Д.Д.

There are a few CDs of Braxton duos with bassists: with Mario Pavone (on Music & Arts), with Peter Niklas Wilson (on Music & Arts too, I think) and with John Lindberg (on Cecma, probably OOP). I haven't listened to them in ages, but I recall they were all good. There are two discs of Peter Kowald's duos on FMP, they include a few tracks with saxophonists (Parker, Broetzmann, etc.). Leandre's duo with Lacy is quite weak IMHO, a more interestign one is "Gyor" with Akosh S. Thay have one more duo CD out on Leo, but I have not heard it. This Shepp / Davis duo on Enja ("Body and Soul" it's called, I think) is outstanding. If you consider electric bass worth your attention, there is a beautiful duo of Daniele Camarda and Gianni Gebbia out there. Some more: Julius Hemphill / Abdul Wadud "Live in New York" (Red). Wadyd is laying cello, but more or less the way one would play bass. THis is ny favorite Hemphill disc. Time Berne / Michael Formanek "Ornery People" (Little Brother) - very strong. Vinny Golia has a few duo discs with Bertram Turetzky and Ken Filiano. Have them, don't remember of they are good. The good one though is Golias trio with two bassists, JOelle Leandre and Barre Phillips - "haunting the spirits inside them..." (Music & Arts). Matt Bauder / Jason Ajemian - "Object 3" (Locust) is deifnitely worth having - a lot of long saxophone tones and arco playing there. Sadly OOP is a beautiful duo of Domonic Duval / Mark Whitecage "Rules of Engagement. Vol. 1" on Drimala. Get it while you can.

On Chet's latter period records: "Diane", a duo with Paul Bley on SteepleChase is phenomenal. One of my favorite CDs.

I replaced my first-generation CD reissues of "Lizard" and "Red" with 30th Anniversary reissues (which sound excellent to me) literally one month ago...

Joelle Leandre, probably the most interesting improv bassist today (only Barre Phillips is in the same league, IMHO). Lotte Anker and Co Strieff are both very interesting saxophonists. India Cooke is quite an original on violin. I wonder if she is still active. Quite a few females in the London improv scene (well represented on EMANEM label).

http://www.allumesdujazz.com/?part=2&s...83fdb119c871d4f

Well, at the moment I am looking for "Géorgie: Polyphonies de Svanétie" (Le Chant du Monde, 1994).

Just discovered I have a second copy of it. It's still sealed. Selling for EUR 39 plus shipping. Payment through PayPal.

Holiday-10 10% discount till January 1.

Yes, his disc on BS (or SN, I forgot) is good (and quite unique).

You can buy them cheap from the Back Saint website directly. I think they dropped prices further after they were purchased by CAM Jazz. One needn't listen on computer speakers. I find emusic's mp3s more than acceptable for the cost. And in the case of BS/SN discs, I can barely find/buy them at any price.

I am pretty sure this is Frank's home, not his parents' .

Zappa treating his sidemen badly is a common unfortunate misconception - if anything, I have not heard any other band leader being talked about in such revering, admiring and superlative terms by his sideman - there are dozens of FZ sidemen interviews available online. Original MOI contributing to FZ compositions is another myth (repudiated many times by the Mothers themselves). Financially they were actually treated quite well during their time with the Mothers. Since Ellington was mentioned, here is an appropriate FZ quote: FZ in "The Real Frank Zappa Book" (1989): "In 1969, George Wein, impresario of the Newport Jazz Festival, decided it would be a tremendous idea to put the Mothers of Invention on a jazz tour of the East Coast. We wound up working in a package with Kirk, Duke Ellington and Gary Burton in Miami at the Jai Alai Fronton, and at another gig in South Carolina. The touring package did not carry its own PA - we had to use whatever speakers existed in each of the venues we were booked into. The hall in South Carolina was rigged with small jukebox speakers, set in a ring around the building. Useless, but there we were - we had to play the show. Before we went on, I saw Duke Ellington begging - pleading - for a ten-dollar advance. It was really depressing. After that show, I told the guys: 'That's it - we're breaking the band up.' We'd been together in one configuration or another for about five years at that point, and suddenly EVERYTHING looked utterly hopeless to me. If Duke Ellington had to beg some George Wein assistant backstage for ten bucks, what the fuck was I doing with a ten-piece band, trying to play rock and roll - or something that was almost rock and roll?"

Please note that some of these are scheduled for reissue: http://www.hathut.com/home.html?content=up...ng-content.html

Eddie Jobson was Zappa's best violin player. He toured with FZ in mid-seventies. There are no official records featuring his violin playing (well, not soloing, at least), but there are a few bootlegs around. The short-lived 1975 (or 76?) band with him and vocalist Bianca Odin was a killer. Meanwhile, good news: ZFT is reissuing "We Are Only In It for the Money" and "Lumpy Gravy" with some bonus material later this year.

I have about 30 CIMP CDs and they mostly sound like shit. Drums are way up, shallow and boomy, bass is way down and colorless, reeds are flat. They do indeed sound like live recordings - but the ones done in a place really not suitable acoustically for music performances. What is equally disappointing is how mediocre the music itself is - the discs I have are among the weakest in discogrpahies of these artists. Among the discs I have, the only two I would recommend are duo of Mark Dresser and Ray Anderson, and duo of Dave Burrell with Tyron Brown. Perhaps the Harris Eisenstadt's "Jalolu" too. I like the cover art, though.

I like this one. I thought it was quite unique. I remember thinking it sounded related to some of the EAI stuff (I would have to revisit "De Tijd" to give a more specific example of Andriessen - EAI connection, though).

I LOVE THAT TUNE!!! Best one on the album, for sure, and for all the reasons you put so well... Don't know Mrwebi, sounds like it would be up my alley though. My favorite track as well (I don't like the rest of the album that much, frankly), and some of the best solos of Mitchell and Shepp I've heard.

New one: http://www.nocturne.fr/produit.cfm?id_produit=5697

Let me say it again... Haven't heard it, but after all I've heard I think I've been sold on a copy. (and another disc falls into the "always on the lookout" pile...) I concur, this is an excellent one.

Anybody's heard Curson's recent(ish) recordings? Is he still playing well?

New CD with Curson is coming out next month on Terronès group of labels (click on Blue Marge): Live in Paris at the Sunside Ted Curson & Alain Jean-Marie trio (Gilles Naturel et Philippe Soirat) plus Pierrick Pédron, Guillaume Naturel, July Saury, Sylvia Howard & the Four Voice Ensemble

No. But my Lacy collection is steadily growing, so I will get there.

Yeah, that was me commenting on Bobby Few overplaying. I am listening to his solo "Continental Jazz Express" (on Boxholder) to refresh my memory, and, well, my impression has not changed much - there is a lot of rather cheesy impressionistic 100-notes-per second up-and-down noodling runs. Pretty unfocused. Gotta relisten to those Center of the World (Wright, Few, Silva, Ali) recordings on Fractal - haven't listened to them for a few years now. I remember when I was living an Italy I once listened to Center in World disc late at night (2 or 3 AM) with windows open and the music blasting out. I then heard some noice outside, and when I look outside I see a young Italian drogato standing on the street right under my window, looking at the sky with a expression of horror on his face. I don't know how long the guy had been there. I turned the music off - didn't want him to have a cardiac arrest right there. As for the "unofficial" releases of OOP stuff: I will be most happy to buy them as legit releases. As long as they are not available as such, I will be buying these unothorized copies.

"On top of their game" is a very generous overstatement (at least as far as Mitchell, Braxton and Smith are concerned), IMO. I will try to catch them live, of course, but my expectations are not too high. Your smug attitude is sad. Please demonstrate the "degradation" of these musicians and explain your "expertise". Don't bother going to the gigs. Please detail your reasons for dismissing their current work. Chuck, my attitude is based on seeing all these musicians live in the last few years and hearing quite a bit of their work - both early and recent. My expertise is my ears only. I will elaborate some time later. I would be interested in hearing your recommendaitons for good records of/with Mitchell, Braxton or Smith recorded since, say, 2000. "Good" like in "on top of their games". I would be most happy to discover that I missed some of the masterpieces. I'll still go to the concerts, if you don't mind.

"On top of their game" is a very generous overstatement (at least as far as Mitchell, Braxton and Smith are concerned), IMO. I will try to catch them live, of course, but my expectations are not too high.