Ilia Belorukov

Here's a bio from Ilia's website:

Ilia is a young (born 1987) saxophonist from Saint-Petersburg, Russia. He works in the direction of free improvisation, free-jazz, noise and electroacoustic music. Ilia practices an experimental approach of sound extraction on different types of saxophones (alto, tenor and baritone) and on flute (inc. fluteophone). In his compositions and improvisations you can find out influences of John Zorn, Derek Bailey, Mats Gustafsson, Evan Parker and other masters of improvised music.
The artist records and distributes his music by himself. He often plays at The Gallery of Experimental Sound – 21 (GES-21), Saint-Petersburg.

Ilia has played with such musicians as David Stackenäs (Sweden), Ignaz Schick (Germany), Arkadij Gotesman, Skirmantas Sasnauskas (Lithuania), Black Motor trio, Tero Kemppainen, Jaakko Tolvi & Topias Tiheäsalo (Finland), Edyta Fil (Poland), George Bagdasarov (Armenia/Czech), Demetrius Spaneas (USA), Vladislav Makarov, Sergey Letov, Nikolay Rubanov, Alexey Lapin, Dmitriy Kakhovskiy, Alexei Borisov, Philip Croaton. Together with Dots & Lines group (trio with Roman Stolyar and Andrey Popovskiy) he performed on the festival of Jazz.Ru portal dedicated to it’s 10th anniversary. He’s also a member of Wozzeck, Totalitarian Musical Sect (TMS).

He collaborates with musicians of other genres: with Moscow groups crrust (experimental hardcore), Tooth Kink (noise, live electronics), Motherfathers (noise-rock), Solntsetsvety (magical unicellular music); with St.-Petersburg avant-rock band Hg (Rtut'). Benzolnye Mertvecy (improvised noisecore), with Samara mathcore-band Penny Flame.

At the same site, he lists as his influences:

John Coltrane, John Zorn, Tim Berne, Mats Gustafsson, Evan Parker, Peter Brotzmann, Frode Gjerstad, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Fred Frith, Lasse Marhaug, Phill Niblock, Robert Fripp, David Sylvian, Jeff Beck, Leonid Fedorov & Vladimir Volkov, Zu, Fennesz, Anton Webern, Alban Berg, Arvo Part, Gyorgy Ligeti, Alfred Schnittke, Valentin Silvestrov, Louis Andriessen, Paul Desmond, Meshuggah, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Grenouer, crrust, Converge, Isis

One thing rather notable about Ilia Belorukov is that a number of his recordings are available for download free of charge. What I'll be doing here is to provide a sampler of albums from projects that he is involved with in order to give you an idea of his range of interests. I'll start with the album that served as my introduction to his music.

dadazu: sin of omission



The music is a continuous 79 minute jam from a live gig in late 2007. It's a dark, moody, improvised drone piece, for lack of a better description. From the recording's site:

Recorded live at 13/11/2007 [esg21]
Mixing & recording: Dima Yalkin
Mastered by M. Pozin & I. Belorukov
Cover photo: M. Pozin

Ilia Belorukov – baritone saxophone, delay-sampler
http://www.myspace.com/belorukov

Maxim Pozin – prepared tenor saxophone, electronics
http://www.myspace.com/bbiimmkkaa

Pavel Mikheev – electric guitar
http://www.myspace.com/ejectyourcd

Mikhail Ershov – electric bass guitar

Dadazu is free improvising collective includes a couple of young musicians from the modern St.Petersburg’s experimental scene.
Contact:
http://www.aposition.org/e_v/dadazu_e.htm

The recording was made available on April 12, 2009 by Clinical Archives.

Next up is some solo work. This one is called Saxophone Solos Vol. 1.:




Some info about the album:

Ilia - Alto, Tenor & Baritone Saxophones, Mouthpieces
Recorded at Illusion Studio on 21 February 2007 & 7, 8, 14 April 2007
Engineered & Mixed by Ilia Belorukov
Mastered by Philip Croaton at Fate Speaks Studio
Cover Art by Ilia Belorukov

All track titles are simply Roman numerals, except for the last track, which is titled "IX (for Philip Croaton). The recording was issued January 27, 2008 by Clinical Archives. Since Coleman Hawkins first dropped "Picasso" about six decades ago, the sax solo recording has become something of a jazz staple - especially in avant-garde circles. The music here is not easy to describe. The reference points that seem to work for me at the moment are the solo recordings from the AACM crew, to the extent that there is a lot of open space to be found on each of the recording's tracks; and Kaoru Abe's solo recordings in some of the louder moments (Ilia Belorukov does seem to channel some of the dark foreboding that Kaoru Abe made into a veritable art form). Unlike Abe, or perhaps one of my favorite sax players to record regularly as a solo artist, Arthur Doyle, this is music that seems to privilege the rational over the emotional. Also, there's something rather interesting in Belorukov's technique - in spots makes the sax sound like a stringed instrument being plucked (see IV, for example). I can't say I've heard anything quite like that. You'll hear some very interesting soundscapes to say the least.

Finally, let's check out another project with which Belorukov has been involved, Totalitarian Musical Sect. Clinical Archives has two of this combo's recordings available.

Warm Things vol. 1 - Live in GES-21:




Info:

Dmitriy Kakhovskiy - bass and objects
Vitaliy Kucherov - guitar and objects
Alexey Stavizkiy - trombone and clarinet and flutes and objects
Ilia Belorukov - alto and baritone saxophones
Maxim Pozin - alto and prepared alto sax and clarinet and flutes and objects

Recorded by Dmitriy Yalkin at GES-21 on 9 May 2007
Mastered by Dmitriy Kakhovskiy

Photo by Nikolay Ovcharenko
Cover Art by Ilia Belorukov

Tracks:

Thing One
Thing Two
Thing Three
Thing Four
Thing Five

Warm Things vol. 2, Live in GES-21:




Info:

Dmitriy Kakhovskiy - contrabass
Vitaliy Kucherov - electric guitar & flute
Ilia Belorukov - alto saxophone & flute

Recorded by Dmitriy Yalkin at GES-21 on 14 January 2008
Mastered bu Dmitryiy Kakhovsky

Photo by Eugene Apollonsky
Cover art by Ilia Belorukov

Tracks:

Thing Six
Thing Seven
Thing Eight
Thing Nine

According to the first of the recordings, the Totalitarian Musical Sect cites as influences Can, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Sun Ra, and refer to their sound as "a new Russian primitivism." And yes, the influences they cite seem to make their presence felt on both recordings.

What I've done here is to embed the recordings here on Nothing Is. Follow the links to the respective recordings and you can download the mp3s, cover art, and booklets free of charge - the works are licensed under Creative Commons. If these recordings whet your appetite, Ilia Belorukov is a very busy individual, who records prolifically in various combos, much of which should be commercially available. Since I'm relatively new to the Russian jazz scene, I'm sure I'm just barely scratching the tip of the iceberg. At age 22, Belorukov is just getting warmed up. His career will be one to watch.

Pharoah Sanders: Message From Home

Pharoah Sanders came back in a big way during the mid 1990s, proving that he was still quite capable of the fiery playing that made his reputation in the 1960s and early 1970s. AMG reviewer Richard Ginelli remarked:

The world music-minded producer Bill Laswell gets a hold of Pharoah Sanders here and lo, the sleeping volcano erupts with one of his most fulfilling albums in many a year. Message From Home is rooted in, but not exclusively devoted to, African idioms, as the overpowering hip-hop groove of "Our Roots (Began In Africa)" points out. But the record really develops into something special when Sanders pits his mighty tenor sound against the pan-African beats, like the ecstatically joyful rhythms of "Tomoki" and the poised, percolating fusion of American country & western drums and Nigerian juju guitar riffs on "Country Mile." In addition, "Nozipho" is a concentrated dose of the old Pharoah, heavily spiritual and painfully passionate, with a generous supply of the tenor player's famous screeching rhetoric, and kora virtuoso Foday Musa Suso shows up on "Kumba" with a touch of village Gambian music. This resurrection will quicken the pulse of many an old Pharoah fan.

Pharoah was working a bit with Bill Laswell at the time, appearing on such Laswell-produced joints as Jah Wobble's Heaven and Earth for a couple tracks, as well as performing with and composing music on Maleem Mahmoud Ghania's Trance of Seven Colors. The album does offer a healthy dose of what, for lack of a better term, can be called the Bill Laswell sound - depending on one's perspective that might be a turn-on or a turn-off. Sanders fans will be pleased that the sax legend comes across as firmly in control with the end result an album of world fusion with teeth. A shame it's out of print.

Tracks:

1. Our Roots (Began in Africa) (10:21)
2. Nozipho (9:43)
3. Tomoki (6:26)
4. Ocean Song (8:49)
5. Kumba (7:50)
6. Country Mile (6:03)

Personnel:
Bass - Charnett Moffett , Steve Neil
Drums - Hamid Drake
Guitar - Dominic Kanza
Keyboards - Bernie Worrell , Jeff Bova , William Henderson
Kora - Foday Musa Suso
Percussion - Aiyb Dieng
Producer - Bill Laswell
Saxophone - Pharoah Sanders
Violin - Michael White

Download Message From Home

Alice Coltrane: Lord of Lords

Lord of Lords was Alice Coltrane's last record for Impulse! prior to her brief stint with Warner Bros. She made a remarkable musical transformation in the years following her husband's untimely death. By the time of this particular recording, like a lot of jazz artists, Alice Coltrane was crossing over, but not to fusion, funk or disco: rather she was crossing over into another realm altogether. The music seems to have much more in common with Western classical music (her fascination with Stravinsky and with lush string section accompaniment should be one strong hint), and arguably Indian classical music. The selections sound much more scored than improvised, but somehow no matter what the context there beats the heart of a jazzer. If you're new to Alice Coltrane's work, I'd strongly suggest trying out her earlier Impulse! albums before listening to this one - in particular Ptah the El Daoud and Journey in Satchidananda. This recording is more for the seasoned fan or completist, and ideally those open to her subsequent musical output for Warner Bros.

Tracks:
1. Andromeda's Suffering (9:04)
2. Sri Rama Ohnedaruth (6:12)
3. Excerpts From The Firebird (5:43)
4. Lord Of Lords (11:17)
5. Going Home (10:02)

Credits:
Bass - Charlie Haden
Cello - Anne Goodman , Edgar Lustgarten (2) , Jan Kelly , Jerry Kessler , Jesse Ehrlich , Raphael Kramer , Ray Kelley
Drums, Percussion - Ben Riley
Harp, Piano, Organ, Tympani, Percussion - Alice Coltrane
Producer - Ed Michel
Viola - David Schwartz , Leonard Selic , Marilyn Baker , Myra Kestenbaum , Rollice Dale , Samuel Boghosian
Violin - Bernard Kundell , Gerald Vinci , Gordon Marron , James Getzoff , Janice Gower , Leonard Malarsky , Lou Klass , Murray Adler , Nathan Kaproff , Ronald Folsom , Sidney Sharp , William Henderson (2)

Music arranged and conducted by Alice Coltrane
Produced by Ed Michel under the direction and inspiration of Alice Coltrane
Recorded and mixed at The Village Recorder, Los Angeles, from July 5 to July 13, 1972
Engineering by Baker Bigsby

Dowload Lord of Lords

Jah Wobble: Heaven and Earth

This is an interesting album in part because of Pharoah Sanders' appearance on a couple tracks. An AMG review which seems reasonably fair and accurate:

Fusing Eastern and Western classical influences with elements of ambient, dub and hip-hop, Jah Wobble has created a truly brilliant pancultural concept album. The title track opens the LP with a near-orchestral range of dynamic emotions centered around Zi Lan Liao's vocals and violin, Kui Hsuing Li's soaring bamboo flute, and Wobble's percolating tribal drums. "A Love Song" is a hypnotic dub track showcasing the vocal talents of Natacha Atlas, whose Middle Eastern melody lends a sultry feel perfectly matched by the sensual bassline. Bill Laswell lends his distinctive touch "Gone to Croatan" and "Hit Me," which perfectly match hip-hop beats and turntable wizardry provided by DJs DXT and Rob Swift with Pharoah Sanders' mind-bending flute and horn solos and Bernie Worrell's synth textures. But the piece de resistance is "Om Namah Shiva," which combines Najma Akhtar's nimble vocal calisthenics and Inder Matharu's dazzling tabla rhythms with programmed percussion and Wobble's botton-end bass wallop to create highly effective world/dance track. Laswell himself calls Heaven & Earth "the best thing Jah Wobble has ever recorded. Who are we to argue?

Tracks and credits:

1 Heaven & Earth (8:41)
Congas, Bells - Neville Murray
Keyboards - Mark Ferda
Vocals, Zither [Ku Cheng] - Zi Lan Liao

2 A Love Song (7:23)
Guitar - Justin Adams
Vocals - Natacha Atlas

3 Dying Over Europe (3:11)

4 Divine Mother (11:12)

5 Gone To Croatan (15:30)
Drums - Jerome 'Bigfoot' Brailey*
Guitar - Nicky Skopelitis
Keyboards - Bernie Worrell
Percussion - Aiyb Dieng
Producer - Bill Laswell
Saxophone [Soprano], Flute - Pharoah Sanders
Scratches - Rob Swift

6 Hit Me (7:42)
Drums - Jerome 'Bigfoot' Brailey*
Guitar - Nicky Skopelitis
Keyboards, Synthesizer - Bernie Worrell
Percussion - Aiyb Dieng
Producer - Bill Laswell
Saxophone [Tenor] - Pharoah Sanders
Scratches - DXT , Rob Swift

7 Om Namah Shiva (4:47)
Drum Programming, Keyboards - Mark Ferda
Guitar, Backing Vocals - Justin Adams
Tabla [Tablas] - Inder 'Goldfinger' Matharu*
Vocals - Najma Akhtar

Jah Wobble handles production (except tracks 5 and 6), bass, drums, percussion, and keyboards on the various tracks. This isn't the only time that Wobble has played or collaborated with jazz artists. I have another album that I'll share at some point.

Note: Between a busy January interterm teaching load, the start of the Spring Semester, and a school board candidacy (which I ultimately lost), I've been just a bit swamped. There are some recordings in the pipeline, so as always, stay tuned!

Download Heaven and Earth

Jon Hassell: Earthquake Island

As good an introduction to Jon Hassell's music as any. Earthquake Island was his second as a leader, and features a cast of musicians who were known, more often than not, for their work in jazz and fusion - and explains the jazz-ish touches throughout the album. It's a personal favorite that is regrettably one of his more hard-to-find recordings.

Download Earthquake Island

Cabaret Voltaire: 2X45

I first learned about Cabaret Voltaire in the mid-1980s, when their videos to such tracks as "Kino" and "Do Right" were still fresh. By that point, the Cabs were a duo consisting of Steve Mallinder and Richard Kirk (Chris Watson was gone by the end of 1981), and their singles were mostly industrial dance tracks intended for rotation in clubland - and they managed some minor hits in their day. Of course even their hits were a bit too left-field to be accused of sounding mainstream. Before then, the band was known for their abrasive electronic experimentation. 2X45 finds the Cabs in transition between their past, when their only intention was to piss their audience off, and what would be their future. The album was recorded over two sessions with somewhat different lineups: one from October 1981 and the other from February 1982.

The sound will please fans of the No Wave scene to no end - it's dark, paranoid, angular, and downright funky. The Cabs' influences were varied, ranging from the minimalism of Steve Reich, ambient music of Brian Eno, the funk that made James Brown famous, and On the Corner-era Miles Davis. I've always dug on the first two tracks especially. "Breathe Deep" sounds like a tune ideal for some postpunk blaxploitation flick soundtrack. "Yashar" has some pretty interesting percussion and tape loops.

Personnel:
Tracks 1-3
Richard H. Kirk - Guitar, Sax, Clarinet, Synth
Stephen Mallinder - Bass, Vocals, Percussion
Chris Watson - Vox Continental, Tapes
Alan Fish - Drums, Percussion

Tracks 4-6
Richard H. Kirk - Guitar, Sax, Roland SHO9 and CSQ 100, Tapes
Stephen Mallinder - Bass, Vocals, Tapes
Eric Random - Guitar, Percussion
Nort - Drums, Percussion

Tracks:
1. Breathe Deep
2. Yashar
3. Protection
4. War of Nerves (T.E.S.)
5. Wait and Shuffle
6. Get Out of My Face

Download 2X45

Marion Brown: Live in Esslingen

It's been a little while since I posted any Marion Brown recorded material, so I thought I'd hook you up with a live bootleg recording that I happened upon about three or four years ago. The sound on this live bootleg should serve as a bridge between Brown's live recordings from around 1968 or 1969 (as well as the album Porto Nova), and his ECM release Afternoon of a Georgia Faun and his duets recordings during the early 1970s. In fact, those latter releases are arguably quite similar to what you'll find here with this quintet. The ECM connection should be apparent not only from the basic approach this particular combo takes, but from the personnel list: ECM founder Manfred Eicher plays bass on this session. Expect a fairly minimalistic soundscape, "little instruments", and plenty of open spaces. In other words, don't expect a noisefest, but don't expect easy listening. Brown's music, no matter how spare, refuses to stay in the background. It's also a pleasure to hear a young Wadada Leo Smith on trumpet. Marion Brown fans will want this.

Personnel:
Marion Brown - Alto Sax
Leo Smith - Trumpet
Thomas Stoewsand - Cello, Flute
Manfred Eicher - Bass
Fred Braceful - Percussion

Tracks:
Note that although the track listing consists of a part A and B, on the CD I have, it simply appears as a single continuous improvised piece, running 46 minutes.

Download Live in Esslingen