David Ayers

Maybe in Huddersfield! Bit of hyperbole there, David. The choice is not as stark as cutting edge 'avant garde' and 'MOR toe-tapping fare'. Most of us need a bit of melody or at least some sort of harmonic anchor that we can hang onto most of the time (which doesn't stop us occasionally venturing out into worlds that have dispensed with or limited their involvement with those features). As for 'the arts'...oh dear. Are they still with us? Would have thought the movers and shakers would have turfed out that particular box long ago. Well to put it differently, I am not sure why the same range and quality available in London is so rarely reproduced outside London. If the limitations are those of budget, then fine, that's just how it is. But if the limitations are those of the ambition of the organisers in developing audiences and in properly serving the existing arts (as opposed to an older generation's hazy suppostions about what imaginary benighted others could ever have dreamed the arts, resting wholly outside their hazily projected Lowry-esque existences, might possibly have once been, in a government-sponsored Age of Heritage and Yore) then - I am going to need brooms, lots of brooms. Oh and the arts are indeed arts and are paid for by arts funding, so if for no other reason than insisting on a stake in those budgets and in the public discourse attached to them, it is worth retaining the term. Like 'education'.

No Cafe Oto for we provincials (though we do now have a Costa Coffee in Worksop!). Seems to be exclusive to you south-eastern sophisticates! Saw Evans at Cheltenham last year, as it happens. Very impressive. Would love to see Fred Frith again - last time I saw him was in Exeter in 1977 towards the end of his Henry Cow days. Well, true on the regional question. London can obviously better support a range of musics. But that said I don't really see why (across all the arts) provincial arts offerings have to be so, well, provincial. I think there is more passion out there for the Friths, Butchers and Gustafssons of this world than for the MOR toe-tapping fare which people are supposed to be satisfied with outside London.

So often on this board we pass over into hype. We want to say Dixon was a great composer, comparable to Webern. For that to be the case we need to be able to point to the compositions (publically circulated) and their performance tradition (other than by their author) and we need to be able to construct an argument explaining in what way Dixon formulated compositional concepts that went beyond the things of which he was a contemporary and inheritor (Boulez, Stockhausen) to the same extent that Webern went beyond (say) Mahler and Zemlinsky, or Schoenberg. Once we have that argument in pace we can discuss it, but until we do there is nothing to talk about. On this board attempts to open such a discussion generally end in abuse and 'ah but you haven't heard such-and-such a CD'. It's like The Wire: everyone who blows a trumpet is Webern; everyone who plays electronica is Stockhausen. In the end the merely good are damaged by this hype.

No festivals for me. I'll be keeping the faith at Cafe Oto. Upcoming we've got Fred Frith, Peter Evans, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, etc. etc. etc. etc. NON-STOP! Who needs those absurd, passéiste festivals...

Yeah no mics except for bass/cello (oh maybe tuba not sure). I agree with all your observations about mobility, dropping in/out, looking for ways to fit in or steer, spontaneously shifting dominant voice/s. I was really excited to hear PN-L for the fist time in person, and in the context of a duo with cello+electronics where the cello served more as ambience than solo line, if you get me - reminiscent of a 'Stalk' with Lasse Marhaug and PN-L (if you know that one). Just burning. So Nilssen-Love is uppermost for me on account of sitting three meters from him during that duet and through the whole concert. McPhee is a friend of the people I was with and we had a long talk with him which added to an amazing evening. I love Bauer by the way and was talking with him - a *great* contributor and the night I was there not only fantastic in the brass quartet but also outstanding in the tentet, not least for a wonderful duet with the superlative Jeb Bishop. The whole thing was just the top of what you can hear anywhere. And they have many gigs to go (next Wuppertal I think they said) so don't miss out!

Since I got back I have been playing the Sonore recordings (Sonore is Brotzmann/Gustafsson/Vandermark). I have got 'Only the Devil has no Dreams' (Jazzwerkstat) and 'Call Before you Dig' (Okka). I especially like the former. I find it easier to understand the performance dynamic between them having seen them together (even if not as a trio but in the context of the tentet). I've also been thinking about how things have come along musically since the earlier days of Brotzmann and McPhee...

Very similar array of instruments in London (including the cimbasso). A blazing gig and also a very generous one.

So did you guys catch PB in Zurich or London and what line-ups did you see? I was at the Tuesday 19th gig in London. They presented two subgroups - brass quartet and cello/drums (Nilssen-Love). I was already a huge fan of these musicians and I was very excited about the whole thing. For the record, the musicians with Brotzmann were: Joe McPhee (Pocket Trumpet/Reeds) Mats Gustafsson (Reeds) Ken Vandermark (Reeds) Paal Nilssen-Love (Drums/Percussion) Fred Lonberg-Holm (Cello) Per Åke Holmlander (Tuba) Johannes Andreas Bauer (Trombone) Michael Zerang (Drums/Percussion) Kent Kessler (Bass) Jeb Bishop (Trombone)

...if it was up and running yet... I guess it's 'coming soon'...

It's the best!

Interesting and thanks for posting this.

Globe Unity's Improvisations and Compositions were recently on Japanese CD, but not the third Japo release, Intergalactic Blow.

It's an intense experience, ain't it? You're telling me. I did lie down for a few hours, but now I have to get up...

Just back from Brotzmann Tentet. I think I need to lie down...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ yeah ~~~ like ~~~ totally cosmic ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ purely medical I hope

Yeah and that CD sucks. Except for the fact it has Spring of 2 Blue-Js on it! It's a muddy needle drop.

Depends how things hit you at a certain time, but I've always loved this for He Loved Him Madly, and for Calypso Frelimo which I heard on the radio way back when and thought: wow. I like it better than earlier electric Miles and I think it is unmissable (well, even if a couple of tracks are skippable).

Well, me either! Thanks! Even so, I don't see why something has to have never been on CD to warrant reissue. The Blake was issued once, a decade ago, for a short time in France and is still only available secondhand at an OK price. It's an album that's routinely listed on Best Jazz Albums polls and it's just plain very good. I swear I'm not being defensive about "my" choice here, I just think this is an interesting angle in this debate. Yeah I agree. It can be subjective too, what feels as if it has been around and how long for. That said, JLH has set the bar high with a record that is fairly classic and has never been on CD. I think really that after Dogon A.D. it might be hard to come up with anything at all. Both those records are not only minor classics but have a reputation which will sell them (that is why I&P has sold like hot cakes).

I maintain that my suggestion of Ran Blake and Jeanne Lee's Newest Sound Around fits the bill perfectly. Is this oop? It was issued on CD in 2001 and is still findable. So why are we asking for it to be re-issued by Jonathan? Then find me a copy for under $100. The LP of Intents and Purposes was "findable". We found you two. Better hurry.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I don't think much of bop piano solos which rely on sparse and usually fairly simple chording in the left hand and simple one-note picking in the right, usually all in the middle register of the instrument. All very pretty but hardly overwhelming. I can enjoy it but I will never be persuaded that it is a technical or musical miracle. I basically said that Parlan can play that style - sometimes by just playing melody in the left and not playing with the compromised right at all - because the technical demands are quite low compared to what is actually possible on a piano. While the single note style imitates the horns as to musical function it really struggles to reach the expressive level of the horns, which is probably why in a quintet pianists get to go third (before the bass admittedly but lets not even GO there...), why early free jazz often dropped piano and maybe - and I am always saying we need to think about this - part of why most people don't care for jazz. I guess its also why for some decades the top jazz or jazz-descended pianists have no longer played that way.

I maintain that my suggestion of Ran Blake and Jeanne Lee's Newest Sound Around fits the bill perfectly. Is this oop? It was issued on CD in 2001 and is still findable. So why are we asking for it to be re-issued by Jonathan? Well this is part of my point - we are asking for things that exist but we missed them when they were in print or we don't like the remastering or we question the provenance etc. That is an interesting title, I agree, but findable. It needs to be things that were never on CD or only on CD in Japan. If Sony want to bring back Lee/Blake in a physical format they can do so as an on demand CD-R, if they want, or just stick it on itunes.

I maintain that my suggestion of Ran Blake and Jeanne Lee's Newest Sound Around fits the bill perfectly. Is this oop? It was issued on CD in 2001 and is still findable.

What step would that be? They went further in reducing or eliminating too-direct references to jazz/blues. I'd say too they were more successful in establishing networks of like-minded practitioners and that too put a real motor on the european improv scene. Did they "Reduce or eliminate" or did they replace it with references to their own musical heritages? I guess Derek Bailey's book - as well as his practice - is the starting point now for thinking about this kind of question. It might be interesting to parse a key recording - say Topography of the Lungs - and see if there is a way to work out what 'really' happens.

Well, all this is long known and well set out, not least in Bailey's book. Regardless of that, my main point was about the higher level of activity and interest in European independent labels in the 70s and 80s which gave US musicians a greater recorded presence than they had in the US. I think everybody knows this, just as most people are familiar with discussion around improv vs free jazz.

Well, it is a well-known argument so I don't need to rehearse it, and I was just mentioning in passing where I stand on that argument in relation to my judgement about the ensuing pattern of accomplishment. Cecil Taylor used to disdain european improv but then he came to Berlin and - crash, bang, wallop - came away carrying Tony Oxley.