on an autumn evening some twenty five years ago i made my way to the ontario college of art auditorium in downtown toronto to see and hear musician jon hassell play. the evening was a blur of electronically processed trumpet, tribal polyrhythms played on bass, guitar, percussion, and sequenced synthesizer. the effect was extraordinary - it was as if it had lasted fifteen minutes when in fact it had been five times that long!i first heard about jon’s music through his connection with musician brian eno. hassell and eno’s seminal release fourth world: volume one possible musics occupied a special place on my turntable for a long time with its magic blend of atmospherics, found sound, tribal rhythms, and the breathy trumpet playing of hassell himself. here’s another perspective on fourth world: volume one possible musics.
hassell’s sound is hard to describe, but simply put, he usually plays muted trumpet through processed electronics. beyond that his sound is indescribable sounding somewhere between the morning call to prayer of an imam and miles davis’ sound around the bitches brew period. to give you an idea of his music, here’s a track off “dream theory in malaysia entitled “malay” . . .
hassell has played with groups as diverse as david sylvian, talking heads,
hassell’s background is predictably fascinating and so you should read this brief bio of the man here before moving into his most recent work, “maarifa street”.
released in 2005, maarifa street was drawn from three live recordings, each recorded in four instrumental layers that were later worked over in the studio where additional layers were added or reperformed such that themes and phrases enter the mix, swirl, stutter, disappear and then later reappear as played by another instrument.
the homepage for maarifa street (which shares the same lovely statement from the great sufi rumi as this blog) is a rich repository of information that uncovers the creative process that brought maarifa street to life. opening up the “touchstones” link for example, reveals six points of departure for hassell as he framed the emerging music in contexts that would both underwrite and propel its creation.
my favourite “touchstone” is this 3” X 5” index card on which is written: "rumi and gil evans: together again"; a notated melodic motif from 'open secret (paris)' and notes about the tibetan word "drala" which relates to the magic in the unmediated simplicity of nature. "a simple raindrop of a melody" is written underneath. this opened the door to seeing that simple melody as if it were some natural phenomenon, no apologies required. dra means "enemy" and la means "above". so "drala" literally means "beyond the enemy." my note in the margin: "cultural alchemy!—'maarifa' (arabic) + 'drala' (tibetan)".hassell’s work has strong aural links to musicians as diverse as the orb, miles davis, tomita, herbie hancock, nusrat fateh ali khan, electronica, moroccan street musicians, truly the list is long! his music is also characterized by rich and vibrant aural visual textures.
for that reason, it’s important to mention an especially powerful influence on hassell’s work which has been the work of artist mati klarwein. inside the album cover, hassell dedicates maarifa street to “my brother mati. i’m still trying to do the soundtrack to your clairvoyant painting and self.” i first saw klarwein’s work when he illustrated the cover for miles davis’ incredible bitches brew.
klarwein provided davis with several more covers as well as supplying carlos santana with the stunning cover for abraxas. my favourite klarwein cover for hassell has to be this incredible painting entitled "soundscapes". 
much much more of mati’s work and thinking can be found right here.but music so needs to be heard. here then is a concert version of maarifa street:
maarifa street live part one:
maarifa street live part two:
maarifa street live part three:
maarifa street live part four:
maarifa street live part five:
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