improvised

Video for Airbag by Julio Resende Trio

2012-01-25T21:11:00.000-06:00

Here's a video of the Radiohead song Airbag performed by the Julio Resende Trio, with photos by Ann LT:

The (Real) Art of The Trio

2012-01-22T09:16:00.003-06:00

Achim Kaufmann, Verivyr
Pirouet

Achim Kaufmann – Piano
Valdi Kolli – Bass
Jim Black - Drums

Achim Kaufmann should be considered in the top rank of jazz pianists, but his albums don't seem to get as much attention as they deserve. I first became aware of him with the release of Double Exposure (Leo) with Michael Moore and John Hollenbeck, and his album Starmelodics (Nuscope) with Mark Dresser and Harris Eisenstadt is a little gem.

Verivyr got a 5 star review on Stef's blog, and it's hard to quibble with the rating. It has the perfect blend of abstraction and beautifully melodic playing that is unique to Kaufmann.

Jim Black has been a great engine for Satoko Fujii's trio, and he's equally magnificent here, giving just the right amount of coloration and drive. I wasn't familiar with Valdi Kolli, but he proves to be an adept partner, interacting as an equal.

Julio Resende Trio, You Taste Like A Song

Clean Feed

Julio Resende – Piano

Ole Morten Vagan – Bass
Joel Silva - Drums
Joao Custodio – Bass on Track 8
Bruno Pedroso – Drums on Track 3

This record caught me off guard; it's tender and lyrical and touching without lapsing into sentimentality. It has relatively straightforward melodies, rhythms, harmonies - everything I usually hate! But You Taste Like A Song really moved me.

It’s almost become a cliché for jazz pianists to include a Radiohead song, and I rolled my eyes when I saw Resende had done the same. But he takes Airbag, a song I’m not familiar with, and crafts a beautiful reverie. Later in the set he tackles a John Mayer tune with equally good results.

Song is lyrical but not easy listening. Resende throws in some curveballs to keep it interesting, like playing inside the piano or chopping up the rhythms when he improvises

Listening to this reminded me of those times when you were a kid lying on the side of a hill, looking up at the clouds going by, trying to grasp the universe and your place in it. It's a beautiful listening experience.

Sam Rivers Has Passed

2011-12-27T11:32:00.000-06:00

People are posting on Jazzcorner's Speakeasy that Sam Rivers has passed away. He was a magnificent saxophonist and composer from Oklahoma who studied at the Boston Conservatory, and who first came to national attention with a short stint in Miles Davis' Quintet in the early 60's. His intense, often gut-wrenching style wasn't a good fit for that band, but he went on to record some wonderful dates for Blue Note during the rest of that decade and for Impulse in the 1970's. He's also notable for being a pioneer in the NYC "Loft Jazz" movement by opening Studio Rivbea. The Wildflowers sessions, originally released on Alan Douglas' label, were recorded there.

He eventually moved to Orlando, Florida in the early 90's, where he cultivated a group of sympathetic musicians to play his music, many of whom worked in the theme park orchestras around the area. Some of his recent big band performances were recently released by Mosaic Records as a Mosaic Select set called Trilogy.

I remember walking into my local record store as a high schooler in the 70's and picking up his Blue Note Reissue Series two-fer Involution. That record blew me away, his intense style really speaking to me. He's always been one of my favorite tenor players, with a style above Coltrane in my opinion. I was less enthralled with his soprano and flute playing, but I tend to like those horns less no matter who is playing them.

If you've never heard Rivers' work, a good place to start is with one of the reissues of his Blue Note work, such as Fuschia Swing Song or Contours. He was also part of a classic ECM date by Dave Holland, Conference of the Birds with Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul. If you can find a copy of Crystals, his big band recording on Impulse from 1974, grab it.

Here's probably Sam Rivers' best known composition, Beatrice, named after his wife:

Brutal Juice

2011-12-17T11:00:00.000-06:00

7k Oaks, Entelechy
die Schachtel

Alfred 23 Harth – Tenor Sax, Bass Clarinet, Pocket Trumpet, Electronics
Luca Venitucci – Keyboards
Massimo Pupillo – Bass
Fabrizio Spera – Drums

I read a review of this on Stef’s blog and was intrigued enough to give it a go, especially since I’ve been a fan of Alfred 23 Harth since his POPendingEYE came out back in 1992. I’ve hardly seen his name since, however. Entelechy (“a realization or actuality as opposed to a potentiality”) grabs you from the start, with electronic noise, bass feedback and skittering, nervous drums setting a menacing tone, Hearth joining in like the unholy love child of Albert Ayler and Peter Brotzmann. The intensity lets up only in spots on the first track, Seon Avalanche, but through it all there's a cohesion between the four; they listen and react like the most seasoned jazz group.

The middle section of the concert, marked on the disc as Tracks 2 and 3, lets in a little more light, and Hearth gives an impassioned reading of Chic's (!) At Last I Am Free to close the set that made the hair on my arms stand up, his gruff tenor cutting right to your soul.

It's a white knuckle ride, so strap on your strap on and brace yourself…

Samuel Blaser Quartet in Action

2011-12-13T20:39:00.000-06:00

Here's a clip of the Quartet playing part of the Boundless suite:

Regarding Nicholas Payton's Blog Post

2011-12-12T13:14:00.000-06:00

Recently trumpeter Nicholas Payton posted on his blog a free verse rumination of why Jazz isn't cool anymore. It's definitely worth reflecting upon, and I agree with some, though not all, of what he says. Two main ideas stuck out for me:

"People are holding on to an idea that died long ago.
Jazz, like the Buddha, is dead.
Let it go, people, let it go."

Jazz, if you define the music very narrowly, is not exactly dead, but more accurately a codified art form. There's still a lot of people playing traditional jazz across the world, and the rules are well-known by now. However, if you define jazz broadly, there's a wealth of musicians taking different influences and incorporating them with the language of jazz. To me, it's a very vibrant art form, although that doesn't necessarily equate to being popular.

"It’s the colonialist mentality that glorifies being treated like a slave.
There is nothing romantic about poor, scuffling Jazz musicians."

I believe that anyone who is playing jazz/improvised music as a profession is probably scuffling, regardless of race, gender or sexual orientation.

Two from Samuel Blaser

2011-12-03T12:00:00.001-06:00

Samuel Blaser Quartet, Boundless

HatOLOGY

Samuel Blaser – Trombone

Marc Ducret – Guitar

Banz Oester – Bass
Gerald Cleaver - Drums

Samuel Blaser, Consort in Motion

Kind of Blue

Samuel Blaser – Trombone

Russ Lossing – Piano
Thomas Morgan – Bass

Paul Motian - Drums

Trombone is not the first instrument to which I usually gravitate when I’m picking out something to listen to. Not that I have anything against it; I just find the saxophone or the piano, to cite two examples, to be more expressive in the right hands. But Samuel Blaser has changed my perspective. His Clean Feed release from 2009, Pieces of Old Sky, was one of the best I heard that year; Russell Summers of Nuscope Records, among others, agreed. Now he’s released two records in close succession that put him at the top of contemporary trombonists.

Boundless is a live recording culled from two separate 2010 concerts, although it presents as one seamless suite in four parts. The group covers an impressive amount of ground over the sixty-plus minutes of the disc, from impressionistic passages imbued with classical references to outright funk. Blaser has incredible technique and command of his instrument. Oester and Cleaver have the quick interaction, ability to turn on a dime and approach to rhythm that at some points calls to mind Haden and Blackwell, while other passages that shift in tempo and mood from rock toward sudden silence and space remind one of Foster, Henderson and Cosey circa Agartha.

Guitarist Ducret weaves in and around Blaser with commentary both lyrical and jagged. He proves to be a good partner for Blaser, although he steers dangerously close to fusion-y overkill in a couple of spots. That quibble aside, this is the best new hatOLOGY release I’ve heard in awhile.

Consort in Motion highlights Blaser’s classical influences in a more overt way, as he blends 17th century Baroque works from Italian composers Monteverdi, Frescobaldi and Marini with jazz improvisation. This is not a work of pastiche, however, and it suffers from none of the stiffness that has at times marred Third Stream efforts in the past. His arrangements flow seamlessly, establishing the connections between genres in a way that makes it difficult to determine where compositions end and improvisations begin.

It’s a restrained recording, and Lossing, Morgan and Motian are perfect partners. I’ve been a fan of Lossing since his cooperative disc Change of Time came out in 2001. His playing can at times be overly abstract, but here his solos and running interaction with Blaser strike the perfect balance of emotion and technique. And of course, who better for this type of project than the late Paul Motian? In probably one of his last recordings, his coloration and subtle interjections are reminders of why he was such a sought-after accompanist.

Together, these recordings make the case for Samuel Blaser’s vision and artistry.

Regarding Paul Motian

2011-11-28T10:44:00.001-06:00

So sad to hear of Paul Motian's passing. Ellery Eskelin has a nice post about Motian's influence on his music on Ellery's Musings from a Saxophonist blog.

The Madness of Trios

2011-11-25T09:34:00.001-06:00

Ingrid Laubrock Sleepthief,
The Madness of Crowds
Intakt Records

Ingrid Laubrock - Saxophones
Liam Noble - Piano
Tom Rainey - Drums

The madness of crowds is from Sleepthief, a cooperative trio of sax, piano and drums. This configuration appears to be all the rage these days: Ellery Eskelin, Ken Vandermark and Rob Brown all have recent albums out using this format.

Liam Noble is the new entity for me, although this trio has a prior release out on the same label. Noble occasionally uses a prepared piano effect that has a zither-type sound, a little of which goes a very long way. I mean, if I wanted to listen to frickin' Zamfir king of the pan flute I'd go buy his album off the telly, now wouldn't I?

On another track it sounds like someone's blowing bubbles underwater, which also doesn't add anything to the proceedings. Once they quit horsing around, though, at about track 3, things pick up nicely. There’s some great interplay between the three musicians, and Laubrock impresses on soprano as well as tenor, demonstrating a nice control on the smaller horn.

Ms. Laubrock is a frustrating artist to listen to in a way, because she seems to prefer free improv settings, but I'm not sure that's really her strength. A little structure or, dare I say it, melody, suits her better. Still, she's a star on the rise and it will be interesting to see where she goes from here.

Rob Brown Trio in Action

2011-11-23T13:40:00.002-06:00

Here's a clip of the Rob Brown Trio at VisionFest 14:

The Friendly Skies

2011-10-22T09:06:00.017-05:00

Rob Brown Trio, Unknown Skies
RogueArt

Rob Brown - alto sax
Craig Taborn - piano
Nasheet Waits - drums

A lineup of alto, piano and drums may conjure up memories of The Cecil Taylor Unit, but on Rob Brown's Unknown Skies the ghost of Ornette makes its presence felt. Brown isn't overly slavish to Coleman's influence however, and has produced his strongest recording of any I've heard.

A key to the success of Skies is Craig Taborn. His approach is so all-encompassing that you don't miss a bass. It's interesting to contrast the dense, knotty style on display here to the minimalist approach on his recent solo record Avenging Angel – quite a range. In fact, the closest Unknown Skies comes to the aforementioned Unit is in some sections featuring only Taborn and Waits.

Rob Brown's own playing ranges from meditative to frenetic, and although I still detect a tendency from earlier releases to wander a little in his improvisations, and although I found myself wondering a couple of times, WWGCD? (What would Gerald Cleaver do?), I wanted to play it again immediately after it was over, which is a good sign.

Light Made Darker

2011-08-30T19:35:00.004-05:00

Craig Taborn, Avenging Angel
ECM Records

Craig Taborn - piano

I’ve come to appreciate Craig Taborn due to an earlier CD, Light Made Lighter, his appearances on a couple of Drew Gress albums and his pivotal role on Michael Formanek’s The Rub and Spare Change. But Avenging Angel is a different beast. It sounds as if it might be fully improvised, yet each piece contains logic and structure. There’s a quiet intensity to it, even a sense of foreboding. It’s a nighttime CD, although more frenetic sections are contained within.

There’s a hint of vintage Jarrett in Taborn’s overt classical influences, the use of repetition in the development of certain pieces, the occasional sly allusions to gospel and the blues. But this is not to say we’re dealing with the rolling ostinatos of The Sun Bear Concerts, and Taborn definitely has his own approach.

There are parts that gave me chills. If you even thought you might be a Taborn fan, get this. If you’re a solo piano fan, get this.

Jazz in the Seventies

2011-04-20T08:31:00.003-05:00

When I think of Jazz during the Seventies, my reflexive thought is of a time when fusion ruled the planet, leading to an abuse of power and numerous excesses. Of course, there were a few jewels among the dross, but I think the tendency is to write off much of the work during that decade, as we waited for the Eighties to set us all straight (ahead).

A recent post by Pete C on Jazz Corner's Speakeasy got me thinking about the accuracy of my recollections, however. He opined that "Tyner's Milestone output is one of the great bodies of work in jazz, and is one of many proofs that the 1970s was far from a jazz wasteland." I also dug out Dexter Gordon's Homecoming set from 1976, and I had forgotten how great it sounded. So, here is the start of a list of all that was great about Jazz in the Seventies, from a non-fusion perspective:

- McCoy's Milestone albums

- Dexter Gordon's return to the U.S., including the Homecoming album

- Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra's albums

- The golden age of ECM: many classic albums during this time

- Several albums on CTI that successfully navigated between commercial accessibility and sufficient Jazz content

- The series of albums on Horizon

- The series of albums on Artist's House

- The emergence of Anthony Davis and the "New Haven" scene, including the albums on India Navigation

- The loft jazz scene: Studio Rivbea et al

- Anthony Braxton's series of albums for Arista

- The new West Coast players like David Murray

Anyone care to add?

4/20/11 What I'm Listening To

2011-04-20T08:16:00.001-05:00

Louis Armstrong and King Oliver

Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines

Sidney Bechet - Portrait

Duke Ellington - Live at Newport

Mal Waldron - Mal One and Two

Red Garland - Saying Something

Circle - Circulus

Bob James - One

Thad Jones and Mel Lewis - Suite for Pops

Sonny Fortune - Awakening

Dexter Gordon - Homecoming

Steve Lehman - Camoflage

4/14/11 What I'm Listening To

2011-04-14T15:00:00.002-05:00

Charles Brackeen, Rhythm X
Ornette and Prime Time, Opening The Caravan of Dreams
Walter Davis, Jr., Davis Cup
Ingrid Laubrock & Anti-House, live in Austria 8/28/10
Bill Evans/Tony Scott Quartet, Complete Recordings
Kaufmann/Dresser/Eisenstadt, Starmelodics
Anthony Braxton, Three Orchestras (GTM) 1998

Lesser Known Trumpeters

2011-04-08T11:09:00.002-05:00

Dave Douglas' Greenleaf Music blog referenced a nice, informative post about some of the great, but lesser known, trumpeter players through the years. It's on a blog called Curt's Jazz Cafe. It's worth checking out; one of them, Louis Smith, I wasn't familiar with.

A Great Time for Jazz

2011-02-09T09:35:00.002-06:00

There was a recent post in JazzCorner's Speakeasy Forum that stated that "The players in New York are too busy slinging old hash around at Smalls or bellowing to the rafters at the Stone, while everybody else seems more fascinated by beeps and blips—you know, "texture"—than music."

I agree to a point, but right now is an incredibly fertile time for Jazz that combines composition with improvisation in interesting ways. Some of the players who I think are emblematic of this area are Taylor Ho Bynum, Mary Halvorson, Ingrid Laubrock, Kris Davis, Satoko Fujii, Myra Melford (note how many are women), John Hebert, Tyshawn Sorey, Ken Filiano, Harris Eisenstadt, Liberty Ellman, Russ Lossing, Adam Lane, Matt Bauder, Nate Wooley, John Hollenbeck, Tomas Fujiwara (note how many are drummers), Tony Malaby and Peter Evans. I'm sure I've left many people out as well.

There was a recent post in that same Forum about the meaning of Third Stream Music. I think a lot of what these artists produce could be considered a new type of Third Stream, one that integrates many types of musics with jazz and creates an organic blend in which the elements mesh seamlessly.

This is a great time to love Jazz, even if it puts a strain on your wallet!

Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up, Actionspeak

2011-01-20T09:54:00.005-06:00

482 Music, 482-1071

Danton Boller-bass
Mary Halvorson-guitar
Brian Settles-tenor saxophone
Jonathan Finlayson-trumpet
Tomas Fujiwara-drums

Actionspeak is like a forward-thinking ‘60s Blue Note release with a twist. The Blue Note influence is accounted for by Fujiwara’s admiration for the compositions of Wayne Shorter, and that “cinematic” quality is evident here. The twist is provided by Mary Halvorson’s guitar, which is given ample room to wind in and around the structures of the songs. She plays it straight occasionally, but her unique sensibilities give Actionspeak a left-of-center edge. Like many contemporary jazz recordings, it’s difficult at times to tell where the composition leaves off and the improvising begins. Settles is the new name here, at least for me, and his hoarse upper register and terse statements remind me of Frank Lowe.

This release has really grown on me with repeated listens, and successfully navigates between inside and outside sensibilities.

My Top 10 for 2010

2011-01-20T09:36:00.003-06:00

Here are my Top 10 recordings for 2010, in order:

Ashcan Rantings – Adam Lane’s Full Throttle Orchestra (Clean Feed)

Paradoxical Frog – Davis/Laubrock/Sorey (Clean Feed)

Day in Pictures – Matt Bauder (Clean Feed)

Royal Toast – The Claudia Quintet (Cuneiform)

Summer Works 2009 – Riviere Composers’ Pool (Emanem)

Three – Gauci/Davis/Bisio (Clean Feed)

Actionspeak – Tomas Fujiwara & The Hook Up (482 Music)

Ground Rush – Julian Arguelles Trio (Clean Feed)

Live in Lisbon – Peter Evans Quartet (Clean Feed)

The Rub And Spare Change – Michael Formanek (ECM)

And my Honorable Mentions, in no particular order:

Searching for Adam – Rodrigo Amado (Not Two)

Transmit – Ideal Bread (Cuneiform)

Desert Ship – Satoko Fujii ma-do (Not Two)

The Horse Jumps & The Ship is Gone – The Vandermark 5 Special Edition (Not Two)

Saturn Sings – Mary Halvorson Quintet (Firehouse 12)

All is Gladness in the Kingdom – Fight The Big Bull (Clean Feed)

Dual Identity – Mahanthappa & Lehman (Clean Feed)

The Claudia Quintet, Royal Toast

2011-01-11T08:14:00.001-06:00

Cuneiform 307

John Hollenbeck – drums/percussion

Ted Reichman – Accordion

Chris Speed – Clarinet/Tenor Saxophone

Matt Moran – Vibraphone

Drew Gress – Acoustic Bass

Guest: Gary Versace - piano

Every once in a while, a recording really grabs your attention and is a powerful reminder of why we love this music. And even though Jazz is the “sound of surprise”, let’s face it: We’ve all listened to a lot of records over the years that were well crafted and well played, but didn’t offer anything new.

Right now I’m listening to Royal Toast by The Claudia Quintet, a group led by John Hollenbeck, and it’s energizing my morning. Hollenbeck composed all the pieces excepting some brief overdubbed solos from various group members, and he gets an amazing amount of textures from such a small group. The compositions themselves don’t follow a theme-solos-theme format, but seem to cycle with variations of instrumentation and rhythm. Gary Versace is a guest on the CD, but he’s so well integrated it’s hard to imagine how the groups sounds without him.

I also recently received Hollenbeck’s large ensemble recording, Eternal Interlude, and I can’t wait to spin it based on what I’ve heard on Royal Toast.

9/01/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-09-01T10:54:00.002-05:00

Marion Brown, Duets

Marion Brown, Sweet Earth Flying

Herbie Hancock, Flood

Dave Burrell, High Won, High Two

Lester Young, Complete Aladdin Recordings

Recent Passings

2009-08-26T14:34:00.003-05:00

They say deaths come in threes, but it seems like many notable people in and out of the jazz world have passed away recently. In addition to George Russell, drummer Rashied Ali and multi-reedist Joe Maneri recently left us. Ali is probably the better known musician, due to his work with John Coltrane on Concert in Japan and, most famously, Interstellar Space shortly before Coltrane passed away in 1967. His approach to free rhythms solidified and extended what had been started by Sunny Murray, Andrew Cyrille and Milford Graves.

Joe Maneri, a Boston-area legend, was a one-of-a-kind voice who played alto, tenor, clarinet and piano. He is best-known for pioneering micro-tonal playing, which divides the octave into 72 tones rather than the 12-tone equal temperment system found in most Western music. He was a long-time faculty member of the New England Conservatory of Music and counted Matthew Shipp among his students.

Joe experienced a renewal of interest in his music starting in the 90's, based partly on the emergence of his son, Mat, as a bright new voice on violin and viola. Maneri recorded for both Leo and ECM; his albums with Mat and bassist Barre Phillips, Tales of Rohnlief and Angles of Repose, are a good place to start an exploration of his music, as is the duet album with Mat, Blessed, also on ECM. Once you immerse yourself in their world, the albums have a strange beauty to them underneath a dissonant exterior.

(Waiting For The) Flood

2009-08-26T13:56:00.003-05:00

Right now I am righteously digging Flood, a Japanese Sony release from Herbie Hancock that contains parts of two concerts he gave in Tokyo in 1974. The set lists are from his Headhunters, Thrust and Man-Child albums, with the exception of Maiden Voyage, and the band is all-star: Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Mike Clark, Bill Summers and Blackbird McKnight.

When I first got this (as a two-CD set a few years ago), I liked it OK but it didn't really get to me. For some reason I pulled it out a couple of days ago and it just burns! For me the highlights are Bennie Maupin's solos on tenor and soprano. He is one of my all-time favorites with his ability to play the blues like no other and go outside without sounding like a Trane clone. I also love the tone he gets on all his horns.

If I were to knit-pick I'd say a couple of Hancock's solos go on a little too long, but overall this band is tight and works it. If you like the best kind of fusion, then get this.

In Praise of Sam Rivers

2009-08-20T19:48:00.005-05:00

The Destination Out blog has a nice post about Sam Rivers, including three trio tracks from his 1975 album Hues. As a teenager in the 70's, I visited my local record store and bought Rivers' Involution, which was part of the Blue Note Reissue Series. That record and Andrew Hill's One For One, also part of the series, just blew me away. As much as I liked Dexter Gordon and John Coltrane, the intensity of Rivers' tone and his compositions just reached me like no other tenor player. The fact that he wrote his own exercises also appealed to me.

I had a chance to see him with the University of North Texas big band about 6-7 years ago and they did a great job with his charts. As Destination Out states, Sam Rivers should be much better known than he is.

Goin' to Kansas City

2009-08-20T19:12:00.000-05:00

Count Basie's Kansas City Suite was one of the first big band records I bought when I was starting to listen to jazz. It was one-half of a two-record set on Roulette Records (Roulette RE-124) that also featured Easin' It. At the time (the early '70's), Roulette was making a lot of their back catalog available as part of their Echoes of an Era series. Others that I picked up along the way included a set that provided my first exposure to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

Putting this on the turntable for the first time in probably 30 years really brought back the rush that I felt when I was discovering jazz. I knew that Count Basie was a big name, but I didn't know where to begin when I bought the album. Even with my limited knowledge at the time, I knew when I got it home and saw the recording date was 1960 that it wasn't from the golden era of the big bands. Regardless, Kansas City Suite is classic, bluesy Basie. The Suite was composed and arranged by Benny Carter, who never actually played with the band. The ten tracks have a vaguely familiar feel now that I've listened to a lot of jazz, but the writing and playing are top-notch. This edition of the Orchestra included Snooky Young, Thad Jones, Marshall Royal, Frank Wess, Frank Foster and of course Freddie Green.

Listening to this as a teenager transported me to New York, to a mysterious world that I was just discovering and imagining. It was a nice way to spend part of an afternoon getting acquainted with it again.

8/19/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-08-19T10:42:00.002-05:00

Joseph Jarman, Song For

Roscoe Mitchell Sextet, Sound

Sidney Bechet, Master Musician

Tina Brooks, True Blue

Stetsasonic, Sally (12" single)

Eazy-E, The Boyz-N-The Hood/Fat Girl (12" single)

Some Bid'ness

2009-08-11T12:33:00.003-05:00

I'm in the process of listening to albums that I haven't played in literally years, and I pulled Julius Hemphill's 'Coon Bid'ness (Arista Freedom) from the shelf this morning. I always liked Julius' alto, but I had forgotten how great the compositions are on this recording. They defy easy categorization, and share a fascination with timbre and a sense of occasional whimsy with the AACM membership. The line-up is pretty great too: (Black) Arthur Blythe, Hamiett Bluiett, Baikida E. J. Carroll, Abdul Wadud on the funkiest cello you'll ever hear, Barry Altschul, Philip Wilson.

The Hard Blues, indeed.

8/07/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-08-07T15:32:00.002-05:00

Eberhard Weber, Yellow Fields

Eberhard Weber, Silent Feet

Jimmy Woods, Conflict

One Night With Blue Note Preserved, Vol. 2

Frank Lowe, Fresh

Oliver Lake, Holding Together

I Like Conflict

2009-08-07T10:05:00.005-05:00

The album, that is. (rim shot!) I'm speaking of altoist Jimmy Woods' 1963 album Conflict, recorded for the Contemporary label and featuring an impressive lineup of Harold Land on tenor, Carmell Jones on trumpet, Andrew Hill on piano, George Tucker on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. This was only Woods' second session as a leader but it would prove to be his last, for reasons of which I'm unaware.

Conflict features six Woods originals; he also arranged all the selections. I originally bought the album used (for $35.00, gulp) when I was going through my obsessive Hill collecting phase. Hill certainly doesn't disappoint: Even though it was early in his career, his unique approach to rhythm and harmony are a positive disruption to the bop-influenced compositions. But Woods impresses as well, as he has an urgent, keening quality to his solos that set him apart from the pack. His tart tone and intervallic leaps, particularly on Apart Together and Look to Your Heart, remind me of Eric Dolphy, and in spots, mid-70s Braxton.

Doe anyone know what happened to him? Seems a shame he didn't record more.

A Tribute to Tribute

2009-08-05T09:01:00.003-05:00

There's an interesting thread over at the ECM Forum on JazzCorner.com about overlooked gems on that label, records that received little fanfare when they were first released. One of my nominations is drummer Paul Motian's Tribute (ECM 1048), issued in 1975 and featuring Carlos Ward on alto sax, Sam Brown and Paul Metzke on guitars, and Charlie Haden on bass. I bought the album new for $5.79 (!) and I love the combination of Ornette's influence and the deep but free groove that Motian and Haden set up. It's some of my favorite Haden, helped in part by the great bass sound achieved by engineer Tony May.

Fortunately, it has been reissued on CD and is available on ECM's site.

8/05/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-08-05T08:57:00.002-05:00

Sonny Clark, Sonny's Crib

Sonny Rollins, The Bridge

Bobby Hutcherson, The Kicker

Bobby Hutcherson, Dialogue

Hancock, et al, In Concert Volume 1

A Sad Day

2009-07-28T09:16:00.003-05:00

I learned that George Russell, composer and pianist, passed away last night at the age of 86. He created the Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization, which influenced Miles Davis' and John Coltrane's use of modes, and the system has been called "the only original theory to come from jazz".

His string of mid-50s albums for Riverside highlighted his original compositional sense and his outstanding arrangements for small groups. The mid- 60s Live at Beethoven Hall albums for the German MPS label featured Don Cherry and are some of my absolute favorites to this day. His reworking of classics like Round Midnight demonstrate how the Lydian Concept changes a musician's approach to the relationship between scales and chords.

During the sixties he worked frequently in Europe, particularly Sweden, and his recordings feature some of the earliest work from future ECM mainstays Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal and Jon Christensen. He returned to the United States, taught at the New England Conservatory of Music, and released big band albums like The African Game on Blue Note. In the eighties he formed the Living Time Orchestra with a pool of international musicians. This chapter of his career is his least interesting, in my opinion, as the rock influences sound a little corny and overdone to these ears.

Nonetheless, George Russell was an relatively unsung giant in the jazz world, and I will be listening to his work for years to come.

7/27/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-07-27T19:44:00.002-05:00

Parker/Guy/Lytton/Crispell, Natives & Aliens

Baikida Carroll, Marionettes on a High Wire

J.R. Monterose, s/t

John Coltrane, Blue Train

Greg Osby, The Invisible Hand

The Good Old Days

2009-07-24T10:21:00.001-05:00

Like a lot of jazz fans, I buy most of my CDs through mail order, but back in the day (the day being when we actually had things called record stores) I also bought from brick-and-mortar outfits to support their efforts. For example, the Tower store here in Dallas had a surprisingly good jazz section. There was just no substitute for browsing, finding something unexpected, and taking it home that day.

This is surely a case of beating a dead horse, but I find it incredibly sad that I can’t go out on my day off and buy a copy of one of the new ECMs (Parker, Sclavis, Vitous) anywhere in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. An area of several million people, and no one carries this stuff anymore!

New Releases We’ll See in 20 Years

2009-07-22T10:45:00.002-05:00

The Hits: The Very Best of Evan Parker and the Electro-Acoustic Ensemble

Steve Reynolds Collector’s Edition of Mujician’s Colours Fulfilled with inflatable Paul Dunmall doll

Sine Wave Sonata for test pattern and no-output ironing board (Erstwhile)

Diana Krall and Mats Gustafsson: Love Songs

And on the Fox Network Times (formerly the New York Times) Bestseller’s List:

How I Killed Jass Music by Jon Abbey

In Praise of Patrick Gleeson

2009-07-14T09:13:00.006-05:00

The "fusion" movement of the late 60's/70's was a mixed bag, with innovations in rhythm, tonal palettes and the use of electronics charting a new path yet standing alongside indulgent excesses that today you might be embarrassed to admit you listened to (Romantic Warrior, anyone?)

Someone I think is due for more recognition is Dr. Patrick Gleeson, who was part of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi group that recorded Crossings for Warner Bros. and Sextant for Columbia. If memory serves, I believe he taught Herbie about the synthesizer. He is also an integral presence on Julian Priester's overlooked Love, Love, which I think is a fusion classic. If you haven't checked that album out, which ECM re-released on CD, it's worth your time.

He seemed to disappear for awhile, but he and Bennie Maupin put out Driving While Black in 1998. It's ironic that the advances in keyboard technology and sequencing make him a little more generic sounding than his earlier analog work. I see that he released Jazz Criminal in 2007 with Jim Lang, who appears to be a studio keyboard player. Anyone heard this?

07/14/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-07-14T09:03:00.002-05:00

Ellery Eskelin, Ten

Anthony Braxton, The Montreux/Berlin Concerts

Joe Lovano, Quartets: Live at the Village Vanguard

Anthony Braxton, Composition 96

My Earliest Braxton Memory

2009-07-14T08:45:00.003-05:00

I believe the first time I heard Anthony Braxton was while listening to Willis Conover's Voice of America broadcast one morning before school, around '73 or '74. I had heard of Braxton, but I think this was before New York Fall 1974 came out, which was my formal introduction to his music.

The broadcast was a tape from the Newport Jazz Festival, one of those all-star jams where they play a theme, a seemingly endless parade of soloists follow, and then the theme is restated. Braxton just cut through like a knife with his uniquely angular phrasing, and he got the biggest ovation from the crowd.

Does anyone know the specifics of this performance? I don't think it's ever been released.

First Take: Satoko Fujii/Myra Melford, Under The Water

2009-06-27T09:51:00.003-05:00

Libra 202-024

Satoko Fujii, piano

Myra Melford, piano

I've been a longtime fan of both Ms. Fujii and Ms. Melford's work, but I had a moment's hesitation before I ordered this CD. Could they mesh their approaches and create something special? Would this be a case of "two great tastes that taste great together"? (My apologies to Reese's, and whoever's reading this.) I needn't have worried; to say Under The Water exceeded my expectations is putting it mildly.

Recorded live at Maybeck Studio in Berkeley, CA by the redoubtable Myles Boisen, the program consists of three duets and one solo performance from each artist. The solos are tremendous; you would expect that. It's the duets that just knocked me out. There's no meandering going on here, no sense of each feeling the other out. Fujii and Melford have a single-mindedness and sense of direction that's astonishing. At times it sounds like one very, very good pianist is playing and it's hard to separate the contributions.

As soon as the CD finished, I couldn't wait to hear it again. One of the very best I've heard this year.

06/27/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-06-27T09:39:00.003-05:00

Anthony Braxton, The Montreux/Berlin Concerts

Bud Powell, The Complete Blue Note and Roost Recordings

Satoko Fujii/Myra Melford, Under The Water

Paul Motion and the Electric Bebop Band, s/t

The Modern Jazz Society Presents a Concert of Contemporary Music

The Curious Case of Steve Kuhn

2009-06-13T10:16:00.002-05:00

ECM Records has announced that they will be releasing a new recording from Steve Kuhn with Joe Lovano on 7/07/09 called Mostly Coltrane. I'm somewhat looking forward to hearing this, but Mr. Kuhn has been a frustrating figure to me for many years.

In the 70's, he released Trance, a wonderful album from a time when, as a friend once stated, "Every album ECM released was a classic." It was a unique fusion of jazz and classical music, with a dash of Kuhn's wry sense of humor. If memory serves, he went on to record a couple of more albums for ECM and then his output seemed to drop off.

I saw him with a trio at the Village Vanguard in New York in the mid-eighties and he put me to sleep. Every once in a while I've come across a CD of his, but they seemed to be standards-based, which struck me as curious because I liked his original compositions so much. I have his ECM CD Remembering Tomorrow, which again seemed a little lifeless to me, but I'm glad he's back with a new one on the label that's released his best work.

If anyone has opinions on the ECM albums he released in the late-seventies, Motility and Non-Fiction, please post a comment.

6/13/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-06-13T10:10:00.002-05:00

Weather Report, Black Market

Satoko Fujii, Summer Suite

Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore, Blowin' in from Chicago

Wednesday Week, What We Had (N.C. indie rock from the '80s)

Tough Guys in Dub (dub reggae from the '80s)

5/31/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-31T06:20:00.003-05:00

George Russell, The Essence of...

Ellery Eskelin, One Great Night - Live

Wayne Shorter, Etc.

Duke Ellington, The Blanton-Webster Band, disc 2

Unintentionally Amusing Reviews

2009-05-27T08:36:00.003-05:00

It's admittedly a challenge to try to describe sound to someone who hasn't heard what you're hearing, but I still get a giggle when I read certain record reviews. Recently I came across a couple on the All About Jazz site that caught my attention.

First up, from Raul d'Gama Rose's review of Revolutions, a large ensemble recording by Jim Beard:

"Beard is first and foremost a composer of the highest artistic skill. His approach to music is primarily through the classic elements of song. This gives every composition a form. He must then shape the form by twisting the melody and imbuing it with challenging harmonies so that it can take on a shape and life of its own."

OK, I'm not a musician, but isn't that what most composers do (at least those working within any kind of traditional Western framework)?

Later, in the same review:

"Beard's music here is down to earth and echoes with the memory of events that may have been memorable at one time."

Ahh, Memories...(cue the Cat's soundtrack)

Then we have Glen Astarita's review of Live by Marteau Rouge with Evan Parker:

"The foursome generates a sense of urgency amid intriguing dialogues and streaming treatments, and strikes an asymmetrical balance, awash with lucid imagery, that spans catastrophic events and hardcore noise-shaping motifs."

Ummm...what?

Does anyone else ever react in a similar fashion, or do I just need more coffee?

5/26/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-26T11:16:00.003-05:00

Duke Ellington, The Blanton-Webster Band, disc 1

Ellery Eskelin, Ten

Tina Brooks, Minor Move

The Pixies, Doolittle

My Favorite Shepp

2009-05-26T10:58:00.003-05:00

Of all the "new thing" sax players to come out of the 60's, Archie Shepp is one I've probably spent the least time listening to. I have Fire Music, but it just doesn't catch fire for me; his playing seems adequate at best. But I absolutely love two records Shepp did for Arista/Freedom, Montreux One and Montreux Two. Recorded live at the Festival in 1975, One and Two feature Charles Majid Greenlee (whatever happened to him?) on trombone, Dave Burrell on piano, Cameron Brown on bass and Beaver Harris on drums.

The group sounds great, tight yet loose, and Burrell seems especially inspired, at times breaking into some stride piano during his solos. Shepp performs a wonderful solo intro to Lush Life, and the whole performance is a thing of beauty.

Anyone else heard these?

5/18/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-18T13:25:00.002-05:00

Ellery Eskelin, Ten

Cecil Taylor, The Great Concert of...

George Russell, Vertical Form VI

Anthony Braxton, Quintet (London) 2004

First Take: Henning Sieverts Symmetry, Blackbird

2009-05-15T14:49:00.005-05:00

Pirouet PIT3040

Henning Sieverts, bass and cello

Chris Speed, clarinet and tenor saxophone

Johannes Lauer, trombone

Achim Kaufmann, piano

John Hollenbeck, drums

I heard a couple of samples from this while surfing Jazz Loft, and I was intrigued by the line-up, particularly the presence of Achim Kaufmann, who I've enjoyed on the recent Unearth (nuscope), with Frank Gratowski and Wilbert de Joode.

After one spin, the word that comes to mind to describe Blackbird is delightful. It has a sunny disposition that makes it perfect for listening on a summer's day. With forward-thinking names like Speed and Kaufmann on board, it might seem strange to refer to the CD this way, but this is a thinking person's lite jazz. Which is not to say it's lightweight; there's plenty of satisfying improvisations and angular themes penned by Sievert. In addition, the group tackles Charlie Parker's Blues for Alice, and the Blackbird in question is of the Lennon/McCartney variety.

The front line of Lauer's trombone and Speed's clarinet make a great match, bouyant or moody as the music requires. Sievert never calls attention to himself, choosing to emphasize the group sound in service to the compositions. I look forward to digging into this more; even my wife might like it!

Welcome Alarming News Readers!

2009-05-15T14:40:00.003-05:00

I want to welcome any visitors from Karol's blog Alarming News. I've read her for a few years now and admire her chutzpah. This blog examines the world of jazz and improvised music; I hope you like it.

5/13/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-13T18:59:00.002-05:00

Air, Air Song

Mark Helias, Split Image

Sly & Robbie, Gambler's Choice

David S. Ware, Solo Live in the Netherlands

Isley Brothers, Go For Your Guns

Stetsasonic, Sally (12" single)

5/12/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-12T13:01:00.002-05:00

Anthony Braxton, Quartet (GTM) 2006

Jimmy Giuffre, Free Fall

Fred Anderson, On The Run

Miles Davis, Live/Evil

Duke Ellington, Complete Prestige Carnegie Hall 1946-47 Concerts

Review: Georg Graewe, impressions of monk

2009-05-10T23:19:00.006-05:00

nuscope CD 1006

Georg Graewe, piano

Marcio Mattos, bass

Michael Vatcher, drums

This is a quiet gem that I listened to again recently for the first time in several years. Recorded in 1995, impressions of monk accomplishes the feat of making you listen to Monk's music in a whole new way, gaining insights into his genius. And no matter where Graewe takes his improvisations, the essence of Monk's approach to rhythm and harmony is there. I have a feeling Monk would approve.

5/08/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-05-08T09:31:00.003-05:00

Anthony Braxton, Quintet (London) 2004

Anthony Braxton, Quartet (GTM) 2006

Steve Lantner Quartet, Given - Live in Munster

Andrew Hill, Mosaic Select (group sessions)

Charles Mingus, Presents the Jazz Composer's Workshop

The Center vs. The Margins

2009-04-30T16:26:00.004-05:00

I was going through my CD rack, looking for something to strike my listening fancy, when I came across Change of Time (Omnitone records). It's a trio date consisting of Russ Lossing on piano, Adam Kolker on reeds and John Hebert on bass, putting their spin on Bartok's Mikrokosmos. It came out in 2001, and I realized I hadn't come across Lossing since.

I little digging reassured me that Mr. Lossing has releases on HatHut and appeared on Michael Adkin's Rotator CD (reviewed on this blog), but that got me thinking about how jazz musicians market themselves and stand out in a crowded field. It seems that those who are considered avant-garde, like Anthony Braxton and Matthew Shipp, carve out a very distinct "territory" for themselves. There are a devoted set of fans for that genre, with attendant blogs/magazines and even a store, Downtown Music Gallery, basically catering to that audience. (DMG also carries other genres, but is known for music on the "margins.") On the other hand, musicians who are closely identified with the mainstream (the other margin), like Eric Alexander, also have labels and fans that offer support.

But what about those in the "center," musicians like Lossing who don't fall into either extreme? It seems a potentially perilous place to be, in the way that a product without a distinct brand identity can be lost in a sea of choices. After all, belonging to an extreme has its advantages. For example, I don't keep up with guitar players generally, but I know about Mary Halvorson because she has apprenticed with Braxton, has a disc coming out on HatHut, and has been mentioned in DMG's email newsletter.

There are many, many mainstream-modern jazz musicians out there who probably deserve more exposure than they're getting. Even as the Internet has opened up the possiblity for artists to have a relationship with their fans, a musician has to attract the fans in the first place. I'd love to hear how musicians keep their careers viable, playing this music that we love that is outside of the predominant tides of pop culture.

4/21/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-04-21T07:14:00.002-05:00

Brad Mehldau, Songs

Charles Mingus, East Coasting

Charles Mingus, The Jazz Experiments of Charles Mingus

4/18/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-04-18T09:01:00.003-05:00

Tristano/Marsh, Intuition

Hal McKusick, The Jazz Workshop

the nommonsemble, Life Cycle

Evan Parker/Keith Rowe, Dark Rags

Satoko Fujii Trio, Junction

My Favorite Cecil

2009-04-15T14:54:00.004-05:00

Howard Mandel's blog, Jazz Beyond Jazz, had a couple of posts about Cecil Taylor's 80th birthday, and following a comment I wrote he asked me to name my favorite Taylor recordings. That's a serious undertaking, but here's my list in chronological order:

The trio recordings with Buell Neidlinger and Dennis Charles that first appeared on The World of Cecil Taylor. These sides show his connection with post-bop jazz and the rhythm section gets him.

Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come, with Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray. Just sublime playing by all; if only the damn piano had been in tune!

Leaf Palm Hand, the duets with Tony Oxley. Taylor has worked with some great drummers, but Oxley reacts and anticipates him like no other.

2 Ts for a lovely T, with the Feel Trio of William Parker and Oxley. Fantastic interplay, plus I'm a sucker for box sets.

Nailed, with Evan Parker, Barry Guy and Oxley. Just try to catch your breath after this one.

The Tree of Life. Cecil solo.

Almeda, with an eight-piece ensemble. This size unit gives the music more space to breath than Cecil's larger ensembles.

JazzCorner

2009-04-12T23:53:00.002-05:00

A great place to meet and exchange thoughts with fellow enthusiasts is JazzCorner.com, specifically their Forums section called Speakeasy. I used to post there regularly a few years ago, and I recently rejoined. Some real characters hang out there!

4/12/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-04-12T21:15:00.003-05:00

Happy Easter everyone!

On this day I'm listening to:

Steve Lantner Trio, What You Can Throw

Michael Adkins Quartet, Rotator

Simon Nabatov Octet, A Few Incidences

Denman Maroney Quartet, Gaga

First take: Michael Adkins Quartet, Rotator

2009-04-11T23:04:00.004-05:00

HatOLOGY 660

Michael Adkins, Tenor Saxophone

Russ Lossing, Piano

John Hebert, Bass

Paul Motion, Drums

This is the first in what I hope is an occasional series of CD reviews based on an initial listen or two to the recordings. (If I waited until I listened several times before I wrote a review, it might never get written!)

Tenor saxophonist Michael Adkins is a new name to me, although he's been based in New York City since 1998 and recorded a previous album in 2000. I don't know what he's been up to during the last decade, but overall Rotator is a very impressive (near) debut album. Adkins style is contemplative with bluesy overtones and a hint of Jan Garbarek's plaintiveness. I also hear echoes of Keith Jarrett's 70's quartet with Garbarek in the ways themes are sometimes stated in unison by the sax and piano. The rhythm section is not one in the traditional sense; there's a near telepathic interplay among all four and an elastic sense of time. Pieces seem to expand and contract as they evolve, and there's a sense of events unfolding in a logical way. If I have a quibble with Rotator, its that many of the performances are taken at roughly the same medium-fast tempo; it would have helped to have a little more variety. This slight homogeneity also has me wondering if Adkins is a one-trick pony. If he is, however, than it's a mighty nice trick.

Rotator comes highly recommended for the organic group sound that the quartet generates, and I'm interested in what Mr. Adkins does next.

Remembering Sun Ra

2009-04-09T09:31:00.002-05:00

My earlier post about seeing Cecil Taylor live got me thinking about other jazz artists I caught in concert. One memorable occasion was seeing Sun Ra with a 100-piece orchestra in NYC.

I was living in New York around 1985-86 when Sun Ra rented out an abandoned ballroom on the Lower East Side and put on this extraordinary concert. I had a friend named Liz who, although not into jazz, was up for the adventure and accompanied me.

I don't remember what the building was called, but it was a great space for a concert, with a large main room featuring ornate balconies. The band was set up on one side, with the audience sitting on the floor on the other side. I don't think it was the tightest performance that I've ever heard, but it was great just seeing that mass of musicians at one time.

The best part of the evening occured after the show. Liz and I decided to explore the space so we went up to the balcony area. And who should we find sitting there than Mr. Sun Ra himself! He was very gracious as we engaged in some chit-chat. At one point his two dancers came in and rubbed oil on his feet! (I wonder if one was June Tyson?)

I'm glad I can say that I met the enigmatic Sun Ra in person.

The Usual Sources

2009-04-06T23:11:00.002-05:00

Readers who are long-time jazz fans are probably already aware of these companies, but I wanted to recognize three great sources for jazz and improvised music recordings: Downtown Music Gallery in NYC, the Jazz Loft in Bellevue, WA and Cadence in upstate New York. All three offer extensive catalogs and great service.

Through April 19, the Jazz Loft is offering 10 HatHut titles of your choice for $35! The entire HatHut catalog is not part of the special, but there are some great titles up for grabs.

The One Record I Play More Than Any Other...

2009-04-06T11:38:00.003-05:00

I've got a lot of Jazz albums and CDs; I've been collecting since I was 13 and I'm now...well, never mind. But in spite of my love for the avant-garde and specifically Cecil Taylor, Andrew Hill and others, the album I've probably played the most over all the years is In Concert Volume Two, which was released in 1974 on CTI Records.

The two discs are culled from all-star concerts recorded in Detroit and Chicago with a front line of Freddie Hubbard and Stanley Turrentine. Specifically, I listen to Interlude and Hornets from Side 1, which features a quartet of Herbie Hancock on electric piano with Eric Gale, Ron Carter and Jack DeJohnette. Hornets simply smokes; Herbie pours on the intensity and then keeps taking it higher. DeJohnette is with him step for step, and there are points where it starts to veer into free playing, as there seems to be an implied pulse, but not a set rhythm. Gale throws in some nice commentary, and Carter holds tight to the initial riff.

I've never seen either volume on CD, but Volume 2 especially is worth the price for some very loose, inspired blowing from all parties.

Guilty Pleasures

2009-04-04T23:47:00.003-05:00

Everybody has 'em. My jazz-related guilty pleasures usually revolve around 70's fusion, as it gave (and gives) me a chance to "rock out" without the brain-dead rock lyrics or plodding musicianship. A few records come to mind:

Return to Forever: Where Have I Known You Before and Romantic Warrior

Herbie Hancock: Thrust

Eddie Henderson: Sunburst (although this is much less of a guilty pleasure compared to the others I listed: the record holds up very well today.)

Add yours in the comments!

Happy Birthday Cecil!

2009-04-04T23:08:00.004-05:00

March 15 (or 25, depending on the source) was Cecil Taylor's 80th birthday. Of all the jazz and improvising artists out there, Cecil's catalog is the one I've most obsessively collected.

The first record of Cecil's that I heard was Silent Tongues, the live solo recording from Montreux, when I had only recently begun to listen to jazz. In spite of my lack of knowledge about jazz in general and free jazz in particular, that record blew me away. I followed that up with Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come and I've never looked back.

I've only seen Mr. Taylor in concert once, on a double bill with the Art Ensemble of Chicago at The University of Houston around 1978 or 79. He had his sextet with Ronald Shannon Jackson, Ramsey Ameen, et al that recorded the two New World Records releases. The Art Ensemble went first, and I hate to admit that by the time Cecil's Unit came on stage, I was feeling the effects of a hurried trip down from S.M.U., where I was in my freshman year. Because of that, I didn't give his performance the attention it deserved. I would love to see him again.

There's a complete sessionography for Cecil Taylor located here.

Improvised Addiction?

2009-04-04T22:58:00.002-05:00

A few years ago I read an interview with drummer Gino Robair in which he stated that people who liked free improv recordings often had what was akin to an addiction. Fans needed to buy one CD after another to satisfy their need. Gino's comment struck a chord with me, although I don't exclusively buy that genre. I may like a CD, but I want that new one I just read about; there is that hunger to feel like you're up-to-date with the latest. That's partly the reason why there are many CD's in my collection that I know I haven't listened to enough to fully appreciate. Anyone else experience this?

Nuscope Love

2009-04-04T11:37:00.004-05:00

I've always been impressed with the output of Nuscope Recordings and I'd sing their praises even if they weren't based in Dallas. I once met Russell Summers, the founder, at a Gerry Hemingway concert and he's a great guy. The label has been around since 1998 and I haven't encountered a bad release yet.

My perception is that the label doesn't get a lot of attention, even though it's distributed through the usual sources such as Downtown Music Gallery, JazzLoft and Cadence. Nuscope has recorded heavy hitters such as George Graewe, John Butcher, Barry Guy and Mat Maneri, but it seems other records from those musicians get more publicity. I've always wondered why that is.

Upcoming Eskelin

2009-04-04T11:00:00.003-05:00

Tenorist Ellery Eskelin recently announced on his website that his group with Andrea Parkins and Jim Black will be releasing a new live recording on April 24 entitled One Great Night...Live on hatOLOGY. It's hard to believe that the band has been together for 15 years! If you haven't tested the waters and listened, it's time you did; it's one of the most important small groups of the last few years.

Welcome to improvised!

2009-04-04T09:17:00.005-05:00

Welcome to a new blog about all things concerning jazz and improvised music. My name is Craig, and I've been a jazz fanatic since I was 13 and heard Dexter Gordon's Blues a la Suisse on Willis Conover's Voice of America shortwave broadcast. (I'm a lot older now, but we'll skip the details.) I enjoy the entire tradition of jazz, from big band swing to completely improvised performances. I plan to use this blog to review recordings and comment on current players and the state of jazz music. Please share your thoughts and comments; let's build a dialogue!

4/04/09 What I'm Listening To

2009-04-04T09:01:00.003-05:00

Yes, I know I ripped this feature off of Jazz Corner's forums, so sue me! It's a good way to get a look at what I like, and hopefully you, dear reader, will add your current obsessions in the comments. Here goes:

Cecil Taylor Ensemble: Almeda

Now Orchestra and Marilyn Crispell: Pola

Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003

Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode: Unearth