SPIRITS BURNING & CLEARLIGHT - THE ROADMAP IN YOUR HEAD

• spirits burning & clearlight: the roadmap in your head
      (2016, cd, UK, gonzo multimedia)

In 2016, Don Falcone's space rock ensemble teamed up with French band Clearlight, resulting in "The Roadmap In Your Head".
It was an exercise both bands had already done in 2013 for "Healthy Music In Large Doses".

Again, a collaboration that's worth checking out.

THE FURIOUS BONGOS - THE ROAD TO HALLOWEEN 2023 VOL. 2

The Furious Bongos released "The Road To Halloween 2023 Volume 1" in March.
Last month, "Volume 2" followed.

Superb versions of Frank Zappa compositions.
This is an old guy talking, but this should be out on CD or on LP. 

They performed twice at last year's Zappanale, both exceptional performances, and it sounds like they've only gotten better.

"Volume 2" (with Chad Wackerman on drums) got released on April 22. I bought it the same date (or maybe on the 23rd) and I've been playing at least a couple of tracks every day since then.

AMANDA WHITING - THE LIMINALITY OF HER

Here's another fine discovery (that got presented to me by one of my friends): Amanda Whiting's "The Liminality Of Her".
Welsh harpist and composer combines beautiful (harp) melodies (in different musical styles) with contemporary beats and rhythms (not forgetting the great bass lines)

Beautiful !!
Recommended listening.

TU-NER TOURDATES

MoonJune says:

We're thrilled to announce the upcoming Tu-Ner tour. Catch Trey Gunn on touch guitar, Pat Mastelotto on drums and electronics, and Markus Reuter on touch guitar as they hit the road to share their electrifying performances with fans across the country.

Mark your calendars for these tour dates:

• May 9: Phoenix, AZ (The Rhythm Room)
• May 10: San Marcos, CA (The Bornemann Theater)
• May 11: Los Angeles, CA (The Baked Potato, 2 shows)
• May 12: Los Angeles, CA (The Baked Potato, 2 shows)
• May 14: Mill Valley, CA (Sweetwater Music Hall)
• May 16: Stockton, CA (Haggin Museum)
• May 18: Arcata, CA (Arcata Playhouse)
• May 20: Eugene, OR (The WOW Hall)
• May 22: Portland, OR (Alberta Abbey)
• May 23: Seattle, WA (The Triple Door)
• May 25: Vashon Island, WA (Open Space Center For Arts)
• May 26: Vancouver, BC, Canada (BlueShore Financial Centre for the Performing Arts at Capilano University)

JOHN SURMAN - WORDS UNSPOKEN

• john surman: words unspoken
      (2024, cd, germany, ecm)

Multi-instrumentalist and composer John Surman's latest album is entitled "Words Unspoken".
From the first notes, John takes you on a voyage.

This is nice. This is a really nice album.

The album title – Words Unspoken – alludes to the instant musical understanding found by the members of this nimble quartet assembled by great British reedman John Surman. „My idea was to put together some musical ideas that would offer a collective sense of purpose but still be open enough to allow each of us to suggest other ways of developing the material together. Everything fell into place immediately. But I soon realized it wasn‘t so much the musical ideas that made it work, it was the musicians.” Surman and US vibraharpist Rob Waring – both residents of Oslo – had previously collaborated in John’s Invisible Threads trio with Nelson Ayres, but the associations with Norwegian drummer Thomas Strønen and UK guitarist Rob Luft were new. With these four quick-witted players, all debate takes place in the music, stimulated by Surman’s strongly melodic themes and improvisational imagination.

DAVE NEWHOUSE - NATURA MORTA

• dave newhouse: natura morta
      (2024, cd, uk, newhouse music)

I received a digital copy of "Natura Morta", a playful and surprising album by Dave Newhouse (The Muffins, Manna/Mirage) the other day.
Multi-instrumentalist Dave Newhouse did invite quite a few guest on the album. 

• Luciano Margorani - guitar
• Mark Stanley - guitar
• Angel Ontalva - guitar
• Dave Van Allen - pedal steel guitar
• Forrest Fang - violin
• Guy Segers - bass
• Jerry King – bass-trombone
• Paul Sears - drums
• Sean Rickman - drums
• Rich O'Meara - percussion
• John Greaves - vocals
• Michele King - vocals

The result sounds great. RIO / fusion / rock / ...
Very enjoyable.

EIDON - DOORS

 A new intriguing piece by Eidon: dOOrs (or 'd00rs')

MORE RUSS STEDMAN

In 1992, Keyboard magazine released a Frank Zappa special. The article also showed the score for a Frank Zappa piece called 'Waltz', or 'Waltz For Guitar', a piece that FZ had written when he was 18 years old.
Although never recorded by FZ, several artists have recorded this composition. Dietmar Bonnen, David Tanenbaum, Gunnar Spjuth,...

But Russ Stedman might have been one of the first to record the piece as he released it early 1993 already.

KOREKYOJINN ACOUSTIC - KALEIDOSCOPE

• korekyojinn acoustic: kaleidoscope
      (2017, cd, japan, magaibutsu)

In 2017 the Japanese prog band Korekyojinn released an acoustic album.
For the occasion, they renamed themselves Korekyojinn Acoustic.

• Tatsuya Yoshida - drums-percussion
• Natsuki Kido - guitar
• Mitsuru Masuno - bass
• Rei Miyamoto - violin

Amazing.

It sounds like Zappa's "Jazz From Hell", but on acoustic instruments.

Here's some snippets from the various tracks:

THE FURIOUS BONGOS TO TOUR CANADA AND EUROPE

a message from The Furious Bongos on Facebook said
May in the US, September in Canada, November in the US & Europe....it's gonna be a great year for the Bongos