Lately Listening

No concert review for me this month: I missed the Tatsuya Nakatani Gong Orchestra show because it coincided with my wife's birthday. Jason Ajemian is playing a solo show here at the end of the month. Here's what's getting play in my household.

1. Arrington de Dionyso, Abraxasaxophonic Smooth Jazz Vagina (Gilgongo LP): Crucial reissue of a ltd edition CDR. Arrington blowing over the distorted signal from a smooth-jazz radio station.

2. Tony Malaby, Tamarindo Live (Clean Feed CD): Snoozefest.

3. Joe McPhee & Chris Corsano, Scraps and Shadows (Roaratorio LP): Got around to picking this up. Not as dire as you dudes made it sound. Still, the LP on 8mm with Eli Keszler is the best recent McPhee.

4. The Group, Live (No Business LP): More Marion Brown is always a good thing. Tight performance from Cyrlle, Bang, et al.

5. Arrington de Dionyso, Naga Suara (Slanty Shanty Records Tape): Arrington fucks around with the sounds that have predominated on his recent malaikat dan signha releases.

6. Andrew Scott Young, Warm White Light (Baked Tapes): A-Side sounds like an homage to Partch--great stuff. Still trying to wrap my head around the dance (?) music on the B-Side.

7. Sagas, Sojourner's Lament (Lighten Up Sounds Tape): A real burner. Follow-up to the equally scorching Signal Refracted on Avant Archive.

8. Parker/Guy/Lytton/Evans, Scenes in the House of Music (Clean Feed CD): Boxers' shuffling feet.

9. Joe McPhee & Eli Keszler, Ithaca (8mm LP): This probably should have made my best of 2012 list. Keszler was on fire last year.

10. Talk West, Freights & Fields (No Kings Tape): This release didn't hold my interest like the other ones.

11. Motoharu Yoshizawa, Inland Fish (Trio Records LP): Solo bass with Sabu Toyozumi appearing on one cut. Some cool pastoral elements to some of these tunes.

12. Marilyn Crispell, Rhythms Hung in Undrawn Sky (Leo LP): I like Crispell's work, but this one falls a bit flat for me.

13. Revolutionary Ensemble, The Psyche (RE: Records LP): Always find their music so refreshing. Some of that's attributable to the different instrumentation, but Sirone, Leroy Jenkins and Jerome Cooper are all masters.

Concert Review: Kris Davis Quintet, Sunday, May 10, 2013, Bohemian Caverns, Washington DC

Last night, all the musical elements aligned in the performance of the Kris Davis' Capricorn Climber group at Bohemian Caverns in Washington DC:  the individual musicians played beautifully; the group played collectively in inspired fashion; and, Ms. Davis' music was intelligent, complex and yet open and encouraging of strong playing.

Capricorn Climber consists of, beside Ms. Davis, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor sax, Mat Maneri on viola, Michael Formanek (replacing Trevor Dunn) on bass, and Tom Rainey on drums.

I stayed through both sets and there was not a bad or dull or clumsy moment. Ms. Davis is a pianist with a precise touch; her approach was to set the musical framework. The driving energy of the group was supplied by Laubrock and Rainey in conjunction, playing strong but controlled.  Rainey strikes me as the best free jazz drummer on the scene today. Having bass and viola is a bit unusual, but Formanek and Maneri provided a lot of texture. Mat told us during the break that he had been hit by a car the previous day before the group's Philadelphia show.  Apparently a very close call. That Mat went on with the performances is really a testament to him.

To say this is the best show of the year is not saying much in February.  But I do think this will be the show against which all others will be measured in the forthcoming months.  It was that good.

Lately Listening

I'm back from five days in the hellhole that is Orlando and ready to listen to some jamage. The local record store just bought a 7,000-LP collection that includes a lot of jazz, so I'll need to make regular junkets over there to feed the need. Hope everyone else is well. Tony, I appreciated your recent concert reviews a great deal. Hope we can see a show together sooner rather than later.

1. Duo Dentale, Duo Dentale AA (Knife in the Toaster Tape): Scooped this up after hearing a couple cuts on the awesome Tabs Out cassette podcast. Saxophone and electronics. Limited edition of 15, so act fast.

2. Fire into Music, Ballroom Marfa, Oct. 8, 2004 (Ballroom Marfa LP): Brought me back to when I saw this group at the Soundlab in Buffalo. Parker and Drake provide solid groove. You can pick this up from the venue's website for $15.

3. Inez Lightfoot, Riverbottom Nightmare (Biological Radio Tape): Man, this artist had a great 2012--can't wait to hear what she does in the new year.

4. GI Gurdjieff, Harmonium Improvisations (Mississippi Records LP): Reissue comp of some spiritual harmonium jams. Listened to this Sunday morning.

5. Willie Lane, Recliner Ragas (Humito LP): Picked this up from Tomentosa after listening to the samples and seeing it on Miramoglu's Best of 2012 list. Fahey with some drone elements. Need to track down his other LPs.

6. Yo la Tengo, Fade (Matador LP): My wife also like this one. Better than Popular Songs.

7. Scott Walker, Bish Bosch (4AD LP): Falls short of Drift but still a great record.

8. Barn Owl & The Infinite Strings Ensemble (Important LP): Dronetastic. Long-stringed instrument in the house.

9. C. Yantis, American Surfaces (Digitalis Tape): Picks up where Strung Figments left off. Really digging this one.

10. Tilth, Angular Music (Soft Abuse LP): New group that features Cody Yantis. Lots of breathing room on this one. There's a great interview with the group on the Free Form Freakout podcast.

11. Nova Scotian Arms, Cult Spectrum (Digitalis LP): Atmospheric jamage.

AGM Playlist 1/13- 1/31 2013

MUSIC OF THE WAITS:  Renaissance music. Argo LP.
LIGHT ON THE WALL:  Vandermark-Daisy Duo.  Laurence Family 2LP.
CHANGE OF SEASON: Mengelberg-Lacy-Geo.Lewis-Bennink. Soul Note LP.
EMPIRE:  Red Trio+John Butcher. No Business LP.
EVIDENCE:   Steve Lacy, Don Cherry.  Prestige CD.
INVENTIONS & DIMENSIONS:  Herbie Hancock.  Maybe Herbie's least known album (or does that go to "The Prisoner"?).  BN/TOCJ CD.
SUMMER 1967:  John Stevens, Evan Parker, Peter Kowald.  I think Parker played best with Stevens and Derek Bailey.  What a triad!  Emanem CD. (This would be lovely on vinyl).
A NEW DISTANCE: John Stevens, John Butcher, Roger Smith. Emanem CD.
FRAMEWORKS:  John Stevens, Trevor Watts, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Rutherford.  The 1st group of pieces has Norma Winstone vocalising. The 2nd has Julie Tippetts.  Much prefer Tippetts. Emanem CD.
TALKIN' ABOUT!:  Grant Green, Larry Young, Elvin Jones. BN/Music Matters 45rpm 2LP.
THE SWEETNESS OF THE WATER: Spring Heel Jack, basically John Coxon and Ashley Wales on electronics, with an ever-changing but always amazing line-up of musicians, here it is Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, John Edwards and Mark Sanders. Thirsty Ear CD.
MUDDY WATERS:  Chess Box, LP.1.
FACTUS 8, 1981-1982:  New Order EP.
SINSEMILLA:  Black Uhuru.  Great cove rand cool vibe. Mango LP.
A PROMISE: Echo & The Bunnymen. Korova EP 45rpm. Bill got me interested in this group from his  playlists.  I completely missed them first time around but really like them now.
LITTLE RED'S FANTASY:  Woody Shaw, Fran Strozier (!), et al. Muse LP. Woody is so good.
ARCADE: John Abercrombie, Richie Bierach.  ECM LP.
AFRO-BEAT AIRWAYS: West African Shockwaves, Ghana & Togo, 1972-1979. I'm getting into these Analogue Africa compilations.  Analogue Africa 2LP.
CUMBRIA & JAZZ FUSION:  Charles Mingus and unidentified large group (too lazy to research). Atlantic LP.
MILK MAN:  Deer Hoof. Mucho quirky but I like it. Polyvinyl Records LP in cool yellow.
TRIO LIVE: Steve Lacy, Andrea Centazzo, Kent Carter.  SO very good! Ictus LP.
METASTASIS, PITHOPRAKA, EONTA: Xenakis, comp. Fr. Nat'l Radio Orch, Maurice LeRoux, cond. Cardinal LP. I dug this and the vinyl gives it an extra margin.
THE SCENE CHANGES: The Amazing Bud Powell.  BN LP.
SAXOPHONE COLOSSUS: Sonny Rollins. Prestige LP.
THE WALK: The Cure. Sire LP.
THE FREEDOM RIDER:  Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (Morgan, Shorter version). BN LP.
HISTORIC CONCERTS:  Cecil Taylor & Max Roach. Soul Note 2LP.
STREETS:  Charles Gayle Trio. Gayle's latest and maybe his best.  This is really good. Northern Spy CD.
L'AFFRONTEMENT DES PRETENDANTS:  Louis Sclavis Quintet. Harder blowing than you might expect. ECM CD.
UP POPPED THE TWO LIPS:  Henry Threadgill Zooid. Pi CD.
DIAL "B" FOR BARBARA:  Horace Tapscott Sextet. Recorded 1983 in L.A.  I was pretty surprised to find Sabir Mateen in the group. Nimbus West CD.
EVIDENCE:  Joelle Leandre and Jerome Bourdellon (fl, cl, bcl). This one had me really engaged. On the famous Relative Pitch label. Kevin's releases keep hitting high marks.
MUSIC FROM EUROPE:  Gunter Hampel Group. Still sounds contemporary. ESP CD.
BLACK SNAKE: John Lee Hooker. Prestige LP.
THE DEJOHNETTE COMPLEX: De JOHNETTE, Maupin, Cowell, Gomez, Haynes. Strong. Milestone LP.
MASTER OF REALITY:  Black Sabbath. Paid practically no attention to this group when they were initially around, now I find their music quite good. NEMS LP.
RESERVE:  Brotzmann, Sommer, Phillips.  This album calls out for remastering or a Cien Fuegos analog production. FMP CD.
SYMPHONY NO. 4 in G: Mahler, Concertgebouw, Solti. London LP.
BUSTER BEE: Oliver Lake, Julius Hemphill Duo. Sackville LP. This one took a few listens but am on it now.
FRIEND OPPORTUNITY:  Deer Hoof (again). I like this even more than Milk Man. On groovy emerald green vinyl. Polyvinyl Records LP.
AFRICA/BRASS:  Coltrane Quartet. Jasmine LP, a UK sub of MCA.  I need a better pressing!
HIGH BLUES PRESSURE:  Freddie Hubbard, with Maupin and Spaulding, et al. Freddie's best work is not this, it's on BN of course. Atlantic LP.
WHITE BLOOD CELLS: White Stripes. I like their music. Third Man Records.
DIFFERENCES, SEQUENZ III, VII, DUE PEZZI:  Berio, comp. and cond. Cathy Berberian, Heinz Holliger, Juilliard Ensemble Lucio Berio.  Philips Modern Music Series LP.
THE WELCOME: Marty Ehrlich, Anthony Cox, Pheeroan AkLaff. Sound Aspects LP, 1984. An entirely worthy performance.
THE BIG MARGOTTA: Giancarlo Locatelli, Alberto Braida. brokenresearch LP (122/200). Another performance you have to hear a few times to really appreciate.
BLOOD ON THE TRACKS:  Bob Dylan.  I grew up with Dylan, but have hardly listened to him recently. I enjoyed this, even if at times I had the sense that this was a holographic Dylan.  CBS LP.
THROUGH THE PAST DARKLY (BIG HITS VOL.2):  The Rolling Stones. I bought this copy way back in 1969/70, and it still sound exciting.