Advance Sale for Mulatto Radio: Field Recordings 1-4

[AllenLowe]

thanks, will do - AND - first review is in (I sent out some advance CDRs) from a blog called Stash Dauber:

"Mulatto Radio...is nothing less than one man's attempt to reimagine the whole history of jazz (and every other music he's ever heard). It's an exhaustive and exhausting collection of pieces intended to evoke different facets of the jazz past, embellished by the musicians based on what they bring to the party. Over the course its four discs (and he says he has another three in the can), Lowe creates a Burroughsian cutup of the jazz tradition, juxtaposing century-old two-beat rhythms with whirlwind, post-bop solos, or playing modern, Monkian melodies with Creole band instrumentation, including the best use of the banjo on a modern jazz record since Vernon Reid picked one up in Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society (and Ray Suhy's playing bebop on the axe).

There's lots of great playing here from a large cast; particular standouts include Suhy (a guitarist to be reckoned with, who demonstrates that monster chops and gut-level expression are not mutually exclusive), protean pianist Lewis Porter (who performs solo as well as in ensembles), titanic AACM tenorman Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (who appears on a half dozen tracks -- his last recorded performances), clarinetist Ken Peplowski, tubist Christopher Meeder, and the leader himself, whose encyclopedic knowledge of jazz style comes to the fore and whose vocalized, bop-inflected tone hardly sounds like the work of an academic. It's really a composer's record (imagine if Duke Ellington was Jewish, trapped in a New England backwater, and unable to play except in the recording studio), and while Lowe provides copious notes explicating each piece, the music stands on its own merit, rewarding in-depth exploration."

Edited December 14, 2013 by AllenLowe

[jazzbo]

Allen, I've ordered and included a few extra dollars in support. Thanks!

[AllenLowe]

thank you, it is much appreciated. Happily, we've just passed the break even point on the CD costs (well, not counting what it cost to record; don't even want to think about that).

[xybert]

Not to dick ride but every now and again i'm sitting on the couch and i randomly remember that this is on the horizon and i get a warm feeling inside. Nice.

[alankin]

Arrived today. (The cover photo is changed from the above image.)

Edited January 18, 2014 by alankin

[AllenLowe]

I actually used two different covers on different copies, just for fun. And please note the White Radio, lower right.

Edited January 18, 2014 by AllenLowe

[fent99]

Digging through my own crates in these strange times and thought I'd revisit this set. There is so much music here that it takes a bit of digesting and I'm not sure I got to grips with it when it first arrived.

Fascinating journey to be taken on. I'll report again when I've listened further, but I have a question regarding the cover Allen. In the intervening half dozen years I've been spending a bit of time on Anglesey near Llanfair-pg (as they say round there). Any particular reason for the cover photo (on mine as above) "Evan Roberts last revival meeting on Anglesey"?