ep1str0phy

Just heard about this one--was listening to 'All Things Must Pass' and 'Plastic Ono Band' as recent as yesterday, actually. So sad, but his music was/is a joy--he'll be missed and celebrated, all at once.

Really, really sad to hear it. Thanks for the sounds, Mr. Ruiz.

Peter Coyote Nero Wolfe Zero Mostel Nathan Lane Orson Welles Dave Foley

Charles Bobo Shaw Luther Thomas Joseph Bowie

I agree that Swallow can come across as a sort of destabilizing element in many contexts (especially in terms of his electric output), but I find his earlier acoustic work to be rather strong (and balanced, for that matter). Basra, Ezz-thetics, and the earlier Giuffre sides are gems (IMO).

Believe it or not...

Sound quality, while not great, isn't that bad, and it's really interesting material. Harper has a feature on "You Don't Know What Love Is" which is pretty wonderful. Only Messengers appearance on recording for Harper, Priester, and Mathews (and Evans, the bass player) as far as I know. -Re: mikeweil--yeah, that's the one. -I've had that Blakey album for some time... sound quality is pretty poor, but the music is of a fairly high quality. Harper appears in the full-on glory of his early years--really fine stuff (although the music doesn't extend that far beyond that of the early/mid-60's combos).

(To continue shilling) the version of 'Priestess' on In Europe is stunning. No doubt, though, those Evans treatments were awesome.

Totally unaware of this, though (regardless) I'd be surprised if Fuel 2000 put in the effort to play into the irony (it would certainly explain the notes, though)... these are the guys who said the Braxton reissue had 'audiophile remastering.' What discussion was this in?

Perhaps someone else grew up with Space Ghost, Johnny Quest, Super Friends, etc.? This cat was the animation designer: Alex Toth -A guiding light of the 'serial image' and a master of a much maligned medium... he'll live on forever in the postmodern/pop culture zeitgeist (and childhood memories, no?).

Anthony Braxton (Actuel): B-X... Benny Carter: Jazz Tribune No. 4 Dollar Brand: Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio (Makaya Ntshoko!) Sonny Rollins: East Broadway Run Down Sonny Clark: Leapin' and Lopin'

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The Fuel 2000 reissue of Archie Shepp's Full Moon Ensemble Live at Antibes invokes Babel Fish-caliber translation to 'preserve the spirit of the times.' Suffice it to say, the liner notes are almost entirely inchoate.

No hyperbole registered here, man--what a great discography! It's just unfortunate that the majority of this material is no longer commercially available. The Billy Harper fan club/website still sells a few prime cuts, but I'm having trouble tracking down some old gems (MPS's Trying to Make Heaven My Home, for one). Of the albums I've heard, In Europe has to be my favorite--there's something about those early years (Capra Black included, no?) that's just so exhilarating--touching, soulful, powerful music.

I remember when my old high school offered the DC trip--skipped it, you know. Too busy playing music.

George Martin Glyn Johns T-Bone Burnett

They can sell the limited edition Conn version at $17.99 list, and then two or three years after it goes OOP, they can turn around and RVG it. Limited, in a sense, but not really. Easy to complain about it, but if that's what they gotta do to cost-justify getting an obscure date into the marketplace, so be it. And if the "yeah, it's obscure, but not THAT obscure" dates somehow underwrite the cost of the reisue of the "yeah, now THAT'S what I call obscure!!" dates (that might otherwise never get reissued), then so be it. They gotta do what they gotta do. Agreed--although it seems (to me) as if the most recent Conn batches have been substantially cheaper than the old ones (roughly $12.99 each).

Regardless of the intrigue, I hope the guy makes it. Best wishes.

I'm actually pretty shocked that this turned into a full-on discussion. Thanks, guys--cleared a lot of stuff up (pretty illuminating about the origins of the "The Cry!" date, too).

I have both too. And I'm afraid you're right. You can hear it clearly when you listen to the CD throught earphones. Quite a bit of background noise on the CD reissue (including some fairly prominent tape 'echoes')--does the LP sound that much better?

Also worth mentioning (and forgetten above): Ornette and Charlie's collaborations on Closeness and The Golden Number. One alto duo, one trumpet; 'O.C.' is marginally less balanced than the Soapsuds sides--somewhat anxious, if typically virtuosic--and the trumpet piece ('The Golden Number') is, again, rather interesting (Coleman's brass skills were flourishing in this period--too bad they aren't so well documented).

Ornette Coleman: tenor saxophone, trumpet Charlie Haden: bass Rec: 1977 ...a delightful, unusual offering by the always compelling dyad of Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden. This album documents Ornette's only full-length album of duet performances, a series of nuanced, emotionally dynamic departures on some new and strange tunes (dig: the theme to 'Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'). The 'freer' duo context is plain and not a little unnerving; there are no easy outs, no trap doors--dangerous work in these harmonically and rhythmically obscure waters, every fluff, clam, and lapse of taste in stark relief. But--our two musicians fly far higher than they fall low, and few other recordings (if any) can match this one as a testament to the expressiveness and exhilirating challenge of Ornette's music. Theme... freedom--and these cats can move, play, fox, and outfox like no one out there. These are whimsical, melodically-rich performances, mini-tapestries of ideas and emotions--and, forgive me for wandering off into superlative, but there's something so weighty and direct about these sides... a thrilling sense of human realism--not quite revolutionary, but 'psychodramatic'--and, frankly, I've never heard either Haden or Coleman sound so real or 'whole' on a single album. There are people here, not just sounds or icons--and I simply can't forget. Notes: this is one of Coleman's few outings on tenor, surprisingly lithe and inviting in these environs (compare to the earlier Atlantic date--among the darker, more distressed offerings in the harmolodic oeuvre). Haden is the perfect equipoise: tough, jaunty, and articulate (in that typically rough-hewn Haden way). Ornette's trumpet--featured on the 'ballad' feature 'Some Day'--never sounded so beautiful, and there's a brightness and fluidity to his phrasing that recalls Don Cherry's more inventive moments.

Chu Berry Eddie LockJaw Davis Huddie Ledbetter Clifford Jordan John Gilmore Art Blakey

Sometimes I feel the same way. 'Helocentric Worlds' was a pretty startling listen for me first time through--somewhat less self-consciously 'futuristic' than a lot of the Sun Ra oeuvre (hewing to the acousting side of things), but spacy in a languid, esoteric sort of way. I still think that 'Helocentric,' in its somewhat less affected approach to Ra's futurisms, is supremely successful in engaging the listener with the emotional 'mood' of 'interstellar space.' 'Solar Myth' is, I feel, midways between 'Heliocentric' and the 'The Magic City'-feel Sun Ra; it superimposes the electric, hotwired freedom of the large group sides over a number of fairly minimal contexts. In this way, too--invoking a lot of space--'Solar Myth' does a fine job of representing the more programmatic aspects of Sun Ra's style... in straddling 'feels,' it may be one of his more engaging efforts.

I just got copies of Lanquidity and The Magic City--stunning, the both of them. There's a lyrical, elegaic side to the Sun Ra spaciness that just gets me really deep. Somewhat tangentially--Marshall Allen: one of the most underrated reedmen in modern improv, or what?