GA Russell

Mike Oldfield OAS - $14.99 prime https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0K3WZ8/ Unlike the OASs and OACs of the other artists I'm familiar with, this set does not include any of what I believe were Oldfield's three most popular albums: Tubular Bells, Ommadawn or Hergest Ridge.

August 17 1959 - Kind of Blue released

Week 9 picks http://www.rodpedersen.com/2017/08/week-9-cfl-picks-2017.html https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/16/cfl-ca-writers-make-week-9-picks/ https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/16/weekly-predictor-reluctance-week-9/ ***** Week 9 game notes https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/16/cfl-ca-game-notes-look-week-9-2/ ***** Week 9 checking down https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/16/checking-jennings-remains-guy-bc/ ***** Naaman Roosevelt highlights https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/16/naaman-roosevelt-highlights-so-far/

The powerball is up to $510 million.

You will recall that the idea of the coach's challenge was to have the opportunity to overturn obviously bad calls. This year the coaches got into the habit of challenging close pass interference calls. The challenges were bogging down the games and were not being upheld. So two weeks ago Randy Ambrosie changed the rule. Now each coach gets one challenge per game. In the two weeks prior to the rule change there were a total of 28 challenges. In the two weeks since there have been only 7. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/cfl-commissioner-says-hes-open-changing-replay-mid-season/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/cfl-makes-change-coaches-challenge-video-review/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/cfl-makes-change-coaches-challenge-video-review/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/davis-great-decision-ambrosie-reduce-coaches-challenges/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/ambrosie-wants-players-not-replay-to-decide-games/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/reduced-challenge-fishing-endorsed-lions-coach/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/03/brawls-ambrosie-changes-replay-bo-knows-injuries/#comments ***** Looking for the Ticats' first win, Kent Austin brought in June Jones to be the assistant head coach, and to improve the offense. He then let Jeff Reinbold go as defensive coordinator, and replaced him with Phillip Lolley. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/ticats-hire-nfl-ncaa-veteran-june-jones-assistant-head-coach/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/video-ticats-kent-austin-hiring-june-jones/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/02/june-jones-help-ticats-not-take-austins-job/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/07/jeff-reinebold-ticats-dc-future-club-unclear/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/08/former-ticats-dc-jeff-reinebold-says-hes-headed-home/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/08/ticats-make-lollley-dc-official-notes-practice/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/08/video-head-coach-kent-austin-june-jones-new-dc-phillip-lolley/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/09/ticats-changes-riders-ridin-low-johnny-manziel-tv-ratings/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/10/jeff-reinebold-unlikely-stay-ticats-slams-disloyality/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/14/former-ticats-dc-jeff-reinebold-comes-kent-austins-defence/#comments ***** Speaking of the Ticats, they had a huge brawl at practice one day. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/ticats-big-scrap-practice/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/video-ticats-coach-kent-austin-practice-fight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/fight-ticats-practice-means/#comments ***** Santino Filoso reviews the new new Canadian football video game. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/27/review-new-canadian-football-video-game-potential-plenty-shortcomings/#comments ***** Ottawa analysis after six games http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/nine-things-weve-learned-redblacks-six-games/#comments ***** The Eskimos have brought back Cuachy Muamba. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/eskimos-bring-back-canadian-db-cauchy-muamba/#comments ***** The Argos released Matt Black. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/argonauts-release-veteran-canadian-matt-black/#comments ***** The Redblacks signed Quincy McDuffie. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/redblacks-sign-former-bombers-receiverreturner-quincy-mcduffie/#comments ***** There is a Chris Jones impersonator who is supposed to be good. What do you think? http://3downnation.com/2017/07/03/chris-jones-impersonator-absolutely-nails/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/08/chris-jones-impersonator-predicts-kg-interception-riders-win/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/09/chris-jones-impersonator-win-going-get-lit/#comments

Avishai Cohen trumpet | Gadi Lehavi piano Barak Mori bass | Marcus Gilmore drums ON TOUR September 7 - Boston, MA (Scullers) September 8 - Chicago, IL (Constellation) September 10 - Half Moon Bay, CA (Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society) September 11 - Santa Cruz, CA (Kuumbwa Jazz Center) September 12 & 13 - Denver, CO (Dazzle) September 15 & 16 - Los Angeles, CA (Blue Whale) September 18 - Palo Alto, CA (Oshman Family Jewish Community Center) September 19 - Portland, OR (The Jack London) September 20 - New York, NY (le Poisson Rouge) "A quietly ravishing album" – Nate Chinen, New York Times © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011

Chicago Tribune, Album of the week “Still composing at 91, György Kurtág is the last living link to the generation of great postwar European modernists led by Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti, Luciano Berio and Luigi Nono. This important new release, gathering his entire output of music for instrumental ensembles and chorus on a three-disc set, goes far toward according the sorely neglected Hungarian master his due place in that pantheon…. Highly recommended to adventuresome ears.” – John von Rhein San Francisco Chronicle “…to listen to the chamber works packed into this gorgeous three-disc set — an array of instrumental, vocal and choral music all crafted with unerring sensitivity by conductor Reinbert de Leeuw — is to marvel anew at Kurtág’s versatility and range. The solo vocal music boasts its familiar spiky allure, as Kurtág spins improbably sparkling filigree out of the leaps and angular lines of traditional modernism.” - Joshua Kosman Seqenza 21 “The variance of dynamics is just one part of the multi-layered structures found in this music. From fragments of instrumental sound and disordered declamation to walls of choral sound and altissimo register vocal climaxes, Kurtág’s work encompasses a wide range of expression. In terms of desire, grief, fear, exhaustion, resiliency, and pain, there seems to be not a shade of emotion missing: his music is a complete catalog of the modernist project. Conductor Reinbert de Leeuw elicits each of these emotions and musical demeanors in turn with the surest of hands, drawing consummately detailed performances from the assembled forces. If you make it your business to get one recording of music by Kurtág, this is it.” – Christian Carey Gramophone, Editor’s Choice “On this set György Kurtág’s unmatched and exacting qualities as a composer make themselves felt in typically intuitive ways….. A proper treasure trove.” - Andrew Mellor BBC Music Magazine ★★★★★ “This ECM project has a special feeling of authenticity about it… The interpretations are of a consistently elevated standard…. Riveting…. Mesmerizing….grippingly ethereal and eruptive….(the performers) create a formidable new set of reference points in the performance of György Kurtág’s music.” – Terry Blain BBC Radio 3 “An outstanding set of performances and recordings – a window into the musical mind of Hungarian composer György Kurtág. All these Kurtág chamber works receive performances of startling immediacy and intensity, just as Kurtág’s often fragmentary, brief-to-the-point-of-brusque canvases demand. The recordings have a depth and clarity that emphasise the special relationships between voices and groups of instruments which Kurtág is so careful to delineate in his scores. It’s a Kurtág treasure chest borne out of Reinbert de Leeuw’s love of the composer and his ensemble’s 20 years of dedication to his music, and that shines through in almost every bar. I can’t recommend this set highly enough. Compulsory obviously for any Kurtág enthusiast but, better than that, an ideal way for anyone curious but yet to be converted.” - Andrew McGregor The Guardian ★★★★★ “A magnificent and lucid guide to a great composer. György Kurtág, who turned 91 in February, is now the grand old man of European music, and perhaps the greatest living composer. This magnificent, Netherlands-sourced set brings together some of Kurtág’s greatest achievements and is performed with devotional precision and commitment.” - Andrew Clements Classical Music magazine ★★★★★, Editor's Choice “This compelling new set…makes an ideal introduction to the composer’s intricate, dazzling soundworld. For De Leeuw, this was clearly a labour of love and, working closely with the composer, he delivers razor-sharp performances that draw the listener inexorably in. This is an unmissable set.” - Guy Weatherall © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011 New album – Tangents - releasing September 8th Marc Copland piano | Gary Peacock double bass | Joey Baron drums "…the connection between these three players [is] nothing short of pure magic…" – John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com (June 2017) Some of Gary Peacock’s finest music has been made in piano trios. Early in his musical life, Peacock established a fresh role for the bass as an independent melodic voice, a concept carried forward in the history-making groups he’s played with – from Paul Bley’s and Bill Evans’s trios to Keith Jarrett’s. As a bandleader he has also been influential: Tangents is the second release from the great bassist’s trio with Marc Copland and Joey Baron and draws on years of shared playing in diverse contexts. All three band members contribute compositions, Peacock’s including “December Greenwings”, revisiting a piece Gary introduced on his ECM recordingDecember Poems. Repertoire includes five tunes from Peacock, two from Baron, one from Copland, and an outstanding group improvisation, “Empty Forest”. The trio also plays Miles Davis’s “Blue In Green” and, perhaps surprisingly, Alex North’s theme for the film Spartacus, which also proves a fine vehicle for improvising. Tangents was recorded in Lugano in May 2016, and produced by Manfred Eicher. © 2017 ECM | ECM Records USA | 1755 Broadway, 3rd floor | New York NY 10011 ECM David Virelles Gnosis with Román Díaz and the Nosotros Ensemble David Virelles: piano, marímbula Román Díaz:lead vocals and percussion (bonkó enchemiyá, ekón, nkomos, erikundi, itones, nkaniká, marímbula, claves, mayohuacán, pilón, carapacho de jicotea, coconut shells) Allison Loggins-Hull: piccolo, flute Rane Moore: clarinet, bass clarinet Adam Cruz: percussion (steel pan, claves) Alex Lipowski: percussion (orchestral bass drum, temple blocks, bongos, gong); Matthew Gold: percussion (marimba, glockenspiel) Mauricio Herrera: percussion (ekón, nkomos, erikundi, claves) Thomas Morgan: double bass Yunior Lopez: viola Christine Chen: violoncello Samuel DeCaprio: violoncello Melvis Santa, David Virelles and Mauricio Herrera: background vocals U.S. Release date: September 15, 2017 ECM 2526 B0027188-02 UPC: 6025 576 5115 7 “Virelles looks set to make big differences in contemporary music for years to come.” -The Guardian In Gnosis, the Santiago-raised and New York-based pianist-composer David Virelles looks towards one melting pot from the vantage point of another. At one level an autobiographical album, a sequence of images conveyed through sound, Gnosis is a far-reaching work with deep roots. Transculturation and traditions are among the subjects under consideration, and the complex tapestry of Cuba’s music: the sacred, the secular, and the ritualistic. It’s an exciting, vivid and multi-faceted project of rapidly changing temperament, in which pulsating ensemble music and pristine, meditative solo piano both have their places. And it is enveloped in a feeling of mystery and magic that has made each of Virelles’s albums special. “Gnosis speaks about the intersection of cultures”, Virelles says, “and of the continuing impact of that process in our present. The word ‘gnosis’ in this context refers to an ancient collective reservoir of knowledge.” In Gnosis, strings, woodwinds and percussion are assigned specific responsibilities, representing “several families functioning within one unit: this dynamic symbolizes multicultural interaction.” Inside the ensemble pieces, Virelles’ responsive piano and the vocals and percussion of poet/drummer Román Díaz, a profound figure in the transmission of Afro-Cuban musical history, are often at the centrer of the action, carrying the story further. Drawing upon Cuban sources of many kinds, Virelles cites the influence of the early 20thcentury composers Amadeo Roldán and Alejandro Garcia Caturia, who pioneered the inclusion of the Afro-Cuban percussion arsenal in their orchestral settings: “Their legacy guided me through the creation of this piece.” A variety of percussion instruments have important roles to play. “Of particular interest are the marímbula and the biankoméko ensemble. The marímbula, a wooden box with metal keys, is used traditionally in changüí music. It was also used in son music, before the bass replaced it.” The biankoméko, the sacred percussion ensemble of the Abakuá fraternity, already had a central function on Virelles’ first ECM leader date, Mbókò. Gnosis, too, draws from the musical vocabulary of the Abakuá, but for all its rich historical reference, it is a forward-looking piece, billed at its concert premiere (at Toronto’s Music Gallery in November 2015) as “futuristic Afro-Cuban chamber music.” The work’s shapes and forms could only have been created by a gifted modern player thoroughly versed in contemporary composition as well as the art of the improvisers. As the New York Times has observed, Virelles “has a sure touch and multiple musical vocabularies, of which he seems determined to create a synthesis that isn’t schematic or obvious.” Most of Gnosis was written in New York, where Virelles is now recognized as one of the most consistently creative players on the improvising scene. In the words of the Wall Street Journal, he has “fully absorbed the environments of two islands, Cuba and Manhattan, and now exerts influence through subtle innovations.” In addition to his own groups he is currently playing with Chris Potter and with Tomasz Stanko, as documented on several ECM recordings (refer to Potter’s The Dreamer Is The Dream and The Sirens and Stanko’s December Avenue andWisława). He has also maintained close connections with musicians associated with the AACM, including Muhal Richard Abrams and Henry Threadgill, with whom he studied composition. Threadgill, who appeared on Virelles’ Antenna EP, is also the arranger of “Dos”, one of the solo piano pieces here. Another important ongoing association is with Ravi Coltrane. Virelles has played with the saxophonist’s quartet, and latterly given duo concerts with him; a Coltrane/Virelles performance at the 2017 New York Winter Jazzfest was hailed as a highlight of the event. *** David Virelles was born into a musical family in Santiago de Cuba, his mother a classical flautist, and his father a singer/songwriter. He moved to Canada in 2001 and to New York City in 2009. The pianist’s album Continuum (Pi Recordings) was his initial exploration in the modernist refraction of Afro-Cuban ritual sounds and his first recorded collaboration with Román Díaz. Subsequent ECM leader-dates Mbókò and Antenna have received the highest critical praise, the latter garnering a 5-star review in DownBeat and an Editor’s Pick recommendation in JazzTimes, where Mike Shanley opined that “ECM couldn’t have picked more radical and freewheeling music for its return to releasing new projects on vinyl.” Gnosis, too, is issued in an audiophile vinyl edition, as well as compact disc and digital download formats. Gnosis was recorded at New York’s Avatar Studios in May 2016, and produced by Manfred Eicher.

August 16 Born... 1915 - Al Hibbler 1945 - Kevin Ayers 1953 - JT Taylor 1968 - LL Cool J ***** 1962 - Brian Epstein fires Pete Best. 1977 - Elvis dies.

For the Week 5 game with the Redblacks, the Argos held a 20th anniversary reunion for their 1996 & 1997 Grey Cup champions.The club also named Doug Flutie an all-time Argo. The following week for their game with the Ticats, the Stampeders held a 25th anniversary reunion for their 1992 Grey Cup champions, and Flutie went to that one too. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/17/doug-flutie-named-time-argo/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/argos-years-best-doug-fluties-pro-football-career/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/25/doug-flutie-almost-came-back-cfl/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/jerome-messam-starstruck-after-getting-doug-fluties-autograph/#comments ***** Current Power Rankings http://3downnation.com/2017/08/14/3down-power-rankings-bombers-riders-on-the-move/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/15/nissan-titan-power-rankings-bombers-rise/ http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-gap-widens-first-worst/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-1.4247615 http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-lead-argos-sink-in-cfl-power-rankings-1.830512 ***** The Als today traded Vernon Adams to the Riders for Tevaughn Campbell. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/15/riders-acquire-qb-vernon-adams-trade-alouettes/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/15/why-the-alouettes-traded-vernon-adams/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/15/vernon-adams-gives-riders-options/#comments http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-trade-roughriders-alouettes-vernon-adams-1.4247981 https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/15/riders-acquire-qb-vernon-adams-trade-als/ ***** Here again is the link to the many podcasts. https://www.cfl.ca/2017/06/20/cfl-earballs-season-long-cfl-podcast-everyone/

Week 6 results Winnipeg 41....Montreal 40 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2392/montreal-alouettes-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/27/bombers-receiver-weston-dressler-injured-montreal/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/27/soft-roughing-passer-call-upheld-cfl-command-centre/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/andrew-harris-bombers-make-late-comeback-beat-alouettes/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/bombers-complete-miracle-comeback-alouettes-12-thoughts/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/alouettes-stef-logan-slams-officials-wild-loss-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/alouettes-stef-logan-slams-officials-wild-loss-bombers/#comments ***** Edmonton 37...,.BC 26 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2393/bc-lions-vs-edmonton-eskimos/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/mike-reilly-connects-longest-career-completion/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/28/mike-reilly-connects-longest-career-completion/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/esks-stay-perfect-downing-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/5-thoughts-eskimos-continuing-unbeaten-run/#comments ***** Sask 38....Toronto 27 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2394/toronto-argonauts-vs-saskatchewan-roughriders/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/riders-honour-joe-mcknight/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/duron-carter-makes-ridiculous-backhanded-td-grab/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/argos-johnny-sears-jr-inexplicable-decision-costs-argos-chance-win/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/29/duron-carters-breakout-performance-amazing-td-catch-leads-riders-victory/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/5-thoughts-argos-letting-early-lead-slip-away-regina/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/riders-really-needed-win/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/duron-carter-gives-ball-spectacular-td-catch-young-cancer-survivor/#comments ***** Calgary 60....Hamilton 1 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2395/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-calgary-stampeders/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/ticats-suffer-second-worst-defeat-franchise-history/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/video-kent-austin-ticats-60-1-loss-stampeders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/jerome-messam-runs-three-tds-stampeders-stomp-ticats/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/30/blowout-win-mask-problems-stampeders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/31/learned-hamiltons-embarrassing-60-1-loss-stampeders/#comments ***** Here is a summary of the former CFL people now in NFL camps. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/31/comprehensive-guide-canadians-former-cflers-nfl-training-camps-2/#comments ***** Dan Ralph summary of Week 6. http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/sixth-week-cfl-season-featured-share-good-bad-ugly/#comments ***** The Plays of the Week for Weeks 7 and 8 are now up. https://www.cfl.ca/videos/

AS PART OF THE DIGITAL INCUNABULA SERIES M.O.D. TECHNOLOGIES Presents METHOD OF DEFIANCE "COLUMN 3" Babylon Deconstruction AVAILABLE ONLINE SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 AND VIA WWW.MOD-TECHNOLOGIES.COM Dr. Israel vocals, electronics Bill Laswell bass, effects Guy Licata drums Adam Rudolph percussion Henry Kaiser guitar Steven Bernstein trumpet The Master Musicians of Jajouka Bachir Attar ghaita Mustapha Attar ghaita, drums New York, August 14, 2017 - The ever mutating and expanding collective founded by ikonoklast producer / bassist Bill Laswell. This latest release consisting of live and studio recordings transcends obvious genres and challenges all generic boundaries...dub, North African, drum'n bass, reggae vocals, noise, and much more. Column 3 features core members - Bill Laswell - bass, effects, Guy Licata - drums, and Dr. Israel - voice, electronics, beats, with Adam Rudolph - percussion (Jon Hassell, Philip Glass, Yusef Lateef, Pharaoh Sanders), Henry Kaiser - guitar (Richard Thompson, Fred Frith, Wadada Leo Smith), Steven Bernstein - trumpet (Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Sting, Sex Mob), Bachir Attar and Mustapha Attar of The Master Musicians of Jajouka, Morocco. MAGIC CALLS ITSELF the OTHER METHOD for CONTROLLING MATTER and KNOWING SPACE. TRACKS 1. Method 1 7:42 2. Sensimellia 5:01 3. Dread Inna Babylon 6:28 4. Method Jajouka 6:33 5. Patterns of War 9:35 6. Gangsta n Police 6:10 7. Method 7 6:59 8. Dread Inna Babylon 2 / Method Jajouka 2 6:54 Total: 55:19 Produced & arranged by Bill Laswell. Recording, mixing & mastering by James Dellatacoma.

I want to congratulate Dana for that huge upset win tonight! Also, I watched the 1960 NFL Championship Game in which Chuck Bednarik played both offense and defense, and I think that tonight's game was the first I've seen since then when that was done (by Duron Carter). I remember the 1990 game in which Rod Hill intercepted five, and Ed Gainey's four (plus the fumble recovery) made the game special as well.

Let me point out that it will be tomorrow's game which will be on ESPN2, not tonight's. ***** The Ticats, needing defensive help, signed Terrence Frederick. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/12/ticats-sign-former-bombers-defensive-back-terrence-frederick/#comments ***** Usually it is the Argos' games that have the largest TV audiences, but this year it has been the Riders'. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/13/riders-driving-cfl-tv-ratings-far-season/#comments ***** The Als released Ryan Phillips. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/16/alouettes-release-veteran-db-ryan-phillips/#comments ***** The Eskimos signed Jacob Ruby, who was the Als' first round pick in '85. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/17/former-first-round-pick-ol-jacob-ruby-signs-with-eskimos/#comments ***** To the six-game injured list: Ryan White http://3downnation.com/2017/07/18/riders-place-canadian-ol-ryan-white-six-game-injured-list/#comments Adarius Bowman http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/adarius-bowman-placed-six-game-injured-list/#comments Cam Judge, Ese Mrabure and Ivan Brown http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/riders-place-cam-judge-ese-mrabure-ivan-brown-six-game-injured-list/#comments Brandyn Bartlett http://3downnation.com/2017/07/27/canadian-lb-brandyn-bartlett-goes-riders-six-game-injured-list/#comments ***** The Riders accused the Ticats of spying on them, and of course the Ticats denied it. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/18/riders-close-practice-accuse-ticats-spying/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/19/kent-austin-dismisses-riders-spying-allegations-absurd/#comments ***** Jerrell Freeman is a hero! He is now with Chicago. He saw a man choking and successfully gave him the Heimlich Manoeuvre. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/24/former-riders-lb-jerrell-freeman-performs-heimlich-saves-life/#comments ***** Greg Van Roten has signed with Carolina. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/25/former-argos-ol-greg-van-roten-signs-carolina/#comments ***** The Ticats brought back Dominique Ellis. http://3downnation.com/2017/07/26/ellis-returns-shore-beleaguered-ticats-secondary/#comments *****

Happy Birthday 2017 kinuta!

Happy Birthday 2017 Mark!

more Week 8 picks http://www.rodpedersen.com/2017/08/week-8-cfl-picks-2017.html http://3downnation.com/2017/08/10/week-8-picks-desperation-setting/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/08/10/slam-dunk-picks-some-easy-pickins/#comments ***** Soupy Campbell has died at 73. RIP. I met him at the '96 Grey Cup. https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/10/rough-rider-great-jerry-soupy-campbell-passes-away/ http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/cfl-legend-soupy-campbell-dies-73/ http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-hall-of-famer-soupy-campbell-passes-away-at-73-1.4242086 ***** Week 8 game notes https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/09/cfl-ca-game-notes-look-week-8/ ***** 8/09 checking down https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/09/checking-whos-back-action-week-8/ ***** more Power Rankings http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-balance-power-clearly-west/

This is a podcast of an interview which includes about 80 minutes of Art Pepper recordings. https://artpepper.bandcamp.com/album/laurie-pepper-rocco-bertels-jazzquestradio

Before we look at the Week 6 results... Current Power Rankings http://3downnation.com/2017/08/07/3down-power-rankings-riders-tumble/#comments https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/08/west-remains-best-nissan-titan-power-rankings/ http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-hold-steady-in-cfl-power-rankings-1.825036 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-1.4238819 ***** Week 8 picks https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/09/cfl-ca-writers-make-picks-week-8/ https://www.cfl.ca/2017/08/09/weekly-predictor-weeks-dogs/ ***** Kevin Glenn has passed the 50,000 yard passing mark, and has passed Ron Lancaster on that list. Should he be in the Hall of Fame? Yes http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/kevin-glenn-hall-fame-worthy/#comments No http://3downnation.com/2017/08/01/3down-debate-kevin-glenn-not-hall-famer/#comments

First, I will point out that this SUNDAY'S game (BC at Sask, 8:00 pm eastern) will be on ESPN2. ***** Week 5 picks http://www.rodpedersen.com/2017/07/week-5-cfl-picks-2017.html https://www.cfl.ca/2017/07/18/cfl-ca-writers-make-picks-week-5/ https://www.cfl.ca/2017/07/18/weekly-predictor-ticats-bombers-vengeance-week-5/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/19/week-five-3down-picks-games-fun/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/19/slam-dunk-picks-figuring-out-funky-lines/#comments Week 5 results Ottawa 24....Montreal 19 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2387/montreal-alouettes-vs-ottawa-redblacks/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/19/nik-lewis-records-career-catch-no-1000/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/19/defending-grey-cup-champion-redblacks-enter-win-column/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/12-thoughts-redblacks-first-win-2017/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/good-bad-alouettes-error-filled-loss-redblacks/#comments ***** Edmonton 31....Hamilton 28 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2388/edmonton-eskimos-vs-hamilton-tiger-cats/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/eskimos-db-gary-peters-appears-make-contact-official/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/ticats-dl-knocked-jonathon-jennings-last-week-crushes-mike-reilly/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/20/mike-reilly-leads-eskimos-last-minute-drive-to-keep-ticats-winless/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/video-breaking-ticats-loss-eskimos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/video-kent-austin-zach-collaros-simoni-lawrence-loss-esks/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/milton-ticats-spoil-solid-effort-horrid-ending/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/5-thoughts-eskimos-last-minute-victory-hamilton/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/learned-hamiltons-tough-31-28-loss-eskimos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/ticats-db-keon-lyn-suffers-serious-broken-bone/#comments ***** BC 45....Winnipeg 42 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2389/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-bc-lions/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/bombers-execute-onside-and-legal-sleeper-play/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/bombers-darvin-adams-needs-just-one-hand-touchdown-grab/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/lions-win-wild-west-shootout-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/bombers-relive-west-semi-final-nightmare-11-thoughts/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/things-learned-lions-come-behind-win/#comments ***** Calgary 27....Sask 10 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2390/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-calgary-stampeders/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/21/stampeders-seek-bounce-back-win-rested-riders/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/stamps-reaping-rewards-sticking-jorden/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/duron-carter-crosses-centre-line-josh-bell-takes-exception/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/22/riders-qb-kevin-glenn-joins-50000-passing-yards-group/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/23/jerome-messam-runs-riders-leads-stamps-victory/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/23/back-square-one-riders-not-ready-take-next-step/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/23/back-square-one-riders-not-ready-take-next-step/#comments ***** Toronto 27....Ottawa 24 https://www.cfl.ca/games/2391/ottawa-redblacks-vs-toronto-argonauts/ http://3downnation.com/2017/07/24/argos-suffer-trio-defensive-injuries/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/24/hajrullahus-game-winner-gives-argos-last-second-win-redblacks/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/24/hell-genie-bouchard-argos-game/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/25/5-thoughts-on-argos-last-second-win-over-redblacks/#comments http://3downnation.com/2017/07/26/argos-anthony-coombs-growing-andre-duries-shadow/#comments

August 8 1969 - Abbey Road cover photo taken ***** Born... 1933 - Joe Tex 1944 - John Renbourn

Paul Desmond with Jim Hall Gerry Mulligan with Chet Baker Monk Bue Note

Break a leg, Allen!

German Saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer Joins Forces with American Guitarist David Fiuczynski On Microtonal Album for RareNoiseRecords Drumming legend Jack DeJohnnette and bassist Matt Garrison on board for Mikrojazz - Neue Expressionistische Musik CD, VINYL AND MULTIPLE DIGITAL FORMATS AVAILABLE IN STORES AND ONLINE ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2017 AND THROUGHWWW.RARENOISERECORDS.COM. PHILIPP GERSCHLAUER ALTO SAXOPHONE DAVID FIUCZYNSKI FRETTED AND FRETLESS GUITARS JACK DEJOHNETTE DRUMS MATT GARRISON FRETLESS BASS GIORGI MIKADZE MICROTONAL KEYBOARDS New York, August 7, 2017 - On Mikrojazz, their cutting edge joint project forRareNoiseRecords, German saxophonist Philipp Gerschlauer and guitarist David Fiuczynski explore the world of music that falls between the cracks of the tempered scale. Joined by jazz drumming legend Jack DeJohnette, fretless electric bassist Matt Garrisonand microtonal keyboardist Giorgi Mikadze, this daring crew creates dreamy, otherworldly soundscapes on tunes by Gerschlauer like aptly-titled "Hangover" and "LaMonte's Gamelan Jam" along with a swinging microtonal tune "Mikro Steps" and other originals like Fiuczynski's "MiCroY Tyner", Zirkus Macabre and "Lullaby Nightmare". Fiuczynski, who heads up the Planet MicroJam Institute at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, previously released two microtonal recordings on RareNoise - 2012's Planet MicroJam, which opened a Pandora's Box on non-Western tuning, and 2016's Flam! Blam! Pan-Asian MicroJam!, which was jointly dedicated to 20th century classical composer Olivier Messiaen and innovative hip-hop record producer JDilla. Gerschlauer, who was inspired by French composer Gérard Grisey and Paul Desmond had been independently exploring the world of microtonal music in Berlin and New York before developing a method of dividing an octave (12 notes in equal temperament) into 128 notes on the alto saxophone. "I started to use microtones on the saxophone about ten years ago," Gerschlauer explained. "I wanted to extend the harmonic and melodic language which was used in jazz music so far. I began noticing that the regular piano and keyboards could not provide the full harmonic and melodic spectrum that was needed for my compositions. So five years ago, I decided to also develop my own microtonal keyboard which now fills this gap. The tunings and programming I am using are a complete novelty in a jazz context. When I found out about David and what he is doing, I naturally was very excited and it made sense that we would be meeting and playing at some point." This meeting of the minds was jump-started when Fiuczynski invited Gerschlauer to Berklee to present his music, talk about playing microtonal saxophone and playing with Berklee's resident Planet MicroJam Ensemble. "David and I had already been in an intensive email correspondence on microtonal music, so I knew that he was combining jazz with microtones and that his music was really grooving," said the saxophonist. "I couldn't wait to meet him in person and felt honored by the invitation to hold a workshop there. I was pleased to find out that David's microtonal ensemble at Berklee sounded great! You could hear right away that they played and rehearsed on a regularly basis. I think it's awesome that such a band can exist in a university context." For Fiuczynski (aka Fuze), this collaboration with Gerschlauer was marked by a kindred connection that was apparent from the outset because of their mutual interest in melding micro- jazz and grooves. "Just as there are jazz and classical snobs and uptight indie rockers, there are many divisions in microtonality," he said. 'I've had plenty of micro-snobs turn me away because I was injecting a groove element into microtonality. But Philipp was stunned at how I was using grooves and coloring microtones in a completely unique way, and I was intrigued by how he was working with a very high order of microtones - 128 notes per octave and untempered - amazing! So we decided to join forces because both had something to offer to the other." Fiuczynski has been operating on the fringe for decades, flaunting mondo-chops with his avant- jazz-funk band Screaming Headless Torsos in the early 1990s, as a member of Hasidic New Wave in the late '90s and in collaboration with keyboardist John Medeski on 1994's Lunar Crush and subsequently with his KiF trio and experimental Black Cherry Acid Lab. A longtime exponent of the fretless guitar, his wicked whammy bar articulations over the years have gone well beyond the 12-tone Western chromatic scale. In more recent years he's been studying microtonal music in a more formal sense while also experimenting with a quarter tone guitar. Perhaps eerie-sounding, unsettling and 'out of tune' to Western ears, microtonal music, which employs intervals smaller than a semitone, has nonetheless been around since the Hellenic civilizations of ancient Greece and continues to be prevalent in musical cultures around the world today from India to the Balkans to China, Turkey and Africa. As Fiuczynski noted, "When taken outside of the context of blues, gamelan, Middle Eastern music - in other words the 'micro' sounds we're used to - it can be jarring, especially since we're doing microtonal harmony. You don't hear harmony in East Asian and Middle Eastern music. At times it's polyphonic but harmonies are incidental. Microtonal harmony started with Julian Carillo, Alois Haba, Ivan Wyschnegradsky (and also Charles Ives) in the first half of the 20th century. These are our microtonal classical forefathers. But what Mikrojazzdoes - and I've done this on Planet Microjam and FLAM! - is jazz microtonal chord scales. This is fairly new, I don't really know anyone else doing this. And when you play those microtonal melodies and then you stack them in harmony, it can certainly throw you for a loop." "I can't understand why the wide majority of jazz musicians is still using only 12 notes per octave," Gerschlauer added. "I feel we are stuck in this system because there aren't many people who seriously think about this. Art has always been a reflection on the time it is created in. The Zeitgeist or 'sign of the time' we live in is rapid communication and innovation and artists should be the interpreters of this Zeitgeist. I feel this is my mission. Microtones build the foundation of my scale and harmonic language. None of the pitches I am using fits into our predominant tone system. And I believe that due to it's physiology, the ear finds justly tuned chords more consonant than other tunings. Hermann von Helmholtz suggested in his book On the Sensations of Tone that there is a direct link between the physics of a sound wave, the physiology of our ears, the reception in our brain and music theory. This opened up a field of study for me. When I listened to the opening chord of Grisey's "Partiels" it hit me like a wave. Microtonality is the sound of TODAY, of NOW! This is how today, the time we are living in, sounds like and I hope that when people will hear this music, they will realize how rigid the predominant tuning system is." Kindred spirits Fiuczynski and Gerschlauer dive headlong into the microtonal pool onMikrojazz and are ably supported in their explorations by the empathetic crew of DeJohnette, Garrison and Mikadze. As an added visual treat, each piece on Mikrojazz, which is subtitled Neue Expressionistische Musik, meaning 'new expressionist music', is paired with expressionist paintings by the likes of Georg Grosz, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, August Macke, Egon Schiele, Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Jean Michel Basquiat and more. "Both Philipp and I grew up in Germany and expressionist painting is an influence, certainly for me," said Fiuczynski. "I do consider myself to be a Black German expressionist and those paintings are major influences. The jagged forms, the intense colors and the African-American elements (Basquiat) and other non-Western elements that influenced many German expressionists are kind of a visual summary of what I do. I feel very 'Black'' when listening to James Brown or playing with Jack DeJohnette, but I feel very 'German' when injecting microtonality and jagged lines and so forth. It's a personal thing, I don't have a rationale for this, I'm just reacting." "So Mikrojazz is about our affinity with expressionism, something that's been close to my heart for a while," Fiuczynski said of his joint effort with Gerschlauer. "I love painting in general, but particularly expressionist painting. We've paired paintings with our music in a very intuitive manner, based more on emotions than literal or direct connections. It's literally a personal EXPRESSION of our music and art." Regarding the provocative music heard throughout Mikrojazz, Fiuczynski believes it just might be, to borrow the title of a 1959 Ornette Coleman album, The Shape of Jazz to Come. "I would like to think that Western microtonality is an evolutionary extension of 20th century music, and since our 12 note per octave musical language is becoming exhausted and repetitive, I think microtonality is a very natural and necessary musical development," he said. "Here is where Philipp and I can contribute the most to the evolution of jazz and hopefully bring new insights and perspectives to the art form. I think this record will change the way people hear and listen to music." Bold words from a bold visionary. But he delivers once again in this microtonal meeting of the minds with the amazing Mr. Gerschlauer. TRACKS 1 MikroSteps 4:43 2 Für Mary Wigman 7:02 3 Lullaby Nightmare 3:37 4 MiCrOY Tyner 7:31 5 Umarmung 5:05 6 Last Chance 4:26 7 November 6:48 8 Hangover 7:57 9 LaMonte's Gamelan Jam 6:32 10 Walking Not Flying 2:57 11 Sofia Im Türkischen Café 3:44 12 Zirkus Macabre 3:21

The tour has begun!

ECM Tim Berne’s Snakeoil Incidentals Tim Berne: alto saxophone Oscar Noriega: clarinet, bass clarinet Ryan Ferreira: guitars Matt Mitchell: piano, electronics Ches Smith: drums, vibraphone, timpani, percussion With David Torn: guitar U.S. Release date: September 8, 2017 ECM 2579 B0027074-02 06025 576 7257 2 Incidentals is the fourth ECM album from alto saxophonist Tim Berne’s dynamic Snakeoil band. Complete and self-contained, it can also be considered a partner volume to the 2015 release You’ve Been Watching Me, further documenting a period in the band’s life in which the energetic core group of Berne, fellow reedman Oscar Noriega, pianist Matt Mitchell and drummer/percussionist/vibraphonist Ches Smith was augmented by guitarist Ryan Ferreira, whose textural playing and floating, ambient sound-colors both thickened the plot and leavened the density. “We somehow achieved more sonic space by adding another player,” Berne notes wonderingly. Ferreira had been introduced to Berne by Matt Mitchell, guitarist and pianist having attended the same music school. “I’m always on the lookout for guitar players”, says Berne, “always looking for new blood.” He and Ferreira played duo for about a year, improvising freely, before the guitarist was invited to join a Snakeoil concert. “I gave him a great pile of music, and he learned it. The job required a player who was content not to be a soloist. It was almost like having a far-out keyboard player in the band, and it gave me a few more options, compositionally.” There was also a wish to subvert and challenge the modus operandi of the group. Over several years, the four piece Snakeoil had become very tight, “and when something starts to work well I like to throw something else in, to see if I still have the touch, and just to see what happens.” However, the first guitar sounds heard on Incidentals derive from another source, as producer David Torn’s hands-on approach to the work extends to picking up his own instrument. Thereafter, things happen fast. Group improvisation leads towards a dramatic first theme, then into and out of vamps, until the listener is left, as is often the case with Berne pieces, in a new and unfamiliar space. Recapitulation is rare in his tunes: the music keeps on moving, dodging, swerving to other destinations. To follow the action in “Hora Feliz”, Berne recommends zooming in on Snakeoil’s prodigiously gifted pianist, Matt Mitchell: “A lot of the transitions are on Matt’s shoulders. If you focus on him through the whole improv section here you can hear the amazing way he manages to develop and set up the ending of the piece with his improvising. “I’ve always liked the idea of steering people away from the material we start with. With the writing, it’s almost done the way I improvise – a lot of motives, a lot of melodic improvising, tossing little thematic things around and developing them. That’s part of the story, anyway. Some of that also comes from seeing the AACM guys when I was starting out, and Julius Hemphill, too – in their worlds, improvisation was often a collective and amorphous thing, rather than a rhythm section playing a groove with a solo on top of it. Very little of that music was head-solo-head format, and I think that stayed with me. A lot of the suite-like pieces I make come out of not wanting to repeat improvising ideas. If you’re improvising and you know you’re going to something completely different you have to think a little more compositionally than if you’re just playing a solo and going back to the same head.” The trajectory of the 26-minute epic “Sideshow” - with another guitar cameo for Torn at its climax, weaving between thunderous timpani and over the twinned reeds of Noriega and Berne – all but defies itemization. Truly event-packed, it was once even more so. Originally “Sideshow” was part of an hour-long piece, the other half being “Small World In A small Town”, already documented on You’ve Been Watching Me. Berne: “I didn’t want to use up a whole album with one large composition, so I split it in half. This was something we’d already successfully tried live, dividing the material over a couple of sets.” Not everything in the Snakeoil book is obsessively complex. Berne says that “Stingray Shuffle” begins with a composed statement which, after the head, blossoms into textural collective improvisation, subtly shifting layers of sound against which Berne and Noriega play prettily. “Incidentals Contact” comes flying out of the starting gate, its strong rhythmic drive established by the whole ensemble while Ches Smith is still, insistently, playing vibes: “Many bands will use the drums to set up the time. I’m adamant about that not happening, ever, because it’s too obvious. Ches is really great at ignoring us as long as possible, and the more freedom you give him, the more interesting the tension gets. Quite often in this group, you’ll find everyone playing rhythm except the drummer.” “Prelude One/Sequel Too” folds together two pieces, the first a futurist stepwise construction made stranger by the “weird high part” which Matt Mitchell contributed to the composition. After open improvisation it segues into “Sequel Too”, based upon the same written material as the title track ofYou’ve Been Watching Me. Interpreted as an acoustic guitar piece in its previous incarnation, “Sequel Too” sounds radically different when voiced for the group and develops as a powerful, emotionally-expressive feature for Berne’s alto and Smith’s free, slashing drums. *** Tim Berne has been declared “a saxophonist and composer of granite conviction” by The New York Times. Acclaim for the first, eponymous ECM album from Berne’s quartet Snakeoil came from far and wide, with The Guardian calling it “an object lesson in balancing composition, improvisation and the tonal resources of an acoustic band.” With the release of his second ECM album, Shadow Man, All About Jazz affirmed Snakeoil as “Berne’s most impressively cohesive group yet.” Since learning at the elbow of St. Louis master Julius Hemphill in the ’70s, the Syracuse, NY-born Berne has built an expansive discography as a leader. In his ensembles over the past few decades, he has worked with improvisers including Joey Baron, Django Bates, Jim Black, Nels Cline. Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Michael Formanek, Drew Gress, Ethan Iverson, Dave King, Herb Robertson, Chris Speed, Steve Swell, Bobby Previte, Hank Roberts, Tom Rainey and Craig Taborn. As a sideman, Berne has made ECM appearances on albums by Formanek (The Rub and Spare Change, Small Places, The Distance) and David Torn (prezens). The New York Times summed him up by saying: “Few musicians working in or around jazz over the last 30 years have developed an idiomatic signature more distinctive than Tim Berne.” Snakeoil, in the original Berne-Noriega-Mitchell-Smith line-up, tours North America through September and October, and plays European dates in November. Further ECM recordings featuring Tim Berne are in preparation, including an album with the Sun of Goldfinger trio with David Torn and Ches Smith. ECM Gary Peacock Trio Tangents Gary Peacock: double-bass Marc Copland: piano Joey Baron: drums U.S. Release date: September 8, 2017 ECM 2533 B0027130-02 UPC: 6025 574 1910 8 Some of Gary Peacock’s finest music has been made in the context of piano trios. Early in his career, he helped to establish a fresh role for the bass as an independent melodic voice, an evolution carried forward in history-making groups led by pianists Paul Bley, Bill Evans and Keith Jarrett. Peacock made his leader debut on ECM in 1977 with Tales of Another, featuring the trio with Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette before it recorded famously under the pianist’s leadership. In the 21st century, one of Peacock’s most striking vehicles has been his trio with pianist Marc Copland and drummer Joey Baron. The group earned just praise on both sides of the Atlantic for its initial ECM release, Now This, in 2015.The Guardian called it “captivating,” while All About Jazz said: “These players are always in the present: listening, reacting, knowing when to play and when not to play.” These words apply just as aptly toTangents, the group’s exceptional follow-up. This trio’s tensile strength – its muscular virtuosity tempered by poetic restraint – animates five originals by Peacock, one by Copland and two by Baron, along with a darkly atmospheric free improvisation and ravishing versions of two classics associated with Bill Evans: “Blue in Green” and “Spartacus.” Peacock has been collaborating with Copland since the early 1980s. “I felt a compatibility with Marc right away, a sensation of being on the same page,” the bassist recalls. “That’s only developed and deepened over the years as we’ve worked in duo, trio, quartet and quintet formats. As a composer, his harmonies offer real possibilities, as with ‘Talkin’ Blues’ on the new album. Marc and I have a kinship in that we both aspire to something that can’t be conceptualized – something more intuitive. We’re out to surrender to the muse.” For his part, Copland has said: “Taking chances is the essence of playing jazz. This is something I always felt, and when I started playing with Gary Peacock, I knew I’d met a musical soul who believed this as much as I did.” Along with his detail-rich work behind the kit, Baron – a veteran of many ECM sessions – penned one of the album’s highlights, “Cauldron,” a pouncing number filled with apposite runs by Copland. About the drummer, Peacock recalls: “I played with Joey previously in a quartet with Lee Konitz and Bill Frisell about five or six years ago, so I knew that he was always there for the music, always listening. Marc and I played with several different drummers, but when we got Joey for a week at Birdland, we knew right away that this was the guy for our trio. Like Roy Haynes, Joey has this sensitive touch. He can swing brilliantly even at a low volume. After that Birdland run, I called Manfred to say that we just had to record this band. There’s a real sense of freedom with this trio, but also a lack of me, me, me. Everyone is listening for what the music tells you to do. “I remember once playing a gig with Keith and Jack, and Dave Holland was there,” Peacock adds. “He came backstage afterward and asked me how I came up with ‘all those different bass lines.’ I said that it was Keith and Jack. He said, ‘No, no, how do you do it?’ But, honestly, I was responding to them, inspired in the moment by listening to them play – that’s how a bass line comes out for me, with this trio, too. It’s organic and spontaneous, reacting intuitively.” Tangents opens with Peacock’s melody-rich “Contact,” with its solo bass intro offering an alluring entrée into the album. The 82-year-old bassist’s sound remains as individual as a fingerprint: rich and powerful, but also lithe and conveying a seemingly inexhaustible flow of ideas. Regarding the beautiful way his instrumental tone is captured on ECM recordings, the bassist says: “Manfred Eicher and his engineers are masters at capturing the sound of the bass. Manfred isn’t thinking about frequencies as much as he is the personality of the instrument, and the player. Also, it’s not just about the sound of the bass but how it fits in with the other instruments. And I have to say that the radio studio in Lugano where we recorded the new album is special – it’s a small auditorium, with the trio set up onstage. The ambience was fantastic, and that has such a positive effect – you can feel it.” Another album highlight is Peacock’s Ornette Coleman-evoking “Rumblin’,” which features his bass singing and dancing ebulliently throughout the track. Peacock is quick to credit his early influences as a bassist. “For the melodic aspect, an early inspiration was Red Mitchell,” he says. “Red was a real mentor for me, even if it was just on records. Ray Brown was another inspiration, but for his uncanny ability to swing no matter what. Those were my guiding lights when I was a teenager just starting to play. Later, I discovered Jimmy Blanton and Oscar Pettiford, then Scott LaFaro and Paul Chambers – all were important for me. But there was also the influence of horn players – especially Miles Davis and Stan Getz – as well as a slew of pianists, particularly Bill Evans. Bill was such an inspiration melodically, harmonically, dynamically, through his choice of voicings. There was also a sense of vulnerability in his playing that drew you in – a very human feeling. He was definitely the sort of player who had a realization of the music being more important than him. One should never forget that the music is more important than you.” Peacock, who recorded the classic album Trio 64 with Evans, underscores his affinity for the pianist’s legacy on Tangents with the inclusion of both the impressionistic “Blue in Green” (recorded famously in 1959 by Miles Davis on Kind of Blue, then by Evans on Portrait in Jazz just months later) and the emotive “Spartacus” (a deeply lyrical film theme by Alex North). The bassist says: “These are pieces that we’ve played often as a trio and that are always inspiring for me. The tendency when someone records a piece by a master is to attempt to re-create it, but that process just makes the piece less than what it was. Rather than emulating someone, if you just play the music and let the inspiration come through that – then you might have something. Don’t try to make it ‘better’ or ‘different,’ either. To paraphrase Miles, ‘Just shut the fuck up and play’.” On Now This, Peacock, Copland and Baron reinterpreted some key compositions from the bassist’s songbook: “Moor,” “Gaia,” “Vignette,” “Requiem.” For Tangents, the trio revisited the tumbling tunefulness of “December Greenwings,” which the bassist first recorded on the 1978 ECM LP December Poems with Jan Garbarek and then again on the 2000 ECM album Amaryllis with Marilyn Crispell and Paul Motian. “The piece takes on a different quality with different instruments and personalities – you could say that each recording is a new view of similar terrain,” Peacock says. “One thing that appeals to me about it is the lack of a fixed tempo. I’m more and more drawn to music like that. A tune like ‘Gaia’ demands that you play in time – it’s important for the piece. But ‘December Greenwings’ is something else. I first really got into playing without tempo while working with Albert Ayler and Don Cherry, in the ’60s – we didn’t play time. No chords, no going back over the melody, no time – it was truly free.” Asked about “Empty Forest,” the seven-minute free improvisation on Tangents, Peacock says: “Who knows where that comes from? It was just: ‘start.’ Marc, Joey and I are ideally suited to free playing together, the three of us. We’re having the same experience in the moment, feeling the music together. It doesn’t mean it’s always perfect what we do – sometimes, it’s more mud than a beautiful, flowing river. But that’s where the trust comes in – that we’ll search together and eventually find the muse, find the music.” Peacock is increasingly drawn to “the unknowable,” he says, “something beyond conception. Conceptualizing can put a limit on what you can do as an improviser – you’re limited to what you can preconceive, instead of just surrendering to the music as it’s happening, tapping intuition. Theory and technique are essential, but they’re not enough – they just provide a sort of milieu. It’s not easy to find the muse. You can’t grab it, you can’t summon it – and lord knows, I’ve tried every route to that. I’ve realized that you can only get out of the way and listen. It’s there, if you really listen.”