25 October 2008

Jerry Chardonnens,Leon Francioli ,Radu Malfatti-"Humanimal"(Hat Hut lp 8)1980












Here’s a wholly improvised set from master trombonist Radu Malfatti from way back, long before he became the eminence Gris,new school minimalist guru spawning a new generation of no input process orientated improvisers and composers.
The André Breton like,lofty eyed arbiter of the orthodoxies of the genre.

Actually it’s a collective effort, also featuring Frenchmen Jerry Chardonnens(the nominal leader) and the better known bassist Leon Francioli.. Who in the 70’s performed and or recorded with Mal Waldron, Alan Skidmore, Pierre Favre , Joe Mcphee



and countless others no doubt.
in fact he’s on the Michel Portal unit live in Hamburg posted below 10 days ago.

This isn’t a lost minor masterpiece, intriguing though it is.
One thing is certain; its eclecticism was fairly rare among “free improvisers” at the time.
Not unlike the above mentioned Portal concert it moves in and out of fixed tonalities, and more conventional harmonic terrain as well as pure sound. And sheer exuberant noise.
It all amusingly ends with a beautifully played (un- ironic) calypso.

Unfortunately the record was in far from pristine condition, when I bought it 20 years ago, and the first side features rather a lot of surface noise...all though at times its hard to differentiate from the closely recorded pops made by by spittle as air is forced through saliva clogged tubing (Malfatti’s progeny have capitalised on this releasing entire discs where the textural drama produced by collisions of air and spit have become the central focus of the music )


Humanimal is dedicated to Joe Mcphee.
Jerry Chardonnens-drums and percussion
Leon Francioli-db, pno
Radu Malfatti- trombone ,and devices
Recorded live at willisau’79.. sept 1st 1979

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much. Malfatti's fairly difficult to find, and what I have found is extremely minimalistic, including a 33 minute posaune solo where he blows air through his horn at vary intensities. Interesting, but this album looks much better.

Thanks to all of the people who post here. I have found some absoultely fantastic music via you all, and am in your debt.

kinabalu said...

Looks highly interesting, sotise, but I haven't got around to listening yet. I've got some of the earier Malfati stuff on Ogun and it looks like I'm more inclined to go for the earlier Malfatti than the later, to judge by what I read here and there. I've got this Ohrkiste from 1992, but I'll suspend judgement until I've listened properly (unless somebody's copped an ear already).

SOTISE said...

K.
i do have a soft spot for earlier minimalist improv...most have descended into a total silence now that i personally find antipathic.
...theres a good example of minimal improv here in the archives by mongoose a japanese trio of 2 guitars and synth,featuring stalwart Taku Sugimoto,worth checking out ,i should have ripped it to flac..its at 320.
OHRKISTE is a good one too.

Anonymous said...

I've only recently discovered Malfatti. I like much of Malfatti's recent relatively-more-quiet works. Access to this earlier work is much appreciated (and the FLAC option is especially nice). I have been curious about this one.

Fictions said...

I found and purchased this recording about a year ago in San Francisco and I think it is quite fantastic for the most part. Malfatti's technique is superb and the "rhythm section" are on top of it. A great album that will never be reissued.

SOTISE said...

Re rip, Flac, Pics
https://mega.co.nz/#!gV0ykRoJ!JOruFSPM8ADB2YBLwpxMSVdov5kpVzKZvqrlmdAk4MU

19-4-013

Javier Roz said...

Great album Sotise... Many thanks!

JRAC said...

Can anyone reupload this great music?
I owuld really appreciate.

Sincerely

Ricardo Aguilar