RhoDeo 1730 Tales 06

Hello,

Today's artist was an American author and screenwriter. He worked in a variety of genres, including fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction. Widely known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953), and his science fiction and horror story collections The Martian Chronicles (1950), The Illustrated Man (1951), and I Sing the Body Electric (1969), our man was one of the most celebrated 20th- and 21st-century American writers. While most of his best known work is in speculative fiction, he also wrote in other genres, such as the coming-of-age novel Dandelion Wine (1957) or the fictionalized memoir Green Shadows, White Whale (1992).

Recipient of numerous awards, including a 2007 Pulitzer Citation, Bradbury also wrote and consulted on screenplays and television scripts, many of his works were adapted to comic book, television and film formats. On his death in 2012, The New York Times called Bradbury "the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream.... N'joy.

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The Ray Bradbury Theater is an anthology series that ran for two seasons on HBO, three episodes per season from 1985 to 1986, and four additional seasons on USA Network from 1988 to 1992. It was later shown in reruns on the Sci Fi Channel. All 65 episodes were written by Ray Bradbury and many were based on short stories or novels he had written, including "A Sound of Thunder", "Marionettes, Inc.", "Banshee", "The Playground", "Mars is Heaven", "Usher II", "The Jar", "The Long Rain", "The Veldt", "The Small Assassin", "The Pedestrian", "The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl", "Here There Be Tygers", "The Toynbee Convector", and "Sun and Shadow".

Many of the episodes focused on only one of Bradbury's original works. However, Bradbury occasionally included elements from his other works. "Marionettes, Inc." featured Fantoccini, a character from "I Sing the Body Electric!". "Gotcha!" included an opening sequence taken from "The Laurel and Hardy Love Affair". Characters were renamed, and elements added to the original works to expand the story to 23–28 minutes or to better suit the television medium.

Each episode would begin with a shot of Bradbury in his office, gazing over mementos of his life, which he states (in narrative) are used to spark ideas for stories. During the first season, Bradbury sometimes appeared on-screen in brief vignettes introducing the story. During the second season, Bradbury provided the opening narration with no specific embellishment concerning the episode. During the third season, a foreshortened version of the narration was used and Bradbury would add specific comments relevant to the episode presented. During the fourth and later seasons, a slightly shorter generic narration was used with no additional comments.

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The Ray Bradbury Theater 05 The Screaming Woman (avi  352mb)

While playing in a seemingly deserted part of the local forest, little girl hears a woman screaming. Is she imagining it? Is it a ghost? No one believes her so she takes the matter into her own hands. Features Ray Bradbury in a cameo.


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Here a series of Ray Bradbury stories specially dramatised for radio with introductions by the author.

Ray enthusiastically agreed and, joined by writer Catherine Czerkawska and director Hamish Wilson (who had collaborated on some Bradbury stories broadcast by BBC Scotland), we embarked on a series of 30-minute plays under the generic title Ray Bradbury's Tales of the Bizarre.

Ray Bradbury introduces his own spooky tale of confessions and confectionary dramatised by Catherine Czerkawska. Starring TP McKenna as the priest and John Yule as the young man. Director: Hamish Wilson



Ray Bradbury - 06 Skeleton (mp3  26mb)

06 Skeleton 28:34

Harris is troubled by his bones. An expert is needed - a real expert. Who better than Doctor Munigant? Stars Bob Docherty as Dr Burley, Stuart McQuarrie as Harris, Paul Morrow as the man in the bar, Wendy Seager as Clarice and Liam Brennan as Munigant.


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previously

Ray Bradbury - Night Call, Collect (mp3  27mb)
Ray Bradbury - Have I Got a Chocolate Bar for You (mp3  24mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Jar (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - The Fruit at the Bottom of the Bowl (mp3  26mb)
Ray Bradbury - I Sing the Body Electric (mp3  26mb)

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RhoDeo 1730 Sundaze

Hello, so Chris Froome gets to keep the yellow jersey for another year, purely for being the better timetrialist, no stage win just efficient. It wasn't an exiting tour some great wins by Barguil and Mollema but once Sagan was ridiculously disqualified a lot of potential was lost.



Today's Artist is a 'space' rock producer, one of the few ambient producers to use an electric guitar as his main source of music. He started playing guitar in 1980, playing what he could from the radio. It was not until he took classical and jazz guitar classes that he was introduced to different forms of guitar playing. Mostly influenced by the early sounds of Brian Eno's Music for Airports, the now experienced guitarist found his niche in ambient music, or space rock. Using his guitar and a slew of distortion pedals, and even sometimes a knife to bow the strings, his work developed a strong fan base..... N'Joy

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Jeff Pearce is an Indiana-based ambient/new age musician. He has been called "one of the top two electronic guitarists of all time" by Allmusic, while reviewer John Diliberto wrote in Billboard magazine that Pearce is "one of the best" guitarists to follow the solo electric guitarist concept. Pearce started playing guitar at age 13 and discovered the music of Brian Eno and Harold Budd while in college

Since 1993, Jeff Pearce has been well known to the ambient/new age music community for his unique approach to the electric guitar. He has been called "one of the top two electronic guitarists of all time" by AllMusic while reviewer John Diliberto wrote in Billboard magazine that Pearce is "one of the best" guitarists to follow the solo electric guitarist concept.  Whether playing intimate acoustic-based music or crafting deep-space ambient guitar drifts, Jeff composes music with equal parts melody and mystery.

Pearce's first album, Tenderness and Fatality, was released in 1993 and the following six albums saw Pearce focusing on creating music using only electric guitar. His albums To the Shores of Heaven and Bleed were picked as "album of the month" by the producers of NPR's Echoes radio program. For his eighth and ninth albums, Lingering Light and Rainshadow Sky, Pearce featured compositions written for the Chapman Stick.

Jeff is an active live performer, having played venues ranging from historic churches and concert halls to planetariums and dance clubs. His live performances are memorable events, mixing songs from his cd's with humorous storytelling and surprising musical improvisations.  He has shared with stage with such performers as Will Ackerman, Stephan Micus, Steve Roach, Jonn Serrie, and Liz Story. Pearce's music can also be heard on the nationally syndicated weekly radio program Music from the Hearts of Space.

Jeff has also contributed his guitar and Stick playing to recordings by Kevin Keller, Paul Avgerinos, Jeff Oster, Robert Linton, and Vidna Obmana


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In caps, says that "No keyboards or guitar synthesizers used on this recording. Jeff Pearce produced the oneiric atmospheres of Tenderness and Fatality (Windchime, 1993) by processing and overdubbing melodic themes played on the electric guitar. The effect is similar to listening to several Mike Oldfield melodies played in the same room but slightly out of synch. Pearce abandoned that pastoral mood and embraced a more intense style with the layers and layers of electronically-processed guitar that compose The Hidden Rift

Jeff Pearce - Tenderness and Fatality  (flac 156mb)

01 Upon The Edge Of Industry (3:54)
02 Two Bridges (3:40)
03 Gone And Forgotten (4:19)
04 Tenderness And Fatality (4:09)
05 Marionette (3:56)
06 As Memory Fades (2:46)
07 Their Angels Always See His Face (3:38)
08 A Year Of Silence (4:09)
09 This Frozen Land (4:53)
10 One Midnight Walk (4:11)
11 Long After Dark (4:27)

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Guitarist Jeff Pearce's caverns, clouds, and plateaus of resonant tones seem to pull from all restrictions of space and time. His arpeggios and melodies are extended and caressed (with help from Barry Stramp of Coyote Oldman). The pure tonal quality offers a sonic massage, an effect that could be enhanced by positioning oneself between the speakers. An album like this could slip one into the hypnotic realms, but Pearce colored the piece with enought gentle dissonances and piquant turns to keep the mind sharp. The effect is like an angel tightrope walking in heaven.

Jeff Pearce - The Hidden Rift (flac  190mb)
 
01 The Hidden Sky 3:53
02 Shadow Of Surrender 4:03
03 On Silent Paths 4:55
04 Last Light 5:57
05 Rain Clouds 10:20
06 Aftermath 5:02
07 Parting Words 4:49
08 The Hidden Rift 19:18

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Vestiges is the album that gained recognition for Jeff Pearce. Indeed, shortly after the release of this disc he signed with Hypnos Recordings and Mike Griffin. It is very easy to hear Griffin's reasons for signing Pearce. This atmospheric minimalism is just on the verge of Pearce's breakthrough from dark ambience and "scare the kiddies" music. (Pearce has made similar references in the past.) This soundscape teeters on the brink of bright and hopeful minimalism. It teeters on the edge of dark ambience, too. Pearce knew where he wanted to go; he was having trouble going where he needed to go. Such difficulties are all too human and Pearce's humility allows him to see and experience his shortcomings. This album will appeal to fans of James Johnson, Dave Tollefson, Darshan Ambient, and Terra Ambient. For fans of electronic minimalism it is essential. For casual fans, Pearce has better albums.

Jeff Pearce - Vestiges (flac 222mb)

01 Lost Summer 2:37
02 The Outer Circle 4:35
03 With The Morning Light 5:20
04 North Refuge 10:53
05 Vestiges 10:40
06 Eastland Nightfall 24:16

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This record begins with Jeff Pearce's trademark guitar synthesis and a short guitar solo by Serge Devadder, and only gets better as Vidna Obmana contributes his synthesized ambiences to the flow of the piece. This recording verily represents the coming together of two of the finest artists working in the ambient genre. Obmana and Pearce state that True Stories represents the true collaboration between the two of them. It is a departure from both of their current works, in that all the pieces are almost miniature in nature and combine as parts of a puzzle, or, in this case, like the chapters of a book. Their mutual passion for the intimate, serene, and beautiful lead them to where they both were able to pull inspiration from their personal lives and the experiences they share as human beings. They felt that True Stories is such a statement but it also offers the listener a place to dwell. They definitely have created a special thing in True Stories. While this recording stays with their own ambient direction, it is quite possibly one of the best records artistically from either of their catalogs.
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Jeff Pearce and Vidna Obmana - True Stories (flac 291mb)

01 Opening Theme 3:40
02 Wander 5:29
03 Horizon of Thought 6:07
04 One Question 5:54
05 Frozen Breath 6:34
06 True Stories 4:44
07 Viewing the Distance 7:15
08 A Scattering Flock 7:44
09 The Open Darkness 5:58
10 Bright Clouds 3:45
11 Still Unknown 4:43
12 Closing Theme 4:06

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As the bio above is rather limited i thought to share here an excellent interview by Ambient Visions with Jeff Pearce in 2001


Talks With Jeff Pearce

AV:  When was it that you first realized that music was going to be an important component of your life?

JP:  Music always moved me as a listener, so, in that respect, I knew that music would always be an important part of my life.  But my OWN music?  That happened when I strummed my first guitar chord at the age of 13.  To just feel those strings vibrate under my fingers, to hear the sounds change as I moved my hand around- I knew right then that I wanted this instrument to be the main outlet for my musical expressions.

AV:  Were guitars always your instrument of choice when it came time to write music?

JP:  No.  I started out my musical life as a drummer.  Before that, I was the victim of a few piano lessons! (laughs) Unfortunately, I didn't quite "take" to that instrument when I was seven years old.  To this day, I have a lot of instruments around the house that I'm constantly playing- a piano, a synth, a zither- and they all inspire the creative process, but I really don't see myself ever recording my music with them.  I respect my audience- and my own music- too much to subject either one to the noodlings I make on these other instruments! (laughs)  There's a "freshness" that DOES come from experimenting with other instruments, but that freshness can be taken back to your "main" instrument, with a little bit of creativity.

AV:  Who were some of your early influences in the ambient music field that helped to shape the sound of your music?

JP:  It was all basically Brian Eno and Harold Budd.  I came across a cassette copy of "Music for Airports" at my college bookstore in late 1985, and it was an incredibly "mind-altering" experience.  I heard elements of chance and randomness introduced into music, yet without all the chaos and atonalism that I head in modern classical music.  Then, about a week later, I picked up a copy of "The Pearl" by Budd and Eno.  This time, I heard a more structured approach, but it STILL was in that wonderfully reflective place that I heard in "Airports".  A week after THAT, I picked up Eno's "Music for Films".  To this day, I still think that this ambient genre of ours can be best represented by these three recordings.  There was no "ego" in any of these, Eno and Budd weren't out to loudly proclaim their greatness to all who would hear.  They were simply making the music for themselves, on their own terms, and were patiently awaiting to see what shape the music would take.  That patience, sadly, is absent from so much of today's ambient music, at least to my ears.

AV:  Did you ever have any formal training as far as your music goes or was it mostly pick it up as you go along? Do you see any advantages or disadvantages to having or not having formal musical training as opposed to teaching yourself?

JP:  I took roughly three years of classical and jazz guitar lessons in high school, and played in jazz bands and studied percussion in college.  I can only speak for me, but I'm glad that I know how to read music and know music theory.  Being able to do this not only gives me the potential to connect with musicians from all over the world, but it also gives me a chance to connect with music that was written hundreds of years before I was born.  I don't see an advantage or a disadvantage to reading music/knowing theory in the world of music composing; Brian Eno picked up things as he went along, but Harold Budd was a very schooled musician.  It's often a romanticized notion, especially in this genre of music, of the musician who proudly proclaims "I don't know anything about music theory- I play from the soul!". Unfortunately, this has lead to something of a form of "reverse discrimination" in certain circles- musicians quietly viewed as being "soul-less" just because they know how to read music, or know music theory.

AV:  I think I've asked this question of other musicians that I've talked to but I'm always curious as to how your environment affects the kind of music that you create. How did your environment (geographic/emotional) affect your writing and the style of music that you chose to pursue?

JP:  I consider the enviroment I'm in to COMPLETELY affect my kind of music.  At the moment, my wife, daughter, and I live on five secluded acres of forest in Indiana.  We have a nice stream that goes through the property, and a lot of wildlife around us.  I love looking out the window and seeing the seasons progress.  It's beautiful, to my eyes, to see things slowy change every day.

For what I do, I can't imagine a more boring place than somewhere that doesn't have seasonal changes- where it's always hot or always cold all the time.  I like the element of progression in music.  In MY music, that's probably the reason that I DON'T use "static" loops- where the same thing just repeats over and over and over.  I like to always have something new going into the delay line, at the same time that something old goes away. And the seasons are like this- every day, something new arrives as something old dies off.

AV:  About when was it that you started to think of music in terms of a career and something that you could actually do for a living?

JP:  I haven't done this yet, but I probably will soon! (laughs)  Really, I DON'T view this whole process as a "career", because I know that, at least for the moment, this genre is way too small to sustain my approach to what I do.

There are a handful of guys out there "making a living" with this music and nothing else.  God bless them, I say.  But they are often working at a pace that I personally would feel uncomfortable working at.  If I were cranking out a lot of cd projects a year, the quality of my music would suffer.  I know this.  Maybe these other people's music doesn't suffer from this pace, but mine would.  My views of my music are such that I see what I do musically to be a piece- a very important piece- of the overall puzzle known as my life.  Right now, I feel like there's a balance in the puzzle- at least at the moment!  The other pieces of the puzzle are my family, my friends, my health, spirituality- the whole big picture.  And yes- once all the pieces fit, life often scrambles up the pieces again, and you start all over.  That's how it should be.  But I know that if I were to make my music the biggest piece of the puzzle, my "life" would be poorer for it.  Then, ironically, that neglected life would start to feed bad energy back into the music, diminishing THAT as well.

AV:  Is there a conflict between you as an artist who creates the music for the joy of expressing himself and you as a businessman who must view the created music as a product that you have to bring to market? How is it that you balance these seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum to > achieve something that is satisfying to you as artist but allows you to make money from your creations?

JP:  That part of the question is easy- I DON'T make money from my music! (laughs)  Well, not very much at least.

I'm blessed that I work with a guy like Mike Griffin and the Hypnos label. Mike has a very business-like approach to Hypnos, don't get me wrong.  But it's BECAUSE he has such a good business head that he can put out cd's that personally move and inspire him.  I'm honored to be among that group of musicians.  Mike doesn't get caught up in the "unimportant things" surrounding this music; if there was ever a "zen record label head", that would be Mike Griffin!  (laughs)

Regarding the release of my own music, I'm afraid that I don't have any pained or tortured insights on the process; I simply release the absolute best music that I can with every cd I put out.  Not a very exciting answer, right?  "Trust" is the most important thing between an artist and an audience, in my opinion.  And I want those who have blessed me by listening to my music to know that whenever they listen to a Jeff Pearce cd, they are hearing the absolute best that Jeff Pearce could do- it wasn't rushed, it wasn't an after-thought, it wasn't an attempt to further my catalog or my "presence" in the "music scene".  It was simply my music, and the best of my music that I could create at that time.

AV:  Looking back on some of your sophomore recordings are there any that stand out as favorites even now? What was it that makes them shine even after their time has passed?

JP:  I still like my first cd "Tenderness and Fatality" from 1993.  I took some heat from some ambient folks on that one, because that release was mostly recognizeable guitar sounds, and those sounds appeared in structured SONGS! (laughs) There were three cuts on there that forshadowed my more "processed" leanings- cuts that I did with a trusty Electro-Harmonix delay box, creating long infinite repeat delay lines and such.

A lot of these "spacy textures" I was experimenting with ended up appearing on my cd "Daylight Slowly" in 1998, which is another release of mine that is a nice nostalgiac listen for me.  And I truly enjoy "To the Shores of Heaven", because, with that release, I was experiementing with textures and sounds that were different than what I had previously done, and different than what is the norm for "ambient guitar".  But I also took the time to make sure that these sounds were worked into some good songs.  Sounds are great, songs are better!  (laughs)

AV:  Do you have a certain way that you approach composing music when inspiration strikes you? Or is there some way that you start the process simply by sitting down with your guitar and beginning to play?

JP:  Again, this is another not-so-exciting answer, but I really just let the "muse" or inspiration or whatever it is dictate the composing.  I really DON'T try to force things out.  I've always felt that if I wanted my music to feel smooth and effortless and flowing, then I'm not going to achieve that feel if I try to "force" the creation of the music.  Sometimes inspiration strikes me while I have a guitar in my lap.  But very rarely. Most of the time, inspiration strikes me while I'm just living my life-talking with friends, spending time with my daughter, cooking, doing yardwork.  Oh, and sleeping- and I'm not crazy about inspiration striking at 2:00 am!  (laughs)

AV:  What kind of equipment do you have around the house to set down your inspirations in a permanent form for later manipulation?

JP:  I'm fortunate that I have a very small yet intuitive set up in my basement studio.  I have a Roland VM3100pro digital mixer hooked into my computer, and all my effects units and guitars hooked into the mixer.  When inspiration strikes, I can quickly call up my Sound Forge program on my computer and record my "musical thoughts".  Sometimes the whole thing comes out.  Other times, it just a piece to a puzzle that will present itself at a later date.  Regardless, I am always thankful for whatever arrives because of inspiration.

AV:  How has technology changed the way that you as a musician take your creative idea from inspiration to final mix, ready for duplication and distribution?

JP:  I've only recently gotten into the more technical/computer end of music making, and it's been a pretty steep learning curve!  I've been very happy to embrace this technology, though, because it means total freedom for the musician.  Or total chaos if you have a computer crash!  (laughs)  It's been useful to have all the songs on my hard drive, and be able to tweak them to my heart's content before burning a cd-r of them and sending it to the pressing plant.

AV:  What was the first CD that you created and saw pressed and distributed by a record label? How does that feel as an artist to see your work moving beyond just you and out into the world?

JP:  My first cd, "Tenderness and Fatality" was a self release project in 1993. It was a really odd feeling when it was sitting in front of me in physical form; I felt a little like I was at the end, and also the beginning, of a journey.

AV:  I don't always think of a guitar as being a real subtle instrument but you seem to bring forth some wonderful sounds from your guitar...how is it that you process these signals to achieve such a flowing sound?

JP:  I tend to approach my guitar in the same way as I cook- I throw everything at it, and examine the final results.  If it tastes bad, well, I've eliminated one "recipe" from my library!

In recent years, I've found it far more liberating to focus on a few pieces of gear that really speak to me, as opposed to trying out a lot of different things.  For example, the "mainstay" of my guitar set-up is the Roland GP-100 pre-amp.  It's just a very deep and powerful processor, and I'm always discovering new things on it.  I might not be discovering those new things if I were to buy a new piece of gear as soon as it came out and spend time with that- until a new piece of gear comes out!

What I REALLY like doing is taking effects that other musicians ignore for whatever reasons, and combine them with OTHER effects that musicians tend to overlook or underuse.  Sometimes the result is disappointing.  Ok, a LOT of times the results are disappointing!  (laughs) But the times that it DOES work- it's great.  Again, though- I've had more fun hooking my good old gear up in the "wrong" order than I've had with pieces of "ambient musician approved" gear.

AV:  Tell me about how you hooked up with Mike Griffin and Hypnos records and what kind of relationship as an artist that you have with him. What kind of input does Mike have in regards to your music before you reach a final mix?

JP:  Mike Griffin e-mailed me out of the blue in mid-1997 saying that he bought a cd of mine and really liked it.  He mentioned that he had a web site, and gave me the address for it.  I was completely blown away by his artwork.  As we started corresponding, we developed a friendship- one which I cherish to this day.  If anything, that's the most important aspect of our relationship- we both know that we can phone/e-mail each other if we want to rant and rave about AC/DC or Rush or Cheap Trick, or have deep philosophical discussions about the importance of videogames in our lives!

Mike and I sort of have an unspoken agreement regarding my music- he doesn't tell me what to play, and I don't deliver him a hip-hop cd!  Seriously, he has such trust in me for what I do musically, that I don't want to deliver him anything short of my best.  I value that trust he has placed in me.

AV:  Is performing live as an ambient artist any different than putting on a concert within any other genre? Are there the same expectations or is there another mindset present within the ambient listener?

JP:  I'm not the person to ask about live performances!  (laughs)  I've only done three of them.  However, I do my best to present a "live" performance, as opposed to using cd-r backing tracks or pre-recorded sequences.  I really don't know why so many live performers in this genre are using these things to "fill in" their performances.  It's almost to the point where, sadly, the audience is ok with this. Maybe I just want to see musicians "suffer" when they play live!  (laughs)

My attitude is that a live musical experience is supposed to be just that- a LIVE musical experience.  If a musician is going to use extensive backing tracks, I'd prefer just to stay at home and listen to a cd of theirs.  It's funny how some musicians enjoy talking about how their live performances are  "on the edge", and yet they use such "safety nets" as cd-r's and the like.

Of course, I'm sure that using cd-r's has it's advantages in that you don't have to worry about creating as many things "on the fly".  But I've liked that feeling at the end of my few live gigs- the feeling that I went out there, created something from nothing, and did my best at it.  It might not have been as polished as using backing tracks, but the music created was created in that very moment, and was "real".

AV:  How do your live performances influence the creative process once you get back home and start creating again?

JP:  Actually, I've found that there's a bit of a "recovery" period from when I've played live.  This is because I generally feel "musically spent" after performing live.  Of course, it COULD also be that I'm a big wimp, too! (laughs)

My experience has been that playing live can bring some focus to what I'm doing musically.  There's not a lot of difference in my "live" sound and my "studio" sound, since all my records since Vestiges have been recorded "live" to DAT or computer.  It's musically satisfying for my to deal with all those layers of sound "live"- not because of any attitude of "look what I can do!" but because I enjoy the immediacy of what constructing everything live can do.  There have been times where, through a "wrong" note or a "wrong" equipment setting, I end up in a great new place musically that I never would have thought of had I been overdubbing layers of sound.

However, sometimes that "wrong" note really IS a "wrong note", and then it's a matter of deleting that sound file and starting over.

AV:  As a listener of ambient music it always seems to me to have a component of spirituality to it...do you find that your own spirituality influences your music during its creation?

JP:  I believe that one's "spirituality", however THAT is defined, influences everything a person does- including writing music.  To apply this to myself, my "spirituality" is often one of questions, not answers, and this, I feel, reflects itself in my music; what I do musically isn't exactly filled with that "I've got a lot of testosterone, I'm going to lead you by the nose to the exact place I want you to go!" type of thing!  My spirituality tends to lean towards fragility and comfort, as opposed to strength and domination, and I believe that my music reflects this.

AV:  As you look back on your releases for Hypnos, do you see your music growing and maturing as you go along?

JP:  It seems so to me.  Even if I weren't on Hypnos, I think my music would still be progressing, but I am so grateful to have a great and honest label like Hypnos "behind" my music, because just knowing that there is a place that will take great care of my music means that there's one less thing I have to worry about.

AV:  Lets talk about The Light Beyond. Tell me about what the Gathering is and how you originally made contact with Chuck van Zyl.

JP:  The Gatherings are a series of concerts in Philidelphia that are organized by Chuck van Zyl and Jeff Towne.  These guys do an INCREDIBLE job of putting on shows featuring music in the electronic/space/ambient genre- I've been blessed to have played two Gatherings so far.  Chuck has played my music on his radio show Star's End ever since the first cd came out, so I was more than glad to hear from him when he approached me about doing a Gathering.  I had heard from other musicians that the Gatherings were incredible things, and they are.  The audiences at the shows I played at have really blessed my heart- it was SO nice to be able to meet and talk with people who have sort of followed what I've done musically.  At both Gatherings I've played, I've come away with some great experiences, and some new friends.  I couldn't really ask for more than that.

AV:  You had gone there with the idea of presenting a "sneak preview" of your upcoming musical project to the audience of Stars End. Tell me about the concert itself and what you found when you reviewed the live tapes that you made during the event.

JP:  The Star's End "concert" was basically a "live on the air" concert at the radio station that airs Star's End.  It was late at night/early in the morning (around 2 am!!), and I set my gear up and thought I'd give the Star's End audience a "sneak preview" of what direction my next project would take.  I started to play, then Jeff Towne and Chuck van Zyl politely asked if they could just sit in the same room with me and watch and listen to what I was doing.  I said "of course!"  It was nice of them to ask, because I know that a lot of musicians like to be very alone and focused in that moment of creation, and I respect that.  But I wanted the good energy of those two guys to be around me as I created the music, so it was good to have them there as I was creating.  They talked, and laughed, and offered support.

I had started my music following a sort of "road map" as to what I would play.  It's hard to describe, but I just kind of make "notes" to myself regarding where I would like the music to head.  This way, I'm not locked into any certain pre-set musical expressions, but I have enough of a "plan" that I can keep in mind where the music was going.  The idea was that, after this "sneak preview" on Star's End, I'd head home and sort of "re-create" what I had done.  However, Chuck sent me a cd-r of the music, and I knew, the first time I listened to it, that I wouldn't be able to create anything that "spoke" what I wanted to say any clearer than the live on air performance.  So I loaded that cd-r into my computer, put a fade at the beginning and end of the piece, and it was done.

AV:  Do you ever do any collaborative work with other artists? If so what do you take away from such experiences and how does it add to your own style of performing and composing?

JP:  I tend to "contribute" to other musician's music rather than collaborate. I've only done one "proper" collaboration, in the sense of the word, and that was with Vidna Obmana on True Stories. I've contributed parts to a lot of musician's existing songs, including Alpha Wave Movement, Jon Jenkins, Kevin Keller, Ruben Garcia, and some recent contributions to some songs by Paul Avgerinos for some tracks for his upcoming cd.

Whenever I am faced with contributing something of mine to someone else's music, I always try to find a good "space" for it.  I never want anything I do to overwhelm what the other person contributed.

I think that any good collaboration should be like any good relationship; each persons brings what is unique about themselves into it in hopes of creating something beautiful.  The worst thing that can happen is if one collaborator "dominates" or the other acquiesces.  I don't necessarily think that the definition of a good collaboration is that "both parties agree on everything".  If both parties of a collaboration agree on everything, then one of those parties is unnecessary.  There should be an atmosphere of openess and honesty, where either party can express what they like or dislike about a certain piece of music/etc... without fear of angering the other person.  The end result should be music that is something completely new and different from both collaborators- the old cliche about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

AV:  What are your views on where the genre of ambient music is headed in the years ahead? Will it ever grow beyond its current niche or is it better off being a small and intimate form of music? (big business tends to rip the soul out of many artists and the music that they compose and  I was just curious as to your ideas on why ambient music has stayed pretty much the same size)

JP:  In my opinion, any time you're dealing with instrumental music, you will generally have a pretty small scene.  We are so used to having lyrics with our songs, that we really don't know what to do with instrumental music of ANY kind, since it starts by asking us to fill in the blanks- to bring our OWN stories to the music.

You're right- "big business" CAN rip the soul out of many artists.  I know of more than a few people who, sadly, have had some pretty bad experiences with the "business end" of this genre.  That's why I believe that it is SO important as musicians to gaurd and nurture our love for simply creating the music.  I have told people before that when I stop releasing music on cd's, it will be completely because of the business/political end of this industry.  I will always love to create music, it's just pure joy for me.

But whether or not anyone ever hears that music- well, that's another story altogether.

If this "scene" becomes a very popular thing overnight- well, that would be great.  But it wouldn't "add" one thing to that wonderfully fulfilling sense I have today when I create a piece of music- that experience is already "full" for me.

AV:  What kinds of projects do you have in the works that we might be looking for from you in the next few months or even next year?

JP:  I'm working on my next solo cd, which (hopefully!) will be finished by the time the new baby arrives.  Yes- my wife and I are expecting again!  After that, there's a collaboration in the works, but it's a bit of a secret at the moment.

AV:  In closing, what is it that you would want listeners to take away from your music be it a live concert or
playing your CDs in their players at home?

JP:  First of all, I'm grateful to anyone who takes the time to listen to my music.  If anything, I hope that someone would get that from my music: that I am grateful to them, I am grateful to the Universe, to be able to be playing this music and having someone take time out of their life to listen to it.  Time is our most precious treasure as people, so anytime someone spends it with my music, it's an honor.

I hope that the listeners would be able to sense that they are getting the best of what I have to offer musically.   I would hope that the listeners would hear that I am simply a "searcher", just like they are.  I have my own questions and puzzles to work through, just as they do.  Music helps me do this- whether it be music I write or music that others write.  And any time someone "invites" my music into their own personal space where their own questions and puzzles live- I am humbled and grateful.

AV:  Many thanks to you Jeff for taking the time to talk to us here at Ambient Visions and of course the best of luck with any and all of your future projects.




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RhoDeo 1729 Grooves

Hello,

Today's artist never had a big crossover hit, "the King of Rock and Soul" is not as widely known as others from the golden age of soul music. But his dramatic, sonorous voice — seasoned by his days as a boy preacher — is unrivaled in its ability to move effortlessly between R&B, pop, country and gospel. "My grandmother made sure that we listened to a variety of music, and that always stayed with me,". Recently, he's picked up a Grammy and long-overdue recognition, and tracks such as "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" are now part of the soul canon. "He is Solomon the Resonator," Tom Waits has said, "the golden voice of heart, wisdom, soul and experience."  . ..... N'joy

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He was proclaimed the “King of Rock and Soul” in 1964 and has also been anointed “the Bishop of Soul.” No less an authority than Jerry Wexler, the legendary Atlantic Records producer, has proclaimed, “The best soul singer of all time is Solomon Burke.”

Burke’s versatile, force-of-nature voice combines gospel fervor, country gentility and R&B grit. He can swing from a satiny croon to gruff soul shout to a deep, caressing baritone. From 1961 to 1968, Burke released 32 memorable singles on Atlantic. These included six Top 10 R&B hits, four of which crossed over to the pop Top 40: “Cry to Me” (Number Five R&B), “Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” (Number Seven R&B, Number 24 pop), “Got to Get You Off of My Mind” (Number One R&B, Number 22 pop), “You’re Good for Me” (Number Eight R&B), “Tonight’s the Night” (Number Two R&B, Number 28 pop) and “If You Need Me” (Number Two R&B, Number 37 pop).

Many more of Burke’s singles cracked both the R&B Top 40 and the Top Pop 100 charts. Yet his lasting significance as a recording artist and performer goes beyond numbers. Burke was a consummate showman who adopted the role of “King of Rock ‘n’ Soul” onstage by adorning himself in a regal robe of velvet and ermine. One of the greatest vocalists of the soul era, Burke has been credited for helping to keep Atlantic Records solvent from 1961 to 1964 with his steady run of hit records. Jerry Wexler pronounced Burke a “vocalist of rare prowess and remarkable range. His voice is an instrument of exquisite sensitivity.” He is also a colorful and even eccentric figure - one of the true characters in the world of popular music.

Burke was born in Philadelphia and gravitated to the church through the influence of his grandmother, preaching his first sermon at age seven. He was broadly exposed to music, absorbing the varied likes of jazz-pop vocalist Nat King Cole, cowboy singers Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, bluesmen Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, gospel queen Clara Ward, and R&B kingpins Ray Charles and Big Joe Turner. This accounts for Burke’s stylistic breadth as a soul singer. He recorded for the New York-based Apollo Records from 1955-1958, where he scored a minor hit with “You Can Run (But You Can’t Hide),” a song whose authorship was co-credited to Burke and boxer Joe Louis

In 1960, Burke signed to Atlantic Records, where it was believed that his flexible voice and roots in gospel and country would earn him a wide, bi-racial audience. His first hit for the label was the uptempo “Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)” in the fall of 1961. Burke’s first single to cross over from R&B to pop was a soulful cover of the country song “Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms).” Burke wrote or cowrote much of his material, and he also recorded songs by soul singers Wilson Pickett (“If You Need Me’) and Don Covay (“You’re Good for Me”). Burke and Covay cowrote one of his biggest hits, “Tonight’s the Night.” Burke’s signature song, “Got to Get You Off of My Mind,” stands as one of the premier soul hits of the Sixties. “Got to Get You Off of My Mind” and “Tonight’s the Night” appeared in 1965, Burke’s biggest year, and hit Number One and Number Two on the R&B charts, respectively.

In 1968, Burke teamed with fellow Atlantic artists Don Covay, Ben E. King, Arthur Conley and Joe Tex to record a single ("Soul Meeting") as the Soul Clan, an expression of solidarity and mutual support by five pillars of soul music. “We wanted to interlock ourselves as a group, to express to the younger people how strong we should be and to help one another, work with one another and support one another,” Burke has said of the Soul Clan’s lone single.

After leaving Atlantic, Burke signed with Bell Records where he released five singles in the next eighteen months. In 1969 he had a small hit with his second release for Bell, a reworking of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" b/w "What Am I Living For" (Bell 783). This was co-produced by Tamiko Jones, who was being rehabilitated after a bout of polio, and was at the time Burke's manager. Burke recorded a cover of "Proud Mary" prior to Ike & Tina Turner's version, and according to Burke was the one who convinced the duo to record it. The song became a brief hit reaching #15 R&B and #45 pop. All but four of the tracks Burke recorded during an 18-month stay with Bell Records were packaged on the Proud Mary LP. After this album and the two following singles - his own "Generation of Revelations", and the Mac Davis song "In the Ghetto", which had previously been a hit for Elvis Presley - failed to chart, his contract was not renewed.

Through the efforts of his manager, Buddy Glee, by November 1970 Burke signed with Mike Curb's MGM label, and formed MBM Productions, his own production company. Burke's record debut for MGM, "Lookin' Out My Back Door", another Creedence Clearwater Revival song, had disappointing sales. His first MGM album, Electronic Magnetism, also failed to chart. In 1972 Burke had a #13 R&B hit for MGM with "Love Street and Fool's Road" (MGM 14353).[13] In 1972, he recorded the soundtrack to two films, Cool Breeze and Hammer. He left MGM for ABC-Dunhill Records in 1974, recording the album, I Have a Dream, which produced the #14 R&B hit, "Midnight and You". By 1975 Burke was signed to Chess Records. He recorded two albums for Chess: Music to Make Love By and Back to My Roots, and had a top 20 R&B hit in 1975 with "You And Your Baby Blues". However, his follow-up single "Let Me Wrap My Arms Around You" only reached #72 on the R&B chart. In 1978 Burke released an album Please Don't Say Goodbye To Me, which was produced by Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams, though Amherst Records.[78] On September 23, 1978, Burke charted for the 31st and last time when "Please Don't Say Goodbye to Me" reached #91 on the R&B chart. He released the album Sidewalks, Fences and Walls on Infinity Records in 1979 (reissued as Let Your Love Flow in 1993 by Shanachie Records).

Between 1979 and 1984, Burke recorded four gospel albums for Savoy Records, starting with the album, Lord I Need a Miracle Right Now. He was nominated for his first Grammy in the Best Male Gospel Soul category for his rendition of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand", but complained later that he did not receive royalties from his Savoy work. He then recorded for smaller labels such as Rounder, MCI/Isis, Bizarre/Straight, Black Top, Point Blank and GTR Records. Burke was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 19, 2001 in New York City by Mary J. Blige, after eight previous nominations since 1986.

In 2002, Burke signed with Fat Possum Records and released the album, Don't Give Up on Me. The album became critically acclaimed and later resulted in Burke's first Grammy Award win. Burke later signed with Shout! Factory to release the album, Make Do With What You Got, which became another critically acclaimed success. In 2006, Burke returned to his country roots with the album, Nashville. In 2008, he received another Grammy nomination for the album, Like a Fire. That same year, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Burke as #89 on its list of the "100 Greatest Singers of All Time". In 2010, Burke came out with the Willie Mitchell-produced Nothing's Impossible for E1 Entertainment. Later in 2010, he released his final album, Hold on Tight, a collaboration album with De Dijk, a Dutch band.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Burke also owned a string of mortuaries and attended to a lifelong ministry from his home in Beverly Hills, California, up until his death in Amsterdam in 2010. Burke was married four times. In total Burke fathered at least 14 children (9 daughters and 5 sons), including at least two fathered outside any of his marriages. He had 7 step children, 90 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren at the time of his death
.

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It's a sad irony that in the 1980s and '90s, many of the great artists of soul and R&B suffered musically at the hands of those who professed to love them the most. After soul had dropped off the major-label radar in favor of hip-hop and new jack sounds, a number of smaller companies stepped forward to record veteran artists who were still giving their all on the road, but for every truly inspired release from labels such as Malaco, Bullseye, or Alligator, there were a dozen others which featured rote, generic production and arrangements which attempted to recapture the thrilling sound of soul's glory days without coming within driving distance of conjuring their ineffable magic. Solomon Burke was one of the greatest talents of '60s soul, whose strong, burnished voice resonated with a churchy fervor that could speak volumes about either triumph or hurt, but while he continued to record regularly through the '70s, '80s and '90s and always sounded splendid, the records themselves often weren't much to write home about, with Burke using his gifts to prop up second-rate material or re-record tunes he'd performed definitively in the past. So it's good news indeed to report that Burke's new album, Don't Give Up on Me, is nothing short of revelatory, a superb set which presents "the King of Rock and Soul" at the very top of his form. Singer and songwriter Joe Henry produced the set, and rather than trying to replicate the sound of a vintage Jerry Wexler session, he's taken a very different approach, going for a spare and open sound, with nothing but a subdued rhythm section, a guitar, and an organ (the latter played by Rudy Copeland, who performs the same honors at the church where Burke preaches) accompanying Burke on most of these 11 songs. Henry also put out a call for material worthy of Burke's gifts, and a number of his better-known fans responded, including Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson, and Nick Lowe, all of whom contributed songs to the project. But for all the songwriting starpower on deck, the focus is squarely on Solomon Burke throughout, and he proves he's lost none of the power, force, or dramatic intensity of his glory days. Henry's low-key production captures the nooks and crannies of Burke's voice, and he delivers a performance worthy of a great actor on each cut, from the deep soul of "Don't Give Up on Me" and the blues-based swagger of "Stepchild" to the inspired tall tales of "Diamond in Your Mind" and the near-operatic passion of "The Judgement." His voice is in superb shape, too, sounding no less powerful at age 66 than he did in his glory days, and with a depth of emotion and gift for phrasing that's only grown with the passage of time. In many ways, Don't Give Up on Me most closely resembles Johnny Cash's superb American Recordings, in that the spare simplicity of the album's presentation reveals the rich complexities of the singer's gifts as they've rarely been allowed in the past; while it's a very different kettle of fish from his classic sides for Atlantic in the 1960s, Don't Give up on Me leaves no doubt that Solomon Burke is still one of the finest voices of his time, and anyone who has ever been moved by the power of soul music needs to hear this album.

Solomon Burke - Don't Give Up On Me    (flac  277mb)

01 Don't Give Up On Me 3:45
02 Fast Train 5:43
03 Diamond In Your Mind 4:24
04 Flesh And Blood 6:07
05 Soul Searchin' 3:59
06 Only A Dream 5:09
07 The Judgement 3:30
08 Stepchild 5:10
09 The Other Side Of The Coin 3:46
10 None Of Us Are Free 5:29
11 Sit This One Out 4:33

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One of the great pleasures of Solomon Burke's 2002 "comeback" album, Don't Give Up on Me (Burke never really went away, but this time around folks were paying attention), was the fact it was so unexpected -- instead of trying to replicate the sound and feeling of the records Burke made in the 1960s, producer Joe Henry conjured up a warm but skeletal backdrop which allowed the once and future King of Rock 'n' Soul to dig into the heart of the songs (contributed by the likes of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Brian Wilson) in a manner unlike anything he'd done before. Conversely, the greatest disappointment of Burke's next "big-league" album, 2005's Make Do With What You Got, is that it sounds almost exactly the way you'd expect it to. The spare approach of Don't Give Up on Me has been abandoned in favor of a high-gloss production from Don Was, and Was has set up a bombastic soul session replete with horns, massed keyboards, and big vocal choruses, but while the accompaniment is strong, professional, and occasionally even enthusiastic (where has Ray Parker, Jr. been hiding his razor-sharp guitar skills for the past two decades?), Make Do With What You Got sounds like an overly anxious attempt to re-create the sound of vintage R&B sides that gets the surfaces right but never quite captures the heart and soul of the music. Of course, Was' overly slick production and the less impressive set list does nothing to hold back Solomon Burke -- his performances are typically superb, and he gives this album enough soul power to fuel a small city for a month, even bringing chestnuts like "It Makes No Difference" and "I've Got the Blues" to vivid and passionate life that's thrilling to hear. No one can sing a song quite Solomon Burke, and that's what makes Make Do With What You Got worth a listen; unfortunately, lots of people could have produced these sessions as well if not better than Don Was, and that's this album's Achilles' heel.

Solomon Burke - Make Do With What You Got    (flac 273mb)

01 My Babe 5:13
02 Good Rockin' Tonight 5:30
03 Sufferin' Mind 3:55
04 Letter From My Darling 5:00
05 Don't Deceive Me 3:35
06 Candy 4:10
07 Crawdad Hole 2:57
08 Along About Midnight 4:02
09 Pledging My Love 4:23
10 Lonesome Highway 4:50
11 Street Walking Woman 5:41
12 No Nights By Myself 7:10

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It's all but impossible to make a bad record with Solomon Burke; as a vocalist, the man is simply a force of nature, and all you have to do is point him in front of a microphone and let him do his stuff and you'll have something worth hearing. But coming up with accompaniment that's worthy of Burke's talents isn't quite as simple, and for a man who cut his teeth working with the likes of Jerry Wexler and Bert Berns, finding the right producer in this day and age is no simple matter. Nothing's Impossible teams Burke with another legend of Southern soul, the great producer, arranger, and songwriter Willie Mitchell (best-known for his work with Al Green) who had been after Burke to make an album with him for years. One listen to Nothing's Impossible confirms that Mitchell's instincts were right on the money; this music has just the right heft and texture for Burke, rich, strong, and gospel-influenced R&B that's sturdy enough to support Burke's earth-shaking vocals while giving the star of the show enough room to move comfortably. Mitchell's subtle, expressive use of strings and horns is very much in evidence here, and the rhythm section cuts a deep, implacable groove. The church has always been one of Burke's strongest vocal influences, and on Nothing's Impossible, Mitchell and his studio crew allow Burke to raise up as much Sunday morning fervor as he needs; on longer numbers like "Dreams" and "It Must Be Love," Burke stretches out like a preacher hitting a groove in front of a congregation, and hearing the King of Rock and Soul get the spirit is a remarkable thing. Burke and Mitchell contributed to the songwriting on these sessions, with both men bringing their A game, and though the notion of Burke covering Anne Murray's hit "You Needed Me" might sound dire, once you hear him do it, it's hard not to be awestruck at the way he brings the old warhorse to life. The sad irony of Nothing's Impossible is that after decades of trying to lure Solomon Burke into his studio, Burke showed up in time for what proved to be Willie Mitchell's final production project, as Mitchell succumbed to heart failure a few months before the album was released. But if this record is Willie Mitchell's final musical offering, Solomon Burke made certain that the man closed out his career on a high note; this is old-school R&B that's smart, passionate, and powerful, and proves the King of Rock and Soul still rules his kingdom with a sure hand.

Solomon Burke - Nothing's Impossible     (flac 292mb)

01 Oh What A Feeling 3:55
02 Everything About You 3:38
03 Dreams 6:15
04 Nothing's Impossible 3:18
05 It Must Be Love 5:02
06 You Needed Me 3:46
07 Say You Love Me Too 3:23
08 You're Not Alone 4:03
09 New Company 3:11
10 When You're Not Here 4:28
11 The Error Of My Ways 5:08
12 I'm Leavin' 3:32

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Of the great soul singers of the 1960s, Solomon Burke was one of the few whose talent and power to compelled an audience never dimmed with the passage of time; if the larger audience overlooked his music through much of the '70s and '80s, and he wasn't always paired with songwriters or producers who knew what to do with his instrument, Burke himself remained The King of Rock & Soul, an artist whose music spoke powerfully with heart and soul whenever he raised his voice. Burke's mighty voice was finally silenced by his passing in October 2010, but it should come as no great surprise that the last album he finished before his death confirmed he was in full command of his talents right up to the end. What is somewhat surprising are his collaborators on his final project. De Dijk, a veteran Dutch rock and R&B band, are little known in America but they're stars in the Netherlands, and they struck up a friendship with Burke when their paths crossed on tour in 2007. The 12 songs on Hold on Tight were adapted from tunes in De Dijk's back catalog, with Burke helping to translate the lyrics into English, and lead singer Huub van der Lubbe moving over to acoustic guitar for the duration of the sessions. The strength of Burke's performance is not unexpected, but De Dijk turned out to be an inspired musical match: the band's robust fusion of classic soul and bluesy hard rock swings hard and Burke's vocals roll right along with them, filling in the spaces in the arrangements and adding a powerful shot of gospel-inspired fervor to the swagger of the guitars and horns. The melodies are clearly influenced by the structures of classic soul with an added energetic punch, and if the sound is something different from the stuff of Burke's heyday, it's close enough to give him the right platform for his declamatory style. Also, the musicians sound like a real band, intuitive and understanding the push and pull of the music, and Burke sounds like he's having a grand time working within their formula. Hold on Tight isn't revelatory like Burke's 2002 "comeback" set Don't Give Up on Me, or his 2006 pairing with Buddy Miller, Nashville, and it's not a latter-day soul masterpiece like his collaboration with Willie Mitchell, 2010's Nothing's Impossible. But it's a stronger and more satisfying piece of work than most of his other post-millennial albums, and it's the closest thing he managed to a truly effective rock & roll collaboration; it's an impressive finale to a genuinely remarkable career.

Solomon Burke and De Dijk - Hold On Tight   (flac 370mb)

01 Hold On Tight 5:27
02 My Rose Saved From The Street 3:35
03 What A Woman 3:22
04 No One 5:24
05 More Beauty 3:49
06 I Gotta Be With You 4:29
07 Seventh Heaven 4:58
08 Good For Nothing 5:03
09 Text Me 4:50
10 Don't Despair 5:15
11 The Bend 5:00
12 Perfect Song 3:30

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RhoDeo 1729 Aetix

Hello,


Today's artists were a British rock band formed in 1976 by John Watts and Steve Skolnik at Brunel University, Uxbridge. The original line-up consisted of Watts (vocals, guitar), Skolnik (keyboards), David Graham (bass) and Steve Liddle (drums). The band's name is pronounced fisher zed, a pun on "fish's head" with the "h" dropped, as is usual in many British regional accents. The pun also relies on leaving the "r" unpronounced as in common British non-rhotic accents....N'Joy

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Fronted by the enigmatic John Watts (vocals/guitar), Fischer-Z leaped onto the music scene in 1979 with their quirky debut album, Word Salad. This quartet (also featuring Steve Skolnick on keyboards, Steve Liddle on drums, and David Graham on bass) played a rough-and-tumble form of new wave that was equal parts Roxy Music and Talking Heads with art pop and prog rock leanings. Watts' vocals were extremely distinctive, veering from a low baritone to a higher register that was not unlike Pete Townsend on helium. Although this schizophrenic debut didn't set the charts on fire, they did score a few minor hits with "The Worker" and "First Impressions (Pretty Paracetamol)" (a tamer re-recording of the album's opening track). Their second album, 1980's Going Deaf for a Living, was a far more cohesive effort, less prog rock and more melodic than their debut. It even contained a bona fide hit in "So Long" which even drifted over to the U.S. and garnered impressive radio play. By the time Red Skies Over Paradise was released in 1981, Skolnick was gone and Watts' musical vision was more direct and less arty than before. Although European sales for this album were FZ's strongest yet, it was passed up for release in the U.S. (as has been the case with all of the subsequent FZ albums). Realizing that his musical vision belonged to him and only him, Watts chose to end FZ on a high note and continue as a solo artist. Watts released One More Twist in 1982, then the slickly produced The Iceberg Model the following year, neither living up to the huge sales of the last FZ album. After EMI let him slip away, Watts formed the Cry (with Graham back on board) and released an album on Arista before quietly slipping out of sight. Re-forming Fischer-Z in 1987 (with Watts being the only original member, although Skolnick makes a cameo), FZ hit big in Europe and Australia with the single "The Perfect Day" and the album Reveal. Though the album sounded nothing like the Fischer-Z of old, Watts took his finely tuned talents and presented them to a much wider audience. Fish's Head (1989) was more of the same, albeit a bit heavier. With yet another lineup change, Watts and FZ released the absolutely stunning Destination Paradise in 1992, their best effort yet. This touching and beautiful album featured more acoustic guitars than ever before and focused on Watts' songwriting skills and passionate, earthy vocals (which had dropped an octave or so since their debut). Trying to capitalize on the success of Destination Paradise, FZ quickly issued the rougher Kamikaze Shirt in 1993, mixing their softer side with an edge (and, in some cases, a dance beat). Two years later, FZ issued Stream, a close second to Destination Paradise as their finest work. Realizing he was at another crossroads, Watts laid FZ to rest again and began pursuing his solo career in earnest. His first solo album under his "new" moniker, JM Watts, 1997's Thirteen Stories High, continued where Stream left off. Two further albums followed under the Watts moniker before the he would revive the Fischer-Z name for a second time on 2002’s Ether. Watts continued to release music under his own name as the decade progressed, but would periodically return to Fischer-Z, issuing This Is My Universe in 2016 and Building Bridges in 2017.


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This impressive debut may not have forecast what was yet to come, but it possessed a lot of quirky charm. Channeling the energy of punk and the musical aerobics of prog-rock (tempo changes, detours, etc), John Watts and friends certainly proved that they could be as inventive as any other art-pop band (Roxy Music and early Talking Heads suddenly spring to mind). Watts' touchingly manic vocal range irritated some but was entirely original, especially on FZ classics such as "Pretty Paracetamol," "The Worker" and "Remember Russia." Not even close to being a synth-pop band, Steve Skolnick's keyboards shared equal time with Watts' frantic guitar, both backed ably by drummer Steve Liddle and bassist David Graham. Although this album was both jarring and enjoyable, it sounds a bit dated almost 40 years on.

 Fischer-Z - Word Salad (flac  235mb)

01 Pretty Paracetamol 3:59
02 Acrobats 2:42
03 The Worker 3:35
04 Spiders 1:44
05 Remember Russia 3:37
06 The French Let Her 3:20
07 Lies 3:58
08 Wax Dolls 2:47
09 Headlines 3:24
10 Nice To Know 2:53
11 Billy And The Motorway Police 2:13
12 Lemmings 3:00

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With guitar much more dominant and Watts' songwriting more refined, GDFAL was an incredibly exciting album. Moving away from their prog leanings and embracing bits of reggae, FZ had become a cohesive pop band capable of anything. Their hit single "So Long" had one of Watts' most heartfelt vocals, while the playful (and slightly irritating) "Limbo" proved that he wasn't always entirely serious. The band bounced off the walls on tracks like "Four Minutes In Durham (With You)" and "No Right," yet they remained perfectly in control. The album's title track remains one of Watts' most brilliant songs, catchier than a pitcher's glove (and "So Long" wasn't too bad either!). With hardly a bad song in the bunch, this is still one of FZ's most popular albums -- so much for the sophomore slump

Fischer-Z - Going Deaf For A Living (flac 210mb)

01 Room Service 3:41
02 So Long 4:59
03 Crazy Girl 4:26
04 No Right 2:36
05 Going Deaf For A Living 3:31
06 Pick Up / Slip Up 2:37
07 Crank 3:06
08 Haters 4:07
09 Four Minutes In Durham (With You) 4:00
10 Limbo 2:14

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With keyboardist Skolnick gone, FZ continued as a trio, recording this wonderfully dark album filled with political intrigue and emotional hang-ups (making personal feelings political and vice versa). Eschewing some of their earlier quirkiness, Watts and Co. were far more direct and serious. Whether he was portraying the crazed fan ("Marliese"), the guilty survivor of a suicide ("Wristcutter's Lullabye"), or providing social and political commentary ("Berlin," "Red Skies Over Paradise," "Cruise Missiles"), Watts' lyrics were biting, but the melodies didn't hit home quite as often as the previous album. The overwhelming response that this album received in Europe paved the way for Watts to leave home and go solo. Thus endeth Fischer-Z's original lineup.

 Fischer-Z - Red Skies Over Paradise (flac 270mb)

01 Berlin 4:36
02 Marliese 3:53
03 Red Skies Over Paradise 4:37
04 In England 2:45
05 You'll Never Find Brian Here 2:12
06 Battalions Of Strangers 5:07
07 Song And Dance Brigade 3:06
08 The Writer 3:23
09 Bathroom Scenario 3:51
10 Wristcutter's Lullaby 2:49
11 Cruise Missiles 4:20
12 Luton To Lisbon 1:56
13 Multinationals Bite 3:36

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After two solo albums and an album with the Cry, Watts reactivated Fischer-Z without bothering to bring in any other original members. Whether it was a calculated move to shift units or a sign that Watts had rediscovered his original vision is up to the listener, but there's no denying that he remained a distinct and exceptional songwriter. Steering the band into a "modern" direction, this album reintroduced a heavier keyboard presence into their sound. "The Perfect Day," the first single, was a hit in Europe and Australia and paved the way for more chart success. Watts had pulled himself out of his dark mood and was actually having fun again. "Leave It to the Businessmen to Die Young," "Tallulah Tomorrow" and "Realistic Man" were some of his finest songs to date. A grand return to form.

Fischer-Z - Reveal (flac  281mb)
 
01 The Perfect Day 4:18
02 Leave It To The Businessmen To Die Young 4:58
03 I Can't Wait That Long 4:42
04 Tallulah Tomorrow 4:37
05 Realistic Man 3:23
06 Fighting Back The Tears 4:56
07 Big Drum 3:44
08 Heartbeat 3:07
09 It Takes Love 4:07
10 So Far 4:00
11 Marguerite 3:18

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RhoDeo 1729 Roots

Hello,


Today's artist is the single most important figure in the history of tango, he died 25 years ago, a towering giant whose shadow looms large over everything that preceded and followed him. His place in Argentina's greatest cultural export is roughly equivalent to that of Duke Ellington in jazz -- the genius composer who took an earthy, sensual, even disreputable folk music and elevated it into a sophisticated form of high art. But even more than Ellington, he was also a virtuosic performer with a near-unparalleled mastery of his chosen instrument, the bandoneon, a large button accordion noted for its unwieldy size and difficult fingering system. In his hands, tango was no longer strictly a dance music; his compositions borrowed from jazz and classical forms, creating a whole new harmonic and rhythmic vocabulary made for the concert hall more than the ballroom (which was dubbed "nuevo tango"). Some of his devices could be downright experimental -- he wasn't afraid of dissonance or abrupt shifts in tempo and meter, and he often composed segmented pieces with hugely contrasting moods that interrupted the normal flow and demanded the audience's concentration. The complexity and ambition of Piazzolla's oeuvre brought him enormous international acclaim, particularly in Europe and Latin America, but it also earned him the lasting enmity of many tango purists, who attacked him mercilessly for his supposed abandonment of tradition (and even helped drive him out of the country for several years). But he always stuck to his guns, and remained tango's foremost emissary to the world at large up until his death in 1992. ...N'Joy

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Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles. Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1921, the only child of Italian immigrant parents, Vicente "Nonino" Piazzolla and Asunta Manetti. His paternal grandfather, a sailor and fisherman named Pantaleo (later Pantaleón) Piazzolla, had immigrated to Mar del Plata from Trani, a seaport in the southeastern Italian region of Apulia, at the end of the 19th century.[ His mother was the daughter of two Italian immigrants from Lucca in Tuscany.

In 1925 Astor Piazzolla moved with his family to Greenwich Village in New York City, which in those days was a violent neighbourhood inhabited by a volatile mixture of gangsters and hard-working immigrants. His parents worked long hours and Piazzolla soon learned to take care of himself on the streets despite having a limp. At home he would listen to his father's records of the tango orchestras of Carlos Gardel and Julio de Caro, and was exposed to jazz and classical music, including Bach, from an early age. He began to play the bandoneon after his father spotted one in a New York pawn shop in 1929.

After their return to New York City from a brief visit to Mar del Plata in 1930, the family moved to Little Italy in lower Manhattan. In 1932 Piazzolla composed his first tango, "La Catinga". The following year he took music lessons with the Hungarian classical pianist Bela Wilda, a student of Rachmaninoff who taught him to play Bach on his bandoneon. In 1934 he met Carlos Gardel, one of the most important figures in the history of tango, and played a cameo role as a paper boy in his movie El día que me quieras. Gardel invited the young bandoneon player to join him on his tour.[8] Much to Piazzolla's dismay, his father decided that he was not old enough to go along. The disappointment of being forbidden to join the tour proved to be fortunate, as it was on this tour in 1935 that Gardel and his entire orchestra perished in a plane crash.[8] In later years, Piazzolla made light of this near miss, joking that if his father had not been so careful, Piazzolla would be playing the harp rather than the bandoneon. In 1936, he returned with his family to Mar del Plata, where he began to play in a variety of tango orchestras and around this time he discovered the music of Elvino Vardaro’s sextet on the radio. Vardaro’s novel interpretation of tango made a great impression on Piazzolla and years later he would become Piazzolla’s violinist in his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra) and his First Quintet.

Inspired by Vardaro’s style of tango, and still only 17 years old, Piazzolla moved to Buenos Aires in 1938 where, the following year, he realized a dream when he joined the orchestra of the bandoneonist Anibal Troilo, which would become one of the greatest tango orchestras of that time. Piazzolla was employed as a temporary replacement for Toto Rodríguez who was ill, but when Rodríguez returned to work Troilo decided to retain Piazzolla as a fourth bandoneonist. Apart from playing the bandoneon, Piazzolla also became Troilo’s arranger and would occasionally play the piano for him. By 1941 he was earning a good wage, enough to pay for music lessons with Alberto Ginastera, an eminent Argentine composer of classical music. It was the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, then living in Buenos Aires, who had advised him to study with Ginastera and delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, Piazzolla rose early each morning to hear the Teatro Colón orchestra rehearse while continuing a gruelling performing schedule in the tango clubs at night. During his five years of study with Ginastera he mastered orchestration, which he later considered to be one of his strong points. In 1943 he started piano lessons with the Argentine classical pianist Raúl Spivak, which would continue for the next five years, and wrote his first classical works Preludio No. 1 for Violin and Piano and Suite for Strings and Harps. That same year he married his first wife, Dedé Wolff, an artist, with whom he had two children, Diana and Daniel.

As time went by Troilo began to fear that the advanced musical ideas of the young bandoneonist might undermine the style of his orchestra and make it less appealing to dancers of tango. Tensions mounted between the two bandoneonists until, in 1944, Piazzolla announced his intention to leave Troilo and join the orchestra of the tango singer and bandoneonist Francisco Fiorentino. Piazzolla would lead Fiorentino's orchestra until 1946 and make many recordings with him, including his first two instrumental tangos, La chiflada and Color de rosa. In 1946 Piazzolla formed his Orquesta Típica, which, although having a similar formation to other tango orchestras of the day, gave him his first opportunity to experiment with his own approach to the orchestration and musical content of tango. That same year he composed, El Desbande, which he considered to be his first formal tango, and then began to compose musical scores for films, starting with Con los mismos colores in 1949 and Bólidos de acero in 1950, both films directed by Carlos Torres Ríos.

Having disbanded his first orchestra in 1950 he almost abandoned tango altogether as he continued to study Bartok and Stravinsky and orchestra direction with Hermann Scherchen. He spent a lot of time listening to jazz and searching for a musical style of his own beyond the realms of tango. He decided to drop the bandoneon and to dedicate himself to writing and to studying music. Between 1950 and 1954 he composed a series of works that began to develop his unique style: Para lucirse, Tanguango, Prepárense, Contrabajeando, Triunfal and Lo que vendrá. At Ginastera's urging, on August 16, 1953, Piazzolla entered his classical composition "Buenos Aires Symphony in Three Movements" for the Fabian Sevitzky Award. The performance took place at the law school in Buenos Aires with the symphony orchestra of Radio del Estado under the direction of Sevitzky himself. At the end of the concert, a fight broke out among members of the audience who were offended by the inclusion of two bandoneons in a traditional symphony orchestra. In spite of this Piazzolla's composition won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the legendary French composition teacher Nadia Boulanger at the Fontainebleau conservatory.

In 1954 he and his wife left their two children (Diana aged 11 and Daniel aged 10) with Piazzolla's parents and travelled to Paris. Piazzolla was tired of tango and tried to hide his tanguero past and his bandoneon compositions from Boulanger, thinking that his destiny lay in classical music. Introducing his work, Piazzolla played her a number of his classically inspired compositions, but it was not until he played his tango Triunfal that she congratulated him and encouraged him to pursue his career in tango, recognising that this was where his talent lay. This was to prove a historic encounter and a cross-road in Piazzolla's career. With Boulanger he studied classical composition, including counterpoint, which was to play an important role in his later tango compositions. Before leaving, Paris he heard the octet of the American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan, which was to give him the idea of forming his own octet on his return to Buenos Aires. He composed and recorded a series of tangos with the String Orchestra of the Paris Opera and began to play the bandoneon while standing up, putting his right foot on a chair and the bellows of the instrument across his right thigh. Until that time bandoneonists played sitting down.

Back in Argentina, Piazzolla formed his Orquesta de Cuerdas (String Orchestra), which performed with the singer Jorge Sobral, and his Octeto Buenos Aires in 1955. With two bandoneons (Piazzolla and Leopoldo Federico), two violins (Enrique Mario Francini and Hugo Baralis), double bass (Juan Vasallo), cello (José Bragato), piano (Atilio Stampone), and an electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino), his Octeto effectively broke the mould of the traditional orquesta típica and created a new sound akin to chamber music, without a singer and with jazz-like improvisations. This was to be a turning point in his career and a watershed in the history of tango. Piazzolla's new approach to the tango, nuevo tango, made him a controversial figure in his native land both musically and politically. However, his music gained acceptance in Europe and North America, and his reworking of the tango was embraced by some liberal segments of Argentine society, who were pushing for political changes in parallel to his musical revolution.

In 1958 he disbanded both the Octeto and the String Orchestra and returned to New York City with his family where he struggled to make a living as a musician and arranger. Briefly forming his own group, the Jazz Tango Quintet with whom he made just two recordings, his attempts to blend jazz and tango were not successful. He received the news of the death of his father in October 1959 while performing with Juan Carlos Copes and María Nieves in Puerto Rico and on his return to New York City a few days later, he asked to be left alone in his apartment and in less than an hour wrote his famous tango Adiós Nonino, in homage to his father. Copes and Nieves packed out Club Flamboyan in San Juan, Puerto Rico with "Compañia Argentina Tangolandia". Piazzolla was serving as the musical director. The tour continued in New York, Chicago and then Washington. The last show that the three of them did together was an appearance on CBS the only colour TV channel in the USA on the Arthur Murray Show in April 1960.

Back in Buenos Aires later that year he put together the first, and perhaps most famous, of his quintets, the first Quinteto, initially comprising bandoneon (Piazzolla), piano (Jaime Gosis), violin (Simón Bajour), electric guitar (Horacio Malvicino ) and double bass (Kicho Díaz). Of the many ensembles that Piazzolla set up during his career it was the quintet formation which best expressed his approach to tango. In 1963 he set up his Nuevo Octeto and the same year premiered his Tres Tangos Sinfónicos, under the direction of Paul Klecky, for which he was awarded the Hirsch Prize. In 1965 he released El Tango, an album for which he collaborated with the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges. The recording featured his Quinteto together with an orchestra, the singer Edmundo Rivero and Luis Medina Castro reciting texts.

In 1966 he left Dedé Wolff and the following year signed a five-year contract with the poet Horacio Ferrer with whom he composed the operetta María de Buenos Aires, with lyrics by Ferrer. The work was premiered in May 1968 with the singer Amelita Baltar in the title role and introduced a new style of tango, Tango Canción (in English: Tango Song). Soon after this he began a relationship with Amelita Baltar. The following year he wrote Balada para un loco with lyrics by Ferrer which was premiered at the First Iberoamerican Music Festival with Amelita Baltar and Piazzolla himself conducting the orchestra. Piazzolla was awarded second prize and the composition would prove to be his first popular success.

In 1970 Piazzolla returned to Paris where with Ferrer he wrote the oratorio El pueblo joven later premiered in Saarbrücken, Germany in 1971. On May 19, 1970 he gave a concert with his Quinteto at the Teatro Regina in Buenos Aires in which he premiered his composition Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas. Back in Buenos Aires he founded his Conjunto 9 (a.k.a. Nonet), a chamber music formation, which was a realisation of a dream for Piazzolla and for which he composed some of his most sophisticated music. He now put aside his first Quinteto and made several recordings with his new ensemble in Italy. Within a year the Conjunto 9 had run into financial problems and was dissolved and in 1972 he participated in his first concert at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, sharing the bill with other Tango orchestras.

After a period of great productivity as a composer, he suffered a heart attack in 1973 and that same year he moved to Italy where he began a series of recordings which would span a period of five years. The music publisher Aldo Pagani, a partner in Curci-Pagani Music, had offered Piazzolla a 15-year contract in Rome to record anything he could write. His famous album Libertango was recorded in Milan in May 1974 and later that year he separated from Amelita Baltar and in September recorded the album Summit (Reunión Cumbre) with the saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and an Italian orchestra, including jazz musicians such as bassist Pino Presti and drummer Tullio De Piscopo, in Milan. The album includes the composition Aire de Buenos Aires by Mulligan.

In 1975 he set up his Electronic Octet an octet made up of bandoneon, electric piano and/or acoustic piano, organ, guitar, electric bass, drums, synthesizer and violin, which was later replaced by a flute or saxophone. Later that year Aníbal Troilo died and Piazzolla composed the Suite Troileana in his memory, a work in four parts, which he recorded with the Conjunto Electronico. At this time Piazzolla started a collaboration with the singer Jose A. Trelles with whom he made a number of recordings.

In December 1976 he played at a concert at the Teatro Gran Rex in Buenos Aires, where he presented his work, “500 motivaciones”, written especially for the Conjunto Electronico, and in 1977 he played another memorable concert at the Olympia in Paris, with a new formation of the Conjunto Electronico. In 1978 he formed his second Quintet, with which he would tour the world for 11 years, and would make him world-renowned. He also returned to writing chamber music and symphonic works. During the period of Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, Piazzolla lived in Italy, but returned many times to Argentina, recorded there, and on at least one occasion had lunch with the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. However, his relationship with the dictator might have been less than friendly, as recounted in Astor Piazzolla, A manera de memorias (a comprehensive collection of interviews, constituting a memoir)

In 1982 he recorded the album Oblivion with an orchestra in Italy for the film Enrico IV, directed by Marco Bellocchio, and in May 1982, in the middle of the Falklands War, he played in a concert at the Teatro Regina, Buenos Aires with the second Quinteto and the singer Roberto Goyeneche. That same year he wrote Le Grand Tango for cello and piano, dedicated to Russian cellist, Mstislav Rostropovich which would be premiered by him in 1990 in New Orleans. On 11 June 1983 he put on one of the best concerts of his life when he played a program of his music at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. For the occasion he regrouped the Conjunto 9 and played solo with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic, directed by Pedro Ignacio Calderón. The programme included his three-movement Concierto para bandoneón y orquesta and his 3 movement Concierto de Nacar.

On 4 July 1984 Piazzolla appeared with his Quinteto at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the world's largest jazz festival, and on 29 September that same year they appeared with the Italian singer Milva at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris. His concert on 15 October 1984 at the Teatro Nazionale in Milan was recorded and released as the album Suite Punte del Este. At the end of that same year he performed in West-Berlin, and in theater Vredenburg in Utrecht, in the Netherlands, where VPRO-TV-director Theo Uittenbogaard recorded his Quinteto Tango Nuevo, playing, among other pieces, a very moving Adios Nonino, with as a backdrop – to Piazzolla's great pleasure – the extremely zoomed-in "live"' projection of his bandoneon playing.

In 1985 he was named Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires and premiered his Concerto for Bandoneon and Guitar (also known as Tribute to Liège and written in 1979), at the Fifth International Liège Guitar Festival on March 15, with the Liège Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Leo Brouwer and Cacho Tirao on guitar. Piazzolla made his London debut with his second Quinteto at the Almeida Theatre in London at the end of June.

With the film score for El exilio de Gardel he won the French critics Cesar Award in Paris for best film music in 1986. He appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland, with vibraphonist Gary Burton in July 1986 and on 6 September 1987 gave a concert in New York’s Central Park, in the city where he spent his childhood. In September 1987 he recorded his Concierto para bandoneón y orquesta and Tres tangos para bandoneón y orquesta with Lalo Schifrin conducting the St. Luke’s Orchestra, in the Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University.

In 1988 he wrote music for the film Sur and married the singer and television personality Laura Escalada on April 11. In May that year he recorded his album La Camorra in New York, a suite of three pieces, the last time he would record with the second Quinteto. During a tour of Japan with Milva he played at a concert at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Tokyo on June 26, 1988 and that same year underwent a quadruple by-pass operation.

Early in 1989 he formed his Sexteto Nuevo Tango, his last ensemble, with two bandoneons, piano, electric guitar, bass and cello. Together they gave a concert at the Club Italiano in Buenos Aires in April, a recording of which was issued under the title of Tres minutos con la realidad. Later he appeared with them at the Teatro Opera in Buenos Aires in the presence of the newly elected Argentine President Carlos Menem on Friday, June 9. This would be Piazzolla's last concert in Argentina.

There followed a concert at the Royal Carre Theatre in Amsterdam with his Sexteto and Osvaldo Pugliese’s Orquesta on June 26, 1989, a live recording at the BBC Bristol Studios in June 1989, between concerts in Berlin and Rome, and a concert at the Wembley Conference Centre on June 30, 1989. On November 4, 1989, he gave a concert in Lausanne, Switzerland, at the Moulin à Danses and later that month he recorded his composition Five Tango Sensations, with the Kronos Quartet in the US on an album of the same name.
This would be his last studio recording and was his second composition for the Kronos Quartet. His first Four, For Tango had been included in their 1988 album Winter Was Hard. Towards the end of the year he dissolved his sexteto and continued playing solo with classical string quartets and symphonic orchestras. He joined Anahi Carfi's Mantova String Quartet and toured Italy and Finland with them.

His 1982 composition, Le grand tango, for cello and piano was premiered in New Orleans by the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and the pianist Igor Uriash in 1990 and on July 3 he gave his last concert in Athens, Greece, with the Athens Orchestra of Colours, conducted by Manos Hatzidakis. He suffered a cerebral hemorrhage in Paris on August 4, 1990, which left him in a coma, and died in Buenos Aires, just under two years later on July 4, 1992, without regaining consciousness.


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A superb 1974 session recorded in Milan teams baritone-saxist Gerry Mulligan with the great guru of art-music tango. This is mostly dark and moody music, with a lot of tonal variety and a resolute refusal to fit into any of the handy pigeonholes: a one-off event, wholly successful.

Astor Piazzolla n Gerry Mulligan - Summit (Tango Nuevo) (flac  228mb)

01 20 Years Ago 6:26
02 Close Your Eyes And Listen 4:32
03 Years Of Solitude 4:07
04 Deus Xangô 3:45
05 20 Years After 4:10
06 Aire De Buenos Aires 4:37
07 Reminiscence 6:30
08 Summit 3:35

Astor Piazzolla n Gerry Mulligan - Summit (Tango Nuevo)   (ogg  96mb)

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This powerful concert was recorded live in New York City on September 6, 1987. Piazzolla was playing with his best ensemble: a quintet consisting of himself on bandoneon, Pablo Ziegler on piano, Fernando Suarez Paz on violin, Horacio Malvicino on electric guitar, and Hector Console on bass. Piazzolla plays some of his finest material -- about half of Tango: Zero Hour surfaces, for example. Two of the most paradigmatic Piazzolla pieces show up too: "La Camorra," with its alternating moments of tense dance rhythms and creepy atmosphere, and "Verano Porteño," with its dancing-bear rhythms. The concert closes with "Concierto Para Quinteto," one of those long pieces that Piazzolla favored that visits many styles and moods -- almost many eras. It would be very easy to lose the thread on such an epic composition in live performance, but the quintet keeps it together admirably. The live recording is of surprisingly high quality; there is an appropriate echo and the balance is nearly perfect. The audience is completely unobtrusive -- inaudible except when they applaud. And the instruments are very clear, especially when the musicians coax those "zings" and "pops" out of them that Piazzolla loved. For someone new to his work, the "special effects" on this recording can be a revelation. There is also a wonderful spoken track, with Piazzolla talking about himself, the tango, and the mysterious bandoneon. This album is a wonderful place to start -- or finish -- with this charismatic composer of nuevo tango music.

Astor Piazzolla - The Central Park Concert   (flac  353mb)

01 Verano Porteño 6:54
02 Lunfardo 5:56
03 Milonga Del Angel 6:32
04 Muerte Del Angel 3:20
05 Astor's Speech 2:20
06 La Camorra 4:27
07 Mumuki 9:09
08 Adios Nonino 8:12
09 Contra Bajissmo 10:10
10 Michelangelo 3:24
11 Concierto Para Quinteto 9:45

Astor Piazzolla - The Central Park Concert (ogg   156mb)

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The undisputed lord of nuevo tango, Astor Piazzolla conceived of five tangos, written for himself on bandoneon, and the Kronos Quartet on strings. The neo-classical style of Kronos fits surprisingly well on Piazzolla's new style of tango and provides a wonderful backing for the maestro at work. Though there are only five songs on the album, the title fits well, Five Tango Sensations. Each of the tangos presented is a sensation and conveys the full emotion or scene given in the titles: "Asleep," "Loving," "Anxiety," "Despertar" (waking up), and "Fear." Piazzolla plays his heart out on his trusty bandoneon, and the Kronos players accompany to perfection. If it's the tango that the listener wants, Piazzolla is the man to listen to. Concierto para Bandoneon Tres Tangos, this recording with a classical orchestra is Piazzolla's apotheosis. For years he has been turning a dance form into an art music. Here he essentially crosses into the regional conservatory style called national music.

Astor Piazzolla n Kronos Quartet - Five Tango Sensation + Concerto Para Bandoneon   (flac  352mb)

Five Tango Sensation
01 Asleep 5:28
02 Loving 6:14
03 Anxiety 4:57
04 Despertar 6:06
05 Fear 4:00
Concierto Para Bandoneón, Orquesta De Cuerdas Y Percusión
06 Allegro Marcato 6:49
07 Moderato 7:38
08 Presto 7:00
Tres Movimientos Tanguisticos Porteños
09 Allegreto 6:48
10 Moderatto 8:30
11 Vivace 3:56

Astor Piazzolla n Kronos Quartet - Five Tango Sensation + Concerto Para Bandoneon (ogg  134mb)

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Bandoneon Sinfonico documents a concert Astor Piazzolla gave in July of 1990, where the the godfather of tango gave a standard performance of his repertoire and was supported by the Athens Colours Orchestra and conductor Manos Hidjidakis. What makes the concert notable is that it happened to be the last concert Piazzolla ever gave, so it is a special release for diehard fans and even casual listeners will be surprised by how vital Piazzolla sounds toward the end of his career.

Astor Piazzolla - Bandoneon Sinfonico (flac  283mb)

01 Allegro Marcato 6:38
02 Moderato Mistico 5:16
03 Allegretto Molto Marcato 5:02
04 Adiós Nonino 8:01
05 Allegro Marcato 7:06
06 Moderato 6:46
07 Presto 7:07
08 (bis) 8:15

Astor Piazzolla - Bandoneon Sinfonico (ogg  122mb)

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