Toumani is absolutely correct that The Mandé Variations represents a new door opened for the kora, though it may not be starkly apparent to every listener in this age of the electric kora. I was particularly struck by the elegy "Ali Farka Toure." I am also enjoying the more classical album Kaira which carries the disclaimer: "This recording was made entirely live and unaccompanied by Toumani Diabate. There is no double-tracking and there is no accompaniment by another kora." Such praise.
Some while ago Dylan Trigg asked whether it is possible to think of musical intervals independently of spatial extensions. The short answer is yes. The long answer is very long indeed, but perhaps not much of an answer. I've been giving a lot of thought to harmonic thinking, how not to do a phenomenology of listening (*cough* Don Ihde *cough*), but I simply cannot fathom what an originary way of listening would be. Morning. An ornithologist hears a robin doing something robins do while a musician hears a bb, or the 13th harmonic of a D, which is not quite equivalent, and cognitively quite a different sort of operation. A bad example perhaps because in my experience robins don't dig anything past the 12th harmonic, whereas many musicians, Giya Kancheli, for instance, evidently do. Digging beyond the 12th harmonic is going outside the received harmonic world of the twelve-tone equal temperament tuning system--Okay, so is the 11th, but we can always fudge it and, a la George Russell perhaps, play as if our tonal system were consistent with natural harmonics. Fudging it: that's the name of the game in harmonic systems. The blue sixth (13th harmonic) is well established in several musical traditions, but I don't know of any working musical system that fully comports with the harmonic series. You always have to bend a little somewhere. The fundamental question here for me is whether the kind of musical training that enables one to identify the 13th harmonic brings one closer to the original sonic phenomenon or whether the cultural mediation involved in producing trained musicians shapes the perception of sound to such a degree that the way musicians hear things ought not be understood as primary by any stretch. This is partially moot because I believe most musicians would recognize the ratio represented by the thirteenth harmonic as a blue sixth or blue thirteenth (i.e., thirteenth tone from the tonic) before they would recognize it as a harmonic. And yet....
Enough for now. In addition to robins, I've been listening to a lot of music, going through a new batch of cd's. In the Heart of the Moon by Touré and Diabaté is as good as it gets. I have listened to a bit of kora music, live and recorded. This recording is the best I've ever heard that instrument sound, as if your head were right there in the calabash. Both musicians use harmonics to great effect, and the recording seemingly captures it all. Wow.
The first time I really listened to pianist Hank Jones was on the album Sarala which featured a kora player by the name of Djely-Moussa Condé. There's some really fine music on that album, and the whole session is exemplary of what afrojazz fusion ought to be about. A couple of years of ago I bought a Hank Jones cd and was disappointed by the shabbiness of the recording and, frankly, the listlessness of Jones' playing. It was definitely not a date worth putting on record. But one bad session was not enough to sour me on Jones. I recently picked up Joyous Encounter from Joe Lovano featuring Hank Jones on the piano. I've long been a fan of Lovano's beefy tenor sound, so the only risk I saw here was that they would be playing standards and maybe not giving it their all. As it turns out, it's solid. There's plenty of energy on these cuts, and loveliness too.
I've been in awe of Gonzalo Rubalcaba since hearing him live, oh, about ten years ago. Now this is a cat that dwells in the upper harmonic realms. I've bought quite a few of his recordings, but I haven't appreciated them all equally. The ones I like most are like Diz, because Rubalcaba can be very moody, but he also really does have exquisite time, so I prefer to hear him being moody at a furious pace. Paseo finds him with Ignacio Berroa on drums. Man, this is good stuff.
Unless you're a hardcore monkophile or jazz historian you may not have heard of Elmo Hope. A long time ago I picked up Harold Land's The Fox because it featured Hope on piano, and they played several of his compositions. It was a little disappointing. (I've never quite dug that whole Westcoast scene.) However, recently I snagged a Bluenote reissue (limited edition connoisseur cd series) called Elmo Hope: Trio and Quintet. Oh, this is it. If you dig Herbie Nichols, Bud Powell and Monk, you have to listen to this.
Update: The Times of London has an obituary. Radio France Internationale has a biography. (I've forgotten the blogger who pointed to that, but thank you.) NPR has a remembrance or two, with links to full length cuts and previous stories. Afropop has some appreciations, and their podcast has now been updated to include Ali Farka Touré live from Niafunké.
I saw Ali Farka Touré and his Groupe Asko once in concert, about ten years ago. I remember him as being friendly and down to earth, but I couldn't even fake a proper greeting in any of the languages he spoke, so it's just an impression, and a shallow one. I took some pictures. He's smiling in every one, sincerely it seems to me. On stage he was charismatic, energetic, a great improvisor, and good at managing rapport. That's how I remember him.
His recorded music has been a constant source of joy in our home. I haven't yet listened to In the Heart of the Moon, for which he and Toumani Diabaté were awarded a Grammy. I've moved it to the top of my wishlist. (Toumani is a wonderful musician, by the way.) The Source and The River are my still my favorite albums by Farka. Talking Timbuktu is nice, and Niafunké is pretty enjoyable too. Radio Mali and the Red and Green Albums are maybe best left to fans. I don't know, it's hard to imagine not being a fan.