ep1str0phy

Alvin Curran on Leave the City (quoted in The Wire): "Oh my god, that's a false MEV. Those are some French kids who robbed the name. They were once with us, they were a bunch of hippies from Paris, they took the name and turned this thing out. It was horrible. It's a bunch of hippies playing flutes. Sorry about that. Ha! I was looking into that one, too (one of the few I could track down). Thanks for the reply, btw.

The BBC report said something about 'dominating' the orbit, too, which sounds a mite clearer (although the jokes are in that one, no doubt).

I'm psyched that the Schlippenbach sneaked its way on there (and yeah, this is a substantially more balanced list than we usually see--though it's got it's share of flaws. I mean, Zappa? Really?).

Maybe you just like red? (Although I've always been a fan of that Patton cover)

Also (off the top of my head): Rahsaan, solo Shepp, Kenny Dorham. He's fairly outward leaning--appears on the more 'progressive' dates of a lot of more boppish musicians. Marzette Watts' ESP and Savoy sessions, also Tchicai's Afrodisiaca (though he's one of many drummers there). Moses is one of my favorite drummers, for sure - also one of Max's, as he dedicated a piece to him that appears on The Long March. I like that Storyville is using the cover art from the International Polydor edition of NYCF v. 1 (albeit differently tinted). Yeah, the previous reissue was pretty garish--a thick, dated font with a half-orgasmic Shepp photo on the cover. Of all the pictures... I used to not be too fond of J.C.'s playing, if only because I always measured him by those live NCYF sessions (where the balance is horrible--completely swallows the subtlety of the approach, sounding like a disoriented marching band). He's been tremendous on everything else, though--and extremely versatile (Powell to--thanks for bringing it back up--those Watts sessions).

Someone here is bound to be in the know (although a lot of internet discographies are in the dark)--anyone have any opinions on the available CD issues of Musica Elettronica Viva material?

The extra tracks aren't quite as devastating as the basic album--they mainly lean toward the progressive Evans, sorta Hancockish vein--but they're well worth having and miles ahead of a lot of stuff from the era (not to mention the bulk of Corea's discography). There is a brilliant degree of tension to these recordings that's hard to ignore.

I'm a tremendous fan of this album--excellent compositions, fine improvising (by a cast of musicians too seldom heard from--some great stuff by the entire lot, including James Spaulding and the late Mr. John Hicks), and a tremendous sense of weight. Essentially all of Billy's discography is worth checking out; this material is of a high level (and has a lot of programmatic value), but I think some of his other work (particularly Sweet Space, recently reissued in a twofer and boasting killer personnel) is just as good--maybe even more enjoyable.

Also (off the top of my head): Rahsaan, solo Shepp, Kenny Dorham. He's fairly outward leaning--appears on the more 'progressive' dates of a lot of more boppish musicians.

Cate Blanchett Blanche Calloway Cab Calloway John Belushi Jerry Bergonzi Jack Bruce

Although I haven't had a chance to really dig into this album (heard but not owned), it comes across as some of the best Hill has ever recorded--in comparison, at least, to the Mosaic Select cuts (with similar personnel). Qamar is more fully integrated into this group than the ensembles on the boxed set, and never have I received a better sense of just how successfully Hill can juggle multiple percussionists. Heavy, heavy shit.

'TLB' was hot garbage & barely listenable. Amazing what hype can do for a record. However, I agree with you about ?uesto. The Roots, now there is a band that has put out consistently good to excellent albums. Can't wait for "Game Theory". With you on the Roots, but what's your beef with TLB? I've heard few with so violent response to the material... Anyway--on the Wynton thing; however it's spun, how/why did he agree to this? I'm looking forward to the album--not only as a fan of Outkast, but as a dabbler in jazz remixes/reworks in general. Massive train wreck potential, but at least we have two consistently challenging artists (whatever the appraisal) working with some prime material. If it blows, I guess we can all shut it up in the 'best left forgotten' closet.

My local record shop is getting a lot of limited edition OJCs in stock--maybe a reaction to the clearing out, I don't know. But I made some hay: Duane Tatro: Jazz for Moderns Walt Dickerson: A Sense of Direction Don Friedman Quartet feat. Attila Zoller: Dreams and Explorations Steve Lacy Quintet: Esteem Gallio/Voerkel/Frey: Tiegel Pierre Boulez: (Schoenberg) Die Gluckliche Hand; Variations, Op. 31; Verklarte Nacht -The Lacy and Tiegel are UMS releases and, apparently, not out yet (allmusic says the release date is mid-September). Both are excellent and well worth getting.

Well, the index # is the same--it's the same album. If there's a print-through problem, then it's generally inaudible; I only gave it a cursory (and probably distracted) spin today, and nothing really jumped out at me (besides--how severe are the LP problems? Other albums with this issue--Ornette's Soapsuds, Soapsuds comes to mind--the CD reissue, anyway--aren't so 'infected' as to be completely distracted).

It's the same band, but I'm unfamiliar with the Chemistry session. From what my research yields, it seems like the same thing. Anyone care to chime in?

Just (today) got a copy of Topography--haven't listened long enough to formulate a cohesive opinion, but I like what I hear (the transparency of the ensemble does the group considerable justice). I got a copy of Air Time, too (a new spin--but that one is hot, no doubt). -On the SME album: nice to hear someone else talk about it. The big band material is sort of plodding in spots, and the small group work veers toward the more conservative at times, but in its best spots (esp. the horn solos on the quintet sides), the music is brilliant.

Woody Woodpecker Gabriel Oak Robert Mapplethorpe

I'd go nuts if this and Ornette at 12 ever got out of the limbo they're presently in. Hopefully, Ornette's got some plans for this and other supposedly long-neglected material (I'm looking at you, possible future boxed set).

This one just announced to be released on Water. Hell Yes. Nice to see Water fanning out a bit.

Agreed on the above--especially the Harriott and Wheeler. Free those puppies (all Harriott is good Harriott, methinks.).

For the sake of discussion (and as it seems to pertain to the disc at hand)--I think it's fair to say that Braxton's methodologies are difficult to find in isolation. His approach come across (to me) as more 'modular' (employing different mechanisms as the whimsy strikes him) with a few central tenets (e.g., the diagrams) constantly reappearing. It is, perhaps, a lot more difficult to get a handle on all the methods and ideas running through Braxton's head over the course of a performance than it is to categorize any particular excerpt as purely improvised or not--on that level, anyway, I'd be interested in knowing just how many recorded performances Braxton has cut full-on blind (that is, with zero preparation or preconditions). Even with Bailey, apparently--a master of pure improvisation--Braxton pre-arranged sound environments.

This is the first I've heard of this--RIP, Duke.

Seconded--the Rutherford-Parker-Braxton album is pure gold--some of the finest, most tasteful, telepathic free improv I've heard on record. -As for Forces In Motion--I haven't read more than excerpts. I'm modestly versed in several of Braxton's improvising mechanisms--enough to appreciate, I think, the formal beauty of much of his work. It's interesting that Braxton has succeeded in integrating free improvisation into his music in degrees (i.e., as a modular or perspectival complement to his other tools). It seems (nowadays, at least) that few artists can deal in freer settings without spiraling into idiomatic cliches (Bailey said so much in the Improvisation book, no? That free improv has become an idiom unto itself?).

New Charles Tolliver? HELL YES.

It would be nice to hear Braxton's (contemporary) viewpoint on free improvisation. Much of his writing--not to mention the available theory detailing his work--is fairly technical and, often, quite esoteric. I have no doubt that any misconception has much to do with the sparseness of Braxton literature (hardly surprising, though--it's as difficult to dissect as any modern improvisational ethos). There's no doubt, though, that Braxton is one of the great formalists of modern improv and, moreover (on a more limiting level) the so-called jazz 'avant-garde'; very much on the level of Cecil Taylor, Braxton's structurally complex, intellectual approach to liberated Western parameters and musical particulars represents as fully developed and individual an organizational conception as exists... well, anywhere. What's important to me, however, is that the conception never gets in the way of 'freedom'--and Braxton's is a liberated, free-wheeling music at heart. In finality, I'm most interested in how different approaches get different results--and precisely why Braxton might think a certain game plan could inhibit his (how you say?) 'free groove.'