Steve Reynolds

I was at this show. Too bad it’s not on CD.

Just starting in on them. Some think Rodrigo Amado isn’t what I think he is. I think he’s endlessly inventive within a certain “limited” scope. Maybe it’s his dry sound. Love it. My first listen to The Field was captivating. I’ve not always been thrilled with recent Schlippenbach stuff but his playing here is gorgeous. Excellent recorded sound. The 2 relative pitch recordings are great. Almost all of their releases are very unique. I always find them interesting to hear. fwiw the newer erstwhile releases I’ve listened to over the past 3-4 years are as amazing as some of the older wonderful recordings. They still sound fresh & new. Hole in my Head, Green Ways & Everyone Needs a Plan are 3 of the new ones I’ve listened to. I’m all in. my suggestion might be the group of Lambkin/Lescalleet recordings released over the years if you’ve not heard them. But there are many many exciting (to my ears) releases from the past 5-8 years. Jon only releases stuff that meets high standards - and he’s got good ears for this stuff.

She learned to love the Grateful Dead except for the crazy abstract feedback type jams

Too many to count for me best new listens care of Relative Pitch, Astral Spirits and Grateful Dead archival releases special mention to my friend Kevin Reilly for what he has built with Relative Pitch - vibrant visceral stuff that has a huge range yet somehow has a label vibe & signature. He has great ears and doesn’t release tripe. Plus he’s doing it without the ultra active in person scene that generates many of these combinations. Much of what happens on this label are unique combinations of musicians from different geographic and musical scenes. plus I’m now listening to an unheard batch of erstwhile CD’s - very very refreshing so far special mention to Fred Frith trio plus Lotte Anker & Susana Santos Silva added on disc 2 - on Intakt. I will say I’ve found most of that label’s newer releases too staid for my tastes

A bunch of CD’s: 2 relative pitch - John Butcher trio including the great Barre Phillips plus a crazy duo CD 4 erstwhile - all newer releases / first listen to a couple of them reveal a very vibrant artform still - a bit far removed from the great releases of 10-15 years ago. 2 no business - Rodrigo Amado Motion Trio + Alexander von Schlippenbach: The Fields & Mats Gustafsson duo with Sabu Toyozumi Joelle Leandre 3 CD mini-box on Not Two Wilco 6 CD live at Capital Theatre 2014

Joelle Leandre: Beauty/Resistance 3 CD set with Mateusz Rybicki on clarinet & Zbigniew Kozera on double bass (both new to me) plus Rafal Mazur & Zlatko Kaucic disc 1 quartet all except Mazur disc 2 very short duo with Kaucic (worth all I paid right here) disc 3 duo with Mazur Every time I think I have enough from Lady Joelle I realize I’m badly mistaken / she might be my favorite improvisor on the planet. She gets better with age. I knew these were short performances and the price was high. First listen and I’m thrilled and of course moved emotionally - recorded Autumn of 2019 in Krakow before the world of this music ended. Still not back. It really only comes back when we are free from the thoughts and whispers. This music demands that in a live setting. This is the next best thing. peace and blessings on this Christmas morning - this thread needed to be added to (I have 9 other new CD’s from my stocking - 3 from No Business, 2 new ones from Relative Pitch & 4 from erstwhile records This one on Not Two records

The Dead’s first 4 albums sold little as well. Peaking at 73, 87 & 73. First one to make any impact was Live/Dead released in late 1969 and that peaked at #64. even the now acknowledged classic studio albums Workingman’s Dead & American Beauty only reached 27 & 19. The next 2 live records (2 LP Skull & Roses & 3LP Europe 72) also only hit the mid 20’s. That group of 5 albums is now looked on by many as an all-time sequence. That they existed and that the band kept playing live set the foundation for the largest grossing live act in the history of music. At least it’s acknowledged they played for more people than any other band. Imagine if Warner’s dropped them before WD & AB? even the reunion shows without Jerry sold out 3 stadium shows in 2015. All because the label supported them when they were impossible to deal with in 1968-69. They even let them use the FIRST portable 16 track machine to ever be used in January thru March 1969 to record Live/Dead. Then look at the track list. First Side: Dark Star Second Side: St. Stephen>The Eleven Third Side: Lovelight Fourth Side: Death Don’t Have No Mercy>Feedback> We Bid you Goodnight Feedback was 7:49 - I think it’s great but this is on a major label release / it’s closer to abstract improvisation than it is to anything else Only thing close to something commercial is St. Stephen

I’ve heard of more people getting covid in the past 3 weeks than the total I heard about from March 2020 until the first week of December this year. None of the people I know over the past few weeks have gone to the hospital including my 70 year old best friend and his immunocompromised 69 year old wife. This might be anecdotal but if in a week the hospitalizations here in NJ don’t follow the explosion of cases (up to 18,000 today - was 4,000 a day a week ago) we will know the answer to the severity of the omicron question we have all been speculating on. Sooner than I thought earlier today I guess. My educated guess is 70% plus less severe. Many learned people agree / of course other learned people are less optimistic. We can simply follow the data and the numbers.

Cake is baked. What’s gonna happen over the next few months is gonna happen.

I believe I’ll be at the Jazz Gallery this spring at full capacity. Missed Henry Threadgill this month as I just didn’t feel like it’s the right time. I think the evidence of the lesser severity is clear. What is not known if it’s 30 or 50 or even 70 to 90% less severe. Vaccinated and vaccinated & boosted people are still simply not ending up in hospitals at anything other than very very old or immunocompromised. That was mostly the case with delta. With omicron it will be even less / how much less as a percentage of cases is the question. Check the numbers in England 10 days from now and here in the States in a month.

I’m very optimistic that Omicron being so contagious is the way out. So many people are going to get covid that I believe the cases in England and then 4-5 weeks later in the US will drop very sharply. Maybe by mid and then late January or early February in the US. I’ll check back here in a couple of months and hopefully I’m correct. plus all evidence is that omicron is multiples less deadly. Within 2 weeks we will know pretty much how much less deadly as the hospitalization and death numbers come in from Great Britain. Seems to me especially a huge percentage of young people who are unvaxxed will get it and therefore immunity for some period of time. Huge case numbers will happen in the states - probably 400 to 500K per day by mid January (reported - actual according to experts probably at least 3-4 times that - especially since the asymptomatic cases of young people and fully vaxxed/boosted is very very high as a percentage)

Either as low as 10-12% or possibly as high as 25-30% for a non KF-94 or non KN95 or N95. but they also help protect the mask wearer to some extent as well. non KF94 or non KN95 or N95 mask wearing somewhere 10 times less effective than vaccination. Fwiw there is a pro-mask anti-vaxx slice of society that I discovered at an urban area recovery meeting a few months back. True insanity that.

I will say this. Even though many people in this country are fully vaxxed and not yet boostered and most are now beyond the 6 months time frame since their second shots, the rate of hospitalization of those people is still TEN times less per 100,000 people than unvaxxed and death rates are far lower than that. The power and effectiveness of the Pfizer & Moderna two shot regimen is still being undervalued. Really up until this point here in the US it’s very VERY rare for a fully vaccinated (without a booster) to end up in an ICU unless they are very old or immunocompromised. Why the argument that vaxxed and unvaxxed should be treated the same way is foolish, IMO.

The statement that the Pfizer booster is only good for 2 months simply isn’t true. All evidence is that the Pfizer & Moderna boosters are expected to provide a strong effect against covid (including Omicron) for upwards of 8 months or more.

Kevin - there are so many more activities that are more dangerous than Covid is to children - 24 deaths over a 16 month plus period is a tiny number. Swimming is exponentially more dangerous. So is putting a child in a driving car. There is no middle ground if this is the response to my thoughtful post. I think the data you shared proved a point.

The only overreach is asking young children (5-11) to be vaccinated to enter public places. Especially since the vaccine for those young children isn’t even fully approved yet. And even though it does reduce spread it isn’t clear how much - and children of that age are not that susceptible in any significant way to serious illness everything else is common sense - and this is from someone who is no liberal. I’m all for freedom but public health supersedes it. But lockdowns when vaccines almost eliminate any chance of serious illness or death is another kind of insanity. So there is a middle ground.

All understood. Hopeful that getting omicron creates some immunity versus delta. Most experts believe it will. I do believe there is more evidence than not that omicron on an individual basis is much less dangerous than previous strains. The obvious issue will be the massive amount of cases that will happen worldwide over the next few months. Big hope/dream is the long awaited turn towards herd immunity/endemic result.

And the VAST majority of those deaths will continue to be unvaccinated people. Or very old or immunocompromised. We will know within 7-10 days based on England’s situation of Omicron is indeed 75 to 90% less dangerous than delta which is what the most hopeful data indicates on what we know right now.

The 72 & 73 shows sound MUCH better. The November Austin TX show issued on Road Trips also sounds much better. Phil’s bass just doesn’t come through like it should on the 71 shows. Rest assured Phil Lesh sounds incredible on all 5 shows from 72 & 73. Tremendous performances and great sound via Bear (72) & Kidd (73).

Was just listening to this quartet yesterday. Love when Baker plays his synths/electronics. Maybe my favorite Rempis group along with the quartet with Wooley, Niggenkemper & Corsano. Two very different groups. Rempis plays only with the best. enjoy the show, Chuck

Flow Generations Quartet Oliver with Joe Fonda on bass Michael Jefry Stevens on piano Emil Gross on drums recorded live on 10/30/2015 in Germany having truly amazing musicians like Stevens & Fonda with a good young drummer elevate this one - plus a great recording. Tunes by Lake (2), Stevens (3) & Fonda (2) Not Two records

Trio 3 Live in Wiilsau is awesome from early in their time as a band - 1992 I believe. Later Trio 3 recordings can be hit or miss. Oliver has really one kind of mode of playing and he’s certainly not as fluent as Arthur Blythe nor as subtle as Henry Threadgill. But that one thing can be energetic and powerful when it works. A couple of the Trio 3 shows that I’ve seen were pretty damn good but usually Andrew was the driving force in concert with the somewhat simple understated playing by the great Reggie Workman. Helluva groove they can get to - plus some of the tunes are really good and often unique (especially the drummer’s compositions)

My wife and I received our Pfizer boosters in late September 6 months and 3 days after our 2nd shots.

Today I don’t listen to that much jazz from the mid 50’s to early 60’s (golden age for many) but when I do it’s often Hank Mobley. I love all of it - especially sessions like this one.

Last night Phil Lesh & Friends at Capital Theatre in Port Chester, NY 2 great sets - 2 hours & 45 minutes of music. Very emotional to be back seeing Phil live in person. He will be 82 on 3/15/2022. He’s playing very well and the group with him (10/29, 10/30 & tonight) is wonderful. Great singers and guitarists complimenting the legend. Especially his son Grahame and the 2 featured singers Nicki Blum & M. T. Taylor. Nicki singing lead on the encore “Brokedown Palace” was spectacular. Then again with the Hunter/Garcia songbook it’s hard to go wrong. As usual Phil played many of the great Dead classics that Jerry sang. Deal, Bird Song, Uncle John’s Band, Eyes of the World, Dupree’s Diamond Blues & Shakedown Street were all played last night.