Advertisement
Advertisement

Songs Of Tales: Life Is A Gong Show

In brief:
A dizzy blend of ideas inspired by the likes of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman through to brooding film music, eastern and folk influences, Life Is A Gong Show is certainly never a dull listen.

As the release notes say, strange meets beautiful in this wonderfully different debut album from Canadian musicians Songs Of Tales. Songs and stories told through the power of simple themes, blended with sonic experimentation and complex rhythms is perhaps the best summary of what is on offer.

A dizzy blend of ideas inspired by the likes of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman through to brooding film music, eastern and folk influences, Life Is A Gong Show is certainly never a dull listen. The broad range of instruments, including violin, electronics and oud, is matched with broad musical tastes and experiences from the performers.

Advertisement

Jesse Zubot spans multiple genres. He’s known mainly as a violinist and exponent of electronics, whilst Petr Cancura covers styles as wide as bluegrass, free-jazz and Brazilian, Balkan and African inspired projects.

With this range of styles from such individualists, coming together was a leap into the unknown, which pretty much sums up the experience for the listener as well. Raw, exciting, adventurous stuff.

Discography
Traure; Burning Bright; Awake; Cinema; Jojis; Cluster; Non-Fiction; Sun Sets In The West; Moanin’; Sideways; Mary Go Round (48.58)
Gordon Grdina (g,b,oud); Petr Cancura (ts, kyb); Jesse Zubot (vn, b, syn, cga); Jean Martin (d, elec, vib). Vancouver, 20-22 November 2019.
Roots2Boot Recordings 20-02

Latest audio reviews

Advertisement

More from this author

Advertisement

Jazz Journal articles by month

Advertisement

Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin, Paco De Lucia: Saturday Night In San Francisco

The now legendary Friday Night In San Francisco was released in 1981 and captured the above guitar trio at their show at the Warfield...
Advertisement

Obituary: John Oddo

John Oddo is perhaps best known to jazz fans for his spell in the early 1980s as pianist, arranger and sometimes composer with Woody...
Advertisement

Willie Dennis: crossing the grain /1

It’s a long time ago but I still remember buying Gerry Mulligan’s 1961 Presents A Concert In Jazz - and playing it almost ceaselessly...
Advertisement

Jazz Transatlantic: The African Undercurrent In Twentieth-Century Jazz Culture

Gerhard Kubik is a doyen of ethnomusicological research into jazz and African music. His masterwork comprises two simultaneously published volumes, the product of nearly...
Advertisement

Billy Cobham: Jazz Legends, Live At The Palais Des Festivals Hall, Cannes 1989

Despite the sighting of two mullets and a mix dominated by a synth sound you would associate with Spandau Ballet, this 45-minute show from...
Advertisement

JJ 08/80: Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson at the 100 Club

If you know Cleanhead from his hit records you'll recall that he employs self-mocking humour as a powerful tool, and it's the combination of...
A dizzy blend of ideas inspired by the likes of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman through to brooding film music, eastern and folk influences, Life Is A Gong Show is certainly never a dull listen.Songs Of Tales: Life Is A Gong Show