Ravi Shankar - Three Ragas (1956)

"Raga Jog" by Ravi Shankar


Chatur Lal was more prominently an accompanist than a solo player and supported many Indian classical musicians who toured in the West.  One of these musicians, Ravi Shankar, first toured the West in the thirties as a dancer in his brother's (Uday Shankar) dance troupe.  World War II made touring impractical, and Ravi changed his focus from dancing to playing the sitar.  He trained in Maihar under master sitarist Allaudin Khan with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.  By 1944, Shankar completed his training and got a job at All India Radio where he composed music.  He also worked with filmmaker Satyajit Ray composing music for the director's Apu Trilogy.

At the behest of a visiting American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, Ravi Shankar was invited to perform in New York in 1955 for a demonstration of Indian Classical Music.  Unable to leave India for personal reasons, his friend Ali Akbar Khan reluctantly performed to large audiences in the West, performed on TV, and recorded the first record of Indian Classical Music in the West.  Hearing of the success of Khan's tour, Shankar quit his job at All India Radio to tour in the West himself where he'd perform classical ragas while teaching smaller audiences about Indian music.  He released his first recording Three Ragas in 1956 with Chatur Lal supporting him on tabla.

Here is the discography surrounding Ravi Shankar's debut album:

Three Ragas

"Raga Ahir Bhairav" by Ravi Shankar


"Raga Simhendra Madhyamam" by Ravi Shankar


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Chatur Lal - The Drums of India (1961)

"Matta Tal" by Chatur Lal


At Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan's secret recordings, he was accompanied at All India Radio by Ram Narayan on the sarangi and Chatur Lal on the tabla.  He was one of a handful of musicians that helped bring Indian Classical Music to the West.  His mastery of the tabla wowed listeners as a soloist with his light touch and lightning speed.  He also retained a malleability to his performance that allowed him to shift his style based on the mood of the musician he was supporting.  His only album The Drums of India came out in 1961 in both the East and West.  Pandit Chatur Lal would die an untimely death four years later.

Here is the complete discography for Chatur Lal:

Drums on Fire! (song from 1958 compilation album)
The Drums of India
The Music of India, Volume 2 (song from 1962 compilation album)
Anthology of Indian Classical Music (song from 1966 compilation album)
Solfège de l'objet sonore (song from 1967 compilation album)

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Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan - Great Master Great Voice (1947)

"Raga Multani" by Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan


Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, or Deaf Wahid Khan, is a Hindustani classical singer.  With his brother-in-law Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, he founded the Kirana gharana (of which Pandit Pran Nath was a student).  He refused to have his voice recorded out of fear or imitators, but All India Radio music producer Jivan Lal Mattoo secretly recorded a 1947 radio performance to document his style.  Wahid Khan died in 1949.

Here is the complete discography for Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan:

Great Master Great Voice
Raga Darbari Kanada

"Raga Patdip" by Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan


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Pandit Pran Nath - Earth Groove (1968)

"Raga Bhoopali" by Pandit Pran Nath


One of Terry Riley's teachers was Hindustani classical singer Pandit Pran Nath.  He is a teacher of the Kirana gharana (school) that taught the khyal genre of Indian classical music (with every gharana having its own particularities).  Pran Nath studied the form for over twenty years under his guru before being encouraged to leave the school to help extend and keep the form alive.  He started work in the thirties for All India Radio and also worked as a visiting professor at Mills College until his death.  He believed in the power of live performance and rarely recorded.  Pran Nath's first recordings was of two ragas released as Earth Groove in 1968.

Here is the discography surrounding Pandit Pran Nath's debut album:

Earth Groove

"Raga Asavari" by Pandit Pran Nath


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Terry Riley - Music for the Gift (1963)

"Music for the Gift III" by Terry Riley


Joanna Newsom grew up next door to minimalist composer Terry Riley.  She also attended Mills College where Riley is on faculty.  Riley received an MA in composition from Berkeley and was involved in the San Francisco Tape Music Center with other composers of the avantgarde scene.  His earliest experiments (which included commissions for the stage) dealt with tape manipulation and a tape's interplay with live music and performance.  These early works were contemporary recordings but did not see release until 2000 on the Music for the Gift album.

Note:  This is my first entry on classical music.  Classical music is naturally organized and performed differently than the popular music I've dealt with so far, so I will likely change my formula of discovery and chronicling as a result.  The same goes for jazz, field recordings, and whatever other kind of music that is just around the corner.

Here are Terry Riley's debut set of compositions:

Concerto for Two Pianists and Five Tape Recorders (1960 composition)
Mescaline Mix (1960-1962 compostion)
Music for the Gift
Bird of Paradise (1965 composition)

"Concerto for Two Pianists and Five Tape Recorders" by Terry Riley


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Joanna Newsom - The Milk-Eyed Mender (2004)

"Bridges and Balloons" by Joanna Newsom


From a musical family, Joanna Newsom began playing the harp at age 10.  She went to Mills College in Oakland to study composition and creative writing, but dropped out to further pursue her music career.  She joined The Pleased as keyboardist and recorded home demos on her own time with the help of Noah Georgeson her then-boyfriend and producer (also of The Pleased).  Although they were mainly to record her own progress as a songwriter and musician, these personal recordings found their way to musician Will Oldham who asked her to tour with him.  He was also instrumental in getting her a record deal with Drag City on which label she released her debut album The Milk-Eyed Mender in 2004.

Here is the discography surrounding Joanna Newsom's debut album:

Walnut Whales (2002 EP)
Yarn and Glue (2003 EP)
The Milk-Eyed Mender
Live at WFMU (2004 live radio performance/interview)
Sprout and the Bean (2004 single)

"Sprout and the Bean" by Joanna Newsom


"This Side of the Blue" by Joanna Newsom


"Inflammatory Writ" by Joanna Newsom


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The Pleased - Don't Make Things (2003)

"No Style" by The Pleased


One of the guest performers on Vetiver's debut was Andy Cabic's friend, harpist Joanna Newsom. Although widely known for her solo recordings, her first recordings were with the San Francisco garage band The Pleased. The band got their first gig in 2001 with Newsom on keys, frontman Noah Georgeson on vocals and guitar, Rich Good also on vocals and guitar, Genaro Vergoglini on drums, and Luckey Remington on bass. Jason Clark would join the band later adding a synthesizer to the group. The Pleased successfully toured along the West Coast and in England in 2002. Eventually, they gained enough follwing and critical praise in the music press to garner a contract for their debut album Don't Make Things in 2003. The band would continue to tour until 2006 when they finally parted ways (though they still play together at intermittent concerts).

Here is the complete discography for The Pleased:

Never Complete (2002 EP)
One Piece from the Middle (2002 double EP)
Don't Make Things

"We Are the Doctor" by The Pleased


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Vetiver - Vetiver (2004)

"Farther On" by Vetiver


Andy Cabic left The Raymond Brake and left Chapel Hill to exchange coasts.  In San Francisco, he formed his own folk band Vetiver in 2002 that featured a oft shifting set of supporting players from the local freak folk scene (folk with a dash of the avant garde).  The band released its first album, the eponymous Vetiver, in 2004.  An EP followed in 2005.

Here is the discography surrounding Vetiver's debut album:

2002 Demo (2002 demo)
Vetiver
Be Kind to Me (2005 compilation song)
Between (2005 EP)
You May Be Blue (live) (2005 compilation song)

"Luna Sea" by Vetiver


"Save Me a Place" by Vetiver


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