Secret Chiefs 3 disk from the collection is now available for individual purchase
Any of you get the John Zorn Book Beri’ah box set,and could share their impressions ?
Secret Chiefs 3 disk from the collection is now available for individual purchase
Any of you get the John Zorn Book Beri’ah box set,and could share their impressions ?
On the Malkhut specifically? I think it's brilliant. If you like Xaphan, you'll like this. Dense arrangements in a variety of styles. I like Zorn and the Angels series, but I'm an even bigger fan of SC3. So, I'm a bit biased. I attended the premiere of this at The Stone back in the day (and the premiere of Xaphan).
This is maybe the only SC3 release that didn’t really click for me.
Sounded somewhat predictable without much innovation
I need a download option.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on progrock.com
https://podcasts.progrock.com/post-a...re-happy-hour/
Gordon Haskell - "You've got to keep the groove in your head and play a load of bollocks instead"
I blame Wynton, what was the question?
There are only 10 types of people in the World, those who understand binary and those that don't.
My only exposure to this group is the album Book of Souls which sounds like the soundtrack to a tongue-in-cheek computer game.
Mongrel dog soils actor's feet
I'm curious what some of you think is a better Book of Angels album... IMO, both SC3 albums are far beyond any other artists in that series.
I feel like both Xaphan/Malkhut albums have their pros and cons. But, as somebody who has their brain wrapped around the scores from both albums... I'm not sure what you find lacking in the innovation department on the new one.
Maybe I'm biased, or unsure what you mean. But playing the Xaphan material for me is a matter of reading off basic lead sheets and using a single 5-octave midi controller. Maybe two if I'm being fancy on "Barakiel." But for Malkhut I'm hanging on for dear life scanning multi-page scores for most of the songs, and require no less than a piano, a wurlitzer electric piano, and two 5-octave midi controllers to properly pull it off live. Xaphan is great, but it's more of a jam album. Malkhut contains some of the most difficult material I ever had to digest and perform for SC3.
- Matt
Keyboards/Guitar/Bass/etc. - http://www.lebofsky.com
Monstrika | Secret Chiefs 3 | miRthkon | MoeTar | Bodies Floating Ashore | Solo Stuff
Nice insight.
As someone who is on the inside with this whole Masada thing, what are the significant differences between the Book Of Angels series and the Book Of Beriah series? From a purely listener perspective, musically they don't seem altogether different to warrant the separation in the two different books.
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
Disclaimer: I wasn't around for the recording of Xaphan, but I sure played it a bunch live. From my perspective (i.e. keyboard monkey directed by Trey) and knowing the history a bit, the books are very similar - basically tunes jotted down as lead sheets in Zorn's own handwriting that, in the case with SC3, Trey would arrange to the nth degree. If there's one big difference is that on Xaphan, Trey was far more adherent to the original forms as notated by Zorn, but he gave himself more creative leeway on Malkhut when expanding the Zorn charts into full blown arrangements.
- Matt
Keyboards/Guitar/Bass/etc. - http://www.lebofsky.com
Monstrika | Secret Chiefs 3 | miRthkon | MoeTar | Bodies Floating Ashore | Solo Stuff
I totally get it. I find it a testament to Zorn's writing that his voice shines through while letting there be enough space for the individual bands to do their thing. He also imparts a lot of information efficiently within what seems like minimal charts. So it's all very Zorn-ish, which I dig, but if you prefer Trey's writing, there's nothing wrong with that.
I should say that, personally, one of my favorite bits on the new album is the second half of Shadim, where Trey took 5 notes out of one of the "head" melodies and goes deep into exploring various tessellation patterns with them. That's all Trey vision and composition at that point. And totally crazy to play live. We only did it twice at the Stone (within days of learning the tune) and haven't dared try again since. Of course Ches and Kenny nailed those parts no problem.
I wish I had news about other SC3 albums coming down the pike, but I don't. I heard one of them (almost complete) and saw the artwork. So I know it exists.
- Matt
Keyboards/Guitar/Bass/etc. - http://www.lebofsky.com
Monstrika | Secret Chiefs 3 | miRthkon | MoeTar | Bodies Floating Ashore | Solo Stuff
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
Wikipedia (obviously a very reliable source) still lists both Book Of Souls Folio B and a Holy Vehm album as to be released in 2017 (as well as mentions two others [the third Book Of Truth entry and a 'From the Peacock Emerges a Fountain of Truth'] still TBA, which I guess means they are being planned?).
I do hope Folio B comes out soon. I do love a SC3 album proper.
Please don't ask questions, just use google.
Never let good music get in the way of making a profit.
I'm only here to reglaze my bathtub.
It was completely mind-blowing to experience all the music that was performed and premiered at The Stone. I can't think of any series of shows to be pulled off at that level - so much variety of challenging material in obscure genres, two shows a day for almost a week. It's a nearly miraculous achievement to get through the music at all. Some mistakes are inevitable - it's the only way such an incredible residency could take place. I have seen a lot of live music, and nothing really compares. The closest thing that comes to mind was Ensemble Modern performing a few Nancarrow player piano studies. That is mind-blowing, but I'm sure they had waaaaay more rehearsal time, and it was only a few pieces. The SC3 residencies had completely different shows, twice a day for multiple days. Unreal.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
SC3 doesn't really fit into any genres or categories (even though Trey sees clear definitions of the sub-bands). So, anywhere it's mentioned (outside of SC3 fan groups), there are always people who can't really grasp it - or it doesn't interest them enough for one reason or another. It takes effort and time to really understand the big picture of how SC3 works fit together. Again, there aren't many artists I can compare that to. Maybe Zappa had a similar scope - but SC3 is more subtle and intricate in wider dimensions.
^ Oh, certainly. It's a matter of meta-aesthetics, and an overarching approach to artistic narrative. Zappa strived for it, Zorn has it, Buckethead, Boredoms and a number of others succeed at it most of the time. I suppose it's an extension to post-modernist views on form and expression, typically heralded in Japan by folks like J.A. Caesar and Magical Power Mako etc.
Anyway, I'm a fan.
"Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
"[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM
Thanks - I appreciate that. That last Stone run was a rather crazy week for me of which those shows and rehearsals were only but one part (a long story which I may have discussed elsewhere at length). Outside of Trey I think I had the most shows of the 12 during that residency - I played 8 of them. And there was about 80 pages of scores to digest leading up to those shows. And I was in charge of programming everybody's keyboard controllers (as many as 6 on stage). This said, I'm a fan of the band as much as anybody who isn't in the group, and I'm lucky to have one of the better seats in the house on any given show. It's all Trey's vision, compositions, and honestly I'm not able to tell you much about the overarching artistic narrative of SC3 that you don't already know. I just read the ink.
By the way I'm going to use this opportunity to be a jerk and promote my latest solo album if only because the first track is clearly a joyous homage to the Masada/SC3 world:
https://mattlebofsky.bandcamp.com/al...g-origin-story
- Matt
Keyboards/Guitar/Bass/etc. - http://www.lebofsky.com
Monstrika | Secret Chiefs 3 | miRthkon | MoeTar | Bodies Floating Ashore | Solo Stuff
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