Hi 4 Head Records Latest News: July 2020

Friday, 24 July 2020

Owsley Stanley - Grateful Dead podcast!

https://www.dead.net/deadcast/bonus-bear-drops-episode-1-whats-bears

Excellent review of The Lockdown Solos by Trevor Watts from Bruce Gallenter at Downtown Music Gallery NYC

Featuring Trevor Watts on alto & soprano saxes. Legendary UK saxist, Trevor Watts, has been playing creative music (in SME, Amalgam & Moire Music) for more than fifty years and seems unstoppable at touring, recording and creating new music. Although Mr. Watts has several dozen recordings out there, very few are solo sax records. In the liner notes, Mr. Watts mentions being influenced by bebop and other older jazz forms, something he says is still part of his sound. Just yesterday at DMG (7/21/20), we listened to a soon-to-be-released Charlie Parker disc on Hat-Ezz-Thetics (‘Bird at 100’), which still sounds fresh and exciting today, more than 70 years after it was recorded! I have also been a longtime Trevor Watts fan, ever since hearing his work with the Spontaneous Music Ensemble in the 1960’s, Amalgam in the 1970’s and checking out the Moire Music group in the 1990’s at FIMAV and his duo with Jamie Harris (on congas) in the early 2000’s in NYC. Each of the eight pieces here are called “I So Elated”, and I can hear that sense of joy within each one. Mr. Watts (on alto) takes a phrase on the first piece, states it and then repeats it over & over, slowly varying the line of notes, picking certain notes in the higher range and stretching them out carefully, making them special in the way they touch our heartstrings. Mr. Watts has a bittersweet (somewhat Trane-like) tone on soprano sax and slows things down a bit for the second piece. After he states the opening theme, he spins his lines around the opening phrase, tastefully caressing the theme as he carefully bends & twists the notes on his way up or back down. Watts slows things down on the third piece, his tone on alto even more poignant, a sort of slow, bluesy, near solemn vibe. There are some notes that Mr. Watts stretches out which remind me of the way Billie Holiday or Robert Wyatt also stretch them out, in a way which will reduce us sensitive souls to tears. When Watts speeds up some lines, I can hear those bebop like licks dancing in his fingers, the joy of musical ecstasy being released. There are those who consider solo sax (or other instruments) offerings to be indulgent for some reason but this is never what I feel when I hear this one. Trevor Watts has been around long enough to make each piece here work and evoke many different feelings and thoughts. This is truly a tour-de-force! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG downtownmusicgallery.com