Nate Dorward

Thought I'd dredge up this old thread to report that a new disc just came in the mail, Prayers and Mad Laughter by Kazzrie Jaxen. It's a poetry + piano thing with a lot of overdubbed voices, & truly ghastly cover art. Close inspection reveals that Ms Jaxen is the former Liz Gorrill. But good Lord, I've no idea what's gotten into her.....

Maybe it's a "later years" thing but this trumpet player was getting on here and I feel, just my opinion, it has a very purposeful stagger to it. I should clarify that I thought the trumpet solo was all right but that it was difficult to make anything sound good over that backdrop, esp. the repetitious horn chart.

It's good music but a warning: the original tapes were lost & it's mastered from an LP. Not bad sound but it's a little blunt & bass-heavy. There's also one track with an irritating high-pitched whine near the end. All that said, it's a very interesting disc, & there's also an extra studio session added at the end which is in excellent sound. I've always found this incredibly dull & impenetrable. I'm told the new Intakt set is very good though.

1. Hm, when was this recorded? 1960s or 1970s, I guess? Very very odd, with the drums (tympani?) & the bowed bass. Don’t like the bass player much here when he’s walking, & he loses his place after he breaks his rhythms circa 2:50. I’d initially wondered if this was that disc Spontaneous Explorations with Earl Hines, Richard Davis & Elvin Jones. But I don’t think it’s Hines & surely Richard Davis would sound better than that? but Elvin is still my pick for the drummer. A live concert. I’m kind of irritated I can’t place the pianist because I know I should be able to. The cut doesn’t work for me though it’s “interesting” as they say. 2. Surely Lester Bowie? Not sure about the tenor, though. James Carter? If so, this’ll be a track from Conversing with the Elders. God, it must be boring to be one of the members of the rhythm section on this kind of tune – they might as well be pre-recorded. I like the sound-effects playing by the horns ... though I’m not sure I’d want to listen that much to this track. Fun, nothing too special. 3. I was puzzled what this was doing here until the intrusion of jazz names into the lyrics. No comment, really. 4. Pretty start. Hm, should I know this tune? Aha, a little violin. That narrows down things a lot, since there’s only a handful of people it could be. Definitely not Mark Feldman. I get the impression of a European sensibility at work here. A very pretty track but it’s now 3:16 & I’m waiting for something to HAPPEN. Hm, 5 minutes in, & still nothing much going on. Ick, the unison strings at the end finally tip this over into schmaltz, which it's been threatening to do for the whole track. 5. Well, I can’t think of anything to say about this. 6. I should be able to place this tune but I can’t. Sounds like one of those sessions where the musicians were trying to play as straight as possible (e.g. Sonny Clark’s dull Standards disc on Blue Note), probably aiming to make a single. Late 1950s, uneventful, not sure what this is doing on the compilation. I’ve no idea who any of the players are. 7. Low key opening, nice but....how long’s it go on? The chord changes sound very familiar but I can’t place them. A touch of vocalise during the one moment of relative activity suggests this is Keith Jarrett. Like the last one I’ve no idea what this is doing here, so little happens. 8. Kind of interesting arrangement. I definitely don’t know the singer. Again, a very short track, but this has more point than the last two tracks. 9. The opening’s certainly different! This moves into something so different I’m wondering if a track marking is missing??? Balmy guitar/piano intro... oh, here come some voices again so I guess this is indeed all the same track. The Jim Pepper tune “Wichi-Tai-To” or however it’s spelled, obviously (though I have actually never heard it before). Jeez I really, really, really don’t like this track. (It's surely not BY Pepper because he's mentioned by name at one point, so I'd guess this is a posthumous tribute.) 10. Feisty opening! Um, when does the drum solo stop? I don’t get the inclusion of this track either: maybe in the context of an album it means something but here it’s just stranded. “Un Poco Loco”: a great tune, would have been nice to hear them PLAY it. 11. Weird juxtaposition between the thrashing percussion & the horn charts. Is this some kind of electronic collage? Or just meant to sound like it? Incrfedibly grating, but entertaining....heard once. I don’t recognize the voice, though I recognize the tune (barely!!). 12. Scofield on acoustic guitar. This sounds a hell of a lot like the Frisell/Scofield album but it's not on that disc (I have it). Maybe a duo with Metheny? Pretty enough, though as it builds it gets a bit soppy. I'm willing to bet this is a Scofield tune--the chord changes are typical Scofield. 13. I should probably know this singer. Odd lyrics, but good singer. Don’t have any real opinion about the rest of the band, not enough of a taste to get a real sense of what they can do. This is the first track since #2 I have much time for. Would like to hear her on more substantial material though. 14. Is this from an LP? So far (1:30) I’m suspecting this is going to be another track I have no real opinion on – not noxious but not interesting either. Scatterbrained piano solo. Tenor now, & I get the feeling I should know this player, but he doesn’t do anything terribly notable. The trumpeter simply seems unable to do much with the relentlessly jolly material (& you know by now I’m getting heartily sick of that unvaried horn chart). I’m breathing a sigh of relief by the fadeout. 15. Nice attentiongrabbing opening. This is a kind of pianoplaying I like – a little “off” but with a lot of flavour. It reminds me of Mal Waldron but it isn’t Mal. I’m sure I know this guy but can’t place him. 16. Well, I’m sure this would be easy to track down via the intro. Ugh, when the guy starts singing “Peace and love, peace and love” I’m already slipping into a bad mood. Once the alto sax starts things get better. Pleasant, effective solo. But I can’t really feel too strongly about this track either way. I've no idea who the saxophonist is. The way-out ending is a bit of a surprise at least, though it feels tacked-on. Bonus disc: Definitely a lot more to my taste than most of disc 1. 1. Nice cover of the Nat Cole tune, the rhythm guitarwork a little chunky, & there’s a bit of a tangle in the guitar solo after the Benny Goodman quote, but it’s fun stuff anyway. No idea who it is. The vocals are handled really well. 2. More loud crowd noise.... OK this is a comedy routine. Sounds like one of the speakers is called “Sweets”, which would narrow things down. 3. The piano intro sounds terribly familiar. Oh, once the horns come in...... I take it I don’t need to spell out who this is. 4. Nice rocking blues, not sure who it is or who the tenor is. Very high trumpet in the closing riffs: is that Cat Anderson perchance? This has more of a "jazz" feeling to it than some of the other tracks (e.g. the Prez flavour of the tenor solo). 5. “The Hucklebuck”. I take it the point of including this near track 3 is the link to “Now’s the Time”. 6. I like the wacked-out instruments! IS that a guitar? 7. No idea (you’ll have gathered by now that my knowledge of r’n’b, jump music, boogiewoogie, &c is very limited) but it’s nice. 8. The tenor sax player has a few surprises here. Good. 9. A lot smoother than most of the preceding. Is this a real piano? Sounds rather thin & electric. “Sonny” – Liston, to judge by the fight imagery?? Hm, gets into interesting polytonal zones at one point. What is this? 10. Well, surely Ellington. What’s the weird noise a minute or so before the end? Someone dropping something that rattles? 11. The opening sounds like a tacked piano! Nice boogiewoogie, & the tune’s more than a 12-bar blues. & a nice bass solo too & then guitar. Hm, this is an interesting track – touches of jazz and stride, a lot less limited than some boogie piano. 12. This is purer boogie: good stuff. Pity about the muzzy sound, but the music’s fine. The right hand does some interesting things, too – not just the expected riffs. 13. The kind of lyrics I like! Crunchy groove, the drummer sounding like he’s swatting something. 14. This is quite different from the stuff that we’ve just been listening to! Strange tune. Something self-consciously far-out, obviously, but it’s actually quite charming. No idea who it is. Is the clarinettist the leader? The percussion made me wonder if it was Red Norvo. 15. Never really liked this kind of thing. The singers do have an interesting rough edge to their voices. 16. Big sound on the tenor! Hm, I wish the saxophonist wouldn’t jump into the red so quickly, ditto the vocalist (who is the saxophonist, I assume). Weird recorded sound on the piano when it comes time to solo. 17. Huh? The intro is virtually the same as that to track 1, but it’s now a different Nat King Cole tune. In both cases it’s jokingly called “The Groove Juice Special”. This one devolves quickly into comedy and disjointed playing. Well, I liked track 1 but I didn’t need to hear this one. (Second thoughts: probably much of the point of this routine is the musicians' switching between different instruments, which explains some of the audience's hilarity.) 18. Oh, THIS one is easy. “Undecided”, & I’ve heard this one on the radio before. Major Holley & Slam Stewart? God that’s an amazing bullfrog of a voice. Classy band behind’em, whoever it is. Possibly Dave McKenna on piano. (Just listening again & second thought: Hank Jones on keys.) 19. I can’t figure this out: it sounds like a parody of Howling Wolf. Then there’s weird noise-guitar. Then the groove gets displaced in a strange manner. So a modern track giving a skewed version of 1950s styles? The recording quality on the voices suggests something recent. (Second thought on relisten: no, I think this is probably "original" not a modern stylistic takeoff. But jeez, that's quite the wacky groove--the lyrics are spot on!) 20. Liked this, don’t recognize it though. 21. Interestingly jittery, inventive arrangement. This is a really fascinating track. I like the raplike vocals. The reference to DDT dates this one! Hm, ends with a faded-out segue to something else. What IS this? 22. From the bop era but I find it curiously hard to i.d. the players. Dodo Marmarosa on the piano, Lucky Thompson on the tenor, I think, can't i.d. the bass & drums. 23. Oh dear, the opening of this isn't promising. What's the name of this tune again? The alto sounds very familiar, but the context does NOT. The pianist doesn't do much during his solo. This track makes no sense to me. Hang on......the last few seconds sound like Jaki Byard. Is this the Apollo Stompers? I don't like the track, I'm afraid. 24. Oh come on, Tom Waits of course. 25. Well, hard to miss who this is! Actually this strikes me as one of the more generic/less interesting tracks on this disc--your standard-issue hollering tenor solo. But, hey, that's not necessarily a criticism: it's not like he's pretending to do anything else. --- Final thoughts: didn't like much of disc one--tracks 2 & 13 are nice enough, & the one that really got my attention was the piano solo, track 15. The rest ranged from "all right" to "annoying". I liked the 2nd disc a lot more--only tracks 17 & 23 really irritated me, the rest were fine to excellent.

Re: Barry Guy, try the discs on his own Maya label. The solo disc Fizzles is great stuff, as is the Parker/Guy/Lytton trio disc Imaginary Values. There are also the various LJCO (London Jazz Composers' Orchestra) discs, though they don't give a strong taste of his playing (Barre Phillips handles a lot of the bass duties). Harmos is a good place to start (NOT Ode despite what the Penguin Guide says). Schiano's a fun guy, but from what I've heard (not a lot) seemed to be a rather limited player. He does tend to noodle around with old standards even in free contexts, which is refreshing & a little cheeky. For instance, in a concert with Evan Parker I saw he tossed in, if I remember rightly, "Autumn Leaves"--this concert was eventually released as Social Security so maybe someone can confirm this. On Free Jazz at the Philharmonic there's bits of Monk, "Lover Man", a blues, &c. But they don't really play on the tunes--it's an affectionate ramble around them.

Not terribly well-acquainted with Ware, I'm afraid. I think I got turned off because the one concert I saw was genuinely terrible (in Victoriaville in the mid-1990s--Ware was on crutches & spaced out, Dickey was just about to get kicked out of the band. It's a bad sign when from the stage Ware announced at the end of the concert that you've been listening to the "David S Ware Trio".). I have Go See the World & it's pretty good though it's somehow not music that I feel strongly about....yet, anyway (I just got it actually, from a sales bin in Chapters). I'm told that Flight of i & Godspelized are the other two to get, though unfortunately the DIWs seem to be out of print. At one point I decided I'd give Ware a 2nd chance & signed up to review his next disc...& then what does he do but release Threads.

I'd never made any headway with By the Law of Music but maye that's just me. It seemed to me a bit po-faced. The Multiplication Table still seems to be around in various places. Cadence still stocks it, for instance. Never heard it. "Someone named Whit Dickey"? He may be less celebrated than Ibarra but he's a terrific drummer (one wishes the David S Ware group would ditch Mr Brown & return to Dickey....). Try his Prophet Moon with Brown & Morris for a taste.

The film's been shown I gather, it's called Home. I liked about 2/3rds of this set. The voice/guitar stuff is a bit of an indulgence though.

Oh, Intuitive Structures is OK. Not great, mind you, but OK. I liked the louder bits with Norton on the kit, the vibes stuff less so. Belognis is pretty good on it, though. I still don't really like Ulrich very much though. Dunmall...well, one of these days, maybe. He's someone I neither collect nor avoid.

The Kimus discs were packaged with some of Hat Art's releases as bonus discs. The one I've got came with Mike Westbrook's Rossini: Live in Zurich disc. Kimus 2 & 4 are still listed as in stock at Cadence/North Country, BTW.

Sounds very interesting, but I'd have to know what it's like before wanting all those discs. Bad versions of ragtime drive me nuts. For instance, I recently found a one-CD compilation of Joshua Rifkin's old LPs--I know these were popular in their time, but I found many of the tempos way too fast. (Though I liked his use of variations during repeats, rather than playing it "straight" all the time.) Who's doing the New World set, & what's it like? I need to get some of this stuff as I bash out the odd ragtime piece on the piano & could use a few recordings.

It's perfectly possible to do something (morally) wrong without doing something illegal. That Proper seem not to be breaking copyright law in their country don't mean that they're not doing anything ethically wrong. I've been tempted by some of the boxes from these various companies but have so far avoided purchasing any.

Glad to know it's available so easily in Europe--hope that it's equally easy to find over here.

Yeah I know what you mean about Malaby: Adobe is 2/3rds of a great record. So not quiiiite there yet, though it's certainly worth hearing; Malaby often sounds better on other people's discs because he's not the world's best composer. Have you heard Disambiguation with Malaby, Karayorgis, M Maneri, &c? A nice disc. I remain pretty underwhelmed by Back Together Again, though there's about 3 tracks I like (the first two in particular). Tracks like "Louisiana Strut" just are dead in the water--some hot drumming but it never goes anywhere. Bull Fiddle is OK but somehow never really grabbed me. Review as follows.

Yes, AMM's an important group. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who will chime in (Jon Abbey I think pops up on this board occasionally, for instance). There's enormous disparity between their earliest work & the later work--the earpiercing racket of The Crypt (1968) bears little obvious relation to the latterday AMM with John Tilbury. I've found that Newfoundland (Matchless) is an excellent place to start, or The Inexhaustible Document perhaps.

Luke--thanks for the story: I remember hearing that Live at Smalls disc when it came out, but Hewitt's appearance on it was so brief I don't even remember it!

Never really got with Tsahar, really--the one concert I saw was close to appalling--but Malaby's good, as is Perelman, though in very different ways! -- Well, assuming he stays on good terms with Bob Rusch, we can expect a lot more of Mr Finn, since Rusch tends to be very generous with studio time for the musicians he's excited about. What I'll be interested to see is how big Fiin's bag is. Steve Smith, by the way, has heard a prerelease version of one of Finn's next discs (I think it's to come out on Clean Feed) & commends it highly.

Yes: I recall that the composer Louis Andriessen is so fond of the technique that he named a band for it (Hocketus).

I share your enthusiasm for the disc. But "groundbreaking"? It's in the classic free-jazz tenor/bass/drums mould, Finn playing in a late-Trane/Ayler vein. He has a great big sound which I like. Anyway, I wouldn't call it groundbreaking, but it's definitely one for fans of good blowing. Interesting to read in the liners that he was a student of JR Monterose's. I look forward to hearing more from Finn. The sound on it is indeed quite good, much better than you'd expect from Rusch's comment that it was originally submitted as a demo. -- Ah yes, the usual skeptical comments about CIMP sound cropping up, I see. Though I've heard a few CIMPs where the balance was problematic (I think to complain about "CIMP sound" is misleading: the usual complaints I hear specifically concern the balance between bass & drums), mostly I've found them just fine, & sometimes just about as stunning as the elaborate producer's notes would have you believe: listen to a disc like Adam Lane's Fo(u)r Being(s) or Trio-X's Journey, for instance. They sound pretty darn good, both musically & sonically. Anyway, I'll let Rusch fight his own battles but on the whole I've been pretty pleased with the label's output. They could stand to pare down releases--most are in the 65- to 75-minute range, & if not enough tracks are recorded to get it to that length then alternate takes are inevitably added--but that's a minor criticism. Of the new batch I've heard only the Eisenstadt & Gagliardi: too early to tell but the tracks I heard of the Eisenstadt are certainly fascinating, not least for the stunning lineup (three trumpets: Roy Campbell, Paul Smoker, Taylor Ho Bynum) & for his distinctive use of hocketing in the arrangements. I've avoided the two Dunmalls having found the Emanem Hour Glass pretty dull. -- But, yes, the most striking thing I've heard yet was the Finn on CJR: it's the real deal.

It's true that Lacy doesn't append the dedications to the titles of the pieces a la KVDM, but when he contributes liner notes he's usually at pains to spell out the dedications; & as I said if you look at the scores (often reproduced in the packaging) the dedications are written out & often little photos of the dedicatees are pasted to the score (e.g. the image of Beltrametti on the score of his setting of Raworth's "Out of a Sudden", published as the endpapers of Clean & Well Lit). Similarly with Braxton: the dedications are usually mentioned only in the liner notes (e.g. take a look at the liners to the Willisau set), though occasionally they're marked explicitly in the packaging (notably on For Alto). Vandermark doesn't interest me as a musician but I don't begrudge him the McArthur, & yes by all reports he's a nice guy.

Nonsense: virtually every Braxton & Lacy composition is a dedication. For instance, just grabbing Lacy's The Holy La: the title track is for Leonard Bernstein; "Inside My Head" is for Dick Francis; "Blue Jay" is for JF Jenny-Clark; "Flakes" is for Mark Rothko; "Cliches" is for Jo Maka; "Retreat" is for Bob Marley; "The Door" is for Josef Haydn. Or Vespers, which dedicates each track to everyone from Keith Haring to Stan Getz. You could come up with similar lists from most of Lacy's or Braxton's discs. Lacy even often includes little photographs of the dedicatees at the bottom of his scores.

True, KVDM's habitual dedication of pieces to his idols begins to look like opportunism, but why's it any different from or less admirable than Steve Lacy or Anthony Braxton's acts of homage? Simply because they're more important musicians?

You mean they don't teach capital letters in cash-strapped American schools? Things are worse than I'd imagined. Seriously, it's not ignorance, it's a stylistic choice. An annoying stylistic choice, to be sure, but that's why you put on a style: to please friends in your circle & annoy those outside your circle. Back on topic: there's no discussion of the tune in Straight Life but there's an appreciative description of Mario, the dedicatee, who was Pepper's favourite drug dealer of the time.

dude, i think it highly unlikely, bec. miles recorded kind of blue in march and april 1959, and pepper recorded las cuevas de mario in octover 1960. draw the obvious conclusion.

No, the buzzing's there on the CD-ROM too. It's just the natural buzz of the hand drum as far as I can tell.