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Author Archives: davidtoop
Lol Coxhill, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker: those three blokes
One of the hazards of writing difficult pieces at speed is that assumptions can turn into errors. An email from Evan Parker has set me right on the issue of the “Three Blokes”: “It seems almost churlish to offer a … Continue reading
end of play, for Lol Coxhill
Late one night in March of this year I was sitting in an eerie hotel within Tokyo’s Haneda airport being interrogated for a Japanese magazine (see http://onbanjidai.blogspot.co.uk/). The subject of the interview was music and comedy and despite my fear … Continue reading
Posted in into the maelstrom
Tagged Alterations, Better Books, Bob Cobbing, Bruce Lacy, David Bedford, David Toop, Diamanda Galas, improvisation, Jeff Keen, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Harriott, John Latham, John Peel, John Stevens, Kevin Ayres, Lol Coxhill, Lol Coxhill obituary, Max Eastley, Mike Cooper, Mike Oldfield, Paul Burwell, Peter Cusack, Rhodri Davies, Robert Wyatt, Roger Turner, Roland Alphonso, Rosemin Keshvani, Rufus Thomas, Shirley Collins, Steve Beresford, Steve Dwoskin, Terry Day, The Damned, The Promenaders, Vivian Stanshall, Walter Zimmermann
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to rush down
“Any old wood will do,” wrote Henri Michaux in 1949. The drum needed no skin. Just as long as your whole life could be concentrated into the impact of fingers, hand, fast, faster, less fast, slowly, very slowly. Silence was … Continue reading
Posted in into the maelstrom, Uncategorized
Tagged auscultate, Henri Michaux, music, play with sound, play with sounds
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mouth of shadows
Andre Masson: Automatic Drawing (1920s) “she speaks to me a language so soft that at first I do not understand . . .” (Aimé Césaire, Son of Thunder, 1948) “I have always wondered why automatic writing has not been invoked … Continue reading
spooky drums
There are those who would prefer to uncouple improv from the ties that connect it to jazz. Hearing Han Bennink play solo recently (Night of the Unexpected, Spitalfields Festival, London, 16.6.12) reminded me of a few aspects of Han’s playing: … Continue reading
Posted in into the maelstrom
Tagged Charles Ives, Coleman Hawkins, Django Reinhardt, Han Bennink, improv, Into the Maelstrom, Lennie Tristano, Warren Baby Dodds
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Into the Maelstrom
in progress, my next book: Into the Maelstrom: Improvised Music and the Pursuit Of Freedom . . . to research the history and practice of musical improvisation, notably the post-1960s ‘school’ known as free improvisation; to establish the cultural and … Continue reading
Can I get a witness?
my essay for Scanner’s Witness project – David Toop on Witness – can be found online here: http://www.soundandmusic.org/projects/scanner-durham-brass-festival/david-toop-witness
Posted in writing sound
Tagged David Toop, Durham Brass Festival, Scanner, Sound & Music, Witness
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. . . the hair on the head to hear . . .
“It was as though somewhere in the Sunday afternoon’s quiet and peace the screams of that child still existed, lingered, not as sound now, but as something for the skin to hear, the hair on the head to hear.” William … Continue reading
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