DEREK BAILEY'S MAY CURATION & INCUS/COMPANY FESTIVAL AT TONIC:

It was certainly a wonderful thing to have Derek Bailey in NYC for almost a month, both playing and organizing gigs at Tonic. He only comes to town about once a year to play a few gigs and that's usually it. The month really began with a spectacular and much anticipated duo concert of Cecil Taylor & Derek Bailey on May 3rd!! This was only the second meeting of these two giants of jazz/improv, their first recorded on an FMP cd well over a decade ago. Although Cecil's piano didn't arrive until 8pm and the first set didn't begin until an hour & an half later, once it got underway - an amazing tidal wave of music took place. Both Cecil & Derek have a tendency to overwhelm their partners, but this was not the case. There was a flood of ideas that went back and forth, building to dense eruptions which always together! They played two sets, almost two hours of exploration - an incredible night! Unfortunately for me, I can't attend any of the Saturday matinee shows at Tonic - I do have responsibilities at DMG. So I did miss the duo with Blood Ulmer & Derek, which received mixed reviews from different sources and the solo set by the wonderful contrabassist Joelle Leandre. I was able to catch a superb set by Joelle, Derek and British sax specialist John Butcher - their first - wow! Other excellent sets that month included the great duos of Susie Ibarra with an extraordinary pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, and a power duo set with Susie & Derek Bailey! Susie also unveiled her new string project which was a precious delight. Towards the end of May, I took my annual trip to the Victoriaville fest missing a week of Tonic gigs and the beginning of the Vision fest. Everyone I spoke with raved about John Zorn's Cobra sets, did anyone out there tape them?!? The day after I got back, I saw an amazing triple header at Tonic. First, there was a great duo of Fred Frith and John Zorn, a bit more restrained than in the past with Fred playing more acoustic guitar nowadays. Next was an even more restrained & mesmerizing quartet set with Fred, Ikue Mori, Leslie Dalaba on trumpet (early downtowner now living in Washington) and Eric Kreiman on manipulated el. piano (a student of Fred's). The midnight set was organized by Erstwhile label head Jon Abbey and featured two duos & a quartet with Christof Kurzmann, Burkhard Stangl, Werner Dafeldecker from Polwechsel - playing mostly guitars on tables with our pal and DMGer Dean Roberts. This group of sets was also on the more somber side and if one was patient enough, quite rewarding. It ended perfectly with the quartet being accompanied by a rain storm with thunder & lightning!

THE VICTORIAVILLE NEW MUSIC FESTIVAL MAY 18TH-22ND IN QUEBEC:

This was the 11th time that I've attended the five day Victo Festival up in the lovely countryside of Quebec, a two hour drive east of Montreal and a ten hour drive up from NYC. It is the only vacation I take each year and both my pal Len Seigfried and myself really look forward to it all year long. It is also a great gathering of kindred spirits who love diverse & challenging avant music with an international cast of friends. This year however, about a half dozen of our regular pals did not attend, I guess that they are not as big Henry Cow fans as those of us who did attend. Their loss, since this fest was pretty amazing! I must admit that the first two days started rather slowly, the opening set was great - the wild and weird solo accordion wonder of Kimmo Pohjonen from Finland! Many of us were underwhelmed by the following sets from Paul Cram's Canadian jazz orchestra, the introspective noodling of Pierre Dumont and co., the unengaging solo piano of Marc Couroux and the over-the-top almost prog of Papa Boa. Both the Vertrek Ensemble & Detention showed how younger folk can also pull off successful improv of el. guitar & drums in their own way. Unfortunately the Willem Breuker Kollektief were not able to play with the films as planned, perhaps this set should have taken place in the cinema, their music was still pretty great - a fine mix of European & American jazz styles with great solos, but I am getting a bit tired of their silly shticks on stage seen too many times in the past.

The second great set was by Palinckx from Holland with guest drummer Chris Cutler! This band played at Victo a few years back and were completely different - a much more intense, Beefheartian bent-rock thing. This time their line-up included acoustic piano, turntable, double-bass, el. guitar & percussion and they were more spacious, less rocking, yet still magical. >From the third day onwards, it was mostly terrific sets to fathom! Outstanding improv came from Tim Hodgkinson (first time at Victo)-Thomas Lehn-Roger Turner, Mark Dresser & Denman Maroney and Mari Kimura & Roberto Morales - the second two both acoustic with extended techniques and completely marvelous. Although ill, our friend Shelley Hirsch with DJ Olive also played a great weird & wild duo improv set. For me, the two best improv sets included Fred Frith in truly incredible form in a trio with Louis Sclavis (clarinets) and JP Drouet (classical percussion) and in a remarkable duo with his old cohort Chris Cutler - much more subtle than ever! David Thomas' 'Mirror Man' project was outstanding - featuring a bunch of captivating characters - the vocals of Linda Thompson, Robert Kidney, Bob Holman and David himself were put to great use. The festival ended with an astonishing triple-header - an unexpected solo/duo performance by John Oswald & Paul Plimley, perhaps the finest (and certainly the most lyrical) solo piano set from Marilyn Crispell I can remember and another wonderful and challenging solo piano set from the master - Cecil Taylor!

THE FIFTH ANNUAL VISION FESTIVAL AT THE FORMER ELECTRIC CIRCUS:

As I mentioned, due to the Victo Fest in Quebec & the Derek Bailey fest at Tonic, I missed about half of the Vision Fest, seeing/hearing the last six of the eleven festival of mostly avant-jazz at its best! The rather bohemian spirit of this fest was truly magical, the audience would often scream and go wild for the often riveting sets of free & modern jazz. The location was just right, a former psychedelic happenings discotheque in the late 60's, there was still some of that cosmic vibe in the room. The hallway downstairs was filled with photo exhibits from a variety of great jazz photographers and they served health food downstairs as well. There were about five sets per night, often including dance & poetry as well. There were a few outstanding sets on each night that I attended including William Parker's Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra (intense!), Julius Hemphill Sax Sextet (in that burnin' spirit!), the Music Revelation Ensemble (w/ Blood & David Murray) who play rarely, Bill Dixon conduction of the Vision Orchestra (deep!), Kidd Jordan Quartet w/ the incredible Joel Futterman on violent piano, David Murray & Dave Burrell duo (David told soul-bearing stories of words & music) & the Bobby Few solo piano train-ride wonder! Let us not forget more great sets by Rob Brown-Mat Maneri-Hamid Drake, Perry Robinson New Quartet, Myra Melford-Marty Ehrlich-Joseph Jarman, Other Dimension in Music & the Michelle Rosewoman Quintet! The only disappointing set was a Jerome Cooper solo drum & drum machine thing and the Matt Shipp/DJ Spooky duo did have some moments, but didn't know how to end. The spirit of love and energized music really shone through on all nights of the Vision Festival, providing hope and anticipation for the rest of the year. Main organizer -Patricia Parker-Nicholson will continue to utilize this space - The New Age Kabaret - for occasional gigs throughout the year, there is one coming up this Friday July 7th.

THE KNITTING FACTORY-BELL ATLANTIC JAZZ FESTIVAL 2000-June 1st-11th!

The Knit gets a lot of flack for its corporate sponsorship and occasional sloppiness due to trying to do too much during its eleven day marathon of events. You gotta admit that this year's fest was the best one in a while, the jazz gigs were most often at the Knit itself. The opening night Ornette Coleman triple header, looked to be a great thing in advance, but turned out to be an unfortunate experience of missed opportunities and bad luck. The historic trio with Charlie Haden & Billy Higgins played last, too short & had the plug pulled by the city, pissing off everyone in attendance. Still, this was the only really sad moment of the fest. It was soon forgotten when two extraordinary sets erupted for a free outdoors gig at Columbia University a few days later- the David S. Ware Quartet roared through a set of mind-blowing out jazz and was followed by the much anticipated reunion of Cecil Taylor & Max Roach, some 20 years after their first meeting on the same campus! Both of these masters are in their 70's (!!) and many felt Max was too old and tired to pull this off, but this was not the case! It took a little while, but both of these gods cast their magic together, building and sending waves back & forth. People will be marveling about this set for years to come!! Of course, I couldn't catch everything, there wass just too much, so I will just mention the great sets I witnessed.

June 3rd was the one night I was looking forward to the most & it was pretty amazing! Commencing with the debut of guitar great Nels' Cline (new) Inkling Quartet w/ Zeena Parkins, Ken Filiano & Billy Mintz, part of this set was a pairing of acoustic guitar and classical harp, which we rarely get to hear Zeena play, so it was very special. Nels and Zeena have established a fine rapport, weaving their sounds into a solid tapestry. Next was Joe Gallivan's Rainforest tribute, which seems a bit hokey at first, with three Hawaiian woman chanting, speaking and dancing to conjure up the spirits, but it evolved into heart-warming journey of free yet focused spirits! There were four sax players -each playing a long & inspired solo, Elton Dean (formerly of Canterbury gods Soft Machine, who hasn't been here in 30 years!), Evan Parker - circular-breathing British sax wonder, Charles Austin (longtime partner of Joe's from Florida), John McMinn and Brazilian-British acoustic bass great Marcio Mattos. Quite an enchanting set! Special thanks to Glen Max of the Knit for making this rare event happen, flying our British heroes over & putting them up in a hotel! Hooray!!! The midnite set each night was an open jam curated by folks like Susie Ibarra, Gerry Hemingway & James Carter and they were free!!! That's the right spirit! Susie's fabulous improv set included Evan Parker, Nels Cline, Zeena Parkins, Sylvie Courvoisier, Marcio Mattos, Tom Surgal, and Steve Dalachinsky! The Knit sponsored a number of free gigs throughout the fest, so let us not complain too much about that corporate $$ - free sets by the Neville Bros. & Elliott Sharp's Terraplane, Los Lobos, a Microscopic Septet Reunion and the Chick Corea Acoustic project. Here's a list of the sets that I heard which were extraordinary - John Zorn Chamber Works (challenging & provocative), Matt Shipp String Trio (advancing to new levels), Tim Berne four set extravaganza (all in one night!!), Dave Douglas Sextet (a superb ensemble, at their best!), Mario Pavone Nu Trio (best piano trio I've heard in years) and Marilyn Crispell-Gary Peacock-Paul Motian (an exquisite ECM gem ). The Knit-Jazz fest concluded with the Art Ensemble of Chicago who are now just a trio, some complained about their first set that night, but the second set was cosmic!! Roscoe Mitchell's immense percussion & horns set-up took hours to build and was put to good use during this set, which included a section with psychedelic spinning lights and exploding cymbals! For me, it was the perfect way to end another fine festival that has learned how to focus its best ingredients into the Knitting Factory itself! Let us hope that Elton Dean won't have to wait another 30 years to play in NYC!

The above festivals report was written by your trusty, never-ending, gig-going scribe - Bruce Lee Gallanter

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