Gerald Cleaver on Playing Free Music

 

If you're playing with some real fine improvisers, they're going to build some exceptional musical architecture. The idea of building structure is very important to me. It can be stream-of-consciousness playing as well. I relate it to a conversation. That cliché can become stretched, but you can elucidate a thesis in real time if you have enough understanding of your subject. It's like the joy of talking to people who know a lot about a lot of different things and are really passionate. You ask a question and they go off on a tangent and set up something new. That's what the music is to me. ("Gerald Cleaver," Modern Drummer 2014-07, p. 46)

Playlist, Week of 2021-10-24

Keep coming back to Such Sweet Thunder, a true Ellington masterpiece in a discography of so many masterpieces... the bonus tracks on my CD version are also some of his best '60s songs... over and over, over and over... I love how Muhal Richard Abrams fits right in with the Art Ensemble of Chicago on Fanfare for the Warriors... fits in tight... For a review of the new Jefferson Pilot, see here... All over again, I am quite taken and enchanted with "Cool Cool Water" from Sunflower... The new Deerhoof keeps kicking it... And then of course the new Coltrane... 

Playlist 2021-10-25:

*Muhal Richard Abrams: Spiral: Live at Montreux 1978 (side 2)
*AMM: The Crypt - 12th June 1968 (disc 2) "Coffin nor Shelf"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Fanfare for the Warriors (side 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Full Force (side 1)
*Beach Boys: Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971 (discs 1, 5) (selections)
*Borderlands Trio: Wandersphere (discs 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton with Dave Douglas: Six Standards (Quintet) 1996
*John Coltrane: A Love Supreme: Live in Seattle
*John Coltrane: Meditations "Love/Consequences/Serenity"
*Chick Corea: Sundance (side 1)
*Miles Davis: The Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection, Vol. 2 (LP 2 sides 1, 2)
*Deerhoof: Actually, You Can
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Such Sweet Thunder
*Duke Ellington: 1899-1974 (side 3)
*Duke Ellington: The Girl's Suite and The Perfume Suite
*Duke Ellington: Live in Mexico "The Mexican Suite"
*Michael Formanek: The Rub and Spare Change
*Fred Frith/Anne Bourne/John Oswald: Dearness
*Grateful Dead: Listen to the River: St. Louis '71 '72 '73 (discs 5, 10, 17, 20)
*Herbie Hancock: The Prisoner (side 2)
*Herbie Hancock: Man-Child
*Joe Henderson: Canyon Lady
*Tim Hodgkinson: Under the Void
*Jefferson Pilot: Long Distance
*Joëlle Léandre/Nicole Mitchell: Sisters Where
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions
*Evan Parker/Matthew Shipp: Leonine Aspects
*Evan Parker Quartet: All Knavery and Collusion
*Don Pullen: Mosaic Select (disc 3)
*RAIC: Gestalt
*Residents: Eskimo (pREServed Edition) (disc 2)
*Wadada Leo Smith/Milford Graves/Bill Laswell: Sacred Ceremonies (disc 1)
*Sparks: Sparks
*Sparks: Propaganda
*Sparks: Hello Young Lovers
*Sparks: A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip
*Sun Ra and His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: Sun Embassy (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (sides 5, 6)
*Craig Taborn's New Trio: 2020-11-06 NYC (CDR)
*Mary Lou Williams: Zodiac Suite
*Nate Wooley: Mutual Aid Music (disc 1)
*World Saxophone Quartet: Steppin' with the World Saxophone Quartet

Reading List, Week of 2021-10-24

Reading List 2021-10-25:

*Booth, Stephen. Shakespeare's Sonnets (ed. with analytic commentary by Booth) (started)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (1609 Quarto) (reread/started)
*Shakespeare, William. Sonnets (ed. Helen Vendler) (reread/started)
*Smith, Ali. Like (started)
*Cameron, Lou. Lou Cameron's Unsleeping Dead (started/finished)
*Montgomery, L. M. Anne of Green Gables (started/finished)
*Hernandez, Jaime. Tonta (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. Pericles (reread/finished)
*Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Readers Ed., ed. Blodgett and Bradley) (finished)
*Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and In the Studio (reread/in progress)
*Brennan, Matt. Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (in progress)

New RAIC album "Gestalt"

I am proud to appear on two tracks on Gestalt, the newest CD from RAIC... one of the tracks, "The Intergalactic Church of Kirk," is a repurposed outtake from the Ask the Trees sessions... it was also chosen as a track for the latest Wire Tapper... the other track I am on, the title cut, is a 15-minute improvisational epic with three drummers: Samuel Goff, Scott Clark, and myself... the rest of the CD is pretty nifty as well... standout tracks include "Baroche" with Laura Morina on vocals, and the lovely country tune "Three Sides to the Story"... all told, four of the members of New Ting appear on several tracks... 

New Jefferson Pilot Release: "Long Distance"

Long Distance, Jefferson Pilot's newest EP-length release, eases in with the melodica-soaked "Imperial Pint," and the mood it creates is sustained throughout the album's four pieces. The mood is ethereal and evocative, with a haziness and sense of brooding mystery that is enhanced by half-hidden voices and other more unidentifiable sounds. It's not creepy in the Halloween sense; it's more of a layering of insinuations of the unknown just lurking beyond the edge of realization. "Night Game" continues this experiment with strange percussive sounds and Robert Wyatt-esque vocalizing, further enhanced by the keyboard drone until a separate, more "musical" theme appears and then slowly dissipates in a layered, painterly fashion into a beautiful reverie before morphing into a percussive electronic soundscape. "Warehouse Dream" is a layered concoction of bells, chimes, and music-box keyboard sounds eventually overlaid by a fragmented vocal melody again insinuating more than meets the ear. "Point of Rocks" begins with a hint of "Close to the Edge"-intro style nature sounds as the piece continues to give a sense of almost-realized presences from other worlds, emphasized by the almost-angelic, chopped up vocalizing and by the disembodied questions posed as the piece unfolds and comes to a haunting end.

Long Distance has quickly become among my top favorites of Jefferson Pilot's work, largely because of its suite-like quality and its sustained mood. He has constructed a lovely soundscape of quietly epic proportions-- definitely one for the headphones.

(Full disclosure: Jefferson Pilot's my brother.)

 

Gig This Saturday

I'll be joining Jimmy Ghaphery (of New Ting) and Robert Andrew Scott (of RAIC) to supply some of the live music for this art auction at Studio Two Three in RVA this Saturday.  Should be..... quiet! 

Playlist, Week of 2021-10-17

A wealth of new music... hard to know where to start... will have separate posts on the new Jefferson Pilot and RAIC... Still need to absorb the new Deerhoof, but will say it strikes me as their strongest release since Breakup Song... I may be wrong... The Stan Getz Roost recordings proved to be the perfect soundtrack for the new Ellroy book... 

Playlist 2021-10-18:

*AMM: 1998-04-03 Padova, Italy (CDR)
*Albert Ayler: Holy Ghost (disc 3)
*Beach Boys: Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969-1971 (disc 1)
*Beatles: Magical Mystery Tour (2009 mono remaster) (side 1)
*Blue Buddha: Blue Buddha
*Rob Brown Quartet: Radiant Pools
*Deerhoof: Actually, You Can
*Duke Ellington: Duke 56/62 Vol. 1 (side 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman
*Duke Ellington: 1899-1974 (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: Live in Mexico "The Mexican Suite"
*Chico Freeman Quintet: 1977-02-11 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Fred Frith/Nicolas Humbert/Marc Parisotto: Cut up the Border
*Stan Getz: The Complete Roost Recordings (disc s 2, 3)
*Kim Gordon/DJ Olive/Ikue Mori: Myūjikaru Pāsupekutibu
*Drew Gress: The Irrational Numbers
*Joe Henderson Quintet: At the Lighthouse
*Joe Henderson: In Pursuit of Blackness
*Joe Henderson: Joe Henderson in Japan
*Joe Henderson: Black Is the Color
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: 1969-01-23 Berlin (CDR)
*Jefferson Pilot: Long Distance
*Olivia Tremor Control: Presents: Singles and Beyond
*RAIC: Gestalt
*Sam Rivers and the Rivbea Orchestra: Trilogy (disc 1)
*Matthew Shipp: Magnetism(s) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (side 7)
*UMO Jazz Orchestra: UMO Plays the Music Of Muhal Richard Abrams
*Upsetters 14 Dub: Blackboard Jungle (Auralux)
*John Zorn/Simulacrum: Nostradamus: The Death of Satan

Reading List, Week of 2021-10-17

 

Reading List 2021-10-18:

*Hernandez, Jaime. Tonta (started)
*Ellroy, James. Widespread Panic (started/finished)
*Wolfe, Gene. The Citadel of the Autarch (finished)
*Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and In the Studio (reread/in progress)
*Brennan, Matt. Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Pericles (reread/in progress)
*Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Readers Ed., ed. Blodgett and Bradley) (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2021-10-10

 

I love Billie Holiday, but the Decca sides start to get pretty maudlin at times... and not just because of the hackneyed string arrangements... defend them against the earlier stuff with Teddy Wilson... see? you can't.... 

Playlist 2021-10-11:

*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 mono remaster)
*Anthony Braxton/John Lindberg: Six Duets (1982)
*Circle: 1971-03-03 Hamburg (CDR) "Comp. 6A"
*Duke Ellington: The Duke Ellington Carnegie Hall Concerts, December 1944 (disc 1)
*Michael Formanek: The Rub and Spare Change
*Herbie Hancock: Man-Child
*Joe Henderson: Power to the People
*Billie Holiday: The Complete Original American Decca Recordings (disc 1)
*Monstrance: Monstrance (disc 2)
*Colin Moulding: The Hardest Battle
*Lee "Scratch" Perry: Arkology (discs 2, 3)
*Wadada Leo Smith/Milford Graves/Bill Laswell: Sacred Ceremonies (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Sparks: Live at the Record Plant 1974
*Sparks: Left Coast Angst: Live Radio Broadcast Recordings 1982-1983
*Various artists: You Gotta Move! The Rock & Soul Sounds of Muscle Shoals, Alabama
*Nate Wooley: Mutual Aid Music (discs 1, 2)

Reading List, Week of 2021-10-10

Reading List 2021-10-11:

*Shakespeare, William. Pericles (reread/started)

*Wolfe, Gene. The Citadel of the Autarch (started)

*Macdonald, Ross. Find a Victim (reread/started/finished)

*Macdonald, Ross. The Barbarous Coast (reread/started/finished)

*Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher. Love's Pilgrimage (finished)

*Wolfe, Gene. The Sword of the Lictor (finished)

*Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and In the Studio (reread/in progress)

*Brennan, Matt. Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (in progress)

*Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Readers Ed., ed. Blodgett and Bradley) (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2021-01-03

Being amazed all over again by Robert Wyatt's drumming... especially on Little Red Record... especially on "Brandy as in Benj"... especially on the solo drum break around 3:42 where he plays the tricky convoluted head...

Playlist 2021-10-04:

*Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton (disc 4) "Opus 76 (Version Two)"
*Anthony Braxton: Octet (New York) 1995
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 420)
*Burial: Untrue
*Burial: Tunes 2011-2019 (disc 2)
*Clash: Sandinista! (discs 1, 2)
*John Coltrane: Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Deluxe Edition) (disc 1)
*Connie Crothers/David Arner: Spontaneous Suite for Two Pianos (discs 3, 4)
*Chris Cutler & Fred Frith: Live In Moscow, Prague, & Washington
*Duke Ellington: The Centennial Edition: The Complete RCA-Victor Recordings (disc 14) (selections)
*Michel Edelin's Flute Fever Orchestra: Kalamania (disc 1)
*Eloping with the Sun: Counteract This Turmoil Like Trees and Birds
*Gilgamesh: Arriving Twice
*Gilgamesh: Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into
*Hatfield and the North: Hatfield and the North
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotter's Club
*Joe Henderson: The Kicker
*Joe Henderson: Tetragon
*Joseph Jarman: As If It Were the Seasons "Song for Christopher"
*Matching Mole: Matching Mole
*Matching Mole: Matching Mole’s Little Red Record (expanded ed.) (discs 1, 2)
*Jackie McLean: Jacknife
*Jackie McLean: Consequence
*Medeski Martin & Wood: 2004-11-04 Seattle (CDR)
*Monstrance: Monstrance (disc 1)
*Joe Morris/ Tomeka Reid: Combinations
*Mr. Bungle: The Night They Came Home
*Mustafa Özkent: Gençlik İle Elele
*Jeff Parker/Rob Mazurek: Some Jellyfish Live Forever
*Don Pullen: Mosaic Select (disc 2)
*Soft Machine: Third
*Tyshawn Sorey: Unfiltered (disc 2)
*Sparks: Hippopotamus
*Craig Taborn's New Trio: 2020-11-06 NYC (CDR)
*Cecil Taylor: Spring of Two Blue-J's
*Neil Young: Oh Lonesome Me (CDR compilation)

Reading List, Week of 2021-10-03

Reading List 2021-10-04:

*Beaumont, Francis, and John Fletcher. Love's Pilgrimage (started)
*Wolfe, Gene. The Sword of the Lictor (started)
*Wolfe, Gene. The Claw of the Conciliator (started/finished)
*Wolfe, Gene. The Shadow of the Torturer (finished)
*Badman, Keith. The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band: On Stage and In the Studio (reread/in progress)
*Brennan, Matt. Kick It: A Social History of the Drum Kit (in progress)
*Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass (Comprehensive Readers Ed., ed. Blodgett and Bradley) (in progress)