Robbie Basho: Live in Forli, Italy 1982
Obsolete Recordings

Buck Curran: Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas
Obsolete Recordings

Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas is something of a departure for Buck Curran. Vocals by him and Shanti Deschaine figured prominently on the duo's Arborea albums, and singing by the two also appeared on his 2016 solo release Immortal Light, though with Buck assuming lead and his Arborea partner contributing backup to a couple of songs. The new set, by comparison, is almost wholly instrumental, the focus primarily on Buck's acoustic guitar playing. It's not an entirely solo affair, however, as one piece features Italian Bansuri flute player Nicolò Melocchi, plus a vocal by Adele H. (Adele Pappalardo) appears on Buck's arrangement of Chris Whitley's “Dirt Floor.” Adding to the varied presentation is “Taurus,” an electric guitar-centered dedication to Fleetwood Mac's original guitarist Peter Green, and Buck's also credited with harmonium, flute, and banjo on the album.

Recorded in Italy, his current home-base, and dedicated to his three children, Shylah, Liam, and Francesco, the seventeen-song collection (three of them alternate versions) wends between the pointillistic concision of the haiku-styled settings and the comparatively longer-form ragas. The lilting 3/4 of “Song for Liam” offers an entrancing start to the album, especially when the clarity of Curran's picking and the song's lulling melodies provide such an appealing point-of-entry. Pappalardo's soulful contribution to “Dirt Floor” makes it a definite highlight, while Melocchi's Bansuri musings elevate the transporting raga “Bhairavi Rovelli.” A field recording-like flavour seeps into the album during “Compane Del Sabato Mattina” when the faint ringing of church bells is audible alongside the gentle interlacing of acoustic guitars and slide textures.

Many a song plays like a meditative mantra in miniature form, “River Unto Sea” a good example in the way its cyclical patterns prove so capable of inducing an hypnotic state. Evoking Hemingway's world, “The Sun Also Rises” does much the same, though in this case multi-tracked slide playing captures Curran's bluesier side. Even when the songs are more structurally rooted in exploration, they remain engrossing due to his innate melodic sensibility and uncluttered playing style. Adding to the intimacy of the recording is the audible sound of Curran's breath intakes as he plays; reverb is also conspicuous, but not objectionably so.

Though Immortal Light benefited from the inclusion of Buck's singing, Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas isn't necessarily weakened by its omission, in large part because of the different thematic character of the project and the compensating instrumental touches he's incorporated. It was a smart move to change things up: while Curran's pretty, harmonious guitar instrumentals provide ample listening pleasure, the addition of multiple other colours to the project hardly works against it.

If Morning Haikus, Afternoon Ragas often feels like Curran paying homage to the Takoma and American Primitivism styles, Live in Forli, Italy 1982 goes directly to the source with a live set by one of its masters. Recorded four years before Robbie Basho's untimely death in 1986, the set, previously available only in a truncated download form, derives from a four-show Italian tour he undertook in the company of Italian acoustic guitarist Maurizio Angeletti. The concert was presented at Sala Gaddi, a small room in the Palazzo Gaddi mostly used for classical concerts; midway through the show, Basho refers to it as “one of those lovely little rooms where I could play all night,” and his comfort level is borne out by the relaxed ambiance of the performance and the warm reception by the attendees; there's an unpretentiousness to the presentation—he refers to “The Grail and the Lotus,” for example, as “thirteen-century stuff”—that's also refreshing.

Ample evidence of Basho's artistry is presented in the dazzle of his fingerpicking and the rapturous bellow of his vocalizing. Performing solo and armed with six- and twelve-string guitars, the recording sees the American axesmith covering many of the associated bases, from early classical to Indian ragas. Taken at a breezy gallop, “Redwood Ramble” immediately transports the audience to the replenishing outdoors of Northern California; the slower clip with which “Song of the Stallion” and “Cathedral et Fleur de Lis” are delivered allows the splendour of his chiming picking and strums to be fully appreciated. There's no small amount of charm in the light-hearted reverie “German Chocolate Cake” and his twelve-string rendering of “Clair de Lune,” while extended workouts such as “Pavan India” and “California Raga” mesmerize as much as might be expected.

March 2018