Steve Reynolds

I think that Rollins playing on that track with Ornette is tremendous while I think Ornette is not quite with it. So at 80 he could have hung with Hamid do maybe he still can. I have always wanted to hear him with a great NOW drummer

Albert Ayler: Spiritual Unity Giuseppi Logan Quartet both recent and fairly recent ESP re-masters Art Blakey and The Jazz Messengers: Indestructible

Ten years ago I said Hamid Drake Today I still say it needs to happen at least once

I posted elsewhere but it needs to be said that the 51 piece with Drake, Laswell etc. is pretty damn great. hit or miss for the rest of the set to these ears so far

fwiw, despite the compact size, I love the venue as there is nowhere else to see a band that is quite so intimate. Nothing like a great drummer on that little stage and me within 10 feet.

And I haven't seen him since around 1998 or so when he was in a quartet with John Tchicai, Paul Smoker and I think, Adam Lane on bass I remember it was a very strong show with Tchicai on tenor saxophone And next Thursday in the same place will be Open Loose with Malaby, Helias and Rainey. For sure one of my favorite bands, and the one when Rainey really lets loose

I'm ready for the trio with the Great Barry Altschul

I like the 1977 Hartford 3 CD set. I also like Dead Set from 1980 but my favorite stuff is up through 1974 or so as well

I've never seen the pianist nor have I ever seen Louis Sclavis or Larry Ochs so there is no way I miss that night. Plus I try never to miss Hamid Drake. He may be the same guy playing what he plays but for whatever reason to me it always sounds brand new every time.

great points, Allen

I like this line from Allen: "1) there are a whole lot of tired improvisers - beboppers play the same things, the free players are lazy and repetitive in their approach and reportoire." I may think about this when i go to only 1 of the nights of Vision Festival. Besides my dark period (if I can be so self-centered) of 2003 or so until maybe 2009 or 2010 when for various personal reasons, I could not or would not and therefore did not attend more than a handful of live music performances, I would think that *I* am really the audience that something like the Vision Fest should be nurturing and gearing their program to. Yet - besides one or two slighly inspired chaoices, they pick fine musicians who almost a majority are over 70 and although they usually turn in good performances, in most cases it is little more than "Get Ready for More of the Same" With all due respect, does ANYONE or his brother think that "Hamiett Bluiett and Friends" whoever those friends might be has any chance to be anything other than what we know it will be?? And as far as the free guys playing the same old repetitive approach to their music, there is much truth to that with many of them sticking TIGHTLY to the same small circle of participants. Retrospect shows us that the core groups of musicians for the most part are as insulated from new musical directions as the detested young lions were in the 80's and 90's. And the results in great part are destined years from now to be just as forgettable 20 to 30 years down the road. and the improvisors who may be limited in their approach in many cases deliberatley yet focused to mine that territory or those areas with great passion and integrity (I say Parker-Guy-Lytton fits this bill - their most recent music although it is of the same formula crackles with intensity) seem not to have any real voice at this supposed Free Jazz Festival - egads - has Eddie Prevost ever been invited? Or Alexander von Schlippenbach? yes - over 70, yes - Europeans - but Brotzmann has been there - seems like the committee is simply bereft of any imagination for anything other than Get Ready for More of the Same bakc in the day, they NEVER even had the JOE MANERI quartet on the bill - and yet they had his son a few times - must be some screws loose.....and I always thought when Hemingway's Quartet played maybe in 2000 it was some kind of mistake - I still remember how much better they wetre musically than most all of the supposed legends playing the same thing they been playing since 1970.....and GOD forbid they ever bring a bassist from England (Guy or Edwards) that would expose the limitations of the quote, un-quote downtowner. whatever - I'm in a crotchety space today... then again, if anyone heard the opening nonsense of the yelping and "poetry" at last years event, then maybe it should be obvious and at the same time the supposedly worn out quintet that is In Order To Survive was vibrantly alive and was among of the finest hour of music I saw live over the past couple of years... well going Thursday night to see Barry Altschul and I think he's never been on the list - he's only one of the greatest drummers alive, maybe @ Vision Fest they book another set with Whit Dickey instead.....adn I guess we will never see Randy Peterson allowed on that stage....

I'm just happy I'm able to go see many of the musicians I love play live on a pretty regular basis. Think of it, I get to see Barry Altschul this Thursday live in person! First time seeing him in maybe 15 years. And I'm not taking for granted that I will see the great Mark Helias on bass both this Thursday and next. As far as more people not supporting the great jazz musicians of today, they are the ones missing out

Chuck - if I had a clue and the money and the time, I would love to do it. Maybe Not Two records will do it. First off unlike some other labels, their recordings actually sound like the bands do live. The quintet demands that they capture Randy Peterson in full volume. I'm afraid ECM would castrate the sound of the band. In fact the weakest of the Joe Maneri quartet recordings is "In Full Cry" and it is because it doesn't sound like the band and one wouldn't even know that Randy Peterson was in the band. Of course it is the one Joe Maneri quartet recording on ECM

I realize there is a Mat Maneri duo CD with Lucien Ban coming out

And yet Mat Maneri can't get his incredible quintet recorded and released Best band I've seen over the last couple of years and no CD

Nice post, Allen Many of my favorite improvisers put out way too many recordings Too many of them are poorly produced with sub-quality sound which is aggravating as a listener. When I stumble on the excellent recordings, it is more of a surprise than expected. And yet Mat Maneri can't get his incredible quintet recorded and released Best band I've seen over the last couple of years and no CD

plus Kevin, the only thing you might like more than two great tenors is two great baritones!! glad you went out and caught the show

I think the exposure to crap like Barney's theme has an effect on younger listeners. I do know that i grew up in a non-musical house where the only thing I heard up until I was 15 was probably the Boston Pops and whatever I heard on TV. the first music I listened to on my own was top 40 in the early to mid 70's and then by the time I was 15 or 16, I bought my first LP which was Creedence Gold so I was listening to VERY straight music. I remember being challenged listening to Traffic and yet intrigued and then captivated enough to buy the whole catalogue by the time I was 17 or 18. Many years later I remember the same thing happening when I first heard the voice and the music of Don Van Vliet and then a few years later hearing parts of the Evan Parker 50th birthday broadcast in 1994 wondering why the hell they are wasting airspace playing atonal soprano solo duets with some guy named Stebe Lacy that went on forever with no structure, no rhythm, no melody, or no semblance of anything that resembled music. So for some reason still as I heard a few more things that were out of the mainstream, I went to see the man live up close and personal. and it started the same way UNTIL he got to doing that THING with the tenor saxophone and Dresser and Previte tore it up - and within a couple of years I was all in . So my point may be is that if I heard Evan Parker growing up would have I become a listener early in life rather than at 40 years old? so none of really know, but we do need to try it out on a sample group fo kids.....

looks like a good show, Kevin

why were you surpised to see Michael Moore? because he probably plays more alto saxophone than clarinet? just curious

and probably the same for us! especially for those who have a distaste for the quote, un-quote outer reaches of music..... that music is much easier to be appreciated by those who don't know that it is supposed to be difficult to *get*

OK - received Long Story Short and all I had so far was on the way to work today so the question was for 40 minutes what do I choose? So I listened to the DKV plus which is Kent Kessler: bass; Hamid Drake: drums; Paal Nilssen-Love: drums; Massimo Pupillo: electric bass; Ken Vandermark: reeds; Mats Gustafsson: reeds - 11 minutes of something mostly soft turning into a different kind of onslaught ending with Mats on baritone moaning - nice so then I put on the following for the remainder of my drive knowing I will hear about half of the 51 minute piece: Peter Brötzmann: reeds; Bill Laswell: electric bass; Maâllem Mokhtar Gania: guimbri; Hamid Drake: drums and despite being unsure of believing the 2 reviews I have read that this would be amazing, I am sitting at my desk still dumbfounded by the first half of this turning it off as I pulled into the parking lot at work as Gania started singing again - having heard a few grooves I never thought I would hear Brotz play with, against *and* despite. Laswell and Drake rule the universe please for those who are still a bit bound up..... Let the Horse Go

thanks, and I remember it being a great one!

I'm not the biggest Matthew Ship fan, at times he is invigorating to listen to, while at other times he is overbearing and ponderous at the piano (as he was during the first 30 minutes of the Dunmall quartet during last June's Vision Festival). however, on the two occasions I've seen Michael Bisio, both times I came away knowing I'd seen one of the best bassists in that world of music- the last time with Avram Fefer last fall, he was pretty damn close to unbelievable.

now those above Prestige dates would be something I would buy in one great box set. At one point in time, I had about 90% of them and today, I own none of them. maybe the worst CD collateral damage of any artist outside of Miles and Monk I had from 2003 and 2004 when my CD collection took a large somewhat unexpected self-imposed beating/shrinkage...... I LOVE Blues Book and the live session with Dexter. I also loved the ENJA recording with Horace Parlan - anyone remember the name of it? It had the one long groove based track. I always found about 2 tunes on each record that i would like and they were always the fast/medium tempo with the long emotional solos and I never gave a wit that the solos were close to same as the last one!