Dreamed I saw a man walked upon the sea
Dreamed it once again and saw that he was me
Looking close at me I looked a lot like you
Knowing where to go but not quite what to do
Why why why?
I wish I were stoned out of my mind
Why why why, oh why?
Give me all your love in a smile
And I'll tell you what I'm thinking
Let me see the world through your eyes
And I'll show you where I'm sitting
Once I had a dream, nothing else to do
Sat and played my mind in time with all of you
Got down in the road, crossed my heart and cried
When you told me how you'd love to kill and not to die
See rock shows near New York
Get tickets as low as $69
You might also like
As I Feel I Die
Why why why?
I wish I were stoned out of my mind
Why why why, oh why?
Give me all your love in a smile
And I'll tell you what I'm thinking
Let me see the world through your eyes
And I'll show you where I'm sitting
[Don't Worry]
Don't worry about me
I've got all that I need
And I'm singing my song to the sky
You know how it feels
With the breeze of the sun in your eyes
Not minding that time's passing by
I've got all and more
My smile, just as before
Is all that I carry with me
I talk to myself
I need nobody else
I'm lost and I'm mine, yes I'm free
Ah yes, Caravan. Like their hometown brethren Soft Machine, they were the other original Canterbury band that evolved from the Wilde Flowers (1966-1967). Also similar to Soft Machine, they began in 1968, had the same instrumentation (guitar, organ, bass & drums) as early Soft Machine and had (at least) two lead singers, one with a high voice (Robert Wyatt in the Softs & Pye Hastings in Caravan) and one with a low voice (Kevin Ayers & Richard Sinclair). Another similarity was keyboardist Mike Ratledge's invention and use of the fuzz organ, which was soon picked up by David Sinclair (from Caravan). I recall hearing the first Caravan single, "Place of My Own" on Scott Muni's weekly 'Things from England' radio show on WNEW-FM and being completely knocked out by that song. It didn't quite sound like anything else I had heard. I bought the first Caravan album in 1969 in a cut-out bin for $1.99 and I've been a Caravan freak ever since. Although Caravan evolved over time with different personnel, their basic sound never changed too much. The high-voiced singer and guitarist Pye Hastings was the only member to be in every version of the band and I think that the band might still exist today, more than fifty years later?!? For many of us Canterbury freaks, their first five albums are all great but the most popular and most beloved one is their third, 'In the Land of Grey and Pink'. As much as I love that record, it is their second album, 'If I Could Do It All Over Again, I'd Do It All Over You', which is my favorite. The above song, "And I Wish I Were Stoned", opens that album and captures a certain spirit (being stoned on marijuana) the permeated the late sixties and made many of us feel as if we were all brothers and sisters in one large communal family. I caught Caravan twice in the mid-seventies when they toured with Fairport Convention which I felt was a perfect combination of my favorite British bands of that era (1973 & 1974). Another interesting thing about Caravan is that the original band had two cousins (Richard & David Sinclair) and two brothers (Pye Hastings and his brother Jimmy Hastings, jazz saxist & flutist who guested on several Caravan albums). I just noticed that Pye Hastings, the longtime leader of Caravan, has solo effort from 2017 that I've never seen or heard of. Time to jump into the Canterbury rabbit hole once again and search for that treasure. A hearty toast to all members of Caravan past and present if they still exist! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Life-long Canterbury Fan Addict, DMG
**************
THE DMG 35th ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE CONCERT CELEBRATION CONTINUES with:
JUST ADDED; Saturday, January 10th: GauciMusic Series presents:
6:30: JAKE HENRY - trumpet / AARON QUINN - guitar
7:30: STEPHEN GAUCI - tenor sax / KEVIN SHEA - Drums
8:30: RYAN SIEGEL - alto sax / MATT HOLLENBERG - bass / PATRICK GOLDEN - Drums
Monday, January 12th Book Release Celebration - Double Header:
6:30: ELLIOTT SHARP - Translations from the IrRational - Reading from, Talking about 'Feedback' and Playing with
7:30: JOE FONDA - My Life in the World of Music - Reading, Talking and Playing with E#
Tuesday, January 13th:
6:30: patrick brennan - Alto Sax - Compositions / HILLIARD GREENE - ContraBass / JASON KAO HWANG - Viola / MICHAEL T.A. THOMPSON - Drums
7:30: KnCURRENT: patrick brennan - Alto Sax / COOPER-MOORE - Diddleybo / ON KA'A DAVIS - Guitar / JASON KAO HWANG - Electric Violin
8:30: OPEN QUESTION: AYUMI ISHITO - Tenor Sax / DANIEL CARTER - Reeds - Trumpet / ERIC PLAKS - Keyboard / ZACH SWANSON - Bass / JON PANIKKAR - Drums
Monday, January 19th: Relative Pitch Series: 6:30 - 8:30
Set 1: CHUCK ROTH - Guitar / FRANCESCA H - Sax
Set 2: CHUCK ROTH - Guitar / KATE MOHANTY - Alto Sax
Set 3: CHUCK ROTH / FRANCESCA H / KATE MOHANTY
******
RECOMMENDED GIG FOR NEXT MONDAY:
NELS CLINE & SALLY GATES DUO
Alex Koi & Kirin McElwain duo
This Monday, Jan 12 / 7:30pm doors / 8:30pm music
$20 at the door, no presale
Intimate venue! Table seating is first-come, first-serve.
Come early for dinner (no minimum) & secure a seat
@ Sisters 900 Fulton St, Brooklyn, 11238
C Train @ Clinton-Washington
***********
THIS WEEKS GOODIES BEGIN WITH:
FRED FRITH – MARIÁ PORTUGAL - Matter (Intakt 447; Switzerland) Featuring: Fred Frith on electric guitar & voice and Mariá Portugal on drums, percussion & voice. Recorded at The Loft, Köln, on June 8, 2023. Fred Frith, the living legend at the crossroads of rock and jazz, improvisation and composition, meets Brazilian drummer, singer, and composer Mariá Portugal. Mariá Portugal has been active in the Brazilian music scene for over 20 years, now lives in Berlin, and has strong connections to European improvised music. Her deep roots in the Brazilian singing/songwriting tradition, coupled with a keen interest in electronic music, improvisation, and its use in song composition, make her an artist who moves in diverse musical contexts. This duo is a stroke of luck, because if contemporary European music has produced a truly legendary and globally significant figure in that exciting area where all stylistic boundaries are called into question, it is probably the guitarist Fred Frith. Mariá Portugal and Fred Frith come from two different continents, generations, and musical worlds, yet they have a lot in common: this fascinating debut album proves that impressively.
CD $18
OTHERLANDS TRIO with STEPHAN CRUMP / DARIUS JONES / ERIC McPHERSON - Star Mountain (Intakt 442; Switzerland) Otherlands Trio is the new band formation of bassist and composer Stephan Crump, bringing together three of the most prominent voices on the New York jazz scene: Darius Jones and Eric McPherson. On their fascinating debut album, the trio celebrates their dynamic, magnetically charged music, which arises from the pursuit of ego dissolution and spiritual communion. Attentive observers will surely notice a nomenclatural connection to an earlier collaboration between Crump and McPherson, the Borderlands Trio. Between 2017 and 2024, this band, with Kris Davis on piano, recorded three highly acclaimed albums. When it became apparent that this project was on hiatus, McPherson and Crump agreed that they wanted to continue their collaboration in order to find new ways to continue and expand their shared energy and skills. In Darius Jones, they found the perfect partner: “Above all, they liked each other, especially the way Jones immediately fit into and built on the spontaneous worlds McPherson and Crump created,” writes Grayson Haver Currin in the liner notes, adding: “These tracks deliver on the promise of being ‘different,’ with three people sharing every emerging feeling in 46 breathtaking minutes, without fear, without hesitation, and without judgment.”
"When the Borderlands Trio went on hiatus in 2024, two-thirds of its complement was not ready to quit. In short order bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Eric McPherson found a new third person, and Otherlands Trio came into being. Replacing pianist Kris Davis with the tonally adventurous and emotionally authentic alto saxophonist Darius Jones ensures that certain things will not be the same, but one essential quality persists. While all three members are credited with creating the music, and they did so in real time, they do not consider themselves to be a free-improv ensemble, but spontaneous composers. The difference links in a commitment to cohesion; they may not know what they’re going to play when they start, but each participant will make sure that they have the other two’s backs.
On the opening track of this studio recording, “Metamorphene,” this shared purpose manifests in a bass-drums groove that continually morphs but never quits, which enables Jones to pursue a series of short, corking lines wherever they might lead. Jones once more finds freedom in the locked-in quality of the Julius Hemphill-like rhythm that begins “Lateral Line,” but he’s ready to melt his own tone into Crump’s to create a single stream of sound during the track’s second half. Likewise, the saxophonist’s pops and McPherson’s stacca to patterns at the beginning of “Diadromous” sound like the work of one hybrid drum kit. Star Mountain necessarily sounds different from the three albums that McPherson and Crump made with Davis, but it sustains that project’s creative streak." - Downbeat
CD $18
TOMEKA REID QUARTET with MARY HALVORSON / JASON ROEBKE / TOMAS FUJIWARA - dance! skip! hop! (Out of Your Head Records 041; USA) Featuring the steady quartet of Tomeka Reid (cello) with Mary Halvorson (guitar), Jason Roebke (bass), and Tomas Fujiwara (drums). Soon after finishing these compositions in June 2025, Reid realized that much of the music made her want to dance. Inspired by the title of Josh Berman’s stellar A Dance and a Hop, as well as her tendency to skip in public, the title dance! skip! hop! was born. Reid has a deep connection to her family, and her album art and song titles often pay tribute to them, with the art for dance! skip! hop! featuring her great grandmother Francis Elizabeth Bean, her grandmother Estelle, and her great Aunt Cece throughout. Having visited the paternal side of her family in Wyoming for the first time in 2008, Reid was immediately struck by the house of her great grandparents, which her Aunt Cece and siblings fashioned into a kind of family museum full of photos of family gatherings from generations before. Because she didn’t have much connection to her biological father’s side of the family previously, she used this as a chance to connect as an adult, and strengthen her understanding of the family’s history. Using these photos is a way for Tomeka to show the importance of family in her work, and for the images to live on for future generations. Both the compositions and improvising on dance! skip! hop! are as exceptional as you would expect from one of finest regular working bands in jazz and creative music. The quartet sounds more refined than ever, but also takes chances that only a band that has logged countless hours touring together can, with a playful spirit that the title suggests. They seem to one-up themselves with each successive album, and given the international acclaim 2024’s 3 3 rightfully received, dance! skip! hop! is sure to be hailed as one of the best of 2026.
CD $14 [pre-order / in stock soon]
KRIS DAVIS and The LUTOSLAWSKI QUARTET - The Solastalgia Suite (Pyroclastic PR 44; USA) Featuring Kris Davis on piano and compositions with the Lutoslawksi (String) Quartet. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Jazztopad Festival which started in Poland and also takes place in Manhattan and Brooklyn, bringing together collaborations between Polish and American Creative musicians every year. Downtown master pianist and composer Kris Davis titles this work "The Solastalgia Suite". The term "solastalgia" was coined by philosopher Glenn Albrecht and refers to “a form of homesickness while we are still at home." The homesickness is for our previous environment which has been under attack, hence the turbulence in this music. The Lutoslawski Quartet are a Polish string quartet who have been around since 2007 and have worked with Uri Caine and Michael Bates. One of the things that I admire most about Kris Davis is that over 30 releases (since 2004), she continues to challenge herself by playing in solos, duos, trio, quartets & larger groups, utilizing different personnel and concepts on each of her discs. This is Ms. Davis' first time working with a string quartet.
While listening to this music, I got the feeling that Ms. Davis had worked long and hard to bring her piano playing and the string quartet's playing well integrated. The music is intense, dramatic, stirring and thoughtfully composed. The lower strings and Ms. Davis' left hand often play their lines together, creating seesawing waves, one after the other. For the second part the group calms down to a lovely, sad, sparse interlude. I like that we must lean in and be patient to hear the ultra-subtle way that it unfolds. For the 4th part, Ms. Davis takes a virtuosic solo with the strings rise and fall and answers her erupting waves on the piano with some explosive segments as well. There is a most impressive balance between what the piano does and how the strings unite closely with Ms. Davis' playing. The string music here is often highly charged and evokes some harrowing contours. On part 6, the strings erupt playing some radical shaking the foundations type of extremes, not unlike the harsh string sounds of Xenakis or Penderecki. Things quiet down for part 7 while the strings play some eerie drone-like sounds. Sparse yet also effective at coaxing up some ghost-like sounds. The strings erupt more forcefully on the final section, with Ms. Davis' piano also spinning out lines which add some shifting harmonies to the strings. This is the third time I've played this disc several times over the past couple of days and what I notice is how well the music has turned, everything fits just right. The music unfolds organically similar to the way the weather also evolves through different parts of our days. A truly solid work of young masters working together as one force. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15
SAM OSPOVAT BLIGHT MUSIC with RAOUL BJORKENHEIM / JEFF NELSON / NICK LYONS / DAVY LAZAR / OLLI HIRVONEN / MATT MITCHELL / TIM DAHL / SAM OSPOVAT - Expressive Olympics (Eclipse Music 2025251; EEC) The core ensemble includes: Matt Mitchell (piano), who also contributes the album's liner notes, Tim Dahl (fretless electric bass), Finnish ECM legend Raoul Björkenheim (electric guitar), Olli Hirvonen (electric guitar), Matt Nelson (tenor saxophone), Nick Lyons (alto saxophone), and Sam Ospovat on drums and compositions. Together, they form a unit that Ospovat has cultivated over several years, with performances across New York and Europe. The group took on a more permanent shape after Ospovat's nearly full-time move to Helsinki in 2022, evolving into a rare ensemble that defies national and stylistic borders.
I caught a smaller version of this band at I-Beam earlier last year (2025) and thought they were pretty great, especially electric bassist Tim Dahl, whose use of effects was extraordinary and guitarist Raoul Bjorkenheim, another gifted electric guitarist with a distinctive sound. I wasn't so sure what to expect when I saw this disc listed in a new release catalogue last month but it turned out even better than any expectations that I had. I do know of most of the musicians here except for guitarist Olli Hirvonen and trumpeter Davey Lazar. Starting with "The Sower", the group takes off swinging hard with two strong saxists up front, Matt Nelson on tenor (from Battle Trance) and Nick Lyons on alto (a Tristano acolyte). Both take great solos here while the rhythm team pumps hard. Progressive pianist Matt Mitchell also adds a number of exciting solos and interactions and punctuation underneath. The title track, "Blight Music", sounds more like progressive jazz or M-Base, tight-knit with complex criss-crossing lines by the guitar and saxes. Finnish guitarist, Olli Hirvonen, does quite a bit of slashing and burning guitar lines which hold the band together while the saxes soar up top. Although I hadn't heard of Mr. Hirvonen before this disc arrived, I am much impressed with his powerful, inventive and oft explosive playing. Besides being a strong drummer and band-leader, Mr. Ospovat plays gongs and electronics, creating otherworldly sounds and adding some mysterious sounds to the tasty brew. This is a most exciting disc overall and has a wealth of unexpected delights which erupt on each track. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $18
PAUL DUNMALL - A Bad Day at the Office of Charles Ives (FMR CD724-0925; UK) Featuring Paul Dunmall on solo piano and solo organ. This disc combines two sessions: solo piano recorded at the University of West England in January of 2006 and solo organ at Bristol University in March of 2010. After more than 200 releases of mainly free music played on several reeds and bagpipes, British sax colossus Paul Dunmall still comes up with the occasional surprise. Considering that I've reviewed the majority of Mr. Dunmall's releases over the past three decades, I don't recall him playing piano or organ on any previous recordings. According to the liner notes, both of these sessions came about unexpectedly. Dunmall says that he often plays piano at home, occasionally jotting down melodies for a future session. The title of this disc, "A Bad Day at the Office of Charles Ives", comes from a feeling that Mr. Dunmall had while listening back to these sessions and being reminded of the music of Charles Ives, an early American 20th century composer that Dunmall truly appreciates. Mr. Ives was also a successful insurance salesman so perhaps his bad day had something to do with this aspect of his life.
The titles of the solo piano session are based on the titles or music of Mr. Ives like, "Questions Unanswered". That title is first here and the music is stark and filled with suspense. Over time, the music gets more rambunctious and spirited. Dunmall takes his time as the music unfolds, from sparse to more animated or dramatic. At times Dunmall will play a fragment or a line of notes and then expand it with well placed punctuation. Even with some of the lines are fragments of melodies or ideas, Dunmall does a good job of expanding these phrases and twisting them into something else. The longest piece here is called, "One Day in 1927" and it is darker and somewhat sparse and has more suspense as the piano pedal is held down. This piece gets more intense and rather violent as it unfolds. The solo organ section of this disc is something else entirely. Dunmall sounds like he is playing a large church organ, the playing is more majestic overall. Dunmall plays long, drone-like tones, stretching them out over time. Since I don't listen to very much organ music (outside of John Medeski, Larry Young & Big John Patton), I can't compare this to anyone else. The music is strong and filled with powerful emotions. I love the way those swirling notes move and the way the organ pulsates. I find this section to be most moving, evoking ghosts of ancient church or ritualistic music. This is an unexpected delight from my main man Paul Dunmall. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
MAX NAGL ENSEMBLE with PAMELIA STICKNEY / ANNE HARVEY-NAGL / CLEMENS SALESNY / PHIL YAEGER / CLEMES WENGER / et al - Live at Porgy & Bess Vol 6 (rude noises 42CD; Austria) Featuring Max Nagl on alto & bari saxes, clarinet & compositions, Clemens Salesny on alto & tenor saxes & clarinet, Khadjah Pamelia Stickney on theremin, Joanna Lewis & Anne-Harvey Nagl on strings, Martin Eberle on trumpet, Phil Yaeger on trombone, Pewter Rom on guitar, Clemens Wenger on keyboard, Gregor Aufmesser on bass and Herbert Pirker on drums. Austrian saxist/composer/multi-bandleader Max Nagl has been making records since 1988 and running his own rude noises label since 1995. Mr. Nagl generally releases one or two discs a year and always sends us a few to review and sell.
For this disc Mr. Nagl has organized an 11 piece ensemble with a number of longtime collaborators like: Joanna Lewis, Martin Eberle, Phil Yaeger and Pamelia Stickney. This is the 6th volume of recordings made at the Porgy & Bess jazz club in Vienna, Austria that Mr. Nagl has done so far. Things begin on "Kostum" with some eerie theremin before the band takes over playing Nagl's oddly swinging jazz ensemble music. Both saxes take short feisty solos while the strings and other horns play in quirky harmonies underneath. Nagl keeps the horns & reeds spinning tightly together on "Bausch", while the trombone solo, the rest of the ensemble plays tight waves around the soloist. The music is tightly written and played, keeping all members of the ensemble on their toes as the music works its way through many hairpin turns. On each piece Nagl stacks the reeds, horns, strings and rhythm team in thoughtful ways with crisscrossing harmonies and/or structural strategies. He gives most of the members of the 10 piece band a change to stretch out and solo. A number of solos stand out like Peter Rom's swirling, echoed guitar solo on "Drahtzicher". Each piece seems to draw from a different era in the history of jazz yet this isn't mere jazz but a hybrid between several categories. After making records and band-leading for nearly four decades, Mr. Nagl continues to lead an impressive modern jazz ensemble. Although solos are often kept short, it is a fascinating ensemble (writing and) playing that makes this an under-recognized gem of a band. Even when Nagl pushes things into freer episodes (like on "Reum"), things move into some more thoughtfully directed area soon enough. All but one of the songs here clock in at around five minutes, keeping things tight and thoughtfully executed. It seems rather unfair that Max Nagl doesn't get the recognition he rightly deserves. This disc is filled with modest yet impressive playing and arranging. Each time I listen, I hear more quirky and inventive ideas that don't quite sound like anyone else. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $12
SAMUEL REINHARD // PAUL JACOB FOSSUM / GENTE PREISAIE / ANDERS BANKE / FRANCISCO BIGONI / et al - For 10 Musicians (elsewhere 036; USA) Personnel: Paul Jacob Fossum & Ginte Preisaite on pianos, Anders Banke & Carolyn Goodwin on bass clarinets, Francesco Bigoni & Henriette Groth on clarinets, Nicole Hogstrand on cello, Pauline Hogstrand & Mike Persdotter on violas and Vincent Yuen Ruiz on contrabass. Swiss-born, New York-based composer Samuel Reinhard returns to elsewhere music with a four-part ensemble work recorded at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen in 2025. In each movement, two pianists are assigned a single chord and asked to repeat it at a pace of their choosing for the duration of the piece. Between repetitions, the pianists play a short figure improvised from a set group of notes. They are joined by wind and string players—two clarinets, two bass clarinets, two violas, a cello, and a double bass—who choose and play individual notes from that same group. As in Reinhard’s previous work, the players are instructed to play as quietly as they can while still producing a sound, and are invited to take extended breaks, playing as much or as little as they would like within their assigned duration.
“For 10 Musicians” sees its ensemble unfurling what Reinhard calls his “non-directional” music with restraint and a keen sense of absence as a source of form. Reinhard and his players approach the veil between sound and silence, weaving music from sound on the brink of its nonexistence. Harmonic development is left largely to chance; notes accumulate and recede like indeterminate streaks of fading light marking a dark sky or small disturbances in a still body of water, sometimes pooling or dissolving together into quiet texture. Each movement constitutes a totality whose sense of stillness is colored in by subtle internal changes. Throughout, repetition is the architecture through which the music approaches a state of rest." - elsewhere music
This is Sam Reinhard's second disc for the elsewhere label and his sixth altogether. The music here moves very slowly. The pianos often play one note or chord at a time, letting each note resonate and drift. The sparse strings and minimal clarinets also float in and hover like ghosts. A central note slowly repeats while the drifting drones hum and flutter quietly As we get accustomed to the slowly repeating chords (one or two, mostly), we can savor the sparse resonating fragments from the strings and/or clarinets. As certain notes are stretched out, we start to notice the textures and timbral qualities of each one. Each note or sound is carefully made and as we listen, we can hear the way each sound is slightly different, each one evokes a different feeling or vibration. The calmness at the center is helpful to us who are rather restless but note fragments must be savored and considered one at a time. Over the past few years, the elsewhere label (a sister label to erstwhile) has evolved and actually has its own aesthetic or approach. It does take time to get used to this music but it seems worth it for whatever rewards we do find for ourselves. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
LAURA CETILIA // MORGAN EVANS-WELLER / JPA FALZONE / HANNAH SOREN - gorgeous nothings (elsewhere music 035; USA) Featuring Laura Cetilia on cello & compositions, Morgsan Evans-Weller on violin, JPA Falzone on vibes and Hannah Soren on cello. Laura Cetilia's cello works evoke the sense of crossing the threshold between traditional classical music and experimental soundscapes. Within an acoustic resonance that respects the natural reverberations of a space, rippling waves of subtle disturbances conjure a mixed sensation of classical roots and a refreshing encounter with the unknown. This offers a glimpse into a vast and profound world that is uniquely Cetilia's own.
"gorgeous nothing" is the title track and opens this disc. It is a piece for solo cello and voice performed by the composer, Laura Cetilia. The cello and voice hum or drone together around the same note or vibration. The effect is somewhat eerie and quietly disorienting. The music/sound resonates slowly, it feels as if we are opening a hole (route) which goes directly to our ears, heart and mind at the same time. "six melancholies" if for ordinary effects, a trio with Morgan Evans-Weller on violin, Laura Cetilia on cello and JPA Falzone on vibes. Again, the music moves slowly, carefully and is being stretched out time-wise. It sounds like Falzone is bowing his or her vibes, hence all three instruments have similar textures and timbral qualities. "soil stone" is for two cellos with Ms. Cetilia's voice added. Again, there is a central drone which was/is created by both cellos. The music pulsates similar to the way our blood throbs through our veins in a most organic fashion. Over time, the 3 lines pulsate closely together stretching out time and our imaginations. The vibe changes more quickly here and it feels as if we were balancing on a raft or boat on a large body of water. The sound here is dream-like and it feels like we are in a trance, swaying slowly back and forth. The elsewhere label has really come into its own world where we can land in an environment that changes slowly, subtly and most carefully.
CD $14
LUIGI NONO // ROBERTO FABBICIANI / ULRICH KRIEGER / ALVISE VIDOLIN / ALESSANDRO FIORDELMONDO - Works for Flute (mode records 349; USA) Luigi Nono (1924 –1990) was a great innovator in the use of spatialization of sound and experimentation with performance space, non-linear time and the collapsing between sound and silence.
Beginning in 1959, he distanced himself from serial orthodoxy and the Ferienkurse compositional scene. His new works reflected a concern in political and cultural events and introduced the use of tape and electroacoustic technology.
His compositional process was increasingly involved with specific performers, whom he chose for their tone and expressive characteristics. This trust reflects on Nono’s interest in collaboration, developing the idea that traditional musical notation is limited and cannot reproduce the complexity of performance he reached with every performer.
This recording represents one of Nono’s most fruitful collaborations, the one he developed with flutist Roberto Fabbriciani during the 1980s. The track list presented here –– selected by Fabbriciani and Alvise Vidolin –– explores Nono’s music as it is defined by space (and/or the acoustic space) rather than time — the auditory impression of a labyrinthine acoustic environment in which the works seem to float on the threshold of sound and silence and seem to fluctuate from one place to another.
The creative process of A Pierre. Dell’azzurro silenzio, inquietum (1985) took place during rehearsals for the first performance of Prometeo. Tragedia dell’ascolto (Venice, 1984). Fabbriciani recalls suggesting to Nono that he should write a work, based on section VIII of Io, frammento dal Prometeo because he felt that the live electronic potential explored in that work had not been completely exploited.
The interplay between flute, clarinet and live electronics and their timbral fusion or a continuum of timbre, are at the core of the compositional process. Once the live electronic manipulation of sound moves above the threshold of silence, the listener should no longer be able to detect whether a given sound heard was produced by one of the two performers or reproduced by electronic/digital equipment.
Das Atmende Klarsein, fragmente is a reduced version of Nono’s work for small choir, bass flute soloist and live electronics. It is the first composition of the 1980s which led to Prometeo and the first outcome of the intense collaboration between Fabbriciani and Nono. In the original piece, Nono composed two distinct worlds, one of choir, the other of bass flute. As they never perform together, the bass flute part later became a solo piece after undergoing changes, cuts and transformations with the various performances by Fabbriciani (this is typical of Nono’s work in progress).
Musiche per Manzù, for magnetic tape (1969), was created for a short documentary that shows the work that Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzù did to realize the bronze doors of St. Francis church in Rotterdam. Space and spatialization are only illusory in the original version of the work, which antedates Nono’s live electronics research. But space is so deliberate here that this piece is suitable to live electronics interpretations. Alvise Vidolin re-interprets Musiche per Manzù using the original mono version published by Ricordi, with a multichannel 5.1 surround sound system.
A “Omaggio a Luigi Nono”is Fabbriciani’s tribute to his collaboration and friendship with Luigi Nono. The tape part has been recorded by Fabbriciani at the Experimental Studio of the Heinrich-Strobel Stiftung in Freiburg, the same studio where he workedv with Nono in his important sound research for a decade. It contains the natural acoustic sounds of the piccolo. It explores this instrument and reflects Fabbriciani’s research on extended yet simple sounds.
“Omaggio a Luigi Nono”by Fabbriciani reflects both his own research on extended techniques, and Nono’s reduction to the essential nature of sound and music. The acoustic part interacts with the tape part made with prerecorded piccolo sounds. The assembling, mixing and spatialization of the recorded sounds is conceived by Alvise Vidolin.
CD $15
DAVID FIRST // THE WESTERN ENISPHERE with SAM KULICK / JEFF TOBIAS / ALEX WATERMAN / JAMES ILGENFRITZ / DANNY TUNICK / et al - Revolutions (mode records 350; USA) David First’s “Revolutions” is a large scale, long duration exploration of the drone. Perhaps First explains it best: “…my best intention, and greatest hope, is to simply take you, the listener, to a place where you experience something beyond the daily, infinite cycles. Or better yet, tune you into them — all the way to the far-flung galaxies and back into your infinite bodily atoms and molecules. If you feel you can, trust us for an hour or so. Open yourself up and let us all in. Maybe you’ll find yourself on a journey of your own creation—your own story of discovery.”
And, as Sarah Hennies puts it in the liner notes: “There is technical rigor here, the result of a lifetime honing a highly personal compositional approach, but there is also levity and freedom, and the ability to lose oneself entirely in the work. “Revolutions” with its enveloping drones and surprising twists and turns of form gives the sense that one is more connected with where we come from but also hints at the wild surprises in the vast unknown.”
The music of “Revolutions” is based on the 16th through 32nd harmonics of the note G—a sound world that resides largely outside of traditional Western musical instruments and training. Three teams of players are required to execute these pitches in precisely timed cyclical rotations while also implementing mutes, bowing techniques, wah-wah pedals and electronic filters to create timbral micro-melodies. Further, the G pitched pulse heard in section three is beating at 91.875 bpm—a periodicity four octaves lower than the 49 Hz bass G frequency heard throughout.
CD $15
GERALD ECKERT - night, falling (mode 347; USA) The fact that the works included on night, falling all seem to be large windows into different parts of the same world establishes a strong sense of familiarity. Yet various facets of the music actively work against that sense, leading to a prolonged, even permanent feeling of tension. To a large extent this derives from the fact that Eckert’s musical language is profoundly elusive. Yet it’s not remotely distant – on the contrary, often it’s incredibly close; it feels tangible, its sounds distinct, discrete points of tactile solidity. No, this is music not so much at the periphery of perception as resolution: we hear, but we’re rarely sure what we are hearing, in terms of what specific sounds are, where they emanate from and how they relate.
The work that opens the album, späte Gegend for orchestra, demonstrates this uncertainty from the start, with rustling noise that could either be the product of one large or many small sources of movement. The ensuing texture of streaked pitches suggests friction, things rubbing hard together, while rumble leads to various impacts, more streaks and noise, lingering pitches, some of them ostensibly overtones, all very shadowy and skittery, made ominous by low growls. Even within these first couple of minutes we have to adapt our listening away from identity in favour of ambiguity. This is a landscape that’s not so much truly alien as just very foreign, though laden with traces that suggest, allude to and evoke sounds and gestures that are very familiar.
This tense listening state is also a kind of instinctive, sympathetic response to the fundamental character of Eckert’s soundworld, which is itself a paradigm of tension. In conjunction with its elusiveness, it’s also highly volatile. In general, this is a world where sounds move slowly (the seven compositions range from 11 to over 26 minutes in length, and they both need and earn those durations) and as such, it’s easy to be lulled into a sense that everything is under control – indeed, that control is perhaps the defining feature of this music. Nothing could be further from the truth. Returning to späte Gegend, barely a few minutes on from that mysterious introduction we’re confronted by a sequence of increasingly solid swells. They fall away into vague, muffled aftermaths, but finally there’s a huge eruption as some instrument from abyssal depths – akin to an unfathomable horn – heralds something unutterably momentous. Whereupon it’s all gone, leaving just a high, tinnitus tone and deep resonance from drums and gongs. It may not be a place where chaos reigns, yet unclarity and uncertainty are endemic.
An additional aspect of this derives from the fact that many of these pieces incorporate electronic elements (both fixed media and live electronics), but at almost no point is it even remotely clear what those elements are contributing. That, in turn, makes one question almost everything – both electronic and instrumental – acting to undermine and distance even more the nature and details of what we hear. Furthermore, three of these pieces are presented as concertante works, yet here too the precise nature, contribution and, at times, even sonic identity of their respective soloists is similarly difficult to parse. The clearest is Schemen – Feld 30, where a contrabass clarinet moves within an electronic environment, though even here what constitutes the actual clarinet and possible extensions of its sounds and timbral palette is hard to tell. Eckert’s electronics conjure up monochromatic gothic splendour, impossibly vast, which the clarinet (mesmerisingly performed by Joachim Striepens) seems to meld with: sometimes vaporous, as if part of the grey open space; sometimes intimidatingly present, projecting impossibly deep tones that resound like primordial roars, even while everything dissipates to almost nothing. The dynamic range here and everywhere else is enormous, encompassing the most massive and the most microscopic, and everything in between.
Likewise the title work, Nacht, die fallende, where solo cello, orchestra and live electronics combine to form a homogeneous electroacoustic mixture. More streaks, more rumbles, now as the extreme poles of a vague but unmistakably heightened music, no longer merely tense, now taut. A weird major third materialises, is pulled apart, and the poles exert an immense force causing a dizzying swell. Beyond it, still polarised, things continue unfocused, a slow melange of cello squall and remote, suggestive atmospherics. Here, the balance – if that’s the right word – is in the nature of that wide polarity, between tectonic movement below and more rapid activity above. Again the volatility, instances of inner expansion that never stop sounding overwhelming and massive, despite never being full-blown outbursts; again the inscrutable, inseparable solo instrument, one element fused with all the others.
"ferne Tiefe" for contrabass flute, orchestra, live electronics and tape seemingly picks up where that piece leaves off. Nothing identifiable emerges for several minutes, instead forming an ominous, pulsing, singular sonic entity; maybe a trace of brass here, a string there, but everything is once again melded into the whole. Over four minutes pass before the flute makes its presence felt – although, high and overtone-riddled, it’s impossible to extricate it from adjacent sounds. Instead, we’re pulled by the huge gravitational pull of the sound mass, looming and colossal, until – the other end of this music’s instability – Eckert tilts everything into erasure, a blank texture of granular noise and almost palimpsestical traces of pitch (but from where? of what??).
By integrating diverse musical elements in this way, the organic nature of the music is significantly increased. Indeed, these pieces are like true, large-scale sonic organisms, undergoing gradual processes of activity, evolution and transformation that have an unassailable internal logic. This is all the more remarkable when one considers the mind-boggling range of sounds that appear in Eckert’s music, perhaps even more so when, just once or twice, they’re actually identifiable (such as an incredible moment around nine minutes into späte Gegend, when a singing bowl makes a brief appearance).
"Kisalpah" for ensemble and electronics continues this ongoing exploration, again making acoustic and electronic inextricable, in a tantalising way that’s more enigmatic. The volatility is different here; no eruptions but instead recurring bursts of clatter that are consistently troubling, as if they had a tone of authority to them. It seems as if it might clarify into something tangible, via pitches and whistles, but it ultimately remains strange and defocused, in perhaps the most aloof and remote of these pieces. If they are, as i’ve suggested, all windows into the same soundworld, Kisalpah is located far in its interior, a place that’s enclosed, the most exotic, furthest from familiar reference or focal points.
"im Endlichen, dehnbar" for solo accordion is a rare example on the album of greatly increased focus, due to the use of just a single instrument. It’s like a distillation of what we’ve encountered so far writ small. The accordion (played by Eva Zöllner) is unstable, seemingly trying with increasing violence to free itself from recurring sustained notes. Frustration becomes incandescent, but the strongest connection to the other works comes as it descends, almost ‘singing’ in the form of a deep cluster, as if a single voice had been refracted into a tightly bunched-up chorus. (One can’t help wondering if somehow this is what lies at the core of all this music, perhaps giving rise to it all.)
The album concludes with instead of (empty rooms II) for ensemble and tape, and while it might seem as if, by now, after nearly two hours exploring this soundworld, there’d be nowhere left to go, the piece proves decidedly otherwise. Here, the sonic unclarity that typifies this place is seemingly turned inside out. While there’s a primary emphasis on pitch, it’s blurred and hazy, to the extent that the music sounds like an imagined presence – or, even more apt, a kind of ‘amplified absence’. Ghost music. The ensemble seems to be trying to articulate something beyond utterance, their erratic nature akin to that of the accordion previously, a form of frustration arising from the necessity of the urge clashing with the impossibility of the action.
This is, very simply, among the most dazzling and exciting music – acoustic, electronic, electroacoustic, whatever – you’re ever likely to encounter. Nothing is as it seems; indeed, everything seems to transcend the very notion of ‘seeming’. All of it is just wondrously new. Prepare to be arrested and bewildered, overwhelmed and stunned, and when its 134 minutes have elapsed, to be itching to experience it all over again. This is what makes night, falling, by far, the Best Album of 2025.
2 CD Set $30
ARMEN DONELIAN with EDDIE GOMEZ / BILLY HART - Stargazer (Sunnyside SSC 4039; USA) 'Stargazer' is a reissue of an album by a trio of pianist Armen Donelian with bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart that first appeared forty-five years ago, in 1980. Originally released and distributed on Atlas Records in Japan, it was available only as an import elsewhere. Soon thereafter, Atlas went out of business, and most copies vanished. Thus, although the title composition appears on three other albums by the leader for the label —A Reverie (Sunnyside, 1995), The Wayfarer (Sunnyside, 1990), and All or Nothing at All (Sunnyside, 2006) —Stargazer is the first time most will hear the original album bearing that name in its entirety.
At the time of the recording, Donelian was only a twenty-nine years old protege of pianist Richie Beirach, percussionist Mongo Santamaria, and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. Gomez had built his reputation from providing his recognizable sound to recordings with Bill Evans and Hart his own with Herbie Hancock. But Donelian’s choice to use both artists is not tied to these experiences of either. As the leader notes, “I had played with Billy several times as a sideman in other bands, and met him working with vocalist Anne Marie Moss. Eddie was someone I had seen play with flutist Jeremy Steig and at Bradley’s in various duos. I was fortunate to have personal contact with them, and I was young and foolish, and asked them. They said yes…They propelled the music to places I’d never gone to and really challenged me.” These challenges paid off well. While the trio hadn’t played together before this date, they quickly established an instant rapport.
Donelian’s title track, his most well-known composition, opens the record. The pianist composed the piece shortly after the death of his mother as a means of processing his loss. In its original form, the song was meant to be ruminative, but his trio mates give it drive and stunning dynamic turns. Gomez’s bass solo is so melodic that one could mistake it as coming from a horn player. The final piece recorded at the session, “Free at Last,” appears second in the sequencing. It is the prime example of the improvising ability of these three. Donelian’s playing stands out for his smooth, glittering right hand and ability to shift rhythms unexpectedly, as well as to venture into the kind of harmonic landscapes inspired by his mentor, Beirach.
The tender ballad, “Southern Belle,” was inspired by Donelian’s fascination with a certain lady. It is another example of Gomez’s legendary lyricism, as heard in his conversational solo that extends beyond into an almost call-and-response-like dialogue with the pianist. The versatility of the trio is on display in the joyous Brazilian samba, “Love’s Endless Spin,” which Donelian had developed and played with Colombian saxophonist/flutist Justo Almario and Brazilian drum great Portinho. The sheer exuberance of the piece is carried with gusto by Hart and Gomez."
Mr. Hart delivers a narrative-like drum intro via brushes to “Monday,” a piece that later evolves into a burning counterpoint between Gomez’s bass line and Donelian’s melody. Again, Gomez shines in his solo. While it is essentially a bebop rhythm, Donelian plays a series of unexpected chords. “Silent Afternoon,” the album’s original closer, is a tone poem in ¾ time, offering a sense of relaxation with an impending sense of tension. It is a prime example of the exploratory harmonic landscape learned from Beirach. On this rereleased version of Stargazer , “Queen of Light,” somehow left off the original version, closes. Gomez is front and center and the tune is filled with starts and stops, pregnant pauses, and restatements as if carefully navigating its way to a destination.
Unfortunately, the trio on this record was short-lived and delivered solely this one recording and a performance at New York’s Carnegie Recital Hall. Hearing the album attests to the fact that the group was indeed criminally overlooked. - - Jim Hynes, PostGenre
CD $14
PHILIP BLACKBURN // WANG ZHENG-TING / MADELEINE SHAPIRO / PATTI CUDD - another intensity (Neuma 234; USA) For many years, composer Philip Blackburn ran the voluminous Innova label which released 100's of discs of all sorts of modern classical and New Music from the mid-west and elsewhere. I used to get Innova promos in the mail regularly and tried to listen to each one until it became nearly impossible to keep up. Mr. Blackburn and Innova also helped many of the composers to get grants to complete their works and recordings, something that I've always admired about labels like this. Over the past few years, Mr. Blackburn left Innova and moved to the Neuma label, another label dedicated to all sorts of new music, especially electronic music. I've been on the Neuma list for the past few years and have also tried to listen to all of their releases, an endless exercise for challenging music discovery.
It turns out that Philip Blackburn is also a composer although his recordings are few and far between. This is his fifth release in 20 years, his second on Neuma. It features Mr. Blackburn on instruments, electronics and compositions. Each of the six pieces was recorded with different musicians or ensembles and in different places. Opening with, "In Praise of Clouds" was recorded in Dorchester Abbey in Oxfordshire and is performed by the Abingdon School choir. Although it is a choir, it sounds like a sea of drifting drone-like sounds. The resonance of the voices flutters in a most ethereal way like a choir of ghosts and those voices float in the air, rather like being in a large church with long organic reverb stretching the voices out. It is hard to tell that these are actual voices at times although the overall effect is just as hypnotic. "Dawn Chorus, Still Life" features Wang Zheng-Ting on sheng. A sheng is an ancient Chinese mouth-blown polyphonic free reed instrument consisting of vertical pipes and this piece was recorded in Melbourne, Australia. Although I do recognize the sound of the sheng (similar to a sho), there are several layers of resonating drones which surround its unique sound. Although the instrumentation is quite different, the overall sound is somehow similar. "Soundinmg Xibalba" was recorded in a cave in Belize. It sounds as if Mr. Blackburn was sampling different percussion (marimba perhaps?) sounds and adding some watery effects. "Between Two waves of the Sea" was recorded in Dartington, UK and performed by the Academy Ensemble. The instrumentation seems to include brass, reeds, strings and percussion which sound like they were recorded in a large resonant space with some select echo effects to make things sound more mysterious. The final piece, "An Illegible Stone" at Sheen Center in NY and features Madeleine Shapiro on cello and Patti Cudd on percussion. Again, like the other pieces here it is difficult to tell who does what although I do hear the sound of the cello at times. A similar ethereal, effects-utilized sound is what makes all of the pieces here sound like part of similar sonic tapestry. Whenever I do my reviews here in my kitchen at home, the room is transformed into another (sonic) place. It often feels like a short vacation from tortured nature of Bad News that pops up continuously through my email and on-line. This music helps to set me free which often feels better than what surrounds us all too often. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
WOJTEK MAZOLEWSKI - Solo (WMQ Records 011CD; Germany) The leader of the internationally acclaimed Wojtek Mazolewski Quintet reveals a more intimate, personal side in his solo project. Solo, the new album from Wojtek Mazolewski, offers a chamber-like, cinematic and deeply atmospheric listening experience. One might expect a solo album to become an opportunity for virtuosic displays, yet Mazolewski takes a different path -- presenting the double bass as a melodic instrument, played with remarkable sensitivity and tenderness, revealing the richness and depth of its sound. Solo is a surprising record. Despite its subtle arrangements: harp, flute, percussion, gentle electronics, and whispered vocals, the music captivates from the very first notes. Modern in spirit, it occasionally surprises with a gentle, dance-infused pulse. Mazolewski creates space for focus and reflection without falling into new-age clichés. The album's sound quality is also noteworthy, crafted by producers Wojtek Mazolewski and Wojtek Urbanski, (Polish platinum producer and film composer) and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Ben Rawlins. Episodic but essential contributions from the exceptional harpist Marysia Osu also deserve mention. For years, Mazolewski has been a respected figure on the international stage. His Quintet's album Polka was one of DownBeat's favorite albums of the year. He has been a frequent guest on Gilles Peterson's BBC Show and performed a memorable Bronswood Session there. Mazolewski's creative reach extends beyond WMQ and his solo output, including his experimental Tryp Tych Trio project with Tamar Osborn and Sarathy Korwar, as well as collaborations with artists such as Pete Wareham, Tomasz Stańko, Urszula Dudziak, John Zorn, Tim Berne, and Dennis González.
CD $17
NICOLAE BRINDUS - Match/Soliloque 1&4/Antifonia (Metaphon 025CD; Belgium) Romanian avant-garde composer, Nicolae Brînduş (1935-2023), studied piano and composition at the National University of Music in Bucharest. From 1969 to 1980 he attended the Summer Courses for New Music in Darmstadt and later he also worked at the IRCAM in Paris and GMEB in Bourges. His compositions have been performed worldwide. This album, originally released on Electrecord's RCM (Romanian Contemporary Music) series in 1986, provides a selection of works which belong to his cycle PHTORA (1968-1972). The cycle comprises five pieces which are five degrees of structuring collective improvisation, leaning towards the spectralist tradition. It's probably the most eccentric record in the whole RCM series, offering a mesmerizing collage of organized cacophony, as a massive but subtly layered whirlwind of abstract orchestral improvisations, Romanian picturesque folklore and free jazz with extensive use of tape manipulation and reverberation. This reissue comes with the beautiful original sleeve artwork by Ana Golici who designed many sleeves for Electrecord.
CD $24
***********
ATTENTION ALL CREATIVE MUSICIANS OUT THERE, Around the world.
If you have a link for some music that you are working on and want to share it with the folks who read the DMG Newsletter, please send the link to DMG at BLGallanter@gmail.com
******
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / CHES SMITH / JAN 7-10 and JAN 14-17
A VERY SPECIAL EVENT—TWO WEEKS WITH THE CHES SMITH QUARTET! THEY WILL PLAY DIFFERENT MUSIC EVERY NIGHT SO GET HERE EARLY!
1/7 Wednesday
830 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET
Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/8 Thursday
8:30 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET
Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/9 Friday
8:30 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET
Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/10 Saturday
8:30 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET
Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/13 Tuesday
8:30 pm - THE STONE STUDENT CONCERTS—Orange Road Quartet - Miguel Calleja (violin) Madeline Hocking (violin) Nicky Moore (viola) Jordan Bartow (cello)
ADMISSION IS FREE
1/14 Wednesday
8:30 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET - Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/15 Thursday
8:30 pm - CHES SMITH QUARTET
Mary Halvorson (guitar) Liberty Ellman (guitar) Nick Dunston (bass) Ches Smith (drums)
1/16 Friday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Darius Jones (saxophone) Craig Taborn (piano) Ches Smith (drums)
1/17 Saturday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Shara Lunon (vocals, processing) Craig Taborn (piano, electronics) Ches Smith (drums, electronics)
THE STONE is located in
The New School at the Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th Street - near 6th ave
For more info: https://thestonenyc.com/calendar.php?month=1
LIVE MUSIC
wed-sat - music at 8:30pm
ADMISSION - $20 per set
unless otherwise noted
cash only payment
**********
NEW VIDEOS from GUITAR MASTER HENRY KAISER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KGp0VH4yQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWn5MRUOTAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ste9pdLiz_0
*******
From CHRIS CUTLER:
Formerly of HENRY COW, THE ART BEARS, NEWS FOR BABEL & RECOMMENDED RECORDS (ReR) has been creating an ongoing series of podcasts called the Probes series. I am often fascinated at listening to each of these as Mr. Cutler does an incredible job of showing a deep history of Creative Music in the 20th century & beyond. I usually listen to these on the train to NYC that I take to get to work each day. The most recent Probes (#37) was released earlier this year, here are the links:
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-37
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-36