[NewMusic] BELLS Compilation taking shape...

[Henry Kuntz]

The BELLS compilation "Free Jazz, Free Music" is taking shape at
"metropolis."  

While the articles are appearing one at a time on the main "metropolis"
page, they are being collectively archived here 

http://www.m-etropolis.com/wordpress/bells-slleb/en
<http://www.m-etropolis.com/wordpress/bells-slleb/en>  in the order they are
meant be read. The compilation is in two parts: "Free Jazz, Free Music" and
"Free Music, Free Improvisation." About a third of the pieces in the first
part are up.

For those who are wondering what the compilation is about, some background
is in order. Between 1973 and 1979, I published a small internationally
circulated newsletter-review called BELLS. I saw the publishing of BELLS as
a mission, a mission to call attention to a whole range of jazz and
improvised music that was being ignored by the mainstream music press; or,
when it was being paid attention to, it was with little or no understanding.
BELLS included record reviews, performance reviews and interviews, most
famously the first extensive interview to be published with Derek Bailey
(with Henry Kaiser). (The DB interview will appear in Part Two.) While most
of the writing in BELLS was my own, there were invaluable contributions by
Richard "Duck" Baker, Jack Cooke, Loren Means, Charles K. Noyes, Randolph
Savicky, Barry Tepperman, and David Wild.

The compilation in its present form was put together around 1982 when I
envisioned publishing it in book form. I shopped the manuscript around (some
300 typewritten pages) and got a lot of positive feedback and encouragement
but no actual publishers. I tried again in 1993 with similar results. Since
then, the manuscript has been sitting in a box in my closet, and I had begun
to think that its time of relevance had passed.

Then, a couple of months ago, in the space of a single week, I had an
inquiry from Bill Shoemaker ("Point of Departure") asking me if any of the
BELLS material was online, then an offer from Klaus Thiemann to put the up
material on his "metropolis" website. I didn't immediately jump at the
opportunity, but Klaus kept asking me about it and was really enthusiastic
about wanting to do it. So I mailed him the typewritten pages which he
converted with a type of software into a Word document that he forwarded
back to me for corrections. As he has put the material up at "metropolis,"
he has added wonderful archival photos of the musicians as well as pertinent
album covers.

You may enjoy having a look at the BELLS material, views of the music of the
times from within the times. To get a sense of what the book is up to, be
sure to read the introduction that follows the "more" link of the opening
BELLS SLLEB page.

Henry