Leeway

Just checked the line up. Looks intriguing. How's it sound Leeway? Good, not great. I actually like the larger line-up on Side B rather more; I find it a little more exciting. Kuhn's an interesting character, with an Art Pepper type life story, so the disc is interesting although not essential.

GHOST OF A TRANCE - Peter Kuhn. Hat Hut. Side A has the trio of Kuhn (alto and bass cl), Phillip Wilson (perc), and William Parker on tuba (!). I've seen Parker play various flute instruments but never the tuba.

ACM, methinks, is a bit too much of a good thing, like pepper on every dish.

VOLs. 1 & 2, SWEDISH AZZ. Pair of 10" vinyl. I really enjoy this group.

BRAVE NEW WORLD - 1932- Aldous Huxley Decided to re-read this dystopian classic and found it still quite amusing and intellectually engaging, but also surprisingly full of Huxley's own racial and sexual biases and prejudices.

I enjoyed meeting him a few years ago when he was performing in a group with John Tchicai. Garrison was very nice, as was John. Now both are gone. Sad.

"Precious and urbane," I like that. Brophy was a big admirer of Firbank, and wrote critical essays praising him. Just finished Flesh (1962). The story of Nancy, who is good at sex, and Marcus, who is good at nothing much. They marry, and live an elliptical life, precious and urbane you might say. The themes of the story, which is more fable than novel, are Jewishness, obesity, Rubens. By the end of the story, Marcus has become a "Rubens woman." Hard to say if this story is a satire by Brophy of her own marriage, or a "coded" work on straight and gay sex. Interestingly, the work is dedicated to Iris Murdoch, Brophy's friend and lover.

Rudy was in love with SOUND, music itself was secondary.

Loved The Avengers as a kid. Always enjoyed Macnee's witty performances. Like everyone else had a crush on Diana Rigg/Emma Peel, but maybe even more so on Emma's Lotus sports car. Always wanted one. I believe Steed drove a Rolls? or Bentley?

MAURICE GUEST - (1908) - Henry Handel Richardson (nom de plume of Ethel Florence Lindesay Richardson. Set in the last years of the 19th century in the music city of Leipzig, Germany, the novel tells the story of "nice guy" Maurice Guest, a music student, who falls into erotic obsession over femme fatale, Louise. Aside from the grim downward spiral of Maurice and Louise, the novel offers many interesting glimpses of the music life of the students who flock to the town. Perhaps not the masterpiece some have deemed it, it is still a very accomplished novel in the great realist tradition. If one enjoys Arnold Bennett, one would probably like this novel. Interestingly, Richardson and Iris Murdoch were related.

Seems my comment about seeing them has disappeared , must say I was overall underwhelmed by them . They were some good moments, it was not a bad gig by any means but it lacked the edge i'M used to see when I see PNL. I think they did 14 gigs in 15 days-- might have told on them. There was plenty of energy at the Baltimore gig. Keep in mind that PNL has to be band leader as well as drummer, which may be why he added a 2nd drummer to the group.

I was referring to the Wood Flute box and other music of the time frame, rather than the forthcoming 3 CD. But it's not surprising that the new box looks backward. Come to think of it: not much difference.

It's already seeming a little dated though, no? Not that it isn't listenable, only that it seems to be music of an era past, not forthcoming.

About 200 pages in now, and I'm still not sure how it is offensive. I guess the knock on Rand is that the plot is contrived, the characters wooden, and the philosophy a paean to utter selfishness. OTOH, she has many acolytes, so I suppose you'll have to read through and decide for yourself.

Let's not forget the "supporting cast."

I haven't been able to get into this one. Something about it grates on me. I don't like the bad sound, for one, or the pervasive audience noise. But I also just don't hear Dunamll click with the Americans. The ones I've heard that I really like are the Mujicians, Ghostly Thoughts, Babu Trio & Sextet on SLAM, Remembrance with Elton Dean, Deep Joy on DUNS, and the duos with Tony Bianco. I think about half of the Brit contingent of this board were at the concert this line-up did at Cheltenham some years back. Though we never spoke to one another! Good old British politeness. Couldn't possibly have imposed, Old Chap I'm also not overly fond of that trio date. The gig, however, was great I was at that concert too, at Clemente Soto Velez, NYC, during Vision Festival, and loved the performance then, and the disc now. It was staggeringly hot and very crowded that night in the hall; hard to believe that they got a usable recording out of it, but it does serve to document an exciting performance.

LARGE UNIT - Baltimore, Md. Saw Paal Nilssen-Love's Large Unit 11-piece band last night in Baltimore, and they provided a welcome blast of adrenaline. Motive power was provided by PNL (who always knocks me out) and another young fierce drummer (sorry, names defeated me) on a pair of drum kits fronting the band. In full cry, the band could blow you across the floor and out the door, but it was not all max velocity. A lot of more nuanced sectional interplay also took place. The band is young and maybe a bit raw, but it felt like they were coming together, and they had a positive spirit. It seems there were some personnel changes from the original Large Unit. Per-Ake Holmlander was there on tuba, a wonderful addition to the band. There was also a woman playing flute and clarinet, which added some nice sound variations. I also thought the young trombonist was quite promising. Rather amusingly, the trumpet player was a ringer for Vandermark, complete with plaid shirt. The band brought more merch than most record stores have, including Large Unit underwear, perfect for the free jazz fan who has everything. In any event, I really enjoyed the performance.

I like Dunmall, and consider myself a fan, so maybe I can be permitted to say that he may be too prolific for his own good. There seems an endless stream of Dunmall discs, and it is often hard to distinguish one from another. Granted many are good, but few are great. I am also likely in the minority when I say that I really enjoy those albums he plays bagpipes on; the pipes seem to energize Dunmall, and they add wonderful shades of color and sound. Having said that, when I put on a Dunmall disc, it's rare that I don't enjoy it. That is saying something.

NO SIGNPOSTS IN THE SEA - 1961 - Vita Sackville-West The premise (one can hardly call it a plot) is journalist Edmund Carr finds out he has only a few months to live. When he also learns that Laura, a woman he loves, is taking an ocean cruise, he books passage on the same ship. The story is mostly the thoughts and philosophical musings of Edmund and Laura. VSW's intelligence keeps it from becoming mawkish (usually), and there are some interesting twists. Here again we have another of those shipboard stories that seem to constitute their own genre.

The best way to honor Ornette is to keep the spirit of innovation alive. Before he was an icon, he was an object of ridicule, a change agent, and he changed the music through belief in what he did.

AN ACCIDENTAL MAN - 1971 - Iris Murdoch One of the few Murdochs I hadn't yet read, this could properly have been called, "A Dance to the Music of Time," although I think Iris is much more interested in the Platonic than Powell.

"That's amazing!" - applied to things decidedly not amazing. A sort of reality inflation. "I hear you" - a weasel phrase designed to avoid concurrence or opposition.

In case I've been misunderstood (quite possible), I'm a great admirer of Halvorson, and my comments were intended to be complimentary. I feel she's extending Braxton's post-mod program, and is very much an artist of her time. My point was that we need to adopt new evaluative paradigms in order to better appreciate what she is doing. The old Romantic egoist approach isn't cutting it anymore.

It seems to me we are all inclined to work through the notion of Romantic "inspiration," the divine Aeolian harp acted upon by the winds of inspiration, when in this postmodern age we really need to start understanding art, musical or otherwise, as "made objects," culled from the cultural effluvia of previous generations. The discussion of Malaby follows this Romantic template, whereas the discussion of Halvorson does not, although the latter seems to leave us baffled as she harnesses a stream of cultural referents in her music--no waiting for the divine winds to blow. I consider Halvorson perhaps the epitome of the post-modern culturist in music. People like K. Washington are a throwback, an ersatz attempt to traverse old ground in hopes of something new. Commercially, sure; artistically, a waste of time.

Been reading Brigid Brophy, Anglo -Irish critic, novelist, journalist, crusader for animal and author rights, open marriage, bisexuality, vegetarianism. A sharp mind, a neat wit, a puckish sense of humor, an elegant sensibility. Her praises are as satisfying to read as her skewerings (love her take-downs of "Lucky Jim" and Henry Miller). Turns out she was also an intimate friend of Iris Murdoch, in what was a fraught friendship. Recently, over a thousand letters from Iris to Brigid were made available (Brigid's letters to Iris were destroyed at Brigid's direction). "Hackenfeller's Ape," the tale of a zoology professor and a caged Hackenfeller Ape (a fictitious species) having a meeting of minds; the book won the 1954 Cheltenham Prize for best first novel; Murdoch's "Under the Net" came in second, certainly a misjudgment, although Brophy's book is fun to read. Brophy is one of those minor talents who are often more fun to read than their more esteemed contemporaries.