Bunch of Oriental Wind albums from 1977 to 1982 by request

 

I mentioned before I don't really have a taste for this style of music with its ethnic importations. The group is Swedish but always played Mideastern style themes and styles.

These guys, led (I think) by the percussionist with the wonderful name of Okay Temiz, did put out a bunch of albums back in the day.  I've posted him before, when he played on the Turkish album by Tayfun Erdem about Ararat, back here. I thought he was in the Family of Percussion but he wasn't, that was German Trilok Gurtu, another percussionist who despite the name ending in a 'u', sorry to say is Indian. Clearly, Temiz should've been in that family, perhaps adopted, okay? Anyways, here are 5 of their albums beginning with the 1977 ST.

Crypto from 1975 in FLAC limited time only

This is utterly masterful European-style fusion, by that I mean it has emotional depth and variance, classical importations, complex arrangements and sounds and minimal overlong improvising in the American jazz tradition.  The mastermind or composer is a Dutch guy called Peter Schon who played in numerous other outfits, fusion at first but later on, disco, synth and rock, as one might expect.

Information on this brilliant work can be found here.

Gallfly is just a whole course on how to create memorable and inventive fusion with its shimmering strings opening leading into the funky keys pattern, then abrupt chord changes before tonic resolution:

My favourite track is Awakening and the reason is obvious, the soft keyboard intro leads into some outrageously creative and unique electric guitar arpeggiated melodies, it just blows me away how they came up with something at once euphonious, and totally odd, then this whole intro section transforms into a modal type vocal song:

Out to Lunch [Germ, 1985] in FLAC and Proteus' Infinite Change [USA 1981] more Gerry Brown John Lee with Chaser [USA 1979] by request

 

The Out to Lunch grouping is with Gebhard Ullmann (saxes), Andreas Willers (guitar), Hans-Dieter Lorenz (bass), and Nikolaus Schäuble (drums). I posted Willers and Ullman's Playful way back here.

The style is mostly improvised and possibly atonal or experimental contemporary jazz in that typical early 80s German style, with not too much to hold on to here unless you happen to have a taste for free jazz:

Proteus' Infinite Change on the other hand is fusion and does also have the influence of the period with the smoothness and perhaps lack of insane creativity. It opens a Mandala:

Requested albums: Carrousel La Vie est un Mystere [1982], Guadeloupe Reflexions Un Jeudi [1980], VS Quartet A Pot Zou [1986]

 

All of these were requested, and please, go ahead and make more requests because they turn out to be treasures I never heard of oftentimes. 

This stuff is all afro beat jazz from France, 1980s.

Carrousel - La Vie est un Mystere 1982, info here. A long description of this work can be found on that page that begins:

Loy Ehrlich, a multi-instrumentalist, was invited to Reunion in 1977 to join the Caméléons. This group, made up of René Lacaille, Alain Peters, Bernard Brancard, Joël Gonthier, and Hervé Imare, was in charge of the recordings and productions of the Royal studio in St Joseph, which had just been set up at the time.

In 1979 the group Caméléons ceased its activities and, under the motivation and the musical direction of Loy, the group Carrousel was born at the Etang St Leu with Alain Peters on bass and vocals, Loy Ehrlich on keyboards and vocals, Bigoun on drums, Joël Gonthier on percussion, Bruno Leflanchec on trumpet and Zoun on flute.

Vali:

Guadeloupe Reflexions – Un Jeudi A L'Arawak 1980 info here. Not much info actually, or tbh as the kids say.

Track called Guadeloupe Reflexions:

VS [Victor Sabas] Quartet – A Pou Zot... 1986, info here. Note that another album came out in 1991 from this grouping.

From that one, have a listen to the felicitous piano of Feliz:

Italian Drummer Aldo Romano in 3 from the late 70s [Divieto di Santificazione, Il Piacere, Night Diary]

From discogs:

Italian jazz drummer based in France, born on January, 16th, 1941 in Belluno, Italy.

Note he played with Christian Escoude, Enrico Rava, Henri Texier, plus a bunch of jazz bands of course, beside the great and brilliant Mariano, Philip Catherine, Porkpie, the Kuhn bros, so in short a lot or most of the well known brilliant Euro jazz / fusion artists, perhaps all of them in fact, and I believe everyone mentioned in this sentence has appeared here on this blog in years past for some album or another, as (incompletely) indicated. 

From 1979's Pleasure, a track called Pioggia sul Pineto can be heard here:

 

The phenomenal electric guitar playing is by the well known Frenchman, Claude Barthelemy.  All of his output under his own moniker is complex and worth hearing. I thought I posted the whole lot but maybe I didn't.

The next album, 1980's Night Diary wherein he has Van 't Hof on keys and Didier Lockwood on violin, as well as himself playing piano and guitars, has the most consistently enjoyable or accessible music while at the same time being interesting enough for us, and completely absent the 80s influence (digital drums, jumpy beats, shrill synths, etc.)-- consider Fina with its kind and appealing tenderness which owes a lot of course to the wonderful Didier's soft touch:

And the title track has an appealing soundtracky feel to it:

So in sum total, a very enjoyable mix of music and none-- absolutely none of the 80s influence and smooth fuzak one would have expected.

But I stopped listening to his output after 1980, perhaps I shouldn't have.

Someone surely knows more than me.