Archive Dive: A CAA Video Playlist
As a part of the ongoing work of The Creative Audio Archive at ESS, we present Archive Dive - a regular newsletter featuring unheard recordings and ephemera related to the collections housed in the CAA. Items shared here are In Copyright: Education Use Permitted. By clicking the private links below, you agree that you will not make public, copy, distribute, or otherwise put to use any of the recordings featured here without the written consent of ESS and/or the rights holder(s), except for educational purposes. For more information on the recordings and/or collections included below, please contact matt@ess.org or visit: http://www.creativeaudioarchive.org.
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The pandemic slog continues, with canceled events and plans all over January, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things continue to get better and we can soon get out and hear live music...
During my own week of isolation after a covid exposure, I got thinking of an Archive Dive playlist of things to watch, sifting through some choice - mainly music documentary - viewing from within, or related, to our collections - to shock oneself out of Netflix/Hulu/HBO stream-ville.
What really kicked it off was a clip I saw of Jackie McLean responding to a student's critique of Sun Ra, posted by the artist Harmony Holiday on Twitter. The full documentary "Jackie McLean on Mars" - directed by Ken Levis - is up on YouTube and fantastic look at the under-appreciated saxophonist.
The moment about Sun Ra is a great reminder of how Ra was seen by both a respected educator and potential peer, and also a broader, less understanding, audience. We at the CAA are so used to Sun Ra's visionary persona - it's hard to imagine it being seen as anything but brilliant... And maybe we as audiences in 2022 are more open to the self-mythology and pageantry of artists - so it's easy to forget how much of an outsider Ra may have been in his own time.
In the clip she posted, Harmony Holiday calls out a racist academic undertone in the student's commentary, but I also hear a tone that continues today in our mainstream culture and press, anytime we call an artist "crazy" or complain that their behavior, ideas, attire, or work do not conform to our consumer expectations... perhaps magnified when they are artists of color...
Besides the lovely handwritten details on tape reel boxes, the Sun Ra / El Saturn Collection housed at ESS is light on visual documentation and ephemera - but there are a few films (like Phil Niblock's "Magic Sun") and VHS tapes we have been digitizing in the last year as we complete a new digital inventory of the collection.
Two of the VHS tapes feature live footage of Sun Ra & the Arkestra, followed by interviews with Ra. A tape labelled "Saugerties / Black Journal" - features, in the latter portion of the tape, a television interview with the public TV program Detroit Black Journal - which like many things Sun Ra, has already made it to YouTube via a fan or follower... linked below.
Ra is controversial as ever here - asked about Black musicians having "lost [...] culture" - he says, "Most Black musicians are not a part of the Black race, you see... they don't have no feeling... they're thinking about money, they're thinking about fame, they're thinking about integration [...]"
As you'd expect, it's a fascinating interview.
Our Hal Rammel and Penumbra Music collections feature the work of artist Hal Rammel and his music imprint - within which we have this next video feature, Marianne Potje's "Inspiration and Invention: the Musical Instruments of Hal Rammel."
The hour-long documentary is an excellent introduction to the artist and his instruments, and with it a great doorway to his musical universe. Over email, Hal gave me some details about the film:
It was filmed and edited by Marianne Potje who lived in Chicago in the 1990s. She approached Lou and Dawn about making a documentary of the workshops I was offering at ESS. Most of the music is from that workshop ensemble if I recall right. Gina and I had moved to Wisconsin at some point as she was working on this so there is added footage shot in our new home up here talking about some specific instruments. The film premiered at Chicago Filmmakers Kino-Eye Cinema in 1996 and I did a solo set as part of the evening that Terri Kapsalis and John Corbett mc'd.
Some documentation of Hal's instrument workshops resides within our collections, please be in touch if you have an interest! Below is a private link to the film on YouTube:
In addition to our continued work with the Sun Ra and Hal Rammel collections, we have been working to bring in new materials in service of our mission of preserving important sonic arts and music. One new collection features the work of the great Chicago saxophonist and venue owner Fred Anderson. Details of the collection's future in the CAA are still being discussed... but we are of course excited about the prospect... [And on that note, please be in touch if you have materials that you might be interested in contributing to such a collection.] I found two commercially released films within an initial box of transfers that I thought worth adding to this playlist, as we work towards a proper announcement...
The first is a 1986 Miles Davis documentary called "Miles Ahead: The Music of Miles Davis", produced by PBS as a part of their "Great Performances" series - which in this forthcoming collection was found as a VHS copy made by recording a broadcast of the film on WTTW:
I uploaded our transfer to YouTube but the bots have blocked us from sharing it there! So sadly you won't get to see the 1980's WTTW interludes unless you come in to ESS...
Luckily an even cleaner copy of the film has been uploaded to Vimeo. It's a pretty tame PBS style doc, but there are some amazing interviews about Miles with his band members like Herbie Hancock and Keith Jarrett... Miles tells Keith, "You know why I can't play ballads anymore? [...] because I love them too much." You've probably seen some of these as clips on YouTube...
One trigger warning I should note - the first talking head here is Bill Cosby...
And finally we have a documentary that revolves around the bassist Peter Kowald on tour in the US in the year 2000, performing and recording with some of the most notable improvisers in Chicago, including Hamid Drake, Fred Anderson, and Ken Vandermark. Directed by Laurence Petit-Jouvet, the film was released on DVD by Rogue Art in 2007.
Our copy was a promo, sent by the director to Fred Anderson, prior to its release. I'm sharing just a portion of the film here, starting with a performance & interview w/ Hamid and Fred Anderson - be in touch if you'd like to see the whole thing... or if you enjoy, please consider buying a copy from the folks at Rogue Art.
From the Rogue Art website:
"The German bassist Peter Kowald (1944-2002) was one of the major figures of Free Improvised Music. The film OFF THE ROAD was made on and around his extended tour of the USA in 2000. A journey around America in an old Chevrolet Caprice, the film is a "free improvised road movie" featuring encounters with many of the great names of Free Music, set against the background of "Off The Road" America."
It's really a beautiful time capsule, featuring fantastic interviews and recording session footage...
Please enjoy, with hope that we will all be out in the world again soon... As always be in touch with any questions, requests, comments, remembrances. All the best,
-Matt Mehlan, Archives and Media Manager
About the Creative Audio Archive at ESS:
The Creative Audio Archive (CAA) at Experimental Sound Studio is a Chicago based center for the preservation and investigation of innovative and experimental sonic arts and music. With collections from Sun Ra / El Saturn, Links Hall, Malachi Ritscher, Studio Henry, and Experimental Sound Studio (its parent organization), among others - CAA was formed for the historical preservation of recordings, print, and visual ephemera related to avant-garde and exploratory sound and music.
The CAA's public programming works to fulfill its mission of stewardship, preservation, and accessibility through live events, artist commissions and residencies, and research fellowships.