ep1str0phy

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.'

Been thinking about getting this one--hopefully we get some good discussion later in the week... And yes, as long as this is up--It's nice to hear about the improv maps/game plan for this set (improv strategies are, of course, a whole other realm of study). Considering Braxton's aversion to totally free improvisation, as well as Bailey's taste for more spontaneous idea generation and improvisational momentum (even with the occasional structural foundation), they make for an interesting, if unlikely mix.

Also--saw Bobby Bradford's Mo'tet at LACMA on Friday (three sets--all free). A wonderfully nuanced performance--and for this sort of context, very ballsy (a lot of very free material--and not just in the Ornette vein). It's the Mo'tet of the last few years--Robert Miranda (bass), William Jeffrey (drums), Chuck Manning (sax), Don Preston (piano), Michael Vlatkovich (trombone), and Ken Rosser (guitar)--all the members play in other groups, but there are no wrinkles (i.e.--this is a unity). Extremely enjoyable and nice to see the LA crowd involved in the performance (the southland scene--where it exists--is rather conservative and very limited in scope--and opportunities).

Nice to see that the live group wound up in the studio. Looking forward to this one--a lot.

I saw the last two sets of the Jazz Bakery Sonny Fortune/Rashied Ali duo yesterday... one tune a set (well over an hour); second set was 'Love for Sale,' interestingly enough. I'm far too exhausted to do the full on analysis thing, but it was really, really fun. The two played great--an inside/outside, Coltranish sort of bag (redolent of the Coltrane/Jones duets--more so, strangely, than Interstellar Space), with Rashied at his most masterfully explosive and Sonny as articulate and energetic as I've ever heard him. The crowd was emphatic... and the musicians were very kind/grateful.

It took me far too long to get that...

Brill Building The Platters Eugene Record Eugene Chadbourne Frank Lowe Rashied Ali

I don't think there are any--just a little bit of mischief (well informed, apparently, by ill will). Regardless of Ra's sexual preference or the dyanmics of the Arkestra household, it's a helluva thing to get everyone at the level of tabloid hysteria. For that matter--any real information could at quite a bit to the understanding of the man's legacy (or, for that matter, the history of the 60's avant movement). It's nice to see, on the other hand, so many substantial and well considered comments in the wake of the youmustbe cherry bomb. Kudos, guys (no facetiousness).

i would rather hear roscoe in a solo or duo horn setting far more than anyone else, not to speak of his other settings. period. I think few modern saxophonists--hell, saxophonists period--have as substantial and refined an understanding of not only the mechanics of the instrument, but also its role in different instrumental contexts. Irrespective of the environs, Roscoe never loses the essence of his personality--or, for that matter, that restless 'urge' that marks many of the greatest in the music. He's a giant, no doubt.