"Whether he is writing for a trio or a 20 piece orchestra, Westbrook's
style is unmistakable. He combines instruments in unique ways,
twists conventional jazz forms into surprising new shapes and seasons
it all with delicate touches of humour and irony."
Rec. live in Willisau, Switzerland, on August 28, 1977
(mics recording)
Mike Westbrook,piano,euphonioum,conductor
Phil Minton,trumpet,vocals
Paul Rutherford,trombone,euphonioum,vocals
Dave Chambers,tenor & soprano sax,vocals
Kate Barnard,tenor horn,piccolo,vocals
Trevor Tomkins,percussions
01. Band Intro (00:43)
02. Unknown (01:34)
03. Unknown (02:20)
04. Wheel Of Fortune (12:54)
05. Kanonen Song (04:47)
06. Unknown (05:37)
07. God Bless The Child (03:15)
08. Mood Indigo (07:52)
09. Unknown (03:23)
10. Naima (06:18)
11. Unknown (09:49)
12. Let The Slave (09:47)
13. Unknown (05:08)
14. Sunrise (07:21)
15. Unknown (10:15)
16. Lady Howerd (07:40)
17. Alabama Song (12:30)
18. Unknown (05:11)
19. Band Exit (01:08)
Total Time 1:57:44
In 1997, a live version of "Escalator Over The Hill", re-orchestrated
by Jeff Friedman, was performed for the first time in Cologne,
Germany, then, in July 1998, "the Escalator" toured Europe :
this recording was made at the "Umbria Jazz Festival".
In comparison with the original recording, here are missing track 1
"Hotel Overture" and track 19 "Little Pony Soldier".
Rec. live at "Teatro Turreno", Perugia, Italy, on July 13, 1998
(radio broadcast)
Carla Bley,conductor
Paul Haines,narrator
Phil Minton/Lindsey Richardson/Syd Straw/David Moss/Linda Sharrock, vocals
Baikida Carroll/Guy Barker,trumpets
Gary Valente/Richard Edwards/Adrian Lane/Roger Williams,trombones
Wolfang Pusching,alto sax,flute,vocal
Andy Sheppard,tenor sax,vocal
Julian Arguelles,baritone sax,bass clarinet,vocal
Pamela Attariwala,violin
Karen Mantler,keyboards,vocal
Steve Lowther,keyboards
Brad Shepik,guitar
Steve Swallow,electric bass
Dennis Mackrel,drums
Ramesh Shotham,percussion
01. This Is Here... (04:25)
02. Like Animals (01:29)
03. Escalator Over The Hill (05:01)
04. Stay Awake (01:34)
05. Ginger And David/Song To Anything That Moves (04:33)
06. EOTH Theme/Businessmen (04:22)
07. Ginger And David Theme (0:47)
08. Why (02:30)
09. It's Not What You Do (0:21)
10. Detective Writer Daughter (03:35)
11. Doctor Why (01:22)
12. Slow Dance/Smalltown Agonist (06:54)
13. End Of Head (0:57)
14. Over Her Head (02:48)
15. Oh Say Can You Do ? (01:04)
16. Holiday In Risk (03:18)
17. Holiday In Risk Theme (0:52)
18. A.I.R. (All India Radio) (07:08)
19. Rawalpindi Blues (15:59)
20. End Of Rawalpindi (06:53)
21. End Of Animals/...And It's Again (12:00)
Total Time 1:28:01
Heres something in the spirit of the recent Aki takase and crew playing Fats Waller.
another bunch of free improvisers paying tribute with tongue firmly in cheek.
phil minton singing..i dont live today is something to hear!!
heres a an amusing and entertaining amazon fan's review
"I can understand why this album earns the hatred of those unfamiliar with the names of the musicians & who thus buy it on the strength of Hendrix's name without knowing what they're getting into. The band is an odd mixture of players from several countries & from a variety of backgrounds. The guitarist Christy Doran is a fine jazz-rock guitarist, born in Ireland but living most of his life in Switzerland. He recorded a lot of albums for Hat Art: I'm especially fond of a trio with Han Bennink & Ray Anderson which recorded _Cheer Up_ & _Azurety_, the latter album a perfect combination of delicate free improvisation, heavy rock workouts, a blues tribute & Ellingtonia. The drummer Fredy Studer is a frequent companion of Doran's, with a wide experience of rock, jazz & free-improv musics but basically a rock drummer. Keyboardist & occasional horn player Django Bates is best known for his work with the English group Loose Tubes. Electric bassist Amin Ali is the brother of Coltrane's drummer Rashied Ali; he's done brilliant work with James Blood Ulmer's Music Revelation Ensemble. Phil Minton is the oddest inclusion here: he's an English vocalist (& also a trumpeter, though he doesn't essay any playing here) whose work tends to split into two kinds. First, the rather "literary", lyrics-based work he's done with Mike Westbrook (e.g. his performance of William Blake poems on _Bright as Fire_) & Lindsay Cooper (_Oh Moscow!_) & in some of his own projects (the _Finnegans Wake_ performances on _mouthfull of ecstasy_). Secondly: free-form vocal performances which often contain as much "noise" (burps, gurgles, shouts, gargles, clicks, groans...) as pitched notes--a good example is his work on _dada da_ with Roger Turner. He is truly an astonishing vocalist--besides using throat-singing techniques, he also can distort his vocal cords in order to produce two notes at once. Still, I tend to mentally class him with Eugene Chadbourne & Han Bennink as one of those musicians who inspires a rabid cult following about some people (the Ben Watsons of this world) while to my mind his effectiveness can greatly vary depending on the musical situation. Sometimes he's just a trickster figure, verging on the annoying--on other occasions, as in _mouthfull of ecstacy_, I think he's done something truly remarkable.
OK: so what about this disc? There's a long tradition of jazz musicians paying homage to Hendrix, going back to Gil Evans & Miles Davis in the 1960s & 1970s. This tribute is not radically revisionary--the treatments are floridly psychedelic rock renditions of the tunes, though with the odd disruption (notably the bizarre, hilarious acapella Minton solo in "Manic Depression"). The treatments are fresh ("Manic Depression" kicks off with a nice new guitar riff, while "Hey Joe" is one of the album's high points in its slow, cooled-down arrangement), while not radically departing from the originals--that's to be expected, I suppose, given that the instrumention isn't too far from that of the original Experience albums, except for the keyboards. That said, the album's take on psychedelia is deliberately campy, especially in Minton's completely over-the-top renditions of the lyrics & in Bates's cheesy keyboards.
The main problem here is that the album doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind about how seriously it wants to interrogate the Hendrix canon. It would really have benefitted from more unconventional instrumentation & arrangements (cf. the fashion for Hendrix arranged for string quartet, e.g.); instead, Minton sticks out like a sore thumb because of his parodically overwrought vocals, while Christy Doran plays things absolutely straight. Too much of the album is simply self-indulgent--virtually every track is in the 7-8 minute range, rather than keeping to the pithiness of the original versions. That said, it's nice to hear Doran's take on Hendrix, & the album is at least memorably odd. It'll appeal to those with a strange sense of humour--probably more Zappa fans than Hendrix fans will like this. "
review by
N. Dorward "obsessive reviewer"
pretty sure this has appeared elsewhere in mp3's
i love this record and thought someone might like it lossless.
however if theres demand i'll rip it to mp3 too
cheers