Nate Dorward

?????????? ← Why the question marks?

I didn't actually like A Wild Sheep Chase all that much but have been enjoying The Wind-up Bird Chronicles. Yes, there are references to jazz all over the place in the novels (e.g. Eric Dolphy gets a passing mention in TWUBC). Pity that his writing on jazz hasn't been translated.

Just caught Randy + Dick Hyman live here in Toronto--a great night of music. Hyman seems to be in a Tatum mood for much of the night ("Gone with the Wind" was virtually a gloss on the version on the Tatum/Webster album) though he also had a Willie the Lion Smith vibe going at other points, & (my favourite moments) elsewhere had a fractured tango/charleston/stoptime/bolero groove going which was pure Dick Hyman. Sandke was in wonderful form too--I found myself really paying close attention to him simply because he wasn't inclined to lean on premade licks at all: every note seemed to be considered & to have a potential for decision-making within it. Some touches of Roy Eldridge in his playing, I thought, especially on "Body & Soul" which reminded me of the Newport Rebels version for Candid. Picked up the 1st Inside Out album, which I was pleased to see has liners by Larry Kart. A very fine album, though I'd still give the nod to the sequel.

Glad you liked this one John--it's one of my favourite jazz discs this year. That opening mini-epic constructed out of Fred Anderson's "3 on 2" is quite something....

Hey, I like that Pacorig disc! Not much Hancock in there I would have thought--it's Paul Bley that's the primary influence (though there's interestingly enough a tribute to the Legendary Hassan too). Haven't heard the other one.

I have this one--been a while since I've listened to it. I remember it as starting slowly but having a great finish. Saw them do it live in Toronto too.

I don't think there was any question about Potter's facility as a player or his ability to play within nonstandard time signatures. -- Yes, he's certainly been part of the bands of many fine players. But that's probably not going to sway listeners by itself: I'm not John Scofield or Jack DeJohnette & so their good opinions still can't make me or others enjoy Potter's work. I thought his overheated but rather calculated style worked nicely last year at a concert with his quartet with Wayne Krantz, Craig Taborn & Nate Smith--rather Tim Berneish at times, grinding fusion jams mostly.

Why? -- I don't hate him but I find him pretty pushy as a player.

AMG's reviews generally stink, actually, though sometimes you luck out (Eugene Chadbourne is a ministering angel on the site). I like the Cook/Morton Penguin Guide, generally, for older record albums. AAJ is OK if you want verbose rave reviews of anything. There are a few good writers on the site but mostly....... blah.

Get the Smithsonian remaster, it's got a pile of bonus tracks, & they've done what they can to improve the original sound. It's crackly but perfectly fine.

Well it's only "composed" in the sense John Zorn's Cobra is. Well, I gave it a so-so review at the time......I should probably have just flatly panned it, except that I knew that many Dunmallites would probably like it anyway. -- Worth mentioning that the rest of the personnel is: Marcio Mattos & Paul Rogers (one on each disc). I'm amazed you've heard that many Emanem releases!

Well, I'd do one again if anyone's interested. Immediate thoughts are to do something by Ahmad Jamal (maybe The Awakening which I just picked up) or Mary Lou Williams (just picked up the trio version of The Zodiac Suite). First thoughts, anyway, in case anyone has druthers; it'd also be nice to know how many people actually owned these discs or were interested in picking them up.

Quick hits-- 4004 STEVE LACY "Weal & Woe" (1972-3) Mostly early solo stuff, & yes this is excellent & historically very important. 4036 JOHN RUSSELL / MAARTEN ALTENA / TERRY DAY "The Fairly Young Bean" (1981) OK, but skippable unless you are a collector of these players. 4049 JOHN BUTCHER with DEREK BAILEY & RHODRI DAVIES "Vortices & Angels" (2000) Excellent, though the two halves are discombobulatingly different. One is very, very noisy, one is very very quiet; you can probably guess which. 4069 TREVOR WATTS & VERYAN WESTON "6 Dialogues" (2001) OK, but I like their set on the Freedom of the City 2002 Small Groups disc a mite better. 4070 BARRY GUY / HOWARD RILEY / PHILIPP WACHSMANN "Improvisations are Forever Now" (1977-9) Terrific playing. The sound is a bit sludgy on the 1st 2/3rds of it due to being sourced from an LP in the absence of a tape (& there's a weird tinnitus effect on one track). The last part of it is much clearer as it comes from a later tape. Despite the sonic flaws the playing is enough to make this well worth the trouble. 4071 JOHN RUSSELL "From Next to Last" (2001-2) OK, but it didn't grab me strongly. I gave it to another critic who played guitar but though he liked it he didn't review it. I thought it sounded rather like Bailey on an off-day, but that may have been a superficial listen. 4073 ROGER SMITH "Green Wood" (2002) Good though the sheer fussiness & sameyness of it get to me... if you're a Smith fan it's essential though. 4079 LUNGE "Strong Language" (2000/2) I'm not as big a fan of this as others are, though it's certainly a good one 4084 MARKUS EICHENBERGER "Domino Concept for Orchestra" (2001) I thought this was terrific, & it's been mostly ignored. Check it out. 4097 LOL COXHILL / TORSTEN MÜLLER / PAUL RUTHERFORD "Milwaukee 2002" the lineup's deceptive as it's mostly solos, & only one very brief trio piece & a few duos. It's OK, didn't really excite me much. 4204 LOL COXHILL "Spectral Soprano" (1954-1999) 2-CD set A useful/fun/interesting survey, heavier on the "jazz" playing than usual for an Emanem release. Documents a number of associations, e.g. with Bob Cobbing, which aren't really available on disc elsewhere. You get recordings from as far back as the 1950s (with Coxhill on tenor, including some British R&B). 4208 TONY BIANCO & PAUL DUNMALL "Hour Glass" (2002) 2-CD set I found this pretty tedious but hardcore sax/drum blowout fans will probably take to it like ducks to water. 4210 freedom of the city 2002 "small groups" 2-CD set The festival was hit & miss but this set collects virtually all the really good concerts (mostly from a single day). My favourite thing is the 15-minute Roger Smith piece. Strong Evan Parker/John Russell duo too, one of the better latterday EP things I've heard.

Well, yeah--actually this is a disc that like that Chick Corea disc with the Smurfs, is one where the cover tends to make you avoid it like the plague without hearing a note of it...

Shouldn't we be called him "Le Quan" not "Ninh" for short? I always get muddled up with Asian names.....

It's got a nice cover so I picked it. Besides that.......... One of the few Herbie Mann albums I enjoyed. ← I think the point was that, to get discussion rolling, you might want to say a little more about it than the bare minimum.

Just listening to Trumpet After Dark & it too is really fine stuff. The Chopin piece is unexpectedly effective as a freebop swinger...!

Just got hold of the other two--haven't spun the Charlap/viols disc, but Outside In..... wow. That's a terrific disc. What'd you make of the other two releases, Mike?

From the Soul is the classic Lovano album, I think; certainly the one I play most, anyway. I was just thinking yesterday that it's a pity that Blue Note's never taken Lovano up on his stated interest in doing an album of Emil Boyd's compositions.

Goodbye Mr Bauer. Now I'm kicking myself I never picked up that limited reissue of Billy Bauer, Plectrist.

Hm, I'm surprised if the rhythm section doesn't gel; heard this group in summer 2004 doing much of the same material & everyone sounded pretty good. I thought Shank had the edge over Phil Woods though. But I haven't heard the CD.

Jack.

How so?? ← Same deal: Chambers accuses them of sitting on countless sessions, thus withholding money from Green, destroying his career, &c. This seems to me completely ridiculous--they released a ton of Green albums, actually. He was recording an incredible amount (I presume that the drug habit must have in part made him eager to go into the studio a lot), too much to release all at once. You can certainly argue with BN's decision about which dates to release (usually the more "commercial" ones) but they certainly put out a good-sized number of them, it was not "suppression". I don't have my copy of the mag handy at the moment (lent it to a friend) but I'm sure someone who has a copy can type in some of the relevant passages.

It's the May/June issue & readily available; Coda doesn't have a website so it can be hard to track down but PM me if you like & I'll get you in touch with them. I'm not sure who distributes it outside North America. The article contains no fresh research, simply rehashes the available sources (Cuscuna, Rosenthal &c) & throws in a lot of accusations (the title is "Who Killed Tina Brooks?"). Aside from accusing Lion & Wolff of destroying Brooks' career by not releasing his albums, it also accuses them in passing of ruining Grant Green's career too.

No, not Misha, Alex von Schlippenbach.