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Lazaro Vega

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  1. John Sinclair played the Howmet Playhouse in Whitehall two weeks ago (right down the street from Chuck's house) in what was probably the third concert in as many years that the station was used -- almost exclusively as regards electronic media --to help promote. Came all the way from France for that one. We're local as hell. There's just no getting around that. During the Wynton program we were running our "Jazz Datebook," which is also on-line, mentioning in calendar form the jazz coming up in this area, from Kalamazoo to Grand Rapids to Pentwater and Baldwin. However, there could always be more as intellectual drift does occur. So, as mentioned, this Sunday night you'll hear from our local working musicians. 7 p.m. Tune in, see what you think.
  2. What does Mark O'Leary play?
  3. Jim, I'm sorry I don't know but can find out with some digging. Clem, no. Those are good records you recommend. I say no because hearing the original is more valuable to a general audience than comparing interpreters. The King Oliver/Jelly Roll version from 1923 is what Wynton was basing his duet from. I would build a completely different program around the recordings you mentioned. But you should follow your line of thoughts and elaborate. It will be edifying. I'm reluctant to go on the air to prove a negative. It is what it is; let listeners decide for themselves. Buzzkill doesn't fly in a society tenuously remembering culture. It is just too easy to push people back into entertainment programming by being negative. Writing, sure. But you don't want to have a jazz program giving listeners the same emotional terrain created by listening to Rush Highball -- this haz to be different. For what it is worth the Neil Tesser program, which I really enjoyed, did not fly here: the listeners complained about that face off, talk driven format. Also, think about 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. -- what do you think our listeners are doing then? That's right. "Bach Up To Me." The programming at the ideal is music led. Simply put Wynton is a musician, I'm not. He goes. Now, looking back at this, "Laughing and Talking With Higg" is an Ornette Quartet instrumentation dedicated to Billy Higgins -- saxophone, trumpet, bass and drums -- and putting that next to where Ornette is now is interesting. Because Ornette's taken his own music so much farther into a personal collective improv. Wasn't this made shortly before Wynton caused himself some nerve damage to his lip for playing so crazy high? There's extended examples of improvised spontaneous counterpoint (or it sounds that way, anyhow) on this CD. They get Ornette, or the part of him they're comfortable with. Their fans want to hear that...And the stuff that isn't influenced by the Miles Davis, and the trad stuff, and some extended writing, and something that could possibly someday be played by others (Free to Be). I don't know, juxtaposing a song critical of hyper consumerism with a song sung from the point of view of a slave dealer (Jon Hendricks in the role interpolating Summertime -- what do you make of THAT?) was, ah, not exactly Fred Thompson's version of neo-con. Yes Carter, Roach and Abby hit me harder. But it wasn't their birthday. As to being above reproach, no: it's called "taking requests." So this Sunday night you better listen in to how Lee Kontiz's "Lover Man" was transcribed by Clare Fischer, who went to South High School in Grand Rapids. Following that the first hour of the program is dedicated to West Michigan jazz musicians. 7 to 8 p.m. this Sunday night. You'll hear a spiritual adjoined to Ra's "Lullaby for Realville" by The Wonderland Ensemble because this is, after all, where today during our walk as the toddler laughed and petted at my 100 lb black lab's soft girl dog ears his mommy bent over the stroller and said, "See, Jesus made the doggie say 'woof woof.'" "Michigan Water Tastes Like Sherry Wine"
  4. Sorry, Jim, I was responding to Clematoe.
  5. Sure, face. The new big band Lee would be nice to have, too. Omni Tone. Paid to post? I'm not sure what that has to do with the price of a blue note. Need to pay Jim, jim. Paid to play, yes. Started working 6 days a week at Blue Lake in 1983 for 10,000 a year plus medical benefits and generous vacation time (a month a year at this point). They've sent me to Europe twice, too. Recently built me a studio in the basement of the radio station and moved the jazz cd library down here (the lps come down after the funder). It's the lower level. I'm taken care of though often encouraged to play boring music. This is the artist driven or radio professional driven conflict of programming: Is the radio furniture that fits the decor of your lifestyle or an idea transmitter? Fortunatly musicians run Blue Lake so you know, ultimately, that not selling out is an option, though staying alive keeps getting in the way. By the way if I don't like the pay level I'm welcome to %25 comissions on selling airtime. Selling is hard but managed to contribute $10,000 to the $200,000 the station sold in air time last year. This year is not going to reach any where near that for me, though the station is doing o.k. $805,000 annual budget. WEMU in Ypsi just put a news director in the program director's position and his advice to the staff was to no longer play Duke Ellington, because it only appeals to old people, nor John Coltrane, because it is too abrasive. Panic button.
  6. When he has time, that sounds like a good idea. Yeah Larry: Hearinga is just incredible. Listened to the whole thing again last week and just LOVE it. Muhal's translation from detailed march rhythms directing all those conducted ensemble parts into the collective improvisation of the solos and ensemble solos gives the music such tremendous expressive breadth, not to mention the shift in instrumental arrangement -- ensemble with synthesizer and playful, Ornette inspired "nursey rhyme" theme, piano solo, drum solo..the last three movements, though, what was side 2 on the lp, with Oldfotalk, Find It Now (is that the title?) and Bermix -- this is where his ideas are most accessible to anyone trying to make big band music. For what it is worth that new Rashied Ali album with "Multi-Culti" opens with a piece called "Skain's Refrain." Greg Murphy wrote it after hearing something Wynton played in Chicago. (Wanted to drop in on Don Cherry collective improv, though). Still completely disagree with the perspective on Konitz: what alto saxophone players living today other than Ornette improvise on his level? Doug Horn here in Michigan is more of a Phil Woods guy, and local musician Bob Nixon comes more out of Paul Desmond. When I had the chance, when an agent was looking to fill a couple of dates for Lee as he toured America, I was able to get him here doing what he often does, playing with a "local" rhythm section. Played Grand Rapids (Sunday afternoon of Mother's Day at The Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts) and Ann Arbor (the Saturday night before Mother's Day at Kerrytown Concert House) with drummer Pete Siers and bassist Jeff Halsey. That was an exciting encounter. They all seemed excited by the Kerrytown hit, especially. We had 100, 150 people at the matinee in Grand Rapids. It was excellent to hear Lee play a solo alto version of "Lover, Come Back To Me" which he prefaced by saying, "This is for the Mothers...of course that's all of you." You want to talk about local, Maria Muldaur's "Naghty, Bawdy and Blue" with James Dapogny's Chicago Jazz Band on Stony Plain Records (recorded in Ann Arbor). He came to Michigan State with Sippi Wallace and did these arrangements in the late 1970's. She had on a foxhead stole and a mouth full of gold singing "Empty Bed Blues" and "Up the Country Blues" and it was as close to a 1920's era theater show I'd ever encountered, and a pure taste of classic blues. She sang her old heart out in front of the professors in tuxes with their bass sax on wheels. The place went ape shit. She did that show at The Ark and Michigan Theaters in Ann Arbor (perhaps?). This new album is some of that music, those arrangements with Maria singing. "New Orleans Hop Scop Blues." Pete Siers, who went to Aquinas College in Grand Rapids and studied with Randy Marsh's teacher, too, one Rupert Kettle, is on Maria's album. Kim Cusack from Chicago and Jon-Erik Kelso on trumpet are more well known names in the band.
  7. Right. It is open to criticism. Putting up the playlist, too, is a way to hopefully find a few more web stream listeners. John Carter aired, again, last Friday during the Fred Hopkins program. Of course, Carter's music could have been on this program, too. We have, in the not too distant past, paired Marsalis and Carter's music in a back to back set, I think prompted by a comment from Larry Kart. At the time when Gramavision was issuing his Roots of Folklore series of albums, the label told us we were the first station in the country to play them and the first to devote an entire week's programming to the entire 5 lp production. Yet where it mattered more was much later mentioning in passing the music of John Carter to a lead trumpeter in one of the military big bands, this fireplug of a dude who worshipped Maynard. "Oh yeah, I know that. That's great." I asked how he knew it and he said he heard it on Blue Lake. The kid grew up on Montague, Michigan, and listened to it on the radio. The Konitz comment -- what the hell is that? That is akin to the media going after John Edwards for trying to help the poor. He can't help the poor, he's rich. What? The listeners shouldn't hear one of the greatest improvisers of our time so they can experience Ginny Dusseau singing "Whisper Not”? There's plenty of room in the pool, Clem, and "Kary's Trance" is a variation on "Angel Eyes." Musicians driving home from the gig, the most important group of listeners in our late night programming, love shit like that. Just love it. I'm all for local, Clem. This year we presented, with a budget of nearly $20,000, a series of five jazz concerts on the radio featuring local, Michigan, musicians. Ed Love at WDET runs a larger ($100,000) series on WDET. Of course all summer long there were "Live From Blue Lake" radio concerts organized by area drummer Tim Froncek. And I wrote liner notes for the new album by Evidence as well as pianist Steve Talaga in collaboration with West Michigan poet Linda Nemec Foster (the later for free). Saturday our afternoon classical music host Foley Schuler went to a reading by David Sedaris at the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts in Muskegon. Foley is a writer and very involved in writing at a local level here. He waited two hours in line for Sedaris to sign a book -- 11 p.m. or later and Foley was one of the last people in line. When he got there he mentioned to Sedaris that he worked for Blue Lake Public Radio (we're fundraising this week). Sedaris pulled out his check book and wrote the station a $500 contribution saying, "I listened to that station today. I like it!" Sedaris also marveled at the Cheeseburger Soup he had for lunch, so there you go: Muskegon. The other side of localism. When introducing Muhal et al in Ann Arbor this Saturday my friend Michael G. Nastos, bless his heart, ran down the musician's relationships to the Ann Arbor scene since 1972 when Muhal appeared with the Art Ensemble at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival. At intermission I mentioned to him that George Lewis is now at Columbia University, and that Roscoe is in a new position out west. The local angle was cool, especially because this was the first North American appearance by this group since the recording, but these appointments are also part of the larger activity of the musicians. I do what Michael did, too. The point is that localism is sometimes a blinder to a broader narrative. And when you say "Michigan musicians" what does that mean? If it means Geri Allen, Rodney Whitaker, James Carter, Regina Carter, Brad Goode, Bob Hurst, Xavier or Quincy Davis then please know they all at one time attended Blue Lake. I feel closeness to Chicago AS WELL AS Detroit as we're mid-way between the two jazz centers. I mean, the last time I talked to Tommy Flanagan I brought up Earl Van Riper. Tommy stopped me, turned my shoulder towards him and said, "People ask me about influences all the time" (he seemed annoyed by this) "but if you know Earl VanRiper's music than there's nothing else to say." Blue Lake has included jazz in the summer school curriculum since 1966 when there was only one or two jazz programs in the secondary schools of West Michigan (though today there are enough high school and Jr. high school bands for a full, noon to 9 p.m., two day festival at Western Michigan University every year). As it is, with 31 hours a week to fill, if something gets missed or not emphasized enough on this night, there's always tomorrow for dreams to come true.
  8. Clem has every right to assert his taste. But, damn, Muhal Richard Abrams is the most diplomatic musician I've ever met. He sets an example that anyone, in any line of work, could follow. He is a great leader. How else does one set up a group of musicians that will include both John Stubblefield and LeRoy Jenkins, or Amina Myers and Anthony Braxton? All under that one roof? By recognizing, as he says, that when you reach a certain level, a high level, in music, "It's all good." Now, we didn't talk about Wynton. We talked about playing on changes, songs, big band forms, swing time, and not playing that way, improvising everything. Muhal marvels at how high the bar has been set in music, and how to a great degree the styles of music have been mixed into one, great music. What a thing to hear. I want to amplify that through BROADCASTING in the Johnny Appleseed sense. But you have to be in a position to do it, and you have to be free to do it. The way I look at it is there are many constituencies in the audience, and they're active: mainstream and traditional jazz societies, jazz in schools, concert presenters, and many musicians, and then the fans who are, generally, old. To appeal to one at the expense of the other is not going to work. There has to be some way to at least touch the bases. That way is to hit the highlights of jazz's evolution musically while simultaneously playing the dismal nadir of American culture that is Paul Anka's big band record. That summer, the summer of '06, will be, among many other things, remembered for the repeated airplay I gave his interpretation of "True." To some that might mean I loved it. But to me it is akin to Anthony Braxton's comment along the lines that "Sinatra is now in his senile phase and I want to see it." Radio reflects things like that. Current marketing models, the most sophisticated ones, are not able to deal with "selling" the diversity of jazz, just as the corporate ideal does not market democracy at all, but sidesteps it. One "thing" to a million people, as opposed to 100 things to 100,000. This is one big reason why jazz is not getting across to a wider audience in our time. You could argue it is the music itself, but we're living in the twilight of the gods, and the non-demographic nature of the best jazz audience, young/old, multi-cultural, schooled/everyman etc., is not an audience that fits the current marketing models. Radio does not in any way lead culture. If you think just because you're on the air you can play only what you like or judge artistically worthy and only give the audience that under the impression they'll change, you're wrong. They'll just turn on the game, or listen to a cd, or try to find something they DO want to hear, and they won't come back. But if you're able, somehow, to bring the core audience what they expect, gain their trust as a companion, gain their respect as an honest programmer, and intrigue them, then it's about a journey of discovery together. Despite what I might think of Wynton's music or more importantly the limitations of his own tastes I can't ignore the fact that nearly every trumpeter that's been in the station in the last 10 years at some point, whether it is Roy Campbell or the band director at Gross Point middle school, has said something about Wynton. Good, bad, critical, praiseworthy -- he's a topic of conversation as it relates to how they approach their instruments or how they approach jazz and jazz history. Clem's right to point out Wynton sucks up just about all the air left in jazz, and he has every right to hate on that. Just realize not everyone sees it that way.
  9. Not unexpected, Clem; nor do I request Clemency. Thanks for bringing it up. It was his birthday. 46. And it's not just Winetone: Norah Jones, Diana Krall, and whatever other act you want to name that commands a quarter million dollars per performance, gets on the air. They just do. Your buddy Tony Bennet. I play these things. Some of this music is the flavor of the day and that's what radio does, among other things. We live in the era of Wynton's giant commercial thing and the era of the jazz, or, more acurately, 'jazzy' singer. He has an audience, especially with young musicians and listeners. It's a take it and run with it situation. If younger jazz nerds like Wynton and come here for that every once in a while then hopefully they'll have their horizons opened up. And, it really helps to hear his music alongside of, for instance in this playlist, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton. His version with Eric Reed, I think it was, played alongside the original says more than I could ever about both of them. Last Friday we did a night of Fred Hopkins and Air's view of the tradition is where it is at for me. But it isn't that way for everyone. I don't think you can program a radio station with broad audience appeal without playing the music that appeals to a broad audience. We're a 100,000 watter. And, for what it is worth, Wynton's music has proven very un-commercial during funders. Couldn't move the Marsalis Family Band CD at all a couple of years ago at all, not even one. You're welcome to ask about the Michigan artists. This is the way I look at it, though: vertically. This is a single five hour show, standing up from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. on a Thursday night. Next night, Anita O'Day. Verticle programming. The "horizontal" programming is where repetition comes in and it is in repetition of airplay that music becomes ingrained and I have 31 hours with which do to that each week. Each night there is a single artist on the jazz retrospective and that takes up about 20 to 30 minutes of each hour in a five hour program. Saturday morning and Sunday night (three hours each) are more mix shows with less of an historic perspective. And we do A LOT of programming in support of local arts organizations presenting music, as well as talk about local artist's live shows on The Jazz Datebook. It matters more to me personally that Blue Lake was the first radio station in the country to program "Streaming" by Muhal and Company, and that we were the only radio station in the country to develop a three hour radio program around Muhal's music and conversation, and that Muhal said talking to Blue Lake was different than the majority of other interviews he does, than the fact that you get mad because I spent a night compromising my personal tastes to recognize the audience that Wynton has here, and the respect in which he's held by local jazz trumpters and jazz educators. Musicians, educators and fans have expectations. Ignore them at your own peril. Congo Square played here this summer, for instance, and filled DeVos Hall, again. To ignore that, completely, is just crazy in this day and age when WBEZ in Chicago and WDET in Detroit BOTH cut their jazz program schedules to nil or nearly nil thus making it much easier for smaller station managers to justify getting rid of jazz. Believe it. Pee Wee and Hawk were on Saturday morning at noon, "What Am I Here For." Rollins with on Friday night at 10:45, "Nia" is it? from his new one. You're welcome to look at one segment such as this Wynton playlist and say what you will. But have a look at our Jazz Retrospective featured artists for the entire month of October, please, before jumping to conclusions. The focus was on bassists, including Detroit's Bob Hurst. Two weeks ago we were all over Straight Ahead, the Detroit band that brought the world Regina Carter, as they appear on this side of the state. Long form programming. Long, long form.....
  10. When broadband is as available as "regular" radio waves are there will probably be something akin to an Internet tuner in your car. That seems to me to be the most plausible future for radio -- that it will be distributed in general via the Internet and delivered locally by broadband Y-Fi or a more advanced version of that concept which is, of course, wireless.
  11. Jazz From Blue Lake Thursday, October 18, 2007 Artist—Song Title – Album Title – Record Label 10 p.m. Eastern Time Bennie Green, Blow Your Horn; Blow Your Horn: Decca Wynton Marsalis/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, All Aboard; Big Train: Columbia. Wynton Marsalis, Supercapitalism; From the Plantation to the Penitentiary: Blue Note. Wynton Marsalis, Free To Be; The Magic Hour: Blue Note. Wynton Marsalis /Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Soul For Sale: Blood on the Fields: Columbia. Jazz Datebook www.bluelake.org/datebook.html Benny Carter Centennial Project, I’m In the Mood For Swing; Centennial Project: Evening Star. Leonard Feather’s All Jam Band, Twelve Bar Stampede/Featherbed Lament/Tempo di Jump (Men of Harlem); 52nd Street Swing: Decca. Pee Wee Russell/Coleman Hawkins, If I Could Be With You; Jazz Reunion: Candid. 11 p.m. Jelly Roll Morton/King Oliver, King Porter Stomp; The Pianist and Composer: The Smithsonian Collection. Wynton Marsalis, King Porter Stomp; My Jelly Lord: Columbia. Wynton Marsalis Septet, In the Court of King Oliver; Live at the Village Vanguard: Columbia. Branford Marsalis, J Mood; Romare Bearden Revealed: Marsalis Music. Jazz Datebook Herbie Hancock, Edith and the Kingpin; River: The Joni Letters: Verve. Jentsch Group Large, Outside Line; Brooklyn Suite: Fleur de Son Classics. Marty Ehrlich/Myra Melford, Night; Spark!:Palmetto. 12 a.m. Wynton Marsalis/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Night Train: Big Train: Columbia Wynton Marsalis Septet, Black Codes from the Underground: Live at the Village Vanguard: Columbia. Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Pursuance; A Love Supreme: Palmetto. John Coltrane, After the Crescent; Dear Old Stockholm: Impulse. Rashied Ali, Multi-Culti; Judgment Day Vol. 2: Survival. Don Cherry Quintet, Neopolitan Suite: Dios & Diablo; Live at Cafe Monmartre 1961: ESP. 1 a.m. Jazz Datebook Gerry Mulligan, Five Brothers; Jazz Profile: Blue Note. Keith Jarrett Trio, Five Brothers; My Foolish Heart: ECM. Bobo Moreno/Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band, Angel Eyes; Out of This World: Sundance. Lee Konitz, Angel Eyes; It’s You: Steeplechase. Lenny Tristano, Turkish Mambo; Requiem: Atlantic. Eric Rasmussen, Kary’s Trance ; School of Tristano: Steeplechase. Wynton Marsalis, Donna Lee; Live at The House of Tribes: Blue Note. Branford Marsalis, Laughin’ and Talkin’ With Higg; Romare Bearden Revealed: Marsalis Music. Ornette Coleman, Jordan; Sound Grammar: Sound Grammar. 2 a.m. Wynton Marsalis, Blue Interlude; Blue Interlude: Columbia. Wynton Marsalis/Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Home: Take My Hand (from “Sweet Release”); Sweet Release & Ghost Story: Columbia. Lazaro Vega Blue Lake Public Radio 300 East Crystal Lake Road Twin Lake MI 49457 WBLV FM 90.3 / WBLU FM 88.9 www.bluelake.org
  12. No, that was it. There a just a couple of other pieces of the interview which are a minute or two long, each. Hour long interview cut into 9 segments, most of which made it over the 3 hours. LV
  13. That comment about W.C. Handy consolidating the blues into form so groups could play it came from a conversation by Chuck Nessa when he was explaining Ornette Coleman's way of phrasing. In a sense Ornette related to the blues before Handy, i.e. having form follow the emotional message of the tune; emotion driving the duration of melodies. In honor of Muhal Richard Abrams appearance with Roscoe Mitchell and George Lewis this Saturday at EdgeFest in Ann Arbor Blue Lake Public Radio will re-broadcast the three hour interview/music program which aired last Sunday. Please join Muhal Richard Abrams tonight, 10-17-07, at 12 a.m. until tomorrow, 10-18-07, at 3 a.m. over WBLV/WBLU FM and on line via www.bluelake.org/radio.html. (Those times in Chicago are 11 p.m. tonight to 2 a.m. tomorrow). The program’s original broadcast attracted more web-stream listeners than any other program broadcast all day Sunday. Thanks to Organissimo for that fact.
  14. Have it, played some on the radio last Friday: the title piece, which is one long, multi-sectioned improvisation. Her band "Be Bread" is something else, too, as on the previous Crypto release, with Cuong Vu and Stomu Takaieshi (sp).
  15. This from the Braxton list: Hi All! I thought I mayby should write down some impressions from the Italian Concerts with Anthony Braxton and Cecil Taylor. I know there is a lot of interest out there. I hade two great days in a sunny and nice Bologna, and with two very interesting concerts at Friday and Saturday. I start with Friday at Teatro Communal in Bologna…a very nice Italian Opera house. Mayby not a place where you think you should find Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton but this Friday you did. October 12, 2007 Cecil Taylor Antony Braxton Duo, Bologna, Italy The concert was announced as a duo, bit the first thing that one could note was that there was a bass at stage. I yes, the duo was expanded to a Trio with William Parker on Bass. Well, is some way that was great, but it also gave a feelning that not felt so good that mayby the duo was expanded into a trio because the dou format not worked so well. But this was just a feeling. I dont know if it is a fact. Anyhow the show ended in a very disappointing way which felt rather bad, but I will come back to that. 1th Set: a) Cecil Taylor reading two poems b) Anthony Braxton Solo altosax c) William Parker Solo d) Cecil Taylor Solo pno The 1th set was a series of great solos. Anthony Braxton solo was not a usual Braxton solo. It was a piece that sounded like a collage of compositions more the one composition. Mayby he was improvising. I like his solo very much, It was great. William Parker and Cecil Taylor also did great solos. The first set lasted about 1 hour. 2nd Set a) Cecil Taylor/William Parker/Anthony Braxton Trio The 2nd set was a disapointment indeed. They started to play, and it looked like Cecil didnt like what Anthony was doing. A couple or times Cecil stoped playing and waited until Anthony got silent, and then he started to play again. After about only some few minutes more then 20 Cecil Taylor suddenly took his notes, made a short nod towards the audience and left the stage. It was like he got angry, or like he just gave up. Angry on Anthony I mean. Well, Cecil left stage and William Parker put his bass down on the floor and left, and Anthony realized the situation in the middle of a phrase. Anthony made a nod towards the audience, said thank you, and left. They did not come back. I felt it to be a rather rude thing Cecil Taylor did. I wished more that he had stayed and had taken the fight needed. I felt it was rude towards the audience and rude towards Anthony. I thought Cecil embarrassed Anthony. It didnt feel any nice at all. And it was not so nice towards us in the audience. Well, I think the theater was sold out so there was a big audience waiting to see more. The music the played during those short 20 minutes was surpricingly soft and lyrical. I think I could have developt into something very nice if it not got interupted as it did. Or mayby the plans where just to play a very short piece…but after a 1th set and on intemission you expect the 2nd set to be longer, and if not so long as the first set rather close to it. October 13, 2007 Cecil Taylor Historical Quartet, Reggio, Italy The concert was announced as Cecil Taylor Historical Quartet w/ Anthony Braxton. Cecil Taylor pno, Anthony Braxton Reeds (sopranino, soprano, altosax, cantrabass clarinet), William Parker Bass, Tony Oxley drums, oercussin, electronics. It is the old CT "Feel Trio" + Anthony Braxton. And the instruments on stage clearly was put in sich way that there was a trio + Anthony. This night it was a great concert!! I loved it. Great music! There was no intermission tonight. All musci was played in one longer set. And the four of them stood in line to thank the audience for the applouse afterwards, and they even played on encore. Well this night it looked much more as a real connection between Cecil and Anthony with some smiles while playing. So this concert was in a better mode than the Bologna Duo (sorry Trio) show. The concert was also in an Oprea Housem but in Reggio (about 40 minutes with train from Bologna) a) Cecil Taylor – Tony Oxley DUO (Poetry and drums/electronics) b) William Parker SOLO (first on Shenai, then on Bass) c) Anthony Braxton SOLO (sopranino, soprano, altosax) d) Cecil Taylor SOLO pno e) Cecil Taylor Historical QUARTET f) Encore QUARTET It was a great show. The Taylor/Oxley Duo was great. It jsut stared with Cecil palying the piano standing. The he read poetry while Oxley was drumming and using electronics. It was around 15 minutes. William Parker made a great solo also. First he walked the stage playing shenai, unamplified. The it was a great solo on Bass. The solo from Anthony Braxton was very interesting, and different from things I have heard him play. He stared with whistleing, saying some letters, saying some numbers and the picked up the soprano and played (or was it the sopranino). He made some gestures, turned around. Said some more letters and numbers and the played the sopranino (if it was the soprano first). Then som more talking and then playing on the alto. It was a very interesting and nice solo. The Quartet played about 30 + 10 minutes. So it was rather short. It stared with some rather intense music with Anthony on alto. Great playing. There where moments when I just smiled and thought. Yes, this is music when it is the best music there is. Ever!! From the rather intense frist half it slowed down and became more lyrical. Both Anthony and Oxley became silent and where silent a long time. Anthony didnt play a note för the last 7,8 minutes I think. (so it was some feeling of seeing the feel trio plus someone). The piece ended with piano and bass duo. After a long and well deserved applause the quartet played a shorter encore. I musr have been a composition. Cecil Taylor actually turned the peper wirh notes that he had, and William Parker looked firmly inte his notes. This encore hade even more feeling of being the feel trio as it ended with a long silent from Anthony. Both the actual quartet and the encore ended with silence from Anthony. I thought that he made the right decision: the music was great and it didnt need him. Well, I guess that there is a lot more to say. Please correct me, anyone that find that I remember wrong will say. Or if you have another opinion about the bad things at the friday concert. Say it. Thanks Anthony, and thanks Cecil for some great music! All the best, Jan Carlsson Stockholm
  16. Clem earlier suggested coverage of more women. Looking randomly at issues piled on the desk here, Annette Peacock with a cover headline from the Winter 2001 issue, and Marina Rosenfeld and Pauline Oliveros from Spring 2001...Tina Marsh would be welcome.....
  17. Interval Overshadowing the Shadow A Carnegie triumph for Mr. Rollins proves that the Sonnymoon is never over by Francis Davis October 9th, 2007 5:23 PM Calmly guiding us through history in the remaking An all-star audience turned out for Sonny Rollins's Carnegie Hall show September 18, this year's be-there-or-be-square jazz event. Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson sat two rows in front of me, and I also spotted Lee Konitz, Jimmy Heath, Lou Donaldson, and Yusef Lateef; friends report sighting Pat Metheny, Joe Lovano, and John Zorn. Because Rollins typically plays New York once annually, his local appearances take on the weight of deific visitations. As much anticipation awaits them as once awaited new releases by Coltrane or Miles, though for a different reason—what everybody's hoping for isn't a clue to where jazz is heading next, just insight into Sonny's state of mind. Still, I don't recall there being quite this much fevered speculation since his 1985 solo concert at the Museum of Modern Art, where he made up for a hesitant 25-minute set with a euphoric 35-minute encore (when the tension gets to Rollins himself, the results can be bizarre). In previous years, he's often sought to increase ticket sales, or maybe just lessen the pressure on himself, by hosting another marquee name. But the only extra-added attraction this time out—and nobody could ask for better—was his own legend: the shadow of youthful greatness that's been striding onstage ahead of him and challenging him to keep step for half a century now, since Saxophone Colossus in 1956. The standing ovation that greeted Rollins—who was flanked only by drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Christian McBride; no piano or guitar, no other horn, nothing that needed to be plugged in—may have been as much for that shadow as for the man himself, but not the standing ovation the trio received at the conclusion of its 50-minute set. Although the concert was billed as a 50th-anniversary celebration of Rollins's first Carnegie Hall appearance (at which he also led a piano-less trio as part of an all-star package featuring Thelonious Monk, Ray Charles, Billie Holiday, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others), its real impetus was the chance discovery of tapes from that night's performances in an unmarked box at the Library of Congress three years ago. This was the find that yielded two sets by Monk with Coltrane, released by Blue Note to hosannas in 2005. We've yet to hear the rest, but in the same spirit with which he's been making vintage clips available on his website—and perhaps still mentally competing with Coltrane—this summer Rollins announced plans to release the three numbers he performed that night on his own label, side by side with new versions to be recorded with the same spartan instrumentation this year at Carnegie Hall, inviting us to contrast and compare. Just the prospect of hearing Rollins once more forgoing a chording instrument, as he did on Way Out West, A Night at the Village Vanguard, and The Freedom Suite way back when, would have been enough, but this was history in the remaking. Needless to say, the show sold out weeks in advance. So how was it? Before telling you why it had me walking on air (the first half, anyway—an opinion I trust I share with most of those in attendance), let me acknowledge some dissenting points of view. "Too much vibrato," Lee Konitz, who himself employs very little, told me when I bumped into him outside during intermission—a perfect example of why musicians don't really make good critics, since they tend to impose their own aesthetic on everyone else. Konitz, our greatest living saxophonist after Rollins and Ornette Coleman, said he was looking forward to the second set, featuring Rollins's working band and hopefully including some calypsos. What's more, a dear friend of mine whom I envy for also having been at the '57 concert complained that McBride didn't swing. You should know, however, that this is someone who often talks as if she believes no one under the age of 70 does. And I often have to agree with her—but not about McBride, at 35 two full generations younger than either Rollins (77) or Haynes (82). McBride fulfilled every requirement of a bassist in this context, beginning with providing a solid harmonic anchor. Though fleet and virtuosic to the point of showing off, his solo on "Mack the Knife" kept the familiar melody clearly in mind and maintained Rollins's slashing tempo. Best of all, he sensed exactly when to defer to his elders in what gradually became a dialogue on the value of dynamics between the god of tenor saxophone and a god of drums. A frequent complaint I heard in the days after was that Rollins never cut loose with chorus after chorus—that on the long, contemplative "Some Enchanted Evening," he didn't even take a solo as such, following a hesitant stab at one on the opening "Sonnymoon for Two," where he and Haynes were still feeling each other out. For me, the mock-aria from South Pacific—an unlikely vehicle for anyone but Rollins—was the evening's glory. He and Haynes didn't exactly trade fours on it for 10 minutes running, and they didn't exactly not; their exchanges followed the rules of conversation, not metrics. Analytical rather than discursive or ecstatic, Rollins treated the melody to an endless series of variations, slowing down his vibrato and dropping into a subtone to summon up the ghosts of both Enzio Pinza and Coleman Hawkins, all the while moving in and out of tempo within phrases shaped to Haynes's elegant brushstrokes. Even those who might have wished for conventional improvised choruses had to agree that it was magic. So was "Mack the Knife," highlighted by McBride's solo and crafty fours between Rollins and Haynes practically from beginning to end. The second half, with Rollins supported by trombone, guitar, electric bass, drums, and congas on a pair of cheery riffs and a closing calypso, figured to be anticlimactic, and it was. Konitz, I'm told, was gone before the calypso, which was probably just as well—he'd have objected to the interminable drum solo on top of an interminable conga solo, and he'd have been right. The contrast between the two sets revealed itself visually: In the nightcap, Rollins literally fronted a rhythm section, whereas if he'd moved any closer to the drums during the opener, he'd have been able to scoop Haynes's beats into the bell of his horn. Not that Haynes made all the difference. Rollins is a song man: Even when he briefly embraced free-form in the early '60s, hiring Don Cherry and Billy Higgins away from Ornette Coleman, he continued to use the occasional Broadway number as his launch. He may be able to forgo a chording instrument, but not chords. Blues and calypsos may give him plenty to work with rhythmically. But when Rollins is on, rhythm takes care of itself through the combination of his island heritage and a sense of comic timing worthy of Jack Benny. Not that Haynes didn't also benefit from the encounter. Generally recognized as our greatest living drummer now that Max Roach is gone, he's lately become overbearing when leading his own groups. Matching wits with Rollins, though, he regained the subtlety that earned him his reputation in the first place. (As an aside, Concord has just reissued 1957's The Sound of Sonny, one of Rollins's few recorded meetings with Haynes. Canonical only insofar as everything by Rollins from that period is, it's nevertheless delightful, no less thanks to Sonny Clark—if every pianist comped as sparely yet decisively as he does here, no saxophonist would ever dream of going piano-less.) What we've long wished for from Rollins is greater intimacy, if not in terms of smaller venues (no way he's going back to playing clubs), then in terms of trimmer ensembles. We've wanted to hear him mix it up with players of equal stature (Haynes comes close) and top-notch relative newcomers like McBride. Most of all, we've wanted surprise—not necessarily for him to break with jazz convention (if this were Ornette Coleman, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson would have been onstage), just for him to break his own established routines. For 50 minutes at Carnegie, he came close to giving us all of this. The shame is that a good part of the crowd missed some of it, kept waiting in line for close to half an hour at a single will-call window—poor planning on someone's part. Rollins issued an apology on his website the morning after, but even factoring in the second set, he has nothing else to apologize for. It was some enchanted evening, all right.
  18. http://italia.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=969
  19. aloc, Ghost, Paul: thanks for tuning in. As Chuck said after the interview, "You survived." Felt the program needed to be this length to do him justice, and tried to let the musical selections be dictated by the content of the conversation (i.e. Jason Moran following Muhal's talking about young individualists; or 'Blu Blu Blu' following on the W.C. Handy comment, or "Bloodline" for Redman, Henderson and Carter after the segment about meeting Benny Carter. Follow the artist..... The piece from Nonaah is, according to Terry Martin's liner notes, based on limiting the range each instrument could play in. This program will air again Wednesday from midnight to 3 a.m. Thursday morning. And then, EdgeFest this Saturday. Looking forward to hearing Muhal live again.
  20. Been digging into it slowly. Lee sure is critical, wow; yet what he has to criticize, and how he does it is related with a certain level of respect (Art Pepper, Anthony Braxton) which makes one pay attention to what he has to say as opposed to just getting mad and dismissing it. Makes me sorry I didn't get the Mosaic Kontiz/Marsh set.
  21. Blue Lake only offers those two streaming options at this point, one which opens a Windows Media Player and another that allows for an MP3 stream (usually better with MACs). When you click on them the devices open up. I'm sorry I'm not familiar with the system you're working with and would bet that the NCATS people are not available to answer these questions on a Sunday. Lazaro
  22. Jazz a la Carte Saturday, October 13, 2007 Artist—Song Title – Album Title – Record Label 7 a.m. Kurt Elling, I Like the Sunrise; Night Moves: Concord Music. Lambert/Hendricks&Ross, Moanin’; Everybody’s Boppin’: Columbia. Billy Taylor/Gerry Mulligan, Laura; Live at MCG: MCG Jazz. Jazz Datebook, www.bluelake.org/datebook.html Frank Tiberi, Four of a Kind; 4 Brothers 7: Jazzed Media. Stan Kenton, Young Blood; Stompin’ at Newport: Pablo. Stan Kenton, Lover Man; Retrospective: Capital. Billie Holiday, Mean To Me/Foolin’ Myself; Master Takes and Singles: Legacy. Lee Konitz, All of Me; Strings for Holiday: Enja. 8 a.m. Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, In Walked Bud; With Thelonious Monk: Atlantic. Bobo Mereno/Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band, Milestones; Out of This World: Sundance Eric Alexander, Dave’s System; Temple of Olympic Zeus: High Note. David Hazeltine, Don’t Walk Away; Inspiration: Sharp Nine. Jazz Datebook Queen Latifa, I Love Being Here With You/I’m Gonna Live Until I Die; Trav’lin’ Light: Verve. Herbie Hancock, Edith and The Kingpin; River: The Joni Letters: Verve. Deep Blue Organ Trio, Short Story; Deeper Blue: Origin. Joe Henderson, La Mesha; Page One: Blue Note. 9 a.m. Lee Konitz (solo), Lover Come Back To Me; Grand Rapids, 1999: Blue Lake. Lee Kontiz/Jeff Halsey/Pete Siers, The Song Is You/Cool Blues; Grand Rapids, 1999: Blue Lake. Jazz Datebook Lennie Tristano Sextet, Wow; Intuition: Capital. Miles Davis Nonet, Move; Birth of the Cool: Capital. Lee Konitz/Miles Davis, Ezz-Thetic; The Chronicle: Prestige. Lee Konitz, Foolin’ Myself; Motion: Verve. Lee Konitz/Ohad Talmor String Project, Struttin’ With Some Bar-B-Que; Inventions: Omni Tone. Lazaro Vega Blue Lake Public Radio 300 East Crystal Lake Road Twin Lake MI 49457 WBLV FM 90.3 / WBLU FM 88.9 www.bluelake.org
  23. Jazz From Blue Lake Friday, October 12, 2007 Artist—Song Title – Album Title – Record Label 10 p.m. Eastern Time Bennie Green, Blow Your Horn; Blow Your Horn: Decca Diedre Murray/Fred Hopkins, Doo Wop; Stringology: Black Saint. Air, G.v.E, Air Time: Nessa. Don Pullen Sextet, Tales from the Bright Side; The Sixth Sense: Black Saint. Jazz Datebook, www.bluelake.org/datebook.html. Gloria Lynne, There Are Such Things; From My Heart To Yours: High Note. Bill Easley, Indian Sumer; Business Man’s Bounce: Allegro. Bobo Moreno/Ernie Wilkins Almost Big Band, Milestones; Out of This World: Sundance Music. John Scofield, Trio Blues; This Meets That: Emarcy. Cyrus Chestnut, Hound Dog; Cyrus Plays Elvis: Koch. 11 p.m. David Murray Octet, Shakedown Street; Dark Star: Astor Place. Arthur Blythe, Miss Nancy; Illusions: Columbia. Henry Threadgill Sextet, When Was That?; When Was That?: About Time. Jazz Datebook. Allan Harris, L-O-V-E; Long Live the King: Love Productions. Deep Blue Organ Trio, I Thought About You; Folk Music: Origin. Memphis Slim/Roosevelt Sykes, Mr. Sykes Blues/Eagle Rock: Double Barrel Boogie: Maison De Blues. 12 a.m. Maria Muldaur, New Orleans Hop Scop Blues/Smile; Naughty Bawdy & Blue: Stony Plain. Muhal Richard Abrams Orchestra, Oldfotalk/Find It Now/Bermix; Hearinga Suite: Black Saint. Air, Chicago Breakdown; 80 Degrees Below ’82: Antilles. Hamiet Bluiett, Solo Bass Improvisation No. 1/River Niger; The Clarinet Family: Black Saint. John Carter, Voyage; Dance of the Love Ghosts: Gramavision. 1 a.m. Jazz Datebook Marty Ehrlich/Myra Melford, A Generation Comes and Another Goes; Spark!: Palmetto. Myra Meford/Mark Dresser/Matt Wilson, The Big Picture; The Big Picture: Cryptogramaphone. Miroslav Vitous, Opera; Universal Syncopations II: ECM. Kahil El’Zabar Trio, The Ebullient Duke; Love Outside of Dreams: Delmark. Air, No. 2; Air Time: Nessa. 2 a.m. Eberhard Weber, Syndrome; Stages of a Long Journey: ECM. Jon Hemmersam/Dom Minasi, Inside Out; Quintet: CDM. Saco Yasuma, Invisible Matters; Another Rain: Leaf Note. Muhal Richard Abrams, Miss Richarda/Munktmunk; Colors in Thirty-Third: Black Saint. Sunny Murray’s Untouchable Factor, Over the Rainbow; Wildflowers: KnitMedia. Henry Threadgill, USO Dance; Wildflowers: Knit Media. Anthony Braxton, 73 degrees –S Kelvin; Wildflowers: Knit Media. Lazaro Vega Blue Lake Public Radio 300 East Crystal Lake Road Twin Lake MI 49457 WBLV FM 90.3 / WBLU FM 88.9 www.bluelake.org
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