My
uncle Donald "Bur" Carpenter passed away suddenly last Tuesday at age
63. He was a hard-working watermelon farmer married 44 years with two
kids in Grand Ridge, Florida, an hour west of Tallahassee near the
border of Georgia. It was to be the last summer before his
retirement. We attended the funeral in a little country church not far
from their house. Their entire lives are farming and family, and no
other distractions. Here is a photograph taken last week of the house
they grew up in. "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" is a song I wrote about
my father and Donald growing up in this house. It is a classic cracker
house architecture, tin roof, susceptible to leaks, built in the early
1900s.
The new Beat Circus album Boy From Black
Mountain is mastered. It will see a release date on September 29th on Cuneiform Records. The album
was recorded at Camp Street Studios by Sean Slade (Dresden Dolls, Dinosaur Jr., Radiohead) and mixed by Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Antony &
the Johnsons, Angels Of Light). Special guests include vocalist
Larkin Grimm (Young God Records), cellist Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnsons),
and multi-instrumentalist Bill Cole (a specialist in non-Western wind instruments
such as the Chinese suona). We are planning a big cd release show in Boston in early September
so you can get your hands on it a little earlier so stay tuned for that.
Here is the track listing: 1. The February Train
2: The Life You Save May Be Your Own
3: Boy From Black Mountain
4: Clouds Moving In
5: Petrified Man
6: As I Lay Dying
7: Saturn Song
8: The Course Of The River
9: The Quick And The Dead
10: The Sound And The Fury
11: Judgment Day
12: Nantahala 13: Lullaby For Alexander
On the last Ghost Train gig, Michael Attias and I were
talking about Don Redman. I was familiar with his work as the musical
director of Fletcher Henderson in the early 1920s. Redman was one of
the first great jazz arrangers. Michael was really excited telling me
about Redman's work with a band called McKinney's Cotton Pickers. This
was a band out of Detroit who nabbed Redman from Henderson in 1927. By
the early 1930s, Redman was leading his own band and in 1933, Dave
Fleischer hired him to score and appear as "special guest" in this
Betty Boop cartoon "I Heard". (Redman is the voice of the singing
waiter.) I think it's clear the Fleischer brothers enjoyed jazz
because they did something similar with Cab Calloway (not to mention
the fact that Betty herself loved jazz, being a flapper and all.)
Redman's
own compositions, including his "The Chant Of The Weed", featured here,
have a mysterious quality to them. McKinney's band played this piece
at about twice the tempo here. Check out this hilarious opening bit
with Redman's orchestra swaying as part of Betty Boop's saloon. Pee
Wee's Playhouse, anyone??
Last year Sergio Leone's 1968 epic spaghetti western Once Upon A Time In The West
was showing at the Brattle and I went with a bunch of friends. What an
experience. Leone's extreme close-ups and widescreen cinematography
combine with incredibly elaborate set pieces of cities in the Old
American West built around railroad stations. The performances are
fantastic with Jason Robards and Charles Bronson (who appropriately
doesn't have but a few sentences of dialogue in the entire picture) in
leading roles. Henry Fonda, cast against type as a ruthless murderer,
gives an absolutely chilling performance.
I've recently been
listening to a lot of vinyl and several years ago had picked up Ennio
Morricone's original soundtrack to the film. I put it on today and was
stunned all over again. Morricone is at the top of his game here. His
score is at turns majestic, haunting, and unabashedly beautiful. All
of Morricone's signature voicings are channeled through Alessandro
Alessandroni's Cantoni Moderni, incorporating Alessandroni's whistling
and solo soprano Edda Dell'Orso at the height of her powers. Legend
has it that Leone played parts of Morricone's score for the actors
while on set as if he were conducting an opera.
One of my
favorite film scores of all time. Check out the film if you haven't
(in a theater if the opportunity presents itself), and get your hands
on the original soundtrack recording. You can thank me later.
Last
week we announced the street date for our forthcoming album Boy From
Black Mountain, September 29th on Cuneiform
Records. We are planning a big cd release show in Boston on Friday September
11 so you can get your hands on it earlier. We are now happy to present
the first single "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" on the MUSIC
page.
The cover illustration is by the great Carson
Ellis, known for her illustrations for children's books such as The
Mysterious Benedict Society and The Composer Is Dead and artwork
for The Decemberists.
The third full-length Beat Circus album Boy From Black
Mountain will see a release date on September 29th on Cuneiform
Records. We are planning a big cd release show in Boston in early September
so you can get your hands on it a little earlier...stay tuned. The album
was produced by Brian Carpenter and Bryce Goggin (Akron/Family, Antony &
the Johnsons, Bishop Allen, Angels Of Light). Special guests include vocalist
Larkin Grimm (Young God Records), cellist Julia Kent (Antony and the Johnsons),
and multi-instrumentalist Bill Cole (a specialist in non-Western wind instruments
such as the Chinese suona). For more background behind the album, read this
story published by the Boston Phoenix in advance of the cd release.
