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A few words on the record shop/area - Ayler, Atavistic, Hapna, Intakt, Blue Tower, Hapna, Olof Bright and some others were there. Although I bought a couple of others as well, I was delighted to get Mengelberg/Gustafsson/Prins' Live in Holland '97 and Braxton Quartet's Santa Cruz at what I thought were decent prices. Brotzmann/Graves - Was nothing special and certainly the biggest disappointment. I should have known when Brotzmann walked on to the stage and said, while waiting for Graves, "This doesn't look too good." After coming to the stage, Graves took what I think was a ridiculously long time arranging his sticks and mallets and shortly thereafter the set kicked off with Brotzmann near signature entrance riff. It was clear to me that especially when one, Brotzmann in particular, was trying steer the music Graves really got a kick out of playing subversively and more generally the musicians were not playing with or off but against each other. I did like the Graves/Zorn duo in the birthday series so perhaps the results are better with a more hyperactive (different from blowing hard) player but Graves tried to do his thing without really attending to collaborative music making, I thought. This was evident especially when Brotzmann was obviously trying to either end a piece or trying to play softer and Graves would simply not let him. I'm still happy that I got to see them as a duo, well somewhat. Did not get ideal seats (meaning 2nd or 3rd row instead of 1st!) and the lighting was worse than usual for concerts so this's the best picture I seem to have:

Raymond Strid - I was on the first row so no pictures, unfortunately, of the band as a whole.

GUSH w/Philipp Wachsmann was, for me, the best concert of the festival. Made me sit up and take notice plenty of times. As likewise has said, their way of improvising and interaction seemed to be really unique. It's one of the few concerts I attended this year, and it turns out that I've already seen quite a few concerts, where I wish I had paid even more attention to the music - where I would really buy the music, so I feel, if it were released. I was familiar with their music from their recordings, the most recent of which captures the ensemble's sound in 1996 - not counting a piece on the Sounds 99 compilation, but seeing them live and totally immersed, or as much as I could be, in the music as well as actually seeing these musicians in action - through which one really has a better appreciation of the spontaneity of this music - the tension before each subsequent sound and from whom it would come - was really something to savour. One last point, I have a feeling that certain, most of the, musicians I see playing free improvisation tend to overplay and have this urge or preference to just play and play - I felt this was only very slightly, and refreshingly so, the case with GUSH and Sandell in particular has this uncanny sense of what is for me the most unexpected but in retrospect perfect spot to enter with one of his "concentrated middle register single note"s. And Strid, he never overpowered others - though he, as most drummers, easily could - and apparently is the drummmer whose sound palette is most in sync with Gustafsson's; he was also the one who played the least throughout the night, he kept changing back and forth between either two or three pairs of hi-hat and ride cymbals. This was something else I tell you. Oh yes, and I think just to be fair, Mats had a short near-solo tenor sax section, a highlight and perhaps the only one one could argue was to the detriment of the whole collectivity of the music making, that you really had to be there to fully appreciate such was the energy and the intensity, and no it wasn't him blowing his lungs out but still was many things crammed into one that was interesting to see but also much more interesting to hear.

Thanks, Chaney! I really had one of the best 4 days, music as well as otherwise, in memory, but it was slightly exhausting I'll give you that - hey we had almost to rush after waking up (going to bed at about 3 at night) to catch the first concert of the day. There were so many concerts and we were so pressed for time that I couldn't see much of Stockholm this time around so hope to put that right on my next visit along with a couple of concerts at the Glenn Miller Cafe. Since I've not heard many complaints and since at times I do feel like I'm talking to myself anyway let me say the following: I really liked what I saw of Sweden and our likewise is not only a very able cook but also one of the most colorful, yes that is the perfect word, persons I've met in quite some time. You probably could make it up from the above posts that I also met Jan Strom (JaSt) and he, too, is a warm and nice person and as interested in the music as anyone else, if you had any doubts that is. Here are two pictures from the Braxton solo concert. It was the first time I saw Braxton live, solo or in an ensemble, and I'm happy that it was a solo concert that marked the occasion. It really was spellbinding at times and no sign at all of the weak tone that I'd somewhat expected based on his recent output. Very appreciative crowd, too, I thought (myself included), with bucketloads of applause after each piece. It was Braxton's usual routine, in form not in content mind you, by drawing from his Language Types and Sound Classifications and go on an investigation of the selections within a relatively brief piece (he has many of these "cues," I'll call them, which he expands upon so it's an established methodology by now). (Still 40kb pictures only, sorry).

Here's one more, I guess I can say this concert was about moving or rather morphing soundscapes and that I really enjoyed the journey, given one visual representation of also by Melin's dancing. Braxton solo, Gush w/Wachsmann, Graves/Brotzmann, and FME to follow.

Here are some pictures from the Frith/Melin/Mori show. I would also be interested in hearing the music only - I thought the dancing to the music was well done and that the interplay between Frith and Mori was without much egos such that each would follow the other when the music (most likely without a plan) seemed to take a certain direction. I thought it especially noteworhty how Frith, for the most part, seemed to find some way of blending with and enriching Mori's textures. Lots of pictures from this one, well only three here, as the setting really pushed to the fullest my enthusiasm for taking pictures.

Per Henrik Wallin and Han Bennink, whose concert followed the abovementioned one. Per Henrik Wallin, if you've never heard him, is really a never ending fountain of melodic ideas. I've said this too many times already but I am pretty sure that he could have gone on for another hour or two and I definitely would have skipped dinner to hear the outcome. Bennink, who was in good form and brought his inimitable sense of swing, looked amazed by Wallin's imagination, too. Oh, I promise the pictures will get better - it just happens that this and the one above are among the worst of the lot. Wallin, he has a lot of Monk in both his phrasing/improvisation and the composed bits he seems to pull out of thin air, some of which, as likewise alluded to, are based mostly on rhythmic or melodic modification on Monk tunes. Think also slightly like Misha when he plays swinging tunes but definitely more willing to incorporate the traditional jazz line (and perhaps more in command of, too) into his playing.

Over the next couple of hours except to see a number of posts by me as I'll be copying my comments about the Perspectives Festival in Sweden and post some pictures here (in fact I see that we can post files twice as big, 100kb, too bad though that all were cropped for 400x400 and 40kb, I might post some better quality pics when I get home, then). In short, I had a great four days, got to meet many fine musicians and people finally got hold of Braxton Quartet's "Santa Cruz" along with many other fine discs. I attended 20 concerts over four days and of those my favorites were Per Henrik Wallin-Han Bennink duo, Fred Frith-Lotta Melin-Ikue Mori, Gush with Philip Wachsmann, and Anthony Braxton solo - which happen to be one per day, from the opening day, Thursday, to Sunday, in that order. I have looked through all the pictures I took, though, and will post a couple each day in the hope that they keep the thread active meanwhile. Sorry, they had to be really tightly cropped. Here's one from the Jaap Blonk-Lindha Kallendahl-Thomas Lehn show that kicked off the festival (well, there was a very brief opening duo by Mats Gustafsson and Dror Feiler on bariton and bass saxes respectively and electronics). The concert by the trio was so-and-so with nothing memorable, I thought. For me Blonk relies too much on effects/acrobatics and since Kallerdahl employs, comparatively, a much narrower range of sounds concentrating instead on blocks of melodic phrases, I couldn't hear much communication between the two. Lehn tried to steer the proceedings to a clear(er) path as was his wont through the arsenal at his disposal; he also played a solo brief piece packed with surprises.

This might have been said by me or someone else but the Sonore disc "No One Ever Works Alone" is pretty good. If you enjoy at all the music of one ore more of these fellows I'm pretty sure that this will not disappoint. And perhaps a testimony to their consistency and spontaneity, it is rather different (though of course stylistically similar) but not any less interesting than the Vienna '03 that some of us had a chance to hear courtesy of our good friend ubu. The recording and remastering, of course, are better which also make for a better overall listening experience. Though again I would have had no problems at all replacing one of the tracks on the disc with one from the Vienna concert. What else...hmm I'm also quite impressed by Barry Guy/Evan Parker's "Birds and Blades" that I've only recently acquired so that one's also recommended excellently recorded too. And another disc that I've been listening to and enjoying a lot lately is Stephane Rives' "Fibres," initially brought to my attention by fellow poster (and discerning critic!) Nate Dorward. I know these don't mean much without any reference to or description of the musical content but Guy/Parker, I'd say you would enjoy unless you're either saturated long ago or don't like either or both, though even then there's some very impressive interplay here along with lots of range, in terms of mood, dynamics, and techniques employed. Rives' disc is all the more difficult for me to say much about, the curious might check out Nate's review at jazzcorner (that at least does much more for me than the recent Coda review, by which time I'd long gotten the disc in any case). On other fronts, you can safely skip Rubalcaba's "Paseo," and I've only heard the first track, and once, of "Ivey Divey" and though others sounded fine boy was that some sloppy (not necessarily bad, though still didn't do much for me, mind you but sloppy) playing from Byron.

Globe Unity Orchestra's Hamburg '74 is, well, different (the Choir of the NDR-Broadcast joins the band, and plays no minor role, as you might now) and didn't grab me on first listen, except from a standout solo by Rutherford during the second track. As it is different, however, I really would like to give it another couple of spins before passing on a (less) temporary judgment. I wasn't blown away is all I can say with confidence at this point.

Yes, I suppose it wouldn't hurt if I restated that all of the AALY discs (save for the double trio with DKV) come recommended; and for what its worth, I remember enjoying "Live at Glenn Miller" and "Hidden in the Stomach" more than "I Wonder If I was Screaming," which I nevertheless dug. And once again, if anyone reading this has "Stumble" for sale, please let me know. Happy to see these guys' name (by which I mean the collective, AALY) come up again and see that you liked the disc D.D.

Well better some contribution than none, I guess - I picked up the GUO a couple of weeks ago (at Perspectives). Will give it a spin tonight and post first impressions here, well at least if I think it's worth buying and listening to.

Well, it's not that bad, it's just that, yet again, too much has been released and not enough editing, and at times a re-take, has been done, in my opinion. Sprinkled, though perhaps all too sporadically, are quite good solos by all involved. The sense of sloppiness is most noticeable in the ensemble sections, the heads in particular - both in terms of cleanly nailing the actual melodies and as well as when/where to enter. Again, however, there are more than a few solos by Braxton, Smoker, Brown, and Mengelberg that I'm rather fond of - not to mention the lively interplay throughout disc 1.

I saw the band, without Heberer, about a month ago (at Jazz a Mulhouse) and it was much like the disc - played many tunes without stretching much, except for a very good duo by Mahall and Takase. Fortunately, for me, Chadbourne gets much less solo space on the disc than he did at that concert. Unfortunately, Heberer appears only on three cuts (of the fifteen). I enjoyed the concert and enjoy the disc as well though it is far from a contender of the year's best, fwiw - still good fun throughout most of the disc.

Today, I listened to "I am an Indian" and "Love Henry," both by Clusone Trio, and even though I enjoyed them quite a bit, I'd say that - in contrast to what I said yesterday, you see responses to music I have to vicariously experience - neither is as good as Rara Avis. They were recorded live in 1993 and 1996, respectively, and they seem to be rougher overall with less planning and more improvisation. Still what happens to me with ensembles like the Clusone Trio is that every now and then, within an album, they have these fascinating transitions or a deep groove by Han, a beautiful line by Moore or Reijseger and they seem to stay with me and make the rest of the trip worthwhile, so . . . Oh and talking of Subterranean distribution, I'd think they would have the first release, if I have my facts right, of the Clusone Trio - a self-titled release on Moore's own Ramboy label - as I understand it has recently been re-issued in a cardboard sleeve (I have the earlier jewel-case version). Perhaps I should give it a fresh spin too before saying as much but I remember really liking that one as well (more than I am an Indian and Love Henry) and unlike much of the trio's output it's readily available. So go for it, I say. Oh yes, also brought Braxton's "Charlie Parker Project 1993" with me to the office today - having heard five random tracks from the recent standards box, I must say that I find Braxton's blowing here, especially on the first disc, to present a lot more to get excited about. Already had my dose of Air through "Air Time" (on Nessa if anyone needed reminding).

I would say it is - though the crazed moments are more frequent on their live outings. I find all of their albums to be beautiful in their own way and greatly enjoyable. One thing though - the selection of pieces on Rara Avis is really unique and works very well, one has to move to that Tico Tico.

King ubu has mentioned this, and others might have as well, but I really enjoy the hard swinging "Kirk's Work." I think this one goes unmentioned all too often. edit: Oops, sorry, I just noticed at least two other mentions of it here.

Yes, also see "Judas Iscariot" on "The Dark Keys," one of Kenny Garrett's better solos there. Oh and so long as we're talking Watts, I enjoy his drumming and a very, very, able drummer he is to boot. "Bartalk," though I picked it up as soon as it was out, did not do much for me, on the whole - despite a couple of rather good tunes. As for "Detained," I'm getting it soon.

Yes, live, and very good it was, imho.

king ubu - Which one is the solo concert? If you like the duo with Lovano, you can buy most of his other discs with confidence as that particular record, imho, is one of his weaker efforts. I also like Rubalcaba's playing on the recent Pat Martino disc "Think Tank" - with Joe Lovano on board as well - too bad the disc is badly recorded and just so-so, well a bit better, on the whole.

J.A.W. - Good to hear you're digging those two, if it's not too early to say that. Mahanthappa's tone indeed has a certain gritti/raw-ness that might bother some, at least on first hearing. Me, I liked it from the get-go. king ubu - That's a hell of a sale they're having over there, it seems, lucky you.

170 minutes with performances by Akira Jimbo, Vinnie Colaiuta, Horacio Hernandez, Dave Lombardo, Hilary Jones, Billy Ward, and Don Brewer. Has some surface scratches but no problems in playback; encoded for all regions. I'm thinking of $30, shipment included (retails for $50).

Not that anyone's asking me, but the first FME disc is indeed hit and miss with too many misses. I hear that the second's better but haven't yet heard it. Nilssen-Love's drumming when he's keeping the time is remarkable, though. I've listened to a couple of tracks from Bjork's new album and subsequently ordered it, eagerly awaiting its delivery (along with, I might add, Rivers' Fuchsia Swing Song). The limited edition (live) DKV trio disc is nothing special, both Wels/Chicago and Trigonometry (their other live releases) are easily recommended over it. "For Don Cherry" - I quite like, no way, I think, that it's so-so but I won't claim that it's great either. I enjoy listening to it and don't for a moment regret getting it. But then know that I dig most of what I've heard from Gustafsson.

That's a really good one Chaney. In fact, I think highly - though there's also considerable variation - of all of Clusone 3/Trio's recorded output.

I listened to "The Bishop's Move" again late night yesterday (so had to adjust the volume somwhat) and I think it's quite good overall with some particularly awesome segments. Will consolidate my opionions further after another listen but at 74 minutes, I was hardly bored at all due to both the shifts within the music itself (when a given configuration of the musicians are playing) and the shifting configuration which introduces its own variety. I'd say, again, that this's easily worth the time and money of most who are presently interested in these musicians.