Funny Rat

[John B]

Cadence has it in stock, too. That is where I ordered my copy. It is a lot cheaper through them - 25.8 Euros, including shipping to Europe.

[Nate Dorward]

I'm not a huge Shipp fan or Morris fan but it's worth pointing out that I've never heard a good thing about their duo album on Hat Art, & it gets a lowly rating in the Penguin Guide to boot. I haven't heard it but it's probably not a good place to form one's estimate of either player. -- I've heard By the Law of Music, which FWIW is supposedly one of Shipp's best albums (Ben Ratliff, who wrote the liners, even includes it among his list of 100 essential jazz albums). I found it pretty stodgy actually, & got rid of it. (It features Mat Maneri--in his droopy electric-violin phase rather than his more interesting acoustic viola phase--& William Parker.) -- Morris is a talented but frustratingly voluble player, I've found. Haven't heard Age of Everything; of those I've heard I found No Vertigo pretty tough going; the quartet with Brown/Parker/Krall is OK; Many Rings is dry, dry, dry, though it does give a glimpse of a post-Lyons Karen Borca at least; Eloping with the Sun is a tepid studio jam with Morris plinging away on banjo & banjouke. The one I WOULD highly recommend of those I've heard is Whit Dickey's new Prophet Moon on Morris's Riti label: it's Dickey, Morris, Rob Brown, & it's terrific. As usual, Morris rarely lets up--he tends to come to the foreground for his solos, recede to the background when Brown's soloing, but never actually stops playing. But it's a really good disc nonetheless & was enough to make me think I'd take another chance on Morris again after some years of rather lukewarm feelings.

The Minimalism of Erik Satie is an excellent disc, yes.

[WD45]

I listened to some bits of the Joe Morris solo acoustic album at the AUM website, and it was quite interesting to hear how his unique dialect translates to the unamplified instrument.

Singularity

[Guest Chaney]

I listened to some bits of the Joe Morris solo acoustic album at the AUM website, and it was quite interesting to hear how his unique dialect translates to the unamplified instrument.

Singularity

I had no idea that Morris recorded (or even played) acoustic guitar. I'll have to have a listen to the samples when I get home.

[Д.Д.]

Returning to minimalism (yeah, the thread is a bit schizophrenic). I dug up Philip Glass's "Glassworks" (Sony, 2003), and it is too pretty, even cheesy. I am sure I have several more Glass works in my collection, but I of course don't remember them - when I find them, I'll report here.

Regarding Knitting Factory releases, here are the ones I heard. I am using the famous Chaney rating system.

Charles Gayle - Kingdom Come KFW 157

Not bad, but not essential either. I am sure there is some better Gayle out there (I am waiting for "Touchin' on Trane" to arrive from TMR).

Elliott Sharp's Terraplane - Blues For Next KFW 285

More of a groovy avant-r'n'b than "jazz", but I like it. Great baritone saxophone wails and amazing guitar work by Sharp. ALthough 2-CD set is probably a bit too long.

Graham Haynes - BPM KFW 270

Haynes plays cornet and flügelhorn (with a quite distinctive "fragile" sound) over electronic drum-n-bass type of beats. Uses (well) Wagner aria samples on some tracks. Not bad, but the drums programming could be a bit more creative probably (the bit get really tireing by the end).

James Emery/Illiad Quartet - Turbulence KFW 106

Excellent electric jazz. With one of my favorite drummers Gerry Hemingway. Really good stuff. This is one of the first releases on Knitting, so it is more likely to be hard to find.

Joe Morris Quartet - At The Old Office KFW 272

Haven't listened to it for 2 years, but remember being extremely bored by it.

Odean Pope Trio - Ebioto KFW 245

Power tenor-bass-drums trio. Probably nothing ground-breaking, but Odean is such a monster on tenor. It is probably not the best Odean out there, but is still very much worth having.

Odyssey The Band - Reunion KFW 220

I will have to listen to this one again to form an opinion. This is James "Blood" Ulmer in trio with violin and drums. I remember there is some amazing playing here, but also a lot of Ulmer vocals - I have to check how annoyed I will be by them this time.

Listened to it right now. No, no. no.

Prima Materia - Meditations KFW 180

This is Rashied Ali's quintet take on Coltrane's "Meditations". Two very good saxophonists (forgot the names), who thankfully don't sound like Coltrane. Ali's playing is beautiful here.

Rashied Ali & Louis Belogenis - Rings of Saturn KFW 232

Will have to find it and check it (haven't listened to it for 2.5 years). I remember liking it - but I heard it before I heard "Interstellar Space".

Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe - Duo Exchange KCR 3020

Great.

Rashied Ali Le Roy Jenkins Duo - Swift Are The Winds Of Life KCR 3026

Great.

Tom Cora - It's A Brand New Day KFW 271

Excellent. Tom Cora was an innovative cellist, and here he is featured in different groups - with Fred Frith, Marke Dresser, Wayne Horwitz, Don Byron, Dave Douglas and others. GOod compositions, powerful inspired soloing (Cora plays very "musular" cello) Powerful and original stuff. I would call this one essential.

Hasidic New Wave - Kabalogy KFW 239

Jewish-flavored jazz-rock fusion. Excellent plying from everybody (particularly David Fiuczynski on guitar), but a bit the music has a bit of a typical fusion sterile type of feeling.

Zahar - Zahar KFW 112.

I can't find it on the website (it' pretty old - from 1992), but this is one of my favorite Knits. Hassan Hakmoun play sintir - an african bass guitar type of thing and sings, with drums and amazing Sharrock-type guitar by Anthony Michael Peterson (even more interesting than Sharrock - more diverse). Some guests on some tracks. Excellent fusion of African folk music (I know it sounds too generic, but I can't tell where the guy is exactly from in Africa) and creative NYC improv.

Hypnotic stuff. Good luck finding it.

Next I plan to pick up all the rest of Rashied Ali's stuff, more Elliott Sharp, Brad Shepik, Chris Speed and Briggan Krauss (alto. I heard him as a sideman somewhere - very impressive). And Thomas Chapin, of course (his 'Insomnia' is about to arrive from TMR). And William Hooker.

Edited December 24, 2003 by Д.Д.

[king ubu]

I heard Krauss on some broadcast of Steven Bernstein's Diaspora Soul band, I think. Cannot remember any specifics, but liked that band in general.

Thanks for the work you did on the Knitting discs! The Alis, Haynes and particularly the Pope sounds like the ones to get!

You got that "Alive" box we discussed earlier by that other saxophone player?

btw, tonight I'll get my "Shut Up N Play Yer Guitar"

And my first x-mas present I received yesterday, just after viewing a beautiful Bergman movie, is a Ferneyhough CD containing solo works, among others that terrific thing for bass clarinet! Got a good start this year! Now much eating waits for my big fat belly to get even bigger and fatter B)

Wish you all a good time these days!

ubu

[king ubu]

Chapin was the name of that saxophone player, by the way...

ubu

[John B]

Brad Shepik's Drip, on KF is a great album, but I really prefer The Well. I would recommend starting there and picking up Drip after.

[John B]

and getting back to questions about record labels, has anyone checked out any releases on Assif Tshar and Susie Ibarra's label Hopscotch? I am listening to Cooper-Moore's solo piano album Deep in the Neighborhood of History and Influence right now and really enjoying it. It was recorded live at Guelph in 1999. Definite Cecil Taylor influence but still very tied to "the tradition," if you know what I mean. Highly recommended.

Up next is Assif Tsahar and Tatuya Nakatani's Come Sunday, which I have read many good things about.

Any other recommendations on this label?

[Д.Д.]

John, thanks for SHepik's recommendations. I don't have any of the albums under his name, but I heard him on Dave Douglas' "Tiny Bell" trio and on Owen Howard's "Sojourn" (very nice post-bop album thata nobody seems to have heard about) and was very impressed.

I am not familiar with Hopscotch releases.

Edited December 24, 2003 by Д.Д.

[Д.Д.]

I'm thinking I need to own some Evan Parker soon, too. Any recommendations for where to start?

OK,

Returning to Mr. Evan Parker. I listened to some of the stuff I have and I would also sugget going directly for 50th Birthday Concert (Leo) - great great stuff.

Braxton-Parker-Rutherford "Trio (London) 1993" (Leo) turned out to be pretty spectacular as well - great interplay between all three. Not fire-breathing, but quite an introspective, thoughtful music - Nate was right with Konitz / Marsh analogy.

Live at "Les Instants Chavires" (Leo) can be skipped IMO just as Mauro Orselli - Evan Parker - Antonello Salis - "True Live Walnuts" (Splasc(H)).

Synergetics - Phonomanie III (Leo) - I am listening to it right now and actually enjoying it a lot. Excellent "ethno-improv" (played on ehtnic instruments), and it is interesting to hear Parker responding (quite well) to these unusual sonorities. Sainkho is a terrific Tuvan vocalist with unique singing style. George Lewis is in great form. And yeah, electronics guys seem to have just created ambient air-conditioning type of sounds on the background on the couple of tracks, but this does not bother me at all. I recommend it.

[king ubu]

I have an aircheck by Parker's electro acoustic ensemble. It's been some time since I last heard it, but I remember it as quite interesting.

The only CD I have is the ECM "Sankt Gerold" (with Paul Bley & Barre Philipps). I still did not pick up the other one of this trio - I think David you recommended that on AAJ sometime in spring.

How do you like the Tiny Bell Trio, by the way? I have "Constellations" and the self-titled Songlines CD. I got the Songlines first and fell in love with it instantly, and then picked up the hat - and was rather disappointed with that one. One to pass by, in my opinion. They did play Willisau, last year, but I think it was not a very successful concert (I only heard a broadcast).

Then anyone knows when and why Brad Schoeppach changed the spelling of his name to "Shepik"? Is that the cooler spelling regarding his links to the NY downtown/John Zorn scene?

ubu

[Nate Dorward]

Hey, I quite like Constellations. Nice cover of a Nichols tune on it among others.

Shepik = the pronunciation of Shoeppach. He got tired of people stumbling over how to pronounce his name.

Well, I'll beg to differ on Synergetics/Phonomanie but in any case it's not a very good place to hear Parker. He's the organizer of the festival it's drawn from but actually only plays on a few tracks of it.

The only Hopscotch I have is Barcelona with Derek Bailey & Agusti Fernandez. It's pretty good. My favourite thing is that I have one of the screwed-up first batch--nothing wrong with the CD, but one letter of the pianist's name is missing on the packaging by accident. This is fixed on later issues.

[Д.Д.]

Of Tiny Bell I have only the Songlines CD - I think it's interesting (and Shepik and Black are fantastic on it), but I don't like Douglas' playing that much.

[king ubu]

Of Tiny Bell I have only the Songlines CD - I think it's interesting (and Shepik and Black are fantastic on it), but I don't like Douglas' playing that much.

Yep, Shepik & Black - HELL! Black is such a great player! I really love him. Do you have something he made as a leader that you could recommend? I got his Willisau gig (with Chris Speed, the "Alas No Axis" band that made a Winter&Winter CD which I have not heard), but otherwise only a couple of things he made as a sideman.

ubu

[Д.Д.]

Yep, Shepik & Black - HELL! Black is such a great player! I really love him. Do you have something he made as a leader that you could recommend? I got his Willisau gig (with Chris Speed, the "Alas No Axis" band that made a Winter&Winter CD which I have not heard), but otherwise only a couple of things he made as a sideman.

ubu

According to AMG, Black has only two releases under his name, both on Winter & Winter (another lable I need to explore -I have only Fred Frith/Ensemble Modern disc and it's fantastic). I don't have any of them.

If you like Shepik and Black, you will probbaly HAVE to get the Pachora stuff on Knitting Factory. Ho-ho.

Edited December 25, 2003 by Д.Д.

[Geoff]

Hello.

I've been listening to Brotzmann's Nipples.

I think it is pretty fantastic, and the best thing that Manfred Eicher has ever produced

I wish Eicher would have kept a sound like this, rather than starting ECM and the ECM sound. To me this sounds a lot more real, so much music on ECM would sound so much better had there been different production values.

Hmm, I'll stop my ECM hating for now.

[WD45]

I have an aircheck by Parker's electro acoustic ensemble. It's been some time since I last heard it, but I remember it as quite interesting.

The only CD I have is the ECM "Sankt Gerold" (with Paul Bley & Barre Philipps). I still did not pick up the other one of this trio - I think David you recommended that on AAJ sometime in spring.

I have been a fan of the Sankt Gerold disk from the first time I heard it. About four minutes into the first 'Variation' all of the musicians seem to arrive on a plateau, with Bley playing some thick chords, and Parker sounding wonderfully melodic--you can hear the reed buzz he plays so quietly. It feels as if they go off the other side of the plateau about three minutes later into more abstract territory once again, but those few minutes were very powerful, almost reminiscent of Jimmy Giuffre's trio with Bley and Swallow. Perhaps this trio's explorations are a logical extension of that tradition.

[John B]

How do you like the Tiny Bell Trio, by the way? I have "Constellations" and the self-titled Songlines CD. I got the Songlines first and fell in love with it instantly, and then picked up the hat - and was rather disappointed with that one. One to pass by, in my opinion. They did play Willisau, last year, but I think it was not a very successful concert (I only heard a broadcast).

ubu

I really enjoy all of their work that I have heard. My favorite disc by them is Songs for Wandering Souls on Winter & Winter.

I was killing time the other day at the (semi) local Borders and saw, to my surprise, that they had a quite a few discs on Eremite and a couple on Ayler. I picked up the live Brotzmann on Ayler as well as William Parker's Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace and Jemeel Moondoc and Denis Charles' We Don't.

[king ubu]

John, grab the Ayler release on Ayler! Glorious stuff, to stand right next to the Freedom album (Vibrations, or what's the title again?) and the Hilversum album. The latest is probably my favorite of the quartet with Don Cherry.

ubu

[king ubu]

I have been a fan of the Sankt Gerold disk from the first time I heard it. About four minutes into the first 'Variation' all of the musicians seem to arrive on a plateau, with Bley playing some thick chords, and Parker sounding wonderfully melodic--you can hear the reed buzz he plays so quietly. It feels as if they go off the other side of the plateau about three minutes later into more abstract territory once again, but those few minutes were very powerful, almost reminiscent of Jimmy Giuffre's trio with Bley and Swallow. Perhaps this trio's explorations are a logical extension of that tradition.

Interesting observations you make! Gotta grab this out and listen again.

Anybody has records of Parker's Electro Acoustic Ensemble? Judging from that broadcast, they're pretty interesting. Is there only that one CD they made for ECM?

ubu

[John B]

Anybody has records of Parker's Electro Acoustic Ensemble? Judging from that broadcast, they're pretty interesting. Is there only that one CD they made for ECM?

ubu

They made two discs for ECM. I heard one of them a while back and need to revisit it at some point.

[John B]

John, grab the Ayler release on Ayler! Glorious stuff, to stand right next to the Freedom album (Vibrations, or what's the title again?) and the Hilversum album. The latest is probably my favorite of the quartet with Don Cherry.

ubu

They didn't have that disc, unfortunately. It will be the next Ayler I pick up. The Brotzmann at Nefertiti smokes from start to finish. Anyone interested in Brotzmann should pick this disc up.

[Д.Д.]

I picked up the live Brotzmann on Ayler as well as William Parker's Through Acceptance of the Mystery Peace and Jemeel Moondoc and Denis Charles' We Don't.

John, let us know what you think of these. As I mentioned, I find Brötzmann's "Live at Nefertiti" to be one of his best albums.

I think I also have this William Parker's Eremite CD, but haven't listened to it yet - time to do so.

I just listened to Parker's "O'Neal's Porch" (on Aum Fidelity) (which is considered by many to be Parker's best album) and found it quite annoying - don't know exactly why. Everything is there - good melodies, good playing, groovy, swinging, etc. But it leaves some sterile artificial feeling. And Rob Brown sounds very Jackie McLean to me. And I don't like Parker's boom-boom style. I would have never had so many CDs with Parker in my collection if he hadn't had some unexplainable ability to stimulate other muscians to very inspired playing (and I can't exactly understand how, since I find his playing unsupportive, at best).

Jemeel Moondoc - I have only his excellent Revolt of the Negro Lawn Jockeys (also on Eremite).

ubu, the other one of Bley-Parker-Phillips trio on ECM is called Time Will Tell and I haven't heard it.

Happy New Year everybody!

Edited December 31, 2003 by Д.Д.

[John B]

and Happy New Year to you, too!

I have really enjoyed all of the Moondoc discs I have heard so far. We Don't is another excellent addition to his discography. I am very thankful that Eremite allowed this session to finally see the light of day.

Have you heard the William Parker disc on Ayler? That one very well might be my favorite disc of his as a leader. Other times I'll choose Bob's Pink Cadillac, also on Eremite, by his clarinet trio.