Label: Creel Pone

シカゴはマディソン出身のジャズベーシスト、チェリスト、キーボディスト、またオカルティストとしても活動をしたRussell Thorneによる、1984年発表の2作目の前衛エレクトロニック・カセット作[The Scholarship Of Sleep]。中古市場にも出ない激レアな私家版がCD-R化。ウィスコンシン定住後にオカルト系書店を構え、そこではフリージャズと即興演奏のコンサート、また朗読会を開催、本作に収録されている3曲はこの場所で録音されたとされる貴重なもの。オノマトペ的ボーカルとテープ・スクラブによる奇怪なエフェクト干渉が層となって現れる、底なしにナイトメアな名作。





November 2025 release; after a bit of a late-summer reset, the C.P. program continues unabated with this incredible, out-of-nowhere discovery, covering the second privately-issued set of Avant-Electronic pieces by the storied Chicago/Madison jazz bassist & occultist Russell Thorne from 1984.

Thorne is a fascinating figure; after making his debut on record on "At Newport '63" alongside Hal Russell & Joe Daley, he played in Cal "Magical" Bezemer's Trio (Bezemer himself had a wild career, including playing on Al Jarreau's 1983 "1965" album - these are the links we live for, people; two degrees of separation!) throughout the late 60s. Settling in Wisconsin, he set up an occult bookstore where he hosted readings & concerts of Free Jazz & Improvisation, which is where the three pieces heard here took root.

Starting with the 30+ minute "The Scholarship Of Sleep [Magnetic Tape]" the aesthetic waypoints & general veneer/miasma of unrest is instantly apparent; through wordless vocalization & endless tape-scrubbed layers of effects & interference we're brought through a seemingly endless maze of "Mumble Vectors" that rival anything on the Kai Harster ([CP 258 CD]) or Jonas Palm ([CP 108 CD]) entires. The other two pieces, "Coherent Obsession No.4 'Trellis Kabalisticum' [Cello]" & "Angelic Solution [Electric Piano, Bass]" would seem to be straight compositions/improvisations, yet are as mired in electronic interferences of the latter.

This edition comes as a six-panel full-color booklet (with exhaustive detail of the tape itself & on the inner panels a blow-up of the liner notes) along with a double-sided insert covering an article in the January 1987 issue of the Tenney-Lapham Newsletter covering the bookshop a few years after it had moved from from Williamson to Johnson). Incredible music; proof that there are (still!) untold gems out there waiting to be discovered & given the C.P. treatment.