Rowley Gallery Blog
I was looking for more Bobby McFerrin and I found this. He was performing in Burghausen in 2002 at a concert where he duetted with surprise partners, some more successfully than others. This was the highlight. I’d not heard from Maria João since 2000 but I was glad to be reminded. She’s lovely and maybe a little bit crazy with a wonderful elastic voice. Continue reading “Dois Duetos”
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”. Continue reading “Pentatonic Scale”
I found this video at Open Culture and couldn’t resist sharing it here.
Since 1999, the French juggling group Les Objets Volants (The Flying Objects) have been entertaining audiences worldwide. Beyond juggling, their shows incorporate elements of theater, visual arts and even mathematics. And the group takes special pride in exploring new ways of handling and manipulating everyday objects. Which brings us to the performance above. There you can see Les Objets Volants perform Bach’s Prélude N°1. (which more typically sounds something like this) on “boomwhackers,” those hollow, color-coded, plastic percussion tubes, which are tuned to different musical pitches. Recorded last March, the clip is an outtake from a Les Objets Volants show called “Liaison Carbone,” which explores concepts in physics. Enjoy.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Lockn’ Festival in Arrington, Virginia two months ago performing a tribute to Joe Cocker, featuring songs from his classic live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, with a little help from their friends, original Mad Dogs: Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge and Claudia Lennear.
The Tedeschi Trucks Band are appearing tonight at the O2. For a reminder of their last visit to London see our earlier post – Mavis, Susan & Derek.
I’ve been listening to Nashville Obsolete, the new album by Dave Rawlings Machine. It begins with The Weekend and it’s accompanying video documents a weekend roadtrip by Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch from Nashville to California. It got me looking around for more. Continue reading “The Weekend”
Bob Dylan inventing the music video in 1965 round the back of the Savoy Hotel in London.
Fifty years on and he’s back in London tonight, this time at the Royal Albert Hall.
Thirty paintings by David Mabb at the William Morris Gallery – The Arts & Crafts Movement meets Russian Constructivism. Mabb has superimposed pages from the Kelmscott Chaucer by William Morris with images by El Lissitzky from For The Voice, a book of revolutionary poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, to create a double celebration of utopian art. Continue reading “Announcer”
During all the recent celebrations for Terry Riley’s 80th birthday I discovered many unfamiliar videos and recordings but none was more welcome than this with Don Cherry from 1975:
It’s from a bootleg recording of a concert in Cologne (available here) and although none of the pieces are credited I think this one is Descending Moonshine Dervishes. It begins with Terry Riley keyboard improvisations and Don Cherry accompanying on doussn’gouni, weaving intricate sound patterns, but when Don switches to pocket trumpet the music changes gear and he just simply lifts my heart. Continue reading “Terry Riley”
A favourite clip from Louis Malle’s 1958 debut movie, Ascenseur Pour L’Échafaud, starring Jeanne Moreau with a wonderful improvised soundtrack by Miles Davis.
Davis was booked to perform at the Club Saint-Germain in Paris for November 1957. Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a jazz fan and Louis Malle’s assistant at the time introduced him to Malle, and Davis agreed to record the music after attending a private screening. On December 4, he brought his four sidemen to the recording studio without having had them prepare anything. Davis only gave the musicians a few rudimentary harmonic sequences he had assembled in his hotel room, and, once the plot was explained, the band improvised without any precomposed theme, while edited loops of the musically relevant film sequences were projected in the background. www.discogs.com
I have to admit I’ve not yet seen the film (though I did once see Jeanne Moreau looking in our gallery window) but I’ve listened to the soundtrack countless times. I bought the LP years ago after reading a recommendation by Richard Williams and I agree with him that it’s one of Miles Davis’s best.