clifford_thornton

no cloud backup? Jeez. Painful.

Greetings! I write to you this the morning after finishing Straight Up Without Wings: The Musical Flight of Joe McPhee, the multi-instrumentalist and improviser's 166 page memoir, out now in paperback from Corbett vs. Dempsey. On any one of his instruments McPhee is a narrator though his "chapters" often feel oblique or surreal, as grounded as they are in the raw materials of life, experience, and sound. As a memoir, Straight Up Without Wings moves laterally, much like the PO music concept that has been a part of his compositional approach for decades, or the Deep Listening of his friend and collaborator Pauline Oliveros –– in print, stories may have asides or repeat for emphasis, or burrow into an odd corner that you never expected to end up in. McPhee's stories are real and the context they generate is utterly unique. It is a fascinating read and I hope you pick up a copy. Therefore it gives me great pleasure to announce that on February 16, 2025 at 5 pm (early start!) Joe McPhee, co-author Mike Faloon, and myself will be in conversation at Tubby's –– I hope Joe will also read some from the book, because to hear Joe recite anything is a treat in itself. After that, McPhee and saxophonist/longtime musical partner Joe Giardullo will play duo improvisations. It will be an extraordinary celebration of Joe's life and work in the Hudson Valley and beyond. Tickets are available online for $18 or at the door for $20. This will be one hell of an evening and I hope you can make it. Please pass the word to your friends! Interview I did with Joe McPhee years ago: https://www.cliffordallen.me/interviews/an-interview-with-multi-instrumentalist-joe-mcphee Interview I did with Joe Giardullo years ago: https://www.paristransatlantic.com/magazine/interviews/giardullo.html Take good care and thank you for your interest.

Yeah, that dude @michael89___ posts those rarities on the 'gram, he goes very deep in his collecting. But I agree, they aren't touted a whole lot although that could change in time. I still think that relative availability helps to develop clout -- way more Black Jazz and Strata-East records are out there in the field than an original Yamame, for example.

yeah, true. The earlier Japanese hard bop records were and remain a LOT harder to find outside of Japan in their original state than, say, Tubby Hayes albums. Some were reissued starting in the late 1970s but before then, good luck... and even in Japan, originals are pretty rare.

Too bad, he was really something else.

FEMA has a fairly low cap. https://abc7.com/post/southern-california-wildfires-la-county-provides-clarity-after-fire-relief-applicants-receive-fema-response-saying-not-approved/15799735/

Heavy. Glad he and his family are safe, but Jesus... it's unimaginable.

Iverson making an overstatement? Shocked.

Oh man, sorry to hear that Adam. What a nightmare scenario. I never visited Altadena but am sad about what's happened to it.

that sucks.

ugh, that's too bad.

yeah. Master tapes, all kinds of stuff. Really heartbreaking (and I know that's the case for Bradford, probably others too).

should have said "first wife." Looks like Madlib also lost it all in one of the fires. Terrible.

Charlie Haden's widow too.

Thanks for posting this here, Karl -- gutting.

Yeah, he mentions it in Dixonia. Although it was issued on LP, it would be cool to get the Shandar album in correct ORTF concert order, maybe as a CD or digital release. It's one of Sunny's best. I'm sure there are other Acoustical Swing Unit live gigs that exist/were recorded.

Re: the Murray Columbia, I've heard what there is -- incomplete session(s), but excellent and powerful music. It would not result in a full album as we think of such a thing. Marion never performed with Bill Dixon, though they knew one another. There was an erroneous listing for a collaboration but Bill corrected that. Supposedly the tapes for the Coursil quartet with Marion survived, but nobody I know has actually heard them. It is a shame that ESP did not issue that music at the time.

Really hope the full SME with Rashied Ali can properly surface someday. The Alan Bates saga continues...

I do recall that, yeah. I'm not on FB but glad he's safe!

Hoping board members impacted by the fires are all right. Have friends who have evacuated and one, as far as I know, who lost it all (but he and family are safe). Absolutely terrible situation. LA lifer buddy says he's never seen anything like this, ever.

sure do. Interesting news.

Right, another user provided some insight on the broadcast differences to me over email earlier. So the TV program and the radio session would be different days, and different performances, and this new release will contain alternate audio.

NPR has their own archive, but I'm not sure how far back it goes in-house. I knew a couple archivists there, though they've moved on to other institutions. It seemed like they've been an extremely thorough operation but as an archivist myself I can tell you that once layers of the onion get peeled back, surprises (both good and bad) are prevalent.

Thanks for this. I know the photos/circumstances but hadn't seen the clip of "Salt Peanuts" with Carter... wow.

Yeah, that makes total sense.