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BFT 51 - Discussion


Nate Dorward

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TRACK THREE - "Green Chimneys", right? In 7. O...k....not sure why, but ok. Sounds like the latest installment of Second Line And Second Line-ish Shenannigans, and that's a game I've been a little weary of for quite a while, even when it grooves, as this one more or less does. There's a good rhytmic energy, but the whole thing ends up sounding like Jazz Guys Trying To Be Outgoing, and that's one ofthose things that if you gotta TRY, then...

And Jeesus Phukking Kryest, don't get cute with a fucking Monk tune. DEAL with it, fuck with it, just don't get cute with it.

That bugs me more than anything else.

Heheheh.... I kinda figured this track might divide people (& put it on here for that reason), because jazz fans tend to have strong opinions about how Monk tunes should sound, & also because (as you note) games with time signatures are getting a little cheesy nowadays. I think they bring this off, but I can see why it might irritate.

With me, it's not a question of how Monk tunes "should" sound, it's a question of how are you coming at them, are you fully cognizant of what's being dealt with...If I get that the people are, then anything goes AFAIC. But this soiunds like some guys who don't have a clue about being "popular" outside of their own insular world deciding that one way to "reach out to people" would be to do something cute with a Monk tune.

Well hey - Monk already figured out how to reach out to people, how to put his unique perspective into a palatable format for consumption outside of his own insular world, and that was his music. Not for nothing has it "caught on" so much in the last 25 years or so - "general reality" has finally caught up to what Monk knew all along. So to feel that you have to do something "cute" with a Monk tune (and I really, really hate "cute") tells me that no, you're not getting the point, and that if you would have been around back in the day, you would not have gotten the point, so how hip are you really, huh?

I think it's corny, that's what I guess it all comes down to. Not that that's ever been an impediment to reaching a wider audience, but still...

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TRACK SIX - Well, somebody have studied their Pharoah (and to good effect!). Assuming that this is a recent thing, it's kind die-hard-y, going down withthe TraneShip at all costs now matter how long it takes for the thing to eventually sink, but I gotta love that at least more than just a little, if not necessarily with all the love in the world (unless these are older cats, and they just miht be).

Thing about this type stuff is, when it was even fairly fresh, it promised, if not always revolution, an awakening. And for many of us, it delivered at least some of that. But you know....time passes, and what needs to be awakened now, although still the same as always, might be better awakened in a little bit less of a Rip Van Winkle manner.

But still, the longer this thing goes on, the better it gets. I got to think that these are some people over 40, but who knows. If this was 1976, I'd probably rush right out and buy a copy!

It's guys in their 20s. Does that make you think better or worse of the track? (Not a gotcha: I seriously want to know if it alters your opinion of the music.)

Not of the music, no...but as with any type of revivalism (which I'm not necessarily opposed to from purely musical grounds, it's the philosophy where things get kinda weird for me some times) I gotta wonder what the object of the game is...BAdk then, it was more or less to "change the world", and, yeah, maybe for a little while for some people, but you still had Reagan & Marsailis, so there you go about all that.

I mean, yeah, sure, I'd like to change the world my own self, especially this world, which needs it even more than the world of back then, but this world is not that world, and I don't see where using yesterday's weapons to fight today's battles is tactic that should be grounds for optimism.

OTOH, it feels good, and if that's all they're after, tehn kudos are deserved. But I don't think we're far enough down the Dixieland Parallel Evolution Highway with this type music yet for this to be the case. People still tend to go here for "spiritual" reasons, if you get my drift.

But I could be wrong!

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TRACK SEVEN - Again, too tightly wound for me. Can't get past that. Sorry.

Does it make a difference in what you hear if I mention that the pianist is a student of Sal Mosca's?

No, not really...the issue of ongoing Tristanoism is one that pretty much has me looking at it like it's some weird parallel universe that few can enter and even fewer can escape. :g

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Yep - was only referring to the disc, which I haven't heard (although am very interested to hear) - rather than track number. It was the Cecil Taylor clue which helped - and even then, I'm afraid, it was only elimination - it couldn't have been Ronald Shannon Jackson, Cyrille, Oxo, etc., so figured Pheeroan or Bakr. I have heard of this record from someone - trying to place who.

Very nice though! Still reminds me a lot of Fred Anderson's groups with Jeff Parker.

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TRACK SEVEN - Again, too tightly wound for me. Can't get past that. Sorry.

Does it make a difference in what you hear if I mention that the pianist is a student of Sal Mosca's?

No, not really...the issue of ongoing Tristanoism is one that pretty much has me looking at it like it's some weird parallel universe that few can enter and even fewer can escape. :g

Yes.... haven't really got with Gorrill, Crothers, &c.--just find their music kind of grimly self-sufficient. This pianist, though, at least, isn't a literalist Tristanoite...! But I was wondering how BFT listeners would respond to his rather bouncy rhythmic feel.

I should mention that the leader/arranger on track #9 was a student of Warne Marsh's...!

Edited by Nate Dorward
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Sorry to be so late, but my energy is at a rather low level at the time - the many months of too much work exhausted me, and too much work lying around, dragging me in many different directions. Right now I'm slow at getting things done, but I certainly enjoyed listening - your discs are always among the most interesting, IMO, not only because they feature music I might not listen to otherwise.

Track 1: "Five Cents a page" - so that's what some fathers pay their sons to get them to readin' ..... I hope they got more than 5 cents a second for the recording. Very nice - I like humorous vocal stuff like that, with oral rhythms and all. They play nice on their instruments, too - is the violin a little flat, or is it my ears? He has a light way of phrasing that I like a lot.

No idea who this is, but this will surely apply to all tracks here. Exceptions will be noted ...

Track 2: Is it just my limited knowledge of the jazz scene, or do guitarists play rather seldom in free or semi-free contexts? Perhaps it is because they cannot rely on running the changes in that style. The guitarist here reminds me a bit of Jim Hall, and one or two other more recent guys which I cannot recall right now.

I wish the bass and drums would have taken a somewhat calmer approach and left more open spaces, instead of just propelling the piece with their rather dense playing, and engage in a more dialogue-type interaction, although it certainly works the way they play here. Some unison passages would have given it a little more structure. I like the guitarist best.

Track 3: Monk's "Green Chimneys" played over a bell-propelled Nawleens type 7/8 groove. I like this kind of approach, and that they pace themselves without playing that groove to death. Pianist has digested his Herbie Hancock.

Track 4: That very personal, almost strange sound, makes it hard for me to identify the opening instrument. Oh - inside the piano. That explains the wobbly vibrato - no other way to do that on piano strings. Or was that the acoustic guitar? Nice how close the sounds are that way. They use the plucking sounds as a starting point for their improvisation rather than relying on standard phrasings and techniques. I thoroughly enjoyed that track!

Track 5: Nice jumpy, edgy tune, and again I like that they know how to pace themselves. I think staying in some identifiable groove is the key to make contemporary jazz more interesting. They pass the test for me.

Track 6: Why is this faded in? Would have liked to hear how they actually started to play. I like the trombonist the best here - he paces himself well during the free part, and knows how to navigate within that free funky groove later on (that's the part I dig the most here). Saxist is a little busy and not too original, IMO. The groove part would have been enough for me, with a shorter intro.

Track 7: Nice neo-boppish track, like the trumpeter very much!

Track 8: Solo violin ..... can't say much about this except that it didn't scratch on my nerves, which means a lot with my ears and bowed instruments!

Track 9: Ooohh .... I love slow tunes like this - faintly Mingusian, very much in the jazz tradition, nice colours (like the bass clarinet together with the horns. Is that Julian Priester on trombone? If not, someone who has listened to him. (The bones on this BFT are some of the nicest I have heard in a while!) Very nice writing behind the solo, and great comping with a lot of restrained (in the positive sense) feeling! No this not Priester! If free form big band goes like this, I'm for it! Nice clarinet, too! Great track!

Track 10: Okay, something to alert my senses - at first I thought I would have liked it better with the horns, but what they do makes sense. But it's not my cup of tea.

Track 11: Very nice 'n' sentimental closer - 'nother nice 'bone 'n' 'nother violin - short 'n' sweet.

Thank you so much, Nate, for another highly interesting collection - great choices and sequencing!

Long live the Organissimo Blindfold Test!

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Track 2: Is it just my limited knowledge of the jazz scene, or do guitarists play rather seldom in free or semi-free contexts? Perhaps it is because they cannot rely on running the changes in that style. The guitarist here reminds me a bit of Jim Hall, and one or two other more recent guys which I cannot recall right now.

I think the main division in free jazz guitar comes between a "pure" approach (a clean jazz-guitar sound) & a more distorted/rock/FX-laden approach; this guitarist, at least on this recording, follows the clean-toned approach (Joe Morris, Bruce Eisenbeil & Dom Minasi would be other instances of this; also Bern Nix, at least on Alarms & Excursions). -- & then there's a somewhat separate line of playing coming out of Derek Bailey (often acoustic: Roger Smith, John Russell, John Bisset, & to some extent our friend who plays on #4).

Track 4: That very personal, almost strange sound, makes it hard for me to identify the opening instrument. Oh - inside the piano. That explains the wobbly vibrato - no other way to do that on piano strings. Or was that the acoustic guitar? Nice how close the sounds are that way. They use the plucking sounds as a starting point for their improvisation rather than relying on standard phrasings and techniques. I thoroughly enjoyed that track!

Just a guitar, no piano! I love how this track ties together a lot of disparate ideas & textures in a very convincing, expressive way; I could have picked a more song-like piece off this album (there are some freeform blues & a composed waltz) but feel this track is an ideal introduction to the guitarist's range & imagination.

Track 6: Why is this faded in? Would have liked to hear how they actually started to play. I like the trombonist the best here - he paces himself well during the free part, and knows how to navigate within that free funky groove later on (that's the part I dig the most here). Saxist is a little busy and not too original, IMO. The groove part would have been enough for me, with a shorter intro.

I think the fade-in is because it's a live recording & this group tends to have long segues between pieces, often involving radios, "little instruments", handheld percussion, &c.

Track 9: Ooohh .... I love slow tunes like this - faintly Mingusian, very much in the jazz tradition, nice colours (like the bass clarinet together with the horns. Is that Julian Priester on trombone? If not, someone who has listened to him. (The bones on this BFT are some of the nicest I have heard in a while!) Very nice writing behind the solo, and great comping with a lot of restrained (in the positive sense) feeling! No this not Priester! If free form big band goes like this, I'm for it! Nice clarinet, too! Great track!

I'm sure Mingus was on the composer's mind when he did this--the track's title in fact is the same as a well-known Mingus album (but in another language......). No, not Priester; in fact I'd never heard of this trombonist before. The leader is actually a trombonist, but isn't the soloist on this occasion.

*

Will post the answers in a few days, so it's last call for any further BFT responses.......!

One further hint: tracks 4, 5, & 9 are from the same label; in fact were released at the same time (though #9 seems to have sat in the can for a while, for some reason).

Edited by Nate Dorward
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OK, sorry about the 11-th hour input and all that but here we go. Don't know any of the music on the disk but found it enjoyable - here goes:

Track 1 - Vocalese intro about learning to read from pop. Sort of Mark Murphyish style but definitely not him. Haven't a clue I'm afraid ! :)

Track 2 - Guitar/bass/drums trio - very 'open' sound. Something about the chordal work from the guitarist and his style reminds me quite a bit of Sonny Greenwich.

Track 3 - Drummer heavily featured on this one (dustbin lid? Bill Stewart?) Pianist also strongly featured - strong and very precise chordal sound reminds me a bit of Renee Rosnes. Altoist reminiscent of Sonny Fortune. Guitar comping comes in during the latter part of the performance. The overall style of the group is somewhat reminiscent of early 90s 'Out Of The Blue'.

Track 4 - Solo classical guitar feature - incredible technique with what sounds to be a django-esque influence in parts. Toned-down Derek Bailey?

Track 5 - Trumpet/alto/bass/drums feature. Very musical playing by the drummer, lots going on there - reminds me of Andrew Cyrille. Stylistically it reminds me of Lester Bowie but that's a very long shot.

Track 6 - Good feature for the tenor player. Came on like Warne Marsh at the beginning but over the piece metamorphosed into Albert Ayler ! Something about the inner logic of the early playing reminded me of Ingrid Laubrock but the later playing is too 'hard' to be Laubrock. An intriguing performance !

Track 7 - Herbie Nichols-ish (funilly enough mixed with Tristano) feel to the piano playing on this track but this is much more recent. Trumpeter sounds sort of a bit like Ted Curson but without Curson's technique.

Track 8 - Virtuoso violin opening - amazing technique. Reminds me of Leroy Jenkins.

Track 9 - Larger group with both trombone and tenor sax prominently featured. Sounds very much like one of Carla Bley's groups and one of Bley's compositions. Not sure if its Gary Valente or Roswell Rudd on trombone (sounds more like Rudd to me).

Track 10 - There's something very EST/Jan Johansson about the piano trio (EST ?) backing the saxophonist on this performance. Very precise, sort of Scandinavian. Of course, I'm probably totally off the mark and it's some group out of Kansas or wherever. :g

Track 11 - Violin/trombone/piano - short track to finish off the disk. Very 'Edwardian parlour band' with a hint of bluegrass. Nice !

Thanks very much for the music Nate - it will certainly be interesting to check out the answers.

Edited by sidewinder
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Hello Nate and all the others of "BFT-Business", this is ashamed Mr. Bassman "creapin' in" through the back door after beeing a long time absent and again not finished the honmework of BFT #42.... but i promise, i will do it! Back to Nate's #51:

well, as i was not signed in to get a copy directly, mikeweil gave me a copy some days ago and ordered me to listen and... to write some comments.... I follow this order, but not as an order... it is a pleasure to return.

Okay, mikeweil told me, all the tunes are of lesser age, maybe not all of the musicians we can hear on this compilation. But sometimes i have a personal impression, that some of the tunes belong to another time ;-)))))

As there is not a certain theme, the overall-look is quite different on the tunes. Together, they are all worth to listen more than one time (okay there are one or two ... :rolleyes: ) and one can recognize some secrets or whatever. Some tunes are very serious and not that pleased to listen, others have a good piece of fun, some are just a bit "doodeling along" others are very interesting. Some sound very familiar, in the way of "we have listened to a well-known musician and i like this style", others are fresh and somewhat new..., but overall, it is a very fine BFT, because i get some music, that i wouldn't get presented otherways or i would never choose or even find in a recordstore. Just my personal point of view.

Let's start:

#1

This is a kind of a a-capella-Group reinforced with some instruments doing a kind of a story , maybe be a bit of poetry. It must be a project across the atlantic ocean, my point of view is in Europe, so i think it is from the US of A? 5cents a page.... As i am not that familiar with that kind of singing, i have no idea, who they are. A funny idea is the mixing of a-capella and instruments combined to a rather groove-music, maybe funky. Well, it is a modern recording and it has some merits, but it is not that kind of stuff, that i listen very often to. My favourite in this tune is the last "five cents a page" whispering. This one has a secret !

#2

Ahhhh !!! This is nice! The bass-player plays this vamp very hard, maybe he has some pain, when playing it... but he keeps it! The drummer has a funny setup of the microphones... nearly a bit of stereo like in the old days ;-))). Or like: one extra mic on every drum and cymbal..... And the guitar-player... he must be of older age, he is not a younger musician, his companions are younger of age, i think. The reason for me is, the sound of his guitar-playing... a young musician sounds different and the sound of the guitar is not a "modern" one. I say this not in a kind of "good" or "bad". The playing of the musicians is naturally on the "good" side... there is no "bad" in this whole compilation!!!

Okay, i go on... The tune sounds very familier to me, it reminds me to some freedom jazz dance impression, i imagine some quotes in the guitar-lines, but... i think it is more an impressional quotation, not a interpretation or version of the tune.

But, for me, i have some imagination in this direction of dance or rhythmical movement and freedom in this tune. Okay, there is this over and over again bass-vamp... why not a kind of a dance-pattern as a basic step-combination ? And the drummer "dances" to that basic step-combination. And this two musicians "walk" together in proud manner, like.. people will walk on a march for freedom or justice or whatever... and they are convinced of their subject, but not fanatically! This kind of dance and moving-together is the basis for the master of the ceremony, the guitarplayer. He has all the freedom to do, what he has in mind and fingers, maybe there is sometimes a dot of feeling in his playing. I have to dig that further on... I like this tune, it is not a "woooow"-kind of tune, but it has something in it... i had listened to this tune about ten or more times... ;-))). I am looking foreward, who this is.

#3

Ha! I think mikeweil will like this! Jazzstandard in 7! But, my head is a little "empty" i can't remember the title, i have to do some record-listening to remember the name... pooooh. Maybe Monk??? I must check, maybe it is a "claponheadandsayaaaaaahhthatune". A bit of a funky-feel, but somtimes a bit "boring" in the meaning of, there is sometimes not enough tension in this interpretation, some soloing is well learned but there is no "secret" hidden in the playing. Overall a nice idea, but a bit "boring" . But this idea of the 7er is nice! Ever tried "all of me" in 7 :excited: ???

#4

Now this one... a kind of having fun in experimenting, what can i do to a classical guitar. This was fun (for me), because i like this kind of experimenting with instruments to get some new ways. And it is not only experimenting for the experiment. This tune has a kind of structure, there are several pieces or "motives", and i can imagine, there is a kind of a story, the musician tells us and this piece of music has this kind of tension i mentioned just a song above. Surprising moments, not fullfilling the listeners impression of what will be the next note or motive ! Well, it is not a kind of "easy-to-listen-jazzmusic" (I mean easy to listen in a jazz-context, not this kind of musical-noise of doodleing in the warehouses and restaurants or mainstream radio), This music needs your full attention, otherways it will "disturb" you in doing the other things beside listening to the music, and you have to listen to this without a newspaper or dishwashing... this is no background-wallofsound ! ;-)))). The more i listen to this tune (like #2) the more i like it!

#5

Okay, this one leads me back to ground ;-))) my overall-impression is, that is not very "tensioning" for me, more kind of "noodling the phrases". Okay, they play together, some nice instrument playing.... okay NICE, thats the word, but nice is sometimes boring :-)))). Not much to say for me to this tune.

#6

Ah, a bit fade in ... is this a live recording ? You (okay, I ;-) ) can imagine the room.... a dampy smokey little or medium sized room in the very late 50ies up to the middle/end of the 60ies.... oh... noooo! It is of our days.... hmmmm. The sound reminds me to this time, but later on the sound and the dynamic in the recording ist more like in our days :-).

But... what is this, Albert is back ?? It reminds me to Albert Aylers musical expression (maybe not including his holy anger about the world he had to live in and he talks about when he was playing and no qouting of folksong-motives)... but mostly i miss Sunny's humming ;-))).

Okay, just my impression of that, what i get, when i listen to this tune. But they don't keep this "Ayler-Impression" during the whole tune, later they have more modern-style and groove-and-vamp-Playing and the "melodies" move to a more conventionell style of scales, expression and playing. A little seldom ending. The quoting of the style of music or the style of a musician from "some years ago" seem to be a quite common thing in these days. I am not very fond of this musical approach, i think that developing your own style is a major aim for a jazz-musician. "Imitating" (okay, a very hard word) is just for the practice room or homework but not for the audience or CD... just my 2c... ;-)))).

#7

Now, this is a live-recording. The tune seems to be familiar, the music the people play here, too. Some sophisticated theme and lively soloing.... But.. not very interesting for me... just another NICE tune ;-))).

#8

Oh-oh... This one reminds me to a little story M. Rostropovitch, the cellist, told along time ago, when he was asked to describe the sound of a cello in comparison to a violin. He stated: "A violin is(sounds) like a cranefly/mosquito. You know... you lie in bed, switched off the light, you are tired from playing in the concert this evening and just before the snoozing and snoring... there it is... buzzzzzzzzzz... this sound of the attacking mosquito or approaching cranefly.... and you remember.. this is the violin" (Okay, not an exact copy of his words but the first sentence is). Now you can imagine, what i did, when listening to this song.... i looked for the fly-catcher ("Fliegenklatsche" in german). Not a must-have for me and listened only twice to this.

#9

It started like a zappaesk waltz... but only the very first startup-phrase. Then it gets more into a compository thing, a quite sweetish main-melody. Then a nice trombone (?) starts and get accompanied by the companions, again quoting the main-theme-motive... This one gets interesting when listening again and again. My first-listen-impression was not openminded... okay it is track 9 and concentration will go down sooner or later... at first time it was down ;-). But now, as i write my notes, i listen to this tune again and again... i get new impressions and i like it much more. They have a lot of irony in it, maybe some sarcasm ??? I have to dig that ... But a bit of Zappa-musical-fun-ghost "looks" at some corners ;-)))). I think, as this is a new recording, these are musicians, who have seen, what live is about... I think they are not youngsters, because the fun is more ironic.. this is the subject of the older ones. I am grinning from time to time during the listening-practice of this tune.... at this second, as they have the duo-duellic conversation between the sax and the trombone an then swing over with a short "bridge-part" into this dancehall-motive with a weekly overheated saxophone (exactly near 9:30) and then they develop this pedal-bordun-sound to the saxo-part. Hey, that is irony und fun !!! The more i listen, the more i like this. But my first impression during first-listening was ... next one! But now i have to hide the next-one knob :-)))) You can see, first-impression is not always the best imprssion...

#10

This tune is difficult to subscribe, because it has this "doodleing" impression to me, i have no key to unlock the door or get the secret of this piece of music. But this is not first-time listening... and it is not nice at all ;-)))). Sorry, not my fav... a case for the next-one-knob....

This brings me again to a little fun-story.... I hope you might know "Hägar, the horrible" the handsome Viking in the newspaper-comic-corner ? Normally a Hägar-spot has three pics with the normal comix-bubbling-boxes containing the spoken text.

Okay, i have to describe, because the comic-strip is right-protected.... Once upon a time Hägar meets Konfuzius, the Wise, and Hägar asked him: Hello Konfuzius, You are a wise man, say something important" Konfuzius said: "Glory is like a dog who swings his tail only one time when meeting his master" (I hope, i translated this correct...). Hägar answered (looking anoyed): "That was nothing"... Now you see Konfuzius showing his back, walking away and putting up the arms and hands in the way of that one will show, that he knows nothing and answered to Hägar: " Not everything can reach the peak" (german version: "Es kann nicht alles Spitze sein").

I hope i have found a acceptable translation, i am not very good in "pictoral expressions" with my unpracticed english, sorry. But i hope, you get the picture ;-)))

This is maybe the right thing for this tune :w .

#11

Ahhh! This is fun again! Vienna meets modern times! This happens last evening at Grinzing in a small vine-pub... the playing for the tourists is over, all musicians are bored of their job and looked a lot into the glasses filled with vine.... and now they play their last good-bye, the sky is grey, some lonely raindrops ... they are a bit sad, fullup, thinking of better times of the past.... Okay, just joking a bit. I Have no idea, who this is, maybe a new one with the Vienna Art Orchestra ???

This are my 2cents for Nate! As i have no ideas of the personal playing here, i set my main aspects to the impressions i have during the audition. It is a very fine compilation, indeed! Thanks a lot and thanks to mikeweil, who was patient enough with me and encouraged me to return to a fine place in Internet sharing one of the main important things in this world, our beloved music.

with regards

Mr. Bassman

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You're welcome, Mr. B., and welcome back to the party.

Nice comments, and now I must keep my promise to lend you the magazine featuring your second favorite composer, Sibelius ..... (that's how I talked him into getting back here! :ph34r: )

Edited by mikeweil
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Bassman--thanks for the comments! Some of them spot-on, & not so off-base as you might guess..... actually there's a story to the bass player on #2, & while I'm not sure he's in pain he definitely wasn't feeling at all well during that date. He plays very well, I think, but I was wondering if you or others would hear this...

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1. Goofy and I've no idea who this is, reminds me of something on a knitting factory compilation I used to have but have no longer (I might appreciate them now!) Downtown-ish and a bit clever clever, Fiddle reminds me of Final Fantasy if there are any fans of Owen Pallett out there

I imagine that the group on the Knit compilation was probably the Jazz Passengers, in which case, yes, these are the same guys (well, some of them). See above for the exact i.d. of this track...

4. Not really my thing Derek Bailey kind of stuff. I saw Bailey once and was kind of mesmerised to see someone play a guitar so unlike anything else I'd ever heard. On record it doesn't grab me in the same way and neither does this unfortunately. Nice sounding guitar though (and I just about liek the bit where he goes all flamenco...) its just as I get older I like a bit of a tune!

I almost put a Bailey track on this disc, an untypical one where he plays some swing guitar in tribute to Teddy Bunn. This guitarist spent some time in Spain.

I'd like to hear Bailey play more straight but am a little scared to take the plunge on any more of his records since I haven't really got any of the ones I've bought so far

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Bassman--thanks for the comments! Some of them spot-on, & not so off-base as you might guess..... actually there's a story to the bass player on #2, & while I'm not sure he's in pain he definitely wasn't feeling at all well during that date. He plays very well, I think, but I was wondering if you or others would hear this...

Hello Nate,

I just take a short overflowing look into the discussion-thread and realised, that #2 is truely unveiled. I think, i will put that on my wishlist for Christmas :tup . The title of the recordings seems to be "programmatic" ?? As you state some posts ago the other tunes are more freely.

Now to the pain-theme: You told us in a post, that the bass-player was ill during the recording-session. But my impression of his pain was not connected to illness, but that can be a combined effect. My impression to the "pain" was not fixed on some health-problems, i had the impression of getting some problems with the left arm (if he is a right-handed player) or a little "red-skin"- problem to the plucking fingers of the right hand during this heavy playing session. I play (its is more practising...) a bit on the double-bass (sorryly not at this moment, the stringholder cracked some days ago and i have to fix it) and i could imagine the upcoming "pain" in the left arm.... and the power and force you put into your playing not to spoil it, because its getting "harder" every minute playing this tune without a break or the "snip-snap" in studio....... He seems to pluck really hard to get this "ongoing" movement and to keep this rhythmical idea. He really didn't spoil this, but i can imagine and hear his hard work during this playing. But now, with the knowledge of being sick during the session... i listened again and you can really feel his effort and action to the music. I hope, the other tunes of this recording will show this effort, too. It is even more remarkable, to know, that he was ill during the session.

As I could read in some posts, that my approach to #9 was a bit similar to som other listeners, but it seems not unveiled yet. And the #4 guitar player is still "unknown"... But it is not Kropinsky :rolleyes::w .

I will keep an eye on this :)

with regards

Mr. Bassman

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There are no secrets between real organissimists!

:rofl: "Organissimist!" I love it! There's optimists, pessimists, realists, and now Organissimists! Sweet!

Indeed, we are all Organissimists, and that was my main force to restart here, not the Sibelius-booklet, that was the last drop to take place in front of the computer ! :D

Maybe, i will get that booklet on Friday, because i have to leep in for Mikail..... there i will get some tea... and then i go upstairs to Michael and get a cup of tasteful Espresso !!! ... and maybe some more listening to new CDs of his "bibliothek" (CD-library). :lol:

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1. Goofy and I've no idea who this is, reminds me of something on a knitting factory compilation I used to have but have no longer (I might appreciate them now!) Downtown-ish and a bit clever clever, Fiddle reminds me of Final Fantasy if there are any fans of Owen Pallett out there

I imagine that the group on the Knit compilation was probably the Jazz Passengers, in which case, yes, these are the same guys (well, some of them). See above for the exact i.d. of this track...

Well my guess of the "Wiggles" (that Australian group of guys in primary colored sweaters who are bigger than Raffi) was a bit off :) and now to find out who this is. I should have listened closer. I think I'd even heard a piece on this on NPR or some such.

Never heard of Napoleon Maddox before or that might be a pseudonym(?). Have plenty of Roy with the LL but never much cared for his cutesiness on his own "arty" pieces or with that Blonde gal. The guy is quite a player but seems to have been powered out by Michael Blake from playing in one of the greatest modern bands that seem to have gone the by and by with the leader now thinking he can draw.

A few years back Roy and Fowlkes headed up the backing band for The Big Apple Circus - taking your kid to the big top and digging the band, now THAT was cool!

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I'd like to hear Bailey play more straight but am a little scared to take the plunge on any more of his records since I haven't really got any of the ones I've bought so far

Oh, which have you got? The best solo album to sample is the one I mentioned, Drop Me Off at 96th. It's all-acoustic, & while it's basically Bailey doing his thing there are a couple tracks that obliquely work through jazz material--the Bunn tribute & also a track that takes off from "I Didn't Know What Time It Was". I discovered with this album exactly how rhythmically precise Bailey can be--it is possible to tap your foot to long stretches of this one (when he goes off on a tangent, keep tapping & he'll hook up with it again later on). I'm not sure if that's true of other Bailey solo albums... -- Of groups with other people, try No Waiting with Leandre on Potlatch & Dart Drug with Jamie Muir (of King Crimson) on Incus.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I haven't visited the thread for many weeks now and decided to write down short comments before going there. Of course sorry I'm late. Gotta make a living and some periods are rather intense.

When the Cd arrived I played through it a couple of times without too much consentration. It did sound promising. Today i started out as I was driving through a broad and beautiful valley in this snow-free November landscape, then next to long lake where the normally still surface now had been transformed to lively wave patterns. It suited the music fine.

Track 1: Roy Nathanson I recognized within a millisecond. I had downloaded the album earlier this year (spring?) when it was praised by some regulars on Jazz Corner. But I played it only once. It's very well recorded, inspired playing and catchy tunes. Somehow I felt that I had digested it all through that first listening. Not quite so, because I did not get, or the lyrics did not get me. I'll possibly find out later. I often don't listen well to lyrics the first time I hear a recording. It's more likely that I listen to the quality of the voices and how they sing. These voices did not appeal too much. I would have to listen for other reasons.

Track 2: Today I was surprised that had not noticed the first time around that this was indeed inspired by Jim Hall, if it's not the man himself.

Track 3: Top musicians once more and easy to like the groove. In the end I feel that this track is just so and so - at least on it's own.

Track 4: Classically trained guitarist with full control over every nuance. Brings with him inspiration from form from the same world when he moves on to another musical landscape.

Track: 5. At this time I start to take more notice and I notice that break the local speed limits.

Engaging Trumpeter. What does Brian Lynch sound like these days. Really, I don't have a clue.

Track: 6 This gradually gets more interesting. Pretty soon, actually. I lot is happening as we move along, many known elements, but in feels unforced and almost organic.. Very good stuff.

Track 7. It somehow reminded me of a recording I had by Michelle Rosewoman in the late 80'ies. Another good track. I should go back to track 5 and compare the trumpeter/trumpeters here.

Track 8: I'm into violins. This works fine. Mat Maneri. It's possible?

Oh, it's very good.

Track 9: Those harmonies are a welcome change at first. Some parts of it is fine and I'm drawn in from time to time, though I tend to be bored by much of it.

Track 10: The rhythms here reminds of Michelle Rosewoman once more. I'm oh so simpleminded.

Track 11: Encore :-)

All in all a very fine compilation. Now I'd like to see who played here - and also other more articulate responses.

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