Steve Reynolds

Tyshawn Sorey Sextet @ Jazz Gallery @ 7:30 one long set - expected to be a continuous 2 hour set - maybe 2 hours and 15 minutes. I’m looking forward to hearing these younger unknown to me musicians perform tonight. Alto & tenor saxophonists, pianist, vibraphonist & bassist.

I bought a whole slew of the last generation of the hat ART CD’s @ Tower in Paramus, NJ including Jump Up, Morning Joy, The Marmalade King & Special Detail probably 1996-7 or so just as Jazz Central Station was starting recordings that changed my musical life

Jazz Gallery just updated that we will be getting the one long set treatment as well 🤩🤩

I’m seeing the band on 3/3. Not sure if it’s two sets or one long set. If I love it, I’ll be back for a second night later in the week Jazz Gallery in NYC 3/3 through 3/7

Strings with Evan Parker is great

Very fine group. Minor quibble for me is that Kavee is just not forceful or powerful enough for a band with a saxophonist as good as Berne or as great as Malaby. A drummer like Ches Smith or Nasheet Waits or Tyshawn Sorey would have elevated this band to the stratosphere. Ferreira was awesome. His riffing/comping with the saxophonists was powerful, skronky and almost psychedelic. Berne had new written music that seemed to be presented for the first time to the group before the show. Tim knew the music by heart as he didn’t need sheet music for himself. 6 compositions with improvisational elements organically incorporated into the written music. A couple of segues (maybe only one?) with the set lasting a beefy 75 minutes. Malaby only on tenor and he played towards his most beautiful side more than his piercing aggressive mode for the most part. There was one passage where he might have almost been Getz for a bit. Wondrous. Also tremendous unison playing with Berne's alto and Malaby’s tenor. Also one of the them comping or accenting the other. Seemingly rehearsed but I’d be shocked if this wasn’t the first time they played this music. In fact I think it’s the first time the band played together.

Tim Berne Quintet with Tony Malaby, Ryan Ferreira, Devin Hoff & Elliot Kavee maybe we will stay for the second band which is Ben Monder, Gary Wang & Diego Voglino at a place called Halyards in Brooklyn

All hail The Brotherhood of Breath THE band I would have wanted to see live from this era more than any other

What is unusual is the last 4 recent performances by Maneri have been among the best I’ve ever heard him play. Very very high level of improvising. In vastly different contexts each time. Last show was last month.

Mat must have been sick. I’ve never heard him cough while he’s playing and I’ve seen him live at least 25 times over the years.

My next purchase:)

Any comments on the show Decoy with Joe McPhee?

RIP, Sir brilliant powerful drummer

It’s amazing that McPhee is still playing all over the world and seems as busy as ever @ 80. Next Saturday he will be back near home playing in a trio on 2/8 in Port Jervis, NY with Michael Bisio & Chris Corsano. I’m trying to move a few things around to get there.

Nice schedule

As the late, great Uli would write, RIP, Sir!

I’ve only seen her once - with that great large band back maybe 9-10 years ago when they played @ Columbia University on a double bill with Globe Unity Orchestra. As far as her recordings I’ve never heard even one that disappointed me and if it’s her vocalizing and humor, I’m all in. I think she’s one of the greatest ever on her instrument and I’m more fascinated with her pure improvising energy than I’ve ever been. To me the trio with Maneri & Cleaver is a dream group. They played at Vision Fest a few years back but I boycotted the awful venue due to the sound issues. I heard they actually placed their seats/instruments/spots off the stage within the audience and word has it that they were the only group that anyone could hear clearly for the whole festival. There is a recording on Rogue Art but it’s only on vinyl.

I wouldn’t miss it. Maneri is playing as well as he ever has these days. The trio with Ches Smith & Craig Taborn (with Bill Frisell as guest) were very very good last week. New music and much different than previous shows.

I saw his NYC trio a few years back and it was mortifying. Grueling, slow and beyond retro. The best stuff he played was Monk and when he played medium and/or faster tempos which for all 3 times was regrettably maybe 20% of the sets. fwiw my comments on Amado is that he is original, creative and original WITHOUT using extended techniques. However many of the current great improvisors do use these methods organically within their playing. Nothing at all wrong with that.

Eskelin’s playing has become very conservative. As far as who thinks what Tony said one night after a long 2 sets of skronky oblique intense abstract improvised music - that “nobody seems to get what I’m doing” or something to that effect. plus a few people I see often at shows are not fans of his playing for whatever reason. Too rough, extreme or whatever / not sure? Malaby is NOT an easy listen for sure and he rarely takes the easy way out and never plays for cheap thrills. Btw - as far as Ellery they still play together / they sat/played together both on tenor last year with Satako Fujii’s large ensemble and sat talking at least a half hour after the show:)

Thanks for the post. 8 or 10 years ago I thought I’d never be interested in Brotzmann again. Over the past 5 years I’ve probably listened to more BROTZMANN than any other saxophonist. fwiw many people here who go to NYC shows don’t like Malaby that much either while me and a few others think he’s the best tenor (and soprano) saxophonist on the scene in NYC today.

In 2011-12 when I attended, there were plenty of tables/seats.

I saw both Anthony Braxton’s 65th Birthday celebration as was as Misha Mengelberg’s last U.S. concert appearance with Instant Composer’s Pool (with Han Bennink, Wolter Wierbos, Michael Moore, Tobias Delius, etc.) at Le Poisson Rouge and both concerts were astounding - and the sound and sight lines were magnificent.

I’m also very interested in more “creative” projects and I know Amado does not use many or even any “extended” techniques and plays within traditional forms but I really don’t hear him as predictable and certainly not “very” predictable. That being said, I don’t listen to THAT much current improvised music made within such a traditional format such as this (sax-bass-drums). I certainly am probably more interested in music with electronics, various string infested ensembles and more oblique abstract challenging improvised and composed music - BUT I do believe this recording, as well as the recent trios with McPhee, Edwards & Kogel, recent Parker-Guy-Lytton or recordings or performances from Butcher-Edwards-Sanders or Delius or Malaby or Baars or Laubrock Dunmall or Matt Nelson with various bassists or drummers are mostly NOT making pretty boring retro free jazz music. But you are not alone. The recent trio release with Charles Gayle, Edwards & Sanders might be old school retro free jazz but if it’s boring that would be a surprise to me. I was shocked at how vibrant it was. Maybe one of my favorite 4 or 5 new releases from the past couple of years. I almost didn’t buy it as I figured Gayle was shot, the format was “retro”, etc. I sure was wrong about Gayle and the trio format in general. I wonder what you would think of “Old Smoke” with Steve Basczkoski, Brandon Lopez & Chris Corsano. I saw the great saxophonist with Lopez & Cleaver play a couple of sets of music last month that was as exciting as Parker-Guy-Lytton might have been 30 years ago. Smoking burning hot and not retro in the least. Maybd it’s Amado’s measured or restrained approach that has you not liking him. I find his improvising very vital in a way that separates him from the more traditional fire breathers and the younger more abstract players like Michael Foster.

Over the past year or so: On saxophones: Matt Nelson, Albert Cirera, Steve Backzowski, Julius Gabriel, Torben Snekkestad & Anna Högberg On bass: Goncalo Almeida, Hernani Faustino, Elsa Bergman & Brandon Lopez (Lopez more than a year but he deserves special mention as he is the real deal on a very high level) On drums: Onno Govaert, Tyler Damon, Ryan Packard & Lucas Niggli (again for Niggli more than a year but he also deserves special kudos as his playing is beyond belief) On guitar: Bill Nace, Bill Orcutt, Henry Kaiser & Tashi Dorji On trumpet: Susana Santos Silva & Purcy Pursglove