Martin

Here is the link to the Ictus Records website: http://www.ictusrecords.com/ You see, there is MUCH more to explore than just the 30th anniversary edition. CD boxes all over...

Considering the replies, and I support most of the above suggestions, you should! P.S. I also love a lesser known but excellent record Paul Bley Trio, on Radio Canada International label, recorded in Montral 1968, with Mario Pavone on bass and Barry Altschul on drums That one is hopelessly oop, I guess?

More than once I was told that CD-Rs with a black downside surface are better than others - more durable, less susceptible to clicks and glitches, more readily accepted by different players and so on. Anyone else out there besides myself who uses them?

It is their fourth album.

I was at the release party 4-5 months ago (with shy arts student girls who designed the covers for the CDs in the set in attendance). I like Tarasov, one of my favorite drummers, but I am not sure I really need 11 of his solo drum discs. Will I get this set? Surely I will. Eventually. (If the price is no more than USD90.) Did I mention that the set was sponsoired by The Ford Foundation? I find it quite amusing (and admirable). I'm presuming this is mostly previously released material. Not sure if I need 11 CDs of solo percussion either, but I'll buy it anyway, especially if is as well done as past major undertakings by Leo (ie. Document, Conspiracy, Divine Madness). Well, I don't have any of the previous large Leo boxes, but this one is very handsome. IIrc, all but one discs are previously released (and still available individually). Three of the CDs and the DVD have not been released before. I do not think the eight CDs previously available on Sonore are easy to find now - officially they have been OOP for years. This is NOT 11 CDs of solo drums/solo percussion! Some of the discs even are not solo Tarasov. As to the design: This is NOT a Leo release, but a Long Arms release, although it seemingly is a co-production of the two labels with Leo being clearly in the second place. At least the version I own has got nothing to do with the usual (large) Leo CD box design... maybe Leo is going to release a different version? (which I do not expect them to do, but what do I know).

It probably will, Gary! I got my copy just yesterday!

I did, I did! The order was received in two days - all as ordered. I went through the discs only once - I will post my thoughts after I spend more time with them. So far, let me note that there is some KILLER stuff there. ← I'm completely amazed. I have never had any positive experience with ordering from FMR. Must be ME... Д.Д. and everyone else, have a look at the updated new releases page of FMR - tons of brand new and forthcoming stuff...

If I remember correctly, a few weeks or months ago some funny rats posted they were going to place orders at FMR records. Did you actually do? And did you get what you ordered?

I recommend to anyone interested in this kind of music to grab a copy of the "Assumed Possibilities" (music on the borderline of free improv and eai). A genuine collectors' item - and this may be the only chance to get hold of a copy at all (the CDR has been OOP for years now!).

Nuovi Sentimenti is available on CD as part of the Gaslini anthology on Soul Note.

Thanks a lot for your kind offer, Д.Д. When/if I am going to add Pentagramma titles to my collection, I will get back to you... For the time being, I am a bit reluctant as to buying Pentagramma CDRs. I already own two of them: the Letov/Smith CDR, which has scratching noises from beginning to end, and the Letov/Ponomareva CDR. My original copy of that one stopped in the midst of the last track, and Improjazz (where I purchased the item) did not have a replacement copy in stock. I then wrote to Sergey Letov who sent me an OK copy for free (the one and only time I got a CD directly from Moscow!).

Alexandrov made Munich his home some years back, does anybody know if he is still living there? Don't know if he has any recordings out at all past 2000... Д.Д., I guess you purchased your Pentagramma CDRs from Sergey Letov directly? Apart from Improjazz (which have/had a limited stock of some Pentagramma titles) I do not know of any European distributor for the label...

AFAIK, the TriO CD with Sainkho is from 1998. There are more recordings by TriO on Sergey Letov's own CDR label Pentagramma.

I'm not too excited about this one. Quite one-dimensional.

The Carl/Johansson duo has been a well established group in the European free improv scene for many years. Their 1997 concert series in Sweden yielded two more CDs (CDRs, that is), out on Johansson's own label: "Stockholm 97" and "At Galleri Anders Tornberg". Both are somewhat better than I expected, and sound quality is quite ok.