ep1str0phy

Kofi Annan John Bolton Miriam Defensor Santiago

Aha, you clever son of a gun. I'm listening to this now. Nice, thanks! Can't seem to get Priester's Love Love and one of the Miles shows. Must be gone. The Eddie Henderson Mwandishi album is on there, too (supposedly), but it can't be downloaded. There are some issues with some of the not-yet-deleted darkfunk downloads--a crackdown, maybe (although Love, Love was there for months after ECM reissued it).

I'm pretty sure this is still on darkfunk, if you look hard enough... ...and this is a favorite album of mine. Extremely low key--especially for this bunch--but it showcases a side of post-Miles fusion/funk that is far too seldom heard. A lot of it is quite beautiful.

I have to admit, I wasn't entirely taken with Machine Gun on first listen--it is a 'splitting headache' sort of side, and it takes a little commitment (and probably a little aesthetic soul-searching) to really get too much from it (sonically). Oh yeah--and I love that marching band theme. Second the enthusiasm for Nipples, although it never had the same sort of effect on me (that nerve grinding thing). Thanks for contributing, guys--I thought Brotz was going to die a quick death here.

Max Roach: Max Roach Trio feat. the Legendary Hasaan/Drums Unlimited AMM: AMMusic 1966 Joseph Holbrooke Trio: The Moat Recordings John Carter: Shadows On A Wall Gary Windo: Anglo American

The Haden/Izenzon band was fairly binary in bass assignments; Haden was his pizzicato stylist, Izenzon the arco (I still hold that few can move the bow like Izenzon--man, he's bad on those trio sides). Although both were fully capable of holding the other position, I suppose that Ornette's two-bass acoustic ensembles just fall most comfortably into the 'role' dynamic.

I'd actually like to know if anyone has compiled a list of the known compositions played by the new quartet (or quintet, when it is). Song X and Lonely Woman, at least, have shown up numerous times--I had no idea about New York.

It's always fun when so-called "landmark" recordings--our canonized stuff--wind up on the AOTW block. We're brought to air--in passionate, occasionally violent fashion--some of the longstanding predilections, prejudices, and, oftentimes, commonalities--I mean, however far out or in you listen, it's nice to know and hear so many people coming to the same place. Even if we can't agree, we can get together, right? Machine Gun, in spite of it all, remains obstinately, perfectly divisive. Perhaps it's because Brotzmann's early work is too difficult to place; it's far too ragged, histrionic, and, well, early to fall in line with the bulk of Euro free improvisation and, at the same time, quite a bit more rough and nihilistic than what the later breed of free jazz players (even, arguably, the Energy cats--although Brotz would find a kindred spirit in Frank Wright, who was as spiritual as any of the later free jazz guys) were waxing in the States. This isn't just a secular, 'ecumenical free jazz'--the music of the far more sensitive, cerebral AACM inhabits that appellation to a far more suitable degree (replete as it is with spiritual, if not religious, overtones)--it's downright atheistic--brutal, scatological, and, at times, almost comically so. Once you get past the pulse of the skronk and the hot, hot, hot, recording quality, Machine Gun is actually quite fun. Maybe that's Brotzmann's contribution to the New Thing mythology: surrendering the God, philosophy, and revolutionary, militaristic phraseology of earlier free jazz in favor of a decisively unenlightened--if unpretentious--aesthetic. Yeah, it's called Machine Gun, but only the sounds are violent--this is, at root, a more final liberation, where thoughts as well as sounds yield to ecstasy... for all of Brotzmann's braggadocio and sledgehammer-subtle discourse, it really does come down to sound. This is Europe to America's Sound (the Roscoe album), anyway. So where are we on this one?

I may have heard the same thing. Is it the one with the Dancing in Your Head motif (they call it Tutti, I think). The band is killin.

Carrot Top Darryl Strawberry Barbara Broccoli

All the Virtuosos are worth it, IMO. Virtuoso 3, however, is a personal, sentimental favorite--it concentrates on originals, far more subtle (read: less flash) than the others. For all the bombast and technique, Pass was, foremost, a remarkably tasteful player... on full evidence, here.

Happy birthday--and yeah, hardly looks his age (nice to see the youthful energy is there, if wiser...).

Homes, Ornette was using this format in the 60's. It's still a mighty shame that the Ornette/Izenzon/Haden/Blackwell group never got a proper album in the can. I just hope the superlative is deserved.

Another reason (not the reason, mind you) I've always maintained for the dearth of pre-50's jazz on lists of this type regards the inception of the LP (and, on a similar level, close-to-album-length EPs)--which, however you look at it, changed the game for the proliferation of recorded jazz. It's both a matter of ethos (i.e., your average Classics album--or any sheer compilation, for that matter--is of a different aesthetic than your set of Blue Notes, Impulses, etc.--any record initially conceived of as an 'album') and accessibility (the lack of 'definitive,' unduplicated albums for important pre-LP artists) as well as generational disconnect and ignorance. My two cents, anyway.

That looks great, actually (wishing for dough).

So it's gonna happen then (not that I ever doubted, but)... the cover looks very Artists House (must be those florescent colors and that subdued, circa-70's font).

(Thanks for the heads up, guys) -It's strange though: the material is very hard to come by for such a historically important group. I have seen some of the IRMLs in store, but, outside of a BYG or two, MEV CDs are scarce. If anyone has any other sources, I'm sure the interest is there...

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.