After a long hiatus I have decided to revive Curved-Air. The Curved-Air sharity blog always drew it’s name from Terry Riley’s “Rainbow over curved air”, and not the band Curved Air. So now that we’re at a new home we’re just going to just go with ‘Rainbow Over Curved Air’. Proper.

My reasons for reviving are that I have had many request to post new material but more importantly folks wanting access to the archives. I have been generous and have shared many of my shares with others, while many other sites have harvested my archives and are posting my shares as their own. Whatever, it’s lame but I don’t want to spend the energy on them or on those blogging politics.

This is about the music. So enjoy! Let me know what if any links are bad and I will revive. More will ultimately be coming but with so many things in my life now it’s hard to say.

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Khaliq Al-Rouf Salaam’s “The Elephant Trot Dance” released on Nilvia Records in 1979. Ashley, a site visitor and now contributor from across the pond sent this gem to me. Here we have a later iteration of “The Ensemble Al-Salaam”, whose Strata East record can be find in the archives. Upon listening it’s immediately satisfying to hear that the Al-Salaam outfit seems to have continued along their spiritual jazz path. I know very little about this LP and can only offer you this little bit that Ashley provided: “libra and title track recorded 18th june 1975 @minot studio, the other 3 were recorded at platinum factory, brooklyn, march 8 1979. it’s all good, but “malcom, the call” is a bitch”, and a bitch it is :). Top notch, I say! Thanks again Ashley.

Enjoy!

Marcus Belgrave’s “Gemini” released on Gem Eye/Tribe Records in 1974. One of Detroit’s finest and accompanied by other label heavyweights such as, Wendell Harrison and Phil Ranelin. Here’s some words from Freefrom.org:

“The sound picks up in the same domain as the better Art Ensemble Of Chicago records of the late 60s and early 70s — with the rubbery funk electric bass lines and celestial groove. Trumpeter Marcus Belgrave plays in a beautiful ensemble, packed with Tribe labelmates — Wendell Harrison on tenor sax & percussion, Phil Ranelin on trombone, and Harold McKinney on electric piano. Roy Brooks and Billy Turner are on drums and percussion, and the expansive vibe is fleshed out with the help of Lorenzo Brown on bongos and Daryl Dybka on mini Moog. The record includes Belgrave’s beautiful epic “Space Odyssey”, which has a long flowing cosmic groove, nice electronics, and haunting trumpet solos. Other cuts include “Gemini II”, “Marcia’s Opal”, “Glue Fingers (Parts I & II)”, and “Odoms Cave”. A focused, but still wonderfully loose set of spacey 70s soul jazz!”

I’ve pulled this link as it’s been pointed out to me that this record has be rereleased. So go support Marcus and buy this sh#t!

Lemon Kitten’s “Spoonfed & Writhing” released on Step Forward in 1979. I just happened upon this fine folker/DADA/???/// record. I’ve nabbed these words from Scaruffi.com to put this into perspective: “The Lemon Kittens were two young multi-strumentalists involved in multimedia art-performance/theater: Danielle Dax, a fan of electronic music, biblical mysticism and middle-eastern vocal music, and Karl Blake, a veteran jazz musician. Their music harked back to Canterbury’s jazz-rock, to Brian Eno’s avantgarde rock, and to the nonsense quality of much British rock.”

Also check Mutant-Sounds for Karl Blake and the endless other shares of that ilk. This is a great LP. I mean with the above description, how can you not be at least intrigued?

Enjoy!

Chico Freeman’s “The Outside Within” on India Navigation in 1978. I promised more India Navigation LP’s long ago. Well here’s one of the first in many to ‘eventually’ come. On this outing we have Chico Freeman, tenor saxophonist (doubling here on bass clarinet) performing a 19-and-a-half-minute “Undercurrent” (an original by bassist Cecil McBee) and three shorter compositions with McBee, pianist John Hicks, and drummer Jack DeJohnette. Like many of Freeman’s late 70’s to early 80’s releases the music is tinged with a far east flavor. There’s no stinkers on this one. The dynamics between the members and what I’d consider a great recording make this a ‘heater’. 

Enjoy 

Armando Piazza’s “Suan” released in 1973 on Beautiful Black Butterfly. Suan is heavy, yet subtle, folky Italian psych LP with oddly inflected vocals and some deliciously crunchyguitar. Armando employs the talents of Shawn Phillips for this outing and his ‘Nuas’ lp. For those unfamiliar with Armando Piazza, as I was, here’s a little bitty I found on over at Italianprog.com:”Armando Piazza was a singer-songwriter from Naples and released these albums with curious titles on the local B.B.B. label (that also released the Showmen 2 album), selling them by himself in concerts and through magazines. The albums contained acid-psych ballads, all english-sung and mainly based on acoustic guitar but sometime with good use of electric instruments, they’re also notable for the help of american musician Shawn Phillips (who lived in Naples for some years) on guitar and bass.”
Enjoy!

If you enjoyed my previous Turner Bros. share, then scoop this 7″ cut as well. Enjoy!

Rabbits & Carrots’ “Soul Latino” released on Vampisoul in 1969. I’m not even going to pretend like I know about latin music, I just don’t. There are a few holes in my collection but by far Latin has to be the, excluding the myriad of crossover Blue Note and mid-60’s jazz lp’s I have. Fortunately, I’ve been hipped to some good LP’s by friends and fellow collectors. Ok enough blundering and babbling, here’s a nice little write-up from Kevchino.com

“This Mexican group was led by Salvadore “Rabito” Aguero and included his brothers and several other musicians who were family members with the same last name. Rabbits & Carrots had a horn section and an organ, creating a rock band with a big band sound. Together they made music that blended many of the popular music styles in America during the 60s. You got funk, soul, jazz, and psychedelic. But what makes this band standout is not only their ability to do a great job of copying these styles but being able to add a nice twist onto everything they play. There are Latin rhythms all over the place and their ability to improvise and jam the hell out of the songs they play makes this music sound slightly different from what you would imagine. A good example of that would be the slow “Romeo Y Julieta,” which sounds like it’s more a score for some B movie flick than a slow jam, making it one of the most interesting instrumental songs on the album. Being that this album was originally released in 1969, there are a few covers. Standout and familiar covers include Sly and the Family Stones “Everyday People,” Eric Burdon’s “Spill the Wine,” and James Brown’s “Sex Machine,” which is an interesting listen, being that it’s in Spanish.”

Very, Very Funky! Enjoy!

Patrice Sciortino’s “Chronoradial” lp, released in 1970 on PSI. Chronoradial is apart of the ever expanding library records folks seem to be unearthing. Sciortino delivered several library records in the early 70’s. I didn’t find a lot of info on Patrice nor this particular recording, but wanted to share as it seems an appropriate follow-up to the last “Trees Community” post. Like with many library records you can expect some typical, what I’ll call “library pranciness”, but cliche library’ness doesn’t permeate nor dominate on this outing. The interplay and dynamics of the strings, harps, vocals and bells make this a standout recording. If you like dissonance and avant oriented compositions, I think you’ll like this.

Enjoy!

The Trees Community’s “Christ Tree” released in 1975. Folks, this is a must have record. This is easily one of the hottest LP’s I’ve come upon in a long while. A fellow record collector and friend of mine shared this with me and my life has been better because of it. Now I’m gonna pass it along to you all. Fortunately the Trees have gone out of their way to rerelease and reissue their recordings and some live material. There’s a subsite dedicated to The Trees Community over at Psychedelicfolk.com. There you can find heapings of great info.

Here’s some words taken from Psychedelicfolk.com:

This album, starting beautifully with sitar, harp and Christian harmony vocals, starts first very clearly structured, then becomes a rather free excursion through the world and various genres, and instrumental improvisations referring to various cultures, in different sections, while the group returns to songs. This freedom is done which such calmness like in meditation, while it brings you into direct confrontations with these worlds and experiences, in a way I think I am afraid wouldnt work for those Catholics that I know here in Belgium, because they would find it too direct and not like confirming their relationships with experience-less dogma. For those who are able to face things a bit more directly, this is a truly remarkable recording.

Here’s excerpt from a review from Unbroken Circle

“Rating an album like this is somewhat superfluous, it is beautiful and cleansing, it is almost disturbing and insane. Once heard you will never ever forget it, it is unique in the way that few are. Only Taj Mahal Travellers, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and a few others have gone so far out, the question is - do you want to join them? (and will you get back).” 

Now I know I’ve said this is a “must have”, but if you have an aversion to religiously oriented lyrics/music, I’d stay away. While this record has some religious overtones, the music and genuineness far exceeds imo. Oh, and they have a Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/thetreescommunity

 Enjoy! 

By request, here’s the track list:  

  1. Psalm 42
  2. Parable of the
  3. Mustard Seed
  4. Psalm 45
  5. Invocation
  6. Village Orchestra
  7. Jesus He Knows
  8. I will not leave you
  9. comfortless
  10. Chant for Pentecost
  11. Psalm 46