Playlist, Week of 2020-12-27

Holiday listening...

Playlist 2020-12-28:

*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Beatles for Sale (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Clash: London Calling
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model
*Dance Gavin Dance:  Downtown Battle Mountain
*Fall of Troy: Ghostship
*Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
*Led Zeppelin: Physical Graffiti (disc 1)
*Mars Volta: Frances the Mute
*Opeth: Ghost Reveries
*Pere Ubu: The Modern Dance
*Pere Ubu: Dub Housing
*Pere Ubu: The Tenement Year
*Pere Ubu: Cloudland
*Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector
*Squeeze: East Side Story
*Taylor Swift: Folklore (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Ralph Towner: Solstice
*Wolf Alice: My Love Is Cool

Reading List, Week of 2020-12-27

Reading List 2020-12-28:


*Henderson, Erica et al. Assassin Nation (started/finished)
*Spurrier, Simon et al. Coda #1-12 (started/finished)
*Spurrier, Simon et al. The Spire #1-8 (started/finished)
*Vaughan, Brian K. et al. We Stand On Guard #1-6 (started/finished)
*Watters, Dan et al. Limbo #1-6 (started/finished)
*Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night's Dream (Arden 2nd series, ed. Harold F. Brooks) (reread/started)

*Crowley, John. Little, Big (finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-12-20

Playlist 2020-12-21:

*Derek Bailey & Min Xiao-Fen: Viper
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (disc 3)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2009-07-23 Nashville (wav) track 3 (moon landing)
*Miles Davis: Rare Miles (CDR compilation) (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: Volume 1 [Blue Note]
*Miles Davis: Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956 (disc 3)
*Miles Davis: Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis 1963-1964 (disc 2)
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 6) "Directions"
*Duke Ellington: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Great London Concerts
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Harlem
*Duke Ellington: In the Uncommon Market
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 10: New York, Chicago 1965, 1966, 1971
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Duke Ellington: Live at the Whitney
*Fall of Troy: Mukiltearth
*Ella Fitzgerald: Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas (sides 1, 2)
*Vince Guaraldi Trio: A Charlie Brown Christmas
*Jethro Tull: A Passion Play
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 1)
*Prince: Sign O’ the Times (Super Deluxe Edition) (discs 4, 5)
*Mike Sopko/Bill Laswell/Tyshawn Sorey: On Common Ground
*Phil Spector: A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector

Reading List, Week of 2020-12-20

Reading List 2020-12-21:

*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Crowley, John. Little, Big (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-12-13

Last week I talked about my plans to dig in deep to Duke Ellington... you can see the beginnings of that in this week's list, wherein I cranked through most of the 10 CDs of the so-called "Private Collection," sessions from Ellington's stockpile of recordings he paid for himself that were released posthumously... I understand that there are lot more of these that have come out since this initial outpouring, and that's an area for future investigation... overall, these discs are wonderful... many earlier versions of pieces that came out, many reworkings of Ellington standards, a revisit to "Black, Brown, and Beige," and two fantastic longer suites ("The Degas Suite" and "The River")... much to explore here... and damn, two of the late suites that were released, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse and New Orleans Suite, are just brilliant... As my plans for listening in 2021 firm up, I have to say that in addition to Ellington I'll be digging deep (again) into Miles Davis, especially the early stuff... I plan on rereading Jack Chambers's book Milestones as an accompaniment... I feel way more familiar with Miles's work overall than I do with later Ellington... anyway: 2021: Duke and Miles: bring it on!

Playlist 2020-12-14:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: Spiral: Live at Montreux 1978 (sides 1, 2)
*Marshall Allen/Elliott Levin/Tim Harding/Sam Byrd: 2007-12-13 Richmond VA (CDR)
*Area: Maledetti (Maudits) (side 2)
*Area: Event '76 (side 1)
*Kevin Ayers: Joy of a Toy (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton: The Montreux/Berlin Concerts (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Three Orchestras (GTM) 1998
*Anthony Braxton: Sonic Genome (2019-10-31 Berlin) (CDR)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2015-05-14 Nashville (wav) track 6
*Miles Davis: Rare Miles (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Miles Davis: Chronicle: The Complete Prestige Recordings 1951-1956 (discs 1, 2)
*Miles Davis: Miles in the Sky
*Duke Ellington: Brunswick-Vocalion Rarities (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete Duke Ellington, Vol. 2: 1928-1930 (sides 2, 3)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1939-40 (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 1: Studio Sessions, Chicago 1956
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 2: Dance Sessions, California, 1958
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 3: Studio Sessions, New York 1962
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 4: Studio Sessions, New York 1963
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 5: The Suites
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 6: Dance Dates, California 1958
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 7: Studio Sessions, Chicago 1957, New York 1962
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 8: Studio Sessions, 1957-1967
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 9: Studio Sessions, New York 1968
*Duke Ellington: New Orleans Suite
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Grateful Dead: 1973-12-06 Cleveland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters’ Club (side 2)
*Earl Hines: Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington (side 3)
*Keith Jarrett: Tribute (disc 2)
*George Jones and the Jones Boys: Live in Texas 1965
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 2)
*Miles Okazaki: Trickster
*Alexander von Schlippenbach: Monk's Casino (The Complete Works of Thelonious Monk) (disc 1)
*Tyshawn Sorey: Pillars (disc 3)
*Various artists: Ad-Rock & Mike D's Alphabetical Jukebox (CDR compilation) (discs 21, 22, 23)

Reading List, Week of 2020-12-13

Reading List 2020-12-14:

*Crowley, John. Little, Big (started)
*Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus (finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (5th ed.) (selections)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2020-12-06

Some absolutely brilliant music from Duke Ellington on the Mosaic Capitol box set... after my foray into rediscovery of Charlie Parker of a few weeks back, I am going to start on an in-depth, non-chronological deep dive into Ellington... everything I've pulled out so far in the last few weeks has just reminded me over and over again what a vast wealth of solid amazing music he left for us... many years ago I got in really, really deep with his music from the '20s to the early '40s... I hope to do the same over the coming year with the '50s to the '70s... won't have anything original to add to the discussion but I am still looking forward to it... I won't be listening alone... at some point in here I will also re-read Eddie Lambert's Listening Guide, which is chock full o' great insight and critical acumen... Gary Giddins's essays on Duke in Visions of Jazz, which I revisited this week, are also spot-on... and finally, Brian Morton and Richard Cook in the Penguin Guide to Jazz do a superb job of nailing, over and over, the crucial highlights of all the albums they cover... of course Duke has always been with me (as Bird, Sun Ra, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, Coltrane, Miles, Braxton, Cecil, and so many others also always are) on the Magic Jukebox... but this will be a special delving-into, with tons of unexplored goodies as well as happy returns to old friends... 

Playlist 2020-12-07:

*John Coltrane: Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Deluxe Edition) (disc 2)
*Kris Davis/Ingrid Laubrock: 2020-03-08 Toronto (CDR)
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (discs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
*Explorers Club: Together
*Fable: Live 1978 (wav)
*Marvin Gaye: You're the Man
*Jimmy Giuffre 3: 1961 (disc 1)
*Fletcher Henderson Orchestra: Fletcher Henderson's Orchestra (sides 1, 2)
*Earl Hines: Earl Hines Plays Duke Ellington (sides 1, 2)
*Keith Jarrett: Tribute (disc 1)
*King Crimson: Starless (disc 8)
*Ingrid Laubrock/Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman/Tom Rainey: Tism
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (discs 1, 2)
*Okkyung Lee/Christian Marclay: Amalgam
*Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra: Galactic Parables: Volume 1 "Free Agents of Sound"
*Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravská Banda: Distant Radio Transmission (side 1)
*Nicole Mitchell's Sonic Projections: The Secret Escapades of Velvet Anderson
*Thelonious Monk: Monk's Music
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-11-09 “Order That Number” (wav)
*Jean-Luc Ponty: Enigmatic Ocean (side 1)
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter One: Les Gens de Couleur Libres
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Two: Mississippi Moonchile
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis
*Springhouse: Dis Orderly
*Third Coast Ensemble: Wrecks
*Keith Tippett's Ark: Frames (Music For An Imaginary Film) (disc 2)
*Charles Tolliver: Mosaic Select (disc 3)
*Dan Weiss/Starebaby: Natural Selection
*Mary Lou Williams & Cecil Taylor: Embraced (side 1)

Reading List, Week of 2020-12-06

Reading List 2020-12-07:

*Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or, The Modern Prometheus (started)
*Mustich, James. 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die (finished)
*Nashe, Thomas. The Unfortunate Traveler (finished)
*Burton, Robert. The Anatomy of Melancholy (in progress)
*Cook, Richard, and Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (5th ed.) (selections)
*Marsh, Dave. The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made (reread/in progress)