mikeweil Posted June 28, 2006 Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 (edited) Organissimo Blindfold Test # 37 - mikeweil - answers disc 1 The theme of this BFT was European Groove. All the tracks were recorded in Europe, or were played by mostly or exclusively European musicians, or those Americans working with them on a regular basis, or living and working in Europe for important timespans in their careers. So it is not just the rhythmic groove I am talking about, but that of life as well - which caused many a talented US musician to seek his musical fulfillment in the old world - and I see a specific but hard to define European approach to the music beyond the cliché of jazz/classical juxtaposition created in the 1970's. Those who followed my posts will know that rhythm, groove, humor, and originality are the most important features in music for me, and that I rate the attempt at trying something new a bit higher than technical perfection. There have been several blindfold tests by US members featuring European musicians, and this made me think about what does not attract me to most European jazz, and made me seek out those musiscians I really dig. I had half a dozen possible themes for this BFT in mind, but this is the one that came out top every time, although I almost skipped it four months ago, when the selection process was nearly finished ..... but that other music will comprise my next BFT. # 1: European Groove Orchestra: All The Dings (Martin Lejeune). CD EGO, Rodenstein Records (musician produced) (http://www.jazzpages.com/ego - http://www.rodensteinrecords.de) Martin Lejeune guitar, electronics, arranger; Ulli Jünemann as, ss, ts, cl, fl; Christoph may as, ts, bcl, cl, fl; Georg Maus tb, tuba, b-tb; Thomas Siffling tp, flgh; Ulf Kleiner p, el-p, beatbox; Jens Loh b; Golo Maichel dr. Recorded 2003 at Loft Studio, Cologne, Germany. That band gave the BFT its title. Martin Lejeune is a very competent guitarist who studied in the Netherlands and now plays and teaches in the Rhine-Main-area. He was one of my bandleader Mikail Aslan's guitar teachers, and sat in with the band for concerts and recordings. I like the idea of writing a modern reggae-inspired arrangement on top of the old broadway style vintage recording (anybody know who this was? otherwise I will have to e-mail Martin about this), which is, of course, All the things you are - the German word "Dings" in the title is used when you cannot remember some term or name when you want to use it while talking ... (The beatbox, BTW, is seen on the cover.) # 2: Glenn Ferris Trio: Face Lift (Ferris). CD Face Lift, enja (horst weber) CD 9089-2. (http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/9089.htm) Glenn Ferris tb; Vincent Segal cello; Bruno Rousselet b. Recorded June 29, 1995, Studio Daniel Deshays, Chantilly, Paris. I loved Ferris exuberant playing in the Don Ellis Orchestra, and wondered what had become of him until I stepped over this CD on ebay. He has matured into a wonderful player, IMHO, and this CD is very nice to listen to, the unusual instrumentation never gets boring. I also love the close conjuncture of composition and improvisation on this track. This opens a kind of sub-theme: Unusual trio line-ups. # 3: Bauer/Puntin/Doctor: Slope Stomp (Bauer). CD Lingo, JazzHausMusik JHM 116 ( http://www.stefanbauer.net/ ) Stefan Bauer marimba; Claudio Puntin bcl, cl; Marcio Doctor perc. Recorded 2001 at Topaz Studio, Cologne, Germany. Another unusual trio - Bauer also plays vibes on other tracks. I was sent this for review in the magazine of the German percussionists association, of which I am a member. I encountered some interesting records that way over the years, the majority being good to very good. Bauer developped into one of the best European mallet players; Doctot is from Argentina but a mainstay of the Cologne scene for many years now, and has very fresh and creative approch to unusual drums/percussion setups. This CD is much more varied than this track suggests, it's rather too short .... # 4: Flip Philipp - Ed Partyka Dectet: Women & Work (Philipp, arranged by Partyka). CD Something Wrong With You?, FF Records 2005 ( http://www.flip-philipp.at/ - http://www.edpartyka.com/). Robert Blachner tb (solo); Ed Partyka btb, tuba; Lorenz Raab tp (solo); Daniel Nösig tp; Clemens Salesny as, bcl; Gerald Preinfalk as, bcl; Klaus Gesing ss, bcl; Flip Philipp vib; Raphael Preuschl b; Christian Salfellner dr. Recorded at Bahnhof Records, Vienna, June 9-10, 2005. This is of course the band that rockefeller center, Mr. Bassman and myself saw perform at Vienna's Blue Tomato club. I had to include a track from the "only small big band with three bass clarinets and a vibes-bass-drums rhythm section", as Partyka, who is a great MC for the band, puts it. Of course, this is much more thrilling live than on record - the studio must have been too small for them. I am very much looking forward to their new recording scheduled for August. Order this from the musicians, the earlier sextet CD is even better and very monkish, and the packing in some cardboard folder is crazy and doesn't fit into any existing CD shelf ..... The remarks on the Teddy Charles Tentet and other bands of that size are very fitting, as the leaders very consciously absorbed their music. I will post a quote about this later. Check out the soundsamples, it's an excellent band - perhaps I should have selected a different track, but I still like these New Orleans grooves .... # 5: Dario Deidda: Liberty City (Jaco Pastorius). CD 3 From The Ghetto, GoJazz 6061-2 (oop, but to be reissued soon (second cover, check http://web.tiscali.it/dariodeidda/ - ). Juan Oliver Mazzariello p, el-p, org; Dario Deidda b; Stephane Huchard dr. Recorded at I Piloti Studio, Rome, February 2002. This bassist is Italy's answer to Christian McBride, being equally adept on acoustic and electric, grooving like hell. He already was on two tracks of my previous BFT (with Gegé). I like the groove of this drummer a lot, and sometimes this CD doesn't leave my CD player for days! I find the way Juan Oliver M. overdubs the three keyboards comes out very natural sounding. Check out sound samples before buying this CD, which can be found on GEMM or Ebay rather easily, as it covers a wide range of styles. Edited October 30, 2007 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 (edited) # 6: Trio Ivoire: Le balafon blanc et noir (Lüdemann). CD Trio Ivoire ENJA (Winckelmann) ENJ 9424-2. (ENJA page) Hans Lüdemann piano, prepared piano; Aly Keita balafon; Steve Arguelles dr, perc. Recorded at Loft Studios, Cologne, Germany, October 21-23, 1999. German pianist Hans Lüdemann combines the great tone of classical training with the openness of a jazz pianist. His understanding of the essence of African music is stunning, but one has a hard time selecting just one single track to get this across - listening to several CDs would be convincing. Lüdemann and Keita had met during the former's concerts on the Ivory Coast, and hooked up instantly, but seemingly met the drummer in that studio for the first time - I have heard Arguelles play much more convincingly on other recordings (another expatriate Argentinian!, and another odd trio!). But I found the idea behind this trio and Lüdemann's approach too interesting to leave it off. (Another CD I was sent for review, BTW.) # 7: Doug Hammond Trio: Rizz Bizz (Hammond). CD Spaces, DIW -359 (originally on Idibib LP - Hammond's own label). Doug Hammond webpage - partly in German. Steve Coleman as; Muneer Addul Fataah (Muneer Fennell) cello; Doug Hammond dr. Recorded at Crossfire Studio, New York, 1982. Drummer Doug Hammond's career never took off in the US. He spent many years in Germany between repeated attempts to launch a career in his home country, but finally gave up and now has a nice teaching job at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, Austria. This trio was based in Germany and gave many concerts here, IIRC I saw them at least three times. Muneer Fennell falwlessly played the role of a bassist when necessary, like in the track here - almost nobody noticed it was a cello here (the next odd trio track). Steve Coleman openly admits the big influence Hammond and the time in this trio had on him - to return the favor, he produced the CD reissue in M-Base's Japanese series. Hammond never got the credit he deserves: a highly original drummer in the Baby Dodds - Max Roach lineage of solo drumming. # 8: Jerry Granelli & UFB: Sad Hour (Clarence Gatemouth Brown/Don Robey). CD News From The Street, VeraBra vBr 2146-2. Kai Brückner & Christian Kögel guitars; Andreas Walter b; Jerry Granelli dr. Recorded at Principal Studios, Münster, Germany, 1995. Jerry Granelli is one of many Americans in Europe teaching (in Berlin, IIRC) and the guys in UFB were his students. He goes way back to California in the 1960's, playing with Vince Guaraldi and the like, to experimental sessions, many of which were released on Germ,an labels (ITM, Intuitiuon). He's not my favourite drummer, but his music is always interesting. I was surprised nobody recognized Gatemouth Brown's tune - this track is dedicated to him, who survived Katrina but died shortly afterwards before beeing able to return to New Orleans. The young Germans hit some authentic blues feeling here. (The label seems to have been forced out of business by losing their distributor, but this CD still can be found used - it hits a varied program from Monk to funk.) # 9: Peter Bolte / Marcio Doctor: Slick Willie (Bolte). CD Zeitraum, JazzHausMusik JHM 113 (www.jazzhausmusik.de). Peter Bolte as, ss, all woodwinds (partly speed manipulated), arranger; Marcio Doctor dr, perc. Recorded at Mehmet Ergin Studios, Cologne, January - November 2000. Bolte is another mainstay of the rich Cologne scene. He scored some ambitious layers of reed and woodwind sounds for this CD, and achieved lower voices through speed manipulation - e.g. what sounds like a baritone say is his alto (his main axe) played back at slower speed. There are nice tracks in odd time signatures reminiscent of Hermeto Pascoal's music, but, as I wrote in my review, this is very dense music that takes concentrated listening in small doses on most tracks. Another take on Marcio Doctor, the rhythm wizard (www.marciodoctor.com). # 10: Peter Herborn: Free, Forward & Ahead (Herborn). CD Peter Herborn's Acute Insights, JMT 882017 (Universal 834417-2; oop but reissued in Winter & Winter's JMT series). Kenny Wheeler tp, flgh; Peter Herborn tb, arranger; Hugo Read as, fl; Wollie Kaiser ts, bcl, bfl, afl; Peter Walter p, keyboards; Raimund Hüttner sampling, electronics, synth programming; Tim Wells b; Jo Thönes dr. Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer, Ludwigsburg, November 1987 and January 1988. Herborn is one of Germany's more interesting writers, though not immune against the trends of the day (see the use of synths here), some of it sounds pretty much like German crime time TV scores, but then he hits very progressive notes. Other projects featured his takes on Coltrane. I always find him interesting, and his sidemen choices are exquisite. Wollie Kaiser, another giant of the Cologne sax scene, plays the Maupinish (very nice!) bass clarinet (a fantastic musician whom I had the pleasure to encounter on a jam session many years ago); Hugo Read does the razor sharp alto. He's one of the few to turn in convincing takes in both jazz and classical pieces (which he does on the bonusdisc!) and teaches both at the renowned Folkwang school at Essen (and happens to be the sax teacher of my band colleague Wolfgang Wittemann in Jennifer & Band). King Ubu asked for recommendations: I'd say listen to the sound samples first, his music is a little "brainy" but then again, very engaged at the same time. Edited August 16, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted June 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 28, 2006 (edited) # 11: Joël Grare: Jazz-hop (Grare)- Part 4 of Koân. CD Follow, Alpha / Le chants de la terre 504 (www.alpha-prod.com). Nicolas Giraud tp; Joël Grare & Axel Lecourt perc (East Asian bamboo jew's harp, African brushes on a wooden box, water drums). Recorded at Studio "de l'autre côte des rails", Ivry, France, December 1998. Joël Grare is a French percussionist playing experimental solo percussion music as well as baroque ensemble music (the latter is how the label heard him, which releases fantastic classical music in excellent sound). This trio plays only one third of the CD, which also features a suite "Follow" played on a set of tuned cowbells from the French alps, and one suite "Fugitives" overdubbing multiple layers of exotic percussion. This is by far the jazziest track on the CD - check out samples before you go for it. The reduction to a simple pentatonic scale for the bass surprisingly annoyed nobody here - you all were fascinated by that trumpet player ..... and no didgeridoo here! # 12: Salerno Liberty City Band: Nuages (Django Reinhardt). CD Salerno Liberty City Band, Via Veneto Jazz VVJ 052 (www.millesuoni.it/viavenetojazz). Alfonso Deidda as; Dario Deidda el-b. Recorded at Zork Digital Planet, Salerno, Italy, May 2, 2004. At this point I felt I had to throw in something for the more conservative ears, i.e. a standard. Reinhardt's tune on a bass guitar with a bach quote intro is odd enough, though. Again, that Deidda wunderkind, and his brother playing alto (my wife's favourite alto sound). Normally this is a sextet or septet, with trumpet, two or three saxes ('nuther brother Sandro among them), piano (played by Alfonso in unspectacular modern fashion), bass and drums, with typical Southern Italian spirit. The band tracks simply were too long for this BFT ... # 13: Allen Hoist: Variations on a spring / Joy Spring (Clifford Brown, arranged by Allen Hoist). CD Just Before Spring, Arco Iris 3001 829. Allen Hoist cello; Mario Canonge p; Etienne Mbappe el-b; Jeff Boudraux dr. Recorded at Gimmic Studio, Yerres, France, March 1999. I first heard Hoist on a Mongo Santamaria album - he was in that band from 1977 to 1980 and can be heard playing a cello solo on one of the two Pablo CDs of Mongo recorded at the Monteux Jazz Festival. He is equally adept at playing alto sax and cello, and is a great singer - I had a real hard time selecting one track and was close to use another featuring his vocals. Judging from the exuberance of his performances on this CD he must like the French groove a lot! # 14: Sadi: Lady Widow (Sadi Lallemand). CD Sadi's Nonet, Igloo IGL 151 (www.netbeat.com/igloo). Sadi vibes, arranger; Bert Joris bugle; Peter Vandendriesche as; André Vandendriesche french horn; Marc Godfroid tuba; Guy Dossche cl; Tony Bauwens p; Bart de Nolf b; Freddy Rottier dr. Recorded at BRT studios, Brussels, 1987. This recording was Belgian radio's tribute to one of the country's jazz legends at the occasion of his 60th birthday, and it was finally released on CD in 2000 and will be the last of this fabulous musician: He had to retire from playing for health reasons! I find his writing amazingly close to his friend Francy Boland's. When he was asked to do this project, he specifically asked for this instrumentation and players (the French horn guy is Belgium's premier classical player of the instrument). Get this CD before it goes oop! It is offered at reduced price by some German shop, but I can't find the link anymore. Sadi was the opener and also on the second disc of my previous BFT, so you can imagine how much I like him. # 15: Werner Pirchner: Ostern 1966 (Pirchner). CD ein halbes doppelalbum, Pirchner EU 1 (www.extraplatte.at - www.wernerpirchner.com). Werner Pirchner vibes; Peter Stambader p; Günther Pollack b; Robert Svedik dr. Recorded probably in 1966 in the Stadtsaal, Innsbruck, Austria. Werner Pirchner has been called the "Tyrolian Zappa" and has been successfully defying and crossing the borders between E-Musik (ernste Musik - serious music) and U-Musik (Unterhaltungs-Musik, entertainment music) for all of his life - he consequently called his label and publishing company "EU", which also happens to be the abbreviation for Europe. See his website for details. One of the most fascinating musicians Europe has produced. Let me just warn you that this is the only track on this CD actually featuring some jazz playing - the rest is satirical material in a variety of Austrian dialects that challenges the native speakers of German on the board, rockefeller center included (!), and is completely incomprehensible for all others! The political content was so strong that "ca. 25 record company bosses" rejected the album that André Heller had sponsored but returned to Pirchner without asking the money back - who had 1.000 copies pressed at his own cost. The album was banned from Austrian radio as soon as it was out, and a friend of Pirchner's almost lost his job when he dared to broadcast some tracks in spite of the ban! Luckily, times are a bit more liberal now ..... Pirchner was Austria's premier vibist (before the arrival of Woody Schabata on the scene, and now there's Flip Philipp). Unfortunately his records are few ..... Edited October 23, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 Mike--thanks for the details. Aha, Jerry Granelli. Mixed feelings about him, speaking as someone who's seen a fair bit of him because I lived in Halifax NS for many years (Granelli is part of the Dharmadhatu Buddhist community there). Sometimes he's fine, but increasing I found I just couldn't stand going to his concerts because of his demeanour onstage (I've never seen a player so palpably in love with his every move--the least little tickle of a cymbal prompted extraordinary grimaces & moans of pleasure), & sometimes the bands he assembled were more interesting on paper (with players like Julian Priester & Bill Frisell) than in practice. The track on the BFT is nice stuff, though, although it's mostly the guitars that grab the attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 1, 2006 Report Share Posted July 1, 2006 # 12: Salerno Liberty City Band: Nuages (Django Reinhardt). CD Salerno Liberty City Band, Via Veneto Jazz VVJ 052 (www.millesuoni.it/viavenetojazz). Alfonso Deidda as; Dario Deidda el-b. Recorded at Zork Digital Planet, Salerno, Italy, May 2, 2004. At this point I felt I had to throw in something for the more conservative ears, i.e. a standard. Reinhardt's tune on a bass guitar with a bach quote intro is odd enough, though. Again, that Deidda wunderkind, and his dad playing alto (my wife's favourite alto sound). Normally this is a sextet or septet, with trumpet, two or three saxes (brother Sandro among them), piano (played by Alfonso in unspectacular modern fashion), bass and drums, with typical Southern Italian spirit. The band tracks simply were too long for this BFT ... # 13: Allen Hoist: Variations on a spring / Joy Spring (Clifford Brown, arranged by Allen Hoist). CD Just Before Spring, Arco Iris 3001 829. Allen Hoist cello; Mario Canonge p; Etienne Mbappe el-b; Jeff Boudraux dr. Recorded at Gimmic Studio, Yerres, France, March 1999. I first heard Hoist on a Mongo Santamaria album - he was in that band from 1977 to 1980 and can be heard playing a cello solo on one of the two Pablo CDs of Mongo recorded at the Monteux Jazz Festival. He is equally adept at playing alto sax and cello, and is a great singer - I had a real hard time selecting one track and was close to use another featuring his vocals. Judging from the exuberance of his performances on this CD he must like the French groove a lot! It's a pity this is Alfonso's sole outing on alto sax. I DO like his playing a lot. I should have recognised Hoist, as I have those Mango Santamania albums, as well. He also plays a mean baritone sax, as well as alto & cello. Allen IS French, I understand, so you'd expect him to like French grooves. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted July 3, 2006 Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Thanks Mike! I'll have to listen again with your answers printed out! Oh, and the french horn guy's a classical musician?! Wow! And Sadi is about the only one I know a bit (but only his early stuff from the fifties, and only sideman things, too...) What a challenge! (almost as good as mine, back then.. ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted July 3, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2006 Mike--thanks for the details. Aha, Jerry Granelli. Mixed feelings about him, speaking as someone who's seen a fair bit of him because I lived in Halifax NS for many years (Granelli is part of the Dharmadhatu Buddhist community there). Sometimes he's fine, but increasing I found I just couldn't stand going to his concerts because of his demeanour onstage (I've never seen a player so palpably in love with his every move--the least little tickle of a cymbal prompted extraordinary grimaces & moans of pleasure), & sometimes the bands he assembled were more interesting on paper (with players like Julian Priester & Bill Frisell) than in practice. The track on the BFT is nice stuff, though, although it's mostly the guitars that grab the attention. I have similar feelings - very interesting personnel, but not always successful results, musically and sonically. And far too many fadeouts. When he applies electronic percussion, which he basically does in an creative way, it's always balanced too loud. I saw him on German TV with Jane Ira Bloom's group, and I thought he was overplaying a little ..... I have to admit I selected this for the fine blues playing of these young Germans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 Just found (remembered) I have another album with Allen Hoist; "Fourou" by Oumou Dioubate (Gefraco KL 070). Allen (one of two tenor players, but I think it's him) plays a passionate solo on "Mori ba djassa". Glenn Ferris is on trombone on this album, as well. MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted July 7, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 "Fourou" by Oumou Dioubate (Gefraco KL 070) Is that an LP or CD? Can't find anything on the web - is the spelling correct? Sounds interesting, and with Ferris ..... African Jazz or what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted July 7, 2006 Report Share Posted July 7, 2006 "Fourou" by Oumou Dioubate (Gefraco KL 070) Is that an LP or CD? Can't find anything on the web - is the spelling correct? Sounds interesting, and with Ferris ..... African Jazz or what? Not jazz - contemporary Mandinke music. Oumou is a pretty famous (both) lady djali with monster sex appeal, whose work is mainly concerned with elevating women in Mandinke society. It's a CD - I bought it in FNAC in Paris in 1994. It didn't play when I got it back home, so I bought another from my normal (at the time) UK supplier, when he got it a few months later. And when I got a new CD player, I found both copies played OK. Do you want the spare? MG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted July 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted July 8, 2006 It's a CD - I bought it in FNAC in Paris in 1994. It didn't play when I got it back home, so I bought another from my normal (at the time) UK supplier, when he got it a few months later. And when I got a new CD player, I found both copies played OK. Do you want the spare? MG Yes, please! For trade: I could drop in at the Frankfurt branch of Zweitausendeins on Monday to get some for you - just look at their site using the search function and typing in Fantasy or other labels under CDs, and pm or mail me until Monday at noon what you'd like to have, and I will see what they have in stock. One CD is € 2.99 in most cases, so tell how many are equivalent to what you paid for the CD. Great! I love Mandinka music! Just spinned two this morning! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted August 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 Now, with some spare time in the comfortable house of friends to spend the remainder of our vacation, and a superfast connection, I find the opportunity to update the answers with some links and photos. If you have any specific requests, go ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nate Dorward Posted August 16, 2006 Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 Thanks Mike. Incidentally, did you hear that Jerry Granelli just fell off a cliff? (& survived). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted August 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 17, 2006 (edited) No - what did it sound like? Edited August 17, 2006 by mikeweil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bright Moments Posted October 23, 2006 Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Organissimo Blindfold Test # 37 - mikeweil - answers disc 1 # 2: Glenn Ferris Trio: Face Lift (Ferris). CD Face Lift, enja (horst weber) CD 9089-2. (http://www.jazzrecords.com/enja/9089.htm) Glenn Ferris tb; Vincent Segal cello; Bruno Rousselet b. Recorded June 29, 1995, Studio Daniel Deshays, Chantilly, Paris. I loved Ferris exuberant playing in the Don Ellis Orchestra, and wondered what had become of him until I stepped over this CD on ebay. He has matured into a wonderful player, IMHO, and this CD is very nice to listen to, the unusual instrumentation never gets boring. I also love the close conjuncture of composition and improvisation on this track. This opens a kind of sub-theme: Unusual trio line-ups. picked up this cd and i am really digging it!! thanks Mike!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted October 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2006 Glad to hear you like it - was a nice surprise to me too when I had my first listen to it. Updated with some album covers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_forumlogo.png.a607ef20a6e0c299ab2aa6443aa1f32e.png)
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.