DRINKIN’ OLE E + DOGGIN’ HOES

Not Like I even really need to post another track but I also liked this tale of being dumped over the phone set to music…

I don’t have a lot of pride in my home state/town, per se.  It’s not that I dislike Colorado, I just don’t care.  But for some reason, when I come across records made in Colorado, I’m more intrigued than I would be if the same boned out private xian piece came from somewhere else.  They are almost always awful, and yet I keep buying them.

It was this strange bias that helped me take a chance on my first copy of Jerry Granelli’s Visions, a private affair from Boulder.  This record is far from awful, but then again, it didn’t look like it was going to be.  Being quite clearly a jazz record with titles that connote spiritual moves, it was an easy bet for me.  Fortunately, this is easily the best record from Colorado that I have found.

Granelli isn’t really from Colorado, however.  His claim to fame is being the drummer in the Vince Guaraldi Trio during their recording of “Linus & Lucy.”  So we’ve all heard him play without really knowing it.  But not long after that, Jerry went into the jazz outfield, forming one of the first free jazz groups in the 60s in San Francisco.  He is still actively recording to this day.

Visions was his first release under his name.  He was living in Boulder at the time (while being introduced to Buddhism), and recruited local jazz musicians to cut the album at Northstar Studios.  Consisting of five vibrant originals, the music is “a reflection of [the artists'] caring kindness and intelligence.”*  The first track on the album starts with a peddle guitar in near-drone, a brilliant move that lets you know right away that you can go ahead and throw away any pre-conceived notions about jazz itself.  The group strikes a great balance and Jerry is never the star of the show, but his dedication to sound through intriguing percussion and expert drumming is always present.  Jerry is quoted (relatively recently) as saying, “I think of myself as a sound artist first, a musician second and a drummer third.”  I can definitely get behind that.

Side 2 is even better than the first thanks to “Aslan” and “Lalita.”  In both cases you think that perhaps you’re entering the free jazz zone until the other instruments shuffle in and suddenly you’re in a melting pot of styles.  22 minutes isn’t long enough.

Tracking down a copy isn’t easy, but it is also not terribly hard.  Keep your eye out.  And while you’re at it, I highly recommend check out Jerry’s most recent album, 1313 (2010).  Even in old age, Jerry simply oozes percussive creativity.

*from the liner notes.

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Jerry’s website.  Be sure to check out the videos, there’s a documentary on him. (for some reason, Visions is not mentioned in his discography)

You can order Jerry’s latest album 1313 here.

Here are a couple of interviews with Jerry that provide more biographical information.

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Hear “Lalita”

Four of the tracks are originals (2 instrumentals and 2 vocals), and then a half dozen covers ranging from Telstar to Tennessee Waltz.  The best of the cover songs are a droney minimalist take on 2001 (Also Sprach Zarathustra) and the Godspell nugget Day By Day, which closes the LP.  Of the originals, while the two instrumentals are relatively pleasant melodic excursions, it’s the vocal tracks that stand out as Donny’s unique contribution to American Culture.  Short Fat Sky tells the story of a fellow named Sky who was, well, short and fat, with alternating spoken word verses and sing song choruses.  But the real gem here is I’m Only Seventeen, in which Donny tells a spoken word story over a droning organ & percussion backdrop of how a young man died in a car crash.  Any song in which the first line of lyrics states: “I’m a statistic” and includes the classic plea: “Please! Somebody, wake me up!  I can’t be dead!  I’ve got a lot of living to do!  I’ve got a date tonight!” deserves to be permanently filed in the Classic American Culture section at the Library of Congress.

Online searches at present turn up nothing about this LP, but do tell us that Donny Matsler was most recently in the news being interviewed in the wake of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico of 2010, as one of the Alabama-based fishermen who were brought in to clean up the toxic residue from the spill and quickly began suffering health problems.

Cellotape & Scotchtape is the result of five sessions between November 1981 and July 1982 instigated by cellist/composer Ernst Reijseger and drummer/percussionist Alan “Gunga” Purves.  Both are still active in the Amsterdam music scene today, and Ernst has successfully established himself in the film scoring world, most recently with the Werner Herzog documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams.

Ernst’s cello work is beautiful and varies greatly through the album, from long flowing passages to frenetic free improvisations.  Alan’s contributions are slightly disappointing considering how inventive he can be, but he gets moments to shine, especially on “Drumduet no. 1.”  He keeps a nice pulse throughout the album, helping the pieces lean more towards experimental jams than all-out free jazz freak-outs.  Hell, “Rekwela” is downright catchy.

A highly recommend release from this small Dutch label.  It’s experimental without being aggressive, mellow but unique enough to encourage multiple listens.

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More on Ernst Reijseger

A recent album from Alan Purves (you can also find a CD reissue of Cellotape & Scotchtape on this site)

Data Records’ Website

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Hear “Shakers & Kalimba”

Hear “Rekwela”

DATA Records, DATA:822

Though billed as a group, the record is quite obviously focused around the personality and comedic stylings of Jango Edwards, a self-described “clown and fool.”  Jango (né Stanley Ted) was born in Detroit in 1950.  He started a theatre troupe in London that eventually developed into the Friends Roadshow.  This explains why the entire album and liner notes are in perfect English.  The Friends found themselves at the Melkweg Amsterdam (a venue still very much alive) on February 27 & 28, 1978 to record this album.

The music, ranging from uptempo swing numbers to punk rock (his words), is amusing, but mainly feels like filler in between Jango’s monologue sketches that mostly focus on satirizing religions in an absurdist and sexual way.  His delivery is one-of-a-kind and his confidence is enviable (he seems to have no problem performing and appearing on his album covers naked, with his goods tucked in).  But his unpredictability is funnier than his actual jokes and concepts.

Overall, it is a wonderful listen, and I’d imagine it was a killer live show.  One of the two truly special finds from my trip (review of the second one forthcoming).  Fans of The Firesign Theatre will be right at home.

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Jango now teaches clown lessons in Europe.  His site is here.

Here are some pictures of the Friends Roadshow.

Here is an account from Dave Norket, who is credited as a writer on some songs but doesn’t play any instruments.

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Hear Jango take ‘em to church as his “Oral Bob” character

Hear “A Face Like Yours”

Milkyway Records, JC-27282-8  (there is also a German edition on Polydor)

Arnold Dibble

“Cumana” (Piano driven latin jazz)

“Taiwan By The Chinese Sea” (Well the title says it all. Funny little song with some Edmundo Ros feel to it)

“I Am To Blame” (Vocal jazz)

This LP predates the music mentioned above, having been recorded and released privately in 1978, and is credited to The High Mountain Band.  As the liner notes on the back cover of the LP state: “This music has its origins in Asia.  It is inspired by great mountains, lakes and rivers and is charged with great spiritual aspirations.”

With the exception of one traditional folkdance (Hary Lolo), all of the music was composed by Saraydarian between 1975 and 1978, who contributes guitar and piano, along with vocals on several tracks.  Several of the songs on the LP remind me a bit of some of the things Popol Vuh were doing at the time, as well as some of the more introspective Greek music I’ve heard from the period.  Asatoma Satgamaya is one such track, and is described as being “a very ancient Sanskrit prayer.”  Avira Virma Yeti is another Sanskrit prayer set to Saraydarian’s music with vocals by Marcia Barnum, Katherine Hendon and Torkom Saraydarian.  The final track on the LP is Waterfalls, a 1978 solo piano composition by Saraydarian, which seems to point the way toward the music he would later create.

Hard Rock 4 song 12″ EP out of Ohio fronted by a female lead singer on Zipperleg Records.

Stays pretty much within the conventions of the era  (1984) although the last song veers into something resembling power pop (bottom clip).

A Hard Way To Love You

No More

Empire Strikes Back
Stars in his eyes