Д.Д.

Listened to Brötzmann's Nipples for the first time today. Oh yeah.

This one should be available at Clean Feed in a couple of weeks: Can't be too bad

Mengelberg-Douglas concert was fantastic. After the concert had a brief conversartion with Anthony Braxton who will perform solo (on alto) tomorrow (and I will ave to miss it - fuck!). Very sweet guy; thanked me profoundly for being a fan of his music. Told me that the performance of GTM by 55 musicians (performed at the hockey ring) recorded a year ago will be released on DVD in 2004 or 2005. Should be something scary.

Saw Gerry Hemingway quartet yeasterday - Gerry on drums, Ellery Eskelin on o-ho-ho, Herb Robertson on trumpet and Mark Helias on bass (acoustic and bass-guitar) - quite good although not outstanding: clever a bit funky free bop. Eskelin was good - pensive and soft, and Robertson was a bit overblowing. Helias-Hemingway section is a pleasure to listen to - totaly attuned to each other (well, they've been playing for 20 years now). Had quite a long conversation with musicians after the concert - all are nice guys. Eskelin was telling me about his new Parkins-Black-Eskelin recording which is about to be released; Robertson told me that Stefan Winter (Winter & Winter label owner) has comissioned him to write a work for singers and viola-da-gambas and he was totally confused about how to go about it all. He is also participating in new Barry Guy 'large band' recording (which will be released on Intakt), and said that it's enormously hard stuff to play. We also discussed the CIMP sound (Herb records a lot for them), he-he... All of them seemed to be pretty upset abut their CDs going OOP (particularly Gerry, who has most of his catalog OOP by now). Gerry said that Hat will reissue at least one of his HatArt records - but he really wants to see them all reissued as a 4-CD box. The quartet that was performing recorded some material and will releases it this year (on Clean Feed, I think). Gerry also mentioned, that Between-the-Lines label is not doing too well financially. Gerry also mentioned that his Erstwhile disc with Tom Lehn - Tom & Gerry is about to go OOP. I already mentioned it somewhere here - this is a masterpiece, a truly groub-breaking record, so grab it asap. I bought some CDs: 1. Gerry Hemingway Quartet - "Devil's Paradise" (Clean Feed). 2. Mark Helias Open Loose - "Verbs of Will" (Radio Legs) (after the concert Gerry and Ellery were standing behind the table selling CDs, Mark came up to them and said: "Push push my stuff, guys!", and was very surprised when Gerry told him they already had sold one (to me). 3. Thomas Lehn & Gerry Hemingway - "Fire Works" (Umbrella). 4. Gerry Hemingway Quartet - "Johnny's Corner Song" (Auricle) - this is a quartet with Robin Eubanks on trombone. Will listen and report here. Musicians' websites: http://www.gerryhemingway.com http://markhelias.com http://home.earthlink.net/~eskelin/

David S. Ware

I orderd most of them from Bill Smith directly, but haven't heard back (and my credit card hasn't been charged).

I assume you can get it from Moers directly: http://www.moers-music.com

Not a Crispell fan... and actually not sure how good she would sound with Anderson. Of 5-6 Fred Anderson CDs I have, Vintage Duets is my favorite, by far. Just retirned from Mark Ducret's "Qui Parle?" Band concert - boring...

Hans, have you heard Vintage Duets? - Fred Anderson / Steve McCall duo recording on Okka - there MCCall is perfectly complimetary to Anderson's playing.

John B, I'm glad you liked the Closed Mountains stuff. Let us know what you think of the second disc. P.L.M., I am sad to hear about Bley's condition - he is one of the giants. Of the discs you listed, I don't think I have any, although I know all the artists. I frankly cannot stand Roland Kirk now - I find his music extremely superficial and secondary. I ttried listening to some of Kirk's stuff recently (and I havbe quite a lot of it, since I was a fan when I just started listening to improvised music), but got irritated aftwer a couple of minutes... Weston I like quite a bit - particularly his solo stuff (the one on Owl (Afrikan Nites (?) is beatiful). I like this down to earht bluesy thing. Ivo Perelman is a recent discovery (I have got only his trio disc on Boxholder with Wilber Morris and a drummer - see somewhere above), and I will definitely be getting more of his music - what a terrific tenor sound (he HAS to record something with Brötzmann). Has anybody heard his recording with Scalvis, by the way (it's on Leo)? Frode Gjerstad... it's good to know that he has one more recording with Brötzmann - the one I have (Sharp Knives Cut Deeper (on Splasc(H), 2003) is ) Is this a live recording (Cadence seems to release a lot of those)? Haaz & Company looks great on paper. Johnny Dyani is one of my favorite bassists ever... is he playing with Brötzmann here? Let us know your impressions. And regarding Mujician (or any music) being edited for CDs - fuck, I hate this. If it does not fit, make a double CD (it really does not cost that much more) or put it as a bonus on other CD... A horrendous move from an artistic standpoint, and a truly stupid one from marketing: the sales of this sort of music are not affected that much by the prices (i.e. if the price of a double CD is higher than that of a single). And yeah, I also will probably see Mengelberg with Douglas this weekend. I am a bit apprehensive, though - I like Mengelberg a lot, but Douglas somehow annoys me...

I very well might, but more on a retrospective level - the concert here is on the next day after the one in Zürich.

I see that you keep preparing yourself for the 10-CD Feel Trio box. He-he. Did I mention that Oxley is my favorite drummer?

Isn't this the one that was re-released on hatOLOGY?

I will try to see Gerry Hemingway live this weekend! With Eskelin, Reobertson and Helias - whoa!! ubu, you remember they are coming your way (Rotafabrik) April 1st?

Well, it sure isn't me. Well, then it must be Chaney, who obviously took time off from posting especialy to concentrate on searching for Rara Avis

OK, now tell me - who snapped the copy of the Rara Avis from the Offering forum?!?!? It is one of you, I know that

I've been avoiding buying aby of the OOP hatARTs, but this one is porbably very unlikely to be ever reissued, so I think I'll go for it...

Totally agree! What I really what to hear one day is the following trio (live, preferably): Sclavis - Chevillon - some fast and "propulsive" drummer (Roy Haynes type...). Chevillon definitely can push Sclavis to extremes, and having the right drummer would probably give such a trio a more aggressive feel that I miss in (nice, nonetheless) Sclavis-Texier-Romano trio.

Regarding Gebbia, I agree that Arcana Major is by far his strongest work (form what I've heard), and Gebbia's ensemble works are not entirely successful (also, from what I've heard). We'll see what his next disc will be like (it's a trio with (a very good) percussionist Garth Powell, who can be heard with Gebbia on People in Motion (Rastascan) and pianist Matthew Goodheart (who I don't know, but his discs have very positive reviews at AMG: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&u...=B9gq6g4gmtv3z). The disc will be released on Evander) P.L.M., I cannot say that I am too knowledgeable about Braxton's solo work - I have his solo on Leo (Milano, I think), which I enjoyed a lot and his 2-CD solo on Parallactic which I haven't listened to yet. I still have to get For Alto. In any case I would have porblems comparing the two - I think they are too different (actually, comparing any two creative musicians is a pretty thankless and useless task, IMO). Ubu, McPhee's "Tenor and Fallen Angels" is incredible to my mind - I would be interested in hearing your opinion.

Friends, I am in Berlin now, and I saw a very much OOP Paul Dunmall's "Ghostly Thoughts" (hatOLOGY) here in a store (€20). Anybody interested (Hans, probably?). I quite like this disc. Nailed is terrific, and is probably my favorite Evan Parker on record. I listened to Monoceros, btw, and I have somewhat mixed feelings about it - Parker's technique is nothing short of stunning here, and he is much more diverse than he is now in his soprano playing. But still, it is pretty monotonous, however you look at it. ubu, Von Schlippenbach is the man - I immensely enjoyed his duo record with Tony Oxley (my favorite drummer) - it is also on FMP, but I forgot what it's called. I am looking forward to his 3-CD Monk set on Intakt. ubu, these are nice choices (although I haven't heard any of them, he-he). Dennis Gonzalez is an excellent trumpeter and a very distinct conposer. And he's been quite active recently (after a decade-long hiatus) - check his website at www.dennisgonzalez.com My favorite disc of his is Catechesis (on Music & Arts) - it's with a British band - Elton Dean, Keith Tippett (oh yes), Louis Moholo and others. Beatiful free-bop compositions and excellent playing from everybody. His last CD on Entropy Stereo (forgot the title) is also very very good (it's with Malachi Favors, btw), if slightly more "conventional". Is Stefan the one with Charles Brakeen on alto? If yes, you are in for a real treat - Brakeen was a wonderful musician with sound and style completely of his own...

O-ho-ho, I recognize this writing style!!! Great to see you here!

Hope everything's OK. Looking forward to "seeing" you back here.

Is this the one ubu was raving about way back when (up?)? I need to check some Schweizer stuff.

Oh yes.

Hey, my version of the Funny Rat thread is only 23 pages long! This might be Jim Dye's work...