From: Zorn List Digest Sent: Saturday, December 06, 1997 11:14 AM To: zorn-list-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: Zorn List Digest V2 #188 Zorn List Digest Saturday, December 6 1997 Volume 02 : Number 188 In this issue: - Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral Re: "Best of" John Zorn Re: "Best of" John Zorn Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral Re: Cobra Signals Re: National Football League Takemitsu (+20th century choral; was Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral) Re: National Football League Mark Dresser's Banquet Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral Re: Mark Dresser's Banquet Re: solo guitar Circle Re: Mark Dresser's Banquet Re: Circle Re: solo guitar RE: Leonid Soybelman (Ne Zhedali) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: From: Sean Terwilliger Subject: Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral I also enjoy David Torn's two 'solo' guitar albums: _Tripping Over God_ and _What means Solid, Traveller?_ - -Sean - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 10:25:33 -0600 (CST) From: Joseph Zitt Subject: Re: "Best of" John Zorn On Fri, 5 Dec 1997, Jeff Hobbs wrote: > Given a 74 minute CD, drawing mainly from Zorn's work as a > leader/composer, which pieces would you include on a "best of" CD that > would touch upon most of the major works of Zorn? I'm keenly interested in > which pieces the contributors to this list would single out... Completely offa da toppa my head, and given that there's a lot of Zorn that I haven't heard, I'd include: - - Nazikin from "Bar Kokhba" - - the first few minutes of "Spillane" - - Snagglepuss (from Naked City) - - Dark River (from Redbird) - - the Epilogue from "Duras" - - Garin from "Kristallnacht" - - A track from a Cobra recording - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 08:41:23 -0800 From: "Schwitterz" Subject: Re: "Best of" John Zorn >Completely offa da toppa my head, and given that there's a lot of Zorn >that I haven't heard, I'd include: > >- Nazikin from "Bar Kokhba" >- the first few minutes of "Spillane" >- Snagglepuss (from Naked City) >- Dark River (from Redbird) >- the Epilogue from "Duras" >- Garin from "Kristallnacht" >- A track from a Cobra recording Toss in a track from NEWS FOR LULU and VOODOO and Zorn's contribution to the Monk album tribute. Add a bit of Painkiller...and don't forget your Parachute s~Z > >- > > - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 10:26:10 PST From: "Jack Torrance" Subject: Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral >There are several well known Japanese orchestral composers, though I personally don't know the work of many beyond Takemitsu and Mayazumi, neither of whom do all that much for me. Takemitsu does have a great many admirers, so I'm most likely in the minority here. Try out his "November Steps" and you'll have a reasonably good indication of whether he'll do it for you.> I would disagree.While November Steps may be Takemistu's best known compostion,it is not indicative of the scope of his work.It doesn't personaly excite me much either but much of Takemitsu's film scores do.Unfortunately the soundtracks to many of these are very rare.A good place to start is the somewhat recently released compilation "Film Music of Toru Takemitsu" on nonesuch.The best thing to do would be to rent the films, many of which are classics.I would suggest you start with Teshighara's-"Woman in the Dunes","The Face of Another",and Kobayashi's "Kwaidan".These all have excellent soundtracks and are even better films.There was a very good documentary I saw on Takemistu's film music.I think it is available for sale.This also would be a good place to start.Takemitsu is recently deceased and it is unknown to me if much of his best work will ever make it to CD. Jack ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 13:05:00 EST From: Dgasque Subject: Re: Cobra Signals In a message dated 97-12-05 00:54:44 EST, you write: << > Interesting- I kind of imagined it as similar to the Darazj (sp?) method of > hand signaling with choirs. What is this method? Sounds intriguing... >> It is a method of hand signaling to a choir developed by Arpad Darazj, a somewhat-famous choral director from Hungary (i'm guessing at the spelling of his name.) He settled in Columbia, SC and taught at the University of South Carolina until his death a few years ago. I saw a musical production that he directed a long while back and specifically remember how unusual the different hand signals were that he used- it almost resembled "signing" used by the hearing impared at times. I wish I could tell you more, but I would be guessing beyond these few bits. =dgasque= - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 14:07:31 -0500 From: Rich Williams Subject: Re: National Football League Mike Shepherd wrote: > > On Thu, 4 Dec 1997 peter_risser@cinfin.com wrote: > > > Don't they always say that no portion of this broadcast can be > > used in whole or in part because it's owned completely by the National Football > > League? Doesn't that make this an illegal record? Could they conceivably > > recall all copies of the box set? > > > The warning says that the broadcast cannot be used in whole or in part > _without the expressed written consent of the National Football League_. > Seeing as how Zorn and his posse probably want to keep everything on the > level when it comes to copyright law, they probably went through the > necessary channels to get the appropriate permissions. This gave me a good chuckle. You have to remember that these early zorn pieces were done on a shoestring budget, by musicians who were lucky to leave the gig with cab fare home. Several of the parachute pieces were recorded before audiences that numbered around 25 people. Parachute records was run out of someones apartment, using(with the exception of the Archery box) cheap pressings, packaging and graphics. So I think its safe to say that people were not paying royalties on snippetts of radio broadcasts, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this kind of sampling, falls under the permitted use clause that covers satire. Rich - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 14:11:13 -0500 (EST) From: "k. drudge" Subject: Takemitsu (+20th century choral; was Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral) > personaly excite me much either but much of Takemitsu's film scores > do.Unfortunately the soundtracks to many of these are very rare.A good > place to start is the somewhat recently released compilation "Film Music > of Toru Takemitsu" on nonesuch.The best thing to do would be to rent the i would second the recommendation for takemitsu's film music, although i haven't heard the above compilation. there is a (short) cd of his choral music on philips called `a song of circles and triangles' which, in my opinion is quite hauntingly beautiful. i didn't see this mentioned anywhere in the recent thread on 20th century choral music. i was wondering if anyone had an opinion on takemitsu's solo piano music? there was a cd on philips, but it was deleted (around the time of his death, which seemed a bit foolish...) & i've never heard it. - -keldon - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:59:40 -0500 (EST) From: ia zha nah er vesen Subject: Re: National Football League > snippetts of radio broadcasts, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this > kind of sampling, falls under the permitted use clause that covers > satire. didn't seem to help negativland any...maybe the NFL is more fogiving than U2's lawyers... - -jascha - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:03:38 -0600 (CST) From: Tom Benton Subject: Mark Dresser's Banquet Tom Pratt was sayin'... > >I picked up Mark Dresser's BANQUET (TZ 7027), a Tzadik new release, the >other day so I thought I'd share some thoughts with you all. > >First off, the cover art is really beautiful. In the liner notes, it's >credited to "Ligorano/Resse". ????? > Agreed. Very nice and appropriate to the music to come. > >Anyway, the disc has two of Mark Dresser's chamber works - "Banquet" and >"Loss of the Innocents". It's comparable in style to Arcado String Trio >or Erik Friedlander's Chimera. However, they never peak in their >intensity and I find the compositions to be fragmented and sort of weak >due to the improv. I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on >this one? > Well, yeah, I've had quite a few of them actually. I'm not so sure I would jump to comparing this to Chimera or Arcado, it seems to that both of those groups are playing from what I'll (probably regretfully) call a 'jazz-derived' concept in their tunes: Develop a theme and improvise around said theme for a while. For example, on his web page, Erik Friedlander explains one of the Chimera charts thusly: "...I limited myself here, creating a simpler more direct form: a short head, a blowing structure, a head out with a coda. The form looks more or less like: ABABAC. The two "B" represent the blowing form; the first time divided by the clarinets the second taken together. The chart can be played with the clarinets holding down the form and the cello/bass improvising. It seemed to work better the other way and so far it has stuck." On the converse, 'Banquet' strikes me more as a composed piece of chamber music with the instances of improvisation (mostly improvised cadenzas from Dresser or Ziegler) serving the music just as any of the written notes do. I think I agree with your "fragmented" comment though, maybe because Dresser is trying to do much with this one composition: 'Banquet', for instance, was commisioned for Swiss flute master Matthias Ziegler (who I'm pretty much blow away by, as he tears things up on everything from contrabass flute to picollo), but if I understand the liner notes correctly, it's also something of a forum for a variety of extended techniques by the string quartet. I've been sort of trying to listen to this with an ear not necessarily attuned for things like harmony and melody, because I don't think they're the main focus of this piece. I haven't really dug into 'Loss of the Innocents' yet, though the one or two listens I've had definetly sound more like this is oriented toward evoking emotions through melody as opposed to the the myriad focuses of 'Banquet'. > >Regardless, Dresser's solo album 'Invocation' is one of the finest solo >bass albums I've ever heard. > Yeah. Without a doubt. Dresser's pretty much my #1 bass hero at this point, hearing him play in pretty much any context is always a total pleasure. In fact, I'm getting ready to order some Dresser stuff from Cadence (right now I'm thinking about the Kevin Norton Trio and the Greg Bendian Project on CIMP), if anyone has any more recommendations as far as good places to hear him, I would love to know (or if anybody's got any other cool thoughts on hearing him live or playing with him or whatever else you feel like spewing onto your keyboard, go to town). Have a good weekend all. Thanks for reading. - -Tom - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:26:20 -0500 (EST) From: ia zha nah er vesen Subject: Re: solo guitar & ethnic orchestral > What are your favorite solo guitar albums? I need more. > > I'm looking to find some orchestral music from somewhere that isn't U.S. > or Europe. Anybody have some good recs???? > > -Tom Pratt i like the versions of Bach's lute suites by John Williams, and the wall o' noise/prepared guitar virtusosity of Jim O'Rourke's 'remove the need' on the extreme label. other than that, all the solo guitar stuff i have is flamenco, which may or may not be appealing...(pepe romero is amazing, though). do you have book of heads? that's intersting, too, but a little short on melody (which may or may not be a problem, but i thought i'd mention it) - -jascha - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:07:11 -0800 From: "Schwitterz" Subject: Re: Mark Dresser's Banquet Re: DRESSER >if anyone has any more recommendations as far >as good places to hear him, I would love to know (or if anybody's got any >other cool thoughts on hearing him live or playing with him or whatever >else you feel like spewing onto your keyboard, go to town). > >Have a good weekend all. Thanks for reading. > >-Tom Don't miss his work with Braxton. He'll be playing in an upcoming version of Gerry Hemingway's Quartet soon, as well. s~Z - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Dec 1997 00:12:39 -0500 From: Steve Smith Subject: Re: solo guitar ia zha nah er vesen wrote: > has anyone heard Fripp's 'soundscapes live 1996' CD? i may have the title > a little wrong...opinions? You do have the title wrong, I think. There have been six Soundscapes releases to date, one of which, "1999 - Soundscapes Live in Argentina," is out of print awaiting reissue with additional material. Of the remainder, the best of the lot IMHO is "That Which Passes - 1995 Soundscapes Live Vol. 3," which may or may not have been released in North America. (The two prior to that were "Radiophonics - 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 1 - Live in Argentina" and "A Blessing of Tears - 1995 Soundscapes, Vol. 2 - Live in California," both of which were widely available in stores.) But I've not heard the new one, "November Suite," which is only available by mail order, nor have I purchased the new single "Pie Jesu" since part of it is previously released and the rest will be in an upcoming boxset "The Gates of Paradise." Given the sometimes capriciousness of Fripp's release schedule, however, perhaps I would be best advised to go ahead and pick up the single as the boxset may be entirely different if and when it ever actually appears. There was also a really exceptional soundscape track called "Sometimes God Hides" on the Discipline Global Mobile sampler of the same name... that's a track from the forthcoming boxset as well. There's a funny story about the making of the "November Suite" recording (it was performed for free at a former train station turned shopping center over the course of several hours, apparently, and drew a great many complaints from the shop keepers, one of whom supposedly threw up) on the Discipline Global Mobile web site at http://www.discipline.co.uk/newslett/newsl2c.htm The newsletter also includes links to the discs in question so you can hear what it's all about yourself. It sure don't sound remotely like any of the other solo guitarists of whom we've been speaking, but rather a lot closer to keyboard-driven space music. Maybe that's why he's chosen to refer to his music as an evening of solo space music on his current mini-tour I'll be catching here next Saturday. Sorry for the extensive non-Zorn rambling... I'm kind of a nut. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Dec 1997 17:12:31 +1100 From: "Julian" Subject: Circle Has anyone got or heard "Circle - Paris Concert" featuring Anthony Braxton, Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul? This lineup sounds like it might be interesting, any recommendations or comments about this? - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 05 Dec 1997 23:59:04 -0500 From: Tom Pratt Subject: Re: Mark Dresser's Banquet > Well, yeah, I've had quite a few of them actually. I'm not so sure I > would jump to comparing this to Chimera or Arcado I meant that in terms of the chamber sound with solid amounts of improvisation. I thought that people who enjoyed Arcado and Chimera could very easily be into Banquet as well. Matthias Ziegler is pretty damn impressive. Have you heard a flute player by the name of Robert Dick? He's incredible. 'Time Fragments' by the Klaus Konig Orchestra is a great record to hear Dresser in an experimental big band format. Dresser is not particularly prominent but it is good nonetheless. -Tom Pratt - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 06 Dec 1997 02:59:03 -0700 From: john shiurba Subject: Re: Circle Julian wrote: > > Has anyone got or heard "Circle - Paris Concert" featuring Anthony Braxton, > Chick Corea, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul? This lineup sounds like it > might be interesting, any recommendations or comments about this? it's a good record. it's the jazziest circle record, but it has some pretty out moments.if you're interested from the standpoint of (this period of)braxton, i'd say check out his mid 70's Arista records first, if you're interested from the standpoint of holland, check out 'conference of the birds' (also w/ braxton) first. if you're interested in it from the standpoint of corea, i don't know what to say... - -- shiurba@sfo.com http://www.sfo.com/~shiurba - - ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 5 Dec 1997 18:38:14 -0500 (EST) From: ia zha nah er vesen Subject: Re: solo guitar has anyone heard Fripp's 'soundscapes live 1996' CD? i may have the title a little wrong...opinions? also, i forgot to mention earlier: Kazushito Yamashita playing 'pictures at an exhibition' on solo guitar (!). He actually does it, too. He's also done the new world symphony and the firebird suite...but i digress... - -jascha > ...which reminds me to recommend Robert Fripp's albums of Frippertronics > and soundscapes. I'm not familiar with his more recent solo work (I like > it, just haven't gotten the albums) so I don't know which is the best > intro. > > There are also some good recordings of Takemitsu's arrangements of Beatles > songs (!) for solo guitar. - - ------------------------------ Date: Sat, 6 Dec 97 11:05:27 UT From: "allen huotari" Subject: RE: Leonid Soybelman (Ne Zhedali) Soybelman was (maybe still is) a member of the remarkable Ne Zhedali (from Estonia) They've released at least four discs since 1989 (enumerated chronologically below): Rhinoceros and Other Forms of Life Hey Driver, Cool Down the Horses Whatever Happens, Twist ! Live Rarities Vol. 1 The first is the best featuring a lineup of guitar, bass, drums, trombone, trumpet, piano, and miscellany the second and third are good but not quite as tasty as the first (imho) due to a de-emphasis of the horns as to availability, the second and third are released by Rec Rec and should be readily obtainable I'm not sure if the first is still in print, I have it on lp and while it was distributed by ReR, is on ADM out of the Netherlands The fourth is a new release (apparently of archival material) which I've neither heard nor know what label it's on As to what they sound like...well...that's difficult to describe Playful, quirky, enigmatic, humorous, indelibly Estonian ? Maybe suffice it to say that anyone who enjoys Rec Rec bands such as Die Knoedel, Nimal, or Debile Menthol would probably enjoy Ne Zhedali as well I know there are at least two other zorn-listers out there who have heard Ne Zhedali, it wold be delightful if they'd share their opinions ajh - -----Original Message----- From: owner-zorn-list@lists.xmission.com On Behalf Of SUGAR in their vitamins? Sent: Friday, December 05, 1997 6:06 AM To: a record swap meet full of stamp collectors Subject: Leonid Soybelman vs. Uzjsme Doma after buying the Kletka Red disc, a few months back i had asked about Soybelman and for some reason i thought i had written down he was involved with Uzjsme Doma. i recently bought their 1996 disc "Hollywood". while Soybelman is not involved, this is some great stuff. it's like the energy and quick change-ups of Ruins (not very Magma-esque, but still sounds like Ruins at times) crossed with ska and a sprinkle of improvisation. Uzjsme Doma are from the Czech Republic. the lineup is Miroslav Wanek (g, keyboard, xylophone, v), Jindra Dolansky (ts, v), Pavel Kerka (b, v), Romek Hanzlik (g, v), Pavel Pavlicek (ds, v) and Martin Velisek (brushes?). i like it quite a bit! so, what else IS Soybelman involved with? and can anyone tell me more about Uzjsme Doma? a discography? (and yes, i just found out i missed them playing live in SF last wednesday night. sigh.) hasta. Yes. Beautiful, wonderful nature. Hear it sing to us: *snap* Yes. natURE. - - - - ------------------------------ End of Zorn List Digest V2 #188 ******************************* To unsubscribe from zorn-list-digest, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe zorn-list-digest" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. 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