Playlist, Week of 2016-05-29

A quick reminder: Gilmore kicks ass in the 1960 Wonder Inn recordings here. "Play it, Sun Ray!"

Playlist 2016-05-30:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1976-10-08 Vasteras, Sweden (CDR)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1984-09-12 Minneapolis (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton 10+1tet: 2016-04-01 Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Circle: Paris Concert
*John Coltrane: Live in Seattle
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 3 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 4 (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: 2014-01-22 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Living By Lanterns: 2013-08-25 Sant’Anna Arresi (CDR)
*Sun Ra: Music from Tomorrow’s World
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Interstellar Low Ways
*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra
*Sun Ra: Live in London [1970-11-09]
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zurich, West Berlin, Paris (disc 1)
*Jeff Beck: There and Back
*Deerhoof: Fever 121614
*Fela Ransome Kuti and His Koola Lobitos: Highlife-Jazz And Afro-Soul (disc 1)
*Pavement: Wowee Zowee (selections)
*Various artists: Lullabies/Dreams (cassette compilation) (side B)

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-29

Reading List 2016-05-30:

*Morgan, Chris. The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (started)
*Haskell, John. American Purgatorio (started/finished)
*Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare, ed. Arthur F. Kinney (finished)
*Segar, E. C. Complete E.C. Segar Popeye, Vol. 9: Dailies 1934-1935 (finished)
*Barthelme, Donald. The Teachings of Don B. (in progress)

Jazz and Improvised Music

Derek Bailey

One of the distinguishing characteristics between jazz and improvised music is that jazz has American-born subject matters such as romantic love, social justice and spirituality, while the subject of improvised music is the idealization of improvisation. (Bill Shoemaker, "Page One," Point of Departure 53 (2015-12)

Playlist, Week of 2016-05-22

New Sun Ra keeps cropping up all the time. This one is very special: it's primarily solo piano, but there are some electronic keyboard excursions as well that are quite nice. Standout track for me is the 20-minute "El Is a Sound of Joy," which is not on the vinyl version, although the song itself is only the last 6 minutes or so, preceded as it is by a long improvisation.

Playlist 2016-05-23:

*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House:  2014-09-26 Darmstadt, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Roulette of the Cradle
*Ingrid Laubrock Ubatuba: 2015-10-08 Bremen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Ubatuba Quintet: 2015-10-11 Barcelona (CDR)
*Sun Ra: Nubians of Plutonia
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Fate in a Pleasant Mood
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Holiday for Soul Dance
*Sun Ra: In Some Far Place: Roma '77
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Reflections in Blue
*James Brown: James Brown Plays James Brown: Today and Yesterday
*Dark Carpet: 2016-03-04 The Rock Shop, Brooklyn (wav) (selections)
*High Llamas: Here Come the Rattling Trees
*Kinks: Something Else by the Kinks (Deluxe Edition) (disc 2)
*Kinks: Arthur (Deluxe Edition) (disc 2)
*OOIOO: Kila Kila Kila
*OOIOO: Gold and Green
*Ravi Shankar: A Legend Lives On

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-22

Reading List 2016-05-23:

*Barthelme, Donald. The Teachings of Don B. (started)
*Lepore, Jill. “Joe Gould’s Teeth,” in New Yorker, 2015-07-27 (started/finished)
*Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything (finished)
*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)

Playlist, Week of 2016-05-15

Perfect rainy day music..and we've had a lot of rainy days here recently.

Playlist 2016-05-16:

*John Cage: The Complete String Quartets Vol. 2 (Arditti Quartet)
*Anthony Braxton Small Ensemble: 2009-04-30 Wesleyan: Echo Echo Mirror House Music (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton 10+1tet: 2016-04-01 Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Circle: Live in German Concert
*John Coltrane: First Meditations
*John Coltrane: Meditations
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 3 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: Anatomy of a Murder
*Michael Formanek/Ensemble Kollosus: The Distance
*Herbie Hancock: Thrust
*Instant Composers Pool: Groupcomposing
*Ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House:  2014-09-26 Darmstadt, Germany (CDR)
*Micro-East Collective: Fabric
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-13 Musicircus, UR, Richmond (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-24 “Ear Density” RVA Noise Fest V, Gallery 5, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-05-02 “Convo for Rent” (wav)
*Paradoxical Frog: Union
*Evan Parker & AMM: Title Goes Here
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette
*Sun Ra Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit Jazz Center (CDR) (discs 3, 4)
*Booker T. & the MGs: And Now!
*Broadcast: Broadcast & The Focus Group Investigate Witch Cults of the Radio Age
*Elvis Costello and The Roots: Wise Up Ghost
*DJ Spooky: Sound Unbound
*Bob Dylan: The Cutting Edge 1965-1966: The Bootleg Series Volume 12 (disc 1)
*Bob Dylan: Another Self Portrait (1969-1971): The Bootleg Series, Vol. 10 (disc 2)
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-04-01 (wav) (selections)
*Fripp & Eno: Live in Paris 28.05.1975
*Mars Volta: Frances the Mute
*Massacre: Killing Time
*NRBQ: Interstellar (10-in. LP)
*OOIOO: Gamel
*Panda Bear: Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper
*Otis Redding: In Person at the Whisky a Go Go
*Otis Redding: Live in Europe
*Otis Redding: Tell the Truth
*Rolling Stones: 2002-08-16 Toronto (CDR)
*Rolling Stones: Light the Fuse
*Super Furry Animals: Mwng (2015 reissue) (disc 1)
*13th Floor Elevators: Live in California
*Various artists: Bollywood Movie Title Music (CDR)
*Various artists: Purple Snow: Forecasting the Minneapolis Sound (disc 1)

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-15

Gilbert Sorrentino

Reading List 2016-05-16:

*Akey, Stephen. “Shakespeare as God,” in The Millions (2012-10-02) (started/finished)
*Montressor, Jaye Berman. “The Artist as Accidental Tourist in Gilbert Sorrentino’s Blue Pastoral,” in Studies in American Humor, New Series 3, No. 1 (1994) (started/finished)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Blue Pastoral (reread/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)

Collecting Coltrane

Collecting these performances should give you a more complete picture of what we achieved, because there is only so much you can get from a single recording. It's less than an hour, after all. It's an insight, but not the whole picture. Hearing a group night after night, that's where the true picture is. And there were four individuals in the group that could each alter what that picture was. Like when I listened to Monk's quartet at the Five Spot; some nights Wilbur Ware would take over the complete bandstand and you wouldn't hear anyone else but him. Each of those guys could dominate an entire performance. That's the way it is with those who are serious about an art form. You don't ask one painting to tell the complete story of a painter's life, and you can't treat a single album that way either. That's why most people I know who have any Coltrane recordings have all of them. (Elvin Jones, as told to Bob Blumenthal, The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings liner notes, 1998)

Playlist, Week of 2016-05-08

Rediscovering "Cashmere Cutie." The Dutch Jazz Orchestra's Strayhorn recordings are brilliant.

Playlist 2016-05-09:

*Derek Bailey and Eddie Prévost: 2002-08-20 London (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton 10+1tet: 2016-04-01 Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-29 Nashville (wav)
*John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings (discs 7, 8)
*John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane: Cosmic Music (selections)
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: So This Is Love: More Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 1 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 2 (discs 1, 2)
*Globe Unity Orchestra: 1967-10-21 Donaueschingen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Some Times
*Ingrid Laubrock with Liam Noble & Tom Rainey: Sleepthief
*Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: 2014-01-22 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2014-09-16 Koln, Germany (CDR)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-24 “Ear Density” RVA Noise Fest V, Gallery 5, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-05-02 “Convo for Rent” (wav)
*Billy Strayhorn: Lush Life
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra Visits Planet Earth
*Sun Ra Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit Jazz Center (CDR) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: God Is More than Love Can Ever Be!
*Anna Webber: Simple
*Beach Boys: Beach Boys' Party! Uncovered And Unplugged (disc 2)
*Elvis Costello and The Roots: Wise Up Ghost
*Heldon: Agneta Nilsson
*Prince: The Hits/The B-Sides (discs 2, 3)
*Prince: Bootleg Selections (CDR compilation)
*Otis Redding: The Immortal Otis Redding
*Otis Redding: Love Man
*Brian Wilson: Sweet Insanity (2nd version) (boot CDR)

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-08

Reading List 2016-05-09:

*Leur, Walter van der. Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (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)

The Influence of AMM

AMM: The Inexhaustible Document Exhibition (Huddersfield Contemporay Music Festival)

Yet, it's perhaps only now, in a 21st-century, post-noise milieu, that AMM's earliest statements can be properly understood. Their eternal drones, peppered with dense, abstract sonic events and liberated from conventional virtuosity, have become a lingua franca, heard for the last decade or so at countless DIY shows in nameless dungeon basements from Brighton to Brooklyn, while the syntax of space and duration they pioneered has continued to inspire subsequent generations of improvisors. (Daniel Spicer, Wire review of AMMMusic, 2016-04)

Another Bonus Playlist from the Magic Jukebox

Time for another installment of a Magic Jukebox playlist, this time from mid-April 2016!

1. Too much monkey business - Chuck Berry
2. Just one look - Doris Troy
3. You you - Robert Wyatt
4. Bursts - Sam Rivers
5. Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road - Robert Wyatt & Friends
6. CP Jeebies - Robert Wyatt
7. Music in fifths - Philip Glass
8. Mothership connection (live) - Parliament Funkadelic
9. Open the door, Homer - Bob Dylan & The Band
10. When she touches me - Mighty Sam
11. "/ (DJ Spooky remix) - Bora Yoon
12. Time will tell - Kinks
13. The shadow world - Sun Ra (Soul Vibrations of Man)
14. Soliloquy - Traymore Orchestra
15. Wild honey - Beach Boys
16. Getting better - Beatles
17. Cotton eyed Joe - Adolph Hofner & His San Antonians
18. Viva Pa Ubu - Henry Cow
19. Let's pretend we're married - Prince
20. Slick as snails - Robert Pollard & Doug Gillard
21. Barhopper 1 - Kid Koala
22. Let it rock - Chuck Berry
23. Erotic city - George Clinton
24. Bloodshot eyes - Wynonie Harris
25. Memories - Robert Wyatt
26. Well - Captain Beefheart
27. Am I blue - Willie Nelson
28. I want you back - Jackson 5
29. Morning after - Bar-Keys
30. I feel a sin coming on - Solomon Burke
31. Look over yonder - Jimi Hendrix
32. An unbeknowneth love - Sun Ra
33. Solar differentials - Sun Ra
34. Sure as sin - Candi Staton
35. Lonely too long - Rascals
36. So long - James Brown
37. I know I'm in love - Jimmy Norman
38. Ticket to ride - Husker Du
39. Spanish key - Miles Davis
40. Ain't it a shame - Major Lance
41. Grass - XTC
42. I'm in the mood - John Lee Hooker
43. SVP/Mad professor's interlude - Anti Pop Consortium
44. Lovey dovey - Otis Redding & Carla Thomas
45. Baby, baby, baby - Aretha Franklin
46. Song of hope - William Parker Quartet
47. Is it me or is it you - Mary Wells
48. Airegin - Miles Davis
49. Shake around - Ray Smith
50. My Sunday gal - Duke Ellington
51. That's when the teardrops start - Blossoms
52. Crying in the chapel - Orioles
53. Help! (Take 2) - Beatles
54. Stuff like that there - Sun Ra
55. The golden age (The Val-Inc remix) - Craig Taborn
56. Twist and shout - Beatles (Around and around)
57. Feedback - Grateful Dead (Anthems of the Sun)
58. She knows me too well - Beach Boys
59. Dr. Funkenstein (live) - Parliament-Funkadelic
60. You're gonna see a lot of me - Billie Holiday
61. Son of a preacher man - Aretha Franklin
62. What do u want me 2 do? - Prince
63. Thrice upon a theme - Charles Mingus
64. It takes 3 - NPG
65. Untitled (Echoes of the future) - Sun Ra & His Omniverse Arkestra
66. Hold my hand - Dave Davies
67. I'm gonna forget about you - Arthur Conley
68. Shake your hips - Rolling Stones
69. Dharmatma theme - Kalyanji Anadji
70. A hard day's night - Mrs. Miller
71. Jupiter [Sun Ra poetry] - ESP Radio Tribute
72. For the Millionth and the Last Time - Elvis Presley
73. From Russia with Love - Jackie Mittoo
74. Just won't move - Thomas Bailey
75. If You've Got Troubles - Beatles
76. Conduit for sale! - Pavement
77. Hedectch alu - Muluqen Mellesse
78. Island people - High Llamas
79. United - Lovetones
80. Can't wait too long - Brian Wilson
81. Strawberry fields forever (US stereo mix) - Beatles
82. In all languages - Ornette Coleman
83. Realxin' at Camarillo - Charlie Parker
84. I'll never need more than this - Ike and Tina Turner
85. I've never found a girl - Al Green
86. Twenty-four hours a day - Billie Holiday
87. No thugs in our house - XTC
88. L'Via l'viaquez - Mars Volta
89. Georgia on my mind - Booker T. & the MGs
90. Being for the benefit of Mr. Kite (sound effects) - Beatles
91. Shakin' all over  - Johnny Kidd & the Pirates
92. Fall - Miles Davis Quintet
93. Pet Sounds (stereo mix) - Beach Boys
94. The new breed, pt. 2 - Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm
95. I'll follow the sun - Beatles
96. Take me in your arms - Isley Brothers
97. Fallin' in love - Beach Boys
98. Mr. Jelly Lord - Jelly Roll Morton
99. Did I hear you say you love me - Stevie Wonder
100. To the other woman (I'm the other woman) - Doris Duke

Playlist, Week of 2016-05-01

My listening stream is expanding, because of my reading...still deep into Sun Ra, Coltrane, and Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, but now also delving into Miles Lost Quintet and Circle... great stuff I am revisiting and marveling at...also coming up, tons more Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. Somehow this music all feeds on itself in my mind, influences and relationships churning and melding into a great body of music to hear and absorb. Not much room left over for rock, funk, or soul these days, I'm afraid.

Playlist 2016-05-02:

*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Braxton 1971
*Circle: Circulus
*Circle: Early Circle
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: 2015-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Roger Coleman: Moogertron (wav)
*John Coltrane: The Classic Quartet: The Complete Impulse! Recordings (disc 6)
*John Coltrane: The Complete Sun Ship Session
*Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 (The Bootleg series, Vol. 2) (disc 4/DVD)
*Miles Davis: 1970-03-06 Fillmore East (CDR) (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 1 (disc 1)
*LARK: 2013-06-16 Brooklyn, NY (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: 2013-02-25 Brooklyn, NY (CDR) (disc 2)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Sleepthief: 2013-06-18 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Super-Sonic Jazz
*Sun Ra: Nubians of Plutonia
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 3: The Lost Tapes
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Sun Ra and His Arkestra at Inter-Media Arts, April 1991
*Animal Collective: Water Curses
*Elvis Costello and the Roots: Wise Up Ghost
*Dr. Dog: Psychedelic Swamp
*Hatfield and the North: 1973-09-25 Paris
*Prince: Bootleg Selections (CDR compilation)
*Tool: Lateralus

Reading List, Week of 2016-05-01

Gluck makes the case for the cross-fertilization of 1969-1972 free jazz between Miles's Lost Quintet (not so "lost" now that there are many live recordings available, although it is sad that there are no studio recordings devoted solely to it), AACM transplanted to New York City via Paris, the loft jazz scene, and the continued strong influence of Coltrane's post-Ascension work. His book is especially valuable for its detailed analysis of the genesis of Circle, coming as it did straight out of the free explorations Dave Holland, Chick Corea, and Jack DeJohnette got into in the Lost Quintet's live performances once Miles left the bandstand, and then juiced and expanded by the additions of Barry Altschul and Anthony Braxton.

Reading List 2016-05-02:

*Leur, Walter van der. Something to Live For: The Music of Billy Strayhorn (started)
*Killeen, Terence. “Tackling the ‘errears and erroriboose’: Another look at the Rose/O’Hanlon Finnegans Wake,” in Genetic Joyce Studies (Spring 2013) (started/finished)
*Gluck, Bob. The Miles Davis Lost Quintet and Other Revolutionary Ensembles (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)