Vignetten, Vol. 27
Updates von blechtram Kommentarverlauf ein-/ausschalten | Tastaturkürzel
-
blechtram
-
blechtram
Lightnin' Hopkins: Ground Hog Blues – "Sittin In With" Sessions
Rating: 3.6/10
Rated as: Collection
Compilation Status: Obsolete
Released: 2004
Recorded: 1947–1951
Specific Genre: Acoustic Texas Blues
Main Genre: Acoustic Blues, Blues
Label: Universe [Italy]Disc 1: 1.1 Coffee Blues 1.2 Gotta Move 1.3 Freight Train 1.4 Don’t Think I’m Crazy 1.5 Dirty House Blues 1.6 Everything Happens to Me 1.7 Cairo Blues [by Lil‘ Son Jackson] 1.8 Bad Whiskey [by Lil‘ Son Jackson] 1.9 Ground Hog Blues [by Lil‘ Son Jackson] 1.10 Automobile Blues 1.11 Got to Go [Zolo Go] 1.12 Unsuccessful Blues 1.13 Rollin‘ Woman Blues 1.14 Big Mama Jump (Little Mama Blues) 1.15 Ida Mae 1.16 Shining Moon 1.17 Give Me Central (Hello Central) 1.18 Contrary Mary 1.19 Bald Headed Woman
Disc 2: 2.1 One Kind Favor (See that My Grave Is Kept Clean) 2.2 I Wonder Why 2.3 Tap Dance Boogie 2.4 Down to the River 2.5 New Short Haired Woman 2.6 Broken Hearted Blues 2.7 New York Boogie 2.8 Long Way from Texas 2.9 Mad as I Can Be [Tell Me Boogie] 2.10 I’m Beggin‘ You 2.11 Why Did You Get Mad at Me? 2.12 Home in the Woods [No Good Woman] 2.13 Praying Ground Blues 2.14 Back Home Boogie 2.15 Studio Chatter/My Heart to Weep 2.17 New Worried Life Blues 2.18 I’ll Never Forget the Day [You Do Too]John Lee Hooker told me one day, he said: if you don’t get it like this you’re wrong
Let’s see, there is a lot to unpack here. This is advertised as the sessions for the „Sittin‘ In With“ label, issued by an obscure Italian label („Universe“) focusing on vintage reissues. And while a slight majority of the tracks in fact stems from these 1951 sessions (in New York and Houston), there are some tracks that Hopkins made in 1948/49 for the Gold Star Records label (1.10–1.16, with 1.14 „Big Mama Jump“ actually from 1947). Several of the tracks were issued later, under labels such as Mainstream, Time, Jax and Mercury.
This makes some sense: Producer Bob Shad had founded numerous labels, Sittin‘ In With, Time, Jax, Mainstream and others, then later sold Sittin‘ In With to Mercury (under which umbrella he started EmArcy, so Bob Shad turns out to be… something of a giant. He is also the grandfather of Judd Apatow. Judd’s sister Mia Apatow manages the label’s properties nowadays). And Shad issued records under his labels that were licensed from and had been earlier recorded by the Gold Star label. This explains the numerous labels involved – they all had something to do with Bob Shad and all the recordings were made – at least very roughly – during contiguous sessions.
This is where the good news for this compilation stop because to say that the obscure „Universe“ label here did a shoddy job would be an understatement. Let’s see: First, there is no rhyme or reason to what made this double disc from these sessions. These are neither the complete Sittin‘ In With sessions nor is there are a comprehensive approach to the sublabel tracks. Secondly, here is no sense at all in the few scattered Gold Star tracks, no comprehensiveness, no session cohesion, no chronology. Lots of holes. Furthermore, some of the information and track titles are plain wrong („Somebody’s Got to Go“ here is a different number called „Zolo Go“ or „Zologo“). Worst of all, contrary to the information given here, three of the tracks were not recorded by Lightnin‘ Hopkins at all: „Cairo Blues“, „Bad Whiskey“, and, in a major plot twist, the bloody [i]title track[/i] „Ground Hog Blues“ from 1948/49 (for Gold Star). Why? Gold Star also housed a young aspiring bluesman called Lil‘ Son Jackson (check out his discography for reference), who could mimic Hopkins to a tee as he learned the blues from his mentor and who is often lumped together on large Texas blues compilations alongside Hopkins and others.
This kind of reckless editing gives me fits. Even worse: This collection is completely obsolete, as you can get the entire sessions elsewhere, with no holes and no need for scavenging needlessly scattered tracks on other collections. The definite one being JSP’s All the Classics: 1946–1951. In fairness, that huge collection for some reason misses „Tap Dance Boogie“ and „You Do Too (I’ll Never Forget the Day)“, both of which are here. But you can get those and more on serious collection like Hello Central – The Best of Lightnin‘ Hopkins (which incidentally has some tracks missing on All the Classics).
So, be all that as it may: This is an obsolete, borderline useless slapdash cheapo ragbag to which you should give no serious consideration. The music here of course is laidback, great acoustic and electric Texas blues, but the poor and careless research ruins the fun of owning this set with overall great music. There are numerous collections that are far more serious and superior. I also worry at night about the fact that this has become one of the more wide-spread compilations, but maybe I should know better.
-
blechtram
Kunst im öffentlichen Raum, Vol. 13
Bern, Vol. 13 -
blechtram
John Coltrane: Ascension
Rating: 8.8/10
Rated as: Album
Album Status: Genre Classic
Released: 1966
Recorded: 1965
Specific Genre: Free Jazz, Spiritual Jazz
Main Genre: Jazz, Avant-Garde Jazz
Undertones: Experimental Big Band
Label: Impulse!1 Ascension (Edition II)
Bonus Tracks: 2 Ascension (Edition I)Like a seagull thrown around by the tides
This is Coltrane’s „free jazz“-album which might alienate people who mainly go for his 1950s hard bop and ballads. Up to this point, Coltrane already had been flirting and entangled with avant-garde here and there, but this is the wedding announcement. If you listen to free jazz at all, I’d say this is the second record you should pick up (you can figure out the first for yourself). And, to exactly no one’s surprise, it’s great. The energy is amazing, makes you feel like a seagull thrown around by the tides, waves and winds, and I regularly find myself having gone through these 40 minutes without really noticing in the best way – this record sort of suspends my sense of time.
While free jazz shouldn’t make you „tune out“ mentally, you really don’t have a lot of listening „work“ to do here: The sheer, frenzied soul displayed by the very unususal set-up just carries you right through the piece. The performance of the (large) collective is so good it makes your brain forget that this is, at least supposedly, „cerebral“ music. It is also a very different approach compared to Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz: While that album was more of a thoroughly collective effort, Ascension follows a pretty tight structure that has ensemble and soloists alternating every few minutes in a specific order (everyone involved gets one solo, except Garrison and Davis on the double-basses get a duet). That’s not better or worse than Coleman’s stress on collective dynamics of development, but it does give you slightly more to hold on to structurally when you’re starting out in the genre. As the record that announced Coltrane‘s complete take-off into the stratosphere, it’s pretty bold and astounding in terms of full realisation – no „transitional“ aspects here.
-
blechtram
-
blechtram
Toller Ausdruck der Woche: Arrieregarde
Fundort: Bettine von Arnim: Die Günderode
Der Ausdruck bezeichnet bei Bettine von Arnim natürlich noch im ursprünglichen Wortgebrauch eine militärische Nachhut, denn arrière-garde ist natürlich das Gegenstück zur avant-garde, der Vorhut. Dass die Avantgarde (jedenfalls das Wort) ihre militärischen Wurzeln irgendwann zugunsten einer „kulturprogressiven“ Kampfmetapher verloren hat, ist bekannt:
Auf die Kunst übertragen wurde das Wort im Saint-Simonismus. Der früheste Beleg für den Künstler als Avantgarde an der Spitze einer sozialen Bewegung findet sich bei Olinde Rodrigues, einem Jünger Saint-Simons, in dem Dialog ‚L’Artiste, le Savant et l’Industriel‘ (1825). In der deutschen kunstkritischen und -wissenschaftlichen Diskussion gibt es das Wort seit der Jahrhundertwende.
(Jäger, Georg: Avantgarde. In: Reallexikon der deutschen Literaturwissenschaft. Bd. 1. Hg. v. Klaus Weimar. Berlin 2007, 183–187, hier 184.)Dass die Arrieregarde (again: das Wort) eine ähnliche Karriere gemacht hat, liegt weniger auf der Hand und sie tat es auch erst im Nachtrab zu der Bedeutungsentwicklung der Avantgarde. Offenbar war eine Fortschrittsmetapher im Kulturdiskurs früh gewollt, während ein künstlerisches Nachhinken nie die gleiche begriffliche Dringlichkeit genoss. Naja.
Besonders gut untersuchen lässt sich der Wortwandel im Digitalen Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache auf die Schnelle nicht, aber soviel lässt sich mal sagen: Im älteren Korpus findet sich „Arriere-Garde“ (man beachte für die Schlagwortsuche den Bindestrich) mit einigen Belegen, sämtlich aus dem 18. Jahrhundert, sämtlich in militärischer Grundbedeutung. Im jüngeren Korpus finden sich einige Belege für die Schreibweise „Arrieregarde“, sämtlich für das 20. Jahrhundert, sämtlich als Kulturmetaphern.
Im Duden ist Avantgarde als Metapher in erster Wortbedeutung lexikalisiert, das heisst, die Metapher wird dort als die derzeit massgebliche Bedeutung ausgewiesen (als „Gruppe von Vorkämpfern einer geistigen Entwicklung„). Das ist für Arrieregarde nicht der Fall, notiert wird dies im Duden als „Nachhut, Militär veraltet„. Der kurze Scan des DWDS (keine zuverlässige Basis für eine Schlussfolgerung, aber eine gute Ausgangslage für eine Anschlussfrage) legt aber nahe, dass Arrieregarde, wenn auch nicht so populär wie Avantgarde, im Deutschen nicht mehr, oder zumindest nur zweitrangig, in seiner militärischen Bedeutung verwendet wird.
Das wirft eigentlich vor allem eine Frage auf: Ab wann und unter welchen Umständen werden im Duden metaphorische Bedeutungswandlungen lexikalisiert? Wer entscheidet das aufgrund welcher Daten? Ich frag mal nach.
-
blechtram
Billet trouvé, Vol. 16
Oh je!
Sie haben Ihren Gehstock
hier liegenlassen
Bin ab Mittwoch wieder da! -
blechtram
Nils Petter Molvær: Khmer
Rating: 7.7/10
Rated as: Album
Album Status: Backdoor Classic
Released: 1997
Specific Genre: Nu Jazz
Main Genre: Jazz, Jazz Fusion, Electronic
Undertones: EDM, Breakbeat, Trip Hop, ECM Style Jazz
Label: ECM1 Khmer 2 Tløn 3 Access/Song of Sand I 4 On Stream 5 Platonic Years 6 Phum 7 Song of Sand II 8 Exit
An explorative but very disciplined approach extending jazz into electronic music on equal terms
To me, this sounds like Tutu gone well – replacing tired old 1980s-funk with contemporary engery of trip hop and EDM. Obviously, Molvær‘s stylistic godfather regarding his trumpet sound is Miles Davis, especially Marcus Miller’s Davis – and quite openly so: The trumpet lick of „Platonic Years“ is the exact one that opens Davis’s Doo-Bop album with „Mystery“. While such a description should make me run for shelter, this release is actually quite terrific and (partially) makes me see even the lesser aspects of Davis’s synth-jazz era as a forerunner of successful outings of electronic and nujazz such as this.
Khmer is a primarily stylistic affair. The sound is crystal clear, dominated by Molvær‘s now piercing, now soothing trumpet, floating over mostly programmed (?) beats which range from ambient background to heavy thunder, bordering on wild outbreaks à la Massive Attack here and there. Distorted guitars and filtered cellos (?) add to an explorative but very disciplined approach extending jazz into electronic music on equal terms. Molvær adds an eastern element to the grooves (the tabla-like percussion on „On Stream“ sounds like a sample from an Indian raga) over which he supplies his druidic trumpet solos.
After the two mesmerizing, beat-and-crunched-guitar-driven openers and a great trip hop freakout on „Access/Song of Sand I“, the record gets dreamier and borderline ambient towards the middle, approaching Eno-territory on the mellow „Platonic Years“ and „Phum“. In a suite-like dramaturgy, the hypnotic beats of „Song of Sand II“ make an reappearance and the record glides away with „Exit“, less of a song and more of a coda. But what makes this work? Is it just the deliberate craftsmanship that adds layer on layer, creating an amazing array of musical details and nuances, rewarding a close listen? The true strength of this distorted and programmed approach to jazz is the fact that Molvær evokes yearning emotions mostly through timbre, swerving from heavy EDM beats to pure blissful melancholia to soothing inner landscapes of stalagmitical ice caves with astounding consistency.
The criticism Khmer draws is easily explained: It does feel like an approach that works for one album. This is too experimental and cerebral for „Café-del-Mar“-listeners, but too electronic and ‚easy‘ for jazz snobs. I like to see this as an advantage of Khmer. It’s thinkable to give this to totally different people such as trip hoppers, house-junkies, jazz aficionados and chill-sound-folks, with at least some of each group ending up liking it. As an icicle blazing through the European jazz scene in the late 1990s, it’s still a cold gust of wind more than twenty years later.
-
blechtram
Complete Blues Bio-Discographies Update
I’ll change how I post update to my Complete Blues Discographies because the single mentions of the updated artists do clutter up the timeline. I’ll post a monthly or bi-weekly update with just all the names. I also deleted the entries so far.
The links below all lead to the same general page, they are just jump-links to the specific artist.
These are the update for February 2020:
Mamie Smith, lived 1883–1946, recorded 1920–1942
Lucille Hegamin, lived 1894–1970, recorded 1920–1932, 1961–62.
Clarence Williams, lived 1893 or 1898–1965, recorded 1921–1947
Mary Stafford, lived ca. 1895–ca. 1938, recorded 1921–1926
Alberta Hunter, lived 1895–1984, recorded 1921–1946, 1961, 1977–1983.
Edith Wilson, lived 1896–1980, recorded 1921–1976(?)
Johnny Dunn, lived 1897–1937, recorded 1921–1928
Daisy Martin, unknown birth date – ca. 1925, recorded 1921–1923
Sara Martin, lived 1884–1955, recorded 1922–1929
Eva Taylor, lived 1895–1977, recorded 1922–1941, 196X–1976
Lena Wilson, lived ca. 1898–1939, recorded 1922–1924, 1930
Trixie Smith, lived 1895–1943, recorded 1922–1925, 1938–1939
Ma Rainey, lived 1886–1939, recorded 1923–1928
Virginia Liston, lived ca. 1890–1932, recorded 1923–1926
Charley Patton, unknown birth date – 1934, recorded 1929–1934
Peetie Wheatstraw, lived 1902–1941, recorded 1930–1941
Earl Hooker, lived 1929–1970, recorded 1952–1970
Magic Sam, lived 1937–1969, recorded 1957–1969
Mance Lipscomb, lived 1895–1976, recorded 1960–1973
-
blechtram
Antworten