There's not much info on Cavalli to be found from the usual online sources. His not-too-extensive discography on discogs.com includes some easy-listening records, cheap looking "guitar instrumental" albums and some 7''s with music he composed for French tv-movies.
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| Part two of our cheese festival: Swiss Emmentaler |
On wikipedia only the German version offers an article on Cavalli, were we learn about Cavalli's work as a sideman for the orchestras of Hazy Osterwald and Kurt Edelhagen, Quincy Jones, Michel Legrand and Friedrich Gulda as well as Stephane Grapelli (Django, 1962) and Wolfgang Dauner (The Oimels, 1969).
This post is dedicated to fellow blogger The Boogieman who introduced me to Cavalli. His post on the guitarist offers more detailed information and can be found here.
The music here ranges from overblown space-age instrumentals to exquisite acoustic solo guitar tunes. The fact that rumbling electric band pieces alternate with quite solo-guitar tunes doesn't really help making side one a cohesive listening experience.
"Summer of 42", "Black Is The Colour" and "Per Tutta La Vita" are the aforementioned solo pieces - showcases for Cavalli's impeccable technique - and definitive highlights of the album. "Der Ohrwurm" and "Sing A Song" seem to use the same rhythm track, a rather monotonous country/circus umta umta, yet offer some nice twangy guitar. "Heart-Breaker": fuzz guitar meets bossa nova; "Taking Off": a wanna-be movie theme.
The highlight to me is without a doubt "Ridin' West", an incredible cowboy-movie instrumental, with some awesome guitar playing, acoustic and electric. A jazzy take on Marcos Valle's classic bossa nova ballad "Preciso Aprender A Ser Só" played on electric solo guitar is another highlight. "Big Brother" is the closest this album comes to rock music. "Concerto For Guitar" consists mainly of three parts: a loose funky jam, a "free" middle part and a rocking jam in the end.
All in all a pretty mixed bag with several highs and lows. But they say that Emmentaler doesn't taste the same without the holes. Considering that Cavalli's albums are so scarce, we gotta take potluck, i guess.
Pierre Cavalli: Sitting On My Guitar Pick 93-115
Switzerland, 1973
A1 Taking Off 3:04
A2 Der Ohrwurm 2:58
A3 Summer Of 42 (Michel Legrand) 2:46
A4 Sing A Song 2:23
A5 Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair (Traditional) 2:19
A6 Heart-Breaker 3:23
A7 Per Tutta La Vita 2:22
A8 Freight-Train (Traditional) 0:48
B1 Ridin' West 3:15
B2 Preciso Aprender A Ser Só (Marcos Valle) 2:37
B3 Big Brother 3:01
B4 Concerto For Electric Guitars 10:36
Pierre Cavalli (g, arr) Antonio Conde (b) Gustavo Hubka, Rolf Bänninger (d)
Produced by Jane Peterer
Recorded At Braun Electronic Studio, Lüsnacht, Switzerland
14 comments:
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I LOVE YOU PIERRE CAVALLI !
I RESEARCH ANOTHER 2 LP FROM THIS FANTASTIC ARTIST : Pierre Cavalli Souvenirs From Brazil And Pierre Cavalli 1977 YOU HAVE ANOTHER INFORMATION FOR THIS?
MANY MANY THANK PORCO'S FOR THIS SOUND AND FOR THIS BLOG !
D.J. ChinaBlack
You're welcome, ChinaBlack.
The Brazil album was posted here:
http://schnickschnackmixmax.blogspot.de/search/label/Pierre%20Cavalli
But i didn't check, if the link's still valuable.
ANOTHER RARE GEMS FROM SWISSE, MANY MANY THANKS LPR FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTE.
CHAPEAU !
D.J. ChibaBlack
Wow! Desconocido pero solo con haber estado en el Oimels de Dauner ya es un gran logro!
Gracias Porco por esta rareza!
Thanks Porco. More Cavalli - in a sraight jazz setting - comin' soon, thnaks to onxidlib. Will be posted during the week.
Cheers
This guy is such an amazing technician he could play just anything. Call him journeyman, studio shark or whatever but the fact is that even when he plays "crap" it's still sounds good. A Swiss Danny Gatton?
I really enjoy this album. If I come across a copy in decent condition, I'll buy it.
Cheers
Now this is some tasty cheese. Actually, I wouldn't even put it in the "cheesy" camp. There's too much good stuff on it. You're right that it's too eclectic to be a "cohesive listening experience" but eclectic never bothered me. It reminds me in spirit of one of those Les Paul electric guitar demonstration albums only it's also acoustic. I love the completely committed, overdubbed high energy opener (Taking Off). Nice bass work on that one too. I could almost see Jeff Beck covering it. Der Ohrwurm (means "Ear Worm"?) reminds me of a Chet Atkins tune. Yes, a bit corny, but foot-tapping corny for sure. The 3 solo pieces you mentioned are indeed wonderfully arranged and played. Sing A Song gets on my nerves a bit with its repetitious nature. Heart-Breaker is a nice little jazzy tune but is spoiled by the annoying over-produced guitar tone and never really gets deep in the groove. Freight Train has been done to death. Good decision to keep it at 45 seconds. Ridin' West truly is one of the highights as you say. I could see Tommy Emmanuel breakin' this one out in concert. Preciso Aprender A Ser So is played with precision and tenderness and reminds me a bit of the great Luis Bonfa. Big Brother is fun but not as good as the opener, Taking off, although it's similar in style. The closer, Concerto For Electric Guitar is really impressive. I love the tempo changes and the jam-band spirit and the spacy interlude that reminds me of Spidergawd and Eep Hour from the first Jerry Garcia solo album or the "space" portion of a Dead show. Overall I love Cavalli's willingness to take chances, show off his eclectic talents, and follow his muse.
...Oh, and thank you for posting this singular and interesting album.
Calisan, Boogieman,
my pleasure!
I know you enjoyed it Kris, if you give it a track-by-track run down :-)
The "space" section of the "Concerto" reminded me of Hendrix' "1984 (A Merman...)" from the Electric Ladyland album.
thanks porco, just gave this one a quick winamptreat, nice stuff....
full of fantastic surprises indeed.
Thankyou very much! Years of searching are over :-)
hi,
found your great Blog today!
this Cavalli-Posting is highly appreciated (even if the LP might not surpass 'Souvenirs From Brazil')
unfortunately the second part doesn't work on ziddu (first part does!) and the other links are dead too
it would be very very nive, if you could update the link for part2 if you have the time
thanks anyway and keep goin',
GN
Anon, my pleasure. Good to hear, that the problem's solved.
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