Peace Love Dove

Happy Valentine's Day!

The Convergence of Parallel Lines

New release from Dan and Jimmy, available for free download and streaming here: The Convergence of Parallel Lines. "Three improvisations and one composition for winds and double bass, and one live improvisation for winds, double bass, percussion and three dancers." Congratulations to both of them for a gorgeous-sounding, thoughtful release of reeds/bass conversations. Full (and proud) disclosure: I appear on the last track, taken from our Pyramid Atlantic show last summer. Enjoy!

Playlist, Week of 2015-02-08

Playlist 2015-02-09:

*Purbayan Chatterjee: Nirman
*AMM: 2003-11-12 Glasgow (CDR)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (discs 3, 4)
*Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Quartet: 2015-01-23 Le Kremlin-Bicetre, France (wav)
*Clifford Brown-Sonny Rollins-Max Roach Quintet: Complete Studio Recordings
*John Butcher: 13 Friendly Numbers
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-29 Nashville (wav)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2014-12-30 Nashville (wav)
*Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 (The Bootleg series, Vol. 2) (disc 1)
*Gruppo Di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza: The Feed-Back
*Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House
*Luc Ex’ Sol6: 2009-11-16 Rome (CDR)
*David Fiuczynski: Kif Express
*Jackie McLean: ‘Bout Soul
*Mindbreath Trio: 2015-01-10 Union Arts, Washington DC (wav)
*Grachan Moncur III: Evolution
*Nucleus: Under the Sun
*Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble: Memory/Vision
*Terje Rypdal: Odyssey: In Studio & In Concert (disc 1)
*Schlippenbach Quartet: Das Hohe Lied (disc 2)
*Sun Ra: Mastering Comparisons (CDR compilation)
*Various artists: That Devilin' Tune (Vol. 2, disc 9)
*Beatles: Northwest Nights (boot CDR)
*Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes- Complete (disc 6)
*Electric Wurms: Musik, Die Schwer Zu Twerk
*Faust: C’est Com...Com...Complique
*Hatfield and the North: John Peel Sessions
*Neutral Milk Hotel: On Avery Island
*Jimmy Reed: Found Love
*Todd Rundgren: Todd Rundgren’s Utopia
*Sleeping People: Growing
*Irma Thomas: Soul Queen of New Orleans (disc 1)
*UYA: UYA Lite (cassette compilation)
*Various artists: Psych Funk Sa-Re-Ga! Seminar: Aesthetic Expressions of Psychedelic Funk Music in India 1970-1983
*Frank Zappa: Wazoo (disc 1)
*John Zorn: Astaroth: Book of Angels Vol. 1: Jamie Saft Trio Plays Masada Book Two
*John Zorn: Mount Analogue
*Zu: Igneo
*Zu: Carboniferous

Reading List, Week of 2015-02-08

Reading List 2015-02-09:

*Fitzpatrick, Kathleen. Planned Obsolescence (started)
*Erikson, Steven. The Bonehunters (reread/in progress)
*Ratey, John J., and Eric Hagerman. Spark (in progress)
*Stanley, Thomas. The Execution of Sun Ra (in progress)

Guitarsolomix

Almost 20 years ago, I had a wild hair and put together a cassette mix of some of my favorite guitar solos and bits: just the solos, not the whole songs. I present it here, warts and all. And there are a lot of warts. There’s no cross-fading, no fancy edits or good transitions...just a bunch of solos, taken out of context and blurred together. I didn’t always work from the best sources, either; many of these solos are from crappy transfers from scratchy album to cassette. When I digitized this, I did trim some unintentional gaps in Audacity, and I boosted a couple of solos’ sound levels, but for the most part I left it alone.

So what makes great guitar solos? It's not required, but most of them tell a story. They are so well-constructed and perfectly developed that no note could be left out. They seem inevitable, like they've always existed. Hopefully you'll hear that inevitability in many of these solos. These are guitar bits that speak to me viscerally, intellectually, and emotionally. Technique doesn’t impress me as much as musicality and suitability. Of course, you’re not getting the suitability aspect in this mix since these solos are wrenched from their context, but if you know these songs, you’ll get what I mean. And you should know most if not all of these songs! heh-heh... I think for the purposes of this tape, I left out really long ones, either excerpting from longer solos or omitting them entirely.

There are a few personal faves I left out because I didn’t have access to the recordings at the time I made this: Tommy Bolin’s scorcher on Billy Cobham’s “Quadrant 4” from Spectrum, the great solo from the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie,” and the guitar work on “We Feel Fine” from Touch. There’s no Pete Cosey or Johnny Winter. Oh, well. Anyway, I’m not going to list out all the sources. See how many you can guess! How much you can tolerate? It’s a long track (42 minutes). Enjoy! And let me know what you think. The track is streaming here:

...and you can download it here. [Sorry about the white space...can't figure out how to get rid of it.]

To stay in the spirit of it, this is probably best played really loud….and beer wouldn’t hurt.

Playlist, Week of 2015-02-02

Still absorbing this. I could listen to these guys all day. The levels of artistry and inventiveness here are just staggeringly mindblowing.

Playlist 2015-02-02:

*Mozart: 6 String Quartets (Quatuor Ysaye) (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton/Ann Rhodes: GTM (Syntax) 2003 (disc 1)
*Anthony Braxton/Tomas Fujiwara/Tom Rainey: Trio (New Haven) 2013 (discs 1, 2)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2013-12-23 Nashville (“Cosmologies” outtakes) (wav)
*Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: 2013-12-27 Nashville (“Cosmologies” outtakes) (wav)
*Bryan Ferry Orchestra: The Jazz Age
*Gerry Hemingway: Acoustic Solo Works 1983-94
*Charles Mingus: Right Now
*Roscoe Mitchell: Duets with Tyshawn Sorey and Special Guest Hugh Ragin
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-01-12 “Auspices” (wav)
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2015-01-26: “Charley Vision Gets a Rehaul” (wav)
*Sun Ra & His Astro-Infinity Arkestra: Sign of the Myth
*Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: Son of a Bitches Brew
*D’Angelo and the Vanguard: Black Messiah
*Bob Dylan and The Band: The Basement Tapes- Complete (discs 4, 5)
*Flying Lotus: Until the Quiet Comes
*Fripp & Eno: Live in Paris 28.05.1975 (discs 1, 2)
*Grateful Dead: Wake Up to Find Out
*Guided By Voices: 1994-11-03 Middle East, Cambridge MA (CDR)
*Negativeland: 1989 Amherst MA (CDR)
*Negro Problem: Joys and Concerns
*Opeth: Pale Communion
*Prince: Art Official Age
*Prince/3rdeyegirl: Plectrumelectrum
*Laetitia Sadier: Something Shines
*Various artists: New Orleans Funk 3
*Various artists: WSAM: Drive (cassette compilation)
*Various artists: The Space Project

Reading List, Week of 2015-02-01

Reading List 2015-02-02:

*Erikson, Steven. The Bonehunters (reread/started)
*Erikson, Steven. Midnight Tides (reread/finished)
*Ratey, John J., and Eric Hagerman. Spark (in progress)
*Stanley, Thomas. The Execution of Sun Ra (in progress)