Tributes, Vol. 1 is an 80 minute collection of rare tracks from Henry Kaiser (and his pals) that have surfaced on numerous tribute releases and various artists collections over the years. For you fanatics, you'll also find a handful of unreleased rarities you'd be lucky to find anywhere - including an unissued Sonny Sharrock tribute and an incredible, previously unheard Henry Kaiser Quartet version of the Grateful Dead's "Blues For Allah." This gathering is rich with goodness... including collaborations with Steve Kimock, Greg Goodman and The Maile Serenaders. Along the way, Kaiser tackles a typically disparate variety of covers (Neil Young, The Pinder Family, the Stones). "Dark Star," from Tom Constanten's 1992 Nightfall of Diamonds LP is a standout, as is HK's contribution to Full Moon Fair's 1993 cover of Richard Thompson's "Night Comes In," which you can hear below.
More rarities from Henry Kaiser spread across many tribute and various artists collections. Also, some choice unreleased nuggets, including an unissued live track from Henry Kaiser's Grooves Of Mystery, a previously unreleased Henry Kaiser Quartet cover of Captain Beefheart's "Alice In Blunderland" (hear it below) and an unreleased Plunderphonics outtake duo with John Oswald. A lot of cool friends and performances, too. You can imagine a fusion of Steely Dan and Mahavishnu Orchestra on "Dance Of The King Of The World of Maya" by HK & PegLeg (Scott Colby, Allen Whitman, John Hanes). There's a Richard Thompson cover by Crazy Backwards Alphabet (HK, John French, Michael Maksymenko, Andy West), and a collaboration with John Schott for The John Fahey Tribute Album. Some of HK's best, if obscure, work.
A third volume of Henry Kaiser rarities found on numerous various artists and tribute albums. While most of these tracks have surfaced on obscure releases, there are also a few unheard treasures, like the never released, 40-minute live recording of Henry Kaiser's Peter And The Wolf (reason enough to grab this collection), a track from the mega-rare Zoogz Rift tribute disc (only 100 CDs, privately released), and a conversational outtake from a recent Henry Kaiser-Damon Smith digital release, Domo Arigato Derek-Sensei! Below, you can hear Henry and the great Glenn Phillips going toe-to-toe on "Cobra (live)," from Vol. 6 of the always bizarre Passed Normal CD series. Second Sight is a Dead offshoot band with Bob Bralove, Vince Welnick and HK, while the weirdness of "The March (or Ornette Went To Cecil's House, But Left After 10 Minutes)," from the 1995 obscurity, Unsettled Scores, speaks for itself.
A promo-only 2CD set that combines a manic array of material from Henry Kaiser's solo, group and collaborative albums from 1977-2002. It's not a 'best of,' per se, but it's as close as you'll get from a guy as wildly diverse and radio obscure as Kaiser. Playola has a little bit of everything from the HK catalog - world music diaries with David Lindley, Beefheartian profundity with John "Drumbo" French, off-shoot projects with the likes of Richard Thompson, Wadada Leo Smith and mentor Derek Bailey, careening free form improv and Kaiser's always inventive interpretations - using material from the Dead, Neil Young and even a Russian language spin on ZZ Top's "La Grange" ("Sarayushka"). Highlights abound, like a song from the rare 1995 CD with Mike Keneally (The Mistakes), unheard music from the lost 1988 Crazy Backwards Alphabet II sessions (finally released digitally in 2007, via iTunes & eMusic) and long-out-of print material from Psychedelic Guitar Circus and Kaiser's 1977 solo debut, Ice Death. Playola is an impossible gathering of musicians, methods and ideas, all under one banner. Oh, yeah... Kaiser plays guitar, too. A must for fans and the uninitiated. Read HK's notes on each track here.
Improvised in front of a live audience at Beanbender's in Berkeley, March 22, 1998. This unreleased performance is guitarist Henry Kaiser's avant variation of the well-known Prokofiev piece, featuring a few high profile friends, violinist Darol Anger and pianist Sarah Cahill among them. At 40 minutes, it's a weird & wired treat, and the excellent sound puts you at a front row table. Recommended for those who like their Prokofiev without rules. Listen to the entire unreleased performance, below.
A unique, live improvisation recorded June 8, 2008 at 21 Grand in Oakland. The occasion was billed as a sneak preview screening celebrating Werner Herzog's Encounters At The End Of The World, which Kaiser produced, partially filmed and provided music for. This performance, over 35 minutes in length, is a live improvisational score, played to deleted underwater scenes from the film. Henry calls it "Under The Ice." The ensemble uniquely combines viola, trombone, sax, contrabass, percussion and guitar - with the horns offering musical suggestions of whales ... and the glassware playing infusing atmospherics of the deep. The continuous piece is split into five parts and comes to us, with thanks, from The Internet Archive. 
The finale of The Henry Kaiser Band's performance at Slims in San Francisco, December, 1988. An hour-long examination of the Grateful Dead's space epic, "Dark Star," with divergent sidetracks and, for this show, a seasonal coda. Around seven minutes into "Dark Star," it sounds like someone cut the ropes tethering the band to any melody, as they float skyward, before quickly returning with a vocal version of the theme. We'll try to post the entire show in the near future. But, until then, give a listen to Kaiser and his pals orbiting the mother of all rock improvs (with apologies to "Interstellar Overdrive").
Pretty solid unreleased live recording of John French, Fred Frith, Henry Kaiser and Richard Thompson, from The Ashkenaz in Berkeley, California, March 8, 1987. This concert took place just after the recording of French Frith Kaiser Thompson's debut album together, Live, Love, Larf & Loaf. The set is naturally heavy with LLL&L material, filled out with solo contributions from all members, including Thompson's "When The Spell Is Broken" & The Calvary Cross," and Kaiser's bizarre children's story rendition, "The Devil In The Drain." Over two hours.
The rarest Henry Kaiser we have to offer is this collection of previously unheard private solo recordings Kaiser has made for his friends over the years. The Happy Birthday Sharon material should be of special interest to Fripp & Eno fans. "Commence Pussyfooting" and "Way Too Much Pussyfooting" are pure Frippertronics-styled improvisations - nearly 40 minutes worth of solo Kaiser that's never been released. HK also covers an obscure Zappa progression, "Outside Now Again." Tracks with Steve Schwartz and Greg Stewart are Kaiser overdubs to existing tapes, while For Kay's "Kay Campitelli Salegy #2" is a 14 minute, two guitar variation on Kaiser's pre-"Aye Aye Monster" blueprint, "West Coast Salegy." You can't get any rarer than these private, unreleased recordings.
Over the years, experimental guitarist Henry Kaiser (and his many friends) has reinterpreted the music of the Grateful Dead from every conceivable angle (solo, duo, quartet, jam band configurations) with inventive and often exhilarating results. Henry Kaiser Plays Dead gathers together 2CDs worth of (mostly unreleased) recordings, ranging from faithfully tweaked covers of "Mason's Children" and "Cold Rain And Snow" to 30 minute group improvisations delving into the deeper recesses of "Dark Star" and "Blues For Allah." All that is cool enough by itself, but this set brings you something we can actually guarantee you've never heard before. Two exclusive, world premiere unreleased studio recordings - "Black Peter," a duet with vocalist/guitarist David Gans and a most unusual, avant interpretation of the trippy, "What's Become Of The Baby," from the Dead's 1969 LP, Aoxomoxoa. Both recorded weeks ago in June, 2009. And that's not all. You'll also hear unreleased live music from Psychedelic Guitar Circus, featuring Henry and guitarist Steve Kimock exploring the impossibilities of "Dark Star," before segueing nicely into Kaiser's own "Fake Zero" (for obsessives, a variation of this tune was called "Fake Xero" after 2007, also renamed "The Red Hills Of Rwanda" by Dead lyricist Robert Hunter for Bob Bralove's Second Sight CD). We've peppered all this goodness with a few outstanding tracks from HK's GD tribute CD, Eternity Blue, the promo-only Playola and 1991's Hope You Like Our New Direction, creating an expansive, 2-1/4 hour overview of Kaiser's relationship with the music of the Grateful Dead. Expect the unexpected from the celebrated Mr. K., an extraordinary guitarist and world class improviser who, in a perfect world, would not require this introduction. Click the back cover for performance details.
Criminally out-of-print, Heart's Desire is one of The Henry Kaiser Band's more beloved releases. Recorded October 21-22, 1989, this is the CD version of the original 2LP set, capturing the free flowing energy of a group of experimenters when they gather to play for themselves, as much as for the house. Think of HKB as an improvisational dance band that mixes unlikely cover material with equally diverse originals, the common thread being the joy of discovery. Opening with a Kaiser favorite, his endlessly fascinating take on The Dead's outer limits epic, "Dark Star," HKB set the stage for an anything goes feast, which includes covers of Hendrix, Young, Thompson, The Band and Stockhausen. The real surprises come when HKB launches into the unknown, buoyed by the intuitive interaction of Kaiser's guitar probes and Tom Costanten's untethered keyboard coloring. One minute they're anchored to The Andy Griffith Show theme ("The Fishin' Hole"), the next minute they're deep in space. Somewhere in between is the essence of live group rock improvisation.
