...a novel for me is a pretext, a way of starting up and sustaining a complicated and many-layered inner exchange, a to-and-fro which I long ago discovered that I need in order to locate myself in the world. Reading is a process that keeps the inner realm open, susceptible. Involvement in a book sets things going at a depth. (Sven Birkerts, "The Possibility of the Search," in Reading Life: Books for the Ages, 2007, Graywolf Press, p. 130)
The new Cecil Taylor release Fragments is excellent... some of the best sounding performances I've heard from this particular Unit... lots of critics quibble, but I quite like the contributions of Sam Rivers... I'm still getting blown away by [Ahmed]... loving their takes on Monk...
Playlist 2026-06-15:
*[Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (disc 1)
*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 1)
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 1) "Quartet No. 1"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-09 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*At the Drive-In: Vaya
*Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians, Vol. 2
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (2009 mono remaster)
*Ornette Coleman Double Quartet: Free Jazz (side 1)
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (UK) (sides 1, 2)
*Elvis Costello: Taking Liberties (sides 1, 2)
*Egg: The Metronomical Society
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Jazz of the World War 2nd, Vol. 2: 1944/1945 (side 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: …And His Mother Called Him Bill
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-31 Oakland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-04-01 Greensboro NC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-06-14 Washington DC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Alexander Hawkins/Sofia Jernberg: Musho
*Joe Henderson: Multiple (side 1)
*Henry Now: Then Again (side 2)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 3)
*Hyper Gal: Our Hyper
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 3: Pages 51-75
*James Brandon Lewis: An Unruly Manifesto
*Charles Mingus: Dizzy Atmosphere: Slugs' Vol. 1
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #1 for Eleven"
*Naked City: Grand Guignol
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-13 Musicircus, UR, Richmond (wav)
*New Ting: 2026-06-08 Carry It All (wav)
*Sonny Rollins Quartet with Don Cherry: Complete Live at the Village Gate 1962 (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: When Sun Comes Out (side 1)
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Sun Ra: Kingdom of Discipline (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (discs 1, 2)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 3)
*UYA: 1995-01-25 I Have to Build My Own Martians (wav)
*Various artists: Variations #2: The Globe (Jon Leidecker) (CDR)
*Marta Warelis: Still Life with Lemons
The best compliment I ever had after a concert was a guy who came up to me--he said he was a conceptual artist, a sculptor--and he said, "I've been having a real problem with one of my pieces and I listened to this piece of yours and I had a tremendous breakthrough." That is what this music is all about. It's about waking people up or helping them to solve problems for themselves in the context of their own lives. It's not about being a messiah or being the greatest music of all time. I think that's shit! Affect people in a way that helps them be more creative with their own lives. --Larry Ochs, quoted in Michael Goldberg, "ROVA Saxophone Quartet Wants You to Wake Up," Downbeat, 1981-01, p. 25
Familiar with Pat Thomas mostly through his work with Tony Oxley, and later with [Ahmed]... I love his acoustic piano playing, but I really love the electronics on Strata, Act... obviously I need to do more exploration... Sonny Sharrock's contribution to Jack Johnson is exemplary... too bad he didn't play with Miles more...
Playlist 2026-06-08:
*Jon Anderson: Olias of Sunhillow
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 2) "Trio (Oh Susanna)"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-08 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Beatles: Mono Masters (disc 1)
*Beatles: Rubber Soul (2009 mono remaster)
*Paul Butterfield Blues Band: East West
*John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition I/take 2)
*John Coltrane: Ascension (Edition II/take 1)
*Miles Davis: The Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection, Vol. 2 (LP 3: sides 1, 2)
*Miles Davis: The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions (disc 5) "Yesternow"
*Dietrichs: Live Bahdu
*Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: The Ellington Era, Vol. 1: 1927-1940 (side 3)
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington (Volumes 5/6) - 1940 (side 3)
*Funkadelic: Standing on the Verge of Getting It On
*Funkadelic: Let's Take It to the Stage
*Grateful Dead: 1972-04-11 Newcastle (CDR) "Truckin'"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-11-01 London (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-12 Denver (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-14 Denver (CDR) "Space > Dark Star"
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 1: Pages 1-24
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 2: Pages 25-50
*Magda Mayas' Filamental: Murmur
*Charles Mingus Quintet: 1975-05-07 Boston (CDR)
*Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind
*New Ting: 2026-06-01 "Slinky Wink" (wav)
*Larry Ochs/Nels Cline/Gerald Cleaver: What Is To Be Done
*Jean-Luc Ponty: Enigmatic Ocean
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (disc 1)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (discs 1, 2)
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (sides 1, 2)
Possibly I believed, as most survivors of higher education believe, that a book is somehow used up, finished, by our reading; that it is a device, spring-loaded with themes and characters, which discharges itself fully as we finish, and that anything else—our memories and references—constitutes a kind of dreamlike residue. I no longer think so. Reading infiltrates. Books stay alive, not just in the active imagination, but in the very structures of our awareness. (Sven Birkerts, "The Reading Life," in Reading Life: Books for the Ages, 2007, Graywolf Press, p. 21)
