clifford_thornton

Everybody's top five is gonna be different. At least a couple of mine probably wouldn't make anybody else's list but that is perfectly all right. It's funny, I barely associate Griff with BN though his few for the label are quite enjoyable.

I was gonna say one might start where Blue Note started, with Meade Lux Lewis, but this is a pretty solid top five otherwise!

I'm sure it is excellent.

According to his son it is true. Posted in the Artists section.

According to his son, Raheem DeVaughn, the great cellist Abdul Wadud passed on August 10 at 75. I tried to learn his tune "Camille" on the cello many years ago, should've worked harder at it. May he Rest in Peace.

Can't wait !

The idea that you can experience a piece of visual art again and again similarly is pretty untrue in my estimation. Most works of art are seen by very few people in an ideal habitat; for conservation and preservation purposes, being under bright light for years on end, sometimes in less than ideal conditions, is not good for most pieces. More often than not, a viewer only gets one shot at seeing something, much like a piece of music whether it was precomposed or not. I don't really think that looking at a painting or sculpture is a frequently repeatable experience, even if you have unfettered access to a work. There are too many variables at play (and I say this as someone who owns several small pieces of modern or contemporary art and has worked in art museums/arts institutions for over 20 years).

I never really thought of visual art as static. It all depends on how you experience it, I guess.

depends on the art. Blue chip and well-hyped modern art gets people in the door, but the more difficult and left-field work or that which is difficult to categorize is tougher. Same as the music.

Yes, Lacy was. He was close with many postwar artists and writers. When I was in grad school for art history, very few of my fellow grad students had any interest in or appreciation for improvised music (which I was writing about as a component of a true art history). Similarly, a number of creative musicians I've met (especially American) have had zero interest in abstract art. The contemporary composers' world seems a bit more keyed into abstract visual art, and abstract performance art. Boulez is certainly played at massive concert halls in Europe, though he's far less well-known here. Most of the western classical/modern composition situations I attend are pretty left-field, and those people are very knowledgable. If one is attending a pops concert or whatever, I don't think one should expect much modern music to be played, just like I wouldn't expect to see the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra play Tri-Centric Music. Finally, the visual art world is very much a way to move money around and it's a lot harder to funnel cash through weird music.

Clark is an interesting character. He does have LA connections as he studied at CalArts and worked in California with Dawn Muhammad (and probably met David Murray there).

yeah, the things Creel Pone reissues generally won't see a proper reissue otherwise. I applaud KFW for doing what he does.

love that alternate cover.

+1

Maybe Saudrais as a pinch hitter?

It's excellent.

Yeah, it's coming out next year as noted above. I know he wanted it reissued and doesn't own a copy himself! I can't imagine paying 500GBP for Orange Fish Tears -- lucked out in a shop bin many years ago -- it's a great record but people are charging too much/paying too much.

Nice! Pulled an original from the bins in a long-gone East Village record store over 20 years ago and was floored by it. Great record deserving of wider hearing. The Abdul-Hannan is cool but is unlikely to see a proper reissue (it's been tried). I would imagine that the Carroll will get the Soufflé Continu treatment as part of the Palm catalog.

True, true. As Juma Sultan said to me once, "if I tell you everything then I won't be able to write my own book."

Nice! Yeah, apparently an hour and a half exists but it's not on YouTube. For what it's worth Tchicai, Thilo, Warren and Favre had a working quartet at that time.

Location is excellent; the only other Stratas I've been able to find as originals are Sphere and the Bert Myrick, but they're both good.

Yeah, too short. But good. I have it somewhere (possibly still in storage).

Rashied Ali (drummer) did play trumpet and in fact studied with Bill Dixon, though I've never heard what he sounded like on that instrument. I do not know if it is the same person on this recording or somebody else.

Very true.

Earlier Bley is a different animal -- post-Bud/Hampton Hawes into an Ornette/Cherry-inspired knotty turnaround thing with shades of romanticism and occasional archness, eventually becoming more spare and gnarled but with a crystalline depth as you're hearing on that Hat Hut.