5 New Cuneiform Releases On May.
On May 10, 2005, Cuneiform will release 5 new recordings:
JOHN SURMAN – *Way Back When* – Cuneiform Rune 200 – JAZZ
GRAHAM COLLIER – *Workpoints* – Cuneiform Rune 213/214 – JAZZ
RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL – *Emissaries* – Cuneiform Rune 211/ 212 –
ELECTRONIC/ SPACE ROCK
MIRIODOR – *Parade* – Cuneiform Rune 208/209 – AVANT-PROGRESSIVE
PRESENT – *A Great Inhuman Adventure* – Cuneiform Rune 207 – ROCK
[more information on each release is below…]
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priority.
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Above all, thank you for the support you’ve given to our artists and their
music.
Here’s more info on our new releases:
JOHN SURMAN – *Way Back When* – Cuneiform Rune 200 – JAZZ
An immensely exciting lost album by British jazz legend John Surman, recorded
at an immensely exciting time in London’s jazz scene. One of Europe’s
foremost jazz musician’s, John Surman is a masterful improvisor, composer, and
multi-instrumentalist (baritone and soporano sax, bass clarinet,
synthesizers/electronics). *Way Back When* is a previously unreleased studio
recording that he
made with a quintet in October 1969, shortly before he left London to work with
The Trio. It features compositions by himself and John Warren, and a lineup of
Surman on baritone and soprano saxes, Brian Odgers on electric bass, Mike
Osborne on soprano sax, John Taylor on electric piano, and John Marshall on
drums. *Way Back When* is Surman’s farewell to ’60s London, recorded
immediately
before his international career took off and London’s swinging jazz scene
transformed. It shows Surman listening voraciously to a wide world of music,
exploring beyond the traditional boundaries of jazz and finding his own voice.
GRAHAM COLLIER – *Workpoints* – Cuneiform Rune 213/214 – JAZZ
British composer, bassist and improvisor Graham Collier played a key role in
the coming-of-age of British jazz during the 1960’s as well as its future
development. In 1967, Collier received the 1st commission for jazz given by the
Arts Council of Great Britain – a precedence-setting event for British jazz
composers. *Workpoints*, the piece he created for this commission, was
performed
at the time by Collier’s all-star big band but never released in a recording –
until now. Cuneiform’s release is a double CD featuring two performances by
Graham Collier’s bands, whose line-ups contain many key figures of British
jazz. Disc 1 is the first recorded release of Collier’s landmark work: a live
recording of a March 1968 London performance in by the Graham Collier Dozen,
performing *Workpoints* and other Collier compositions. Disc 2 features a live
recording of a performance by Collier’s sextet in Middleheim, Belgium in August
1975. Players include Collier (bass); Dave Aaron (sax, flute), Harry Beckett
(trumpet, flugelhourn), Mike Gibbs (trombone), Karl Jenkins (sax, oboe, piano),
Chris Smith (trombone); Henry Lowther (trumpet, flugelhorn), John Marshall
(drums), John Mumford (trombone), Frank Ricotti (Vibraphone, bongos), John
Surman
(sax, clarinet, piano), Kenny Wheeler (trumpet, flugelhorn), Roger Dean
(piano), Ed Speight (guitar), Art Themen (sax), and John Webb (drums). Capturing
2
all-star, live performances on CD, the double-CD *Workpoints* is an essential
document of a Golden Age of British jazz.
RADIO MASSACRE INTERNATIONAL – *Emissaries* – Cuneiform Rune 211/ 212 –
ELECTRONIC/ SPACE ROCK
Radio Massacre International is a British electronic music trio who are
carving out new ground in the genre of space music, a genre popularized by
Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel/ Manuel Gottsching, Hawkwind, and Pink Floyd in
the
1970s. The world’s best current exponents of epic electronic space
improvisations, RMI improvises with a mixture of vintage and modern analogue and
digital
equipment to create massive, shifting electronic soundscapes. The city of
Philadelphia – home planet to such eminent space emissaries as Sun Ra – played a
key
role in the band’ newest release, a double CD containing the band’s new studio
recording and a bonus CD of one of RMI’s legendary live performances. The
studio recording, called *Emissaries*, is unique collaborative venture between
RMI and Philadelphia-based comic book artist Matt Howarth. It contains a pdf
file of Howarth’s 10-pp comic, *Emissaries* (viewable with Adobe Acrobat 5), as
well as RMI’s music, which was inspired by the comic. Disc 2 is a recording of
a live radio concert that RMI did May 9, 2004 on the Philadelphia radio
station WXPN. *Emissaries* proves that space music is as vital and vibrant a
genre
today as it was in its infancy, and perhaps even more accessible for a wider
public than ever before.
MIRIODOR – *Parade* – Cuneiform Rune 208/209 – AVANT-PROGRESSIVE
If the visual fantasy, originality and grace of the Cirque du Soleil’s
acrobats could be translated into a music score, it would be the music of
Miriodor.
Its music is complex, playful, visually evocative and exquisitely performed.
Miriodor is the longest lived and most startlingly creative band to emerge
from Quebec’s vibrant progressive scene, and the main Canadian exponent of the
Rock In Opposition (RIO) sound. *Parade*, the band’s 6th release, is a double
CD featuring Miriodor’s newest studio recording and a bonus live recording.
Disc 1, *Parade*, is Miriodor’s new studio recording, which contains 3 tracks
featuring/ done in collaboration with/ Swedish Grammy-award winner Lars Hollmer.
Disc 2, *Live at NEARfest 2002*, is a bonus: the band’s 1st live record. It
features Miriodor’s stellar performance at NEARfest, the world’s premiere
festival of progressive music, where Miriodor was the surprise hit. Parading
Miriodor’s talents both in the studio and on stage, the double-disc *Parade* is
one
of Miridor’s most impressive releases to date. It shows Miridor on the march,
its music growing more multi-faceted and brilliant over time.
PRESENT – *A Great Inhuman Adventure* – Cuneiform Rune 207 – ROCK
In the spring of 1998, the Belgium band Present embarked on a 5-week tour of
North America. It was one of the most ambitious, daring and grueling tours
ever by an avant-garde European band, and their shows across the length and
breath of the massive continent sparked a tsunami of praise by audience members
as
well as by the press. *A Great Inhumane Adventure* is a live recording of
Present’s final performance on this tour, at Baltimore’s Orion Sound Studios,
and
the band was in top form after weeks on the road. It performed songs from
*Certitudes*, its then-recent Cuneiform studio release, as well as versions of
earlier works. Composed by Roger Trigaux, co-founder of Univers Zero, Present’s
music utilizes complex counterpoint, intricate interplay between two guitars
and bass, and a strong instumental attack. Featuring some of the emotional
intensity of Hendrix, the visceral, repetitive rhythm of the late Fela Kuti, and
the compositional sophistication of Univers Zero, Present’s music is not for the
fainthearted. Played with razor-sharp chops, the music on *A Great Inhumane
Adventure* is physically powerful and breathtakingly intense.
