Whither Ambient?

Whither Ambient? – Last.fm (2008): an essay on my quest to find true electronic ambience that is present in the current moment and now replayed shadows from some past space and time. It turned out to be harder to find than I thought, although admittedly I had added some tough criteria, not the least of which is that the sound should "Be not a cancer on this Earth. Leave room for nature!"

"Considering the roots of Electronic in Cage ... I do find it surprising that its so hard to find any records just wanting to be records."

and even more surprising still that I could find so few Cage recordings!

Nelson Symonds (1933-2008)

Canadian Guitar Legend Nelson Symonds (1933-2008):



"once you get past the sax player, THIS is chord chord soloing that Wes must have heard!"

David Liebman: Perfect Saxophone Embouchure

Ted Moses & the Mother Necessity Big Band (CBC LM 459 1978)

Only a teaser of a sampler found on an ebay auction, but nonetheless proof that I didn't dream the Mother Necessity Jazz Workshop -- a comment arrived today on Howard Cable's blog, from Harvey Kogen, the tenor player from this LP, corroborating my experience and hinting at the existence of this LP.


Now all I need is a digital source for the rest of the sound!

Oct 5th: JALC features Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall Allen

Sun Ra Turns 100: Sun Ra Arkestra with Marshall Allen on Livestream

Stan Getz - Eddie Sauter - Focus

Arnie writes to alert us to a post at Stan Getz Community:

Almost two years ago, Doug Ramsey disclosed with some excitement that videotape existed of portions of a television performance of Focus, the classic collaboration between Stan Getz and the brilliant composer and arranger Eddie Sauter. Doug's Rifftides staff tracked down the clip and posted it - but YouTube removed it almost immediately because whoever posted it seems to have been in violation. The copyright holder took offense.

  

A portion of this classic TV performance has shown up once again. I suggest you watch it (and perhaps record it, if you have the software to do so), before it once again disappears from the internet.

Find more videos like this on Stan Getz Community

Sun Ra Charts | Tone Science

Sun Ra Charts | Tone Science: a very nice collection of over 90 charts from Sun Ra covering 1936-1978. Most were composed by Sun Ra, but there are also charts by Ronald Boykins, Julian Priester, Marshall Allen and others.

For me, part of the fascination with this music is seeing the evolution of Sun Ra’s name. The earliest chart, from December 1936

Allan Chase clarifies the Mystery: "Paper copies of most of these, and some not here, appeared somewhat mysteriously, unsolicited, in two large packages in the mailboxes of some known Sun Ra researchers and aficionados, including me, I believe in the late 1990s. I’m pretty sure it was after the Szwed bio and Robert Campbell discographies were published, and I know it was well after my 1992 MA thesis on Sun Ra’s music. Not sure of the legalities involved! These are mostly sketch scores prepared for copyright documentation; for example, to save fees, he would present groups of discrete compositions as “suites” so several could be copyrighted for one fee. The notes that are there are accurate, as far as I can see — most of the Sun Ra pieces are in his own hand, and he was meticulous — but not all the parts or harmonizations are there, and we know from one video and one CD that he dictated and changed harmony parts in rehearsal, as well as writing them. Some of these are confusing: “Shadow World” doesn’t resemble the recorded versions, to my knowledge — correct me if I’m wrong. “Advice to Medics” seems to include Sun Ra’s own transcription of his improvisation, far more detail than needed for copyright, and it’s a solo Wurlitzer piece (speeded up on record — goes above range of Wurly, as my student Eric Lane noticed.) “Space Loneliness” suite seems to be missing here, and contains many of the great tunes of the time. But there are some tunes here I didn’t have, by others (Richard Evans, for ex.). I could go on…Thanks!

I received my own copy from a wishes-to-be-anonymous source about ten or fifteen years ago, a precious brown-paper wrapped package of deep esoteric wisdom I've been pondering ever since, and likewise studying the evolution in Sun Ra's charts, but also constantly amazed at how complete his conception had been even from the very start of the Arkestra.

And now here they are, at long last, out in the open air.  Let the wild rumpus begin!