IAN BLAKE: Reviews

Ian Blake's Spirit of Place CD, released in 1996 by ABC music, has just become available again through indie-cds.com. Following our policy of bringing you interesting, diverse and unusual music from around the world and in many musical spheres, this album fits neatly into our "no convenient genre or category" pigeon-hole. For it's a highly eclectic melange of various styles, from the solo whistle tune that opens, through drifting soundscapes and samples, passing jazz moods, a little bit of funk even, a touch of the mediaeval about it, a touch of the symphonic (in feel at least, there is no orchestra.) That said, Blake plays so many instruments himself, it could as well be a small orchestra. Clarinet, saxes, whistles, melodica, fujara, flute, tenor guitar, dulcimer, lyre and keyboards, bass and percussion are all used by Ian on the album. As Nick Beale said in a 1996 review of this album in fRoots this is 'multi-faceted and highly inventive music...' . It's hard to pin down with labels, but the consistent threads that run through it are the variety of musical ideas on offer, and the creativity with which those are manipulated. It's also a tribute to this CD that it's not really like anyone else that I can think of musically. The moment you think "ah that's a bit like Terry Riley ...." it's off into new territory again. The title is descriptive of the inspiration behind the tracks, each being given their musical identity by Ian's interpretation of the genius loci. The places visited are many and different, and their musics follow suit. If your tastes run to musical journeys through a variety of different spaces, (mostly of the melodic and instrumental type, in moderately laid back mood), I recommend you try this CD: I doubt if you'll be disappointed.

Helen Rivero is a singer and composer born in Sydney, Australia, to Spanish immigrants who has focused her work on jazz, cabaret and folk songs from around the world. Ian Blake is a British transplant multi-instrumentalist who has worked with English country dance group Pyewackett, Eric Bogle, and British world music chameleon Andrew Cronshaw. For this stunningly recorded collection, these two artists bring all those influences and styles to a mix of lullabies from around the world, including pieces in Zulu, Yiddish, French, Russian, Creole, Italian, Micmac and many more (17 pieces in all).

Rivero is a singer who is nothing if not unique. She uses her voice as a supple musical instrument, effortlessly darting from the lyric to vocalese and sound effects, painting a striking, often haunting, series of minipaintings from each of the cultures represented here. Blake is an instrumental master, providing a broad range of sensitively played arrangements for these pieces with an arsenal of woodwinds, keyboards and strings. Peter Kennard (percussion) and Julian Thompson (cello) fill out the ensemble.

The excellent production is pure and clean, very reminiscent of Blake's production work on Andrew Cronshaw's award winning release Ochre from last year. It is a joy just to listen to the sound of this recording, with each vocal and instrument cleanly presented with a "whole" sound ... open and clear.

The material seems to be a mixture of traditional and composed music from, literally, all over the world. It's both a tribute to the artistry of the duo that the material works together and that each piece stands up independently of the whole. I wish there was more background about the material provided. In the end, though, this is music that stands on its own. I don't want to mistakenly make it seem like this is any kind of folkloric work, but if you're open to a cool, jazzy take on tradition from true musical masters, this is a beautiful recording well worth the effort to find.

A selection of lullabies and night music from around the world could be a big yawn, but this selection is packed with interesting arrangements, junkyard percussion and found sounds, all linked by Rivero's expressive vocals and Blake's multi-instrumental ability. If anything, it's almost too eclectic in one dose, but it is equally fascinating and charming.

'They've treated the material in a way that is totally refreshing. The music is confident, engaging and has a wonderful element of surprise.
It's a fine new CD from these two talented musicians.'

The centrepiece of this album is Helen Rivero's voice. Her vocal control is amazing and, coupled with a rich tone and strong interpretative power, it makes Luminous compelling listening. Ian Blake complements her voice with an instrumental soundscape filled with equally complex textures and delicate solos. Like most original work, Luminous is a challenge to describe but very easy to listen to. The CD is a collection of 17 lullabies from around the world, and Rivero and Blake have done extensive research with songs sung in Zulu, Italian, Welsh, Yiddish, Greek and Icelandic to name a few.

But this description only tells half the story. Each lullaby is given a quirky, original arrangement using word play, vocal acrobatics, woodwinds, percussion, keyboard and strings to create songs that sometimes shimmer as in dreams or quiver on the threshold of excitement. Much of Luminous is exceptionally enjoyable and the duo must be great to see live in concert.

This is music with a triple purpose. First, it's a celebration of this Australian duo's musical friendship. Second, it draws the listener to the wealth of music from around the world. Finally, it forces you to look outside your preconceived notions of music genres - not a bad thing for musicians and listeners alike. Luminous allows us considerable breathing space to dream for a bright and peaceful future.

Jenny Gall, in collaboration with musician and sound artist Ian Blake, has here produced a recording of Australian women's folk music that is much more than a fine and inspiring aesthetic experience. This CD of nine songs and two instrumental tracks is also intellectually and artistically challenging, surprising, and at times slightly unsettling. It is strongly unified by its consistent reference to the essential paradox and ambiguity of life. That this is an essence which is at once contemporary and also generations deep, is convincingly expressed by Jenny's seamless juxtaposition of modern piano-based composition (Blue Fox; Gwen Harwood Impromptus) with traditional pieces like A Bhanarach Donn a Cruidh and As Sylvie Was Walking. Right throughout this beautifully crafted album, the ancient is integrated with the modern, the innovated with the long-inherited, the organic with the synthetic.

While Jenny employs symbolic ballad poetry as her main communicative vehicle, ingenious musical support is provided by settings that tightly combine elements as starkly traditional as the unaccompanied voice, with those as experimental as random digital sound generation. Typical of this treatment is her performance of the 'magical' ballad, Green Bushes, where the obscurity of a mythological narrative of death and regeneration is emphasised by the radical ambiguity of Jenny's interpretation of the song's rhythm and tonality. Worlds of meaning – both personal and universal - are further implied by sound effects woven through what is a typically non-standard musical arrangement.

The choice of material here reflects also the paradox of a European-Australian identity. Classic lyrics of the bush such as The Reedy Lagoon and The Stockman's Last Bed – both performed in ways which give them new life and meaning – alternate with ballads like The Female Rambling Sailor and The Bonny Bunch of Roses that exhibit far more explicitly their Anglo-Celtic provenance. That all these songs were learned by Jenny from field recordings of Australian women singers, and the fact that all are performed in a similarly contemporary and convention-defying manner, suggest that the tale of the stock-camp or river bend must be taken together with the portrayal of the elemental forces of love, loss, and ambition, as contributing equally to the expression of a fundamental Australian feminineness.

The sounds you will hear on this recording are clear, fresh, colourful, and thought-provoking. Sung voices of varying timbres are interwoven with the thick complexity of pianos, the simple plucked poignancy of the harp, the brash throatiness of trumpet and trombone, and the smooth richness of clarinet, viola and string bass. Other sounds – no less pleasing - are far harder to classify, having their origin in the infinitely surprising realm of electronic creation.

It's easy to see why this group was so popular: this 1982 album sparkles with a playful sense of fun, delivered by a skillful quartet who like to surprise. Hey We to the Other World starts off very trad English acapella but quickly devolves into a burlesque reggae stew that somehow suits it perfectly. Other tracks retain trad politeness while interwoven with singular invention. Pyewackett specialized in very old material which they made current and very much alive. Check out one of the jazziest versions of Tam Lin ever recorded, followed immediately by an entirely loopy Merry-go-round Broke Down. Weird and wonderful.

Pyewackett's second and best album veers from the 15th century to 1930s Hollywood with never a foot out of place. They were one of the innovative English dance and concert bands of the 1980s who foreswore dreary rumpteetiddly drummers and seesaw concertinas in favour of bassoon, hammered dulcimer, violin, clarinet and synth played with oomph, style and brilliant musicianship. Their versions of late medieval dance tunes — Amoroso, the B de B/Bear Dance and, er, Dan and the Wombat — belt along with an astonishing driving force and inventive arrangements. Rosie Cross's clear, slightly lisping voice ranges from the eerie versions of Tam Lin and The Grey Cock to the jolly Ce Mois de Mai and The Well Below the Valley. The bizarre 1930s Merry Go Round Broke Down has simply to be heard to be believed. If you're tired of trad and bored of bands that have been going so long that they are just a parody of themselves, buy this, and they might re-release the other three albums.

Pyewackett was one of those groups that defied categorization: experimenting with English traditional material, early music from France and Italy, and electronic music. While playing as a dance band with a caller, they also played in concerts in the UK, and abroad as part of the British Council tours. It's not surprising to learn that Pyewackett's members met at university in the late 1970s, where their common interests led to a very creative ensemble with an entertaining repertoire: 'pop music from the last five centuries' as one of their posters read.












Pyewackett were Ian Blake (woodwinds, bass, keyboards, vocals), Rosie Cross (vocals, bassoon, hammer dulcimer), Mark Emerson (violin, viola, vocals), and Bill Martin (vocals, keyboards, guitar), with Micky Barker (percussion). They were able to interpret a wide variety of music with exuberance, allowing both the individual instruments and the arrangements to shine. Much of their material came from John Playford's English Dancing Master of 1651, a source of much inspiration to those playing in the Anglo folk traditions, but somehow the other, diverse material also seems right, perhaps because of the strong vocals, tight harmonies, and unusual combination of woodwinds and strings. The classic themes of British Isles folk music form a core linking the material together. Murder, incest, visits from the beloved dead, a spring time romance, and the fairy folk all appear, surrounded and supported by some really nice instrumentals that evoke a magical gig, perhaps from time gone by.

Of course the synthesizer lines may suggest a magical gig from times to come -- do they play folk music on the Enterprise? But I digress... I particularly enjoyed the use of strings and woodwinds -- the bassoon rarely makes an appearance in folk circles, but its bouncy, round bass sound really contributes to the sense of the ancient-made-modern that Pyewackett created.

There are some real gems on this disc. Tam Lin is well done, in a spare arrangement, with Cross's vocals reminiscent of June Tabor's as she sings in the lower part of her range -- although the twangy bass is a bit distracting at the close of the song. Ce Mois de Mai is jaunty and exuberant in its celebration of spring -- with a renaissance 16th century flavour composed of layered vocals and woodwinds -- lovely and never stiff. The Well below the Valley evokes an isolated rural misery for the mother of nine murdered children born of incest, all with an upright chorus sung in harmony. I also really liked portions of the opening track, Amoroso, and the final track, Dan and the Wombat, both instrumentals, which have some lovely woodwind and fiddle passages.

The Man in the Moon Drinks Claret recalls a very vibrant, creative time for English folk music; it's a lively and vivacious listen that maintains its uniqueness and charm after almost two decades of various other folk music fusion projects. Give it a listen for both the trip down memory lane, and to put some perspective on more recent attempts to bring the synthesizer into the folk idiom.

WARNING: This CD will ignite your child's imagination and cause them to listen to it over and over instead of watching TV!
Winner of the National Library of Australia's Special Award for children 4-9 years.
The art of the bard or storyteller is very much alive and well with this sparkling collection of tales and songs. Weaving together traditional, modernised and original stories, to captivate the imaginations of children and their grownups, tale weaver and singer Jenni Cargill will take you to worlds full of wonder and adventure.
The recording is beautifully produced by multi-talented musician and composer Ian Blake, who plays no less than eight acoustic instruments- from lyre to ukulele, from banjo to shakuhachi. Ian has been involved in over 20 albums for children.

Like the bright cover....all the tracks on this CD sparkle with vitality.