All Things Hat

[king ubu]

Another possibility to read "Hat Hut" is entirely German and means "[he] has got [a] hat" (since "hat" in German can be read as "has").

Here's the link to our show, in case anyone whom I haven't emailed it yet wants to listen to it (it's in swiss german, as usual):

http://195.210.0.134:554/ramgen/lora/archi...o%20LoRa%2097,5

The end of the show is clipped, alas - it misses th last seconds of the great Clusone 3 tune (from "Rara Avis") and me calling things off (my friend does the opening talk, I did the missing closing talk).

[AmirBagachelles]

I guess it is commendable that the owner/founder doesn't want Hat to be seen as a reissue label, though I am sure he realizes that 99.999% of the music buying public, and more importantly a significant percentage of the people who have gotten into improvisional music and free and avant-garde jazz in the past five years, have never heard many of the classics in his vault in the first place. If I had the money, I would definitely buy him out, I am sure that much of the classic Hat catalog is marketable on some distribution dimension, at some untried price points. Too bad about Garden (I've never heard part 1...), but good news regarding The Eighth, it is an exciting disc.

[Adam]

I guess it is commendable that the owner/founder doesn't want Hat to be seen as a reissue label, though I am sure he realizes that 99.999% of the music buying public, and more importantly a significant percentage of the people who have gotten into improvisional music and free and avant-garde jazz in the past five years, have never heard many of the classics in his vault in the first place. If I had the money, I would definitely buy him out, I am sure that much of the classic Hat catalog is marketable on some distribution dimension, at some untried price points. Too bad about Garden (I've never heard part 1...), but good news regarding The Eighth, it is an exciting disc.

I think all you'd have to do is offer to take it over full time, and he would hand it to you. How much do you know about running a label?

[Adam]

New announcement:

Dear Friend,

2 more to come end of February 2006:

hatOLOGY 603 : WARNE MARSH, NE PLUS ULTRA (reissue, remastered)

It's hard to understand why Warne Marsh was so neglected during his lifetime.

It's harder still to substantiate the charges with which his music was branded

–cerebral, cold, unemotional, uninvolving. This album alone, one of his best,

should been enough to put such absurd slurs to rest. The music on Ne Plus Ultra

is intimate, warm, passionate, risky. There is much beauty to be shared.

–Art Lange

Il est difficile de comprendre pourquoi Warne Marsh a été autant négligé de

son vivant. Il est plus difficile encore de justifier les reproches qui ont accablé

sa musique - cérébrale, froide, vide d’émotions, peu motivante. Cet album à

lui seul, l’un de ses meilleurs, devrait suffire à mettre un terme à de telles

affirmations. Dans Ne Plus Ultra, la musique est intime, chaude, passionnée,

risquée. Il y a là tant de beauté à partager. –Art Lange

Es ist schwer zu verstehen, weshalb Warne Marsh zu Lebzeiten so wenig

Aufmerksamkeit geschenkt wurde. Noch schwerer aber ist es, mit überzeugenden

Argumenten das zu untermauern, was man seiner Musik vorwarf – hatte man

sie doch als intellektuell, kühl, nüchtern und distanziert gebrandmarkt. Dabei

hätten allein mit diesem Album, einem seiner besten, solch absurde, diffamierende

Behauptungen ein für allemal widerlegt sein müssen. Die Musik auf Ne Plus Ultra

ist intim, warm, leidenschaftlich, gewagt. Hier können alle an ihrer Schönheit

teilhaben. –Art Lange

hatOLOGY 624 : JOE McPHEE & SURVIVAL UNIT II WITH CLIFFORD THORNTON

(reissue, remastered)

Producers note: I first heard these tapes during my visit to the U.S.A.

in 1974.

The occasion was my first meeting with Joe McPhee and Craig Johnson of

CJR Records. That meeting and the impact the music of these and other

unreleased tapes had on me, are the reason I became a record producer.

Originally this release was planed for 1988 on LP's. Due the rapid rise

of the

CD medium, the original plan was postponed and was eventually forgotten.

1996, 25 years later, this music/concert has been made available in a

limited

edition for the collectors of Joe McPhee's creations.

2006, 35 years later, this newly remastered version is the sole release

to

celebrate the 30th year of Hat Hut Records. ñWerner X. Uehlinger

Note du producteur: J'ai eu líoccasion díÈcouter ces bandes aux

Etats-Unis,

en 1974, lors ma premiËre entrevue avec Jo McPhee et Craig Johnson de

CJR Records. Cette rencontre et l'impact quíont eu sur moi ces bandes,

et díautres encore non exploitÈes, sont les motivations qui míont amenÈ

‡ devenir producteur de disques. ¿ l'origine, cette Èdition Ètait prÈvue

pour 1988 sur 33 tours, mais face ‡ la progression rapide du support CD,

le projet initial a ÈtÈ reportÈ, puis oubliÈ. En 1996, soit 25 ans plus

tard,

cette musique/concert a ÈtÈ produite en Èdition limitÈe pour les

collectionneurs

des crÈations de Joe McPhee.

En 2006, 35 ans plus tard, la sortie de cette version nouvellement

remasterisÈe

est líÈvÈnement qui vient marquer le 30e anniversaire de Hat Hut

Records.

ñWerner X. Uehlinger

Anmerkung des Produzenten: Ich habe diese B‰nder zum ersten Mal w‰hrend

meines Aufenthalts in den USA im Jahr 1974 gehˆrt, und zwar anl‰sslich

meines ersten Zusammentreffens mit Joe McPhee und Craig Johnson von

CJR Records. Diese Begegnung sowie die magische Wirkung, welche diese

Musik und weitere unverˆffentlichte Aufnahmen auf mich aus¸bten, waren

der Grund, weshalb ich Plattenproduzent wurde. Dieser Konzertmitschnitt

sollte urspr¸ngliche 1988 auf Vinyl erscheinen. Aufgrund des rapiden

Aufschwungs, den das Medium CD erfuhr, wurde das Vorhaben auf

unbestimmte

Zeit verschoben und schlie?lich vergessen. Den SammlerInnen von Joe

McPhees

musikalischen Kreationen wurde das Konzert 1996, also nach 25 Jahren, in

einer limitierten Auflage zug‰nglich gemacht.

2006, 35 Jahre danach, feiert Hat Hut Records seinen 30. Geburtstag mit

der

Verˆffentlichung dieser neu gemasterten Version der

Original-Rundfunk¸bertragung.

ñWerner X. Uehlinger

[Adam]

A newish review:

David Murray Trio “3D Family” CD-2006 hatOLOGY

Recorded at a Swiss jazz festival in 1978, saxophonist David Murray signified a young-blood on the global jazz scene, possessing a distinctive line of attack, conveying style and ferocious inprov acumen. And what a gala this is! Sounding as fresh and vital nearly three decades later, the band pulls out the proverbial stops.

The musicians judiciously parallel the intimations of the album title, by offering a multidimensional tour de force of progressive jazz marked with burning intensity and spiritual overtones. On the nearly twenty-minute opener “3D Family,” Murray rephrases a vacillating and jazz-waltz driven motif, spiced up with sugary overtones and an endearing hook. With vocal-like attributes he improvises atop the all-star rhythm section of South African bassist Johnny Mbizo Dyani and American drummer Andrew Cyrille. They slice, dice, and soar heavenward. Yet, they communicate solstice and introspection during the extended workout titled “Patricia.” Elsewhere, the artists align for a sequence of frenzied, free-form excursions marked by climactically consummated opuses and cumulative firepower. This wondrously recorded reissue offers a timeless snapshot of progressive jazz. The trio was at the top of its game here. – Glenn Astarita

David Murray: tenor saxophone; Johnny Mbizo Dyani: double bass; Andrew Cyrille: percussion

David Murray Trio “3D Family” CD hatOLOGY 609

[GregK]

3 titles I am considering buying from a local store:

Jimmy Giuffre/Andre Jaume, Momentum, Willisau

Matthew Shipp Prism

Anthony Ortega Scattered Clouds

[Clunky]

3 titles I am considering buying from a local store:

Anthony Ortega Scattered Clouds

This is a good one IMO. Don't know the others. Ortega's other Hat release "New dance " is better though

[Adam]

Dear Friend,

Available end of June 2007:

Expected to come back since years! The Summer music!

Hans Kennel Mytha : How It All Started

Alphorn Quartet & Orchestra

hatOLOGY 648

(remastered, compilation of 2 out of print hatART CDs, ADD)

Total Time 78:45 DDD, Barcode: 752156064824

Mytha in this sense attempted the opposite of a reconstruction of Alpine roots. The energy of the music of this (at times extended) alphorn quartet hasn’t diminished since its first CD was released in 1991. Hans Kennel is a leading expert on folk tradition, in particular on that of Central Switzerland. His interest, however, does not stem from ethnomusicological hunting and gathering practices but from a living experience with music, both improvised and other kinds. In his approach, distance and emotion are equally involved. The many English titles are not used to jazz up something old or familiar; on the contrary, they are used to eschew ingratiation, or arrogance that here we have jazz musicians coming to show the Alpine folks what traditional music really sounds like. As for the original titles, they are meant as reverence: for the Muotatal (Muota Valley) Kennel knows like the back of his hand; for Martin Christen, the doyen of the Swiss alphorn Renaissance, who already in the forties of the last century because of his polyphonic experiments had to fight against the narrow-mindedness of the self-appointed guardians of the Holy Grail of Swiss folklore; or for Hans-Jürg Sommer, the most important composer in the field of “traditional” alphorn playing. You are mistaken if you believe that the traditional alphorn players ignore what Kennel set in motion. It’s the national associations that are inflexible, or at least almost immovable, and still regard themselves as the custodians of tradition, of so-called time-honoured, localised customs. – Peter Rüedi

"Mytha" a tenté l’inverse d'une reconstruction des racines pastorales alpines.

La musique de ce quartette de cors des Alpes (élargi à l’occasion) est tout aussi pleine d’énergie que lors de la parution de son premier CD en 1991. Hans Kennel est un grand connaisseur de la tradition musicale populaire, notamment de Suisse centrale. Son intérêt néanmoins n’est pas né de recherches et collections d'ethnologie musicale, mais d’une expérience vivante de la musique, improvisée ou autre. Distance et émotion y occupent une même vraie place. Les nombreux titres anglais n’ont pas été choisis pour mettre au goût du jour l’ancien et le familier, mais au contraire pour écarter toute idée de flatterie ou d’arrogance de la part de musiciens de jazz qui tenteraient de montrer aux populations des Alpes ce qu’est la véritable musique traditionnelle. Quant aux titres d’origine, ils se veulent révérencieux: à l’égard du Muotatal que Kennel connaît parfaitement; à l’égard de Martin Christen, le doyen de la renaissance suisse du cor des Alpes qui, déjà dans les années 40 du siècle dernier, a combattu avec ses expériences polyphoniques l'étroitesse d'esprit des protecteurs autoproclamés du Saint Graal de l'art populaire suisse; ou à l’égard de Hans Sommer, le plus important compositeur en matière de pratique musicale "traditionnelle" du cor des Alpes. Ce serait une erreur de croire que les joueurs traditionnels de cor des Alpes ignorent ce que Kennel a été le premier à initier. Seules les associations nationales se montrent inflexibles, ou pour le moins

rigides, et se considèrent toujours comme les gardiennes de la tradition et de ses prétendus us et coutumes. – Peter Rüedi

"Mytha" versuchte das Gegenteil von Rekonstruktion alpiner roots. Die Musik dieses (gelegentlich erweiterten) Alphorn-Quartetts ist in ihrer Energie so ungebrochen wie bei Erscheinen seiner ersten CD 1991. Hans Kennel ist ein grosser Kenner der volksmusikalischen Tradition namentlich der Innerschweiz. Aber sein Interesse stammt nicht aus einem musikethnologischen Jäger- und Sammlertum, sondern aus der lebendigen Erfahrung von Musik, improvisierter und anderer. Distanz und Emotion sind daran gleichermassen beteiligt. Mit den vielen englischen Titeln wird nicht etwas Altes oder Vertrautes aufgemotzt, sondern im Gegenteil Anbiederung vermieden, oder Arroganz: dass nun da Jazzer kämen, den Älplern zu zeigen, was wahre Volksmusik sei. Die originalen Titel aber sind gedacht als Reverenzen, an das Kennel besonders vertraute Muotatal, an Martin Christen, den Doyen der Schweizer Alphorn-Renaissance, der mit seinen mehrstimmigen Experimenten schon in den vierziger Jahren des letzten Jahrhunderts gegen die Borniertheit der selbsternannten Gralshüter der Schweizer Volkskunst zu

End of July 2007:

Mike Westbrook Orchestra, On Duke's Birthday

Recorded live May 12th, 1984 Le Grand ThȂtre, Maison de la Culture,

Amiens

hatOLOGY 635 (reissue, remastered, AAD)

End of August 2007:

Two masterpieces from Jazzfestival Willisau 1979:

Oliver Lake Trio : Zaki

Oliver Lake - alto, tenor & soprano saxophones

Michael Gregory Jackson - electric guitar

Pheeroan akLaff -drums

hatOLOGY 639 (reissue, remastered, AAD)

&

Anthony Braxton : Performance (Quartet) 1979

Anthony Braxton - alto & soprano saxophones, clarinet & contrabass clarinet

Ray Anderson - trombone, alto trombone & little instruments

John Lindberg - double bass

Thurman Barker - percussion, xylophone & gongs

hatOLOGY 610 (reissue, AAD)

Best regards,

Werner X. Uehlinger

Werner X. Uehlinger

Hat Hut Records LTD.

Box 521,

4020 Basel, Switzerland

wxu.hathut.com@bluewin.ch

Phone +41.61.373.0773

http://www.hathut.com

The Journey Continues the 33rd Year too!

Hat Hut Records Ltd. benefits from its partnership

with the Fondation NestlÈ pour l'Art, Lausanne.

This e-mail message together with its attachments, if any, is confidential and may contain information

subject to legal privilege. The confidentiality and integrity of e-mail communication cannot be guaranteed.

[Late]

Anthony Braxton : Performance (Quartet) 1979

Anthony Braxton - alto & soprano saxophones, clarinet & contrabass clarinet

Ray Anderson - trombone, alto trombone & little instruments

John Lindberg - double bass

Thurman Barker - percussion, xylophone & gongs

hatOLOGY 610 (reissue, AAD)

Finally!

This is one of Braxton's masterworks in my opinion.

[Late]

The Oliver Lake title is also very nice — some of Lake's most focused soloing in my opinion. I have it in the original hatART incarnation, so I won't be picking up this new reissue, but the Braxton is a MUST.

[Chuck Nessa]

I hope he can hold on and continue issuing cds. Werner is a smart guy, but the graveyards are filled with smart guys.

[B. Clugston]

The Braxton is excellent. The Lake is good, but I don't spin it too much. Nice to see more of the back catalogue back in print, though the Kennel stuff is getting the 'new issue, less music' treatment that a couple of Steve Lacy reissues and one Sun Ra date got from HatHut.

[Late]

... the 'new issue, less music' treatment that a couple of Steve Lacy reissues and one Sun Ra date got from HatHut.

Which Lacy got "less music"? Are you thinking of NY Capers & Quirks? Those two LPs do indeed have more music to offer. So far, no prior compact disc reissue to my knowledge has been trimmed down for re-reissue on hatOLOGY.

I wish that Werner would get to some Lacy that has never been on compact disc before. Two that come to mind are Stamps and Ballets. I'm sure there are a few more. Overall, however, I can't complain.

There's a live Ayler date that's been catalogued and presumably remastered for compact disc on hat, but it has yet to come out ... (and it's not the Lörrach and Paris set). It's even listed on the back of some hat reissues that have made it into stores.

Edited May 30, 2007 by Late

[jlhoots]

Wonder what happened to the Shepp / Roach duets reissue.

[clifford_thornton]

Maybe they got wise and decided to call up Uniteledis?

[king ubu]

Wonder what happened to the Shepp / Roach duets reissue.

no more news here...

Maybe they got wise and decided to call up Uniteledis?

what's that supposed to mean?

[clifford_thornton]

Just a slag on the Hat and a big ups for Force, the duo LP on Uniteledis from a bit earlier.

[B. Clugston]

... the 'new issue, less music' treatment that a couple of Steve Lacy reissues and one Sun Ra date got from HatHut.

Which Lacy got "less music"? Are you thinking of NY Capers & Quirks? Those two LPs do indeed have more music to offer. So far, no prior compact disc reissue to my knowledge has been trimmed down for re-reissue on hatOLOGY.

That and Cliches (nee Prospectus) were shorn of several tracks on their CD editions, the latter due to tape storage issues. The oddity is that in this day and age of CDs being reissued with bonus tracks, here's a case of the opposite. A minor grumble, however, as Werner has documented some important musical milestones over the years.

[J.A.W.]

... the 'new issue, less music' treatment that a couple of Steve Lacy reissues and one Sun Ra date got from HatHut.

Which Lacy got "less music"? Are you thinking of NY Capers & Quirks? Those two LPs do indeed have more music to offer. So far, no prior compact disc reissue to my knowledge has been trimmed down for re-reissue on hatOLOGY.

That and Cliches (nee Prospectus) were shorn of several tracks on their CD editions, the latter due to tape storage issues. The oddity is that in this day and age of CDs being reissued with bonus tracks, here's a case of the opposite. A minor grumble, however, as Werner has documented some important musical milestones over the years.

Wasn't there also some kind of copyright issue with some of the axed tracks?

[king ubu]

Just a slag on the Hat and a big ups for Force, the duo LP on Uniteledis from a bit earlier.

weird name for a label, but thanks for helping me "get" it... I only have that one from blogosphere, would have to pull both it and the "Long March" volumes out of the shelf again to comment, but I always kind of liked "The Long March"... Roach was a character I knew some about very early when I got into jazz, and this recording was one of the first I got with him, back then (along with "Study in Brown" and the Enja "Long As You're Living Yours").

[king ubu]

Did I miss something? A swiss website (discplus.ch - seems they do ship abroad but I have no clue what that costs) has available the following early/long OOP hatOLOGY releases again, at the backlist sale prize, too (roughly 6€ or 7 US$):

Misha Mengelberg - The Root of the Problem

Clusone 3 - Rara Avis

Joe Maneri - Coming Down the Mountain

Carlos Zingaro/Peggy Lee - Western Front, Vancouver 1996

There may be other OOP items in the list that I don't recognize as such since I've had them for long (I have the Maneri and Zingaro/Lee of these four as well, but will try and order the other two).

[king ubu]

hm, it's weird - maybe the Zingaro/Lee wasn't OOP already at all, but I'm quite sure about the Mengelberg, and totally sure about the Clusone. The Maneri is still listed as OOP on the hat page, but the Clusone and Mengelberg aren't...

Here's the link to the discplus site:

http://www.discplus.ch/

Put Hat in the label and the labels will pop up, choose, "HATOLOGY" and hit go and there's all they have listed at the moment. On top there's a [chf] link, click on it to see the listings in €. Also you can choose the language (german/french/english).

[AndrewHill]

I know pages and pages have gone by, but I just wanted to answer the original question about what recommendations to make from this great label.

I have mostly the Hat Hut 'red spine' cd issues. Here's what I have and recommend, although I think these are mostly OOP:

Horace Tapscott: Dark Tree, vols. I and II

Sun Ra: Sunrise in a Different Dimension

Clusone 3: Soft Lights and Sweet Music

Joe McPhee: Old Eyes and Myteries, Linear B, and Topology

Anthony Braxton: 7 comps (Trio) 1989, Dortmund 1976, and 8 Tristano Comps (+3) 1989

Cecil Taylor- The 8th

From Hatology:

Albert Ayler-Lorach/Paris

Steve Lacy: NY Capers and Quirks

I have a question for those of you that own the LP's, and keep in mind that I have not seen the LP covers. Are the Hat Hut red-spine cd reissues, the original LP covers? I don't have scans of my cds handy, but the Tapscott's, for example, have these Lichenstein-like abstract drawings. Even if they're not, these are some pretty cool covers.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Holy Ghost

[Aggie87]

(discplus.ch - seems they do ship abroad but I have no clue what that costs)

I put a disc in my cart out of curiousity, and the economy shipping to the U.S. seems to be €3.82. Two discs = €6.05. It goes up on a sliding scale.

Edited June 1, 2007 by Aggie87

[Late]

Did I miss something? A swiss website (discplus.ch - seems they do ship abroad but I have no clue what that costs) has available the following early/long OOP hatOLOGY releases again, at the backlist sale prize, too (roughly 6€ or 7 US$):

Misha Mengelberg - The Root of the Problem

Clusone 3 - Rara Avis

Joe Maneri - Coming Down the Mountain

Carlos Zingaro/Peggy Lee - Western Front, Vancouver 1996

I think all those titles are "officially" OOP, but a number of stores in the last few years are listing unsold inventory. Jazz Loft uncovered some not too long, and even Cadence listed some after not having them in their inventory.

The Zingaro/Lee is a nice one. I couldn't get with the Clusone 3, and gave it to Joe Milazzo a number of years ago.