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I just heard this disc for the first time and it is fantastic! Highly recommended. The sound quality varies between tracks, as some are audience recordings, but the music is great. Agree. The band sounds really charged up. Nearly palpable energy.

That's a fair price. They're €15 or about $19 in Europe. Or from amazon.de for €16.50. This is quite a good optin for us, non-EU-but-close-enough-Swiss-residents - free shipping and VAT deducted. Search for Free Eleph.

Time for me to buy some free elephants, I guess.

I have it, it's very good and to be recommended. I was plugging this one a while back. Available directly from Road Cone for only $8.50. Can't go wrong. This is the first recorded performance of Josh Allen and he does well. Won't blow you away but , I feel, he's a very solid player, at least from what I can tell after just this one disk. I'd disagree on this one. I though the alto player was really bland, Goodheart is not shining either and the whole thing sounded very forced and mannered to me. Go for the the Zen Widow disc.

Looks like unfortunately I won't be able to join our ubu friend at the Zen Widow (Gebbia, Goodheart, Powell) concert tomorrow. So I am looking forward to an extremely detailed review of the concert to see what I am about to miss.

actually, I probably listen to as much extreme metal as David does. It would be easier to list what I don't listen to. I'm happy that my tastes are so eclectic, but it is tough on my wallet. John is much more versed in "heavy metal" than I am, no doubt about it. He is just wise enough to be somewhat less vocal about it here. Any "classical" music, John?

As far as I understand, "microphone" refers to somebodz handling the recording of the subway sounds - not "playing" with microphone per se. I haven't heard this disc, so can't coent further - but plan on getting it at some point.

Err, Tony my friend, have you heard Mr. Mateen? I may have but if I did, I don't recall. (Can you tell I work for attorneys?) I believe I've thus far successfully avoided Mateen, due mostly to the general low opinion of his talents held by the Rat regulars -- regulars whose opinion I've come to trust. My wanting this disk has more to do with the circumstances of the recording; the thought of these guys playing in the subway, with all the extraneous sounds preseved, thrills me just a bit. (Reminds me on the line from Seinfeld: Kramer: Well it's a story about love, deception, greed, lust and...unbridled enthusiasm. Unbridled enthusiasm! I have unbridled enthusiasm! Tony, if you want some unbridled subway enthusiasm, I've got something for you: chloe002: "Metro Pre Saint Gervais," Dan Warburton, violin; Jean-Luc Guionnet, alto sax; Eric La Casa, microphones. Late in the evening of July 10th 2001,Dan Warburton took Jean-Luc Guionnet and Eric La Casa down into the depths of Pré Saint Gervais, a Metro station in the quiet north-east of Paris. Following no pre-determined plan, the three musicians - Warburton on violin, Guionnet on alto sax, La Casa on portable DAT recorder with stereo boom mic - explored the acoustics of the station, riding the elevators, taking the stairs, producing a rich and fascinating sonic map of the space through environmental improvisation. "Metro Pré St Gervais" is a unique and remarkably accessible aural document of free improvisation and sound art. Chloe records I would gently advice against Mateen (although I haven't heard this particular CD).

Err, Tony my friend, have you heard Mr. Mateen?

Out of these three Clean Feed releaass, I'll skip Gayle, but will definitely do for the other two.

very excited about this one! the first "environmental improv" record? Envirinmental? You mean with cries of tortured endangered species animals recorded?

I think I have only one Silkheart CD, and it is a great one - Charles Brackeen "Worshippers Come Nigh". Powerful free-bop with Fred Hopkins playoin the bass like a wounded lion, and Brackeen delivering a fascinating and very origianal tenor works (and strong composiitons). And then there is one Andrew Cyrille on drums, and Olu Dara on trumpet. Great music. Just checked the Silkheart catalog - I feel I do need at least 80% of it!

To the list.

I've still never heard Dogon AD, but outside of that, Coon Bidness is easily his best, that version of Hard Blues kicks ass. and no, Dogon AD was never released on disc, Tim Berne tried really hard to get it for Screwgun, unsuccessfully in the end. I don't remember the details, but if you're curious, ask on JC, Steve Smith will know... Coon Bid'ness is great, and is indeed one of the best Hemphill discs, but the one I like the most is Hemphill's duo with cellist Abdul Wadud on Red label. This is also an early Hemphill recording, and Hemphill is playing like a superhuman there - not in terms of technique, but from the standpoint of confidence and abundance of ideas. All the later works of his that I have heard (including Roi Boye and Blue Boye - one is on Screwgun, one is on Sackville, don't remember which is which) failed to impress me this much. I still have to listen to his duo with Oliver Lake (Buster Bee, on Sackville) and his second duo recording with Wadud from a much later concert, on Music & Arts. Btw, if you enjoy Coon Bid'ness, you should definitely check out Oliver Lake's "Heavy Spirits" (Black Lion / DA Music) - recorded more or less in the same time and with many of the same musicians - and equally good (I probably enjoy it even a bit more than Coon Bid'ness).

Conicidentally, as recently as last week I was browsing through this page thinking which items to order. I am not too happy with the prices, so I am in the process of negotiting with Sundist the EU VAT deduction (the negotiations go like this - I send my requsts once in a while for a year now, and they do not respond). Out of these I have only solo Bennink CD on DATA Tempo Comodo, and it is a very enetertainig (and, what a surprise! - very energetic) music.

Our MIA friend P.L.M. considers this to be a major work, and kindly arranged for me to get a copy if it as well (for those who don't know, and the pianist Noah Rosen is the leader). I spent some time with it, but just cannot get myself interested in it. I thought it was incredibly static with very little of direct development - instead of a stream is seemed like a swamp to me. Melodies are anemic and somewhat formulaic (more like segments of compositions (and not of Rosen, but of Andrew Hill), instead of complete ones). An original style (although one can definitely hear Waldron, Hill and Cecil), but not a very attractive one to me. Out of Rosen's generton (35-50), I'd rather listen to pianists like Matthew Goodheart, David Bickerton or Uwe Oberg.

No, just the one listen, so far. Somehow I don't think that two additional listens will reveal the complex mysteries of this musical pearl. As I read somewhere: "you can't polish a turd." Sorry, but this one isn't going to get any better with time. We ate dinner without music, so my wife was spared. I was going to buy a birthday present for my father tonight. I think I might have the perfect gift already here... John, let me know if your father, his nieghbours or his dog need a present - I have Mirabassi's Avanti! already packed in a pink wrapper.

Definitely not a wall-of-noisy music. Marhaus sound palette is fairly limited here (think about battle scenes from the films on WWII), but he does manage to achieve quite a bit of dynamic vaariety. No silence, but no all-out aggresive noisy stuff either. All very focused and fairly reserved. There are even some snippets of "guitar" melody at the end, which he plays with. My knowledge of this sort of music is too limited to give any stylistical reference - so this is the best description I can come up with at the moment.

Tony, you are a sadistic, immoral individual. ----------------------- Gentlemen, I feel deeply offended - nobody ever accused me of listening to new age (well... hmm... Tony has these 30 Cold Blue CDs that somebody ordered using my credit card...). Next time I'll recommend some death metal CD - I'll see what you say then (hmmm... might not work - some death metal will sound like new age for this weird John B guy)! Could I have misplaced the CDs and have been listening to Taylor-Lyons-Murray CD instead or "ARP Music" all along ?

Tony, you could probably put Jon through directly to the lady - the disc might still be avialable. ------------------------- Started listening to Braxton's Donna Lee and got bored by the middle of track 2. I am not sure it sounds dated, but it does sound pretentious and supreficial. Braxton all over the place displaying his chops mrope than ideas IMO, and then there is this MIchael Smith guy with his romantic "profound" classical-leaning piano. Oliver Johnson on drums is great, though. Now, the solo Braxton Free America disc - Saxophone Improvisations Series F is another story alltogether - some of the best Braxton I've heard.

News from Utech Records: "A quick bit of news... the new solo recording from Steve Hubback "Trees, Rocks and Ravens" [uR-008] is available now on the Utech Records site. The release coincides with a piece on Steve in the May issue of Modern Drummer magazine. Steve talks with Michael Bettine about his music and metalsmithing. The article is nicely written and will hopefully introduce some folks to this deserving musician and artist. I will have a proper update with more new releases later in the month." ------------------------------------ As mentioned, of 4 first Utech releases I have, Lasse Marhaug is the winner, Frode Gjerstad I am not sure about yet, and Ras Moshe stuff... well, I'll give them one more try, and if it does not work out well, they will embark on a trip to Vermont - I have a feeling some people there might enjoy it more.

I have an EMANEM Freedom in the city 2001: small groups set, where Ms. Brand is featured on a couple of tracks - will listen to it later today.

Among other wonderful things upcokming on EMANEM, there is one that I think Tony will be definitely interested in exploring: Gail Brand / Tim Perkis / Gino Robair / John Shiuba / Matthew Sperry 'Supermodel Supermodel' (2002-3) My EMANEM collection is meagre (not more than 10 CDs, at best), and I should start exploring it more.

OK, I placed an order for it. Will post here after I listen to it.