If anybody is, then Zoltán Kocsis is truly a musical artist in the Renaissance sense: he explores ever greater areas of his profession, and takes possession of new realms. Initially, we looked on with incomprehension, asking why as a pianist of genius, he did not devote himself exclusively to his instrument. Why was he dissipating his creative energies is so many fields: teaching, conducting, writing essays, creating concert programs, forming societies and building an orchestra – and of course, there was his composition as well. But these days, we really have to acknowledge that with Kocsis, this is not some sporting achievement, but utilising the Wagnerian term – a kind of “Gesamtkunstwerk” activity.
Once upon a time in Algeria… a streetwise teenage boy started playing piano in the bars of Oran’s Jewish Quarter. It was 1942 and American GIs were in town bringing with them the sounds of Boogie-Woogie, Jazz and Cuban rhythms. Maurice El Médioni was that boy, soaking up those musical influences and, adding French chanson, Andalusian and Arabic styles to the mix, growing to become one of the pioneers of Algerian Raï music, playing for some of the biggest names of the golden era and his influence acknowledged by the stars of today such as Khaled and Rachid Taha. Now, with a band featuring Salamat’s Mahmoud Fadl and the Klezmatics’ David Krakauer and Frank London, the man is back in the spotlight at the Café Oran.
In 1928, Maurice Duruflé entered Paul Dukas’ composition class at the Paris Conservatoire. He seems to have learned there the proud, ingrown habit of self-criticism, and that one’s music must be very good indeed to be made public. Dukas was notorious for destroying ambitious works — almost consigned to the flames, the superbly glowing La Péri survives to give a measure of the music that perished; this limited his catalog to a scant 12 published works, albeit they included an opera, a symphony, a piano sonata, and variation set, and the phenomenally popular L’Apprenti sorcier which are among the towering works of French music...
On first thought, one might be hard-pressed to find a common ground between Algerian raï music and Latin jazz. But for the pianist Maurice el Medioni, an Algerian-born Jew who left his home for France decades ago as an exile, and the Cuban-born, New York-based percussionist Roberto Rodriguez, the link connecting North Africa and Cuba is a direct one – by way of Spanish Andalusia. World music fusion exercises are more common all the time, and cultural distinctions often become so blurred that the sources are obscured rather than accented.
This obscure set features passionate blowing by Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (heard on tenor, flute, clarinet, bass clarinet and percussion) along with the little-known Longineu Parson on trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, sopranino and recorders, bassist Leonard Jones, and drummer King Mock…