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About the album.
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Introduction
Why Cambodia
An Album of Improv
The Recording Sessions
The
People who Made this Record
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Introduction
"You Buy From Me" is a benefit album for relief
in Cambodia containing 18 musical compositions created by
some of Canada's best freestyle musicians. The album was
originally conceived by Lewis Melville & Lyn Vasey ,
and given life with the help of Dave Clark and the Woodchoppers
Association and many other fine, upstanding musicians of
like mind and spirit. The purpose of making the recording
was many-fold, but the most consistent unifying component
of the folks who helped to make this recording was their
willingness to turn their creative talents to a worthy cause.
It is in the nature of musicians to do this sort thing .
The title "You Buy From Me" is the rallying cry
of Cambodian vendors and touts vying for the attention of
a potential customer. They are incredibly friendly, persistent,
and effective salespeople, who will happily wait for hours
to make a small sale.
All of the money which you contribute
for the purchase of this recording goes directly towards
grassroots relief in Cambodia, and to the Cambodian Red
Cross to help victims of landmines. Thanks for your support.
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Why Cambodia?
The history of south-east asia is a complex drama which
combines thousands of years of regional politics, western
imperialism, globalization, and modernization. Recently,
Cambodia was a significant pawn in the Vietnamese war. As
a consequence the countryside remains littered with landmines
and unexploded ordinance. In recent years the political
situation within Cambodia has stabilized, and local and
international efforts to remove these deadly devices are
underway. Funds are needed by many NGOs to keep up this
work, and provide rehabilitation for the many people who
continue to be injured by this terrible by-product of war.
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An Album of Improv
From a musical perspective, there were those among us who
had often discussed the notion of recording an album of
freestyle improv. This is the kind of music we all play
when there is no preordained template or standard song to
provide the basis "jamming" together. Freestyle.
The idea was to avoid as many of the usual constraints as
possible. A place where we could play all the lonely
notes harmonies and rhythms which we couldn't play anywhere
else. Kind of a jazz improv album minus the cycle of fourths,
without stylistic barriers, and made with a cornucopia of
instruments by a potpourri of musicians with diverse backgrounds.
The goal with this kind of performance is to create structure
and unity spontaneously by listening and responding to the
collective sound. The resulting music is often very dynamic
and fluid....and unpredictable; it lives and brathes .We
agreed that it should be possible, both in principle and
in practice, given that there had been many great musical
moments we had participated in that fit the bill. Sadly,
these moments usually dissipate into the ozone, leaving
those present wishing there had been tape rolling to preserve
the moment for posterity. Well, serendipity had its way,
and an opportunity arose when a critical mass of enough
intrepid players could be brought together in the right
place for the experiment to begin.
Telephone calls were made, a time and place were arranged,
ideas were hoarded, instruments gathered, and food prepared.
The music was constructed by collectively tossing notes,
chords, screetles, rasps, or beats onto a great heap of
sound that lay before us all, molded from that primordial
heap into a tangible shape, and then baked in a musical
oven otherwise known as the Gas Station.
Many musicians play this kind of music as a matter of course,
in the privacy of garages, rehearsal rooms, and at the occasional
gig, when glossy packaging is forgotten, and fingers and
lips and get carried away by some melodic or rhythmic accident
that demands to be taken to its inevitable conclusion. with
all the accompanying warts and flaws, dynamic eccentricity,
beauty, honesty and spontaneity, rarely ever get recorded
or released. Think of these compositions as you would a
diamond in the rough; if you hold it up to the light at
precisely the right angle you'll quickly see the treasure
within.
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The Recording
Sessions:
This recording was made over the course
of three days in September, 1997, at the Gas Station recording
studio in Toronto and at the Sound Emporium in Guelph. Somehow
five hours of music were recorded and then subsequently edited
and squeezed onto a 74 minute CD. The tracks were improvised
by unique, spontaneous "orchestral" combinations
of players in short and long bursts of musical creativity,
and there were no second takes. Although many different musicians
took part at different times, everyone who showed up for the
session is represented in the final mixes.
Everyone volunteered their time and energy out of their
love for freestyle improvisation, and in hopes of raising
awareness about the current situation in Cambodia (and anywhere
else where people face undue adversity). After the recording
was finished, many other folks pitched in their resources
and time in order to make the CD a reality.
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Music is one small voice of
reason calling out in a world
filled with the roar of madness.
THE
PEOPLE WHO MADE THIS RECORD.
Lyn Vasey - guitar; Rachel Melas - bass guitar; Wayne Stokes
- drums; Dave Clark - drums; Tannis Slimmon - mandolin,
guitar; Dale Morningstar - guitar; Rakesh Tewari - tablas,
conga, duabek; Andrew McMullen; David Blumenfeld; Hillel
Cooper; Alfons Fear- trumpet, bass, xylophone; Darrell O'Dea
- piano, drums; Lewis Melville - guitar, steel, banjo, mandolin;
Chris Banks - acoustic and electric bass, pocket trumpet;
Brodie West - saxophone, dancing; James Duncan - trumpet;
Craig Harley - piano, organ; Robin Lynn - organ; Mike Coburn;
Jason Beck - keys; Merrill Nysker - horns, bass; Domenic
- drums; David Derenzo - drums; Richard Gregory - bass;
Randall Coryell - drums; Scott Cameron - sax, sampler, stuff;
Carol Swantek - oboe, clarinet, samples, stuff; everyone
played percussion; Dave Teichroeb, Joao Carvalho; Jamie
Stanley; Kevin Stevens; Jane Gurney; Gwen Swick, Emma and
Anna; Norah Cumming; Melissa Farquhar; Gareth Lind ; Nong
Sakdaponchai; Satha.
Bands represented on this recording include: Needy Fingers;
the Woodchoppers; Dinner is Ruined; Possum; Crowsfeet; Benji;
Toronto Tabla Ensemble; Flashlight; Klave y Kongo; Alfons
Fear Trio; Brodie West Group; The Hoofbeats; Guh; Cocophonics;
Son.
Produced by Lewis Melville. The album was mastered at Umbrella
by Joao Carvalho. Recorded by Dale Morningstar, Lewis Melville
and Darrell O'Dea at the Gas Station, and by Lewis Melville
at the Sound Emporium. Edited and mixed by Lew.
Lind Design (Guelph), Music Manufacturing Services (Toronto),
Drog, Ampersand Printing (Guelph), and Outside Music (Toronto)
all donated their time and services to make this project
possible.
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Links
to related Websites
Care
International
Cambodia. Information
Centre Homepage
International Red Cross
United Nations Landmines Program
Red Cross can be contacted care of::
American Red Cross - Cambodia P.O. Box # 535 Central Post
Office Phnom Penh, Kingdom of Cambodia Tel. 855-23 62105
Recommended reading:
Shawcross, William. 1979. Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon,
and the Destruction of Cambodia. (Fontana, Britain)
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Please write, phone, fax or e-mail
us for more information at:
DROG inc. Dave's Records of
Guelph
P.O.# 24062, Bullfrog Mall
Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1E 6V9
tel. 519-821-3551
fax 519-821-8546
e-mail: Drog@drog.com
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