Д.Д.

Is it DA SHIT or what?!?!?!?!

I contacted Frank Gratkowski directly, and he said that he does not have any copies left but would burn me a CDR if Georg Gräwe would agree. Today I received a message with an apology from Frank, saying that Gräwe is against burning a CDR! Amazing.

No for Thesis. Ubu, let me know what you think of Maneri/Shipp. Now, I wouldn't mind some Derek Bailey recommendations - I don't think I have anything by him in my collection. Now, thinking of this, I think I have a couple of CDs with Bailey, but probably not the most "representative" ones. I remember enjoying a lot this one: I also saw him live in duo with Susie Ibarra, and was underwhelmed by both - uninspired noodling with very little listening to each other.

I also got the Orchester 33 1/3 disc, and enjoyed it a lot - I will post my impressions of it in due course. John, Herbie Hancock's contribution is actually the least interesting part of this great Last Exit album Latge, thanks for recommendation on Morris - I might check Illuminate out. The only problem is that I am not a particularly big fan of Rob Brown and William Parker either, so my hope is only on Jackson Krall

From what I've heard, no.

I haven't. I will most likely skip the Leo one, since Joe Morris plays guitar on it, but I might eventually pick up the one on Riti, since Morris plays bass there (and surprisingly, he is a very reserved bass player), and I am curious to hear what Lantner will sound like with bass and drums.

Listened to it today for the first time, and liked it quite a bit. It does get pretty dense and directionless at times (and at 70+ minutes the CD is a probably tad too long), but overall I find the musicancip and (particularly) interplay to be on a very high level, keeping me interested most of the time. The music is very much in the academic tradition of the XX century (2nd Viennese school, etc.), to my ear. And I like it.

Totally agree. His playing on Dissonant Characters is probably the most "direct" and powerful of his that I'ver heard. Eskelin reminds me Dewey Redman quite a bit here. And Bennink is of course as Bennink as you can imagine. I saw this duo live a couple of months ago, and the concert was pretty weak compared to recording (which is also a live recording). I have only a couple of their releases - Köglmann's "Venus in Transit" and Andreas Willer's tribute to Jimmy Giuffre (with Paul Bley, forgot the title). Both are pretty good, but not outstanding. I am really interested in checking out John Lindberg (I have his The Catbird Sings with Andrew Cyrille, Larry Ochs and Wadada Leo Smith on Black Saint (2000) and it is fantastic) and Jerry Hemingway releases. Regarding Maneris, I frankly have a bit of a problem with papa Joe's music - it sounds very dry and ...boring at times. Also, his discs sound quite the same to me. I like Hats more than his other releases (I also have an ECM one with Mat and Barre Phillips, and Leo one with Mat plus bass and drums) - I think they are more lively and dynamic, probably to some extent due to Ed Schuller's precence. Mat Maneri is another story. His hatOLOGY duo with Matthew Shipp (Gravitational Systems) is beautiful - lyrical and very melodic, and so is his trio Fever Bed on Leo Lab, which is quite different though. Maneri is bluesy(different from his microtonal sound with papa Joe), hinting a lot at tradition (Stuff Smith, really). Ed Schuller is also quite in tradition - beautiful woody sound, "walking" in time most of the time actually. Drummer Randy Peterson is probably the most "out" here, and is quite aggressive (compared to relaxed Manery and Schuller) but he creates a nice interactive conflict. My only complaint is that drums are a bit too upfront in the mix, but otherwise it's great great music, and probably the best I heard from Manery so far. I also have Maneri trio's So What? (hatOLOGY), but I remember being not quite happy about it. I've read a lot of rave reviews of Maneri's recent Of Consequence on Leo, so this is the one by Maneri I'll be getting next. Thinking about it, I am pretty sure I have some other Mat's stuff in my collection, but don't remember it. Bad.

Thanks to couw for heads up - got Multiplication tble from amazon.de market seller. There seem to be more copies available there...

Regarding Hats - anybody can help with finding Matthew Shipp Trio, "The Multiplication Table"? Shipp redeemed himself completely in my eyes by an excellent duo with Mat Maneri (also on hatOLOGY, forgot the title), which reminds me of Prokofiev violin/piano sonatas, so I am catching up on the rest of Shipp's hats... And I'm also still looking for Clusone 3 "Rara Avis"...

"Fascinating" is the right word. It is indeed like a good novel that you just have to read tilll the end once you've started. I zthink I was listening to this disc for a week without listening to anything else - really mesmerizing music. This disc prompted me to look for more Zingaro (who is probably my favorite violinist now). I highly recommend Knits on Numerica label, and really stunning Hauts Plateaux - a duo with excellent alto- and baritone saxophonist Duanik Lazro, on Potlatch label.

Sad to hear about Malachi Favors. I saw him with AEC last spring. The concert was not entirely successful, but there is something about these guys - they project love and share something very personal with you, so loosing one of them is like loosing somebody you know personally. I also saw one of the Lester's last concerts (with Brass Fantasy), just 10 days before his death. Lester looked very frail and spent most of the time seeting in the chair in the middle of the scene, listening. He had these three super-muscular trumpeters in the band doing a lot of pirotechnical solos, but each time he played (and he didn't play that much - and when he did it, was something very short and simple), he created a lot of real fragile beauty. They also performed "If you Don't Know Me By Now", and Lester came up to the microphone and recited with sarcasm - "If you don't know me buy now... well, it might be too late". After the concert, all musicians of the "Fantasy" looked somehow exhausted (not in a positive, self-satidfied type of way) and desoriented. It was a beautiful but sad event.

Thanks Nate. Now, where the fuck can I find it...

Ubu, Beins / Pfleiderer / Wilson "Yarbles" is absolutely fantastic. Never heard Pfleiderer before... I am curious what your opinion will be. Nate, I was trying to find this one: but couldn't see it mentioned anywhere (including RANDOM ACOUSTICS website). Are you sure this is the way it is called? And yeah, new Cecil on FMP is not Da Shit. Not bad either, but not Da Shit, definitely. Guitarist seems to be a bit out of place. Nice to hear Cyrille with CT, though. However, new Kowald Duos (part 2) on FMP is mind-blowing. Such a versatile musician!

Nice to see you here, shrugs. Hope you will be contributing more to making it even longer.

Sorry for confusion, gentlemen. The info regarding the sale is from the Leo Christmas mail newsletter that I received only today. I didn't check the dates. In general, Leo has promotion on the latest batch of releases - buy 3 get 1 free, buy 4 - get 2 free.

I couldn't find anything about this sale on their website. That's a very special sale for very special friends, Hans.

LEO RECORDS has sale on all available Leo Lab titles 1-2 CDs - £4 each 3-4 CDs - £5 each 5-6 CDs - £4.50 each >7 CDs - £4 each Postage: UK - 0.30£ per CD, Europe - £0.50 per CD, elsewhere - £0.75 per CD. As a reminder, 29 Leo Lab titles are available at BROINC for $3 each (plus shipping). Despite my buying freeze (moderatly successful so far), I might... probably... just a little.

Ubu, I have most of the earlier hatOLOGYs (up till #60), including Beins (but haven't listened to it yet) Walin is excellent indeed. Well, vast majority of the Hats (and of hat[now]ARTs, by the way) is excellent.

Just curious - how often do the concerts of good improvised music take place in Buffalo or Syracuse?

up for others. I am enjoying the shit out of this one. Time to check this thread started by Muskrat That's some exilirating stuff indeed.

Anybody heard this? Looks interesting... And this one too...

Got the new Cecil FMP release - will report soon. Regariding Schweizer, I haven't heard anthing by her yet

Da Shit indeed. I suggest keeping bringing this up until all the numerous OTHERS on this thread buy it.