bedouin hornbook

Bugge
Tribology
Twang
Tread
Friends Of The Vacuum
Tychai 1 And 2
Curly
Furcifer

Rich West, drums, composer, leader
Scot Ray, tuba, didjeridoo
Chris Heenan, bass clarinet, alto saxophone
Bruce Friedman, trumpet
Jeremy Drake, electric guitar

All compositions by Rich West, 2004 richwest recordings (ascap)

Recorded April 29th, 2002 and March 12, 2003
Recorded and mastered by Scott Fraser
Mixed by Rich West and Scott Fraser
All at Architecture, Los Angeles
Design and Layout by Jeremy Drake and Jeff Kaiser

"The sad thing about L.A. is that it's hard keeping people in the same room for extended periods of time."--Rich West

"The title is from a book by Nate Mackey, which I haven't read. However, in the spirit of Richard Meltzer's infamous "previews" of bands to whom he's neither listened or talked prior to writing about them, I'll concentrate on the nomadic implications of Bedouin (from Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language); nomad, "a member of a tribe, nation or race having no permanent home, but moving about constantly in search of food, pasture, etc.", and suggest that this band is composed of nomads as only an L.A. band can be. Luckily, Rich West was able to get them in the same room at least long enough to produce this exuberant album. It's not just that the tunes (he says, "everyone had a hand in some of the arrangements") are strong and interesting (shades of Igor Stravinsky, Frank Zappa, Nino Rota), the playing -- both written and improvised -- is, too.

A surprising variety of moods and textures is developed, ranging from the inviting and theatrical "welcome to the show" feel of "Tribology" to the especially attractive Gyuto-Monks-meet-Fellini scenario on "Twang". The sounds are oddly appealing in some non-traditional ways (murky trumpet, bell-like guitar). When it's all over, you feel as if you've been someplace new. I can't imagine any other five players who could play this music and make that happen. This is music (see individual bios for impressive credentials) that knows the difference between self-expression and self-indulgence, for which we should all be very happy."--Dorothea Grossman, Los Angeles, CA, October 2003

From korperschwache--

"Drummer Rich West and a band of "L.A. nomads" (Chris Heenan on bass clarinet and alto saxophone, Bruce Friedman on trumpet, Jeremy Drake on electric guitar, and Scot Ray on E-flat tuba) convene here for eight lively tracks of rhythm-heavy improvisation. The first track, "Bugge," is lengthy enough at over eleven minutes to allow for several movements of rhythmic variation and intensity of sound, as the rest of the players are propelled by West's steady groove. "Tribology" turns out to be one of the most interesting tracks, with the tuba and trumpet rising in escalating patterns over a loping tribal groove as the guitar fills in the empty spaces in the background.

The guitar takes a more prominent (and unusual-sounding) role in "Twang," thanks to the intervention of what sounds like miles of echo as the guitar is pitted against the wind instruments, reminiscent of something you might hear in a bent Morricone science-fiction spaghetti western. The drums play a more central role on tracks like "Tread" and "Tychai 1 and 2," but there's still plenty of interesting interplay between all the instruments, and (especially on the latter) plenty of open spaces between them as well. They all get a vigorous workout on "Curly," where a hard percussion groove is the bedrock for repeated phrases, full stops, and the occasional burst of crazed wailing. The eight tracks (most of them fairly long) here are ripe with inventive musical phrasing and tight interaction between all the parties involved. Not bad at all for a bunch of guys from L.A."

Excerpts from a dual review of "Bedouin Hornbook" and "Team Up" (Drake/Flinn/Heenan) from jazzword.com by Ken Waxman--

"Approximately 50 years after California-made music was front and centre in the improv world, could we be in the midst of another West Coast Jazz phenomenon? On the evidence of some of the fine CDs recently released from the left side of the United States, the answer seems affirmative.

Unlike the 1950-1960 Cool Jazz interregnum, which was more-or-less Los Angeles-based -- with some San Francisco input -- this one stretches from San Diego in the south all the way up to Seattle, or Vancouver and other parts of British Columbia, if you ignore national borders. Unlike the homogenized, airy sound of the earlier epic as well, it involves more abrasive, harder tones and excursions -- although the real West Coast Jazz was never as musically facile as its detractors maintained.

Like the musicians in 1950-1960 however, the 21st century players don't base their complete identity in the West and often go elsewhere for protracted periods. Furthermore in 2005's climate of globalization, the sounds they make are as related to similar improvisational strategies evolving in Vienna, New York and Berlin as they are to other happenings in the Golden State.

Drummer Rich West's BEDOUIN HORNBOOK, a jaunty quintet session, built around Scott Ray's tuba, is a scaled down cousin to rollicking ensembles like the ICP Orchestra. Guitarist Jeremy Drake and reedist Chris Heenan participate fully in this session, as does trumpeter Bruce Friedman.

Drake, who spends his time on the sonic and timbral possibilities of the amplified acoustic guitar, usually performs with other experimenters such as drummer Alex Cline and fellow guitarist G. E. Stinson. Yet on BEDOUIN's "Tribology", for instance, his tone is so straight and his fills so close to standard picking that you'd think you were hearing Herb Ellis. Similarly Heenan, whose associations include gigs with an improvising clarinet trio and an on-the-edge duo with New York guitarist Chris Forsyth, plays a surprisingly mellow alto saxophone on the same tune, although he does allow himself some squeaks at the end.

Most of the piece's shape comes from the rim shots and bounces of West, who when he isn't improvising with free musicians like German multi-reedist Wolfgang Fuchs is playing in indie rock bands. Important imput also comes from a brassy and fussy trumpet lead from Friedman, who works elsewhere with Fuchs and Drake, plus the contrapuntal tuba ostinato from Scot Ray, who has not only been part of reedist Vinny Golia's Large Ensemble, but toured with Brian Setzer's Rockabilly orchestra. All in all, the session sounds like what would happen if Prime Time met up with a Second Line Brass Band.

Ray, who can slur and smear his textures on more jazzy pieces, gives a decadent Weimar Republic cabaret cast to "Friends of the Vacuum", combining 1930s German pop and 1990s American rock. After some circling, chromatic trumpet runs, Drake expands his playing from finger picking to fuzztone licks and double-timed slides as the horn section vamps behind him. Here Friedman's flutter tonguing is matched by rumbling drums and someone sounding what's evidentially Harpo Marx's old air horn -- it is LA after all.

West contributes a swinging march tempo and literal dance rhythms elsewhere, but the only time he's involved with a Buddy Rich-like showiness is on "Tread". Even on that piece, his solo serves as a bridge between two themes -- one metallic and slow and the other airy and speedier. Heenan's slinky, legato alto sax line is doubled by the tuba and drum decoration, and then Friedman contributes his variations on the themes in a higher register.

Showpiece of the disc is the almost 15 minute "Twang", which begins with a cistern-deep blast from tuba, then a spiccato bass line from the guitar. Throughout, the plectrumist uses scrapes to reshape and recapitulate the motif, while Ray supplies the pedal point continuum and West double strokes his drums. When it appears as if the slurred tuba lines, percussion ratamacues and frailing guitar licks are going to push the composition into dissonance, a jolly tarantella-like melody featuring tuba toots and Mr. Bones style drumming supersedes it. Combining, the five players exit the piece with a smooth polyphonic chord."

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