For No Good Reason At All / Hesperus
A Fusion of Medieval-Renaissance and Traditional American Music
medieval.org |
worldcat.org |
cdbaby.com
Golden Apple GACD 7553
1991
Patchwork / Hesperus
A Fusion of Medieval-Renaissance and Traditional American Music
hesperus.org
Koch 3-7453-2
2000
A re-issue of HESPERUS’ popular crossover CD For No Good Reason At All,
a fusion of medieval, Renaissance, Appalachian, ragtime, vaudeville and the blues,
all on more than 25 early and traditional instruments.
1. Ad Mortem Festinamus [1:15] 14th c. Spanish
LV 10
2. Morning Blues [2:51] Uncle Dave Macon
3. Ortiz Hoedown [2:22] Diego Ortiz,
16th c. Spanish
4. Cantiga / Ballad of Little Sadie [3:44] 13th c. Spanish
CSM 195 /
Trad.
5. Alta Trinita / Railroadin'Through the Rocky Mountains [3:00]
14th c. Italian / Trad.
6. Drunkard's Lament [3:14] Trad. Ballad
7. Spanish Fandango [2:15] Trad.
8. Sweet Home Chicago [3:34] Robert Johnson
9. Veille Cantigas [3:32] 13th c. Spanish
CSM 154 ·
CSM 11
10. Hobokentanz [2:45] Tielman Susato,
16th c. Flemish
11. For No Good Reason at All [3:24] Cliff Edwards
12. The Devil and the Farmer's Wife / Campbell's Retreat from Red Gap [6:23]
Trad.
13. Sales Tax Toddle [2:00] Trad.
14. Bulldoze Blues [4:15] Henry Thomas
15. La Valse de Bombarche / Ohne fels [3:40]
Cajun / Susato
16. Ma Tredol Rossignol [1:37]
Borlet, 14th c. French
17. Lone Star Rag [3:27] Trad.
18. Willie Moore [4:11] Trad. Ballad
19. Johnson Boys [2:39] Trad.
20. Beatrice / Ukranian Tune [3:11] Trad.
21. Saltarello / The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gives to Me [3:55]
14th c. Italian / Swanstone, Carvon, and Morgan
Hesperus
Scott Reiss — recorders, hammered dulcimer, dumbek, finger cymbals, whistle
Tina Chancey —bass viola da gamba, fiddle, vielle, rebec, kamenj, recorder
Bruce Hutton — vocals, lap dulcimer, banjos, guitars, mandolin, ukelele, kazoo, mouth bow
Recording: June and September 1990,
Bradley Hills Presbyterian Church (US)
℗ 1991 Golden Apple Recording
© 2000 JOCH International Classics
Album Notes
First release in 1991, this recording is the predecessor to Unicorn, HESPERUS' second crossover CD.
‘Ad
Mortem Festinamus,’ the Dance of Death, demonstrates a worldview we
might consider perverse today: this cheerful tune, proclaiming a desire
to stop sinning and ‘hurry towards death” is a product of a world
ravaged by the plague. It comes to us from the Llibre Vermell, the “Red
Book,” a 14th-century manuscript of pilgrimage songs from the Abbey of
Montserrat.
An early blues, ‘Morning Blues,’ by the old-time banjo
master of the 1920s, Uncle Dave Macon, is made even earlier with
recorder and viola da gamba (viol). Other songs of a troubled spirit
include the ‘Bulldoze Blues’ (to be “bulldozed”
was to be whipped) by Henry Thomas, AKA Ragtime Texas, whose use of
panpipes or “quills” was a rare hangover from an earlier
generation. Our exchange of sopranino recorder for quills is a further
variation of the flute used by the rock group Canned Heat in the 1960s.
Robert Johnson, the legendary Mississippi Delta bluesman who wrote
‘Sweet Home Chicago,’ was pursued by misfortune; he is said
to have been poisoned by a jealous husband. ‘The Blues My Naughty
Sweetie Gave to Me’ is a product of the professional
song-publishing business known as Tin Pan Alley.
From
14th-century Italy (not without its own dark worldview), comes ‘Alta
Trinita,’ a religious song used in barbaric flagellation rituals. It is
paired with the Appalachian dance tune ‘Railroading Through the Rocky
Mountains.’’ The mandolin melody in the 14th-century French piece, ‘Ma
Tredol Rossignol’ (My Very Sweet Nightingale) was probably a folk tune
before the composer added two upper parts imitating bird songs. The
‘Cantigas de Santa Maria’ praise the miracles of the
Virgin Mary, from the court of Alphonso the Wise in 13th-century Spain.
Ballads, or narrative story-songs, appear in every folk tradition. Most
Appalachian ballads, including the murder ballads of ‘Lithe
Sadie’ and ‘Willie Moore,’ have their roots in the
English ballad tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries.
‘Drunkard’s Lament’ is given an Anglo-Celtic flavor
with the addition of recorder and whistle. ‘The Devil and the
Farmer’s Wife,’ perhaps the oldest English language ballad,
is still popular today in Britain, America, and many other cultures as
well (including the Indian Panchatantra, a collection of 6th-century
Sanskrit fables). Its partner in this medley, ‘Campbell’s
Retreat’ is a Scottish pipe tune.
Some of our scorings have recent historical precedents. The use of the
viol in the ‘Lone Star Rag’was inspired by the 1930s
recordings of the Dallas Stringband which employed a vigorously bowed
‘cello. Improvisation is a clear link between early music and
folk styles. The solos in the Rag, ‘No Good Reason’ and
‘Naughty Sweetie’ are jazz-based, while
‘Ortiz’s Hoedown’ is a renaissance
“recercada,” or instrumental piece intended to teach
students how to improvise over a repeating bass. The recorder and
violin play Ortiz’s “divisions” in unison, then break
into their own variations. Tina’s vielle intro in the
‘Cantigas’ is oddly parallel to Bruce’s National
Steel guitar improv at the top of ‘Sweet Home Chicago.’
Our two Renaissance dances have been taken from arrangements by Flemish
publisher Tielman Susato. ‘Ohne Fels’ makes a delightful
Cajun waltz, and ‘Hobokentanz’ sounds almost Appalachian on
the lap dulcimer, whose antecedents, the German
“scheitholt” and the French “epinette de voges”
may have played the same tune 400 years ago. ‘Sales Tax
Toddle’ was recorded in 1935 in Mississippi by the Nations
Brothers, and we learned the French Canadian tune
‘Beatrice’ and the ‘Ukrainian Tune’ from Wild
Asparagus and Peter Ostrushko respectively. ‘Spanish
Fandango’ was a turn-of-the-century parlor guitar piece recorded
by banjo virtuoso Pete Steele in 1920.
In ‘The Johnson Boys’ Bruce plays the mouthbow, an instrument that predates all of our medieval ones, thought
to originate in prehistoric Africa. Our title song, ‘For No Good Reason
At All,’ comes from the Vaudeville star “Ukelele Ike” (Cliff Edwards),
better known today as the voice of Walt Disney’s Jiminy Cricket. On both
this and ‘Naughty Sweetie’ the bass recorder imitates a jug-bass.
—Scott Reiss