GA Russell

Now let's look at last week's games. Week 8... Edmonton 23....Montreal 12 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2304/montreal-alouettes-vs-edmonton-eskimos/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2304/montreal-alouettes-vs-edmonton-eskimos/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2304/montreal-alouettes-vs-edmonton-eskimos/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/12/eskimos-use-tough-d-alouettes/#comments ***** Winnipeg 34....Toronto 17 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2305/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-toronto-argonauts/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2305/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-toronto-argonauts/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2305/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-toronto-argonauts/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/13/denmark-fogg-help-bombers-extend-winning-streak-15-thoughts/#comments ***** Calgary 19....Sask 10 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2306/calgary-stampeders-vs-saskatchewan-roughriders/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2306/calgary-stampeders-vs-saskatchewan-roughriders/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2306/calgary-stampeders-vs-saskatchewan-roughriders/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/14/riders-lack-big-play-loss-stamps/#comments ***** BC 45....Hamilton 38 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2307/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-bc-lions/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2307/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-bc-lions/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2307/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-bc-lions/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/14/another-crazy-ticat-comeback-falls-just-short/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/14/good-bad-hamiltons-tough-loss-bc-lions/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/15/collaros-looks-good-return-ticats/#comments ***** Week 8 Plays of the Week http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/15/kegsize-plays-of-the-week-wk-8/

ECM Andrew Cyrille Quartet The Declaration of Musical Independence Andrew Cyrille: drums, percussion Bill Frisell: guitar Richard Teitelbaum: synthesizer, piano Ben Street: double-bass Release date: September 23, 2016 ECM 2430 B0025526-02 UPC: 6025 471 9575 3 The great jazz drummer Andrew Cyrille – whose associations have ranged from a long, vintage collaboration with Cecil Taylor to co-leading veteran collective Trio 3 with Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman – makes his ECM leader debut with The Declaration of Musical Independence. Featuring a quartet with guitar luminary Bill Frisell, keyboardist Richard Teitelbaum and bassist Ben Street, the album kicks off with an artfully oblique interpretation of John Coltrane’s “Coltrane Time,” led by Cyrille’s solo drum intro. The disc then features a sequence of sonically arresting originals, including Street’s luminous “Say…” and Frisell’s deeply felt “Kaddish” and “Song for Andrew,” with Frisell’s guitar alternately cutting and billowing, evoking some of his most illustrious past ECM performances. There are three atmospheric compositions by the band together – including dynamic soundscape “Dazzling (Perchordally Yours),” which highlights Cyrille’s distinctive sense of percussive drama. Cyrille appeared on classic ECM and Watt LPs by the likes of Marion Brown, Carla Bley and the Jazz Composer’s Orchestra, and, most recently, on Ben Monder’s Amorphae, but The Declaration of Musical Independence puts a deserved spotlight on this master of rhythm, a disciple of drum idol Philly Joe Jones and an inspiration to subsequent generations of jazz drummers. Summing up Cyrille’s art, Modern Drummer magazine has said: “Jazz historians would point out that his free and abstract playing with the world-renowned pianist Cecil Taylor shattered conventions of timekeeping and helped redefine the rhythms of modern jazz. But the diverse body of work that he’s amassed over his long career – which he continues to build upon with each new and intriguing project – proves that he’s always been most concerned with dealing with the now.” The sessions for his ECM album – held in Brooklyn, NY, where Cyrille was born in 1939 – “were a whole lot of fun,” the drummer says. Although the studio was the first place where the quartet came together as a unit, Cyrille had links to each of the musicians. He previously recorded with Frisell in a session led by Danish guitarist Jakob Bro, and the drummer has recorded three albums with Street and another Dane, pianist Søren Kjaergaard. With Teitelbaum – who was born in the same year as Cyrille – the drummer has had an association in concert and on record since the 1970s, both in Europe and the U.S. “It’s always exciting to collaborate with world-class musicians and that’s what these guys are,” Cyrille says. “Take the first track on the album, ‘Coltrane Time’ – that’s a rhythm that I learned from Rashied Ali, who learned it from Coltrane himself, of course. I love that rhythm, and I’m doing my own variation on it. The guys in this quartet were listening to me play it, and then as we started playing together, the four of us were really listening to each other – and enjoying it. That’s the way you make music.” About what inspired him to put together this lineup, Cyrille adds: “I dig Bill’s lyricism, his rhythmic sense and that signature sound of his – it’s as unique as his signature. Ben has got great ears, and I like his sound. Besides that, he’s just so congenial to be around – he loves playing music. And not too many people play the synthesizer like Richard. We’ve always been able to complement each other, finding a place in each other’s sound. I wanted this album to be a true quartet project, where each of us had a piece of the record, in every sense. I wanted everyone to contribute music, everyone to give of themselves.” The New York Times has called Cyrille an “avant-garde eminence,” praising his bone-deep knowledge of not only vintage jazz drumming but also pan-African rhythms – and noting how his “watchful, flowing pulse” has influenced so many of today’s most artful drummers. Reflecting on the way he goes about making music, Cyrille says: “Having started as a boy playing in the drum-and-bugle corps and later learning from greats like Max Roach and Mary Lou Williams and Philly Joe and Cecil, I’ve come to realize that the more you know, the more you have to say. I’ve been all over the world by now and played with so many different people that I’ve learned more and more about how to communicate with the drums. And that’s what it is all about: communication. Communing on a spiritual level in the studio or on the bandstand, no matter where the musicians come from, what they look like, what language they speak. It’s all about what you hear and feel. For this new ECM album – with tunes like “Sanctuary,” “Manfred,” all of them – we were doing a whole lot of listening and feeling.” ECM Jakob Bro Streams Jakob Bro: guitar Thomas Morgan: double bass Joey Baron: drums U.S. Release date: September 23, 2016 ECM 2499 B0025525-02 UPC: 6025 478 1865 2 There is no hurry to this music, but there is great depth. Absence is as powerful as presence for Bro; each phrase is perfectly plucked from the ether. Jon Carvell, London Jazz News On his second leader album for ECM – following on from the acclaimed Gefion - Danish guitarist Jakob Bro continues to refine his trio project, with its emphases on melody, sound, space, layered textures and interaction. The rapport between Bro and bassist Thomas Morgan (Bro calls him “my musical soul mate”) has become something extraordinary, as guitarist and bassist develop improvisational ideas in the moment. There’s an historical aptness, too, in the choice of Joey Baron as the band’s new drummer, for Bro first encountered Morgan when the bassist was playing in Baron’s band a decade ago. “I’ve always seen music as a whole,” says Jakob Bro, “not as an outlet for me to display guitaristic things. It’s important for me that everybody in the group has an equal responsibility in the making of the music. We’ve played a lot now, and the pieces keep changing. I enjoy setting up moods and textures for us to work on, and to explore together, but I don’t insist on any specific directions. I have no fixed expectations of where the trio music should go, and I want Joey and Thomas to trust their ears and pursue the directions it seems to be suggesting. For me this is the most exciting aspect of the project. I love playing with this band, because new things are happening in the music all the time. The music wants to go in its own direction. It’s our job to follow it. In a way, that’s what the album title, Streams, is indicating.” Streams was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the South of France in November 2015, and produced by Manfred Eicher. The recording features five new Bro pieces: “Opal”, “Full Moon Europa”, “Shell Pink”, “Sisimiut”, and “Heroines” which is heard in both a trio version and a touching solo version. “Gefion had also included a solo guitar piece, so we were continuing that tradition. I hadn’t prepared a solo arrangement: the idea came up in the studio. Manfred said ‘Just play the melody, then stop.’ So I followed his advice. “ The open group improvisation, “PM Dream” is dedicated to the late Paul Motian. Jakob’s approach to melody in general acknowledges the influence of Motian, and both Bro and Morgan played at different times in Paul’s ensembles. “‘PM Dream’ was a very spontaneous piece,” Bro recalls. “We basically made the album in one day. At one point we were discussing whether to go into the control room and listen to some takes and Joey said, ‘It feels so good to play right now, let’s keep going and see what we get.’ It really felt like a dream space to be in, and ‘PM Dream’ came out of that.’” Throughout Streams, Joey Baron dives into the music’s detail with obvious pleasure. He takes over, in the trio, from another drumming great, Jon Christensen, who played on Gefion. (Jakob Bro’s association with Christensen, meanwhile, now continues in a new project with trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg; an ECM album is due in 2017). Bro has a lot of praise for both drummers. “Jon’s approach in the trio could be very unpredictable, extreme and mysterious and I loved that. But the creative way in which Joey plays opens up more room for me somehow, and as a group we’ve been working more on ideas based around different time feelings as well as steady pulses.” Streams is issued on the eve of a major tour by the Bro-Morgan-Baron trio with dates in Denmark, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Ukraine and South Korea. The work continues in 2017, with a US concert in January and a further round of European dates in February and March. ECM Guidi/Petrella/Sclavis/Cleaver Ida Lupino Giovanni Guidi: piano Gianluca Petrella: trombone Louis Sclavis: clarinet, bass clarinet Gerald Cleaver: drums U.S. Release date: September 16, 2016 ECM 2462 B0025527-02 UPC: 6025 478 5476 6 Ida Lupino is a fresh and creative album, distinguished by deep listening and focused interaction. At its center is the remarkable improvisational rapport of two Italian musicians – pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Gianluca Petrella. Their musical understanding – already apparent to listeners who heard them in Enrico Rava’s band – has been further refined in a widely-travelled duo which seeks encounters with fellow improvisers. “Our duo work is really defined by our collaboration with other artists,” Guidi says. The present album both builds on established relationships and the stimulus of new encounters as they are joined by – in Petrella’s words – “two masters of contemporary jazz who are really on our wavelength”. For this recording, Manfred Eicher brought Guidi and Petrella together with US drummer Gerald Cleaver and French clarinettist Louis Sclavis, for a set of music by turns introspective and outgoing. The Italians had played previously with Cleaver, on an early Guidi album called We Don’t Live Here Anymore, but Sclavis had never met the other musicians prior to the session at Lugano’s Stelio Molo RSI auditorium. “It’s very precious this kind of musical relationship,” Louis Sclavis says, “on the one hand, it’s very fragile but at the same time there is a strong connection between the players. We are four people for one music, and we don’t know where we’re going, but we control the journey.” “In this album we are searching for many different things,” says Giovanni Guidi. “Improvised music has to be very democratic. At the same time, one of its components should be a sense of wonder. And the more you have a strong idea, at the concept level, the more you know you must not impose it…” Gerald Cleaver: “I liked the completely open way Giovanni and Gianluca approached this: not telling me what they wanted, but having some sort of underlying plan, and what I had to do was basically surrender to it. That could have been difficult, but it ended up being a really enjoyable ride.” The emphasis is on lyrical group improvising and tunes by the players, created in the moment or otherwise. There are a couple of exceptions: “Per i morti di Reggio Emilia (To the Dead of Reggio Emilia)” is a protest song penned by Turin folk singer-songwriter Fausto Amodei. And the title track, “Ida Lupino”, does double duty as a salute to composer Carla Bley in her 80th year (Petrella once played in a big band under Carla’s direction) and as a tribute to the late, great Paul Bley, who popularized the tune and influenced so many improvisers – not least Giovanni Guidi. “I find the music we played to be above all very sincere,” says Guidi. “It is an exact photograph of where our individual journeys have brought us, and what we were able to create together. And it wouldn’t have been possible without Manfred, who is in a way the fifth musician – hearing every note, every sound, every detail…” The album was recorded and mixed in three days, in time-honored ECM tradition. “When we listen to what we’ve played, we’re left a little speechless, because there are so many subtleties that transform the whole quality of the music.” Guidi, born in Foligno, was encouraged in his musical directions by Enrico Rava at summer master classes in Siena, and subsequently played on the Rava albums On The Dance Floor and Tribe. His previous ECM albums include City of Broken Dreams and This is the Day, featuring his trio with Thomas Morgan and João Lobo. Gianluca Petrella, born in Bari, plays on four ECM albums with Enrico Rava: Easy Living, The Words and the Days, Tribe and Wild Dance. The two of them, Guidi and Petrella, are frequently instanced by critics as key figures in a new “golden age” for Italian jazz. Louis Sclavis, from Lyon, has made ten albums as a leader for ECM since 1993, the most recent being Silk and Salt Melodies and Sources, released respectively in 2014 and 2012. Where previous recordings have stressed his originality as conceptualist and jazz composer, Ida Lupino emphasizes his capacity as quick-thinking melodic improviser. Detroit-born Gerald Cleaver, one of the very finest drummers of the present moment, made his ECM debut in 1997 as a member of Roscoe Mitchell’s Note Factory on Nine To Get Ready and has since appeared on the label as a member of Tomasz Stanko’s New York Quartet, the Michael Formanek Quartet and the Craig Taborn Trio. The most recent release featuring Cleaver is Miroslav Vitous’s Music of Weather Report.

The big news last week was that Bo Levi Mitchell tweeted that he suspected the Roughriders of having too many men in camp. It turned out that he was right! So the league fined the Riders, but they also fined Mitchell for the tweet!!!! http://3downnation.com/2016/08/09/calgary-quarterback-accuses-riders-cheating/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/10/bo-knows-sources-say-riders-utilizing-many-95-players/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/11/sources-riders-paying-non-roster-players/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/11/riders-sending-non-roster-players-home/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/11/riders-fined-cfl-practicing-ineligible-players/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/12/leagues-discipline-riders-inexplicably-weak/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/12/things-getting-goofy-riderville/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/13/chris-jones-exchanges-words-dave-dickenson-stamps-victory/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/16/pedersens-criticisms-dunk-unfair-unfounded/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/16/mitchell-fined-whistleblower-tweets-exposed-riders/#comments

I've had some computer problems today, and the old thread has disappeared. So let's start a new one. ECM Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang Atmosphères Tigran Hamasyan: piano Arve Henriksen: trumpet Eivind Aarset: guitar Jan Bang: live sampling, samples U.S. Release date: September 9, 2016 ECM 2414/15 B0024902-02 UPC: 6025 471 4269 6 For this recording, Tigran Hamasyan, Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang came together as a quartet at the invitation of Manfred Eicher, and Atmosphères captures the newly-formed group’s evocative music as it unfolded in a highly-creative session at Lugano’s Auditorio Stelio Molo in June 2014. The entire double album was recorded and mixed in one pass, the project completed in just three days, in the tradition of many improvisational ECM recordings. The idea for the recording was triggered by a September 2013 Deutschlandfunk radio program which included a brief excerpt from a performance at Norway’s Punkt Festival in Kristiansand, featuring pianist Tigran Hamasyan in duo with live sampling musician Jan Bang. Eicher felt there was potential to be explored here and, after talks with the players, it was decided to bring trumpeter Arve Henriksen and guitarist Eivind Aarset into the project. The Norwegian participants had previously played in diverse configurations on ECM, of course: Jan Bang on Eivind Aarset’s Dream Logic, for instance, and Bang and Aarset on Arve Henriksen’s Cartography, but with the involvement of Tigran Hamasyan, other inspirational sources were activated. Hamasyan, in this period, was concurrently preparing material for his album of new choral arrangements of Armenian sacred music, Luys i Luso, which was recorded three months after Atmosphères. Armenian themes from Komitas Vardapet (1869-1935) are incorporated into this quartet album, too, as islands in the flow: the waves of the music slowly swell and subside around them. An experimental album of ambient allure, it can be approached at a number of levels. The listener is invited, by turns, to drift with the music, explore its sonic detail, and follow the improvisations as structural forms are revealed or new shapes created. The band members have different responsibilities in the music. If its melodic orientation comes often from Tigran Hamasyan’s world (“Tsirani tsar”, “Garun a”, “Hoy Nazan”), Arve Henriksen picks up on the implications of the Armenian material with remarkable verve. With his uncanny ability to approximate the sound of the duduk on the trumpet, he gets inside the songs in his own way, and leads them somewhere else. “Atmosphères” could be said to be Eivind Aarset’s particular specialization: he’s a creator of soundscapes which unfold with their own dream logic. A subtle player, too, who can almost unobtrusively establish a musical environment with sustained single notes or drones. This is happening from the first moments of “Traces I” on the present recording. Jan Bang’s real-time sound processing (effectively a mix within the mix, as one of the music’s textural components) and his scatterings of live samples serve to thicken the plot. Because Bang is often reflecting the sounds of his co-musicians back into the ensemble for further development, his contributions are not always immediately identifiable to the listener, but they are integral to the album’s enveloping sense of mystery, its persuasive atmospheres. Returning the music to one of its points of genesis, the quartet plays a special album release concert at Norway’s Punkt Festival on September 3. The group continues with concerts at Oslo’s Victoria Nasjonal Jazz Scene (September 8), Paris’s Cité de la Musique (September 9), Schloß Elmau in the Bavarian Alps (September 10), and Munich’s Prinzregententheater (November 29). * Further listening: In addition to recordings mentioned above, Arve Henriksen can also be heard this season on Sinikka Langeland’s new album, The Magical Forest, and recent ECM releases with Eivind Aarset include River Silver by Michel Benita’s group Ethics, and Surrounded By Sea by the Andy Sheppard Quartet. Other albums with compositions of Komitas include Kim Kashkashian’s Hayren: Music of Komitas and Tigran Mansurian, and Komitas by the Gurdjieff Ensemble. Sacred music of Komitas is also incorporated in Tigran Hamasyan’s Luys i Luso. ECM Iro Haarla Ante Lucem for Jazz Quintet and Symphony Orchestra Iro Haarla: piano, harp Hayden Powell: trumpet Trygve Seim: soprano and tenor saxophones Ulf Krokfors: double bass Mika Kallio: drums & percussion Norrlands Operans Symfoniorkester Jukka Iisakkila, conductor U.S. Release date: August 26, 2016 ECM 2457 UPC: 6025 473 2371 2 “Few jazz artists are as successful as Haarla in creating a world, a scope of feeling, and making it their own.” JazzTimes Ante Lucem, a powerful work for jazz quintet and symphony orchestra by Finnish pianist/harpist/composer Iro Haarla, was commissioned by the Norrlands Opera Symphony Orchestra and its leader Marco Feklistoff and premiered at the Umeå Jazz Festival in October 2012. It was recorded at the Concert Hall of NorrlandsOperan in Umeå, and the album is drawn both from the premiere concert and from sessions on the following days. Ante Lucem was subsequently mixed in Stockholm by Torbjörn Samuelsson, Manfred Eicher and Iro Haarla. In a review of the Umeå Festival for All about Jazz, John Kelman pointed out that “what distinguished [Ante Lucem] from other symphonic collaborations was its remarkable integration. This was not a case of alternating passages for orchestra and quintet, though there were plenty of feature spots for Haarla’s group (…) Instead this suite, intended to reflect on that quiet time of day between moonset and sunrise, traversed a great range of imagery and emotion…Haarla’s writing moved from maelstrom-like turbulence to deeper melancholy and, ultimately, that gentle silence-approaching beauty which evokes so much promise at the start of each and every day. Whether it was more dramatic turns with the full orchestra or breakdowns into smaller subsets, it was an evocative and provocative performance.” Ante Lucem is comprised, Iro Haarla explains in her liner notes, of “four separate yet closely linked pieces”: “Songbird Chapel”, “Persevering with Winter”, “…and the Darkness has not overcome it…”, and “Ante Lucem – Before Dawn”. Each of these compositions, in different ways, reflects upon the “struggle between darkness and light” and “our earthy pilgrimage through sufferings, and overcoming difficulties.” The opening “Songbird Chapel”, with stark harp and a mournful melody for saxophone and trumpet soon taken up by the strings, is dedicated to the memory of Haarla’s mother. Much of the inspiration for Haarla’s music comes from nature, its relentlessness as well as its beauty. The title “Persevering With Winter” means what it says: “It’s an allegory for winter in the north…the long period of darkness, and clear frosty days…the northern winds which sweep mercilessly over the horizon.” In the closing title track “Ante Lucem - Before Dawn”, the scene shifts to the Garden of Gethsemane… Born in Tampere, Finland, in 1956, Iro Haarla studied piano and composition at Helsinki’s Sibelius Academy, then put her own creative ambitions on hold as she devoted herself to the music of Edward Vesala (1945-1999). Haarla was orchestrator and arranger of much of the music played by Vesala’s Sound & Fury band, as heard for instance on the ECM albums Lumi, Ode To The Death of Jazz, Invisible Storm and Nordic Gallery. In going on to present her own music to the world, she has had the continued support of musicians previously associated with Vesala. Foremost amongst these is Ulf Krokfors, the former Sound & Fury bassist. Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim played with Vesala in the mid-1990s, and credits the drummer/composer as a formative influence. Ulf Krokfors and Trygve Seim appeared as members of Haarla’s quintet on two previous releases, Northbound (recorded 2004), and Vespers (2010). Bassist Krokfors previously recorded for ECM with Vesala on Ode To The Death of Jazz and on two albums with Raoul Bjkörkenheim’s band Krakatau (Volition, Matinale). Saxophonist Seim has played on many ECM discs including, this season, his own Rumi Songs, as well as The Magical Forest with Sinikka Langeland and Rubicon with Mats Eilertsen. On Ante Lucem the Haarla group is completed by Hayden Powell, the British-born and Norwegian-raised trumpeter, whose work with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and as leader of his own trio has received critical praise. Finnish drummer Mika Kallio played with Ulf Krokfors in pianist Samuli Mikkonen’s trio in the late 1990s. Kallio has worked with virtually all of Finland’s leading jazz musicians and with international improvisers including Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith and John Zorn. The Norrlands Operans Symfoniorkester grew out of what was originally a military brass band, formed in 1841. The string section was added in 1974. The Orchestra took on its current form and formal status in 1991 and has undergone significant development over the past 35 years. Conductor Jukka Iisakkila studied with Jorma Panula, Martyn Brabbins and Esa-Pekka Salonen. He has won many awards and given numerous first performances of works by contemporary composers. ECM Trygve Seim Rumi Songs Tora Augestad: vocal Trygve Seim: tenor and soprano saxophones Frode Haltli: accordion Svante Henryson: violoncello U.S. Release date: September 9, 2016 ECM 2449 B0025523-02 UPC: 6025 473 2253 1 Norwegian saxophonist Trygve Seim introduces his new quartet and a wide-ranging program of compositions which draw inspiration from the poetry of Jelaluddin Rumi. With pieces variously influenced by the classical Lieder tradition, by contemporary chamber music, Arab music, Indian music and more, these Rumi Songs resist concise definition. Some of the songs are tightly written, while others incorporate intense and inventive improvisation from bandleader Seim, accordionist Frode Haltli and cellist Svante Henryson. Mezzo-soprano Tora Augestad rises splendidly to the challenge of singing Seim’s settings of Rumi, which are based upon English translations of the poems by Coleman Barks and Kabir Helminski. “The adventure,” says Trygve, “has been to drive this song cycle in different directions by seeking many of the layers and colors in the poems and using them musically.” With the encouragement of the late soprano singer Anne-Lise Berntsen, Trygve Seim composed his first Rumi Songs in 2003, and he has been developing the project since then, along the way exploring different instrumentation (from voice, church organ and piano to the massed ranks of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra) before settling on the present line-up. In 2013 the full cycle of Rumi Songs was premiered in Østfjold, Norway, and further fine-tuned on tour before the present recording, which was produced by Manfred Eicher at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in February 2015. The project’s genesis is described in detail in the album’s liner notes. Trygve Seim made an immediate impact with his ECM leader debut Different Rivers which won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik as Album of the Year in 2001. Since then he has been heard on more than 20 ECM albums including Sangam with his large ensemble, on recordings with the collective The Source, in duos with Frode Halti and with Andreas Utnem, with Jacob Young’s group, and more. This summer he is omnipresent, appearing also with Mats Eilertsen’s septet on Rubicon, with Iro Haarla and symphony orchestra on Ante Lucem, and with Sinikka Langeland and the Trio Mediaeval on The Magical Forest, as well as his own Rumi Songs. A masterful jazz improviser, Trygve Seim expanded his palette with studies of Arab music in Cairo, and between 2005 and 2010 collaborated often with Egyptian musician Fathy Salama. For Seim’s complete discography, visit his web site: www.trygveseim.com Tora Augestad makes her first ECM appearance with Rumi Songs. In demand as both singer and actor, her early performing life found her specializing in Hanns Eisler, Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. She has worked often with Swiss theater director Christoph Marthaler and given first performances of works including Beat Furrer’s opera Wüstenbuch. Cage, Schoenberg, Cathy Berberian and Berio all feature in her recital repertoire, and she leads her own band Music For A While, which spans jazz and early music. Frode Haltli is one of the most creative contemporary accordionists, working in the fields of new music, improvisation, and traditional folk. His recordings on ECM include Looking on Darkness with music of Bent Sørensen, Asbjørn Schaathun, Magnus Lindberg, PerMagnus Lindborg, and Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje, and Passing Images featuring Garth Knox, Maja Ratkje and Arve Henriksen, as well as Yeraz, a duo recording with Trygve Seim. ECM New Series will shortly issue the album Air with music written for Haltli by Bent Sørensen and Hans Abrahamsen and featuring the accordionist playing solo and with the Arditti Quartet and the Trondheim Soloists. Cellist Svante Henryson, who has previously appeared on ECM recordings in duo with Ketil Bjørnstad (Night Song) and as a member of Jon Balke’s Magnetic North Orchestra (Kyanos, Magnetic Works), began his musical career as principal bassist with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra. As bass guitarist he worked with Yngwie Malmsteen’s group, and as cellist has been a chamber music partner to Anne Sofie von Otter. A veteran of numerous sessions across the idioms, he is also a composer of orchestral, choral and chamber music. Jelaluddin Rumi, born in 1207 in Balkh, now part of Afghanistan, grew up in Waksh in Tajikistan, before moving with his family to the Anatolian city of Konya, where he spent most of his life as religious teacher and vastly prolific poet. Tolerance and open-mindedness are key themes in his verse, and legend has it that his funeral in 1273 was attended by mourners of every faith. Trygve Seim describes his work as “very human poetry, beyond religion, countries, race.” Trygve Seim launches Rumi Songs with a special concert at the Oslo Jazz Festival on August 20th. Carla Bley piano; Andy Sheppard tenor & soprano saxophones; Steve Swallow bass "Andando el Tiempo features a handful of inventions for her longtime trio with Mr. Swallow and the saxophonist Andy Sheppard. Chamber-like and willowy, suffused with melancholy, it reflects her sly noncompliance with jazz and classical conventions.” –Nate Chinen, New York Times Jack DeJohnette: drums, piano, electronic percussion; Ravi Coltrane tenor, soprano and sopranino saxophones; Matthew Garrison electric bass, electronics “Jack DeJohnette's trio reconfigures recent jazz history into a rich, forward-looking spiritual aesthetic.” –Mike Hobart, Financial Times Avishai Cohen trumpet; Yonathan Avishai piano; Eric Revis double bass; Nasheet Waits drums; Bill McHenry tenor saxophone. "Besides being Cohen's finest composing and playing to date, Into the Silence is an extraordinary project on every level. There is a transcendence in this music that is both uplifting and heartbreaking [...] A masterpiece." –Karl Ackermann, allaboutjazz Tord Gustavsen piano, electronics; Simin Tander voice; Jarle Vespestad drums "Tord Gustavsen’s piano quietly rumbles, chimes modally, then slides chromatically sideways into unexpected cadences of different flavors: gospel, blues, hymns, Herbie Hancock, Brahms." –Richard Lehnert, Stereophile Nik Bärtsch piano; Sha bass clarinet & contrabass clarinet; Kaspar Rast drums, percussion; Nicolas Stocker drums, tuned percussion; Etienne Abelin violin; Ola Sendecki violin; David Schnee viola; Solme Hong cello; Ambrosius Huber cello "Continuum, is a hushed jewel of Bärtsch’s self-described “ritual groove music,” . . . spiraling rhythmic patterns with sexy and subtle built-in tension-and-release moves." –Richard Gehr, Relix ©2016 ECM | 1755 Broadway, Floor 3, New York, NY 10019 ©2016 ECM | 1755 Broadway, Floor 3, New York, NY 10019 Releasing August 5th Sinikka Langeland kantele, vocals; Trygve Seim soprano & tenor saxophones; Arve Henriksen trumpet; Anders Jormin double bass; Markku Ounaskari drums, percussion; Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim; Linn Andrea Fuglseth) vocals The colors of The Magical Forest glow in this remarkable recording which brings together Sinikka Langeland’s Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish Starflowers quintet with the singers of the Trio Mediӕval. It’s an inspired concept: the Trio Mediӕval, with their affinity for folk music and their unique vocal blend, adapt themselves ideally to Sinikka’s sound-world, which is at once archaic, timeless and contemporary. The quintet members, all bandleaders in their own right, are amongst the most characterful players in Scandinavia today, and Sinikka sets them free to improvise around her cycle of songs, built upon myths and legends of the world tree. Trygve Seim tenor & soprano saxophones; Eirik Hegdal soprano, baritone sax, clarinet & bass clarinet; Thomas Dahl guitar; Rob Waring marimba & vibraphone; Harmen Fraanje piano, Fender Rhodes; Mats Eilertsen double bass; Olavi Louhivuori drums Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen has been a strong and supportive presence on a dozen ECM sessions to date. With Rubicon he steps forward to present his own music, with an international cast. The album features compositions originally written in response to a commission from the Vossajazz Festival. All About Jazz reviewed the premiere performance: “Rubicon proved to be a very dynamic work. Eilertsen ensured that each of the instrumentalists took their share of the spotlight, brought together combinations of players that emphasized tonal variation, and created ensemble sections bursting with life.” After fine-tuning the material on tour, Mats brought his septet to Oslo’s Rainbow Studio, where Manfred Eicher produced this definitive version of Rubicon in May 2015. ©2016 ECM | 1755 Broadway, Floor 3, New York, NY 10019 John Taylor piano; Palle Danielsson double bass; Peter Erskine drums The newest addition to ECM’s popular Old and New Masters Series is a box set reprising the four albums made by Peter Erskine’s American-British-Swedish trio with John Taylor and Palle Danielsson between 1992 and 1997: You Never Know, As It Is, Time Being and Juni. If its core concept – a piano trio led by a drummer – was unorthodox, the group was nonetheless influential, and the recordings provide an excellent environment for appreciating the distinctive writing and playing of John Taylor. The British pianist was the Erskine Trio’s primary composer, with the drummer-leader and bassist Danielsson also contributing pieces and the repertoire topped up with tunes by Vince Mendoza and Kenny Wheeler. Of his trio mates Erskine says, "We drew out our most explorative and interesting playing from each other. Without trying to be, we were a truly unique group. I’ve heard nothing like it before or since.” Jack DeJohnette drums, piano, organ; John Abercrombie electric guitar DeJohnette has recorded prolifically for ECM since 1971 and this unique solo album stands as a classic among early ECM recordings. DeJohnette paints evocative aural soundscapes with ally Abercrombie complementing him on a few tracks. Nana Vasconcelos Berimbau, Percussion, Voice, Gongs Egberto Gismonti Super 8-String Guitar Members of the RSO Stuttgart; Mladen Gutesha conductor Nana translated “Saudades“ as “big nostalgia“ and his first leader record for ECM was intended to convey his feelings for his native country, Brazil. The music for strings on Saudades was written by Egberto Gismonti who also plays in a beautiful duet with Nana called “Cego Aderaldo”. Paul Bley piano; John Surman soprano & baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Bill Frisell guitar; Paul Motian drums Recorded 1986. A classic ECM production project, and a gamble that works beautifully. Bley and Motian hadn’t played together for more than 20 years, and Frisell and Bley met for the first time in the studio. Compositions by Carla Bley and Annette Peacock are placed alongside new pieces by each of the participants. John Surman baritone & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet; Paul Bley piano; Gary Peacock double bass; Tony Oxley drums Recorded 1991. Keen to further the adventurous spirit of the collaborations with Bley, British reedman John Surman proposed a quartet again juxtaposing old associations and new encounters. Repertoire is mostly from Surman’s pen, but also includes Bley’s old tune “Figfoot”, another reworking of Carla Bley’s “Seven”, and Gary Peacock’s “Only Yesterday”. Paul Bley piano; John Surman baritone saxophone, bass clarinet; Gary Peacock double bass; Tony Oxley drums Recorded 1991. More material from the richly creative Adventure Playground session, this time emphasizing solos and duos but with all four participants coming together on “Interface”. Paul Bley piano; Evan Parker tenor & soprano saxophones; Barre Phillips double bass Recorded 1994. Paul Bley and saxophonist Evan Parker play together for the first time in this highly attractive, totally improvised session with Barre Phillips on bass as mediator between their respective sound worlds. “Superb” – The Penguin Guide To Jazz On CD. ©2016 ECM | 1755 Broadway, Floor 3, New York, NY 10019 ECM Mats Eilertsen Rubicon Trygve Seim: tenor and soprano saxophones Eirik Hegdal: soprano and baritone saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet Thomas Dahl: guitar Rob Waring: marimba and vibraphone Harmen Fraanje: piano, Fender Rhodes Mats Eilertsen: double bass Olavi Louhivuori: drums U.S. Release date; August 5, 2016 ECM 2469 B0025280-02 UPC: 6025 477 4315 2 “Rubicon proved to be a very dynamic work. Eilertsen ensured that each of the instrumentalists took their share of the spotlight, brought together combinations of players that emphasized tonal variation, and created ensemble sections bursting with life.” - All About Jazz, reviewing the live premiere of Rubicon To ‘cross the Rubicon’ is to pass the point of no return. Norwegian bassist Mats Eilertsen has been a strong and supportive presence on a dozen ECM sessions to date, in contexts ranging from the Tord Gustavsen Ensemble to the bands of Nils Økland, Mathias Eick and Jacob Young. By temperament a team player, with Rubicon he steps boldly forward to present his own music, with an international ensemble. The album features a cycle of pieces originally written in response to a commission from the VossaJazz Festival, and premiered there in 2014. After fine-tuning the material on tour, Mats brought his septet to Oslo’s Rainbow Studio, where Manfred Eicher produced Rubicon in May 2015. “An album is a different context from live performance, Mats says, “and in the studio I recognized a need for more focus. We recorded a lot of material and then, with the help of Manfred, selected the music that worked best.” The Rubicon band rounds up Eilertsen associates from diverse projects. Mats has played extensively with Norwegian guitarist Thomas T. Dahl and Finnish drummer Olavi Louhivuori in the Skydive Trio. Saxophonist Eirik Hegdal is an associate from days at the Trondheim Conservatory where the band Dingobats was founded. Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje and Mats first collaborated when Eilertsen was living in the Netherlands; in recent years they’ve played together in a trio completed by Thomas Strønen. Vibraphonist Rob Waring, originally from New York, and a resident of Oslo since the early 1980s, has worked with Mats Eilertsen in singer Elin Rosseland’s trio. And Mats and Trygve Seim also have plenty of shared experience, including work in The Source with Øyvind Brække and Per Oddvar Johansen (documented on the band’s eponymously-titled 2005 ECM recording). Seim was drafted into the Rubicon band as a last minute substitute for Tore Brunborg at the Voss festival, but his individual voice as a player was rapidly integrated into Eilertsen’s musical conception. Indeed, part of the success of the project is the way in which Mats’s writing reveals its own identity while framing and guiding the soloists and finding fresh colors in the juxtaposing or blending of their sounds. “I liked the idea of having both piano and guitar,” says Eilertsen, “and Harmen Fraanje and Thomas Dahl work together really well, in a way that many other guitarists and pianists couldn’t. And then I wanted to add Rob Waring’s vibraphone as another color, because I really like that ringing, overwhelming, mallet percussion sound.” A sense of space remains in the music. “That was the challenge for me as a composer and leader, to retain a clear signature in the material while leaving enough room in the pieces for the individual improvisers to feel that they can contribute to the music. I tried to give the players the kind of freedom that I like to have when I join somebody’s musical project. I wanted to create a musical environment in which the players would feel inspired. In concert, there were extended solo sections from the musicians that hooked up at different places.” Of these, Harmen Fraanje’s piano feature “Crossing The Creek” has been retained. Added to the program is the improvisation “Wood And Water”, which features Mats’s bass, Rob Waring on marimba, and Eirik Hegdal on clarinet, in an intermingling of woody tonalities. Elsewhere, Hegdal’s reeds are contrasted effectively with Trygve Seim’s. “Eirik is such a resource to have in a band,” Eilertsen enthuses. “He plays a whole range of instruments, has really good ideas for orchestration and instrumentation, and knows how to blend into any formation in a humble way...” In general in Rubicon, the art is in the blending, and in the changing instrumental colors. It is not demonstrably a ‘bass player’s album’, though there is plenty of soulful and lyrical bass to be heard already from the opening “Canto” onwards, but Eilertsen has always been a very musical player committed to the context at hand. Reflecting on his musical journey so far, Mats Eilertsen notes that his artistic development “hasn’t been a straight line. There have been lots of detours and expeditions in the dark, finding musical ideas that I’ve wanted to carry along with me. It feels to me that there is so much music still to be played. In the last few years, much of the music I’ve played has been very melodic, low-keyed music. There was no plan, that’s just the way it happened. Looking back at the beginnings, it wasn’t like that at all.” (Mats’s early years included textural and electronic experiments with the first edition of Food, improvised chamber jazz with the group Parish, and fiery performances with Sonny Simmons.) “But I don’t feel like I’ve abandoned any musical areas, and I still like to do many different things…” The idea of exploring other sound combinations has been furthered in recent performances in which MatS’s trio, with Harmen Fraanje and Thomas Strønen, has been joined by the singers of the Trio Mediaeval. ECM Sinikka Langeland The Magical Forest Sinikka Langeland: kantele, vocals Trygve Seim: soprano and tenor saxophones Arve Henriksen: trumpet Anders Jormin: double bass Markku Ounaskari: drums, percussion Trio Mediaeval: Anna Maria Friman, Berit Opheim; Linn Andrea Fuglseth: vocals U.S. Release date : August 5, 2016 ECM 2448 B0025284-02 UPC: 6025 477 6831 5 The Magical Forest brings together Sinikka Langeland’s Norwegian-Finnish-Swedish Starflowers quintet with the singers of the Trio Mediӕval. It’s an inspired concept: the Trio Mediӕval, with their affinity for folk music and their unique vocal blend, adapt themselves ideally to Sinikka’s sound-world, which is at once archaic, timeless and contemporary. Quintet members Trygve Seim, Arve Henriksen, Anders Jormin and Markku Ouanskari are amongst the most strikingly original players in Scandinavia today. All bandleaders in their own right, they have been putting their concerted musical energies at the service of Langeland’s concepts for a decade and more: the quintet appeared both on Starflowers (recorded 2006) and The Land that Is Not (2010), and Seim and Ounaskari, furthermore, played on The half-finished heaven (recorded 2013, released 2015). The earlier releases with the quintet were also explorations of sung poetry, setting texts from Hans Børli, Edith Södergran and Olav Håkonson Hauge. This time, the kantele player and verse-maker/composer from eastern Norway’s “forest of the Finns”, looks at much older texts in a fresh cycle of songs built upon myths and legends... “It is inspiring, says Sinikka, “to find traces and fragments of ideas about the world tree, axis mundi, in Finnskogen. I have transformed these and some parallel stories into songs that are encircled by instrumental passages and improvisations by the musicians.” She quotes the late historian-philosopher Mircea Eliade: "Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a center, a place that is sacred above all." The songs here, beginning with Sinikka’s setting of a traditional rune song text, “Puun Loitsu (Prayer to the Tree Goddess)”, celebrate the spirit of place. Langeland has been based in Finnskogen since 1992, and the sounds of the forest and the deep history of the region are integral to her work. In her notes to The Magical Forest, she writes that “Finnskogen can be regarded as the western part of a cultural belt that runs eastward through Finland, Russia and Siberia all the way to Japan.” Common to this shamanistic pathway are songs and hunting rituals, such as the one Langeland illuminates on “Kamui”. Sinikka Langeland was born in Kirkenær in southeastern Norway in 1961, and studied piano, guitar and contemporary folk song. In 1981 she began to play the kantele, the Finnish table-harp which would become her primary musical interest, along with singing. In the 1980s she also devoted time to theater work and to studies at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris and at the University of Oslo, where she earned a degree in musicology in 1992. She then became absorbed in a massive research project, foraging for old songs and music from Finnskogen. In performance, her exploration of older forms has always been an open-minded one. Improvisers including Anders Jormin began appearing on her recordings from the mid-1990s, with Arve Henriksen first joining Sinikka on disc for the 2002 collection of rune songs, Runoja. With the recording of Starflowers, the combining of archaic and free elements resounded most positively. Since then, the ensemble has gained in strength. The idiosyncratic talents gathered in this band are also players who delight in shaping a group sound: nobody is clamoring for solo space, and new colors emerge in exchanges among the musicians and in free ensemble playing. As Langeland’s own instrumental confidence has grown, the kantele has come to have an increasingly important role also in the improvisations. Interaction in this band is further strengthened by a network of musical associations and alliances. Saxophonist Trygve Seim and trumpeter Arve Henriksen have collaborated in many contexts, and Arve has played as a member of Seim’s ensembles (refer to the albums Different Rivers and Sangam). Henriksen also works closely with Trio Mediaeval (an ECM album of this configuration is in preparation), while Trygve Seim and Markku Ounaskari now play together in the drummer’s Kuára trio. The Trio Mediӕval was founded in 1997 as a vocal group specializing in early music, open to collaboration with contemporary composers, and with a strong interest also in folk ballads. In recent years, Trio Mediӕval has also worked increasingly in projects with jazz improvisers. The Magical Forest was recorded at Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in February 2015, and produced by Manfred Eicher. The full album line-up with Sinikka Langeland’s Starflowers group plus Trio Mediӕval will be appearing at Oslo’s Cosmopolite on October 28 and at Røgden Bruk Finnskogen on October 29. For further information, visit Sinikka’s web site: www.sinikka.no IN CONCERT July 28 - Lenox, MA (Tanglewood Music Festival - Seiji Ozawa Hall) July 29 - Katonah, NY (Caramoor Center - Spanish Courtyard) July 31 - Woodstock, NY (Maverick Concert Hall) Aug 1 - Ottawa, Canada (Dominion - Chalmers United Church) Aug 5, 6, 7 & 10 - La Jolla, CA (MCASD - Sherwood Auditorium) The Danish String Quartet, one of the most widely-acclaimed chamber groups of the present moment, makes its ECM debut playing a program of British and Danish music: Thomas Adès’s Arcadiana (composed 1994), Per Nørgård’s Quartetto Breve (1952), and Hans Abrahamsen’s 10 Preludes (1973). The pieces were all written when the respective composers were each barely into their 20s, and have a freshness and intensity vividly conveyed in the DSQ’s interpretations. “. . .the Danish are remarkable, as ever – capable of intense blend, extreme dynamic variation (in which they seem glued together), perfect intonation even on harmonics, and constant vitality and flow.” – Andrew Mellor, Gramophone “Among all the dauntingly good young string quartets currently doing the rounds, the Danish String Quartet stand out: not because they’re shinier or plusher or pushier than the rest, but because of their nimble charisma, stylish repertoire and the way their light and grainy shading can turn on a dime. It’s an exacting program requiring grace, grit and clarity and the Danish players sound terrific – lithe and glassy in the Abrahamsen, richer in the Nørgard, able to capture the picturesque watery shimmer of the Adès but also the slime and murk below the surface. It’s a sophisticated performance.” – Kate Molleson, The Guardian ©2016 ECM | 1755 Broadway, Floor 3, New York, NY 10019

Laurie posted on Facebook today that the release date for Art & Warne will be November 11.

Happy Birthday 2016 Laurie!

Laurie has released today another sample, this one of two minutes, from the Art & Warne album. http://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/2-minute-sample-art-warne

We have two weeks to catch up with, so let's get started with Week 7. Winnipeg 37....Hamilton 11 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2300/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2300/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2300/hamilton-tiger-cats-vs-winnipeg-blue-bombers/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/04/ticats-shocked-weather-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/04/nichols-bombers-back-track-_-thoughts/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/04/bad-worse-hamiltons-humbling-loss-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/05/despite-loss-ticats-weathered-early-season-storm/#comments ***** BC 38....Montreal 18 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2301/bc-lions-vs-montreal-alouettes/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2301/bc-lions-vs-montreal-alouettes/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2301/bc-lions-vs-montreal-alouettes/#preview ***** Calgary 35....Sask 15 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2302/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-calgary-stampeders/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2302/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-calgary-stampeders/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2302/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-calgary-stampeders/#preview ***** Ottawa 23....Edmonton 20 http://www.cfl.ca/games/2303/edmonton-eskimos-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#boxscore http://www.cfl.ca/games/2303/edmonton-eskimos-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2303/edmonton-eskimos-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/07/redblacks-edge-eskimos/#comments Henry is candid during the halftime interview. http://3downnation.com/2016/08/06/henry-burris-tells-haters-shove-fiery-halftime-rant/#comments ***** Week 7 Plays of the Week http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/08/kegsize-plays-of-the-week-wk-7/

No, not the guitarist. Rather the host of The McLaughlin Group, who has passed away at 89. Did anyone ever read Don Novello's book The Lazlo Letters? I always thought of that whenever I watched the TV show! http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/08/16/mclaughlin-group-host-john-mclaughlin-dead-at-89.html

I've never before seen a Beatles CD priced this low. Abbey Road - $5.17 prime https://www.amazon.com/Beatles-Figure-Amazon-Exclusive-Bundle/dp/B017IF3SZI

Happy Birthday 2016 kinuta! May I assume you celebrated by watching a good movie?

Happy Birthday Mark!

I finally got around to opening this up last week, and I love it. This will definitely be on my year's Top 10 list. Most of these are vocals. This is the sort of record that could make jazz popular.

Today, in anticipation of the upcoming Art & Warne release, Laurie has put out for download Rhythm-A-Ning. http://artpepper.bandcamp.com/track/rhythm-a-ning-tiny-sample

Happy Birthday Lon!

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/08/06/clarinetist-pete-fountain-dies.html RIP, Pete! In 1964 he autographed my copy of his album New Orleans at Midnight. I also got to see his Half Fast Walking Club down Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras once.

Well, since no one has guessed, I will tell you the answer. The shortest #1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart was Stay by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, which clocked in at 1:37.

Happy Birthday Shawn!

On this date in 1958, Billboard published its first Top 100 list. Coming in at number one was Poor Little Fool by Ricky Nelson. http://www.businessinsider.com/billboard-hot-100-began-58-years-ago-here-are-the-top-hits-from-1958-2016-8 I thought of this thread a couple of days ago when I read in the paper the identity of the shortest song ever to reach #1 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. Anybody want to guess before I tell the answer?

More Week 7 picks... 3Down http://3downnation.com/2016/08/03/week-7-picks-ticats-heave-favourites-bombers/#comments Mark Fulton http://3downnation.com/2016/08/03/week-7-statistical-powerranking-game-predictor-stamps-still-best/#comments Justin Dunk http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl/week-7-cfl-picks-can-durant-fuel-roughriders-bounceback/ Rod Pedersen http://www.rodpedersen.com/2016/08/ckrms-week-7-cfl-picks-2016.html Dieter Brock & Robert Drummond http://thegruelingtruth.net/football/cfl/cfl-weekly-pickem-show-week-7-wdieter-brock-robert-drummond/ ***** 8/3 checking down http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/03/checking-down-the-latest-on-durant-collaros-and-more/ ***** Week 7 game notes http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/02/cfl-ca-game-notes-a-look-at-week-7/ ***** Danny Nykoluk died Friday at 82. I had his bubble gum card in 1964. http://www.tsn.ca/former-argos-lineman-nykoluk-passes-away-1.536919

Week 6 review... Winnipeg 30....Edmonton 23 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/game/winnipeg-blue-bombers-edmonton-eskimos-20160728/Stats http://www.cfl.ca/games/2296/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-edmonton-eskimos/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2296/winnipeg-blue-bombers-vs-edmonton-eskimos/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/07/29/n-other-thoughts/#comments Matt Nichols had a great game, and I expect that he will be the Bombers' starter for a while. Drew Willy had good stats, but couldn't find the end zone. ***** Montreal 41...Sask 3 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/game/saskatchewan-roughriders-montreal-alouettes-20160729/Stats http://www.cfl.ca/games/2297/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-montreal-alouettes/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2297/saskatchewan-roughriders-vs-montreal-alouettes/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/07/30/riders-take-big-step-backward-loss-alouettes/#comments ***** Calgary 44....BC 41 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/game/bc-lions-calgary-stampeders-20160729/Stats http://www.cfl.ca/games/2298/bc-lions-vs-calgary-stampeders/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2298/bc-lions-vs-calgary-stampeders/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/stampeders-take-step-forward-winning-heavyweight-west-division-battle/#comments The Lions led 34-19 after three ***** Toronto 23....Ottawa 20 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/game/toronto-argonauts-ottawa-redblacks-20160731/Stats http://www.cfl.ca/games/2299/toronto-argonauts-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2299/toronto-argonauts-vs-ottawa-redblacks/#preview http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/kilgore-leads-argos-first-place-east/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/15-thoughts-redblack-loss-argos/#comments ***** The league has announced that Ottawa will host the Grey Cup game next year. http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/official-2017-grey-cup-held-ottawa/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/31/ottawa-host-105th-grey-cup-2017/ http://www.tsn.ca/ottawa-to-host-2017-grey-cup-coinciding-with-canada-s-150th-anniversary-1.536116 ***** The Als asked Brandon Bridge to take a pay cut. He said "no," so they cut him. http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/alouettes-ask-bridge-take-pay-cut-release-declines/#comments http://www.tsn.ca/canadian-qb-bridge-released-by-alouettes-1.536383 http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/01/report-alouettes-release-national-qb-brandon-bridge/ ***** The Bombers have brought back Clarence Denmark. http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/31/bombers-add-familiar-face-in-denmark/ ***** 8/1 - 9 thoughts on 9 teams http://3downnation.com/2016/08/01/nine-thoughts-nine-teams-2-3/#comments ***** Scott Cullen 8/2 power rankings http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-still-lead-cfl-power-rankings-1.536820 ***** Malcolm Kelly 8/2 power rankings http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-1.3704196 ***** cfl.ca 8/2 power rankings http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/02/stampede-city-new-no-1-nissan-titan-power-rankings/ ***** Jamie Nye Week 7 picks http://www.cfl.ca/2016/08/02/weekly-predictor-will-eskimos-roughriders-turn-things-around/ ***** Dan Ralph Week 7 picks http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/football/cfl/injuries-to-receiving-corps-present-nichols-bombers-with-challenges-388976001.html

The Doors - A Collection (6 CDs) - $17.34 + $3.99 https://www.amazon.com/Collection-Doors/dp/B0052FG750/

Wasn't some Sonny and Cher on Atco? Like maybe the one where she is listed as "Cleo?"

Monday night... Toronto 30....Montreal 17 http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/game/montreal-alouettes-toronto-argonauts-20160725/Stats http://www.cfl.ca/games/2295/montreal-alouettes-vs-toronto-argonauts/#playbyplay http://www.cfl.ca/games/2295/montreal-alouettes-vs-toronto-argonauts/#preview I think that this was the first time this year that an Eastern team won at home! Ricky Ray hurt his knee, and will miss 3-6 weeks. http://www.tsn.ca/argos-ray-out-3-6-weeks-with-sprained-mcl-1.532784 http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/25/ray-leaves-argos-win-against-als-with-leg-injury/ http://3downnation.com/2016/07/26/ricky-rays-knee-went-sideways-now-see-argos-season-will/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/07/27/patience-pays-off-argos-qb-logan-kilgore-gets-shot/#comments ***** As I expected, Matt Nichols will start for the Bombers tonight (on ESPN2). http://3downnation.com/2016/07/25/nichols-start-qb-bombers/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/07/26/lack-scoring-proves-willys-downfall/#comments http://www.tsn.ca/old-eskimos-friends-ready-for-bombers-nichols-1.533793 http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/24/bombers-tab-nichols-to-start-in-week-6/ ***** power rankings Malcolm Kelly 7/26 http://www.cbc.ca/sports/football/cfl/cfl-power-rankings-week-5-1.3696506 cfl.ca 7/26 http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/26/roughriders-climb-nissan-titan-power-rankings/ Scott Cullen 7/26 http://www.tsn.ca/stampeders-return-to-no-1-in-cfl-power-rankings-1.533120 Mark Fulton 7/27 http://3downnation.com/2016/07/27/quick-six-stamps-ride-top-week-6-statistical-powerrankings-game-predictor/#comments ***** Justin Dunk 7/26 9 thoughts on 9 teams http://3downnation.com/2016/07/26/nine-thoughts-nine-teams-2-2/#comments ***** Tony Golab and the 1939 Rough Riders http://3downnation.com/2016/07/27/ottawas-tank-corps-the-story-of-the-1939-rough-riders/#comments ***** More on the Ticats' epic comeback http://3downnation.com/2016/07/24/good-bad-hamiltons-history-making-come-behind-win-eskimos/#comments http://3downnation.com/2016/07/24/ticats-struggle-explain-epic-comeback/#comments ***** More on Ottawa's situation. Trevor Harris is now hurt, but Henry is coming off the injured list. http://3downnation.com/2016/07/23/redblacks-fail-overcome-injuries-missed-calls/#comments http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/27/report-burris-to-start-for-redblacks-in-week-6/ ***** Week 6 checking down http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/27/checking-long-awaited-debut-holes-fill-week-6/ ***** Week 6 game notes http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/27/cfl-ca-game-notes-a-look-at-week-6/ ***** Week 6 picks 3Down http://3downnation.com/2016/07/28/week-six-cfl-picks-can-riders-go-streaking/#comments Dan Ralph https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/veteran-quarterback-burris-returns-under-225636589.html Jamie Nye http://www.cfl.ca/2016/07/27/weekly-predictor-can-nichols-help-turn-things-around-winnipeg/

Thanks!