Tot Ton Macoute

Tonton Macoute was a progressive jazz/rock band formed in the UK in 1971 from the remaining 4 musicians of Windmill after the death of lead singer/guitarist Dick Scott in a road accident whilst on tour. Both bands were managed by Ken Howard and Alan Blaikely (Matthews Southern Comfort/The Herd/and Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Titch). The personnel consisted of Paul French-vox and keys, Dave Knowles- vox, sax and flute, Chris Gavin (Gavin Wilkinson)-guitar and bass, and Nigel Reveler-drums and percussion, Paul went on to form Voyager who charted in 1979 with a song entitled Halfway Hotel. They released 3 albums too, before disbanding in 1982. They have recently reformed to release the album Eyecontact. He performs regularly at The Piano, 106 Kensington High St.

Tonton Macoute were a short-lived British Jazz-Rock band, previously known as Windmill. Tonton Macoute were bizarrely named after the paramilitary death squad created by "Papa Doc" Duvalier in Haiti in 1959. Their one and only self-titled album released in 1971 contained seven tracks, and featured an album cover that was just as bizarre as their name. This stunningly-powerful one-off album represents a timeless Jazz-Rock masterpiece that sounds just as good today as it ever did.

Tonton Macoute was a British Progressive Rock band that released this self-titled debut in 1971 and then disappeared! This is very unfortunate, as they were a very talented group of musicians. Perhaps naming a band after a Haitian paramilitary force may not have been the best choice, but they were truly a remarkable band. Their record is full of jazz-inspired prog rock with long instrumental interplay in even longer tracks. Their music oozes fun and good-natured moods and should please most everyone, even the ones wary of jazz-tinged music, as this is hardly their only inspiration. Highly recommended to the progheads that seek to deepen their knowledge of early 70's prog rock and looking for unknown gems such as this one. This got released on CD by Repertoire Records.

A transformative force in historically informed performance, Ton Koopman is renowned as a conductor, harpsichordist and organist. In 1979, aged 35, he founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in the city where he had studied with the great Dutch harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt. Drawing on an international pool of players, the ensemble soon gained a reputation for flexibility, colour and expressivity as it explored the music of such composers as the Bach family, Handel, Telemann and Buxtehude.

Koopman's Second Passion of St. Matthew: Passion plays became the musical high points of the church year in Leipzig under Bach. That fact that the Passion of St. Matthew can still overwhelm audiences today is without a doubt. Ton Koopman decided - after the first recording at ERATO more than 10 years ago - to record this masterpiece once again and consequently to put his experience with intensive involvement with the complete cantata by Bach into it. The result could not be more convincing in picture and sound, not the least thanks to the excellent soloists, who are much more well-balanced than the first time.

Whilst Handel was renowned in his lifetime as a virtuoso organist, his art was based on improvisation. He left no developed oeuvre of keyboard pieces which would give us an idea of his full capabilities as an organist. His organ concertos are actually theatre pieces, developed by Handel to support his oratorio performances. Handel brought in an organ to act as continuo in the choruses and developed the idea of an organ concerto as a way of adding extra novelty. At the oratorios, the audience could not rely on novelty and virtuoso display from the latest Italian singers so Handel’s performances on the organ were a sort of substitute.

La Resurrezione, composed in Rome in 1708, was Handel’s first oratorio on a sacred theme. The soloists take the roles of an Angel, Mary Magdalene, Mary Cleophas, St John and Lucifer, who are portrayed in vivid operatic terms with the help of a lavishly-scored orchestra. The distinguished Dutch keyboard-player and conductor Ton Koopman (b.1944) founded the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979. The group consists of internationally renowned baroque specialists. Conductor and orchestra are joined here by singers acknowledged as leading specialists in the baroque repertoire.