Hans Werner Henze „La Miracle de la Rose“ Imaginäres Theater II: Musik für einen Klarinettisten und 13 Spieler

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Hans Werner Henze
„La Miracle de la Rose“
„An eine Äolsharfe“
CD
(Ars Musici, 1991)

Hans Werner Henze has been featured on the jukebox before, but it's LGBT History Month, he's one of my favorite composers, and he's openly gay. This time 'round I'm gonna let the liner notes for this piece do the talking for me. I will say, though, that in addition to Henze, Jean Genet, the author of the book Miracle de la Rose, which Henze has here transformed into music, was also openly gay. Henze himself conducted this recording, which features Ensemble Modern joined by Hans Deinzer on clarinet.

Language becomes music – music becomes language

Hans Werner Henze has written two pieces with the subtitle ”Imaginary theatre“: ”El Rey de Harlem“ in 1979, after a text by Federico Garcia Lorca, and two years later ”Le Miracle de la Rose“, a musical evocation of the autobiography of the same name written by the French poet and playwright Jean Genet in prison in 1943. Both works take outsiders in society as their subject, characters who are both victims and wrongdoers at one and the same time. While the Lorca piece uses a voice to convey the content of the text, the piece entitled ”Imaginary theatre II“ (”Miracle“) goes one step further: the poetic content is transposed entirely into instrumental terms, with the solo clarinet being identified with the principal character, the sixteen-year-old twofold murderer Harcomone, who awaits execution. ”It is hardly surprising that the most wretched human life is described with especially beautiful words“ – this hypothesis of Genet's is adopted by Henze too, as he immerses himself in a private world precariously ruled by violence and the addiction to beauty. Henze is not interested in making philanthropic gestures of sympathy from the outside, nor in artistic indulgence in a macabre, surrealistic and almost exotic scenery of homosexuality and crime; what he aims to achieve is the deeper sympathy that goes hand-in-hand with the utmost humiliation and perversion. Beauty in a damaged life is a transcendental moment, a glimmer of hope and utopia – a sign of salvation from the hopelessly functionalistic world of normal people and conformists. It was in this sense that Jean-Paul Sartre regarded Genet – both the poet and the man – as a „saint“.

Henze's composition is divided into seven movements. It blends the model of the Baroque suite with the character of a virtuoso clarinet concerto. Many of the other thirteen instruments represent figures from the Genet book – the judge expresses himself through the trumpet, the priest is represented by the horn, the trombone stands for the lawyer, the poet himself is identified by the bass clarinet, while the heckelphone stands for the executioner. The introductory ”Entrée“ evokes a menacing mood which is dispelled time after time by the energy of Harcomone's daydreams (especially in the flights of fancy in the ”Air“). At the end of the Mediterranean hues of the ”Chansons provençales“, the screeching of the E flat clarinet depicts Harcomone's execution in dramatic colours. Like any programme music of true quality, ”Le Miracle de la Rose“ can also be listened to as absolute music. But the listener who also bears the close associations with Genet's book in mind will of course learn a great deal more about the composer Hans Werner Henze.

Pictures or language have often served as the inspiration for the compositions of Hans Werner Henze. Musical settings of texts account for a significant part of his work, but no less important are those works whose connection with the verse does not actually feature the sung presentation of the text. In these compositions, Henze is not content to merely reproduce the substance of a text atmospherically in terms of musical notes, nor does he simply illustrate it in 'programme music' fashion. Henze prefers to create structural musical convergences and equivalents. He follows the course of the words mimetically in note form, reconstructing the rhythm of the verse set and its structural subdivisions in the forms of his music. Henze, who takes a great interest in semiotics and wishes his music to possess symbolic value and precise linguistic character, refers deliberately to ”research“, when he is making a detailed study of poetry that he plans to transform into music. He first made this manner of working his own in 1953, when he composed his ”Ode to the West Wind“, the instrumental 'imagination' of a poem by Shelley, set for cello and orchestra. As a man of the theatre, he is also concerned to give his literary (or pictorial) subject something along the lines of a dramatic form by making a musical 'stage production' of it. In this way, apparently concertate works take on a dramatic aspect, too.

Hans-Klaus Jungheinrich
(translation: Clive Williams)

NOTA BENE: I know the punctuation and quotation marks above look odd. I have recreated it exactly as it appears in the booklet.

:-P

William Penn "Gossamer Looms"

William Penn
Crystal Rainbows
LP
(Sounds Reasonable, Inc., 1978)

From the cover and title, one might expect the album therein to be some sort of horrible New Age monstrosity. I bought it 'cause Robert Rutman appears on this track with one of his marvelous steel cellos (picture below, with string enhanced by moi). It was with a definite sense of dread that I put it on the turntable, but my fears were quickly destroyed by the content of the music within.

The liner notes tell the story of the album better than I can, so I'll let them take over:

Born January 11, 1943, William Penn has, during his career as a composer, written music which is tonally accessible to everyone. His music and sound effects scores commissioned by the National Air and Space Museum for the Albert Einstein Spacearium have thrilled millions. His music for Shakespearean Plays, performed by the Folger Theater Group and the New York Shakespeare Festival, has brought new depth to the classics. As a serious composer, Penn has written more than thirty concert pieces, twelve film scores, six musicals, four ballets, and forty-three scores for plays.

What you are about to hear is not a mainstream creation of any kind. From the choice of instruments to the final cutting of the master discs, this is an unusual production.

American primitive instruments and finely handcrafted replications have been combined with state-of-the-art recording technology to produce an amazing expression of far-sighted creativity, both idiomatically and technologically.

It all seems so magical, this assemblage of woods, strings and steel, but we who experience it daily understand the great simplicity of the work. Within the confines of the art, this experience becomes, simultaneously, divinely personal and universal, leaving works to the world which encompass all ages. Yet, instrument building is an art that needs to be seen as well as heard. Recent efforts to reveal contemporary masterworks have been most encouraging. Gallery shows, museum exhibits, art festivals, and publications have all aided this great renaissance of instrumental design.

Ken Riportella
Maker/Metamorphis II

In June 1978, Sounds Reasonable, Inc. (SRI) learned that the Renwick Gallery of the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, would mount an exhibition that included unique and esoteric American handcrafted musical instruments. SRI subsequently developed the idea of composing an album of music played on these instruments.

By July 1978, a cooperative agreement between SRI, the Smithsonian Institution and the instrument makers was signed, and work began. SRI selected Dr. William Penn as composer for the project. After reviewing and finally choosing forty-three of the instruments, thirteen were actually used in the recording. The nature of the musical compositions precluded using all of the instruments chosen. The listener may wish to note that the instruments recorded are listed on the opposite leaf in the order of their appearance on the recording. Devices for electronic effects are listed only when used as discrete sound sources.

Tonality of the instruments has been modified throughout by using electronic and spring echo; parametric equalization; electronic pitch change; and phase reversal. Delicately recorded are the natural qualities of the instruments themselves. The Cloud Chamber Bowls drift naturally through the stereo spectrum, while the grand piano takes on an unbelievable dual identity.

Crystal Rainbows is a work of monolithic tonality which, unlike the more common commercial record, finds unity in its musical structure while allowing each listener the freedom to discover favorite colours in the making of personal rainbows.

Since the first recordings were completed, people have asked which of the instruments I like the best. Unequivocally I must answer the Ten-Foot Single String Stainless Steel Cello. The power and depth of this wonderful instrument are refreshing, and the opportunities for exploration are exciting in prospect and unpredictable in direction. Conjuring up visions of dragons, black holes and volcanic eruptions, this monster too large for the recording studio was erected in the lobby of our downtown office building at 2:00 A. M., and recorded during the lull between the passage of the night people and the early morning buses. The rubber piano, although not part of the exhibit, is also a favorite and is Penn's invention.

The audiophile will find dynamic range that literally makes the stereo system buzz; the electronic music devotee will discover new sounds and combinations of electronic equipment used to create space where none previously existed; the lover of avantegarde music will find herein an opus which reaches new heights in musical awareness; and who knows, but that Moonshine may become a hit single.

Edmund S. Barnett
October 21, 1978

The players for this piece:

• Mark Cushing: Highland Bagpipes
  
• Kathleen Doyle: Sansa Finger Piano
  
• Dominick Labino: Glass Harmonica
  
• William Penn: Finger Cymbals, Jaw Harp
  
• Robert Rutman: Single String Stainless Steel Cello

Lightning Baltimore "Squiggles, Loose in the World"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Lightning Baltimore
Unsolicited Material
(unreleased, 1998)

Yep, this is me, playing Fred (the Höfner guitar in picture), through my Marshall (model 5210, 50 watts), also pictured. Fred was a gift from my friend Charlie. Unlike Charlie, Fred is covered in naugahyde and used to belong to Charlie Pastorfield of the defunct Skip Castro Band, who used to play often where Charlie Not Pastorfield and I lived in the '80s.

I recorded this stuff in the late '90s but only just now took a pic of the equipment used for this track and made this cheesy album cover. Not pictured are the guitars I played on other tracks: a Gibson SG and a much-maligned-but-I-love-mine Gretsch TK300.

飛不動 「かげ」

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

飛不動
『飛不動』
CD
(self-released?, 1992)

Leo Records is a pretty cool jazz label. If I find something on Leo in a bargain bin, chances are highly likely that I will snap it up post-haste. Coincidentally, or maybe not, my two favorite jazz pianists outside of Cecil Taylor (they're much too big to fit inside) are Sakis Papadimitriou, whom I've featured before, and Satoko Fujii. Both I first heard as a result of finding CDs on Leo's sublabel Leo Lab in bargain bins.

The Satoko Fujii Orchestra CD South Wind turned up in the local store I've mentioned before where Japanese CDs used to appear on a regular basis. OK, sure, Leo Records is a UK label, but Ms. Fujii is Japanese. So there! There are actually four Satoko Fujii Orchestras. South Wind is by what later became known as the Satoko Fujii Orchestra New York. She also has orchestras based in Tokyo, Nagoya, and Kobe (ordered here by number of releases).

Ms. Fujii, along with her trumpeter husband Natsuki Tamura, have collectively released a huge number of excellent CDs starting with 1996's Something about Water, a collaboration between Satoko and legendary pianist Paul Bley. As of today, there are 27 CDs on their own label, Libra Records, plus scads of other CDs on scads of other labels; every time I manage to catch up with them, they'll release another four or so at once.

This is all a bit beside the point, however. Four years before Something about Water was released, there was an album by a group named 飛不動. The compositions are all by Natsuki, and he and Satoko are joined by 金井敬一 on bass and 見世秀麿 on drums. I managed to score a copy from Downtown Music Gallery in Manhattan a few years ago. They still have it listed, and I think it's pretty great. Today's jukebox selection is the first track.

NOTA BENE: 飛不動 is a flying deity in Japanese legend. I just found that out now, while writing this.

Translations:

• 飛不動 = Tobifudo
• かげ = Kage = Shadow
• 金井敬一 = Keiichi Kanai
• 見世秀麿 = Hidemaro Mise

Robert Hollis·Christopher Swartz "Rebels in Eden"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Robert Hollis·Christopher Swartz
11 X 2
LP
(Perimeter Records, 1988)

Ever see an odd-looking record, or perhaps records, in almost every store in town, only to ignore them? That's what I did with the albums of Robert Hollis·Christopher Swartz. I used to see them in the local bins all over the place. All three had similar covers: stark white background, Robert Hollis·Christopher Swartz written at the same spot at the top in Microgramma D Bold Extended, a picture in the middle, and the title in the bottom in the same font, only much more huger. The only significant difference was the first, Iso, had a drawing rather than a photograph and used red ink in addition to black. Oh, and 11 X 2 had nothing printed on the back (more on that later).

A few months ago, I came across a cheap used copy of Iso and decided to give it a shot. It turned out to be very cool. The music was mostly instrumental and played on a variety of homemade instruments. A few pieces had vocals, but they were more recitative than singative. After several spins of Iso, I went on a mission to find the others. It took several months, but I finally found copies at local (and semi-local) stores of Music for Homebuilt Instruments and 11 X 2 for around $5 each, as opposed to prices I found on-line that were sometimes in the triple digit range!

Today's piece comes from side two of 11 X 2 and features Robert on the 2 String Guitar (Bottleneck) and Wood Slit Drums, while Christopher twangs the Birimibau. The album comes with a folio jam-packed with photos and technical diagrams of the instruments played (all homebuilt by Christopher), along with all sorts of ephemera, like info on building instruments, recording studio invoices, tax forms, etc.

Remember I mentioned the back cover being blank? Well, there's a plan for that, per the last insert in the folio. There was never a fourth album, though, so I left the back cover of mine blank, in solidarity.

Alchemical Rowdies "Tour de Convulse"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Alchemical Rowdies
Trans-Idio
LP
(Trans Museq, 1981)

Free improvisation! Yea! None's been featured for a while, so here's a nice selection from a fine platter from the Alchemical Rowdies. I'm guessing the album is entitled Trans-Idio 'cause it's a collaboration of Alabama's Davey Williams and LaDonna Smith, who've run the Trans Museq label since the mid-'70s, and ¾ of Virginia's Idio Savant, whom I featured here early last year (all of them are here but Marty McCavitt, who I suppose was too busy mutilating cattle).

This probably sounds like random noise to a lot of people; it sure did to me, at first. In fact, I sold my first copy of this 'cause I couldn't stand it. I'd bought it 'cause the same ¾ of Idio Savant that play on it were later in the fabulous Orthotonics, also featured here in the past. It sounded nothing like the Orthos, though, and my brain was still too small and unprepared. Full disclosure: I'd never even heard of Idio Savant at that point. It was several more years before I was able to really wrap my head around free improv.

Explaining why I like stuff like this isn't easy. I noticed when I was around nineteen or twenty that I was starting to really like music that was full of chaos, but chaos that had some sort of anchor, like a good beat amidst the noise, or that gelled in some other way. Good free improvisation is a dialog between musicians, the gel comes from the conversation: the players are listening and responding to each other. On the other hand, people in their own little worlds, playing away, and not paying attention to each other, tend to be considerably less interesting.

Line-up:

• J. Pippin Barnett - percussion
• Danny Finney - saxophones
• LaDonna Smith - violin, viola, voice
• Paul Watson - trumpets, alto horn
• Davey Williams - electric guitar

Donald Shirley "Secret Love"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled. Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Donald Shirley
Tonal Expressions
LP
(Cadence Records, 1955)

Back in the days before I was borned, or even close to it, my mother bought records. Sure, my dad did, too, and most of their collection he likely acquired, but I found several albums with her maiden name written across the fronts when I raided their obsolete-to-them record collection several months ago. Ha! I deftly, electronically erased it from this one, however; no stealing my identity!

Donald Shirley was not a name I had heard before, but something about the title, Tonal Expressions, and the cover intrigued me. Unfortunately, when I returned home to my beloved (and my) turntable, I discovered it was in rather terrible condition. The little snippets on which I decided to risk my stylus sounded interesting, however. I took a gander on-line, and found a super cheap used copy of a double-CD, pairing it with his next-and-second album, Piano Perspectives. Woohoo!

My initial visual impression was, indeed, warranted; it's a wonderful album (and Piano Perspectives is no slouch, either). It's mostly a mellow affair, as Shirley primarily plays jazz standards, Tin Pan Alley numbers, and show tunes. He doesn't just play them, however; he plays in and around them. Arrangements go out the window and bits of other tunes often slip in and out and through the pieces. It's a sumptuous yet understated affair, lush but never saccharine.

My favorite piece, and today's jukebox selection, Secret Love, was a bit young to be a standard yet, as it was written only a couple of short years earlier for the 1953 film Calamity Jane (see below), starring Doris Day, whose TV show, the imaginatively named The Doris Day Show, I loved as a child.

And now, let's give the album's liner notes the floor for a bit, shall we?

Let us begin simply by saying that Don Shirley is a pianist. With all that this term implies, it is used here in its fullness to designate the stature of this musician. The kind of piano he ploys may now be, and most certainly and more acutely will be in the future, open to debate.

We would not be inclined to categorize him as a classical or as a jazz musician although with the public that is likely to happen. We would go further and say that his kind of music does not seem to hinge between the two although this is the designation he is likely to receive by many. We would go one step further and say that of all the things that might be consigned him, he is most nearly to become the artist embodying the suffusion of the classics and the modern.

These are strong statements to make. They would be so if the artist here considered were an established one. It is dangerous to claim them when he is beginning the ascent. We allow his musical history and what you will hear in this and forthcoming albums to be the proof.

In considering his background, you should know that his first teacher was his mother, that he was born in Kingston, Jamaica on January 27, 1927, that at the age of nine he was extended on invitation to study theory with Mittolovski at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music, that he later studied with the famous organist Conrad Bernier, and that he studied advanced composition with both Bernier and Dr. Thaddeus Jones at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D. C.

Shirley mode his concert debut with the Boston Pops Symphony Orchestra in Boston June 25, 1945, with Dean Dixon as guest conductor. In 1949 he received an invitation from the Haitian government to play at the Exposition Internationale du Bi-Centenaire De Port-au-Prince followed by a request from Archbishop Le Goise and President Estime for a repeat performance the following week. Upon Arthur Fiedler's recent trip to Chicago, Shirley was again extended on invitation to appear with the orchestra in June 1954.

With such a background, it is evident that Shirley is a highly respected legitimate musician possessing great technical skill and an innate musical ability. He displays also great tenderness and emotional depth which render his performances inspiring.

Yeah, Secret Love may not sound like something you'd expect from this blog, but I absolutely adore this album! Sadly, my mother is getting up in years, and, when I asked her about it, hoping to please her by my liking it, she only vaguely remembered Shirley's name.

---

Cecil Taylor "Sperichill on Calling"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Cecil Taylor
Live in the Black Forest
LP
(Pausa Records, 1979)

Man, sometimes a bit of good, blasting free jazz is just what I need. Today's man of the . . . um . . . day, Cecil Taylor was outed as gay in 1982 by critic Stanley Crouch, who apparently asserted that Cecil couldn't play piano properly because he is gay. Uhhhh . . . whatever. Cecil is a genius and Stanley is just a critic. Nuf said.

The Players:

• Cecil Taylor - piano
• Raphé Malik - trumpet
• Jimmy Lyons - alto saxophone
• Ramsey Ameen - violin
• Sirone - bass
• Ron Jackson - drums

Recorded June 3rd, 1978 in SWF-Radio JazzConcert in Kirchzarten/Black Forest/West Germany

---

NOTA BENE: I've taken the liberty of excising the applause that follows the performance so I could keep the file size under 20MB (my MP3 host's size limit) while keeping the bit-rate as high as possible (112kbps).

Moondog "Logründr No. XVII in E Major"

Moondog Instrumental Music by Louis Hardin LP (Musical Heritage Society, 1978)

Moondog (née Louis Hardin) was a blind, homeless, Viking-garbed musician and composer who lived on the streets of Manhattan in the mid twentieth century. Probably not what you'd expect of the composer of this beautiful piece for pipe organ. He recorded and released scads of records from the late 1940s until his death in the late 1990s. The parent of today's piece is an album of instrumental classical compositions, though Moondog also dabbled in jazz, madrigal, big band music, and stuff that's much harder to genrefy other than to call it Moondogesque. I first heard of him when I bought a 7" EP of all Moondog covers by the band Love Child in the late 1980s. I picked up a CD compiling his two major label albums for Columbia Records not long after, and was hooked. NOTA BENE: I tagged this West Germany, in addition to USA, as Moondog moved there in 1974, a few years before this was recorded.

Gumball "A Love Supreme"

Gumball Revolution on Ice CD (Sony Records [Japan], 1994)

"A Love Supreme" is one of those jazz covers that's been done enough that it's pretty much a cliché. Well, too bad! Today's piece is a cover of it, featuring some lovely, screaming psychedelic guitar skree from ax-meister Don Fleming. As you may know, these days many CDs come out in Japan with extra songs for the Japanese market; that was the case with this one. I already had the album in question, Revolution on Ice, when I stumbled across a Japanese pressing in a bargain bin. Hooray! Gumball arose from the demise of the somewhat similarly named B.A.L.L., who had also featured Fleming on guitar and Jay Spiegel on drums. On their 1989 European tour, however, bassist Kramer just up and quit. They soldiered on for a bit longer, I guess, as I saw them with bassist Guy Pinhas at the Circus in Gammelsforf, near Munich, West Germany. It was an insane show. I'm not sure if Guy knew the songs or not, but he played like a madman. Don shredded away on the guit, and Jay held down the rhythm. The highlight of the show was the encore; roadie Joey Pea came out in a green lamé dress and feather boa, and they did a slammin' cover of The Stooges' "Funhouse."

Gold Sparkle Band "G.S."

Gold Sparkle Band Can't U C ↓ The Sea? cassette (Old Gold, 1994)

When these cats first started playing around town, all the local critics could muster to write about was their choice of attire, and that the Gold Sparkle in their name was a reference to drummer Andrew Barker's kit. I guess the concept of jazz being played by . . . gasp! . . . dudes who'd been in rock bands was too much for their little minds to grasp. You see, Barker had pounded the skins with Melts, featured here last August, and bassist Andrew Burnes had bassed with Barrel, whom I mentioned in my post for San Agustin, since they were his next destination after leaving the GSB. The other three guys in this lineup of the band had formerly been members of Menudo*. This nifty little cassette was their debut release. Three of the five songs were re-recorded for their first CD, Earthmover. Today's piece, however, is not one of them. *this is a lie

Hal Russell NRG Ensemble "Linda Jazz Princess"

Hal Russell NRG Ensemble Hal Russell NRG Ensemble LP (Nessa Records, 1981)

Today's piece is from the debut album by the NRG Ensemble. Sure, on the cover it says Hal Russell NRG Ensemble, but I always think of them simply as the NRG Ensemble. I guess part of that is due to the fact that they dropped the "Hal Russell" part of the name when Ken Vandermark took over as leader after Hal's death in 1992. Then again, all the albums were credited to the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble prior to that. Anyhow! Wikipedia says the NRG Ensemble "could be broadly described as post-bop," and I'll agree, as I'm just terrible at discerning the various bops: be, hard, and post. It's all jazz to me. But it's not Greek, as they were from Chicago. They also could go pretty far into ferocious free abandon, when they felt like it. I like that, 'cause I like noisy stuff, man. I have no idea who Linda is, but Hal must've had a thing for her, as there's also a fine tune called "Linda's Rock Vamp," which first appeared either as a bonus track on the CD version of their third album (of nine), 1984's Conserving NRG, or their fifth album, 1992's The Finnish/Swiss Tour. I have no idea when the CD version of the former was released. So sue me. Or don't. Actually, no, please don't.

Hans Werner Henze "Un Amour de Swann" 12 Variations pour sextuor à corde et harpe autour de la petite phrase de la sonate de Vinteuil

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Hans Werner Henze
Un Amour de Swann
LP
(Milan, 1984)

I first heard the music of Hans Werner Henze on our local PBS radio state late at night. I turned on the radio, and something really cool was playing. Cool enough that I stayed awake until it was done, so I could write down the composer's name. I started buying CDs of his music not long after, and he quickly became one of my two favorite composers; the other is Allan Pettersson.

Today's selection takes up side one of the LP pictured above. Side two is the 1975 piece Katharina Blum, in case you're interested. It's also quite good.

I flagged this West Germany, btw, as Henze was born in Germany in 1929, and this piece was written after WWII but prior to the Wiedervereinigung. Henze left Germany for Italy in 1953, however, and also lived in Cuba for a time, before becoming disillusioned with Castro (that took long?), so I could potentially flag it Italy. I suppose I could also tag it France, as the music is from a French film. But I won't. Sue me.

:-P

Idio Savant "Escape from the Trick Vans #6"

Uh, oh! You either don't have the Flash plug-in installed, or you have it disabled.
Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Idio Savant
Shakers in a Tantrum Landscape
LP
(Artifacts , 1979)

Idio Savant were an improv quartet from Richmond, VA back in the 1970s. As far as I know, Shakers in a Tantrum Landscape was their only release. The members all went on to other bands, however, hence the before they were famous tag.

Line-up:

• John Pippin Barnett - drums and percussion
• Dan Finney - alto, tenor, baritone saxophones, duck-o-phone, fandango
• Martin McCavitt - synthosizer, organ, piano, etc.
• Paul Watson - trumpet, alto trumpet, flugelhorn, etc.

Pippin, Dan and Paul all went on to the Orthotonics, featured here in September of last year. They also all played with Half Japanese at one time or another (you can find them scattered throughout the albums Our Solar System and Sing No Evil). After the Orthos split, Pippin went on to be a member of both Curlew and Nimal. Danny joined former Orthotonic Rebby Sharp in the combo Rattlemouth, who've released a number of CDs.

Marty was, of course, the Marty half of The Tom and Marty Band, also featured here last September. Sometime later, he, Pippin and Paul started the group Famous Actors from Out of Town, whose lone release, an album-length cassette, will be featured here at some point.

Ax Genrich "Helicopters"

Ax Genrich Psychedelic Guitar CD (ATM Records, 1994)

Ax Genrich was the ax slinger in the most vital era of the krautrock trio Guru Guru: UFO Hinten Känguru Guru Guru Don't Call Us, (We Call You) Admittedly, I've not heard a ton of what followed, but a good deal of what I've heard has been stinky. The relatively recent albums In the Guru Lounge and 30 Jahre Live (a triple CD set!) are enjoyable, however; I regret buying neither. After leaving Guru Guru, Ax put together a lil' supergroup under the name Highdelberg and released one eponymous album in 1976. Honestly, it's pleasant but forgetable; I'm listening to it as I type this, and despite owning it for probably close to a decade, the songs don't really sound familiar. I'm not sure what he did for the next couple of decades, but in 1994 his first proper solo album appeared, Psychedelic Guitar. Today's selection comes from it, in fact! It was followed in 1995 by Wave Cut. Both are pretty great, imo. A decade later, he did a couple of live jam albums with Mani Neumeier (also from Guru Guru) on drums and Dave Schmidt (no clue who he is) on bass. I need to hear them!

San Agustin "12'32"

San Agustin non-titled LP (Road Cone, 1998)

I first saw San Agustin guitarists Andrew Burnes and David Daniell play as part of the group Barrel, whom I suppose you could say were math rockers. San Agustin (also featuring percussionist Bryan Fielden) are a very different beast, however. Whereas Barrel were tightly scripted, intricate, and loud, San Agustin are an improvisational trio, and much quieter and more introspective than Barrel (they do get quite loud at times, however). Most of their recorded pieces don't have titles, per se, and today's selection, from their first full-length release, is no exception. The album contains four tracks, each denoted simply by the duration of the piece, hence "12'32" for this one. To the best of my knowledge, San Agustin are still extant, but they play infrequently, and their most recent release, a one-sided 12" on Table of the Elements, came out in 2003.

Hotguitars "Budapest Bukkake"

Hotguitars
Confessions
CD EP
(BV² Productions, 2004)

As the name implies, Hotguitars play guitars, and they're a duo (hooray!). Guitarist Jyrki Laiho used to play guitar with Finnish krautrocky metallers Circle, and guitarist T-mu Korpipää was Circle's soundman. I found their second album, Hierarkia (recorded with Finnish poet Santtu Puukka joining them), in a bargain bin. The cover was interesting and it was only 25¢, so how could I pass it up? How, I ask you?

Today's song, however, is from the Confessions EP, released in-between Hierarkia and their debut, Duets, Duels & D.I.Y.'s (a CDR limited to 150 copies). It's one of their more pounding numbers, and I dig it rather a lot.

They released their third full-length album, ...pronounced (hɔt gi'ta:s), in 2007. There was talk in 2005 of reissuing Duets, Duels & D.I.Y.'s on CD, with new cover art and bonus material, but that doesn't appear to have happened.