New Release: Layers of Memory

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Just released on Bandcamp: Layers of Memory, the fruits of a December trio session with Gary Rouzer on cello and Jimmy Ghaphery on saxes and flute... check it out! Mostly improvisations, some guided concepts, some post-recording editing and manipulation by Gary.

Playlist, Week of 2019-03-24

Musical brain is all over the place these days... Revisiting November sessions with Rodger Coleman to think about possible release... it seems like forever ago, but on the other hand the music still seems fresh, so that's a good sign!... Grooving with The Mosaic Project, satisfying a certain need for me... Continuing to be just blown away by Combobulated... Happily revisiting Caravan, and noting Canterbury keyboard style similarities between Steve Miller, David Sinclair, Dave Stewart, and Mike Ratledge... Getting guitar rocks off with Code Girl and Harriet Tubman... Marveling again at the current British large-ensemble brilliance of Alex Ward and Alexander Hawkins...

Playlist 2019-03-25:

*Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2018-11-19 Nashville (rough mix wav)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2018-11-20 Nashville (rough mix wav)
*Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Final Tour (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6) (discs 2, 3, 4)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Happy Birthday Duke! Vol. 1
*Jimmy Ghaphery/Gary Rouzer/Sam Byrd: Layers of Memory
*Mary Halvorson: Code Girl (disc 1)
*Harriet Tubman: Ascension
*Hasidic New Wave: From the Belly of Abraham
*Hasidic New Wave: The Complete Recordings (disc 5)
*Alexander Hawkins: Unit[e] (disc 2)
*Liquid Friction Assemblage: 2019-02-01 Rhizome, Washington DC (CDR)
*Allen Lowe/Roswell Rudd: Woyzeck's Death
*Charles Mingus: Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden (discs 2, 3)
*New Ting: 2019-03-18 "Tune Deflection" (wav)
*RAIC: Multiplicity
*Tom Rainey Trio: Combobulated
*Pharoah Sanders: Karma
*Soft Machine: 5
*Sun Ra: Monorails & Satellites: Works for Solo Piano Vols. 1, 2, 3 (disc 2)
*McCoy Tyner: Extensions
*Various artists: History of Electronic/Electroacoustic Music (CDR compilation) (disc 26)
*Miroslav Vitous: Music of Weather Report
*Alex Ward Item 10: Volition (Live At Cafe Oto)
*Fred Astaire: Starring Fred Astaire (selections)
*Caravan: Waterloo Lily
*Dead Rider Trio: Dead Rider Trio Featuring Mr. Paul Williams
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2019-03-03 (wav)
*Funkadelic: Reworked by Detroiters (disc 2)
*King Crimson: Live in Guildford
*Roxy Music: The Thrill of It All (disc 1)
*Sonic Youth: Sonic Death (Early Sonic - Sonic-Youth Live)
*UYA: 1991-11-17 Unexpected Jolt (wav)
*UYA: 1991-11-26 Percy Gag Nose Scare (wav)
*UYA: 1991-12-03 Yearn to Burn (wav)
*UYA: 1991-12-09 Fold Glow (wav)

Reading List, Week of 2019-03-24

Reading List 2019-03-25:

*Hiaasen, Carl. Flush (started)
*Macan, Edward. Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (started)
*Apuleius. The Transformations of Lucius Otherwise Known as The Golden Ass (transl. Robert Graves) (started/finished)
*Baker, Nicholson. House of Holes (finished)
*Burt, Stephen. The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (in progress)
*Stanley, John, and Irving Tripp. Little Lulu: Lucky Lulu (in progress)
*Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th ed.) (in progress)

Still Another Bonus Playlist from the Magic Jukebox

Here's another randomly-shuffled playlist from the Magic Jukebox, this time from early March 2019. Heck's-a-poppin' on the Magic Jukebox!

1. James Brown - Hot pants (live)
2. Wing - I don't know how to love him
3. Joey Gilmore - Somebody done took my baby
4. Beatles - Here comes the sun
5. Howdy Doody - Magic Juke Box theme
6. Mothers of Invention - King Kong III
7. Rutles - Hold my hand
8. Funkadelic - Wake up
9. Hinds Brothers - Audile/tactile
10. Elvis Presley - Blue moon of Kentucky
11. Louis Prima and Keely Smith - Jump, jive, an' wail
12. Radiants - Voice your choice
13. Wondermints - Hypnolove
14. Steely Dan - Josie
15. Beatles - Roll over Beethoven (live)
16. Charlie Parker - Sunny side of the street
17. Duke Ellington - Conga brava
18. Miles Davis - Bitches brew (live)
19. Bobby Marchan - What can I do (part 1)
20. Sun Ra - Velvet (live)
21. Beach Boys - I'm in great shape/I wanna be around/Workshop
22. Kamal Ahmed - Aage bhi
23. Big Star - Back of a car
24. Sun Ra - There are other worlds (they have not told you of)
25. MC Honky - Baby elephant rock-a-bye
26. Charlie Parker - She rote
27. Brenda Lee - Is it true
28. James Brown - Get on the good foot (live)
29. Temptations - (Loneliness has made me realize) it's you I need
30. Charlie Rich - Now everybody knows
31. Guided By Voices - The caterpillar workforce
32. Bruce Ruffin - Dry up your tears
33. Beatles - And your bird can sing (take 2 + overdubs)
34. Tad Thaddock - God has many moles
35. David Bowie - It's no game
36. XTC - Chain of command
37. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - He don't care about me
38. Beatles - Can't buy me love (live)
39. Duke Ellington - Pussy willow
40. Shelby Lynne - You don't have to say you love me
41. Tad Thaddock - Squirrel pudding (live)
42. Mystery Science Theater 3000: Where oh werewolf
43. Boston Spaceships - Pluto the skate
44. Deerhoof - Paradise girls (live)
45. Shirelles - Tonight you're gonna fall in love with me
46. Duke Ellington - Moon over Cuba
47. Sun Ra - Nashira
48. Beatles - Savoy truffle
49. Beach Boys - Wonderful
50. Jefferson Pilot - Doesn't she come today?
51. Sun Ra - Galactic synthesis
52. Carla Thomas - A love of my own
53. Paul McCartney & Elvis Costello - My brave face
54. NRBQ - Feel you around me
55. Leslie Gore - Judy's turn to cry
56. Claudine Clark - The telephone game
57. Beach Boys - That's not me
58. UYA - Carefree > Ode to Kenny "G" > Saturn
59. High Llamas - Apricots
60. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles - I need a change
61. Coasters - Three cool cats
62. Coasters - Yakety yak
63. Supremes - Back in my arms again
64. Solomon Burke - Meet me in church
65. John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band - Mother
66. Jimi Hendrix - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (live)
67. Beastie Boys - Hey ladies
68. Muddy Waters - Young fashioned ways
69. Tim Gane & Sean O'Hagan - La vie d'artiste (l'autograph)
70. Elvis Costello - Luxembourg
71. Adolphe Hofner and His Texans - Better quit it now
72. Gaylads - Don't listen to the rumours
73. Wilson Pickett - It's too late
74. Betty Harris - Show it
75. Shirelles - I want you to be my boyfriend
76. Gamblers - Moon dawg!
77. Tad Thaddock - Bad Bunny Hill (live)
78. Guided By Voices - Shocker in Gloomtown
79. Sun Ra - Friendly galaxy no. 2 (live)
80. Paul McCartney - Maybe I'm amazed
81. Sun Ra - Blue York
82. Duke Ellington - Swampy River
83. Barney Bigard and His Jazzopators - Frolic Sam
84. Deerhoof - New sneakers
85. Little Richard - True fine mama
86. Duke Ellington - The chaser
87. Sun Ra - Prelude
88. Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine
89. Charlie Parker - Quasimodo
90. James Carr - Life turned her that way
91. SVP/Mad professor's interlude - Anti-Pop Consortium
92. Gong - Sold to the highest Buddha
93. Stock, Hausen, & Walkman - McNothing
94. Sly & the Family Stone - Harmony
95. Leroy Foster - Locked out boogie
96. Sun Ra - Strange worlds
97. Sun Ra - Orbiting (excerpt)
98. Bettye Lavette - Let me down easy
99. Mable John - Able Mable
100. UYA - Void dancing

Reading Plan Update

I've been progressively moving away from the notion of a prescribed reading plan for myself over the last few years, not that I ever strictly adhered to one. I always have in mind the next few books I want to get to, triggered by physical piles of books in my bedroom, lists I scribble (on post-its or on this blog), and spare crannies in my brain. But I also always leave myself open to whim, chance, and opportunity. One of the great things about working in an academic library is immediate access to tons of great stuff, and more often than not, when I come across a reference to something intriguing, chances are likely that we'll have it already--and then there's always inter-library loan.

So, no formal reading plan for this coming year, although I won't hesitate to mention a few books looming in my future. First, though, looking back, I find that I have pretty much stuck to maybe half of what I said I wanted to read in my last reading plan post: I didn't get to as much early modern drama as I'd hoped, but I did read some Thomas Heywood and Thomas Middleton. I got through a fair-ish amount of Shakespeare, reading the Henry VI tetralogy twice. I didn't get to Javier Marías' trilogy, but I did finish Knausgaard's My Struggle. I reread Bleeding Edge and got through some Jane Austen. And I only have two John Le Carré novels to finish! So, not too bad.

I will get to those Le Carré novels soon. I am also gearing up to work through the rest of Ian Rankin's Rebus novels. The third Esslemont Path to Ascendancy is coming out in April. I will delve into some novels suggested by Steven Moore in his various books and essays, including some Rikki Ducornet and a rereading of Gaddis' The Recognitions. Want to get to some Vollmann, re-read Barth's Giles Goat-Boy, and of course more Shakespeare. Maybe re-read Moby-Dick and Sense and Sensibility. Some Dumas? Oh yeah, and get to Marías.

Playlist, Week of 2019-03-17

The new Tom Rainey Trio release is perhaps their best yet... three of the greatest musicians on their respective instruments at the absolute top of their game, playing with passion, dexterity, and imagination... all three are marvelous, with Ingrid Laubrock standing out particularly for me with some outrageously fierce high-register super-intense playing... just brilliant...

Playlist 2019-03-18:

*Albert Ayler Quartet: Ghosts
*Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Final Tour (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6) (disc 1)
*Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions (disc 3)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1936-1940 Variety, Vocalion, and Okeh Small Group Sessions (disc 7)
*Fire!: The Hands
*Hasidic New Wave: Kabalogy
*Vijay Iyer/Craig Taborn: The Transitory Poems
*Charles Mingus: Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden (disc 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side (disc 2)
*New Ting: 2019-03-04 "Weather Undersky" (wav)
*Tom Rainey Trio: Combobulated
*Pharoah Sanders: Tauhid
*Pharoah Sanders: Jewels of Thought
*Matthew Shipp: Matthew Shipp Plays The Music Of Allen Lowe (I Alone: The Everlasting Beauty Of Monotony, Or: The Future, He Thought, Was Never When He Expected It To Be)
*Soft Machine: Six
*Cecil Taylor: Poschiavo
*Cecil Taylor: Conversations with Tony Oxley
*Various artists: History of Electronic/Electroacoustic Music (CDR compilation) (disc 25)
*WMWM: Live at the BBC 1973 (CDR)
*Daevid Allen Weird Quartet: Elevenses
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (Super Deluxe Ed.) (side 2)
*Caravan: Waterloo Lily
*Caspar Brötzmann Massaker: The Tribe
*Funkadelic: Reworked by Detroiters (disc 1)
*Guided By Voices: Album Tracks 1992-2004 (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Jerry Lee Lewis: The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology - All Killer No Filler! (disc 2)
*Andy Partridge: Apples & Oranges/Humanoid Boogie (EP)
*Irma Thomas: Time Is on My Side
*U.S. Maple: Long Hair in Three Stages
*UYA: 1991-10-08 Indifferent to Exposure (wav)
*UYA: 1991-10-22 Stuffed Rocket to Nowhere (wav)
*UYA: 1991-11-05 Cosmo Knots (wav)
*Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: The Roxy Performances (discs 6, 7)

Reading List, Week of 2019-03-17

Reading List 2019-03-18:

*Weigel, David. The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock (finished)
*Baker, Nicholson. House of Holes (started)
*Stanley, John, and Irving Tripp. Little Lulu: Lucky Lulu (started)
*Baker, Nicholson. The Anthologist (started/finished)
*Burt, Stephen. The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (in progress)
*Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th ed.) (in progress)

In the Studio

At Etching Tin Recording Studio today for a RAIC session with Erik Schroeder...

Wallace on Punctuation

One measure of how good the writing is is how little effort it requires for the reader to track what's going on. For example, I am not an absolute believer in standard punctuation at all times, but one thing that's often a big shock to my students is that punctuation isn't merely a matter of pacing or how you would read something out loud. These marks are, in fact, cues to the reader for how very quickly to organize the various phrases and clauses of the sentence so the sentence as a whole makes sense. (David Foster Wallace, in Wallace and Bryan A. Garner, Quack This Way, 2013, pp. 85-86)

Playlist, Week of 2019-03-10

Pathways to Unknown Worlds is another well-done reissue from the folks at Modern Harmonic... this is one of my all-time favorite Sun Ra albums, and this version does it justice... the remastered sound is crisp and solid, giving extra weight to Ronnie Boykins' superlative bass work... this is one of the last Ra albums he appeared on, I believe... he always worked well with Clifford Jarvis, and this is no exception... and fortunately we are spared any grandstanding Jarvis drum solos... the album is a slow simmer of guided improvisation, heated up by Ra's keyboards... be sure to check out Rodger Coleman's assessment of this album from Sun Ra Sundays... the reissue ties up some loose ends by joining together the two pieces that were presented separately on the Evidence version as "Untitled" and "Extension Out"... also included are two pieces which originally appeared on Of Mythic Worlds, with a top John Gilmore solo on the title track from that LP, as well as an unreleased original: "View from a Mountain Top" is a short organ-drenched meditation very much in the spirit of the rest of the album, with some beautiful moody sax from Gilmore at the end... needless to say, a must-have!

Playlist 2019-03-11:

*Albert Ayler: Music Is the Healing Force of The Universe
*Chicago/London Underground: A Night Walking Through Mirrors
*Nels Cline Singers: Instrumentals
*John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (disc 2)
*Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions (disc 2)
*Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Decca Singles 1935-1939 featuring Chick Webb (selections)
*Hasidic New Wave: Psycho-Semitic
*Alexander Hawkins: Iron into Wind (Pears from an Elm)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Utter
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side (disc 1)
*New Ting: 2019-03-04 "Weather Undersky" (wav)
*Oakland Elementary School Arkestra: The Saga of Padani
*Tom Rainey Trio: Combobulated
*Schlippenbach Trio: Elf Bagatellen
*Matthew Shipp: Sonic Fiction
*Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Unreleased Studio Sessions and Broadcasts 1966-1968 (CDR)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Pathways to Unknown Worlds (Remastered 2019)
*Sun Ra: Discipline Series (Tommy D compilation) (.mp3)
*Cecil Taylor: Jazz Advance
*Cecil Taylor Quartet: At Newport
*Various artists: History of Electronic/Electroacoustic Music (Manoury: "Zeitlauf") (CDR compilation) (disc 24)
*Various artists: Wildflowers: The New York Jazz Loft Sessions, Complete (disc 3)
*Beau Hunks: On to the Show!
*Mike Elder/Harry Forrest/Greg Jordan/Sam Byrd: 2019-03-03 (wav)
*Guided By Voices: Singles 95-14 (CDR compilation)
*Janis Joplin: Janis (disc 3)
*Palberta: 2017-02-10 Brooklyn (CDR)
*Palberta: 2019-02-02 Brooklyn (CDR) (selections)
*Solange: When I Get Home
*UYA: 1991-08-24/09-07 Asleep-220 (wav)
*UYA: 1991-09-10 Examine the Phenomenon (wav)
*UYA: 1991-09-16 This Energy Not at Once (wav)

Reading List, Week of 2019-03-10

Reading List 2019-03-11:

*Weigel, David. The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock (started)
*Rankin, Ian. The Black Book (started/finished)
*Wallace, David Foster, and Bryan A. Garner: Quack This Way (started/finished)
*O'Brien, Flann. At Swim-Two-Birds (finished)
*Stanley, John, and Irving Tripp. Little Lulu: Lulu Goes Shopping (finished)
*Burt, Stephen. The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (in progress)
*Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th ed.) (in progress)

For Me It's Pynchon

...if you spend enough time reading or writing, you find a voice, but you also find certain tastes. You find certain writers who when they write, it makes your own brain voice like a tuning fork, and you just resonate with them. And when that happens, reading those writers--not all of whom are modern... I mean, if you are willing to make allowances for the way English has changed, you can go way, way back with this--becomes a source of unbelievable joy. (David Foster Wallace, in Wallace and Bryan A. Garner, Quack This Way, 2013, p. 61)

Playlist, Week of 2019-03-03

Really nice tribute to the late Keith Sinzinger, experimental DC-area musician extraordinaire, from Liquid Friction Assemblage. I only got to play with Keith once, in Jimmy Ghaphery's Boris Bobby project (spot him playing some kind of tin cannister at 21:46).

Playlist 2019-03-04:

*Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton & Derek Bailey: First Duo Concert, London 1974
*Eric Dolphy: Musical Prophet: The Expanded 1963 New York Studio Sessions (disc 1)
*Jimmy Ghaphery/Gary Rouzer/Sam Byrd: Layers of Memory
*Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
*Harriet Tubman: The Terror End of Beauty
*Alexander Hawkins: Iron into Wind (Pears from an Elm)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Serpentines
*Tony Levin/David Torn/Alan White: Levin Torn White
*Liquid Friction Assemblage: 2019-02-01 Rhizome, Washington DC
*New Ting: 2019-02-04 "Hungry Expectations, Part 1: Don't Spoil the Dream" (wav)
*New Ting: 2019-02-04 "Hungry Expectations, Part 2: During the Meal" (wav)
*New Ting: 2019-02-18 "Congealed Mysteries" (wav)
*New Ting: 2019-02-25 "Make the Round Thing Talk" (wav)
*No Material: No Material
*Tony Oxley: Ichnos
*Tom Rainey Trio: Combobulated
*Pharoah Sanders: Live at the East
*Tyshawn Sorey: Pillars (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Monorails & Satellites: Works for Solo Piano Vols. 1, 2, 3 (disc 2)
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 3)
*James Blood Ulmer: Memphis Blood: The Sun Sessions
*Various artists: A Day in the Life: Impressions of Pepper
*Beatnix: It's Four You
*Beau Hunks: The Beau Hunks Play the Original "Little Rascals" Music
*Dirty Projectors: Lamp Lit Prose
*Janis Joplin: Janis (disc 2)
*Lemon Twigs: Do Hollywood
*Lemon Twigs: Go to School
*Jerry Lee Lewis: The Jerry Lee Lewis Anthology - All Killer No Filler! (disc 1)
*Melt Banana: MxBx 1998/13000 Miles at Light Velocity
*Merzbow: Karasu: 13 Japanese Birds Pt. 4
*Paul McCartney: New
*Palberta: 2018-05-18 Chinatown Sessions
*Palberta: On Audiotree Live
*Parliament: Medicaid Fraud Dogg
*Andy Partridge: Apples & Oranges/Humanoid Boogie (EP)
*Sugar: Copper Blue
*Sugar: Beaster
*UYA: 1991-08-08 Sitting on a Guy Named Verge (wav)
*UYA: 1991-08-12 Your Professional Portfolio at Work (wav)
*UYA: 1991-08-18 Call Now! (wav)
*UYA: 1991-08-22 B.P.N.J. (wav)
*Frank Zappa/Mothers of Invention: The Roxy Performances (disc 5)

Reading List, Week of 2019-03-03

Reading List 2019-03-04:

*O'Brien, Flann. At Swim-Two-Birds (started)
*Sorrentino, Gilbert. Mulligan Stew (reread/finished)
*Stanley, John, and Irving Tripp. Little Lulu: Lulu Goes Shopping (started)
*Burt, Stephen. The Poem Is You: 60 Contemporary American Poems and How to Read Them (in progress)
*Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (4th ed.) (in progress)

Sun Ra Sundays

Over at the Sun Ra site, I am pleased that Irwin Chusid has posted two PDFs compiling Rodger Coleman's masterful Sun Ra Sundays posts. Over a period of seven years, Rodger worked his way through the Ra discography with detailed essays, providing historical context and deep musical insight. Chusid's PDF compiles all the blog entries in chronological order as they appeared on the (now-defunct) blog. He was also kind enough to include to include a (slightly altered) version of a PDF I had (independently) compiled which goes through Rodger's posts in discographical order. Both are available for free download, and either version is essential reading for any Sun Ra fan.

Logging the Books

Ever since I was a kid, I have kept a book log, listing all the books I've read, similar in many ways to what Pamela Paul writes about here. A few years ago, I also started a spreadsheet, an online book log which has made it easier to track certain things, like totals and categories.

For example, I can easily tally how many books I read in a given year. In 2018, I read a total of 100 books (that's compared to 90 for 2017 and 107 for 2016). Of those books, for 2018, 45 were novels--less than half. I think of myself as mostly reading novels, but the numbers think differently: for 2017, I read 32 novels (out of 90, that's just a little over a third), and for 2016, I read 38 (out of 107; again, about a third). If I broaden the category to fiction and include short stories, comics, and drama, the number for 2018 goes up to 80 out of 100--an easy-to-calculate 80% (duh--numbers have never been my strong suit.) So maybe I should think of myself as primarily a fiction reader. Well, I knew that already, but it's a bit of meaningless fun to look at the figures.

Another interesting figure: out of the 100 books I read in 2018, 32 were rereads. For 2017, 16 out of the 90 total were rereads, and for 2016, only 9 out of 107. So my rereading seems to be on an upward trend--we'll see how that pans out this year. I am a huge proponent of rereading---I know there are so many great books out there, but so many books do reward second (and third, and fourth...) rereadings, and my reading plan for this year, as for all years, includes many return readings.