Nate Dorward

OK I'll do something next week. Mulling over possible choices. Meanwhile I hope EKE BBB's pick gets a little more activity!

OK, but any comments on it? I'll go dig it out from my vinyl but I'm unlikely to have a chance to listen to it attentively for a day or two....

Gokhan--thanks for the kind words. I can't say I've exactly listened to the disc a lot since I finished that review--but that's not a criticism, as anyone who's heard it will know! (It's an extremely intense, harsh, narrowly focussed soprano sax disc--pretty amazing really. Rives is just sick......) The formal writeup I did is here-- http://www.ndorward.com/music/rives_fibres.htm Oh, Coda's always slooooooow. One of these days (January?) they'll got around to publishing the piece I did on the most recent 3 Erstwhile releases. The new issue is pretty good though--I find the review section mostly boring nowadays (only Duck Baker, Art Lange & Stuart himself are really good: great to see Stuart give a warm welcome to the James Finn discs) but the longer features are pretty good, including a goodish long review of the Ayler box by Lange.

I've only heard one Ivo Perelman disc, The Ventriloquist, but it's a good one. Christine Wodrascka is really scary on it, & Louis Sclavis is surprisingly pungent (no trace of his ECM persona!). (They're not on the same tracks--it's a compilation of a sax/piano/drums trio session & a two-horn/bass/drums session.) I see the Penguin Guide gives it 4 stars. I'll probably pick up Suite for Helen F one of these days as the lineup sounds intriguing.

A sick joke.

You should pair Miles + the Modern JAzz Giants then with Bags' Groove which has the remainder of the session.

Yes I'd vote for switching things to a schedule a la the BFTs--it would I think make for more continuity & also permit greater preparation.

Just got a packet of stuff from Mark Wastell, 2 Confronts & a trente oiseaux: Akio Suzuki & David Toop, Breath Taking----ehhh, on a first listen I'm not sure I like this one much. Clive Bell gave a rapturous review to the original concert (qtd in the press release) but it sounds kind of twee heard cold on CD. Sealed Knot (Beins/Davies/Wastell), Unwanted Object--short, quite pretty, & surprisingly unlike their Meniscus disc. It sounds, instead, extremely close to +minus (Günter, Wastell, Halliwell), whose First Meeting (released earlier this year) & new disc A Rainy Koran Verse I quite like. So if you're going to pop for one of these I'd recommend the +minuses....somehow the Sealed Knot disc isn't clicking for me (& I was already a little equivocal about Surface/Plane). Here's what I said about First Meeting at the time:

Yes, pleeeeaze! Yeah it's a great one! (I keep on telling people that Brown's solos on this one are far more commanding than on the date with Sarah Vaughan--some real stunners, esp his solo on "Yesterdays" that references "Parker's Mood".) But I'd have to doublecheck the disc wasn't already discussed at length in the Merrill thread--I recall there's a pretty long & devoted Merrill thread here somewhere. Anyway, now I'd better go dig out my vinyl of Silent Tongues.... is that Taylor's very first solo LP?

Well Jarrett's not been so prolific in the past decade or so (though there's personal reasons for that of course). He's not a musician I keep tabs on--the only one of his discs I now have is Live at the Deer Head Inn. Mmmmm, I'll let saxophonists comment on Zorn's chops, but I've never felt that he was more than OK in terms of "straight" jazz chops--he says as much himself in one interview (where he confesses he's not really that concerned with playing changes). There was a track on a recent BFT with Zorn playing a bebop-style tune by Steve Beresford & it was interesting to hear him fluff the changes on the bridge. The Sonny Clark Memorial Band is nice enough, & Zorn really tears a strip off a few of those tunes (I remember a particularly pungent trading fours on one tune, was it "Blue Minor"?), but it's not all that good a disc. Actually I always liked the duck call stuff.... The Classic Guide to Strategy & the really ugly Parachute stuff & Locus Solus. I wouldn't mind if Zorn was so heavily documented if he was still as fertile & inventive as in the 1980s but my impression is that he's mostly just reworking the same old stuff, & there's a glossiness & superficiality which is discouraging: listen to the original, buzzsaw tracks on The Big Gundown, which sound fresher than ever on the Tzadik reissue, & then the slick "covers" added at the end of the disc to bring it up to date. Well, hard to get too nasty about a guy mellowing or settling for rehashes of his old work. Happens to everyone, & the main thing is that he made a few albums that mattered, & still matter.

Sure, sounds OK to me. I could do an AOTW at some point if it falls fallow again. Not sure what I'd go for--perhaps Helen Merrill's disc with Clifford Brown or Helen Humes' The Songs I Like to Sing (amazing date with Ben Webster, Art Pepper & Teddy Edwards). Or something contemporary.

Yes, it's an ugly, pointless thread, & the list of names is ridiculous. I assume the original poster must be singling out particular posters or critics who irritate him in their advocacy for avantgarde musicians. There are players who irritate the hell out of me but it takes a thread like this to make me think I should be more charitable to just about anyone who actually tries to play jazz. Given the amount of critical hostility or lukewarmness directed at Baker & Brubeck over the years it's hard to see them as consistently "over-praised". I assume much of the hostility here is directed (as with Diana Krall) at musicians who have a higher profile outside the core jazz fanbase. (People who "don't like jazz" are nonetheless likely to have a Baker or Brubeck album in the collection.) That said: while Tzadik's got a large catalogue with a lot of impressive names, the quality's pretty up'n'down. After getting burned a few times with crap Tzadik releases (e.g. Zohar) I quickly learned that I shouldn't get everything that Zorn put his imprimatur on. Zorn is not a great musician, perhaps--his limitations as a composer & as a saxophonist have become clearer with the passage of time--but he was one of the necessary figures of the 1980s & 1990s, & his earlier work stands up well. A pity that he's gotten mired in endless reworkings of the Masada stuff in the past decade.

Speaking of which isn't it time couw update the list of AOTWs? It only goes up to Oct 2nd. Silent Tongues is good though I wonder what remains to be said about much-discussed figures like Cecil Taylor on the board. But maybe people will prove me wrong.... It's been a while since I listened to that one (only have it on vinyl).

mke (Mwanji Ezana)'s blog is always worth a peek: http://be-jazz.blogspot.com/

Cause it wrong.

Yeah I've been listening to it a fair bit lately & still think it's marvellous. The first & last tracks in particular--the middle tracks are relatively polite (you know, they take turns to solo) but the openers & closers are just brutal, all-in juggernaut performances. I particularly like the way that the core trio just jumps in & gets going & Brotz hangs back a bit, coming in a bit late--they don't "support" him or extend any courtesy, they just blare away & dare him to come in. & whereas Brotz sometimes sounds a bit too rationalized on recent discs--loud, but not passionate--he really sounds friggin' nuts on some of these tracks.

I like Crispell's lyrical side plenty, but not the creeping preciousness of her later work. & in general Odyssey just seems a bit uneventful & short on ideas.

Is Ithaca from the same session as Odyssey, the Guy/Crispell/Lytton trio's previous trio disc, or is it a fresh recording? (Cute pairing of titles, incidentally.) I didn't like Odyssey at all so I'm inclined to give the new one a pass too. I have no idea what's up with Crispell but little I've heard of hers since about 1996 has done much for me (hated the new Storyteller), though I did attend a seraphically beautiful concert she gave in Toronto a few years ago. In the meantime--been listening among other things to: T. Taylor & Chris Forbes, Spoken Once. Appallingly lo-fi, buzzy sound, which is a pity as the music's terrific. Two younger guys (tenor sax & piano) with an interesting take on free jazz (Taylor's extremophile sax in particular is quite stirring; Forbes tends to work with shifting, slow-moving clouds of carefully selected notes, rather than hammering the instrument). Forbes I'd actually encountered before as "weirdears", author of some of the best freelance reviews on Amazon. Anyway, I was glad I heard this but it's a bit hard to recommend because of the crap sound. Michael Jefry Stevens/Michael Rabinowitz, Play. Very beautiful bassoon/piano duos; may be a little too quiescent & languorous for some Funny Rat folks but on balance I like it. John Butcher/Toshimaru Nakamura, Cavern with Nightlife. Only listened to the solo tracks on this yet (not the final cut with Nakamura)--but they're astonishing, not least because of the enormous echo from the icy underground cavern Butcher's playing in.

Some hilarious stuff on that site--try the account of ragtime, which includes gems like these: &c.

Glad to see I got one i.d. right anyway, among a whole lotta wrong'uns... Sardaby I've heard on the radio but not enough to i.d. him, evidently. The Penguin Guide is keen on his work.

No, Shorter's "Witch Hunt".

1: R’n’B flavour to this one in the opening. The pedal-point bass is interesting. Good arrangement. Nice stuff, but I’m no idea who it is! 2: Old-style blues flavour to the piano but the horns are modern; & then the piano lets loose a fluent bop run. Perhaps Hampton Hawes on the keys. Can’t i.d. the tenor player though he sounds familiar, maybe Teddy Edwards or Harold Land if the Hawes i.d. is right. The final touch of celeste is nice! 3: Rhythm changes riff tune, not sure who this is. The baritone very pugnacious, bullfrog tone. 4: Interesting minor-major tune. Not sure who any of these guys are though the trumpeter sounds familiar, someone like Joe Guy. Hawkins on sax. If so probably a Hawk tune given the self-conscious harmonic sophistication. 5: Don’t recognize the vocalist. Nice track, not outstanding I think until you hit the alto solo. Hodges surely? The guitar is odd! Probably Eddie Durham judging by how old the disc is. The amplified guitar doesn’t really fit in but it’s interesting to hear nonetheless. 6: More major-minor blues stuff. Interesting. The alto sounds like Michael Moore (the young American saxophonist) though this is clearly from a while back (1940s or 1950s)! 7: Big band plus percussion doing “How High...”. The saxophonist borrows a lot from Bird but it’s surely not Bird himself (hard to tell anything though given how brief the solo is). Feeble trumpet solo. Which of these musicians are American, which Cuban? 8: Some straight bop, some of the pianist’s mannerisms (esp. the fast little flourish at the end of phrases). Sax solo, hm, Chaloff? too curtailed to tell. Decent trumpeter; & I think there’s a 2nd trumpeter who immediately follows? Odd tone. Birdlike alto, one chorus, then tenor, one chorus. A strange track: why the huge raft of soloists, given so little space? 9: very very odd. Sun Ra? Suddenly after the weird head with extra percussion & violin, you get straight bop. Hm, no that’s DEFINITELY not Ra on the piano, far too fluent. Damn weird but I’ve no idea what it is. Worh hearing, pity about the murky sound. The solos aren’t remarkable, but the piece is fascinating nonetheless. 10: two cellos??? Another odd track. Given that it sounds like a 1950s track I’d guess Oscar Pettiford. West Coastish piano. Worth hearing I guess. 12: Curious head & the absent of drums is a bit unusual. Oh here the drums come as the pianist starts up. I get the feeling we may have heard the pianist several times during the BFT or else am I succumbing to déjà vu? Half these tracks make me want to say “Hampton Hawes”.... Anyway, too brief a track to get much of a handle on it. 13: Dazzling piano/guitar unisons at the start. The track plays almost like the Oscar Peterson trio if Oscar were actually interesting.... Pretty good track. 14: Yikes, that piano comes blasting out of the speakers... ugly sound. Can’t think of much to say about this one except that I don’t like it: never been a fan of the styles involving slapping down block chords. No idea who it is. Not much actually happens here.... 15: interesting Herbie Nicholsish opening! Can’t guess the guitarist; the bassist sounds very familiar, one of those really good oldtime walkers. I find myself vastly more interested in the pianist, bassist & drummer than the guitarist, actually, though he gets the lion’s share of the solo space. 16: nice oldschool alto & boogie piano. It’s kind of a pity that the rhythm section is so stolid & unvaried from chorus to chorus: there’s no sense of building excitement or dialogue even though the saxophonist does supply the excitement on his own. Nice to hear the sax but this is a disappointing track just because of the static quality. 17: another vibes + piano combo, a combo I see Mike likes. Not sure who it is, though they all sound fairly familiar. Odd tune: a ballad with sudden unison rushes every so often. Pleasant, not earthshattering. 18: Odd violin sound at the start, & it gets even odder! What IS this? It sounds like maybe a novelty piece with someone playing two violins at once! Then pizzicato cello alternating with piano, so I guess that was violin/cello unisons on the head. Nice pianist. 1950s recording surely. 19: Heavy slapping feel to the rhythm. Nice hoarse tenor solo. Not a lot to say about it but it’s pretty good. 20: Hm, can’t place the voice, I’m no blue/r’n’b expert. Good stuff, though. 21: Arrrrrrrgh, more vibes, more percussion! (Sorry, but neither’s a big fave here.) Kinda interesting track, though: where’s it going to go next? Never seems to really go anywhere, though. 22: Lacewing piano opening is a good start, then it introduces a very dark reading of a “YouDon’tKnow/RoundMidnight”ish tune I don’t recognize. Can’t quite place the sax, beyond its reminding me of Ellingtonians like Webster & Gonsalves. Very nice track. 23: I take it that the sentiment of the track & the quote of “Bags’ Groove” recommended this for the closer... Eddie Jefferson I guess. The pitching’s not always secure but I like the singer & the arrangement.

Just got it & started listening. I'll post this now & add to it gradually. BFT 18 1. Striking opening: hard to guess where this is going. MJQ surely? Nice twists & turns in the tune. Hm, the pianist does a few things I don’t really associate with John Lewis but I’ll stick with the MJQ i.d. If it ain’t Milt then it’s perhaps Teddy Charles: that coda to the piece reminds me of Charles’ Atlantic album. 2. Kicking opening, & monstrously fast playing from the electric bassist & vocalist. Not really my thing but it’d be crabby to complain about it: it’s not merely virtuosic. Nice touch when the saxophonist is brought in at the end. No idea who anyone is on here, though the saxophonist sounds familiar, though that may just be due to the Parkerisms. 3. Curious tune. Oliver Lake I think. The drums are all over this disc & I wish I could hear the organ & sax more clearly. An OK track but the drummer is a bit much. 4. Hmmm... this has the sound of certain Larry Young tracks: “Plaza Del Toros” & “Zoltan” for instance. Odd to have the baritone as the lead instrument though. The question is whether this is 1960s or recent. I’m undecided but I think it’s probably recent. The trumpeter’s got the right licks from Hubbard but the tone is less forthright. Eerie how accurately this reproduces the mood of Young’s mid-1960s Blue Notes. I don’t know, for what it is it’s pretty good, though it doesn’t have that element of surprise that would really push it to the front of my attention. In general organs & updates of the blues seem to be becoming a theme on BFT18. 5: DeJohnette, surely. The saxes are so close I initially thought it might be Roland-Kirk-style multiple sax playing. Curious little metrical skip at the end of the head. Nice cutting contest type thing. Can’t i.d. the saxes & bass, though, which is bugging me.... Heavier rougher sound on the 2nd sax. The main improv section of the piece is just in 4/4, but the head has a few 3/4 bars stuck in there & if I have the count right the final tag is 4/3/4/3/3, which takes some getting used to! 6. Nice solo piano rendition of “Lush Life”. I don’t recognize this guy. A few Monk touches (in particular, several repetitions of a bassline tag which Monk used a lot) in an otherwise rhapsodic statement of the theme. 7. Mouth music at the start. “Paper Moon.” No idea who either player is. I think I’d like this a bit more if the recording weren’t so close, catching every tiny little inflexion & breath intake; maybe this would seem less mannered to me if it weren’t pushed in my face. 8. Nice stoptime opening. Organ trio playing the blues, can’t guess the date or players but I think it’s probably recent rather than the 1960s. Very nice stuff, though maybe not as exciting as I would have hoped; the trading at the end seems a little polite. I suppose it could be that Smith/Burrell reunion disc. 9. After the softer-edged sound of the last track this one really jumps out of the speakers! This is one of those five-tracks-for-the-price-of-one tracks. The tenor sax sounds very familiar, maybe Ravi Coltrane or even Mark Turner. Lots of fuss, & I find it hard to care. I guess the trumpeter's the leader. 10. No prizes for guessing the tune. Bleah, vocalese stuff, not a genre I’m very fond of. I could probably guess these guys even though I don’t really know them at all (it’s virtually guaranteed on a project like this that Jon Hendricks &/or Mark Murphy will be involved...). Probably that vocal supergroup who were on Downbeat a year or two ago (Elling, Murphy, Hendricks, I forget the 4th). As for the music, not really my thing. 11. A far-out opening compared to what’s gone before. Harp, inside-piano, bowed bass. Hm, maybe it’s (Miya Masaoka on?) koto rather than harp. Probably Mark Dresser on bass, in which case it’d be Denman Maroney on piano. Interesting track; not great, but pretty good nonetheless. 12. More scat blues stuff, not sure who it is. Not really a big fan of this but it’s OK. The faux-brushes at the end are a bit loud, though done disconcertingly well! Worth hearing just for the skill of the vocal imitation at the end, which puts even the Mills Brothers to shame. I think I liked the 1st half of this disc better than the 2nd half. I'll fill in the gap above later....

Yes The Infinite--I keep getting mixed up because of the Ornette tune & because I haven't got the disc anymore. I just remembered the name of the sextet disc, though! In Our Lifetime. It's excellent. Tributes to Booker Little & Tim Berne on it, & that info conveys something of the flavour of the disc too, I think.

It's been reviewed in a few spots such as OFN (very positively, by Jay Collins). It's OK but I thought it something of a potboiler, though a pleasant one. I still haven't heard Strange Liberation though. I hated The Invisible sufficiently that I'm leery of anything by the same (more or less) band..... Douglas playes with plenty of fire on his own records, assuming you've got the right records. Try Witness or that sextet disc on New World whose name's escaping me at the moment...