Saturday, September 03, 2005

Low Life At The Bottom End

Vinny Golia ‘A Gift For The Unusual’ Nine Winds NWCD0239

Multi-reedist Vinny Golia started the Nine Winds record label in 1977. Back then he played nine different horns. Almost thirty years on, Golia and friends have released dozens of albums that highlight the talents of many contemporary jazz musicians active in the vibrant but undersung North American West Coast scene. And Golia has steadily added numerous wind instruments to his collection. Which brings us to this recent outing on the Tubax, an updated and user-friendly version of the contrabass saxophone, a huge brass beast that sounds off a full octave below the baritone. The fittingly titled ‘A Gift For The Unusual - Music For Contrabass Saxophone’ is a Tubax feature, resplendent with Golia’s solo and small-group adventures around the bottom-end frequencies of the big horn. The lumbering sax receives a full workout across eleven pieces by the fleet-fingered reed maestro, who clearly relishes the idea of presenting a close encounter with such a rarely heard and astonishing instrument. Several solo pieces plunge the listener deep into the subterranean depths of Tubax territory, where brevity provides the best view. The longer solos tend to get bogged down in the sheer mass of sound. The most successful and purely enjoyable pieces place Golia at the centre of small group interactions, whether in boppish duet with longtime collaborator pianist Wayne Peet, or working off Michael Vlatkovich’s agile and expressive trombone work in trio with bassist Bill Casale. Golia is unafraid of unconventional contexts and creates some creepy sci-fi-noir episodes in a couple of pieces that blend Peet’s ghostly theremin and keyboards with cello and double bass, and on another track Bill Barrett’s chromatic harmonica ( possibly the most unusual instrumental combination I’ve heard in a while ). The lugubrious beast also gets to roar on an overdub piece where five Tubax’s fight it out in an arena of punishing sonic extremity. In spite of some confusing track listings, Vinny and the Tubax both come out as winners. There are a million tenor sax sessions out there to choose from, but less than a handful dedicated to the steam train of saxes. It’s unusual and it works. Take the plunge to the bottom. By Matt Krieg
www.ninewinds.com

Funhouse goes on tour

Well, it’s been a busy ol’ time in the funhouse lately. August has seen two trips to Melbourne, a flying visit to Tasmania and the release of funhouse #3. Yes, after three years of procrastination, funhouse #3 has hit the shelf – your very own hardcopy featuring Ted Bundys Volkswagon, Ian Nagoski, reviews, fiction, pomes and an investigation into Bill Shields – is he all he’s meant to be? All this and free shit too! Available at Big Star Adelaide, Missing Link and Polyester Books in Melbourne or direct from me. ($5 plus postage… so we’ll say $7 Oz or a trade, that sounds fair don’t it?)

As for Melbourne, well as part of The Paroxysm Press travelling circus I travelled o’er to Melb to read at the Overload Poetry Festival. In fact, we were the opening act! Very bizarre night at the Fitzroy town hall with the Mayor opening things and then Paroxysm proceeding to read our usual fare… sex, drinking, fucking up… surprisingly it went down well (must have been the free wine). I also appeared in a debate about ego and poetry, not surprisingly on the side of ego, and we won. Or so I’m told because I remember very little of it! Then to finish the week off we did a gig at Dreams in Carlton with a motley crue of goths, nutters and o’er assorted weird folk, which had that horrible air of doom about it but which turned out to be one of the best gigs I’ve done for awhile. As well as providing us with a memory involving a champagne bottle that will be talked about for years to come. Two weeks later we were back in Melbourne to launch the latest Paroxysm Press anthology "Waste" at the Melbourne Writers Festival. A very salubrious affair, well attended and a damn fine time had by all. Of course being in Melbourne I spent far too much money on music (Sun City Girls, Caroliners, Irr. App. (Ext), Penelope Houston) so expect some reviews to pop up soon. All in all a busy month but productive, now I’ve got to work my butt off to repay my credit card, the curse of the itinerant poet.
Now does anyone know of a writer’s fest in New Zealand?
Kami