Lounge Lizards

Lounge Lizards - Voice Of Chunk - 1989 - Strange & Beautiful Music

The music of the Lounge Lizards is based on older jazz forms, but this band never really sounds indebted to these forms.They sound like nothing else on earth, except the Lounge Lizards. They add a new dimension to jazz, like nothing you've ever heard before. Strange and beautiful,music, like the label. Give it a listen, and check out their 1998 album, Queen of All Ears

TRACKS

1.Bob The Bob (2:07)
2.Voice Of Chunk (5:25)
Recorded By - Hugo Dwyer
3.One Big Yes (6:23)
4.The Hanging (4:43)
Mixed By - Joe Ferla
5.Uncle Jerry (4:19)
Recorded By - Paulo Junquero
6.A Paper Bag And The Sun (7:42)
7.Tarantella (4:06)
8.Bob The Bob (Home) (3:29)
9.Sharks (3:08)
10.Travel (5:31)

CREDITS

Bass - Erik Sanko
Drums - Douglas Browne*
Guitar, Trumpet - Marc Ribot
Mastered By - Howie Weinberg
Mixed By - Hugo Dwyer (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 10)
Percussion - E.J. Rodriguez
Piano - Evan Lurie
Producer, Arranged By - John Lurie
Recorded By - Joe Ferla (tracks: 1, 3, 4, 6 to 10)
Saxophone [Alto, Soprano] - John Lurie
Saxophone [Tenor, Alto, Soprano] - Roy Nathanson
Trombone - Curtis Fowlkes
Written-By - Evan Lurie (tracks: 7, 10) , John Lurie (tracks: 1 to 6, 8, 9)
Recorded at Media Sound, New York, New York in November 1988; Clinton Studio, New York, New York in January 1989; Nas Nuvens, Brazil in September 1988.


REVIEWS


Featuring key members of the New York downtown avant-garde scene--including trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, guitarist Mark Ribot, and saxophonist John Lurie--The Lounge Lizards make music of a unique and miraculous nature. Melding smoky '40s noir atmospherics, loose, pulsing funk-inflected rhythms, and not a few lessons in Ornette Coleman-styled free-line, the Lizards manage to make experimental music that is also accessible. With a twin saxophone front line, trumpet, piano, guitar, bass, drums, and auxiliary percussion, the Lizards evoke a kaleidoscope of moods, textures, and timbres. The album moves from ghostly, floating film music ("The Hanging") to looping, overlapping dream fragments ("A Paper Bag And The Sun"), traditional folk dances ("Tarantella"), and lilting refrains ("Bob The Bob"). VOICE OF CHUNK is strange and beautiful music, among the finest albums of its uncommon ilk. © 1996 - 2007 CD Universe
After a few revisions to the band's lineup, John Lurie had a brilliant cast for his Lounge Lizards' Voice of Chunk, which came out on his private label in 1989. Now that Lurie's got his strong Strange & Beautiful label, Voice is in wide circulation. And that's a good thing. It's probably the best work this lineup of the Lizards had to offer. Keyboardist Evan Lurie and guitarist Marc Ribot show themselves clearly up to fulfilling the leader's noirish, additive aesthetic. Additive, you ask? Lurie's a builder. He takes small cells, little turns of phrase, and then layers instruments, approaching the nugget, making for muted thrills as listeners glean the simplicity of the melodies and the sophistication of the instrumental combination (Roy Nathanson on saxophones, Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, percussionist E.J. Rodriguez, drummer Dougie Bowne, and bassist Erik Sanko round out the octet). The solos appear more ascetic, or at least more downturned, in their key signatures and structures. If you're wondering where to find a window on Lurie, a fantastic guy with soundtrack and film credits galore, this is as fine a place to look as any. © Andrew Bartlett , Amazon.com
After a few revisions to the band's lineup, John Lurie had a brilliant cast for his Lounge Lizards' Voice of Chunk, which came out on his private label in 1989. Now that Lurie's got his strong Strange & Beautiful label, Voice is in wide circulation. And that's a good thing. It's probably the best work this lineup of the Lizards had to offer. Keyboardist Evan Lurie and guitarist Marc Ribot show themselves clearly up to fulfilling the leader's noirish, additive aesthetic. Additive, you ask? Lurie's a builder. He takes small cells, little turns of phrase, and then layers instruments, approaching the nugget, making for muted thrills as listeners glean the simplicity of the melodies and the sophistication of the instrumental combination (Roy Nathanson on saxophones, Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, percussionist E.J. Rodriguez, drummer Dougie Bowne, and bassist Erik Sanko round out the octet). The solos appear more ascetic, or at least more downturned, in their key signatures and structures. If you're wondering where to find a window on Lurie, a fantastic guy with soundtrack and film credits galore, this is as fine a place to look as any. © www.musicmule.com

Determined to become the thinking man's David Sanborn by hook or by crook, John Lurie swallows his indignation and elects to market himself--you achieve retail access by dialing the label name on your home telephone. And dial you might. His tone is as rich as his tunes, his solos are lifelike, his musicians thrive as individuals, his musicians function as a unit, and his arty moves kick in with a satisfying thwock. As usual, free jazz meets Henry Mancini meets Kurt Weill meets Peter Gordon meets the Ramada Inn. But the pomo patina has worn away--he's lyrical and catchy rather than "lyrical" and "catchy." Biting and funny he never put quotes around. A- © www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=The+Lounge+Lizards

The Lizards, led by neo-saxman John Lurie, were best known for their outsider approach to bop. This is perhaps their best work, filled with humor and a solid melodic sensibility. Marc Ribot's angular guitar and the complement of Evan Lurie's piano make the disc a particular delight. Madhouse jazz for the unhinged. © Tim Sheridan, All Music Guide.
Very Good - ...one of the most incisive new music ensembles around. © Rolling Stone (04/05/1990).


BIO (Wikipedia)

The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie; they should not be confused with country satire group the Austin Lounge Lizards. Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound. The first line-up was John Lurie, his brother Evan (piano and organ), Arto Lindsay (guitar), Steve Piccolo (bass guitar), and Anton Fier (drums). This ensemble recorded the group's self-titled debut, which contained two Thelonious Monk songs and was produced by Teo Macero, famed for his work with Miles Davis. The record received positive reviews, with one scribe noting "while there's definitely great respect shown here for the jazz tradition, the members are obviously coming at it from different backgrounds." Especially notable is Lindsay's noisy guitar: He had earlier honed his distinctive, untutored and unconventional technique with the band DNA. After this line-up dissolved, the Lurie brothers formed a new group , which has been described as "less compelling" than the earlier ensemble. Their sole record, 1983's Live from the Drunken Boat, remains the only Lounge Lizards album never to have been issued on compact disc. In the years following their inception, they lost the moniker of "fake" almost completely and comprised some of the best musicians from the avant-garde New York jazz scene: Roy Nathanson (saxophone), Curtis Fowlkes (trombone), Marc Ribot (guitar), and Erik Sanko (bass guitar), Dougie Bowne and EJ Rodriguez on drums and percussion. (Fowlkes and Nathanson would pursue duo performances, which metamorphosed into The Jazz Passengers). This edition of the Lounge Lizards recorded three albums in two years, and demonstrated John Lurie's increasingly sophisticated and multi-layered compositions that often stray rather far from conventional jazz: He was able to integrate elements of various world musics (he often favors tango-inspired passages in his songs), which retain a distinctive flavor, but avoid gimmickry. One critic notes traces of "Erik Satie and Kurt Weill." The Luries formed a new version of the Lounge Lizards in the early 1990s; prominent members included Steven Bernstein (trumpet), Michael Blake (saxophone), Oren Bloedow (bass guitar), Dave Tronzo (guitar), Calvin Weston (drums) and Billy Martin (percussion). Recent years have found the Lounge Lizards less active; John Lurie has been increasingly occupied with writing music for motion picture soundtracks, while Evan Lurie has worked on The Backyardigans, a children's show that highlights multiple musical genres.