Playlist, Week of 2023-06-25

Sweet sax from Joe Henderson on Idle Moments... Finished reading the Blue Note book, and while it was mainly a bunch of poorly-written puff pieces, I did learn about some interesting albums I need to check out... Less Dead, more Beatles this week... Doing some side-by-side comparisons of some orchestral arrangements from Roscoe Mitchell and the original improvisations they were based on... fascinating... In fact, all of this music is fascinating... always... 

Playlist 2023-06-26:

*Beach Boys: U.S. Singles Collection: The Capitol years 1962-1965 (disc 1)

*Beatles: Meet the Beatles (side 1)

*Beatles: Beatles VI (sides 1, 2)

*Beatles: Rubber Soul (Capitol) (sides 1, 2)

*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (sides 3, 4) 

*Anthony Braxton: Wesleyan (12 Altosolos) 1992

*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (disc 9)

*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (disc 5)

*Miles Davis: Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet (sides 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington Octet: 1964-03-22 Sanremo Jazz Festival (CDR)

*Grateful Dead: 1968-03-17 San Francisco (Download Series Vol. 6) 

*Grant Green: Idle Moments

*Jimi Hendrix: Burning Desire "Ezy Ryder/MLK Jam"

*Buddy Holly: The New Complete Buddy Holly v2.0 (disc 3)

*Freddie Hubbard: Hub-Tones

*Roscoe Mitchell: Conversations (selections)

*Roscoe Mitchell Discussions Orchestra: Discussions (selections)

*Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra: Littlefield Concert Hall, Mills College, March 19-20, 2018 (selections)

*Lee Morgan: The Sidewinder

*Evan Parker/Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: The Eleventh Hour "Shadow Play"

*Max Roach/Anthony Braxton: Birth and Rebirth

*Horace Silver: Song for My Father

*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (side 1)

*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 3)

*Sun Ra: Aurora Borealis

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet (side 2)

*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 5

*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 6

*Cecil Taylor: Live in the Black Forest

*Lennie Tristano: Personal Recordings 1946-1970 (disc 2)

*Various artists: The Rough Guide to Salsa Dance

*John Zorn/Fred Frith: The Art of Memory

Reading List, Week of 2023-06-25

Reading List 2023-06-26:

*Amis, Martin. The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000 (started)
*Anthology of Slow Death (ed. Baba Ron Turner) (reread/finished)
*Havers, Richard. Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression (finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2023-06-18

Dave's Picks vol. 6 is a strong entry in this series, espeically the 1970 show... the Pigpen tracks are particualrly strong, with the versions of "Hard to Handle" and "Good Lovin'" ranking with their best... Getting psyched for seeing Sparks at the end of the month in DC... the new album is really strong... I have become quite enamored of Anthony Braxton's piano playing... on the surface, at first, he may sound a little ham-fisted, but damn if he isn't an imaginative and interesting pianist... his playing on Quintet (Tristano) 2014 is consistently inventive and inspiring... I need to go back and check out the standard sessions he plays piano on again... I didn't give them a fair shake when I first heard them... 

Playlist 2023-06-19:

*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Basel) 1977 "Composition 69 N/G"
*Anthony Braxton: 9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (selections)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (disc 8)
*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (discs 3, 4)
*Cornelius Cardew: Treatise (Ensemble 303)
*John Coltrane: Transition (side 1)
*Marilyn Crispell: For Coltrane
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 3 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: An Intimate Piano Session
*Exploding Star Orchestra: Stars Have Shapes
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks vol. 10 (1969-12-12 LA) (discs 2, 3)
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks vol. 6 (1969-12-20/1970-02-02) (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Lionel Hampton: The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (disc 1)
*Jimi Hendrix: Jimmy Before Jimi 64/65/66 (disc 3)
*Buddy Holly: The New Complete Buddy Holly v2.0 (disc 2)
*Freddie Hubbard: The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard
*Freddie Hubbard: Here to Stay
*Bobby Hutcherson: Components
*Fela Kuti: Ikoyi Blindness
*Parliament: The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
*Prince/New Power Generation: The War
*Queens of the Stone Age: In Times New Roman
*Santana: Welcome
*Jimmy Smith: Groovin' at Small's Paradise (disc 1)
*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
*Sun Ra: Ellingtonia, Vol. 2
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Angels and Demons at Play
*Sun Ra: ESP Radio Tribute Highlights (CDR compilation) (disc 3)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place (previously unreleased tracks) (streaming)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor: 1969-11-09 Rotterdam (CDR)
*Keith Tippett's Ark: Frames (Music for an Imaginary Film) (disc 2)
*Charles Tolliver Big Band: Mosaic Select (disc 2)
*Lennie Tristano: Personal Recordings 1946-1970 (disc 1)
*UYA: Improvisations 5 (1992) (CDR compilation) "Pixie Styx"
*Jack White: Fear of the Dawn
*John Zorn: Multiplicities II

Reading List, Week of 2023-06-18

Reading List 2023-006-19:

*Anthology of Slow Death (ed. Baba Ron Turner) (reread/started)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (started)
*Barth, John. The Floating Opera (reread/finished)
*Segar, E. C. The Complete E.C. Segar Popeye: Vol. 4 Sundays 1936-1938 (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Keir Elam) (reread/finished)
*Havers, Richard. Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression (in progress)

 

Playlist, Week of 2023-06-11

Still on a Sun Ra kick... well, really, I've been on one for years now!... And I am still coming to terms with the amazing outputs of Anthony Braxton and the Grateful Dead... at some point I'll get back to Mingus and Cecil Taylor... these would seem to be my major listening preoccupation these days... that, and selected classic Blue Note albums... and various John Zorn projects... I am slowly working my way through the Art Tatum solo recordings on Pablo... he was really something!... sometimes I just shake my head and think, did I really just hear that? Incredibly fast runs, fancy, fast playing... "Crazy Fingers" indeed... speaking of which, I absolutely enjoyed revisiting Blues for Allah, the first Dead LP I ever bought... not the first I listened to: that would be Live/Dead... the older I get, the more I appreciate the spirit and gumption Pigpen added to the band... lately I've been enjoying "Easy Wind"... 

Playlist 2023-06-12:

*Beach Boys: Holland (Analogue Productions) (side 2)
*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (side 2)
*Anthony Braxton Trio: 1974-12-08 Toronto (CDR) "Impressions"
*Anthony Braxton: 19 [Solo] Compositions, 1988
*Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003 "Comp. 292 (12tet)"
*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (discs 1, 2)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2009-07-23 Nashville (wav) track 3 "Moon Landing"
*John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio: Traneing In
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks vol. 10 (1969-12-12 LA) (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: Blues for Allah (side 2)
*Grateful Dead: Dark Star Comp 6 (1991) (CDR compilation)
*Grateful Dead: Dark Star Comp 7 (1991) (CDR compilation)
*Guided By Voices: Tremblers and Goggles by Rank (side 1)
*Jimi Hendrix: Jimmy Before Jimi 64/65/66 (discs 1, 2)
*Buddy Holly: The New Complete Buddy Holly v2.0 (disc 1)
*Freddie Hubbard: Goin' Up
*Freddie Hubbard: Hub Cap
*Freddie Hubbard: Ready for Freddie
*Fela Kuti: Why Black Man Dey Suffer
*Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place
*Layers of Memory: 2019-12-07 RVA (wav)"Improvisation No. 4"
*Brian Marsella Trio: 2023-04-02 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Rob Mazurek Exploding Star Orchestra: Galactic Parables: Vol. 1 (disc 1)
*John Medeski Trio: 2023-04-02 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN (CDR)
*Charles Mingus: The Great Concert of Charles Mingus (side 4)
*Jason Moran: Black Stars
*New Ting: 2023-05-15 Bandito's, Richmond VA (wav)
*Annette Peacock: I'm the One (side 1)
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Four: Memphis (side 2)
*Ravi Shankar: Three Ragas "Raga Jog"
*Sparks: Sparks (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Other Planes of There (side 1)
*Sun Ra: ESP Radio Tribute Highlights (CDR compilation) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Crystal Spears (Remastered)
*Sun Ra: Solo Keyboards, Minnesota 1978
*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 4
*Third Coast Ensemble: Wrecks
*Keith Tippett's Ark: Frames (Music For An Imaginary Film) (disc 1)
*Charles Tolliver Big Band: Mosaic Select (disc 1)
*Chester Thompson: Powerhouse
*Lisa Ullén/Elsa Bergman/Anna Lund: Space
*James Blood Ulmer: 2015-08-30 Saalfelden (CDR)
*Various artists: The Rough Guide to Boogaloo 2
*XTC: Mummer
*John Zorn: Cobra: John Zorn's Game Pieces, Vol. 2
*John Zorn: Filmworks XIII: 2002 Volume Three: Invitation to a Suicide
*John Zorn/Yamantaka Eye: NaniNani

Reading List, Week of 2023-06-11

Is there anything new to say about Shakespeare? Absolutely, and Emma Smith manages to do so brilliantly... This, along with Tony Tanner's Prefaces to Shakespeare and Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare After All, is one of the best general overviews out there...

Reading List 2023-006-12:

*Barth, John. The Floating Opera (reread/started)
*Havers, Richard. Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression (started)
*Jackson, Shirley. We Have Always Lived in the Castle (started/finished)
*Marvel by Design: Graphic Design Strategies of the World's Greatest Comics Company (finished)
*Smith, Emma. This Is Shakespeare (finished)
*Segar, E. C. The Complete E.C. Segar Popeye: Vol. 4 Sundays 1936-1938 (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Keir Elam) (reread/in progress)

Sun Ra: Space Is the Place Previously Unreleased Tracks

I already have the 40th Anniversary version of the Space Is the Place film and soundtrack, so I have no plans to get this new release, but I have been listening to the previously unlreleased tracks (which I believe are on a separate album in the vinyl version) via streaming, and it's quite nice. All of the tracks are basically Ra vocal diatribes and poetry. On "The Mathematics of the Altered Destiny" he is echoed by June Tyson while the band goes all over the place in the background. Tyson ends the tracks with the melodic refrain of "We're living in the space age..." as it fades out.

All of the tracks are heavily percussive. "Listen Intently to the Things I Do Not Say" is also heavy on the bass clarinet (Eloe Omoe?) and has about three minutes of free blowing from the Arkestra before the vocals come in. This is the strongest cut, closest in spirit to "The Bridge" (not the poetry so much as the musical responses to each line).

Keyboards and oboe are featured more prominently on "Creation Is Fabrication," which also has some kind of percussive echo effect that sounds like a ball being dropped on a drum head, almost but not quite annoyingly. It opens with a beautiful instrumental passage that goes on for about four minutes until the vocals come in. This one reminds me of some of the passages on The Antique Blacks. "My World Is the Space Way" continues this style in a slightly more subdued fashion, with trumpet lines (Akh Tal Ebah, I think) engaged in a duet with Ra's declamations as other horns and percussion gradually filters in.

"The Idea of the Greater Age" begins and ends with solo percussion (Atakatune?), with the whole piece basically a back-and-forth between drum and Ra's voice, echoed again by June Tyson's.

There are plenty of live performances from this era that cover similar territory, but it's really nice to hear clear studio recordings of these pieces.

Playlist, Week of 2023-06-04

Here's the thing-- music is always going on in my head... usually it's a random melody I've been thinking about, or a song I've heard recently on the Magic Jukebox, or from my weekly directed listening (as documented in these Playlists)... but occasionally I'll wake up and there'll be a song in my head that I haven't heard or even thought about in... weeks, if not months, if not years... when that happens I take it as a message from the Music Gods that I need to listen to it again, as soon as possible... case in point: this past Sunday it was "Walkin' the Line" from Brian Wilson's first solo album... where on earth did that come from?... so I played the album, and it was sooo enjoyable... despite the fact that most of the songs have snatches of melody with eerie resemblances to earlier Beach Boys songs, or other ones (like "Little Children" and its nod to "Mountain of Love"), these songs are just wonderful... even the outdated overproduction can't stop them... the album is a worthy successor to The Beach Boys Love You, with its simplistic melodies that are, well, simple and almost amateurish but oh so catchy... easily his best solo record, Brian Wilson has a special place in my heart, and I guess my brain was reminding me of that...  Other than that, I ended up hitting Sun Ra pretty heavily this week... 

Playlist 2023-06-05:

*AMM: Laminal (disc 1)

*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (side 1)

*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (disc 7)

*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (discs 6, 7)

*Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young: Take My Hand (Fillmore East 1970-06) (disc 2)

*Miles Davis: Bitches Brew (side 3)

*Deerhoof: Miracle-Level

*Grateful Dead: Blues for Allah (side 1)

*Jefferson Pilot: The Return of Troubled Youth Orchestra

*Merzbow/Keiji Haino/Balázs Pándi: An Untroublesome Defencelessness

*New Ting: 2019-09-30 "Emulsify My Desires" (wav)

*Annette Peacock: I'm the One (side 2)

*Rolling Stones: Their Satanic Majesties Request (2016 mono remaster)

*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (sides 1, 2)

*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: My Brother the Wind, Vol. 2

*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place (previously unreleased tracks) (streaming)

*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York, 1973) (sides 3, 4)

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Voice of the Eternal Tomorrow

*Sun Ra: Hiroshima (side 2)

*Sun Ra: God Is More than Love Can Ever Be!

*Sun Ra Arkestra: Reflections in Blue

*Sun Ra Arkestra: 2023-04-01 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN (CDR)

*Horace Tapscott with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra: Live at I.U.C.C. (disc 2)

*Tarbaby: Fanon

*Cecil Taylor: Conquistador! "With (Exit)"

*Cecil Taylor: garden (disc 1) "Elell"

*Cecil Taylor: 1997-03-06 Oberlin, OH (CDR)

*Various artists: '60s Far East Pop and Rock n Roll (CDR compilation)

*Various artists: WSAM: Grab Bag of Joy (CDR compilation)

*Anna Webber: Idiom (disc 2)

*Tony Williams Lifetime: Emergency!

*Brian Wilson: Brian Wilson

*Work: Live in Japan

*Neil Young: Twisted Road (CDR compilation)

*Frank Zappa: Hot Rats

*John Zorn: The Dreamers

Reading List, Week of 2023-06-04

Reading List 2023-006-05:

*Marvel by Design: Graphic Design Strategies of the World's Greatest Comics Company (started)
*Smith, Emma. This Is Shakespeare (started)
*Alatalo, Sally. An Arranged Affair (started/finished)

*Barth, John. Final Fridays (reread/finished)
*Robison, Mary. Tell Me: 30 Stories (started/finished)
*Robison, Mary. Believe Them (finished)
*Segar, E. C. The Complete E.C. Segar Popeye: Vol. 4 Sundays 1936-1938 (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. Twelfth Night (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Keir Elam) (reread/in progress)