colinmce

I'll take it.

i’m at a loss as to how to encompass the breath of his music— so many recordings over so many years of such immense quality. it will just have to be here forever, because we will never see another like him again.

Unsure of his health, but I don’t think he’s played for several years now. The last recording I know of is from Café Oto in 2017.

There are not. After this (with the exception of Rising Tones Cross) the next most recent Gayle recording I know of is the 1987 duo with William Parker on the Centering box. Then in 1988 he begins his recording career. I once read a news article about him that I think was from the 1970s, but I'm not able to turn it up right now. It had a lot of background about his involvement in music and education in the Buffalo area in the 60s and 70s, giving you a sense of what he was up to and who he was playing with (I think he even had a semi-steady group for a time), but it seems most of that is lost to the ether. This is just a layman's theory that I have never put to the test (and honestly I don't know that I'm capable of doing it), but I've come to feel that Gayle may be the only saxophonist in this idiom that does not have a basis in either late Coltrane or Ayler-- I am trying to think of another that I can't at least tangentially link to those streams and I'm coming up short (Arthur Doyle's approach is obviously quite sui generis but I do hear a lot of 1966/67 Coltrane there).

No, the Arkestra has still played consistently since his passing as a community organization of sorts, so he's certainly not there but in spirit.

No, it's a bit confusing, you have to click through on each track to see when it's from-- the other tracks on the set are from 1971, 1981, 1995, 2009, and 2019. The label is The Village, same one that did the Tapscott/Session LP and recent PAPA 12"

Very intriguing recording on this new Pan Afrikan People's Akrestra retrospective LP. A ca. 1961 recording of a Tapscott small group with this lineup. On a cursory listen it certainly does sound like it could be Jimmy Woods, but I'd wonder if anyone here could make a more positive ID: Arthur Blythe - Sax Jimmy Woods or Guido Sinclair - Sax Lester Robertson - Trombone Horace Tapscott - Piano David Bryant - Bass Bill Madison - Drums *This configuration is a likely band based on existing information https://panafrikanpeoplesarkestra.bandcamp.com/track/the-golden-pearl

That's an awesome disc, just about as close as we can get to imagining the not-to-be ESP album. He seems to be a controversial player but I don't find him boring in the least. At his best he's among the most riveting musicians I've ever heard. Just my opinion though.

Wonderful short documentary featuring DG playing, teaching, talking and painting with a cameo from our own Jim Sangrey:

I bought these Relative Pitch albums, and agree that Crying In Space and Blue & Sun Lights are both fantastic. The former in particular is one of the best blowout albums I've heard in quite some time. Everything just locks in perfectly, it's really something special. I'll spend more time with Fata Morgana but that was really nice as well. This label is on a roll; the last couple years there have been a lot of underwhelming solo albums and not many I've wanted to spend time with since the earlier days of the label. Now nearly every one is a must-hear for me. I can't think of a better contemporary imprint right now. -Want to also give a special shout-out to the new Rempis disc SIROCCO with Mark Feldman & Tim Daisy. It's just incredible, high-level playing from the jump that never flags. -Taborn/Léandre/Maneri - hEARoes on RogueArt is predictably great -Some phenomenal things on the horizon from Not Two: a 3xCD Steve Swell box, Zlatko Kaucic/Elisabeth Harnik duo, and a Joëlle Léandre bass duet with Vinicius Cajado: https://www.nottwo.com/new-releases -A friend recently pointed me towards this one. Three very strong sets of free improvisation across 3 CDs, which I'll definitely be grabbing at some point: https://newwaveofjazz.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-plusetage-volume-1 -Really enjoyed this Caroline Kraabel/Neil Metcalfe duo album: https://carolinekraabel.bandcamp.com/album/march-cd -The Infrequent Seams label is really heating up lately. I really love the Elliott Sharp/Richard Teitlbaum/Andrew Cyrille album and the Roper/Streb/Feeney tape; looking forward to checking the JD Parran/Mark Deutsch duo: https://infrequentseams.com/music -Lastly for now, I've been digging into the offerings from this newish UK imprint. The Beresford/Angharad Davies album in particular is great: https://shrikerecords.bandcamp.com/music

To be clear, the quote was about Ran Blake, not Jordan. I think he was pretty far past 27 at that point. Not sure who the other players on that session were, but my money would be on NEC students, possibly Jon Hazilla on drums. There is a Ran Blake bio coming out soon (that deserves its own thread, and to keep this conversation on topic) that will have a full discography, hopefully including unreleased sessions.

From the notes to the Clifford Jordan CD: "His discography now numbers 27 records, with two more waiting to be released-- including another Mapleshade, Ellington's Attic, a piano-trumpet-sax-guitar-drums session"

Got the disc today. very nice, thick booklet with comments from several participants. There’s an unreleased Ran album in the Mapleshade coffers btw …

Really looking forward to this one.

I got a little inside info last year about this one (and one other one not involving John), exciting to see it finally coming. https://www.npr.org/2023/05/31/1179098682/john-coltrane-eric-dolphy-village-gate-1961-lost-album

Yep, placed an order this morning and already have a tracking number.

They also have a CD of Glass Bead Games in stock. Not sure what the status is now but for years that was real tough to find.

There are some Coleridge Perkinson type things on a couple tracks, and a couple featuring recitation by David Smyrl. So there's not a lot of soloing on it, no. But still a cool artifact and a good listen imo.

It somehow flew under the radar that this unissued 1974 Strata East session has been released by Clifford Jordan's widow, Sandra Jordan, who assisted in transferring the original tapes. lineup as follows: Clifford Jordan, tenor Dick Griffin, trombone Bill Hardman, trumpet Charlie Rouse, bass clarinet(!) Bernard Fennell (a.k.a. Muneer B. Fennell/Muneer Abdul Fataah), cello Stanley Cowell, piano Sam Jones, bass Bill Lee, bass & arrangement Billy Higgins, drums Donna Jordan Harris, Kathy O'Boyle, Denise Williams, Muriel Winston, and David Smyrl, vocals & recitation you can buy the CD from the Mapleshade website. it's also on streaming services. https://shop.mapleshadestore.com/Clifford-Jordan-his-Friends-Drink-Plenty-Water-CD_p_1498.html

In my experience, Forced Exposure and Wayside get the RogueArt stuff first. Squidco and Dusty Groove are usually a bit behind them.

I wouldn't argue with that. The form has been worked through and the possibilities have been exhausted, it took about 50 years all told.

Good news, both of those albums should always be in print.

This is a pretty obscure one, there's is also a Fresh Sound 2xCD of 1981 live recordings called Live At Carmelo's Jazz Club with a decidedly more all-star band including Sal Nistico and Shelley Manne. Have you heard that? If so how would you rate it against Steppin' ?

The great and rather mysterious alto player Claude Lawrence has a wonderful youtube channel that features his playing and painting. He has only a few recordings with The Last Poets, Sirone, William Hooker, and an underheard trio date on CIMP with Wilbur Morris and Denis Charles. https://www.youtube.com/@clawrencemx/videos

Finally got my copy in hand. The sound is great, less airless 80s sounding than the LP, the balance is perfect and very natural. Denis Charles' drums sound fantastic but it's especially great to have such clarity on Rafael Garrett, whose mature playing is far too sparsely documented.