ROVA – The Crowd - For Elias Canetti (2LP-1986-Hat Hut Rec – hat ART 2032)

Label: Hat Hut Records – hat ART 2032

Format: 2 × Vinyl, LP, Album

Country: Switzerland

Released: 1986

Style: Avantgarde Jazz, Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Album was recorded in a French studio while on tour in 1985.

Design – Walter Bosshardt

Photography By – Hans H. Kumpf

Recorded by – Peter Pfister

Mixed and edited by – Peter Pfister, Larry Ochs

Packaging concept by Werner X. Uehlinger

Produced by Pia and Werner X. Uehlinger

℗ + © 1986 Hat Hut Records Ltd.

A   -  Terrains ............................................................................. 16:30

B1 -  Room ................................................................................. 10:35

B2 -  Knife In The Times, Parts 1 + 2 .......................................... 6:30

C   -  Knife In The Times, Parts 3-8 ........................................... 22:50

D1 - The Crowd .......................................................................... 19:30

D2 - Sport .................................................................................... 3:00

Musicians:

Andrew Voigt – alto saxophone, clarinet

Jon Raskin – baritone saxophone, alto saxophone

Bruce Ackley – soprano saxophone

Larry Ochs – tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Rare vinyl 2LP box set, ROVA – The Crowd - for Elias Canetti, Hat Art 2032, is an out of print. This is Swiss press 1986.

Originally constructed as a much longer piece for a commission by composer John Adams for the Bay area saxophone quartet to perform a concert of original material, this shorter, tighter version was heavily influenced by the writings of Nobel laureate Elias Canetti's works. Most notably, his classic sociological text Crowds and Power. This album was recorded in a French studio while on tour in 1985. How a book about the fascistic implications of crowds, their organization, circumstances surrounding their coming into being, and how they are manipulated from outside their framework and a musical work of this size and statue have anything in common is a guess for anyone who hasn't absorbed both sources. But it doesn't matter. The Crowd was a turning point for the original ROVA, which still contained Andrew Voigt. From the freewheeling excesses of their earlier recordings on Meta Language and the more structural framework for improvisation employed on their Soviet tour of 1983 to this piece, ROVA had become a finely tuned machine. The Crowd is seamless in both composition and execution after the first few minutes that is "Sport," and directly into the nearly 20-minute title work it becomes impossible for the listener to know what was written and what was improvised. Certainly each member of this group solos, but it is the simultaneous improvisation and the harmonic texture of the composition itself that winds and weaves its way not only though different musical territory (there is even a section that nods toward Adams and Philip Glass), but diverse emotional ground is covered as well. To call this music "jazz" would be both accurate and a mistake, for it is both entirely jazz and not at all; to call it "free music" or "new music" would be just plain lazy and stupid; to call this ROVA music would make sense. From swing to Baroque quotations to minimalist serialism, free jazz, Herbie Nichols, Thelonious Monk, and even ragtime, the Crowd contains every kind of human voice, all together but as separate beings, just like those in Canetti's book. Where they are separate, however, is in the multivalent language they express and signify: As a group, or a "crowd," ROVA uses a self-created language to express the needs of each of its individual players, all borrowing and lending from one another as ideas or structural framework dictate. In Canetti's book, the individual is consumed within the frightening crowd, no longer conscious at all of her or his own motives, but only there to serve the ends of power. That ROVA can mirror this sentiment and thought process so well with a recording is a phenomenal thing, that they can do it and make it a joy to listen to an encounter without knowledge of the original work is what made them so special at the time they recorded this. Bravo.       (_Review by Thom Jurek)

NOTE:

Elias Canetti / Crowds and Power, a masterwork of philosophical anthropology.

(Nobel Prize in 1981).

Crowds and Power is a revolutionary work in which Elias Canetti finds a new way of looking at human history and psychology. Breathtaking in its range and erudition, it explores Shiite festivals and the English Civil war, the finger exercises of monkeys and the effects of inflation in Weimar Germany. In this study of the interplay of crowds, Canetti offers one of the most profound and startling portraits of the human condition.

The style is abstract, erudite, and anecdotal, which makes Crowds and Power the sort of work that awe some readers with its profundity while irritating others with its elusiveness. Canetti loves to say something brilliant but counterintuitive, and then leave the reader to figure out both why he said it and whether it's really true. -- Richard Farr

Buy this excellent book:

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374518203/braipick-20

If you find it, buy this album!

WHAT WE LIVE with WADADA LEO SMITH and DAVE DOUGLAS – Trumpets (1999) - Live recordings 1996/1998

Label: Black Saint – 120189-2 

Format: CD, Album; Country: Italy Released: 1999 

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation

Tracks 1 & 2 recorded live at The Outpost, Albuquerque, New Mexico on March 21, 1998 

Tracks 3,4,5 recorded live at Western Front, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on November 1, 1996

Engineers – Paul Blakemore (1-2), Peter Courteanche (3-5)

Mastered – by Aldo Borelli

Design – by Tania Kac

 

What We Live, with bass player Lisle Ellis and drummer Donald Robinson, has worked its way into the top ranks of free jazz and improvised music ensembles with four strong previous albums. Trumpets is the second to present Wadada Leo Smith and Dave Douglas as guest artists; but unlike Quintet for a Day (New World Counter Currents), on which both trumpeters performed on all tracks, Trumpets combines two sessions, each featuring one horn player. The less crowded bandstands yield more satisfying results, as Ellis and Robinson, one of the best bass-drums tag teams on the scene, are more prominent in these wide-open exchanges. Smith and Douglas benefit as well, as their respective nuance-filled styles are more fully explicated with the keenly responsive Ochs as their single front-line foil.
_ By Bill Shoemaker (JazzTimes)

WHAT WE LIVE:
Lawrence Ochs - sopranino & tenor saxophones
Lisle Ellis - bass
Donald Robinson – drums
+
Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet on tracks 1 & 2
Dave Douglas - trumpet on tracks 3, 4, 5

Trumpets, is the latest from “ What We Live ” and features trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith performing with the trio of saxophonist Larry Ochs, bassist Lisle Ellis and drummer Donald Robinson during a live date recorded in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Whereas trumpeter Dave Douglas – who has been lighting up the jazz world these days with a string of dazzling recordings, joins the band on tracks culled from a live set recorded in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.

The core constituents of “ What We Live ” : Ochs, Ellis and Robinson frequently collaborate with other artists yet the bottom line or overall chemistry indicates that this band is an – improvising/modern music/jazz machine – of the highest order. On the composition, “ Second Breath ” , drummer Donald Robinson commences the proceedings with a series of melodic tom-tom fills and articulations, as Ochs’ corpulent tenor sax tone and fleet fingered phrasing along with Smith’s brawny and brassy lines initiate a rite of passage or perhaps an opening of the floodgates.... An air of exotic mysticism prevails or perhaps some semblance of a tribal ritual is unveiling as the Quartet ruminate through various phases and motifs along with a substantial amount of engaging dialogue and interplay. We hear quiet or subdued dynamics on “ The Stone Heated Dance ” , while Smith utilizes his mute which segues into a series of extended movements and an altogether brilliant exposition by bassist Lisle Ellis as the tempo picks up steam and the band pursue extroverted and authoritative choruses.

Dave Douglas provides a contrasting alternative to Smith as the listener is afforded the opportunity to hear two gifted trumpeters who respectively possess distinctive styles and techniques. With, “ Orbital ” , Douglas is a buzzsaw as the band partakes in a moderate swing motif along with shifting meter and rapid movement. Here Douglas and Ochs performing on tenor sax engage in passionate dialogue as they occasionally cavort while deriving inspiration from one another as Robinson and Ellis execute the rhythms with all the discipline of a small militia who have just received their battle plan. Robinson’s expert brushwork behind the kit surfaces on the delicate burner titled, “ Soft City ” as Ochs’ fervid and piquant phrasing on “ Song of Roland ” is a thing of beauty. Again, the saxophonist and Douglas speak loud and clear via festive exchanges while embarking on a sinuous path as the story continues to unfold!

The Trumpets shall boldly pronounce the advent of a new and seemingly eventful year in jazz as “ What We Live ” continue to astound and render intelligible music that defies any rigid sense of categorization. Recommended.

_ By GLENN ASTARITA
(AAJ, Published: March 1, 2000)



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MAYBE MONDAY – Saturn's Finger (1998)

Label: BUZZ-Records – ZZ 76007
Format: CD, Album; Country: Netherlands; Released: 1999; Style: Free Jazz
Recorded live 2nd & 3rd July 1998 at Unity Temple, Chicago
Edited and mastered at Headless Buddha Lab, Oakland.
Cover – Amy Trachtenberg; Design – Dolphin Design
New Design (page 2 & 3) by ART&JAZZ Studio SALVARICA - 2012
Edited By, Mastered By – Myles Boisen


Review:

Saturn’s Finger is a new release by the trio which calls itself “ Maybe Monday ” consisting of saxophonist Larry Ochs, guitarist, composer and multi-instrumentalist Fred Frith along with master “ koto ” performer Miya Masaoka who also utilizes various electronics.

What we have here are three performers who possess extensive, disparate resumes along with exemplary credentials. The title track, Saturn’s Finger clocks in at 33 minutes and features unabashed, serious minded improvisation as Larry Ochs assumes the role of the speaker or lead voice via his articulate, full bodied phrasing and implementations of contrasting tonal colors. The proceedings continue with Fred Frith ’ s masterful guitar work as he whips the pace into full throttle with feverish and rapid fire strumming. Here, Ms Masaoka provides a backwash of electronics while the listener partakes in this journey into the cosmos.........Surreal interludes, dreamscapes fulfilled along with artful improvisation while Ms Masaoka ’ s proficient “ koto ” performances become more prominent as the piece develops, which adds an entirely different dimension to the overall vibe. Mid way into “ Saturn ’ s Finger ” , Fred Frith ’ s subtle utilization of tremolo on his electric guitar evokes sounds that seem to emanate from some undetermined origin. Frith proceeds to twist his guitar into knots along with adept utilization of harmonics, which could be some deranged version of “ Flight of the Bumblebee ” . A mixed bag of themes, contrasts and delectable intricacies along with some truly deceptive tactics come to light as though the band - “ Maybe Monday ” were shamans of some unknown habitat.

The piece, titled, “ Helix ” features Ochs ’ whirling and circular phrasing on soprano sax supported by Frith ’ s delicate, pensive guitar performances and Masaoka ’ s fleet-fingered koto work. A strange yet beautiful tone ensues as the composition becomes somewhat penetrating and gradually intensifies which counterbalances the third and final work titled, “ Beyond The Hard Darkness ” . Here, Frith ’ s electric guitar sounds like a piece of machinery while Ochs ’ scat singing approach to the tenor sax and Masaoka ’ s up front employment of electronics maintain the metronome like pulse.......

Saturn’s Finger is a multifarious extravaganza featuring some of the finest improvisers on the planet. The dawn of a new age? Perhaps – yet the trio calling themselves “ Maybe Monday ” celebrate the vitality of the spirit through dazzling interplay.........fascinating stuff! * * * * 1/2

By GLENN ASTARITA, Published: January 1, 2000 (AAJ)

MAYBE MONDAY:

 

Maybe Monday is a tour de force of musical improvisation uniting three of today's foremost innovators: guitarist Fred Frith one of the seminal figures in the meeting of rock, improv, and new music; Japanese koto virtuosa and electronic music pioneer Miya Masaoka; and saxophonist Larry Ochs , a founding member of the world-renowned Rova Saxophone Quartet now leading several other bands. With its unique instrumentation, wide-ranging influences, and peerless expertise, the trio conjures a sound of striking unity from a would-be clash of opposites: the electronic and the acoustic, the East and the West, the lyrical and the explosive.
The compelling sound of Maybe Monday is captured magnificently on the band's debut album, Saturn's Finger (BUZZ-Records) — a thrilling live set recorded at Frank Lloyd Wright's landmark Unity Temple in Chicago on tour in 1998. Frith thunders on guitar, then plucks a soft tapestry of shimmering tones; Masaoka darts nimbly between echoes of Japanese court music, rasping bowed phrases, and other-worldly live electronic samples; Ochs soars above a guitar-koto groundswell with searing bursts of tenor sax, then evokes a beguiling dance of ethereal notes on his sopranino. Throughout this fresh interplay of moods and textures, it's obvious that this is not only an ensemble of expert players, but of unsurpassed listeners — musicians who value the total sound over the riff.
Maybe Monday first unveiled its collaboration in 1997, on-stage at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall. In retrospect, this meeting of talents seems almost inevitable: the three members of the group have been crossing each other's paths for years — Ochs with both Frith and Masaoka through numerous Rova projects, and Frith with Masaoka on a tour of Europe. Together, the trio embarked on a tour (primarily) of the West Coast in 1998 — Frith's first U.S. tour of any kind in more than a decade — culminating in the supercharged recorded performance in Chicago. Now, on the heels of its second album, the group started the new millennium back in SF at the Great American Music Hall, this time featuring special guest Joan Jeanrenaud on cello. An appearance by the same quartet follows at Victoriaville, Canada's festival: Musique Actuelle. The original trio then makes its first major tour of Europe performing in Marseilles, Brussels, Nancy, Bordeaux, Lille, Frankfurt, and other cities — all rare opportunities to catch one of the most exciting and fastest-evolving collaborations in new music today.

Miya Masaoka

Miya Masaoka works simultaneously in the varied musical worlds of jazz, Western classical music, traditional Japanese music and free improvisation, and is currently the director of a traditional Japanese court music ensemble, the San Francisco Gagaku Society. Hailed as "a world-class innovator with uncompromising musicality" (New York Press), she has performed in Japan, India, Canada, and the United States, collaborating with such wide-ranging artists and ensembles as Pharoah Sanders, L Subramanium, Steve Coleman, Henry Kaiser, Wadada Leo Smith, James Newton, Mark Izu, the Rova Saxophone Quartet, and the Berlin Opera. She also leads a trio featuring jazz masters Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille — heard on her 1997 CD, Monk's Japanese Folk Song — and has had a residency at STEIM in the Netherlands, where she developed a MIDI (electronic) interface for her koto. Her most recent commission was from Alonzo King's Lines Ballet, and she is currently on tour performing the commission live with the ballet company.

Fred Frith

Fred Frith is a musician of "undying curiosity, bitter wit, child-like sense of play, and creeping melancholy" (Guitar Player). A pioneer in both rock and new music, he was a co- founder of the classic '60s and '70s British underground band Henry Cow. Following a move to New York City, he became a key member of the Downtown scene, playing in John Zorn's Naked City, in the trios Massacre (with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher) and Skeleton Crew (with Tom Cora and Zeena Parkins), and in Keep the Dog, a sextet performing an extensive repertoire of his original compositions. In addition to a wealth of performances as a solo improvising guitarist, he has also collaborated over the years with the likes of Brian Eno, the Residents, and the all-star band of French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson (with drummer John French, guitarist Henry Kaiser, and guitarist Richard Thompson). He has composed works for the Rova Saxophone Quartet, Ensemble Moderne, Asko Ensemble, and his own critically acclaimed Guitar Quartet. He now resides on the West Coast, teaching full-time at Mills College in Oakland, California.

Larry Ochs

Larry Ochs has been a powerful influence on a generation of saxophonists as a member for more than two decades of the Rova Saxophone Quartet. With Rova, he has appeared on more than two dozen recordings, toured North America, the former USSR, Europe, Japan, and collaborated with the likes of Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Terry Riley, Marilyn Crispell, Wadada Leo Smith, Margaret Jenkins, Kronos Quartet, and the San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Outside of Rova, he performed and recorded with the late saxophone innovator Glenn Spearman's Double Trio, and has also played extensively with the quartet Room, the trio What We Live, The John Lindberg Ensemble and the new Larry Ochs Sax & Drumming Core. As a composer, he has written some two dozen works for saxophone quartet and numerous other pieces for mixed ensembles. He also composed the music for the film Letters Not About Love, which was voted "Best Documentary Film" at the 1998 South-by-Southwest Film Festival.

KOTO 

The koto is a Japanese instrument with moveable frets in the long zither family of Asian instruments. Its evolution reflects the continuum of change through the epochs of Japanese history, and includes ritual, sacred and secular folk and court forms. The full name, kami no nori koto, means literally, "Oracle of the gods" and was used in Shinto practices that continue in modern Japan. It is made of the rather soft kiri wood, and is over six feet long. The length of the vibrating part of the strings is determined by the placement of the moveable bridges (ji), each string having one bridge. Different placement of the ji produce different tunings. There are some 200 scales in Japanese music. The strings are plucked with ivory plectra (tsume) of varying shape. Miya Masaoka performs on the 17, 21 and 25 string koto. Her 25 string koto was made for her by Takashi Nakaji, and she is one of the few performers on this instrument.

In addition to studying traditional koto with Seiko Shimaoka, Masaoka has studied with teachers of Chikushi, Sawai and Ikuta schools. The koto is one of the instruments in the gagaku orchestra, and Masaoka formed the San Francisco Gagaku Society in 1990 under the leadership of Suenobu Togi, an organization that was dedicated to studying, performing and preserving gagaku. Togi Sensei traces his family lineage in the gagaku tradition more than 1200 years to China. He was educated at the Japanese Imperial Court Music School where he studied Japanese court music and dance since boyhood. Members of the esteemed Togi family were the first Imperial Court musicians in history to teach gagaku to non-Imperial Court Japanese civilians, to non-Japanese and also to women, all prohibited from learning gagaku.

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JOHN LINDBERG ENSEMBLE – A Tree Frog Tonality (2000) [Repost]

Label: Between The Lines – BTL 008, EFA – EFA 10178-2
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany; Released: 2000; Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz
Re Design by ART&JAZZ Studio – 2010
Recorded at Studio der Musikuniversität Graz, March 27th and 28th, 2000 


Review By GLENN ASTARITA,
Published: November 1, 2000

With A Tree Frog Tonality, it becomes easily discernible that we are listening to a union of seasoned modern jazz experts who demonstrate their respective crafts with cunning artistry and inspiring resolve. Bassist John Lindberg is arguably one of the finest acoustic bassists on this modern jazz globe as his credits and resume reads like an unending shopping list. On this new release, Lindberg performs with his peers under the moniker of the “ John Lindberg Ensemble ” for a radiant set emanating from studio sessions recorded in March 2000 during a European tour.

The proceedings commence with the three-part “ Thanksgiving Suite ” , where Lindberg and Larry Ochs, here performing on sopranino sax, pursue dainty choruses atop staid undercurrents, whereas the duo also initiates a bit of melodrama in concert with invigorating spurts of emotion. Essentially the “ Thanksgiving Suite ” is a strong vehicle for the proverbial, let ’ s-introduce-the-band sequence yet it is quite evident that this strategy is not implemented or perhaps implied as a means for parody or traditionalism. Drummer Andrew Cyrille and Lindberg set poetry in motion on Part II – Mellow T, while Part III – Dreaming At, establishes the presence of trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith as the quartet launches into a lightly swinging yet circuitous path on the piece titled, Four Fathers. Here, Lindberg steers the flow with pronounced ostinatos and springy walking bass lines as Cyrille demonstrates his mastery of understatement by providing the rhythmic nuance with such control and precision, you ’ d think he was tapping his sticks on eggshells.

The band intimates a cool, sleek vibe with a hybrid Bop/Swing motif on Good To Go, as the musicians emit an air of suspense or bewilderment due to their shrewd implementation of multihued tonalities to coincide with a fruitful harmonic relationship.

Ultimately, The “ John Lindberg Ensemble ” provides the necessary ingredients for a mantra that befits many years of combined professionalism, savvy and superb musicianship yet it ’ s all about distinctive stylists converging for an ingenious meeting of the musical minds. Highly recommended!

* * * * * (out of * * * * *)


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