The Weekend Planet

Tonight revolves around two intriguing new American releases. Their makers see ‘connections’ where lesser artists see ‘divisions’. Guitarist Bill Frisell leads an octet on his unassuming-yet-ambitious double-CD. History, Mystery is all-instrumental, but a highlight is Frisell’s version of one of the 20th century’s seminal songs. Letters from Sinners and Strangers is the first international release from Eilen Jewell. She is a remarkable singer: you’ll understand why ‘Eilen’ rhymes with ‘feelin’. She and he are gifted composers and also fine interpreters of existing songs. Both know how to use space. Each has a keen sense of history. Both are grown-up. Each is still growing.

Bill Frisell’s site: www.billfrisell.com

A revealing interview with him is here:
www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=22930

Eilen Jewell’s site: www.eilenjewell.com

Playlist

HAVING TROUBLE READING OUR PLAY-LISTS?

READ THIS AND EVERYTHING BECOMES CLEAR (WE HOPE!)

Details of each track are presented in the following order:
BROADCAST TIME
TRACK NUMBER AND TITLE
COMPOSER
PUBLISHING AND COPYRIGHT DETAILS
RECORDING COMPANY AND CD NUMBER
( distributor/ source details, in brackets like this, in lower-case)
ARTIST AND CD TITLE
Duration of track
Description of track, in lower-case.
Where relevant, further info links to information, gigs/events/related programs

’THE WEEKEND PLANET’ SAT 14.6. 08

2205
THEME:
(details below, as per the original CD.. This cut is also on these compilations Ketama - ’ Nuevos Medios Coleccion’ - Nuevos Medios NM 15 820
{ in Australia via MGM www.thegroovemerchants.com
worldwide, via: www.flamenco-world.com/noticias/nuevos.htm }
and ’ Jarabi - the best of Toumani Diabate’ (Hannibal 334352 )

CD CUT 1, ’JARABI’
TRAD, ARR TOUMANI DIABATE
HAMILCAR MUSIC LTD
HANNIBAL HNCD 1323
( in Australia, some releases through Stomp Enquiries to: ben@stomp.com.au
worldwide: www.rykodisc.com )
KETAMA, TOUMANI DIABATE, DANNY THOMPSON - ’SONGHAI’
THIRTY SECONDS (EXCERPT)
(retains a stately-Manding air, whilst also embracing flamenco elements. Toumani Diabate’s kora, Danny Thompson’s beautiful double bass and Ketama’ s flamenco guitars )

2209
CD CUT 28, ’A CHANGE IS GONNA COME’
SAM COOKE
ABKCO MUSIC (BMI)
RCA PCD1-7127
SAM COOKE - ’THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC’
3: 12
( the arrangement may be ’dated/ stock’ but the song and its singing are sublime, still. One of the 20th century’s signature songs, this was an initially-modest success. It peaked - posthumously - in February 1965 at number 31 in the Billboard pop chart. Cooke was inspired by {and it was Cooke’s response to} Bob Dylan’s ’Blowin ’in the Wind’.

LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT THE SONG AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE?
Go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Change_Is_Gonna_Come_%28song%29

LIKE TO READ AN ACCOUNT OF BOB DYLAN COVERING IT IN 2004?
See footnote ’2’ to the Greil Marcus article, here:
www.songsofsamcooke.com/articles/marcuschange.htm

LIKE TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SAM COOKE ( 1931- 1964 ) ?
Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Cooke )

SEGUE

2212
CD CUT 10, ’BUCKETS OF RAIN’
BOB DYLAN
RAM’S HORN MUSIC
CBS 690097
BOB DYLAN - ’BLOOD ON THE TRACKS’
3: 22
(Dylan at his most seductive, vocally, with a nifty bass and ac guitars, only. Issued in 1975 )

2216
CD CUT 11 ’WALKING DOWN THE LINE’
BOB DYLAN
SPECIAL RIDER MUSIC
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
3: 35
(sauntering, discreetly-sassy new version of an early-60s Dylan song. In persona of one at a loose end, but who is pretty loose about that. Eilen’s vocal and ac guitar, plus harmonica, elec guitar, bass, fiddle and drums )

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

SEGUE

2220
CD (DISC ONE) CUT 1O, ’A CHANGE IS GONNA COME’
SAM COOKE
ABKCO MUSIC INC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
8: 44
( suitably passionate instrumental version of the Sam Cooke song which became the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Octet, ’live, with strings, horns, bass, drums, guitar. This features eloquent solos from the leader’s elec guitar and Greg Tardy’s tenor sax. Full personnel in tracknote @ 2256)

SEGUE

2229
CD CUT 8, ’HOW LONG’
EILEN JEWELL (BASED IN PART ON A 1965 SPEECH BY MARTIN LUTHER KING)
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
3: 05
( Uncanny song - delivered with a finely-poised combination of intensity /languor and of pessimism/optimism. Built around a hypnotic drum and string-snapping acoustic guitar ’hook’, with atmospheric fiddle, elec guitar, ac bass. Its words - largely in call-response - come largely from a 1965 speech by Martin Luther King: ’How long? Not Long, because the Great Arc/Ark follows justice’.

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

2235
CD ( DISC TWO) CUT 13, ’MONROE PART 3’
BILL FRISELL
FRIZ-TONE MUSIC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
2: 56
(pregnant-elegaic, with a whiff of quirk. Duet for Hank Roberts’ cello and Bill Frisell’s elec guitar. My hunch is that it has in mind both ’iconic’ Monroes: bluegrass patriarch Bill and screen-siren Marilyn)

SEGUE

2238
CD CUT 3 : ’KOTO DANCING’ ( PART 3 OF ’KOTO DREAMING’ )
ROSS EDWARDS
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ORPHEUS MUSIC OM701
( available direct from: www.orpheusmusic.com.au )
SATSUKI ODAMURA - ’KOTO DREAMING’
2: 52
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: lively conclusion to a three -part suite. Satsuki’s koto {plucked, long board zither}, with percussion, flute and cello)

SEGUE

2241
CD CUT 2, ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
3: 55
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Imogen’s cello, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano. Lyrical, melodious. Spontaneous, too - trio improvisation )

2246
CD CUT 6, ’JOG’
GLENN ROGERS
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
SELF-ISSUED CD. NO CATALOG NUMBER
(available via glennrogers.net
And you can join the goup’s mailing list, here:
mukti.mail.list@gmail.com )
MUKTI - ’INSIDE IN’
8: 30
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Indian-accented, with mysterioso-spacious and rhythmic-exultant parts. The composer’s nylon stringed ac guitar, Vicky Ramakrishnan’s tabla, Josh Hogan’s other percussion {mridangam and ghatam, primarily, I think: respectively, a double-headed south Indian hand-drum and a south Indian claypot hand-drum} and Mel Robinson’s cello )

2256
CD ( DISC TWO) CUT 6, ’SUB-CONSCIOUS LEE’
LEE KONITZ
KONITZ MUSIC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
3: 15 ( excerpt )
( Quirky, irregular-propulsive, genially bent and boppish: the full octet. Bill on elec guitar, Ron Miles on cornet, Greg Tardy on both clarinet and tenor sax, violinist Jenny Scheinman, violist Eyvind Kang, cellist Hank Roberts, bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Keny Wollesen )

----
11 PM NEWS
----

2305
CD CUT 3, ’HIGH SHELF BOOZE’
EILEN JEWELL
PUB NOT SPEC
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
3: 37
( wry song, nicely sung delivered by its American author. She wrote it for a friend who dealt with a bad break-up by going out and having a good time. The song adopts such a persona - bruised and bitter, but declaring ’you won’t hear me sing no lonesome blues...easy come easy go’. It effectively recycles a stock-phrase concerning a hollow log. Eric Spiegelman’s tootling clarinet is prominent, nice western swing-abilly elec guitar from Jerry Miller, plus fat ac bass, drum, male harmony vocal.

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

2311
CD (DISC ONE) CUT 13, ’BOO AND SCOUT’
BILL FRISELL
FRIZ-TONE MUSIC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
2: 28
(Quirky piece with a whiff of slightly-edgy and of a grin. Has darker and brighter moments with the violin/viola/cello generally to fore, with showers-of-guitar moments)

SEGUE (CONTINUOUS)

2313
CD (DISC ONE) CUT 14, STRUGGLE PART 2’
BILL FRISELL
FRIZ-TONE MUSIC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
6: 24
( the core is darkly-dramatic-epic, almost blues-rock, with ripe elec guitar and strong-thwack drums to fore, nicely underscored by the strings. Being Frisell, that’s not all. One string player - probably violist Kang {full personnel are listed in tracknote @ 2256 above} is featured, plucking his or her instrument and making it sound like a cross between a pipa {very twangy Chinese plucked lute} and an ngoni {very twangy West African lute - an ancestor of both the banjo and the kora}. At the end it becomes a nocturne for shimmering, introspective, solo elec-guitar )

SEGUE

2319
CD CUT 6, ’TOO HOT TO SLEEP’
EILEN JEWELL
PUB NOT SPEC
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
2: 28
( darkly-sultry vocal, introduced by a quack of Eric Spiegelman’s bass clarinet. Then, into a country-rhumba groove, with fine, twangeroso elec guitar from Jerry Miller.

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

SEGUE

2321
CD (DISC TWO) CUT 8, ’QUESTION #TWO’
BILL FRISELL
FRIZ-TONE MUSIC (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
0: 56
( Ron Miles cornet plus pizzicato strings - the viola/violist and cellist’s, and - I think - Frisell’s ac guitar. {full personnel are listed in tracknote @ 2256 above} Perky-pregnant. )

2322
CD CUT 7, ’WHERE THEY NEVER SAY YOUR NAME’
EILEN JEWELL
PUB NOT SPEC
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia - shortly - through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
2: 31
(Dark: with a slow-mid-rocking train groove - fat, slapped ac bass, low-twango elec guitar, ac rhythm guitar, lonesome blue fiddle, drums and ac rhythm guitar. Effectively deploys various phrases from pre-existing blues songs - song of despair at {and escape from} the faithless lover.

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

2327
CD CUT 1, ’THE RIVER MEETS THE SEA’
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
3: 56
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: the groove feels at least much ’very fast locomotive.’ Insistent piece for Imogen’s cello, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano)

SEGUE

2331
CD (DISC ONE) CUT 11, ’JACKIE-ING’
THELONIOUS MONK
THELONIOUS MUSIC CORP (BMI)
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this.
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
2: 45
( suitably ’Monk-ish’, cheerfully quirky-angular jazz, ’live’ - an unusual octet which includes string players. For listing of full personnel, see tracknote @ 2256 above )

SEGUE

2334
CD CUT 1, ’MARIAMA KABA’
TRAD, ARR BOUBACAR TRAORE
PUBLIC DOMAIN. NO ARR PUB SPEC
STERN’S AFRICA STCD1032
( in Australia through Fuse Music Group: www.fusemusic.com.au
worldwide: www.sternsmusic.com )
BOUBACAR TRAORE - ’MARIAMA’
5: 32
(Malian song with exquisite finger-picked acoustic guitar and sad, slightly husky male vocal. Boubacar, solo, probably recorded a couple of decades ago. He is a particular hero of Bill Frisell’s )

2341
CD ( DISC ONE) CUT 8, ’BABA DRAME’
BOUBACAR TRAORE
LABEL BLEU/ SACEM
NONESUCH 435964-2
(the Australian end of the relevant conglomerate now shows us no sign of life in relation to Nonesuch albums like this..
When/ if issued in Australia, through Warner Music: www.warnermusic.com.au
worldwide: www.nonesuch.com )
BILL FRISELL - ’HISTORY, MYSTERY’
6: 08
( instrumental setting of a West African song, named for the late percussionist who used to play with its Malian author. This retains its sing-song-mesmeric quality. Frisell’s elec guitar works v nicely with the three string players {violin, viola, cello} in his octet. Ends with a little, pensive, Frisell-only guitar improvisation )

SEGUE

2347
CD CUT 11, ’MORSE’
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
4: 27
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: introspective, gracefully solemn nocturne: Imogen’s cello, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano. Improvisation! )

SEGUE

2351
CD CUT 10, ’IF YOU CATCH ME STEALING’
TRAD, ARR EILEN JEWELL
SONG IS PUBLIC DOMAIN. ARR PUB NOT SPEC
SIGNATURE SOUNDS SIG 2005
(in Australia through Shock: www.shock.com.au
Worldwide: www.signaturesounds.com )
EILEN JEWELL - ’LETTERS FROM SINNERS AND STRANGERS’
4: 07
( traditional song in the persona of a sexually voracious, ’loose’ woman who cheerfully pleads destiny as her defence: ’It’s the mark of my family and it must be carried on’. Given a country-blues-meets-wry-rockabilly treatment, with nice scrapey fiddle, twango elec guitar, slapped ac bass etc.

LIKE TO SEE THE LYRIC?

All this album’s lyrics can be read via the ’lyrics’ prompt, here: www.eilenjewell.com )

2358
CD CUT 3, ’KASHMIR REMEMBERED’
TONY GOULD
(PRESUMABLY) APRA
ABC CLASSICS 476 6452
( in Australia through Universal. Available at ABC shops
and online: www.abcshop.com.au )
IMOGEN MANINS, TONY GOULD, DAVID JONES - ’UNDER THE TALL TREES’
1: 20 ( excerpt )
(AUSTRAL COMP AND PERF: Imogen’s cello, David’s percussion, Tony’s piano. The piece remembers Tony’s early 1980s south Asian experiences, when he and trumpeter Keith Hounslow {the duo ’McJad’} toured there )

Presenter

Doug Spencer

Producer

Doug Spencer