clifford_thornton

Yeah, I know. I teared up watching it. Whether that reaction is because of what happened since, or what a great cat he seems like from the film, who's to say...

Yeah, that's a great one. Thanks for the reminder! Here's a cool one just posted: I think it's from an ESP-Disk' promotional film or something.

Density 21.5 is the flute piece. Supposedly Eric Dolphy played it.

Don't know if you want to wait that long, but there will be a review on it running in September's issue of Paris Transatlantic (www.paristransatlantic.com). I'd also add that I did not get much out of the Verve reunion disc from a few years ago.

The circus is what turns me off right now. I think the doping thing is being blown way out of hand also, but the whole Landis fiasco was the death knell.

It's fantastic.

This is probably from the same stock that Academy raided earlier this year. Many sealed jazz titles from the 1970s and 1980s. Cool stuff.

Damn! Well, 94 and 95 seem well beyond the age for driving skills. I'll add that I'm not the best driver in the world, and should probably be taking the test more often.

Handscapes is a great record. It adds a lot of percussion to the mix, so the record isn't just a "piano" LP.

The vinyl is on BYG, right? I've always been curious about that one, though it's been pricey when I've seen it offered.

On paper, it looks cool, and of course the title is a classic. However, as with a lot of these special-interest sets, even if GG is a fairly popular BN artist, I can't see it being much of a unit-shifter, as it were. BN has ceased relevance in the states, even to a degree as a reissue label, so I wouldn't hold my breath. If someone else were to license the material, now, that is another story.

Alex von Schlippenbach looks like a European soap star these days.

And, iirc, a Riley/Byard duo - not to mention Riley overdubbed!

I really like the Revenant Patton box. The Columbia Miles sets with all the metal stuff are cool too.

Yeah, I like it a lot. The America sounds far better than the Actuel "reissue" (strange story there). I don't think it's on CD yet, but wouldn't be surprised to see it at some point. The Arthur Jones on America is fantastic too.

Wow. I mean, I knew he was a dipshit, but...

Apparently there's a Wallin LP on Revelation (yes, that one)... never seen it, though. Strange. Lots of great recommendations here, and I'm going to throw Siegfried Kessler into the ring also. Shame he left us recently, but there's a strong legacy there - as exemplified by sessions for Impro, Futura and other labels.

Ah, I see what you mean. Mine's not "the worst" but I've certainly heard better-pressed LPs. And I know what you mean about the "Church Number Nine" site, too... but at least the stolen music has a stolen name from a bitchin' LP! Now: Sunny Murray - Quintet - (ESP orig) w/ Alan Silva, Byard Lancaster, Jacques Coursil and Jack Graham.

A noisy "classic". Indeed. Church Number Nine is actually my favorite of this group, but the BYG is excellent also. Now: Karl Berger - Tune In - (Milestone) w/ Carlos Ward, Ed Blackwell and some bassist named David Holland...

Frank Wright - One For John - (BYG Actuel orig) w/ Noah Howard, Bobby Few, Muhammad Ali A classic!

In no particular order... Sonic Youth - Daydream Nation - (Blast First!) I had never heard raging, psychedelically beautiful dissonances over such a swinging rhythm section before picking this up in high school. I went backwards from Goo and when I got to this one (pretty quickly), it was a huge door opening for me. Granted, in fifteen years of listening to this band, some of their other works have eclipsed this one, but for me it starts here. By way of SY, I got into things like This Heat, Branca/Chatham, Spacemen, and I'd say it led me to immediately appreciate things like Ayler, Cecil and Ornette. Eric Dolphy - Out To Lunch - (Blue Note) Among the first jazz records I bought, what really struck me was the compositional framework applied to such freedom, and as I had just begun to really latch onto what "space" is all about, musically, the way space was used between Hutch, Tony and Davis was really something. A lot of those inside/outside Blue Notes are great - Hill(e), Moncur, Rivers - but this one was a real eye-opener. Maybe because of the song "Hat and Beard," I began to get really into Monk as well because of what I found to be a similar approach to space and rhythm. Kind of like how Monk opened the door for Lacy, Eric's music - and this record in particular - opened the door for me in both directions. Albert Ayler - Bells - (ESP) Another early jazz acquisition, this IMMEDIATELY hit me - I'd never heard anything with such jubilant power before. I liked the energy of noisier punk/"grunge" (not ashamed to use the term - I was barely a teenager when punk "broke") and craved collective improvisation before I'd ever heard it in a jazz context. Though there were thematic signposts, which at the time just seemed like pure joy - the playing of the Aylers and Charles Tyler on this one was pure ecstasy, exploding lights and sounds and smells all around me... and the way Sunny Murray played all-of-time just sent me over the edge, leading to an immediate quest to find every Murray and Ayler record I could find. Mostly, I was not disappointed! NWA - Straight Outta Compton - (Priority) The first time I heard this, I was in grade school, and I of course liked hearing lots of bad words in music. When I actually went out and bought this on cassette a couple of years later, sure, there was an attraction of cursing, but in hindsight what also attracted me was that the lyrics painted a picture of something I didn't experience. The idea was that music and art could not only reflect one's experience, but also offer a window onto humanity and the experiences of one's fellow beings, hopefully bringing about an attitude of "change." Now, this is totally looking back in hindsight on something I bought because it was a) taboo and b) pissed off, but I think it opened my ears quite a bit as well. John Fahey - The Yellow Princess - (Vanguard) Okay, so I actually bought Live in Tasmania as my first Fahey record, and subsequently have gotten an assload of great listening in with the Takomas (not to mention Kottke, Basho and the crew), but I would say that Fahey led me down the trail of appreciating American traditional and folk music and being able to unlock some of the secrets within things as divers as Charley Patton, Mississippi John, Tampa Red and Sloppy Henry. Fahey co-opted a lot of the good shit, blending it with Indian music and his own semi-irritating mythology, and I tend to think half or more of the time he was aesthetically full of it, but the fact remains that I probably would've been less likely to explore the Arhoolie, Yazoo and Old Tramp catalogs without a few Takomas in my ear.

Huh.

Gruppo di Improvisazione Nuova Consonanza (2CDs + 1 DVD + book)