Vernal Equinox
His debut: a bent trumpet over percussion and drone, the first sketch of Fourth World.
Jon Hassell, 1977
- Released
- 1977
- Label
- Lovely Music
Vernal Equinox came out on Lovely Music in 1977 and collects six pieces led by Hassell's heavily processed trumpet. Naná Vasconcelos plays congas, shakers and talking drum, David Rosenboom adds mbira, tabla and a Buchla alteration of the trumpet, and William Winant plays kanjira. Larry Polansky is credited with a special tuning of the Rhodes piano.
Winston Cook-Wilson, reviewing the Ndeya reissue for Pitchfork in 2020, noted that Hassell had studied for three years with Pandit Pran Nath before making it, and that the kanjira is its only Indian instrument. He heard Blues Nile and the 21-minute title track as the album at its barest: percussion, drone and trumpet. Pitchfork had earlier ranked it 47th among the 50 best ambient albums.
Track listing
- Toucan Ocean3:50
- Viva Shona7:04
- Hex6:20
- Blues Nile9:51
- Vernal Equinox21:56
- Caracas Night September 11, 19752:10
More from Jon Hassell
Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two (1981), Aka / Darbari / Java: Magic Realism (1983), Power Spot (1986), Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street (2009), Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume One) (2018), Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two) (2020)
Sources
- Vernal Equinox, Wikipedia
- Jon Hassell: Vernal Equinox, Pitchfork (2020-03-23)
- Vernal Equinox, Discogs