MIA's Nono Belvis + Kike Sanzol in Que Estan Celebrando los Hombres

 

I suppose everyone is familiar with the Argentinian group MIA, catalogued in that link. The acronym is for Músicos Independientes Asociados. Evidently their seminal album Transparencias was just a perfect hallmart of progressive folk mixed with chamber composition, skillfully written and played. And the 1978 one Cornonstipicum was also incredible.  These 2, guitarist / bassist Nono Belvis and drummer / vibraphonist Kike Sanzol however were not in the original lineup and didn't show up until En Vivo from 1977.  I didn't realize they made this MIA-like album, in 1982, until recently.

The music thus is percussion-heavy acoustic folky stuff, but quite admirably composed. The dual acoustic guitarwork on the track called Blanca Presencia is absolutely heavenly in my opinion:

For some atmospheric stuff but with Nono's electric guitar pulled out of its case, Una Specie de Hueco:

Jim Pepper's Pow Wow (USA 1971), Hopper and Soft Head, Sonny Fortune - Waves of Dreams (USA 1976), and Cravo Canela Preço - De Cada Um (Bra 1977), requested

 

Sonny Fortune:

Born May 19, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Died October 25, 2018 in New York City, New York.

American jazz woodwind player. Fortune played soprano, alto, tenor, & baritone saxophones, clarinet, and flute.

Title track of 1976's Waves of Dreams:

Jim Pepper's album from 1971 is an oddity definitely, with Indian drumming under some pretty basic songwriting:

American tenor saxophonist, composer, and singer of Native American ancestry. He was born in Salem, Oregon, June 18, 1941 and died Portland, Oregon, February 10, 1992.

As for Hugh Hopper and Soft Head, I think most people are familiar with these offshoots of the inimitable classic Canterbury fusion band Soft Machine.

Cravo Canela is basic pop/samba.

French Bassist Bunny (Bernard) Brunel in 3 (Touch 1979, Ivanhoe 1983, Momentum 1989) by request

 

Information databased here on discogs. 

In 1979 he created what is for me one of the standout masterpiece of progressive fusion from France, an album called Touch.   Note that earlier in the seventies he teamed up with Didier Lockwood and his bro Francis (plus Patrick Gauthier on keys) for the one-off album Jazz-Rock (1976) which is stunning too. And in the next year, played with Didier again in the wonderful Surya. Prior to these he also played in Tony Williams' Lifetime, another brilliant outfit. Anyways back to Touch. 

I rank this as one of the best albums in the style from that country, along with the Lockwoods (posted before), the amazing Cokelaere work, Transit Express, Potemkin, we can't forget Xalph, and then the masterpiece from Jean-Louis Bucchi, Sunflower (1978), but it sounds most like the 80s albums, so gently emotional and brilliantly original, from Joel Dugrenot: Boomerang, See, Mosaiques. There are many others I forget to mention.

Consider Little Green Girl:

Or Nova:

The emotional context is what I find so entrancing.

Unfortunately (for me), the follow up Ivanhoe reverts back to contemporary jazz styles and eschews the lovely fusion, a representative track would be Dede:

(This is not the same situation as for Pyramids and Birds of the Night from Eef Albers, wherein stunningly beautiful compositions appear post-1980 as evidenced by the post here. But I guess that was for sure a rarity.)

From 1989, Brunel's Momentum moves even further into the direction of tinny-keyboards / smooth slapped 80s bass fusion, typical of the times. I find the sound of the keys especially annoying, compared to the 60s majesty of hammonds and spacey dreaminess of the Fender Rhodes. However a small touch of the earlier emotionally adept well-crafted fusion style remains, in Again:

I have Touch in lossless, the other 2 in mp3... more requests up shortly

Canadians Le Pouls from 1976, fresh rip from vinyl, lossless limited time only

 

Well, I gotta say I'm a little disturbed by that cover, but I'll leave it at that. Information here for this one-off band, with the French word for 'Pulse'. I read however that the founder of the band, Denis Lepage (who married singer Denyse, as it happens) is described thus:

From Montréal, Québec, Canada.Married Denyse Lepage and together formed the pioneering electro-disco duo Lime (2), reaching club success in the early 1980's. Denis LePage later came out to be transgender, singing under alias Nini No Bless. Passed away august 21-2023 (Montréal, Canada)

The music is divided between the fusion we love (all written by Denis Lepage), and simple or silly  funky pop, with perhaps a preponderance of the latter, sadly. At least they were a bit fair about this sibling rivalry. Anyways the fusion pieces are so wonderful it was well worth resuscitating this enterprise.

Among those outstanding compositions, we have the ethereal and otherworldly flight patterns evoked by the synths on the Ocean Cosmique:

And another stunning fusion creation called Hymne au Soleil:

Too bad it's not a whole album filled with joys like this, right?

Back to Abe Battat's Once Around the Block from 1965, vinyl ripped, lossless limited time only

 

Recall his track called was in Praise Poems Volume 3, posted here. I hope I wasn't the only one who was shocked by how good the composition was and is.  Unfortunately it's not the same as the track that appears on this LP, instead, that song showed up as a single later in 1970. Anyone have it and can share the full single, ie both sides?

This is definitely the oldest vinyl I've ever posted, I think. Info here, note the recording is mono (there exists a stereo version). That beautiful cover graphic is credited to Karin Battat, presumably his wife.

It's all piano and rhythm section with only one cover version, And I Love Her (yes the Beatles song). 

Once you were mine: