B. Clugston

There were some red flags: the under-the-radar release, the delay between recording and release, lack of publishing and other info, the fact some tracks sounded like Ornette's sax had been pasted on to a backing track. I heard third-hand gossip that Ornette's camp didn't want this released, but when others were told there was an album of new Ornette, the response was "hell yeah--release it." That being said, it's a highly enjoyable release.

Mitchell was the drummer on a Betty Mabry demo that Miles produced a few months prior to Bitches Brew.

Looking forward to this!

Great post. Thanks for sharing.

Happy belated birthday Allen--hope you celebrated in style.

cover painting by Gunter Hampel Thanks for posting the cover. Listening to this again--wonderful album.

:tup

Gunter Hampel and his Galaxie Dream Band, Celebrations (Birth). 2 LP set of the octet version of the band. Nice album and I also like the fact I don't have to colour in the cover on this one.

Rena Rama, Landscapes (JAPO). Interesting Swedish band with Lennart Åberg, Bobo Stenson and Palle Danielsson. The drummer on this one, Leroy Lowe, is not Swedish and was a new name for me. He was from Pittsburgh and moved to Sweden in the 1970s. Here's a bio: http://www.touchemusic.se/leroylowe.html

This sounds great. Congratulations!

I really enjoyed this when I first picked it up. I don't have the same enthusiasm for it any more, but it's still a good date. Highlights for me are Richard Williams and Julian Priester. I'm fine with Clifford Jordan on this one, but I get Allen's point. Re: the multiple sessions. There's some tricky choral parts and I imagine it would have taken a while to get band and choir in synch.

If you like "Little Fox Run," you might enjoy Ornette Coleman's 1960s albums or the Art Ensemble of Chicago's work.

I love that album and the complete "on the corner" CD box set is simply incredible Have been spinning that set this week and agree. Just too bad that Bob Belden didn't get the permission to put out the 2x4CD sets ! I think the previously unreleased material from the later sessions included in that set is mostly underwhelming. The introduction price was inflated. What material would have been on those 2x4CD sets, Sidewinder? There were some alternate takes not included, a meandering jam with Miles Davis on organ, the studio version of a piece they played live during the Sam Morrison era, and a brief snippet of Reggie Lucas playing some howling guitar. I wonder if there was an intent to include some unedited "Calypso Frelimo" segments. There's also a 1976 session with Sam Morrison and Pete Cosey with a disengaged Miles on organ. I love that album and the complete "on the corner" CD box set is simply incredible It was a revelation to hear the unedited "On the Corner" takes. I always thought there was far more severe editing done on the two long pieces.

So much to choose from...heck, I'll just go back to the beginning: Muhal Richard Abrams, Levels and Degrees of Light Lester Bowie, Numbers 1 & 2 (or, even better, the All The Numbers reissue, or, even better, The Art Ensemble 1967/68) Joseph Jarman, Song For

Miles Davis, On the Corner. I never tire of listening to this.

Here's more on the Switzerland 1974 release. This is a long way from Robert Wyatt, but I really like this incarnation of the band. "On July 4, 1974, Soft Machine were invited to perform at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, sharing the spotlight with such headliners as Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, Larry Coryell’s Eleventh House and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This alone was evidence of the band being a dominant presence on the now widely popular jazz-rock scene, which had evolved out of the unique and edgy sound that the band had pioneered a few years before... http://www.cuneiformrecords.com/bandshtml/softmachine.html

That's a good one.

This is nuts. $299 for Dave Mason's Alone Together? I could get you 4 for them for a dollar at my local thrift shop. It's weird they don't specify what pressings they are actually selling. For example, Lee Morgan's The Cooker apparently sounds real good, but is it an Blue Note, Liberty, Scorpio? For the price they are asking, you'd think they'd be more forthcoming.

Thank you all!

That's Hugo Queirós on bass clarinet in the clip. He's got lots of videos up on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JeBmqf-x5s

It is heavy on recitation, but with a recognizable Sound & Fury sound. There are some very short instrumental breaks, but mostly you are getting a reading from the Kalevala in Finnish with some musical accompaniment. I really like it, but I must admit I don't spin it that often.

Walter Zuber Armstrong played some nice bass clarinet. Pharoah Sanders got bass clarinet workout during "Leo" (in duet with Rashid Ali) on Coltrane's Live in Japan marathon.

He's credited with both bass and contrabass clarinets on the Yoshi's GTM discs.

Cecil Taylor, Looking Ahead (Contemporary) Cecil Taylor, Conquistador (Blue Note/Liberty)

It's nice one from the early days of Ocora. More ritualistic than musical than some of the other African recordings from that period, but really fascinating.