Steve Reynolds

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

yes it was Joe McPhee who just happened to sit down next to me for the Han Bennink concert. The subject of the Decoy CD/Cafe Oto came up.....btw - what a nice person he is...

Alexander - a famous legendary American saxophonist had some very nice things to say about you this past weekend.

with: Mary Oliver - violin and viola Richard Teitlebaum - electronics Mark Dresser - bass Uri Caine - piano Michael Moore - alto sax and clarinet Thomas Heberer - trumpet Ray Anderson - trombone from Han: "Andrew!" - he give Mr. Cyrille a big hug "I never got out" - when asked by George Lewis after playing with Dexter Gordon in the 60's how he got out "Drums are for swinging" "along with some noise, we'll play mostly for Misha with Misha tunes tonight" stars with a solo from the great drummer - ok, nice and somewhat explosive - into a duet with Oliver and Dresser - pretty damn great with Dresser mostly with the bow - cheers then a freeish improv where things got real damn great... then a swinging Misha tune - a fantastic duet with Han and Uri - and then a little something something - a short Mengelberg penned piece of genius and the first set is done - very fine second set includes "Baltimore Oriole" with Oliver astounding and Ray now really warming up, then Misha's "Rollo 2" which is part Duke, part Misha Mengelberg and part New/Old Dutch swing - a surprising great duet with Teitlebaum and Oliver and then into "Jackie-ing" with Ray Anderson tearing it the FUCK up! Heberer rules the word as well, and Han as always swung like the world might be ending. Dresser played John Ore or Wilbur Ware with Dresser technique and it made the damn thing so damn tight, it is unexplainable by this man. Just simply ripping.... this time a short ballad with no solos to close, the crowd doesn't stop, all standing - and Han jumps out for a great 5 minute solo with the energy level way up, out and high - and it is the end of a very special night. was a pleasure the have the *great* Joe McPhee in the seat next to me in the second row - a pure gentleman of this music - what an honor and oh how nice he was to my wonderful Barbara and as Barbara said on the way home, why do these shows keep getting better?

well I wouldn't miss tomorrow night for anything.... tickets in hand for the wife and I. I expect a number of duos with those great musicians - maybe especially looking forward to Ray Anderson and Michael Moore. something also tells me to expect a surprise - the one surprise everyone must be hoping for is the thrid member of the great trio that includes Moore and Bennink shows up..... One never knows!!!

Angelica Sanchez: piano Tony Malaby: tenor and soprano saxophones Tom Rainey: drums last night @ Jazz Gallery first set nice first 25 minutes which I think were Angelica's tunes - with Malaby switching back and forth from soprano to tenor. Then a great longer piece with Malaby starting and ending on the straight horn with explosive tenor improvisations over Rainey on brushes, sticks and hands with Sanchez hinting at what would come later. second of the two short sets (each 45 minutes) was what I found out was a Malaby tune and I knew when Tony turned the little light off above his music stand that we might hear something completely different. 35 minutes of the sound of surprise - all of it - Sanchez hit her groove with some insane vampish thing and the other two AGAIN blew my mind - Malaby is the most unpredictable saxophonist I know - on both horns the music went everywhere - with loud bombastic skronking with Rainey blasting the toms and bass drum to a great extended soprano improv with Rainey sloing building a hypnotic groove often only with just a small stick hitting the rim of his snare - just marevelous ending piece a warped ballad - and that was it...nice night too small a crowd for some of the greatest musicians alive performing this music....

NYC Station to Host Han Bennink 70th Birthday Concert WKCR will also present a 5-day broadcast festival for the drummer By Jeff Tamarkin WKCR, Columbia University’s noncommercial, student-run radio station, will sponsor a 70th birthday concert for Dutch drummer Han Bennink. The personnel performing will include Bennink, Richard Teitelbaum, Ray Anderson, Mark Dresser and Uri Caine. The show takes place April 21 at the Italian Academy at Columbia University 1161 Amsterdam Avenue, in New York. Concert time: is 7:30 p.m. Ticket price: $25 WKCR will also present a five-day broadcast festival dedicated to the music of Bennink, April 17-21.

Tomorrow 4/14 @ Jazz Gallery NYC: Angelica Sanchez Trio with Angelica on piano with Tony Malaby (saxophones) and Tom Rainey on drums. next week 4/21 Han Bennink 70th Birthday Celebration @ Columbia University and then Mat Maneri Quintet @ Cornelia Street on 4/28. seeing the drummers Rainey, Bennink and Peterson is some treat. Even though I have seen Rainey twice over the past month or so, I would go see the man every week he is that great.

I bought the recent CD on Intakt at the show. It is still hard foer me to listen to it after seeing them live. Maybe now that a month has passed, I willgive it another shot. First impressions is that it is very long and the tracks are somewhat short and constricting with each seemingly quite loud or soft and a bit rough. The show was two 25-28 minute peieces which seemed to contain a number of different compositional ideas - no sheet music but definately not all freely improvised, either. and I am *still* looking for a recording that captures some of Tom Rainey's majesty on record. Well some of them do (Tom Varner's Mystery of Compassion is a great one from about 20 years ago) - but live the guy has all the moves and never dominates save for short period's of time. he is a drummer that leaves me wanting more as he knows how to play it right on balance. Plus he is as varied a drummer without ever resorting to pastiche. Hopefully lady Barbara (my wife) gives the go ahead tomorrow for the show on Saturday - Sanchez, Malaby and Rainey - I think she will go as for some reason a person like her who would never listen to jazz on record - LOVES Tom Rainey and Tony Malaby. still not as much as she likes Nasheet Waits - but as far as saxophonists, she loves Tony more than any other as she usually doesn't love the sax - but take it from someone who has now seen Malaby now about 4 times over the last year - anyone who would have seen him on March 23rd with Helias and Rainey would knoiw they were witnessing true greatness. back to Ingrid, she was great with Halvorsen and Rainey as I said - and it was quite a varied approach working from all angles - but Tony Malaby is playing like someone from another planet. then again, I will see a few other great ones over the next few months - hopefully Rudresh, Rob Bronw, Oscar Noriega, Darius Jones, maybe Kidd Jordan and Charles Gayle and unless I get hit by a fucking bus, the *great* Paul Dunmall on June 11th with Matt Shipp, Joe Morris and Gerald Cleaver. Plus if I can get out 3 nights in a row, I will go see The Thing with Joe McPhee which of course features Mats Gustaffson mostly on baritone. My point might be that I am seeing a lot of music these days - and I have seen and heard many great left leaning/avant/out (if you will) saxophonists over the years - and I don't know if I have seen or heard anyone as on as Malaby has been the past 2 or 3 times I saw him. Almost like Evan Parker in the groove....

I won't it make it on the June 17th as I am trying to see bands on 2 or 3 other nights - but this show is @ Roulette in Brooklyn on the last night of Vision Fest this year: 9:30 PM Edward "Kidd" Jordan Quintet Kidd Jordan alto, Charles Gayle tenor, piano, J.D. Parron, sax William Parker bass,Hamid Drake drums

let's pile on top of that one - Ingrid destroyed the world a couple weeks back with Rainey and Halvorson....almost like a female version of Paul Dunmall at times.... with Davis' band, it was MUCH more subdued playing from Rainey and Laubrock. However it was quite intense in it's quietness and with the music's use of space. The compositions (all by Davis) were given numbers and she called them out before they started and usually Mat Maneri couldn't find his sheet(s) as they had fallen... I had never really heard music quite like this...

Davis is playing with Mat Maneri's Quintet on April 28th @ Cornelia Street Cafe. Very much looking forward to seeing the band with Ms. Davis on the piano. She was very good with her own band this past January. similar quintet that played last fall @ The Stone when Craig Taborn was @ the piano. Now he was amazing as was Ed Schuller on the bass, but the quintet with Davis and Garth Stevenson on bass (in place of the great veteran) should be something to behold. I expect a few tourists to be blown out by the first half of the the first set. sorry for hijacking the thread....

jeffcrom - did you get to see the *great* trombonist?

no recording yet of Gerald Cleaver's amazing quintet (saw them last DEC) which is playing again in May: May 11th - Cornelia Street Cafe Gerald Cleaver, drums; Darius Jones, alto saxophone; Brandon Seabrook, guitar; Cooper-Moore, piano & diddly-bow; Pascal Niggenkemper, bass for me the best show of a band with no recording might have been Evan Parker-Mark Dresser-Bobby Previte or maybe Joe Lovano-Mark Dresser-Gerry Hemingway another great band whih might be similar to a later Andrew Hill recording - I saw Andrew's Quintet maybe late 90's - I remember that the band members were not announced before the gig and that I believe Hill had not played with a working band for quite some time - certainly not in NYC. With Marty Ehrlich, some young tenor player who I don't remember, Scott Colley and Billy Drummond - was @ The Kniiting Factory main stage and they were amazing - especially Ehrlich and Drummond.

one day one Pete or I will convince Don to post here or there or somewhere I see him at many of the shows I attend. For me the last couple of years has been good - maybe 20 or each year - this year by next Month it will be 8 already this year which is only 8 as I have a life, a wife and other responsibilites that take up much of my time - for me I would like to get to 4 or 5 a month rather than the current 2 or so. regrettably for a number of years - 2003 through 2009 I attended very few concerts - but before that for a few years, I was seeing a couple shows a month I would guess.

Open Loose: Helias-Rainey-Malaby well after they finish the second set with something called "Kryptonite" from the new CD, my wife asked me why they are playing in a little place like Cornelia Street? and she doesn't listen to jazz on record - she like American FUCKING Idol God (Jah) knows?!? you got ears, you gotta listen - nobody listenin', baby!!!! all new Helias tunes ranging from a fractured ballad to a improvised/composed 'out' piece that if played at the start of the first set would have cleared out half the room to incendiary burning groove based monster pieces like the closer the band destroyed the fucking universe. not much else to be said except I know Evan Parker, Roscoe Mitchell, Paul Dunmall, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Brotzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Joe McPhee and Sonny Rollins all still walk this earth and Tony Malaby *still* may be the *greatest* tenor saxophonist alive. and Rainey played this solo intro with his hands that was beyond and then with that closing groove exploded reality for me from 5 feet away with less than a third of the house full - leave before the second set?!?! - pure idiocy I have heard many many drummers over the years and this performance was simply a mind fuck - the whole night but *that* last driving intensely powerful passage was comparable in total fucking genius to Hamid Drake on March 27th, 1999 at Tonic with Kessler and Vandermark or Gerry Hemingway ~ 12 years ago with Barry Guy and Marilyn Crispell or Randy Peterson recently with Mat Maneri. show of the year - and that includes 2 weeks ago at the Stone looks like April 14th with Angelica Sanchez, Rainey and Malaby is a must see @ The Jazz Gallery where they will be playing the music that was to beplayed at the Vanguard with the late Paul Motian this past January. Thumbs Up and Hands Down, baby