clifford_thornton

I mean, what the fuck. I couldn't even compile a best of 2007 list. There were a number of really good/great records last year, but nothing inspiring a list for me. Plus, some of the best ones I didn't even hear until December/January/February and I'm sure there are still more fantastic dates from last year that I have YET to hear. I don't think I could even give you a "top ten" of all time. I could list ten records I really like and a few that "should be" cornerstones of this music, but... does anyone really care? Not to mention that a few of what I deem "essential" aren't even in-print on CD or never were in that format.

Probably nothing. I don't have that much on the list, really, when I think about it. No Allen Lowe on there, either.

No AACM.

I don't understand why they're not reissuing better stuff from the catalog. Sorry.

Good deal - thanks!

The cardboard assemblages from the '70s are my favorites.

I hope you are joking and know who George E. Lewis (trombonist) is...

Keep in mind that that shit is over forty years old, great as it is. He had an amazing run in the '60s and some solid stuff in the '70s, but what we're talking about is more recent. It is erratic, indeed, though there are moments of brilliance. Murray is erratic and occasionally really, really brilliant as well, but he doesn't have the historical buoyance that Shepp does (for better or worse).

Alan Shorter - Tes Esat - (America) w/ Windo, Dyani and Rene Augustus on drums.

Roswell Rudd - s/t - (America) w/ Tchicai, Moholo and Finn Von Eyben on bass. Apparently the tour that begot this record was supposed to be the NYAQ, but Graves decided to stay in the States, as did Workman.

Indeed. But Rouse vis-a-vis Monk is sort of like Jimmy Lyons with Cecil (albeit the former with a shorter tenure).

I'll add that "same breath" applies to under-recognized but great composers in the music. Dixon's instrumental approach, along with many other things, take him out of that "same breath."

Certainly. I'm sure we both have Bill Dixon stories, albeit from differing perspectives.

I don't really know what to say - he did some great music at one point, but that point is long past. I also don't see him as hugely influential as some of his pianist peers who didn't veer so hard into the mainstream (Tyner, Evans). I mean, people like Cecil, Braxton, Ornette, Coltrane, Miles, Bird, and of course those whose influence people are still wrapping their brains around (Bill Dixon, George Russell) - those are 100-listers. But not in Time. Nothing ever was, anyway...

You (and all of us) are too old to be dealing with lolcats.

Awesome pic!

Sorry to hear this, though I don't know his music well. A good reminder to dig into his catalog.

Wow, sad news. I am not the biggest "fan" of his work but always respected what he was doing.

Charles Tyler - Eastern Man Alone - (ESP orig) Love that opener, "Lacy's Out East."

If starting prices of 102.81 EUROS with Amazon sellers is cheap to you, then NO - it is NOT that expensive ... Wow, I think I got it when it came out for about $18.

No shit! What a fox... Always one of my favorite composers in the music.

Very sorry to hear this. May he rest in peace. My heart goes out to you and all your family.

For once, I'm with you Nate!

I enjoyed seeing him with Amina Claudine Myers last year, more than I would've thought at this point in his career. For all the negativity his later sides tend to receive, some of them - especially those with Kessler (R.I.P.) - are quite fine.

My comment about Blakey was related more to what I have felt was a tiring more-of-the-same thing with the Messengers' music, not his drumming per se. I find it hard as a non-musician to criticise intelligently someone's playing, though sometimes there are situations that I've heard that don't work for my ears.