Mwendo Dawa, 1979 (Basic Line) and 1981

Swedish modern jazz group who released quite a slew of albums back in the day starting with 1979's Basic Line.

Italian Psalm from 1979:

Serifos from 1981:

Golden Avatar (Michael Cassidy) and A Change of Heart

This album came out in 1976, thus before the previous post, and it's very similar, perhaps a little bit less progressive and more basic songwriting. Nonetheless I strongly recommend you have a listen to this, perhaps focus on a few really well written tracks.

Seers of the Truth is truly haunting:

Busy Making Progress aka Beyond Illusion from Michael Cassidy, 1978

 

That Progress cover drawing is absolutely beautiful, again. What a joy to see such artwork from the times. On the other hand, the alternate photographic cover, a bit puzzling to me...

I came across this totally accidentally and boy am I happy I did, a totally unknown ssw type LP with a lot of progressive ideas with born again Xian lyrics, by Michael Cassidy.  Note that it appeared under his artist name here (named Beyond Illusion) and then again as Busy Making Progress, with the amazing art and obviously ironic title. The music is really inventive with some odd chord changes, interesting arrangements, the usual bag of tricks we expect from musical work that is really in the progressive spirit, not just claims to be that on those dumb reviews.

The first track is quite captivating:

Arturo Stalteri, by request

Here's an artist I'm surprised I never heard before given that his stuff is, again, right up my alley. It's similar to the Penguin Orchestra recently posted with the mix of chamber, folky acoustic, touches of electronic and ambient sounds.

Arturo Stalteri was pianist and composer for the 70s Italian prog outfit Pierrot Lunaire, a trio who made two quite different albums, the first folky and the second experimental, neither quite interesting enough, and one thinks if only they had met in the middle for something more accessibly progressive. 

There are surprisingly long gaps in his output, but the next album from 1979 presents a wonderful mix the kind that was lacking in Pierrot, with progressive all instrumental compositions, very similar to two prior Italians posted some time back here on this blog, Maurizio Fabrizio, and Claudio Dentes (Panta Rei).

Note that the 1979 album Andre Sulla Luna presumably references Pierrot Lunaire and divides into two sides, the first being the dream of Andre and the second being Andre on the moon.

From the back's credits it's clear he is also a multi-instrumentalist who played almost everything here. Consider Verso La Realta:

 The beautiful composition called Morceau (French term for a short composition, meaning piece) with its piano plus clarinet plus electric organ is from the next album which came out in 1987 and also references the moon:

Unfortunately by 1992's Syriarise, the music becomes a little less interesting and more ambiently repetitive along the lines of minimal Philip Glass with as well many solo grand piano pieces. Nonetheless some lovely passages are worth hearing.

Back to the incomparable Igor Nazaruk with 1978's Approval / Statement

 

As usual (in these Russian situations) multiple covers. Information here.

I've raved about Igor before, here. I put a link there for his masterpiece, the Forest Awakens. The Moscow composer Chugunov suggested by our Russian friend, is similar and probably superior in terms of the breadth of his oeuvre. I wish we could our hands on everything he ever composed.

Nazaruk was incredible in the way he mastered American jazz and fusion and incorporated it with the classical education and tradition, like Igor Brill posted here. I almost fell off my chair when I saw my friend had found another LP from Nazaruk that I hadn't seen before because of course these compiled lists are not up to date in discogs, just as you might expect from such a foreign country with clear 'lost music.' I wonder too how much of the Babayev music is lost over there, that other incredible composer.

You can get a sense of Nazaruk's jazz abilities from a solo piano rendition of the Bacharach standard Alfie that he plays on side 2, I am, despite having heard that tune millions of times already, entranced by the new ideas he brings to chords melodies and improvisations. Some cover versions include Feliciano and Wes Montgomery, but there are original compositions too.  In particular one from Nazaruk, called N. and A. is highly interesting: