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Steve Reynolds
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Posts posted by Steve Reynolds
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16 hours ago, Pim said:
Barry Altschuls 3Dom Factor with Joe Fonda and Jon Irabagon. With a guest appearance by no other than the 87 year old Alexander von Schlippenbach!
I feel so ashamed that there was hardly any crowd. I think probably less than 50 so more than three quarters of the seats were empty. What the hell? If these guys can’t fill those seats this must mean it’s the beginning of the end of improvised music in NL. And in the meanwhile tens of millions were watching Eurovision. What a strange world.
Anyway the guys played 60 minutes of the finest improvised music. I’d say the only downside was the small amount of space for Mr. Schlippenbach. He was in great form but looked fragile. Great gig.
My experience with Irabagon is he plays too much. Doesn’t lay out enough. The *great* Alexander von Schlippenbach deserves more space. The saxophonist should have deferred more. Fonda & Altschul are a great pairing. I enjoy them more with a more humble saxophonist.
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First show since 4/30
Ned Rothenberg, Sylvie Courvoisier & Nasheet Waits
At The Stone last night. Front row center:)
52 minute improv with a 7-8 minute coda/encore
Ned does lots of circular breathing but only when he picked up the alto did he really match the incredible energy & force of the great pianist & drummer. He lacks grit & fire but he’s a very good technician on his horns. He never gets to the next level like the great ones.
Sylvie as great as I’ve ever seen her & Nasheet is a force of nature. A great listener & a master of sound. He creates grooves that we didn’t know existed. His dynamics are otherworldly. Sylvie is the best improvising pianist in New York.
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Don’t miss “Keep the Dream Up” with Joe McPhee, Kirk Knuffke, Michael Bisio & Jay Rosen. Amazing performance & recording. Rosen sounds especially great.
one of the best jazz releases of 2023. Magical session.
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Among other gigs I saw Tyshawn Sorey in duet with Angelika Niescier last Wednesday at Zurcher Gallery on Bleecker Street. SO great to see all the dedicated listeners, old & new. Especially seeing the wonderful people who treated my wife so great when we went to the shows. Roberta & Richard top the list:)
Tyshawn on snare & bass drum w/ 2 cymbals
40 minute set. Maybe the best drumming I’ve ever witnessed. Brought EVERYTHING out of the wonderful alto saxophonist. Brilliant concise focused improvising.
also saw an amazing gig with Ada Rave, Chuck Roth, Michael Vatcher, Elisabeth Coudoux, Michael Foster & Sean Ali.
duo with Chuck & Elisabeth which was awe inspiring. Quartet with the others which might have been even better.
Ada is one of the greatest tenor saxophonists I’ve seen over the past 2-3 years.
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Genius
on the house’s money for a long time
glad he stayed as active as he could until the end
Ray Gun Suitcase is the greatest unknown rock record of the last 50 years
Final Solution indeed
RIP, sir
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Tyshawn beyond great. Roscoe played mostly bass sax with small percussion with a little sopranino. His last solo on the bass saxophone was a work of genius. Brought tears to my eyes.
44 minutes with 2 very short encores.
A very moving experience for me.
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Tyshawn Sorey & Roscoe Mitchell
Solar Myth
front row 8-9 feet from Roscoe:)
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14 hours ago, ep1str0phy said:
Thanks for your support, all!
See you there, Steve! That gig is going to be nuts - Andrew and Bobby haven't played together in a long time, and the fires in LA prompted us to put something together. I'm really excited about the music.
It’s a great room. I was there last Saturday for Nels Cline, Ingrid Laubrock, Chris Lightcap & Tom Rainey
this Saturday Tyshawn with Roscoe
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Look forward to seeing you at Solar Myth on July 19th
excited for the great band of course
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I still love Sounds of Joy & From the Soul
he’s a fine player but I’m not into the ECM esthetic at all
over 20 years ago I saw him with Mark Dresser & Gerry Hemingway and he was amazing. Talk about being in the right company.
as an aside talking about cool nice guys, Marty Ehrlich & Mark Helias are simply the best. Last two shows I attended this past week they were there.
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10 minutes ago, JSngry said:
Wish I could have been there!
Not sure how often he plays out these days?
I’ve not seen him listed in years. Great to see him say hello to Marty Ehrlich. Seems like they had seen each other in years.
my guess is with Hemingway being in town prompted the gig. Gerry hasn’t been here in almost 2 years. He lives in Switzerland. Summer 2023 he played with Marilyn Crispell & Mark Dresser on 7/1. Played with BassDrumBone a couple of days earlier with Ray Anderson & Mark Helias. Was hoping for a reprise this trip but alas, not happening.
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10 minutes ago, JSngry said:
THE Anthony Davis?
Yes / great to see him live. Amazing.
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Last night at Roulette
Gerry Hemingway: drums, marimba, etc.
Earl Howard: alto saxophone, saxello & electronics
Anthony Davis: grand piano
Kyle Motl: double bass
2 sets 45 & 50 minutes
disparate, brilliant & organic improvisations. Each set 2 pieces.
stunned by two of the four saxophone sections / each was maybe 7-8 minutes of each piece interspersed with the group which played from short solo through duos, trios and the full quartet. WAY beyond my high expectations.
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Ballister is more rare! No improvising trio sound remotely like them. The opportunity to see them up close is very very special to those of us interested in this type of music. Grand Masters at play/work.
I do understand the idea of a dude from England seeing a game at Wrigley. Maybe once in a lifetime. I love games/sports too.
But I’m a music guy. Avant-garde guy. I go to over a hundred shows a year.
plus I’m an objectavist (if that’s a valid term) as are most of my music friends & the few close musician friends I have. What’s great is great. When my musician friend is chatting with Mark Helias the other night we both agreed it’s not our opinion that he’s a master, it’s the truth. We both don’t “think” Randy Peterson & Nasheet Waits are genius level drummers, it’s obvious to those of us who witness it.
The performance a week ago tomorrow was better than any game, save for Boston championship victories.
Among the best 10–15 shows I’ve seen the last couple of years. They are great.
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Ballister>>>>>>>>>>>>any game
As great as Rempis is, Fred Lonberg-Holm is one of the greatest true improvisors on the planet.
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41 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:
Going to see Rempis' Ballister at Constellation in Chicago tonight, with thanks to @Chuck Nessa for flagging the venue.
Enjoy!!!
If you read the above, I thought the Brooklyn show was incredible
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11 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:
You like this kind of music, so you should really enjoy that show. I only stayed for one set. Not my kind of music. There were places where they played tunes, but a lot of it was mostly controlled chaos.
I’ve seen them before. I like the band although it’s actually sometimes too controlled for my tastes:)
I do love Ingrid, Nels & Tom
I see them all many times a year in various configurations.
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3 hours ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:
I'm heading into Portsmouth tonight to see the Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet at the tiny Press Room. I assume there'll be a bunch of people there who wouldn't normally go to a Jazz show, but that's what happens when the guitarist from Wilco shows up in town.
I’m seeing them on 4/12 in Philly. You will like Tom Rainey.
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Last Thursday night
Ballister which is: Dave Rempis on baritone, tenor, alto & soprano saxophones, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello/electronics & Paal Nilsson-Love on drums
30 minute opening set was great
Luke Stewart augmented the band on double bass for the second 40 minute set which was an incredible , massive, extraordinary mind fuck. Fred is better than ever & I’ve never heard PNL play this great. Rempis best I’ve ever seen him.
last night John Zorn’s Cobra including among others, Simon Levine, Trevor Dunn, Simon Hanes, Matt Hollenberg, Ikue Mori, etc.
with the incredible William Winant, the great Ches Smith and the super cool groovemeister, Mr. Billy Martin
43 minutes of priceless invention in a pretty small room. Free for those lucky enough to hear about it a couple months ago.
Zorn 6-8 feet from me conducting the madness. What a vibe of joy. And when the 3 drummers went off, holy shit.
all praise William Winant:)
no one remotely like him. Blessed to see this genius twice the last week. Was able to sit in front of his brilliant student Nava Dunkelman who I’ll see perform on my 65th birthday on the 25th of this month:)
tonight 7:30 & 9:00 sets from Tamarindo
Tony Malaby, Brandon Lopez & Nasheet Waits
after next Thursday when I see Gerry Hemingway, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard & Kyle Motl, I’ll have seen the most extraordinary number of world class drummers all from with 10–15 over the last 5-6 weeks.
Tyshawn Sorey, Nasheet Waits, Tom Rainey, Brian Chase, Randy Peterson, Ryan Sawyer, Ches Smith, William Winant, Billy Martin, Paal Nilsson-Love & Gerry Hemingway.
life is good
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Last night at Solar Myth
Thurston Moore, Tom Surgal & the *great* William Winant
40 minute piece followed by a 5-6 minute soft coda
immense, terrifying brilliant & mind altering majesty of sound
standing 3-4 feet from Thurston
Lordy Lordy
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Ahmed was fantastic. Very demanding and stringent. Full house at Roulette. Probably 350-400 in the crowd. So many young people. Lots of the long time community in attendance. Very gratifying.
Standing ovation which is rare.
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Last Thursday
Mat Maneri, Lucien Ban, John Hebert & Randy Peterson
two 54-56 minute sets. 7 new pieces (5 from Mat & 2 from Lucien) which are to be recorded to become “Mist”. Mostly very slow & even slower.
second set especially spectacular with Mat playing at the highest level. The group improvisations within these slow often molasses tempos were tear inducing in an extremely emotional way for me. Randy Peterson rules the universe. Best jazz drummer on the planet. At least in this context.
Swing High, Swing Higher
Seeing Ahmed tomorrow night
Tamarindo with Malaby, Brandon Lopez & Nasheet Waits on 4/6. Another kind of greatest jazz drummer in the world
John Zorn’s Cobra on 4/5 / Ches Smith has something to say about the above as well:)
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On 3/17/2025 at 1:58 AM, BFrank said:
Just saw an outstanding show at SFJAZZ tonight: Craig Taborn w/Tomeka Reid and Ches Smith
Opening was the Avishai Cohen Quartet who were very good, too
Geniuses at play / love this trio. Saw them last year or earlier this year.
saw Tomeka last week with Angelica Neiscler & Savannah Harris. The other 2 were very good but Tomeka was off the chain great.
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Tensegrity & Intensegrity are the 2 box sets of the Blue Shroud band playing improvised segments in small formations. Brilliant throughout.
the 2 more recent boxes are wonderful as well although a step slightly down from the above.
along with the earlier Mad Dogs & Mad Dogs on the Loose (new orchestra in small formations), all 6 of these boxes (all on Not Two Records) are the most undervalued recordings of this century.
What live music are you going to see tonight?
in Live Shows & Festivals
Posted
Last night
Pulverize the Sound
Peter Evans, Tim Dahl & Mike Reed
short intense 35 minute set
worth the silly traffic / they hit it intense & keep the energy up the whole time
One time with Mary Halvorson & Tyshawn Sorey he became irrelevant next to those two grand masters. He must think he’s really great to not give Alex space. My god, it’s fucking Alexander von Schlippenbach. Does he not know that Evan Parker lays out?
as an aside my wife hated him:)
she wasn’t a learned listener but she could listen. She didn’t love saxophone, but she loved Tony Malaby, Darius Jones & Kidd Jordan:)
“you got ears, you gotta listen”
Don Van Vliet
my Barbara had ears:)