GREGG BENDIAN'S INTERZONE: Live in Ann Arbor, 2001
REQUIEM FOR JACK KIRBY 20th ANNIVERSARY BONUS DISC

Recorded live at EdgeFest, The Firefly Club, Ann Arbor MI
on October 5, 2001 during the "Requiem for Jack Kirby Tour"

Gregg Bendian: vibraphone & glockenspiel
Nels Cline: electric guitar & lap steel 
Kermit Driscoll: acoustic & electric basses
Alex Cline: drums & percussion

All music composed by Gregg Bendian C.2001 (Iamuziks, ASCAP)
Produced by Gregg Bendian
Audio restoration by Matt Stober

Gregg Bendian uses Musser vibraphone, glockenspiel & mallets
Alex Cline uses Paiste cymbals & gongs

www.bendianmusic.com

The ProgCast with Gregg Bendian - www.youtube.com/channel/UCphvawwdTgllJS4W2OCzcQQ


REQUIEM FOR A REQUIEM + INTERZONE LIVE

I feel quite fortunate to be able to share audio evidence of a rather inspired run of dates I played exactly twenty years ago with my band Interzone featuring Nels Cline, Alex Cline, and Kermit Driscoll, on a tour celebrating the release of my hot-off-the-presses new album, REQUIEM FOR JACK KIRBY.

This, the third Interzone release, was my paean to the man who co-created (along with Stan Lee) about 75% of the Marvel Comics Universe, and a good chunk of the DC Universe. Jack Kirby’s art inspired me as a youngster to live within the wilds of my imagination, joining sound and image via an intense synesthesia, and thus becoming a believer in my own place within the creative world of music and art.

The original CD artifact of this tribute to Kirby was resplendent with Kirby's original artwork culled from his Fourth World series. The CD cover, back cover, disc face, and pull-out poster each sport striking Kirby pages from his early 70s titles. The Requiem was meant to be as much a visual feast as it was a sonic and intellectual one, and being able to clothe this musical object in Kirby's actual imagery was truly a gift from the gods. We hope you will download and enjoy the images as you listen. Or, take out any Kirby work you happen to favor - there’s tons to choose from.

After but a few rehearsals, Interzone began the "Requiem for Jack Kirby Tour" in NYC at The Knitting Factory, just days after and mere blocks from the events of 9/11/01. Although, nervous about possible ongoing future "events" we went ahead with the tour with not a small sense of foreboding, and more than a little bit of feeling that playing music when the stakes are high was, in itself, a therapy and a catharsis. On our way to that first show of the tour, we had to be searched as we passed through police checkpoints to get below Canal Street in order to reach the venue. We also hit Philly, Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo, and Rochester, followed by a string of West Coast dates with Joel Hamilton, the wonderful bassist on our original studio recording.

By the time Interzone reached Michigan after two weeks on the road, we were a bit of a well-oiled machine. The Clines and I had been playing and recording together quite happily since 1995, in both Interzone and duet settings (ie: Interstellar Space Revisited and ESPiritu). Interzone’s line-up changed infrequently, apart from the bass chair. Alex once told me that he counted about nine different bass players in the band over the years, and I'd like to mention some of them here: Mark Dresser, Steuart Liebig, Stomu Takeshi, Mike Elizondo, Scott Walton, Bertram Turetsky, and Mark Helias. Each brought something unique to the Interzone brew. On the “Requiem for Jack Kirby Tour,” with the multi-faceted Kermit Driscoll in tow, we had another vital musical partner in that foundational role. Kermit nailed all of my written parts, and was a dream at listening, following, and setting up platforms for me and ClineBroCo. to go about our rollicking business.

The band was firing one all cylinders. On most shows, we performed the entire “Requiem,” followed by a set of tunes from the first two Interzone albums. As always, transitions from improvised to composed sections and back again were a particular point of pride for us Interzonians, and there are some incredible moments of spontaneous interaction and straight-up groupthink/mind-reading here which, while listening after two decades have passed, even took me by surprise! 

Looking back twenty years, it’s fun, albeit a little strange for me to ponder how public consciousness about Jack Kirby and Comic Book Geekdom has evolved. Neither was at all in fashion back then, and maybe that's how, thanks to the energy, enthusiasm, and comic industry connections of Mr. Duncan Rouleau, we could muster the forces of comic book greats, Stan Lee, Jim Steranko, Steve Gerber, and Mark Evanier, to write their thoughts about Jack for the album's liner notes, helping me to put that labor of love for "The King" all together, forging a 21st Century statement about an artist who began making comic books cool in the first half of the 20th century. Way back in 2001, we certainly never could have imagined that comic book characters would take over Hollywood and become a billion dollar industry in the way they have. And so, the now out-of-print "Requiem" CD is considered a collector's item among jazz and comic book fans alike. That makes make me smile. We hereby offer you another look and another listen.

With all the uncertainty and apprehension we lived with at that moment in our history, comic books and the music raised us above the fray for a couple of hours each night. I hope that in our current moment of uncertainty, these recordings might offer us much of the same. 

Thanks for listening and,
“Long Live The King!”

GB, September 2021


****


When Zappa, and many others, said "writing about music is like tap dancing about architecture," they were of course, right. Reflecting one art form in the media of another is nigh on impossible...until Gregg Bendian and his ferocious cohorts who form Interzone, came along.

They took the work of the greatest comic book artist, the Leonardo of the Lurching Line, Jack Kirby, stretched it, squeezed it, and diced it into another form, music. I don't quite know how they did it, but they did. Pushing his granite-figured, galactic take on Bowery New York through the press of their instruments and extracting musical alcohol. A wine that sounds like Kirby's commando cave drawings, and gets you as intoxicated, but via your ears.

I don't understand quite how this transubstantiation works, but it does. They crash through a very modern jazz instrumental landscape, driven by rock oomph but in fine textures. Kirby Krackle delineated by Bendian's bubbles of vibraphone. Damn it, it sounds like Kirby's art. It shouldn’t.

They have tap danced about architecture, and I understand the language.

ANDY PARTRIDGE, September 2021
(XTC guitarist/singer/songwriter and Kirby aficionado)


****


What a beautiful album - such a strong concept, presented so cleanly and confidently, with spectacular sonics and performances.

This album shocked the hell out of me! I encountered Gregg in 2001, when my band shared a bill at The Bottom Line with The Mahavishnu Project, and he slyly turned me onto Requiem, knowing, I'm sure, how much it would blow my mind. 

My jaw hit the floor once I realized that this guy, who I knew at that point only as a volcanic drummer shredding on McLaughlin compositions, was represented here so brilliantly as composer and vibraphonist and comic book conceptualist! And, of course, such masterful playing by the Cline lads and Mr. Hamilton. It took my breath away and still does. The album is pure joy from start to finish. And such large portions!

It was only the start of my education, as I began coming to grips with the many fascinating facets of Bendian, a process that continues to this day and beyond.

Happy Anniversary, Gregg and Requiem!

MIKE KENEALLY, September 2021
(composer/multi-instrumentalist, pal and longtime collaborator)