Steve Reynolds

Me wishes these would be on Saturday night so I could take a trek up one weekend. I'm thrilled to be able to McPhee, Corsano and Evan Parker (in place of Levin) on September 9th. I've been dying to hear Corsano in a small room with a trio. I think these two trios could both be awe inspiring. The listing for the Parker concert lists McPhee to be playing trumpet which is wonderful but part of me wants to hear them both, at least for a time, on tenor saxophone.

I really want that Clifford Jordan box set

Scott's one of my best friends, and a member of one of the most interesting improvising ensembles in Atlanta, Duet for Theremin and Lap Steel - which is exactly what it says it is, and kind of magical. Scott has been posting his video archive online, and yes, there is some amazing stuff there. No, I wasn't there. There were some amazing shows in Atlanta in that period, and although I attended many of them, I missed many. During those days I was keeping body and soul together in part by playing commercial music in "tuxedo bands." I worked a lot, and often had gigs which caused me to miss shows I would have liked to attend. Some of those missed opportunities were just heartbreaking to me, but eating and having a roof over my head seemed fairly important at the time. On the other hand, I heard almost the same quartet - with George Lewis in place of Workman - around the same time, as well as lots of other great shows. I walked to the Brotzmann Tentet show Scott has posted - it was in my Atlanta neighborhood. Yes!! The original tour of the Tentet. I saw the band on the same tour in NY @ Tonic. In retrospect, this was a very strong time for this sort of improvisation both live and on record. It might have been the same year I first saw Evan Parker live - but I know Lytton and Von Schlippenbach were not with him, so it might have been a year earlier, I guess. It was with Dresser and Previte at The Knitting Factory downstairs. Changed my musical perspective, those two shows.

Listened/watched first 20 minutes. Workman is immense. I wish more bassist would have their volume as high in the mix as the great bassist does here. Great to hear him mesh with three great first generation euro improvisors. Also love Lytton's start with the racket he makes like he is cleaning the area around his kit. And maybe no drummer clatters like Paul Lytton. For me it gets more endearing as the years go by whereas in the past I didn't know WTF to think about him, it's pretty clear to me what a focused improvisor he is with these long standing partnerships.

So the first Schlippenbach Trio recording has never been issued?!?! I bet it's rough and exciting as all get out

Simply the greatest of all. The best of the best, ahead of all the rest. It's Always a Pleasure

Another chance for those who don't know September 13th @ Cornelia Street Cafe With Tony Malaby, Bob Stewart & Billy Mintz Little in life for me is much better than seeing Mat Maneri & Tony Malaby sitting across from one another playing in a band like this.

I also be loving me some Mats Gustsfsson, Marty Ehrlich, Michael Moore, Peter Brotzmann, Toby Delius among others. So many very fine players - at this level, it also very much becomes a matter if taste. Then the intriguing and/or frustrating voices for me that sometimes give me little and sometimes I can really hear - Tim Berne, Rodrigo Amado, Ken Vandermark, Jon Irabagon, Dave Rempis, Ingrid Laubrock, Anthony Braxton, Kidd Jordan, Oliver Lake, Rob Brown, Oscar Noriega, etc. Lots of very advanced talented saxophonists out there, for sure Then guys like Vinny Golia who I havn't given much time to - or younger guys like Matt Bauder, Loren Stillman, or Jason Rigby that I havn't listened to other than a clip here or there.

I've been hot and cold with Butcher. I'm looking forward to hearing this one. Leeway - you forgot your guy that is playing tonight with Golia and Laubrock I certainly agree with you about Evan Parker. I havn't listened to much recent Leimgruber but I love the few CDs I have with him from the 90's. Certainly I add Malaby & Dunmall to my great saxophonist list.... Leeway - you forgot your guy that is playing tonight with Golia and Laubrock I certainly agree with you about Evan Parker. I havn't listened to much recent Leimgruber but I love the few CDs I have with him from the 90's. Certainly I add Malaby & Dunmall to my great saxophonist list....

I need the SME for sure.

Lordy Lordy Bring Edwards and Moholo-Moholo over here!! As explosive a combination as exists in this world today. Those bombs Louis drops are something else. Is that Jason Yarde on the alto? You can come as well, Alexander!!! Lots of tension and only limited release which is a great combination. Seriously - no bassist I've ever seen gets a sound like John Edwards

Writing a check for the 4 volumes of Eddie Prevost meets remarkable saxophonists - on matchless - Thanks to Bol on the board.

I've seen the Ches Smith trio twice - I think they have only played those two times. First time March 2013 and then in January of this year. The 2013 show was 2 sets @ Cornelia Street Cafe and was probably the best live show I saw last year. The one set show @ Winter Jazz Fest was fine albeit in a poorer room sound wise and did not come close to the heights the trio reached during especially the second set @ Cornelia Street. There were 2 or 3 passages during that second set that were beyond what I thought was possible even from those 3 guys. Taborn was a controlled orchestra on the baby grand, Smith was in power mode and Maneri played unlike his normal self in that he focused on sounds almost bass like and the heavy riffs were almost drone like and as I wrote before, it was almost like a doom metal intensity. Not for the feint of heart, but I remember they seemed stunned at the result and the crowd was nuts. I so wish those sets were recorded and released.

I don't know The Necks but I plan to - but those first 4 nights look amazing. Very happy we have Evan here a month earlier

September 4th & 5th Greenwich House on the 4th: Ches Smith Trio with Craig Taborn & Mat Maneri Cornelia Street Cafe on the 5th: Kris Davis Trio with Tyshawn Sorey & Mat Maneri Should be very exciting shows

Exactly. There used to be a few people and there still are, I suppose, who were convinced they didn't like any jazz music that wasn't classic jazz. A few of them actually listened to some of the various so-called avant-garde music of the past 40 or so years and a few others have actually gone to see some of these musicians play live - and alas, a few actually liked some of it. You got ears, you gotta listen Don Van Vliet

I am listening to his former "teacher" with his quartet from 1993 and it is among the most incredibly exciting performances I've ever heard from any era. he even screeches a bit on his horns from time to time. Fwiw, Hemingway's performance on drums is splendidly and thoroughly original and far removed from what any drummer played 30 years before. As is the playing of the quartet. I can think of dozens of performances by multiple bands/ensembles over the last few years that resembled little that existed ten or fifteen years ago. One would have to actually listen to current jazz/improv to comment on the issue with any bit of gravitas. This guys assertion that he was some sort of student is a false qualification if I've ever read one. Composition 69m, baby

He even thinks he knows something about Peter Brotzmann "screechy" Ok, whatever

"Jikes" How soon does that happen after one first got in touch with the music? I'm not much into labeling myself, so I do not mind her singing country or jazz or both. I like country myself and sometimes I sing and play some on my guitar. According to what she did in the past I really liked her cooperation with the Charlie Hunter Quartet and covered their "Day is done" (orginally a Nick Drake song) with my band. I do not really look at her as a jazz singer but when do you verify exactly as one? And who, besides yourself, gets to decide which influence you want to bring into your music? For some bizarre reason I missed the HP quote you posted here. I don't see older audiences for those genres as anything alarming. I think getting into those genres IS a matter of age. What I mean is that when were younger we tend to lean towards music that is easier to digest on the fly, or in the background because we haven't settled down at that point in our lives. But as we mature we take the time to "stop and smell the roses". Most people when they're younger aren't looking to invest the time and focus needed to appreciate these art forms. And it IS an investment of time and focus. Just my two cents. It's mostly older folks who listen to Mozart, but it's not like they were around when he was composing. However, when I went to see Albert Collins, Luther Allison, Son Seals, Albert King, John Lee Hooker, etc. in the late 1980s and early 1990s, at the Grand Emporium in Kansas City, the audience looked like it was in its 30s and 40s. Now the audience for the same kind of music is mostly white haired. Maybe it is the exact same audience members, 25 years later. Also, when I went to jazz concerts, from McCoy Tyner, to Count Basie, to Sun Ra, to Ella Fitzgerald, to John McLaughlin, you name it, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, there were many college age people in the audience. That is not the case any longer. What shows are you going to? Not my experience at all.

Agreed. Plus I fervently agree with him on this issue.

Not sure who the fifty or sixty musicians are but I think some of the independent labels give a recorded voice to some musicians that would otherwise not be heard on record. Some labels introduce newer names of more geographically faraway (from me) names. I think clean feed and Not Two records do a good job as here are a few of the names that I've come across over the past few years that were new to me: Rodrigo Amado Lisa Mezzacappa Francois Carrier Michael Lambert And quite a few others

If it is personal and not musical, then it is simply pathetic. I have plenty of issues with some of the more obtuse and ethereal elements of some if the music being made and played that roughly falls under the descriptor of the downtown scene but Mary Halvorsen, whenever I've seen her play, cuts through the stilted aspects of what I consider sometimes overly composed/academic music that tends to exist within the scene more so than the more energetic and knotty/gritty music I prefer. She personifies that sound/approach, i.e. I hear fresh invigorating playing and writing that can only be a positive. She is the one guitarist who I would deem to be a jazz guitarist that I would want to hear live more so than any other playing today. In fact, I really don't know anyone who wouldn't or hasn't been impressed with her music or at least her improvising. One would have to be thoroughly close minded to anything out of the mainstream or on the other hand, be one of the anti-jazz sort - a few of which happen to be friends of mine. So a real poor target, IMO So shots at her if personal should be made to be personal and not hidden under a musical and/or appearance based comment.

The saddest part is whoever that dolt is that wrote it believes it. Written under the guise of "humor" what stands out is the belief that jazz is stupid, silly and a waste of time. And that he is an employed or paid writer by some other moronic ignorant dolt(s).

First track from the AALY disc - about 3 minutes in, listen for the screaming from the audience when they kick in real strong from a sax duo break. Fwiw I scream with them. I'm digging it out this weekend. Did you notice they cover Ayler's Ghosts?? It's pretty damn dark and almost gruesome. Very very intense and exciting. How much you pay? $20? It's worth double that Love that you sprung for Skies of Europe. The first of the two tracks is a classic performance with an incredible theme. The grand orchestra at their most Italian and with a groove here and there to boot. Hope u enjoy

I guess I probably wouldn't be interested in Burning Ambulance Not that much of a veil in that absurd shot at Ms. Halvorsen Music that tumbles over its own feet??? Clogged ears but that is nothing new