Д.Д.

This is an excellent disc, but 1000 copies is porbably about what it can possibly sell (it was released in 2000 or 2001, and still no sign of it being sold out...).

Reify Recordings. MP3 section does not seem to work so far.

Is this the same stuff as on Vibrations?

You haven't been doing your mandatory Funny Rat reading too attentively, have you?

Friends, I'm listening to Aki Takase "Le Cahier du Bal" (Leo) - fantastic! Solo piano. Takase displays imressive virtuosity, great ideas and endless musicality with references to all imaginable aspects of piano playing (Bach, Skryabin, Taylor, Van Hove, Bley, Monk, some stride piano and more). Very original. I am totally in agreement with Francois Carrier's review: HERE, and I particularly endorse the following "It is the strongest, most virtuosic, most original solo piano performance since the release of Kuryokhin's "The Ways of Freedom" back in 1981" (well, I take it Francois hasn't heard Matthew Goodheart's solo recordings, though). Some sound samples at Amazon.

Hmm... Ran Blake I can't stand, but Karayorgis I like... I'll go for this disc anyway.

Agree. I also like having the little thing in a jewel case with a booklet. I am as well not willing to pay more than $5-6 for a download. From what I know the OGG format (which Leo uses) shows better results at the same compression level as WMA (which is in turn better than MP3). I think Leo is entertaining an idea of having "lossless" downloads available from his site - but these of course will be massive even for broadband. And again - I still prefer having the "real" thing - even if in 10 years there won't be too many of those released.

From the Leo Recordswebsite: Special New Year offer: Save US$ 10 Instead of US$ 39.96 if bought separately, download our four latest releases: CD LR 415, 416, 417, and 418 now for only US$ 29.96 CD LR 415 Clarinet Trio 3(Ullmann, Kupke, Thieke): Ballads and Related Objects - 12/2004 - US$ 9.99 - about 66MB*** CD LR 416 Braxton / Szabados / Tarasov: Triotone - 12/2004 - US$ 9.99 - about 71MB*** CD LR 417 Pandelis Karayorgis (Solo-Piano): Seventeen Pieces - 12/2004 - US$ 9.99 - about 72MB*** CD LR 418 Collective 4tet (Geisser / Hennen / Hoyer / Parker): Moving Along - 12/2004 - US$ 9.99 - about 62MB***

On Dexter's Cigar (according to jazzmatazz)!

Nate, I have to admit I haven't spent much time listening to Bailey attentively, so my impressions are merely superficial. In the next several weeks I will go through my Bailey collection (a very thin one: 2-CD Marseille concert on Incus, "Yankees" with Zorn and George Lewis, 2 Japo discs and some bits and pieces elsewhere) and will post my impresions here. This thing with Kent Carter surely sounds intertesting - I like Kent Carter a lot.

Don't know this Bailey - so it will be YOU who will have to tell us what it's like. Talking about Bailey, I still can't fully appreciate what his approach. Probably I have the wrong Bailey. I also so him live (in duo with Susie Ibarra... sorry, Flurin, no fotos from the concert) - and he sounded extemely unfocused, nearly random. Also, didn't seem to listen to what poor Ibarra was doing (who was not particularly shining, either... I mean her playing, not her looks, Flurin).

Yeah Blake, we've been quite concerned about your keeping quite for so long. Different speculations circulated, and we are glad you finally decided to step in. I'll buy this one, if theystill have it on stock Cardew, Cornelius - Four Principles On Ireland And Other Pieces (1974)(Ampersand 7) $9.00. These Sun Ra's - are these recent Italian reissues? Anybody can comment on the sound?

Glad you liked them. This is unique music that I find truly invigorative. Some of them are improvised, btw (I am not sure improivsed ones are on the CD I gave you, though), and the way the three-voice improvised parts are built is really fascinating. I read the booklet, but it's not clear indeed if anyhting on the CD is improvised, but the text states this ensemble is the best one in improvising. I like the rougher Hallelujah-kind-of-chorales a lot. I have been a tiny bit into renaissance music and early polyphonics (some Machaut, Dufay, Ockeghem etc), and this really is different. Will have to share it with a friend of mine who's into that kind of music a lot. It is absolutely unique. I have quite a lot of early vocal music, and the closest thing I've heard to Georgian polyphonic singing is Sardenian singing - but Georgians have these hero mantality, so the songs are much more "monumental" and dramatic (I will send you a CD-R of Georgain folk battle songs from XV century - this is some powerful stuff).

Glad you liked them. This is unique music that I find truly invigorative. Some of them are improvised, btw (I am not sure improivsed ones are on the CD I gave you, though), and the way the three-voice improvised parts are built is really fascinating.

Just wanted to tell you all that I ordered the Futterman (don't at all know him, ordered it for Lyons mainly, and yes, I wonder about Richard Davis, too!), along with two other offers on that site, a Lacy solo set, "Snips", 2CDs for 6$, and Frank Lowe's "Fresh" (7$). Shipping IS steep (10$), but at the current exchange rate, it will be ok in the end. ubu Let us know about them! Futterman is excellent -and everybody here should check out his very intense Southern Extreme (Drimala) with Kidd Jordan.

I think these ones proved to be much more dangerous for the society:

I like Peter Kowald's voice.

I think Drimala and Leo are doingthe same now (Leo started offering full OGG downloads (aparentyl sound bettr than WMA and MP3 of the same bitrate) of some his releases this month).

I assume the logic is that 400 LP copies sold at $25 is better than 800 CDs sold at $12. If so, it is pretty short-sighted and flawed (although you wouldn't expect people who run creative music labels to be savvy businessmen, would you?) - by increasing the coverage of (already extremely limited) target group you increase their invovement (e.g if I buy one CD by Brötzmann, I am likely to buy another one if I like what I hear) ensuring a long-term revenue stream. Ideally, the music like this should be available in all possible forms to reach as many consumers posible. Yes, you won't be able to charge $25 per LP (you'll probably charge $20) and you will sell less of them - but this will be compensated by cheaper (but also lower-cost) CDs and downloads - and again you'll have a more ensured future sales with enlarged base of repeat custoemers (who are crucial in this business).

Sennheizser is releasing a new improved model: PXC300 later this month. It has a higher level of noise reduction and an AA battery built-in noise reduction unit (not a clip-on thingies with special battery they have on PXC250. This will retail at around $220 and should be on par or better than Bose, which is supposed to be a standard. I just recentl bought Aiwa, and tried them without noise reduction - the sound is very poor. I will be flying soon and will check them on-flight (which is their main purpose of use, after all). Please note that these sort of headphones cancell only static constant noises, mostlyin the low-to-middle frrequency range (such as airplane/train noise, etc.), and will not significantly cancel random noises.

Tim Bern's Hard Cell Live (Screwgun) - outstanding record! Check out the samples on the site.

I managed to download four tracks, and looks like loverserver ran out of love for today. Will try my luck tomorrow.

Beleive it or not, but bassist sounds even better than Willaim Parker. Loading the files to my Iriver - these are big files (and slow server).

Think maybe Treader is related to Ultech Records? Aside from the electronic noise of Lasse Marhaug (John, you might like this one), this young label looks interesting. (Each is a limited edition of either 50 or 75 copies.) Looks (and sounds) good.

duets of Evan Parker and birdsong with a gold-embossed kangaroo on an electric, lime-green background? Chaney, that is bad. But, like I said, I really dig them! Yeah, I think it would have been better if there was a soprano saxophone sticking out of kangaroo's pouch. I am not buying any more new Evan Parker.