CABALLERO REYNALDO'S FRIENDS - CINQUECENTON

• various artists: caballero reynaldo's friends - cinquecenton
      (2012, cd, spain, hall of fame)

A little while ago, I already mentioned this fabulous project: Caballero Reynaldo (Luis G.) 's friends recorded an album to celebrate his birthday.
Not only a superb idea, but a beautiful one as well.
I most certainly mentioned that the album included two Zappa-coverversions, but I don't know if I mentioned that the album got released in two formats: both in a plastic case and in a DVD-case.
I added the picture of the DVD-case-cover to the U.M.Archives today.

http://www.halloffame.es/

THE MUZE JAZZ ORCHESTRA

The surprise of the week at the United Mutations Headquarters was the arrival of the Muze Magazine, dated January 2013.
Nothing wrong with that, you might say, and you would be right if it wasn't for the picture of Frank Zappa on the cover of the mag !

Saturday, February 9, the Muze Jazz Orchestra will be playing at the Muze Cultural Centre in Heusden-Zolder (B).
Reason enough to put a FZ on the cover!

VARIOUS ARTISTS - LEAVING JET TRAILS

• various artists: leaving jet trails...
      (2012, cd, uk, slowfoot records slocd020)

Slowfoot records recently released Hello Skinny's first album. This made all of the Eyeball Buddies happy as it included a fine version of The Residents' 'Hello Skinny'.

"Leaving Jet Trailers" is a sampler by Slowfoot Records. This one includes a remixed version of 'Hello Skinny'. The bonus beat remix to be more precise.

http://www.slowfoot.co.uk/

HELLO SKINNY - HELLO SKINNY

• hello skinny: s/t
      (2012, cd, uk, slowfoot records slocd019)

Earlier this year, Tom Skinner released his first album. For this album, Tom Skinner used the alias of Hello Skinny, and he named the album the same.
To confuse us even a bit more, this eponymous album also includes the famous Residents song with the same name.
So you get Hello Skinny performing 'Hello Skinny' on "Hello Skinny".

"Hello Skinny" is drummer Tom Skinner's first album as bandleader, composer and producer.
His bandcamp site describes the music as exploring areas around and between psych-dub, electronics, downtown jazz and folk stylings.

Nice.

http://helloskinny.bandcamp.com/

THE ALMOST THREE RECORDED ZAPPA'S SLEEP DIRT

German band The Almost Three recorded Frank Zappa's 'Sleep Dirt' on their latest album, "Big Muff".

-- info: Ulli Schäfer

ARF DOSSIER VOL.74

Issue number 74 of The Arf Dossier, the Zappa fanzine that's published by the Arf Society, is out:

the arf-dossier no.74  -  2012/12

incl.

• leserpost
• zappanale für arf
• the hot platters heaven from the arf office by andrew greenaway, peter görs, agnete granitzka
• schon wieder norwegen - zappaunion in drammen by steffen schindler
• zappaunion 2012 by bjorn olav herheim
• news from belgium - live from United Mutations
• grandsheiks live by zappacat & michael schaust
• the vinyl bootleg releases by burkhard schempp
• ullis eck by ulli schäfer

VLEK

Dutch septet Vlek's music has its roots in the psychedelic and the prog rock music of the 1970's. The band hails from around Tilburg and will release its first album in about two weeks.

* Edward Capelop: sax & clarinet

* Jeroen Doomernik: trumpet

* Hans Sparla: trombone

* Jacq Palinckx: guitar

* Bart van Dongen: keys en electronics

* Bert Palinckx: double bass

* Pascal Vermeer: drums

Friends of the experimental music scene will already have recognised a couple of names.
This is something to look forward to.

LIVING BY LANTERNS - NEW MYTH / OLD SCIENCE

• living by lanterns: new myth / old science
      (2012, cd, usa, cuneiform records rune 345)

On his website, Mike Reed says:
"In the winter I was commissioned by the Experimental Sound Studio to create a performance that in some way used or was inspired by material contained in the 700 hours of the Sun Ra/El Saturn Audio Collection. This audio archive is a vast assortment of rehearsal tapes, masters, live recordings, speeches and poetry left behind by Sun Ra and manager Alton Abraham. Although an interesting proposition I was reluctant to dive into it since my working band People, Places & Things has gained much of it's success dealing with re-inventing and positioning the obscure Chicago hard bop scene circa 1954-60. With that in mind I wasn't interested in developing a reputation for re-igniting the past.

After some thinking and discussions with collaborator Jason Adasiewicz I came up with the notion of forming a large group to perform this project AND to specifically enlist his talents to accomplish the task. The first step in the process was to completely dismiss the idea of commenting or honoring Sun Ra. Neither one of us are fanatics and there's not much more anyone is going to add to the discussion of the man and the legend. The more interesting idea was of creating new music using someone's un-finished, un-wanted and abandoned material. In my mind it doesn't matter who's tapes these are, it's just source material , in this case it happens to be Sun Ra."

In the liner notes of the album, Terri Kapsalis adds:
"From 700 hours of possible starting points, Reed and collaborator/vibraphonist Jason Adasiewicz chose Reel 43, a rehearsal tape marked "NY 1961"...
Adasiewicz extracted melodic and harmonic themes. With Reed, they produced "outlines of tune material and ideas for structures." Adasiewicz's remarkable orchestrations followed."

I'm a fan of Mike Reed's People, Places and Things ensemble in which he investigates the 1950's Chicago jazz scene. I have also seen Jason Adasiewicz in concert a couple of times already, most recently with Swedish Azz and I have to say that I like what he does.

I'm happy to say that I am very pleased with "New Myth / Old Science". The nine-piece band does not try to be a reincarnation of the Arkestra. They play original and fascinating music.
"New Myth / Old Science" is one of these albums that asks for you complete attention. I was happy to give it.

Recommended listening.

Out on Cuneiform Records : http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/

Available from Mandaï : www.mandai.be

STAUSS, ANLIKER, KAYSER & VOGT - ECHOES

• stauss, anliker, kayser, vogt: echoes
      (1999, cd, switzerland, fazzul music 0817)

"Echoes" presents 7 compositions by Markus Stauss, performed by Hans Anliker (trombone), Oliver Vogt (viola & violin), Pit Kayser (keyboards) and Markus Stauss (tenor, soprano and bass saxophone).
The majority of these pieces had previously been recorded and released in a different setting and on various Markus Stauss albums.

As the album title might suggest, the quartet gives a new interpretation to some of Markus Stauss' older compositions. The originally experimental jazz pieces get a contemporary classical treatment, and it suits them very well.

If you're only familiar with Markus Stauss' experimental jazz and rock output, "Echoes" will be an excellent addition.

Recommended listening.

http://www.fazzulmusic.ch

HAPPY 2013

A happy & healthy 2013 to you all !!

Frank performing with The Mike Douglas Orchestra. 1976/10/28