clifford_thornton

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...

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!