Music Blog for October-December 2008

Shown above is the Parker P8E Acoustic Electric Guitar. Why that instrument? It sounds like it looks. . . . very cool.

Some of the blog entries in this section and all of the blog entries in previous sections have been transferred over to our sister site http://gapplegateguitar.blogspot.com. Please go there to read them. Thanks.

December 31, 2008—A somewhat unusual addition of the accordion to the electric guitar, bass and drums configuration is the first thing that hits you about the group Zakarya, who celebrate their fourth release, “The True Story Concerning Martin Behaim” (Tzadik), with a powerfully electric set that fully fleshes out their take on the Semitic tinge and a progressive Rock/Fusion sensibility. This is carefully arranged, deftly executed music with a hint of a Kurt Weil sarcasm and nice contributions from all four members. They get a little OUT from time to time but otherwise plummet the depths of a four-square post-Klezmer Jazz-Rock. Enough of the labels one could attach, though. This transcends categories and gives you a highly substantial musical experience. The geography of their French existence means less than what Tzadik is documenting, a stylistic almalgam that forges a new identity, redefining what musical ethnicity/practice can be in the 21st century. The lesson: we can all forge ourselves anew from the pieces of the Ur culture available to us. Something to think about when you pick up a pick, a stick, a schtick, or a CD.

The New Year approaches. It is with hope that I wait for the ball to drop tonight. Ring it in -- Grego

December 30, 2008—If you like your Rock dense and rather angry, perhaps you would like Anthrophobia’s “Framework” (Mausoleum), an EP I found as a cutout some time ago. It falls into the category of (you name the adjective) Metal. Not Death, not Heavy, not Doom, not Grindcore, I dunno. It’s a guitar bass-drums-vocal setup and has some nice riffs and a bit of a flair. Later -- Grego

December 29, 2008—Our survey of recent Tzadik recordings continues off and on for the next several weeks. Today we look at guitarist Yoshie Fruchter and his “Pitom.” It’s an electric Rock instrumental lineup with guitar and violin as the principal voices. The Jewish tinge permeates the proceedings with minor mode melody lines and the frameworks vary between Fusion, Surf, Avant and Progressive for a mix of sounds that have a distinct Downtown flavor. Yoshi’s influences include Zappa, Sonic Youth and Zorn’s Masada lineups. These stylistic components come together and Yoshi melds them to his own ends for a vibrant and varied set of performances you could hang your hat on, were you so inclined. This is some more “anything goes” music from Tzadik and I find it sounding depths and doing new things with older roots in ways that encourage me to believe that there’s still plenty of life left in the Rock-Fusion style. Good show. Signing off -- Grego.

December 23/27, 2008—This is a time of year when denial is not exactly the norm. Think of the Ghost of Christmas Present in Dickens. Whatever vices one has are probably being indulged. A few weeks from now it will be just the opposite, and that’s when fitness centers and diet people make their money. In fact they have already started, from what commercials I saw on TV Friday night. Fear of the economy makes businesses start their harangue ever earlier, until we will be buying our Christmas stuff in July, autumn cloths in April, our coffins at birth and such..

Funny but the first week after the New Year used to be the number one time for direct mail advertising deliveries. (Maybe it still is, even if there's less volume.) People feel sorry for themselves and disappointed with their holiday gifts, so the reasoning goes, and want something for their own gratification. Combine that with the New Year’s resolutions of denial and you have a hodgepodge of conflicting emotions. But of course nowadays vices are uncool, déclassé, and with the economy on the fritz, some people may be getting even less material and emotional satisfaction from their holiday goody fests. That this is not really supposed to be the spirit of the season is a truism. A truism that nevertheless bears repeating. One would hope that the joy of giving would be an even higher priority when things are tough. It’s a nice idea anyway. I do believe it myself, though I don't see much of it around me. And still, denial and disappointment may creep into people’s consciousnesses shortly, my own included. After the new year some of us will feel inadequate and need to get more stuff to feel better, if we can afford it. We are human, and most of us can't live up to the demands of the season, that we become perfect people for a few weeks. Perfectly happy, perfectly generous. Perfect. With perfect lives. Those that are perfect, I am happy for you. The rest of us bumble through.

Anyway into this world wanders today’s CD “The Foundation” (Home Grown) by the Zac Brown Band, a country-rock outfit where the songs talk about beer, blue jeans, mom, chicken fried steak, with the nation’s military making such “freedoms” possible. A band like this needs a hit single above all, and "Chicken Fried" seems the logical item. Who knows, it may already be one. In my Yankee household no one ever heard of chicken fried steak, let alone ate it. That came later for me. The beer, mom, the blue jeans and the military-industrial complex that allowed for it all we knew directly and intensely, though we may not have understood how it all worked together. But I guess my lifestyle does not have alot to do with the lyrics on this disk, so I cannot tell you if they will strike a nerve with enough people to make a hit. My concern is with guitars right now, and today’s band relates to that (duh).

Zac Brown plays a mean acoustic and same with the electric. He is a Chet Atkins for today, though the vocals and the songs themselves are more central to the general presentation. Now this is very good music. Anyone who prefers their Country shaded by some Rock sensibilities will probably like it. And there is some hell raising guitar going on here. Happy holidays and cheers -- Grego

December 22, 2008—The second day of winter, the main day of Chanukah, three days before Christmas and as cold in New Jersey as anybody could wish. This morning’s music forms a reflective soundtrack to all of that in Paola Prestini’s “Body Maps” (Tzadik). I must admit the graphics on the CD are all but unreadable, a typical situation in the world of post-Wired mutations of design, so I will not complain.

Such thoughts aside the music at hand is in the contemporary concert music realm. It is a series of somewhat ruminative modern chamber pieces that avoid minimalism while remaining more or less tonal. Tone color is the order of the day and Ms. Prestini shows originality and a dramatic flair for keeping listener attention. This is pretty subtle music and all the more exceptional for it. I find myself coming to appreciate these works more and more. She is worthy of notice and I would now love to hear some of her larger ensemble, longer form works. Prestini gives us modern music of a distinctly listener friendly sort and what’s wrong with that? Signing off and glad that the heat is working -- Grego

December 19, 2008—Singer and songwriter Aiko Shimada does not produce music that is in any way what one might expect, whatever that could be. Her “Blue Marble” (Tzadik) release goes from piece to piece in a way that fascinates and enthralls. She can sing a rather tender song that is arranged for voice and small string group, she can traverse landscapes of breath, breadth and significance with a recurring guitar pattern and ambient drones interspersed with nicely wrought instrumental interjections while her multi-tracked voice waxes ethereal. She also lets guitarist Bill Frisell construct tapestries of stringed moodiness that set her voice off dramatically. It’s another really nice one from Tzadik. They impress me with the widely ranging sorts of music they release and the taste with which they select the artists and pieces involved. Someone who likes Bjork may find Aiko a subtle counterpart to such vocalisms, only rather more gentle, perhaps. The music sticks with you after a few hearings. You might want to give a listen yourself. Signing off for the week -- Grego

December 18, 2008—Since the later mid-sixties when Chicago AACM artists like Anthony Braxton, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Richard Abrams burst upon the scene, the lineups and playing practices for the free-er sorts of Jazz began to change radically. The number of unaccompanied solo albums by any sort of instrumentalist multiplied; the use of multi-instrumental lineups burgeoned, so that a sax player, say, might also be playing any number of percussion instruments; larger ensembles and even traditional quartets or quintets began to play not just head arrangements or free improvisations, but compositions where what was “written” or pre-planned could fall in and out at any point in a performance. Also, references to music outside the spectrum of acceptable Jazz styles were more frequent and lengthy, with results that could be magical, or they could be a sort of failed experiment that formed part of the process. Either way, a healthy "anything goes" attitude was in the air.

Anthony Braxton was at the forefront of all these trends. He put out a double record of unaccompanied alto performances around 1967 that I can remember a traditional player waxing absolutely livid about in a Downbeat Blindfold test. Braxton was accused of not having any technique (although he most certainly did in his own way), dubbed “anti-Jazz,” and dismissed as not even worthy of consideration. That traditional fellow was completely wrong, as time has shown.

Braxton was also a pioneer as a creator of unusual musical structures in his small groups; and he was known for his multi-instrumental barrages. And further he was central for large group compositions that innovated on a number of levels.

Mr. Braxton has remained a vital participant on the scene and seems to be in a particularly fertile period today. A recent release on Tzadik (“Beyond Quantum”) finds him in the company of an all-star free trio in a series of lucidly expressive improvisations. He is joined by two masters of the art: the incandescent bassist William Parker and the ever interesting drummer Milford Graves. Milford, you may recall, was a member of the 1964 Paul Bley group recording reviewed earlier this month. (How do you like that for longevity on a scene that is more than a little volatile?)

This is music that gives the lie to the idea that free improvisation is aimless, indulgent, or otherwise somehow anti-music. Each player operates within well-defined performance parameters, each contributes strongly with expressive music making that combines to create a vibrant and exciting group personality. Braxton in particular is in his finest form, phrasing and finessing his sound on each instrument in ways only achievable by someone playing and exploring as long as he has. It seems like he has risen to a new plane of creativity lately and this recording certainly shows it. I look forward to what he will be doing next. Signing off – Grego

December 17, 2008—Today we’re back with the second and final installment of the cosmic massage music I was inexplicably sent. This one again has music by Paul Lawyer and it is directed toward “True Champissage: Indian Head Massage” (GeminiSun). Now how many were they expecting to sell? No offense, but the number of people practicing Indian Head Massage out there could not be too high. And it’s not a cheap production especially. This time the emphasis is on traditional Indian percussion and melody instruments with a cosmic new age synthesizer backdrop. It’s not half bad for what it is. If I were getting my head massaged Indian style, I might ask them to put this on. But I am not so where does that leave me?

This one is headed for the cutout bin at the speed of light. Even though it took some doing to get the Indian instruments arranged to fit with the synthesizer sounds and Lawler manages to make some pretty darned good cosmic elevator music for an elevator to someplace “heavy.” Still, it’s an elevator, and the music is not really meant to be a foreground element. Tomorrow we’ll return to something more in line with what we ordinarily consider. Until then -- Grego