Д.Д.

Listened to Y? only, and it's terrific indeed. Fascinating listen!

Hey Tony, how is catching up with Leo Lab stuff going? I am through 40% of the CDs at best, but so far I've been pleased with most of them. Well-spent $3 per CD. I am listening now for the first time to John Bickerton's "Shadow Boxes" and I am very, very impressed. Andrew Hill-inlfluenced for sure, but still a truly original voice - melodic, angular, impressionistic. Clever. Excellent support from Rashid Bakr on drums and Matthew Heyner on bass. Together with Pandelis Karayorgis, this might be one of the most interesting new piano trio records I've heardin the last years. Very impressed.

Of course I did. Buying more is easy - buying less is much more difficult. I listened to all of them except "Evan Parker + many people" one. I will have to listen to them again to form an opinion, but so far they all sounded very interesting. After I absorb them, I will display my bad reviewing skills here. I got True muze discs directly from Vlatko Kuchan, the co-owner of True Muze - I will check with him what the plans for the label are. Eremite Goldstein should be available from themusicresource. I am waiting for my copy to arrive (this was before my buying freeze). I also got a copy of Goldstein's disc on XI, but haven't listened to it yet. I checked some Penumbra releaases at AMG, and some of them have very positive reviews from Francois Couturier, who I tend to trust. I guess I will give Penumbra a try...

This one looks interesting: PENUMBRA

Yeah, I suspected it would be too "rockish" for your tastes. I like Misterka's stuff quite a bit. Anyway, I think you would enjoy Uehlinger's "Alchemusic" - no rock influences here (just biochemistry). Also I know you are a big fan of solo bagpipe music, so you can't miss Matthew Welch's "Hag at the Curn" (even if it does not sound like bagpipes on half of the tracks). And Zord's stuff is something else indeed (did you get Pasador Jomel from Limited Sedition? - think along this lines, but on acoustic bass). And all these three releases, that you and your neighbours will undoubtedly enjoy, are available for $20 ppd! What's the opionion on True Muze? I enjoyed the Godlstein thing a lot -ahven't listened to other discs yet.

What's the word on this one: Bergman-Braxton-Brötzmann "Eight by Three" Honorable 1 1/2 stars by AMG! I am not a fan of Borah Bergman myself, but is it really that bad?

Frode Gjerstad? He-he.. HOW ABOUT THIS LITTLE SUCKER? Released in 2003 on Splasc(H). Amazing stuff (surprise, surprise). That's the only Gjerstad I have (and the most lyrical Brötzmann I've heard to date).

Downtown music gallery has a nice sale on a lot of items, including a bunch of Knitting Factory releases. Here: http://downtownmusicgallery.com/Searching/...rch.cgi#results

Talking about Newsonic, check this mp3 out: http://newsonic.com/mp3/superbowlsunday.mp3 Exilirating! But the one I liked the most so far is Kevin Uehlinger's "Alchemusic", released this year (no mp3s, so you'll have to trust my word). Solo piano (mostly) - beautiful and original. In 10 years, when I catch up with all 2003 releases, this might well make the top-whatever list. Hope Newsonic stays afloat.

I fully agree. Thanks for the recommendations but I'm not buying music at the moment as I recently made a rather large purchase... Come on Tony, $50 won't change much. And then $70 more for True Muze... And $60 more for Newsonic... And $40 more for Silkheart... And $70 more for HatHut... And $50 more for Intakt... And $40 more for Nuscope...

Auand is owned by Marco Valente. I have the first four CDs and was very impressed by them. Tony, I do believe the music is innovative - in a gentle way - just as the Alphea duo, something is there - something that you haven't heard anywhere else. In any case - innovativ/non-innovative, it does not matter - the label is great. GET THESE CDs! Marco will probably give you a discount off a big order. He also has a comprehensive knowledge of the Italian jazz, and he will give you some Itlaian jazz recommendations. If you are ordering from jazzos, and want to explore some good stuff but are concerned about $, go to the bargain section and select the following items: Battaglia Stefano, Oxley Tony - Explore (Splasc(h) h304) Mazzon Guido, Petrin Umberto - Other line (Splasc(h) h317) I believe both of these are masterpieces.

I have it, and it's very good, as I already mentioned up somewhere. It is a double CD, so it's a bit pricey. I don't think Ayler is one of the best labesl out there - they and Eremite specialise in excellent classical '60s-'70s American-style free jazz, but we are returning to the "exciting" question of what's innovation and what's not. Here's a innovative label for you: http://www.auand.com

ubu, Brötzmann broadcast sounds great - but I don't have a radio. Please record this one!

This is a book of Brötzmann's paintings with a bonus CD with just 12 minutes of music (the earliest Brötzmann on record) and a videos from the early 60s. I haven't heard it (haven't seen it), but somehow I doubt thisis the most essential Brötzmann recording out there. If you are starting with Brötzmann, I would recommend: Little Birds Have Fast Hearts (FMP) Live at Nefertiti (Ayler)

Anybody knows about this label: Graund Fault? Seems like some noise/musique concrete stuff. I can't resist the temptation of $5 per CD (including shipping, it seems)...

Just received the long-awaited Anthony Braxton / Sonny Simmons sextet CD (released on now defunct parallactic) from the http://downtownmusicgallery.com/ They seem to have only 100 copies of it.

Yes, if only for the version of the McLaughlin piece! You might get it at www.discplus.ch (I was impressed by their sevices) or Eskelin himself.

One Great Day is excellent, although I atill would probably rate Kulak higher. For Weil, I like his music. I have this Zwerin disc and I think it's very interesting. I also have two more good discs of Weil music: Music From the Threepenny Opera (Polygram) by Joachim Kühn trio (with Humair and Jenny-Clark): AMG review Tethered Moon play Kurt Weil (JMT) by Masabumi Kikuchi trio (with Peacock and Motian): AMG review The latter one is OOP, but will probably be eventually reiussued on Winter & Winter. Tony, "Pigs" are excellent (and beautifully recorded and packaged). I'll listen to the disc again and will elaborate later.

Looking through Gerry Hemingway's website, I stumbled upon this little Dutch label with all usual suspects: DATA. Solo Bennink... "replay at maximum level"... hmmm... I won't be able to resist

Very very OOP Eskelin - Parkins - Black "One Great Day" (hatOLOGY 502) is available from individual sellers at amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/tg/detail...7397700-8874945

ubu - I listened to both Steamboat and Ortega - quite attentively, so I can share my thoughts. Frankly, I was not particularly impressed by neither of them. Steamboat sounds to me like a soundtrack to a cheap horror movie without much happening. Man, if you like this you really should check out some good heavy metal and/or noise and/or drone music - it will have everything that Steamboat tries to achieve (at least as I see it) without success. I'll send you some CD-Rs. Ortega was a huge disappointment compared to Scattered Clouds (hatOLOGY). First of all, it sounds VERY much like Charles Lloyd on the latest ECMs (with an American band), but without Lloyd's melodies and without good sidemen. Compositions sound to me very formulaic (particularly the ones written by Ortega's wife) - as if they are written according to some "Jazz composition for dummies" book, and extremely boring (I was more or less OK only with one composition - the one before last, I think it's by Ortega himself). Sidemen are blandissimo (I think bassist is trying some sort of an OK solo somewhere), with piano being particularly annoying - 0 thinking, jut going through the motions. Ortega's playing is very very safe - no hint at any search or explaration (you get a lot of this in Scattered Clouds - sometimes it works, sometimes it does not - but it is music where musicians stretch themselves - while here it is dumbingly comfortable). His sound is nice, but as I mentioned a lot Lloyd-like (even though he plays alto), to a degree of intentioanl imitation, I would say. Overall, I get a feeling that the band was playing in a restaurant and asked by the owner to play in way that the customers are by no means disturbed. Ubu, believe me, Ortega is really capable of much more. I hope you don't mind me being blunt about the music - I guess that this is what we are expecting here: an open dialogue about music. I am looking forward to hearing about your impressions of Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar. But, it really requires several listens before it starts being absorbed. And the third disc is the best one, so don't even think of posting your impressions before listening to all of them !

Sure, I have it and it's fantastic - but I rather attribute it to excellent playing of the saxophone guy (forgot the name) and Hamid Drake. I've heard a lot of nice things of "Pink Cadillac" - I'll check it out! Regarding Dennis Charles, I really enjoyed his duo disc with Billy Bang on hatOLOGY called Bangception. I have 6-7 CDs with Bang, all good, but this one contains probably his best playing I've heard.

John, let us know what you think of these. As I mentioned, I find Brötzmann's "Live at Nefertiti" to be one of his best albums. I think I also have this William Parker's Eremite CD, but haven't listened to it yet - time to do so. I just listened to Parker's "O'Neal's Porch" (on Aum Fidelity) (which is considered by many to be Parker's best album) and found it quite annoying - don't know exactly why. Everything is there - good melodies, good playing, groovy, swinging, etc. But it leaves some sterile artificial feeling. And Rob Brown sounds very Jackie McLean to me. And I don't like Parker's boom-boom style. I would have never had so many CDs with Parker in my collection if he hadn't had some unexplainable ability to stimulate other muscians to very inspired playing (and I can't exactly understand how, since I find his playing unsupportive, at best). Jemeel Moondoc - I have only his excellent Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys (also on Eremite). ubu, the other one of Bley-Parker-Phillips trio on ECM is called Time Will Tell and I haven't heard it. Happy New Year everybody!

According to AMG, Black has only two releases under his name, both on Winter & Winter (another lable I need to explore -I have only Fred Frith/Ensemble Modern disc and it's fantastic). I don't have any of them. If you like Shepik and Black, you will probbaly HAVE to get the Pachora stuff on Knitting Factory. Ho-ho.

Of Tiny Bell I have only the Songlines CD - I think it's interesting (and Shepik and Black are fantastic on it), but I don't like Douglas' playing that much.