EABS
2061

The compilation “Celestial Birds” reveals and focuses on the widely unkown electronic compositions of the AACM founder and jazz pianist MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS. #5 in the Perihel Series, curated by zeitkratzer director REINHOLD FRIEDL.Anybody interested in jazz knows that Chicago has always been an impressive hot spot for new talents – and still is. One essential landmark in the history and development of jazz was the founding of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) in May 1965. This non-profit organization was a melting pot (and starting point) for artists like ANTHONY BRAXTON, ROSCOE MITCHELL, GEORGE LEWIS or LESTER BOWIE and his ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO but one of its actual founding members is known only to the deep connaisseurs: MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS (1930 – 2017). The autodidact pianist and composer left music school and university, deciding to learn music by himself. From 1961 on, the EXPERIMENTAL BAND was his first ensemble, but it soon turned out that ABRAMS‘ interests went beyond jazz and that he was open to the avant-garde and new music and most of all: electronic music. Which led to a double problem: On the one hand, black musicians had almost no access to the rare electronic music studios located in and funded by universities or broadcasting corporations. On the other hand, there were strong reservations regarding electronic music in the black music community. In his important book “A Power Stranger Than Itself – The AACM and American Experimental Music” GEORGE LEWIS writes that “the use of electronics … proved controversial and widely misunderstood in a world of jazz in which acoustic instruments became conflated with musical, and eventually, cultural and even racial authenticity.” ABRAMS‘ response was to actually „hide“ his electronic pieces on the B-sides of his albums, and this compilation focuses on some of his best electronic experiments: the 22-minute long epic „The Bird Song“ from 1968 in its original version incl. the reverb that was removed on the later CD reissue on DELMARK, the synthesizer compositions „Conversations With The Three Of Me” (1989) and “Think All, Focus One” 1995) plus “ Spihumonesty” (1980) with a 2nd synthesizer played by GEORGE LEWIS and YOUSEF YANCEY on theremin.“Celestial Birds” casts a new light on the underrated experimenter MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS, his innovative approach to composition and pieces that lay dormant for way too long!

When his mother brought Stanley Turrentine’s Salt Song LP back from a trip to Canada, Julien Lourau, then a teenager, was impressed by the scope of the sound and the groove of the saxophone. He was also charmed by the lush arrangements and funky sound of the record, typical of releases on the CTI label. Created by producer Creed Taylor, CTI left an imprint in the minds of 70s jazz fans much like Blue Note did in the 60s, and it even ended up releasing work by artists who started out on this mythical label such as Stanley Turrentine and Freddie Hubbard. The two even shared the same sound engineer, the great Rudy van Gelder.Yet CTI, though highly prolific during its 15 years of activity, has not benefitted from the same aura as its predecessor.“To breathe life into this album, I listened to a wealth of CTI releases and discovered some I had never heard before. I noticed, oddly, that many of today’s musicians know very little about CTI - a label unfairly considered as minor.”The choice of tracks was determined by Julien’s personal tastes, always keeping in mind a desire to help people discover them yet focusing on the joy of actually playing them too.“The album is made up of 9 pieces. Mathieu Débordes got everything down to the nearest note before we even attempted to play them. CTI didn’t hold back in fuelling their compositions with brass and violins, but I erased this aspect and pared things down to a bass, drums and two keyboards.”English drummer Jim Hart, someone Julien worked with during his London years, propels the group - from hard-bop polyrhythms with “drum & bass” inflections to a reworking of classic Red Clay.Sylvain Daniel on the bass and Arnaud Roulin on the analogue keys are two musicians close to the saxophonist, and that he met when they were students in 1999 while organising a master class at the Conservatoire de Nantes. Since then, they have become his esteemed companions.The collaboration with young pianist Léo Jassef began on this recording, where he also plays the Prophet 5. The dynamic and overlap of the many keyboards played by Arnaud and Léo bring the record a richness of timbre and harmony that the strings and brass provided on the CTI recordings.For the final track on the record, Julien called upon his friend of 30 years, guitarist Bojan Z, for a fresh, Gospel take on Love and Peace, a track recorded by Quincy Jones in 1969, which here, is dedicated to Bojan’s recently departed brother.“When it comes down to it, this album really is as I had imagined it, with, luckily, a few unexpected turns. I created a playlist I then claimed as my own. But in the end, I must admit that I would have loved to have composed some of these tracks.”

Jungle By Night - Algorhythm After more than a decade of heating up dancefloors at over 600 festivals and stages in 34 countries and 6 released albums, the nine-headed instrumental collective Jungle by Night melted their years of passion, friendship, and influences from krautrock, dance, jazz and techno together into a new analogue compositionJungle by Night: ‘’In a world in which technology and its algorithms have become highly influential in our daily lives, we’d almost rather stare at our screens than look out for each other. With << Algorhythm >>, we pay a tribute to natural, spontaneous HUMAN rhythm as a counterpoint to the sophisticated intoxicating algorithms of the computer.’’The << algorithm >> It determines what we see, what we listen to, whom we meet. The worldwide web seems to be this free world in which everyone has access to everything and everyone. But in reality, it steers us in a certain direction. A direction that often feels natural, reassuring, safe even. It confirms our thoughts and doesn’t confront us with different ways of thinking, with new perspectives. While getting swallowed up in our bubbles, we slowly drift apart.With this new analogue album, nine-headed instrumental collective Jungle By Night bursts our bubble and reminds us to surrender to being human. With styles such as Dance, Funk, Jazz and KrautRock, mixed into a completely unique and inclusive genre of danceable music: Analog Dance Music, the band invites us to live in the moment and welcome serendipity. The oddball ensemble exists within its own cosmos and serves us a danceable and thundering live act, connecting with crowds like no other, with beaming fun and energy along the way.Jungle By Night: ‘’ During the corona crisis, we as a band had a lot of time to reflect on the role and function of (live) music. One of the magical powers of live music is how it can create an atmosphere of freedom, expression, and togetherness. Will we still be able to surrender to this after over a year of staring at our screens or have we drifted away? And is there any silver lining? This album explores the dividing lines between man and machine. The pandemic allowed us to take a new artistic step by implementing more theatrical elements to create a fully cohesive album.’’

Edition of 500 includes insert & large poster.Swedish progg is not to be confused with "prog" as in progressive rock music. When we are talking about progg, we are refering to the Swedish music movement influenced by the political climate of the late 60's, to some extent the hippie movement and in many cases also Swedish folk music. Music highly driven by an political agenda. Blod's Knutna Nävar, originally released in an edition of 150 copies on Förlag För Fri Musik in 2018 and later a small cassette run, is pretty much a lost progg classic from the 70's. This is not a case of copying a certain sound though, far from it, neither are ideas really rehashed nor does the album feel nostalgic in that sense. Rather it feels like if someone has read about the progg movement and all the records but never actually heard it, yet decided to do an album and somehow managed to succeed big time. Further developing the sound palette and ambience initiated with parts of the Leendet Från Helvetet recording, the music feels slightly louder and more in your face. It's like it's more of everything. The melodies are immediate and it's quite impossible to resist the brash catchiness of it all. Albeit mentioning progg music and it's importance for this recording, the actual musical side of Knutna Nävar has in reality more in common with soundtrack/library music and Swedish composers like the late Björn Isfält when you attempt to break it down. The crude DIY approach and anything-goes mentality just adds an extra dimension to it all and ultimately places the music somewhere else. There's a rather blunt use of samples throughout the record (sources probably best to leave out, though you don't have to be a Einstein to figure these out), but then again this is made by the same guy that gave the world the ABBA album. Those samples have managed to become an integral part of the music through the few years that has passed and though well familiar with the records those snippets are now to me genuinely Blod and nothing else. It seems like everyone has their own favourite but Knutna Nävar is the Blod album I have returned to the most. It has that extra something that sets it apart and if I would have to pick up a few records that sums up why Gothenburg has been a pretty damn awesome place to be in the last 10 years or so, this would definitely be one of the top picks.

feat. Elvin Jones & McCoy Tyner. Terrific reissue from the Blue Note Audiophile Series.