Journey back to July 1973 with us, as Miles Davis's electric band gets a rowdy reception at their first Montreux Jazz Festival appearance. By contrast, Sam Rivers' gig that same week garnered a politer response. But it's Davis' influence that's evident in new albums from Pat Thomas, Michael Gregory Jackson, The Dwarfs of East Agouza and the dissident Russian composer Alexey Sysoev (who contributes a Chekhov setting for chamber ensemble and two female vocalists doubling on typewriter).
In Hour Two, we revisit contemporaneous premieres by Stockhausen (one of his most poignant and accessible works) and Maderna (his last completed piece, the Third Oboe Concerto, which requires a virtuoso soloist capable of reacting improvisationally to the thorny atonal material presented by the orchestra). We also say farewell to the late Clarence Barlow, survey fresh tracks from Yikii and Brandon Seabrook, and sample Unexplained Sounds’ new anthology of radical Finnish electronica.
Global chart history
Top position held by this upload
Comments
Flotation Device 2023-07-09: Annotated playlist by host Michael Schell
Intro and SET 1: Miles in Montreux, July 1973 [0:00]
1. [1:53] Yikii: Zoomorphism Migraine 化形・偏头痛. From The Crow-Cyan Lake 鸦青湖畔 (Unseelie, 2023) with Yikii Tong AKA Yikii
2. [4:52] Brandon Seabrook: Libidinal Bouquets. From brutalovechamp (Pyroclastic, 2023) with Epic Proportions: Brandon Seabrook (guitar, mandolin, banjo), Nava Dunkelman (percussion, glockenspiel), Marika Hughes (cello), Eivind Opsvik, Henry Fraser (contrabasses), Chuck Bettis (electronics, voice), John McCowen (clarinet, contrabass clarinet, alto and bass recorder), Sam Ospovat (drum set, chromatic Thai nipple gongs, vibraphone, concert chimes), Ben Greenberg (recording engineer)
3. [14:41] Miles Davis: Calypso Frelimo (excerpt). From The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux 1973–1991 (Columbia, 2002) with Miles Davis (trumpet, Yamaha organ), Dave Liebman (flute, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone), Pete Cosey (electric guitar, synthesizer), Reggie Lucas (electric guitar), Michael Henderson (electric bass), Al Foster (drums), James Mtume (percussion). NOTE: Recorded live July 8, 1973 at Montreux Jazz Festival
4. [19:01] Miles Davis: Miles in Montreux '73, part 2 [Tune in 5]. From The Complete Miles Davis at Montreux (credits as above)⠀
⠀
SET 2: Miles and his progeny [22:37]
1. [26:20] FlowSonic: Tony Williams (excerpt). From FlowSonic (zOaR, 2023) with Ronnie Burrage (drums, vocals, Korg electronics, percussion, TCymbals, Natural Acoustics Lab shakers), Michael Gregory Jackson (Electric Git Box), Jair-Rohm Parker Wells (NSD upright and bass guitars, Subliminal Synth modular system), Bob Musso (recording engineer)
2. [33:03] Pat Thomas, Chris Sharkey, Luke Reddin-Williams: Know: Delirium Atom Paths (excerpts). From Know: Delirium Atom Paths (577, 2023) with Pat Thomas (keyboards), Chris Sharkey (guitar, recording engineer), Luke Reddin-Williams (drums)
3. [38:27] The Dwarfs of East Agouza: Baka of the Future (excerpts). From High Tide In The Lowlands (Sub Rosa, 2023) with Alan Bishop (acoustic bass, vocals, alto sax), Sam Shalabi (electric guitar), Maurice Louca (keyboards, drum machine), Christophe Albertijn (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded September 5, 2017 at Les Ateliers Claus, Brussels
4. [45:52] Alexey Sysoev: Don’t Whistle, Masha! (excerpts). From Russian Music 2.0/2.1 (FancyMusic, 2022) with Moscow Contemporary Music Ensemble (typewriters, flute, clarinet, piano, synthesizer, tape)
6. [52:38] Outro with Miles Davis: Ife
7. [59:00] Karlheinz Stockhausen: Adieu. From Kreuzspiel · Kontra-Punkte · Zeitmasze · Adieu (Deutsche Grammophon, 1974, reissued 1992 by Stockhausen Verlag as Stockhausen Edition 4: Kontra-Punkte, Zeitmasse, Stop, Adieu) with London Sinfonietta: Sebastian Bell (flute), Janet Craxton (oboe) Antony Pay (clarinet), William Waterhouse (bassoon), John Butterworth (horn), Karlheinz Stockhausen (conductor), Rudolf Werner (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1966, premiere recording made July 11, 1973, CTS Studio, London⠀
⠀
SET 3: Sam Rivers in Montreux, July 1973 [1:14:40]
1. [1:15:42] Clarence Barlow: variazioni e un pianoforte meccanico (excerpts). From Musica Derivata (hat[now]ART, 2000) with John Snijders (piano, Yamaha Disklavier). NOTE: Composed 1986
2. [1:19:28] Heikki Lindgren, Rauno Nieminen: The forging of the Kantele. From Anthology of Electroacoustic Music from Finland (Unexplained Sounds, 2023) with Heikki Lindgren (electronics), Rauno Nieminen (kantele)
3. [1:23:42] Sam Rivers: Streams (excerpts). From Streams (Impulse, 1973) with Sam Rivers (soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone), Cecil McBee (bass), Norman Connors (drums, gongs), Baker Bigsby (recording engineer). NOTE: Recorded live July 6, 1973 at Montreux Jazz Festival⠀
⠀
SET 4: 50 years ago in the avant-garde [1:33:03]
1. [1:36:48] Bruno Maderna: Oboe Concerto No. 3. From Oboe Concertos (Col Legno, 2006) with Fabian Menzel (oboe), Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken (now Deutsche Radio Philharmonie), Michael Stern (conductor), Erich Heigold (recording engineer). NOTE: Composed 1973, premiered July 6, 1973, at Holland Festival, with oboist Han de Vries and Maderna conducting
2. [1:53:35] Outro with Bruno Maderna: Oboe Concerto No. 3 (with soloist Heinz Holliger)
Photo credits: Sam Rivers by Tom Marcello, Yikii via the artist, Epic Proportions (Henry Fraser, John McCowen, Eivind Opsvik, Brandon Seabrook, Chuck Bettis, Sam Ospovat, Nava Dunkelman, Marika Hughes) via Brandon Seabrook, Adieu by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna and Karlheinz Stockhausen in Cologne 1958, Dave Liebman/Miles Davis/Michael Henderson via Dave Liebman, Alexey Sysoev via the artist, Clarence Barlow via UCSB, Dwarfs of East Agouza (Sam Shalabi, Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop) by Maged Nader, FlowSonic (Ronnie Burrage, Michael Gregory Jackson, Jair-Rohm Parker Wells) by Sherry Rubel, Pat Thomas by Jacob Sobanski.