THE SINGING PAINTERS MEET CARVER & HORN - THE FOOD SUPPLEMENT

• the singing painters meet carver & horn: the food supplement
      (2017, lp, bel, el negocito records enr056)

The Singing Painters started out as a trio in 1998: Laura Van (vocals), Michaël Borremans (guitar) and Merlyn Paridaen (drums).
In 2011, Michaël Borremans left the band. Laura and Merlyn continued as a duo, occasionally supported by Adriaan Verwée on bass clarinet.
Early 2016, Mathias Van de Wiele (guitar) joined. A bit later on, Peter Jacquemyn (bass) and Bart Maris (trumpet) followed, hence The Singing Painters meet Carver & Horn.

"The Food Supplement" got recorded live by the quintet at the Croxhapox in Ghent on May 20, 2016.
8 pieces. Live. Completely improvised. 

Very impressive. Very powerful.

Four of the pieces have improvised lyrics by Laura Van.

Out on the El Negocito record label:

http://elnegocitorecords.com/releases/eNR056+.html

MARBIN - AGGRESSIVE HIPPIES

• marbin: aggressive hippies
      (2015, cd, usa, marbin music)

Catching up with data on the latest Marbin albums, here's "Aggressive Hippies".
Listening to Marbin indeed is like meeting aggressive hippies. It's not someting that you would expect.

Both guitarist Dani Rabin and saxophone player Danny Markovitch hail from Israel. They've been living in Chicago for quite some years now, but their cosmopolite heritage is apparent.
Fusion / rock music with a nice dose of Middle Eastern influences.

Superb.

PETER VERMEERSCH & FLAT EARTH SOCIETY - S.S.BELGENLAND WORLD CRUISE 1927

• peter vermeersch & flat earth society: s.s. belgenland world cruise 1927
      (2017, dvd, bel, red star line museum)

From the Red Star Museum website:
Since the autumn of 2016, the Red Star Line Museum has been drawing attention to one of the Red Star shipping line’s lesser known activities: its cruise activity. The museum will bring the cruise era back to life with an exhibition, a book and a concert by the Flat Earth Society. The emphasis is on the stories of the passengers and crews of the Red Star Line's cruise ships. The exhibition includes an original film shot by an amateur filmmaker during his cruise on the Belgenland between 1927 and 1928.

In the meantime, these concerts have taken place. And, on top of that, the music got recorded at the national radio studios in Brussels.
The outcome is a DVD with 40 minutes of amateur movie (selected by Peter Vermeersch) with an astonishing soundtrack (written by Peter Vemeersch and performed by Flat Earth Society).

Beautiful.

--

MUFFINZ POWER QUARTET - MOO-AH

• muffinz power quartet: moo-ah - live at festival moo-ah corby uk 21st march 2015
      (2016, cdr-promo, uk, private release)

From the liner notes:
As part of 25 years of operation, the Muffin Men played a handful of dates as the Muffinz Power Quartet during March 2015.
Festival Moo-Ah is a bi-annual 2 day event which features mainly performances of compositions by Frank Zappa.
The Muffinz played the opening set of day 2.

Also from the liner notes:
This is an unofficail, limited edition, promo, not for re-sale, bootleg.

Needless to say that this is a great concert.
Phil, Rhino, Jumpy and Roddie did a great job: familiar Zappa tunes intertwined with Musical Muffin Madness. I love it.
Data has been added to the United Mutations Archives.

-- info & extras: Danny Mathys

MARBIN - THE THIRD SET

• marbin: the third set
      (2014, cd, usa, moonjune records)

MoonJune Records released "The Third Set", Marbin's fourth album, in 2014.
Recorded in concert, ten tracks from ten locations, "The Third Set" displays what Marbin is all about.
Beautiful tunes, impressive unison lines and amazing solos by Dani Rabin (guitar) and Danny Markovich (sax), backed by Justyn Lawrence (drums) and Jae Gentile (bass).

Blues, modern jazz, fusion or Hendrix-inspired power-guitar. It's all there.
Pretty impressive.

Out on MoonJune.
http://www.moonjune.com/mjr_web_2013/home_mjr/

PIERRE VERVLOESEM - COUNTRY OF CERTITUDES

COUNTRY OF CERTITUDES
Composition : Pierre VERVLOESEM

Bonus track from the album "Grosso modo" by Pierre Vervloesem (Carbon 7)
released March 24, 2017

credits
- Pierre Vervloesem (Guitar)
- Peter Vandenberghe (Keyboards)
- Guy Segers (Bass)
- Charles Hayward (Drums)

PROJET ROME - 5

• projet rome: 5
      (2016, cdr, fr, projet rome / pom prod)

French band Projet Rome is Nicolas Débard's project. He started it around 2000.
If my info is correct, Projet Rome released a demo in 2005. Three years later, in 2008, Nicolas Débard released a solo album entitled "Prodrome".

More recently, Nicolas (guitar, vocals, keyboard, percussion) teamed up with Pierre-Olivier Morin (guitar, bass, keyboards, percussion). The result can be heard on "5", a 15-minute EP that one can check out on Soundcloud but that also has been offered for sale on CDR at concerts.

As you might expect, "5" presents 5 tracks : four French pop / rock songs and one Frank Zappa tune. All of the original material was written by Nicolas Débard. It sounds pretty good. Check out 'Trop Con !'.
This is the reason why I check out bands that record the music of FZ. This is a nice discovery.

Track 5 is Frank Zappa's 'Why Don'tcha Do Me Right?", a song that got released on 7" in 1967 but that found its way onto the CD-(re-)release of "Absolutely Free".
It's the odd one out on this little disc, but Projet Rome does a fine job.

Check it out.
https://soundcloud.com/projet-rome

PAT METHENY AND PERICO SAMBEAT

Small world.

PERICO SAMBEAT PLAYS ZAPPA

• perico sambeat ensemble: perico sambeat plays zappa
      (2016, cd, spain, nuba records) 

Performing or interpreting the music of Frank Zappa can be two different things. Actually, it can be five or six different things, all depending on how you look at it.
Spanish saxohone and flute player Perico Sambeat shows one of my favourite approaches. Perico uses re-arranged Zappa melody lines as a basis, as a vehicle for his ensemble to improvise on.
And take it from me, when I say "re-arranged", I mean "RE-arranged". This is great !!

It all started at the Jimmy Glass Jazz Bar in Valencia as a project entitled "Frank Zappa's Alchemy", directed by Perico Sambeat as part of the Jimmy Glass Festival on November 18, 2015.
The actual album got recorded in June 2016.

• perico sambeat: alto and soprano sax, flute, tambourine
• javier vercher: tenor and soprano sax
• voro garcia: trumpet
• toni belenguer: trombone
• santi navalon: keyboard
• ivan cabrian: guitar
• julio fuster: banjo, electric banjo
• miquel 'rochet' asensio: drums

I got my copy through http://www.sedajazz.es

Don't hesitate. You need to hear this.

1. zomby woof
2. it must be a camel
3. don't you ever wash that thing?
4. for calvin
5. imaginary diseases / tink walks amok
6. inca roads
7. i promise not to come in your mouth
8. a pound for a brown
9. the eric dolphy memorial barbecue
10. peaches en regalia

Essential listening !!

--

DWEEZIL ZAPPA UPDATE

November 30, 2017, Dweezil will be performing with the Noord Nederlands Orkest (NNO, NN Orchestra) in Groningen.
December 1, the concert will be repeated in Utrecht.


the program

John Adams - Slonimsky’s Earbox
F. Zappa - Bob in Dacron and Sad Jane
F. Zappa - G Spot Tornado
F. Zappa - Peaches en Regalia
Steve Vai - There’s Still Something Dead in Here
Dweezil Zappa - Truth
Dweezil Zappa - Marmux Buhdarux
Dweezil Zappa  - (new piece, world premiere)
F. Zappa - Watermelon in Easter Hay