Playlist, Week of 2023-07-30

It's pretty overwhelming to write about even one of these fantastic new releases, much less both of them in the same week... suffice it to say that this is the best version of Sun Ra's Jazz in Silhouette we've ever had, with several tracks being released for the first time on vinyl in stereo, and the added bonus of Sound Sun Pleasure tracks from the same 1959 session, also in stereo... plus a brilliant John Gilmore solo on the bonus track "Blues from Saturn"... just essential... The treasure of hitherto undiscovered Coltrane live tracks from the Village Gate in 1961 is more than anyone could ever expect for 2023... Elvin Jones's bass drum is the pulse from paradise, Dolphy's solos are incandescent, and Coltrane is...well, 1961 live Coltrane, hot damn... and the only live version of "Africa?" What heaven is this?

Playlist 2023-07-30: 

*Anthony Braxton: Alumni Orchestra (Wesleyan) 2005

*Anthony Braxton: Composition No. 46 (+168 and Language Music)

*Peter Brötzmann Octet: The Complete Machine Gun Sessions "Machine Gun" live

*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2023-07-17 Nashville (wav)

*John Coltrane: Evenings at the Village Gate (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)

*Duke Ellington: Dance Date Air Force U.S.A. March 1958 (sides 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Such Sweet Thunder (sides 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1959-10-09 Zurich (CDR)

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Featuring Paul Gonsalves (sides 1, 2)

*Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 3 (1971) (disc 3)

*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Vol. 22 (1971-12-07 Felt Forum, NYC) (discs 1, 2)

*Grateful Dead: Blues for Allah

*Lionel Hampton: The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (disc 3)

*Charles Mingus: Mingus in Europe Vol. 1 (sides 1, 2)

*Roscoe Mitchell: Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra and Space Trio at the Fault Zone Festival

*New Ting: 2023-05-15 Bandito's, Richmond VA (wav)

*Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies To Paralyze

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)

*Sun Ra: Astro Black (side 2)

*Sun Ra: Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Beyond Saturn edition) 

*Sun Ra: Disco 3000 (Complete Milan Concert 1978) (discs 1, 2)

*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet

*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 1

*Cecil Taylor: Looking Ahead! (side 2)

*Cecil Taylor Trio: 1989-02-24 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)

*UYA: 1992-008-05 Wave It Around (wav)

*UYA: 1992-08-12 Found the Key (wav)

*Various artists: Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (discs 4, 5)

*Dionne Warwick: The Complete 1960s Singles Plus (disc 2) (selections)

Reading List, Week of 2023-07-30

Reading List 2023-07-30:

*Smith, Emma. The Making of Shakespeare's First Folio (started)
*Barth, John. Chimera (reread/finished)
*Meagher, John C. Shakespeare's Shakespeare: How the Plays Were Made (finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Jesse M. Lander and J.J.M. Tobin) (reread/finished)
*Tejaratchi, Sean. Liartown: The First Four Years (finished)

 

Playlist, Week of 2023-07-22

Travel time....

Playlist 2023-07-23:

*Coheed and Cambria: Good Apollo I'm Burning Star IV | Vol. One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
*Dead C: Future Artists
*Death Grips: The Money Store
*Grateful Dead: 1979-11-01 Long Island (CDR) (selections)
*OOIOO: Taiga
*Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies To Paralyze
*Dionne Warwick: The Complete 1960s Singles Plus (disc 3)

Reading List, Week of 2023-07-22

 

Reading List 2023-07-23:

*Barth, John. Chimera (reread/started)
*Meagher, John C. Shakespeare's Shakespeare: How the Plays Were Made (started)
*Robison, Mary. Subtraction (finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Jesse M. Lander and J.J.M. Tobin) (reread/in progress)
*Tejaratchi, Sean. Liartown: The First Four Years (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2023-07-16

Good stuff.....

Playlist 2023-07-17:

*Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare

*Area: Caution Radiation Area

*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 2) "Trio (Oh Susanna)"

*B-52s: Wild Planet

*Beatles: Abbey Road (Anniversary Edition) (disc 1)

*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (discs 11, 12)

*Tina Brooks: True Blue

*John Coltrane: Live in Japan (disc 4)

*Daft Punk: Discovery

*Miles Davis Quintet: Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (side 1)

*Grateful Dead: 1990-03-15 Landover MD (streaming) "Terrapin Station > Space"

*Joe Henderson: Our Thing

*Fela Kuti: Original Sufferhead

*Ingrid Laubrock: The Last Quiet Place

*Brian Marsella Trio: 2023-04-02 Big Ears Festival, Knoxville TN (CDR)

*Modest Mouse: The Lonesome Crowded West

*DJ Muggs: Notes & Tones (streaming)

*New Ting: 2023-06-27 "Loft Is Space" (wav)

*Prince: The Rainbow Children

*Horace Silver: Song for My Father

*Wadada Leo Smith: String Quartets Nos. 1-12 (discs 5, 6)

*Wadada Leo Smith and Orange Wave Electric: Fire Illuminations

*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte

*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Other Planes of There (side 1)

*Sun Ra and His Solar-Myth Arkestra: The Solar​-​Myth Approach, Vol. 1

*Sun Ra: Calling Planet Earth (sides 1, 2)

*Sun Ra & His Solar Myth Arkestra: Life Is Splendid

*Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra: Outer Space Employment Agency

*Sun Ra: Of Abstract Dreams

*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Arkestra: It Is Forbidden: At the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival in Exile 1974

*Sun Ra: Disco 3000 (Complete Milan Concert 1978) (discs 1, 2)

*Cecil Taylor: In Transition (side 3)

*Cecil Taylor Quintet: 1965-07-02 Newport (CDR) "Steps"

*Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One

*Various artists: The Rough Guide to Salsa Dance (2nd ed.)

*Dionne Warwick: The Complete 1960s Singles Plus (discs 1, 2)

*John Zorn: Rimbaud

Reading List, Week of 2023-07-16

Reading List 2023-07-17:

*Robison, Mary. Subtraction (started)
*Barth, John. The End of the Road (reread/started/finished)
*Gaiman, Neil, and Terry Pratchett. Good Omens (finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Jesse M. Lander and J.J.M. Tobin) (reread/in progress)
*Tejaratchi, Sean. Liartown: The First Four Years (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2023-07-09

Since wrapping up Sun Ra Sundays, I find myself now free to just listen to Sun Ra all over the place... I've been trying to get more vinyl, and in general I've been dipping into my collection all over the place... space is the place... I have been on a years-long trek of trying to listen to all of the rehearsal tapes amassed by UYA in its seven-year history... we played usually twice a week, so there's a ton of tapes, all of which I've digitized... I'm up to 1992 now, it's slow going but lots of fun... I was roughly going through my Mingus collection chronologically, but I got kinda stalled out on the 1964 European tour with Dolphy... it's great stuff but there's not a lot of variation in the selection of tunes from show to show... overall I prefer Mingus's '50s work to the '60s... well, it's all great, it's just personal preference... other listening projects I have going: more exploration of Cecil Taylor, especially his early work up to 1966... more in-depth diving into the work of Anthony Braxton... always touching on Ellington... trying to get a handle on Roscoe Mitchell's orchestrations of his improvisations on the two Conversations CDs... and more in-depth listening to the Grateful Dead... these are all in heavy rotation in my head these days...

Playlist 2023-07-10:

*Steve Ashby & Daniel Barbiero: The Elongated Path
*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (sides 5, 6, 9)
*Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers: The Big Beat
*Anthony Braxton: Tentet (Paris) 2001
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 419, 420)
*Kenny Burrell: Midnight Blue
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2015-05-14 Nashville (wav) track 4
*Miles Davis Quintet: Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1952-09-17 Cleveland (CDR)
*Duke Ellington: The Girl's Suite/The Perfume Suite (side 1)
*Jerry Garcia/Merl Saunders: 1971-05-11 San Francisco (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 1 No. 3 (1971-07-31 Yale) (discs 1, 2)
*Grateful Dead: Dark Star Comp 8 (1991-1992) (CDR compilation)
*Grateful Dead: Dark Star Comp 9 (1992-1994) (CDR compilation)
*Freddie Hubbard: Blue Spirits
*Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra: Lightning Dreamers
*Charles Mingus: The Great Concert of Charles Mingus (sides 5, 6)
*Roscoe Mitchell with Ostravská Banda: Distant Radio Transmission (side 1)
*New Ting: 2023-06-27 "Loft Is Space" (wav)
*Opeth: Deliverance
*Matthew Shipp Trio: Root of Things
*Wadada Leo Smith/Peter Kowald/Bobby Naughton: 1981-10-07 RAW, Richmond VA (CDR) track 01
*Sparks: Big Beat (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra (sides 3, 4)
*Sun Ra and His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: Sun Embassy (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Discipline Variations: A Compilation 1970-1972 (CDR compilation) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Thunder of the Gods "Calling Planet Earth-We'll Wait for You"
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Solar Arkestra: Space Is the Place: Music from the Original Soundtrack (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Aurora Borealis
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: Beyond the Purple Star Zone
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Oblique Parallax
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Saturn XIII (sides 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor Quartet: At Newport
*Cecil Taylor: Unit Structures
*Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One
*Lennie Tristano: Personal Recordings 1946-1970 (disc 4)
*June Tyson/Sun Ra: Saturnian Queen of the Sun Ra Arkestra (side 1)
*UYA: 1992-07-15 Fistfire (wav)
*UYA: 1992-07-15/18: Tilliespace (wav)
*UYA: 1992-07-22 Faster Service (wav)
*Various artists: Written in Their Soul: The Stax Songwriter Demos (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Void Patrol: Void Patrol
*Zion80: Hod (Zorn/Book of Beri'ah vol. 8) 

Reading List, Week of 2023-07-09

Reading List 2023-07-10:

*Gaiman, Neil, and Terry Pratchett. Good Omens (started)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 3rd ed., ed. Jesse M. Lander and J.J.M. Tobin) (reread/started)
*Tejaratchi, Sean. Liartown: The First Four Years (started)
*Spellman, A.B. "Cecil Taylor," in Four Jazz Lives (started/finished)
*Higgs, John. Love and Let Die: James Bond, the Beatles, and the British Psyche (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 2nd ed., ed. E.A.J. Honigmann) (reread/finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (in progress)

"Urgent, Dynamic Chains of Impulses:" Cecil Taylor's Early Drummers

I love the tension that arises from the contrast of Denis Charles's straight-ahead, solid-as-a-rock swing with Cecil Taylor's manic Ellingtonianisms, all florid soloing, block chord comping, and drummer-like jumping all over the place rhythmically. For a great example, check out the performance of "Johnny Come Lately" on the At Newport album. As interesting and compelling as Cecil's early music is (and it is all almost infinitely fascinating and rewarding), it's clear that he needed a different drummer to fully realize his vision... and Sunny Murray more than fit the bill. As Ekkehard Jost puts it: "He is probably the first drummer in jazz who was able--while largely negating metre--to develop urgent, dynamic chains of impulses, and in this way gave Taylor's music the support it needed" (Jost, Free Jazz, Universal Edition, 1974, p. 72). Next stops Into the Hot and the Café Montmartre!

Playlist, Week of 2023-07-02

Always nice to return to Area... what a strange, wonderful, incredibly tight band they were... Nice to hear Alex Ward on the new Pere Ubu record... his clarinet fits in nicely... Still coming to terms with Cecil Taylor's Hard Driving Jazz, his only session with John Coltrane... Cecil's "comping," if you can call it that, is so dark and brooding... hearing Coltrane soar over that dark piano accompaniment is strangely satisfying... one can only imagine how it would have worked if Cecil's original choice for trumpet, Ted Curson, had been present... instead we get the fusty and uninteresting Kenny Dorham... who is fine in the right context, but this ain't it... still, I am happy this album exists, if only to highlight how much Cecil needed Jimmy Lyons and Sunny Murray in 1957... 

Playlist 2023-07-03:

*Area: Arbeit Macht Frei
*Area: Are(A)zione (side 1)
*Anthony Braxton/Richard Teitelbaum: Silence/Time Zones: "Crossing (Dedicated To Roscoe Mitchell)"
*Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra (Köln) 1978 "Comp. 59"
*Anthony Braxton: Solo (Kent) 1979
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Duets (DCWM) 2012 (disc 10)
*Anthony Braxton: Quintet (Tristano) 2014 (discs 6, 7)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2018-11-19 Nashville (rough mix wav)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2019-11-25 Nashville (rough mix wav)
*Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (disc 5) "What I Say"
*Deerhoof: Devil Kids
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: 1952-11-25 Birdland, NYC (CDR)
*Grateful Dead: 1972-09-27 Jersey City, NJ (Dick's Picks 11) "Dark Star"
*Grant Green: Street of Dreams
*Lionel Hampton: The Complete Lionel Hampton Victor Sessions 1937-1941 (disc 2)
*Buddy Holly: The New Complete Buddy Holly v2.0 (disc 4)
*Freddie Hubbard: The Body and the Soul
*Freddie Hubbard: Breaking Point
*Bobby Hutcherson: Components
*Ingrid Laubrock: Dreamt Twice, Twice Dreamt (disc 1) "Drilling"
*Roscoe Mitchell: Roscoe Mitchell Orchestra and Space Trio at the Fault Zone Festival
*Pere Ubu: Trouble on Big Beat Street
*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (sides 1, 2)
*Steely Dan: The Second Arrangement (Roger Nichols cassette & DAT) (CDR compilation)
*Sun Ra: Exotica (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: When Sun Comes Out (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Continuation (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Nothing Is… Completed & Revisited
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 4)
*Sun Ra: Discipline Variations: A Compilation 1970-1972 (CDR compilation) (disc 1)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Ultra 21st Century Arkestra: 1990-06-27 Lugano, Switzerland (disc 1)
*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 7
*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 8
*Cecil Taylor Quintet: Hard Driving Jazz
*Cecil Taylor: Mixed [Into the Hot]
*Cecil Taylor: Unit Structures "Unit Structures/As of a Now/Section"
*Cecil Taylor Ensemble: Almeda
*Henry Threadgill Ensemble: The Other One
*Charles Tolliver Big Band: Mosaic Select (disc 3)
*Lennie Tristano: Personal Recordings 1946-1970 (disc 3)
*John Zorn/Yamantaka Eye: NaniNani II

Reading List, Week of 2023-07-02

Reading List 2023-07-03:

*Higgs, John. Love and Let Die: James Bond, the Beatles, and the British Psyche (started)
*Shakespeare, William. King John (Arden 2nd ed., ed. E.A.J. Honigmann) (reread/started)
*Jensen, Michael P. " 'Look with thine ears': The Challenges and Rewards of Audio Shakespeare, Part One." Shakespeare Newsletter 71:2 (2022) (started/finished)
*Jost, Ekkehard. "Cecil Taylor," in Free Jazz (started/finished)
*Lanier, Douglas. "Shakespeare on the Record," in Companion to Shakespeare and Performance, ed. Hodgdon and Worthen (started/finished)
*Amis, Martin. The War Against Cliché: Essays and Reviews, 1971-2000 (finished)
*Ríos, Julián. Larva: Midsummer Night's Babel (transl. R. Francis, S, Levine, J. Ríos) (in progress)