Nate Dorward

Well, I have conflicted feelings about Duos for Doris but it's worth persisting with. The hype surrounding it upon release--indeed, before it was released (one critic was picking it for "best of the year" in February 2003!)--was offputting & my first reaction was disappointment on actually hearing it, but it's worth trying to listen to it closely without the distractions of expectation & peer pressure. I think the biggest dud I picked up lately (i.e. bought, rather than received for review) was Archie Shepp's Live in San Francisco.

Well, actually it was a backhanded way of saying that while I don't think Malik's very good, I don't mind his work on the Lyons set, disc 1. I'm even OK with the drummer--hey, I like thrashing sometimes. What's most disappointing is that the two portions of the tape that are missing are bits of Lyons' solos. "Gossip" only has a brief fragment of Lyons' solo & then the rest is an enormously long Malik solo. & while the version of "Round Midnight" is kinda interesting, much of Lyons' statement of the head is lost, & then the rest is largely the other musicians. So two of the six tracks do have serious flaws. But I'm still glad I have the set & wouldn't complain too much. Actually I was surprised how good it sounded by & large considering these weren't tapes made with commercial release in mind. Only the last disc is in bad sound.

Maybe so, but I don't think all the compilers necessarily thought all the tracks were wonderful--sometimes they were included for other reasons (e.g. unusual personnel or historical circumstances, untypicality of an artist's work, &c).

It's Rudi & Ehrlich. Yes they're both excellent musicians. I've been listening a lot to Mahall's work on Geoff Goodman's Naked Eye (Tutu), one of the past year's best releases. He's also excellent on Alex von Schlippenbach's Broomriding, another good one from the past year.

Malik is virtuosity & taste itself on the Lyons set compared to when I saw him a few years back, where he blew the trumpet like a very loud kazoo.

It's an interesting disc--I liked Silva's work, found the other three rather duller. It's got nice moments--the opening of "Acrosses Rain" for instance--but some of the tracks do meander & then sputter out at length. Here, I'll toss in the writeup I did. Touching on Trane is the best Gayle I've heard--great disc.

The info I had from Valerie at the JC board was that Khan was gone: But note that "I think"--so it ain't for sure. Perhaps Cadence magazine's obits would turn up more info? He's another player like JC Moses & Frankie Dunlop who just seemed to vanish after the 1960s.

For me it does. For me there are certainly particular albums or musical moments that convey specific emotions--say the extraordinary desolation & anger in Johnny Hodges' solo on "Bloodcount", or the radiant sense of the tragedy of ordinary lives in Iris DeMent's "No Time to Cry". I think the main thing to note about this is that it's very much the exception, not the rule--these are moments that stand out memorably rather than typify one's experience of music, even of good (great) music. Perhaps the problem in the formulation above is the word "convey", as if that were what music were about. If that were the case there would be little point in musical change or innovation: my intuition is that human emotional life is not something that changes nearly as rapidly as musical fashion. If the point of a love song were merely to convey love, then we'd all still be singing troubadour songs.

I don't own a ton of FMPs but have or have heard maybe two dozen. There's a huge amount of good stuff on the label & now on the ancillary A|L|L, though I haven't had much luck lately with the review copies--I keep ending up with all-right-but-nothing-to-write-home-about discs like Fractured Dimensions or Tone. So my impression has been that they could stand to release fewer so-so live concerts from the late 1990s......but maybe I'm just missing the better ones. -- On the other hand I just bought the early-1990s disc Elf Bagatellen & it's still amazing stuff.

Surely Jim McNeely? (played with Phil Woods, Stan Getz &c)?

Ha! Always a pleasure to see my goofs as well as the few things I got right. The most annoying thing is not i.d.ing the tune on the Metheny/Haden track.

There's a passage of quite lyrical clarinet playing on Spillane as well as some snippets on The Classic Guide to Strategy. Two Days in Chicago--if nothing else it has a curio in KVDM playing a couple Monk tunes, doing a reasonable job on them despite a few wrong turns. I haven't heard the rest, just those tracks.

I think the problem isn't with whether Alexander (or Hamilton or...) is a good player--it's just that the hype starts to get built up. A couple years back I was sent an Alexander disc for review--the title was Summit Meeting I think--& what was really depressing about it was the liner notes with players like Mabern & George Coleman anointing Alexander as a genius, when he's just tossing their own stuff back at them in a slicker form. It was an OK disc but had a macho vibe that I didn't have much time for (& it did contain an inexcusable cheesing-up of a Coltrane tune).

I hadn't written the responses as a formal critique, they were simply a running commentary. Sorry to be crabby about much of the 1st disc but I calls'em like I sees'em. If people are similarly crabby about my own BFT when it comes up then that's fine.

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.