Jazz Archives

Contemporary Noise Quintet is certainly not what the name implies. They play jazz in the way they think it should be played and that means infusing it with many idioms. But they do this with finesse, unparalleled skill and a great sense of humor. Contemporary Noise Quintet was formed by brothers Kuba Kapsa (piano, melodica, samples, voice) and Bartek Kapsa (drums and percussion). Their first band was called Something Like Elvis. They changed direction with Contemporary Noise Quintet. The band transcends musical genres. Any kind of music can go into the mix, and when it does they mesh it all in seamlessly.

Kuba Kapsa composed the with a vivid sense of imagination. He knows where the lure of composition lies, just as he knows how to give his band the space to reinvent and pollinate the germane.
Several of the tunes begin with a gentle head. The mood change comes in a burst of energy, a seething attack of saxophone, trumpet and piano egged on by the rhythm section. Bartek Kapsa bursts through with the first surge of energy on "Million Faces." The melody glides seamlessly with Kuba Kapsa, Tomek Glazik (tenor saxophone) and Wojteck Jachna (trumpet). The tenor and the trumpet converse, letting their lines sing in harmony before diverging and diving back into a burning cauldron. Bartek's rhythmic pulse stirs a shuffling beat into the mix. The meter is at odds with the form, but it sits in perfectly nevertheless.
The rollicking "P.I.G" is set in motion by Kapsa on the piano. He opens a floodgate of emphatic notes, before pulling back and calming things down. The music now flows mid-tempo, with Glazik and Jachna joining in. The ambit changes soon enough, the groove driven deeper, particularly by the horns, whose tensile phrases jump out and impact deeply.
The quintet finds stimulus in their creative energies. In doing so, the let the rambunctious and the restrained make for mighty fine music.

:::Review by Jerry D'Souza:::

Contemporary Noise Quintet - Pig Inside the Gentleman (2006)

1. Million Faces 8:04
2. Army of the Sun 5:49
3. A Coin Perfectly Spinning 4:21
4. Goodbye Monster 6:14
5. Walking Sun 5:40
6. Even Cats Dream About Flying 5:00
7. Evil Melody 7:32
8. Invisible Train 5:20
9. P.I.G. 5:42
10. Sophie 7:03

Credits
Kuba Kapsa - piano, melodica, samples, voice,
Tomek Glazik - tenor and baritone saxophones, synthesizer,
Wojteck Jachna - trumpet and flugelhorn,
Paweł Urowski - double bass,
Bartek Kapsa - drums and percussion.

Additional musicians
Kamil Pater - guitar,
Marcin Muras - trombone,
Radosław Manthey - double-bass.

The late Larry Young was an organist whose fairly brief career had lots of highs and very few middles or lows. Take this session from 1973 -- his first non-Blue Note date as a leader and post-Lifetime -- as a for instance. It is startling for its fresh look at how the organ is used in jazz and in improvisation, period. On Lawrence of Newark, Young enlisted a host of younger New York session cats who were hanging around the fringes of the funk and avant-garde scenes -- James Blood Ulmer, trumpeter Charles MacGee, Cedric Lawson, and about a dozen others all jumped into Young's dark and freaky musical stew. Made up of only five tracks, rhythm is the hallmark of the date as evidenced by the conga and contrabass intro to "Sunshine Fly Away." Deirdre Johnson's cello opens up a droning modal line for Young to slide his organ over in what passes for a melody but is more of an idea for a theme and a trio of variations. Armen Halburian's congas echo the accents at the end of the drum kit and Young's own tapering pronouncements moving back and forth between two and four chords with a host of improvisers inducing a transcendent harmonic hypnosis. The centerpiece of the album is "Khalid of Space Pt. 2: Welcome." Sun Ra's edict about all of his musicians being percussionists holds almost literally true in Young's case. The soprano saxophonist sounds as if it could be Sonny Fortune (billed as "mystery guest"), but he's way out on an Eastern modal limb. Young's right hand is punching home the counterpoint rhythm as Abdul Shadi runs all over his kit. Blood Ulmer is accenting the end of each line with overdriven power chords, and various bells, drums, congas, and djembes enter and depart the mix mysteriously. Young is digging deep into the minor and open drone chords, signaling -- à la Miles -- changes in intonation, tempo, and frequency of rhythmic attack. And the cut never loses its pocket funk for all that improvisation. It's steamy, dark, brooding, and saturated with groove. The CD reissue has fine sound and sells for a budget price; it should not be overlooked. The DJs just haven't discovered this one yet. Awesome.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Larry Young - Lawrence Of Newmark (1973)

1. Sunshine Fly Away (8:37)
2. Khalid Of Space Part Two - Welcome (12:25)
3. Saudia (4:27)
4. Alive (1:50)
5. Hello Your Quietness (Islands) (10:05)

Credits
Bass - Don Pate , Juni Booth
Bongos - Abdoul Hakim
Cello - Diedre Johnson
Congas - Stacey Edwards , Umar Abdul Muizz
Drums - Abdul Shahid , Howard King , James Flores
Drums, Electric Piano - Art Gore
Electric Piano - Cedric Lawson
Guitar - James Blood Ulmer
Organ, Bongos, Vocals - Larry Young
Percussion - Armen Halburian , Jumma Santos , Poppy La Boy
Saxophone - Dennis Mourouse
Trumpet - Charles Magee

Aside from the experimental side project Lumpy Gravy, Hot Rats was the first album Frank Zappa recorded as a solo artist sans the Mothers, though he continued to employ previous musical collaborators, most notably multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood. Other than another side project -- the doo wop tribute Cruising With Ruben and the Jets -- Hot Rats was also the first time Zappa focused his efforts in one general area, namely jazz-rock. The result is a classic of the genre. Hot Rats' genius lies in the way it fuses the compositional sophistication of jazz with rock's down-and-dirty attitude -- there's a real looseness and grit to the three lengthy jams, and a surprising, wry elegance to the three shorter, tightly arranged numbers (particularly the sumptuous "Peaches en Regalia"). Perhaps the biggest revelation isn't the straightforward presentation, or the intricately shifting instrumental voices in Zappa's arrangements -- it's his own virtuosity on the electric guitar, recorded during extended improvisational workouts for the first time here. His wonderfully scuzzy, distorted tone is an especially good fit on "Willie the Pimp," with its greasy blues riffs and guest vocalist Captain Beefheart's Howlin' Wolf theatrics. Elsewhere, his skill as a melodist was in full flower, whether dominating an entire piece or providing a memorable theme as a jumping-off point. In addition to Underwood, the backing band featured contributions from Jean-Luc Ponty, Lowell George, and Don "Sugarcane" Harris, among others; still, Zappa is unquestionably the star of the show. Hot Rats still sizzles; few albums originating on the rock side of jazz-rock fusion flowed so freely between both sides of the equation, or achieved such unwavering excitement and energy.

:::Review by Steve Huey:::

Frank Zappa - Hot Rats (1969)

1. Peaches en Regalia (3:37)
2. Willie the Pimp (9:16)
3. Son of Mr. Green Genes (8:58)
4. Little Umbrelllas (3:04)
5. The Gumbo Variations (16:55)
6. It Must Be A Camel (5:15)

Musicians
- Frank Zappa / guitar, octave bass and percussion
With:
- Ian Underwood / keyboards and winds
- Captain Beefheart / vocals
- Sugar Cane Harris / violin
- Jean-Luc Ponty / violin
- John Guerin / drums
- Paul Humphrey / drums
- Ron Selico / drums
- Maz Bennett / bass
- Shuggy Otis / bass

I was completely blown away by this album. Especially since I never warmed-up to their following effort, "Daughter of Time". "Valentyne Suite" was their second and final album with the original lineup of keyboardist Dave Greenslade, bassist Tony Reeves, guitarist/vocalist James Litherland, drummer Jon Hiseman, and saxist Dick Heckstall-Smith. Reeves and Litherland would be the ones to defect from the band after this album.

"Valentyne Suite" was the very first album ever released on the "swirl" Vertigo label (if you own the version on Bronze Records, you have the reissue, which was issued after the band made the move to that label in '71). Without a doubt, this is by far the most interesting John Mayall-related album I have ever heard (Heckstall-Smith and Reeves had played in Mayall's Bluesbreakers). "The Kettle" is a rather rocking number, dominated by heavy use of guitar. "Elegy" is a rather jazzy piece complete with strings. Great piece. "Butty's Blues" is, as you expect, a bluesy-piece, but you get lots of CHICAGO or BLOOD, SWEAT & TEARS-like horns. "The Machine Demands a Sacrifice" is more hard rocking, blues-influenced number then unexpectedly (at the end) finds the band doing a bizarre experiment that reminds one of Krautrock bands that would appear in the next couple of years. The album closes with the totally amazing title track, divided in to three movements. This is basically Dave Greenslade's time to shine. The music is just unbelievably intense, and you should check out Jon Hiseman's drumming! I can hardly believe it! Amazing album, and for those who don't mind jazz and blues in their prog rock, you should get this album.

:::Review by Proghead:::

Colosseum - Valentyne Suite (1969)

1. The Kettle (4:25)
2. Elegy (3:10)
3. Butty's Blues (6:44)
4. The Machine Demands A Sacrifice (3:52)
5. The Valentyne Suite:
Theme One: January's Search (6:25)
Theme Two: February's Valentyne (3:33)
Theme Three: The Grass Is Always Greener (6:55)


Musicians
- Dave Greenslade / Organ, Vocals
- Dick Heckstall-Smith / Sax
- John Hiseman / Drums
- Tony Reeves / bass
- James Litherland / guitar, vocals

Recorded for RCA in 1979, the vanguard trio Air set out to explore its jazz roots. In fact, not only the trio's jazz roots, but everybody's right back to Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton as they were inventing a music that would tear up the streets of New Orleans and later change the world. Interestingly, since most of the music here -- all written by the aforementioned except for one tune -- was composed by pianists and is widely regarded as piano music, Air's exploration entirely struck the piano from the conversation. Reedman Henry Threadgill, bassist Fred Hopkins, and drummer Steve McCall turned the ragtime music of the fathers inside out and created an exploratory reinsertion of it into the avant-garde of the late '70s. Jelly Roll's "Buddy Bolden's Blues" becomes a blues from another century in the melodic universe of Threadgill, who doesn't give a damn about changes as much as he does stretching the harmonics of the blues idiom into other musics entirely. And in the familiar "King Porter Stomp," also by Morton, Threadgill challenges McCall, who quadruples the time so Henry and Fred can stop up the middle eight with some weird angular intervals where arpeggiated harmony and modal striation become one and the same thing. Finally, on Joplin's "Weeping Willow Rag," the band moves through the changes and then undermines them, turning them inside out as if this were really a party tune from somewhere that willow trees didn't exist or had already disappeared into some toxic twilight. Here are the joyous blues, the raucous blues, the rip 'em up and then send 'em home blues trapped in a color palette so rich and so varied it's difficult to find only one or two textures to fit them inside. Through it all, this remains the album most Air fans love most, precisely because of all the joy and irreverence in the proceedings, which didn't update the old music, but brought it into focus for the revolutionary improvisational template that it is.

:::Review by Thom Jurek:::

Air - Air Lore (1979)

1. The Ragtime Dance (9:20)
2. Buddy Bolden's Blues (9:30)
3. King Porter Stomp (3:52)
4. Paille Street (2:20)
5. Weeping Willow Rag (11:31)

Credits
Bass - Fred Hopkins
Drums, Percussion - Steve McCall
Producer - Michael Cuscuna
Saxophone [Tenor, Alto], Flute - Henry Threadgill

Back before he turned everyone's idea of bass playing inside out, Jaco Pastorius spent five years on the bandstand with the Peter Graves Orchestra at Bachelors III, a swanky spot in his hometown of Ft. Lauderdale. Nearly three decades after the future star's departure in 1975, and 16 years after his brutal murder, Graves got the guys back together, christened them in their former colleague's name, and invited the most prominent bass guitarists of the early 21st century down to join them in a project dedicated to Pastorius' legacy. Throughout these polished performances, the bass parts testify to how profoundly Pastorius altered that instrument's role. Bottom line (so to speak): he gave them the option of playing from a soloist mentality and blowing all over the beat, as fast and free as any saxophonist, as long as he or she had chops and didn't subvert the groove. The guest bassists on this collection absorbed this lesson long ago. Each can scatter quick licks, some of them even faster than Pastorius himself. So why does a vague disenchantment haunt these performances?

Perhaps it's because these players, great as they are, are still emulating more than discovering. Some imitate even the nuances of the Pastorius tone and phrasing, as does Richard Bona on "Punk Jazz" -- which, of course, may be a form of tribute in this context. On an opposite extreme, the light-speed, staccato hailstorm unleashed by Victor Wooten on "Teen Town" is fundamentally unmusical, focusing on the player more than the material being played -- which is, come to think of it, the real revelation here. Pastorius' tunes reflect a compositional maturity that wasn't always evident in the more improvisational context of Weather Report, and his arrangements -- notably an idiosyncratic treatment of "Killing Me Softly" and the marimba-flavored exotica of "Opus Pocus" - suggest that had he had more time, he would have written history with his pen as much as his performance. One complaint: the samples of Pastorius' voice, chopped into microbits that carry no meaningful content and seem intended to function as objects of postmodern reflection, if not reverence. All these interruptions accomplish is to remind you that some artists speak most eloquently without words.

:::Review by Robert L. Doerschuk:::

Jaco Pastorius Big Band - Word Of Mouth Revisited (2003)

1. Jaco Speaks (0:07)
2. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Havona (5:20)
Arranged By - Larry Warrilow
Bass - Jimmy Haslip
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
3. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Teen Town (4:11)
Arranged By - Larry Warrilow
Bass - Victor Wooten
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
4. Jaco Speaks (0:04)
5. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Punk Jazz (5:04)
Bass - Richard Bona
Saxophone [Tenor] - Mike Scaglione
Written-By, Arranged By - Jaco Pastorius
6. Jaco Speaks (0:05)
7. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Barbary Coast (5:54)
Arranged By - Larry Warrilow
Bass - Gerald Veasley
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
8. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Killing Me Softly (4:23)
Arranged By - Jaco Pastorius
Bass - Jeff Carswell
Written-By - Charles Fox , Norman Gimbel
9. Jaco Speaks (0:05)
10. Jaco Pastorius Big Band (Used To Be A) Cha Cha (6:54)
Arranged By - Dan Bonsanti
Bass - Victor Bailey
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
11. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Wiggle Waggle (5:47)
Arranged By - Stan Webb
Bass - Jaco Pastorius
Written-By - Herbie Hancock
12. Jaco Speaks (0:11)
13. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Continuum (3:22)
Bass - Jimmy Haslip
Written-By, Arranged By - Jaco Pastorius
14. Jaco Speaks (0:04)
15. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Elegant People (6:30)
Arranged By - Jaco Pastorius
Bass - Gerald Veasley
Percussion [Hand Drums] - Bobby Thomas Jr.
Written-By - Wayne Shorter
16. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Opus Pocus (5:15)
Arranged By - Larry Warrilow
Bass - David Pastorius
Marimba - Gary Mayone
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
17. Peter & Jaco Speaks (0:47)
18. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Domingo (6:45)
Bass - Victor Bailey
Written-By, Arranged By - Jaco Pastorius
19. Jaco Pastorius Big Band Forgotten Love (4:02)
Arranged By - Larry Warrilow
Bass - Christian McBride
Flute - Mike Scaglione
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius
20. Jaco Speaks (0:04)
21. Marcus Miller Punk Jazz Revisited (6:35)
Bass, Clarinet [Bass], Drums, Clavinet, Saxophone [Soprano], Scratches - Marcus Miller
Saxophone [Soprano] - Roger Byman
Trumpet - Michael "Patches" Stewart
Written-By - Jaco Pastorius , Marcus Miller

Credits
Conductor - Peter Graves
Drums - Mark Griffith (2)
Guitar, Koto [Synth] - Randy Bernsen
Piano, Keyboards - Michael Levine
Saxophone [Alto, Soprano], Flute, Flute [Piccolo] - Billy Ross
Saxophone [Baritone], Clarinet [Bass], Flute - Mike Brignola
Saxophone [Tenor, Alto], Clarinet, Flute - Gary Keller
Saxophone [Tenor, Soprano], Clarinet - Ed Calle
Trombone - Dana Teboe
Trombone [Bass] - Craig Gosnell (tracks: 5, 10, 18) , John Kricker
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Jason Carder , Jeff Kievit , Ken Faulk

Iva Bittová does not release albums very often, making each one something to treasure. Cikori is her first major project since her critically acclaimed duet with Vladimír Václavek, the 1997 Bilé Inferno, and her first group effort since she left Dunaj. Cikori is actually both the title of the album and the name of this quintet, which is also comprised of Václavek (acoustic guitar), Frantisek Kucera (trumpet), Jaromír Honzák (double bass), and Milos Dvorácek (drums and percussion). The three new players already appeared as guests on selected tracks from Bilé Inferno. Basically, this opus develops more elaborate arrangements around the sound of the previous album. Václavek remains an essential part of the atmosphere, but the added instruments provide a wider palette for the singer. Songs like "Krídla" and "Zapísej" show the same attention to melodies, sparse arrangements, delicate build-ups, and charm. In "Jungle" and "První," the group adopts a quasi-Latin mood, which gives Bittová's very personal scats a new color. And who could resist her mischievous child tone when she meows in "Kocha"? Cikori may not be as gripping as Bilé Inferno, but it still represents a strong effort. It's full of beautiful, light, playful pop with an avant-garde twist. Recommended.

:::Review by François Couture:::

Iva Bittová – Čikori (2001)

1. Kočka
2. Mravenčí
3. Křídla
4. Jungle
5. Přání
6. První
7. Polykaka Nožů
8. Zapískej
9. Kazu

Credits
Vladimír Václavek - acoustic guitar
Frantisek Kucera – trumpet
Jaromír Honzák - double bass
Milos Dvorácek - drums and percussion

Stanko's first recording for the ECM label; it would be twenty years until the next! "First Song" is characterized by a meter that constantly, subtly shifts.

Holland and Vesala blaze as the anchors, but this essentially themeless music is held together by an audible structure that allows Stanko and Szukalski infinite freedom yet never devolves into mere blowing. This track is a wonderful example of how Stanko makes sense by allusion yet sounds free. "Balladyna" starts out as what sounds like a folk melody and mutates in a freeform exploration of pure sound and rhythm. Marvelous!

:::Review by Budd Kopman:::

Tomasz Stańko - Balladyna (1976)

1. First Song (7:38)
2. Tale (3:28)
3. Num (7:11)
4. Duet (2:55)
5. Balladyna (7:59)
6. Last Song (6:02)
7. Nenaliina (5:29)

Credits
Bass - Dave Holland
Drums - Edward Vesala
Producer - Manfred Eicher
Tenor And Soprano Saxophone - Tomasz Szukalski
Trumpet - Tomasz Stańko

Here we have a summit meeting late in the careers of the pioneering titans of Afro-Cuban jazz -- Dizzy Gillespie fronting the Machito orchestra on trumpet, with Mario Bauza as music director, alto saxophonist/clarinetist, and organizing force, and Chico O'Farrill contributing the compositions and arrangements. This could have been just a nostalgic retro gathering 25 years after the fact, but instead, these guys put forth an ambitious effort to push the boundaries of the idiom. The centerpiece is a 15-minute trumpet concerto for Dizzy called "Oro, Incienso Y Mirra," where O'Farrill melts dissonant clusters, electric piano comping, and synthesizer decorations together with hot Afro-Cuban rhythms into a coherent, multi-sectioned tour de force. Dizzy, who apparently had never been in the same room with synthesizers before, is magnificent as he peels off one patented bebop run after another over Machito's band and in the gaps between. There is also an equally sophisticated suite of O'Farrill pieces grouped under the title "Three Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods," which mixes rock elements into the rhythms. Parts of "Pensativo" sound as if O'Farrill had been carefully listening to Santana, the teacher learning from the student, as it were. It adds up to a paltry 32 minutes of music, yet one can forgive the short weight, this being all there is of a historic recording session.

:::Review by Richard S. Ginell:::

Dizzy Gillespie - Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods (1975)

1. Oro, Incienso Y Mirra (15:39)
2. Calidoscopico (5:09)
3. Pensativo (5:25)
4. Exuberante (5:45)

Credits
Bass [Fender] - Carlos Castillo
Bongos, Cowbell - Mario Grillo
Conductor, Arranged By - Chico O'Farrill
Congas - Pepin Pepin
Drums - Mickey Roker
Drums [African] - Julito Collazo , R. Hernandez
French Horn - Brooks Tillotson , Don Corrado (track: 1 only)
Leader - Machito
Maracas, Claves - Frank "Machito" Grillo
Piano [Electric] - Jorge Dalto
Producer - Arturo O'Farrill , Mario Bauza
Saxophone [Alto], Clarinet - Mario Bauza
Saxophone [Alto], Flute, Piccolo Flute - Mauricio Smith
Saxophone [Baritone], Clarinet [Bass] - Leslie Yahonikan (tracks: 2-4 only)
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet - Jose Madera Sr.
Saxophone [Tenor], Flute [Alto] - Mario Rivera (2)
Soloist - Dizzy Gillespie
Synthesizer - Dana McCurdy
Timbales, Cabasa - Jose Madera Jr.
Trombone - Barry Morrow , Jack Jeffers , Jerry Chamberlain (tracks: 2-4 only) , Lewis Kahn (tracks: 2-4 only)
Trumpet, Flugelhorn - Manny Duran , Ramon Gonzalez Jr. , Raul Gonzalez (4) , Victor Paz
Tuba [Bass] - Bob Stewart (track: 1 only)

A trio consisting of alto saxophonist John Zorn, bassist Bill Laswell,and drummer Mick Harris, Painkiller was a novel blend of free improv, jazz, dub, and death metal. Although the lineup occasionally expanded to include the uniquely gifted Japanese vocalist Yamantaka Eye and other guests, Execution Ground is an investigation of the power and range of the core trio. The first disc of this inventive and unsettling two-disc set features three long improvisations that show off the band's dub influence. The second disc, subtitled "Ambient Dub," is a rethinking/remix of the third and first improvs on the first disc. Overall less thrashy than some Painkiller excursions, the improvisations here are striking for their greater sonic space without sacrificing any of the heaviness. At times, the band rests, making way for ominous breathing and distant sustained screams, which recur throughout. The transitions from silence to groove to noise and back are relentless and dramatic. Harris proves to be an astonishingly inventive drummer, consistently varying the foundation in surprising ways. Laswell's tone varies from the brightness of flanged round-wound strings scraping the frets to a clean, menacing low-frequency pulse, and sticks mostly to elemental, non-flashy lines that keep the mood deep and dark. Zorn's playing is excellent here, varying between extremely overblown piercing tones (perhaps the best way of being heard over such a rhythm section) and nearly conventional jazzy lines that confidently ride atop the din. An occasional microtonal chorus effect warps his playing, and the effect is so disturbing that it's surprising he soon abandoned this technique.

:::Review by Maurice Rickard:::

Painkiller - Execution Ground (1994)

Execution Ground
1-01. Parish Of Tama (Ossuary Dub) (16:05)
1-02. Morning Of Balachaturdasi (14:45)
1-03. Pashupatinath (13:47)
Ambient
2-01. Pashupatinath Ambient (20:00)
2-02. Parish Of Tama Ambient (19:19)

Credits
Artwork By [Layout, Design] - Studio T.
Bass, Samples - Bill Laswell
Drums, Samples, Vocals - Mick Harris
Engineer - Oz Fritz (tracks: 1-01 to 1-03) , Robert Musso (tracks: 2-01, 2-02)
Saxophone, Vocals - John Zorn

John Lurie's so-called "non-jazz" approach is in full flower on this fascinating record. The ever-growing (nine-piece at this point) band builds layers of rhythm and melody with unique effect throughout. On "The Birds Near Her House," a serpentine melodic line weaves through a steady rhythmic bed, building to a frenetic climax. "Scary Children" is a foreboding dirge that still manages to exude true humor. Perhaps that is the most significant aspect of this music: it has real character and life. It doesn't just groove -- it starts a conversation.

:::Review by Tim Sheridan:::

The Lounge Lizards - Queen Of All Ears (1998)

1. First and Royal Queen 3:59
2. Birds Near Her House 11:40
3. Scary Children 4:07
4. She Drove Me Mad 4:21
5. Queen of All Ears 5:25
6. Monsters over Bangkok 10:13
7. Three Crowns of Wood 4:01
8. John Zorn's S&M Circus 6:13
9. Yak 5:41
10. Queen Reprise 3:46

Credits
Artwork By [Cover Painting] - John Lurie
Bass - Erik Sanko
Cello - Jane Scarpantoni
Clarinet [Bass] - Michael Blake
Drums - Calvin Weston
Guitar - David Tronzo
Mastered By - UE Nastasi
Mixed By - Pat Dillett*
Organ - Evan Lurie
Percussion - Ben Perowsky
Piano - Evan Lurie
Producer - John Lurie , Pat Dillett*
Recorded By - James Farber
Saxophone [Alto] - John Lurie
Saxophone [Tenor] - John Lurie , Michael Blake
Trumpet - Steven Bernstein
Written-By - John Lurie