Steve Reynolds

He was almost 88 my old friend shrugs just asked did you hear about Kidd? Last seen well below his peak but very moving and wondrous as always on 5/23/2018 @ Vision Fest in Brooklyn not sure of the date but jah tells me it was year 2001. not sure of the the actual room but again it was Vision Fest and it was certainly “downtown” they never let these dudes uptown. uptown never deserved the likes of Fred Anderson & Edward “Kidd” Jordan But I was there!! Thanks to grace & mercy somehow I witnessed that set. When I heard it was happening I must have been in heaven. I was still new to this new music. Fred Anderson was in the throes of being known & the internet was new an Alive. I had found out about Hamid Drake and of course my friend “Dark Anthony” saw William Parker once on the street with his bass and exclaimed “The King of New York!!!!” so we knew it would be the greatest bass/drums tandem that exists in modern day free jazz with the 2 legendary tenors born in 1929 & 1935. Wowza. Lordy Lordy. I know that the seminal legendary and even mystical 2 CD set 2 days in april had been released on eremite documenting the 4/1 & 4/1999 concerts with the same quartet with Fred Anderson, Kidd with William & Hamid on bass & drums. So the actual show - the ONLY time I’ve see that very learned and “sophisticated” audience moved to or near hysteria. Literal Dancing in the Aisles. Never heard or experienced a groove so deep / all because of Fred & Kidd. Ulrich is weeping today RIP, sir

At Roulette in Brooklyn full schedule posted under artsforarts.org Bought the full run this year. Too many strong nights to miss more than one night at the most Gerald Cleaver’s Black Host is the ultimate surprise booking/concert besides the opening dedication night for *great* Joelle Leandre

Wilco last night & Saturday night @ Capital Theatre spectacular with Nels Cline being amazing as he always is

Same here and many of those shows were among the most memorable of all the live shows I’ve seen over the past decades. For me he is among the 2 or 3 greatest living legends of this music. His music changed my ears. My appreciation of his music has intensified over the years. The most incredible *sound* especially from his tenor. “The sound of god” came to me a few years back at Judson Hall when on a few of his unaccompanied crescendos that is what I thought I heard. I will never forget it.

Thoughts go out to the granddaddy of them all

They are OK. Better 4-5 years ago before their improvisations became rote. Phil Lesh’s band this past weekend at Capital Theatre in Port Chester was incredible. I was at 3 of the 4 nights. Pretty great for the 83 year old legend. John Medeski, John Molo, James Casey plus great guitar playing by Grahame Lesh & Rick Mitarotonda. Wonderful violinist in Katie Jacoby and the great vocalist Nicki Bluhm.

It’s a Grateful Dead cover band. Russo is the drummer & leader.

Tuesday night Son of Goldfinger once more this time with the awesome Devin Hoff on what I imagine will be his electric bass guitar. Wowza.

Son of Goldfinger playing again on Tuesday 2/14 with the awesome Devin Hoff added. Same tiny little place. Also on 2/21. I’ll be there this Tuesday at least. Last Thursday set was a 42 minute piece followed by a 32 minute slab of genius. As great a show as I’ve seen recently and I’ve seen a bunch of great sets over the past 4 months. Maybe the 2 William Winant sets the end of last year were comparable. The set with Winant, Ches & Ava Mendoza was astounding. Ches also used his I-phone & lap top electronics that night. He’s a genius with this stuff as well as being the among the 2-3 most powerful & creative drummers on the planet. On Thursday with Torn & Berne it was complete immersion from 6 feet away. Mind torn up. The intensity & force was Teutonic. Like Can to the 20th power. And the improvised breaks he did with Torn. Supernatural. Improvising genius level stuff. They were laughing after it ended. They know. Take it all in, boys. This is life itself. Seeing the great man with THAT quartet. Up close & personal. Seeing the Grandaddy of them all. Herr Brotzmann. This is not to be taken lightly. I treasure the group of live concerts I’ve been blessed to be able see him play. There will never be another like him.

Yeah Baby!!! Fwiw this was mind blowing

Son of Goldfinger Lowlands in Brooklyn Tim Berne, David Torn & Ches Smith

Saw the group live I think right when they recorded this. I also liked it just fine.

My friend saw him last Spring with Ballister in Philadelphia and said he was very good. I saw Ballister with Joe McPhee a few days earlier and McPhee (82 at that time) played like he was 35. Fwiw Ballister is Dave Rempis with the *great* Fred Lonberg-Holm & Paal Nilsson-Love. Pure fire.

Why I’m paying silly $$$ for Wilco on 4/1 for front row loge center @ Capital Theatre. Not that Tweedy is doing poorly or anything. I never saw Sonic Youth either as I simply didn’t go to any rock shows from ~1993 until 2017 when I started seeing Grateful Dead related shows. Seeing Phil Lesh on 3/19 / he’s 83 on 3/15. Gotta live life. Going to Shift on 2/3 to see Marshall Allen NYC all-stars. Not 100% sure if the 98 year old legend is playing but it’s a great line-up. Life is for the Living. Rhyme, baby

RIP sir never got to see them live My favorite is the 1991 reunion album which had no impact which was a statement on the “music industry” of then & now too young and a shame he apparently never decided to professionally record any of the concerts of the past decades. I never understood his reticence to record more Television material nor any of the reportedly great shows which included lots of improvisation and energy. I’ve heard so often how these shows could be transcendent.

I’ve seen her at least a couple dozen times. Best place is always live try “Hotel Grief” on Intakt Tom Rainey trio with Mary & Ingrid Laubrock incredible yet short set tonight. Mary was great but Mat Maneri is from a different planet.

Tonight at The New School 8:30 set / decided to go and I’ll shortly be at the front of the line to experience the best of what this sort of unexplainable and without category music has to offer. But we will see. It’s so without a net and without standard form that who the hell knows until it happens!!! Ches Smith Trio plus Mary Halvorson Ches on drums, vibraphone (and compositions) Craig Taborn on piano Mat Maneri on viola The trio alone when peaking is the best and most original group/band I’ve seen over the last 12-14 years of going to live music in NYC and surrounding areas. Very excited to see them again and very intrigued as to what the addition of the wonderful Mary Halvorson will do to the music. Tomorrow still on schedule for the above quartet.

Next Thursday night Ches Smith leading a quartet with James Brandon Lewis, Nate Wooley, Shahzad Ismaily (new to me / on bass/electronics. Ches on drums plus his awesome laptop stuff that I saw him do with William Winant & Ava Mendoza in December. due to still having a job I’ll probably miss Ches with Taborn, Mat Maneri & Mary Halvorson added to the trio. That show is on Wednesday. I’ll probably also go Saturday night which is the Thursday quartet augmented by a violinist & violist I don’t know, Oscar Noriega and a woman musician I don’t know on vocals/electronics. For those who don’t know, Ches Smith is a brilliant idea person and as great as Rainey & Taylor on drums albeit a far different sort of drummer. Maybe more power. I have not seen Wooley since 2019 or maybe even 2018. Been way too long. It’s SO amazing to be back seeing the greatest improvisers playing live

See my comments if interested on the Live music forum for Tim Berne & Ingrid Laubrock on the shows I attended last night 1/14☺️

Last night 2 shows @ Barbes in Brooklyn 6:00 show Tim Berne on alto playing his compositions Oscar Noriega on b-flat clarinet Mat Maneri on viola Gregg Belisle-chi on guitar Jeff Davis on drums 50 minutes or so started tentative. Incredible shit followed. Davis is very good and powerful yet a tad loud. Young guitarist was brilliant. Noriega mostly under the radar as is his wont / but then he played a solo that teetered near the greatest clarinet improvisation I’ve ever heard. Berne sounded better than ever and Mat again stayed often in service of the music until the last 15-20 minutes when he first took a real solo within the music and for the hundredth time in my life totally destroyed my brain. By this point his riffing and comping was on a level unknown to any violinist or violist that plays improvised music. Best Berne set I’ve experienced then a drive to The Stone at The New School even though I’ve never been emotionally attached to this venue as it’s not really “The Stone” that was the hole in the wall venue off Houston street that opened in 2005 when Tonic closed. That being said pretty damn emotional being there for the first time since before the Pandemic. Ingrid Laubrock leading a quartet playing tenor & soprano saxophones James Brandon Lewis on tenor Chad Taylor & Tom Rainey on dual drum kits Yes James Brandon Lewis is the goods / great sound & facility with power to go with it but Ingrid is the better musician. They certainly loved playing with each other. First piece 30-32 minutes with 2 peaks / first 1 occurring towards maybe 15 to 20 minutes was beyond possible. Mind blown. Taylor & Rainey are 2 of the greatest drummers alive and the double tenor/double drums just exploded with massive energy and groove. The end of the piece found Taylor in an almost Uber Sunny Murray like way rat tat rat tat rat tat / think of Vibrations / OMG second 15-20 improvisation somehow was maybe better finding a somewhat South African like vibe and groove with Rainey in submission to great Taylor grooves. Here Lewis was at his best. Extraordinary performance all around. Even Tom Rainey was smiling. Killing it. Why I go to shows

Got everything I ordered, I think / except I got 2 of The Stone volume 2. No volume 1. listened to an amazing quartet disc with Centazzo, Anthony Coleman, Steve Swell & the *great* Giancarlo Schianfinni. If the other discs are anywhere near comparable,,,

Possibly seeing a quartet on January 14th at The New School with James Brandon Lewis, Ingrid Laubrock, Chad Taylor & Tom Rainey. If I don’t see them that night I’ll be seeing Tim Berne’s quartet including Mat Maneri in Brooklyn. January 19 more of a sure thing at The New School. Ches Smith’s group with JBL, Nate Wooley, Shahzad Ismaily on bass (new to me) & Ches on drums & his amazing electronics. This after the previous night the 18th which is Ches, Mat Maneri, Mary Halvorson & Craig Taborn. That core trio (sans Mary) is responsible for 3-4 of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. Their first show 2 sets on a Sunday night March 2013 @ Cornelia Street Cafe remains imbedded in my head as an easy top 5 show ever.

Light and Dance is the exact opposite, fwiw most of what I love is far away from “Old Smoke”. It’s just that when I first heard it I was taken aback as to the energy level. It has the classic free jazz force and power albeit with a much more modern sound and feel - and filled with mid tempo or even dirge like movement. Corsano is a master at moving the grooves around. Odd thing is when Cleaver was in place of Corsano (Live at Roulette) the sound of the trio changed to a much more sublime and measured approach. sometimes even minimalist. I’m a big fan of silence and quiet intense tension. These are the subtle qualities of the best improvisors.

Old Smoke with Basczkoski, Lopez & Corsano is incendiary lots of cool stuff on Relative Pitch but Kevin puts out lots of CD’s!!! New one coming with Paul Flaherty & Mette Rasmussen plus great bass & drums. Mette is the real deal We were 5 feet away as the mad saxophonist let loose sounds never before heard on this planet. On baritone with metal stuff in the bell. Then it went flying. Blew it out on the floor. December 2019. One of my last shows before the pandemic. Live Gerald Cleaver was like Jaki from Can. Pure focus and a fucking metronome at times. He’s a genius level musician. Keeps getting better. Today: The Actress / 2 CD set on erstwhile Vanessa Rossetto second or third time through. Love it. No idea what it even is. Have 2 previous duos with her and other sound explorers. All great stuff to my ears.

5 from this past year 1) Judson Trio: Light and Dance / my favorite of last year, I think 2) Playfield: Stepping Out - all of these are wondrous 3) Barry Guy & Friends 4) Rempis with Baker, Abrams & Ra: Scylla / not as great as the last one (Apsis) but still incredible. Jim Baker is the secret weapon and Ra is one of the greatest drummers on the planet. But see Gerald Cleaver below on 5) 5) Brandon Lopez Trio / Live at Roulette (late 2021 but I was there so I’m including it) not the best 5 as I rarely look at when these releases happened