Manafonistas

1. Matana Roberts: Always (a solo alto saxophone album, released on a small label of enthusiasts, Relative Pitch Records, no overdubs, breathtaking recording quality, deep listening – the small problem is, you won’t get it in your local store, it’s a „killer“, believe me, and, for some strange reasons, Matana’s solo excursions remind me of the joyful intensity of Marion Brown’s „Geechee Recollections“)

 

2. David Torn: Only Sky (a solo guitar album that is so much more than a solo guitar album: a journey through textures, spheres, landscapes; blue moods of exstacy!)

 

3. Keith Jarrett: Creation (the most introspective solo recital since „The Melody At Night With You“, going to the essence without playing old games)

 

4. Lone Wolf: Lodge (an intense collection of songs, beyond the standard agenda of love lost and found; good to know there are still singers who listen to late-period Talk Talk)

 

5. Rickie Lee Jones: The Other Side of Desire (finally back, and in brilliant form, with lyrics that sound conversational, incl some special New Orleans vibes)

 

6. Paul De Jong: If (one half of the former „Books“ delivers a stunning collection of word-play, absurdity, and (not expected) sometimes heart-wrenching melancolia)

 

7. Ghost Harmonic: Codex (the violin in the machine, the in-between-world of hidden overtones and secret echoes – only for seconds, Brian and Arvo lurk around the corner)

 

8. John Potter: Amores Pasados (art songs, pop songs, who cares? Old Spanish poems and other sources – set into motion by two lutes and two singers. Captivating.)

 

9. Nils Okland Band: Kjolvatn (music from the woods, the hinterland, recorded in a Norwegian stone church. Quiet does it: the maestro of the Hardanger Fiddle crosses styles and centuries)

 

10. Geoff Barrow – Ben Salisbury: Ex Machina (brilliant soundtrack of a brilliant movie)

 

11. Achim Kaufmann: Later (solo piano again, done with intensiy, playfulness, a wide range of sources from Thelonious Monk to Syd Barrett, from Herbie Nichols to Bob Dylan – much more than simply decent, let’s call it „en passant-passion of highest order“!)

 

12. V. A. – Radio Vietnam (soundtripping through Eastern Radio, a roller coaster of sampling voices and sounds)

Lieber Mick,

ja, die männlichen Männer sollen herrschen, diese testosteronmarinierten Würstel! Wer etwas über die Männlichkeit der Herrschenden erfahren will, lese die „Muttersöhne“ von Pilgrim, da lernt mann und frau viel über die Männlichkeit der Herrschenden, da tummeln sich Führer, Päpste, Künstler und verstreuen ihre Destruktivität über die Lande wie ein Unkrautvernichtungsmittel, allesamt unabgenabelt bis zur Unerträglichkeit, den imaginären Daumen im Maul. Und wer das nicht hat , was für Frauen gedacht ist, braucht natürlich die Peitschen oder ähnliches!

Elvis war ein attraktiver Mann, aber das Mündchen schien immer nach der grossen Titte zu suchen! Und was der für ein Geschiss mit seiner Mama hatte, weiß man ja. Und Nietzsche hockte lebenslang bei Mama und Schwester, ließ sich füttern und wohl auch wickeln, laborierte an allen möglichen Somatisierungen und fiel irgendwann dem Hengst eines Reiterstandbildes um den Hals, vor lauter Sehnsucht nach männlicher Kraft. Da interessieren mich die trunkenen Verse auch nicht mehr. Sollen sie führen, wir werden uns zu wehren wissen!

Mit seinen Schwangerschaftsrezepten wird er bloß noch von Freud getoppt, der verordnete den Damen penis normalis, dosim repetatur, das geht schon stark in die magische Überhöhung der Naturvölker, die selbigen ehrfurchtsvoll umtanzen, nur meinen die nicht dauernd ihren eigenen, was sie sympathischer macht.

Aber im Buch von Yalom kommt er schon fast sympathisch rüber („Und Nietzsche weinte“), aber das ist Dichtung. Da mag man ihn fast, das ist das Gefährliche.

HUG ich habe gesprochen – ach, Winnetou ist auch tot! Schnüff!

U.M.

It’s all so simple, and this is the way we’ll get chapter „I“ going:

On June 28, Michael sends 5 texts to Martina.

On June 29, Martina sends  3, 4 or 5 texts to Wolfram. 

On June 30, Wolfram sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Jan.

On July 1, Jan sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Uwe.

On July 2, Uwe sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Gregor.

On July 3, Gregor sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Lajla 

On July 4, Lajla sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Ian.

On July 5, Ian sends 2 or 3 texts (scotish reduction:)) to Jochen.

On July 6, Jochen sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Henning.

On July 7, Henning sends 3, 4 or 5 texts to Michael 

Michael, producer of chapter „I“, will edit, evaluate, and remix the material and add all the „interim texts“ (from different sources, of course). What, in the possible future, will be a job for all, these „bridges“. So at this beginning we stick to quick choices on the one hand, to thoughtful „composing“ on the other. 

If anyone wants to change his or her day of delivery, just leave a comment. If anyone is lost to the world in that period of time, he or she just can send well-chosen texts before getting out of contact. 

Michael will (in certain cases) contact other Manas while remixing and lecturing all the stuff and deliver a possibly (rather) final version of chapter „I“ till the end of July via mail to everybody. 

Then we might no longer be 10, we even might close the case, or a part of the whole bunch will be keen on part ‚II‘. But the end of July will be a deadline that is worth its name. 

In verschiedenen Nachrufen auf Ornette wird erwähnt, dass er 2009 beim Konzert auf dem brandenburgischen Schloss Neuhardenberg bei einsetzendem Regen “Billy Jean” von Michael Jackson (1958-2009) spielte. Erstaunlich? Nein, eigentlich nicht. Die Klänge des Stücks kommen von weiter her, von tief unten.
 
 
V I D E O “Billy Jean” (Michael Jackson)
 
 
 

 
 
 
V I D E O “Little Rootie Tootie” (Thelonius Monk)
 
 
 

 
 
 
Wie mag Ornettes Gruppe geklungen haben? Wer war dabei?
 

auch von weiter her:
 
 
V I D E O long Bill Bailey’s moonwalk 1955
 
V I D E O short Bill Bailey’s moonwalk 1955
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 
Ornette, he has gone. He changed our way of listening …
 

„I have always wanted to have more rhythm. Rhythm doesn´t have any parents and doesn´t have a style either. It just changes everything that touches it equally. You can´t dominate rhythm. Some call it the upbeat or the downbeat, but you either have to find a way to relate to it or let it pass.“

from Ornette´s conversation with WAX POETICS’ John Kruth to read H E R E
 
 
Ornette ist es stets gelungen, so über Klang und Musik zu reden, dass letztere nicht festnagelbar waren!

It´s quite strange that the German obituaries don´t mention or deal with Ornette´s work with Joachim Kühn … Reasons?
 
 
A chronological selection of audio/video of recordings you can find HERE

I’m just preparing my last „three hour-show“ for the „Radionacht Klanghorizonte“ on June 20th beginning one hour after midnight. Before starting a two-months-offtime. (In July the jazz department of the Deutschlandfunk will broadcast an old portrait of mine of pianist Myra Melford, that’s all from my side.) The tracklist of the three hours (Neuland / Zeitreise / Nahaufnahme) will be published one day after broacasting. On June 21st. There will be no „podcast“ this time, on this site. From August onwards the show will be five (!) hours long, a real trip to the end of the night. The photo shows the covers (segments of them) of the four vinyl albums I’ll play in the „time travel zone“. A quick look will reveal a strange lack of coherence between the four records. But there is connection, you can bet on that.