Playlist, Week of 2026-02-15

The Ellington Era is an excellent three-record compilation of Duke Ellington's work on Columbia (and Okeh) that Columbia never deemed fit to release on CD, instead scattering its contents on various other compilations, some more obscure than others... lots of gold here, including the original 1937 versions of "Diminuendo in Blue" and "Crescendo in Blue," which are great even without the Paul Gonsalves tenor sax interlude added for Newport...  Wrapping up 1972 for "Dark Star," on to 1973... the two greatest years for that mammoth space ditty... I love the Sun Ra rehearsal recordings on releases like The Intergalactic Thing... it still amazes me how many of his compositions were diligently rehearsed that we rarely got to hear... 

Playlist 2026-02-16:

*[Ahmed]: Wood Blues
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1980-10-05 Atlanta (CDR) (disc 1)
*Beach Boys: We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Beatles: Anthology 4 (disc 1)
*Booker T. & the MGs: Time Is Tight (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 1)
*Circle: 1971-03-04 Hamburg (CDR) "There Is No Greater Love"
*Gerald Cleaver/Brandon Lopez/Hprizm: In the Wilderness
*Nat King Cole: Just One of Those Things (and More)
*Kris Davis/Lutosławski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
*Deepstaria Enigmatica: The Eternal Now is the Heart of a New Tomorrow
*Walt Dickerson Quartet: Impressions of A Patch of Blue
*Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra: The Ellington Era, Vol. 1: 1927-1940 (sides 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 7: Studio Sessions
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 8: Studio Sessions
*Grateful Dead: Listen to the River: St. Louis '71 '72 '73 (disc 10)
*Grateful Dead: 1972-11-26 San Antonio (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-12-11 Winterland, SF (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-12-15 Long Beach, CA (CDR) "Jam > Dark Star"
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (side 2)
*Heldon: "Allez-Téia"
*Joe Henderson: Mode for Joe
*Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique
*Joëlle Léandre/Jérôme Bourdellon: Evidence
*Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (disc 2)
*New Ting: 2026-01-19 "According" (wav)
*Rova Saxophone Quartet/Kyle Bruckmann/Henry Kaiser: Steve Lacy's Saxophone Special Revisited
*Wayne Shorter: The All Seeing Eye
*Sinclair and the South: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary)
*Sparks: Live at the Record Plant 1974 (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Ihnfinity Arkestra: The Intergalactic Thing (side 1)
*Sun Ra: The Antique Blacks "The Antique Blacks Suite"
*Sun Ra: The Soul Vibrations of Man (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Strange Celestial Road (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: Beyond the Purple Star Zone
*Craig Taborn: Dream Archive
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 3)
*Ben Webster: King of the Tenors
*Yes: Tales from Topographic Oceans (Super Deluxe Ed.) (discs 3, 4, 5, 6)
*John Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio: Calculus "The Ghost of Departed Quantities"

Reading List, Week of 2026-02-15

 

Reading List 2026-02-16:

*Harrow, Alix E. The Everlasting (started/finished)
*Tan Twan Eng.  The Garden of Evening Mists (started/finished)
*Vickers, Brian. "Returning to Shakespeare: An Autobiographical Preface" and "Rites of Passage in Shakespeare's Prose," in Returning to Shakespeare (started/finished)
*Leonard, Elmore. Tishomingo Blues (finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Inna Yott on the Muddy Geranium: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 8: 1923 (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale (Arden 3rd series, ed. John Pitcher) (reread/in progress)
*Stein, Gertrude. The Making of Americans (in progress)

Reading At or It

"The Making of Americans" is a very important thing and everybody ought to be reading at or it -- Gertrude Stein, Everybody's Autobiography (1937), quoted in Steven Myer, "Introduction," The Making of Americans p. xiv (Dalkey Archive, 1995)

Playlist, Week of 2026-09-08

The stockpile of Duke Ellington's private recordings he amassed over the years continues to be an amazing source of fantastic music... case in point: the two late suites, The Degas Suite (1968) and The River (1970)... bits and pieces of these suites dribbled out in concert, but it's great to have these full run-throughs... On another end of the spectrum, Sun Ra's 37-minute suite "Out in Space" from the 1970 Berlin show on Black Myth/Out in Space is a tour de force, with Ra leading the way on wild Moog passages interspersed with full band blowouts... 

Playlist 2026-02-09: 

*Arctic Monkeys: Humbug
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Kabalaba (pt. 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1980-06-28 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)
*Billy Bang: A Tribute to Stuff Smith
*Beatles: Anthology 2 (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton: Nine Compositions (DVD) 2003 "Comp. 72H (Trio)"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium J (disc 1)
*Clash: London Calling
*Kris Davis/Lutosławski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 5: The Suites
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 8: Studio Sessions
*Grateful Dead: 1972-11-13 Kansas City (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-11-19 Houston (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts
*Tim Harding/OJ Hunter/Fred McGann/Sam Byrd: 2026-01-17 RVA (CDR)
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (side 1)
*Heldon: Electronique Guerilla
*Charles Mingus: Changes Two (side 2)
*Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (disc 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell Septet: 1976-02-08 NYC (CDR) "2nd Improvisation"
*Chris Potter/Craig Taborn: 2025-04-08 Cully, Switzerland (CDR)
*Sonny Rollins: Worktime (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Supersonic Jazz (21st Century Expanded Ed.) (side 4)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Strange Strings (Expanded Edition) (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra: Black Myth/Out in Space (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Some Blues But Not the Kind That's Blue
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: Oblique Parallax
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Solo Works (CDR compilation)
*Craig Taborn: Dream Archive
*Cecil Taylor: Spring of Two Blue-J's (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1979-03-15 WKCR, NYC (CDR) track 6
*McCoy Tyner: Tender Moments
*UYA: 1994-07-17 Close the Vapor Lock (wav)
*Various artists: The Bottle Tapes: Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005 (disc 3)
*Ben Webster: The Big Tenor: The Complete Ben Webster on EmArcy (side 1)
*XTC: Nonsuch (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)

 

Reading List, Week of 2026-09-08

Reading List 2026-02-09:

*Leonard, Elmore. Tishomingo Blues (started)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Inna Yott on the Muddy Geranium: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 8: 1923 (started)
*Shakespeare, William. The Winter's Tale (Arden 3rd series, ed. John Pitcher) (reread/started)
*Leonard, Elmore. Out of Sight (started/finished)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 7: 1922 (finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Stein, Gertrude. The Making of Americans (in progress)
 

The Texture of Reading

I have been thinking about how I read these days. (This is sort of a rehash of an earlier post, The Novel Channel, and for a while I decided not to add to it, but I kept thinking about it, and that post was over ten years ago, so...) 

I like to read several books at one time. More often than not I get pushback from folks when I tell them this, but to me it's as natural as listening to different styles of music over the course of a day. My brain is receptive to different kinds of writing at different times of the day. First thing in the morning, over that first lovely cup of coffee, I like to read things that challenge me, more difficult and/or experimental books that I might not have the inclination for later in the day when I'm more tired or impatient. So, books like Finnegans Wake, Miss Macintosh My Darling, or The Anatomy of Melancholy are ideal for this. Poetry can work for this as well. Right now I am plowing, very slowly, through Gertrude Stein's The Making of Americans. It's slow going, and I find that about ten pages at a sitting is enough, enough to get through the first cup of coffee anyway. But it's stimulating (the prose, not the coffee, although of course that's stimulating too in its own way!), and it wakes me up. I usually return to Stein later in the evening for another ten pages.

For the last few years I have been working my way through all of the Arden Shakespeares (both the second and third series, not the first). I read all of Shakespeare a long time ago, but I really like the Ardens for their scholarship and overall presentation. I am nearing the end of this project, with only four or five plays left to read. The way I do it is first I read through all the critical apparatus that comes with the play, starting with the introduction and the appendices; I especially enjoy all the textual analysis, all the minutiae about the Folio, any quartos, details about editing, etc. Then I read through all the notes and glosses, paying special attention to any notes about textual cruxes or indications of staging. I do all this ahead of time so I can enjoy reading the play straight through without getting too distracted by the notes.

Sometimes I will just read the play out loud to myself, but usually for this pass through I like to read along with a recording of the play (the key aspect being reading along, not just listening; reading = eyes on the page). For the recordings, I read with either the Argo Classics (recorded primarily in the 1950s) or the Arkangel series from the 1990s. Sometimes the Argo readings can be a bit fusty, and overall I prefer the Arkangel (with some serious caveats, like: why have Hortensio stutter in The Taming of the Shrew?). I like doing this because it really helps to get an approach to phrasing, delivery, and dramatic effect, even though I acknowledge that those interpretations are only one way to speak these lines, and definitely not the only way or the definitive way. The next time I read through all of Shakespeare, I'll just read it all without the recordings and see how that goes. And yeah, I plan on pretty much rereading Shakespeare for the rest of my life. 

So, in addition to my morning read and Shakespeare, I do like to have a story going, a narrative of some sort, usually a novel. Sometimes comics can scratch this itch, but usually it's prose fiction of some sort, and novels are it for me. This is all pretty fluid, and if the novel is compelling enough it can overtake all my other reading paths until it's done. This always happens to me with Pynchon novels and with Malazan books. Coming up over the next year: Alexandre Dumas' D'Artagnan Romances, Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, Ovid, Boccaccio, more Elmore Leonard, rereading Homer and Pynchon (especially Against the Day), and much more!

I also like to have some kind of big reference book of some sort to dip into without worrying too much about continuity. Right now it's Garner's Modern American Usage (2nd ed.), which is ideal for this stream. And finally, I usually have some kind of music-related reading going on. Often this is satisfied by web writing, reviews, Point of Departure, Hoffman music boards, Substack, etc., and also by my stash of printouts, liner notes, articles, things I've accumulated over the years (my "vertical files"). Right now I am focused on going through all my Sun Ra files, including printouts of correspondence from the now defunct (and sadly unarchived) Saturn listserv. After that I'm going to continue with Ra by rereading Szwed and Youngquist.

So that's basically it: the texture of my reading these days. At bedtime, I like to read dry scholarly stuff to get good and sleepy and then touch off my journey to dreamland with some Krazy Kat. I love reading.
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-02-01

Can Cladders is the perfect antidote to all the unrelenting cold and ice... and it happened on a winter's day... 

Playlist 2026-02-02:

*Noël Akchoté: Compositions 6-36 (Plays Anthony Braxton) 
*Noël Akchoté: Compositions 40-48 (Plays Anthony Braxton) 
*Noël Akchoté: Compositions 52-69 (Plays Anthony Braxton) 
*Arctic Monkeys: Suck It and See
*[Ahmed]: Sama'a [Audition]
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 5) "Congliptious/Old"
*Beatles: The Beatles (Super Deluxe Edition) (disc 7) (1968 Mono Mix) (side 3)
*Björk: Debut
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 8)
*Burial: Tunes 2011-2019 (disc 1)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2015-05-14 Nashville (wav) track 4
*Miles Davis: Collector's Items (side 1)
*Miles Davis: The Complete On the Corner Sessions (disc 1) "Helen Butte/Mr. Freedom X (Master)"
*Walt Dickerson Quartet: Impressions of A Patch of Blue
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington 1939 (sides 2, 3)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Three Suites "The Nutcracker Suite"
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 3: Studio Sessions, New York, 1962
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 4: Studio Sessions, New York, 1963
*Fela Kuti: Shakara
*Fela Kuti: London Scene
*Fred Frith/Mariá Portugal: Matter
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Vol. 14 (1972-03-26 Academy of Music, NYC) (disc 2) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-10-26 Cincinnati (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-10-28 Cleveland (CDR) (disc 2) "Dark Star"
*Guided By Voices: It's Not Them. It Can't Be Them. It Is Them!
*Guided By Voices: Strut of Kings
*Guided By Voices: La La Land
*Guided By Voices: Welshpool Frillies
*Guided By Voices: Nowhere to Go But Up
*Guided By Voices: Thick Rich and Delicious
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (sides 3, 4)
*High Llamas: Can Cladders
*Hu: Rumble of Thunder
*Insect Life: Insect Life
*Peter Kowald: 1981-12-03 Köln (CDR)
*Phil Lesh/Tom Constanten: 1964-05 San Francisco (streaming)
*New Ting: 2026-01-19 "According" (wav)
*Larry Ochs/Joe Morris/Charles Downs: Every Day → All The Way
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven "Seven-2"
*Ravi Shankar: Master of Sitar "Raag Bihag (Late Evening Raag)"
*Sifters: Sifters
*Ches Smith: Clone Row
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (side 1)
*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Astro-Ihnfinity Arkestra: Sun Embassy (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght Vol. 1 "The Cosmic Explorer"
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Research Arkestra: Black Myth/Out in Space (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Egypt 1971 (disc 1) "Nidhamu"
*Sun Ra: Egypt 1971 (disc 3) "Nidhamu" (Parts 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Crystal Spears (Remastered)
*Sun Ra: Space Is the Place (Blue Thumb) (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Prophet (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Exotica (side 3)
*Various artists: The Rough Guide to Psychedelic Bollywood (disc 1)
*X: Los Angeles
*Yes: Relayer (2016 remaster) (disc 1) "Gates of Delirium" 

Reading List, Week of 2026-02-01

Reading List 2026-02-02:

*Leonard, Elmore. Rum Punch (started/finished)
*Toop, David. "If You Find Earth Boring…" in Ocean of Sound (reread/started/finished)
*Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 3rd series, ed. Barbara Hodgdon) (reread/finished)
*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (in progress)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 7: 1922 (in progress)
*Stein, Gertrude. The Making of Americans (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-01-25

 

Got to hear the Sam Records reissue of Jazz by Sun Ra, Vol. 1 and damn, it sounded fantastic... clearer and cleaner than I've ever heard it before, with John Gilmore's solos shining with the golden clarity they deserve... Love how the Beatles show up in the middle of AMM's "The Great Hall"... [Ahmed] continues to blow me away with their mesmerizing and morphing grooves... 

Playlist 2026-01-26:

*[Ahmed]: Wood Blues
*[Ahmed]: Sama'a [Audition]
*AMM: Laminal (disc 2) "The Great Hall, Part 1"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1980-06-28 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Beach Boys: Love You
*Beatles: Revolver (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 7)
*Patricia Brennan: Of the Near and Far
*Rodger Coleman: Journey to Brno
*Jackie DeShannon: The Complete Singles, Vol. 1 (1960-1963)
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington Presents Ivie Anderson (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Private Collection, Vol. 1: Studio Sessions Chicago, 1956
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Latin American Suite
*Grateful Dead: Hundred Year Hall (1972-04-26 Frankfurt) (disc 2) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: Listen to the River: St. Louis '71 '72 '73 (disc 10) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1977-03-20 Winterland, S.F.(CDR)(disc 2)
*Guided By Voices: Universe Room
*Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts
*Tim Harding/OJ Hunter/Fred McGann/Sam Byrd: 2026-01-17 RVA (CDR)
*Hatfield and the North: The Rotters' Club (50th Anniversary Ed.) (sides 1, 2)
*Henry Now: Then Again
*I.P.Y.: IPY25
*King Crimson: Lizard (selections)
*Charles Mingus: Nostalgia In Times Square/The Immortal 1959 Sessions (side 2)
*Thelonious Monk: Bremen 1965 (discs 1, 2)
*New Ting: 2026-01-12 "Seriously?" (wav)
*Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens
*Chris Potter/Craig Taborn: 2025-03-31 Cologne (CDR)
*Sun Ra: Jazz by Sun Ra, Vol. 1 (side 2)
*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York City 1973) (sides 3, 4)
*Sun Ra: Hidden Fire (sides 1, 2)
*Tomeka Reid Quartet: 2025-09-26 Leibnitz, Austria (CDR)
*UYA: 1994-07-12 Think Like That (wav)
*XTC: English Settlement (sides 3, 4)

Reading List, Week of 2026-01-25

Reading List 2026-01-26:

*Garner, Bryan A. Modern American Usage, 2nd ed. (started)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: A Katnip Kantata in the Key of K: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 7: 1922 (started)
*Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas (started)
*Barker, Elspeth. O Caledonia (started/finished)
*Tanner, Tony. “The taming of the Shrew,” in Prefaces to Shakespeare (reread/started/finished)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Sure as Moons Is Cheeses: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 6: 1921 (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 3rd series, ed. Barbara Hodgdon) (reread/in progress)
*Stein, Gertrude. The Making of Americans (in progress)
 

Playlist, Week of 2026-01-18

This week ended up being a Sun Ra week, mostly... riding this Sun Ra/ Duke Ellington/"Dark Star" wave... It's After the End of the World was the first Sun Ra LP I owned... in my tender twenties, I didn't know what to make of it then, but I held onto it until I did... now, it's a fine artifact, even though it's been supplanted by the way more complete two-disc set Black Myth/Out in Space... even so, some fine Moog work here, real paint-peeling stuff... keeping this massive body of work in my head requires constant revisiting and mental updating... do I want to hear Ellingtonian swing, warped hard bop, synthesizer wildness, or radical solo piano? I want to hear all of it... 

Playlist 2026-01-19:

*AMM III: It Had Been an Ordinary Enough Day in Pueblo, Colorado "Radio Activity"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1980-02-23 New Haven (CDR) (disc 3)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 412)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 6)
*Patsy Cline: Imagine That: The Lost Recordings 1954-1963 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Ellington Suites
*Marcus Gilmore: Journey to the New
*Paul Gonsalves: Ellingtonia Moods and Blues
*Grateful Dead: 1972-09-24 Waterbury CT (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 11 (1972-09-27 Jersey City, NJ) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1977-03-20 Winterland, S.F. (CDR) (disc 1)
*Joe Henderson with the Wynton Kelly Trio: Four!
*Andrew Hill: Compulsion!!!!!
*Bobby Hutcherson: Happenings
*I.P.Y.: IPY25
*Rob Mazurek/Exploding Star Orchestra: Galactic Parables: Vol. 1 (disc 1) "Make Way to the City/The Arc of Slavery #72 (Part 1)
*Lee Morgan: The Gigolo
*Muffins: Baker's Dozen (disc 6)
*Camila Nebbia featuring Marilyn Crispell & Lesley Mok: A Reflection Distorts over Water
*New Ting: 2026-01-12 "Seriously?" (wav)
*Linda May Han Oh: Strange Heavens
*Keith Rowe/John Tilbury: Duos for Doris (disc 2)
*Sparks: MAD! (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Supersonic Jazz (21st Century Expanded Ed.) (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Jazz by Sun Ra, Vol. 1 [Sun Song]
*Sun Ra: Sound of Joy
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Secrets of the Sun
*Sun Ra: Space Probe
*Sun Ra: Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3: The Lost Tapes
*Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Research Arkestra: It's After the End of the World: Live at the Donaueschingen and Berlin Festivals
*Sun Ra & His Arkestra: The Cymbals​/​Symbols Sessions (New York City 1973) (side 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Live at Montreux (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Cosmos (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Piano Recital, Teatro La Fenice, Venezia
*Sun Ra: Purple Night
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Mayan Temples
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: In the Orbit of Ra (side 4)
*UYA: 1994-07-10 Eruption Conniption (wav)
*Various artists: That Devilin' Tune: A Jazz History (1927-1934) (Vol. II, disc 4)
*Various artists: The Bottle Tapes: Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005 (disc 2)

Reading List, Week of 2026-01-18

 

Reading List 2026-01-19:

*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 3rd series, ed. Barbara Hodgdon) (reread/started)
*Stein, Gertrude. The Making of Americans (started)
*Leonard, Elmore. Get Shorty (started/finished)
*Bernard, Bruce. Century (finished)
*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 2nd series, ed. Brian Morris) (reread/finished)
*Wade, Francesca. Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (finished)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Sure as Moons Is Cheeses: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 6: 1921 (in progress)

Playlist, Week of 2026-01-11

 

Components is yet another excellent Blue Note recording from Bobby Hutcherson... Herbie Hancock is brilliant on this, and Joe Chambers' drumming, and compositions on all of Side 2, are tasteful and exhilarating... with its "components" (sorry) of avant-garde, outside/inside playing typical of the work of Hutcherson, Andrew Hill, Joe Henderson, Wayne Shorter, etc. of this period, this album is one of the reasons I keep returning to mid-sixties Blue Note... The 1980 Art Ensemble of Chicago show features an hour-long rendition of "People in Sorrow" that is beautiful and stirring... Blissing out with Sun Ra and Duke Ellington... 

Playlist 2026-01-12:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1980-02-23 New Haven (CDR) (disc 2)
*Fred Astaire: Starring Fred Astaire (discs 1, 2)
*Beatles: Meet the Beatles! (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 416)
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (discs 3, 4, 5)
*Patricia Brennan Septet: 2025-11-01 Berlin (CDR)
*Patsy Cline: Imagine That: The Lost Recordings 1954-1963 (disc 2)
*Miles Davis Quintet: Miles Smiles
*Duke Ellington: Duke Ellington 1939 (side 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Ellington Suites "The Queen's Suite"
*Duke Ellington: Anatomy of a Murder
*Duke Ellington: His Piano and His Orchestra at the Bal Masque (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Globe Unity Orchestra: Globe Unity ‘67 & ‘70 "Globe Unity '70"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-09-15/16 Boston (Enjoying the Ride, disc 12)
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 36 (1972-09-21 Philadelphia) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-10-17 Winterland, SF (CDR) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead/John Oswald: Grayfolded (disc 2) "73rd Star Bridge Sonata"
*Elmo Hope Ensemble: Sounds from Rikers Island
*Bobby Hutcherson: Components
*Ingrid Laubrock: Purposing the Air (discs 1, 2)
*Joe Morris: Abstract Forest
*Camila Nebbia/Kit Downes/Andrew Lisle: Exhaust
*Sam Rivers: Contours
*Wayne Shorter: Etcetera
*Wayne Shorter: Schizophrenia
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 2
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Atlantis
*Sun Ra: Astro Black (side 2)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth (side 1)
*Sun Ra and His Astro Infinity Arkestra: Friendly Love
*Sun Ra and His Intergalactic Arkestra: Outer Space Employment Agency
*Sun Ra: A Fireside Chat with Lucifer (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Celestial Love (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Blue Delight
*UYA: 1994-06-14 Acid Stipulation (wav)
*Maria Valencia/Brandon López/Matt Moran: Tarabita Espiral
*Various artists: The Bottle Tapes: Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005 (disc 1)
*Weather Report: 1974-09-27 Boston (CDR)
*Baby Face Willette: Stop and Listen
*Baby Face Willette: Face to Face 

Reading List, Week of 2026-01-11

It was fantastic to return to the world of Malazan... The Tales of Witness series is shaping up to be a worthy followup to the Book of the Fallen...
 

Reading List 2026-01-12:

*Wade, Francesca. Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (started)
*Erikson, Steven. No Life Forsaken (finished)
*Bernard, Bruce. Century (in progress)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Sure as Moons Is Cheeses: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 6: 1921 (in progress)
*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 2nd series, ed. Brian Morris) (reread/in progress) 

 

Sun Ra and the Blues

 

I like what Jason Weiss had to say about Sun Ra and Blue Delight: "What emerges time and again is 1001 ways of reading the blues" ("Sun Ra: The Living Future," Village Voice, 1989-07-04): a trait Ra shares with Duke Ellington.

Playlist, Week of 2026-01-04

The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1 is one of my favorite Sun Ra records, not least because it's almost impenetrable... it really eludes full understanding, but not in a negative way... I keep coming back to it... as Rodger Coleman says in Sun Ra Sundays, "As many times as I've listened to this record, it always sounds fresh, revealing deeper insights with each listen" (p. 64)... maybe it's the bass marimba... Anyway, happy new year to everyone, whoever you are! Here's to another year hopefully filled with wonderful listening and reading... This year I am continuing my dives into "Dark Star," Duke Ellington, and Sun Ra, and I've got my eye (ear?) on more Charles Mingus and Anthony Braxton as well... 

Playlist 2026-01-05:

*George Adams: Sound Suggestions (side 1)
*[Ahmed]: Sama'a [Audition]
*B-52s: Bouncing off the Satellites
*B-52s: Cosmic Thing
*Anthony Braxton Trio: 1974-12-08 Toronto (CDR) (disc 2) track 2
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (discs 1, 2)
*Clash: London Calling (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Patsy Cline: Imagine That: The Lost Recordings 1954-1963 (disc 1)
*Rodger Coleman: Journey to Brno (cassette) (sides A, B)
*Deerhoof: Miracle-Level (side 1)
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E50 "Spring Cleaning Pt. 2"
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 12 (disc 1)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: The Reprise Studio Recordings (disc 5)
*Grateful Dead: Sunshine Daydream (Veneta, Oregon 8/27/72) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-09-10 Hollywood (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-09-16 Boston (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Guided By Voices: Universe Room
*Guided By Voices: Thick Rich and Delicious
*Tim Harding/OJ Hunter/Fred McGann/Sam Byrd: 2025-11-14 RVA (CDR)
*François Houle/Kate Gentile/Alexander Hawkins: Fatrasies
*Bobby Hutcherson: Dialogue
*Clifford Jordan/John Gilmore: Blowing in from Chicago
*Mastodon: The Hunter
*Charles Mingus and His Jazz Groups: Mingus Dynasty (side 1)
*Ozric Tentacles: Strangeitude (disc 1)
*Sparks: Angst in My Pants (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Supersonic Jazz (21st Century Expanded Ed.) (side 2)
*Sun Ra: The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Vol. 1
*Sun Ra: Space Is the Place (Blue Thumb) (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000 (Complete Milan Concert 1978) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Haverford College 1980 Solo Piano (side 2)
*Sun Ra: Hidden Fire (sides 3, 4)
*UYA: 1994-05-22/06-05 Right with Right (wav)
*Stevie Wonder: Songs in the Key of Life (disc 1)

Reading List, Week of 2026-01-04

Vineland: best the third time around...

Reading List 2026-01-05:

*Erikson, Steven. No Life Forsaken (started)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Sure as Moons Is Cheeses: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 6: 1921 (started)
*Shakespeare, William. The Taming of the Shrew (Arden 2nd series, ed. Brian Morris) (reread/started)
*Erikson, Steven. The God Is Not Willing (reread/started/finished)
*Beats and Threads: Drumming Legend and Fashion Icon, Ringo Starr (ed. Gary Astridge) (finished)
*Herriman, George. Krazy and Ignatz: Pilgrims on the Road to Nowhere: The Komplete Kat Komics, Vol. 5: 1920 (finished)
*Pynchon, Thomas. Vineland (reread/finished)
*Bernard, Bruce. Century (in progress)