14 June 2009

The Dedication Orchestra - Spirits Rejoice




Another request - from regular commentator Paul (the others will be coming, Paul) - this time an item which I believe to be OOP, it's not listed in the Ogun catalogue - the Dedication Orchestra's first cd (another was to follow two years later).

The Dedication Orchestra was/is committed to preserving the music of the Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath and their individual members. At the time of this release - 1992 - the only surviving member of the Blue Notes was Louis Moholo and he's on this recording. The remaining big band consists of players who had been in the Brotherhood of Breath or who had played with Blue Notes members or who in various way were part of the UK scene and were familiar with the music and the musicians.

Organised by Steve Beresford, the Orchestra is, one might say, a sort of Brotherhood commemoration project, and listening to these arrangements, they come across as more polished than what the originals sounded like, particularly when they were performed live, often veering into cacophonous collective improvisation and being brought back on track by the rock-solid rhythm section of McGregor, Miller and Moholo, but at all times, beautiful cacophony.

Those familar with the BoB will know what to expect and relive the memories from the old records, but hopefully, there may be some out there who may be introduced to the BoB by these faithful recreations.

The basic facts:

Ogun OGCD 101 Spirits rejoice

The Dedication Orchestra
Phil Minton, voice; Maggie Nicols, voice; Julie Tippetts, voice; Guy Barker, trumpet; Harry Beckett, trumpet; Claude Deppa, trumpet, voice; Jim Dvorak, trumpet, penny-whistle; Kenny Wheeler, trumpet; Django Bates, E-flat peckhorn; Dave Amis, trombone; Malcolm Grifiths, trombone; Radu Malfatti, trombone; Paul Rutherford, trombone; Dave Powell, tuba; Neil Metcalfe, flute; Lol Coxhill, soprano sax, tenor; Ray Warleigh, alto sax, flute; Elton Dean, alto sax; Evan Parker, tenor sax; Alan Skidmore, tenor sax; Chris Biscoe, baritone sax; Keith Tippett, piano; Paul Rogers, bass; Louis Moholo, drums, voice.

Traumatic experience [arranged by Keith Tippett] (04:15), Ithi gqi [arranged by Radu Malfatti] (11:18), B my dear [arranged by Kenny Wheeler] (07:44), Dancing damon [arranged by Keith Tippett] (04:09), Hug pine [arranged by Django Bates] (08:17), Andromeda [arranged by John Warren] (09:17), Manje [arranged by Mike Westbrook] (05:02), Sonja [arranged by Jim Dvorak] (07:41), Introduction to You ain't gonna know me (03:55), You ain't gonna know me 'cause you think you know me [arranged by Eddie Parker] (06:13), Woza (05:37).

Recorded at Gateway Studios, London, January 2 and 3, 1992.

Line producer Steve Beresford; post production Evan Parker and Steve Beresford.

Front cover painting (reproduced above) by Louis Maqhubela.

Dig in and dig it!

14 comments:

  1. Ipod version:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/244236895/DedOrch_-_SpiritR_mp3_.rar

    Hi-fi freak version:

    http://rapidshare.com/files/244283077/DedOrch_-_SpiritR_flac_.part1.rar

    http://rapidshare.com/files/244303087/DedOrch_-_SpiritR_flac_.part2.rar

    http://rapidshare.com/files/244321801/DedOrch_-_SpiritR_flac_.part3.rar

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  2. Hi kinabalu,
    Astonishing fine Post!!! THANKS!

    SEE YOu LYM

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  3. Thank you for sharing this rare gem.

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  4. Excellent. Caught this band when they made it to Vancouver 4 years ago, exceeded my expectations. Thanks.

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  5. hi kinabalu,
    outstanding post. for those who knew the BoB - it's fantastic journey in time. you can touch the spirit of the BoB and some of their best compositions are played here. the music is exactly on the edge of south africa (feel the south african flavour in compositions)and the best british free jazz scene. the only missing part is lack of the master - chris mcgregor. his absence loudly stand out. but the music remains very optimistic.
    it is really fantastic post, kinabalu. many thanks.
    paul w.

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  6. I think seeing them play in Vancouver was one of the highlights of my life. They opened the first night with the gorgeous "Hug Pine", which pretty much brought me to tears!

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  7. INCREDIBLE ...album !
    thank you..having just listened , wow

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  8. I thought surely I saw a DL of this out there somewhere but perhaps not. Is a repost possible? Again, thanks for all your good work.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. The Mega link should still be operative, I believe. The thing is, Mega has added a decryption key to the original link, and you need it to get access to the file. Without it, you don't. I checked the link and it has the key, so should work fine. I checked the link without the key and it didn't work. Let me know if it works for you.

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  11. Removed the Mega link. Ogun has now a Bandcamp page and this album is available as download: https://thededicationorchestra.bandcamp.com/album/spirits-rejoice-2
    Here's the main page: https://ogun3.bandcamp.com/music
    Also Ogum will re-release Elton Dean's "They All Be On This Old Road" with 40 minutes more music in November.
    Pre-order is already possible at: https://eltondean.bandcamp.com/album/they-all-be-on-this-old-road?label=1875147321&tab=music

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