clifford_thornton

yeah, I think the next night was with Nasheet Waits, perhaps the first time they played together? Would've been '02 or '03 at the latest.

RIP. Saw him once in duo with Brötzmann at the Empty Bottle, and his playing was so subtle and masterful. PB was clearly in awe, even if it was a slightly odd match.

Nathan Davis -- Happy Girl -- (Polydor, FR) always interesting to hear Larry Young play the piano.

Hey, I know a few 25-30 year old saxophonists. Some are more original than others. None of them are getting real money gigs or the endorsements of their elders -- but they do put in the work. We'll see at the end of the day how it all turns out. I know at least one altoist who thought about going the Grace Kelly way, he claims, and made an about face to do something else musically. I think we all know that for women to get somewhere in this music they have to work a lot harder and possibly sell out more often than their xy counterparts. And I think that implicitly we might judge young women playing this music a bit more harshly than we would an older bloke playing the same stuff. But that also doesn't mean we can't critique a young woman's playing/approach if it doesn't work for us.

There is reason to play bebop now, and she can certainly do it technically. But the music is more than technique. Lacy was 25 in 1959 and yes, his best work was still years, decades in the future. But hearing the tentative curious steps of Lacy in 1959 is to hear someone with a unique voice, if not a total concept, and Kelly does not have either. She's "fine" in the way that the sushi and brisket wrap I had for dinner last night were "fine." I didn't get sick, felt like I probably spent too much money, and there are quite a few other places to eat that will allow me to skip this one in the future. But hey, I survived the experience and didn't go away starved, so...

yeah, that is a good album -- had a copy at one point that was a little bit damaged, and would like to find a nicer one someday.

Ditto.

Matana is a force of nature. Grace Kelly is not.

yeah, when she doesn't fart around on stage like a complete buffoon she can play just fine. Unfortunately it seems that she rarely concentrates on just "the music." That has been my experience live as well as watching footage online.

Wow. RIP.

not sure; according to artists I've talked to, John Hammond wanted to record a few examples of the New Music in the late '60s, hence the Burton Greene and (unissued) Sunny Murray discs. I'm sure there are a number of one-shot deals in Columbia's history (certainly with weird rock bands).

Slint -- Spiderland -- (Touch & Go, from the boxed set remastered reissue)

Strangely, I've never owned this though I've seen it quite a few times in the racks. Can't find any credits for the Murray track though the short clip on the Smithsonian Folkways site does have tenor saxophone... of course the transfer is so bad it's hard to make an educated guess as to the participants.

Kevin, you're probably thinking of Debut. Mingus started issuing music on Jazz Workshop (Mingus/JWS) after the dissolution of Candid.

He was back on Columbia again in 1972, so there were technically four Mingus Columbia LPs.

Levers -- Alone -- (Bead, UK orig)

Malcolm Goldstein -- Vision Soundings -- (MG private release) log percussion side first (B) makes the obsessive violin wrangling (A) go down a bit easier.

I think it's a fine gesture; "Noddin' Ya Head Blues" is pretty fun.

I'd throw in Joe Masters' Jazz Mass on Columbia (although probably a bit bigger chorus) and the World's Experience Orchestra "Beginning of a New Birth" LP that Now-Again reissued (legit, from the original private pressing) a couple of years ago.

I think so, and it is true. Streaming content on a private/protected server seems to be the way to go, if they can get around copyright issues.

Bummer. Too bad they cannot sell the materials.

Matthew Shipp and Mal Waldron

John Coltrane -- Infinity -- (Impulse, WLP) I like this one now more than I used to.

Godz -- Godz 2 -- (ESP Disk)

Could the whiteness on the surface be oxidization? Seems to be a habit with some older/cheapo Prestige pressings.