February 17, 2009

Timothy Young

Timothy Young (g,el-g): [Bob­by Pre­vite & Bump: Coun­ter­clock­wise track #9] [Ey­vind Kang: 7 Na­des tracks #1,2,4,5] [Way­ne Hor­vitz & Zony Mash: Upper Egypt] Way­ne Hor­vitz: „Close to You“ Zo­ny Mash: “Te­ku­fah”

"Timothy Young began playing guitar at age 5 under tutelage of Sister Margaruite of the Sacred Heart Convent in Menlo Park, CA. He currently lives in Los Angeles. He plays in The Youngs, THRUSTER!, Sweeter then the Day, Young and Moore and Re;Agent." (From his Myspace site) His playing is often making use of amplification feedback, slides and other sound deformations. At times this could sound quite dreamy and spacey (cf. "Close to You", "Theme from 1st Nade", links above), at times it can get rather noisy. With this he places himself somewhere between easy listening, (noise-)rock, jazz and country.


Richard Youngstein

Richard Youngstein (cb): [Carla Bley & Paul Haines: Escalator over the Hill] [Paul Bley & An­net­te Pea­cock: The Paul Bley Syn­the­si­zer Show tracks #2,6,7]

Richard Youngstein was the bass-player in the "Original Hotel Amateur Band" on Carla Bley's recording of her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill and collaborated with the Bley/Peacock Synthesizer Show. Despite that he seems not have recorded too much with internationally acclaimed groups: He's only credited on a few albums at Discogs or AMG. In the early 70's however, he's also been leading his own group (Richard Youngstein Ensemble), with notable musicians as Perry Robinson or James Fulkerson. Later he changed his name and became a psychotherapist, which he reveals in an Amazon review of Paul Bley's biography:

"From the years 1968-1976, I was working, playing acoustic bass, under the name of Richard Youngstein. In Paul's very hip, very open book, he refers to playing a cool gig in Boston at the (long defunct) Jazz Workshop for one week with his long time drummer, Barry Altschul (whom I went to high school with in the Bronx) and "some bass player." Obviously Paul didn't remember my name, even though I recorded half an album with him on Polydor, called "The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show," produced by Orin Keepnews, and another album with his ex-wife, Annette Peacock, for French Polydor, that I heard had two titles, "Blood," and "Revenge." If anyone has a copy of either LP PLEASE let me know - I never got one & never heard it! Anyway, I also recorded under that name with Carla Bley & JCOA on "Escalator Over The Hill." I was very active in those years, playing w/Ros Rudd, Bill Dixon, Robin Kenyetta, Karl Berger, etc. I moved to LA late in 1976 and switched careers kind of, and names. I got my doctorate and license in psychology (like my late mentor, the great bassist David Izenzon) and have been in the healing field ever since. I had a trio/quartet "Erotic Zone," for some years and played periodically. Anyway, I am the same person, whether the old Richard Youngstein or the more recent Dr. Noah Young. Just thought I'd give a name to "some bass player" on the Jazz Workshop gig with mssrs. Bley and Altschul. And....Paul's book is awesome. Truly one of the giants of jazz and a priviledge to have made music with. (Write me at: Noazarc22@aol.com)"


P.S.: Isn't it interesting to find some traces of such drop-outs of the musical world? And to see what different way their life took after they left the professional music business?

February 13, 2009

Yu Yang

Yu Yang (voc): [V.A.: Haikus Urbains tracks #10,34]

I couldn't find any information on Yu Yang, not even sure if the family name is Yu or Yang... This Yu Yang has recorded two short pieces with an ensemble organized by Fred Frith for the Swiss Haikus Urbains compilation.

February 12, 2009

Bill Yurkiewicz

Bill Yurkiewicz (voc,electr): [Lull: Moments] [Exit-13: Spare the Wrench, Surrender the Earth EP]

Bill Yurkiewicz is a grindcore vocalist who has also been co-founding the Relapse label, focussing on far-out metal and hardcore artists. After a while, he also incorporated the imprint Release Entertainment, publishing "post-industrial experimental music, electronic ambient and noise". As he is interested in these two worlds - extreme metal and noise as well as ambient and electronic music - it is not astonishing, that Yurkiewicz also did the electronic editing for Mick Harris' Lull album Moments.
Yurkiewicz's own band was Exit-13, a nowadays probably quite forgotten group which occasionally fumbled around with incorporating various elements from punk to jazz into their grind(ing) pieces - though Exit-13 didn't sound as much like a roller-coaster ride as Naked City did (actually, "Societally Provoked Genocidal Contemplation", a track from their Spare the Wrench, Surrender the Earth EP, was the very first song I ever heard, which was trying to mix a jazzy passage into a grindcore piece - I discovered that a while before Alboth! and long before Naked City. When reviewing it now, it seems a bit lame, but way back in the early 90s it was a revelation to me).


February 8, 2009

Thierry Zaboitzeff

Thierry Zaboitzeff (vc): [Univers Zero: Ceux du dehors track #6]

Thierry Zaboitzeff, a French multi-instrumentalist - mainly associated with the the electric bass - has been a member of the progressive rock group Art Zoyd from 1971 to 1997. He and his cello also appeared on the composition "La tête de corbeau" on Univers Zero's 1981 album Ceux du dehors.


February 6, 2009

Rolf Zacher

Rolf Zacher (voc): [Amon Düül II: Wolf City tracks # 3,6]

Basically known (in Germany) as an actor, Rolf Zacher has kept a life-long relationship with music, from occasionally singing with Amon Düül II in the early 70's to collaborating with some German rap artists in recent years. He's also often been leading his own bands.

Kostas Zafiris

Kostas Zafiris (voc): [Savina Yannatou: Musique des chambres]

"Kostas Zafiris was born in 1967 on the Island of Chios. He studied Politics at Panteion University of Athens and at the University of Bologna and Social Anthropology and History at the Aegean University in Lesbos. In 1998 he published a collection of poems titled The violence of the week. He lives and works on the Island of Chios." (Metaichmio)

Savina Yannatou has hired some of Greece's contemporary poets for some recitations on her "Musique des chambres" album - a wonderful collaboration evoking a magical world of word and sound.

Zahera

Zahera (voc, bendir, tairija): [Sapho: Digital Sheika]

"Zahera and her girls from Hallilifa, one of the most popular and famous Sheikha combos of Marrakech, were singing and jamming along with Sapho on six tracks, as if she (Sapho) had been a member of the bunch for ages. But what exactly is a Sheikha ? In Morocco or Algeria, it`s a kind of "woman of ill-repute" or outcast who sings at weddings and feasts, with heavy make up, gold teeth, who drinks a lot and smokes dope. They shake their hair to the beat, move their sensual bellies to please women and men; sing about love and other realistic themes from the daily life. At feasts, they are well accepted and admired for their freedom and independence acquired in an Islamic country; in their private lives however they seem to suffer a certain disgrace from societie`s attitude to them, which forces them to live often together and hidden, rejected by their families and relatives. " (liner notes)

February 4, 2009

Interlude Remix

I still couldn't get back to my encyclopedia entry posting (mainly because I enjoy practicing to play music by myself recently - after several years of silence in my trombone's cone), but in the meantime Lucky did a remix of my interlude which you can get here. Enjoy!

February 2, 2009

Interlude

And now, something completely different: A little tune, recorded today...