Alessandro Alessandroni & Nora Orlandi - Music For Strange Situations (2002)

The first Hexicord comp, including previously unreleased recordings by Alessandroni and 4 uncut suites by Nora Orlandi. Original music from the soundtrack of “Lo strano vizio della Signora Wardh” (The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh), not included in the OST release.Several of the tracks include “I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni”, with the participation of singers Edda Dell’orso, Gianna Spagnulo and Giulia De Mutiis.

The title of this comp definitely fits the sound. Alessandroni is best know for his whistling work with Ennio Morricone, but apparently he has made around 50 soundtracks and other albums himself. Alessandroni is a fuzztone guitar virtuoso, and many of his psychedelic moods can be found here on this album.

The tracks alter between the two Italian composers throughout the mix and take us deep into strange moods, psychedelic atmospheres, cocktail party jams and eerie choir arrangements. There isn’t really any filler on this disc if you ask me, both of these composers are very edgy and keep things fresh and spooky. (nature film)

Alessandro Alessandroni isn't a household name in popular or film music, but his contributions to the two fields have made his work among the most familiar of any musician to emerge since the 1950s. Born in Soriano nel Cimino, north of Rome, in 1925, Alessandroni never aspired to formal music training -- he was entirely self-taught, and started learning the guitar and the mandolin by listening to and watching the men who made music at the family's barber shop. He listened to classical music on his own and bought his first mandolin at age 13. He also discovered as a boy that in addition to being proficient on a multitude of stringed and keyboard instruments, he had an uncanny ability to whistle. By his early thirties, he was making a living touring Germany as a singer, pianist, and guitarist, and he later formed a group in Rome called the Four Caravels whose sound was modeled on the work of the Four Freshmen, and served as their arranger as well as leader. The multi-talented Alessandroni was soon to become one of the busier session musicians in Italy, and achieve stardom in a wholy unexpected musical idiom.

During the early '60s, Alessandroni crossed paths professionally with a slightly younger former boyhood friend, Ennio Morricone, who, after a few years as a musician working in jazz clubs, had begun to emerge in the field of movie music. Morricone had just scored his first Western and was working on another, and wanted to add some new sounds to his work. Alessandroni's guitar and his abilities as a whistler came to the fore on the resulting score for Guns Don't Argue, within the framework of a traditional Western ballad. But that success was merely a toe in the water in terms of their collaboration -- Morricone had another project in the pipeline, called A Fistful of Dollars (1964), a Western that was anything but traditional, and it was here that Alessandroni began collaborating with him in the making of some much more important music, and utilizing far more of his range as a guitarist as well.

With a lonely, echo-drenched whistle over a repetitive guitar figure, with added flutes, whip-cracks, and Alessandroni's Duane Eddy-style electric guitar coming in along with a wordless male chorus -- courtesy of Alessandroni's vocal group, now expanded to a dozen or more members and renamed I Cantori Moderni -- the haunting title track redefined the sound of Western movie music. Ironically, Alessandroni could almost have been the Brian Wilson of Italy -- he certainly made use of some of the same sources of inspiration, including the Four Freshmen and the twangy guitar of Duane Eddy or Dick Dale, that had led Wilson and the Beach Boys to their brand of surf music, but simply utilized them in a different combination that seemed somehow uniquely suited to the Western. Alessandroni subsequently worked with Morricone on most of the latter's Western scores of the period, including the gorgeous theme for A Pistol for Ringo -- which was a dazzling showcase for Alessandroni as a guitarist and I Cantori Moderni, in a hauntingly lyrical mode, far from their usual rough vocal fills on the Sergio Leone Western scores. He was all over the main title theme for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and his guitar and vocal group were also featured prominently on Once Upon a Time in the West. He and Morricone also worked on such non-Leone Westerns as A Gun for Ringo -- which was a dazzling showcase for his guitar and I Cantori Moderni's singing in a much more lyrical mode, in place of their usual rough fills in the Leone movies -- The Big Gundown, Navajo Joe, and the non-Western Without Apparent Motive. By the end of the 1960s, as Hollywood began noting the success that Leone was achieving with his Italian-made horse operas, the production of Westerns began anew in earnest in the United States, and the brief given composers such as Dominic Frontiere and others on movies such as Hang 'Em High was to emulate Morricone, which was also meant to emulate Alessandroni. Thus, American session players such as Tommy Tedesco ended up paying homage to the Rome-based guitarist who'd started out a fan of the Four Freshmen, Duane Eddy, and Dick Dale. And thanks to the continued interest in Morricone's scores and their durability as music, as well as the critical attention accorded Leone's movies, Alessandroni remains one of the most prominent and influential musicians ever to play on film scores or, through that medium, to influence popular music around the world. Over the decades since his music was popularized in film music, Alessandroni has worked with dozens of star performers, including Americans such as Paul Anka, and most of Italy's top talent. --- Bruce Eder, AllMusic

Interview by by John Mansell

Where and when were you born ?

I was born in Voghera (Lombardia), Italy on the 28th of June 1933.

What musical education to you have ?

I studied at the academy of music in Voghera (Conservatorio).

Did you come from a musical family background ?

My mother, Fanny Miriam Campos, was a great lyric singer. My father and my brother were merely passionate for music, while my sister is a singer too. She worked with me as soloist and vocalist in both my two groups: the 2+2 and the 4+4. As for my present family, my husband is my most precious collaborator: he helps me in everything.. . last September we celebrated 50 years of marriage! I have 2 sons and at least 5 nephews, aged from 7 up to 22.

You began primarily as a singer in a group with Alessandroni, when did you decide to form your own singing group ?

To tell the truth the group was mine… and I gave to Alessandroni the possibility to join! He was one of my first vocalists. Subsequently I had the pleasure to work with Massimo Cini, one of my vocalists for 30 years, and also there is Enzo Gioieni, who I have worked and performed with since almost the start of my career.

You have worked with many composer on film scores, who would you say was the most enjoyable to work with ?

Every composer or performer I have worked with I have enjoyed collaborating with, my collaborations have always been undertaken with enthusiasm and positivity, independently from the composer or the film. Passion is something you have inside and I merely offered it to everyone that called me to work.

What was your first film score, and how did you progress from a performer to a composer ?

In 1953–54, at the age of 20, I composed my first film score: “Non Vogliamo Morire”.
I really don’t remember the day I became a singer professionally: it is too far away!
Do you conduct all of your own music, or do you sometimes have a conductor ?

No, on the contrary: my scores have always been directed by someone else more famous than me... for example Paolo Ormi and Robbie Poitevin.
Besides I was busy with many other projects, and did not have enough time available to conduct my own music.

Do you think enough of your music from film has been released onto LP or CD?

I haven’t never paid much attention to that matter. Soundtracks are only the 30% of my work, the rest was compounded by various performances, TV and radio-phonic shows, advertising spots... Moreover I took part in about 15 San Remo music Festival’s.

How do you work out your musical ideas, do you utilize a piano or do you work with a synthesizer ?

I utilize neither a piano nor a synthesizer. I compose without any instrument and only at the end I check what I wrote (generally with a piano): only Mozart could write without checking!

How many times do you normally watch a movie before you start to get any fixed ideas about where the music will be placed and what style of music you will employ ?

Most of the times you must ask expressly to watch the film. Often it is sufficient to watch some parts of it, only one time, to understand the more suitable musical style. The music must be a “sound photography”, parallel to the images, it depends really on each individual project.

How long did you normally get to work on a film score, maybe you could use THE SWEET BODY OF DEBORAH as an example.?

It depends from the kind of the job… I don’t exactly remember how much time I got to work on a singular film score. Perhaps it is too difficult to quantify it because I could not devote so much time to a sole work. As I have already said, soundtracks are not my priority, even though they are a way of artistic expression that I have a particular passion for myself .

Do you prefer to work on a particular type or genre of movie, or are you happy working on all types of subject matter?

I am happy working on any type of film, because it is always a very interesting artistic experience. As spectator I love very much thrillers... but unfortunately I haven’t had the opportunity to do many of these.

Have you ever had a score rejected, or have had to do a rush job on a film after another score had been discarded ?

Thankfully, this has never happened, I am very fortunate.

What do you think of the film music of today?

In my opinion the film music of today is generally good… however, if it is music from yesterday or of today it is always film music: a “light” entertainment! This kind of music isn’t a committed artwork, but a “light” artwork with a specific beauty.

Would you say that you were influenced by any composers in particular, classical or film music composers ?

No, not really. For me to write music that is influences by another composer would be very much like plagiarism, of course it is possible for this to be done unconsciously.

When a soundtrack recording is released on record or compact disc do you have any input into what music will go onto that release?

When one of my soundtracks is released on record or CD, certainly I am very glad, but I’m not interested to intervene in the track’s selection. Once I finished my work of music composition I spend my time with other projects. I’m very busy!

Do you orchestrate all of your scores yourself ?

No, I don’t. It depends by the situation, the needs…and, most of all, by the time I can spend in it, so sometimes I work on them myself other times not.

Are you working on anything at the moment ?

Personally I’m busying myself with some very interesting teaching projects... But I always take into consideration what people offer to me.

Last Exit - Cassette Recordings (1987)

Last Exit - to free jazzowa supergrupa założona przez Billa Laswella. W składzie obok Laswella grali: saksofonista Peter Brötzmann, amerykański gitarzysta freejazzowy Sonny Sharrock i perkusista Ronald Shannona Jacksona. Jackson grał w kilku zespołach Ornette'a Colemana i Cecila Taylora. Natomiast Sonny Sharrock miał już wtedy status kultowego gitarzysty; był ciekawym, lecz poza środowiskami freejazzowymi mało docenionym twórcą, i był wraz z Derekiem Baileyem jednym z pierwszych, którzy grali wyzwoloną improwizację na gitarze. Bardziej niż Bailey wyrażał emocje w swoim graniu. Grał przeważnie na gitarze elektrycznej i, pomijając muzykę awangardową, jego inspiracją był również Jimi Hendrix oraz zespoły rockowe z lat sześćdziesiątych.

Last Exit w prowokujący sposób łączył heavy metal i free jazz w iście szatańską mieszaninę. Wydane płyty Last Exit są przeważnie nagraniami koncertowymi. Zespół przez jakiś czas cieszył się sukcesem, jednak rozpadł się w roku 1994 – roku śmierci Sonny’ego Sharrocka.

Peter Brötzmann — Sax
Sonny Sharrock — Guitar
Bill Laswell — Bass
Ronald Shannon Jackson — Drums

"When it comes to avant-garde jazz/rock noise, few bands kicked out the jams better than did Last Exit. A who's-who of jazz players with punk-ass attitudes, Last Exit — guitarist Sonny Sharrock, bassist Bill Laswell, drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, and saxophonist Peter Brotzmann — could swing, rock, and create an all-out free-jazz din all in the blink of an eye. More important, Last Exit was about was the thrill and danger of total improvisation; so much did they believe in this concept that their debut performance in Zurich in 1986 was completely improvised and unrehearsed. Granted, one person's free improvisation is another's tuneless chaos, but Last Exit, due primarily to the skill of its individuals, only infrequently fell off the precipice into the netherworld of arty wanking. These were four men that emotionally, intellectually, and musically belonged together: Sharrock had gotten his start playing blues, but rebelled against structured, proper guitar technique, preferring to play sheets of atonal metallic distortion; Shannon Jackson grew up playing Texas blues, but through working with players such as Blood Ulmer, explored a percussive world that was not regimented by time and meter; Bill Laswell played and produced rock, funk, and "straight" jazz, and in Last Exit he mashed all of these influences into one feral ball of noise and rhythm; and Peter Brotzmann didn't simply blow sax, he blew it to bits as if his life depended on it.

For a group so driven by improvisation, it is not surprising to find out that much of Last Exit's catalog consists of live recordings. What is inescapable is the band's power; not only did they play ferociously, they played at maximum volume, improvised jazz/rock at Motörhead decibel levels. When angry audience members confronted the band during a gig complaining about the volume, Shannon Jackson not so subtly suggested they take their sorry asses home. The playing is intricate, wildly adventurous, frequently funny, and, perhaps most important, a tribute to musical democracy in action. Any one of these players could take over a tune and dominate, but the reality of Last Exit live was that there was a relaxed, almost intuitive give and take to the performance, as if each musician knew when to blow hard and when to quiet down, when to take the space to solo and when to lay back. What was even more amazing was that Last Exit's audience was becoming younger and less identified with traditional jazz audiences. The band's assaultive approach to improvisation was attractive to punk rockers and adventurous speed-metal fans.

Because of the reputations of the individual players (Brotzmann being the least well known of the group in America), as well as Laswell's position as a big-shot producer (Motörhead, Iggy Pop, Herbie Hancock), Last Exit got a major-label shot with Virgin in 1988. They never became huge, but they continued on devoting touring time in between various solo projects until they called it a career after the tragic death of Sonny Sharrock in 1994. Thankfully, there is plenty of Last Exit to be heard, and, rumor has it, plenty of live recordings yet to be released." AMG

Jack Nitzsche - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) OST

Kariera Jacka Nitzsche obejmuje takie klasyczne już produkcje, jak chociażby ścieżka dźwiękowa do obsypanego Oscarami filmu Milosa Formana "Lot na kukułczym gniazdem". Swój fach doskonalił między innymi pod okiem słynnego Phila Spectora. Nie sposób pominąć jego wpływu na rozwój kariery takich wykonawców, jak The Rolling Stones czy Neil Young, a także The Ronettes, Buffalo Springfield, The Righteous Brothers. Sporo do zawdzięczenia mają mu również Tom Petty, Ry Cooder i The Neville Brothers.

Jack Nitzsche, naprawdę Bernard Alfred Nitzsche, urodził się w Chicago w 1937 roku. Jako nastolatek przeniósł się do Los Angeles, gdzie uczył się gry na saksofonie. Nie został wybitnym muzykiem, ale z muzyką związał całe swoje życie. Przełomem w jego karierze było spotkanie z Sonnym Bono, byłym mężem Cher, z którym napisał legendarną kompozycje The Searchers "Needles And Pins". Niedługo później rozpoczął współpracę z Philem Spectorem oraz z Ike'm i Tiną Turner. Solo nagrał w 1963 roku nagrał album "The Lonely Surfer".

Rok później rozpoczęła się jego przygoda z The Rolling Stones. Fragmenty fortepianowe, które słyszymy chociażby w "Play With Fire" czy "Paint It Black", zostały zagrane właśnie przez Nitzschego. Na swoim koncie ma również skomponowanie muzyki do ponad 30 filmów. Za piosenkę "Up Where We Belong" z obrazu "Oficer i dżentelmen" otrzymał w 1982 roku Oscara.

An important behind-the-scenes figure in popular music for 40 years, composer/songwriter/producer/arranger/studio musician Jack Nitzsche served a crucial function in 1960s rock & roll, bringing a trained musician's know-how to bear on the work of more instinctive rockers in a way that complemented and deepened their work. The Rolling Stones and Neil Young in particular benefited from his talents. Nitzsche was also a capable writer who penned a couple of major hits and developed a career as a film composer that included nearly three dozen movie scores.

Nitzsche grew up in Howard City, MI, which he left at 18 in 1955 to attend Westlake College of Music in Hollywood, CA; he remained based in the Los Angeles area for the rest of his career. After college in 1957 he found work as a music copyist. He was hired at Specialty Records by Sonny Bono, with whom he would work extensively over the next several years. He also worked at Capitol Records and Original Sound Records. At Original Sound, he wrote "Bongo Bongo Bongo," an instrumental that was recorded by Preston Epps as a follow-up to his hit "Bongo Rock." It made the national charts during the summer of 1960.

Nitzsche began getting arranging jobs, and when writer/producer Phil Spector relocated to the West Coast, he went to work with Spector, arranging many of Spector's hits, among them "He's a Rebel" by the Crystals and "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes. He also scored his own recording contract with Reprise Records, which released his instrumental "The Lonely Surfer" in the summer of 1963. It became a Top 40 hit, and Nitzsche followed it with an album of the same title, but he did not go on to a successful recording career, though he did release a few more albums. His next chart entry came with a song he composed but did not perform. He and Sonny Bono had written "Needles and Pins," initially recorded by Jackie DeShannon. It was covered by British Invasion group the Searchers, who took it into the Top 20 in the spring of 1964. (The song was revived for a chart entry by Smokie in 1977 and became a Top 40 hit for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Stevie Nicks in 1986.)

Nitzsche's work with Spector stood him in good stead with another British Invasion group. In the fall of 1964, he played on sessions for the Rolling Stones album The Rolling Stones, Now!, beginning a long association with the group that would find him contributing to such Stones recordings as "Play with Fire," "Paint It, Black," and "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (choral arrangement).

Nitzsche got his first film credit serving as musical director for The T.A.M.I. Show, a legendary concert movie filmed in November 1964 and released in January 1965. Also in 1965, he wrote his first film score, for the low-budget Village of the Giants, though it would be another five years before he really began to work in films consistently. In the meantime, he continued to produce, arrange, and record with a wide variety of musicians including Tim Buckley, Bobby Darin, Doris Day, Marianne Faithfull, Frankie Laine, and the Monkees. He began a long association with Neil Young when he wrote a string arrangement for Young's song "Expecting to Fly," which appeared on the Buffalo Springfield album Buffalo Springfield Again in 1967. When the Springfield broke up in 1968 and Young went solo, Nitzsche continued to work with him, co-producing and writing arrangements for his first solo album, Neil Young, in 1969. He also worked on Young's early '70s albums After the Gold Rush, Harvest, Time Fades Away, and Tonight's the Night, and returned for Life (1987) and Harvest Moon (1992).

Nitzsche got his chance to return to movie work in 1970 with Performance, starring Mick Jagger. It really launched his career as a composer of film scores. By 1973, he was working on major studio films like The Exorcist, and in 1975 he earned an Academy Award nomination for his music to One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But in the late '70s, he accepted a few production jobs involving new wave rock performers, producing the first three albums by Mink DeVille and Graham Parker and the Rumor's celebrated Squeezing out Sparks. By the 1980s, however, he was working full-time on film scores, averaging two a year during the decade. He got another Academy Award nomination for An Officer and a Gentleman in 1982, and, with Will Jennings and Buffy Sainte-Marie (at the time, Nitzsche's wife), he won the Oscar for best song for "Up Where We Belong," which had already become a number one hit for Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes.

Nitzsche's film work slowed after the early '90s, his last film score coming with The Crossing Guard in 1995. He died at 63 of cardiac arrest brought on by a bronchial infection. (William Ruhlmann)

Memphis Goons - Peppo (1973)

Even if the Memphis Goons weren't a great rock band, they'd be a great rock story. Back in 1969, piano playerRobert Hull, guitarist/bassist Phil Jones, and guitarist/bassist Mike Lantrip were three fellas from the Memphis suburb of Whitehaven, bored jut like plenty of their peers. So they formed a band and adopted new names (Hull was Xavier Tarpit, Jones became Wally Moth, and Lantrip took on Jackass Thompson). But the Goons weren't like the thousands of other garage bands of the era, out playing school dances and parties. No, the Goons' concise and private m.o. went like this: write, practice, record, move on to the next tune. Over the next few years, they captured hundreds of songs on tape. Though the term lo-fi wouldn't emerge for another two decades with bands such as Pavement and Guided By Voices, the Goons created the early blueprint for the sound: raggedy guitar, oddball lyrics, basement-value home recording, and dollops of passion. Not that anyone other than themselves heard it. As the players grew up and started having families, they stopped conducting their sonic experiments. Xavier Tarpit took the pen name Robot Hull and began writing for Creem under Lester Bangs. Eventually he went back to Robert and became an executive producer for Time-Life Music. Then, in 1996, Hull wrote an essay for Rolling Stone's Alt-Rock-a-Rama called "The Original Punks: The Greatest Garage Recordings of the Twentieth Century." Number two on the list (behind a tied number one for the Sonics and the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie") were a band no one had ever heard of called the Memphis Goons. The piece set the stage for Shangri-La to release the Goons' only proper album, Teenage BBQ, later that year. Though the disc collects vintage cuts from reel upon reel of homemade tapes, the band would not be confined to yesteryear. In 1998 they performed a surprisingly inspired show back in Memphis -- their first ever. ---- Chris Nelson, AllMusic

I hate to disagree with Thurston Moore, but contrary to the Sonic Youth guitarist's bold assertion, The Memphis Goons are not a “fantastic American rock-and-roll story.” The Goons, whose newest collection of songs PEPPO is now available for download at iTunes, were a smart, exceptionally talented ’60s/’70s-era rock-and-roll band that nobody knew or cared about. In other words, their story is fairly typical, and it goes something like this: Suburban kids make fantastic, ahead-of-its time (and/or unfashionably retro) music in their parents' garages and basements and nobody notices.

Nearly 30 years after the tracks were originally recorded, Teenage BBQ, the Goons' first collection of lo-fi home recordings, were released on Shangri-La, a small independent Memphis record label. Still, other than a few critics and obscurity collectors, nobody paid much attention. Well, except for Robert Hull, the former Creem contributor and executive producer for Time-Life Music who listed the Memphis Goons as having created the third-best garage-rock sounds ever — after the Kingsmen and the Sonics — in an essay on “original punks” that was collected in the Rolling Stone-published book Alt-Rock-a-Rama. Hull, an original punk who sometimes uses the aliases “Robot Hull” and "Xavier Tarpit", grew up in Whitehaven, a Memphis suburb, and is a founding member of the band.

“Teenage BBQ was actually assembled ... from 50 percent of our recordings,” Hull said in a recent email. “It's too long, BUT the packaging is quite the masterpiece.”

Music collectors and audiophiles get excited about the Goons because they took up the mantle of great bands like The Nightcaps a decade after the British Invasion clobbered American garage rock. At the same time, they also seem to be pioneering an eclectic lo-fi pop sound that would be championed decades later by bands like Sebadoh, Guided by Voices, and Pavement.

“Maggie Ann” the standout track on Teenage BBQ also predicts the rise of No Depression Americana by taking the teenage dreamworld described by the Everly Brothers in “Wake Up, Little Susie” and plopping it down in the middle of some rambling but infectious Hombres tune. Nobody heard any of these recordings until 1996, so it didn't actually influence anybody directly, though Hull certainly became an important chronicler and critic of the rock-and-roll era. So strictly speaking it's not “important” music (and thank goodness, right?). But for garage and indie rock fans who don't care about production values, Teenage BBQ is essential. PEPPO is leaner and just as promising.

“I have hundreds of hours of tapes still to go through, and that's why I hope this works, because I would like for all of the songs to go online and be available for the universe,” Hull says of the possibility for future digital-only releases. “If I had the time & money, I would just create a website and share, and that could happen.”

Shangri-La founder Sherman Willmott, who once (happily) described Teenage BBQ as his “worst seller ever” says he's “very excited about unleashing more Goons on the universe!”

According to Hull, this won't be the last we hear from him or the original Goons either. He's currently assembling a Christian album, a cover/oldies release, and more "originally conceived but never produced" Goons albums like PEPPO.

“At present, I'm working on a very strange opus along with my partner Vanilla Frog, that's so out there I think even Thurston Moore would gasp,” Hull says. “It's gonna be called either The White Album: A Sequel, Pet Sounds: The Prequel, or Let it Bleed: The Outtakes.”

Cutting to the chase: The Memphis Goons' story is unexceptional in almost every way. Their music is another story entirely. (Chris Davis)

Orkiestra Świętokrzyska - Wykłady z geometrii muzyki (2003)

Wiem, jak wiele starań i wysiłku trzeba było włożyć, aby ten projekt doszedł do skutku. Było tak, pomimo udziału w nim kilku znanych rodzimych muzyków.

Wydawałoby się, że dobre nazwiska ułatwiają realizację projektów. Ale nazwiska takie jak Michał Zduniak, Radosław Nowakowski, Włodek Kiniorski, Henryk Gembalski, a nade wszystko Andrzej Przybielski, od lat kojarzą się z kłopotami. Są to artyści regularnie zamieszani w nietypowe inicjatywy artystyczne, a co gorsza nie należą do żadnej muzycznej koterii. Dlatego lubię wywoływane przez nich kłopoty.

Tym przyjemniej posłuchać polskiej sceny niezależnej. W nagraniu wzięło udział 13 muzyków, a za stronę kompozytorską odpowiadał przede wszystkim Kiniorski z pomocą Nowakowskiego, Zduniaka i Makaruka. Sześć kompozycji, zwanych tu żartobliwie wykładami, to zestaw dosyć prostych tematów rodem z Davisa ("Momina" absolutnie podobna do "Jean-Pierre"), z przewagą smaczków bliskowschodnich. Muzycy grają z wielką werwą i jest to bodaj największa zaleta nagrania. Należy wyznać to wprost: takie pomysły już były. I to u nas. Na bardzo zbliżonym zamyśle opierała się muzyka Young Power. Ale ja do dziś bardzo lubię Young Power (a jeszcze bardziej odchudzoną wersję grupy, czyli Pick Up), zatem nie mam nic przeciw kontynuacji tej przerwanej myśli muzycznej. Użyto co prawda komputerów, ale to teraz oczywiste. Ich rola jest zresztą trochę niejasna, albo wręcz zbyt słabo zaznaczona. Mimo, że właściwie można powiedzieć "nihil novi", to jest w tym jakaś siła pozamuzyczna. Być może jest nią wspomniana prostota, za którą można się dosłuchać głębszych pokładów, sięgających w odległe rejony świata. Aby nie popadać w mistykę, chcę zwrócić uwagę na dużą gęstość i satysfakcjonującą ilość rasowych solówek. Przykładem może być rwące się solo skrzypiec w kompozycji "Saraswati", jak i niezwykła trąbka w utworze "Równoległość".

Są osobowości, które powinny się czasami spotykać w studiu, bądź na scenie. Oczywiście dalsze losy tak dużego zespołu nie będą łatwe i może on niestety podzielić los wspomnianego wyżej Y.P. Mają za sobą tylko kilka koncertów, z czego ostatni z nich miał miejsce na początku grudnia w warszawskiej Sali Kongresowej. Zdaje się, że muzycy chcieliby w zespole widzieć odpowiedź na muzykę Molvaera. Istotnie można Orkiestrę tak traktować, zwłaszcza że, poza egzotyką zawiera w sobie także głęboko polskie bruzdy. Nie może być inaczej, skoro kilku z biorących udział w sesji muzyków dla nabrania oddechu celowo odsunęło się od rodzimych, decyzyjnych ośrodków jazzowych --- Grzegorz Mucha

Wojciech Zduniak - bass
Radosław Nowakowski - congos, bata
Mario Matysek - bass
Jan Prościński - drums
Michał Zduniak- drums
Andrzej Chochół - guitar
Darek Makaruk - computers
Michał Pastuszka - computers
Włodek Kiniorski - saxophones
Wojciech Wójcik - trombone
Henryk Gembalski - violin
Andrzej Przybielski - trumpet
Piotr Wrzosowski - guitar

Well, this is a project that could be very interested indeed but it turn out to be disappointment. Intended to be nu jazz and clearly referring to music of Nils Petter Molvaer it sounds however like karaoke jazz: oversimplified, uninspired, predictable. Surely lovers of more accessible music may find this attractive but only provided they are indiscriminate and were not exposed to what is the best in nu jazz.

Sadly, this recordings is so mediocre that even the presence of the artist of highest callibre could not save the day with one exception however: Andrzej Przybielski play on trumpet in "Równoległość" transcend this mundane sounds into celestial harmony. But as soon as his immortal trumpet fades karaoke returns again. (polish-jazz)

Yanka Dyagileva - the lost pearl of russian underground

A mój syn ma ostatnio jazdę na słuchanie Jacka Kleyffa. „Ostatnio” znaczy w tym przypadku dobre trzy miesiące. Znałbym już na pamięć wszystkie teksty, gdyby nie to, że Kleyff ciągle je tasuje i zmienia Ale kawałki zostają w pamięci. „O święta naiwności, staraj się przy mnie stać zawsze, przy tobie jaśniej, bez ciebie muszę udawać”. „Lecz tylko wtedy na nią nas stać, gdy nikt z nas nie musi niczego udawać”.

Też lubię Kleyffa, ale najwięcej słucham ostatnio muzyki rosyjskiej. Od dawna czekałem, kiedy na listach przebojów, playlistach i innych listach obok badziewia z Zachodu pojawi się muzyka ze Wschodu. I doczekałem się. Aż mi się serce do pięt obsunęło, jak usłyszałem w taksówce ruską piosenkę na liście pana Niedźwieckiego. Ale po dziesięciu sekundach już wiedziałem, co to za „muzyka”. Teraz wiem też, że to hicior duetu o nazwie „Tamtatam” czy jakoś podobnie, nastolatek, którym kazano nawet udawać lesbijki, żeby łatwiej wcisnąć światu ich muzyczny chłam. W związku z tym, korzystając z okazji, że jesteśmy na antenie, pragnę dać odpór, wskazać alternatywę, zapełnić białą plamę i opowiedzieć o innej młodziutkiej rosyjskiej piosenkarce, która też stała się legendą, choć niczego i nikogo nie udawała.

Nazywała się Jana Stanisławowna Diagilewa, ale wszyscy mówią o niej po prostu „Janka”. Tak zresztą podpisywała swoje kasety. Pochodziła z Nowosybirska i obracała się w środowisku tzw. „syberyjskiego punka” z przełomu lat 80. i 90. Po ukończeniu szkoły średniej i śmierci matki studiowała (tylko ze względu na daną matce obietnicę) w Nowosybirskim Instytucie Inżynierów Transportu Wodnego. Interesowała się w tym czasie poezją angielską, amatorsko śpiewała piosenki Żanny Biczewskiej i Borysa Grebienszczikowa (taki rosyjski Hołdys). Pierwsze zachowane wiersze Diagilewej pochodzą z 1985 roku. Wtedy też zaczęła układać własne piosenki. Po zerwaniu z nauką prowadziła artystyczno-włóczęgówskie życie, m. in. lato i jesień 1987 roku spędziła na wędrówce autostopem z liderem omskiej grupy „Grażdanskaja Oborona”, Jegorem Letowem. Trzymając się analogii do polskiego rocka, „Grażdanskaja Oborona” („Obywatelskie Nieposłuszeństwo”) odegrała rolę podobną do naszej „Brygady Kryzys”, tyle, że w kraju nieporównanie bardziej orwellowskim. Zresztą Letow założył zespół akurat w roku 1984. W rok później zainteresowało się nim KGB, bo, jak wspomina sam lider: „matka naszego Babenko, będąca członkiem partii, posłuchawszy naszych nagrań, poszła do KGB i powiedziała: – Towarzysze, mój syn został wciągnięty do antyradzieckiej organizacji”.

Letow wylądował w psychuszce, gdzie poddano go takiej terapii, że m. in. na pewien czas zupełnie stracił wzrok. Po wyjściu wrócił do grania, a najgłośniejszy występ, szybko przerwany przez organizatorów, miał miejsce w 1987 roku. Mawiano potem, że „Punk istniał w Związku Radzieckim przez 20 minut podczas koncertu Grażdanskoj Oborony w Nowosybirsku. Później był już tylko post-punk”. Spodziewając się aresztowania, Letow nagrał w dwa tygodnie pięć albumów i prysnął. Właśnie wtedy włóczył się z Janką („Jeździliśmy po całym kraju, żyliśmy wśród hipisów, śpiewaliśmy piosenki na drogach, jedliśmy, co Bóg da, kradliśmy żywność na bazarach. Mieszkaliśmy w piwnicach, w starych wagonach, na strychach”). W ten sposób doczekali pieriestrojki i głasnosti. Janka występowała na koncertach zespołu, także jako basistka, i w skromnej części współtworzyła jego repertuar. Najchętniej śpiewała jednak solo, tylko z gitarą. Smutne, czasem rozpaczliwe piosenki wrażliwej, przedwcześnie dojrzałej dziewczyny:

A ty i ja pójdziemy na spacer po szynach tramwajowych –
Posiedzimy na buforach u początku okrężnej drogi
Ciepłym wiatrem będzie nam czarny dym z komina fabryki
Jeśli nam się uda, nie wrócimy do klatki przed nocą...
Zabiją nas za chodzenie po tramwajowych szynach.

„Grażdanskaja Oborona” gwałtownie zdobyła popularność, ale Letow zaczął głosić dziwaczne teorie samozniszczenia, punkowe „no future” doprowadzone do ekstremum. Wśród członków niedawnego podziemia muzycznego nastapiła czarna seria samobójstw, w 1989 roku zabił się m. in. gitarzysta „Oborony”, Dmitrij Seliwanow. W tym samym czasie teksty Janki tracą formalną rygorystyczność, stają się coraz mniej konkretne, coraz bardziej hermetyczne i mroczne. Coraz częściej pisze w rodzaju męskim, mnoży aluzje do samobójczych zamiarów, coraz bardziej żyje „na krawędzi”, popada w stany depresyjne. Jednocześnie zyskuje też pewną sławę poza kręgiem młodzieży alternatywnej, na koncerty przychodzi coraz więcej miłośników, w 1990 roku pochlebnie pisze o niej sama „Komsomolskaja Prawda”, pojawiają się – przyjmowane bez entuzjazmu – propozycje profesjonalnych nagrań. W maju 1991 roku Janka znika, dzięki usilnym staraniom dziennikarzy udaje się zmusić milicję do wszczęcia poszukiwań. Po dziewięciu dniach jej ciało wyłowiono z rzeki Iny. Prawdopodobnie zginęła śmiercią samobójczą.

Krótkim nekrologiem pożegnała ją sama „Komsomolskaja Prawda”: ,,Wczoraj o 9 rano w dopływie Obu, Inie, rybacy odnaleźli ciało Jany Diagilewej, poetki, śpiewaczki, rockowego barda z Nowosybirska. 9 maja Janka była z krewnymi na daczy. Poszła na spacer i nie wróciła. Czekali, mieli nadzieję – ostatnio Janka była przygnębiona i trochę niezrównoważona: może sobie gdzieś pojechała i wróci? Milicję zawiadomiono dopiero w poniedziałek, trzynastego. Poszukiwania nie dały rezultatu, aż do wczoraj...

Jak poinformował telefonicznie naczelnik nowosybirskiego GUWD, płk. Korżenkow, rozpoznanie bez wątpliwości potwierdziło tożsamość zmarłej. Medyczna ekspertyza sądowa jeszcze przed nami, ale wstępne oględziny nie dają podstaw do podejrzewania zabójstwa. »Albo nieszczęśliwy wypadek, albo samobójstwo« – ocenia milicja.

Janka nie nagrała ani jednej płyty, nie występowała w telewizji, lecz znali ją miłośnicy rocka w całym kraju. Pisaliśmy o niej 23 września ub. roku. W redakcji nie ma żadnego jej zdjęcia.”
Za śmierć dziewczyny środowisko obwiniło Letowa, który tymczasem ogłosił koniec „Grażdanskoj Oborony”, aby reaktywować ją po kilku latach we wcieleniu faszyzująco-komunizującym. Wspólnie z Edwardem Limonowem zakładał Partię Narodowo-Bolszewicką i stał się idolem samego Żyrinowskiego, za to wrogiem nr 1 swych dotychczasowych wielbicieli. Żeby znalazła się u nas analogia do tej wolty ideologicznej, Robert Brylewski musiałby zaprzyjaźnić się z Tejkowskim. Jak dalece Letow się zmienił, pozwala zrozumieć taki na przykład fragment jednego z licznych wywiadów: „Mam nadzieję, że Łukaszenko będzie naszym wspólnym prezydentem. To prawdziwy lider. Wojownik słowiaństwa. Wiem, że dobrze się wyrażał o Hitlerze, i to absolutnie słuszne. (...) Jestem ultrakomunistą i radzieckim nacjonalistą. Uważam, że reprezentujemy sobą nie rosyjski, ukraiński czy jakiś inny naród, ale właśnie radziecką nację. Choć ostatnio bardziej opowiadam się za zjednoczeniem państw słowiańskich na kanwie jednej kultury, bo, powiedzmy, Tadżykistan czy Kazachstan – to już koniec... Niedawno występowałem tam i widziałem, że Rosjan już tam nie ma, i rosyjska kultura nie ocalała. To już nie ZSRR, a jakieś okropieństwo”.

Wróćmy do Jany Diagilewej. Za jej życia ukazały się trzy niskonakładowe kasety w undergroundowym obiegu, zawierające nagrania dokonane w mieszkaniach i amatorskich studiach. Kilka piosenek możecie znaleźć na stronie www.avd-serv.chat.ru. Nigdy nie udzieliła wywiadu, jedynie w pisemku „KontrKultUra” znalazła się kiedyś taka jej wypowiedź: „W ogóle nie rozumiem, jak można brać-dawać jakiś wywiad. Toż mogę nakłamać – powiem jedno, a za dziesięć minut coś zgoła przeciwnego. A potem wszyscy będą to czytać. Przecież człowiek jest prawdziwy tylko wtedy, kiedy jest zupełnie sam – kiedy chociaż z kimś przebywa, to już gra. Ot, kiedy tak siedzę i paplam ze wszystkimi, palę – to mam być ja? Prawdziwa jestem tylko jak jestem całkiem sama, albo jak śpiewam – choć i to jest ledwie jak wtedy, rozumiesz, kiedy samolocik leci i przerywana linia pojawia się na krótko na niebie dzięki temu, co jest naprawdę”.

P.S. Wypowiedzi Letowa cytowałem za tekstem Andrzeja Odlanickiego „Od anarchizmu do faszyzmu”, „Garaż” nr 16.

Jacek Podsiadło

Archiwum zawiera dwie płyty (?) Janki "Shame and Reproach" i "Ne Polozheno". Zainteresowanych bliżej twórczością Janki zapraszam na stronę jej poświęconą, gdzie jest dostępna ogromna ilość nagrań oraz materiałów fotograficznych i wideo.

Yana "Yanka" Stanislavovna Dyagileva (1966 – 1991) was a Russian poet and singer-songwriter.

Dyagileva was born in Novosibirsk. She was one of the brightest figures in Russia's underground punk scene. She both played solo and performed with others, including Egor Letov and Velikiye Oktyabri (the Great Octobers), a rock band. Dyagileva was greatly influenced by Alexander Bashlachev, who was her friend, and Letov, her lover and mentor. Her songs were a mixture of desperate, punk-style nihilism and folk-like lamentations.

On May 9, 1991, she disappeared from her countryside home, where she lived with her family. On May 17, she was found dead in the Inya River, far away from the place where she had disappeared. It is thought she probably committed suicide after a long bout with depression, although no formal finding of suicide was made; the official point of view is that she accidentally drowned. There were also some rumours that Yanka as a matter of fact had been killed, as there had been no water in her lungs and that her skull had been fractured. There is no documental evidence of these rumours.

It was only after her death that her records became known to the general public in Russia. (wikipedia)

Here are article about Yanka from Alina Simone:

Yana Stanislavovna Dyagileva’s extraordinary career lasted only four years, from 1987 to 1991, but it was long enough to establish ‘Yanka’ as an underground rock icon in the waning days of the Soviet Union. She was born in the industrial Siberian city of Novosibirsk on September 4, 1966 and grew up in a one-story wooden house without indoor plumbing. This much is known about Yanka’s youth: she preferred boots to high heels, took piano lessons before switching to guitar, she kept to herself and filled notebooks with poetry. After high school, Yanka enrolled in a local engineering institute, in part to stay close to her mother who was dying of cancer. The technical coursework did not hold her interest. She quit the institute in her second year and began immersing herself in the local punk scene. In 1985, at a house show in Novosibirsk, she met legendary punk-folk singer Sasha Bashlachev, and this friendship both changed her life and drew her deeper into the Russian rock underground. But it was Yanka’s complicated relationship with another man, Igor Letov, lead singer for the seminal Siberian punk band Civil Defense, that led to her musical career.

They met at the first Novosibirsk Rock Festival in 1987, and a few months later Yanka joined Letov in his native city of Omsk. It was a short stay; Letov ran into trouble with authorities from the local Department for Internal Affairs and, shortly after Yanka arrived, she and Igor fled Siberia together. According to Letov’s recollections, they “travelled the whole country, lived with hippies, sang songs on the street, ate whatever God provided, stole food from the markets….” Yanka and Igor lived on less than 40 cents a day, eating in municipal cafeterias and sleeping in basements, abandoned train cars, and attics.

It was on the road with Letov that Yanka began performing in public as a backup vocalist for Civil Defense. By the end of 1987 she was writing her own songs. Once it was safe to return, she made her first recordings in Siberia, with Letov’s help, and also formed her own short-lived band, the Great Octobers. This marked the start of four feverish years spent crisscrossing the Soviet Union by train, first accompanying Civil Defense and later simply as Yanka, performing mostly in people’s apartments, dormitories, and the occasional local House of Culture. She recorded when she could, and the best versions of many of these songs survive only as live takes captured on a cheap portable cassette player. None of Yanka’s recordings were released commercially during her lifetime, but they circulated hand-to-hand as samizdat and she acquired a devoted cult following.

And the music? You could compare Yanka’s brash vocals to Patti Smith’s, or trace her breathless strumming to the Russian bard tradition. But Yanka truly created her own genre, a hybrid of Siberian punk, traditional Russian folk, and western rock. She married surreal lyricism to haunting melodies, mirroring influences that ranged from the Velvet Underground to field recordings of the Russian folk songs she collected in Siberian villages. Her songs are ironic tangles of communist slogans, Russian fairy tales, Soviet army anthems, and apocalyptic impressions of a faded nation. They conjure the low ceilings and teacup-strewn kitchen tables of shabby Khrushchevkas. These songs are postcards of Yanka’s inner state, deeply personal and perhaps, by definition, untranslatable.

As Yanka’s fame grew, the Soviet Union unraveled. So did her closest friendships. Sasha Bashlachev committed suicide in 1988, and Yanka’s relationship with Letov, which was never easy or well-defined, fell apart a year later. She continued to tour and record, but battled heavy bouts of depression. After what would be her final public performance, at a rock festival in Irkutsk, Yanka returned home to Novosibirsk. She made her last recordings there in 1991. Eventually she moved back to the wooden house on Yadrinsovskaya Street where she had spent her childhood, becoming increasingly isolated and turning down invitations to perform. On May 9th, 1991, Yanka disappeared while taking a walk near her father’s summer home. It is believed that she drowned in the nearby Inya River. She was 24 years old.

What remains in the wake of this remarkable life? Twenty-nine original songs, a handful of covers, and a book of poetry. I am but one of a legion of fans, and it is honestly beyond me to encapsulate or explain Yanka’s legacy. The only way I can describe what Yanka’s music means to me is to say that it is the sound of a woman who struggled to define herself, against every expectation, and won. –Alina Simone

Here is the great tribute site to Yanka witk lots of mp3, videos and photo.