Playlist, Week of 2026-06-21

 [Ahmed] continues to kick my butt and engage my brain... The newest Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio strikes me as more of the same, but the same is so, so good... Love the strings on the one side of the Andrew Hill two-record set One for One... I wish he had explored those textures more... I have tbr (to be read) piles, but I also have tlt (to listen to) piles, and mine are constantly growing faster than time allows to work through them... 

Playlist 2026-06-22:

*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 2)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-10 NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Beatles: Please Please Me (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: Help! (2009 mono remaster)
*Beatles: The Beatles (2009 mono remaster)
*Boris: Heavy Rocks
*Anthony Braxton Quartet: 1976-10-28 Graz, Austria (CDR) "Four Winds"
*Tina Brooks: True Blue
*Sam Byrd/Jimmy Ghaphery/Eric Helm: 2026-06-13 Richmond VA (CDR)
*Byrds: The Essential Byrds (disc 1)
*John Coltrane: The Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (disc 3) "Chasin' the Trane"
*John Coltrane: Coltrane (side 1)
*Cream: Wheels of Fire (Super Deluxe Ed.) (disc 1)
*Miles Davis: Someday My Prince Will Come (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: Money Jungle
*Duke Ellington: The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse
*Entropic Hop: Live at Downtown Music Gallery
*Fire! Orchestra: Exit!
*Grateful Dead: Hundred Year Hall (1972-04-26 Frankfurt) (disc 2) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-06-22 Chicago (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-08-16 Mountain View CA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-09-10 NYC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Joe Henderson: Consonance: Live at the Jazz Showcase (disc 2)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 2)
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 4: Pages 76-100
*Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight
*Ingrid Laubrock: Contemporary Chaos Practices
*Charles Mingus: Fables of Faubus: Slugs' Vol. 2
*National Health: Missing Pieces
*New Ting: 2026-06-08 "Carry This" (wav)
*Ivo Perelman: The Art of the Improv Trio, Vol. 6
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Jazz in Silhouette (Expanded Edition) (side 3)
*Sun Ra Arkestra: Live at the Red Garter (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: East Two + 7
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-30 Detroit (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Craig Taborn: Light Made Lighter
*Umlaut Big Band: Mary's Ideas (disc 2)
*UYA: 1995-02-01 Wet Smoke (wav)
*UYA: Space Chunk (CDR compilation)
*Various artists: A Bolus of Pop Chyme/7-Inchers of Pleasure (cassette compilation) (side A)
*Alex Ward Item 10: Volition (Live At Cafe Oto) "Entreaty"
*XTC: Live Boots: Emerald City, Cherry Hill, New Jersey 17th April 1981 (side 3)
*John Zorn/Brian Marsella Trio: Alea Iacta Est

Playlist, Week of 2026-06-14

 

The new Cecil Taylor release Fragments is excellent... some of the best sounding performances I've heard from this particular Unit... lots of critics quibble, but I quite like the contributions of Sam Rivers... I'm still getting blown away by [Ahmed]... loving their takes on Monk... 

Playlist 2026-06-15:

*[Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (disc 1)
*[Ahmed]: Play Monk (disc 1)
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 1) "Quartet No. 1"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1978-03-09 NYC (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*At the Drive-In: Vaya
*Ayumi Ishito: Roboquarians, Vol. 2
*Beatles: Sgt. Peppers Lonely Heart Club Band (2009 mono remaster)
*Ornette Coleman Double Quartet: Free Jazz (side 1)
*Elvis Costello: This Year's Model (UK) (sides 1, 2)
*Elvis Costello: Taking Liberties (sides 1, 2)
*Egg: The Metronomical Society
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Jazz of the World War 2nd, Vol. 2: 1944/1945 (side 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: A Drum Is a Woman (side 2)
*Duke Ellington: …And His Mother Called Him Bill
*Grateful Dead: 1990-12-31 Oakland (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-04-01 Greensboro NC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1991-06-14 Washington DC (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Alexander Hawkins/Sofia Jernberg: Musho
*Joe Henderson: Multiple (side 1)
*Henry Now: Then Again (side 2)
*Andrew Hill: One for One (side 3)
*Hyper Gal: Our Hyper
*Neil Jendon/Mark Nagy: Cardew/Treatise, Vol. 3: Pages 51-75
*James Brandon Lewis: An Unruly Manifesto
*Charles Mingus: Dizzy Atmosphere: Slugs' Vol. 1
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #1 for Eleven"
*Naked City: Grand Guignol
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2016-04-13 Musicircus, UR, Richmond (wav)
*New Ting: 2026-06-08 Carry It All (wav)
*Sonny Rollins Quartet with Don Cherry: Complete Live at the Village Gate 1962 (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: When Sun Comes Out (side 1)
*Sun Ra: East Two +5 (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-29 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Sun Ra: Kingdom of Discipline (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Fragments: The Complete 1969 Salle Pleyel Concerts (discs 1, 2)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (disc 3)
*UYA: 1995-01-25 I Have to Build My Own Martians (wav)
*Various artists: Variations #2: The Globe (Jon Leidecker) (CDR)
*Marta Warelis: Still Life with Lemons 

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)

Playlist, Week of 2025-01-26

It's taking me a while to absorb Giant Beauty, because I've never heard anything quite like it... I know Pat Thomas mostly from his work with Tony Oxley... this music develops with a keen sense of patience and determination... Patient listening is also rewarded with Tyshawn Sorey's The Susceptible Now... and then there's Ellington, always Ellington... I am rereading portions of Eddie Lambert's Duke Ellington: A Listener's Guide, and using it to guide some deep listening, focusing on the suites and longer compositions like "The Tattooed Bride"... The later versions of "Dark Star" from the '90s are a mixed bag, but there are definitely moments of beauty there, especially if Mickey Hart refrains from being so plodding and heavy on the bass drum... love the double drums but nothing matches the subtlety and driving excitement of Bill Kreutzmann on his own in the '70s... eventually I plan to work my way through every version of "Dark Star," just for the hell (or heaven) of it...

Playlist 2025-01-27:

*[Ahmed]: Giant Beauty (discs 1, 2)

*Zoh Amba: Bhakti

*Beatles: Abbey Road (side 2)

*Black Host: Life in the Sugar Candle Mines

*Anthony Braxton: Ninetet (Yoshi's) 1997, Vol. 3 (disc 1)

*Anthony Braxton + Duke Ellington: Concept Of Freedom (Dahinden/Kleeb/Polisoidis/Höldrich)

*Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet: Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022 (disc 4)

*Can: Ege Bamyasi

*Patsy Cline: The Patsy Cline Collection (disc 1)

*Miles Davis Quintet: Miles in France 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 8 (disc 1)

*Miles Davis: Miles at the Fillmore: Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (disc 3)

*Miles Davis: 1975-01-22 Tokyo (CDR)

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E18 "Radio"

*Earth Wind and Fire: All 'n All (side 1)

*Duke Ellington: The Great Chicago Concerts (disc 1) "Deep South Suite"

*Duke Ellington: Ellington Uptown "The Liberian Suite"

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Masterpieces by Ellington (side 3)

*Duke Ellington: Liederhall Stuttgart 1967

*Kate Gentile: Find Letter X (disc 3)

*George: Letters to George (sides 1, 2)

*Tilahun Gessesse: Ethiopiques 17

*Stan Getz: The Complete Roost Recordings (disc 2)

*Grateful Dead: 1970-02-05 Fillmore West, SF (CDR)

*Earl Hines: Giants of Jazz (disc 2)

*Joseph Holbrooke Trio: The Moat Studio Recordings (disc 1)

*King Crimson: The Power to Believe

*Ingrid Laubrock: Sleepthief

*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: In the Dark (disc 1)

*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 1 (disc 2)

*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 2 (disc 1)

*Jimmie Lunceford: The Complete Jimmie Lunceford Decca Sessions (disc 2)

*Brian Marsella’s iMAGiNARiUM: Mediatas (disc 2)

*Jackie McLean: Jacknife

*Matt Mitchell: Vista Accumulation (disc 2)

*Roscoe Mitchell: More Cutouts

*Roscoe Mitchell: Solo [3] (disc 1)

*Tyler Mitchell Octet: Sun Ra's Journey featuring Marshall Allen

*Jelly Roll Morton: The Saga of Mister Jelly Lord (side 11)

*Tony Oxley Quintet: The Baptised Traveller

*Zeena Parkins/Ikue Mori: Phantom Orchard

*Mario Pavone Sextet: Deez to Blues

*Tom Rainey Trio: 2013-10-19 Brooklyn NY (CDR) track 6

*Tyshawn Sorey Trio: The Susceptible Now

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

*Sun Ra: Lights on a Satellite: Live at the Left Bank (side 2)

*Sun Ra Arkestra under the Direction of Marshall Allen: Lights on a Satellite (side 3)

*Cecil Taylor: Erzulie Maketh Scent

*Lennie Tristano: The Complete Atlantic Recordings of Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, & Warne Marsh (disc 1)

*Various artists: Songs from Four LPs and One CD (cassette compilation) (sides A, B)

*Webber/Morris Big Band: Both Are True

*Mary Lou Williams Trio: Free Spirits

*Neil Young: Zuma