Outsight
Outsight: Jazz It Up
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Outsight brings to light non-mainstream music, film, books, art, ideas and opinions.
Published, somewhere, monthly since July 1991. Feel free to re-print this article.
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Outsight Radio Hours Internet radio Webcasts with live interviews: Sundays 6pm-8pm EST http://www.new-sounds.net **************************************************************
JAZZ IT UP
With Earthworks, drummer Bill Bruford has built up an image for himself in the land of jazz to rival his profile in prog rock (Yes, King Crimson). Such artistic success in jazz requires constant performance with the same set of musicians so that the entire group is comfortable and completely inside the material. This is especially true for instrumental jazz written by the members of the group, as is the case for all tracks on this CD. Mostly relying on music previously released on CD by the current edition of Bill Bruford's Earthworks, the 2-CD set Footloose and Fancy Free (DGM) captures the group performing well-rehearsed material at the comfortable conclusion of a two-night appearance at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, London 2001... Natsuki Tamura and Satoko Fujii offer a concept album in Clouds (Libra Records). Each of the six tracks takes its name from a cloud species, as in "Cirrocumulus." Like the protean, fantastic nature of these denizens of the atmosphere, the free trumpet-piano compositions, lacking a true rhythm section, are unfettered, floating. Like in mind-inspired cloud busting, these pieces form into impressionistic melodies and than break apart in sputter improvisation only to reform elsewhere… For Mexican-American jump jive spicy as a habañero, do not miss Pachuco Boogie (Arhoolie). Featuring the work of Don Tosti, this compendium of original recordings features brisk Mexican raps in blistering barroom boogie with other assorted swinging Mexican swinging forms. This is an excellent time capsule of the post-World War II Mexican zoot suit culture… David Klein uses his Quarter to explore the cool jazz possibilities of tunes from Marilyn Monroe films on My Marilyn (Enja). After selling 30,000 copies in Europe, this disc is now available in the United States. The exquisite collection use the pieces as launching points into sophisticated jazz while vocalist Miriam Klein is on hand to assure none of the sexuality is lost in the swinging cerebral sounds… Percy Jones helped map out the jazz-fusion formula as bassist and founding member in Brand X. Percy now plays behind the vibes trio Tunnels. The remainder of the group, Marc Wagnon on vibes and drummer Frank Katz were also in Brand X. On Progressivity (Buckyball Records), John Goodsall appears as a special guest reuniting with his Brand X band-mate in a post-fusion progression of instrumental jazz-rock. Progressivity is an exciting recording of innovative electric jazz…
Listen to or Buy Earthworks at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Don Tosti at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Tunnels at CDNow
MONSTERISM DVD
Super Furry Animals announce a competition coinciding with the release of their critically lauded new album Rings Around The World (XL/Beggars Group). Chief prize in this on-line competition is unique DVD player, hand-painted by artist Pete Fowler. Pete Fowler is the artist behind SFA's sleeve design. His Monsterism dolls are available only from his Website. The DVD player will come complete with a signed copy of the Super Furry Animals interactive 5.1 Surround Sound DVD of Rings Around The World. This is a collection of 18 specially made films. To enter the competition, go here. There the rules explain how to use Pete Fowler's animated moonscape to find the 5 multi-choice questions that must be answered correctly for a chance to win. All entries need to be received by June 30, 2002.
JFA PLUS ON DISASTER
Disaster Records, the label of foremost skate-punk personality Duane Peters, releases May 6th the Punk Skate comp Concrete Waves. This contains brand new studio recordings from three acts. JFA formulated skate rock and spread the word through constant touring. On recording hiatus since vocalist Brian Brannon went to work in 1990 at Thrasher Magazine as music editor, these five new songs are the first additions to the JFA discography since No Blossoms (1988). Recent inductees into the skate rock are Blue Collar Special, also appearing here. Blue Collar Special appeared on Old Skars & Upstarts 2001 with the final group appearing here, The Worthless. This up and coming group has a 7" and LP on Taang! Records and the singer is Duane's nephew. You can hear an MP3 of JFA's "Skateboard Anarchy" at Alive.
'77 STYLE DETROIT PUNK
Scooch Pooch Records recalls original punk waves out of Detroit with the release of a Best Of by The Sillies entitled America's Most Wanton. Spanning a quarter-century history on a CD and LP release, this 12-track compilation is due out June 17. Included are their earliest live performances and rare, unreleased studio tracks. Criminally overlooked after their 1977 debut show with the MC5, Stiv Bators of the Dead Boys described The Sillies as "Detroit's Best Live Band." Missing several opportunities for greater notoriety, like a possible 1978 Detroit show with the Sex Pistols, The Sillies went on to share the bill later with The Damned, The Cramps, The Dead Boys, and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers. This anthology includes a 1980 recording of "Punk Rock Girl." This song features Dennis Thompson with Wayne Kramer. This is the first time they have appeared on a recording together since The MC5 in 1972. After the release, The Sillies will tour. The Sillies have always been a revolving cast behind core members singer/guitarist Ben Waugh and keyboardist Kurse-10. Slated to join the tour are Lunachicks drummer Becky Wreck and former fire-breathing Nashville Pussy bassist Corey Parks.
CD BABY TO DISTRIBUTE IUMA CD SALES
CD Baby (www.cdbaby.com) announced its distribution agreement with IUMA, part of Vitaminic Group, the leading European platform for the promotion and distribution of digital music over fixed and wireless networks. IUMA has now outsourced the distribution of all CD sales from its site to CD Baby's warehouse and distribution system. This is transparent to users of the IUMA site, who are still able to buy CDs from the IUMA site, but CD Baby completes and ships the orders. IUMA no longer requires a warehouse and shipping staff. This is a boon to the artists featured on IUMA, as they are now featured on CD Baby as well. CD Baby currently has an increasing customer base selling over 4,000 CDs per week. One third of these are international orders. CD Baby pays over $20,000 weekly to independent artists for CDs sold, and has paid over $1,200,000 to independent artists in its four-year history.
WOODBRIDGE ESTATES HONORS MOTOWN LEGENDS
A new residential community in Detroit, the Woodbridge Estates, features streets named to honor Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Supremes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, The Miracles, The Contours, The Four Tops and the late Marvin Gaye. Artists and their families attended a celebration marking the naming of the new streets. Woodbridge Estates salute other Motown musical luminaries later this year by naming parks in their honor.
Woodbridge Estates, a $97 million residential development, is a 47-acre, mixed-income, mixed-ownership development, benefiting from a public-private partnership between Scripps Parks Associates, and the Detroit Housing Commission.
Here are some recent releases of their Motown hits by the honored artists:
The Temptations
My Girl: The Very Best Of The Temptations
UTV Records
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
The Supremes
The Supremes Sing Rodgers & Hart - The Complete Recordings
Motown/UME
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
The Four Tops
Fourever
Hip-O Records
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
The Best Of Martha Reeves & The Vandellas
Motown/UME
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
Marvin Gaye
Let's Get It On (Deluxe Edition)
Motown/UME
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
REVIEWS OF READABLES ***************************
Sound Collector Audio Review
Sound Collector Magazine, POB 2056, NYC, NY 10013
info@soundcollector.com
Sound Collector Audio Review is a newsprint periodical for serious music enthusiasts. Breaking itself from the hold of label release schedules, the magazine offers lengthy, in-depth recording reviews of not only new releases, but also any recording in existence SCAR feels is in need of recollection and/or analysis. Reviews run into a couple feet of column inches as passionate and articulate writers provide exegesis on such albums as Thin Lizzy Vagabonds of the Western World (Decca/London, 1973). Graphics artists such as Joshua Krause provide art for the articles. This is another way SCAR breaks from the music journal mold as we are presented with less reproduced album covers or publicity stills. It gives this music enthusiast great pleasure to see that such recent (but not new) and noteworthy recordings as The Strokes Is This It? (RCA, 2001) are given just due in the same publication that still remembers the criminally underappreciated The Only Ones' Special View (Epic, 1979). A subscription to Sound Collector Audio Review is among the best education in full spectrum pop and rock appreciation available.
Robert Anton Wilson
The Walls Came Tumbling Down
New Falcon Publications
Robert Anton Wilson wrote this film script in the late '90's while settling into a new environment (Los Angeles) and recovering from a collapsed film deal. Wilson waited nearly a decade before publishing it. This is not one of Wilson's better works. Wilson's books of philosophy and social criticism shine with brilliance, wit and a clarifying debunking. Praise of these points festoons the covers here, but it is not The Walls Came Tumbling Down that earns that lauding. In the story Michael, an academic scientist, is so barraged with hallucinations and the paranormal that his entire reality is upset for reality only to emerge as a world run by a controlling shadow government with an extraterrestrial treaty. The quick scene changes and short dialogues threaten to unseat even the reader. The Golgotha imagery, folk hallucinogens and parallel universe theorization is a grab bag of alternate reality models that may have been advanced in the late '80's. However, it now reads as predictable, unexciting and not revealing at all. Certainly a necessary addition to the library of the Wilson completists, but a better entry point into his wisdom can be found in Reality Is What You Can Get Away With or Prometheus Rising.
More on the book from Amazon.com
Chuck Sher & Larry Dunlap, Editors
The All-Jazz Real Book
Sher Music
The All-Jazz Real Book is a sturdy, well-constructed volume. The strong plastic, large-diameter spiral binding allows the book to set open and legible on any page whether on the music stand or piano. The durability of the binding guarantees a long life for even the most referenced copy. The charts in this C-version use chord notation from Standard Chord Symbol Notation (Brandt and Roemer). These large-print symbols are easy to read off the page. Lyrics are provided for songs that have them.
This is a hip jazz book that goes beyond the expected. Do not look for "Caravan" or "Embraceable You" here. Instead, the carefully selected tunes fall into three genres: classic jazz (Miles Davis, Bill Evans, John Coltrane, etc.), international forms (Jobim, Eddie Palmieri, Orlando "Maraca" Valle, etc.), and contemporary jazz. Some examples of contemporary jazz, which fills half the book, are Astral Project, Kurt Elling, and John Scofield. Indexing is by title. Additionally, an appendix lists the source albums or sheets.
This book has the distinction of being the first such volume to include a CD. Both an excellent practice aid and good listening, the disc has 37 tracks performed by an electric or acoustic combo as appropriate. Chuck Sher points out that the songs on the CD are mostly those "people might be hesitant to try to play upon first glance." This is definitely the jazz fake book for the jazz student looking to expand his or her horizons.
Randy Halberstadt
Metaphors for the Musician: Perspectives from a Jazz Pianist
Sher Music
With a quarter-century of experience teaching jazz piano, Randy Halberstadt approaches the subject of learning music (music in general, not merely jazz piano) sagely and philosophically. While the book's kernels of wisdom can be of benefit to any music student, there does remain a focus that makes Metaphors primarily a useful adjunct to the study of jazz piano.
Halberstadt's personal remembrances, framed to showcase lessons learned, invite the reader to benefit from his experience. Through colorful, imaginary examples, Halberstadt seeks to jumpstart the brain into degrees of freedom required for a successful jazz state of mind. Along the way of fun and prose come well thought-out examples. Embedded in these sophisticated studies is the knowledge of years that makes practice more productive. Halberstadt's method moves away from rote rehearsing simple building blocks into shorter steps of logical progression that add variety to the learning process. To bring it all together, the volume includes sheet music for several tunes, among them "Embraceable You", "How Long Has This Been Going On?" and "My Foolish Heart." From fast fingerings to proper professionalism, Metaphors is a cornucopia of talent catalysts.
DVD REVIEWS *****************************
Primordial/Clint Flicks
The Phandom Menace
MVD/Eclectic DVD Distribution
This documentary plots the lives of the guiding members of Star Walking, an Australian Star Wars fan club. Leading up to the Australian release of Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, the appreciation society puts on two conventions, one before and after. Besides chronicling the heights of obsession and the lifelike costuming exhibited by these people, the film works as a study in the reaction of hardcore fans to Episode 1. The film's message, which seems to echo in the administrative changes in Star Walking after viewing the film, is how the 16-year wait for another Lucas chapter in the saga resulted in a build-up, euphoria on first viewing the film, and subsequent deflation as that hardcore fan, the fan that lived through the releases of the first three films, analyzed Episode 1, and found it wanting. (3)
More on this video title from CDNow
Psychic TV
Time's Up Live
MVD
Time's Up Live marks the first public performance in England by Genesis P-Orridge since he felt compelled to leave that country and reside in the U.S. Not only does Genesis perform with Psychic TV, but with Thee Majesty in this DVD. Eight Psychic TV songs are shown: "She Touched Me," "Riot in the Eye of the Sky," "Seduce Me," "Jigsaw," "I Like You," "Feet of Broken Glass," "Godstar" and a diabolical version of The Rolling Stones' "Play with Fire." However, this is just a portion of the 1999 Royal Festival Hall event. Also performing were Scanner, ? & The Mysterians and Billy Childish and Thee Headcoats. We get one song from each group along with a segment from The Master Musicians of Jajouka. Actor Quentin Crisp introduces each group and an additional feature of the DVD is a talk between Crisp and Genesis, mostly about why they both find life better in New York. Additional bonus material is videos for "Godstar" and "Scared to Live." (3.5)
More on this video title from CDNow
James Bruce, Director
Headless Body In Topless Bar
MVD/Eclectic DVD Distribution
The New York Post ran the headline "Headless Body in Topless Bar." The article underneath described how a "maniac" forced a patron to decapitate the tavern keeper. This loose frame and gruesomely vivid metaphor is the foundation for this brutal and direct film. Much like a play, the film relies on dialogue, characterization and a single setting, or scene, to tell the story. That is, rather than a single episode of splattering gore or running violence, the makers of this film chose the more difficult path of a conflict largely in words and situation to which the murder is incidental. Fortunately, the cast contains the talent and experience to pull this off: Raymond J. Barry (Dead Man Walking, Year of the Dragon), David Selby (Dying Young, Falcon Crest), Taylor Nichols (Barcelona, Congo), Jennifer MacDonald (Dream On, Red Shoe Diaries), Rustam Branaman (The Rapture) along with composer (turned actor?) Paul Williams (Picket Fences, The Doors). From these actors we are invited to watch the twisted circus run by a ringleader who is an ex-con with such a fetishistic desire to leave no forensic evidence at the scene that he walks out with a head and a box and every other head left behind gasping in garbage bags. Stripper Candy not only watches her life complicate as her john, a corporate lawyer with a taste for rubber, meets her lesbian lover, who is also a mortician with a sense of humor, but finds her near-naked advances rebuffed. Apparently, that is because the M.C. here is more stuck on recalling his own rapacious homosexual prison experiences summoned forth by one of the young men attending the bar. Also here is a wheelchair-bound man of tragedy who, along with others, participates at gunpoint in the killer's probing game of "Nazi truth." Headless Body In Topless Bar is a street-level film with the added dimension of gritty urban stereotypes that reveal more intricate psychological motivations.
More on this video title from CDNow
ELECTRIC, ECLECTIC WOMEN
With spring comes a cornucopia of recordings featuring female artists gathered into a bright garden on this reviewer's desk. Ginny Owens, on her sophomore release Something More (Rocketown Records), showcases a clarion pop voice with blues and folk hues that could be an Ani DiFranco - Sheryl Crow alloy. Owens adds a hip-hop-inspired use of electronic effects to her music… The live self-titled album from Norine Braun and the Mood Swings exhibits this jazz-styled vocalist in ballad and more rocking settings… Kathy Compton veers from bluesy ballads to gutsy rock tunes on Recovering Humans (Frosty Orange Records)… Jana McCall opens Slumber (UP Records) with an indie rock dirge called "Eyes Aglow." As a former member of Dickless, she has roots in the Seattle grunge scene and that tough core sometimes arises here, but in the melancholy mood, strings and slide guitar is a more reflective, mature artist… With a name like The Booty Olympics, you can expect over-the-top hormone-fueled rock antics from the female trio on Boystyle. You get some of that, but this is not just an explosion of hard rock femmes fatale. (You can get that for all it's worth on the new self-titled album from Tootsie.) The delivery is actually more restrained and song-oriented here. This is something that recalls 80's power pop and that early and most unpretentious indie girl group, The Avengers… For exquisite, ethereal vocals listen to the serene, atmospheric pop songs on Into Heaven by Sun Palace (Drake Ent.). The multi-tracked vocals of singer-songwriter-keyboardist Andriette Redmann already garnered her popular success in Italy. Working through the tragic loss of her parents led to the introspective and hopeful lyrics here. Her talented band includes co-producer and guitarist John Rokosny (Smithereens, Carry Nation), drummer/percussionist Mark Brotter (Billy Idol, Hem) and as lead guitarist, Discipline Global Mobile artist Tony Geballe. Along with the title track, a feature track here is the free rendition of the Jethro Tull classic "Skating Away on the Thin Ice of the New Day"… Also featuring keyboards and atmospheric vocals is Queenie's debut self-titled CD. Samples can be heard at http://www.mp3.com/queenie. Her lyrical content is inspired by the fantastic: science fiction and fairy tales. Her piano melodies, especially in their ornamentation, derive from the classic: Renaissance motets and film scores… Joanna Connor was a performing blues singer as a teenager. At 22 she relocated to Chicago and begin working with James Cotton, Junior Wells, and even Buddy Guy. Her original songs and guitar work is featured on The Joanna Connor Band (M.C. Records)… Cee Cee Michaela has a face familiar to many as Yvonne on the UPN comedy Girlfriends. Now she exhibits her vocal talents, too, on her soulful urban pop Everbody's Talkin' (DBV Records)…
Listen to or Buy Giny Owens at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Jana McCall at CDNow
Listen to or Buy Booty Olympics at Amazon.com
Listen to or Buy Sun Palace at Amazon.com
Listen to or Buy at CDNow
CD REVIEWS ******************************
Emma McGlynn
5th November
Impatio Sound Ltd., 70 Temple Rd., London, NW2 6PN, UK
mail@impatiosound.com
Emma McGlynn has a breathy, honest and aching vocal delivery like the most neo-folk sounds of Ani DiFranco. In this, she also recalls the sounds of Australia's Diana Ah Naid. Emma plays guitars and piano on this album, an exquisite four-song EP of post-folk songwriting that rises above coffeehouse amateurism into a very sophisticated and memorable realm. (4)
Eels
Souljacker
Dreamworks
Eels take the style of orch-pop, but leaves the sap behind. The group takes the aggression of neo-punk, but leaves the pretentiousness behind. The marriage bed for this fusion is mostly hard funk rhythms, but leaving the discotheque behind. The result of this formula is a highly developed and sophisticated rock sound that transcends trends. Songs like "That's Not Really Funny," the two-part title track and "Fresh Feeling" update the dark carnivalesque sound of The Doors and recall the later Detroit aggro sounds of Laughing Hyenas as well as ferocious, third-wave garage rockers. In the primitive, visceral rock styles artfully woven together, Eels merge quite effectively such contemporary approaches as sequenced sounds and synthesizers. (4.5)
Louise Hoffsten
Kära du
Samsø Records America, POB 50063, Austin, Texas 78763
samsomusic@aol.com
As American pop singers look back to blues for an authentic, rootsy approach, so do Swedish songwriters harken back to romantic folk songs of the early 1900's. The title of this album translates to "Dearest You," taken from one of the included songs. Taken from that body of work created by and for maids and farmhands and given an easy, bluesy base of instrumentation, these songs in Swedish breathe and compel with genuine emotion. Originally released on BMG Sweden in 1996, this CD reissue is an excellent opportunity to begin exploring the rich body of work from this Swedish chanteuse. (4.5)
Listen to or Buy at Amazon.com
Outsight is non-mainstream music news and views. The content is wholly based on new releases and a focus on the the eclectic and overlooked.
