Playlist, Week of 2017-01-15

I am not a huge opera fan. I am a huge Braxton fan. I knew that someday I'd have to come to terms with Braxton's ongoing opera project. It's obviously an important part of his oeuvre. So, my lovely wife came through for me this Christmas and gifted me with these Trillium boxes. Wow! Now that I have plowed through all 10 discs at least once, I can safely say: I am bewildered, but intrigued. I love the instrumental stuff going on throughout these discs...there are some amazing passages, instrumental interludes that sound nothing like anything else I've heard from Braxton's large ensemble work....but I am still struggling with the vocals. Many times it sounds they're singing one note, kind of talking-singing rather than singing a melody. That's probably intentional, but it gets tiring after a while to these non-theatrical-music-fan ears. But! Some of this stuff is funny as hell, and it's actually growing on me. It doesn't strike me as typical opera at all, based on my limited knowledge of opera--but then again,I shouldn't be surprised, it is Braxton, after all. So how does it compare to other modern opera? Couldn't say. How does it compare to other large ensemble Braxton? Very favorably. This is challenging, dense music that I am sure is going to intrigue and beguile me for years to come.

Playlist 2017-01-16:

*Mahler: Symphony No. 5 (Boulez)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Warsaw) 2012
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium E (discs 1, 2)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2016-12-26 Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2016-12-28 Nashville (wav)
*Decoy & Joe McPhee: Oto
*Fred Frith/Marc Ribot: Sounds of a Distant Episode
*Barry Guy/London Jazz Composers Orchestra: Study II, Stringer
*Andrew Hill: The Complete Blue Note Andrew Hill Sessions (1963-66) (disc 5)
*Elmo Hope: Sounds from Rikers Island
*Illegal Crowns: Illegal Crowns
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey/Kris Davis/Ralph Alessi: Lark
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: 2016-11-05 Strasbourg, France (CDR)
*Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds of Fire
*RAIC: 2016-08-13 Richmond VA (wav)
*RAIC: 2016-09-01 "Lovers Never Leave" Sound of Music Studios, RVA (wav)
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: Horizon (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard) "Disco 3000"
*Serenus Zeitblom Oktett with Ingrid Laubrock: 2016-09-06 Sardinia, Italy (CDR)
*Elvis Costello and Bill Frisell: Deep Dead Blue
*Dick Dale and His Del-Tones: Surfers' Choice
*Gentle Giant: In a Glass House
*Grateful Dead: Live to Air
*Opeth: Sorceress (Limited Edition) (disc 2)
*Prince: Montreux Jazz Festival 2013/From The Soundboard, Vol. 1 (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Richard Pinhas/Yoshida Tatsuya: Welcome in the Void
*Stereolab: Music for the Amorphous Body Study Center
*UYA: The Unrealized Sessions of UYA (High Noon ADAT Mixes)
*XTC: Homegrown
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (2016 remaster) (disc 3)