clifford_thornton

Damn. RIP, and thanks.

Nedly Elstak/Glenn Spearman/Louis Armfield/Harry Piller - Incident - (Coreco)

Frank Rosaly - Centering & Displacement - (Utech)

I'm just going on Sunny's spelling of it to me...

Luqman Lateef - an obscure fellow, only know him from passing mention in interviews and this live Sunny Murray performance.

Yeah, true re: Wright but he had a naturally "funky" side that I never heard (please correct me if I'm wrong!) in Ayler's music. Not really. I can't imagine "Church Number Nine" coming from the Ayler camp, for example.

Yes on Battered Ornaments! It's interesting that you bring up Wright's later straight-ahead/blues numbers, which are disheveled but ultimately quite strong dates in my opinion. I think like Ayler, Wright's primary desire was to communicate a range of emotions to a lot of people. In Europe, for a certain amount of time, he got that - the Center of the World group and Unity (with Jack Gregg in for Silva, IIRC) were quite well-regarded on the festival circuit. The groups he led with Georges Arvanitas and Eddie Jefferson (among others) were a merger of his innate Wright-ness and a post-bop sensibility that was just as rousing as the more "free" ensembles. If you want to talk about really hit-or-miss weirdness, check out Wright's LPs with the German artist/amateur musician A.R. Penck. They are gloriously messy combinations of free music, rock, and R&B influences, unhinged fun but probably not for everybody.

Re: hits, I don't believe that the desire for a "hit" and having a grander musical vision are mutually exclusive. The former seems like a microcosmic distillation of one's approach at a certain moment in time that speaks more broadly.

I only saw Ware once, in a duo with Rashied Ali. I didn't really think they were connecting, but I was a lot younger then and may not have picked up on some things. Never saw the quartet w/ Shipp & Parker live. But I have seen Shipp a number of times (always staggering) and Parker (variable) many times as well. Yeah, these are all fantastic musician names you're bringing up, but the notion of a working band as such - like the Ware Quartet, or Miles' units - is quite different now. We see "projects" and different aggregations, not so much so-and-so group's stand at a club every night for a month or even a week (with a few exceptions). In spite of this, there ARE bands that record and play, just not with as much regularity as used to be the case/well before my time. Pulled a boner move and missed Steve Swell last night at the Stone (mostly because these days funds are tight) but hope to catch him in a couple weeks. That's one place where I feel you can really see the music in a conducive environment, free from jabbering idiots and sexy servers. (yes on Kris Davis - she's tremendous to watch and recordings don't do her palette justice, which is surprising I guess considering the amount of technology purportedly available to capture this music to the tiniest nuance)

For whatever reason, I'm a fan of that one!

PM sent.

It seems to me that a number of people - writers/websites - have recently been revisiting the late '90s foment surrounding David S. Ware (RIP) and Matthew Shipp. While not a groundswell, I think that music is, if not being canonized, at least garnering more notice. And it seems to me like Gerry Hemingway still gets talked about a fair amount - indeed, those Hat Huts were swell. One thing I've noticed is that whether you live in NYC or Austin or wherever, there will always be those performances that are either surprisingly poorly-attended or surprisingly well-attended. Who the fuck knows what moves people to go to a gig or skip it, ultimately? I've heard some lame recordings of classic lineups and great recordings of people whom otherwise I wouldn't seek out, so again, who knows?

Seems as though he is in his final few days, from what I understand. Sad.

Bumping up this review I wrote of the Dixon (in lieu of sound samples).

PM sent

Pete La Roca - Turkish Women at the Bath - (Douglas)

On my to-buy list, for sure.

Ha!

He threatened someone with bodily harm.

Yeah, the Fischer is wonderful indeed. I came to it with pretty virgin ears, too, not having heard much of his work before. Funny, I just saw the earlier Dogon A.D. CD kicking around one of the shops in New York, used and priced cheaply. I didn't look at it too closely but it was a standard jewel case thing from (presumably) the late '80s or early '90s. Next time I go to the shop I'll see if it's still there and will try to figure out what the deal is.

Yeah, but so was Dogon A.D.. I think it would do very well. The "Spiritual Jazz shirt-lifters" (to use Stefan Jaworzyn's term) are all over Tapscott records. It would sell a thousand copies quite easily, especially with that beautiful gatefold cover artwork and improved sound. Not to mention it's an unequivocally great album. And the Clare Fischer was/is great - hopefully the review in the NYC Jazz Record will get a few more people hip to it.

Yeah, I have this on an old UK Polydor LP. It's really good. Second the recommendations for his Contemporary sides w/ Jim Hall, and I've got several trio discs from that period that are also quite strong. Still need For Real! as it looks stupendous. Am curious to hear the double-piano record with Martial Solal, released by BYG. And: Happy Hampton Hawes Day!