World Arts Lloyd Miller : Oriental Jazz (US/IR/F,1961-70s,1987)**°°
One of the pioneering jazzmen seriously interested in blending with the east was Californian Lloyd Miller. He was already part of the jazz scene in the 50’s when he left to live in Tehran for a while before moving on to Europe, to play with Don Ellis in Germany whilst introducing his Oriental Jazz ideas. Other jazzmen like Tony Scott, Paul Horn, Bud Shan, Dave Brubeck, came to share similar interests. In France he continued his study with Daryush Safvat & Tran Van Khe in the centre of oriental music study in Paris. In the 70s Miller went back to Tehran for a 7 years scholarship with a doctoral dissertation on Persian music, which was published as “Music and Song in Persia”.
This compilation CD represent works starting from Paris in 1961, until the 70's recordings done in Tehran. We hear the Oriental Jazz Quartet, The Mike Johnson Quartet the U Jazz Ensemble, and some combos from his prime-time main network TV show in Tehran, and a few multitrack performances.
Santur is one of these instruments known best as a sound typical in Persian styled music. This instrument is of course used various times (like on "Perso Jazz Blend" or “Gol-E-Gandom”, 1967). Sometimes jazz & Persian music are in the mix of communication, but a bit more often the styles are deeper into the blend. Not only santur, but oud as well adds the Persian flavour. There’s also jazz played on them as well. We can even here the double bass, cello or piano playing in Persian mode. But Dr.Lloyd doesn’t stop at Persia & jazz. There’s one track with a Turkish theme called “Cello a la Turque”, an Indian theme : “Bhairavi” (bass, piano with additional tabla), an Indonesian theme (“Njonja Mirah”, bass, piano with additional xylophone), Japanese themes (“Kyoto Gardens", "Sakura"), a Vietnam theme (“Vietnam medley”), a Chinese ? theme (“Chun Chiang Hua Yueh Yeh”) sometimes brilliantly transformed or brought in to a jazz territory. Other tracks are just played in their traditional style or slightly re-entering a new invented world which has a life on its own, like the few minimal pieces (“Yang Chin solo” and like the first parts of the pianopiece of “Eastern tour”). A very nice document, and a very good example of the search for the Oriental Jazz blend.
World Arts Dr. Lloyd Miller : DVD compilation (US/IR,1960s-1970s)****°
I watched also the DVD which was compiled from various TV broadcasts where Lloyd Miller showed his ideas and skills, which first of all received broadcasts on the local University television stations of Brigham Young and Utah in the ‘60s, with his local jazz group. After receiving his doctorate in musicology in Iran, he got his own televisionshow on National Iranian television in the ‘70s where he played with the best jazz musicians in Iran. The show had a huge popularity. I was amazed when I actually SAW Lloyd Miller playing so many music instruments and world music based styles. He studied with various masters, teaching him to play Persian instruments like the santur (Daryush Safzat), zarb (Shimirani), Vietnamees music (Tran Van Khé). Besides he seems to be a master of the ud which he plays in the old tradition, with a feather. On the last track he gives an incredible blues performance on the ud for the Iranian Television. Besides he masters jazzpiano (I was amazed how he managed to play exactly like the santur on piano), clarinet, double bass and cello (I was overwhelmed when I saw him play the bass and cello exactly like an ud and dutar), and play Persian percussion (he has his own mixture of technique on the zarb combining Indian and Afghan methods). It is incredible to see how Lloyd Miller plays a certain instrument while he thinks of another one. The oriental jazz he performed is no fusion but a mixture of both styles standing next to eachother, sometimes slightly adapted and interwoven (like the Persian performance of feminine santur master Azar Hashemi who performed on one piece some jazz rhythm froman old Persian melody), always with both styles recognisable next to each other. It is a shame also that this period of world interaction with respect for tradition is no longer P.C. Also women now suddenly are dressed in mummification clothes and I don’t see them freely expose their music skills like in those days. This surely is a great document to watch.
Forced exposure : "Bootleg reissue of an unknown and theoretically privately released psych-prog album from 1979. Led by a Iranian guy on guitar & effects, this was recorded & released in the USA, but it says "Printed in Iran" for good measure. The line up is guitar, bass, drums & flute, and a number of styles are touched upon with drippingly tranced Middle Eastern instrumental atmospherics. At its peak this grazes upon Sun City Girls-like torches of improv ecstasy; other parts rely on a lot of flute, in almost Yatha Sidhra fashion."
Found somewhere else :
The story is that Al Basim was killed in Iran for working with Jewish musicans on this lp.
"Mit "La, la, la" beginnt dieses Epos, doch das war es dann schon an einfachem Liedgut. Revival, das war eine englische Prog Rock Formation (John Starrett - Bass, Phil Carter - Drums und David Reskin - Flöte) um den iranischen Gitarristen Al Basim. Bei der 1979 in einem amerikanischen Studio aufgenommenen und im Iran gepressten LIP soll es sich angeblich um eines der rarsten Teile aller Zeiten handeln. Das CD Reissue ist entweder (wieder in den U.S.A.) vom Master oder über ein digitales Equipment produziert. Nähere Angaben fehlen, wahrscheinlich um das Leben des heutigen Produzenten zu schützen, denn die Ayatollahs haben diese CD bestimmt schon auf der schwarzen Liste, da sie mit Sicherheit nicht in das heutige Weltbild des Iran passt. Übrigens auch nicht in das damalige, denn wie wir kurz vor Redaktionsschluss noch erfahren haben, waren die anderen Bandmitglieder Juden. Als Al 1979 in den Iran zurückkehrte, fanden die werten Ayatollahs heraus, dass er ein Rock Album mit Juden aufgenommen hatte. Er wurde als Verräter festgenommen und exekutiert! Doch nun zurück zur Musik. Geboten wird 70er Prog Rock mit viel Gitarre und Flöte, sowie leicht arabischen Folk-Einfluss. Hervorzuheben ist ein ruhiges Stück, auf dem sich die Gitarre und Flöte ein herrliches Soloduett geben. Der Schlusstrack bringt dann noch etwas Free Jazz mit Unterstützung eines Saxophons. Alles in allem ein Werk für alle Sammler aus den 70ern, jedoch überhaupt nichts für Neo Proggies." Thomas Jörger
Rough translation of this German text :
Revival, was an English Progrock formation (John Starrett -Bass, Phil Carter - Drums und David Reskin - flute) around the Persian guitarist Al Basim. As being recorded in an Amercan studio around 1979, and being pressed in Iran, it seems at first one of the strangest artifacts ever. The CD is reissued in US again, taken from master, and produced digitally. There are no details about the production lead from now, because the Ayatollas have this CD perhaps already on their blacklist because for sure it will not fit with the vision they want to present in Iran today. Besides it didn't fit at those days either. Because when Al returned in 1979 to Iran, the Ayatollas of those days found out he had recorded a rock album with Jews. He was sentenced as a traitor.
About the style it says .."it's 70's progrock with lots of guitars, flute with only slight Arabic folk influence. In general it's quiet music with wonderful flute/guitar communication. Closing track is more free jazz with additional sax. A work recommended to all collectors of 70's stuff, but not at all to neo-proggies."
Except for the last track the album is comparable in mediative mood / concept with the Yatha Siddra's Meditation Mass. The last track is more free jazz inspired, loosing it structure a bit at the end. Also two other tracks are more progressive with a free jazz fusion touch. Very good.
"A nice album with a sad story. Leader/guitarist Al Basim recorded this nice instrumental quartet album of flute-led progressive rock (also appearing are bass & drums) with unique middle-Eastern touches in the USA where it was pressed in an edition of 500. A few were sold here, but he returned home to his native Iran with the bulk of the copies.The fact that he had recorded his album in the US - the land of 'great Satan' - with a Jewish musican, led to his arrest & eventually his execution. This is absolutely a true story. In its original lp form, this is one of the rarest albums on the planet." Steve (Cuneiform Rec.)
Caltex Rec. Kourosh Yaghmaie : the best of / Gol-E-Yakh (1974)*****
One of my all time Middle Eastern favorites. Lots of 70's psych organ, piano, electric bass, drums, "catchy" song melodies (Gol-e-Yakh & Entezaar -or here-), some in progressive / soft melodic rock song style, with emotional and incredibly beautiful soft voice & voice harmonies. Also noteceable are a few more funky electric guitar solo's. Highly enjoyable and joyful early 70's styled songs. Very harmonous "progressive" music, with a kind of musically very relaxed, and emotionally rich playing. The musicians take time for the melodic development, in a way I miss often in most music from the West. It also has a high degree of purity in music inspiration. The Persian language here has its own a natural harmony, and feelings and the music is inspired with detail. Highly recommended !! The more I listen to this, the more I like this. I tried to hard to get collector's and global musical interest and attention to this.
The second album (right), with no other title but "Kourosh Yaghmaee", is a live recording which is not very well recorded / mixed, and therefore also not so interesting.*
I heard later KY is considered to be "the grandfather of Iranian rock".
PS. The song "Rayhan" could be compared to Erkin Koray's "Zuleyha".
* Dario : "Well, the story is that, it was NOT a live album. They are songs recorded in the studio in 1979. They were released on tape inside iran in 1979. The US record company illegally and without the artists permision released the tape in the US, but the quality of the copy they had was so low, that they decided to add pre-recorded hand clapping to the beggining and the end of the songs to make it sound like a concert. Sound samples of the original tapes is available on Kourosh Yaghmaie's site here." Well, this explains it all... Really a shame...
(the less interesting bootleg presented as a live album)
It's really strange to hear genres with similarities in expressions from all over the world. Mehrpouya's low voice in general reminds me very much of Indian music. Also there are various tracks which sound very Indian. But there are many more styles noticeable, varying from 40's styles to Western progressive crossover pop with a Persian or Indian touch. The singing itself creates a beautiful melancholic mood. The playing always is relaxed. The quality of the recordings might not always have been preserved in good condition but the final result on the CD is a bit more so in the low registers as it should be, the music is still very enjoyable. This is a compilation of Mehrpouya's work.
There are two chachacha's on this CD, "Gonjishka", with a ballroom orchestra, including brass, and a complex rhythm section. My favourite "Nemiyayam/Khale Siah", which is even much more original through it's adaptation of a Persian melodic feel. A couple more tracks have more quiet arrangements, varying from Persian, orchestral, classical chamber music with additional bluesy middle eastern electric guitar ( : "Gole Gham/Mare Ghoo", "Kouli Gool Foroosh", "Ghesehe Vafa/Guitar-E-Man", "Koocheh/Kolie Gool Foroosh"). "Adama/Ghoroobe Paeez" has a samba rhythm with electric guitar, middle eastern bells and clarinet, and "Doe Pajereh/Ghabilehe Leili" starts with an instrumental part with orchestral arrangements, funky wahwah guitar, drums. It's a nice crossover between western progressive pop with middle eastern elements. One track, "Jaddeh" is very odd through its use of experimental noises of a Persian sounding melody, with sparse violin arrangements and something that sounds a bit like an electric guitar but probably is another middle eastern instrument. A couple of other tracks, like "Hargez Dobaareh Aasheghi" sounds more Indian, and use sitar with tabla as accompaniment. "Sahel va Darya/Saaz-e Ghamgin" with sitar could be Indian music. "Mordab/Aseman Migeryad Emshab" is a wonderful slowly played melody with sitar, organ, tabla & flute. "Eshareh" is a crossover with sitar. is a song with quiet classical arrangements, and electric guitar. And also "Bizar/Hergaz Dobareh Ashegh" is another song with sitar & tabla.
I'm sure Mehrpouya's music will appeal to anywhere in the western, eastern and middle eastern world. It's melancholic, but warm and is played in a typical relaxed way.
Don't know from when this recording is. It contains deep expressive and beautiful melancholic songs with a certain Persian essence. The music is beautifully orchestrated, with some additional band arrangements (piano, drums, acoustic guitars, electric bass). The singing is very "arabesque" although it might be called differently, I don't know. This is "the real thing" which I think can be apreciated by many.
Nava Entert.Kourosh Yaghmaie : Sib e Noghree (IR,1994)**°°°
While the first two tracks are rather nice, pop & poprock with some mainstream elements and a variety of style arrangements, I think some of the keyboard arrangements are a bit limited in expression. The third, really great track is calm Persian folk into a rock style. Also the one after this is calm progressive poprock, which sounds nice too, but with some additional keyboards simplifications. The nice song after that uses Spanish lead guitar, double sax, oboe and somewhat let's say, world gothic keyboards. The most impressive track is the last, almost 28 minute long track. It is a true symphonic piece with orchestrations, some traditional Persian instruments, whistle instruments like clarinet, environmental sounds, piano, keyboards and electronics, some choir arrangements which remind me, also in combination with the electronics/keyboards very much of Atom Heart Mother (Pink Floyd), some progressive rock passages, acoustic guitar, and of course the beautiful emotional singing from Yaghmaie. A fantastic, mostly instrumental track which is worth the purchase alone. Some passages are gloomy, melancholic, and very filmic, with an always present richness and the reference to Persian music as well as other standards are mixed brilliantly. A progressive masterpiece. A must-have-track.
I assumed this is a later recording. I heard that Kouroush still performs or lives in Iran, but I don't know any details. Also here the rhythms are mostly taken over by keyboard rhythms, with additional electric guitar and bass, often well arranged but more mainstream as before, even when so many different styles are assembled. I liked the music best when some rhythms are left out, like on the 5th track, which starts with a beautiful electric guitar intro (with some keyboards), some acoustic guitar, and dual vocals until the full-band arrangements take over with more great electric guitar solos, and the last track partially. I'm sure the other tracks with a bigger budget would have been improved. But I assume this is a private recording only, without much support. All potential is still here.
The first track on this tape is another creative symphonic concept, like most tracks on this album, arranged by guitars and keyboards and voice(s) only. There's a label print "Iranian antinarcotics propaganda organisation", so seeing the cover with cigarettes I assume this might be some story with a moral, or some kind of musical task. Some of the guitar solos might refer again to Pink Floyd. An interesting composition, which would have been optimal with some big budget support. Second track is a beautiful song on keyboards and acoustic guitar, while third track is heavy guitar rock. Also the tracks on the second side are equally arranged, with a rock attitude. Third track on side B has some nice electric guitar sound, and some heavy rock influence. Kouroush shows here he has all the skills to write good song tracks, and to arrange them in an optimal way, even when also here there is no budget to support him. I hope one day some Iranian government will realize that supporting rock music could mean peaceful communication and interest from other countries. I wish Kouroush could work on the development with his own band once more, in the future.
Titles : 1. The Gran Man 2. The Nightmare 3. Disaster 4. The Chase 5. A Window Face To The Morning 6. Prison 7. The Anger Of Opium 8. You Know Me
This is a compilation of television broadcasts, mostly from the same tv-show on Iran national Television taken from saved VHS recordings, recorded between 1975 and 1979, musically the most interesting period from Iran. Both dvd’s show luckily a rather good quality image and sound. Many of the important artists are listed (Gogoosh, ..). For over 80 minutes each it might not be all material that will appeal from start to finish to discover in one look, while all is acceptable and enjoyable, because the general well arranged pop style from those days was rather attractive and refined in a way. Unfortunately, especially volume 2 makes it harder to skip to later tracks or choose individual tracks to watch. It mostly refuses and goes back to the beginning, to my frustration. But I chose from each DVD 9 or 8 tracks which I will try to give exposure to in a movie hall later next year, together with some other examples from those days. I think the tracks I chose on DVD 1 belong to Kourosh Yaghmaie, Giti, Soli, Ramesh, Viguen, Mahasti and a few others but I am not sure at all about the names, because they’re not listed in English. From DVD 2 I think it will be Marjan, Neli, Gogoosh, Groheh Mehmaan, Koroush Yaghmaie, Marjan, Shoreh, and again Gogoosh (with one of her grooviest and most rocking tracks). The pop music style is very different from here, with a large calm, almost meditative and preparing long instrumental part, where you see the musician preparing him/herself in contemplation mostly, or kind of mysteriously dancing, before the songs start, with much beautiful part soft-progressive-rocking, part Persian, part orchestrated that accompanies the song. A few tracks have a slight disco, but especially a funk influence (one track is really funk ! fun to see, because the singers have a big ball of curly hair on their heads). One other exception is a brilliant acoustic guitar track, with singing. The 70s styled beautiful costumes and for the woman, make up is beautiful to see, and is such a contrast to know that how in Iran nowadays women are punished if not dressed in black nun clothes and are more accompanied by paranoia, than the joy of speech and expression, and for life. The saddest thing about that is that young women, born in the 70s, who obviously also don’t remember this 70s period of experience, and will never be confronted with it in the open, will think that the black scarf and all repression always has been like this, and is considered to be like some religious sacrifice, as if there never was a different choice with even more respect for life and all its contrasts.
Remember also how most people, and musicians who had some government support before the revolution, were taken away all their rights. Most of them in the beginning still had the opportunity to leave the country.
