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hatOLOGY 2-535 / MIDPRICE / LAST CHANCE, SOON SOLD OUT

Misha Mengelberg

Two Days In Chicago

2 CD set available at $14 from CADENCE.

I have a bit of a problem with this one - but I listened to it only once so far.

Vandermark sounded bland, and some other pieces (with Ab Baars, I think) seemed dry and boring. I'll listen to it again.

Anybody else cares to share his (or her, he-he) thoughts (I think we all got it at the dawn of the glorious Funny Rat days, when it was annonced OOP, didn't we?)?

I agree. This one really did not grab me on first listen. I have yet to go back and give it a second try.

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Guest Chaney

Chaney - you must be feeling good, that's one hell of an album there.

Pretty exciting as this is my first INTAKT purchase. :party:

One down, dozens more to go.

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Chaney - but that one's really some good now, no?

On Misha - D.D., I would love to see them live - did they play as a duo?

Agreed, Root of the Problem is not a highlight either.

My first rec's for the swingier, joyful side of Misha in conventional formats and playing as straight as he ever will: Misha Mengelberg Trio - Who's Bridge and Misha Mengelberg Quartet - Four in One. The latter is a bit more extrovert and includes some of Douglas' best solo playing to my ears. The trio is Misha with Joey Baron and Brad Jones and the quartet is MiHa, Dave Douglas, and Brad Jones. All originals with quite a bit of variety in the trio from bossa tunes to his original based on rhythm changes. The quartet session includes Misha's tune that also appeared on Dolpy's "Last Date" as well as a couple of Monk tunes along with originals.

The ICP Orchestra discs are mostly recommendable as well. I haven't heard the very recent release yet. If you want one, though, I'd pick Jubilee Varia for the compositions and some fantastic solos by Moore. This has lots of variety, e.g., the first track is a MiHa duo, and gets lots of play here.

Solo Misha I would only recommend if you really dig the way he approaches improvisation. I've heard very good things about "Solo" and waiting for its arrival soon so might report back then. "Impropositions" I've come to really like, but note I say have come to and I really like his playing.

On October Meeting 1991 3 Quartets, Bennink/Dresser/Braxton/Misha play 3 standards and I think he quite steals the show there (this is on the Bimhuis label, and even though compilations of this sort are not my thing, works pretty well with the other 2 quartets, all rather different)

So I'd say get either Who's Bridge or Four in One and Jubilee Varia. If you're not intrigued, better to explore other folks' music.

I'd be happy to answer an specifics about the above albums.

Best,

Gokhan

Edited by gnhrtg
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Thanks Gokhan. I'll explore more Mengelberg.

And yes, him and Douglas played in duo.

----------------

Funny enough, "Last Date" is probably the only "official" Dolpy I don't have... should check it out. Got Vintage Dolphy on GM Records recently. Good stuff... will write more later.

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Guest Chaney

I had a second listen to CD1 of Two Days In Chicago and thought I'd torture one and all by sharing ( :rolleyes: ) my thoughts -- written while I listened - unexpurgated.

1. Vandermark does nothing with Monk's Eronel. Plays it straight 'cept for one errant but subdued squonk. Got a bit lost? Drake seems to overplay. :tdown

2, 3 & 4. First part of this trio piece is rather bland. I wonder if Baars's part was written out? Adds color but little else. Second part is a winner! (Second favorite bit on this disk.) Band shines on this one - especially Baars. Third part is not bad. :mellow:

5. Monk's Off Minor. Vandermark embarrassing. Monk as played in a strip club? Down and dirty... almost. Has a museum piece quality about it, as if played for grade-schoolers. LISTEN KIDS! THIS is J A Z Z! ... as it was played by lesser talents way back in the days of granddad. :tdown !!!

6. Drake heard to better advantage. Misha and Fred Anderson work well together - especially on the brief duo part(s). Better if the entire piece were played as a Mengelberg / Anderson duo? :tup , but SINOW - solid, if not outstanding work. ^_^

7. Dy-no-MITE! This one works well. BIG smile at the 5:00 mark when Kessler walks the bass. The band is clicking as all seem to be finally enjoying themselves. Subdued turmoil. Drake finally seems to be in his element. Phew! BIG :tup

8. Meat and potatoes stuff but OH-SO-TASTY! deJoode: not familiar with him. A slightly more interesting player than Kessler? Tasteful brush work on the percussion. A not-too-long CD of this type of trio sound would not be unwelcome. Misha seems to shine in this type of swing trio setting. :tup

9. Me no like. :tdown

10. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. :tdown

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I had a second listen to CD1 of Two Days In Chicago and thought I'd torture one and all by sharing ( :rolleyes: ) my thoughts -- written while I listened - unexpurgated.

1. Vandermark does nothing with Monk's Eronel. Plays it straight 'cept for one errant but subdued squonk. Got a bit lost? Drake seems to overplay. :tdown

2, 3 & 4. First part of this trio piece is rather bland. I wonder if Baars's part was written out? Adds color but little else. Second part is a winner! (Second favorite bit on this disk.) Band shines on this one - especially Baars. Third part is not bad. :mellow:

5. Monk's Off Minor. Vandermark embarrassing. Monk as played in a strip club? Down and dirty... almost. Has a museum piece quality about it, as if played for grade-schoolers. LISTEN KIDS! THIS is J A Z Z! ... as it was played by lesser talents way back in the days of granddad. :tdown !!!

6. Drake heard to better advantage. Misha and Fred Anderson work well together - especially on the brief duo part(s). Better if the entire piece were played as a Mengelberg / Anderson duo? :tup , but SINOW - solid, if not outstanding work. ^_^

7. Dy-no-MITE! This one works well. BIG smile at the 5:00 mark when Kessler walks the bass. The band is clicking as all seem to be finally enjoying themselves. Subdued turmoil. Drake finally seems to be in his element. Phew! BIG :tup

8. Meat and potatoes stuff but OH-SO-TASTY! deJoode: not familiar with him. A slightly more interesting player than Kessler? Tasteful brush work on the percussion. A not-too-long CD of this type of trio sound would not be unwelcome. Misha seems to shine in this type of swing trio setting. :tup

9. Me no like. :tdown

10. zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. :tdown

Glad I didn't pick this one up. I guess I should listen to Misha's The Root of the Problem again. I liked it, but it's been a long time since I last heard it.

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Guest Chaney

There's a second CD? :huh:

:P

I'll get to that one shortly. I have a feeling that I'll prefer that one over the first.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I ordered a copy of Tales Out Of Time from Cadence on Monday, received it yesterday and am listening to it today, while in my office, drinking my coffee and anxiously awaiting the beginning of another wonderful work day! <_<

Anyway, track three - Master Of A Small House - is free of glitches. :tup

Edited by Chaney
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I finally own a copy of Funny Rat. It took 106 pages and a drive to Boston, but I can finally hear the album that started all of this. I also picked up a copy of Nothung, which was recorded live at the Knitting Factory and features Brotzmann with William Parker and Michael Wertmuller (who I know nothing about) on percussion.

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I finally own a copy of Funny Rat. It took 106 pages and a drive to Boston, but I can finally hear the album that started all of this. I also picked up a copy of Nothung, which was recorded live at the Knitting Factory and features Brotzmann with William Parker and Michael Wertmuller (who I know nothing about) on percussion.

Nothung is SINOW, but Wertmueller is amazing. You do know Wertmueller, btw - he is a Steamboat Switzerland drummer...

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Guest Chaney

will do!  It was great to finally be at a store that had albums like this for sale.  I could have spent a lot of money very easily.

I had heard of such stores but always assumed them to be found on other planets in galaxies far, far away. (I too would have to make a road trip to find brick and mortar stores selling the stuff we chat about in this thread. Thank gOd for the Internet!)

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will do!  It was great to finally be at a store that had albums like this for sale.  I could have spent a lot of money very easily.

I had heard of such stores but always assumed them to be found on other planets in galaxies far, far away. (I too would have to make a road trip to find brick and mortar stores selling the stuff we chat about in this thread. Thank gOd for the Internet!)

It is a fairly small store but they had discs on Hat Hut, Ayler, Eremite, as well as Japanese imports, Erstwhiles, lots of free jazz, 20th century composers, psychedelic music, etc...

The internet is great, but I love being able to browse.

Also, the Keith Rowe / Fennesz show last night was fantastic. Many thanks to Jon Abbey for putting it together.

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It is a fairly small store but they had discs on Hat Hut, Ayler, Eremite, as well as Japanese imports, Erstwhiles, lots of free jazz, 20th century composers, psychedelic music, etc...

I wonder how they are doing financially...

The best CD store I saw was Tower Records in lower Manhattan (I became an anapologetic American patriot after having seen this store) and another one - Tower Records in Bellevue, WA (with a lot of Leo and Boxholder CDs... Spalsc(H) CDs had a special advertizing stand with something really catchy written on it, like "Those wonderful Italians"... in Bellevue, WA!!!!!), although the clerk told me they were about to downsize the jazz section...

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The best CD store I saw was Tower Records in lower Manhattan (I became an anapologetic American patriot after having seen this store) and another one -  Tower Records in Bellevue, WA (with a lot of Leo and Boxholder CDs... Spalsc(H) CDs had a special advertizing stand with something really catchy written on it, like "Those wonderful Italians"... in Bellevue, WA!!!!!), although the clerk told me they were about to downsize the jazz section...

which recently happened at Tower downtown NYC. :blink:

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It is a fairly small store but they had discs on Hat Hut, Ayler, Eremite, as well as Japanese imports, Erstwhiles, lots of free jazz, 20th century composers, psychedelic music, etc...

I wonder how they are doing financially...

The best CD store I saw was Tower Records in lower Manhattan (I became an anapologetic American patriot after having seen this store) and another one - Tower Records in Bellevue, WA (with a lot of Leo and Boxholder CDs... Spalsc(H) CDs had a special advertizing stand with something really catchy written on it, like "Those wonderful Italians"... in Bellevue, WA!!!!!), although the clerk told me they were about to downsize the jazz section...

Based on comments I overheard the owner make I don't think they are making much of a profit, if any. It is definitely a labor of love for them.

The best cd store I have ever seen, by far, is Amoeba, out in California. It is like a cathedral, a veritable Mecca, for cd addicts such as ourselves.

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The best cd store I have ever seen, by far, is Amoeba, out in California. It is like a cathedral, a veritable Mecca, for cd addicts such as ourselves.

I'll be passing through San Francisco later this summer (if I persuade American consulate that I am a true Amercian patriot and they give me a visa - I am being "screened" for two weeks already), and I will check Amoeba out.

I assme NYC's Downtown Music Gallery should be not bad also...

And there should be somethign good here in Europe... Amsterdam probably...

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The best cd store I have ever seen, by far, is Amoeba, out in California.  It is like a cathedral, a veritable Mecca,  for cd addicts such as ourselves.

I'll be passing through San Francisco later this summer (if I persuade American consulate that I am a true Amercian patriot and they give me a visa - I am being "screened" for two weeks already), and I will check Amoeba out.

I assme NYC's Downtown Music Gallery should be not bad also...

And there should be somethign good here in Europe... Amsterdam probably...

I have never had the pleasure of visiting DMG but I would guess that you are correct.

How long are you plnning on being in the U.S. for? Just San Francisco?

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How long are you plnning on being in the U.S. for? Just San Francisco?

The main destination is Redmond, WA., actually, and I will need to spend 3-4 days there. I will most likely fly via San Francisco, so I should have several hours in town. And if I have a couple of free days, I'll fly to NYC to catch up with friends...

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Funny Rat is great, but I started to lose interest towards an hour in. It might be that work isn't the proper environment for this album but I can see myself listening to this one a track or two at a time. Excellent recording, highly recommended for fans of Brotzmann.

Now onto Nothung...

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He-he, at the beginning I thought this referred to Golden Years of New Jazz series on Leo. Was about to send you some spare Bananarama CDs I have...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Isn't it wonderful that Cecil is still in the mood to grimace to cameras at the age of 74?

Talking about Clark Terry, hope everybody here heard his unbelievable (albeit short) playing on Ed Thigpen's "Out in (of?) the Storm" (Verve)?

:tup:tup:tup

A GREAT record! Can't say enough good things about that one! Everybody's at the top of their game. And dig "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" - that version still could teach Wynton some lessons!

ubu

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hatOLOGY 2-535 / MIDPRICE / LAST CHANCE, SOON SOLD OUT

Misha Mengelberg

Two Days In Chicago

2 CD set available at $14 from CADENCE.

I have a bit of a problem with this one - but I listened to it only once so far.

Vandermark sounded bland, and some other pieces (with Ab Baars, I think) seemed dry and boring. I'll listen to it again.

Anybody else cares to share his (or her, he-he) thoughts (I think we all got it at the dawn of the glorious Funny Rat days, when it was annonced OOP, didn't we?)?

I had one listen ages ago, felt the same as you and so put it aside for another day.

I'll have another listen tonight.

Listening to right now:

5379943.jpg

writings...

This one is great! I mentioned it some pages ago - it's got the same line up as the GREAT concert D.D. and me saw.

David, do you have it already?

ubu

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