Playlist, Week of 2016-12-25

Krimble!




Playlist 2016-12-26:

*Rodger Coleman & Andrew Dickson: 2016-12-16 Nashville (mp3)
*Kris Davis Infrasound: Save Your Breath (selections)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-12-11 "Burrito Response" Bandito's, RVA (wav)
*Beach Boys: Alternates (disc 1) (CDR compilation)
*Beatles: Mono Masters (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Beatles for Sale (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: The Beatles (2009 mono remaster) (sides 2, 3)
*David Bowie: Low
*Deerhoof: Fever 121614 (selections)
*English Beat: Wha'ppen?
*Grateful Dead: Birth of the Dead (disc 2)
*Grateful Dead: Dark Star 1972 (00:55:00-01:58:00)
*Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
*Lester Lanin: Christmas Dance Party
*New Order: (the best of) New Order
*Nine Inch Nails: The Downward Spiral (selections)
*Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
*Candi Staton: Candi Staton
*Tool: Lateralus
*UYA: 1990-02-18 Willow Jazz Club, Somerville MA (disc 2)
*Various artists: The Spirit of Christmas Past
*XTC: Transistor Blast (disc 4)

Reading List, Week of 2016-12-25

Reading List 2016-12-26:

*Gottschalk, Jennie. Experimental Music since 1970 (started)
*Shih, Nai-an, and Kuan-chung Lo. Outlaws of the Marsh [Shui Hu Chuan] (trans. Sidney Shapiro) (started)
*Adelt, Ulrich. Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies (selections)
*Munro, Alice. New Selected Stories (finished)
*Browne, David. So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead (finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2016-12-18

NVS Trio (https://danielbarbiero.wordpress.com/)

Playlist 2016-12-19:

*Anthony Braxton Quartet: 1982-04-24 Detroit (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton Quintet: 1983-03-11 Bern, Switzerland (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton/Max Roach: 1989-07-26 Verona (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton Quartet: 1993-07-15 Oakland, CA (CDR)
*Gerald Cleaver/Uncle June: 2009-01-06 NYC (CDR)
*Nels Cline/Wally Shoup/Chris Corsano: Immolation/Immersion
*Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio: 2016-12-08 Philadelphia (CDR)
*Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio + Marshall Allen: 2016-12-11 Philadelphia (CDR)
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: 2014-05-22 London (CDR) (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House Quartet: 2016-11-12 Wels, Austria (wav)
*Roscoe Mitchell and Pauline Oliveros: 2005-09-09 (CDR)
*Ken Moore & Daniel Barbiero: Frequency Drift
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-12-11 "Burrito Response" Bandito's, RVA (wav)
*NVS Trio: 2016-12-12 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Evan Parker/John Wiese: C-Section
*Evan Parker Electroacoustic Nonet: 2015-08-28 Mulhouse, FRance (CDR)
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 4)
*John Zorn: The Painted Bird
*Ash Ra Tempel: Ash Ra Tempel (side 1)
*Beatles: The Beatles (2009 stereo remaster) (side 1)
*Deerhoof: Fever 121614 (selections)

*Grateful Dead: Dark Star 1972 (started, 00:00:00-00:55:00)

*UYA: 1990-02-18 Willow Jazz Club, Somerville MA (disc 1)
*UYA: 1990-06-10 Brown Gal Luau (wav)
*UYA: 1990-06-15 Hail to the Invisible Thing (wav)
*UYA: 1990-07-01 Home Improvements (wav)
*UYA: 1990-07-15 Play This (wav)
*XTC: Go 2 (Ape House remaster)
*Yardbirds: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (1964-1966)

Reading List, Week of 2016-12-18

Reading List 2016-12-19:

*Browne, David. So Many Roads: The Life and Times of the Grateful Dead (started)
*Adelt, Ulrich. Krautrock: German Music in the Seventies (selections)
*Cope, Julian. Krautrocksampler (selections)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Munro, Alice. New Selected Stories (in progress)

Photos from Gig

Here are photos from the New Ting Ting Loft gig last night at Bandito's. All photos except the last taken by Erik Schroeder.

l to r: Tim Harding, Fred McGann, Sam Byrd, Alex Ricart, Jimmy Ghaphery, Ben Scott (behind), Tommy Birchett

l to r: Fred McGann, Sam Byrd

l to r: Sam Byrd, Jimmy Ghaphery, Alex Ricart

Playlist, Week of 2016-12-11

Playlist 2016-12-12:

*Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Boulez)
*bb&c: The Veil
*Big Satan: I Think They Liked It, Honey
*Bloodcount: Saturation Point
*Anthony Braxton/Joe Fonda: 10 Compositions (Duet) 1995
*Rodger Coleman & Andrew Dickson: 2016-11-02 Nashville (mp3)
*Kris Davis/Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey Trio: 2011-10-22 Cormons, Italy (CDR)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 13 (disc 2)
*Yamataka Eye and John Zorn: Naninani II
*Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
*Andrew Hill: Dance of Death
*Joe Morris: 2015-12-04 Amsterdam (CDR)
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 3)
*Cecil Taylor: 1977-12-02 Köln, Germany (wav)
*Test: Live/Test
*David Torn Prezens: 2008-01-10 Cologne (CDR) (disc 1)
*Archie Bell & the Drells: Tighten Up
*Al Green: You Ought To Be With Me: Live at Soul in New York City
*Khan: Space Shanty
*Osanna: Palepoli
*PFM: Chocolate Kings
*Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
*Uriel: Arzachel
*UYA: 1990-05-01 Definite Electric (wav)
*UYA: 1990-06-03 Afromessages (wav)
*Various artists: The Birth of Soul, Vol. 1
*Various artists: The Birth of Soul, Vol. 2
*Various artists: The Birth of Soul, Vol. 3
*Various artists: The Birth of Soul, Vol. 4
*Various artists: WCAL: 4Sam2absorb (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Robert Wyatt: Guest Vocalist (boot CDR) (discs 1, 2, 3)

Reading List, week of 2016-12-11

Reading List 2016-12-12:

*Cope, Julian. Krautrocksampler (selections)
*Munro, Alice. New Selected Stories (started)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Chomp (started/finished)
*Egil's Saga (transl. Bernard Scudder) (finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)

Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio

Saw an excellent show last night--Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver, and Larry Ochs at Gallery 5. Amazing. It was great to see musicians of this caliber stretch out. Gerald Cleaver was deceptively low-key, and it soon became apparent that his was a slow burn that built up and laid the flaming groundwork for the fireworks from the others. Larry Ochs was strong and inspired, and Nels Cline was brilliant, in full command of his instruments, displaying a seemingly endless supply of ideas. Big fun!

New Ting Ting Loft Gig at Bandito's This Weekend

New Ting Ting Loft is playing this Sunday, at Bandito's Burrito Lounge, at 10 PM. We'll be opening for our RAIC friend Sam Goff's band Among the Rocks and Roots.

Sam has more kind words for us:

Sonic tricksters? Avant Garde afficionados? Whatever. They were here before you and will be here after you're gone. Best live band in Richmond. Best improv band in Richmond. The irony of an avant garde improv act playing a sports bar/burrito restaurant on a Sunday night is not lost on us by the way. Thanks to Bandito's for allowing us to put on such craziness! As excited about this as anything this year. 

Well, we'll be tearing it up and hopefully helping those late-night tacos get digested better! The Facebook event page is here.

Playlist, Week of 2016-12-04

Playlist 2016-12-05:

*Anthony Braxton/Taylor Ho Bynum: Duets (Wesleyan) 2002
*Anthony Braxton/Chris Dahlgren: ABCD
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Mannheim) 2010
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 13 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Mary Halvorson and Weasel Walter: Opulence
*Roscoe Mitchell: Sound Songs
*Joe Morris: Wildlife
*Music Improvisation Company: 1968-1971
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-11-14 "You Are Worth Waiting For" (wav)
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 2)
*Matthew Shipp: Equilibrium
*Sun Ra: 1979-11-24 Soundscape, NYC (CDR) (selections)
*Sun Ra: 1980-02-24 Willisau (Rehearsal) (CDR) (selections)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Sunrise in Different Dimensions (selections)
*Sun Ra: Dance of Innocent Passion "Intensity"
*Sun Ra: Just Friends (side 2)
*Sun Ra: 1982-06-24 Mannheim, Germany (CDR)(selections)
*Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra: Nuclear War
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zürich, West Berlin, Paris (disc 5)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live at Praxis '84 (selections)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Mayan Temples (selections)
*John Zorn/David Krakauer: Pruflas: Book Of Angels Volume 18
*John Zorn/Simulacrum: 49 Acts of Unspeakable Depravity in the Abominable Life and Times of Gilles de Rais
*Kevin Ayers and the Whole World: The Garden of Love
*Brian Eno: Discreet Music
*Heldon: Agneta Nilsson (side 1)
*Heldon: Interface
*King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind (disc 2)
*UYA: 1990-04-01/04-04 Page Being Turned (wav)
*UYA: 1990-04-08/04-11 Image Track (wav)
*UYA: 1990-04-17 Queen Train Steak (wav)
*UYA: 1990-04-24 Monkey Expectations (wav)
*Robert Wyatt: Old, New, Borrowed, Brew (boot CDR) (discs 1, 2)

Reading List, Week of 2016-12-04

Reading List 2016-12-05:

*Egil's Saga (transl. Bernard Scudder) (started)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (started)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Hoot (started/finished)
*Lee, Stan, Jack Kirby, and Steve Ditko. Monster Masterworks (started/finished)
*Munro, Lucy. "The Knight of the Burning Pestle and Generic Experimentation," in Early Modern English Drama (ed. Sullivan, Cheney, and Hadfield) (started/finished)
*Gass, William. A Temple of Texts (finished)

Reading Plan Update

It's time to check on on my reading plan from last year, and monitor the "progress" I've made. My reading plans are always aspirational--but also as always, my desires outstrip my supply of time. I also allow for detours and spur-of-the-moment sidetracks (to quote Michael Dirda's motto: "Read at whim!").

Here's what I had in store as of October of 2015:

Reading Plan (in alphabetical order by author):

some Beaumont and Fletcher [nope!]
Bryson, Bill. A Short History of Nearly Everything [yes!]
Garner, Bryan, and David Foster Wallace. Quack This Way: David Foster Wallace & Bryan A. Garner Talk Language and Writing [nope!]
Gombrich, E.H. A Little History of the World [nope!]
Howlett, Kevin. The Beatles: The BBC Archives [nope!]
James, Henry. The Golden Bowl [nope!]
Knausgaard. My Struggle, books 3-6 [vols. 3-5: yes! Vol. 6 not out yet in English]
some John Le Carré [yes! Russia House and Perfect Spy]
Marias, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 2, 3 [nope!]
Peace, David. The Damned UTD and Red or Dead [yes/nope!]
some Philip Roth [nope!]
Rothfuss, Patrick. The Slow Regard of Silent Things [yes!]
William Shakespeare and Others: Collaborative Plays  [yes! Some of them, anyway]
some Zadie Smith (White Teeth, N/R, On Beauty, Changing My Mind) [nope!]
Turow, Scott. Personal Injuries [yes!]
Vollmann, William. Rising Up and Rising Down: Some Thoughts on Violence, Freedom and Urgent Means [nope!]

plus rereads:
Austen, Jane. Sanditon [nope!]
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler [nope!]
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes stories and novels [nope!]
Gaddis, William. The Recognitions [nope!]
Hemingway, Ernest. Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms [nope!]
Homer. Odyssey (Pope translation) [nope!]
Milton, John. Paradise Lost [nope!]
Nabokov, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark, The Enchanter, The Gift, Real Life of Sebastian Knight, The Eye [nope!]
Pynchon, Thomas. Against the Day [nope!]
Shakespeare, William, and John Fletcher. Two Noble Kinsmen [yes, Arden 3rd Series

!]
some Shakespeare from Oxford Original Spelling edition [yes! Two Noble Kinsmen]
Wallace, David Foster. Infinite Jest [yes!]

Well, as you can see, I managed to read less than half of what I set out to. That's not bad! Of course, I won't be carrying over all the unread books to my new reading plan...I've got other fish to fry.

So, here's my new reading plan for the upcoming year--we'll see how this goes.

Reading Plan (in alphabetical order by author):

first time:
Egil's Saga
Howlett, Kevin. The Beatles: The BBC Archives
Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania
Knausgaard. My Struggle, book 6 [when it comes out]
some John Le Carré (starting with Secret Pilgrim)
Manguel, Alberto. Reading Pictures
Marias, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 2, 3 (plus reread vol. 1)
Munro, Alice. New Selected Stories
Murakami, Haruki. 1Q94
Shi Nai'An. Outlaws of  the Marsh (transl. Shapiro)
some Zadie Smith (White Teeth, N/R, On Beauty, Changing My Mind) 
Stendhal. Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal. Red and Black

rereads:
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility
Austen, Jane. Emma
Austen, Jane. Sanditon
Calvino, Italo. If on a Winter's Night a Traveler 
Doyle, Arthur Conan. Sherlock Holmes stories and novels 
some James Ellroy
Faulkner, William. Absalom, Absalom!
Gaddis, William. The Recognitions 
Hemingway, Ernest. Sun Also Rises, Farewell to Arms 
Homer. Odyssey (Pope translation)
Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick
Milton, John. Paradise Lost 
Nabokov, Vladimir. Laughter in the Dark, The Enchanter, The Gift, Real Life of Sebastian Knight, The Eye 
Pynchon, Thomas. Against the Day
more Shakespeare
Twain, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-27

Playlist 2016-11-28:

*Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 14, 17, 21 (Pires)
*Derek Bailey with Min Tanaka: Music and Dance
*Brand X: Unorthodox Behaviour
*Anthony Braxton/Georg Gräwe: Duo (Amsterdam) 1991
*Anthony Braxton and the AIMToronto Orchestra: Creative Orchestra (Guelph) 2007
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet/Quintet (NYC) 2011
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Unheard Voices
*Mary Halvorson/Reuben Radding/Nate Wooley: Crackleknob
*Roscoe Mitchell: Conversations I
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-11-07 "Other Drummers" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-11-14 "You Are Worth Waiting For" (wav)
*Bud Powell: Tempus Fugue-It (disc 1)
*Matthew Shipp/Nu Bop: 2004-04-05 Rome (CDR)
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zürich, West Berlin, Paris (discs 3, 4)
*Cecil Taylor: The Eighth
*Golden Dawn: Power Plant
*Al Green: Anthology (disc 1) (selections)
*Robert Pollard: Not in My Airforce
*Robert Pollard: Waved Out
*UYA: 1990-03-27/04-01 Spill (wav)
*Various artists: That Devilin' Tune (Vol. II,  disc 4)
*Various Artists: Complete Motown Singles (selections)
*Various Artists: WSAM: Some Organ (CDR compilation)
*Various Artists: George Clinton's Family Series (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-27

Reading List 2016-11-28:

*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 8 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 7 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 6 (started/finished)
*Knutson, Roslyn L. "Theater Companies and Stages," in Early Modern English Drama (ed. Sullivan, Cheney, and Hadfield) (started/finished)
*Wall, Wendy. "Dramatic Authorship and Print," in Early Modern English Drama (ed. Sullivan, Cheney, and Hadfield) (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 4 (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (finished)
*Gass, William. A Temple of Texts (in progress)

Still at It

thanks to Rodger

Be it established that this pair are pleased to be American and regard themselves as normally patriotic; neither, however, goes in for extended national flag-waving, so often exploited by whatever ruling party to suppress dissent. Both inclining, moreover, to the Liberal persuasion and ipso facto to distrust of their nation's current right-wing administration, they worry that a countrywide orgy of patriotic display will obscure and serve that administration's pre-9/11 agenda, just when its prospects had looked happily dim in the divided Congress. No Kyoto Protocols against global warming for us Yanks, thanks! No Anti-Ballistic Missile or Anti-Landmine treaties or International Criminal Court for us, either; maybe no more Roe v. Wade abortion-rights too, while they're at it, and forget about stricter gun-control legislation and protection of our national parks against corporate predation. Instead, zillions for the futile and counterproductive "Star Wars" missile-defense program and for gargantuan military buildups; even more tax breaks for the very wealthy; huge budget deficits where there had been healthy surpluses, and never mind national health care, Social Security, the environment, and separation of church and state! Et cetera: your Knee Jerk Bleeding Heart Liberals' off-the-shelf nightmare. (John Barth, Book of Ten Nights and a Night, 2004, p. 86)

New Release: Unheard Voices

Rodger just released this archival nugget from way back in 2004: back when strutting in flight suits was all the rage. It's a psychedelic turntable-driven extravaganza of wacky fun sounds, and I'm quite proud of it. Please check it out! Stream or download, for free if you wish, here.

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-20

Playlist 2016-11-21:

*Arnold Schoenberg: Streichquartette I-IV (Arditti Quartet & Dawn Upshaw)
*AMM: 1988-01 BBC Maida Vale Studios (CDR)
*AMM: 2016-11-12 Budapest (wav)
*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (disc 6)
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Unheard Voices
*Chick Corea: The Song of Singing (side 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 2)
*Ghaphery/Bivins/Davis: 2006-01-21 Red Room, Baltimore (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House Quartet: 2016-11-12 Wels, Austria (wav)
*Misha Mengelberg, et al. Groupcomposing
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-10-17 "Sounds in Corners" (wav)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth (side 2)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live from Soundscape (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: I, Pharaoh (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Voice of the Eternal Tomorrow
*Sun Ra All Stars: Milan, Zürich, West Berlin, Paris (discs 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor: 1976-07-28 Cuneo, Italy (Wav)
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 7)
*Return to Forever: Where Have I Known You Before (side 2)
*Airport 5: Life Starts Here
*Bob Dylan: A Nightly Ritual (1966-05-14 Liverpool) (boot CD)
*Guided By Voices: Sunfish Holy Breakfast
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase 3 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase Four (Captain Kangaroo Won The War) (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind (disc 1)
*Lateduster: Five Easy Pieces
*Paul McCartney: Memory Almost Full
*Robert Pollard: Cock Blocking the Romantics
*Praxis: Zürich
*UYA: 1990-03-08/13 Untitled Yams Abounding (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-13/18 The Simple Void (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-18: Studies (wav)
*UYA: 1990-03-19 Middle East, Cambridge, MA (wav)
*Various artists: The Telugu Connection (CDR)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-20

Reading List 2016-11-21:

*Gass, William. A Temple of Texts (started)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 4 (started)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 3 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 5 (finished)
*Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore (transl. Philip Gabriel) (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Extinction

Antonio Rotari (1707-1762) "Ragazza con un libro"

A few years ago, it was treated as self-evident by certain folks that "print," which after all had been around for only 500 years, had no automatic claim on our attention, and that the book would soon be superseded by electronic media. The speakers--usually people who rarely read books--often spoke as if they couldn't wait for this to happen. People who do read books tried not to pay attention, while wondering if they were indeed the unadaptable dinosaur-types they were held to be. ("NB." Times Literary Supplement, 2000-02-11, p. 16)

Book-Love

Marie Bashkiryseff – At a Book

Now, as sales of dedicated e-readers dwindle, ... it’s hard to imagine how we allowed ourselves to get so worked up. But e-readers did teach us something: in their patent inadequacy – in all their slow-loading, thumb-cracking, percentage-bar clunkiness – they showed us how perfect a literary medium the book is. It’s a paradoxical time, one in which the oft-announced death of the book coincides with a new fever of bibliophilia. Book-love is certainly evident in every corner of this volume, and Vincent Giroud’s words are representative: “Holding a book is a pleasure I am not prepared to give up, much in the same way I would not be tempted to ingest my food in the form of tablets.” Clever pun, that. (Adam Hammond, "Books aren't going anywhere--despite the threat of robot sonneteers," The Globe and Mail, 2013-12-21)

Giroud's words come from his essay "A World without Books?" in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, of which this article is a review.

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-13

Nope, I just snagged the image from ebay. I do not own any Saturn LPs, sad to say.

Playlist 2016-11-14:

*Anthony Braxton: Solo (Brussels) 1985
*Mark Dresser Quintet: Nourishments
*Joseph Jarman: As If It Were the Seasons (side 2)
*Roscoe Mitchell & Thomas Buckner: 8 O'Clock: Two Improvisations
*Sun Ra: Omniverse
*Sun Ra: Beyond the Purple Star Zone
*Sun Ra: Oblique Parallax
*Sun Ra/Merzbow: Strange City
*Cecil Taylor Quartet: Looking Ahead!
*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador!
*Cecil Taylor: 2016-04-23 Whitney Museum, NYC (CDR)
*Animal Collective: Painting With
*Baroness: Yellow & Green
*Beach Boys: Alternates (disc 3) (CDR compilation)
*David Bowie: Nothing Has Changed (disc 2)
*Cream: 1967-10-15 Detroit (CDR)
*Dining Rooms: Do Hipsters Love Sun (Ra)?
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-10-14 (wav)
*Guided By Voices:Universal Truths and Cycles
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft (disc 4)
*Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs (discs 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase 2 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Robert Pollard: From a Compound Eye
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 1 (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Marc Ribot: Marc Ribot y Los Cubanos Postizos (The Prosthetic Cubans)
*Todd Rundgren: Liars
*UYA: 1990-03-04 Ubiquitous, Yet After (wav)
*Various artists: Complete Motown Singles 1959-1961 (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-13

Reading List 2016-11-14:

*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 5 (started)
*Murakami, Haruki. Kafka on the Shore (transl. Philip Gabriel)(started)
*Almond, David. Skellig (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 1 (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert and Jaime. Love and Rockets: New Stories, No. 2 (started/finished)
*The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? ed. Paul Socken (finished)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Razor Girl (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Sven Birkerts on the Novel

Frantisek Tavik Simon, Vilma reading on a Sofa, 1912

This idea of the novel is gaining on me: that it is not, except superficially, only a thing to be studied in English classes--that it is a field for thinking, a condensed time-world that is parallel (or adjacent) to ours. That its purpose is less to communicate themes or major recognitions and more to engage the mind, the sensibility, in a process that in its full realization bears upon our living as an ignition to inwardness, which has no larger end, which is the end itself. Enhancement. Deepening. Priming the engines of conjecture. In this way, and for this reason, the novel is the vital antidote to the mentality that the Internet promotes. (Sven Birkerts, "Reading in a Digital Age," in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, 2013, p. 32)

Double Reading

Winslow Homer, The New Novel, 1877

This may be the best description I've seen of what the process of reading literature can be like, so it's worth quoting at length:

The compressed living, communication overload, and fixation on speed dictated by connectivity can activate the memory of an alternative possibility, one which has been lost, but not irretrievably, that of a more organic life rhythm, of communication as a dialogic process, of a more leisurely flow. Such a slower rhythm, shaped through reading literature, allows a space for self-awareness, creates a space in which the reader can reflect on the movements of the reading process as they are played out; in which he can dwell on the flow of the text and reflect on the interplay between text and readerly subject. A kind of double reading is produced, whereby the reader reads the text and reads himself reading it at the same time, which in turn generates reflection at different levels: on the text, on the reading process, on the self as reader and as individual. The slowness enforced by the text can lead to a deepening of self-knowledge, both in terms of the insights suggested by the text and by way of the self-reflection that runs in the background of the reading process like a slowly turning prism. The reader's mind is set free to ruminate and explore, with no predetermined paths. The managerial superego, imposed by a culture which demands productive behaviour and measurable, "useful" outcomes, is suspended in favour of indeterminacy and intuition. A space is opened up in which the reader can experience a lost freedom and unfettered individuality. (Gerhard van der Linde, "Why Read against the Grain? Confessions of an Addict," in The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? edited by Paul Socken, 2013, p. 213)

Why I Read More than One Book at the Same Time

James Jacques Tissot, Reading a Story, 1878

Readers know that there are books for reading after lovemaking and books for waiting in the airport lounge, books for the breakfast table and books for the bathroom, books for sleepless nights at home and books for sleepless days on the hospital. No one, not even the best of readers, can fully explain why certain books are right for certain occasions and why others are not. In some ineffable way, like human beings, occasions and books mysteriously agree or clash with one another. (Alberto Manguel, "The End of Reading," from A Reader on Reading, reprinted in The Edge of the Precipice, ed. Paul Socken, 2013, p. 132)

Playlist, Week of 2016-11-06

This quartet is killer: Roscoe, Jodie Christian on piano, Malachi Favors on bass, and the transcendent Steve McCall on drums. I saw a slightly different quartet play "The Flow of Things" in Boston--a show I wish had been recorded!--with Richard Davis on bass and Tani Tabbal on drums in place of Favors and McCall. My god, what a show. I was lucky enough to see Steve McCall in person--once--at the Village Vanguard with Arthur Blythe, doing standards.

Playlist 2016-11-07:

*Muhal Richard Abrams & Roscoe Mitchell: Spectrum
*Borah Bergman and Roscoe Mitchell: The Italian Concert
*Elliott Carter: CDR compilation (disc 2)
*Rodger Coleman & Andrew Dickson: 2016-11-02 Nashville (mp3)
*Elton Dean: Elton Dean
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 1)
*Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd: Jazz Samba
*Gianmarco Liguori: Duga-3
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: The Flow of Things
*Roscoe Mitchell and Muhal Richard Abrams: Duets and Solos
*Music Revelation Ensemble: Knights of Power
*Herbie Nichols: The Complete Blue Note Recordings
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2016-07-01 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road
*Sun Ra: Omniverse
*Sun Ra: 1979-08-14 Squat Theatre, NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra and His Cosmo Jetset Arkestra: 1979-09-28 Ann Arbor (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor Trio: 1975-06-09 Village Gate, NYC (wav)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1975-07-25 Antibes (wav)
*Cecil Taylor: 2016-04-14 Whitney Museum, NYC (CDR)
*Third Rail: South Delta Space Age
*David Torn: Prezens
*UMO Jazz Orchestra: UMO Plays The Music Of Muhal Richard Abrams
*John Zorn's Cobra: Live at the Knitting Factory
*John Zorn: Valentine's Day
*Ahleuchatistas: What You Will
*David Bowie: Aladdin Sane
*Carmen Electra: On Top (boot CDR)
*Leslie Garcia: Humming (soundcloud)
*Guided By Voices: Suitcase: Failed Experiments And Trashed Aircraft (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Osanna: Palepoli
*UYA: 1990-02-01 Big Balls (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-11 Income Evasion (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-12 Living the Classix (wav)
*UYA: 1990-02-22 (wav)

Reading List, Week of 2016-11-06

Reading List 2016-11-07:

*The Edge of the Precipice: Why Read Literature in the Digital Age? ed. Paul Socken (started)
*Hiaasen, Carl. Razor Girl (started)
*Kiteley, Brian. The 3 A.M. Epiphany (selections)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas II (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert. Luba (finished)
*Munro, Alice. Runaway (finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

A Point of Reading

Sir John Lavery - Miss Auras, The Red Book (ca. 1900)

On the supposed freedom bestowed upon the reader by hypertext:

Coover states that hypertext "presents a radically divergent technology, interactive and polyvocal, favoring a plurality of discourses over definitive utterance and freeing the reader from domination by the author," but his tonal matter-of-factness belies the monumentality of the assertion. This "domination by the author" has been, at least until now, the point of writing and reading. The author masters the resources of language to create a vision that will engage and in some way overpower the reader; the reader goes to the work to be subjected to the creative will of another. The premise behind the textual interchange is that the author possesses wisdom, an insight, a way of looking at experience, that the reader wants. (Sven Birkerts, The Gutenberg Elegies, 1994, p. 163)

Short Stories and Alice Munro

AP Photo/Peter Morrison

...I seemed to have developed some kind of old-geezerish resentment of story collections. Is that possible? Is resentment of short fiction a sign of aging, like liver spots? And if it is, then why? As the end of one's life draws closer, surely one should embrace short fiction, not spurn it. And yet I was extremely conscious of not wanting to make the emotional effort at the beginning of each chapter, to the extent that I could almost hear myself grumbling like my grandmother used to. "Who are these people, now? I don't know them. Where did the other ones go? They'd only just got here." (Nick Hornby, More Baths, Less Talking, pp. 102-103)

I have long shared Hornby's impatience with the short story (long before the "aging" he seems obsessed with); I've always been a big-absorbing-novel kind of guy. But Alice Munro has been making me rethink this notion.

Cecil Taylor and His Drummers

Burning Ambulance

More from the archives...

Taylor is hell on drummers because he's kind of a drummer himself, and no trap set can match his 88 bells, or the overtones with which he purges the air. ... Still, he has had four great ones--Sunny Murray, Andrew Cyrille, Shannon Jackson, and now Tony Oxley. "Great" in this context is easily quantified: the drummer must be able to keep up, but also to lead. For all his speed and the monoliths of sound Taylor builds, he is a most responsive musician, and his drummers have to anticipate in a nanosecond when to jump out front. The music, after all, is relatively airless: almost all the dialogue is simultaneous. He doesn't trade fours. (Gary Giddins, "Bing Bang Bong," Village Voice, 1989-02-14)

Playlist, Week of 2016-10-30

Playlist 2016-10-31:

*Anthony Braxton: Anthony Braxton Quartet [Sao Paulo 2014] (disc 2)
*Tobias Delius 4tet: Pelikanismus
*Eric Dolphy: The Complete Prestige Recordings (disc 8)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 11
*Andrew Hill: Passing Ships
*Clifford Jordan and John Gilmore: Blowing in from Chicago
*Ingrid Laubrock with Liam Noble & Tom Rainey: Sleepthief
*Gianmarco Liguori: Duga-3
*Tomasz Stanko Quartet: Suspended Night
*Sun Ra: The Other Side of the Sun
*Sun Ra: 1979-05-10 Bayou, Washington DC (CDR) (selections)
*Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: Sleeping Beauty
*Sun Ra: Of Mythic Worlds (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance
*Cecil Taylor: Love for Salel
*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! "Conquistador"
*Cecil Taylor: 1976-07-25 Juan-les-Pins (wav)
*Cecil Taylor and Paul Lovens: Regalia
*Eberhard Weber/Colours: Silent Feet (side 1)
*Brian Eno: Another Green World
*Allman Brothers: At Fillmore East (side 4)
*Beach Boys: All This Is That (boot CDR)
*David Bowie: The Man who Sold the World
*Clash: The Singles (disc 1)
*Marshall Crenshaw: Marshall Crenshaw
*Carmen Electra: On Top (boot CDR)
*Guided By Voices: Fast Japanese Spin Cycle
*King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind (disc 3)
*Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (disc 1)
*Paul Revere & the Raiders: The Essential Paul Revere & the Raiders (selections)
*Robert Pollard: Edison's Demos
*Premiata Forneria Marconi: Storia di un Minuto
*Premiata Forneria Marconi: Per un Amico
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 1 (boot CDR) (disc 2)
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 2 (boot CDR)
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 3 (boot CDR)
*Soft Boys: Underwater Moonligh
*Tasavallan Presidentti: Lambert Land (side 1)
*UYA: 1990-01-21 Jim Harp Studio, MA (wav) (selections)
*UYA: 1990-01-24 Green St. Station, Jamaica Plain, Boston (wav)
*UYA: 1990-01-28 All Hail Zenon (wav)
*Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: Road Tapes, Venue #1 (1968) (disc 1)
*Zombies: The BBC Radio Sessions (side 2)

Reading List, Week of 2016-10-30

Reading List 2016-10-31:

*Hernandez, Gilbert. Luba (started)
*Munro, Alice. Runaway (started)
*Christgau, Robert. Grown Up All Wrong (finished)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas (reread/finished)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Stratification and Articulation: Five Quotes about Cecil Taylor

Cecil Taylor performing at Keystone Korner in San Francisco in 1977. PHOTO: KATHY SLOANE

I've been going through some old files I've accumulated over the years (I don't think of myself as a pack rat; I'm more of a personal musical archivist/clipping service for myself), and I found this fantastic special jazz supplement from the Village Voice back in 1989 dedicated to Cecil Taylor. I'm so glad I held on to it. Here are five quotes:

No artist has given me more pleasure than Taylor, in part because I know that what I get from him I can get nowhere else. He recharges my batteries, wakes me to possibilities, exonerates my mind for wandering--because anywhere it wanders is sanctified by the music that took it there. (Gary Giddins, "Outer Curve: Mirror and Water Gazing," Village Voice, 1989-06-26)

In the long, celebrated (and celebratory) "D Trad, That's What" [from Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come], all the possibilities of Taylor's new music rush to the surface. There's nothing superfluous in it, as packed and many-noted as the music is. The pianist's lengthy central improvisation rises and falls as the garrulous right hand is countered by the constantly developing answers at the other end of the keyboard; Murray's playing, now bright, now heavy and ominous, is equally varied in accent. When Lyons returns for his second solo, Taylor is somehow galvanized into redoubling his intensity, and the trio takes on an orchestral breadth and grandeur. They careen on to a finish that appears from nowhere. It's a free improvisation that makes Coleman's Free Jazz seem conservative, and it's no wonder that such a performance seeded so much of the free jazz of the subsequent three decades. (Richard Cook, "At First: To Play What One Hears," Village Voice, 1989-06-26)

Cecil's alchemization of piano into orchestra forced his drummers to rethink favored playing patterns. And the rethinking was mutual. Cecil had to reformulate his playing at the promptings of his diverse drummers. (Norman Weinstein, "Drum Song: Rhythmic Eclipse (time)," Village Voice, 1989-06-26)

Long before one begins to hear and appreciate the unique structural features, the rhythmic and tonal connections, and the formal processes in Taylor's music, one cannot help being impressed by his heightened manual artistry and technical competence, But Taylor's pianism involves much more than just the stunning ability, so readily demonstrated, to play fast. At least as important as that frenzied interlocking of motifs and those cascades of clusters is the clarity with which all this is achieved--it's not as though Taylor, quasi delirious, sweeps over the keyboard, muddying the contours with too much pedal. On the contrary, what lifts Taylor's playing beyond mere technical dazzle is not speed alone, but rather the compounding of speed, density, and the precise articulation of every single detail. (Ekkehard Jost, "The Player Advances: Area and Plain," Village Voice, 1989-06-26)

Closely related to call-and-response patterns is the technique of stratification, or layering, which can be thought of as a temporal variant of the call-and-response idea. In stratification, the "call" and "response" simply occur simultaneously instead of separately. (Ekkehard Jost, "The Player Advances: Area and Plain," Village Voice, 1989-06-26)

Playlist, Week of 2016-10-23

Playlist 2016-10-24:

*Daniel Barbiero/Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery: 2016-08-27 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Colla Parte: 2015-08-15 Auxiliary, Richmond VA (wav)
*Kris Davis Trio: Waiting for You to Grow
*Kris Davis: Capricorn Climber
*Kris Davis Infrasound: Save Your Breath
*Jack DeJohnette: Made in Chicago
*Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: 2014-01-22 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock Ubatuba: 2015-10-08 Bremen, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock’s Ubatuba Quintet: 2015-10-11 Barcelona (CDR)
*Steve Lehman Octet: Travail, Transformation, And Flow
*Gianmarco Liguori: Duga-3
*Made in Chicago: 2015-07-11 Rotterdam (CDR)
*Charles Mingus: A Modern Jazz Symposium Of Music And Poetry
*Charles Mingus: Pre-Bird
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-10-17 "Sounds in Corners" (wav)
*Tom Rainey Trio: Hotel Grief
*Raymond Scott: Reckless Nights and Turkish Twilights
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: 1978-12-24 Boston (CDR) (selections)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 2)
*At the Drive-In: Relationship of Command
*James Brown: Star Time (disc 1)
*Derek and the Dominos: Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-10-08 (wav)
*Esquivel: Space-Age Batchelor Pad Music
*Esquivel: Music from a Sparkling Planet
*Esquivel: More of Other Worlds, Other Sounds
*Guided By Voices: Tonics & Twisted Chasers
*Robert Pollard: Kid Marine
*Spirit: Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus
*13th Floor Elevators: The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators (selections)
*13th Floor Elevators: Easter Everywhere (selections)
*U.K.: U.K.
*Various artists: WSAM: Fart-Rock!! (cassette compilation) (side B)

Reading List, Week of 2016-10-23

Reading List 2016-10-24:

*Crumb, Aline and R. Drawn Together (finished)
*Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (finished)
*Hernandez, Gilbert. Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (reread/finished)
*Christgau, Robert. Grown Up All Wrong (in progress)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas (reread/in progress)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

Long-time Bands

Alexander Hawkins on the value of long-standing musical relationships:

“One of the things that’s really important about the Blue Notes is that they show the value of long-standing – long-standing – musical relationships and empathy,” he said, adding the Schlippenbach Trio as another instance of this. The free-improv era, Hawkins explained, gave musicians a lingua franca, an ability to make music in impromptu, one-off meetings. The Blue Notes, however, pointed to another way of working. “They really show the power, that where there’s long-standing relationships and understanding, then that’s really a deeply productive way to create new music. I think lesser musicians are worried that long-standing relationships create something predictable. The great musicians, the history of the group – the Ellington band, the Basie bands, the Blue Notes – shows that long-standing understanding probably creates the deepest freedom.” (Jumpin’ In by Greg Buium, Point of Departure , issue 52, 2015)

...and Mary Halvorson on the same topic:

I really appreciate longstanding bands ... of course there is always the excitement of newness, but there is also a certain element of chemistry which can only develop over time. (Mary Halvorson: Variety and Contrast by Troy Collins, Point of Departure, issue 52, 2015)

I have been extremely lucky to have had several long-lasting band experiences. The improvising core of New Ting Ting Loft (Jimmy Ghaphery, Tim Harding, and myself) has been together since 1996, for 20 years now (!), first as a sax/drum duo, then as the New Loft Quartet, then, as a trio, just plain old New Loft, and now, with the augmentation from our valued bandmates for the last few years, as New Ting Ting Loft. I think we have continued to surprise ourselves over the years!

UYA lasted for almost 8 years, and I've been playing with Rodger Coleman at least once a year for the last 16. Going further back, Tad Thaddock played as a unit for 4 or 5 years. Alexander Hawkins is absolutely right!

Playlist, Week of 2016-10-16

Playlist 2016-10-17:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: One Line, Two Views
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Reese and the Smooth Ones
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Kabalaba (side 1)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1991-10-31 Berlin Jazzfest (youtube)
*Tim Berne's Snakeoil: You've Been Watching Me
*Rodger Coleman: Real Gone
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 10 (disc 2)
*Joseph Jarman: Song For
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Roulette of the Cradle
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-09-19 "Uncle Arthur's Flour Apprehension" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-09-28 "Ankle, Rain, Pack" Strange Matter, RVA (wav)
*Chris Pitsiokos Quartet: One Eye with a Microscope Attached
*Spanish Donkey: Raoul
*Sun Ra Arkestra: ca. 1969-1970 Slug's Saloon, NYC (CDR) (selections)
*Sun Ra: Cosmos
*Sun Ra: Untitled Recordings
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard)
*Sun Ra: Media Dreams (Art Yard)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 1)
*David S. Ware/Apogee: Birth of a Being (disc 1)
*John Zorn: Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces, Vol. 2
*George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars: T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M.
*George Clinton & the P-Funk Allstars: Dope Dogs
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2016-10-14 (wav)
*Guided By Voices: Please Be Honest
*Jefferson Pilot: 2016 Demos/Rough Mixes (CDR)
*King Crimson: Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind (disc 2)
*Opeth: Sorceress
*Richard Pinhas: 2014-05-16 Victoriaville (CDR)
*UYA: 1989-12-18/28: Everything Breaks
*UYA: 1990-01-11 Greedy Venus Power (wav)
*UYA: 1990-01-14 Coin Breath (wav)
*UYA: 1990-01-14/15 Under Your Anarchy (wav)
*Various artists: Nigeria Soul Fever: : Afro Funk, Disco and Boogie: West African Disco Mayhem! (disc 1)
*Yes: Relayer

Reading List, Week of 2016-10-16

Reading List 2016-10-17:

*Christgau, Robert. Grown Up All Wrong (started)
*Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (started)
*Klosterman, Chuck.  But What If We're Wrong? Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (finished)
*Mizumura, Minae. A True Novel (transl. Juliet Winters Carpenter) (finished)
*Crumb, Aline and R. Drawn Together (in progress)
*Hernandez, Gilbert. Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (reread/in progress)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas (reread/in progress)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)

The Improviser and the Improvised

Daniel Barbiero and Al Margolis

Corbett describes this existential dimension of free improvisation when he suggests that the best improvisers develop an intensely personal vocabulary--the “lexicon” alluded to earlier--of the sounds and gestures they find most meaningful. More than technique is involved, although that certainly is part of it; sensibility, and, as he terms it, “an amplification or intensification of personal identity” are also involved. In other words, something beyond music narrowly construed comes into play--something indicative of a more fundamental aspect of the improviser's comportment in the world. When most effectively played, free improvisation tells us something about the improviser that goes beyond the strictly musical. (Daniel Barbiero, "Free Improvisation, Beyond Mystery and Mystique: John Corbett's A Listener's Guide to Free Improvisation," Perfect Sound Forever Oct./Nov. 2016)

Playlist, Week of 2016-10-09

Wasn't there something announced from Irwin Chusid about this being remastered soon without the horrible pressing defect present in all circulating vinyl rips? I hope so, because there's some primo Gilmore on this, especially "What's New?"

Playlist 2016-10-10:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: One Line, Two Views
*Daniel Barbiero/Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery: 2016-08-27 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Anthony Braxton Sextet: 2005-11-05 Boston (CDR) (disc 1)
*Dutch Jazz Orchestra: Portrait of a Silk Thread: Newly Discovered Works of Billy Strayhorn
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 10 (disc 1)
*Ellery Eskelin: The Secret Museum
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2014-09-16 Koln, Germany (CDR)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Ubatuba
*Paradoxical Frog: 2012-09-21 Firehouse 12, New Haven CT (CDR) (disc 1)
*Sonny Rollins: East Broadway Run Down
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: 1976-08-24 Châteauvallon, France (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: 1976-08-25 Châteauvallon, France (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: 1977-04-17 Smuckers, NYC (CDR) (selections)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Some Blues But Not the Kind That’s Blue
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Unity
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Taking a Chance on Chances
*Sun Ra Quartet: New Steps
*Sun Ra Quartet: Other Voices, Other Blues
*Beach Boys: Alternates (disc 2) (CDR compilation)
*Opeth: Watershed

Reading List, Week of 2016-10-09

Reading List 2016-10-10:

*Klosterman, Chuck.  But What If We're Wrong?: Thinking About the Present As If It Were the Past (started)
*Crumb, Aline and R. Drawn Together (in progress)
*Hernandez, Gilbert. Palomar: The Heartbreak Soup Stories (reread/in progress)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Locas (reread/in progress)
*Martin, Judith. Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility (in progress)
*Mizumura, Minae. A True Novel (transl. Juliet Winters Carpenter) (in progress)

Mary Halvorson on the influence of Braxton

TC: What is the most important thing you feel you learned from Braxton?
MH: It’s really hard to narrow it down to just one thing! So I might cheat and mention a few things. When I first met Anthony and started taking his classes at age 17, his music inspired me deeply (and it still does today). During those early years as a student he constantly encouraged me to explore, and to get out of my comfort zone. He encouraged mistakes, and encouraged taking risks even if it meant failing. His musical universe is and was so expansive and diverse, and seeing the scope of what he’s done and how he continues to change and evolve is inspiring in itself. He is fearless, and makes no compromises. In my mind, all kinds of boundaries started dissolving. Anthony also taught me to value musical tradition of all kinds, to be open-minded, and to check out absolutely everything. He never qualified one kind of music as “better” than another kind. And maybe most importantly, he gave me the courage to pursue music as a career. When I was 19 and trying to decide if I should become a musician, I really wanted to but just didn’t think I could pull it off. Fortunately, I had Anthony, and my guitar teacher Joe Morris (Joe was the other really important figure during my college years) pushing me to go for it. I needed that. (Troy Collins, Mary Halvorson: Variety and Contrast, Point of Departure, issue 52, 2015)

Photos from Strange Matter Gig

Here are some photos (taken by Jimmy Ghaphery) from New Ting Ting Loft's gig last week at Strange Matter.

Getting ready to play....

Fred in his element:

A closeup of some of Fred's equipment: