A Lark Ascending

Here's a review of another book (Caspar David Friedrich - Werner Hoffman) from the Amazon UK site that puts Friedrich in context: A splendidly illustrated book supported by intelligent text, 20 February, 2001 Reviewer: A reader from Stockton-on -Tees, North East England I have sought high and low for a decent book about Caspar david Friedrich. At last my prayer has been answered! This is a splendidly illustrated volume supported by intelligent and informative text about "the graphic artist-in-residence to the German Romantic Movement". The pictures, familiar and unfamiliar, are beautifully reproduced and the text,translated from the German by Mary Whittall, is scholarly but accessible. It sets the painter in the context not only of German Romanticism but also that of the wider "European" movement. It contains writings by the artist himself and by his contemporaries. Deeply unfashionable for much of the period since his death in 1843, apart from a brief flowering under Hitler, who liked his work for the "wrong" reasons, appreciating his representational style but failing to understand the irony and symbolism beneath it, Caspar David Friedrich has been "rediscovered" in Germany during the past thirty years. Until now, however, he has largely been neglected in the English-speaking World, except for the use of his pictures as on the covers of CD's of German Romantic music.(Paul Nash's famous wartime painting the "Totes Meer" or "dead sea" was, however, undoubtedly an homage to , or pastiche of, Friedrich's "Sea of Ice") This book and the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery in London should remedy this. The book is one to treasure. Its subject is a landscape painter who did not, rather than could not, "do faces", preferring his usually diminutive human subjects to be seen from rear-view gazing enigmatically into the far distance - a distance usually of mist, mountain, impenetrable forest or cold Baltic Sea. His principal theme was the alienation of his human subjects against a background of unconquerable nature. He was a revolutionary, not in his deceptively representational style but in what he chose his landscapes and seascapes to represent. His paintings resonate with the angst of the German Romantics. The book quotes von Kleist when describing Friedrich's Seascape with a monk: "There can be nothing sadder or more desolate than this place..." A diminutive human figure or that icon of the gloomier German Romantics, a crow or raven, set against on of his vast landscapes conveyed deep meaning in a few brushstrokes. To quote von Kleist again: "....yet this painter has undoubtedly broken an entirely new path in the field of art, and I am convinced that, with his spirit, a square mile of sand of Brandenburg could be represented with a barberry bush on which a lone crow might sit preening itself." This sumptuous book captures it all. An unreserved five stars! That line - His principal theme was the alienation of his human subjects against a background of unconquerable nature. - would seem to take us back to the comparison with ECM covers. Have a look also here where there are a lot of online images: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/4782/...cdfriedrich.htm He can also be found at: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/2229/Friedrich.html http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Arc/5340/frame.htm

Friedrich's painting's have been used a great deal on book covers and on classical recording sleeves. I have a marvellous book called "Caspar David Friedrich and the subject of landscape" with lots of good colour reproductions. It's a pretty intense read, especially if, like me, you're not used to the terminology of artistic aesthetics but rewarding nonetheless. There's a lot to decode in those painitings from religious imagery to romantic nature worship and comments on the nature of human existance right through to direct links with the liberation movement of the Napoleonic years. One of the things that fascinated me about Friedrich's paintings when I first saw them in Berlin was the way they made me think of early Disney cartoons!!! Look at the Abbey in the Oak Forest above and think back to the Ave Maria scene in Fantasia! Yes, most of his stuff is in German museums. He's a big name in Germany. He just doesn't seem to have penetrated the wider European and American consciousness until quite recently.

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Can I just say how much I love this track off 'The Transition Sessions.' Byrd is a player I've always bypassed until I heard this on Jazz Record Requests a few months back. I bought the disc which is great fun all round...but this track has something extra special. Like Miles 'Green Dolphin Street' threre's something in the changes that has me wishing it would just go on and on. Must be something to do with film themes!

I learned about it from the Jazzwise (UK magazine) site where they post up bits and bobs on a daily basis. You can read the mention here: http://www.jazzwise.blogspot.com/2003_06_2...se_archive.html Look up Monday, June 23rd It suggests an October release. Someone mentioned at AAJ that Peter Erskine might also be involved.

How strange. I'm no expert on painting but I've long had a love of Friedrich, ever since seeing a reproduction on a Herman Hesse novel in the 70s. A visit to the big gallery in Berlin that houses his paintings in 1979 totally bowled me over. My living room is lined with Friedrich reproductions. I've even got a Friedrich desktop! *********** OK, I'll concede the point that ECM has a distinctive sound, one that derives from clarity of recording and a sense of space between instruments (remember that Eicher came from recording classical music). I can understand that the sound might be unattractive to some listeners. I just think there's been some very lazy criticism of the label over the years (less so recently). I've read many a review of an ECM recording that uses the 'cold, clinical' put-down, frequently showing little interest in reviewing the actual music. In general this tends to be because the critic is either quite unsympathetic to a type of jazz that is distant from the core; often it's just idleness - knee-jerk repetition of an angle that someone else coined back in the 70s. As is hinted above reactions to the type of music recorded by ECM and the way it is recorded will depend on where the listener is coming from. It fitted perfectly with my background in the mid-70s and I've found the label a source of riches ever since. Whether you enjoy the approach or not it is hard not to credit Eicher with sustaining an independent label with a distinct, mainly non-commercial, vision for so long. And with setting up opportunities for scores of musicians to record what they want or for unusual collaborations to take place. One such I'm looking forward to is a forthcoming McLaughlin/Vitous/Garbarek/Corea disc. Perhaps a bit more 'superstar' than is usual with ECM, but...

You can get Amaranths now direct from Neil Ardley himself. Have a look here: www.neilardley.com (Wasn't working a few minutes ago but I ordered it + another Ardley disc from the 60s a few weeks back) They appear to be self made CDs but sound perfectly acceptable given the time recorded. No 798 bit Super-XYZ remastering but...

Here's a post from the AAJ board re: UK reissues. It was posted by someone who uses the handle 'Stan Tracey' (not the real one!): Good News!!! Here's a copy of an email I just received (no joke) Hi Gareth, I understand you've been in touch with Tom Lewis at Universal about reissuing many classic but long neglected jazz albums. I worked on the recent 'Impressed' album with Gilles Peterson. It's amazing to think that this has been the first proper look at this incredibly inventive time. I amworking on volume 2 of Impressed and hope to include tracks by Neil Ardley,Stan Tracy, Mike Westbrook etc. Please find below a list of albums I hope to reissue over the next 2-3 years: Mike Taylor Quartet - PENDULUM (Columbia SX 6042) 1965 Mike Taylor Trio - TRIO (Columbia SX 6137) 1966 Dusko Goykovich - Swinging Macedonia (Columbia SX 6260) Neil Ardley - Ian Carr - Mike Gibbs - Stan Tracey - Argo (E) ZDA164/65,1974 Stan Tracey Trio - Perspectives (Columbia) (LP) (E) SCX 6485 Stan Tracey - UNDER MILK WOOD (Columbia) Stan Tracey with his Big Band - Seven Ages of Man (Columbia) (LP) (E) SCX6413 Stan Tracey Quartet - Free An' One (Columbia) (LP) (E) SCX 6385, 1969 The Stan Tracey Big Brass - We Love You Madly (Columbia) (LP) (E) SCX6320 & Philips (LP) (Eu) 849.105BY. Stan Tracey - The Latin American Caper (Columbia) SCX6358, 1968 Stan Tracey Quartet - With Love from Jazz - (Columbia) (E) SX6205 , 1967 The Stan Tracey Big Band: Alice in Jazzland - (Columbia) EMI (LP) SCX 6051 Paul Gonsalves/Tubby Hayes - JUST FRIENDS - (Columbia) EMI (LP) SX (SCX) 6003 , 1965 Neil Ardley - WILL POWER (Argo ZDA 164/5) 1974 R2 Neil Ardley - A SYMPHONY OF AMARANTHS (Regal Zonophone SLR2 1028) 1972 R2 New Jazz Orchestra - WESTERN UNION (Decca SKL 4690) 1965 R2 Neil Ardley, Ian Carr & Don Rendell - GREEK VARIATIONS (Columbia / SCX 6414) 1970 Laurie Johnson Conducts Music For Combined Jazz and Symphony Orchestra - SYNTHESIS (Columbia EMI SCX 6412) New Jazz Orchestra - DEJEUNER SUR L'HERBE (Verve SVLP 9236) 1969 Michael Garrick Trio - COLD MOUNTAIN (Argo ZDA 153) 1972 Michael Garrick Band - HOME STRETCH BLUES (ZDA 154 Argo / Decca) 1972 Michael Garrick - TROPPO (1974) Michael Garrick - HEART IS A LOTUS Michael Garrick - OCTOBER WOMAN (Argo (Z)DA 33) 1965 Michael Garrick Septet - BLACK MARIGOLDS (Argo) Rendell / Carr Quintet - SHADES OF BLUE Rendell / Carr Quintet - DUSK FIRE Rendell / Carr Quintet - PHASE III Rendell / Carr Quintet - LIVE Rendell / Carr Quintet - CHANGE IS Amancio D'Silva - INTEGRATION Guy Warren - AFRO JAZZ Mike Westbrook - RELEASE / MARCHING SONGS / LOVE SONGS I hope to be bale to reissue most, if not all, on both CD and LP with original artwork plus extra sleeve notes and tracks where applicable. Best regards, Tony Higgins Full thread can be found at http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/showthread....ht=British+Jazz

One to listen to - Thompson talking through 'My Life in CD' on BBC Radio 6: http://www.bbc.co.uk/6music/presenters/tracey_macleod/ Goes out 6 pm UK time on Sunday, 6th July. Will be archived for a time afterwards. There's a Linda Thompson programme already there to access.

ECM's sounded great on my £30 system in the mid-70s! I can't see they were any more 'artificial' than Miles' early 70s recordings. I'm not even sure what an 'artificial' as opposed to 'natural' sound is. I came to music after Sergeant Pepper. The idea that recordings have to sound like a live performance has never been an issue for me. Thinking back I was attracted to ECM records in the mid to late 70s for several reasons. The first couple I heard were Jarrett's and, apart from the music (which sounded so fresh and different after a diet of rock), was astonished by how good the pressings were. Even on the modest systems I could afford they didn't distort or suffer from excessive crackle and pop. More importantly the next things I heard - from the likes of Ralph Towner and Eberhard Weber - fed my growing interest in jazz and improvised music at a time where jazz in the US sense - Bebop, Hard Bop, the 60s stuff) still sounded quite old-fashioned. Many ECM recordings seemed to have a connection with the rock world but without the heavy handed groove type approach of fusion. That appealled to someone like me coming from the direction of groups like the Soft Machine (of course I gradually learnt to enjoy the US jazz and lose that sense of listening to 'old music'). I was also attracted by the large number of European artists there - having come to rock music at a time when many British bands were trying to produce something distinctive from the US model it was very nice to find jazz doing the same thing. And the covers had an impact too. THere was a real beauty about these things - I think I responded to the ECMs in the same way that many grew to love the Blue Note covers.

Played this again this afternoon (nice hot summer day here). Quite wonderful. Towards the end it sounded like Santana should sound. All that swirling organ and cuban whooziness*. Marvellous. [*Not trying to stereotype Cubans here! 'Whooziness' is a high point of praise in my musical world! More whooze, less plod please, musicians of the world! Little Feat did 'whooze' to perfection!]

Isn't this the reality of a lot of creative situations? Bands thrive and founder on 'musical differences.' I can't imagine it's all that different between musicians and producers. The singer probably didn't 'walk' because there was little chance of a recording elsewhere! I'm pretty sure Metheny did walk because he got a much better offer (financially) elsewhere. And look what situation he ended up in when he got to Geffen!

Just noticed this hidden in the Radio Times - one hour programme 10.45 to 11.45 p.m., Sunday, 29th June.

I've read that after a couple of years they start to develop inner groove distortion and audible crackle and pop sounds that increase every time you play them. After five years they only play at 78 rpm!

Can't say I agree. The lack of 'blues as a core' is a common feature of a great deal of European jazz - many jazz musicians from Europe quite deliberately leave it out (or don't even consider putting it in!) as a way of approaching jazz from a distinctly non-American direction. ECM just happens to record a lot of that music. If you like its 'one of' the 'sounds' of jazz made in Europe over the last 30 odd years. I can't say I've ever felt that the clarity - romantic or otherwise - has ever been a factor in my listening to an ECM recording. I like the way they are recorded so clearly but don't see it as any more than a technological enabler to hear the music; not part of the listening itself. Maybe those of an audiophile-bent like to listen to the recording. Artistic freedom? Not from what I've heard. It seems like a real opressive situation. Well. 7/4, that oppression does not seem to have stopped the likes of Jarrett, Holland, Wheeler, Abercrombie, Towner and many more from recording for Eicher for decades! From what I've read he's a man of strong opinions and there can be clashes with the artists...but I doubt if they are any more than most other label bosses or producers. As far as I know Eichers never required Kenny Wheeler or Tomasz Stanko to get Sting or Chaka Khan to do a vocal on one of the tracks on their new album! Just what oppressive situations are you referring to?

ECM is a record label. That's it! Oh that most record labels should be run by someone like Eicher prepared to give musicians such artistic freedom or engineer meetings of musicians who might not otherwise. As for the ECM 'sound' - it's always struck me as something of a myth. Yes, ECM recordings are very clearly recorded. But the 'cold' sound that denigrators seems to hear has more to do with the types of music being recorded there. By and large they don't fit into the US straight jazz tradition (or avant-garde tradition come to that). Commentators who don't get the music have lazily repeated the 'cold, clinical' cliche ad nauseum. It would be more approppriate for them to say 'this is a musical style that does not move me.' Like every label it has its success and failures, things I like, things I don't. But compared with the big guys its success rate (to my ears) is amazing.

I bought this last summer based on a recommendation on the Old Board(!). Agree entirely - it was one of my most played discs of last summer.

I suspect that what the reviewer is getting at is Arriale's clear love of gorgeous tunes. Alot of (marvellous) jazz places 'melody' as of minor importance. The tunes on hard bop recordings in particular can often be very samey...because the tunes are not really central to the intention of the players. They're just vehicles. Arriale clearly loves beautiful melodies. I love that rich romanticism; I'd imagine that to some tastes it might appear a bit too sentimental. Having said that, she can do muscular and abstract too!

I'm a great fan of Arriale. She played a superb concert in Sheffield (UK) a couple of years back...so good she was pulled back for another one a year later! I particularly like 'Melody' - a nice balance between standards and tunes with a folkish feel to them.

Aggie87, I'm not trying to make any definitive statement about these bands. I think our reaction to music is far more subjective than the tendency of criticism to divide things into good and bad albums or great and also-ran musicians lets on. Yes just sounded so distinctive to my ears in the early 70s; after 74 they lost what I really liked. But that is as likely to be a consequence of my own changing tastes at the time as to anything in the music. I can fully understand how the later music migt be appealing to a later listener or one who latched on at the same time as me but whose other listening was so different. I've frequently read reviews claiming that Yes lost it after their first album! And I can see why someone taken by the poppy appeal of that album might find the more grandiose approach of later albums rather unattractive. The nice thing for me is that I can still get lots of pleasure from those early records 30 years later. B3-er, I've not heard the CD version of 'Lamb.' I wasn't meaning 'muddy' as a criticism. I quite liked that - the music itself was darker than the earlier Genesis. They certainly reverted to bright and sparkly after 'Lamb'!

I own it. I paid for it with my own money. I like it. I play it. I enjoy it. Like lots of other nice records. I hope she has the strength of will, the long term talent and the ability to follow her own muse (regardless of the obvious pressures she'll be under) to develop what she has started. Her voice alone is distinctive enough to keep me interested.

I disliked the early 80s KC when I first heard it. Bought Discipline and Beat and sold them a couple of years later and basically forgot about them. But in the late 90s I heard Thrak and immediately warmed to it, then got a couple of the 90s live albums which I also enjoyed, including the songs from the 80s and so that sent me back to the early 80s again. This time I really enjoyed the music. I'm not sure what had happened in my head but what had once sounded dull came right to life. I think expectations were part of it. By compaison with 70s KC the 80s band seemed so reined in and too close to the New Wave bands of the time. I didn't get it and was constantly frustrated by Fripp's refusal to let rip with his wonderful guitar style! Whatever I've listened to since seems to have altered my expectations and I now enjoy Discipline etc.