JSngry

I've got boxes of CD-rs to go through. some of them were put in alphabetical order. That's what I'm doing now and I'm in the Bs. I don't expect to finsish all of them, but that's ok too. There's always something to listen to.

Quartet with Carmen Leggio, John Bunch. Henry Grimes(!!!!), and too much drums for that to matter much.

One of those records that damn near everybody can enjoy to one degree or another. Me myself, I never give it the "one and done treatment", it plays more than a few time before it goes out.

And he's going to do a GREAT job on the Bill Barron set!!!!!

Say good night, Gracie!

Is the audience getting younger?

The way she balances older works with new ones is pretty damn amazing, really. She's got a deep enough book that she could just play that for the rest of her life. Yet she still keeps adding new things. It's long past time to look at her as an "inspiration". I know I do.

How refreshing it is to see a Blues record with liner notes - lengthy ones at that - composed by the artist themself. Also refreshing to hear the results of having a not-outstanding artist backed by jazz musicians who know how to play blues with empathy, as opposed to some stylistically indigenous players of equal or lower quality of not-outstanding-ness. Like a well-mixed drink, this one goes town smooth and repetition works in its favor. Oh, btw - Curtis Amy is RIGHT on this record. right in every way.

I don't know how "out there" she can really be, given her ongoing business survival. I do think she's very dry and sees both the realities and the absurdities of most of life, especially the music business. Everything is a put-on, nothing is a put-on, like Monk, deadly serious jokes. Hey - she survived Sun Ra in the Jazz Composers' Guild, hell, she's survived a big whole helluva lot of things, including competitive roller skating! Anybody who has yet to do so, spend some time wandering around her website: http://www.wattxtrawatt.com/

Yeah, he's on plenty of prime William Parker records too. That's a good one.

He's got a lot of records, but I don't really "follow" him. The three I've put up here are really good, though, especially the record with Roy Campbell, William Parker, and Hamid. That thing is HOT.

Anywhere, really. There's only two. But as a quartet dedicated to Carla's ongoing writing, it's an example of sustainability. I'm not crazy about Andy Sheppard as the sole horn player, but he's find for playing melodies ala Charlie Rouse. And to that end, maybe think of them as her Monk Quartet phase. The one where they "find" Paolo Fresu adds trumpet. And there's plenty of Bley/Swallow/Sheppard trio records, even more sustainable (but again, Andy Sheppard....). But the Lost Chords quartet adds Billy Drummond on drums, and that makes a difference. Liners essays/photos on both are exquisite.

I like how Rob Brown digs in and has the skills to keep digging. And is Warren Smith still going strong? He is, right? almost 82!

I wish I could get the promo record that Carla did for Heavy Heart. Samples of the songs and some of the drollest/driest commentary I've ever heard her do. This was her "sell out" album, and she fully played to that in her narration. Just delightful. Probably a 45, couldn't have been more than five minutes. Have you by chance been following the Lost Chords at all?

Particularly liking Wilbur Morris on this one.

i picked this one up a few weeks ago and it's good enough. https://www.amazon.com/Carla-Bley-American-Composers-Beal/dp/0252078187/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3O2FDLDUKO8XH&keywords=carla+bley+book&qid=1650894561&sprefix=CARLA+BLEY%2Caps%2C4255&sr=8-1

Two other groups that travels somewhat the same path are Kyoto Jazz Massive and United Furutre Organization https://www.discogs.com/artist/1808-Kyoto-Jazz-Massive https://www.discogs.com/artist/29568-United-Future-Organization Those two + Jazzanova are sort of my "Big 3" for "remix jazz".

Just got that one myself. Wonderful, at times "magical" music! Jazzanova has a really deep catalog, so don't stop here!

Cutting to the chase - more like this, please.

The Findell Brothers - Time For The Second Stone

Zoot heard to many good advantages on that Benny Goodman Moscow record. He probably gets more space than anybody except the leader and none of it is wasted

A actual press release:https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5da60b3653f9b5675d736637/t/624b72cc5832a2096158ba78/1649111757625/MONDAY+MICHIRU+ENSO.pdf

https://www.mondaymichiru.com/ THE ENSO STORY In 2019, I started thinking about a new recording project and approached producer-arranger Gil Goldstein to see if he would consider coming on board. I had in mind an acoustic recording with great arrangements and orchestrations, tapping into some of the sonics of my youth as a classical flute student and tying into what I do today. An introduction by Gil led to talks with a major label in Japan…then the pandemic hit. All seemed lost. But with the bad always comes the good, and while the initial project got scrapped, I was fortunate to be awarded an SBA Loan and slowly rebuilt the project albeit not the fully orchestrated version initially envisioned, but an album that still felt full, gorgeous, and from the heart. Gil arranged and produced 3 tracks including one of his original compositions, arranger Miho Hazama came on board for 2 tracks, Brazilian artist Lucas Arruda wrote, produced and even played all the instruments on a song, poet Ursula Rucker came on board as a guest which fulfilled a bucket list of mine, koto artist Asuka and my stepfather Lew Tabackin also lent their spectacular talents, as well as saxophonist Steve Wilson, not to mention all the amazing musicians who are some of my favorite on earth. Long time friend, engineer and sonic wizard Dave Darlington gelled it all together into an album I am incredibly proud of. ENSO MEANING Most people know the zen calligraphy symbolizing the circle of life. The idea behind the drawings is that anyone can draw the circle and it will be as individual and unique as any one person is, no two are the same, and the circles are always drawn incomplete, symbolizing a life still being lived. The kanji (Chinese characters) for this is 円相. There is another meaning to the word “enso” with the kanji 演奏 which means musical performance, and I loved the double meaning behind the word. I wanted to make an album that in a way is my own musical cycle from my classical beginnings in flute to the music forms I have been inspired by, explored and have made mine today. THE RECORDING The basic recordings with the rhythm sections took 3 days starting in November with 3 tracks produced & arranged by Gil Goldstein recorded at Samurai Studios manned by studio owner and engineer David Stoller, and the other 2 days in December recorded at Dave Darlington’s studio Bass Hit Recordings, except for the Lucas Arruda track which he recorded separately in Brazil. We spent 4 days spread out through January to do instrumental and vocal overdubs, then 2 days to mix and master. Ursula Rucker and Asuka did their overdubs respectively in Philadelphia and Tokyo, making for a pretty international and eclectic recording. The day I did my flute and alto flute overdubs over Gil’s intricate and lush arrangements made me feel that all those years training as a classical musician culminated to that very moment, to be able to finally use my abilities in a way I hadn’t until then had the opportunity to, and to hear the string arrangements by both Gil and Miho come alive was frankly emotional in how beautiful they were. THE MUSICIANS, ENGINEERS, VISUALS I was recently asked in an interview if I could record with anyone, who would it be? I had just finished recording the basic rhythm tracks for ENSO and in reflecting over the amazing array of musicians on the recording, I had to respond: I just did. All the musicians are award-winning, serious heavy hitters; I’ve hyperlinked everyone’s names with their respective bios and pages in case you are not hip to them (be prepared to be wowed!). The Gil Goldstein recordings are with of course Gil on piano and accordion, Cole Davis (bass), Joyce Hammann (violin), Eriko Sato (violin), Louise Schulman (viola), Thapelo Masita (cello), Freddie Bryant (guitar), and Keita Ogawa (percussions & drums). Rhythm section day 2 was with Misha Tsiganov (Rhodes), Cole Davis (bass), and Keita Ogawa (percussions & drums). Rhythm section day 3 was with David Kikoski (Rhodes), Fima Ephron (bass), Gene Lake (drums), and Sean Harkness (guitar). Miho Hazama’s arrangements overdubs were with Saki Uetsuhara (violin), Hector Falcon (violin), Hiroko Taguchi (viola), Kirsten Jerme (cello), and Steve Wilson (soprano sax). Other guests as mentioned are Lew Tabackin (flute), Asuka (koto), Ursula Rucker (spoken word), and Lucas Arruda who played all the instruments on his song written for this project. I played flute, alto flute, some shakers, and of course all the vocals. I couldn’t have done this without Dave Darlington of Bass Hit Recordings, and additional thanks to Dave Stoller of Samurai Recording Studio. Love and respect must be thrown at Takashi Matsuzaki who did the photography as well as my hair & makeup, and to Sumio Takemoto (Papaan!) who did the graphics & art direction of the artwork. And last but certainly not least, Greg Farrell who tirelessly documented the recording process. THE SONGS There are 11 songs. 8 are my originals, two which were previously recorded on “Naked Breath 2” in a guitar duet format but given new life on ENSO with fuller arrangements, a Gil Goldstein’s original song “The Soundless Song,” Lucas Arruda’s original song composed for this project which I wrote the lyrics to entitled “Pivot,” and the cover of a Japanese folk song “Ringo Oiwake.” CROWD FUNDING PACKAGES I’m sure it’s pretty clear why I’m doing this crowd funding: The SBA Loan is just that, a loan, and money spent towards recording ENSO needs to be returned to the government — the goal is $40,000.00, and this is before I’ve even paid myself. This is a passion project and one I’m confident will not disappoint as I feel this is some of my strongest works yet. The CDs and downloadable mp3s are set for release on 07.07.2022. The vinyls are set for release on 08.08.2022. https://www.mondaymichiru.com/

Dan Chickasee - Sing