Playlist, Week of 2017-10-29

Some of my favorite Ornette Coleman compositions are his various works for strings and woodwinds... Prime Design/Time Design features a string quartet plus Denardo Coleman on drums... it's a killer combination, and should be more widely known, if not revered... the piece is primarily atonal and cacophonous, but it ends with a brief melody that's as beautiful as any piece he wrote... Short list this week, been kinda busy...

Playlist 2017-10-30:

*Air: 1979-06-25 Rome (CDR)
*Ornette Coleman: Prime Design/Time Design
*Dave Holland Quartet: 1972-12-01 Studio Rivbea, NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-10-23 "Value-Added Air" (wav)
*NVS Trio: 2016-12-12 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Return to Forever: No Mystery
*New Tony Williams Lifetime: Live at the Village Gate
*Animal Collective: Painting With
*Can: The Singles
*Deerhoof: The Magic

Reading List, Week of 2017-10-29

Just  brilliant....

Reading List 2017-10-30:

*Mullan, John. What Matters in Jane Austen? (started)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 5 (started)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 4 (reread/started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 3 (reread/started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 2 (reread/started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K., and Fiona Staples. Saga, Volume 1 (reread/started/finished)
*Austen, Jane. Emma (reread/started/finished)
*Pullman, Philip. The Book of Dust, Vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage (finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (introductory matter only) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2017-10-22

The Henry Threadgill sweep continues, with more Air and also Threadgill's early masterpiece X-75 Volume 1, one of my favorite jazz albums of the late '70s... with its unusual instrumentation of four woodwinds (mostly flutes), four basses, and the wonderful Amina Claudine Myers on vocals, the album casts a wonderful spell unique to Threadgill's discography... the Mosaic box set devoted to his complete Novus and Columbia recordings adds a full album's worth of unreleased material to constitute a Volume 2... the only difference being the lack of Myers... still, great stuff... and Threadgill's alto sax solo on "Fe Fi Fo Fum" is a showstopper... I recently dug out Apogee again and reminded myself of what a masterpiece it is... definitely one of the greatest tenor sax albums out there... the pairing of Pete Christlieb and Warne Marsh is sublime... Christlieb's playing is soulful and satisfying in a "Deacon Blues" kind of way, while Marsh is more abstract and angular, demonstrating conclusively how massive an influence on Anthony Braxton he has been... together, their playing sparks so much I swear I can see flames coming off the turntable... Always a pleasure to hear new Tom Rainey and Ingrid Laubrock... I love Rainey's approach to standards that he uses with his Obbligato group...

Playlist 2017-10-23:

*Air: Montreux Suisse Air
*Air: Air Lore
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: People in Sorrow
*Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet: Apogee
*Ornette Coleman: Prime Design/Time Design
*Decoy with Joe McPhee: Spontaneous Combustion (disc 1)
*Dave Holland Quartet: 1972-12-01 Studio Rivbea, NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Roland Kirk Quartet: Rip, Rig, and Panic
*Steve Miller/Lol Coxhill: "The Story So Far​.​.​." ".​.​.​Oh Really?" (disc 2)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-10-09 "Fight Back in the Kitchen" (wav)
*Charlie Parker: Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes (disc 1)
*Evan Parker/Derek Bailey/Han Bennink: The Topography of the Lungs
*Evan Parker: Monoceros
*Evan Parker & AMM: Title Goes Here
*RAIC: 2017-10-14 Etching Tin Recording Studio, RVA "Balance of the Three" (wav)
*Tom Rainey Obbligato: Float Upstream
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2017-09-09 Jazz Gallery, NYC (wav)
*Return to Forever: Where Have I Known You Before
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter One: Les Gens de Couleur Libres
*Henry Threadgill: X-75 Volume 1
*Henry Threadgill: X-75 Volume 2
*Charles Tyler: Saga of the Outlaws
*Animal Collective: Painting With
*Tommy Bolin & Friends: Live at Ebbets Field June 3 & 4, 1974
*Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (discs 6, 7, 8)
*Funkadelic: Music for Your Mother: Funkadelic 45s  (disc 2)
*Elvis Presley: A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete 1953-55 Recordings (disc 1)
*Space Debris: Behind the Gate (disc 1)
*Steely Dan: Gaucho Outtakes and Demos (1979-80)
*Various artists: Ethiopiques Vol. 24: Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music (1969-1975)

Reading List, Week of 2017-10-22

Reading List 2017-10-23:

*Pullman, Philip. The Book of Dust, vol. 1: La Belle Sauvage (started)
*Andersen, T. R. "Mapping the World: Thomas Pynchon's Global Novels," in Orbit: Writing around Pynchon 4(1), 2016 (started/finished)
*King, Stephen, and Owen King. Sleeping Beauties (finished)
*The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion (ed. Gary Taylor and Gabriel Egan) (finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (introductory matter only) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)

RAIC in the Studio

RAIC was in Etching Tin Studio over the weekend, and Samuel Goff invited me to join RAIC for the session to perform "Balance of the Three" (the piece we played at WRIR back in February). The session turned out great, and we got a nice recording, which should show up at some point on a RAIC release. Ten musicians, including three drummers! Here are some photos:

Samuel Goff

waiting to play

Playlist, Week of 2017-10-15

Beginning to delve into this massive Dylan box... I'm familiar with many of the shows from bootlegs, but of course this is far better sound and way more comprehensive... I am starting to warm up to the new Deerhoof CD... it's taking a while, but there are definitely interesting moments scattered throughout... Greg Saunier's drumming is a bit more subdued, and there aren't as many hooks, and I'm not as fond of the guests' appearances... but hey, I'm cranky... and I take it back: Matana Robert's short contribution is wonderful... For my Threadgill sweep, I am restricting it to groups he led or was a co-member of, so it's Air to start off with, and then the various Sextettes, Zooids, etc. but not recordings on which he was a guest... and working through the Air recordings I am once again reminded how amazing a drummer Steve McCall was... as I've mentioned before, I was fortunate to see him play with Arthur Blythe at the Village Vanguard (along with Fred Hopkins)... never got to see Air, though... Great solid hard bop from Paul Chambers, especially the sessions with Coltrane... I used to despise (well, that's a strong word; maybe scorn would be better) "jazz guitar"... it just all sounded so weak to me compared to Hendrix... well, I'm older now... my tastes have not mellowed, but I do enjoy Kenny Burrell's work on Whims of Chambers... I may not be ready for Joe Pass, but I am not adverse to checking out Wes Montgomery or Grant Green... what does that say about me?

Playlist 2017-10-16:

*Air: Air Song
*Air: Live Air
*Air: Air Raid
*Air: Air Time
*Air: Open Air Suit
*Susan Alcorn/Ingrid Laubrock/Leila Bordreuil: 2017-08-18 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet & 7-tette: Navigation (The Complete Firehouse 12 Recordings) (disc 2)
*Paul Chambers: Chambers' Music
*Paul Chambers Sextet: Whims of Chambers
*Paul Chambers Quintet: Paul Chambers Quintet
*Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet: Apogee
*Noah Howard: Patterns/Message to South Africa
*Ingrid Laubrock: 2017-06-05 Moers (CDR)
*Allen Lowe: Jews in Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation (disc 2)
*Mahavishnu Orchestra: Birds of Fire
*Steve Miller/Lol Coxhill: "The Story So Far​.​.​." ".​.​.​Oh Really?" (disc 1)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-10-09 "Fight Back in the Kitchen" (wav)
*Sun Ra and His Mythic Science Arkestra: The Paris Tapes: Live at le Theatre du Chatelet 1971 (disc 1)
*Various artists: Jazzmen: Detroit
*Various artists: Wildflowers: The New York Jazz Loft Sessions, Complete (disc 1)
*John Zorn/Rashanim: Masada Rock
*Can: Soundtracks
*Deerhoof: Mountain Moves
*Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (discs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Funkadelic: Music for Your Mother: Funkadelic 45s  (disc 1)
*Guided By Voices: August by Cake
*Devadip Carlos Santana: Oneness: Silver Dreams - Golden Reality
*Soul Brothers Six: Some Kind of Wonderful (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Steely Dan: Gaucho Outtakes and Demos (1979-80)
*Various artists: Best of the British Dance Bands
*Various artists: Eccentric Soul: The Forte Label
*Various artists: Bombay Disco 2

Reading List, Week of 2017-10-15

Reading List 2017-10-16:

*King, Stephen, and Owen King. Sleeping Beauties (started)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion (ed. Gary Taylor and Gabriel Egan) (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (introductory matter only) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)

Tom Rainey

Excellent interview with drummer Tom Rainey over at Point of Departure. His list of drummers he was listening to in his early 20s is eerily similar to mine (if you add Robert Wyatt and Mitch Mitchell, and take away Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich):

TC: That makes perfect sense to me. Who do you consider your primary influences?

TR: The drummers that influenced me the most were all in my favorite bands. A brief and somewhat chronological list would look like: Ringo Starr (Beatles), Gene Krupa (Benny Goodman), Buddy Rich (Buddy Rich Big Band), Jack DeJohnette (Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis), Dave Garibaldi (Tower of Power), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Alphonse Mouzon and Eric Gravat (Weather Report), Tony Williams (Miles Davis), Elvin Jones (John Coltrane), Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins (Ornette Coleman), and Paul Motian (Paul Motian Quintet and Trio). There is so much more music across every genre that has informed me and this list represents only what I listened to through childhood into my early 20’s.

Playlist, Week of 2017-10-08

I am enjoying exploring some older Steve Coleman music, especially Genesis... I used to have a couple of his early albums, but they didn't grab me when they came out... this stuff does... The compilation of James Brown appearances on Soul Train is damn hot... short, concentrated, tight... It's been a while since I've done a full chronological run through all of a particular artist's recordings in my collection... I've done this previously with John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and Sam Rivers... it's about time for Henry Threadgill, maybe next week or the week after... in the meanwhile, I'm digging Old Locks and Irregular Verbs... Sun Ra as comfort food: Holiday for Soul Dance is good for what ails you (especially the title track)...

Playlist 2017-10-09:

*Susan Alcorn/Ingrid Laubrock/Leila Bordreuil: 2017-08-18 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance: Genesis
*Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society: Myths, Modes, and Means
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: Oort-Entropy
*Return to Forever: No Mystery
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Holiday for Soul Dance
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Other Planes of There
*Henry Threadgill Ensemble Double Up: Old Locks and Irregular Verbs
*Becker and Fagen: Early Demos and More (1969-81)
*Blue Cheer: Outsideinside
*David Bowie: Heroes
*David Bowie: Lodger
*James Brown: Soul Train Live
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: New CDR Compilation (disc 2)
*Al Green: Al Green Gets Next to You
*Temptations: Psychedelic Soul (disc 1)
*Various artists: Klangstudie and Komposition
*Various artists: Eccentric Soul: The Dynamic Label
*Various artists: Soul of a Nation: Afro-Centric Visions in the Age of Black Power
*Various artists: "Life Is Dance!": Plugged-In Sounds of Wonder at the Pakistani Picture House

Reading List, Week of 2017-10-08

Reading List 2017-10-09:

*McGuire, Richard. Here (started/finished)
*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion (ed. Gary Taylor and Gabriel Egan) (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (introductory matter only) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2017-09-24

Been enjoying digging through the three Ol' Virginia Soul compilations... like many collections of obscure regional soul and funk, there's a fair amount of derivative misses... I do think that for the most part there was a reason these weren't hits, and it wasn't just weak distribution... that being said, there are also many fine gems of wonderfully unadulterated raw soul... Loving Ingrid Laubrock's compositions for chamber orchestra and choir, with soloists including Kris Davis and Nate Wooley, as recently featured at the Moers Festival... Nice set from Communicating Vessels (with Daniel Barbiero) up on archive.org...

Playlist 2017-09-25:

*Susan Alcorn/Ingrid Laubrock/Leila Bordreuil: 2017-08-18 Brooklyn NY (CDR)
*Daniel Barbiero/Cristiano Bocci: Non-Places
*Anthony Braxton: Eight (+3) Tristano Compositions 1989: For Warne Marsh
*Anthony Braxton: Knitting Factory (Piano/Quartet) 1994, Vol. 1 (disc 2)
*Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet & 7-tette: Navigation (The Complete Firehouse 12 Recordings) (disc 1)
*Philip Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble: Singles
*Steve Coleman and the Council of Balance: Genesis
*Communicating Vessels: 2017-09-17 Rhizome, Washington DC (streaming)
*Barry Guy New Orchestra: Oort-Entropy
*Kip Hanrahan: Vertical’s Currency
*Kip Hanrahan: A Few Short Notes from the End Run
*Shannon Jackson & the Decoding Society: Eye on You
*Ingrid Laubrock: 2017-06-05 Moers (CDR)
*Allen Lowe: Jews in Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation (disc 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell Trio: Angel City
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-09-11 "Intention Span" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-09-18 "Rocket Soul Revue" (wav)
*Sun Ra: The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals & Crystal Spears (disc 2) "Sunrise in the Western Sky"
*Thing with Jim O'Rourke: Shinjuku Growl
*James Brown: Soul Train Live
*D’Angelo: Brown Sugar (Deluxe Ed.) (disc 2)
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: New CDR Compilation (disc 1)
*Jefferson Pilot: Hello Mississippi
*Mark Nauseef & Miroslav Tadić: The Snake Music
*Various artists: Anthology of Noise and Electronic Music vol. 1: First a-chronology 1921-2001 (disc 2)
*Various artists: Classroom Projects: Incredible Music Made by Children in Schools
*Various artists: Ol' Virginia Soul, Part 2: Funky Virginia
*Various artists: Eccentric Soul: The Nickel & Penny Labels

Playlist, Week of 2017-10-01

Some traveling music....

Playlist 2017-10-02:

*Beach Boys: 50 Big Ones
*Beatles: With the Beatles (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Beatles for Sale (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Mono Masters (2009 mono remaster) (disc 2)
*D’Angelo and the Vanguard: Black Messiah
*Deerhoof: Offend Maggie
*Deerhoof: Mountain Moves
*Hüsker Dü: Candy Apple Grey
*King Tubby: Two Big Bull in a One Pen Dubwise
*Prince: Released (CDR compilation)

Reading List, Week of 2017-10-01

Reading List 2017-10-02:

*Jackson, Holbrook. Anatomy of Bibliomania (in progress)
*The New Oxford Shakespeare: Authorship Companion (ed. Gary Taylor and Gabriel Egan) (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works (introductory matter only) (in progress)
*Silliman, Ron. The Alphabet (in progress)