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4. A somewhat larger ensemble – sounds like at least two trumpets, tenor, piano, bass, drums. It has a somewhat mysterious feel in the beginning which threatens at times to get a little frenetic. The pace does pick up once the trumpet solo starts. Neither the trumpet nor tenor soloist made a significant impression on me, but that is likely more a reflection of my own attention span. Overall, this is something I can listen to when in the right mood, but my initial response is not as positive as the previous three tracks. 5. I appreciate the interaction between the musicians and the spirited playing by the horns. For a minute the drummer made me think of Sunny Murray. This is something that I would probably enjoy more in the context of hearing the entire album. 6. Four minutes in on a Friday morning in the office, this one has yet to really get my attention. Could be the sound. Trying to listen to the trombonist now. Wish I could turn the volume up a little more. I am sure these are all talented musicians, but this one is failing to engage me at this time. 7. A flute for a little variety. I like the overall flow of this track. I suspect the recording is from the sixties and the first person that comes to mind is Yusef Lateef, but as always I am not committing. A solid, if unremarkable track. 8. From the outset this sounds like Odean Pope to me. It is definitely something familiar. I love the saxophonists tone – I know live he/she must have a really big sound that grabs the listener’s attention. I am going to commit this time. I really like this track 09. Another big sound that yells, dammit listen to me! You got my attention, now what? I am far from a connossiuer of solo saxophone performances, but I enjoyed this one a lot – largely because of the saxophonist’s sound. I would love to hear this musician in an ensemble. 10. Solo trumpet. Either the tune or the trumpeter sounds a little familiar, but no one in particular comes to mind other than Bobby Bradford. I am pretty certain it is not him. I imagine solo trumpet to be a little more of a challenge on the listener than solo saxophone, but the brass player hear does a good job of holding my interest. Nice performance. 11. Another instrument I do not think we have heard yet – guitar. Along with clarinet, bass and drums. The bass player has some Hadenisms. The clarinet is the most interesting soloist – I appreciate the fact that he/she is not afraid to use the middle range of the horn in addition to stretching for some of those higher notes. Don’t know if these are primarily straight-ahead musicians, but they had a nice swing feel during the clarinet solo. Solid track. 12. A little calypso feel to change the pace. Enjoyed the tenor work – very familiar. Bass solo was a little long for my preferences. It took some of the energy out of the performance. 13. I liked the bass clarinet player, but this otherwise did not keep my attention focused. Sounds like it could be someone like Louis Sclavis. It got better as I paid closer attention. I think it is the guitar that is ruining this track for me. 14. This is one of those loose jam type ensemble pieces that I have to be in a certain mood to fully appreciate. Not much happens in the rhythm and the soloists don’t excite me much. This probably works much better live. Okay track. 15. what the heck is that? Organ? Weird. Rugged violinist along with some out there keyboard and drums. At first I was confused, but it gets a lot better once the shock wears off. Still not sure how I feel about the organ, but I can really feel the violin. Bang? Worth investigating further.

I know I am incredibly delinquent but this is one of two BFTs that I committed to, but never fulfilled my obligations to the compiler. No excuses. Better late than never? Unfortunately, I can never find the time to do these things in one sitting, so I am going to have to do a couple of tracks at a time. I have not read any of the comments or the reveal for anything I have not first posted my own comments. Here are the first three: 1. Trumpet-piano duet. Dave Douglas and Misha Mengleberg come to mind, but nothing that I can commit to. I believe this is a Monk tune. Whatever, I enjoyed the performance. 2. This track sounds extremely familiar. I have always been a fan of the two horn, bass, drums instrumentation. Sounds like it is from the seventies. Long, passionate improvisation by the alto which manages to hold my attention. Definitely, someone I have heard before. Same with the trumpet. The bass and drums just keep pushing and bashing. I now realize that there are actually two bassists. Great stuff. 3. Another similar ensemble, this time a little more recent. Again, it sounds very familiar. I love the bassists sound. Strong tenor solo. Nice variation of dynamics and sound in the trumpet solo. Another good performance.

I do have the 1998 disc. I will have to pull it out and give it a listen.

PM Sent re: Kris Davis/Ingrid Laubrock/Tyshawn Sorey - Paradoxical Frog - (Clean Feed) 7 p/ts/d trio Flow Trio (Belogenis/Morris/Downs) - Set Theory - (Ayler) 6 excellent tenor-bass-drums action, spare copy, no jewel box but it doesn't look like it's intended to have one John Hebert Trio - Spiritual Lover - (Clean Feed) 7 piano trio w/ Benoit Delbecq, Gerald Cleaver

Tonight - Gebhard Ullmann/Steve Swell Quartet at Firehouse 12 in New Haven. Last Night - New Directions Ensemble @ Trinity College in Hartford. Earl MacDonald - Musical Director, Composer-in-Residence, piano Kris Allen - Artistic Director, alto sax Wayne Escoffery - tenor sax Lauren Sevian - bari sax Tony Kadleck - trumpet Josh Evans - trumpet John Clark - French horn Sara Jacovino - trombone Alexandra Eckhardt - string bass Jimmy Macbride - drums

The label is still actively releasing new recordings. By coincidence just this week I received the new Chris Byars Octet recording, Lucky Strikes Again, which features Lucky Thompson compositions. I agree the website is frustrating.

It is available now from Amazon.

PM sent re: George Adams/Don Pullen - Don't Lose Control (Soul Note) w/C.Brown, D.Richmond $7 Fancois Houle 5 - In the Vernacular. The Music of John Carter (Songlines) w/D.Douglas, M.Dresser, P.Lee, D.v.d.Schyff $5

The Bobby Watson tribute, Faith In Action, is excellent. I also really enjoy the Tarbaby CDs. Looking forward to receiving the big band disc on Posi-Tone.

I subscribe to it and find it to be a useful reference. I find some of the formatting to be a little confusing at times, but otherwise I do not have any complaints.

PM sent re: Ken Filiano Quantum Entanglements - Dreams from a Clown Car - (Clean Feed) 8 4tet w/ Malaby and Attias Tony Malaby - Tamarindo Live - (Clean Feed) 8 Parker/Waits/Wadada Adam Pieronczyk - Komeda: The Innocent Sorcerer - (Jazzwerkstatt) 8 SLD saxes/g/b/d 5tet doing Komeda pieces

This does not seem to be available for a Droid phone.

I have it and listened to it a couple of times when I first purchased it. I enjoyed it - although I can't remember anything more specific about it at the moment.

The Lord discography is now available online for a reasonable subscription fee.

PM sent re: The Brian Landrus Quartet - Traverse (Blueland) $8 Rudresh Mahanthappa - Black Water (Red GIant) $9 Robert Mazurek - Playground (Delmark) $6 Jason Roebke - Rapid Croche (482) $9 Frans Vermeerssen Quintet - One for Rashaan (music of Roland Kirk) A Records $10

I listened to this one a few more times last weekend and enjoyed it more each time.

That same group will be performing at UMASS on 3/26. Unless I have a conflict with the middle school play that my daughter is in the stage crew for, I plan to be there. In September Cobb performed in Hartford with a group that included Jackson, Richard Wyands and Nat Reeves. For $15 dollars it was a very enjoyable 100 minutes of music.

PM sent re: Eivind Opsvik - Overseas II (Fresh Sound New Talent) w/L.Stillman, T. Malaby, C.Taborn, K. Wollesen and others $5 Dom Minasi - The Vampire's Revenge (CMD), 2 discs, $5, slight wear on digipak (crease/bend mark on spine)

I purchased the disc. The trumpeter and saxophonists are both products of my local scene. I think Josh Evans (trumpet) and Jovan Alexandre (tenor) are definately young musicians to follow going forward, but as yet they have yet to quite find their distinctive voice - Alexandre in particular who is still a student at the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford. Evans is easitly has the most developed voice of the two. Bianchi is impressive in a Larry Young mode. I would not say anything "new" is added to these performances and in fact they are played pretty close to how they were originally played. In any event it is nice to hear these compositions played again in this format. The couple of originals made less of an impression on me the first time I listened to the disc. I still want to listen to it more closely in the near future, but overall I thought it was a solid recording.

Thanks Flurin. Interestingly I have copies of the Gahnhold and Beckett recordings.

My post was serious.

So many things that if I started to list them my ignorance would be revealed and everyone would start to question my credibility.

I concur.

Right now I am listening to a copy of a radio broadcast of a performance of Marc Ribot's Spiritual Unity with Grimes and Chad Taylor from 2008 in Italy. Can't say Grimes' individual contribution is making a significant impression either way right now, but I am enjoying the performance as a whole. So, to the extent the performance is a sum of all the individual contributions, Grimes is working for me in this context.

The floor tiles look very similar to tiles my wife recently put in our basement.