Mummu: Mitt Ferieparadis 7"

Here is a message for collectors of Norwegian music (all three of you!).

I have had blog posts on Va Fongool artists earlier in this blog, namely PGA, Wolfram and Ich Bin N!ntendo & Mats Gustafsson - and now you better be prepared for a row of three 7" singles with the band Mummu.

"Mitt Ferieparadis" ("My Holiday Paradise") with "Feda Bu", an improv piece that is sneaking up on you on the A side, and a heavy rock and noise track called "Logatunnellen" on side B, will be released 15 March.

A tough record, with great sound, and a nice cover too!

Mummu is:
Christian Skår Winther: Electric Guitar
Magnus Skavhaug Nergaard: Electric Bass
Anja Lauvdal: Korg MS10
Heida Karine Johannesdottir Mobeck: Tuba
Joakim Heibø Johansen: Drums

Cover: Mummu + Torstein L. Larsen

The next singles are scheduled for release in August and December, and head on over here for some more info.

Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990)

Dexter Gordon - "What's New" (Live 1963) from Puerto Libre on Vimeo.

Long Tall Dexter Gordon was born 90 years ago, this very day! That calls for a small celebration.

How about "Soy Califa" Dexter Gordon - tenor sax, Kenny Drew - piano, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen - bass, Albert Heath - drums (Copenhagen, "1960s") and "What´s new" Dexter Gordon - Tenor Sax, George Gruntz - Piano, Guy Pedersen - Bass, Daniel Humair - Drums (1963)?

Slow Walkin´ Talk

Robert Wyatt: Slow walking talk from Brian Jones on Vimeo.

This song is just too cool to be forgotten!? "Slow Walkin´Talk" was originally written for The Wilde Flowers by Brian Hopper (Hugh Hopper´s brother), and may be found on "Tales of Canterbury. The Wilde Flowers Story" (Voiceprint 1994). Graham Flight is singing on that version, with Robert Wyatt playing the drums.

On this Vimeo video, uploaded by the one and only Brian Jones (*cough*), Robert Wyatt is singing and playing piano, organ and drums, while Jimi Hendrix is playing the bass! This one was recorded in 1968, and has been released on both the Jimi Hendrix CD "Calling Long Distance" (Univibes 1992) and on the Robert Wyatt sampler "Flotsam Jetsam" (Rough Trade 1994).

Both versions are on Spotify.

Neil Ardley: A Symphony of Amaranths

Fans of British jazz, and fans of Ivor Cutler, please check out the re-issue (first ever!) of Neil Ardley´s (1937 - 2004) "A Symphony of Amaranths" (Dusk Fire Records 2013).

The album was originally released in 1971, and "A Symphony of Amaranths" is dedicated to two masters of orchestrated jazz; Duke Ellington and Gil Evans (the music is based on the notes DE and GE). The musicians are, to cite the liner notes, the New Jazz Orchestra with woodwind, harp and strings.

In addition to "A Symphony of Amaranths", we get some fantastic 11 minutes and 52 seconds of Ivor Cutler reading/narrating Edward Lear´s nonsense poem "The Dong with a Luminous Nose", and three poems by W.B. Yeates, James Joyce and Lewis Carroll beautifully sung by Norma Winstone, and a short bonus track too.

And this is the gang:
Derek Watkins, Nigel Carter, Henry Lowther and Harold Beckett (tp), Derek Wadsworth and Ray Premru (tb), Dick Hart (tuba), Barbra Thompson, Dave Gelly, Don Rendell and Dick Heckstall-Smith (sax), John Clementson (oboe), Bunny Gould (bassoon), Dave Gelly (glockenspiel, + liner notes), Neil Ardley (prepared piano), David Snell and Sidonie Goossens (harp), Stan Tracey (p, celeste), Karl Jenkins (el. p), Alan Branscombe (harpsichord), Franc Ricotti (vib, perc), Chris Laurence and Jeff Clyne (b), John Hiseman (dr, perc), Eric Gruenberg, Jack Rothstein and Kelly Isaacs (viol), Ken Essex (viola), Charles Tunnell and Francis Gabarro (cello), Ivor Cutler (narrator), Norma Winstone (vocal).

300 acting spaces - ready to go again

"300 acting spaces" is starting again March 1st, with concerts and live streaming of improvised music and noise music from Oslo (Norway).

If you are not able to watch the live streamings, check out "the 300as's channel" on YouTube.

The Thing with Thurston Moore @ Cafe Oto 10.2.13

Holy smokes!

Das Wohltemperierte Spunk

Respect to Spunk! What a project!

It has taken them 12 years to play their way through the 12 notes of the equal tempered scale: one note each year, on a set day somewhere in Oslo!
The music was recorded and is being released by Rune Grammofon in a beautiful six CD box called "Das Wohltemperierte Spunk".

Spunk started at The Emanuel Vigeland Mausoleum 20.01.2001 - 20:01 with B, and finished with the G 20.12.2012 - starting at 20:12 in the Physics building, University of Oslo.

I have played all of the CDs this weekend, and it´s massive! We get almost seven hours of droning improv, and you better listen! The music does not work very well as ambient music, at least not for me.

Several of the recordings were done outdoors (on an island, by a river, on the roof of the Ospera House) and C was recorded inside the Oslo City shopping mall.
The voices, the weather and the birds fit in just fine!

Spunk is Kristin Andersen (tp, fl), Lene Grenager (cello), Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (voc, viol, harmonica, accordion, theremin, + misc) and Hild Sofie Tafjord (french horn, + misc).

500 copies are for sale (300 NOK) from Rune Grammofon.

Liner notes: Anne Hilde Neset and Rob Young.
Cover design: Kim Hiorthøy.

I haven´t been able to locate lots of reviews on this box, but the Swedish paper Dagens Nyheter called it "deeply fascinating" (not online), and I agree on that.
I would really like to read an expert review on this one, so please comment if you have seen some.

And congrats to Maja Ratkje who has been nominated for The Nordic Council Music Prize 2013!

Added 25 February: A great review by Thomas Millroth in Sound of Music - "Vältempererad Spunk", in Swedish.

Honeyleap

Meet Honeyleap, another Swedish-Norwegian cooperation you might want to check out.
The band is Fredrik Ljungkvist (sax, clarinet), Klas Nevrin (piano), Per Zanussi (bass) and Øyvind Skarbø (drums), and their new eponymous album is out on Øyvind Jazzforum.
Since Klas Nevrin is new to me, he is the only one of the musicians who gets his own link.

The music on the album is composed by Ljungkvist, Zanussi and Nevrin, and you get a fine mix of pretty hard swinging jazz and something close to contemporary classical. I was wondering how much was composed and how much was improvised during the record release concert in Bergen earlier this week, but Klas Nevrin has at least written liner notes on the pleasures and hard work of improvising.

"Honeyleap" should be available in iTunes and eMusic, and head on over to SoundCloud for some more info. I got my CD at the concert, with fake tattoo and all!

Watch and listen to "Ebony Swing" (Ljungkvist), recorded at Bergen Jazzforum 20 February 2013.

Soon to be released on Hubro

Øyvind Skarbø (dr) and Kjetil Møster (sax) are probably the two musicians I have heard the most on the scenes of Bergen these last six or seven years. They both play lots bands (of course!), and both have new albums to be released on the great Hubro label.


The first one out is Bly De Blyant with "ABC" (Norway release March 1st). Bly De Blyant is Øyvind Skarbø, Shahzad Ismaily and Hilmar Jensson.


The next one is Møster! and the album "Edvard Lygre Møster" (Norway release 15 March).
The musicians of Møster!: Kjetil Møster, Ståle Storløkken, Nikolai Eilertsen and Kenneth Kapstad!

In memory of Kevin Ayers

As you all know by now, Kevin Ayers died 18 February 2013. Here are some nice words on Kevin Ayers from different papers and magazines:

Kevin Ayers: Singer, guitarist and pioneer of British psychedelic rock (The Independent 20 February).

Kevin Ayers (The Telegraph 21 February).

Soft Machine founder Kevin Ayers dies (BBC News 21 Februar).

BBC also print a tribute from Robert Wyatt, starting like this: "About 50 years ago, someone said to me that there was another bloke with long hair in east Kent, so I should meet him because we'd be sure to get on. I did, and we did".

Farewell, Kevin Ayers... (Mojo 20 February).

Also short tributes at Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Clash and Billboard.

The Guardian (21 February) print "Kevin Ayers: I never considered another profession' – one of his final interviews", originally in Word magazine in 2008.

"The thing about Soft Machine and me," he goes on slowly, "was that I never considered another profession. My only other desire was to do as little as possible. Honestly, I just assume that whatever is going to happen to me is going to happen. There it goes: someone is there, someone isn't there. This girl is here. This food is here. I think the clever people are the ones who do a little as possible."

RIP Kevin Ayers

So sad to hear that Kevin Ayers died!

Thanks for the music with Wilde Flowers, Soft Machine and on solo albums!

Fred Frith in Oslo

Fred Frith at the All Ears Festival - nyMusikk from nyMusikk on Vimeo.

Listen to Fred Frith and Rob Young visiting Ny Musikk (Norwegian link) in Oslo in January, during the All Ears 2013 festival.

Frith´s five pieces that blew his mind:

1) Davy Graham & Shirley Collins - "Pretty Saro" og "Rif Mountain" fra Folk Roots, New Routes
2) Luciano Berio & Cathy Berberian - Visage
3) René Lussier - "La mort du Concorde" Trésor de la Langue”
4) Olivier Messiaen – “Turangalîla Symphony”
5) Charles Mingus – “In A Mellow Tone (Finale)”, Town Hall Concert, 1962

Victoria

The first screening of Torun Lian´s movie "Victoria", based on Knut Hamsun´s novel from 1898, will happen March 1st.

I am happy to inform you all that the soundtrack is made by Jan Bang, Erik Honoré, Gaute Storaas and Arve Henriksen.

Fred Frith solo in Rotterdam

He is already back in the blog! Fred Frith live in Rotterdam 15 February.
Visit Willem Minderhout on YouTube for more.

Don Rosa: Why I Quit

I suggest you read the epilogue written by American comic book writer and illustrator (known for stories about Scrooge McDuck and Donald Duck) Don Rosa (FaceBook)!

There are some very interesting points on not receiving any royalties, and a total lack of respect from others than the fans.

Head on over to career-end.donrosa.de!

250 Lost Tracks

Classic Rock magazine (no. 181, March 2013) just made a list of "250 Lost tracks you must hear before you die". One of the least lost songs on this list is Robert Wyatt´s "Sea song"!

The snooker star Steve Davis chose the prog tracks to be included, and he obviously likes "Sea Song" a lot. He writes : "His (R.W.´s) vocal is terrific, and his take on a love song is unusual, beautiful and gratifyingly strange" (p. 55).

Well said, but "Sea Song" a lost track? I think not! Here you can hear it with Robert Wyatt and friends, and the magnificent Unthanks.

Peter Blegvad - So1980s

Oh my! Some really nice videos from the 80s this!?
Both "Karen" and "How beautiful you are" are tracks on Peter Blegvad´s album "The naked Shakespeare" (Virgin 1983).

The people of Bergen better expect something else, when Peter Blegvad is visiting the Borealis festival in a few weeks.

Satoko Fukuda and John Russell

Yes I know, it´s Valentine´s day and all, and we should probably have some really romantic stuff here, but this beautiful impro video with Satoko Fukuda (viol) and John Russell (g) will do, will it not?

It was recorded at London´s Vortex 20 January this year.

I just have to admit that I was not aware of Satoku Fukuda, but I will watch lots of YouTube videos for starters (how about this one with Lol Coxhill and others in 2009?).

Any recommended recordings?

Spellemann 2012

Since I know some of you are (more than above average) interested in Norwegian music, here you may find the nominees for the Norwegian Grammy: Spellemannsprisen (you will probably be able to read and understand the most of it).

Both the selection and the different classes (and who they put in each of them) may look a bit strange, so let´s pretend it´s just for fun.

You will recognize several of the names from the blog of course, just check out the jazz gang:

Elephant9 with Reine Fiske: "Atlantis"

Moskus: "Salmesykkel"

Neneh Cherry & The Thing: "The Cherry Thing"

Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus: "Disymoi Dreams"

Zanussi Thirteen: "Live"


Now, how do you compare these artists, and choose a winner among them?

Eno - Lux

"To coincide with the release of LUX, the album was broadcast at four times during Saturday 17th November 2012 via Brian-Eno.net

Listeners were invited to upload photos as part of an evolving public audio-visual project named 'DAY OF LIGHT'" (WarpRecords on YouTube).

I´m not surprised that my photo from a rainy Bergen was not chosen!

Lean Left with guests - Live at Café Oto

Lean Left (The EX guitars meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo) played at Café Oto two nights in September 2011.
The first night they invited Ab Baars (sax, clar) to join, and both Paal Nilssen-Love and Steve Noble drummed on the second concert.

The second set of both concerts are released on two wonderful LPs on Kollaps. The music is great, and the LPs include booklets of photos by Ken Vandermark (day one) and Andy Moor (day two)!

I´m quite sure they didn´t produce a lot of copies of these ones, and the shop over at Café Oto has none left it seems. I got mine at the The Thing concert in Bergen some days ago.
The Kollaps site is quite modest (!), but they have an e-mail too, if you want to try: kollaps@kollaps-records.de.

Both days they played the first set without audience present (and without the guest musicians). These sets are released by Unsounds, and probably easy to get (review over at Free Jazz).

And let´s not forget the musicians:

Ken Vandermark (sax, clar)
Andy Moor (g)
Terrie Ex (g)
Paal Nilssen-Love (dr)

Ab Baars (sax, clar)
Steve Noble (dr)

Stay Tuned

Stay Tuned - The Other Woman from Elin Hörberg on Vimeo.

The Swedish band The Other Woman do a fine version of Anja Garbarek´s (and Robert Wyatt´s!) "Stay Tuned".

The Other Woman is:
Ellekari Sander - vocals
Johnny Åman - double bass
Jonas Holgersson - drums
Mathias Landæus - piano

Video: Elin Hörberg and Isac Stridsman

The Other Woman recorded their debut album, live in front of an audience, at Gula Studion in Malmö, and they will be looking for a record company! I´m quite sure "Stay Tuned" will be on the album.

More on Svensk Jazz (in Swedish) and Vimeo.

Squeeze Bees

Here is a trio called Bug Prentice. They cover Ivor Cutler´s "Squeeze Bees", live at the Vortex in August 2012.

This version would have been far too noisy for Mr. Cutler of course, but we can take it (or?).

Eugene Chadbourne and Tatsuya Nakatani

It´s about time for a new visit from Eugene Chadbourne in this blog!

Here is a quite new interview with the man, and some live footage from a concert he did with drummer Tatsuya Nakatani.

I heard Nakatani play a great solo concert in Bergen during the Borealis festival in 2011 (picture).

Robert Wyatt was my life-model

A sweet story today, from Frieze Magazine (May 2012).

Lynda Morris writes:

"In 1965, I was a foundation course student at Canterbury College of Art and Robert Wyatt was our life model. At the time, he was in a local band called the Wilde Flowers, who played at the art school dances and at a local club called the Beehive. The lead singer was Kevin Ayers who wrote a song about my friend Geraldine. He went solo when Robert formed Soft Machine a year later. Robert moved to London and Quentin Crisp started to model at Canterbury sometime later. Ian Dury came to teach the year I left".

Visit Frieze for some more text and a drawing.

The Keith Tippett Group

Please note, two new remastered releases on Esoteric Recordings.
We are talking about two classic British jazz releases, Keith Tippet Group´s "You are here...I am there" (1970) and "Dedicated to you, but you weren´t listening" (1971).

The band on the first album: Keith Tippett (p), Elton Dean (as), Marc Charig (cornet), Jeff Clyne (bass), Nick Evans (tb) and Alan Jackson (dr).

The band on "Dedicated to you...": Keith Tippett (p), Elton Dean (as), Marc Charig (Cornet), Nick Evans (tb), Roy Babbington (b), Neville Whitehead (b), Robert Wyatt (dr, and some voc), Phil Howard (dr) and Bryan Spring (dr).

Great big band-impro-jazz-rock (oh come on, it´s jazz, don´t get mad at me), with newly written essays by Sid Smith.

I got my copies quite cheap from Amazon (UK), but if you only want one of them, get "Dedicted to you..", with Roger Dean cover and all!

My Recurring Dream

My Recurring Dream from André Chocron // Frokost Film on Vimeo.

A brand new Norwegian pop video for you today!
Check out André Chocron´s second video for Cold Mailman, this time for the song "My Recurring Dream" (here is the first one).

More videos from Chocron on Vimeo.

Thus:Owls - Sea Song

Matthijs van der Ven has got a project he calls "Onder Invloed", where artists cover some of their favorites.

Here is Robert Wyatt´s "Sea Song" by Thus:Owls.

Post Image invite John Greaves

Here you get John Greaves together with Post Image, doing "Smile". "Smile" seems to be a track on both the band´s 2012 album "Mandragore" and a best of album, also released in 2012.

Joining the queue to become one of those ordinary ghosts

Care for some slow growing improv, where the instruments almost melt together into one organism?
Try the new album from Koboku Senjû "Joining the queue to become one of those ordinary ghosts" (2013).

The musicians:

Martin Taxt - tuba
Tetuzi Akiyama - guitar
Toshimaru Nakamura - no-input mixing board
Eivind Lønning - trumpet
Espen Reinertsen - saxophone

The music was recorded live at Caféteateret, Oslo, 31 August 2011.

Download Koboku Senju´s new album, and both their SOFA releases, over at Bandcamp.
Pay at least 40 NOK for each album (that is around 5,5 EUR). I like all of them!

On Bandcamp you may also read some strange liner notes by David Sylvian.

BOREALIS 2013

This year´s Borealis (festival for contemporary experimental music and sound art) is happening in Bergen 6 - 10 March.

It may become a grim month of March, since the festival theme is "The End", but the program is promising still!

It all starts with garbage, and Lasse Marhaug ´s "Søppelmusikk (for to avfallsovner)" ("Waste Music (for two furnaces)"), and I´m happy to say that Peter Blegvad and Richard Skelton is coming to town!

There will also be performances in Espen Sommer Eide´s March exhibition at Bergen Kunsthall.

LOL!

Lol Coxhill has been a regular visitor to this blog, free improvising or playing with Kevin Ayers (and others), and here he is again in the sweetest video! Take some minutes with Lol Coxhill, Steve Beresford and Tony Coe in church!

Hans ST. is writing on YouTube: "Recorded with my Canon HI8 Camcorder: the 31st of August 1996.
Place: a small church in Oostum, a small village in the north of the Netherlands (Holland)..."

By the way, anyone writing a Lol Coxhill biography?