Terry Riley, the Vintage Orchestra, Harp, various artists around the musical “The Color Purple”, Lenhart Tapes

2023-12-15 17:00:07
Terry Riley
In C
20 Sonneurs, Erwan Keravec (artistic direction). Cover of the album “In C”, by Terry Riley by 20 Sonneurs, Erwan Keravec (artistic direction). BUDA MUSIC/SOCADISC

Cult work of the minimalist movement since its creation in 1964, In C is, undoubtedly, to Terry Riley (born in 1935) what the Bolero is by Maurice Ravel. A repetitive haute couture “pattern” that encourages the craziest adaptations. Except that, unlike Ravel, Riley did not give any instructions on the material to be used for its creation. From the electric guitar to the synthesizer, including the cabrette and the hurdy-gurdy, the choice of unusual timbres has often formed the basis of new versions of this In Cintended “to any instrument(s)”. So it is with the 20 Sonneurs that Erwan Keravec brought together with force of bagpipes and bombards in the spirit of an imposing bagad (specific formation of traditional Breton music). Meticulously articulated, the result sometimes seems to emanate from a great bell or, on a spiritual level, to echo the experimental Theater of Eternal Music founded by La Monte Young, Riley’s mentor. Pierre Gervasoni

Buda Music/Socadisc.

Fabien Mary and The Vintage Orchestra
Reload Cover of the album “Reload”, by Fabien Mary and The Vintage Orchestra. BENART RECORDS/INOUÏE DISTRIBUTION

Founded in the early 2000s, the Vintage Orchestra, led by saxophonist Dominique Mandin, first made a name for itself by reviving the repertoire of the orchestra of trumpeter Thad Jones (1923-1986) and drummer Mel Lewis ( 1929-1990), active from 1966 to 1978. With the release of the album Too Short, in 2021, compositions and arrangements by one of its members, trumpeter Fabien Mary, were highlighted. Here are eight new examples, in Reload, equally exciting. Subtlety of the writing of the ensemble playing (alliance of the flutes with the trombones in Wheat Field Under a Blue Sky), very “visual” evocation in The Cat and the Mouse (“the cat and the mouse”), elk of Windy Corner…, swing at all times, even at a slow tempo, collective attention to giving birth to this jazz, which, far from being “old”, as the name of the orchestra indicates, proves timeless. Sylvain Siclier

BenArt Records/Unheard of Distribution.

Cover of the album “Albion”, by Harp. BELLA UNION/PIAS

From 1999 to 2012, Tim Smith was the singer and songwriter for the progressive folk group Midlake. Their masterpiece, The Trials of Van Occupanther (2006), sees the band from Denton (Texas) promoted internationally as a seventies version of Radiohead, a fine alliance of the British school of Canterbury (Caravan, Robert Wyatt) and the soft rock of Fleetwood Mac. But, after a mixed third opus, The Courage of Others (2010), Smith left his group to “artistic differences”. Here he is finally again, ten years later, under the alias Harp in a duo with his partner, Kathi Zung, and this inaugural Albion presented as an introspective quest with “medieval” overtones. Contrary to the abundant arrangements of Midlake, these ten compositions (plus two instrumentals) aspire to purity: sumptuous aristocratic voice, ethereal layers, dry guitar and tearful electric arpeggios transport us gracefully towards the drizzly pop of the Cocteau Twins. Between folk and cold wave, these balladsAlbion remain a fascinating geographical enigma. Franck Colombani

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