Steve Reynolds

Nice to read your comments. I’ve never seen a 2 hour continuous performance by any jazz/improv ensemble. I’ve also never heard any of the young group of musicians within this group. I’m sure at least one or more of them with effort will develop some sort of distinctive individuality which is often the last thing to come for many of these very talented young improvising musicians - if it comes at all. I like that Tyshawn is working with young guys/girls. As you know he also records and plays with many dudes/dudettes that have acquired those individual qualities. I’ve seen him with Mary Halvorson & Jon Irabagon as one example and his interplay especially with Mary was mind-blowing. I’m also becoming more interested in modern jazz based composition. As far as the NYC people I’m most familiar with we have Matt Mitchell, Ingrid Laubrock, Mary Halvorson, Kris Davis, Taylor Ho Bynum and others have created some extraordinary composed works with massive amounts of improvised music incorporated into those structures - music that I’ve heard live and on record that are brandy new, exciting and groove and move like jazz is supposed to. An artist I’m not that familiar with, Harris Eisenstaedt, is another who is creating new structures - I saw a Nonet of his a few years back that included Nate Wooley, Jeb Bishop & Sara Schoenbeck (to name 3 incredibly talented and distinctive improvising musicians) - that played a continuous suite that was less than an hour - probably not more than 45 minutes. It was subtly spectacular and thoroughly unique. If I was able to see more live performances I’d experience even more of what is happening. I probably still prefer freely improvised live music but even that strain of music has and is undergoing shifts and changes that might seem minor but in retrospect are not. Plus their was a generation before them including Gerry Hemingway, Ellery Eskelin, Tim Berne, Tony Malaby, Etc. all of whom created (some of who are still creating vibrant works - especially Berne). So glad you went. Plus beyond everything else, Sorey is simply one of the greatest drummers on the planet and maybe the most powerful sounding one at that.

Same here. Without Emanem some of the most challenging and exciting first generation European improvisation would still be unheard and even more under-appreciated. Plus Martin continued with some terrific 1990’s and 2000’s stuff that is even more under the radar.

Now on my calendar - doing everything I can to get there:)

Ready for round 2 from Anthony Braxton Quartet (2014) New Haven on Firehouse 12 Records 4 CD set - 4 continuous improvisations - each between 57 & 64 minutes Braxton plays only saxophones (no clarinets and for whatever reasons I’ve never been attracted to the sounds Braxton creates on any of the clarinets he plays) - from the beastly contrabass saxophone up through the sopranino Sax. His riffing and wailing and skronking on both the bass saxophone & contrabass saxophone throughout this recording along would make this the best improv release I’ve heard this year but add in Taylor Ho Bynum who plays in his very attractive virtuosic very jazz like manner on 5 different brass instruments ranging from his trumphone to a piccolo trumpet IIRC, then this mega-session is elevated beyond that. They asked the duo of Nels Cline on electric guitar and Greg Saunier on drums to join them to complete the quartet. Story goes that Braxton and Bynum was the others play a duet show and Anthony was excited enough to plan this session. I’ve seen Nels live in different groups maybe 4 or 5 times and he’s always good but here he is spectacular in his voicing and is totally immersed in the group improv esthetic. Saunier takes some getting used to but he builds up the sound of the group to great walls of beautiful rocked out glory. Wow. for me among the most exciting new recordings I’ve heard in the past couple of years. Once I adapted to the switching horns approach, I’ve enjoyed each subsequent disc more than the last but I have zero idea if that amazing 4th Disc is any better than the 1st Disc!!!

Often it’s the same thing here. For the late shows - especially now that I’ve been going to Dead related things - (Phil Lesh’s Groups, Dark Star Orchestra & JRAD), those shows start ~ 8:30 or even 9:00 and the 2 full sets can go to 12:30 or so. My wife and I saw JRAD (Joe Russo’s Almost Dead) @ Metropolitan Opera House in Philadelphia on Friday September 27th. 3 hour drive from Wayne, NJ with traffic. We got there by 7:45 or so. Show started at 9:05 and with the encore ended close to 1:15. At least no traffic going home. Home @ 3:30 A.M. YES - I took that Friday off and had a nice 2 hour nap to prepare for the drive and the show. And yes for that night I chose wisely. Second set was incredible for what they were doing. Russo is just about the best rock drummer I’ve ever seen. But NO he is not quite Tyshawn Sorey and he is NOT Randy Peterson.

Plus if you go they better be great:) The band of it's the same one are all young musicians - two saxophones, piano & bass.

My trip to NYC is short mileage wise but it’s usually 75 minutes minimum. Brooklyn can be 90 minutes easy on a rainy day/night. Last night I left work early at 4:30 and was parked by 5:45. Then I relaxed until the set. Free parking when you get there early in Manhattan. Only 1 set at The Stone for I think about 3 years but I choose wisely as the music needs to be worth the drive/time, etc. It’s also a good time to listen to more music. Last night was a very good decision. Jazz Gallery has 2 sets but most of the venues that host the music I prefer are 1 set events these days so again I try to choose wisely. Word has it that when Tyshawn player the Jazz Gallery, with what I believe is the band he’s touring with, they played a 2 hour continuous set. Big buzz about that show. I sure wish I chose that night. Plus it was sold out and packed solid.

I would STRONGLY recommend you go - especially if you’ve not seen Tyshawn live. Word is that the quintet is playing more burning jazz based stuff than one might hear from the Pillars group or his small groups with Cory Smythe. When the man is focused on drums in a jazz based or freeish ensemble he is just about the most powerful drummer on the planet today. This is coming from someone who sees dudes like Ches Smith (last night), Randy Peterson (2 weeks ago), Nasheet Waits (too long now), Gerald Cleaver, etc. Tyshawn Sorey might be the most unique and explosively innovative of all of them. Well he isn’t Randy Peterson but nobody is:)

There is a chance I’ll be there but as much as I like Cleaver, I was disappointed to see that Drake was replaced by Cleaver. Plus I get to see Cleaver more often. Don’t get me wrong - he’s fantastic and lately I’ve heard more and more amazing recordings that feature the more aggressive side of his playing. I will hopefully be seeing him on 12/16 @ Roulette with Brandon Lopez & Steve Baczkowski. I also think I’ll be back at The Stone next Tuesday for Trevor Dunn with Mary Halvorson & Ches Smith.

Tonight @ Glass Box Theatre @ New School (aka The Stone) @ 8:30 Assif Tsahar on tenor saxophone (and maybe some bass clarinet?) Mat Maneri on viola Ches Smith on drums

Thanks Jim. I’ll keep this in mind as I put work through my old ”unplayed for a very long time” CD’s

I’ll be in the process of packing up a box or two of CD’s that I’m no longer interested to listen to. I have no idea of what to do with them. I’d love to donate them to someone or somewhere. Not sure what way to go. I’ve recently started streaming on Tidal (for the high quality sound and seemingly large selection) so I’ll be only be buying non-streaming CD releases (labels like No Business, Relative Pitch and a few others - some or all Firehouse 12 or Pi recordings are not on Tidal) but I’ve always bought 95% plus of my CD’s unheard.

Sad news. Very happy to have met him on a trip to The Velvet Lounge in 1998 or 99. He was an excellent host and a true jazz guy. All about the music. RIP, Uli

Mat Maneri 50th Birthday Celebration 7:30 & 9:30 sets @ Jazz Gallery in NYC Set 1: with Lucian Ban on piano, Brad Jones on double bass & the *great* Randy Peterson on drums Set 2: with Craig Taborn & Matthew Shipp on piano, Tony Malaby on tenor saxophone, Joe Morris on guitar & Tanya Kalmanovitch joining Mat on viola

Fantastic conversation. Thanks so much for posting this.

Saw one of his new groups 2 weeks ago. Wonderful. Often these complex compositions interspersed with improv is not my thing but Mitchell is very talented. Bought his last two group recordings at the concert and they are in the Q.

Awesome news for the *great* Mary Halvorson

I’ll miss him. I’ve been sad all week since hearing this. I’m sure he would have been at the show I’m going to tonight. We had a nice rapport and he treated my wife like a princess when she came to shows with me. She referred to him as the Mayor.

Matt Mitchell’s group - I’m 99% sure this is a first time playing together ensemble. About a month ago, Jon Irabagon was listed as being included on saxophone. I’m not upset he’s been dropped as I’m still not on board to what he’s doing despite his obvious virtuosic abilities. That being said: Mitchell on piano & compositions Brandon Seabrook on electric guitar Ben Gerstein on trombone Mat Maneri on viola Kate Gentile on drums Gentile is new to me and I’ve been almost a year without seeing my favorite of all-favorites, the brilliant Mat Maneri show is @ 8:30 @ The Stone at New School’s Glass Box Theatre, 55 West 13th Street near 6th Avenue

Me too. Only quibble is not quite enough low brass and not enough Ben Gerstein that will be remedied tomorrow night as Gerstein will be in Matt Mitchell’s group I’m seeing @ The Stone. I havn’t seen him play in maybe two years, I think. Great expressive very unique trombonist.

Back to the thread topic - here are some/most of my most recent buys: Gard Nilssen’s Acoustic Unity Live in Europe 3 CD set - trio on the first disc, augmented by others on discs 2 & 3 I normality avoid Clean Feed but reviews on this were strong. In the Que by this weekend Anthony Braxton Quartet (New Haven) 2014 - 4 CD set with Taylor Ho Bynum, Nels Cline & Greg Saunier Momentum 3: quartet of small form improvisation on Leo records Fire! Trio plus Jim O’Rourke: Unreleased? ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba Pere Ubu: The Long Goodbye

listening today to “The Early Bird Gets” which is Rempis with Brandon Lopez & Ryan Packard. This is the trio I saw this summer. Recorded mostly on March 2nd, 2018 @ Elastic - last track June 28th, 2018. honestly this performance is a bit stronger than when I saw them live which doesn’t happen much to me. Usually I might tend to be overly impressed with an up-close viewing/hearing of a great improvising group. Maybe a couple of you Chicago guys saw one or both of these shows. Great new trio of Dave's.

Fwiw we had a similar discussion on the old JCS board regarding KV back some 18 to 20 years ago. I know it became clear to me as a newish listener to freeish jazz that Vandermark was not in the same league as an improvisor as people like Evan Parker, Joe McPhee, Brotzmann, Gustafsson, Paul Dunmall, Fred Anderson, Mark Whitecage, etc. Glad we are having this discussion. I remember somewhere Vandermark stating (not even paraphrasing as it’s foggy in my mind) that standing next to Mats & Peter could make him feel unworthy. Yet of course both of those 2 clearly great or arguably historically great players deemed Vandermark worthy to release multiple recordings of them as a trio called Sonore. Of course in my view the strength of KV’s playing in that context are the riffing which seem to work as a glue to the music. Surely by now Ken’s playing has advanced but also it is in some ways very similar to what it was 20-25 years ago. Plus now we have a whole new generation of exciting saxophonists/reed players like Rempis, Keefe Jackson & Greg Ward (among others from Chicago - and many I’ve become much more familiar with in NYC being that I’ve lived nearby. Ingrid Laubrock, Ellery Eskelin, Tony Malaby, Briggan Krauss, Josh Sinton, Darius Jones, Rob Brown are just a few of the now well seasoned brilliant players who to my ears are also clearly greater players than Vandermark. Doesn’t mean he’s not worth listening to him - and I listen to his music quite often. It just means quite a few play free/creative saxophone at a very high level. Of course *I* view McPhee as another one of the historically great players - on any of his saxophones (especially on tenor) and also magical on that little pocket trumpet he plays.

I’ve heard this before. He’s not my favorite reed player by a long shot but I think you are selling his compositional abilities with a large ensemble short. I know you’ve seen and heard them. I also know once I get a fixed idea about what’s what I have a hard time letting it go. I still can go where you are when I hear KV in the same group as Rempis or Gustafsson or maybe especially with Brotzmann. I try to focus on his strengths rather than his weaknesses which are tone (especially on either of the clarinets he plays) and his lack of flexibility on the tenor. I still get a charge out of his riff based playing - especially on the baritone - but I may be a minority in that view.

He’s always a highlight in the many terrific Vandermark large ensemble recordings.