All Roads Lead To the Flesh

I wrote the following review for the Detroit Metro Times back in 1995, when this CD was first issued.



Since that time "All Roads" had fallen out of print and was only recently reissued.Kip Hanrahan is a personal favorite of mine, since his early efforts like Coup de Tete and Desire Develops an Edge. Having worked for the Jazz composer's co-op, Hanrahan had plenty of contact's with leading jazz musicians and his session's reflect this with many top names performing.
Pretty much all of his work "stands the test of time" and is just as fresh on every listen.

Here's my review:

“All Roads Lead To the Flesh”

Kip Hanrahan

American Clave/Rounder Records

For the initiated, New Yorker Kip Hanrahan is a jazz and world music renaissance man. He is not only a fine percussionist and composer, but a very talented producer and arranger as well, able to bring together disparate collaborators seamlessly to realize a single project. His previously recorded works are more like novels in sound than conventional jazz outings. They’re all conceptually conceived and feature compositions that are stories within stories: they even develop characters. His music resembles no one else’s, though there’s no question as to his influence on more famous sonic auteurs like Hal Wilner.
That said, on “All Roads Are Made Of The Flesh”, Hanrahan abandons his previous methodology to release a collection of short stories that stand on their own, rather than as chapters in an aural novel. As usual, he has assembled a stellar cast of musicians to help him realize his vision: I only wish I were in the audience-they’ve never played in Detroit.
The disc kicks off with “Buddy Bolden’s Blues,” a tribute to the legendary, but never recorded trumpeter who many credit as inventing jazz.

Jack Bruce gives the track a wonderful reading with both his bass and voice, as Allen Toussaint and the late Don Pullen’s piano and organ respectfully give the piece a smoky , stomping New Orleans’s feel.
“The first and Last to Love Me” is a gorgeous version of the track recorded on an earlier, and now sadly out of print, album. It segues beautifully into “The September Dawn”. The band is stripped down with Bruce’s vocals shining on both tracks. As a modal musical interlude gives way to his singing, the effect is smooth, relaxed and resonates with nuance and texture. Here’s where the pace picks up. Percussion and rhythm steer the band into unknown and funkier territory.

The album closes with a gorgeous solo piece by Pullen ( would that he were still with us) and a second instrumental take of “The First and Last to Love Me,” with The late George Adam’s tenor sax in place of Jack Bruce’s vocals. The feel is tender, low-key and provides a fitting, loving tribute to both Pullen and Adams.

“All Roads Lead To the Flesh” is a chronicle of the evolution of Hanrahan’s ideas, and how he transposes them to fit a live setting. How he puts these artists together for tours is amazing. I only hope he sees fit to visit Detroit the next time around. – Jay Dorrance

And here's what wikipedia has to say..(they need an update).

Kip Hanrahan (born December 9, 1954) is an American jazz music impresario, record producer and percussionist. Born to an Irish-Jewish family in the Bronx, New York.

Hanrahan has an unusual role in the albums released under his name, one which he has analogized to that of a film director. He assembles players and materials, combining modern/avant-garde/free jazz figures like Don Pullen and Steve Swallow, Latin jazz players such as Milton Cardona and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and occasionally rock singers like Sting and, most notably, Jack Bruce.

Hanrahan produced a number of significant recordings by the Nuevo Tango master Astor Piazzolla in the last decade of Piazzolla's life, as well as recordings by Latin music figures Jerry Gonzalez, Milton Cardona, and others.

Hanrahan also worked with the poet Ishmael Reed on 3 recordings with the Conjure Ensemble, including the 2006 "Bad Mouth." These side projects were not the only poetry based discs; "Darn It!" from 1994 celebrates the work of Paul Haines.

[edit] Discography

This listing includes recordings released under Hanrahan's name, as well as those released under the name Conjure.

• Coup de Tete - recorded 1979-81

Kip Hanrahan, Jerry Gonzalez, Daniel Ponce, Arto Lindsay, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Anton Fier, Chico Freeman, Carlos Ward, Ignacio Berroa, John Stubblefield, Carla Bley, Teo Macero, Bill Laswell, Billy Bang, Lisa Herman, Nicky Marrero, Byard Lancaster, George Cartwright, Orlando DiGirolamo, Dom Um Romao, Fred Frith, Mike Mantler, Dave Liebman

• Desire Develops an Edge - recorded 1982-3

Jack Bruce, Kip Hanrahan, Steve Swallow, Puntilla Orlando Rios, Arto Lindsay, Elysee Pyronneau, Ricky Ford, Ignacio Berroa, Jerry Gonzalez, John Stubblefield, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Anton Fier, Milton Cardona, Teo Macero, Tiplume Ricardo Franck, Frisner Augustin, Sergio Brandao, John Scofield, Jody Harris, others

• Conjure - recorded 1983, released 1985

Taj Mahal, Allen Toussaint, David Murray, Steve Swallow, Carla Bley, Lester Bowie, Kip Hanrahan, Carman Moore, Olu Dara, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Puntilla, Milton Cardona, Kenny Kirkland, Ejaye Tracey, Don Jay, Jean-Paul Bourelly, Billy Hart, Frisner Augustin, Olufemi Claudette Mitchell, Robert Jason, Molly Farley, Brenda Norton, Elysee Pyronneau, Andy Gonzalez, Peter Scherer, Sal Cuevas, Arto Lindsay

• Vertical's Currency - recorded 1984

Jack Bruce, Kip Hanrahan, Steve Swallow, Milton Cardona, David Murray, Arto Lindsay, Ignacio Berroa, Puntilla Orlando Rios, Peter Scherer, Frisner Augustin, Elysee Pyronneau

• A Few Short Notes for the End Run (EP) - recorded 1984-5

Jack Bruce, Kip Hanrahan, Milton Cardona, Giovanni Hidalgo, Ignacio Berroa, Andy Gonzalez, Steve Swallow, Allen Toussaint, Clem Clemson, others

• Conjure: Cab Calloway Stands in for the Moon - recorded 1987-8, released 1988

Ishmael Reed, Allen Toussaint, Don Pullen, Leo Nocentelli, Steve Swallow, Robbie Ameen, Olu Dara, Eddie Harris, David Murray, Bobby Womack, Clare Bathe, Robert Jason, Fernando Saunders, Grayson Hugh, Milton Cardona, Hamiet Bluiett, Giovanni Hidalgo, Frisner Augustin, Ignacio Berroa, Elysee Pyronneau, Johnny Watkins, Lenny Pickett, Diahnne Abbott, Tennessee Reed, Shaunice Harris

• Days and Nights of Blue Luck Inverted - recorded 1988-9, released 1990

Fernando Saunders, Andy Gonzalez, Leo Nocentelli, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jerry Gonzalez, Milton Cardona, Robbie Ameen, Willie Green, Charles Neville, John Stubblefield, Kip Hanrahan, Jack Bruce, Ignacio Berroa, Peter Scherer, Anton Fier, Lew Soloff, Mario Rivera, David Murray, Pablo Ziegler, Alfredo Triff, George Adams, Carmen Lundy

• Tenderness - recorded 1988-9, released 1990

Sting, Diahnne Abbott, Carmen Lundy, Lucy Penebaz, Fernando Saunders, Kip Hanrahan, Robbie Ameen, Andy Gonzalez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Leo Nocentelli, Don Pullen, Alfredo Triff, Chocolate Armanteros, Chico Freeman, Milton Cardona, Richie Flores, Ignacio Berroa, Andrew Cyrille, Marvin Smith, Cecilia Engelhardt

• Exotica - recorded 1992, released 1993

Jack Bruce, Don Pullen, Robbie Ameen, Alfredo Triff, Leo Nocentelli, JT Lewis, David Sanchez, Ralph Peterson Jr., Anthony Carillo, Richie Flores, Milton Cardona, Lucy Penabaz, Andy Gonzalez, Mario Riviera

• Anthology - released 1993

Two disc Compilation

• All Roads Are Made of the Flesh - recorded 1984 – 1994, released 1995

Kip Hanrahan, Jack Bruce, Don Pullen, Charles Neville, Carmen Lundy, Allen Toussaint, Leo Nocentelli, Alfredo Triff, Robbie Ameen, JT Lewis, George Adams, Milton Cardona, Anthony Carrillo, Chocolate Armenteros, Dino Saluzzi, Renaud Garcia-Fons, Michael Reisler, Wolfgang Puchnik, Andy Gonzalez, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jerry Gonzalez, Elysee Pyronneau, Steve Swallow

• A Thousand Nights and a Night (1 - Red Nights) - recorded 1994-6, released 1996

Don Pullen, Robby Ameen, Carmen Lundy, Charles Neville, Jack Bruce, Brandon Ross, El Negro Horacio Hernandez, Henry Threadgill, Silvana Deluigi, Mike Cain, DD Jackson, Anthony Carrillo, Fernando Saunders, Puntilla Orlando Rios, Milton Cardona, Alfredo Triff, Eric Schenkman, Andy Gonzalez, Steve Swallow, Abraham Rodriguez

• A Thousand Nights and a Night (Shadow Nights 1) - released 1998

Don Pullen, Steve Swallow, Robbie Ameen, Carmen Lundy, Charles Neville, Billy Bang, Brandon Ross, El Negro Horacio Hernandez, Henry Threadgill, Mike Cain, Anthony Carrillo, Milton Cardona, Alfredo Triff, Eric Schenkman, Andy Gonzalez

• A Thousand Nights and a Night (Shadow Nights 2) - recorded 1994-8

Don Pullen, DD Jackson, JT Lewis, Erica Larsen, Alfredo Triff, Horacio El Negro Hernandez, Robby Ameen, Fernando Saunders, Paoli Mejias, Richie Flores , Anthony Carrillo

• Drawn from Memory (Greatest Hits, Or Whatever... Kip on Campus) - 2000

Compilation

• original music from the soundtrack to Piñero - recorded 2001, released 2002

Kip Hanrahan, Benjamin Bratt, Jerry Gonzalez, Andy Gonzalez, Chocolate Armanteros, Peter Scherer, Robby Ameen, Puntilla Orlando Rios, Milton Cardona, Richie Flores, Mario Rivera, Edsel Gomez, Lysandro Arias, Fernando Saunders, Yomo Toro, Alfredo Triff, Papo Vasquez, Mauricio Smith, Abraham Rodriguez, Felix Sanabria, Brian Lynch, Carlos Alberto Gonzalez

• Conjure: Bad Mouth - recorded 2005, released 2006

Ishmael Reed, David Murray, Kip Hanrahan, Leo Nocentelli, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Fernando Saunders, Anthony Cox, Yosvanni Terry, Pedro Martinez, Billy Bang, Horacio El Negro Hernandez, Robby Ameen, Richie Flores, Dafnis Prieto

• "Beautiful Scars" - released 2007

Some links....


http://www.americanclave.com/



http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:t69fs36ba3pg~T0


http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/9j54/


some vids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r-_-6AbEcc


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Dp21T8c7c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eP12wbsdR4