Д.Д.

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!

Just for the fun of it... Beautiful instruments. I am always a bit suspicious about musicians plaing miriads of instruments, though.

New ones on EMANEM: CLIVE BELL & SYLVIA HALLETT - 'The Geographers' (2004) EMANEM 4112 65 minutes. Following their 2004 FREEDOM OF THE CITY festival performance (heard on EMANEM 4215), Clive Bell and Sylvia Hallett went into the studio to record some more improvisations. Bell used Cretan pipes, harmonica, khene, pi saw, shakuhachi, stereo goathorns and a whirling bat drum, while Hallett used anklung, bicycle wheel, electronics, mbira, sarangi, saw, viola, violin and voice. Between them they created a very exotic sound world. ANTHONY BRAXTON & MILO FINE 'Shadow Company (2004)' EMANEM 4113 66 minutes. Anthony Braxton invited Milo Fine to travel half way across the USA so they could make some music together for the very first time. The result was the extended free improvisation (with gaps) which is heard complete on this CD. Braxton used four saxophones, and Fine two clarinets, piano and drums. ROGER SMITH & LOUIS MOHOLO-MOHOLO вЂThe Butterfly and the Bee’ (2004) EMANEM 4114 71 minutes. Following the success of their very first performance together at the 2004 FREEDOM OF THE CITY festival (heard on EMANEM 4215), Roger Smith and Louis Moholo-Moholo went into the studio to record some more. Their second meeting went so well that they recorded enough duo improvisations for a complete CD. The resulting music is heard complete, with Smith on Spanish guitar and Moholo on augmented drum set.

You wan't be too busy, I'm afraid.

Martin, I would ask Anatoly to decrease the shipping fee - it sounds like too much to me. If you have a bank account in a major European bank, it should be easy to make a bank transfer by Internet (if you have Anatoly's bank details, of course), but yes, there can be some trasfer fee. There is no VAT, and I don't think German customs will charge you any import taxes (particularly is you ask Anatoly to put low value level on the customs slip). ---------------- Any particular recommendations for DUNNs? Don't hae too many Dunnmall Cds. but what I've heard I enjoyed a lot (just listened his "Hit and Run" (FMP) (actually, not really a DUnmall disc - this is bassist's John Edwards' set of duos with Paul Dunnmall and John Butcher - and a couple of shorte tracks where they play as a trio) today - some insane stuff, particuarly on bagpipes.

Д.Д. is probably on a plane somewhere. Until his return, here's a neat label run by Anatoly Vapirov that you might want to check out. I don't own any of their stuff but their offerings sure look interesting. Ordering looks like it'd be a pain in the arse; too bad -- for me -- there doesn't seem to be a USA distributor. Oh yes, did a bit of traveling this week. Flew to Tashkent (Uzbekistan), drove 1000 km from there to Almaty (Kazakhstan) and then flew into Moscow this morning. The rest of March will be equally dynamic. --------------------- John, if you read Russian you might want to check http://jazz.ru/ out - a weekly-updated web-magazine with a list of Moscow jazz events (if not a complete one). http://afisha.ru/ has a list of all Moscow entertainment events of various degrees of sophiostication, including jazz concerts. http://dom.com.ru/ is the best club in Moscow devoted to creative music and art. Not at all "jazz"-exclusive (a lot of "ethnic" music projects this month, as I see), but if something really interesting jazz-related happens in Moscow, then it is most likely here. ------------------------ A word of warning on Vapirov's AVA label releases - these are CDRs, and out of 3 I received one had a very noticable sound defect (which happens occasionally with old and low-quality CDRs) rendering the CD practically unlistenable (the CD is New European Saxophone Quartet with (listen here) Vapirov, Gianni Gebbia, Petras Visniauskas and Carlo Actis Dato, btw). I plan to contact Vapirov soon, and I am sure he will replace the CD, as he seems to be a very nice guy (and was really surprised somebody actually is interested in his music). An outstanding musician as well, of course. I would highly reocmmend checking out his contribution to the Golden Years of the Soviet New Jazz, Vol. I set (Leo) before plunging into the AVA catalog.

Some of the most interesting Parker's tenor playing I've heard - indeed outside of his regular tenor rutine (such as on 2 X 3 = 5 which I find quite boring and predictable). Essential disc. Same refers to duo / tro disc with Braxton and Rutherford on Leo - when Parker is challeged be equally strong-personaity reed player he shows his best, IMO (I think Nate said something along these lines before).

We actualy seem to have surprisingly similar tastes. My mother has some very vivid imagination, and her comments on the music were both insightful (I have no idea how she did it, but she was fairly accurate in predicting how Polweschel music would build up) and hilarious. Have to run to catch my plain now (will listen to ubu's BFT on the 5-hour light), but will post some of her comments later.

I downloaded just the OOP "Document" set, and the parts of it that I've heard yet are excllent (and the sound quality is very decent). I would recommend you listen to the Godlen Years of the Soviet New Jazz Vol. I-IV, and if you like what you hear, go for the Document - the personnel is the same to a large extent. Other than that, I'll forego the downloads and will go for the real stuff - after all, I spent hours of my valuable leaure time assembling these CD racks not for nothing. ------------------------------- Leo website announces: Earn free downloads and free CDs ... through our new referal programme; details to be announced mid March 2005. I already know several people I could successfully refer... -------------------------------- Just bought a 40Gb mp3 player for my mother (IRiver 340, if anybody's interested) and loading some of my CDs for her. A bit confusd about what I should chose... Last time I was home, I decided I'd scare here a little a bit and put her "Spiritual Unity"... well, she liked it a lot. Morever she insisted on getting an MP3 player herself (thus, the present). Then I put her some Polweschel, and she enjoyed it as well. Same with Brötzmann's "Nefertiti" and Coltrane's "Meditations". I will try to ease her way into some hardbop BN stuff (via Evan Parker, I guess), but I doubt she'll gain too much appreciation for that.

Wow! Lacy and Leandre. Sounds tasty. What were the other seven new releases? Don't remember all now - threw the press-release away. There is (you favorite) Lauren Newton with (my favorite) Vladimir Tarasov, Braxton at Yoshi Vol. III, two discs of trio with Mat Maneri (forgot who was there in the trio), Enrico Fazzio band, Schlippenbach/Takase duo (didn't know they are husband and wife) plus some electronics guy (this one is actually very instriguing)... the other two I forgot. Leo website will be updated in a week or so anyway.

I'd get these two. Thanks.

Just received a press-release from Leo. 8 new releases - all look very interesting. I would particualrly note the Steve Lacy - Joelle Leandre duo "One More Time" (!), recorded just before Lacy left Europe for the US in 2002. The press release mentions that Lacy perfomed 10 duo concerts with different musicians - hopefully more Lacy duos will be released.

Well, Jon Morgan resurfaced briefly to issue the Sealed Knot & Le Quan Ninh discs (belatedly--both were in the can for some time); he promised to issue at least one or two other discs but seems to have gone quiet again. One of those pending Meniscus CDs was a duo disc by Georg Gräwe and Martin Blume. Too bad if this one should remain unreleased. I am looking through the booklets of Meniscus CDs I have, and looks like Oluyemi Thomas / Lisle Ellis duo was also planned at some point. This one I would be very curious to hear (I was very impressed by Oluyemi Thomas duo with Alan Silva on Eremite - John B and I were raving about it some time ago). Welcome to The Rat, Martin!

You betcha! Gonna do a 3-hour drive to see the man. And we have Herr Brötzmann himself (in quartet with Herr McPhee) coming some time in April as well!

Any other Meniscus titles you'd recommend? I have a few of Meniscus releases, but will have to go back to them in order to be able to give a recommendation. Tony, I think you should have Matt Turner's solo cello release on Meniscus ("The Mouse That Roared" it's called, I think) - it should have come with one of my orders. Check it out.

Looks like Meniscus label has folded down - their website is not accessible anymore. I think Nate also implied some time ago that Meniscus is no longer. In this regard, I would like to reiterate my recommendation for this fabulous CD - get it before it disappears, you won't be disappointed.