Phoenix: Live in Salzburg & Zurich

Artist: Pago Libre Label: Leo Records Category: Music Average customer rating: Format: Live Media: Audio CD Number Of Discs: 1 EAN: 5024792037728 ASIN: B0000E2PA5 Release Date: 2003-11-25

Listmania:

1. Hippest Music I know of (Mostly Jazz)

Tracks:

1. Folk Song
2. Karelian Kink
3. Archaeopteryx
4. Turcana
5. synopsis
6. Phoenix: Rising
7. Falsche Faehrten
8. Calling
9. Walking
10. Dreaming
11. Dancing
12. Suonatina
13. Tikkettitakkitakk

Customer Reviews:

I've called three bands "Best on the Planet" lately.......2004-06-18

And it's not even my fault. If I could've received a copy of this disc in a timely fashion, instead of having to wait around for a couple of weeks to get it, I wouldn't have made those brash pronouncements about those other groups, GREAT AS THEY ARE (and they ARE great), and would've reserved my praise for this absolutely transcendent band.

Well, that's water under the bridge.

OK, let's get on with it (I can hear the impatient reader mumbling). First things first. I also recently said that ECM and Palmetto were the two hottest labels out there. Wrong again. It's that avant-garde British label, Leo. With Masashi Harada's Obliteration at the End of Multiplication, The Actis Band's Garibaldi, Brennan, Lee, and Van Der Schiff's Zero Heroes, Brennan and Patumi's Time Jumps--Space Cracks, and this amazing disc, Leo just edges out ECM. And if it were a tie, the nod would have to go to Leo because they purvey the coolest, most out jazz around.

Pago Libre boasts a most unlikely lineup: John Wolf Brennan, Irish/Swiss on piano; Daniele Patumi, Italian/Chinese on bass; Arkady Shilkloper (Russian, one supposes) on French horn, flugelhorn, alphorn, "alperidoo" (a combination alphorn and didgeridoo, one supposes); and Tscho Theissing (don't know his nationality) on violin. They play folk-based avant-garde jazz, very technically accomplished, ravishingly beautiful, absolutely accessible, and unendingly interesting. All are obviously classically trained, but they exhibit none of that non-swinging, tight-assed playing typical of jazz-slumming classical players. Instead, they swing their butts off, getting into all kinds of polyrhythmic intricacies. Especially intriguing to me are the numbers featuring the alperidoo, vaulting the proceedings into some kind of ur-musical world/jazz space similar to what (though sounding nothing like) Oliver Lake accomplishes with his Steel Quartet.

A note about the players: each is an absolute monster on his chosen instrument(s); Daniele Patumi's bass solo, for example, on "Turcana," is the best I've ever heard. John Wolf Brennan, who has recorded dozens of discs in his two-decade-or-so career (all worth acquiring, if you can find them), has developed a unique concept on piano--spacey, delicate, percussive, declamatory, dancing, beguiling. The only player who comes close to him is Keith Tippett, but Brennan's both a lot more accessible and chops-heavy. Tscho Theissing has practically reconceived both the role of the violin in a setting like this, and figured out how to match its somewhat awkward timbre/aural palette to these folk/out-jazz proceedings. Arkady Shilkloper employs his very clumsy main ax (French horn) in such a nimble and tone-centered manner, one can scarcely believe he is getting the sounds he does from this perhaps most difficult of all instruments. For a taste of his sheer brilliance check out his astounding solo performance on "Walking," part two of the Alpine Trail suite.

I know there are lots of barriers in this music for the average listener to overcome--little-known artists, avant-garde label, odd instrumentation, live performance--but I would encourage anyone and everyone to carefully consider acquiring this spectacular disc. Really, one is the poorer for not having heard music of this transcendent gloriousness. And seldom if ever have such wide-ranging talents and influences come together to produce music of this magnitude. Absolute highest recommendation.

Music CD:

1. Ain't Nothin' Stoppin' Us Now ~ Tower of Power
2. Changes ~ Keith Jarrett Trio with Gary Peacock and Jack De Johnette
3. The Complete Verve Tal Farlow Sessions ~ Tal Farlow
4. East Meets Midwest ~ Kenny Poole & Gene Bertoncini
5. Black Woman/Freedom Sounds ~ Sonny Sharrock & Wayne Henderson
6. Piano Jazz: McPartland/Gillespie ~ Marian McPartland, Dizzy Gillespie
7. Debut Rarities, Vol. 4 ~ Charles Mingus Group
8. Black Orchid ~ Cal Tjader
9. Hiroshima ~ Hiroshima
10. BD Jazz ~ Louis Armstrong

Music CD

Music CD

Music CD

Volume 1 ~ Bass Trip

Magick Brother ~ Gong

Hello Heartstring ~ The Moonlighters

Live in Japan May 2000 ~ Slapp Happy

It's Not You It's Me: The Best of First Grade Crush ~ First Grade Crush

Maximum Pop Hits: Songs from the Heart ~ Various Artists

An American Portrait ~ Various Artists

Evolution

The Hidden Talent Disk

Be True to Yourself ~ 2nd II None