DMG Newsletter for Friday, August 10th, 2018

Growing up in the 1960’s
I first bought 7” singles in 1964
And then Long Playing Record Albums during the Summer of Love in 1967
One or two a week, year in & year out, from that point onwards,
Sometimes more when I discovered cut-Outs, promos & sale copies
Later, I also bought cassettes, 8-track tapes and eventually Compact Discs (1981)

It has been more than a half century since I purchased a copies of
The Mothers of Invention’s ‘Freak-Out’ and Soft Machine’s ‘Volume One’ LP’s
My life, forever altered by Underground music, often ignored by the masses
I have always dug the sound great music on vinyl, so warm and dynamic
The ritual of cleaning a record, placing it on the turntable
putting down the stylus, sitting in a compfy chair and listening closely
After more than 35 years of dealing with CD’s (which I still enjoy)
I have been listening at length to more & more records in recent times:
Jazz, Rock, Prog, Psych, Soul, Modern Classical, Electronic, Ethnic, Obscure & otherwise

Raise a Glass and Toast to the Sound of a Great Record!
Take some time to embrace the sonic qualities of a good stereo
You won’t be disappointed, I guarantee you

Here’s a list of what has come in to DMG in the past week:

Mahobin: Satoko Fujii / Lotte Anker / Ikue Mori / Natsuki Tamura! Otomo Yoshihide & Paal Nilssen-Love! Paul Rutherford / Ken Vandermark QT! Nine Discs from NoBusiness: Kaoru Abe & Saby Toyozumi! Alex Von Schlippenbach & Aki Takase! Bobby Naughton / (Wadada) Leo Smith / Perry Robinson! Barre Phillips & Motoharu Yoshizawa! Kang Tae Hwan Solo & Trio!

Itaru Oki Trio! Choi Sun Bae Quartet! Pascal Niggenkemper 2 CD Set with John Butcher & Xu Fengxia! Kyko Kitamura’s Tidepool Fauna! Plus Archival Discs from The Mother of Invention! Gryphon! Bridget St. John! Serge Gainsbourg & Michel Colombier! Records from Charles K Noyes & Owen Maercks! Tubby Hayes Qt! Paul Flaherty & Chris Corsano! Mako Sica & Hamid Drake! Charlemagne Palestine! and Much More..!

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Upcoming Sets at Downtown Music Gallery - FREE, every Sunday at 6pm

THE DMG 28TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES OF SONIC CELEBRATIONS Continue with:

Sunday August 12th:
6pm: BEN GOLDBERG and KIRK KNUFFKE - Clarinet and Cornet - CD Release Set
7pm: JUANMA TRUJILLO / HERY PAZ / DAYEON SECK - Guitar / Sax / Drums

Sunday, August 19th
6pm: ROBERT DICK and LESZEK “HEFI” WISNIOSKI - International Flute Duo
7pm: ALEX LOUDOUDIS and RAS MOSHE - Drums and Tenor Sax

Monday, August 20th - Downtown Music Gallery Anniversary Celebration - Part 2:
8pm: NATE WOOLEY and CHRIS PITSIOKOS - Zurcher Gallery - 33 Bleecker Street in NYC!

Sunday, August 26th
6pm: AARON RUBINSTEIN and NATE WOOLEY!
7pm: XANDER NAYLOR / RICK PARKER - Guitar / Trombone and Electronics!

Sunday, September 2nd:
6pm: CHARMAINE LEE!
7pm: KYOKO KITAMURA / LEONID GALAGANOV - Vocals / Percussion & Shakuhachi!
8pm: CARLOS QUEBRADA from Nicotina y Primavera!

DMG is located at 13 Monroe St. (between Catherine & Market Sts) in a basement below a small gallery. Take the F train to East Broadway or the 6 train to Canal or the B or D to Grand, or the M-15 bus to Madison & Catherine. Come on Down, the Sunday Music Series is Always Free & the Vibes are Always Cosy

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MAHOBIN With SATOKO FUJII / LOTTE ANKER / NATSUKI TAMURA / IKUE MORI - Live at Big Apple in Kobe (Libra 204-050; Japan) Featuring Lotte Anker on alto sax & soprano saxes, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Satoko Fujii on piano and Ikue Mori on laptop/electronics. Ms. Fujii’s year-long 60th birthday celebration continues with her 8th disc of the year this month, August of 2018. It should come as no surprise to her loyal listeners that her level of excellence has continued throughout the year as well as in the past. Each disc this year has had different person, her most constant collaborator is of course her husband, trumpeter Natsuki Tamura. Ms. Fujii always chooses her collaborators wisely. For this disc she has chosen two great musicians: Danish saxist Lotte Anker and Downtown electronics wizard Ikue Mori, both of whom have worked with Fred Frith.
Although this is a live date, the sound is especially well-recorded, the balance near perfect. Ms. Mori and Ms. Anker on soprano start things off some extraordinary, spacious, suspense-filled improv, building in intensity, eventually Ms. Fujii joins them, interweaving her lines on the piano (scraping inside at times), the temperature ever-increasing. Ms. Mori was initially a drummer when she started off with DNA around 1980. She is completely self-taught on her laptop, providing her own sampled percussion and then manipulating her samples in order to fit whatever situation she is in. After some thirty plus years, she is a master, a well-seasoned sonic wizard who most often works wonders. All four members of this quartet are integral to the incredible outcome here. There are a number of incredible duo/trio/quartet sections or exchanges going on. What is most fascinating or surprising is that when someone solos, they push the direction in a certain way, yet things change as others add their response. Successful improv is similar to a lively conversation or a (Zorn-like) game piece. The results of which keep you at the edge of your seat throughout. True democracy in action or in spirit. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16

OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE - 19th of May, 2016 (PNL 039; EEC) Featuring Otomo Yoshihide on electric guitar and Pall Nilssen-Love on drums & percussion, recorded live the DOM Cultural Center in Moscow in May of 2016. Although of these musicians are master improvisers, consistently busy playing with a diverse crew of fellow travelers, they’ve played together on rare occasion(s). There is a hard-to-find LP release from 2014 (live in Copenhagen) that does exist but not much else. The last time either of these two musicians played in New York, earlier this year (2018), Otomo played a duo with Chris Pitsiokos and Mr. Nilssen-Love was on tour with his large ensemble. Mr. Yoshihide plays guitar, sampler and turntable and is extremely diverse, drawing from a wealth of experiences in both lower case (or onkyo) and more explosive bursts of energy. This duo navigates between some intense, over-the-top duo eruptions with quietly, more restrained sections. There is a strong balance between post-punk energy and free/jazz insanity, the duo often stopping on a dime and switching direction midstream. There are some extraordinary quieter moments which soon escalate to some wonderful molten noisy explosions. Paal Nilssen-Love is the perfect choice for this duo since wherever they go, both are united, matching wits tightly and as one force of nature. Otomo Yoshihide has been composing music for films for around 25 years, as well as for television in recent years. His recorded music and live playing often have a cinematic quality. He is creating at creating moods and telling tales with music. Sections of this disc evoke different moods, vibes or images. Consistenly engaging and thought provoking. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16

PAUL RUTHERFORD / KEN VANDERMARK / TORSTEN MULLER / DYLAN VAN DER SCHYFF - Are We in Diego? (WhirrbooM! 003; Earth) Featuring Paul Rutherford on trombone, Ken Vandermark on reeds, Torsten Muller on contrabass and Dylan van der Schyff on drums. Recorded at Ironworks in Vancouver, BC on December 10th of 2004. The late trombone master Paul Rutherford was one of the original voices of the British free/jazz scene, starting in the 1960’s and working with: Spontaneous Music Ensemble, London Jazz Composers & Globe Unity Orchestras, Iskra 1903 and much more. His early solo trombone album, ‘The Gentle Harm of the Bourgeoisie’, (1974), was the first of its kind and opened the door for many to follow. Mr. Rutherford was also a staunch communist with a great sense of humor and worked with a number of great collaborators from different countries. As a longtime fan myself, I only got a few chances to hear Rutherford live: the LJCO and Keith Tippett’s Tapestry (both at Victo) and in a trio at the Vision Fest. The ever-ambitious Chicago multi-bandleader, Ken Vandermark, always sought out the great elders of avant-jazz, a great match for the likes of Mr. Rutherford. The rhythm team here, Torsten Muller and Dylan van der Schyff, are from Vancouver and have worked together with John Butcher as well.
This is a true international quartet with each member from a different background. Yet by listening, what we hear is the way they work together. In the first long piece, “Morning Star”, Rutherford is digging deep into his large bag, interacting tightly with Mr. Vandermark’s crafty clarinet and swirling bass & drums. There is a section where Vandermark’s clarinet starts chattering like some crazed birds with Rutherford’s tight heated interplay connecting different orbits. There is a great drum solo midway through the first piece here. I have always dug Mr. van der Schyff and have seen him live a handful of times with Peggy Lee (his wife) and recently with Dalava (at Victo). German-born, Vancouver-based bassist, Torsten Muller, is less visible the other members of this quartet, having appeared on only a dozen discs listed in the DMG database. The overall sound here is that Euro style free music at its best. Focused, ever-changing and filled with surprising twist and turns. Consistently excellent. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

Nine Amazing New Compact Discs from the Lithuanian label: No Business!

ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH / AKI TAKASE - Live at Cafe Amores (NoBusiness 106; Lithuania) Featuring Alexander von Schlippenbach and Aki Takase both on piano, recorded at Cafe Amores in Yamaguchi. Japan in August of 1995. Although Ms. Takase and Mr. Schlippenbach have been married for many years (she moved to Berlin in 1987), it seems as if their music collaborations began in the early 1990’s. There are some half dozen or so discs of duos (1993, ’94 & 2014), a trio/quartet (from 2005), the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (BCJO) (1993 & 1996), collaborations with Sven Ake Johannson and more recently a great tribute to Eric Dolphy (12 piece unit on Intakt from 2014). This, their third piano duo disc, was recorded in 1995 in Japan. What is most interesting about this CD/set is who they cover: Frank Zappa, Charles Mingus, two Thelonious Monk’s, an old standard (“Lulu’s Back in Town”, as well as a few originals. Starting with “Jackhammer” which was written by Mr. Schlippenbach and appears on BCJO ‘Live in Japan’ release. It is a solo feature for Schlippenbach and it is a powerful intro with some intense, steamrolling piano, which goes through a variety of sections. For the second piece, “Na na na its das der Weg”, both pianists are sitting at one piano with Alex in the lower register and Aki in the higher one. I like the way they exchange lines and bounce ideas back and forth, building, crisscrossing, the tempo increasing to a colossal stream and then back to minimal ripples. I am not so sure why the duo covered a later period Zappa song, “You are What You Is”, but it is a lot of fun and does have a most memorable somewhat goofy melody which stops before it ends. One of the highlights here a medley of Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington themes in which both pianist insert unexpected lines amongst the more recognizable melodies, like “Boogie Stop Shuffle”. Both Ms. Takase and Mr. Schlippenbach have covered songs by Mingus with their own bands. Here they take, “Misterioso”, “Evidence” and “Skippy”, alter them in odd ways, with several overlapping themes, twisting them in unexpected ways. The last piece, “The Morlocks”, is more experimental with the couple put various utensils inside the piano, rubbing the strings and coaxing out some strange sounds. The piece is long, very intense and does a fine job of creating a more mysterious soundscape which both disorienting and ultimately fascinating. Bravo to both pianists! Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

BOBBY NAUGHTON / WADADA LEO SMITH / PERRY ROBINSON - The Haunt (NoBusiness 105; Lithuania) Featuring Bobby Naughton on vibes & compositions, (Wadada) Leo Smith on trumpet and Perry Robinson on clarinet. Recorded April 21, 1976, Blue Rock Studio, NYC. This is a reissue of the rare album, ‘The Haunt’ (Otic 1005). Includes a nearly 7 minute bonus track not found on original LP. After attending dozen of jazz gigs at places like the Village Vanguard, the Village Gate and the Five Spot, starting in fall of 1972, I went to hear music in loft spaces throughout the rest of the Seventies. Places like Studio Rivbea, Ladies Fort, Environ, the Brook & Studio We. There was a large influx of musicians moving to NY then and many of them played at and ran those loft spaces. I remember catching a group called Interface at Environ on several occasions, whose members included Perry Robinson on clarinet, Mark Whitecage on sax, John Fischer on piano & Phillip Wilson on drums. I also caught Perry Robinson with Gunter Hampel’s Dream Galaxie Band. Mr. Robinson was the first clarinetist I heard that played freely. I was also buying records and finding out about more and more creative musicians and scenes, locally and elsewhere. I recall finding albums by a vibes player named Bobby Naughton, who was collaborating with future heroes like Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith and James Emery. I bought a number of albums led by Bobby Naughton and Wadada Leo Smith during the seventies but never got a chance to hear him live until the last few years and the Vision Fest (with WL Smith) and once in the early days of Victo with Mr. Braxton.
I bought a copy of Bobby Naughton’s ‘The Haunt’ way back when it came out but haven’t heard in more then thirty years. Until this reissue. What I find most interesting about this music is that it sounds more like chamber music, refined, most carefully arranged and exquisitely played. Mr. Naughton claims that he wrote the music mostly at the piano which he played before playing the vibes. The sound of his vibes are slowed down, dreamy and filled with soft drones. (Pre Wadada) Leo Smith’s trumpet and Perry Robinson’s clarinet also play with a dream-like haze, bending their notes together with the utmost restraint and care. Since most of this is slow spacious and calm, we must settle down and wait as thing s unfold. Is this music from another time (April 1976) and place (Blur Rock Studio, NYC)? Certainly, but it is also music that is timeless, ageless and special. Mr. Robinosn seems to have one foot in the past and the other in the present or future. He will start off by bending a note the way some one does on more ancient jazz records when swing was the thing in the forties and then play with a more modern tone as he and Smith become one sound/blend. The title of this disc, ‘The Haunt’ seems most appropriate since the music is most haunting. The final piece, which is also a bonus track and an alternate take of an earlier piece is perhaps the best one one s the trio take off and increase the level of intensity, spinning more quickly, the level of ingenuity, a marvel to behold. This will take some time to fully absorb since it appears to me a unique gem outside of its time. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

KAORU ABE / SABU TOYOZUMI - Mannyoka (NoBusiness 107; Lithuania) Featuring: Kaoru Abe - alto, sopranino and soprano saxes and Sabu Toyozumi - drums and percussion. Japanese free/jazz sax legend, Kaoru Abe, dies at the age of only 29 in 1978, living a fast and crazy life and dieing of a drug overdose. His entire music career was only 10 years, from 1968 to 1978. In that short period, he was well recorded with around 30 releases, ten of which are solo sax efforts, duos with guitarist Masayuki Takayanagi, bassist Motoharu Yoshizawaand drummer Sabu Toyozuma. Mr. Abe also toured and recorded with Milford Graves, Derek Bailey and Toshinori Konda in 1977 & 1978. Sadly, nothing by Kaoru Abe has been in print for many years until now… Many of his rare CD’s & LP’s go for big bucks on the resale market.
This disc was recorded at two concerts in Tokyo in January and July of 1978, the year that Mr. Abe passed away. Those in the know, free/jazz freaks worldwide, should know of drummer Sabu Toyozumi from his work with Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, Misha Mengelberg and Haino Keiji. ‘Part 1’ kicks things off with an immense blast with Mr. Abe on alto sax and Mr. Toyozumi on drums. Abe sounds a bit like Albert Ayler, although he plays alto & soprano saxes, bending and twisting every note in his own unique way. This duo recorded a few disc together and they sound just right working together, shadowing each other, tightly connecting no matter where they soar. If you savor what is essentially the beginning of fee/jazz in Japan, then you should really hear this disc. It is some 73 minutes long and it all flows together in powerful waves. So good to finally a disc back in distribution that captures the amazing talent & passion filled music of Kaoru Abe and Sabu Toyozumi. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

CHOI SUN BAE / JUNJI HIROSE / MOTOHARU YOSHIZAWA / KIM DAE HWAN - Arirang Fantasy (NoBusiness 108; Lithuania) Featuring: Choi Sun Bae - trumpet, Junji Hirose - tenor and soprano saxes, Motoharu Yoshizawa - electric vertical five-strings bass and Kim Dae Hwan - percussion. Creative musicians from Korea are a rare breed. According to the liner notes, when the Kang Tae-HwanSaxist Trio came to Japan to play at Tokyo Meeting in 1985, they were a shock to those who knew about the Japanese Free/Jazz scene & history. The Kang Tae-Hwan Trio consisted of Mr. Hwan on alto sax, Choi Sun-Bae on trumpet and Kim Dae-Hwan on drums & percussion. The members of Mr. Hwan’s Trio began collaborating with established Japanese musicians like Masahiko Satoh, Motoharu Yoshizawa and Kazutoki Umezu. Ten years after this first meeting with the Korean & Japanese musicians, this concert was recorded at Romanisches Cafe in Roppongi, Tokyo. The quartet is half Korean, Sun Bae and Dae Hwan, and half Japanese: Junji Hirose and Motorharu Yoshizawa. You should recognize the name Motoharu Yoshizawa fro his work with Derek Bailey, Steve Lacy and Evan Parker. Saxist Junji Hirose has worked in Ground Zero, as well as with Masahiko Togashi (drums) and Kasuhisa Uchihashi (guitar & daxophone).
The long opening piece is for trumpet and 5-string bass. Trumpeter, Choi Sun Bae, is off and soaring quickly, his playing pretty intense and creative. The liner notes which were written by the owner of the cafe where this was recorded states that since there are so few musicians in Korea that play free music, the musicians must invent their own language, based in part from Korean folk melodies. There are series and duos and trio sections here, giving each of there four musicians time to stretch out, experiment and interact on several levels. In the first long section, Mr. Sun Bae’s trumpet and Mr. Yoshizawa’a bowed bass quietly interact and then build in intensity as the piece evolves. It times, Sun Bae reminds me of Nate Wooley as he works his way through different extended or odd sounds and pulls off those crazed blasts that Toshinori Kondo used to do in the 1980’s. This is following by an extraordinary tenor sax and trumpet duo, fire music, free/jazz nirvana eventually calming down to a more cerebral conclusion. Kim Dae Hwan’s percussion is featured next and we can see a picture of his unique set-up in the booklet: two cymbals and two drums, one a traditional Korean drums of some sort. Mr. Hwan’s solo sounds like it comes from the traditional Kodo style. There is another section where the trumpet and soprano sax start exchanging lines at an astonishing pace, making it hard to tell who is who. Mr. Yoshizawa sounds especially fine creating dark drones underneath bowing slowly and adding some electronics to make things a bit murky, a great cushion what the fireworks above. What is amazing about this disc, this quartet is how well these four musicians work together. An incredible international alliance which crosses borders and is united in spirits. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

BARRE PHILIIPS / MOTOHARU YOSHIZAWA - Oh My, Those Boys! (NoBusiness 103; Lithuania) ‘Oh My, Those Boys!’ is an epic monster of double double bass, well a double bass, played by the mighty Barre Phillips, and a homemade electric five string vertical bass (as its described), played by Motoharu Yoshizawa. Recorded live at Cafe Amores, Hofu, Yamaguchi, Japan, the seventy-five minutes of Oh My, Those Boys! represents only part of that evening’s nearly three hours of music. A previous forty minute chunk from this evening was released in 1998 on Live “Okidoki” through the Chap Chap label. Oh, My Those Boys! is part of an ongoing dive into the Chap Chap vault of unreleased recordings
From the opening pizzicato section through moments of beautiful arco playing to moments of noise and the occasional vocalization, Oh My! covers an unimaginable amount of ground in it’s fifty-five minute runtime. The second track, Those Boys!, runs just over twenty minutes, but is even more extreme and haunting. Yoshizawa’s use of electronics mixed with Phillips’ more lyric bow work is inspired. The constant variation between two masters, and between electric and acoustic timbres, is delightful. The end of Those Boys! alone is worth the journey.
‘Oh My, Those Boys!’ is as fine an example of duet playing as you’re likely to hear. The work is as constantly shifting as a hike in a desert slot canyon. You don’t know how narrow or wide the path may be, you don’t know what’s lurking around the corner, you don’t know if you’ll be swept away in a flash flood or cooked to death under a blazing hot sun, but if you make it through to the end, you’re sure to have enjoyed the journey.” - Davis Menestres, FreeJazzBlog.Org
CD $15

KANG TAE HWAN - Live at Cafe Amores (NoBusiness 104; Lithuania) “In Orson Scott Card’s short story “Unaccompanied Sonata”, state officials forcefully shield a prodigy from tainting influences like J.S. Bach so his music will remain utterly original. One can imagine similar isolation for South Korean alto saxophonist Kang Tae Hwan, if only because he doesn’t sound quite like anyone else. On Live at Café Amores, recorded in 1995 in Hōfu, Japan, he improvises five extended pieces replete with circular breathing and multiphonic techniques, similar to those used by more exuberant players in the free milieu, but appearing here with singular austerity. Often based on five- or six-note F minor scales, executed with a calm yet relentless airstream, each track is a deep meditation on changing timbres: gravelly burrs; overblown chords; hiccupping or galloping figures; low open tones set against high polyphonic blushes.” - Tom Greenland, NY City Jazz Records
CD $15

KANG TAE HWAN / MIDORI TAKADA / MASAHIKO SATOH - Ton-Klami - Prophecy of Nue (NoBusiness 102; Lithuania) “Another installment in the No Business Records series of unreleased Chap Chap label recordings licensed from Japan provides a fascinating glimpse of an unfamiliar soundworld. Prophecy Of Nue features the long lived group Ton-Klami live in concert in 1995. The band member best known in the West might be pianist Masahiko Satoh, who has recorded with reedmen Peter Brötzmann, Steve Lacy and Ned Rothenberg among others, but his colleagues percussionist Midori Takada and Korean saxophonist Kang Tae Hwan also merit attention.
The three lengthy improvisations are selections from a 90-minute performance and present the trio in a variety of guises. At the heart of the collaboration lies the contrast between the percussive sensibilities of Satoh and Takada versus the continuous outpourings of Hwan. The Korean demonstrates his mindboggling control of the overblown upper register in the first few minutes of the title track, as his other worldly alto whistle skates above an icy landscape of cymbal splashes and piano droplets. Bolstered by circular breathing his siren cry takes on an electronic quality, even as the accompaniment moves from processional to martial.
Some of the most exciting passages come as the intensity increases. Towards the end of the opener, Satoh and Hwan intermingle their twin unfurling lines, only for the pressure to grow yet further as Takada throws fuel on the fire. They conjure yet more high energy on "Incantation" through an exuberant combination of staccato yelping alto, flailing piano and taiko-like drum bursts.
Takada asserts her grace and elegance with a prancing marimba dance during "Manifestation," while Satoh ramps up the tension with one of those repeated figures which begs the questions: When will it stop? What happens then? The answer is an unexpected return to a delicate and mournful atmosphere of isolated sounds. That unpredictability sums up the attraction of this disc.” - John Sharpe, AllAboutJazz
CD $15

PAUL RUTHERFORD / SABU TOYOZUMI - The Conscience (NoBusiness 99; Lithuania) Simpatico from the beginning, Rutherford and Toyozumi establish a mutually acceptable groove and exploit it throughout. The drummer’s clattering cymbal shots and focused textures are on side during the first and title track and very quickly the trombonist’s up and down slurs become more animated and wider, sliding and stuttering a collection of patterns in his narrative. Exhibiting bows to Native American-like tom toms pressure and reverberations from gongs, hi hat and miscellaneous small percussion instruments, the drummer sets up a continuum from which Rutherford’s can dig deeper into his horn’s innards to produce multiphonic vibrations with tones seemingly reflecting the metal as much as air and movement. Pedal tones soon give way to gutbucket-styled slurs, elephant-like bellowing and eventually a layered sequence where tone brushes against tone at near supersonic speeds. Keeping the illusion of rhythmic swing palpable, Toyozumi’s stentorian whacks shift to paradiddles and rolls climaxing with cymbal slaps to match the trombonist’s slide guffaws.
Percussion tones become more isolated and metallic sounding, though still holding to the groove when initiating a variant of call-and-response with the trombonist’s plunger work in the middle of the meeting; and then the concluding “Song for Sadamu Hisada” adds unexpected warmth to the sometimes technical tête-à-tête., Rutherford starts off with carefully cultivated brass vibrations escalating to assault-rifle-like firing speed. Balladic rather than bravado, his skill allows him to shrink his solo to pinpoint textures, but even as he does that, he pulls out sliding growls never abandoning linear thrusts. Toyozumi’s rattles, rebounds and pops make appropriate backing and fade in unison the trombone tones for a perfect finale. - Ken Waxman, Jazz World
CD $15

ITARU OKI / NOBUYOSHI INO / SUN BAE CHOI - Kami Fusen (NoBusiness 99; Lithuania) “This is an interesting and deeply emotional album of subtle and spacious music created by Itaru Oki on trumpet and bamboo flute, Nobuyoshi Ino on bass and Choi Sun Bae on trumpet. The lack of drums and a chordal instrument makes for a very wide open sound stage for brass and bass and allows the musicians to explore both experimental music and creative exploration of a few jazz standards making for a well rounded recording. The first four performances on this album consist of original compositions and free improvisations, in an exciting setting for double brass and bass. Ino's role as the bassist is very interesting as he acts as a fulcrum for the music, but also unmoors himself to create solo and collective statements of his own. The trumpet players are very expressive in a wide range of settings and when Oki switches to his bamboo flute, he opens up a whole new dimension for the music to travel in. It is interesting to hear the trio shift gears from free and abstract improvisation into playing a jazz standard "I Remember Clifford" and a medley of American popular songbook tunes "Old Folks / Tea For Two." What is most impressive is that the band is able to maintain their focus on exploration during these performances, beginning with the Benny Golson composition which is dedicated to the great trumpeter Clifford Brown who died far too young. The two trumpet players on this album use that familiar melody and their clear familiarity with Brown's playing to create an honest and powerful performance of this tune that is poignant and thoughtful. This deep melodic sensibility continues in the medley that closes the album, where the musicians are able to incorporate the themes of these familiar standards into an improvisation which shows their ability as improvisers as well as there ability as interpreters. This was a fine album, the musicians are very talented and patient, carefully letting their sound develop and broaden to encompass a wide range of feelings and emotions. Fans of creative improvised music will find a lot to like on this album.” - Tim Niland, JazzandBlues.Blogspot
CD $15

TOSHI ICHIYANAGI With EYE MUSIC - Sapporo (Wandelweiser EWR 1801; Austria) Written in 1963 for up to 15 peformers plus a conductor who may also make sound, Japanese composer and Fluxus artist Toshi Ichiyanagi's score has 16 pages marked with combinations of lines, dots and letters indicating duration, number of events, and moments of restraint, each player using a different page, with certain options of switching pages with another player during performance.
CD $14

PASCAL NIGGENKEMPER With JOHN BUTCHER / XU FENGXIA / DIDIER PETIT / SYLVAIN KASSAP / GUNDA GOTTSCHALK / PHILIP ZOUBEK / STEVE DALACHINSKY / et al - Sound Within Sound / Wuppertal Diary (Fitschgetau LC-55326; Germany) Adventurous double bassist Pascal Niggenkemper was artist in residence at Wuppertal in the fall of 2017, presenting concerts with a diverse set of masterful improvisers from Europe and the US, excerpts of which are meticulously programmed in this 2-CD collection, organized by artistic endeavor and intent, from the spacious/introspective to wildly lively encounters; recommended.
2 CD Set $24

* KYOKO KITAMURA’S TIDEPOOL FAUNA With INGRID LAUBROCK / KEN FILIANO / DAVEON SEOK - Protean Labyrinth (Self-Produced; USA) Featuring Kyoko Kitamura on vocals, Ingrid Laubrock on tenor sax, Ken Filiano on contrabass and Dayeon Seok on drums. One of the wonders of Downtown Scene is watching creative musicians evolve, experiment and form new subgroups. I’ve known vocalist, Kyoko Kitamura, since the mid-nineties and have watched her evolve over time. Ms. Kitamura has worked with reeds wiz Ras Moshe for a long time, playing here at DMG regularly. For the past decade Kyoko has been a featured vocalist for Anthony Braxton in his ‘Trillium’ operas and Ghost Trance Music Choir. I recall a particularly great set here at DMG, a vocal duet with Anne Rhodes, in which they taught the audience how to perform a difficult Braxton composition. More recently Kyoko is a member of two quartets: one with Joe Morris, Taylor Ho Bynum and Tomeka Reid (CD on Relative Pitch) and this, Tidepool Fauna, her own quartet.
I’ve caught Tidepool Fauna on a couple of occasions so far and both sets were vastly different. Tidepool Fauna features Ingrid Laubrock on tenor sax, one of the most ambitious Downtown musicians who leads several bands, collaborates with dozens of other creative musicians here and elsewhere; bassist Ken Filiano is another restless musicians and diverse collaborator. Percussionist Daveon Seok is a new name for me. ‘Protean Labyrinth’ is a studio recording and the sound is superb, warm, inviting and well-balanced. Ms. Kitamura’s lush, haunting voice is central in the mix, On “Tripwise”, Kyoko’s voice and Ingrid’s sax match wits, shadowing each other perfectly, weaving their notes into a refined tapestry. Mr. Filiano’s playing is extraordinary, bowing and buzzing magically underneath every vocal sound and/or sax note. Daveon Seok is more of a minimalist and balances the rhythmic essence with skeletal grace. Although Ms. Kitamura has long studied and performed jazz & classical vocals, she has decided not to use words here. Her voice quite expressive but not bound to poetic or political lyrics. The sensuous sound of her voice and occasional extended odd vocal sounds are consistently enchanting here. One of the things that makes this disc so wonderful is that Ms. Kitamura doesn’t push the boundaries of experimenting too far to make us feel uncomfortable. There is enough stress in our lives as it is. There is a magic ingredient going on here, a kind of spiritual elixir that glows throughout. The overall vibe is rather dreamy, as if Tidepool Fauna is floating inside one of our collective dreams, on a raft balancing on calm waves. Without a doubt, one of my favorite discs of the month. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

* KYOKO KITAMURA will be playing a duo set with Leonid Galaganov here os DMG on September 2nd at 7pm!

CAROL LIEBOWITZ / BILL PAYNE MARK WEBER - SpiderWebMandala (Line Arts Records 1004; USA) Featuring Carol Liebowitz on piano, Bill Payne on clarinet with guest poet Mark Weber (on 2 pieces). Ms. Liebowitz used to record for the New Artists label which was run by the late Connie Crothers and featured a number of musicians associated with jazz legend Lennie Tristano. More recently, Ms. Liebowitz has been involved in Line Art Records, this is her fourth release. This session was recorded live at the outpost in Albuquerque, NM in May of 2016 and this is the second disc that Ms. Liebowitz has done with clarinetist Bill Payne. Right from the beginning, it sounds as if these two musicians have been working together for a long while, they are so closely matched: softly dream-like at first, slowly moving into more somewhat darker and more turgid currents. The title piece, “Spiderweb Mandala Flower” features a poem & recitation by Mark Weber, who has a warm, thoughtful voice. It is one of the highlights of this disc, a richly worded poem that is filled with striking imagery. Ms. Liebowitz often sounds like she played acoustic harp before she played piano, with the same sort of sweeping waves of notes, angelic at times with some mysterious and unexpected twists and turns. No matter what direction or area that the piano moves into, Mr. Payne’s excellent clarinet is moving and exploring similar terrain, occasionally erupting in the clouds above, like minimal lightning lighting up dark sky of the night. I found this disc to be somewhat soothing, calm at the center with well-measured bursts of kaleidoscopic energy. Often subtle yet somehow quite rich. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $12

MATTEO LIBERATORE - Solos (Innova 985; USA) Last Sunday (08/05/18), Mr. Liberatore played a fine trio set here at DMG with Michael Foster on sax and Joanna Mattrey on viola. This disc features Mr. Liberatore on solo acoustic guitar with assorted objects to manipulate the strings. I knew very little about Italian-born, Brooklyn-based guitarist, Mattero Liberatore, before this disc arrived in the mail a few months back. I have listened to several times so far and am impressed by the results. Mr. Liberatore evokes a different mood or vibe on every piece. On “Agnes”, Matteo seems to banging on the strings furiously with some object creating disorienting ripples which have a way of pulling into their vortex. “Untitled #9” has an e-bow like drone in the background with suspense-filled bent, plucked string on top. Incredibly effective and most mesmerizing. Mr. Liberatore sounds like he playing a (broken) hammered dulcimer on “Gravity”, varying between a singular plucked series of notes with some swirling, percussive banging on top. I love the way Matteo keeps several lines alternating throughout a few of these pieces, accentuating certain notes while keeping the repeating flow going forward, increasing or decreasing the tempo at times. Downtown guitar great & composer, Elliott Sharp, mixed and mastered this disc and did a great job of capturing Mr. Liberatore’s guitar in all its glory. Had I not known what instrument that Mr. Liberatore was playing, I might not have guessed it was an acoustic guitar since the manipulations make it difficult to tell what is actually going on here. This is a masterpiece of weirdness, nonetheless. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

VITOR RUA & THE METAPHYSICAL ANGELS - When Better Isn't Quite Good Enough (ReR Megacorp VR1; UK) "Vítor Rua is one of the key figures of Portuguese creative music, with a career that covers a multitude of idioms and styles -- from rock, as the founder of the hit band GNR (AKA Grupo Novo Rock), through minimalism, folk, punk, thrash metal, electronic and country music to free improvisation (29 years with Telectu, his duo with pianist and musicologist Jorge Lima Barreto). In this world he has worked (amongst others) with Sunny Murray, Gerry Hemingway, Han Bennink, Paul Lytton, Barry Altschul, Gunter Sommer, Chris Cutler, Eddie Prevóst, Louis Sclavis, Jac Berrocal, Carlos 'Zíngaro' and Elliott Sharp. In the other world, since 1987, he has focused more on classical contemporary composition, writing for soloists, chamber groups and orchestras. Interpreters include (amongst others) John Tilbury, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Daniel Kientzy, Peter Rundel, Christian Brancusi and the Remix Ensemble). He has also written five operas. CD #1 is a series of overdubbed improvisations by Portugese guitar virtuoso Vitor Rua. These are orchestrated for quintet on CD #2."
2 CD Set $17 [in stock Next Week]

MARIANNE SCHUPPE - NoSongs (Wandelweiser EWR 1802; Austria) Marianne Schuppe continues to reimagine songs and their relation to tone and melody, here in a series of 11 songs realized with voice, lute, and uber bows, creating delicate accompaniment to her lucid movements between pure sound and words, singing and speaking her lyrics of succinct phrases rich in subtle intimation and evocative imagery; beautiful.
CD $14

KYLE GANN - Custer And Sitting Bull (New World Records 80801; USA) Kyle Gann’s Custer And Sitting Bull (1995-99) illustrates a historic meeting, the composer narrates both parts in their own words. Synthesizers tuned to the system of just intonation unfold with stunning new textures and harmony as the story progresses. Scales with 20-30 pitches are full of unheard territory. In this case, Gann reminds one of a modern day Harry Partch with his microtonal opera and synths. 
Poet Kenneth Patchen’s And What with the Blunders is the source of the text of So Many Little Dyings (1994). Read over loops of birds and ocean, a microtonal toy piano and sampler guitar…we find out the value of so many little dyings…repetition is a form of change. 
Both of these pieces were released in earlier versions, the concluding composition on this album was not. Soprano Martha Herr premiered Scenario in 2012, singing SJ Perelman’s collage of movie world clichés. A Technicolor collage of words and shifting microtonal music stream forth… - David Beardsley, guest reviewer
CD $15

Archival Recordings of Note:

FRANK ZAPPA / THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION - Live In Sweden 1967 (Keyhole KH 9086; UK) Frank Zappa, live at the Konserthuset, Stockholm, Sweden on September 30th, 1967. In the last week of September 1967, Frank Zappa and the Mothers played a week of shows in Europe. This remarkable performance, broadcast from the Konserthuset in Stockholm, Sweden on national FM radio, features favorites such as "It Can't Happen Here" from Freak Out! (1966), "Big Leg Emma" (which had recently appeared as a 45 in Sweden), and an epic rendition of "King Kong" (in its first known live recording), as well as a couple of Elvis classics. The entire broadcast is presented here, digitally remastered, together with background notes and images.
CD $17

GRYPHON [RICHARD HARVEY/BRIAN GULLAND/DAVID OBERLE / et al - Raindances: The Transatlantic Recordings 1973-1975 (Esoteric Antenna 22639; UK) ”Esoteric Recordings are pleased to announce the release of "Raindances", a 2 CD anthology featuring every track from the four albums released by Gryphon on the Transatlantic label between 1973 and 1975. One of the most original groups to emerge in the Progressive era, Gryphon came together at the instigation of Royal College of Music students Richard Harvey and Brian Gulland, initially as a vehicle to fuse traditional English music with Medieval and Renaissance music influences. Utilising various traditional instruments such as Crumhorns, Recorders, Bassoons and Mandolins, Gryphon expanded with the addition of Graeme Taylor on guitar and Dave Oberle on drums and percussion. Singing to Transatlantic Records, Gryphon released their eponymous debut album in June 1973, adorned in a striking cover designed by Dan Pearce. The uniqueness of their musical style led to a commission to write a score for a stage production of The Tempest in 1974, parts of which formed the band's next album, "Midnight Mushrumps", released in April 1974. By this time bass guitarist Philip Nestor had joined the fold, and the band began to explore more progressive influences (with the album's title track being an 18 minute opus). The progressive rock influences became even more apparent on Gryphon's acclaimed third album, "Red Queen to Gryphon Three", released in December 1974. The album was one of the most successful of Gryphon's career and the diversity of their music saw Gryphon earn the distinction of being the first artists to appear on all four BBC radio networks in one week. During this time Gryphon also toured as the support act to the legendary band YES, gaining new followers as a result. "Raindance" was Gryphon's final album for Transatlantic Records. Issued in 1975, the record saw Philip Nestor replaced by Malcolm Bennett and was another successful record.”
2 CD Set $25

BRIDGET ST. JOHN - Dandelion Albums And BBC Recordings Collection (Cherry Red CDM Box 17; UK) “Bridget St. John was one of the more distinctive artists to emerge from the U.K. folk scene in the '60s and '70s; she had a strong, powerful voice that made her sound a bit like Nico's cousin from the British countryside, and she was a talented if elemental guitarist and a songwriter whose lyrical perspective suggested a poet whose mystical side was still grounded by the realities of the earth. Caught somewhere between the U.K. folk community and the hippie culture, St. John found a sympathetic record label when John Peel co-founded Dandelion Records; Peel and his partners were music fans and not businessmen, which means St. John was given full creative freedom, though her records didn't get much of a chance in the marketplace. Three of the four studio albums St. John recorded before she took a sabbatical from music to move to the United States are featured in the artlessly titled box set Dandelion Albums & BBC Recordings Collection. Released in 1969, Ask Me No Questions is St. John's most simple and unadorned set, with the artist accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, with bass and hand drums dressing up a few tracks. Issued in 1971, Songs for the Gentle Man was a significantly more artful affair, with producer Ron Geesin giving the material greater variety with the use of creative audio effects and arrangements that used keyboards, strings, and woodwinds to lend a baroque sensibility to the tunes. While the results are often lovely, there are moments when the self-consciously pretty surfaces run counter to St. John's more grounded perspectives. And 1972's Thank You For... seems to strike a middle ground between the first two LPs; while the bulk of the album features a full band, the heartfelt, country-influenced backing meshes well with St. John's guitar and voice, and her covers of "Lazarus," "Everyday," and "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" are imaginative and a far cry from the many interpretations that came before. (The version of Thank You For... included here also features a handful of bonus tracks, including several fine live numbers from a French concert appearance.) And while the fourth disc of St. John's BBC Radio sessions might seem like bonus, its value is compromised by the fact that the first six selections were sourced not from BBC archival materials, but from tapes that were clearly made by sticking the microphone from a cheap tape machine at a radio experiencing static; the other tracks on the disc boast much higher fidelity, but ultimately the BBC material is for serious fans only. Dandelion Albums & BBC Recordings Collection is a good pick for fans looking to replace their battered Bridget St. John LPs or new admirers who want to buy the bulk of St. John's catalog in one go, though all parties should be wary of the BBC material in this set.” - Mark Denning, AllMusicGuide
4 CD Set $28

SERGE GAINSBOURG & MICHEL COLOMBIER - Le Pacha OST (WeWantSounds 015; UK) Wewantsounds present a reissue of Serge Gainsbourg's cult score for the 1968 French film Le Pacha. These tracks were composed by Serge Gainsbourg at the height of his '60s cool when he was briefly going out with Brigitte Bardot and the couple was on the verge of recording the infamous first version of "Je T'aime... Moi Non Plus" (1969). All the tracks here are arranged by famed arranger Michel Colombier, who had been responsible for some of Gainsbourg's best songs ("Bonnie & Clyde" and "Harley Davidson") and had also arranged Pierre Henry's classic Psyche-Rock around the same time -- note the similarity between Psyche-Rock and "Un Noel 67" from this set. Many of these nuggets blend '60s pop and psychedelia -- pure undiluted Gainsbourg with his classic psyche-pop sound of the late '60s. The original soundtrack features his classic "Requiem Pour Un Con" together with a previously unreleased instrumental mix, along with two bonus tracks from William Klein's 1968 film Mister Freedom. Digitally remastered from the original tapes, this is the first time the full soundtrack is released on vinyl in its entirety. Includes two bonus tracks. Includes liner notes featuring interview by cult French bass player Francis Darizcuren. Artwork by famed poster designer Maxime Pecourt.
CD $17

JOHN COLTRANE with McCOY TYNER / JIMMY GARRISON / ELVIN JONES - Both Directions at Once: The Lost Album (Impulse!/Verve 28228; USA) "Two CD edition. Deluxe version including seven bonus alternate takes of some of the tracks from the standard edition. 2018 archive release. Unknown until 2004 and unheard until now, these recordings by the John Coltrane Quartet are, as Sonny Rollins says in the liner notes, like finding a new room in the Great Pyramid. Featuring the Classic Quartet - John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones - and recorded at the end of a two-week run at Birdland, the music on this album represents one of the most influential groups in music history both performing in a musical style it had perfected and reaching in new, exploratory directions that were to affect the trajectory of jazz from that point forward."
2 CD Set $22 [price slashed for next week - $18 until 8/17/18)

LP Section:

CHARLES K. NOYES AND OWEN MAERCKS WITH HENRY KAISER AND GREG GOODMAN - Free Mammals (Feeding Tube Records 287; USA) "Reissue of an exceptional album of improvisations, recorded when percussionist Charles K. Noyes was lured to the Bay Area in the summer of 1979 by Henry Kaiser. Noyes and Maercks had played regularly as a duo when Owen was still based in Worcester, MA. But he'd shifted his ass westward in the wake of the Teenage Sex Therapist session (FTR 153-2LP), which had been organized by Kaiser following their collaborations in the band, Monster Island. Half of the album was recorded live at Woody Woodman's Finger Palace, with Kaiser on guitar and Greg Goodman on piano. The web of cluttered notes and interwoven melodic lines they created that night was incredible. And the duo studio session a few days later was massive as well. Free Mammals has long been a notoriously scarce document in the history of the West Coast's free music scene of the late '70s. And the album (nominally released on Owen's Visible label, although everything was handled by Charles) almost always sounded as though it had been pressed onto concrete. With the help of Jeremy Pisani and Carl Saff, we have attempted to present this extraordinary music with the best sonics possible. And it sounds mighty dandy. There is also a liner note insert, as well as full size repros of two fliers from both the show at which this was partially recorded, and also a subsequent trio set with Noyes/Kaiser/Goodman. They will look fine on your wall, should to choose to thus deface them. Regardless. Count your lucky stars and dive in. All of your dreams are about to come true." - Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 500.
LP $21

TUBBY HAYES QUARTET With MIKE PYNE / RON MATHEWSON / SPIKE WELLS - What Is This Thing Called Love?: Live at The Hopbine 1969 (Acrobat 2501; UK) "This is the first vinyl LP release from the Acrobat label, and it features, unreleased 'live' recording from 1969 by one of the greatest of all British jazzmen, tenor saxophonist Tubby Hayes, performing at one of London's most popular jazz venues, the Hopbine pub in Wembley, where Tubby's fellow tenor player Tommy Whittle used to run a weekly jazz night. He was playing there with his regular quartet comprising Mike Pyne (piano); Ron Mathewson (bass); Spike Wells (drums), and the LP features two extended pieces, one on each side of the LP. After hitting a career low point in 1968 as a result of his heroin addiction, he was rebuilding his health and career and had thrown himself into a punishing round of 'live' work and recording, and was looking for new musical challenges, as the music landscape was evolving rapidly around him, and contemporary musicians were pushing boundaries of their own with psychedelia and progressive rock. He was still in vibrant form and still a master of the kind of hard bop tear-up exhibited in parts of these performances, and still able to find a new way of approaching a standard like 'What Is This Thing Called Love?', as well as introduce his own compositions like 'For Members Only'. However, this was one of the final performances of this kind by the quartet, as it was only a month later that he collapsed and was hospitalized -- the beginning of the health issues which would bring about his demise in 1973. As such it is an important musical landmark, as he saw out the '60s in typical style."
LP $21

PAUL FLAHERTY & CHRIS CORSANO - The Hated Music (Feeding Tube Records 308; USA) "Hard to believe it has been 18 years since this set was first issued, but that's what the calendar says. Paul and Chris had been playing together for a while before this. I seem to recall rehearsals outdoors in Hartford beneath stretches of raised highway under construction. But that may have been Chris and Pete Nolan, back when Pete played guitar. Who can remember exactly? It's been a long time. But I do remember we put this set together because it seemed essential to document how amazing the communication was between these two musicians, from different generations, but tuned into the same insane frequency. When we told Paul we wanted to do it on the Ecstatic Yod label, with art by Gary Panter, and actual liner notes, he thought it wasn't the best idea he'd ever heard, but what the hell. The actual hope of the label was to raise the profile of this incredibly talented but ruinously humble saxophonist, so that he'd be thought of in the same way as the day's other great players. And hey -- it sorta worked. The CD got solid reviews, and more people heard it. But what most listeners took away from it was how intensely telepathic the music is. It's all lightning and smoke. These guys were deep inside each other's heads, and that made for a wonderful listening experience. In a way it's funny to hear how 'jazzy' Chris's playing is. He's gone so far beyond known-moves over the last years, you almost suspect he must be holding back. But he's not. He's throwing down as hard as he can to meet the ragged flowing genius of Flaherty's horn at every turn. He just had different chops back then. And the music is still amazing. The Hated Music is one of the best extended drum/sax forays you'll ever hear. If we could have done it on vinyl back then, we would have, but no one was buying the stuff much right then. Jerks. That has changed a bit now. For the good. And we got the great Gary Panter to do new cover, since the old one was CD sized and weird. But everything else is the same. And it totally rips a hole in the universe. Now and forever. Amen." --Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 500.
2 LP Set $25

MAKO SICA & HAMID DRAKE - Ronda (Feeding Tube Records 409; USA) "Brilliant, inspired and somewhat surprising collaboration between Chicago's premier free-rock trio and the truly legendary percussionist, Hamid Drake, who has played with everyone from Don Cherry to Peter Brötzmann to Lee Perry. This collusion was precipitated by Matt Jackowiak, a mutual friend, who thought a merging of their sounds might make for an ecstatic explosion. This feeling became mutual after they played a show together at Constellation. The set mixes Mako Sica tunes with improvisations that took everyone to places they hadn't expected, and the trip was deemed an utter success. Ronda was done at two sessions, scheduled around Hamid's insanely busy work schedule. The first was at Jamdek with Douglas Malone at the board, the second was at Electrical Audio with Taylor Hales. The Electrical session allowed the players access to a host of additional instruments, so the sonic palette on 'Dance With Waves' and 'Emanation' is wider and somehow more cosmic than usual. But the whole album has an extraordinary depth and width of sound. Even the great songs Mako Sica has had in its set for a while like 'The Old Book,' gain whole new levels of otherness here, and the material based in quartet improvisations, like 'The Wu Wei,' explores wild new territory for the band. Ronda (named after a town in southern Spain with a famous 18th Century bridge crossing a deep gorge) is the first span connecting the disparate musical worlds of Mako Sica and Hamid Drake. Let us hope it is but the first of many." --Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 500.
2 LP Set $30

DIAL With BILL NACE / JACQUI HAM / ROB SMITH / DOMINIC WEEKS - Noise Opera (Feeding Tube Records 373; USA) "We were first attuned to Dial by Bill Nace back in the early days of this century. He'd been sent over the moon by the incredible squall of the unit, a trio led by former UT-guitarist Jacqui Ham. We were so blown away by the re-emergence of Jacqui, we didn't even try to figure out who the other players were. But it turns out the other two dudes were Rob Smith, a most immaculate manipulator of drum dials and guitar feedback, and synth-pillager/bassist Dominic Weeks, who'd been in the most insane Rough Trade band of all times -- Furious Pig. This was news worth learning! Over the course of four CDs in 16 years, Dial managed to make a crazy amount of fully-braced guitar skronk, worthy of anyone you can name, without managing to get any of it onto that most durable of formats -- vinyl LP. Now. Finally. After more than a dozen years in the digital desert, Dial are being heard the way they were always meant to be heard. Noise Opera is an homage to Ornette Coleman's 1961 masterpiece, Free Jazz. The album consists of two side-long explorations of loud post-form guitar order and suggest different ways in which they can be organized, while remaining ecstatic throughout. The contours of the textures the quartet wrestle with in the dark halls of feedback and sheer skronk are incredible. Whole generations of New York post-form giants are referenced or destroyed in the course of Noise Opera. A statement as stunning as any you will hear this year." - Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 250.
LP $19

STEFAN NEVILLE & GREG MALCOLM - A Nuance (Feeding Tube Records 359; USA) "Stefan Neville is one of the busier beavers on the North island of New Zealand. Recording under his own name, as Pumice (or a variety of other soubriquets), running the Stabbies & the Rockets label, drumming for the Coolies and so on, he keeps his tail moving quickly so that it does not grow moss. Greg Malcolm is one of New Zealand's premier avant garde string-benders. He did a bit of band aktion with Jay Clarkson in Breathing Cage but has mostly hewed to stranger improv-based roads. He plays oddly crafted guitar-like instruments of all manners and has lots of great solo recordings as well as various ad hoc unit-spew and a duo record with Eugene Chadbourne. And NOW, at last, he has Nuance as well. For Nuance, Greg plays strings, tambourine, voice and 'things.' Stefan counters with drums, reed organ, tapes, throat, and synth. The material ranges from 'Prospectus' (one of Steve Lacy's great '80s compositions) to Joe Meek's 'Telstar' to 'Hora' and 'Serba' (Jewish wedding music by the Epstein Brothers) with various unexpected stops in between. Apart from Jenny Ward's second vocals on Daw Henson's 'I'm Crazy Over You' (an old Kentucky tune, originally recorded by Alan Lomax in '37), it's just Stefan and Greg here. And they shine in lots of weird ways. Greg's strings often have lots of overloaded vibrational qualities to the way they sustain notes ('though they know how to cluck like chickens, as well) and Stefan's work ranges from stark drumming in the Mississippi style to key drones that extend the fake bounds of infinity. The breadth of the material they tackle is almost insane, but they manage to infuse it with their own distinct personality traits, and unusually friendly experimental tactics. Hard to grasp? Sure. But it's just as hard to stop playing it. That's what we call real Nuance." - Byron Coley, 2018 Edition of 250.
LP $19

ROY HAYNES With FRANK STROZIER / RONNIE MATHEWS / LARRY RIDLEY - Cymbalism (Down at Dawn DAD 113; Italy) Down At Dawn present a reissue of Roy Haynes's Cymbalism, originally released in 1963. A very rare album by one of the master drummers in modern jazz. Recorded by the legendary Rudy Van Gelder in 1963, Cymbalism is among the albums that Roy Haynes provided for Prestige's New Jazz series. This session finds the drummer leading an acoustic quartet with Frank Strozier (alto sax, flute), Ronnie Mathews (piano), and Larry Ridley (bass). An unpredictable hard bop-post bop transition album bearing different colors and moods. From Charlie Parker's primary influence through some sort of Coltranish expanded sound. Without forgetting to mention a both unexpected and welcomed funky soul-jazz number as ending track. Edition of 300.
LP $18

CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE - Ttuunneesszz Duh Rruunneesszz (Blue TB7 Series)(Moog Recordings Library 103; UK) Charlemagne Palestine first started using electronic instruments in his music in the late 1960s. Palestine on the release: "Electronic instruments were very rare and exotic in the 1960s. There were Moogs around New York but they were only in universities who preciously guarded them from us young composers. So after all this time visiting The Moog Sound Lab is like a dream come true for me... to have so many oscillators all singing together is a truly beautiful experience. I am so glad I am still around and able to be making music I first dreamt of 50 years ago." These two releases come from Moog Recordings Library second UK lab session and is the first Charlemagne Palestine Moog Sound Lab. All electronic longform drone works from an archive of six recordings.
LP $22

CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE - Interrvallissphereee (Blue TB7 Series)(Moog Recordings Library 104; UK) Charlemagne Palestine first started using electronic instruments in his music in the late 1960s. Palestine on the release: "Electronic instruments were very rare and exotic in the 1960s. There were Moogs around New York but they were only in universities who preciously guarded them from us young composers. So after all this time visiting The Moog Sound Lab is like a dream come true for me... to have so many oscillators all singing together is a truly beautiful experience. I am so glad I am still around and able to be making music I first dreamt of 50 years ago." These two releases come from Moog Recordings Library second UK lab session and is the first Charlemagne Palestine Moog Sound Lab. All electronic longform drone works from an archive of six recordings.
LP $22

EKUKA MORRIS SIRIKITI - Ekuka (Nyege Nyege Tapes 007; Uganda) Ekuka is a mesmerizing survey of Ekuka Morris Sirikiti's thumb piano performances broadcast on radio stations in North Uganda between 1978-2003. All previously unheard beyond the stations' range of transmission, Hailing from the Langi tribe of Lira, Northern Uganda, legendary local griot Ekuka Morris Sirikiti performs his music in various situations -- festivities, market days, and other gatherings -- on a homemade foot/drum contraption coupled with the Lukeme; a small, handheld thumb piano that produces flurries of metallic rhythm-melody under deft digits, and is maybe best known as an Mbira in its heavily distorted use by the Democratic Republic of Congo's amazing Konono Nº1, as well as myriad other recordings from the vast Central and East African region. Entirely comprising home recordings of the original radio broadcasts made on various devices, the music on Ekuka is understandably distorted to differing degrees, resulting in a broad spectrum of fidelities that are both unavoidable and inherent to the music, its reception, and its perception by those who didn't catch the broadcast as it happened. The 12 songs selected zig-zag across the timeline 1978-2003, with an alternating patina of ferric noise that camouflages their chronology -- it's difficult and unnecessary to discern their recording dates, as the songs serve a timeless social purpose, from everyday reminders to be a good husband; take your kids to school; and don't disturb the wife of your son; to Government commissioned warnings about venereal diseases, drinking alcohol, and paying taxes. Considering this all took place against the backdrop of tribal warfare and cattle raids by rebels, the raucous laughter on "In Boloney For Ayinet" demonstrates the humor and pathos behind the songs in a way that may literally escape listeners elsewhere. And in that context Ekuka is quite unlike most other vintage recordings which resurface outside of Africa beyond, say, Honest Jon's Something Is Wrong and Bellyachers, Listen (HJR 050-1LP) sets, which admittedly document a much earlier period circa 1938-1957, but were also selected from recordings not specifically or even vaguely conceived for the international market. As with Nyege Nyege Tapes' previous dispatches from modern day Tanzania, Uganda, and Kenya, Ekuka provides a genuinely street-level, unfiltered perspective on unfathomably long-rooted traditions in a way that sounds incredibly fresh, unfamiliar, and hugely interesting to keen ears. Master by Matt Colton at Alchemy.
2 LP Set $30

JAMES BROWN AND THE FAMOUS FLAMES - Think! (Wax Love WLV 82090; Italy) Wax Love present a reissue of Think, the third studio album from James Brown and The Famous Flames, originally released in 1960 on King Records. Although the title track was a cover of The 5 Royales, it's guaranteed that James Brown is the artist now most associated with the song. This is absolutely essential early R&B from the godfather himself, "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business".
LP $17

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Bruce Lee Gallanter’s Recommended Gig List for August of 2018:

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - NICOLE MITCHELL - AUG 7–11

8/10 Friday
8:30 pm - Nicole Mitchell (flute) and Robert Dick (flute)

8/11 Saturday
8:30 pm - Xenogenesis Suite: A Tribute to Octavia Butler - Fay Victor (vocals) Darius Jones (tenor sax) Ken Filiano (bass) Angelica Sanchez (piano) Marika Hughes (cello) Pheeroan Aklaff (drums) Nicole Mitchell (flute)

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - JULIAN LAGE - AUG 14–18

8/14 Tuesday
8:30 pm - Duo with Mary Halvorson
Julian Lage (guitar) Mary Halvorson (guitar)

8/15 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Rude Ruth w/ Margaret Glaspy
Julian Lage (guitar) Margaret Glaspy (voice)

8/16 Thursday
8:30 pm - Trio with Jorge Roeder and Dave King
Julian Lage (guitar) Jorge Roeder (bass) Dave King (drums)

8/17 Friday
8:30 pm - QUARTET with Julian Lage (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass), John Zorn (sax) & Dave King (drums) Improvisations and a few Masada tunes!

8/18 Saturday
8:30 pm - Trio with Kris Davis and Dave King
Julian Lage (guitar) Kris Davis (piano) Dave King (drums)

THE (NEW) STONE is located in The New School’s Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th street - near 6th ave
All Sets at The New Stone start at 8:30pm Tickets: $20
There are no refreshments or merchandise at The Stone.
Only music. All ages are welcome. Cash Only at the door.
A serious listening environment.
The Stone is booked purely on a curatorial basis

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The CORNELIA STREET CAFE - 212-989-9319
29 Cornelia St in the heart of the West Greenwich Village, NYC

Friday, Aug 10:
6:00PM JUANMA TRUJILLO QUARTET LIVE - Juanma Trujillo, guitar; Kevin Sun, saxophone; Andrew Schiller, bass; Matt Honor, drums
8:35PM GUITAR FESTIVAL: BEN MONDER QUARTET - Ben Monder, guitar; Chris Cheek, tenor sax; Carmen Rothwell, bass; Mark Ferber, drums

Saturday Aug 11
8:35PM GUITAR FESTIVAL: GILAD HEKSELMAN, CECILE MCLORIN SALVANT DUO
Gilad Hekselman, guitar; Cecile McLorin Salvant, voice

Sunday Aug 12
6:00PM TAMUZ NISSIM & GEORGE NAZOS - Tamuz Nissim, vocals, piano; George Nazos, guitar
8:01PM BASS FESTIVAL: MATT ARONOFF QUARTET - Jason Rigby, tenor sax; Carmen Staaf, piano; Matt Aronoff, bass; Daniel Dor, drums

Mon Aug 13th:
8:01PM BASS FESTIVAL: NOAM WIESENBERG QUARTET - Noam Wiesenberg, bass; Shai Maestro, piano; Joel Ross, vibraphone; Jeremy Dutton, drums

Tuesday Aug 14
8:01PM BASS FESTIVAL: PETER SLAVOV - Peter Slavov, bass

Wed Aug 15th:
6:00PM ROOT SYSTEMS - Daniel Carter, horns; Michael Bisio, bass; Eric Plaks, piano; Jon Panikkar, drums
8:00PM NICK BIELLO QUINTET - Nick Biello, saxophone; Josh Lawrence, trumpet; Mark Meadows, piano; Alex Tremblay, bass; Jake Robinson, drums
9:30PM FLORIAN HERZOG - SPLINTER - Jeremy Viner, tenor sax; Dierk Peters, vibraphone; Florian Herzog, bass; Raf Vertessen, drums

Thursday Aug 16
6:00PM THE JOE PINO ORGAN TRIO - Joe Pino, trumpet/flugelhorn; Ryan Slatko, organ; Jeff Krol, drums
8:00PM PERCUSSION FESTIVAL: JOHN HADFIELD, NITAI HERSHKOVITS - John Hadfield, percussion; Nitai Hershkovits, piano
9:30PM PERCUSSION FESTIVAL: THE GATHERING - Rogerio Boccato, percussion; John Hadfield, percussion; Matt Kilmer, percussion; Phillip Mayer, percussion; Keita Ogawa , percussion; James Shipp, percussion

Friday Aug 17
6:00PM NICK BRUST QUINTET - Nick Brust, sax; Katya Dreyer-Oren, vocals; Julian Shore, piano; Josh Allen, bass; Jay Sawyer, drums
8:35PM PERCUSSION FESTIVAL: JAMEY HADDAD - Billy Drewes, sax, flute; Biodun Kuti, guitar, voice; Bakithi Kumalo, bass; Jamey Haddad, percussion

Saturday Aug 18
6:00PM MUSIC OF MEMPHIS PROJECT - Bill Mobley, trumpet; Scott Reeves, trombone; Tim Armacost, sax; Roberta Piket, piano; Todd Coolman, bass; Eric Reeves, drums
8:35PM PERCUSSION FESTIVAL: GLEN VELEZ & HANDANCE - Glen Velez, percussion; Shane Shanahan, percussion; John Hadfield, percussion; Loire Cotler, vocal

Sunday Aug 19
6:00PM QUEENS WITHOUT BOUNDARIES: A RECITAL - John Tibbetts, baritone; Allison Gish, mezzo-soprano; Felix Jarrar, piano/composition

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I-Beam Presents:

Friday, August 17th 8:30 PM
The Out Louds
Tomas Fujiwara – Drums
Ben Goldberg – Clarinet
Mary Halvorson – Guitar

Saturday, August 18th 9:00 PM
Novoa / Noriega / Gress / Rainey
Oscar Noriega, alto saxophone
Eva Novoa, piano
Drew Gress, bass
Tom Rainey, drums

Friday, August 24th 8:00 PM
Innocent When You Dream & Weird Turn Pro
8:00 pm - Innocent When You Dream
Aaron Shragge – dragon mouth trumpet/shakuhachi
Ryan Anselmi -tenor sax
Nico Soffiato -guitar
Alexi David -bass
Deric Dickens -drums
9:30pm - Weird Turn Pro
Chris Klaxton – trumpet
Matt Langley – bass clarinet
Chris Gagne – trombone
Mike Effenberger- piano
Rob Gerry – bass
Mike Walsh – percussion

I-Beam is located at 168 7th Street in Brooklyn, NY 11215 - Directions: SUBWAY: Take the F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street. Walk down 4th ave to 7th street. Make a left on 7th and walk past 3rd ave. We are located on the ground floor, the grey doors to the right of the stairs of #168.

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The Bushwick Improvised Music Series

Continues on August 13th @ Bushwick Public House!

Monday July 23rd

7pm Gustavo Obligado - alto saxophone 
Andrew Drury - drums

8pm Stephen Gauci - tenor sax & 
Sandy Ewen - guitar/electronics, 
Adam Lane - bass
Kevin Shea - drums

9pm Briggan Krauss - guitar 
J. Granelli - bass 
Mike Sarin - drums

9:45pm Mike Pride - drums
 Mick Barr - guitar 
Chuck Bettis - electronics/throat
 Johnny Deblase - bass
10:45pm Marc Edwards - drums 
Ernest Anderson III - guitar
 Takuma Kanaiwa - guitar 
Colin Sanderson - guitar
 David Tamura - tenor saxophone
 Ayumi Ishito - tenor saxophone

11:30pm  Aaron Edgcomb - drums
 Chris Williams - trumpet/efx
 Ben Finley - bass
 Keisuke Matsuno - guitar

Downstairs @ Bushwick Public House
1288 Myrtle Avenue , Bushwick
(Across the street from M train Central Ave stop)
bushwickpublichouse.com/ gaucimusic.com

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THE SUN RA ARKESTRA INTERGALACTIC TOUR CONTINUES ON EARTH HERE:

Friday, August 10, 2018 - Internationales Sommerfestival 2018, Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany - Show 10:00 pm

Saturday, August 11, 2018 - Festsaal Kreuzberg, Am Flutgraben 2, Berlin, Germany - Doors 7:00 pm & Show 8:00 pm

Sunday, August 12, 2018 - Zomerparkfeest Venlo, The Netherlands - Zelt Stage 9:15 pm & Teatro Maaspoort 12:45 am

Monday, August 13, 2018 - Bla, Oslo, Norway - Show 7:00 pm

Tuesday, August 14, 2018 - Bla, Oslo, Norway - Show 7:00 pm

Wednesday, August 15, 2018 - Bla, Oslo, Norway - Show 7:00 pm

Thursday, August 16, 2018 - Union Chapel, Compton Terrace, London, England - Doors 7:00 pm & Show 8:00 pm

Saturday, September 8, 2018 - Pennovation Center, 3401 Grays Ferry Ave., Philadelphia, PA - Free show 6:00 pm

Tuesday, October 16, 2018 - Music Box, 1148 Main Ave., Cleveland, OH - Doors 5:30 pm & Show 7:30 pm

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 - El Club, 4114 Vernor Hwy, Detroit, MI - Show 8:00 pm

Thursday, October 25, 2018 - Rhodes College, 2000 North Parkway, Memphis, TN - Showtime TBA

Wednesday, October 31, 2018 - Philadelphia, PA - Venue & Showtime TBA

The Sun Ra Arkestra Directed by Marshall Allen has four CD recordings. Two are El Ra Records releases "A Song for the Sun" and "Music for the 21st Century" and the other two are In Out Record label releases "Live at the Paradox" and "Babylon Live".

For additional information about Sun Ra Arkestra Directed by Marshall Allen performances, including venue weblinks, please click on the "Tourdates" tab of the Sun Ra Arkestra website. Booking information for the Sun Ra Arkestra Directed by Marshall Allen is available by clicking on the "Info" tab of the Sun Ra Arkestra website, which is located at: www.sunraarkestra.com