Steve Reynolds

Last night explosive 70 minute set from Tim Berne with Greg Belisle-Chi, John Hebert & Tom Rainey. Rainey 10 days from a hip replacement destroyed atoms. Not a better drummer on the planet. I’m blessed to see him as often as I do. Probably 25 times the last 2 years at least. There is no one like him. Best brush player on the planet. They played a Hemphill piece they never played before and a new Berne piece that went to places I’ve never heard before. Closed with Clandestine B which in an alternate universe would make Tim Berne famous. previous 3 shows last week ok to very good Brandon Ross with Charlie Burnham & Warren Benbow B plus / Benbow lacking in energy & dynamics. Burnham was brilliant with a minor quibble using a bit too much reverb & processing but the dude remains a truly great improvisor. Kris Davis with Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey B minus / compositions too restricting Brandon Ross with Stomu Takeishi & Qasim Naqvi B / all acoustic Stomu the highlight

There is a Cecil Taylor Unit video from Berlin 1975

McPhee was strong on May 5th and said he was looking forward to that appearance. He smiled when I told him how much I liked Decoy:) hope he is ok.

Last night: Matana Roberts: soprano saxophone & vocalizing Brandon Lopez: bass Tomas Fujiwara: drums stunning 30 minute improvisation followed by a 15 minute piece that might have been a smidge better. Brandon peaking even for him. 80-90% with a bow and only Joelle Leandre, Barry Guy & John Edwards are in this stratosphere.

Surprising. Yeah her playing is more “jazz” based that what I usually like but her demeanor & attitude has been great when I’ve seen her in any short interactions I’ve had with her. And she gets along great with her ex which says something.

CD available. Ordered. I’ve seen Angelica transform 2 shit pianos into concerto sound at two very hot Tony Malaby gigs earlier this year. Rainey helped, of course:)

To my door

Mine was! Oops this one I’ll buy from Michael in person on Monday

Last night 2 sets: Tony Malaby, Tim Berne, Brandon Lopez & Tom Rainey wowza 5-6 feet from Rainey’s bass drum yes retirement is awesome!! Got home at 12:30 on a Sunday night

Glad Marilyn is being honored.

RIP blessed to see Irene live from a few feet away circa 2009 at The Stone:) actually it was March 10, 2012 duo with Pierre Favre second set was my first time seeing Rainey, Halvorson & Laubrock

Last night in Philadelphia Sam Yulsman solo keyboards & eldctronics Michael Foster’s The Ghost plus Susan Alcorn Michael on tenor & soprano saxophones, John Moran on bass, Joey Sullivan on drums & the *great* Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar 45 minute continuous set of improvised genius. Best free improv set of the year. lately I can’t miss:)

Last night at Beautiful World Syndicate in Philadelphia Michael Foster, Webb Crawford & Joey Sullivan Sakina Abdou, Camila Nebbia & Chuck Roth as great as the tenor/soprano, guitar & drums trio was, the second set with Sakina on tenor & alto, Camila on tenor and the *great* Chuck Roth on guitar was incendiary and genius level improvising of the highest order. Camila Nebbia is a great tenor saxophonist. What a sound. two different kettles of fish but the drummerless trio hit me very hard last night. I’ve seen Chuck play a whole lot over the past 14 months. New levels playing the guitar unlike anyone I’ve ever heard.

I love the quartet for what it is. Avant-garde pop kinda. “Cute” to some extent. Very engaging and fun live. Love Tomeka’s melodies. Best live when they do cool improvised segues between songs. Better last year at the Stone than this past Spring at Jazz Gallery. I’ll see them every time they play.

Yes lots of good stuff. I just ordered the above 2 CD set.

Kevin Reilly (who runs Relative Pitch) loves solo recordings. He believes it’s a true challenge for the musicians. I like strings solo a decent amount but saxophone solo isn’t my thing.

These are some of the newest younger musicians on the scene in NYC/ Brooklyn Nava & Do Yeon have been playing longer. great duo recording with Nava & gabby fluke-mogul on relative pitch fwiw Michael appears on numerous recordings including the aforementioned recording Vanishing Pleasures

Hopefully we get a recording of Michael Foster with Strings He’s arguably the best saxophonist playing in NYC. One of the greatest I’ve ever heard. amazing 58 minute set last night at Solar Myth in Philadephia incorporating Ellington, Fred Anderson & Joe McPhee themes with improvisation. ended with variations of Old Eyes. Best show of the year. With Webb Crawford, Zosha Warhapa, Nava Dunkelman, Ana Abondolo & Do Yeon Kim

One day soon I need to make an updated list of some of the many great releases from the last year or so. Golden Age for creative music, in my view too bad the vast majority flies way under the radar as there is so much music released and most listeners are not focused on new music.

Tonight in about an hour: 8:00 set: Tim Berne, Gregg Belisle-Chi, John Hebert, Aurora Nealand & Tom Rainey 9:30 set: Tim, Gregg & Tom

All of the Barry Guy box sets on Not Two are essential Tensegrity & Intensegrity feature the members of the Blue Shroud band. Stunning small formations improvisation Mad Dogs & Mad Dogs on the Loose are earlier boxes with the members of Guy’s New Orchestra the 2 more recent boxes have improvisations from members of the LJCO & Guy & Friends. to my ears these are the most undervalued releases to date of the 21st century. Pristine sound quality and often magical interaction by grand masters young & old.

Webb Crawford/Chuck Roth duo 20 minutes of genius John Blum/Michael Foster/Brandon Lopez/Joey Sullivan modern free jazz at the highest level

Goldberg, Cline, Dunn & Rainey were spectacular 48-49 minute improvisation followed by a 6-7 minute coda wowza

I have shows on both Friday & Saturday night in Brooklyn. I’ll try to make this as well if possible. Catherine Sikora is an amazing saxophonist, fwiw

Last week: Alex Harding/Lucian Ban Blutopia with Mat Maneri, Bob Stewart & Brandon Lewis also Michael Foster’s Ghost with John Moran & Joey Sullivan, solo alto Don Malfon Also Chuck Roth duo with Scott Fields an awesome trio with Maria Valencia, Brandon Lopez & Matt Moran tomorrow Ben Goldberg with Nels Cline, Trevor Dunn & Tom Rainey then some great improv sets in Brooklyn this upcoming weekend including Sandy Ewen, Lyle Rivera, Sabrina Salome, Michael Foster & Webb Crawford among others watch out for Webb Crawford and her baby Gibson.