David Ayers

Maybe one thing you were getting at is the extent to which younger musicians work with and think as composers. Not so much motive and opportunity any more perhaps. In that case though there's not a straight comparison between an improv duo and a group realising a score. Improv gigs often do fall short in terms of organisation. Even if musicians mostly now avoid the cliched pattern of intensification and climax, they find it hard to avoid episodic structures and routine transitions (fast-slow, loud-quiet, high-low). People who avoid even that take other risks. So, the role of composition. Then again, The Chicago Tentet reckon their gigs are much better after they abandoned scores.

I don't think Laubrock works with climaxes in that way. That's why these "climaxes" just fall in the middle. It is not the same to turn this into a question of predictability vs unpredictability. The people you mention repeat themselves a lot, it seems to me. But in any case, the question was not is Laubrock as good as Braxton - though I guess when she plays with him she plays according to his concepts. There are residues of jazz showmanship in improv. I think it's exaggerated to talk up these elements much in IL's various approaches.

I just don't follow the link between the energy players who are being mentioned and Laubrock, who doesn't play like that at all. Maybe Allen and epistrophy could reference some recent recordings of Laubrock you have in mind?

I had the lps - though weirdly I can't remember handling them - and though I was never that enthused I replaced them with the cd set. I think the lps with solos edited out and a restricted selection of tracks were a better proposition. More is not better in this case.

The things I've heard Laubrock do don't fit these descriptions at all.

I didn't listen to the samples but I've heard IL and I have her down as not a squealer though she does make the same organised use of higher registers that she makes of all registers. There's plenty who do squeak and squeal, I know, but I've got IL down as a different case.

Ok missed that - looking for pictures. Got the two titles I want there.

Anybody know what this is?

Amazon uk now lists the second volumes (Apple want me to say 'voles') of Garden and Santa Cruz, with a 20 November release date.

I'am surprised you were ever interested given this post. Quote:"Coltrane and Ayler both put me to sleep - their music is like a lullaby, without fail. Even things like Ascension." They are so *sentimental*... but that's jazz, I suppose...

Yes. Although there is nothing like something being easily, cheaply and continuously available to make you realise you don't!

i didn't know this label was still going! I associate it with a bunch of 90s releases but I see they have been pushing stuff out, now from France instead of (was it?) Sweden. I don't think they have UK distribution - might be wrong, but now I look at the site I don't really recognise any of the titles after the original releases which are uniform in appearance and were around, at least for a while. Despite OliverM's remark, it seems to me there are endless labels promoting improv of one kind or another - part of the problem may be market competition.

Heck, Pomegranate is on my streaming service by now...

Well, you're right about that. I reached a tipping point.

Amazon CD purchases for 2015: 2 Strictly store or direct purchases for me now. That means very few purchases but less is proving more as far as I am concerned. And streaming makes up the gap on sampling, hear-and-forget, and background listening. Good way to go.

Haven't broken one yet, but the nerves jangle in those moments when you finally get round to the seventh disc of a set that by now is long OOP...

Maybe they were just 'lost' as in I've lost my glasses - oh, wait a second, here they are on my head.

I hope it's a boot. Otherwise we will have nothing to talk about.

Gave up on that some time ago... I guess it is exporters who are affected, but it is only at the level of this kind of flea-market stuff that the shipping looms large percentage-wise, I should think.

The morning is a dead loss for me too, though I don't have much time to read or post these days.

Indeed, jazz reissue CD's are alive and well in Japan. Blue Note just had a bunch of interesting titles reissued the last two months there. When's the last time they reissued catalog titles in the US? 2009 or something like that? I just bought a bunch of Japanese jazz reissues from FOPP in central London for £3 a pop - a big discount on the £20+ I remember such Japanese reissues costing. Hello, Simon Weil!! A long, LONG time... so good to see your name pop up in a post here.

Tom Rainey trio with Halvorson and Laubrock, Hotel Grief, due soon on Intakt.

Despite the usual sniping, the Mitchell set offers rare value at its current pre-order price on amazon.co.uk.

http://www.marlowetheatre.com/page/3120/Empty-Room-Work-In-Progress/957 A pieced-together story of two jazz musicians and their love, addiction, depression, death and above all the music that is the salve of all these things. Told through song, monologues and a violin, this is a piece exploring solitude, survival and the uplifting force of music. Devised and performed by Miriam Gould, music by Rachel Gould, Sal Nistico and Bach, with thanks to the Battersea Arts Centre and Alex Scott.