Annette Peacock – ‘an acrobat’s heart’

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   This is an absolutely outstanding album whose re-issue on vinyl is doubly welcome as it has been out of print as a CD for some time since its release, when it was probably heard by only a few dedicated admirers. Recorded in 2000 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Annette Peacock singing and playing piano accompanied by Norway’s Cikada String Quartet, it’s a double LP song cycle dealing with love and loss in the most quietly intense manner imaginable. The lyrics are relatively simply expressed, almost conversational in tone, their meaning gently accentuated by the rise and fall of Peacock’s voice, which is rarely heard above a domestic level. Yet the passion they convey has an emotional reach comparable to Rumi or the Metaphysicals. And where there’s love, there’s pain.Peacock, of course, is her own composer and lyricist and the album is her response to producer Manfred Eicher’s request that she write for a string quartet despite having no prior experience of this format. The quartet is not given any more extensive a role than Peacock gives to her own extremely spare piano playing, while the pleasing timbre of her accented voice keeps to a similarly narrow range. But as it turns out, these self imposed limits only serve to amplify the magical effect of the whole enterprise, and what could be undersold as charm ends up becoming the purest of art.
It’s difficult to convey just how unusual yet how perfectly constructed and delivered these sort of, I guess, art songs are, and Peacock as both singer and composer is quite unlike anyone else around. But listen to ‘The Heart Keeps’ from the beginning of Side III, and if possible continue to the end of that side’s sequence as there’s a substantial role for the strings before Peacock re-enters on ‘Safe’. If your heart doesn’t melt, maybe you ain’t got one.
For those who don’t know her backstory, it’s quite a trip. Touring Europe aged 20 with Albert Ayler (Gary Peacock, whom she married, was his bassist); taking LSD at Millbrook with Timothy Leary (the only time she did), de-bugging and performing on the then brand new Moog with Paul Bley, and becoming the first jazz vocalist to treat her voice electronically; getting tied up in England with David Bowie’s management company and recording with Mick Ronson, Brian Eno, Alan Holdsworth and many more, with long periods of silence, exile and cunning in between. Everything she’s done is worth hearing, and she’s 80-something and still ahead of the game. Listen to her 70s album ‘X-Dreams’ if you can, but definitely give ‘an acrobat’s heart’ a run around the block. I’ve just listened to it five times in a row and am beginning to see the point of the CD version, when you don’t have to keep getting up to change the record.
Annette Peacock – vocal, piano
The Cikada String Quartet:
Henrik Hannisdal, Odd Hannisdal – violin
Marek Konstantynowicz – viola
Morten Hannisdal – violoncello

from https://ukjazznews.com

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snobb Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Forum Admin Group Site Admin Joined: 22 Dec 2010 Location: Vilnius Status: Offline Points: 29658	Post Options Post Reply Quote snobb Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Annette Peacock – ‘an acrobat’s heart’ Posted: Yesterday at 4:51am
	This is an absolutely outstanding album whose re-issue on vinyl is doubly welcome as it has been out of print as a CD for some time since its release, when it was probably heard by only a few dedicated admirers. Recorded in 2000 at Rainbow Studio in Oslo, with Annette Peacock singing and playing piano accompanied by Norway’s Cikada String Quartet, it’s a double LP song cycle dealing with love and loss in the most quietly intense manner imaginable. The lyrics are relatively simply expressed, almost conversational in tone, their meaning gently accentuated by the rise and fall of Peacock’s voice, which is rarely heard above a domestic level. Yet the passion they convey has an emotional reach comparable to Rumi or the Metaphysicals. And where there’s love, there’s pain. Peacock, of course, is her own composer and lyricist and the album is her response to producer Manfred Eicher’s request that she write for a string quartet despite having no prior experience of this format. The quartet is not given any more extensive a role than Peacock gives to her own extremely spare piano playing, while the pleasing timbre of her accented voice keeps to a similarly narrow range. But as it turns out, these self imposed limits only serve to amplify the magical effect of the whole enterprise, and what could be undersold as charm ends up becoming the purest of art. It’s difficult to convey just how unusual yet how perfectly constructed and delivered these sort of, I guess, art songs are, and Peacock as both singer and composer is quite unlike anyone else around. But listen to ‘The Heart Keeps’ from the beginning of Side III, and if possible continue to the end of that side’s sequence as there’s a substantial role for the strings before Peacock re-enters on ‘Safe’. If your heart doesn’t melt, maybe you ain’t got one. For those who don’t know her backstory, it’s quite a trip. Touring Europe aged 20 with Albert Ayler (Gary Peacock, whom she married, was his bassist); taking LSD at Millbrook with Timothy Leary (the only time she did), de-bugging and performing on the then brand new Moog with Paul Bley, and becoming the first jazz vocalist to treat her voice electronically; getting tied up in England with David Bowie’s management company and recording with Mick Ronson, Brian Eno, Alan Holdsworth and many more, with long periods of silence, exile and cunning in between. Everything she’s done is worth hearing, and she’s 80-something and still ahead of the game. Listen to her 70s album ‘X-Dreams’ if you can, but definitely give ‘an acrobat’s heart’ a run around the block. I’ve just listened to it five times in a row and am beginning to see the point of the CD version, when you don’t have to keep getting up to change the record. Annette Peacock – vocal, piano The Cikada String Quartet: Henrik Hannisdal, Odd Hannisdal – violin Marek Konstantynowicz – viola Morten Hannisdal – violoncello from https://ukjazznews.com