DIW Records is a Japanese record label. It is a subsidiary label of Disc Union and specializes in jazz and avant garde music.^[1] Kazunori Sugiyama was an executive producer for the label before starting Tzadik Records with John Zorn.

Discography[link]

References[link]

Harold Mabern (born March 20, 1936 in Memphis, Tennessee) is a hard bop and soul jazz pianist.

Early in his career, Mabern played in Chicago with Walter Perkins' MJT + 3 in the late 1950s^[1] before moving to New York in 1959. Mabern has worked with Jimmy Forrest, Lionel Hampton, the Jazztet (1961-1962), Donald Byrd, Miles Davis (1963), J. J. Johnson (1963-1965), Lee Morgan (1965), Hank Mobley (1965), Sonny Rollins, Freddie Hubbard, Wes Montgomery, Joe Williams (1966-1967), and Sarah Vaughan. In more recent years, he has recorded extensively with his former William Paterson University student, the tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander.(1)

He performed in a video recorded session with Wes Montgomery in 1965 that is currently available on DVD as Wes Montgomery Live in '65.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Mabern led four albums for Prestige Records, performed with Lee Morgan, and recorded with Stanley Cowell's Piano Choir. Harold Mabern has recorded as a leader for DIW/Columbia and Sackville and toured with the Contemporary Piano Ensemble (1993-1995).

A longtime faculty member at William Paterson University, Mabern is a frequent instructor at the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• A Few Miles from Memphis (1968)
• Rakin' and Scrapin' (1968)
• Workin' and Wailin' (1969)
• Greasy Kid Stuff! (1970)
• Falling in Love with Love (2002)
• Joy Spring (2006), solo piano

As sideman[link]

• Freddie Hubbard - The Night of the Cookers (1965)
• Roland Kirk - Reeds & Deeds (1963), The Roland Kirk Quartet Meets the Benny Golson Orchestra (1964)
• J. J. Johnson - Proof Positive (Impulse!, 1964)
• Jackie McLean - Consequence (1965)
• Blue Mitchell - Bring It Home to Me (1966)
• Hank Mobley - Dippin' (1965)
• Lee Morgan - The Gigolo (1965), Live at the Lighthouse (1970), The Last Session (1971)

with Eric Alexander

• Mode For Mabes (1998) Delmark
• The First Milestone (2000) Milestone
• The Second Milestone (2001) Milestone
• Summit Meeting (2002) Milestone
• Nightlife In Tokyo (2003) Milestone
• Dead Center (2004) HighNote
• It's All In The Game (2006) HighNote

References[link]

External links[link]

• All about jazz
• Allmusic

Misha Mengelberg in Austin, Texas April 2006

Misha Mengelberg performing in 2004

Misha Mengelberg mit Steve Lacy in der NDR Jazz-Workshop 1972. Fotografien von Heinrich Klaffs.

Misha Mengelberg (born June 5, 1935) is a Dutch jazz pianist and composer. He won the Gaudeamus International Composers Award in 1961.

Biography[link]

Mengelberg was born in Kiev in Ukraine, the son of the conductor Karel Mengelberg, who was himself the nephew of the conductor Willem Mengelberg. He briefly studied architecture before entering the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where he studied music from 1958 to 1964. While there he won the first prize at a jazz festival in Loosdrecht and became associated with Fluxus. His early influences included Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington and John Cage, whom he heard lecture at Darmstadt.^[1]

His first appearance on record was on Eric Dolphy's last album, Last Date (1964). Also on that record was the drummer Han Bennink, and the two of them, together with Piet Noordijk formed a quartet which had a number of different bassists, and which played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966.^[1] In 1967 he co-founded the Instant Composers Pool, an organisation which promoted avant garde Dutch jazz performances and recordings, with Bennink and Willem Breuker. He was co-founder of STEIM in Amsterdam in 1969.

Mengelberg has played with a large variety of musicians. He has often performed in a duo with fellow Dutchman Bennink, with other collaborators including Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, and (on the flip side of a live recording with Dolphy) his pet parrot. He was also one of the earliest exponents of the work of the once-neglected pianist Herbie Nichols.^[1]

He has also written music for others to perform (generally leaving some room for improvisation) and has overseen a number of music theatre productions, which usually include a large element of absurdist humour. A 2006 DVD release, Afijn (ICP/Data), is a primer on Mengelberg's life and work, containing an 80-minute documentary and additional concert footage.

One of his students was Oscar van Dillen.

Discography[link]

This section requires expansion.

• No Idea (DIW Records)

References[link]

External links[link]

• 1996 Mengelberg interview conducted by Dan Warburton
• Discography from the European Free Improvisation Pages
• ICP Orchestra Homepage
• FMP releases

Kaoru Abe (阿部 薫, Abe Kaoru^?, May 3, 1949 - September 9, 1978) was an influential Japanese avant-garde alto saxophonist, who is often regarded as having the greatest abrasive saxophone sound.^[1] He died of a drug overdose at the age of 29.

Self-taught at a young age, Abe performed with notables such as Motoharu Yoshizawa, Takehisa Kosugi, Yosuke Yamashita, Derek Bailey, and Milford Graves,^[2] although he generally performed solo. He was married to the author Izumi Suzuki, and a cousin to singer Kyu Sakamoto. He also appeared in the film Endless Waltz by Kōji Wakamatsu.

References[link]

• Yuko Morita (ed.). Abe Kaoru march 1980. Tokyo: Bunyusha, 1994 (Japanese)
• Soejima Teruto. Nihon furii jazu shi (日本フリージャズ史, The History of Japanese Free Jazz). Tokyo: Seidosha, 2002 (Japanese)

External links[link]

• Kaoru Abe website, including an English discography
• Abe profile on allmusic.com
• Kaoru Abe reviews from Opprobrium magazine
• Izumi entry in the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction

Lester Bowie
Bowie performing the mid-1990s
Background information
Born	(1941-10-11)October 11, 1941 Frederick, Maryland
Origin	Chicago, United States
Died	November 8, 1999(1999-11-08) (aged 58)
Occupations	trumpeter, composer
Instruments	Trumpet
Years active	1965–1999
Labels	Nessa, Freedom, Actuel, Black Saint, Atlantic, Horo, ECM, DIW, Birdology
Associated acts	AACM, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Lester Bowie's Organ Ensemble, Archie Shepp, David Murray, Jack DeJohnette, Fela Kuti, Kahil El'Zabar, Defunkt, David Bowie,
Website	[1]
Notable instruments
Flugelhorn, Bass Drum, Percussion

Lester Bowie (October 11, 1941–November 8, 1999^[1]) was an American jazz trumpet player^[2] and composer. He was a member of the AACM, and cofounded the Art Ensemble of Chicago.

Lester Bowie, New Jazz Festival Moers (Moers Festival) 1978

Biography[link]

Born in the historic village of Bartonsville in Frederick, Maryland, Bowie grew up in St Louis, Missouri. At the age of five he started studying the trumpet with his father, a professional musician. He played with blues musicians such as Little Milton and Albert King, and rhythm and blues stars such as Solomon Burke, Joe Tex, and Rufus Thomas. In 1965, he became Fontella Bass's musical director and husband.^[1] He was a co-founder of Black Artists Group (BAG) in St Louis.

In 1966, he moved to Chicago, where he worked as a studio musician, and met Muhal Richard Abrams and Roscoe Mitchell and became a member of the AACM. In 1968, he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago^[2] with Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, and Malachi Favors. He remained a member of this group for the rest of his life, and was also a member of Jack DeJohnette's New Directions quartet. He lived and worked in Jamaica and Africa, and played and recorded with Fela Kuti.^[3] Bowie's onstage appearance, in a white lab coat, with his goatee waxed into two points, was an important part of the Art Ensemble's stage show.

In 1984, he formed Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, a brass nonet in which Bowie demonstrated jazz's links to other forms of popular music, a decidedly more populist approach than that of the Art Ensemble. With this group he recorded songs made popular by Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Marilyn Manson, and the Spice Girls, along with more "serious" material. His New York Organ Ensemble featured James Carter and Amina Claudine Myers.

Although seen as part of the avant-garde, Bowie embraced techniques from the whole history of jazz trumpet, filling his music with humorous smears, blats, growls, half-valve effects, and so on. His affinity for reggae and ska is exemplified by his composition "Ska Reggae Hi-Bop", which he performed with the Skatalites on their 1994 "Hi-Bop Ska" (and again with James Carter on "Conversin' With The Elders")

Also 1994, Bowie appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool. The album, meant to raise awareness and funds in support of the AIDS epidemic in relation to the African American community, was heralded as "Album of the Year" by Time.

Bowie took an adventurous and humorous approach to music and criticized Wynton Marsalis for his conservative approach to jazz tradition.

Bowie died of liver cancer in 1999. The following year he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.^[4] In 2001, the Art Ensemble of Chicago recorded Tribute to Lester.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy[link]

Lester Bowie's New York Organ Ensemble[link]

With the Art Ensemble of Chicago[link]

with The Leaders[link]

• Mudfoot (Black Hawk) 1986
• Out Here Like This (Black Saint) 1986
• Unforeseen Blessings (Black Saint) 1988

As sideman[link]

With David Bowie

• Black Tie White Noise (Savage, 1993)

With Jack DeJohnette

• New Directions (Black Saint, 1978)
• New Directions in Europe (Black Saint, 1979)
• Zebra(MCA, 1989)

With Brigitte Fontaine

• Comme à la Radio (Saravah, 1971)

With Melvin Jackson

• Funky Skull (Limelight, 1969)

With Fela Kuti

• No Agreement (FAK, 1977)

With Frank Lowe

• Fresh (Freedom, 1975)

With Jimmy Lyons

• Free Jazz No. 1 (Concert Hall, 1969)
• Other Afternoons (BYG, 1970)

With Roscoe Mitchell

• Sound (Delmark, 1966)

With David Murray

• Live at the Lower Manhattan Ocean Club (India Navigation, 1978)

With Sunny Murray

• Sunshine (BYG, 1969)
• Homage to Africa (BYG, 1969)

With Charles Bobo Shaw

• Under the Sun (Freedom, 1973)
• Streets of St. Louis (Moers Music, 1974)

With Archie Shepp

• Yasmina, a Black Woman (BYG, 1969)
• Blasé (BYG, 1969)
• Pitchin Can (America, 1970)
• Coral Rock (America, 1970)

With Alan Silva

• Seasons (BYG, 1971)

With Wadada Leo Smith

• Divine Love (ECM, 1979)

• Funky Donkey Vol. 1 & 2 (Atavistic) (Luther Thomas & the Human Arts Ensemble)
• Under the Sun (Universal Justice) 1974 (Human Arts Ensemble)

• Funky Donkey 1977 (Circle) (Luther Thomas Creative Ensemble)

• Free to Dance (Black Saint) 1979 (Marcello Melis)
• 6 x 1 = 10 Duos for a New Decade (Circle) 1980 (John Fischer)
• The Razor's Edge/Strangling Me With Your Love (Hannibal, 12") 1982 (Defunkt)
• The Ritual (Sound Aspects) 1985 (Kahil El'Zabar)
• Meet Danny Wilson (Virgin) 1987 (Danny Wilson)
• Sacred Love (Sound Aspects) 1988 (Kahil El'Zabar)
• Avoid The Funk (Hannibal) 1988 (Defunkt)

• Environ Days (Konnex) 1991 (John Fischer)

• Cum Funky (Enemy) 1994 (Defunkt)
• Hi-Bop Ska 1994 (Skatalites)
• Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool (Impulse!) 1994 (Various Artists) appears on one track with Digable Planets
• Bluesiana Hurricane (Shanachie) 1995 with Rufus Thomas, Bill Doggett, Chuck Rainey, Bobby Watson, Will Calhoun, and Sue Foley
• Buddy Bolden's Rag (Delmark) 1995 (Malachi Thompson & Africa Brass)
• Not Two (Biodro Records) 1995 (Miłość and Lester Bowie)
• Conversin' with the Elders 1996 (James Carter)
• No Ways Tired (Nonesuch) 1995 (Fontella Bass)
• Mac's Smokin' Section (McKenzie) 1996 (Mac Gollehon)
• Hello Friend: To Ennis with Love (Verve) 1997 (Bill Cosby)
• My Secret Life (Calliope) 1998 (Sonia Dada)
• Amore Pirata (Il Manifesto) 1998 (Lorenzo Gasperoni Mamud Band feat. Lester Bowie)
• Smokin' Live (McKenzie) 1999 (Mac Gollehon)
• Talkin' About Life And Death (Biodro Records) 1999 (Miłość and Lester Bowie)
• Test Pattern (Razor & Tie) 2004 (Sonia Dada)
• Hiroshima (Art Yard) 2007 (The Sun Ra All Stars Band)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Philippe Carles, André Clergeat, and Jean-Louis Comolli, Dictionnaire du jazz, Paris, 1994
• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather and Brian Priestley, Jazz: the Essential Companion, London, 1987
• Richard Cook and Brian Morton, The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, 6th Edition, 2002

External links[link]

• Village Voice article
• Fontella Bass bio^{[dead link]} (misdirected to a usurper, paid site prior to 7/10)