clifford_thornton

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...

Very true - I think LeRoi said something quite similar in reviewing it back in '65. I like the Pharaoh ESP and have listened to it quite a bit, it's just a strange setup, probably mostly because of Jane Getz. It would be interesting to hear Lowe's cover of "Bethera," and he'd be the one to do it. I always thought the West Coast guys - Simmons, Lasha, Zitro, Bert Wilson - knew how to work modal/free piano players into an essentially Ornette-styled idiom (or at the most Trane-ish, still an intersection between the two and leaning on the Texas side).

Howard Riley Trio - Discussions - (Opportunity) great and rare first trio with Barry Guy and Jon Hiseman, a balance and a tension between very free interaction and straight-ahead song forms. Even in '67, Guy was creating some very dense string action! (and before anybody gets their undies in a bunch, this is the Japanese reissue from a few years ago, not the $2,000+ original)

Franz Koglmann and Steve Lacy - Flaps - (Pipe original) rather disturbed '73 recording with Gerd Geier (live electronics), Walter M. Malli (drums) and Toni Michlmayr (bass)...

Nice analysis!

Oh yeah, and who is Royal Blue? I feel like I've heard that pseudonym bandied about before, but can't place it.

The Adam Lane records and the Lasha/Odean are the only things I've heard in recent memory that actually sound "all right," though not enough to get pulled out any more than occasionally. Clem nailed it above, as per usual. It's a shame that Tina Brooks was dealt (or dealt himself) such a bad hand. He's high on the list of favorite tenormen for me, especially in the hardbop idiom. It would have been something to see that gig!

That's a great shot. I love Ken Terroade!

That Jimmy Woods record sounds like it must be rather good. Will have to keep an eye out...

Yeah, my dad stayed there right before helping me move down to Texas. It's kind of a weird little place - like a preserved 1930s potpourri farm - but it's nice. The owners are a bit eccentric, like they don't want you to touch any of the vases or wallpaper, but just steer a little to the right and you'll be fine...

As for CIMP, they're sounding fuller these days than back when the Rudd and Burton Greene, etc. sides were recorded. Most of the earlier titles are pretty quiet, in my experience. I think that was one reason why I didn't keep the few that I had, including the Rudds.

I heard some of it several years ago; thought it was cool but ultimately left me a little cold. Though the musicianship might be a little more "together" now, similar efforts from the late '70s on Bead, Vinyl and Incus have that throw-shit-at-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks quality that I enjoy a bit more.

I only have the ESP-Disk, but it's really good. It might be characterised as a more surrealist Out To Lunch, if that makes any sense. I believe there are two on MPS and probably at least another two on Supraphon, and they are probably all worth checking out... dunno why I only have the one!

HBBBM! (Happy Belated Birthday Bright Moments!) Glad it was a good one. I was somewhere else on the board when all this was going on...

Never heard that one before; I seem to recall it being one of the rarer New Jazz titles.

Iskra 1903 - Improvisations - (DGG Free Improvisation box, record 2) skittery but somehow quite relaxing and easy to study to. Environmental skronk!

Ooh, it's back out! Awesome!

And don't forget Shepp and Rudd doing "Lady Sings the Blues" on Live in San Francisco. Wonderful!

I didn't like those records too much, and sold them. But at this point, I wouldn't mind hearing them again. It would have been nice hearing Rudd back in "the day" doing Herbie Nichols tunes, possibly with Lacy, Neidlinger and Charles! One tune he wrote for Herbie, "Respects," is very cool though admittedly it's usually been done in rather out contexts - the Impulse! and America sides. But the connection is there in the theme, if rendered somewhat oblique by the ensuing improvisations.

This is a great version. ...but this version is also on a BN LP, Let 'em Roll. It's an early cover, but isn't that cheating? I thought we were gonna do non-BN covers of BN tunes. That said, I'm not coming up with much on my own!

Yes, the Jazz Workshop LP with her and Jordan is a fine one. The band on the Pharaoh ESP is really weird. Considering some of the cats he was working with at the time (Moffett, Alan Shorter, Don Cherry, Byron Allen), it's a wonder why he didn't use the Downtown free crew. Still, his soloing is top notch, and Marvin Patillo swings hard. Marvin is also fine on Sonny Simmons' Staying on the Watch. That DC sesson for Savoy with Sanders is really good; too bad it wasn't completed and issued properly!

That sounds wonderful; I'll have to pick it up. Amen on the Impulse! session and Black Fire - he plays like Sunny Murray on that shit, and it sounds perfect. That's easily one of my absolute favorite BNs. In fact, if I had to keep just one... Forgot all about that Corea trio on Solid State. It IS really great, and always a cheap LP. The trio with Perez and Pattitucci is a great one, too. Are they still working together? Didn't get that into the New Jazz sides for whatever reason, but maybe that could get changed at some point.

Barre Phillips - Basse Barre - (Futura) French pressing of this classic recital of solo bass. Amazing music, never fails to make me feel that sense of connection with art/music/life/self/wood/string/humanity...

Don't much care for Karma, though I haven't heard it in years... I do like a lot of his other dates from the period, and considerably more for whatever reason, especially the Strata-East and Jewels of Thought. I know Pharoah was playing in a quartet with Dave Burrell, Sirone and probably Norman Connors on drums circa '67-'68, though that particular band didn't record. They did work a fair amount, as I understand it. The ESP is solid, though Jane Getz isn't the right pianist for the date IMHO.