clifford_thornton

Ah, yeah that does make sense. If I'm allowed to say Wounds and Cholagogues are birds of a feather, that is...

yeah, the bassist on Snowsnake is not quite at that level, but fits in.

At the end of the day I wouldn't call the Ivan Lasso record free jazz. The electric bass is something of a sore thumb here but, as with Odean Pope's "Almost Like Me" and Prime Time, it's also texturally intriguing. At least to me.

Ivan Lasso Quintette - Snowsnake - (Dragon, US) knotty Chicago-based modern jazz outfit, I assume the LP was recorded in the late 70s. Lasso is, by all appearances, a strong tenor player and the group is quite fine. Never seen or heard of anything else under his name.

Yeah, probably true. There's a strong transitional JuMu/EMT LP by Harth and pianist Nicole Van Den Plas (among others) called 4.Januar.1970, privately released, which is also a corker.

Been looking for that pre-release Just Music for many years. Alas, it hasn't appeared. The music is quite good, and the scene around Just Music and Harth in Frankfurt around that time is pretty interesting.

Jeanne Lee - Conspiracy - (Earthforms, US) partial to the overdubbed solo voice piece but overall this is an excellent record with a well-applied ensemble cast (Sam Rivers, Gunter Hampel, Steve McCall, Mark Whitecage et al).

Nice. Now: The Vaselines - Enter the Vaselines - (Sub Pop) 2009 3LP compilation of pretty much everything this Scottish post-punk duo ever recorded, much more thorough than the 1993 release (which I had on cassette way back when).

CS Yeh - Transitions - (De Stijl) Recent, electronically-focused indie rock from a few years ago, and a striking record to boot. Yeh is probably better known as a sound artist/improviser than a songwriter, and this is his only full-length 'pop' album.

Uniqlo was making them several years ago for some unknown reason.

Great session(s). I have the Freedom UK version (which contains tracks from both nessa volumes) and the nessa 2-CD issue with the complete music. Now: Ivo Malec - 3L - (Philips, FR) Electroacoustic, string orchestra and choral music from an extremely rugged Croatian composer.

no LC code on mine. Excellent album. I also have a t-shirt with the album cover design. Now: Roland Kirk - Left and Right - (Atlantic, 70s pressing)

Haven't spun the Alan Davie in years but Ichnos still gets taken out for Sunday drives now and then. It's a wonderful record.

surprisingly good; I was never a big fan of Charlambides or much in that realm, but this actually works. I like some, not all, Tentet music. Usually better when they brought in guests to shake things up a bit.

oh wow, haven't heard them in years!

Free Jazz Group Wiesbaden - Frictions - (LST, Germany) blistering quartet romp housed in a handsome silk-screened jacket.

Oh wow. Are there two sets? I'm occupied uptown for part of the evening but may be able to dip into a later set.

agreed; I still like it a lot though.

agreed.

On a couple of levels Communications Network isn't that good, but I'm a completist and I also think that Thornton put a lot of effort into the concepts, which he felt the need to document. So it feels right to keep the record.

Bob Downes - Electric City - (Vertigo UK swirl) As I've become familiar with the variety of musical situations Bob Downes has created for himself, not to mention the verve of his personality (which comes through the music and our email exchanges), this wild-and-wooly, bluesy and funky jazz-rock amalgam has grown on me quite a bit.

Agreed. Same could be said for Tony Oxley's work. And I guess here we could start to talk about composition as a process of instantaneous structure/restructure and add some wonderful players-leaders who didn't necessarily write things down.

He's credited as composer on a number of the Trio pieces w/ Halvorson and Laubrock. But sure, I may be conflating structured improvisation with tunesmithery.

Sunny Murray Barry Altschul Tom Rainey

Unrest were something else... great band. The cover makes total sense, though I've actually never had that 7".