a Pori Jazz compilation

Here's again a piece of Finnish jazz history. It's not entirely free jazz nor entirely interesting, but still a nice peek into the era.

Jarmo Sermilä, Edward Vesala, Ilkka Willman, Mike Koskinen: The Winners of Pori Jazz Festival Composition Contest (EMI Odeon 5 E 062-34854)

recorded at Finnvox Studios, January 11 & 12 1973

Mike Koskinen, trumpet; Pekka Pöyry, alto and soprano saxophones; Juhani Aaltonen, tenor saxophone (except B1); Seppo Paakkunainen, baritone saxophone (except B1); Mircea Stan, trombone (except A1); Heikki Sarmanto, electric piano, piano (except A2); Ilpo Saastamoinen, guitar (A2, B1); Teppo Hauta-aho, bass; Pekka Sarmanto, bass (B1); Edward Vesala, drums.




Get it here

a Po Torch release

A rare duo recording by Paul Lovens and the late Urs Voerkel.

Urs Voerkel & Paul Lovens: Goldberg (Po Torch PTR/JWD 15, 1990)

Urs Voerkel: piano
Paul Lovens: percussion





Get it here

Focus on Ganelin Trio

Here are three albums from the Lithuanian free jazz / improv - combo, Ganelin Trio. These are all Soviet releases on Melodiya, from the late 70's to the early 80's.

These are all very interesting records, but not entirely successful. They tend to overreach a bit, and could've benefited from less formal compositions and more open ended and spontaneous improvisations. Nevertheless, they are very enjoyable and worthwhile. Do check them out.

Ganelin Trio: Con Anima (Melodiya 1977)

Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano, basset
Vladimir Chekasin - alto saxophone, clarinet, chalumeau
Vladimir Tarasov - percussion




get it here




Ganelin Trio: Poi Segue ... (Melodiya 1982)

Vyacheslav Ganelin - piano, basset, guitar, bugle, flute
Vladimir Chekasin - saxophones, trombone, flute, percussion, violin
Vladimir Tarasov - percussion, flute





get it here




Ganelin Trio: Semplice (Melodiya 1984)

Vyacheslav Ganelin - keyboard, acoustic piano, basset, Casiotone, hunting horn, percussion
Vladimir Chekasin - alto saxophone, trombone, end blown flute, percussion
Vladimir Tarasov - drums, percussion





get it here


If you like them, plz comment.

Edward Vesala appreciation

1945-1999

Three albums from Edward Vesala

For number one, his first and only solo album from 1973, the beautiful I'm Here.

A great big thanks to a friend who ripped this one!

info:

Edward Vesala: I'm Here (Blue Master SPEL 311)

all compositions and arragements by Edward Vesala

recorded in 1973.

Edward Vesala, drums, percussion, gong, cymbal, cylophone, marimba, vibes, chimes, sitar, clockwork, etc.







The second one is Vesala's American all star band outing, Heavy Life.

info:

Edward Vesala: Heavy Life (Leo Records 009)

Recorded may 1980 at Right Track Studios, New York.

Bob Stewart, tuba; Reggie Workman, bass; Howard Johnson, baritone saxophone; Edward Vesala, drums; Tomasz Stanko, trumpet; J. D. Parran, tenor and soprano saxophone; Chico Freeman, tenor saxophone; James Spaulding, alro saxophone; Joe Daley, tuba.

All compositions by Edward Vesala, except b3 by Tomasz Stanko.





... and for the third and final record, we have a big band disc, Good Luck, Bad Luck, which Vesala made with UMO.

info:

Edward Vesala & UMO: Good Luck, Bad Luck (Leo Records 015)

recorded at finnvox studios december 1983

Tomasz Stanko: trumpet; Juhani Aaltonen: alto and tenor saxophones; Edward Vesala, percussion; UMO: Heikki Haimila, Esko Heikkinen, Olli Högström, Markku Johansson, trumpet; Pentti Lahti, alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flutes; Pepa Päivinen, soprano, alto and tenor saxophones, flute; Teemu Salminen, soprano and tenor saxophones, clarinet, flute; Unto Haapa-aho, baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Juhani Aalto, Petri Juutilainen, Mircea Stan, trombone; Tom Bildo, tuba; Raoul Björkenheim, guitar; Iro Haarla, piano, harp; Pekka Sarmanto, bass; Esko Rosnell, drums; Esko Linnavalli, conductor.

all compositions by Edward Vesala.








That's all folks, for now.

Pierre Favre Quartet

Here's another rarity.

Although I can't myself get really into Favre's playing, it's still a nice disc with some fierce playing. And finally, I managed to take a couple of photos.

Here's the info:

Pierre Favre Quartett: s/t (WERGO WER 80004)

Lineup:

Evan Parker - saxophone
Irene Schweizer - piano
Peter Kowald - bass
Pierre Favre - drums

dload here

Musica Sacra Nova with Wolfgang Dauner & Reinhold Finkbeiner

Well now, back again with another rarity, this time a bit different than the other posts. The record is Musica Sacra Nova II on Schwann, and it could be classified as modern music, new music or whatever; so not the usual bun I serve here, but it does have some free improv parts.

And what's most interesting here is that this is one of the more obscure recordings of Wolfgang Dauner.

Here's more info:

Wolfgang Dauner/Reinhold Finkbeiner: Musica Sacra Nova II (Schwann 602)

A. Dauner: Beobachtungen für Stimmen und Instrumente
B. Finkbeiner: Epiphanie für Sopran-, Alt- und Baritonsolo, drei Schlagzeuggruppen und Orgel

recorded circa 1969

personnel on side A:

Albert Mangelsdorff, trombone
Wolfgang Dauner, prepared piano, electronic instruments
Eberhard Weber, cello, bass
Fred Braceful, percussion
Vocal Ensemble Kassel, conducted by Klaus Martin Siegler

personnel on side B:

Dorothea Förster-Dürchlich, Margret Reuter-Edzard, Eric Stumm, voice
Reinhold Finkbeiner, organ
Percussion Ensemble Kassel, conducted by Klaus Martin Siegler

Get it HERE

Lauri Nykopp: Y

Here's some more Finnish goodies from the 1980's:

The only LP from Lauri Nykopp. A track from this came out on the More Arctic Hysteria collection, so if you liked that, get the whole album here.

Here's the info:

Lauri Nykopp: Y (Nosferatu FNL-1001, 1983)

Lauri Nykopp: alto, soprano, tenor, sopranino saxophones, didgeridoo, contrabass clarinet, saw, breath

Tracks:

Side A: I-III
Side B: IV-VII

Download HERE

oh BTW, my copy is pristine, but it still plays with considerable distortion and crackle. It's probably due to the pressing, but in case you have a copy that plays better, do drop a line.

Finn Free

Sorry for the silence, I've been occupied by other interests.

To make up for the long absence, I'm this time posting two LP's at the same time. They're both Finnish Free Jazz from the early 1980's and both essential.

The first one is Prana by Juhani Aaltonen, Reggie Workman and Edward Vesala, which is by all accounts one of the (if not THE) shiniest gems of pre-2k Finnish free jazz. Finland has always had a dry, hard soil for this kind of improvised greatness to flourish, so only a handful of records have ever come to existence. This is one of the few.

Here's the info:

Juhani Aaltonen: Prana - Live at Groovy (Leo Records LEO 013)

Juhani Aaltonen: tenor saxophone & flute
Reggie Workman: bass
Edward Vesala: drums

Recorded live at the club Groovy, Helsinki, 2th of August, 1981. Engineered by Jouko Ahera.

Download HERE

The other one I'm posting is the debut leader date of Krakatau and Sound & Fury saxophonist Jone Takamäki. It's free jazz with some "shamanistic" aspects, of which I myself am not so fond of, but nevertheless when things pick up, it's some totally worthwhile stuff. Excellent even. Do check it out.

Here's the info:

Jone Takamäki: s/t (Johanna JHN 2030)

Jone Takamäki: tenor and soprano saxophone, flutes, percussion, voice
Antti Hytti: bass, African thumb piano, Indian harmonium, voice
Samppa Salmi: drums, accordion, voice

Recorded by Tom Vuori , 15. - 20. 12. 1980.

Download HERE


Enjoy and do comment. I'll try to post more soon.

Lokomotiv Konkret - Stockholm Augusti, 1978 (Urspår URS 1)

Here's an interesting piece of Swedish free jazz. It's weird that this hasn't been reissued, since Dror Feiler is a bit of a Name these days. I picked a copy of this on my trip to Stockholm, never seen it before.

Some info:

Cello, Piano - Sören Runolf
Drums - Tommy Björk
Alto and soprano saxophone, clarinet, contra bassoon, synthesizer - Dror Feiler
Bass trombone - Lars Liljeholm
Bass trombone - Pär Nordfält

HERE

Quintet Moderne: Ikkunan takana (BEAD 26)

Some Finnish (well, mostly) free improv, rare shit that.

Quintet Moderne: Ikkunan takana from 1987.

A nice disc, if not entirely essential. Somebody asked for some BEAD's, and here's one.

The players are

Harri Sjöström, soprano saxophone & mouth organ
Teppo Hauta-aho, bass & cello
Jari Hongisto, trombone & recorders
Philipp Wachsmann, violin & electronics
Paul Lovens, percussion & saw

dload from HERE

and again, do comment.

John Russell / Richard Coldman: Home Cooking / Guitar Solos (INCUS 31)

This one's John Russell's first solo and second (published) recording ever. Richard Coldman is pretty unknown to me, so if anyone knows about his later steps, let me know.

The record has two separate sides, no A nor B, instead JR and RC. There's even two front covers, no back's. So an early SPLIT disc is what this is. Could it even be that this is the FIRST SPLIT LP EVER? shiiet, I don't know.

Anyway, enough with the bullshit. Take it now:

INCUS 31

Side JR:

John Russell - guitar,
Bob Woolford - recording.
Recorded 17th December 1978,
Ruckinge, Kent.

Side RC:

Richard Coldman - 6 string and 12 string amplified
acoustic guitars, metal items, Barry Leigh's motorised bow,
vocal utterance, foam, no overdubs, nothing else.
Evan Parker - producer
Engineer - Anthony David
Recorded 11th April 1979 at Riverside Recording Studios.


enjoy, and please comment. drop a line.

A Tyyfus Records compilation, a sidestep from the usual

I decided to post a sampler of a newish Finnish Free Jazz / Improv record label, Tyyfus.

So shameless promotion here, but for a good cause. If you dig any of this shit, do grab a copy while you can. So far 5 LP's and 3 CD's are out and in small quantaties.

Copies can be obtained from http://www.tyyfus.com/

Or by emailing viima ---- aaaattt ---- yahoo ---- dooot ---- com.


Get it here: TYYFUS SAMPLER




Tracklist:

01 - Paul Flaherty / Chris Corsano: Rhino Grey
02 - Topias Tiheäsalo - Untitled 2
03 - Frode Gjerstad & Paal Nilssen-Love - Black Fire
04 - Mats Gustafsson - The Fire!
05 - Flaherty & Corsano & Shoup - Emereald City Boogie
06 - Anders Dahl & Christian Munthe - Ground 3
07 - Christian Munthe - No 05
08 - Mohel - Down Here

John Butcher & Chris Burn: Fonetiks (Bead Records BEAD 24)

Just got this one today. To my knowledge this is the first John Butcher record. As can be imagined, it's a bit rougher case than the later ones, but maybe because just of that, quite interesting and delightful. Burn plays a lot of percussion and your typical piano playing is pretty absent.

---

FONETIKS

Released in 84 on Bead Records. John Butcher - soprano & tenor saxophones, Chris Burn - piano, percussion, trumpet.

Not very common, even as MP3's, so get it while you can.

The Ferals

I found this one on my latest trip to Stockholm. A kinda hard to come by, even in mp3-form, so grab it while you can. I'ts pretty much what you would expect from this combination of players and a good set at that. Seven improvisations clocking around 46 minutes.

The Ferals: Ruff (Leo Records LR 138, 1987)

Phil Minton, voice
Roger Turner, percussion
Hugh Davies, electronics
Alan Tomlinson, alto and tenor trombones


update:

I just noticed that there's some glitch on this one. I was too busy to let my computer record it unbothered, so it isn't perfect. IMO it's still very much listenable. Msg me if you find it unbearable, I'll try to rip it again, I just don't have the time to do it right away.

Mats Gustafsson: Trees & Truths 3x7" BOX

This one's a limited and numbered edition of 300 copies which came in a sturdy cardboard box. Obviously OOP, and somebody requested this, so here goes:

Trees & Truths


More info

Han Bennink & Misha Mengelberg: ICP 010

One of the more obscure (is that actually possible?) Instant Composers Pools, but rather good. Han is my god.

Enjoy

ICP 010

a cover shot: