Joe McPhee

Robert Wyatt and Stuff is sorry that we are a bit late with birthday greetings to Joe McPhee , who turned 70 on 3 November. Check out his discography! How about giving a rockin' McPhee a try, and listen to "Sounds like a sandwich" with Norwegian band Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing! They even do Zeppelin's "Whole lotta love". (The album is almost too cheap on iTunes these days, worldwide I hope). Love that album! On the video you'll see Joe McPhee with Paal Nilssen-Love at the 2008 Kongsberg Jazz Festival.

Famlende Forsøk

A couple of days ago I posted a video of the Norwegian band Famlende Forsøk (that I knew next to nothing about) on Wyatting, but I'll take a chance and let some of you foreigners see them too! They read some wild poetry (mostly in Norwegian), claiming in the beginning that they will perform some "pling plong music, while waiting for economic support form the state"!
This piece is recorded at The Henie Onstad Art Center 25 October. You may disagree, but I get some prog and Canterbury feelings here. The band name translates something like "fumbling and trying". I think I like these guys.

Unseen Academicals

It´s been two years since the previous Discworld book ("Making Money") and one year since the previous book for young readers (that´s me included) ("Nation"), and now Sir Terry Pratchett´s new Discworld novel "Unseen Academicals" (Doubleday 2009) is in the shops. This time Pratchett takes a look at football (foot the ball) the Discworld way, and it may sound unbelievable but the smoking, drinking and eating wizards are playing! The capital goes bananas (of course), and our team is in fact doing well (OK, that´s pushing it) with the help of the tactical genius Mr Nutt. Mr Nutt is in fact an orc (the real evil), but he is of course accepted in the end, as werewolves and vampires are. And why not?
I sniggered my way through most of the book (and added a few good laughs), and was happy to meet again some of the old Discworld figures like my fast food hero CMOT Dibbler (cheap rat on a stick, "And that´s cuttin´my own throat").

Read an interview with Sir Terry Pratchett in theTelegraph. He´s got Alzheimer, but I hope he will manage to write some more Discworld novels!

Two French Wyatt interviews

- Quobus 23 October: "Robert Wyatt : Barbe Rouge au pays des merveilles".
- Robert Wyatt : l'interview - lesinrocks.com - 26 octobre 2009.

Bergen

22 May 2008 Frode Gjerstad (alto, clarinets), John Edwards (bass) and Mark Sanders (drums, percussion) played at the Bergen Nattjazz festival. I can not remember why I was not there, but now I may listen to the recordings from the concert on the CD "Bergen" (FMR 2009). I guess touring artists experience a lot, and we may just guess the background for the titles "Waiting for Ryanair" (Part 1 and 2) (four tracks on the record).
If you are sceptical towards free jazz, you have got two recommendations in this blog in a short time, both of them great live recordings. Today "Bergen", and a couple of weeks ago "Reknes" recorded at the Molde Jazz Festival. Frode Gjerstad is central on both of these albums.

Fishing in Oslo

Resonance

One of Ken Vandermark´s projects is Resonance. There are several quite new recordings to be found on YouTube, among them a concert held in Ukraina:
Magnus Broo: trumpet
Steve Swell: trombone
Dave Rempis: alto and tenor saxophones
Mikołaj Trzaska: alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Wacław Zimpel: clarinet, bass clarinet
Ken Vandermark: tenor and baritone saxophones, clarinet
Per-Åke Holmlander: tuba
Mark Tokar: bass
Tim Daisy: drums
Michael Zerang: percussion