In 2020, year of the Charlie Parker Centennial, the Eddie Chatterbox philosophy—”play Bird licks no matter what the hell else is going on around you”—is explored in a series of six documentary volumes., Employer Nutflix had apparently asked for a simple 45 minute sketch of Chatterbox activities during the guitarist’s so-called “lost years”, only to have Mucty Munchose and his hired director Nicholas Ray’olight turn in near seven hours of footage!
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 FOUR:  ONLY THE DEAD CHATTERBOXES KNOW BACK HOME BLUES

Featuring Eugene Chadbourne on guitar & banjo, Tony Trischka on banjo, Toshinori Kondo on trumpet, Walter Malli on soprano sax, Martin Klapper on cheap electronics, Herman Muntzing on homemades, Rebekka Rakar on vocals, Werner Dafeldecker on contrabass and David Licht, Rogier Smal and Warren Smith on drums, vibes & percussion. Continuing in the tribute to Charlie Parker for the 100th anniversary of his birth, Doc Chadbourne picks four songs associated with Bird, as well as a few songs with French titles like “Sur LePont D’Avignon”. What I find intriguing about this six-part series is that Dr. Chadbourne keeps things interesting by spinning several simultaneous layers of guitars, banjos, drums, percussion with various sound effects or samples of voices, birds and a variety of strange sounds too hard to describe. The central ongoing playing is by Chadbourne himself switching between electric & acoustic guitars while tapes and other musicians fade in and out of the mix. Bird’s classic song, “Ornithology” gets a strong reading here by the good doctor on guitar and Tony Trischka on banjo, switching licks effortlessly, speeding up and slowing down, a series of tangled webs spinning freely yet connected by the inner urgency of bebop. From time to time, a small group of musicians will come together to combine forces with Mr. Chadbourne: Walter Malli (soprano sax), Werner Dafeldecker (bass) perhaps Warren Smith (vibes & marimba) pop up for one section and then mutate into another bebop standard on “Yardbird Suite”. It does take some time to adapt to the way things are in constant motion flowing from one section to the next. Occasionally confusing but more often mesmerizing