source file: mills2.txt Date: Tue, 19 Mar 1996 19:20:40 -0800 Subject: Weird Nightmare album From: non12@delta1.deltanet.com (John Chalmers) I got the following information from Roger Merrick of the British Harry Partch Society about the album "Hal Willner Presents - Weird Nightmare - Meditations on Mingus," Columbia COL 472467-2 Time 74m 18s The review says in part: "What is the connection between Charles Mingus and Harry Partch? None, appears to be the answer, apart from the musical inspiration of Hal Willner - during the development of the project, Willner says he constructed some sequences of Native American music and 'rhythms of the street and gangland.' He then used this tape to construct a framework of Mingus compositions that had, he says, a 'similar feel.' " "Thumm then serendipitously exposed Willner to Partch's music and instruments. Amazingly, Willner made the connection between Native American and 'street and gangland' (read - hobo) music right away, and began to want to incorporate the Partch instruments into the Mingus work. Mingus had explored the ethnic and subcultural origins and derivation of his music, so he had in that respect a similarity to Harry Partch (I wouldn't want to overdo this)." "The music is by Mingus, not Partch, and not all our members will want to venture into it, but the Partch instruments add considerably to the atmosphere with their tonal presence, and sometimes feature strongly in arrangements." "The musicians featured will surely bring the attention of the more intrepid of their followers to the music of Harry Partch - featured musicians include: Keith Richards, Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones, Elvis Costello, musician to the world, Bill Frisell of Material, Robbie Robertson of the Band, Leonard Cohen, Dr John, screaming woman Diamanda Galas, Don Alias, Bobby Previte, Bernard Fowler, Marc Ribot, ex-Void-Oid Robert Quine, and, as they say, many more who are possibly as well known, but not by me." "Not every 'famous' musician plays a Partch instrument - Charlie Watts and Keith Richards don't, but for examples, Elvis Costello plays Harmonic Canon, Marc Ribot Marimba Eroica." "Partch instruments featured on the album are: Chromelodion II, Cone Gongs (no indication that the Gourd Tree was used), Bass Marimba, Marimba Eroica, Harmonic Canon, Cloud Chamber Bowls, Surrogate Kithara, Crychord, and Diamond Marimba." "Danlee Mitchell and Dean Drummond are credited with special thanks, implying the instruments were from Dean's collection with Danlee's overall approval." "But the Partch instruments are not being used here merely to spice up a jazz album, they do affect the intonation and harmonies, and they contribute substantially to the atmosphere of the disc. I recommend investigating this disc - not maybe everyone's cup of musical tea, but in many ways valuable - it is, so far as I know, the first project of its kind to use Partch instruments; Partch is profiled highly. It introduces (?) some interesting and adventurous musicians and their audiences to Partch's work. If it is difficult to get this disc - and it took us a while: we were informed it had been deleted, which isn't the case - rather, it has been recently issued, and hasn't fully percolated its' way through the catalogues - we can order it for you." For more information on the BHPS, email Roger Merrick at <100550.2266@compuserve.com>. There is also a WEB page, but I don't have the URL. BTW, this should appear in Digest # 666? Does that mean that xenharmonic music is satanic? "Enquiring Minds want to know." --John Received: from eartha.mills.edu [144.91.3.20] by vbv40.ezh.nl with SMTP-OpenVMS via TCP/IP; Wed, 20 Mar 1996 16:26 +0100 Received: from by eartha.mills.edu via SMTP (940816.SGI.8.6.9/930416.SGI) for id HAA10669; Wed, 20 Mar 1996 07:25:33 -0800 Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 07:25:33 -0800 Message-Id: <960320152024_71670.2576_HHB63-8@CompuServe.COM> Errors-To: madole@ella.mills.edu Reply-To: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Originator: tuning@eartha.mills.edu Sender: tuning@eartha.mills.edu