The Zone - The Zone (July 3, 2021 STUDIO III RECORDINGS)

The Zone is a concept album written by Italian composer Daniele Del Monaco for a band of performers fom New York City who are usually affiliated with avant-jazz and free improvisation.

Through the interaction of the five musicians, guided by Del Monaco’s experimental sensibility on keys and sound generators, this recording turns out a unique and ambitious combination of Fay Victor’s urban jazz vocals, Marco Cappelli’s guitar, combining elements of classical music and free improvisation, the at times extreme dynamics of Satoshi Takeishi’s performance on the drums, and the virtuosity of bassist Ken Filiano.

Del Monaco’s radical approach to creating music is rooted in a slow process of working through a score with classical musicians and free improvisers, balancing meticulous compositions with the setting of parameters for free improvisation.

In his lyrics, Del Monaco appropriates the words of Persian poet and mystic Farid al-Din‘Attar’s epic ‘The Conference of the Birds’ and Andrei Tarkovsky’s ‘Stalker’ to create a narrative in which the ideas and imagery of poets and philosophers interact. Byron, Keats, Diogenes, Thoreau and Buddha all meet within the framework of ‘Attar’s journey in search of truth and the Stalker’s journey through ‘The Zone’. The search for the mythical room within is capable of granting a person their innermost desires. The result is a set of seven songs filled with allusive and symbolic imagery, exploring the relationship between beauty and possession.

The majority of the album was recorded between 2018 and 2019 by Alessandro Benedetti in Rome, Italy. Benedetti tragically passed away before the sessions were finished, at which point Martin Bisi in Brooklyn, NY took over the recording work. The album’s journey then continued on to Sheffield UK, where it was completed and mixed by producer Thomas Lebioda for Studio III Recordings in 2020.

Throughout its development, a number of guest musicians have accompanied Del Monaco for live performances of The Zone: Blixa Bargeld, Theodosii Spassov and Marco Ariano joined the LCP Percussion Quintet in October 2014 for a first performance at Centro Campania in Caserta, IT. In November 2018, Marc Ribot joined the Band for a rendition at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, IT, organised and produced by RomaEuropa festival. 

1. A Loud Noise 11:05

2. Look At The Stalker 07:16

3. Into The Zone 05:28

4. We Are Lost 05:01

5. Seven Valleys 12:08

6. What Am I Doing Here 06:55

7. The Room 09:35

recorded by Alessandro Benedetti at Loadistrict, Rome, Italy

and by Martin Bisi at BC Studio, Brooklyn, NY

mixed by Thomas Lebioda at The Laundry Rooms, Sheffield, UK

mastered by Karsten Deutschmann at Gentle Art, Hamburg, Germany

lacquers cut by Noel Summerville, London UK

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Marc Ribot: Songs of Resistance 1942 - 2018 (Anti- Records September 2018)

“Every movement which has ever won anything has had songs,” says accomplished New York City guitarist Marc Ribot. For his new political album Songs of Resistance 1942-2018 – with a September 14 release date on ANTI- Records - Ribot set out to assemble a set of songs that spoke to this political moment with appropriate ambition, passion, and fury.

photo by Barbara Rigon

The eleven songs on the record include a few original compositions as well as traditional songs that are drawn from World War II anti-Fascist Italian partisans, the U.S. civil rights movement and Mexican protest ballads. It also features a wide range of guest vocalists, including

Tom Waits, Steve Earle, Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Vivian Bond, Fay Victor, Sam Amidon, and Ohene Cornelius, Tift Merritt, Domenica Fossati, Syd Straw.

At a time of such overwhelming social turmoil, finding a focus for this kind of project is challenging. Nevertheless, Ribot’s purpose remained clear. “There’s a lot of contradiction in doing any kind of political music,” he says, “how to act against something without becoming it, without resembling what you detest. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what to do, and I imagine we’ll make mistakes, and hopefully, learn from them. But I knew this from the moment Donald Trump was elected: I’m not going to play downtown scene Furtwangler to any orange-comb-over dictator wannabe. No way.”

Portions of the album’s proceeds will be donated to The Indivisible Project, an organization that helps individuals resist the Trump agenda via grassroots movements in their local communities. More info on The Indivisible Project can be found at www.indivisible.org.

1. Marc Ribot & Fay Victor - We Are Soldiers in the Army 05:27

2. Marc Ribot & Tom Waits - Bella Ciao (Goodbye Beautiful) 03:37

3. Marc Ribot, Steve Earle & Tift Merritt - Srinivas 06:09

4. Marc Ribot, Sam Amidon & Fay Victor - How To Walk In Freedom 05:44

5. Marc Ribot & Ohene Cornelius - Rata de dos Patas 04:46

6. Marc Ribot & Meshell Ndegeocello - The Militant Ecologist (based on Fischia II Vento) 04:10

7. The Big Fool 06:34

8. Marc Ribot, Steve Earle & Tift Merritt - Ain't Gonna Let Them Turn Us Round 03:23

9. Marc Ribot & Fay Victor - John Brown 05:53

10. Marc Ribot & Syd Straw - Knock That Statue Down 03:50

11. Marc Ribot, Justin Vivian Bond & Domenica Fossati - We'll Never Turn Back 04:33

Produced by Marc Ribot

1,3-11 Mixed by Kamilo Kratc @ Brooklyn Recording (Brooklyn, NY) & Soundworks Recording (Queens, NY)

1,3,4,7,8,9 Recorded by Daniel Schlett @ Strange Weather (Brooklyn, NY)

5,6,10 Recorded by Randall Dunn @ Brooklyn Recording (Brooklyn, NY)

11 Recorded by Ryan Kelly @ Studio G (Brooklyn, NY)

2 Recorded by Karl Derfler @ The School Bell (Sebastopol, CA) & Mixed @ The Shack (Crocket, CA)

Additional Overdubs Recorded by Alexis Berthelot, Chris Boerner, Bogdan Chavez, Jack DeBoe, Ryan Kelly, Gregory Smelley

Additional Editing by Jay Yow, Alexis Berthelot

Mastered by Scott Hull @ Masterdisk

Art Direction & Design by Bryan Collins

Cover Photor by Lewis W. Hine/George Eastman House/Getty Images

Photo of Marc by Ebru Yildiz

Project Coordinator & Management: Mary Ho / Noise Inc

PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT: THE INDIVISIBLE PROJECT (501c4) www.indivisible.org

SPECIAL THANKS TO: Kathleen Brennan, Jesse Bauer, Sheila Bowers, Michèle Desfrenne, Sara Fadabini, Joe Henry, Yuka Honda, Buddy Miller, Alison Riley, Andy Taub, Shanta Thake Kriegsman, Trixie Whitley

marcribot.com

New Album Out now ANTI- Records

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Other Dimensions in Music featuring Fay Victor - Kaiso Stories (SILKHEART RECORDS 2018)

Kaiso – A music of western African derivation and Spanish colonial influence. The precursor to the modern Calypso, narrative in form and often has a cleverly concealed political subtext. Kaiso probably has its origins in the Hausa language, where it’s used to exclaim approval such as "Bravo!" 

Many of my childhood summers were spent at my grandmother's house in Belmont, Port of Spain - the capital of the tiny sister republic of Trinidad & Tobago - the southernmost Caribbean Islands. This yearly cycle of me leaving the Greater New York area for the summer and heading to Port of Spain started after kindergarten and continued until my early teens. Trinidad, the island where my Mom was born and raised, and my Dad grew up as well, was my cultural home. Going there immersed me in another world I felt drawn to and a part of: the food, the patois, the humor, the melodic cadence in the speech, the sun, the fruits, the sea; the music, like school-girl songs such as “London Bridge is Falling Down” and “Brown Girl in the Ring” that my sister and I used to sing and play patty-cake to. Calypso music was a steady soundtrack in the background of island life. I saw my Aunt Mary and her friends 'wine down' at parties and we kids were encouraged to do the same, we were meant to dance this way...  more

1. Maryanne Revisited 13:32

2. Three Friends Advised 15:24

3. Kitch Goes Home 07:35

4. Saltfish Refried 10:46

5. John Gilman Wants Tobacco 01:56

6. An Open Letter 10:01

7. De Night A De Wake 06:44

8. We Is We Trini 08:23

Roy Campbell trumpet, pocket trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, pipes, bells

Daniel Carter alto, tenor and soprano saxophones, flute, trumpet, clarinet

William Parker double bass, gembri, bass duduk, trombonium

Charles Downs drums, percussion

Fay Victor voice

Fay Victor's SoundNoiseFunk - Wet Robots (ESP-Disk' July 17, 2018)

This is Fay Victor's first album as a leader released on an American label other than her own Greene Street Music, but she is already a star on the New York avant-jazz scene. 

from Bradley Bambarger's liner notes: 

"Few vocalists have the sheer boldness – the outright fearlessness – of Fay Victor as an improviser. The New York native has long been a creative force on the avant-jazz scene, as a singer, bandleader, composer, arranger, and teacher. She has worked on both sides of the Atlantic with the likes of Misha Mengelberg, Roswell Rudd, and Anthony Braxton, along with recording several distinctive albums as a leader. Reviewing her recent disc Absinthe & Vermouth, NPR declared evocatively that Fay’s original songs sound “as if Joni Mitchell wrote lyrics for a lost Betty Carter prog-rock album – and it totally works.” Fay has also recorded edgy blues in a duo with guitarist Anders Nilsson, and she is an inspired re-animator of vintage instrumentals as vocal material, in the spirit of Carmen McRae in Monk; to this end, Fay has performed with her In Praise of Ornette group and with her house-rocking Herbie Nichols Sung band. 

"Now we have on record Fay’s SoundNoiseFUNK quartet, featuring Joe Morris, Sam Newsome, and Reggie Nicholson – each an exceptional maker of music in the moment. Although Fay enjoyed a rapport with each of these players in various combinations, this foursome had never played together as a unit before the single summer day last year when Wet Robots was captured in a Brooklyn studio. If jazz is the sound of surprise, this album startles – a sonic funhouse of left turns. The band floats in its own space, untethered by a bass. Morris’s guitar moves like a snake. Newhouse keens, taps, sighs on the straight horn. Nicholson makes his percussion set-up a skittering, rattling thing. Then there is Fay – her voice primal and wild, as attuned to unfettered expression as Albert Ayler’s tenor." 

1. Funky Dunk

2. A Witness in the Wilderness

3. Information Highway

4. Police Lights and Sirens

5. Squeeze Bottle

6. The Blues Are Always Free

7. Creative Folks!

8. Textured Pines

9. Whistling on a Sketeboard

10. I Sing

11. The Ha-Ha's

12. Holding Back the Scream

Fay Victor, vocals, lyrics

Sam Newsome, soprano saxophone

Joe Morris, electric guitar

Reggie Nicholson, drums

Drawings by Diana Kinscher / Design & layout by Jonathan Granola / Liner Notes by Bradley Bambarger 

Produced by Steve Holtje / Recorded at Park West Studios on August 4, 2017 by Jim Clouse

Lisa Mezzacappa - Glorious Ravage (NEW WORLD RECORDS 2017)

"I am doing what a woman can hardly ever do . . . , " wrote British world traveler Isabella Bird in an 1872 letter from Hawaii. "And I can fall, I can fall into anything." San Francisco Bay Area composer, acoustic bassist, and bandleader, Lisa Mezzacappa used those lines - and more from the writings of Bird and other women adventurers of the 19th and early 20th centuries - to fashion lyrics for her ten-part "panoramic song cycle for improvisers." Sung by the extraordinary vocalist Fay Victor, those two lines might also be taken to reflect Mezzacappa's place in the world of progressive and avant-garde jazz.

With Victor's voice at the core, and musical ideas percolating up from the texts, Mezzacappa tailored the open-ended structure of Glorious Ravage to the gifts, sensibilities, and personalities of the individual musicians. That required her to develop a bigger compositional framework than she had ever built before, and one that could both reflect and refract the multifaceted stories and personas of the women she met in her research and meet the challenge of keeping the composition, in her words, "open to the kind of collective wisdom that emerges from any given musical community."

Mezzacappa has written that initial inspiration for her work "comes from a messy, unfocused, overwhelming, brilliant, seductive, and terrifying pool of sensations, ideas, gut reactions, intellectual concerns, moral ambiguities." From that pool has bubbled up something that retains many of those qualities, but that also manifests focus, chemistry, communication, and an emergent sense of both order and transcendence. 

Glorious Ravage is a musical exploration of what is possible. Soaring with it can trigger an experience of the sublime, similar to the altitude sickness that Isabella Bird, Ida Pfeiffer, and Annie Smith Peck fell into during their lofty adventures, an ecstatic mind state South Americans called  veta  or  soroche. When Bird wrote in her letter from Hawaii, "This is the height of the last and most glorious ravage," she could not have foreseen that Lisa Mezzacappa would bring us another of equal magnificence.

1. I. Veta  4:06

2. II. Make No Plans  6:16

3. III. Heat & Hurry  7:15

4. IV. Taxonomical  4:59

5. V. Great Green Gloom  8:03

6. VI. Soroche  4:42

7. VII. For the Dusky Mourner  13:26

8. VIII. Marianne  5:03

9. IX. Shut Out the Sun  7:29

10. X. City of Wonders  8:18

Lisa Mezzacappa, acoustic bass, conductor

Fay Victor voice

Nicole Mitchell  flute

Kyle Bruckmann  oboe

Vinny Golia  woodwinds

Cory Wright  woodwinds

Darren Johnston  trumpet

Michael Dessen  trombone

Dina Maccabee  viola

John Finkbeiner  electric guitar

Myra Melford  piano, harmonium

Kjell Nordeson vibraphone, percussion

Mark Dresser acoustic bass

Tim Perkis  electronics

Jordan Glenn drum set, percussion