El Jazz Mexicano De Tino Contreras

A little disc landed on my doorstep this morning and what a joy it is. A proverbial gem. I must confess I’d never heard of Tino Contreras but my ears have been truely opened after spending the last couple of hours with his vast and varied musical legacy. Relatively unknown outside his country of birth, he is probably Mexico's best kept musical secret. With a career spanning over sixty years, "El Jazz Mexicano De Tino Contreras" covers a wide variety of stylistic ground and consistently defies musical expectation. Fiery percussive salvos and modal jazz grooves are unexpectedly fused with mariachi rhythmic inflections, ancient pre-hispanic instrumentation, sinuous eastern scales and a myriad of oddly intriguing  cultural twists. 

In particular, “En El Viejo Estambul” is a wonderfully evocative psychedelic jazz composition, which combines strange middle eastern twilight zone scales, motorik jazz drumming and shimmering vibraphonic glissandos. The effect is beautifully exotic, propulsive and hypnotic. Things get a little odder with tracks selected from the 1966 long player “Misa En Jazz”. Like many jazz musicians and composers from the period, Tino Contreras attempted to combine secular and non secular composition. The results on display here are eerily engaging. “Santo” interweaves a stripped down jazz organ refrain in 5/4 time (think Dave Brubeck Quartet) with liturgical male and female vocal chant - it shouldn’t work but it does. Weirder still, “Credo” utilises a ghostly ballroom organ which evokes an image of Sun Ra languorously jamming on a disused seaside pier round midnight with a devout choir lamenting to otherworldly effect in the background. Twisted jazz never sounded so good. “Gloria” is even odder, opening with noir call girl tease, the track slowly evolves into celestial chorus and progressive modern jazz flourishes creating a sublime meeting point between the sacred and profane. I don’t go to church often but if I heard this playing from the pulpit, I definitely would. 

Throughout his career,Tino Contreras, was a visionary innovator, he travelled to Egypt, Turkey, Haiti, Brazil and Argentina collecting a wealth of musical knowledge along the way. In his later years, he developed compositions using the microtonal system of musical composition, ‘Sonido 13’, the ‘Thirteenth Sound', which divided conventional scales into a vastly wider palette of sonic tones.The track “Orbita” is a fine example of this style of composition. Taken from the rare and virtually untraceable private press record “Quinto Sol, Musica Infinita” this track required specially modified instruments to be built in order to create the wonderfully strange percussive effects which feature in this lopsided waltz time number. Shards of prepared piano collide with a deep jazz groove while sonorous baritone sax overtones dissolve into kinetic percussive joy, an intoxicating blend indeed. 

This release documents the career of a unique and singular talent and should be investigated at the earliest opportunity. A remarkable out there release. 

‘El Jazz Mexicano De Tino Contreras” is released by Jazzman Records on the 7th November. 

Yaraandoo

Here's a recording entirely worthy of your attention. Originally released in 1974 as a minuscule private pressing of less than a 100 vinyl copies, Yaraandoo, is surely one of the lesser known and oddest conceptual records in existence. It's a difficult recording to define, an oddly unique meeting point between Kosmiche outsider jam, restrained free jazz improv, romantic impressionism, pastoral jazz and taut progressive moves. Inspired by the Aboriginal dreamtime myth of Yaraandoo, the record is a masterpiece of deeply, sparse and evocative musicality which deftly captures the stark, sun drenched Dreamtime isolation of the Australian outback. Recorded over a few months by multi instrumentalist Rob Thomsett and friends on a two track home studio in Canberra, Yaraandoo evokes a wide range of stylistic and compositional tones, moods and colours. At times, the sound is reminiscent of the deep jazz groove of Ian Carr's progressive outfit Nucleus but this reference point soon collapses into unexpected forms such as childlike folk strum complete with shimmering bells, glockenspiel and auto harp, melancholic minor key orchestration, wibbly avant electronic oscillations and slow motion hypnotic jazz. Originally, packaged using hand glued stationary card and illustrated with startlingly contemporaneous spray painted graphics, the record has a strange outsider aura which would make even the most ardent record collector salivate.  Few private records live up to the hyperbole, but Yaraandoo is undoubtedly a unique and strange listening experience which thankfully has been lifted from private press obscurity by the ever wonderful Australian based label Roundtable. Seek out this record, take off your clothes, lift your arms up to feel the setting sun and let this undefinable musical solar flare wash over you.

Jazz In Relief

Here's a thing of beauty. I've been playing it all Sunday morning.  For years, I was obsessed with finding a copy in good nick and when I did I played it non stop for a month or so, filed it away and forgot about it. I'm glad I've rediscovered it. It's a jazz record of sorts, not of the free blowing variety but a wonderfully melodic trio recording. The playing is beautifully restrained throughout. Sunday morning music my dad would have called it. I've always liked the cover. It looks oddly futuristic and nostalgic at the same time. On the back of the record it says the photograph is called 'Three Lions' which has always confused me because I can't for the life of me see a single lion on it. The link above is for the French issue which I found online but I much prefer the cover of UK issue from 1967 which can be viewed below. I hope you enjoy too.

Fabulous Notes & Beats Of The Indian Carnatic Jazz / Hey Klong Yao!

Without a doubt, EM Records of Japan is fast becoming my favoured purveyor of oddball, eccentric and out there records. Each release by this label, playfully twists expectation and lovingly documents a wealth of distinctive, genre defying musical wonders, the latest releases being no exception.

First up, is the wonderfully entitled “Fabulous Notes & Beats Of The Indian Carnatic-Jazz” by T. K. Ramamoorthy which is a masterpiece of cultural collision and improvisational verve. Recorded in Madras in 1969, it's a strange and perplexing hybrid mix of Western jazz instrumentation and traditional Southern Indian Carnatic music. The results are musically joyous. It’s the kind of record I hoped existed, with each track combining and interweaving two distinct musical traditions into a new and intoxicating sound of wonder. Each arrangement is astonishing in it’s breath and diversity. “Ranjani” has a late night strip joint swing Basil Kirchin would be proud of but the melodic use of tabla tharang drums elevates the track to another level with disarming effect. “Natta” starts with a simple call to prayer on a trumpet then builds to an ever increasing fervent and raucous percussive workout of fierce proportions. The quality of the musicianship is unparalleled. Listen here for a sneak preview of some particularly breathtaking single note Senku conch playing. Jazz never sounded this good. T. K. Ramamoorthy cut his musical teeth in the demanding and often labour intensive Indian film studios of Southern India. He provided a diverse and spectacular array of soundtracks to over seven hundred films but this record is one of the few he made as a leader. This recording is both startlingly original in form and content and stands as a testament to a both a visionary musician and skilled arranger. Wonderful stuff.

The second disc by The Son Of P.M. entitled “Hey Klong Yao” is also worthy of your attention. This is ‘Thai Modernized Music' of a different style to the music discussed here recently. The groove is very much rooted in frenetic and rhythmic rock ‘n’ roll with discernible elements of pop, surf and exotica. It’s hard to pin down tracks like “The Horse Step Dance [Guaracha]” which has moments of Velvets like organ drone coupled with hypnotic latin bass and Ventures twang. “Sad Chatree [Talung]” is both intangible and otherworldly, coupling a relentless trance-inducing rhythm with an archaic Thai melody, which hovers and shimmers like an insect caught in hazy and perfumed smoke. There is much to be intoxicated here as this is music which defies rigid categorisation and easy interpretation. At times, the results are downright weird, “King Of Drums” sounds like the ghost of Lux Interior throwing primitive goo goo muck in a Thai temple. Odd and exotic indeed. Both recordings are released by EM Records this month.  

Thai Modernized Music

Before the twentieth century, the music of Thailand had largely remained unchanged for nearly eight hundred years. Traditional Thai classical ensembles would perform highly stylised compositions on drums, small chin hand cymbals, suspended gongs and xylophones.  This music was anonymous, rarely notated and handed down through word of mouth. With the advent of radio and then recorded music, an explosion of distinct regional styles emerged and flourished.

‘Thai Modernized Music' came of age between the years 1955 - 1975, when ‘government issue’ soldiers, on leave from Vietnam, began looking for kicks in Thailand thus exposing a young generation of Thai musicians to a diverse array of Western styles.  As this trend progressed, a fertile music scene emerged, with two distinctive styles becoming ever more prominent; Luk Thung and Molam. Luk Thung was a rural, grittier offshoot of an earlier urban style known as Luk Krung.  Luk Thung, which literally translates as ‘Song Of The Child On The Fields’ is the rural music of Thailand and as such it's thematically concerned with the trials and tribulations of daily life.  This music has absorbed and assimilated a vast range of Western influences which is startlingly evident  when you listen to the material on the upcoming Finders Keepers release, “Thai Dai - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground.”  This is the raw, heavy, unkempt side of Luk Thung, combining traditional Thai musicianship with raw, aggressive proto punk discharges, hypnotic motorik grooves and garage funk. Traditional instruments such as the khaen [bamboo mouth organ] and phin [Thai flute] interweave with fuzz tinged guitar, stuttering organ licks and heavy drumbeats with unexpectedly joyous results. Sroeng Santi’s strange rendition of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath is a monster of cultural collision and exemplifies this odd hybrid world, one part visceral rock, one part Thai folk melody, three parts downright weirdness. Bizarrely, despite the implied heaviness, the lyrical content of this song is actually a deliberation on the waxing and waning of the moon and the ups and downs of the Thai economy.  These strange musical hybrids continue and peak with “Kanong Krung” by Teungjai Bunpraruska, which sounds alarmingly like the sinister child choral chants of Ennio Morricone backed by the raw scuzz of the Thee Headcoatees.  This is exciting, exotic music, another top drawer release by Finders Keepers.  

“The Sound Of Siam - Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & Molam In Thailand 1964-1975” on Soundway covers slightly different musical terrain but is equally astonishing in its breadth and diversity.  Opening with the fragile, haunting, psych eeriness of Ream Daranoi’s “Fai Yen” this compilation is a veritable treat for the ears. Nearly every track has a deep resonant groove, from the weirdly lopsided middle eastern jazz swing of Panon Nopporn’s “Sao Ban Pok Pab” to The Pletch Phin Thong Band, who manage to dig into a groove and never really stop. This Molam style instrumental is particularly wonderful, sounding like a primitive Appalachian jug band jamming with deep funk Thai zithers.  This music inhabits a fascinating, eclectic and inventive sound world, with vaguely discernible elements of Ethiopian jazz, African drum patterns and raw funk. On the best tracks you can hear the Thai musicians absorbing their influences, experimenting and then pushing the limits of tradition. There's even a song about alcoholic monkeys, reefer smoking elephants and cows that drink Ovaltine for breakfast!  Some of you may be tempted to dismiss this music as mere curious oddity, a collision between an indigenous style and a borrowed one.  Don’t be fooled, there is some serious musical damage to be found on these discs. This is some of the most strange and uniquely compelling music out there and we should thank musical archaeologists Chris Menist, Miles Cleret and Andy Votel for bringing it to our attention.

“The Sound Of Siam - Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz & Molam In Thailand 1964-1975” is released on Soundway Records on December 8th. “Thai Dai - The Heavier Side Of The Luk Thung Underground” is an upcoming release on Finders Keepers.

Nowhere To Go

Just a little post to say that the ever wonderful Jonny, of Trunk Records is giving away this rather nifty jazz film score EP (free, yes that's right, free) when you subscribe to his mailing list.

Nowhere To Go was a 1958 London crime flick starring a young Maggie Smith and if this soundtrack is anything to go by, the film may also be worthy of your attention.

"Have a listen anyway, it's a curious thing and has some good bits, especially the crazy drum cowbell thing." Jonny Trunk

An Elizabethan Songbook

This is probably one of my favourite records. It took me quite a long time to find a copy but the wait was definitely worth it. It's a jazz record, a beautifully odd jazz record. At first glance, the record looks uninteresting but upon closer inspection, you begin to notice the clues. Maybe it's the strange combination of medieval and futuristic typography. Maybe it's the hip Elizabethan modette with pop art buttons. Maybe it's the list of great players such as Brian Moore (bass), Mike McNaught (piano), Mike Travis (drums), Jim Philip (flute). It's a very interesting listen and far rarer than you would think.  It took me a bloody ages to snag a copy.  I'm glad I persevered. It's both disappointing and strange that nobody has bothered to reissue it. Please listen to the deep modal track Orientis and the folk jazz oddity that is Scarborough Fair.  I think both are undiscovered gems that would fit perfectly on any Gilles Peterson compilation of British Jazz.

Eric Framond - Univers 2000

Library music is music made specifically for use in advertising, television, radio or film.  Most of it is rubbish.   This recording is probably my favourite library record.  It's full of dark, twisted, menacing, off kilter jazz, some of it dedicated to Satan, which is nice.  I'd love to know more about where this music eventually appeared, especially the track "Le Robot Casse".  Mr. Trunk has described it as thus, "Possibly a perfect record. Hard, jazzy, psychedelic and odd. And there are lots of ladies squealing behind insistent demonic rhythms which is what we like. Includes "Orgy With Satan" which is a title I am hugely envious of."