about: captain beefheart, the residents, frank zappa and some of my mothers.

american jam band day by the river played frank zappa's 'apostrophe' and 'cosmik debris' in concert in 1999. * * * electric blue & the kosmik truth recorded zappa's 'willie the pimp' on their 1999 album called "nothing but the truth". * * * keller williams has performed a couple of zappa tunes on a number of occasions. songs include: 'camarillo brillo','dancin' fool', abd 'dinah-moe-hum'. * * * and the theory of everything performed 'i'm the slime' (zappa) in concert last year. * * *

don preston will always be one of my favorite mothers. a little while ago, he released his third solo album called "tranformation", a beautiful album in a beautiful package. in the liner notes don preston explains: 'these are tunes i just like to play more than any others', and an excellent collection it is:

* the don preston trio: transformation (3)
(2001, cd, usa, cryptogramophone cg107)
1. the eric dolphy memorial barbecue (frank zappa)
2. walking batteriewoman (carla bley)
3. inner blues (not a blues) (don preston)
4. i love you (cole porter)
5. the lind sonata (don preston)
6. ode to the flower maiden (john carter)
7. the donkey (carla bley)
8. transformation (john carter)
9. the prehistoric eons (don preston)
backed by joel hamilton on bass and alex cline on drums and percussion, don preston leads a very tight sounding trio. taking on and interpreting compositions of various artists he has worked with during his career, don preston not only presents a nice c.v., he also shows why he has played with frank zappa, carla bley, john carter, bobby bradford and gil evans, to name a few.
excellent album - essential listening !!

following the most recent developments regarding internet, recordable cdrs, distribution and all that, the number of private releases (albums released & distributed by the artist itself) has taken a giant step forward. a lot of these artists are combining regular releases (record company - record deal - various distribution channels - shops...) with private releases (home manufactured cdr - available through their web-site). the first group intended for a bigger audience, the second group for a smaller, but (my guess) more faithfull one.

don preston created brain records, his own private label. he has released a nice number of discs already. each album showing one of his typical, musical sides:

* don preston: music from blood diner & other films
(2001, cdr, usa, brain records)
this one has fragments of music don preston composed, writing for movies. a couple of well-known titles: "eye of the tiger","the blob", "prescription for murder", "apocalypse now". an opportunity to hear this unknown side of don preston.
* don preston: io landscapes
(2001, cdr, usa, brain records) - feat. frank zappa
electronic / new music compositions by don preston. feat. a.o. bunk gardner, amy knoles, art jarvinen, bobby bradford, ken rosser, tom heasley and his wife tina preston. each piece is named after a place on the moon io. * don preston: corpus transfixum
(2001, cdrom, usa, brain records)
this cdrom consists of 30 photographs of erotic body piercings, made by daniel hays uppendahl. preston composed a different piece for each photo.

* levin, bradford & preston: asymmetrical construct
(2001, cdr, usa, brain records)
asymmetrical construct is an experimental jazz album taken from a live concert with don preston, bobby bradford (on coronet) and elliott levin (on woodwinds). very experimental, atonal music.

the latest edition to the series is called "trans form". i haven't heard it yet.

also available from don preston's web-site is a grandmothers concert on video. the concert took place in denver during their latest tour and was taped by a local tv network. it's called:
* the grandmothers: denver's heartbeat presents the grandmothers more comment as soon as i've seen it. it's in my "to watch"-pile.

Soon,

P

(©peter van laarhoven - belgium)

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