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advocates for the advancement of creative music since 1990 - info at monktail dot com
Monktail Records Catalog
Author: Monktail
Monktail Records Catalog
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Deal’s Number is:
Bill Monto – saxophones
John Seman – bass
Mark Ostrowski – drums
The Info:
Recorded in
No post-production overdubs, editing, or mixing were employed in this recording.
Description:
The longest running Monktail contingent in
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Special O.P.S. is:
Mark Ostrowski – percussion
Stephen Parris – guitar
John Seman – bass
The Info:
Recorded in
No post-production overdubs, editing, or mixing were employed in this recording.
Description:
Death-jazz trio Special O.P.S. (drummer Mark Ostrowski, guitarist Stephen Parris, and bassist John Seman) is MCMC’s free improvisation commando unit, replete with dark regalia, sonic hand grenades, and a warped sense of humor. Arm Me draws from contemporary chamber composition, small group jazz improvisation, electronic experimentalism, dark metal, droll wit and sonic shenanigans from the subtle to the scabrous. Arm Me’s cross-genre pollination is boiled in ammonia, cured in bleach, dipped in battery acid and ignited with the American flag. Live studio mix and production by Doug Haire at Jack Straw Productions. Limited edition digipack released August 2007.
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The Choir:
Holly Johnson, Erin McNamee, Bahia Rowan, Jeppa Hall, Jessika Kenney, Gretta Harley, Stephen Fandrich, Jarrad Powell, Scott Adams, Matt Coe, Roger Nelson, Brandon Johnson, Stephen Parris.
The Info:
All tracks composed and directed by Stephen Fandrich. Disc One is a compilation of a capella recordings made over a two year period in the underground cistern at
Description:
This double dose of sonic discovery was produced by composer, singer and Non Grata pianist Stephen Fandrich. Fandrich is a recognized master of overtone singing: a means of singing more than one note at a time, producing more than one melody at a time. His highly skilled nine piece choir spends the first disc, Honing, in the
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The Band:
Samantha Boshnack – trumpet, slide trumpet, flugelhorn, tambourine, bleh!
Ben O’Shea – trombone, juju seed rattle, bleh!
Izaak Mills – tenor sax, alto sax, bass clarinet, Bb clarinet, flute, alto flute, guitar, frog, maraca, bass drum, bull moose call, pheasant call, mini bell, tambourine, train whistle, wooden ratchet, Yamaha cassette 4-track, bleh!
Tobi Stone – baritone sax, tenor sax, alto sax, Bb clarinet, bleh!
Benjamin Verdier – double bass, Fender Jazz Bass, bleh!
John Ewing – drums, bells, tambourine, cricket, gong, orchestral cymbals, finger cymbals, spring drum, vocals, bleh!
Special Guests: Lalo Bello – congas, bongos, mini maracas, shekere; Bronn Journey – harp
The Info:
Recorded on January 7 & 8, 2006 by Scott Colburn at Gravelvoice,
Description:
Ewing and Stone return with an augmented Reptet including reedman Izaak Mills of Floss, Samantha Boshnack and Ben O’Shea on brass, and Benjamin Verdier on bass. One of the most critically acclaimed independent jazz releases of 2006, Do This! features all original compositions, including a suite for the Marx Brothers. National coverage extended to glowing reviews in both Jazziz and Downbeat. Overdubs and guest soloists give this recording a lush Abbey Road meets Duke Ellington on the Dr. Demento show vibe. Reptet’s Squawkphonic jewel was recorded by Scott Colburn and released in a letterpress limited edition of 1000.
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Floss is:
Izaak Mills – woo
dwinds
John Seman – double bass
Mark Ostrowski – percussion
The Info:
All compositions by Floss unless otherwise noted.
Recorded December 16, 2002 by Zachary Watkins and Mark Burno
At
Description:
Wildman saxophonist Izaak Mills leads the formidable bopcore trio Floss featuring MCMC founders John Seman and Mark Ostrowski on bass and drums. Unwaxed draws its sound from the hardcore records of the eighties, but its soul belongs to the free improvisation scene of late sixties
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The Band:
Tobi Stone – tenor saxophone, flute
Stefan Nelson – piano, Fender Rhodes, melodica
Evan Flory-Barnes – bass
John Ewing – drums, bells, mini conga
The Info:
Recorded live to 2 track by Doug Haire, January 26 & 27, 2003.
No post-production overdubs, editing, or mixing were employed in this recording.
Description:
A jazz concept album by a quartet edition of
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The Band:
Ahamefule J. Oluo – trumpet (and trump-bone solo on 4)
Gabriel Herbertson – trumpet
Ryan Murtfeldt – flutes, clarinet, tenor saxophone
Izaak Mills – flute, bass clarinet, c melody, tenor and baritone saxophone
Bill Monto – alto and tenor saxophone
Adam Weiss – tenor saxophone
Stephen Fandrich – piano, Fender Rhodes
John Ewing, Mark Ostrowski – percussion
Stephen Parris – electric guitar, trombone
John Seman – double bass
The Info:
This music was improvised live in the studio to 16-track 1-inch tape, no overdubs/edits.
Tracks 5 and 6 are based on graphic scores by Seman and Ostrowski, respectively.
Recorded by Scott Colburn, 27 July 2002 at Gravelvoice,
Desciption:
The collective makes a bold statement with its core eleven piece ensemble on this premiere recording engineered by Scott Colburn (Sun City Girls, Arcade Fire). Throbbing punk textures slash through the thick musk of orchestration and madcap melodies. It is new composition in a spontaneous music combat zone. The 2003 release is a numbered, letterpress limited edition of 1000. Liner notes by jazz poet Paul Harding.
Paul Harding’s liner notes were edited to fit on our CD packaging, so here they are unexpurgated.
NON GRATA: notes on by paul r. harding
Because of poetry I have a sense of sight in my ears, so let me tell you how and why NON GRATA the premiere recording by the Monktail Creative Music Concern is a serious travelogue. But to be honest, not any old passport is qualified to be stamped going through their eclectic customs. Why?
Because… just because… we do not ask the waves when and why or how they come in. Why some cobblestone streets can stand for centuries. Why a tropical island sunset stirs its streaks of purple and burnt yellow differently every dusk. Why the tallest building’s height matters to man so much. How come one culture applauds impulsively wild and another waits politely. Why the element of rhythm is prominent in some places and harmony more so in others. Like a poet asks questions without question marks, I ask the primal question (with an emphasis on today): what defines the point of departure in music for those acquainted with its highest forms?
Let’s not spend a lot of time on the tried-and-true stop points of the classicist; meaning: we ain’t gotta talk about Swing (literally or metaphorically), or the history of flight in Jazz. The Blues (as this america’s essential medium of expressionism) ain’t stagnant, because its experience ain’t. Personally (due to may favorite bittersweet vacation spots), the remote junction of The Blues and Gospel is where I lay my hat; however, because… yes, because of this… I say… because of an unaltering love of its journey, this story of sound (the alphabet of music in this culture), we must keep moving forward. No, not forget where we put our hat, but keep picking it up, putting it on, and stepping ahead. The price of the ticket is what comes from the heart, mostly it’s courage, and Monktail is all about this.
If cats like Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet were the Wright Brothers, then we’ve had our modern pilots in Monk, Bird, Trane, Miles and many other heroes of the Bluenote heavens. To repeat such orbits - or attempt to - (using "tradition" as an excuse for lack of imagination) contradicts the character of progression; the stuff of art. It is surely an understatement to say we live in a time of anarchy and corporate manipulation of creativity, the spiritual "downsizing" of the airlines of the soul. This is where I recommend picking up the Monktail ticket. Why?
Because… just because they gather in spontaneous and well studied aerial maneuvers. Visual take-offs. Rooted hoverings of every significant corner of the soundscapes us serious travelers investigate and pursue for life.
Live Free or Die is a turbulent flight through mountain air pockets of modulating emotion. A brief tailspin, a little fall, a suite of ascension. Tips of wings dip in spiritual cirrose of inter-twisting rhythms tumbling and weaving. Guitar and bass flight stewardess-ship. Brass co-captains announcing weather conditions while colorfully exchanging nervous and calming reassurance dialogue between passengers.
Anti-Foaming Agent is elemental. At times going over the instructions for air bags and flotation device use in case of a crisis. Monto Emergency Drill. The drive of drums underneath is landing wheels coming in and out making the vessel swoop and, for a moment, suspend in time, in the air. The engines spark, going straight up into a sudden ray of double bass sunlight where time changes and breathing returns in guitar oxygen, natural and alien. You can hear the invisible pilot gesticulating as eyes water in the coach area.
Air Room enters a lightning storm. Straight ahead, piano notes of an angel ensue. 4/4 bass relief. Lost in the nocturne, Mr. Weiss makes the darkness fuel (I’m reminded of a trip to Saturn with Marshall Allen). Fandrich’s angel carries them all to safety… but not before the storm rebuffs.
Whisper Skin brings the expedition to balanced elevation. A place where the celestial beings can be served lunch (I think I see Booker Little signing autographs). Mr. Seman pushes the tray down the middle of the aisle as the folks are hungry for Fandrich’s "non-grata"… and just a little "Left Alone" heard in Oluo’s tail spinning melodic vamp saying, "you can remove your safety belts now," and Grachan Moncour III can be seen outside the eastern porthole just before the sky comes into harmony.
Cantometrics to Cotton is a warning light for there is thick fog beyond Seman’s musical setting. Passengers awake to Murtfeldt’s flutes and stoic cockpit activity. A sixth sense guides the ship by way of a Butch Morris kind of map. Spontaneous voices seek oneness through the density. Momentarily, Parris’ guitar challenges auto-pilot and the brave crew’s determination is stop-and-go keeping the rhythm. Turbulence avoided by sheer woodwind of faith.
Bone Loss is preparation for landing via an Ostrowski maneuver. Immediately the seat-buckle lights come on. Inside Out patience. Some retrain in air pockets. They must ascend in order to descend; the motion of this notion is pure. High register aviation and Chicago Art(istic) Ensemble bottom. The bass is a rubber tree turning and twisting as Mills’ saxophone propulsion lifts above the jungle. Landing strip felt more than seen just ahead. Landing gear combustible phonetic hands. All the while: Herbertson’s colorist yearning underneath it all, a rough but safe meeting with the earth. Voice of knuckles and music’s lifelines across the palms, driving an "eighteen-wheeler"?
From Philadelphia to Seattle, these young air-walkers have arrived. Free Music? Music, more than any other language, is meant to be Free. As the heavens are free, so is sound. The experience and exuberance within the Monktail Creative Music concern is worthy of the chapter of NON GRATA. All other amusement park rides, no matter what their names, will fade as hit charts and fashion fads do. This trip is continuous. Your passport is calling you to come onboard. Turn off your cell phone and radio. This is uncharted territory… vital soundscape… if you want your music like you want love in truthful, undictated port-o-calls.
Paul r. Harding
poet, "Hot Mustard & Lay Me Down" (Entheos Press, 2003)
Summer 2003
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