Steve Reynolds

2 sets each night / very surprised and excited to see that Greg Osby is playing/augmenting the piano/drum duo. No idea if it’s going to be composed or freely improvised. I’m totally unfamiliar with the pianist. Booked front row table for 3/5 @ 7:30. Expecting to stay for both sets. First jazz show in NYC for me since last June. Previous one was also Tyshawn right before lockdown on 3/2/2020 with his sextet also at Jazz Gallery. fwiw great room and a wonderful grand piano

Spaulding is scorching hot on a guest appearance augmenting William Parker’s quartet from 2009 Vision Fest. Also added to the quartet are Billy Bang & Bobby Bradford. It’s on Wood Flute Songs. One of the best sets of recorded live jazz or that time-frame. Parker’s classic group with Lewis Barnes, Rob Brown & Hamid Drake. fwiw the 4 discs with just the core quartet with full shows from 2006 & 2007 included in the 8 CD box set are also spectacular and recorded in excellent multi-track quality. The first one from Yoshi’s is especially stunning.

Thanks / not sure how I missed this so far the highlight is seeing Denis Charles play!!! at the old Knitting Factory with Wilbur Morris & Thomas Borgmann (a very favorite trio of mine) with Peter Brotzmann sitting in. Wow. Must be mid-90’s - can’t be too long before Charles passed away.

Even greater than the trio performance. Han Bennink is the greatest anything ever.

This one is stunning. I’ve seen it before but wowza

2 incomplete passes then the pick on the OT drive no yardage in OT. Only decent drive of the second half was the last drive that led to the FG - and at the end of that drive Mahomes imploded yes we question stuff even if it succeeds

Disagree. Mahomes was awful the whole second half. Under a hundred yards of offense. No reason to believe he drives the field in OT. No coach would play for the tie in regulation. plus as Larry mentioned, who knew they would win the coin toss?

They were trying to score the TD but not leave time on the clock. Too fancy. Maybe the run on first down was ok to get Cincy to take their last timeout. Then Mahomes continued to spit the bit. Score when you can and play defense. It’s what Bill would have done. Andy Reid has a very poor track record on these games and situations just as he & Mahomes messed up at the end of the first half. Bigger issue is after gaining over 300 yards in the first half, they never adjusted to the 8 man coverage the Bengals went to in the second half.

Andrew Cyrille Michael Zerang Tom Rainey Gerald Cleaver

Yes it is I believe - I think he passed away shortly before this was recorded - the track is very mournful in nature yet also triumphant. One of the greatest pieces of music that I know of.

No prime example is the Grateful Dead listening to the 12/6/73 43 minute Dark Star which is almost completely improvised

Oops, thanks Chuck Air Time was on your label and it’s even better than Air Mail (which is on Black Saint)

Very nice. Inspired me to listen to Air Time. Henry’s flute in the opening track is great. Highlight is “R.B.” with just about the greatest bowed bass playing ever by the *great* Fred Hopkins. What a wonderful group.

Thanks so much. I forgot and after posting I’m sure Carrott is much younger

Very sad one of the great ones - too bad he had such a rough ending over the past 20 years the silkhearts should be legendary thank you Dennis RIP, sir Worshippers Come Nigh, baby

In believe we both saw him in 2018. Same night as the Nu Band with Mark Whitecage? Or a different vibes player? William & Hamid also played that night with 2 trumpeters IIRC

Listened again to the new Kuzu tonight. Stunning. listened again to Strandwal with Rempis, Wooley, Niggenkemper & Corsano it’s 2 shortish CD’s (each just over 40 minutes) - these 2 sets have a few dry spots but the peaks both softer and louder are as good as with any improvised jazz group that exists today. Wooley with Rempis is a magical combination and the bass/drum tandem is beyond words. I really want to know if Dave picked the best show / if they played like this on multiple nights or most nights that blows my mind. Like 99% or even 100% of Rempis’ releases it’s freely improvised so there is nothing to fall back on. That being said with live free improv I’ve always been amazed at the hit rate for these type of small groups. Speaks to their brilliance is my conclusion. Fwiw it’s always better in the small rooms.

All the Intakt recordings sound great. I streamed it on Tidal HD which = CD quality sound

I’ve never seen her use anything else except the grand piano. She’s a master at getting amazing sounds from the inner works of the piano. Only one listen but this is my favorite recording I’ve heard from her. Too bad we don’t have a worthy recording of Capricorn Climber, her group with Ingrid Laubrock, Mat Maneri, Trevor Dunn & Tom Rainey. Again the only release is a substandard clean feed CD. This trio recording care of Intakt *sounds* wonderful. It’s so important with subtle musicians like Davis (and Crump) as their *sound* is so critical to the music.

Probably true. For years I’ve been upset that Mat Maneri’s various small groups that I’ve seen live never released any recordings. Overall some of these trios thru quintets were the best live sets of music I’ve seen over the past 10 to 12 years. The group with Oscar Noriega, Ed Schuller, Craig Taborn & Randy Peterson is one example. Another was the group co-led by Lucian Ban with Tony Malaby, Bob Stewart and various drummers. I saw them 4-5 times and they were incredible. Last show was with Randy Peterson and it almost imploded due to his power but it ended up being off the chain. Other great combo(s) that never released anything was Malaby’s group(s) with Ben Gerstein, Michael Formanek with Billy Mintz & Randy Peterson. Some other variants of that group and they all were mind blowing long form improv. Malaby’s best playing has never shown up in record. When he played with Formanek & Waits they melted the walls and yet clean feed put out a dull studio recording with William Parker. Huge missed opportunities. Plus someone should have recorded some of the live sets of the 9 piece with Kris Davis. Again all we have is a boring studio release on clean feed.

Btw Borderlands Trio with Kris Davis, Stephen Crump & Eric McPherson is excellent Right up my alley / I love long form abstract stuff 4 improvised pieces over 2 CD’s - almost 2 hours of music On Intakt

Very curious why you pay attention to who is visible or who isn’t?

I did hear JBL live 3-4 years ago in a group with Kidd Jordan @ Vision Fest. I guess I’m in the minority here. I’ll make another effort to “hear” what I’m missing. fwiw I think Tomeka Reid is one of the most exciting of all the current jazz musicians/improvisers. Pre-Covid I saw her play live a number of times and every time her playing was transcendent. The 2 recordings of her quartet with Mary are wonderful. I sure wish I didn’t skip their 2 sets @ Jazz Gallery in 2019. I figured I’d catch the next show in 2020:( The “scene” in NYC is understandably dead right now. I’m starving for live music. None of the great NYC players have anything close to any profile at all. It’s really all about the live shows anyway for most of the really great ones. Missing seeing all my guys & gals madly - Randy, Tony, Mat, Mary, Tomeka, Ingrid, Rainey, Cleaver, Wooley, Lopez & all the rest:(

I don’t know much about them but the saxophonists on Barry Guys last 2 Blue Shroud Band box sets are wonderful. Julius Gabriel is awesome especially on baritone. Also Torben Snekkestad, Per Texas Johansson & Michael Nieseman. Snekkestad stands out as he’s the most radical. I’ll say again that “Tensegrity” & “Intensegrity” are among the best jazz/improv releases of the past 15 years. yes I’ve started “hearing” Michael Foster a bit better “Bind the Hands that Feed” with Katherine Young and the *great* Michael Zerang on relative pitch is incredible. I have not warmed up to James Brandon Lewis. Something too direct and much too non-oblique for me ears. Seems he needs to widen his scope / sounds like he’s never heard the insects flying. Sounds like he wants to be up front. Ugh. Add Steve Bazscowski / he must be under 60. saw him right before the pandemic with Lopez & Cleaver. Incredibly unique. Loved the vibe / part of the 2 sets released on relative pitch but something was lost in the transition to disc. Ingrid keeps growing on me. Still a bit too mannered and her soprano playing isn’t very strong / plus she often peaks in similar ways. saw her at the one show this summer I saw and she was terrific. With Kris Davis’ Capricorn Climber. But Kris, Mat Maneri and especially Tom Rainey stole the show if you will. Mat non-surprisingly didn’t play anything like he did with the band 7-8 years previously. It was all the in between and transitions connecting everyone to each other. Trevor Dunn was of course magnificent. Sorry for the diversion / hoping for a show by the summer:) As far the guys getting older, Toby Delius has it all. Have not heard much new from Ab Baars or Michael Moore but I’ve loved them forever especially Michael. Always overlooked. gorgeous melodic player.

Rempis might have a fine ear - unless these groups play this good every night as every one of his releases are very very good. Some of them are extraordinary like Apsis, Icoci, Cochonnerie, Perehelion, Strandwal, Of Things Beyond Thule volume 2, From Wolves to Whales & Sud Des Alps. There definitely is not too much. He’s that good and he plays only with great improvisors. Musicians such as Haker-Flaten, Wooley, Niggenkemper, Lopez, Stadhouders, Baker. And drummers like Ra, Rosaly, Daisy & Corsano. That doesn’t even cover the Kuzu recordings or Ballister (which for me despite Lonberg-Holm) can be a tough go at times due to Nilssen-Love’s pounding style. plus the supreme sound quality and cool esthetic only adds to the attraction for me. Who else is putting out such high quality purely improvised music of this sort? As far as saxophonists go I can only think of Rodrigo Amado as a comparable figure. They are both among the best jazz horn players of the past 10 years in my view.