John B

As mentioned, this track might leave an impression of a mindless virtuoso type of muscian, but the whole disc is much more diverse than this with a lot of great ideas, melody and unmatched skill. This disc, like the Tononi, was difficult to choose from, as any one selection would give such a small sample, and potential false impression, of the work as a whole. Again, this track is uncharacteristic of the bulk of the content of this set. But then no one track would - there is a lot (too much, I'd say) of extremely diverse stuff here. I agree that this set could have easily been edited down to two discs. It is a lot to get through and it was difficult to limit myself to one selection. I should mention that the 3cd set is not too expensive, so people should not be daunted by 3 discs costing as much as you might think. I think this is the only trakc with prepared piano (which confused me a bit ). Battaglia has a huge discography (although he is still a young guy, not even 40, I guess), and is a truly unique voice on piano, who can (and does) play everything from bebop to Bill Evans tributes to some fairly wild stuff - all in his own original style. I'm really looking forward to exploring more of Battaglia's work. I've received a few recommendations from another poster and will try to get around to ordering them soon. ← I'll second the recommendation for Jazzos. They are fast, professional, and easy to order from. They also have many discs on sale for quite reasonable prices. I just checked and they have quite a few discs on Splasc(h) for between 5 and 7 euros.

The Living End I was prepared to hate this album after reading the previous reviews here. Instead, I found this one to be fairly charming. I think of it as "Jandek-lite," in a way. TLE is accessible, compared to most Jandek albums. It is the bluesiest of the albums I have heard so far, with a touch of sixties garage-band rock mixed in. Nancy is too far down in the mix and some of the tracks on the second half of the album sound unfinished, and very roughly edited. On the other hand, all of these comments could also place TLE as a "for completists only" disc. This is a very un-Jandeklike album. I sort of imagine a group of amateur musicians in Houston getting together, deciding they want to perform some straight up blues / garage rock tunes, and having Jandek show up with twelve of his most recent compositions for them to play. This isn't an album I'll turn to if I'm looking for the essential Jandek sound, but I'm calling this one a keeper, as I found it to be a lot of fun.

I'm not really sure how to review "I Woke Up." There are things I like about this disc but there is definitely a lot I did not care for, too. My main problem, to continue with Dave's naming convention, is "Mike." I don't care for his poetry or for his voice, and don't think that he adds anything positive to Jandek's discography. Perhaps this is why he only appears on this one disc. Part of the problem might be that I didn't hear anything memorable, other than Mike's contributions, which annoyed me right from the start. I'll come back to this disc and give it another chance, but it is definitely not essential jandek. I would list this one at the high end of "For Completists Only" or the low end of "Personal Opinion."

I have never heard of this one. Please let me know what you think of it when you have a chance to listen to it!

I'll try to add my comments as the day goes along. I'll start out of order, with track #9, which many people felt disrupted the flow of the disc. We Did It, We Did It! is a 3cd set which is mainly a tribute to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The group tackles tracks by Archie Shepp, Mingus and Bob Marley among others, too. My first inclination was to choose "The Inflated Tear, " by Kirk, butI went with the Shepp to throw people off of the (to my mind) too obvious "Italian jazz" theme. Also, I enjoy this track a lot more than most people seemed to. It gets really nice and funky, which isn't something I've come across all too often in Italian (or European) jazz.

10. Gianluigi Trovesi Otteto – “Ramble” Fugace (ECM) Gianluigi Trovesi, alto saxophone, piccolo, alto clarinets Beppe Caruso, trombone Massimo Greco, trumpet, electronics Marco Remondini, violoncello, electronics Roberto Bonati, double-bass Marco Micheli, double-bass, electric bass Fulvio Maras, percussion, electronics Vittorio Marinoni, drums. 11. Steffano Battaglia / Tony Oxley – “RTA” Explore (Splasc(h)) Steffano Battaglia – piano, percussion, prepared piano Tony Oxley - drums

9. Tiziano Tononi – “Attica Blues” We Did It, We Did It (Splasc(h)) Herb Robertson – trumpet Daniele Cavallanti – baritone sax Renato Geremia – alto sax Riccardo Luppi – piccolo flute Beppe Caruso – trombone, tuba Alberto Tacchini – Fender Rhodes Roberto Cecchetto – electric guitar Tito Mangialajo – acoustic bass Victor Beard – recitation Tiziano Tononi – drums, congas

7. Pino Minafra – “A Margherita” Sudori (Victo) Lauro Rossi – trombone, percussion, vocals Giorgio Occhipinti – piano, synthesizer, percussion, vocals Pino Minafra – trumpet, prepared trumpet, bugle, didjeridoo, speaking pipe, whistle, ocarina, percussion, vocals Daniele Patumi – double bass, vocals Carlo Actis Dato – tenor and baritone saxophone, percussion, vocals Vincenzo Mazzone – drums, percussion 8. Mauro Negri – “3 3 3” So Funky (Splasc(h)) Mauro Negri – clarinet Fabrizio Meloni – clarinet Bebo Ferra – guitar Fiorenzo Delegà – bass Christian Meyer – drums

5. Enrico Fazio Quintet – “Gardel” Euphoria (Splasc(h)) Alberto Mandarini – trumpet Francesco Aroni Vigone – alto and soprano saxes Carlo Actis Dato – tenor and baritone saxes, bass clarinet Enrico Fazio – acoustic bass Franca Silveri – voice Fiorenzo Sordini - drums 6. Michel Godard – “Una Serenita” Castel del Monte (Enja) Michel Godard – tuba, serpent Pino Minafra – trumpet, flugelhorn Gianluigi Trovesi – alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet Jean-Louis Matinier – accordion Renaud Garcia-Fons – bass Pierre Favre – drums, percussion Lucilla Galeazzi – vocal Linda Bsiri – vocal, trumpet marin

3. Gianni Gebbia – “Magician” Arcana Major / Sonic Tarots Session (Rastascan) Gianni Gebbia – alto and Eb sopranino saxophone 4. Mauro Negri / Zlotko Kaučič – “Sqaurci 5” Squarci (Splasc(h)) Mauro Negri – alto saxophone, clarinet Zlatko Kaučič – drums, percussion

1. Italian Instabile Orchestra – “Scarlattina” Litania Sibilante (Enja) Eugenio Colombo, Gianluigi Trovesi, Carlo Actis Dato, Daniele Cavallanti, Mario Schiano - reeds Guido Mazzon, Alberto Mandarini, Pino Minafra trumpets Giancarlo Schiaffini, Sebi Tramontana, Lauro Rossi trombones Martin Mayes french horn Renato Geremia violin Paolo Damiani cello Umberto Petrin piano Giovanni Maier bass Tiziano Tononi, Vincenzo Mazzone drums Guests: Enrico Rava trumpet Antonello Salis accordion 2. Aldo Romano Quartet – “T’ho voluto bene” Canzoni (Enja) Aldo Romano – drums Franco D’Andrea – piano Paolo Fresu – trumpet Furio Di Castri – bass

My goal in compiling this test was to highlight a specific non-U.S. "scene." Track #1 inspired me to choose Italy. I was listening to this track and was blown away (again) by the humor (not as wacky as the Dutch), the passion, the improvisation and the composition contained therein. In my opinion, the Italian jazz scene combines a healthy respect for " the tradition" while always expanding the vocabulary of jazz. Traditional European folk music, avant-garde, swing, be-bop, funk, it's all here, being played by fantastic musicians whose names are not as familar as they should be to most. I'm not sure if it is a function of the limited size of my Italian jazz collection or if it is inherent in the small size of the country, but many musicians pop up on multiple tracks, as leaders and as sidemen on each others recordings. I hope you all had as much fun listening to this disc as I did compiling it. And now, on to the answers.

It is really interesting to hear Jandek with a competent rhythm section. Until his voice comes in the first track sounds like a lost psychedelic / krautrock gem from the early 1970's. His voice however, is unmistakable. One of the reasons that I really enjoy this album is the expansion of his sound, given accompanyists who are able to play well and are willing to work within Jandek's limited palette without feeling constrained by his "history." Richard Youngs on bass and Alexander Neilson on drums (both uncredited on the cd) do a fantastic job working with "the representative from Corwood here. All of the audience noise and boomy, echo-ey room sound are still here, although, as I mentioned before, the sound has been cleaned up from earlier files that were floating around and his voice is a lot more prominent in the mix. Lyrics? - someone left him again. Highly recommended, unless you are tied to the myth more than the music.

The Place Perhaps my opinion is colored by the European vacation photos gracing the covers of this album and the two preceeding it, but I hear this album as a reflection on the transformative nature of travel. Travel in both the physical and mental sense. All of the songs reference the narrator's location, along with images of movement, confusion, hallucination and transformation. This album is still fairly harsh and atonal, but I really enjoyed it.

Given that JSngry is ready to start mailing the next BFT at the end of this week I'll get my answers posted in the next few days.

Dennis Gonzales has a new cd out, featuring Oliver Lake: "Although many of you have my new release, Idle Wild, I would like to officially announce the release of this little gem of a CD. It features the great Oliver Lake on alto and soprano saxes, Ken Filiano on acoustic bass, and Mike "T.A." Thompson on drums. It's selling fast, so get your copy now. The first pressing of N Y Midnight Suite is already sold out, and Clean Feed is set to repress it in the next few weeks. The cardboard digipak will be replaced by a jewel case." ordering

Any recommendations for titles in the Emanem sale? I've heard LUNGE "Strong Language", but that is about it. I've had this one: 4084 MARKUS EICHENBERGER "Domino Concept for Orchestra" (2001) on the list for a while, so would most likely grab a copy. I'd like to get this one: 4022 EVAN PARKER / BARRY GUY / PAUL LYTTON "at The Vortex" (1996), too, but it is not part of the sale, unfortunately.

I still don't have a lot of Dunmall outside of Mujician in my collection, but I would still definitely recommed this disc to everyone here, if you can find a copy. I'm now listening to Peter Brötzmann – Dare Devil, recorded live in Tokyo the day before Funny Rat was recorded. This disc also features Hano, as well as an electric bass and electric guitar, which brings the sound to a more sedate, less "Laswell-y" Last Exit region. The disc is ok, but not one of my favorite discs of his. (on further listening I'm thinking my initial comment was generous. Don't go out of your way to track down a copy of this one.)

I just checked the liner notes and this tune, which is titled " T'ho voluto bene," became known as "Non dimenticar." So I was incorrect. This track is labelled under the original name for the tune, but the song is the same. The album, however, is not called Non dimenticar, although Romano does have another disc, recorded at the same time, under that name. I hope that clears things up! Apologies for any confusion I caused.

You've all been busy! Time for em to think about placing that Potlatch order.

I still haven't had time to dig into the box yet, as I was driving all over New England yesterday with my wife, who is not a huge fan of Jandek. I have, however, spent a little time with Glasgow Sunday, and compared it to my previous mp3-sourced copy of the set. The sound quality is better on the official release. Primarily Jandek's voice seems to be more up front in the mix. The recording still sounds as if it was recorded in a cavernous room, but everything does sound slightly crisper. I'm not sure I'm ready to do the in-depth reviews Dave and Chaney have been posting, but I'll definitely give my thoughts on each album as I have a chance to absord it.

Eremite has two new releases due to be out soon. The Fred Anderson disc I mentioned previously, as it was recorded at a concert I attended, The other release will be a new Sunny Murray double disc set, with Sabir Mateen, Dave Burrell, Alan Silva, Louis Belogenis, Oluyemi Thomas & John Blum appearing on various tracks. I'm really looking forward to hearing Oluyemi with Sunny. For the Gino Robair fans on the board, he reviews Explosions, by Bob James in the new issue of Signal to Noise. The article is on ESP Disk and various people reiew odd, underrated and / or essential ESP releases.

Chaney's original thread was about Funny Girl, starring Barbara Streisand and Omar Sharif. People didn't go for it, so he switched to Broetzmann and Hano, which at least got some discussions going.

sending an email now.

for anyone who has listened to Drive By, by the Necks: doesn't the piano line Chris Abrahams plays at about 23:30 sound remarkably like a quote of "Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson?