the flute

[dHarry]

He's great on Coltrane LPs Ole Coltrane and Africa Brass (haven't heard the live Village Vanguard yet), and Oliver Nelson's Blues and The Abstract Truth, also on George Russell's Ezz-thetics. Out To Lunch is his masterpiece; lurching, drunken, and free-wheeling but always melodic and somehow structured in spite of everything. There's a strong case to be made for his being possibly the greatest sax and flute improviser ever; endlessly, fluidly inventive. Notes, phrases, and unexpected leaps seem to just bubble out of him.

Re: the flute - I've never read up on this, but it's presumably the oldest melodic intrument, insofar as hollow bone or bamboo can be blown across to produce a note? So it resonates deeply, pun intended. I wonder what "primitive" people made of the discovery of the ability to produce melodic sound like that, vis-a-vis gods, magic, etc. Anyone have any knowledge of/speculation on this area?

 

[Rambler]

I think the oldest bone flutes that have been dated are from about 36,000 BC. No idea about significances attached to music making back then though.

 

[zhao]

Dolphy's posthumous release of "experimental works" called Other Aspects has a few amazing flute tracks on it, with an almost classical feel. great, great stuff. also, in the middle of Conversations (my personal favorite), there is a flute track that you just can't fuck with.

I think it is becoming widely accepted that the beginning of music is inextricably tied to the beginning of ritual - a necessity for which (and also language, hierarchy etc) arose out of the shift to a new agricultural based society from the nomadic Gatherer/Hunter society.

 

[squid ink]

Am I correct in remembering that My Bloody Valentine had a flute player on stage during the Loveless tour?

 

[tate]

Am I correct in remembering that My Bloody Valentine had a flute player on stage during the Loveless tour?

Not that I remember, though it was long ago, and I could be mistaken - saw the Loveless tour in Chicago, summer of '92 (iirc).