It's my first love for the last 20-25 years - and it's all due to being open to the Captain and his Magic Band. Piero Scaruffi, writing (in Italian) on the online version of his History of. Most would consider most of the music I love to be "out" or "difficult". Hans-Karsten Raecke, Irne Schweizer, Peter Brtzmann, Sonny Sharrock. By 1995-96, I was all in to all jazz from classic through the modern avant-garde. I had grown bored with most rock music.ĭon talked about Ornette & Cecil and the rest for me is history. I fell in love with him and the record through the cassette release in the late 80's. The poems made me love it and him forever. I did NOT want to like Trout Mask Replica. Don knew the blues, could sing the blues but he went his own way. Sometimes it's best to be more open to one's muse. That they must learn all the solos, listen to all the records, etc. The big lie is that all jazz guys must know all the history first. Just because a saxophonist can't play saxophone like Charlie Parker doesn't mean he isn't as great as Charlie Parker. Band members were restricted from leaving the house and practiced for 14 or more hours a day." A visitor described their appearance as "cadaverous" and said that "they all looked in poor health". French has recalled living on no more than a small cup of beans a day for a month. a quartet with saxophonist Peter Brotzmann, bassist William Parker and drummer Hamid Drake, towards solo electronic trumpet meditations such as the. With no income other than welfare and contributions from relatives, the group barely survived and were even arrested for shoplifting food (Zappa bailed them out). Drummer John French described the situation as "cultlike" and a visiting friend said "the environment in that house was positively Mansonesque". Guitarist Bill Harkleroad complained that his fingers were a "bloody mess" as a result of Beefheart's orders that he use heavy strings. At various times one or another of the group members was "put in the barrel", with Van Vliet berating him continually, sometimes for days, until the musician collapsed in tears or in total submission. Van Vliet implemented his vision by completely dominating his musicians, artistically and emotionally.
With only two bedrooms the band members would find sleep in various corners of one, while Vliet occupied the other and rehearsals were accomplished in the main living area. The group rehearsed Van Vliet's difficult compositions for eight months, living communally in their small rented house in the Woodland Hills suburb of Los Angeles. " Van Vliet wanted the whole band to "live" the Trout Mask Replica album. Born in Italy, Piero holds a degree in Mathematics.Well thank you, thats very constructive and I will have a browse.įurther on TMR.it sounds like it would have been an absolute riot to be on those sessions. Piero is also a cognitive scientist who is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University, has written three books on artificial intelligence and theories of the mind, published hundreds of articles on magazines, and is a member of the Cognitive Science Society. He is also the author of a "Guide to Avantgarde Music" (1991, in Italian) and of an "Encyclopedia of New Age, Ambient and Electronic Music" (1996, in Italian). His main work is a six-volume "History of Rock Music" (1988-1996, in Italian), which is probably the biggest book ever published on the subject (over 2,000 pages). he has written for Option, CD Review and i/e. correspondent for Italy’s #1 rock magazine ("Rockerilla"), Italy’s #1 new age magazine ("New Sounds") and Italy’s #2 daily ("La Stampa"). Piero Scaruffi is a free-lance journalist and author who has been writing about music since the Seventies. His current work can be seen on his world-wide web page:įor a more detailed description of his academic work, you can
All of his books have been published in Italy. He has lectured on Artificial Intelligence in Italy, South America and the U.S.A.Īs a poet, he has been awarded seven national prizes in Italy.Īs a music critic, he has written six books on rock and roll and two books on avantgarde music.
In 1983 he relocated to California to head Olivetti's Artificial Intelligence Center, and subsequently their Olivetti Research Center. Piero Scaruffi is a cognitive scientist who is currently a visiting scholar at Stanford University, has written three books on artificial intelligence and theories of the mind, published hundreds of articles on magazines, and is a member of the Cognitive Science Society.īorn in Italy, Piero Scaruffi holds a degree in Mathematics from University of Torino, where he did theoretical work on Relativity and Elementary Particles Physics.