New Ting Gig Tonight, RVA

 

Gig tonight! We'll be playing with Walter Wright on electronics... Headliner is Bark Culture, from Philly... don't know much about them, but I hear good things...

Playlist, Week of 2025-02-16

Kris Davis's rhythmic impulse and impeccable sense of timing is on full display on Rob Mazurek's Desert Encrypt Vol. 1... plus some of Mazurek's best playing... Two interesting things to note about the "Dark Star"-related jams by Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats in 1968: they are all effectively guitar-bass duets (whether it's Phil Lesh or Jack Casady on bass), and these jams are the first time, however sparingly, that someone (probably Bill Kreutzmann) plays full drum kit in the song... before, with the Dead, and with most of the Hartbeats versions, the percussion accompaniment up to this time was mostly shaker, gong, and guiro... A month's worth of new improvisations from New Ting here... it's good to be playing again... plus, a new solo release from Jimmy Ghaphery: Fife Studies...

Playlist 2025-02-17:

*Johann Sebastian Bach: Violin Concertos (Alina Ibragimova/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra)
*Johann Christian Bach: Six Favorite Overtures (Christopher Hogwood/Academy of Ancient Music)
*Beatles: The Beatles' Second Album (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: Something New (mono 2024) (sides 1, 2)
*Black Host: Life in the Sugar Candle Mines
*Anthony Braxton: Composition 95 (For Two Pianos)
*Anthony Braxton: 2 Compositions (Ensemble) 1989/1991
*Anthony Braxton/Fred Simmons Trio: 9 Standards (Quartet) 1993 (disc 1)
*Patricia Brennan Septet: Breaking Stretch
*Dustin Carlson: Air Ceremony
*Patsy Cline: The Patsy Cline Collection (disc 3)
*John Coltrane: The Mastery of John Coltrane, Vol. IV: "Trane's Modes" (side 3)
*Miles Davis: 1969-05/06? Village Gate, NYC (CDR)
*Miles Davis: Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West (side 2)
*J Dilla: Donuts
*Nick Dunston: Colla Voce
*Duke Ellington: 1949 NYC "The Tattooed Bride"
*Duke Ellington: The Complete Capitol Recordings of Duke Ellington (discs 2, 3, 4)
*Kate Gentile: Find Letter X (disc 1)
*George: Letters to George (side 2)
*Grateful Dead: 1968-09-02 Sultan WA (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: 1968-10-12 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star > St. Stephen > The Eleven"
*Grateful Dead: 1968-10-13 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Sunshine Daydream (Veneta, Oregon 8/27/72) (disc 2) "Playing in the Band"
*Mary Halvorson: Cloudward
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-08 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-10 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star Jam"
*Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-10-30 San Francisco (CDR) "Dark Star Jam"
*Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning (Cow Box Redux)
*Allen Lowe and the Constant Sorrow Orchestra: Louis Armstrong's America, Vol. 2 (disc 1)
*Rob Mazurek: Desert Encrypts Vol. 1
*Charles Mingus: The Complete Debut Recordings (discs 5, 6)
*Roscoe Mitchell/Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble: Three Compositions "Quintet #9 for Eleven"
*Ikue Mori: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon
*New Ting: 2025-02-10 "Farberware" (wav)
*Opeth: The Last Will and Testament
*Plymouth: Plymouth "Manomet"
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (sides 1, 2)
*Santana: Lotus (side 1)
*Devadip Carlos Santana/Turiya Alice Coltrane: Illuminations
*Soft Machine: Høvikodden 1971 (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Saturn Research: Rarities and Oddities (CDR compilation) (disc 2)
*Sun Ra and His Arkestra: Music from Tomorrow's World
*Sun Ra: The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra (side 1)
*Sun Ra: Astro Black (side 2)
*Sun Ra: At the Showcase: Live in Chicago 1976-1977 (disc 1)
*Sun Ra: Lanquidity (45rpm version) (sides 1, 2)
*Joe Tex: From the Roots… …Came the Rapper
*McCoy Tyner/Joe Henderson: Forces of Nature: Live at Slugs' (disc 2)
*UYA: 1993-03-02 And the Fritos? Sure (wav)
*UYA: 1993-07-17 Dik-Plexiglass Ass 95 Remix (side A) (wav)
*Various artists: Turn Me Loose White Man (disc 4)
*Various artists: Hallucinations: Psychedelic Pop Nuggets from the WEA Vaults
*Weird of Mouth: Weird of Mouth
*Mary Lou Williams Trio: Free Spirits
*Tony Williams Lifetime: (Turn It Over) (side 1)
*Yes: Yesterdays (side 2) "America"
*Lester Young: The Aladdin Sessions (side 3)

Playlist, Week of 2024-11-24

I have been enjoying Picasso, an underrated David Murray Octet album... as great as his playing always is in the myriad configurations he plays in, I think the octet recordings have consistently been where his playing and compositions come together most fruitfully... Bob Dylan: the perfect DJ... After a drought over the summer, it's been nice to play with New Ting pretty regularly the last few weeks... "Suite Thursday" is a strong Ellington suite that ends with a swinging bang propelled by Sam Woodyard's shuffle...

Playlist 2024-11-25:

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Non-Cognitive Aspects of the City: Live at Iridium (disc 1) "On the Mountain"

*Derek Bailey/John Butcher/Gino Robair: Scrutables

*Gus Bodenheim: Slouching Towards Bodenheim (disc 1)

*Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 1 (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Nelson Goerner)

*Anthony Braxton/Ensemble Braxtonia: 2 Compositions (Järvenpää) 1988

*Anthony Braxton Saxophone Quartet: Sax QT (Lorraine) 2022 (disc 1)

*John Butcher/Pat Thomas/Dominic Lash/Steve Noble: Fathom

*Kris Davis Trio: Run the Gauntlet

*Miles Davis: Miles Davis Quintet 1965-'68 (disc 4)

*Miles Davis Quintet: 1969-07-07 NYC (CDR)

*Miles Davis: Directions (side 3)

*Miles Davis: Miles at the Fillmore: Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 (disc 2)

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E02 "Mother"

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E04 "Baseball"

*Bob Dylan/Various artists: Theme Time Radio Hour S01 E05 "Coffee"

*Bob Dylan: Fallen Angels

*Bob Dylan: Triplicate (discs 1, 2)

*Duke Ellington: The Complete 1936-1940 Variety, Vocalion, and Okeh Small Group Sessions (disc 7)

*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: Suite Thursday - Controversial Suite - Harlem Suite (side 1)

*Duke Ellington: Midnight in Paris (sides 1, 2)

*Jefferson Pilot: Recordeo

*Brian Marsella’s iMAGiNARiUM: Mediatas (disc 1)

*Jackie McLean: Right Now!

*Myra Melford/Han Bennink: Eleven Ghosts

*Matt Mitchell: Zealous Angles

*David Murray Octet: Picasso

*New Ting: 2024-11-18 "Ocean World" (wav)

*Charlie Parker: Live and Private Recordings in Chronological Order (discs 14, 15)

*Ivo Perelman Quartet: Water Music

*Rascals: Peaceful World

*Tomeka Reid/Kyoko Kitamura/Taylor Ho Bynum/Joe Morris: Geometry of Caves

*Tomeka Reid/Kyoko Kitamura/Taylor Ho Bynum/Joe Morris: Geometry of Phenomena

*Soft Machine: Breda Reactor (disc 1)

*Sun Ra and His Ninth-Dimensional Arkestra: 1983-09-15 Toronto (CDR) (discs 1, 2, 3)

*Sun Ra Arkestra: 1984-12-28 Squat Theatre, NYC (CDR)

*Sun Ra Arkestra: 1985-10-31 Munich (CDR) (discs 1, 2)

*Sun Ra and His All-Star Inventions: 1991-11-17 NYC (CDR) (disc 2)

*John Zorn: Calculus

New Ting Gig Wednesday April 17, 2024 RVA

 

Coming up this Wednesday: New Ting gig at OSB. Opening for Setting, from North Carolina. Really looking forward to seeing them!

Playlist, Week of 2024-02-04

This week I have focused more on Muhal Richard Abram's work as a "sideman" (hard to think of him that way since he plays such a strong role on everything he guests on)... On Roscoe Mitchell's Live at "A Space" 1975, he contributes to the drummerless jazz chamber orchestra feel beautifully, with the kind of playing he had already exhibited on Anthony Braxton's first LP, 3 Compositions of New Jazz... I love Muhal's playing with the Art Ensemble of Chicago--he is not a guest; he is fully integrated into their sound and approach... On the live Kalabala he is agressive and energetic; on the studio Fanfare for the Warriors he is an integral part of the texture... Of his own albums, Lifea Blinec is one of my absolute favorites... the double piano lineup of Abrams and Amina Claudine Myers is killer... First session in 2024 for New Ting... nice to play again with a full contigent... 

*Muhal Richard Abrams: Lifea Blinec
*Muhal Richard Abrams: Spiral: Live at Montreux 1978
*AMM: Ammmusic "After Rapidly Circling the Plaza"
*Art Ensemble: 1967/68 (disc 1) "Quartet No. 1"
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Kabalaba
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Fanfare for the Warriors
*Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra (Stokowski/Houston Symphony Orchestra) (sides 1, 2)
*Beatles: 1962-1966 (2023 Edition) (sides 4, 5)
*Beatles: 1967-1970 (2023 Edition) (side 5)
*Booker T & the MGs: Play the "Hip Hits"
*Anthony Braxton: 3 Compositions of New Jazz
*Anthony Braxton: Tentet (Wesleyan) 1999 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Quartet (FRM) 2007 (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: Sonic Genome (2019-10-31 Berlin) (CDR)
*Rodger Coleman and Sam Byrd: 2023-12-29 Nashville (rough mix wav)
*Colla Parte: 2010-09-19 Sonic Circuits, Fairfax VA (CDR)
*John Coltrane: Evenings at the Village Gate "Africa"
*Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Armed Forces (sides 1, 2)
*Duke Ellington and His Orchestra: The Treasury Shows, Vol. 22 (disc 1)
*Grateful Dead: Live/Dead
*Grateful Dead: Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings (disc 7) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Dave's Picks Vol. 48 (1971-11-20 UCLA) (disc 2) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: 1972-05-10 Amsterdam (CDR) (disc 3) "The Other One"
*Grateful Dead: Road Trips Vol. 4 No. 3 (1973-12-06 Cleveland) (bonus disc) "Dark Star > Eyes of the World"
*Grateful Dead: 1974-07-25 Chicago (CDR) "Dark Star"
*Grateful Dead: Sunshine Daydream (Veneta, Oregon, August 27, 1972) (disc 2) "Playing in the Band"
*Jimi Hendrix Experience: Hollywood Bowl August 18, 1967
*Dave Holland: Uncharted Territories (disc 1)
*Joseph Jarman: As If It Were the Seasons
*Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: 2010-06-28 KCRW-FM, Santa Monica CA (CDR)
*Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings: 2014-01-15 KCRW-FM, Santa Monica CA (CDR)
*Kinks: The Journey, Part 2 (sides 1, 2)
*George Lewis: Shadowgraph, 5 (Sextet)
*Minutemen: Introducing the Minutemen
*Grachan Moncur III: Some Other Stuff
*Garry Martin Project (CDR compilation) (discs 10, 11)
*Charles Mingus Sextet: 1961-10-21 Birdland, NYC (CDR)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Nonaah (disc 1)
*Roscoe Mitchell Quartet: Live at "A Space" 1975
*New Ting: 2024-01-29 "Here's Your Organ Donor" (wav)
*Original Silence: The Second Original Silence
*Annette Peacock: 31:31
*Matana Roberts: 2009-04-01 London (CDR)
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter Three: River Run Thee (sides 1, 2)
*Terje Rypdal: Odyssey in Studio & in Concert (disc 1)
*Shirley Scott: Queen of the Organ
*Sharp/Lopez/Kaiser/Amendola: Minus X: A Tribute to the Music of Iannis Xenakis (disc 2)
*Sleepwalker: Skopofoboexoskelett
*Tamio Shiraishi: Sora
*Sun Ra and His Solar Arkestra: Secrets of the Sun (side 2)
*Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Research Arkestra: Paradiso Amsterdam 1970 (side 1)
*Supremes: Time Changes Things: The Best of the Rest 1961-67 (CDR compilation)
*Art Tatum: The Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Vol. 6
*Cecil Taylor: Another Material Complex from Cecil Taylor's 1988-91 Music
*Cecil Taylor Feel Trio: Two Ts for a Lovely T (disc 8)
*Trio What (Else): 2024-01-28 Richmond VA (mp3)
*Various artists: 7 x 7
*John Zorn: Bagatelles Vol. 6: Brian Marsella Trio

New Ting Gig Next Monday at Bandito's

New Ting playing Monday, May 15, at Bandito's. Tire X Silver is also from Richmond; Autoreverse is a duo from France: Nina Garcia and Arnaud Rivière. Should be fun! It's been a while since the full quintet has played in public....

 

New Ting RVA October 2022

 

Nice photo from Randy Reus of Fred and me at the latest New Ting gig...

New Ting Gig Tonight

This evening will be a rare duo set, just me and Fred! Should be interesting; I'll break out the usual: Chinese cymbals, coffee cans, bells.

 

New Ting Gig July 19 Opening for Jack Wright and Ben Bennett

New Ting in person! July 19 at Orbital, here in RVA. Opening for Jack Wright. Show will start at 7 pm sharp. Be there and be square!

Playlist, Week of 2022-05-15

Very pleased to be getting back together with New Ting for two new sessions... we played the one outside gig at Hell's Door and a couple of sessions at Orbital over the past two years, but that's been it, after years of playing almost every week, so it feels so good to get back to it... the sessions are here and here... for the second one we welcomed guest Erik Schroeder from RAIC and Ask the Trees... so at one point, with Fred McGann and Jimmy Ghaphery also on sax, we had a sax trio going for a little bit... but as these things go, it morphed in and out of all kinds of other textures, anchored by Tommy Birchett's outrageous electronic wizardry and Tim Harding's deft guitar work... lots of stuff going on... 

Playlist 2022-05-16:

*AMM: The Crypt - 12th June 1968 (disc 2) "Coffin nor Shelf"
*AMM: An Unintended Legacy (disc 2)
*Anthony Braxton: GTM (Syntax) 2017 (discs 7, 8, 10, 11) (streaming)
*Anthony Braxton: 12 Comp (ZIM) 2017 (Comp. 418, 419, 420)
*Anthony Braxton: Sonic Genome 2019-10-31: Jazzfest Berlin 2019 (CDR) (discs 1, 2)
*Broadcast: Maida Vale Sessions
*Taylor Ho Bynum Sextet & 7-tette: Navigation (The Complete Firehouse 12 Recordings) (disc 2)
*John Coltrane & Don Cherry: The Avant-Garde
*John Coltrane: Live in Japan (disc 3) "Peace on Earth"
*Fred Frith Trio with Lotte Anker, Susana Santos Silva: Road (disc 2)
*Julius Hemphill: Dogon A.D.
*Andrew Hill: Passing Ships
*Johnny Hodges and His Orchestra: Hodge Podge (sides 1, 2)
*Freddie Hubbard: Breaking Point
*Kinks: The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (disc 1)
*Brian Marsella: Gatos Do Su
*Rob Mazuerk Quartet: Father's Wing
*Mr. Bungle: The Raging Wrath of the Easter Bunny Demo
*Matt Mitchell/Kate Gentile: Snark Horse (disc 4)
*Nicole Mitchell & an_ARCHE NewMusic Ensemble: Arc Of O: For Improvisers, Chamber Orchestra & Electronics
*Fats Navarro and Tadd Dameron: The Complete Blue Note and Capitol Recordings of Fats Navarro and Tadd Dameron (discs 1, 2)
*New Ting: 2022-04-25 "Organization Nation" (wav)
*Andy Partridge: My Failed Songwriting Career, Vol. 1
*Andy Partridge: My Failed Songwriting Career, Vol. 2
*Annette Peacock/Paul Bley: Dual Unity
*Wadada Leo Smith: America's National Parks (disc 2)
*Sparks: Indiscreet (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Propaganda (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins (sides 1, 2)
*Sparks: Balls (sides 1, 2, 3, 4)
*Sparks: Lil' Beethoven (sides 1, 2)
*Cecil Taylor: Spring of Two Blue-J's (side 1)
*Cecil Taylor Unit: 1985-05-02 Chicago (CDR) (disc 2)
*Henry Threadgill Zooid: In for a Penny, In for a Pound (disc 2)
*Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (side 2)
*Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road
*Stevie Wonder: Stevie Wonder's Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants (side 4)
*Robert Wyatt: Shleep
*Yes: Close to the Edge "Close to the Edge"
*John Zorn: Chimeras
*John Zorn/Simulacrum: Nostradamus: The Death of Satan
*John Zorn: Bagatelles Vol. 6: Brian Marsella Trio 

New Ting: Live Video Available

New Ting played outside at Hell's Door in Richmond VA on September 11, 2021, and we were captured on video by Silver Persinger. The video's up on youtube. I'm not going to try to embed it; you can watch it here. Big fun!

New Ting: Gig This Saturday 2011-09-11

This will be the first gig for New Ting since before the pandemic... our last show was at Shockoe Denim in January 2020. This Saturday, Sept. 11. Outdoors, at Hells Door, downtown RVA. Show starts at 5 pm. New Ting will be a quartet this evening: Tommy Birchett, Jimmy Ghaphery, Fred McGann, and Sam Byrd (me). A fun lineup, a fun venue, hope the weather's fun too!

 

New Ting on Bandcamp

New Ting now has a Bandcamp page! Finally...took a while to get it going. While we will continue to maintain our master archive of all our improvisations and live sets over at archive.org, the Bandcamp page will be a curated set of recordings...the best of the best. Please check it out and enjoy!

New Ting Gig at Shockoe Denim

...opening up for the amazing Jack Wright! Have yet to see Minimal Disturbance, and I can't wait.

Video of New Ting at Crystal Palace, RVA

...on 2020-01-23. It was a blast playing there! Video by Orion Lopez.

Video of New Ting at Shockoe Denim

New Ting at Shockoe Denim, 2019-10-17. Full audio here. Thanks, Katie, for the video!

Photos from the Latest New Ting Gig

Well, from before the gig. It was great playing at Shockoe Denim; it's a wonderful space.

Fred prepares:

Tommy prepares:

Jimmy and Sam are prepared:

New Ting Ting Loft: A Short Retrospective

This doesn't really count as a year-end highlights sort of thing, but I have been meaning to jot down some thoughts on the metamorphosis from what was once a trio (who occasionally welcomed additional sit-ins) to a full-fledged quintet, New Ting Ting Loft. The trio (New Loft: Jimmy, Tim, and I) were a pretty tight-knit unit, weathering and coming out of the loss of Jon Mela from the group with a renewed sense of purpose and direction: all improv, pretty much all the time. Like I said, we would occasionally have folks sit in, and it would always be enjoyable. One memorable gig was the Joyful Noise Big Band Sun Ra tribute show, back in 2003. New Loft opened, and we took advantage of the presence of so many like-minded friends being there for the big band by having several of them join our set, one at a time, over the course of the half-hour-or-so improv.

Some of the folks that made the trio a temporary quartet (or more) over the years include Daniel Barbiero, Molly Berg, Dave Brogan, Will Bryce, Jeff Byrd, Chris Davis, Hunter Duke, Paul Faatz, Danny Finney, Elias Ghaphery, Eric Helm, Matt Heyner, Michael Thomas Jackson, Brian Jones, Pat Lawrence, Whitney Lynn, Marty McCavitt, Fred McGann, Chris McQuale, Phil Murphy, Brian Osborne, Cliff Schwing, Mike Sebastian, Harvey Sorgen, Chris Vasi, Chris Videll, and Harry Walker.

Our development changed with the permanent addition of Tommy and Ben from Ting Ting Jahe. It was Jimmy's idea to shake things up by inviting the two electronic noisters formerly known as the Pussy Boys (don't ask) to join us as the Godzilla Meets King Kong Quintet. Things clicked right away from the beginning, as can be heard on our first time playing together, 2013-05-06, and our first gig, 2013-05-13.

Godzilla Meets King Kong Quintet, 2013-05-06:

Godzilla Meets King Kong Quintet, live 2013-05-13:


In many ways, the timing was perfect. All three of us were ready for the quantum leap. In terms of my own playing, I had long enjoyed the various noise and electronic avant musicians we'd often shared shows with. Over the last few years, I’d begun getting more and more into experimentation with physical handling of things and combining them with the kit, scraping objects together and generating non-idiomatic sounds and textures...that kind of activity is fun in and of itself, and it serves to put me in a great mind set for when I return to sticks. It changes the way I play. Jimmy had recently expanded his arsenal to include clarinet, and his approach to that instrument comes as much from abstract noise as from “conventional” playing. In the meanwhile, Tim had acquired an electronic keyboard, and his often unconventional coaxing of sound from it (like playing it with the neck of his guitar) widely expanded our palette.

So we were primed for Tommy and Ben's unique approaches to sound and texture. Their arsenal of sound possibilities (electronics, keyboards, prepared guitar, scraped and bowed styrofoam, 8-tracks, samples, radio, contact mics, Android apps, and other unknown sources of sound) perfectly melded with our direction, and enabled us to veer off into new territories. Having it be permanent has solidified us as a band, creating more opportunities for interaction and for sub-sets of sound activity within the quintet. Lots of room for noise, and lots of room for space. We don’t always all play at the same time, and there’s no need to; something’s always going on, and it’s always interesting.

Chart our progress on the Internet Archive. We try to get together once a week; Jimmy is kind enough to record our sessions with his Edirol R09HR digital recorder and he gets me the file for uploading within the week. So, new stuff popping up all the time! So, feeling adventurous? Check out this week's session:

Charley Vision Gets a Rehaul (January 26, 2015):

And if you’re feeling really adventurous: we are available for parties.

2018 update:
New Ting Ting Loft has further solidified our music footprint with the addition of Fred McGann as a permanent member. Fred's unique sensibility and sense of adventure have expanded our sonic horizons considerably. Keyboard, guitar, trombone, contact mics, baby doll heads, knives, tables, ball bearings, cassette tapes, etc. In the past few years, we have also expanded to include the sporadic presence of guitarist Alex Ricart. We're still available for parties.