Arsenije Jovanović / Ivana Stefanović ‎- Concerto Grosso Balcanico / Lacrimosa (1993)

Shared release between two Serbian composers, who have previously been posted here in their own right - Jovanović with an untitled collection, and Stefanović with Inner Landscape. According to the liner notes, both were asked in the Spring of 1993 to produce a piece for Austrian radio, as they "were among the most renowned radio artists in Europe."  What they brought with them were immediate and raw first-hand experiences of Yugoslavia's turbulent last days; as Jovanović noted, "There is an inevitable link to the war still being waged as I write this."

Jovanović's 16-minute Concerto Grosso Balcanico sets out a peaceful, rural scene at first, with bells, birds and sheep, but very quickly introduces tenser elements of an ominous clatter and then an electronic layer that comes on like a distant helicopter.  Barking dogs introduce a rhythmic element as some sped-up tapes enter, and the piece becomes progressively more ominous until the unmistakable sound of gunfire dominates the final minutes.

Gunshots are also the first sound used in Stefanović's 25-minute Lacrimosa, which then unfolds as a much more musical piece, albeit heavily collaged.  Samples of Requiem music from Pergolesi, Mozart, Penderecki and Britten are mixed with documentary tapes from the streets of Sarajevo in May 1992.  As Stefanović remembered: "They were all together for the last time: Serbs, Muslims and Croats."  After a final social gathering, with a poignant exchange of Shaloms, the piece ends on a plaintive acapella song.  Both these pieces are deeply affecting in their material and background story, are superbly recorded and arranged, and will definitely stay with you after listening.  Highly recommended.

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Milton Nascimento - Courage (1969)

Milton Nascimento's international debut, with Deodato arrangements and slick production from Creed Taylor's nascent CTI imprint.  This makes it a bit of an outlier in his early catalogue, as do the two English-language songs, but it works beautifully on its own merits.  The album definitely made an impression on Stanley Turrentine, who would shortly base an album around two of the tracks here: Vera Cruz and Canção do Sal, aka Salt Song.  In a way, the lush, jazzy arrangements on this album anticipate Nascimento's later work with Wayne Shorter.  Even at this early stage, Nascimento's unique voice and heartfelt songwriting are the main draws that elevate Courage from just another gorgeous-sounding CTI record to something truly timeless.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Clube Da Esquina
Milagre Dos Peixes
Native Dancer
Minas/Geraes
Clube Da Esquina 2

Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett - s/t (1971)

Another look at that period in Keith Jarrett's early career, previously visited on Expectations, where he was still figuring out his overall direction.  Sharing the limelight for this album was vibes maestro Gary Burton, who'd been recording for longer but was in a similar phase of experimenting with his modes of expression.  Both would end up at ECM within the year, and both had already recorded for Atlantic, the label for this self-titled and often under-rated LP.

The material is all Jarrett's except for Como En Vietnam written by Steve Swallow, the bassist for the album.  Jarrett takes a brief solo on soprano sax on that track, but otherwise sticks to piano.  Gary Burton sounds great throughout, with his cool, languid tone shining on the mid-tempo material, but equally capable on the upbeat, knottier moments.  The other supporting voice is session guitarist Sam Brown, who adds the same bluesy, funky touch that he brought to Expectations.  Think of this great little record as a distillation of some of the best bits of Expectations, with the huge added bonus of Gary Burton, and you can't go wrong.

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Marc Johnson - Sound Of Summer Running (1998)

Although this album was only the second released by Omaha-born jazz bassist Marc Johnson under his own name, he was well established by the 90s.  His sideman appearances went back to Bill Evans' last days, and subsequently saw several ECM appearances, particularly with John Abercrombie.  He'd also fronted the Bass Desires group on ECM, a quartet with Bill Frisell and John Scofield as duelling guitarists.

For this 1997 recording, Johnson went back to the dual guitar-bass-drums configuration of Bass Desires, this time pairing Frisell with none other than Pat Metheny.  This lineup was bound to produce something special, and it most certainly did.  Perhaps some expected fireworks - the AMG writeup registers disappointment on that score - but what emerged instead was a beautifully mellow, mostly mid-tempo album of quietly assured brilliance.

Frisell and Metheny blend perfectfully on every track here, yet still make their individual influences heard.  The album variously touches on country & western (Ghost Train, Porch Swing) and blues (Union Pacific), as well as Metheny's great Midwestern folk influences.  Dingy Dong Day even takes in surf and rockabilly, with nifty key changes, and then the partly acoustic stretch to the end of the album brought to mind my favourite ECM guitar trio album Travel Guide.  Essential summer enjoyment from start to finish.

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Various Artists - Gymnoscapes: Nature Lands, Aerial, Reverie (1992)

A nicely strange charity shop find, offering over two hours of ambient, electronic library music on a French label.  That's pretty much all I know for sure about this collection - the year of release above might not be accurate, as I could only find one obscure reference to it online, with no dates on the discs or liner notes.

In terms of artists, there's a "Record conception" credit to a Christian Bonnaeu on the back, but I'm taking that to mean that he compiled/produced it - fairly sure the individual names after each track, eg B. Bergé, Ph. Davies, Ph. Jogwell etc are meant to be the recording artists.  There's definitely a Philippe Jogwell on discogs who gets credited for a new age/electronic album on the same label as that Michel Saugy disc.

Anyway, listening-wise this is a really enjoyable experience.  If you fancy a couple of hours of floaty, relaxing ambience, it does the job, and occasionally strays into more abstract territory, as on the gaseous drift of Cosmos Land on Disc 1 which otherwise concentrates on short pieces.  Recommended applications (from the notes) for that one: "Cosmos exploration". 

Disc 2 is even better, with longer tracks, including Abyss, a five-part "sythesiser symphony with guitar and percussion" from one JM Wizenne.  He might well be Jean-Michel Wizenne, who does get credited with some soundtrack work and cites guitar influences from "Jeff Beck, Blackmore and Van Halen" - that could fit the Wizenne tracks here which dominate Disc 2.  They're a pleasingly odd mix of widdly lead guitar and ambient backdrop, like someone surreptitiously taping Joe Satriani's late-night noodles from the next room.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
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Astrud Gilberto - Look To The Rainbow (1966)

Astrud Gilberto's third solo album showed her vocal range and interpretive skill beginnig to mature, and with this came a gorgeous half hour of arrangements by Gil Evans (with the exception of the third last and second last songs, arranged by Al Cohn) and production by Creed Taylor.  Perhaps trying to position Astrud as both international pop star and authentic bossanova voice, just over half the album's tracks are sung in English, and Look To The Rainbow presents a cracking selection of songs by the likes of Jobim, João Gilberto, Vinicius De Moraes and Baden Powell.

Mixed in with these are I Will Wait For You from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, and Maria Quiet from the considerably less well known (and never fully performed as written) Brazilian musical, Pobre Menina Rica (Poor Rich Girl).  Without that context, the latter song, sung in English, can seem a little...odd, but never mind - as a whole, this album is pure bossanova-jazz-pop perfection.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
I Haven't Got Anything Better To Do
Gilberto With Turrentine

Ilitch - Periodikmindtrouble (2000 compi of recordings 1974-1978)

Two and half hours of phenomenal organ/guitar drones, ambient sounds and other strangeness, from French artist Thierry Müller and associates.  Originally a photographer and graphic designer, Müller started making music in the early 1970s, sometimes assisted by his brother Patrick on synth and recording engineer Ruth Ellyeri.  Their first album as Ilitch, Periodik Mindtrouble, was released in 1978.

This double-CD collects all the material released on the LP along with outtakes from it and other early recordings.  Taking the CD running order then, the first thing here is the 25-minute title track which originally filled Side 2 of the LP.  Starting with some frantic, stabbing organ improvisation, it settles down after a few minutes and then begins a hypnotic drone that Terry Riley would've been proud of, adding guitar in the final minutes.  This is followed by the three-part, 23-minute Ballades Urbaines, originally planned for the LP but ditched in favour of newer material, in which environmental recordings are paired with near-formless reverbed guitar.  A further 20 minutes of unreleased material from 1974 rounds out Disc 1, with more organ, this time in gloomy dark ambient mode, bookended by guitar experiments.

All of the 1975-78 material on Disc 2 comes under the heading of 'Innerfilmsequences', and it was from this group of recordings that the finalised first side of the LP took shape.  The CD tracks that appeared on the LP are 2-3, 5, 8-10, although the last one there appears to be a 1999 re-recording.  More guitar and synth abounds, along with harmonium, occasional percussion and tape manipulation.  The unreleased material reveals an absolute treasure trove of lengthy drone pieces: To I Dien for organ, synth and tape and Impasse Raga for harmonium and percussion, both 8 minutes; and two stunning 16-17 minute tracks, which are my favourites on Disc 2, Trans Sud Omnibus for organ and synths, and Voyage (Limit Speed Disintegration) for organ, synth, guitar & tapes.  A hugely recommened collection, especially to fans of Heldon/Richard Pinhas.

Disc 1 link
Disc 2 link
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Alvin Lucier - Vespers And Other Early Works (2002 compi, rec. 1961-2002)

A deep dive into the possibilities of sound, courtesy of Alvin Lucier.  This collection starts off in 1969, with the clicking and rattling of the sonar dolphin echolocation devices used in Vespers.  As spartan as this might be in its sound (and it probably has to be experienced live for full spatial effect), it's also strangely relaxing.  This is followed by Chambers, devised to integrate different types of environmental sound in odd ways.  First conceived in 1968, this was a new recording made in 2002 for this compilation.

North American Time Capsule is another vintage recording, of voices put through an early vocoder - when this was recorded in 1967, it originally formed part of the Extended Voices compilation overseen by Lucier.  Another 2002 recording follows, (Middletown) Memory Space, an update of 1970's (Hartford) Memory Space.  This is the first truly musical piece on the album, and follows Lucier's original instructions for the participants to take a walk through a city, record or memorize some ambient sound, then come back as a group and recreate that sound on an instrument, while Lucier conducts everyone in terms of timing.  That, and the closing low-frequency tape work Elegy For Albert Anastasia (recorded 1961 and remixed 1963), are also oddly calming, making this perhaps the weirdest chillout album ever made.

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Previously posted at SGTG: Music On A Long Thin Wire

Ustad Sabri Khan - Raga Darbari / Raga Multani (1991)

Two sublime, masterful ragas today from Ustad Sabri Khan (1927-2015).  Descended from a long line of distinguished musicians, Sabri Khan played the sarangi, an Indian stringed instrument with three melodic gut strings and 35 sympathetic resonant steel strings.

Said to be the instrument that most closely resembles the human voice, even more so than the cello, the sarangi is backed on this recording by tabla (played by Khan's son Ghulam Sarwar Sabri) and tanpura drone from Louise Günel.  The first raga is the 48-minute Darbari, meant to be a slow, sombre nightime raga, and the epic exploratory Alap section gives it its full emotional weight.  This is complemented well by the afternoon raga Multani, where the tablas are more strongly featured.  Beautiful meditative music, and highly recommended.

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Egberto Gismonti - Sol De Meio Dia (1978)

Some classic ECM Gismonti in his second album for the label, to follow on from last Friday's post of Academia Da Danças.  Where that album was one of Gismonti's most sophisticated in its arrangements and production, Sol De Meio Dia (Midday Sun) is stripped down to the bare essentials, in keeping with his other ECM releases.  The two albums do, however, start with the same song.

The version of Palácio de Pinturas that opens Sol De Meio Dia is a sublime duet between Gismonti and Ralph Towner.  Towner's Oregon bandmate, and another ECM stalwart until his untimely death in 1984, Collin Walcott is up next, laying a bed of insistent tabla for Raga.  There's plenty of Nana Vasconcelos on board for this album too, until Gismonti takes a solo spotlight on piano for the utterly gorgeous Coração.

The second half of the album brings together four songs in the kind of suite typical of 70s Gismonti, and starts with one of his most enduring compositions, Café.  Later covered by Norma Winstone, here the melody line is taken by Jan Garbarek, foreshadowing the hugely successful Magico trio with Charlie Haden.  After no less than 12 minutes of this, and further sparring with Towner, the suite then furrows deeper into Gismonti's overall inspiration for Sol De Meio Dia: the time he'd spent with the peoples of the Xingu river region in the North of Brazil.  All in all, one of Gismonti's very best albums; can't recommend it enough.

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Previously posted at SGTG: 
Academia Da Danças
Circense
Sanfona
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden)

Olivier Messiaen - Des Canyons Aux Étoiles (live at BBC Proms, 28 July 2019)

Along with the Turangalîla Symphony, Des canyons aux étoiles... (From the canyons to the stars...) is one of Olivier Messiaen's most epic orchestral works.  The creative spark was a visit to the US that Messiaen undertook in 1972, in response to a commission for music celebrating the upcoming Bicentennial.  Finding himself in Bryce Canyon, Utah, the composer was awestruck by the landscape and started work on something that would capture it in music, along with his usual religious fervour and interest in birdsong.

Des canyons aux étoiles... was the result, and the 90-minute work premiered in 1974.  This recording from just over a week ago saw the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo, tackle its complexity in grand style.  Pianist Nicholas Hodges is in charge of the Messiaenic aviary, with birdsong transcribed not just from American species, but from all over the world, and lengthy passages of this punctuate the powerful sweep of the orchestra.  Des Canyons also has in its score a massive percussion section, including a wind machine, thunder sheet and a geophone; the latter being a large drum of Messiaen's invention, filled with lead pellets.  Listen and be blown away. (P.S. be sure to listen on headphones to get the benefit of the binaural mix.)

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Tomasz Stańko - Wolność W Sierpniu - Freedom In August (2005)

POLIN (see links below) wasn't the first time that the late Tomasz Stańko had composed for the opening of a Polish museum.  The 27 minutes of music on this release were written for the Warsaw Uprising Museum's opening in 2004, which marked the 60th anniversary of the wartime event in question.

Quite unlike the POLIN release, which was effectively a conventional jazz album in its own right, Freedom In August is a much more soundtrack-like work.  Stańko's working group of the time are expanded with keyboards and percussion (Janusz Skowron and Apostolis Antymos, both of whom he'd worked with in the 80s) and backing from the Polish Symphony Orchestra.

This lush, widescreen sound can seem a little odd at first coming from someone like Stańko, but it works well in this context, and emphasises his melancholy forte as a composer.  Of course, as he still stars on trumpet on every track, Freedom In August is also well worth a listen for any fans of Stańko's signature sound.  He stretches out most on the plaintive, urgent Crash Song, and graces every other track with the charcoal streaks familiar to his conventional records.  A really beautiful mini-album that deservies recognition in the much-missed Stańko's catalogue.

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Previously posted at SGTG:
Jazzmessage From Poland
Purple Sun
Freelectronic in Montreux
Bluish
Bosonossa And Other Ballads
Matka Joanna
Dark Eyes
Wisława
Polin

Egberto Gismonti - Academia Da Danças (1974)

Often regarded as his earliest masterpiece, Academia Da Danças was the album that saw Egberto Gismonti sign with EMI Brazil.  With their recording & production facilities to hand, Gismonti would record some of his most ambitious and sophisticated albums for the label.  Early on in this blog I posted the technicolour adventures of Circense (link below) from 1980, and Academia from six years prior shows Gismonti well on his way to that kind of sound, with two side-long suites.

The first of these suites is the fully-segued Corações Futuristas (a title Gismonti would reuse for his next album), made up of five songs.  Strings and synths abound, and in fact introduce the album, as wordless vocals accompany the entry of Gismonti's rolling guitar arpeggios.  There's almost a prog feel in the playing and arrangements, which reminded me of early Steve Hackett; wonder if he heard this album?  Given his relationship with Brazilian artist Kim Poor, it's entirely possible.  Some of the song titles here, for instance Palace of Paintings and The Enchanted Door (in their English translations) are also kind of Hackett-like.

After all the energetic twists and turns of the first suite, the album's not-entirely-segued second half (titled Academia Da Danças) starts with two gorgeous haunting ballads, with Egberto on vocals and piano.  The arrangements are stripped right back - a bit of organ here, a lovely flute feature there.  The album picks up pace again after that, for four short instrumentals that dance around in great arrangements, until the memorably bizarre finale of crazed electric piano & flute collapses in a hallucinatory swirl of electronics.  A highly recommended album from a singular artist.

link
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Previously posted at SGTG:
Circense
Sanfona (by which time Gismonti was using 'Academia Da Danças' as a band name)
Dança Dos Escravos
In Montreal (with Charlie Haden)