king ubu

Sounds great, thanks for that report!

Just been perusing MG's helpful list again - as I've done several times before. Belated thanks!

Well, then, here goes my report... good but not great concert. The music - all composed by Laubrock, though both set-openers were fully improvised, it seems - left me a bit puzzled. Some of it was good, some of it was a bit on the cute side, some of it just seemed to go nowhere and left me hoping for more improvisational parts. Those improvisational parts were too few, I found. There were plenty of interesting combinations of sound, that's for sure. Mary Halvorson's guitar, Ted Reichman's accordion, Liam Noble's piano (all three had fine solo spots), Ben Davis' cello and Rainey switching to what seemed to be a vibraphone but without the motor turned on (maybe it was a marimba or a large xylophone, I couldn't see it was it was back on stage) - that all made for large sonic and textural possibilities. There were parts when the music made good use of them, but other parts just seemed like lose sketches (and then one of those cutesy melodies would turn up, picked by the cello) and the whole effect was lost again. However, what was great was how different instrumental pairs emerged time and again to form duos within the band for sometimes quite lengthy bits. Needless to say that Laubrock's tenor and soprano and Tom Arthur's trumpet as the only horns were front and center a bit more often than most others - and both did very well and had some mighty fine spots. Laubrock on tenor has a slightly shady sound - reminded me a bit of Joe Henderson (whom alas I've never heard live). Arthurs went from chopsy highnote stuff that was always lyrical and melodic to harmon mute, plunger, and just producing air sounds and whimsical noises. And Drew Gress - he was a bit low-fi and low in the mix, too - and Tom Rainey both did a great job anchoring the music. Gress' bass and Davis' cello often merged together to form a bottom that was quite strong, and every now and then the presence of the one allowed the other to do some flageolet playing. Rainey was a bit subdued, too, but had many great moments and in the second set really came to live! The music was presented in two gap-less sets of roughly 50 minutes, I guess (didn't watch the clock). Reinhard Kager from SWR2 was there to present the band and the music and talked a bit too long and explained a bit more that what I found appropriate for an audience that most likely was much more "in the know" as he thought. The concert was the final (I think) stop of this year's SWR "New Jazz Meeting 2011" tour - bits of the three concerts will be broadcast in February and a CD will be released on Intakt as well. Guess it will be interesting to revisit the music and check if the cutesy bits still sound cutesy if you listen on your hifi rather than live. Can make a big difference with music of this kind (also the other way 'round, that great concerts don't work at all on CD). All in all, I'd have enjoyed it more if there'd been: a) more solo space for individual voices, and b) more tightly-knit (and less rumbatious) ensemble parts. But it was still interesting and often pretty good. And it's always a thrill to hear Mary Halvorson, at least for me... and agreed: Rainey is great! First time I caught him live.

tonight: Fabrikjazz Sa, 10. Dezember 2011 Ingrid Laubrock Oktett +++ Ingrid Laubrock, tenor-/sopranosax/composition; Mary Halvorson, guitar; Tom Arthurs, trumpet/flügelhorn; Ted Reichman, accordion; Liam Noble, piano; Ben Davis, cello; Drew Gress, bass; Tom Rainey, drums/percussion +++

thanks. not surprising that this label wouldn't be able to get unissued material from the verve vaults. i'm still hoping for a verve and a&m box sets without the overdubbed orchestras. Who else would be able to? It is my understanding that Hip-O-Select is Universal's boutique label, took over most of the Universal boxes/reissues that Mosaic had been doing for too few years... and now that there's a Wes box, I don't really see any legit other Wes Verve box, even if they throw in the A&Ms (which I don't know yet).

disc 5 What a woman! And one HELL of a Mosaic set. Such variety, great sound, and of course Anita O'Day swingin' and doin' her thing. Disc 9 is somewhat lame by comparison though... Nnow disc 6 and maybe I'll add discs 7 and 8, too!

I'm not a huge fan of vocal music. I like Sam Cooke but I feel that 4 CDs are quite enough for me. Okay, fair enough then... me, I've got the old 4CD set and will skip the new albums set (which is fairly cheap though).

guess you'd better get the RCA box now, Bentsy... or else you'll roast in hell

disc 5

Anita O'Day - disc 4

From what you hear, BYG has always been a rather shady affair in general. Too bad... I'd really love to see some reissues, but I guess the big reissues days have indeed come to an end a while ago, anyway. Would have loved to see more of the Free America series, too!

Happy Birthday, David!

Best wishes to Mr. Jarman!

It may have been one of the moderators who did that that would of been kind of a lame thing to do, though...

Yes! "Scorpio" is a fantastic album! Would love to get a reissue of that one! The only vinyl I could have bought so far was so battered I left it behind... (and it's a boot anyway, so...)

That one ranks among my favorite Rivers albums!

How about the Cooke compared to the earlier 4CD set? I guess I'll keep it at that (plus "Keep Movin' On").

Not definitive, but a little research suggests it might be Talib Kibwe (T.K. Blue). Mike Fitzgerald lists his name as Talib Qadir Kibwe here: http://www.jazzdiscography.com/fitzgera/muslim.htm That was my thought, too... would be good to really know!

Got mine from amazon.fr yesterday - but handed it over to my li'l sis', still sealed... will get it again when this commercial thingie is celebrated, ya know... the guy who came a second time a few years later and did all those great tricks The music is a rag-bag indeed... got much of it on various more or less cheaply made compilations (UK RCA ones mostly, I think). Some of it - the solo album, for instance - is sublime!

I just was at the Bimhuis to catch Henry Threadgill and Zooid - very nice club! http://bimhuis.nl/home

First impression (Ella disc 1) is good. But I need to listen again when I can crank it up some...

It's back on "last chance" now... not sure about it, I've had mine for many years, but it might be worth a try to send them a mail and ask! As for the discussions about favorites... I don't have the Roulette Studio alas, love the Roulette Live a lot, although I find I listen to it all too rarely. Anyway, the Clef/Verve material is essential in its own way, I feel. The dance sessions are among the very finest NT Basie, and Gus Johnson's drumming is superior (except in showmanship) to Sonny Payne's. But yeah, maybe all in all, the Roulette sessions are a bit more exciting (for instance, "April in Paris" was always more solid, rather than great, in my book), but I wouldn't want to miss the Clef/Verve recordings!

Hum, I wonder... got my Ella set today - haven't inspected it too closely yet. It's still in stock at amazon.fr: http://www.amazon.fr/Complete-Masters-1935-1955-14-CD/dp/B005NNJKF0/

What I was hinting at are the Alan Grant radio broadcasts... I do assume there's some overlap? Haven't ever seen that Lonehill set you mention. Wynton Kelly Trio with Wes Montgomery New York City (USA), Half Note Wynton Kelly - piano Paul Chambers (CD1), Larry Ridley (CD2) - bass Jimmy Cobb - drums Wes Montgomery - guitar (CD1#4-6, CD2#5-7) September 24, 1965 [43:53] 1. Introduction by Alan Grant > Blues Blues (12:39) 2. Old Folks (6:08) [poss. on Xanadu 198, "Blue on Purpose"] 3. Milestones (5:58) [poss. on Xanadu 198, "Blue on Purpose"] 4. Laura (6:58) 5. Cariba (8:39) 6. Alan Grant talk > Blues (Bb) (3:28) [w/Alan Grant voiceover/outro] November 12, 1965 [42:50] 1. Introduction by Alan Grant (0:52) 2. Blue and Boogie (11:48) 3. If You Could See Me Now (7:37) 4. There Is No Greater Love (7:07) 5. Birk's Works (5:50) 6. Four on Six (8:14) 7. Announcements with band outro (1:20) Source: WABC-FM "Portraits in Jazz", host: Alan Grant I wonder, what are the trio tracks on that Lonehill set? Were have they been released before? #4-6 might be from the first Grant set?

I only recently discovered "Steal Away" and love it. Great to get more of this duo!