kip Hanrahan, “Dualism (1),”
from: Conjure, Music from the texts of ishmael reed, 1982
“I am outside of history
I wish I had some peanuts
It looks hungry there in its cage
I am inside of history
It was hungrier than I thot”
This is one of the most graceful and powerful pieces of music I have yet heard. Its players are all monumental. That’s stolid Taj Mahal’s moving vocal presence. Olu Dara is the trumpet player, whose soaring solo touches wash down the tears of heart breathing New Orleans. The late pianist, Allen Toussaint, who may well have been the Ellington of our time, leads the rhythm section. Kip Hanrahan, one of the underknown producers, composers and arrangers knits this all star assemblage together employing the poetic offerings of another giant, literary talent, Ishmael Reed. An indispensible recording you deserve to have a copy of around your house.
Olu Dara
““Making a record is like making a film. If anything, the analogy holds too true. The recording engineer becomes the cinematographer; I work with the musicians as I would with actors: You sing the lines the way they should be phrased; you shoot scenes and the scenes are not in sequential order, and every scene has a different light and sound.”
”
Ishmael Reed