ghédalia tazartes & rhys chatham: two men in a boat

"The beauty of all this, as well as its sorrowful brutality, is even more powerful and stupefying since Ghédalia's sudden departure. Because retrospectively, not only is this recording the trace of a rare moment in a Parisian garden, it also summons a ghost, that of a loved one that is gone, and of his voice, which is fully alive here." Tazartes and Chatham had met once in 1977 at CBGB's and had not seen each other since then when they were asked by their mutual agent to play a private show in Paris. This happened in September 2018 in a house with a garden where sax player Steve Lacy had lived back in the 1990s. This album presents the recording of this show plus another show at La semaine du bizarre festival in Montreuil, France a year later, mixed with a couple of studio sessions. This was probably the last music Tazartès, who died in February 2021, recorded. His unique singing blends perfectly with Chatham's loops on electric guitar, trumpet and flute. Clear vinyl. Rhys Chatham is a composer, guitarist, trumpet player and flutist from Manhattan, currently living in Paris, who altered the DNA of rock and created a new type of urban music by fusing the overtone-drenched minimalism of the early 60s with the relentless, elemental fury of the Ramones -- the textural intricacies of the avant-garde colliding with the visceral punch of electric guitar-slinging punk rock. -Chatham's trumpet work deploys extended playing techniques inherited from the glory days of the early New York minimalist and '70s loft jazz period. Ghédalia Tazartes: French cult artist with an uncompromising character who defied categorization. He recorded alone more than 20 albums, calling his Art "Impromuz" for lack of a better term. Before the years 2000s, his public appearances remained exceptional events. Ghédalia Tazartès' music has always been a mystery. It switches from musique concrète to -- existing or invented -- ethnic music, from poetry to noise, or from loops and collages to sad and extremely beautiful tunes in a second, but it constantly is in flux and coherent. In 2004, Ghedalia finally decided to do live performances again. He first worked with other musicians (Les Reines d'Angleterre, David Fenech & Jac Berrocal, Norscq & Black Sifichi, Nicolas Lelièvre) then went solo for ten years. Since then, Tazartes has played many shows across Europe. Ghedalia died at his home in Paris on 9th February 2021.