Jazzis Web Shop News 09/2006

The last two Captain Beefheart remasters added today:

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART / MAGIC BAND ~ ICE CREAM FOR CROW
VIRGIN 365514 (Barcode: 094636551425) ~ USA ~ Classic Rock
Recorded: 1982 Released: 2006
Sadly and unexpectedly, this album was to be Vliet's swan song. Recorded with (yet again) new line-up of the Magic Band, it was to a large extent a closing of a circle by this visionary artist, as he re-visits here many of his earliest musical ides going way back to the 1960's, which somehow remained omitted from earlier albums. Stylistically it is closest to his early recordings as well, with the same atmosphere of tension and frequent changes of mood and tempo. Vliet throws the lyrics at the listener with harsh rapid fire, more often in spoken form than singing. Of course the magic is all there, even when the music becomes aggressive, metallic and dissonant. Obviously influenced by the punk movement (although he himself was an inspiration to many of the movement's pioneers - another circle closing), Vliet incorporates the punkish alienation and vehemence superbly, spicing it with brilliant overlays of complex outlandish musical threads, creating a collage of rare intensity and
 expressiveness. This album requires some digestion, but eventually it remains standing as an icon of the era and the last obelisk of Vliet's colonnade. After this album was recorded, Vliet disconnected himself from the world of music, dedicating all of his time to painting, living in total seclusion, and eventually tragically fell victim to multiple sclerosis.

CAPTAIN BEEFHEART / MAGIC BAND ~ LIVE LONDON `74
VIRGIN 368577 (Barcode: 094636857725) ~ USA ~ Classic Rock
Recorded: 1974 Released: 2006
Although Vliet and his Magic Band left us a sizeable legacy of recorded material, they never released a live album, which is quite strange in many ways. This album was recorded during the European tour, which followed Vliet's signing with Virgin and the release of the Unconditionally Guaranteed album. As his band fell apart shortly after the recording of the album, Vliet had to put together a new version of the band just before the tour started and rehearse with them both the new material from the album they were promoting, as well as some old favorites - an almost impossible task considering the complexity of the material and the lack of time. Nevertheless, as we can hear here, the results were brilliant, as always, with everything he ever attempted. The concert captured here presents Vliet and the band at top form and the music flows beautifully from start to finish. Earlier version of this recording appeared on CD in semi-bootleg versions, but never in full and never as brilliantly sounding as this one. A must! (Just for the sake of historic perspective, the band who used to open the shows for Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band on this tour were no other than Henry Cow, who also signed with Virgin at that time)

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Have Fun!

It is always a supreme pleasure to add any new material by my favorite musician of all, Harold Rubin. I added today one of his albums and since I rewrote the review of his debut album, it is also included for you to re-descover:

RUBIN, HAROLD ~ BLUE BAG
PRIVATE EDITION ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz
Recorded: 1996 Released: 1997
Harold Rubin is one of the very few true Renaissance men I've had the pleasure to meet and befriend over the years. An architect, a poet, a painter and an outstanding musician, but also a wonderful human being, who hates bullsh*t of any form and shape. This, often bold, honesty is present in every creative process Harold is involved with, and what makes his music so wonderfully different and outstanding. Blue Bag is a musical suite, a complete work of art, rather than a collection of separate and unrelated pieces of music. It is probably Harold's most "accessible" album. It involves a larger group of musicians (as opposed to his regular trio / quartet setting) and for the first time also features vocals. Stylistically it involves, in addition to the obvious jazz contents, some rock elements (for the first time since Harold played with Zaviot), some theatrical aura and a much clearer melody lines. The entire album brings fond memories of Brecht's operas and works by musicians like Gunter Hampel and his wife Jeanne Lee or Mike and Kate Westbrook. It also prominently features for the first time Harold's poetry, which constitutes the libretto for the entire suite. The musicians playing with Harold include Mark Smulian, his partner in Zaviot, who proves he can play the guitar as skillfully as he can handle the bass, Smulian's wife the wonderful singer Gani Tamir, Israel's best drummer Assaf Sirkis (who plays on many albums released on my Jazzis label), extremely talented trombonists Reut Regev and Rafi Malkiel, and bassist Amit Carmeli. Harold contributes his unique brand of clarinet virtuosity and occasionally recites / narrates his fantastic poetry with the music playing in the background (reminiscent of the wonderful "Jazz & Poetry" movement of the 1960's). If I could, I'd make every person on this planer to listen to this Magnum Opus, but obviously I can't do that. Hopefully some of you will read this and subsequently discover some of the best music ever
 recorded on this planet.

RUBIN, HAROLD ~ CLARINETVOYANCE
JAZZIS 1006 ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz
Recorded: 1987 - 1989 Released: 1990
Harold Rubin is undoubtedly the most interesting and spectacular jazz musician ever on the small Israeli scene. I first met Harold in 1987, when he formed the legendary group Zaviot and approached me to become their producer, which eventually resulted in the foundation of my Jazzis label and the Zaviot eponymous album as its first release. Shortly before Zaviot was formed, Harold picked up the clarinet for the first time in over two decades, after he put music aside upon his immigration to Israel from his native South Africa. He used to play Jazz in SA of course, mostly with the black musicians of Soweto (Kippie Gwanga was his close friend), which for a white Jewish boy was quite unthinkable at that time. Harold's work with Zaviot is of course both revolutionary and legendary, but his true nature as an improviser and free spirit was somehow constrained by the limits of the music Zaviot played. When I realized that, I used every opportunity to capture Harold playing in a variety of settings in parallel to the recordings made with Zaviot, especially when musicians visiting Israel were available and open enough to take part in spontaneously and often hastily arranged recording sessions. Soon there was enough material to release Harold's first album as a leader, using the accumulated material, which was to become Clarinetvoyance. This is the fist album recorded in Israel, documenting the process of collective improvisation and the free form music and I am proud to say a most notable addition to the Israeli jazz heritage. The duet with the German pianist Christoph Spendel was recorded during the sessions, which produced the Tel-Aviv Connection album (Jazzis). The trios with Charles Burnham were recorded the String Trio Of New York, of which he was a member, toured Israel. The long and complex improvised suite (Clairvoyance) was recorded when the Russian pianist Leonid Chizhik and bassist Victor Dvoskin came to Israel to play at the Eilat Jazz Festival. The rest of the pieces are duos with various Israeli musicians that Harold likes to play with. This is deeply emotional music, which requires attentive listening, but is able to lift the listener to lofty spiritual planes rarely achieved by listening to ordinary music.

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Have Fun!

Another Harold Rubin album added today, bringing us almost to the complete Harold's discography - just one more left, to be added later on. Included also the last re-write on one of his older albums:

RUBIN, HAROLD / JONES, JEAN CLAUDE ~ MUSE & MUSIC
KADIMA COLLECTIVE 03 ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz
Recorded: 2004 Released: 2005
This album documents the musical / spiritual meeting between the two leaders of the Israeli improvised music scene. Harold Rubin started the movement on the late 1980's, after his legendary group Zaviot disbanded, leading a long series of ensembles active in the Tel-Aviv area, where he lives. Jean Claude Jones (or J.C. to his friends) arrived on the scene at about the same time, playing with another legendary group Kedma (both Zaviot and Kedma released their albums on Jazzis Records). Later on Jones played with many different ensembles in the Jerusalem area, where he lives, and founded the Kadima Collective - an association of improvising artists (cross-genre), which now independently releases various projects on record. Their path crossed many times over the years but they somehow failed to record together and this much overdue album puts things right at last. The intimate duo of clarinet and electro acoustic bass is the foundation of the music, with Harold reciting / voicing his poetry on top and Jones adding live electronics occasionally, all of those based on musical telepathy and interplay between the creators. This is intense stuff, requiring total attentiveness and open-mindedness, but for people who are willing to stretch out their intellectual muscles the rewards are infinite. Sadly, there is very little music of such quality being made anywhere in the wold these days.

ZADLO-RUBIN-PARPAR ~ SPRINGTIME IN WINTER
JAZZIS 1009 ~ ISRAEL ~ Jazz
Recorded: 1990 Released: 1990
This is a very special album for me, reaching far beyond the concept of capturing, for eternity, the magic moments of musical creation. It's an epitome of the many bonds of friendship between people involved in the Jazz scene worldwide, as well as a document of the creative process involved with group improvisation. Leszek Zadlo, who left Poland - his troubled homeland - in the 1970's, to live and create music in Germany, is today one of the most important Jazz musicians in Europe, and for me the best European saxophonist. His technique is brilliant and his improvisational skills unrivaled. This, combined with his charming personality, makes him a wonderful person and a dear friend since many years. Our common Polish cultural background is just one of the many layers of this friendship. Harold is of course another dear friend, with whom I had the privilege to experience some of the most exceptional moments in Israeli Jazz, since the early days of his first group Zaviot. His enormous vitality and esprit de corps (almost hyperactivity) are best illustrated by the fact, that at the time of this recording Harold was the leader of two separate groups, both called Parpar (Hebrew for butterfly). Therefore it was only natural to include both groups in this session. Leszek and Harold met several times in Germany, when Zaviot toured Europe. They developed an instant liking for each other as well as a phenomenal musical rapport. I'm happy to be the catalyst behind their friendship and this magnificent music. When the Goethe-Institut in Tel-Aviv decided to help us and bring Leszek for a tour in Israel, I immediately booked studio time to make this recording, since I knew about Leszek's and Harold's urge to play and record together. Their concerts in Israel as well as this recording are the best proof of the fact that human talent and creativity have no limits and know no borders. This album is dedicated to the People of Eastern Europe, for whom the Winter of 1989 / 1990 was really the most wonderful Spring they had experienced in decades.

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I hope that the last 3 mailings with extensive Harold Rubin contents will make you all intereseted in the music of this genius....

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Have Fun!