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moodboardinthecloud · 2 years

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Reviving a Forgotten Artist of the Occult

Today, more than 100 million copies of Pamela Colman Smith’s Tarot card designs, the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck, are in circulation in over 20 countries, making it the most popular set ever made.

Sharmistha Ray

March 23, 2019

https://hyperallergic.com/490918/pamela-colman-smith-pratt-institute-libraries/

Pamela Colman Smith (c.1912), photographer unknown (all images courtesy Pratt Institute Libraries unless otherwise noted)

A portrait taken of Pamela Colman Smith (1878-1951) just after she had turned 33 depicts a gamine woman, with fiercely intelligent dark eyes that twinkle with intensity, her face bristling with impish charm.

The black-and-white photograph (taken by an unknown photographer), first published in the October 1912 issue of The Craftsman in an article by M. Irwin Macdonald entitled “The Fairy Faith and Pictured Music of Pamela Colman Smith,” conveys some of the aura and mystery that have so far shrouded this notable illustrator and artist.

Pamela Colman Smith: Life and Work, a small but sensitively curated exhibition at Pratt Institute Libraries in Brooklyn, organized by Colleen Lynch and Melissa Staiger (both alumni of Pratt Institute), constructs a portrait of an artist who demands much more consideration.

Installed across the library’s foyers on three floors, the exhibition presents reproductions of Smith’s art works and magazine illustrations alongside her writings, letters, and documents. These records conjure a constellation of famous friends and patrons, which included figures as diverse as Alfred Stieglitz and Bram Stoker. Smith’s magnum opus is the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck, a set of 78 Tarot cards filled with vivid oracular illustrations.

“Pamela Colman Smith: Life and Work,” Pratt Institute Libraries, Brooklyn campus, installation view: Rider-Waite-Smith Deck

Smith was born in London, England, to wealthy American parents who enjoyed a large circle of influential friends. She lived for a time in New York and Jamaica before moving back to America in 1893 to enroll at Pratt Institute, a few years after the founding of the college. There, she studied under the Institute’s chairman, Arthur Wesley Dow. A painter, printmaker, photographer, and influential arts educator, Dow introduced Smith to the significant styles and ideas of the day, including Art Nouveau and Symbolism, which she boldly asserted in her mature work, with sparkling originality.

In Composition, Dow’s groundbreaking illustrated pedagogical treatise from 1899, he establishes an American approach to Japanese composition. In Dow’s view, three elements are needed to produce a well-crafted and beautiful object: simplicity of line; a balance of light and dark, or “notan”; and symmetry of color.

Smith was deeply influenced by these ideas. In the essay, “Should the Art Student Think?,” which originally appeared in The Craftsman in July 1908 (and is reprinted in a takeaway pamphlet accompanying the show), she writes:

I do not want to see riotous, clumsy ugliness suddenly spring up, but a fine noble power shining through your work. The illustrations that I see in the magazines by the younger people are all dignified and well, carefully and conscientiously drawn, but their appalling clumsiness is quite beyond me—their lack of charm and grace.

I do not mean by charm, prettiness, but an appreciation of beauty. Ugliness is beauty, but with a difference, a nobleness that speaks through all the hard crust of convention.

Smith left Pratt in 1897 without a degree. Her mother had died the previous year, and Smith suffered a spate of illnesses. She soon moved back to London with her father and took up commercial work as an illustrator.

Pamela Colman Smith, “Sea Creatures” (undated), watercolor on paper, Alfred Stieglitz / Georgia O’Keeffe Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (courtesy Yale University)

In London, she was taken under the wing of the Lyceum Theater group led by Ellen Terry (who affectionately called her ‘Pixie’), Henry Irving, and Bram Stoker. She traveled around the country with them, working on costumes and stage design. Tragedy struck again when her father died. She was 21 at the time.

Despite her personal losses, Smith was able to find early commercial success and a healthy dose of notoriety in England. In 1901, she established a studio in London and held weekly salons for artists, authors, and actors. In his 1907 Bohemia in London, the English writer Arthur Ransome describes one of these evenings and the artistic circle surrounding Smith, who went by the nickname “Gypsy,” wore orange robes and regaled her guests with folk tales and performances. All the while, she produced paintings, illustrations, calendars, and posters, and even branched out into miniature theater.

Some of her first projects included The Illustrated Verses of William Butler Yeats (1898), and her own writings, including Annancy Stories and Widdicombe Fair (both 1899). For a while, she contributed regularly to The Broad Sheet, a literary monthly co-edited by Jack Yeats, before starting a paper of her own, The Green Sheaf, which she edited and contributed poems and illustrations in color.

It’s believed that many of the mercurial characters embellishing the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck were based on her social set; the most distinguished among them, perhaps, is Henry Irving, the celebrated Victorian-era actor-manager who was later knighted (purportedly Irving was also one of the inspirations for Stoker’s Count Dracula).

Pamela Colman Smith, “Sir Henry Irving as ‘Cardinal Wolsey’ in William Shakespeare’s ‘Henry VIII’ (1904), pen and ink

The cloaked and cultish figures in the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck make their appearance as early as 1904 in Smith’s illustrations, as seen in the reproduction of “Sir Henry Irving as Cardinal Wolsey” in William Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, a pen-and-ink work which was part of a number of postcards and posters Smith made of Irving to promote the Lyceum’s plays. An economy of richly drawn, calligraphic lines describe the drapery and the cassock, while a thick shadow cast on the wall imparts a distinct sense of menace. The illustration underscores the key elements of her signature iconography: a lone, central figure, draped in medieval garbs and veiled in mystery.

Smith had a neurological condition called synesthesia, which is an automatic visual experience, in this instance, activated by sound. In a handwritten draft for the essay “Pictures in Music,” published in the June 1908 issue of The Strand Magazine, she reveals an informed understanding of synesthesia, a concept Dow had introduced to her: “What I wish to make plain is that these are not pictures of the music theme […] but just what I see when I hear music. Thoughts loosened and set free by the spell of sound […] Subconscious energy lives in them all.”

Smith’s solo exhibition at Alfred Stieglitz’s 291 Gallery in Midtown Manhattan was the first non-photography exhibition to be held there. In a letter to the famous photographer and gallerist in advance of her show, she sent the titles of the works as if they were a concert program of Western Classical music, with overtures, sonatas and concertos. The exhibition featured 72 watercolors and was a rapid commercial success. She was to have two exhibitions at the gallery.

Pamela Colman Smith, “The Blue Cat” (1907), watercolor on paper board, Alfred Stieglitz / Georgia O’Keeffe Archive, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

A compelling display of nine color reproductions from the original group of watercolors portray Symbolist and Celtic-inspired fairytales, folklore, and dreams, in which spectral creatures appear in phantasmal landscapes. One of the more enchanting works depicts large waves carrying away sleeping figures mesmerized by a sea siren. It’s distinctly erotic. Another depicts a part-human, part-feline creature who may be casting spells upon a pair of lovers in a Paradisiacal Arcadia.

Her color schemes, inspired by listening to music, are strikingly intuitive and experimental, yet subsumed in a spectral light of intrigue and magic. I am left to imagine the effect of the actual watercolors, which must have been wondrous. As Smith wrote in “Pictures in Music”: “When I take a brush in hand and the music begins it is like unlocking the door to a beautiful country […] with plains, mountains and the billowing sea.”

Smith’s participation in the occult is documented through her membership at the Isis-Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn starting in 1901, which studied the occult, metaphysics and the paranormal. Introduced to the Order by W.B. Yeats, she came to the attention of the scholarly mystic and poet, A. E. Waite, who eventually commissioned her to do the Deck in 1909.

Pamela Colman Smith, “Queen of Pentacles, from the Lesser Arcana, Rider-Waite-Smith Deck” (undated), © 1971 U.S. Games Systems, all rights reserved (courtesy U.S. Games Systems, Inc., Stamford, Connecticut)

The 78 jewel-like illustrations of the Deck represent archetypal subjects that each become a portal to an invisible realm of signs and symbols, believed to be channeled through processes of divination. Queens, Knights, Fools, Priestesses, Magicians, and a whole host of arcane paraphernalia populate these worlds.

The originality of the cards’ stylization, draftsmanship, and composition make for a magnificent aesthetic achievement while displaying Smith’s jaw-dropping imagination for fantasy, folly, ecstasy, death, and the macabre. Two years later, she composed illustrations for Bram Stoker’s last book, Lair of the White Worm (published in 1911, a year after the author’s death) and converted to Catholicism.

Despite her early fame and determination, Smith slipped onto obscurity. She never achieved the financial security she desired, nor the recognition she deserved. The exhibition notes the artist’s feminist bent in her work and life, and includes important documents from her involvement with the Suffrage movement. A sepia-toned reproduction of a photograph titled “Ellen Terry at Ann Hathaway’s Cottage” (1902), taken by Smith’s friend and fellow suffragette, Edith Craig, captures Smith with a circle of influential women and activists, including the suffragist playwright and author Christabel Marshall. It also provides a wonderful portrait of female friendship.

Edith Craig, “Ellen Terry at Anne Hathaway’s Cottage” (1902), photograph; Smith’s friend and fellow suffragette, Edith Craig, captured this image of her mother, Ellen Terry, and several friends in Warwickshire, at Shakespeare’s wife’s childhood home; also pictured are Smith, Lindsay Jardine, and the writer and women’s rights activist, Christabel Marshall (courtesy Shakespeare Birthplace Trust)

Smith was experimental, interdisciplinary, and collaborative long before any of them were fashionable — an intelligent, worldly, and independent thinker with prodigious talent. Still, she died penniless and uncelebrated at the age of 73 in Bude, England. Had it not been for her iconic signature, which she designed while still a student, her name might have been lost forever.

When she was studying with Dow, the champion of Japanese design, he had his students make a monogram from their own initials using the traditional woodblock method. Smith’s monogram, PCS, a serpentine cipher on every Tarot card is a critical claim on their maker’s intellectual property (there was of course no question of a woman possessing intellectual property at that time).

Today, more than 100 million copies of the Rider-Waite-Smith Deck are in circulation in over 20 countries, making it the most popular Tarot deck ever made. As we set forth to recover lost histories and systematic erasures of women’s intellect and labor, this exhibition provides an essential piece of the puzzle.

Pamela Colman Smith: Life and Work continues at Pratt Institute Libraries – Brooklyn Campus (200 Willoughby Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn) through April 11. The exhibition is organized by Colleen Lynch and Melissa Staiger.

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mysticalspellsister · 3 years

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History of Tarot Cards

Some misconceptions about the beginning of the Tarot place the first deck in quite a while of a wide range of individuals since the beginning. The theories about the makers of Tarot cards incorporate the Sufis, the Cathars, the Egyptians, Kabbalists, and the sky is the limit from there. Notwithstanding, the entirety of the real verifiable proof focuses on northern Italy at some point in the early piece of the 1400s. Despite what many have guaranteed, there is no verification of the Tarot having begun in some other time or spot. Years and years before the Tarot was conceived, customary playing a card game came to Europe via Arabs, showing up in various urban communities somewhere in the range of 1375 and 1378. These cards were a transformation of the Islamic Mamluk cards. They had suits of cups, blades, coins, and polo sticks, the last of which were seen by Europeans as fights. Like normal playing a game of cards, the Tarot has four suits, which fluctuate by the district. Over the long run, this would incorporate French suits in Northern Europe, Latin suits in Southern Europe, and German suits in Central Europe. The decks likewise included courts comprising of a ruler and two subordinates. Afterward, the bonehead, the trumps, and a bunch of sovereigns were added to the framework.

At some point before 1480, the French presented cards with the now-recognizable suits of hearts, clubs, spades, and precious stones. It wasn't until after a lot of this had happened that, at some point in the primary portion of the fifteenth century, somebody made the first deck of Tarot cards. A deck was appointed by Duke Filippo Maria around 1420. The painter Michelino da Besozzo was given something to do making a 60-card deck with 16 cards having pictures of the Roman divine beings and suits portraying four sorts of birds. The 16 cards were wins viewed as "bests". The duke had created a novum quoddam et exquisite triumph forum, or "another and stunning sort of wins". These were for no reason in particular not for fortunetelling.

Presently, the Visconti-Sforza Tarot is utilized altogether to allude to inadequate arrangements of roughly 15 decks from around 1460, presently situated in different historical centers, libraries, and private assortments throughout the planet. These Italian cards were at first used to play another kind of game. This was like the game scaffold, notwithstanding, there were 21 unique cards that filled in as perpetual trumps. These could be played paying little heed to the suit that was driven, and they outclassed every one of the conventional cards. This was known as the "Round of Triumphs" and it turned out to be uncommonly famous, especially among the upper decision class. Then, at that point, as the game spread all through northern Italy and eastern France, changes were frequently made to the photos and the positioning of the trumps. Nonetheless, they for the most part bore no numbers on the actual cards.

Around 1530, "tarocchi" first showed up. The justification for such a name change is obviously in light of the fact that somebody made the advancement that the round of wins could be played with normal cards by basically proclaiming a specific suit to be the trumps toward the start of each hand. Thus, "wins" turned into an equivocal term, and another word was expected to allude to the conventional round of wins. In this manner, the word tarocchi came into utilization, although its historical background stays a subject of guess. The word Tarot isn't Egyptian, Hebrew, or Latin. It's anything but a re-arranged word, and it doesn't hold the way into the secret of the cards. The soonest names for the Tarot are on the whole Italian. The cards appear to have at first been known as the "carte da trionfi", or "cards of wins". Then, at that point, the word tarocchi started to be utilized in Italy, while the Germans utilized "tarock", and the French enrolled "tarot", or all the more appropriately "Tarot".

What's more, mid sixteenth century artists utilized the secret weapons to make stanzas called "tarocchi suitable", which portrayed renowned personage and women of the court. It turned out to be increasingly more mainstream to utilize the trumps to create sonnets depicting character attributes in a manner that was definitely more complimenting than that of contemporary mental profiling. It wasn't until a lot later that the cards turned into a well known method for anticipating what's to come. Concerning this, a Tarot perusing is actually a custom regardless of whether formal attire and gear are not utilized. By the common arrangement of their meeting up for the express reason, a kind of agreement is shaped between a querent and the mediator of the prophet. The soonest printed composition on Tarot cards utilized in this sort of way appears to have showed up in Italy around 1540 in the work Le Sorti by Marolino. Be that as it may, the main unambiguous proof of Tarot divination, as it is usually perceived, can be found in Bologna at some point in the mid 1700s. Obviously, it is realized that customary playing a card game were associated with divination as right on time as 1487, so it is sensible to guess that the Tarot may have been too.

There is no proof that the early Tarot had Kabbalistic or Hermetic qualities, and it should be perceived that the cards are a result of the early Italian Renaissance. During this time a variety of ways of thinking flourished. These went from soothsaying and Pythagorean numerology to Hermetic and Christian philosophies. Any, or all, of these topics, might have engraved themselves into the later plans. Clearly a significant part of the symbolism is drawn from the Christian culture of Medieval and Renaissance Europe. In any case, it should be perceived that the Tarot has as of late become a mainstay of the secret practice, acquiring impact from different exclusive ways of thinking. Along these lines, it wasn't until hundreds of years after the Tarot sprung up that enthusiasts of the mysterious in France and England experienced the cards and saw exclusive implications in the cryptic imagery of the cards.

In specific conditions, it was unavoidable that elective religions or otherworldly thoughts would need to shroud themselves in secret codes, painstakingly protected and spread the word about just to the started. Along these lines, the Tarot fills in as a fundamental abstract of reasoning and folklore that presents the cyclic idea of life and passing in an image framework that can be perceived by youngsters, uneducated people, and researchers the same. A Tarot deck fills in as a huge mother lode of mysterious legend. It is a bunch of exclusive cheat sheets intended to enlighten even the most scholarly understudy of the esoteric secrets. From various perspectives, the Tarot is a middle age comparable to contemporary devices of brain research, for example, the Rorschach or TAT test. The cards can be a guide to mental mindfulness and otherworldly turn of events, hence going about as an aide along your way throughout everyday life.

This interest with the cards prompted the current standing Tarot has as a mysterious relic and apparatus of divination. The principal such recondite reference to the Tarot showed up in "The Fame and Confession of the Rosicrucians," distributed in 1612. In this assemblage of composing, the Tarot was given the name ROTA. It was portrayed as a gadget that will be counseled for data concerning the past, present, and future. Then, at that point, the Comte de Mellet, whose short article on the Tarot was distributed in Court de Gebelin's Le Monde Primitif, in 1781, was quick to compose of a Kabbalistic association between the Hebrew letters in order and the Tarot. In that very year, Antoine Court de Gebelin made his own Tarot deck and asserted that the Major Arcana was an old Egyptian book containing secret insight. Afterward, Alliette took up Gebelin's thoughts, under the turned around name Etteilla, and he considered the Tarot the "Book of Thoth."

Etteilla asserted that his Tarot deck reestablished the first Egyptian plan. Etteilla additionally designed present day cartomancy utilizing spreads. He would even spread out a whole deck of cards in certain readings. Also, his card implications were the supporting of contemporary Anglo-American Tarot. The representations of French-fit trumps withdraw significantly from the more seasoned Italian-fit plan, leaving a considerable lot of the Renaissance figurative themes. The original of French-fit Tarot decks showed up around 1740 and portrayed scenes of creatures on the trumps. Be that as it may, around 1800, a more prominent assortment of decks were created, for the most part with veduta or class workmanship. In any case, Etteilla's interest with the connections between the Tarot and the Kabbalah prompted revelations made by Eliphas Levi, who promoted the associations between the Kabbalah and the Tarot in his 1856 work, The Dogma and Ritual of High Magic. This was the set up design that Samuel Liddel MacGregor Mathers would later expand on to frame the Golden Dawn Tarot deck.

Mathers, the top of the Golden Dawn, would ultimately record these obscure traits of the Tarot in a great original copy entitled Book T, written in 1887. Their work zeroed in a ton on the Major Arcana ("Greater Secrets"). This normally comprises of a progression of cards now and then start with the Fool as number 0 or finishing with it as number 22, contingent upon the deck. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn caused the Tarot to relate with the Kabbalah all the more intently by putting the Fool card before the Magician, rather than before the Universe. They additionally traded Justice with Strength. All the more significantly, they arranged the implications of the Minor Arcana comprising of 56 cards, partitioned into four suits of 14 cards each. Then, at that point, a significant occasion in the change of the Tarot happened in 1910 with the distribution of A. E. Waite's Key to the Tarot which was given with an entire 78-card deck of elusively planned magnum opuses. These incorporated the development of scene plans for the pip cards, which were painted by Pamela Coleman Smith who was an individual from the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, alongside Arthur Edward Waite. Rider was only the distributer.

The Rider-Waite deck has since become the most well known form of the Tarot among the majority. In any case, in 1944 another individual from the Golden Dawn composed a stunningly better book entitled The Book of Thoth. This powerful original copy was carefully assembled by in all honesty the well known and notorious Aleister Crowley himself. Then, at that point, he dispatched Lady Frieda Harris to paint what might turn into the Thoth Tarot in 1969. The outlines of the deck highlight imagery dependent on Crowley's fuse of symbolism from numerous different disciplines, including science and reasoning and different mysterious frameworks, as portrayed exhaustively in The Book of Thoth. Crowley initially planned the Thoth Tarot to be a six-month project pointed toward refreshing the conventional pictorial imagery of the standard deck. In any case, because of expanded extension, the undertaking at last traversed five years, somewhere in the range of 1938 and 1943 and the two craftsmen passed on before distribution in 1969 by the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.), which they were the two individuals from. All things considered, the Thoth Tarot has gotten a standout amongst other selling and most well known decks on the planet.

Like the Sistine Chapel, the Tarot is an ideal combination of craftsmanship and otherworldliness. This has assisted with making the Tarot a foundation of present day mystery and an inconceivably helpful apparatus for specialists the world over. I have actually utilized the Thoth Tarot for over 25 years now and albeit numerous different decks have come out since the 1960s, I trust Crowley's deck to be the genuine finish of the cards. While every one of the prior endeavors outlined their point in a straightforward type of a pictorial story, Crowley effectively disconnected the themes by communicating the significance of the cards in a mind boggling imagery. This does, notwithstanding, make it hard for a layman to utilize the deck. Notwithstanding, the fact is that all that has paved the way to this second has assisted with guaranteeing that the Tarot will fill in as the essential system whereupon resulting Western mystery will be established.

From various perspectives, the cards recount the most established story of humankind finishing the Fool a "saint's excursion", as depicted by Joseph Campbell. This additionally harmonizes with the early stage symbolism of the mind, which Carl Jung called paradigms. In the most specialized sense, accomplishing the Philosopher's Stone and climbing the Tree of Life is equivalent to the Fool's Journey through the Major Arcana. They are altogether steps to Enlightenment. All in all, the Tarot talks the normal tongue of the human spirit. Thusly, it tends to be viewed as the reason for the current images and codes of esoterica, following right back to the Italian Renaissance. In this way, the cartomancers of the world have the keys to everything in it. Eventually, the Tarot is an authentic pictorial authoritative handbook for the mysterious lessons of the ages. Accordingly, it has been with us for quite a long time and it will stay with us for centuries…

#tarot tarotcards tarotreading tarotreadersofinstagram tarotreader tarotcommunity tarotcard tarotreadings tarotdeck tarotcardoftheday tarotar

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misslisterkeepsajournal · 4 years

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1831 Monday 10 October

7 55/.. 11 55/..

Up at 7 and lay down (went to bed again) - fine morning - Fahrenheit 64°. now at 8 35/.. - breakfast at 8 50/.. - got a man as guide took Cameron and George and out at 9 40/.. - walked to the Dockyard in 10 mins. [minutes] - waited there 10 mins. [minutes] and then, a party of 7 or 8 besides myself being assembled, an intelligent sort of person took us in charge, and we began the round at 10 and it took us till 11 50/.. - I was beginning to make pencil notes as usual but the man said it was not allowed - I was not expecting to find this the case in England - however it was no great matter -

Went 1st. to the mast-rooms - masts of all sizes - the old ones took larger timber - those now made consist of from 30 to 52 pieces - apparently squares about 6 inches square and about 20 feet long? - saw the main mast of the victory (100 guns) - 52 pieces and would weigh about 12 tons - of american pine as were a great many of the masts - then passed the store (lying out) of anchors, an amazing quantity - 5 anchors for each vessel - saw those for the Nelson § [Margin - vide next page] (120 guns - will in reality mount 134 or 136) weighing above 97 cwt [hundredweight] - all of wrought iron welded together - would take 17 men a fortnight to weld one anchor - each anchor for the Nelson would cost ten or eleven hundred pounds - then to the ropery - rope cables 22 inches in circumference the thickest 27 inches circumference, but chain cables most used now -

Then to the anchor forge - the anchors moved to and from the fires by cranes - they used to have enormous bellows 6 or 8 yards long and 4 men to blow them by treading on them very hard work - now (for these about 10 years) have a constant current of air kept up and stronger than ever before produced by 2 barrels (about 4 1/2 foot diameter) something like a churn half filled with water turned backwards and forwards by 2 men - 2 valves - one in each half of each end - so that when the water falling to one side shuts the valve and presses the air out into the tube communicating with the fire the valve of the other half the barrel opens and lets in air which is the next turn pressed out by the falling back of the water as before - there being a tube from each of the barrels meeting in one tube near the fire, there is by this means a constant current - one of the gents. [gentlemen] present observed that at Mr. Guest's iron works at Merthyr Twydvil in South wales, the bellows the largest in existence was a steam engine which pumped up air thro' a large cylinder - I must see these far-famed works -

Then went to the copper furnaces and rollers these are merely for the old copper - all the new copper is bought by contract in sheets ready done - the copper when taken liquid from the furnace in ladles is put into moulds forming plates of perhaps 1 1/2 feet by 1 foot and perhaps 1/4 inch thick - these are eventually rolled out (at twice) into four thin oblongs perhaps 3 1/2 by 1 foot - when rolled out to the last size, they are rubbed over with some acid, put into the furnace till red hot, then suddenly thrown into water on which the outside blackish coating immediately peels off and the copper appears that bright red copper colour we peculiarly call and know by the name of copper colour - inquired but could not learn what was the acid the sheets were mopped over with - they said it was an acid - a particular composition - the sheets were lastly put upon a roller that marked them thickly over with anchors in such sort that it is easy to know government copper -

The man too in passing an old rope pulled out one single green thread from one of the twists or threads of the rope - but mentioning the forges and furnaces I should have said that from the store of anchors we went to the block machinery (very curious) all turned by one centre wheel turned by a steam engine which was partitioned off from us so that we did not see the engine itself (of 50 horse power) - saw a block made from the square piece of Elm (because Elm does not fly off in splinters) to the last finish of the copper-eyed lignum vitæ (because very hard wood) pulley (what did the man call it?) and iron pin which fastens it within the block for the rope to run on - the man who worked the machinery that polished the iron pin was not there that we merely saw the principle of his machinery and how it worked - these 3 men (the Elm man, lignum vitæ man, and iron pin man) during the war made 12,000 blocks a month and supplied the whole navy - they are not in full employ now - tho' they still make for the whole navy - the man shewed us a large new building (enormous almost square span of roof) for making boilers for the government steamers - none yet in hand there - only a few iron tanks to mend -

From the copper furnaces, went on board the Indus 80 gun ship building these 4 or 5 years and still only (I think) the hull done - built on a new principle - diagonal timbers all along her inside in squares diamondwise so that if she strikes, she cannot spring a plank and directly fill with water and go down - 16 or 17 inches thick of timber covering of these diagonal timbers - what an immense machine! what strength! how mighty is man! how mightier far the wave that snaps his work in pieces like a bit of glass! the Indus built partly of English partly of African oak - then pass the Nelson § [Margin - § vide last page] built in India? of teak - has undergone a thorough repair - where laid up smear them all over with a yellowish composition to keep them from dry rot and roof them over to keep the weather from the deck -

The HMS Indus, finally launched from Portsmouth in 1839 [Image Source]

Left the Dock yard at 11 50/.. (no difficulty - had merely rung the bell, and asked to see it) - took boat at 11 55/.. and rowed off to the royal George (of which Lord .. Fitzclarence is Captain) the royal yatch that the late King went to Ireland and Scotland in - has 70 men - 310 tons (I think) - but what ever she is Lord Yarborough's yatch the Falcon lying near, and looking like a man of war, is tentons ten tons more - this last mounts 14 six pounders, and can take care of herself when the guns not mounted the gun carriages fit up as wash-stands! 50 men? the royal yatch a magnificently fitted up vessel - great deal of gilding without - great deal of comfort and luxury within - the rooms or cabins hung with a glazed calico (up these 15 years) that does and looks admirably well - shut-up chairs, the most excellent travelling concerns I ever saw - by Edward Bailey upholsterer etc. to his majesty mount street Grosvenor Square - an admirable wash-stand that holds a bed - capital for any dressing room - these too of Bailey -

From the yatch rowed across to the new victualling offices close to Gosport - we should have had an order to see them? but did not take any pains to get admitted - an enormous brick pile, - a large square projecting part of it towards the water standing on columns - then rowed forward and landed in Cold harbour Gosport - walked along the works, and came in at the far end of High street very good street very soon passed (left) the neat small house of Mr. Titcher and then near it same side the large 3 or 4 story (brick - all the town brick) best house in the town? of Mrs. Page (has been for some time confined to her bed), Mrs. Henry Priestley's uncle and mother -

Went into the handsome market house and reembarked close to there and in about 20 mins. [minutes] rowed off to the Victory the ship on board which Nelson was killed at Trafalgar - saw the spot where he fell - near (close to) the prow skylight - then went down to the 2nd deck (or mid-deck?) where a court martial was sitting admiral Sir John Gore president - Captain Lord ... Fitzclarence sitting, and 4 or 5 more officers at the table - Backhouse (1st. mate?) versus Captain Belcher of the Ætna bomb - Captain B- [Belcher] brought Backhouse to court martial, and then Backhouse brings the captain to ditto for lastly cruelty and unofficer like conduct and and several other charges that went before - 25 mins. [minutes] there - Backhouse seemed giving rather uncertain evidence - within musket shot and clear day yet could not tell whether signals were up or not - hurried off at last because when Backhouse was called on as to the last charge he said he could not repeat the word Captain Belcher used because there were ladies in the court myself and Cameron and a lady or famale [sic] person what shocking nonsense! I waited for no more but hurried off vexed that there should be such humbug should -

The HMS Victory, Lord Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar, can still be seen at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard [Image Source]

High water now abouts (at 2 1/4 on leaving the Victory) - rowed down to near the entrance to the harbour (about 1/4 mile across) and landed near the round fort that defends it at 2 40/.. - sent home Cameron and George to get all ready for being off, and myself took the guide, and walked round the ramparts - soon came to what they call the King's steps where the King lands, a sort of small squary windowed ornament tower - but a battery? there - and several batteries all along - very strong place - double moated and ramparted - from just beyond the Kings stairs magnificent views of Spithead, Isle of Wight, see Ryde quite plain - Fort Monckton and its barracks, and Haslar hospital and Gosport, Stoke just beyond it, and Anglesea Crescent the Duke of Norfolk began about 2 years ago (2 miles from Gosport - near Stoke) for a watering place, but the work is not going on just now - 'Tis Portsmouth only within the fortifications - beyond these is Southsea (quite a town and Southsea castle a low thick round fort about a mile from the rampart where I stood) - then Portsea where the docks are, then on the other side the harbour Gosport - at high water a mile across - finest harbour in the world - the largest ship ride in safety - but if they should get aground it is only in mud, and the next tide gets them off unhurt - the new custom house a large pile of building, and immense government store houses close by - High street and 1 or 2 more good streets and 2 or 3 pretty good churches in Portsmouth -

Went into bookseller's shop near the George, and bought Portsmouth guide - no plan of the town in it - no plan of it allowed to be published - the George hotel (Guy) High street - very good hotel, and not dear considering - my expenses were more than usual, but I had dinner 4/6 and 2 bottles soda water 1/6 and servants dined I suppose when I sent them back for their expenses were 11/. - my wax lights and good sitting room were 2/6 and beds 5/6 and all that and the rest as usual - back at 3 25/.. -

Settled all and Off from Portsmouth at 3 42/.. - soon passed under the 2 covered ways (arches) and over the 2 wooden bridges - part of the last a drop bridge - still town, Portsea, or Southsea, or something, for a considerable distance the whole backed by the chalk range of Portsdown - at I suppose about 4 miles from Portsmouth (at 4 10/..) pass port's bridge, 2 wooden bridges over 2 canals or fosses and a military station like a french porticoed barrière close (left) by the road - then at 4 1/4 a short distance Portsbridge turnpike and then at 4 1/4 the neat enough little town or good village of Cosham - my once for a moment idea of staying there and taking horses thence to Portsmouth, would not have answered - the George Inn the best apparently is quite like a common Inn, and one at which one would not think of stopping, save on a pinch - at 4 17/.. turn (right) at the end of Cosham down to Havant, a village-like little town - neat enough little place posting Inn, the blackbear - a continued street for some distance - neat little liveable cottages (left) along the road - sea and shipping now and then right - Range of down (good sheep pasture) all along at a little distance (left) - 5 1/2 p.m. late enough for seeing anything now -

Enter Chichester at 5 55/.. - pass the cathedral close (right) - a lengthy, fine enough looking church - then beautiful gothic pinnacled rotunda, or market cross, or what, in the middle of the street and then immediately wide good street and alight at 6 at the Swan hotel - very good small sitting room opening on to balcony towards the street - good bedroom another flight on 2de. [secunde] and very comfortable - tea at 6 1/2 - sat over it till 7 3/4 - musing, as I had been all the way this afternoon and as I have done perpetually since seeing yesterday morning the gothic windows at Cowes -

On the plan for altering Shibden hall so as to make it liveable - put such gothic windows as at Cowes into both gables - take the drawing room end groundfloor and above for bedrooms and dressing rooms - take away my uncles room and butteries leaving only room enough for light stairs - Gothicize the passage like that to the courthouses at Norwich - pull away the kitchen part and parlour and all that instead of which add to the breakfast gable a part to correspond with the present hall and beyond and joined to that another gable extending backwards length enough to allow that is wanted - then taking a light gothic passage off the upper kitchen and likewise off the new hall-corresponding-part and all thro' the new gable everything would be comeatalbe [sic], and there the whole suite of rooms to the south opening into one another - new gable, or drawing room? new hall-corresponding-part, or dining room? present breakfast room enlarged by all the present upper kitchen but enough for gothic passage - present passage gothicized and perhaps heightened and lightened by the present library, present hall thrown up to the roof, and present drawing room fitted up as a French dress bedroom - the present passage would have 4 gothic doors - 2 on each side, at each end - 2 opening into the hall (with billiard table?) and 2 opening the one into the new passage along the upper kitchen etc. the other into the present breakfast room - the ground falls so rapidly to the East, that I think laundries and cellars etc. might all be under the new gable -

Very rain-threatening day but fair - raining heavily now at 10 35/. p.m. and has been for some time - great deal of rain fell during last night, too - Fahrenheit 64°. now at 10 35/.. p.m. at which hour had just done all the above of today - came upstairs at 10 50/.. -

Reference: SH:7/ML/E/14/0132 - SH:7/ML/E/14/0133

#anne lister #anne lister code breaker #gentleman jack #1831 #southern england tour #portsmouth #portsmouth dockyard #chichester #HMS Indus #HMS Victory

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He was one of the first players of the instrument in the bebop idiom of musicians such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Powell. Gordon's height was 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm), so he was also known as "Long Tall Dexter" and "Sophisticated Giant". His studio and performance career spanned over 40 years.

Gordon's sound was commonly characterized as being "large" and spacious and he had a tendency to play behind the beat. He was known for humorously inserting musical quotes into his solos, with sources as diverse as popular tunes like "Happy Birthday" to the operas of Wagner. This is not unusual in common-practice jazz improvisation, but Gordon did it frequently enough to make it a hallmark of his style. One of his major influences was Lester Young. Gordon, in turn, was an early influence on John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins. Rollins and Coltrane then influenced Gordon's playing as he explored hard bop and modal playing during the 1960s.

Gordon was known for his genial and humorous stage presence. He was an advocate of playing to communicate with the audience. One of his idiosyncratic rituals was to recite lyrics from each ballad before playing it.

A photograph by Herman Leonard of Gordon taking a smoke break at the Royal Roost in 1948 is one of the iconic images in jazz photography. Cigarettes were a recurring theme on covers of Gordon's albums.

Gordon was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in the Bertrand Tavernier film Round Midnight (Warner Bros, 1986), and he won a Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Soloist, for the soundtrack album The Other Side of Round Midnight (Blue Note Records, 1986). He also had a cameo role in the 1990 film Awakenings. In 2019, Gordon's album Go (Blue Note, 1962) was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Life and career

Early life

Dexter Keith Gordon was born on February 27, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. His father, Dr. Frank Gordon, was one of the first African American doctors in Los Angeles who arrived in 1918 after graduating from Howard Medical School in Washington, D.C. Among his patients were Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Dexter's mother, Gwendolyn Baker, was the daughter of Captain Edward Baker, one of the five African American Medal of Honor recipients in the Spanish–American War. Gordon played clarinet from the age of 13, before switching to saxophone (initially alto, then tenor) at 15. While still at school, he played in bands with such contemporaries as Chico Hamilton and Buddy Collette.

Between December 1940 and 1943, Gordon was a member of Lionel Hampton's band, playing in a saxophone section alongside Illinois Jacquet and Marshal Royal. During 1944 he was featured in the Fletcher Henderson band, followed by the Louis Armstrong band, before joining Billy Eckstine. The 1942–44 musicians' strike curtailed the recording of the Hampton, Henderson, and Armstrong bands; however, they were recorded on V-Discs produced by the Army for broadcast and distribution among overseas troops. In 1943 he was featured, alongside Harry "Sweets" Edison, in recordings under Nat Cole for a small label not affected by the strike.

Bebop era recordings

By late 1944, Gordon was resident in New York, a regular at bebop jam sessions, and a featured soloist in the Billy Eckstine big band (If That's The Way You Feel, I Want To Talk About You, Blowin' the Blues Away, Opus X, I'll Wait And Pray, The Real Thing Happened To Me, Lonesome Lover Blues, I Love the Rhythm in a Riff). During early 1945 he was featured on recordings by Dizzy Gillespie (Blue 'n' Boogie, Groovin' High) and Sir Charles Thompson (Takin' Off, If I Had You, 20th Century Blues, The Street Beat). In late 1945 he was recording under his own name for the Savoy label. His Savoy recordings during 1945-46 included Blow Mr. Dexter, Dexter's Deck, Dexter's Minor Mad, Long Tall Dexter, Dexter Rides Again, I Can't Escape From You, and Dexter Digs In. He returned to Los Angeles in late 1946 and in 1947 was leading sessions for Ross Russell's Dial label (Mischievous Lady, Lullaby in Rhythm, The Chase, Iridescence, It's the Talk of the Town, Bikini, A Ghost of a Chance, Sweet and Lovely). After his return to Los Angeles, he became known for his saxophone duels with fellow tenorman Wardell Gray, which were a popular concert attraction documented in recordings made between 1947 and 1952 (The Hunt, Move, The Chase, The Steeplechase). The Hunt gained literary fame from its mention in Jack Kerouac's On The Road, which also contains descriptions of wild tenormen jamming in Los Angeles. Cherokee, Byas a Drink, and Disorder at the Border are other live recordings of the Gray/Gordon duo from the same concert as The Hunt. In December 1947, Gordon recorded again with the Savoy label (Settin' the Pace, So Easy, Dexter's Riff, Dextrose, Dexter's Mood, Index, Dextivity, Wee Dot, Lion Roars). Through the mid-to-late 1940s he continued to work as a sideman on sessions led by Russell Jacquet, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Ralph Burns, Jimmy Rushing, Helen Humes, Gerry Mulligan, Wynonie Harris, Leo Parker, and Tadd Dameron.

The 1950s

During the 1950s, Gordon's recorded output and live appearances declined as heroin addiction and legal troubles took their toll. Gordon made a concert appearance with Wardell Gray in February 1952 (The Chase, The Steeplechase, Take the A Train, Robbins Nest, Stardust) and appeared as a sideman in a session led by Gray in June 1952 (The Rubiyat, Jungle Jungle Jump, Citizen's Bop, My Kinda Love). After an incarceration at Chino Prison during 1953-55, he recorded the albums Daddy Plays the Horn and Dexter Blows Hot and Cool in 1955 and played as a sideman on the Stan Levey album, This Time the Drum's on Me. The latter part of the decade saw him in and out of prison until his final release from Folsom Prison in 1959. He was one of the initial sax players for the Onzy Matthews big band in 1959, along with Curtis Amy. Gordon continued to champion Matthews' band after he left Los Angeles for New York, but left for Europe before getting a chance to record with that band. He recorded The Resurgence of Dexter Gordon in 1960. His recordings from the mid-1950s onward document a meander into a smooth West Coast style that lacked the impact of his bebop era recordings or his subsequent Blue Note recordings.

The decade saw Gordon's first entry into the world of drama. He appeared as a member (uncredited) of Art Hazzard's band in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn. He appeared in an uncredited and overdubbed role as a member of a prison band in the movie Unchained, filmed inside Chino. Gordon was a saxophonist performing Freddie Redd's music for the Los Angeles production of Jack Gelber's play The Connection in 1960, replacing Jackie McLean. He contributed two compositions, Ernie's Tune and I Want More to the score and later recorded them for his album Dexter Calling.

New York renaissance

Gordon signed to Blue Note Records in 1961. He initially commuted from Los Angeles to New York to record, but took up residence when he regained the cabaret card that allowed him to perform where alcohol was served. The Jazz Gallery hosted his first New York performance in twelve years. The Blue Note association was to produce a steady flow of albums for several years, some of which gained iconic status. His New York renaissance was marked by Doin' Allright, Dexter Calling..., Go!, and A Swingin' Affair. The first two were recorded over three days in May 1961 with Freddie Hubbard, Horace Parlan, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, George Tucker, Al Harewood, and Philly Joe Jones. The last two were recorded in August 1962, with a rhythm section that featured Blue Note regulars Sonny Clark, Butch Warren and Billy Higgins. Of the two Go! was an expressed favorite. The albums showed his assimilation of the hard bop and modal styles that had developed during his years on the west coast, and the influence of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, whom he had influenced before. The stay in New York turned out to be short lived, as Gordon got offers for engagements in England, then Europe, that resulted in a fourteen-year stay. Soon after recording A Swingin' Affair, he was gone.

Years in Europe

Over the next 14 years in Europe, living mainly in Paris and Copenhagen, Gordon played regularly with fellow expatriates or visiting players, such as Bud Powell, Ben Webster, Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Kenny Drew, Horace Parlan and Billy Higgins. Blue Note's German-born Francis Wolff supervised Gordon's later sessions for the label on his visits to Europe. The pairing of Gordon with Drew turned out to be one of the classic matchups between a horn player and a pianist, much like Miles Davis with Red Garland or John Coltrane with McCoy Tyner.

From this period come Our Man in Paris, One Flight Up, Gettin' Around, and Clubhouse. Our Man in Paris was a Blue Note session recorded in Paris in 1963 with backup consisting of pianist Powell, drummer Kenny Clarke, and French bassist Pierre Michelot. One Flight Up, recorded in Paris in 1964 with trumpeter Donald Byrd, pianist Kenny Drew, drummer Art Taylor, and Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, features an extended solo by Gordon on the track "Tanya".

Gordon also visited the US occasionally for further recording dates. Gettin' Around was recorded for Blue Note during a visit in May 1965, as was the album Clubhouse which remained unreleased until 1979.

Gordon found Europe in the 1960s a much easier place to live, saying that he experienced less racism and greater respect for jazz musicians. He also stated that on his visits to the US in the late 1960s and early 1970s, he found the political and social strife disturbing. While in Copenhagen, Gordon and Drew's trio appeared onscreen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film Pornografi (1971), for which they composed and performed the score.

He switched from Blue Note to Prestige Records (1965–73) but stayed very much in the hard-bop idiom, making classic bop albums like The Tower of Power! and More Power! (1969) with James Moody, Barry Harris, Buster Williams, and Albert "Tootie" Heath; The Panther! (1970) with Tommy Flanagan, Larry Ridley, and Alan Dawson; The Jumpin' Blues(1970) with Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones, and Roy Brooks; The Chase! (1970) with Gene Ammons, Jodie Christian, John Young, Cleveland Eaton, Rufus Reid, Wilbur Campbell, Steve McCall, and Vi Redd; and Tangerine (1972) with Thad Jones, Freddie Hubbard, and Hank Jones. Some of the Prestige albums were recorded during visits back to North America while he was still living in Europe; others were made in Europe, including live sets from the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In addition to the recordings Gordon did under his major label contracts, live recordings by European labels and live video from his European period are available. The Danish label SteepleChase released live dates from his mid-1960s tenure at the Montmartre Jazzhus. The video was released under the Jazz Icons series.

Less well known than the Blue Note albums, but of similar quality, are the albums he recorded during the 1970s for SteepleChase (Something Different, Bouncin' With Dex, Biting the Apple, The Apartment, Stable Mable, The Shadow of Your Smile and others). They again feature American sidemen, but also such Europeans as Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu and Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.

Homecoming

Gordon finally returned to the United States for good in 1976. He appeared with Woody Shaw, Ronnie Mathews, Stafford James, and Louis Hayes, for a gig at the Village Vanguard in New York that was dubbed his "homecoming." It was recorded and released by Columbia Records under that title. He noted: "There was so much love and elation; sometimes it was a little eerie at the Vanguard. After the last set they'd turn on the lights and nobody would move." In addition to the Homecoming album, a series of live albums was released by Blue Note from his stands at Keystone Corner in San Francisco during 1978 and 1979. They featured Gordon, George Cables, Rufus Reid, and Eddie Gladden. He recorded the studio albums Sophisticated Giant with an eleven piece big band in 1977 and Manhattan Symphonie with the Live at Keystone Corner crew in 1978. The sensation of Gordon's return, renewed promotion of the classic jazz catalogs of the Savoy and Blue Note record labels, and the continued efforts of Art Blakey through 1970s and early 1980s, have been credited with reviving interest in swinging, melodic, acoustically-based classic jazz sounds after the Fusion jazz era that saw an emphasis on electronic sounds and contemporary pop influences.

Musician Emeritus

In 1978 and 1980, Gordon was the DownBeat Musician of the Year and in 1980 he was inducted into the Jazz Hall of Fame. The US Government honored him with a Congressional Commendation, a Dexter Gordon Day in Washington DC, and a National Endowment for the Arts award for Lifetime Achievement. In 1986, he was named a member and officer of the French Order of Arts and Letters by the Ministry of Culture in France.

During the 1980s, Gordon was weakened by emphysema. He remained a popular attraction at concerts and festivals, although his live appearances and recording dates would soon become infrequent.

Gordon's most memorable works from the decade were not in music but in film. He starred in the 1986 movie Round Midnight as "Dale Turner", an expatriate jazz musician in Paris during the late 1950s based loosely on Lester Young and Bud Powell. That portrayal earned him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor. In addition, he had a non-speaking role in the 1990 film Awakenings, which was posthumously released. Before that last film was released he made a guest appearance on the Michael Mann series Crime Story.

Soundtrack performances from Round Midnight were released as the albums Round Midnight and The Other Side of Round Midnight, featuring original music by Herbie Hancock as well as playing by Gordon. The latter was the last recording released under Gordon's name. He was a sideman on Tony Bennett's 1987 album, Berlin.

Death and postmortem

Gordon died of kidney failure and cancer of the larynx in Philadelphia, on April 25, 1990, at the age of 67.

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Dexter Gordon among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Family

Gordon's maternal grandfather was Captain Edward L. Baker, who received the Medal of Honor during the Spanish–American War, while serving with the 10th Cavalry Regiment (also known as the Buffalo Soldiers).

Gordon's father, Dr. Frank Gordon, M.D., was one of the first prominent African-American physicians and a graduate of Howard University.

Dexter Gordon had a total of six children, from the oldest to the youngest: Robin Gordon (Los Angeles), California, James Canales (Los Angeles), Deidre (Dee Dee) Gordon (Los Angeles), Mikael Gordon-Solfors (Stockholm), Morten Gordon (Copenhagen) and Benjamin Dexter Gordon (Copenhagen), and seven grandchildren, Raina Moore Trider (Brooklyn), Jared Johnson (Los Angeles), and Matthew Johnson (Los Angeles), Maya Canales (San Francisco) and Jared Canales (San Francisco), Dexter Gordon Bogs (Copenhagen), Dexter Minou Flipper Gordon-Marberger (Stockholm).

When he lived in Denmark, Gordon became friends with the family of the future Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, and subsequently became Lars's godfather.

Gordon was also survived by his widow Maxine Gordon and her son Woody Louis Armstrong Shaw III.

Instruments and mouthpieces

The earliest photographs of Gordon as a player show him with a Conn 30M "Connqueror" and an Otto Link mouthpiece. In a 1962 interview with the British journalist Les Tomkins, he did not refer to the specific model of mouthpiece but stated that it was made for him personally. He stated that it was stolen around 1952. The famous smoke break photo from 1948 shows him with a Conn 10M and a Dukoff mouthpiece, which he played until 1965. In the Tomkins interview he referred to his mouthpiece as a medium-chambered piece with a #5* (.080" under the Dukoff system) tip opening. He bought a Selmer Mark VI from Ben Webster after his 10M went missing in transit. In a Down Beat magazine interview from 1977, he referred to his current mouthpiece as an Otto Link with a #8 (.110" under the Otto Link system) tip opening.

#02/27 #04/25

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dutch-and-flemish-painters · 5 years

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Hendrik Frans Schaefels - The sinking of the Vengeur -

Vengeur ("Avenger") was a first-rate 118-gun ship of the line of the French Navy, of the Océan type, designed by Jacques-Noël Sané. She was the first ship in French service to sport 18-pounder long guns on her third deck, instead of the lighter 12-pounder long guns used before for this role.

Laid down as Peuple in covered basin no.3 at Brest Dockyard in October 1793, she was renamed as Vengeur after the Bataille du 13 prairial an 2 in honour of the Vengeur du Peuple by a decree passed by the National Convention.

She was launched on 1 October 1803 and completed in February 1804. She was again renamed in March 1805, becoming Impérial.

She took part in the Battle of San Domingo on 6 February 1806. Severely battered by several British ships, most of her artillery out of order and without means to manoeuver, she was beached by her captain to prevent her sinking and capture. It took several days to evacuate her crew, of whom many were wounded; after a few days, British ships closed in and sent boats to capture those remained aboard and set fire to the wreck.

Hendrik Frans Schaefels or Henri François Schaefels, also known as Rik Schaefels and Henri François Schaefels (Antwerp, 2 December 1827 – Antwerp, 9 June 1904) was a Belgian Romantic painter, draughtsman and engraver known for his seascapes, cityscapes, genre paintings, landscapes with figures and history paintings. He worked in the Romantic style popular in Belgium in the mid nineteenth century and was highly esteemed in Europe for his representations of historic naval battles.

Belgium was in the grip of Romantic art at the time Schaefels started out on his artistic career. Belgian Romantic painters such as Gustaar Wappers (1803-1874), Nicaise de Keyser (1813- 1887), Edouard Hamman (1819-1888) and Gallait Louis (1810-1887) gained international success with their history paintings. These usually depicted glorious or famous events in the history of what became the state of Belgium, which had only recently been established as an independent country in 1830. Such historic themes were the favorite subjects of artists working in the years from 1830 to 1850.

Hendrik Frans Schaefels combined in his work this tradition of history painting and marine art. He excelled in his dramatic portrayals of naval battles and other historical events that took place at sea such as the Battle of Trafalgar, episodes from the wars between England and the Dutch Republic. His large compositions, with sizes varying from 2 to 9 meters long, often showed a pseudo-Baroque design. Schaefels painted both compositions depicting an entire naval battle as well as more anecdotal episodes depicting the action on the deck of a single warship such as in the Death of Nelson. For his naval battles he relied on historical literature and printed materials.

Schaefels also painted more recent and peaceful marine events such as the Queen Victoria on board the Royal Yacht, which depicts the 1843 visit of Ostend by Queen Victoria with her husband Prince Albert.

#Hendrik Frans Schaefels #19th #belgium #battle scene #historical #history #romantique

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ltwilliammowett · 5 years

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HMS Pickle by Richard Grenville

In 1800, Vice-Admiral Sir Hugh Seymour who had purchased Pickle I, also acquired a vessel believed to be of Bermudan build, the Sting. Sting was described as 'a clever, fast-sailing schooner of about 125 tons.' Her original name suggests that she may have been American-owned to begin with, and she was almost certainly a merchant vessel. Since the seventeenth century there had been innovative shipbuilding in Bermuda, where the local, sustainably-sourced cedar wood provided light, hardy timber which was naturally resilient to rot and disease.

Seymour needed a replacement for his tender, Pickle, which he had sent as a reinforcement to Curaçao. He began by renting Sting at £10 a day, then wrote to the Admiralty to inform them that he had taken the liberty of purchasing the ship for £2500 to save money over the long term. The Navy Office were irritated that Seymour had committed Navy funds without permission, but nevertheless declared that Sting should be entered onto their books as a 6-gun Tender with a crew of 35 men.

Seymour put the Sting into service and her movements are chronicled in July 1801 setting sail for England but then being forced to return to Jamaica after two other ships in the convoy were driven ashore by a rogue current off the Caicos Islands. On 11th September 1801 Seymour died at sea after recurrent bouts of yellow fever. The Sting tender was chosen to convey Sir Hugh's body in a lead-lined coffin back to London. She arrived in Portsmouth on 16th October 1801

There followed some confusion on the part of the Navy Office, who mistook this schooner, Sting, for the Pickle tender about which they had previously heard. It may have been down to their disgruntlement at Seymour's having committed to the two purchases against their prior orders, however for some reason they seem to have refused to acknowledge the existence of the Sting from this point on and they ordered her new commander, Lieutenant Thomas Thrush, rather curtly, "to distinguish her in future by the Name under which she is registered" - which in their view was Pickle. This was in spite of Thrush having known her as Sting from his service under Vice Admiral Seymour - so he must have been rather baffled and perplexed by the decision. And thus it was after this, from January 1802, that this second schooner also started to be known as Pickle. Her official record commences on 19th January 1802 when her newly appointed captain, Thomas Thrush, opened her muster book with the entry, "Began wages and victuals for thirty five men." Hence, between 1801 and 1804, there were two Pickles simultaneously in existence on the Navy's books. It was the second Pickle, originally Sting, who went on to play her part at Trafalgar. Lapenotiere took command of Pickle in May 1802. His first act on arrival was to order the removal of four of the guns from the deck to the hold, so as to make the boat more stable. He then took her out on a cruise for a fortnight, before finally, in July, mooring her in Stonehouse Pool in Plymouth, which thereafter became her base. She underwent several repairs and was well maintained in readiness for service.

The next few years saw Lapenotiere and Pickle engaged on a variety of tasks and errands in the Channel and the Mediterranean, during which Lapenotiere clearly earned a favourable reputation amongst his fellow officers. She also returned to Jamaica carrying despatches cross the Atlantic during this period.

The role of Pickle at Trafalgar is documented from its log maintained by ship's master George Almy and from the logs of other ships at the scene, and also from eye-witness accounts of the battle. Although she did not fire her guns during the battle, she was positioned front and centre for a grandstand view of the goings-on. A midshipman on HMS Euryalus wrote:

'How well I remember the ports of our great ship hauled up, and the guns run out, and as from the sublime to the ridiculous is but a step, the Pickle, schooner, close to our ship with her boarding nets up, her tompions out and her four guns about as large and formidable as two pairs of Wellington boots, "their soul alive and eager from the fray," as imposing as Gulliver waiving his hanger before the King and Queen of Brobdingnag.

After his promotion to commander following Trafalgar, Lapenotiere was succeeded as captain of the Pickle by Lieutenant Daniel Callaway. Under Callaway, and with George Almy still the acting Master of the vessel, Pickle was involved in the capture of a French privateer, the Favorite. This was the last piece of action she was to see. Callaway left the ship in 1807. Her next commander was Lieutenant Moses Cannadey, and around this time the crew changed in composition to include a number of pressed men including several 'landsmen' with no experience. Desertion was commonplace according to the Pickle's records, as she could be a most uncomfortable home for her small crew, and in spite of the presence of seasoned officers and senior crew, the muster records of the time paint a picture of a somewhat discontented ship. In July 1807, Pickle was on course once again to Cadiz. She passed Cape St Vincent on 26th July and pressed on, speeding through the night. For some reason, she was travelling faster than anticipated, leading to an error in navigational judgement. The prevailing westerly wind ran her aground on the Chipiona Shoal at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River which leads up to Seville. All the crew were saved, but her dispatches were lost, only to be recovered three days later by a diver. A court martial was carried out to hold the ship's officers to account but the verdict arrived at was that it was an 'unaccountable error in the reckoning'. Nothing more than a reprimand was given for the crew's alleged part in Pickle's demise.

#naval art #hms pickle #schooner #age of sail #long post

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myrecordcollections · 5 years

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What does Winter mean to you? What quality about the season that both begins and ends the calendar year comes to your mind when you hear the word? Probably you think of snow and frost and a nose-reddening nip in the air. And, if you extend the thought, you probably think of ear-muffs, mufflers, galoshes, and crackling fires on the hearth. Extend it just a bit further and you're sure to think of Christmas, tinsel-bedecked ever-green trees, kids laughing over new toys. And, what could be a more logical further extension of your thought than one which conjures up the bubbling, buoyant feelings one feels when the old year dies and the new year is rung in. The final extension, should you have carried the thought of Winter as Winter this far, will undoubtedly find you thinking of foreign climes where the sun beats down warm and Jack Frost is an impossible visitor. Your thoughts might not follow this pattern—but those of most people do. And, that is the pattern which composer Michael Carr has followed in creating his wonderful "WINTERTIME SUITE". All the changing moods of the season as have just been outlined are reflected in gay, melodic mood sketches in this delight-ful body of music. Winter is nothing if not an impres-sive and imposing season and Mr. Carr has made at least a beginning at summing up just those two quali-ties in his stirring and brilliant tone poem KING WINTER. The legendary figure of Santa Claus appears on the scene as Mr. Carr sketches musically a HAPPY FAT MAN (WITH A SLEIGH FULL OF TOYS). Itching to get away from snow and ice?—You'll find sun and sultry nights in WINTER IN MEXICO. But, perhaps the warmest spot to be found in all of the Winter season is with loved ones around a Christmas tree. Mr. Carr has conjured the mood magic-ally in his nostalgic HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. WINTER SETTING, another evocative tone-poem, recreates a very familiar Winter feeling—that of fields and forests lying asleep under a blue-white blanket as snow sifts down softly, that of an easy chair before an ember-decked fire-place in a room where shadows flicker lazily on the walls. Much the same mood is expressed in the 'haunting composition DECEMBER HAS A WARM HEART. Don't ask how it appeared on the scene, but Mr. Carr has suddenly thought of snowmen! Unusual? No! But Mr. Carr's own unique fancy has created a very original snow figure. He's a RED INDIAN SNOWMAN—and the music which describes him is a delicious spoof of all the rhythms and melodies ever created to make listeners think of Injuns. Fancy once loosed, there's no suppressing the irrepresible Mr. Carr. Next, he paints a whimsical musical picture of EIGHT VERY BUSY LITTLE REINDEER, who in the course of their visits and flights across the sky, get more and more busy all the time. A graver note is sounded next as another aspect of Christmas is called to mind in the haunting tone-poem STAR IN THE EAST. Then, Mr. Carr tells us musically about three familiar symbols of both the Yuletide and Winter in general in HOLLY AND IVY AND MISTLETOE. But, Winter definitely isn't just Christmas—and a very different quality of the nippy season is called forth in an amusing tone-sketch of JACK FROST, INCORPO-RATED. Although Winter still has a good two months to go from the date—and more—it's not inappropriate that our album ends with a wild and abandoned selec-tion called RING IN THE NEW YEAR. Quite aside from picturing the festivities of that joyous occasion, it provides a brilliant finale to our "WINTERTIME SUITE".

ABOUT MICHAEL CARR For many years, Mr. Carr has occupied a secure place in the popular music world of both his native England and that of the United States and the English-speaking world in general. He has composed and/or penned the lyrics for literally dozens of "hit" songs—among them such well-remembered numbers as "South Of The Border", "Dinner For One, Please, James", and "Did Your Mother Come From Ireland?". But, his career has not been limited strictly to what might be called the popular field. In the field of semi-"pop" and semi-classical music, he has fashioned many a delightful musical novelty and mood-picture—including the mem-orable "Black Mask Waltz". The present "WINTER-TIME SUITE" was written by Mr. Carr directly for recording and subsequent public performances by Richard Ellsasser. It is one of four seasonal suites de-signed for the popular organist by the composer. The rhythms, accents, and melodic patterns of popular songs often form the basic frame-work for these selec-tions, but the techniques with which those frames have been clothed carry them far beyond that point. Rather than being "pop", they are choice "pop" concert fare.

ABOUT RICHARD ELLSASSER The popular young organist featured in this record-ing has had a career of notable achievement for his twenty-nine years. He is the youngest person in history to have memorized and performed all 250 organ works of Bach and he was the first in America to do a per-formance from memory of Bach's "Liturgy". He has already given over 3,500 concerts in transcontinental tour and he is heard annually by millions more through frequent appearances in radio, television, motion pic-tures, and records. As a composer, he has won several coveted awards. Several of his compositions for organ have become popular standards of the modern reper-toire. Mr. Ellsasser has appeared in several movies during "rest" periods at his home in California and, in the field of television, he has filmed two series of pro-grams in which he appears as both host and performer. But, versatility seems the key-note of his personality and, in addition to all of this, he served until just recently as Minister of Music of Los Angeles' Wilshire Methodist Church. The upcoming concert season will find him concertizing in Europe and Latin-America as well as in the United States and Canada. In this specific recording, featuring music far from the beaten track of normal organ repertoire, Mr. Ellsasser has taken full advantage of the near-"orchestral" possibilities of the huge, magnificent pipe organ of the John Hays Ham-mond Museum of Gloucester, Massachusetts. The in-strument has over 10,000 pipes, four manuals, and 144 active stops. With this enormous potential at his finger tips, Mr. Ellsasser has "orchestrated" each of Mr. Carr's pieces so that the variety of voices and instru-mental choirs of the various sections of the organ are massed as would be the instruments of a symphony orchestra. The. result is a full exposition of the capaci-ties of a grandiose pipe organ so as to obtain the maxi-mum in color and instrumental flavor. The approach is completely orchestral rather than that to a solo instrument and the result is brilliant from both the stand-point of musical quality and that of virtuosic display.

A FURTHER NOTE ABOUT THIS RECORDING As has been noted, this album was recorded on the famous pipe organ of the John Hays Hammond Jr. Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts. Much of the music made use of the Dynamic Accentor, a device which has been developed in recent years by the Hammond Re-search Laboratories of Gloucester. The Dynamic Ac-centor is an electronic device which, when added to a pipe organ, can more than double its volume, enrich its tone, and greatly enhance its powers of expression. The device maintains and at the same time enhancs the true pipe organ quality. It has been applied with equal success to instruments of threp stops on up to a four manual instrument of 144 stops. In the larger instru-ment, as in this recording, it has effected a far greater flexibility of control, allowing increased clarity in the use of various choirs. The Accentor comprises three electrical units, a volume control, an amplifier and speakers. With this aid, the organist can voice his instrument from the console to suit the acoustics of the auditorium. He is also capable of accenting any stop or ground of stops to obtain brilliant contrapuntal clarity. WINTERTIME SUITE—Richard Ellsasser, organist

Sleeve Note (Edited)

#MGM #Wintertime Suite #Richard Ellsasser #Organist

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youngmanry-blog · 5 years

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billehrman · 5 years

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Responding to Change, Again!

The financial markets continued to rally big time last week as global tensions eased with the United States and China making meaningful conciliatory gestures.

Specifically, Trump postponed the imposition of 5% extra tariffs on Chinese goods by two weeks to mid-October so that China could celebrate its October 1National Day without a fresh escalation in tensions. China responded by making substantial agricultural purchases and delaying added tariffs on many U.S imports until mid-December. China also announced a huge list of U.S. imports that would be exempted from tariffs. In addition, there were comments from both sides that there could be a narrower deal now followed by subsequent deals down the line. Maybe both sides finally recognize the pitfalls to their economies if the trade conflict escalates out of control. Remember that Trump wants to get re-elected next year while China wants to succeed on Made in China 2025.

None of this went unnoticed by the financial markets. Stocks continued to climb, bond prices fell as the yield curve steepened, the dollar fell, and industrial commodity prices rose while precious metals fell reflecting reduced global tensions. Underneath the hood there was huge rotation in the stock market out of defensive names into more economically sensitive ones that were selling at recession level valuations. Fortunately, we began to shift the composition of our portfolios 10 days ago adding some financials, capital goods/industrials and commodity companies while reducing some of our more defensive holding including gold stocks.

While it is impossible to be certain if there is an “all clear” at this point as we live in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous) environment, we must act and react accordingly as the cards turn up one way or another. And we hedge. We have made four major shifts in the composition of our portfolios over the last year dictated by events: the Fed over tightening last October; the Fed capitulating in December; trade tensions ratcheting up big time late spring; and now. Paix et Prospérité has outperformed the indices (especially the hedge fund inde) over this period and over our career as we respond to change quickly. As our tag line states, we review all the facts; pause, reflect and consider mindset shifts; analyze of our asset mix and risk controls; do independent fundamental research and invest accordingly. Right now, the wind remains to our back as more liquidity is being provided by the monetary authorities than is needed in the real economy thus boosting the value of risk assets.

Remember that another round of global monetary ease has just begun: China cut the bank reserve ratio freeing up $126 billion of added bank liquidity; the ECB cut its target rate to minus 0.5% and reintroduced a program to buy more eurozone debt; the BOJ may cut again next week or wait until its next meeting to see the effects of the proposed retail tax hike October 1 on its economy; and we expect the Fed to cut the funds rate by an additional 0.25 points on September 18.

Let’s review some of the key data points reported last week that support or detract from our view that the U.S markets remain undervalued and are preferred over other markets until there is more certainty on trade and/or major fiscal/ regulatory policy changes are actually passed in key overseas economies.

The United States

The majority of economic data reported last week supports that the U.S economy remains in great shape led by the consumer combined with huge fiscal stimulus. Just read some of the following stats which serve to underline the strength of the U.S consumer: the index of consumer sentiment rose to 92.0 in September, current economic conditions rose to 106.9 and the index of consumer expectations increased to 82.4. Wow! It was also just reported that August retail sales advanced more than expected rising 0.4% from the prior month, led by motor vehicles and on-line purchases, after an upward revised 0.8% increase in July. In the first week of September, initial unemployment claims fell to only 204,000, an indication of continued employment strength. The U.S. budget gap widened to more than $1 trillion dollars in the first eleven months of the fiscal year, up 19% from a year ago, as government spending rose 7% while receipts increased only 3%. Don’t forget that the most recent two-year budget deal will expand the deficit by several hundred billion providing additional stimulus to the domestic economy.

It was also reported that core CPI and PPI accelerated slightly in August with core CPI, excluding food and energy, up 2.4% from a year ago and core PPI, also excluding food and energy, up 2.3% from August 2018. Ironically, inflation expectations moved lower in August. Manufacturing data reported last week support continued weakness as inventories are rising faster than sales and capital spending remains constrained

Despite rising inflationary pressures and the recent steepening in the yield curve, we still expect the Fed to cut rates by an additional 0.25 point on September 18. If not for trade issues and real weakness overseas, we would vote against lowering rates further. After all, our economy is doing just fine. And we expect Trump to do whatever is necessary, including reaching some interim/partial trade deals and cutting taxes on the middle/lower classes, to boost the U.S economy and stock market in 2020 before the Presidential election. China

We have not changed our view that China needs a trade deal more than the United States. We mentioned last week that exports, even in dollar terms despite the weak yuan, fell for the fourth consecutive month in August. Since the trade war began a year ago, China has cut taxes, lowered bank reserve requirements, weakened its currency and sharply increased fiscal stimulus especially on infrastructure projects. Notwithstanding all of these moves, their economy continues to slow, and companies are shifting their supply chains out of China as fast as humanly possible. None of this has gone unnoticed by the government and may explain some of their recent conciliatory moves on trade delaying some tariffs, removing some products from the tariff list including soybeans and pork and finally announcing major purchases of agricultural products.

We believe that the government wants to make a deal with Trump knowing full well that Trump needs a deal to get reelected and that the Democrats may even be more difficult to negotiate if elected than Trump. We would only consider investing in Chinese consumer companies at this time.

Eurozone/England

The ECB did exactly what was anticipated last week lowering its key interest rate and launching a program to buy additional bonds. Big deal if there is no demand for money. Industrial production has continued to decline, exports are weak and capital spending has slowed to a halt. We can only hope that Christine Lagarde, when she becomes head of the ECB in November, can convince the finance ministers to change their debt rules that currently limit spending. Draghi has tried but unsuccessfully.

We remain very pessimistic on the outlook for the Eurozone. We do not see added fiscal stimulus soon; we do not see needed regulatory reforms; we do not see trade deals with the U.S.; and we see Brexit on the horizon. Why invest here?

Japan

Japan remains on the cusp of raising its retail sales tax to 10% on October 1. Second quarter growth slowed to 1.3%, weaker than anticipated, and the third quarter growth started on an even weaker note as machinery orders slowed dramatically. Here again, we do not see how it would help its economy if the BOJ cut rates further from a negative 0.1% rate and increased its debt buyback program. And how can the government increase fiscal stimulus with its current debt load to GNP? Japan is really stuck between a rock and hard place captive to global trade conflicts and the inability to raise domestic spending. Why invest here?

Conclusions

While we are hopeful that a trade ceasefire can be reached, there can be no certainty so we remain open minded and are willing to change if events dictate. Clearly there were some concessions made on both sides last week which were meaningful, but a real trade deal is anything than certain. We believe that both sides are trying to find a middle ground and will hopefully take baby steps to achieve a series of trade deals that encompass both the trade imbalance and IP.

What we know for sure is that all monetary bodies are extremely accommodative, creating more liquidity in the system than is needed by the real economy. Clearly this helps all risk assets. The Fed is next on deck to cut rates this week. We continue to believe that our 10- and 30- year bond yields are too low viewed against the continued strength of our economy with inflationary pressures increasing somewhat. We were pleased to see that over $170 billion of corporate debt has been refinanced in just the last two weeks significantly reducing interest costs, lengthening terms, and boosting profits/cash flow. Finally, the U.S government is considering issuing 50+year bonds next year. Great news!

Despite the recent rise in the market over the last three weeks, we continue to believe that it is undervalued selling at slightly above 17 times prospective earnings with the 10- year treasury yielding 1.9% and the 30-year treasury yielding 2.3% with bank capital/liquidity ratios so high. Isn’t it amazing how quickly the pundits changed their view over the last few weeks? Fortunately, we began to shift the composition of our portfolios two weeks ago focusing on a change in tone from both China and the United States, continued dovish words out of all monetary bodies and finally comments heard on corporate conference calls. The untold story is how well corporate America is performing despite a VUCA environment.

The bottom line is that the wind continues to our back for investing as we are able find great companies with superior managements, winning strategies, rising volume, profits, cash flow, and free cash flow selling well beneath intrinsic value. Here again, look at Buffett’s bond yield v.s earnings yield matrix. Pretty straight forward decision for investors.

We began shifting the composition a few weeks ago away from defensive stocks which were over owned selling at historically high multiples to more economically sensitive stocks selling at recession multiples generating huge free cash flow with dividend yield well above even the 30-year treasury bond. Many of these investments provide multiple ways to win like UTX mentioned last. We maintained our exposure to technology, cable with content, retail like HD and TGT, telecommunications, airlines and many special situations. We added banks, capital goods/industrials, industrial commodities and machinery. We own no bonds and are flat the dollar.

We are looking forward to our inaugural “Investment Committee” webinar tomorrow, September 16 from 8:30 am – 9:15 am EST. We will begin the webinar with a review of the global investment environment and after our 15-minute presentation, we will open up the call for your questions. You can join the webinar by typing the following in your browser: https://zoom.us/j/9179217852. To ensure a better experience you may wish to download the free Zoom software from the Zoom download center onto your computer for the best possible experience: https://zoom.us/download

Remember to review all the facts; pause, reflect and consider mindset shifts; analyze your asset mix with risk controls; do independent research and…

Invest Accordingly!

Bill Ehrman

Paix et Prospérité LLC

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huehomeandgarden · 2 years

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https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/715722926182241/

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dustedmagazine · 5 years

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Dust, Volume 5, Number 7

Cy Dune’s Seth Olinsky

It’s summer time finally, and who wants to be bothered with 3000-word essays on the obscure but worthy? Not us, we want shorter reviews for longer days. We’ve got cannonballs to do off lake piers, carbonized meat to ingest, cold brews to drink. So that we can get back to all that, we deliver a robust Dust with the usual mix of garage rockers, Chicago improv’ers, acoustic finger-pickers, up and comers and lately revived-ers. We hope you enjoy it, sitting out there on your deck or fire escape or stoop...and don’t forget the sun screen. Contributors this time include Andrew Forell, Ben Remsen, Justin Cober-Lake, Jennifer Kelly, Isaac Olson, Bill Meyer and Jonathan Shaw.

Martin Brandlmayr — Vive Les Fantômes (Thrill Jockey)

Austrian drummer/composer Martin Brandlmayr’s award winning radio opera Vive Les Fantômes (Long live the Ghosts) combines spoken word and jazz samples with experimental electronics and percussion to create a dialogue across time and genres between Brandlmayr and some of his influences including Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday, Jacques Derrida and Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Snatches of live music - a trumpet tuning up, a piano run – emerge between Brandlmayr’s understated free drumming, subtle electronics and the occasional bracing burst of noise. Monk talks sound, Miles issues instructions, and Derrida answers the telephone to speak with an unheard interlocutor. Over an engaging 53 minutes samples repeat in various juxtapositions to create relationships and emphasize their mutability. The spectral voices of long gone cultural giants speak of human frailty and the strength of the creative act. Vive Les Fantômes poignantly addresses memory and mortality. The piece closes on Derrida speaking for the first time in English “OK, I’ll be very glad to meet you. Goodbye.” Et Fin.

Andrew Forell

Burial — Claustro/State Forest (Hyperdub)

Claustro / State Forest by Burial

William Bevan AKA Burial changed the face of electronica with the release of his eponymous debut album in 2006. His take on dubstep, jungle and ambient continues to influence producers, and his releases are highly anticipated. This first release since 2017 distills the elements that have enthralled and intrigued since the debut. A-side “Claustro” returns to Burial’s roots in jungle and rave. Vinyl crackle coats a four-to-the-floor shuffle and a vocal sample repeats in glorious swells of billowing, cloud-like sounds. It’s exhilarating albeit tinged with Burial’s signature yearning melancholy before it drops, dissolves into twinkling stars “Are you ready?” repeats and then “This song goes out to that boy.” before it kicks back in with an almost cheesy refrain “I got my eye on you, tonight.” which in turn fades back to crackle. “State Forest” is a completely different beast. A rich ambient narrative rich in atmospherics, found sounds and keening waves of synths creeping through a desolate landscape of shadow and dread. The funereal pace unfolds with miniscule details — broken twigs underfoot, drips of rain, quiet exhalations — then sudden silence. Burial places the listener in this environment, observant if not omnipotent or omnipresent, like the narrator of a classic Antinovel. Yet “State Forest” is not alienating or discursive. It shows rather than explains — a direct experience like a Beckett tale. It is his most effective piece of music since “Come Down to Us” and its obliqueness is the key to its power.

Andrew Forell

Cy Dune — Desert (Lightning)

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Akron/Family blended so many influences during their ten-year run that they avoided easy classification. With the collaborative nature of the group and its members switching instruments, it was hard to know what came from who, or whether the whole thing was just a bit of folky synergy. Then the band split up, and the years passed. Dana Janssen created Dana Buoy, an unexpected electropop duo more suited for clubs than for Akron/Family's wildernesses. Seth Olinsky, after a couple quick release years ago, emerges now as Cy Dune, with a sound much more in line with the Akron/Family aesthetic.

On Desert, Olinksy's songwriting and guitar playing provide the center of the album, but only to set up the weirdness that surrounds them. The bluesy stomp of “When You Pass Me” puts Cy Dune in the roots tradition, but the jazz influences remain strong enough that it's no surprise that bassist William Parker shows up. “Desert 2” offers chamber oddity, more a sketch than a song, but then “Desert 3” steps into the garage for some rock. Across this short album, Olinsky crams in a five-year hiatus's worth of ideas. The freak-folk of “It Is the Is” closes with some dissonance, a hint of a jazz, and a happy reminder that Cy Dune's desert archives are only beginning to open up.

Justin Cober-Lake

Angharad Davies / Rie Nakajima / Alice Purton — Dethick (Another Timbre)

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What is a score? Sometimes it is a series of staffs marked on lined paper. Sometimes it is a set of images, which may be followed according to varying degrees of specificity. Sometimes it mandates a piece of music down to the smallest detail, sometimes it offers suggestions, and sometimes it gets ignored. It’s common enough for improvisers to select partners based on their musical personalities rather than the instruments they play, so one might say that the selection is a compositional act. In this situation violinist Angharad Davies, cellist Alice Purton and sound artist Rie Nakajima (she plays kinetic devices and found objects) chose to play together for a couple days in a small church in Dethick, England. The choice to play together, the instruments they brought, the chapel’s accouterments and acoustics — that’s the score. The CD’s ten pieces sound like artifacts of a search for possibilities. How close to the language of chamber music, the shared vernacular of the two string players should they hew? How do things sound when you shake them? What does this organ sound like? What will these stone walls and stained glass windows do to the sounds? And what will one player do in the face of each other’s actions? Decisions in the face of puzzlement; that’s how these three women played this score.

Bill Meyer

Dehd — Water

Water by DEHD

Dehd’s Water is spare and sharp, with ambling jangles of prickly guitar, a thud of bass, a shattering clank of snare on the upbeats. The Chicagoan trio — that’s Jason Balla (of Ne-Hi and Earring), Emily Kempf (of Vail and ex- of Lala Lala) and Eric McGrady — situate their songs within the tradition of scrubbed bare garage clangor, albeit with a rockabilly-ish twang sometimes flaring in the guitar lines. The one lavish, elaborate element is vocals, which twine and descant and swirl around each other, though never with undue precision. “Wild,” which leads off the disc, conjoins their various cracked and yearning voices in complicated points and counterparts, sometimes in lush, romantic sustained notes, others in percussive, time-keeping chants. “Lucky” starts in single-voiced sincerity and erupts into massive, girl-group sha-la-la-las (though some of them sung by men). Balla and Kempf recorded these songs while breaking up as a couple; they currently tour them as exes, which must lend the tunes a bit of extra ragged edge. Perhaps that’s why songs like “On My Side” are so fetching, sung with shredded hurt and blistered melody, but reaching for sweetness and finding it.

Jennifer Kelly

DJ Lag and Okzharp — Steamrooms EP (Hyperdub)

Steam Rooms EP by DJ Lag and OKZharp

Durban-based South African Gqom producer DJ Lag teams with London’s Okzharp on the raw, percussion-heavy EP Steamrooms, their first collaboration for Hyperdub. The word Gqom, an onomatopoeia based on the Zulu word for ricochet, is said to mimic the sound of hitting a drum. Steamrooms contains none of the joyful lightness one expects from South African house. This is strictly a woozy, dangerous, disorientating amalgamation of heavy militaristic drums, Zulu chants and stabbing synths tempered somewhat by Okzharp’s grimy London influence. The effect is late-night sweaty club as the drugs are wearing off ad euphoria slips into something sinister and unhinged, but it’s undeniably exciting. I can’t go on; I must go on. Steamrooms’ four tracks exhort you to move till you drop. “Nyusa” encapsulates the atmosphere, shrouded in hiss, a funky unadorned synth riff clangs over an exhausted chant from a breathless dancer and drums thud beneath. The end of the night if not the world.

Andrew Forell

Fetid — Steeping Corporeal Mess (20 Buck Spin)

Steeping Corporeal Mess by Fetid

This new record from Seattle death metal band Fetid may be the essential corrective to our national imaginary’s notion of that city as a monolithic site of liberal social policy, coffee “drinks” with lots of soy and greenwashed, vaguely cosmopolitan modes of cultural production. How many of us remember that Sir Mix-a-Lot, he of boundless enthusiasm for humanity’s anterior, is a Seattle native? Fetid share his interest in the undersides of bodies, and of things. There’s a decidedly intestinal — if not rectal — vibe to the unpleasant cover art for Steeping Corporeal Mess, and songs like “Dripping Subtepidity” and “Reeking Within” indicate a willingness to palpate beneath the Pacific Northwest’s famously moist terrain, to squish and squelch away in its rot and lukewarm organic goo. For a certain kind of listener, this may be the most fun you’ll have with a record this spring. For sure it’ll make you remember why David Lynch chose Washington state for Twin Peaks: who can forget the scene when Agent Cooper slides his long tweezers under Laura Palmer’s fingernail, to pull out a letter “R”? Or how long he has to dig around under there for it?

Jonathan Shaw

The French Tips — It's the Tips (Self Released)

It's the Tips by The French Tips

First: if The French Tips come to town, go. They recently toured with fellow Boiseans Built to Spill and blew them off the stage. As for the self-titled, self-released souvenir I took home: it’s got three great songs, (the first three, conveniently) five that are never worse than good, no duds and a lot of potential. It’s an excellent EP padded into honorable debut. The French Tips’ sound is indebted to, among others, Sleater-Kinney and Savages, but their guileless commitment to community, manifested in onstage instrument switches, shared vocal duties, their embrace of disco beats and a fat, confident, bottom end warms up their post-punk sonics considerably. The disco influence is as much spiritual as it is rhythmic: despite their righteous skronk und drang, despite oceanic guitar and bass which rage and release, surge and ebb, flash and hide, this is dance music, music to help you exorcise the bullshit. The French Tips is a bit green, but should they wish to pursue it, this is a band that deserves a record deal. Thesis statement: “Me and my witches about to burn it down”. I hope they do.

Isaac Olson

Friendship — Undercurrent (Southern Lord)

Undercurrent by Friendship

In this period of endless sub-sub-genres and hybrid forms in heavy music, it’s refreshing to hear a band with a sound that’s so straightforward. Friendship play hardcore: fast, vicious, intense songs that establish a riff and stick with it. Song titles say a lot: “Punishment,” “Lack,” “Garbage,” “Wrecker.” And so on. They’re succinct. There’s usually a breakdown section. There’s a bunch of d-beat songs. If you average the track lengths, you get almost exactly two minutes. It’s all really loud. They probably play really loud when you see them live. They can probably clear the room pretty quickly. It’s sort of fun that these guys call their band “Friendship.” It’s a good record to play when the neighbors put on Fox News. It’s a good way to say, “I don’t want to be your friend.”

Jonathan Shaw

Froth — Duress (Wichita)

Duress by Froth

It’s been a million years, it seems, since we were captivated by the “Yanni/Laurel” debate, a single murmured phrase that sounded like different things to different people. It was like that baked late-night meandering discussion about whether what I see as red is the same as yours come to life, and it vanished into the ravenous maw of internet culture. Except that Froth, an L.A. band currently on its fourth album, made a song about it, “Laurel,” full of clashing guitars and slow unspooling anarchy and whispery narratives. It could be the softest heavy rocker ever or the loudest twee fuzzed bedroom pop, depending on how you hear it. There’s a constant buzz at the bottom of all Froth’s songs, broken more often than not, by a reach for radiant melody. Froth makes an altogether engaging racket that borrows sleepily from Teenaged Fanclubs, in a fuzz-needled daze from MBV. “77,” the second single throws off the anorak for a denatured krautish groove, while “John Peel Slowly,” an instrumental, sketches a dream-landscape with loose-stringed bass, piano and space noises. Make your own sense of it, though. What you hear is largely up to you.

Jennifer Kelly

Burton Greene / Damon Smith / Ra Kalam Bob Moses — Life’s Intense Mystery CD (Astral Spirits)

Life's Intense Mystery by Greene / Smith / Moses

If you can translate words into vectors, the name of this album tells you a lot about the forces at work. While pianist Burton Greene and drummer Ra Kalam Bob Moses were born over a decade apart, both were touched by the 1960s’ cosmic spirit. And when you put Patty Waters’ preferred pianist on the same stage with Weasel Walter’s most enduring bassist, intensity is on the agenda. But if you had to boil this music down to one image, it would be the symbol for yin and yang. Opposing forces often complement each other. When the pianist mugs a bit on “Kid Play,” the bass goes with the ferocity of a bull that just figured out that the fight is rigged; and when Moses and Smith dance light and lithe on “Perc-Waves,” Greene deploys some more percussion that asserts an unbudging center of gravity. And if you want to ignore all the metaphors, you can just let yourself fall into the force of this music’s mercurial flow.

Bill Meyer

Invasive Species — Adapter (Baggage Claim)

Adapter by Invasive Species

You know the story; the drummer takes his solo, and the audience heads out for a beer or a piss. Invasive Species’ LP suggests that the problem isn’t drum music, it’s just that you’ve been listening to the wrong drummers and maybe there aren’t enough of them. Kevin Corcoran and Jon Bafus have been playing together for nine years, performing mostly within the city limits of Sacramento, California. Separately, their affiliations range encompass prog bands, Asian fusion ambient music and improvised exchanges with members of the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. Together, they play music that is concerned less with genre than with the possibilities of two augmented drum kits. Grooves collide and mesh, textures interweave and pull tight, meters multiply and never do these combinations seem designed to show off either musician’s prodigious chops. Rather, they show what a marvelous brain massage intuitively organized beats can provide.

Bill Meyer

Tyler Keen / Jacob Wick — S-T (Silt Editions)

Tyler Keen and Jacob Wick may employ different means, but their sounds make sense embedded on either side of a short strip of tape. Both men make noise that gets more complicated the closer you listen to it, and neither particularly needs volume to get noisy. Keen starts out with a blast, but once that subsides unintelligible walkie-talkie chatter, sputtering static, and the sounds of a cassette being snapped into a player pass before your ears. This is restless stuff, paced for the days when you haven’t been able to refill your Adderall RX and can’t be bothered to wait. Wick plays trumpet, probably muted by things they don’t tell you about in jazz school and definitely filtered through the sounds of room and non-invisible recording gear. Fueled by circular breathing that sustains a rarely broken stream of air, Wick’s horn rasps and hisses. Imagine that the sounds of a moth made of steel wool masticating its way through a warehouse full of old army blankets have been transmitted down a gutter and thence onto tape, and you just might imagine the sounds of Wick’s side of this cassette.

This is the second release by Silt Editions, a label with no web footprint aside from an email address ([email protected]). At press time, there were still a few copies in various distributors’ stocks. Happy hunting.

Bill Meyer

Rob Noyes — “You Are Tired” / “Nightmare Study” (Market Square Records)

You Are Tired b/w Nightmare Study by Rob Noyes

There’s no one way to do things, but the 45 rpm single seems tailor-made for playing late at night. “Just one more,” you tell yourself, fishing old records from the shelf and sitting companionably alongside the memories they conjure out of the commingling of sound, mind and the sensate experience of dust transferring from the sleeve to your fingers. “Well, maybe another one.” Rob Noyes is on to your game, and the tune on A-side of the Massachusetts-based 12-string guitar player’s latest record sees through your self-delusion and tells you like it really is. The chiming melody is as ingratiating as a late-night tug on the arm from a loved one. “Aren’t you going to come to bed?” But you’re on a roll, so you flip the record, expecting to hear another cantering tune. That’s when Noyes pulls you down the rabbit hole and into a state of consciousness that the sleep-deprived know only too well. Noyes has mastered a technique that makes him sound like a tape playing backwards even though he’s actually strumming in real time. It’s a neat trick, but it serves a function beyond showing Noyes’ imagination and technical acumen. By plunging the listener into a state of blurry disorientation, it confronts them with the next-day consequences of playing records late into the night.

Bill Meyer

Pelican — Nighttime Stories (Southern Lord)

Nighttime Stories by Pelican

Pelican’s sixth full-length starts in a pensive mode, an acoustic guitar ushering in “WST.” The guitar belonged to guitarist Dallas Thomas’ lately deceased father, and it sets a somber tone. Death haunts these bludgeoning, moody grooves, giving Nighttime Stories a heaviness that can’t be ascribed purely to guitar tone. Later, in the crushing stomp of “Cold Hope,” Pelican grinds relentlessly, the drums scattershot volleys of explosive angst. “Arteries of Blacktop” is likewise weighted and slow, a massive bass churn slugging it out with viscous sheets of amplified guitar sheen. Yet there’s a great deal of epic, serene gorgeousness, too — in the minor key strumming of “Full Moon, Black Water,” the mathy, knotty acrobatic riffs of “Abyssal Plain,” the slow building drone of “It Stared at Me.” The album title commemorates a friend of the band, Jody Minnoch, who died unexpectedly of heart problems in 2014; he’d meant to use the phrase for a Tusk album, but passed before he could do so. The title track glowers with volcanic life force. Hip deep in mourning and existential query, it celebrates a muscular, triumphant still-here-ness.

Jennifer Kelly

Spiral Wave Nomads — Spiral Wave Nomads (Feeding Tube / Twin Lakes)

Spiral Wave Nomads by Spiral Wave Nomads

Spiral Wave Nomads is a two man, two state band. Eric Hardiman (guitars, bass, sitar) lives in upstate New York, and drummer Michael Kiefer lives in Connecticut. This means that distances must be traveled if the two of them are to meet face to face, which is how substantial parts of this LP of cosmic instrumentals was made. And what better thing to do as you cross the verdant hills of the Northeastern USA than jam some tunes? Drifting alone to these ascending guitar lines and undulating percussive surges, it’s easy to imagine one or the other Nomad rounding some valley road and flashing on Popol Vuh’s Aguirre. “Was that a fly fisherman standing in the river, or did I see some conquistador on a raft, hollering at the monkeys?” Drift and drive a little longer and they might marvel at the play of striating light across the clouds and associating to some past pleasantly dreamy experiences involving a CD player loaded with Neu and Jimi Hendrix. All of which is a fanciful way to say that these guys sound like they have done their space rock homework, and they put their knowledge to good use on this LP. So don’t throw away the download code; you might want to program your own rural adventure with these tones.

Bill Meyer

Chad Taylor — Myths and Morals (Eyes & Ears)

Myths and Morals by Chad Taylor

One day at the end of last summer, Chad Taylor showed what it takes to be an MVP. Over the course of one long, humid Sunday afternoon on a semi-shaded stage at the Chicago Jazz Festival, he played three consecutive sets with three different bands. He sustained the set-length dynamics of Jaime Branch’s Fly or Die, swung muscularly with the Jason Stein Quartet, and managed the mercurial flow of the Eric Revis Quartet. He might have soaked through a shirt, but he never dropped a beat, nor did he ever seem less than tuned in to the particular requirements of those three quite different ensembles.

Myths and Morals most closely corresponds to another of Taylor’s projects, the Chicago Underground Duo. While his equipment is restricted to drum kit and mbira (thumb piano), his compositional imagination is wide open. These pieces may tarry for a moment on some texture or pattern, but for the most part they are studies in constant development. Precision and restraint yield surprise and mystery; the music is so involving and complete that it’s easy to forget that you’re listening to solo percussion.

Bill Meyer

Chris Welcome and His Orchestra — Beyond All Things (Gauci Music)

Beyond All Things by Chris Welcome & His Orchestra

A free jazz octet might sound like caviar soup: too much of an indulgent thing. Chris Welcome makes it work here, harnessing the noisy tendencies of this roomful of younger New York players with some light-touch compositional structure and a willingness to swing. In under half an hour, we go from a free-time fanfare highlighting the gestural playing of trumpeter Jaimie Branch and tenorist Sam Weinberg through to a medium-firm groove laid down by bassist Shayna Dulberger and drummer Mike Pride, over which cornetist Kirk Knuffke blows with a coolness so confident that it sounds like the swing feel of the composition was summoned by his playing, not the other way around. Minutes later, that groove gets harder and altoist Anthony Ware delivers a fiery solo while the rest of the horns chatter in the background like they’re doing avant-garde Dixieland (an approach perhaps being alluded to by the appellation “and His Orchestra”). Welcome himself mostly hides behind the sonic bushes, his heavily effected guitar and synthesizer offering eerie interjections and a short woozy solo halfway through the piece. He’s a virtuoso guitarist, but here he gets to be a virtuoso organizer, savvy enough to know the amount of organization called for.

Ben Remsen

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