John B

Thank you for the info! I was hoping that would happen.

I just found out that a local library has a copy of this one, so I'll be giving it a spin very soon.

I'm bringing this one up for some air. I've had this disc on my radar screen for quite a while but never got around to ordering it. I just noticed that Brett has some live shows available for download as mp3s on his website, so I think I'll give a few of them a listen this weekend. fwiw Brett posts over on JC as "hearsay."

I'll be listening to Air Time, Air Mail and Live Air today. I decided to try an experiment and, rather than confining my thought here, I started a discussion in the Artists forum. If any of you are familiar with these albums or, with Air in general, please chime in! Air was (on these recordings): Henry Threadgill Fred Hopkins Steve McCall Great music, great writing, criminally unavailable catalog.

I was going to post my thought on Air in the Funny Rat thread, but decided to try to expand my horizons a bit and see if a few more people would join in the conversation. I brought in the three Air discs I own (Air Time (Nessa) Live Air (Black Saint) and Air Mail (Black Saint)) to work today. This is fantastic music and it is a shame that their albums are so hard to find these days. Perhaps Mosaic will do a "complete Air" set one day but, until then, I won't be holding my breath. I've been very impressed by the Threadgill I have heard, but have never made an effort to track down a lot of his back catalog. I bought Air Time from Chuck, adding it to an order because I was curious about Air. I was very impressed and jumped at the opportunity to grab Live and Air Mail from DMG during a sale they had a while back. Other than that, I haven't had a chance to hear any of their other albums So, anyone care to chime in with what Air discs are "must-hears?" Anyone ever have a chance to see them live, back in the day?

For the most part I agree with Mike, but I wouldn't want to do away with the Funny Rat thread, either. I really enjoy the "conversation" we are having there.

I think I have found a copy thanks to the kindness of a boardmember. This disc is going for $60 - $100 on ebay / half.com, last I checked. Craziness!

I think I prefer the Melford, although the Eskelin is very good.

Other than the ones you listed there are quite a few I would love to have a chance to see: Rabih Abou-Khalil Anouar Brahem Cecil Taylor (solo and with a small group) Rudresh Mahanthappa Vijay Iyer Peter Brotzmann (Tentet as well as the DLAD trio or quartet)

Speaking of which, I'm going to go through my collection of discs by Air today. I'll discuss them here but I'll also make a point to start a discussion of them in the Artists Forum.

I agree, but whenever I start a thread on Jemeel Moondoc or the Art Ensemble or anyone else not on Blue Note, the thread tends to die a quick death. It is unfortunate, so every once in a while I try again, recently with Rudresh Mahanthappa, hoping that a few people who don't visit Funny Rat will be motivated to check out a disc on Eremite or Ayler or any number of fantastic small labels who are putting out challenging, enjoyable music today, as opposed to the '50'ws and '60's.

I've been playing this today (because of your post). Its a great CD. I quite like Don Aylers trumpet on this one it doesnt seem as repetative as he seems to be on other recordings (except for on Love Cry II perhaps). I agree. It is too bad he seems to have left music not too long after this. It seems to me that his abilities were improving and he was more creative in his playing.

I agree. This is one of the best examples I have heard of Zorn playing "in," while still adding enough "out" flavor to remind you who you are hearing. Wonderful disc! I don't know a lot by Frisell, but I really like what he adss to this disc.

Anyone know where this CD can be got this side of the pond. I ordered my copy through Subteranean Distribution, in the Netherlands. I believe Guus also sells his discs directly.

No, I think you are recalling this correctly. I think Barry Guy was the only one of the four who wasn't pissed off at the others when this was recorded. The tension definitely made for some great music.

My exposure to Parker has been quite limited. Other than two solo discs, Monoceros and The Snake Decides and his duo with Keith Rowe, Dark Rags, and the Schlippenbach Trio stuff reissued by the UMS I've not heard any of his albums. Would this one be a good next choice or is there another album I should check out first, in your opinion? He is also fantastic as a sideman on Nailed, with Cecil Taylor, Barry Guy and Tony Oxley.

I listened to another wonderful album for the first time today: John Zorn - News for Lulu, on Hat, with George Lewis on Trombone and Bill Frisell on guitar. They perform compositions by Hank Mobley, Sonny Clark, Freddie Redd and Kenny Dorham, all without benefir of bass, piano or drums. Very highly recommended, although I believe this disc is also oop.

Power Tools was: Bill Frisell (electric guitar), Melvin Gibbs (bass), Ronald Shannon Jackson (drums). This cd is long since oop and I would really like to hear this music. Would anyone here who has this album be willing to make a copy for me?

Funny Rat is quiet today... I finally had a chance to hear Clusone 3's Rara Avis. What a fantastic album! Is the rest of their work up to this standard?

Right now I'm listening to Hamid Drake / Mats Gustafsson - For Don Cherry. I am really enjoying this one, but it is definitely not essential. I am not familar with Gustafsson outside of the Brotzmann Tentet, so it is very nice to hear him listening and reacting to Hamid in a duo setting. This disc is a lot quieter than I had expected, but still has a lot of intensity and fire. This was one of the earlier Okka Disk limited editions and is long since OOP. The drum solo on track 3 alone makes this album worth hearing. I've said it before but Hamid is a force of nature.

Otherwise there is no way I will be able to keep up with the pace the two of you have been setting. At most I'll be listening to one disc per day.

Are any of you familiar with a musician named Joost Buis? The only mention I found of him on this board was on a Blindfold Test, where he was a sideman on one track. Recently I've been reading a lot of praise for his new album Astronotes. I ordered it yesterday, along with Sound Lee! plays the music of Lee Konitz, by pianist Guus Janssen, who I have also been meaning to check out for quite some time.