Best of 2013

My best of 2013 releases and concerts.

Top 10 releases in order (top to bottom):

Barry Guy, et al:  MAD DOGS

Peter Brotzmann, et al:  LONG STORY SHORT

Parker, Guy, Lytton:  LIVE AT MAYA

Peter Evans, Evan Parker:  ROCKET SCIENCE

DKV Trio:  SVHL80F

Kris Davis: CAPRICORN CLIMBER

John Tchicai:  TRIBAL GHOST

Anthony Braxton: ECHO ECHO MIRROR HOUSE

Mary Halvorson: ILLUSIONARY SEA

Mary Halvorson, Kirk Knuffke: SIFTER

Concerts: 

Evan Parker Residency, The Stone, Oct. 2013

Frank Gratkowski & Andrea Parkins, Jack, Brooklyn, 8/31/13

Vision Festival: Larry Ochs, Kidd Jordan, Milford Graves, Charles Gayle, Roswell Rudd, June 2013.

Larry Ochs Residency at The Stone, NYC, September 2013                       Capricorn Climber, Bohemian Caverns, Washington, DC, 2/10/2013        Snakeoil, Atlas Theater, Washington, DC, 10/9/2013                                          Steve Lehman Octet, Atlas Theater, 11/13/2013 

 I'm sure these lists are imperfect and that I've forgotten things but what I did remember to include was very enjoyable.

Best of December 2013:

I've decided to drop the 100+ listening lists each month and just post maybe the 10 or 15 best from that month, and other things that interest me. Here's my list for December 2013:

1) LIVE AT THE COOLER - Arthur Doyle Quintet. Lotus Sound CD.
2) AT JUDSON HALL - Noah Howard. ESP Disk CD.
3) SUSPENSIONS AND ANTICIPATIONS - Evan Parker and Stan Tracey.
4) STAMPS - Steve Lacy. 2LP hat Hut.
5) MONO - The Thing. 2LP The Thing Records.
6) EYE AND EAR CONTROL - Ayler, Cherry, Tchicai, Rudd, et al. ESP CD.
7) THE LAST ALBUM- Albert Ayler - Impulse LP.
8) LOOKING AT BIRD- Shepp, NHOP. Steeplechase LP.
9) "4" - Soft Machine. Columbia LP.
10) Horace Tapscott mini-festival: AT THE CROSSROADS, THE TAPSCOTT SESSIONS, Vol. 4, THE CALL, THE DARK TREE.
11) Cecil Taylor mini-festival: THE WORLD OF CECIL TAYLOR, UNIT STRUCTURES, CONQUISTADOR, DARK TO THEMSELVES, LOOKING AHEAD, CT: THE QUARTET "NAILED".
12) LIVE IN TOKYO- Charles Tolliver, Music inc. Strata East LP.
13) FENIX - Gato Barbieri. Flying Dutchman LP.
14) EAR OF BEHOLDER - Lol Coxhill. 2LP Ampex.
15) Anthony Davis mini-festival: LADY OF THE MIRRORS, I'VE KNOWN RIVERS, EPISTEME.

Happy New Year!

Lotte Anker in New York City, December 19-20-21

Saxophonist Lotte Anker was in NYC this December, appearing with Mephista (Sylvie Courvoisier, Ikue Morie, Susie Ibarra) at the Stone on the 19th; with Craig Taborn and Gerald Cleaver on the 20th at IBeam; and, back to the Stone on the 21st with Fred Frith and Ikue Mori (and Jim Black one set). Really fine shows.  Here's a clip from the Mephista set:

November 2013 Listening

1.       “Whispers from the Archive” Juma's Sultan's Aboriginal Music Society

2.       “Death Rattle” Paal Nilssen-Love & James Plotkin (Rune Grammarphone)

3.       “Solo's and Duo's Volume 1” Frank Wright, Bobby Few & Alan Silva (Center of the World)  

4.       “Solo's and Duo's Volume 2” Frank Wright, Bobby Few & Alan Silva (Center of the World)  

5.       “Stove Man, Love the World” Frank Wright

6.       “Panagaea” Miles Davis (Columbia)  

7.       “The Way of the Vaselines: A Complete History” Vaselines (Subpop CD)

8.       “Quintessence” Spontaneous Music Ensemble with John Stevens, Evan Parker, Trevor Watts, Derek Bailey, and Kent Carter (Emanem 4217 CD)

9.       “Peel Slowly and See” The Velvet Underground (Polydor 31452 7887-2 CD)

10.   “Soul Bodies, Vol. 1” Hamid Drake & Assif Tsahar (Ayler Records aylCD-024 CD)

11.   “Mixed Up” The Cure (Elektra CD)

12.   “Faust IV” Faust (Caroline 1885-2 CD)

13.   “Early Piano Works” Morton Feldman by Steffen Schleiermacher (hat[Now] 138 CD)

14.   “Heaven Up Here” Echo and the Bunnymen (Rhino 2564-61162-2 CD)

15.   “All at One” FPR with Frank Gratkowski, Phillip Greenlief & Jon Raskin (Relative Pitch RPR 1015 CD)

16.   “The Marble Index” Nico (Elektra 74029-2 CD)

17.   “Dragonfly Breath” Paul Flaherty, C Spenser Yeh, Steve Swell & Weasel Walter (Not Two MW-890-2 CD)

18.   “From the Discrete to the Particular” Nate Wooley, Joe Morris & Agusti Fernandez (Relative Pitch RPR 1008 CD)

19.   “The Complete Sun Ship Sessions” John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Jimmy Garrison & McCoy Tyner (Mosaic)

20.   “Uncollected” Galaxie 500 (Ryko RCD 10691 CD)

21.   “50,000 Fall Fans Can't be Wrong : 39 Golden Greats” The Fall    

22.   “Meditations” John Coltrane, Elvin Jones, Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Rashied Ali (Impluse! IMPD -199 CD)

23.   “Transit” Transit with Nate Wooley, Reuben Radding, Jeff Arnal, & Seth Misterka (Clean Feed CF055CD CD)

24.   “Every Woman is a Tree” Angles with Marin Kuchen, Magnus Broo, Mats Alekint, Johan Berthling, Mattis Stahl & Kjell Nordeson (Clean Feed CF122CD CD)

25.   “Eplieptical West” Angles with Marin Kuchen Magnus Broo, Mats Alekint, Johan Berthling, Mattis Stahl & Kjell Nordeson (Clean Feed CF182CD CD)

26.   “Trumpets and Drums:  Live in Ljubljana” Nate Wooley, Peter Evans, Jim Black & Paul Lytton (Clean Feed CF282CD CD)

27.   “It's a shame about Ray” Lemonheads (Atlantic 7 83460 2 CD)

28.   “Provoke” Made to Break with Ken Vandermark, Tim Daisey, Devin Hoff, & Christof Kurzmann (Clean Feed CF273CD CD)

29.   “Verses” Ken Vandermark & Mats Gustafsson (Corbett vs Dempsey CD009 CD)

30.   “The Definitive Charley Patton” (Catfish Records KATCD180 CD)

31.   “One Too Many Salty Swift and Not Goodbye” Cecil Taylor, Jimmy Lyons, Sirone, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Raphe Malik and Ramsey Ameen (Hatology 2-599 CD)

32.   “Flowers of Romance” PIL (Warner BSK 3536 LP)

33.   “IV” Led Zeppelin (CD)

34.   “III” Led Zeppelin (CD)

35.   “Reggatta de Blanc” The Police  (A&M SP 4792 LP)

36.   “Franks Wild Years” Tom Waits (Island 7 90572-1 LP)

37.   “Pink Flag” Wire (Harvest SHSP 4076 LP)

38.   “Unknown Pleasures” Joy Division (Factory FACT 10 LP) 

AGM Playlist for November 2013

1) VISITATION RITES: Paraphrase: Tim Berne, Drew Gress, Tom Rainey. Screwgun CD. A nice pick-up at the Snakeoil concert. Really strong.
2) WATER BABIES: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter. Columbia LP.Corea and Holland on a couple of tracks.
3) WEE SNEEZAWEE: Jimmy Lyons Quintet. Black Saint LP.
4) QUARTET (2008) MESTRE: Braxton, Bynum, Halvorson, Young. Caligola CD. A great performance. I love this group. They also did the Moscow 2008 CD.
5) MIDNIGHT BLUE: Kenny Burrell. Blue Note/King LP.
6) PLUME: Butcher, Stangl, Buck, Maya. Unsounds CD.
7) IMPRESSIONS OF PO MUSIC: Vandermark's Topology Nonet with McPhee. Okka CD.
8) TOPOLOGY: Joe McPhee Po Music. Irene Schweizer, Malfatti, Jaume, Favre, et al. hat Art 2LP.
9) RELATIVITY SUITE: Don Cherry. Klimt LP reissue.
10) THE ECSTASY OF THE MOMENT: The Barton Workshop. Etcetera 3CD. Early, middle and late Morton Feldman.
11) THE STATE OF THE TENOR, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2:  Joe Henderson. BN LP. Impressive.
12) FOR GIRLS WHO GROW PLUMP IN THE NIGHT: Caravan. London LP.
13) COOL STRUTTIN': Sonny Clark. BN LP.
14) SPECIAL PEOPLE: Andrew Cyrille. Soul Note LP.
15) THE TRIO: Curson, Drummond, Haynes. Interplay LP.
16) 5th SYMPHONY: Tchaikovsky, Philharmonic S.O. NY, Mitropolous. Columbia 6-eye LP
17) ZEBULON: Peter Evans. More is More CD.
18) LIVE AT NICKELSDORF KONFRONTATIONEN: Barefield, Anthony Holland, Tabbal. Sound Aspects LP.
19) SYMPHONY in D MINOR: Franck, NY Phil, Bernsetein. Columbia 6 eye LP.
20) MAKE A MOVE WHERE'S YOUR CUP: Threadgill, Columbia CD.
21) LESS MORE: Gjerstad, Stevens, Billy Bang (on 3 trks). CT CD.
22) THE RAJAH: Lee Morgan. BN LP.
23) STRICTLY FOR OUR FRIENDS: Ganelin Trio. Leo CD.
24) POCO-A-POCO: Ganelin Trio, Leo CD.
25) CERTAIN BLACKS: Art Ensemble of Chicago. Inner City LP reissue.
26) SOMETHING ELSE! Ornette Coleman. Contemporary reissue LP.
27) SOFT HEAP: Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, Radu Malfatti, Pip Pyle. Charly LP.'
28) RAM'S RUN: Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre. Cadence Jazz LP.  RIP KMM. I still recall his appearance at the Vision Fest.
29) PEACE AND BLESSING: Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre. Black Saint LP.
30) HUMILITY IN THE LIGHT OF THE LORD: KMM. Delmark LP.
31) THE CRY OF MY PEOPLE: Archie Shepp. Impulse LP.
32) TOUFF ASSIGNMENT: Cy Touff Quintet. Argo/Fresh Sound LP. I don't even know why.
33) JAZZ EXPERIMENTS OF CHARLIE MINGUS: Mingus, LaPorta, Macero, et al. Bethlehem LP reissue. I really like these early albums of Mingus, Cecil, where they are on the cusp of avant music.
34) ENIGMA VARIATIONS: Elgar, RPO, Litton, cond. Virgin CD.
35) IMPRESSIONS: Ethic Heritage Ensemble. Red Records LP.
36) RENDEZ-VOUS: Mariano Schiano (as), Sam Rivers, Holland, Altschul. Vedette Records LP. It would be nice to see some of Rivers' Euro recordings in a CD box.
37) CASSAVA BALLS: Hartmut Geerken, John Tchcai, Famadou Don Moye. Leo CD. Wild.
38) BRASS BAG: Gerald Wilson, Tricky Lofton. Pacific Jazz LP.
39) HEMISPHERES: Anthony Davis, J.D. Parran, Leo Smith, et al. Grammavision LP.
37) A FISH STINKS FROM THE HEAD: Brotzmann, PNL. Bro-F CD.
38) THREE FOR SHEPP: Marion Brown, Sirone, Burrell, et al. Impulse LP.
39) INFINITY: Khan Jamal, Byard Lancaster. Jam'Brio LP.
40) THE OTHER VV TAPES: Coltrane Classic Quintet and Dolphy. Impulse 2LP.
41) GEECHEE RECOLLECTIONS: Marion Brown. ABC/Impulse LP.
42) FLIP TOP: Ted Curson. Arista LP.
43) SPIRAL: Bobby Hutcherson. Sam Rivers on 1 trk. BN LP.
44) OLD EYES: Joe McPhee, Jaume, Boni, et al. hatHut LP. Very cool.
45) MYRIAD: Magda Mayas, Christine Abdelnour. Unsounds CD.
46) THE NEW YORK SCHOOL 2: Compositions by Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, John Cage, Christian Wolff. Arranged chronically, which I find really interesting. I also really like Earle Brown's pieces, as well as Feldman. hatArt CD.
47) MYSTIC WINDS, TROPIC BREEZES: Jay Hoggard, Anthony Davis, Cecil McBee, et al. India Navigation LP. Been checking out that Hoggard/Davis circle. This is a pretty good album.
48) WAITING: Bobby Hutcherson. BN LP.
49) SAMA LAYUCA: McCoy Tyner, Gary Bartz, Hutcherson, Azar Lawrence. Milestone LP.
50) BARCELONA: Joe Henderson. Enja CD. This is really solid; free and post-bop playing.
51) BLASE: Archie Shepp. Affinity LP. Nice pressing and hip album.
52) YASMINA, A BLACK WOMAN: Archie Shepp, Clifford Thornton, Lester Bowie, et al. Yes to Jazz LP.
53) TRIOTONE: Braxton, Szabados, Tarasov. Leo CD.
54) OUT OF SOUND: Lauren Newton, Joelle Leandre, Urs Leimgruber. Leo CD. Great stuff.
55) SOWETO: Dollar Brand. Chiaroscuro LP.
56) STRATA INSTITUTE- CIPHER SYNTAX. Steve Coleman, Greg Osby. JMT LP.
57) MUSIC INC. Tolliver, Cowell, McBee. Strata-East LP.
58) THE COOKER: Lee Morgan, Pepper Adams. BN TOCJ CD.
59) THE JOE DALEY TRIO AT NEWPORT '63: Daley, Russell Thorne, Hal Russell. RCA mono LP. Finally found a copy cheap. Another hip album on the verge of a new era.
60) MUSES FOR RICHARD DAVIS: Richard Davis. MPS LP.
61) DEMON'S DANCE: Jackie McLean. JRVG CD.
62) PIANO CONCERTS 2 & 3: Rachmaninov, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Moscow PO, Kondrashin, cond. Decca Legends CD.
63) BILL DIXON IN ITALY, Vol. I and Vol. II. Bill Dixon. Soul Note 2LPs.

64) CELEBRATION: Andrew Cyrille & Maono. IPS Records LP.
65) CHANGE OF THE CENTURY: Ornette Coleman, Cherry, Haden, Higgins. Atlantic LP. Picked this one up without thinking too much about it, as I did not have this title on vinyl. Turned out to be a green label first pressing.
66) GRANT GREEN: RETROSPECTIVE: Disc 1. BN box.
67) INNOVATION: Amalgam. Tangent LP. Yes and yes.
68) THE WINDOW: Steve Lacy Trio. Soul Note LP. More yes.
69) SCHOOL DAYS: Lacy, Rudd, Grimes, Dennis Charles. Emanem LP. A big yes.
70) MUSIC FROM THE SOURCE: McBee, Chico Freeman, McCall, Moye. Inner City LP.
71) SHADES OF REDD: Freddie Redd Quintet, Jackie McLean, Tina Brooks. BN/Toshiba CD.
72) UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS: Alice Coltrane. Impulse CD.
73) TOUCH THE EARTH-BREAK THE SHELLS: Kowald, Wadada Smith, Sommer. FMP CD. Great stuff.
74) SCALES: Manfred Schoof Quintet. ECM LP
75) I GET A BOOT OUT OF YOU: Marty Paich, Art Pepper. Discovery LP.
76) Vol. I: THE QUINTETS: Lennie Niehaus. Contemporary LP.
77) NEW YORK ART QUARTET: eponymous. Get Back LP. This will have to do until one of us buys the $350 set.
78) CONSEQUENCES: NY Contemporary Five. Fontana LP.
79) MAL-1: Mal Waldron. OJC CD.
80) LIVE AT THE AXIS: Roland Alexander Quintet with Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre. Kharma LP.
81) INSIDE JOB: Rudd, Rava, Burrell. Arista Freedom LP. I dug it a lot this time around.
82) TIME ZONE: Braxton and Teitelbaum. Arista Freedom LP. Very cool. Braxton hits the contrabass clarinet.
83) THE BERLIN CONCERTS: Eric Dolphy. Inner City 2LP.
84) BLUE NOTES FOR MONGEZI: Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Moholo, Dyani. Ogun 2LP.  Performed on the death of Mongezi Feza. I also have "Blue Notes for Johnny," performed on his death.

85) SYMPHONY NO.5: Mahler, LPO, Tennstedt.
86) THE OPENER: Curtis Fuller. JRVG CD.
87) OF LOVE AND PEACE: Larry Young. BN CD. Yes and yes.
88) CONSEQUENCES: Jackie McLean, Lee Morgan. BN LP.
89) SHADOWGRAPH: George Lewis, Anthony Davis, Roscoe Mitchell, et al. Black Saint LP.
90) BLACK MAGIC MAN: Joe McPhee. hatHut LP. Vassar 1970.
91) A NEW CONCEPTION: Sam Rivers. BN LP.
92) REVOLT OF THE NEGRO LAWN JOCKEYS: Jemeel Moondoc. Eremite CD. Best Moondoc?
93) LIVE AT THE KERAVA JAZZ FESTIVAL: Grimes, Murray, Drake. Ayler CD.
94) SPIRIT HOUSE: Moondoc and Jus Grew Orchestra. Eremite CD. I wonder how many jokes are contained in that orchestra's name?
95) GONGS EAST!: Chico Hamilton, Eric Dolphy. Discovery LP. RIP Chico.
96) WITH SILENCE: Karl Berger. Enja LP. Solid.
97) THIS TIME: Braxton, Jenkins, Smith, McCall. BYG LP reissue.
98) ANDREW!!! Hill, Hutcherson, John Gilmore, Davis, Chambers. BN CD. Strong date with Gilmore.
99) SYMPHONY NO.1: Mahler, CSO, Solti. London CD.
100) BOBBY BRADFORD WITH JOHN STEVENS & SME, VOL.I": Bradford, Stevens, Watts, et al. Nessa LP.
101) BIRTHDAY SESSION: JOOKLO Finnish Quartet. Troglosound LP.
102) RISING ABOVE: JOOKLO Duo. Qbico LP.
103) DIVINE LOVE: Leo Smith. ECM LP. It's good but there are hints even then of the grandiosity that plagues Smith, especially now.
104) COMPULSION!!!!! Andrew Hill, John Gilmore, McBee, et al. BN CD. Another kick-ass date with Gilmore.
105) WINTER GARDENS: John Butcher. Kukuruku LP.
106) SYMPHONY NO. 2, "Resurrection": Mahler, LPO, Tennstedt.
107) CHANT: Donald Byrd. BN LT Japanese reissue CD. The Japanese reissued remastered versions on CD of the BN LT series. I picked up some and the ones I heard were pretty good.