While investors were hoping for something sordid, the “art colony” that grew up around Eddie Chatterbox and the All-Chatterbox No Stars had basically one obsession—play Charlie Parker licks, no matter what the context. And the context is wide ranging, from the hills of Appalachia where a youthful family member—age 7!—breaks into a ditty from The Sound of Music to Vienna where filmmaker Peter Zach tracked the movements of Chatterbox in scenes from his documentary entitled Walter Malli: Artist in Residence. From the frozen north, where “Rules For Listeners” are established for Alberta pirate radio to the south of France where Chatterbox finds some of the strangest music ever awaiting him in a garden, along with handfuls of fresh grapes!

Project Omnibook:  the Bruce Gallanter reviews

            As the main force behind Downtown Music Gallery and one of the most avid music listeners and gig-goers in history, the comments of Bruce are something I take seriously, once past the basic watermark of not giving a flying fuck what anyone thinks about anything I do. 

             Herewith are his comments regarding the six volumes in the Eddie Chatterbox “Omnibook” series. Enthusiasts who are mystified by the content of these recordings may find Bruce’s comments enlightening. 

         Bruce’s patience and love of weirdness is truly appreciated. As an artist the chance to comment on a review is too rare to pass up when circumstances dictate, so in response to some of Bruce’s comments about collage techniques, I would trace my own interest in this to recordings heard as a teenager on underground radio in Boulder by Charles Ives, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Tod Dockstader and George Crumb; the latter two also had a local presence during this period.  Further on I became quite inspired to get deeper into this art by things I heard during my travels, two events stand out in particular: (1) an encounter between several large machines of demolition and a large concrete block building in Amsterdam (the machines made by the Van Vliet company!) and (2) listening to simultaneous sets by a rock band (upstairs) and a jazz band (downstairs) at the Court Tavern,  New Brunswick, New Jersey.

VOLUME FIVE;  CHATTERBOX ART COLONY

Featuring Eugene Chadbourne on guitar & banjo, Walter Malli on soprano sax & dialogue, Florian Nastong on bari sax, Peter Zach on soundtrack and Molly Chadbourne on vocals & recorder. Of the six new Pandemic-era discs by Dr. Chadbourne, the personnel here seem to be the most obscure of the bunch. Aside from Chadbourne’s daughter Molly, the only other name I recognize is saxist Walter Malli, who has worked with Derek Bailey and Bill Dixon and can be found on some dozen or so discs by Doc Chad and his revolving cast of worldwide improvisers. After reviewing four of the six new Doc Chad Omnibook discs, I am starting to notice certain themes. Mainly, it is Chadbourne’s guitar or banjo that is at the center of most of what is going on here. There is a central figure which keeps changing from guitar to banjo, with & without any effects and mucho extended techniques like banging on the strings with objects or rubbing the strings with whatever is at hand. Chad or someone else perhaps also adds layers sound effects, cheap synth or electronics and later someone adds sax(es) and ethnic choral voices and soundtracks sounds. Things build, get more dense and then mellow out into some more sparse, spacious sections. Most of the music here is continuous with occasional moments of silence in between different sections. At first I wasn’t so sure that much was actually planned yet now that I’ve had a chance to hear these five discs all the way through, I do hear a linear, connected series twisted stories going on throughout. It just takes some patience and a willingness to let things unfold in their own weird way. I reviewed an early Chadbourne acoustic guitar trio session from 1977 yesterday (9/20/20) and now some 40 years later, I can still hear certain ideas that have become part of Chadbourne’s vocabulary so many years later.