Big Band
CD Trimba 01001-8 (1995)
Reviews
| Moondog's Corner Main Page |
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1. Blast off (2:30) 2. New York (3:25) 3. Paris (3:23) 4. Bumbo (3:07) 5. Heath of the Heather (4:59) 6. Torisa (4:03) 7. Shakespeare City (12:17) 8. Frankanon (4:36) |
9. You have to have Hope (2:03) (solo: Gareth Brady) 10. A. Sax (1:53) 11. Reedroy (1:53) (solo: John Harle) 12. The Cosmicode (3:05) 13. Black Hole (3:50) 14. Invocation (10:10) |
| Other recordings of | |
| Track 3 | Sax Pax for a Sax (Track 2) NRBQ, You gotta Be Loose (Track 8) |
| Track 4 | Honking Geese (Track 2) |
| Track 7 | Sax Pax for a Sax (Track 18) |
| Track 12 | Fisher, Miniatures (Track 56) |
| Track 13 | Facets (Track 2) |
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I quote the words that Malcolm Sargent wrote, that "Music is the soul of Man speaking to the soul of Man in sound", as only men like Malcolm can. Louis Hardin The players always give me more than asked for, there to walk the second mile, if need be. As they blow they steal the show and causing me to smile the while. Of all the saxophones there is the lowest of the low, the contra bass, is heard in Shakespeare City. Did you say, there's a contra-contra-bass? Members of the London Saxophonic and the London Brass were one, September Ninth and Tenth at Elephant, before the double-day was done. Executive producer John and I expressed the view, we had a ball recording Reedroy and the rest in only eighteen hours, after all. In starting with Blast Off and ending up with Invocation, shows the range of options open to the one who's under pressure to compose. Superlatives I'm running out of as I hear the way the players play the Cosmicode, a piece they hadn't looked at prior to recording day. David Purser let me see how bass his trumpet is. To my surprise, it's leaning to the left of keys that call it all a French horn in disguise. Symphonists have said, "We'd rather hear the beat than see it." Glory be, if that's the case, in general, then there's a chance for drummer boys like me. Allow me to express my heart-felt obligation to the few who made this Big Band album possible, at all, to those who played and those who paid. Louis Hardin BLAST OFF From ten to one we're counting down the numbers as I wait expectantly, to hear the 'Blast Off', which is most appealing to the little boy in me. Worlds to conquer here on Earth appear to be diminishing apace, enough to justify the cost incurred in Man's exploring Outer Space. NEW YORK Big apple, you're the sweetest wine sap all the way from here to Henry's Fork. You knew you were my baby, but you never knew I stole you from a stork. I plagiarise myself to say, 'I ran away from all the noise I so abhor. Before I left they told me I'd be back for more', to lay me low. PARIS I wrote it in my Upstate shack, as warm as toast. Outside, the knee-deep snow concealed the fact that soon the song would have its premier at the Salle Gaveaux. In writing this I used what little French I knew, grammatical or no, inserting here and there a verse in English so's to glimmer up the glow. BUMBO My Bumbo, less Caribbean than Tito's Mambo? There's a reason why. Because my Bumbo's in the form of double two-part canons, by the by. Trimbas are the drums you hear, the drums I played on Fifty-second Street, triangular in shape with cymbal bolted on to buzz the nut-shell beat. HEATH ON THE HEATHER This twenty-five part canon is constructed on a finger-twisting ground. At eight-bar intervals, the parts keep coming in, to amplify the sound. I wrote it by the Franklin Bank, Eighth Avenue and Forty-second Street, in "Fifty-five" with Ted in mind, the Englishman I never was to meet. TORISA The clarinet is bass enough to blend with tenors and a horn to play Torisa, entry one, in such a fashion it's the passion of the day. Torisa is the portrait of a lovely lady, lov'lier than most, nay, lov'lier than any loveliness I care to name or dare to toast. Torisa is a nom de plume. I never met a person so reserved. In view of that, because of that, her anonymity must be preserved. SHAKESPEARE CITY I wouldn't mind admitting, writing Shakespeare City had me on a high, and there I heard my muse declare, "You have to quantify to qualify." A pair of sixteen-bar chromatics represent the Bard around the world. unto the right - unto the left, the Shakespeare Flag imperial unfurled. I dedicate this piece to Will who doesn't know it hath a way with my Ilona who adores it more the more she hears it, more than meets the eye. FRANKANON In Frankanon, or Frank Anonymous, or Frank in Canon Form, I show my deep regard and everlasting friendship for the nicest boy I know. When Frank was twelve he saw me in the village and he wanted me to stay with him and his for Christmas. They adopted me. That's why I'm there today. YOU HAVE TO HAVE HOPE Bill Clinton lived in Hope, I Iived in Batesville, Arkansas. We never met. I heard he played the sax, for which I wrote the piece he hasn't heard, as yet. "Back in Arkansas" are words that fit a falling bit of melody. I'm harking back some sixty years to Batesville Bess and all she did for me. A SAX His hundredth anniversary has come and gone. It's time to send a fax, to all the Charlie Parkers back in Birdland who have chops for such an axe. I wish there was a way to say to him in person what the saxophone has meant and is to mean. "You're heaven-sent contraption birds me to the bone." REEDROY Reedroy is, indeed, a solo suitable for savages that sing, for savaging the saxophone with semiquavers worthy of a king. As difficult as Reedroy is, it could have been more difficult and still, despite how hard I made it, virtuoso, he'd have played it, with a will. COSMICODE Proof that God, the Megamind, exists is in the overtones from one to nine which have to do with form, revealing how the Universe is run. The overtones from one to nine equate the Code, the Code that has a key. That key is diminuation. Two to one, the ratio rises out of three. BLACK HOLE How sinister it seems to me to be, a wrong that is, that isn't right, where time and space are out of place, where light is hidden under total night. The gong, which has the most important part, creates an atmosphere for me to contemplate in fear the awesomeness of Density's propensity. INVOCATION Communication carries on between the living and the dead, between the living and the living twixt the galaxies that can and can't be seen. Spreading out before you is a ztriple canon on a single tone, low A that sixteen players in synchrony, but each is on his own. PARIS Paris, Paris Mais qui, mon petit Mais qui, mon petit, Paris. Paris, Paris Mais qui, mon chérie Mais qui, mon chérie, Paris. When I'm walking down the avenue I'm as high as Eiffel is to you. Paris, Paris Mais qui, c'est la vie Mais qui, c'est la vie, Paris. Paris, Paris Mais qui, mon petit Mais qui, mon petit, Paris. Paris, Paris Mais qui, mon chérie Mais qui, mon chérie, Paris. You're a choosy floozy with a flair, just the one for Louis Debonnaire. Paris, Paris Mais qui, c'est la vie Mais qui, c'est la vie, Paris. NEW YORK New York, New York, New York is a busy place New York is a dizzy place, but it's home. New York, New York, New York is a haugthy place New York is a naughty place, but it's home. I ran away from all the noise I so abhor, before I left they told me I'd be back for more. New York, New York, for more of New York, for more of my home, my home, sweet home. New York, New York, New York is a lusty place New York is a crusty place, but it's home. New York, New York, New York is a dowdy place New York is a rowdy place, but it's home. I ran away from all the noise I so abhor, before I left they told me I'd be back for more. New York, New York, for more of New York, for more of my home, my home, sweet home. New York, New York, New York! SHAKESPEARE CITY Shakespeare City, we're in love with you, all because you took his name. Who but you enshrined his last remains, for all the globe to honour. The name you bear is there for all to see. As you like it, so does he. We're to hear Hamlet at the rose, to be or not to be. |
| BLAST OFF | - 4-part canon |
| NEW YORK | - contrapuntal, free parts |
| PARIS | - 5-part canon, free parts |
| BUMBO | - double 2-part canons |
| HEATH ON THE HEATHER | - 25-part canon over a ground |
| TORISA | - 6-part canon |
| SHAKESPEARE CITY | - two 6-part canons and two chromatic sections |
| FANKANON | - 6-part canon |
| YOU HAVE TO HAVE HOPE | - chaconne, tenor solo |
| A SAX | - 9-part canon on a tetratonic scale |
| REEDROY | - chaconne, soprano solo |
| COSMICODE | - Part 1: intro, thematic and harmonic |
| - Part 2: overtone continuum, multiple counterpoint | |
| BLACK HOLE | - chromatic with free parts |
| INVOCATION | - 16-part canon on one tone |
| THE BIG BAND | |||
| Personnel | |||
| London Saxophonic: | Vocals: | ||
| JON REBBECK | Clarinet, Baritone Sax | GARETH BRADY | |
| PETE DAVIS | Bass Clarinet, Alto Sax | CHRIS CLADWELL | |
| TIM LINES | Bass Clarinet | PAUL CLARVIS | |
| JIM REDPATH | Soprano Sax | BRADLEY GRANT | |
| SIMON HARAM | Soprano, Alto Sax | SIMON HARAM | |
| Timpani on Invocation | LOUIS HARDIN | ||
| KYLE HORCH | Soprano Sax | NICK MOSS | |
| ROB BUCKLAND | Alto Sax | DAVID ROACH | |
| NICK MOSS | Alto Sax | ||
| DAVID ROACH | Tenor, Soprano Sax | ||
| ANDREW SCOTT | Tenor Sax | JOHN HARLE | Soprano Sax Solo |
| TIM HOLMES | Tenor Sax | on Reedroy | |
| GARETH BRADY | Tenor Baritone Sax, | ||
| Contrabass Sax | |||
| CHRIS CALDWELL | Baritone Sax | LOUIS HARDIN | Bass Drum/Leader |
| ANDY FINDON | Baritone Sax | ||
| BRADLEY GRANT | Bass Sax | ||
| GRAHAM COLE | Timpani, Percussion | ||
| CHRIS WELLS | Timpani, Percussion | ||
| London Brass: | PAUL CLARVIS | Percussion | |
| MARK BENNETT | Cornet | LIAM NOBLE | Piano |
| JOHN BARCLAY | Cornet | DAVE BERRY | Double Bass |
| ANNE MC ANENEY | Fluegelhorn | ||
| NICK THOMPSON | Fluegelhorn | ||
| DAVID PURSER | Bass Trumpet | ||
| RICHARD EDWARDS | Bass Trumpet | ||
| ANDY FAWBERT | Euphonium | ||
| BOB PRICE | Euphonium | ||
| PETER HARVEY | Bass Trombone | ||