fave EPs/Vinyl/Live/more of ‘09 are recapped *HERE*
- Fave Vocal Albums ‘09 are recapped *HERE*
- Fave Artists of the Decade are coming soon
- Old Years: 2008I, 2008V, 2008ep, 2008C, 2007V, 2007I, 2007C, 2006, 2005
~Dan – np: Brian Borcherdt – Torches
a new John Zorn book & more MBD
A biography John Zorn by John Brackett is available by Indiana University Press. John Brackett is Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Utah. This is the full-length study of avant-garde American composer John Zorn.
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84773 (paperback)
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=84699 (hardback)
“Brackett’s groundbreaking book . . . confronts Zorn’s contradictory modes of expression that couple the aesthetics of Stravinsky, Boulez, Duchamp and Godard with the transgressive sexuality and violence of Bataille, Genet and Maruo, brilliantly demonstrating how these powerful dualities of thought-real yet fantastic, pleasing yet horrifying-synergize to make Zorn’s compositional voice unique and seminal in the 21st century.” -Severine Neff, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Check out the Table of Contents
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And to be totally nonsequitur, here’s a cute new animated video for My Brightest Diamond‘s song “Inside a Boy“:
Oh, and by cute, obviously that is to mean killing aliens with marbles slung from a slingshot…
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Oh, and go vote. Tomorrow is D-Day…
~Dan – np: Piano Magic – Dark Horses -EP-
astronome: a night at the opera
John Zorn’s Moonchild Trio (Mike Patton/Trevor Dunn/Joey Baron) is due out with a fourth recorded installment (The Crucible) later in 2008/early 2009. Their second installment, 2006’s Astronome, is getting a revised treatment for the stage. From the Downtown Music Gallery‘s newsletter this week:
ASTRONOME: A NIGHT AT THE OPERA!
Director Richard Foreman and musician John Zorn team up for Astronome: A Night at the Opera opening next year [2009] at Ontological-Hysteric Theater.
WATCH VIDEO FEED of rehearsals and see how Foreman develops this production… EVERY WEDNESDAY from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 26, 2008-Jan. 21, 2009 live from the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in Manhattan! [No rehearsals Dec. 24, 2008]
Tune in at http://www.free103point9.org
hmm… No word in the above weblinks if the Patton/Dunn/Baron Moonchild Trio (pictured below) will be in the production. I don’t know how it would work without them, but you never know. I mean, it could probably only be non-rad if they got Renee Zellweger to play Mike Patton’s parts. :) .
NYC trip in 2009 for me? Unlikely. But I can dream…
~Dan – np: Paul Brody’s Sadawi – For the Moment
Anakronic Electro Orkestra
OK, I love Jewish music. I didn’t know I loved it until early 2006, when I got into John Zorn’s Masada, a great mixture of composed, yet improvisationally free jazz, grounded in Jewish melodies.
(Dave Douglas & John Zorn of Masada, photo courtesy of volume12)
Masada led to discovering many more great Jewish, Klezmer, and Slavic/Balkan music artists on John Zorn’s Tzadik label (and other labels):
……Electric Masada / Masada String Trio / Bar Kokhba Sextet (splinter bands from the Masada Book), Steven Bernstein (of Sex Mob), Jon Madof’s Rashanim & CircuitBreaker, Bester Quartet (formerly the Cracow Klezmer Band), Daniel Zamir & Satlah, David Buchbinder’s Jewban (or Cubish) cultural mash-up Odessa/Havana (and the similar mashups from Irving Fields and Roberto Rodriguez), David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness, Jamie Saft, So Called, Balkan Beat Box, Slavic Soul Party!, Davka, Eyol Moaz, Jennifer Charles & Oren Bloedow’s La Mar Enfortuna (both from Elysian Fields), Koby Israelite, Marc Ribot’s Jewish music, Paul Brody’s Sadawi, Talat, Yoshie Fruchter, Z’ev, Zakarya, Klez-Factor, the Tiptons Saxophone Quartet, the Lithuanian Empire, the Alexandria Kleztet, Alex Kontorovich, et cetera…
Anyway, after I got into more John Zorn, I also got into more jazz and more Jewish music. There are many cross-overs between the two worlds (jazz and klezmer). Around that time, I was also getting into podcasts… and the only podcast that focused on klezmer music (that wasn’t always heavy on the vocals) was/is Keith Wolzinger’s Klezmer Podcast.
Recently, Klezmer Podcast #38 (from 9/3/08) focused on French record label, Jumu Music… and then had some clips from the Anakronic Electro Orkestra.
Wow… Anakronic Electro Orkestra is really fresh Jewish music, with a fun rock-meets-klezmer feel – – complete with accordion & clarinet. They don’t have an album out yet, but they’re hoping to have an EP out later in 2008 and a full-length in 2009. Check out some of their music on the MySpaces (“Why Is It Funny” is my favorite):
- http://www.myspace.com/anakronicelectroorkestra
- http://www.myspace.com/jumumusic
- http://www.myspace.com/anakronic
- http://www.anakronic.com/
~Dan – np: George Carlin – It’s Bad For Ya
REVIEW: Richard Crandell @ Cozmic Pizza (Eugene, OR – – 9/13/08)
I had Richard Crandell‘s Mbira Magic (Tzadik 2004) back when I lived in Ohio. I had no idea that he was from Eugene, OR. I happened upon a listing of a performance he did earlier this spring at Saturday Market, but a day late. When I saw that he was playing yesterday at Cozmic Pizza for free… well, I jumped (and bike rode 2+ miles) at the opportunity.
Richard Crandell gave us a solid hour of full on metal. Well, fingers on metal. :)
mbira: the instrument of choice
He plays the mbira (a “thumb piano” pictured above), and he’s quite good. His compositions are very melodic, and his technique is quite fluid. It’s almost as if the instrument is part of him. He was carrying on a conversation with the sound guy when he ran into some technical difficulties, playing all the while.
Anyway, he played from around 1 to 2pm and played 9 songs… the ones he mentioned the names to are:
- Bells
- Missing in London
- Spring Steel (based on the Japanese pentatonic scale)
- Ghost Writers in the Sky
all pictures (cc) 2008 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
One of the songs that he didn’t mention the name had a mbira loop played behind his live mbira, and he used a guitar finger pick to create a nice additional percussion to the loop. His records are good as well (but mbira is more interesting to see live, IMO)… his most recent, Spring Steel, features Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista. Cyro’s fantastic… either with Beat the Donkey, Supergenerous, Electric Masada, Marc Ribot, or many of John Zorn’s pieces…
Richard Crandell’s records
His websites:
~Dan – np: Metallica – Death Magnetic
PS– whoa, completely unrelated, the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic, actually sounds… really… good. It’s been 20 years since that’s happened… too bad the album cover looks like they didn’t pay their invoices timely to the graphic artist. It’s crap, as has been expected with Metallica for the past 17 years. But when it comes down to the music, it’s finally not rubbish.
JZ’s The Crucible, The Dreamers, biography, and JFJO grumbles
Well, first.. I didn’t end up at the Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (JFJO) show last night. Boo. Stupid Eugene Celebration blocking off within 60 yards of the art gallery where they were playing and wanting me to buy a wristband to see a show I’d have to pay for that’s not on a stage at Eugene Celebration. I think me skipping it was on principle, not on lack for wanting to see JFJO. Rassen frassen… but I hope to catch the free Richard Crandell show today at Cozmic Pizza. He’s a mbira player, and I have one of his composer series CDs on Tzadik Records. He’s from frickin’ Eugene and on Tzadik Records – – how cool is that?
Speaking of Tzadik… on to some upcoming Jay-Z news… and by Jay-Z, I mean John Zorn (founder of Tzadik).
Graphic design artist extraordinaire Heung Heung “Chippy” posted on her blog about some new design stuff that she’s been working on for Tzadik:
I’m designing a book jacket for John Brackett’s biography on John Zorn, published by Indiana University Press. Title: John Zorn Tradition and Transgression. Cover photo by Scott Irvine, Book Jacket Design by myself, Book Interior Design by Jamison Cockerham. It’s nearly done and looking pretty good. Please look for it and buy this first biography ever on one of New York City’s heroes.
FOR MORE JOHN ZORN MUSIC, we have many treats for you–he’s been releasing amazing FilmWorks CDs (yes, prolific), another one is on its way–this one is extra special, one I’ve been listening to everyday–very meaningful, touching upon so many personal levels. (The Last Supper, FilmWorks XXII).
For those who are eagerly waiting for The Crucible (Moonchild’s 4th CD), it is coming very soon. Expect more killer photography by Scott Irvine (Tzadik’s official photographer–thank you to all who voted for him this summer), design by myself. Powerful music. And yes, you can have your Mike Patton too.
And it doesn’t stop there. The Dreamers will be expanding like a Chippy dream come true. For you audiophiles, this is our first yet–can’t say now until I’m working on it. Expect limited edition. Speaking of Limited Edition–The Dreamers’ shirts–they will now be considered limited edition, so please get them at Zakka in Dumbo (childrens are only available there or through me) or http://www.tzadik.com Note: once these go and we reprint, the artwork will be different.
My recap in backwards order…
I imagine The Dreamers limited edition thing for audiophiles may very well be a vinyl issue. That’s my inkling and heretofore a rumor. Tzadik hasn’t done a vinyl yet, and what else for audiophiles is considered limited edition these days? Sweet… The Dreamers is a fantastic, exotica meets Electric Masada ventures out earlier this year on Tzadik. It’s one of my favs of 2008 so far.
The Crucible… yay! A 4th installment from the noisemetal Moonchild Trio of Mike Patton, Trevor Dunn, and Joey Baron was inevitable.
I dig JZ’s Filmworks series… Sholem Aleichem: Filmworks XX is on its way to me now.
Additional info on the John Zorn biography… it’s due out in early 2009. It’s a book. With pages. Some probably graphic (just judging based on JZ’s Naked City album artwork and Dr. Brackett’s recent presentations at recent conferences).
~Dan – np: The Tiptons Sax Quartet – Laws of Motion
did he just say Masada Book THREE?
Happy 8/8/8…
Jazz trumpeter/composer/bandleader Dave Douglas posted this on his Greenleaf Music blog today:
In the months since the “Final Acoustic Masada” appearances[1], there have been a number of developments in John Zorn’s presentation of the Masada material. This past week saw a few shows in Europe reflecting this new phase. John’s preference at this point seems to be exposing multiple facets of the Masada music in one night or over the course of a week: from solos to string trio or guitar trio, from various quartets up to sextets and larger, sometimes with electronics. It’s an approach that gets at the real variety and depth found in the book, showing not only how many different kinds of pieces are in it, but how many ways it can be played.
This week saw the first shows of what feels like a whole new band: the Masada acoustic quartet (John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Greg Cohen, Joey Baron), plus Uri Caine on piano and Cyro Baptista[2] on percussion. There was an incredible amount of electricity for what is essentially a totally acoustic band. The new tunes (Book 2, Book of Angels) drive the music in unexpected new directions and provoke unusual instrumental combinations. And the old tunes exploded into completely new territory, each one we played reinventing itself with new improvisational dimensions. At this point I’ve lost track of how many tunes there are. No matter, apparently there is a third book coming[3].
Hells yeah… I may get a chance to see Zorn/Douglas/Cohen/Baron + Caine/Baptista eventually… :D
~Dan – np: Elsiane – Hybrid
[1]– referring to the acoustic quartet, of which I got to see twice… once at Duke University, once at Lincoln Center in NYC.
[2]– Cyro’s a wicked good, fun percussionist.
[3]– um… fuck yeah…
“Jazz Snob: Eat Sh*t”
Some recent DIME torrents of old Naked City shows got me to wishing I could be nostalgic (even though I didn’t get into them until 3 or 4 years ago)…
Don’t have your speakers on too loud… here’s 28 seconds of delish jazz-core (mp3 link) from Naked City (a supergroup of misfits in John Zorn, Bill Frisell, Wayne Horvitz, Fred Frith, Joey Baron, Yamataka Eye).
from Torture Garden and Grand Guignol
Definitely not for everyone. The bleeding edge of art jazz…
~Dan – np: (oddly enough… not art jazz) Extreme‘s new song on MySpace called “Star” (it’s very Queen-y)
Scrt Chfs 3
If vowels didn’t exist, this sentence would be idiotic. If vowels also didn’t exist, it would seem that Scrt Chfs 3 were opening for Scrt Chfs 3… or perhaps… Scrt Chfs 3 wr pnng fr Scrt Chfs 3. Gd thng thy d xst…
The Portland show (Oregon… eff you, Maine) of the Secret Chiefs 3 mini tour has openers of the Diminished Men and Secret Chefs 3 (a tribute band who play the SC3-style of world metal/rock with kitchen utensils).
Sunday, August 3rd. Doug Fir Lounge. 3 grt bnds.
Assuming I’m not far away for work, I’m planning on making it up from Eugene for the show.
http://dougfirlounge.com/
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
http://www.myspace.com/secretchefs3
http://www.myspace.com/DIMINISHEDMEN
Nooch.
~Dan
REVIEW: Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang & Rudy Royston @ the Shedd (Eugene, OR – – 6/7/08)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
Last night was my first time seeing all three gentlemen: Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, and Rudy Royston. I hope it is not my last.
I’m a big fan of Eyvind from his work with Secret Chiefs 3, Mr. Bungle, solo works on Tzadik & Ipecac (and other indie avant labels). On the upper right of every page on this blog, I have a quote attributed to Eyvind Kang: “I believe that music should be grown on trees, to be plucked like a fruit without the extravagance of harvest.” There’s just something about jazz (and the show last night) where this is most appropriate. Sure, much of Bill Frisell’s music is structured, melodic, and hinting at a modicum of “harvest,” as it were. However, it definitely lives and breathes and is open for exploration within the structure.
Probably the best proof of this with regards to last night’s show was that Eyvind (viola) and Rudy (drums) had only met 4 or 5 hours prior to the show. This was the world premiere of the Frisell/Kang/Royston trio. Judging by how they played so well together, I would have thought they met at least 7 hours prior. ;) No, seriously, they seemed like long-time jam partners. It was great to see the immediacy of the musical “fruit plucking.”
The trio played just over 90 minutes straight-through (with one short break prior to an encore piece), probably anywhere between 6 or 8 pieces. They started with 5 minutes or so of experimental flexing, bordering on avant-garde. By the next piece, Bill Frisell began laying down the melodies that worked well with this trio setting. Many times Eyvind and Bill mirrored each other’s melodies, but Eyvind still was able to cut loose on his own. Rudy knew how to play subtly, but he did let loose a few times as well, especially near the end of their set.
I just got Bill’s new one (History, Mystery); so I don’t know if the songs were from that or not, or just base melodies with improvisation. The set as a whole was very melodic, yet explorative. At several times, Bill pulled out what I thought was an e-bow, but it ended up being a music box that he was playing near his guitar pickup then through an echoplex-type looping device. Very harmonic tones… which would have been intriguing to have gotten from using guitar harmonic picking and an e-bow… alas, I was wrong.
Odd note: again, this was my first time seeing Bill Frisell. Does he always avoid facing the audience? He seemed to be facing towards Eyvind the whole night (so slightly away from the crowd). I never saw his hands or the front of the guitar all night. Odd, but at least the sound was sublime.
This was Bill’s fourth show at The John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts over the years. That’s a good indication that he’ll be back. To that I say, “yay!” I hope he brings Eyvind and Rudy with him.
The appropriate links:
- http://www.myspace.com/billfrisellofficial
- http://www.myspace.com/floratone (recent collab with Bill, Eyvind, Matt Chamberlain, Tucker Martine, et cetera)
- http://www.billfrisell.com/
- http://www.myspace.com/eyvindkangeyvind
- http://www.myspace.com/rudyroyston
- http://theshedd.org/
In completely unreleated to Frisell/Kang/Royston news, but posted here since I didn’t want to add another post to “the pile”… you can listen to Sigur Rós‘ upcoming album (Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust) streaming here before it comes out in a couple of weeks: medsud-dot
Enjoy!
~Dan – np: Ken Laster – Jazz & Beyond podcast (link)
FRISELL / KANG / ROYSTON PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2008 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
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Medeski Martin Wood & Zorn
OYG!
According to Downtown Music Gallery‘s catalog search and this MTV entry, the next treatment for John Zorn‘s Masada Book Two: Book of Angels series is… MEDESKI MARTIN & WOOD. Wow.
It’ll be #11 in the series on Tzadik Records, and it’s named after the angel/demon Zaebos.
My recent review of #10 in the series (Secret Chiefs 3’s Xaphan) is HERE. I’m equally stoked about this forthcoming MMW treatment… and quite frankly it totally caught me completely off guard (I think I knew about the SC3 one, like, 18 months ahead of time).
ALBUM REVIEW: Xaphan, Book of Angels Vol. 9 ~ The Secret Chiefs 3 play Masada Book Two
Got this album in the mail the other day… I’ve four times through it, and since I imagine it will hold up fairly well as far as albums go this year, it deserves the ol’ track-by-track analysis…
Xaphan, Book of Angels Volume 9
The Secret Chiefs 3 play Masada Book Two
Masada Book Two – Background: John Zorn had a fantastic jazz-klez quartet called Masada. It was John Zorn on alto sax, Dave Douglas on trumpet, Greg Cohen on bass, and Joey Baron on drums (sometimes Kenny Wollesen of the Sex Mob filled in on drums). They recorded 10+ studio albums in the mid-1990s, and they played live consistently up until March 2007. They may play a one-off in the future, but their Lincoln Center shows last spring were their final bow, as it were. I saw it, yay! The initial 10 studio albums by Masada are hardish to find (Japanese import label DIW), but they have many live and previously unreleased stuff on John’s own Tzadik Records, like Sanhedrin (below):
Anyway, sometime in the early 2000s, John Zorn started several splinter Masada or Masada-esque groups (Electric Masada, Masada String Trio, Bar Kokhba Sextet). He also wrote upwards of 300 additional Masada tunes that were not to go into acoustic Masada repertoire, but rather go into the “Masada Book Two. ” Different artists get these tunes (in the form of melody sheets of about 16 bars of music), and they arrange and record their version of John Zorn’s Masada Book Two tunes. Favorites in the past have been Marc Ribot, Koby Israelite, Cracow Klezmer Band, Bar Kokhba Sextet, et cetera…
Xaphan Personnel: Trey Spruance: guitars, organs, percussion, synths, autoharp, piano, bass; Timb Harris: violin, trumpet; Jason Schimmel: guitar; Anonymous 13: voice, viola; Rich Doucette: sarangi; Jai Young Kim: B3 organ; Shahzad Ismaily: bass; Ches Smith: drums, congas; with special guests Adam Stacey: clavinet; Monica Schley: harp; and Tim Smolens: cello, upright bass. ie- people from the latest incarnations of Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Carla Kihlstedt’s 2 Foot Yard, yadda yadda…
photo credits: Peter Gannushkin / Theremin Noise Club / Jae
The Xaphan Songs: (all written by John Zorn & arranged by Trey Spruance)
- Sheburiel ~ Nice surf/exotica about 30 seconds in, which transitions into a delightful string melody with surf guitar reminiscent of something from the Electric Masada catalog. Overall, this is quite a schizophrenic song, but nice textures… it’s a prelude for what’s to come in the rest of the record.
- Akramachamarei ~ Very much a spaghetti-western-meets-middle-east vibe on this track. I dig it. The title sounds like an interesting mixed drink (something along the lines of okra-infused vodka bloody mary with a sprig of mâche instead of celery). Oh, and if you don’t know what mâche is, well, it’s a delightfully nutty leaf in the lettuce family. So, yeah, spaghetti-western-meets-middle-eastern bloody mary concoctions all around!! And any band naming themselves Okra-infused Vodka, you owe me royalties. OK, back to the music…
- Shoel ~ Conga intro… keys, dub beats, and fuzz-guitar. Nice. Like at least 2-days of stubble on the guitars. Back into clean spag-west guitar… yeah, know, pretty soon, I’m running out of descriptions and adjectives beyond “cool,” “neato,” and “nice tom work, Ches.” I’m not a musician; so that’s the best you get, fools. This is one of my favorite tracks so far.
- Barakiel ~ Slowish, clean guitar entry with some slide, harp, and genteel vocals… moving into a bouncier spag-west guitar, but still with ethereal strings and piano.
- Bezriel ~ Oooo… Trey’s bringing the rock into it. Good interplay between the calm-before-the-storm viola and/or violin with the guitar chunk and vocal haunts. The last half of the track features some more strings and less of the chunk (oh, wait, I lied… it ends with the chunk). :) Another one of my favorite tracks.
- Kemuel ~ Bungle-y circus organ into swirling drum-guitar-vocal passage into a dirty string solo.
- Labbiel ~ Interesting time signature interplay between the guitars and drums.
- Asron ~ Aw geez, I just lost the game. I zoned out to the great music and forgot to write about it. Bad reviewer, bad reviewer. Anyway, back to the music. Nice violin and guitars to end it.
- Balberith ~ Starts with a great melodic bass line with some fuzz/scratch guitar. Ah, the trumpet finally kicks in. Nice stuff, Timb. This could fit on Zorn’s The Dreamers or Electric Masada nicely. That’s a compliment. :) Another one of my favs on this record.
- Omael ~ Add some xylophone, and I’d say the intro to this fits into a Zappa catalog. :) This is a faster-paced song… for the SC3 bellydancer contingent, don’t pick this. Your legs might fall off. This one has some great percussion and more trumpet. I’m getting lost in the sounds, but I’m digging it.
- Hamaya ~ Clean exotica guitar intro, organ, vocal chants (something about tostadas?). Oh, a seemingly (to me) “The Exile” or “Book T: Exodus” strings-n-guitars moment about 1 minute in… nice. Nice melty fade that sucks me back into… g-to-the-d, why is it 84 degrees in my house!? Sometimes I hate renting a house in Oregon that does have A/C. Anyway, a great end to a great album.
I recommend you take some listens on MySpace, Amazon, and iTunes (when they get it)… and support good music if you like what you hear. It’s currently available at Web of Mimicry, Downtown Music Gallery, and Amazon (to name a few). I don’t do the track-by-track treatment on just any record… this is a special record.
Any musical review faux pas above? Eh, I’m not a musician. My ears my have defied me brain, matey. For Secret Chiefs 3 fans, I suppose this more relates to a Ur / Ishraqiyun / Forms / Traditionalists musical offering? I dunno which one moreso than the others. Any thoughts from you WoM boardies?
Fav tracks: Shoel (#3), Bezriel (#5), Balberith (#9), and Hamaya (#11).
Recommended if you like: world music, middle eastern music, progressive music with a bellydance beat, ADHD prescriptions, Secret Chiefs 3, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, John Zorn, et al… it’s very much a Secret Chiefs 3 record, but probably one of their more “accessible” ones (as well as being an accessible John Zorn-penned album). User friendly, middle-eastern rock-romp through a mad alchemist’s mind (Trey is a brilliant musician, IMO). This is my favorite in John Zorn’s Masada Book Two series, and that’s saying a lot (I love all 10 of the series thus far).
The Appropriate Linkage:
- Secret Chiefs 3’s Website (pleasing design, not realistic from a PR side of things)
- Secret Chiefs 3 on MySpace
- Web of Mimicry (Trey’s label)
- Tzadik Records (John Zorn’s label, released Xaphan)
- Tzadik on MySpace (unofficial but approved)
- John Zorn on MySpace (unofficial but approved)
- Other key Xaphan players on MySpace… Estradasphere, Ches Smith…
~Dan – np: Susie Ibarra – Drum Sketches
The Masada Book Two Series (to date):
Mark my words… best CD of 2008…
I’m not a bettin’ man, but I’ll bet you a hundred ducks that Secret Chiefs 3‘s Masada Book Two, Volume 9: Xaphan will be one of my favorite CDs of 2008 (likely Top 3 to be safe)… and it’s not even out yet.
Per a recent SC3 blog, it hits April 11th (from Tzadik-direct Downtown Music Gallery) or later in the month at other outlets (April 22nd or so from Amazon, etc), and a “Masada preview” is now posted on their MySpace page.
The Masada Book Two series is comprised of 300 or so songs that John Zorn wrote in the Masada vein, but not for the Masada quartet to play. A different artist arranges and records a handful of these tunes to make them theirs… so far, the results have been great (Marc Ribot, Cracow Klezmer, Koby Israelite to name a few). Xaphan (aka Volume 9 from Secret Chiefs 3) features arranger Trey Spruance, plus musicians from his latest SC3 tour, members from Estradasphere, and more…
http://www.myspace.com/secretchiefs3
Up next in the Masada Book Two series is Volume 10: Lucifer from Bar Kokhba which will likely also hit a top spot on my CDs for 2008. It’s Bar Kokhba’s first studio release since The Circle Maker in 1998.
~Dan – np: Bill Moyer’s Journal podcast interview with Susan Jacoby
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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