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The Muffins

Called by Fred Frith "the finest progressive band that America produced, Washington, D.C.'s the Muffins were unlike any American band. They created an ambitious, stubbornly independent music inspired by the Canterbury scene's progressive rock, modal and free jazz, fusion, and modern composition. The Muffins existed from 1974 to 1981 and, after a long hiatus, from 1998 to 2015. During their first incarnation, they home-recorded several tape-only albums including 1976's Chronometers and Air Fiction. They signed with Random Radar Records for 1978's acclaimed Manna/Mirage. <185> followed in 1981, and the band split. During their absence, the Cuneiform released 1985's Open City, a collection of unreleased tracks, and remastered and reissued Chronometers in 1993. Following their reunion, Cuneiform issued the acclaimed studio offering Bandwidth in 2001, followed by Double Negative in 2004. Musea released 2010's Palindrome, and Hobart Films and Music their final studio offering, Mother Tongue in 2012. In 2022, Cuneiform released the 13-disc Baker's Dozen. Its 12 CDs (and one DVD) consisted primarily of unissued studio and live material captured between 1975 and 2010. The group was formed in the Washington, D.C. area in the early '70s by Dave Newhouse (keyboards), Billy Swan (vocals, bass and guitar), Tom Scott (woodwinds), and Michael Zentner (guitar and violin). Stuart Abramowitz played drums from August 1975 until July 1976 but the chair's longest-tenured drummer was Paul Sears, who joined in late 1976. The Muffins were equally influenced by the British progressive rock sounds of Henry Cow, National Health, and Soft Machine, as well as contemporary American jazz and improvisational artists including Anthony Braxton, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Sun Ra, and Miles Davis' electric groups. They lived communally during the early period, and composed, rehearsed, and recorded in a makeshift home studio demo, creating albums on tape to give to radio DJs, and fans at gigs. These recordings resulted in the early Chronometers and Air Fiction. Zentner and Abramowitz left in July 1976. Drummer Paul Sears joined the next month, setting the stage for the group's most popular period. They released Manna/Mirage in 1978 on Random Radar, run by longtime friend Steve Feigenbaum (later the founder Cuneiform Records), and soon after released the limited-edition live LP Air Fiction. The band also worked with Fred Frith in the studio on his post-Henry Cow solo LP, Gravity. He'd heard the group first in 1976 when Zentner went over to the U.K. and played the Chronometers tape for Henry Cow and Virgin Records. Frith also produced the band's next LP, 185, in late 1980. The Muffins disbanded six months later. In the early '90s, they reunited for an evening to play a private party. The gig was recorded and the jam "Hobart Got Burned" from that performance was released on Cuneiform's Unsettled Scores in 1995. It wasn't until July 1998 that the group -- Tom Scott, Paul Sears, Billy Swan, and Dave Newhouse -- formally reunited for a show in Washington, D.C. The formula took. The band played live in the U.S. and at European and Canadian music festivals. In 2001, they formed the Contorted label to release Loveletter #1. They continued to tour in the aftermath, playing with more frequency overseas, where the Muffins were regarded as "America's only prog band." In 2002, they issued Bandwidth on Cuneiform to laudatory critical reviews in publications on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2004, the Muffins returned to the label to release Double Negative, arguably their most acclaimed and innovative recording. It showcased an appended string section and guest appearances from saxophonists Marshall Allen and Knoel Scott of the Sun Ra Arkestra. The following year, the Muffins, Allen, and and Scott released Loveletter #2: The Ra Sessions on their Hobart Films & Records imprint. Touring and composing took up most of their time for the next several years -- while its individual members all pursued outside projects as well. They would not release another studio offering for five years, when Palindrome appeared from French prog and jazz label Musea to global critical acclaim. The rigorous touring, rehearsing, and composing allowed for only one more studio recording: Mother Tongue appeared from Hobart Films & Records in 2012 and consisted of studio-recorded compositions and improvisations. It wasn't widely distributed, but was well-reviewed. The Muffins spent the next couple of years touring intermittently, winning prime stage placement at several European music festivals. They amicably split in 2015. In 2022, Cuneiform released Baker's Dozen, a 13-disc retrospective Muffins box set consisting of nearly all unissued studio and live recordings from 1975 to 2010 on 12 CDs, with a DVD of a live performance at 2005's NEARfest in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. The set's 76-page booklet contains an entire oral history of the band by its members and associates assembled by Feigenbaum. In addition, it included dozens of rare photographs and interviews.
© Thom Jurek & Jim Dorsch /TiVo
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Discographie

24 album(s) • Trié par Meilleures ventes

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