John B

Thank you for posting this! I've been curious about the Boticelli release and hadn't seen any reviews / comments on it so far. I'll pick it up when I get around to buying Tales.

I just got back from Chicago, where I was able to attend one night of the Chicago Jazz Festival. Copied from the Live Shows thread: "I was most impressed by the Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, Hamiet Bluiett, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake set. I had never seen any of these guys live before and I was blown away. My friends and wife were in no rush to get to the event, so I left them behind, planning to meet back up on the lawn, and I found a seat three rows back from the stage just to the side of Hamid. He was awe-inspiring. I've been a huge fan of his for quite a while, but seeing him perform live takes the music to a whole other level. Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan were on fire. They were playing quite freely, yet still were very lyrical and definitely, to my mind, swung. Hamiet Bluiett was fairly restrained for most of the set, letting Kidd and Fred blaze the trail, dropping in now and again to add color from the baritone. I couldn't really hear Harrison Bankhead from where I was, so I have no opinion on him. I'm not sure if it was the acoustics where I was sitting but I had a difficult time figuring out what Jeff Parker contributed to the set. For the most part he was drowned out by Fred and Kidd and seemed to be lazily strumming chords in the background. All in all, this was my favorite set of the night."

I didn't see any of the performers pictured above, but the sets I saw were fantastic! I was most impressed by the Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, Hamiet Bluiett, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake set. I had never seen any of these guys live before and I was blown away. My friends and wife were in no rush to get to the event, so I left them behind, planning to meet back up on the lawn, and I found a seat three rows back from the stage just to the side of Hamid. He was awe-inspiring. I've been a huge fan of his for quite a while, but seeing him perform live takes the music to a whole other level. Fred Anderson and Kidd Jordan were on fire. They were playing quite freely, yet still were very lyrical and definitely, to my mind, swung. Hamiet Bluiett was fairly restrained for most of the set, letting Kidd and Fred blaze the trail, dropping in now and again to add color from the baritone. I couldn't really hear Harrison Bankhead from where I was, so I have no opinion on him. I'm not sure if it was the acoustics where I was sitting but I had a difficult time figuring out what Jeff Parker contributed to the set. For the most part he was drowned out by Fred and Kidd and seemed to be lazily strumming chords in the background. All in all, this was my favorite set of the night. Butch Thompson's “Tribute to Fats Waller at 100” was enjoyable. I wasn't familiar with Butch prior to his set and I'm not familar with Fats Waller, so I really had a good time during his performance. I was highly anticipating the Monksieland Band with Don Byron, Roswell Rudd, Dave Douglas, Jean-Jacques Avenel, and John Betsch, and they did not diappoint. We had to leave during their set, which was unfortunate, but I was glad to have had a chance to see them. As much as I enjoyed their music, I kept thinking that something seemed slightly "off" during their set. It might just have been my imagination, but I felt thatthere was a sadness mixed in with the joy of the music and that the band, who had decided to continue on after Steve Lacy's passing, were lacking a focus or "center" that Steve would have brought to the set. That said, we really enjoyed their performance. Unfortunately we also had to miss Toshiko Akiyoshi with the Chicago Jazz Orchestra. I'm looking forward to hearing other people's thoughts on the festival. This was my first time visiting Chicago, and I would love to go back next year!

Persuaded by your recommendation and a few sound samples on AMG, I just ordered Blood Sutra and Black Water from CD Connection. Let me know what you think! I think you'll really both of those.

Thanks, it's on "the list"... (as are many of those Verve LPRs, too many)

yes, but I haven't listened to it in a very long time. I'll pull it out tonight and let you know how it compares to Karma vs. later Coltrane. edit - the live Giuffre sounds very good, indeed!

OK, I start with the ones I didn'tlike Next is Pharoah Sanders "Live At The East" (Impulse! Japan) -and also a pretty big for me. First I would like to note that Sanders' tenot sound is one of my favorite sounds in music. His best solos (as the on on Coltrane's "Olatunji" concert.... pheeeew). I love the man, to put it short. So I didn't hesitate spending some big $$ on this OOP, and was disappointed quite a bit. To me this sounds like flower-power find-the-peace-in-your-inner-self type of jazzy improv. Easy pretty hummable mid-to-slow tempo "spiritual jazz" themes repeated all over again (I guess you should be clapping along.. or shake your tambourine), pink volcano piano solos, some droning idian instrument at the background (tampura?), chants (of course), a little bit of groove, some catharsis saxophone screaming (but not too much)... Predictable and very dated. I was expecting some interesting interplay from two bassists (one is Cecil McBeee, the second one I don't remember) - but they just play some groovy walking lines, pretty somilar to each other - nothing particularly challenging or exciting. I really find this all much more "commercial" that later-perioud Pharoah playing mainstream (which I like). Of course, I cannot say that Sanders was just following the trend or was not sincere in what he was doing - not at all, but the result despite its obvious "spiritual" inclination sounds very shallow to me. I have a couple other Sanders' Impulse! CDs, and I think they follow more or less the same pattern as on this one (the one I remember has Leon Thomas singing "the creator has a master plan..."), except for Thembi, which I thought was beautiful (with some amazing Henry Grimes). before I got to the end of your review I thought that you were describing something very like his album Karma, which is where the "creator has a master plan" line comes from. I was shocked when I first heard that run of Impulse albums. I had been expecting something more in line with his playing on Coltrane's Live in Seattle.

I've never heard the Mosaic but those other ones (Free Fall and the 1961 set) are the only discs by him I have heard, and I enjoy all of them. I was lucky enough to find those at the local library back before I moved.

I just remembered that Iyer's Panoptic Modes also features Mahanthappa. That is another great album. I'm not as fond of it as I am of Blood Sutra, but I definitely recommend it to anyone interested in Mahanthappa and Iyer.

by the way, if all goes well I should have a new computer with a functioning cd burner (for the first time in almost a year) by early next week. If I do, I'll be offering up a few goodies to my friends in Funny Rat-land.

I've added it to "the list" along with the Von Freeman mentioned above. That one sounds fantastic!

To quote Chaney and D.D., from back in May: "QUOTE (Д.Д. @ May 18 2004, 02:23 PM) Both are solid, if not outstanding works. I like this and so I've decided to honor it with a newly created acronym - full credit to David - we'll split the royalties: SINOW So often, when I've wanted to recommend a particular CD, I've searched for the proper words to convey the idea that you'll like this one alot but it probably won't change your life. A good, solid effort which you'll enjoy but may not revere. SINOW Doesn't quite roll off the tongue but it'll do."

I believe the only Blythe I have as a leader is Hipmotism, on Enja. This is another disc that would fall under the patented SINOW description, imo.

I've been listening to Rudresh Mahanthappa's Black Water (Red Giant, 2002)again today. It features Mahanthappa on alto, Vijay Iyer on piano, Francois Moutin on bass and Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums. In my opinion this is a fantastic album! It really reminds me, in a way, of the Pullen / Adams discs I have heard in its ability to stretch the boundaries of "in the pocket" post-bop playing while never going too far "out." I'm also a fan of Mahanthappa's playing on Vijay Iyer's Blood Sutra. I have heard that Mahanthappa has a new disc scheduled for release in October, which I am very much looking forward to hearing. So, is anyone else here a fan of his? Any recommendations for other albums as a sideman to track down? I know that he had one album as a leader released prior to Black Water, but I have no idea how easy it would be to track down a copy. AMG mentions that it had "limited distribution."

so, I've been relistening to this disc today: Rudresh Mahanthappa - Black Water (Red Giant) Mahanthappa - Alto Vijay Iyer - Piano Francois Moutin - Bass Elliot Humberto Kavee - Drums This is a fantastic album! It reminds me a lot of the Pullen / Adams discs I have heard in its balance between "out" and "in" playing, although I feel that it stays more in the pocket than not. Great playing and nice tunes.

welcome back! I'm surprised by some of the discs that you panned. I'd really be interested in hearing your thoughts on the ones I quoted above. After not listening to any music for almost a week I've been listening to eai pretty much nonstop at work. MIMEO with John Tilbury - The Hands of Caravaggio, Gunter Muller / Voice Crack - buda_rom, Otomo Yoshihide / Voice Crack - Bits, Bots and Signs, Gunter Muller / Le Quanh Ninh - La Voyelle Liquide, Toshimaru Nakamura / Keith Rowe - Weather Sky, Sachiko M / Toshimaru Nakamura / Otomo Yoshihide - Good Morning, Good Night, Keith Rowe / Franz Hautzinger / Axel Dorner - A View from the Window, AMM - Newfoundland as well as the last Sonic Youth album and some Bardo Pond. I'll start back in on some jazz tomorrow. Ive been anxious to hear Last Exit's Koln disc and a few albums by and Vijay Iyer. Is anyone familiar with their work? I highly recommend Black Water, by Mahanthappa, as well as Panoptic Modes and Blood Sutra, by Iyer. Great albums!

I will be out in Chicago next weekend and just found out that our visit will coincide with most of the 26th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival. The festival is free, so I think I will be able to convince everyone to go with me on Sunday night. I am really excited by the prospect of these two shows: 5:05 – 5:55 Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, Hamiet Bluiett, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake 7:10 – 8:10 The Monksieland Band with Don Byron, Roswell Rudd, Dave Douglas, Jean-Jacques Avenel, and John Betsch Dedicated to the late great Steve Lacy

I own Optometry and am really underwhelmed by it. I can't get past the first few tracks without getting really bored.

I don't know how ambitious you guys are with touring plans, but Montreal, Burlington, Boston and NYC are all in easy succession for a four night run.

In Vermont I would recommend Higher Ground, which is now closed but will be reopening in a new location this fall. They cater to more of the Medeski Martin and Wood jamband crowd, which I could easily see you guys crossing over to. The big venue for jazz up here is the Flynn Center, which has two rooms. The main room is quite large and books shows by Randy Weston and Dave Holland, for example. They also have a smaller room called Flynnspace that might work for you. I'll be seeing the Willem Breuker Kollektief there in a few weeks. It is a nice sized room, not a lot of shows seem to happen, so I have no idea how difficult they might be to work with. Good luck! We'd love to see you come up to these parts!

sorry to hear about your stereo. That is a fantastic price on the Golden Years set! You will really enjoy it, once you are able to hear it.

I'll be in Chicago for the long weekend, and am trying to convince our friends to go with us on Sunday night. I really want to see the 5:05 – 5:55 Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, Hamiet Bluiett, Jeff Parker, Harrison Bankhead, Hamid Drake and 7:10 – 8:10 The Monksieland Band with Don Byron, Roswell Rudd, Dave Douglas, Jean-Jacques Avenel, and John Betsch shows. I wouldn't mind staying for Toshiko Akiyoshi at 8:30, but don't want to miss out on those two.

Dan - I'm finally getting to disc #2 and really enjoying it! It's looking like I will be stumped again, but I will post a few guesses. 1) Summertime, to start, then heads off into an extended jam. I really dug this track. It is a blast, and you can hear that the band, whoever they are, are having a lot of fun. I'll guess Gene Harris, but have no clue if I am correct. 2) No clue who this is. I really dig this track as background music. I don't mean that in a bad way, per se. When I listen to this while doing some work I really love its late night, smoky club vibe. When I stop working and pay too much attention to the track it almost sounds a little too polite and easy-listening-ish to me. 3) Nice, swinging tune. No clue who this is. I like what the tenor player is doing, not so sure about the rhythm section. This is a nice track but nothing that excites me too much. 4) Again, I really enjoy what is happening on tenor but find the rest of the band to be fairly blah. No clue who this is but enjoy listening to it casually. If there could be better musicians backing the tenor this would definitely be a keeper. 5) Back at the Chicken Shack, but I have no clue who this is. The organist sounds very familiar. I'm guessing once the answer is revealed I will kick myself for not getting this one. This version of BATCS plays it a little too safe for my taste. It is nice enough, and I enjoy it, but it could use a little more fire. 6) Again, no clue who this is and no clue what the tune is. I'm not usually a fan of straight-ahead big bands but this was a nice track. 7) No clue who this is. I really am not a fan of the NHL hockey rink style of organ. Thank god for Jimmy Smith...all in all this is not a bad track. It had a nice balance of grease and slow-burning fire. But the organ kills it for me. NMCOT. 8) the playing makes this sound like an older (1950's) recording to my ears but the recording quality makes me think it is much more recent. No clue who any of the players are. Nice enough swinging tune, but nothing I will rush out and buy. 9) I really dig this track! I sound like a broken record but, again, I have no clue who this is. I love the relaxed yet very intense vibe here. If the rest of the album is anything like this I'll have to track this one down. (Oops, just got to the "vocoder" vocals. That is unfortunate...I would prefer this track without the vocals.) 10) No clue who this is. NIce track, but nothing I would rush out and buy. Again, I think this BFT is stronger as a whole than as the sum of its parts. Great job putting thsi together, Dan! Nice flow and I really enjoyed listening to disc #2.

I just learned that Tim Berne is releasing live albums directly throght his website. The first one is out and, if it sells well enough, more will follow. Acoustic and Electric Hard Cell Live Tim Berne: Alto Craig Taborn: Electric keyboards and electronics 2 and 4 and acoustic piano on 1 and 3 Tom Rainey : drums There is a rave review of this one up over at JC. I'll be picking up a copy of it one of these days.