Steve Reynolds

Did you get the 5 CD Zlatko Kaucic Box? It’s very very good. 2 discs with Evan Parker - one of those discs is an incredible trio with Agusti Fernandez.

Ordered recently: Henry Threadgill’s ZOOID: In for a Penny, In for a Pound today I saw the new multiple CD release on Not Two records, Per Ake Holmlander’s 3 CD large ensemble release: Carliot - It’s Never Too Late Orchestra and I ordered it immediately. Looks like 2 discs of small group breakdowns & the 3rd with the full group. Exciting guests include Steve Swell & Tim Daisy. These Not Two multiple disc mini-boxes if you will have all been pretty great. Sound quality is always incredible and I expect the same here.

Quoting myself as I wanted to add one last thought / my friend thought that the last of the three shows was BY FAR the “best” for him and it was easily the most seemingly outside the “mainstream” of jazz. Better for me as well? No the duo with Mary & Randy was the “best” for me at that time. But which band would I choose to see this weekend? I think TODAY without question the one with that guitar & electric bass with all those pedals & drones with the great “jazz” drummer Gerald Cleaver playing “kind of in a non-jazz way” with Tony Malaby playing tenor & soprano saxophone in both a “jazz” & “kind of in a non-jazz way” and often both ways at the same time. my friend was fascinated that Malaby ended the second set playing his tenor saxophone in a manner that might even recall Wayne Shorter or Warne Marsh. The one guy we never hear in Malaby is Coltrane for whatever that is worth. Plus it’s really a stretch to hear anyone other than Malaby in Malaby.

Evan Parker told a friend of mine (who produces jazz records/runs a small great label) that he plays for the “front row” when he was asked if he would play a bigger very famous spot in NYC if he my friend could have gotten him the gig. Glad to know he’s playing for himself and people like some of us. A new young (maybe he’s just turned 23?) friend of mine who is new to the more outre jazz and has loved the first three shows we’ve gone to together. First was Mary Halvorson duet with Randy Peterson!!!! which we both loved. Being my pal is a guitarist and we were 5 feet away, I think he was a bit amazed to actually see Mary live, chat with her, etc. Second was opening night of Vision Fest - celebrating Dave Burrell - but the memorable sets were a surprising good quartet with Archie Shepp playing way better than I figured he could - with Burrell & William Parker & Hamid Drake in graceful complementary modes - but the last set with Edward “Kidd” Jordan elevating took both of our collective breaths away (is that a poor cliche?) THEN we went to see Tony Malaby with a new quartet with Ben Monder (long time associate and well known guitarist, Tim Dahl on electric bass & Gerald Cleaver replacing the listed Ches Smith. He was thrilled by seeing those who left quickly after the first set stunned and not to thrilled to hear what they heard maybe expecting something somewhere near what they think jazz might be. The ones who loved it stay or care for the second set and it was probably the strongest 50 minutes of live music I’ve heard over the last 9 months or maybe a year. Legacy? Don’t think so. The guys in the band were fucking glowing when it ended. Who cares who was there but my friend and I were.

Many have broken out but the audiences haven't kept up. Hard for the less serious listener as when it gets abstract or simply different to those connections to what most hear as “Jazz”, it loses most listener and since there is so much great historical music to be heard, that remains the focus for the vast majority of jazz listeners. or something that has close connections to that historical music. Braxton left a whole bunch of listeners behind as well - IF he built some up with the “Jazz” quartet or quartet or even the trio’s of the 70’s, he left much of that behind with the great quartet of the 80’s & 90’s with boundary pushers Dresser, Crispell & especially Gerry Hemingway. Then he mostly left me behind with Ghost Trance and everything else. But I’m very interested in many of the musicians he mentored like Mary Halvorson & Taylor Ho Bynum. Two great examples of musicians not overwhelmed by the history of the music. most searchers & innovators WILL cut ties with a potential audience as that isn’t the goal in the first place. And some who never played anything even related to bop or hard bop (Brotzmann, Gustafsson, Butcher, Maneri, etc.) will obviously not appeal to most who are most interested in that more traditional music. I’ve seen numerous shows with very small crowds where the music would elevate for the second set while the audience might be half or a quarter of the first set number. My experience (to my initial surprise) is that the musicians were elated and simply very grateful for those who were there and I suppose for the opportunity to create the music they created. Truly broken free from the past, the future and any expectations of anything in the moment. Will they be great historical figures one day? Methinks I guess it doesn’t matter any longer either.

Agree about Warne, Jim but these days there are Too Many to Count who are way beyond overlooked and they are now overloaded by the great history of this music.

“corrected”

Plus it didn’t kill jazz - it has inspired countless musicians and listeners over the next 50 years. Nothing radical is ever wholly successful. I’m certainly not thrilled with the Live in Japan stuff and these days I’m not a big Coltrane listener (and havn’t been for a while - but I imagine I’ll be revisiting again one day), but much of the music that is of most interest to me today doesn’t exist if Coltrane doesn’t take those risks of those last years. Maybe Brotzmann does what he did in 67-68 but maybe not. Who knows what he was listening to. Maybe Ayler & Cecil built and inspired many but without Coltrane’s “flailing” (I thought this thinking was dead 30 years ago!) of his last years was inspiring in ways not understood at the time. What was dying was the mainstream. Look what was happening elsewhere. The experiments of the extremes brought life to jazz, not death. It inspired people like Mal Waldron, Joe Henderson and many others who never went down that path.

I guess Rashied Ali was another inferior talent. Maybe Interstellar Space is “flailing out” or whatever the fuck that means. Another writer caught hopelessly in the past. The economic health of Jazz may not be healthy but if one searches and is open, there is great music to be found in abundance. Some people are ignorant and others like this jerk goes out of his way to prove it publicly.

I know you are consistently seeing live music (probably much more than me as the last year or two has been slow for me for numerous reasons) but how come the posts about the Coltrane release or Sonny Rollins go on for ages but posts or discussions of new jazz (whether it be avant-garde or more mainstream) never get any traction? I’m well aware of my current interest in most more left field jazz/improv but that doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed that there is really no place on the internet to discuss current jazz of any sort. The discussions/lists are always overwhelmed by historical jazz. As great as it is, I guess for many it overshadows what is being created these days. As far as live music, it’s been obvious for a decade+ that many here and elsewhere simply prefer the listening to recorded historic jazz to seeing/hearing live music. This in turn leads to the lack of interest and energy/commitment to delve into current modern jazz as there is no real dedication to see these musicians play live. This is NOT a value judgment - maybe I’m just wishing & hoping it was different. peace and blessings I’m very surprised - by my third listen through I was pretty much in awe of what the band had accomplished. I was especially impressed by Bynum’s writing and I don’t think I’m easily impressed by modern jazz composition. I think much of it is derivative in nature as it’s tough to carve out an original voice in the compositional area.

My viewpoint is even many listeners who were previously curious ones are not interested in new jazz they havn’t heard before. I’ll read the book even knowing my tastes skew a bit more to the outside but if he’s talking/writing at all about the current improvisors that are playing/gigging/recording in NYC and elesewhere, that’s much better than another rehash of historical jazz or another reissue of A Love Supreme or whatever. I wonder how many here have heard (for one example) Taylor Ho Bynum’s large ensemble recording from a couple of years back? It’s called Enter the Plustet. It’s astounding. Creative. Stunning. Over the top commentary by me?? Listen to it. It’s cheap. $10 delivered or less. Who will buy it? probably no one here. One of many and I’m not even nearly as involved with new music as I’d like to be. so yes I’m happy at least someone is writing about new jazz - I sure wish more were listening but oh well....

A great one - especially the 1991 quartet session (1 long 36:30 track) with Wolter Wierbos, Paul Rogers & an explosive Mark Sanders on drums. Gets very intense - truly great tenor playing here with an ace bass/drums tandem. Wierbos is amazing until he inexplicably disappears about 2/3rds of the way. Almost like he blew out his lip he was blowing so hard on the trombone.

Listening to disc 2 from Uncharted Territories over the last couple of days. Unlike extended long form improvised music, these somewhat patchwork selections of the various duet through quartet pieces work better in segments of 20 to 30 minutes or so. Much to take in when one goes from a 3 or 4 minute bass-tenor improvisation to a full quartet piece of 7-8 minutes back to keyboards/bass/vibes, etc. the liner notes state they selected the 2 discs worth of material from almost 6 hours of the music they recorded over the 2 days in the studio. So about a third or so of what was recorded, I suppose. regarding Ches Smith, I think he’s great yet his drums here are a bit “heavy” but I think his playing is terrific. Again I think a live concert and/or a live recording of a couple of sets with the full quartet would be much more revealing to what these great musicians are capable of achieving together. Here’s hoping it happens. as great as Taborn is, methinks a trio tour with Ches, Dave & Evan might drive Holland to really dig in deeper which I’m not sure a single studio date allowed him to do. He plays nicely but maybe just too nice. Here’s hoping that happens.

I don’t have the time & energy I once had either. Maybe a better way to describe the higher enegy Parker bands would be more jazz or free jazz based. This might be why I thought these recordings and/or ensembles might be more toward your liking. Not that you don’t like abstract or ethereal stuff but noting or hearing a connection to other saxophonists is sometimes helpful. I also think despite the wide range of types of instrumental configurations that Parker is involved in, these small groups with drummers with Parker focusing more on tenor (which he plays more the last 10-20 years than he did in past as compared to the soprano), are the core of his creative and improvisatory genius.

Another truly great recording/great band/great performance. Was blessed that Hamid sent this to me as a gift. Band is: Evan on tenor saxophone, Peter Evans on trumpet, Alexander Hawkins on piano, John Edwards on double bass & Hamid Drake on drums. Like Uli I hear little Coltrane influence any longer - maybe the Rollins approach/influence is more apparent as it was with another great tenor, David S Ware although Parker & Ware Do not sound at all alike in approach or sound.

To my ears & taste the other Evan Parker band that is a must listen is Foxes Fox which is Evan (almost always on tenor with this ensemble), Steve Beresford on piano, John Edwards on double bass & Louis Moholo-Moholo on drums. all the recordings are great but the live one at The Vortex is the strongest

That’s must have been a great experience. Certainly an amazing show to attend. Do you know much of each set might have been left off the disc or does the 78+ minutes cover the whole 2 sets?

For sure “different” but a guy like Jim, he needs to hear the impressive truly phenomenal side of Evan Parker. Prime recordings of those two trios document sets of musuc when things got aligned just right. Portions of the “Summer” sets (disc 2 of The Two Seasons) feature just about the strongest tenor playing by Parker or anyone else I’ve ever heard. The first 38 minute track from At The Vortex (most of all of the first set from that night in 1996) has the Parker-Guy-Lytton trio exploding with extreme intensity and virtuosity simultaneously. They keep peaking and subsiding yet drive the peaks higher all he way to the end. The second 40 minute piece (with Evan starting on soprano) is almost better. For going on 15 to 20 years I’ve considered both of these recordings to be at the absolute top of my list for sax-bass-drum improvisation. Must hear recordings fir anyone slightly interested in Evan Parker.

I hope you choose the more impressive side of Evan Parker and order “The Two Seasons” and/or “At The Vortex” as well. Both are on Emanem Records. I think the former 2 CD set is only $16.95 plus shipping @ Squidco. If you are looking for more recent strong Evan Parker, the recent “Music for David Mossman” on a Intakt is pretty great as well. Fwiw, I’ve got Uncharted Territories in the CD player for additional listening time for this week. I’ve also got another listen to the above new Intakt release as my first impressions of that might even be better than “pretty great”.

If I was single with little other obligations I could easily attend 8-10 shows per month and be thrilled with almost all the music I would see live. And I think I’m a hard marker. My overlap with Chinen’s choices would probably be minimal or marginal but at least he’s listening - even though he gets paid for it.

Not a huge fan of Chinen but at least he’s writing about new jazz which is more than I can say for......

Prepping for the 8/28 In Order to Survive shows, I’m digging into William Parker’s Wood Flute Songs these expensive Quartet recordings from the 2006 shows at Yoshi’s & the 2007 shows from DiverseWorks in Houston are quite something. These cover the first 4 discs of the 8 CD box. Barnes isn’t the greatest trumpeter but Rob Brown is fine altoist and Parker & Drake don’t get old to me - and here they are playing in the multi-groove manner and segueing from one tune to the next effortlessly allowing the long sets to percolate and burn slowly. I know some are jaded to it all but Hamid Drake was and still is the man on so many levels. I saw the quartet (and an expanded group) a month or so after this box was released in 2013. The first night at The Stone remains a top 5 or 10 night for me. Two long sets where the energy never flagged and Drake was almost inhuman. I’ll nevef forget it nor will my wife. She was pretty new to all this music live and that’s the night she found her favorite drummer.

Me 4

I’m going to dig deeper into this recording over the next few days. Often expansive recordings such as this are somewhat tough to crack. My experience is that improvised music that is broken up into smaller pieces with different sub-groupings need a strong commitment from the listener. In this case it’s more critical for me as I’m MUCH more willing to commit and love Evan’s long form energy based improvisations with Guy & Lytton or with Edwards & Sanders or with Schlippenbach & Lovens. As far as Brexit & politics I stay as far away to that as possible when it comes to music. Ruins the spirit of the whole thing for me.

Agreed except in the fact that Parker is heard in his very early form which reveals little about the grand master he would become. For better examples of earlier Parker I would choose something like the 1975 recording “Hunting the Snake” (Schlippenbach Quartet with Peter Kowald added to the classic trio) or the first or second Schlippenbach Trio recordings (“First Recordings” or “Pakistani Pomade” - both from 1972). If you want early classic European Improvisation, go directly to the 1970 seminal free improvisation recording called “Topography of the Lungs”, the hard core trio recording with Parker, Derek Bailey & Han Bennink. All all of the above 4 albums you get a good mix of tenor & soprano but it is early so it’s before any of his circular breathing on either horn. What you DO get on all them is saxophone playing with a force & intensity that is quite striking. It is also music that could be described as thoroughly angular and even grating to many ears. I was certainly taken aback when I first started listening to this music. I originally never made it through the record with Bailey & Bennink. Today it is go to stone cold classic. To my ears he always kept some of even most of that fire throughout the years but by the 90’s his technical acumen and facility, especially on the tenor - YMMV as many rightly so are astounded by and love his innovative playing on the soprano - because his tenor playing is closest to classic free jazz type playing and when it’s in a power trio or quartet format, that’s when I hear his brilliance most clearly.