Lazaro Vega

Randy on an old Palo Alto LP called "Heart of the Forrest" with liner notes by Bob Porter. And you're welcome Mr. Keep Me Company At Night with Musical Insight, Inspiration and Whole Lotta Soul.

Been working to book this band in March here in Michigan. Sure, Jesse is not a tuba virtuoso on the level of the players mentioned in the review, or Bob Stewart for that matter, but his playing live was coloristic, rhythmic or just plain swinging when the band played in Grand Rapids last April. His role in the band was more like a cello or viola than a bass: sort of moving between the lead and rhythm parts. I'm ready to hear this group with Adam Lane. Kalaparush is something special. He might not always have a perfectly "on" day, but when he gets in his zone his sound is really something hard won and personal. And he's a former student of Sam Rivers, fwiw, giving him a scale based concept that moves between inside and outside with ease: as in honoring the original scale or adding notes, or sounds, outside of it. But his playing isn't really free in the sense of being sound based in total. He maintains a skeleton of formal music design to play off of. And it draws you in.

That was fun. Randy's request for "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" for his Mom about knocked me over, you know, hearing Paul Vornhagen singing that in his Chet Baker style voice all distant in those lyrics. Skid glad you heard it. Yes, Steve Talaga's recordings with Randy are something else, especially Basement Alchemy. Did you catch the 1978 Grand Rapids recording with Randy, Shirley Scott and Jimmy Forrest?

Been reading Ralph Ellison's writings about jazz recently and it seems he's the main critical inspiration for some of the philosophical bent of Murray, Crouch and Co. especially in Ellison's story about Bird and his relation to modernism, audience and aesthetics...

You know I might have some of that on a single that Randy-o laid on me last year. We don't start programming Holiday music until 2 weeks before Christmas.

Rivers on Tavis Smiley http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=3090106

I'm going to have to preen the Jimmy Forrest session, but look forward to focusing on Organissimo, the music with Talaga and Paul Vornhagen. Anything else you want on the air? Peace. Lazaro WBLV FM 90.3/WBLU FM 88.9 does not yet stream on the web.

From what Millovan said the links might be backwards as the first link (on top) sounded to me like the freer of the two parts. The second link sounded like he was playing free tempo over changes and that could very well be "Body and Soul." What do you think, Jim? And for what it is worth, there's bebop in that first link. He all but says "bebop" on the horn at one point about 3/4 of the way through. Hawk's tone, dynamics, phrasing and harmonic sequencing of his ideas set him apart from Chu Berry, who seemed to play (thanks Chuck) with more even note placement, smoother tone and a more uniform sense of dynamics. And the simplicity and concentration on sound of Ben Webster made his playing that much more discernable, too, for being of the same "school."

Here's a place where you can download the "Hawk Variations" on MP3. http://mydamnforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327

Cool biz. Thanks guys.

That would be great Ghost.

Ed Wilkerson told me much of his writing was influenced by Archie Shepp's recording "Fire Music," and though critics outside of Chicago will often talk about Edward's "Chicago based" sound, it may be fair to say Shepp's influence as a player can be heard in Wilkerson's brawling solos, too.

Have functioned under the assumption that Coleman Hawkins 1948 solo saxophone recording "Picasso" took as its harmonic path the chord changes to "Body and Soul." Someone just challenged that, saying in fact the performance is without pre-determined chord sequence, which means not only is it the first solo saxophone recording in jazz, but that it pre-dates the Tristano recordings "Intuition" and "Digression" as examples of "free" playing. (One could make the point that Hawk's "Body and Soul," with the themeless improvisation, showed the way towards a new freedom in jazz, but that was still on the changes). Thoughts?

Only 10 people have showed up at the UICA tonight.

Any one else caught this band out on tour, the New York show? Looking forward to what you think, John B.

About 50 people came out in Grand Rapids this past Tuesday evening. The trio began as a duo between the sopranino of Larry Ochs and the coloristic cymbals and tom-toms of Donald Robinson, all color and texture for about 10 minutes, then Lisle Ellis enters the music with these perfect intervals, very consonant, and there emerges a tonal center against the squalls of color from the sax and particulate rhythmic matter from the drums. The improv ends as a solo for the bass, which is already alluding to the pentatonic. Then Saadat Tukoz comes out and sounds something like an Asian Edith Piaf -- long narrative songs in Azarbajanian (sp) and other languages from the Asian highlands with that strong pentatonic leaning, and she's incredibly dramatic in her interpretation. Then she asks, "Where's my Yanks?" OK -- there was this cloud-like, foggy free improv -- just mists of color with rumblings of functional harmony, then these strongly traditional songs, so where will these two things come together? And that was the magic. Long sets, fascinating problemitization of musical borders. Looking forward to hearing the recording we made for the radio. Anyone catch this music at The Empty Bottle in Chicago or Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor? Dave, the band was beat to the socks after the Yoshi's hit: they basically didn't sleep before coming here. So from that point of view it took them awhile to really get groovin' but the once they did this was some fascinating creolization of musical traditions.

Where did the McDonough b.s. come up again? What thread is Chuck referring to regarding Rat? For Chuck this is old news. For young people it isn't and they want to revisit the same issue from the distance of the present, i.e. they haven't lived it. More than an "avant-garde" thread, a thread dedicated to "The Tradition" and all that implies should have a space. Point me to a place and I'll be happy to put up some thoughts about it. See, all jazz is avant-garde, thats the tradition of jazz. How's that for an opening salvo? Lemme know where we should start it.

Jim R, Yes, Stunt, not Steeplechase. Sorry. It is at work (the radio station) and I'm sometimes writing from home with ankle biters all around. It sounds like a monkey house in here. LV

Cool Ubu -- thanks for the word. She's new to me. David, please post your impressions so I can share them with the Michigan Improv mailing list and get some folks into the UICA for this one.

There's a new one on Steeplechase, recorded at Horace Parlan's house (2002/3?) by the bassist Jesper Lundgaard and including Ed Thigpen on drums, called "Relaxin' With Horace" which is lovely, especially the version of "Theme For Ernie."

"Clink clink clink, house boy or stud? clink clink clink." Oh wait, that's another movie, and another whisjeskey. The Funny Rat thread. Have heard of the "Dried Rat Dog" by Brotzmann and Hamid Drake, but not the Funny Rat thread.

Yes and Yes. Thank you. Like I said it had been awhile since I listened to it. Homegoing was a performance from that disc which shook it up some.

Dave, the thing I notice about Rob is that he may play "out" in some ways, but he'll always end whatever he's doing to meet the changes (and as a flutist he reminds me of Jeremy Steig that way). He's a player coming from John Gilmore and Joe Henderson so his hook up with John Tchcia (sp) makes sense, though JT has had so much more experience. LV

Recently did a program on Air and flew together Ornette Coleman's "Mind and Time" with Sonny doing "It's All Right With Me" (for velocity) and "No. 2" on "Air Time" from Nessa. That really spoke to me -- the Coleman/Rollins contraction of approaches in Threadgill's sax at the time, and the incredible interdependancy of the group concept, the way they'd slide off into a seemingly from out of nowhere accelerando within a high energy melody-rhythm based improv, or during a melody-rhythm based section let those two elements vie for primacy in the performance, creating a sense of daring do, or something like a musical elements horse race that appears to be "out" but is in fact occuring within structure. (This is all from hearing "No. 2" recently: I've yet to segue "No. 2" with Threadgill's later "Paper Toilet" or "Salute to the Enema Bandit" but that is another story). "Subtraction" is a different trip all together, and "I'll Be Right Here Waiting" sounds like something for Mario Lanza! Really, that IS operatic. I can imagine some sad barrell chested fella with a boot on the brass rail turning another shot glass upside down while singing it at his reflection in the silver tinted mirror behind the bar. Or something more scruffy. Tradition? These guys began by playing Joplin. Interpretive (sp) views of the tradition have gone out of (or been drowned under) style in favor of re-interpretation, yet this band reminds us of how tradition includes so many different circles that were drawn out away from functional harmony that should have, by now, been recaptured by the music's mainstream. I know, Chuck, don't even get you started. In any case, the more I heard Air the other evening -- and there's one of those great AACM-type crescendo pieces in "Keep Right On Playing Through The Mirror Over the Water" (Ravel in the Southside '60's) -- the more I liked this band over Very Very Circus, or the string band, etc. that Mr. Threadgill has been up to lately. Not that those are bad bands, I like 'em, but just that this group with McCall was a GREAT band. DeWars anyone? (Remember Threadgill in those print ads?)

...and Jack DeJohnette who is playing lights out these days. His solo on Jarrett's new one during "Love for Sale," the Byron, the new Alice Coltrane and the ECM records he did with John Surman over the last few years are great examples of most musical drumming. Moran just about brings "Freddie Freeloader" to standstill during his solo. Anyone catch that on the new Byron? The previous Blue Note with DeJohnette and Frisell was hipper than an instant giveaway -- I think Dave Holland's composition "Homecoming" gets a treatment that deserves attention (though I don't have the disc in front of me, and it has been some time since I heard it, there's an 11 minute or so piece on that one that was kickin' it). Bug Music is based on that charming John Kirby shit, so if you don't like that cuty pie perfection to begin with a "re-make" isn't going to do much for you either, really. Until I saw an ad slick for "Ivey Divey" I wasn't aware that it was based on a Lester Young recording. Never had the Young/Cole/Rich music in the original package.