Take Five: This leads to that

Most of the things I enjoyed this week led to something else I enjoyed, as Brian Eno led to, well, more Brian Eno, while a book about Madame CJ Walker led to Jason Moran and a new documentary film.

“Take Five” is posted each Friday, and offers five things I spent some time with over the course of the previous week. No criticism, no in-depth analysis, just a few things I think you might be interested in checking out. When the spirit moves me, I’ll post other things at other times.

1. Brian Eno on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks

I watched the “Eno” documentary a few times over the weekend thanks to a livestream that saw the generative film presented in several unique iterations. While I found that the parts of the film that varied from one screening to the next were fewer than I had hoped, there were distinct differences that led to discovery. One was a version in which Eno talked about his album, Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks. The 1983 album was conceived as the soundtrack for the film "For All Mankind," a documentary about the Apollo space missions. Speaking about the album, Eno said of the Moon landing, “This was one of those moments when you think, ‘The world has changed.’” As for the music, he learned that the astronauts mainly took country and western music with them on the ship, equating this music of the frontier as a commentary on their own journey to the frontier of space. Eno conceived of ambient music that incorporated western themes, largely driven by the pedal steel guitar of Daniel Lanois. I was delighted to learn that this segment was excerpted from a video made to celebrate an expanded reissue of the album that includes more from the filmmaker and Lanois. Hearing this music in this new light, I thought about bands like SUSS (written about a couple weeks back) that make what they call ambient country, and thinking that once again, Eno paved the way.

2. Oblique Strategies

Another Eno-related thing I spent time with this week is the Oblique Strategies" card set. I was already aware of this but seeing a segment about it in the film piqued my interest and I realized quickly that it's all over the web so there is no need to drop $50 on a printed set. The cards were created by Eno and his friend, the artist Peter Schmidt, who were each independently gathering phrases and thoughts designed to help spark the creative impulse. The idea is that when someone is stuck, they can draw a card and be inspired. Eno used this in recording projects with David Bowie and others. So, when stuck, a card that reads, "Define an area as 'safe' and use it as an anchor," might help one over a hurdle. It isn't a tool just for musicians; I can imagine something like "Honour thy error as a hidden intention" being helpful for writers, painters, or sculptors, among others. It's a further example of the fascinating way Eno thinks. I like his music, but I'm a bigger fan of his outlook on creativity and culture.

3. Jason Moran — From the Dancehall to the Battlefield

When Jason Moran released his album From the Dancehall to the Battlefield back in 2023, I was not familiar with James Reese Europe. That's the point, of course, recording a tribute to shine a light on an artist who is perhaps lesser known. But I feel I would have appreciated it more if I had read A'Lelia Bundles' book, On Her Own Ground, before hearing the album. In it, Bundles writes about her great-great grandmother, Madame C.J. Walker, the first African-American woman to become a millionaire, a talented entrepreneur and philanthropist who was friends with and a supporter of Europe. Reading more about Europe in the book, I went back to Moran's album with a greater appreciation of the man and his accomplishments on and off the battlefield. Moran performs a mixture of Reese originals and tunes penned by others, as well as bookending the album with his own compositions. The result shows how Reese's music in 1912 and beyond surely laid the groundwork for the jazz to come. Europe is a minor character in the book about Walker, but his presence led me back to the album, which was an unexpected bonus.

4. 'Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat'

I'm more of a fiction guy, but I do appreciate when nonfiction and documentary work exposes my ignorance and sends me in search of more material on a subject. Such was the case with the book about Walker, which details the efforts of African-Americans to travel to France to take part in the post World War I Paris Peace Conference to bring up the need for racial equality and self-determination for African countries. The effort failed, but that did not dissuade those 40 years later who took up a similar fight as African American musicians and activists pushed for independence for African colonies at the same time they were advocating for their own freedoms at home. That latter battle is detailed in the new documentary film, "Soundtrack to a Coup D'Etat." Though I was drawn to it more for the promise of vintage jazz footage than anything else, I instead found a film that was in dialogue with the book I had just finished, one that highlighted the need for continuous and ongoing struggle. It is valuable context for the fights under way right now, a reminder that the struggle never ends, it just changes shape.

5. Rich Ruth and Lockeland Strings — ‘Blue Shell’

I’ll end this week with a piece of beautiful music. Rich Ruth, a Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist, creates work that blends ambient, new age, spiritual jazz, Kosmiche, and minimalism. It is soothing yet captivating music, and his 2024 album, Water Still Flows, was a favorite last year. Ruth combines so many sounds that it at times feels like the work of many more musicians than the handful he taps to help fulfill his vision. Now, he has expanded one of the tracks from that album by performing it with the Lockeland Strings. That group, also based in Nashville, has performed with several musicians in just such a fashion, helping to flesh out their sound with the addition of strings and other instruments. The result here is a lush take on the track that finds new textures to explore. It appears to be a one-off created for art and not commerce, so click above and enjoy.