Sunday, June 21, 2009

Questionnaire.....pt. 8

Elliott Dalgleish:

1. Favourite/particularly interesting jazz album?

Louis Armstrong: The Complete Hot Five and Hot Seven Recordings

2. Favourite/particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost 9 CD Spirit Box Set (1962-70)

3. Favourite/particularly interesting classical recording/piece?

Elliott Carter: String Quartets No.1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people would know

I don’t understand the question. I have no idea what other people know or for that matter don’t know.

However, I enjoy listening to Eric Dolphy: The Complete Prestige and Blue Note Recordings

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but no one would've thought you'd be into

I don’t understand the question. I have no idea what other people think I might or might not be into.

However, I presently enjoy listening to Colon Nancarrow: The Complete Studies for Player Piano and George Crumb’s Madrigals Book I-IV

6. Give me 3 of your favourite Australian Jazz recordings

Had a good time playing with Misha Mengelberg at Wang. 06 as a duet
Liked Gary and Allan’s interplay on 6 x 3
Enjoyed John Rodgers and Anthony Burr’s playing on the track Horseshit

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Choose one?! There are many unrecognised and unsupported players that have been side- lined over the years by the arts community. It is not for me to categorize them.

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Try anyone who isn’t considered consumable.

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays with you...

For me it is not a matter of seeing someone play. I rehearse and play weekly with talented players in the local Brisbane community. That inspiration is direct and ongoing in my life.

10. Favourite book(s) on music?

Here are a few of many.....

• Acquisition of Absolute Pitch: Complete Treatise in Five Volumes by Julien Falk
• Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music by Frank Kofsky
• Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction by Ingrid Monson
• The Computer Music Tutorial by Curtis Roads
• The Bartok Companion by Malcolm Gilles
• Formalised Music by Iannis Xenakis
• The Works of John Coltrane (complete transcriptions) by Andrew White
• Genesis of Music by Harry Partch
• Brian Ferneyhough Collected Writings by J Boros & R Toop
• Silence by John Cage
• Notations by John Cage
• Elliott Carter Harmony Book by Elliott Carter, Edited by N Hopkins and J Link
• Twentieth-Century Harmony by Vincent Persichetti
• As Serious As Your Life by Valerie Wilmer

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Modern classical.......

With all of these questionnaires coming in, I am re-doubling my enthusiasm for checking out new music. Needless to say, the combination of Itunes and Wikipedia makes for an ever-growing music catalogue.
In the meantime, here are some links that I am finding to be pretty amazing, for a variety of reasons.

Here's a Boulez interview, with some excellent quotes....."History is much like the guillotine. If a composer is not moving in the right direction he will be killed, metaphorically speaking."

Here's the BBC interviewing Elliott Carter

This is probably my favourite clip on youtube
This, this and this is some more great Carter

This Berio anecdote is pretty hilarious. Check out that postscript about John Cage on a gameshow at the bottom!

Here's the first in a series of radio interviews: John Cage interviewing Morton Feldman.
I haven't checked them all out yet.....

last, but certainly not least, some music that is just plain incredible

Enjoy!


Questionnaire.....pt. 7

More drummers......interestingly, both of these guys run record labels that are putting out great music, so make sure you check out those links.

Simon Barker: here

1. Favorite/particularly interesting jazz album?

Crescent - John Coltrane

2. Favorite/particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Ritual Music from Korea's East Coast
Zen - Katsuya Yokoyama

3. Favorite/particularly interesting classical recording/piece?

Morton Feldman Piano and String Quartet - Aki Takahashi and Kronos Quartet

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people would know.

Egberto Gismonti - Danca Das Cabecas
Anything by Hermeto

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but no one would've thought you'd be into.

James Taylor (anything)
An Evening With John Denver
Nick Drake (anything)

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

The Necks- Aether
Sean Wayland - fangin
Steve Hunter - Homebase

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Adam Ponting

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Craig Taborn (don't know if he's underrated but would love to hear more)

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays with you....

Mike Nock Qt - The Berlin Hotel (1991-2?)
Mark Simmonds Freeboppers - Strawberry Hills Hotel (Tinkler, Rex, Lambie)
The Necks (many times)
Jackie Orszaczky (many times)

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Confronting Silence - Toru Takemitsu


and Ronny Ferella: here

1. Favorite/particularly interesting jazz album?

Old and New Dreams / Old and new Dreams
Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Ed Blackwell

2. Favorite/particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Salif Kieta Soro

3. Favorite/particularly interesting classical recording/piece?

Messiaen Quartet For the End Of Time
Shostakovich String Quartet No. 8

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people
would know.

Henry Threadgill Very Very Circus- Too Much Sugar for a Dime
Fieldwork- The Door

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but
no one would've thought you'd be into.

The Grass is Blue- Dolly Parton

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

The Necks- Sex
Clarion Fracture Zone-Zones on Parade
Jackie Orzaczky Budget Orchestra-Deep Down and Out
Mark Simmonds- Fire

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Jonathan Zwartz

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Joe Zawinal

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays
with you....

Dewey Redman 1988 Club Foote Adelaide- Dewey Redman, Eddie Moore, Geri Allen, Lloyd Swanton
Ustad Nusrat Fatah Ali Kan (Pakastani vocalist)/ Salif Kieta (separate gigs) Womadelaide 1992? Can’t remember, reefer days.
Allan Browne, Ben Robertson, Stephen Grant—Monstalvat Festival

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Treat it Gentle-Sidney Bechet
To Be or Not To Bop- Dizzy Gillespie and Al Fraser
Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music- Christoph Cox, Daniel Warner
Forces in Motion-Anthony Braxton
John Cage Writing-John Cage
African Rhthm and African Sensibility-John Miller Chernoff
Arcana: Musicians on Music-John Zorn
Bill Evans How My Heart Sings-Pettinger
Footprints The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter -Michelle Mercer

Monday, June 8, 2009

Questionnaire.....pt. 6

Here's Sean Wayland

1. Favorite/particularly interesting jazz album?

Allan Holdsworth " flat tire"

2. Favorite/particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Exotic Voices and Rhythms of the South Seas
David Fanshawe
love the stuff from the "cook island"

3. Favorite/particularly interesting classical recording/piece?
Brahm's 3rd symhpony

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people
would know.

Dred Scott : Christmas CD

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about
but no one would've thought you'd be into.

Xanadu Soundtrack

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

6 by 3 ( grabowsky )
Wizards of OZ
Ondas ( Mike Nock )

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Mark Fitzgibbon

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Tim Miller guitarist

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really
stays with you....

Midnight Oil live on many occasions
Jan Rutherford performing "Infant Eyes" at Wangaratta Piano competition solo piano

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Questionnaire.....pt. 5

and now, Jamie Oehlers and Paul (trumpet) Williamson

Jamie Oehlers: here 'tis

1. Favorite/particularly interesting jazz album?

Coltrane "Live at the Half Note", Wayne Shorter "Footprints Live"

2. Favorite/particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Kocani Orkestar "L'Orient Est Rouge"

3. Favorite/particularly interesting classical recording/piece?

Jacqueline Du Pre "Elgar Cello Concerto", Messiaen "Visions de l'Amen

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people
would know.

Sonny Rollins "Live in Denmark", Keith Jarrett "Treasure
Island"

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but
no one would've thought you'd be into.

Eminem "The Marshal Mathers LP"

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

"Tinkler/Rex/Grabowsky/Edie" Julien Wilson "While you were sleeping"
Andrea Keller Quartet "Little Claps"

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Roger Garrood

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Dewey Redman, George Garzone

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays
with you....

Wayne Shorter at MIJF, George Garzone at Perth Jazz Society,
Roger Garrood at Fremantle Arts Centre (1990?)

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Chasin The Trane
Open Sky - Sonny Rollins Bio
Messian - The Technique of my Musical Language
Ornette Coleman - a Harmolodic Life
Miles Davis Autobiography
Beneath the Underdog - Mingus
Straight Life - Art Pepper
Lady Sings the Blues - Billie Holiday


Paul Williamson: here he is

1. Particularly interesting jazz album?

Writing and playing on Dave
Douglas - Witness, Andrea Keller - Little Claps, Wayne Shorter - Beyond the
Sound Barrier & Allegria,Paul Motion - Garden of Eden, , Tomasz Stanko - From the Green Hill,
Charles Lloyd - Sangam, etc...........

2. particularly interesting 'world' recording?

Arve Henriksen - Strjon, John Hassell - Mafira Street, Brian Eno - Music for Airports............

3. particularly interesting classical recording/piece?

Morton Feldman - Only

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people would
know

Christian Wallumrod - A year from Easter, Chris Speed - Swell Henry
Yeah No, Mary Lou Williams - Black Christ of the andes, SEXMOB - Din of Inequity

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but no
one would've thought you'd be into.

Squarepusher, Charlie Shavers - Horn O'
Plenty

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

The Necks - drive by, Band of 5 Names - Severance, Scott Tinkler Trio - Shrike Like.

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Ben Gillespie

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Michael Buckley

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays
with you....

one of the regular gigs (from years ago) which really inspired my love of music - Mark Fitzgibbon's 'Go' which featured the frontline of Scott Tinkler and Ian Chaplain..............

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Notes and Tones (Arthur Taylor), Footprints:
The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter, Musicophilia (Oliver Sacks),
Improvisation (Derek Bailey), Milestones (Jack Chambers), Straight Life: The
Story of Art Pepper, ..............

Monday, June 1, 2009

Questionnaire.....pt. 4

I think this one of Adrian Sherriff's deserves a post all of it's own....

1. Favorite/particularly interesting jazz albums?

One Down, One Up:Live at the Half Note - John Coltrane, Interstellar Space - John Coltrane, Live Evil - Miles Davis, Miles Ahead - Miles Davis, Out to Lunch - Eric Dolphy, El Corazon - Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell, European Concert - Ornette Coleman, Creative Orchestra Music 1976 - Anthony Braxton, The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra Volume 1 - Sun Ra, Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra, A Handful of Beauty - Shakti, The Sultan's Picnic - Rabih Abou Khalil, Back From the Gig - Booker Ervin, Extensions - Dave Holland, Solo Monk - Thelonious Monk

2. Favorite/particularly interesting 'world' recordings?

Any recording of Gamelan Selonding from Tenganan. Some selonding recordings are from the Ubud based groups (eg. Mickey Hart). Those sets of instruments don't capture the unique sound of this ensemble to my ears.

Tuva: Voices from the Centre of Asia. I first heard this album in 1992. It blew me away then and is still a favorite. In recent years Huun-Huur-Tu have been creating beautiful albums keeping the essence of this tradition alive.

Any recording by Forward Kwenda the mbira player from Zimbabwe, particularly the solo work. Some of Forward's solo work is reminds me of the energy, drive and multilayered dimensions of the later Coltrane recordings with Elvin.

Any recording by Lazaro Ros, akpwon extraordinaire. Particularly the albums with Olorun. Listening to Lazaro's voice floating over a bata toque is one of life's true pleasures.

3. Favorite/particularly interesting classical recording/pieces?

Metastases (Xenakis), Sirius (Stockhausen), Barstow (Partch), The Dreamer That Remains (Partch), Études sur les mouvements rotatoires (Wyschnegradsky), Sinfonia (Berio), Excerpt from Drift Study (La Monte Young), Symphony No. 40 (Mozart), Symphony No. 7 (Beethoven), Wozzeck (Alban Berg),

4. Name a Jazz recording you're mad about but not many other people would know.

Eu E Eles - Hermeto Pascoal

Live at Montreux - Hermeto Pascoal

Chimarrão com Rapadura - Hermeto Pascoal and Aline Morena

To me Hermeto is such a phenomenal musician that you can only really tell how far beyond us he is on an album like Eu E Eles (entirely solo/overdubbed). Find a picture of the cover to see the instruments that he plays on this album. The duo album is an absolute joy. Check out the clips on their website.

http://www.hermetopascoalealinemorena.com.br/english/escute_dvd.asp

5. Name a (genre other than jazz or jazz) record you're mad about but no one would've thought you'd be into.

Paul Robeson: The Complete EMI Recordings

The Complete Pet Sounds Sessions

6. Give me 3 of your favorite Australian Jazz recordings.

Artisans Workshop (Artisans Workshop) - For me this album is like Cecil Taylor's earlier recordings, only once you know the material well enough to clearly hear the boundaries between the composition and extemporization can you fully appreciate the significance of the work. It probably helps that I played these tunes occasionally and toured with these guys across the early nineties.

Introducting McJad (Hounslow/Gould) - I feel that if we put Keith Hounslow together with Bob Barnard, Australia produced two of the great jazz trumpet players of the last century. In the few encounters that I had with Keith, it was acutely tangible how deeply he was hearing what he played.

Ice Dreaming (Hustas/Keller) - I am not sure what it is about this album, but I must of played it a dozen times in the first few days after I purchased it. Beautifully played, strikingly original music.

7. Most underrated Australian Jazz player?

Bob Barnard/Graeme Lyall - neither unknown but both with gifts that heavily outweigh their level of broader renown.

8. Most underrated non-Australian Jazz player?

Albert Mangelsdorff - his American sidemen on recordings include: Elvin Jones, Jaco Pastorius, John Lewis, Lee Konitz, Don Cherry, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Ed Thigpen and many European great musicians. Developed a unique innovative voice on that trombone that dextrously stretches from hard hitting hard bop (earlier work) to the wooliest free playing (Glove Unity Orchestra) and a very personal approach to composition featuring large intervallic leaps. Released approx. 40 albums as a leader. Probably his biggest flaw is that he sounds like a white German trombone player (he is one) and he didn't choose to move to New York.

Eddie Bert would probably rank as a more underrated great musician but he only really made two well known albums (one with Monk and one with Mingus) and then predominantly worked in the studio scene (moral of the story, don't play the trombone to become famous).

John Gilmore also makes a strong candidate.

9. Name a gig (or two or three) you saw in Australia that really stays with you....

A North Indian classical recital that I saw at Melba Con in 1992. I don't know if it was actually a great gig or who performed, but it was the first time that I saw an Indian classical performance. I cried when they stopped and then floated out of the hall.

Cecil Taylor solo at the Brisbane Festival in 1993. I also played at his workshop a few days previously and then hung out with him and a group of friends until sunrise the day after the gig. Cecil lives and breathes absolute commitment to his music.

Pharoah Sanders at the Prince of Wales in 2005. It is not often that your heros turn out to be almost everything you imagined.

10. Favorite book(s) on music?

Technique of My Musical Language, Olivier Messiaen
Findings: My Experience with the Soprano Saxophone, Steve Lacy
Sangeetha Akshara Hridaya, S. Rajagopala Iyer
Forces in Motion: The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton, Graham Lock
Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music, Anthony Cox and Daniel Warner
Recording the Beatles, Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew
Gamelan Gong Kebyar, Michael Tenzer
Enclosure 3, Harry Partch
Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody, Dave Liebman
The Computer Music Tutorial, Curtis Roads
Mastering Audio: The Art and Science, Bob Katz