HurdAudio Rotation: American Icons

Charles Ives: The Symphonies / Orchestral Sets 1 & 2. 2001. Decca: B00004TTIK

Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus
Cleveland Orchestra
Academy of St. Martins in the Fields

Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 4
Second Orchestral Set
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3
Three Places in New England

My ears were quick to tell me "it's been too long" as they drank in a concentrated helping of Ives' symphonic writing.  This truly is a cornerstone of orchestral aesthetic.  Ives had an ear for texture, for tightly weaving in a rich tapestry of Americana and the Symphony No. 4 adds an astonishing use of quarter tones smeared across multiple ensembles.  The similarities between the final movement of Symphony No. 2  and the "Putnam's Camp" movement of Three Places in New England struck a nerve on this time through.  These pieces have a sense of place even as they reach toward an impossible ideal.  The distance between the student work of Symphony No. 1 and the self-confidence of the Symphony No. 2 is astonishing.  Each one of these begs for repeated listening.

Miles Davis: The Complete On the Corner Sessions [disc 5]. 1974-1975. Columbia Records.

These complete sessions are essentially a series of large jam sessions organized by Miles Davis.  The funk comes in large slabs of drums, congas and electric bass punctuated by Dave Liebman's soprano saxophone, Pete Cosey's electric guitar and smatterings of Miles Davis himself on trumpet.  The form can get fairly free and sprawling while the ears get lost in the groove.  And yet there is enormous beauty lurking in this generous expanse of material.  The start/stop textures of "What They Do" providing a nice contrast between density and individual parts for the ears this afternoon.  And the relatively short "Minnie" closing out this particular disc with a reminder of how tight Miles could make things when he wanted to.

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing [disc 4]. 1959-1961. Rhino/Atlantic.

Free improvisation allows me to hear a musicians ears.  Hearing the same environment and stimulus that is feeding their own playing in the moment.  Their reactions often being a fluid balance between the internal and external sounds of a given occasion.  Free Jazz is the main attraction included on this fourth disc.  After a few tracks that sustain the raw energy of the quartet format from the first three discs of this collection we have a First Take with the Free Jazz double quartet followed by a 38-minute take on the record that helped propel an important discipline of full improvised freedom.  The collection of ears on this session is solid.  Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Scott LaFaro and Billy Higgins forming the quartet on the left channel while Eric Dolphy, Freddie Hubbard, Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell hold down the right.  These are some impressive ears and a forceful statement that freedom can soar and freedom can swing.  Like with so much free improvisation, focused and attentive listening is enormously rewarding even if the music never explicitly demands that one pay attention.  Leaving the pleasure of hearing Free Jazz exclusively to those who make the effort to listen.  And Free Jazz is arguably more rewarding than most.

HurdAudio Rotation: Jam Session for the End of Time

Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet: Way Out East. 2006. Songlines Recordings: SA 1558-2.

Wayne Horvitz: piano, electronics
Peggy Lee: cello
Ron Miles: trumpet
Sara Schoenbeck: bassoon

This recording is quietly successful on many different levels.  Offering up a collection of jazz chamber works that balance the taut, textural beauty of Wayne Horvitz's compositions against the restrained improvisational prowess of four strong musical personalities.  The first impression left by this music is the inspired instrumentation of piano, cello, trumpet and bassoon.  This soon gives way to the voices lurking behind each of those instruments.  Ron Miles bringing sour notes into a placid texture that miraculously work their way into an essential part of the sound.  Peggy Lee lending her lyrical prowess at multiple points along the cello's register.  And Sara Schoenbeck deftly weaving the bassoon between the worlds of chamber music and improvised jazz while making a strong case for the timbral addition of the double reed instrument.  But at the heart of this music is Wayne Horvitz's compositions and his deft arrangements for this ensemble.  This is what gives this disc lasting power.  The calm, and often delicately dissonant-to-consonant textures find form and take deep root with this collection.  This one is well worth multiple listens.

Olivier Messiaen: Messiaen Edition [disc 4]. 1963, 1956, 1966, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1988, 1996, 2000. Teldec Classics/Warner Classics: 2564 62162-2.

Quatuor pour la fin du Temps (1940-41)
Huguette Fernandez: violin
Guy Deplus: clarinet
Jacques Nielz: cello
Marie-Madeleine Petit: piano

Cinq Rechants (1948)
pour 12 parties vocales reelles

Solistes des choeurs de l'ORTF
Marcel Couraud: conductor

Listening to this disc is an interesting exercise in hearing both the familiar and the unfamiliar.  The Quartet for the End of Time is a deeply familiar work to these ears and yet this particular performance is new to me.  While the Cinq Rechants is something unfamiliar altogether (and composed for a capella performers, also unfamiliar terrain relative to instrumental chamber music).

The Quartet for the End of Time is an enormously significant work emanating from the darkness of the Second World War and literally composed from within the depths of despair within a Nazi prisoner of war camp.  Having heard multiple performances, it should not be surprising that the substance of this piece manifests itself in so many different ways.  And yet it is.  This particular take gives a much harder edge to the transitions within these movements than I'm used to hearing.  And while this isn't the most transcendent performance of this piece I've heard, the fifth ("Louange A l'Eternite De Jesus") and eighth ("Louange A L'immortalite De Jesus") movements come close to being the best interpretations I've yet come across.  The temptation to speed up the slow tempos on the cello and violin feature movements is resisted nicely, allowing the material to soar to the staggering heights that makes this piece so enduring.

The Cinq Rechants is a different beast altogether.  My non-French ears hear everything as sound and texture even as my mind understands that the language is an expression of faith.  The unapologetic use of twentieth century techniques and rapid changes through virtuosic passages makes for an expression of faith I can appreciate.  The depth of Messiaen's expressive and technical prowess makes for a towering presence along with a body of music that must be heard.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 3]. 2007. Sony BMG Music Entertainment: 88697 06239 2.

Miles Davis: trumpet, organ
Carlos Garnett: soprano saxophone
Cedric Lawson: organ
Reggie Lucas: guitar
Khalil Balakrishna: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Al Foster: drums
Badal Roy: tablas
Mtume: congas
Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone, flute
Pete Cosey: guitar

There is a free flowing density to much of these sets and outtakes that makes for a big, sloppy, funky mess.  But it happens to make for a delicious, sloppy mess.  And with this third disc we come upon the session tapes for "Peace" and "Mr. Foster" where Miles Davis has carved out some introspective moments that open up the density and allow one to hear into the way individual performers explore this groove-heavy terrain.  In many ways, this box set is a glimpse into a jam session populated by serious musicians.  Long forms give way to an endless expanse.  When one steps back to take in the whole of this massive sound an attractive mood and texture takes shape as it seemingly expands toward an infinite expanse.  Individual solo lines take on an equal urgency with the pulse of this music.  The long trumpet solo on "Mir. Foster" drives home the fact that Miles Davis was still in full command of his improvisational abilities at this stage of his recording career even as he churned out reams of music that remain to be understood on levels not yet realized.

HurdAudio Rotation: Of Funk and Hymn Tunes

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 1]. 2007. Sony/BMG Music Entertainment. 88697062392.

Miles Davis: trumpet

Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone

Chick Corea: synthesizer

Herbie Hancock: electric piano

Harold Ivory Williams: organ

John McLaughlin: guitar

Collin Walcott: electric sitar

Michael Henderson: electric bass

Jack DeJohnette: drums

Don Alias: congas

Badal Roy: tablas

Billy Hart: wood block, cowbell, percussion

Carlos Garnett: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone

Bennie Maupin: bass clarinet

Dave Creamer: guitar

Lonnie Liston Smith: electric piano

Al Foster: drums

When I was a student it was clearly fashionable within the academic set to revere the music of Miles Davis while exempting everything he recorded after the 1960s.  The dictates of this fashion required that people run a sharp scalpel along anything that was "plugged in" and "funky" as if it were an unfortunate aberration.  This opinion was still expressed at the time accolades and tributes were piled on at the passing of Miles Davis.  But there was this one DJ in Toronto who bucked this sentiment ever so slightly by stating that his aversion to the funk and fusion era Miles Davis was entirely his loss and not formed by a sense of that music being "inferior."  As my ears have steadily absorbed the decades of musical output from the staggering genius of Miles Davis I have concluded that no such separation is called for.  A willful "deaf spot" to any era of his music is a dishonest denial of the complete artistic arc that we are left with.  While these On the Corner sessions are a sprawling soup, they are a delicious sprawling soup.  The energy and texture of this music is enormously attractive in ways that are completely different from the bop, and Kind of Blue eras.  Yet there is that distinctive sense of musicianship that unifies this music with the greatness of those earlier sounds.  This is the sound that gave rise to so much that followed in its wake.  Some of the movements and styles that followed have aged well and some have not.  But On the Corner retains a timeless beauty that transcends its warts.  This box set has become something I look forward to each time it comes up in the rotation.

Charles Ives: The Sonatas for Violin and Piano. 1991. Bridge Records: BCD 9024A, B.

Gregory Fulkerson: violin
Robert Shannon: piano

Sonata No. 1 
Sonata No. 2
Sonata No. 3
Sonata No. 4


An artful and dedicated set of interpretations of these incredibly significant works for violin and piano.  The often dense threads of hymns woven into a fabric that frequently threatens to unravel within these re-imaginings.  "I Need Thee Every Hour" nearly always catches me off guard as it sneaks into the final movement of Sonata No. 3 with chilling effect.  A hymn that also haunts my own memories more than a few generations removed from Ives' New England.  The fact that these pieces will only become more celebrated and more ingrained as a high achievement within the repertoire becomes increasingly obvious each time one take the time to listen.  Gregory Fulkerson and Robert Shannon have set a high standard for bringing clarity to these complex montages of Ivesian memories.


Happy Apple: Youth Oriented. 2002. Sunnyside Communications/Nato Bear Series: SSC 3006.

Erik Fratzke: bass guitar, guitar
Michael Lewis: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, double bass
David King: drums, toys, waterphone, megaphone, mellotron

This is one example of music that has taken root and thrived from the soil of On the Corner.  One of its tastier fruits as this is a funk-heavy jazz record with substantial staying power.  David King's drumming is a particularly strong draw here as this trio brings the same level of polish of his more famous trio; The Bad Plus.  But then the ears are pulled into the considerable gravity of Michael Lewis on saxophone and his ability to carve out spaces within this texture that alternate between foreground and background with equal shimmer.  Within that texture is Erik Fratzke's electric bass anchoring this sound with all the sophistication of a Michael Henderson (from On the Corner) with an updated sense of production.  Youth Oriented is a forceful example of a groove-oriented sound that never falls into an open-ended jam.  Each piece explores its own textural terrain with a healthy sense of variation. 

HurdAudio Rotation: Three Faces of Rare Beauty

Muhal Richard Abrams/George Lewis/Roscoe Mitchell: Streaming. 2006. Pi Recordings: 22.

Muhal Richard Abrams: piano, bell, bamboo flute, taxi horn, percussion
George Lewis: trombone, laptop
Roscoe Mitchell: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, percussion

Three legends with a lifetime of achievement in creative improvised music collide for a long set of spontaneous dialogue. It's no surprise that Streaming is excellent. The surprise is the calm reactions that develop between these players. The astonishing maturity of George Lewis' electronic vocabulary on the laptop combined with the ways Abrams and Mitchell weave their own textures into that sound. My own ambivalence toward George Lewis' computer music work eroding completely away as it emerges with all the nuance and creative verve of his trombone playing. The sensitivity of Muhal Abrams' touch at the piano combined with his sense of when to insert himself into the real-time composition. Roscoe Mitchell bringing an expansive sense of timbre - particularly his mouthpiece work - in ways that reveals how his ears are interpreting these fleeting moments. I look forward to each time this one comes up in the rotation.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 4]. 2007. Sony BMG Music Entertainment: 88697 06239 2.

Miles Davis: trumpet, electric piano, organ
Dave Liebman: tenor saxophone, flute
John Stubblefield: soprano saxophone
Reggie Lucas: guitar
Pete Cosey: guitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Al Foster: drums
Mtume: congas, percussion
Dominique Gaumont: guitar

Disc 4 takes the thick, funky stew and breaks it down into two half hour studies of restraint. The invisible hand of Miles Davis can be detected directing this stripping down after the initial burst of energy on "Calypso Frelimo." The Michael Henderson fueled groove holds steady with a rhythmic bed while shards of trumpet and saxophone improvisations emerge and disappear into the salty mist. The overall impression is an admiration of what is possible when time is allowed to recede into the distance without the confines of form. An oddly urban expansiveness in sound.

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing [disc 3]. 1993. Rhino/Atlantic Jazz: R2 71410.

Ornette Coleman: alto saxophone
Don Cherry: pocket trumpet
Charlie Haden: bass
Ed Blackwell: drums

The third disc in this box focuses squarely upon the threads spun by this quartet that continues to reside at the roots of free jazz. This time with Ed Blackwell sitting in for the original Billy Higgins - with just a noticeable ripple along the fabric of this sound with the change in drummers. The spontaneity of this ensemble retains the forceful turns and intervallic contours that made this sound such a spark half a century ago. Cascading sheets of melodic material that continue to be such an important part of Ornette Coleman's sound. The value of abundance that this box set offers allows the ears to alternate between the wonder of Don Cherry's improvisation, Charlie Haden's unerring instincts and the raw beauty of the performances offered on such pieces as "Some Other" or "The Legend of Bebop."

HurdAudio Rotation: Noise, Love and Funk

Iannis Xenakis: Orchestral Works - Vol. I. 2000. Timpani: 1C1057.

Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg
Arturo Tamayo: conductor

Ais (1980)
Spyros Sakkas: baritone
Beatrice Daudin: percussion

Tracees (1987)

Empreintes (1975)

Noomena (1974)

Roai (1991)

The music of Iannis Xenakis is a necessary component of the orchestral literature. The Dionysian element of sound that treats the large ensemble as a fantastic noise maker that operates within a precision and indifference to polite restraint. Such indifference does not exclude the extremes of human utterance and experience. It actually revels in such extremes. As evidenced by some of the greatest program notes ever written: "[Ais is] a work of heroic attitude, it seems to concern a mythical hero who, with the support of a large orchestra, tells a story so extraordinary that most of its content is beyond normal, comprehensible words." Which neatly sums up the Xenakis aesthetic of pursuing an idea (and sound mass) to its logical end no matter where it goes. The Luxembourg Philharmonic bringing a precision of performance equal to the precision of composition. The end result is a beast with orchestral players and instruments along every limb. Stark, violent and beautiful.

Olivier Messiaen: Messiaen Edition [disc 3]. 1988. Warner Classics: 2564-62162-2.

Maria Oran: soprano
Yvonne Loriod: piano

Poemes pour Mi (1936)
Chants de terre et de ciel (1938)

Song cycles composed during an idyllic period in the young Messiaen's life. Written in the early days of his marriage as a gift and an expression of love. What is interesting here is how much of Messiaen's harmonic language is fully formed and how profoundly important his sense of faith is. All of this prior to the trials ahead that would test and solidify his connection to his faith. Also interesting here is the fact that these songs, written for his first wife, are performed by his second on this recording.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 2]. 1973, 1974, 2007. Sony/BMG: 88697062392.

Miles Davis: trumpet, organ
Carlos Garnett: soprano saxophone
Bennie Maupin: bass clarinet, flute
Herbie Hancock: electric piano, organ
Lonnie Liston Smith: electric piano
Harold Ivory Williams: electric piano
Colin Walcott: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Al Foster: drums
Billy Hart: drums
Don Alias: kalimba, African percussion
Badal Roy: tablas
Cedric Lawson: organ
Reggie Lucas: guitar
Khalil Balakrishna: electric sitar
Mtume: congas

Generous canvas slathered deep with the material of funk. The prolonged durations of groove slip this multi-layered material into a ritual of free form expression. The changes in texture clearly being directed by an unseen Miles Davis as he breaks things down and builds them up again. Leaving just enough space for soloists to appear and vanish at intuitively grasped intervals. The multi-disc experience of the "Complete" recordings allows the transcendent qualities of this experience to come to the fore. While the real listening reward lives within the details of this funky soup.

HurdAudio Rotation: Bassoons, Grooves and Harmolodics

Wayne Horvitz/Gravitas Quartet: Way Out East. 2006. Songlines: SA1558-2.

Wayne Horvitz: piano, electronics
Peggy Lee: cello
Ron Miles: trumpet
Sara Schoenbeck: bassoon

Composed jazz from the melodically centric - and deceptively ingenious arranger - Wayne Horvitz. Each one of these pieces bears the harmonic turns and phrasing that marks so many of Wayne Horvitz's pieces. And that is a good thing given the addiction my ears have built up for that sound. Added to that is the "chamber jazz" quartet of piano, cello, trumpet and bassoon. An instrumentation uniquely suited for (and to) these pieces. Given the luminescence each of these players brings to the session this music hovers in the air along a sinewy strain quirky beauty. This one meets my high expectations for Wayne Horvitz and adds bassoon.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 3]. 1972 recording, 2007 release. Sony/BMG Entertainment: 88697 06239 2-D3.

Miles Davis: trumpet
Carlos Garnett: soprano saxophone
Cedric Lawson: organ
Reggie Lucas: guitar
Khalil Balakrishna: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Al Foster: drums
Badal Roy: tablas
Mtume: congas
Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone
Pete Cosey: guitar

Such large sheets of funky material like this is best served by the box set format that allows for so many alternate takes and sprawling expanse of jam sessions. This one fills the ears and the soul with heavy jams. The louder you listen to these, the closer you get to 1972. As expansive as this material is - and it comes off in enormous sheets - there's also the detail and variety within this sound. "Peace" and "Mr. Foster" building up from smaller units in the wake of thick textures makes for striking contrast. And sewn into the wicked pulse of this music are these spectacular solos. Rich material that call for soaking within them.

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing [disc 2]. 1959 (1993 re-release). Atlantic Records: R2 71410.

Ornette Coleman: alto saxophone
Don Cherry: pocket trumpet
Charlie Haden: bass
Billy Higgins: drums
Ed Blackwell: drums

On a pair of October afternoons in the Radio Recorders studio of Hollywood in 1959 the Ornette Coleman Quartet forever changed the course of jazz with material that eventually ended up on Change of the Century. Music that still crackles with "it" factor to spare decades later. The second disc of the Atlantic Records Beauty is a Rare Thing opens with "The Face of the Bass" as the ears are reminded of the "it" factor of Charlie Haden. The aural treasures continue from there. Don Cherry's halting solo on "Forerunner" is astonishing. The sound rolling off of Billy Higgins' cymbals behind that solo is another fascination. The spark that this quartet possessed in these early recordings is understood. Yet it's still a jolt to confront the ears with just how rich this music is.

HurdAudio Rotation: The Path from Heaven to Minneapolis

Olivier Messiaen: Messiaen Edition [box set] [disc 2]. 2005. Warner Classics: 2564 62162-2.

La Nativite du Seigneur (1935) - Neuf Meditations pour orgue
Le Banquet celeste (1928)
Apparition de l'eglise eternelle (1932)

Marie-Claire Alain: organ

This is the sound of devotion. Organ music born of faith and an expression of Messiaen's Catholicism prior to the trials of his faith that were in store after these pieces were composed. These are also prior to his discovery of bird song as a source of melodic inspiration. The sense of devotion that would carry Messiaen through those trials is already audible. Such faith has an other worldly quality. Without the talented composition and skillful performance by Marie-Claire Alain it would be hard to imagine the particular nerve this music touches.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 1]. 2007 (recorded in 1972). Sony BMG Music Entertainment: 88697 06239 2.

Miles Davis: trumpet
Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone
Chick Corea: synthesizer
Herbie Hancock: electric piano, synthesizer, organ
Harold Ivory Williams: organ, synthesizer
John McLaughlin: guitar
Colin Walcott: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Jack DeJohnette: drums
Don Alias: congas, percussion, kalimba, African percussion
Badal Roy: tablas
Billy Hart: wood block, cowbell, percussion, drums
Carlos Garnett: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Bennie Maupin: bass clarinet, flute
Dave Creamer: guitar
Lonnie Liston Smith: electric piano
Al Foster: drums

After such a heavy dose of spiritual edification, On The Corner pulls the body along with unedited master takes of some large ensemble, improvisational funk. Also an expressive necessity no more or less threatening than the devotion of Messiaen. This music created a stir among the jazz intelligentsia and critics of its day. Today it feels incredibly vital and absolutely necessary. A reminder of how aesthetic movements will counter-balance past excesses and gleefully leave behind those not ready to find the road (traveler, there is no road). These deep grooves are to rhythm what Kind of Blue's modal jazz was to harmony. A simplification that reveals incredible potential and an awesome beauty offered to the open ear. The physicality of a sound that invites dance and movement with a gravitational pull of Dionysian abandon.

Happy Apple: Youth Oriented. 2002. Sunnyside Records: SSC 3006.

Erik Fratzke: bass guitar, guitar
Michael Lewis: soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, double bass
David King: drums, toys, waterphone, megaphone, mellotron

Great band. I appreciate the lines Michael Lewis spins through these tracks. The solid bass lines put down by Erik Fratzke. And David King is the same incredible drummer he is with The Bad Plus. You put these three together to realize their own creative compositions and out comes a complete winner like Youth Oriented. The range of textures out of this trio is remarkable. From the punkish energy of "Salmon jump suit" to the protracted open spaces of "Drama section" complete with a multi-stylistically informed range of gleeful genre-bending sounds in between. In a more just world this trio would be an overwhelming presence on the radio and tour circuit.

HurdAudio Rotation: Of Repetition and Harmolodics

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 2]. 1972 (re-released in 2007). Sony-Legacy Music: 88697 06239 2-D2.

Miles Davis: trumpet
Carlos Garnett: soprano saxophone
Bennie Maupin: bass clarinet, flute
Herbie Hancock: electric piano, organ
Lonnie Liston Smith or Harold Ivory Williams: electric piano
Colin Walcott: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Al Foster, Billy Hart: drums
Don Alias: kalimba, African percussion
Badal Ray: tablas
Cedric Lawson: organ
Reggie Lucas: guitar
Khalil Balakrishna: electric sitar
Mtume: congas

An absolutely delirious, funky mess. The combination of way-above average musical chops (in crazy abundance) with deep grooves leaves this music hovering just above the indulgences of an all out jam session. Surprises routinely emerge from this thick, repetition heavy texture. More than anything it's the gravity of the pulse that leaves the deepest impression.

Ornette Coleman: Beauty is a Rare Thing: The Complete Atlantic Recordings [disc 1]. 1993. Atlantic/Rhino Records: R2 71410.

Ornette Coleman: alto saxophone
Don Cherry: cornet
Charlie Haden: bass
Billy Higgins: drums

Beauty is a Rare Thing is still the model of what makes a great jazz box set. This first disc delivers the same jolt that vaulted the harmolodic genius - and his other worldly quartet - into the collective consciousness. From a session recorded May 22, 1959, everything about this music crackles with discovery and confidence in a new sound that endures. A music that runs so deep in my own psyche that the personnel and set list reads like poetry. Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins. And those twelve pieces: Focus on Sanity, Chronology, Peace, Congeniality, Lonely Woman, Monk and the Nun, Just for You, Eventually, Una Muy Bonita, Bird Food, Change of the Century and Music Always. Much of this session found its way onto The Shape of Jazz to Come. A title that risked pretension before becoming prophecy.

Michael Gordon/Alarm Will Sound: Van Gogh. 2007. Cantaloupe Music: CA21044.

Michael Gordon: composer
Alarm Will Sound -
Alan Pierson: conductor
Sarah Chalfy: soprano
Matthew Hensrud: tenor
Clay Greenberg: bass
Elisabeth Stimpert: clarinet, bass clarinet
Payton MacDonald: percussion
Dennis DeSantis: percussion
Courtney Orlando: piano
Ryan Ferreira: electric guitar
Caleb Burhans: violin
John Pickford Richards: viola
Steffan Freund: cello
Miles Brown: bass

A minimalist setting of the letters of Vincent Van Gogh to his brother. A piece teased out of a long gestation period as it was originally composed in the late 1980's before being re-arranged for Alarm Will Sound in 2005. The immediate sonic details are the aesthetic offspring of Louis Andriessen and Steve Reich - familiar composers within the Bang on a Can pantheon co-founded by Michael Gordon. Van Gogh is a rich and beautiful portrayal of innocent madness. An expressive account of bewilderment and commitment to artistic muse at the expense of pragmatic survival. The music itself nearly begs to be hung on the wall like a Van Gogh painting and admired for its detail and color.

HurdAudio Rotation: Two Trumpets and a Minnimalist Masterpiece

Mazen Kerbaj: Brt Vrt Zrt Krt. 2005. Al Maslakh: 01.

Mazen Kerbaj: trumpet

Much like his cartoons, Mazen Kerbaj's approach to solo trumpet improvisation twists, distorts and subverts one's expectations even as it unflinchingly arrives at profound truths. The amplified buzzing and plumbing of the instrument pulls the ears deep inside the instrument and reveals a startling sonic landscape. And much like his cartoons, improvisations and productions from his indie label I am left with a deep admiration for the expressiveness and gritty portrayal of life within the Lebanese artistic scene of Beirut. Full length solo trumpet outings are few and far between and this one as unique and engaging as they come.

Steve Reich: Music for 18 Musicians. Performed by the Grand Valley State University New Music Ensemble. 2007. Innova: 678.

GVSU New Music Ensemble
Bill Ryan: director
Gwendolyn Faasen, Stacey Van Vossen, Mary Crossman: voices
Amanda Duncan: voice, marimba
Alexander Hamel: xylophone, marimba, maracas
Samuel Gould: xylophone
Nicholas Usadel, Tim Church: marimbas
Joshua Puranen: marimba, maracas
Gregrey Secor: vibraphone
Daniel Redner: piano, maracas
Craig Avery: piano, marimba
Shaun MacDonald, Kelly Rizzo, Kurt Ellenberger, Lee Copenhaver: pianos
Mark Martin: violin
Pablo Mahave-Veglia: cello
Charlan Mueller, Alexander Kolias: clarinets, bass clarinets

Music for 18 Musicians is long overdue for vibrant reinterpretations such as this one. Once plunged into the lush, beautifully recorded offering found on this disc I was reminded why this work was such an addiction for my ears in my late teens. The pulsing, formal arrangement and eleven chord cycle are immediately discernable. But the sheer awe and beauty of this sound is a shock despite the familiarity and transparency of this composition. I sincerely hope there are plans in the works to record other landmark pieces of the last century with the same verve and attention to clarity found here.

Miles Davis: The Complete On The Corner Sessions [disc 1]. 1972, 1973, 1974, 2007. Sony BMG Entertainment: 88697 06239 2-DI.

Miles Davis: trumpet
Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone
Chick Corea: synthesizer
Herbie Hancock: electric piano
Harold Ivory Williams: organ, synthesizer
John McLaughlin: guitar
Colin Walcott: electric sitar
Michael Henderson: electric bass
Jack DeJohnette: drums
Don Alias: congas, percussion, kalimba, African percussion
Badal Roy: tablas
Billy Hart: wood block, cowbell, percussion, drums
Carlos Garnett: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Bennie Maupin: bass clarinet, flute
Dave Creamer: guitar
Lonnie Liston Smith (speculated): electric piano
Al Foster: drums

There's no shortage of observation on how Miles caught the jazz press flat-footed with On the Corner. The erudite ears craving a reprise of the Kind of Blue masterpiece had long become entrenched in the anti-body physicality that the chewy, funky noise Davis unleashed and confronted. With the perspective of years it seems peculiar to regard these long, grinding and fiercely non-commercial tracks as "selling out." The artistic renewal, and infectious churn of this music is a notable departure from the Birth of the Cool. Sinking one's ears into this bounty of material reveals just as much substance as any other era of the Miles Davis catalogue.