Steve Reynolds

Thanks for the follow up comments Yes - a very hard road to build energy and power within unique structures. The newer suite worked in spades. Dynamic overwhelmingly successful performance International Who Ha, baby

Decompressing from what was one of the most intense 45 minutes of music - a suite called International Who Ha - coming soon in some capacity on some recording that may give a listener far away from the actual band maybe some sort of idea what this band can do. They did follow it with a short fast groove based piece called Anxiety Disorder which was an apt more traditional ending piece that featured the incredible guitar of Ms. Halvorsen - another one if those combination bass line/rhythm thing that Smith seems quite fond of. Odd that every time I see her, I'm again convinced there is no other guitarist of any stripe I'd rather hear live. Her sound is the most striking of any guitarist I know of. First set too tight for me maybe I was hoping they would "open it up " until the last 15-20 minutes when they hit a few grooves (with increasing energy and verve) and allowed a few tight space improvisations from the horn players. Second set a whole different deal. Impossible to describe the tension they built with space and structure. Some if the written materials for Halvorsen were unlike anything I've ever heard. Berne was very involved, Parkins played some of the most draw dropping bass drones things on the accordion and as a whole in many different aspects, the *great* Tony Malaby played everything that is beyond possible within the very unique structures that Smith invented. From gorgeous balladic material to his elbow flapping amazing quick lines all the way to the howls, bursts and shrieks that make him one of a kind. There was a section towards the end that mirrored the best of EFI that morphed back into thematic material with Berne moving from the front of the space to the back while Tony seemingly invented new music. Ches Smith when needed provided as powerful a bombing of the kit as exists in this world outside of Gerry Hemingway or Randy Peterson. The *sound* of the kit, the bells and metal that he created last night were that of a master well beyond his years. Blessed to see this ensemble live - I can't explain to people who havn't seen a band of this originality and power in a great small room like The Stone how awesome the experience is. The power is immense when they crank it. The power is immense when they created pure spaces in the music. At these times the energy in the room is palpable. And there is never ANY noise from the audience at The Stone. All that can be heard are sounds from the street. Not sure if there was really a tempo during the suite. All tension, very little release. The tension at times was very very exciting yet almost too much. Once I dropped what I thought I was looking for in this band (you all know I love roaring wailing improv with the two saxophonists blasting away - alas that is NOT this band) and took them for what they are, I heard a band that is simply like no other - and more worth seeing and hearing live for that aspect of the group. I won't miss them next time or the next time if at all possible. Another example of new music that is really new, fresh and although part of me thought is would be some sort of pastiche, it is nothing of that sort.

Not mannered live. Very structured but very intense Second set starting in a minute or so - lights dimmed New suite promised by Ches More tomorrow

Front Row - middle. Fired up

It sounds quite a bit more than just "better" Seeing and hearing musicians of the caliber of Evan Parker or Tony Malaby or Tim Berne or Mary Halvorsen from a few feet away renders the recordings insignificant for weeks or months. Sure they are still enjoyable to listen to - and I loved recordings before I saw any of thus must live. BUT live is a whole different beast I could have touched Evan's tenor on the table or his right arm while he was playing the soprano. The SOUND of that tenor or the SOUND of the circular breathing right between my ears seeing him actually creating the music in the spot?!?!? "Better" is a huge understatement when it comes to comparing the experience of hearing even a great recording as compared to seeing them live, let alone from the first or second row at The Stone

Lots of clean feed recordings are weak - especially compared to what these musicians can be like live. I kind of have a feeling that live from a few feet away will be anything but weak. I've been waiting a couple of years to see this band live. I never expect a clean feed recording to capture what a band sounds like live. Capricorn Climber is awesome live / the recording is stale. Malaby's Novela is even more incredible than the above band live / the recording is "nice" and maybe a bit exciting at times. Overall nothing more than a three star record. Berne with Malaby plus Mary Halvorsen - with the great Andrea Parkins and Ches Smith on drums?!?!? I'm trying to lower the expectations in my head. We'll Let You Know

Tomorrow night : These Arches @ The Stone Ches Smith - drums Tim Berne - alto saxophone Tony Malaby - tenor saxophone Mary Halvorsen - guitar Andrea Parkins - accordion/sampler

Just to be clear here, heroin and other narcotics do not cause cancer but the effect of sharing needles as someone else stated can cause hepatitis which when untreated can cause liver cancer. If a person were to never share a needle and used sterile technique they wouldn't get hepatitis from IV drug use. Drinking alcohol when one has hepatitis already will only speed up liver failure. The human body is very resilient which is why someone can do these things for a long time before the body really starts giving up the fight. There used to be a hepatitis non A/ non B as it was what they called it if it wasn't A or B. I believe that is what ended up getting labeled Hep C. Thanks for this clarification

Thank you for preserving my sanity! I do understand we all have differences in musical perspectives - I'm just not as attracted to pretty or melodically based playing as I am astringent and precise powerful pianism

Although the music is different, what a shock to put on Oort-Entropy (Barry Guy New Orchestra) with Agusti Fernandez at the piano after listening to Jason Moran. Moran sounds pretty and melodic for sure, but there is little grit, guts or power. Sounds like a pastiche of a bunch of fine pianists. Certainly The New Orchestra is not for everyone as it incorporates new music, baroque and free music sensibilities into it's whole - BUT if one wants to hear a truly great pianist deal with very difficult and challenging material - and raise the music's level - listen to that recording. Plus at that time, he was the newest member of the band!!! If you want more, get the Mad Dogs box and hear how he cuts a swath right inky and through Parker-Guy-Lytton - a trio that has been playing together for 30 years. Or as expected, don't bother listening and stick to the easier and softer way. We don't want to hurt anyone's ears.

Oops - I edited my earlier post rather than quoting it. I was simply hoping to hear back who the "grating and unoriginal" avant-garde musicians were who put on those depressing shows. Was hoping to get more than the typical broad brush smear of those crazy avant-gardists Fwiw - I listened closely to Breaking Glass this AM and I am non-plussed by Moran. Not my favorite Trio 3 + recording but them again, I prefer them by a bit without the piano added. I can give them a little push back on adding Moran and Iyer in order to get those two weeks on successive years at Birdland!! Then again, if some of you were paying attention in the late 90's the trio could barely get a sniff from anything close to a jazz club. So I guess they all had to get over 70 for that to happen!!!!

Not a huge fan of drum duets with saxophonists unless they are Evan Parker & Eddie Prevost or Paul Lytton or John Stevens Seriously it isn't my favorite set-up I like a third wheel to amp up the interplay and energy level I'd like to hear Roscoe with Mark Sanders!!!

But doesn't Moran fancy himself something of an avant musicians? - Rivers, Braxton, Taylor, Threadgill, Oliver Lake, et al? He certainly seems to like getting into their performances. Sorry you don't enjoy these types of performances, but I can understand that, since sitting through straight-ahead stuff depresses me. To each his own, and no argument there. As for the Board, I more than suspect the advantage is towards the mainstream, although I think the tilt has not been as great as formerly. I think he models himself on Jaki Byard, a mostly inside-modestly outside type of musician schooled in the mainstream tradition. I've seen some pretty depressing avant garde jazz performances--almost no audience, the venue a dump, the performance grating and unoriginal. But I have seen everyone you mention live, and would do so again with the opportunity.I'm very curious who the musicians who played in the depressing avant-garde performances. Some "avant-garde" jazz musicians are not avant-garde in that what they play isn't so original. I'm very curious who these people were. Fwiw - the size of the audience has no bearing for me. 1 of the 3 or 4 best sets of music I've ever witnessed was in front of about 18 or 20 people. As far as the venues, they is what they is. This is about musical quality, not how many in the crowd or if the served fancy sparkling cider. Am I missing something? I'm dissapointed not to hear who the "grating and unoriginal" avant-garde musicians were. Not that I expected a response. A broad brush is the easier response, I suppose.

I saw Fujii in a trio the other night at Pathhead ( a small village outside Edinburgh. Tom Bancroft (drums ) lead the completely improvised set . It was a stunning concert that really defies description. I felt truly privileged . I ended up buying 4 discs featuring her or her husband ( trumpeter Natsuki Tamura ) I think her Ma- do quartet is possibly her best group. I am promising myself to get this recording. Plus I love the cover. I hear good, even great things, about Satoko Fuji, but it is going to take me a while to get over her disastrous Vision Fest appearance. Maybe her husband can take some of the blame for that, but it was still her gig. One of the big disappointments for me. Perhaps she comes across better on disc. Broke the piggy bank today and ordered: 1) Badenhorst, Joachim / John Butcher / Paul Lytton: Nachtigall 2) Decoy with Joe Mcphee: Spontaneous Combustion [2 CDs] (have the LP but need the additional minutes) 3) Mitchell, Roscoe / Mike Reed: In Pursuit of Magic 4) Nilssen-Love, Paal Large Unit: Erta Ale [3 CD BOX SET] 1) and 4) sound intriguing. Would love to hear your thoughts down the road 2) is a given as the first live recording by Decoy & McPhee has some passages that really explode with McPhee playing as fierce a tenor saxophone as I've heard from him for some time. I expect more and better with a 2 CD set

Some us await the FULL report!!!!

One good thing about this discussion is that it will prompt me to listen more closely to the Trio 3 recording to see if I hear anything I've missed something whenever, over the years, I've listened to Jason Moran. To be very honest, I've never heard anything that inspired me to listen further. Maybe I'm missing something but whenever one of these musicians goes the route of the newest recording, any shot in finding one's voice and vision is long gone. So maybe for my tastes, there was never much there in the first place - although hearing some positive comments above from board members I highly respect has me questioning what I've heard - so therefore that's why I'm going to give Breaking Glass some more attention. I did hear the trio disc with Motian and Potter on ECM - then again, I barely made it through the disc, I was so bored. And I'm no fan of Charles Lloyd, so I've never heard any of that collaboration Sorry to go starving artist on you all, but I'm more impressed with the musician who plays what they want, with choose who they play with - and do that all the time. Serious musicians who play 100% for the music. Value judgement about Moran? Sure Justified? Who knows? It's my viewpoint. When it quacks like a duck..... Will he go FUNK next?!?!? Of course, the argument is always that he made the record cuz that's what he wanted to do - or don't give the guy a hard time as he deserves a few accolades from someone other than the hardcore music fan - or whatever BS we always hear when someone goes the soft, easy way. And, No, I have no interest or plans on listening. Standing on a Whale Fishing for Minnows

The okkadisk trio with Anderson/Kowald/Drake is one of the best Fred Anderson recordings. The great bassist really pushes it.

My recommendations for recent (the last couple of years) must buy recordings include: Mad Dogs box Rodrigo Amado - Searching for Adam Dragonfly Breath William Parker box - Wood Flute Songs Code Read - Assif Tsahar, Mark Dresser & Gerry Hemingway Older recordings that you may have missed - that I believe you will be destroyed by: Myra Melford - either Alive in the House of Saints and/or Even the Sounds Shine John Law - Exploded on Impact Air - Air Time DKV Trio - Live in Wels and Chicago AALY trio + Ken Vandermark - Live at the Glenn Miller Cafe and/or Hidden in the Stomach Available Jelly - both volumes of Live at Nassau Cluesone Trio - I am an Indian Gerry Hemingway Quintet - Demon Chaser All right in your sweet spot - and all, IMO, all time great recordings Plus the first Tamarindo CD is arguably superior to the latest from the band. peace and blessings

Blue Winter, baby December 12th, 2004 recorded live @ Johnson State College ( I think ) in Vermont Best sounding recording of Parker/Drake in existence

The band is not an easy listen. It may be described as low-key but intense. Very intense, often obtuse and very challenging. My viewpoint is that it must also be very challenging for them to play this music. They never take the easy way out. It seems like they try to create musical situations that have no solution and yet somehow they often find one. The highs are extraordinary yet it can take some time (often much time from experiences in seeing them live) to get to those incredible peaks. They are like no other saxophone-bass-drums trio I've heard

A few listens through Malaby's Taramindo recording "Somos Agua" and I'm finally ready to give a full recommendation. It took some time after seeing the band from a few feet away to be able to "hear" the trio with some perspective. It really does capture in microcosm what they do live. Nasheet is captured very well on record which is not an easy thing to accomplish. If interested, simply listen to him on the first track where he starts out strong but towards the end of the medium length piece, he is doing what only he can do - those poly-poly rhythms with power and force that seemingly almost pushes Makaby's tenor over the edge. Some more passages as good as this throughout the hour. Looking forward to seeing the trio again on 10/25 with Michael Formanek in place of William Parker. They are playing both Friday 10/24 & Saturday night - 2 sets each night - @ Cornelia Street Cafe.

My favorite of the well known piano solos is Monk's intro solo on Well You Needn't before Trane famously is called to enter

Cecil Taylor's improvisation on E.B. from The World of Cecil Taylor. I don't know if it can be called a solo - more like the creation of something seemingly impossible. Shook my world some 20 years ago and again recently when I heard it again for the first time in over 10 years.

"Blessed" the duo with Joe & Mat was also recorded in that timeframe. "Angles of Repose" is quite something. Mat's favorite of all the drummerless recordings of him and his dad. "Going to Church" might be the greatest unheard album of the last 30 years. It is so emotionally charged and due to the larger ensemble, much different than the trio and classic quartet recordings. Fwiw - a little story from Mat - once his father could no longer play, the last couple of years were just sitting in the chair just waiting for the end. If one listens to Blessed (maybe like Jeff describes November - and Lacy to Jeff is like Papa Joe to me) it is not an easy listen. I was told the recording process was not easy as Joe was struggling with his health. But I am very glad we have that very human, very personal music available to us. When the Ship Goes Down