Rev. Johnny L. “Hurricane” Jones at Second Mount Olive Baptist Church (7/25/10)

REV. JOHNNY L. “HURRICANE” JONES - Jesus Christ from A to Z (Parlortone)
A hurricane is a force of nature with which to be reckoned, unapologetic, a mighty storm in force, speed, and effect. These descriptors hold true for Reverend Johnny L. Jones, nicknamed “Hurricane” because of his larger than life delivery of the word of God. Since the Eisenhower Era, Jones has been pastor at the Second Mount Olive Baptist Church in downtown Atlanta, where he has recorded and amassed a collection of tapes of his impassioned services. Through a series of seemingly unlikely events, Dust-to-Digital’s Lance Ledbetter crossed paths with Jones and began listening to and editing hours of these tapes. Jesus Christ from A to Z is the first fruit of said collaboration in what promises to be a series of LPs on the vinyl-only Parlortone imprint. Once a best-selling gospel recording artist for Shreveport’s Jewel Records, seventy-three-year-old Jones retired from making albums over thirty years ago. This record marks his triumphant return to the game, and what a grand homecoming it is.

“The Day Is Past and Gone” starts off the record with an organ drone like a low storm siren, which is promptly interrupted by the moans and groans of a man with something on his mind and in his soul. Somewhere between speaking and singing, language and primal communication, Jones proceeds to lay it out for a crowd of congregants getting happy and vocal about it — think Albert Ayler sermonizing and you’re close. The record continues with “Prayer,” a moving invocation for those in need, like “the people that didn’t rest at all last night because pain was racking their bodies, for the widow walking the floor all night long…” The centerpiece of the collection, as well as its title, is Jones’ liberation theology meditation using the letters of the alphabet as a road map; it is a tour-de-force, which when it concludes at almost fourteen minutes leaves a gaping void. The album finishes with the serene, almost sacred harp sounding “Old Ship of Zion,” the calm after the storm has passed. This very same calm comes to believers amidst life’s inevitable hurricanes from inspired and impassioned words and sentiments such as those heard on this record. Something tells me that Sunday morning would come much earlier for more folks if this type of experience were waiting for them at church.
- Kevin Coultas (via The Other Music Update)

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Excavated Shellac: Strings (Parlortone)
Going on two years now, I’ve been geeking out whenever my RSS responded to a new post on Excavated Shellac, a webblog hosted by Jonathan Ward specializing in meticulously detailed commentary about and mind-blowing music from his impressive collection of 78s from around the globe. Naturally, I was thrilled but not at all surprised to find out that Atlanta’s stalwarts of all things musically great (Dust-to-Digital) was issuing some of this music via their vinyl-only imprint Parlortone. As it turns out, none of the tracks on Excavated Shellac: Strings are available elsewhere, including on the blog, so…bonus! The theme of this collection being stringed instruments, of course the collection features a wide array of tunes from the four corners of the world whose primary and/or sole instrument is stringed — guitar, oud, tar, violin, etc. While the LP is figuratively tied together with strings, Ward did a fantastic job of finding common ground within this vast category, despite the impossibly broad linguistic (Ganda to Vietnamese), temporal (1920s to 1950s, but really the whole of music history), and cultural (Bolivian to Norwegian) expanse; at the risk of new-age-y thinking, there is a palpable humanity in these sounds.

Some standouts include the first track by Armenian tar maestro Soghoman Seyranyan, the title of which translates simply to “dream.” There is a certain nocturnal quality to the piece, but I wouldn’t call it peaceful. One is immediately struck by the remarkable dynamic control and finesse of the soloist. The track was recorded in the 1950s, but echoes of the pain of atrocities perpetrated on Armenia from a few decades earlier resonate here. Switching gears, there is the delightful “Tko Se Bregom Sece” (translated: “Walking Up and Down the Hill”) by Braca Kapugi Tamburica Orchestar i Pjevacki Zbor. The tamburica ensemble moves along soothingly in love-song mode until the final moments of the tune when they punch it, and finish with a frothy and fevered “malo kolo,” or small circle dance. The record ends on a high note with Kemanî Amâ Recep’s “Çifte kiris ile Rast Taksim,” a work of undeniable violin virtuosity from Turkey. The tune is performed “ciftelli” meaning “double strings” (tuned GgDd), giving the illusion of two players performing together. The effect and the performance are breathtaking, as is the LP taken as a whole. Bravo to Ward and Dust-to-Digital for the continued attention to detail, from the excellent mastering job, to the thoughtful sequencing, all the way down to the awesome Parlortone label stickers. Great too that this is apparently just the beginning of Parlortone and Ward’s partnership, with an all-African boxset and an ongoing series of theme-based LPs already in the works.
- Kevin Coultas (via The Other Music Update)

Abdul-Wahad Ahmad – Qoyrat (Beshiri) « Excavated Shellac

Click here for an interview with George Gibson, and to hear one of George Gibson’s banjo performances, check out the Art of Field Recording Volume II box set.

The Parlortone Picnic photo shoot (by Dust-to-Digital)

Podcast Special Ed. 45: Jonathan Ward of Excavated Shellac Live on Rare Frequency 04/22/10