Lloyd Miller With The Press Keys Quartet And The Lloyd Miller Trio - Oriental Jazz download free

Plucked from the deep underground where he has spent his entire professional career by tastemaker Eothen "Egon" Alapatt, Lloyd Miller's late 60s work on 'Oriental Jazz' is the culmination of nearly a decade spent abroad. Long from his childhood home in California, Miller spent years grinding away first in the dark jazz clubs of post-war Germany and later in France; refining his piano technique and jazz chops and expanding his horizons eventually to eastern music. Obsessed with a growing roster of instrumentation totally unknown in late 60s western culture (and still largely so today), Miller thrived on being the ultimate outsider. Filled with pride and a 2000lb chip on his shoulder for not being embraced by the global musical community, he only pushed harder to refuse to abandon his blood pact to compose and perform what he considered 'pure' music. Not by creating hybrid styles that might have smacked of fusion jazz or (God forbid) 'nu-metal', he was vocal in insisting that the two styles stand side by side, complimentary but never intermingling.The first half of the album finds Miller with musicians he would find upon return to Utah after his first stint in Iran in the late 60s. The Press Keys Quartet displays excellent straight forward cool jazz chops, startling for a bunch of college kids without a record deal or anything beyond the errant show on the U of U campus. These tracks were culled from a television special cast in B&W surely in only the most regional markets with a shamefully low viewership.The opener is the track for which MIller has become most famous and for good reason: it is 'Gol-e-Gandom' that best sums the title of the album and serves Miller's philosophy of performing side by side, but avoiding the double helix intermingling that the DNA of other commercial styles which he felt only diluted what each strand originally stood for. Like many other tracks, things start out with an almost ceremonial single instrument introduction, here the santur - a hammered dulcimer that seems to have one hundred strings. This instrument immediately brings to mind the most obvious 'Middle Eastern' stereotypes in the imaginations of the uninitiated. But listen less closely and the rubbish fades away, leaving an ambient trip that drags you along through a musical tunnel as you are bombarded by notes. Miller's playing becomes more frenzied and then with a quick pause, a groove of sorts is immediately discernible. It is here that Keys and his rhythm section come to life. Keys echoes the theme then quickly moves on, the santur fades into the background and Keys takes a carefully creative solo. It would seem impossible, but Miller takes a rhythmic approach on his instrument, only increasing his dynamics as Keys steps aside, leaving Miller with some nice chords to toy with. Even the rhythm section fades in and out at will, leaving room for the santur to come and go as Miller sees fit. Things delightfully fall apart leaving only MIller to take us out, our journey far too short."Njonja Mirah" serves as the touching intro to the etude in honor of Miller's recently wed/divorced wife's namesake, 'Yona'. Haunting chords echo and before long Miller joints on the clarinet with similarly styled touches here and there. After about 90 seconds the rhythm section joins and some really excellent work on the ivories is profiled by Press Keys. Miller waits at stage side while Keys shines, never to rejoin. Some themes from the intro seemed to be hinted at then things carefully curl into a ball as the track concludes. This is easily the best straight forward jazz on the record with almost no eastern influence discernible here."Tanya" carries some amateurish trombone playing by the groups pianist while MIller takes Keys' keys. Perhaps this was an attempt for Preston to show that he too is a multi instrumentalist, but I don't feel that the near obnoxious banging of the keys was the best stage for it. Things get marginally better for a short piano solo but that too begins to sound like the sound wafting out of the back alley after hours club, with none of the subtlety of much of the rest of the album. This one, I can do without.'Amber Eyes' again hearkens Coltrane's chimes, introducing the tracks on 'Interstellar Space'. But here it is MIller on the oud: a Persian lute where a feather is traditionally used as a plectrum. This song is very similar in structure and theme to the album opener and nearly as successful in its execution. But likely because the oud would be inaudible amongst the group (as it is an acoustic instrument), Miller changes instruments just as Press Keys strikes up the band and grabs the clarinet, yet another instrument expertly summoned from his immense repertoire. His woodwind work can almost be described as delicate, quite subtle and tasteful as the group lays down some excellent cool jazz. Then suddenly - but not abruptly - the beat breaks and an eastern (or if you will, 'Oriental') theme is introduced. Drummer Dick Beeson ditches his sticks and moves to the tambourine and Miller transitions from the jazz of the era to emulating a hichiriki perhaps, as the music swirls around him. Just as carefully, things move back to jazz and Miller steps aside to allow Keys to do what he does best. So much is said for 'Gol-e-Gandom' and rightfully so, but my wager is on 'Amber Eyes' for best example of the near merging styles described by the releases main title. "Natanie", themed by MIller's young and estranged daughter - back in Belgium with her mother who was also name checked (track B2) - is a short unaccompanied piano piece. Composed by Miller and painstakingly read by Keys who interprets Miller's work well; playful at times and always touching, it is a well worded tribute to a young girl. A bit out of place, but this album was always a bit of a kitchen sink for whatever Miller had available to fill an album with (at that time)."Hue Wail" breathes more life into the template set on the album opener and repeated for the oud introduced 'Amber Eyes'. This time, Miller settles on another dulcimer, the Dan Tranh. This time however, his unaccompanied intro is later joined by the bold bass playing of Don West, then later Mr. Keys. The Dan Tranh continues on, totally ignoring the rest of the quartet until Keys takes a solo and I begin to wish we had a better recording of this track. How many generations of tapes existed between the TV film can and the record in my collection I do not know, but the family tree is long in the tooth. The track ends uneventfully, almost as if the whole thing was an afterthought. As I prefer the santur (or at least Miller's use of it) to the dan tranh, I'd have done well if it was never thought at all.Now we come upon a different version of track B2, this round with entirely different personnel. Unlike the piano/clarinet duo found in its predecessor, this time we find Miller and Keys playing the opening theme on piano and celesta in unison while Jo Marcune approaches with the flute in substitution for the clarinet. The engineering stands out here, as the earlier portions of the album can be buried in mud at times, here I feel as though I just surfaced from a dip in the deep end of the pool, having shaken the moisture from my ears like a puppy. Just excellent brush work on the drums follows to accompany an entirely different group here (this, a trio) - the intro having been recorded completely separately and edited together. Unlike Miller's brash piano work on 'Tanya', we find his sensitivity and careful caress, to great results. No Oriental Jazz here - just JAZZ. Then what seems to be a small orchestra follows to close things out in epic stance. The credits are vague, we only have enough to know its a different group sans Keys and his boys and that the 'B.Y.U. Stage Band' is involved."Bhairava Raga" is the first of two examples (the next subsequent) where again Miller emulates one instrument with another. No eastern instrumentation here and apparently Press Keys sits this one out while MIller moves into some Indian modes and time signatures, exploring, poking, prodding....things begin to build and the piano increases in volume until it can be no more. A complex piece not easily swallowed, none of the appeal of the other Oriental Jazz tracks on the album but far more to ponder once it has elapsed."Iranian Mode Shur" has Miller solo on the piano, but playing using only his two forefingers as hammers on a virtual santur. The effect is disturbingly accurate but the short track length belies that this indeed was only an experiment. Or knowing Miller's usual motives, just a moment to prove a point.The last two tracks were yet more experiments, and somewhat daring for the day. During his years in France, Miller met and played with Jef Gilson (they produced a now valuable 10" Jef Gilson Septet Avec Lloyd Miller - Jef Gilson Septet Avec Lloyd Miller) and MIller took advantage of Gilson's skills as an engineer to produce this track, playing all instruments and overdubbing them, one at a time. This is truly the 'Lloyd MIller Trio'. Not a shockingly great rhythm section and the drum solo may have been a bit ill advised, but surely a bit of fun for Lloyd. Still, perhaps not fodder for anything but some personal tracks to enjoy time to time, but with a lack of other recorded output I suspect he needed all he could get to fill an LP.The album closer, another example of the recording techniques of the previous, begins with a marginally interesting solo on the bass. This solo extends to a length that exceeds some of the entire other tracks - the piano finally joins after nearly two minutes. Somehow the mix is far worse than the previous track and the drums are squashed, the piano is loud (for a moment played santur style) making 'Pentalogic' more appealing in many ways save that brief eastern reference.