Paul and I had hoped to record some new music in 2021, this being once again the “Year of the Ox”, that year of the Zodiac in which we made our first duo recordings. While we were unable to realize that project in earthly time, I thought I might intuit and create what we might have fashioned musically in virtual spiritual time. Lapu Lazuli is a new piece that combines a solo piano improvisation of Paul’s (from his album Awakening) with a solo multi-track piece of mine (from the album IIFIINIITY). When I placed this music together, I couldn’t help but marvel. It felt like these pieces had always been waiting for each other… a match made in heaven, you might say!
Lapu Lazuli
Paul Vincent Kuntz: Piano with percussion effects | Henry Kuntz: Nepalese & Balinese bamboo flutes (played together), Bolivian bass flute; rhaita (Morocco); two Guatemalan bamboo flutes (played together). Individual photos of Paul and Henry by Paul. Composite photo by Henry.
Allow me, if you will, to sing artistic praises for my brother Paul Vincent who, on July 17, 2021, four days prior to his 60th birthday, lifted off from this dimensional space into Realms of Spirit. You may recall Paul from the three duo recordings he and I made over the last dozen years (Year of the Ox, Jazz Khardma, Double Vision), improvisations on which he contributed a florally dense piano, overlaying the instrument’s strings with small percussion instruments and other objects to expand its timbral and tonal range.
Bright trumpets scream through steamy ocean mists sandy midday heat. Fat tuba bellows beneath clarinets’ bird-pitched squeals some golden molten trombone sass. Dancers male and female old and young drunk and sober shake and twist in the tented shade raising sea dust plumes.
Quick Afro-Mex beats drums and drums and booming bass drum and crashing cymbals and falling coconuts pulsate the cumpleaños.
The Pacific pounds roars and sparkles in ever widening waves of cerveza foam come to overtake the fiesta.
Beautiful and indifferent, the Girl from Ipanema wafts languidly by under Canadian eyes, American sighs a strummy guitar, samba rattles, and slaps from an African slave box drum.
An ancient Indio from Oaxaca in white under a big brimmed cone straw hat left over from the Revolution marches into the midst. His left hand’s bugle blares a primal ritual tune his right keeps the old time on a slack snare drum slung from his neck. The young barefoot one his granddaughter collects silver and gold.
El festival! Incoherent crowds of hawkers gawkers bathers and sea bunglers slip through cacophonous shimmering polka-dots of rainbow sombrillas pursued by hot aromas of smoked fish garlic shrimp and the shrill cries of swooping sea birds.
Parties within parties within parties and one grand party muchas canciones on the shores of Jaltemba…
Note: At 1:45 of Piece 1 there is a 6-second dropout of the right channel that occurred during the performance.
Recorded in performance Saturday evening December 20, 1980 (Piece 7: December 21, 1980) at Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace Berkeley, California.
Recording engineer: Greg Goodman
P & C 1981, 2017 Humming Bird Records & Tapes
2) WHIRLS AWAY
The concepts, improvisations and all playing are by Henry Kuntz. Instruments are listed as they appear left to right on stereo speakers. These pieces were recorded on a Fostex X-15 4-track recorder.
Disc 1
1. Whirls Away (23:07) Balinese wood gamelan (15 keys over trough resonator – wood mallets), Balinese gamelan gender (10 iron keys over bamboo resonators – wood hammers), Mexican Indian violin, Balinese bamboo xylophone (11 suspended keys – rubber-tipped mallets)
Recorded: October 30,31,1989 Berkeley California.
2. Spirit Whirls (20:33) Balinese gamelan gender and gamelan selunding (8 large iron keys over trough resonators) played together with wood hammers), Chinese musette, Thai mouth organ, Balinese wood xylophone, bamboo xylophone, and African (Mali) balafon (10 wood keys) played together with rubber-tipped mallets
Recorded: November 1,2,1989 Berkeley California.
Disc 2
1. New Peace Balinese gamelan selunding (played with 2 wood hammers), African (Togo) “fetish gongs” (6 bell-like iron gongs) struck with metal rods, Balinese wood xylophone (wood mallets), Balinese gamelan gender (wood mallets)
Recorded: December 1,2,1989 Berkeley California.
2. Shadow Peace Smaller Balinese bamboo xylophone (11 keys played with rubber mallets), Voice, Bolivian bass flute, Balinese bamboo xylophone (played with rubber mallets)
