Thursday 30 January 2014

Gallery is ECM 1206... recorded in NYC, 1981 [new rip-- lossless limited time only; requested]







From prognotfrog: [by permission]

"Gallery is ecm 1206. It has never been released to cd. Why is this? Does the world really need another box set of Ella's greatest hits? If there are indeed some of you out there who have yet to buy one, please do so quickly, so the music industry can get to the lost ecm treasures like this one, by far my most wished-for cd rerelease (altho by now I've listened to it so many times I would never actually play the cd if I bought it...)

The first song is the most apt musical description of a bird in flight I've ever heard. A vibraphone (Dave Samuels) repeats a broken chord of F minor and cello and oboe take over melody, with that classic ecm sound of slow musical patterns soaring over a 16th note beat, slow over fast (Michael DiPasqua, percussion, Ratzo Harris, bass). The use of cello (David Darling) creates a plaintive sound throughout the album. Frequent modulations are the 'key' to this song, every phrase is succeeded by a change into another unrelated minor key, exactly the kind of unexpectedness that makes good jazz or prog so intellectually recharging.  The second song "Prelude" sounds like a Chick Corea composition as in his children's pieces but quite classical influenced being played by cello with vibes accompaniment. "Painting" consists of maddeningly complex chords gradually transfiguring into one another, like a roomful of Rothkos maybe.  In "Pale Sun" a soprano sax dialogues with the cello evoking those old sci-fi paintings of white dwarfs sunrising over cold dead planets. "Egret" returns to the ornithological exposition, cello melody, flightlike song structure. 


When I hear these albums it saddens me to think someone spent so much time writing these elaborate compositions, probably months committing them to paper, after likely years of musical training, only to be lost to the fourth dimension. I would like to live to hear these musical works being performed at the local symphony hall by a chamber group. Well, obviously that's a crazy dream. There is not a single throwaway song. The cohesiveness of the composition and style are remarkable. 

One must mention the cover art as well, a very beautiful image, almost a cartoon in black and white on a greying page: a yellow clothed figure running away in the left upper quadrant appears to be watched by a quartet of shadows in the foreground and a streetlight, like a nineteen seventies Georgio di Chirico, enigma of the late dusk.  A mysterious quatrain is handwritten below the image."


BTW here is the mystery quatrain on the cover:

"First you notice the wind
you're walking aimlessly
there in the middle of events
you'll stop when you think you know"

[by Mikko Hietaharju]

The group consists of Ratzo B. Harris (bass), David Darling (cello), Michael DiPasqua (drums), Paul McCandless (saxes, oboes, horn), with David Samuels on vibes. More information here.  These performers appeared on multiple other ECM releases that sounded similar, but the way these guys came together on this particular record is really special and outstanding-- it was a one of a kind event for sure.  All the compositions here are very strong.  Truly beautiful music.  Just check out D. Samuels' "Soaring:"



...

27 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. NB there is a new lossless link down below,
      the mp3 link still active on netkups

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    2. new lossless down below on sendspace

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  2. Hi,Julian.
    Thanks a lot for this beautiful music.
    I tried a few times and discovers something new when listening to it.

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  3. any chance for a reup on the lossless? Thanks if you can, sorry I missed it if you can't!!!

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  4. no probs, I'll do it on the weekend when I have a bit of time-- again, will be limited time only, so watch for it

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Any chance for a reup on this one? Appreciate it if possible.

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  7. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I get this message - This file does not exist, the access to the following file is limited or it has been removed due to infringement of copyright.

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    2. that's odd, I don't get the same message from the depositfiles

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    3. I'm in the US, does that make a difference?

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  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Yes, that worked. Thank you so much, one of my favorite albums. I really appreciate your effort.

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  10. Is a another Re-up possible, please?

    The lossless link has been dead for a while and I can't seem to find a working link anywhere else. I've been putting myself off requesting this here for months (to be fair I keep discovering enough interesting/fascinating music here to put my mind off it) hoping I'd find one somewhere, but nothing.

    Thanks nonetheless for a great blog.

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  11. new lossless:

    https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/ff773a

    enjoy it!

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  12. A thousand thanks! Saw them live in a small club in Cleveland in 1982 and they were every bit as good as you'd expect. Apparently Samuels was friends with the club owner and was doing him a favor.

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  13. Replies
    1. lossless:
      https://we.tl/t-KHKWzxrpaV

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    2. Hello, i try the chance ..
      Could you post a link for this album please ?
      Thanks very much

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  14. Thanks.
    The Sendspace link from 2015 still works.

    ReplyDelete