ALBUMS COMPILATIONS/MIXES 3"/7"/10"/12"/EPs
|
Bill Wells & Maher Shalal Hash Baz: Osaka Bridge Following in the footsteps of the willfully amateurish Portsmouth Sinfonia, the Japanese ensemble Maher Shalal Hash Baz perversely mimics a barely competent 7th grade concert band on Osaka Bridge, though the collaborative presence of Scottish pianist and composer Bill Wells adds some degree of technical proficiency to the project. Yet for all the band's cringeworthy playing, endearing instrumentals like “The Dust of Months” exude an irrepressible charm while the gentle coos of Reiko Kudo, wife of band leader Tori, render “On the Beach Boys Bus” and the touching lullaby “Time Takes Me So Back” palatable. Woodwinds squeak and horns falter, rhythms are handled stiffly, and even whistling is off-key (“Oddults”). The concept's not new, of course. In 1984, jazz artist Carla Bley, for one, gleefully celebrated amateurishness with customary irreverence on the mistake-ridden “Piano Lesson” (I Hate To Sing), a tune that springs to mind during Osaka Bridge's “Poxy.” Admittedly, there's some modest degree of amusement—extremely strong emphasis on modest in this case—in hearing musicians play so unaffectedly and with such little artifice. July 2006
|
