Playlist, Week of 2026-04-19

 

I have been on a bit of a Nels Cline kick lately... he's such a versatile guitarist... I am particularly drawn to his skronky, atonal noise playing, like on the live disc of Initiate... good stuff...

Playlist 2026-04-20:

*Amon Duul II: Yeti
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 3) "Number 1"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium E (disc 1) "Act 1, Part 1"
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 8)
*Nels Cline: The Inkling
*Nels Cline: Downpour
*Nels Cline Singers: Initiate (disc 1)
*Walt Dickerson Quartet: Impressions of A Patch of Blue
*Duke Ellington: The Indispensable Duke Ellington and the Small Groups (Vol. 9/10) 1940-1946 (side 2)
*Farmers By Nature: Love and Ghosts (disc 1) "Love and Ghosts"
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 11 (1972-09-27 Jersey City, NJ) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-12-18 Tampa FL (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-02-24 Winterland SF (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Allen Lowe: Jews and Roots: An Avant-Garde of Our Own (disc 5)
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra: Out to Lunch
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet: Hat and Beard
*Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band: Stone Stone Stone
*Evan Parker ElectroAcoustic Septet: Seven "Seven-2"
*Sun Ra and His Solar-Myth Arkestra: The Solar​-​Myth Approach, Vols. 1 & 2 (discs 1, 2)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-27 Detroit (CDR) (disc 5)
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-28 Detroit (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Pat Thomas & XT: Strata, Act (Joy Contemporary)* (discs 1, 3)
*UYA: 1994 (CDR compilation)
*UYA: 1994-11-01 Image of a Stale Jazz (wav)
*UYA: 1994-11-08 Newt-Dole Hole Merger (wav)
*Various artists: WSAM: Short Cuts I (cassette compilation) (side B)
*Weather Report: Live and Unreleased (disc 1)
*XTC: Drums and Wires (sides 1, 2) 

Playlist, Week of 2026-03-15

 

In addition to my weekly forays in the worlds of Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, and "Dark Star," this has been a week of exciting electric guitar... For reasons unknown, Nels Cline and Gregg Bendian's revisioning of John Coltrane and Rashied Ali's Interstellar Space had eluded me... whoa, it's incredible... I am slowly exposing myself to more of Otomo Yoshihide's exploratory guitar work... it's particularly strong on his big band album Stone Stone Stone... In my journeys through the UYA archives, the standout aspect for me has been the outstanding sonic explosions of Rodger Coleman's guitar solos... like throwing James Blood Ulmer, Jerry Garcia, Jimi Hendrix, and Thurston Moore in a blender... great stuff...

Playlist 2026-03-16:

*And Big Band: 2026-03-01 Chapel Hill NC (wav)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1988-08-31 Chicago (CDR)
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: 1995-01-08 Oakland CA (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton: Octet (New York) 1995
*Anthony Braxton: Trillium X (disc 4)
*Nels Cline: Destroy All Nels Cline
*Nels Cline/Gregg Bendian: Interstellar Space Revisited
*Rodger Coleman/Sam Byrd: Imaginary Vinyl "Face A"
*Kris Davis/Lutosławski Quartet: The Solastalgia Suite
*Miles Davis: In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete (disc 3)
*Deepstaria Enigmatica: The Eternal Now is the Heart of a New Tomorrow
*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1932-1940 Brunswick, Columbia and Master Recordings of Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra (disc 5)
*Duke Ellington Octet: Live at the Rainbow Grill
*Duke Ellington Small Bands: The Intimacy of the Blues
*Globe Unity Orchestra and Guests: Baden-Baden '75
*Grateful Dead: 1973-03-16 Long Island, NY (CDR) (disc 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1973-06-10 Washington DC (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1973-06-24 Portland OR (CDR) (disc 3) "Dark Star > Eyes of the World"
*Heldon: Third ("It's Always Rock'n'Roll") (disc 1)
*Joe Henderson: 1975-12-19 San Francisco (CDR) (disc 1)
*Impressions: People Get Ready
*Fela Kuti: Roforofo Fight
*Charles Mingus: Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (disc 1)
*New Ting: 2026-03-09 Partially parking (wav)
*Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet: Hat and Beard
*Otomo Yoshihide Special Big Band: Stone Stone Stone
*Eddie Prévost et al.: The Secret Handshake With Danger, Vol. 1
*Sergei Rachmaninov: Rachmaninov Plays Chopin
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Visits Planet Earth
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Interstellar Low Ways
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: Fate in a Pleasant Mood
*Sun Ra and His Myth Science Arkestra: When Sun Comes Out
*Sun Ra and His Omniverse Jet-Set Arkestra: 1980-12-26 Detroit (CDR) (disc 3)
*Henry Threadgill: Double Up, Plays Double Up Plus "Game Is Up"
*UYA: 1994-08-30 Steamin' Demons (wav)
*UYA: 1994-09-07 Laundry Bar Billy (wav)
*UYA: 1994-09-13 Jiggle Tooth (wav)
*Baby Face Willette: Stop and Listen

Playlist, Week of 2025-09-28

Great new quartet work from Nels Cline, with a hell of a band... I love the way Ingrid Laubrock is integrated into the sound, and Tom Rainey's drumming is stellar as always... Wonderful new solo piano from Alexander Hawkins... Inspired by Vinnie Sperrazza's research, I've been digging a lot into Joe Chambers... I still have a great cassette that Rodger made for me (back in the '90s!) featuring various Joe Chambers compositions... Still getting inspired by Cecil Taylor, Duke Ellington, Anthony Braxton, the Beatles, the Dead, and Sun Ra... my guiding lights...

Playlist 2025-09-29:

*Muhal Richard Abrams featuring Malachi Favors: Sightsong (side 2)
*Beatles: Past Masters (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2, 3)
*Beatles: With the Beatles (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Hard Day's Night (2009 stereo remaster) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Revolver (Super Deluxe 4 LP Edition 2022) (side 9)
*Beatles: Nice Time (boot CDR)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (England) 1985 (discs 4, 7, 8)
*Nels Cline: Consentrik Quartet
*Nick Dunston: Colla Voce
*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E48 "New York"
*Duke Ellington and Count Basie: First Time! The Count Meets the Duke (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Reprise Studio Recordings (discs 1, 6)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Concert in the Virgin Islands (side 1)
*Duke Ellington: The Intimate Ellington
*Gang of Four: Another Day/Another Dollar (sides 1, 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1970-10-11 Wayne, NJ (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1970-11-05 Port Chester, NY (CDR) "The Other One > Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1970-11-08 Port Chester, NY (CDR) "Dark Star > The Main Ten"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-04-21 Bremen, West Germany (CDR) "The Other One"
*Alexander Hawkins: Song Unconditional
*Bobby Hutcherson: Happenings
*King Crimson: Larks' Tongues in Aspic (The Complete Recordings) (disc 7) "Improv: A Boolean Melody Medley"
*Ikue Mori: Of Ghosts and Goblins
*New Ting: 2025-08-30 Test Run, Richmond VA (wav)
*New Ting: 2025-09-22 "Carburetor Can" (wav)
*Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp String Trio: Armageddon Flower
*Phantom Orchard: Hit Parade of Tears
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2016-07-01 NYC (CDR) (disc 1) track 1
*Rascals: Freedom Suite "Cute"
*Tomeka Reid Quartet: 3+3 (side 2)
*Wayne Shorter: Schizophrenia (side 2)
*Horace Silver: Song for My Father 
*Tyshawn Sorey: The Inner Spectrum of Variables (disc 2) "Reverie"
*Tyshawn Sorey/Kirsten Carey: Vociferously Yours "Unrelenting Insistence"
*Sparks: The Girl Is Crying in Her Latte (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: MADDER! (sides 1, 2)
*Sun Ra: Hidden Fire
*Sun Ra: Stray Voltage (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor: Spring of Two Blue-J's (side 2)
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 2)
*Lewis Taylor: Stoned - Part II
*McCoy Tyner: Tender Moments
*UYA: 1994-01-19 Mental Knee Jerk (wav)
*Various artists: Stax Revue: Live in '65! (disc 1)
*Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Man
*John Zorn: Fantasma: Illusions from a Surrealist Mirror

Playlist, Week of 2019-07-21

Outside of his recording with Wolf Eyes, Quartet (New Haven) 2014 is the most "rock"-ish thing Anthony Braxton has done...  not surprisingly, he is perfectly at home with the rock-edged drumming of Greg Saunier and the sonic effects Nels Cline gets from electric guitar.. as it always seems to be with him, Braxton brings out the best of whoever he's improvising with... he and Taylor Ho Bynum already have an established relationship, and it shows, as they often seem to think and respond as one...  I've always loved Saunier's drumming in Deerhoof and I just knew he had it in him to be a wonderful totally free player, and he doesn't disappoint here... with the cutting-edge precision of Chris Cutler and the sense of dynamic structure and drama of Robert Wyatt, his drumming is quite inventive here with all the twists and turns the music takes (and it's worth noting that many of those twists and turns are instigated by him as much as anybody)... the music is very fluid, but not meandering, always with a purpose, like the flow of a particularly feisty river... Cline supplies more than just rock guitar, of course... there are lots of electronic, keyboard-like sounds as well as lower-register passages that fill in some of the bass spectrum as well... Braxton is clearly inspired by all this and he turns in some amazing playing on an array of reeds, including wonderful passages on bass and contrabass saxophones... again, no surprise but just beautiful in this context... this is really an amazing set of recordings... take this band on the road and bring them to Richmond, Mr. Braxton!

Playlist 2019-07-22:

*Daniel Barbiero and Cristiano Bocci: 2019-06-22 Rhizome, Washington DC (wav)
*Paul Bley: Ballads
*Anthony Braxton: Creative Music Orchestra (NYC) 2011
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (New Haven) 2014 (discs 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet: Apogee
*Decoy with Joe McPhee: Spontaneous Combustion (disc 2)
*Adam Lion/Matt Nelson: 2019-07-13 Gamelan Raga Kusuma, University of Richmond (wav)
*New Ting: 2019-07-08 "Backhand Volley" (wav)
*RAIC: The Heart's Message Cannot be Delivered in Words (wav rough mix)
*RAIC: 2019-07-13 Gamelan Raga Kusuma, University of Richmond (wav)
*Schlippenbach Trio: First Recordings
*Harvey Sorgen/Joe Fonda/Marilyn Crispell:  Dreamstruck
*Beatles: With the Beatles (2009 stereo remaster)
*James Brown: The Singles, Vol. 4: 1966-1967 (discs 1, 2)
*Gentle Giant: In a Glass House
*Grateful Dead: Dick's Picks 2 (1971-10-31 Columbus OH)
*John Lee Hooker: Hooker (discs 1, 2, 3)
*Jefferson Pilot: Shadow Hobby
*King Crimson: Heavy ConstruKction (disc 3)
*Little Richard: Specialty Sessions (disc 1)
*Paul McCartney: Beautiful Junk (CDR compilation) (discs 4, 5)
*Esperanza Spalding: Radio Music Society
*Sunn O))) & Boris: Altar
*Various artists: Exotica for Monty (CDR) (disc 1)
*Various artists: Fame Northern Soul
*Various artists: Powerpop Explosion Volume 2 (CDR compilation) (discs 1, 2)
*Various artists: Top Shelf 8/8/88
*Junior Wells' Chicago Blues Band: Hoodoo Man Blues

Nels Cline/Larry Ochs/Gerald Cleaver Trio

Saw an excellent show last night--Nels Cline, Gerald Cleaver, and Larry Ochs at Gallery 5. Amazing. It was great to see musicians of this caliber stretch out. Gerald Cleaver was deceptively low-key, and it soon became apparent that his was a slow burn that built up and laid the flaming groundwork for the fireworks from the others. Larry Ochs was strong and inspired, and Nels Cline was brilliant, in full command of his instruments, displaying a seemingly endless supply of ideas. Big fun!