F a l l 2 0 0 8 Ae n-t Te r Rt a i An m Ie nNt WELCOME TO THE A-TRAIN NEWSLETTER! It’s fall, the season of change, and while leaves are turning, the air is getting crispy, and students begin to sharpen those No.2’s, we Top News here at A-Train prefer to embrace this transitional eve of Autumn •NEW: Digital films! The with gusto! We say never-you-mind the drop in temperature and Grizzly Man Sessions, that pesky school bell…remedy the anticipation of winter by Taraf de Haidouks, Dewey Redman and More grabbing a box of popcorn and hitting the couch as we premiere a new season all our own: A Train goes to the movies! •Farewell Hector Zazou To the delight of your eyes and ears you can now enjoy •UK Guardian Names Alla documentaries and performances of your favorite artists, from jazz Band of the Week legends to far off Gypsies, behind the scenes peeks at the making of musical magic. And of course we still have a whole new batch of •Tour dates from Bloodkin, Larry Ochs, David digital releases to start putting on that holiday wish list. Put the jiffy Darling, Alla, and Mary pop in the micro, dim the lights and make it a movie night. We Youngblood promise we won’t try to steal your bon-bons. - The A-Train Staff A - T r a i n E n t e r t a i n m e n t • P . O . B o x 2 9 2 4 2 • O a k l a n d , C A 9 4 6 0 4 • 5 1 0 . 8 9 3 . 4 7 0 5 F a l l 2 0 0 8 NEWS & REVIEWS Hector Zazou, 60, Passes Ryuichi Sakamoto, Peter Gabriel…) and Alla: Band of the Week in about fifteen others, which all earned him Away Shortly Before New UK Guardian a reputation of excellence worldwide. Album Admired and respected by his peers, “This lot are a trio of Mexican- Americans from Chicago who ally their It is with Hector Zazou has collaborated with an love of bossa nova, easy listening and great sadness amazing collection of singers and lounge pop to stranger, more experimental that we musicians, including Jon Hassell, Ryuichi sounds and textures… Es Tiempo sounds announce Sakamoto, Manu Dibango, John Cale, like a million dollars, from the lavish the death of Harold Budd, David Sylvian, Khaled, Lisa Bacharach-goes-disco of Un Dia Otra Hector Gerrard, Suzanne Vega, Björk, Peter Noche to the smörgåsbord of cosmic Zazou, who Gabriel, Brian Eno, Peter Buck, Jane Latino, sampladelic flamenco, lush passed away Birkin, Lisa Germano, Laurie Anderson, acoustica , tribal muzak and jazzy drones on Asia Argento and Gerard Depardieu. He September 8, was also an in-demand producer, and found elsewhere on this terrific record. Tall and tanned and young and lovely. These 2008, in his sixtieth year. worked a.o. with Tibetan vocalist Yung girls and boys are not from Ipanema; Crammed enjoyed a long, friendly and Chen Lhamo and Uzbek singer Sevara nevertheless, the spirits of Astrud Gilberto, fruitful relationship with Hector since the Nazarkhan (both for Real World) João Gilberto and Stan Getz live on in this early 1980s, releasing 10 of his albums to For more information on Hector outfit.” date. The eleventh, 'In The House Of Zazou and his latest release “In the House Mirrors', is a wonderful and sadly of Mirrors” please visit www.crammed.be. http://www.guardian.co.uk posthumous opus which was recorded http://www.crammed.be earlier this year in India, and is due for release imminently. Hector Zazou will be New Bloodkin Album greatly missed. Wadada Leo Smith wins Nearing Completion Algerian-born French composer/ FONT Award Bloodkin’s new record “Baby They producer Hector Zazou had a surprise Told Us We Would Rise Again” was waiting with each new record: twisted rock, recently mastered at David Barbe’s studio neo-classical compositions, world music and is being slated for release in early (from Africa to Central Asia), string 2009. See below for tour dates quartets, pieces for wind instruments, voices or synthesizers, he's been using a wide variety of genres to create the most "Few local sweat-and smoke-preserved unexpected and subtle blends, as witnessed rock & roll bands have the staying power by a discography containing many original of Bloodkin. Their ATHFEST Georgia and often groundbreaking albums, such as Theatre show should be a "don’t miss" for Barricades 3 (his 1976 debut), Noir et Festival of New Trumpet Music bleary eyed after midnighters. The Blanc (the album which, way back in '83, honors Wadada Leo Smith this year with complete Bloodkin and Hutchens catalog laid the foundations for Afro-electronic their first award of recognition: for his was recently re-released on i-Tunes, so you fusion), Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses visionary musical and cultural analysis, for can now obtain classics like Creeperweed and Out of States Plates with functioning (which earned him a "Victoire de la his revolutionary approach to composition, plastic and the click of a button." Musique" -the French Grammy- in 1992), and for his brilliant brass playing which - Flagpole Magazine Songs From The Cold Seas (1994, with over the course of forty years has truly Björk, Suzanne Vega, Siouxsie…), Lights changed the playing field. In The Dark (1998, with Brendan Perry, http://www.myspace.com/bloodkinmusic http://www.fontmusic.org A - T r a i n E n t e r t a i n m e n t • P . O . B o x 2 9 2 4 2 • O a k l a n d , C A 9 4 6 0 4 • 5 1 0 . 8 9 3 . 4 7 0 5 F a l l 2 0 0 8 FILMS The Continuing Adventures of being demonstrated here. Featuring Werner Herzog, Henry Kaiser, Richard Thompson, Jim O'Rourke, Danielle DeGruttola, Damon Smith Tarif Haidouks and John Hanes. At last, here's the ultimate DVD by the finest, wildest & most soulful of Dewey Time - The Sound of a Balkan Gypsy bands- "The best Gypsy band in the world", as Giant described in the UK's The As the noted jazz historian Stanley Independent. Ever since their first Crouch so aptly put it, “when visit to western Europe back in 1991, saxophonist Dewey Redman plays, Taraf de Haïdouks have been smoke and flames shoot out of his considered the epitome of Gypsy music's fabulous vitality. bell” Daniel Berman’s often-tender film examines a highly respected, Included in the extensive coverage of their work are various aspects of highly musical and hightly the band's outstanding history and talents, featuring NO MAN IS A imaginative improviser, who has PROPHET IN HIS OWN LAND, directed by Elsa Dahmani. In order influenced a legion of today’s to record their 4th album Band Of Gypsies, Taraf organized two regarded musicians. One of the last special concerts in Bucharest, in December 2000. Koçani Orkestar and of the generation to emerge from the culture and music of the other Gypsy musicians from several Balkan countries were invited to segregated/depression era south, Redman had a lasting impression on join, sparking the interest and delight of revered French/Gypsy musicians and audiences around the world. Featured interviews filmmaker Tony Gatlif, who decided to document the event. He include Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, Charlie Haden, Stanley Crouch, suffered a heart attack only some days prior to the concert, and and, of course, Dewey’s famous saxophonist son, Joshua Redman. entrusted the project to his daughter Elsa Dahmani (who was no more than 22 at the time). Aided by a film crew of 10, she wrote and Solos - The Jazz Sessions directed this lovely film which not only captured the Taraf during these Solos: The Jazz Sessions spotlights live recordings, but also in their village of Clejani, where most of them unaccompanied performances by still reside. some of the legends and bright young stars of the jazz world. Designed and In the Edges - The Grizzly recorded specifically for television, Man Sessions SOLOS offers viewers front row Not only is In the Edges: The Grizzly seats for an intimate and unique jazz Man Sessions a very well shot and experience. Shot in stunning HDTV compiled piece, but the process of with multiple moving cameras and a scoring the film proves to be a medley of elegant cinematic lighting, fascinating one. Rather than SOLOS showcases an commission a score in the traditional exciting and dynamic variety of jazz manner, director Werner Herzog styles - from the blues and boogie-woogie to bebop and the brought in guitarists supreme Richard experimental. Recorded on location at the spectacular Berkeley Thompson and Henry Kaiser, and Church in Toronto, Canada, each program features complete musical asked them and their fellow musicians pieces, insightful interviews, and behind-the-scenes footage. to essentially improvise a soundtrack to the film, to match its mood with music that would be both soulful and raw, melancholic and yet Series Artists: also vibrant. He wanted, in essence, the sort of score that Treadwell himself might have chosen had he had the chance to match music to James Blood Ulmer his footage. Just watching the musicians at work is a joy in itself, and Andrew Hill the sessions are nicely intercut with casual interviews with Herzog in John Abercrombie the studio, who says in all earnest that he would willingly give ten Lee Konitz years of his life to be able to play a musical instrument to the standard Mathew Shipp A - T r a i n E n t e r t a i n m e n t • P .