The Resurrectionists

In an admittedly brief search, I haven't been able to find much information (almost none, actually) about The Resurrectionists, a shadowy poetry/art/provocation collective that I discovered via a post on Luc Sante's blog. Their main gig seems to have been cutting up works up fiction to produce poems, often with the intent of mocking the original author by selecting particularly ridiculous lines from the source work.

The example posted by Sante is apparently atypical in that it seems somewhat respectful of the source material (an Ellery Queen novel), but reading it and the list of authors the group managed to piss off (including Ayn Rand and Michael Crichton) has made me eager to read more. Unfortunately, searching for "resurrectionists" turns up lots of results about grave robbing with a few bands thrown in. I'll have to dig deeper. Maybe there are still a few mysteries whose solutions lie beyond the internet.

But please, if you know of any good sources of info on this group or, especially, any collection of their works, please post it in the comments section or send me a message.

9 Points on Ornette Coleman at JALC

I wanted to get my thoughts down on Saturday night's Jazz at Lincoln Center concert while they were still semi-fresh. I might go back later and edit, add some text links, and maybe link to some other reviews. But for now, here are some from-the-top-of-my-head observations:

1. Ornette's groups have always had their own sound. Wherever he's been at in his career, the groups he's put together have been very distinct from their contemporaries. Which is to say that I think the current group (Ornette, Denardo, Tony Falanga, and Al MacDowell) makes a sound that no one else is making. It has some of the hyperactive rhythmic feeling of the Prime Time era, but almost seems to do more with less. While Ornette always sounds like Ornette, the current quartet as a whole has a tremendous range of sounds and moods at its disposal.

2. One of the best things about seeing live music (especially live music that features improvisation) is watching the interplay between musicians. This group is especially rewarding in this respect. Sometimes the basses locked into a groove with Denardo doing his own thing on drums. Sometimes all three seemed to be moving in the same direction with Ornette floating on top, around, and under. Sometimes each bassist was responding individually to Ornette, playing off what he was doing from moment to moment. Sometimes Falanga bowed a repeated pattern while MacDowell and Ornette went back and forth. Sometimes Falanga took the melody while Ornette improvised. Et cetera.

3. A big part of the group's versatility is ability of each bassist to sound like at least two different bassists. MacDowell can make his electric bass sound and function almost like an electric guitar, playing high note lines and picking out chords. Falanga's arco (bowed) playing is a key component. When he pulls out the bow, the whole tone color of the music shifts dramatically.

4. One of the highlights for me was the second tune, Sleep Talk(ing?), one of my favorites from the Ornette catalog, done quite slowly on Saturday night, with Falanga's bowed bass and Ornette's alto complementing each other beautifully. MacDowell was in guitar mode, and Denardo brought in a rock-ish beat toward the end that seemed incongrous at first but somehow worked to bring the tune to climax and conclusion.

5. Whether it was the live sound mix, a musical choice, or a slight weakening in the master's powers, Ornette horn was at times the quietest component of the group's sound, nearly getting lost at certain points before returning powerfully to the fore.

6. My initially Ornette-skeptical concertgoing companion briefly fell asleep and had a dream that consisted mostly of vivid colors (synesthesia?).

7. Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater, with its arrangement of seemingly free floating boxes and futuristic lighting scheme, looks like the meeting place of a particularly important committee of the Imperial Senate from Star Wars. I overheard some similar observations about the space. Good place to see a concert, though, I must say. Even my "cheap seats" in the balcony felt pretty close to the stage.

8. If I recall correctly, Ornette only picked up the violin once, during the first tune. The trumpet made a few more appearances, all of them brief and similar sounding.

9. This being my first time seeing Ornette, I don't know if he always spends so much time soaking in applause. The whole bowing/waving/leaving the stage/coming back out ritual was strangely extended but also kind of charming. The crowd's appreciation was real, and we did get two encores, so I'm not complaining.


Bonus Links

Nate Chinen's NYT review

Lament for a Straight Line's take

(Note: you will notice that these reviews are far superior to mine. If you're interested in knowing what went down on Saturday night, you should read them.)

Update: the versatile Fred Kaplan weighs in over at Stereophile and has a plausible theory relating to my point #5

Quote of the Day - Mystery vs. Pie

"It was always nuts for Tom Sawyer — a mystery was. If you'd lay out a mystery and a pie before me and him, you wouldn't have to say take your choice; it was a thing that would regulate itself. Because in my nature I have always run to pie, while in his nature he has always run to mystery. People are made different. And it is the best way."

- Huck Finn in Tom Sawyer, Detective by Mark Twain

Ain't That America...

Is this a case where the phrase "Only in America" might be truly applicable?

The Selected Ballads Is On Vacation

I'll be back next week.

Until then, may I humbly suggest a meditative exercise?

It's very simple.

Just follow this link, stare at the picture of Miles Davis, and quietly contemplate your life.

Dream Journal #4 - Another Celebrity Dream Cameo

Had a dream that I was sliding on ice through a very cold Winnipeg. I slid from outside right into a big fancy shopping mall-type place with slick polished floors, so I was able to just keep sliding. Then I went up some stairs and met Ringo Starr working in a small machine shop. He'd apparently given up the celebrity life to become a blue-collar Canadian working man.

That was before I'd seen the trailer for the new Guy Maddin short film, Night Mayor of Winnipeg, but it wouldn't have been my first Maddin-influenced dream. Actually, this dream was almost disappointingly easy to deconstruct. I'd say the formula was something like this: all the recent talk of Beatles reissues + a mention of Lake Winnipeg in Nabokov's Bend Sinister (which I was reading right before bed) + a cool breeze coming in the window.

Back To The Top Of The Slide

Pitchfork's coverage of the new Beatles reissues (including reviews of each album) is well worth reading. Of course, it's completely irrelevant what rating the 'Fork gives these albums on their infamous 10.0 scale (spoiler alert: there are several 10.0s), but it's still a pleasure for me to read substantial new takes on this material by some good writers.

Writing something new about something so familiar is a very different challenge than reviewing a new release, and doing so about the Beatles makes this series of review/essays into a kind of proving ground for music writers. Of those called upon to put their critical weaponry to the test, I'd say Tom Ewing (on the Beatles' early albums) and Douglas Wolk (on Past Masters) come out looking the best. Mark Richardson's overview of the reissues, including a visual WAV file comparison (!!!) of the original CDs to the new reissues, is pretty impressive too.

Reading through all this stuff reminds me of two things:

1. That I'm among the freaks who really enjoy reading music criticism.

2. How deeply embedded and powerful the Beatles' music remains for me. Just the mention of certain aspects of certain songs can trigger a pretty strong emotional reaction, which surprised me a little but shouldn't have.