Playlist, Week of 2026-07-26

 

Brilliant solo guitar work from Alex Ward on The Trade... Ward is also one of the best writers on the work of Cecil Taylor... I wonder what he's making of the Iridium set, which continues to blow me away... Still digging into Pat Thomas... ISM is the piano trio nugget of Ahmed (minus the sax)... Metaphor is a healthy dose of Thomas's acoustic piano work, and it's exhilarating... Another great Thomas performance is on Tony Oxley's Angular Apron...

Playlist 2026-07-27:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: Lifea Blinec (side 1)
*Booker T. & the MGs: Union Extended
*Anthony Braxton: Anthony Braxton (BYG) "[Comp. 6G] B-X0 NO-47A"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium R: Composition 162: An Opera in Four Acts/Shala Fears for the Poor (disc 2)
*Sonny Clark: Cool Struttin'
*Miles Davis: 1966-05-21 Portland OR (CDR) (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: Big Fun (sides 2, 4)
*Duke Ellington: Rare Strayhorn: Billy Strayhorn with Duke Ellington 1941-1965
*Duke Ellington: Soul Call
*Aretha Franklin: Aretha Arrives (side 2)
*Aretha Franklin: Young, Gifted, and Black (side 1)
*Grateful Dead: 1993-06-23 Deep Creek IN (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1993-09-13 Philadelphia (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1993-09-22 New York City (CDR) "Estimated Prophet > Dark Star"
*Guided By Voices: Crawlspace of the Pantheon
*Kip Hanrahan: 1991 Stuttgart (CDR)
*Henry Now: Then Again (side 1)
*Susie Ibarra: Flower after Flower
*ISM: Metaphor
*Lost: Lost Tapes 1965-'66
*Ava Mendoza: Alive Alone, Alive Together
*Merzbow: Tauromachine (disc 1)
*Charles Mingus Quintet: 1975-05-07 Boston (CDR)
*Thelonious Monk Quartet: Misterioso
*Naked City: Absinthe
*Naked City: Leng Tch'e
*Pauline Oliveros: Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970 (disc 6)
*Orthotonics: Wake Up You Must Remember
*Tony Oxley Quintet: Angular Apron
*Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 3: Bud!
*Soft Machine: Floating World Live
*Soojin Suh: Prism of Existence
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Strut) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Sleeping Beauty (2026 remaster)
*Sun Ra: On Jupiter (2025 remaster)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-31 Detroit (CDR) (disc 4)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (disc 1)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (disc 10)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 3)
*Various artists: Masters of the Venetian Baroque: Gabrieli, Monteverdi, and Vivaldi
*Various artists: A Bolus of Pop Chyme/7-Inchers of Pleasure (cassette compilation) (side B)
*Alex Ward: The Trade

Reading List, Week of 2026-07-26

Reading List 2026-07-27:

*Barker, Nicola. Darkmans (started)
*Birkerts, Sven. American Energies: Essays on Fiction (started)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's Mister Miracle (reread/started)
*Barker, Nicola. Clear: A Transparent Novel (started/finished)
*Barnes, Julian. The Sense of an Ending (started/finished)
*Brubaker, Ed, and Sean Phillips. Criminal, Vol. 1: Coward (started/finished)
*Brubaker, Ed, and Sean Phillips. Criminal, Vol. 2: Lawless (started/finished)
*Brubaker, Ed, and Sean Phillips. Criminal, Vol. 3: The Dead and the Dying (started/finished)
*Tynion IV, James, et al. The Nice House on the Lake, Vol. 1 (started/finished)
*Barker, Nicola. Wide Open (finished)
*Schoenbaum, S. Internal Evidence and Elizabethan Dramatic Authorship (finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-07-19

The new reissue of Sun Ra's Somewhere Over the Rainbow on Strut is marvelous... a generous fleshing out of material from the same 1977 gig used for the original Saturn LP... the additional material includes a few original compositions, some great band improvisations, and lots of John Gilmore... just a typical show for the Arkestra from Bloomington, Indiana: but what a show! ...nice liner notes from Chris Cutler as well...

Playlist 2026-07-20:

*Beatles: Meet the Beatles (Capitol CD stereo)
*Beatles: The Beatles' Second Album (Capitol CD mono)
*Beatles: Something New (Capitol CD)
*Beatles: Abbey Road (Anniversary Edition) (Blu-ray) (selections)
*John Butcher/Gino Robair/Matthew Sperry: 12 Milagritos
*Sonny Clark: The Complete Sonny Clark Blue Note Sessions (disc 4)
*Gerald Cleaver: Adjust
*Cream: Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 4)
*Earth Wind and Fire: All 'n All
*Earth Wind and Fire: Faces (selections)
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington and the Small Groups (Vol. 9/10) 1940-1946 (side 1)
*Aretha Franklin: Aretha Arrives (side 1)
*Jimmy Ghaphery: Fog
*Grateful Dead: 1981-05-01 Hampton VA (CDR) (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: 1992-12-12 Oakland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1993-03-17 Landover MD (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 27 (1992-12-16 Oakland) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Alexander Hawkins: No Nation But Imagination
*Ingrid Laubrock: Contemporary Chaos Practices
*Naked City: Radio
*New Ting: 2026-02-23 "My Dear What Is That Plant?" (wav)
*New Ting: 2026-05-04 "Watering Can Holler" (wav)
*New Ting: 2026-07-13 "Funnelphonic" (wav)
*Nurse With Wound: Spiral Insana
*Panda Bear: Person Pitch
*Pauline Oliveros: Reverberations: Tape & Electronic Music 1961-1970 (disc 5)
*Sparks: Introducing Sparks (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Strut) (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-31 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (discs 8, 9)
*David Tudor et al.: Music from the Tudorfest (disc 2)
*UYA: 1995-02-16 No Guitar (wav)
*Various artists: The Complete Stax-Volt Singles 1959-1968 (disc 1)
*Various artists: Wavelength Infinity: A Sun Ra Tribute (disc 2)
*Weather Report: Mr. Gone

Reading List, Week of 2026-07-19

Reading List 2026-07-20:

*Barker, Nicola. Wide Open (started)
*Schoenbaum, S. Internal Evidence and Elizabethan Dramatic Authorship (started)
*Smith, Ali. Glyph (started/finished)
*Brainard, Joe. The Complete C Comics (finished)
*Ellroy, James. Red Sheet (finished)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's Forever People (reread/finished)
*Styan, J. L. The Shakespeare Revolution: Criticism and Performance in the Twentieth Century (finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-07-12

I have been immersing myself in the mammoth new release of Cecil Taylor big band shows... 14 (!) hour-ish long sets... I can only handle one set an evening... amazing stuff, with Taylor melding with the group, leading it by not leading... And of course listening to this much Cecil engenders listening to more Cecil... Meanwhile the "Dark Star" listening is winding down... 

Playlist 2026-07-13:

*Anthony Braxton: Composition 98 (Studio) "Part 1"
*Anthony Braxton/ Italian Instabile Orchestra: Creative Orchestra (Bolzano) 2007
*Rosemary Clooney and Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Blue Rose
*John Coltrane: Offering: Live at Temple University (disc 1)
*Miles Davis: 1966-05-21 Portland OR (CDR) (disc 1)
*Dietrichs: Live Bahdu
*Antonín Dvořák: Symphony No. 7, etc. (BBC Philharmonic/Sinaisky)
*Edward Elgar: Symphony No. 1 (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Boult)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 13 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington: Copenhagen 1964
*Fire! Orchestra: 2018-03-03 Geneva (CDR)
*Flight of the Conchords: The Distant Future
*Flying Sutra with Ayumi Ishito: Out Beyond Orbit
*Grateful Dead: 1978-04-24 Normal IL (CDR) (disc 3)
*Grateful Dead: 1992-03-20 Hamilton, ON (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-08 Richfield OH (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-18 Charlotte NC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1992-06-22  Pittsburgh (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 7: Pages 161-193
*Matt Mitchell/Kate Gentile: Snark Horse (disc 2) "Thumbly"
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 12)
*Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil
*Wadada Leo Smith: Najwa "Ornette Coleman´s Harmolodic Sonic Hierographic Forms: A Resonance Change In The Millennium"
*Sun Ra: East Two +7
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-31 Detroit (CDR) (disc 2)
*Cecil Taylor Quartet with Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (disc 1) "Four"
*Cecil Taylor/Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1984-10-30 Paris (CDR) (track 1)
*Cecil Taylor & Günter Sommer: Riobec "Riobec 1"
*Cecil Taylor Orchestra Humane: At Iridium 2004 (discs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 2)
*David Tudor et al.: Music from the Tudorfest (disc 1)
*UYA: 1995-02-09 Slip Tight II (wav)
*UYA: 1995-02-12 Have You Signed Your Check? (wav)
*Various artists: Wavelength Infinity: A Sun Ra Tribute (disc 1) 

Reading List, Week of 2026-07-12

Reading List 2026-07-13:

*Brainard, Joe. The Complete C Comics (started)
*Ellroy, James. Red Sheet (started)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's Forever People (reread/started)
*Styan, J. L. The Shakespeare Revolution: Criticism and Performance in the Twentieth Century (started)
*Birkerts, Sven. An Artificial Wilderness: Essays on 20th-Century Literature (finished)
*Forrest, Leon. Divine Days (finished)
*Kirby, Jack. Jack Kirby's New Gods (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Is It Still Good to Ya? Fifty Years of Rock Criticism, 1967-2017 (in progress)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
 

Bat Girl (based on a dream)

 I entered the cave.

"Did you bring me what I asked for?"

"Here." I handed her the bag.

"Where are the sanitary pads."

"They were out." I lied. I didn't ask for them. I was too embarrassed.

..."You could buy them yourself, you know." 

"I can't. I'm Bat Girl."

It was true.