Coe Education

The Lonely Bears - March Past 29 145 749 B

We'll finish out Month 11 with a 89th birthday mention for one of those undersung players everyone has heard, yet whom almost no one knows by their actual given name.

He was a giant of British Jazz who began in the 1950s and branched off into his own groups -- as well as a ton of session work -- in the mid 1960s.

His horn found its way into a bunch of films and famous records over the decades: if you know the John Martyn classic song "Solid Air," then you know Tony Coe, who shimmers on tenor in a way that takes five minutes that was already bliss into another territory altogether.

Of course, even little kids know the sax motif that plays in the Pink Panther movies, right?

Well, Tony Coe came up with that too, and it's him in those early films playing it.

And don't get me started on his seminal solo records like 1976's masterpiece Zeitgeist, possibly my favorite Brit Jazz platter of all times.

Then there's this group he and keys whiz Tony Hymas (yes that Tony Hymas, who you might know from Jeff Beck's fusion stuff) started in the 1990s, that ran for a few records and tours.

Terry Bozzio was the drummer, too... he of the 77,000 square foot drumset.

This aggregation was called The Lonely Bears and there isn't much live evidence of them in action, although they did play at several years of EuroJazz festivals and such.

But wait! There is one satellite TV thing from 1992 that shows Coe & Co. in their full fetter... here, wanna check it out?

The Lonely Bears

Deutsches Jazz Festival

Sendesaal des Hessischen Rundfunks

Frankfurt, Germany

10.30.1992

01 March Past 29 145 749 B

02 Quanah Parker

03 Kill King Rat

04 Entre Le Tigre et L'Euphrate

05 Dancing for the Elders

Total time: 45:26

Tony Coe - tenor & soprano saxophones

Tony Hymas - keyboards

Hugh Burns - guitar

Terry Bozzio - drums

audio from a European satellite TV broadcast

extracted, tracked & remastered by EN, January 2023
262 MB FLAC/direct link

That concludes November. I'll be back soon to begin to close out 2023 with another December to remember.

Do get after these Lonely Bears though, which all you Fusion Fiends out there will get into I am sure. And whilst you do, remember its main architect Tony Coe, who departed this plane about 8 months ago... but who could blow fasho, don'tcha know? Consider it a lesson in Coe Ed Sax!--J.

11.29.1934 - 3.16.2023

Paradise Lost Media: Krzysztof Penderecki 90

Krzysztof Penderecki - Paradise Lost (excerpt)

Happy Thanksgiving if that's your thing, and welcome to your typical holiday Avant Garde Opera post.

Today's nifty nonagenarian lived well into his eighties, and whilst he did he didn't really cater much to what people thought they wanted to hear.

He was so notorious for difficult, often intentionally disturbing sounds that when today's piece premiered in 1978, the reviews were all shocked that it seemed almost conventional (for him).

Perhaps the weirdest and most challenging of all the 20th Century Classical composers, he began as a disciple of Webern and took off into his own, strange universe from there.

Some people consider Krzysztof Penderecki -- who'd have turned 90 today -- the most out-there musical figure in the history of Poland.

It's completely impossible to put what he did into words, but hopefully this opera of his -- based upon the works of John Milton -- will make a nice and relatively easy introduction for those unfamiliar.

This initial 1978 staging of it, which took place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago almost exactly 45 years ago, was recorded and broadcast once in 1980 by the BBC, but has never seen official release as far as I know.

Here it is somewhat remastered by me, from someone who captured it all those decades ago from the radio in England.

Krzysztof Penderecki

Lyric Opera of Chicago 

Paradise Lost

Civic Opera House

Chicago, Illinois USA

11.29.1978

01 Paradise Lost Act I, pt. I

02 Paradise Lost Act I, pt. II

03 Paradise Lost Act II, pt. I

04 Paradise Lost Act II, pt. II

Total time: 2:56:47

disc breaks go after Tracks 01 & 03

Arnold Moss, William Stone, Ellen Shade, Peter van Ginkel, Michael Ballam, William Powers, Melvyn Lowery, Edward Huls, Alan Opie & Frank Little - voices

Paul Esswood, Joy Davidson, Susan Brummell, John Patrick Thomas, James Schwisow, Dale Terbeek - voices of God's Consort

Orchestra & Chorus of the Lyric Opera of Chicago

conductor - Bruno Bartoletti

off-air capture of indeterminate origin of the original 1980 BBC FM broadcast; likely a master reel

tracked, edited, somewhat denoised & in general remastered by EN, November 2023

897 MB FLAC/direct link

I'll be back before the turkey is dry with one more November rainstorm.

I hope this three hour descent into the inferno of Krzysztof Penderecki's one-of-a-kind music makes your holiday weekend as memorable as the age-old struggle between good and evil can make it, though!--J.

11.23.1933 - 3.29.2020

October In November: Charlie Mariano 100

Charlie Mariano Quartet - Lucie Wrong

It's a Sunday centennial celebration in here, and you're invited.

I've covered this guy once before, but for the big 100s I allow for repetition.

A severely undersung Jazz hero, he was known for employing exotic and unusual horns, like the nagaswaram -- a South Indian classical wind instrument -- into his music.

Now they call it "world music" and it rakes in the cash, but back then such hybrid approaches were not yet a thing.

It took visionary and exploratory artists such as Charlie Mariano to bring everyone up to speed.

He passed in 2009 after a long career challenging the boundaries, as both a part of a handful of seminal bands as well as on his own, but he'd have been a century old today.

Let's pay him the proper tribute, with a sizzling 1986 concert from Austrian radio.... and just maybe a little something extra.

Charlie Mariano Quartet

Audimax

Technische Universität

Vienna, Austria

11.28.1986

    

01 Lucie Wrong

02 Gems

03 To an Elfin Princess

04 Cheops

05 Yagapriya

06 Scooter

07 Mute

08 One Day

Total time: 1:20:52

disc break goes after Track 04

Charlie Mariano - saxophones & reeds

Jasper van't Hof - piano & keyboards

Bo Stief - bass

Freddy Studer - drums

digital capture of an OE1 digital FM rebroadcast from November 2023

482 MB FLAC/direct link

There's an additional treat in the folder there, which I think will set your Funky Fusion detectors buzzing with a Greasy Gravy alert... but we'll let that be a special surprise.

I'll be back with more Business As Usual in a few days, but don't forget to enjoy these Charlie Mariano centennial expressions, as we celebrate one of the most uncompromising players ever to wail!--J.

11.12.1923 - 6.16.2009

Forest Flower Power

 

Charles Lloyd Quartet - The Call (Imke)


We'll kick off November -- and the second decade of this page! -- with someone I've meant to cover the whole time I've been at this.

This guy's been doing his thing for 60 years, so it's about time he got some love, and we'll hit him up with a fantastic vintage show taped 41 years ago.

He's known just as much for the Hall Of Fame players that got their start with him, as he is for the marvelous music he's produced over those six decades of multivarious excellence.

When his first burst of notoriety came in the mid 1960s, it was with a quartet where each member went on to some degree of success on their own.

Keith Jarrett became, well, Keith Jarrett. Jack DeJohnette became Jack DeJohnette, and went on to make great ECM records with Keith Jarrett.

The bass player, Cecil McBee, became one of the most in-demand cats on the scene, playing on more albums than I am gonna count up here.

Then, at the peak of his popularity and college crossover success, their leader changed direction.

As the Sixties turned to 1970, he stopped performing almost altogether and began making wild and weird albums -- a few where he played barely any saxophone at all! -- with pop royalty people like The Beach Boys.

Critics basically soiled their drawers and condemned him as a traitor to Jazz. He didn't care, and likely still doesn't. None of the critics could have made a living as a Jazz guy in 1971.

Eventually he evolved back to a more straightahead, conventional approach and signed to that ECM label I was mentioning.

One huge career renaissance and 40 years later, Charles Lloyd is still going strong well into his 80s.

This incredible concert -- rebroadcast on Kulturradio in Europe -- dates from the early 1980s when he started his comeback.

Charles Lloyd Quartet
Berliner Jazztage
Metropol
Berlin, Germany
11.6.1982

01 The Call (Imke)
02 Very Early
03 Third Floor Richard
04 Tone Poem
05 Wind In the Trees
06 Night Blooming Jasmine/Forest Flower

Total time: 1:37:59
disc break goes after Track 04

Charles Lloyd - tenor saxophone & flute
Michel Petrucciani - piano
Palle Danielsson - bass
Woody "Sonship" Theus - drums

digital capture of a digital RBB Kulturradio rebroadcast
627 MB FLAC/direct link

Speaking of badass, all-star quartets, it just doesn't get deeper than this quad combo, dang.

Look out for drum deity Sonship Theus, as well as piano lord Michel Petrucciani and bass stalwart Palle Danielsson in addition to Mr. Lloyd, as they supply 98 minutes of blissness.

I will return on the weekend with the next centennial, and it's a good one.

In the meantime, it's high time for you to praise the Lloyd!--J.