The odd title of this album is taken from the lyrics to a Minutemen song, but the listener will hear a lot more Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell in Randy McKean's work than any punk band. Indeed, the recording is dedicated to the former and includes two pieces by the latter. McKean's compositions tend to be knotty, post-bop structures with an underlying sense of swing and good humor, much in the manner of his mentors…
The Norwegian organist, Abram Bezuijen, studied organ at the Rotterdam Conservatory with Arie J. Keijzer, and piano with Frans van Hoek. In 1990 he earned the diploma for Music Pedagogy and in 1991 that for Performing Musician (organ). Abram Bezuijen was organist in Dirksland (Netherlands) and Høyanger (Norway). Since 1992 he has been studying contemporary Norwegian organ music, which resulted in the CD 'Norwegian Composers', (VLC Records). Since 1997 he has been Kantor/organist in Haug kirke in Hokksund (Norway).
While the title of the CD is obscure in and of itself, the long work that makes up this CD, "Maintaining the Web Under Less Than Obvious Circumstances," is a series of works that showcases ROVA's particular saxophone genius at creating games on the spot during performances…
Good-natured and unassuming, and possessing an easy, slightly raspy baritone voice that brought an everyman feel to everything he sang, Frankie Miller ought to be a household name in country circles, but he isn't, and his relative obscurity as the 21st century opens is as much a mystery as it is unforgivable. Although he recorded often, Miller's key years were with Don Pierce's Starday label out of Nashville in the late '50s and early '60s (roughly 1959 to 1963), the time period covered by this marvelous three-disc anthology from Bear Family Records.