T.D.

I know the label mainly through youtube. I like the UJ+RE material and would purchase some at reasonable prices. There's quite a bit of jazz-rock with other headliners, e.g. Nucleus, that I haven't heard. The only physical material I own is a CD of Meditation on a Landscape - Tagore by Dauner and Charlie Mariano. I like it a lot, but it's arguably meditation or "mood" music. I expect there are a lot of similar things on the label, probably quite a bit of dreck mixed in, but I haven't spent that much time looking on youtube. Plum Island by Charlie Mariano is quite good, but does venture into mood/smooth territory at times and I wouldn't purchase it. I suspect that aside from the jazz-rock stuff it's a mixed bag. I've been meaning to explore the Dauner solo albums, but haven't started yet because I expect some duds are mixed in (I'm not so fond of his electronics). I think the label was a cool project and am surprised it went on for so long. But the paucity of available reissues and downloads probably says something.

Sorry. Didn't know the terminology. Thought it'd be weirder.

Thanks. Not being familiar with the usage, I thought things like counterpoint, retrograde, and even serialism might qualify. If we extend "maths" to "probability", even some of Xenakis's stochastic music (which I think is mathematically -at least- lame, having seen some simplistic underlying FORTRAN code).

I'm a nerd and former math major. If there's "math jazz" I'd like to hear some. Although I don't love a lot of the music classified as "math rock". I'm not sure what "math classical" would consist of. Some candidates (microtonalists, Nancarrow) I like, some ("New Complexity") I don't. Would Feldman qualify based on weird time signatures?

I think what imprinted on me is a ('70s) Xanadu album California Hard by Dolo Coker. It's kind of a lemon: Coker (unfortunate surname for a jazzman 😁) can play but was supplied with a Richard Alderson (producer) trademark way-out of tune piano, and Frank Butler plays an interminable boring solo on one tune. The drum solo on #7 is slightly reminiscent of that one. Butler is very good on the old Curtis Counce Group recordings, for instance.

This might be rough and a mess in some ways, but if so it's a glorious mess.

PJJ is my preferred drummer with Elmo Hope, but I own that album with Butler (and a bunch of WCJ / Xanadu titles with him), so the BFT cut rang a bell. "Busy" isn't always a pejorative term for me...I use it positively for Jack DeJohnette, for instance, and often like Butler.

Motivated by another thread on the forum.

Having fun so far. Partial, since my long attempts often disappear before I can post: #1: Thumbs up. No guess, though some players sound familiar. The arrangement suggests the Jazztet, in which case maybe I own it, but no particular album comes to mind. #2: Big thumbs up, even though I'm not a big fusion listener. Enjoy the electric piano. And the 'bone (a lot), which confuses me because I can't think of any big fusion trombonists. Phil Ranelin would be a knee-jerk guess but I don't think it sounds overly like him. #3: Good and pleasant to listen to but not a knockout. No guess, but will probably kick myself upon ID. #4: Thumbs up. Peeked but wouldn't have been able to guess. From an album I've considered buying at various times but never picked up. Big fan of the pianist. Sometimes question the reed player's straight-ahead efforts but dig him here. #5: OK but not a standout. No guesses. Don't love the saxist. #6: Mild thumbs up. Saxist boring in some places but also occasionally interesting. Sax vaguely Middle-Eastern sounding from time to time, which suggests some phase(s) of Shepp, but doesn't really sound like him. No guesses, but expect a forehead slap on ID. #7: Big thumbs up. Being a fanboy of the leader I of course own the album. I like the drumming more than felser: have many recordings with him, very recognizable and often excellent, but tends to overplay on occasion. Back later with the rest. Thanks. Welcome diversion on a day with crummy weather.

OK, the drummer on #7 is good but kinda busy, so Frank Butler came to mind and the album is clear. #4 from this

Thanks. #7 unmistakably (in my feeble opinion) an Elmo Hope tune . Computer sound system @ work is terrible, so I don't recognize the recording straight off, and it might even be a cover by somebody else. Will look through the collection when I get home.

After about 10 days of s**t cold rainy weather, this improves the mood.

Strongly agree on all of these. Iberian Waltz is my favorite of the Sadao recordings, but all 3 are good. +1 Mark is onto something here. 😉 Dear John C. is a great album. I'm weird, but have enjoyed Mariano's Eastern-related music that I've heard (which isn't all that much). This for instance:

Don't ask me...I've almost always been way way behind the curve. 🤣 There were a few years when I was reasonably in touch with the New York-centric "new music" scene, but that was when I lived nearby and went to a lot of events. IMO "the curve" often has a big degree of regionality. Someone UK- (probably more specifically London-) based would be a more reliable judge.

After a stressful period of work, I thought I deserved to continue the BYG / MPS splurge: Paul Bley, Ramblin Don Cherry, Mu First Part and Second Part Archie Shepp Blase Burton Greene Aquariana Volker Kriegel Inside/Missing Link

By the standards of the genre in which he works (let's say "new music" / "contemporary classical") I'd say "Yes". Sunday (London, I presume) Times review ain't chopped liver. He's recorded for NMC, also indicating a level of acceptance by the UK music establishment. And I'll optimistically infer that performing at Cafe Oto (which IMO is extremely cool for a "classical" composer) plus the Bandcamp blurb shows some popularity with audiences.

For US buyers: Dusty is showing both Mike Taylor LPs for July 25 arrival, but is not (yet?) indicating prices or preorder availability.

I like all periods of Pepper. Probably listen to the (late) live Vanguard package the most. I've read Straight Life, twice even, and still crack it open periodically to revisit certain passages. The main thing that struck me is that Pepper was (OK, came off in the book as) just about the most extreme addict/addictive personality I've ever seen (and I've seen quite a few). With all the accompanying personality defects. Likely also some inferiority complex / fear of being "not good enough" as a musician. The latter came off vividly in some racial encounters in Straight Life, but also non-racially in (Laurie's iirc; at work now so can't check) liner notes to the Vanguard box (which related how Pepper responded to the insecurity by snorting massive amounts of coke in the hotel each night). I also find Pepper's audience patter in the Vanguard set preternaturally assholic, which ties in with a lot of the behavior chronicled in Straight Life. [Regardless, I believe he was an excellent musician. Plenty of high achievers in all fields are/were not exemplary figures.] Anyway, I'm inclined to think that his life trajectory was the (scary) result of personality traits and not a conscious art (pun?)-related choice.

That one's pretty good.

Never heard of him until now. I've gotta demur for the moment. His wiki page dropped the term "New Complexity", which is an area I spent some time on 20-30 years ago but wound up throughly disliking. Couldn't make it through much of the first clip because it reminded me of a Richard Barrett piece (Vanity) that I once had on CD but culled. Listened to bits of others, and Paxton at least has playfulness and a sense of humo(u)r, which are qualities lacking in N. C. KInd of enjoyed the (mostly) chamber piece, but overall I'm not much into his soundworld yet. IMO there definitely was a big Eastman revival involving a lot of performers, groups and composers. Never thought about what kicked it off, that's an interesting theory.

Beethoven now, maybe Schumann later.

Thanks. That is an excellent and unusually expressive AAJ review. Although that site's coverage is wide, I don't usually pay much attention to their reviews : while well-written, they rarely express strong opinions and often come off as "polite" or cookie-cutter IMO. Possible experiment: If this album is placed on the same shelf (or hard drive sector) as Andre 3000's 7 piano sketches opus, will some kind of bizarre chemical meltdown or spontaneous combustion occur?

Big "loft jazz" enthusiast, so looking forward to this one! And on Thursday to boot (better than Sunday). I was there last Thursday and it's nice to have the kitchen open. The .png and design .jpg aren't displaying, btw.