Д.Д.

It took quite a while for me to "get" this disc, primarily due to Bergman. This is the only disc of his that I have and I really had to work a bit to apreciate its beauty. I don't have too much either - lethargic (and incredibly boring, IMO) solo piano Meditations (Tzadik) and fast furious (and incredibly boring, IMO) duo with Evan Parker (Black Saint).

Cannot get Bergman. Get bored every time I try to listen to him. Sounds random and unstructured to me (he is sometimes compared to Cecil, but Cecil to me sounds totally opposite - there is a great degree of logics and structure in place). --------------------------------------------------------- Drske would have probably sounded great with Jaki Byard...

This is a beautiful one. IN general Oliva is a very interesting pianist - he has a nice trio (reinterpretation of the mksuic of Bill Evans) on Owl. I am also interested about his Tristano duo with another piranist (forgot the name) on Emouvance. Also in this series, there is a very lyrical solo Steve Kühn. These CDs are available as indivudual CDs outside of the box (I got mine from themusicreource, I think).

This on is probably the best: SunRa covers a lot of ground here - from touching reading of standards to fairly free pieces. All played with humor, melodism and great imagination. The sound is not perfect though. It's on Leo Records.

Have you heard any of his earlier solo discs? The "new" one was actually recorded in 1984. Still haven't listened to it.

Let us know what you think of this one. I have ambiguos feelings about it. I think Braxton is playig beautifully, but I find Blake playing simply annoying and totally non-cooperative.

I don't have this oner, but I have The Catbird Sings(Black Saint) by the same band, and it is excellent. I had a feeling there is quite a bit of blowing though (as opposed to written material). Ochs is a great musician indeed. ----------------------------------------------- Got the new solo Brötzm. on FMP. Will report later.

I don't, but it seems some think her intonation sucks. NOT ME THOUGH! Don't you mistake me for "some"! Or you will be immediately de-capitated by my royal troops! ubu I am deifinitely this very some. Sheila Jordan ruins this Rudd disc for me (and I am not a vocal-hater in general, as other some here). I will listen to it again (I bumped upon this CD recently, so why not listen to it - who knows when I find it next time?). Wow, give it another listen! I think that Sheila Jordan's rendition her of "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" is one of the most haunting jazz vocal performances ever! Come on boys, what the fuck, is this some sort of a dadaist joke? You mean you really like it?!?!? I spent twenty fucking minutes looking for it, and now I am listening and just hate it. Masochist I am, I will listen till the end, but this will be the last time in foreseable future. So here we go, first track, "What Are You Doing for the Rest of Your Life". Jordan sounds to me like a middle-aged alcoholic fairy, who already lost all her majic abilities, but still tries to impress. Not enough character to be a witch either. Horrible intonation, no ideas (just repeating the same (bad) licks all the time), and just no range (we are not into chops here of course, but come on, some minimal level of technical ability should be there). All what's missing is substituted with cheapo pseudo-profound "meaning" ("I cannot really sing, but I feel it very very deep"). Some highlites of the first track: 1'30'' - low notes (I understandm this is some sortt of interplay with Rudd's trombone) - she can't hit them ... "that you spend it with meeeeeeeeee" - sure, I will 2'00'' - "nickels and dimezzzzzz" - oh, this zzzzzz really REALLY emphasizes it (it will be repeated then in every subsequent line, so that you get a point) 2'24'' - thse wavering tones (is this an ENglish word? does it mean what I want to say? - I am so annoyed I am forgetting my English) "with meEeEeE" - come on, you can't do it, you don't have a voice for it, please. Also will be repeated IN ABSOLUTELY THE SAME WAY several times throuhg the song. 5'01'' And the best one for the very end - totally out of tune "with youOUouOUouOU". With me? Fuck... Now on "Maiden Voyage".. oh, solo... oho.. two ideas - let's bring them to absurd repeating them over and over...and all with such pathos and bombast... this one is actually better, but she just does not have the capacity to relise it. All this is nicely underscored by Altschul's high school band type of umtsa-umtsa drumming (5'06'') - is he in a sabotage mood (I wouldn't be surpirised)?... hey nice piano solo - just like 10,000 other piano solos recorded in the 60s... I see that everybody shines on this session... And where is Rudd by the way? Is he rolling on a floor laughing? Excused himself to the restroom? I have to read liner notes... they should explain what's going on... fuck, this is really bad.. Friends, I can't continue, I am sorry. This is one of the worst things I've heard over the last year. Oh, here we have the third track, Rudd is back... thanks. And singing, sure. Well, you can't do much worse than Sheila, so go ahead. Enough.

Thanks Alan. I actually will check it out.

I agree. It opens very strongly, but starting from second track it sets in the safe, pretty formulaic 60s advanced hardbop territory. In general, I have a bit of a problem with Oliver Lake. He is an excellent musician, but somehow I get tired of listening to him. Listening to CDs with Lake's participation (and I have quite a few of them) always seem to follow the same scenario: I totally enjoy the first couple of tracks, next two leave me indifferent, and by the second half I cannot listen to it anymore. I don't know what it is about Lake that I don't like (or rather like, but in limited amount)... Although there is one Lake CD that I am never tired of listening to - it is actually one of my favorite improv. CDs ever - Heavy Spirits (Black Lion), one Lake's earliest recordings. Masterpiece.

Listened to it again. Beautiful, beautiful stuff. Inspired and inspiring. Particular for altoist Alan Chase who brings a dose of lyricism to this quite intense performance. Louise Belongesis totally burns on tenor. Prima Materia also recorded a version of Ayler's Bells (also on Knitting Factory) - I have to get it.

Just sound, you know. Just any sound in itself in the right time, even without any specific context can be beautiful. At least that's the way I am interested in seeing it now. Well, David, I think you're ready to go to the next stage of your musical evolution, who will consit in listening exclusivily to E.A.I. Let us know when you will definitely pass the line, baby! P.L.M., my firend, I thing I will hang in the "jazz universe" for just a bit more... at least until I start really appreciating Noah Rosen's music ( ) - only after that I will feel I am ready for my next evolutionery step.

Friends, I was listening to Scott Fields Ensemble "48 Motives" (Cadence, 1996). Powerful stuff. I don't think I've heard a lot of music like this. Here is the combo: Geoff Brady ... percussion Marilyn Crispell ... piano Vincent Davis ... percussion Stephen Dembski ... conductor Scott Fields ... nylon-string guitar Joseph Jarman ... alto saxophone John Padden ... contrabass Hans Sturm ... contrabass Matt Turner ... violoncello I understand there is some mighty scientific compositional/imporvisational concept behind all that (which is illistrated by some diabolic scheme on the cover which makes Braxton little symbols look like they are childrens' drawings... which they probably are), but if it makes you think (with a lottle help of this manic AMG review) that this is some sort of ugly dry academic BOulez/WEbern type of stuff (as I thought), then you would be surprised - this is some very listenable even a bit lyrical stuff with some constant forward motion and very interesting shift of themes/moods (that's what conductors are for!). No fire-breathing blowing as such, but thoughtful careful interplay. Go for it. Scott Fields has a very nice website, btw: http://www.scottfields.com/

Good stuff. I am pretty sure I have this saxophone guy somewhere. Did an AMG search on Manfred Herring and found the following album. Now how can you possibly ignore an album titled like this? hey, the Ulrich Gumpert Workshop Band! Is it good? And is it available on CD by chance?

Details on new Brötzmann FMP release: http://www.fmp-online.de/fmpcds/14_LOVE_PO...n_e_fmp_125.htm

Good stuff. I am pretty sure I have this saxophone guy somewhere. Did an AMG search on Manfred Herring and found the following album. Now how can you possibly ignore an album titled like this?

What label is it on?

I did a quick search and couldn't find any recordings by him after 1969. It is a shame that he didn't record more. The Frank Wright quartet (unpretenciously called Center of the Wolrd) I was talking about recorded in 1972: AMG link. A really nice band. brownie or P.L.M. could have probably seen them live since they were pretty active in Europe in early '70s.

LOVE IT! Me to! Mohammed Ali is Rashied's brother, and I think he was equally impresive (he later played with Frank Wright's band (Wright, Ali, Bobby Few, Alan Silva) - some really scary fire music stuff, btw). What happened to him later?

Thanks John! Good stuff! Did you upload that from an LP? Is there... ahem... a side B? ...With every one of these LPs I find, there are new names added to the long list of GDR jazz musicians. These people never cease to amaze me. In spite of all the restrictions, this must have been a lively scene. Good stuff. couw, don't overestimate the restictions communist regimes imposed on music. They were not that severe, really. Musicians playing the music that didn't work well with the party line were ignored, but not persecuted. Most of those horror stories about ruthless communist machine crashing heroic rebel free jazz musisians with all its nuclear and ideological power are just legends.

Talking about Russian improv. music, check out the MP3 from Sergey Letov's website: http://www.letov.ru/MP3.html. Letov is a monster baritonist, and he has a a four-reed band (Sax Mafia) which included Yuri Yaremtchuk.

Got this one. On a first (unattentive and incomplete) listen sounds like a gooy typical bluesy early '70s fire music blow out. It is only 35 minutes indeed. Sound quality is pretty decent. I will listen again fo course and will repor in greater detail. Also, got new Andrew Cyrille / Anthony Braxton duo CD on Intakt. Vol. I only so far. Good stuff. Braxton is very relaxed (he again plays all possible reed instruments here) and Cyrille does some wonders with drum set. Very nice interview with Cyrile in the liners (Vol. II has Braxton's interview). Looking forward to VOl II. And I finally got a bit of Rat. This one: and it is fantastic indeed. And excellent sound quality!

I am very curious abut this one. Chadbourne is a fantastic musician (and a very entertainig writer, and good music critic), but he has occasional lapses of taste meking some of his work pretty unlistenable.

I guess you mean Yaremchuk. He is on quite a few recordings, but they are not particularly well distributed (even in Russia and his native Ukraine). Vapirov is not on Closed Mountains. Despite that, he is a very talented guy. His records are much mroe easy to locate since he has his own little label and website: http://www.vsjf.com/index-ava.htm I would enocurage you to check out the sound samples.

I have an absolutely different impression - I found this disc to be an example of excellent interplay, and the sound quality while not outstanding, is more than adequate for me.