Funny Rat

[king ubu]

If you find yourself liking From Between, be sure to pick up a copy of No Stranger to Air.

well yes... probably only a question of time... there was a review in a recent edition of The Wire of two Wright discs that sounded very favourable (not sure if it's these two), and the only one I have so far (that limited and now OOP one "eight by nine" or similar, on that CDR label) I enjoy more and more, with each listen (three or four so far, and I found it only so-so on first listen, but it got quite a bit more interesting in the meantime).

[Guest Chaney]

Do I want to pre-order Brötz, Albert Mangelsdorff & Gunter "Baby" Sommer: Pica Pica (Atavistic UMS?)

Pica pica = black-billed magpie

~~~~~~~~~~

Updated for July, PARIS Transatlantic Magazine and the What's New section of the European Free Improvisation Pages.

Edited July 6, 2006 by Chaney

[Nate Dorward]

Re: Jack Wright--been listening a lot to his collab with Tom Djll, Road Signs. Great stuff, in particular the 23-minute middle track with Tim Feeney on percussion (the first one's good too; the last one seems a little less interesting). Some of the "driest" improv since the SME's heyday, in the good sense (light, high-pitched, very matter-of-fact, & filled with nuance--in fact, for all the minimalism, quite garrulous & diverse).

[Д.Д.]

Do I want to pre-order Brötz, Albert Mangelsdorff & Gunter "Baby" Sommer: Pica Pica (Atavistic UMS?)

Pica pica = black-billed magpie

Well, I am not a big fan of Mangelsdorff.

But Brötzmann-Mangelsdorff-Bennink-Van Hove Live in Berlin '71 (FMP) is one of my favorite Brötzmann discs.

But largely due to Van Hove's playing.

I dunno.

Get it, of course

Did you get the Alarm reissue yet? Gave it one listen - very impressive. And different from other Brötzmann discs I have (30, as of last count... hardly a half of Gary's Brötzmann collection, I guess). Very highly organized music (as is obvious from the tightly notated score below)

Edited July 6, 2006 by Д.Д.

[Guest Chaney]

I didn't get Alarm and don't have Live in Berlin '71.

Gary'll probably never speak to me again!

~~~~~~~~~~

Nate: Where'd you get Road Signs?

~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Baker: What Remains -- a requiem/concerto for fretless guitar, dedicated to the memory Matthew Sperry.

~~~~~~~~~~

Brownie reported elsewhere that Sketch was back in business. I wonder is MINIUM MUSIC is in any way connected with Sketch.

Answering my own question... The good news is that Sketch impresario Philippe Ghielmetti is back, producing records for a number of labels including Illusions Music, La Buissonne, and now Minium Music, which released Viret’s latest, L’Indicible (”The Unspeakable”). Its indirect evocation of a broad range of emotions not only suits the title, but also strongly supports the philosophy of more permanent musical relationships. All About Jazzzzzzzzz

~~~~~~~~~~

absinth 010 -

axel doerners long awaited solo CD, the first for many many years! recording was successfully done and mixing and mastering is the next step. work on covers began as well!

~~~~~~~~~~

Nu Release Schedule

Below is a release schedule for recordings on the nuscope label. These dates and catalog numbers are subject to change.

October 2006 CD 1018 Mat Maneri / Denman Maroney Distich

October 2006 CD 1019 Gregorio / Karayorgis / McBride Chicago Approach

September 2007 CD 1020 Georg Graewe / Bozzini Quartet String Quartet No.1 /

Piano Quintet

Edited July 6, 2006 by Chaney

[Nate Dorward]

It was a review copy, but you can get it from Tom Djll -- it's on his Soul on Rice Productions label. (If you do, check out his solo CDRs on the label too.) Contact info here:

http://www.bayimproviser.com/artistdetail.asp?artist_id=137

[ep1str0phy]

Do I want to pre-order Brötz, Albert Mangelsdorff & Gunter "Baby" Sommer: Pica Pica (Atavistic UMS?)

Pica pica = black-billed magpie

Well, I am not a big fan of Mangelsdorff.

But Brötzmann-Mangelsdorff-Bennink-Van Hove Live in Berlin '71 (FMP) is one of my favorite Brötzmann discs.

But largely due to Van Hove's playing.

I dunno.

Get it, of course

Did you get the Alarm reissue yet? Gave it one listen - very impressive. And different from other Brötzmann discs I have (30, as of last count... hardly a half of Gary's Brötzmann collection, I guess). Very highly organized music (as is obvious from the tightly notated score below)

I got the Alarm reissue. The extended title piece is so tight it's almost glib--programmatic to the point of near-parody, replete with nuclear panic/saxophone barrage and all the associated mayhem. In short, this isn't the sort of transcendental skronk one would expect from a band of this caliber, but still... there's some fine stuff here. Frank Wright--whose available appearances are few and far between nowadays--is the firebreather of old (compared to the Malik CD from a while back, where his improvisations seemed strangely restrained), playing at and sometimes above the level of his peers. I'm particularly pleased to see the Miller/Moholo team on yet another recent reissue--and they smoke like hell (nice to hear that Miller is decently recorded). Also--dig the international band (Euros, an American, a Japanese man, and a couple of SA expatriates). The upside is that everyone plays into the scenario; it's fun, if unextraordinary. And the Wright tune at the end is wonderfully slight (in a good way).

[clifford_thornton]

I suspect there was WAAY more recorded than is on the LP - it was an NDR broadcast, after all!

Wasn't this an FMP CD at some point? I have an old FMP CD catalog that lists it as "forthcoming."

Not a bad record, but no Berlin Djungle!

[B. Clugston]

I suspect there was WAAY more recorded than is on the LP - it was an NDR broadcast, after all!

Wasn't this an FMP CD at some point? I have an old FMP CD catalog that lists it as "forthcoming."

Not a bad record, but no Berlin Djungle!

If it's Alarm you are referring to, this is from the Atavistic site:

"The story is simple. We were touring with this band, and the reason I could put the band together in the first place was a radio gig in Hamburg. Michael Naura, chief of the jazz dept there, was setting up a series of on-air concerts in a 200-seat studio, so we performed the first piece, which I called "Alarm." I used the graphic instructions for a reaction to a nuclear emergency, a series of waves and straight tones, repeated in a certain way.

We had planned two more pieces, one by Willem Breuker and one by Frank Wright. My piece took about 40 minutes, the first half of the concert. At the end of the performance, Naura came to me – while we were still on the air – and whispered that the house got a bomb threat and had to be evacuated. So I had to bring the piece quickly to and end and the audience was asked to leave the hall. We also had to pack and leave. Police and special forces showed up with all kinds of equipment, gear, dogs – we know all that better now than then.

That was the end of the concert and that’s the 40 minutes we have on tape. -Peter Brötzmann, Chicago, October 2005

[Guest Chaney]

From the fine folks at eremite:

friends of eremite records,

eremite 049, _john blum astrongeny quartet_ (d. charles, a. grippi, w. parker); eremite 050, khan jamal _drumdance to the motherland_ (re-issue of '72 dogtown l/p): release date 12 september '06, available from eremite.com first week of september.

in the meantime here's a sale list of (barely) used CDs, almost entirely jazz w/ a few jamaican, funk, & 'other' for your pleasure. numerous uncommon & out-of-print titles here, overall a much more interesting selection than one sees in the typical new arrival bin. single copies on most pieces, everything is in excellent-- if not flawless-- condition. to reserve, send message via the message box at eremite.com thanks, eremite

michael bisio & joe mcphee/finger wigglers/CIMP 127: mcphee, on tenor exclusively, in duo with bassist bisio. "lonely woman" & "blue monk" are played. $7

eric boeren/cross breeding/bimhuis 05: all ornette program by dutch 4tet & large ensemble under leadership of cornetist boeren, recorded live at the bim in 1995. w/, among others, ab baars, michael moore, tobius delius, sean bergin on saxophones, michael vatcher on drums. kevin whitehead liner notes of course. out-of-print. $20

:/joy of a toy/bvhaast 9907: boeren-led 4tet w/ michael moore , wilbert dejoode & han bennink. half originals, half ornette tunes. cover artwork by bennink, handsome package. out-of-print. $20

joe bonner/devotion/steeplechase31182: '83 solo date, three standards, six originals. $8

junior byles & friends/129 beat street/blood & fire023: $8

roy campbell quartet/t's krunch time/thirsty ear 57107: '01 4tet recording w/ khan jamal, wilbur morris, guillermo e. brown. $7

graham collier/deep dark blue centre/discconforme1957: originally issued on u.k. decca in '67, a defining early record of new british jazz. septet with kenny wheeler or harry beckett on trmpt/flugel, mike gibbs... collier's writing style is strongly informed by gil evans & mingus. $8

graham collier/down another road/disconforme 1958: '69 sextet with beckett, stan sulzmann, nick evans, karl jenkins, john marshall. $8

alice coltrane/transfiguration/sepiatone 01: double c/d reissue of 1978 u.c.l.a. trio concert with roy haynes & reggie workman. "leo" parts I & II are sixteen & twenty minutes, respectively. burning AC. $10

stanley cowell/angel eyes/steeplechase 31339: '93 solo piano date rated 4 stars in penguin guide to jazz. $8

tobias delius et al/trio san francisco/prisoners of pleasure/bvhaast 9605: saxophone trio with delius, sean bergin & daniele d'agaro. originals + monk, mengelberg & pukwana. out-of-print. $20

tobias delius 4tet/the heron/icp 033: delius's critically-regarded 4tet w/ tristan honsinger, han bennink & joe williamson. live amsterdam '97. notes? whitehead. $12

:/toby's mloby/icp 034: same dudes, live at the bim in '99. all artwork by bennink, very cool unique package. out-of-print. $20

:/pelikanismus/icp 039: same personnel, 2001 recording, artwork by bennink. $12

emergency/homage to peace/america 08: french only reissue of 1st album by international free jazz unit, '70 paris, led by american ex-pat bassist bob reid. w/ sabu toyozumi, boulou ferret, takashi kako, & glenn spearman --his recording debut. $8

simon h. fell/composition no. 30 compilation III for improvisers, big band & chamber ensemble/bruce's fingers 27: double c/d. writes the composer, "as a piece based almost entirely on the principals of total serialisation, compilation III has an unnecessarily complex, ornate & mathematical basis to every aspect of its existence." improvisers include john butcher, stefan jaworzyn, mark sanders, hession & wilkinson, rhodri davies. 4 stars in penguin guide, "the lifetime masterpiece by a major contemporary musician." more reviews at http://www.brucesfingers.co.uk/catalogue/bf27.htm $15

eddie gale/black rhythm happening/blue note: e.u. pressing of '69 date by cecil alum, the 2nd of his two wildly original records for b. note. w/ jimmy lyons, elvin jones, & "the noble gale singers." "one of the most adventurous recordings to come out of the sixties" --all music guide (http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:uk90s39ya3rg) $9

dennis gonzalez's inspiration band featuring henry grimes/nile river suite/daagnim cd9: 5tet w/ sabir mateen, roy campbell, michael thompson. $8

henry grimes trio/live at the kerava jazz festival/ayler-028: w/ hamid drake & david murray. $9

roy haynes/birds of a feather/dreyfus 36625: '01 5tet w/ dave holland, roy hargrove, dave kikoski, & kenny garrett. what did haynes wear to the grammy awards? $8

gerry hemingway/songs/between the lines-024: from '02, "songs," sung by lisa sokolov, w/ eskelin, weirbos, butcher, robertson. an unfamiliar & interesting new context for hemingway's work. $9

hession wilkinson fell/foom! foom!/bruce's fingers 05: recorded '92, willfully raw & unsocialized u.k. sax/bass/drums trio play bracing old school european free jazz, in the lineage of early brotzmann. $8

paul hession/giant soft drum set/p-ville 001: solo recordings '86 & '96. a precise & powerful free jazz drummer. $8

toshinori kondo paul lovens paul lytton/death is our eternal friend/diw 455: japanese pressing. recordings from '82 tour of japan. read eugene chadbourne's bio of kondo at allmusic (http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:tl08b5m4tsqa~T1). $10

peter kowald & damon smith/mirrors broken but no dust/balance point acoustic 001: '00 recording of kowald in a bass duo with his protege smith. cover art & liner notes by kowald, art design in early FMP style. out-of-print. $10

john law/extremely quartet/hat art 6199: '96 4tet date w/ louis moholo, paul dunmall, barry guy. out-of-print. $10

john la porta/theme & variations/fantasy 24776: '02 reissue of '56 album conceptions by noted 3rd stream exponent. scads of bonus tracks.

$8

charlie mariano/frontier traffic/konex 5110: '02 trio recording w/ ali haurand on bass & daniel humair on drums. mariano is playing well here at 79 years old. $9

j.r. monterose & tommy flanagan/a little pleasure/resorvoir 109: '81 duo recording. $8

j.r. monterose/body & soul/blue moon 1605: '70 5tet recording live in holland, w/ pierre courbois, john eardley. reissue of v. rare l/p on the munich label. $7

michael moore quartet/neglige/ramboy '04: '92 recording on his own label, w/ michael vatcher, ernst reijseger & alex maguire. $9

michael moore & alex maguire/mt. olympus/ramboy 13: '99 duo recording. out-of-print. $15

phineas newborn/phineas' rainbow/koch 8585: reissue of '67 r.c.a. album w/ philly joe, cal newborn, george joyner. $6

john rangecroft/blythe hill/slam 228: recorded '96 london. rangecroft was in ken hyder's wonderful talisker project. here he plays clarinet only in an animate, conversational trio setting w/ marcio mattos (bs) & stu butterfield (drums). $8

maria schneider orchestra/allegresse/enja 9393: out-of-print. this sells new on amazon for $50, but man, you can have it for $15.

wadada leo smith/condor, autumn wind/wobbly rail 01: recorded '97, solo wadada w/ poetry by harumi makino smith. $7

stan sulzmann/feudal rabbits/ah um 11: '90 recording by veteran u.k. saxist. 4tet with two bassists & steve arguelles on drums. $7

cecil taylor & matt maneri/algonquiin/bridge 9146: recording of '99 library of congress commission. $8

cecil taylor/silent tongues/1201 music 9017: '74 solo concert at montreux. $7

leon thomas/full circle/bmg: french only reissue w/ five bonus tracks of '73 leon side for flying dutchman. cast of thousands includes richard davis, bernard purdie, pee wee ellis. strictly for the wax poetics crowd. $7

ed thigpen featuring joe lovano/the element of swing/stunt 01222: '01 in copenhagen. w/ carsten dahl & jesper bodilsen. $9

oluyemi thomas/before the beginning/recorded 011: thomas hits baltimore, '02. w/ jim baker, andy hayleck, helena espvall-santoleri. $6

oluyemi thomas & positive knowledge/at the center of the threshold/earlight 01: double c/d, '98 4tet recording w/ ijeoma, wilber morris, michael wimberly. another unique thomas family fusion of aacm approach w/ ra/june tyson delivery. $10

clifford thorton/the panther & the lash/america 13: french only reissue, recorded '70 in paris, possibly this important & under-recorded figure's best music. 4tet w/ tusques, guerin, & noel mcghie. $8

sonny treadway/jesus will fix it/arhoolie 462: recorded '97, further arhoolie documentation of the pentecostal sacred steel trad. $7

george wallington quintet/jazz at hotchkiss/savoy 0119: recorded '57, w/ donald byrd, phil woods, knobby totah, & nick stabulas. $5

phil woods/the solo album/philology 304: recorded '00. standards, dedications to parker, hodges, benny carter, even some home-style crooning toward the end. $8

reggie workman/summit conference/postcards 1003: critically acclaimed '94 5tet recording w/ andrew hill, sam rivers, p. aklaff, julian priester. $6

frank wright/uhura na umoja/america 15: french only re-issue of rare '70 paris 4tet session w/ bobby few, noah howard, art taylor. a real classic. $8

various artists/texas funk/jazzman 006: great compilation of gritty local texas funk 45s from the '60s-70s. authoritatively complied & documented. $8

various artists/midwest funk/jazzman 007: same series, this time focused on the midwest, equally outstanding results. $9

[ep1str0phy]

I don't think I've ever heard anyone plug the Collier disc (Above)--but it's some excellent post-boppish stuff. Not quite the kidney of this thread, but definitely one of the more beautiful Brit jazz discs I've heard (again, very Gil Evans).

[king ubu]

I suspect there was WAAY more recorded than is on the LP - it was an NDR broadcast, after all!

Wasn't this an FMP CD at some point? I have an old FMP CD catalog that lists it as "forthcoming."

Not a bad record, but no Berlin Djungle!

If it's Alarm you are referring to, this is from the Atavistic site:

"The story is simple. We were touring with this band, and the reason I could put the band together in the first place was a radio gig in Hamburg. Michael Naura, chief of the jazz dept there, was setting up a series of on-air concerts in a 200-seat studio, so we performed the first piece, which I called "Alarm." I used the graphic instructions for a reaction to a nuclear emergency, a series of waves and straight tones, repeated in a certain way.

We had planned two more pieces, one by Willem Breuker and one by Frank Wright. My piece took about 40 minutes, the first half of the concert. At the end of the performance, Naura came to me – while we were still on the air – and whispered that the house got a bomb threat and had to be evacuated. So I had to bring the piece quickly to and end and the audience was asked to leave the hall. We also had to pack and leave. Police and special forces showed up with all kinds of equipment, gear, dogs – we know all that better now than then.

That was the end of the concert and that’s the 40 minutes we have on tape. -Peter Brötzmann, Chicago, October 2005

Hm, here's the info I have on that NDR workshop (don't have the disc, but I guess that's the date):

NDR Jazz Workshop No. 164 - Peter Brötzmann Band

November 12, 1981

Studio 10, Funkhaus, NDR, Hamburg, Germany

Toshinori Kondo (tp) Johannes Bauer (tb) Alan Tomlinson (tb) Frank Wright (sax) Peter Brötzmann (sax) Willem Breuker (sax) Alexander von Schlippenbach (p) Harry Miller (b) Louis Moholo (dr)

1. Alarm (Brötzmann) (37:05)

2. Ahab (Schlippenbach) (7:10)

3. Sur l’Autoroute (Breuker) (7 :10)

4. Grandpa and the kid (Miller) (9:00)

5. Minor double blues (Schlippenbach) (9:55)

6. Another flat djungle (Breuker) (9:10)

7. Jerry Sacem (1.version) (Wright) (10:15)

8. Jerry Sacem (2.version) (Wright) (3:10)

Total Time: 96:05

Producer: Michael Naura

I don't have this, so I can't really say if it's around, but I strongy guess it is, since this comes from an informed source...

[Д.Д.]

Amazon.fr has a nice €6 sale on Harmonia Mundi titles

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, Ubu, that's what I was thinking of.

Better contact my NDR sources and see if I can come up with it!

[ep1str0phy]

Hm, here's the info I have on that NDR workshop (don't have the disc, but I guess that's the date):

NDR Jazz Workshop No. 164 - Peter Brötzmann Band

November 12, 1981

Studio 10, Funkhaus, NDR, Hamburg, Germany

Toshinori Kondo (tp) Johannes Bauer (tb) Alan Tomlinson (tb) Frank Wright (sax) Peter Brötzmann (sax) Willem Breuker (sax) Alexander von Schlippenbach (p) Harry Miller (b) Louis Moholo (dr)

1. Alarm (Brötzmann) (37:05)

2. Ahab (Schlippenbach) (7:10)

3. Sur l’Autoroute (Breuker) (7 :10)

4. Grandpa and the kid (Miller) (9:00)

5. Minor double blues (Schlippenbach) (9:55)

6. Another flat djungle (Breuker) (9:10)

7. Jerry Sacem (1.version) (Wright) (10:15)

8. Jerry Sacem (2.version) (Wright) (3:10)

Total Time: 96:05

Producer: Michael Naura

I don't have this, so I can't really say if it's around, but I strongy guess it is, since this comes from an informed source...

I'd sure as hell like to hear the whole shebang. That is a top flight group. Question, though--so the concert was cut after 40 or so minutes of 'Alarm,' right? What happened with the other cuts (or did they happen/get recorded on a different occasion/in a different order/at a different time)?

Edited July 8, 2006 by ep1str0phy

[7/4]

perhaps this might interest the funny rat crowd.

[Д.Д.]

Claude Delangle - "Solitary Saxophone" (BIS, 1994) = stunning

Listen here.

[Д.Д.]

perhaps this might interest the funny rat crowd.

I'll check it out.

[Guest Chaney]

Up for pre-ordering at CD Universe:

Jon Raskin: Music + One (Rastascan)

This is a compendium of improvisations to be used to make music. They can be played along with in any order.

The improvisations were recorded at Guerilla Recordingø and mastered at Headless Buddha Labs in the spring of 2005. The instructions for the musicians were to improvise for 3 to 4 minutes, imagining they were playing music with their shadow. The results show some of the breadth of the improvised music scene that is happening in the San Francisco Bay Area at this time.

The musicians include George Cremaschi, David Slusser, Jen Baker, Larry Ochs, Chris Brown, Gino Robair, Liz Allbee, Garth Powell, Bill Horvitz, Kiku Day, Myles Boisen, Theresa Wong, Moe! Staiano, Rhodri Davies, John Shiurba, Jon Raskin, Ches Smith, Aurora Josephson, Jonathan Segel, Phillip Gelb, Philip Greenlief, and Tim Perkis.

http://www.rastascan.com/images/Music+One.jpg

~~~~~~~~~~

Michael Renkel (guitarist, composer, electronica) has some hefty downloads available on his site.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hmmm... this might be worth a try.

~~~~~~~~~~

14th LMC Festival of Experimental Music - AUDIO ARCHIVE

Edited July 14, 2006 by Chaney

[Nate Dorward]

The debate rages over The Topography of the Lungs:

http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001305.html

Aside from the question of the revised credit, just thought I'd draw people's attention to the disc, as (despite the odd naysayer) it seems to me fully deserving of the "legendary" tag.

[ghost of miles]

Just picked up the most recent Kidd Jordan w/Parker and Drake, but haven't had a chance to listen yet. Anybody else hear it yet?

[John B]

Just picked up the most recent Kidd Jordan w/Parker and Drake, but haven't had a chance to listen yet. Anybody else hear it yet?

Yes. I really enjoy it a lot. Kidd is a lot more melodic and "gentler" than I have heard in the past. All in all I think it is a beautiful disc.

Hamid switches to the tabla and William puts down the bass in favor an African lute, which I know isn't everyone's cup of tea here.

Since I was ordering directly from Aum I also picked up Triptych Myth - The Beautiful. Very nice. Cooper Moore has been releasing some wonderful music over the past few years.

I'm really looking forward to picking up a copy of Topography very soon.

[ep1str0phy]

KCET has been airing a Bill Laswell concert (playing in the LA area, for now--don't know how old this is). There's an 'incarnation' of Material therein featuring, among others, Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, and Toshinori Kondo (all playing quite fine, in fact); the group plays some African-inflected, groove-based music in the dub idiom--lots of free inflections, but beat-heavy. Not all of the concert is at this level--there's some hyper-showy stuff by Buckethead toward the end (nothing impressive--just hard and blustery)--but there are some moments of great beauty. Even for those among us with troubled notions of the Laswell legacy, I'd recommend a viewing.

[7/4]

KCET has been airing a Bill Laswell concert (playing in the LA area, for now--don't know how old this is). There's an 'incarnation' of Material therein featuring, among others, Pharoah Sanders, Hamid Drake, and Toshinori Kondo (all playing quite fine, in fact); the group plays some African-inflected, groove-based music in the dub idiom--lots of free inflections, but beat-heavy. Not all of the concert is at this level--there's some hyper-showy stuff by Buckethead toward the end (nothing impressive--just hard and blustery)--but there are some moments of great beauty. Even for those among us with troubled notions of the Laswell legacy, I'd recommend a viewing.

I managed to totally forget to watch this last night. I think this is getting released on DVD.

[ep1str0phy]

Really? It was only an hour long--not long enough, perhaps, to merit the full-on DVD treatment (I'm assuming that the actual performance was truncated). Somewhat inconsistent, again--but the brighter moments were quite fine (and it's nice to see Laswell shepherding the ensemble in real time--really effective). Check it out for the Material parts.