clifford_thornton

Mosaic operates in a way that doesn't expect every boxed-set buyer to love everything they put out, though they do hope that jazz buyers trust them and I'm willing to bet that because of Mosaic, hardcore jazz buyers are much more varied in their tastes than they might be if the company did not exist. I'm willing to take a chance and trust that something will be good/interesting if Mosaic put it out, even if I'm unfamiliar with the music/artist that's contained in a given set. Sam Rivers is a good bet, as are Threadgill and Braxton. Now, if it were the Complete Fawe Street recordings of A.R. Penck, I'd probably be telling most of y'all to pass...

Guess I'm not part of that "cognoscenti" either. I think he's good. Not everything he does is good, but there is no way I'd count him out.

Looks good - Tanaka is a fine drummer and Ino is a monster bassist. Thanks.

Sam Rivers may play some music that stretches the boundaries of tonality and group interplay, but keep in mind that he's also someone who knows the tradition quite well and is of basically the same generation as Ornette, Coltrane, and Cecil. He's one of the greatest improvisers on the planet. Mosaic has also done a Sam Rivers Blue Note box - very inside-outside stuff - which should be considered in the context of this set as well. Again, Rivers has a lot more going on than just free blowing.

I'm sure a more sympathetic rhythm section could have been used - Cyrille and Sirone would have been excellent for both.

Really? A fair amount of his early material is pretty "out," as far as I'm concerned. 3-D Family, on Hat Hut, a side of William Hooker's first LP with Mark Miller on bass; the wide-open group with Crouch... for me, this is "free," if not of the same ilk as Albert Ayler, Frank Wright, the Actuel LPs, or whatever. The late 1970s were different times from the late '60s or the '90s.

With Cliff Burton on bass and John Bonham on drums.

Marsh/Holland/Altschul would have been a bitch of a session.

Yeah, Alvin's a real force of nature, and a fascinating character/historian of the music. Hopefully he'll be back to playing more regularly again soon - he's been practicing quite a bit, he says. Now: Anthony Braxton - Six Compositions (Quartet) 1984 - (Black Saint)

This was confirmed and denied several times over the weekend. Guess if AP says it, it's true.

Funny - I didn't know about this band and used to be in a group called the Piltdown Ensemble...

First, Improvisational Arts Quintet - No Compromise! - (Prescription) Then, Dennis Gonzalez - Namesake - (Silkheart) Because I talked to Alvin Fielder today and he's doing well.

It's a very strong early Murray outing. But I see nothing wrong with Paul Revere & The Raiders (also early), either.

Sweet, that will be cool. Hope some of the RivBea Orchestra material makes it in as well.

Welcome back.

I wholeheartedly approve. Too young to have caught it in any significant way back then, I guess, so better late than never.

I know, one of the few that made sense.

Their nominations were pretty ridiculous in other categories as well.

Sure thing. It was one of the first few I did, glad you enjoy. Burton is now someone whom I consider a friend and I hope you get to see him perform.

Got the book - it's tremendous.

Interview with Burton here. Yours truly weighing in on Two Voices (and more) here and some more here. I saw Burton and Perry when their US tour stopped in Austin a couple of years ago. It was tremendous and beautiful, and they are both great folks. Perry stayed at my house and I was able to cook (and pass the test on Indian meals) for them, hang out, etc. Supremely great times.

I mean, I'm all for earlier work, but to my ears Burton's music now is much more all-encompassing, informed, and beautiful. Chalk it up to 40 years of human experience, but I'd take Two Voices, Grasland, or some of the recent CIMP material over his ESPs and such any day.

Two Voices is excellent. Live at the Playhouse is an interesting historical document, but it's not very well recorded (though the music is good).

Certainly that's possible - it was at least a year ago! Anyway, I have Pipedream & picked it up on vinyl for something like $5 some time ago, though the extra material would be nice to hear.

I'm pretty sick of facebook these days (surprise) but what would happen to those 580 friends???