Steve Reynolds

love the first Foxes Fox CD - will get the new one soon. maybe my most played Evan Parker recording over the last few years. Louis Moholo-Moholo is superb on that recording

well I was having a little bit of fun regarding discussing the exploits of Cooper-Moore I realize that it was a long time ago - maybe 12-14 years ago - that I saw Cecil Taylor up close @ Tonic playing with Tony Oxley - and certainly this past Tuesday what Cooper-Moore's performance compared favorably with what Cecil Taylor was playing that night as far as dexterity, speed, precision, passion and imagination. What I heard this past Tuesday was a great performance by a great pianist. Maybe I will simply leave it at that. Craig Taborn is a very good/great/wonderful pianist that I enjoy greatly and have seen him 4-5 times live over the last year in a variety of settings and I always leave excited and impressed with his abilities. He was very very good this pat Tuesday. After seeing/hearing Cooper-Moore I almost forgot about hearing Taborn.

maybe more later but a few comments on the first 2 nights.... saw all the bands - can do without the opening invocation but I could still hear Drake, Parker and Cleaver behind the nonsensical wailing of 3 ladies.... and I knew the drummers sounded great from my front row seat.. don't know what Kneebody is or why they were there but it had something to do with a grant....and I waited for Dunmall, Shipp, Morris and Cleaver starts out a bit forced with Dunmall only with his tenor which is a plus - maybe it isn't even his tenor, I don't know. Shipp plays all the time, some strong stuff but too much just rolling on the keys thinking maybe it is like Chris MacGregor but I want some space - but Dunmall often makes me forget about that as he takes the tenor out to great places - then the last 30 minutes of the hour set Paul Dunmall and Gerald Cleaver find an incredible rapport and the set turns magnificent - especially when Shipp finally gives the band some space and let's Dunmall explore the full dynamics of sound and space - the final groove is subtle and immensely powerful. Sharp was fine but the lady singer was a bit much for me Dresser's band good with one great long form thing in the middle with all pieces meshing - highlights are Rudresh and Maroney along with the great bassist good night second night...fine melodic solo set by Eri Yamamoto Farmers by Nature started off very softly and was a challenging hour (in a good way) with fine playing by all 3 - Taborn as good as I expect from him. Darius Jones quartet - shorter set with the highlights being his playing on a couple of ballad like pieces where his sound raises the roof - Matt Mitchell is fine on piano and Smith and Dunn played well - my wife commented that this was a bit more mainstream and both of us enjoyed it - Jones remains a strong newer voice on the alto saxophone... and THEN..... I FORGOT yes - I have seen a great many great drummers the past coupl of years and I did see Cooper-Moore with Cleaver's band last December - and I know these guys been playing together forever - supposedly there is nothing new BLAH BLAH playing a tribute to the hurting Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre who is suffering with blindness from cataracts, William Parker composed the suite that they just premiered in Montreal last weekend. and they go... Cecil Taylor is alive, I know Paul Bley is alive Keith Tippet is alive Cooper-Moore is the greatest pianist alive - well my opinion, of course - but for me last night was beyond anything I have ever seen or heard from at the 88 keys. He improvised plays the thematic material better than the 2 wonderful horn players and his excursions into the stratosphere were superhuman - and his comping!!!!!!! this guy played the phases Brown and Barnes improvising *while* they were playing them - and then the elbows, the knuckles and all of it - and he then knew how to bring the sound down, lay out, come back, build up...we heard 3 good to great pianists the first 3 hours - but Cooper-Moore is beyond any of that - genius is genius - it doesn't come often maybe it doesn't happen all the time as he was wonderful last December - but last night - more than that but I FORGOT Hamid Drake made a fan out of my wife for life - she knows as the *great* Gary Sisco said, that if you bring anyone with an open mind to hear Hamid, they leave knowing they have witnessed the greatest drummer in the world. yes - for what he does, He is the greatest drummer in the world - my wife said it best - he isn't a jazz drummer like all the other ones, even her previous favorite Nasheet Waits...she might even have us coming back next Sunday.. last thing - I told Hamid Monday night that I am bringing my wife on Tuesday to see him and that I told her that she will hear a different or better version of Nasheet..he smiles..he doesn't know me last night he remembers - I met your husband last night, etc. and as always he is the nicest person in the room - the most gracious and Barbara (my wife) gave him a hug and a kiss - and I tell him that I hope he says hello to his friend and mine - Ulrich - when he gets back in Chicago as my wife said, it was the greatest band she ever saw - she isn't a "jazz fan" but she likes the shows - but this is a band that all should see live - Parker's themes were as strong as anything I have heard from him, Rob Brown was stupendous and Barnes was succinct and cutting - and seeing and hearing William Parker and Hamid Drake 10 feet in front of me connect like no other bassist and drummer do was shown during a duo section with Parker playing Parker and Hamid with just his hands - pure magic and telepathy. In Order to Survive

after many years of listening to rock music from my late teens through my 30th birthday (from Credence, Traffic, Steely Dan, Zeppelin, Cream/Clapton, Dead, Allmans, Hendrix, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Gong, Gentle Giant, Eno, Roxy Music, etc. and espceially througout my college years, the band that had it all for me - King Crimoson - especially that amazing 73-74 band that produced Larks Tongues in Aspic, Starless and Bible Black, Red and that incredible live LP - USA I had always somehow knew about jazz - I had a shortterm friend in College in 1978-79 - my freshman year - who had a Coltrane or Freddie Hubbard LP that he played a couple of times - and maybe there was something - and I alwayes remembered a day in January 1979 when I heard about a guy named Charles Mingus who had just died of ALS (to me Lou Gehrig's disease). I had also during those years picked up Birds of Fire and The Inner Mounting Flame which had me try a later McLaughlin LP which did nothing for me and I left it at that... then after falling out of touch a bit with music despite having some interest in REM, Little Feat, maybe Husker Du and The Replacements in the later 80's, I had lost most of my passion for sound/music etc. But I always heard about some crazy band/man named Captain Beefheart - and so on impulse I bought a cassette of an album called Trout Mask Replica - probably bought it around 1990 when I was 30 - and I HATED it but I would not and then could not stop listening to it - it prompted me to buy a CD player as I had to hear ALL of it - I discovered something to care about in music again and reading about him - he mentioned two names Cecil Taylor and Ornette Coleman - I wasn't going there yet - but I woke up one day in 1991 or 1992 and bought 4 CD's: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby Charles Mingus - Live @ Antibes Thelonious Monk - Monk's Music liekd them - missed the rock beat but kept listening and THEN - I really heard "Well You Needn't" and it was over until.... I used to visit Crazy Rhythms in Montclair, NJ and I bought lots of stuff there - but then I heard a few more things and I heard Evan Parker on the radio for his 50th birthday on WKCR and it was HORRIBLE - but I would listen again - and I searched and read and found modern jazz where GIANTS walked this earth and STILL do. Subsequent listening showed me that it isn't just a historic music which is what I gather from so many who still listen to much of the same/similar version of our initial passion - I discovered Parker - Stitt - McLean - Lyons - Osbourne - Chapin - Darius Jones, etc - or Hawkins - Mobley - Gordon - Coltrane - Shepp - Ayler - Parker - Mitchell - Malaby - Dunmall and all in between - what I blessing to learn to listen Monday I see Paul Dunmall/Mark Dresser live among others and Tuesday I see Hamid Drake/Darius Jones/William Parker/Cooper-Moore among others and I am blessed to love this music, old and new and I thankful that I opened my ears to all of iit as I knew already that Don Van Vliet said "if you got ears you gotta listen"

the two great ones on Silkheart are: Worshippers Come Nigh: Charles Brackeen tenor saxophone Olu Dara cornet Fred Hopkins bass Andrew Cyrille drums Dennis Gonzalez Sextet: Dennis Gonzalez trumpet, pocket-trumpet, fluegelhorn, pao de chuva, Pakistani bells, kalimba, vocal Ahmed Abdullah trumpet, fluegelhorn, balafon Charles Brackeen tenor sax, conga Douglas Ewart alto sax, bass clarinet Malachi Favors bass, vocal Alvin Fielder drums, percussion the opening 15 minute title track on this one is one of the great jazz performances ever.

valid point by Chuck - I was fortunate enough @ Han Bennink's 70th birthday concert to have Joe McPhee sitting next to me for the concert - and he is as nice a gentleman as I have met - plus it is always great to see a musician take a train to NYC from upstate NYC to *attend* a show and still be excited to hear music as well as perform music. Allen - for a few years I was unable to attend Vision Fest (due to personal wreckage) and then or before I was too pissed off to attend for some of the same reasons that you cite - I have always felt the narrow-minded focus of the music was a huge hindrance to the vibe which gets so caught up in the past (despite the name of the festival) with a good amount of the music stuck in some sort of late 60's free jazz time warp. And then the last few years the lack of a decent comfortable and acoustically friendly venue was a HUGE negative - and then don't get me started that they don't come close to following a crisp schedule....so I have attended a few nights here and there the past few years. Do I enjoy seeing music @ Vision Fest as much as the places I normally go to? No - but I am hoping for the 3 night I plan to attend this year that it will be a listener friendly environment - and hopefully not just for the *special people*!! The Stone (except from May/June through AUG/SEPT when the temperature is unbearable - you think they could buy a $500 air conditioner?? - instead of the current one that blows warm air?, Jazz Gallery or Cornelia Street - all of these places I can get the best seats as long as I choose to show up early - and that is what I prefer - 3 feet from Mat Maneris' viola and 6 feet from Randy Peterson's bass drum is where I want to be. So again NO, I imagine they will try to cordon off the front rows to the *special people* - except that I will find my way into a couple of those seats - remember the old days @ Tonic where the *special people* got all the best seats - a couple of times I was FIRST in line and I got one of the last seats available...so hopefully that BS will not go on @ Roulette.

It is very heartwarming that after all these many years that there is one subject viewpoint that Pete and I can agree on without hesitation. I like your descriptor 'expressive dance' it is so beat

many points well made and as I have mentioned often in the past it was incredible that William Parker played with almost every band and maybe the greatest bassist alive in the world Peter Kowald made sausage sandwiches save for *maybe* one set he *may* have been involved in. so they come some distance as this year there are numerous fantastic bassists for example from Ken Filiano to Mark Dresser to Michale Bisio to Joelle Leandre appearing. Of course they will always feature many of the same old standbys which some of which some of us may like more than others - for me a few of the bands are of no/little interest to me. I know Pete C is no fan of Paul Dunmall but how many other of you guys have had an opportunity to see him live?? To my ears he is one of the great saxophonists alive and his appearance cannot be overlooked and that quartet should be smoking hot - and yes I can pretty much imagine what it may sould like - but how jaded can one get? What bands are all of you seeing these days or playing in that is creating music you have no idea what it would sound like? Hey - I thought I knew what the Cleaver band with Cooper-Moore, Darius Jones, Pascal Niggenkemper and Brandon Seabrook would sound like and they shocked me and stunned me on how creative and original they were - thank jah I have lost the jaded attitude I see and hear from people here and elsewhere. also I have ZERO interest in the 'poets' or the 'dancers' especially the peace movement leftover bs from the 60's - I don't fit into the political crowd sometimes associated with some of this music - so the vibe has often left me wanting for freshness - all agreed here with that.

very true, Pete it has *always* been mostly many of the same musicians that have been featured with little that is outside the Parker/Nicholson circle, and for a long time I railed about that but I have become much less critical in recent years and much more grateful to see musicians and music that I am interested in. The bands that are playing this year that are outside of that circle (but the first 2 which also play @ various times in NYC) are Mark Dresser's Quintet, Ingrid Laubrock's Anti-House, Kneebody and The Thing.

the move to the new location will be more inconvenient for me as I live in New Jersey but from what I have heard the new Roulette is a good performance space with good sound and air conditioning which is the polar opposite of the awful sound and no air conditioning of the Abrons Art Center where the festival has been held the past few years. as far as the lack of AACM or BAG musicians, that has never been the case with the Vision Festival - sure I would LOVE to see Eight Bold Souls or some of the other Chicago based ensembles that never come to NYC. For years Joseph Jarman and many of the AEC members or AACM members have been very prominent within the festival. I am actually more looking forward to the nights I will be able to attend this year than in any years since ~ 2000 or 2001. I always have wished there was much more diversity in the festival - years back they had Gerry Hemingway's Quintet but the non-NYC high energy was never the focus of the music - but lats year Evan Parker appeared as well as the featured performer/lifetime recipient Peter Brotzmann being featured. on the whole it is still pretty damn hard to complain about a week of music that includes Mats Gustaffson, Joe McPhee, Andrew Cyrille, Reggie Workman, Oliver Lake, Pheeroan akLaff, Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake, Cooper-Moore, Daniel Levin, Craig Taborn, Mark Dresser, Paal Nilssen-Love, Warren Smith, Sonny Simmons, Wadada Leo Smith, Tom Rainey, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, Charles Gayle, Ivo Perelman, Jeb Bishop, Michael Bisio, Steve Swell, Taylor Ho Bynum, Ken Filiano, Joelle Leandre and Paul Dunmall I sort of ran through the names and picked out the above musicians that I have loved over the years or more recently have become taken with or have a keen interest in listening to - all of the above are superb improvisors. It seems quite short-sighted and jaded to complain about such a line-up. Some people on other boards may remember similar complaints coming from me over the years but let's get a grip - look at who IS playing - for jah's sake the *great* Paul Dunmall is playing in NYC for the first time since 2009. There are at least 4 nights that have at least 2 bands I would go to see if they were the only bands playing - How about Ingrid Laubrock's Anti-House - is no one excited about seeing THAT band? How often does anyone get to see In Order to Survive? or Kidd Jordan with Charles Gayle together in a band with Hamid Drake?

@ Cornelia Street Cafe Mary Halvorson, guitar Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet Jon Irabagon, alto sax Stephan Crump, bass Ches Smith, drums I have only seen a couple of the musicians before and hadn't even heard 3 of them ever at all...fwiw...I had also never listened to Mary's trio or quintet on recordings...so the only ideas I had about what the music would be like was in my head based on hearing Halvorson live a couple of month's back. maybe surprisingly I was not surprised at how good the band was (very good with a few quibbles) or what the band sounded like (maybe I wanted to be more surprised) highlights were Halvorson's tunes/compositions or as she calls them 'songs' which is quite refreshing, I think - 'songs' which come across to me as very melodic and maybe even hypynotic at their best. The first set was good with each member taking some solo space - on a few occasions unaccompanied - the first being a bass solo on the first tune (also I figured when I listened to the disc yesterday also the first track on the new CD) a solo which was pretty non-descript but also a couple of stellar drum solos by Smith during the short first set (both sets were about 45-50 minutes each). The ending of the first tune was a bit racous and it laid down the foundation (not a formula but maybe a bit too close to one for my tastes) for how the night's music would be - wonderful melodies and harmonies with quite a bit of changes/developments within the compositions which kept it interesting from a compositional perspective. By the end of the first set, I was bit dissapointed in that the band never really hit any real incredible highpoints as the trumpeter (Jonathan Finlayson) and alto saxophonist (Jon Irabagon) played nicely but never took the music to places where *I* like to to see it go, plus the bassist only picked up the bow once for a very short interlude. But that is me - I enjoyed the music but for me I am looking for something transporting or at least beyond scintillating - thankfully I got some of that in the next set.... never leave before the second set ever not as stark a difference as some recent second sets, but by the time they were well into the first tune, I felt a whole different level/energy at play - Irabagon played a pretty damn great solo which for some reason had me thinking Paul Desmond or Stan Getz (I know alto versus Getz's tenor) and he hit all the right notes - few that I expected to hear - his sound is a fairly light tone with an alto sound that he isn't as gruff as maybe I expected (wanted?!?!) to hear so the sound of surprise was making itself heard. Mary Halvorson is simply one incrediable guitarist who rarely if ever shows off and just plays as unique and compelling a guitar as I can expect any guitarist to play. I could listen to her forever I think. The changes from a 'jazz' sounding guitar to distortion is organic and never seesm to be doen for 'effect'. then the bassist and drummer go off on this bowing thingy and *then* Mr. Stephan Crump showed himself to be superb with the bow and everything else (where was that bassist the first set??) and the trumpeter hit his vibe - channeling Booker Little or even Kenny Dorham at times as he was really somewhat traditional in his approach (as was Irabagon) where by the last tune despite all evidence the the contrary I heard Free for All/Shorter penned Messenger tunes as an influence to the whole band WITHOUT the Blakey type of loud drumming with no tradition swing but with a strong grooves often driving the band and the music (Smith is a very subtle drummer who choose his explosions at the kit very carefully for them to carry full impact) or traditional changes - what I heard overall was a band playing some great tunes very well. My quibbles are that the compositions, as good as they are, could be heard to constrict the band's full potential as I would love to hear them stretch them even further and at times forget about the tunes - as some of the best moments/passages were when the band really started to let loose - minor complaints I think - as this IS a band and a guitarist that DEMANDS to be heard - and her humlity and taste is a major reaon I left wanting for a third set....

heard a good young player last night - Jon Irabagon on alto saxophone with Mary Halvorson's band. channeling Paul Desmond through some sort of time delay - wonderous stuff especially during one longish solo in the second set - no flash all substance - gorgeous tone.

for whatever unknown reason I will keep the recordings within the most narrow definitions of jazz rather than list what some here may just assume is some obscure out-there insect music like european improvisational recording once released on an artist thread on 20 copies of vinyl back in the day.... not sure how well known these discs/recordings are around here as I am a long-time veteran reader/poster of another board so I am not as up on the history here as I would be elsewhere. So I will start with the obvious for me - CD's that very few ever seemed to recognize/take aan interest in DESPITE their obvious greatness.... 1) Pino Minafra Sud Ensemble: Sudori - on Victo - maybe 1994 or so - great band with the *great* Carlo Actis Dato on saxophones featured alng with the leader on trumpet, etc. Pure genius 2) Mujician: Birdman - on cunieform from 1992 or so, Mujician is Paul Dunmall, Keith Tippett, Paul Rogers and Tony Levin - seemingly written roaring free jazz with a melodic energy unmatched in modern jazz - Dunmall and Levin with mayeb their strongest recorded statements to my ears - except for Dunmall - much to choose from that is on the highest level. 3) Mal Waldron Quartet: Git Go at The Utopia - either volume with John Betsch, Ed Schuller and Jim Pepper on mostly tenor - from 1986 or 1987 - as good as Waldron' music ever was. 4) Denis Charles Quartet: Captain of the Deep - on eremite 1991 with Jemeel Moondoc on alto saxophone, Nathan Breedlove on trumpet and Wilber DeJoode on bass. Moondoc's greatest performance on record and the guy named Breedlove is out of the world - like Ornette's music moved a bit right and left with the drummer who takes Blackwell's minimalism and refines it - plus the recording quality is outrageous - the great drummer sounds awesome. 5) Gerry Hemingway Quintet: The Marmalade King - on hatART - 1993 - simply the greatest recording by the greatest touring band of the 90's - great sound quality and Michael Moore, Wolter Wierbos, Ernst Reijseger, Mark Dresser and the drummer take this 54 minute suite to places thought impossible many more of course but keep it to 5 was the charge, but these 5 are great records for anyone interested in jazz of the past 25 years

yes - when Nasheet gets it going, there are few who can get the intensity and groove to that kind of level - one night with Ellery Eskelin and Gary Versace, he pushed the trio to some incredible heights plus my wife thought he was so great he should be on TV in prime time. sounds like it was a great night

thanks for your civil response, JETman this is not a new subject/discussion on line - back in the early days when I and others saw those bands, specifically the Holland band back in 1999 - there were a number of very learned experienced observers/listeners who attended the show @ the Knitting Factory and the CD that came out a while later was called "Prime Directive" which in retrospect is a nice CD by a GREAT band - and what follwed were more nice CD's by a GREAT band. I have no idea if you can find the discussion as it was on an older version of another current jazz BBS - but EVERYONE who saw that band live was extremely dissapointed in the CD - and it wasn't that Potter and Drummond didn't play well - but the ECM aesthetic somehow often does not capture the energy of some of these great bands. there are many labels that while they may not be as long lasting as ECM - that have a grand history of releasing music by bands/musicians that captures those bands/musicians as they sound/close to how they sound/with the energy/vibe that they have in person. as you may have noted from my comments here and above, I am relating personal experiences with concrete examples - and ANYONE who may have heard bands that have recorded on ECM as compared to recordings for example on hatART will note the difference. I do realize that Manfred would not be interested in a two-track vivid live recording like 'At The Vortex' or 'The Two Seasons' (Evan Parker with John Edwards and Mark Sanders) - also on emanem - but imagine if the band that recorded "The Dark Tree" (the seminal all-time classic Horace Tapscott 2 CD set with John Carter, Cecil McBee and Andrew Cyrille) recorded for ECM - I say they take the edge and the fire out of Cyrille's kit, and maybe even the crunch out of Tapscott piano and John Carter's legendary clarinet sound. maybe I am wrong - but I would like to hear a newer ECM that doesn't make any band sound more subdued just for one time..... in any event there are many labels that do bands justice and the idea that ECM is the most or second greatest jazz label along with blue note is like saying Herbie Hancock is a better pianist than Horace Tapscott or Mal Waldron or Paul Bley or Cooper-Moore just because the number say so. Standing on a Whale Fishing for Minnows

but not always - I heard the Joe Maneri Quartet live with Mat Maneri, Cecil McBee and Randy Peterson - from 10 feet away @ Tonic in ~ 1999 I have 'Dahabenzapple' on hatART with the above quartet - that recording - mastered by the *great* Peter Pfister captures the band in all of it's intensity and glory Try 'At the Vortex' on enanem by Parker-Guy-Lytton - comparable or EXCEEDING the power of a great performance by Evan Parker with Mark Dresser and Gerry Hemingway which I witnessed from the first row @ The Stone which is as impactful as any show could be. compare Michael Formanek's classic 'Low Profile' on enja records from the early 90's and compare the energy level on that recording with the afoementioned recent ECM recording. Ot isn't necessarily the approach that the band might have, it is the approach to the recording, the matering, the echo/reverb and the rest which sometimes lessens the impact of the recordings how that great Paul Bley trio recording sounds to me is how many of the recordings on ECM should sound - for some reason on that recordign, the piano is more crisp and Motian is recorded to sound great whereas the recent Motian trio CD with Potter and Moran sounds NOTHING like that band must have sounded at the Vanguard - and that is where the CD was recorded.

I have mixed feeling about the ECM label. A label that has preoduced to my ears some of the great recordings I own - from Conference of the Birds (Dave Holland with Rivers, Braxton and Altschul) to "Not Two, Not One" by Paul Bley with Peacock and Motian. HOWEVER as a listener who loves 'out' music, music that quote, un-quote 'swings' and much of all everything in between.... back in 1999 or so I saw the Dave Holland Quintet (after it was recently assembled in that configuration) and the band was Chris Potter, Steve Nelson, Robin Eubanks and Billy Drummond and the band absolutely KICKED ass and they payed the music from a recent or upcing CD - so I bought the CD - and I listened to the CD - and the fire and grit and energy was SUCKED right out of the band care of ECM. as is often the case - recently I have been listening to a liking the recent Michael Formanek CD The Rub and the Spare Change with Tim Berne, Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver and I then saw the band live - the band wasn't great live but very good - and as is usually the case Cleaver (the drummer) sounded better than on record and the band had a much more energy and drive than is shown on the recording - and they played a couple of the tracks from the recording so it isn't the music. some I am having pause before I buy the Snakeoil CD - as I am pretty damn sure it will NOT have the energy level that the band would have live.... ECM even did it to the Joe Maneri Quartet CD -'In Full Cry' - please compare to the hatART or hatology recording of that incredible quartet. be honest you got ears, you gotta listen - Don Van Vliet

I had a similar experience the first time I saw Tony Malaby as the second set was with Ben Monder, a bassist I do not remember and Nasheet Waits. Monder was also overbearing that night and it masked to my ears the greatness of Mr. Malaby. As with the music you saw/heard it was in the end quite impressive but it could have been so much better if Monder showed a modicum of restraint. I also was mystified at times with Malaby's approach on the upper register at times and it has taken some time and numerous concerts for me to completely get with his approach. The last few times I have seen him (as you may have read) he has been as captivating a tenor saxophonist as I have heard/seen in recent years. good news - looks like the Novella band will be within my sights on June 23rd @ Cornelia Street Cafe as well as an another appearance of the Sanchez/Malaby/Rainey trio: fwiw - the 9 piece band is pretty damn great live.... Saturday, Jun 23 - 9:00PM TONY MALABY TRIO Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Angelica Sanchez, piano; Tom Rainey, drums New music dedicated to an angel flying over the Iberian Peninsula by a trio of omni-directionally improvising masters of ecstatic lyrical elasticity. $10 cover plus $10 minimum Saturday, Jun 23 - 10:30PM TONY MALABY'S NOVELLA Tony Malaby, tenor saxophone; Ralph Alessi, trumpet; Michael Attias, alto saxophone; Ben Gerstein, trombone; JB Goodhorse, bass clarinet; Andrew Hadro, baritone sax; Dan Peck, tuba; Kris Davis, piano; Tom Rainey, drums Later that night, Tony Malaby presented his new group, Novela, with improvised or notated music as conducted by the pianist Kris Davis. In its collapsing of structure and intuition it had roots in some older experimental jazz — Roscoe Mitchell, Butch Morris — but it was still strong and strange, properly bewildering. Ben Ratliff,NY Times $10 cover plus $10 minimum

Ubu - I can't wait hear about the bands you are seeing - especially your comments on the playing of Tony Malaby

and now it looks like I won't be there this Friday - at least will see Mary Halvorson's Quintet on the 19th instead.

and yes - Niggenkemper was pretty damn great last December with the band...then again, the band was playing on a very high level - I understnad it was the first week they played together and it was the 4th or 5th night they had played together that week. as long as I can get out of the house this Friday, I am pretty damn stoked to see this unit again. Craig - I think when you see Darius Jones play, any doubts will be eliminated - certainly for me when I saw him join (along with Steve Swell) the trio of Lafayette Gilchrest, Michael Formanek and Andrew Cyrille) for the second set and play some of the most inspired alto saxophone I have heard live over the past few years - and he is right out of the lineage of Parker, Lyons and Chapin firmly ensconced in the jazz/blues tradition - fact is I think a few of us have been waiting for that next alto saxophonist who really *brings it* as far as that *sound* and as far as really being able to ratchet up the intensity and power - and with Darius Jones, I believe we may have our man.

saw this band in DEC - pretty damn incredible: Friday, May 11 - 9:00PM & 10:30PM GERALD CLEAVER & BLACK HOST Gerald Cleaver, drums; Darius Jones, alto saxophone; Brandon Seabrook, guitar; Cooper-Moore, piano & diddly-bow; Pascal Niggenkemper, bass Drummer Gerald Cleaver, born and raised in Detroit, is a product of the city’s rich music tradition. He has performed or recorded with a wide variety of artists: Roscoe Mitchell, Tommy Flanagan, Matt Shipp, William Parker, Eddie Harris, Kevin Mahogany, Charles Gayle, Ralph Alessi, Jacky Terrasson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Joe Morris, Dave Douglas, Tim Berne, Jeremy Pelt, David Torn and Miroslav Vitous, among others. Cleaver currently leads the bands Violet Hour, NiMbNl, Uncle June and Farmers By Nature with Craig Taborn & William Parker. $10 cover (plus $10 minimum) http://www.geraldcleaver.bandcamp.com

well well..... 3 or 4 feet from Mat with Oscar Noriega in the center with Kris Davis on the left - the bassist in the back left and the drums behind Maneri - first piece must have been number 1 and it was a good 15 minute warm-up in which Davis impressed, Noriega was fine on the bass clarinet and the rest of the band started to find it's place. some problems with the reedist's microphone so he jokes "make sure they can hear the clarinet" Mats then says ok - we will start off with a viola/clarinet duo - someone int he band asks "do we then go into number 2" and I think Mat responded with something like " No - then we hit it, or then we will just go" and then they started to go, hit it, or whatever the height of so-called 'Maneri Music" is at it's very best. Kris Davis plays Monkian, Cecilian, Tatumesque even - certainly all of those influences are there - and some Paul Bley too for sure - but it is unimaginable, indescribable piano and I asked my new friend who we waited in line with about her - and he plays the piano - and I think his jaw was dropped - this was NOTHING like the Kris Davis I had seen with her own band or with Malaby's 9 piece. Had to be seen and heard for anyone reading this how great this set was getting. the *great* Randy Peterson starts heating it up as well, and the first solo is typically awesome - as always (or so I THOUGHT) threatening a groove) the ceiling may have shook, but methinks at that point, still holding something back. fwiw - this quality of off-kilter precision is a hallmark of what is now and has been for a while, Mat's music when it is played by his band. with about 40-45 minutes gone, we knew they would play one more piece - maybe it was number 2 but I don't know - whatever it was it had a fairly typical jazzish head - and then I may have heard an almost walking bass - and mother of jesus, I heard the great drummerman playing as close to a groove as I have ever heard him play - and I also knew that there would be a viola/drum duet at the end as Mat had said to the band, that was where they were going - and maybe when he sometimes called out soloists - "Kris!" or "Garth" or what anyone who has seen the boys and girls a few times really wants to hear "RANDY!" so Oscar plays Charlie Parker meets Jimmy Lyons and Eric Dolphy all rolled into one and blows the fucking roof off the place - and maybe this is the tune/performance that any doubter of the Maneri magic needed to hear. - and then the duet... and Mat in about 5 minutes with Peterson starting to shake the walls really tunred up the intensity and closed the set with a ferocity and brilliance that no musician I know has matched in many years. Stunning - and my wife who is not a jazz head was amazed..... second set was said to be "short and sweet" and as with a similar quintet last December they started with a "ballad" - fine slow, then Mat tells them "slow down" and it gets to that tempo that is only heard in this music - as slow as stop and as stopped as slow - and the undulating dynamics continue - it gets very intense on all kind of levels - but still nothing like the heights of the first 60 minute set. and then...... second piece was a free improvisation and Oscar Noriega took the b-flat clarinet to places I dodn't know it could go to, the band and the drummer found a new altered cryptic non-grooved swing thing with accents and cymbals in all the unknown and lost places that few if any drummers find and the band rocks the place the fuck out and then there is time for one more - an old Mat tune called Dolphy's Dance and it is equally stunning and it's over after a special lady who know someone in the band is screaming throughout the last 5 or 10 minutes like it was a rock band until Mat had the band bring it down - and then it was back and I think my wife may have thought it was the best band she had seen yet - and to me maybe the best since DKV in 2001 or maybe the second Brotz Tentet gig @ Tonic in 2001 or 2002. the lady wants an encore (not my wife, the other one) and Mat says ok - "we will play 30 seconds of the most incredible shit ever played" then they did. plus Mat loves that my e-mail is dahabenzapple2@aol.com!!! of course - for the reason he is here - even though it is Mat's band - it comes from the great man - it lives on through one of the greatest pure improvisors this music has known - they did say he was always the best musician in the band, even 20 years ago.... and until next time, when Mat most likely will start it us with 'here we go' Get Ready To Receive Yourself

My guess is that Davis and Stevenson are younger than Mat - Stevenson quite a bit younger, but Mat is only 42....

Saturday, Apr 28 - 9:00PM & 10:30PM MAT MANERI QUINTET Mat Maneri, viola; Oscar Noriega, alto saxophone, bass clarinet; Kris Davis, piano; Garth Stevenson, bass; Randy Peterson, drums Mat Maneri regroups his quintet with an all new line up featuring veterans Oscar Noriega rich sound…opulent resonance…highly individualized voice JazzTimes, Kris Davis " in New York one method for deciding where to hear jazz on a given night has been to track down the pianist Kris Davis." - NY Times, newcomer Garth Stevenson and long time collaborator, Randy Peterson one of the great jazz drummers to emerge in the past couple of decades - JazzTimes. The quintet will feature all new music blending contemporary jazz, microtonality and modern classical music. The unusual acoustic instrumentation of viola, bass clarinet, piano, bass and drums will also seamlessly weave in electronic ambience. The quintets goal is to follow in the great jazz tradition and lineage of expanding the boundaries of improvised music, they are currently preparing to record for the Dahabenzapple label who will be releasing the new Maneri/Peterson duet 27 later this year. Mat (Maneri) upholding avant-garde excellence,…engrossing, ruminative viola improvisation of contrasting reticence - Boston Globe As some who may have read my comments regarding a show this past December know, I saw a similar Mat Maneri quintet with Craif Taborn on piano (in place of Kris Davis) and Ed Schuller on bass (in place of Garth Stevenson). Granted the talents of those two superior musicians may well be missed - as both were great during last Decemeber's show @ The Stone. Taborn especially was able to find his way inside the mysterious Maneri matrix which is difficult for a pianist to do as silence and space is necessary. I think Kris Davis has a chance to meld in well with the band and Stevenson played with a quartet last fall and was fine. But this band is playing 2 sets - my guess might be that they may play some of Mat's compositions which are quite loose and leave most of the music up to the improvisors. Or they may play all free or maybe one of the 2 sets is free improvisation - mayeb the second would make more sense. In any case, the mix of Mat with Noriega was pretty damn incredible with Oscar bringing a far different vibe to the music than the late great Round Man did. But despite Mat's somewhat inconsistent nature vis a vis improvising (to my ears) he remains as great a pure improvisor when he hits his groove as any musician alive. strong praise - hyperbole? I used to be famous (infamous?!?!) for it back in the early days of the jazz internet wars.... - but damn the last 3 times I saw him, once he was good, once he was pretty damn great, and the time with the quintet in December he was beyond most anything I could imagine...without a net one cannot expect pure fucking brilliance all the time as the risk and reward is heavy. This band's dynamics were extreme - as soft as soft can be maybe even the first 15 - 20 minutes - not quite to the soft eai levels, but soft enough - one thinks @ Cornelia Street that they won't take that same tact or at least to that extreme - but I have never known a Maneri to play anything except what they prefer tp play. And as I saif on another board, maybe what I am most looking forward to is when the *great* Randy Peterson gets it cranked up with boys or without, that a couple of rows of unsuspecting tourists are cleared right the fuck out.... still..... Coming Down the Mountain, baby