Book/Virtual Cowws

Personnel: Rudiger Carl (clarinet, accordion, piano, percussion); Shelley Hirsh (vocals); Mayo Thompson (vocals, drum machine); Phil Wachsmann (violin, viola, electronids); Irene Schweizer (piano, percussion); Stephan Wittwer (electric guitar); Hans Reichel (guitar, daxophone); Lars Rudolph, Jose Sachse (guitar); Han Bennink, Louis Moholo, Gunter Baby Sommer (drums).
Recorded between 1977-1996. Includes liner notes by Andreas Kallfelz.
One of the most wily and most inventive figures on the German free music scene has to be Rüdiger Carl. His principal instruments are accordion and clarinet; he is, to say the least, a curious bandleader. On first glance, even his appearance suggests he would be the guy directing a wedding band rather than the terminally unruly and humorous Virtual Cowws. But that's his job: composer, improviser, iconoclast, multi-instrumentalist, and gadfly in the ointment of that thing we call "music." This three-CD retrospective of Carl's projects both inside and outside the Virtual Cowws -- most of the pieces on CDs one and two are extended versions of the Cowws quintet -- reveals an almost unbelievable range of musical adventure, and perhaps even genius. The first two discs (Book) are comprised of 46 selective moments in time, many of them collaborations with artists all over the globe both physically and musically. They include Mayo Thompson, Shelley Hirsch, Han Bennink, the Kipper Kids, Johnny Dyani, Hans Reichel (a sometimes member of the band), Lol Coxhill, Lupa Herrs, and others. And some of these are outrageous: Listen to Thelonious Monk's classic "Misterioso" with a vocal added by the terminally wonderful weirdo Mayo Thompson, and you'll hear something very different. The rest of the material on discs one and two is by an earlier edition of the Cowws called the September Band, the Cowws themselves, and various members in either solo or other smaller-than-quintet settings, recorded live, in rehearsal, and in private. All tracks were recorded between 1977 and 1996. In other words, when taken with disc three -- which is only the Virtual Cowws (Carl, accordion and clarinet; Arjen Gorter, double bass; Phil Wachsmann, violin and electronics; Stephan Wittwer, electric guitar; Irène Schweizer, piano and percussion) on one date playing one extended composition -- these provide a kind of secret retrospective, a map to a territory in the musical minds of Carl and his collaborators that is very private. That this has been released at all is a small miracle (thank you, FMP). None of the pieces on discs one and two is over six-and-a-half minutes in length, and the recording is thus easy to digest in small bites or large ones. The tunes range from the aforementioned Monk and Duke Ellington to Richard Rodgers and Henry Mancini, and the improvisations come from concerts, earlier issued recordings, and basement tapes -- except for disc three which is a previously unissued studio recording. This set, while not bargain-priced, is arguably the finest introduction to group improvisation or "free" music. If you are a Cowws fan, then this is essential; if you are looking for an emotional way in to a musical place you can't wrap your head around, this is definitely it. A truly inspiring collection. ~ Thom Jurek