Leeway

first review I've seen here http://www.londonjazznews.com/2014/02/cd-review-jon-irabagon-trio-it-takes.html That sort of review - by shallow stylistic comparison - kills things for me. Makes me disbelieve the whole sector. He did drop about 25 names In any event, I liked the first trio disc with Fonda in place of Helias and they were very good live. The trio with Fonda is playing next week in NYC and I soul like to see them but it looks like its a no go..... I've tried to like Irabagon's playing, but really just can't do it. I've seen him live in different settings, and listened to a couple of his discs, and he just does not impress me (so what, right?). There is something diffident about his playing, and he does not appear to me to be that proficient an improvisor. Oh well, different strokes.

And speaking of the Canterbury thing, there's Carla's "European Tour 1977" with Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, and Gary Windo. Yes, thanks, I have that and it is really good. What a band. I think I posted on that some mini-millenium ago. Supposedly some friction between Carla and the boys in the band.

Harriet Tubman Tubby Hayes Hay Adams

OUTER SPACE EMPLOYMENT AGENCY - LIVE AT THE ANN ARBOR BLUES & JAZZ FESTIVAL- 1973 Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Discipline Arkestra - Total Energy Records LP - "Avant Jazz Series"

Wallace Stevens Wallace Simpson George Wallace

Midnight's Children Children of the Corn Childe Harold

Tokyo Rose Daisy Miller Iris Murdoch

Johnny Walker Skip Bayless Run DMC

Interesting - because it's the Weill-meets-free-jazz thing I love. Whereas I find her more conventional, American, post-70s music much less engaging. Personal taste, of course (related to the way I first heard the music - it clicked very easily into the whole Henry Cow/Wyatt etc world of the mid-70s). I like this one quite well. It seems genuinely inspired. Some of her other efforts along this line, as I recall, have sometimes seemed to have more the element of pastiche to them, that is, not quite as inspired or original. But I have been coming back to her work off and on, so might hear it a little differently next time. BTW, I do like Weill, especially the Lotte Lenya albums. Interesting connection to Henry Cow (another project in waiting) and Wyatt.

TROPIC APPETITES - Carla Bley - Watt LP. I liked Howard Johnson's multi-instrumental playing, Gato's fervent tenor, and Julie Tippetts beguiling voice here. I'm not always a fan of Carla's forays into Kurt Weill-like cabaret/song cycles, but maybe for the afore-mentioned reasons, I found I liked this effort.

Maysles Spike Lee Ang Lee

TSCHUS - Brotzmann, Van Hove, Bennink - Cien Fuego LP reissue of FMP 0230. I find it amusing that the album starts with a surprisingly romantic ballad piece dedicated to Bobby Few, who has his own very definite crooner tendencies (I once saw him croon "It Was A Very Good Year") and end with Brotzmann crooning his own little ballad. Everything in the middle anything but crooning.

Gruff the Crime Dog Nipper His Masters Voice Brian Griffin, Family Guy

BALLS - Brotzmann, Van Hove, Bennink - Cien Fuegos reissue of FMP LP.

STONE WATER - Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet - OkkaDisk LP. 1999

NOW HEAR THIS - Hal Galper, Terumasa Hino, Cecil McBee, Tony Williams. Inner City LP.

LIVING LEGEND - Art Pepper, Hampton Hawes, Charlie Haden, Shelly Manne. Contemporary LP.

The Beatles Bugsy Malone Spiderman

THE FIVE YEAR PLAN - Tim Berne - Empire LP. With John Carter, Vinny Golia, Glenn Ferris, Alex Cline, Roberto Miranda. Berne's debut album. Interesting how he debuted with a West Coast group of players.

James Blood Ulmer: "Are You Glad To Be In America?" Artist House. Ornette-ian harmolodics, free jazz, funk, reggae, etc etc, and/but it all works quite well.

Powell's my favorite novelist of the 20th Century. I belong to the Anthony Powell Discussion List: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/aplist/info and had the great pleasure of doing a long telephone interview with him in 1984. Talking to him was like dancing with Fred Astaire. That's amzing that you got to interview Powell, lucky man, and many thanks for the yahoo group link. Another Powell fan here. I read "Dance" some years ago, and hope to reread it again soon. I think "Dance" is much easier to get through than Proust. More recently, I read Powell's "The Fisher King," which I very much enjoyed. Apparently, critics don't care much for it, but don't let that deter you. It's worth reading. I also share an interest with Powell concerning John Aubrey, 17th century antiquary and biographer, perhaps best known to readers for his "Brief Lives." Powell wrote "John Aubrey and his Friends." Reading Aubrey and Powell together is a pleasant way to pass the time.

Honey Boo Boo Juan Trippe William Hurt

CRISIS - Ornette Coleman. Impulse! ABC. With Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, Denardo Coleman. I'm inclined to rank this album right up there with the Golden Circle albums.

Now that I've been listening to Soft Machine, Elton Dean, etc, I'll have to go back to that Berne album and check it out. I just want to add that Berne's playing over the last 2 years has been at a remarkably high level. He's been doing a lot of gigs around NYC, with Snakeoil, and with other ensembles, and I think he has hit a new high in his performance. Maybe this is a renewed vigor. Anyway, I think it is reflected in the current album.

Elihu Root Charles Hires Adolph Coors