Loren Connors

[user_240]

thanks for uploading that chan marshall collab!!!

my fds are going to nyc on thurs, i have to ask them to buy me a copy from other music or whatever, cant wait!!!

[jon abbey]

Haunted House reunion show today, they were AMAZING:







many more here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13715378@N ... 785226359/

[mevans]

We really wanted to attend the Haunted House show and being at the Issue Project Room makes it even more special. Thanks, Yuko, for posting the images on Flickr. Listening to the Bridge and Hell's Kitchen Park this past week instead. Look for us at the next Loren Connors performance.

[kp*]

I have never heard any Loren Mescaline Connors. SLSK isn't turning up much. Are there any on-line repositories of harder to find Connors stuff? What is the best entry point for his music? What are some of the prime solo outings? What is still in print that is "essential"? I'd like to give a listen since so many folks keep bringing him up to me in conversation.

-k

Never heard any Tetuzi Akiyama either, but maybe that is a sidejack.

[jon abbey]

Mark, hopefully they'll play together more although there are no concrete plans as of now.

I have never heard any Loren Mescaline Connors. SLSK isn't turning up much. Are there any on-line repositories of harder to find Connors stuff? What is the best entry point for his music? What are some of the prime solo outings? What is still in print that is "essential"? I'd like to give a listen since so many folks keep bringing him up to me in conversation.

I'd start with Hell's Kitchen Park (long OOP on CD, just reissued on deluxe double vinyl), 9th Avenue (also long OOP), and the Haunted House disc I put out in 1999 on Erst (still in print). I feel even better about these recs since Suzanne Langille and I had a conversation yesterday, and these are all big faves of hers also, she said 9th Avenue was her alltime fave Loren disc.

(and Tetuzi Akiyama-Relator is essential music, pretty shocked if you actually haven't heard that one.)

[jon abbey]

also...

I have never heard any Loren Mescaline Connors. SLSK isn't turning up much.

not sure if the name there was a joke or a mistake, but search either on 'Mazzacane' or 'Loren Connors' and I'm sure you'll find a ton, including my previous recs.

[mevans]

I recommend Erstwhile's Haunted House release too. It's one of my favorites. Also, the Family Vineyard releases can easily be found. The Family Vineyard website posts Loren's schedule when its available as well as Front Porch Productions.

[kp*]

I'd start with Hell's Kitchen Park (long OOP on CD, just reissued on deluxe double vinyl), 9th Avenue (also long OOP), and the Haunted House disc I put out in 1999 on Erst (still in print). I feel even better about these recs since Suzanne Langille and I had a conversation yesterday, and these are all big faves of hers also, she said 9th Avenue was her alltime fave Loren disc.

(and Tetuzi Akiyama-Relator is essential music, pretty shocked if you actually haven't heard that one.)

I haven't heard any of those. I think I heard one Connors CD years ago and didn't think much of it. I don't recall what it was, but clearly I need to listen again. I'll look for those.

Relator is rarer than hen's teeth. I have never been able to find that. I'll poke around as see if i can't find it.

[kp*]

also...

I have never heard any Loren Mescaline Connors. SLSK isn't turning up much.

not sure if the name there was a joke or a mistake, but search either on 'Mazzacane' or 'Loren Connors' and I'm sure you'll find a ton, including my previous recs.

Mistake. The old Mac ssX client is not working for me so I am trying a new ssk client (iSoul) which is also a bit buggy but I seem to be finding some items now. Helps to spell the name right.

[Damon_Smith]

I'd like to hear a bit more about what people love so much. I have enjoyed what I have heard, but I am not quite hearing beyond the beauty/pleasantness of the music.
The duo with O'Rourke is really a nice listen and has worked well on a playlist for my part time job at an art supply store.
I think it is outside of music I have I studied close enough to have a context for.
It would be great if Jon and others could write a bit more indepth about him.

[jon abbey]

It would be great if Jon and others could write a bit more indepth about him.

well, at his best (and there are definitely some dud recordings out there), he's quite literally an urban bluesman at a time when that tradition is virtually dead (and has been for decades). his peak period (IMO) was the second half of the nineties, and this is the same time that Sugimoto and Akiyama were working in similar territory, from their own perspectives. records like Opposite and Relator have quite a bit in common with the best of his work. are you a fan of those, Damon?

[Damon_Smith]

It would be great if Jon and others could write a bit more indepth about him.

well, at his best (and there are definitely some dud recordings out there), he's quite literally an urban bluesman at a time when that tradition is virtually dead (and has been for decades). his peak period (IMO) was the second half of the nineties, and this is the same time that Sugimoto and Akiyama were working in similar territory, from their own perspectives. records like Opposite and Relator have quite a bit in common with the best of his work. are you a fan of those, Damon?

Yeah, I can hear that - he can certainly find a way to update blues material, on guitar no less, without any Clapton- type cheesiness. Thanks for the quick response, I will keep listening. It clear that a lot people hold him in high regard. Brötzmann's solo albums are kind of urban blues - interesting that they both made duos with Haino!

I don't know those particular Sugimoto and Akiyama albums, but I saw Akiyama do his blues-based thing live and it was fantastic.

[jon abbey]

I've written a lot about him over the years, I even feel like we have a better thread here, I'll look for it.

interesting that they both made duos with Haino!

what's funny is that the Haino/Connors (Mazzacane at the time) duos are maybe the only time that Haino changed his approach that much to fit in with another musician, they're very quiet and subdued. I saw the show for Volume 2 from a few feet away, a fond memory.

I don't know those particular Sugimoto and Akiyama albums, but I saw Akiyama do his blues-based thing live and it was fantastic.

yeah, that's not the same thing, though, that's like John Lee Hooker does minimalism repetition (not a qualitative statement, just a description). definitely dig up MP3s of those two (they're both long OOP, as I said above), quite possibly the peak recordings for both artists.

[jon abbey]

here's a JC thread with a bit more info:

http://www.jazzcorner.com/speakeasy/spe ... hp?t=13290

I really thought there were more in-depth discussions somewhere at some point, but maybe they're lost. hopefully Eric Weddle will chime in here, he's the man for all things Loren.

[RFKorp]

I have to hunt down a rip of 9th Avenue now. I could swear I had it when Suzanne mentioned it yesterday but it seems it's one I never actually bought. Hell's Kitchen Park though is great for sure. Moonyean is another MazzaCane-era favorite of mine that people don't often discuss.

[Damon_Smith]

I ended up talking to Kaiser tonight and asked him about LMC, he said he is amazing and that like John Lee Hooker, Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey he is just really good at expressing himself. Like a lot of people HK had a really high opinion of him.
He said they made a duo track for a Japanese film a while ago.

[jon abbey]

I ended up talking to Kaiser tonight and asked him about LMC, he said he is amazing and that like John Lee Hooker, Cecil Taylor and Derek Bailey he is just really good at expressing himself.

Loren was also diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1992, and since then, he's never been entirely sure if each time he plays will be his last. this really comes through in his music (at its best), every note matters.

[bryan]

I think it is outside of music I have I studied close enough to have a context for.

Here's some interesting context from an interview with Loren in Amazezine #5:

CW: You've said that classical music has been an influence on you, which composers are you interested in?

LMC: Alban Berg, William Byrd, Anton Webern, Carl Ruggles... if someone wants to know where some of my music is coming from, the overture to Mozart's last opera, the Magic Flute influenced me a lot when I was younger.

I thought it was really interesting anyways. In part because Fahey also drew from the Blues and Classical but came up with a very different result.

With Connors I always think of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" for sparseness and intensity of feeling.

[jon abbey]

I thought it was really interesting anyways. In part because Fahey also drew from the Blues and Classical but came up with a very different result.

interestingly, there is a Fahey/Connors recording that will supposedly emerge officially at some point, not sure if we talked about that earlier on this thread or not. it's a good one.

[Damon_Smith]

I think it is outside of music I have I studied close enough to have a context for.

Here's some interesting context from an interview with Loren in Amazezine #5:

CW: You've said that classical music has been an influence on you, which composers are you interested in?

LMC: Alban Berg, William Byrd, Anton Webern, Carl Ruggles... if someone wants to know where some of my music is coming from, the overture to Mozart's last opera, the Magic Flute influenced me a lot when I was younger.

I thought it was really interesting anyways. In part because Fahey also drew from the Blues and Classical but came up with a very different result.

With Connors I always think of Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" for sparseness and intensity of feeling.

That is helpful. His music sounds very historically aware, but you never know. Would I care about it less if it was more "homegrown"?
I listened to the Bern duo a few times today - there is no question the music is beautiful!