La filosofia di Robert Wyatt

Not only is Marcus O´Dair´s book "Different Every Time: The Authorised Biography of Robert Wyatt" soon to be released, but here is a fresh Italian book too: "La filosofia di Robert Wyatt. Dadaismo e voce: unlimited" by Leonardo Vittorio Arena.

70 pages in Italian will be a tough read for me, but Google translate may of course lead to some kind of understanding.

A Doll´s House

[TRANSART13] A doll's house from Festival Transart on Vimeo.

Last autumn I posted a short video showing parts of Maja Ratkje and Frode Haltli´s performance "A Doll´s House" at the Transart festival in Bolzano, Italy (2013).

Since the festival have uploaded the full concert (?) now, you may enjoy it here too.

Ultima 2014

Two Norwegian September festivals coming up!

Unfortunately I´m not going to any of them, but I hope some of you have the chance.

Kristiandsand´s PUNKT festival has been mentioned already, and a couple of days later Ultima - Oslo contemporary music festival
is starting (10 - 20 September).

Ultima´s theme as described on their site: "2014 is the 200th anniversary of the Norwegian Constitution, and under the theme “Nation”, the festival will focus on how a local musical identity is expressed in the context of an international, digital world".

Some of the artists have been visiting this blog quite a few times: Jenny Hval & Susanna, Maja Ratkje, Helge Sten, Karin Krog and John Surman (he was 70 yesterday, congrats!).

Subradar meets Evan Parker

Intervju with Evan Parker, for Subradar.no from jonassjovaag on Vimeo.

Terje Isungset and Therese Skauge

We have had lots of posts on Terje Isungset in this blog, and most of them I believe, on him playing ice instruments, but please don´t forget the man plays on drums, stones and wood too!

Yesterday I attended a concert at the Landmark club in Bergen, where Isungset played drums, creating fantastic soundscapes, and Therese Skauge was dancing.
Now, I have to admit I haven´t seen lots of dance performances, but I was quite impressed watching and listening to these two artists who seemed to inspire each other. Skauge dancing to the drums and Isungset playing to the dance.

I´m not sure if there is a complete Terje Isungset discography on the net (or elsewhere!). He has worked in bands Orleysa, Utla and Groupa, and with among others Frode Gjerstad, Arve Henriksen, Stian Westerhus and Per Jørgensen, playing jazz, folk and/or improv, but combine Wikipedia, Discogs and his own site and you may start your research.

Added 5 October 2014, a short video from the performance:

Karin Krog

"Karin Krog, in conversation with Tony Herrington from music magazine The Wire, presents her favourite songs and talks about improvisation and experimental music in her artistic career.

At Off The Page Oslo, 25 January 2014 at Kunstnernes Hus, hosted by nyMusikk".

Please listen to this, Karin Krog will even sing you a lullaby.

Andersen and Mingus

In May we had a post on Arild Andersen Sextet playing a tribute concert at Oslo Jazz Festival to celebrate that it was 50 years since Charles Mingus Sextet played The University Aula in Oslo (April 1964).

Now Arild Andersen has uploaded a video of "All the things you could be by now if Sigmund Freuds wife was your mother" from the concert.

Arild Andersen Sextet:
Mathias Eick – trumpet
Klaus Holm – alto, bass clarinet
Petter Wettre- tenor
Bugge Wesseltoft – piano
Arild Andersen – bass
Gard Nilssen – drums

The Thing at Harpa, Reykjavik

The Thing at Harpa, Reykjavik, 20 August 2014.

It says part 1 on YouTube, so we better wait for more from Iceland and Paal Nilssen-Love, Mats Gustafsson and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten.

Added 2 September:
And here is Part 2, a version ov John Coltrane´s "India".

Meshes of Voice

Hoy! You better get Jenny Hval & Susanna´s album "Meshes of Voice" (SusannaSonata 2014) right away!
This is a breathtaking album with beautiful songs, it´s spiked with noise elements and best of all - it´s a bit spooky too.

You probably know Susanna Wallumrød and Jenny Hval already, but please note that this commissioned work for Ladyfest was performed and recorded at Henie Onstad Arts Center (Oslo) with Anita Kaasbøll and Jo Berger Myhre in 2009. Not that five years is such a long time, but it does not seem dated. Jenny Hval used to perform as Rockettothesky around that time.

No plans for release on vinyl I hear, but order the CD from susannasonata.com, and read more over there.

Great cover design too, with art by Norwegian artist Arne Bendik Sjur (graphics, etchings).

Little Red Robin Hood

Robert Wyatt - La vie apres Soft Machine by propylaen2001


Robert Wyatt - La vie apres Soft Machine by propylaen2001


Robert Wyatt - La vie apres Soft Machine by propylaen2001


Robert Wyatt - La vie apres Soft Machine by propylaen2001

This is presented a French TV documentary from 1998 about the life of Robert Wyatt on Daily Motion, but is really the film "Little Red Robin Hood - a documentary" by Carlo Bevilacqua and Francesco Di Loreto (1998). Is it not? I still have my VHS, but not a video player, and haven´t watched this for years. Not on the net in good quality or on DVD is it?

Gravity At Music Meeting In Nijmegen (and Moers)

Fred Frith plays "Gravity" at Music Meeting in Nijmegen (Holland)(June 2014).
The third video contains songs that were edited out of the two first ones, and you get some extra material too.
Read more about it on YouTube.

The Gravity Band is: Fred Frith conductor/guitar/bass, Aaron Novik clarinet, Dominique Leone keyboards, Kaethe Hostetter violin, Kasey Knudsen sax, Marië Abe accordeon, Jon Leidecker samples, Ava Mendoza guitar, Lisa Mezzacappa bass, Jordan Glenn drums, William Winant percussion, Myles Boisen sound engineer.

And since you are all in a Frith mood now, you just have to watch the "Gravity" performance at Moers (July 2014) too!
I have not been able to embed it, so run on over here please!

Bubbles

Here is a new street art gallery in Bergen, with polar bears, pelicans, foxes, sea horses, bubbles, Easter Island statues and you name it.

Lumpit

Checking Une Discographie De Robert Wyatt again, I found I had missed another release with Robert Wyatt on it.

On Mr Swing´s "One Doz." (JT Music (UK) 2013, digital release) there is a snappy tune called "Lumpit" (a touch of pop Eno and even Penguin Cafe Orchestra in there?) with Robert Wyatt on backing vocals (way back there) and perhaps drumming?

So far I have only downloaded this one track from iTunes, but you streamers may find the album on Spotify and Wimp.

Anybody out there with some more info on the band and the release (yes I know Google!).

Friday Videos

No dance videos this Friday (well what do I know!?), just a few I have liked lately.
Starting off in a quiet mood and ending quite energetic and brutal. That might sound like a description of Friday to some of you I guess?

- Rembrandt Frerichs Trio & Frode Haltli, live at Jazz in Duketown Jazz Festival Holland 2014. New album from Frode Haltli coming up on the Hubro label later this year. Frode Haltli (accordeon), Rembrandt Frerichs (piano), Tony Overwater (acoustic bass) and Vinsent Planjer (drums)

- Thomas Strønen´s Time Is A Blind Guide at Chelthenham Jazz 2014 (part 2 of 4). Kit Downes (piano), Nils Økland (violin, hardanger fiddle), Lucy Railton (cello), Ole Morten Vågan (bass) and Siv Øyunn Kjennstad (drums).

- Brian Chippendale, Massimo Pupillo and Mats Gustafsson at Jazz House (Copenhagen) August 2014 (part 7 of 7). (Follow Jazz Peter on YouTube).

PUNKT 2014 Program

The complete program for PUNKT 2014 in Kristiansand (Norway) is finally published.

Some news since my previous post on the festival back in June: I see Jana Winderen and Mike Harding are on (seminar, listening session), Laurie Anderson has invited Arve Henriksen to join her on stage and Hamid Drake is doing a remix with Nils Petter Molvær, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang.

Erik Honoré's debut solo album "Heliographs" (Hubro 2014) is being released during the festival (excerpts below).

Mahood with Lol Coxhill

MAHOOD with Lol Coxhill - Part 1 from Walt Shaw on Vimeo.

I was checking out some Lol Coxhill videos on YouTube and Vimeo the other day, and found a recording of Mahood (Walt and Graham Foster) with Lol and Rochino Franchelli at The Lamp Tavern in Birmingham in 2006.

There are three parts, so watch part 2 here and part 3 here.

Cardboard street art

We seem to have gotten a new street artist in Bergen painting on cardboard, or it might be some of the other paste-up artists who changed their style?
Not that it matters much, but please tell me if you know. They are really fine no matter who did them.

The first picture is from a sheltered pedestrian underpass, but the others covered a wall on a building near the sea. This weekend we had a storm and lots of rain, and the weather has been working on the street art to! Quite a nice effect if you ask me.

As usual: Click on pictures for larger versions, and there are more on Flickr.

1952 Vincent Black Lightning (R. Thompson)

Since I´m in a Richard Thompson mood today, we´ll have a cover of a Thompson song in the blog too.

Here is Red Molly (!) with "1952 Vincent Black Lightning" from their new "The Red Album" (Red Molly Records 2014).

Red Molly is Laurie MacAllister (bass, voc), Abbie Gardner (dobro, voc) and Molly Venter (guitar, voc).

Richard Thompson: Acoustic Classics

Just a reminder: Please check out Richard Thompson´s "Acoustic classics" (Beeswing 2014)!

What you see is what you get, classic Richard Thompson songs, with acoustic guitar and vocals from the man himself!

A really fine album, and I hope he´s visiting Bergen again soon, solo - duo - full band - or whatever! It´s always great to see him live.

Here are the songs (copied from the Thompson Store):

1. I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
2. Walking On A Wire
3. Wall Of Death
4. Down Where The Drunkards Roll
5. One Door Opens
6. Persuasion
7. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
8. I Misunderstood
9. From Galway To Graceland
10. Valerie
11. Shoot Out The Lights
12. Beeswing
13. When The Spell Is Broken
14. Dimming Of The Day

Benefit for Kenny Wheeler

If in London August 15th, the benefit concert at Epic (13-15 Stoke Newington Road, London, N16 8BH) for the great Kenny Wheeler, is the place to be!

More info at LondonJazzNews.

Free Jazz and Improvisation on Vinyl

How about this? An old fashioned paper book by Johannes Rød called "Free jazz and improvisation on vinyl 1965 - 1985. A guide to 60 independent labels." (Rune Grammofon 2014), and believe it or not - it might be just what you need!

Johannes Rød writes in his intro that "The aim of this book is to present a selection of independent record companies and their record releases in the field of free jazz, abstract jazz, avant-garde jazz, free improvisation and instant composing. It is a book of lists, numbers and chronologies, as well as record designs and musicians" and "The selection of labels in this book is subjective, and it is important to stress that this project does not take encyclopedic approach".

There are also forewords by Rune Kristoffersen and Mats Gustafsson and a conversation between Rune Kristoffersen and Rob Young.

A lot of records to check out here, even if we can´t get them on vinyl (*digital ouch*), and of course it will make you go through your own collection to see what you have got already (some of mine below), rediscovering old gems! Anyway, you better be careful on eBay after reading this book.

At last a typical WyattAndStuff note:

Alfreda Benge made the cover to the first album on Rift Records: Frith/Kaiser/Cusak/Rowe/Chadbourne/Williams/Ljima "Guitar Solos 3" (1979).

Tyshawn Sorey at The Stone (NY)

We already posted a fresh video with Tyshawn Sorey at The Stone (NY), and here are two more!

- With Henry Grimes - bass, words and Dave Burrell - piano

- With Jen Shyu - voice, percussion, dance

Make sure you check out Don Mount´s YouTube channel!

Jenny Hval and Susanna: "I Have Walked This Body"

Jenny Hval & Susanna's collaboration 'Meshes of Voice' from 2009 will be released as an album on the label SusannaSonata in August 2014.
Recorded live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre together with Jo Berger Myhre and Anita Kaasbøll. Jenny Hval & Susanna has composed the music and lyrics.

Album to be released:
in Norway and Germany 15th of August
in UK 18th of August
in USA 19th of August

All info from SoundCloud.

Pamela Windo: Him Through Me

I finally got around to read Pamela Windo´s "Him through me. Making love and music in the Sixties & Seventies" (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014 - adaptation of original e.book from 2013).

This is the story of the careers and lives of Gary Windo (1941 - 1992) and Pamela Windo. We get the music, the musicians (a lot of regulars from this blog), the drugs, love in an "open" marriage and the struggle to make room to develop her own music while being a mother and a woman in an man´s, man´s musical world.

A touching and entertaining read!

Since this is "Robert Wyatt and Stuff" just remember that Gary Windo plays on Wyatt´s "Rock Bottom", "Ruth is Stranger than Richard" and "Theatre Royal Drury Lane..", and you will also find him on the collection "Flotsam Jetsam".

Robert Wyatt is on the Gary Windo albums "His Master´s Bones" (1996), "Anglo American" (2004) and "Steam Radio Tapes" (2013).

The book has discographies and concert lists for both artists.


A digression:

I heard Gary Windo live only once, as he played with the Carla Bley Band at Molde International Jazz Festival in 1978. I can´t remember much of the concert, but I remember this guy walking over to a friend of mine and me, while we were relaxing on the Island of Hjertøya near Molde, a popular place to swim.
That was Gary Windo and he was very interested in all the sheep shit laying around on the island. He ended up suggesting we started to produce "sheep shit jackets". That never happened unfortunately.

He also wanted to swim to Molde from the Hjertøya island, but was a bit worried about sharks! We assured him there were no sharks there, but begged him not to try because of the cold water and the distance (a couple of kilometers!), and he probably went back by boat.

The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band

How about this one?! The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band with Syd Barrett and Fred Frith: "Six Hour Technicolour Dream" (Easy Action 2014). Probably been on bootlegs already, but what do I know?

Live recording from Cambridge Corn Exchange January 27th 1972 of a band With Twink (Tomorrow, Pretty Things, Pink Fairies), Jack Monk and Brice Pain, with Fred Frith Syd Barrett guesting.

One of the tracks already on Vimeo, accompanied by an animation video:

Still Drinkin' That Wine - The Last Minute Put Together Boogie Band w/ Syd Barrett from Muddy_Roger on Vimeo.

Robert Wyatt Interview 15th June 1983

Robert Wyatt interviewed by Mark Ellen for the John Peel Show 15th June 1983.

"The nearer you get to success, the more people you get telling you what to do".

Noisy Stuff from Norway

Those of you interested in the more aggressive parts of the Norwegian music scene, should check out the new albums from Noxagt and Brutal Blues on Kjetil Brandsdal´s Drid Machine Records.

Noxagt is now Kjetil Brandsdal (b), Jan Christian Lauritzen (dr) and John Hegre (g), and the music is heavy, monotonic and deeply fascinating.

Brutal Blues present themselves with first names only; as Steinar (g, voc) from PSUDOKU, Parlamentarisk Sodomi and BxSxRx (none of the band names are familiar to me) and Anders (dr, voc) from a. o. MoHa!, Noxagt, Circulasione Totale Orchestra and Ultralyd, so this is obviously Anders Hana (who used to play guitar).

Drid Machine on Brutal Blues: "Are you ready for 100% authentic deluxe delta blues from Mississippi? Too bad, because Brutal Blues is a grind band from Norway".
Fast and furious it is, and this record is one sided and runs on 45 rpm.