clifford_thornton

I don't know; I had a great dinner with Bill Dixon, Stephen Haynes and Rob Mazurek (along with a couple others). Had a few dinners with Bill and they were hard to top, though I would have liked to have had some more. But these were restaurant meals. Also had a fun/zany dinner where I cooked a sizable Indian meal for Perry Robinson and Burton Greene. Had a great home-cooked brunch with Alvin Fielder one time. I would have liked to have shared a meal with Steve Lacy and Irene Aebi.

It's funny, and maybe this speaks to the people I hang around with/talk to on a regular basis, but Melle doesn't seem too neglected in certain corners of the jazz world. Sometimes it's hard to step out of your own sphere and realize that a lot of people, even in jazz, aren't aware of certain artists.

Speaking of Australia, altoist Bernie McGann's records on Emamem (there are two) are well worth seeking out. Loose and intelligent, 'open mainstream' trio and quartet music. I don't think he's too well-known outside of his home country, though he seems pretty busy there.

Yeah, I've never heard that or Mama Rose. Funny, because I love Shepp and generally dig NHOP and Jasper van't Hof.

Haven't pulled out my Que CDs, but will grab a few for the road tonight. Also, still a favorite (though of a diff. ilk):

Thumbs up to both of those. Thumbs up from here, too. I was really impressed by Satori when I first heard it, and you're right, it's rarely discussed or so it seems. Actually got it in a bulk buy that I was going to flip, and discovered it needed to stay in my house. I have some lo-fi concert bootlegs of MEV + Lacy, though I've never been able to score a copy of the vinyl. MEV and Lacy were a mutually-beneficial combo, it seems. Don't know your #1, but the others are great indeed. Breedlove is a fine player, though I've only heard him with Moondoc and with Khan Jamal.

As an archivist, I still separate physical collections from the non-physical, or "soft" collections of files. Conceptually, it's hard for me to align digital files with literal, tangible objects, whether they're CDs or LPs or pens or stamps, letters, whatever. I understand why you could have a collection of files, but I'm wired old-school. The attributes of a physical object that contains music are far more interesting to me.

I do, yeah.

You're probably right; I haven't heard it in many years and don't have the musical-photographic memory of some around here, alas.

Also, some of the earlier ECMs weren't supervised by Eicher - they were tapes that the artists had produced and were brought to him, deemed worth releasing, and there ya go. At least one of the early Bleys was supposed to be on ESP, the Just Music LP was a reissue of their self-produced album, the Music Improvisation Company material was already extant, and so forth.

Oh okay, that's good to know. Though I may be a little off-base here, what I recall was more than a passing similarity to Valdo Williams' work. Valdo's a little bit of a one-trick pony, at least on the Savoy LP, but it's an enjoyably over-the-top listen.

Yeah, my stylus is probably about 3 or 4 years old, and I'm probably due for a change soon. Then again, I only play clean/NM records, so I haven't really noticed anything.

I'd also say that ECM is far from the only guilty label in terms of promoting an ethereal sterility - if they do indeed do that - I've noticed similarly-rendered recordings on Hat, Intakt, Clean Feed, and a host of other labels.

I have a lot of their 70s output and love it. I feel that the Eicher sound seemed to come into play more in the 1980s (though I could be wrong). Some dates that, were they recorded ten years earlier (the Motian/Brackeen/Jenny-Clarke Trio, for example), might have a bit more of the punch I'm looking for as a listener. But the music contained within is still strong. The ECM sound doesn't totally mar newer label releases from Paul Bley, Marilyn Crispell, Roscoe, and Evan Parker, but sometimes I yearn for more analog overdrive. That's just me. I'm glad they pay the musicians well and promote the hell out of them.

I had that LP at one point but it was a fairly battered copy. Should seek out another, more listenable vinyl of it at some point. Apparently some recordings were made with Odean Pope for Atlantic but they were lost in the infamous warehouse fire.

Yeah, got that LP and Hot Line from Dusty a while back. Great stuff; they pop up on eBay on occasion but not cheaply.

I believe that pianist Mike Kull was the house-trio leader for a resort/club in the Catskills for many years. Maybe he still is. He's on some of Joe McPhee's first records, btw.

Was surprised to score this sealed for $10 on ebay with no contest: I'm sure you have it. I'm really enjoying it. I like Lacy best in a trio, and also love Steve Potts. Throw in "Blinks", "Stamps" and "The Throes" and I'm sold! That Adelphi Jazz Line has/had some really nice stuff. Also, amen - Flakes is a great one!

yeah, saw that on BBC news... cool!

I'm particularly fond of Ascent, but all of the solo/trio/augmented trio ones are real fine.