Lazaro Vega

Phil Schapp just took over.

Yes, Fred Hersch is in Kalamazoo with a concert on Wednesday, and then Grand Rapids on Thursday at the UICA, a solo concert on a 9 foot grand. Blue Lake will record Thursday with the help of the audio lab people from Hope College. So the week after that in Ann Arbor is Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and the ICP Orchestra on the 28th, the Either Orchestra on the 30th and, at the Michigan Theater, the San Fransisco Jazz Collective in a tribute to Herbie Hancock on the 31st. Great week for Ann Arbor.

(This came across the desk via CHI IMPROV and is a press release). DOUGLAS R.EWART AND INVENTIONS "SO SORRY, LEASE FORGIVE ME!" HAMID DRAKE, GUEST PERCUSSIONIST (On Friday only) DEE ALEXANDER, VOICE & PERCUSSION DUSHUN MOSLEY, DRUMS EDWARD WILKERSON Jr., WINDS & PERCUSSION MWATA BOWDEN, WINDS & PERCUSSION WALLACE LaROY McMILLAN REEDS & PERCUSSION DARIUS SAVAGE, BASS DOUGLAS R. EWART, WINDS, PERCUSSION & VOICE 10:00 PM Admission $12.00 Friday 17th & Saturday 18th March 2006 Velvet Lounge 2128 1/2 South Indiana Ave. Chicago IL 60616 312-791-9050 AACM: Power Stronger Than Itself! Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians Douglas R. Ewart is current co-chairman of Chicago Chapter of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Mr. Ewart is an internationally renowned composer, musician, visual artist and educator. He has performed with noted musicians: Muhal Richard Abrams, Amina Myers, Dee Alexander, Rita Warford, Beah Richards, Mia Masaoka, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, Mwata Bowden, David Baker and Cecil Taylor. He builds and plays his own instruments and has exhibited work at the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art and other museums around the world. He teaches in the Twins Cities and at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Mr. Ewart can be seen regularly with incarnations of Orchestra Inventions at Fred Anderson's Velvet Lounge, and other venues.

By THE NEW YORK TIMES Published: March 3, 2006 BAUHAUS QUARTET (Thursday) Kevin Norton is a probing drummer, vibraphonist and composer, although not always in that order; his Bauhaus Quartet, with Dave Ballou on trumpet, Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone and John Lindberg on bass, exemplifies the taut intellectualism of jazz's far-left wing. 8 and 10 p.m., Jimmy's Restaurant, 43 East Seventh Street, East Village, (212) 982-3006; cover, $10, with a one-drink minimum. (Chinen) (article forwarded to Blue Lake by Kevin Norton who also runs Barking Hoop Records)

The ICP Orchestra is in the same venue on the 28th. Damn. Yes, The Either Orchestra (and the Charlie Kohlhase Quintet) played Grand Rapids several times and they've been excellent. Their most recent recording was done in Addis Abbaba at the Ethiopian Music Festival. Long improvisations and some incredible grooves with the "local" musicians joining the band. They take Sun Ra and Mingus seriously, and Gershon is musical friends with Albert Ayler (among many others). He's the band's strongest soloist but there are still some strong players in the band. A real labor of love. If you pick up "Across the Omniverse" you'll see photos taken during a Grand Rapids concert on some long gone Halloween. That was the first time I heard them play "There's A Bus That's Leaving Soon For Alban Berg's House."

Well, a good example of how the current national political climate influenced public broadcasting was the horrible Tomlinson affair. The current political climate has free and open reporting in it's sights. There's a lot of pressure from the right aimed at Universities these days, too. But, as I said, who knows. Ken makes a good point. This could be anything. Nuts and bolts or dirty tricks. Time will tell.

It is with no joy this post is up. One of Blue Lake's former announcers, Alan Young, became Ann Arbor's morning classical producer and host many years before the NPR news model came through. Hazen Schumacher's jazz programming pointed the way back to some great music, even though he wasn't everyone's cup of tea. He was a big part of college for me as I played his program Saturday mornings while board operating on WKAR AM. 6 a.m. Hazen. I've wondered what happened to their 78 rpm jazz collection. Heard U of M radio's classical library went to a collector in Germany. And there's Michael Jewett, who learned alongside Hazen and hosted a great Saturday Night Jazz Program on WUOM, still on over at WEMU. I know WUOM is planning on strengthening their FM signal in West Michigan. They launched a funding campaign a few months ago. When they were all classical Blue Lake "compeated" with them in the Grand Rapids market, if you could call it that. As I said, we turned into a farm club for them in one instance. When they switched to news there was a flood of listeners to Blue Lake, which happened again two years ago when the lone commercial classical station in Grand Rapids was sold to a country format. In the current political climate of the country who knows what is really happening.

WUOM facing criminal probe U-M police investigating operations in wake of Reynolds resignation Friday, March 03, 2006 BY AMALIE NASH News Staff Reporter The University of Michigan Department of Public Safety confirmed Thursday that an investigation into operations at the university's public radio and television service is under way. DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said she could not disclose the nature of the investigation or what role it might have played in the resignation Wednesday of the director of Michigan Public Media, the umbrella organization that covers WUOM, 91.7, affiliated radio stations in Flint and Grand Rapids, Michigan Television and the Michigan Channel, which carries U-M programming on the local cable system. "DPS is conducting a criminal investigation into the operations at the radio station, but I can't comment any further at this time,'' Brown said. Donovan Reynolds, the director of Michigan Public Media, announced his resignation Wednesday without offering an explanation. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday or Thursday. Reynolds was appointed to lead Michigan Radio in 1996. Previously, he was executive director of Michigan Public Radio in East Lansing. No replacement for Reynolds has been named. His departure followed that of Michael Coleman, deputy director at Michigan Public Media, who left in July to become the general manager of the public radio station associated with Wayne State University in Detroit. Reynolds created a furor shortly after joining WUOM when he changed its classical music format to a jazzed-up mix of news and talk, adding such National Public Radio mainstays as "Car Talk,'' "Fresh Air with Terry Gross'' and "Talk of the Nation.'' Recent Arbitron ratings indicate that WUOM, at 535 W. William St. in Ann Arbor, is the most popular radio station in Ann Arbor, ahead of all Detroit and Ann Arbor commercial stations. WUOM also routinely exceeds its fundraising goals. In 1999, WUOM was named the Best Station in America by the Public Radio Program Directors Association. Amalie Nash can be reached at anash@annarbornews.com or 734-994-6832. ©2006 Ann Arbor News © 2006 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

So everyone's noticed Horace's web site is up?

Yes, 7/4. I've been at it at Blue Lake since March 1, 1983. I still don't know how WKCR gets around the limitations on streaming set up in the digital millenium copyright act.

I really like that Cecil Brooks III album with Ludwig; especially (for Ludwig) "Serenade In Blue" and, for Brooks, the old Sonny Payne feature with Basie, "Cute."

Like I said, don't get me wrong. But it would have been nice to have an album of material such as "willow weep for me" and another album of new standards and soul classics such as the Prince tune, or "It Was A Very Good Year." They have range, but rather than try to show it all on one disc it may have been more effective over several.

Blue Lake will be featuring Ornette on Thursday evening, then Bix on Friday.

Don't get me wrong there were things about the first record that I really loved, and it is a hellofa cookin' band who I was happy to promote on the air when they've come into Michigan, but the first recording lacked focus in it's approach. As in, let's put everything we can do on a single disc, rather than make one disc of the BEST thing they can do, another disc from a second aspect, etc. A little scattershot as an album.

"As I have written before, [Jazz's] roots were partly in Africa and partly in the West, and it is best seen as a form of African-influenced Western music, created by blacks, to whose century-long development both black and white musicians have made major contributions. [5]" Or a Western influenced African music? Art Blakey didn't think so.

John Szwed's Sun Ra book, Space is the Place

p.s. Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Hey, looking forward to it -- in the back waters of Monk Tail, lookout! Here comes the Reptet.

This came across the desk from Adam Rudolph. New book release: “Pure Rhythm” by Adam Rudolph Please click on the link below for details and to view sample pages: http://www.metarecords.com/pure_rhythm.html "As open and generous as the author himself, Pure Rhythm is an excellent and essential introduction to world rhythms. Presented step by step in a clear, intelligent and systematic format, this is a long overdue classic in the field.” John Zorn "Pure Rhythm provides an excellent and useful tool for those who wish to advance their knowledge of rhythm." Jack DeJohnette "This book is a critical introduction to much of the important creative insight into the whole feeling of movement in music, with a strong implication of both regularity and differentiation. I recommend this book highly for musicians, on all levels, as a means of nurturing their rhythmic creativity." Dr. Yusef Lateef

A recording would be cool, but this is basically to back up the release of the new recording. What would be even better, IMHO, is a TOUR! Firefly in Ann Arbor, Jazz Showcase in Chicago, the Dakota in MN...

David Weiss -- best of luck. Must be enlightening to delve so deeply into the inner workings of Wayne's music then come up with "assignments" for a larger instrumentation. And please give my best to Xavier Davis. He's from back here in Grand Rapids.

Earl Hines? Eddie Russ, a pianist who settled in Michigan and was well known in these parts.

You think Mary Lou was thinking of Ellington and Mingus when she wrote "Taurus"? Heh.

Yes. Are you in Iowa? He played live on Blue Lake Public Radio last Wednesday after having been in Cleveland doing clinics, then drove to Blue Lake, and left the next day for Iowa. The majority of the radio program was dedicated to music from "It's Mostly Residual." In retrospect I should have asked him, "What's mostly residual?" Great group of musicians. Had a lot of fun with their mix of styles. There is some commentary in the "Jazz Radio" section of the board. http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=25053

From the New York Times: Andrew Hill "Time Lines" (Blue Note) The pianist and composer Andrew Hill made his best and most bracing recordings on Blue Note in the 1960's, a time when it was possible to conduct public investigations of the alchemy between hard-bop and the avant-garde. "Time Lines" is only his third Blue Note album since then, and his first for the label in more than 15 years. Happily, it does right by its pedigree: Mr. Hill has worked fruitfully outside the Blue Note nexus, notably for Palmetto Records, but never in his recent career has he sounded more in tune with his original line of inquiry. It helps that "Time Lines" reunites Mr. Hill with the trumpeter Charles Tolliver, another re-emergent post-bop veteran. They're joined by some diligent inheritors — the saxophonist and clarinetist Greg Tardy, the bassist John Hebert and the drummer Eric McPherson — who sound fully at home with Mr. Hill's variety of disciplined abstraction. The quintet wrings dark mystique out of a stuttering melody on the title track, and elasticizes a jagged melody on two takes of "Ry Round." Book-ending the album is a ballad called "Malachi," rendered first as an ensemble lament and then, more poignantly, as a solo piano reflection. NATE CHINEN