Stockhausen in Miles mode

Email received - 'You've probably seen this in today's Guardian, but in case you haven't Stockhausen's son (photo above) in Miles mode sounds interesting, especially considering his father's influence on On the Corner. By the way, greatly in your debt re: Raphaël Imbert's excellent Bach-Coltrane album; jazz needs more records like this rather than the same, old, tired takes on hard-bop/post-bop/songbooks that were done better (and were much more sincere) 25-50 years ago. Speaking of jazz, have you ever checked out NYC's WKCR-FM 89.9? If you like Charlie Parker, Phill Schapp's Bird Flight program should not be missed: (And their classical department is quite good, too-- they play whole albums regularly!) Apologies if this is old news to you. Keep up the good work; thanks for sharing your sophisticated ears. Regards, Tim.'

Thanks for that Tim. Markus Stockhausen also appeared on the path recently in some other interesting company.
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Avoid three kinds of master

Avoid three kinds of Master:
Those who esteem only themselves,
For their self-esteem is blindness;
Those who esteem only innovations,
Without meaning;
Those who esteem only what is established;
Their minds
Are little cells of ice.
'To A Novice' by Thomas Merton based on Sufi writings.


My photos show the Ben Youssef Medersa in Marrakech, Morocco. A medersa is a Quaranic school attached to a mosque which is dedicated to the teaching of Islamic scripture and law. This example, with more than a hundred windowless student cells, dates from the 14th century. In 1998 it was used to represent the Algerian Sufic retreat in the film of Esther Freud's novel Hideous Kinky.


Related listening - Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) miraculously captures the mystery of Islam in his setting of The Adhan (Call to Prayer) on his Footsteps in the Light CD. Stockhausen and Sufism may seem unlikely bedfellows but trumpeter Markus Stockhausen (son of Karlheinz) is one of the musicians on Dhafer Youssef's genre-bending Electric Sufi album. Youssef plays oud and provides vocals and ambient sounds on an album that has Sufism at its heart but ranges across a mix of contemporary styles. Watch out for Dhaffer Youssef, he is working with Joanna McGregor (hear them together on BBC Radio 3 tonight) and other progressive artists to prove that mixing it is the way forward.


More twenty first century Sufism here.
Photos (c) On An Overgrown Path 2008. Report broken links, missing images and errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk