John B

Romano / Sclavis / Texier - Suite Africaine (Label Bleu) Very, very strong album.

We certainly agree it's a great album though!!! ← Oh, yeah! Just about everything the AEC released in that era is fantastic, imo.

Apologies for relying on my faulty memory!

Great album, but he's not on it.

R.I.P. I just ordered Round About a Bass and will spin the HUM set in his honor.

Ok, I have this disc but have not listened to it in quite some time. I'll give it a listen today.

I just noticed that Atavistic is reissuing Last Exit's Live in Koln album this month. If you don't already own this one I highly recommend checking it out. Last Exit was Peter Brötzmann, Sonny Sharrock, Ronald Shannon Jackson and Bill Laswell. They created some very very heavy noise. In my opinion this was a great group for Brötzmann, and not soemthing you'll likely ever hear from him again. Is anyone here familiar with Giorgio Gaslini? He has a new solo piano album coming out on Soul Note called Gaslini Plays Sun Ra. His two other solo piano albums, Gaslini Plays Monk and Ayler's Wings, both sound very interesting, as well.

Geoff, I've heard two of those. The ONJQ is really very good. The same group has recorded Dolphy's entireOut to Lunch album, which I am really looking forward to hearing. They cover "Hat and Beard" on the disc you bought. Organic Resonance is the other disc in that group I have heard. I have only heard it once, so I am not as familiar with it, but I really enjoyed it on first listen.

One of my favorite stouts.

Every beer I've had by McNeill's (in Brattleboro, VT) has ranged from good to great. They make even smaller batches than the bottles shown, with hand-drawn and attached labels.

a really good American weizen, with label by Ralph Steadman.

I love hefeweizen in summer, and this is a great one.

Agreed. It is a very, very good disc. I'll have to give it a listen again tomorrow, as I have not had a hance to listen to it in quite a while.

I doubt it - I doubt even whether Yaremchuk has a bank account. I will try to see him in October in Moscow, so I am taking orders. CDRs are $5. ← Let me know which ones you would highly recommend and I will most definitely take you up on that offer. Great story, by the way! I've been outside doing yardwork all day, no time for music, unfortunately. I'll have to catch up on the rest of the discussions tomorrow.

I heard another Paul Dunmall disc today that I would definitely recommend: Great Divide. It is credited to the Paul Dunmall Octet, but it features larger groups on several tracks. Players on this disc include Keith Tippett, Paul Rogers, Tony Levin, Paul Rutherford, John Adams, Evan Parker and Elton Dean, among others. Somewhat remniscent of the sound of the Broetzmann Tentet, but, to my ears, more interesting than a lot of the Tentet's output. Only one listen, so far, but I don't hesitate to recommend it to all of the Dunmall fans here.

There's a quick review of these up over at Bagatellen. I'm lookingforward to sampling them next month. by the way, I was watching Word Wars last weekend and saw your name pop up in sixth place at the Nationals. No action shots of you in action, however.

I checked and I don't have a copy of this one. Sorry that I can't contribute to the discussion. I'll give Demon Chaser and Special Detail listens in its honor.

Jazkamer (or Jazzkammer, I've seen it spelled both ways) is a duo from Norway (John Hegre and Lasse Marhaug) whose work I would characterize as "noise." Marhaug is fantastic, but most definitely not for all tastes.

I'm going to revise my earlier assessment of this disc a bit. I still enjoy it, but wouldn't rate it quite as highly as I did. It is accessible, and would make an easy intoduction to Jandek, but I'm not sure it would make a good introduction. I think there are other, stronger albums that are just as accessible as this one that I would recommend first. That being said, I dig the VU / surf-style guitar. The drums are getting to be more palatable to my ears as I get more experience with Jandek's discography, but I'm still not crazy about them and think they appear on more tracks than they should. I'd definitely recommend You Walk Alone, but I don't know that I would call it "essential." I'll have to come back to this one, as I'm a bit mixed on my estimation for it right now.

I agree with Chaney 100% here. This album is most definitely a keeper. The sound levels are a bit off here and there and the drumming needs to be removed from those tracks but, other than that, I give this one a thumbs up. It is a very quiet, intimate album (although I never thought of the "bedroom voice" Chaney heard... ) meant for late night, solitary listening with a drink in hand. (Not that any Jandek album is really meant for lively, festive gatherings of friends and family, unless your circle of aquaintances is a lot nuttier than mine.

The last two copies I saw sell on ebay went for $55 and $60.

if only it, and the rest of the Hats, was still in print.... hopefully the rumors about a box set are true. I can't remember if I have a copy of this one or not. If I do I'll post my thoughts later on this week.

I recently bought a live cd by a band called The Respect Sextet, out of Rochester, NY, based on Nate Dorward's rave review over on JC. I have been very, very impressed by this disc. Covers of Fred Anderson and Misha Mengelberg interspersed with original tunes, all played with a great deal of humor and talent. I would highly recommend all of you give this disc a try. There is a nice review of this disc posted on Paris Transatlantic. MP3 sound samples are available on their website.

I just placed an order with Jazzos for four discs on Splasc(h) that I know nothing about. They were so inexpensive I decided it was worth taking a chance. Has anyone here heard any of these? Apuzzo Antonio - Electric Dream (Splasc(h) H343) Euro 5,16 (Discount 60,00%) Quantity: 1 Romano Furio - Danza delle streghe (Splasc(h) H318) Euro 5,16 (Discount 60,00%) Quantity: 1 Ceriani Carlo - Bakeriana (Splasc(h) H408) Euro 5,16 (Discount 60,00%) Quantity: 1 Mezzapelle Nino - Franci (Splasc(h) H445) Euro 6,45 (Discount 50,00%) Quantity: 1

Here is a review for another disc of Battaglia's that I have not yet heard, taken from Nate Dorward's site. This one is at the top of my "to buy" list. "The other quintet disc here is no less interesting but at a considerable stylistic remove from the orthodox contemporary jazz of To Include. Atem (again, part of the “Contemporary Series”) was recorded in France, and the band comprises two Italian and three French musicians; the core of the group seems to be the duo of pianist Stefano Battaglia and percussionist Michele Rabbia, who have worked together since 1999. It’s an album with a fascinating instrumentation (violin, cello, tuba, piano, percussion), one which lends itself equally to intimate free-improv encounters and to gorgeous chamber-music textures that can recall Messiaen (“Lamentation des Anges”) or minimalism (“Sonet”). The album is divided into two unequal halves. At its centre is a series of free improvisations – miniatures often less than two minutes long – which mostly feature the band in small subsections. The results are appealingly varied and colourful, ranging from the harsh scrabbling of “Misture” and “Carte du Tendre” to the mysterious “Dileguando,” on which Battaglia’s piano chording is worthy of John Taylor. Sometimes the pieces are almost epigrammatic, setting forth a simple texture and then making a graceful exit. On other occasions – such as the controlled tumult of “Hommage a Emil Zatopek,” by Pifarély, Battaglia and Godard – the effect of the improvisation’s brevity is more like that of a controlled explosion. These twenty improvisations are bookended by two compositions by Battaglia, both of which borrow from the language of minimalism: indeed, “Sonet” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Gavin Bryars’ After the Requiem. All is not always what it seems: over the 11 minutes of “Atem” the placidly consonant piano arpeggios gradually darken as the strings become almost alarmingly plangent. An exceptional album. A special word of praise is in order for the knockout tuba-player Michel Godard: I’ve often heard far less melodic and supple playing from trombonists."