Eden Ahbez "Eden's Island" (1960)

Eden Ahbez - Eden's Island
from 1960 Collector's Choice Music CCM-467-2, released in 2004





Eden Ahbez (born George Alexander Aberle in Brooklyn, New York on April 15, 1908; died March 4, 1995) was an American songwriter and recording artist from the 1940s-1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential on the hippie movement.

 Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy", which became a #1 hit for eight weeks in 1948 for Nat "King" Cole, and has since become a pop standard.

"Nature Boy" is a song by Eden Ahbez, published in 1948. It tells about a fantasy of a "strange enchanted boy... who wandered very far, very far, over land and seas" only to learn that "the greatest thing... was just to love and be loved in return". Nat Cole's 1948 recording of the song was a major hit, and "Nature Boy" has since become a pop and jazz standard, with dozens of major artists interpreting the song. George Benson covered it on his 1977 "In Flight" album. The song has been a major theme for many films such as The Boy with Green Hair, Untamed Heart, Nature Boy, The Crossing, Angel Eyes and Moulin Rouge! to name a few.

In 1947, Eden Ahbez approached Nat King Cole's manager backstage at the Lincoln Theatre in LA and handed him the music for this song. Cole began playing the song for live audiences and it was an instant hit. Nat needed to track down the author before he made a recording of this song which was released in 1948. "Nature Boy" shot to #1 on the Billboard charts and remained there for eight consecutive weeks during the summer of 1948. (jimmycoson)

There was a boy/ A very strange enchanted boy/ They say he wandered very far, very far/ Over land and sea/ A little shy and sad of eye/ But very wise was he/ And then one day/ A magic day he passed my way/ And while we spoke of many things/ Fools and kings/ This he said to me:/ "The greatest thing you'll ever learn/ Is just to love and be loved in return"



Living a bucolic life from at least the 1940s, he traveled in sandals and wore shoulder-length hair and beard, and white robes. He camped out below the first L in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles, studied Oriental mysticism, and claimed to live on three dollars a week, sleeping outdoors with his family, and eating vegetables, fruits, and nuts.
 In 1959, he began recording instrumental music, which combined his signature sombre tones with exotic arrangements and (according to the record sleeve)"primitive rhythms". He often performed bongo, flute and poetry gigs at beat coffeehouses in the Los Angeles area. In 1960, he recorded his only solo LP, Eden’s Island, for Del-Fi Records. This mixed beatnik poetry with exotica arrangements. Many consider it as one of the weirdest exotica records ever created, and it was not a commercial success. This guy could well be the first hippie! Living the life of a hippie long before the hippies came along.
Del-Fi label boss Bob Keane estimates the sales of the original LP to less than a hundred copies.
More reading here: http://www.spaceagepop.com/ahbez.htm


Songs & Lyrics




1. Eden’s Island Blow wind, blow/ Ooooo Ooooo/ Blow wind, blow/ Eden’s Island way/ I must go/ Oooooo/ Blow wind, blow/ Eden’s Island way




2. The Wanderer The world is far/ The world is wide/ The man needs someone/ By his side/ The world is deep/ The world is high/ And no one knows/ The reason why/ The seasons come/ The seasons go/ The summer fruit/ And the winter snow/ But here we are/ And here we stay/ Until the time/ To go away/ All they say Is a land that is great/ And is grand, there’s no fear and no pain/ We will all live again/ And everyone will find the ones they love/ All the world is far/ The world is wide/ The man needs someone/ By his side/ The world is deep/ The world is high/ And know one knows/ The reason why




3. Myna Bird instrumental




4. Eden’s Cove Eden’s Island Eden’s Home/ Eden’s Home/ Eden’s Island has a sandy cove/ where boys and girls fall in love/ they make fire on the shore/ love is all they live for/ Eden’s Island Eden’s Home Eden’s Home/ Eden has a sandy cove/ Boys and girls fall in love/ they make fires on the shore/ live is all they’re living for/ Eden’s Island has a sandy cove/ where boys and girls fall in love/ they make fire on the shore/ love is all they live for/ Eden’s Island Eden’s Home Eden’s Home Eden’s Home




5. Tradewind instrumental




6. Full Moon To live in an old shack by the sea/ (And breathe the sweet salt air)/ To live with the dawn and the dusk/ The new moon and the full moon/ The tides the wind and the rain.../ To surf and comb the beach/ And gather sea shells and drift-wood/ And know the thrill of loneliness/ And lose all sense of time/ And be free/ To hike over the island to the village/ And visit the marketplace/ And enjoy the music and the food and the people/ And do a little trading/ And see the great ships come and go/ And, man, have me a ball/ And in the evening (When the sky is on fire)/ Heaven and earth become my great open cathedral/ Where all men are brothers/ Where all things are bound by law/ And crowned with love/ Poor, alone and happy/ I walk by the surf and make a fire on the beach/ And as darkness covers the face of the deep/ Lie down in the wild grass/ And dream the dream that the dreamers dream/ I am the wind, the sea, the evening star/ I am everyone, anyone, no one.




7. Mongoose Mongoose chase this snake away/ Mongoose chase this snake away/ We go barefoot every day/ Mongoose chase this snake away/ The island she have many snake/ All around these sugar break/ Then the mongoose come one day/ Mongoose chase the snake away/ The island boy has many fun/ Keep the young girls on the run/ Catch the girl, make them play/ Mongoose chase the snake away/ Mongoose chase this snake away/ Mongoose chase this snake away/ Catch the girl, make them play/ Mongoose chase this snake away




8. Market Place instrumental




9. Banana Boy My, my banana/ Grabbed from the tree/ Bye my banana/ And you make me happy/ I have a hideaway/ Down by the sea/ That’s where the one/ I love She waits for me/ Bye my banana/ Fresh from the tree/ Bye my banana/ And you make me happy/ And you make me happy/ Bye my banana/ Fresh from the tree/ Bye my banana/ And you make me happy/ And you make me happy/ And you make me happy, happy




10. The Old Boat instrumental




11. Island Girl instrumental




12. La Mar I had a little boat/ (I called it Life)/ Once I went out/ And never came back./ All of a sudden/ There was a big wind/ And waves like mountains/ Many things raced through my mind/ And in the lonely chanting of the sea/ I heard the echoes of eternity/ And in the fantasy of cloud and sky/ I saw the One who lives/ While all things die/ And I was swallowed by the sea/ And lost in the deep/ And washed up on the shore./ When I awakened/ The storm was over/ And the sea was calm/ It was strange and wonderful/ Like seeing the world/ And seeing through the world./ ]/ And when I told the people in the village/ That I went out and never came back/ They all laughed and called me The Wanderer/ And I laughed with them/ They didn’t know/ They were the wanderers And so I found my way And found my home on EDEN’S ISLAND/ Where the wind has been telling the truth/ Forever and ever and ever/ [ on the liner notes, but not on the recording: Like moving among the objects of the world/ As though there were no objects to move among/ As though there was no world/ As though there was no mover ]/ And when I told the people in the village/ That I went out and never came back/ They all laughed and called me The Wanderer/ And I laughed with them/ They didn’t know/ They were the wanderers And so I found my way And found my home on EDEN’S ISLAND
[ on the liner notes, but not on the recording: (Many thing to many people) Come and live the enchanted life/ Where time becomes eternity/ And you will become a beachcomber, a dreamer and dream untellable dreams/ And wander no more.../ On EDEN’S ISLAND ]/ Where the wind has been telling the truth/ Forever and ever and ever


Extras


13. The Wanderer [alternate take] 1st two stanzas of earlier version



Bonus Track


14. (Bonus Track)Surf Rider Surf Rider/ The song of the sea is sweet to me/ The salt of the sea is sweet to me/ The weight of the sea is the way for me/ I comb the beach alone and free/ When the sun goes BOOM in the morning sky/ The surf goes BOOM and the waves are high/ Where do I want to be/ With the surf riders on the sea/ When the wind is warm and the sea is wild/ I will be Mother Nature’s child/ Where do I want to be/ With the surf riders on the sea/ Surf Rider

Como último  extra, una versión instrumental del primer tema ("Eden´s Island")recogido en un raro single promocional por Del-Fi, bajo el título de "Tobago"







Y para terminar... (aunque creo que la lista puede ser larga...)
Some "Nature Boy" versions

Enter the Void, de Gaspar Noé (2009)

Director: Gaspar Noé
Writers: Gaspar Noé, Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Stars: Nathaniel Brown, Paz de la Huerta and Cyril Roy

A drug dealer becomes interested in death and re-incarnation after reading "The Tibetan Book of the Dead". Suddenly dead, his soul floats though Tokyo observing the dramas of his friends and foes. An oath determines his next step 'as a soul'. (IMDB)

Tráiler

Es llamativo como el realismo visceral de Gaspar Noé se encuentra contenido por primera vez en el marco de una historia con un elemento sobrenatural. En una entrevista el director reveló que lo impulsó "el deseo de retratar en la pantalla lo que la gente llama una experiencia fuera de sí". Esta ambiciosa idea está filmada en primera persona, enteramente desde la perspectiva de Oscar - su protagonista -, de forma que nosotros vemos lo que él ve; tanto que hasta la cámara pestañea cuando él lo hace.

Noé cuenta que trató varias veces de manera infructuosa de alcanzar este tipo de estado a partir de la lectura de libros sobre como salir de tu propio cuerpo. En la película, esta experiencia comienza a través de la ingesta de drogas y se prolonga con la muerte y la elevación del alma del personaje. Así, situada en Tokyo, Enter the void (literalmente 'Entrar al vacio') relata la historia de Oscar y su hermana Linda. Él un dealer de poca monta, ella bella e ingenua, devenida en stripper y jalada de a poco hacia un mundo marginal.

Después de perder la vida, Oscar se queda en este mundo cual alma en pena y su fantasma recorre los cielos de Tokyo, siguiendo a su hermana de cerca, y yendo de cuando en cuando a revivir su pasado. La película va y viene del pasado al presente, y por momentos puede desconcertar este infinito loop, este eterno retorno, que ya ni sabemos si se trata de algo que pasa o que pasó.

Visualmente la cinta es impactante. De lo más virtuoso y mejor logrado que el cine nos ha dado en este siglo. Sin duda una perfecta evolución de la cámara giratoria de "Irreversible". La cámara se la pasa volando por encima de la cabeza de los personajes como si fuera un globo a merced del viento.

En palabras de Noé, la película no es otra cosa que un “melodrama psicodélico”. Deudora de sus propias experiencias con las drogas, Tokyo parece haber sido el lugar perfecto para filmarla, entre tantas luces de colores y carteles de neón, que adornan la ciudad bajo un manto de lisergia constante.

Comparada con sus dos largos anteriores es sin duda su película más experimental. Aunque hay que decir que tanto virtuosismo y culto a la forma va en desmedro de ideas profundas de fondo que puedan aunar todo el guión, como sí sucede en sus realizaciones previas.

(De La Descargadora)



Disponible en YouTube

Parece que la parte 5 no está en YouTube... 

Llegados a este punto, vas a tener que buscar si quieres continuar viéndola: Enter the Void1 Enter the Void2 No te vendrán mal los subtítulos en español, si no sabes bastante inglés: Enter the Void. spanish srt.

La vida y obra de Fela Kuti

Fantástico documental, en 4 partes, disponible en YouTube por gentileza de gargantua, con subtítulos en castellano de Octavio Hernández

Art Ensemble Of Chicago live in 80s

Art Ensemble Of Chicago
Lester Bowie - trumpet /
Roscoe Mitchell - saxophone, percussion /
Joseph Jarman - saxophone, percussion /
Malachi Favors Maghostut - bass, percussion /
Famoudou Don Moye - drums, percussion

A principios de los 80 tuve la fortuna de verlos en directo en el antiguo Palacio de los Deportes de Madrid, y literalmente, flipé. En realidad, lo único que conocía del grupo fue un LP que me compré hacía poco ("Nice Guys", publicado en 1979 por ECM) que se saldaba, junto con otras maravillas (por ejemplo, el "New Chautauqua" y el "American Garage", de Pat Metheny), en su edición española, a cargo de Edigsa.

Art Ensemble Of Chicago live in 80s

La grabación está disponible en YouTube, en 7 partes, por gentileza de  BibiAudiofil

Audiotranspórtate a otro mundo

Rostropovich: The Genius of the Cello (BBC)

"...When he played, he was speaking: cello was his voice..." (Elena Rostropovich)
Excelente documental sobre uno de los mejores intérpretes de violoncelo del siglo XX








Y como "pequeña propina", la grabación completa de las 6 Suites (Sonatas) para Violoncelo de Johann Sebastian Bach, BWV 1007-12, en versión de Miroslav Rostropovich

The Don Ellis Orchestra - Electric Bath 1968

Personal:
Ira Schulman (Tenor Saxophone, Piccolo Flute, Flute, Clarinet)
Ron Starr (Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet)
Joe Roccisano (Alto and Soprano Saxophone, Flute)
Ruben Leon (Alto and Soprano Saxophone, Flute)
John Magruder (Baritone Saxophone, C and Bass Clarinet, Flute)
Don Ellis (Trumpet)
Alan Weight (Trumpet)
Bob Harmon (Trumpet)
Ed Warren (Trumpet)
Glenn Stuart (Trumpet)
Dave Sanchez (Trombone)
Ron Myers (Trombone)
Terry Woodson (Trombone)
Mike Lang (Piano, Electric Piano, Clavinet)
Alan Estes (Vibraphone, Percussion)
Mark Stevens (Vibraphone, Timbales, Percussion)
Dave Parlato (Bass)
Frank De La Rosa (Bass)
Ray Neapolitan (Bass, Sitar)
Steve Bohannon (Drums)
Chino Valdes (Congas, Bongos)


Don Ellis (July 25, 1934 - December 17, 1978) was an American jazz trumpeter, drummer, composer and bandleader. He is best known for his extensive musical experimentation, particularly in the area of unusual time signatures. Later in his life he worked as a film composer, among other works contributing a score to 1971's The French Connection and 1973's The Seven-Ups. (Machinegunhalligan YouTube)













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Electric Bath

Leon Thomas - Blues and the Soulful Truth 1972

Tracklist:

01. Let's go down to Lucy
02. L-O-V-E
03. Gypsy Queen
04. Love Each Other
05. Shape Your Mind to Die
06. Boom-boom-boom
07. China Doll
08. C.C Rider




Review by Thom Jurek (AllMusic)

The late Leon Thomas was a vocalist who has proven to be influential among jazz and blues saxophonists, guitarists, and pianists, who've admitted their debt to his innovation. However, though there are many jazz and blues vocalists who have benefited from his style as well, he is seldom acknowledged for his highly original -- and idiosyncratic -- contribution to them. One can only speculate as to why, though Thomas' full-throated style which employed everything from yodels and Joe Turner-ish growls and shouts may have been too wide for anyone to grasp in its entirety without overtly sounding as if they were aping him. At the time of this reissue (2001), the only other Leon Thomas titles available under his own leadership were a European best-of collection and the inferior live album (badly edited), Sunrise on Gold Mountain. Blues and the Soulful Truth is among the artist's most enduring performances, either as a leader or sideman. There is his trademark, otherworldly modal improvisation on Gabor Szabo's exotica classic "Gypsy Queen," the deep, greasy gutbucket, funky blues of "Let's Go Down to Lucy" and "L-O-V-E," and the traditional tune "C.C. Rider" though Thomas' arrangement is anything but among a lengthy, eight-song set. Perhaps the most revealing examples of his singularity is his ability to interpret a song like John Lee Hooker's "Boom, Boom" as funky, jazzed-out, angular R&B enabled mightily by the saxophone stylings of Pee Wee Ellis and the criminally under-appreciated pianism of Neal Creque and the wild violin of John Blair after coming out of a pop-oriented soul tune such as "Love Each Other," written with a groove prevalent among commercial jazz and R&B recordings of the time, both sounding sincere, authentic, and completely full of the singer's presence. Indeed, on the aforementioned "Gypsy Queen" or his own "Shape Your Mind to Die," Thomas inhabits his material fully, as if nobody ever had ever sung or heard these songs and would ever sing them again. Also, the production innovation and percussive touches many of these tunes have yet to be repeated (Pharoah Sanders, Thomas' previous employer who introduced the singer to the world, adopted some of the artist's percussive techniques permanently), like the firecrackers raining against Airto Moreira's drums and Larry Coryell's ethereal guitar riffs, or the use of a "prepared" vibraphone and coat hangers in "China Doll," as they slip against the singer's wail and moan, and the elegant stick and brushwork of Bernard "Pretty" Purdie.
In sum, Blues and the Soulful Truth (Which does echo Oliver Nelson's Blues and the Abstract Truth in vision as well as title), is a tour through the depth and dimension of Thomas' mind-blowing abilities as a singer in a wide range of African American musical traditions, proving at the time, and now again, that he was far more than a free jazz singer. Indeed, the artist not only was a stylist of originality, but a composer, arranger, ethnomusicologist, and a singer of startling beauty and power -- no matter the song. This album is a singular achievement, even among the fine recordings in Thomas' own catalogue, and should be considered first by those curious enough to look into his work -- you won't be disappointed no matter what you find, but this one will take you places you never anticipated going.




















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Blues and the Soulful Truth