John B

I only got around one hour of uncomfortable sleep Thursday night. I was very tired yesterday, and am still feeling the effects today. Clinkers is one of the few Lacy discs I own. It will probably be one of the first discs I listen to tomorrow. Right now I'm taking a break from jazz for the day and am listening to a few Aphex Twin discs, among other "glitchy" albums. I also bought a few discs on Ayler after taking a break from buying music for a while. I ordered the new-ish Mongezi Feza - Free Jam and the Rashied Ali / Arthur Rhames - Remember Bird & Trane, as well as Anders Gahnold - Flowers for Johnny and Arthur Doyle / Sunny Murray - Live at the Glen Miller Cafe. I've been looking forward to hearing these for a while.

In my case it didn't go to sleep, I went to Seattle. I don't have much Steve Lacy at all. I'll pull out Clinkers and give that one a spin this weekend. I need to get some more of his work soon.

What kind of tunes?? It would only be right to start with Brotzmann / Hano.

For me it does. See, I definitely hear a lot of human emotion in LVL. It is expressed in a very different way than most people are used to, but it is there, nonetheless. It sounds like this music might just not be for you, which is cool. Kudos to you for at least giving it a chance, which is more than most would do. I would still highly recommend everyone on this discussion give Too Beautiful to Burn a chance, as it is, in my opinion, the one disc on Erst people coming from a jazz background would have the easiest time relating to.

There is an interesting interview with Gunter Muller where he touches on the conception of La Voyelle Liquide, over at Joe Christmas' site Bagatellan: http://bagatellen.com/mueller.html

switching back to jazz, for a minute: I finally got a chance to hear this, thanks to Geoff. I'm having a lot of trouble finding time to listen to music today, so have not yet made it past the first track, but I am already loving this disc! Great playing and I am really looking forward to sitting down with some time to really pay attention to this.

previous experiences on Jazz Corner, I'm guessing. J.A.W. - have you explored the eai discussions over at JC? There are some great discussions both pro and con, especially if you read the Check Your Ego threads in the archives.

Get the box. You get all of the Knitting Factory discs plus some bonus live material and it is very reasonably priced. All of the music is fantastic! You will not be disappointed.

It is very hard for me to explain. I have a lot of trouble explaining what it is about music such as La Voyelle Liquide that I enjoy so much. It has something to do with mood and atmosphere, something to do with variety within a limited palette of sounds, perhaps something to do with the novelty of the sounds and music created - it is radically different from any other music in my collection and, when in the right mood, I really love listening to this. It is definitely not for everybody and is probably not to most people's tastes, which is fine. I'd advise holding onto the disc for a few months or so and coming back to it. I had a lot of trouble with my first eai disc, The Hands of Caravaggio, but, eventually, everything started to click. Conversely, this music may just not be for you, in which case wait until it if "officially" oop and get the best deal you can for it on ebay.

I hadn't realized he was in Steamboat. Unfortunately, he is badly under-miked here, so it is difficult to hear what he is doing. What do you mean, you can't hear him?!?! I thought drums dominate this record totally... I'll give Nothung another listen but, yes, my first impression was that the drums were undermiked.

Nothung is SINOW, but Wertmueller is amazing. You do know Wertmueller, btw - he is a Steamboat Switzerland drummer... I hadn't realized he was in Steamboat. Unfortunately, he is badly under-miked here, so it is difficult to hear what he is doing.

Funny Rat is great, but I started to lose interest towards an hour in. It might be that work isn't the proper environment for this album but I can see myself listening to this one a track or two at a time. Excellent recording, highly recommended for fans of Brotzmann. Now onto Nothung...

I'll be passing through San Francisco later this summer (if I persuade American consulate that I am a true Amercian patriot and they give me a visa - I am being "screened" for two weeks already), and I will check Amoeba out. I assme NYC's Downtown Music Gallery should be not bad also... And there should be somethign good here in Europe... Amsterdam probably... I have never had the pleasure of visiting DMG but I would guess that you are correct. How long are you plnning on being in the U.S. for? Just San Francisco?

I wonder how they are doing financially... The best CD store I saw was Tower Records in lower Manhattan (I became an anapologetic American patriot after having seen this store) and another one - Tower Records in Bellevue, WA (with a lot of Leo and Boxholder CDs... Spalsc(H) CDs had a special advertizing stand with something really catchy written on it, like "Those wonderful Italians"... in Bellevue, WA!!!!!), although the clerk told me they were about to downsize the jazz section... Based on comments I overheard the owner make I don't think they are making much of a profit, if any. It is definitely a labor of love for them. The best cd store I have ever seen, by far, is Amoeba, out in California. It is like a cathedral, a veritable Mecca, for cd addicts such as ourselves.

I had heard of such stores but always assumed them to be found on other planets in galaxies far, far away. (I too would have to make a road trip to find brick and mortar stores selling the stuff we chat about in this thread. Thank gOd for the Internet!) It is a fairly small store but they had discs on Hat Hut, Ayler, Eremite, as well as Japanese imports, Erstwhiles, lots of free jazz, 20th century composers, psychedelic music, etc... The internet is great, but I love being able to browse. Also, the Keith Rowe / Fennesz show last night was fantastic. Many thanks to Jon Abbey for putting it together.

I saw them live around eleven time between 1993 and 1998. At their best they put on a great show, full of energy and humor. At their worst they were meandering and overblown. I can't say I've heard anything in the past few years that has made me want to see them live again or buy any of their albums but I'll still keep their live discs around for those transcendental moments they did achieve.

will do! It was great to finally be at a store that had albums like this for sale. I could have spent a lot of money very easily.

RDK - I just wanted to say again that you did a great job with this BFT. It was a lot of fun hearing these tracks. I think a lot more people dug the Pepper track than you might think, but the naysayers seemed to have spoken louder.

I finally own a copy of Funny Rat. It took 106 pages and a drive to Boston, but I can finally hear the album that started all of this. I also picked up a copy of Nothung, which was recorded live at the Knitting Factory and features Brotzmann with William Parker and Michael Wertmuller (who I know nothing about) on percussion.

I have a bit of a problem with this one - but I listened to it only once so far. Vandermark sounded bland, and some other pieces (with Ab Baars, I think) seemed dry and boring. I'll listen to it again. Anybody else cares to share his (or her, he-he) thoughts (I think we all got it at the dawn of the glorious Funny Rat days, when it was annonced OOP, didn't we?)? I agree. This one really did not grab me on first listen. I have yet to go back and give it a second try.

I don't own very much Anthony Braxton, but I love what I have. I grabbed Quartet (Dortmund) 1976 and Quintet (Basel) 1977 before leaving for work this morning. Both of these sets are fantastic. Great playing, incomprehensible song titles and the usual, impeccable Hat recording quality. Both are very highly recommended! Not that I will be buying anything in the near future, but does anyone have recommendations for my next, essential Braxton purchase? (Until Hat reissues the 4cd Willisau set...)

you can get this one for $8.95 through Al Lankin at jazzmatazz. http://jazzmatazz.home.att.net/forsale.html I don't know how much he charges for international shipping but I have had nothing but positive experiences buying discs from him.

I wasn't serious about asking you to shuttle ErstDist discs up to Boston. (should have included a smiley at the end of that post...) I'll try to spend some time at Twisted Village before the show and I'm hoping to pick up a few discs I want while there. Whatever I don't find will go into the next order for Chris. I'm listening to your avatar now. This one has been a sleeper. I wasn't crazy about it the first time I heard it but it has grown on me each time I've been able to give it a careful listen. It has a lot more detail and nuance than I thought at first and it is my 2nd favorite of the three new discs, behind View From a Window.

I was planning on ordering the Rat from Erstwhile as well...we'll see if they have it available. Actually, I should be seeing Jon Abbey tomorrow night at a Keith Rowe / Fennesz show. Maybe I should ask him to bring a copy with him, just to be safe....

Yes, and the Blood and Fire dub comps as well as the Tappa Zukie are fantastic! Just what I was hoping for.