15 November 2009

Burnin Red Ivanhoe w/John Tchicai - live in Berlin 1969





Here's a true golden nugget from the past: The Danish band Burnin Red Ivanhoe recorded in 1969 and featuring John Tchicai on most of the tracks. There seems to be a paucity of old BRI photos, so the above pic is the cover of their second album. There's also one on the inside of their third album, WWW, the band looking very laid back in the midst of scenic pastoral idyll. Typical of the times.

The main reportoire is from their first album, M144, which looks something like this:


(pic courtesy of Pius-rock who's asking a ridiculous price for this item - I haven't scanned my own copy)

BRI was among the first to mix rock with jazz inflections, well in evidence on these live numbers. Karsten Vogel was eventually to break out of the band and start a more direct jazz fusion outfit under the name of Secret Oyster, which made some albums during the 70s whereas BRI were to continue in a more straight rock direction.

As said, all numbers with the exception of "You Got Enough" are on their debut double album on Sonet. At this early point, the tunes are sung in Danish, but by their second album they had converted to English, though the instrumental prowess of this band is probably stronger than their texts. There does seem to be a kind of narrative structure to M144, related to knights and medieval times, but don't quote me on it.

Burnin' Red Ivanhoe + John Tchicai

1969-November-09
Berlin,
Philharmonie,
Jazztage 1969

Karsten Vogel,as,or
Kim Menzer,ts,fl,harm,voc
Steen Claesson,g
Jess Staehr,b,
Bo Thrige Andersen,dr
*John Tchicai,as


1 Announcement Speaker 0:30
2 Announcement 0:29
3 The Inner Landscape / Announcement 5:35
4 Purple Heart / Announcement 8:49
5* Saxophone Piece / Announcement 9:24
6* You Got Enough / Announcement 9:33
7* Ivanhoe i Brøndbyerne / Announcement 5:20
8* Medardus 10:14

total: 49:54

This was recorded off a Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg radio programme back in 04, so thanks to omega 10 for sharing it via Dime.

I do have the first three BRI albums on Sonet, but I believe most of it is out on cd by now. If any can convince me otherwise, I could always blog 'em.

Regular followers of this blog will have noticed that we have blogged the John Tchicai Cadentia Nova Danica in the past, and a perusal of the sleeve notes finds that both Vogel and Menzer participated on that record and there is a mention of this particular Berlin concert there, too.

So, a nice historical document, then. Suffice it to say that they were regulars in town and I saw them several times back in my late teens. Ah, memories ...

To jog the memories, a couple of vintage videos here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLu8730w8HE&feature=related
(Purple Heart)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC49cvahcmE&feature=related
(Gong-Gong, the Elephant Song - excerpt)

10 comments:

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jason Crane said...

The mp3 link didn't work for me. I got a "file not found" error from Rapidshare. Would you mind checking it? Thanks!

kinabalu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

fascinating post (Tchicai in the mix makes it w=even more so)

thanks, k_

perjak52 said...

I gave Karsten Vogel a copy of the cdr tonight at a Secret Oyster gig here in the outskirts of Copenhagen. He told me, that they were playing support to Lionel Hampton and Sarah Vaughan on that night.

He was very surprised that the show had been recorded and that he didn't knew until now, 41 years later.

The approx. 50 min's is the set that they actually played.

kinabalu said...

That's nice to see. I've done that on a couple of occasions with musicians I know. Listening to what one has played before might add up to the experience.

Glkad to hear that Secret Oyster is still ongoing.

Peter said...

Another gem!! Thx a million!

zigzagwanderer said...

Many thanks , amazed the link's still working .

r-oomx said...

Any chance for a re-up?

kinabalu said...

Good chance.

Adrive