I like this quite a lot. Accessible, melodic, repeptitive (but not in a blatant and annoying way. I mean the inner parts of the song, tend to repeat several times but there is variation within the songs). Yes, it sounds dated, but that to me is a good thing. Might not be the most creative music made; quite simplistic at times and maybe with a dull sound (no rich and lush sounds here). And yet I find this captivating me each time I listen to it. The music has this simplistic magic that makes me go along on the ride with it. Again, not a great album, not complex and not original, but it is effective in its way and for me is in the bottom line, an album I prefer in my collection than not. Not an album I regret having.
Eden was a French Electronic duo from late-70's, relatively known among prog fans.What most people do not know is that the leader and main composer Hubert Vrayance, born in 1958, became a leading chief officer and later police commissioner.The other member was drummer Alan Lyss and their sole release ''Aura'' came out in 1979 on Oxygene, recorded in July of the same year at the AA Music Studios.The armour of Vrayance was his bass pedals, a Hammond organ, a solina string ensemble and a couple of synthesizers.
The music of the duo was a Symphonic/Electronic affair with many Classical and symphonic elements, propelled by the solid drumming of Lyss, thus their sound often closed the more symphonic side of Progressive Rock.The main man though here is Vrayance and his dual keyboard deliveries with a varied sound and a unique atmosphere, going from Baroque period to psychedelic textures.His approach on romantic and sensitive arrangements comes close to the sound of LE ORME or 80's German oddity OCEAN, mixing the power of a Classical-influenced organ execution with the floating sound of synthesizers.They kind of remind me also of TRIUMVIRAT and SCHICKE, FUHRS & FROHLING quite often, the display of dramatic, Classical keyboard arrangements with the rhythmic drumming and the changes between melancholic orchestrations to more powerful and grandiose themes is pretty rewarding.Side A provides the more Classical side of the duo with the inventive use of organ next to the solina string and the synths, while the second is a bit more quirky and Electronic-drenched, still offering some pretty fast and accurate drumming, but the music becomes more abstract and updated with the solina string and the synths becoming the centerpieces of a more cinematic but still very dynamic sound.
In 1985 Vrayant would join the police, but he still released a solo album in 1986, ''Landscape 80'' on FLVM, dealing with a police officer, who wrote a book around the extra-terrestrials and the Bible.During the later years of his career he worked as secret agent on political investigations and this was reputedly the reason he was eventually sacked.
Classical- and symphonic-oriented Electronic Prog in the vein of SCHICKE, FUHRS & FROHLING, swirling around rich, keyboard rhythms and more romantic soundscapes with a Baroque flavor.Nice and recommended stuff.
Dr Tree's sole album is one of the hottest fusion albums of the 1970s. That's a pretty bold statement given the multitude of albums in the genre, but for those that know the album, it remains true. A 6 piece, with dual percussion, fiery guitar, Fender Rhodes, bass and.... trumpet. This latter element adds a unique dimension. And while you may be thinking this will put it in the Miles Davis camp, that wouldn't be right either. This isn't the heavy deep groove of Miles (which would have been fantastic as well), but more like the high energy of prime Return to Forever with trumpet as one of the lead instruments. Obviously plenty of room is also left for the guitarist to shred and the keyboardist to fly. The two percussionist's keep the tunes hopping throughout. Considered by fusion fans as a must own. Just be sure to get the only legit version!
Mid-70's New Zealanders from Auckland, playing fast-paced, energetic Jazz Fusion with funky underlines.Actually a sextet with prominent space for electric guitar, percussion, electric piano/synthesizer and trumpet.After a short intro the remaining all instrumental tracks are lengthy and downright quirky.Endless rhythm changes and jazzy solos lead the album to the land of virtuosity.Enjoyable to say the least.Most members continued later with the 80's Jazz Funk act Space Case.
Yoel Schwarcz / classcial guitar, flute, harmonica, recorder, saxophone Tim Rice / organ, piano Peter Billam / bass guitar, electric guitar Harvey Troupe / drums
Plus
Ken Freeman / Freeman synthesiser on "Vivaldi Synthesis Two" Richard Hartley / piano on "Vivaldi Synthesis Two" John Warren / classical guitar on "Autumn Grass" Mike Hart / double bass on "Autumn Grass" Dick Wildman / drums and percussion on "Autumn Grass" Clive Stanhope / gong on "Autumn Grass" The Olympus Strings / cellos on "Autumn Grass"
"Autumn grass" is a criminally underrated album from the early 1970's, featuring jazz influenced prog played by four highly proficient musicians. The feature (title) track was at the time of the album's release one of the longest single tracks to appear on one side of an LP (but by no means the longest), running to some 26 minutes.
The band was the brain-child of Yoel Schwarcz. Despite the fact that they only ever made two albums, he is the only person to be a band member for both (although the others who played on the first album appear as guests here) . The line up for "Autumn Grass" includes the highly proficient keyboard player Tim Rice (no relation to Andrew Lloyd-Webber's mate).
Side one consists of three tracks, all developed through live performances before being committed to vinyl. The opening "Byrd Pavan" is an improvisation on Byrd's "Earl of Salisbury pavan" combined with Purcell's "Air on a ground bass". The band add a jazz dimension to the Elizabethan flavoured "pavan", with the organ work of Rice being particularly dominant. "Vivaldi synthesis 2" is an adaptation of Vivaldi's "Guitar concerto", with synthesised strings backing. This pleasantly relaxing piece was later revived by Steve Howe on his "Steve Howe album". The final track on side one is "Overdraft", the only band composition on the album. This piece is the most jazz based of the four tracks, and also the weakest.
s mentioned previously, the inordinately long title track occupies side two. Composed by Patric Standford specifically for the band, the sleeve described the track as "a ritualistic invocation". Various guest musicians contribute to the suite, notably the Olympus Strings cello section. The highlight though is the wonderful flute of Yoel Schwarcz. About midway through the track, he picks out a baroque melody with sparse accompaniment. This theme is used as the basis for a developing improvisation with ever increasing backing driving the flute to a frantic crescendo, before the main theme restores order.
During my student years of the mid 70's, this track, and indeed the album was a regular feature of my turntable. Whilst the length of the piece had a lot to do with it (30 minutes between changing sides was most unusual), I found the music perfect to study to as it has that rare quality of supporting listening on many different levels.
"Autumn grass" stands as a truly remarkable work, criminally overlooked both at the time of its release, and indeed now. Recommended.
Yoel Schwarcz interview, May 2006
Can we start at the beginning? What was your earliest involvement in music? You're musical education and qualifications?
I feel as if I've always been surrounded by music. My mother was a concert pianist (a student of Bartok) and I don't remember a time without music in my life. I leaned to play the flute at an early age and played in the school orchestra but I've no formal musical qualifications. However I did learn classical guitar with Tim Walker in London.
Who were your main influences?
I really don't know. I suppose Hungarian and Eastern European music were strong influences. That is, my early musical experiences, the music that I grew up with.
You are known as a multi-instrumentalist. Can you list the all the instruments you are proficient in? Which is your preferred one?
Flute, recorder, clarinet, tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, harmonica and classical guitar. My preferred is the tenor sax.
Were you in any bands or orchestras prior to Continuum?
o, I was essentially a soloist but did perform in a duo for a season in Amsterdam prior to the formation of Continuum (see below)
Continuum is probably your best known project. You are Hungarian, but the band was formed in Holland, how did it come about?
This is going to be a long one.
1) Although I'm Hungarian I was a child refugee at the end of the 2nd. World War and by the early sixties was resident in England - London to be precise.
2) In fact, Continuum was actually formed in London although I had started to develop the musical ideas in Holland a couple of years before. I'd better start at the beginning. I was a resident performer in a club in Amsterdam in the summer, playing classical guitar. One night I got very stoned, didn't really now where I was and couldn't remember the music; to keep going I kept improvising (I suppose in a very free fashion but I don't have much recollection) until I remembered what I should have been playing and again picked up the thread of the original music - and so on, in waves. The audience loved it and the management asked me to continue to play in that way. It would have been churlish (not to mention economic suicide) to refuse and as I liked improvisation, which seemed to come fairly naturally to me, I started developing my musical performance along these lines. I returned to London at the end of the summer and met an excellent Czech guitarist called Jan. The next season we went back to Amsterdam as a duo but at the end of the summer he decided to remain while I returned to London. I met John Warren there not long after. We decided to form a group in order to create, develop and play our own type of music. We found a management followed by a drummer and a bass player and the management then approached RCA who offered me a contract.
EL - Yoel’s wife Brenda has further clarified that although Continuum was started after he'd met John, it was his baby. It wasn't a formal partnership, just something on which they both agreed at the time and on which they decided to work together. Previously with Jan he'd had the same working relationship - but no group name. The sleeve notes for "Continuum" have some very technical aspects. Is that an aspect of music which is of particular interest to you?
Yes. The kind of music that we chose to play was technically difficult: We rehearsed intensively every day. We needed instrumental technique in order to be capable of playing it, and musical and technical understanding of styles, musical culture of the period, phrasing etc.
The suite on side two of "Continuum" was written by Richard Hartley. How did your collaboration with him come about? Did he ever consider jointing the group (he played piano on one track on "Autumn grass".)
Richard was a friend of our manager. He never considered joining the group but played piano for us on "Autumn Grass" because the possibility was offered to him by our manager and he accepted.
A number of the tracks on the two Continuum albums are based on classical pieces. Were your interpretations based on band improvisations? How did the composition of the tracks work in the studio?
The interpretations weren't based on band improvisations. I'll have to go into a bit of detail here. I wrote all the arrangements for the "Continuum" pieces (with the exception of the piece by Richard Hartley) and was the only member of the line-up to improvise (including on the piece by Richard) because I was the only one of us comfortable with improvisation. The title track on the second album, written by Patric Stanford, was recorded by the first line-up before we split up (which answers your question below about "guests"). The other tracks on this album (with the exception of the 2nd. movement of the Vivaldi lute concerto on which Richard played piano and a session musician played the synthesiser) were all played by the second line-up which consisted of musicians who were all comfortable with improvisation. The arrangements for all the other tracks were a group effort and each musician added his own improvisation. A typical set-up.
All the compositions were well rehearsed and had been played live several times before going into studio (with the exception of the Vivaldi). We had very little studio time.
For "Autumn Grass", the band line up changed completely, with the exception of yourself. Why was this?
Continuum was my concept. It was my group. Before I played music professionally I had been a professional painter, contracted to the New Vision Centre Gallery in London. I exhibited for ten years and had had exhibitions, at least one of which was called Continuum. I saw my music as a continuum.
The changes came about for two reasons: 1). because the musicians in the original line-up weren't comfortable with improvisation; 2). because I wanted to include some electrical instruments; with the musicians and instruments we included in the second line-up we had the possibility of a wider choice of music. My friendship with John continued though.
The other band members (John, Mike and Dick) from the original album are listed as guests on the title track of "Autumn grass", how did this come about? Did the new line up also play on it?
See above.
The title track of "Autumn grass" was composed by Patric Standford. How did this come about? Was it written specifically for the band?
Patric was a friend of my then father-in-law. Yes.
Given the extraordinary length of the title track, were there any issues with the record company in terms of squeezing it onto one side of the album?
I don't know if there were any issues with the record company - the management dealt with anything like that. But In order to get the track on the record they had to use heavy compression which you can hear on the recorder improvisation. This is something that I'm not very happy about.
How much of the wonderful flute section on "Autumn grass" was composed by Standford, and how much was your own improvisation?
There is one flute section which is wholly improvised, the recorder solo theme was written by Patric and the rest is improvisation.
Can you tell us a little about the other band members? Are you still in touch with any of them? What are they doing now?
No, I'm afraid I lost touch with them after I moved to France thirty years ago.
Did the band ever play live? If so, what was the nature of the gigs?
Yes, around 50/60 live gigs, I think. I've looked out my press cuttings to answer this one but will only give you the ones I consider the most interesting: The Round House, Imperial College, The Marquee Club, London Television "This Week", The Wigmore Hall, The Queen Elisabeth Hall several times including South Bank Summer, a few times with BBC television and radio, the Northern Polytechnic, Eairan (Irish television), Wexford Arts Festival, Edinburgh Arts Festival, ICA, Royal College of Art.
We played what you find on the records plus another few bits. With the second line-up we played non-stop, each piece running into the next.
Continuum apparently broke up after "Autumn grass", why was this? Would you have liked the project to continue?
e still played live for a few months but didn't make any other records. It's the usual story of everyone pulling his own way which leads to disagreements. I decided to leave. They tried to continue for a while after I left but ... the whole thing just fell to bits. It sounds pretty horrible talking like this.
Progarchives is a website dedicated to progressive music in all its forms. Did you consider yourselves to be "progressive"? Which bands of the early 70's did you consider to be your peers?
I don't know if it was progressive or not - I'm not sure of your definition of "progressive". It's sure that we didn't play like the pop groups of the time, our music was different from theirs.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Soft Machine, King Crimson (their drummer drummed for us at a gig at Southampton University once), Frank Zappa - thought all their music was different and really worth listening to.
Have you ever considered setting up an official "Continuum" website to spread the word about the music of the band?
No.
Tim Rice is quoted in the Autumn grass sleeve notes as stating that "Such styles as rock and Elizabethan music are not only compatible, but can also be relevant to one another". Was this a vision you shared? Was it specific to Elizabethan music and rock, or did you feel there were other equally valid combinations you could have (and perhaps did) explored?
Yes, Tim and I shared exactly the same point of view on this; there were other combinations that we could have (and did) explore(d). Music is music. We didn't live in a museum. If we liked a piece we liked it. In the first line-up the choices were limited by the instruments played and, as I said above, one of the reasons for changing the line-up was to give us the possibility of a wider choice in the music we played.
Tim also said that "if analysis seems pretentious, that does not necessarily mean that them music itself is pretentious". Were you concerned that your music may be perceived in this way?
Me, personally, no. Some people might have considered that our music was pretentious but I've never been very bothered about what other people thought. We just played what interested us.
What did you do after the band broke up? Have you been involved with any other bands since? What have the 30+ years since found you doing?
1) I went to play as a session musician, playing tenor sax and completed my Masters in electronic engineering at the University of Southampton.
2) Did sound for Henry Cow and toured with them. On one of the tours I came to France and met a violinist whom I married; moved to France and did sound for Jeff Seffer* (I played with him a bit too).
*Jeff Seffer is an avant-garde French/Hungarian saxophonist who was a member of Magma (among others).
3) Stayed in France, designing live sound installations, theatre, concerts, tours, etc.; (beggars can't be choosers so sometimes I loved the music that I designed for, sometimes I hated it) until 1987;
4) Went to England to take responsibility for the Midas Console that had just been bought by Klark-Teknik;
5) Came back to France in December 1990 to continue working in sound until February of this year.
And what is life like now for Yoel? Are you still actively involved in music?
Since February we've moved from Paris (where I was based from 1993) to the Loire valley. We bought a small old farm and will move in, in a few weeks. I have started creating DVDs that, at the moment, use paintings (that now change and move) that I've done over the last thirty years and music that I recorded over thirty years ago! (At least, the one on which I'm working at the moment). Future ones will probably use music composed by some young musicians I know - we'll see, it's the beginning. This work will be included in a group exhibition at the beginning of September. It's probably not very commercial but I've come to the point where I don't give a sh*t - I was never really about commerce.
Do you enjoy listening to your old albums now?
I'm using them for the DVD so I can't say that I don't like listening to them but I can hear all the production mistakes (and some of my own). A disc is never perfect.
Did you ever consider making "commercial" music in order to "pay the bills"?
Yes, when I worked as a session musician (I played with the re-formed Foundations) but didn't want to play commercial music under my own name. I honestly don't know how do create commercial art in any form.
What sort of music do you listen to? Do you keep up to day with the current music scene? What do you think of today's music?
Like this question. Ultra modern jazz (John Zorn, for example), Rage against the Machine, Penderetzki, Bartok, Kodaly, (never got over the Hungarian connection) Ministry of Sound, Radiohead, Massive Attack etc. Am not as au fait as I'd like to be. Maybe I'll have a little more time to listen now. But I'm not into Hip-Hop or Rap. I really wish that in the days of Continuum we had had the electronics that are available to the musicians today. I really admire some of the music produced and those that produce it - they push out the boundaries.
Do you have any control over the re-releasing of your albums? I found a site on the internet which indicated that Continuum's first album had been re-mastered and released in Japan. Were you aware of this?
It seems that I have absolutely none for I had no idea that the album was re-mastered and released - either before or after the fact (until this week). I was the only member of Continuum to have a contract with RCA and this contract was never cancelled. After I found out I found a site where I could order a copy and did so (I prefer to have it than my original vinyyl which has suffered somewhat over the years) however I think it's a bit much when I have to pay for my own music!
Finally, your wife is Scottish. How did the two of you meet? Does she share your passion for your music? What is a normal day in the life for the Schwarcz or should I say Fekete family?
Met at the house of a friend in London when I was working for Midas.
Not really but she's learning to appreciate (non-commercial) music!
My labrador wakes me up as soon as the bloody sun is up; I get up, take him out, give him food and water (normally around 6.30 am while Brenda snores); try to wake up Brenda; make her coffee around 8.00am; try to wake up Brenda; enjoy a huge breakfast of cheese, ham, british marmalade; try to wake up Brenda; start working on my DVD; finally wake up Brenda. (EL - Brenda tells me that Yoel does not in fact wake her, she eventually wakes up in her own time!)
At the moment our house is full of workmen so life is a bit unsettled. I work most of the day on the DVD, walk the dog, argue with Brenda (sometimes we talk though), she argues with Ikea on the phone, we share the cooking, visit friends in the area and sometimes we'll have friends or one of the kids to stay (my youngest has just left today to go to Morocco with his girlfriend in a camper van) and Brenda drags me to brocantes (the French week-end flea markets). Sometimes we eat in a small local restaurant in the evening. We like good food.
In the future I'll keep working on my DVDs and once we're properly installed in the main house want to start painting again. Brenda's going to set up two gites - not my thing.
Many thanks for taking the time to answer these questions Yoel. I wish you well!
Continuum was conceived in Holland by Hungarian multi-instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz in 1967. The name "Continuum" was taken from the title of exhibitions of Schwarcz's paintings in a London gallery for whom he painted professionally.
He developed his musical ideas with a Czech guitarist called "Jan" and they performed as a duo in a club in Amsterdam the following summer. Schwarcz returned to London while Jan decided to remain in Amsterdam, and shortly afterwards Schwarcz joined forces with classical guitarist John Warren. They decided to form a group to develop their common ideas, the line up being completed with the arrival of Mike Hart on double bass and Dick Wildman on drums. Although the project was formalised in the framework of a band, Schwarcz was the de-facto leader, and it was very much his baby.
RCA entered into a contract with Yoel Schwarcz (not with Continuum) and Continuum released their self-titled first album in 1970. Side one of the album consisted of four improvisations on music by Bach and Handel. Side two was a side long suite in four parts composed by non-band member Richard Hartley and based on the poetical work of Lord Byron.
By 1971, only Schwarcz remained of the line up which recorded the first album. The musicians on that album were uncomfortable with improvisation, which Schwarcz wanted to explore further. He also sought to replace some of the acoustic sounds of the band with electric ones. Although Warren had decided to leave the band, he and Schwarcz remained good friends.
In came Peter Billam and Harvey Troupe to form the rhythm section, Billam also providing lead guitar. The new line up was completed by the arrival of respected keyboard player Tim Rice (no relation to the stage show writer of that name). This line up recorded the first side of the "Autumn Grass" album, released in 1971. Once again, the album consisted of one side of classical variations, plus a Rice composition, and one side long suite. The track "Autumn grass" was written by modern composer Patrie Standford specifically for the group. Interestingly, it was actually recorded by the first line up of the group before they split up, the album sleeve listing the former band members as "guest musicians". Apart from the wonderful improvisations by Schwarcz, the piece is particularly notable for its length. At over 26 minutes, it is one of the longest (but by no means THE longest) tracks to appear on one side of an LP. This resulted in some compression of the recording being necessary, a factor which will hopefully one day be addressed by a remastering of the album for CD. (Their first album has recently been remastered and re-released in Germany).
The band continued to tour after the release of "Autumn Grass", but the ubiquitous musical differences emerged, and founder Schwarcz decided it was time for him to move on. The remaining members kept the band going for a further few months, but when it became clear that their efforts were futile, they disbanded.
Yoel Schwarcz went on to become a session musician and sound engineer, touring with Henry Cow among others. He had spells living and working in France and the UK being involved in a diverse range of sound related projects. He retired from that work in early 2006 and bought a small farm in the Loire valley, where he is still active in the fields of music and art.
This band is an Unidentified Flying Group, that is all too forgotten. This extremely eclectic debut is only partly in the rock realm, but its folk, classical, pre-classical, blues, jazz and avant-garde influences is making it one of the hardest album to classify. This international quartet founded by Hungarian wind and acoustic guitar player Yoel Schwarcz, but based in Netherlands and England, certainly took a rather bold turn in reworking the classics, like Ekseption and Trace and much later Sky would, but here the interpretation are bold, daring, dazzling and inventive, mostly because the group built on the piece (Bach and Handel mostly) instead of adapting and electrifying them. Continuum even takes the risk of re-working Bourée and as you would've guessed, it does not match Tull's, but does stand on its own.
If the first side is somewhat conventional and presents jazz, blues and folk workouts from Bach pieces and as said above is rather excellent, but stays partly conventional, the second side is much more adventurous and the group enters the atonal and dissonant realms, using scales and an advanced use string quintet that are rather unfamiliar to the mainstream crowds.
The side-long suite Legend Of Childe Harold (written by Richard Hartley) where the voyage of Childe Harold and its tribulations and misadventures are described musically. Ranging from a pedestrian blues with jazzy solos ala early-Tull to the almost medieval and dissonant intro (Revelate) to the almost-dronal semi-medieval and semi- contemporary Judgment Approach, with the finale's frankly dissonant intro, this suite was quite an achievement for the year of recording. I wouldn't be surprised if Art Zoyd and Univers Zero heard this album's finale.
Clearly this album is the resultant of hundreds of influences, but it is safe to bet many progressive musicians also heard and inspired themselves from this album. This album is much more than a curiosity, it is a must hear for classical-loving progheads.
Denis Barbier / flute, piccolo flute, alto, tenor & soprano saxes, double bass & harp (5)
Oliver DeLaTaille / trumpet, bugle
Philippe Simon / trombone, bass trombone
Gilles Douieb / bass
Umberto Pagnini / drums
Mino Cinelu / percussion
With:
Éric Letourneux / tenor sax (5)
Raymond Betzi / percussion (1,5)
Rich Third or Fourth Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion from a short-lived French band that is notable for the prominence of trombones and flutes as well as for the presence of a core of three highly-skilled multi-instrumentalists.
1. "Ali Baba" (5:10) quite solid and sophisticated Jazz-Rock Fusion that occasionally slips over into Smooth Jazz and instrumental rock. I like the prominent use of trombones as well as the core trio of band members' willingness to switch between multiple instruments during the course of a single song.
2. "Trop Tard" (4:45) funk from the perspective of the Soul/R&B bands like the JBs, Tower of Power, and, more, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters. Well done!
4. "Octopus" (2:48) back to the R&B-grounded Jazz-Rock Funk of the Listen to the electric bass play of Gilles Douieb! as well as the contributions of the horn section! Wow!
5. "Cello" (4:48) funny to name a song after an instrument (one of the only) that does not exist in the repertoire of the band or their guests! A beautifully composed and "orchestrated" song that definitely continues the display of absolutely top notch Jazz-Rock Fusion.
6. "E 330" (5:00) Oh. I get it! Alternating songs deeply rooted in the funk with other sophisticated yet-smoother song constructs. Me like! Here we have yet another amazingly superb funk song, this one founded well within the Latin traditions. The song's only weakness is that it gradually becomes smoother, more Latin melodic and less R&B funky as it progresses--especially as Olivier Hutman's iano takes the lead. It's not bad--the piano play is pretty--especially when woven with the acoustic guitar and flute--but it gets a little bland when he becomes the sole soloist (despite his similarity of style and sound to that of my well-loved favorite, Chick Corea).
7. "Flipper Nana" (4:36) a song that has both swing and funk elements to it also presents more of that lovely trombone in the lead while the rest of the band actively and creatively supports from beneath (and beside). The oddly-muted horn section blasts at the two minute mark are awesome, preceding a nice flute solo, then, 30 seconds later the band shifts into a more traditional jazz motif with some excellent double bass walking from Denis Barbier and some great piano soloing from Olivier. Another switch in the second half of the fifth minute leads to some rock electric guitar shredding as the song heads slowly into its long fadeout finish.
8. "Canaan Part 1" (4:20) more high-speed Jazz-Rock Fusion of the Headhunters kind with the skills on display that the Mahavishnu Orchestra would certainly have been proud if not envious. All I can say is, Wow! How can it be that this band has received absolutely no attention on either ProgArchives or JazzMusicArchives.com? Even the song-ending drum solo that begins in the second half of the fourth minute is done so tastefully--and does not feel like wasted time or space.
9. "Canaan Part 2" (4:14) the band uses a chill, smooth funk motif as if to recover (or let the listener recover) from Part 1. The horn section sets the band up for an extended electric guitar solo backed by some wonderful electric piano chord play and intermittent riff-blasts from the horn section. While electric guitarist Patrice Cinelu does not, in my estimation, stand up to the mind-blowing expressions of the bass, drums, percussionists, and horns, he is quite good.
Denis Barbier / flutes (sol, ut, mi bemol & piccolo)
Éric Letourneux / alto & soprano saxes
Pierre-Jean Gidon / tenor & soprano saxes
Gilles Douieb / bass
Mino Cinelu / drums, percussion
Highly fluid French fusion with funk inclinations and a subtly masterful touch. Lotsa flute driven passages of percolating grooviness in the mode of The Chris Hinze Combination, Jean Cohen-Solal and Jeremy Steig along with others whose combination of intensive depth and frothy effervescence call to mind Michal Urbaniak's Fusion and the Dutch jazz rockers Solution.
Privately pressed LP released on a label Rick Kemp set up solely for this release after seeing them play in the basement of a Manchester pub.
Rick Kemp from STEELEYE SPAN was on tour and in Manchester when an ex-musical colleague approached him about seeing this amazing Jazz Rock band, so off they went to the basement of a pub in Manchester where this four piece played every Sunday morning. Rick was so impressed that he asked the band if he could record an album for them. He would Produce it and this is the result from this band called BOTH HANDS FREE. The band had this philosophy about their music that it was simply made for the moment never to be heard again and totally dictated by mood. They even wondered if they should release it after it was finished but Rick convinced them.
There's so much variety on here and for me that's what keeps this at 3 stars and not 4 stars. Just a lot of hits and some misses. That striking cover art along with the opening track called "Space" must have confused a few Psychedelic fans out there. The song is sparse and experimental, unlike anything else on here really. Not very melodic. Some Funk on "City Slickers" and some traditional jazz bits too on this record. The sax player is nothing short of amazing with his different styles of playing and the sounds he produces. The electric piano is really good too
British Jazz Rock combo from Manchester, reputedly formed by session musicians of the area.They played every Sunday in a pub of the city and they were discovered at some point by Rick Kemp, who was touring with Steeleye Span.Pretty amazed by the style of the group, Kemp brough them to the Fairview Sound Studios in Willerby and apparently produced and financed the self-titled album of the band.This was the only album with the ''Kemp / Pegrum Music Ltd.'' stab on it, it was pressed in the limited number of 100 copies.Band was Dave Hassel on drums, Pete Glennon on bass, Phil Chapman on sax and Ritchie Close on keyboards.
I find this one to be a little llightweight of a Jazz/Jazz Rock affair for my tastes, although there some nice explosions of virtuosity and technique in here with very edgy organ parts and blistering electric piano.But most of it goes in a spacey Jazz mood with bits from IF and PASSPORT along with some certain Funk aesthetics, sometimes exploring the territories of WEATHER REPORT in a slow Avant Garde/Jazz vein with minimalistic endeavors and atmospheric qualities.The guys were far more into Jazz than Rock and this explains much of their stylistic behavior, which contains lots of free-form passages and loose executions.The most Fusion tracks are apparently the best ones with links to PASSPORT and PORK PIE, featuring dramatic, jazzy instrumental parts and efficient soloing, I wished this would go so all the way.Cool synths, organ and electric piano with evidence of a very rich instrumental background down the line, despite some very abstract and chaotic moves.The smoother pieces sound more like fillers to my ears, they are still well-played, but suck all the energy from a previous listened track, when so much was going on'.Plus the funkier parts remind me of the dull days when Gentle Giant went down.
Being sessions musicians, all members remained in the music industry, playing in several different-styled releases over the years.Ritchie Close appeared also as an additional keyboardist on Camel early-80's performance at Hammersmith Odeon and he can be heard in the band's DVD ''Total Pressure''.
Notice that there is another rare album by a band of the same name, released in 1978 and titled ''Use from the pocket'', this was a Jazz Improvisation trio of different members and it is said they came from Bristol, so there is a strong possibility we're talking about a totally different group.
''Both hands free'' circulates usually in triple-digit bucks, pretty reasonable considering it's a serious rarity.So, this goes most for fans of mellow Jazz Rock and Acid Jazz, it's a decent album, but be certain to like the style.Otherwise you should spend your money elsewhere.
Both Hands Free. This private pressing was released in 1976, and an original copy is worth £150 today. It’s a submarine gem, underwater and out of sight to many collectors’ eyes, but samples from the track Phobos have been used by artists such as Smoke DZA, Slowy, 12Vince and well-known rapper Young Thug. Musically, Both Hands Free can go toe-to-toe with the best of Ian Carr’s Nucleus, Weather Report and Miles Davis’ seminal 70s electric period. Our reissue is well worth £19.99 of your hard-earned money!
The genesis of the Both Hands Free LP was the 1976 gig sheet of the legendary folk-rock group, Steeleye Span. “I was staying with a friend in Didsbury on a Saturday night after playing at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester with Steeleye,” recalls their famed bass player, Rick Kemp. “He said to me, ‘In the morning we’ll go and see this lovely band that plays in the local pub.’” This watering hole was The Cavalcade, where progressive jazz-fusion quartet Both Hands Free had a long-standing residency. Such was their reputation, the place was packed. “They were really good,” recalls Kemp, “and after they had finished,
I spoke to them and said, ‘Would you like to make a record?’ They said, ‘No, not really. We don’t want to make a record.’ I had to talk them into it.”
The reason Both Hands Free didn’t chomp at the bit to go into a recording studio was because, during the week, the four players were in recording studios all the time. Ritchie Close (keyboards), Pete Glennon (bass), Phil Chapman (sax) and Dave Hassell (drums) were in-demand session players and working musicians in the Manchester area who did everything from record adverts, jingles and TV themes, to work with bands and singers. “We had no intention of going in the studio to make an album because it was just fun for us and we were never out of the studios doing other people’s things,” recalls sole surviving member of the band, Dave Hassell, who remains active as an educator, musician and as a session player and has worked with everyone from ABBA to (film soundtrack work for) Hans Zimmer.
Playing in Both Hands Free was a bit of musical fun for the band, who were also close friends, and they had wanted to keep it that way until Kemp came along. Thankfully, they agreed to make the LP and Hassel was happy to talk me through the untold story of Both Hands Free.
“The first one in the band I met was Pete, the bass player, who was two or three years older than me,” explains Hassell.“We met in a night club in Manchester in about 1965 and I just sat in and we started playing. I had only been playing for less than two years but we sat down, played and found out that something worked. I used to go around to his house and we would play. I still have some original tapes from the 60s – we sound fantastic.”
In 1966, Hassell jumped on the Queen Elizabeth liner and spent time studying in New York, checking out all of the great jazz bands performing in the Big Apple. Upon his return in 1967, he hooked up again with Glennon: “We would be working commercially together, going out and doing whatever – functions, the odd jazz gig… And then, around 1969, I got introduced to Richard the keyboard player, who was only 18 at the time, but he was already a fantastic player. We had a play together and got that musical connection.”
By this time, Hassell was working as a session player – it would keep him fully occupied for decades to come. “At that time in my life I was doing a lot of studio work here, as were the other three,” he says. “I was also on the road with Tony Christie. That’s probably another reason why I wanted to play some other music. I used to do all the Granada pop shows, either on drum kit or percussion, and that went on for 15 to 20 years. I was also doing a lot of work for a guy called Derek Hilton. He did Brideshead Revisited and Sherlock Holmes – there was so much of that work around. I used to go into the various BBC orchestras for certain sessions.
It was the days when you would get a call and someone would say, ‘Can you put 26 weeks in the diary? Can you block this out? Can you put the Thursdays in for the next 26 weeks?’ It was financially rewarding,
as there was an awful lot going on in Manchester at that time.”
The last member Hassell met was sax player Phil Chapman: “Phil was the eldest one in the band, but he was a fantastic arranger. He had been in the Air Force,
had all of the skills, and was also an absolutely fantastic writer.”
Despite being busy and well-paid musicians, the quartet decided to play together. “We needed that other outlet to maintain sanity rather than just playing a 30-second jingle or another pop thing.
Our musical tastes were very similar – we were mates musically and socially. We went round to Pete’s house to start with and we had no preconceived idea of what we were going to do, until we started playing. Whatever happened musically was where the songs came from. There were only a couple of things where people said: ‘I’ve written this, shall we try it?’ The rest of it was all based on improvisation in a practice room.” Initially, the band blew together once a week: “Eventually, we realised this could be good. We did a couple of little gigs and then we got a residency at a pub in Manchester called The ccalled The Cavalcade. iMinManchesterManchestercalled The Cavalcade and that was on a Sunday lunchtime. That went on for two or three years – possibly more – and that was it. It was quite unique. People used to ask when we rehearsed, but we didn’t really, we just got together and played. That is quite evident when you listen to the music, as it is quite riff-based on the album and that is kind of what happened.”
How did they arrive at the name of Both Hands Free? “I don’t even know where the name came from. It’s the kind of thing that Pete would say. He was into reading a lot of science fiction and stuff at that time.”
Both Hands Free built up a local reputation and even recorded some sessions for Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. As the first commercial radio station in the city, part called The Cavalcade and that was on a Sunday lunchtime. That went on for two
or three years. “It was quite unique. People used to ask when we rehearsed, but we didn’t really, we just got together and played. That is quite evident when you listen to the music, as it is quite riff-based on the album.”
How did they arrive at the name of Both Hands Free? “It’s the kind of thing Pete would say. He was into reading a lot of science fiction at that time.”
Both Hands Free built up a local reputation and even recorded some sessions for Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. As the first commercial radio station in Manchester, part of their remit was to broadcast live music and Both Hands Free benefitted from this. “The first session we did for them was done as a party! We went into Piccadilly Radio, and they had a studio there. There was a small audience with bottles of wine and
we recorded a session as Both Hands Free. Commercial radio was very supportive.”
Both Hands Free also benefitted from the strong local jazz scene in the city. “There were a couple of times when we invited other players into it, but that was just for experimentation.” Such was their reputation that they even featured in a local paper under the title of “Time Out For Session Men”, where Hassell told the reporter how the band allowed them to let off steam: “You get rid of a lot of musical frustration which builds up through the commercial stuff you do.” This small feature also contains the only known photograph of Both Hands Free playing together and shows Hassell’s amazing percussive array.
Once Kemp had dropped in that Sunday lunchtime and persuaded the band to go into the studio, things moved fast. “One of the daft things is that none of us ever signed anything with Rick at the time,” laughs Hassell, “but Rick was great because he was with Steeleye Span.” The actual recording of the album was straightforward. “We just went somewhere near Hull, a little studio,” recalls Hassell of their visit to Fairview Sound.
“We did a Sunday and a bit of a Monday morning. The album was made in a day.” Crucially, as a talented musician himself, Kemp didn’t try to interfere with the chemistry. “That’s how the band sounded live,” Kemp recalls. “It’s not a produced album, where the band take an artistic leap together.” Hassell furthers: “Rick was fantastic. He just said, ‘Come in and play’. And we played as if we were at a gig. There were only two tracks where I overdubbed a run of percussion.” The band played through their then-current set, which consisted of tracks like Space, Gettemoff, Phobos, Shinohara and Blue, “You can hear the connection to Weather Report,” notes Hassell. “We were influenced by Weather Report but we didn’t want to do a Weather Report. It was just a blow band, but it was an incredible collection of musicians.”
Kemp took care of everything relating to the pressing of the LP, though the name of the artist who did the arresting sleeve design remains forgotten. “After I delivered the tapes to Plant Life it kind of went through their machinery,” recalls Kemp. “The cover is
a mystery to me.” Plant Life was the label that Steeleye drummer, Nigel Pegrum, had just set up. Kemp funded everything, though Both Hands Free was pressed up and credited to Kemp/Pegrum Music on the labels.
The band were very happy with the results. “Anyone can make an album [now] but, in those days, to actually have something on vinyl and someone has gone out of their way to have it pressed and all that other stuff… I really liked it,” says Hassell.
No one recalls how many copies were pressed up. The LP was sold locally, though Both Hands Free marked the end of the journey, as market forces dictated the band couldn’t carry on. “By the time we got the album, we weren’t gigging much anymore
as everyone was too busy,” recalls Hassell.
We all went our own separate ways, doing other types of work.” Still, they kept in touch and played together now and then in other ad hoc bands in the Manchester area.
Hassel had already spent a lot of time doing sessions at the local Strawberry Studio that, in the 70s, was partly owned by 10cc’s Eric Stewart. The studio was used in 1979 to record Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, produced by Martin Hannett. “I worked with Martin before he became a producer, as he was a bass player and in the Spider Mike King Trio,” laughs Hassel. “I remember him playing this Rickenbacker bass with long dirty fingernails. It was bizarre.”
Of course, Hannett knew Hassell was a fantastic drummer, and this led to some Factory outings. “I was part of a team of musicians called The Invisible Girls, who were part of Factory,” he points out.
“I was one of them.” The Invisible Girls appeared on a number of recordings ranging from those made by Pauline Murray to the legendary Nico. Hassel even got involved in the early Madchester recordings. “I worked on things like the Bummed album [Happy Mondays’ 1988 LP]. I would get the call from Martin and he would say, ‘Can you get down here tomorrow?’ ‘What do you want?’ ‘I don’t know. Just bring some percussion and come and play.’ I did so many recording sessions with bands, you don’t know what you ended up on! I have even been in the studio with the Ramones. You forget what you worked on.”
As for the other members of Both Hands Free, Close, like Hassell, worked with Maddy Prior and Kemp from Steeleye Span, while remaining a busy session player. Close died tragically young in 1991, aged 39, having contracted Legionnaires Disease after a trip abroad. He was due to work with Pete Townshend, but this never came to pass.
The other members of the band were also in-demand session players and working musicians, until they, sadly, passed away.
And yet Both Hands Free is a powerful legacy. Opening track, Space, is like a tone poem, showcasing not only Hassel’s extensive percussion set-up, but Close’s mastery of keyboard effects. Even Chapman’s saxophone is treated and manages to condense the vibe of Miles Davis’ In A Silent Way into six minutes. This segues into the rhythmic Getemoff, comparable, perhaps, to Miles’ blistering What I Say, but shot through with a melodic compulsion that Weather Report made their trademark. Indeed, when it comes to that vibe, the swaggering City Slickers is Both Hands Free’s own Birdland.
Elsewhere, the ethereal Phobos is a delight and its hazy mood recalls one of the great British jazz LPs of all time, Azimuth’s The Touchstone (ECM 1130, Germany, 1978, £40). The entire LP is mesmerising and a lost gem, and Kemp was right to state in
his sleevenotes that, “The band were not sure that this record should be released – just one moment of their music – but I thought that all the moments I heard should be shared with as many people as possible and so here they are: the amazing Both Hands Free.”
Hassel is justifiably proud of the music. “Listening back to it now, we didn’t realise it was as good as it was,” he reflects. “It’s a common thing with musicians when you do something you go, ‘Yeah, that’s all right’ but when you listen to it again, you hear other things in the music. One of the places I teach is at the Royal Northern College Of Music that probably has the best pop course in the UK. Students who hear Both Hands Free are coming up to me and saying, ‘That stuff sounds fantastic’, and they’re asking if they can sample it!” I totally share this sentiment – this music really is fantastic. And not only has the legendary Tim Debney remastered the LP to perfection, but we have pressed it on 180g vinyl and re-created the original sleeves and labels.
There's not a lot known about this Jazz Fusion trio out of Chicago other than that. Released in 1985 "Perspectives" is an all instrumental affair with drums, guitar and keyboards. First and foremost these guys can really play! Love the drumming, the guitar in a few styles and the array of keyboards in play. Some have suggested that 80's RUSH and KING CRIMSON influenced this record but I never thought of either band after a week of listening. This is a 37 minute recording with seven tracks and it ends very strong with those final three tracks which are my top three and add the opener and we have a four star record.
That opener "Another Time, Another Place" is a fiery piece with killer drumming and guitar. Lots of atmosphere provided by the synths throughout this record by the way. The synths don't ruin it for me like many 80's and 90's Jazz Fusion albums lets put it that way. The next three tracks are all good but not on the same level as my top four. "Banana Blues" is so close to having a reggae sound with that guitar. Quite a bit of piano too and on "Moment Of Weakness".
Check out "Ugh Huh" for an uptempo display of talent. The drums, guitar and synths are really good over those 4 minutes. "Jupiter Whale" is an interesting 7 minute piece with lots of atmosphere early. "The Ballad Of Kid Rock" is the over 8 minute closer and it sounds awesome and I like the melancholy and depth. Drums and guitar create havoc as it picks up around 1 1/2 minutes in. The guitar will light things up a couple of times yet.
From the far south Chicago suburbs, comes the super obscure Ariel, an album that is just now making its sound heard worldwide. Early 80s Rush is the most obvious first influence, but there's more here than meets the ear as it were. All instrumental guitar, keys, and drums are the core components, and the compositions are complex and tight - with a strong fusion influence. No escaping the King Crimson sound from the era either, but also (surprisingly) Doldinger's Passport, minus the sax (imagine the sequencer heavy Moog lines for example). If we were to really deep dive here, I would compare Ariel to fellow Chicagoan's Proteus, mixed with the UK group Red (on Jigsaw). While Side 1 is impressive enough, the final three tracks do nothing short of wow the listener. And they close with their peak composition, always a hallmark of a great album. Ariel does not belie its mid 80s sound (despite the somewhat psych influenced guitar tone), and yet compared with the normal dreck from the era, the band proves the middle 80s were not a total wasteland (heavy metal genre exempted of course). This one deserves the buzz its currently receiving in the underground.
Enregistré à St-Gratien au Centre Culturel «Le Forum», le 12 Mai 79 [Recorded at St-Gratien at the Cultural Centre «Le Forum», on 12 May 79]
Imagine if Jimi Hendrix played in front of a jazz rhythm duo. Wild fuzzy wah wah guitar screaming over stand-up bass and scattered jazz drumming. If only the guitarist played that way for the entire duration - that would be some album! There's also some typical jazz guitar and on those cuts, you'll be wishing you had your Grant Green albums handy instead.
This obscure French Jazz Rock group was formed in 1973 by guitarist Jean-Pierre Richard and Gilles Robert, apparently an ex-drummer of Komintern.They were part of the Front de Liberation de la Rock-Music movement in early-70's along with Lard Free and Maajun, but they suffered from line-up changes, as Robert left the group in 1975 and reputedly members of Pataphonie and Red Noise came and go.By late-70's Richard was supported by Olivier Koechlin on acoustic bass and Jonathan Dickinson on drums and the trio recorded the album ''Contact'' in 12nd of May 79' at Centre Culturel ''Le Forum'' in St-Gratien near Paris, released the same year on Spirales.The album contains four instrumental tracks, three of them are over the 9-min. mark, combining the free possibilities of Jazz, the delicacy of Funk abd the power of Rock Music to come up with multi-inspired pieces, twisting from electrified moments to virtuosic solos to laid-back jazzy improvisations.As a whole the album is pretty sterile, though the performances individually are quite nice with a high level of technique, offering strong rhythmic parts and some sort of psychedelic influences at moments.The general feeling ends up to be closer to jamming sessions with little structure around, but ''Contact'' is highlighted by some nice guitar workouts by Richard and the competitive rhythm section.Perception and Exmagma are the closest reference points in term of abstract textures and the fact there is a well-hidden psychedelia behind these pieces.Of course the solos are often too long and one-dimensional with the overall mood not getting away at all from the jamming attitude.The two shorter tracks contain also a few Latin-spiced overtones, propably the only moments the group moves a bit far from its unstructured lines.Apparently the activities of Alpha du Centaure were put on hold after this release, pressed in only 500 copies.You know what you get by purchasing this album.Partially psychedelic, partially experimental Jazz Rock, executed on guitar, bass and drums.Possibly good enough only for Jazz Rock lovers.
Claude Alvarez-Pereyre / electric & acoustic guitars
Jean Alain Gardet / keyboards
Charlie Charriras / bass
Emmanuel Lacordaire / drums, percussion
with:
Francois Breant / piano, synthesizer
Jean de Anthony / guitars
Claude Samard / guitars
Jean-Jaques Goldman / vocals
Most super obscure prog rock bands are on tiny labels or even private releases that are extremely hard to find and cost a bunch of money, and you only hope some label took up to the plate and had it reissued, like Cathedral's Stained Glass Stories (which was reissued). The French band Alpha Ralpha is very obscure, I don't even bother bringing it up because no one's heard of it, and yet they recorded for Warner Bros. Original LPs aren't too terribly expensive, but might be a bit hard to find outside of France and Canada (it was also released in Canada). I remembered some websites believing this group was Canadian, from Quebec, but they're not, only because the person running that website owned the Canadian pressing. They're indeed French, unfortunately never been reissued on any format.
Although recorded from May to September 1976, it didn't appear until 1977 (this album could have easily appeared in November 1976, but didn't, probably record company politics). This is some rather original, but perhaps not the most mindblowing prog you're going hear all year. The group consisted of bassist Charlie Charriras, guitarist Claude Alvarez-Pereyre, guitarist Michel Mareska, keyboardist Jean Alain Gardet, and drummer Emmanuel Lacordaire. I have a feeling this group was discovered by Tai Phong, not only being on the same label, but the fact that Jean-Jacques Goldman and the two Vietnamese brothers Tai and Kahn guest on this album providing some wordless voices. Also some member of Malicorne guests as well as François Bréant, of the obscure and wonderful group Cruciferius, who later recorded two albums in 1978 and 1979 on EGG that aren't impossible to get a hold of. I really can't compare this to any group in particular. "Synergy" features some nice spacy string synths and nice guitar work. "Nova" features some more nice guitar and Mini Moog work, although there's a short passage with a country influence (complete with steel guitar) I think was a bit of a mistake. "Syris Major" seems to be just a short spacy bit that leads to the nice "Genese". I especially like the use of marimba on it. "Magellan" bears more than a passing resemblance to something I've heard off François Bréant's Sons Optique, which I guess is no surprise given he appears on that song providing his keyboard work, and I can easily tell it's him as he has a style totally different from Jean Alain Gardet.
Don't let the Tai Phong connection scare you off, if Tai Phong isn't to your liking, as this is largely instrumental progressive rock, with only the occasional wordless voices (from the Tai Phong guys). Although you can only get it as a used LP (and one that won't break your bank account, thankfully), it's a nice album to have in your collection.
In every serious prog collection, there are always a few albums that have achieved 'reverential' status even though that epithet seemed only to be shared by very few, if any. I remember purchasing the vinyl copy of this album in 1977 when it was released in Canada on Warner Brothers, motivated by the cool spectral cover and a line-up of a few talented musicians such as Tai Phong's Jean-Alain Gardet and the legendary Francois Breant on keys and Jean- Jacques Goldman (well before becoming a pop superstar), as well as drummer Emmanuel Lacordaire (Nemo, Breant). Rounded out by Malicorne's Claude Alvarez-Pereyre, Michel Mareska on lead guitar, Charlie Charriras on bass. I loved the album from the very first spin, especially inspired by the opener "Synergie" which I consider a rather unique track of iconic proportions. The remaining, mostly all-instrumental tracks have a naïve preciousness that defies description, yes dated but utterly charming. The entire set-list is very well-balanced and exudes unending inspiration. I have patiently waited for nearly 40 years for a CD version and finally, that day has come, as Paisley Press has dedicated its time and resources to release this on CD.
Jazz Rock supergroup from Belgium, including members from the veteran league of Prog and Jazz Rock music.The founding members appear to be keyboardist Charles Loos, who had parted ways with Cos a few years back, flutist Dirk Bogaert and drummer Jack Mauer, who previously played with Waterloo and Pazop, bassist Jean-Paul Musette (ex-Waterloo) and guitarist Paul Elias.Sometime during the recording sessions Esperanto's drummer Tony Malisan had joined the band, but it is unknown if he was a sixth member or simply replaced Mauer, as both appear in the ''Abraxis'' LP, released in early 77' on IBC.Centerpiece of this work is the 20-min. grand Prog/Jazz opus ''Valse de la mort'', which features plenty of Classical, Jazz and Folk influences, passing from sharp guitar solos to piano isolations and from mellow flute themes to extreme jazzy interplays in the vein of Gilgamesh and Hatfield and the North.Lots of synth moves, electric piano and smooth interplays between acoustic guitar, electric guitar and some Camel-esque flute lines.A great jazzy suite with multiple musical colors and impressive instrumental ideas.The rest of the album follows more or less the same vein, it's very Canterbury-styled with a dash of Supersister during the beautiful guitar, keyboard and flute interactions, featuring tempo changes and intense guitar solos by Elias, the Classical influences are reduced to almost zero and the bass lines even flirt with funky vibes, but the music is still very entertaining and top-notch with some neurotic synths next to the piano lines and some confident drumming by the Mauer/Malisan duo.Some parts with acoustic piano in evidence retain the Classical and orchestral attitude of the long suite, but overall the music is along the lines of proggy Jazz Rock, avoiding the traps of improvisation for some well-executed and tight instrumental material.Abraxis were short-lived and Loos later became involved in Nuit câline à la villa mon rêve and Julverne.Mauer found the production studio Shiva and switched to Dance Music, while Bogaert found a place in the Cos line-up over the next years.Very good Belgian Jazz Rock with an omnipresent Canterbury feeling.
Abraxis has a direct lineage to Cos (in addition to other Belgian legends such as Placebo, Pazop, and Waterloo). Formed by members from the band Cos, this album is a cross between flute jazz, Canterbury inspired fusion, and 70s funk. Somewhere between Chris Hinze, Cos, Cortex, and Herbie Hancock is where you'll find the sound of Abraxis. Flute drives the melody and solo lines, but there's plenty of introspective piano sections as well. Which play nicely against some of the ferocious electric guitar. A nice discovery on the always surprising IBC label.
The reason this record is "legendary" is because it marks the first recorded performances, in 1970, of Eddie and Charlie Palmieri as bandleaders. The reason it should be a near mythical recording (it has never been available in the U.S. on CD, and was long out of print on LP before CDs made the scene), is for its musical quality and innovation. The Palmieris formed a band of themselves, a couple of Latinos that included Andy Gonzales, jazz-funk great -- even then -- Bernard "Pretty" Purdie, and some white guys and taught them how to play a music that was equal parts Cuban mambo, American soul via Stax/Volt, blues, Funkadelic-style rock, pop-jazz, and harmonic and instrumental arrangements every bit as sophisticated as Burt Bacharach's or Henry Mancini's or even Stan Kenton's. One can hear in "Harlem River Drive (Theme)" and "Idle Hands" a sound akin to War's on World Is a Ghetto. Guess where War got it? "If (We Had Peace)" was even a model for Lee Oskar's "City, Country, City." And as much as War modeled their later sound on this one record, as great as they were, they never reached this peak artistically. But there's so much here: the amazing vocals (Jimmy Noonan was in this band), the multi-dimensional percussion section, the tight, brass-heavy horn section, and the spaced-out guitar and keyboard work (give a listen to "Broken Home") where vocal lines trade with a soprano saxophone and a guitar as snaky keyboards create their own mystical effect. One can bet that Chick Corea heard in Eddie's piano playing a stylistic possibility for Return to Forever's Light As a Feather and Romantic Warrior albums. The band seems endless, as if there are dozens of musicians playing seamlessly together live -- dig the percussion styling of Manny Oquendo on the cowbell and conga and the choral work of Marilyn Hirscher and Allan Taylor behind Noonan. Harlem River Drive is a classic because after 30-plus years, it still sounds as if listeners are the ones catching up to it. It's worth every dime you pay for it, so special order it today.
This is the only album by what may be called a musical project rather than a band by the name of Harlem River Drive. Those who find out that Eddie Palmieri and his brother Charlie were part of this project may be erroneously led to think that they are going to buy a Salsa record. Far from it! Though Latin influences are strong (particularly from the Timbales), the basic style is Funk, with a good dose of Jazz-Fusion. In 1971, only Santana, War and Earth, Wind & Fire and on the East coast, Joe Bataan were making music with a similar feel. The lyrics refer to the experience of life lived in the vicinity of the Harlem River Drive - socially conscious, critical. They would be cheesy if used like that today, but this was 1971, a different time altogether. The song songs are like jams. There are awesome excursions by the group members.
