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Zeena Parkins, Nels Cline & Thurston Moore: "Live at Easthampton Town Hall" (JMZ Records). This is pretty intense wialing stuff, but very clever and with a surprising sense of structure and direction. And the sounds Parkins produces on electric harp just have to be heard!

I've been hearing good things about this disc for a while. I'll have to grab a copy soon.

in other news, according to Lois, the admin over at JC, Anthony Braxton has agreed to sign up and start an "Ask Anthony Braxton" thread.

Should be interesting, to say the least...

Please provide a link once that thread is there, for the non-JC-posters among us!

D.D.: taht disc sounds good! The buying-function on the label's site isn't working though (at the moment only?). Which again is a good thing as it keeps me from spending even more money...

ubu

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D.D.: taht disc sounds good! The buying-function on the label's site isn't working though (at the moment only?). Which again is a good thing as it keeps me from spending even more money...

ubu

I tried to buy a disc from the label a year ago and the order was finally cancelled as they never followed up on it.

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in other news, according to Lois, the admin over at JC, Anthony Braxton has agreed to sign up and start an "Ask Anthony Braxton" thread.

Should be interesting, to say the least...

Please provide a link once that thread is there, for the non-JC-posters among us!

JC Ask Anthony Braxton thread

Edited by J.A.W.
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D.D.: taht disc sounds good! The buying-function on the label's site isn't working though (at the moment only?). Which again is a good thing as it keeps me from spending even more money...

ubu

I tried to buy a disc from the label a year ago and the order was finally cancelled as they never followed up on it.

I bought this disc some time last winter without any problems.

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Has anyone ever ordered directly from Justin Time Records? I placed an order in August and, apart from an order confirmation e-mail, I never heard or received anything from them.

I've never ordered from this outfit.

Q: Have you sent them an e-mail asking about the status of your order?

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What did you order, Hans?

Three Paul Bley albums: Solo (Justin Time 28), Changing Hands (Justin Time 40), and Sweet Time (Justin Time 56).

Don't have any of these ones, I think - but I do have the latest solo one on Justin Time, Nothing to Declair and didn't like it too much - I thought it sounded tired and a bit repetative (something I normally wouldn't expect from Bley). Have you heard it?

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I do have the latest solo one on Justin Time, Nothing to Declair and didn't like it too much - I thought it sounded tired and a bit repetative (something I normally wouldn't expect from Bley). Have you heard it?

I have Nothing to Declare; I like it, but it's been a while since I last played it. Will have to listen to it again.

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Some time ago there were a few enthusiastic reviews (including mine) of Assif Tsahar recordings in this thread, both as a leader and as a sideman. I've listened to some of them again, and to be honest I was quite disappointed by his playing this time. I found it lacking in substance and it sounded quite formulaic to me. Any opinions?

The albums I listened to were Come Sunday and Rashied Ali's Deals, Ideas and Ideals. I've yet to listen to Open Systems and Ein Sof again.

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Yesterday I saw Oliver Lake quartet. Here is the band:

Oliver Lake: alto saxophone

Peck Allmond: trumpet, flute

Reggie Washington: el. bass

Bill McLellan: drums

The program was dedicated to Dophy's music and consisted mostly of Dolphy or Dolphy-related compositions. Lake himself was astonishing. Total command of the horn (those ultra-fast runs DID match Dolphy's in speed and clarity of execution), great ideas and phenomenally rich raspy sound (this sound has to be experienced live - I don't think it can be captured on record adequately). Every solo was a complete story from start to finish, and could be probably used a study in saxophone improvisation - with all possible sounds that could be extracted from alto, but without empty chatter. You just feel years of experience: Lake unpredictably jumped from one idea to another, and it all seemed absolutelly effortless and smooth. Also nice to see that Lake, who is more than 60 now, hasn't mellowed down a bit - he played as out as you can get when he wanted to.

Listening to Lake's sound I couldn't help but compare it to Braxton's playing on 23 Standards that I had been listening to in a car on the way to the concert (only disc 1 so far). Braxton just does not have the sound there, IMO (and I noted the same thing on recent Braxton/Cyrille duos)! The ideas are there (although they do get somewhat predictable), and the speed and extended technique are there is well, but the sound is disappointedly flat and unexpressive, and sometimes even seems to be not exactly under Braxton’s full control. This really contrasted to the power and expressiveness of Lake’s sound.

But OK, back to the concert. Now, I wish Lake had an equally strong trumpeter in the band. Peck Allmond is an extremely bland musician, and his solos created a disastrous contrast to Lake's ones. He did OK with the tricky heads, but when it came to soloing he was just helpless (and this was further exacerbated by the fact that he always had to solo right after Lake, who create miracle after miracle). His technique was alright (on trumpet t least – he realy struggled with flute), but just no original ideas whatsoever. Rhythm section tried their best to push him a bit (they played more aggressively behind him than behind Lake), but to no avail.

Rhythm section on the other hand was a pleasure to listen to. Adding electric bass was a nice touch, making music more aggressive, pushy and funky. Washington is a competent bassist, although his solo spots (rare and short thankfully) were quite generic. He stumbled a couple of times on Dolphy’s heads, but otherwise provided a great base for the soloists. McLellan is an excellent drummer who really deserves a special mention. Groovy and powerful, all over the kit and very attuned to other players (his interplay with Washington was admirable – and I attribute it to McLellan’s listening skills). Flawless on written parts and groovy during blowing.

The written parts were very interesting, btw. All Dolphy tines were re-designed quite a bit – I think most of them were played in different time signatures than the originals, and it all sounded good. Some Out to Lunch compositions (don’t remember the titles) became quite groovy and really opened form a new perspective. Lake’s own compositions (there were 2 or 3 only) were very strong as well – quite complex funky things (played effortlessly by the rythm section), but not too mechanistic (as Steve Coleman’s M-Base for example) – on the contrary, very warm and lively.

I chatted a bit with Lake after the concert. Very sweet guy. He was in good spirit and looked happy to be in Geneva (the club was packed, btw). He is doing a little European tour with this band now (even going to Macedonia) and sounds like he is pretty busy overall (“gotta pay my bills, man!”). He said he is happy with the thing that he had recorded with Dennis Gonzalez (which will be released on Clean Feed), and he also recorded something with John Tchicai recently (!), but is not sure when it will be released. He said the Trio 3 (with Andrew Cyrille and Reggie Workman) is still active and they will be touring North America next year.

Whatever the band he is playing with, I would encourage you to see him live.

Oliver Lake label and website: http://www.passinthru.org

Edited by Д.Д.
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Some time ago there were a few enthusiastic reviews (including mine) of Assif Tsahar recordings in this thread, both as a leader and as a sideman. I've listened to some of them again, and to be honest I was quite disappointed by his playing this time. I found it lacking in substance and it sounded quite formulaic to me. Any opinions?

The albums I listened to were Come Sunday and Rashied Ali's Deals, Ideas and Ideals. I've yet to listen to Open Systems and Ein Sof again.

I will see Tsahar in duo with Cooper-Moor next week. Will report here.

To make you all envy, here is the program of thhefestival we have here next week: http://www.jazzonzeplus.ch/site04/programme.htm

Events like this do not happen to often here, though.

Edited by Д.Д.
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I have Tsahar's Open Systems and Shekhina (Eremite). I'll give those a spin as soon as I finish my chores. (And to finish my chores I guess I should start my chores so...)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Excellent write-up on the Lake concert, David. So nice to hear that the place was packed. (Just looked around for articles on Tsahar and found an old AAJ review of a Peter Kowlad date in New York City. Number of people in the audiience? SEVEN! Oy!)

NOW STOP KEEPING ME AT MY COMPUTER! I HAVE CHORES TO DO! :rfr

Edited by Chaney
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NOW STOP KEEPING ME AT MY COMPUTER!  I HAVE CHORES TO DO!  :rfr

Same here (the bathroom's waiting for me... :wacko:)

So is mine! Loos like we have very demanding bathrooms.

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

Desided to drop the Ascension that I am revisiting due to Gary's "Album of the Week" thread (still not convinced by this album), and went to this one:

Petras Vysniauskas "Viennese Concert" (Leo)

SOme excellent stuff here (will write a review after I finish listening to it). Distinctive Russian (Soviet would be more correct, as Vysniauskas is from Lithuania) music (master musician Ganelin is on board here). OK AMG revew HERE.

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Oh MAN David, that picture of Brotzmann!

Hey buddy, can you spare a dime?

~~~~~~~~~~

Double batch of muffins in the oven. I now move on to ironing. :rmad:

And yes, like Hans and David, I too see a bathroom in my future. :rolleyes:

~~~~~~~~~~

I'm listening to Shekhina as I work. I would describe Tsahar's sound as complaining.

Edited by Chaney
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