clifford_thornton

Heard about this the other day. A broken hip is no joke. Hope he mends soon.

I saw him do an in-store at Waterloo in Austin shortly after he returned to the Bastrop area. It was awesome.

To me this is mainstream music with no edge, just enough "quirk" to apply to the beard + glasses set, but rhythmically dull and tonally like soppy milquetoast. Contemporary jazz in this vein all sounds pretty much identical; yeah, sure Melford and Knuffke are strong voices on their own, but not used to any effect whatsoever here. It could be almost any New School grad on piano and cornet and I would not know the difference. The Pi set is a little more herky-jerky and obviously there are some excellent releases and artists within the subgenre (Halvorson, Bynum, Shyu, et al.) but in that case I feel that a good chunk of the vibe is keyed into the aging post-rocker who's outgrown the first three or four Tortoise records and needs something else. I was in the same place at one point but veered towards the charred earth instead of the button down set. Anyway, back to the tune at hand. Miller's drumming is just awful. I have heard her play with more fire and inventiveness, sorta, but this is unlistenable. Re: the politics: give me Irreversible Entanglements over this shit any day of the week.

Heard a very early CD of that group (or one like it) and thought it was generally a solid first effort, with some little things that made me feel like there was potential. Never really sought out anything subsequent. This clip is pretty weak and indicative of why I find it very hard to pay attention to a lot of contemporary NPR-free Pi jazz (as a category). Barf.

Ah! Good to know, I'll pick one up from you shortly.

great one. I don't have Eftsoons but look forward to an eventual CD reissue when Chuck is able to do it.

Yeah, engineered by Mr. O'Be himself but as far as I know it never came out prior. Very odd, possibly shady!

Yeah, pretty shady licensing. The Tootie Heath record came out on O'Be, which was Orville O'Brien's brief shot at a label. I believe that was distributed by Springboard, and in Japan it was manufactured by Mercury. Very strange pedigree on that one. Excellent record, though!

I've not heard the Irreversible Entanglements record, but live they are serious business. I look forward to hearing the new Art Ensemble disc; was very enticed reading some of what Tomeka Reid had to say. These Moor Mother cuts are no joke.

not to mention his own tunes, which often get left by the wayside. I remember a Lacy concert in KC, a fine duo with Danilo Perez, and the interviewer/announcer didn't ask him a single question about his own music or ensembles, poetry, painting, or any of his other interests. I was shocked at the time and still am.

grab 'em.

Great one.

nice one; haven't dug it out in a few years, but memory says it is strong.

yeah, at the time I was first discovering creative music, I didn't want to hear anything that was not made by black players (with a few exceptions). That eventually changed.

Good thread idea; I'm a little young to have been there at the outset, but when I was getting into the music in the mid-90s, the work of Zorn, Berne, Frisell et al seemed overhyped and a bit too crisp. Now, two-plus decades later I have no problem listening to that music and quite enjoy Berne, Frisell, and earlier Zorn (Parachute etc.) stuff. Even Naked City I can deal with now. John Lurie I always liked and that remains the case. My tastes are a lot wider ranging these days, and thus things like Hal Willner's projects make a lot more sense.

I'm 42 so it will be quite a while yet for me, but congrats to those who are off and able to make the most of it.

well done. Glad you pulled the trigger.

Sad news. He was something else. Also unfortunate, when I was younger he played Lawrence, Kansas City, and Minneapolis all the time. I wasn't too into that kind of music -- or didn't appreciate it -- and skipped the opportunity to see the man at work. I regret that now. I mean, $10 to see Dale play? Jeez.

Yeah, that's a good one. I wish I had more of his stuff with Eneidi. For some odd reason I neglected to purchase the Botticelli CDs when they were around (Cadence catalog regrets), and now they've gotten quite hard to find and expensive.

Admittedly I was unfamiliar with the label until getting involved with the project.

Sweet new duo/trio CD coming out on LISTEN! Foundation Apr 25, Ben Stapp + Joe Morris + Stephen Haynes. I wrote the text/notes but it is wonderful no matter what. Tuba, euphonium, guitar, cornet improvisations, quite heavy. https://sluchaj.org/sklep/ I think DMG has copies now.

Looks like Brian King Nelson to me. Gonna dive in later, seatbelts buckled.

It's quite free, so depending on your tolerance for intense stuff of that ilk, it may have been either a wise or unwise move. Herbert Noord is really good, too, and I've much enjoyed the few records I have him on.

I have everything up through Labyrinth on LP. There are maybe one or two after that I should probably revisit. Fantastic band.

There really isn't anything like El Saxofon. The others are amazing too, but man, El Saxofon... Also this looks like my kinda thing; anyone have a copy? https://www.discogs.com/Ritmo-Natural-Ritmo-Natural/release/11101836