Various - Kearney Barton: Architect of the Northwest Sound / Various - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Regarded as one of the premier musicians in the world, David Sancious was a founding member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band; toured and recorded with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Santana, Seal and a long list of A-level musicians; and created groundbreaking music with his own band, Tone. Sancious recorded his most ambitious album, Dance of the Age of Enlightenment, in 1976. Conceived as a ballet in four movements, at the time of the recording, technology did not allow for synthesizers to play more than one note at a time. To create the sound of an orchestral ensemble every part of the orchestration had to be painstakingly overdubbed individually by Sancious on a Moog Synthesizer. Despite the music's quality, Sancious was notified by his record company that the album would not be released. Outside of bootlegs, Dance of the Age of Enlightenment has remained in the vault... until now. Remastered from the original master tapes under David Sancious' supervision.

When Seattle-based recording engineer Kearney Barton died in 2012, the 80 year-old studio veteran had spent the past 50 years recording the cream of the Seattle music scene through the decades. The Fleetwoods, Quincy Jones, The Ventures, The Wailers, The Sonics, Ann Wilson (Heart), The Frantics, The Kingsmen, and Dave Lewis to name a few. Barton also captured Seattle?s vibrant 1960s-70s R&B and soul scene, including Black On White Affair and Soul Swingers, among others, as documented in Light in the Attic?s Wheedle?s Groove series. In his later years Barton?s old school reputation drew in contemporary bands like Young Fresh Fellows, The Smugglers, The Minus 5, and The A-Bones into his studio. Essentially, when a local unknown band wanted to make a demo tape, or record their debut album, or perhaps someone just wanted to capture their uncle playing banjo or their kid sister?s first songs, they?d go to Barton?s studio. There were 7,000 reel-to-reel tapes piled up in Barton?s house at the time of his passing. The University of Washington carefully cataloged these tapes, and former Sub Pop employee Dan Trager (who had learned the art of recording from Kearney years earlier as a student) began listening and taking notes. With input from a team drawn from the university and Light in the Attic, Dan compiled a shortlist of essential tracks that would form the basis of this compilation. Kearney Barton Architect of the Northwest Sound is a comprehensive document of Seattle in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. It is also a testament to Barton?s life-long dedication to the art of recording. It includes long out of print recordings originally released by local labels such as Jerden, Topaz, Piccadilly, and Etiquette Records. It covers a wide range of genres sitar and balalaika players, gospel church choirs, unknown garage bands, steel drums, obscure soul artists and teenage a cappella sin

Dr. Ida Halpern (1910-1987), an Austrian-born Canadian musicologist, collected these tracks from several tribes along the British Columbia coast. Songs of the Kwakiutl are the most prevalent here, but also included are the Ucuelet, Toquaht tribes, with informants from the Nootka and Das Nak Dwak tribes as well. The liner notes provide an exhaustive yet accessible analysis of the musical techniques of the coastal tribes, and of the musicians' lives. Other recordings by Dr. Halpern include Kwakiutl Indian Music of the Pacific Northwest, Haida Indian Music of the Pacific Northwest, and Nootka Indian Music of the Pacific North West Coast.