kh1958

Just added this App to my iPhone; thanks for the alert.

He doesn't seem to have a website or even a facebook page but he is going strong at age 80 now. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/18/arts/music/andrew-cyrille-new-vanguard.html

I saw him once years ago at the original Knitting Factory (a real dump of a club), in a quartet setting. Friday looks like the most potentially conflict ridden day for me.

Awesome!

I did attend the Manhattan marathon and it was a real shot of musical adrenaline.

The Big Ears website now shows the line-up day by day. For Anthony Braxton fanatics, he is performing on three consecutive days (Friday/Saturday/Sunday).

Friday and Saturday nights, I attended the Winter Jazzfest Marathons. Sunday night, Globalfest at the Copacabana. Friday Marathon: Jure Pukl at the Dance. Mostly I liked sidemen Joel Ross on vibes and Charles Altura on guitar. Switching to Subculture for the rest of the evening (a terrific venue with great sound): Mathew Whitacre: A young (blind) man who effortlessly switches between an acoustic piano, in an engaging piano trio style, to driving B3 organ soul jazz trio, then to Herbie Hancock style funk on electric keyboards. Connie Han Trio: Another young pianist with some impressive acoustic piano skills. Also plays the Fender Rhodes, and surprisingly i liked those tunes the best. The Yes Trio (Ali Jackson, Aaron Goldberg, Omar Avital): Some more mature musicians, and a quite fine piano trio, playing some nice original material. Jazz Gallery All Stars: A high point of the evening; a really smoking set of mostly originals, with Miguel Zenon (alto), Gerald Clayton (piano), Joel Ross and Charles Altura reappear, Matt Brewer on bass, Kendrick Scott on drums [and the tenor sax player I recently saw with Tyshawn Sorey but I forget his name]. Michael Olatuja's Lagos Pepper Soup. A new musician to me; this Nigerian bassist was fantastic, and this set of Afro-beat and Afro/jazz fusion was extremely dynamic. Favorite set of the night. Saturday Marathon: Starting the evening at Webster Hall... Brandee Younger's Soul Awakening: I absolutely loved this band and set. Brandee Younger on harp, Chelsea Baratz on tenor sax, Ravi Coltrane on tenor sax. Anne Drummond on flute, Dezron Douglas on bass and Allan Mednard on drums. Next up Makaya McCraven, playing Gil Scot Heron Reimagined. With Irvin Pierce and Greg Ward on saxophones, Marquis Hill on trumpet, Junius Paul on bass, Brandee Younger returns on harp, and Joel Ross makes another appearance on vibes. Honestly, this set was thrilling. Between the Brandee Younger set and this set, I couldn't hope for any more in live music. Nonetheless, I continued to the Zurcher Gallery, to hear the duo of Alan Braufman and Cooper Moore. In a completely different way, this set was also rather wonderful. Alan Braufman is impressive on alto. Back to Subculture: Rene Marie: She sings well, and her trio led by John Chinn sounds nice. Not really my cup of tea. Closing out the evening with another new to me musician, bassist/composer Gregg August, leading a rather excellent ten piece band, that included some burning tenor sax from J.D. Allen, John Ellis on soprano, Marcus Rojas on tuba, Luis Perdomo on piano, Frank Lacy on trombone, Donald Edwards on drums. Sunday night: I decided to attend an industry presented world music festival called Globalfest in order to hear a set by Senegal's Cheikh Lo. I did and he sounded great. I also heard the West African group, Les Amazones d'Afrique, featuring three female vocalists, with guitar, drums and turntables. Otherwise this small festival seemed like a mess, overcrowded and 3 standing venues only.

The live music I saw in the 1980s was so fantastic--Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Horace Silver, Ahmad Jamal, Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Charles Moffett, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, George Coleman, Miles Davis, James Blood Ulmer, Dizzy Gillespie, Sun Ra, Benny Carter, Mose Allison, David Newman, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Oregon, John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Ralph Towner, Cedar Walton, Lionel Hampton, Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, etc. And I missed so many that were active. I also saw Wynton and Branford various times, but they were mostly at best of moderate interest. A mere footnote to the era, in my memory.

As promised, today we will do our best to answer some of this year’s most frequently asked questions: When does Big Ears officially begin? Official Big Ears festival activities will begin around 5pm EST on Thursday, March 26, with the first concerts starting around 6:00 or 6:30pm. What are the festival’s hours each day? Thursday: 5pm until around 12 midnight, perhaps a bit later. Friday and Saturday: There will be talks, films and other programs starting as early as 10am. Concerts will begin at 12 noon or slightly later and continue until past midnight each day. Sunday: There will be talks, films and other programs starting as early as 10am. Concerts will begin at 12 noon and will end around 10pm. When will the daily concert lineups for the festival be announced? On Tuesday, January 14, we will announce the artists / programs for each day of the festival, with the understanding that there are still a handful of surprises to come that will be added to the program. The specific venues and performance times will be announced in mid-late February. Are some artists playing more than once during the festival? Yes. Patti Smith, John Paul Jones, Anthony Braxton, Terry Riley, Meredith Monk, Andrew Cyrille, Marc Ribot, Peter Brötzmann, Jason Moran, Myra Melford, The Necks, Kronos Quartet, Bang On A Can All-Stars, Ensemble Dal Niente with Ken Vandermark, Sarah Davachi and others are presenting different performances spanning two or more days of the festival. Has there been a decision as to whether to sell single day passes this year? Yes, we are going to release a limited number of General Admission passes for each day of the festival, although – due to overall festival sales – the quantities for each day will be more limited than in previous years. Also, we will not be offering a Premier or Sonic Explorer option for the single day passes. Details about General Admission single day passes – including their on sale date - will be announced in our newsletter shortly after the January 14 daily lineups are announced. What is still to be announced for the 2020 festival? A series of conversations, discussions and panels with artists and writers; the Big Ears Film program; details and some unannounced programs by artists already announced for the festival; some new artists who may be added to program; workshops, installations, and more.

Andrew Cyrille Quartet Fri, Jan 17 | 7:30 pm McCullough Theatre Renowned avant-garde jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille, whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with pianist Cecil Taylor to performing with legendary musicians including Rahshan Roland Kirk and Freddie Hubbard, brings his quartet to the McCullough Theatre stage. Members of this all-star quartet include guitar luminary Bill Frisell, one of the most sought-after guitar voices in contemporary music; highly in-demand bassist Ben Street; and renowned Cuban-born keyboardist David Virelles.

I really like this recording. Even better were the two sets of the duo (plus three additional Cuban percussionists) I heard at New Orleans Jazz Fest in 2019.

King Curtis and Champion Jack Dupree, Blues at Montreux (Atlantic) Jeff Beck, Live at Ronnie Scott's Mongo Santamaria at Montreux (Atlantic)

Shorty Rogers and His Giants, Martians Come Back! (Atlantic) Wild Bill Davis at Birdland (Epic)

Sorry, inappropriate sarcasm from me.

You listened to one and are an expert. Impressive.

Bird at 100 (Smoke Sessions)

It's the CD Detective Agency.

Notwithstanding all the complaining about the series, the ones that I have all sound really nice.

Well, if they personally deliver the CD, there won't be wondrous cooking going on in my house, but I will take them out to a nice place for dinner.

That might be at the boundary between fan and stalker.

Have you tried bandcamp? I've had luck finding CDs and/or vinyl new releases there that seem to be available elsewhere only as downloads. They usually come to you directly from the artists (I think literally from their homes).

"Semi-informed noodling"--that's a good description of Elvin Bishop solos, but not of Mike Bloomfield. I did get to see Paul Butterfield in person once--at Antone's in 1982. Certainly the most impressive blues harmonica player I've heard in person.

February 15 looks like a good day to be in Hudson, New York.

I'm sure I appreciate him now more than I did back in the day when the label was active.

You would be fine with a general admission weekend pass. That's what I did the last two years. You just need to be organized about where you want to go and be there timely. A little more line waiting. Other than that, still great. Also, they actually let you pay for the passes in more than one payment, in case you hadn't noticed that on the website.