Playlist, Week of 2020-11-29

It's good to cleanse the palate every so often with some brain-scraping noise jazz, and Zu fits the bill, especially with Mats Gustafsson sitting in... WMWM reminds me how great a free drummer Robert Wyatt was... I knew of their first album, but I wasn't even aware there was a second one from Free Range Rat until I read the entry in the Penguin guide... nice sax work from my old UYA bandmate Eric Hipp... Start scratching the Blue Note surface and you'll find Joe Henderson everywhere... he's great on Pete La Roca Sims's Basra... there he is on Herbie Hancock's The Prisoner as well... and, outside the Blue Note universe, he also pops up on Butterfly Dreams... love me some Joe Henderson!

Playlist 2020-11-30:

*Mose Allison: The Word from Mose
*Jon Anderson: Olias of Sunhillow
*Beach Boys: California Girls (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 mono remaster)
*Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Get Happy (side 1)
*Deerhoof: To Be Surrounded by Beautiful, Curious, Breathing, Laughing Flesh Is Enough
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington 1939 (side 2)
*Free Range Rat: Nut Club
*Mary Halvorson's Code Girl: Artlessly Falling
*Herbie Hancock: The Prisoner
*Andrew Hill: Solo (disc 3)
*Keith Jarrett: Standards in Norway
*King Crimson: Starless (discs 7, 9)
*Pete La Roca: Basra
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 1)
*Mat Maneri Trio: So What?
*Pat Metheny/Ornette Coleman: Song X: Twentieth Anniversary
*Charles Mingus: Right Now
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: Come and See What There Is To See
*Bud Powell: The Genius of Bud Powell (sides 1, 2)
*Prince: Sign O’ the Times (Super Deluxe Edition) (disc 1)
*Flora Purim: Butterfly Dreams
*Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra: Trilogy (disc 3)
*Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin: 1973-09-05 Berkeley (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Jimmy Smith: Groovin' at Small's Paradise
*Tomasz Stańko: Leosia
*Sun Ra: 1972-11-02/03 "Mystery Board" (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Singles: The Definitive 45s Collection 1952-1991 (disc 3)
*Swollen Monkeys: After Birth of the Cool
*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! "Conquistador"
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1983-09-04 Saalfelden, Austria (CDR)
*Keith Tippett's Ark: Frames (Music For An Imaginary Film) (disc 1)
*Charles Tolliver: Mosaic Select (disc 2)
*Various artists: The Sound of Bossa Nova (disc 1)
*Various artists: Ad-Rock & Mike D's Alphabetical Jukebox (CDR compilation) (disc 20)
*WMWM: Live at the BBC 1973 (CDR)
*Zu/Mats Gustafsson: How to Raise an Ox

Reading List, Week of 2020-11-29

Reading List 2020-11-30:

*Nashe, Thomas. The Unfortunate Traveler (started)
*Barth, John. Giles Goat-Boy (reread/finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-11-22

The new Ingrid Laubrock album is gorgeous... one disc of chamber orchestra with soloists, one with small group, playing (sort of) the same compositions... I think I prefer the chamber orchestra for its dreamy, focus-shifting uncertainty... Firestorm is an unrelenting blast of aggressive fire music... nice to hear Marshall Allen in this context... The Prisoner is a brilliant sedate meditation on the life of Martin Luther King Jr.... a recent discovery for me; wish I'd heard it earlier... As for Coltrane's Blue World, I didn't have a chance to hear it earlier, but I'm glad to hear it now... As I am glad to revisit the lush settings Gil Evans contrives for Miles Davis... 

Playlist 2020-11-23:

*Daniel Barbiero: In​/​Completion
*Béla Bartók: String Quartet No. 1 (Alban Berg Quartett)
*Tim Berne's Snakeoil: The Deceptive 4 (Live) (discs 1, 2)
*Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project
*John Coltrane: Blue World
*Sylvie Courvoisier Trio: D'Agala
*Miles Davis/Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (disc 4)
*Miles Davis: Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis 1963-1964 (discs 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington 1938 (side 3)
*Duke Ellington: Soul Call
*Dizzy Gillespie: Birks Works: The Verve Big-Band Sessions (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: Pacific Northwest '73-'74: Believe It if You Need It (disc 3)
*Mary Halvorson's Code Girl: Artlessly Falling
*Herbie Hancock: The Prisoner
*Andrew Hill: Solo (disc 2)
*King Crimson: Starless (discs 5, 6)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (discs 1, 2)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Stir Crazy (CDR compilation) (disc 8)
*Barbara Lewis: Don't Forget About Me (The Atlantic & Reprise Recordings) (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Barbara Lewis: The Many Grooves of Barbara Lewis
*Allen Lowe: Jews in Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation (disc 2)
*Manna/Mirage: Rest of the World
*Paul Motian Trio: Sound of Love
*Don Pullen: Mosaic Select (disc 3)
*Flora Purim: Open Your Eyes You Can Fly
*Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra: Trilogy (disc 2)
*Sonny Rollins: this Is What I Do
*Tad Thaddock: Things 25 (1985: 5000 Hawaiians/Live at P.B. Kelly's)
*Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley: Birdland, Neuburg 2011
*Lewis Taylor: The Lost Album
*Various artists: Ad-Rock & Mike D's Alphabetical Jukebox (CDR compilation) (disc 19)
*Weasel Walter Quartet and Double Trio: Firestorm
*Xiu Xiu: Women as Lovers
*John Zorn: Rimbaud

Reading List, Week of 2020-11-22

Reading List 2020-11-23:

*Chekhov, Anton. Early Short Stories 1883-1888 (transl. Constance Garnett) (stopped)
*Barth, John. Giles Goat-Boy (reread/in progress)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-11-15

Deerhoof's latest slew of albums is a lot of fun, but the best of the lot is Love-Lore, an amazing mix of cover tunes which manages to include Sun Ra and Anthony Braxton AND Dionne Warwick AND "The Jetsons" AND P-Funk... starting to sound a lot like the Magic Jukebox!... John Gilmore's work on Pete Sims's Turkish Women at the Bath is nice enough... hell, it's wonderful... but it just confirms for me that Gilmore did his best work with Sun Ra... Nice to hear Robert Wyatt on three of the tracks from the new Code Girl album... as a longtime Wyatt fan, I've been intrigued to read in Mary Halvorson interviews how much she's been inspired by Wyatt, and this new album really nails that inspiration, with his vocals fitting in perfectly with the Code Girl aesthetic already in place from their first album... 

Playlist 2020-11-16:

*Muhal Richard Abrams Quintet: 1977-03-04 NYC (CDR) (disc 3)
*Daniel Barbiero: In​/​Completion
*Blood Incantation: Hidden History of the Human Race
*Daniel Carter/Matthew Shipp/William Parker/Gerald Cleaver: Welcome Adventure! Vol. 1
*John Coltrane: Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Deluxe Edition) (disc 1)
*Deerhoof: Love-Lore
*Explorers Club: Grand Hotel
*Fable: Live 1978
*Grateful Dead: Pacific Northwest '73-'74: Believe It if You Need It (disc 2)
*Mary Halvorson's Code Girl: Artlessly Falling
*Scott Hamilton: Scott Hamilton Plays Ballads
*Andrew Hill: Solo (disc 1)
*King Crimson: Starless (discs 3, 4)
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Stir Crazy (CDR compilation) (disc 7)
*Lemon Twigs: Songs for the General Public
*Allen Lowe: Jews in Hell: Radical Jewish Acculturation (disc 1)
*Jackie McLean: Let Freedom Ring
*Ollie & the Nightingales: Ollie & the Nightingales
*Mario Pavone: Arc Trio
*Prince: Surprise Jazz Night with Prince (boot CDR) (discs 2, 3)
*Don Pullen: Mosaic Select (disc 2)
*Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin: A Live Supreme: 1973-09-01 Chicago (boot CDR) (disc 2)
*Alexander von Schlippenbach: Monk's Casino (The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk) (disc 3)
*Sara Serpa: Close Up
*Pete La Roca Sims: Turkish Women at the Bath
*Mike Sopko/Bill Laswell/Tyshawn Sorey: On Common Ground
*Sun Ra: Egypt 1971: In Heliopolis: Unreleased Recordings (streaming)
*Sun Ra: Egypt 1971: Egyptian Oasis: Unreleased Recordings (streaming)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 2)
*Charles Tolliver: Mosaic Select (disc 1)
*Various artists: Ad-Rock & Mike D's Alphabetical Jukebox (CDR compilation) (discs 17, 18)
*Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) (disc 8)
*Dan Weiss/Starebaby: Natural Selection

Reading List, Week of 2020-11-15

Reading List 2020-11-16:

*Barth, John. Giles Goat-Boy (reread/started)
*Jemison, N. K. The Shadowed Sun (started/finished)
*Jemison, N. K. The Killing Moon (finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Chekhov, Anton. Early Short Stories 1883-1888 (transl. Constance Garnett) (in progress)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-11-08

Brilliant new recording from Daniel Barbiero: In/Completion... solo double bass renditions of works with graphic scores by Morton Feldman, Cristiano Bocci, and several others, beautifully rendered by Dan... he must have really gotten himself into a sublime meditative state to achieve these... gorgeous and stimulating... easily one of his best albums... 


Playlist 2020-11-09:

*Muhal Richard Abrams Quintet: 1977-03-04 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Pepper Adams: Pepper Adams Plays Charlie Mingus
*Daniel Barbiero: In​/​Completion
*Circle: 1971-03-03 Hamburg (CDR) "Comp. 6a"
*Elvis Costello: My Aim Is True (sides 1, 2)
*Anthony Davis: Middle Passage (side 1)
*Kris Davis Trio: Waiting for You to Grow
*Yamataka Eye and John Zorn: Naninani II
*Art Farmer: Portrait of Art
*Herbie Hancock: The Prisoner
*Julius Hemphill Quartet: Flat-Out Jump Suite
*Joe Henderson: The State of the Tenor: Live at the Village Vanguard, Volume 1 (side 1)
*King Crimson: Starless (disc 2)
*John Lennon: Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Mixes (disc 2)
*Sunny Murray: Homage to Africa
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-10-09 "Fight Back in the Kitchen" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-11-20 "Fluid Dispersal" (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2018-01-15 "Slip Mixer Blend" (wav)
*Tony Oxley Celebration Orchestra: The Enchanted Messenger
*Charlie Parker: Bird's Eyes, Last Unissued, Vol. 17
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven
*Prince: Sign O’ the Times (Super Deluxe Edition) (disc 4, 5, 6)
*Sonny Rollins: East Broadway Run Down (side 1)
*Alexander von Schlippenbach: Monk's Casino (The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk) (disc 2)
*Archie Shepp: Fire Music
*Leo Smith Creative Orchestra: Budding of a Rose "Harmonium > Mutumishi"
*Sun Ra: Cosmos (side 2)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Swirling
*Cecil Taylor: Silent Tongues (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor: 1987-03-06 Rome (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor Quintet: 1991-09-09 Stockholm (CDR)
*Henry Threadgill Sextet: Just the Facts and Pass the Bucket (side 1)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 1)
*Thumbscrew: The Anthony Braxton Project
*McCoy Tyner: The Real McCoy (side 1)
*Various artists: Amarcord Nino Rota (side 1)
*Tony Williams: Mosaic Select (disc 1)

Reading List, Week of 2020-11-08

Reading List 2020-11-09:

*Chekhov, Anton. Early Short Stories 1883-1888 (transl. Constance Garnett) (started)
*Jemison, N. K. The Killing Moon (started)
*Marías, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 3: Poison, Shadow, and Farewell (transl. Margaret Jull Costa) (finished)
*Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.) (selections)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-11-01

Once again I find myself with not much to say... preoccupied with "current events" is a large part of it, but beyond that, I find that my listening outpaces my intellectual ability to synthesize my reactions... we'll see what happens... stay safe out there, folks, while voting... the fact that I even have to say that speaks volumes... What's Going On indeed... 

Playlist 2020-11-02:

*Beau Hunks: The Beau Hunks Play the Original "Little Rascals" Music
*Ran Blake Quartet: Short Life of Barbara Monk
*Paul Bley/Evan Parker/Barre Phillips: Time Will Tell
*Blood Incantation: Hidden History of the Human Race
*Terri Lyne Carrington: The Mosaic Project
*Earth Wind & Fire: I Am (side 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Ellington Jazz Party in Stereo
*Gil Evans: Out of the Cool
*Marvin Gaye: What's Going On (Deluxe ed.) (disc 1)
*Jimmy Giuffre 3: 1961 (disc 2)
*Grant Green: The Complete Quartets with Sonny Clark (disc 1)
*Keith Jarrett: Changeless
*King Crimson: Starless (disc 1)
*Ingrid Laubrock: 2017-06-05 Moers (CDR) "Vogelfrei"
*Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey: Stir Crazy (CDR compilation) (disc 6)
*John Lennon: Gimme Some Truth: The Ultimate Mixes (disc 1)
*John McLaughlin: My Goal's Beyond (side 1)
*Charles Mingus: Jazz in Detroit/Strata Concert Gallery/46 Selden (discs 4, 5)
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: Come and See What There Is To See
*Miles Okazaki: Trickster
*Prince: Surprise Jazz Night with Prince (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Don Pullen: Jazz A Confronto 21 (side 1)
*Don Pullen: Mosaic Select (disc 1)
*Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra: Trilogy (disc 1)
*Carlos Santana/John McLaughlin: A Live Supreme: 1973-09-01 Chicago (boot CDR) (disc 1)
*Alexander von Schlippenbach: Monk's Casino (The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk) (disc 1)
*Skatalites: Ska Foundation (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Sun Song (side 1)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Unity (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Taking a Chance on Chances
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: Sleeping Beauty (side 2)
*Craig Taborn Trio: Chants
*Cecil Taylor: Indent "Indent: Third Layer"
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1976-04-15 Ann Arbor (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor/Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1984-10-30 Paris (CDR) (track 2)
*Cecil Taylor Quartet: Incarnation
*McCoy Tyner: Cosmos (side 4)
*Various artists: Afro-Cuban Jazz (sides 1, 2)
*Various artists: Ad-Rock & Mike D's Alphabetical Jukebox (CDR compilation) (disc 16)
*Weather Report: Sweetnighter
*Weather Report: Recordings of Wayne Shorter 2
*Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald: The Complete Chick Webb & Ella Fitzgerald Decca Sessions (1934-1941) (discs 6, 7)
*Tony Williams: Mosaic Select (discs 1, 2)
*Teddy Wilson: Teddy Wilson (Giants of Jazz) (sides 1, 2)
*Lester Young: The Lester Young Story Volume 2: A Musical Romance (sides 1, 2)

Reading List, Week of 2020-11-01

Reading List 2020-11-02:

*Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.) (selections)
*Marías, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 3: Poison, Shadow, and Farewell (transl. Margaret Jull Costa) (started)
*Marías, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 2: Dance and Dream (transl. Margaret Jull Costa) (started/finished)
*Marías, Javier. Your Face Tomorrow, vol. 1: Fever and Spear (transl. Margaret Jull Costa) (reread/finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (in progress)