Д.Д.

Is this the Collection set on Ogun?

This prompted me to dig out Dick's novel Ubik and re-read it. Good stuff.

Anyone familiar with any of the Edgetone releases?

Could never really get into Maneri Sr. As I mentioned, my favorite track of his is the one when he recites a poem in an imaginery language. But I am returning to his discs (of which I have quite a few for whatever reason) from time to time.

Funny enough, this mornig I was listening to excellent Mat Maneri Trio - "For Consequence" (Leo, 2003) with Randy Peterson (and Ed Schuller). Peterson is one of my favorite drummers, probably. McLellan and Peterson are indeed somewhat similar, but McLellan sounds more pointillistic to me. This evening will listen to Joe McPhee / Hamid Drake duo (recorded just days apart from Grand Marquis(should be a totally different story, I presume(.

Received the new ESP Ayler's "Spiritual Unity" remaster. After very quick A/B-ing, it seems to me that the Calibre reissue (from 2001, I think - the one in a red cardboard slipcase over the jewel case) sounds better (although, possibly a bit "pumped up" - the new reissue has a gentler, more "relaxed" sound - but Ilike my Ayler "pumped up")...

Well, I've been also doing some of "this music" listening. Stilluppsteypa / TV Pow - "We Are Everyone In The Room" (Erstwhile) After a couple of listens, I thouhgt it was extremely boring and uneventful. More E I exploration to follow.

Upcoming on 482 Music: Rosenberg / Baker / Hatwich / Daisy: "New Folk, New Blues" (April 12, 2005) Scott Rosenberg (tenor and baritone saxophone) Jim Baker (piano, analog synthesizer, aluminum foil) Anton Hatwich (bass) Tim Daisy (drums) Surely looks interesting.

Friends, a VERY enjoyable release: The Lost Trio with special guest Adam Levy - "Live at Avalon & the Graves" (Evander, 2001). Adam Levy - guitar Phillip Greenlief - saxophones (tenor, moslty) Tom Hassett - drums Dan Seamans - bass A mainstream recording, basically - a set of standards ("Body & Soul", "Lush Life" and other stuff like this) played in a relaxed, unpretentious manner. Not something I would be interested in theoretically, but here it all sounds very refreshing. Greenlief (who is at the frontline) is a very impressive on tenor, rhythm section is excellent (and very coordinated) and Adam Levy has a very appealing warm Burrell-ish sound and his solos are understated and tasteful. Again, I couldn't resist comparing this set with Braxton's "Standards" set on Leo - same band configuration, also recorded live, and I think there's even some overlap of the repertoir. At the same time Greenlief & Co. manage to deliver some creative non-bullshit playing (even if within a very traditional framework) without pompous attempt to make an ARTISTIC STATEMENT or to prove something to somebody (which is quite ridiculous with the tunes that have been played superbly over the last 70 years) - and with tunes' heads played in tune. This double CD set is available at indiejazz.com for $14.

Yes Tony, I remembered your dislike for this disc from way back when. I think to some extent my opinion change could stem to from my better (although not at all exhaustive) knowledge of Evan Parker's ouevre. Hearing some examples of his good tenor playing (like on terrific Chicago Tenor Duets (Okka) with Joe McPhee) sets a good benchmark against which the comparisons should be made. Also, I feel that the more music I aquire the less tolerance for non-outstanding recordings I have - there are so many masterpieces in my collection already that spending time on merely good music has little value in it for me.

That's a live recording.

Transformations of my perception of music are perplexing sometimes. This weekend I listened to Nailed (FMP), which is a quartet of Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker, Tony Oxley and Barry Guy. This is the CD I enjoyed immensely when I got it. I though it was wild, brutal and cathartic music. Well, I could hardly listen to it till the end this time. I tried it again next day with the same result. Now I can hardly find what is possibly there to enjoy. First and foremost, Parker is extremely repetative here, spitting out bursts of ultra-fast sounds. These 3-second bursts could have easily been sampled, looped and played all through the set -they are absolutely identical to my ears. The sound itself is not particularly interesting either: very "compressed" to my ears - as if after being "extracted" from the instrument it is immidiately captured, without time to unfold and breathe and to really "play". Overall, nothing intellectual, but nothing particularly emotional either - very mechanistic instead. Listening to his playing I was reminded that Don Cherry gave a "Machine Gun" nickname to Brötzmann - I think applying it to Parker on "Nailed" would have been much more appropriate. Cecil does not treat us to too much variety either here (some piano-bass-drums passages are particualrly meandering here), and there is much less intricacies in his playing here than usual. Barry Guy seems totally lost here and his contribution, while not too bad per se does not add too much to the cohesiveness of the total ensemble sound. Oxley is good, but again there are some examples of his much better work elsewhere. Also, he is mostly focused on interacting with Cecil (not the other way around, I feel), and it comes into conflict with what Parker is playing. To sum up, now I have a feeling of Nailed being a quite mediocre work. Can't even call it a "failed experiment", as I don't hear that much of experimentation here. I'll listenn to it again in a year or so. we'll see how I perceive it then.

Great write-ups, Flurin.

So it's Vernon Lüdi! I've read quite a bit about him, but never heard him before this BFT - time to get some of his stuff (not that much available out there, unfortunately). So is that Koch or Lüdi soloing on track 13? Schweizer is also a suprise - and again, have been meaning to check out some of here works, but haven't done so yet. George Mraz - who could have thought?!!

So you'll be there for goon, on April 17? They are playing here in Geneva on April 15th (http://www.amr-geneve.ch/prog2005/jazzfest/affiche.htm), so unless I am exceptionally inspired to make a 250km drive, I won't make it your way. Who are they playing with in Zürich? Very same group, David. You'll be here for Gebbia? (April 12, I think) I meant, if there is any other band playing the same night with them. For Gebbia, I will try to come.

Heh-heh, that's some nice editing of the review.

I'll send Drimala and Sachimay an e-mail. Maybe just Sachimay. I may be wrong but it looks like some of these Sachimay titles are CDRs but aren't identified as such on either the individual CDs nor on the Sachimay site. Dirigibles seems to be a CDR. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just had another listen to The Dirigibles Between Similarities and... . Definitely an enjoyable disk to be recommended to (almost) all who normally participate in this thread. Pianist DeChellis is good but especially impressive is persussionist Jeff Arnal. As I'm lame at describing what I'm hearing, here's a review by Ken Waxman from Jazz Weekly: Hand in glove, indeed! I don't know how much of this is improvised but this duo definitely benefitted from playing together for six months before recording. Either that, or each is a telepath. Tony, if you like this one, I'd draw your attention to another piano-drums duo with Arnal: Temperature Dropped Again (Leo, 2004) Dietrich Eichmann - piano Jeff Arnal - drums I listened to it only once, and didn't enjoy it that much - I thought there was too much Arnal, and the piano layer seemed a bit derivative. But I surely need to listen to it again.

So you'll be there for goon, on April 17? They are playing here in Geneva on April 15th (http://www.amr-geneve.ch/prog2005/jazzfest/affiche.htm), so unless I am exceptionally inspired to make a 250km drive, I won't make it your way. Who are they playing with in Zürich?

Well Tony, you have strange tastes for music. You don't like death metal either, do you? Sorry you didn't like it. Perhaps this thread could help finding this music some love. The word "vapid" I didn't know. Always learn something new in this thread.

Just got an e-mail from Joe McPhee who responded to my question about the possibility of the continuation of his work with Johnny McLellan. The answer is no. Joe mentions he would elaborate when we meet in Switzerland next month (concert in quartet with Brötzmann, oh yes).

Got Bailey's "Aida" from CDUniverse a couple of weeks ago - haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. ------------------------- 382 Music is planning a couple more releases in early may: 1. Natto Quartet - Thousand Oaks 2. Anthony Braxton / Matt Bauder - 2 + 2 Compositions Not too interested in Braxton, frankly - all the recent releases I've heard lack in ideas, sound and technique compared to ealier works, IMO. But Natto Quartet I've been meaning to check out for quite some time.

Please remember that when you leave your home, you do so as a representative of the Funny Rat so PLEASE, behave accordingly. Have fun! When I am back I would like to see written confirmations of your ordering Grand Marquis.

Looks good! Funny that Indie Jazz doesn't seem to offer this Boxholder title. Where'd you get your copy? Tyler from indiejazz wrote that they were about to restock all available Boxholder releases couple of months ago. What I see is that none of the earlier Boxholder's are avialbele from indiejazz (BXH3 - KONK, BXH4 - Grand Marquis, BHX5 - Malik-McBee Moffet, BXH6 - Tripleplay, BXH7 - Kolhause/Langley; BXH 8/9 - Bill Cole; BHX 10 - Keith Yuan (for which I specificall asked); BXH 11 - Bill Cole). The only one that's there is BXH1/2 - Parker/Budbill. Don't want to start a PANIC but could they be going OOP? Will send an e-mail to Tyler - they seem to be in touch with the Boxholder guys regularly. -------------- OK, enough for today - dinner and then to disco.

Friends, I try to restrain myself when it comes to grand procalmations about particular recordings, but here I feel I can make an announcement absolutely responsibly - this is a M A S T E R P I E C E. I listened to it ten times at least, and my impressions gets only stronger at each listen. Joe McPhee / Johnny McLellen - "Grand Marquis" (Boxholder, 2000). Joe McPhee - tenor saxophone Johnny McLellan - drums (and composition on all but one track) Words fail me to describe this music. I thinks Derek Tylor did a decent job. And so did Thom Jurek. I will just note that I consider myself quite a fan of Mr. McPhee's work, and highly enjoy 90% of his recordings - but this one is, IMO, the best one. And I wish there were more recordings of McLellan available (there is only other one I know of - Keith Yaun quintet on Leo, a good one).

This one is beautiful - hopefully you receive it. Got it. Tony, have you had a chance to listen to this one yet? - would be interested to hear your opinion. I found this to be a very charming and original work. Listened to it once but became upset as track five has some very serious sonic problems. I'm guessing your copy is problem free? I'll have to see f I can get another copy... but Drimala is now out of this one and I'm doubtful that Sachimay would be interested in replacing my $5 copy. I'll have another listen and post an opinion. My copy is fine. I think you won't have problems getting a replacement from Sachimay - you got their porduct in a legit way, and the price does not really matter.