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Steve Reynolds

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  3. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    Saturday night

    Tony Malaby, Ben Monder & Tom Rainey

    first set A

    second set among the best 45 minutes of music I’ve ever seen

    Sunday night

    Hans Young Binter (keys), Ana Abondolo (fretless electric bass) & Orchid McRae (drums etc.) stunning 35 minute piece

    Michael Foster, Nate Wooley, Brandon Lopez & Ted Byrnes

    Mercy!!! 30 minutes from grand masters in prime form

  5. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    I was 3 feet from Ryan Sawyer last night trio with Sam Newsome & Brandon Lopez

    incredible improvised set at a tiny bar (Ore Bar) in Brooklyn 

    I’ve been lazy posting but I think I’ve been at 10-12 shows this month so far

    The scene in NYC/Brooklyn is smoking hot. 
     

    highlights:

    Lotte Anker, Brandon Lopez & the *great* Randy Peterson

    Air Legacy Trio with Marty Ehrlich, Hilliard Green & Pheeroan akLaff

    Michael Foster with Webb Crawford & Joey Sullivan plus Steve Swell

    Thurston Moore with John Leidecker, Alex Ward, Zoh Amba & Ryan Sawyer

    Fred Frith solo 

    Fred Frith, Lotte Anker & I can never remember the other musician’s name

     

     

     

     

  10. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    On 10/28/2024 at 11:38 AM, Steve Reynolds said:

    Tonight:

    Tony Malaby, Ben Monder & Tom Rainey 

    2 sets at Close Up in NYC

    last Thursday second set was John Blum & Chuck Roth duo

    38 minute & 20 minute unrelenting improvisations / Blum almost too much. He’s so great it’s often too much. Chuck Roth from another planet. 

    2 short intense magisterial sets from the trio. Monder & Malaby are brilliant together.

    great new small room opened in June. 4 feet from the musicians. Close Up indeed. 

  13. Modern/Avant New Releases: A running thread

    in New Releases

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    Yes I’ve seen him fairly often the last 2 years. Playing as great as ever. 
     

    As far as “jazz” bassists in NYC, Helias & Hebert are the best. Brandon Lopez is a great “jazz” bassist but besides his playing in Mat Maneri’s quartet, most of what he does is abstract improv. Untouchable in those areas. Genius. 

  14. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    Last night at Solar Myth:

    Nels Cline, Greg Belisle-Chi, John Hebert & Chad Taylor

    compositions

    fine set but nowhere near the night before. Nels & Hebert were the stars. Greg a good foil but he still needs a way to go. Tough spot playing across from Nels Cline. 
     

    He’s only on the scene less than 5 years so hopefully he will continue to progress with Berne. I’ll see him & Hebert on Tuesday with Berne, Aurora Nealand & Tom Rainey. 

  15. Modern/Avant New Releases: A running thread

    in New Releases

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    Darius is great live. I’ve heard him play stuff I’ve never heard on record.

    fwiw you dudes are spoiled (but not as much as I am) with Edwards/Sanders & Edwards/Noble

    I’m upset that Cleaver isn’t in NYC any longer and I don’t get to hear Lopez/Cleaver. Best combo along with Lopez/Peterson. Hoping Mat Maneri puts together a few shows this fall with his great quartet with Lucian Ban. Saw them 5 times last fall.

    I do hear Ches Smith, Tom Rainey all the time and I never take it for granted and even once in a while, Randy Peterson

    I saw Ches 4-5 times the last few weeks

    As far as bassists, some good younger ones finding their way: Henry Fraser, Kyle Motl, John Moran, Ana Abondolo, etc.

    also Sean Ali is great

    Brandon Lopez is the best bassist in NYC  

    posted on the live shows thread: Nels Cline with Susan Alcorn & Booker Stardum last night was incredible. Mind blowing. Astounding from a variety of standpoints. 

  17. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    13 hours ago, Steve Reynolds said:

    John Zorn’s Cobra 40th anniversary show at Roulette in Brooklyn

    with among others:

    Ches Smith

    Brian Marsella

    Sylvie Courvousier

    Taylor Levine

    Mary Halvorson

    William Winant

    Simon Hanes

    Kenny Wolleson 

    Henry Fraser

    It was incredible Summer of 2023

    Spectacular 54 minute set comprised of 6 pieces. 

    all the musicians were great but Mary, Ches & the *great* William Winant destroyed atoms. Not sure I’ve heard Mary Halvorson play with so much fire & force. Power chords, slashing commentary and searing leads. Holy Moly. 

  18. Nov. 10 : Brandon Lopez & Steve Baczkowski in Kingston NY

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

     

    It gives me great pleasure to announce the second/final show of the Fall season of "So, What Do You Think?" at Tubby's in Kingston, New York on Sunday November 10, 2024:

    A night of solos and duos with bassist Brandon Lopez and saxophonist Steve Baczkowski in support of their forthcoming duo CD on Relative Pitch, a follow-up to last year's Matanzas (Lopez Trio feat. Baczkowski and Gerald Cleaver). I first Saw Lopez around 2013, taking things apart and putting them back together with a level of commitment that is infrequent; this was in the days of backroom gigs at the Manhattan Inn in Greenpoint, all much to the bewilderment of trust-fund onlookers. He was clearly someone to keep an eye on and I am glad to have witnessed his deep, unflagging motion ever since. His work as a grab-you-by-your-throat soloist is not without a lot of space and attuned listening; I was reminded of the first time I heard Béb Guerin take a solo on record, masterful, gutsy, and capital-R Romantic but also inventively kicking ass. Baczkowski is someone I have listened to and greatly enjoyed on recordings but not seen much in person so I'm extra pumped for the experience.
     
    Time: doors 7 hit at 8
    Cost: $20 doors or $15 advance (advance tix help us gauge the evening, so buy early and often if you plan on attending) & remember all funds go to the artists!
     
    swdyt_november_v1 (1).jpg
     
    flyer remix by d.norsen
     
    -- words boosted from elsewhere below -- 
     

    Brandon Lopez and Steve Baczkowski met at the fabled center for improvised and strange music in Buffalo, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts. Quick friends, they decided to test the musical waters of the Brooklyn underground. A year later, they gave a brutal performance at the Exposure Festival in Chicago, wowing listeners and critics in a show of sonic brutality not entirely devoid of tenderness. 

    "There are musicians who leverage their instrument’s conventional vocabulary to create works of art, and then there’s Brandon Lopez." -- Dusted Magazine

    "undeniably bad assed, precisely executed and lucidly organized" -- The Wire

    Improviser/Composer Brandon A. Lopez was born and raised in Northwestern New Jersey and it was there that he cultivated a taste for left-of-center musics and subsequently dug graves. He’s had the pleasure of working with many of the world’s vanguard musicians and artists including jaimie branch, Rob Brown, Gerald Cleaver, Whit Dickey, Michael Foster, Ingrid Laubrock, Cecilia Lopez, Joe McPhee, Mat Maneri, Fred Moten, William Parker, Tom Rainey, Tomeka Reid, Dave Rempis, Matthew Shipp, Nate Wooley, and has toured and played prestigious halls, DIY basements, and festivals all across North America and the European Continent. In addition to numerous ensemble meetings and recordings he frequently plays solo and has released two unaccompanied contrabass CDs on the Astral Spirits and Tao Forms labels. He attended New England Conservatory and has received awards and fellowships through Issue Project Room, the Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, NYSCA, and Roulette.

    An interview/statement with Brandon can be read here: https://soundamerican.org/issues/thirtieth/brandon-lopez

    and another good one is here: https://www.wfae.org/arts-culture/2023-09-22/jazz-bassist-reshaping-the-sound-of-the-instrument 

    Steve Baczkowski is an improviser, saxophonist, and multi-wind instrumentalist. Baczkowski began playing alto saxophone at age eight and switched to baritone by the time he was twelve. He studied music in high school at Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts and went on to studies in music, saxophone performance, literature, and ethnomusicology at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1994 to 1999. In 1999, Baczkowski became the music director of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo, N.Y, where he has since produced and presented hundreds of concerts of contemporary music as well as numerous community-based artist residencies. His collaborators in addition to Lopez and Gerald Cleaver have included Tony Conrad, Chris Corsano, Paul Flaherty, Dredd Foole, Adam Lane, Bill Nace, Ravi Padmanabha, Rey Scott, and the groups Buffalo Suicide Prevention Unit and Buffalo Jazz Octet.

    This will be a fantastic evening and I really look forward to seeing you there. Pass the word to a friend.

    Stay well & healthy,

    Clifford

    I’ll be there. Not to be missed.

  20. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    21 hours ago, mjazzg said:

    Thanks Steve. I'll check out Sawyer's releases

    At Union Pool with Susan Alcorn & Patrick Holmes

    Astounding

    Last night was far greater than the set at The Stone

    68 minute set. First 23 minute piece ended Can like almost. Ches channeling outer space limits. Second 18 minute piece more typically free jazz. Last 2 pieces were beyond category and Mette reached heights not previously deemed possible. 
     

    Lordy Lordy

  21. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    25 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

    Looks very interesting to me. I like Mette and Zeena but don't know Ryan Sawyer. Can you ask them to come and play in London please Steve...

    Ryan Sawyer is great. I’ve seen him play often over the years. Last time this past Spring with Nate Wooley’s Columbia Icefield with Ava Mendoza & the *great* Susan Alcorn.

    Zeena is incredible especially on the electric harp which she will be playing tomorrow night with the abstract yet intense trio. One of the most unique trios I know of. Sawyer is a powerful drummer yet understands space and time. Kevin Reilly wouldn’t release a recording with a basher. It’s something he despises. 
     

    I’ll ask Kevin tonight if there is any way that trio will get to London in the future.

  22. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, John L said:

     I saw them last night in DC - quite intense!   I am sure you will enjoy it.  

    I saw them the week before last so I kind of know what to expect. Tomorrow night it will be Glass Triangle with Mette, Zeena Parkins & Ryan Sawyer. In Brooklyn.

    yes it’s a very intense group. Very focused in the free jazz vernacular with a current/modernist vibe. Very technically proficient musicians who can be virtuosic yet they unleash big energy. Often the real technical virtuosos let their expertise rob energy from the music. 

     

  24. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted · Edited by Steve Reynolds

    9 hours ago, BFrank said:

    I saw Cobra a couple of times last year. Totally wild. And he always gets the broadly eclectic group to make the chaos work.

    Plus it brought the best of the best out of Ches Smith. As great as he always is, what happened last Summer was peak Ches. Absolutely mind blowing intensity. Force of Nature.
     

    seeing Weird of Mouth again tomorrow night in Philly with Ches, Mette & Taborn:)

  25. What live music are you going to see tonight?

    in Live Shows & Festivals

    Posted

    18 minutes ago, jlhoots said:

    Do you wear ear plugs?

    Never! I’m going out in style! For whatever reason my ears are still good at 64.

    plus I saw Ches Smith 4 times over a 10 day period recently. Once with Trey Spruance on electronics and it peaked at 108 decibels. I brought my little meter in with me that night. They had 2 extra amps on each side of The Stone. The quality of the sound is so great in the Glass Box Theatre (aka The Stone at The New School)

    10/11 Cobra at Roulette. This can get very loud as well. Last year it sounded amazing from the front row as I was sitting right next to Zorn as he was conducting the large ensemble. 
     

    Only live once. I’m blessed to be able to witness the many of the greatest  improvising musicians on the planet usually over 10 times a month. 

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