nathan

Thanks!

Thanks for the responses, fellas. Any thoughts on the content?

I apologize if this has been mentioned of late -- been off the scene for a bit -- but does anyone have any insight on a potential domestic reissue of this session or, for that matter, a review? Very curious, given the date and personnel... Thanks for any illumination! nathan

I would buy this immediately.

The 3 Criss Cross albums I return to most often are: 1. Warne Marsh - Star Highs (w/Hank Jones -- classic!) 2. David Binney - Cities and Desire (one of my favorite recent albums and an amazing band w/ Mark Turner, Craig Taborn, Thomas Morgan and Dan Weiss) 3. Kurt Rosenwinkel - Intuit (bebop tunes & standards -- really nice) I'm also pretty fond of Orrin Evans' Blessed Ones (nice trio date with interesting tune selections and some great Nasheet Waits) and Adam Rogers' Art of the Invisible (it's a little note-happy, but the band is top-notch and the tunes archieve a kind of epic feel that rewards repeated listenings). nathan

I wish I could add something new, but I gotta go with Brilliant Corners, the Bird sessions (I’ve always loved the session w/ The Hymn, etc), Percussion Bitter Sweet, Booker Little’s Out Front (kind of a de facto companion album, IMHO, to Percussion Bitter Sweet) and, maybe most of all, the Herbie Nichols sessions. When I was first getting into jazz, I remember that Max on George’s Dilemma (w/ Clifford Brown) really grabbed me for some reason. The recordings with Nichols really turned my head around on the compositional possibilities of the drum set in a small ensemble, and Roach’s ability to make a major contribution in tight spaces there is incredible. I was able to see Max live with his Brass Group at the Blue Note a few years ago, and while he wasn’t at the height of his powers, it was still incredible to see his profoundly compositional and orchestral approach to the drum set. Really inspiring. Good topic -- quite a few here that I’ve got to check out now! Thanks for the tips. nathan

Thanks for posting that! If a musical orbit that has included, just to name a few, George Lewis, Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, ROVA, The Ruins, Big John Patton, Joe Lovano, Lou Reed, Duck Baker, Ben Goldberg, Milford Graves, and the Kronos Quartet is "limited", I can only say that we should all have such limited musical communities!

Johnny E, sorry to hear that the Amnesia experience wasn’t that great…that place has some issues, not least of which (as you mention) is the fact that it often gets over-crowded without much in the way of bar staff (and let’s not even start on the bathroom situation). That said, I’ve always felt that -- with a few exceptions that stick out like the proverbial sore thumbs -- the straight ahead and free scenes in SF have a refreshing amount of overlap. That has certainly been my experience playing here, where almost every project I’ve ever played in has had a combination of players who fall on either side of the nebulous inside/outside line. I’m surprised that Reptet was made to feel out of place, especially at a club like Amnesia, that almost never has straight ahead jazz (the jam session is the only time). I’m not sure who the dismissive straight ahead players in the crowd were, but certainly Mitch (a true bad ass, in my humble opinion) and the guys in his band don’t fit that description…they all play in free settings, rock-influenced projects, etc. along with what passes for straight ahead jazz these days. Maybe it was just some jam session attendees who need to feel that they’re keeping the True Jazz Flame burning in order to feel justified and validated…who knows? Sorry the Bay Area wasn’t more hospitable to your fine band. As for the Bay Area being a “straight ahead jazz” place…I don’t know. Maybe it was, but whatever the dispensation of players may be, the venue situation for straight ahead jazz is currently lagging well behind venues for more outside projects. nathan

Indeed! Aram is a MONSTER player.

Yeah, while the venue situation is unstable and fairly grim, I would say that the talent pool is deep and a lot of the players have, out of necessity, become very creative at inventing playing opportunities. (The more free jazz oriented scene has been particularly skillful in creating various alternative venues and creative bills.) Anyone visiting for a few days should be able to catch a good gig or two. nathan

I believe all the info from this site feeds to the other site mentioned above, but I've noticed postings go up here immediately, so it may be a bit more filled out: http://www.bayimproviser.com/calendar.asp

Zorn's Electric Masada at Yoshi's last night -- pretty great show! Marc Ribot, Trevor Dunn, Cyro Baptista, Kenny Wollesen, Joey Baron, Jamie Saft and Ikue Mori. They sounded more evolved as a unit than the last time I saw the band, with a lot of Game Piece style signals/conducting tricks in the mix. Great show with nice variety of HEAVY music and downright pastoral pieces (Yatzar was gorgeous). The percussion section was absurd...in a good way. The crowd was very enthusiastic and it was cool to see a lot of Bay Area musicians in the house. nathan

I grew up in Oakland, and I've been to countless shows at Yoshi's over the years, dating back to the Claremont Ave days. I wish them nothing but the best, and the new San Francisco location is certainly a nice place to see a gig. Sadly, I think it's hard for many of us who have been around the Bay Area scene not to see alarming parallels between the direction taken by Yoshi's and the disastrous expansion of another local cultural cornerstone, the now-shuttered Cody's book store. In each case, a costly expansion helped undermine the original location, and in each case the new location selected was arguably ill-considered. I think it's clear that Cody's was misreading their base to imagine Union Square was the right place for an independent bookstore. Similarly, it was clear from comments in the press when the SF Yoshi's opened that they were banking on a dubious assumption that the fact that the neighborhood was once (decades ago) a jazz hub would somehow assure success in the present. BFrank is exactly right about the lavish scale too. I really hope it works out, but I am certainly concerned. Of course, as much as I cherish the club, I would argue that Yoshi's could have done a better job of expanding or solidifying their audience in recent years by making a more serious and creative effort to engage the community of local jazz musicians. It's been a bit of an on-and-off relationship at best, particularly since the demise of regular Jazz in Flight gigs. Of course, I understand the difficulties of presenting acts that are not huge draws in a large, expensive space, but it's not impossible. And, while such a course of action would probably not be an immediate, short term windfall for the club, finding creative ways to showcase local talent and engage the local scene is a good way to increase your appeal with and assure the loyalty of the hard core jazz fans who will stick by you when times are tough and/or Chris Botti decides he'd rather play the Enormodome. All that said, the bookstore clerk definitely gave you a bum steer, Enterprise. There is, thankfully, still a lot of great jazz to be heard in the Bay Area and a deep pool of extraordinary players. The venue situation is undoubtedly pretty dire at the moment, but, for better or worse, that it consistent with the ebb-and-flow that has afflicted the Bay Area scene for at least as long as I've been directly involved in it (since the mid-90s). Here's hoping that the sad demise of a lot of our venues will at least spur some creative solutions in the form of alternate venues and performance opportunities, something that is already happening a bit. nathan

Hey folks, I'm going to be in DC from January 10th-13th -- any locals have live jazz recommendations, in case I'm able to get out? Clubs...specific gigs...whatever. Any tips are highly appreciated. Thanks, nathan

I don't have Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammer or Tom Waits' new album yet, so they're not on the list. They probably would be if I'd heard them. Top 10 jazz/jazz-ish: 1. BEN GOLDBERG QUINTET - the door, the hat, the chair, the fact (crypto) 2. PAUL MOTIAN - On Broadway vol. 4 (winter & winter) 3. DAVE BURRELL & BILLY MARTIN - Consequences (amulet) 4. NELS CLINE - New Monastery (crypto) 5. DAVID BINNEY - Cities and Desire (criss cross) 6. BRIDGE 61 - Journal (atavistic) 7. PAUL MOTIAN BAND - Garden of Eden (ecm) 8. DAVE DOUGLAS QUINTET - Meaning and Mystery 9. ANTHONY COLEMAN - Pushy Blueness (tzadik) 10. BILLY HART - Quartet (high note) Top 5 non-jazz: 1. JOANNA NEWSOM - Ys (drag city) 2. BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY - The Letting Go (drag city) 3. CAT POWER - The Greatest (matador) 4. 7 YEAR RABBIT CYCLE - Ache Horns (free porcupine society) 5. TALK DEMONIC - Beat Romantic Reissues: 1a. GIL EVANS - Complete Pacific Jazz Recordings 1b. PAVEMENT - Wowee Zowee Concerts of the Year: 1. Deerhoof / Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog - 9/5/06 @ Great American Music Hall, San Francisco 2. Bill McHenry, Dred Scott & Ben Goldberg - 4/9/06 @ The Jazz School, Berkeley 3. Sufjan Stevens - 10/11/06 @ Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley 4. Silver Jews - 9/10/06 @ Mezzanine, San Francisco 5. Dave Douglas Quintet - 4/25/06 @ Yoshi's, Oakland 6. Graham Connah Jazz Argosy / Mitch Marcus Big Band - 8/24/06 @ Oakland Metro, Oakland 7. Rashied Ali & Sonny Fortune Duo - 8/1/06 @ Yoshi's, Oakland 8. Aaron Novik's Simulacra & Kipple - 12/15/06 @ Hemlock Tavern, San Francisco 9. Todd Sickafoose's Blood Orange / Myra Melford Group (w/ Sickafoose, Ben Goldberg, Ches Smith & Carla Kihlstedt) - 4/11/06 @ Freight & Salvage, Berkeley 10. Aaron Goldberg Trio - 9/18/06 @ Yoshi's nathan

Yeah, that's where that title is from! Ben's explanation (in his excellent liner notes) of how that title relates to his interactions through the years with the late Steve Lacy (to whom the record is dedicated) is really great and personal. As i said above, I'd give this one my highest recommendation, for what it's worth.

Considering the fact that Andrew Hill, Ben Goldberg, and Nels Cline are 3 of my all time favorite musicians and biggest musical inspirations, I guess I'm the proverbial fish in the barrel for this one, but I still want to take a second to post and say that it meets my sky-high expectations and I'd personally recommend it! I just picked it up, so I'll have to save a more lengthy appreciation for later, after more listens, but I absolutely love it so far. Beautiful playing all around and incredibly smart & creative arranging from Nels. It's great to hear Bobby Bradford on a new album. Ben sounds brilliant as ever (random related tangent: many years ago I had the privilege of hearing him play Dedication and some another Point of Departure tunes with Graham Connah, Vijay Iyer and others at a Jazz in Flight Eric Dolphy tribute in Oakland. It's great to have his take on some of that music recorded for posterity). I'm curious about some of the comments above about these Goldberg's abilities with challenging harmonic material...maybe you guys haven't heard him playing changes (traditional and otherwise), but I'd certainly be happy to point you to copious evidence of his extraordinary abilities with music of incredible harmonic difficulty and structural rigor. He ain't just a free player (hopefully he'll record with his trio that concentrates on Monk tunes at some point, to further set the record straight, if there remains any confusion). Incidentally, Ben Goldberg's own Cryptogramophone release from this year -- The Door, The Hat, The Chair, The Fact -- is my pick for album of the year to date and well worth checking out if you dig this (not sure if it's been discussed on these pages or not). nathan

Last night at Yoshi's in Oakland: Aaron Goldberg's trio with Reuben Rogers and the incredible Eric Harland. Exceptional modern jazz piano trio music...highlights from the set I saw included a clever, fractured arrangement of Epistrophy, an excellent new Goldberg tune ("The Rules"), and a gorgeous Jobim ballad. It was an extremely energetic show -- the audience was really feeling it, and the band sounded incredibly tight. Josh Redman showed up and sat in for a set closing I Mean You that was downright ferocious (and I'm not that much of a Redman fan in general). At the end of the set the crowd demanded an encore, cheering well after the lights had gone up and the band was already chatting to friends in the audience. The trio + Redman obliged. Good night.

sure is! nice to see a fellow vet of the ol' BNBB wars...haha... is "harrumph" a positive review? I assume so, couple with the thumb. cheers! nathan

If you haven't already heard it, don't let this Dylan album dissuade you from checking out the Saft Trio's previous Tzadik album, "Astaroth: Book of Angels Vol. 1" (Zorn tunes). That's one of the very best piano trio records I've heard in ages and one of the few albums that truly sticks out in the recent mind-numbing flood of Zorn Masada releases. Really brilliant music from Saft, Perowsky and Cohen. nathan p.s. - my favorite Dylan jazz version is Marty Ehrlich's great take on "Blind Willie McTell" on his album "Sojourn".

I was there! It was a really outstanding show, and a pleasure to get introduced to Hadley's music. He and his band sounded fantastic, and what a treat to hear Priester sit in on the 2nd. Priester definitely played in a restrained manner, but his choices were sly and deep and he and Caliman had a nice, natural hook-up. It was a blast, and many thanks to you Seattle folks for hipping me to the gig. Tula's was fine as a venue (I took your advice and ate elsewhere before the show). The folks working there were nice enough. Thanks again for the recommendation! nathan p.s. - I had to leave before the last set, so I missed Slow Hot Wind (a.k.a. Lujon) which is a drag, as it's one of my favorite tunes and a tune I play when I do standards gigs.

sounds good. I'm in. I never minded the Vanguard when I lived in NYC. I was worried they might be implying it was more like the Blue Note (to make another NYC club comparison)...high prices/terrible chatty tourist audience/etc. More Zero sounds interesting too (thanks Johnny) judging from their online tunes. thanks all.

Thanks a lot, fellas! So what exactly is the implied downside of Tula's as a venue? I have a friend who was a music student at Cornish -- I'll ask him about Caliman. sounds like quite a few options. thanks again! nathan

Misha! ouch. funny. I like Holland's band, though I think it can get a little monochromatic over the course of so many releases. Steve Nelson is always incredible though. Points of View is really exellent. Personally, I'm heartened by the absence of Kilson, who has a real "gunning for the cheap seats" thing going, particularly when I've seen him live. it's painful. his solos were perversely comical at times...like the drummer equivalent of Charnett Moffett or something. as above: to each his own. I've only heard Nate Smith once, w/ Chris Potter recently. he sounded good. "Jumpin' In" -- which predates this particular group but is somewhat similar -- is a personal favorite. nathan

Hey folks, I think I'm going to be in Seattle for a long weekend in mid-September. I've never been there, and was hoping someone might have some recommendations for local jazz clubs/listings/artists? or anything particularly going on from the 14th-16th? many thanks! nathan