Funny Rat

[Steve Reynolds]

some of my favorites that might not have been mentioned:

Billy Bang: Valve #10 - with a subdued and wonderful performance by Frank Lowe - as well as a sublime rhythm section of Sirone and the *great* Denis Charles

Andrew Hill: Shades - Clifford Jordan at the top of his game. Hill more in the pocket than on things like Strange Serenade. Riley and Reid are perfect together swinging Hill's music in a more traditional way than normal.

Muhal Richard Abrams: Hearinga Suite - great big band with Cyrille in the trap drum seat. All colours - perfect length (about 40 minutes) has this listener pining for more.

David Murray: Bodies and Soul - from 1993 - ripping quartet with rashied ali more aggressive and powerful than many of Murray's drummer's performance within his quartets. Sonelius Smith roars from the piano chair.

Julius Hemphill: Flat Out Jump Suite - seemingly dense and obtuse - this reveals itself to be a classic example of Hemphill's art - within a fairly standard quartet's instrumentation - outside of Wadud's cello in place of the traditionla bass. And the great cellists takes this music to places before unseen.

[Clunky]

Billy Bang: Valve #10 - with a subdued and wonderful performance by Frank Lowe - as well as a sublime rhythm section of Sirone and the *great* Denis Charles

.

I saw this line up ( certainly Lowe was on tenor) when Billy Bang did a UK tour in the late 80s. I was only just getting into jazz and mesmerised by the performance especially an astonishing version of St. Thomas. Bang said then that they had just recorded a session which eventually came out as Valve #10. I was a little disappointed by the CD by comparison but will give it a listen again tonight.

I've passed on Bang's CDs since but lately have really enjoyed his presense on Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio Cd on Delamrk, so perhaps I need to see if I need more Bangs for my buck

[Guest akanalog]

clunke, yeah the problem i had with valve no. 10 was the poetry track. sort of cheesy, IMO and ruined the overall experience for me.

if you want to check other bang, i would recommend "the fire from within".

here is the AMG review-

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&t...10:fvfrxq9gldte

don't believe all the casteneda mumbo jumbo in the review if you read it.

i always want to check out 'rainbow gladiator" but have a feeling it will be "good, not great".

"flat out jump suite" is pretty cool. i liked that one a lot better than "raw materials and residuals". because of dara, i guess. and maybe warren smith over moye. dara sounds great on this one. it is interesting how the album flows from one part to the next. and the concept kind of works-cerebral to physical music or whatever. "dogon A.D." is still better, but only available on dubious CDs and not BS/SN anyways..

another good david murray besides what mr. reynolds said, and that is a good one, is "morning song". i am not much of a murray follower, but i imagine this must be one of his most consistent and consistently satisfying albums, in no small part thanks to ed blackwell being the drummer. they even end with a nice murray/blackwell duet.

the one mr. reynolds mentioned, he mentioned sonelius smith. who seems to be more deserving of attention. he is also on andrew cyrille's "the navigator", which i mentioned earlier, if you want to hear more of him.

[Steve Reynolds]

plus we could do a whole thread on the John Lindberg black saints

start with the great "Give and Take" - with George Lewis and Barry Altschul - from 1983

the later ones are all fine - with some like Resurrection of a Dormant Soul, Quartet Afterstorm and Bounce maybe being ona slightly higher level than the others

they feature great players from various backgrounds - from Albery Mangelsdorff to Ed Thigpen to Dave Douglas and Larry Ochs

[7/4]

plus we could do a whole thread on the John Lindberg black saints

Go for it.

[Clunky]

plus we could do a whole thread on the John Lindberg black saints

Go for it.

I'm all ears too, on that front

[7/4]

plus we could do a whole thread on the John Lindberg black saints

Go for it.

I'm all ears too, on that front

I started it here.

[John B]

I've only heard A Tree Frog Tonality, which is excellent, so I would love to read some discussion of his BS discs.

[Steve Reynolds]

I'll try to dig up a few very old comments that I've made over the years

nice to know that people are interested in the great bassist/bandleader/composer

[Д.Д.]

I have a few Billy Bang CDs, and I enjoy all of them, even if Mr. Bang tends to be a bit overly melodramatic at times. His best playing is on his duo with Denis Charles on hatOLOGY called Bangception, IMO.

John Lindberg surely is a fine musician. I remeber being quite a bit underwhelemed by his solo work on Musi & Arts (with some enormously tedious bombastic poem in the middle), though. His Catbird Sings is a kick-ass free-bop stuff (with might Larry Ochs, iirc).

David Murray I have heard on a few CDs, and as I mentioned before, I think he is a good example of a fake "jazz" musician, not any better than Wynton. All clichées, a lot of chops, no substance. Of BS/SN discs of his I have "Ming", and it did not change my opinion of him.

Julius Hemphill I appreciate very selectively. I thought his duo with Wadud on Red label (forgot the title) was phenomenal. So was "Coon Bidness" (on Freedom / Black Lion). The rest (and I have a lot, including Black Saints), I definitely have to spend more time with, but first impressions very not too positive.

Edited February 27, 2006 by Д.Д.

[king ubu]

for "Bangception" (Some of my favourite Charles there! And you know I am not his greatest fan in other contexts...), and also for "Coon Bid'ness"! Oh, and for "Tree Frog Tonality", too (my only Lindberg, except that I just also got the successor on between the lines, but haven't played it yet.

[ep1str0phy]

picked up these two in a sale:

Played the Taylor once so far, sounded ok. Haven't heard the Lowe yet. Any opinions?

I've been listening to the Lowe recently. On first listen, I felt as if the tunes were sort of "monochromatic"--your regular theme/solo/theme fair with your stock and trade free blowing interspersed. Hearing it again (after a matter of months), it's a completely different story. This is a recording that rewards repeated/close listenings--a nuanced, powerful performance by an obscure and wonderful group. This is a top-notch post-Ornette combo--the sort that was stretching past the melodic innovations and into something a little more involved. Lowe is at his incendiary best; the band cooks; the improv is tight. I like this one a lot (almost as much as Black Beings and the best CIMPs).

[Д.Д.]

UK mail order company The Woods is offering BS/SN titles for £5 each (minimum order 2) inclusive of UK shipping.

http://www.the-woods.co.uk/html/Black_Saint_Offer.html

For my own uses I made this copy of their in print list:

David, that's a great deal. Thanks.

[Guest akanalog]

UK mail order company The Woods is offering BS/SN titles for £5 each (minimum order 2) inclusive of UK shipping.

http://www.the-woods.co.uk/html/Black_Saint_Offer.html

For my own uses I made this copy of their in print list:

David, that's a great deal. Thanks.

is it still a good deal for american purchasers? prob not?

[Guest akanalog]

is the george brown on that frank lowe disc the same dude on the john patton "boogaloo" session i wonder....

[John B]

is it still a good deal for american purchasers? prob not?

It depends how much they charge for shipping. It would be $8.70 per disc with today's exchange rates. Unless they charge over $6 per disc shipping it would be a decent deal.

[randyhersom]

I've recently listened to Trio 3 - Encounter (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille) and enjoyed it much. There are new Charles Gayle and Ran Blake discs on Tompkins Square that are apparently available on eMusic before the discs ship. If anyone beats me to the download I'd love to hear comments on either.

[randyhersom]

I googled and found out that the Charles Gayle is solo piano. The reviewer have both the Ran Blake and the Gayle a B+ but seemed to like the Gayle more. It was a Village Voice reviewer on tomhull.com

[king ubu]

Randy, it may be of interest that Intakt will release a new Trio 3 disc, Time Being, on April 2.

Intakt CD 106

[Clunky]

clunke, yeah the problem i had with valve no. 10 was the poetry track. sort of cheesy, IMO and ruined the overall experience for me.

if you want to check other bang, i would recommend "the fire from within".

listened to Valve #10 last night for the first time probably 3 years. I have to recant somewhat as it's really a pretty decent session. Missing some of the passion of the live set I attended but full of subtle expression and gentle swing. I wonder in part if it is now more appealing than it was following my amp change 2 years ago. Finer details come through and it sounds less fog bound than it did previously. The poetry bit has it's charm too. Worth checking.

[David Ayers]

is it still a good deal for american purchasers? prob not?

It depends how much they charge for shipping. It would be $8.70 per disc with today's exchange rates. Unless they charge over $6 per disc shipping it would be a decent deal.

They charge postage at cost to non-UK destinations, and the quoted price includes UK sales tax of 17.5% which is *deducted* from non-European Union orders (any tax at the buyer's end is his/her problem of course).

[Д.Д.]

Gentlemen, Damon Smith is selling four Balance Point Acoustics releases on e-bay for some insignificant amount of $$.

No need to start bidding wars, he has enough copies of each of those.

I just got all four and he is throwing something additionally for free.

As mentioned, the latest Balance Point Acoustics release "Cruxes" is excellent.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Д.Д.

[Guest Chaney]

Damon Smith has been doing that for a while.

Gads. It's likely that someone could put in the minimum bid on all four and not be challenged. (I, being the saintly person that I am, bought the three older titles a while back at the buy-it-now price of $10 each. I am such a good person. )

Next up for Balance Point Acoustics:

bpa011 - "sextesence" (john butcher/aaron bennett/henry kaiser/danielle degruttola/damon smith/jerome bryerton)

YUM!

Edited March 1, 2006 by Chaney

[Д.Д.]

Damon Smith has been doing that for a while.

Gads. It's likely that someone could put in the minimum bid on all four and not be challenged. (I, being the saintly person that I am, bought the three older titles a while back at the buy-it-now price of $10 each. I am such a good person. )

Tony, did you get "Cruxes" as well?

[Guest Chaney]

Tony, did you get "Cruxes" as well?

Yep. I'm having a second listen right now.

Edited March 1, 2006 by Chaney