Shipbuilding bees

Kollage Kid made this illustration to Elvis Costello and Robert Wyatt´s "Shipbuilding".

Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt

The album "Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt" (Le Chant Du Monde, 2010) is on it´s way (release date May 6). You get nine Robert Wyatt "covers", and we´re stretching it here, counting songs/melodies Robert has done as covers. All of them done with respect, but thankfully not too much respect, and some of them even turn out a bit noisy, like the fine instrumental version of "Sea Song", "Gharbzadegi" and Offenbach/Wyatt´s (!) "Five black notes and one white note".
This is a must have for Robert Wyatt completists, since the album also has two short interviews (in one of them we get to know that Wyatt does not believe in the Big Bang theory!). The band also added music to Robert´s voice on "Locomotive" (Monk/Brown). The pure vocal version of this one is on "Flotsam Jetsam" (Rough Trade 1994).
I got my CD from Le Chant Du Monde, but it will be available Amazon too.
The band is: Pascal Maupeu (g, banjo), Jean-Baptiste Réhault (sax, accordion), Hugues Vincent (cello), Cédric Piromalli (keyb), Nicolas Le Moullec (b, voc) and Bertrand Hurault (dr)

Hot Chip and Wyatt

"The two days we had with Robert Wyatt were probably the best two music making days of my life. He's such a nice guy and obviously a big hero, and in no way was he a disappointment".
Hot Cip´s Al Doyle is interviewed in The Quietus, and you may read more kind words about Robert Wyatt there.
More on Hot Chip and Wyatt in the blog, around here.

Talking Light

I´m so looking forward to my first concert with The Residents ever, as they are on the Talking Light tour now, and on their way to Norway, playing in Bergen (1/5) and Oslo (2/5)!

Philipp Wachsmann

It´s about time we had a post on jazz and violins in this blog! Please watch Philipp Wachsmann playing with Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love and with Mats Gustafsson. Both concerts were held at Cafe Oto (London) in April 2010.

The Brewery tap

I may make a fool of myself here, but I´m not really sure if this album was properly released in 2008, 2009 or 2010 (I´m sure I read somewhere that a new release date was set for March 2010), but "The Brewery Tap" with Evan Parker (tenor saxophone) and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass) (Smalltown Superjazz, 2thousandandquestionmark) is well worth looking for.
The duo recorded this music in Oslo in 2007. I guess we´ll have to call it free jazz, but there is no reason to back off, even if free jazz is not your main cup of tea. Parker must have an incredible breathing technique, I feel out of breath just by listening to some of this, and Flaten is great on the bass as always.
AAJ mention the album in 2009 and Ingebrigt Håker Flaten lists it in his 2008 discography but I have seen Smalltown albums at concerts a long time before they are in the shops earlier too (Vandermark/Nilssen-Love). "Brewery Tap" is neither on iTunes nor eMusic, but Amazon and Norwegian Platekompaniet offer it (don´t know if they send abroad) .
Don´t hide this one!

The Guardian had a piece on Evan Parker 22 April, called Evan Parker's musical utopia.

Cover: Rune Mortensen.

Stavanger street art

I went to Stavanger this weekend, and found some really good street art. You may watch my pictures in this Stavanger set on Flickr. Several of the pieces are from the Nuart festival 2009 (next Nuart is happening the first week of september 2010).
The top picture here is Blek Le Rat´s version of Peter Sellers and below you see David Choe (blue) and Swoon´s works.

Corroncho

Phil Manzanera's new album "Corroncho", where he works with Lucho Brieva is in the shops. I have mentioned this one before, but forgot all about it. Among artists guesting is Robert Wyatt. All songs are in Spanish, including a cover of Bob Dylan's "Forever young".

Free Jazz Friday

Peter Brötzmann (Tarogato) and Hamid Drake (Frame drum, voice) at SEA Theater, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, April 18, 2010.

Look to Norway for festivals

You always have my festival links in the blog, but here is a guide for you, if you have plans to visit Norway this spring and summer. No more volcanic ash please!
- Bergenfest 28/4 - 2/5. JI´ll see Jaga Jazzist and The Residents!
- Maijazz in Stavanger 4/5 - 9/5.
- Bergen International Festival will let loose their Nordic Impulses (picture) 26/5 - 9/6. I have only got tickets for Philip Glass and a children´s opera with music by Maja Ratkje.
- Nattjazz (Bergen) 26/5 - 5/6. I´ve singled out Stian Westerhus here.
- Kongsberg Jazzfestival 7/7 - 10/7.
- Moldejazz (19. - 24. juli) I sure want to see Hairy Bones ( Brötzmann, Nilssen-Love, Kondo, Pupillo) , Wiik/Vandermark/Taylor, Puma, The Core and Sidsel Endresen & Stian Westerhus, but Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck, Sonny Rollins and Missy Elliot are also coming. This is the 50th festival in Molde! More artists will be official soon, but let me be first with Paal-Nilssen Love and Peter Brötzmann playing a duo konsert at Reknes! I´ll be there!

I´ll be back with some autumn festivals later.

FNS

Psychedelia-folk or drone-folk? It just might be one of them, but who cares, better listen yourselves to the new album by FNS ( "FNS") on the Miasmah label (2010). It is a bit sad, it sounds like home made ambient, with layers of guitars that may be almost too monotonous ("Silence to say hello"), but also very beautiful ("I think she´s asleep"). Some of it even reminds me of the German Popol Vuh. A great album, if you ask me.
FNS is the Norwegian guy Fredrik Ness Sevendal, and Inga-Lill Farstad is guesting on vocal.
Shop in Norway at Tiger or Looop, who even claim this was released first time on Clearsnare Records in 2005.
Miasmah is run by Erik Skodvin, and if you don´t mind shopping at iTunes, they sell FNS and most of the albums from Skodvin´s projects Svarte Greiner and Deaf Center at what must be far less than what they are worth. Oh, I guess iTunes prices may not be the same in every country, but check it out.

A Wet Handle

BBC Radio 7 is broadcasting Ivor Cutler´s "A Wet Handle". It seems like every episode (1-5) is available on the net until the next one comes along. Two days left for Episode 1. Hurry up then!

And do watch the video of Adrian Crowley´s beautiful version of "Squeeze Bees" (originally on Cutler´s "Jammy Smears"), recorded in March this year.

Gavin Bryars Ensemble

While you are waiting for the program for the PUNKT festival (Kristiansand, Norway), check out Gavin Bryars Ensemble "Live at Punkt" (GB 2010) from the 2008 festival. This is not the kind of music I listen a lot to, being close to (what I think) is medieval music. What i will choose to call it then, is "extremely beautiful music"! That should describe it quite well.
The musicians are Anna Maria Friman and John Potter (voices), Morgan Goff (viola), Nick Cooper (cello), James Woodrow (guitar) and Gavin Bryars (bass and piano). Arve Henriksen is guesting on two tracks, one of them even written for him (according to Amazon UK).
My knowledge of Gavin Bryars is limited to the albums he´s represented on on Brian Eno´s Obscure label, but if you have heard "The sinking of the Titanic" and "Jesus blood never failed me yet", you will never forget it!

Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-love

Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love have been touring Romania. Check out this beautiful piece from 15 April. If you need some thing with more energy see this video, recorded two days earlier.
Follow Ken Vandermark, for news and impressions from concerts, on his site, on Twitter and on the FaceBook fan page.

Ashes to Ashes

Episode 3 of BBC´s "Ashes to Ashes" series 3 ends with Robert Wyatt singing "Shipbuilding", as the TV news shows that Maggie Thatcher is reelected! "The 80s are back and it´s criminal!"
More on this episode here.

Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt

I had a post on Mop Meuchiine earlier in the blog, and now it seems like a Robert Wyatt cover album is on it´s way, and Robert Wyatt is on it too. "Mop Meuchiine plays Robert Wyatt" will be released by Le Chant du Monde Variete in the beginning of May.
Here is the track list, and you´ll find some of them on the band´s MySpace site:

1 - Locomotive
2 - Sea song
3 - Instant pussy
4 - The british road
5 - To the next track {Interview Wyatt #1}
6 - Gharbzadegi
7 - I'm a believer
8 - Anachronist / A.W.O.L.
9 - Calyx
10 - Big bang theory {Interview Wyatt #2}
11 - 5 black notes and 1 white note
12 - Muddy mouse

Milwaukee Volume

Both "Chicago Volume" (mentioned in a previous blog post) and "Milwaukee Volume" (SMJZ 2009) by Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark should be in all good record shops now (or is that already "both good record shops"?), even if the Milwaukee album is not yet to be found where mp3 versions are sold.
Robot in Bergen have both of them on CD.
And of course you should go shopping! The music was recorded live in 2007, and it´s unbelievable how exciting a duo with drums and percussion (Nilssen-Love) and saxophones and clarinets (Vandermark) can be! Fantastic music.

The streets of Bergen

Just a couple of street art pictures from Bergen today. Seems like springtime finally hit us, both in the gardens and on the streets. The guy in the wheelchair is made by one of my favorites, Muskelpust, and Homer Simpson by a new one to me called H.E.Z.
If some of you (like a lot of people in Bergen do too) think this is vandalism, Homer is on a legal wall, and Muskelpust´s works usually disintegrate or end up in the bin after a while (being stickers or pasteups).
I always walk around with my camera in pocket, and upload most of my pictures on Flickr, right here if you want to see.

Don Rendell Ian Carr Quintet

Come along to a jazz club in London in 1966 with Don Rendell Ian Carr Quintet! Reel Recordings (2010) released "Live at the Union 1966". The tapes from this concert was found by Ian Carr´s friend George Foster, while he was boxing up material from Carr´s (1933 - 2009) home, after he had to move to a care home in 2007, suffering from Alzheimer.
The band was Don Rendell (fl, ts, ss), Ian Carr (tp, flugelhorn), Michael Garrick (p), Trevor Tomkins (dr) and Dave Green (b), but Dave Green had to run after two tunes, because he had an appointment to back Ben Webster at Ronnie Scott´s the same night, and Tony Reeves had to step in.
This is a fine historical document, that makes me want to check out the albums this quintet released , while they existed (1963 - 1969). Proceeds from the sale of this album will go to The Alzheimer´s Research Trust (UK).

Singing a song in the morning

Mushroom will soon release a new album called "Naked stoned and stabbed" on 4 Zero Records (Jun2 2010). On this one they have a great cover of the Kevin Ayers song "Singing a song in the morning".
The band is (according to YouTube info) Sonya Hunter on vocals, Erik Pearson guitar and vocals, Josh Pollock on uke and megaphone, Alec Palao on duicimer, Pat Thomas on drums, Matt Cunitz on keyboards.
Drawings: Nat Russell.

A Sunday video festival

OK, here is a short Sunday video festival, and watch only the first one if you hate low quality videos
Starting the festival are Mats Gustafsson (bs), Phil Minton (voice) and John Russell (g) at Cafe Oto (London, 11 April 2010). I have a strong feeling that I would spend a lot of time at Cafe Oto if I lived in London!
Then some history for you, with Charles Lloyd (ts), Keith Jarrett (p), Cecil McBee (b) and Jack DeJohnette (dr) at The Molde International Jazz Festival in 1966 (even if Karin Krog says 1967 in the intro).
At last two short and not too good videos (but we are desperate for Wyatt news!) from Comicoperando, La Musica di Robert Wyatt, Teatro Comunale, Modena, 1 March 2010 with Richard Sinclair, Dagmar Krause, Chris Cutler, Gilad Atzmon and others.

His Greatest Misses

Domino will reissue the fine Robert Wyatt sampler "His Greatest Misses". It was originally a Japanese Hannibal album (2004), and the new one will be out 7 June.
I would guess it is still possible to find the Japanese edition, and I hope they will keep the original cover on the new one, with drawings made by Robert when he was 6.
A fantastic collection of songs, if you ask my opinion.

Twin Peaks 20!

Damn! It´s time to celebrate 20 years since David Lynch´s TV series "Twin Peaks" was screened. I can still remember the shocking feeling during the first episodes, realizing how cool TV could be, with the perfect match of images and music, the mean crooks, the beautiful ladies, and the totally absurd story! Later on it got a bit too wild of course, but I was hooked anyway! I even bought games, books and the cassette ""Diane..." The Twin Peaks Tapes of Agent Cooper" (proof).
Hey, I have got a cherry pie in the oven and some damned good coffee brewing. Got to go!

Luxe Intérieur

Pardon my French, but it´s a piece on Robert Wyatt´s "Rock Bottom" in Luxe Intérieur (Numéro 1, Avril 2010).

I Learned The Hard Way

Make sure your dancing shoes are shined, and get up, because Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings are back with "I Learned The Hard Way" (DAP 2010). This is funky, tight soul, and even if the songs are mostly about the oh so hard love, it still turns out a party!
Sharon Jones is a grown up lady with a grown up voice, and the band is really smoking, with horns, organ and everything you need. The Dap-Kings are: Thomas Brenneck, Binky Griptite, Dave Guy, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Bosco Mann, Homer Steinweiss, Neal Sugarman and Fernando "Boogaloo" Velez.
I still love the previous album, "100 Days 100 Nights" (DAP 2007) (sorry, only in my Norwegian blog), but "I Learned The Hard Way" is even more complete. I don´t think the album has one weak track.

Richard Thompson´s Meltdown 2010

The line up for Richard Thompson´s Meltdown in London (June 11-21) is official (but more artists later perhaps). You´ll find what you need over at Beesweb, but let´s mention Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy, Martin Simpson, Van Dyke Parks, Loudon Wainwright III, Martha Wainwright, Rufus Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Elvis Costello and Richard Thompson himself, with (among other things) "Cabaret of Souls".

Lummy Days

Robert Wyatt is interviewed on sampling of voices in the Stackridge podcast "Lummy Days" (April 2010).

New Soft Machine CD/DV (1973)

Cuneiform will release a new CD/DVD with Soft Machine: "NDR Jazz Workshop Hamburg, Germany, May 17, 1973". This is of course Soft Machine after Robert Wyatt was out of the band, and after Hugh Hopper left too, but they made a few good things even then. Here is Karl Jenkins (sax), Mike Ratledge (keyb), Roy Babbington (b) and John Marshall (dr), with Gary Boyle (g) and Art Themen (sax) guesting.
Seems like it can´t be pre-ordered yet.

Yagi and Nilssen-Love

Paal Nilssen-Love is touring Japan with Atomic these days, but seems to have more energy to burn. Here he is with Michiyo Yagi (koto) at Inage Candy, Chiba (2 April)

Clint

Here comes a Swedish band I have to admit I have never heard about, with an album full of jazzy versions of music from Clint Eastwood movies. On Oddjob´s "Clint" (ACT 2010) they attack (and play with) compositions by Ennio Morricone and Lalo Schifrin (and others). I haven´t seen all the movies, and had to check the original music on Spotify, but this is a nice soundtrack anyway! Come on, you´ll make your own images. The only problem is that some of the tracks are a bit too short.
The musicians are: Goran Kajfes (trumpets, percussion), Per Johansson (saxophone, clarinets, flute), Daniel Karlsson (piano, fender thodes, organs, synthesizers), Peter Forss (acoustic & electric bass, guitar), Janne Robertson (drums, percussion) + Johan Lindstom (pedal steel guitar).
This is Oddjob´s fifth album, the previous four being "Oddjob" (2002), "Koyo" (2003), "Luma" (2006) and "Sumo" (2008).
A better review with track lists and all over at Fly Global Music.

Low Frequency in Stereo

Oslo´s Henie Onstad Art Centre uploaded some new concert videos. Here you see one of my favorite Norwegian bands, Low Frequency in Stereo. If you want some brutal stuff, check out Killl and Fire & Ignorance with MoHa!, Idan Hayosh and Anu Vahtra here.

Dexter Gordon

On April 16 The Library of Congress will officially acquire the Dexter Gordon Recorded Sound and Video Collection.
Let´s celebrate with a video where Dexter Gordon (ts), George Gruntz (p), Guy Pedersen (b) and Daniel Humair (d) play "Lady Bird" in Belgium in January 1964. I also can´t resist to show a video from the same year where Dexter enters a concert at The Molde International Jazz Festival (Karin Krog is singing)! What a guy!
He played with Tete Montoliu (p), Alex Riel (dr) and Niels-Henning Ørstedt Pedesen (b) in Molde at this festival (watch them here).

The Richard Thompson Songbook

Richard Thompson is a fantastic songsmith and guitar player, and now you can steal all his ideas! "The Richard Thompson Songbook" is finally ready and up for order. Order before 15 April, and you may even get a personalized message from the man. The songbook is in three volumes, and you get 157 songs to work on.
One of the songs in Volume 3 is "Dads Gonna Kill Me", and you may watch and learn from Richard Thompson in the video from Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2008.

Birds and Traces

See this video of Maja S.K. Ratkje og Kathy Hide´s "Birds and traces", that was performed at "Faster than Sound" in March. Frode Haltli is on stage too, and local kids sing Norwegian songs.
It was curated by The Wire, and you will find some more info here here (by clicking the double arrow).
I have posted from this project once before, and really would have liked to see this live! Music, birds and kids, now there´s three good things!

Robert Wyatt stencil

OK, I was drugged, gagged, blindfolded, taken through some of the darkest streets of Bergen, got my pockets emptied, got thrown into the trunk of a car, was left several miles outside town (no shoes), and got a clear message that they knew where I lived, but I finally got my Robert Wyatt stencil made by Snurre!
Damn, those street artists are a bit too paranoid for my taste!

Lean Left

Lean Left is Terrie Hessels (g) and Andy Moor (g), Paal Nilssen-Love (dr) and Ken Vandermark (ts, Bb clarinet). Their new album ”The Ex Guitars meet Nilssen-Love/Vandermark Duo: Volume 1,” (Smalltown Superjazz, 2010), is soon on the market (19 April). This is live material, recorded in Amsterdam in 2008.
On this tour the musicians started as a duo, Vandermark/Nilssen-Love or The Ex guitar players. Here Paal Nilssen-Love and Ken Vandermark is going on for some 10 minutes with fantastic duo playing (in "Left Lung" and "Lean Over") , until Hessels and Moor enters. It all ends up in a rocked out free jazz/improv party. They calm down almost to the point of loosing momentum towards the end of the longest track "Right Lung" (27 minutes) but blow up a storm again in "Lean Leftover"
Let me sum up: Tough enough, must have, play loud!
Cover: Rune Mortensen.