AUGUST 09′
ALI AKBAR KHAN, “SHREE RAG”
Having nothing prepared last month for the sad departure of Ali Akbar Khan from the physical plane (April 14, 1922 - June 18, 2009), I’m posting a fitting rag that is “traditionally performed at sunset, assigned to the rainy season as well as the months of November and December, and maintains a mood of majesty combined with prayerful meditation.” Because of his virtuosity, commitment to educating people, and his relocation to North America in the mid 50’s, his widespread appeal helped proliferate Eastern Indian classical music styles here, encouraging the hybrid East/West sound that infuses so much of 60’s and 70’s (and beyond) rock, jazz and folk music. Undeniably gifted, generous and prolific, Khan was performer, composer, educator, and a seemingly larger than life person utterly committed to the importance of music in people’s lives. Among his accomplishments and myriad other awards, he was recipient of both the MacArthur Genius Grant and the National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship. RIP.
Connoisseur Society, CS-2015 Stereo, 1969
Side One
1. Shree Rag, Alap in Two Parts and Gat (beginning) (20′17)
Side Two
1. Gat (conclusion) (19′34)
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PAKISTAN: NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN, EN CONCERT A PARIS - 4
Here’s a delightful record that should have you lock-stepped grooving in short order. Steeped in about 700 years of tradition, the qawwals of Pakistan are vibrant and powerful musical revels that offer audiences an opportunity to spiritually transcend through music, poetry, and dancing. Typically orbiting around ancient mystical love chants of Sufi poets, these performances are rendered by a “group of qawwali musicians, called a party, typically consisting of eight or nine men including a lead singer, one or two side singers, one or two harmoniums (which may be played by the lead singer, side singer or someone else), and percussion.” The greatest lead singer of all time was arguably Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who appeared in ecstatic form for this 1988 Ocora release. As his impassioned trills of unfulfilled, unvanquished, and true love whirl about the ears, they inevitably rush inward, delighting the body and elevating the soul. From the liner notes:
“One has to imagine that the tension and total commitment of ten or so men pouring out waves of poetry and music onto a meditative gathering which is on the point of surrendering into nothingness and opening up to an awareness of spiritual joy. As the qawwali performance unfolds, the faithful show their elation by dancing, giving way to spontaneous gestures and, as an expression of this pleasure, by putting money at the feet of the solo singer, the extraordinary, unique Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.” - Philippe Bourdin.
Ocora, HM 52 558685, 1988
Side One:
1. Mesiye (13′08)
2. Ghazal 1 (14′23)
Side Two:
1. Ghazal 2 (13′00)
2. Ghazal 3 (13′05)
GEORGE CROMARTY “WIND IN THE HEATHER: COMPOSITIONS FOR GUITAR”
Another wonderful guitar album, this one by the late George Cromarty who recorded only a few albums, some of which are being reissued (including this) by his wife Kathryn Barile, to whom he left the rights to all his music. One track from his debut solo album “Grassroots Guitar” appears on Numero Groups “Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli” that features less recognized American Primitives contemporaneous with Basho, Fahey, et. al. As far as I know, that track is the only re-issue available at present. The tracks here are from Cromarty’s last recording for George Winston’s Dancing Cat label in 1983, and are some really graceful ruminations, all original compositions. Crafting a refined approach that adhered to it’s origins, Cromarty nevertheless forged ahead with a mellower progressive style. But be not deceived, repeated listens to these songs, bronzed as they are in sweet northern California sun, reveal a foreshadowing and beautifully elusive melancholy, befitting a man who would eventually take his own life in 1992. If you love solo guitar, you’ll have no problem letting these tracks float you down stream again and again, one toe dangling in the current on your way back to the source.
Dancing Cat Records, DC-3001-B, 1984
Side One:
1. The Mouse And The Elephant (4′33)
2. Mother With Child (3′08)
3. Wind In The Heather (4′58)
4. The Evergreen (2′25)
5. Bittersweet (4′44)
6. Satie (2′47)
Side Two:
1. Laurindo (4′25)
2. Angelique (3′18)
3. Fanfare #1 (2′04)
4. Fanfare #2 (2′20)
5. The Linden Tree (2′51)
6. De Palma, De Paloma (3′14)
7. Highland Ballad (2′45)
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BERT JANSCH “JACK ORION” WITH JOHN RENBOURN, 2ND GUITAR
Originally issued in 1966, this 1970 Vanguard re-issue included the extra “900 miles” track from the “It Don’t Bother Me” album, and gave John Renbourn the cover billing that the original release didn’t. Since the Vanguard version is oop, I figured I might as well post it. In spite of some of the critic abuse these guys have received, it’s hard not to dig Jansch’s salt and pepper voice, and the plucky imperfect style the two dabble in as they re-animate the folk traditions of their home continent. Relatively early on for both guitarists, the playing is sometimes messy and jammy, but genuinely earnest and soulful, and probably more accurate considering that the balladeers who performed these ditties over the centuries were most likely untrained local musicians experimenting freely with form and style.
Vanguard Recording Society, VSD • 6544, 1971
Side One:
1. “The Waggoner’s Lad” (traditional) (3′32)
2. “Blackwaterside” (traditional) (3′49)
3. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (MacColl) (1′45)
4. “900 Miles” (Jansch) (3′08)
5. “The Gardener” (traditional) (1′40)
6. “Pretty Polly” (traditional) (4′07)
Side Two:
2. “Nottamun Town” (traditional) (4′30)
3. “Henry Martin” (traditional) (3′17)
4. “Jack Orion” (traditional) (9′50)
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OREGON “DISTANT HILLS”
Somewhere in the early seventies there existed a potentially magical place where creative multi-instrumentalist white-guys composed music that wasn’t quite jazz, world, rock, folk, traditional, psychadelic or new age, yet seemed to combine all those genres simultaneously. It’s pretty hard to peg just what this stuff is - sometimes like a film soundtrack, other times like free jazz meets your high school music instructor, or Mahavishnu Orchestra unplugged, or prototype Spyro Gyra with a soul, or even a little like if Pat Metheny threw in some Eastern vibes for flavor… Definitely accomplished, the music maintains a rewarding acoustic sensibility that saves it from being too over done. All the tracks are instrumentals that feature Paul McCandless on oboe and english horn; Glen Moore on violin, flute, electric bass bowed bass and piano; Ralph Towner on twelve-string guitar, piano, trumpet and mellophone, and Collin Walcott on tabla, sitar, clarinet, piano, mirimba, congas, tamboura and drums. You’ll probably enjoy this, but if you don’t, I won’t hold it against you.
Vanguard Recording Society, VSD • 79341, 1973
Side One:
1. Aurora (7′42)
2. Dark Spirit (5′50)
3. Mi Chinita Suite - free improvisation (7′00)
Side Two:
1. Distant Hills (6′31)
2. Canyon Song (4′56)
3. Song for a Friend (5′19)
4. Confession - free improvisation (6′24)
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JEAN RITCHIE AND DOC WATSON AT FOLK CITY
Combine a murder ballad pure mountain folk sensibility with flawless guitar and banjo virtuosity, and you get this wicked combination of heart and style. For me, the best aspects of this record are the dynamic accompaniment that supports one of my all-time favorite female folk singers. That said, these two titans sharing a stage is sort of like that thing that happens when your on a subway train and another subway train is on a separate track going a different place in the same direction, and there’s that one fleeting moment when they seem to be moving together, a slight drift forward or back, offering a brief yet close encounter with the faces on the other side… well something like that anyway. I love Jean Ritchies playing and singing, and especially the types of songs she seems drawn to. Doc is as tight as they get, and with the addition of Roger Sprung, this record offers up a one-of-a-kind performance that’s as lively as it is pleasurable — two giants of a nearly bygone era caught live for a night of collaborative old-time goodness.
Folkways Records and Service Corp, FA 2426, 1963
Side One:
1. Storms Are On The Ocean (Sung by Jean Ritchie with Doc Watson, guitar) (3′34)
2. Go Dig My Grave (Sung by Jean Ritchie, banjo acc. by Doc Watson) (3′48)
3. Spike Driver Blues (Sung by Doc Watson with guitar) (2′38)
4. Soldiers Joy (Guitar and harmonica played by Doc Watson) (1′22)
5. Don’t Mind The Weather (Sung by Jean Ritchie with dulcimer, fiddle acc. by Roger Sprung) (2′18)
6. Hiram Hubbard (Sung by Jean Ritchie with banjo acc. by Doc Watson) (3′45)
7. Sugar On The Floor (Sung by Jean Ritchie with Doc Watson, Roger Sprung, and the Folk City audience, Doc Watson, guitar; Roger Sprung, banjo) (2′44)
Side Two:
1. Where Are You Goin’? (Sung by Jean Ritchie, and Doc Watson with guitar) (1′42)
2. Pretty Polly (Sung by Jean Ritchie with dulcimer) (2′24)
3. Willie Moore (Sung by Doc Watson, with banjo) (3′23)
4. What’ll I Do With The Baby-o? (Sung by Jean Ritchie with dulcimer, Fiddle acc. by Roger Sprung) (2′09)
5. Cripple Creek (Doc Watson, guitar; Roger Sprung, banjo) (1′35)
6. Wabash Cannonball (Sung by Doc Watson, with guitar and harmonica) (3′15)
7. The House Carpenter (Sung by Jean Ritchie, banjo acc. by Doc Watson) (4′24)
8. Amazing Grace (Sung by Jean Ritchie, Doc Watson, Roger Sprung and the Folk City audience) (3′50)
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