niels

Didn't know of it's existence, but this book looks very interesting!

Ab Baars and Ig Henneman last night. beautiful duo concert of Ig Henneman on Violin and Ab Baars on Tenor Sax, Clarinet and shakuhachi. The venue itself was also really nice; an old soup factory (Honig) nowadays transformed into a sort of cultural hot spot with many cultural entrepreneurs, a local beer brewery, restaurant and a venue/podium which overlooked the river "De Waal", so during the concert you could see the ships sailing by in the background.

Not a joke. It will be a festival from 2-7 june on different locations in Amsterdam. More iformation can be found on the site www.doek.org

I'm a little surprised to see Heineken at the top, it's my least favorite of all the big brands I think in the region where I live it's mostly Bavaria and Hertog Jan what people drink. I always have the feeling Heineken is mostly populair in the west of the Netherlands (Randstad region).

Exerpt from the album on bandcamp: http://darktree.bandcamp.com/track/loves-dream-excerpt-1

Rodrigo Amado - Searching for Adam [2013, NotTwo] Horace Tapscott - The Dark Tree [2009 reissue, hatOLOGY] Daunik Lazro, Benjamin Duboc, Didier Lasserre - Sens Radiants [2014, Dark Tree] Hera - Hera [2010, Multikulti]

Lotte Anker, Craig Taborn, Gerald Cleaver - Ritual (from Floating Islands, 2008, Ilk Records) The way Taborn and Cleaver build an ever growing hypnotic tension, combined with the beautiful and emotionally deep tone of Lotte Anker really is something special.

I hope you're right. The albums released under the Dark Tree label (only four so far) all sound impeccable from what I heard myself or heard from others. This is what Bertrand says about it himself on FB: The concert was recorded on 4-track reel-to-reel by Pete Welding, transferred by Mark Weber, mastered by Benjamin Duboc... it sounds great in my opinion!

Very exited about this news, and I thought this new release deserved it's own topic. The fantastic little French label Dark Tree, just announced that they will launch the Dark Tree Roots series and they're going to kick off with this previously unpublished live performance. From Bertrand Gastaut/Dark Tree Records: So, here we go... Dark Tree Records is very proud to announce the release (mid/late April) of a previously unpublished live performance of the legendary BOBBY BRADFORD/JOHN CARTER QUINTET (featuring Stanley Carter & Roberto Miranda on double basses and William Jeffrey on drums), recorded in Pasadena on November 17, 1975. "NO U TURN" is the first and only recording by this quintet and the earliest extant recording of Bobby & John live in performance. Also, this shows that window of about 5 years when John was using soprano & clarinet equally. And most importantly, for historians this recording fills a void in Bobby Bradford & John Carter’s discography. If you were not in Los Angeles throughout the 70s, this is the first time you'll hear what they were doing during those years! This release will include a 16 pages booklet with great liner notes by Mark Weber as well as many rare and previously unpublished photos by Jak Kilby, Gérard Rouy and Mark Weber. Feel free to share, spread the word and stay tuned!

I'm looking out for the new one from RED trio together with Gerald Lebik and Piotr Damasiewicz on Bocian Records https://soundcloud.com/zopan-1/mineral-red-trio-gerard-lebik-piotr-damasiewicz-bocian-records-bc-vered

I want to second that one! Really a great achievement IMO, as the book itself is a masterpiece already but Visconti really managed to create a movie that's definitely on the same level as the novel.

Saw Kaja Draksler perform three improv pieces last night for the Dutch young VIP series (tour of up and coming artists from the "Dutch" scene). First one was a duo with Onno Govaert (who just released an album with Cactus Truck on the Polish NotTwo label) and was really interesting. This piece was full of drive and energy with a nicely build tension. For the second piece Matiss Cudars (on guitar) was invited to the stage for a trio piece, where they went for a more deep approach, and for the last piece Kaja played a duo piece with Matiss Cudars. All in all I had a great evening!

The William Parker quartet and Fred Anderson come to my mind immediately.

Yeah, that one has my first interest also. And I have to say I'm also curious for the Pavone album with Matt Mitchell and Tyshawn Sorey

great choices, you're in for three treats there. The Anker trio also have a very good release on Leo Yes, I'm very happy with my purchases. The Bill Dixon was on the wishlist for a long time, so time to finally pull the trigger. As for the Bradford/Carter, wanted to initiattely go with Flight for Four, but chose this one instead (sort of an impuls, but maybe also triggered by the thread on this forum). And as for the final album, the Taborn and Cleaver tandem can do no wrong in my book, and Anker is someone I wanted to check out for some time now. This album also got five stars from Stef from The freejazzblog.org and that's usually a good indication for me as I ussually agree with his reviews.

The Bill Dixon Orchestra - Intents & Purposes [international Phonograph reissue] Bobby Bradford & John Carter - Self-Determination Music [bgp reissue] Lotte Anker, Craig Taborn, Gerald Cleaver - Floating Islands [ilk Music]

Can't hate on Gilles Peterson! His worldwide show was very influential for me (and I know for many other people initially more into house/hiphop/broken beat etc.) regarding getting into jazz.

Just finished "The Red and the Black" from Stendhal. Very strong book about the son of a peasant, living in post-napoleon times, trying to work his way up the social ladder in a Machiavellian manner. And now something a bit lighter, "Encounter" from Kundera. A collection of observations and reflections on artists and art. Very enjoyable to read so far, and I think Kundera's observations are many times an interesting view of perception.

My first 2015 batch: Eve Risser / Benjamin Duboc / Edward Perraud - En Corps [2012, Dark Tree] Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio feat. Jeb Bishop - The Flame Alphabet [2013, Not Two] RED Trio + Nate Wooley - Stem [2012, Clean Feed] Daunik Lazro / Joëlle Léandre - Hasparren [2014, NoBusiness] Riverloam Trio (Olie Brice / Mark Sanders / Mikołaj Trzaska) - Inem Gortn [2014, FMR]

Interesting! Would be nice if he would record with this band. I have to say that I also really liked his collaboration with Maria Farantouri from a few years back.

usually à double espresso and a bowl of low fat yoghurt with cruesli and/or à banana.

Congrats!

Yes, best wishes for everyone!

My biggest resolution is to read more books on philosophy and history. I didn't go to University or really had any philosophy/history in the study I did do, but it always interested me on a basic level. After reading The Rebel from Camus last year I decided I really should plunge in it more. I think my primal focus in the beginning will be the three classic Greeks (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) and furthermore people like Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rawls, Jaspers and Sartre. History wise, I will start focusing on Europe and Russia and primarily from the enlightenment on till now, as that is where my interest lies most at the moment. Next to this I also finally want to tackle Ulysses in 2015 and maybe also start with Proust if I can find a decent copy of the first book for a reasonable price. The Musil book was actually in my "buy" bucket last week when I ordered books from some Christmas certificates, but last minute I decided to change it for Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy. For me, I wouldn't read it for the characters but for the description of the morals, values and the "zeitgeist"at that time in history in Europe. From what I understand from people who read this book, his descriptions are painfully accurate and still very relevant today. If there ever was book, underlining the importance of the European Union ( vigorously questioned by more and more people today in the EU) this book is very good candidate.

For me it would be: Albert Camus - The Rebel - 1951. (This one made an immense impression on me. As someone who is not philosophically/academically schooled, I can't say that I understood everything, but sometimes you know you're just reading something very special without fully grasping the entire meaning of it. This is a book I will come back to very often in the future is my expectation. Many observations, sentences and ideas just felt so sharp and true, they really hit me in the face big time) Leo Tolstoi - War and Peace - 1869. (Tolstoi's ideas, his detailed description of characters and history, and beautiful prose, really make this novel rightfully one of the masterpieces of literature). Venedikt Jerofjev - Mosow to the End of the Line - 1969. (praised as the ultimate "drinking novel", and I can't agree more. About a man who steps on the train and starts drinking; and after that drinks some more (and then some more). Oh yeah, and in the meantime he talks to his fellow passengers, touching on many aspects of (Russian) society, life and the soul. First coherent, but the more the alcohol flows the more vigorous, disconnected and rambling it gets. Also a great book if you want to find some inspiration for making cocktails (it does help if you have a death wish in this case)). Rob Riemen - The Eternal Return of Fascism - 2010. (Very insightful essay from Rob Riemen about the constant presence of (beginning) fascism in our society, and also our fear/cowardice to address this. In the Netherlands this book/essay caused a lot of discussion because with this essay Riemen clearly addresses to the PVV (Dutch right wing "freedom" party of Geert Wilders), who was involved as a "gedoogpartner" (I don't even know if there is a correct English term for this typical Dutch construction) in the government at the time he wrote this. Because of this essay, the PVV demanded all government funding to the Nexus Institute (founded en led by Rob Riemen) would be stopped. Louis Couperus - The Books of Small Souls - 1901-1903. (My favorite Dutch writer with regards to prose (he's the Dutch Tolstoi if you will).These four books (which I read as collected works) are all masterful novels of a Dutch "High Society" family in decline. All the money, posturing and all their important acquaintances, can't hide the fact that deep down inside they all have pitiful small souls.)