Д.Д.

There is an officially released CD by this band, Road Tapes, Venue #2, recorded in Finland just a couple of days after the Swedish show you posted. "Dupree's Paradise" is there, and rest assured that Ponty's solo - as all Ponty's solos inevitably are - is nearly exactly the same there. https://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Road-Tapes-Venue-2/release/5120271

He wrote a doctoral thesis on free improvisation, "A more attractive ‘way of getting things done’. Freedom, collaboration and compositional paradox in British improvised and experimental music 1965-75": http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34533/1/Simon%20Fell%20FINAL%20THESIS.PDF

This is very sad. Love his music - both his unique large-scale works, and his smaller formations (have enjoyed his recent duo with guitarist Richard Compte, "Panazol" greatly, as well as his two great trio groups on the quieter side of the spectrum - ist and VHF). This one is outstanding too: http://www.anothertimbre.com/page50.html (and costs just 5 GBP!).

I don't have access to my CD (the old 2002 Abraxas reissue, not the 2010 ESP one) to check, but the Spotify version (which is copyrighted to ESP Disk) does not have any signs of it being a needle-drop. The sound is actually excellent.

Yes. Good playing, which is consistent for contemporary releases, but surprisingly good singing too.

An outstanding player. Great technique, beautiful sound, good ear for melody. Loved his early ESP / BYG work, some of the best and original trumpet playing in the "freer" idiom. It was great to see him reemerge in the XXI century, "Minimal Brass" (Tzadik, 2005) is a beautiful, innovative work. Still need to get that Rogue Art release with Silva - will actually go ahead and order it right now.

Yes, as a part of this excellent box set: https://www.discogs.com/Various-Jazz-On-Disques-Vogue-/release/9587276

Mark Dresser - Unveil (Clean Feed). Powerful.

Yes. From my experience here in Vienna, Japanese packages sent "SAL" (the cheapest and slowest shipping option from Japan), even larger ones, are very rarely taxed for whatever reason, they probably get at a different customs point. The ones sent by "Airmail" would be taxed 50% of the time. The ones sent by DHL or FedEx would be taxed all the time - in fact, DHL / FedEx wold not even deliver it to you unless you pay the VAT + "handling fee" in advance.

Sticks and Stones eponymous release on 482 Music is excellent. The one on Thrill Jockey ("Shed Grace") is not as good.

A Moers release, Street Priest, available in expanded form (with two bonus cuts) at Bandcamp as of today: https://ronaldshannonjackson.bandcamp.com/album/street-priest-60

http://ihatemusic.noquam.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10466

I guess with this artwork they wanted to convey that this is a fourth generation copy of a recorded radio broadcast.

I like this one more: https://limitedsedition.bandcamp.com/album/ls026-liverpool-bluecoat-concert I have heard most of the stuff Butcher has released and 13 Friendly Numbers is still one of my favorites.

New release on Rogue Art: Butcher - Shipp - Lehn "The Clawed Stone". I strongly prefer Butcher solo, I find his paying so complete that partners only subtract. Well, Gino Robair might be an exception. In any case, I might give this one a try. There is an earlier release by this group, "Tangle", on Fataka: https://f-a-t-a-k-a.bandcamp.com/album/tangle