Dewa Budjana, Hasta Karma

Indonesian guitar phenom Dewa Budjana launches off to a wonderful place on his latest album, Hasta Karma (MoonJune 070). It may well be his finest yet. The compositions ring out memorably, all penned by Dewa. And the band is an excellent one: Dewa of course on electric guitar, vet ace Joe Locke on vibes, Ben Williams on upright bass, Antonio Sanchez on drums, and special guest Indra Lesmana on keys for most of the album.

This is heady fusion with excellent arrangements, solo space for Locke that gives the trajectory dynamic spacing, a kicking performance from rhythm teammates Williams and Sanchez, and...

Dewa pulls out all the stops for a spectacular guitar performance. He handles lead melody with a beautiful sound, then launches into improvisations that show his maturity as a real-deal stylist at the top of his game. He has chops galore but uses them to shape solos that have some relationship to his Indonesian roots but also the completely internalized fusion guitar tradition as it stands today, refashioned and transformed into his very own thing. His sound projects wonderfully and the choice of notes are simultaneously sophisticated, lyrical and wailing, mostly all at the same time.

Well boys and girls, I do suggest you get this one for seminal modern fusion. Dewa is becoming a master.

Circumstances beyond my control may force me to stop my blogs dead in their tracks, and that in a very short time, though they will remain up here on blogspot regardless. I hope not but in case that is so I wish you all the very best. May you fare well. May the music of humanity inspire you to a higher realm. I will see you tomorrow I suspect. After that I will try to come back as quickly as I can. May the great spirit walk with you on your path through the rest of your life. I thank you for traveling part of that with me.

Luis Lopes Lisbon Berlin Trio, The Line

Luis Lopes is one of the most exciting, original avant electric guitarists to emerge from the European scene in recent years. His work with the Gonzalez family and on his own (reviewed here and on the Gapplegate Music Blog, type in search boxes for specific reviews) has shown him at the forefront of all-over avant noise-and-note players today.

Now he comes at us with the (I believe) second recording of his Lisbon Berlin Trio on a recent album called The Line (Clean Feed 312). It brings Luis together again with two excellent open improv players in Robert Landfermann on acoustic bass and Christian Lillinger on drums. Robert amplifies and at times distorts his bass so that the three make some supercharged free almost-metal sounds.

This is a 30-some-odd minute EP that goes pretty thoroughly over-the-top with go-for-bust barrages of free sounds. Luis is very amplified and uses all the resources of the overdriven guitar to create a post-Sharrockian landscape of feedback, on- and off-the-string sound colors and dynamic displays of outside virtuosity. Robert seconds him with bowed and pizzicato distortions and harmonics that create a very dense thicket of excitement. Christian is a whirlwind of aggressive sound outside of a set pulse. There are more quiet moments too, which are no less interesting to hear. And the sum total shows us a very creative Lopes who can construct challenging melodically-harmonically out line weaving as well as vivid noise color.

The three together make an extreme cacophony that is as exhilarating to hear as it is enveloping of all your musical senses.

A terrific blast of sound! If you revel on the fringes of the outside realm, this one is definitely for you. Excellent!

Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth, Epicenter

Jazz-rock fusion has many variations in style these days. A smart and hip variant certainly can be found in bassist-composer-bandleader Chris Lightcap and his band Bigmouth in their new one, Epicenter (Clean Feed 315).

Chris does all the arrangements and compositions, save a very cool version of Lou Reed's Nico/Velvet vehicle "All Tomorrow's Parties." Chris is at the bass, Craig Taborn does the keys, Gerald Cleaver puts out on the drums and the twin tenors of Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek give a critical flourish and presence to the sound.

This is modern music, open yet very structured, with some very exemplary sort of odd-phrased compositional elements and well-thought-out arrangements. Chris is very much an anchor on bass as well as a soloist to hear, and Taborn, Malaby and Cheek give you considerable additional improvisational clout.

All that stands out as a sort of breakthrough of "serious" jazz composition that has swinging and rocking elements and space for the prowess of this fine band.

After a few listens you get a very strong feeling of originality and first-rate blowing, compositional vibrancy and general hitting-it togetherness.

It's one that will stay in your head long after you've heard it, once you give it a few spins to get acclimated.

A breakthrough album for Bigmouth! Strongly recommended!

George Van Eps, Once in Awhile, with Eddie Miller and Stanley Wrightsman

Every so often you catch up with a player who you never paid much attention to but it turns out is very worth hearing. Such a one turns out to be George Van Eps, a guitarist of the swing era who favored the chordal style of soloing. A reissue of the sides he made for Jump in 1946 and 1949, Once in Awhile (Jump 12-06, Delmark), turns out to be a real winner, both for Van Eps' tasteful guitar and his swinging sidemen.

With him throughout is the relatively unsung tenor saxist Eddie Miller, who sounds pretty great here, a kind of cross between Lester Young and Bud Freeman. Then there's the totally unsung pianist Stanley Wrightsman, who plays swingingly in a more-or-less Teddy Wilson bag.

Including alternate takes there are 25 selections on the reissue. A bass player joins the trio for a couple of numbers, a drummer for a couple, but mostly it's just the trio. You get a close look at the Van Eps style, which is quite involved and great to hear. And I must say Eddie Miller holds my interest too with his odd combination of vibrato and straightforward Lester-like purity. Wrightsman is nothing to sneeze at either.

The three combined give you some very classic sounding swing. This is music that delights from a guitarist you can learn much from. It makes me smile, the whole thing.

Nick Millevoi and Dead Neanderthals, Dietary Restrictions

Until now I did not know Dead Neanderthals, a Dutch free jazz duo of Otto Kokkee on sax and Rene Aquarius on drums. Guitarist Nick Millevoi I most certainly do know, a free electric guitarist who does well by reveling in skronky anarchy. Type his name in the search box above for what I have reviewed of his here.

The three did a European tour in 2013. They are captured live in DIY sound in Berlin on the EP Dietary Restrictions, which was available as a cassette that is apparently sold out, but you can get a DL at Bandcamp.

This is full-out free anarchy with honks, squeals, tumbling drums, feedback and super-skronk guitar aggression. It may give some folks a headache. But if you are like me it is an out extreme you can very much appreciate if you put yourself in the mood.

There's 30 minutes of grand intensity here, just enough for the hard-core enthusiast to bang the head with.

It's not for the timid ear! But it IS very over-the-top in a nice way.

Chuck Berry, The Complete Chess Singles As & Bs, 1955-61

Anybody who knows the history of rock knows how central Chuck Berry was in the development of the music. And in the beginning, it was the singles that people heard. They remain central to an appreciation of his art and the impact it had, both in the US and in England.

So the new, specially priced 2-CD set, The Complete Chess Singles As & Bs, 1955-61 (Acrobat Music 3122), is especially important and revealing. You get the big hits "Maybelline," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music" and such, but you get B-Side gems like "Reelin' and Rockin'," "Around and Around," and "Memphis, Tennessee." There are blues and r&b numbers, guitar instrumentals, and a few minor things that remain fascinating. Back then the rock listeners were far more likely to purchase 45-rpm singles than albums. This is what they heard.

And if you know the British Invasion and what the Stones and Beatles (along with others) did to revive Chuck's stature after his prison experiences and the temper of the time began to favor white crooners and less vital pop, you get a bird's eye (or rather ear) view of the music that the next generation of rockers had imbibed. It's incredible just how many of the songs on this set were covered by rock bands in the '60s. I can count much more than half. And rather than the Pat Boone insipid lameness that white '50s covers of things like "Tutti Frutti" entailed, the British and American bands covered Berry with a mostly real understanding and fire, so that his career took off anew and his reputation grew to a new peak that never diminished.

So to hear these original tracks now is crucial to an understanding of it all and how revolutionary was his sound. Of course the guitar style he introduced became fundamental. He combined blues guitar with r&b shadings and came up with his very own way. Listen to it develop as the chronological sequence of the tracks nicely allow. His vocals were just as important. His occasional near rap rapid signifying patter hit the music world like a storm. And he had real soul that along with Little Richard set the vocal pace for what was to come. Listen to to the bands here. The original sides sound a bit sparse and open with Willie Dixon's upright bass, cats like Otis Spann playing a LOT of piano and Fred Below slapping a back beat that left no doubt where the rocking was going. By the later years of this period, there was a fuller sound that often included rhythm guitar and electric bass. Of course that sound carried over into rock afterwards, but the early sound had bluesier roots, a feel that Chess sides generally favored in the early days.

In all this is an essential document for all rock-rooted students. You can learn much from Chuck's guitar playing, the sound of the bands and of course his classic songs and vocals. The digital transfers sound good, so there's no reason to hesitate on this one. Essential.

Soft Machine, Switzerland 1974, with Allan Holdsworth

The legendary Soft Machine could hardly be said to have gone "soft" by 1973. Quite the contrary. Yet when guitarist Allan Holdsworth joined the band that year it gave the group a big boost and added a decidedly articulate new voice into the mix. They had up until then managed to carve a most distinctive sound by placing keyboard wizard Mike Ratledge into at times the role of the guitar soloist in the band and it worked very well indeed. Yet after seven albums and a great deal of wonderful music, there was a point where someone of the extraordinary caliber of Holdsworth, a one-in-a-million guitarist of genius, would give the band another sound shading and provide some new life. So they were fortunate that Allan was available and set about creating a new repertoire, much of which was included in their eighth album Bundles, another milestone recording for the Softs that was timely and of course well-received.

In the band at the time was Mike Ratledge, the only remaining original member, along with piano-saxman Karl Jenkins, bassist Roy Babbington and the potent John Marshall on drums. In tandem with Holdsworth they had a great deal of depth and versatility. Bundles showed that very much.

Now we have the treat of hearing the band live at Montreux, on the previously unreleased Switzerland 1974 (Cuneiform Rune 395/396) in a combo CD and DVD package.

The sound is pristine, the music complex and energized, and Holdsworth most definitely at his best. What's fascinating is that Allan had very much the fleet facility of his mature days, yet his sound is rather different, not as violin-like as in later years. That gives you another take on what he is playing and no the less interesting for it.

The music has it all and the band by then was in top form.

Of course you should have Bundles if you are a serious student of jazz-rock and fusion. But this live date has the spontaneous looseness and fire you get less of in the studio. The rhythm section kicks it hard, Ratledge and Babbington weave magic, and Allan Holdsworth gives notice to the world that he is a world-class player.

Very much recommended!

Copy this url into your browser to stream a nice excerpt: https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/switzerland-1974