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(Telos TLS 035). Or Scriabin and Zhukov, the transliteration of Russian is
fraught with phonetic peril. No matter, Shukov/Zhukov is regarded by those who
as Scriabin's greatest living interpreter (Greatest dead: Vladiminir Sofronitsky.)
Writes Igor: "The Sonata No. 6 Op. 62 (1911) is a picture of petrified gloom.
The composer, thanks to his fantasy, receives an insight into the vast unknown
world. This very inhuman world conceals within it an appreciable amount of
disfigurement and ugly movement, but it also has cells of increasing beauty.
These exist, for the time being, following their own laws, which are known only
to them."

Bix Beiderbecke, Volume 5, 1928 (Masters of Jazz 28) or Bix Restored,
Volume 2 (Bix CD4-6). The difference being that the first series presents all
masters and alternates in which Bix is audible, the second all recordings on
which he's supposed to be present. Because of Bix's section work duties in Jean
Goldkette and Whiteman orchestras, Restored takes all of six discs to get to
February 28, 1928. A bit better, more open sound also, but the Masters of Jazz
booklets provide more useful musical analyses. I've got both and wouldn't mind
having the original 78s either.

Mississippi John Hurt, Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh
Recordings (Columbia/Legacy CK 64986). What he said and in chronological
order: a body of work that is miraculous, totemic and then some.

John Fahey: Return of the Repressed (Rhino) from 1994 is an excellent
survey and Fahey's forthright and warm-heated comments to the set's producer,
his old friend Barry Hansen (better known as Dr. Demento), are a useful
counterbalance to the cantankerous, self-dismissive side often revealed in later
interviews. Next, I recommend internalizing the Legend of Blind Joe Death;
Death Chants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes; The Dance of Death &
Other Plantation Favorites; The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death (perhaps
my personal favorite; be sure to write away for a copy of the amazing calli-
graphic booklet of Fahey's prose fantasias that came with the original 1p),
America. "Medley: Silver Bell/Cheyenne" is on the Rhino set and John Fahey
Visits Washington D.C. (Takoma 7069). All but the last have been well reissued
on compact disc by Fantasy. Next get everything else Fahey recorded in the
'60s, '70s, and '80s. His late '90s "comeback" material is quite different (electric
guitar for one) and difficult, but has its rewards, some yet unrevealed.

Bill Monroe Bluegrass 1950-1958 (Bear Family). 4 cd boxed set which
seems the best place to hear the "Cheyenne" part of the Fahey medley above.
Recorded New Year's Eve, 1954 in Nashville and released as Decca 45 De
29406, with "Roanoke" on the flip side. Both are instrumentals. "Cheyenne"
opens with tom toms pulsing, then Monroe offers a brief war cry which brings a
few strokes from the bow of fiddler Bobby Hicks' and... you just gotta hear it.
"In discussing the fiddle tunes, Bobby Hick recalls, 'Just about everyone I talk
to about bluegrass says 'Cheyenne' is the one they like the best.' "The other 107
tunes collected here are pretty good too.

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