In Aug. 1964 pianist Bud Powell and his friend/guardian Francis Paudras went on vacation to Edenville on the coast of France. Powell played at a small club each night in a very relaxed atmosphere. This CD contains some of the performances, four songs with a trio (that includes bassist Guy Hayat and drummer Jacques Gervais) and, best of all, three hot numbers that feature tenor great Johnny Griffin who makes the group a quartet. The recording quality is a little erratic on this set but Powell often sounds quite inspired.
As the counterculture movements of the late 1960s rippled across various parts of the globe, each region seemed to develop its own musical response based on a collision of outside influences, regional characteristics, and the creative spark of mind-expanding drugs. While America and Britain are generally considered to have filled psychedelic rock's high court, they are by no means its only vital contributors. Championed by prominent eccentrics like John Peel and Julian Cope, Denmark's underground rock movement was a particularly fertile one, producing an array of challenging acts like Young Flowers, Ache, and Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, all of whom get their due on Cherry Red's excellent Living on the Hill: A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974.
Esoteric Recordings is pleased to announce the release of "Living On The Hill: A Danish Underground Trip 1967-1974", a 3CD clamshell boxed set celebrating the so-called “underground” rock music scene that emerged from Denmark at the tail end of the 1960s. It was an era that saw huge changes, both musical and social and was a pivotal period for creativity in rock music throughout Europe.
The influence of ground-breaking artists from Britain and the USA such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Jefferson Airplane et al spread far and wide. In Denmark, as in many other European countries, the cries of change were made by students, radicals and hippies to a backdrop of emerging “underground” bands who were fusing the musical influences of psychedelia, jazz, blues, folk…
When it comes to one-man bands, guitarist and singer extraordinaire Steve Hill has no limits. Anything goes. He is the true exponent of a one-man band. Steve performs standing up while singing and playing guitar, his feet playing bass drum, snare drum, hi-hats and with a drum stick fused to the head of his trusty guitar, any other percussion within reach.
Though the Fugees had been wildly successful, and Lauryn Hill had been widely recognized as a key to their popularity, few were prepared for her stunning debut. The social heart of the group and its most talented performer, she tailored The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill not as a crossover record but as a collection of overtly personal and political statements; nevertheless, it rocketed to the top of the album charts and made her a superstar.
Of all the volumes in the Mosaic Select series, this one, and the Big John Patton box, are the most satisfying, though for very different reasons. This one is a true collector's gem. For starters, all but six of the 31 cuts on this three-CD box are previously unreleased. For Hill fans who knew there was more in the can, this is a most welcoming find. The material here was completely composed by Hill and was recorded in five sessions between 1967 and 1970. The pianist and composer is found in three different settings, from trio to sextet and septet with some octet sides. The personnel here varies, too. The sextet sessions feature Hill with Bennie Maupin, Pat Patrick, Charles Tolliver, Ron Carter, and either Paul Motian or Ben Riley on drums. These are the earliest cuts here and they are solid as solid can be.
Monty Adkins is experimental sound artist based in remote countryside of the north of England. His work is deeply influenced by the visual arts and psychogeography resulting in collaborations with a number of painters and digital artists. Inhabiting a post-acousmatic sensibility, Monty’s work draws together elements from ambient, acousmatic and microsound music producing a soundworld characterised by slow shifting organic textures derived from processed instrumental sounds. His work can be found on various labels including Audiobulb, Cronica, Signature, and empreintes DIGITALes. He presents on Eilean Rec. his sixth solo albums since 2009.