Frank Perry: Zodiac

Born 1948, Frank Perry started his musical career as early as in the mid-Sixties, playing in a number of Beat bands, before turning his focus to Jazz and Blues. In the Seventies, he moved on to the fields of free-form Jazz and Avantgarde. He played with musicians and groups like Evan Parker (in Perry's own trio), Derek Bailey (again in Perry's own trio, and in The Derek Bailey Group, & Company), Chris McGregor and Mongezi Feza (in various of McGregor's groups), Robert Fripp, Keith Tippett and Julie Tippetts in Ovary Lodge (founded by Tippett and Perry), as well as in the big performance ensembles Ark and Centipede. During this period, he also worked with a number of Theatre Groups and developed his unique form of solo concert. In 1976, a record by the David Toop & Frank Perry Duo was released on Quartz-Mirliton.

But in the late Seventies, Perry drove his own research further on. Instrument design (especially metal percussion - he designed a gong the sound of which can linger on as long as five minutes after striking), Meditation, Sound Healing and Spirituality became subjects of his interest. From that time on, Perry's work has concentrated on different forms of music for meditation and contemplation, settling him firmly in the New Age genre. Collaborators include Joel Andrews, Steven Berkoff, Paul Horn and David Hykes (Harmonic Choir of New York).

Frank Perry 1980

A special place in Perry's instrument collection is taken by Sound Bowls, Tibetan and others. He worked intensively with all forms of Sound Bowls, and many instruments of his own design are based on/inspired by them. The long, ringing sounds of these instruments are prominent in his contemplative music. "Zodiac" (1989) is a very good and beautiful example, a cycle of 12 short pieces which invite the listener to sound-dive deep into Frank Perry's musical cosmos.

http://www.frankperry.co.uk/

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Part 1 - Aries 
Part 2 - Taurus
 Part 3 - Gemini 
Part 4 - Cancer
 Part 5 - Leo
 Part 6 - Virgo
 Part 7 - Libra
 Part 8 - Scorpius
 Part 9 - Sagittarius
 Part 10 - Capricornus
 Part 11 - Aquarius
 Part 12 - Pisces

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