Strange Folk

The bass has seen its share of extraordinary innovators in the hundred-plus years of jazz history. Stanley Clarke, much like such hallowed figures as Jimmy Blanton, Charles Mingus and Scott LaFaro, was a game changer on his instrument. Unlike those who came before him though, Clarke helped alter the nature of both the acoustic and electric configurations of the bass. His groundbreaking work of the 1970s has been so integrated into the very fabric of modern jazz bass playing that a return visit to his own brilliant recordings can be nothing less than a revelatory listening experience.

With his laid-back rootsy style, J.J. Cale is best known for writing "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting – his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler, among others…

Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of PASSING THROUGH – THE COMPLETE STUDIO RECORDINGS, a 6CD boxed set by the unsung heroes of British early ‘70s rock, HELP YOURSELF.

The main focus of this disc is the complete ballet score for Orpheus in Town. But before we get to that there is the doom-laden Prelude to the ballet The Last Judgement. This was fashioned around Erik Axel Karlfeldt's cycle of paintings. For one reason or another the ballet was never produced and the music became known through an orchestral suite. The fate-heavy first section of the prelude gives way to a quick polacca. This disc carries the world premiere recording of Orpheus in Town, the complete ballet from 1938…………….

Rob Barnett @ musicweb-international.com