My Invitation

What a wonderful invention Skype is! I had a fruitful conversation with Luis yesterday about me coming to the Gouveia Art Rock festival in April. Not only could I speak to Luis for free yesterday, Luis' festival co-organiser Eduardo joined us for a brief phone conference. Unfortunately, the quality left something to be desired, but it was still great to hear about Eduardo buying a Volvo and that everything was going according to plan with the festival. Ticket sales have just started and things are going very well: a third of the tickets are gone already. Trust me, this will a packed festival with some truly fine music courtesy of the one and only Peter Hammill.



The very well-recieved lecture I gave last year at the Gouveia festival is to be published in this years' program. I have two, three weeks maximum, to get it ready. No problem really, but I want to have a closer look at it before I send it off. My manuscript was to be read, not to be printed. This can be compared to playing live and recording an album. Live, it might sound great and people may like what they heard, but when you commit to something being printed, you have to think twice about what you've written, your wordings and readability in general.

Luis and me also discussed my talk for this year. I mentioned a couple of ideas to Luis which he was kind enough to find interesting. I hope something interesting will come out of this in the end.

At Jazz i Malmo, I've got my hands full since our administrative producer has gone on to an exciting project. Hopefully things are now set for our concert with Miroslav Vitous on Saturday and Marc Johnson/Eliane Elias/Victor Lewis on Tuesday.

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NP: The Work of Director Anton Corbijn
A DVD featuring a selection of superb director Corbijn's work. Some great stuff here and some things I have never seen before, like Golden Earring's "Quiet Eyes". Generally speaking, this well-planned series featuing other great directors.

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"My Invitation" is a song from Canadian vocalist/pianist Sarah Slean's Night Bugs album. She isn't that well-known, but if you're into Kate Bush, Tori Amos or Rufus Wainwright, check out this truly fine artist. Night Bugs is a great place to start.

The Man with the Horn

This season's première at Jazz i Malmo got off to a wonderful start. In fact, it couldn't have turned out any better. A full house and a wonderful group on stage: Tomasz Stanko Quartet.



Stanko himself turned out to be a soft-spoken and very gentle man. His trumpet playing reflects this, but only to a certain extent. There is also the other Stanko, the man who was one of the leading horn players of the European free jazz movement during the late 60's and early 70's. Most of his early records were only released in Poland, and I as far as I know they haven't been officially released, at least not outside Poland. My favourite Stanko moments are from later dates. Matka Joanna from 1994 is a fine album and Leosia, released in 2000 is even better. The best album by Tomasz Stanko if you ask me. There is some incredibly dynamic and lyrical free playing on Leosia by Stanko, Bobo Stenson, Anders Jormin and master drummer Tony Oxley. If you are scared of free improvisation, but still interested in it, get this album!

The following day, our new administrative producer quit. Not good. We need a new administrative producer at once, since our previous producer, LL, decided to move on to a year-long project which she will be leading. I wish her the very best. I am sure she will do a great job. But a part of me wishes that she would have stayed, because she did a good job att Jazz i Malmo too. Who will I work with now? And when will we get a new administrative producer?

I met the very nice booking agent Robert Palmen for a couple of beers (and a pub quiz) on Wednesday evening. Another of the really nice guys! The idea is that he will book some gigs for IB later this year. Whatever comes out of this, it was great meeting this guy. We were lousy at the pub quiz though. At least the beer was good!

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Miles Davis has recorded lots of music. A great deal of it is amazing, some of the stuff is truly classic material. But the song "The Man with the Horn" is not. In fact, it is awful. It doesn't go anywhere, there are no interesting improvisations, the vocals are cheezier than Wallace & Gromit's idea of heaven.

Celebration

It's Wolfie's birthday today. Had he lived he would have been 250 years old today (and probably would have arthritis, amnesia and lots of other ailments). Am being terribly irreverent if I say I don't quite understand what all the fuss is about? Sure, I like Mozart's late symphonies, I like his "Dissonance" quartet (String quartet in C major, K 465), I like his "Alla Turca" (and have even performed it on stage) and some of the piano pieces. But that's about it I'm afraid. Can a trained musicologist really claim that he doesn't really like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that much? Well, at least I can.

Why? Put simply, the music doesn't speak to me.

Come on, you are a musicologist. Discuss!
OK. First of all, too many of his works are too happy sounding: major keys, merry melodies and uptempo. And I don't like opera, period. At least no operas from before 1950. The works that do not fit this description may have melodies that don't get me or they may be too formulaic.

Generally, the classic period is not my period of choice even though musical life during this period is really interesting, which is one of the reasons I am doing my thesis on musical life in Malmo during the first half of the 18th century. My favourites from this period would be Joseph Martin Kraus, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Beethoven the deaf. Genius or not - please spare me from hearing that misused word again in conjunction with Mozart - Wolfgang's music is not my cup of tea.

My thoughts on this are backed up by the most culturally aware budgie alive: Fassbinder. I have tried playing Mozart to him. No reaction. Beethoven? He loves most of the symphonies, the late string quartets and the piano concertos (featuring Alfred Brendel). A very discriminating gentleman, he is teaching his budgie friend Livingston about what's good and bad within culture.

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NP: The Dissonance Quartet as played by Quator Ysaÿe. Quite enjoyable, but certainly not up there with the mighty Ludwig's late quartets.

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Celebration is one of the two bonus tracks on Tony Williams' Lifetime's Believe It CD. Maybe not up to par compared to burning tracks like "Snake Oil", "Proto-Cosmos" or "Wildlife" where Williams just blows everyone away while grooving like there's no tomorrow and Allan Holdsworth playing like a burning stuntman.

Pa krigsstigen

Yesterday, i got a phonecall from a working partner who was on the warpath (= Pa krigsstigen). Our opinions on how to handle certain matters differed, but I am not so sure that the thing we discussed was really what it was all about. But I stuck to the hard facts and have since had a talk with The Leader and it turns out I was right all along.

Today, a good meeting with the two drumming Peters (Danemo and Nilsson) from the jazz co-op Kopasetic. There's a great name here if they ever want to do a duo project: Tva trumpeter. Remember where you read it first! But I digress. They presented a great and tempting idea for a two day jazzfestival in September. I will leave the decision to the booking group and we will see what happens. Their ideas were very cohesive and some aspects reminded me of IB Expo and the input I got from Jerry Marotta after the event. Very helpful comments indeed, for IB and for Kopasetic. On behalf of both: thanks Jerry!

When I am working in my office at the university, I tend to listen to iTunes on shuffle with the tracks overlapping at the beginnings and endings of each track. Occasionally, some really interesting mergers appear. Today, a Derek Bailey improvisation worked its way seamlessly into a Morcheeba track ("The Sea"). A random work of pure genious if you ask me.

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NP: Militanta Jazzmusiker - Bunker
I have had my eye on this CD for a while, but haven't listened to it until last week. Now I am listening to it again simply because it's a great album! It's wild, crazy and it comes with a healthy dose of fun! Some great solos by sax player Tomas Jonsson and guitarist Thomas Gunillasson.

My favourite track from Bunker is På Krigsstigen, which features Gunillasson performing some seriously anarchic guitar playing in between a stately theme which reminds me of something Shostakovich could have used while protesting against his political regime at the time. Their website enables you to download four tracks, among them Pa Krigsstigen. Go ahead, do it!

I'm Going Slightly Mad

Just before lunch, I had to take a break correcting exams. Instead, administrative work with a database called LUBAS called.

I have a degree in musicology, but not in bureaucracy or the fine art of interpreting incomprehensible manuals. My collegue phoned one of the support numbers given, but that person knew less than we did. The second round begins after a well-deserved lunch. Today: a microwave-heated vegetarian wholewheat pizza slice.

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NP: Terje Sundby - Ynde
Not that fond of the musicians playing on it, with the exception of trumpet player Staffan Svensson, whose work I enjoy. The sound - courtesy of Ake Linton - is good, but the music is directionless and without any edges to it. Competent, yes, but interesting, no.

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Queen's Innuendo was one of their best efforts ever I think. Several really strong tunes and Brian May in great shape. Freddie Mercury, on the other hand, wasn't, but you couldn't tell from the way he delivers the frequently odd lyrics. "I'm Going Slightly Mad" is charming, but not among the better tracks on the album. Fun video though.

Take It off the Top

Just for the record - pun intended - here's my slightly revised top ten CD list of 2005 in alphabetical order with very short comments:

Actis Furioso - Avanti Popolo!
Italian avant-world-jazz with a great sense of humour! Features Luca Calabrese, my favourite trumpet player.

Kate Bush - Aerial
It's features Pi, a duet with a blackbird (she should have phoned Jeff Beck up and made it a trio) and a song that combines Elvis with Orson. And the voice.

Fred Frith - Eleventh Hour
Moving with the grace of a ballet dancer. Only a few years ago, I wouldn't have thought the old avantgardist had it in him. But he has.

Isildurs Bane - Songs from the Observatory
Great. It would have been even better if we could have just a bit more Moog at the end of "Without Grace". Even though he is a friend, I still want to point out what a fantastic composer Mats is.

Eric Johnson - Bloom
An incredible guitarist with ears the size of Texas - please understand that I am writing metaphorically - and a guitar sound to die for. Can I please have more and longer solos and less covers next time please? That's right, I didn't like the Dylan cover.

Mick Karn - Love's Glove
A brilliantly groovy ambient EP from the master bassist. The final track occasionally makes the hairs on my arms point towards the sky. Support independent musicians, buy this!

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane - At Carnegie Hall
Miracles do happen! Hopefully, the Library of Congress will now employ more archivists so the rest of us can look forward to more holy grails like this one.

Spin Marvel - Spin Marvel
Super drummer Martin France's solo thing. It's electric, it's daring, it's exciting and France hasn't been on fire on this scale since the revolution!

Bobo Stenson/Anders Jormin/Paul Motian - Goodbye
A beautifully understated release from the finest Swedish jazz pianist alive. Period. How good is this? It is so good that yours truly - who hates musicals - even loves "Send in the Clowns" when this trio sends the old face painted jokers into the arena.

Franck Vigroux - Triste Lilas
Luckily I don't work in a record shop any more. I would have great difficulties categorizing this slightly eccentric French release featuring among others guitarist Marc Ducret. Is it jazz? Art music? Electronica? Avantgarde? Rock? None of the above? All of the above? I just know it's great.

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NP: ProjeKct One - Live at the Jazz Café

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Take It off the Top was written by Steve Morse and released on the Dixie Dregs' What If album back in 1978. If memory serves, English DJ Tommy Vance used it as a theme tune for his Friday Night Rock Show (or whatever it was called). One of the more straightforward tracks by this extremely capable US band. Great solo by Morse (as usual). One some of the tours they also included a drum solo by the scary Rod Morgenstein (what is he up to nowadays?). Phew!

Improvisation on Guitar Piece No. 1

Derek Bailey died on December 25. I came close to hearing him live once, at Copenhagen jazzhouse a couple of years ago where he was to perform with terribly overrated danish drummer Kresten Osgood. The gig was cancelled due to illness. At that point I had no idea that Derek was ill, and seriously ill at that.

Until he left us, I still had some hope of booking him at Jazz i Malmo or finding some way to get him to play with Christian Saggese. Now I can only imagine what this duet would have sounded like. Luckily, there are many recordings of Bailey, mainly on the Incus and Emanem labels. Support these companies and buy some Bailey recordings.

Derek Bailey (1930-2005) was buried this morning in London.

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Improvisation on Guitar Piece No. 1 is, of course, an improvisation by Derek Bailey. It is taken from the Tzadik CD Pieces for Guitar, featuring some of Bailey's earliest recorded playing. It is incredible to hear him play the way he does on these private recordings. The ideas were there already forty years ago, and he spent the rest of his life refining his art and craft.