Geoff Muldaur's Futuristic
Ensemble: Private Astronomy: A Vision of the Music of Bix Beiderbecke
Edge Music B0000907-2
Format: CD
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 This is a marvelous record -- one not to be missed --
but it is definitely not run-of-the-mill fare. Perhaps a word of explanation is in order.
Geoff Muldaur has been performing for over 40 years. In the
early '60s, he was a founding member of Jim Kweskin's Jug Band. He was a member of Paul
Butterfield's Better Days ensemble and made a number of recordings with his then-wife
Maria, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Von Schmidt, Jerry Garcia, and many others. He's had a rich and
varied solo career, albeit one that has "flown under the radar" of the mass
market.
Muldaur's specialty could probably be labeled
"timeless Americana," which is not to say corny nostalgia -- he has a reedy
voice with a unique quaver in it and, like Ry Cooder, he has made a specialty of seeking
out quirkily individual musical expressions. I think he's a national treasure, and his
recordings with Amos Garrett are always a special joy (check out Geoff and Amos for
a real treat).
But Muldaur had a secret obsession that even long-time fans
such as myself could never have guessed: He loved the music of jazz legend Bix
Beiderbecke. Muldaur writes, "Of all the musicians I listened to back then, none
moved me more profoundly than Bix Beiderbecke. If the great jazz music of this era were
assembled as a glorious stained-glass window, Bix's window would be the brightest of
all... translucent like the rest, yet magically transparent to a new but oddly familiar
exterior world."
So, over the past 20 years or so, Muldaur has been driven
by the dream of arranging Beiderbecke's quintet of solo piano pieces for chamber ensemble.
These five works, rather than Beiderbecke's crystalline trumpet tone, represented Bix's
singular genius in Muldaur's estimation. "Although examples of... modernism can be
found in the band arrangements… the finest examples of his own compositional
brilliance are found in his piano pieces."
Those works -- "In The Dark," "In A
Mist," "Candlelights," "Davenport Blues," and "Flashes"
are, Muldaur says, "original, impressionistic pieces with occasional jazzy
parts… Of the piano pieces, Bix recorded only 'In A Mist,' and that only in part.
Other than this one recording by Bix, these works are rarely heard."
Three of them ("Mist," "Davenport," and
"Flashes") appeared on Ry Cooder's Jazz, so many listeners will have some
degree of familiarity with them, but Muldaur makes them sound new here -- no mean feat.
They're lovely little tone poems that don't show their age at all. They have that inner
glow of Debussy at his most charming -- and, to my ear, an overwhelming sense of
melancholy.
The instrumental textures are warm and rich -- Muldaur has
chosen his instrumental voices well. The blend of brass and winds is a far cry from the
image evoked by the phrase "'30s jazz." Think of Poulenc's music for wind
ensemble and you'd be a lot closer -- Beiderbecke's instrumental music has much of that
same breathy lyricism.
In addition to these wonderful renderings, Muldaur also
chose eight of Beiderbecke's more popular songs -- material featuring lyrics by great jazz
songsmiths like Andy Razaf, Dorothy Fields, and Al Dubin. Muldaur sings some of these
alone, while some with a trio he has dubbed "The Harmony Boys" (Muldaur, Greg
Prestopino, and Loudon Wainwright III), and two ("Singin' the Blues" and
"There Ain't No Sweet Man That's Worth the Salt of My Tears") are gloriously
warbled by Martha Wainwright -- the daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle.
All of the vocal numbers are wonderfully crafted pieces,
but the two with Martha Wainwright are electric. Watch her carefully -- she has limitless
potential.
It's actually difficult to single out any one great thing
about Private Astronomy, it works so powerfully as a whole that it creates
something more resonant that any of its discrete parts. Yet, it's the five arrangements of
Bix's keyboard works that linger most in my mind. I find myself drifting into "In a
Mist" or "In the Dark" as my mind wanders, and I just feel richer.
I guess that's what happened to Geoff Muldaur, too. This is
music that can really get under your skin.
Lucky you. Lucky me.
...Wes Phillips
wes@onhifi.com
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