Steve Reynolds

I am very happy for you that you will see this quartet live. Besides me being very much interested in seeing Hawkins and Yarde, my dream remains to see Louis Moholo-Moholo live one day. In addition, I am pretty sure that John Edwards is the greatest living bassist I've not seen live.

Yeah baby!!! Plus look at that very cool picture/cover of the band!!

I've been kicking myself for missing Matt Nelson with Henry Grimes & Ches Smith last fall. I picked another show to hear Mat Maneri & Ingrid Laubrock with Kris Davis' Capricorn Climber and unbeknownst to me, they switched the band the previous day to not include either for whatever reason. Plus the second set after the trio mentioned above was Ches with Tyshawn Sorey and Randy Peterson!!! I still don't know what I was thinking - plus I heard the drummer trio thing was off the fucking hook with the *great* Randy Peterson shaking the walks of The Stone. I'll be sure to check out Matt Nelson sooner than later.....

In case I've been misunderstood (quite possible), I'm a great admirer of Halvorson, and my comments were intended to be complimentary. I feel she's extending Braxton's post-mod program, and is very much an artist of her time. My point was that we need to adopt new evaluative paradigms in order to better appreciate what she is doing. The old Romantic egoist approach isn't cutting it anymore. As in the old "reaching for the great solo that ends with a big flourish to gain the big cheer" has been a thing of the past for quite some time. Very rare if you've ever seen the best of the best current improvisors where there is a set up for an applause. Very rare that Malaby ever gets applause during a set. All the real great stuff always happens in the moment within the context of the music.

Btw - Halvorsen as understated with ICP in May but she was thoroughly brilliant. Even a friend who is not a Mary fan admitted to her wonderful playing with the great ensemble. Fwiw Marcus Rojas might have been even better - but I remind myself it isn't a contest. Maybe ICP deserves to be mentioned here as they are mostly older, mostly been playing together a long time, mostly playing lots of the same music for a very long time - and yet they are filled with spirit, excitement, surprises and are thoroughly engaging and exciting improvisors. My only issue is that I only was able to see one of the three nights they played here in Brooklyn in May.

Along with Mat Maneri, I find as pure improvisors that Malaby & Halvorsen are the most vibrant in the moment, 'sound of surprise' musicians I see and hear live on a fairly regular basis. For example, as I said above, I'm going to see Thumbscrew on 6/20. I've not yet heard the trio on record or live. I am pretty sure I have no idea what their mode of operation is or what the compositional approach will be. As far as her use of distortion and the pedals et al, I find it organic, refreshing and simply part of her 'voice'. None of it is done to impress, it is all fine in the spirit of the music. Mat's use of his pedal/volume is somewhat similar with his viola and the effect is somewhat similar. I find the one historical musician that they both sometime recall when I'm experiencing them live is Jimi Hendrix. See - in a perfect world, more could feel and hear that. Yes - they can both be that good. Malaby for whatever reason only makes me think of him. He doesn't sound like anyone else on tenor and lately on soprano, he's come into a whole new level of brilliance. His antecedents and influences to me come more from other musics than from other saxophonists. Sure - he is a high energy tenor man first and foremost and has absorbed the full history and breadth of the music and of the horn - maybe deeper and wider than any of his contemporaries. I mean what other guy plays ripping changes and free bop shit along with very abstract excursions into places beyond? Without it being pastiche.

There was one night that Malaby seemed not to be able to get it together until late in the second set (in a two tenor Mario Pavone band maybe 5-6 years ago), and then he uncorked an improvisation that made me a lifetime follower. I think the other tenor guy inspired him or something within the band/music finally inspired him. Who knows?

Malaby is almost notoriously inconsistent in my experience. For me, it's not because he's bored. He never settles for the easy audience thrill which he could pull off every time and every set. He may struggle for motivation - maybe we a do. But I do know he's still searching. For me the last year of his performances that I've seen have been overall the strongest playing of his I've seen/heard.

I don't know if I used the descriptor "spectacular" as it is not apt, but do think that a lack of spirit is not an issue with Mary. I find her playing to be vibrant and alive. I will say that if the group of musicians that you may be in part referring to are the ones I think they are, they do suffer from an overly academic overly composed approach at times which leads to a certain dullness. I disagree with many here that Tim Berne's music is often way too composed sucking the life out of otherwise brilliant improvisors. One's mileage often varies. I also think Tony Malaby is just about the most exciting improvisor with a saxophone playing jazz today - certainly when playing with something close to time in a jazz mode - yet many here barely give him a listen for whatever reason. With a trio of him, Hebert and Mintz last winter, it was two sets of pure jazz - free, straight and invented, and he and the trio were overwhelmingly fucking brilliant. The tradition was honored and certainly was a weight that the trio handled and embraced yet made music completely of this time. An example of what jazz is all about. They played a Mintz tune named Cannonball that only the most jaded or stuck in the past listeners would not have loved. Problem is so few seem interested.

I love your posts, Karl That being said (sounds like a Seinfeld joke), I can't even keep up with Halvorsen's recordings, let alone a number of other improvisors making music today. That's part of the problem. I will see her with her Thumbscrew trio on 6/20. They are NOT playing at The Village Vanguard but the way it us going with the old cellar club actually booking some musicians or bands that don't play totally straight jazz, that time could come sooner than later. I mean Oliver Lake played there for the first time well past his 70th birthday this spring. Obviously all part of the problem Halvorsen is a good example as her playing is thoroughly accesable yet she still plays in little places with relatively small attendance. I'll show up at 8:00 for 8:30 door and I'll be first in line. There are about 40-50 good seats at Cornelia Street. Despite her playing being dynamic and captivating and accesable, NONE of the jazz listeners who listen to traditional bop, bebop, hard bop etc listen to her. Read the WAYLT thread for evidence. Close minded jazz listeners kill the music. I have so many great musicians I want to listen to that I havn't listened to very much - live or on record - that damn if I'm gonna spend $$ and buy a 3 CD set from this guy. Just thinking of saxophonists playing in NYC these day you have Darius Jones, Travis Laplante, JD Allen, Jason Rigby, and scores of others that I just havn't got around to spending serious time with - that will come first

From my experiences of listening and experiencing music in a live setting, the greatest improvisors often might not get where they might be going until the second set. The good improvisors often get to where they might be going within ten minutes. On a great night I heard one of the greats (who often may not hit the spot until very late in the proceedings) hit it ten minutes in and not lose it for the whole 2 hours the band played.

Very glad you were able to experience the concert, erwbol Like you, I love to hear and feel my favorite musicians up close. Last time I saw Evan Parker, I could have interfered with his saxophone playing if I chose to!!!

I looked this up and I see that this might be about the most impressive gathering of current improvisors/musicians playing together in one place for one night. Names that scream out at me: Michael Moore Nate Wooley Mary Halvorsen Ingrid Laubrock Wolter Wierbos Eric Boeren Tomeka Reid Michael Vatcher Brandon Seabrook Vincent Chancey Wow

Same here save for some of the fine stuff from 1980. I probably have enough very good live Grateful Dead recordings to last me forever but there are a few from 1970 and 19731974 that havn't been issued or I havn't bought that I would like to hear. I cannot and will not get caught up in the insanity of getting so much music that I'll never be able to listen to all of it.

I'm very excited that you are getting this once in a lifetime opportunity to see this. I know you are a huge Corea fan and I guess the two of them are not coming back to New Zealand any time soon. As you know, I am very fortunate to be able to see a wide variety of many of my favorite musicians on a very regular basis (if I choose to go), so I don't know what it's like to have a rare opportunity to see live music but I imagine you have it has you all kinds of fired up. Very little in this world for compares favorably to seeing my musical heroes up close and personal. I love listening to my CDs - but as it was 2 nights ago seeing, hearing and feeling Mark Dresser and company from a few feet away simply makes the world feel like a better place.

Have you heard the Jazz Icons DVD? It's really great. No I have not heard these. Thanks for posting

For me, not being a Rollins fanatic, *this* is the stuff I want to hear more than anything else. I would also love to hear anything up through 67-68 when he stopped recording for a bit (again). I've heard some of the poor sounding boots of that era but I am not one for awful sound and when coupled with bootleg lineage, I'm totally not interested

Mark Dresser - bass Larry Ochs - tenor and sopranino saxophones Vladimir Tarasov - drums After a fine, long set of compositions by Trio M, for which I was very grateful to witness, the reason I was at The Stone on a Wednesday night during the busiest part of my work (end of month), was the appearance of the above trio. No sheet music for this trio. It took a bit to get started and Ochs simply started in to his very oblique and anti-traditional, yet traditional approach to free jazz tenor saxophone. First piece about 16-18 minutes - and the three pieces that followed would be slightly less in length. Second piece was the only one where Ochs played the small horn and he was mind numbingly stupendous creating that elusive and almost unrelenting tension. Seeing Dresser up close (both sets - but especially in this context) is an awe inspiring experience when one refuses to take it for granted and become jaded to experiencing one of best 3-4 bassists in the world. The grunting, the power of the sound and then the bow. The bow - precise yet wholly unpredictable and extreme, yet - well I stop here - impossible to comprehend unless you experience it. And Tarasov is the type of drummer and musician who is like no one else. I could hear him play with little cymbal on the tom drum on his right for the whole 50 minutes and it would have been enought. The crashes and the playing on the third piece were just gravy. Not sure they could play better than they did last night. It should be accepted as it is with more well known and reknowned musicians (not that Dresser isn't known in some circles), but these three guys play on the level they is uncommon even among masters. Kind of an inside energy power sax-bass-drum trio with only portions of high volume - yet no passages that were not captivating. The last notes by Ochs were never played before by him or anyone else - I'm convinced - plus I never heard anyone play lines like him - bit those last few riffs/notes - wow And when Dresser finally used the pedal with the Bow towards the end, I knew everything in my world is way way more than alright. Blessed to be there And YES - Giants Walk This Earth

In ten to fifteen minutes: Trio M Myra Melford - piano Mark Dresser - bass Matt Wilson - drums @ 10:00: Larry Ochs - saxophones Mark Dresser - bass Vladimir Tarasov - drums Pick my never thought I would see them musician Fired up. Front row three feet from Myra's chair - four feet from the baby grand piano

I love all kinds of silly TV shows: Bering Sea Gold - seen them all - a very poorly done show that I watch every Friday night when it's on Good Rush - the show that spawned the above - slightly better in quality - but I've never missed a show. Deadliest Catch - a few years ago I missed a few - but I'm back all in Graveyard Cars - I'm obsessed - I love classic Mopar cars from 66 to 71 and that's what they do - they very slowly restore these cars perfectly. Much better show than any of the above Top Chef - I've seen every episode of every season - my favorite food show. Brilliant production - as good as Graveyard Cars but much more famous. Chopped - still love it Those are probably my favorites - but over the years watched American Chopper, Storage Wars, Pawn Stars and Chasing Classic Cars with differing levels of interest. Maybe most of all - any Mecum or Barrett Jackson classic car auction.

Not a big fan of "with strings" in general but I do love "Strings with Evan Parker" No very much at all in the same realm as any of the above:)

That is the highlight of the record for me. I find whenever I pull this one out it gets spun over and over for days. So far my favorite of the three Ideal Bread recordings is the first one. That one has 3-4 Lacy tunes that I never heard like I heard them played by others. Listening to Ideal Bread and The Whammies (a thoroughly different approach to Lacy's music) have given Lacy's music a whole new life for me. It's gotten me to go back to many of the Lacy recordings I have that I hadn't listened to in ages.

Always very difficult to answer this thread's question. I'll bite "Flakes" from Ideal Bread's Transit Now I'm humming it in my head as I watch Mecum Car Auctions on DVR

Namesake is the one that totally brings it. Ewart & Brackeen at full power. Title track was the first tune I played in my new car

The earliest (and best?) Dennis Gonzalez recordings were made closer to the 70's than today. As many here know, he is a teacher in Texas. For me, he has always been a major figure. the Silkheart recordings (and a few others on other labels like Hymn for the a perfect heart of a pearl) are a great run of recordings made those many years ago. I've heard many of the more recent recordings and like them well enough but for me, they do not have the urgency of great records like Stefan or Debenge, Debenge. The trio with his two sons (Yels at Eels) is also a fine band - most effective (IMO) with an added player(s)