Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Fred Katz: Folk Songs for Far Out Folk

174

Fred Katz: Folk Songs for Far Out Folk

By

Sign in to view read count
Fred Katz: Folk Songs for Far Out Folk
Call Fred Katz a visionary, an iconoclast, a far-out Zen guy. Here's a quote from Katz that gives some insight into the mind of the artist: "Tradition is a terrible tyrant. Memory, man. It's better to live in the moment. I am eating this sandwich. Know what I mean?"

Katz possesses a long, strange resume: the scoring of the Roger Corman films Little Shop of Horrors (1960) and Bucket of Blood (1959); a late-fifties stint as A&R man for Decca Records, where he conducted jazz arrangements for albums by Sidney Poitier and Harpo Marx; a career in academia teaching anthropology, Kabbalah, jazz, ethnomusicology and magic; and a teaching job in a Benedictine Monastery, providing the musical education for a bongo-playing nun and a sax-playing priest. But his greatest claim to jazz fame comes from his late-fifties job playing cello in drummer Chico Hamilton's ground-breaking chamber quintet.

However, the cello doesn't make its appearance on Folk Songs for Far Out Folk, a reissue of the 1959 Warner Brothers album. Katz, in true Zen fashion, doesn't play at all. He conducts, with this to say about it: "But conducting, who's the one who doesn't play? The conductor. But from him, all music flows. It's a Zen idea. He does nothing but does everything. Who's playing? Nobody! Very Zen."

The music flowing from Katz on Folk Songs for Far Out Folk comes from the African, Jewish and American traditions, featuring three separate bands. The disc opens with the African "Mate'ka," a tune full of ringing percussion that bubbles and pops beside a three-trumpet/three-trombone brass section, slipping back and forth across the line between muted restraint and brassy boldness. Also thrown in is a Dizzy Gillespie-like trumpet solo backed by Jack Constanza's very hot bongos.

The American folk tunes are introduced with "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child." The band here is closest to the standard jazz format, with vibes, guitar, piano, bass and drums, and a decided "chamber" vibe. The pianist is Johnny T. Williams, a musician who would later make a name for himself as John Williams, composer of the music for Hollywood films including Jaws (1975), Star Wars (1977) and Schindler's List (1993).

For the two Hebrew folks songs, Katz brings in a couple of his band mates from the Chico Hamilton Quintet, Buddy Collette and Paul Horn on flutes and saxophones. These are the most classical-sounding tunes, with the inclusion of oboe, bassoon, bass clarinet and clarinet. These sounds give an indication of just how much influence Katz had on Hamilton's beautifully understated and cool but, sadly, somewhat overlooked chamber sound of the late fifties.

It's three bands and three traditions, but the musical Zen mind of Katz lends the album a surprising continuity, with doses of ghostly beauty mixed in with small interludes of ebulliently wacky percussion and cool, dreamy reed harmonies. A forgotten masterwork reissued.

Track Listing

Mate'ka; Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child; Been In The Pen So Long; Chili'lo (Lament); Rav's Nigun; Old paint; Manthi-Ki; Baal Shem Tov; Foggy, Foggy Dew.

Personnel

Fred Katz
cello

Fred Katz: conductor, arranger; Gene Estes: vibes, percussion (2, 3, 6, 9); Billy Bean: guitar (2, 3, 6, 9); Johnny T. Williams: piano (2, 3, 6, 9); Mel Pollen: bass (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9); Jerry Williams: drums (2, 3, 6, 9); Justin Gordon: bassoon and bass clarinet (5, 8); Paul Horn: flute and alto saxophone (5, 8); Buddy Colette: flute (5, 8); Jules Jacobs: oboe and clarinet (5, 8); George Smith: clarinet (5, 8); Pete Candoli: trumpet (1, 4, 7); Irvin: Goodman: trumpet (1, 4, 7), Don Fagerquist: trumpet (1, 4, 7); George Roberts: trombone (1, 4, 7); Harry Betts: trombone (1, 4, 7); Bob Enevoldsen: trombone (1, 4, 7); Larry Bunker: percussion (1, 4, 7); Jack Costanzo: percussion (1, 4, 7); Carlos Mejia: percussion (1, 4, 7); Lou Singer: percussion (1, 4, 7).

Album information

Title: Folk Songs For Far Out Folk | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Reboot Stereophonic

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

What Was Happening
Bobby Wellins Quartet
Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
A New Beat
Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.