Alexander Hawkins Posted November 16, 2009 Report Posted November 16, 2009 Just posting some news of two new releases I'm on... This is maybe particularly apt for the board, because it's my debut playing Hammond Organ - a session recorded in London on a beautiful C3. The band is Decoy - featuring Steve Noble on drums, and John Edwards on bass. First session for the record was a bit of a write-off...the instrument blew up before we got a note down ...but the second session was really fruitful, and in the end, Bo'Weavil have decided to issue two albums...so there's a CD - 'Volume 1: Spirit', and 'Volume 2: The Deep' is on very limited edition vinyl. As I say, the label is the fantastic Bo'Weavil Recordings. Here is the relevant page of their site...there are also some sound samples there somewhere! We launch the record on London at the start of December, with Joe McPhee as special guest...the record is available already for preorder from the label at the link above...I will also have a very few copies myself for sale in a few days' time... Quote
B. Clugston Posted November 16, 2009 Report Posted November 16, 2009 Congrats! Looking forward to hearing this. Quote
GA Russell Posted November 16, 2009 Report Posted November 16, 2009 Congratulations! May I assume that it will be available in forms other than vinyl? Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted November 16, 2009 Author Report Posted November 16, 2009 Congratulations! May I assume that it will be available in forms other than vinyl? I *think* it will be available as an MP3 as well...I'll find out! They certainly have other vinyl releases available for download, so that would be my guess! Quote
clifford_thornton Posted November 17, 2009 Report Posted November 17, 2009 Looking forward to this. But I'm confused - V. 1 will be a disc and V. 2 will be vinyl? No worries, I can listen to both! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted November 17, 2009 Author Report Posted November 17, 2009 Looking forward to this. But I'm confused - V. 1 will be a disc and V. 2 will be vinyl? No worries, I can listen to both! Cheers Clifford! To clarify - yes, you've got it: V.1 is a CD, V.2 is vinyl. I *think* both will be available as a download, however, but need to check! Quote
mjazzg Posted December 1, 2009 Report Posted December 1, 2009 Listening to Decoy, vol.1, Spirit right now. Only my first real listen so just initial impressions but this is a blast! Great trio music with each instrument coming to the fore and with musicians of this quality then that's a treat. You can definitely hear this is Hammond music unlike other recent hammond use by Supersilent or even Yuggernaut that come to mind where that soulful depth of the instrument is obscured. But you can also definitely hear this is a improvising trio not allowing the Hammond's history hamper their approach. They're not afraid to get down and funky either, when there's something of Don Pullen's playing with David Murray to my ears In a previous post Alexander Hawkins mentions, I think that in one session the organ caught fire - frankly I'm not surprised, the session burns. The notes mention that AH played/plays church organ - if he plays it like this it must be a hell of a service sorry for the lack of depth in this response to the music that's down to me rather than the music. Off for another listen Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted December 2, 2009 Author Report Posted December 2, 2009 (edited) Wow - thanks for the kind feedback! The instrument didn't quite catch fire...but we had literally just showed at the studio for the first session (a beautiful studio in West London, where they've got the desk Bob Marley made Exodus on, apparently!), when there was a loud bang, and something melted inside the instrument...the technician spent most of the day trying to fix the instrument, without any joy. Second time around though - around three weeks later, IIRC - and we were in business! No longer a church organist (not for 10+ years)......although the grounding did come in very useful with understanding blending harmonics, using overtones, etc., as well as with the touch of the instrument... Thanks for listening though. Do say hi at the McPhee gig next week! Edited December 2, 2009 by Alexander Hawkins Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted December 5, 2009 Author Report Posted December 5, 2009 In case anyone's interested, I now have some copies of the CD which I can sell (they're of course also available through the Bo'Weavil website, linked above). No vinyl as yet, but I gather it should be around soon! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted December 24, 2009 Author Report Posted December 24, 2009 Just seen on YouTube - here's a brief clip fom our gig with JoMcphee. At the risk of stating the obvious, Joe was incredible, and an extremely nice guy to boot! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 10, 2010 Author Report Posted January 10, 2010 Some reviews for the curious... Here is a nice All About Jazz write-up of our gig with Joe McPhee last month. Here is a brief mention in the Independent on Sunday... And here is a nice blog post mentioning the album... Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted January 17, 2010 Report Posted January 17, 2010 (edited) Just listened to volume 1 (it appeared, along with volume 2 on e-music a few days back). Great record! I was immediately thinking 'Lifetime' - but without the heads or the rock drumming. Has the boiling energy (but much easier to listen to than Lifetime as it's better recorded). I was intrigued to see the blog review above reference Jon Lord. There's nothing in the actual playing that sounds that way, but the sheer sound of the organ threw me back to the early 70s. At a time when guitar-heroes were all the rage in rock, I was always drawn to the keyboard players and those organs were very much in presence (presumably because they were easier to move round and amplify than a piano!!!). Lord, Emerson, Crane, Rattledge, Sinclair, lesser known players like Graham Field. They were part of the sound of the turn of the 70s before synths took over. A free disc but one that I think even those not too keen on the totally free would enjoy. Organs seem to be mainly associated with the Jimmy Smith tradition (with all its variations) at present. I think organophiles will be really intrigued by this very different approach. Will give volume 2 a spin a bit later. Looking forward to the mellotron album.... Edited January 17, 2010 by Bev Stapleton Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 17, 2010 Author Report Posted January 17, 2010 Hi Bev, Thanks for the kind comments! Actually it's strange...just because of a quirk of my own listening trajectory, I have to confess to knowing absolutely nothing about rock keyboard players - so I was intrigued in a different way when I saw the references in that blog review. Yeah...the mellotron album...didn't I see that those instruments were re-launched last year? Hmmm...it's that or harpsichord... Quote
A Lark Ascending Posted January 18, 2010 Report Posted January 18, 2010 Oh the music sounds nothing like the rock organists. It's just the sound of the organ. It's so rare these days outside of jazz organ trios. Yes, the mellotron company started up again a while back with a new model. Hopefully less likely to catch fire than they used to! Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 19, 2010 Author Report Posted January 19, 2010 I didn't know they were renowned for catching fire...I can see a stage show coming on..! Quote
mjazzg Posted January 19, 2010 Report Posted January 19, 2010 heavens Bev, you'll have Alex throwing knives into his Hammond a la Keith Emerson soon. Now that was a stage show to avoid (and music to avoid too IMHO) now the harpsichord album? would john edwards be playing thereobo on that one. a sort of early music/baroque/improv session... Quote
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 21, 2010 Author Report Posted January 21, 2010 Yeah...John on theorbo would be great, although the player with 'previous' would of course be Barry Guy! Quote
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