clifford_thornton

Happy Belated! Glad it was a good one, and sounds like it'll be ongoing for a while! Sorry to have missed you in Minneapolis; maybe one day you'll be down in Texas to visit. Some of it is even worth taking photos of!

No nightmares? That's because you weren't spinning side 2 of the Smiley Winters on Arhoolie! That's some freaky shit... NICE! I ran into Sonny Simmons on the street in San Francisco about 20 years ago blowin the SHIT out of his alto right in front of the BART station downtown--maybe Montgomery St? Playing for loose change. That must have been "Blackjack Pleasanton," as he used to call himself... rough days, indeed.

No nightmares? That's because you weren't spinning side 2 of the Smiley Winters on Arhoolie! That's some freaky shit...

Even though I have the LPs already, I will make a concerted effort to nab one of these before they're all gone...

"That One Song" is always the conversational kiss-of-death. Better to investigate further, or not at all!

Michael Blake's latest, on Clean Feed, is really good. I strongly advise any who enjoyed his set with Grachan to check this record out. It's a trio with Ben Allison and Jeff Ballard, called Right Before Your Very Ears.

Tony Oxley - The Baptised Traveller - (CBS Realm original stereo)

I haven't heard those Turnpike LPs in years... remember them being good, but again, I have run into this problem with Jaki's records in that they -- especially the Prestiges -- seem to offer the same sort of mixed bag. I love him, but... knaw mean?

Wonder if the 45s do anything for collectors...

This sorta sounds like something Dusty would carry. I may have to check it out; the Celestrial Communications Orchestra doesn't seem to be getting me too far with the ladies around here. Still, in their day, Becky Friend and Zusaan Fasteau were pretty smokin,' in both the musical and extra-musical categories... so I hear what yer sayin', sort of!

Happy Birthday, from ATX (Manor and Loyola, to be precise)! I've poured myself a Chimay in your honor!

Joke or no, it's pretty strange/gross/stupid to make a comment like that publicly, or to even be allowed (as Tom Cruise) to say shit like that in the first place. Dude should keep his goddamn trap shut!

I was gonna say... (not that I'm not guilty as well, mind you) Zana is out of control, however. When's she getting a record deal?

I know there was some spirited AMM talk on here a month or two ago... that's got to be way back in those pages by now, though! I'm more familiar with the earlier stuff, but have heard good things about The Inexhaustible Document. Will have to seek it out one of these days when I'm not so student-broke.

One of my favorite records! Somebody should reissue this...

I'm always annoyed at how Richard Tee rhymes with Tappan Zee...

Not the same LP, but thanks, that is a cover worthy of reminder!

Happy Birthday UBU!!!

Right, I'm never spinning any BN vinyl 'cos I'm always rocking the master reels!

Never heard Woods on bari, just alto. He's quite the alto firebrand, though, very ebullient player.

Shoulda asked this earlier, but I wonder if anyone here could help provide a front cover scan of the John Tchicai Cadentia Nova Danica LP on Polydor, or the Freedom variant (diff. cover images but either will do). Trying to drum up something for a Paris Transatlantic article and I hate lugging LPs over to Kinko's. Popsike came up with a half-cover scan but it's not enough! Thanks, CT

I dunno, that might be taking it a little far... but I would agree that electro-acoustic improvisation has gone in a very different direction than the skittering contact-mike-everything-we-can-find improv of the mid-70s. What Parker did on those ECMs seemed in a netherworld between the primitive and the advanced, erring a bit to the right of centre. Circadian Rhythm and the duos with Lytton are amazing records, but there's really no need for him to continue those investigations. I'd much rather hear him play post-Coltrane freebop like I did in Minneapolis last year than something that most of the music world has gone beyond. I hate to say something is dated, but great as it is, I can't imagine all that February Papers racket being made today - or at least not with the sense of purpose that it had at the time. Still, the Schlippenbach-Parker-Lovens trio, which I had the pleasure of seeing some years back in Berlin, was one of the greatest concerts I have seen in my life. There is still room for *that* music today, not "investigating" but plunging headlong into action.

Right, NY Ain't So Bad (Survival). Knew that sounded familiar... You're probably right about Tina.

Gave that up when I left Minneapolis, alone by my own intent. It was a difficult relationship, a lot of time/place issues, but it was real. I do enjoy being solo, working out the kinks in the rest of my life, but of course there's something that isn't there that I miss quite a bit.

Wasn't the original of that one limited to something like 99 copies? There was also a very limited reissue with both black and white covers I believe. Yeah, 99 and the reissue that I have is the one you're referring to. Got it new from a Japanese dealer and it was still an arm and a leg...