DMG Newsletter for Friday, September 21st, 2018

“The Nine Funerals of the Citizen King”

Down beneath the spectacle of free
No one ever let you see
The Citizen King
Ruling the fantastic architecture of the burning cities
Where we buy and sell
That the Snark was a Boojum all can tell
But a rose is a rose is a rose
Said the Mama of Dada as long ago as 1919

You make arrangements with the guard
Halfway round the exercise yard
To sugar the pill
Disguising the enormous double-time the king pays to Wordsworth
More than you or I could reasonably forfeit to buy...
Double-time the king pays to Wordsworth
More than you or I could reasonably buy...
If we live (we live) to tread on dead kings
Or else we'll work to live to buy the things we multiply
Until they fill the ordered universe

Down beneath the spectacle of free
No one ever let you see
The Citizen King
Ruling the fantastic architecture of the burning cities
Where we buy and sell
That the Snark was a Boojum all can tell
But a rose is a rose is a rose
Said the Mama of Dada as long ago as 1919…” - Tim Hodgkinson, Henry Cow, 1973

Above are the words to “The Nine Funerals of the Citizen King”, from the first album by Henry Cow, ‘Leg End’, released in 1973. This is the last song on this album and the only song with singing on the first two Henry Cow albums. The words and music to this song have long haunted me and I have continued to ponder them for 45 years. I am interested in what you think those words are about. I do know that the "Mama of Dada" was Gertrude Stein.
   I have long maintained that my three favorite (progressive) bands of all time are: the Mothers of Invention (1966-1969), Soft Machine (1968-1975) and Henry Cow (1973-1979). I have been fortunate to have become friends with several members of Soft Machine and Henry Cow, throughout the many years. I bring this up for a couple of reasons. Aside from the period when Fred Frith lived in New York (1980-1993), the former members of Henry Cow come to NYC on rare occasion. It is true the Peter Blegvad (previously with Slapp Happy) did live and play here quite a bit in the 1980’s and that Chris Cutler (drummer & lyricist for Henry Cow, the Art Bears & News for Babel) has played here from time to time. Tim Hodgkinson however, who played sax & keyboards with Henry Cow, rarely makes his way to NY. In the next week, Mr. Hodgkinson will perform twice in NY (Brooklyn actually), so do not miss this rare opportunity to hear him live, he is a master musician/improviser! here are those sets:

KONK PACK featuring TIM HODGKINSON on lap-steel guitar & clarinet, THOMAS LEHN on analog synth and ROGER TURNER on drums will play at Roulette (in Brooklyn) next Monday, September 24th at 8pm - //roulette.org/calendar/ 

CHRIS COCHRANE (guitar) and TIM HODGKINSON (lap steel & clarinet) will play at Spectrum - next Tuesday, September 25th at 7pm - 70 Flushing Ave, Garage A in Brooklyn directly across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard - www.spectrumnyc.com

The latest disc from the FRED FRITH TRIO has just been released and is listed near the top of this newsletter (just below). Plus we are having an ongoing FRED FRITH CD sale, which is listed further down…

SOFT MACHINE are currently on tour in the US and haven’t played here since 1975! They will be playing at the Iridium in NYC for three nights next month: October 12th - 14th! Check out: theiridium.com/event/soft-machine-50th-anniversary-usa-tour-2018-live

********

Let’s Rejoice and Check Out New Music from Our Local and International Heroes:

Brian Marsella Trio Play the Legendary Hassan! Two on Intakt: Fred Frith Trio & Ken Vandermark / Sylvie Courvoisier / Nate Wooley / Tom Rainey! 3rd from Endangered Blood: Chris Speed / Oscar Noreiga / Trevor Dunn / Jim Black! Marilyn Crispell / Joe Fonda / Harvey Sorgen! Travis LaPlante & Gerald Cleaver! Arve Henriksen! 3 from Rez Abbasi!

577 Records: Donny McKenzie Duos: Elliott Sharp/Bill Laswell/Vernon Reid & Listening Group w/ Daniel Carter! Historic Discs from John Coltrane Meets Other Tenor Titans! Stella Chiweshe! Masonna! Herman Nitsch! Konstruktivist! Sonic’s Rendezvous Band! Os Mutantes! Philip Jeck! And the Fabulous Fred Frith CD Sale Continues..!    

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

 Sunday, September 23rd:
6pm: TEAM PLAYERS QUARTET: BRAD LINDE / BILLY WOLFE / AARON QUINN /
         DERIC DICKENS - Two Saxes / Guitar / Drums
7pm: DEVIN BRAHJA WALDMAN and DEVIN GRAY - Sax and Drums

 Sunday, September 30th:
6pm: HANS TAMMEN and CHRISTOPH IRMER - Buchla Synth and Violin
7pm: LIOR MILLIGER / HILLIARD GREENE / JOE HERTENSTEIN - Sax / Bass / Drums

 Sunday, October 7th:
6pm: SHANE PARISH & FRANK MEADOWS - Guitar & ContraBass
7pm: JESSE DULMAN QT: RAS MOSHE / DAVE SEWELSON / LEONID GALAGANOV

Sunday, October 14th:
6pm: SEAN ALI / MICHAEL FOSTER / DEVIN GRAY - ContraBass / Saxes / Drums
7pm: LEONOR FALCON / SANA NAGANO - String Duo
8pm: GUILLERMO GREGORIO and FRIENDS

 Sunday, October 21st:
6pm: HANNA SCHöRKEN - Solo Experimental Vocalist from Cologne!
7pm: DAVE SEWELSON QUARTET - FMR CD Release Set!

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. You can check the weekly in-store sets through our Instagram feed

*****************

Starting Off with an Amazing Avant/Jazz Piano Trio Tribute:

BRAIN MARSELLA TRIO With CHRISTIAN McBRIDE / ANWAR MARSHALL - Outspoken--The Music Of The Legendary Hasaan (Tzadik 4026; USA) This remarkable project features three Philadelphia musicians paying tribute to one of Philly’s most enigmatic and important musical visionaries—The Legendary Hasaan. Hasaan Ibn Ali was born in 1931 and made only one commercial release in his lifetime which has of course become a cult classic. Combining the craggly dissonances of Monk with the spidery lines of Elmo Hope, and the muscular intensity of Cecil Taylor, his music and theories were a huge influence on Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, and countless others. Here Brian Marsella, Christian McBride, and Anwar Marshall interpret the quirky compositions of this obscure musical master with a deep respect and a fresh imaginative voice. Includes an unrecorded Hasaan original and a tribute piece by Brian Marsella.
   John Zorn seems to attract and inspire great pianists & keyboard wizards, a number of whom have been playing his vast catalogue of songs: Jamie Saft, Sylvie Courvoisier, John Medeski, Kris Davis, Craig Taborn and most recently Brian Marsella. On several occasions, I’ve heard Mr. Marsella playing Zorn’s Masada songs and Bagatelles, and have been floored by his playing. For this disc, Mr. Marsella, plays the music of the legendary but under-recognized Philly jazz pianist Hassan Ibn Ali. All three members of this trio are also from Philly and they do a phenomenal job of interpreting and expanding this music. This is one of the finest piano trio dates I’ve heard in a long while. - BLG 
CD $14

Two Treasures from the Intakt Label:

* FRED FRITH TRIO With JASON HOOPES / JORDAN GLENN - Closer to the Ground (Intakt 312; Switzerland) Featuring Fred Frith on electric guitar & organ, Jason Hoopes on electric & acoustic bass and Jordan Glenn on drums & percussion. This is the second disc from the Fred Frith Trio and it was recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA, which is where this group is based. Ever since organizing the ‘Gravity Project’ a few years back with members of the Bay Area creative music scene, experimental guitarist & composer Fred Frith has continued to work with the same rhythm team, Jason Hoopes and Jordan Glenn. Mr. Hoopes and Mr. Glenn are also members of the great but under-recognized Bay Area progressive band, Jack O’ the Clock (6 discs) and as well as with Kyle Bruckmann. The Fred Frith Trio has played in NY, as well as toured in Europe, their sound has evolved quite a bit since their last recording in the summer of 2016. Starting off with a splash of percussion, the trio create a dreamy sound with floating drones, spacious echoed guitar fragment over a subtle, somber groove… sort of space rock at its best. Each member of the trio gets a chance to lead or direct certain pieces. Hence these pieces evolve and flow in a most organic way, sailing out out of free space and into (what sounds like) more charted territories. What continues to surprise me is when everything comes together and the trio takes off, all of us gliding or rocking together, a joyous release from the the everyday world. Out of nowhere we are transported to another place. At one point we land in a tribal, throbbing dance like groove (“A Path Made by Walking”), it felt like a breath of fresh cool air, after a day of of simmering humidity. When I had this disc on the stereo yesterday (9/18/18), there was a family in the store looking through some vinyl. The son seemed to dig this CD and asked what it was, so I said the Fred Frith Trio. What kind of music is this, he asked. Good question I said, perhaps ‘avant rock’? Hmmmmm. The music seemed to create its own magical, transcendent world and was recognized as something special. Indeed it was and still is. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG     
CD $18

* FRED FRITH CD SALE Continues and is listed below…

KEN VANDERMARK / NATE WOOLEY / SYLVIE COURVOISIER / TOM RAINEY - Noise of Our Time (Intakt 310; Switzerland) Featuring Ken Vandermark on tenor sax & clarinet, Nate Wooley on trumpet, Sylvie Courvoisier on piano and Tom Rainey on drums. It was during a six night residency at The Old Stone that Ken Vandermark assembled this quartet to play for the first time. Instead of doing a totally improvised set, like most (all?) of the sets during Vandermark’s residency, each of the four members here each brought three compositions of their own into a cosy studio in Mount Vernon, NY. Each member of the quartet is connected through different previous groups/situations. Mr. Vandermark and Mr. Wooley have toured and recorded (two CD’s) as a duo, hence their bond is strong. Mr. Wooley and Ms. Courvoisier have a fine trio CD on Relative Pitch plus both are members of Mr. Wooley’s ongoing ‘Battle Pieces’ ensemble. The ever amazing and in-demand drummer, Tom Rainey, keeps pretty busy working with many of Downtown’s finest: Including with Ms. Courvoisier in Herb Robertson’s Downtown Allstars.
   What is most interesting about this disc is how diverse it is, each of the three composers have chosen pieces to push the quartet into different strategical areas. Sylvie’s “Checkpoint” has the tenor and trumpet both playing intense, rambunctious solos while the piano & drums both play these tight, jagged lines together. Vandermark’s “Track and Field” starts off with a drone-line while Ms. Courvoisier rubs the strings inside the piano, creating some controlled chaos with the tenor, trumpet and piano all erupting together, the drums deliberately adding elements of suspense and punctuation simultaneously. What also works well is when certain duos take off, like the tenor & drums and trumpet & drums and Sylvie adds quick, burning lines of her own pushing the temperature to boiling point time and again. There are a few pieces that I dig but haven’t figured out how they work as it will take some time and must listen to these pieces several times. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG       
CD $18


ENDANGERED BLOOD With CHRIS SPEED / OSCAR NOREIGA / TREVOR DUNN / JIM BLACK - Don’t Freak Out! (Skirl 043; USA) This is the third disc from Endangered Blood, an all-star quartet on the Skirl label. The personnel remains: Chris Speed on tenor sax & compositions, Oscar Noreiga on alto sax & compositions, Trevor Dunn on bass and Jim Black on drums. Although this quartet have been around for around a decade, their connections go back much further. Longtime cohorts, Mr. Speed and Mr. Black were both members of Tim Bern’e great Bloodcount group who reigned in the early nineties. Reeds wiz, Oscar Noreiga, is a current member of Tim Berne’s Snakeoil, another fine Downtown all-star unit. Ever-ready and in-demand bassist Trevor Dunn is all over the place, from Mr. Bungle to Electric Masada to Curtis Hasselbring’s New Mellow Edwards which also includes Mr. Speed.
   I love the title, “Passion Fruit Birthday Cake”, which opens this disc. There is something infectious about the melody here, rather like “St. Thomas” by Sonny Rollins. Joyous, jubilant and laid back. As time goes on, I’ve noticed that Chris Speed’s tone has grown more mellow, rather dream-like. “Koreana” is especially somber as if we are all walking in slow motion, not about to raise the pulse or spirits too much. On “Easy Blues”, the two saxes play the theme together in lovely slow burning harmonies while the rhythm team kick up some dust by accelerating here and there. I like the way Mr. Speed spins out those lines on “Varmints”, both he and Mr. Black are completely in sync, speeding up to a frenetic pace without breaking a sweat, eventually slowing down to a simmer. There is something most enchanting about, “Waiting for Marni”, as both saxes swirl around one another in a elegant, haunting way, weaving their ever so quick lines quietly. It sounds as if this is coming from the more cerebral side of West Coast jazz… has Chris Speed’s move to LA perhaps effected him in ways which sound obvious or am I reading into things too much?!? There is something lovely going on here, possibly a more mature attitude, instead of the nervous, neurotic energy that is at the center of many Downtown bands. On the next to the last piece, ”Diego Partido”, both saxes cut loose as does the great rhythm team. It is a marvel of quick, cascading lines that just keep spinning profusely throughout! What this piece reminds me of the most is: Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, at their best. No easy feet I assure you. This disc ends with hushed, touching ballad, which would fit on a Duke Ellington album with any number of suave saxists like Johnny Hodges or Paul Gonzalves. Is this romantic music? It does feels so fine. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG          
CD $14


HARVEY SORGEN / JOE FONDA / MARILYN CRISPELL - Dreamstruck (Not Two 977; Poland) Featuring Marilyn Crispell on piano, Joe Fonda on contrabass and Harvey Sorgen on drums. It has been a while since we’ve heard something new from the great pianist, Marilyn Crispell. Since the turn of the millennium, she has recorded infrequently, perhaps a dozen discs in the last decade plus. She has ongoing collaborations with a handful of others: Gerry Hemingway, Tisziji Munoz and most famously the Anthony Braxton Quartet of the eighties and nineties. This is a cooperative trio in which Mr. Fonda wrote a couple of songs, with a could of covers from Paul Motian and Bob Windbeil, The rhythm team here, Joe Fonda & Harvey Sorgen have been playing together for several decades, mostly with the Fonda/ Stevens Group, who have worked with Dave Douglas & Mark Feldman.
   Six of the ten pieces are group improvs, yet all ten pieces fit together just right. The opening track, “My Song”, by Mr. Fonda is exquisite, superbly recorded and most haunting. It casts a wonderful, mysterious spell, a great way for things to begin. The improv pieces are equally magical, filled with suspense, from subtle nuance to the occasional eruptions. The ebb and flow of ocean currents, is at the center of their sound. The trio are seasoned pros who sound like they’ve been playing together for many years, although this is their first encounter. Considering that Mr. Fonda and Mr. Sorgen have been working with pianist Michael Jefry Stevens for so long, they are the perfect team to collaborate with the ever dynamic Ms. Crispell. The results are often incredible, a unified force of nature, soaring as one spirit, explosive at times and cerebral in other parts. In the last section of this disc, Mr. Fonda takes an extraordinary bass solo/duo with the drummer which must be heard to be believed! Along the recent Brian Marsella tribute the Legendary Hassan (on Tzadik), this is one of the finest piano trio efforts I’ve heard so far this year! It doesn’t get any better than this! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG  
CD $16


SUBTLE DEGREES With TRAVIS LaPLANTE / GERALD CLEAVER - A Dance That Empties (New Amsterdam 093; USA) “A Dance That Empties is the culmination of a very long musical relationship. In 2001, when he was only 18 years old, Laplante played a concert at New York’s Knitting Factory, then a pre-eminent mecca for adventurous music of all kinds. Cleaver was in the audience, and came up to Laplante afterwards, handed him his phone number and said they should play together sometime. They soon did. The two have performed together various times over the ensuing 17 years, but Laplante never felt he was quite ready to record with Cleaver. “It got to the point where I took a multiple-year break from playing with him because I felt like I didn’t have enough to bring to the table,” says Laplante. “I needed to practice so I could have more to give to our musical relationship.” Then, in the fall of 2016, Laplante received a commission to compose a piece to be performed at Roulette in Brooklyn the following spring. “I knew that this was the perfect opportunity to return to this relationship with Gerald.” And so Laplante began composing an epic-scale work with Cleaver’s rhythmic virtuosity in mind. Inspired by the longer forms of spiritual ceremonies, A Dance That Empties is a continuous journey that unfolds over 43 minutes, with musical motifs that foreshadow, recur, and evolve.”
CD $14


KAMMERFLIMMER KOLLEKTIEF - There Are Actions Which We Have Neglected And Which Never Cease To Call Us (Bureau B 304; Germany) After twenty years of Kammerflimmer Kollektief, with ten albums thus far, the Karlsruhe combo here guide their listeners through seven pieces in which a listening space emerges at the intersection of improvisation and composition, a space where certitude slips out of reach, oscillating furiously between cut-up and palimpsest before it disappears altogether. There Are Actions Which We Have Neglected And Which Never Cease To Call Us is one for the fearless, wordlessly conjuring up enchanted places in the richest of tones, simultaneously confronting its listeners with magic which captivates, and the realization that they may never be released from its spell. Mirror images come into view, images of ourselves driven away, tormented by feelings of guilt, frozen in powerlessness, even when you believe you are still moving. The wetlands of the Upper Rhine plain, Cuernavaca in the Mexican highlands, a southern California stretch of Pacific coast, the Baltic Coast in Mecklenburg; haunted places, scenes of melancholy, repeatedly searching for acts of liberation. This may not be the record to set you free, but it offers a soundtrack for a melancholic state. One thing is clear when it comes to the Kammerflimmer Kollektief: regardless of any interpretive traps snapping shut, here is something which cannot be voiced; whichever labels are stuck on the Karlsruhe collective, they all feel patently unsatisfactory. Like all music, their music can neither be narrowed down to concepts nor fixed semantically. It cannot be organized as language, yet it is no more pre-conceptual in its existence. These carefully unconsidered atheist jam supplications lead you into the darkest corners of your souls, out of the night and into the night. The bass of Johannes Frisch creaks and hums, evolving into barely discernible undergrowth with a life of its own, yet becoming the foundation of everything, a basso continuo, constantly leading into nothingness. Heike Aumüller's harmonium is elementally a wind which has much to tell us about life, but even more about what tortures us, leaves you restless, while Thomas Weber's whirring guitars and gadgets drag us into a wondrously reverberating space of special effects. Amidst all the excitement which awaits you on this short journey, it is worth remembering that as the shaman hangs out his magic roots to dry in the morning as preparation for the ritual ecstasy of the evening, so the Kollektief follow an everyday principle in their own ritual.
CD $17


ARVE HENRIKSEN - The Height Of The Reeds (Rune Grammofon 2201; Norway) The Height Of The Reeds started as a commissioned work to the city of Hull, Great Britain´s cultural capital 2017. Composed by Arve Henriksen, Eivind Aarset and Jan Bang, the work celebrates the longstanding seafaring relationship between Hull and Scandinavia. It was originally the musical companion to a sound walk that took place in April, May and June 2017. Those who took part could listen to the music on headphones while crossing the Humber Bridge. Initially intended for April only, the arrangement proved so popular it ended up selling out three months. Only minor adjustments have been done to justify the transition from sound walk to album. Other than Henriksen, Aarset and Bang, the work includes important contributions from Hull sound artist Jez Riley French, providing field recordings from the bridge itself: the river below, the noise of engines, the creaking of steel wires, wheels against asphalt and the song of the reeds in the wind. Opera North´s choir and orchestra provides the necessary musical space for the soloists, and two actors and a child read from translated poems by Norwegian poet Nils Christian Moe-Repstad.
CD $16

The two best Jazz Guitar CDs this month Feature: REZ ABBASI and MICHAEL MUSILLAMI!
Mr. Abbasi just left us with his three latest discs, all are great!

REZ ABBASI With VIJAY IYER / RUDRESH MAHANTHAPPA / ELIZABETH MIKHAEL / JOHANNES WEIDENMUELLER / DAN WEISS - Unfiltered Universe (Whirlwind 713; USA) “Rez Abbasi was born in Karachi, Pakistan but at the age of four his family moved to Los Angeles and at eleven he started learning guitar. Whilst there are undoubtedly some South Asian influences in his compositions, these are generally incidental or to be found "under the radar" as Abbasi himself puts it. In any case the music surely transcends geographical boundaries. With a brace of ten albums to his name, this is Abbasi's follow-up to 2016's Behind The Vibration but is also the third in a trilogy he started to record with his group Invocation in 2008.
   The opener "Propensity" does admittedly display some passing South Asian influences in its opening statement, and hot on the heels of Rudresh Mahanthappa's frenetic alto solo, Abassi solos with breathtaking glissando runs. The title track, augmented by Elizabeth Mikhael on cello, is perhaps the nearest this album gets to the generally perceived notion of chamber jazz, but even here it defies that generic description. The album was actually commissioned by Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Suffice it to say both organizations got their money's worth and more besides.
   The short "Thoughts" constitutes a solo pyrotechnic display from Abbasi, his guitar notably enhanced by synth-like electronic effects. "Thin-King" has a mesmeric off-kilter rhythm which propels the piece along and a keen pizzicato bass solo from Johannes Weidenmueller. "Turn Of Events" the longest track on the album at nearly twelve minutes, subtly builds the tension, embellished by legato cello notes, achieving a release with a cascade of notes, only to die down to its pastoral opening and finally resolving in a short ensemble coda. The frenetic paced "Disagree To Agree" benefits from a fine staccato piano solo from Vijay Iyer and Mahanthappa and Abbasi compete in the coruscating stakes, making it compulsive listening as the guitarist takes his instrument to new places ripe for exploration.
   The closer, "Dance Number" begins with a vaguely Eastern head but rapidly transmutes into a groove-laden piece dominated by Abbasi's strident and fluid guitar and subsequently by Mahanthappa's florid alto and Iyer's lustrous piano. An imaginative composer and guitarist of considerable virtuosity, plus an ensemble of immense talent, are all factors that make this high calibre album, imbued with unfettered vigour and intrigue, a most satisfying affair.” - Roger Farbey, AllAboutJazz       
CD $15

Back in stock, two other Great Discs from Jazz Guitar Hero REZ ABBASI:

REZ ABBASI With BILL WARE/STEPHAN CRUMP/ERIC McPHERSON - Intents And Purposes (Enja 9621; Germany) Featuring Rez Abbasi on steel string, fretless & baritone acoustic guitars, Bill Ware on vibes, Stephan Crump on acoustic bass and Eric McPherson on drums. The concept here is playing acoustic interpretations of 70's jazz-rock (or fusion) classics. Mr. Abbasi selectively chose covers by Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), Herbie Hancock (Headhunters), Pat Martino, Chick Corea (Return to Forever), John McLaughlin & Billy Cobham (both from Mahavishnu Orchestra), Larry Coryell (11th House) and Tony Williams (Lifetime). When I first discovered and explored jazz (circa 1972), bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and the 11th House, were my entry point. This was an exciting time for me and anyone else who could appreciate this music while it was being written and played live to often large audiences. Sadly, just a few years later, fusion turned into a more commercial, speed & ego driven beast that turned off many of its more selective (well-weathered) listeners. What Mr. Abbasi has done here is to show that the heart or melody of many of these songs were still worth checking out or redoing, even if the original bands were trying to sell out (aka sound more commercial). Mr. Abbasi has also chosen a strong quartet: Bill Ware on vibes (from Lounge Lizards), Stephan Crump (for Vijay Iyer & duo with Mary Halvorson) and Eric McPherson (Steve Lehman, Lucian Ban & others). Without the often dreaded synth or wanky electric guitar solos, those melodies do ring true. Abbasi plays a fretless guitar on Hancock's "Butterfly" which gives it a more sitar-like tone and takes an exquisite solo. The interplay between the guitar and vibes is consistently spirited and inventive as is the rhythm team support. One thing about some/much of the fusion music from this period is that it was often complex and difficult to play. This quartet take on a few of these more challenging works like John McLaughlin's "Resolution", which does push the quartet into more treacherous rapids. It is true that a few of the melodies here are on the more cheerful side but for me it is a good way to balance the darker, more intense discs that I review day in and day out! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

REZ ABBASI & JUNCTION [With MARK SHIM / BEN STIVERS / KENNY GROHOWSKY] - Behind the Vibration (Cuneiform 424; USA) “A junction is the point at which several things converge. For the visionary and award-winning jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi, his new band Junction weaves together musical currents he’s spent his career navigating. Abbasi has been at the center of some of the most enthralling and culturally expansive music of the past two decades, and Behind the Vibration introduces a bracing new body of music, a sinewy 21st century approach to jazz-rock inspired by his far-flung influences. “Everything I do musically is stimulated by call and response,” Abbasi says. “The new album reflects a continuum of what I’ve been doing all along – finding fresh orchestrations to present my music through. In some ways this project connects me more directly back to my first love, the energy that comes out of rock music.” Junction is a supremely mallable ensemble that has forged a poised and texturally acute group approach. While exploring a vivid palette of electronic sounds and aggressive grooves, Junction maintains the dynamics, precise calibration, and interactive imperative of an inspired jazz ‘acoustic’ combo. This is exciting, electrifying (and electric) music. “
CD $14

JOHN COLTRANE With JOHNNY GRIFFIN / HANK MOBLEY / SONNY ROLLINS / FRANK WESS / COLEMAN HAWKINS / AL COHN / ZOOT SIMS / KENNY BURRELL /et al - Trane Meets the Tenors (Acrobat 7128; UK) During 1956 and 1957 the new star tenor with the controversial Miles Davis Quintet, John Coltrane, racked up an impressive number of sideman appearances on sessions recorded at the legendary Van Gelder studios in New Jersey, taking his place in the rotating stock-company of players favoured by the Prestige and Blue Note labels. Released under various leaders' names, and often derided by critics as mere "blowing sessions", the albums resulting from these dates included several in which Coltrane went toe-to-toe with other tenor saxophonists, some older and better established - including on one memorable occasion none other than the father of jazz tenor himself, Coleman Hawkins - to those occupying roughly the same "rising star" turf as himself. Stylistically these recordings varied greatly, enabling Coltrane - the uber-modernist - to share a mic with players with very different musical aspirations, including the Lester Young-inspired Paul Quinichette, Count Basie-regular Frank Wess, Belgian jazz-migrant Bobby Jaspar and the alchemic ex-Woody Herman pairing of Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. Closer to his home, he also appeared alongside three musicians who were equal contenders for the Hard Bop tenor crown - Johnny Griffin, Hank Mobley and Sonny Rollins - famously meeting the latter on the magical one-off Tenor Madness, the ultimate heavyweight saxophone showdown. This new Acrobat release is the first to concentrate exclusively on these tenor sax-centred sessions, and alongside Coltrane and his saxophone-playing colleagues, the roll-call of jazz notables to be heard also includes trumpeters Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan and Idrees Sulieman, guitarist Kenny Burrell, pianists Red Garland, Elmo Hope and Mal Waldron and drummers Art Blakey, Philly Joe Jones, Art Taylor and Ed Thigpen.
4 CD Set $24

STELLA  CHIWESHE- Kasahwa: Early Singles (Glitterbeat GB016; Germany) A collection of early singles by the renowned Zimbabwean Mbira master and a true African music icon, Stella Chiweshe. The songs were mostly recorded in the 1970s, during the buildup to the Chimurenga revolution, and were only ever released in Stella's home country. Stella's album Kasahwa: Early Singles offers a fascinating introduction to the world of Mbira, with the term not only referring to the instrument, but also to a musical genre -- and on a much wider level, to an entire culture and deeply spiritual lifestyle at the core of the young Zimbabwean nation. Mbira is an ancient mystical music which has been played for over a thousand years by the Shona people. Mbira pervades all aspects of Shona culture, both sacred and secular. Its most important function is as a "telephone to the spirits of people, water, trees, stones and birds," used to contact both deceased ancestors and tribal guardians, at all-night ceremonies. Kasahwa is a collection of impossible-to-find early seven inches, eight cuts spanning the period from 1974 to 1983 and representing Mbira in its purest form. None of these songs has been released outside of Africa so far. In her humble beginnings, little pointed to the fact that young Stella at sixteen would become "The Queen of Mbira" and nothing short of a national icon. Growing up on a musical diet of white American rock n' roll and country, she initially showed little interest in local traditional music. It was not until two years later, that Mbira started to ring inside her head "loud and endlessly". This overwhelming, mystical experience turned Chiweshe into an avid student of the instrument and the philosophy connected to it. But playing Mbira music was by no means a career option for women in the British colony of Rhodesia: none of the (male) musicians were willing to teach her. And, almost worse, none of the instrument makers agreed to build an instrument for a woman. Stella ended up recording her debut single "Kasahwa" (1974) on a borrowed thumb piano. "Kasahwa" made Stella a local sensation. After the country had become independent in 1980, Chiweshe started to tour internationally, first as a featured soloist of the new National Dance Company of Zimbabwe, and later under her own name. New mastering by Nick Robbins.
CD $15

MASONNA - Exploring Self-Corrosive Noise With Coquette (Urashima 006; Italy) Along with Merzbow and Hijokaidan, Masonna is one of the best (known) Japanese noise projects. A psychedelic touch, cascades of electronic noise, and vocal belching mixed together constitute the ingredients of Mademoiselle Anne Sanglante Ou Notre Nymphomanie Auréolé (1993), the double-barreled named for Masonna. Yamazaki "Maso" Takushi created Masonna in 1987 and he started recording for his own legendary label Coquette. His plentiful productions were presented in an ultra-limited edition, sometime totally confidential (one sole copy), on cassette, 7" acetate disc produced by a portable cutting machine, and Minidisc. They contributed to create a mythology based above all on the astonishing intensity with which "Maso" devastates and reprocesses the vocal cords, in a true "total electronic song". In his impressive live performances, he created and electrically overcharged universe, punctuating the electric and vocal sonorous power with some quite moments and brief interruptions, conferring a very particular dynamic to his pieces. Studio recordings are making full use skillfully editing how to edit cut-up, in which elaborate lump-sum making has been performed, the psychedelic taste for each track of time is taken into consideration, Yamazaki extends musical width. Masonna is an emblematic figure of Japanoise, who shines by a personal approach and an immediately recognizable style. A zenith in the noisy Japanese landscape. Urashima present seven amazing Coquette tapes for the first time remastered digitally on four CD in an exclusive black wooden box with laser-engraving: Like A Vagina (1988), All Live Recording At My Room (1989), Mad Onna (1989), Maso Onna = Masonna (1989), Hate (1995), Freak (1995), and Filled With Unquestionable Feelings (1995). Each single CD comes in a cardboard wallet with credits and new artwork; individually-numbered certificate in 199 copies. Inside the chaos: the God of noise!
4 CD Set $50

HERMANN NITSCH - Musik Der 135. Aktion, Kuba (Trost 175; Austria) Recorded in 2012, Musik Der 135. Aktion, Kuba captures the controversial performance from Herman Nitsch's Orgien Mysterien Theater ("Orgies Mysteries Theater") as part of the Havana Biennial art exhibition. For more than fifty years Nitsch has been an influential and striking figure of Austrian art ("Vienna Actionism"). In his Orgien Mysterien Theater Nitsch uses actors, blood, animal bodies and entrails, fruits, symbolic crucifixion, music, processions, and ritualistic gestures to enact a new form of Gesamtkunstwerk: pagan ceremonies that aim to a kind of collective catharsis. "Dionysos gegen den Gekreuzigten" ("Dionysus against Christ Crucified") was performed by 150 musicians and 30 actors, including the University's Symphony Orchestra ISA and the artist himself, celebrating Afro-Cuban rituals and ceremonies. Released In cooperation with Nitsch Foundation.
2 CD Set $18

KONSTRUKTIVIST - The Last Moments Of 1923 (Klanggallerie 246; Germany)  Konstruktivists was formed by Glenn Michael Wallis in 1982 out of the ashes of Heute, a kraut rock influenced trio using electronics as well as conventional guitars and bass. Around this time - in the late 70's/early 80's Glenn Michael Wallis was heavily involved with Throbbing Gristle, the U.K. pioneers of "Industrial". The first Konstruktivists vinyl album "A Dissembly" was issued in 1983. This was quickly followed by their seminal LP "Psykho Genetika" after signing to the newly-formed Third Mind records. At this point Glenn also moonlighted as a part-time member of Whitehouse - playing live with them in several countries and participating on their LP "Great White Death". "The Last Moments Of 1923" is often overlooked as it came out as a cassette only in 1982 on the Flowmotion label. It is in fact though the band's first album and remains until today Glenn Wallis's favourite Konstruktivists recording of all time. It shakes off all Krautrock influences (that came back on "A Dissembly") and is a purely electronic composition that is meant to be a soundtrack to the 1923 era of Soviet Russia. A very spaced out, ambient recording that finally sees the light of day on CD. Remastered by Konstruktivists member Mark Crumby for this release.
CD $18

LP Section:

The 577 Records label is run by drummer & multi-bandleader Federico Ughi and has been around since 2001. Over some 40 releases the label has established itself a force to be reckoned with for documenting a solid part of the Downtown Avant-Jazz Scene. Federico Ughi is a leader or member of more than half of these releases, which also often includes the ubiquitous Daniel Carter and William Parker. Over the past few years, the label has released 10 LP only records. All are limited and available on high quality vinyl. We just got 2 LP releases in this week and hope to get more in soon…   

"DONNY" STURGE ANTHONY McKENZIE With ELLIOTT SHARP / VERNON REID / BILL LASWELL - Silenced II - Views from the Auction Block (577 Records 5808; USA) Featuring Donny McKenzie on drums with Elliott Sharp or Vernon Reid on guitar and Bill Laswell on bass. I had not heard of drummer Donny McKenzie, until Elliott Sharp had him in a power trio at a DMG anniversary celebration a couple years back. It turned that Mr. McKenzie had worked with Vernon Reid (in his band Masque), Marc Ribot and Roswell Rudd. The second volume of ’Silenced’, the first volume featured Nels Cline & Vernon Reid on guitar and Melvin Gibbs on bass.
   ’Silenced II’ features a short solo drum piece and three duets with Mr. Sharp, Mr. Reid and Mr. Laswell. This LP was recorded at Bill Laswell’s Orange Music Studio by James Dellacoma and the sound is superb! Opening with a duo with Downtown guitarist Elliott Sharp, whose unique guitar tone and approach soar along with Mr. McKenzie throttling drums, as one powerful force. Mr. Sharp has a distinctive way of bending notes, playing a series of fractured lines like lightning bolts erupting one after the other. McKenzie keeps the rocking groove steady while alternating tempos while Sharp erupts his jagged lines. “Natasha McKenna” is a duo with bass great Bill Laswell. Mr. Laswell is in fine form playing a slamming funk/dub groove, his unique bass sound, due to the selective devices he often uses, most hypnotic, dense (like soup) and dreamy. Laswell starts out slowly and the tempo increases throughout until he ends with a haunting bass solo. Side two opens with a fine, modest drum solo, sparse with subtle groove at the center. The drum solo sounds like an intro for the long duo with Vernon Reid which follows. This duo starts off quietly and slowly builds throughout its 15 minute length. This piece sounds like a long story as it unfolds. What I find interesting about this piece is this: while Mr. Reid mostly plays swirling, ambient sounds, it is McKenzie’s drums that are at the center, telling their own story and leading the way through different scenes, the groove slowly evolving/changing as it goes. Mr. Reid also alters his tone slowly throughout ending with a Fripp-like sound near the end. Considering that this album features Donny McKenzie, a drummer as the leader, Mr. McKenzie never overplays or solos at length, he strong playing is at the center without hogging the spotlight. Nice move. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG            
LP $20 [LTD Edition of 300 / numbered]

LISTENING GROUP With DANIEL CARTER / PATRICK HOLMES / CLAIRE de BRUNNER / NICK LYONS / JEFF SNYDER / ZACH SWANSON / FEDERICO UGHI - Listening Group (577 Records 5805; USA) Featuring Daniel Carter on saxes & trumpet, Claire de Brunner on bassoon, Patrick Holmes on clarinet, Nick Lyons on alto sax, Jeff Snyder on electronics, Stelios Mihas on guitar, Jonah Rosenberg on piano, Zach Swanson on bass and Federico Ughi on drums. There is an ever-growing underground of creative musicians here in the Downtown Scene which has been going on long before I started attending gig in NY in 1970. The flow of musicians moving into and out of the NYC area continues and it is up the serious listener to notice, listen and attend shows. One of the true originators/instigators of the Downtown network is Daniel Carter, who has worked with hundreds of improvisers over nearly four decades. Mr. Carter is a master improviser who seeks out new musicians from anywhere to work with, no matter their background.
   The Listening Group is just one of several ensembles that Daniel Carter works with currently. You should recognize a few of these names from the DMG weekly free music series: Patrick Holmes, Claire de Brunner & Nick Lyons. A couple of these names are unfamiliar to me: Mr.s’ Mihas and Rosenberg. This album was recorded at the Forward Festival in Brooklyn in December of 2016. Although the there nine musicians on this session, the sound is more spacious, balanced and well-crafted. There is a dreamy, drifting quality during the first long piece here. In the liner notes, Mr. Carter mentions the word “listening” in the group’s name refers to what they do… hence they create their own magical audio environment without stepping on each other’s toes. The sound of this ensemble is somewhere between modern chamber music and free/space, ethereal, often sublime and special in its own way. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG   
LP $20  [LTD Edition of 300 / numbered]

More LP Only releases:

SONIC'S RENDEZVOUS BAND - Electrophonic Tonic (Bang! Records 122; Spain) Sonic's Rendezvous Band were Detroit '70s legends that included Fred "Sonic" Smith of The MC5 and Scott Asheton of The Stooges. In 1978 Sonic's Rendezvous Band recorded only two studio tracks which are in this LP, including the mighty "City Slang" plus other tracks recorded live in Detroit in 1978 with excellent sound quality. A total must-have for all fans of The Stooges and The MC5 as well as Bored!, Radio Birdman, The New Christs, The Hellacopters, etc. This album has been previously released under the name Too Much Crack. Released under license from Easy Action Records.
LP $26

PHILIP JECK - Vinyl Coda III-IV (God Records 048; Austria) dieb13 on Philip Jeck: "... In his hands, a tool as simple as a hammer that blocks the arm of the record player creates a loop with a taste of eternity. Two or three such hammers can create musical galaxies far beyond the reach of traditional instruments, where no human ear has ever been before. From unidentifiable rumble and grinding to brilliant instrument-snippets and comical voice fragments, Philip Jeck glues sounds together as if they were never meant to exist on their own. Whether it be Pachelbel's Canon or some mid-90s dance music that's on Philip's vinyl, but what we hear in the Vinyl Coda is his very unique musical voice -- articulated with a perfect sense for structure, suspense and sound."
2 LP Set $34

OS MUTANTES - Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol (Vinilissimo Mrsss 561; Spain) Vinilisssimo present a reissue of Os Mutantes' Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol, originally released in 1974. Os Mutantes showed an interest in following international music trends from the very beginning of their career, when they moved away from the traditional sounds of their native Brazil in favor of psychedelia. Even its own name gives us some clues about the ever-transforming will of the band. The continuous changes characterized the group's history until its dissolution in 1978 and, as part of that evolution, they embraced progressive rock in their final albums. Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol was released in 1974, when Rita Lee was already focused on her solo career and Arnaldo Baptista had also left the group due to internal and personal problems. The only original member remaining, Sérgio Dias, along with bassist Liminha, who had joined the band a few years earlier but left before recording this album, were responsible for composing most of these songs. Despite the obvious differences from the original sound of Os Mutantes, this record will not disappoint the fans of the band. "Deixe Entrar Um Pouco D'água No Quintal", "Cidadão Da Terra", or "Tudo Foi Feito Pelo Sol" clearly leave aside any reference to Tropicalismo to embrace instead the hardest sounds and progressive style of groups like Deep Purple or even Iron Butterfly. The keyboardist Túlio Mourão stars in some of the most intense moments of the album, along with the energetic and fierce guitar of Sérgio Dias, who was the band's leader at the time. An example of their virtuosity is "Pitágoras", written by Mourão, where piano and guitar take you into a progressive and almost psychedelic journey with music references as diverse as jazz and flamenco. Without any doubt, this is one of the strongest songs of the entire LP. Presented in facsimile gatefold sleeve; 180 gram vinyl.
LP $25

APERGHIS GEORGES - Piano Music (God Records 046; Austria) Excerpt from liner notes by Keith Potter: "Georges Aperghis is probably still not much associated, by the public that internationally attends performances of his works, with music for solo piano. Music-theatre -- of an uncommonly original kind, with extended vocal techniques much to the fore -- has usually been his stamping ground. The concerns that his operas and other music-theatre compositions have embraced -- often focusing around a highly individual approach to words and to all aspects of language, developed with great musical sophistication, resulting in what one might call a kind of sound poetry -- are not among those immediately linked to the note-against-note preoccupations of which one tends to think where music for the piano is involved. This instrument's 88 keys, and the two hands of its (usually firmly seated) keyboard operative, are normally engaged to less obviously 'theatrical' ends." Personnel: Lenio Liatsou - piano, voice.
LP $24

WINFRIED RITSCH - Mono Metal Space (God Records 049; Austria) Winfried Ritsch on Mono Metal Space: "... a 2x1m metal plate hung on a stand or frame is stimulated by amplifier driven modified motors used as strong transducers, and sensored by pickups. The computer-controlled feedback uses digital filters and dynamics effects as signal processing to try to resonate the plates within their individual overtones. These playable feedback filters are controlled as notes by playing increasing and decreasing sounds near the composed frequencies of the notes which evokes speech and 'singing-like' musical phrases in a wide range of frequencies typical of the chosen material. As a result of this arrangement, normally barely detectable resonances are produced in the musical space and create metallic-sounding multi-tonal clusters, whereby, due to the formation of formants and noise between the shifts, fast phrases and extremely slow polyphonic chords emerge from the sound plate. What initially appears as chaotic movements can soon be experienced as structured recurring patterns..." Personnel: Winfried Ritsch - composition/concept.
LP $24

POPERA COSMIC - Les Esclaves (Finders Keepers 096; UK) Finders Keepers present a reissue of Popera Cosmic's Les Esclaves, originally released in 1969. For the few people lucky enough to have heard the entire album in the five decades since its release, the mythical Popera Cosmic album is now considered to be France's first dedicated psychedelic album and the shrouded blueprint for the hugely influential Gallic concept album phenomenon that followed -- including Serge Gainsbourg's Histoire De Melody Nelson (1971) and Gérard Manset's La Mort D'Orion (1970). Spearheaded by François Wertheimer (songwriter for Vangelis, Barbara, and BYG Records), composed with future Jodorowsky soundtracker and genius all-rounder, Guy Skornik, and based on an embryonic concept co-conspired by a teenage Jean-Michel Jarre, this instantly deleted 1969 recording is a true essential for any outer-national-radicalized record collection. With credentials that mark the birth of the cosmic funk (later disco) that helped shape the influential sound of France today, this LP also includes the first pressed instrumentals by members of Space Art, some of the best orchestra rock arrangements by William Sheller -- Lux Aeterna (1972), Erotissimo (1969) -- and orchestrator Paul Piot (Jean Rollin), as well as sitar psych benchmarks courtesy of uber legend Serge Franklin -- all pinned down by the rhythm section that would later be known to prog aficionados as Alice. Subtitled Les Esclaves ("The Slaves"), this street theater/rock opera (influenced by the work of Julien Beck's Living Theatre) now celebrates its 50th birthday standing firmly as a sonic tome to the birth of the no-no era (that rebuked France's yé-yé hamster wheel) leading directly to the thematic progressive network of Wakhévitch, Manset, and Magma while comprising an inter-Gallic intergalactic super group from the early annals of France's pop psych revolution. Imagine a rock opera where the cast of Mister Freedom perform Clash Of The Titans at the foot of The Holy Mountain -- then pinch yourself...
LP $27

FRED FRITH CD SALE! FRED FRITH CD SALE! FRED FRITH CD SALE! Essential Discs!

* If you purchased the New FRED FRITH TRIO CD and want to discover more gems from Mr. Frith, here is a Frith CD sale of some dozen essential items… Take 3 or more and get a News from Babel CD for free to take six or more and get both News from Babel Cd’s for free!

ART BEARS [DAGMAR KRAUSE/FRED FRITH/CHRIS CUTLER] - The World As It Is Today (ReR AB3; UK) “This was the 3rd and final album by the successor band to Henry Cow. I'm not really sure why (short playing length? the press had gone onto other things to champion? it wasn't released stateside, unlike the first two?) but this one slipped under the radar of a lot of folks, compared to their 1st two. It's a very bleak, but also a very solid work. And very clever and sly in its own way - who else would have the opening lyrics for "The Song Of Investment Capitol Overseas be: "Out of town; my work takes me out of town"! With Dagmar Krause-vocals, Chris Cutler-drums, electronics & Fred Frith-guitars, keyboards, violin, etc. all the rest of Henry Cow. Songs with powerful lyrics built upon experimental kernels. "A scathing, brutal and disturbingly honest venture into the horrors of contemporary inhumanity and political digression. Here Art Bears forage even more boldly into aspects of using the recording studio as a compositional instrument : A tape of a lawnmower is slowed down several steps to convincingly create the sounds of machine-gun fire and bombs. A Geiger counter is emulated by radically E.Q.ing drum sticks played on a tile flooring in the studio. No punches are pulled, and the band goes all-out on this, their final recording. The playing is aggressive and hefty, and the sound immaculate, intense and, at times, downright scary." - Steve Feigenbaum, Cuneiform
CD $10

FRED FRITH With SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA [ZAMLA: LARS HOLLMER et al]/THE MUFFINS - Gravity: Music For Dance (Fred FRO 01/ReR; UK)“’Gravity’ is one of Fred's most enduring & endearing works. It was his first post-Henry Cow solo album, and he recorded it with the backing of The Muffins on one side of the original album and Samla Mammas Manna on the other Marc Hollander. It's the closest thing to a progressive rock disc that Fred has ever released and it's a tuneful yet still avant progressive rock work. If you don't already own this, it is highly recommended! The only caveat is that this new reissue leaves off all the great bonus tracks that were contained on the original [ESD] issue of this title on CD.”
CD $10

FRED FRITH With ETRON FOU LELOUBLAN/MASSACRE/GEORGE CARTWRIGHT - Speechless (Fred FRO 04/ReR; UK) "This is Fred's follow up recording to Gravity, which has been perhaps his most enduringly popular record. Fred made Speechless after he had re-located to New York, and had become a key figure in the downtown improvising scene. The new album fused the influences of the US and Europe, and is still regarded as one of his finest works. Much of the material was recorded in Switzerland and France in 1980, using musicians from Rock In Opposition band Etron Fou Leloublan as well as members of Massacre. It is also suffused with the sounds of New York."
CD $10

FRED FRITH With JOHN ZORN/TENKO /CHRISTIAN MARCLAY/JIM STALEY - The Technology Of Tears: Music For Dance Vol 1 (Fred FRO 11/ReR; UK)A reissue of the CD version of TOT, which did not include the piece on the fourth side of the double LP edition, Propaganda, which will have its own separate expanded version CD release! This classic album was recorded in 1986 & 1987 and first released as a double album on RecRec. 'The Technology of Tears' was commissioned by Rosalind Newman and first performed by her dance company at the Joyce Theatre in NYC in February of 1987. This remains one of my favorite recordings by Fred Frith and it sounds to me just as spectacular today as it did some twenty years ago. Fred plays guitars and violin and seamlessly weaves his wonderful dynamic sound, quaint and haunting melodies into this incredible program. I can hear bits of melodies and ideas that Fred had used on his three records for Ralph records. This is mostly a solo project, yet Zorn, Tenko, Marclay and Staley are selected added at just the right times. When John Zorn's intense squeal first enters midway on "Sadness", it is as if the heavens have parted and we hear that one perfectly placed note. Absolutely brilliant and finally available once more. - BLG
CD $10

FRED FRITH - Accidental: Music For Dance Vol 3 (Fred FRA 01/ReR; UK)Any new record from Fred Frith, one of the world's leading avant rock guitarists and composers, is a major event. 'Accidental' was commissioned by a British choreographer who lives in Amsterdam, Paul Selwyn Norton, for a dance piece made with the Batsheva Company in Tel Aviv. For Fred it's a return to basics, a series of deeply contrasting moods achieved with the simplest of means. Throughout the CD, noises of rusty metal, electronic detritus, bits of random radio, improvised cut-up vocals and messed up percussion, suggest an unpredictable and hostile landscape. Fred describes the motivations behind Accidental: "I'm fascinated by accidents. When I do solo improvisations I think of myself as being in continuous dialogue with the unexpected, and its always dynamic. Do I ignore this, do I embrace it, do I integrate it, do I keep my distance? When making this music I was constantly using random elements like radio tuning and trying to frame them in metric or harmonic structures." Fred Frith is the thinking person's guitar hero. Starting out with Henry Cow, in the early 70's, he later became a key component of the New York scene, playing with John Zorn's Naked City, Skeleton Crew, and Massacre (with Bill Laswell). Along the way he contributed to albums by Robert Wyatt and Brian Eno. He regularly tours the world as a solo guitar improviser, and in duos with the likes of ex Pere Ubu and Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler. As a contemporary classical composer his works have been performed, amongst others, by the Ensemble Modern and the Arditti Quartet. Incredibly, given his history as an avant garde rock guitarist, he is now a professor of composition at the prestigious Mills College in Oakland, California.
CD $10

FRED FRITH With TOM CORA/BILL LASWELL/RENE LUSSIER/JOHN ZORN et al - Step Across The Border [OST] (Fred FRO 03/ReR; UK) This is the soundtrack to the film which followed Fred touring & playing in the late 80's, when he was actively on the road all the time. This functions as a sort of a 'best of' sampler, featuring many aspects of his work, some of which can be found on other albums, but most of which is only available here. This includes many great players: Tom Cora, Zeena Parkins, John Zorn, Rene Lussier, Bob Ostertag, Lars Hollmer, Eino Haapala, Iva Bittova, Hans Bruniusson, and many many others. One of his great ones.
CD $10

HENRY COW [FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/JOHN GREAVES/CHRIS CUTLER/LINDSAY COOPER/GEOFF LEIGH/DAGMAR KRAUSE With ROBERT WYATT] - Concerts (ReR HC 5&6; UK) “The last of the Henry Cow albums on Virgin, this includes their amazing final BBC session; 25' of Henry Cow perfection, a small taste of the famous shows that they performed with Robert Wyatt and a lot of purely free improvisation or prepared free improvisation, which is what they were doing live at this time.
   "Originally released in 1976, this collection offers a snapshot of Henry Cow as audiences would have heard it in the year before. Chronologically, Concerts came between In Praise of Learning and Western Culture.
   It was also the year of the 'merger' with Robert Wyatt for a series of concerts in which compositions were shared: the last show, in Rome, was also Robert's last public performance.
2 CD Set $15

NEWS FROM BABEL [LINDSAY COOPER/CHRIS CUTLER/ZEENA PARKINS/DAGMAR KRAUSE] With ROBERT WYATT/PHIL MINTON/SALLY POTTER - Sirens And Silences - Work Resumed On The Tower (ReR NFB1; UK)"News from Babel was the song project inaugurated by Chris Cutler with fellow ex Henry Cow composer Lindsay Cooper. The pieces for this first LP were written for a band that also included Zeena Parkins (harp - her first recording with the instrument) and the incomparable Dagmar Krause (another ex-band member) singing. Using the studio as an instrument and experimenting with unusual instrumentation and techniques, these are songs stretched into a less than familiar shape. Phil Minton and Cow bassist Georgie Born also appear. Re-mastered and repackaged with full text and illustrations enclosed."
CD $6

NEWS FROM BABEL [LINDSAY COOPER/CHRIS CUTLER/ZEENA PARKINS/DAGMAR KRAUSE] - Letters from Home (ReR NFB 2; UK) “The second record by this group (Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins and Chris Cutler) with invitees Robert Wyatt, Sally Potter, Phil Minton and Dagmar Krause who sing, and Bill Gilonis (of The Work) who plays occasional guitar and bass, and who also produced the recording. These are extended songs, unusually orchestrated and arranged and not much like anything else recorded before or since. Re-mastered and repackaged here, with full text and illustrations enclosed.”
CD $6

SKELETON CREW [FRED FRITH/TOM CORA/ZEENA PARKINS/DAVE NEWHOUSE] - Learn To Talk/The Country Of Blinds...Plus (Fred FRO 08-09/ReR; UK)All of the 'Learn To Talk' [Frith & Cora] and 'the Country Of Blinds' album [Frith/Cora/Parkins] plus 10 tracks of previously unreleased material! A timely reissue of two timeless classics. On the first CD it's just Fred Frith and Tom Cora, the legendary two man crew who somehow - in real time, not with endless overdubs! - managed to play all their own instruments (cello, bass, electric guitar, violin, casio) and sing - as well as, between them, constructing the drum parts - dislocated into elements with each of them having bits of the kit. This made for some fantastic - and normally unplayable parts - most drummers having only one brain. No one sounded like Skeleton Crew, ever. Devious, complicated, brutally simple, always unexpected, turning on a dime, this was not just a pop band but a tocsin, a call to arms - and in a short recorded life it produced a catalogue of invention that is still breathtaking today. On the second album, the inspired addition of Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion, more drums, more vocals) led to some of the best music of the decade. The recording was rawer, more urgent, the songs standing out in sharp relief; every part essential. And yet - it's a puzzle almost impossible to unravel: how on earth did they ever evolve those dislocated parts and still make them fit so perfectly together? Did I mention the texts? So much to the point, so good. And where are the Skeleton Crews today when we really need them? Both CDs are here, in full, re-mastered by Fred and with 10 extra tracks - each as good as anything on the official albums. Skeleton Crew broke up in 1986. Fred and Zeena have continued to collaborate in a number of different contexts, Tom went on to stardom with The Ex and his own band Roof, before tragically falling to cancer in 1998. He is sorely missed
2 CD Set $15

SLAPP HAPPY With HENRY COW [DAGMAR KRAUSE/PETER BLEGVAD/ANTHONY MOORE With FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/JOHN GREAVES/CHRIS CUTLER/LINDSAY COOPER] - Desperate Straights (ReR HCSH1; UK) The 3rd ['74] Slapp Happy album, Desperate Straights was recorded by the union of Slapp Happy with Henry Cow (Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Lindsay Cooper) as was most of what became the Cow's 4th album, In Praise Of Learning (if you count this as the 3rd). Essential marriage of the two originators of all RIO bands to follow!
CD $10

SLAPP HAPPY [DAGMAR KRAUSE/PETER BLEGVAD/ANTHONY MOORE] - Acnalbasac Noom (ReR SH; UK) The 1st [initially unreleased] version of their 2nd album Casablanca Moon with Faust backing them on the rejected-by-Virgin first recording of their 2nd album. An odd, classic Masterpiece!
CD $10

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

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - HARRIS EISENSTADT - SEPT 18–22

9/21 Friday
8:30 pm - Poschiavo 50 - Sara Schoenbeck (bassoon) Ikue Mori (electronics) Dan Peck (tuba) Harris Eisenstadt (drums, compositions)

9/22 Saturday
8:30 pm - Aberikula - David Ambrosio, Emery Damon, Javier Diaz, David Font Navarette, Sebastian Lopez (bata drums, coro)

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - PAMELIA STICKNEY - SEPT 25–29

9/25 Tuesday
8:30 pm - Solo Theremin Orchestra - Pamelia Stickney (theremin) Danny Tunick (mallets) Chris Mannigan (sax) PREMIERE: Jatakas (for these times).

THE STONE COMMISSIONS - WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 26: SYLVIE COURVOISIER
In collaboration with National Sawdust The Stone presents a series of World Premieres the last Wednesday of every month through 2018.
7pm at National Sawdust in Williamsburg. For details check https nationalsawdust.org/event/jazz-stone-commissioning-series - $25

9/26 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Jazzical Pamsportation (wah wah wah...) - Gerry Gibbs (drums) Leon Gruenbaum (samchillian) Stuart Popejoy (keys) Pamelia Stickney (theremin) Bizarre Humor (all of us)

THE STONE AT RUSS AND DAUGHTERS CAFE! - THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27: BRIAN MARSELLA
ONE SET AT 8PM—ADMISSION FREE! - The Stone is proud to present music at Russ and Daughters Cafe at 127 Orchard Street the last Thursday of every month! Drop by for smoked fish, pickles and great music!

9/27 Thursday
8:30 pm - Duo Improv - Erik Friedlander (cello) Pamelia Stickney (theremin)

9/28 Friday
8:30 pm -Trio Improv- Ingrid Laubrock (sax) Susie Ibarra (drums, percussion) Pamelia Stickney (theremin)

9/29 Saturday
8:30 pm - Transcendental Dissonance Quartet — “Soundtrack to a Silent Film”
Sarah Bernstein (violin) Stuart Popejoy (piano, keys) Danny Tunick (mallets) Pamelia Stickney (theremin)

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

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

Friday Sep 21   
6:00PM  AN EVENING OF SONG, POETRY, AND MUSIC - Barry Wallenstein, poetry;  Alan Rosenthal, piano;  Ken Filiano, bass;  KaORi Yamada-Lategano, drums;  Jeffrey Cyphers Wright,
8:35PM  TOM GUARNA TRIO WITH SPECIAL GUEST PETER BERNSTEIN - Tom Guarna, guitar;  Peter Bernstein, guitar;  Joe Martin, bass;  Chris Smith, drums

Saturday Sep 22   
6:00PM  ALBERT MARQUES TRIO FEAT. ARI HOENIG - Albert Marques, piano;  Pablo Menares, bass;  Ari Hoenig, drums
8:35PM  JOCHEN RUECKERT QUARTET "GUITAR CENTER" EDITION - Mike Moreno, guitar;  Lage Lund, guitar;  Joe Martin, bass;  Jochen Rueckert, drums

Sunday Sep 23   
8:00PM  NEW BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVES: RUBENS SALLES - Rubens Salles, piano;  John Clark, french horn; Michel Gentile, flute; Leco Reis, bass; Kenny Grohowski, drums
9:00PM & 10:30PM  NEW BRAZILIAN PERSPECTIVES, KAVITA SHAH "LUSOPHONE MUSIC PROJECT" - Kavita Shah, voice;  Felipe Viegas, piano;  Juancho Herrera, guitar;  Eduardo Belo, bass;  Yayo Serka, drums

Mon Sept 24th:
8:30PM  NO SOAP RADIO WONDERLAND - Joshua Fried, live electronics; Jed Distler, piano

Tuesday Sep 25   
8:01PM  BRYN ROBERTS, WILL VINSON QUARTET - Bryn Roberts, piano; Will Vinson, saxophones;  Rick Rosato, bass; Jonathan Pinson, drums

Wednesday Sep 26   
8:01PM  BARRY ALTSCHUL, 3DOM FACTOR - Barry Altschul, drums; Joe Fonda, bass;  Jon Irabagon, tenor sax

Thurs Sept 27th:
8:01PM  KATE McGARRY TRIO - Kate McGarry, voice; Keith Ganz, guitar, bass;  Gary Versace, piano, keyboards

Friday Sep 28   
8:35PM  DAN WEISS TRIO - Dan Weiss, drums; Jacob Sacks, piano; Thomas Morgan, bass

Saturday Sep 29   
8:35PM  LAGE LUND QUARTET - Lage Lund, guitar;  Micah Thomas, piano;  Orlando le Fleming, bass;  Obed Calvaire, drums

Sunday Sep 30   
9:30PM  KENNY CHA GROUP - Kenny Cha, guitar; Nathan Reising, saxophone;  Bruce Kang, bass;  Matt Honor, drums

***********
The Spectrum is Now Located in Brooklyn (address below)
Here’s the week’s schedule:
 
Friday 21 September
7 PM - Katherine Petersen, piano music of the 20th and 21st Centuries
In a Landscape by John Cage (10’)
Sonata No.3 “Proust Among the Nations” (2014) by Mohammed Fairouz (28’)
~Intermission~ Piano Sonata (1939-41) Aaron Copland (26’)
 
Saturday 22 September
8 PM - Jose Menor, piano
Messiaen: "Vingt Regards sur l'enfant-Jésus"
Please see the 7 PM Saturday September 8 entry for Mr. Menor’s biography.

Tuesday 25 September
7 PM - Chris Cochrane, guitar; Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow), clarinets, saxophone and some electronics - Chris and Tim have played together numerous times over 30 years.
 
Thursday 27 September
7 PM - Steven Long Ensemble
 
Friday 28 September
7 PM - Album Release Show for Scott L. Miller's Raba (New Focus Recordings) featuring Estonia's Ensemble U: Two shows, 7:00 and 8:30.
 
Saturday 29 September
7 PM - Peter Watrous presents Jazz Night (two sets)
 
Sunday 30 September
7 PM - Teodora Stepancic: Piano
 
Spectrum is located on Flushing Avenue, halfway between Carlton and Cumberland, directly across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard: address:
70 Flushing Ave, Garage A, Brooklyn, NY 11205
Transport: York Street stop on the F Train
DeKalb Avenue stop on the B, D and Q trains
B57 and B69 Buses:
Flushing Av/Cumberland St (westbound)
Flushing Av/N Portland Av (eastbound)
www.spectrumnyc.com

************
I-Beam Presents:

SATURDAY, September 29, 2018
8:30 PM  10:30 PM
SATOKO FUJI TRIO
Kappa Maki - trumpet
Satoko Fujii - piano
Yoshi Shutto - drums
CD Release for “1538” concert.

FISH DREAMS DESSEN/HARNIK/VICTOR
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2018
Greene Ave Music Presents...
8:00 FISH DREAMS
Jochem van Dijk - bass guitar
9:00 DESSEN/HARNIK/VICTOR
Michael Dessen - trombone
Elisabeth Harnik - piano
Fay Victor - voice
   
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.

*************
The Bushwick Improvised Music Series

Monday September 24th

7pm Aron Namenwirth - guitar, 
Zach Swanson - bass
 & Joe Hertenstein -drums


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


9pm Lewis Porter - piano, 
Ken Filiano - bass
 & Lou Grassi - drums


9:45pm Billy Mintz - drums
, Tony Malaby - saxophones
, Adam Kolker - saxophones, 
Hilliard Greene - bass
 & Roberta Piket - piano


10:45pm Terrence McManus - guitar/electronics, 
Adam Hopkins - bass & 
Dayeon Seok - drums


11:30pm  Elijah Shiffer - alto saxophone
, Jeff Mclaughlin - guitar, 
Marty Kenney - bass & 
Vicente Hansen - drums

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

************

Shapeshifter Presents:

Sept 21: 
8:15pm - Francesca Prihasti / Nic Vardanega
Francesca Prihasti (piano)
Nic Vardanega (guitar)
Jonathan Gardner (double bass)
Kazuhiro Odagiri (drums)
Sept 24
7p  - Sigurd Hole - double bass solo
7:45p - Sigurd Hole - Trio
Sigurd Hole - double bass
HÃ¥kon Aase - violin
Jarle Vespestad - drums

Sept 25
"No Tricks!" CD Release Concert
David Pastorius & Christian Fabian
6pm workshop  / 7pm show / Workshop $15 / Workshop and Concert $20

Sept 27
8:15 set - Bukowski Liked Mozart” and “Mallard Room: The music of Wade Ridenhour - The Broken Reed Saxophone Quartet (Jenny Hill, Charley Gerard, Justin Flynn & Dimitri Moderbacher) with Wade Ridenhour, piano

Sept 28
7p: The New Rico Jones Quintet
Dave Kikowski, piano
Lage Lund, Guitar 
Alex Claffy, Double Bass
Ari Hoenig, drums

Sept 30
7pm: E.N. NY PUZZLE ENSEMBLE
Enrico Neri - Drums
Evan Ryan - Upright Bass
Austin Zhang - saxophone
Jahari Stampley - Piano
 
ShapeShifter Lab
18 Whitwell Place
Brooklyn NY 11215

Shapeshifter is located at:
18 Whitwell Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: 1-646-820-9452

**************
Fridman Gallery 5th Anniversary Festival

At Fridayman Gallery
287 Spring St., NY, NY 10013
September 17-25, 2018 - 8pm doors
Co-curated with Daniel Neumann

The Program:
Each night: Victoria Keddie, new videos.
Fri Sep 21
John Driscoll, Cecilia Lopez
Lea Bertucci, Seth Cluett, Phil Edelstein
Sat Sep 22
MV Carbon, Maria Chavez, Lesley Flanigan
Michael Schumacher
Nino Cais, Carla Chaim
Sun Sep 23
Phill Niblock
Yvette Janine Jackson, Abigail Levine
Carver Audain
Mon Sep 24
Octophonic performances: Ed Bear, Chuck Bettis, Richard Garet, Daniel Neumann
Tue Sep 25
HAT
Valentina Kvasova
Vitche-Boul Ra

********

Sound It Out Series @ Greenwich House —
Concerts, September-December 2018

At the Greenwich House Music School: 46 Barrow Street, just west of 7th Avenue South in New York City’s West Village; www.greenwichhouse.org, 212-242-4770.

COMING ATTRACTIONS — 7th Season!

Friday Sept 21, 8pm — Fay Victor & Myra Melford w/ Marika Hughes
Fay Victor, vocals; Myra Melford, piano; Marika Hughes, cello

Saturday Sept 22, 8pm — Marilyn Crispell & Angelica Sanchez
Marilyn Crispell and Angelica Sanchez, duo pianos

Wednesday Sept 26, 8pm — Angelica Sanchez Nonet - Angelica Sanchez (composer/piano), Thomas Heberer (trumpet), Kenny Warren (cornet), Chris Speed (tenor saxophone), Michael Attias (alto saxophone), Ben Goldberg (clarinets), Omar Tamez (guitar), John Hebert (bass), Sam Ospovat (drums)

Friday Oct 5, 7:30pm — Sean Moran’s Sun Tiger the trio of Vinnie Sperrazza, Sam Newsome & Angelica Sanchez - Double-bill — Sean Moran’s Sun Tiger: Sean Moran, guitar; Hank Roberts, cello; Vinnie Sperrazza, drums Vinnie Sperrazza, drums; Sam Newsome, soprano sax; Angelica Sanchez, piano
 
Thursday Oct 25, 8pm — Michael Formanek’s Very Practical Trio w/ Tim Berne & Mary Halvorson - Michael Formanek, double-bass; Tim Berne, alto saxophone; Mary Halvorson, electric guitar

Saturday Oct 27, 8pm — Amanda Monaco & Friends - Amanda Monaco, guitar; Joe Fiedler, trombone; Sean Conly, double-bass; Jeff Davis, drums

Saturday Nov 10, 7:30pm — Josh Sinton’s Predicate Trio the trio of Avram Fefer, Sean Conly & Michael Wimberly - Double-bill — Josh Sinton’s Predicate Trio: Josh Sinton, baritone saxophone & bass clarinet; Chris Hoffman, cello; Tom Rainey, drums the trio of Avram Fefer, alto/tenor saxophones & bass clarinet; Sean Conly, double-bass; Michael Wimberly, drums

Thursday Nov 29, 7:30pm — Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio the duo of Anders Nilsson & Aaron Dugan - Double-bill — Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio: Nick Millevoi, electric guitar; Johnny DeBlase, bass guitar; Kevin Shea, drums the duo of Anders Nilsson, guitar & Aaron Dugan, guitar

Saturday Dec 1, 8pm — Devin Gray’s Dirigo Rataplan - Devin Gray, drums; Dave Ballou, trumpet; Ellery Eskelin, tenor saxophone; Michael Formanek, double-bass

Thursday Dec 6, 7:30pm — “The Afro-Cubism of Aruán Ortiz, from Avant-Jazz to Contemporary Chamber Music” - Aruán Ortiz, piano/composer

***********

Jazz Habitat at El Barrio Artspace - PS 109
215 E 99th St (between 2nd & 3rd Aves)

9/30 - Sunday
7pm - Gaya Feldheim Schorr (voc), Charlotte Greve (sax), Florian Herzog (bass, comp), Stephen Boegehold (dr)
8pm - Welf Dorr (sax), Dave Ross (git), Dmitry Ishenko (bass), Joe Hertenstein (dr)

10/14: Sunday
7pm - Kenny Warren (tr), Adam Hopkins (bass), Gerald Cleaver (dr)
8pm - Eric Plaks (piano), Andrew Hadro (bari sax & bass cl), Evan Crane (bass), Leonid Galaganov (dr)

10/28: Sunday
7pm - Welf Dorr (sax), tba, Andrew Drury (dr)
8pm - Sana Nagano (violin), Kei Su Ke (guitar), Tyler Luppi (bass), Paolo Cantarella (dr)

*********

THE KARUNA TRIO:
HAMID DRAKE / RALPH M. JONES / ADAM RUDOLPH
CD Release Celebration!

Saturday, September 22nd from 8pm til 11:55
Art Cafe Bar
884-886 Pacific St, New York
Brooklyn NY 11238

*************

On Thurs. Sept. 27th,

Guitar virtuoso, Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer

GARY LUCAS - Multimedia One-man Show

“AN EVENING WITH GARY LUCAS: FROM BEEFHEART TO BUCKLEY AND BEYOND”

Live at The Cutting Room NYC at 9:30pm.  

The Cutting Room is located at 44 East 32nd St.

For tickets and more info: /bit.ly/2OxjBFg

*********
October 7th, 2018
William Hooker, Chris Forbes, Eriq Robinson, Jeremy Carlstedt,
Faye Kilburn,Theodore Woodward, Richard Keene and more TBA
11am-1pm - Free admission
Sunday afternoons
At Funkadelic Studios
“Let Music Be Your Brunch”
209 West 40 St. ,5th fl, NYC
www.funkadelicstudio.com
*Discerning listeners are also invited

********************
Tuesday, October 9 2018

Music Now! At The Brooklyn Commons
7pm "Music Now!"
with Ras Moshe-Reeds
Lauren Lee-Piano
Leonid Galaganov-Drums
8pm  -“ Where's The Outrage?"
Trudy Silver Solo Piano
9pm - Zodiac Saxophone Quartet with
Charles Waters-Alto Sax
Lee Odom-Soprano Sax
Claire Daly-Baritone Sax
Ras Moshe Burnett-Tenor Sax

Food and refreshments available at The Commons Cafe.
The Brooklyn Commons - 388 Atlantic Ave (btwn Hoyt st. & Bond st.)
Downtown Brooklyn / www.thecommonsbrooklyn.org

****************
THE SUN RA ARKESTRA INTERGALACTIC TOUR CONTINUES ON EARTH HERE:

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 N 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