The Greatness of Barry Altschul

http://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Barry_Altschul.html

...Barry Altschul's roots are in bebop. His approach to that music draws from an unusually rich and varied sonic vocabulary. He uses the past as grounding and guide, not as a directive. His strong listening skills support his ability to invent and respond freely in the moment. He can thus begin with a tune, but take it anywhere that his ears might lead him in the moment--within, around, or away from the tune. (Bob Gluck, The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles, 2016, p. 93.

Playlist, Week of 2016-04-24

R.I.P. Prince.

Playlist 2016-04-25:

*AMM: AMMMusic 1966
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1984-09-23 Charlottesville VA (CDR) (selections)
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (discs 7, 8)
*John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings (disc 5)
*John Coltrane: Transition
*John Coltrane: Living Space
*John Coltrane Quartet with Archie Shepp: 1965-08-15 Chicago (CDR)
*Convergence Quartet: Slow and Steady
*Chick Corea: The Complete “Is” Sessions
*Kris Davis Trio: 2015-01-22 Vienna (CDR)
*Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1967 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 1) (disc 3) (selections)
*Miles Davis: Bitches Brew
*Billie Holiday: The Commodore Master Takes
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-02-22 “Contact Saturn (Checking on Ra)” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-03-28 “Well Extract Belief System” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-04 “Ambiguity Promiscuity” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-13 Musicircus, UR, Richmond (wav)
*Tom Rainey Trio: Hotel Grief
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Angels and Demons at Play
*Sun Ra: Sun Song
*Sun Ra: Concert for the Comet Kohoutek
*Sun Ra: Explore the Cosmos (2014 remaster) (selections)
*Anna Webber: Simple
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-04-13 (wav)
*Otis Redding/Carla Thomas: King and Queen
*Esperanza Spalding: Emily's D+Evolution
*Various artists: Lullabies/Dreams (cassette compilation) (side A)

Reading List, Week of 2016-04-24

Reading List 2016-04-25:

*Gluck, Bob. The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles (started)
*Parker, T. Jefferson. Crazy Blood (started/finished)
*Van Mierlo, Wim. “‘For plemypolity’s sake’: Editing Finnegans Wake: A Consideration and Review,” in Genetic Joyce Studies (Spring 2012) (started/finished)
*Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything (in progress)
*Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare, ed. Arthur F. Kinney (in progress)
*Segar, E. C. Complete E.C. Segar Popeye, Vol. 9: Dailies 1934-1935 (in progress)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Blue Pastoral (reread/in progress)

New Ting Ting Loft at RVA Noise Fest V This Sunday

Forget Game of Thrones! New Ting Ting Loft will be playing a 15-minute set at 8:30 this Sunday at the RVA Noise Fest V at Gallery 5! See the link for the full schedule. Short Style Weekly blurb here, in which our music is referred to as "deep left-field jazz." I'll take it.

Playlist, Week of 2016-04-17

Biggest blow-away for me this week, in a week of super-blowout listening, was Coltrane's solo at the end of what we have (ca. 37 minutes) from the 1965 Soldier's Field concert with Archie Shepp. It's not like Trane hadn't been hitting the stratosphere already in the spring and summer of 1965, but damn.

Playlist 2016-04-18:

*Anthony Braxton: Anthony Braxton Quartet [Sao Paulo 2014] (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman: 2016-01-20 Portland Brew 12 South, Nashville (wav)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1965-04-02 Half Note, NYC “Untitled Original [Creation]” (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1965-07-27 Antibes, France (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1965-07-28 Paris (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quartet: 1965-08-01 Comblain, La Tour, Belgium (CDR)
*John Coltrane Quartet with Archie Shepp: 1965-08-15 Chicago (CDR)
*Kris Davis Trio: 2014-03-04 London (CDR)
*Mihály Dresch/Lafayette Gilchrist/Mátyás Szandai/Hamid Drake: Sharing the Shed
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2012-05-26 Moers Festival (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2012-09-23 Magic Garden, NYC (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Achim Tang/Simon Camatta: 2012-11-15 Essen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2013-02-25 Brooklyn (CDR) (disc 1)
*Micro-East Collective: Fabric
*Ken Moore & Daniel Barbiero: Frequency Drift
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth
*Sun Ra and his Astro Infinity Arkestra: Sound Sun Pleasure!!
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: We Travel the Spaceways
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 3: The Lost Tapes
*Sun Ra: Live at Slug’s Saloon (discs 5, 6)
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit Jazz Center (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Other Shades (CDR compilation)
*Bob Dylan: Highway 61 Revisited
*Heldon: Un Rêve Sans Conséquence Spéciale
*Paul McCartney: Flowers in the Dirt
*Otis Redding: The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul
*Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society
*UYA: 1989-11-07 Pre-Live (wav)
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (sides 1, 4)

Reading List, Week of 2016-04-17

Reading List 2016-04-18:

*Segar, E. C. Complete E.C. Segar Popeye, Vol. 9: Dailies 1934-1935 (started)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Blue Pastoral (reread/started)
*Szwed, John. Billie Holiday: The Musician and the Myth (started/finished)
*Costello, Elvis. Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink (finished)
*Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything (in progress)
*Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare, ed. Arthur F. Kinney (in progress)

Anti-Difficulty

...the hallmark of our contemporary culture is an active resistance to difficulty in all its aesthetic manifestations, accompanied by a sense of grievance that conflates it with political elitism. Indeed, it's arguable that tilting at this papery windmill of artistic superiority actively prevents a great many people from confronting the very real economic inequality and political disenfranchisement they're subject to, exactly as being compelled to chant the mantra "choice" drowns out the harsh background Muzak telling them they have none. (Will Self, "The novel is dead (this time it's for real)," Guardian 2014-05-02)

One doesn't take in Proust or Canada on the basis of a single visit. (Donald Barthelme, "Interview with J. D. O'Hara," in Not-Knowing: The Essays and Interviews of Donald Barthelme, p. 285)