Steve Kimmel writes music for the Nancy Hauser Dance Company (1974)

First of all, from popsike:


RARE AVANTGARDE JAZZ - LP
RECORDED FOR THE FAMOUS DANCE COMPANY OF NANCY HAUSER
ONLY PRESSED IN A SMALL AMOUNT OF ABOUT OF 300 PIECES
GREAT PSYCH JAZZ - FUNK WITH CONGAS / MARIMBAS / TABLA / SYNTH ELECTRONIC SOUNDS
STEVE KIMMEL WAS ALSO PART OF THE PSYCH - JAZZ GROUP "NATURAL LIFE"

MUSICIANS:

1st work: Bob Rockwell, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute ; Maggie Rostan, flute ; Terry Tilley, bass, electronics, male voice ; Steve Kimmel, vibes, percussion, drum set ; Alice Block, Judy Ragir, Wendy Hambridge, Gina Wray, assorted voices ; Larry Loud, Bill Buchen, Mike Croy, Dave Olausen, Mike O'Brian, Hearn Gadboy, assorted percussionists ; Marilyn Scher, lead vocal

2nd work: Don Young, native tongue voice ; Kimmel, percussion ; Tilley, bass ; Carol Margolis, violin ; John Gessner, temple blocks ; Bruce Wintervold, congas, log drums ; Buchen, percussion

3rd work: Margolis, violin ; David Fergerson, violoncello ; Tilley, bass ; Kimmel, marimba.

LABEL: WRANEBEAU LPS 9904, released 1974 (US FIRST PRESSING / US ERSTPRESSUNG) MADE IN USA



Note the presence of Bob Rockwell here, and Terry Tilley bassist in the WERB.  This record complements the last post from WERB very nicely.

Some will hate it, personally I adore this kind of melding of modern classical music with more popular elements (jazz in this particular case-- not that you could call it popular anymore) which is so lacking today.  There are some experimental passages, some are downright silly, but certainly there's enough original, well-written music to keep us entertained for a solid hour or more.

The first side (Doll-a-Bye) is a long suite with many varied parts, in fact it's quite well-described by the liner notes on the back, should you choose to read those and I do recommend you do since they were written by Steve himself with indications of which sections were improvised and which composed, which is helpful. The silly and entirely skippable part is called Double Primal and refers to primal therapy, psychologist Arthur Janov's idiotic idea that by regressing to childhood, reliving trauma from then, and screaming a lot, people could be cured of just about anything in the world.  What amazes me the most is how naive these patients were to not recognize all of this as huge money-making enterprises for their founders, like Scientology.  But of course it's the naivete of the 60s-70s that I've mentioned before is so endearing.  Some might remember primal got a huge shot of fame through the promotion of John Lennon, whose first album (Plastic Ono Band, 1970) with songs like "Mother" and "My Mummy's Dead" references it throughout.  I hadn't realized until I reread the history in wikipedia that an offshoot called Feeling Therapy wound up being one of the most interesting chapters in the abysmally abhorrent lifespan of 20th century psychology, especially the sordid and sorry story of its American genera.  With all due respect to economics, the true dismal science of course is psychology, starting with the fraud of Freud).  The story goes that briefly, some renegade 'therapists' of primal therapy created an inpatient centre in which, after infantilizing their patients by forcing them to 'get in touch with their feelings' by punching them, literally (called 'sluggo' therapy), having sex with them if female, or forcing them to get naked, if large-breasted, created a hundreds-strong workforce for their personal gain and massive, ever-hypertrophying egos, i.e. they created a psychological cult (btw their private ranch was called the Doll Baby Ranch).  And I thought I had already read everything crazy about psychology. Always more to find.  Going back to the record though, the conversation in the second section of Doll-a-Bye does hold interest as I'm sure it's a bona fide recording, as opposed to a written, theatrical performance, of either primal therapy or possibly the feeling therapy sect.  It's amazing that adults were favorable to the idea, 45 years ago, of behaving or talking like 5-year-olds or insanely neurotic 5-year-olds perhaps.  The past truly is a different world.

But the best section of Doll-a-Bye is the intro, which is interesting because "each time the phrase is repeated it is one note shorter" in Steve's description:





In the middle passage of the the long song on side b (Mocking Song on the Spirit of Gravity) there is a section with a trinome, something I'd never heard of, in which three different prime number rhythms are polyrhythmed on top of each other ("3 against 5 against 7" in his terms).  Thus it's a metronome with three separate rhythms possible.  Incongruously, the string section then plays the irritating camp song "When you're smiling."  There comes thereafter the best part of the second long track, the Statement of Mass, with its appropriately grave and portentous atmosphere:





A really good composition I think most will agree.

The LP closes out with Rituals (a reflection on tribal rituals) which for me is just all over the place.  It sounds purely like an undergraduate music major exercise in political correctness. The most amazing aspect of it is that some guy named Don Young does a perfect imitation of a hindu guru reciting a chant, complete with that wad-in-cheeks vocal sound so made fun of on The Simpsons.  Let's remember that in those days, so long ago, it was really hard to find a real Indian guy.  I'm sure.

Inside the sleeve a wonderful typed note from Steve, whose scan I included, beginning:


TO EACH HIS RAINBOW

(a piece of musical thoughts)


Imagine the melody to one of your favourite songs...
Now hold the first note of that song in your head.
Make that note louder and softer in your head.
Stop and start, hearing that same note.
Maintain a period of inner silence.
Return to your note if you can remember it, otherwise find a new note.
Turn whatever thoughts that come into your head into a dream song, staying close to 
     that note, hanging notes if you can.  Stay here for a while.  Enjoy your
     thoughts in a musical way.

etc.

Rare for sure, but worth rediscovering.  Thanks to Steve.