Steve Reynolds

SO many of course but the two Peter Brotzmann Tentet shows at Tonic in 2000 & 2002 still top the list early days 1996 or so through 2003 here are a few off the top of my brain: DKV Trio 3/27/2001 10:00 set at Tonic Fred Anderson, Edward “Kidd” Jordan, William Parker & Hamid Drake at Vision Fest Evan Parker, Mark Dresser & Bobby Previte at Knitting Factory Evan Parker, Tim Berne, Drew Gress & Mark Sanders at Knitting Factory Tim Berne, Drew Gress & Tom Rainey at Vision Fest Joe Lovano with Mark Dresser & Gerry Hemingway at Knitting Factory Mat Maneri, Rob Brown & Hamid Drake at Vision Fest Instant Composers Pool at Tonic Frank Gratkowski with Michael Formanek & Gerry Hemingway at Jazz Gallery Marilyn Crispell, Barry Guy & Gerry Hemingway at Tonic Gerry Hemingway Quartet with Robin Eubanks (might have been Ray Anderson), Ellery Eskelin & Mark Dresser at Vision Fest Ellery Eskelin Trio with Andrea Parkins & Jim Black / the night at Tonic when they played 2 long sets. Eight Bold Souls at Hot House in Chicago Ari Brown @ The Velvet Lounge in Chicago on 1/7/1999 the day Fred Hopkins died Die Like a Dog at Tonic Evan Parker with Alexander von Schlippenbach & Paul Lytton at Tonic Andrew Hill Sextet at Knitting Factory Dave Holland Quintet at Knitting Factory David S Ware Quartet with Susie Ibarra at Vision Fest Paul Dunmall with Paul Rogers & Kevin Norton at Knitting Factory Cecil Taylor with Tony Oxley at Tonic and Joe Maneri’s Quartet 3 times with Mat & Randy Peterson. First time with Cecil McBee on bass, second with John Lockwood & the third with William Parker THEN the augmented group with Barre Phillips on bass plus Craig Taborn & Roy Campbell. The “Going to Church” mini-tour in 2002 at Tonic. Stunning abstract and overwhelming. Randy Peterson with nuclear bombs!!! maybe I do a list of the shows from 2008 or so until the present but too many. 9 shows last month alone and 2-3 were all-timers still,,,, Coming Down the Mountain

An amazing recording The Field with Alex joining Rodrigo in a quartet is incredible. On No Business

Sally Gates on guitar with Zoh Amba on tenor saxophone & Dan Weiss on drums @ The New School saw the young saxophonist on Tuesday night @ Zürcher Gallery with Gabby Fluke-Mogul, Steve Gunn & Ryan Sawyer. Mind blowing 50 minute improvised set. 6th live jazz show in April. Another planned for Saturday night.

Of the more recent recordings “In for a Penny In for a Pound” is beyond extraordinary

Can’t wait to hear this. I’ve become fairly obsessed with all the more recent Threadgill recordings but especially the Zooid band.

Oh no will never forget seeing Turbine @ Zurcher Gallery circa 2017. Harrison sang “Sweet Low Sweet Chariot” to close the first set. I was also blessed to see 8 Bold Souls in maybe 1998 @ Hot House. another loss for Ulrich RIP, sir

He was almost 88 my old friend shrugs just asked did you hear about Kidd? Last seen well below his peak but very moving and wondrous as always on 5/23/2018 @ Vision Fest in Brooklyn not sure of the date but jah tells me it was year 2001. not sure of the the actual room but again it was Vision Fest and it was certainly “downtown” they never let these dudes uptown. uptown never deserved the likes of Fred Anderson & Edward “Kidd” Jordan But I was there!! Thanks to grace & mercy somehow I witnessed that set. When I heard it was happening I must have been in heaven. I was still new to this new music. Fred Anderson was in the throes of being known & the internet was new an Alive. I had found out about Hamid Drake and of course my friend “Dark Anthony” saw William Parker once on the street with his bass and exclaimed “The King of New York!!!!” so we knew it would be the greatest bass/drums tandem that exists in modern day free jazz with the 2 legendary tenors born in 1929 & 1935. Wowza. Lordy Lordy. I know that the seminal legendary and even mystical 2 CD set 2 days in april had been released on eremite documenting the 4/1 & 4/1999 concerts with the same quartet with Fred Anderson, Kidd with William & Hamid on bass & drums. So the actual show - the ONLY time I’ve see that very learned and “sophisticated” audience moved to or near hysteria. Literal Dancing in the Aisles. Never heard or experienced a groove so deep / all because of Fred & Kidd. Ulrich is weeping today RIP, sir

At Roulette in Brooklyn full schedule posted under artsforarts.org Bought the full run this year. Too many strong nights to miss more than one night at the most Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host is the ultimate surprise booking/concert besides the opening dedication night for *great* Joelle Leandre

Wilco last night & Saturday night @ Capital Theatre spectacular with Nels Cline being amazing as he always is

Same here and many of those shows were among the most memorable of all the live shows I’ve seen over the past decades. For me he is among the 2 or 3 greatest living legends of this music. His music changed my ears. My appreciation of his music has intensified over the years. The most incredible *sound* especially from his tenor. “The sound of god” came to me a few years back at Judson Hall when on a few of his unaccompanied crescendos that is what I thought I heard. I will never forget it.

Thoughts go out to the granddaddy of them all

They are OK. Better 4-5 years ago before their improvisations became rote. Phil Lesh’s band this past weekend at Capital Theatre in Port Chester was incredible. I was at 3 of the 4 nights. Pretty great for the 83 year old legend. John Medeski, John Molo, James Casey plus great guitar playing by Grahame Lesh & Rick Mitarotonda. Wonderful violinist in Katie Jacoby and the great vocalist Nicki Bluhm.

It’s a Grateful Dead cover band. Russo is the drummer & leader.

Tuesday night Son of Goldfinger once more this time with the awesome Devin Hoff on what I imagine will be his electric bass guitar. Wowza.

Son of Goldfinger playing again on Tuesday 2/14 with the awesome Devin Hoff added. Same tiny little place. Also on 2/21. I’ll be there this Tuesday at least. Last Thursday set was a 42 minute piece followed by a 32 minute slab of genius. As great a show as I’ve seen recently and I’ve seen a bunch of great sets over the past 4 months. Maybe the 2 William Winant sets the end of last year were comparable. The set with Winant, Ches & Ava Mendoza was astounding. Ches also used his I-phone & lap top electronics that night. He’s a genius with this stuff as well as being the among the 2-3 most powerful & creative drummers on the planet. On Thursday with Torn & Berne it was complete immersion from 6 feet away. Mind torn up. The intensity & force was Teutonic. Like Can to the 20th power. And the improvised breaks he did with Torn. Supernatural. Improvising genius level stuff. They were laughing after it ended. They know. Take it all in, boys. This is life itself. Seeing the great man with THAT quartet. Up close & personal. Seeing the Grandaddy of them all. Herr Brotzmann. This is not to be taken lightly. I treasure the group of live concerts I’ve been blessed to be able see him play. There will never be another like him.

Yeah Baby!!! Fwiw this was mind blowing

Son of Goldfinger Lowlands in Brooklyn Tim Berne, David Torn & Ches Smith

Saw the group live I think right when they recorded this. I also liked it just fine.

My friend saw him last Spring with Ballister in Philadelphia and said he was very good. I saw Ballister with Joe McPhee a few days earlier and McPhee (82 at that time) played like he was 35. Fwiw Ballister is Dave Rempis with the *great* Fred Lonberg-Holm & Paal Nilsson-Love. Pure fire.

Why I’m paying silly $$$ for Wilco on 4/1 for front row loge center @ Capital Theatre. Not that Tweedy is doing poorly or anything. I never saw Sonic Youth either as I simply didn’t go to any rock shows from ~1993 until 2017 when I started seeing Grateful Dead related shows. Seeing Phil Lesh on 3/19 / he’s 83 on 3/15. Gotta live life. Going to Shift on 2/3 to see Marshall Allen NYC all-stars. Not 100% sure if the 98 year old legend is playing but it’s a great line-up. Life is for the Living. Rhyme, baby

RIP sir never got to see them live My favorite is the 1991 reunion album which had no impact which was a statement on the “music industry” of then & now too young and a shame he apparently never decided to professionally record any of the concerts of the past decades. I never understood his reticence to record more Television material nor any of the reportedly great shows which included lots of improvisation and energy. I’ve heard so often how these shows could be transcendent.

I’ve seen her at least a couple dozen times. Best place is always live try “Hotel Grief” on Intakt Tom Rainey trio with Mary & Ingrid Laubrock incredible yet short set tonight. Mary was great but Mat Maneri is from a different planet.

Tonight at The New School 8:30 set / decided to go and I’ll shortly be at the front of the line to experience the best of what this sort of unexplainable and without category music has to offer. But we will see. It’s so without a net and without standard form that who the hell knows until it happens!!! Ches Smith Trio plus Mary Halvorson Ches on drums, vibraphone (and compositions) Craig Taborn on piano Mat Maneri on viola The trio alone when peaking is the best and most original group/band I’ve seen over the last 12-14 years of going to live music in NYC and surrounding areas. Very excited to see them again and very intrigued as to what the addition of the wonderful Mary Halvorson will do to the music. Tomorrow still on schedule for the above quartet.

Next Thursday night Ches Smith leading a quartet with James Brandon Lewis, Nate Wooley, Shahzad Ismaily (new to me / on bass/electronics. Ches on drums plus his awesome laptop stuff that I saw him do with William Winant & Ava Mendoza in December. due to still having a job I’ll probably miss Ches with Taborn, Mat Maneri & Mary Halvorson added to the trio. That show is on Wednesday. I’ll probably also go Saturday night which is the Thursday quartet augmented by a violinist & violist I don’t know, Oscar Noriega and a woman musician I don’t know on vocals/electronics. For those who don’t know, Ches Smith is a brilliant idea person and as great as Rainey & Taylor on drums albeit a far different sort of drummer. Maybe more power. I have not seen Wooley since 2019 or maybe even 2018. Been way too long. It’s SO amazing to be back seeing the greatest improvisers playing live

See my comments if interested on the Live music forum for Tim Berne & Ingrid Laubrock on the shows I attended last night 1/14☺️