Pete Holsapple

Peter and I started playing music together in grade school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in a blues trio called Soup, and by 1978 we found ourselves in New York playing in a new band, called the dB’s. After two records together, Stands For deciBels and Repercussion, we went our separate ways for a while—Peter continuing on with the dB’s, then playing keys and guitars on tours with R.E.M., and myself off to make some solo records and produce other artists.

Melodic, meandering synths, thick bass, live down tempo drums and percussion - Re:sonate brings together the smooth analog mastery of Pete Namlook and the dubby, exploratory 'home grown' sounds of Gaudi. The result is one with an ambient aesthetic veering off on a truly unique tangent. Repetition of the dominant patterns on Re:sonate creates a hypnotic familiarity, different layers dropping in and out, echoing congas, various peripheral effects enlivening the surface.

A less-than-characteristically beat-oriented collaboration with Namlook and Biosphere's Geir Jenssen on the former's noted Fax label. It's a nonetheless stellar four track CD, with lush, well-composed material split evenly between uptempo feet movers and sprawling, stirring ambient. Reissued by Ambient World with different artwork.

Pete Rugolo's early recordings as a leader after leaving Stan Kenton's Orchestra are quite rewarding and innovative in their own way, yet have been long underrated and out of print. This LP finds Rugolo leading all-star groups filled with such top West Coast jazz stars as trumpeters Pete Candoli, Shorty Rogers, and Maynard Ferguson; trombonists Milt Bernhart and Herbie Harper; Bob Cooper on tenor and oboe; altoist Bud Shank; baritonists Jimmy Giuffre and Bob Gordon; pianist Claude Williamson; guitarist Laurindo Almeida; and drummer Shelly Manne. On such numbers as "Mixin' the Blues," "Rugolo Meets Shearing," "Jingle Bells Mambo," and "King Porter Stomp," Pete Rugolo's arrangements are full of surprises while leaving space for his sidemen's short solos. Well worth searching for.

Alto saxophonist Pete Brown has been showing up on Keynote and Savoy reissues for years, but seldom if ever has there been an entire package devoted to recordings made under his name. The Classics Chronological series has accomplished many impressive feats, but this disc deserves special attention. Brown brought excitement and sonic ballast to nearly every band he ever sat in with. His works with John Kirby and especially Frankie Newton are satisfying, but this CD contains the very heart of Brown's artistry. It opens with "Cannon Ball," a boogie-woogie from 1942 sung by Nora Lee King. This relatively rare Decca recording features Dizzy Gillespie, Jimmy Hamilton, and Sammy Price, the pianist with whom Brown would make outstanding music a bit further on down the road. Similarly rare and even more captivating are two extended jams recorded in Chicago in April of 1944. Brown's quartet on this date consisted of electrically amplified guitarist Jim Daddy Walker, bassist John Levy, and drummer Eddie Nicholson.

Pete Namlook was one of the most influential protagonists of ambient music during the 1990s. Inspired by Oskar Sala, one of the pioneers of electronic music, Namlook focused on the untapped potential of analogue synthesizers, often developed or extended in his laboratory. After a nine-year break, the Koolfang series has been resurrected with its trademark "Deep Jazzy Chill-Out" sound, invented long before the current trend of "lounge compilations". This time Pete’s vocals are featured and his voice will go right under your skin and sonically transport you to the beach, the wind, and the salt of Fuerteventura.

The results on this two-track double-disc are nothing less than transcendental, and the two have found a good balance between urgency and ambience up in Sharp's San Francisco studio. Disc one, a single piece called "Interdimensional Communication," pulses along with analog warmth and gloom as if it were the background music to a great sci-fi novel. The second disc, titled "A Long and Perilous Voyage," proves that no song is too long if it has a good groove, and vaguely tips its hat to the sort of ambient work that Brian Eno has been doing for years. Namlook is the Bill Laswell of electronics; he puts out so many recordings that sometimes he has to rely on outside contributions to provide inspiration. Disc two is clearly a showcase for Jonah Sharp, who shines here more than on some of his more recent solo work, like "Emit Ecaps"…

Rob Gordon was a co-founder of the UK's Warp Records, onetime whizz-kid employee of Sheffield's Fon Studios and creator of Forgemasters'mighty underground “Track With No Name.” Recorded during his mid-90s freefall from an acrimonious split with Warp, Ozoona is one of the only surviving longform examples of Gordon's mercurial art, and therefore represents something of a coup for Fax. “She Ship” is an elegant, urbane update on ‘bleep'techno, while “Flat Pack”'s Moog input suggests this track is Namlook's main contribution to the CD. The 17-minute “Blackbird Suite” is a loose, swinging take on ‘intelligent'drum 'n'bass that sounds like a band of cybernetic jazz virtuosi. But “The Hunt” raises the bar entirely: a manic, monotonous grey slew of compressed Hardcore breaks that's rarely been outrun, even by the likes of Autechre in their more jackhammering moments.

During a Jazz Festival in Frankfurt 1997, Bill Laswell introduced Pete Namlook to Karl Berger. Both were immediately into the idea of working together on a new combination of Jazz and Electronic Music. What came out was a collection of pieces that range from Jazz to 70's film music to Ambient and Blues. The sound of Karl Bergers vibraphone and the liveliness of his performances in Pete's studio were stunning. If you listen closely to the tracks "Insight" and "True Blue" you will hear Karl breathing deeply while he plays… he creates unconsciously a perfect accompaniment to his solos that gives a rare organic environmental feel to the music. The tremendous value of improvised music… there are not just phrases being played and combined… the minds and bodies of the musicians are fully involved and in a constant process of musical creation.