wcr~ TXT April 8, 1993 Page 1 Now You Can Hear It NEW ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP 9 Winds Records ' Compilation CD featuring various N.O.W. configurations (Lunar Adventures, Roger Baird & Muse Art, Bruce Freedman Trio, Paul -'Plimley/Clyde Reed Duo, Garbo's Hat & Graham Ord, Paul Blaney & Roger Baird) In the beginning the New Orchestra Workshop was a quintet. This band issued one vinyl LP in 1979, UP TIL NOW (NOR 001), and then developed into a musicians collective. The collective began to stage workshops inviting people like Carl Berger to travel to Vancouver for the occasions. Out of this workshop situation several groups developed, many containing core members of the original band whose name became synonymous with the collective. Confused? Probably not half as much as I was the first time I listened to this explorative compilation. Sorting out the groups and sounds took several listens. Some rather complete liner notes helped. Most of the playing is way outside. Recorded at such diverse Venues as Bullfrog Studios (Vancouver), The Music Gallery (Toronto) and Waterlou Studios (Vancouver) as well as clubs like The Glass Slipper (Vancouver) and eclectic spots such as The Western Front Lodge (Vancouver) ... the music takes you on a collective voyage through a futuristic sound landscape that is truly explorative rather than jazzy licks above a suburban Disco rhythm bed. Some of the tunes like Lunar Adventures' LEDDIS PRESSO and SOLOMON display tightly written melodic heads plus improvisation. Others like Roger Baird and MuseArt's BLUES OUT are less structured. Bruce Freedman (a regular alto player making his tenor debut here with Clyde Reed on bass and Buff Allen on drums) delivers pre-fusion bop and ballad with Coltranesque finesse. I liked both Freedman's compositions FREESTRUM and CAROL. Musical buds for 15 years Paul Plimley and Clyde Reed offer up three tunes as a duet. ALL OUT FOR THE GET GO, CARVING STILL SHADOWS and ROME VARIATIONS do reflect a "road of mutual surprise well-travelled" as the liner notes suggest. Some mellow moments and thoughtful improvisation here. Kate Hammett-Vaughn delivers two vocal numbers OSSISIL'S TOPIC and NEW DIRECTIONS which are guaranteed to drive your unwanted mother-in-law from the house. The "weirdest" tracks on this unusual package, Vaughn's numbers (along with Graham Ord on sax and Paul Blaney on acoustic bass) are not for the unprepared. As Garbo's Hat this threesome would be perfect for a gallery opening if the paintings were displayed in the fifth dimension. The final cut is by Graham Ord (sax and percussion), Paul Blaney (acoustic bass), Roger Baird (drums), Joseph Danza (Shakahachi flute) and Jack Duncan (percussion). While the New Orchestra Workshop is not the only group or school of Jazz emanating from Vancouver, they are certainly a creat±'ve bunch. The "sound" they create is truly explorative and unlike the offshoots of "fusion" does not move toward popular forms with disco rhythms but in directions expressed by modern classical composers. These guys are more likely to be found working a set before a reading by Alan Ginsberg or a Gallery opening than huddled with the "performance" oriented players in the coffeehouse scene. On a total of three CD's reviewed in this issue there is not one "traditional" track. And, while breaking new ground may . WCMR9.TXT April 8, 1993 Page 1-2 not have made these composers and players rich ... their insistence on playing a brave _new jazz may someday be recognized by the world at large. To get there ahead of the crowd pick up this compilation. RECOMMENDED For more about New Orchestra Workshop and their music read this issues feature interview with Jazz drummer and nee-surrealist painter Gregg Simpson. To order this CD "NOW YOU HEAR IT" (NDCD 0151) send $15 plus $2 handling to COLLECTIONS WEST, 2232 Dollarton Hwy, North Vancouver, BC V7H 1A8 or phone: (604) 929-6621 COLLECTIONS WEST 2232 Dollarton Hwy., North Vancouver, BC, V7H 1A8, Phone: (604) 929-6621 ORDER FORM CA Cassette NO.- * CD: Compact Disk LP: Vinyl TYPE TTILE PRICE NUMBER REQUIRED 1. ALIVE IN SEATILE (Lunar Adventures) $15.00 CD Nine Winds NW0132, 1990 BEYOND BENGHAZI (Paul Cram Orchestra) $20.00 LP Apparition A-0987-8, 1988 (Juno Nominee 1988) ~ 3. BLUE TALES IN TIME (Paul Cram) ~ _ _ _O=n=an:..::...·....::;0-=-06=-,....:1=9=82==-.,,;(J::..:u=n=o--'N:....:..o=m=in=ee.::...-=1=-98=3;..,,.)_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _..e:L=P'--_ ___:,:c$=20=.0=0"------- * BOOTS AND FOG (Al Neil) Music Gallery Editions, 1981 BOTH SIDES OF THE SAME MIRROR (Paul Plimley & Lisle Ellis) Nine Winds NW0135 1990 ~- CHIEF FEATURE Freedman Productions, 1989 7. CLOSE FOCUS (Vancouver Art Trio) Freedman Productions, 1987 8. HIDDEN SHADES (Paul Plimley Octet) Plimley Productions, 1986 9. JAZZ IN THE ZEBRA ZONE (Paul Cram Ensemble) Cargo Culture 001, 1984 10. MIRAGE DANCE (Gregg Simpson) Condition West, 1989 df. 11. MUSIC FOR THE LIVING (ESB) ISM 2001, 1981 12. SWINGING PLANETS (Paul Plimley Trio) Plimley Productions, 1988 13. THE 1986 ANNUAL REPORT (Gerry Gilbert/Paul Plimley Trio) radiofreerainforest 1987 ... 14. THE FUTURE IS N O W (New Orchestra Workshop) Nine Winds NO0131 1990 15. THE INVENTION OF LANGUAGE (Gerry Gilbert/Paul Plimley Trio) radiofreerainforest 1989 16. UP TIL NOW (New Orchestra Quintet) NOR 001, 1979 17. WHEN ELEPHANTS DANCE (Chief Feature) Freedman Productions, 1985 4. LP $20.00 CD $15.00 CA $12.00 CA $12.00 CA $12.00 CA $12.00 CA $12.00 LP $20.00 CA $12.00 CA $12.00 CD $15.00 CA $12.00 LP $20.00 CA $12.00 f Prices do not include postage and sales tax. WCMR6.TXT April 8, 1993 Page 1 The Future Is Now NEW ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP 9 Winds Produced by New Orchestra Workshop Recorded at Mushroom Studios, The Western Front (Vancouver), Nelson Studios and at The New City Theatre (Seattle) This is the first CD Compilation issued by Vancouver Musicians' Collective known as the New Orchestra Workshop. The album features most of the original cast (except Paul Cram who moved to Eastern Canada during the 80's). The compositions are wildly named and even more wildly played. This is experimental stuff and certainly not a quiet background album to stick on when sipping champagne by the fireplace with your sweetheart. Paul Plimley's PAGES FROM THE DIARY OF DREAMS gives way to Gregg Simpson's HARMLODIC HIGHLANDER making room in your mind for the vocal offerings of Kate Hammett-Vaughn. Overall this music is more "Tribal" than fusion and almost "classical" in comparison with the Pop offerings of guys like Bob James and Earl Klugh whom you may be familiar with. Graham Ord's LOOKOUT is a long cut running 10:58 . Coate Cooke's SON OF STYPIODISC and Bruce Freedman's TIBETAN TEARS OF JOY AND SADNESS (15:46) complete this journey through the future sounds and shapes of Jazz rendered for today's audience by a "wild ad crazy bunch of players". This is an interesting listen but not as definitive as other titles by these same musicians reviewed in this issue. "Collectors Item" could well describe this eclectic CD. RECOMMENDED You can mail order your copy of this CD: More info on the music: (604) 929-6621 Send $15 plus $2 handling to: 2232 Dollarton Highway North Vancouver, BC Canada V7H 1A8 ,-- WCMR8.TXT • April 8, 1993 Page 1 Alive In Seattle (Electro-Acoustic Tribal Sounds in the Tradition of the Twenty-First Century) LUNAR ADVENTURES 9 Winds Records Lunar Adventures are a Vancouver-based quartet whose music will surprise you--no matter what you might have conjured up from their name. These guys push at the fringe when they play. And while the lineup of sax, guitar, bass and drums is conventional enough--that is where the similarities to most things you have heard before ends. Their music owes more to the organized cacophony of Mingus than the fusion of Miles Davis, but goes further than either of these pioneers dreamt, to a music that often owes more to the texture of the notes than to melody. A land where the polyrhythmic Gregg Simpson sometimes paints when he is not drumming. A nee-surrealist world where soloists play "outside" even before a "head" or melody is stated and is sometimes only hinted at. Lunar Adventures have gained a reputation as top notch ensemble players who are possessed with a musical telepathy ... an intuitive knowledge of each other's moves. When they play, the exploration is a voyage undertaken by all four, who although they may sometimes sound like they are going in separate directions ... seem to end up at the same bar on a planet that no humans have visited until this moment. Opening for people like Ornette Coleman and Michael Brecker has helped spread the word. The band has toured Canada a couple of times and ALIVE IN SEATTLE marked the band's international debut. Lunar Adventures latest tour included three nights at New York's Knitting Factory in 1990. Formed in 1985 Coat Cooke (tenor and alto sax), Clyde Reed (bass), Ron Samworth (electric guitar) and Gregg Simpson (drums) have found a combination that clicks. Of course it shakes, shudders, rolls and heaves as well and that is the adventure. From the texture-rich Coat Cook~ composition JUST ASK and the melodic CELTIC CALYPSO (Simpson) which open the set, through six tracks and fiftyeight minutes and fifty-six seconds to the final honk, bleat and flarp ... you will enjoy this "lunar adventure" unless for some unfortunate reason you have become addicted to synth-sweetened beat-box dance music, in which case you need help. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED For More Information: (604) 929-6621 To order this C.D. $15 plus $2 handling COLLECTIONS WEST 2232 Dollarton Hwy. North Vancouver, BC V7H 1A8