Jump to content

Funny Rat


Guest Chaney

Recommended Posts

...I do think it does look interesting:

http://www.482music.com/

Anybody knows some of their releases?

Michel Lambert's "Out Twice" on 482 Records is for me in top 3 of releases of 2003. Elegant, explorative, original and intelligent music. Swinging. Beautifully recorded (I am in the process of buying a HiFi for me and this is the disc I am using for testing).

From Meniscus, the only one I have is Vinny Golia's solo clarinet CD. I haven't listened to it yet.

Regarding Nuscope, I think we discussed it a bit somewhere up up up. I have Gräwe/Butcher duo Light's View and it is very good, athough not outstanding. I will be definitely getting more from Nuscope - thankfully (;)) the catalogue is not too large.

Edited by Д.Д.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 7.2k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

The Chapin set is essential. Fantastic, fantastic music.

I have fond memories of seeing TC at the Glasgow Jazz Festival in 1994 (I think) Most of his set was broadcast on BBC Radio and is a treasured MD in my collection. A single track from this concert (Raise Four) appears on one of the Knitting Factory CDs in this set. The liners state that it was recorded live but don't give the location.

I have some pretty good ( for amateur) B&W photos of the gig which pretty much drew me into living modern jazz ( as opposed to back catalogue stuff)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Chapin set is essential.  Fantastic, fantastic music.

I have fond memories of seeing TC at the Glasgow Jazz Festival in 1994 (I think) Most of his set was broadcast on BBC Radio and is a treasured MD in my collection. A single track from this concert (Raise Four) appears on one of the Knitting Factory CDs in this set. The liners state that it was recorded live but don't give the location.

I have some pretty good ( for amateur) B&W photos of the gig which pretty much drew me into living modern jazz ( as opposed to back catalogue stuff)

I would have loved to have seen TC live. Do you live in/near Glasgow? I lived there for about seven months in 1993 attending the University of Glasgow. I love Scotland and hope to go back to visit sometime in the (relatively) near future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My understanding is that the Knitting Factory has abandoned its support of free jazz almost entirely, both of live concerts & the associated record label. There was a public letter going around a few months ago about the situation concerning the discs: it was being circulated on behalf of musicians afraid that their discs would be trashed without a chance to buy copies or receive a proper accounting. I can dig it up if anyone's curious--I think it was posted on a thread on the Jazz Corner board.

Meniscus: I have all their discs, due to a generous gesture from Jon Morgan. Everything I've heard has been worthwhile, though not all of them tickle my fancy. It was a solid label but never quite broke through; at the point where it was genuinely starting to get consistent attention (for releases like Points Snags & Windings, and Trumpet) Jon disappeared from the scene for a year & a half. The most recent (last?) releases, Surface/Plane by the Sealed Knot Trio, & Le Ventre Negatif by Le Quan Ninh, would have been cutting-edge if they'd been released on-schedule at the start of 2002, but instead came out belatedly in summer 2003, when they were less arresting (as the lowercase-improv style of the Sealed Knot for instance has become far more widely exposed in North America). That said they're both some of the label's stronger releases. -- The trio disc Quicksand is musically pretty good; my hesitation over it concerns the wonky recording, which is dominated by Lovens' drums & buries the piano. It's nonetheless listenable. If you want reviews of these discs I'd suggest typing "Meniscus" into the search engine on the Paris Transatlantic site--www.paristransatlantic.com--& you will find that Dan or myself has reviewed virtually every release on the label. Also, dig up Nick Cain's Opprobrium website (no longer updated but it's still very much worth reading) for some more, equally incisive reviews of those discs. (A Googling on "nick cain opprobrium" should turn it up.)

Nuscope: I have two of their discs, the Graewe Interpretations of Monk & Butcher/Durrant/Lee Intentions. Both are very nice. The label covered overlapping improv territory to the Meniscus label, with Graewe & Butcher favourite musicians on both labels. Nuscope seems to be defunct now, though their old releases are still available. Again, the two sites I mentioned above will have plenty of thoughtful reviews.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whoops, hadn't checked in with the label website recently--there was a long, long gap in terms of new releases after disc 1012 (Grathovox) & I lost track.

It looks like this is Nuscope's normal release pace - 2-3 CDs per year.

Tony, let me know what you think of the True Muze stuff.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony, let me know what you think of the True Muze stuff.

I will.

Meanwhile, here's the Knit info referenced above:

Dear fellow Knitting Factory/Instinct recording artists, past and present:

In the past year, Knitting Factory Records underwent a change of management and ownership that has left many of us feeling even more confused, disgusted and fed-up. Instinct Records has simply been incredibly incommunicative and misleading. The destruction of untold amounts of CD stock in the first week of June, and the subsequent inability by so many artists to find out the truth of what happened to their work, stands now as a galvanizing force. While our experiences vary from artist to artist, we recognize this as a good opportunity to come together and finally hold the label accountable for honoring provisions in our contracts that have been neglected for years.

Questions? Concerns?

Please email us.

As we have found, approaching management individually has produced no satisfactory results. We are now mobilizing to take action as a group. We have sought assistance from Local 802, the New York musicians' union, which is willing to provide FREE LEGAL ASSISTANCE to pursue a group inquiry and small claims action for any royalties we are owed. If we decide that it's necessary, Local 802 will also help us plan and execute a demonstration--they are even willing to donate their inflatable rat to our cause!

We are seeking to set things right for Knitting Factory/Instinct recording artists, and also feel that our actions will have a broader impact for musicians signed to other independent labels in this city.

We are a vast, eclectic and highly respected group--if we come together, we can be an impressive force for getting musicians some accountability, and maybe a force for change in the future music biz.

We have started a petition to demand a full and fair accounting of our work, an honest account of destroyed and discarded CD stock, the payment of all publishing and artist royalties due, and the return of masters for those artists whom Instinct Records is no longer actively printing, selling, or promoting. Local 802's lawyer will request accurate accounting records from KnitMedia/Instinct records on behalf of all those who sign the petition. The more of us there are, the harder it will be for Instinct to continue to ignore its artists.

Sign the petition if you are a Knitting Factory artist or collaborator on a CD!

Sign the petition if you have always found your royalty statement to be incomplete or confusing (or if you rarely have gotten statements at all)!

Sign the petition if you believe you are due royalties of any kind!

Sign the petition if you have had trouble getting your masters back, or have been told your masters were lost completely!

Sign the petition if your CD stock was destroyed in the recent office move!

Sign the petition if you were recently let go from the label and feel you deserve a complete and final accounting of your work!

Sign the petition to support your fellow musicians and recording artist colleagues past, present, and future!

takeittothebridge.com

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone knows the Music & Arts duo CD by Jarman/Crispell? I think I could still pick it up for a good price, but have bought so much stuff now (and still not all x-mas presents...) and thus need some  :tup

Crispell/Jarman duo is excellent. Lyrical and bluesy. Get it!

John, I'll listen to VAO one more time and elaborate. On the first (not very attentive) listen it sounded mechanistic and over-arranged.

They still had it and I got it for 10 franks. Not bad.

Like the music, but only had a casual in-the-background-listen so far. Still having to finish that fucking thing for university...

Thanks Д.Д. for recommending it to me!

ubu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Friends, what's the opinion on Mathew Shipp's hatOLOGY titles? I have only his duo with Joe Morris and find it extremely boring - so I didn't buy any of his other stuff.

Yesterday tried to listen to VAO "Satie" again - again unsuccessfully - got bored somewhere in the middle. I still feel the whole concept is quite unfortunate. The arangements are interesting on, let's say, analytical level, but the Satie's feeling of elegant ironical boredom is gone - instead we get a bombastic boredom. Also arrangements are very confining living no room for solos (I still have to listen to the big last piece though).

Edited by Д.Д.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Д.Д., I don't know Shipp all that well. I head a broadcast from the "Multiplication Table" (or whatever it's called) trio with Parker & Ibarra, which I did like pretty much at the time. Then I got the Willisau solo concert which he did last year (or portions of it, I don't know, never really listened so far). I would have to listen to these two items again.

However it seems he's a rather underwhelming musician... his Hats never really interested me either.

ubu

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Д.Д.: I have a bunch of the Shipp Hats but have only had a really thorough listen to one thus far: Strata

HIGHLY recommended.

522.jpg

From the Hat site:

M. Shipp, facing the shady forms, plays curves as though the light defines the shadow, but the shadow regenerates the light's absence. Typhonic walnuts in the ear of a barrel of water. Psalm—soft, buoyant, round and tempestuous, like round, perfect, beautiful black walnuts bouncing in an atmosphere of milk. Rain on the mint leaves, cool, sun behind; mint leaves aloft, divine sleep casts the mint leaves across the sea, against the prow of our Ship(p) like hermetic devices. But the sea is metaphor, the divine element (function) of language. — Sean Sullivan
:wacko:

Unfortunately, it's now OOP although, last time I looked, still relatively easy to find. (Might be in the mid-price line.)

I too am having difficulties warming up to the Shipp / Morris set Thesis. So much guitar diddling. Play a chord, dammit! (I do really like his Underthru on OmniTone.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too am having difficulties warming up to the Shipp / Morris set Thesis. So much guitar diddling. Play a chord, dammit!

That's exactly the feeling I got. In general, I am not a big fan of Morris (I have his CD on Knitting Factory and saw him live once). Did you get the Mengelberg hat? How is it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tony, thanks for bringing up that Knit thing. Now how's about some recommendations? (I'm broke, but I'll not lose my good humour...)

ubu

Can't be of much help as I only have two Knit Classics titles: Wild Flowers: The New York Loft Jazz Sessions and Creative Music Studio: Woodstock Jazz Festival 2.

Wild Flowers: :tup

Woodstock Jazz Festival 2: :tdown

Chick Corea (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Miroslav Vitous (bass). Recorded at Woodstock NY, 9/19/81.

Amazingly, even with this lineup, it just doesn't seem to work. (I blame Corea.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too am having difficulties warming up to the Shipp / Morris set Thesis.  So much guitar diddling.  Play a chord, dammit!

That's exactly the feeling I got. In general, I am not a big fan of Morris (I have his CD on Knitting Factory and saw him live once). Did you get the Mengelberg hat? How is it?

Have you ever heard his album Age of Everything, on Riti? So far that is my favorite disc of his and where I would direct people who were looking to start exploring his work.

Most of the Shipp's on Hat have never really grabbed me, either. I find them all to be very much "ok," but nothing I return to very often.

If you are referring to Two Days in Chicago as the Mengelberg Hat it is a fantastic disc. I really enjoy it.

I finally received my copy of The Minimalism of Erik Satie in the mail last night and will be playing it for the first time at work today. I'm curious how I will respond after reading your comments.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Did you get the Mengelberg hat? How is it?

Two Days In Chicago? Yes, got it. Had only a quick listen in my office one sleepy morning so I can't at this point offer an opinion.

I know Hans likes Mengelberg a great deal. I had a listen to The Root Of The Problem (hatOLOGY 504) but didn't feel that I was 'getting' it so I put it aside for another day.

Misha and I might take a while to warm to one another -- as Hans wisely foretold.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

John: I borrowed a copy of Age of Everything from the library and it really didn't grab me although, admittedly, I gave it only a cursory listen so my opinion may have no validity.

I too just received The Minimalism of Erik Satie and I'll soon be giving it a spin.

Aw crap. Time to get to work. :angry:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know Hans likes Mengelberg a great deal. I had a listen to The Root Of The Problem (hatOLOGY 504) but didn't feel that I was 'getting' it so I put it aside for another day.

I didn't like this one too much either - sounded too dry to me. Some tracks were good though. Now where the fuck do I find Two Days in Chicago?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Woodstock Jazz Festival 2: :tdown

Chick Corea (piano), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Miroslav Vitous (bass). Recorded at Woodstock NY, 9/19/81.

Amazingly, even with this lineup, it just doesn't seem to work. (I blame Corea.)

I think I have another disc of this set - he same line up plus Anthony Braxton and Pat Metheny. Three tracks. It opens with an amazing version of Coltrane's Impressions with Braxton ripping his alto to pieces (I assume he then smashed it over the stage and set it on fire) and a rythm section playing very aggressively behind him (no Konitz and Metheny here). Then there is some standard with a pretty boring and badly recorded Konitz/Braxton interplay, and a much more lackluster rythm suppport; and then there is a long long long So What where basically everybody sucks (particularly Metheny). But for me the disc is worth the price for Impressions alone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...