B. Clugston

Gravatt can be a spectacular drummer. First time I saw him was in '70 with McCoy. The band also included Byard Lancaster and Herbie Lewis. As I mentioned before, they were burning and Cecil Taylor was jumping up and down next to the bandstand. Great night. He worked as a prison guard for 17 years and has only recently been back in wider circulation. There's an article about him here: http://www.mattpeiken.com/Journalism/Arts%...les/gravatt.htm

I neither love it nor dislike it. I agree the intros are dull and the whole affair goes on too long. But I like the fact Roland Shannon Jackson does not fit; some of his almost funky beats are a shocking contrast to the shitkicking the drum set usually getsat a Taylor concert. (Kind of a similar contrast to Franky Douglas' guitar on Incarnation.) And Lyons can play as long as he likes AFAIK. Among the Hats, I like It is in the Brewing Luminous the best.

Didn’t make the Belmondo/Lateef concert, but apparently Yusef was in fine, fine form. There may still be a photo of him up at www.vancouverjazz.com. OrkestRova featured ROVA with the Nels Cline Singers (Cline on guitar and electronics, Devin Hoff on bass and Scott Amendola on drums), Wayne Horvitz on electronics and keyboards, Peggy Lee (no, not that one) on cello, Jesse Zubot on vioin, and Ronit Kirchman on a six or seven string electric violin. The deal is they take Ascension and play the opening themes, jump off to a few solos before breaking into smaller improvising groups. This was an awesome concert and I liked it better than the CD version. Hoff and Amendola brought a faster, hard-rocking pace to the piece; they were clearly enjoying themselves, really whooping it up in contrast to there more serious-looking fellow musicians. Cline’s solo on the CD seemed pretty tame to the wall of noise he was coming up. Horvitz’ electronic effects also made this version more far out than the release. The McCoy Tyner Trio was fun too. If Tyner is slowing down in the virtuosity department, that was more than made up for by Charnett Moffett, who had several entertaining, show off solos. Also great to see Eric Gravatt (remember him from Weather Report?) back in the jazz scene. Man, he can still play and then some...

That's a nice version, though incomplete, IIRC. Love Freddie Waits' drumming on that one.

Lateef is playing with the Belmondo Brothers Quintet on June 27. That will be worth seeing as well.

Vancouver International Jazz Festival starts tomorrow. http://www.coastaljazz.ca/index.cfm?page_id=3 I'm going to see the McCoy Tyner Trio on Saturday and OrkestRova and Lori Freedman on Sunday. Diverse line-up, as per usual, including Bobby Hutcherson, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Jim Black, Nils Petter Molvaer, plus the ubiquitous Marilyn Crispell and Mats Gustafson.

I'm looking forward to getting this. If you like this music, don't hesitate on the Ogun box, which is getting harder to find. The Isipingo and In Conference are classics. The solo record is good as well. The duo with Malfatti has never really registered with me. The Isingo line-up in the Ogun box is Harry Miller, bass; Marc Charig, trumpet; Mike Osborne, alto saxophone; Malcolm Griffiths, trombone; Keith Tippett, piano; Louis Moholo, drums.

I love this album. My favourite Morgan. One of my favourite jazz albums of all time. I love Lee's solo on "Totem Pole." The title track's popularity overshadows a fine set of compostions elsewhere on the album.

I wasn´t aware of that. Could you give any reference? CD Columbia COL 4713202 That was a Columbia France reissue IIRC. The same folks who brought us Ornette's Chappaqua Suite and the original CD issue of Such Sweet Thunder.

I'm with you on A Drum is A Woman. That was supposed to be out on Legacy by now, but nothing has happened since the merger. I'd also like to see Miles Davis Live at Fillmore East released unedited, but that's likely a job Sony would keep to itself, good relations with Vince pending.

I also recommend the 1964 Mingus European dates he was featured on. His solo on "Ow (Dedicated to a Genius)" was always a treat. The Amsterdam version is great, if it is still to be found.

Guts of a Virgin and Buried Secrets were the two first EPs. They both have gross out covers, the first as titled, the second of a human skull. I think the extreme bondage covers (not to mention the extreme torture cover from Leng T'che) were from Naked City releases. Buried Secrets has Justin K. Broadrick and G.C. Green of Godflesh on two tracks.

PainKiller picked up where Naked City’s hardcore miniatures left off, only with the added authenticity of Napalm Death’s Mick Harris on drums. Zorn and Harris had some mutual admiration, so they hooked up at Bill Laswell’s studio for two EPs of bad boy hardcore. Gratingly enjoyable in small doses, particularly if you like the glory days of grindcore. As Harris left the shackles of grindcore behind him and Laswell’s dub influence became prominent, the songs went from short blasts to longer pieces that included other non-hardcore elements, such as jazz and improv. This is what you get on Execution Ground. There are also a couple of live dates from 1994: Live in Osaka, which appears with everything else mentioned above on the 4-CD set, and Talisman, which is my favourite. With the latter, it is interesting to hear how far Harris had evolved from the Scum days The group has reconvened a few times over the years, but Harris has moved on to industrial and beats and bass projects such as Scorn and hasn’t played with PainKiller in years. The Zorn/Laswell/Hamid Drake plus Mike Patton edition of PainKiller from the Birthday Series was also surprisingly good. Laswell and Drake really lock into some great grooves under Patton’s screams and Zorn’s squonks. There is also another hard-to-find live CD from Japan (c. 1993) which features Haino Keiji.

I hope this is a classic rather than the Calgary-Tampa Bay snoozefest of two years ago. Edmonton has the momentum and more jump. I'd give the Oilers the edge in terms of coaching. Carolina has more talent, home ice advantage and Cam Ward, who cannot be faulted for the loss the other night. Too close to call, but I'm rooting for the Oilers. The latest I've heard is Doug Weight is not playing, but that could change in an hour.

Mine was Soft Machine's The Peel Sessions, a 2 CD set of BBC performances. The Hendrix at Winterland was another early purchase. First "jazz" discs were Brubeck's The Great Concerts and Getz/Gilberto.

Sad news. In a lot of ways, his music was the "star" in 2001. Lux Aeterna is an incredible work.

I take issue with Lonehill’s sloppy, misleading and unethical reissues. Two bad examples are Eric Dolphy Quartet’s Complete Recordings Featuring Lalo Schifrin (which does not even include Lalo Schifrin!) and Albert Ayler’s Complete Live At Slug’s Saloon Recordings, which is not complete and competes against a legitimate version that is complete. On the other hand, it’s not like a major label would ever reissue John Graas’ records and Lonehill did. But Lonehill crosses the line way too much for me. A shady label.

That's great news about Nonaah.

Thanks for clarifying. I've heard ATTO I and V before and I'd be interested in what the instrumentation/personnel are on the other discs. Cadence still has quite a few of the Sonore discs. I wonder if Leo got involved after Nick Dmitriev's death.

I was at the release party 4-5 months ago (with shy arts student girls who designed the covers for the CDs in the set in attendance). I like Tarasov, one of my favorite drummers, but I am not sure I really need 11 of his solo drum discs. Will I get this set? Surely I will. Eventually. (If the price is no more than USD90.) Did I mention that the set was sponsoired by The Ford Foundation? I find it quite amusing (and admirable). I'm presuming this is mostly previously released material. Not sure if I need 11 CDs of solo percussion either, but I'll buy it anyway, especially if is as well done as past major undertakings by Leo (ie. Document, Conspiracy, Divine Madness).

The 11 CD/1 DVD set of percussionist Vladimir Tarasov's ATTO pieces appears to be nearing release: http://www.leorecords.com/?m=select&id=CD_LR_817/828

The pressure got to me. I just took the plunge and ordered through Verge.

There's some confusion as to whether Gaumont plays on Disc 1 on Dark Magus. If I recall correctly, Dave Liebman states in his liner notes to the U.S. Dark Magus that Gaumont takes the first solo. However, I read somewhere (in Jack Chambers book, IIRC) that Gaumont himself said he came on stage with Azar Lawrence mid-concert (ie. Disc 2). I don't hear a third guitarist on Disc 1.

Albert Ayler is getting the Impulse Story treatment. Tracks are: Holy Ghost Truth Is Marching In Angels Love Cry Bells New Grass / Message From Albert Free At Last Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe Water Music Untitled Duet Where's "For John Coltrane"? In fact, other than the first two tracks, it's like an Ayler for Lovers. There's more info and cover art at: http://www.ayler.org/albert/html/what_s_new.html

I've seen references to a June 1970 date for My Goal's Beyond as well as the February date for Devotion. Devotion was released first. Don't own either, so I have no way of confirming.