Д.Д.

That's a shame. ANother thing that distingushed SKETCH recordings is their beautiful sound (recorded in Studios la Buisonne) - i.e. Anthony Cox's solo bass record "This & That", while probably not essential for musical merits, has to be heard for the bass sound alone. Lacy's "Work" is perhaps one of the best-recorded CDs in recent years (and excellent music as well). SKETCH website has full-track mp3s from each of their releases available, and I would encourage everybody to check them out - there is a lot of beautiful music there.

That's an incredible lineup. You two guys are very lucky. Well, yesterday I saw another no-slouch rocking combo: Alexander Schlippenbach - piano, trumpet Rudi Mahall - bass clarinet Axel Dörner - trumpet Jan Roder - bass Uli Jennessen - drums playing the music of Thelonius Monk. Will collect my thoughts, and will make a write-up some time later. The band just released an all-Monk 3-CD ("Monk's Casino") set on INTAKT, and they were offering it at the concert at Sfr. 60 ($50). I decided to skip it for now. But I will get it.

Upcoming release on INTAKT: BARRY GUY NEW ORCHESTRA "ENTROPY" Barry Guy Agusti Fernandes Evan Parker Mast Gustafsson Hans Koch Johannes Bauer Herb Robertson Per Ake Holmlander Paul Lytton Raymond Strid This is the fantastic band ubu and I saw the other day.

Well, you can get even better than this: here and here Both on Leo.

I also prefer having all CDs on display (makes it easier for me to decide what to listen), so can-am was not my choice. This is what I am using:

If you like this one, you can go for all of the other Cllective 4tet discs you find - they are all good (I haven't heard the very recent one, though). As for Willism Parker, as I mentioned, I believe that Collective 4tet features some of his most creative low-cliché playing in recent years. Interestingly, I 've been lately listening to a couple of CDs from late 70s and early 80s with Parker (trio with Wayne Horwitz and Butch Morris on Black Saint, and "Through Acceptance of a Mystery Peae" on Eremite), and he sounds like a much more diverse and explorative musician there.

Milford Graves!? Only him.

First of all, thanks for compiling the disc. Here are my thoughts. 1. Simplistic introduction theme. The bassist does not really listen to the vibes player, does he? –they get out of sync in the fast part (well, more fast part – everything is fast here). Vibist can play fast, but it all sounds way too clumsy. Not that much of an interesting improvisation here– sure, poor guy is struggling to keep in tempo with the bassist, no time to think. Not too impressive for me. 2. Nice Monk’s theme. Hmmm… that’s simplifying it too an extreme. Really childish, I say. .:.impossible, that’s not you playing, by chance? Not much interest for this one either. 3. Quite funny start, but nothing much happens after that. Drumming with all these clapping sounds becomes annoying after a while. 2 minutes - that’s it? Nice, but not more. 4. Heey, this I like. Unique approach to drumming. A bit unfocused and rambling, but that’s the man’s style – he lets the music carry him away. This music is even better appreciated live (although he tends to spend most of the time singing and dancing), due to amazing energy that this (fairly old now) man projects on stage. Hope he records more - I would love to hear him in duo with some guitarist, Elliott Sharp, probably. Bravo. 5. Nice transition – into the drum sola – also extroverted, but a more disciplined drummer. Like the drummer –a bit Cyrille-ish, but it’s not him (not good enough ). Like the unison theme by saxophonists. Hmmm, this transition to fairly standard hard-bop thing surely is disappointing. Tenor solo is OK, fairly generic. This is something recently recent (90s- 00s), very safe, and quite sterile. Oh, and the second saxophonist (is this alto or also tenor?) is equally competently boring. At the call-and-response part you can hear that both saxophonists are quite Henderson-ish. Something like this was already quite outdated in 1965 – not sure it has any relevance in 2005. Oh, drum solo. Drum solo I like. Interestingly, I hear some influence of the drummer from the track 4. 6. Brushes –tasty sound. Nice guitar sound – now what? …Now nothing much, it seams. A drowsy organ mini-solo. At 1:40 I am starting to worry if anything is going to happen here at all. OK, we got a quite clean polite guitar solo. Come on, this is just too generic… Is this to accompany afternoon dance sessions for those over 60? Very much no good, IMO. 7. Again, I just don’t hear any development here. No search, no exploration, no risk taking. This gong is annoying, I think. Quite new-agey. Hand in hand watch the sunrise on the beach. 8. OK, time to wake up! Beginning I like. Edgy theme and more life in the guitar sound. Nice bass-drums – you just feel they enjoy it. Guitar solo is interesting. These shifts when bass stops playing - very tasty. Muted trumpet solo is also good! Sounds like Paul Smoker at his less adventurous. Or Joe McPhee – haven’t heard a lot of his trumpet playing, but this sound like saxophone solo played on trumpet. Excellent shift to hi-hats by drummer. Excellent track! Very interested to learn who these musicians are. 9. This is very much so-so. Again, rather bland playing from everybody. Vibist is the best here, but also far from spectacular. Khan Jamal at his less inspired? Hope not. The theme is formulaic as well. 10. Nice theme. I am pretty sure I have it recorded somewhere – but I think it is played on piano there. Sounds like something Carla Bley could have written – little simple repetitive hypnotic melody. Oooops, this rhythm’n’blues-ish guitar – quite silly, no? And the bassist is doing something very awkward and busy behind it – just to emphasize the silliness of it all, I guess. Vibes solo – pretty, lots of feedback making it painful, not eventful in terms of ideas. 70s, I guess? Not good, IMO. 11. Good theme. Beautiful low trumpet sound! Excellent solo – would have loved if it were longer. This booming steady bass is a bit annoying – would have been better to have something more flexible and original. Impressionistic piano solo OK. Counterpoint ensemble part is interesting – tastefully and cleverly done, just this bass is annoying. Bass clarinet (?) is not going anywhere – a shame. Not bad at all. Curious about the trumpeter. 12. Well recorded (unlike previous track). Bassist is heaving a peculiar concept of time. Not a very flexible bass playing, I say. Is this a bassist’s date? – he is too prominent in the mix. Tenor is OK – competent, nothing too original. Drummer sounds like Hamid Drake to me. More competent generic modern outdated music. 13. Yeah, piano, it’s been a long time since we’ve heard it here. More Monkisms? The guy (gal) does not let himself go, does he? Don’t like it too much. Substituting ideas for these nervous stops. Sounds like Ran Blake to me. 14. Nice classical trumpet sound. Such an overblown arrangement. Not a bad one, but just does not fit with the singer. Was the brass section overdubbed? Bad idea, IMO. The singer is OK, nothing special (a couple of nice hooks here and there, but again…. just generic, sorry). Shit, this arrangement is so out of place… You didn’t mix it yourself, did you? 15. More large band. Strong alto sound. Solo is OK. Does not sound improvised to me. Phil Woods? OK stuff. 16. Hmmm. Just didn’t provoke any emotion or interest whatsoever – nether bad not good.

I ahve it. It's a duo with a drummer, and it is really good - quite free but lyrical.

Received mine today. Thanks .:.impossible and tjobbe (nice packaging!). FInishing the first listen of disc 1 - will probably post my thoughts tomorrow.

Will be placing an order soon.

Hope Jon won't mind: From Erstwhile's newsletter: OK, in the 5-plus years I've been running Erstwhile, I've never had a sale before, and I don't expect to have one again for a while. but I moved this week, and am having a "I have too much stuff and not enough money" one-time sale, through the end of February, details below. all single CDs are $10, doubles $15, plus my shipping estimate. buy any 5 releases, get an additional single CD free. the box set is still $100 plus shipping, but you also get two single discs of your choice included for free. sale ends last day of February and is only good for all-Erstwhile orders directly through me at ErstRecs@aol.com. no preorders will be accepted; this only applies to releases out now. please e-mail me your orders before sending money so I can tell you the correct shipping. the full catalog is listed here, 010 is OOP, and 004 has only a handful of copies left, everything else I've got... http://www.erstwhilerecords.com/catalog.asp thanks for your time! -jon abbey

There is also some singing on a couple of tracks - by Bley and Peacock. I thought the disc was quite weak overall, with first track indeed being somewhat more interesting.

McPhee is one of my favorite musicians. Both of his solo hatOLOGIY releases "Tenor & Fallen Angel" and "As Serious As Your Life" are essential (and are about to go OOP), IMO. Another one of his recent works I particualrly enjoy, is his duo with drummer Johnny McLellan Grand Marquis (on Boxholder). McLellan is a very creative drummer with a composer thinking, and his "conversational" style brings up the best in McPhee (who plays tenor on this date).

Other good sources of it (although not necesserily the cheapest ones) are: Brennan Denzler Weber Wolfarth Leo Records

Tony, don't bother - I can get it relatively cheap in Russia (if it is still in print), and sent it to you - and anyway I need to send you some stuff (Captain Beefheart concert, etc.). Shipping directly from Russia is expensive and unreliable.

Incidentally, I was also listening to "Closed Mountains" this morning! As for "Duets", you can get it from your most reliable (if not too fast) Russian music supplier, of course. This is an excellent disc (I like it more than "Closed Mountains"), allowing Yaremchuk to display his talents in a more pronounced way. Some folk-inlfuenced singing on a couple of tracks, though. I have a feeling it might be not available anymore - in this case, I will make you a CD-R.

Also, a very reliable service - and they send you discount coupons for future purchases. If a CD form one of the labels they sell is not featured on their website, just send them an e-mail - they will get it for you. I recently purchased a lot of pfMENTUM releases form indiejazz - still have to go through them. Just noticed they added between the lines label, which is good, as finding reasonably-priced BTL releases is not easy in Europe. Hey, they added Double Moon label as well! Might buy this one with my next order:

Listening to Georg Graewe Fantasiestucke I - XIII for piano solo (nuscope CD 1014) now, for the first time. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And proceded to listen to this one FOUR times. WOW this is good stuff! Tony, the other great Gräwe solo record, San Francisco 1995 (on Music & Arts), that, as I mentioned I feel is even better than Fantasiestucke solo release, is avialable for $7 or so at your favorite themusicresource.com and Cadence.

If you take "jewish" as nationality, not religion, I assume the list could include: Dave Brubeck Lalo Shifrin Don Friedman Denny Zeitlin Steve Kuhn Lee Konitz

I've never sampled OGG files either, but they supposedly sound very good. The bitrate varies at emusic, depending on what each label supplies them. Some older tracks are encoded at lower rates. Mostr tracks (and I believe all of the Leo tracks are done this way) are encoded using VBR (Variable Bit Rate) at an average of 192k. I used to be an e-music subscriber a couple of years ago when they had all-you-can-download-for-flat-fee policy - still have dozens of CD-Rs with poorly sounding OJC mp3s. ------------------------------- I have five or six nuscope titles, including the one pictured above. Sounds like you might be enjoying Light's View more than I am. Can't really get the hang of Graewe and unfortunately, he's on most of the nuscopes I have. More listening ahead, though. I like Gräwe a lot. Have you had a chance to hear his solo work on nuscope or (even better) the one on Music & Arts ("San Franciso 1995" it's called, I think)? The only one Gräwe I found less-than-inspiting is the one in trio with Ernst Reijseger and Gerry Hemingway on Music & Arts "The View from Point West" (whereas a disc by the same trio on Random Acoustics - "Flex 27", recorded more-or-less at the same time, I though was outstanding).

Or, as you will be downloading mp3s either way, emusic has this set. $10 for 40 tracks. There are 44 tracks spread over the 8 discs, so you could get the first 7 discs for $10 and get discs 8 as part of your second month's allotment of tracks or you could get the 65 tracks for $15 package and get the entire set plus 21 other tracks. When I bought a digital juke-box I did a little comparison, and found I don't like the sound of MP3 files too much (even at higher bit rates), so I use WMA (300+ kbit bit rate). Leo offers OGG files which aparently sound better than WMA at the same bit rate (haven't had a chance to check myself yet). What's the bitrate of e-music MP3s?

Loading some big files from some record label website at the moment.

Leo Records decreased the price of a download to $7 per CD, and they now have the OOP Document: New Music from Russia 8-CD set available for download for $56.

Well, I have problems telling "jazz" from "non-jazz", so classifying something as EAI (as opposed to AI, E or EFI) is an insurmountable challenge for me. Some of the music that others call EAI I like (like Drumm's "Particles and Smears"), some I don't (like Sachico M's "Do"). As for "easing" somebody's way into music, I could never understand the point of it - if you want to go for something new, do it - don't go for something "semi-new" or "partially-new".