Hassan Abou Alam
Fasla (Limited to 300 copies)

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!

Music From Memory are back with their first 12” of 2019 in the form of a five track EP from prolific German drummer Curt Cress.Since the early 1970s Cress has worked with a number of high profile German bands such as Passport, Atlantis and Snowball as well as on cult Disco records with studio groups such as Tender Aggression and Chime. Working tirelessly as a session musician for countless German and International Jazz, Rock and Pop acts, Cress has also worked extensively as a Producer, most notably for Nina Hagen. Cress would also record a number of records as a solo artist, with his unique sensibility as a drummer given centre stage.MFM 038 features three deep percussive workouts from his 1983 solo album ‘Avanti’, a record which has been a long time favourite the label. With the tracks ’Moonwalk’, ‘Power Vein’ and ‘Sundance’ now finally available on a loud 12” pressing. The EP also features two direct detours into House music by Curt with alternate versions of the forward thinking drum track ‘Dschung Tek’. Released in 1991 under Curt’s ‘C.C’ moniker, ‘Dschung Tek’ has been another big favourite of the last few years at the label after a tip by way of their pal Tornado Wallace.

A Seat At The Table, is the new album from Solange Knowles. Solange describes A Seat At The Table as ''a project on identity, empowerment, independence, grief and healing.''A Seat At The Table was written by Solange, and features a host of guest artists including Q-Tip, Kelly Rowland, The Dream, BJ The Chicago Kid, Kelela, Tweet, Moses Sumney, Sampha, Sean Nicholas Savage, Nia Andrews, Devonte Hynes of Houston Texas and Lu of Carolina.