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Thank you for thinking of us and sending the disc, ubu. Ellery plays some killer breaks there, don't you think? Overall I find him to be in much better form there, and also on Gonzalez's NY Midnight Suite, than the much eagerly anticipated but somewhat disappointing Devils Paradise, imho.

Congratulations, Chuck - and a very good disc either way, certainly as far as Marsh's playing is concerned.

This store has them for €12 but I haven't had any experience with them so can't vouch for whether what you see is actually what is in stock. I usually wait for 2-3 weeks and amazon.fr does a fine job, at €17.5 a pop, though. edit: John, your package's on its way, otherwise I would have included this, too.

You are correct not correct, as far as I'm concerned... It's a good one ubu, so one of these days when you have the spare cash...

That Marco Eneidi Sound on Survival live tape (which John B mentioned/offered some months ago) has some quite exhilirating playing. Daniel Humair Trio w/Eskelin at Willisau, courtesy this time of king ubu, is also a good one. I could have done with some solos' being a bit shorter but when is that not the case. If not the best light in which I've heard the musicians, they're certainly not on an off-night. Some strong solos by Eskelin and Ducret doesn't fall much short either. I kind of wish there was more going back and forth between the two as happens near the end of a couple of tunes, iirc. I like the tunes, too. Thanks ubu.

PMed Jan Strom who confirmed that somebody at The Wire goofed! The 'Flowers for Albert' track is played by Grimes with David Murray and Hamid Drake. The Wire will have a correction in their January issue. Thanks for clearing this! I wondered, as the Wire also mentions "concerts", and "parts of which" were going to be released on Ayler. Also the Wire give Murray composer credits. It did look strange from first sight. And also, the drummer who plays on that track is Hamid Drake - unless he was cloned.

I got the Rudd and Braxton so far but will make another visit to Paris this weekend and, based on your comments, will probably also pick-up the Wright. Haven't listened to the Braxton solo sides yet but gave two spins to the Rudd and although there are many great moments I'm not yet sure about what to think of the disc as a whole as there is also some wanderin' here and there, but worhtwhile for sure, that I can say even now.

D.D. - Will check out "In Walks Art" as well as "Zen Widow," thanks. I have started listening through a number of live recordings passed on by some generous posters here. First on was Daniel Humair trio w/Ellery Eskelin at Willisau, 2002. Will give it another spin before I comment further but this one's definitely on the better side of the scale.

Indeed, and the disc from which that track comes is recommended, more later.

"In Our Times" is a good one too (Nilssen-Love and Bishop stand out, in particular), I like it better than "Crossing Division," but I think "Nuclear Assembly Hall" is the best release by either band. I actually enjoy the first Territory Band album more than the second (haven't heard the third yet but not in any rush to do so). What usually gets on my nerves is the arranged parts, I'm happy with the transitions and most of the blowing but as for the relatively lengthier arrangements, I could have done with fewer and shorter. Just a thing, Axel Doerner plays a very nice, laid-back, and short break in the first track of either 1 or 2. I also agree re-the enthusiastic recommendations for Catalogue. edit: John B, you did get my PM, yes?

Got these two, super speady service. Thanks Chuck Only listended to the Triage disc so far, very nice The other is certainly no worse, in fact if anything, it's better, imo. This really is a good opportunity to pick up some of these for those who've been curious but holding back. The Funny Rat thread here should provide some pointers to the better albums of the lot (as well as numerous threads over on jc).

Thanks for that review, D.D. I, too, sometimes think that Gustafsson's (more unique) strength is the abstract player-sound explorer in him and that he should also document that side more - that is usually much more prevalent in his solo or duo playing. I don't know what you mean when you say "we," and you probably know this already but Nilssen-Love already has a solo disc out there "Sticks and Stones" is the title, iirc, and it's on Sofa. Haven't heard it yet.

If it really is Jansen instead of Haker-Flaten, I'm jealous already as I always thought that Jansen would be better suited to this trio. That said, I like their discs anyway. Please let us know, D.D - well, I'm curious. Nilssen-Love, I think I saw 4-5 times live and he both amazes and at times brings a smile of disbelief to one's face. I remember telling him once that not only did I really like the his playing but that he also was a freak to watch - he seemed to be amused by the comment, best as I could tell!

Now about that one: I have one set which I don't remember whom I planned sending it (not yours brownie, yours will be delivered fairly soon). PLEASE HELP ME! CHAOS HERE! (as if that was new to you all ) ubu That might be me, ubu? Or holding on to it might be your way of whipping me for the now ridiculous delay in getting the copies of those trays to you.

The 1st, 4th, and 6th I think are the better within that batch. None of them, if you were serious, are anywhere near as heavy/noise, if you were serious, as you're implying. The closest to post-bop mainstream jazz, and indeed in parts very close, is Nuclear Assembly Hall, which I quite like. Anderson/McCall is free-ish but in a very disciplined and cohesive way, well you'll hear what I mean, and DKV plays and builds on a lot of grooves so it's not much difficult, if at all, to get into - apart from the relatively shorter solo sections it's usually a groove or vamp kick-started by Kessler and Drake that Vandermark then plays over and after that it pretty much developes as a result of the close interaction between the three. Some tunes in Trigonometry, I think, go on a bit too much without enough content/variety.

ubu - What a Wonderful World, Time Travel, and We Are Everyone in the Room are recommended. Hmm, if you were to get only one, I can't really say which one, maybe What a Wonderful World or We Are Everyone in the Room, but even then it's a difficult call, I really enjoy the second half of Time Travel, too.

I also found Glenn a very pleasent and agreeable person to deal with and he also had a number of rather nice items for sale at very decent prices. What I ended up getting arrived in excellent condition.

I traded my copy of "Cliches" not too long ago, it was too loose and for me and wasn't blown away by much of the soloing either. But I understand I may be in the minority regarding this one, if it matters.

ubu - I think you have the best of the lot covered in your to get list. Only, I would add the ICP disc (but skip the Mengelbergs), it's a good one with quite a bit of variety and excellent solos by all on the final track - let me know if you need to know more. I can't give a lot of advice on where to look for apart from googling if Verge/Cadence/DMG don't have them. On a related note, on OOP albums, I've just received "Stumble" by AALY + Vandermark and will give it a spin later today. D.D. - Thanks a lot for pointing me to a very convenient source from which to get this (they had two left when I placed an order).

D.D. - Sorry to be rather slow about this but having a crazy week with multiple deadlines on Friday. These are all as far as I know (AMG or others might have more). Gush was formed in late 80's and have 3 albums as a trio and another one with Wachsmann (haven't heard this), all on Dragon. Of these I would recommend the live ones (in Tampere and at Fasching) though these were recorded in 1996 and listening to them after having heard them live, I have the sense that they're doing what they did then better now (and the discs don't really have that good recorded sound) - even though, as I understand, they are performing rather infrequently due to the busy schedule of each. I heard that Gush was formed originally following Bengt Nordstrom's suggestion that the three (Sandell/Strid/Gustafsson) should play together, not sure though. Based on what I recently heard, I really would welcome a live/studio album by the ensemble. Sandell makes much more use of electronics (I don't what it is really) and in this case the music really was richer and more satisfying. What I like about their music, as I said already, is the tension (quite visible too) of what will happen next, who will play, how the others will respond, if at all, of whether they will simply hold off and end the particular improvisation. I feel they employ much less of the auto-pilot mode than some other free-jazz/improv ensembles and actually listen to each other very closely, for the most part. But it's the tension that makes it work for me.

I don't know about this one but I enjoyed his playing on his "Dolphins, Dolphins, Dolphins" (an early 90's recording on the Swedish Dragon label with Nordeson and Gustafsson) and even more so when I saw him last month in a duo with Bennink - there I thought it was really impressive how he could keep on ornamenting and developing and improving on simple melodies and easily start anew just when you thought he'd run out of ideas. Ouyt of Monk, and thoug much more overt employment of the traditional jazz lines in his playing he also sounded somewhat similar to Mengelberg in places - if that helps. Also, I had the chance to listen to a recent solo concert he gave which was equally good. I haven't heard "Burning in Stockholm" yet.

And here's what I thought of FME, FME - Well probably a rehash of what I've already said here and there but this was a set that had great as well as dull moments, in fact the one show with the largest variance, I would say, in terms of how much I enjoyed the music during certain bits of the concert. First of all, I'll take all the blame and say I don't hear anything special in McBride's bass playing - he's there and fills in the low-end yes. Well one might euphemistically say he's an ensemble player, I guess he is and playing in the right band, FME, he is then. This performance might not have been the best on which to judge his merits, though, as we were informed that his bass had been damaged and that he would be playing Berthling's bass. Someone please correct me if I'm not remembering this right but I read somewhere Ken talking about how most of his prior bands/projects were extending the tradition and seeing how established improvisational and jazz concepts would sound in our day while with his new projects, again I believe he listed FME among them, he was really trying out different things - investigating a number of his interests and not necessarily tied to what came before. Well if so, that's not what I heard in this performance (nor in the first disc) - surely this does not take anything from the music itself but if you hear the music you're left wondering about where the (posited) novely might lie. As for the music, I remember swinging and tapping my feet, yes both, when they would kick start a groove and Vandermark would consistently build up the energy in his solo with Paal demolishing the kit, and really sounding like a drummer plus a percussionist, only to wonder about the timing of the next cue to a softer, slower, textural section - I have to give them credit though they kept me guessing and I was fooled more than not. Again, since I'm not mad about McBride's playing and since I think it also doesn't really fit the what I think is the more natural, comfortable, way for Vandermark to play the non-pulse/textural sections grew boring really quickly. Happily for me they made up a shorter part of the concert, another function they serve is to help both Ken and the audience catch their breath, helps you know. A borderline fine concert, then, but far from a highlight for me.

Thanks, Peter. The light-bulbs have been in use at least as early as the mini-European tour the tentet had around last May or so, possibly earlier. It should be Nilssen-Love on drums, though you never know; was he? When I saw them during that mini-tour (without Gustafsson but with Ramanan and Kondo) Bishop was easily the most interesting player and he had a quite long solo feature, or actually a composition that featured him, according to Brotzmann, too.

D.D. - here, he played all of what you see here - I don't know for certain but I'd always read of it as being and alto-sax mouthpiece/reed that was jammed, doesn't matter either way, I know. Some better pictures and more about GUSH later. edit: John, very glad to hear that, thank you! I thought you (and most) would already have read this at jc but then thought perhaps not (and honestly on D.D.'s suggestion decided to also post them here, after all it can't do much harm, I think).