Д.Д.

No try, no fail - as you now. Speaking of which, I see that Ms. Leandre's "Concerto grosso" is available at indiejazz for very reasonable $18 (this is a double CD): http://www.indiejazz.com/ProductDetailsVie...x?ProductID=757 Speaking of which some more, I had very unfocused listen to Lacy / Leandre duo One more time (Leo), and found it not too exciting. More listenig to ensue. More - Ms. Leandre's duo with Derek Bailey No waiting (Pot"hell"latch) is not bad at all. Actually, it is good. I still feel that Bailey is not really listening and/or responding to his musical partners, just keeps doing his thing (not to mention apparent randomness of what he is playing, but Nate persuaded me that this is just my perception ); and Leandre is doing her thing (or a lot of things, to be correct). But there's plenty to enjoy here even with not much musical interaction - not least very clear sound quality, and simply theatrical drama of Leandre's playing.

Heh-heh, I also couldn't finish this one ("finish"?! - I barely started when I decided I would not be able to last for too long with this one). Sine waves these are not, so I do plan to revisit it one day. ← Now this makes me want to play it! Pity I don't have it here. Have you heard some of those very very out Lacy recordings from the seventies? I've read bad things about some of them... can't remember what exactly those albums were, but I once had three or four LPs from some friend... immediately thought of them when reading Tony's post! ← Well friends, I have a cofession to make - there are a few Lacy records I can hardly listen to due to the sound of his soprano. Quite a few. Solo ones in particular.

Heh-heh, I also couldn't finish this one ("finish"?! - I barely started when I decided I would not be able to last for too long with this one). Sine waves these are not, so I do plan to revisit it one day.

Went a couple of times through Thirteen friendly numbers - excellent! I think "precise" is the right word to describe the music - very focused and concetrated stuff, with a clear sense of direction. Great diversity throughout the disc (and simply stunning control of the instrument). Couple of meticulously constructed and orchestral-sounding overdubbed pieces. All sounds quite measured and "scientific", but without being dry or mannered - on the contrary, the music is very alive. Essential, really. For sound samples and purchasing: CD Baby. ---------------------------- Also listened to Brötzmann / Bennink / Van Hove / Mangelsdorff's "Live in Berlin 1971" (FMP). First impression - by the level of creativity, skill and passion, this blows out of the water most of the things I've heard by Brötzmann & Co... Will listen to it more and will expand here.

For Jordan, I would highly recommend Emancipation suite on Boxholder: a trio of Jordan, Alan Silva on synth and William Parker on bass. This is a real tour-de-force (Jordan is much more aggressive than on all-star game), with Silva doing some hilarious and totally unpredictable orchestral synth playing which creates an intriguing contrast with Jordan's mad wailings (the man's stamina is amazing). Parker is largeley irrelevant here (Silva and Jordan create a tornado of sound too dense for him to contribute anything meaningful), but he is undermiked anyway .

Some discussion with the owner of Utech over on I hate music. I asked him about the discs going oop, and it sounds like he wants to keep reissuing them, if possible. I ordered the Lasse Marhaug and Jazzkammer discs today. ← I had some correspondense with Keith, and from what I understood, he is more interested in focusing on new projects than on reissueing whatever whent OOP. If you are looking for Marhoug / Nilsen-Love's Personal hygiene, try contracting Marhaug directly - I got my copy from him (together with some bonus discs ). I haven't listend to it yet.

[...] I ordered this set three months ago from Amazon.uk and just received this: ← Amazon.co.uk communicates in style. Even if they don't have a set. However, I suggest you place an order again - they might be able to locate it second time around - I had a couple of cases like this. You might also get a CDR copy of this set somehow, one day.

I have one MMW disc - I don't think it riscs ever to be listened again (I tried three times - didn't last for more than 20 minutes). This Silva box I've been eyeing for some time, but a couple of things prevent me from going for it - 1. price; 2. presense of Sabir Mateen.

Upcoming on Utech Records Jesse Quattro "Closer to the Wolf" [018] Eye Contact "Embracing the Tide" [019] Eye Contact "Embracing the Tide/Making Eye Contact with God" [019/020] Sten Ove Toft "Sinners' Virtue" [021] James Plotkin "Kurtlanmak" [022] Paal Nilssen-Love/Anders Hana "AM/FM" [023] Paal Nilssen-Love "Twenty Seven Years Later" [024] I am glad to see the label hyper-active, and in particular, documenting Nilssen-Love's music in such an extensive manner. I am less glad to see that the editions go OOP within two months after being released. Although I was not particualrly enamoured of the first Utech releases, I found some of them to be really spectacular - e.g. I just finished listening to Steve Hubbacks's TREES, ROCKS AND RAVENS, and it is some beautiful music -very disciplined, organized and creative solo drums/percussion record. Very varied in dynamics, rolling out like a fascinating story. Highly recommeded - OOP already, unfortunately.

I did, I did! The order was received in two days - all as ordered. I went through the discs only once - I will post my thoughts after I spend more time with them. So far, let me note that there is some KILLER stuff there.

Well, non-Ra Allen recommendation is a tricky thing, because there is a bunch of recordings using him as a sideman rather than a leader - like, for example, "Surrender to the Air". There are a few of his appearances on CIMP, of which I have only heard two: with Tyron Hill Quartet, and with Lou Grassi - both decent releases, but not earth-shaking. The two "Mark-n-Marshall" albums on the same label are said to be more of a Whitecage's date than Allen's. As a general tendency, the later these releases are the better. On the other hand, he did some small group concerts in the recent years, and there are a few tapes floating around (like a duo with Medeski, or a trio with W.Parker and Silva) which imho are stronger, Allen-wise. Then, again, if you haven't heard the last Arkestra CD, "Music for the 21st Century", it's a must - really good stuff, both adventurous and enjoyable. It can be bought directly from the Arkestra, see their website for the details. From them you may also find Allen's duo with Terry Adams which I haven't heard, but which people seem to enjoy. ← I think I have this Surrender to the air disc - haven't listend to it for ages. the all-star game is my first exposure to non-Archestra Allen, and the impresion is better than I had expected. I would be definitely interested in checking out Allen with Whitecage (and those being more of Whitecage discs is definitely not a minus for me - I like Whitecage projects a lot ) - but these are CIMP discs .

New Hard Cell recording on Screwgun.

Haven't heard much of Jordan, but I love Southern Extreme a lot. ← "Southern Extreme" was my first exposure to Jordan, and an eye-opener - a terrific disc (even though I am not that much of a Futterman fan).

Interesting news from Eremite: COMING ATTRACTIONS a re-issue of Khan Jamal's DRUMDANCE TO THE MOTHERLAND from left-field americana, waxpoetics #13, summer 2005 issue "dogtown was an underground philadelphia jazz operation owned (in some part) by saxophonist byard lancaster. in addition to a few records under lancaster's name, the label issued this forgotten l/p by vibraphonist khan jamal... the first time i heard this, i thought i was listening to something relatively new, a record on siltbreeze or sound-at-one... there are four songs spread across two sides, & the a-side is a free-jazz powerblast that shares no aural companions in the u.s. at the time. even comparisons to dense japanese noisemakers like masayuki takayanagi or sabu toyozumi would be a little off the mark. on the other side of the record we are presented with the true sound of "cosmic jazz," an effects-laden, watercolor portrait of the heavens painted by heavy delayed drums & monnette sudler's sparkling freak guitar. ask somebody, "do you like jazz music?" & then drop the needle on this platter to watch their face contort into a rapidly changing palette of emotions. someone named mario falgna is credited with "sound effects" & you get the feeling that the "sound effects" might be of the green combustible sort. originally aired live on local philly jazz radio, apparently, the _drum dance to the motherland_ l/p is left to remain as a mobius strip of black energy, twisting & eternal in the face of "making a living" & "real expression." thirty-odd years down the road, the record is more relevant today than it has ever been, for the intensity & anger have faded & we are now left only with the intergalactic vapors of a cast of artists questing for the cosmos through music. if ever a record was ripe for reissue, khan jamal's invisible release on dogtown is the exact fruit everyone should be trying to harvest." --dante carfagna, waxpoetics.

allen/drake/jordan/parker/silva the all-star game mte-44 marshall allen alto saxophone hamid drake drums edward 'kidd' jordan tenor saxophone william parker bass (right channel) alan silva bass (left channel) Nice, if not essentail disc. Jordan particuarly shines here - eloquant elaborate constructions, beautiful sound, great diversity. Less intense and aggressive here than elsewhere I've heard him - some bluesy and even lyrical moments creep in. Great master searching and "stretching" himself quite a bit here. Bravo. Allen is less diverse, and mostly sticks to quite primitive but effective and powerful wails on alto (with really powerful sound!) - in good coordination with what Jordan is doing. Silva is doing some very interesting stuff on bass, playing with feedback and distrortion, doing some frenzied arco and a lot a lot a lot of other things - not too rhythm-focused, as rhythm duties are carried out by Parker. Of Drake and Parker I will just say that there is nothing in their playing here that will change my opinion about the level of their creativity. Overall, good fire-music type of free jazz, and Jordan's playing (probably the best I heard him on disc so far, and I've been a devoted fan already) is worth hearing it.

That's human nature, I guess... Like Maslak says in the aforementioned interview, " If people think that free jazz or jazz is any different they're crazy. <...> It is just the same as the pop world. It is just on a much smaller level." Sasha, I wouldn't think so. Caretive music "business" is somewhat different if only because gaining money is not the main driving force behind it. People who go into creative music "business" as record label owners do not do it for the money (otherwise, they have to be really naive) - they do it because they have an urge of getting the music they are pasionate about out there to the public (however small it is) - just as musicians do not play creative music to make money (although some brave souls keep tryign to make a leaving like this) - they just have an (unexplicable) urge to play this music. Let's say some creative music label owner invests all his money (this is normally how it happens) in releasing as much as possible non-commercial music --> he then screws up the musicians with payments --> he reinvests all the (little) money he gets this way into releasing more creative music --> he screws up more musicians --> etc. Unless this unscrupoluos record label owner stops this cycle one day, which is doubtful, this is not particualrly a money-making business model for him. Most likely quite the opposite, as the more he releases, the more "risky" (and money-losing) his releases are likely to become. So this is not the money that is in the root of the problems we occasionally see inthe creative music environment. When money is not the main motivation, it shouold not be the main problem source - then, these have to be ego clashes, which is also something I cannot understand as the worldwide creative music community is so tiny it does not make any sense to fragment it artificially. Conclusion? I guess it's all just human nature

Curious what you think of their other duos, like Jet Lag or Friends Afar - or Dear John Cage? To me, they're all going in one direction, namely mocking everything and fooling around with no respect to artistic values, the latest being the most perverse I understand it can easily be unlistenable indeed Don't have those ones, and not that interested in investigating (at the moment). David, do you know the story behind this particular release? It's in this interview (which is worth reading IMO). To put it short, Maslak remastered it from his only (and scratchy) LP copy, because Leo took all the tapes. Never knew about this. I can't understand it - the world of improivised music is already tough enough from the standpoint of financial reward - why create additional artificial problems on the top of it? Interesting, haven't heard this one. On Hum Ha, I've been especially wondering about all these recent recordings with Toyozumi, a remarkable musician himself (and I think Maslak is a quite good sax player, judging from what little I've heard - mostly with Kuryokhin, live and on CDs)... ← Don't know Toyozumi... Will check him out. Maslak is definitely a very strong player.

Presense of Phil Minton keeps me a bit apprehensive about this one. How is his contribution on this disc?

Yeah, I did. I have some duo with Kuryokhin, and it is unlistenable - two guys just fooling around with cheapo synthethisers and singing. Might have been fun for them, but of no artistic value. THe other one I have is Humanplexity - and earlier work with Mengelberg and Bennink (once released on Leo, but hen deleted from the catalog) - some pretty wild reckless stuff, but quite badly recorded, and also the CD-R seem to be of bad quality - I have some ugly distortion on my copy. If you do not have it yet, I'd say go for Mother Russia (Leo) first - if only for the duo with Vapirov.

Boys and girls, Leo Records has an Autumn Sale, and a pretty nice one: 3 CDs for £11 (including shipping worldwide). For dollar-philes, this is $20 for 3 CDs. The items on sale are: all by Keshavan Maslak (of which Mother Russia is highly recommended) all by Ivo Perelman (of which The Hammer is wholeheartedly recommended) all by Jefry Stevens & Joe Fonda (not a fan) all by Dominic Duval & Herb Robertson (Undersound II is a must! Asylem is a good one also) all by Eugene Chadbourne all by Hartmut Geerken , AEoC and John Tchicai (I'd say tha Geerken / Tchicai / Moye discs are essential) The sale is valid till September 30th.

Win this time is the most jazzy title in the Limited Sedition catalog I've heard. Golia is a bit show-offish here, but he does have what to show. [ ← Listening to 'win this time' for the first time. Is there really only a market for 113 CDs of such quality music? George Cremaschi on bass sounds particularly exciting. ← Well, it took Tony nearly two years to persuade you to get a copy - how long do you think it will it take to get "the masses" to follow?

Tony, it's good. Not groundbreaking or particularly revelatory, but good. There are 5 or 6 different sessions on these 3 discs - from solo to larger bands. Miller is a good bassist, but Kowald (or Leander, if you wish) he is not, so solo and duo sessions left me not entirely satisfied. But larger group sessions are very nice (with some brillaint playing of Harry Beckett, Tevor Watts, Sean Bergin, Louis Moholo... Bennink also, I think) - all somewhere in the early Ornette territory with a lot of this joyful tuneful South African thing (which I enjoy, but in limited doses). But these are merely first impressions - I need to spend more time with this set.

Sure. I'll just finish listening to this one: and will go for the Butcher. My expectations are high - I was very impressd by every single Butcher CD I've heard so far.

I was lookng through the pile of unlistened to discs, and found a couple of unosounds releases (bought at CD Baby, I guess): John Butcher's solo and Butcher/Lehn/Moor disc. They go to the top of the pile.