Sunday, May 27, 2007

1995, Braxton in Istanbul, videos

It was October 1995 that Braxton Sextet was in Istanbul to have a gig in Jazz Festival. In one of the afternoons before the concert, we had a very nice seminar. Also before the seminar, we had a stroll in Beyoglu, had a "Typical Turkish" meal with the sextet in Haci Abdullah Restaurant and somehow were late to the seminar. I remember that we ran a few hundred kms to go there and jumped on the stage. It was half crowded something like 50 to 70 persons attending. Braxton's approach was very clear, to give an idea about the music, how it evolved, context of the music, black music as a whole, and so on. If somehow anyone speaks Turkish, he/she will understand my awful English then. I made very strong mistakes while translating, I don't have a video editor so I did not drop out those embarrassing moments. However, you will see that there had been no need to translate and I had given up that though job and Braxton continued from then on. Also the book I had in my hands was "Mixtery" a 50 years birthday present to Mr.Braxton. It was very new then, and what is more ... I don't remember.
Nevertheless, there are two video files split into 100 MB files, they are divx files and playable in all video players. I hope you will not experience any difficulty. It was also a hand VHS camera and so the it is not crystal digital high tech visual at all.
I dedicate this post to ChurchNumberNine contributors, namely, atanase, centrifuge and flux-us.
So, here are the links :
1.1.
1.2.
1.3.
1.4.
2.1.
2.2.
2.3.
2.4.
And also one thing more, I can not be able to run this blog any more. Due to many reasons, I am giving up, and last word is a quote from him : "thank you, sir..."

Friday, April 13, 2007

1995, Braxton in Istanbul

It was like a dream, the sextet in Istanbul, everyone was very excited, very nice atmosphere. The seminar, the Threadgill Very Very Circus concert, Autumn 1995. Already 12 years...
So the conversation is already on restructures.net and the audio recording can be found here, here and here.

Monday, April 09, 2007

The Art Ensemble of Chicago





It was 1969. Paris, the place black artists are immigrating from US. For a better world that for the first time they feel respected.
I wont say anything but to get the record back on cd would be very nice. What do you think?

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Sam Rivers Black Africa - Villalogo & Perugia

One of the major ones in history. Completely four parts each part is one side of an lp.

And also, for discographical information, the information on my ripped cd is completely mixed up. Please give some help.

Recording comes from July 1977

Sam Rivers Black Africa - Villalogo & Perugia
Horo HDP 3-4 & 5-6

edit : the link was wrong, sorry...
Here is the first lp,
the second, the third and the fourth one.
Enjoy!!!

Monday, December 25, 2006

Derek Bailey - Anthony Braxton - Royal Volume 1

It has been exactly one year... This very day he passed away...

On May 25, 1996 I visited the Downs Road (was it 14?) where Incus Records is at and got some lps and cds from Bailey. I will not ever forget the moment. There he was standing and choosing some lps that he is trying to give me. One of these is the one with Braxton, Royal Volume I. Let's hear from Ben Watson:
(...) on July 1974, Bailey and Brxton played another duo concert, this time in the somewhat less hallowed surroundings of the Royal Hotel in Lutton. The first part was issued by Incus ten years later as Royal Volume I [Incus 43; the hopeful title has never been consummated by a second volume]. There is no 'compositional' agenda, and the two players dive straight into the knotted tangles that their agility and high-pitched instruments invite. (...) After grappling like boxers in a huddle, Braxton and Bailey separate and bob alongside ach other without engaging in explicit note doublings or discords, but there's some mutual understanding of tempo as the pace never relents and they recombine without a moment of confusion. As the dialogue deepens and Bailey's accompaniment starts to sound orchestral, the clarinet/ guitar pairing suddenly seems classic (...). As Bailey and Braxton reach a mellifluous congruity - though not via subservience to any known music - it's evident that they'll soon delight in picking it all apart again. This is music as purest thought; each affirmation is pursued by a denial or question Like reading Finnegans Wake, it takes a few passages before the mind adjusts an starts listening in the right way; suddenly there are glimpses of a world where pure intuition could speak, transcending established vocabulary and grammer. (...) One awaits the release of Royal Volume 2 with impatience.
quoted from Ben Watson's book "Derek Bailey and the story of free improvisation", first publish, Verso 2004, p.192-193.

Now let's hear what Derek Bailey wrote about Anthony Braxton :
Anthony Braxton, who works, as did many of his great predecessors, to extend his tradition and not merely to celebrate it, has been at various times a favourite target of the propagandists, attacking him for: betraying his race (as was Louis Armstrong); being an intellectual (as was Charlie Parker); and diluting the musical purity of his tradition (as was John Coltrane). In short, he stands accused of just about all those things which have previously served to enrich and strengthen jazz. Braxton, recognised by the musicians who work with him as an outstanding musical figure, is unlikely to be deflected by this sort of stuff but if jazz no longer values the sort of qualities he represents then it has a pretty arid future.
from Derek Bailey's book, "Improvisation: its nature and practice in music" Da Capo Press, 1993, p.57.

And Anthony Braxton's words:
I invited Derek Bailey to Paris. In fact I wrote a piece for Derek: at the time I didn't realize he was totally not interested in notated music. I heard Derek's music the first time I came to London, with Circle. We stopped over for a couple of days and I played at the 100 Club with Mike Osborne, that was my first performance in London. Thanks to Dave Holland I'd already heard Derek's records and later that week I heard him live at the Little Theatre. He did a solo gig and, boy, his music excited me. I felt I could really play with this man.
Braxton interviewed by Graham Lock. From Graham Lock's wonderful book "Forces in Motion, The Music and Thoughts of Anthony Braxton", Da Capo Press, 1989, p.129

Well, my first exposure to the British musicians who came around the same time period as myself was through Dave Holland. Dave played the records of John Stevens and later when we went to London, I had opportunity to meet these people and I found their music fascinating. And I try to let them know that I was interested in their music and that I respected their music. And that I was not coming to visit England as the angry American who thinks only Americans can play. I'm not interested in that. And after meeting with Evan Parker and Derek Bailey, I found a natural affinity with these guys and my musical experiences with them had been very beautiful for me. And so, yes their music was very different from mine in terms of the melodic nature or non-melodic character. But in fact, the melodic character of my music is only one aspect of my music. The records speak for itself now. We have many recordings and I have always felt very, I felt connected to Evan Parker and to some of the improvisers and able to play with them. And for me, it was always a positive experience, I've learned a great deal from that experience. But I did not want to only play improvised music, because myself, for me it would be a limitation, because my interest is not just in this area of music. I'm interested in totally music.
October 15th, 1995, interview with the blogger, published at restructures - creative music forum

And as for the last, there are two wonderful obituaries for Derek Bailey:
1. The Wire, 2.1.2006 by David Toop,
2. The Guardian, 29.12.2005 by John Fordham.

Anthony Braxton / Derek Bailey
Royal volume 1

Incus 43 (LP, 1984)
1. Opening (opening) [26:41]
2. Opening (closing) [16:13]
Anthony Braxton (ss, as, Bb-cl, cbcl)
Derek Bailey (el-g)
2nd of July, 1974
Royal Hall, Luton, England (UK)

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Derek Bailey - First Company Concerts

One of the very nice teachers passed away last year. To his great memory, I share these Incus lps which are not yet reissued in cd format. So if anybody knows they are eligible for buying or any possibility to be reissued please let me know.
So here they are :

Company 1:
Derek Bailey, guitar,
Maarten Altena, bass,
Tristan Honsinger, cello,
Evan Parker, sax

recorded in London, May 9, 1976

Company 2:
Derek Bailey, guitar,
Anthony Braxton, reeds,
Evan Parker, sax

recorded in London, August 22, 1976

Company 3:
Derek Bailey, guitar,
Han Bennink, drums, perc, etc.

recorded in London, September 1976

Company 4:
Derek Bailey, guitar,
Steve Lacy, soprano sax

recorded in London, November 11, 1976

All the information could be taken from the European Free Improvisation Pages site.

Steve Lacy / Bobby Few - Istanbul Concert

Here comes a very bad recording, yet a historical meeting and event. I remember the main hall of Istanbul State Painting and Sculpture Museum. Wooden and old floor, high ceiling, paintings are on the walls, in the middle standing a very nice concert piano, audience is in a semicircle sitting arrangement. There comes the thin but giant pianist Bobby Few and Steve Lacy with his humble and interested smile on the face carrying his horn. There were no dat's then, not to mention mini discs or likes. With my little primitive tape I had been able to record it.
I am terribly sorry for the bad quality but when I listen to it I feel how great the music is.
The concert was in Istanbul, on the 10th of March 1992.
I hope you like it.

Maarten Altena Quartet - Miere

It has been so long that I did not hear anything from the legendary Maaten van Regteren Altena. This album came out from Nato with a catalogue number 235. The musicians were:

Maarten Altena, bass,
Maud Sauer, oboe,
Paul Termos, alto sax,
Wolter Wierbos, tb.

Recording was made between 4-5 July, 1983.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Mats Gustafsson / Anders Jormin / Christian Jormin - Swedish Radio Broadcast

Here comes a tape from Swedish Radio.

Mats Gustafsson, reeds,
Anders Jormin, bass,
Christian Jormin, drums.

recorded at Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, Stockholm, Sweden on 11 December 1997.

Michel Pilz / Peter Kowald / Paul Lovens - Carpathes

Michel Pilz, bass clarinet; Peter Kowald, bass; Paul Lovens, percussion.

1. Un peu d'ail (10.36)
2. Krebsauel (04.28)
3. Inno chika chow (05.02)
4. Billiger Willi (03.29)
5. Willige Billie (07.36)
6. Carpathes (03.52)
7. Pilolo für den glöckner von notre dame (09.55)
8. Zythum (05.22)

here is the lp
Recorded on 1/2 August and 7/8 September 1975 in Berlin.

Published from FMP with a catalogue nr. 0250

edit : since fmp is not amused, I presume that it will be republished. let's wait and see...