Perfect Sound Forever

Talking about Kip Hanrahan


by Jeff Jackson and Jeff Golick
(December 2010)

DLD: Kip Hanraham's music has always been hugely enigmatic for me. Listenable in the extreme, but not fully "gettable."

CJC: Well, it's about sex.

DLD: Yeah, that much I get. It's very sexed up music.

CJC: He and his players seem notably direct about that. And when not about sex, per se, it's often about how we get along, or don't.

DLD: Missed connections.

CJC: Yeah. "You: Dancing the tango at 5am. Rhythmically advanced. Red dress; spoke little."

DLD: "Me: Looking for the right words…finding some of the right words…trying again…Trust me?"

CJC: I'm not sure I follow.

DLD: Exactly. The bands are so varied; the music draws on jazz, pop, Cuba, Africa, cabaret…

CJC: Very hard to categorize. You got Jack Bruce, Arto Lindsay, John Stubblefield, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Anton Fier, John Scofield, and Teo Macero on the same album, for cripes' sake.

DLD: I think that variety, that mashing-up is what brings me back over and over.

CJC: Well that, and the sex.

DLD: Yes of course. And perhaps the rhythms.

CJC: Same thing?

DLD: I dunno; maybe.

CJC: You're right about the rhythms, though. The percussive elements of many if not most of Hanrahan's songs are usually brought to the fore, or at least share the stage with whatever else is going on.

DLD: He did call his (defunct?) label American Clave, after all.

CJC: Yeah, rhythm is king. The music often feels like the contrast of the label name brought to life. Clave beat over jazz swing.

DLD: What holds it all together is like this almost cinematic approach Hanraham takes. Though often sprawling, the albums feel thought through, there is a rare creative vision at the center of it.

CJC: You mean like Conjure, the album that sets Ismael Reed's words to music?

DLD: Sure, that; but really each of his records has some kind of overarching mood, or theme, or even just attitude.

CJC: "Intelligent passion?"

DLD: Well, not if you want to sell records.

CJC: Does Hanraham sell records?

DLD: ...

CJC: Never mind. Dude's a romantic, though, so perhaps he doesn't care. He's just in it for the love.

DLD: And, presumably...

CJC: The sex. Yup.




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Jeff Jackson and Jeff Golick aka Chilly Jay Chilly and Prof. Drew LeDrew are the founders and authors of Destination: Out 'An mp-free jazz blog focusing on rare or out-of-print music.'


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