Д.Д.

To Jason's excellent list of major solo saxophone works I would add: Gianni Gebbia "Arcana Major / Sonic Tarot Sessions" (Ratascan / Studio Supremo) Bhob Rainey "Ink." (Sachimay) Jack Wright "Places To Go" (Spring Garden) Ned Rothenberg "The Crux. Selected Solo Wind Works (1989-92)" While all four are highlyl individual musicians, you will hear elements of "For Alto" in each of these works. Today listened to Braxton's "Saxophone Improvisations Series F" for the first time, and indeed this is an outstanding record - and quite different from his later solo works (which I also enjoy a lot - in fact I strongly prefer Braxton in solo stetting).

Incidentally, just yesterday I was enjoying the first listening of the Brandenburg concerts, Alfred Cortot conducting (EMI Reference series - now OOP?). Now, the quality is not exaclty hi-fi (but very decent for '30s recording) but the performances is very lively and moving.

I think you'd dig either one of the Marion Browns. Charles Tyler's "Eastern Man Alone" is surely very accessible (and very good). Same refers to two piano trio albums - Lowell Davidson trio and Baob james trrio.

Gonna do some listening this weekend. Have you listened to any of those?

Good, Chuck. Now how about releasing it?

Not true. Go for Ivo Perelman.

Some catchy, ruggedly-swinging tunes -- much swagger, meant in a good way -- but no great shakes, IMHO. Reminds me a bit of Raphe Malik's ConSequences. Good music to play while driving. Driving? Too dangerous for me - I can easily fall asleep listening to "O'Neal's Porch"...

This one I'd be definitely interested in hearing.

Utech record newsletter: January and February were slow, but I'm excited to have three new releases for March. These will be available before the month is up, so keep an eye on the site www.utechrecords.com Paal Nilssen-Love/Lasse Marhaug "Personal Hygiene" [uR-005] Edition of 75. Drums and electronics. Paal Nilssen-Love/Nils Hernrik Asheim "Pipes and Bones" [uR-006] Edition of 75. Drums and church organ. Matt Lavelle "Making Eye Contact With God" [uR-007] Edition of 50. New York-based trio of trumpet, bass and drums. Includes Matt Heyner and Ryan Sawyer. ____________________________________________________________________________ Releases will keep rolling through spring and summer with titles from Matt Lavelle (NY), Fire and Flux (NY), Jesse Quattro (SF), Steve Hubback (Iceland) and Triage (Chicago). Late summer or early fall will see the release of two more recordings from Paal Nilssen-Love. The first is a duo set with guitarist Anders Hana and the other a solo recording called "Twenty Seven Years Later." Tentative releases for the rest of the year include: Audiotrope (Milwaukee), Ryfylke (Norway), Lotte Anker (Denmark), Henrik Rylander (Sweden) and The Rempis Percussion Quartet (Chicago). There may be some surprises along the way as well. ____________________________________________________________________ Still available: Lasse Marhaug "Spaghetti Western Rainbow" [uR-001] Edition of 50. Ras Moshe "Live Spirits 1" [uR-002] Edition of 50. Second pressing. Ras Moshe "Live Spirits 2" [uR-003] Edition of 50. Second pressing. Frode Gjerstad/Steve Hubback "One Foot Moving" [uR-004] Edition of 75.

5000 is probably more than enough to satisfy demand for this sort of music globally. That's why I was sceptical about it being supposedly a Europe-only release when they just came out - 5000 is just too much for Europe alone...

I wonder which ones you chose to skip?

This is a great disc indeed (the best Solal I have heard, probably) - sadly OOP.

Insane. Have you considered sending a money order? Are you sure you need it to be sent by a "certified" carrier insured (so that you don't only pay a lot for the shipping, but also the import duties)? - regular post in Bulgaria should be OK.

John, Tony, good haul - looking forward to reading your reviews of these createve sources discs. Neither am I left without nothin' - just returned home after two-week traveling and found quite a few packages clogging my mailbox, including themusicresource order mentioned above, CDUniverse order inclluding Corea, Chick / Haynes, Roy / Henderson, Joe / Peacock, Gary Live In Montreux Jenkins, Leroy - Solo Shorter, Wayne - Night Dreamer Bailey, Derek - Aida Fast 'N' Bulbous - Pork Chop Blue Around The Rind Jeff Parker - The Relatives And a couple from Amazon.de: And the New York Contemporary [CD] Von: Archie Shepp And the one I've been looking forward to hearing for quite some time:

I am curious - does the US edition also have French liner notes (liner notes are quite so-so here, anyway)?

Okka website has been updated with information on newly-OOP titles. The OOP list now includes: 1. OD12002 — "Caffeine" Caffeine (Baker / Hunt / Vandermark) 2. OD12007 — "Birdhouse" Fred Anderson Quartet w/ Baker / Bankhead / Drake 3. OD12022 — "The Chicago Octet/Tentet" - Peter Brötzmann w/ Bishop / Drake / Gustafsson / Kessler / Lonberg-Holm / McPhee / Vandermark / Williams / Zerang 4. OD12023 — "Live at the Velvet Lounge" Fred Anderson Trio w/ Kowald / Drake

This one is beautiful - hopefully you receive it.

I have the disc you are referring to, but don't remember it too well - will listen to it this weekend and will post my thoughts here.

Another order with themusicresource completed merely 3.5 months after being placed. 4 out of 8 - not too bad. BRIGGAN KRAUSS 300 Compact Discs $11.25 1 Invoiced RICKY FORD BALAENA Compact Discs $12.25 1 Invoiced ALBERT AYLER HILVERSUM SESSION Compact Discs $14.75 1 Invoiced PERCUSSIONSUMMIT PERCUSSION SUMMIT Compact Discs $14.75 1 Invoiced LYONS,JIMMY & CYRILLE,ANDREW BURNT OFFERING Compact Discs $13.75 0 Unavailable JOHNSTON,PHILLIP NORMALOLOGY Compact Discs $12.25 0 Unavailable FORD,RICKY RICKY'S CHOICE Compact Discs $7.95 0 Unavailable KAHIL ELZABAR THE RITUAL Compact Discs $14.75 0 Unavailable

Not at all. Their releases look very interesting, thanks for the link! I'll start going through their sound clips. Looks like an interesting label. I'll place some orders through jon - but first I'd like to go through all of these Erstwhile discs that I got on recent sale. ---------------------------- Leo Recocds website is updaed with a list of new releases. Anyone heard the first two releases of Braxton Yoshi performances?

1. Bennink? A musician of amazing energy - sometimes to the detriment of the music (but not here). Love that bass drum work. Good stuff - well played, humorous and ironic (but not of mockery type). Should investigete the Dutch scene more. 2. 3. Gorgeous alto sound - Johnny Hodges? Piano is doing some interesting (if not entirely fitting, IMO) comping behind the solo. Ellington orchestra? The singing is quite charming. Shit, he is also doing some Armstrong impersonations - I hate this. But this imprersonation is not too bad, actually. Sure, people are clapping to this. I assume this is not a full-time siger, but one of the musicins allowed to have fun - in this case it's very decent. 4. Hmm.. is this what's called a "dance band" (pardon my ignorance of early jazz)? Alto's OK. Shit, the trupmpet is really overdoing it - not much love for this sort of (technically admirable) acrobatics here. Not too interested in this one, although like that they are playing quiter in the end - some subtlety here is welcome. 5. Well-written. Nothing much to add here. Would be interested to know the composer. 6. What the fuck, more vocal aping?! The same guy as on track 2? I think this vocal thing is pathetic here. The band is great, of course. Beautiful clarinet! Duke's band again? A great band and a palpable feeling of joy. Good stuff, except for singng. 7. You know my love for farting sounds, Flurin , so for trombone intro. Actually, the whole trombone solo is excellent - gutsy, sinister and very expressive. Tells a fascinating story. Mangelsdorff? Funny how trombone sounds like Leon Thomas' yodelling near the end of the solo. Probably the solo is a tad too long, but still a very very good one. Bass solo is a bit awkward and waters down the suspence the trombone has created. Soprano (?) is doing some interesting things - a shame there is no soprano solo. 8. Again a nice saxophone sound. Bloodcount - great theme. A stylistical reference to the master on track 1 of the first disc of this BFT. Tenor solo's OK. Pino solo is OK. Drums are playing some intersesting things behind the piano - got bored to be a metronome, I assume. Overall the solos are good but just too safe for my taste. Second tenor solo has more happening, but stil I don't feel something particulalry original is being said here. ... a few Rollins/Henderson cliches here and there. Got bored by the end. Too long of a track overall. 9. The theme I like. The bassist and drummersound similar in style to the ones on previous track. Bassist could be NHOP - very confident, and this fluid shallow sound. But there are many bassists playing this way. Piano - impressive hands coordination (or is it tow pianists? - or overdubbing?). Overall, can't say I'm enjoying it too much, due to quite rudimentary improvisation - but it is surely well-writen. Oh, this is live - so probably it is not overdubbed, after all. 10. Heh-heh, this is something .:.impossible might enjoy. And I like it as well. Sweet guitar solo - love these fast effects (don't kow how they are called). Beautiful full guitar sound - wish the guitar solo were longer. Drummer is becoming more insistent behind the organ solo, and it is appropriate - the solo is suposed to be "hot", I guess. Good build up of the organ solo. All these fast runs surely are impressive. I assume it's Jimmy Smith - don't know his ouevre too well, but these 1000 notes per second (when much less would have probably been enough) thing is how I remeber his playing. These big chords in the end are just too bombastic, IMO. Not too excited about this one. 11. You like "Whisper Not", Flurin. All those tenors in this BFT sound the same to me (even if some of them will turn out to be altos ). All have beautiful sounds. Sounds like later-parioud Shepp, but the sound is more focused. Good, but again the same objections as with the track 8 - too safe and unadvernturous. And again a set of standard cliches - Rollins, Coltrane... Can't say the guy is telling a sotry here (by "story" I mena something like wht trombonist on track 7 is doing) - here we have these quite disjointed and not very imaginative short phrases. Yeah, solid paino. It's just too un-advernturous for me to enjoy, I' afraid. By adventurous I mean not "free", "out" or whatevr - but a certain element of surprise, and it is justtotally lacking here, IMO. Well, drummer is starting doing something more interesting here... No, no, no. 12. Hmm.. it's more of the same to me - beautiful tenor sound, good standard... Just even less improvisation here (more like variations on a theme). Don't hear my development. Bassist is good, though - and I should know him. 13. This is how I imagine Elvin Jones' voice. 14. This is great. I like everythign here. More creative than half of the tracks on this BFT. Thanks Flurin!

to both

Wil start working on that Duns catalog.

Now that guy on #4 has certainly dug a lot of Brötzmann, sound-wise, heh heh heh! Well, that's the only way for me to identify all these early jazz guys - through Broetzmann's influence ! Again nice to hear someone more likes this one! "Whisper Not" is one of my favourite tunes, too, and this track one of my faves of Disc 1. I'd say this is my favorite track on this BFT as well. There is an excellent Russian accordeonist, Vladimir Danilin, working in a somewhat similar vein. I will try getting some of his records. Give me the names, please, of each of the three! I suppose you got the bassist right, but I'm far from sure you id-ed the others correctly, too! William Parker - Matthew Shipp - Tom Rainey. Could be Craig Taborn on piano (another McCoy and Cecil-influenced guy), but I thought he was more orginal than that. Now, listening to it again - could this be your girflriend Ibarra? Sounds more like it Good drumming, actualy - I was a bit too harsh on the first listen. Should I relisten to the whole BFT??? Thought you'd like this and the next one... not Sauer. I don't think I've heard this saxophonist then, quite original sound. Not Kessler, not VDMK, not McPhee Shame on me, then - I should know the saxophonist in the left channel, at least. C'mon, don't be pretentious I thought the music was pretentious. That pianist... I'll say no more except you've mentioned him being a favourite several times... Cecil Taylor!!!!!!!!!!!!! You sure you know these guys? Post names if you do... w: I thoght it was Paal Nilsen-Love - Peter Jansen (or Haker-Faten) and some guitarist I don't know.

Writing as I listen. 1. Beautiful breathy sound. Gorgeous, really. Not even sure what the instrument is (tenor, alto ???). Interestingly, there's not that much happening in terms of improvisaton, but still a pleasure to listen to. Very confident. Piano is OK, nothing special. This one I like a lot. 2. Wild stuff! Great call-and-response - really clever arrangement. And the track length is about right. 3. Not bad as well. The theme is less interesting than the last one. Tenor solo is OK - not to adventurous and fairle predictable, but well played. I am ready to move out of the early jazz idiom. 4. Not this fast, it seems. This one has a beautiful tenor sound as well, but I am not too intersted by the solo itself: probably listening to "free" music predominantly makes this sort of solos sound very predictable and confined to strict boundaries. The sound is marvelous, though - Coleman Hawkins? Really ready for somehting more "out". 5. Interesting arrangement - with vibes. Again, great tenor sound, and again a pretty formulaic solo, IMO. Same goes for the trumpet. Vibes solo I like more - good dynamics and some interesting melodic ideas. Vibist is the leader? Hilarious guitar solo with all these fast notes, but not too nteresting ideas-wise either. Piano is OK. Not too xcited about ths one. 6. OK, we are moving a couple of decades ahead... and getting into somehting even more formulaic. Sounds like some European guys really trying to do it the American way - a bit artificial in thir attempt to "swing", that is. Well played. Got bored by the end. Long track. 7. Now these guys swing genuinely! Excellent singer, and what an original stylist - have only one of her CDs (with Dick Katz and Thad Jones), will get more for sure. Should know the pianist (great solo!) and drummer (oh yes), but surely can't name them right now for some reason . Philly Joe? Hank Jones? Great. 8. Accordeon! I think the solo is excellent. Really uses the unique capabilities of the instrument, but not in a gimmiky way. A lot of clever ideas. Very tasteful. 9. Not bad at all. Good tenor solo. Is it Dexter Gordon, by chance? Trumpet is excellent! So is the piano. Very enjoyable. Will be interested in buying this disc. 10. This bassist I can't stand. This is a fairly representative example of his "talents" - repetitive, predictable short-note grooves without any concern for other players. Surely there will be some boring bass solo (perhaps with some ugly one-note arco playing) later. The drumer I am a bit ambivalent about - unlike bassist he has skill, at least, but is also a bit of a one-trick pony to me. The pianist is OK here (a lot of Tyner influence displayed here, IMO), but not at his best - there are examples of his better works elsewhere. QUite bombastic. Oh yeah, here is the bass solo. Not as bad is it can get, but still pretty poor. Simply amazing that these many great musicians allow him to ruin their music. 11. Fun. AlsoTHese also sound like some European dudes. All solos are tasty and to the point. Good stuff. 12. OK, we are going into somewhat more challenging territorz -about time. Love the alto sound (or is it tenor? - I often have problems telling them apart...anyway, the sound is good - very strong). I feel that the saxophonist got lost a bit in the middle. Well, I was waiting for them to really freak out, but it never happened. Still quite good. Heinz Sauer? 13. Oh yes. Some funny rat people. Thoughtful interplay between tenors. The guy in the left channel has ths Ayler thing in his sound all right. Gorgeous sound. The other guy is less interesting. Good bass - Kent Kessler. Good tenor solo (if a bit generic) - I would have preferred the guy in the left channel to solo. this sounds like Vandermark at his more brutal to me. The other guy (I really wish he would play more here) could be Joe McPhee. Good music. 14. Boring bland mainstream, IMO. Could hardly keep myself listening till the end. 15. Beautiful. Very nice theme. Good trombone solo (or is it bass trumpet???), so fragile and timid. I hate these mandatory applause after each solo - do musicians really appreciate this? Tenor is good - thoughtful and lyrical. Not too convinced by the piano solo - not too original, is it? Like the track overall. 16. Good beginnig. Oh, some funky stuff! These bass-less/ drum-less countrpoint interludes - very clever. Don Ellis orchestra? Of the solos I liked the trumpet the most. Well crafted. 17. Ghosts! One of my favorite themes! - and played on GUITARRRRRR!!! This is one of my favorite drummers - was a treat seeing him live recently. Phenomenal techniacally, but also a great stylist - and really supporting of his partners. Guitarist I don't know, but he is good - would have loved to hear more of him. Bassist is no slouch either (also a brave viking warrior, I assume). 18. Ellington. Thanks ubu!