DMG Newsletter for Friday, February 1st, 2019

It is the coldest day of the year today (1/31/19)
Single digits with a wind chill factor of minus….
I am at home, relatively warm and working on reviews
This is my Life, it is what I Love to Do!
Each and every Release is like a Letter from Another World
My job is to figure out what each of these folks are saying to us
Each Musician, Each Ensemble, Each Artist
Has a Different Story to Tell, so Listen Closely and be Transported…

Sing This All Together - The Rolling Stones, 1967

“Why don’t we sing this song all together
open our heads, let the pictures come.
And if we close all our eyes together
then we will see where we all come from.
Pictures of us through the steamy haze
Pictures of us painted in our place.
Why don’t we sing this song all together.
open our heads let the pictures come.
And if we close all our eyes together
then we will see where we all come from.
Pictures of us beating on our dreams
Never stopping til’ the rain has come.
Why don’t we sing this song all together
open our heads let the pictures come.
And if we close all our
Eyes together then we will see where we all come from.”

Written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards for
’Their Satanic Majesties Request’ album, released Winter, 1967

Check out New Music from These Fine Folks:

NATE WOOLEY With Mary HALVORSON / Susan ALCORN / Ryan SAWYER! ALLISON MILLER Boom Tic Boom: Jenny SCHEINMAN/ Ben GOLDBERG / Kirk KNUFFKE / Myra MELFORD..! JAMES BRANDON LEWIS: Jaimie BRANCH / Anthony PIROG / Luke STEWART / Warren Trae CRUDUO! JOE McPHEE & JOHN BUTCHER!

ROY ROYSTON Quintet! GREG WARD Rogue Parade! New from Leo: AKIRA SAKATA / SIMON NABATOV Quartet! MARILYN CRISPELL / Tanya KALMANOVICH / Richard TEITLEBAUM! Three form IVO PERELMAN & MAT MANERI..! Luigi NONO! The DEAD C! Hedvig MOLLESTAD Trio! And Much More!

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

Sunday, February 3rd:
6pm: JESSE DULMAN QUARTET: RAS MOSHE / DAVE SEWELSON / LEONID GALAGANOV
7pm: THE BEYOND GROUP: CHERYL PYLE - C Alto Flutes / MICHAEL EATON - Soprano Sax /
CLAIRE de BRUNNER - Bassoon / GENE COLEMAN - Bass Flute & Piccolo

Sunday, February 10th:
6pm: XANDER NAYLOR / RYAN DUGRE - Guitar Duet
7pm: OUTSIDE WORLD: HAZEL RIGBY / BEN SCOTT / TAYLOR ADAMS

Sunday, February 17th:
6pm: LIOR MILLIGER / HILLIARD GREENE / JOE HERTENSTEIN
7pm: DAVID MEIER / DANIEL CARTER…

Sunday, February 24th: The REGGIE SYLVESTER Double Header:
6pm: ED KELLER / REGGIE SYLVESTER - Guitar & Drums Duo!
7pm: RETROGRADE ESP CD Set: MATT LAVELLE & REGGIE SYLVESTER!

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

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Starting Things Right Off with This Jewel:

NATE WOOLEY With SUSAN ALCORN / MARY HALVORSON / RYAN SAWYER - Columbia Icefield (Northern Spy 112; USA) Featuring Nate Wooley on trumpet & amplifier, Mary Halvorson on electric guitar, Susan Alcorn on pedal steel guitar and Ryan Sayer on drums & voice. Aside from being one of the most distinctive and diverse trumpeters on the planet, Nate Wooley has long worked his own singular vision of how to create his own music and the context for which it is placed. Each of Mr. Wooley’s several ongoing projects sound quite different and evolve in unique ways. For this new project, has organized yet another unique quartet: current critical darling guitar great Mary Halvorson who worked with Mr. Wooley in a trio called Crackleknob; pedal steel guitar hero Susan Alcorn, who is also a member of Ms. Halvorson’s octet and drummer Ryan Sawyer, who has worked in another of Wooley’s longtime projects: Seven Story Mountain.
Why is this disc/project called “Columbia Icefield”? “’The Columbia Icefield’ is an imposing behemoth, the largest icefield in the Rocky Mountains, a glacial structure that feeds into the Columbia River, and, eventually, into the Pacific Ocean. It’s alien, unapproachable, and yet, somehow, a striking metaphor for man’s relationship to nature. The result is a stirring and staggering practice in being alive and the way our lives are reflected and shaped by our surroundings.” - Northern Spy. This is disc is comprised of three long pieces, much of which deals with slowly changing textures. The changes move glacially, bent notes stretched out cautiously, a series of drones, long ones then shorter ones . A chorus of ghosts humming in the distance… This music demands serious listening. Mr. Wooley’s sounds like a long lost voice or ghost, like a presence floating out there amongst a long distance of empty geographical space. Both Ms. Halvorson and Ms. Alcorn create an otherworldly sound/space on their nervous,unsettling electric strings. The music feels like it is ritualistic buy without any consistent pulses. This music is often stripped down, just soft marching drums and dreamy trumpet in the early part of “Seven in the Woods”. When Ms. Alcorn’s steel guitar enters, it sounds so mournful, so tender, like a chorus of sad voices… The last section sounds like “reverie” at camp, I almost expected to hear a version of “Taps”. Ms. Alcorn does a good job of stretching out notes, bending time ever so slightly into mind bending conclusions. Ms. Halvorson leaves us with a strong, dark Frith-like solo in the last section, a definite highlight here. And when it fades out, it is fowls like the perfect ending. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

ALLISON MILLER’S BOOM TIC BOOM With JENNY SCHEINMAN / KIRK KNUFFKE / BEN GOLDBERG / MYRA MELFORD / TODD SICKAFOOSE - Glitter Wolf (Royal Potato Family; USA) Boom Tic Boom features Allison Miller on drums, vibes & compositions, Jenny Scheinman on violin, Ben Goldberg on clarinets, Kirk Knuffke on cornet, Myra Melford on piano & harmonium and Todd Sickafoose on bass. Ace drummer, composer & multi-bandleader, Allison Miller, has been evolving in leaps & bounds over the past decade or so. After checking out her work with Marty Ehrlich, Shakers N’Bakers and a fine live trio with Fred Frith & Myra Melford, I am much impressed by her two recent discs, a great co-led group with Carmen Staaf and now this, the new Boom Tic Boom.
This is the fifth disc by Boom Tic Boom and they evolved quite a bit over their 10 year history. Originally a trio with Myra Melford, Jenny Scheinman and Ms. Miller and adding selective players along the way. With the addition of Todd Sickafoose on bass, Ben Goldberg on clarinets and Kirk Knuffke on cornet, they are now a solid sextet. While playing this disc in the store earlier this week, the one thing that was most apparent is the infectious, positive energy that flows organically throughout it. Take the opening song, “Congratulations and Condolences”, the theme evokes feeling of a galloping horse on a Spring day, each solo is short yet succinct and uplifting. Love that harmonium in the background. “The Ride” has a Monkish, slightly bent repeating line theme which alternates with other related substructures, as well as a number of inspired solos. Clarinet wiz, Ben Goldberg, gets a chance to solo on his rare reed: the contra-alto clarinet which has a unique low-end grumbly tone. The music here seems to have a lightness which shines through the center. Cornetist Kirk Knuffke and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, have worked together previously (check out their superb duo CD on Relative Pitch!) and always sound great working with each other, their harmonies are most enchanting. What makes this music so charming is/are the way Ms. Allison has arranged the luscious harmonies for the violin, clarinet, cornet & piano or harmonium, which are closer to chamber music than jazz yet have pop-like sensibility as well. Today is the coldest day of the year (1/31/19 - 10 degrees & windy). The warmth on the Sun shining through my kitchen window and the warmth of this music both radiate and inspire some positive vibrations. An excellent disc on all counts! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

JAMES BRANDON LEWIS With JAIMIE BRANCH / ANTHONY PIROG / LUKE STEWART / WARREN TRAE CRUDUP III - An UnRuly Manifesto (Relative Pitch 1078; USA) Featuring James Brandon Lewis on tenor sax & compositions, Anthony Pirog on guitar, Jaimie Branch on trumpet, Luke Stewart on bass and Warren Trae Crudup III on drums. This release was one of the last discs that label co-founder Mike Panico was working on when he passed away in October of 2018. I remember talking with Mike about it at length and I know he was really proud of the way it turned out. He has good reason to be as this CD is one of the best discs I’ve heard in recent memory. With each release, tenor saxist/composer/bandleader, James Brandon Lewis, soars higher into the creative stream, his music getting stronger and more focused. Mr. Lewis has had a trio with Luke Stewart & Warren Crudup for the past few years and they keep getting better. More recently Mr. Lewis added two other essential voices to his group: guitar great Anthony Pirog from DC (Janel & Anthony the Mezzthetics) and former Chicago trumpeter Jaimie Branch (check out her award wining debut CD from last year!).
In between several songs, there are a few short interludes called “Pillar 1, 2 or 3”. These basically set the mood for a more contemplative break before we move into more dynamic, troubled waters. The title piece has that churning, slow burning quality, which is most hypnotic thanks to the repeating chords from Mr. Pirog’s sly guitar. Mr. Lewis takes the first solo which is filled with power & passion but no screaming. Later Ms. Branch joins here, their two horns interweaving as one united spirit, building together just right, eventually calming down and gliding to a peaceful conclusion. “Sir Real Denard”, has an infectious, somewhat funky groove with some inspired soloing from bassist Luke Stewart, a great, bent-note, noise solo from Pirog’s guitar and an impressive solo from Ms. Branch’s trusty trumpet. “The Eleventh Hour” is fueled by a mesmerizing, guitar line that runs throughout while the two horns again swirl cerebrally around one another. What I believe makes this disc so fine is that Mr. Lewis has created a number of modest, yet enchanting melodies at the center of most of these songs. The only piece that goes into a freer terrain is called, “Escape Nostalgic Prisons”, and it a well-placed interlude. The final piece, “Haden is Beauty”, simmers with sublime beauty, the central melody has an endearing, gospel-like vibe. It is a perfect way to bring this classic gem to great close. This disc is superb on several levels, so check it out ASAP. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

JOE McPHEE / JOHN BUTCHER - At The Hill Of James Magee (Trost 174; Austria) At The Hill Of James Magee presents the duos complete performance at the extraordinary monument "The Hill" in the Chihuahuan Desert in the middle of nowhere in Texas. John Butcher and Joe McPhee had never shared a stage before which ended up being an attentive collaboration, starting with a long duo, alternating solo performances, and closing the atmospheric set with another duo. Personnel: Joe McPhee - alto sax; John Butcher - tenor sax.
CD $17

MAURICE LOUCA With PIERO BITTOLO - Elephantine (Northern Spy 111; USA) Maurice Louca hails from the creative music underground in Cairo, Egypt. Mr. Louca plays guitar & piano and composed & produced this disc. I had not heard much him before my pal Jason Roth had pre-ordered this disc from us last month. Mr. Louca is a member of The Dwarfs Of East Agouza along with Sir Richard Bishop. Mr. Louca leads a 12-piece ensemble with members from around the world: Italy, Iraq, Sweden, Turkey, Denmark and Egypt. Most of the pieces were recorded in Stockholm, Sweden with one done in Cairo. The only musician with whom I am previously familiar is reeds player, Piero Bittolo, Italian reeds player who can be found on some two discs from numerous labels: El Gallo Rojo, Longsong & Auand.
Although Mr. Louca is from Egypt, the music here blends several cultures or genres. The opening riff of “The Leper”, is played on an oud, repeating it over and over as a guitar doubles the riff with several reed players and percussionists all jumping into the dreamy groove, swirling hypnotically together. On “One More for the Gutter”, Louca unleashes an astonishing, power guitar lick that he hits again and again while wailing saxes and sprawling vibes provide churning waves of turbulence. There is one piece here, “In the Palm of a Ghost” which features the steamy/dreamy voice of Ms. Nadah El Shazly, it is most haunting. What I find most interesting about this disc is this: it is mostly about creating a mood or vibe and rarely about soloing. Mr. Louca consistently creates these riffs which have a way of evoking dark current stirring within each of us. The last piece, “El Khawaga”, features some powerful drums, several interlocking guitar lines and a large wave of roaring horns. An extraordinary debut considering none of these folks have high visibility. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

RUDY ROYSTON With JOHN ELLIS / GARY VERSACE / HANK ROBERTS / JOE MARTIN - Flatbed Buggy (Greenleaf 1065; USA) Featuring Rudy Royston on drums & compositions, John Ellis on bass clarinet & saxes, Gary Versace on accordion, Hank Roberts on cello and Joe Martin on bass. “Fierce drummers who lift the bandstand with a blend of poise and push are some of jazz’s most exciting improvisers. For the past several years, Rudy Royston has been one of these percussionists, an esteemed traps maestro whose sense of swing is marked by a catholic slant; he has a million ways to accent the action, and his playing—as repped by work with saxophonist JD Allen and guitarist Bill Frisell, among others—arrives with a joyous oomph that supercharges the music at hand. But his compositional interests are broad, and when leading his own ensembles, the stormy attack of a hard-hit snare and splashy ride cymbal isn’t the only story he has to tell.
‘Flatbed Buggy’ illustrates just how expansive Royston’s scope is these days. By stressing variety and dodging routine jazz tacks, the middle-aged whirlwind signals that he’s a risk-taker who’s ready to follow his muse down uncommon roads. This is his third album as a leader, as well as the third distinct ensemble he’s presented. When you design a front line of bass clarinet (John Ellis) and accordion (Gary Versace), and build your string section with both bass (Joe Martin) and cello (Hank Roberts), you’re banking on relatively unique blends to carry the day. In Royston’s case, this setup is utterly refreshing.
Though the drummer grew up in Denver, he enjoyed visits with his father back to his native Texas. This new music harks to the childhood days he’d spend amid the pleasures of rural escapades. Mildly sentimental, often cinematic, the program boasts a willful sense of grace that sustains itself, even when the momentum truly starts to percolate. After a series of serene reflections, “The Roadside Flowers” arrives all hopped up on pulse, but still possesses an inner calm that adds dimension to its emotional scope.
Royston has said that addressing parts of the classical repertoire in school goosed his imagination when it comes to crafting unusual hues in his own work. A handful of pieces bookend this thought. “boy…MAN” stresses melodic morphing over trad improvisation (the title references time passing), and its dark mix of strings and reeds offers an orchestral flair. Likewise, the eerie drama that wafts through the start of “girl…WOMAN” is one of album’s most fetching moods. The band’s cozy approach to interplay is spot-on, harking to pastoral beauty with the kind of poetry Frisell brought to Big Sur (OKeh). For Royston, Flatbed Buggy is a trip to the country that opens up several new vistas.” - Jim Macnie, Downbeat
CD $14

GREG WARD / ROGUE PARADE With DAVE MILLER / MATT GOLD / MATT ULERY / QUIN KIRCHNER - Stomping Off from Greenwood (Greenleaf 1069; USA) Featuring Greg eward on alto sax & compositions, Matt Gold & Dave Miller on guitars & effects, Matt Ulery on acoustic & electric basses and Quin Kirchner on drums.
After a stint in New York, saxophonist Greg Ward was lured home to Chicago in 2016 by a project based on Charles Mingus's The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (Impulse! Records, 1963). Ward's new vision of this record was widely acclaimed, not least for its performance with a ballet company, as Mingus had desired.
Around this time Ward began a jamming fellowship, aimed at "those who don't hate, but appreciate." Whether this hate/appreciate referred to race relations or music is unclear. But what seems obvious is Ward's increasing appeal for newcomers to modern jazz.
Rogue Parade's Stomping Off From Greenwood is a venture featuring guitarists Matt Gold and Dave Miller, along with Chicago stalwarts Matt Ulery (bass) and Quin Kirchner (drums). The album artwork evokes a world of graffiti and shabby chic apartments, with all the thrill of urban bohemia. (Greenwood is a street on the south side of Chicago, where Ward lived when he returned to town). And from the outset, on "Metropolis," Kirchner's drum juggling is like a soundtrack of citified footsteps. The guitars float by, one muted and one fluent, bringing a chilled harmony. Ward makes a languid entrance like someone who's blown in late off the sidewalk, smiling his apologies.
Never does the simplified feel more effective than in Ward's hands. Where others let their musical taps whistle and splutter, he knows when to let his faucet drip-drop with pure melody. The guitarist Ryley Walker refers to this process as letting the brain drain out. Even as life's rhythms scurry by, Ward's tuneful touch remains unhurried, like a free spirit among go-getters.
More seductive phrasing comes on "Excerpt 1," but now the percussion has turned ceremonial. "The Contender" is a union of frolicsome bass, nimble guitars and Ward's jittery solos, reaching a braying climax. Next comes "The Fourth Reverie" like a healing psalm from the streets. The company toots a single note on "Let Him Live," which unfurls into a spinning vamp; Kirchner burrows deep into his kit, then guitars and sax ping a sing-song phrase. Ulery scuttles across his bass during "Black Woods" until Ward finds a hooky chorus he's happy to repeat and we're pleased to receive.
A cover of Hoagy Carmichael's "Stardust" dresses Ward in top hat and tails, but Kirchner adds a more propulsive beat than, say, Gerry Mulligan's version. "Pitch Black Promenade" owns a sense of wandering darkly until there's an acceptance of shadows. Finally, guitars trill over a dusky drone and Kirchner's muffled drums on "Sundown" as Ward plays with great stealth, quietly investigating.
Ward was eighteen when he emailed Branford Marsalis for advice. Marsalis replied, "You don't find your voice. It finds you." Whatever mouthpiece has found a home in Greg Ward, it exists for those who don't hate, but appreciate. Stomping Off From Greenwood sings with a depth of harmony to crack the hardest heart.” - Gareth Thompson, AllAboutJazz
CD $14

Second Batch of Leo CD’s for February 2019

AKIRA SAKATA / SIMON NABATOV / TAKASHI SEO / DARREN MOORE - Not Seeing Is A Flower (Leo 843; UK) This is unique, unlikely & extraordinary international quartet: Akira Sakata (Japanese & marine biologist) on alto sax, clarinet & vocals, Simon Nabatov (Russian born) on piano, Takashi Seo (from Tokyo) on bass and Darren Moore (Australia) on drums. Legendary Japanese sax Akira Sakata has collaborated with Yamashita Yosuke, Last Exit and more recently (2001, actually), a one-time unit: Pete Cosey, Bill Laswell & Hamid Drake: ‘Fisherman’s.com’. I’ve caught Cologne-based pianist Simon Nabatov on several occasions and he has blown me away every time. Check out any of his 30 releases on Leo or NoBusiness.
This disc/set is taken from the quartet’s six city tour of Japan in November of 2017. This was the last night of the short tour and it was recorded at Jazzspot Candy Club in Chiba, Japan. Both Mr. Sakata on alto sax and Simon Nabatov on piano are well matched at erupting molten waves of free/jazz… The great (unknown) rhythm team is also in colossal form, whipping up power waves. Even when they calm down, the intensity still bristles. Mr. Nabatov’s long solo starts off furiously and slowly winds down to a soft spacious section. Later, Nabatov does his distinctive out-vocals, which always fit in the grand scheme, no matter how odd they sound. After just six dates, this quartet sounds solid, focused and consistently inspired. Another free/music treasure from the Leo Records treasure chest. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17

MARILYN CRISPELL / TANYA KALMANOVICH / RICHARD TEITELBAUM - Dream Libretto (Leo 849; UK) This CD is a very personal statement from Marilyn Crispell. Memoria / For Pessa Malka was composed as a memorial to her relatives who died in the Second World War, and to her parents, husband, and close friends who have passed on during the past several years. The five movements comprise a journey through suffering to redemption. First half of the CD is a trio with Tanya Kalmanovitch (violin) and Richard Teitelbaum (electronics), while the second half is a duo with Tanya. The seven violin/piano improvisations are not connected to the memorial piece, but they seemed to fit the ambience established by it.
CD $17

IVO PERELMAN / MAT MANERI / MARK FELDMAN / JASON HWANG - Strings 1 (Leo 850; UK) Featuring Ivo Perelman on tenor sax, Mat Maneri on viola, Mark Feldman on violin and Jason Hwang on violin. After some 30 discs release on this, the Leo label over perhaps a half dozen years, it looks as if Mr. Perelman might be slowing down a bit with just four newer CDs in the past year, aside from one 3 CD set (duos w/ Matt Shipp). Aside from an occasion appearance from the elusive Mat Maneri, it has been a long while since Mr. Perelman has worked with a string quartet or trio. What I find most interesting is that although all three of these string players are gifted improvisers, they work in different circles, and haven’t played together until now. Mark Feldman is known for playing the challenging written music of John Zorn in the Masada String Trio or duo with Sylvie Courvoisier. Mat Maneri does mostly improvised sessions for a wide variety of players, always challenging his cohorts with his idiosyncratic microtonal explorers. Jason Hwang is somewhere in the middle working written and highly improvised music both. While Mr. Feldman keeps his rigid intonation central to the proceedings, Mr. Maneri keeps pushing things further out. This keeps Mr. Perelman balancing or dancing between those two extremes. It seems obvious that Mr. Perelman and Mr. Maneri have worked together previously since they seem to bend notes in similar ways at times, occasionally exchanging lines quickly and finishing each others sentences. This does sound like a working quartet since off four voices fit together so well. Things calm down to a slow, somber simmer on “Part 3”, before they reaching for those bent-note shrieks again. Things solidify into high-end improv later on as all four players have gotten use to each other’s sound and have found ways to exchange ideas quickly, becoming one collective, ever-evolving voice. A wonderful of high-end improv at its best! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17

IVO PERELMAN / MAT MANERI / HANK ROBERTS / NED ROTHENBERG - String 2 (Leo 851; UK) Featuring Ivo Perelman on tenor sax, Mat Maneri on viola, Hank Roberts on cello and Ned Rothenberg on bass clarinet. After some 30 discs release on this, the Leo label over perhaps a half dozen years, it looks as if Mr. Perelman might be slowing down a bit with just four newer CDs in the past year, aside from one 3 CD set (duos w/ Matt Shipp). While Mat Maneri has worked with Mr. Perelman on several previous discs, this is the first time that Mr. Perelman has worked with either Ned Rothenberg (bass clarinet here) or Hank Roberts (cello). As far as I can tell, this is the first time that Hank Roberts and Ned Rothenberg have worked together as well. This is indeed an unique and unlikely line-up.
All of the pieces here are mostly trios with Mr. Perelman, Maneri and Rothenberg or Hank Roberts. All four musicians play together on just two pieces, the first and the last ones. It sounds as if Mr. Perelman and Mr. Maneri have been working together previous since they have a way of bending their notes in similar ways. After moving upstate for some two decades, Mr. Roberts is now back living in Brooklyn and playing locally in various groupings. He has remained a marvelous improviser through his entire career. He is also a strong composer and bandleader, although his last releases as a bandleader are from many years back. It is great to hear him stretch out at length here. While Mr. Maneri, an ever-challenging microtonal improviser, goes further out, Mr. Roberts lays down a solid, low-end foundation, bringing things a bit more inside. I like the way these folks work together, taking their time, twisting their notes intricately around one another, an elastic sense of shared bent notes flowing together. At times Perelman and Maneri push each other into more turbulent waters, the intensity building to a boil. Mr. Roberts always finds space for himself to fit in, adding some low-end harmonies or counterbalance to the fireworks above. If you make your way through the entire disc, you will be richly rewarded with the final long piece for the entire quartet, which is quite extraordinary, all stops are pulled, the intensity and exchange of ideas brought to a higher level. - Bruce Lee Gallanter at DMG
CD $17

IVO PERELMAN / RUDI MAHALL - Kindred Spirits (Leo 840/841; UK) Featuring Ivo Perelman on tenor sax and Rudi Mahall on bass clarinet. Brazilian-born, Brooklyn-based saxist, Ivo Perelman, has been on a never-ending quest to record as many improv sessions as is possible over the past decade or so with some thirty discs now released by the Leo label. Often these sessions are released in groups of 5-7 CD’s. Over the last year, Mr. Perelman, has decided to do something different, so his last Leo release is a triple CD set (duos with Matt Shipp) and now two CD’s have been released and both are duos with great bass clarinetists: Jason Stein from Chicago and Rudi Mahall from Germany. Mr. Mahall is one of the few reeds players who works exclusively with the bass clarinet. He has become very visible over the past decade, working with Alex von Schlippenbach, Aki Takase and an ongoing band called Die Enttaeuschung. What’s interesting about this session is that neither of these two reedman had played together before and Mr. Mahall was just in town for two days before returning to Germany. From the first piece, both of these musicians are digging in and exchanging ideas quickly, many fragments tightly woven… The pace (from slow to quick) and interaction is most often astonishing as both men toss off layers of connected lines. Both of these men are well-versed in extended techniques & multiphonics, hence they are continually testing one another with a wide variety of unique sounds. There is an ongoing spirit of adventure as these two work hard at combining their talents. Outstanding! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD set $28

ELI WALLACE / ROB PUMPELLY - Dialectical Imagination - Two Infinitudes: The One You See and the One That IS You (Leo 839; UK) Featuring Eli Wallace on piano and Rob Pumpelly on drums. Over the past year, I have been keeping my eye & ear on former West Coast pianist, Eli Wallace, as he evolves. Over three previous discs, each with different personnel, Mr. Wallace has shown himself to be a formidable pianist and challenging composer. The music on this disc was composed by the drummer, Rob Pumpelly, and recorded in Berkeley, CA. The liner notes by Mr. Pumpelly go on at length about what the title of this disc is all about, ‘Dialectical Imagination’ and I am still thinking about what Pumpelly discusses. The first thing I notice about this disc is how well it is recorded, the duo often sound as one unified force. There is a strong bond, a back and forth dialogue of combined forces. Mr. Pumpelly’s strong mallet-work is on full full display, as he whips up a storm, the heavy currents swirling a centrifugal force. The results often sound like a storm, churning, wave upon wave. Mr. Wallace is equally impressive as he casts off his own whiplash like lines, one after the other, the waves growing higher and higher. By the end of the disc I was exhausted by the energy expelled throughout the long ride, but it was well worth the throttling journey! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16

ELI WALLACE & SANDY EWEN // MICHELLE YOM / PAUL FEITZINGER / SANDY EWEN - Live at Outskirts Music / Live at WFMU (Self-produced; USA) Featuring on Side B: Eli Wallace on piano & Sandy Ewen on guitar & objects and Michelle Yom on flute, Paul Feitzinger on snare and Sandy Ewen on guitar & objects. Former West Coast pianist Eli Wallace used to work and DMG and can be heard on handful of extraordinary discs released in the past couple of years. Former Texas-based experimental guitarist, Sandy Ewen, now lives in Brooklyn and is an integral part of the evolving Downtown Scene. She plays her guitar laid in her lap and coaxes odd sounds at of it with an assortment on objects. The duo with Ms. Ewen and Mr. Wallace was recorded at Outskirts Music in March of 2018. Thanks to having Ms. Ewen play here at DMG on a couple of occasions, I have an idea of how she plays the guitar with objects. I have also see & heard Mr. Wallace play piano (inside & on the keyboard) at I-Beam, which helps to figure out what he is doing. Both players are stretching out, creating unique sounds through extended techniques. The music is filled with subtle suspense and transports us somewhere else. Both of these instruments work well together, the bending and rubbing of strings coaxes out a variety of alien sounds. The trio on the other side of this cassette is: Michelle Yom on flute, Paul Feitzinger on snare & objects and Sandy Ewen on guitar with objects. Can’t say that I’ve heard of Ms. Yom or Mr. Feitzinger before now, but I noticed that Ms. Ewen has a way of discovering many like minded sonic explorers. Turns out that Mr. Feitzinger is also a member of Eighty-Pound Pug, a little known underground collective led by Alex Lozupone. The trio was recorded live on WFMU in May of 2018. Again, they work well together at creating their own alien world(s). Considering that I so rarely listen to cassettes nowadays, I do enjoy the way this tape sounds, most natural with no digital compression or any other unnecessary BS. Everything here sounds close-mic’d, the overall sound pretty fascinating. Although we rarely list cassettes in the DMG newsletter, I remain convinced that this format is still valid and is well worth exploring. So dust off that old cassette machine and give this a listen… - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Cassette $10

LUIGI NONO - Musica Manifesto N. 1 (Die Schachtel 037; Italy) Die Schachtel present a reissue of Luigi Nono's Musica Manifesto N. 1, originally released in 1969. Long considered, with Pierre Boulez and Karlheinz Stockhausen, to be one point in the trinity of the post-war avant-garde, Luigi Nono was one of the most important and singular composers to emerge in the years following the Second World War. Nono's music infused the avant-garde with a sense of emotion and moral consciousness which had been previously unheard, seeking to join advanced forms of music in the social struggles of everyday life. Originally issued in 1969, none of Nono's works illuminate this radical consciousness and concern better than his seminal Musica-Manifesto N.1. Now reissued by Die Schachtel in collaboration with Archivo Storico Ricordi, it is a revolution led by one man, a window into the creative and political potential of sound. Nono's work was vocally political from its earliest days -- first as explicitly anti-fascist, pointedly embracing Marxism (he officially joined the Communist Party in 1952), before, as '60s and '70s unfolded, becoming a voice in the international worker and student struggles and the fight against the Vietnam War. It's hardly coincidental that a work as important and powerful as Musica-Manifesto N.1 emerged at the time it did. It is among the greatest sonic culminations of 1960s, composed and released just before the decade's end. Musica-Manifesto N.1, original intended to be the first part in a suite which never appeared, was commissioned by the communist administrated town of Chatillon-sous-Bagneux, in France, during the Spring of 1969. The work, manifesting in two parts, can be understood as snapshot of its moment -- incorporating texts taken from the walls of Paris in May, 1968, read by Edmonda Aldini against the voices of Communist leaders like Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh, and Mao, as well as recordings of the riots and protests which occurred at the Venice Biennale in June, '68. Both sides of Musica-Mainifesto N.1, "Un Volto, Del Mare" and "Non Consumiamo Marx", are works for magnetic tape, the first archived through careful editing to achieve a singular polyphonic complexity, while the second utilizes manipulation of its source material through filters and modulators, played against electronically generated sounds. The cumulative result remains a legendary culmination of avant-garde practice and political struggle. Features a tabloid/poster with texts by Veniero Rizzardi and unpublished photos of the 1968 Venice Biennale riots.
CD $21

LIONEL MARCHETTI - Jeu Du Monde (Sonoris 015; France) Jeu Du Monde is a collection of around twenty musique concrète pieces which spreads over more than six hours of music. Each CD has been designed as an audio film which tells a full story. The box set includes previously released works which have long been unavailable, reworked versions of digital releases, as well as unreleased pieces especially composed for this occasion. With the use of a complex sound palette (synthesizers, analog and digital manipulation, percussion, low fidelity samplers, radios, Revox, vocals, prepared piano, field recordings, etc.), Lionel Marchetti takes you through an audio landscape in which the acoustic imagination feeds on nature and its diversity: the desert, the upper atmosphere, mankind, night and day, fire, death, until you disappear into the ocean space... Includes 32-page booklet (in French) illustrated by Adèle Marchetti; Presentation texts by Denis Boyer, Régis Poulet, Frédéric Neyrat, Yann Leblanc, and the composer himself. Some compositions were co-written with Yôko Higashi and Olivier Capparos. Seijiro Murayama, Sébastien Églème, Isabelle Duthoit, Patrick Charbonnier are also featured.
Lionel Marchetti is a French composer of musique concrète and an improviser (various analog and digital electronic instruments and modified speakers). He also writes poetry and essays on the art of musique concrète, as an artist working within the genre. His musique concrète works follow in the steps of composers such as Pierre Henry, Bernard Parmegiani, and Michel Chion.
6 CD Set $50

THE DEAD C - Rare Ravers (Ba Da Bing! 139; USA) "Disguised as the meandering outpourings of vacant thought and activity dialed simultaneously from zero and ten. Formed in the cauldron of a fevered mistake resolute. Surrounded by ignorance, dis-interest, and the attention of the carefully self-selected. Recorded and burned through a thousand galaxies of dust and doubt and endless infinite wonder, transforming both time and space. Forever exiled to the very bottom of the world to reflect on the struggling desperate pile above. Recognizing any contribution as miniscule and insignificant when placed within the greatness of the other, the dominant insolent preening satisfied, continually shouting the pre-eminence of the first world order. The latest by The Dead C -- Rare Ravers: it's a long player."
CD $12

HEDVIG MOLLESTAD TRIO - Smells Funny (Rune Grammofon 2203; Norway) With Smells Funny being their sixth album in seven years, the explosive and expansive Hedvig Mollestad Trio have gone from strength to strength, gathering respect from both rock and jazz camps, sharing big stages with the likes of John McLaughlin and Black Sabbath, and being equally comfortable in jazz and rock clubs. Smells Funny sees Mollestad truly coming into her own as an amazing lead guitarist as well as a dependable riffmeister. Hedvig first picked up her mother's nylon-strung acoustic guitar at ten, before discovering a whole new world through her father's jazz and rock record collection as a teenager. She translated a biography of Jimi Hendrix for a school project and was given her first electric guitar and amplifier as a confirmation present. The members of the trio are from the districts, but Hedvig met Ellen Brekken and Ivar Loe Bjørnstad at the Music Academy in Oslo. Hedvig asked them to join her after she received the Jazz Talent Of The Year Award at Molde International Jazzfestival in 2009. They have stayed together since, and all previous albums have been released on Rune Grammofon; Shoot! (RCD 2115CD/RLP 3115LP, 2011), All Of Them Witches (RCD 2141CD/RLP 3141LP 2013), Enfant Terrible (RCD 2157CD/ RLP 3157LP, 2014), Black Stabat Mater (RCD 2183CD/RLP 3183LP, 2016) and Evil In Oslo (RLP 2184LP, 2016), all to wide international acclaim.
CD $16

BASSEKOU KOUYATE & NGONI BA - Miri (Out Here Records 032; Germany) Bassekou Kouyate is back on his original label Out Here Records with his fifth studio album, Miri. Miri is an album about love, friendship, family, and true values in times of crisis. Miri means dream or contemplation in Bamana. On Miri, Kouyate travels back to his hometown Garana, a small village at the banks of the Niger river. The instrumental song "Miri" captures that feeling. Miri talks about Kouyate's mother Yakare who passed away. "Deli" is a song about true friendship. "Konya" talks about jealousy a problem that can even destroy families. "Wele Ni" takes you deep into the history of Segou koro (old Segou), once home of the Bamana kings. The song is about a king who thought he didn't need to treat the people around him with respect, and later realizes he is nothing without the people around him. The song features vocalist Abdoulaye Diabate and Bassekou playing slide ngoni with a bottleneck. Like Mali music legend Abdoulaye Diabate, most guests on the album are longtime collaborators. Bassekou's friendship with Habib Koite goes way back to the early days of Symmetric Orchestra. As a trio together with young Toumani Diabate Bassekou played his first concert in Europe in 1989. "Kanto Kelena (She Left Me Alone)" is a song about a man who was left alone by his loved one. Afel Bocoum (Ali Farka Toure) from the same village Niafunke, sings for peace between the Fula, who herd cattle, and the local cultivators of Mali, on "Tabital Pulaaku". A very special guest is a young Kankou Kouyate, the daughter of Bassekou's brother Fousseyni who used to play in Ngoni Ba -- Kankou can be heard on all of the background vocals. Michael League (Snarky Puppy, Bokanté) went out of his way to add some guitar to the song "Konya". Fiddle player Casey Driessen, whom Bassekou met while touring with Bela Fleck, played on the folk ballad "Nyame". Dom Flemons (Carolina Chocolate Drops) plays bones on Bamana classic "Fanga". "Wele Cuba" is an Afro-Cuban jam about Africa's love for Cuban music; Cuba's answer is sung by Yasel Gonzalez Rivera (Madera Limpia). The album pays homage to two great Malian singers that have blessed quite a number of Bassekou's albums: the one and only Zoumana Tereta and the golden voice of Mali, Kassemady Diabate. Also features Majid Bekkas.
CD $15

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - Soul Rebels (Radiation Roots 331; Italy) Radiation Roots presents a reissue of Bob Marley and The Wailers' Soul Rebels, originally issued in 1970. Easily one of the greatest roots reggae albums of all time, Soul Rebels resulted from the intensive partnership brokered by the group and maverick producer, Lee 'Scratch' Perry. It was the first Wailers 'concept' album, conceived as a long-player based on a rebellious theme, rather than a collection of isolated singles, and the presence of the Barrett brothers in the rhythm section pointed the way for greater glories to come. The Wailers first formed as an unruly five-piece in 1963, with Junior Braithwaite as lead singer and Beverley Kelso an early member, sometimes replaced by Cherry Green. During their long tenure at Studio One, Bob Marley gradually shifted to the lead vocal role and the robust core of Marley, Peter Tosh, and Neville Livingston, aka Bunny Wailer, soon emerged as the mainstays of the group. Perry was involved with the Wailers at Studio One, using their talents for backing vocals on some of his solo work, but the partnership that yielded Soul Rebels was in an entirely different league. The title track, Tosh's anguished "400 Years and "Corner Stone" are legendary for their intense power; "It's Alright" set the template for the later "Night Shift," "My Cup" was an individual barebones reading of James Brown's "I Guess I'll Have To Cry Cry Cry," while the playful "Try Me" and "No Water" are suggestive odes. Tosh's dejected "No Sympathy" and the spirited "Soul Almighty" are other winners and the "Cloud 9" revamp "Rebel's Hop" is another joy. All killer, no filler!
CD $15 / LP $21

SLY & ROBBIE - Dubs For Tubs: A Tribute To King Tubby (Radiation Roots 333; Italy) Radiation Roots present a reissue of Sly & Robbie's Dubs For Tubs: A Tribute To King Tubby, originally released in 1990. Lowell Dunbar and Robert Shakespeare are the renowned Jamaican rhythm section that has worked with a range of international stars, including Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger, Joan Armatrading, Garland Jeffries, and countless others. They first came to know each other in the early 1970s, when both were based in rival bands playing in clubs on Kingston's Red Hills Road and started working together at Channel One studio in the mid-1970s, when Sly was musical arranger for the Revolutionaries house band and Robbie the main bassist for Bunny Lee's Aggrovators. After a stint of international touring in Peter Tosh's Word, Sound and Power band, which exposed them to the tastes and markets of overseas audiences, the pair joined forces more concertedly with their Taxi label, producing hits with Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Sugar Minott, and the Wailing Souls. At the same time, as the driving force behind the Compass Point All Stars, they brought Grace Jones to prominence worldwide and made Gwen Guthrie a star through reggaefied disco, and then brought Black Uhuru into the top spot in the wake of Bob Marley's passing. Then, when Jamaican music went digital with the "Sleng Teng" craze of the mid-1980s, Sly and Robbie made the shift in that direction too, becoming among the most prominent producers as the '80s gave way to the '90s. Dubs For Tubs: A Tribute To King Tubby is a digital dub salute to King Tubby, issued shortly after his terrible murder; it is mostly comprised of synthesizer re-cuts of classic Jamaican rhythms, with "Dub For Joy" being a tough re-working of the Heptones' "Love Me Girl" and "Dub To Make You Move And Groove" a take on their "Party Time"; Dennis Brown's "Here I Come" is here mutated to "Dub For Roots People" and his "Here I Come" anthem shifted into the spongy "Dub For All Seasons." An intriguing re-work of "Sleng Teng" is among the other highlights.
CD $15 / LP $21

DILLINGER - Marijuana In My Brain (Radiation Roots RR 332; Italy) Radiation Roots presents a reissue of Dillinger's Marijuana In My Brain, originally issued in 1977. In the early 1970s, top-ranking toaster Lester Bullock got his start on the El Paso sound system in the mean streets of western Kingston. Initially known as Young Capone, since he was a protégé of the better-established Dennis Alcapone, he was renamed Dillinger by Lee 'Scratch' Perry, the first producer to record a significant number of tracks with the youth. "Dub Organiser" and "Tighten Up Skank" were somewhat popular when released in 1973 and there were individual tracks cut for Phil Pratt, Augustus Pablo, Prince Tony Robinson, and Joe Gibbs, as well as Studio One, who issued his debut LP, Ready Natty Dreadie, in 1975. By then, Dillinger was recording a series of singles for hit-making producer Bunny 'Striker' Lee, particularly on Johnnie Clarke's rhythms, though recordings for Channel One and the CB 200 album were what catapulted him into overseas consciousness in 1976, once the outstanding single, "Cocaine In My Brain," reached the European pop charts. Marijuana In My Brain dates from 1977 and placed the toaster over some of the Striker's hottest rhythms, previously utilized for Clarke scorchers like "Satta" and "Poor Marcus" (along with the odd Ronnie Davis track); Clarke's reading of "Going To A Ball" is here transformed into an ode to the Bouncing Ball, then one of the most popular clubs for black Londoners, and his "African Roots" anthem gets the Dillinger treatment too. Of course, the title track was the biggest hit of the bunch, an ode to the 'wisdom weed' driven by cosmic space synth overdubs.
CD $15 / LP $21

DOMINIQUE GUIOT - L'Univers De La Mer (Wrwtfww 038; Switzerland) WRWTFWW Records present the official reissue of super-rare and fabled prog-rock/library/synth album L'Univers De La Mer by French composer Dominique Guiot. Written, composed and played by Dominique Guiot with his Mellotron, Minimoog, clavinet, organ, and guitar, L'Univers De La Mer draws its inspiration from deep sea exploration, oceanic creatures, and underwater kingdoms. The 12-track album navigates organically through diverse mutations of the prog-rock and synth kind, from scenic meditation pieces ("Wind Surf Ballad"), to medieval electronica ("Une Ballade Pour Une Goélette"), spacey smooth jazz ("Les Deux Poissons"), funked-out fantasy folk ("L'Univers De La Mer"), or even incredible Sega Mega-CD vibes ("La Danse Des Méduses") -- altogether painting a fascinating world of eerie magic and subaquatic sensuality. It's escapism at its best with subtle overtones of Schicke Führs Fröhling, Mike Oldfield, and Claude Perraudin. The sound of the album is brilliantly captured by its surreal cover art, the work of legendary artist Jacques Wyrs, whose memorable record sleeves include Klaus Schulze's Picture Music (1975), Eloy's Floating (1974), Ange's Le Cimetière Des Arlequins (1973), and the 1974 reissue of Larry Coryell's Spaces. Sourced from original masters. CD version marks the first CD release of the album.
CD $16

Back in Stock:

If you read the DMG newsletter often, you will mostly hear about the term, The CANTERBURY SCENE. What this refers to is what journalists and progressive music lovers know as a type of music that was originally created in and around Canterbury in England, starting in the mid-sixties. There was a collective of mostly young men from the Canterbury area known as The Wilde Flowers, who played cover songs and originals, mostly for their own amusement. They eventually split into two different bands, SOFT MACHINE and CARAVAN, both of whom’s debut albums were released in 1968, both self-titled. When both bands began, there were a number of similarities: both were quartets with the same instrumentation: el. guitar, organ, el. bass and drums. Both bands also had (at least) two singers, one with a high voice (Pye Hastings in Caravan & Robert Wyatt in the Softs) and one with a low voice (Richard Sinclair in Caravan, Kevin Ayers in the Softs). Both bands evolved and progressed quickly (their sound & personnel changing), both remain favorites of what would be called the Canterbury Scene. Although Soft Machine remain in my top three favorite bands of all time (along with the Mothers of Invention & Henry Cow), I am a huge Caravan fan as well. From 1967 through 1970, I used to listen to a radio show by Scott Muni on WNEW-FM, which had a hourlong segment every Friday night called “Things from England”. The gravely-voiced Mr. Muni would play a dozen or so singles from the British charts. It was the first time I heard such bands as Traffic, Fairport Convention, Bonzo Dog Band, etc. I recall hearing the first Caravan single, “A Place of My Own”, and was mesmerized by it.
Caravan went on to record a dozen or so studio efforts and actually still exists & performs today, more than 50 years later. The first five, for me, are all essential and the next five still pretty good. There are also another dozen live recordings, well worth checking out. Their first, self-titled album is a good place to start, although we don’t have it in stock at the moment but it will be back, hopefully soon. It is also not so well-recorded as the band were still adjusting to the studio and could’ve been mixed better. The first five albums have all been reissued over the past decade and each one includes several bonus tracks… Here they are:

CARAVAN - If I Could Do It Again, I Would Do It All Over You [ 4 bonus tracks](Decca 8829682; UK) This is their second album from 1970 and this is where it all comes together: the progressive/experimental elements and blend of rock/roots whimsy sound wonderful together. The line-up is still the same quartet with special guest Jimmy Hastings (brother to leader Pye Hastings) on sax & flute. The blend of both vocalists: Pye Hastings & Richard Sinclair is also a splendid pairing. The second side of the original album is a side-long epic called, “For Richard” and it shows their progressive leanings perfectly. The first time I played this for a handful of my college roommates, we all broke into the chorus, “Why, why, why… I wish I were stoned out of my mind.” Indeed! - BLG
CD $16

CARAVAN - In the Land of Gray and Pink [ 5 bonus tracks](Decca 8829832; UK) This is their third and most beloved album of all and still finds it way into many best of lists. It doesn’t get any more charming than this, the melodies, the enchanting vocals by Pye & Richard. There a some guest brass players here and Side two is another side-long epic called “Six Feet Underground”, another classic. This was the end of the original line-up. I just played this for our employee, Frank, and was completely charmed. - BLG
CD $16

CARAVAN - For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night [ 5 bonus tracks](Decca 8829802; UK) This is their fifth album, after Richard Sinclair left and they added Geoff Richardson on viola, a gifted player and soloist who sayer with the band for many years afterwards. The band rock a bit hard than they used to and this is also a perfect effort. - BLG
CD $16

LP Section:

KEITH & JULIE TIPPETT / LINO CAPRA VACCINA / PAOLO TOFANI - A Mid Autumn Night's Dream (Dark Companion DCLP 006; Italy) Another true masterpiece. A Mid Autumn Night's Dream faithfully report a one-shot concert that took place at Conservatorio Nicolini in Piacenza on October 1st, 2016. The four giants of new music never played together before: Keith Tippett, Julie Tippetts, Lino Capra Vaccina, and Paolo Tofani. As the lights turned off something magic started. A spontaneous interplay, an amazing flowing of notes. The subject was the night, its mystic flavors. Paolo Tofani, now a Hindi monk, is a living legend in Italian avantgarde music having been the driving force of the band Area in the seventies. He worked and recorded with many musicians including John Cage, Alvin Curran, Steve Lacy, just to mention a few. His last album, Real Essence (2015), an acoustic solo album, impressed the late Greg Lake who eventually wrote the liner notes. Lino Capra Vaccina provided the visionary sound of the seminal Italian ensemble Aktuala then formed the legendary Telaio Magnetico with Franco Battiato and Juri Camisasca, and later played percussion in La Scala Orchestra with Claudio Abbado. In Italy he is a true legend and a respected musician. His first solo album, Antico Adagio (DS 027-1LP/027CD) along with his last one Metafisiche del Suono (DCLP 002CD/LP), are considered amongst the very best avant garde albums ever. Keith Tippett is another living legend in British jazz music -- band leader, composer, and visionary pianist -- with an uncompromising career full of outstanding gems. A larger audience knows him as a member of King Crimson or the leader of Centipede. His skills go from contemporary jazz to larger compositions for orchestra and classical music as well. One of his latest piano solo album, Mujician IV live in Piacenza, has been critically acclaimed all over the world. Julie Tippetts lent her fantastic voice to various situations, many times side by side with her husband Keith. The team called one of their duo album, Couple in Spirit (1988), as they are in life and art. Julie is a fantastic musician who added a magic touch, a siren call to this masterpiece.
LP $28

DEREK BAILEY & CYRO BAPTISTA - Cyro (Honest Jon’s Records HJR 207; UK) Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Derek Bailey and Cyro Baptista's Cyro, originally released on Incus in 1988. When Cyro Baptista moved to New York in 1980 from his home city of São Paulo, he brought with him an arsenal of percussion instruments, including the cuica (friction drum), surdo (the booming bass drum associated with samba), berimbau (single-string bow with resonating gourd), and cabasas galore, in the next few years deploying them most notably in numerous ensembles curated by John Zorn, who helped set up this studio session in 1982. As you might expect from someone whose infectious grooves have graced the work of Herbie Hancock, Astrud Gilberto, and Cassandra Wilson, Baptista expertly fires off cunning polyrhythms, even traces of thumping samba, with restless fluency. Bailey, the wily old fox, skirts and eschews the bait, which is quickly conjured away and newly fashioned. The guitarist homes in on the delicious squeaks of the cuica and the twanging drones of the berimbau with truly awesome tonal precision. You could sing along if you wanted, after a caipirinha or two. And he gets almost as many different sounds from his instrument as Baptista can from his kit -- check out the stratospheric plings and string-length fret-sweeps of "Tonto", which sound more like a prepared piano than an acoustic guitar. Wonders abound, from the berimbau/bent-string exchanges that open "Quanto Tempo" to the delightful collision of howling cuica and spiky bebop on "Polvo", and the spare, preposterous Webernian samba of "Improvisation 3". These days, "improvisation" often appears without its customary qualifier "free". If there were ever a case to be made for its reinstatement, this album is the best supporting evidence. Freedom means you're free to get into the groove, free not to, free to play with each other, free to play against each other. Sometimes frustrating, even scary, but more often than not in the hands of these two great masters it's hilarious, exhilarating and utterly irresistible.
2 LP Set $32

DEREK BAILEY & TONY COE - Time (Honest Jon’s Records HJR 208; UK) Honest Jon's Records present a reissue of Derek Bailey and Tony Coe's Time, originally released on Incus in 1979. Multi-reedist Tony Coe was born in 1934, four years after guitarist Derek Bailey. He cut his teeth as a career jazzman with Humphrey Lyttleton, before an extended stint with the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band. On this rare 1979 duo outing, he sticks to clarinet. And though that instrument has an illustrious jazz pedigree, Coe's playing here is something else. It's worth noting that the clarinetist has also played under the baton of arch-modernist Pierre Boulez, the kind of composer Derek Bailey enjoyed taking to task in his book Improvisation. You might think the Frenchman's uncompromising serialism and the free playing Bailey defended with such passion all his life would have little in common, yet both men were hugely influenced by Anton Webern. It's an influence you can hear right through Bailey's career in his obsessive exploration of tight parcels of registrally-fixed pitches, notably those trademark ringing harmonics. Meanwhile, Coe's meandering semitones and sinuous arabesques here recall both Boulez's clarinet writing in Domaines, and the harmonic world of Boulez's own teacher Olivier Messiaen. Still, no traditional classical musical notation could ever render the extraordinary rhythmic subtlety and timbral complexity of this music. It's at one and the same time dazzlingly virtuosic -- Coe and Bailey are on stellar form throughout, and have enough sense to, yes, accompany each other where needs be -- and supremely lyrical and spacious. An absolute delight.
2 LP Set $32

PETER BROTZMANN OCTET With EVAN PARKER / WILLEM BREUKER / FRED VAN HOVE / PETER KOWALD / SVEN AKE JOHANSSON / HAN BENNINK / et al - Machine Gun (Cien Fuegos 020; Austria) Cien Fuegos present a reissue of the Peter Brötzmann Octet's Machine Gun, originally released in 1968. One of the most important albums of European free jazz, finally in the Cien Fuegos series. Recorded May 1968 at "Lila Eule", Bremen. Personnel: Peter Brötzmann - baritone saxophone, tenor saxophone; Peter Kowald - acoustic bass; Buschi Niebergall - acoustic bass; Sven-Ake Johansson - drums; Han Bennink - drums; Fred Van Hove - piano; Evan Parker - tenor saxophone; Willem Breuker - tenor saxophone.
“Arguably the single most important landmark in European free music: The original BRO Records LP restored to its 1968 format, with two alternate takes, new liner notes by Brotzmann and John Corbett, plus the only live version of MACHINE GUN ever recorded- in a deluxe UMS O-card package! [If you already own the FMP CD of Machine Gun AND the Atavistic CD F*ck De Boere, you have all the material found here, albeit not in the same order] "In 1968, there was a palpable sense of optimism in the air. This in spite of the fact that the sh*theads seemed to have the upper hand, with the quagmire of Vietnam, the intractability of the American struggle for Civil Rights, Martin Luther King's assassination, the "shoot to kill" order in Chicago. But in Paris during the spring of '68, the students took the reins, and across northern Europe a euphoric attitude had spread, charged by a sense that the world was not stuck forever but in fact could be changed. That was the impetus behind Peter Brotzmann's composition and subsequent LP "Machine Gun." As Brotzmann has said: "It was the feeling, the very naive feeling that we could take a little part in changing the world." Adopting its title from Don Cherry's nickname for Brotzmann, "Machine Gun" drew on the huge horn section of Lionel Hampton's "Flying Home" for inspiration, translating the hilarious saxophonic power of the jump blues, and Illinois Jacquet's booting and hollering into an abstraction painted with a flame-thrower, a la Alberto Burri. Machine Gun was a watershed, and even if it has taken four decades to find its appreciative audience, it is now an essential recording, both in terms of the development of free music in Europe and taken on its own merits, outside of the context of its creation. " - John Corbett / Chicago, May, 2007 - Limited pressing!
LP $30 [These sold out quickly the last time they were around so do not hesitate]

EUGENE CHADBOURNE - Solo Guitar Volume 2-1/3 (Feeding Tube Records 394; USA) "Eugene Chadbourne is one of the great guitar players of the modern era. At the time he began recording in Canada in 1975, his music was a unique syncretic formulation. While its most obvious component was free improvisation in a style then most widely associated with English and European players, his music also contained elements of jazz, country, folk, blues, psychedelic and international sounds, referencing these threads in ways that were so diverse and intensely personalized it would take scholars decades to decode them. Volume 2-1/3 is the second of four LPs devoted to documenting some of the music Dr. Chadbourne was creating during the years he was based in the provinces of Canada, while avoiding the conscriptive powers of Richard Nixon and his ilk. Exact details of the recordings are unknown, but that's trivial. There are six tracks of improvisational guitar madness at its most glorious. Describing them is almost impossible, but I can at least tell you their names 'Piazza del Duomo', 'Preperation Dimafbay' (sic), 'Father (You Opened)', 'That's All Water Under the Bridge' (purported to be the first lesson of a proposed guitar instructional record, which is a fairly brain-searing concept) and 'Rocket!' (which is a different take of the Oliver Lake classic first recorded on Volume Two). This last one might be my fave Chadbourne acoustic piece ever. Maybe yours too! If not, just give this a spin and let us know your favorite. Maybe you'll win a button. Solo Guitar Volume 2-1/3 is even more amazing than the last one, in our opinion. And there's more to come!" --Byron Coley, 2019 Edition of 400.
LP $19

THE WORK - Slow Crimes (Spittle Records 091; Italy) Spittle Records present a reissue of The Work's Slow Crimes, originally released in 1982. From the heart of the late '70s/early '80s British underground scene, an extraordinary album at the very edge between art-rock and punk. The Work were a full electric band featuring Tim Hodgkinson, his very first project after the seminal experience of Henry Cow, and three younger maverick figures from the London underground scene. Guitarist Bill Gilonis (The Lowest Note, News from Babel, The Hat Shoes), bassist Mick Hobbs (Officer!, Half Japanese), and drummer Rick Wilson (Family Fodder). The Work embodies the crucial step between two unrepeatable decades in music. An unprecedented mixture of rock complexity and punk attitude. Unapologetically raw and direct, Slow Crimes, The Work's first album originally released in 1982, stands as one of the most essential and uncompromising pieces of vinyl in the field of experimental rock. This edition comes in printed inner sleeve with unpublished pictures and various memorabilia; Includes CD containing the album along with four extra tracks, three of which are from The Work's first and only 7", including the anthemic "I Hate America".
LP CD $24

MILES DAVIS With CARLOS GARNETT / REGGIE LUCAS / CEDRIC LAWSON / KHALIL BALAKRISHA / BADAL ROY / MICHAEL HENDERSON / AL FOSTER - WBCN Broadcast 1972: Live At Paul's Mall (Wax Radio 006; Italy) Miles Davis and his electric group of the early '70s is some of the most innovative and important jazz music ever set to tape. While the studio recordings are amazing, they often pale in comparison to the loose, improvisational and fiery heights that the group could reach in front of a live audience (as was captured on Live-Evil (1971), In Concert (1973), and Miles Davis At Fillmore (1970), among others). This set from September of 1972 is no exception. Recorded just prior to the release of On The Corner (1972), this stellar performance features tracks from that classic as well as Jack Johnson (1971) and Bitches Brew (1970). Featuring the great guitar work of his live band staple, Reggie Lucas, and the phenomenal saxophonist Carlos Garnett, this is early '70s electric Miles at its finest, a brilliant radio broadcast.
LP $18

DAVID BEHRMAN - On the Other Ocean (Lovely Music 1041; USA) Lovely Music present a reissue of David Behrman's On the Other Ocean, originally issued as one of Lovely Music's first six releases in 1978. This newly-mastered LP is a must-have for Behrman aficionados or a perfect introduction to his work.
"I've been engaged for many years in an exploration of ways to make music and intermedia installations in which software and electronic devices interact with human performers. I've wanted to make works that have personalities, which remain distinct and recognizable, yet are open to surprising changes that can come about when they are performed or exhibited." - David Behrman
"Remarkable achievements on a purely technological level. Behrman's carefully programmed Kim-I system listens to tones played by the live performers, instantly analyzes the situation, and responds by playing back electronic tones of its own. This is undoubtedly the first time that humans and electronic sound equipment have communicated with one another with high degrees of spontaneity and intelligence on both ends of the wire. But the music that results is perhaps even more remarkable. Subtle, sustained, serene, sophisticated, super." --Tom Johnson, The Village Voice, Dec. 18, 1978
Recorded at the Center for Contemporary Music, Mills College, Oakland, California, Sept. 18, 1977, and at the Electronic Music Studio, State University of New York at Albany, June 9, 1977. Personnel: On the Other Ocean: David Behrman - electronics; Maggi Payne - flute; Arthur Stidfole - bassoon Figure in a Clearing: David Behrman - electronics; David Gibson - cello. 180 gram vinyl, Stoughton Old Style sleeve.
LP $19

MY CAT IS AN ALIEN - ATP: Nightmare Before Christmas 2006 Curated by Thurston Moore (Feeding Tube FTR 390; USA) "The 2006 Nightmare Before Christmas festival was one of the most bodacious assemblages of raw human talent assembled on our planet since the First Continental Congress. But it wasn't all just guys and it wasn't all just proto-Americans, so that means it was far better than any other such gathering before and/or after. One of the crazier highlights of the weekend-long event was the set by Italy's insane fraternal duo, My Cat Is An Alien. Using guitars and various other kaboobs, the Opalio boys set Red's (aka Stage 2) on fire that Sunday night, blasting out zoned croaks, wobbly drones and the kind of blabbermouth logic you usually can't access without written permission from a doctor. There were many ecstatic musical yawps during that long-ago weekend, but MCIAA's set left a deep groove in my memory. And it's a stone pleasure to revisit it after lo, these many years. Two blurts of side-ling mystery, packed in Roberto Opalio's wonderful art, with a little liner note booklet that can only hint at what you may have missed. Thankfully, if you slap on the disc, close your eyes and sniff a can of beer while lying down, you can approximate the whirling thrill ride of the set itself. And sometimes an approximation is both closer to home and more comfortable than an actual experience. So, yeah -- you're welcome!" --Byron Coley, 2019
LP $19

MARY LOU WILLIAMS - Black Christ Of The Andes (Down at Dawn 119; Italy) Down At Dawn presents a reissue of Mary Lou Williams's Black Christ of the Andes, originally issued in 1965. One of the highly regarded pieces of music by the great pianist and composer Williams, the concept behind Black Christ Of The Andes is about the ideal meeting between jazz and the spiritual, from the dark, smoky atmospheres of the Devil's music to the luminous sound of the African-American Church. A very enjoyable record made up of different materials like "Jump Blues" numbers, a cappella choral pieces and some striking piano trio cuts. All arranged and conducted by the great Melba Liston and featuring performances of jazz luminaries such as Milt Hinton, Grant Green, Percy Heath, and Williams herself.
LP $18

BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - Jesus Is Coming Soon (Down at Dawn 126; Italy) Down at Dawn present a collection of Blind Willie Johnson's recordings titled Jesus Is Coming Soon. No other singers like Blind Willie Johnson caught the essence between deep blues and raw gospel. A deep mixture of sanctified lyrics and raw sliding guitar. Jesus Is Coming Soon consists of a selection of 17 tracks from the 1929/1930 recording sessions including the unprecedented masterpiece of "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground".
LP $18

BLIND WILLIE McTELL - Drive Away Blues (Down at Dawn DAD 127; Italy) Down At Dawn present a collection of Blind Willie McTell's recordings titled Drive Away Blues. "And I know no one can sing the blues like Blind Willie McTell." That's what Bob Dylan said about Willie McTell the great singer and guitarist from Piedmont. The uncommon Atlanta street musician and twelve-string guitar specialist. A master interpreter in various styles from country blues to gospel to ragtime.
LP $18

WORTHLESS - The Cave (Feeding Tube Records 417; USA) "We were first made aware of this Brooklyn band by Gary Panter. When we asked Gary about some specific projectors for light shows, he said we'd be best off conferring with his colleague, Curtis Godino. And oh yeah, Curtis also helmed a dastardly psychedelic music unit called Worthless. Checking out some of Worthless's previous recordings for Beyond Is Beyond, Stupid Head, and Greenway, we were struck by the weirdness and seamlessness of their psych stretching; if ever there was music made for light shows, this was pretty much it. The Cave is Worthless' third vinyl LP and is as stellar a set of glistening sonics as you will hear this year. In a certain sense, this session marks the band's evolution in a direction that approaches the sweet spot with psychedelic and progressive music meet for long walks on the beach. The overall vibe of the album is free-form and floating, with the edges of the aural tapestry going in and out of focus with buzzing irregularity. There are big shards of Saucerful-era Floyd guitar zonerism, mixed with luminous Zappa-damaged pomp flourishes, a certain chunk of drama from the Nice, and a general sort of Vertigo/Dawn/Harvest gush that will keep your brain wonderfully off balance when you try to place this music in the context 21st century Brooklyn. The (often instrumental) passages of music on The Cave move like one of the nicest white whales from the class of '68, who has managed to remain uncaptured until now. It doesn't fall into any known style traps so common in music by young people who are reaching back into history for clues. This is music sweetly fried for the stoned future. Yours, we can only hope." --Byron Coley, 2019 Edition of 250.
LP $19

DAN MELCHIOR AND P.G. SIX - Exhibit A (feeding Tube Records 419; USA) "Dan Melchior is great randomizer of a musician. Born in the UK, based in the US for the last 20 years, his discography ranges from raw garage rock to avant garde tape collages, visiting a whole lots of other points in between. Exhibit A is his first collaboration with P.G. Six (aka Pat Gubler) the wonderful New England based multi-instrumentalist, who has previously appeared with Wet Tuna (FTR 364LP, 2018), Weeping Bong Band (FTR 313LP, 2018), MV & EE (FTR 167LP, 2015) and Joshua Burkett (FTR 196LP, 2015). This time out P.G. plays keyboards, recorder and electric 12-string guitar, leaving the vocals and acoustic guitar to Brother Melchior. The material on Exhibit A hearkens back to some of Melchior's early records, which had a bluesy British simplicity somewhere between Duster Bennett and Sexton Ming. The melodies are fully formed and horribly hook-laden, but there's roughness to the textural edges (and riff-qua-riffs) that gives the music an extra layer of surly magnificence. Some of the lyrics are funny as hell. I dare you to resist from smiling while listening to 'Never Trust a Man Without Sideburns' or 'It Was Good Fun'. And the cover of Creation's classic 'Painterman' is as beautiful example of form-evolution as you'll find this year. Or any other. Exhibit A is a great spin from first note to last. There are lots of strange instrumental textures and tropes, all more or less inside the confines of modernist folk invention, and the whole shimmers with a very special kind of light, while still sounding deceptively plain. It's hard to keep up with Melchior's many releases and style shifts, but it's always worth doing. And this one is a pip." --Byron Coley, 2019 Edition of 300.
LP $19

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Bruce Lee Gallanter’s Recommended Gig List for February of 2019:

THE NEW STONE
Is Located at the New School’s Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th street - just east of 6th ave

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - YARN/WIRE - JAN 29–FEB 2

2/1 Friday
8:30 pm - Powerdove - Bitter Banquet - Annie Lewandowski (voice) Ian Antonio (percussion), Laura Barger (piano) Russell Greenberg (percussion) Ning Yu (piano)

2/2 Saturday
8:30 pm - Yarn/Wire & Travis Laplante - Travis Laplante (tenor sax) Ian Antonio, Russell Greenberg (percussion) Laura Barger, Ning Yu (piano); Yarn/Wire premieres a new evening length work in collaboration with Travis Laplante.

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - BILLY MARTIN - FEB 5–9

2/5 Tuesday
8:30 pm - Year of the Dog—Medeski, Martin
John Medeski (organ) Billy Martin (percussion)

2/6 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Disappearing - Billy Martin (percussion, prepared piano)

2/7 Thursday
8:30 pm - Experimental film music - Billy Martin (percussion) Chern Hwei Fung (violin) Payton MacDonald (marimba, vibraphone) Frank London (trumpet) Kalun Leung (bass trombone) Ned Rothenberg (shakuhachi, bass clarinet) Anthony Coleman (piano) Doug Wieselman (clarinet)

2/8 Friday
8:30 pm - Stridulations for Glenn Branca - Brian Chase (drums) Brandon Ross (guitar, vocals) Chris Cochrane (guitar, vocals) Dana Lyn (bass guitar) Matteo Liberatore (guitar) Wendy Eisenberg (guitar) - For guitars, basses and voices.

2/9 Saturday
8:30 pm - illy B’s Improvisers Orchestra - Billy Martin (percussion) Tomas Fujiwara (drums) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Chern Hwei Fung (violin) Dana Lyn (violin) Ned Rothenberg (reeds, flutes) Sylvain Leroux (flutes) Anthony Coleman (piano) Chris McIntyre (trombone) Frank London (trumpet) Doug Wieselman (clarinet)

THE (NEW) STONE is located in The New School’s Glass Box Theatre  
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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Spectrum is at
70 Flushing Ave, Garage A,
Brooklyn, NY 11205

Friday 1 February at 7 PM
Spectral Fridays #15
Tal Yahalom, guitar
The Delegation
Pianist Gabriel Zucker presents new music for his ensemble The Delegation.
Featuring, for this performance:
Gabriel Zucker - piano
Mariel Roberts - cello
Adam O'Farrill - trumpet
Anna Webber - saxophone
Caitlin Cawley - percussion

Sunday 3 February
4 PM - CD release: “Never Fence With An Amateur” - Mick Rossi, piano; John King, electric guitar, electronics, etc.; Kermit Driscoll, bass, etc. Mick Rossi and John King return to Spectrum for their CD release “Never Fence With An Amateur”, plus they’ll be joined by Special Guest Kermit Driscoll on bass - compositions and improvisations, trilingularities and irregularities, inside the outside in space and time.
Mick Rossi (Philip Glass, Paul Simon)
John King (John Cage, David Tudor)
Kermit Driscoll (Bill Frisell, David Johansen)
7 PM - Florian Herzog, David Leon, Nick Dunston (jazz / improvisation)

Saturday 9 February
7 PM - Joshua Weinberg "The Beauty of Innuendos"
Music for Soprano, Flute, and Piano
Two Remembrances (1995) for Soprano, Alto Flute, and Piano - Andre Previn [6’40”]
Le Merle Noir (1952) for Flute and Piano - Olivier Messiaen [6’32”]
Petites Esquisses D’Oiseaux (1985) for Piano - Olivier Messiaen [12'00]
13 Ways of Looking at a Blackbird (1978) for Soprano, Flute, Percussion, and Piano - Lukas Foss [16’30”]
Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say (2012) for Soprano and Flute - Kate Soper [12’00’]
8:30 PM - Standardwing features
Hattie Simon - vocals
Lewis Fowler - soprano sax
Kaelen Ghandhi - alto sax
Warren Galea - guitar
Henry Mermer - drums
Gabriel Seymour - bass
Nicholas Augusta - piano

Sunday 10 February
4 PM - String Noise Sounds: Pauline Kim Harris and Conrad Harris

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Bushwick Improvised Music Series Continues:

Monday February 4th

7pm Max Kutner - guitar, 
Colin Hinton - drums
, Todd Reynolds - violin
8pm Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone, 
Adam Lane - bass
, Kevin Shea - drums
9pm William Hooker - drums
, Jon Irabagon - tenor saxophone, 
Adam Lane - bass

9:45pm Brian Groder - trumpet
, Michael Bisio - bass
, Jay Rosen - drums

10:45pm Aron Namenwirth - guitar, 
Daniel Carter - woodwinds
, Eric Plaks - piano, 
Zach Swanson - bass
Jon Panikkar - drums/percussion, 
John Loggia - drums/percussion
11:30pm  Elias Meister - guitar, 
Vasko Dukovski - clarinet/electronics

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

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Sound It Out series @ Greenwich House — Concerts, January-February 2019 

COMING ATTRACTIONS 

Saturday February 9, 7:30pm — 
Frank Kimbrough & Masa Kamaguchi Megumi Yonezawa, Masa Kamaguchi & Ken Kobayashi; Double-bill — the duo of Frank Kimbrough, piano & Masa Kamaguchi, double-bass the trio of Megumi Yonezawa, piano; Masa Kamaguchi, double-bass; Ken Kobayashi, drums

Saturday February 16, 7:30pm — 
Double-bill — Caroline Davis’s Alula: Caroline Davis, alto saxophone/voice; Matt Mitchell, piano and synth; Dan Weiss, drums Michael Dessen Trio: Michael Dessen, trombone; Chris Tordini, double-bass; Dan Weiss, drums; and special guest Fay Victor, vocals

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, www.sounditoutnyc.com 

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Tuesday, February 26th
Music Now! At The Brooklyn Commons

7pm - The Zodiac Saxophone Quartet
with
Charles Waters-Alto Sax
Lee Odom-Soprano Sax
Claire Daley-Baritone Sax
Ras Moshe Burnett-Tenor Sax

8pm - Music Now! Expanded
with
Ras Moshe Burnett
Lauren Lee-Piano
Gene Coleman-Flute
Matt Lavelle-Trumpet, Bass Clarinet
Lee Odom-Reeds
Charles Waters-Alto Sax
Jessie Cox-Drums
James Keepnews-Electric Bass

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