Strange Strings

Tracks 1 to 3 recorded in New York, circa 1966, and released as Saturn 502; reprinted on Thoth Intergalactic KH5472. Track 4 recorded at Sun Studios, New York, circa 1967, and was previously unreleased. Engineered, restored and mastered at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago.

Tracks 1 to 3 recorded in New York, circa 1966, and released as Saturn 502; reprinted on Thoth Intergalactic KH5472. Track 4 recorded at Sun Studios, New York, circa 1967, and was previously unreleased. Engineered, restored and mastered at Experimental Sound Studio, Chicago.

Ireland's answer to the Incredible String Band, Dr. Strangely Strange engaged in the same type of psychedelic acoustic music with folksy arrangements. With traditional instruments like penny whistle, fiddle, harmonium, and mandolin, Dr. Strangely Strange was more solidly rooted in melody and structure than the group's flaky Scottish counterparts. Produced by British modern folk guru Joe Boyd, "Kip of the Serenes" is built around simple and repetitious melodies occasionally interrupted by stream-of-consciousness musical and lyrical diversions. This simplistic approach would be abandoned with their 1970 follow-up, "Heavy Petting", which saw their first partnership with electric guitarist Gary Moore.

One of the towering figures of 20th century's music, Alabama-born pianist and organist Herman "Sun Ra" Blount (1914) became the cosmic musician par excellence. Despite dressing in extraterrestrial costumes (but inspired by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt) and despite living inside a self-crafted sci-fi mythology (he always maintained that he was from Saturn, and no biographer conclusively proved his birth date) and despite littering his music with lyrics inspired to a self-penned spiritual philosophy (he never engaged in sexual relationships apparently because he considered himself an angel), Sun Ra created one of the most original styles of music thanks to a chronic disrespect for both established dogmas and trendy movements.

Chico Hamilton - The Chico Hamilton Quintet With Strings Attached (1958) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 238 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 91 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 195 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24-bit remaster
© 1958, 2013 Warner Bros. / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27275 | Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series
Jazz / Cool / West Coast Jazz / Hard Bop / Drums / Saxophone / Clarinet

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Other than two selections put out on a sampler and the soundtrack from the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, this LP is quite significant for having the first recordings of Eric Dolphy with the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Dolphy's solos (on alto, flute and bass clarinet) are brief, but he already sounded fairly distinctive. The third version of Hamilton's popular Quintet also included the drummer/leader, cellist Nate Gershman, guitarist Dennis Budimir and bassist Wyatt Ruther. On this album, half of the tunes are played by the basic quintet, while the remaining five songs have an added string section. The West Coast jazz chamber music generally holds one's interest, but has been out of print for some time.

Jazz albums chronicle the lives of the artists who make them, but they also stand as emblems of a time period. When alto saxophonist Jim Snidero recorded Live at the Deer Head Inn in 2020 - an outing that earned 5 stars from DownBeat for its "spellbinding … incredible prowess and tender musicality throughout" - he connected to listeners and bandmates alike in a time of social distancing and brought them emotionally near, through the healing power of live music. To recall a comparable time of societal rupture, one thinks back to 9/11, on the very morning that Snidero and his colleagues were heading to Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn to record the album that became Strings (released by Milestone in 2003).

Released in 2015, Grapefruit’s 3-CD multi-artist British underground folk compilation Dust On The Nettles was widely praised, with a five-star review in The Times hailing it as “a delight from beginning to end”. A long-overdue follow up to that set, Sumer Is Icumen In tightens the mesh by focusing on the point when traditional folksong and the burgeoning late Sixties counterculture collided, largely courtesy of seminal acts like the Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention and Pentangle.