• 10 not so famous albums of ECM from the 70’s I love like mad

    1. Julian Priester: Love, Love
    2. Edward Vesala: Nan Madol
    3. Mal Waldron: The Call
    4. Jan Garbarek: Sart
    5. Bennie Maupin: The Jewel In The Lotus
    6. Double Image: Dawn
    7. Bill Connors: Theme Of The Gaurdian
    8. Peter Rühmkorf: Kein Apolloprogramm für Lyrik
    9. Stanley Cowell: Illusion Suite
    10. Barre Phillips: Three Day Moon

    With the exception of Stanley Cowell‘s little gem that I only heard once at a friend‘s cabin on Amrum, around 1975, each of these albums stayed with me from start on, as well aged vinyl, or, later, the cd version. For instance, no one can tell me the second album from Jan Garbarek was somehow popular. SART, for example, is an electrified killer album, influenced by some of these North Men experiencing „electric Miles“ in NYC, in his prime time (and prime time was all the time from 1969 til 1975), then transforming it into a spectacular Nordic Neon / Nordic Noir zone. Of course, AFRIC PEPPERBIRD was killer, too. By the way, Bennie Maupin’s THE JEWEL IN THE LOTUS, gets a well-deserved reissue in ECM‘s Luminessence series, later this year. (In spite the label’s history of cover designs, you can like this one with the lotus and the portrait for nostalgic reasons only.) Speaking of fusion, The Call is „tripped-out space jazz of the very highest order“ to quote a recent essay in Aquarium Drunkard on that nearly forgotten masterpiece. (This is is a list to make time fly by while waiting inside „Nudel Manufaktur“ for freshly made Fettuccine, and will probably disappear within hours or days.)

  • flowworker music riddle no. 1

    Das erste Flowworker Musikrätsel hat einen feinen Preis: The Alice Coltrane Carnegie Hall Concert 1971 (Impulse, 2024, 2Cds). Ich liebe es. Wer als erster die fünf oben abgebildeten Alben benennt (Künstler und Titel), erhält Ende der kommenden Woche den Preis frei ins Haus geliefert (deadline Ostersonntag 12 Uhr). Kleiner Tip: 5 Platten, 5 Genres, mit Klick aufs Foto ist das Bild vergrösserbar. Der Gewinner wird hier unmittelbar angesagt. Es kann jeder teilnehmen, aber nur einmal raten. High five, oder, ähem frohes Scheitern! (Und hier noch mein persönliches downbeat rating der fünf Alben von links nach rechts: ****1/2 – **** – ****1/2 – ***1/2 – das Album ganz rechts ist frisch aus dem Presswerk, noch ungehört)