The Squid's Ear
Recently @ Squidco:

Rempis / Karayorgis / Heinemann / Harris:
Truss (Driff Records)

Three label leaders come together for this extraordinary 2023 concert at Elastic Arts in Chicago--Aerophonic's Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & baritone saxophones; Driff Records' Pandelis Karayorgis on piano; Amalgam Records' Bill Harris on drums--along with bassist Jakob Heinmann, this exceptional free jazz performance cementing the bond between Boston and Chicago with a hope for more! ... Click to View


Ensemble SuperMusique :
Musiques Emeraude (Ambiances Magnetiques)

An overview of Montreal's Ensemble Supermusique celebrating their 40th anniversary, drawing on works from founders Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse, and Danielle Palardy Roger and their projects including Wondeur Brass, Les Poules, Justine, &c., realized by 40 instrumentalists in 8 groups of 3 to 8 players; masterful sophistication with a sense of humor and wonder — exceptionnelle! ... Click to View


Paul Paccione:
Distant Musics (Another Timbre)

Influenced by the New York School of composers (Cage, Feldman, &c.), composer Paul Paccione revisits and revises five of his compositions written 40 years prior, performed by a 10-piece configuration of London's Apartment House; beautifully contemplative pieces linked together through common threads, the momentum of individual moments absorbed by the presence of the larger work. ... Click to View


Birgit Ulher / Carol Genetti / Eric Leonardson:
Horizontal Shift (Amalgam)

An international electroacoustic improvising trio of German trumpet player Birgit Ulher, also on radio, speaker & objects, and two Chicago outside improvisers--Carol Genetti on voice & objects, and Eric Leonardson on his unique self-built instrument the springboard, objects & electronics-- heard in a live performance at Elastic Arts, in Chicago, Illinois in 2018. ... Click to View


Peter Evans Being & Becoming (Evans / Ross / Jozwiak / Ode):
Ars Memoria (More Is More)

The second album from New York trumpeter Peter Evan's band Being and Becoming stretches out his concepts in five extended works that dovetails superb contemporary jazz — integrating extended techniques and solid vibraphone work — with beautifully rich and explorative passages, masterfully performed with Joel Ross (vibes), Nick Jozwiak (bass) and Michael Shekwoaga (drums). ... Click to View


Peter Evans Being & Becoming (Evans / Ross / Jozwiak / Ode):
Ars Memoria [VINYL 180gm + DOWNLOAD] (More Is More)

The second album from New York trumpeter Peter Evan's band Being and Becoming stretches out his concepts in five extended works that dovetails superb contemporary jazz — integrating extended techniques and solid vibraphone work — with beautifully rich and explorative passages, masterfully performed with Joel Ross (vibes), Nick Jozwiak (bass) and Michael Shekwoaga (drums). ... Click to View


Ivo Perelman (Fowler / Workman / Cyrille):
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Recording with the legendary rhythm section of bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille, tenor saxophonist Ivo Perelman and stritch & saxello player Chad Fowler perfectly complement each other as they play off and complete each other's lines and phrases under the support of astute foundational support, an exemplary album of collective, cross-generational free improvisation. ... Click to View


Gregorio / Smith / Bryerton:
The Cold Arrow (Balance Point Acoustics)

The second trio release from clarinetist Guillermo Gregorio, double bassist Damon Smith and Jerome Bryerton on gongs, selected metal & cymbals (but no drums), in a sophisticated album of eight collective improvisations numbered as "The Planar Effect" and two Gregorio compositions, an absolutely impressive set that obscures the line between "spontaneous" and "composition". ... Click to View


Andre Duchesne:
Ch'val (Ambiances Magnetiques)

Montreal composer, guitarist and arranger Andre Duchesne developed the pieces on this solo album as a tribute to his sister Carole, "the one who dreamed of horses," who passed in 2010, his pieces incorporating elements of rock, improvisation and compositional forms, a sincere tribute developed by recording daily over a month as a virtual rock band of guitar, bass and drum programming. ... Click to View


Leap of Faith:
Resonance Energy (Evil Clown)

Joining the Boston duo Leap of Faith, the core duet of David Peck on reeds, percussion, the kitchen sink and everything in between, and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, is bassist Scott Samenfeld from Turbulence Orchestra, drummer Jared Seabrook, and brass player John Fugarino, with Joel Simches capturing the recording and manipulating the stream in real time. ... Click to View


Neurodivergent:
Cosmic Collisions (Evil Clown)

A new ensemble emerging out of the Boston collective band Expanse with David Peck on reeds, percussion and innumerable instruments, Count Robot on voice & tapes, DNA Girl on guitars & mandolin, Tim Mungenast on guitar, and Michael Caglianone on reeds & winds, all adding percussion and electronics from the Evil Clown arsenal, exploring aspects of group improvisation. ... Click to View


Bill Harris:
MACRODOSE (Amalgam)

Combining acoustic drums, percussion and electronics, the third solo album from Chicago drummer Bill Harris delves deeper into the sonic aspects of his improvisations while providing them in discrete segments through eleven succinct recordings, a diverse set demonstrating unique approaches to rhythm and sound, enhanced on some pieces through studio techniques. ... Click to View


Dante Boon (Beuger / Boon / Elina / Holtkamp / Schuppe / Van der Ster):
Duos (Edition Wandelweiser Records)

A collection of works from pianist & composer Dante Boon in diverse duos and virtual duo compositions that reflect on John Cage's "inner clock" concept from "Two2", each of Boon's compositions directing the players through systems of notation and counting unique to each player, varying the rules of how the two players eventually synchronize their performances. ... Click to View


Joane Hetu / Ensemble SuperMusique:
Monnomest (Ambiances Jazz)

A fascinating work dedicated to improvising cellist Remy Belanger de Beauport written by Montreal composer Joane Hétu and performed by the large Ensemble SuperMusique with Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Scott Thomson, Diane Labrosse, Danielle Palardy Roger, Pierre Tanguay, &c., commissioned and performed for the Ensemble's 40th anniversary and expanded for this studio edition. ... Click to View


Joelle Leandre / Pascal Contet:
Miniatures (Trost Records)

A collaboration that goes back 30 years, French improvising bassist Joëlle Léandre and avant accordionist Pascal Contet in their fifth album together, turning from their more typically extended conversations to a series of 10 "Miniatures", shorter and diverse dialogs recorded live in 2022 at the beautiful Arsenal Concert Hall in Metz, France. ... Click to View


Chad Fowler / Shanyse Strickland / Sana Nagano / Melanie Dyer / Ken Filiano / Anders Griffen:
Birdsong (Mahakala Music)

Highlighting the parallel to changes in birdsong in urban areas because of anthropogenic ambient noise, this diverse ensemble demonstrates the evolution of improv approaches through unique origins and backgrounds; with Chad Fowler (stritch, flute), Shanyse Strickland (French Horn), Sana Nagano (violin), Melanie Dyer (viola), Ken Filiano (bass) and Anders Griffen (drums). ... Click to View


Hal Russell NRG Ensemble:
The Hal Russell Story (ECM Records)

This 1996 recording of the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble of Mars Williams (reeds), Brian Sandstrom (bass, guitars, trumpets), Kent Kessler (bass, trombone) and Steve Hunt (drums & percussion) was recorded five week before Russell's passing, a wild parting gift of twenty succinct improvisations covering an incredible amount of territory with power, humor and amazing musical skill. ... Click to View


Ernesto Rodrigues / Dirk Serries / Joao Madeira / Jose Oliveira :
Dripping (Creative Sources)

One of the core Creative Sources trios of Ernesto Rodrigues on viola & crackle box, João Madeira on double bass and Jose Oliveira on percussion, is extended to a quartet with Netherland's New Wave of Jazz/Vidna Obmama archtop guitarist Dirk Serries, presenting the 9-part "Dripping" series of free chamber-oriented lowercase improvisation. ... Click to View


Friedl / Siewert:
Lichtung (KARLRECORDS)

Zeitkratzer director and pianist Reinhold Friedl meets with Martin Siewert (Radian, Fake the Facts, Dry Thrust) for three improvised explorations on piano, guitar and electronics, through the course of powerful transitions building from deep introspection into prickly, bellicose interaction, yielding to a brooding finale of subtle electronics and punctuation; profound. ... Click to View


Niels Lokkegaard Lyhne / Quatuor Bozzini:
Colliding Bubbles (Important Records)

Copenhagen composer Niels Lyhne Løkkegaard's long form work refers to units of compositional structure in systems of instruments, each a "bubble" that interacts and collides creating fluctuations, ruptures and tension release in an hypnotic sonic tapestry, performed by Montreal's Quatuor Bozzini on violins, viola, cellos and harmonica; mesmerizing. ... Click to View


Merzbow:
Cafe OTO [2 CDs] (Cold Spring Records)

A live and extended performance of brutal but shifting sonic assault performed before an appreciative audience at London's Cafe OTO in 2016, a solo performance from Japanese noise legend Masami Akita, AKA Merzbow, each of the 2 CDs in this set more than 50 minutes of tightly controlled electronic mayhem from the unremitting determination of one of the globe's masters of noise. ... Click to View


Charles Mingus:
Presents Charles Mingus To Pre Bird, Revisited (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Three sides of Charles Mingus in this remastered reissue set: the 1961 Candid album Mingus Presents Mingus with the classic quartet of Eric Dolphy, Ted Curson and Dannie Richmond; then the Mercury release Pre-Bird from the same year, in ensembles performing the music of or influenced by Duke Ellington, along with the ambitious and brilliant through-composed work, "Half Mast Inhibition". ... Click to View


Franz Koglmann:
Near Blue - A Taste of Melancholy (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Presented in two versions--a stereo mix and a binaural mix for headphones--flugelhorn improviser and composer Franz Koglmann leads his septet of exceptional players through 10 original Koglmann compositions, sophisticated works that show influences from Ellington to Franz Joseph Haydn or Johann Strauss, in pieces influenced by or tipping the hat to modern artists, musicians and writers. ... Click to View


Nikolaus Gerszewski :
3 Works For Strings, Giusto Chamber Orchestra (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)

Giusto Chamber Orchestra performs three works for twelve strings by German composer and visual artist Nikolaus Gerszewski, whose music of shifting pitches, vibrations and volumes--compared with experimental sound & noise work--is influenced by composers Radulescu and Dumitrescu's spectral music, James Tenney's "swell form" and Cornelius Cardew's graphic scores. ... Click to View


Void Patrol (Sharp / Stetson / Martin / MacDonald):
Live @ Victo (Victo)

A wild and adventurous concert and one of the highlights of the 39th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville from the electric improvising quartet of Elliott Sharp on electric guitar & electronics, Colin Stetson on bass, alto & tenor saxophones, Billy Martin on drums & percussion and Payton Macdonald on marimba, vibraphone & African xylophone. ... Click to View


Federico Ughi (w / Leo Genovese / Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1 (577 Records)

The first album under 577 label leader and drummer Federico Ughi's name in five years brings together the incredible bass skills of Brandon Lopez and expansive Argentinean keyboard sonics of Leo Genovese, the first of two planned volumes recorded in the studio for a boundary-less album of acoustic and electric improv influenced by the music and philosophy of Sun Ra. ... Click to View


Federico Ughi (w / Leo Genovese / Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos Calling You You You, Vol. 1 [VINYL] (577 Records)

The first album under 577 label leader and drummer Federico Ughi's name in five years brings together the incredible bass skills of Brandon Lopez and expansive Argentinean keyboard sonics of Leo Genovese, the first of two planned volumes recorded in the studio for a boundary-less album of acoustic and electric improv influenced by the music and philosophy of Sun Ra. ... Click to View


Sven-Ake Johansson / Alexander Von Schlippenbach:
uber Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel [VINYL 2 LPs & PAL DVD] (Trost Records)

Documenting the 1994 avant music drama composed by pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and accordionist Sven-Ake Johansson, uber Ursache und Wirkung der Meinungsverschiedenheiten beim Turmbau zu Babel (on the cause and effect of the disagreements over the building of the Tower of Babel) through a double LP, DVD, libretto and 16-page booklet in a solid box set. ... Click to View


Musicworks:
#147 Winter 2024 [MAGAZINE + CD] (Musicworks)

Winter 2024 issue of Canada's premiere new music magazine, with Saxophonist Andrew MacKelvie on the cover; plus features on Indonesia's Music Subculture; Sonny-Ray Day Ride; Solidaridad Tango; A History of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble; plus album reviews, essays and a CD of tracks from artists covered in the magazine. ... Click to View


Witches & Devils (Williams / Vandermark / Lonberg-Holm):
At the Empty Bottle (Knitting Factory Works)

Before his ecstatic Xmas series, An Ayler Xmas, Chicago saxophonist Mars Williams led the Witches & Devils quintet of Mars Williams on reeds, Ken Vandermark on reeds, Jim Baker on keyboards, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello and Kent Kessler on bass, an incredible and passionate free jazz group paying tribute to the music of Albert Ayler, heard live at The Empty Bottle in 1997. ... Click to View



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The Squid's Ear
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Instrumentals
We've asked a number of musicians to write about their instruments of choice, taking a view that is either personal, historical or, in some cases, just unusual. The results are to be found in these pages.


  The Violin (& The Infidel)  


By Jon Rose 2002-12-17

infidel: a person who does not believe in religion or who adheres to a religion other than that of the majority eg. they wanted to secure the holy places from the infidel

origin: late 15th century; from the French infidele or the Latin infidelis, from in = not + fidelis = faithful (from fides =faith, related to fidere = to trust. The word has two distinct origins. 1) It denoted a person of a religion other than one's own, specifically a Muslim (to a Christian), a Christian (to a Muslim), or a Gentile (to a Jew). 2) With the invention of the violin circa 1530 and the confusing transformation of bowed strings from vernacular fidel , via fiddle to violin, viola, viole, violone, and viol (as it happens completely unrelated to the violin), the word fidel became a word of abuse denoting loose living or corrupt dealings as in fiddle your fancy, on the fiddle, fiddling around, or indeed the dismissive term get fiddled. The fiddle has given rise to many misreadings of history, most notably the assertion that "Nero fiddled while Rome burned", clearly impossible as by the first century AD, the instrument had not yet been invented. Other misconceptions abound, for example, that Jewish people always play the fidel on the roof, that Romany (or Gypsy) fiddlers always keep a knife in their left boot, that all famous fiddlers suffer from Paganini's serious complaint of a permanent erection. Today's common usage is obviously underscored by the present dearth of work for the practicing violinist, In fidel we trust, everybody else pay cash.

So what is it about the violin that makes it so untrustworthy? Is it due to the current world situat ion? A question worth asking as the divide between the rich and the poor on this planet continues to widen at an ex ponential rate. The instrument has become an icon of capitalism, that's for sure. Like old oil paintings of the rich and flatuous, old violins are a kind of inflated currency, the guaranteed investment, the item at houses of Southerbys and Christies that makes the auctioneer's wet their pants. I have played a $600,000 Guernarius and, shock horror, it was a good instrument. But it was no better than a $20,000 top of the line fiddle from a good modern maker.

The violin is 70 bits of wood stuck together. I discovered this as a child after I had been studying the instrument for a few months. Now the early days on a violin are not too enjoyable for the player or the listener, be you a Heifitz or a no-hoper. It is a very frustrating time. I felt things weren't going fast enough, so with one blow, I smashed the fiddle over the kitchen table. Now I would like to point out a number of issues at this point. Firstly, this was not a Fluxus performance as 1) I was a kid and 2) this was still in the 1950's. Secondly, it was not my instrument and was actually a piece of crap that belonged to the school. Thirdly, that doesn't matter because a violin, any violin is "of value," right? Fourthly, my father was a regular bricaleur who, as a prisoner of war in Japan, had made a two-string cello out of bits of camp detritus; he calmly spent the evening sticking it back together again (he had actually tried to make a piano for a concert pianist in the camp and had got as far as a sound board and 2 keys working before disaster struck, but that is another story altogether). Fifthly, my violin teacher never noticed.

Indeed genetics must have something to do with the whole violin conundrum. On my mother's side I am partly Afghan, her family name was Kahn, which could have meant me doing hours of practice on the Saranda instead of Satan's instrument itself. People often used to ask me if I was Jewish. "Plays the violin? Must be Jewish," goes the rocket science. So I'm in the minority then, or at least on the opposing team. This all came home to me just recently when I wrote a slightly off-center composition called "The Islamic Violin," it included the detonation of an ordinary violin which I was able to realize at a performance in Paris at the beginning of this year. The story, like most great stories, is based on a true one featuring a street violinist with a foreign name who stored his violin in a bus station left luggage cubicle in Hamilton, Canada. An official of the bus company became suspicious of the violin case and alerted the police, who with due care and subtlety, took it out onto the street and blew it up! "Due to the current world situation," explained the Police as they handed a few bits of wood and string back to the devastated musician. The score of the composition has the following notes on the notes:

(1) The inability of Muslims to recognise a violin manifests itself through the entire Lebanese restaurant industry in Australia. During and after the Lebanese civil war of the 1950's, the 1960's, the 1970's and the 1980's, many families from both Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon emigrated to Australia. A tradition quickly grew whereby Christian Lebanese restaurants would always display the sign of the violin outside their premises (some of these are quite remarkable art pieces of neon, post-digestive, calligraphic Arabic deco). Research has shown that many Muslim Lebanese literally DO NOT SEE the violin, thinking that it may be some kind of indiginous pig or plant life or worse, a Christian plot conceived by the CIA (who run a number of military bases in Australia). One could think that the Muslim restaurants would be running a counter campaign of non recognition posting any number of Islamic bowed instruments in retaliation to this provocatio n, (One considers here the Afghani rebab or dilruba as suitable images to represent all that is fine in Muslim culture) but one would be mistaken. Muslims do not stoop to such low immoral subterfuge, relying instead on the final statement of account which must be paid at that restaurant in the sky.

(2) I should point out that I had actually brought a violin (a 'Tortellini' 1751) with me for the good Sheikh to study but after a cursorary glance and a rap on its historic body with the knuckles of his left hand, he had thrown it to his trusty dog who then proceeced to gnaw on it happily through out the entire interview.

(3) A quote that comes from the pyramid breaking tome 'Yehudi Menuhin serves Capitalism' by the influencial Marxist composer and violinist virtuoso Dr. Johannes Rosenberg. In a classic Rosenberg/Menuhin confrontation, the latter violinist is cornered as he admits to denouncing Ravi Shankar as a poser who pays no attention to speed limits, Stephane Grapelli as having bad intonation, Rumanian Gypsy music as being 'rather dirty stuff one wouldn't want next door in Hampstead,' and himself as having said 'actually classical music IS rather superior, don't you think?'

(4) From the best seller 'How to Blow Up a Violin' by Buttblaster Fuller. It includes a hand-drawn map of an average violin, indicating the weaker, more sensitive zones of spiral vibration where the four charges should be placed with 1/4 strips of gaffe tape (Please note that 'Scotch Tape' will NOT do). Alternative routes for the fuse wires are suggested depending on the reader's level of experience and expertise in dealing with their first violin assignment. Questions of budgetary allowancea re always prevalent in the modern day violin world, so the cheaper alternative has also been tested thoroughly throu gh correspondance courses in 'Final Violin Solutions' made available by The Mother of All Museums Museum, Baghdad. They suggest that four 'Tigre Bison 3' fireworks packed in the base of the violin with simultaneous ignition will blow the devil's instrument to 'Kingdom Come': results obtained with a cheap East German Eduard Tausher model seem to bare out Buttblaster's assertions.

---which may account for the sudden interest in my Web site from a US military search engine - unless there are some contemporary music freaks working at the Pentagon who spend their time searching the Web for weird violin stuff. I'm not kidding, I had over 3,000 hits last month from the defenders of the free.

In April my partner, violinist Hollis Taylor, and I were working on our 'Great Fences of Australia' project near Alice Springs in the middle of Australia. It's a kind of sonic map of the whole continent. We bow the fences, which we consider to be giant string instruments. In fact they are the longest artifacts in the world, the so called 'Dingo Fence' is twice as long as the Great Wall of China. So far we have traveled over 16,000 kilometers in our endeavor. Anyway I phoned up the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap near 'The Alice' and asked if we could make a little recording of their perimeter fence. Well the head dude humored me for some minutes and I thought we had a chance till I mentioned we played the fiddle --- "No." The conversation was immediately terminated. 'Due to the current world situation' he barked.


(c)www.jonroseweb.com

the violin warping website remains
www.jonroseweb.com

for a guide to the weird, the wild and the vern ac ular in Australian music
www.abc.net.au/arts/adlib

Visit the Jon Rose Section at Squidco!




Previous Instrumental Articles:
The Accordion (& the Outsider) - Pauline Oliveros
The Guitar (& Why) - Derek Bailey
The Banjo (& guitarist Johnny PayCheck) - Eugene Chadbourne


The Squid's Ear presents
reviews about releases
sold at Squidco.com
written by
independent writers.

Squidco

Recent Selections @ Squidco:


Ensemble SuperMusique :
Musiques Emeraude
(Ambiances Magnetiques)



Rempis /
Karayorgis /
Heinemann /
Harris:
Truss
(Driff Records)



Paul Paccione:
Distant Musics
(Another Timbre)



Peter Evans
Being & Becoming (
Evans /
Ross /
Jozwiak /
Ode):
Ars Memoria
(More Is More)



Gregorio /
Smith /
Bryerton:
The Cold Arrow
(Balance Point Acoustics)



Michel Banabila /
Stijn Huwels /
Cok Van Vuuren :
One Moment
In Time
[CASSETTE]
(Tapu Records)



Chad Fowler /
Shanyse Strickland /
Sana Nagano /
Melanie Dyer /
Ken Filiano /
Anders Griffen:
Birdsong
(Mahakala Music)



Joane Hetu /
Ensemble SuperMusique:
Monnomest
(Ambiances Jazz)



Niels Lokkegaard Lyhne /
Quatuor Bozzini:
Colliding Bubbles
(Important Records)



Friedl /
Siewert:
Lichtung
(KARLRECORDS)



Joelle Leandre /
Pascal Contet:
Miniatures
(Trost Records)



Federico Ughi (
w /
Leo Genovese /
Brandon Lopez):
Infinite Cosmos Calling
You You You,
Vol. 1
(577 Records)



Sven-Ake Johansson /
Alexander Von Schlippenbach:
uber Ursache und
Wirkung der
Meinungsverschiedenheiten
beim Turmbau zu Babel
[VINYL 2 LPs & PAL DVD]
(Trost Records)



Charles Mingus:
Presents Charles Mingus
To
Pre Bird,
Revisited
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Franz Koglmann:
Near Blue -
A Taste of Melancholy
(ezz-thetics by
Hat Hut Records
Ltd)



Void Patrol (
Sharp /
Stetson /
Martin /
MacDonald):
Live @ Victo
(Victo)



Peter Brotzmann /
Paal Nilssen-Love:
Chicken Shit Bingo
(Trost Records)



Jean Derome:
La Chaleur De La Pensee
(Ambiances Magnetiques)



Giuseppe Doronzo /
Andy Moor /
Frank Rosaly:
Futuro Ancestrale
(Clean Feed)







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