Steve Reynolds

All my best wishes and fervent hope that you continue to summon the strength to move forward. I believe in the against all odds way of thinking & living. I find that within today’s “out” jazz that besides some interesting combinations of composition & improv, the most striking recordings and live shows are mostly without sheet music. One of the rare examples of the combination in a live setting was Taylor Ho Bynum 9-Tette before the pandemic 2 sets at Jazz Gallery. Astounding. They played the same compositions in each set only in varied order with different segues. The strength of the music was in the margins improvised and invented. In my listening experience over the past 15 years I’ve found the music without charts for the vast majority of the time to be the most explosive and most original. I find that the FIRE is still there and actually if more places were open and more improvising groups/ensembles were playing I’d say I’ve never been more excited about the actual music I love.

Fwiw it was the best show I’ve seen since Summer 2018. Astounding. Second set was a whole other level of intensity. Malaby playing at an extraordinary high level. Soprano great but his tenor playing is over the top. Rainey explosive and so imaginative as always. Monder is a unicorn.

Tony Malaby, Ben Monder & Tom Rainey fired up

Plus I’ve learned which of his releases/projects are of interest to me. I never liked the Vandermark 5 or his small form improvisations. Neither were or are his strength. He’s a great organizer of sounds and people although there is little humor or levity in his music. But he certainly combines various instruments and modes as well or more uniquely than anyone else I know of who is from the “jazz” tradition. Some of those large ensemble recordings are filled with some real gems.

Listening again to Stammer. This is an incredible recording. Mars & KV are a great combo and all of the amazing collage of electronics and voices is mind bending. Great drumming. Those who are still pigeonholing Vandermark might think about taking a current listen. No one is making music that is anything like this. Picked up the newer Pride of Lions on Rogue Art on 6/22 @ Vision Fest. Wonderful first spin.

Vision Fest / day 2 very excited to see & hear some of my favorites for the first time since before the pandemic Hamid & William at the top of the list. I’m sure it will be very emotional for me.

Illegal Crowns @ Jazz Gallery in NYC 7:30 & 9:30 sets Taylor Ho Bynum: trumpet/cornet Mary Halvorson: guitar Benoit Delbecq: grand piano Tomas Fujiwara: drums YEAH BABY!!

I love this recording. Fascinating from all perspectives. Some of the previous Momentum releases are also great / especially the 2 & 3 combo double CD. All of these are very abstract and do a great job mixing electronics into KV’s music. Like the best of the Territory band recordings. Vandermark is often criticized but within his huge discography are many gems. Company Switch is the one i think of from the Territory Band. His Resonance Ensemble has a few great records as well. His latest large group’s recording “Entr’Acte” is also tremendous.

The Pride of Lions disc from The Bridge Sessions is extraordinary. Sweet Oranges is close to that. Hoping the new one on Rogue Art comes near the first Pride of Lions recording. Chad Taylor really smokes on the Bridge Session CD. I’m still not much for saxophone duos or trios:)

Don’t forget Mad Dogs & Mad Dogs on the Loose / those earlier boxes feature the New Orchestra which has older more established musicians like Evan Parker, Paul Lytton & Mats Gustafsson, etc. Agusti Fernandez is on On The Loose & the 2 later boxes.

He’s on Barry Guy’s Intensegrity / sister box set to Tensegrity. He replaced Peter Evans who plays on Tensegrity. My 2 favorite improvisation releases of the past 20 years. These are “small formations” of Guy’s Blue Shroud Band. FAR better than the individual CD that is compositionally based. Both are extraordinary from multiple vantage points.

Addiction is a horrible disease

RIP Sir Density of the Lovestruck Demons helped me to learn to listen for the notes that were not there

Best Relative Pitch over the past few years: I have not heard many of the very new ones except Space / with emphasis shown by !!! Old Smoke!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brandon Lopez Trio @ Roulette!!!! We Met and Then!!! Glass Triangle!!! Painted!!! Dromedaries II!!! Memories of a Turnicate!!! Dire Warning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thirty Ways to Avoid Talking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Mouser!!!!!!! Bind the Hands that Feed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Three Stories….Soil!!!!! The Hallowed Plant!!!!! The Industry of Entropy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Last Dream of the Morning!!! Tempe Jetz!!! Blind Curves & Box Canyons!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That old dudes like Prevost & Wilkinson can play with such verve, creativity and energy is so life affirming for. Reminds me of Joe Maneri. His energy level and on the edge excitement of his playing in his late 70’s and early 70’s still astounds me. Trio Concerts with Mat & Randy again tore me up when I listened to it recently. The shows I saw him play at / if only I had better or more knowledgeable ears back then. Plus a clearer mind:) too bad I’ve never seen Prevost, Wilkinson or John Edwards:(

Even for me in NJ it was over $22 delivered for the CD. Best so far of the batch of stuff I received last month. Most of the other stuff is more small form improv (erstwhile) and some of the more odd recent Relative Pitch & Astral Spirits CD’s.

“Empowered” with Alan Wilkinson, N.O. Moore, John Edwards and Eddie Prevost is spectacular best new “free jazz” recording I’ve heard in a while. Eddie Prevost plays jazz drums at almost 80 like he’s 30. Super Uber grooves throughout and Wilkinson remains as great a free jazz saxophonist as exists in the world. Alto & baritone / plus he doesn’t dominate like some are prone to do (see above). Collective improvisation throughout with a great unexpected Prevost solo before the 10 minute mark. Reminded me of a show with Malaby, Mat Maneri, Bob Stewart, Lucien Ban & Randy Peterson from 5-6 years ago that had Randy into a solo within the first 10 or 15 minutes / like he just had to explode. And yes it was fall off one's chair stuff. The band almost imploded throughout the 2 sets due to Peterson being “almost” too much. Instead he raised the fucking bandstand and Tony & Mat took shit to another level. Miss that band. Saw them 4 times with different drummers each time. Cleaver, Rainey & Nasheet the other 3 times!!!! Best unrecorded band of the past 15 years I’ve heard. sorry for the tangent “Empowered” recorded live on 1/9/2019 in London 577 Records

Combination of by modern label (Hat Art, Not Two, Relative Pitch, No Business, Astral Spirits, Aerophonic, etc.) then both a Brotzmann & Evan Parker section. Then a eai section. Then a large avant-garde jazz section that includes what isn’t included in the above, then a “modern” or “classic” jazz section. Then a rock section. a large Grateful Dead section / I’ve got about 90% of the official releases, plus CD-R’s of the early Dave Picks I’m upset I can’t afford / plus CD-R’s of the full Fillmore West 1969 run. Box going for over $725 so that’s not happening:) most box sets on a top shelf. More Dead boxes under the TV - Get Shown the Light, Giants Stadium & Pacific Northwest. Maybe I have 2,500 or 3,000 CD’s / not sure as “collector” is not me. for the first time in years / I reorganized just a bit when we bought a condo last summer in the same building as we lived in for 9 years I can find anything I’m looking for:)

Plan is 6/22 & 6/25 for me and hopefully 2-3 friends 6/22 is an obvious night for me / must see the Whit Dickey group with Mat Maneri, must see Cooper-Moore with William & Hamid / must see a Ned Rothenberg with Sylvie & Hamid. 6/25 is a must - have to see Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society with special guests William Parker & Hamid Drake it will be very emotional to see these musicians live / most of them it’s been over 2-1/2 years at least due to the pandemic. Glad it’s at Roulette on Atlantic Ave in Brooklyn. Have not been their since pre-pandemic - last show Steve Baczkowski with Brandon Lopez & Gerald Cleaver. 6/23 & 6/24 are also strong as well as the closing date on Sunday featuring Oliver Lake including a set from the World Saxophone Quartet / David Murray, Greg Osby, James Carter & Bruce Williams

My wife and I are getting our second booster shots today I isolated except for weekly 6:00 am grocery shopping using a KF-94 or KN-95 mask. Except for the 2 months of omicron peak in Dec/Jan, I live my life 100% normal without a mask.

Sunny Murray!!! Grimes is also smoking hot.

Probably my favorite. Slag is also terrific. I don’t have any of the older ones. As great as Nilsson-Love is, he’s not a huge favorite compared to Avreeayl Ra, Frank Rosaly & Tyler Damon. Those 3 drummers compliment Rempis’ type of open form improv better as they are looser and more relaxed in their approaches.

Rempis’ Ballister releases on Aerophonic are better than this new one on Not Two. I’ve only listened once. Also after seeing them live last week with a good chunk with Dave on baritone hard to listen on record (plus no baritone on the above CD). Rempis is simply great on the huge horn. A sound like no other. I’ll be getting the Melford on Rogue Art

Ballister plus Joe McPhee Ballister is Dave Rempis, Fred Lonberg-Holm & Paal Nilsson-Love Tubby’s in Kingston, NY

He is great on Joe Lovano’s “From the Soul” with Dave Holland & Edward Blackwell I would say that Holland & Blackwell were/are admired by all