We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sdrawkcab Zzaj by Davey Williams; LaDonna Smith; Wally Shoup; John Thompson; Dick Metcalf

by Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf

supported by
Richard Nance
Richard Nance thumbnail
/
1.
desU appaZ tahT sedahS 02:03
buy track
2.
edulretnI onaiP 06:39
buy track
3.
cibeomA 07:22
buy track
4.
eigooW eigooB 02:53
buy track
5.
ooT edulretnI onaiP 05:34
buy track
6.
hsaD oduesP 04:25
buy track
7.
eerhT onaiP 07:19
buy track
8.
sdrawkcaB zzaJ 20:31
buy track
9.
sngriV 000,01 07:27
buy track
10.
zoolB s'yevaD 04:29
buy track

about

Davey Williams, Wally Shoup, & LaDonna Smith invited Zzaj to visit/play with them in a seedy lil' punk joint named "The Cavern" in Birmingham, Alabama. Drummer John Thompson rode down with me and we went CRAZY improvising!. This CD is the result!

Several of the tracks featuring piano were me playing an old upright piano at Davey & LaDonna's "house on the hill". I played Fender Rhodes on all the other tracks.

Here's a review (by LaDonna Smith) in "the Improvisor" magazine:

Sdrawkcab Zzaj - Davey Williams & Rotcod Zzaj & friends...

Without really looking at the cover, I stuck it in the machine. It immediately
presented music more in keeping with my image of what Zzaj plays; but with
familiar sounding bluesy, jazzy meanderings, obviously freely indulgent of the
moment. A positive revelry of "good time"/ "good moment" playing...

Then there were these eery, murky meanderings that I'm sure my mother would NOT call "music". .. piano bell tones, and vocalizations, some drumming, took a while to unfold before setting the tone for the dreamy poetic offerings and political grumblings. A long Zzaj jam obviously edited off to silence only to produce a demented "country-western" reprise improv on piano and guitar ...waky and wavy, again sounding oddly familiar.

You can imagine my surprize when I opened the sleeve to realize this recording was made at MY HOUSE, 15 YEARS AGO! It was then that I recognized my own, slightly "out of tune" piano. Oh, boy.

The following cut sounded like it was recorded in a cavern, and indeed it was!

At that time, our main venue for the "Improv Series" was a dark and dingy new wave bar called the CAVERN! Well, this was a Cavern gig! Mucho high voltage trips between drums and guitar, Zzaj's Rhodes piano and the alto saxophone of Wally Shoup, betray the unabashed freedom of time and indeterminate "jazzing" up with abstractions, noise, fugitive running on and on...

Next cut.. .back at the house. Ah, the memory of cappucino! with some of the
queezy, sneering underwater melodics that only Davey Williams can produce, and Metcalf "flailing away" on my out of tune Mason and Hamlin piano.

It was really hard for me to listen "objectively" as the CD brought back so many verdent memories of a kind of golden age of development. Trial and error, passion in the midst of obscurity, eccentricity and rejection by the Southern society (a sign of virtue), a time of calling with no guarantee of outcome. And poverty, a normal exchange for living a life of rampant creativity. Truly, it was the age of music exploration as both serious art and social recreation. We were an artistic statement that slapped the face of New Wave. Even the kids ignored us! But, we MADE them listen! With beat poet mutterings accompanied by soft jazz progression, trapset punctuations before the groove set in. Laid back.... a touch of "Rhodes" flavor, garnished by Williams. This jam must've been endless, because Zzaj cut it off. [ie.edit.. fade out]

Cut 4 eigoow eigoob [fades in] At the Cavern, an upbeat breaky dancegroove led by Williams. Faintly, you can hear my own weak and amateurish fake cornet interactions creating the REAL "Holiday Inn" atmosphere of soft-bad-jazz-gone insane. Cut 5 oot edulretni onaip Back in the home studio, duet, pretty much consists of Williams soloing madly over Zzaj's accenting and pounding high energy, yet straight forward piano comps. Again, if I'd known this music would end up on a CD, I would've had the piano tuned, and served Champagne!


Cut 6 hasd oduesp At the Cavern, a quartet featuring drummer John Thompson and Wally Shoup's raw alto sax sound. I believe it was his old horn, the old nickel plated alto that got stolen in the park. Took me back, reminising the old Wally Shoup sound. Anyway, the improv broke away into some high level simultaneous not jollying. It's a wild furray of dense sound. Cut 7 eerht onaip Back in the studio.... i get the drift. The alternating of some of the private playing that led up to the "event" we staged at the Cavern. This, so far, one of my favorite cuts. Lots of attitude! Zzaj splashing around. ..Williams horsing out too many notes, too fast for his own good, and carrying the listener with them. Well, that IS what it's all about.. .keeping us ENGAGED! And so, it is....

Cut 8 sdrawkcab zzaj So it was, so it is... so it will be.

-LaDonna Smith

credits

released September 3, 2023

Clarinet, Guitar [Guitars] – Davey Williams
Drums, Percussion, Rap – John Thompson
Guitar [Guitars] – Davey Williams
Keyboards (acoustic piano) – Dick Metcalf
Keyboards (Fender Rhodes), Lyrics By [Poetry] – Rotcod Zzaj
Other [Pandemonium] – Audience
Reeds, Percussion [Perc.], Horns – LaDonna Smith
Saxophone – Wally Shoup

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf image

Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf Lacey, Washington

Dick Metcalf (aka Rotcod Zzaj) is a globe-hopping musician and poet who spent many years roving the world until he finally settled in his current abode, Lacey, Washington..

He was very active in music reviewing for just over 35 years. Any purchases you make here will go towards his cancer treatment and well-being. You can still read his reviews at contemporaryfusionreviews.com

 ... more

contact / help

Contact Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Rotcod Zzaj, aka Dick Metcalf, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Featuring Riley Pinkerton (aka The Rat Queen) from the theatrical NYC rockers, Castle Rat.
listen now