INTRO

A whole week went by without any chance for me to write even a few words – hectic times. As usual work, social life and everyday worries take precedence over self-indulgence.

ISRAEL

The results of the Parliament elections in the Palestinian Authority were pretty surprising. The polls predicted the Hammas to gain about 30 % of the votes, but nobody expected them to actually win. This complicated matters on the way to a peaceful solution with the Palestinians, as the Hammas Charter includes the annihilation of the State of Israel. Will they change their politics once they become a party rather that a religiously motivated social movement with gorilla military armed forces? The future will tell (as usual). This sure has a lot of people worried, not only here.

MUSIC

I plunged deeply into nostalgia during the week, listening to the following:

This 10 CDs Box Set (often called “The Mother of all Boxed Sets”, due to it’s size and splendor) includes all the 9 albums (8 single ones and 1 double) Led Zeppelin recorded between 1968 and 1978 – the 10 years of their existence.

Listening to 10 CDs worth of music by one group in a short span of time can be a pretty grueling experience in some cases, but I must admit this was not only a great pleasure but an eye-opener (or should I say an ear-opener) in many respects. Surely I’m very familiar with the material, but since I have never listened to it in a chronological “one go”, I never contemplated some aspects of the music that came to my attention this time around.

Some things are obvious: Led Zeppelin were the greatest classic Rock band ever. They produced a body of work, which in many respects summarizes everything that really happened in that genre. I mean, if I had to explain to a Martian, who never heard Rock music before, what Rock was all about, I’d recommend just listening to this Box Set and everything else would become redundant. Like all other Rock bands, they started with playing the Blues and then gradually added rock & roll to create what is now known as classic Rock.

Fortunately for us Led Zeppelin consisted of four immensely talented individuals, who combined their talents in order to create a sum which was much superior to its ingredients. The balance between their temperaments and personal musical interests worked out like a charm, probably quite subconsciously at many occasions.

Led Zeppelin kept changing over the years, often quite dramatically. The material, the sound, the instrumentation and the overall effect of their music is a constant flow of development, when viewed (or rather listened to) in retrospect - amazingly consistent on one hand and constantly fluid on the other.

There are surprising innovations, like the inclusion of Middle Eastern motifs years ahead of any other Rock artists, or the use of mesmerizing and trance-inducing rhythm patterns which will become the basis of the electronic trance music of the late 1990’s. Also the dramatic change in the use of instruments, with guitar dominated sound in the early years to the keyboards / drums dominated sound in the later years (note almost total absence of guitar solos or even “clear” guitar usage in the last albums).

To me this is truly visionary music. Not only does it reflect the best aspects of classic Rock, but it also prophesizes many future developments in Rock (and beyond). The fact that the music remains fresh and fascinating, 30 years after it was created, and looses none of its mystical power and glory is truly marvelous.

The Box Set includes only four bonus tracks, placed at the end of the last album - “Coda”, which is a collage of previously unreleased tracks and was released “posthumously”. The fact that Led Zeppelin did not release any “live” albums is intriguing. Even now, the only official live recordings are the BBC sessions and the magnificent triple “How The West Was Won” set. In many respects the on-stage Led Zeppelin and the in-the-studio Led Zeppelin were quite separate entities. Hundreds of bootleg recordings of the band exist, which shed light on their mesmerizing, hypnotic performances. Perhaps another 10 (or better 20) CDs Box Set of “live” Led Zeppelin is in order?

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

It’s obvious now that January was the slowest month for my business in last 3 years. I have no idea why and no explanation and if this is a forecast of things to come, I’ll be out of here sooner that anybody can say “A Love Supreme”.

HAVE FUN!

MUSIC

More wonderful Finnish music today:

Debut album by Finnish bass player and composer Make Lievonen recorded in 1977. Heavily influenced by Weather Report, Lievonen wrote the music for this album to reflect the jazz / rock fusion experience to the extreme. Based on the sax / keyboards interplay (as in WR), but less funky, the emphasis here is strongly on the wonderful atmospheric compositions, which are truly awe-inspiring. The best Finnish jazz players take part on this project, with Pekka Pöyry handling the sax parts, Olli Ahvenlahti the keyboard parts and Esko Rosnell in charge of the drums. In addition guitarist Juha Björninen adds some nifty solos, being in charge of the rocky part of the music. Sax / flute player Pentii Lahti, moog player Esa Kotilainen and several other superb musician participate on same tracks. Imagine the energy and virtuosity of US fusion bands combined with the European genius to compose uplifting and intricate melody lines and you can imagine how this album sounds. An absolute must to any fusion fan around the globe!

Debut album by the brilliant Finnish keyboards player, recorded in 1975. Ahvenlahti studied music at the Helsinki Sibelius Academy and later at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Upon his return to Finland, he formed a superb quintet with Swedish trumpeter Bertil Löfgren and Finnish jazz masters - Pekka Pöyry (sax), Pekka Sarmanto (bass) and Esko Rosnell (drums) – and recorded this debut album, for which he wrote all the music. Strongly influenced by the jazz / rock and jazz / funk movements, he masterly incorporated those influences with European melody lines, creating a set of wonderfully melodic and yet beautifully swinging tunes, performed with taste and gusto by the quintet. The album flows easily, although the music is anything but trivial. For people who love melodic jazz, masterly executed, this album will prove a continuous source of pleasure for years.

Recorded just a year later (1976) after his debut album, this album continues where the previous one left off. Ahvenlahti wrote all the music and the beautiful arrangements. The trumpet player is now the Finn Markku Johansson and the line up was extended to a nonet, including the master sax player Eero Koivistoinen, Bertil Strandberg on trombone and a couple of percussion players. This expanded line-up allows for more advanced brass arrangements and more soloing by the players. The mood is still very “cool”, with gorgeous melodies and pulsating rhythms. In years the album has become a classic and young Finnish jazz musicians studied it as a model for their own jazz development. Thirty years after it was recorded, this sound today every bit as fresh and inspiring as it was at the time of its release. A must!

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

I don’t know what is happening, but the number of orders is ridiculously low so far. With January being over in about a week from now, it looks now as the slowest month in the entire history of the shop. Is this a sign from the Gods that I should drop it or alternatively drop dead?

HAVE FUN!

MUSIC

The Finnish frenzy continues:

Apart from Edward Vesala, Koivistoinen is probably the most well known Finnish jazz musician outside of his native country, due to his US residency and numerous recordings around the world. Deeply influenced by John Coltrane, he started his jazz adventure playing free jazz in cahoots with Edward Vesala and Pekka Sarmanto as early as 1964 (which was about the time European free jazz was developing fiercely). Later on he moved away from free jazz and concentrated more on structured and carefully composed music. By the time this album was recorded in 1976, the jazz world was deeply involved in the jazz / rock fusion explosion, following Miles Davis’ pioneering work in the field and later on groups like John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra. Inspired by these developments, Koivistoinen decided to record a fusion album, for which he composed the music. The carefully assembled a dreamy combo to record the music, in which he gathered the best Scandinavian musicians from both the jazz and Progressive Rock genres, including Esko Rosnell (drums) and Olli Ahvenlahti (piano) – Finland / jazz, Jukka Tolonen (guitar – Tasavallan Presidentti) and Pekka Pohjola (bass – Wigwam) – Finland / Prog and Wlodek Gulkowski (keyboards) and Georg Wadenius (guitar – Blood, Sweat & Tears) -–Sweden (well Gulkowski was a Polish refugee) / fusion. The result is surely one of the best, most sophisticated and musically uplifting fusion albums ever recorded and an absolute must for any fan of the genre. This was to be the only fusion album Koivistoinen would record, as he returned to “pure” jazz soon after.

Like most of his countrymen jazz masters Mike Koskinen started his jazz apprenticeship by playing free jazz on the burgeoning Finnish scene with musicians like Edward Vesala, Seppo Paakkunainen, Eero Koivistoinen and Heikki Sarmanto. His excellent trumpet technique and tone (obviously influenced by Miles Davis) made him a welcome guest at the many jam sessions in Helsinki jazz clubs and recording sessions. In the early 1970’s Koskinen went to the US to study jazz at the Berklee College of Music (inspired by Heikki Sarmanto, who also attended that school). Upon his return to Finland in 1975, he gathered some of the best local musicians to form a Quintet and record his debut album as a leader. The players include the excellent sax player Pekka Pצyry, drummer Reino Laine and pianist Vladimir Shafranov (one of several Eastern European jazz refugees living in Finland). Old buddy Juhani Aaltonen (and other musicians) guests on two tunes. All the music was written by Koskinen and can be best described as post-Coltrane hard-bop with distinct Art Blakey / Miles Davis / Wayne Shorter influences, but as always with European jazz it is more intricate and incorporates slight folk motifs into the jazz tapestry. The melodies are memorable and the musicians change tempo and mood to fit the atmosphere of the tune at hand with masterly sensitivity. A great jazz album for all seasons!

A couple of new releases on the Angel Air label:

This is a reissue of Maggie’s debut solo album from 1974, recorded after her group Stone The Crows disbanded a year earlier. A wonderful singer with a distinct husky voice and great musical sensitivity, she was definitely one of the most important female vocalist on the UK scene in the 1970’s. The album is excellent in every respect: the choice of material, the accompanying band and the performances are all first rate. Maggie moves freely between genres – soul, blues, rhythm & blues and even jazz. Her range and passion make every tune to come alive and she obviously has a ball singing. The overall atmosphere resembles recordings by Joe Cocker and at times also Janis Joplin. Great remastering, which brings out all the crisp sounds of the original and two live bonus tracks make this a definite worth investigating item for fans of British rhythm & blues of the 1970’s.

A reissue of the 1995 “Christmas” album by James Warren, the UK singer / songwriter, who achieved fame as the member of Stackridge and The Korgis. Warren has both a remarkable voice and a great talent for writing superb pop melodies. Warren’s influences are very obvious to anyone listening to this album: Paul Simon, Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney – definitely nothing to be ashamed of. He definitely manages to match the talents of his inspirations in quite a few of the tunes here and overall this is a surprisingly good pop album that I enjoyed immensely. The “sappy” side of my musical nature got the better of me here – mea culpa.

And finally a new Israeli album:

Ofrin is Ofri Brin, a young and promising Israeli singer and Oded K.dar, a young and gifted Israeli composer. This is their debut album and they co-wrote the material. The album was recorded in Berlin (where they now reside) with Israeli and German musicians. When I first listened to this album I could hardly believe my ears – I have not heard such quality of music made by Israeli musicians in a very long time. The music is just breathtaking – dark and complex, yet splendidly melodic and fascinating. Ofri possesses an incredible sensuous deep voice, which she uses skillfully to match the mood of the music. Her vocal range is perhaps a little limited, but that does not limit her ability to express the lyrics with rare sensibility. She sings in English, without any trace of a foreign accent, which is very rare among Israeli vocalists. Having said all that, the forte of the album is definitely the music. It is mostly beyond classification, changing constantly between jazz, alternative rock, progressive rock and even contemporary classical. Some songs have intimate brass and string ensemble arrangements, which emphasize the mood perfectly and the general level of musicianship is excellent all the way. I only wish this album will be a huge success for the two young and gifted people, but unfortunately I must say (from a vast experience in these matters) that it is definitely much too good to be successful. I can hardly wait for their next album!

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

Who cares?

HAVE FUN!

ISRAEL

We have just had a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv – more death, wounds, misery and tragedy. A few months of relative tranquility and the natural tendency to put bad things behind make us all forget the reality (or rather some aspects of it) all too quickly. I have given up long ago the desire to understand the purpose one might wish to achieve by murdering other people – whatever the intentions may be. This will always remain a mystery to me. Obviously I’m aware of the political struggle of the Palestinians, their wish for freedom and independence. With all those under the hood, it is still impossible for me to comprehend the motivation of a barbaric act of spreading death? Is this a mentality thing, a cultural / religious thing? Damn if I know…

Life goes on…

MUSIC

Finally managed to listen to a decent amount of music. Here are the impressions:

I have sung my praises to Finnish music here before, but there is never enough of well-deserved recognition. Although little known outside its native country, Finnish jazz is one of the most important and advanced in the world. Finland is a wonderfully musical country with an extraordinary contribution to the global music scene; way beyond what one might expect from a country this size. Finland has probably the highest recorded music output per-capita. Finns have excelled in contemporary classical music, Progressive Rock and of course jazz, and much of this sublime music was released in the early 1970`s on the small Finnish record label called Love Records. Lucky for us all of those wonderful albums are being slowly reissued by the label in excellent remastered quality.

Debut album (recorded 1974) by one of the greatest European jazz players - Finnish virtuoso Juhani Aaltonen. The album presents Aaltonen`s incredible range of instruments: tenor and alto saxophones and a wide selection of flutes, all of which he handles with exquisite elegance and total control. The settings vary from solo to quintet and the music is European free jazz - intelligent, sophisticated, provocative and beautifully structured. Other superb Finnish musicians, including the legendary Edward Vesala on drums and the divine Pekka Sarmanto, who is (for me) one of the best bass players on this planet, accompany the leader. This music is typical of European free jazz in the early 1970`s, when cross-country cooperation flourished. Aaltonen and Vesala were used to play with German, Polish and other European musicians, swapping influences, ideas and cultural backgrounds and creating a new amalgam of the jazz Art Form, which was aeons ahead of its time and remains the most advanced achievement of the genre to this day. This album is an absolute must for people with two ears and any substance between them.

Don’t let the album’s title fool you – this is by no means one of those sugary “jazz & strings” albums – no way. This is a masterpiece created by Finland’s greatest jazz player – Aaltonen - and greatest jazz composer / arranger – Donner, designed as an exercise in “easy listening”. Of course the “easy listening” those two gentlemen create is anything but easy! Donner composed a series of compositions, which serve as a basis for Aaltonen`s beautiful improvisations. The “background” music is performed by some of the best Finnish jazzmen at the time, including Esko Linnavalli on electric piano and Esko Rosnell on drums, with intricate string arrangements. Aaltonen plays “on top” of these compositions, sometimes very melodically, sometimes quite freely, with a wonderful passion and superb zest. This is heavenly music, which remains with you for lifetime and unveils new layers of pleasure every time.

This is a great example of how the Finns have not only great respect for their musicians, but also for their poets and therefore they produced a large body of work where music and poetry are combined. This is one of such projects for which the composer / arranger Otto Donner created music to poems by Pentti Saarikoski to be performed by a vocal group and jazz ensemble. Recorded in 1970, this excellent example of Finnish jazz includes some of the best players on the local scene at the time (Juhani Aaltonen - tenor sax & flute, Esko Rosnell - drums, a.m.o.). Donner plays trumpet & vibes and directs the whole project. The music is typical European jazz of the period, melodic but complex and constantly surprising. The composer also cleverly includes shades of Finnish folk music in the background of the compositions. The album includes 18 short pieces, all quite different, but flowing naturally into one coherent suite. The group vocals resemble the European vocal jazz tradition as demonstrated by the French group Le Double Six or Novi Singers from Poland. Sublime music for people with highly developed and sensitive taste glands.

This is a masterpiece by Edward Vesala, who for almost four decades, until his untimely death in 1999, was one the leaders of the European jazz scene with dozens of recordings to his credit (as leader and sideman). His phenomenal talent as a drummer, composer, bandleader and trendsetter made him a pivotal figure and his status was truly legendary. This 1976 recording is one of the highlights of his illustrious career. It is a suite for a large jazz ensemble, which incorporates modern jazz idioms with Eastern European folk motifs. Vesala collected for this project the creme de la creme of the Finnish jazz scene, with such illustrious names as Juhani Aaltonen (sax & flute), Esa Helasvuo (piano), Pekka Sarmanto (bass) and two phenomenal Polish jazz musicians: Tomasz Stanko (trumpet) and Tomasz Szukalski (sax), with whom he played many times before in the Polish / Finnish quartet. The vocal talents of the Irina Milan are also featured on some tracks. The music is truly majestic, floating constantly between melodic themes, solos by the individual instrumentalists and group improvisations. It leaves the listener awestruck and humble, following a larger then life soundtrack of wonders. A modern jazz icon and an absolute must in any decent jazz collection.

A new privately released album. Although Shlomo Mizrachi is undoubtedly the greatest Israeli rock guitarist, he remains relatively unknown due to unfortunate turns in his career. The two groups he headed in the 1970`s – The Electric Stage and The Cape Of Good Hope - never properly recorded or released albums. Some of his extraordinary guitar playing can be heard on the two Danny Ben-Israel albums, but that is about it. Therefore Shlomo’s decision to unearth various sessions he recorded over the years and release them on CD is a most welcome and festive occasion. The first album in this series ("Fenderica" is the name of his guitar - not difficult to guess the manufacturer) compiles his recordings made between 1975 and 1982, mostly in Europe with European musicians. The music and his guitar work are absolutely stunning and this is an incredible piece of history of Israeli rock. An absolute must for any fan of Israeli music, especially people who like the legendary Israeli band The Churchils.

What a fantastic album! Michel Sajrawy is an Arab Christian, born in Nazareth. In 1995 he moved to London and devoted himself entirely to music. He is deeply rooted in the Middle Eastern music but expanded his musical horizons to include jazz and contemporary classical music. He is regarded as an extremely gifted guitarist, composer and arranger. This is his debut album, for which he composed all the music. It is breathtakingly beautiful, a fusion of Middle East and West, with delicate and masterly guitar work by the leader and excellent support by his band and guest musicians. Imagine McLaughlin’s Shakti, but swap Indian music for Middle Eastern music. The people on the album include Muslims, Christians and Jews - a true amalgam of influences, religions and a beautiful proof of music transcending cultural and even political differences. Superb!

This is another deeply emotional album for me. Of course in this case I can hardly be objective (but who gives a damn about objectivity when music is concerned), as I “discovered” Eyran almost 20 years ago when I released his debut album on my label (“Jazzonettes” on Jazzis Records). Eyran left Israel to settle in cold and dreary Boston, first to study and then to teach and perform music, and what a performer he is! In time he lost none of his juvenile spontaneity and innocence, but acquired a refined technique and a mature approach to the piano. His choice of recording music exclusively for solo piano could have proven disastrous for his career, being obviously the most intricate and precarious form of creating jazz – one on one with the instrument. Fortunately for Eyran (and all of us – his devoted listeners) he stood up to the challenge with bravery and flare and in my (not so) humble opinion reached the rank of the absolute top of his vocation. This beautiful album serves as a wonderful proof of his immense talent. On this album Eyran chooses to interpret 17 well known jazz standards (rather than play his own music). This could be a double-edged challenge, as virtually all the greatest piano players in the history of jazz have already performed all of those tunes. Nevertheless Eyran’s approach and vision manage to create new and undisclosed layers of musical delight based on the originals. He dares to play around with tempo, intonation and even combines a few of the melodies into a new melodic identity. Needless to say his performances are technically brilliant and flawless and his imagination boundless. He often plays as if there’s no tomorrow and the only negative thing I can say about this album is that it ended all much too soon for me – I just wanted more and more of this. Hopefully more will indeed follow suit on another album. “Rani” my friend – you make me proud. Bless you for the pleasures you bestow upon us with your magic fingers!

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

In spite of massive addition of new items – still no great developments. I am obviously doomed to suffer being ignored…;)

HAVE FUN!

ISRAEL

Sharon still in a coma. As expected, he is not on the top of the news any more. Life goes on…

MUSIC

The last weeks are definitely much too busy for music. I hate when that happens, but life’s priorities are often beyond our control, or so it might seem. Anyway here is what I did manage to hear:

Mind Sky - "Timewise"

This is the debut album by US Prog group Mind Sky. Double keyboards and guitar provide the melodies and bass / drums the rhythms. All the music is original and well based on the classic Prog legacy. They don’t seem to have a permanent vocalist, but strangely enough I found the tracks with the vocals (by guest vocalist Josh Gleason, who has a formidable voice) to be the strongest on the album. The music is a bit hectic at times and the sound quality unfortunately lacks depth. All in all a promise for the future rather than a mature album, which nevertheless is quite enjoyable.

Nektar - "Sounds Like This"

This is the latest addition to the Nektar remasters on the Eclectic label. A double album, which adds to the original 1973 release an entire CD of bonus tracks (alternate versions and previously unreleased material). The idea behind the original album was to record the band “live” (no overdubs) in the studio. The original 1973 release was the first Nektar album released in UK. The band, although consisting of UK musicians, was founded in Germany (Hamburg) and performed and released albums in Germany only for the first 4 years of their existence. As to the music: I am not a great Nektar fan and I find their albums very varied, with occasional glimpses of genius but overall rather boring. They were one of the first bands to produce 10, 15 and even 20 minutes long tracks, which for me often lack substance for little more over say 3 minutes or so. This album suffers from all the same problems, and since several tracks are repeated (in alternate versions) this is sometimes a bit difficult to bear. The sound quality (in spite of the usually superb remastering work by Eclectic), is extremely harsh and often absolutely nothing comes through beyond the distorted lead guitar. I am aware of the fact that Nektar have many devoted fans for which this will be an essential album. But I could easily live without it.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

I guess having the best music in the world is not important any more?

HAVE FUN!

MUSIC

Not much free time again, but managed to hear the following:

Pip Pyle's Bash! - "Belle Illusion"

“Belle Illusion” by Pip Pyle’s Bash! is a great Canterbury / Fusion album. Pyle is of course the legendary drummer, who played in all the pivotal bands of the 1970’s and later returned to jazz. Over the years he led several groups and recorded a few albums, all excellent. This album includes live recordings from 2002 & 2003 in quintet format, Pyle being the composer of all the tunes. The mood is mostly fusion, with excellent solos by the French guitarist Patrice Meyer and pulsating bass by Fred T. Baker. The keyboards player Alex Maquire also performs top notch and veteran saxophonist Elton Dean guests on one tune. Pyle’s compositions are typical Canterbury material, melodic, yet full of twists and turns, which keep you on toe at all times. Sound quality is very good as well. A very enjoyable recording I can wholeheartedly recommend to any Fusion aficionado. This also reminds me of the superb “7 Years Itch” album by Pyle, which for some reason sells very poorly, but is one a hell of an album in every respect. Let’s hope this one will do better?

The Muffins - "Double Negative"

“Double Negative” by veteran US band The Muffins is a masterpiece. The Muffins are probably the most “European” of all US Prog bands, with clear affection and influence from the Canterbury scene. The band re-united in the mid 1990’s and released a great album, and this is their second release (recorded 2002-2004) after the reunion. They used a new approach on this one with intensive brass and strings arrangements and short (but very complex) tunes. The music is exceptionally beautiful and the album flows like a continuous suite. Definitely one of the best US Prog releases in the new Millennium.

Sympozion - "Kundabuffer"

“Kundabuffer” by the Israeli band Sympozion is a most welcome new addition to the local Prog legacy. The band is a quintet with keyboards and two guitars as leading instruments. The music is all original and stylistically shows influences from many sources – classic Prog bands, RIO and classical music, but the overall feel is very “Israeli”, perhaps due to the use of flute and recorders in some places, which resembles the early Israeli Prog bands like No Names and Sheshet. The sound quality is excellent (Udi Koomran who engineered the recording also worked on most other Israeli Prog albums in the recent years). It is pretty obvious that this album is every bit as good (if not better) as any other Prog recording released all over the world recently, which of curse is very encouraging as to the state of Prog in Israel. With half a dozen good to excellent albums released in the last couple of years the situation looks better then ever.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

Sales are pathetic and I’m beyond caring.

HAVE FUN!

ISRAEL

Another episode of winter is upon us, with rain and cold weather – cold of course being a very relative term – coldest about these parts is about 10 degrees Celsius. There was almost no winter this year, which of course is pretty bad for our water balance. The Kineret (Genazareth) lake, which is our main water reservoir, is still beneath its optimal level. Hopefully some more intensive rain will fall before spring comes, to make it better. BTW if you didn’t know this, the Kineret lies about 200 meters below see level and is often referred to as the “lowest sea on earth” (“sea” being our usual exaggeration for the lack of something bigger).

HEALTH

I’ve been feeling pretty lousy in the last few days, with a persistent pain in my right side. It’s bearable, but annoying. Of course I didn’t go to see a doctor, as this is something I’ve experienced before and it usually goes away in a few days. My level of confidence in doctors is so low that I’d rather avoid having anything to do with them.

A few years ago I have discovered that my blood sugar level is slightly above the norm. I have ignored it for a long time, hoping for it to go away (yes, smile please). Finally about a couple a months ago Rody (and my physician) finally convinced me to start taking a medicine to lower my glucose level, so now I take a pill every evening. I also bought a glucose meter, but so far it lies unused. I am terrible with these things. A hypochondriac who avoids doctors;)

MUSIC

Mostly jazz in the last few days:

Chick Corea - "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs"

“Now He Sings, Now He Sobs” was Chick Corea’s 2^nd solo album. Again a trio with Miroslav Vitous on bass and Roy Haynes on drums, recorded in March 1968. The original LP, released in 1968, included only 5 of the tunes recorded during this session (the rest were later included on the “Circling In” LP), but the CD reissue includes all 13 of them – 11 Chick’s originals, 1 by Thelonious Monk and 1 standard. The music is simply gorgeous – switching between beautifully melodic to relatively free, it is performed flawlessly and with passion. The rhythm session seems to be fully telepathic with Chick, which allows him to slide freely on the keyboard like a breeze. The magnificent compositions serve as an ideal vehicle for Chick the player. Although he was about to enter the period of mostly free improvised music following this recording (first with Miles Davis’ group just a few months after this session and then later with the group Circle with Dave Holland, Barry Altchul and Anthony Braxton), this album is mostly very melodic. The first tune (“Steps – What Was”) even includes a very clear hint as to Chick’s turn about just a few years later, when he would record “Spain”. I truly enjoyed every second of this album and can’t imagine anybody who possesses taste buds not to own it?

Hugh Hoper - "1984"

“1984” by Hugh Hopper, the Soft Machine bass player, recorded in 1972, is a highly experimental work (surely for the time it was recorded), including both electro-acoustic ambient experimentation and free jazz. Hopper makes use of then innovative studio technology, such as tape loops and fuzz devices, to create the lengthy (14+ minutes long) opening track. For the rest, he uses some of the finest British jazz musicians of the period: John Marshall (another Soft Machine cohort) on drums, Pye Hastings on guitar, Malcolm Griffith and Nick Evans on trombones and two brilliant saxophonists – Gary Windo (tenor) and the legendary and genius Lol Coxhill (soprano). This is typical European free jazz, lyrical and sophisticated aeons before its time. Definitely not for a casual listener, but for people who appreciate British free jazz of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s this is a true gem. I had a ball!

Hugh Hopper / Alan Gowen - "Two Rainbows Daily"

“Two Rainbows Daily” by Hugh Hopper and Alan Gowen is a duo recording from 1980 by those two Canterbury legends, very intimate and quite demanding. It requires a trained ear to follow any jazz duos, as the interplay here is limited by the scope of the bass, but it is excellent music nevertheless. The bonus tracks (recorded live the same year with drummer Nigel Morris) are much more accessible, as the rhythm provides an easier route to follow the musical development. Gowen premature death (cancer!) robbed us of a great talent.

Hugh Hopper Band - "Carousel"

“Carousel” by the Hugh Hopper Band is a 1994 studio recording by the European ensemble led by Hugh (with two live tracks from 1993 added). It includes Dutch and French musicians, all brilliant instrumentalist and composers. They play modern jazz with occasional trips into the fusion land (mostly when the guitarist Patrice Meyer takes a solo). Definitely very uplifting music with plenty of interesting solos and a high standard of playing evident all over. Good to see Hugh struggling on through the years and not giving up or conforming to the mediocrity.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

“Dry as the desert” we say here… I’m losing hope… Where the hell is everybody?

HAVE FUN!

INTRO

Finally I have some time to write another proper entry. It’s Saturday after a most hectic week, which left me breathless and sleepless. Nothing dramatic, just a lot of work and social obligations – everybody has one of those from time to time. I had to “close” the last years activities for the business, school was busy with many projects and most evenings we had to go out – a mad house ;)

ISRAEL

Sharon still unconscious and fighting for his life. The entire country is sort of “on hold”, waiting for the outcome of Sharon’s situation. It is (to me) pretty clear that even if he survives the illness, his political (or rather his entire) life is over. Not a nice way to go… but is there any nice way to go?

LITERATURE

The only thing I managed to see on TV for the entire week was a fascinating documentary about one of America’s greatest 20^th century writers / poets Charles Bukowski. A good documentary is (for me) often better than fiction as real life is often more surprising, outrageous and dramatic than fictitious invention.

Bukowski had to struggle almost his entire life to be able to write while working odd jobs. His recognition arrived very late – at the last quarter of his life – and that happened thanks to a person, who decided to take his life’s savings and become Bukowski’s publisher. It is not unusual for geniuses in any field to be ignored by the public at large. Luckily Bukowski’s incredible talent was discovered in time, before it was entirely lost, but it makes you wonder how many geniuses were out there, and we’ll never benefit from the fruits of their labor?

I recommend to everybody to try some of his outrageous, but deeply moving work – be it poetry or prose. This is soul shaking stuff. I’ll quote just one of his last short poem called “Art”: “When form takes over, the art is gone”. Think about that…

THEATRE

Rody and I have season tickets to the theatre. This is the only way to make sure we actually to go and see theatre – being constantly busy those things tend to get forgotten. Of course season tickets mean that you see a bad one from time to time, but all in all the benefit outdoes the occasional flop by far.

Last week we saw a performance of the classic play “Filomena” – a comedy with serious moral undertones about motherly love and parenthood. Excellent performance by the two leading actors made it a pleasant evening. We were supposed to see this play weeks ago, but postponed it due to Rody’s treatments.

Tonight we go to the theatre again, to see a revamped and actualized version of Gogol’s “Revisor”. This one is sure to be fun, as bureaucracy, corruption and stupidity are about the only constants associated with government and always actual.

MUSIC

I managed to listen to some music, mainly while driving. This time it was a batch of new releases on the French Musea label. Musea are probably the biggest record label specializing in Prog with well over 500 titles in their catalog. They do reissues of classic Prog stuff, as well as contemporary stuff. They released many absolute classics, but some of their releases are completely worthless (to me), so nothing can be taken for granted when dealing with their products.

North Star - "Extremes"

“Extremes” by the US band North Star is one of those worthless albums – just plain terrible. This kind of stuff gives Prog a bad name.

Hydra - "This Famous Unknown"

“This Famous Unknown” by the French duo Hydra is a nice acoustic album with great melodies and vocals in English (very unusual for a French band). Not really Prog, but good music – regardless of the label one puts to it.

Jean-Luc Payssan - "Pierrots & Arlequines"

“Pierrots & Arlequins” by the French musician Jean-Luc Payssan is a very good acoustic work, based on renaissance and baroque music. He uses many acoustic string instruments (guitars, mandolin, cittern, theorbo, etc.) to reproduce the antique atmosphere. A few guest musicians help around. A very pleasant piece of work to my ears.

Various Artists - "Odyssey - The Greatest Tale"

“Odyssey – The Greatest Tale” is a monumental 3 CD set concept work by nine different Prog bands from around the world (Nathan Mahl, Nexus, Glass Hammer, XII Alfonso, Simon Says, C.A.P., Tempano, Minimum Vital and Aether), based on the Homer’s classic epic. Each band created a 20+ minutes episode so the entire album spans for well over three hours of music. Most of the music is very good, some excellent. If this was up to me, a double album would be enough and that one would be truly superb, but nevertheless this is a nice piece of music to have. This is not a first concept work of this kind Musea released BTW.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

The first week of 2006 was very disappointing. Sales included mostly the OOAK cheap items, which don’t generate any profit. The rest of the regular customers probably still did not recover from the Christmas / New Year season – I hope they do soon as one more like this and my desperation will take over again;)

HAVE FUN!

STILL ALIVE

Just a short note to let everybody know I’m still alive. Absolutely hectic week with not a minute to spare let alone writing time…

ISRAEL

Troubled times with our Priminister suffering a cerebral hemorrhage and fighting for his life. I have had a share of difference of opinions with this man over the years, but his recent emergence as a pragmatic and visionary leader make this a tragedy for our leaderless (otherwise) country. His political career has ended abruptly and prematurely.

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

Many people still ordering the US $ 1.00 items, which by now are almost completely gone.

HAVE FUN!

HACKED

My Blog got hacked today! Some of you might have seen the hacker’s message displayed (it was on for about a couple of hours before I saw it).

I must say I am quite surprised ;) Not by the fact that it was done (see later), but by the fact that someone bothered to do it. Thank you hacker for your time ;)

This Blog is powered by free software that can be downloaded and installed by everybody (thank you Web Wiz Forums – the authors) and hence it is also “open source”, so hackers have a really easy job hacking it. Luckily I know web programming so I immediately re-wrote the access to the administration part of this application, which should make it much more difficult to crack.

MUSIC

No time to listen to any music in the last couple of days. Hopefully tomorrow?

JAZZIS WEB SHOP

I managed to take stock (count) of the warehouse today – a grueling job. Thanks to the sale offers I managed to sell a few thousand CDs this year, which made the count quicker, but there is still a lot of CDs to count!

Few orders today, people must be sleeping off yesterday’s parties. I decided to leave the US $ 1.00 price today and see how it goes. Some customers emailed me saying they did not have enough time to browse the list, so here you go people – you have more time.

HAVE FUN!