Д.Д.

Don't care about "art" too much. Good feedback I like. I'll check it out.

Very true. Dixon is a great musical thinker. Live in Italy discs are phenomenal. The one I didn't like too much though was Papirus Vol. 1 - Dixon's duo with Tony Oxley. DIxon's playing here consists mostly of minimalistic low farting sounds, and it is enjoyable only to an extent. From the reviewes I've read, he is doing the same thing on the recent Cecil Taylor-Oxley-DIxon trio performance on Victo.

Seriously, I'm beginning to wonder what balloon and sine wave "playing" has got to do with music and musicianship. I don't get it, so please explain, David - or is it just some kind of feeling? You guys are note ready for the music of the future. You'd better train your ears now, before you start hearing balloon and sine wave music in every shopping mole, dentist's waiting room, elevator and presedential campaign advertising. I already commited to doing a wirte-up on Judy Dunaway's "Baloon Music", and seeing such an interest from your side I will try to do it asap. But I can alredy tell you that this is suprisingly musical stuff. I haven't heard the other balloon guy - as far as I understand, he is more extreme.

Back to electro-acoustic improv. Aa couple of days ago I tried to listen to Sachiko M & Sean Meehan untitled duo CD (don't know what the label is). Sachiko M "plays" sine waves and Meehan - various percussion. Approximately 3 minutes into the first track (which was just a high-pitch drone) I started feeling quite a presure in my ears (as if inner ear was resonating) and had to turn the music off. This is the first time I am reacting this way to any music. Now if Swiss police decides to pay me a visit, I know what music I will greet them with.

Time to stock up on those Jemeel Moondoc CDs. ------------------------------------------------- I will get Brötzmann's "No Nothing", you masters of confusion. ------------------------------------------------- And yeah, this Anderson on Nessa as well. I, as David Ayers, also tend to prefer older Fred Anderson recordings, so this one can't be too bad. I think TOny also recommended it way back when...

Hmm.... I am looking forward to hearing comeback Henry Grimes, but so far I am given a choice of hearing him either with Sabir Mateen ( ) or with David Murray (not exactly , but pretty close in my book). I mean, of course I will check it out (and saxophone-bass-drums trio is a nice format), but man I would have loved to see somebody else playing saxophone (Kidd Jordan, for example).

How does the reissue solo Brötzmann (14 Love Poems) compare to No Nothing? Not sure if you also have this one, it came out in '91 on FMP. Don't have No Nothing.

couw, I don't have your majic ability to judge the music without hearing it, so I will go for it. No trial, no fail, as you know. I was not mocking the music but the way over the top review. No majic needed. It promises us the reinvention of the wheel and I'm not much for such worshipping blahblah. I listened to some shorties online just now and I am pretty underwhelmed. Sound yes, music maybe, the future? no. at least, not for me, listening to this show now... Oh, I think the review is very much tongue-in-cheak. But I am intrigued (and I have this Judy Dunaway "Balloon Music" disc the reviewer refers to, and I like it quite bit).

couw, I don't have your majic ability to judge the music without hearing it, so I will go for it. No trial, no fail, as you know.

He-he, talkins about music for balloons (from DMG newsletter): RICARDO ARIAS -- Musica Global (NurNichtNur 102 12 02) Balloons are the future of music. Only a person in the severest grips of denial could listen to these solo balloon pieces and resist the revolution. After you hear this miraculous music, you will sell your instruments and/or record collection and begin a new life of ecstatic rubbing. About six years ago I read an article in Experimental Musical Instruments written by Ricardo Arias that gave an overview of his work with balloons. Intrigued by this idea that I hadn't previously encountered, I immediately inflated a balloon, moistened my fingers and discovered for myself what this South American prophet was so passionate about. To put the matter bluntly, balloons offer a wider range of timbres and more phrasal complexity than any other known instrument; a single, ordinary balloon is like an entire orchestra in itself. Having seen Arias perform solo and with the likes of Pascal Boudreault, Hans Tammen, Jack Wright, and Michel Doneda, I can attest to his authenticity as a real-time improvisor in tune with the aesthetic zeitgeist of experimental non-idiomatic improvisation, not just a maverick of instrumental concepts and sound. This is not a minor point, as it distinguishes his work from Judy Dunaway's comparably brilliant explorations. Dunaway is the only other artist to extensively pursue balloon music thus far, and released the seminal 1998 CD "Balloon Music" on CRI. Where Dunaway's work has been distracted by esoteric investigations of pitch relationships, ditties (think Hans Reichel), electronics, compositional strategies, and other semi-obsolete concerns, Arias offers the raw, mind-blowing sound world of balloons in its naked state and most favorable context of free improvisation, especially on the first 11 pieces of this CD, the best public recorded representation of balloon music in history so far. He also includes 5 multi-tracked compositions that pose new questions about texture, density, and the boundaries of rhythmic perception for humans, without relying on any conventional structures. The middle segment of the disc is a series of 20 very brief tracks that function as a catalog of balloon techniques in the manner of Ami Yoshida's "Tiger Thrush", ideal for "shuffle" mode on a CD player. This is a monumental exposition of balloon music by a virtuoso who's spent decades refining his art, and it even comes in a damn cool metal box just like other NurNichtNur releases (e.g. Hans Tammen's solo endangered guitar disc). This is not a CD to file away with others; it's something to create a whole new section of your shelf for, conspicuously displayed close enough to your stereo to be quickly grabbed and played with obsessive frequency. Balloon music is the future. You can get with the program now or face the future onset of debilitating regret. You've been advised. - Michael Anton Parker NurNichtNur label

Paul Desmond's "Skylark" one is beautiful. Jim Hall's Concerto is pretty phenomenal as well. One my favorite Hall discs. And Joe Farrel's "Moon Germs" is at least interesting.

Leo Records' website is updated with new releases: http://www.leorecords.com/?m=catalogue&release=2004/06 Will buy them all. Very much looking forward to Wally Shoup trio.

6 months or so, if it goes the way it does now. Did you end up ordering any of the Italian stuff? ------------------------------------------- BTW, new solo Brötzm. is phenomenal. I will elaborate later, but everybody here should do himself (or herself, he-he) a favor and get it. According to (good) Steve Lake's liner notes, this is the best of 5 (!) Brötzmann's solo CDs.

Sorry Matthew, but we can't count that post toward your total. Moreover, we will actually deduct a penalty point.

Another beautiful one (and also dirt-cheap from Amazon.fr; 2003 reissue):

Got Twins (for €7 or so at Amazon.fr). It is indeed a typical red-black Atlantic Masters digipak reissue made in Germany. The sound is actually quite good - much better than Atlantic Master reissue of Free Jazz, for example. The music is phenomenal. The other one I got is this one: Great stuff! Pretty adventurous playing from everybody. Say what you will, but I hear a lot of Brötzmann in Hawkins' playing.

No, not yet. I'm guessing you would recommend this disc? Yes John, you are guessing correctly Absolutely.

Welcome dangme!

Let us know how you like it. I haven't checked any of Cecil's Leo releases yet. Carlos Ward is one of my favorite alto saxophone players (he also plays some mean flute... and is an excellent composer). He is excellent on two live discs he recorded with Ed Blackwell on Enja, and on duo reocrd with Karl Berger.

I would have loved to buy from Okka (I try to buy either from artists or labels directly), but they don't accpet neither CCs not PayPal. The guys (guy? - I assume Okka is also a one-man company, as most of them...) are stuck in XX century! Talking about Okka, I assume everybody here (particularly Back Together... fans) already purchased Fred Anderson / Steve McCalls Vintage Duets?

I think I have this one. Insect music with two acoustic guitars. Very nice. In general, Victo is a very good label.

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.