Д.Д.

Nah let’s not. Let’s call it beautiful music. You talk like you are talking facts and your not. Also there’s not a really hard definition of creativity so yeah you can stretch that a lot. Ah and what if she’s not creative? Is still don’t give a damn. I still enjoy it, because to me it’s still beautiful music. To met it’s dark, atmospheric and melancholic and I like it a lot. Well, I would not have put "IMHO" if I thought I was stating a fact. I was just referring to your use of the word "creative" to describe ECM. As far as I am concerned (IMHO, you see), most of ECMs are the exact opposite of creative. This is formulaic recessed background music with the remaining faint signs of life sucked out of it by horrible post-production. I am actually quite comfortable making such a generalization because most of the ECM productions sound very uniform. There are a few exceptions, of course. There is a lot of more "creative" (and yes, there is actually a definition for every English word, the simple Google one "relating to or involving the use of the imagination or original ideas to create something" is just fine) - and better sounding - music released by other, much less known, labels (this is not a fact, this is IMHO as well). In somewhat similar aesthetic, there is nuscope label, for example:

Yeah, a good illustration of nauseating ECM blandness, this one. It is very cute, let's call it that. Calling it creative would be a very liberal stretch of a definition, IMHO. But ECM New Series actually does have some interesting releases (among the tepidness of endless Pärts and Kanchelis and Silvestrovs), such as this one, for example:

Coltrane and Giuffre were mastered from the original ORF recordings, not sure about Aylers but there is a mention that the release is authorized by his estate, perhaps there was some agreement with ESP Disk regarding source material for CD mastering. For Parker Savoy / Dial stuff the mastering source is in all probability a previously commercially released CD - what sort of ""remarkable" sound improvement can one expect?

Well, it's all drenched in reverb and sure, muddy it is (at least the Eicher productions are - not so for other producers, like Steve Lake or Sun Chung, whose works are exemplary from the sound standpoint).

How do you mean, sound-wise?

Well, I don't like ECM. The few ECMs I enjoy are the earlier ones and / or are NOT produced by Eicher. Some of my favorite ECMs were actually not even on ECM originally, but on JAPO. But here is one ECM release that I really like: Hal Russell - "Hal's Bells" (1992, produced by Steve Lake)

As a digression, does anybody know how "Alex Schlippenbach" became "Alexander von Schlippenbach"? When and why did this thoroughly decadent bourgeois transgression occur? Did he face the just opprobrium from the comrades for this?

A bunch of Roaratorio McPhee releases are available on Spotify as of recently. These are OOP LP-only releases. Solo: The Lost Tapes: https://open.spotify.com/album/1oElXC9EcjqrgwZhlVHkFA Babylon: https://open.spotify.com/album/0bX4eKcBbxx1eaBo5JxUJr Alto: https://open.spotify.com/album/4J1fvrDdPHANHjleXK6Avo Soprano: https://open.spotify.com/album/0VLwvwox7yEIIl3JXj9NUa Everything Happens for a Reason: https://open.spotify.com/album/7qBkGKn0fSm6vwuWx2q7w6

It can't get more ridiculous, can it?

Would you say Pharoah Sanders went through the same transition? Equally successfully? I actually don't like Shepp that much - neither the early stuff, nor the recent one. But I do love the later-period Sanders.

Yes, the interests and wishes of rights holders should be respected and accommodated, whenever practicable. And come on, I am not talking about forced digitization and dissemination of private diaries held in family estates. But whatever is in libraries / archives is there supposedly to be accessed by the public. And ideally this access should be enabled through modern means to anybody who's interested. Coming to NYC to access some rare book being at a mercy of an archive specialist not to be turned away is quaintly medieval. Of course I agree that a solution cannot be reached on the level of one library / archive, but resources can be pulled together and state (or private sponsors) could support this.

Yes, exactly, good example. In XXI century having rare books in a library in NYC is only marginally better than having them in a private collection. This is precisely the stuff that has to be digitized and available to all, ideally for free or a minimal fee.

There is this CRI / New World release: https://www.newworldrecords.org/products/music-of-elliott-carter?_pos=2&_sid=db0b0206c&_ss=r . Available as on-demand CD-R or download and on streaming. Is there another performance you are looking for?

As a result, one of the world’s most notable privately owned record collections will remain in San Diego, to be shared with future generations. Yeah, this is how music is going to be "shared with future generations", on LPs and CDs through a library of a university in San Diego. I think if you care about music being "shared with future generations" you might want to focus on making sure that all the music that was ever recorded is digitized and available through modern means. This is not easy, but doable. Recently this was done with complete Frank Zappa audio / video archive (most of his shows, as well as rehearsals were recorded) through fan-sponsored initiative.

Karl, thanks for sharing this. Were there ever any recordings made at these gigs (or in studio)?

I have not heard everything, but I liked these two a lot: https://mikroton.net/mikroton-cd-61/ (on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2It0O8SEnHwjzj6mlP4dwJ ) https://mikroton.net/mikroton-cd-56/ (on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/14zHLfis3zJnC6yMLWR7cy )

35% summer discount on (excellent) Mikroton Recordings label (both physical and downloads) on bandcamp with a coupon summer35: https://mikroton.bandcamp.com/ Mikroton albums are also available on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/search/label%3Amikroton/albums Mikroton website: https://mikroton.net/

Nice one by Trio Gusano (Chris Stromquist, Matt Bauder, Shawn McGloin) - a digital release only, it seams: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/73MhsYtlZc9w4LHvy9KiHR Bandcamp (name your price): https://chrisstromquist.bandcamp.com/album/trio-gusano

Nice write-up about Simon H. Fell by the frequent collaborator Rhodri Davies - as well as a beautiful solo harp performance (available as a free download) dedicated to Mr. Fell here: https://amplify2020.bandcamp.com/album/for-simon-h-fell?fbclid=IwAR3IhWtSV4dIobrYYjdBYPAG_rPWHZOUDgX-ohUyKn2Y5TPAJDggDP2kVaY

Lithuania, not Latvia. It will go faster than from Russia.

There is an officially released CD by this band, Road Tapes, Venue #2, recorded in Finland just a couple of days after the Swedish show you posted. "Dupree's Paradise" is there, and rest assured that Ponty's solo - as all Ponty's solos inevitably are - is nearly exactly the same there. https://www.discogs.com/Frank-Zappa-Road-Tapes-Venue-2/release/5120271

He wrote a doctoral thesis on free improvisation, "A more attractive ‘way of getting things done’. Freedom, collaboration and compositional paradox in British improvised and experimental music 1965-75": http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/34533/1/Simon%20Fell%20FINAL%20THESIS.PDF

This is very sad. Love his music - both his unique large-scale works, and his smaller formations (have enjoyed his recent duo with guitarist Richard Compte, "Panazol" greatly, as well as his two great trio groups on the quieter side of the spectrum - ist and VHF). This one is outstanding too: http://www.anothertimbre.com/page50.html (and costs just 5 GBP!).

I don't have access to my CD (the old 2002 Abraxas reissue, not the 2010 ESP one) to check, but the Spotify version (which is copyrighted to ESP Disk) does not have any signs of it being a needle-drop. The sound is actually excellent.

Yes. Good playing, which is consistent for contemporary releases, but surprisingly good singing too.