HUMMING BIRD RECORDS & TAPES

COMPACT DISCS – CASSETTES – LONG PLAYING RECORDS – EARTH SERIES CASSETTES

The music on HUMMING BIRD Records & Tapes is spontaneously composed, freely improvised. It is presented to the listener in its purest possible form, edited only for purposes of presentation on recorded media.

Multi-tracking has at times been utilized – as a separate but related improvising endeavor – to create unusual and unlikely instrumental ensembles and to suggest open-ended ways of approaching form and content during real-time group improvisation.

COMPACT DISCS

OPEYE ORCHESTRA LIVE at TUVA SPACE (HB CDR 5/6)

Disc 1: C’AMELEON (39:43) Download listen to an excerpt

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records

Disc 2: WHALAPAG’OS’ (41:08) Download listen to an excerpt

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records

HENRY KUNTZ: tenor saxophone, musette, wood flutes, toy violins, Bali & Java gamelans DAN PLONSEY: Turkish clarinet, oboe, tenor & baritone saxophones CLEVELAND PLONSEY: flute (slide whistle) MICHAEL ZELNER: clarinet, alto saxophone, flutes and pennywhistle ESTEN LINDGREN trombone, trumpet, drums, percussion JOE SABELLA: tuba RON HEGLIN: tuba, trombone SUKI O’KANE: balafon, marimba, percussion BRETT LARNER: koto, zheng HIRAM BELL: ukulele, clarinet, alto saxophone, harmonica, piano JOHN KUNTZ: ukuleles, guitar, mandolin, gamelans, percussion BRIAN GODCHAUX: violin, viola BOB MARSH: cello, JEFF HOBBS: violin NANCY CLARKE: violin JEFF PURMORT: Balinese gamelan instruments MARK SALVATORE: Balinese gamelan instruments

The theoretical concepts for the OPEYE ORCHESTRA, a world-expansive free-improvising ensemble, can be found by clicking here:

Thanks to the musicians who generously gave of their time and talents to breathe life into the OPEYE ORCHESTRA. Thanks to Eleanor Lindgren who provided Ben Lindgren’s painting “Exotic Jumble” for the performance and who took the orchestra photos. Thanks to Scott Looney who did the recording and mastering. Thanks to Michael Zelner for making copies of the results for each of the players. And thanks to Arjuna who invited the OPEYE ORCHESTRA to play at TUVA Space. — Henry Kuntz (May 2011)

Recorded Live & Mixed Direct to 2-Track Stereo May 25, 2002 at TUVA Space Berkeley Ca by Scott R. Looney.

C & P 2011 Humming Bird Records

Two Outrageous Sets of World-Expansive Free Improvised Music!

Along with expanding the range of instruments available for improvisation in a cultural sense, (OPEYE has) been working to expand the formal bounds of improvisation itself. As a group, we have been consciously moving away from what I think of as a lowest common denominator approach to the ways players relate to each other in an improvisational setting. That is, we are not attempting to coalesce musically around some lowest common denominator note, scale, melody, rhythm, or whatever. Rather, we are attempting to bring to collective improvisation the formal complexity of a string quartet, wherein each player’s role is a complete role, perhaps even able to stand alone, yet at the same time absolutely essential to the group music…

The OPEYE ORCHESTRA is a first experiment to find out how well this approach can work with a larger ensemble. It is, in a sense, a social as well as musical experiment since it explores the maximum freedom that individuals may attain within a group while still maintaining the cohesion of the group.

- From “The Theoretical Framework for the OPEYE Orchestra” – Henry Kuntz (May 2002)

18 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide for this DOUBLE CD.

Free – Download

This download consists of one zip file containing the complete track list in 192kbps MP3 format along with album art in high resolution JPG format. Please click the following link: Opeye Orchestra Live at Tuva Space | FREE DOWNLOAD

Free MP3 Download Available

CLICK HERE FOR THE HENRY KUNTZ – SONIC FLARES – FREE DOWNLOAD

This download consists of one 54,2 MB zip file containing the complete track list in 192kbps MP3 format along with album art in high resolution JPG format.

Henry Kuntz| SONIC FLARES

1. SONIC FLARES (19:11) Solo Tenor Saxophone

Recorded Live at Beanbenders, Berkeley, Ca October 4,1998 DAT Recording & CD Master Suki O’Kane/ZOKA

Download listen to Henry Kuntz | Sonic Flares (4 minutes excerpt)

2. 6 TRACK ANGELS (20:12) Balinese Gamelan (Gender, 10 keys) and Gamelan Selunding (Two 4-key instruments), Javanese Gamelan Pelog (Saron, 7 keys) and Slendro (Saron, 9 keys), Chinese Musette, Drums & Percussion

Download listen to Henry Kuntz | 6 Track Angels (4 minutes excerpt)

Multi-Track Recording by Henry Kuntz July 16,17,1995. Re-Mastered 2007 for Release on “Speed of Culture Light”. Cassette Box, Dreamtime Tapes Digital. Transfer by Michael Zelner. C & P Humming Bird Records 2011 – Humming Bird CDR 4. Henry Kuntz Sax & Stories.

6-Track Angels includes instruments from two types of Balinese and two types of Javanese orchestras, each one with its own scale and idiosyncratic tuning. Normally, these instruments would never be heard together – unless one happened upon a festival at which two or more ensembles were playing together coincidentally in conjoined physical space.

As always when using these instruments, I ignored the scale and tuning differences between them to allow for an expanded sound range and an overlapping of divergent tonal occurrences.

To the four Indonesian instruments, I added Chinese musette, drums and percussion – played with sonic and formal allusions to Thai classical music. In Thai music, it is not uncommon for instrumentalists to concurrently pursue singular expressive visions within a collectively unified ensemble.

12 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide (if you prefer the physical CD version)

“Multi-track recordings have been an essential means of expression for me since 1989. Within pieces that are unique in sound, multi-cultural context, and instrumental combination, I’ve been able to showcase and synthesize those musical elements that are most important to me: independence of line, textural complexity, and equality of instrumentation and mix, The process of multi-track creation has been an ongoing musical exploration and experiment, the results of which have consistently surprised and delighted me. I hope you enjoy listening.”Henry Kuntz (March 2010)

Original Recordings & Mix by Henry Kuntz. Digital Master by Michael Zelner. Photos by Henry Kuntz. Label by Paul Kuntz. Humming Bird CDR 3 – C & P Humming Bird Records 2010 – All Rights Reserved

IINFIINIITY

Trans-Temporal Trans-Spatial Multi-track Creations

1. Critical Density (19:58) Soprano recorder, Balinese & Thai wood xylophones, drums & percussion recorded July 15, 1995; tenor saxophone recorded February 8, 2007. (First released on Speed of Culture Light Cassette Box, Dreamtime Tapes, 2007.)

2. Double 8 Bird (3:30) Hand drum, fetish gongs (Togo), balafon (Mali) recorded September 23, 2009; rhaita (Morocco) recorded August 26, 2001. Download

3. Grandfather Grasshopper (4:19) Two large bamboo xylophones (Bali), balafon (Mali) recorded September 23, 2009; soprano recorder & Nepalese bamboo flute (played together) recorded August 26,2001.

4. Grandmother Spider (3:23) Wood xylophone (Bali), slit drum (Guatemala), Thai wood xylophone recorded September 23, 2009; Hollowed-out log violin (Mexico) recorded August 26, 2001.

5. Islands to Highlands…the New Polyphonic Orchestra (4:59) Nepalese & Balinese bamboo flutes (played together), two Guatemalan bamboo flutes (played together), Bolivian bass flute recorded October 10, 2009; rhaita (Morocco) recorded August 26, 2001.

6. IINFIINIITY (13:18) Center tenor saxophone, left & right Tibetan bowls recorded August 26, 2001; Left and right tenor saxophones recorded September 23, 2009.

This new album by mister Kuntz is subtitled “Trans-Temporal Trans-Spatial Multi-track Creations”. It clearly points at what is happening here. For Kuntz multi tracking is not some necessary evil. On the contrary, for him it is an essential way of composing music. In all compositions on “Iinfiiniity” Kuntz uses old recordings from his archive, and combines them with new presently added playing. There is a time gap of about eight in most pieces. And maybe recordings were done at different places as well as the subtitle suggests. This procedure is like a dialogue with oneself. Kuntz the improvisor in 2001 or 1995 is not Kuntz the improvisor in 2009. Another combination that is relevant for Kuntz is shown by his use of asian and african wind and percussion instruments on the one hand, and western ones on the other. But it is not only the use of exotic instruments that give his improvisation an exotic flavor. It is also because of the way Kuntz structures his improvisations that his music has similarities with ethnic and tribal music. Again an inspiring and original work from this veteran improvisor. (DM) http://www.vitalweekly.net/741.html

12 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide

Year Of The Ox

Humming Bird CDR 2

Henry Kuntz: Chinese Musette, Angel Soprano Recorder (Korea), Bells, Voice | Paul V. Kuntz: Embellished Piano, Bell Wreath

Tracklist: Ox 1 (4:29) – Ox 2 (4:31) – Ox 3 (4:37) - Ox 4 (5:08) - Ox 5 (6:26) – Ox 6 (7:06) - Ox 7 (3:27) – Space and Time (O:40) – Hare of the Dog (3:41)

Tracks 1-7 recorded December 29, 2008 – Houston, Texas. Track 9 recorded December 27, 2006 – Houston, Texas. Produced by Henry Kuntz. Recorded and mastered by Paul V. Kuntz. Photograph and design by Paul V. Kuntz.

“These are the first recordings Paul and I have made together in 25 years. We had fun improvising and spontaneously shaping the music; each piece grew out of its own organic logic.” —Henry Kuntz

Paul V. Kuntz (b. 1961) began playing piano as a teenager. His fascination with jazz and free improvisation led him on an intense journey of musical discovery and self study. He delights in having a blank canvas and being able to create on the spot. Among his piano influences are Dave Brubeck, Alice Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Cecil Taylor.

Paul V. Kuntz is a professional photographer whose work has been exhibited in fine art galleries internationally. His photographs are in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston, Texas), Museet for Fotokunst (Odense, Denmark), and in various private collections including that of the late Helmut Gernsheim (Lugano, Switzerland). Most recently, his work appeared in a retrospective book of Mr. Gernsheim’s photography collection, Helmut Gernsheim: Pioneer of Photo History.

click the cover/images to enlarge…

Download listen to Henry & Paul V. Kuntz | Year Of The OX | Track One

Download listen to Henry & Paul V. Kuntz | Year Of The OX | Track Two

Download listen to Henry & Paul V. Kuntz | Year Of The OX | Track Three

Download listen to Henry & Paul V. Kuntz | Year Of The OX | Track Four

12 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide

JAVA (1997)

Sacred Gamelan Sekati of Yogyakarta
Humming Bird Earth Series CDR 1

Note: This music was recorded in open-air pavilions on basic equipment under conditions far from optimal for recording. Yet the ambience, excitement, and electricity of the music shine through in ways that fully reflect its cultural authenticity. Earth Series is releasing this material because of its uniqueness and general unavailability on the commercial market.

1. Kyai Gunturmadu July 13, 1997 – 10:30 PM (22:49) | 2. Kyai Nagawilaga July 15, 1997 – 11:00 PM (24:53) | 3. Kyai Gunturmadu July 16, 1997 – 9:00 PM (29:34)

Download listen to Java | Kyai Gunturmadu July 13, 1997

12 EURO incl. shipment cost word-wide

Instrumentation: – 7 tone pelog tuning Bonang Barung 2 rows of 14 knobbed gongs, plus one on each side of the main seated player: played by1 leading player and 1 or 2 additional players who sit on the opposite side of the instrument adding occasional ornamentation. Saron Demung, 2 Saron Ritjik, Saron Peking Metallophones of graded sizes suspended over wooden trough resonators: Each saron may be played by 1 or 2 players, the players sitting on opposite sides of the instrument. Kempiang 2 knobbed gongs on a wooden stand: 1 player. 2 Tjempur small suspended gongs: 1 player. 2 Gong Ageng large suspended gongs: 1 player. Bedug large drum: 1 player.

On my initial visit to Yogyakarta, Central Java, in 1987, there was one type of gamelan music I did not hear anywhere. That was the unusual and extraordinary music of the ancient and sacred gamelan sekaten. Prior to my journey, I had heard this music on an LP Java / Historic Gamelans (UNESCO Collection, GREM G1004) recorded in 1970 by Jacques Brunet.

For me, this piece is the essence of what the music of the gamelan sekati is about. (Henry Kuntz, July 2009)

Recordings and Photos by Henry Kuntz. Digital Audio File by Michael Zelner. C & P Humming Bird Records 2009 – All Rights Reserved

BOLIVIA (1986)

Native Ritual Music from Italaque: Panpipes, Flutes, Drums

Humming Bird Earth Series CDR 2 (Previously Earth Series Cassette 300)

Note: All of this music was recorded outdoors on basic equipment in “real life” circumstances, under conditions far from optimal for recording. Yet the ambience, excitement, and electricity of the music shine through in ways that fully reflect its cultural authenticity. It is to provide a small cultural looking glass into a world or worlds barely known to most of us that these recordings are presented. I hope they will encourage you to want to know more, to open your world up more to the many fascinating and diverse worlds around us.

Music from the Fiesta de la Invención de la Santa Cruz May 3, 1986

1. Group One (2:41) 2. Group One (2:25) 3. Group Two (3:22) | 4. Group Three (2:33) 5. Groups One & Three (10:09) | 6. Group Four (1:43) 7. Group One (5:20) | 8. Groups Two, Three & Four (8:30) 9. Groups Three & Four (8:50)

Download listen to Boliva | Group One

Download listen to Bolivia | Group Two – Alto Bamboo Flutes

12 EURO incl. shipment cost word-wide

Group One plays large single-row panpipes of seven different-length tubes each. Pieces 1 and 2 were recorded on the group’s arrival and departure from the small courtyard. Group Two plays 5-hole straight flutes, each some 2 feet long. Piece 3 was recorded on their arrival in the small courtyard. Group Three plays two sizes of 4-hole straight flutes, one approximately 2 feet long and the other closer to 3 feet. Piece 4 was recorded on their arrival in the small courtyard. Group Four plays relatively small single-row panpipes of different sizes with different-length tubes in groups of 6, 9, and 12. Piece 6 was recorded on the hill overlooking the town, as were all of the remaining pieces featuring all of the different groups.

Recordings and Photos by Henry Kuntz. Digital Audio File by Michael Zelner. C & P Humming Bird Records 1986/2009 – All Rights Reserved

For more photos and to read the complete story of Henry’s Journey to Italaque (Parts 1-4), go to Sax & Stories by clicking here…

HENRY KUNTZ – WHIRLING SUN VISIONS!

Humming Bird cdr 1

“Multi -Track Works – In – Process Miniatures”

1. Celestial Forest (9:06) – Tenor Saxophone, Javanese Gamelan, Bali “large” & “small” bamboo xylophones. (The saxophone is used exclusively in the lower register to mimic the percussive range of the bamboo xylophones.) July 17,2005 2. SolarSonic 1 (4:43) September 19, 2007 3. SolarSonic 2 (4:07) September 19, 2007 4. SolarSonic 3 (4:12) September 23, 2007 – Four Guatemalan chirimias. (The down-to-earth sound of the double-reed chirimia is extended to trance-like dimensions when multiplied. In SolarSonic 2, speed of execution is the dominant factor whereas in SolarSonic 3 the “noise” quality of the instrument is emphasized. SolarSonic 1 is a mix.)

Whirling Sun Visions
Of Beatific
Sound
Explode the Mind
Like a Flaming
Galaxy
Into Light Years of Bliss

5. Ele-Fantasia (3:58) – Four tenor saxophones.(Playing in a deliberately “scribbled” manner resulted in this heady dance.) September 23, 2007. 6. DreamSong 1 (9:10) August 25 &26, 2008. 7. DreamSong 2 (6:40) August 25 &26, 2008. -Tenor saxophone & voice, Mexican hollowed-out log violin, Javanese gamelan, Balinese wood xylophone & Mali balafon.(Freely-associated voice gave a dream-like quality to this music similar to that of Indonesian wayang.) 8. Gods Within (6:01) – Tenor saxophone, Balinese gamelan, Bali and Thai wood xylophones. (Inspired by the music of Marion Brown.) July 19, 2005. 9. Whirling Sun Visions (4:58) Tenor saxophone and Balinese gamelan double duo. (In the lineage of AA.) October 27, 2008. Total Time: 52:45

Music by saxophone player Henry Kuntz has been reviewed before and no doubt on one of the occasions I wrote about the fact that the saxophone is not really my favorite instrument. I do make exceptions for those players who use the instrument in a different way, like John Butcher for instance, and perhaps also for someone like Kuntz. Even when he plays his instrument in a different way than Butcher, more traditionally, there is more to his music than just the saxophone. On ‘Whirling Sun Visions’ he offers nine works for multi-track recording, playing along with his self, but also incorporates lots of ethnical percussion, like gamelan, ‘Mexican hollowed-out log violin’, ‘Mali balafon’ and his own voice. Kuntz keeps his music ‘limited’. Dense in nature, but with few variations on the various sounds he produces. His music is minimal, but not through the use of loops. Real-time repetition of sounds, layered on top of eachother, with small variations in playing. Free play at work here of microtonal stuff, which works quite well. Neither free jazz or saxophones could interest me very much, but in Kuntz’ hands this sounds pretty well. (FdW)

Subtitled “Multi-Track Works-In-Process Miniatures”, this is a collection of pieces for overlaid saxophones, vocals and exotic percussives, although the latter are not present in all the tracks. Kuntz appears very interested in the generation of ritualistic moods through the concurrence of different pulses, the presence of the Javanese gamelan adding evident metallic/melodic tints in episodes like the opening “Celestial Forest”. But if we pretend to be transported in a parallel dimension, this recipe leads to the magnification of an innocent-sounding density, a child playing with a series of reed instruments in a room full of clocks. The segments where only amassed saxes are featured are more comparable to the gathering of seagulls fighting for food on a beach, kind of a semi-chaotic superimposition of pattern-within-pattern designs which translates into a peculiar type of entrancement, a bunch of Poppy Nogoods who have had a few too many. (Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes)

Download Listen to Henry Kuntz | SolarSonic1

Download Listen to Henry Kuntz | DreamSong2

Download Listen to Henry Kuntz | Gods Within

12 EURO incl. shipment cost world-wide

MOSS ‘COMES SILK (HB CD 1)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, Chinese musette, Nepalese bamboo flute, Bolivian & Balinese bamboo flutes; Ben Lindgren / doublebass, Balinese gamelan; Brian Godchaux / viola, Balinese gamelan “selunding,” percussion; Esten Lindgren / trombone, trumpet, Hawaiian conch shell, steel guitar, ukulele, percussion; John Kuntz / steel guitar, mandolin, ukulele, Javanese gamelan, wind-up toy xylophone, percussion. Recorded September 22, 23, 1995

Highlights the formal advances possible in group playing when free improvisation is approached in its most natural manner. The uniqueness and complexity of each player’s part is expanded to the farthest extent possible while maintaining a recognizable group entity and musical identity.

“Intelligent, dynamically rich free improvisation” – Michael Tucker, Jazz Journal

“The closest sonic corollaries might be found in the freest playing of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, although there is no single precedent for OPEYE’s kaleidoscopic instrumental textures.” – Derk Richardson, SF Bay Guardian

15 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz / Don Marvel

ONE ONE & ONE (HB CDs 2 & 3)
ONE: CIRCLE-CYCLE (CD 2)
Henry Kuntz / solo tenor saxophone (Recorded January 27 1998 & June 9, 1997)

The Nature of Form in Time
The Spirit of Sounded Space
The Sound of 1 as The Sound of One

ONE & ONE: 12 PATHS TO KNOWLEDGE (CD 3)

Don Marvel / time machine, prophet sampler, old turntable, live signal processing and mixing; Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, Chinese musette and Nepalese bamboo flute. (Recorded April 18, 1998)

Illusion and Reality With Allusion To Reality
To Seek is To Find, But Not Always What is Sought

“HENRY KUNTZ has reinvented himself on this amazing 2-CD set, his most challenging and best release. He and DON MARVEL explode the boundaries of the improvisational idiom, transcending all conventional concepts. Truly something new.” – Henry Kaiser

16 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Opeye

MEDITATIONS ON IMPERMANENCE (HB CDs 4 & 5)
DAY OF THE DEAD (CD 4)

Documents a live ritual/performance at “Beanbenders,” Berkeley on November 1, 1998. It includes a 39-minute audio track and a SPECIAL 23-MINUTE VIDEO TRACK.

LADY LUCK STRIKES AGAIN (CD 5)

Features music recorded on March 4, 2002 at “Tuva Space,” Berkeley.

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, Chinese & Moroccan double reeds, Balinese & Javanese gamelans, Balinese & African wood xylophones, bamboo flutes, Mexican toy violins, percussion; Ben Lindgren / doublebass, piano, National steel guitar; Brian Godchaux / violin; Esten Lindgren / trombone, trumpet, guitar, alto saxophone, Tibetan conch, bull’s horn, drums and percussion; John Kuntz / electric and acoustic ukeleles, mandolin, Balinese & Javanese gamelans, wood xylophones, toys and percussion.

Spirits are invited and entertained in OPEYE’s 1998 Day of the Dead performance/ritual; we approach the Spirit World anew in 2002 contemplating the ironies of life’s final journey.

“An all-inclusive portraiture of the group’s seamless melding of worldly percussion, horns, and stringed instruments into a free-flowing modus operandi.” – Glenn Astarita, All Music Guide

24 EURO include shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

WAYANG SAXOPHONY SHADOW SAXOPHONE (HB CD 6)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone (Recorded April 14, 2006 solo; January 7 & February 18, 2006 for four tenors)

In an alluring set of solo and multi-track improvisations inspired by his mixed-media presentations of saxophone and puppet theatre, Henry Kuntz re-examines the sound, technique, and musical dimensions of the tenor.

“The saxophone considered both as a resonator and source of sounds – extended mouthpiece clicks, vocal and fricative effects or continuous sounds that hesitate, moving back into the realm of its component elements – is later presented, through overlaying, as a complete polyphonic, seemly conceived in reverse order instrument.” – modisti, February 23, 2007

“What is amazing to me is that Henry is able to layer these strange and unique sounds into something solid that speaks to us like the long lost or buried voices of ghosts.” – Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

14 Euro inclusive shipment cost world-wide.

CASSETTES

Henry and John Kuntz
NEW WORLD MUSIC (HBT 001)

Henry Kuntz / Indian snake charmer’s flute, Chinese musette, tenor saxophone, bamboo flute, bells; John Kuntz / ukelele, harp, mandolin. (Recorded December 20,21, 1980 “live” at Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace, Berkeley.

Exhilarating, micro-rhythmic music suggesting any number of conceptual breakthroughs.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry and John Kuntz

ARCHANGELIC THE LAW OF ONE (HBT 002)

Henry Kuntz / voice, Ecuadorian and Indian bamboo flutes, Chinese musette; John Kuntz / ukelele, tenor ukelele, ukelele banjo. (Recorded June 28, 1981)

Exploring the edges – the soft, the sharp, the light, the dark, the funny, the “mystical.”

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry and John Kuntz

(tHe cHILd cLowNs) tHE mAgiC lAnd (HBT 003)

Henry Kuntz / hollowed-out log violin and toy violin (both Indian-made, Mexico), Ecuadorian bamboo flute, Chinese musette, tenor saxophone, voice; John Kuntz / ukelele, ukelele banjo, tenor ukelele. (Recorded March 19, 20, 1983 and during various 1982 performances)

A multi-timbred, multi-purposed and proposed “primitive” string extravaganza. Wood, metal, and human lung interjection.

“Nothing short of marvelous!…the best yet” – La Donna Smith (violinist and co-founder of Trans Museq and of the journal The Improvisor.)

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry and John Kuntz

ATITLAN / LUNA NEGRA (HBT 004)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, violins (Indian-made, Mexico), Ecuadorian and Indian bamboo flutes, Chinese musette, voice, bells; John Kuntz / ukelele, tenor ukelele, ukelele banjo. (Recorded March 12, 13, 1985 and in performance August 30, 1981 & December 28, 1979)

An exuberance and dark humor. A rounding out and recapitulation. Musical areas not fully or specifically documented on previous recordings.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Trio Opeye

NORTHWEST COASTAL MUSIC (HBT 005)

Brian Godchaux / violins, thumb piano, Mexican rattles, Indian bells, percussion; John Kuntz / ukelele, tenor ukelele, ukelele banjo, thumb piano, Mexican rattles, small Tahitian log drum, Indian bells, voice, percussion; Henry Kuntz / violins (Indian-made, Mexico), Bolivian bass flute , Indian snake charmer’s flute, various other flutes, Chinese musette, small Indian gong, percussion. (Recorded October 11, 18, 1986)

Virtuosity and the ritual come full circle in this open-ended, fluid, and hard-edged cultural metamorphosis.

“Primal, almost shamanistic in approach and just plain straight forward” – La Donna Smith, The Improvisor

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Trio Opeye

NATIVE INTELLIGENCE (TRANCE AND DREAM CYCLES) (HBT 006)

Henry Kuntz / violin and toy violin (Mexico), Balinese bamboo xylophone, African balafon (Mali), tenor saxophone, flutes, drums, rattles, voice; John Kuntz / ukeleles, guitar, mandolin, autoharp, metallophone, toy xylophone and bamboo xylophone, drum, small percussion; Brian Godchaux / violins, mandolin, bamboo xylophone, thumb piano. (Recorded November 27, December 6, 1987 & February 5, 1988)

Evocative and challenging journeys to the Nether-Spaces of SOUND, where the mind floats alertly and moves artfully, dynamically, freely… suspended for a time from ordinary reality.

“Lively, impressionistic, in a genuinely possessed-sounding way.”- The Improvisor (Winter 1988-89).

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12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

WHIRLS AWAY (HBT 007)

Henry Kuntz / Balinese gamelan and gamelan selunding, Balinese wood and bamboo xylophones, African balafon (Mali) and “fetish” gongs (Togo), Mexican Indian violin, Chinese musette, Bolivian bass flute, Thai mouth organ, voice. Four 4-track pieces of 20 plus minutes each – C-90 (Recorded October 30, 31, November 1,2, December 1-4, 1989.

“New” New Music! Innovation in the Innovations.
Improvisational form is freely extended in these sonically-rich, culturally-open multi-track ensembles.

“It’s from another planet!” – John Oswald (alto saxophonist, performance artist, “Plunderphonics” )

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry and John Kuntz

HOME (AT) THE RANGE (HBT 008)

John Kuntz / toy accordian, ukelele, guitar, Chinese gong, percussion; Henry Kuntz / Thai and Balinese wood xylophones, Balinese gamelans, African balafon (Mali), Chinese musette, soprano recorder. (Recorded May and September 1990)

A lively and spontaneous home-concocted brew of improvised doubles, plus two deeply experiential and highly experimental excursions into 4-track ALCHEMY!

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

TOTAL MUSIC: VOLS. 1 & 2 (HBT 009,010)

Henry Kuntz / Balinese and Javanese gamelans, Balinese wood and bamboo xylophones, African balafon (Mali), Balinese and Bolivian bamboo flutes, Chinese musette, tenor saxophone, Mexican Indian violins, thumb pianos.
Two C-60 Chrome Cassettes (specially priced, sold as a set only)
(Recorded January to August 1991)

Melodically and rhythmically-concentrated textural layers, busy surfaces, the compacted parameters of free improvisation. TOTAL MUSIC!

“This is deep, challenging music, informed by fairly disparate traditions.”- Myles Boisen (guitarist, Splatter Trio) – Freeway (Spring, 1993).

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16 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz / New Trio Opeye

ON THE PATH OF DARKNESS IS THE WAY OF LIGHT (HBT 011)

Scott Braziel / keyboard electronics; Henry & John Kuntz / wind, wood, string, and percussion instruments. (Trio Opeye recorded “live” October 5, 1990; two multi-track improvisations by Henry Kuntz March 1992)

Impressionist Flights, Surrealist Delights!

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

PLACELESS TIMELESS: VOLS 1, 2, 3 (HBT 012, 013, 014)

Henry Kuntz / Balinese and Javanese gamelans and wood and bamboo xylophones, Thai and African wood xylophones, Tibetan bowls and bell, Chinese musette, tenor saxophone, Indian snake charmer’s flute, Mexican Indian violin, assorted drums and percussion. Three C-46 Chrome Cassettes (specially priced, sold as a set only) (Recorded February through November 1993, and one piece March 1991)

Orchestral breadth, formal clarity, and instrumental purpose are highlighted in these engaging and explorative multi-track ensembles!

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20 EURO inclusive  shipment cost world-wide

Opeye: Trio & Quartet

ROYAL GARDEN SWEET (HBT 015)

Ben Lindgren / doublebass; Esten Lindgren / trombone, conch shell trumpet, ukulele banjo, Thai wood xylophone; John Kuntz / ukulele, ukulele banjo, mandolin, Balinese & Javanese gamelans and various drums and percussion; Henry Kuntz / Nepalese, Balinese, and Bolivian wood flutes, Chinese musette, tenor saxophone, conch shell trumpet, and various drums and percussion. (Recorded January 22 and July 23, 1994)

Innovation in these classically improvised sound excursions is a logical outgrowth of a well-founded and felt traditional continuum.

“Henry Kuntz is the Ornette Coleman of Nepalese, Balinese and Bolivian flutes…..Opeye’s music has much more in common with the subconscious designs of weird dreams, things falling down basement stairs and squirrels in the attic. First-rate improvisation, an environment for relaxed little prophesies, which is ironic since the music is so constantly active.” –Davey Williams, The Improvisor, Volume XI, 1996.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

THE MAGIC OF MYSTERY (HBT 016)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone; Chinese musette; Thai, Nepalese and Bolivian bamboo flutes; Thai, Balinese, and African wood xylophones; Balinese and Javanese gamelans; Tibetan bowls; assorted drums, gongs, and percussion. Four multi-track pieces. (Recorded June, September 1994) Also available as a limited edition cdr on Foxglove.

Prototype wind and percussion ensembles emphasizing sharply contrasted and divergent textural timbral, and rhythmic elements.

“Pursuing his singularly eccentric aesthetic, Kuntz’s newest solo tape presents four remarkable pieces…Avoiding the steady rhythms and hummable melodies of the actual ‘Third World’ musics whose instruments he uses, Kuntz has long been working in a way that is closer (sonically) to the plant and insect life of the wildest lands than to the music of the humans who inhabit them…All his playing is underpinned by an uncanny attention to detail, resulting in a strangely ‘activated’ music from one of the most personalized voices in contemporary improvisation.” – Davey Williams, The Improvisor, Volume XI, 1996.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

LONG PLAYING RECORDS

Henry Kuntz

CROSS-EYED PRIEST (HB 1001)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, Henry Kaiser / electric guitar, Charles K. Noyes / drums and percussion, Greg Goodman / piano and percussion. (Recorded: Side A
Kuntz solo and Side B,2, Kuntz-Goodman, “live” at Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace May 6, 1979; Side B,1, Kuntz-Kaiser-Noyes June 1979)

Primal, “magical” special-textural constructs

Avant-Garde music critic Peter Riley included this on his list of favorite records for 1980 (CODA No. 176)

24 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Henry Kuntz

ANCIENT OF DAYS, LIGHT OF GLORY (HB 1002)

Henry Kuntz / tenor saxophone, bamboo flute (India), John Kuntz / harp, John Gruntfest / alto saxophone, Charles K. Noyes / drums and percussion. (Recorded mid-1980, most pieces “live” at Woody Woodman’s Finger Palace: Kuntz solo and in duo with John Kuntz, Gruntfest, and Noyes) Three-color hand silk-screened cover by artist Jerry Pierson.

From the purely textural to the texturally elegant: a movement toward a “new” melodicism.

24 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

EARTH SERIES CASSETTES

AUTHENTIC ON-LOCATION RECORDINGS OF WORLD MUSIC

The Earth Series cassettes were recorded using a single omni-directional Sony microphone positioned so as to obtain the highest quality natural mix in the music. All of the material was recorded in “real life” circumstances under conditions far from optimal for recording. Yet there is an oustandingly good sound-to-noise ratio on each of these tapes. HUMMING BIRD EARTH SERIES is releasing this music because of its uniqueness and general unavailability on the commercial market. The cassettes are “real time” dubs from metal masters and utilize type “B” Dolby noise reduction to ensure that everything originally recorded can be optimally heard by the listener. Descriptive notes are included with each release.

Mexico

BRASS BAND AND MARIMBA MUSIC FROM THE COAST AND ISTHMUS OF OAXACA (ES 100)

Hot Coastal nights explode with fiesta sounds — fast, enticing rhythms and the whistling, swirling, and crackling of a thousand fireworks! Also, distinctively percussive (and highly virtuostic) marimba stylings from Mexico’s isthmus — marimba as it is played nowhere else!

“Field recordings from Mexican festivals that make you feel you’re right there, sipping Dos Equis and whooping it up.” – Jay Walljasper, UTNE READER, January 1989.

“The music abounds with the fiesta spirit of the village on this upbeat cassette.”
- Francine Rota, EAST WEST, August 1988.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Guatemala

INDIAN RITUAL MUSIC FROM CHICHICASTENANGO (ES 200)

The cobbled and dirt streets of “Chichi” come alive with the mesmerizing tones of the oboe-like chirimia, wood flute, and drums. These old sounds mix with the buzz of the marimba and a shifting chorus of trumpets and saxophones. Plus a bit of highly-charged Mexican folklore from San Cristobal de las Casas.

“This music is very charming — ragged at times, but with a heart.” - Kathryn Lyle, DOWN HOME MUSIC NEWSLETTER, January 1989.

12  EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Bolivia

NATIVE RITUAL MUSIC FROM ITALAQUE: PANPIPES, FLUTES, & DRUMS (ES 300)

Extraordinary, ancient, trance-like music from a village high in the Bolivian Andes. Sounds of the wind and of the earth. A Musicians’ Festival!

“The fiesta music of the legendary Italaque community is fascinating. Such layers of extraordinary sounds and resonances.” – Jan Fairly, FOLK ROOTS (England), March 1988.

“My favorite of the tapes is Bolivia… The music is wild, and the overlapping of sounds of one group playing with the other (different songs, mind you) is mesmerizing.” – Cliff Furnald, DIRTY LINEN # 25, Spring 1989.

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12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Bali

SURVIVAL AND CREMATION RITUAL MUSIC: ANCIENT GAMELAN SELUNDING AND MOBILE GONG ENSEMBLES (ES 400)

The fascinating metallophone music of Bali, heard in one of its most archaic modes on the rarely played ancient iron gamelan of Tenganan. And the engrossing gong and percussion sounds that mark the island’s cremation processions and ceremonies.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Guatemala

MARIMBA MUSIC FROM THE FESTIVAL OF TODOS SANTOS (ES 500)

Some of the purest Indian marimba music — melodically rich, rhythmically inviting, with that underlying sensual BUZZ that accounts for its ‘other-dimensionality’.

“Guatemala presents a special aspect of the festival music of Central America. The marimba of the region is a wonderfully raspy device, and the music played on it is a beautifully melodic thing… light-hearted but complex.” – Cliff Furnald, CMJ “New Music Report,” December 6, 1991.

12 EURO inclusive shipment cost world-wide

Please use the attached form for orders within the United States. The indicated prices in this list are in US Dollar. Metropolis does not deliver orders into the United States of America. Please feel free to place orders directly at Hummingbird Records, even you are located anywhere in the World if you wish pricing’s in US Dollar. Thanks!

HUMMING BIRD RECORDS AND TAPES PRINTABLE ORDER FORM

HB 1001 CROSS-EYED PRIEST – ?$6.95
1002 ANCIENT OF DAYS, LIGHT OF GLORY – ?$12.95 (Only a few copies remain)
HBT 001 NEW WORLD MUSIC $6.95
002 ARCHANGELIC V THE LAW OF ONE ?$6.95
003 (tHe cHILd cLowNs) tHE mAgiC lAnd ?$6.95
004 ATITLAN / LUNA NEGRA ?$6.95
005 NORTHWEST COASTAL MUSIC $7.95
006 NATIVE INTELLIGENCE ?$7.95
007-C-90 WHIRLS AWAY ?$7.95
008 HOME (AT) THE RANGE $7.95
009,010-(2) TOTAL MUSIC 1 & 2 $9.95
011 ON THE PATH OF DARKNESS IS THE WAY OF LIGHT ?$7.95
012,013,014-(3) PLACELESS TIMELESS 1, 2, & 3 $11.95
015 ROYAL GARDEN SWEET ?$7.95
016 THE MAGIC OF MYSTERY ?$7.95
ES 100 MEXICO ?$7.95
200 GUATEMALA (CHICHICASTENANGO) ?$7.95
300 BOLIVIA ?$7.95
400 BALI ?$7.95
500 GUATEMALA (TODOS SANTOS) $7.95
CD 1 MOSS ‘COMES SILK $12.95
2-3 ONE ONE & ONE ?$15.95
4-5 MEDITATIONS ON IMPERMANANENCE ?$23.95 (Only a few copies remain)
CD 6 WAYANG SAXOPHONY SHADOW SAXOPHONE ? $12.95

Dear HUMMING BIRD,

I enclose $___________ for the CDs, Cassettes and Long-Playing records indicated.

Please send to:

NAME__________________________________________

ADDRESS_______________________________________

CITY__________________STATE_______ZIP_________

COUNTRY_______________________________________

PLEASE: Make all checks and money orders payable to HUMMING BIRD. Out-of-USA Orders (except Canada, Mexico, Central America) add $2.00 per CD or Long-Playing Record, $1.00 per cassette.

MAIL TO: HUMMING BIRD RECORDS, 1117 THE ALAMEDA, BERKELEY, CA 94707
(California residents add 8% sales tax.)
All Orders Processed Promptly. ALL PRICES LISTED ARE POSTPAID

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