ribot

Continuing in the vein of the last few albums of accessible John Zorn material is Filmworks #23: El General original score to a documentary about the controversial Mexican dictator Plutarco Elias Calles from the early 20th century. El General is a welcome departure from klezmer to latino tinged music reminiscent of a cinematic and dramatic Los Cubanos Postizos mixed with The Dreamers.

Legendary bassist Henry Grimes has a rerelease on ESP-Disk, of the one and only disc he has been a leader on named “The Call“.

Oy! Back from what seems to be the last vacation of this summer. Let’s end the one week drought with one of the best albums of 2008, from the powerhouse sextet of the downtown scene (which I’ve been holding back since April).

Back to our usual programme, here’s a review I promised you before our holiday break, the new effort by Marc Ribot’s power trio Ceramic Dog, “Party Intellectuals” out on Pi Recordings.

If there’s one person I won’t tire composing similar music, it’s John Zorn. His 2008 title The Dreamers is out and it’s basically The Gift No.2 with a lot of great references to genres like exotica and surf with the help of Cyro Baptista’s mood setting percussions and Marc Ribot’s delicate guitar tone

Here’s two cover songs for you today, both found on an excellent compilation called Jazz and Flowers. One is a sorta dnb remix of Karen Aoki’s cover of Smooth Operator and the other is a remake of Gangsta’s Paradise by UK’s Sunlightsquare, called Pastime Square, with a dancehall beat and great lyrics. Check the links below while you’re enjoying the songs..

Yesterday night though I had to act spontaneous as Marc Ribot was in town with his Spiritual Unity project playing Albert Ayler pieces.

#27 begins with a the intro of a collaboration album between the legendary French pioneer Jean-Jacques Perrey and Luke Vibert who’ll also be quite legendary when he gets as old, we’ll be covering both artists next week. We start off electronic with a touch of dub by Dr. Israel and Horace Andy.