Steve Reynolds

Above @ Cornelia Street Cafe First piece a warm up Second piece on soprano - very fine playing with the energy level increasing Then we get the trio starting to crank it up a bit with a piece that was penned by Mintz. Then one of the two or three ballads, or balladic pieces if you will, of the night - great tone on tenor and great brushwork but these pieces only go so far with me. Then we get "We See" which is the first time I hear Malaby play Monk Close to what ICP does with "Jackie-Ing" or "Criss Cross" Pretty fucking incredible to my ears. And Billy Mintz by now is elevating Then a Lionel Hampton ballad and they close the first 70 minute set with some awe inspiring groove piece that had the whole trio playing at the next level. Second set starts with an subtle piece with some terrifyingly agile playing by Malaby. Then comes another Mintz piece that we find out is called "Cannonball" Oh my Lordy Lordy The *great* Billy Mintz takes about 7 or 8 minutes to build this groove - by 12 or 15 minutes it has exploded into one of those pieces that is beyond genius. Malaby by now is playing out of his mind. Then the last ballad. I guess we/they needed a break Second soprano piece follows - this time skronky, oblique with some terrific Hebert bow work. My wife didn't like this so much - for me, right down my alley - fine insect inspired piece Last piece ends up with another Mintz groove with Tony playing the best tenor I've ever heard him play. Full range of the horn - full concentration and focus - elbows flapping left and sometimes right - the man right now is playing as if possessed. He has it all going on. He is playing better than ever. As many of you know I've seen him often over the past number of years - but these last two shows.....wow Time for some serious music listeners to take note and come see the man live if you are interested in hearing a truly great tenor player. And also it is great to see Mr. Billy Mintz in an open yet structured (all compositions ) like this. He develops magical grooves and the sound he gets from the bass drum and toms is simply magnificent. Understated yet very powerful last night. If this sounds like fanboy shit - too bad - a few of you maybe oughtta check him out live rather than keeping him on ignore - so those near NYC come by on 12/26 or 12/27 and see Open Loose (at the same great little venue) for the Mark Helias led trio with another version of Tony Malaby on tenor with the *great* Tom Rainey at the kit.

Tony Malaby with John Hebert & Billy Mintz 9:00 set time

I despise Christmas music

Wow

I guess I cannot miss Friday night I try to NEVER miss the great Instant Composers Pool ICP then to Minetta Lane Theatre for David Murray Trio, Trio 3 + and then the Ribot band which I see includes Mary Halvorsen - if I can make it I would stay up for Bennink/Caine No way I can do 2 nights in a row - I'm too much of a......well you know

For me just about my favorite Coltrane on record - and the most exciting playing he did with Miles. He is on the cusp of breaking out into something new. I love how he works those phrases almost endlessly.

I'm very lucky to have seen the band: A) Without mainstream drummer B) Without fender Rhodes C) Without superfluous, unneeded and grating trumpeter Plus with plenty of Mat Maneri improvising. My history of seeing and listening to the great violinist is that his improvisations increase in intensity and creativity when the drummers increases in their abstraction and in their breaking up of the groove I.e. at his best with guys like Randy Peterson, Ches Smith, Billy Mintz and even Gerald Cleaver. He is certainly fine improvising close to standard changes but he goes to the stratosphere when challenged and when he is challenging the rest of the musicians in the band.

This is not the first time I've heard similar things said about Potts I think his playing on the Lacy recordings I have from the 80's is excellent. Vibrant, expressive and his tone is gorgeous. In fact, his solo on Wickets from Morning Joy is one of my favorite alto saxophone solos I've heard by anyone. His improvisation on the uptempo tune Blinks (second track) from the 1983 recording sets the tone for the great 2 CD set. Different strokes.....

All this Lacy talk had me digging up some you tube videos of Lacy in the 80's. If one searches, there are some great videos. Of course I found a couple with the *great* Steve Potts. The two saxophonists together are great foils for each other.

I Ike this! YET he comes across as a quick and agile thinker/player.

"The Window" is an earlier wonderous date on Soul Note As I've posted recently, I'm "hearing" Lacy like I never had before. I used to like the Steve Potts solos/improvisations more than Lacy's. Now I love them both. What I hear more than anything else is that his improvising is totally without cliche or pat licks. The control he has of that crazy horn is unmatched by anyone I've heard play that crazy horn - at least in the upper register or beyond the point where the soprano is "supposed" to be heard or played. I still think Morning Joy is a great introduction to Lacy. A quartet recording that has it all - Lacy compositions plus a couple of great Monk tunes with the band stretching out. From 1986, I believe Damn - pretty soon I might turn into Jeff or my friend Paul B!!!

First rock band I loved as a young guy was Creedence, then Traffic - then Genesis & King Crimson Much later I discovered Captain Beefheart - then I found Mingus, Miles, Monk, Maneri, etc.

when I bought an out of print Dark Tree volume one maybe in 1995 or so, I was the only one I knew that had it. The only place I ever heard about either volume was in The Penguin Guide. Tapscott was unknown to mostly everyone before the two arabesque recordings that came out in 1996 and 1997. By this time the bulletin boards were up and running and I only found one person who had ever listened to him - so The Dark Tree became the ultimate avant-garde disc to get once some people heard the great Aiee The Phantom and then Thoughts of Dar Es Salaam - hence kind of the equivalent to Hank Mobley's Straight, No Filter, I guess I got a burned copy of Volume 2 a few years later. One of the truly great legendary live recordings in the history of this music.

Ordering next week!!My copy just arrived . Same questionable design I regret to say as the earlier edition .All four discs detached from their foam posts . None damage as far as I can see. Disc 1 sounding excellent The packaging, if it hasn't been pointed out, is actually a little different and much worse than before. My first set arrived with all the discs secured in place on rubber posts. My second set arrived with the discs scattered about mixed with bits of foam that replaced the previously mentioned rubber. Two of the discs are scratched but look playable. Got them in the player now. I've lightly glued transparent CD envelopes centred over where the foam posts were. Works very well and is better than the discs being loose inside the large outer cover . Curiously the single CD issues I have from Nottwo are rather well packaged. Despite even potentially worse packaging on the 4 CD box than the first 5 CD box (didn't think that was possible - but do see the comments above), I'll be ordering this set shortly.

Let Freedom Ring and Bluesnik

I don't think so Don't miss the show. The Cornelia Street shows (Spring & Fall) were both great. The fall show was even better.

Excellent discussion. Now I might know why I've never been able to listen to latter day Jackie McLean

I wonder why Ban is playing the Fender Rhodes Third drummer for this band - Cleaver, then Mintz - now Billy Hart!!! Great choice - maybe the only better choice would be for Randy Peterson to crank it up with this quintet, but on a serious note, for this band, Hart sounds like a perfect choice as Stewart often drives this band with that tuba groove thing he does As you know, both times I saw them they were great - the second time they were awesome. Ban's compositions are very striking. Maneri's are oblique sketches with a much more open vibe. Malaby and Maneri together are a dream. Expect them both to be seated facing each other.

Ordering next week!!

Dortmund Quartet 1976 Among many many others - but this one is the "jazz" Braxton record for me

Give me the three poems/spoken words and Veteran's Day Poppy which might clock in right under ten - if not I'll die during the great fade out of track 28 from Trout Mask Replica A great way to go

I've decided I will get either the second or third Farmers by Nature albums despite not being impressed with them live. I remember them searching for that fat groove but never getting there......I was waiting for Cleaver to find his way into one of those grooves that he gets to on some nights. Not always possible every night or every set, but based on the above, maybe it happens on the records.....

The new box is listed @ 59.99 on amazon plus 3.99 shipping in US Not bad - will order for delivery for the holidays. My guess is that it is more from the same festival as the Parker-Guy-Lytton and Tarfala sections would make the combined playing times for both discs for those trios about the time of a typical hour set. If true, it will be very interesting to see if the music compares favorably to the very strong presentations of those great trios on the first box. I am especially looking forward to hearing the two Fernandez duets with the two drummers as well as the two larger ensembles. For those who have not heard the first box, there is little to nothing on the 5 discs that is filler. Now we need not two to get the rights to release the full orchestra performances that must have ocuured during the festival week. Usually those performances/releases have been on Intakt. The sound on that label is excellent but the mastering/sound on the Mad Dogs box is even beyond that.

Give me twenty: Side one of Tago Mago Or: Ella Guru, Moonlight in Vermont, Well, Orange Claw Hammer, Veteran's Day Poppy and then back to track two: The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back

I simply think the Shorter blue notes with Joe Chambers have a great groove and that Etcetera, Adam's Apple and The All Seeing Eye have a special vibe even beyond fine recordings like Juju or Night Dreamer. I've heard the later blue notes being discussed years ago and it confirmed to me (rightly or wrongly) that the early to mid 60's Shorter would never be approached again. Still balking at trying Without a Net - I didn't like any of the earlier recent quartet records and I don't like his sound on soprano saxophone. BUT upon relistening to the classic blue notes, they rate for me above almost anything released on the great label at that time - their (and his) legendary reputation are very well deserved