[Nels Cline does Andrew Hill]

I may go Monday.

[Have Guitar, Will Travel]

Save you a little effort, as I already did this.

Assuming these are all the same takes...

1 Swinging at Sugar Ray's - Baby Face Willette "Face to Face"

2 Lone Star Shuffle - Don Wilkerson "Elder Don"

3 Blind Man, Blind Man - Herbie Hancock "My Point of View"

4 Boop Bop Bing Bash - George Braith "Soul Stream"

5 Backup - Larry Young "Into Somethin"

6 Let 'Em Roll - John Patton "Let 'Em Roll"

7 The Yodel - John Patton "Got a Good Thing Goin"

8 Hold On! I'm Comin' - Reuben Wilson "Love Bug"

9 Hey, Western Union Man - Grant Green "Alive!" bonus track

10 Count Every Star - Ike Quebec "Blue and Sentimental

The only one of those I'm missing is "Alive!". I still think this would be a cool disc to have though. And I love the cover!

Thanks.

--On "Alive!"--a lot of people might not agree with me, but those bonus tracks are as good as--if not better--than the original album (a little more dimension, balancing out and enhancing the straight-up "funkiness" of the basic cuts). Spring for it if you get the chance.

-And yeah, the comp does look sorta fun. It would be nice if more people would acknowledge that Grant Green wasn't two guys ("jazzy" and "funky," so to speak).

[Have Guitar, Will Travel]

It will be a life's goal of mine.

Seriously--I don't have a couple of the tracks. I'm not even sure where all of it is from (a few are really obvious--"Let 'Em Roll", "My Point of View", "Love Bug", the "Blue and Sentimental" reissue...) but I'm just blanking on some of it (and I don't have access to all of my collection). I'm actually sort of interested now, actually (maybe I'll do the detective work later).

[Have Guitar, Will Travel]

A few years ago I came across this CD in a store in Germany. It's a compilation of tracks Grant Green played on by other BN artists. Since I hadn't seen it before (or since), I went up to the counter to purchase it. However, the store was the type that kept all of their discs behind the counter in bins, and only had the jewel cases out on the shop floor. Needless to say, they couldn't find the actual disc at all, so I went home without it.

Tracklist:

1 Swinging at Sugar Ray's

2 Lone Star Shuffle

3 Blind Man, Blind Man

4 Boop Bop Bing Bash

5 Backup

6 Let 'Em Roll

7 The Yodel

8 Hold On! I'm Comin'

9 Hey, Western Union Man

10 Count Every Star

I believe I have all this material elsewhere, but kind of want this compilation, cuz it seems cool. Anybody else have this? Is it worth seeking out?

I'm not positive, but that version of "Hey, Western Union Man" may be one of the bonus tracks included on the latest reissue of "Alive"--so that cut, at least, is from a GG session. I really can't get excited about this, granted (no pun intended) the recent glut of GG comps. Most of this stuff should be easy to find, though (even an OOP album like "Love Bug" pops up in the used bins fairly often). For those among us who have all of the material: anyone willing to assemble the album?

[SUN RA on SNL video]

In a certain way, SNL has always been a reactionary cultural power--just tapping into the social consciousness and a preformed sense of "cutting edge." Barrier-breaking, yes--in a comedic sense, and then somewhat contentious. But hardly avant-garde--even in its heyday. Now, it would have been nice to see Sun Ra on broadcast TV some ten or so years earlier...

Nice to have the tape around, though (thanks, Dmitry). Still, I'd really flop if someone dug up that Jazz and People's Movement performance of "Haitian Fight Song" (Rahsaan/Shepp/Mingus/Haynes, any more?).

[jazz fusion]

Way Back When is great. That's the one with John Marshall, if I'm not mistaken... a stalwart British jazz-rocker/fusioneer. A fine groover (if I've ever heard one)--his sides with Jack Bruce just knock me out. He provided an excellent foil for Surman in funkier contexts (and Collier, too).

[jazz fusion]

i've always found brown rice a dissapointment. not sure why. just never did it for me.

maybe because the different elements didn't seem well intergrated.

and the more fusion-ey elements were restricted to the shorter tracks and absent from the longer pieces.

That's the criticism I've heard. I think they're great precisely because they don't go on for too long, granted the fact that they seem more like one-offs or bookends than anything else (and I dig the grooves, so there's no accounting for that...). On the other hand, I think the longer tracks (as you say, the less "fusiony") are among the best Cherry ever put to wax. It's rare that the Cherry of the late-70's (probably his technical apex) assembled fully-realized, self-contained compositions in the world fusion mode, and both "Malkauns" and "Chenrezig" manage to completely integrate composition and improvisation without lapsing into the schizophrenia of long-form suites. For once, Cherry actually manages to stretch his trumpet improvisations into rather extended singular compositions--I mean, barring the two short tracks, Brown Rice is predominantly improv. Cherry never sounded better, and it's remarkable that he was wiling to devote so much time to his trumpet playing at that stage of his career. And the sidemen include Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Frank Lowe--geez!

To get back on topic, some of Sonny Sharrock's less-aggressive 80's sides veer dangerously close to fusion. "Highlife" is almost a pop album, stylistically all-over-the-map but retaining enough improvisation to remain interesting. "Faith Moves" is probably a better option--a series of overdubbed guitar duets in a spacy, elegiac idiom--not too much for the Methenyite, I'd say. I might include "Guitar," but it's a little further off the map, hewing closer to Sharrock's free jazz origins. Really, Sharrock was "straightest" in the mid-70's, producing relatively drab albums such as "Paradise"--which is an unequivocal fusion album, if I ever heard one (Sonny sounds like a studio musician on those sides, he's that out of place). But his 80's material is definitely something to check out--if you're feeling intrepid.

[jazz fusion]

well that is an idiotic reissue policy, if i do say so myself.

More frustrating than idiotic, I'd say. But yeah.

A lot of John McLaughlin qualifies as fusion, but his earlier (and arguably better) sides are sort of post-bopish. Doesn't matter, though: anyone who does not own Extrapolation needs to but it right now. McLaughlin's also put in some heavier acoustic jazz, as on Jack Bruce's Things We Like (which often veers into fusionish territory).

And CT mentioned Don Cherry--I'd like to add Brown Rice to that list, seeing as how it marries certain fusion elements (namely, electric instrumentation) with Cherry's usual bag of free jazz and world music. A classic, IMO.

[John Zorn's TZADIK Label]

I also enjoyed the duet disc with Zorn & Milford Graves

I don't think I ever really appreciated Milford Graves until I heard this:

Bad. Ass.

Few drummers can sustain a performance of majesty and magnitude quite like MG.

On the matter of drummers: I've also enjoyed the Susie Ibarra I've heard (and it's nice to have a fellow Filipino so prominent in the music).

And Tzadik has had a lot to offer in the Radical Jewish Culture Series, including this (seemingly improbable, but actually quite appropriate) nugget by Glenn Spearman:

Strangely, much of the album is in a late-60's free jazz mode, although the programmatic content is ostensibly Jewish.

[The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All-Time]

I remember flicking through this at a store the other day. Am I right in thinking that Cecil Taylor doesn't make the top hundred?

I could be imagining it, but it wouldn't surprise me given the list as it stands...

I'm not sure I understand the mentality of such lists in any case.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're right. Originally, it made me want to punch a wall. Then I remembered that I don't give a damn about these lists.

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

The William Eggleston doc referred to above is playing at the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles this coming week.

The fact that such options exist on Comcast, somewhere, is very interesting. I need to check my Comcast listings - I have it but almost never watch. So where do I find such listings?

These docs are all part of Comcast's digital "On Demand" service. You select Channel 1 and it takes you to a menu that lets you select whatever you want to watch (from what's available).

More specifically, it's listed under "free movies" (you'll probably have to cycle through the options to find it) as "Cecil Taylor."

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

According to Comcast the run time is 77 min. I'm not sure if they include the two promos the show before the film in this total.

In reference to CN's question, I'm not sure that the 77 minutes applies to the documentary itself. There are quite a few intro/preview spots which may or may not add to the total time (they are certainly a part of the "total time" as gauged by the Comcast status bar).

On the matter of Cecil's "imitatability"--he seems to make extensive use of synthetic scales, none of which appear to be collected for public view (and thus are difficult to access and assimilate in any comprehensible manner--even by those who know and have played Taylor's stuff intimately). And has anyone really adopted Cecil's cell structure strategy?

[AOTW January 15-21]

Speaking of Dudu, I recently picked up an old Impulse! 2-fer LP collection of Hugh Masakela's Blue Thumb sides, which are neither fish nor fowl in terms of any one genre or commercial targeting, but which nevertheless feature Pukwana rather prominently. It's interesting, to put it mildly, to hear his unique "syntax" in such a context.

I always enjoyed that album - it's one the few LPs I pull out with some regularity. I especially enjoy Caiphus Semenya's compositions on it, Larry Willis, but all play in good form, the grooves are nice - and yes, it's inspiring to hear Dudu in that context.

Whoa, have the Masekela sides been reissued anywhere? All Dudu is good Dudu, and with Larry Willis?

I'm actually sort of embarassed to say that I don't own "Song for Biko," although I've always heard raves. I usually wait for things to show up at a local shop (within a reasonable price range), but I'm really, really tempted to spring for it this time.

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

I watched this movie last night after reading about it on another board and really enjoyed it. Like a previous poster mentioned it was very interesting to hear Cecil Taylor talk about his creative process.

It was also cool to see Mr. Taylor going out to see live music in NYC. The scenes with Billy Bang and Mal Waldron are great in my opinion.

The concert footage is excellent. I’ve never had the opportunity to see him live, so it was a treat to see him perform in many different contexts.

I think I’ll watch it again next week, as I often distracted by trying to figure out what books and records where scattered around his Brooklyn Brownstone.

I don’t think you stream the video online. It’s part of the Palm Video on Demand Film Festival. Here is a link to a review of the actual film: CECIL TAYLOR: ALL THE NOTES. I agree with the reviewer that the editing is a bit herky-jerky.

I’m sure that this will probably be released on Palm DVD sometime this year at a reasonable cost.

Yeah--it's by no means a masterpiece of cinematography. Still, given the scarcity of documentaries of this kind, it's an invaluable document. And I completely agree--the concert scenes were a hoot. It's nice to see Taylor out in the field, just taking up the sounds of his peers (and Bang was smoking).

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

Sorry, it seems like this is only available to digital cable subscribers (there's an on-demand service). Hopefully, this documentary will at least make it on to DVD--it deserves to be out there, anyhow.

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

Apologies for the attitude, folks. It frustrates me when even the community can't get involved; documentaries like this have a built in viewer base, and minimizing test audiences definitely misrepresents the marketability of the film. I suppose, then, that this only applies to Comcast subscribers (or maybe just people in the Bay Area). It sucks that so few of us will get to see it here--I don't know how many people will even bother to watch it... for free.

[AOTW January 15-21]

getting back on subject, somewhat...

Are any of you familiar with Dudu Pukwana's albums as a leader? AMG raves about one of them but they all seem to be oop.

I'm a fan of "In the Townships," recorded in 1971 for Earthworks. To my knowledge, it is still in print--last time I checked, you could purchase it off of Amazon. It's not quite in the BOB vein, or even jazz per se--one might call it afropop--but the spirit present in Pukwana's best work is definitely present. Most of the cuts are built around fairly simple riffs, building into improvised melodic deocration. There's little "real" collective improv here as most of the ensemble work is either "combo backing soloist" or "soloist with overdubs." As simple as the tunes are, the energy is infectious. The band, by the way, features many BOB regulars (including Feza, Moholo, and Miller). As far as I can tell, Pukwana is the one playing the piano parts (overdubbing again).

On the matter of Feza--he reminds me of Lester Bowie, or--in his wilder moments--later Don Cherry. He's got a truly crumpled, malleable tone that is nonetheless very emotionally effective. I can't find the Ayler at a store, but I'm looking.

And this link: Give the Drummer Some features an old radio show with full performances. Someone is bound to be interested.

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

As the only one who seems to give a shit at the moment:

A nice little documentary--nothing really ambitious, but fascinating all the same. Cecil (himself) carries the film; the better chunk of the movie is simply cleverly edited performances and pseudo-interview/chats. There is no attempt to summarize CT's career, few direct references to historical context and/or fellow innovators, and only a modicum of talking heads (and, to warn, the requisite Amiri Baraka and Thurston Moore stuff). However, the film offers added insight into Cecil's musical processes--including his scalular concept, notation system, group dynamic, and teaching techniques. Practically everything that comes out of CT's mouth is quotable. One of my favorites:

"...the joy of practicing leads you to the celebration of creation."

Taken out of context, it seems a little odd/pretentious--but it's nice to see a man of his age and prowess (this was recorded a few years ago, as Elvin and Derek Bailey are both featured) so involved with the processes that the beginning improviser often takes for granted. He's a light on the scene, and it's nice to have him around.

Note: the film is on cable for the purposes of some strange voting procedure that determines whether or not select movies make it onto either DVD or the movie theater. I think the company offering the film is directly linked to Comcast, so everyone else may be out of luck. For those who have it--watch, 'cause we might get CT into the cinemas.

[AOTW January 15-21]

Thanks--I'll look into it. On a related note (concerning one intrepid BOB member): I heard (the Bailey/Bennink/Evan Parker album) "Topography of the Lungs" is getting reissued. Any truth to this?

[Cecil Taylor Documentary]

I don't know if someone's started a topic on this (here), but I picked this up on Jazzcorner: Comcast Digital Cable has a Cecil Taylor documentary on their "free movies on demand" section (it's aptly titled "Cecil Taylor" in the on demand section, I believe). I'll be watching it during lunch--will return with feedback. Anyway, the digital cable providers tend to match up on many of their on demand films, so I wouldn't be surprised if the doc is available somewhere else in the country (I'm in Berkeley, CA right now). Happy hunting, folks.

[Derek Bailey tribute on BBC Radio now online]

You can link to this tribute to Derek Bailey from here.

The list of recordings used is here. There are several interview snippets with the likes of Parker, Oxley et al., and the opportunity to hear Derek himself speak.

These programs usually only stay up for a week.

Thanks for the heads up, man.

[AOTW January 15-21]

Having listened to "Travelling Somewhere" a couple of times now, I too can testify to its quality. It's just as explosive, ragged, and fun as the Oguns, but with marginally better sound quality (McGregor is indeed far to the back, although that classic SA sense of propulsion is tactile). The playing here is far looser than the Neon date, more liberally interpolating the sort of unhinged freedom common among the British scene of the 70's. There's some gorgeous solo work here, excellent ensemble interaction, and some of the most combustible rhythm work I've ever heard (Moholo is a f'in madman). I really, really enjoy the versions of "Kongi's Theme" and "Ismite is Might," both of which manage to positively transcend and, strangely, thrive within the sonic anomalies of the mix ("Ismite" has some powerful, powerful clutter). Still, all the cuts have something to recommend, and I might say that the version of "Do It" here is better than Willisau, although it suffers from an early fade. I can only imagine what it must have been like to see this band live--what a spectacle!

On other matters: anyone have anything to say about the Dedication Orchestra (a more recent big band assembled to play the tunes of the SA exiles)? Strangely, I purchased "Travelling There" and John Steven's "S.M.E. Big Band & Quintet" on the same day, both of which contain members of the DO (and both of which, I will stress, contain some phenomenal blowing).

Edit to ask--wasn't "Spirit's Rejoice" (the Moholo album) just reissued? I can't seem to track it down.

[Rahsaan Roland Kirk]

Rahsaan Rahsaan

The story of a jazz musician's strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk.

[sun ra "freedom box"]

I'm probably in the minority here, but "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" is one of my favorite Sun Ra discs. Somehow, it feels better balanced than a lot of the Saturn albums (and with marginally better sound)--free-blowing interspersed with some fine, fine "straight" compositions. Marshall Allen's solo on "Somewhere There" is mind-blowing for its timbral complexity and sheer energy (one of my favorite "free" alto solos, perhaps). And, of course, we're talking about a prime band: Allen, Patrick, Gilmore, Boykins, Jarvis... just sick.

[Rahsaan Roland Kirk]

I went throught the same thing with Rahsaan Rahsaan. I called up the Collectables label and they actually said, that was how it came to them. I ended up hunting down the 4 cd set that album is a part of.

Pretty bad excuse! EAC and some cheap software can do that job...

But the 4CD package is great, anyway!

Bad excuse? You ain't kidding. I appreciate 32 Jazz more and more every day--especially for the sheer ambition of the CD packages. Budget pricing, well-assembled, classic OOP albums--that's how you get this stuff back on the market. After all the 32 Rahsaan packages, Collectables's weird album pairings and botched single-CD releases just seem weak (although it's nice to have some of the stuff back on the market, and not all of the twofers are strange). I'm just waiting for the day that Rahsaan gets an Atlantic boxed set (e.g., Beauty Is a Rare Thing).