Playlist, Week of 2026-10-04

Well, the new Stevie Wonder EP came out of the blue, and it's, uh, wonder-ful (sorry)... truly, balm for the soul... I can't help but wonder why on earth he didn't put these four songs on the original LP instead of the relatively lackluster ones he chose for the bonus 7-inch, but oh well... I'm certainly glad to have these now... he just sounds so damn good... 

Playlist 2026-10-05:

*Burt Bacharach: Reach Out (side 1)
*Beach Boys: Spirit of America (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Beatles '65 (sides 1, 2)
*Daniel Carter: Open Question, Vol. 1
*John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (disc 3)
*Deerhoof: Divine Schism
*Bob Dylan: New Morning
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Three Suites "The Nutcracker Suite"
*Duke Ellington: All American in Jazz
*Duke Ellington: Blues in Orbit (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Ellington Suites (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Seattle Concert "Harlem Suite"
*Duke Ellington: In the Uncommon Market
*Duke Ellington: …And His Mother Called Him Bill (side 1)
*Fire! Orchestra: Echoes (disc 1)
*Aretha Franklin: Young, Gifted, and Black (side 1)
*Grateful Dead: 1983-09-11 Santa Fe, NM (CDR) (disc 2)
*Andrew Hill: Compulsion (sides 1, 2)
*ILLnillaVice: Soundcloud selections (streaming)
*New Ting: 2024-08-04 "Merely a Rather Uninteresting Symbol" (wav)
*OOIOO: Armonico Hewa
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet: Hat and Beard
*Sun Ra: 1980-03-28 Rome (CDR) (disc 2)
*Weather Report: Heavy Weather
*Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life: The EP

Reading List, Week of 2026-10-04

...and again...

Reading List 2026-10-05:

*Sun Ra. The Immeasurable Equation: The Collected Poetry and Prose (reread/started)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake (reread/in progress)
 

Some Recent Purchases

 

 

Nice to have these on vinyl...
 

Gone Fishin'...

 

...the blog will return at the end of the month. In the meanwhile, here's another walking/driving playlist from the Magic Jukebox:

1. Starlets - I Sold My Heart to the Junkman
2. Beach Boys - Long Promised Road (live)
3. Andy Partridge - I Defy You Gravity
4. Os Mutantes - Bat Macumba
5. Bill Robinson & the Quails - The Cow
6. Fela - Wadele Wa Robin
7. Squeeze - (This Cold be) The Last Time
8. Becker and Fagen - You Go Where I Go
9. Micro-East Collective - Oxygen Debt
10. Barbara & the Uniques - There It Goes Again
11. Beach Boys - Tears in the Morning
12. James Brown - I'll Go Crazy (live)
13. Ernestine Anderson - You're Not the Guy for Me
14. Sun Ra - Advice to Medics
15. Guided By Voices - Lucy's World
16. Sly & the Family Stone - Better Thee than Me
17. Duke Ellington Octet - Acht O'Clock Rock
18. Robert Wyatt - To Mark Everywhere
19. Art Ensemble of Chicago/Cecil Taylor - Nutty
20. Sun Ra - The Way You Look Tonight (live)
21. Carla Thomas - Let Me Be Good to You
22. Meters - Stay Away
23. Olivia Tremor Control - Gypsum Oil Field Fire
24. Judas & the Piledrivers - Bad & Rare
25. Circus Devils - Lice
26. Sparks - Suburban Homeboy ("Ron Speaks" Version live)
27. Buddy Guy - Hound Dog
28. Major Lance - The Monkey Time 
29. De La Soul - Breakadawn
30. Wings - Tomorrow
31. Billie Holiday - I Can't Get Started
32. Baby Washington - A Handful of Memories 
33. Chuck Berry - Let It Rock
34. Rascals - Nubia
35. Ornette Coleman/Prime Time - Bourgeois Boogie
36. Sun Ra - Velvet
37. Soft Machine - So Boot if at All
38. Beach Boys - Break Away (Demo)
39. Stock, Hausen, & Walkman - Broccoli
40. Beach Boys - Surf's Up (Piano Demo)
41. Pearl Woods - Right Now
42. Duke Ellington - It's Swell of You
43. Elvis Presley - Suspicious Minds
44. Sun Ra - El Is the Sound of Joy (live Detroit)
45. Jimi Hendrix - Lullaby for the Summer
46. XTC - Rip Van Ruben
47. Bob Dylan/The Band - Open the Door, Homer (take 1)
48. Gorgeous George - -Sweet Thing
49. Charlie Parker - Repetition (live)
50. Ahmed - Rooh (The Soul) [excerpt]
51. GOASTT - Xanadu
52. Bob Dylan - Moonlight
53. Duke Ellington - When You're Smiling
54. Olu Dara - Massamba
55. OOIOO - I'm a Song
56. Exciters - Do Wah Diddy iddy
57. Tape-Beatles - Pens, Pencil, Stationery
58. Dennis Wilson - Cocktails
59. Mar-keys - Philly Dog (live)
60. Weather Report - Man in the Green Shirt
61. Ivory Joe Hunter - This Kind of Woman
62. Ingrid Laubrock - Is Life Anything Like This
63. Deerhoof - The Trouble with Candyhands
64. Duke Ellington - Love Scene
65. Gang of Four - If I Could Keep It for Myself
66. Sam and Dave - You Got It made
67. Beatles - Rehearsal of Shakespeare Scene
68. Sun Ra - Outer-Reach Intensity Energy
69. Isley Brothers - Who's That Lady
70. Judith Hill - My People
71. John Coltrane - Untitled Original 11383 (take 1)
72. Pat Patrick & The Baritone Saxophone Retinue - East of Uz
73. Baby Washington - I Can't Afford to Lose Him
74. Beatles - Rain (stereo)
75. Swollen Monkeys - Baudaboo
76. Mothers of Invention - The Uncle Meat Variations
77. Nels CLine Trio - A Sudden Interest
78. Albert Ayler - Infinite Spirit
79. Guided By Voices - Request Pharmaceuticals
80. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - This Year's Girl
81. John Coltrane - Vigil
82. Naked City - Hammerhead
83. Burial - Shell of Light
84. Four Tops - It's the Same Old Song
85. Kid Koala - Bonus Materials on the Set of Fender Blender
86. David Torn - Them Buried Standing
87. Duke Ellington - Laura (live)
88. Cornelius - Bug (Electric Last Minute)
89. Beach Boys - Heroes and Villains (stereo mix) 
90. Supremes - Coke Commercial #2
91. John Coltrane - Brasilia
92. Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd - No. 1 (2006-12-28)
93. George Jones - Why Baby Why
94. Stock, Hausen, & Walkman - Aerosol
95. Dick Dale & the Del-Tones - Let's Go Trippin'
96. Asha Bhosle - Ae Naujawan Hai Sab Kuchh Yahan
97. Patsy Cline - Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down)
98. Lewis Taylor - Til the Morning Light
99. Shirelles - Tonight You're Gonna Fall in Love with Me
100. Henry Cow - Rapt in a Blanket 

 

 

Playlist, Week of 2026-09-13

I listen to a lot of jazz, but this week for some reason was very jazz-heavy... with lots of heavy jazz... I recommend this kind of listening!

Playlist 2026-09-14:

*And Big Band: 2026-08-28 RVA (wav)
*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (New York) 1975 
*Anthony Braxton Quintet: 1976-06-05 Moers (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton/George Lewis: Elements of Surprise
*Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 "Comp. 45"
*Anthony Braxton: Six Monk's Compositions (1987)
*Company: Company 2
*Miles Davis: The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (disc 2) "Ascent"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 15 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Girl's Suite/The Perfume Suite
*Duke Ellington: Midnight in Paris
*Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra: Galactic Parables: Vol. 1 (disc 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #9 for Eleven"
*Thelonious Monk Quartet: Misterioso
*New Ting: 2025-10-06 "Lofty News" (wav)
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven "Seven-2"
*Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2
*Tyshawn Sorey: Verisimilitude "Contemplating Tranquility"
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000
*Sun Ra: 1980-03-28 Rome (CDR) (disc 1)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (disc 5)
*David Torn/Tim Berne/Ches Smith: Sun Of Goldfinger

Reading List, Week of 2026-09-13

Reading List 2026-09-14:

*Joyce, James. Finnegans Wake (reread/started)
*Birkerts, Sven. The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age (reread/finished)
*Moore, Alan, and Dave Gibbons. Watchmen (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-09-06

 

Do the Impossible, the soundtrack of the Sun Ra documentary, has a few unreleased nuggets, but very little of the voice of John Gilmore... to listen to it, you would never know the crucial role Gilmore played in Ra's music... oh well... In the meanwhile, been getting off on George Coleman with Miles Davis... he ain't Coltrane, but then again who else is?

Playlist 2026-09-07:

*And Big Band: 2026-08-28 RVA (wav)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Sirius Calling
*Albert Ayler et al.: New York Eye and Ear Control (side 2)
*Blood Incantation: Hidden History of the Human Race
*Anthony Braxton: For Alto (side 2)
*Anthony Braxton Creative Music Orchestra: RBN-3 degrees K12 [Comp. 25] "Unit F, Part II/Unit G"
*Anthony Braxton: Four Compositions (1973)
*Anthony Braxton: New York, Fall 1974 (sides 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: News from the 70s
*John Butcher/Rhodri Davies: Carliol
*Circle: Early Circle
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: Aphelion "At Aphelion"
*Miles Davis: Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (side 2)
*Miles Davis: Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964 (discs 2, 3)
*Miles Davis: Live at the Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It's About That Time (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 1) "What I Say"
*Eric Dolphy: Out There
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 15 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Togo Brava Suite (Storyville) "Togo Brava Suite"
*Fire! Orchestra: 2018-11-18 Stockholm (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: So Many Roads (1965-1995) (disc 2) "Dark Star Jam > Spanish Jam > U.S. Blues"
*Grateful Dead: 1983-09-11 Santa Fe, NM (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 2)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-04-13 Musicircus, University of Richmond (CDR)
*New Ting: 2026-08-31 Osaka Smokehouse (wav)
*Prince: Timeless
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: The Magic City (remastered and expanded stereo version) "The Magic City"
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: My Brother the Wind Vol. 1 (Remastered and Expanded Ed.)
*Sun Ra: Do the Impossible: Original Soundtrack to the Documentary (discs 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor: 3 Phasis (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (disc 4)
*Gebhard Ullmann/Basement Research: Impromptus and Other Short Works
*Various artists: Stax Singles Vol. 4: Rarities and the Best of the Rest (disc 3)
*Alex Ward Item 10: Volition (Live At Cafe Oto) "Volition"