MULTITUDES TELEPATHIC
Libretto (pfMENTUM CD078 — released 22nov13)
MICHAEL VLATKOVICH — TROMBONE AND PERCUSSION | CLYDE REED — ELECTRIC UPRIGHT BASS | DAVE WAYNE — DRUMSET AND PERCUSSION | MARK WEBER — POEM CYCLE
Tracklist: 1.2A (4:16) 2. POEM 2 (8:47) 3. ALWAYS (3:45) 4. WRITING (2:24) 5. POEM 5 is A DANCE (5:09) 6. CYCLES (6:04) 7. TREES (7:41) 8. CLICKING (4:27) 9. BREATHING PYRAMID CYCLOTRON OF WATERMELON (2:48) 10. THE CIRCLE (3:44)
RECORDED IN SANTA FE AT THE HOME OF DAVE WAYNE AND CINDY GEIST, ON THE AFTERNOON OF SEPTEMBER 22, 2o12 BY STEVE SCHMIDT. MARK WEBER’S POEMS OVER-DUBBED AT NEWZONE, AUGUST 10, 2o13. MIXED AND MASTERED BY WAYNE PEET/NEWZONE/LOS ANGELES. PHOTO BY MARK WEBER. ARTWORK BY M. VLATKOVICH. LAYOUT BY JEFF KAISER | pfMENTUM CD078 | www.pfmentum.com
POEM CYCLE
1.
How
could
I
have possibly
known of this shrouded island
if not for
some memory from a previous life?
2.
It helps me to remember that
I am inside my body —this walking around, strolling, watching the clouds –
there is less & less to say
(the mind has all kinds of chatter it likes to send to the mouth
for you to fill up the world, but
it is mostly baloney, has
no substance other than anxiety )what am I doing here?
telling you things you probably already know
don’t need to know in any case
3.
Always, a far shore beckons ——-
Legends of trumpets
from across the water ———From a windfall oak
we build a ship —-
4.
WRITING
A flashing crooked tongue of fire
reaches out of the black clouds
and
when the mountains crack thunderous cataclysm roar
like a pterodactyl screaming caught in the jaws
of a lizard-wolf
I stand and hold my shield to the skyHalf of us went down the river two nights ago
The rest of us stayed hereThey do not always return
The birds also go that way, when
days become shorter and more chill
flying south along the river
but return in summerI am ancient in days
so I stay here
and watch
and inscribe the histories on these rocks
5.
POEM FIVE IS A DANCE
“All around the water tower
waiting for a train” [—–Jimmie Rodgers ]Reading a newspaper in the rain
Water fills the buckets and my brain
has nothing to complainHorses running free into the clouds
Me and a couple crows keeping dry under this awning
Quite a bit going on that has no name
Following my dharma rearranged
Poking around in the rain
Train circles around and comes back again
Hobo’ing down the line
Dancing like a puppet on a string
waiting, waiting, watching the weather vane
Waiting for a train
6.
CYCLES
The Earth used to be flat —–
Now it is round they tell me . . . .A flashing crooked tongue of fire
cracks open the black clouds . . . .
Very swift are the horses of RohanAncient legends of trumpets
from across the water . . . .Thrown open before the swirling wind
a clicking flame shoots out . . . .
7.
TREES
trees upon trees
on the ledge above this canyonboulders and rocks and granite
a vast forest in these uplandscyclofuglas in the winds above
they are the giant birds of these mountains
that watch over the treescircling
the sun in it circles spiraling
nourishing his green valley with its rayslater, the ocean mists
turtle night down at the seashore
aqua languorous marine blue
tumbling cartwheels of stars
moon sense vibrating shadows
gleaming innocence intertwined
surging tide
the waves overlapping smooth, froth
radiant palpitations
cool wet white sand
the turtles come ashore, multitudes
telepathic
8.
CLICKING
on the street
I find a small clicking device
that creates fire in the handclick
and a flame shoots out
on some level you don’t expect that —
but then, anything’s possible
9.
BREATHING PYRAMID CYCLOTRON OF WATERMELONS
All the leaves
will soon shimmer to the ground
and I’ll stack the nautical watermelons
into intricate twilight — a breathing pyramid
cyclotron
macaroni
Buddhist winos washing the dishes
wiping their hands on each others shirttails
before
re-setting the gyroscope clock whose
minutes are kept by the branch of an elm
it’s hour hand is an oakand what then, weary traveler?
10.
THE CIRCLE
I, more than anyone I know
need to pause
before
the food, the apple, the
carrot, the plate
and think about
the amazing confluence
of inter-connections
that
such a thing like an apple
exists
in such interdependence with myself:That the Earth, this water planet, is just
the right distance from the sunThat the molecules gyrating in this apple cosmos
shall now pulse in my bloodCirculating in the universe of my body
thrown open before the swirling wind —Now, I need learn the way into blessing.
Michael Vlatkovich swirling afternoon of September 22, 2o12 — photo by Mark Weber
A poem cycle is as complicated as you want to make it.
For the most part the poems should be interlocking. The sequence should unfold and build up a feeling or move toward a central object. In this case, I was able to listen to the music and use it for my starting point. Michael had sent me his rough edits, which I have to say were pure genius. The actual master session tapes are in the neighborhood of two hours of genial playing and is very good listening as well, but after Michael carved out the shape of this project, I was astounded, that guy really knows what he’s doing. It’s gratifying to work with someone of his know how. And then he asked me to see if I could put some poems to it, and that took 5 weeks of work.
Wayne Peet also made some editorial suggestions, as well, which I incorporated into the text reading during the Newzone Studio session in Los Angeles. Michael put the titles to about half of them, and he grabbed the title for the CD from Poem 7.
I asked Michael about this session — was it a blowing session and the CD an afterthought? (I was there but I don’t remember exactly.) He answered: “Particularly, whenever I record free improvisation, I always wonder if any of the recording will be worthwhile. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In this specific instance with the addition of the spoken word I feel it works very well.” Then I asked about his editing process and he said: “Finding material I like and figuring out how to string it together.”
Steve Schmidt is ever an ally to freedom, wide-open spaces, ornithology and organicism, a beekeeper and recording engineer. Clyde is from Vancouver, British Columbia; Michael is from Los Angeles; Dave and Steve are from Santa Fe. I’ve been in Albuquerque 22 years.
All the music on this CD was composed spontaneously-collectively-improvised. It was Dave Wayne’s birthday that day and his house sits on the side of a hill in Santa Fe where we had vista views of summer valleys looking south. At a break Dave dashed out and brought home gourmet pizzas. Cindy made a nectarine-blueberry-strawberry crisp that just knocked us out. It was an afternoon session — Clyde and Michael had to be in Albuquerque that night for a rehearsal with Rich & Carson who were arriving from Portland later — they had a gig on the Roost Series at the Outpost Performance Space as memebers of the Rich Halley Quartet the following evening.
I asked Michael to summarize this project:
“The one aspect that most appeals to me about any CD and it is certainly true of this one, is the journey. You don’t know where the music will take you. You don’t know when the words will start or stop. I love the not knowing. I realized much has been said about our brains wishing for the familiar and the fact that we become uncomfortable when our reality is not familiar. I read once this statement and have never forgotten it: ‘Familiarity brings heightened pleasure from something that was once considered radical.’ In order for that statement to make sense, one has to stretch their reality. This CD I think makes that exercise easier. Why? Because the material is not so different, it is the organization of the material that might be somewhat different.” [email 26nov13]
This CD available for $10ppd from Mark Weber, 725 Van Buren Place SE, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA 87108 or www.pfMENTUM.com
—-Mark Weber 26nov13
Clyde Reed, bass; Michael Vlatkovich, trombone; Dave Wayne, drumset — September 22, 2o12 Santa Fe — photo by Mark Weber
Dave Wayne — September 22, 2o12 — photo by Mark Weber
September 22, 2o12 — Steve Schmidt in the corner with his recording rig — photo by Mark Weber
Dave Wayne & Michael Vlatkovich — September 22, 2o12 — Photo by Mark Weber
Clyde Reed and his bass technician (wife) Sherrill King assembling the travel bass, an Eminence EUPB (Electric Upright Portable Bass) — Clyde points out that this is not a stick bass, because the Eminence has a hollow body and a sound post — September 20, 2o12 at my place — photo by Mark Weber
Wayne Peet zeroing in on Multitudes Telepathic — August 10, 2o13 — photo by Mark Weber
Michael Vlatkovich playing for Dave’s parakeets — September 22, 2o12 — photo by Mark Weber
Dave Wayne at 11:22am on his 53rd birthday — photo by Mark Weber
Mark Weaver (tuba & curator of the Roost Music Series), Clyde Reed, Michael Vlatkovich at Studio 725 (my place) — morning in Albuquerque — September 22, 2o12 before departure to Santa Fe — photo by Mark Weber
Carson & Rich Halley & Clyde Reed after rehearsal at my place explaining to Michael how he should start using a new designation on his sheet music that says (about ten or twenty bars in): You Are Now Entering Mindfield — late September 22, 2o12 — photo by Mark Weber
78 is my favorite number.
2 THINGS
1) cyclofuglas is a made-up combine word.
cyclo is Greek for circling —-
fuglas is Anglo-Saxon for birds
2) another musical directive we thought Michael could
use on his sheet music was somewhere along the music
staff halfway down the page: Approaching Harmonic Cloud
Dave, did you know:
33 + 45 = 78
I never had any reason to know this curiosity
until I became a radio disk jockey
Loving all this brouhaha.. you guys are the bee’s knees and I aint kiddin’
Cuz, I think this may be some of your best work.. looking forward to hearing the entirety
Love,
Patsy
SIDEBAR:
One of the things that trips me out about tenor man
Rich Halley is that during his Chicago years — early
1970s — he not only
kept an eye out for AACM productions and followed
their work closely
but he sat in often with the formidable &
spectacular Otis Rush !
like life, “you don’t know where the music will take you…” poem cycles and percussion and horn and existential hums unite muse and solace. lovely and lush..
Great to see and hear the finished “being” of this . . . was wondering what the CD cover might look like. Very nice work indeed!
GOOD FRIEND, GOOD EARS
drummer Rick DiZenzo was essential part of
production team here in Albuquerque — the most
important job of objective listening & feedback
Gee Mark, Thanks! Always happy to contribute a fresh pair of ears.
Note the WET PAINT sign on my piano in photo of
Clyde & Sherrill —– that sign was on a pillar somewhere
in the NYC subway system, I think at 14th Street, as me
and Richard Tabnik stormed through (he walks fast)
making connections, and he ripped it off the post (or
maybe it was a bench?) and handed it to me, and
as we kept motivatiing and I had this sign in my hand,
Richard says over his shoulder, “Don’t let the cops see
you holding that,” at which point I jammed it
into my camera bag —— and now
there it is in Albuquerque !
i virgin listened to this and loved it from gitgo. i feel that this whole thing has that sense of woven mind meld that seems what any of us yearns for but rarely finds. the poems feel integral, not too much foreground & not thrown in as backthought. you & i know that this poetry jazz thing is a delicate balance. here it is laid down as some kind of bardic bardo barbarian wisdom, essential. at some point i said to myself, wow it would be superhip if that was the last song. lo & behold it was– superhip! (i have since listened to it in the car speeding on the interstate & it still is.)
totally incredible, priceless.
i love these pieces