king ubu

I recently got a chance to hear this, and indeed it's a very album! And of course I am no fan of the banjo, either...

Couldn't agree more. This was a very disappointing performance by France. Everything went wrong. Lack of support for Henry, lack of imagination and creativity. I can not see this team go far in this tournament. Seeing France play so badly may be a shock to a lot of board members, it is not a surprise to me.France have not played a convincing game since 2000! It will be a struggle to qualify for the second round. Why is everyone here in favor of the french? I am insulted... Oh, wait, I forgot I don't care for soccer... That handball was pretty much an act of unconsious surprise, no? I just watched the last ten minutes (didn't care to make it home earlier) and was utterly bored... for me it looked like two teams more or less on the same level, but since I hardly watch more than five minutes of soccer per year, I don't qualify as an expert...

Thanks for giving king ubu a chance to read the correct name of the opening theme! It's not Jaco, but .... ouch, ouch, and more ouch... anyway... I'll certainly play the disc again! could Bobby Previte be that very fun drummer?

Thanks a lot for compiling this fun set, Mike! Here are some thoughts - I played it once while at work and took some notes... not that I was distracted from working... oh, no, of course not! #1 Fun opening with that bass groove and the flute on top. Guitar is nice and soft, bass is very nice below, drums are excellent. The beginning of the piano solo with tenor and tuba (and later alto) "comping" is fun! I'm pretty clueless who this could be from... it's fun and very competently performed, but not something of too much individualism, I think. At some moments (after the piano solo where things boil up a bit and the collective improvisation starts) it reminds me of a tame version of the Lounge Lizards, but that's not them, I think. The old LP at the end is a nice touch... that's "All the Things You Are", of course. #2 Mangelsdorff? That opening line (repeated) sounds a lot like him! Also how he goes from there. Two basses in there... definitely European, either from the late sixties/seventies or a later band that was around then. Terrific track! The openness of the sound and the melodic lines with the twin basses works perfectly for me! (I can't find anything fitting the discography on Mangelsdorff's website...) #3 Slick programming! Started with a "yuck"-moment for me, but then it makes sense, with the marimba (african or regular one?) and the beats. Nice bass clarinet on top. Me clueless, me like half this one... too sketchy, just good fun, but no real "point", I think (not that everything needs to have a point!) #4 That's that beat that's also on that disc by that weird organ trio from that imperialist country... isn't it, Mr. drummer man? But there's no organ involved... sounds pretty ambitious with woodwinds, muted trumpet, mallets and all, but when the tuba enters it gets even funkier. Very nice one! Verra nice vibes! That beat gets infectuous again! It's so nice to hear a double bass playing such a funky groove! Trumpet solo is nice, trombone is good, too - both are far from showing off. #5 Yet another groove track? Is that the theme here? Organ this time... but not a real one? Sounds like some synth organ? I know this tune... it's a Weather Report tune... ah, no, a Jaco tune? It's on one of his big band discs... Is this one of those Jaco memorial projects? Bass is lame compared to what he'd do in such a band! There's the steel drums... synth again? oh, wait, that's a piano! Piano solo builds nicely... still, the groove's a bit tame. What's the name of this tune? Punk Jazz? Liberty City? Time to play the "Birthday Concert" disc again! Boards on cliché when they get into that Tenor Madness/Rue Chaptal thing early in the bass solo... (the solo's better than that). Just checked the AMG samples, it's indeed (a variant of?) "Liberty City". #6 More "ethnic" beats, another short sample... very nice opening! The piano is a bit on the sweet side for my liking... the percussion stuff is pretty nice... what's this? Thumb piano? Piano gets better, things get a bit more chaotic once the drums enter, although I'm not sure they add a lot. The marimba is very nice. African music? Some jazz or latin pianist sitting in? Me clueless again... #7 Another simple melody... the bass keeps playing similar lines throughout, in the same register, which holds the loose ends together. Nice sound on alto... some Trane in there. Is this just one drummer? If yes, the mix is a bit strange (I'm listening on cheap headphones while at work...) #8 WHOAH! This one's sexy! Slow blues, sounds like Sco and Mike Stern in the 83 or 84 Miles band... electric bass sounds great here! That drumroll... pretty old-fashioned... but things get real fun after that, drum-wise! Joey Baron? Is there anyone else able to have that kind of musical fun on drums? Very very nice one, although I guess I wouldn't play a whole album of this very often... #9 That tenor sounds like processed through some old analog cheapo thingy... baritone similar. Great fun! Very nicely constructed, with layer upon layer being added. The solo is very nice, slightly duckish at some moments... #10 More bass clarinet... seems our Mr. Drummerman likes that deep woody sound? Not my favourite track, I think... #11 Electronically manipulated didjeridoo? A nice light groove with very nice, slightly bitter muted trumpet... tune sounds a bit familiar. Very nice accompaniment, whatever it is (just some hand-drums, in addition to the drumset?) - very nice when they double the tempo! #12 That's that Hank Williams tune... some Jaco disciple again? Or the master himself? Oh, there it goes into an old standard... ah, "Prelude to a Kiss" when the alto enters. Very nice! Alto has a soft aand nice sound, less bite than the one on #7. What's the tune they play in the end? That's the one the bass plays before the alto enters. Very nice one! Rather unlikely combination that works out wonderfully! #13 "Joy Spring" by Clifford Brown... very nice! Got it: last track here: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:bjuk6jo171r0 Worth checking out, Mike? #14 Sounds like an old standard but I'm not sure. French horn is very nice! That sound gives me the goosebumps! Classy! #15 Some lite vibes to end? Tjader?

Depends what's "the best stuff"... true, it's sad that the "Original Ellington" album was found only after the Mosaic was completed, but still, I consider the Ellington album and the live session (on disc 1 and/or 2) of the original quintet among the best of the box... Lonehill only has the original quintet's two studio albums out, as far as I know.

Happy Birthday!

here's the paragraph about the new CD: Indeed, it includes the complete 4th album, "Cerberus", as well as selections from he other three albums mentioned above (you'll be able to make out the titles). It will not include anything from the album "Live at Montreux", which the band produced on their own.

They're still regarded as one of the creative highlights in swiss jazz...there are tons of good mainstream musicians around here, and there were a bunch of crazy free guys (and gals, not to forget Irene Schweizer), too, but a goup like Om was to be unique... Leimgruber has changed directions quite a bit, Doran has been here and there, doing this and that (groove stuff with the two Hendrix projects or his own trio with Tacuma, experimental stuff, the trio of Ray Anderson's on Hat etc.), Fredy Studer is part of the great "hardcore chamber trio" Koch-Schütz-Studer... only bassist Bobby Burri has not gotten much fame on his own. (Studer, Burri (back), Leimgruber (front), Doran) Here's a german article on their reunion: And a review of their 2006-06-10 reunion concert:

Know that there are fellow weirdos among you. one more weirdo here!

Happy Birthday!

I wonder if this will really help once they'll be here...

I just read about it, too - here's the cover: The saturday concert will take place in Jean Nouvel's culture & congress centre (KKL) in Lucerne - I can't make it.

I was at the concert this comes from - very nice, indeed! Rather soft, pensative music... Ulrich is a familiar name on the local scene, Weber is starting to make himself a name, popping up here and there and doing a few projects, and Wiesendanger is one of the finest pianists around here. And the selection of compositions is indeed mighty fine and far from obvious. I'll need to find myself a copy of the disc, too!

the only clear diff'rence between them and us is that they lack one arm, and obviously walk on their head...

sorry to be late, but still: happy birthday!

Sad news about Newman. I got a book which has this great portrait of Woody Allen on the cover - very nice one: better version of the Stravinsky photo: and a last one, George Grosz (1942) ****** Matthew: definitely go for Sander's work if you're interested in Germany between the wars. I think recently a book was published featuring urban photographs (Berlin only or mostly) by Roman Vishniac - I haven't seen it, but his photos from the eastern schtetls are an important and moving document. (Not Germany, exactly... rather the eastern borders of the austrian/hungarian monarchy - documents of a world that was most thoroughly extinguished by the German and the Sovjets and hords of willing helpers from the area.) Googled some, seems the book's called "Roman Vishniacs Berlin" (Nicolai Verlag, Berlin 2005 - doesn't look like there's an english edition available). Here's a bit of info (in German): Vishniacs Berlin

grown men patting, throwing and kicking around balls are just as stupid... (that's not a defense of cycling, rather another offense at sports...)

Here's a bagatellen review on Nagl's "Quartier du Faisan" and Theo Jörgensmann's "Fellowship": source: http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001056.html EDIT: I have "Fellowship", too, but it didn't really grab me... will have to play it again - kind of a likeable disc, but not really a great one, as I remember it.

alas I am to young to have known much of the old hat CD series... just have maybe a dozen of stray discs I found here and there (including a few great ones, such as "Jump Up"). As Uehlinger said in the interview I did: he is not doing any systematical work, so it's most definitely not his goal to document any scene in broad fashion. Anyway, your point is valuable, I suppose. Further (re: editing needed) Uehlinger is not an expert or a person with lots of inside knowledge... rather he seems to decide based on his guts. Not that one thing is better than the other, I think. On "Bookends" and Liebman: I have a short live broadcast of the duo (w/Copland) and that's pretty nice. Also Liebman's Willisau concert (I think it's out on hat, too, I heard it twice on radio) was pretty nice. Still, I don't often feel like listening to Liebman... A younger artist rather new to the hat roster that I enjoy quite some is austrian sax player Max Nagl. His "Quartier du faisan" is good, so is his Mingus trio (I only know it from a live recording), and I also like (contrary to gnhrtg) his "Big Four" with Bernstein & Akchoté quite a bit (again I only am familiar with their 2005 Willisau gig, not yet with the hat disc), same again for "Ramasuri": very nice band, but I still need to get the hat release. Of course Nagl has released discs on other labels, too, but going from a statement in a very recent interview (in a swiss daily paper), he is very happy about his working relationship with Uehlinger, and mentioned that Uehlinger gave him lots of impulses on which he would build new bands/projects etc. I don't have the new Polwechsel - got the other two cheap last year, but haven't played them yet... hélas! (I hereby promise a serious buying freeze, with the exception of... [fill in yourself])

Thanks a lot for these recommendations!

I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God".

Seems to me the same thing can be said, that certain non-Americans simply cannot stand that an American has dominated a European sport, and no matter what is shown, he will always be guilty. Of being an American dominating a European sport. the attitude towards sport (any kinds of) is the only known bound between me and sir winston...

must be hard to get to grips with the fact that not every all american hero is a hero... jimmy didn't shoot liberty... was john who did...