Playlist, Week of 2025-02-16

Kris Davis's rhythmic impulse and impeccable sense of timing is on full display on Rob Mazurek's Desert Encrypt Vol. 1... plus some of Mazurek's best playing... Two interesting things to note about the "Dark Star"-related jams by Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats in 1968: they are all effectively guitar-bass duets (whether it's Phil Lesh or Jack Casady on bass), and these jams are the first time, however sparingly, that someone (probably Bill Kreutzmann) plays full drum kit in the song... before, with the Dead, and with most of the Hartbeats versions, the percussion accompaniment up to this time was mostly shaker, gong, and guiro... A month's worth of new improvisations from New Ting here... it's good to be playing again... plus, a new solo release from Jimmy Ghaphery: Fife Studies...

Playlist 2025-02-17:

*Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos (Alina Ibragimova/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra)
*Johann Christian Bach: Six Favorite Overtures (Christopher Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music)
*Beatles: The Beatles' Second Album (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Something New (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Black Host: Life in the Sugar Candle Mines
*Anthony Braxton: Composition 95 (For Two Pianos)
*Anthony Braxton: 2 Compositions (Ensemble) 1989/1991
*Anthony Braxton/Fred Simmons Trio: 9 Standards (Quartet) 1993 (disc 1)
*Patricia Brennan Septet: Breaking Stretch
*Dustin Carlson: Air Ceremony
*Patsy Cline: The Patsy Cline Collection (disc 3)
*John Coltrane: The Mastery of John Coltrane, Vol. IV: "Trane's Modes" (side 3)
*Miles Davis: 1969-05/06? Village Gate, NYC (CDR)
*Miles Davis: Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West (side 2)
*J Dilla: Donuts
*Nick Dunston: Colla Voce
*Duke Ellington: 1949 NYC "The Tattooed Bride"
*Duke Ellington: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (discs 2, 3, 4)
*Kate Gentile: Find Letter X (disc 1)
*George: Letters to George (side 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1968-09-02 Sultan WA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1968-10-12 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven"
*Grateful Dead: 1968-10-13 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Sunshine Daydream (Veneta, Oregon 8/27/72) (disc 2) "Playing in the Band"
*Mary Halvorson: Cloudward
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-08 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-10 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star Jam"
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-30 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star Jam"
*Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning (Cow Box Redux)
*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 2 (disc 1)
*Rob Mazurek: Desert Encrypts Vol. 1
*Charles Mingus: The Complete Debut Recordings (discs 5, 6)
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #9 for Eleven"
*Ikue Mori: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon
*New Ting: 2025-02-10 "Farberware" (wav)
*Opeth: The Last Will and Testament
*Plymouth: Plymouth "Manomet"
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (sides 1, 2)
*Santana: Lotus (side 1)
*Devadip Carlos Santana/Turiya Alice Coltrane: Illuminations
*Soft Machine: Høvikodden 1971 (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Saturn Research: Rarities and Oddities (CDR compilation) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Music from Tomorrow's World
*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Astro Black (side 2)
*Sun Ra: At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (sides 1, 2)
*Joe Tex: From the Roots… …Came the Rapper
*McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson: Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (disc 2)
*UYA: 1993-03-02 And the Fritos? Sure (wav)
*UYA: 1993-07-17 Dik-Plexiglass Ass 95 Remix (side A) (wav)
*Various artists: Turn Me Loose White Man (disc 4)
*Various artists: Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults
*Weird of Mouth: Weird of Mouth
*Mary Lou Williams Trio: Free Spirits
*Tony Williams Lifetime: (Turn It Over) (side 1)
*Yes: Yesterdays (side 2) "America"
*Lester Young: The Aladdin Sessions (side 3)

Big Ears Festival Report, Days 1 and 2

This is a quick rundown of the shows I saw at the 2022 Big Ears Festival this past weekend. A note about the photos here: I am not a photographer. For the most part, photographing (and videoing) were discouraged if not outright prohibited, so I just snapped a shot on my phone of each act I saw.

Thursday started with a wonderful duo of Tomeka Reid on cello and poet Nikki Finney. Reid's sensitive renderings and responses to the poetry made the words come alive in non-semantic ways. 

Next up was Trefoil, the powerhouse trio of Kris Davis on piano, Gerald Cleaver on drums, and Ambrose Akinmusire on trumpet. Davis is an amazing improvisor. Unfortunately, I was only able to catch the first half-hour of this show, but they announced at the beginning that the whole set was being recorded, so I am looking forward to that. (They also asked that everyone turn their phones off at the beginning for that reason, so that's why I was unable to grab a shot.)

The highlight of Thursday evening was Sparks. If you follow my playlists, you know that Sparks has been in heavy rotation for the last few months as I've become acquainted with their vast catalog. The show was spectacular....frankly, I was take aback by how truly powerful they were live. Clips on youtube don't do them justice... at all. The band was tight and punchy, and Russell Mael was in fine voice. Hell, he sounded fantastic. Kick-ass drummer, too (Stevie Nistor). This was easily one of the best rock shows I've ever seen.

I began Friday by going to the only speaking event I attended, which was Kris Davis and Julian Lage being interviewed by Nate Chinen. Very interesting discussion about the hypothetical tension between tradition and innovation.

Friday's music started off with the Craig Taborn Trio, with Tomeka Reid on cello and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. Another beautiful set that became quite trancy as it went on. It was a blast starting off a day with a show that any other time would have been the highlight of an evening. 

From there I went to Harriet Tubman, and while I enjoy their dark brooding sensibility, for some reason this didn't do it for me. It was too gaddam loud, way past the point where they needed volume to make a statement, where it was more a stance of disdain for the audience. I used to dig Melvin Gibbs with Ronald Shannon Jackson, but the bass this time was so loud it was painful (even with my old-guy earplugs). I split.

That afternoon there were two sets from Kris Davis's Diatom Ribbons, billed as a trio with Terri Lynne Carrington on drums and Val Jeanty on samples and laptop, and joined by bassist Trevor Dunn. Both sets were heavily composition-based with little improvisation. The first set was a bit tentative, but I appreciated Davis's use of synth and electric piano in addition to her regular piano--I felt she was pushing herself and the band to play outside their comfort zones. The second set was more cohesive, helped with a jumpstart by the inclusion of Marc Ribot on two tunes, Ronald Shannon Jackson's "Alice in the Congo" (what a thrill!) and "Golgi Complex" (from the Diatom Ribbons album).

I wrapped up Friday by checking out Animal Collective. Evidently they have a new album out, which I haven't heard, and maybe they played most of it? They started off with a slow groove and then... got slower.. with stretched-out longeurs where not that much was happening except Panda Bear's wailing. When a beat did happen, it perked up a bit, but there were too many long stretches that were pretty boring. I guess you had to be there. No, wait, I was there... oh, well, they didn't click for me.

That's it for the first two days! More to come...