Д.Д.

I have Baikida Carroll's "Marionettes...", and it's a beautiful album indeed. Very melodic. Highly, highly recommended. I don't have the second one you list - will have to get it. In general, OmniTone is a very nice label, that I would like to explore more. It does have its stylistical niche - not cookie-cutter mainstream, not particularly out, but original, clever, melodic, post-hardbop stuff, that does not sound neither derivative nor dated. I heard Carroll on the disc called I Don't Know This World Without Don Cherry (Naxos Jazz) by New York Jazz Collective (?). It's quite good, but less strong than Marionettes..., mostly due to somewhat bland compositions.

John, I don't know it, but it looks intersting. Are you sure it's on Okka? Okka website does not list it (and it does mention its OOP releases): http://okkadisk.com/

Wanna buy new Björk too. Let us know what you think about it.

I don't have this one, from other 3-4 Bergman CDs I've heard, I've found his playing to be consistently boring.

No, no, I have not got it. You know there should always exist a highly challenging, practically unattainable target that should provide a constant inspiration. Rara Avis for under $25.

You see, it takes only 2900 funny rat posts to find one.

This is, for me and so far, the best record of WILLIAM PARKER. IMO, the best CD under William Parker's name is ...and WIlliam Danced (on Ayler). It's a trio with Hamid Drake and this excellent alto player from Sweden whose name I can never remember.

If I rememeber correctly, I am not alone - Tony did not seem too much excited about it, perhaps David Ayers also? I actually have a sealed spare copy of it, and I can send it to you if you want - but I'd rather send you something good (and there is something in the pipeline).

Geoff, I liked your piece a lot! Powerful, dramatic indeed, and skillful, as far as I can judge. If you seriously need a confirmation that NOT EVERYBODY can play like this, I can record a sample of my piano spontaneous improvisations and post them here. When you release a CD, I'd be very much willing to buy a copy. Post more mp3s when you have a chance.

Here is a curious recollection of the session from SUnny Murray interview: Q: Talking of lost albums, whatever happened to your album for Columbia [“Spiritual Infinity”, from 1968, featuring Clifford Thornton, Arthur Jones, Dave Burrell, Alan Silva, Juni Booth, Frank Wright and Art Lewis and “possibly others”]? Murray:That was a great record, but they never put it out. Great orchestration. Matter of fact Frank Wright's first record [third in fact, after the two Wright ESP albums from 1965 and 1967 respectively]. He was in a group with fourteen of the baddest cats in New York, and he played wonderfully to be one of the newest, not being a real academic musician, you know. For that record I did some crazy stuff – I wrote some very nice music for that record. One of the compositions was like an experimental piece, like a John Cage piece – I had a lot of different sound things, and I had a siren. I didn't want the band to know it... I wanted to see their reaction... The band was playing their ass off and I started to work the siren real low rrrrrrrrrr so that only I could hear it. (That's another thing in Helmholtz, playing above and below the audible level... That's why moms and grandmoms say what kids play today is loud, because they're used to listening to the radio at a lower level, and kids today above it...) So I started working the siren, and I raised it rrrrrrrrrr to their level, and when I got to their level – it was a great experience – the whole band heard it together and didn't know what the fuck it was! I was behind them at my drums watching their reaction, and they got hot, their hearts beat faster, I was really messing with 'em RRRRRRRRRR and then THE BAND STOPPED. Nobody could get their breath to challenge this sound... but Frank Wright continued! (Laughs) He continued, I raised it higher, he continued, I raised it higher and finally he stopped, he couldn't continue no more! He says “MURRAY WHAT THE HELL IS THAT MAN?!” I told everybody, it's a siren!

I can't, I'm too busy listening too this one: Giuffre-Bley-Swallaw "Fly Away Little Bird" from 1992, more of the same, good stuff that is. Pretty loose and admittedly a wee bit wavering at times, I find it very enjoyable and nicely enticing. I htought this one was the weakest of the three Owl releases (the other two being Life of a Trio discs). I also have the one on Soul Note ("Conversation With a Goose", I think it's called), the last one this trio did, but listened to it only once and it didn't really grab me.

Thanks, it's on "the list"... (as are many of those Verve LPRs, too many) This is turning into a very expensive discussion we are having here!

before I got to the end of your review I thought that you were describing something very like his album Karma, which is where the "creator has a master plan" line comes from. I was shocked when I first heard that run of Impulse albums. I had been expecting something more in line with his playing on Coltrane's Live in Seattle. ANybody heard Pharoah's disc on ESP btw? I still haven't checked this one out.

I've never heard the Mosaic but those other ones (Free Fall and the 1961 set) are the only discs by him I have heard, and I enjoy all of them. I was lucky enough to find those at the local library back before I moved. Get the recent The Easy Way Verve reissue. It's from pre-Free Fall era (in a trio with Jim Hall and Ray Brown), so it is quite different, but very charming, clever and quetely experimental (but much less so than the Free Fall trio, of course). It should be available cheap everywhere.

OK, I start with the ones I didn'tlike Sunny Murray / Charles Gayle "Illuminators" This is a well-recorded duo on Audible Hiss records from mid 90s. I think it's OOP by now. To begin wiht, Gayle plays piano almost exclusively, and his style is adequate, but nothing special, IMO. Not particularly focused... Monkish a bit... not bad in general, but really nothing that could hold my attention. And then (and I know I now have strong chances of getting into P.L.M.'s ignore list) - I really don't like Sunny Murray's playing. Neither here, not in 90% of CDs I heard him at, including the famous 60s stuff). It sounds awkward and even random somtimes, extremely heavy-handed (no subtlety or newance - just constant muddy waves, IMO), and monotone. Morever, this trademark constant high-hat pulse is extremely annoying to me. Overall, if we take the first generaton of "avant garde" drummers - Sunny Murray, Rashied Ali and Milford Graves (and this is of course a grand simplification to cite only these three as first "jazz avant" drummers), I much more prefere the latter two (well, Graves is one of my favorite drumers of all times, together with Blackwell and Oxley). I remeber reading Sunny Murray's interview in which he said he was supposed to be Coltrane's drummer after Elvin left (take it for what it's worth), and just can't imagine them fitting well... Next is Pharoah Sanders "Live At The East" (Impulse! Japan) -and also a pretty big for me. First I would like to note that Sanders' tenot sound is one of my favorite sounds in music. His best solos (as the on on Coltrane's "Olatunji" concert.... pheeeew). I love the man, to put it short. So I didn't hesitate spending some big $$ on this OOP, and was disappointed quite a bit. To me this sounds like flower-power find-the-peace-in-your-inner-self type of jazzy improv. Easy pretty hummable mid-to-slow tempo "spiritual jazz" themes repeated all over again (I guess you should be clapping along.. or shake your tambourine), pink volcano piano solos, some droning idian instrument at the background (tampura?), chants (of course), a little bit of groove, some catharsis saxophone screaming (but not too much)... Predictable and very dated. I was expecting some interesting interplay from two bassists (one is Cecil McBeee, the second one I don't remember) - but they just play some groovy walking lines, pretty somilar to each other - nothing particularly challenging or exciting. I really find this all much more "commercial" that later-perioud Pharoah playing mainstream (which I like). Of course, I cannot say that Sanders was just following the trend or was not sincere in what he was doing - not at all, but the result despite its obvious "spiritual" inclination sounds very shallow to me. I have a couple other Sanders' Impulse! CDs, and I think they follow more or less the same pattern as on this one (the one I remember has Leon Thomas singing "the creator has a master plan..."), except for Tauhid, which I thought was beautiful (with some amazing Henry Grimes).

I don't have this one, but I have some other post-Columbia - pre-Savant releases, and I can imagine what this one can sound like. SINOW. I also have some early Blythe stuff (on India Navigation), and it also does not exactly click with me for some reason - all the components are there, but something just does not work out. However, I would highly recommend Blythe's recent work: Arthur Blythe - "Focus" (Savant, 2002) I think here everything goes together just perfectly. A very nice band (interesting configuration: alto-tuba-marimba-drums), Blythe's sound is rich and beautiful here (and it is far from that on his earlier recordings), solid compositions (some of them are pretty old ones) with great variety - from ballads to New Orleans (and tuba sets some nice grooves here) to some (slightly) more out stuff. Blythe playing here is very authoritative and mature - you feel the man knows where he is going and is happy about himself. Marimba adds additional warmth and tuba makes at all more tight and direct, IMO. And they play "In a Sentimental Mood"! Not entirely satidfying version, but it is such a gorgeous composition that hearing it even in a non-optimal performance is a treat. Original. Savant website has some samples. Blythe released on more CD after Focus, also on Savant, and I'll be getting it in dure course as well.

Seconding this recommendation. I saw Iyer and Mahanthappa as a duo, Raw Materials, at this summer's North Sea Jazz Festival an Mahanthappa smoked - lots of shaking my head in disbelief at his playing, accompanied by slightly audible "owwww"s and "poooof"s. OK, I am persuaded

I've been curious about this CD for quite some time now! - but was not sure about how active the label still is... Ask our friends at indiejazz - they might be able to procure it for you. Or any of the musicians invovled, perhaps? I'll give it a bit more time. If I don't get my disk, I believe I'll send an e-mail to Garth Powell and Matthew Goodheart. Heey, looks like you can bu it from some market sellers at amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN%3DB...7415423-1149435

I've been curious about this CD for quite some time now! - but was not sure about how active the label still is... Ask our friends at indiejazz - they might be able to procure it for you. Or any of the musicians invovled, perhaps?

While on vacation, I was not forgetting about my Rat duties, so I was listening (attentievely, for once) to a bit of music. Will elaborate later, so just a snapshot of the horrors is to come: Kate Bush "Dreaming" Joelle Leandre / Mat Maneri / Joel Ryan / Christophe Marguet "For Flowers" (even , I would say) Old and New Dreams (ECM) Viram Jasani / Gurdev Singh / Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan "Rags, Malkauns and Megh" Beaver Harris "African Drums" Sunny Murray / Charles Gayle "Illuminators" Gene Ammons "Boss Tenor" Lovano /Osby "Friendly Fire" Michel Portal "Arivederchi le Chouartse" Pharoah Sanders "Live At The East"

While it's nice that it sold out, it's a shame that it's OOP. I would assume Gianni has about 494 copies left. Anybody in terestd in geting a copy can contact him directly: gebbia@giannigebbia.com. BTW, from Gebbia's website: "... then two new recordings at Sonoma State Music College one new solo and the second one a deep duo with Gino Robair who also played piano!". I want both, of course.

If I remember correctly, there is a really powerful and quite "out" version of Footprints on some Freeman live CD. If it is on this one, then this CD is worth hearing if only for this track alone. I think I also have a CD of Von Freeman with Chico Freeman (BIrthday at Blue Note or something like that) and I remember it being pretty boring, mainly due to Chico's playing which I find absolutely bland.

New release by great Jean-Jacques Avenel on Songlines (SACD hybrid!): http://www.songlines.com/warabacontent.html Looks like this is some African folk music-influenced thing. I'll get it! Are there any other releases under Avenel's name, btw?

I have Berne's CD called "Ornery People" - it's a duo with Michael Formanek (bass), and I find it absolutely outstanding. I also have some larger band projects (on JMT) and they seemed very dry dense and soulless to me. Now this ubu guy sent me some more of Berne - I'll listen and will report here.

They could do special limited editions: "funny rat edition: no aebi overdubs"... ubu That would be the karaoke version, right?