Passage to Hades

1. Passage to Hades

2. Giving Up the Ghost

3. Full On

4. Finally Cracked It

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
2001 release for the maverick bass player and the leading jazz improv saxophonist. Four tracks.

Tracks:

Passage to Hades
Giving Up the Ghost
Full On
Finally Cracked It

Album Description

2001 release for the maverick bass player and the leading jazz improv saxophonist. Four tracks.

Customer Reviews:

I hope ya don't mind . . ........2004-08-23

. . . but I'm going to get a little hortatory here (as is my wont from time to time). You really need to hear this disc. I know it looks kinda weird--former PIL post-punk bassist (Jah Wobble) linked up with perhaps the most chops-heavy, circular-breathing, free-jazz sax player on the planet (Evan Parker). How could THAT work?

But it does.

Marvelously.

A confession. I avoided this disc for a long time. I'd been burned by another Wobble experiment (Heaven and Earth). I was under the impression this one was a duo disc (what with the lack of a players' list on the back sleeve). And I don't always enjoy Parker's playing (as much as I nearly always respect it).

Well, I needn't have worried. First, it's not a duo disc (it also features Clive Bell, Mark Sanders, and Jean-Pierre Rasle). Really, I don't know why companies neglect to list players on the outside of jazz discs. I, for one, would've snatched this baby up without a second thought if I'd known these other players were on board. Clive Bell, here playing "Thai pi saw flute," harmonica, "stereo goathorns," and flute, is always someone worth hearing (check out his work esp. with Steve Beresford), as is drummer Mark Sanders. I'd never heard of Rasle, but he acquits himself marvelously on bagpipes and bass crumhornh.

Second, this is perhaps the most sedate playing from Parker in quite some time. It's only on the fourth and last track that he really cuts loose, and in a way entirely suited to the vibe. Elsewhere, he reins in his typically extroverted playing to fit into the world-jazz vibe that dominates. For me, it's very refreshing to hear Parker in this kind of context. He still shines as a player of astounding technique; it's just that instead of a no-holds-barred free-jazz blowout, it's all in service to a loopy, dronish, India-meets-the-Caribbean-through-Scotland sensibility, which he handles with astounding taste and complementarity.

Thirdly, there's a very cool mythic thing happening here. Presented as a kind of updated musical commentary on the Orpheus myth, the music connects with some deep and mysterious magic.

As I say, this is music your REALLY need to hear.

takes you there.......2003-07-21

this one is a classic.
experimental freejazz saxophone dueting with harmonica,bagpipes,"pi saw" flutes and "stereo goathorns"!
and mr.wobble lighting the whole thing up with his megabass and a touch of keyboards.
similar to,as good as,and with as strong transporting powers,as "possible music",by hassel,eno&vasconselos.nice cover artwork too.

Evan groovin'.......2003-02-03

Evan Parker is the high priest of avant garde saxophone playing. There is nobody equal to him.

Here he is working his inimitible style to the grooves of Jah Wobble, to great affect. Rhythms come and go, alter phase and re-assemble.

Tracks:

Passage To Hades
Giving Up The Ghost
Full On
Finally Cracked It

Amazon.com

Rock and world-music bassist Jah Wobble and free-jazz saxophonist Evan Parker may seem like an odd pairing on paper, but Passage to Hades is a surprisingly fruitful collaboration. With support from two folk instrumentalists (who play pipes, flutes, and horns) and a rock drummer, Wobble and Parker have created a hypnotic, boundary-breaking album that is an imaginative combination of jazz, dub, European folk music, and rock. Parker and the reed players weave their ghostly lines in and around each other with a natural-sounding ease, and it's this riffing chemistry that serves as a potent reminder that jazz isn't the only musical form to incorporate improvisation. Well supported by the rhythm section's sturdy foundation, of which Wobble's cavernous dub riffs are the cornerstone, the musicians communicate with jazzlike verbosity through the four tracks here, which add up to 50 minutes of music. Imbued by the spark of inspiration, this album is for fans of these musicians and anyone interested in great music that defies categorization. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Jah Wobble offers spectacular bass lines, Evan Parker.............2002-01-09

I have been a fan of Jah Wobble from his earliest days in Public Image Limited.
So, am I biased to give a review, based on my longterm fascination for this guy's bass playing and selection of talent that have accompanied him over the past 20+ years? No.
If anyone has had the pleasure of hearing free-jazz saxophonist Evan Parker live, you were certainly astounded by the tenacity and the skill that he performs with, be it the circular breathing or the range of notes that this man travels with to explore new spaces in sound.
I loved the mood and tempo that develops throughout this album and the incorporation of dynamic instrumentation, including goat horns, thai flute, bagpipes, with Jah's Bass and Evan's Tenor Sax.
If you enjoy explorations in sound and rhythm, you will treasure this album.

Average customer rating:

Passage to Hades
Jah/Parker, E Wobble
Manufacturer: Blueprint (zeit)/Bridge (zeit)
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
ASIN: B0000DEM48
Release Date: 2001-05-08

Average customer rating:

Passage to Hades
J/Parker, E Wobble
Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Vision
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000A2PMK6
Release Date: 2001-02-09

Album Review:

Album Review

album review

Album Review

Gold Collection: the Very Best of [Import]

Seventh Seed

Music for a Romantic Evening

Music: Soramimino Oka [Import]

Otherman [CD-single] [Import]

Patios de la Casa Vieja [Import]

Rebel Radio [Import]

The Complete Vanguard Recordings

Bass Desires