Russell Mills Rarities
JON HASSELL: biography
cds in stock
Solo | Collaborations / Sessions |
Soundtracks
Trumpeter Jon Hassell was the originator and unrivalled master of the musical aesthetic he dubbed Fourth World -- in his own words, "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." Born March 22, 1937 in Memphis, TN, US, he attended Rochester, NY's Eastman School of Music and Washington, DC's Catholic University before studying in Europe under the legendary Karlheinz Stockhausen. After subsequent collaborations with minimalist pioneers La Monte Young and Terry Riley, Hassell mounted a number of solo pieces known collectively as the Landmusic Series; the most famous of these so-called "sound monuments" was 1969's Solid State, an electronic project which evoked the gradual erosion of sand dune formations via a tuned mass of vibrations.
Beginning in 1972, Hassell studied classical Indian music under the tutelage of Pandit Pran Nath, modifying Nath's vocal techniques to the trumpet to develop the Fourth World concept, which he introduced with 1978's Vernal Equinox. The jazz-inspired Earthquake Island appeared a year later, and in 1980 Hassell issued Possible Musics/Fourth World Vol. 1, a collaboration with Brian Eno. (A sequel, Dream Theory in Malaya/Fourth World Vol. 2, was quick in forthcoming.) Through Eno, he also began working with a series of experimental pop acts, appearing on records by Talking Heads, David Sylvian and Peter Gabriel; in 1982, Hassell additionally scored Magazzini Criminali's Venice production of Sulla Strada, earning an Ubu award for Best Music for a Theatrical Work.
Following 1983's Aka-Dabari-Java/Magic Realism (co-produced by Daniel Lanois), Hassell did not resurface on record until 1986's Power Spot; in the interim, he composed Pano de Costa, a string quartet piece recorded by the Kronos Quartet for their White Man Sleeps LP. The Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things by the Power of Sound followed in 1987, and that same year Hassell collaborated with the Burkina Faso percussion ensemble Farafina, a union which spawned 1989's Flash of the Spirit. The hip hop-inspired City: Works of Fiction appeared in 1990, and four years later he launched Dressing for Pleasure; subsequent projects include Lurch, an experimental dance piece choreographed by Gideon Obarzanek, and 1999's Fascinoma, on which Hassell collaborated with Ry Cooder and Jacky Terrasson.
-- Jason Ankeny, All-Music Guide
CDS IN STOCK: (Jon Hassell Solo)
Collaborations / Sessions |
Soundtracks
-
Aka Darbari Java (Jon Hassell)
UK cd album
(1991)
Originally released in 1983
Track listing:
-
Empire I
- Empire II
- Empire III
- Empire IV
- Empire V
- Darbari Extension I
- Darbari Extension II
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EG
Catalogue number: EEGCD-31
available:
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-
City: Works of Fiction (Jon Hassell)
US cd album
(1990)
Track listing:
-
Power Spot
- Voiceprint (Blind From the Facts)
- Pagan
- Mombasa
- Tikal
- In the City of Red Dust
- Rain
- Ba-Ya D
- Warriors
- Out of Adedara
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Opal/Warner Brothers
Catalogue number: 9 26153-2
available:
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-
Dream Theory in Malaya (Jon Hassell)
UK cd album
(1991)
Track listing:
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Chor Moire
- Courage
- Dream Theory
- Datu Bintung at Jelong
- Malay
- These Times...
- Gift of Fire
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EG
available:
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amazon.co.uk (uk)
-
Dressing for Pleasure (Jon Hassell)
US cd album
(1994)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Warner Brothers
Catalogue number: 9362-45523-2
available:
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-
Earthquake Island (Jon Hassell)
US cd album
(2003)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Tomato Music
available:
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-
Fascinoma (Jon Hassell)
US cd album
(1990)
Track listing:
-
Nature Boy
- Datura
- Caravanesque
- Wide Sky
- Mevlana Duke
- Secretely Happy
- Poinciana
- Sensuendo
- Suite de Caravan
- Estate (Summer)
Number of Discs: 1
Label: Water Lily Acoustics
available:
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-
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (Brian Eno / Jon Hassell)
UK cd album
(1990)
Originally released: 1980
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EG
available:
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amazon.co.jp (japan)
-
Hollow Bamboo (Jon Hassell / Ry Cooder / Ronu Majumbar)
US cd album
(2000)
Track listing:
-
Vaisnava Bhajan -
Abhijit Banerjee
- Krsna Kantha Kandam
- Ry Cooder
- African Queen
- Abhijit Banerjee
- Charmer of Braj
- Abhijit Banerjee
- Day for Trade Winds
- Ry Cooder
- Bay of Bengal
- Ry Cooder
- River Song
- Abhijit Banerjee
- Hollow Bamboo
- Ronu Majumdar
When Ry Cooder isn't getting down with the aged Cuban musicians of the Buena Vista Social Club, he's getting serene with Indian flutists and vina players. As he did with the well-known A Meeting by the River with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Cooder teams up with Indian musicians in open-ended improvisations that are New Age music for people who don't think they like New Age. Melodies ebb and flow, rhythms are gentle tabla beats or floating pulses, structure is often amorphous. Ronu Majumdar is actually the leader on these sessions and he's a formidable player of the bansuri flute, an Indian bamboo instrument that's capable of the most sublime and sensual melodies. Majumdar gets all that. Except when he plays oud on one track, Cooder sticks to electric guitar, gently fingerpicking tremolo-drenched backings to Majumdar's ruminations. The sessions for Hollow Bamboo emerged out of those for Jon Hassell's 1999 album, Fascinoma, and shares that CD's musicians. Hassell plays trumpet on a couple of tracks, his breathy, slurred lines echoing Majumdar's melodies. You won't need incense for this CD. It's wafting right up off the disc. --John Diliberto
Number of Discs: 1
Label: EG
available:
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-
Power Spot (Jon Hassell)
UK cd album
(2000)
Originally released in 1986
Track listing:
-
Power Spot
- Passage D.E.
- Solaire
- Miracle Steps
- Wing Melodies
- Elephant and the Orchid
- Air
Number of Discs: 1
Label: ECM
Catalogue number: ECM 1327
available:
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amazon.co.uk (uk)
-
Voiceprint (Jon Hassell vs 808 State)
UK cd ep
(1994)
Track listing:
-
Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)
[808 Mix One]
- Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)
[Radio Mix]
- Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)
[808 Mix Two]
- Streetfaxx
- Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)
[LP Version]
Number of Discs: 1
Label: All Saints
Catalogue number: ASCD 17
available:
amazon.com (us)
CDS IN STOCK: (Jon Hassell)
Collaborations / Sessions
Solo |
Soundtracks
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