Playlist, Week of 2025-06-29

 

Impossible to keep up with Ivo Perelman, but I am always impressed with everything he puts out... Water Music is exceptional not only for Matthew Shipp's piano playing, but also for Tom Rainey's inevitably invaluable support... I am starting to get tired of what is known as the "Feelin' Groovy" jam portions of "Dark Star"... it just feels too peppy for that composition... but I know they did it a lot, so I am steeling myself... Except for some compilation cuts, I somehow had never gotten around to absorbing Al Green's The Belle Album... my loss... 

Playlist 2025-06-30:

*Art Bears: Revisited (disc 1)
*Beatles: Live in Essen 1966 (CDR)
*Jeff Beck Group: 1972-06-29 London (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton: Willisau (Quartet) 1991 (disc 2) "No. 23C + 32 + 105B (+ 30)"
*Anthony Braxton: Composition No. 174
*Anthony Braxton: Solo (NYC) 2002
*Anthony Braxton: 10+1tet (Knoxville) 2016
*Patsy Cline: Imagine That: The Lost Recordings 1954-1963 (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman: Seven Seventeen
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Imaginary Vinyl
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2022-11-26 Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2023-07-17 Nashville (wav)
*Deerhoof: Noble and Godlike in Ruin
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Works of Duke: Integrale Vol. 16 (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1959-10-09 Zurich (CDR)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman
*Duke Ellington: Anatomy of a Murder
*Duke Ellington and His Award Winners: Blues in Orbit (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
*Duke Ellington: The Reprise Studio Recordings (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington Octet: 1964-03-22 Sanremo Jazz Festival (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: 1969-12-04 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1969-12-11 Los Angeles (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Al Green: The Belle Album
*Alexander Hawkins Ensemble: No Now Is So
*Led Zeppelin: How the West Was Won (disc 3)
*Joe Maneri Trio: The Trio Concerts (disc 1)
*Metaphysical Animation: Metaphysical Animation
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 5)
*Ivo Perelman Quartet: Water Music
*Sparks: Big Beat (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
*Sparks: MAD! (sides 1, 2)
*Steely Dan: Pretzel Logic
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Atlantis
*Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Sun Ra: Dance of Innocent Passion
*Sun Ra: Excelsior Mill
*Sun Ra: Ellingtonia, Vol. 2
*Cecil Taylor: 1984-11-01 Paris (CD) "Womb Waters Scent of the Burning Armadillo Shell"
*McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson: Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (disc 1)
*Various artists: Really the Blues? A Blues History 1893-1959 Vol. 1 (1893-1929) (disc 7)
*Various artists: Tazz
*Muddy Waters: The Anthology (disc 2) 
*Weird of Mouth: Weird of Mouth
*John Zorn: Dictée/Liber Novus

Reading List, Week of 2025-06-29

Reading list 2025-06-30:

*Dickens, Charles. Oliver Twist (started)
*Herriman, George. Krazy Kat (reread/finished)
*Leslie, Ian. John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. Othello (Arden 2nd ed., ed. M.R. Ridley) (reread/finished)
*Lambert, Eddie. Duke Ellington: A Listener's Guide (reread/selections)
 

Playlist, Week of 2025-06-22

The Dark Stars are getting longer and heavier... Duke is swinging as much as ever... Ra is Ra...

Playlist 2025-06-23:

*Bruce Ackley et al.: Two Views of Steve Lacy's The Wire
*Marshall Allen's Ghost Horizons: Live in Philadelphia
*Beach Boys: That's Why God Made the Radio
*Beatles: The Early Beatles (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Beatles for Sale (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Help! (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Rubber Soul (2009 mono remaster)
*Tim Berne/Tom Rainey/Gregg Belisle-Chi: Yikes Too (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Orchestra (Pisa) 1980 "Comp. 46"
*John Butcher: The Very Fabric
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2015-05-14 Nashville (wav) track 3
*Lol Coxhill: Before My Time (side 2)
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E41 "Heart"
*Egg: Egg
*Egg: The Civil Surface
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Three Suites "The Nutcracker Suite"
*Duke Ellington: The Girls' Suite/The Perfume Suite (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Feeling of Jazz
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
*Duke Ellington/John Coltrane: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane
*Duke Ellington: The Piano Player
*Fela Kuti: Original Sufferhead "Original Sufferhead"
*George: Letters to George (side 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1969-11-07 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1969-11-08 San Francisco (Dick's Picks 16) (disc 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1973-11-01 Evanston IL (CDR)
*Julius Hemphill: The Boyé Multi-National Crusade for Harmony (disc 2)
*King Crimson: In the Wake of Poseidon (40th Anniversary Ed.) (DVD) 2010 mix
*King Crimson: Islands (40th Anniversary Ed.) (DVD) 2010 mix
*Led Zeppelin: How the West Was Won (disc 1)
*David Longstreth: Song of the Earth
*Makoto Kawashima: Arteria
*Matt Mitchell: Sacrosanctity
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 4)
*Orthotonics: Wake Up You Must Remember (side 1)
*Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3+3
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis (sides 1, 2)
*Smokey Robinson & the Miracles: Ooo Baby: The Anthology (disc 2)
*Paula Sanchez: Pressure Sensitive
*Sparks: MAD!
*Stereolab: Instant Holograms on Metal Film
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Sun Ra with Pharoah Sanders & Black Harold
*Sun Ra: Ellingtonia, Vol. 1
*Sun Ra: Apple Purchases (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1979-03-15 WKCR, NYC (CDR) track 1
*Henry Threadgill: X-75 Vol. 1 (side 1)
*Henry Threadgill Sextett: Rag, Bush, and All
*Henry Threadgill: Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus "Game Is Up"
*Julia Úlehla* and Dálava: Understories
*UYA: 1993-11-14 Fame in a Scarf (wav)
*Various artists: Really the Blues? A Blues History 1893-1959 Vol. 1 (1893-1929) (disc 6)
*Various artists: WSAM: Misc. (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Various artists: WSAM: 2008 Start (CDR compilation)
*Various artists: Treader Duos
*Dan Weiss/Miles Okazaki: Music for Drums and Guitar
*John Zorn: At the Gates of Paradise
*John Zorn: The Concealed

Reading List, Week of 2025-06-22

Reading list 2025-06-23:

*Herriman, George. Krazy Kat (reread/started)
*Leslie, Ian. John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs (started)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Fever Beach (started/finished)
*Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Love Poems of Catullus (ed. Tynan Kogane) (finished)
*King, Stephen. Never Flinch (finished)
*Panter, Gary. Gary Panter (ed. Dan Nadel) (finished)
*Lambert, Eddie. Duke Ellington: A Listener's Guide (reread/selections)
*Shakespeare, William. Othello (Arden 2nd ed., ed. M.R. Ridley) (reread/in progress)

 

Playlist, Week of 2025-06-15

Digging Farid Barron's piano work on this.... the Dead, the Duke, and Sun Ra continue to dominate my musical brain these days... in spite of recent lamented deaths...

Playlist 2025-06-16:

*Sophie Agnel: Song

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Paris Session "The Ninth Room" 

*Beach Boys: Pet Sounds (mono 50th anniversary) (sides 1, 2)

*Tim Berne's Snakeoil: Tim Berne's Snakeoil (The Tower Tapes #1) (disc 2)

*Sylvie Courvoisier: 2025-03-29 Big Ears, Knoxville TN (CDR)

*Dietrichs: No Bahdu

*Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (disc 29)

*Egg: The Polite Force

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Such Sweet Thunder

*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins

*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle

*Duke Ellington/John Coltrane: Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (sides 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington: Liederhall Stuttgart 1967

*Grateful Dead: 1969-10-25 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"

*Grateful Dead: 1969-11-02 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"

*Hemphill Stringtet: Plays the Music of Julius Hemphill

*Judith Hill: Back in Time

*Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (discs 1, 2)

*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 2 (disc 2)

*Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um (sides 1, 2)

*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (discs 1, 2, 3)

*Muffins: Palindrome

*David Murray Quartet: Long Goodbye

*Music Revelation Ensemble: Cross Fire

*Slobber Pup: Black Aces "Accuser"

*Sly and the Family Stone: There's a Riot Goin' On (selections)

*Sparks: MAD! (sides 1, 2)

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (side 3)

*Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (discs 2, 3, 4)

*Sun Ra: Solo Piano, Vol. 1

*Sun Ra: Sleeping Beauty

*Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road

*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live at the Paradox

*UYA: 1993-11-07 Metamorphobiallucanbe (wav)

*Various artists: Really the Blues? A Blues History 1893-1959 Vol. 1 (1893-1929) (discs 4, 5)

*Various artists: Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues (A Musical Journey) (disc 5)

*John Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio: Calculus "Parabolas"

Reading List, Week of 2025-06-15

Every bit as delightful as the first time around... 

Reading list 2025-06-16:

*Catullus, Gaius Valerius. Love Poems of Catullus (ed. Tynan Kogane) (started)
*King, Stephen. Never Flinch (started)
*Smith, Ali. Artful (reread/started/finished)
*Panter, Gary. Gary Panter (ed. Dan Nadel) (in progress)
*Lambert, Eddie. Duke Ellington: A Listener's Guide (reread/selections)
*Shakespeare, William. Othello (Arden 2nd ed., ed. M.R. Ridley) (reread/in progress)

 

Playlist, week of 2025-06-08

Once again I find myself shocked by a return to an album I'd... well, not dismissed, but was not overly impressed with, only to discover upon relistening that I was an idiot... case in point: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins... I am not usually a fan of artificial superstar gatherings, and I'd stupidly slotted this album in that category when I first heard it, oh, 20 years ago... maybe this is the exception that proves the rule but damn this is so fine... Coleman Hawkins fits into the reduced Duke Ellington orchestra as if he'd always been there... as Eddie Lambert points out, the band was already primed by having two superior tenor saxists already on board in the past (Ben Webster and Paul Gonsalves)... and Hawkins had been at it since the 1920s with Fletcher Henderson, but by 1962 his tone is golden and fits in perfectly with Ellington's deceptively easy swing... his solo on "Mood Indigo" alone makes this an indisputable masterpiece... this just makes me think I need to listen to music more (as if I needed any prompting)... what else am I missing?

Playlist 2025-06-09:

*[Ahmed]: Wood Blues
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-10-07 Chicago (CDR) (disc 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-10-14 Philadelphia (CDR) (disc 1)
*Artifacts: …And Then There’s This
*Tim Berne's Snakeoil: Tim Berne's Snakeoil (The Tower Tapes #1) (disc 1)
*Blondie: Blondie Singles Collection: 1977-1982 (disc 2)
*Blood Incantation: Absolute Elsewhere
*James Brown: Messing with the Blues (disc 2)
*John Butcher/Eddie Prévost: Interworks
*John Coltrane: 1966-07-02 Newport (CDR) "Leo"
*Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Get Happy (sides 1, 2)
*Kris Davis Trio: 2025-03-29 Big Ears, Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E40 "Laughter"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Festival Session (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Girl's Suite/The Perfume Suite (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: Midnight in Paris
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection: Vol. 10, Studio Sessions New York & Chicago 1965, 1966, 1971 "Harlem"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Concert in the Virgin Islands (side 1)
*Michael Fornanek Elusion Quartet: Time Like This
*Grateful Dead: 1969-06-14 Monterey (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1969-08-30 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1969-09-01 Prairieville, LA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Judith Hill: Back in Time
*Darius Jones: Legend of e'Boi (The Hypervigilant Eye)
*Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five: Louis Jordan's Greatest Hits (side 1)
*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 2 (disc 1)
*Warne Marsh: Music for Prancing
*Muffins: Bandwidth
*Muffins: Double Negative
*New Ting: 2025-06-02 "Dire Frill" (wav)
*Ivo Perelman: The Art of the Improv Trio, Vol. 3
*Roxy Music: Country Life
*Masahiko Satoh/Otomo Yoshihide/Roger Turner: Sea
*Slobber Pup: Black Aces "Accuser"
*Wadada Leo Smith: 2025-03-30 Big Ears, Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Sparks: MAD!
*Bruce Springsteen: The Wild, the Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Holiday for Soul Dance
*Sun Ra Arkestra: ca. 1969-1970 Slugs', NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Kingdom of Discipline (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Haverford College, Jan. 25, 1980
*Henry Threadgill: Song Out of My Trees
*Various artists: Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues (A Musical Journey) (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Various artists: Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music vol. 3: Third a-chronology 1952-2004 (disc 2)
*Wolf Eyes/Anthony Braxton: Live at Pioneer Works, Red Hook, NY, October 26th 2023
*Yes: Relayer (2016 remaster) (disc 1) "Gates of Delirium"