Д.Д.

I will go through my collection to look for track 8 - I am pretty positive I have heard it before. ← You have. I bought the cd based on your recommendation. ← Meanwhile, I identified where the Shepp peice is from - but I have to say, John my friend, you selected one of the weakest tracks from this monster set (IMO). OK, after one more listen to track 8 everything was pretty clear. I have to note that this is a very atypical track for this disc (and the only one that features second clarinet). Now that the puzzle side is over, let's see how I did. I didn't manage to figure out who is playing on 8 tracks, and I have 5 of them in my collection. Morever, I (insistently) recommended 3 of them in the past. Well done.

I will go through my collection to look for track 8 - I am pretty positive I have heard it before.

← Shit, don't tell me that I have this disc as well. I have Fazio's "Zapping" (which I didn't manage to listen till the end) on Leo. Will check it out. ← Sordini does play on this track (found this disc in my collection of course).

← Shit, don't tell me that I have this disc as well. I have Fazio's "Zapping" (which I didn't manage to listen till the end) on Leo. Will check it out.

A new (?) one by John Handy just came out. Looks like another fusion with Indian music.

Great guesses! I really enjoyed reading your comments. You nailed the theme, too. ← Sh*t! I was going to guess the Italian theme but thought it too obvious. (The solo Gebbia track was a dead giveaway, no?) ← Antonio, dove sono tui risposti?!?!?!

I gave a small hint in my response to cannonball-addict. David, feel free to provide hints if you can think of any that won't give away who the players are immediately. ← John, this is your BFT, so it's your prerogative to give hints. Ubu and I will take all the speculative discussions off-line and will patriently ( ) wait for the answers.

Well, at least I identified it was tenor saxophone. ← I'd be very surprised if you had not heard this disc (or even owned a copy) at some time, but I could be wrong. I should also give you partial redit for track #9. Shepp does not appear on this track, but he did write the tune. ← Well, after all the hints that you guys provided, I identified this disc, and indeed I have it ( ). To my justification, I have listened to this disc only once nearly three years ago, and didn't like it too much (thought it was too artificial in the sense that too many things were meshed in there without coherence). Will listen to it today.

European free improvisation: records labels And a personal favority:

I was hoping to have an online purchasing option. Hopefully it comes later.

Well, at least I identified it was tenor saxophone.

Have read the comments of the others - shame on me for not identifying the Battaglia/Oxley disc, since I have it and myself recommended it many times. Particularly shameful mis-identification of Oxley. Will go and listen to this disc right now. Funny enough, I was listenig to some Fresu earlier today, and I had an idea of it being him on track 2 (keeping in mind obvious Milies-ish references), but thoughthis was too bland and clean to be him. So this is not Breuker on track 5? Looks like both ubu and I would have preferred seeing another Gebbia track chosen - this one migh leave impression of a machine type of guy. The disc is much more diverse than this track might hint at. Again, thanks for a great BFT - reminded me that I have to order some more Italian music (or at least re-listen to what I have).

1. Now this is the way to start the compilation – the full orchestra blast. Unstable boys. While I am not a fan of large bands, this one is a favorite – every musician is an original (and many of them are very gifted composers). What always amazes me about Italians is their ability to create these great little melodies out of nowhere and invariable lightness of their music – even in the most “out” setting (not to say that this track is “out” or something). Nice macho flute. Bass clarinet – I like bass clarinets which are not too dolphied, and here is the man with original voice (and admirable technical ability). Flugelhorn solo is just a plain beauty. Being in a large a fairly tightly structured band has a downside of course – the solos would be quite short and would be limited by not-too-flexible orchestra’s accompaniment – the fact that musicians are coming with meaningful solo statements is very pleasing. Trombone solo is amazing. In general, every musician in the band is among the best players on his respective instrument. Sure, a bit of Italian romantic slightly cheesy piano – but not too overdone. And here we get some south Italian dance motifs. Pretty amazing how European jazz diverged from the US one (or was it ever uniform?) – these guys can do anything good American jazzman would be expected to do – swing, groove, play the blues, whatever – but they also bring in the heritage of the whole spectrum of the European music. What a punchy tenor solo! Cavalanti is the man! Great. My only quibble is the drummer’s playing – these booming drums are always way upfront and take a little from the lightness of the band’s sound. Gotta buy this disc – I don’t think I have it. 2. Hmm, some mellow stuff. Nice trumpet sound, nice piano (a good one, actually- Hank Jones, by chance?), nice rhythm section. Good, but not something I would be interested in listening to too often. Don’t find trumpeter’s ideas too interesting – he sounds quite lazy to me. Short enough. 3. No here is the man with ideas. Again, in addition to phenomenal (unmatched?) technique, the man has a great feeling for melody (better displayed on other tracks of this disc, IMO – this particular track is more “technically focused”), and customary Italian flair for both drama and self-irony (just pay attention to the way the track ends, for example). The guy used to play Sardinian bagpipe-like instruments, and it shows through this monster technique. 4. You don’t hear clarinet-drums duos too often, do you? This is a good one… I like the dance Balkan pattern that drums lay down. Everything I said about Italian musicians above refers to the clarinetist here as well – melodism, lyricism, irony and integration of the folk music. I used to be very excited about this disc when I first heard it – now my enthusiasm has waned a bit, but still I feel this is some good stuff. The guy also plays some mean alto, and his other discs show great diversity – from some advanced funk (and I haven’t heard any other funk CD with clarinet as leading instrument) to more-or-less mainstream 60s bluenote-ish stuff to written chamber music. 5. More large band. This I am not sure I can identify – but the whole music sounds more Dutch to me than Italian – less lyricism and the humor is more perverted. OK, I think I know who this is – have been planning to explore his music for a long time now. Very cleverly constructed music, I’d say. Baritone saxophone is a nice touch … Even some marimba. Good drum sola. Trumpet is soaring – oh yeah! Again, talk about non-swinging Europeans… Great little menacing brass riff behind the trumpet! Shit, this trumpet is insane. The band is marching now. Tenor solo… - this is the tenor sound I like – sinister, gutsy and powerful. Good one. Again, I doubt there is much variation about how you can play a solo within the confines of the written (and busy) large band music, but this solo is very exciting. Oh, second tenor solo. Now, I am not too sure this was needed. This is a good solo (and also an excellent sound), but really follows closely the pattern of the first one – and here you definitely can hear that the guy is going through a certain routine. OK, again this funny motive, but I already got the idea – this is probably enough by now (at 13 minute mark, that is! – didn’t even notice it was that long till this moment). Excellent stuff, I would just have preferred it a couple minutes shorter. 6. Back to Southern Italy. I like this banda type of music. These tuba players surely are impressive. Oh, excellent violin/alto playing. Shit, was this voice? Impressive. I would have loved to hear more solos here in addition to this (excellent) bubbling accompaniment. Great. Is it this Banda disc on Enja with The Dutchman? 7. OK, here we are getting to a more American pattern of jazz. Excellent drumming. Hmm, I think there are only two guys who can play tenor like this – David S. Ware and Paul Dunmall. Not too interested in going back to their discs and checking who it is exactly right now. Can’t say I like the tenor solo too much – as I mentioned many times in The Rat, this sort of American 60s fire music tough spiritual playing does not sound very relevant today, IMO. Well played for sure, and beautiful tenor sound. I like the way the band builds the tension behind the solo. What the fuck, what’s that in the middle?!? Is this the same track or you John did some splicing? In any case, I like what this drums hooliganism (Han Bennink, by chance?), and not too interested in the trumpet – too clean for my tastes. Piano is also nothing special. Now we have the large band – OK, but again nothing extraordinary. Oh, cello. Really well-played, but just too much tongue-in-cheek (is this also Dutch?). OK, but nothing particularly spectacular. 8. Well, I have this track, but can’t remember where it is from. Another aspect of the European music – reference to the “classical” impressionism. Lovely. Beautiful clarinet solo and wonderful sound. 9. Now this is very American. Is it Shepp himself reciting? I assume this is this live disc on Terrones that I, incidentally, ordered a couple of weeks ago (still hasn’t arrived). Nice stuff, if a bit repetitive and very dated (with this electric piano and the whole funky thing). 10. Good trumpet solo. Funny pseudo-Dixieland… They didn’t play clarinet like this in Dixieland times, did they? Clarinet I like the most here. Trovesi? Good music, but being to a large extent in the same vein as track one it pales a bit in comparison to it. 11. Some prepared piano. With this sound it has nearly raga feel to it – and I like it. And with drums entering playing the tabla way it definitely becomes a raga! Funny enough, just yesterday listened to some Indian music. Could this be Van Hove and Bennink? Thanks a lot of the BFT – some great music, and I am looking forward to reading the comments of the others and the answers.

I have a couple of Watson CDs - in addition to this MIngus tribute (which is good indeed), Silent Hearts (with Dresser and Thigpen, again) on SUnnyside, and Conspiracy with Pual Motian and Ed Schuller (Owl). Haven't listened to either for the trio discs for a long time, so can't comment on the quality of the music yet. Will check and get back here.

Ray, I'll get McPhee. I'll send you an e-mail with my address. Thanks.

Hi everybody, I just discover this board now :-). Thank you for your comments. In fact, I don't want to be cheaper than distributors or mail orders because I want to give them the priority for selling. Except for this month of june with this promo sale. And there is the problem of euro which makes prices higher now. Jacques ← Great to see you here, Jacques! I just placed an order for 6 CDs - looking forward to hearing them.

Finally received it from amazon.co.uk. Will be going through it over the next two weeks.

I'm guessing he won't care where the sales come from, as long as the discs sell. ← I suppose he will .

I remember I have another Potlatch disc: exaltatio utriesque mundi Frédéric Blondy l Lê Quan Ninh And it is also very good. Gotta relisten to it to be able to post more.

Thanks for the heads-up, John. I, in turn, would highly recommend Hautes Plateaux by Carlos Zingaro / Daunik Lazro.

I ncase anybody's interrsted in Baroque period music, amazon.de has a sale for Deutsche harmonia mundi "Baroque Esprit" series - €5 (€4.3 for non-EU citizens!). Search for Dhm (Sony BMG), and then sort by "preis aufsteigend" so that low-prices CDs are listed first. Monteverdi madrigales are essential.

That's a great disc - you'll enjoy it!

His solo record in Jazz 'n (e)motion series (BMG France, 1998) is beautiful. It might be OOP now.

Paul Bley - Hommage to Carla (Owl / Universal France) Randy Weston - African Nite (Owl / Universal France) Jaki Byard - To Them, To Us (Soul Note) Sun Ra - Solo Piano Recital, Teatro La Fenice, Venezia (Leo) Cecil Taylor - Indent (Freedom / DA Music) Cecil Taylor - Willisau Concert (INTAKT) Gaorg Gräwe - San Francisco 1995 (Music & Arts) Fred Van Hove - Complete Vogel Recordings (Atavistic) Stefano Battaglia - Ecumenica (Splasc(h)) Sergey Kuryokhin - Waves of Freedom (Leo) Stephan Oliva - Jazz 'n (e)motion (BMG France) Steve Kuhn - Jazz 'n (e)motion (BMG France) Andrew Hill - Les Trinitaires (Jazz Friends)

I'm only familiar with Denman Maroney from one of the earliest discs on Erstwhile, Fire Song. This discs is half solo tracks and half duets with alto player Earl Howard. I've never been too impressed with this disc, but I was listening to it as a disc on Erstwhile, perhaps hoping to hear some top notch eai, which it is not, rather than judging it on its own merits. ← This is a pretty weak disc, IMO. For good Maroney, check out Mark Dresser's "Aquifer" on Cryptogrammophone. ← Was looking through the Denman Maroney website and found a link to Einstein records. Anybody's familiar with any of its releases?