John B

I'm glad you enjoyed the disc! Lisle is playing a free show here on the 16th with Larry Ochs and Donald Robinson. I will not be able to go, as I will be out of the state all weekend. I am really dissapointed by this.

I'm really enjoying these sound samples. They've got a Fela-meets downtown NYC crowd vibe going for them. I'll definitely be adding this one too the list. Shipp has been doing less and less for me of late. Hopefully this one breaks him out of the rut I hear him in.

Yes, but I had to get special permission and they still won't play any Brotzmann on their stereo. The set is stunning visually. I could spend a few hours just going through the book and assorted goodies enclosed in the box and not get bored. You are in for a real treat when this shows up on your doorstep. I have to keep reminding myself that there is some music tucked away in there, too. All 10 cds worth!

I received notification that my set shipped yesterday and, when I went to UPS to see where it was, found that it was delivered two hours ago. I can't wait to get home from the gym and take a look at this set!

A few favorites that have not been mentioned so far: Sergey Kuryokhin - Some Combination of Fingers and Passion Cecil Taylor - Indent, Silen Tongues, The Willisau Concert Andrew Hill - Live at Montreux

Based on what I have heard and read these all seem like solid choices. I don't really know enough so far to comment intelligently, unfortunately. Chaney and dave would be better equipped to speak to the first few albums. I'm looking forward to reading your comments!

strange coincidence, this was my order from JazzLoft yesterday. I also picked up Ayler's Music is the Healing Force... and Fondation Maeght from cduniverse with some Paypal credit I had left over.

Has anyone here heard this disc? I've been listening to his album Elevated and really enjoying it. I was wondering if Kingdom of Champa was worth tracking down? The AMG review has me intrigued, but I would love to hear some comments from people on the board before buying a copy.

no, I did not know about that one. I'll have to add it to my list. I need to grab many more recordings of Blackwell's. I can really hear a lot of his playing in Hamid Drake, who I never get tired of.

Blasphemy!!!!!! Actually, I have never enjoyed listening to Ascension all that much (nor Free Jazz, for that matter) but have a lot of respect for both of them as historically essential documents. I'll take this opportunity to relisten to Ascension and see if my opnion of it as music has changed.

I just finished listening to You Walk Alone, which follows Blue Corpse in the Jandek discography, for the first time. While not quite as strong as BC, it is still a solid album. I could do without the drums, but they are a minor annoyance.

Well, it's not that bad, it's just that, yet again, too much has been released and not enough editing, and at times a re-take, has been done, in my opinion. Sprinkled, though perhaps all too sporadically, are quite good solos by all involved. The sense of sloppiness is most noticeable in the ensemble sections, the heads in particular - both in terms of cleanly nailing the actual melodies and as well as when/where to enter. Again, however, there are more than a few solos by Braxton, Smoker, Brown, and Mengelberg that I'm rather fond of - not to mention the lively interplay throughout disc 1. Perhaps I overstated my aversion to this disc but, given all of the albums I really want to hear, this one will not be something I'll buy anytime soon.

I am also not a fan of jazz with vocals, but the disc Nuba, with Lee, Andrew Cyrille and Jimmy Lyons is wonderful! As I posted elsewhere, this might be some of the most lyrical playing I have heard from Lyons and Cyrille spends most of his time playing some fantastic percussion, very influenced by African tribal music, imo. Jeanne Lee really fits in well. I enjoyed her vocals a lot more than I expected to. Very highly recommended

Another disc that I would recommend to everyone here is Don Cherry / Ed Blackwell - Mu Parts 1 & 2 Both Cherry and Blackwell are in fine form here but, in my opinion, Blackwell really steals the show. He is just monstrously talented, and his abilities and imagination really shine through as he supports and responds to Cherry. Fasinating album, and one that has really continued to grow on me since I first heard it.

Well, I've never owned that Cecil disc, so I'll be grabbing a copy asap. Most likely the Eskelin and the Fennesz/ErikM discs, too. The one I'll be avoiding like the plague is the Braxton Charlie Parker project disc. I've heard nothing but bad things about that one.

That is too bad. After listening to Gongol I was really hoping for another album written at the same level. Thanks for saving me a few bucks!

Has anyone here herd this disc? I just finished listening to Gongol, by Kaplan's Percussion Ensemble and really loved the album. I looked him up on AMG and saw that Le Magus, from 2002 was his last release as a leader. The AMG review seems to spend more time stating what Le Magus isn't (too "out") rather than describe what it is, so I was hoping someone here could tell me if it is up to teh level of Gongol?

One more disc I would like to recommend to all of you tonight: Ori Kaplan Percussion Ensemble - Gongol (Knitting Factory) Kaplan plays alto, Susie Ibarra and Geoff Mann are on percussion and various other instruments and Andrew Bemkey is on piano. There is a litle bit of Ellington in the writing, a little bit of Coltrane (both John and Alice) but, for the most part, this is a really fresh album that stands on its own quite well. This is the only albym I have heard of Kaplan's and it really makes me want to hear more. I think all Knitting Factory discs have gone oop, which is too bad. This one is really a winner!

I'm listening to an absolutely beautiful album that everyone on Funny rat should hear at some point in their lives: Andrew Cyrille / Jeanne Lee / Jimmy Lyons - Nuba. (Black Saint) This might be some of the most lyrical playing I have heard from Lyons and Cyrille spends most of his time playing some fantastic percussion, very influenced by African tribal music, imo. Jeanne Lee really fits in well. I enjoyed her vocals a lot more than I expected to. Very highly recommended.

I keep wishing someone would give all of this material the "Mosaic" treatment and release it in the best possible fidelity and with any available bonus material. Now it seems that, between the Revenant box and the most current remasters / reissues, it will be almost possible to do so piece by piece. These really are great (and expensive) times to be a fan of this music!

According to the Ayler discography site the Revenant box will include all of the material on Albert Smiles that is not included on Prophecy. I think I'll order Music is the Healing Force, as it is so inexpensive, and the Fondation Maeght Water release. Thanks!

I just read on the Ayler discography site that the tracks from Albert Smiles With Sunny that do not appear on Prophecy are all included in the Revenant box, so all of the material will be readily available now.

The tree and shoreline create the outline of a fetus.

I was looking for this thread and saw that Gary had already brought it back up again. I need to catch up on some of the Ayler I've missed. I've already ordered the Hat Lorach set, and am now looking at the Complete Live at Slug's Saloon on Lonehill and the Water reissue of the complete Nuits De La Fondation Maeght 1970 set. Are these two versions of these sets the best ones to grab in terms of sound quality and completeness of the performances? Also, does anyone have a recommendation for Music is the Healing Force of the Universe, which Impulse recently reissued?

I heard another interesting album the other day - XMARSX, on Atavistic. The band is made up of Mars Williams, Greg Suran, Dave Suycott , Kent Kessler, Frederick Longberg-Holm and Wayne Kramer, of MC5 fame. Given that half of these guys are coming from a rock background, it is not surprising how strongly this disc wears its rock influences on its sleeve. I've only spn this disc once, and need to spend some more time with it before being able to comment on it, but I already feel comfortable recommending it to all of you. The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs." -Hunter S. Thompson (taken from the Atavistic website)