Д.Д.

Looks pretty but I can't quite make out what it's made of. This is some hairy softish materisl, of the kind that's used for thermo-isolation. Looks very utilitarian.

Anyone familiar with Edition Explico? With Günter Christmann? I got Vario-41 at the TMM in Berlin last fall - still haven't listened to it. The CD packaging is some of the most bizarre I've encountered so far. Nice to see you back, Tony.

Haven't even heard of Terry Adams, so I googled and found a link to this release (bottom of the page). Samples do sound insane. I'll get it, I guess.

Alan Silva & Oluyemi Thomas - Transmissions (Eremite) That would be my choice. Awful cover, great music. Oluyemi is fantastic here, too. He is sadly under-recorded. Word. If you want to hear Silva, the bassist, this is the place to go. And a great showcase for Thomas. I am quite a fan of Silva's orchestral synth playing - it is always unpredictable, and really funny, IMO. FOr Silva on synth, go for Emancipation Suite (Boxholder), a live recording with Kidd Jordan at his most extatic tenor blowing and William Parker on bass.

I haven't. I'llcheck it out.

P.L.M., my friend, I went banana long time ago - nothing new here, Messrs. Rivers and Braxton have nothing to do with it. Regarding Braxton, I have been invariably disppointed by his recent releases (duos with Cyrille, solo on Parallactic, etc.), culminating with horrendous 23 Standards set. I feel that the man ran out of ideas, and to a large extent of his (once-brilliant) technique - his sound is flat and not particualrly under control (IMO). Just listen to one of his earlier solo records back-to-back with any of his recent works - it is self-evident. I also was never a fan of Braxton-the-composer - his compositions sound to me extremely formal, dry and forced. Regarding Rivers, I tend to appreciate his compositions much more than his playing (it was interesting to read that Joe Henderson had the same opinion). His sound I find too dry for my taste with not enough depth, and I just cannot appreciate his improvisations - to me he sounds like he is always preparing to break loose but still holds himself back with solos never reaching a climax. I normally cannot keep myself interested listening to Rivers solos. Vista is excellent, though, so I might revisit some of the earlier Rivers CDs I have not listened to for years.

Seconded! I finally had a chance to hear this album and, after listening to it a few times over the past two days, I definitely recommend it. Rivers sounds fantastic and Rudoplh and Eisenstadt provide some very nice rhythms for him to improvise over. Excellent disc! I am not a big fan of Rivres normally, but this one made me reconsider.

The Howard is oop, but still listed as available at JazzLoft. Howard is rather weak, IMO. Startes OK, but quickly degenrates into cliche'd free jazz blowing. ANd I just cannot get to appreciate Bobby Few's playing - too many notes, too syropy... -------------------------- I assume you guys all saw the new Leo releases. Out of those, I am most interested in Minton/Turner duo disc - I understand this is a classic of sorts. As for the rest, I pretty much gave up on Braxton by now, and I am still not really in the Sun Ra universe (although, this period - early 70s, is the one I like more). Also on Leo, there will be a 11-CD box of Vladimir Tarasov solo drums works, spanning the period of the last 25 years. Vladimir Tarasov is a great drummer, of Ganelin trio fame. I saw the box - it's really a labor of love with great booklet and interesting cover art. Interestigly, the release is sponsored by the Ford Foundation. It has a DVD as well. Some of the individual discs are availble on Sonore label (I think Verge carries them). I'll go for it, in due course.

Well, I ordered 4 discs: Electrics, John Stevens, Ulander and Return of the New Thing. Out of the Ayler Labels stuff I have, I particularly like Flowers for Johnny disc with mindblowing bass work by Johnny Dyani.

I agree that Gilmore is a good drummer, only, he could be more comfortable with the music (thus make even stronger contributions), as when I saw them live last summer Iyer happened to guide him into the meter on a few occasions. Hmm, I thought he sounds very confident (and prominent) on record. The guy is not even 20, as I understand (and a grandson of Roy Haynes).

Outstanding music, really. I actually hear at a "very flowing" music with (excellent) drummer proividing a constant drive.

This is a good source of in situ (and other French) CDs: http://www.allumesdujazz.com/

Actually, I have to make a reassessment of the Chris Speed disc. There are less klezmer influences and more rock ones ("Red"-era King Crimson) than I perceived at the first time. It is interesting to hear how differently the same (and excellent) electric bassist Skuli Sverrisson plays on Shepik's and Speed's discs. On Shepik's it's all clean and danceable, very rhythm-focused; on Speed's it is much more prominent, aggressive and dissonant, less bound to rhythm-keeping. But, after several listens to each, I reiterate - both are very strong discs. Bought some amazing music here, including stunning new Jacques Coursil on Tzadik and some (a lot, actually) other stuff - will write more later.

Good news.

I'm in NYC, and picked up some music. Brad Shepik - "The Well" (Songlines, 2000). Good stuff, if a bit too polished. With a significant does of Balkan / Middle Eastern influence with all the tricky dance rhythmos and grooves. I really enjoy Shepik's guitar sound and the way he builds his solos. Peter Epstein on alto and soprano saxophones adds the most dissonance here with some pretty tense solos. Very stroing melodies. Barre Phillips - "Journal Violone 9" (Emouvance, 2001). Solo bass Well, Phillips is by favorite bassist, and this is as good as anything he has recorded, withthe best possible sound. Chris Speed - "Emit" (Songlines, 2000). Somewhat similar to the Shepik (with more klezmer, as opposed to Balkan, ifluences) disc mentioned above, but definitely less pritty and more dissonant. Speed is a very skillful and quite original clarinetist (with very clean, nearly classical sound) anda solid tenor player. Cuong Vu is very Don Cherry-influenced, IMO, but comes up with some pretty melodies. And Jim Black is a drums maniac. Good stuff as well.

Flurin, amigo, are you trying to stir The Rat with provocative contorversy ? You don't really mean it, do you? I have a couple of CDs with Mahall, and heard him live (with Schlippenbach Monk project), and I've found him invariably mediocre. Hans Koch, Wolfgang Fuchs, Louis Sclavis, André Jaume (and many many more) are definitely more interesting (and original) Eeropean bass-clarinetists... Ubu, I just remembered this statement of yours: so I really thought you were pulling the funny rat leg. I, never a flip-flopper, firmly stick to my opinions. This normally lasts till a subsequent listen to a CD - then a new firm and irreversable opinion is usually formed. ----------------- André Goudbeek - solo bandoneum improvisations. My firm opinion - not bad at all.

Two full-track mp3s from the new Full Metal Klezmer CD (with Gianni Gebbia) are available at El Gallo Rojo website. Fun stuff.

Flurin, amigo, are you trying to stir The Rat with provocative contorversy ? You don't really mean it, do you? I have a couple of CDs with Mahall, and heard him live (with Schlippenbach Monk project), and I've found him invariably mediocre. Hans Koch, Wolfgang Fuchs, Louis Sclavis, André Jaume (and many many more) are definitely more interesting (and original) Eeropean bass-clarinetists...

John, have mercy on your loved ones during the new year celebration. Meaning, choose some later-period Broetzmann, not "Machine Gun". A lot (all?) of this stuff has been available on CD on Italian Felmay / Robi Droli label in the "Ictus reissues" series: LINK. I have some of the CDs, but don't remeber them at all.

Happy New Year, friends!

Whoa, that's a great line-up (except for Duval, whose playing I don't like too much... at all), and an intriguing concept. The samples did not sound that convincing, but I will probably go for it anyway.

Totally agree on "Waka/Jawaka" vs. "Grand Wazoo" - and I was also alwways perplexed by seemingly universal opinion that "Waka" is merely a warm-up for "Wazoo". "Big Swifty" was the first Zappa composititon I heard, and it is still my absolute favorite - there is a little melodic motive somewhere in the middle, that sends shivers down my spine every time I listen to it - and I listen to it often (more often than any other Zappa disc except for the guitar solos sets). There is much more stretching out here, versus very short, polished in-the-pocket Wazoo solos; Marquez is simply stuning on trumpet and fluegelhorn (what a shame he didn't stick in the band for longer!) and Preston's moog solo on Waka/Jawaka is fascinating (and I remeber reading that he himslef considers this his best moog solo ever - and the one Robert Moog pronounced impossible to play on Moog synthesizer). Wazoo has it's moments (my favorite one being insane drumming on "Eat that question"), but IMO is far less creative, experimental and invigorating work than "Waka". Being not a musician, I am not able to comment on changes, but I actually find Zappa's solos quite unpredictable (and having heard a lot of concert tapes, I can attest to the fact that solos in the same composition could (and did) change dramatically from performance to performance), with great talent for spontenous melodic invention. I also think his rhythm-guitar playing (which he unfortunately abandoned by mid-70s, when he got rhythm guitarists in his band, and which is not well documented on official releases) was reach and tasteful - is it playing changes or not?

Interesitng thread. I am pretty much with Allen Lowe on Nels CLine, and I think the term "formalism" (as well as term "bullshit") is very applicable. Cline is a very competent musician who can play anything (and he often does), but IMO his comprehensive knowledge of techinques and licks overwhelms the original ideas, and he just goes into guitar hero master class type of perforamance, without much creativity. I saw him live a couple of times, and it really looked like was thinking "now I'll play some skronk" or "now I will do some surf guitar" - and to me it felt like superficial pastiche wihtout much substance. He does have some good records - of what I heard, I liked The Inkling (Cryptogramophone) and Live at Easthampton Town Hall (on JMZ, with Zeena Parkinns and Thurston Moore) the most. His Singers disc I found just too pretty and polished, an even more so the recent one by Scott Amendola with Cline as a sideman. Talking of Cryptogrammophone, I find most of the music from their catalague to bee too polished, formulaic and safe (Mark Dresser releases being notable exceptions). Regarding EAI, I am not too knowledgeable about this music, but the more I listen (both on record and live) the more I seem to hear that a lot of it has a set of its own (pretty confining) rules, and in this regard a big chunk of it is not more creative or "advanced" than Wynton's ouevre (or tired free jazz / fire music stuff by William Parker and David S. Ware, if you wish). I am also not really getting it how Feldman and Tudor substitute for EAI.

Thanks Greg, I missed it somehow. Indeed, looks like a Petit Wazoo concert!

I am not sure about Petit Wazoo concert recordings being released - I just see this new "Joe's Xmasage" thing, and this looks like some pre-Mothers Zappa, something I (and I belive majority of Zappa music fans) would not consider a priority for a FZ vault release. If you are refering to "Joe's Domage" released earlier this year, these are Petit Wazoo band rehersal tapes, largley unlistenable, as mentioned above. My only (merely remotely realistic, alas) hope is that somebody one day will buy out Zappa's vault from ZFT to manage his musical heritage properly - I do not have slightest illusion that ZFT is willing/able to do it competently by themselves.