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Joe McPhee


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For my 2 cents, I haven't listened to as much McPhee as many of the posters here. Particularly fond of Tenor and the trio with Mike Kull and whomever else could be found in town on drums (Harold E. Smith; Makaya Ntshoko). Not much for Po Music, though I like Boni and McPhee in other contexts.

His sound has gotten more impenetrable over the years, even more difficult to quantify than Lacy's, and maybe that's why I find his music hard to listen to.

But Tenor is a motherfucker.

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McPhee is one of my favorite musicians. Both of his solo hatOLOGIY releases "Tenor & Fallen Angel" and "As Serious As Your Life" are essential (and are about to go OOP), IMO.

Another one of his recent works I particualrly enjoy, is his duo with drummer Johnny McLellan Grand Marquis (on Boxholder). McLellan is a very creative drummer with a composer thinking, and his "conversational" style brings up the best in McPhee (who plays tenor on this date).

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I am probably in a huge minority, but I enjoy Tenor & Fallen Angel much more than For Alto. In fact, I very rarely listen to the latter, despite its unquestionable historical importance. I would much rather listen to other Braxton.

Well, I guess I'm in that minority too. Tenor gets a lot of airplay here, but I just don't reach for For Alto that often. Now, the Donaueschingen duos with George Lewis, that's another story ...

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Another one of his recent works I particualrly enjoy, is his duo with drummer Johnny McLellan Grand Marquis (on Boxholder). McLellan is a very creative drummer with a composer thinking, and his "conversational" style brings up the best in McPhee (who plays tenor on this date).

Ditto that — Joe Christmas first hipped me to that date, and it's a fine one. I just can't get with McPhee's soprano playing, but his tenor playing ... :party:

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  • 2 months later...
  • 6 months later...

up for some air...

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I recently bought this album, Legend Street One (CIMP), and it is really, really good. With a lineup of McPhee, Frank Lowe, David Prentice and Charles Moffett it would be hard to go wrong.

The one negative, for me at least, is the sound of the recording itself. This disc sounds flat and dull. Not horrendous, but I think the music would have benefited from a slightly brighter, more "alive," sound.

The music is fantastic.

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....going to see and photograph Joe in Indy on 11/20~~~

Please say "hello" from me.

<< >>< >< >< <> > > >

Hello, all! I just discovered there's a Joe McPhee thread on this site. I should have known, of course... Joe's a glory! We are long-time close friends, and I made his Web site for him (the correct link is <www.JoeMcPhee.com>), and I've been maintaining his very busy concert calendar for years, though very recently I turned that over to someone else (whether the someone else actually takes good care of it remains to be seen, but I surely hope so). Anyway, there are lots of great photos of Joe on his site and of course the usual bio, discography, press quotes, and also some Jeff Schlanger paintings of Joe and some poems Joe wrote. And right on the front is his concert calendar.

Joe is touring this month in the U.S. with the group called The Thing, and I'll try to attach a photo (rather provocative, I'd say), but in case I don't manage it, please see http://www.hallwalls.org/music.html for the photo as well as bios of the four musicians and a short history of the group The Thing. And here's what I know of the tour schedule, though I think some dates may yet be added:

WEDNESDAY, 11/ 16~ TUESDAY, 11/ 29/ O5:

JOE McPHEE w/ MATS GUSTAFSSON/ PAAL NILSSEN~LOVE/ INGEBRIGT HÅKER FLATEN (group called The Thing), U.S. tour:

WEDNESDAY, 11/ 16: The Empty Bottle, 1O35 N. Western Ave., Chicago, Illinois, 9:3O p.m., (773) 276-36OO, www.emptybottle.com;

THURSDAY, 11/ 17: Victory Grill, 11O4 East 11th St., Austin, Texas, 8 p.m., (512) 391~O174, www.historicvictorygrill.com, info@historicvictorygrill.com;

FRIDAY, 11/ 18: Diverse Works, 1117 East Freeway, Houston, Texas, (713) 223-8346, (713) 335-3445, www.diverseworks.org, sara@diverseworks.org;

SUNDAY, 11/ 2O: Madame Walker Theatre, 617 Indiana Ave., Indianapolis, Indiana, (317) 236~2O99, www.walkertheatre.com, mmewalker@aol.com, www.mythopeic.org, admin@mythopeic.org;

MONDAY, 11/ 21: Underlying Theme, 11O South Upper, Lexington, Kentucky, informationactivists@yahoo.com;

TUESDAY, 11/22: Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, Ohio, 9 p.m., (216) 383-1124, <www.beachlandballroom.com>, <www.ticketweb.com>;

WEDNESDAY, 11/ 23: Sangha Cafe, Takoma Park, Maryland, (2O2) 882~8828, 8 p.m., www.sangha.ws, mail@sangha.ws;

FRIDAY, 11 /25: Community Education Center (CEC), Meeting House Theatre, 35OO Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, 8 p.m., (215) 387~1911, www.cecarts.org,cec@cecarts.org;

SATURDAY, 11/ 26: Soundlab, 11O Pearl St., Buffalo, New York, 8 p.m., free!, www.hallwalls.org, steve@hallwalls.org;

SUNDAY, 11 /27: Jazz Central, 441 East Washington St., Syracuse, New York, (315) 569~4529, MHentz@hotmail.com;

TUESDAY, 11/ 29: the Stone, northwest corner of Ave. C & 2nd St., New York City, 8 & 1O p.m., www.thestonenyc.com, mwelchmusic@yahoo.com.

[P.S. I edited in some of the later tour developments so that people can just copy out this schedule and it'll be up to date.]

Edited by musicmargaret
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sure would be nice if joe came to south florida!!!

:w

Hey, Moments, it's always possible to plant this idea at some of the area places where you go to hear music. If you know people who own or book clubs / cultural institutions around south Florida, maybe you can tell them about Joe, point them to <www.JoeMcPhee.com>, lend them a few CD's to listen to, etc., and encourage them to contact him. Colleges are fertile concert ground too and usually have arts budgets to pay musicians well (and house and feed them too). You could talk to programmers at whatever radio stations you have where this music is played and enlist their support. And are there any festivals around you with beyond-the-mainstream booking policies?

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