Late

Don't want to be too negative, but Nathan Davis, especially on soprano, usually bores me. I had the albums that are listed above, but couldn't hear enough that sounded original to me, and parted ways. I do like Davis's Rules of Freedom, however. I've never really checked out Lol Coxhill's soprano playing, but know that I should. Any recs as to where to start? ========== An aside that some here already know — Rex Stewart "named" Lacy. Born Steven Lackritz, Stewart would call out "Lacy" when the latter was in Stewart's band. Something to do with pronunciation or spelling, and so Stewart shortened it.

Do those sessions overlap with the Whitey Mitchell sessions? (From memory, I think half the Mitchell "sessions" were actually led by Sutton.) At any rate, those are worth hearing, even if one's not particularly a Lacy fan. What blows me away is how (in less than a year?) Lacy went from this music to Cecil Taylor's group without even as much as a hiccup.

Gayle is a lot of fun live (I've only heard him once in person), especially when he sticks to the tenor. I can live without the piano, viola, and clown nose, but it seems to work for others. Somehow the live energy just doesn't make it into the recordings (at least for me). The poster (on telephone poles) that advertised his gig had a picture of him and a quote: "I will blow you through the wall." Always struck me as an unintended double entendre.

Happy 26th, kid.

Speculation, but it seems in general that Hat reissues appear about 18-24 months after they're announced. The Ayler release (the catalog #) has appeared on the back of other Hat issues for a while now. I'm curious — does anyone here regularly purchase from the hatNOW series? Someone must (maybe people on a 20th Century classical forum?), as the series seems full of life. I've never purchased a title from that series, but have been thinking about it lately. Also — reissues of hatOLOGY titles? I guess they're not limited editions.

Just exploring the Maggini's output on Naxos — all sorts of composers I've never heard of come flying into the radar. Bax, Bliss, Davies, Quincy Porter, and more. (Maybe the Porter recordings are by another quartet. Can't remember at the moment.) Anyone here heard Ben Johnston's string quartets? I've heard parts of his Microtonal Piano and liked the sounds mucho. Thanks to this thread, four Naxos discs of string quartets are on their way to my doorstep: • Coates • Szymanowski • Rawsthorne • Janacek Tower.com actually stocks a lot of Naxos titles — most under $7. An affordable way to explore the field. (Never got to the Naxos thread here. I'll have to dig it up.) Also picked up a disc by the Stanford String Quartet performing Bridge, Milhaud, and Faure. Haven't spun it yet. I'm not getting/hearing Cage and Feldman yet, but Conlon Nancarrow's work resonates with me right away.

Very true. (Though it's also fun to check in on others' instincts!) Clem, just got done listening to some Holmboe sound samples. Very fine stuff. Goes way up on the list. I might regret starting this thread ... $ :rsmile: $

It's a shame that label folded. The Xenakis chamber music disk is essential: Iannis Xenakis 1: Musique de chamber 1955-1990 - Auvidis Montaigne 782005 (1992) (Claude Helffer - piano, Arditti String Quartet) Wow, didn't know that. I got most of my copies from CDUniverse about three years ago. Tower still carries some at around $11.99. The only one I could never find was the Arditti's version of the Schoenberg quartets. (I also could never find Arditti's Scelsi, but a generous board member helped me out.) A very cool reissue program/label. Actually, last I checked, CDUniverse had the super-rare From U.S.A disc for under $10!

I read that thread too, but now the Milhaud box set on Naive is out-of-print (or at least not for sale new or used at Amazon). I was getting all excited about hearing it! I'll unearth a copy somewhere/some time. Will add Coates and Bridge to the list. The "everyone should have" idea I think is more fetishism than anything, but sometimes it helps to discover new voices. It's odd how we discover certain composers in our own way and time. Example: I've barely heard a note of Dvorak's chamber works, but was exposed to Penderecki's chamber works at a fairly young age (14), and now the latter feels like a household name.

Yeah, I read through that thread (a good one), and I guess this thread is somewhat similar in its query. Actually, because of that thread, I've been checking out sound samples of Dvorak, Krenek, Smetana, et al. In fact, I have a Dvorak box set in my cart right now at Amazon. But then there's the Villa-Lobos box set ... My ears lean toward "mayhem" as well. Through the Naive/Montaigne label, I've heard work for strings by Nono, Maderna, Xenakis, Rihm, Kagel, Feldman, and Ohana — all composers who serve up moments of mayhem (or minimalism with Feldman), but I suppose, with this thread, I was trying to ask the "everyone should have in their classical collection" type of question, only with the 20th century brackets.

I was reading a number of reviews on Amazon yesterday (some of the reviews for classical discs are exceptionally well-written), when I came across a review (responding to the review before it) that put forth a list of the "most important" string quartet cycles composed in the 20th century. A subjective argument to be sure, but it got me wondering. Anyway, here's what the reviewer listed: • Bartok • Shostakovich • Schoenberg • Carter • Martinu • Villa-Lobos • Milhaud • Britten • Hindemith I'm not even familiar with the music of Bohuslav Martinu, but the list made me want to check his work out. I know that "most important" is an incredibly ambiguous term, but — accepting the subjectivity of it all — how would you make a similar list? Let's try to give some criteria. How about: • string quartet cycles (as opposed to chamber works with strings) • meriting historical significance/cultural permanence either inside or outside the "cannon" of string quartet cycles I'm interested in reading what you have to say — not so much for "debate" but rather because I love string quartets and am always on the lookout for composers I've never been exposed to. If you could list what representative ensemble/recording you like, that would be great too. Thanks for the input!

Americans are saying, "What's the thirteenth month?"

I usually don't care for iTunes, but they have the Lateef/Ford album. I've only listened to part of it so far, but it's nice in a wooly way. By the way, for those that do eMusic, all the Ford Candids are there. I forgot I had some Ford with Ran Blake — the Barbara Monk tribute (I'm spacing on the title). Very nice album.

Thanks for the recs guys. Listening to sound samples, I'd say the Denon set (with the Something Else-type cover) is what I'll look for first.

Any fans? What albums? Moore was on a Blakey tribute called Message from the early 90's. That's where I first heard him. Liked his sound and articulation. Haven't heard him on anything else.

That's a good idea. Blakey seems to sell well (as opposed to, say, Elvin Jones). Maybe a 70's Roulette Select? Is there enough material? Or maybe a two-fer Single is the way to go. There's also this one (haven't heard it):

Yeah.......that's the Roulette! Smok-IN!! Uh-huh, rub it in.

Those are cool photos! I was trying to attach a jpeg of Ford's Shorter Ideas, and then noticed you'd posted in the meantime. (The jpeg file was too large to attach. )

Maybe he just misplaced his very cool dinner jacket.

And the Hubbard ...

And the Bu record mentioned above ...

Argh! Now I really want to hear these ... Another Muse date (Invitation) is a quartet setting with Mickey Tucker on piano. I've just been getting into Tucker's Xanadu sessions, so I'm guessing that's a record I'd like. Schnitter's also on a live 1980 Freddie Hubbard session on Pablo. I wish eMusic carried the Muse (and Cobblestone et al.) label, even if they were vinyl rips.

I just ordered Sketch, and was curious about Schnitter's Muse recordings. Is the only way to hear them to find the original vinyl? As you can tell, I haven't heard any of them — which do you like/recommend? Is Blakey's Heat Wave (with Schnitter) worth plunking down the import price $ to hear? What other Blakey sides feature Schnitter?

Is Big Jim's Tango out-of-print? Amazon has used copies starting at $50. If anyone knows where I can locate an affordable copy, please PM!

Listening to this one before 6 a.m. — almost as good as coffee. I like Lovano's 52nd Street Themes, but I think I like this one even more. Has Brad Leali on it! Now I'm going to bump the other Wallace thread up.