TT 224: Carlos Garnett and Friedrich Cerha

Recent passings include two diverse voices

Carlos Garnett was a big-toned and virtuosic tenor saxophonist in the John Coltrane line, one of those who also admired the extended post-Trane “groovy” musings of Pharoah Sanders. He recorded with Miles Davis on several important occasions and made many worthy LPs as a leader. Right now I’m listening to Black Love from 1974, where an unusual small choir of singers including Ayodele Jenkins, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Carlos Chambers make a positive impression. Overall, the LP is a bit chaotic and the sonics are not sorted properly (a common state of affairs for most ‘70s Muse productions) but I’m going to keep listening, there’s really something awesome here.

The titles on the LP tell the story:

1. Black Love
2. Ebonesque
3. Banks of the Nile
4. Mother of the Future
5. Taurus Woman

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There are many important composers in Europe that are barely part of the discourse in the United States. Friedrich Cerha's name comes up in Ligeti studies (they shared a mutual admiration society) and when I went through all of Ligeti in the ‘90s I purchased a few Cerha CDs. I liked them, especially the string quartets recorded by the Arditti, but never got around to doing a Cerha immersion.

I am digging this outlandish percussion concerto Schlagzeugkonzert! If I’m doing the math right, Cerha wrote this in 2006 when he was 81 years old. This is more like it! Soloist Martin Grubinger is my new hero!

Whole production is outstanding, the video work is great. The Frankfurt Radio Symphony is conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.