Touch of Grey by the Grateful Dead, 1987
It must be getting early, clocks are running late
Paint-by-number morning sky looks so phony
Dawn is breaking everywhere, light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains, I don't care 'cause it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
I see you've got your list out, say your piece and get out
Guess I get the gist of it, but it's alright
Sorry that you feel that way, the only thing there is to say
Every silver lining's got a touch of grey
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
It's a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the C's
The ABC's we all must face
Try to keep a little grace
It's a lesson to me
The Deltas and the East and the Freeze
The ABC's we all think of
And try to wean a little love
I know the rent is in arrears, the dog has not been fed in years
It's even worse than it appears, but it's alright
Cow is giving kerosene, kid can't read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene, but it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
The shoe is on the hand it fits, there's really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit 'cause it's alright
Oh well, a touch of grey kinda suits you anyway
And that was all I had to say and it's alright
I will get by
I will get by
I will get by
I will survive
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by
We will survive
We will get by
We will get by
We will get by
We will survive
This song was an actual hit for the Grateful Dead, getting them into the top 10, something the band never pursued or really cared about. The video for the song was pretty hilarious (check it out) and was played endlessly on MTV. Strange timing?!? The previous year, Jerry Garcia, collapsed after a concert in DC and slipped into a diabetic coma. He nearly died. He didn’t and the Dead resumed touring the following year, only to have the one and only big hit. The chorus of “I will get byâ€Â, “I will survive†& “We will surviveâ€Â, sung triumphantly by Jerry gave hope and inspiration to Dead fans around the world. I still shed a tear when I hear the chorus! The positive energy didn’t last very long since the deluge of new Dead fans created all sorts of problems when the band continued touring. Mr. Garcia sadly succumbed to drug & health problems, passing away in August of 1995.
If like myself, you feel overwhelmed by bad news, inhospitable weather, the passing of friends and artists that you admire, unfair public transportation, the breaking down of things we used to depend on… then we must create a better world. It starts with not giving into cynicism or hopelessness, and finding our own inspiration to feel better, think more positively and reach out to folks, strangers or kinfolk, we are in this mess together. I played this song several times this week, danced around and felt much better for a short while. The power of a song to help heal. Remember bubbies, “We will survive!†- BLG
The DMG Menu of Assorted Sonic Delights This Week Features:
Tom Rainey Trio: Mary Halvorson & Ingrid Laubrock! Gerald Cleaver / Nels Cline / Larry Ochs & More from Clean Feed! William Schimmel & Elliott Sharp! Sun Ra Solo Piano Rarity! Satoko Fujii & Alister Spence - Duo & Orchestra Kobe! Gerry Hemingway Solo! 2 from Atomic!
New from Not Two: Barry Guy Shroud Band 5 CD Set! DKV Trio Joe McPhee 6 CD Set! Ken Vandermark / Mark Tokar / Klaus Kugel! Jeff Parker/Jeb Bishop Quintet! Alexander Hawkins Solo! Joe McPhee & Agusti Fernandez New Trios! Per-Ake Holmlander 3 CD Set! Akira Sakata/Nicolas Field! Restocks & Rarites from Wayne Horvitz! Bill Frisell! Donald Miller! Much More!
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Upcoming Sets at Downtown Music Gallery - FREE, every Sunday at 6pm
Sunday, February 10th:
6pm: XANDER NAYLOR / RYAN DUGRE - Guitar Duet
7pm: STEVE GAUCI - CD Launch Celebration!
Sunday, February 17th:
6pm: LIOR MILLIGER / ZACH SWANSON / JOE HERTENSTEIN
7pm: DAVID MEIER / DANIEL CARTER / JEONG LIM YANG - Drums / Horns / Bass
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!
Sunday, March 3rd:
6pm: AVANT-GARDE WORKING CLASS: JOE DALEY & JESSE DULMAN - Tuba Duet!
7pm: KAREN NG & HENRY FRASER - Sax & Clarinet / Bass!
Sunday, March 10th:
6pm: JESSICA and TONY JONES - Sax Duo - Two CD Releases Celebration!
7pm: THOMAS HEBERER / JOE HERTENSTEIN - Trumpet and Drums!
Sunday, March 17th:
6pm: SARAH BERNSTEIN STRINGS: SANA NAGANO / LEONOR FALCON / NICK JOZWIAK!
7pm: JARVIS EARNSHAW / DANIEL CARTER / ZACH SWANSON - Sitar & Loops / Woodwinds / Bass
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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This Week’s Tidal wave of Great Discs begins with this Fabulous Jewel:
* TOM RAINEY TRIO With MARY HALVORSON / INGRID LAUBROCK - Combobulated (Intakt 316; Switzerland) Featuring Tom Rainey on drums, Mary Halvorson on guitar and Ingrid Laubrock on tenor & soprano sax. This is the fourth disc from the Tom Rainey Trio, one of the finest of all of the current Downtown units. The fact that all three members are leaders & composers on their own, each working with several of their own bands as well as loads of collaborations. What makes them incredible it that their music is completely improvised, yet they have developed a group sound, which is unique and recognizable. There are always surprises in store at every set. I caught them a few months back at the end of December, 2018 at Cornelia Street Cafe, which closed soon thereafter, after 40 years of being a West Village staple?!? At that last set, the took thing completely outside of what one might expect.
This disc was recorded live at Firehouse 12 in September of 2017. The sound is extraordinary with some post production wizardry by David Town. Although their individual sound/voices are often recognizable, it is the ever-evolving blend of their sounds with the way things develop. The first piece is the longest and also the title piece. Off they go with Mary piling up those bent licks, repeating certain ones while the tenor sax and drums create heated spinning flow. Ms. Halvorson is the most surprising one here, coming up with unexpected licks, lines, repeating patterns, altering the direction is a number of strange ways. There are a number of intense eruptions which bring things to some wonderful climaxes. It feels like or perhaps sounds like medicine for our troubled times. The creativity and inventiveness has a way of inspiring hope, true democracy in action! Even when things calm down, there is an exquisite sense of mystery which emanates. There way too much amazing music here to adequately describe so I will leave it up to you to reward yourself with this immense treasure. Unbelievably cool! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $18
* The TOM RAINEY TRIO will be playing a CD release set at the Jazz Gallery in NYC on Friday, February 22, 2019!
ALEXANDER HAWKINS - Iron into Wind - Piano Solo (Intakt 330; Switzerland) Alexander Hawkins is a creative epicentre from the London jazz scene and is regarded in the UK as one of the most innovative musicians of the younger generation with a surprising radius of action. He plays with Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith, Taylor Ho Bynum, Louis Moholo, Shabaka Hutchings and Elaine Mitchener. 'Iron into Wind' is the name of his new piano solo. The phrase "Iron into Wind" evokes for him both the transience of improvisation and a fascination with solid material, represented by the powerful blocks of sound to be heard in several of these pieces. Richard Williams writes in the liner notes: "The mood varies from the two-handed avant-gospel figurations of "Congregational" to the hurtling "Étude" via the austere ruminations of "Tumble Mono", the knotted blues of "Strange Courage" and the explosive accelerations of "It Should Be a Song", with a diversion, in "Pleasant Constellation", by way of variations on an element from Sun Ra's "Fate in a Pleasant Mood". What he achieves here is a fine balance of all his interests, creating a self-portrait of a wonderfully inventive modern musician."
CD $18
GERALD CLEAVER / NELS CLINE / LARRY OCHS - What is to Be Done (Clean Feed 500; Portugal) “Personnel: Larry Ochs - tenor & sopranino saxes, Nels Cline - electric guitar, effects and Gerald Cleaver - drums. The most fulfilling encounters are also the most improbable ones those we never imagined possible, either due to the many miles separating the circuits usually frequented by the individual participants in a music project or to the aesthetic differences they have. The trio with Gerald Cleaver, Nels Cline and Larry Ochs is one of those cases and the pieces inside “What is to Be Done†reflect entirely that condition. As Stuart Broomer’s liner notes point out, this music «enjoys the simultaneous qualities of nearness and distance: three musicians in a room, each stretching to the limits of one another’s material for some new richness, some sonic confluence unknown». With a Detroit background defining his personal style, Cleaver is a drummer of first choice by many of the greatest in creative jazz, from Henry Threadgill and Roscoe Mitchell to Craig Taborn and Ellery Eskelin. Considered (by the magazine Rolling Stone) one of the top 100 guitarists of all time, Nels Cline is either busy in the rock field, with the band Wilco, or appearing in more experimental contexts, like the one of “Loversâ€Â. Ochs is one of the main figures of the music created in the fissures between exploratory jazz and contemporary classical music, with Rova Saxophone Quartet, Maybe Monday or Sax & Drumming Core. Each one has his remarkable life story, together they’re making history.â€Â
CD $15
Another Half-Dozen Clean Feed’s & Shhpuma Releases are listed further below…
WILLIAM SCHIMMEL / ELLIOTT SHARP - Blues, Hues, & Views (Cavity Search 115; USA) Featuring William Schimmel on accordion and Elliott Sharp on Dell Arte Anouman gypsy jazz guitar and mandocello. I just finished reading Elliott Sharp’s recent book, ‘IrRational Music’, which is mainly autobiographical and a consistently fascinating read. I’ve known Mr. Sharp for forty years, this and have seen & heard him perform on hundreds of occasions. The book does a splendid job of explaining Mr. Sharp’s long and winding journey through an ever-evolving path of music (of many types), science, mathematics, social and political connections. Considering that Mr. Sharp remains one of the quintessential Downtown composers/musicians/bandleaders/experimenters, I shouldn’t be surprised when he again tries something new and unique. And that is precisely is what is found here… “Who else but William Schimmel could have performed with Luciano Berio, Cathy Berberian, John Cale, Elliott Carter, Sting, Henry Cowell, and Tom Waits? A pioneer of the accordion in contemporary music for decades, Schimmel is both a virtuoso and a creative force in the expansion of the instrument allowing it to find a vital place in a wide range of genres.†- E#
Both of these mean are well-versed in different types of music: modern classical, jazz, rock, blues, avant, ethnic, etc. Hence, the blend is compelling yet in between different currents. On “Breaking Newsâ€Â, a flurry of notes swirl around one another, the accordion wheezing a distinctive series of drones while plays blues, rock and folky licks, all buzzing together. The accordion is forever expanding and contracting, breathing deeply, while both men embellish the lines with rollicking circular licks. Although thus music sounds mostly improvised, it draws from a variety of sources, sounding quite kaleidoscopic as it shifts time and again. The music is most often demanding, restless and intense. It takes some time to adjust to and absorb fully. I though that the title of the last piece sums it up just right: “Always a Ray of Sunshine in the Blues, Never in the Tangoâ€Â. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
SUN RA - Monorails & Satellites (Cosmic Myth CMR 04; USA) “Considering the monumental depth of Sun Ra’s recorded catalog, there are surprisingly few solo piano albums. Monorails & Satellites Volumes 1 and 2 were the first commercial LPs of the artist’s solo keyboard excursions. Recorded in 1966 and released on his Saturn imprint in 1968, Vol. 1 featured seven idiosyncratic originals and one standard delivered in Sunny’s singular manner. Vol. 2, featuring five original compositions, was released the following year. A third volume was recorded but shelved, and this deluxe edition marks its premiere release. Issued on the authorized label of the Sun Ra estate, Cosmic Myth Records, which is known for superbly restored and remastered and annotated titles. Monorails & Satellites is available as a deluxe 2xCD or 3xLP tri-gatefold cover with liner notes by renown jazz pianist Vijay Iyer, and historical overviews by jazz historian Ben Young and producer Irwin Chusid. "I have always thought orchestra. I play that way, even when playing the piano." – Sun Ra
2 CD Set for $16
3 LP Set $34
The Last Two Satoko Fujii Releases of her 60th Birthday One Per Month Celebration:
ALISTER SPENCE / SATOKO FUJII - Intelsat (AS Music 007; Australia) Featuring Satoko Fujii on piano and Alister Spence on Fender Rhodes electric piano, preparations & effects. Over the past few years, I’ve heard Australian keyboardist Alister Spence in several settings, all worthy of investigation: first a piano duo disc with Myra Melford, then two very different ensemble outings with Phillip Johnston (from the Micros) at the helm. In 2018, Mr. Spence collaborated with another great pianist, Satoko Fujii, for a fine quartet disc on the Libra label. Ms. Fujii’s 60th year birthday celebration commenced with two discs in her (of her dozen monthly releases) with two featuring Mr. Spence as a collaborator. We just got both in stock this week.
This keyboard duo was recorded in concert at the Intelsat Jazz Club in Nishio, Japan in September of 2017. Since both Ms. Fujii (acoustic) and Mr. Spence (electric piano) are playing very different pianos, it is easier to tell them apart. Both are also involved with preparations which makes things more interesting. Right from the beginning on “Mimasâ€Â, the sound of Ms. Fujii rubbing mallets inside the piano and Mr. Spence’s eerie shimmering electric piano vibrations, make this a mesmerizing blend. From dark, spooky and filled with suspense to typewriter-like percussion sounds to ancient organ-like sounds lurking in the background. There are number of fascinating sounds going on here, some of which are hard to figure out. The overall vibe is like a journey through out space, wit occasional detours for other worlds to explore. Marvelous! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17
ALISTER SPENCE and SATOKO FUJII ORCHESTRA KOBE - Imagine Meeting You Here (AS Music 008; Australia) Considering that Ms. Fujii has released another discs (one per month) for the 60th birthday celebration in 2018, only one of those was her large ensemble, Orchestra Berlin. She concludes her year with another one of her large groups, Orchestra Kobe, this being only their second disc. Fellow keyboardist, Alister Spence (from Australia), conducts here so that Ms. Fujii can concentrate on playing the piano. This set was recorded at the Big Apple Jazz Club in Kobe in September of 2017, around the same time that Ms. Fujii recorded her duo CD with Mr. Spence. It seems that Ms. Fujii wrote sketches for this 15 piece ensemble, which allow for a variety of improvised detours. This disc consists of a five part suite called, ‘Imagine Meeting You Here’. “Part 1†throbs with a repeating ritualistic figure while the horns play those rich majestic harmonies. While one trumpet sputters out a frenetic solo, the other horns provide a cushion underneath. On ‘Part 2’, the repeating line is slightly bent and rather weird sounding. When the rhythm section lays out, the layers of horns get thicker and more interesting. What makes this transformative is the way the several layers of horns swirl tightly around one another, in what sounds like conducted waves. Guitarist Takumi Seino also gets chances to stretch out and erupt tight with the spiraling multiple horns. There are so many marvelous moments here when the layers of horn coalesce into tight connected patterns which keep changing as they spin. As I stated earlier, Satoko Fujii has a dozen discs all released in the 12 months of 2018, each one better than the last! How does she do it again and again and again?!?! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17
GERRY HEMINGWAY // SARAH WEAVER - Reality Axis for Solo Percussion (Sync Source SS 111; USA) When most folks here the term “solo percussionâ€Â, they often think of drum solos which were quite popular in the sixties and seventies, thanks to dozens of rock, jazz and progressive bands which often included great drummers worthy of these solos. This was just one aspect or example of solo percussion. Thanks to a number of composers throughout the 20th century (Stockhausen, Xenakis & Cage), as well as gifted percussionists, there is quite a bit more to solo percussion than one might expect. A few months ago, I reviewed a disc by the SLM Ensemble which is lead by Sarah Weaver. It has an all-star Downtown cast and is one of those unrecognized gems which I discovered several years after it was released. If you don’t already own a copy, you really should check it out.
Gerry Hemingway is one of those gifted percussionists who has worked in the area of solo percussion and recorded discs of this music. Downtown composer & conductor, Sarah Weaver, composed “Reality Axis†(2011-2018), specifically written for Mr. Hemingway. From reading the liner notes, we find out how much has gone into composing, preparing and recording this music. There is even a small graphic score reprinted inside in which Mr. Hemingway explains what it represents. The opening and longest piece is called, “Node 111: Vol 1, 2, 3†and was originally part of a five-location telematic concert. This disc is very well recorded, the drums & other percussion closely mic’d. We quickly notice that there are several percussion sounds: drums hit in different places, rims on the outside of the drums, cymbals and some hand percussion. Each piece of percussion and the way it is struck evokes different sonic spirits. The music here is quite intense, with Hemingway often expanding, erupting and contracting in an organic way which sounds systematic in the way it unfolds. It sounds as if Mr. Hemingway is sampling certain sounds, drones or resonant tones from cymbals or drums, reverberating in often hypnotic ways. The music here sounds alive and often breathes, evoking natural images or scenes from the mind’s eyes. If you think you know what to expect from a CD of solo percussion, than you will be surprised at how well this disc works. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15
ATOMIC with FREDRIK LJUNGKVIST / MAGNUS BROO / HAVARD WIIK / INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN / HAN HULBAEKMO - Pet Variations (Odin 9568; EEC) Featuring Fredrik Ljungvist on tenor sax & clarinet, Magnus Broo on trumpet, Havard Wiik on piano, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass and Han Hulbaekmo on drums. I had the opportunity to check out the Scandinavian quintet Atomic at Nublu 151 last month (February, 2019) and was knocked out by their set! I’ve caught them a could of times previously and collect all of the dozen releases. For this disc, Atomic do covers of songs by Steve Lacy, Carla Bley, Jimmy Guiffre, Brian Wilson (of the Beach Boys), Messiaen, Varese and Alex Von Schlippenbach. Certainly an odd mix of covers. This disc opens with the Beach Boys’ “Pet Soundsâ€Â, the title track from their early (1966), influential, sort-of concept record plus Mr. Wiik’s variations on “Pet Soundsâ€Â. Atomic do a great job of expanding what was originally a somewhat corny yet charming theme and stretch it out with a great trumpet solo, twisting the melody inside-out, speeding it up and setting it free. Atomic take Steve Lacy’s “Art†and play it soft, poignantly, it both sad yet quite beautiful.â€ÂWalking Woman†is an early Carla Bley song which first appeared on Paul Bley’s album, ‘Barrage’ (1964). It is an odd tune which moves between a sparse with some bent interjections. It is indeed pretty rare for a jazz unit to cover Edgar Varese but Atomic play “Un Grand Sommeil Noirâ€Â, again slowing things down for a most haunting dream-like vibe. The rhythm team here plays superbly throughout. Everything flows just right. The real magic is the combined playing of both horns, Ljungkvists’s reeds and Broo’s trumpet, the sound like one voice, consistently connected with Mr. Wiik’s modest piano sparking in the middle. If I didn’t know better, it would be hard to tell that this was an album of all covers. as the group sounds consistently creative and engaging throughout, not unlike any of the previous discs of their own compositions. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17
ATOMIC with FREDRIK LJUNGKVIST / MAGNUS BROO / HAVARD WIIK / INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN / HAN HULBAEKMO - Six Easy Pieces (Odin 9564; EEC) “Founded in 2000, the Swedish/Norwegian group Atomic has remained true to their uncommon blend of American and European influences over the years. With only one lineup change since their inception, the quintet continues to pay homageâ€â€in equal partsâ€â€to the post 1960s era in the US, and the inherent innovations of Europe's northern-most region. With Six Easy Pieces the group sounds much as they did with their debut Feet Music (Jazzland Recordings, 2001) but with years of synergy to enhance their performances.
The lineup consists of trumpeter Magnus Broo, saxophonist Fredrik Ljungkvist, pianist Håvard Wiik, bassist Ingebrigt Håker Flaten and drummer Hans Hulbækmo who replaced Paal Nilssen-Love beginning with Lucidity (Jazzland, 2015). Broo's resume includes projects with Ken Vandermark and Marilyn Crispell and he is a member of Angles 9. Ljungkvist has played with a who's-who of top regional artists including Anders Jormin, Mats Gustafsson and Bobo Stenson. Wiik has been a leader as a soloist and with his namesake trio as well as a sideman for Stian Carstensen and a member of the group Motif. The pianist has worked with Flaten outside of this quintet and has recorded solo and with his own quintet. Still in his twenties, Hulbækmo has already appeared on more than twenty recordings.
Not surprisingly, the Six Easy Pieces of the title are far more complex than the designation would suggest. The CD version of the release also includes two additional discs culled from recent, live performances in Japan. The studio album begins with "Be Wafted"; its subdued piano and horns setting in motion a breakout of asymmetrical swing rhythms and then a further reach into free improvisation. Broo eventually opens into a free, propulsive solo that torches the piece. Haker Flaten and Hulbækmo's intro to "Fält Strife" leads to a soulful and fiery performance from Ljungkvist. The mood shifts again with a quiet and mysterious Wiik contribution to "Five Easy Pieces" but quickly accelerates with "Ten Years" where Hulbækmo employs a variety of percussion tools before Haker Flaten resets the piece, bringing in the rest of the band in a patient build up to a wild improvisation from Ljungkvist, and then back to a calming Broo solo. "Sinusoidal Arches" is more overtly abstract and features intriguing piano work from Wiik, leading to the concluding studio piece "Stuck in Stockholm." Haker Flaten's extended bass solo is a thing of beauty and brings us to some symmetrical horn work and fine stand-alone work from each member of the group.
Six Easy Pieces is Atomic's eleventh album and their debut on the Odin label. They have consistently created music that is equally affecting whether reflectiveâ€â€such as "Five Easy Pieces"â€â€or a white-knuckled ride like the title track from Boom Boom (Jazzland, 2002). Live, or in the studio, the group plays with a virtuosic enthusiasm that hasn't diminished over the past seventeen years.†- Karl Ackermann, AllAboutJazz
CD $17
* ALEX WARD / TERRY DAY / DOMINIC LASH - Midnight and Below (Iluso 16; Earth) Features Alex Ward on clarinet & guitar, Dominic Lash on double bass and Terry Day on drums. This is an unusual British trio with three members from varied backgrounds and generations. Alex Ward (45 years) plays both jazz clarinet and rock/jazz/noise guitar with equal skill, having originally worked with Derek Bailey, Eugene Chadbourne, Joe Morris and Duck Baker. Younger bassist Dominic Lash has worked with Evan parker, Tony Conrad, John Butcher and the Convergence Quartet. The eldest member of the trio is drummer, Terry Day (age 78 yrs), who used to play in the legendary People Band (1968-1970) with Lyn Dobson & Robert Wyatt. Mr. Day has turned with an odd assortment of UK’s finest: Steve Beresford, Fred Van Hove, John Stevens and JF Pauvros.
This disc was recorded at the London School of Sound in November of 2015. Alex Ward starts off on electric guitar, the trio in fine form, intense and focused free/improv. By the second piece, “Abyssalâ€Â, Mr. Ward switches to clarinet, the trio again is strong bending notes together with chattering clarinet and robust rhythm team eruptions. On “Hadalâ€Â, the trio, with Ward on guitar, calm down for some more introspective dialogue. The recording here is clean and warm, sound more like a studio date than a live one. The one thing that I noticed about this disc is how hews the trio play together, there is no leader here, the balance between all three members is extraordinary. At one point, midway the bassist becomes the focal point, hitting this one throbbing notes slowly over and over until the other two jump in once more the conversation becomes more animated. On the last piece, Ward’s guitar erupts frenetically and sounds a bit like Dr. Chadbourne or Brandon Seabrook, but with a bit more restraint. Another international improv date par excellence. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
* ALEX WARD will play a rare set here at DMG on March 24th. For FREE, so be there please!
CHAMA With LEONOR FALCON* / JUANMA TRUJILLO / ATURO GARCIA - Chama (Evolver TG 024; USA) Chama is Juanma Trujillo on guitar, Leonor Falcon on violin & viola and Arturo Garcia on drums. Over the past year Leonor Falcon (strings) and Juanma Trujillo, a creative couple from Argentina, currently living here, have left us with a could of strong releases and played here at DMG together or with their own projects. The last time they came by, a few months ago, they left us with this disc (actually rel in 2016), a trio called Chama with Ms. Falcon, Mr. Trujillo and Aturo Garcia on drums. Each member of the trio has written at least one sing with three by Mr. Trujillo. Ms. Falcon’s “A†kicks things off with a unique, sort of rocker with some molten guitar from Mr. Trujillo! “Melodica 1†has an odd blend of restraint but insistent guitar with slight distortion added to Ms. Falcon’s violin. It reminded me of an album by the Flock from 1969 (50 years ago?!?) which featured the great violin work of Jerry Goodman, who a few years later was a founding member of Mahavishnu Orchestra. The violin or viola and guitar sound especially great together, they have their own sound which is both ancient and current simultaneously. The final piece, “Melodica 5†has that laid back, old-time Django Rheinhardt / Stephane Grappelli sort od sound but perhaps more restrained or virtuostic. This id sic is really an EP and clocks in at only 20 minutes. I did put it on repeat for several listens since it is well worth listening to over and over again. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
* LEONOR FALCON will be performing here at DMG in a string quartet with Sarah Bernstein, Sana Nagano & Nick Jozwiak on Sunday, March 17th at 6pm!
New and Amazing from the Not Two Label:
BARRY GUY BLUE SHROUD BAND with PERCY PURSGLOVE / JURG WICKIHALDER / SAVINA YANNAPOU / MICHEL GODARD / AGUSTI FERNANDEZ / TORBEN SNEKKESTAD / MAYA HOMBERGER / LUCAS NIGGLI / RAMON LOPEZ / et al - Odes and Meditations for Cecil Taylor (Not Two; Poland) The new Barry Guy 5 CD set of The Blue Shroud Band in Small Formations is the most exciting release of the new year called “Intensegrity†(previous 4 CD box was called “Tensegrity†from 2014, I think. The new box is also described as “Odes & Meditations for Cecil Taylorâ€Â. the DKV box is recorded live from November 2017 at concerts in France, Poland & Czech Republic and then in late December 2017 at a show @ Sugar Maple in Milwaukee and then 2 homecoming shows @ Elastic Arts in Chicago. I’m so fired up about this one as I’ve been waiting to hear the trio with a foil for Vandermark and I think McPhee is playing at as creative a level as anyone on the planet these days. Looks like we have a few different new members of the Barry Guy band including Percy Pursglove (no Peter Evans this time) & Jurg Wickihalder. Another exciting aspect is that we get the full band on disc 5 with what is called the “Ode & Meditations to Cecil Taylorâ€Â. This could be a composed Guy piece. Discs 1 through 4 recorded live @ Alchemia in Kraków, Poland (11/27-29, 2016) and Disc 5 recorded 11/30/2016 @ Radio Kraków. - Steve Reynolds
5 CD Set $60
DKV [HAMID DRAKE / KENT KESSLER / KEN VANDERMARK] & JOE McPHEE - The Fire Each Time (Not Two; Poland) “Not Two Records presents The Fire Each Time, a 6 CD boxset of recordings from the DKV Trio with Joe McPhee as a guest, and dedicated to James Baldwin. The music was recorded during the quartet's tour in Europe which took place in November of 2017, and at shows in Chicago and Milwaukee from December of that year.
These performances are historic in many respects: the DKV Trio – with Hamid Drake [drums], Kent Kessler [bass], and Ken Vandermark [reeds] – has only recorded with other musicians on four occasions in it's two decade career (with Fred Anderson, [Okka Disk, 1997]; Joe Morris on "Deep Telling" [Okka Disk, 1999]; with Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love and Massimo Pupillo on "Schl8hof" [Trost, 2013], and with The Thing ["Collider," Not Two, 2016]); also, this is the first time all four musicians have worked together as a band; and the material documented over the six concerts included in the collection features performances of Joe McPhee's compositions – like his classic "Nation Time" (listen below) as well as completely improvised music generated by the participants.â€Â
6 CD set $66
KEN VANDERMARK / KLAUS KUGEL / MARK TOKAR - No-Exit Corner (Not Two MW 979; Poland) “The second of two releases of this trio recorded live in Krakow in 2016 finds Chicago reedist Vandermark, German drummer Kugel and Ukranian bassist Tokar blowing holes in walls. There are occasional respites, say when Tokar takes one his fascinating, focused solos. But generally this is tough stuff. Vandermark is a master of taking a phrase and working it repeatedly, wringing out the last drops as he modulates his ideas to the boiling point. His clarinet playing brings to mind what Artie Shaw might have done had he lived in the free-jazz era. Kugel is one of the great contemporary European drummers, and plays all over the kit with a sharp hard pulse. Ultimately I found the 1st of these two releases, “Escalator,†to be more appealing, but both showcase the vitality of Vandermark’s Eastern European trio.†- Carl Pearson, Jazz Director, WFHB, Bloomington, IN
CD $17
JEFF PARKER / JEB BISHOP / PANDELIS KARAYORGIS / NATE McBRIDE / LUTHER GRAY - The Diagonal Filter (Not Two MW 978; Poland) Featuring: Jeff Parker – guitar, electric guitar, Jeb Bishop – trombone, Pandelis Karayorgis – piano, Fender Rhodes, Nate McBride – bass and
Luther Gray – drums. Former Chicago-based jazz guitar hero, Jeff Parker (currently living in LA), is back with a solid Boston-based quintet which includes a couple of other former Chicago-to-Boston transplants: Jeb Bishop and Nate McBride.
“Recorded in two sessions across a weekend in late April 2017, and the sessions alternate regularly across the tracklist. Pianist Pandelis Karayorgis plays fender rhodes on session 1, and piano on session 2. Bassist McBride plays electric and upright respectively as well. The blend between the rhodes and Jeff Parker’s electric guitar on session 1 (tracks 1,4, 5, and 9) feels almost like one synthesizer sound in the quiet sections. In general these players blend together very well.
This is very composed music, some of the tracks are written like straightforward charts ala Mingus/Monk, but embrace an “out†vocabulary in the classic sense of post-bop atonality. Solos are taken in turn, fours are traded, and very bop-oriented heads are played in unison
Jeb Bishop is as precise and adaptive of an ensemble player as ever and is the standout soloist. There is a solo on track 3 (a composition by Karayorgis) where it is just trombone and upright. Jeb shreds but leaves room for alot of tasty accents by McBride.
In general, the "electric" session is at times more free and bombastic and reminds me of many Chicago groups of the last decade that i’ve heard. At other times it dips into classic Miles Davis style fusion grooves. The acoustic session tracks (2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10) tend to fall into the format of classic adventurous small combo music of the 60s and 70s. It all still feels very original though!†- Frank Meadows at DMG
CD $17
JOE McPHEE / JOHN EDWARDS / KLAUS KUGEL - Journey to Parazzar (Not Two MW 975; Poland) Recorded at Metallurgov House Of Culture in the Ukraine as the 2nd concert of their tour, the trio of Joe McPhee (trumpet, alto saxophone), John Edwards (double bass), and Klaus Kugel (drums) present a masterful concert that includes a 29-minute "Re-Hairing In Zaporozhye" a 19-minute "To Rush At The Wind", and a wonderfully unconventional tribute to Cecil Taylor(from the label.
CD $17
AGUSTI FERNANDEZ / MARCO COLONNA / ZLAKTKO KAUCIC - Agrakal (Not Two MW 972; Poland) Lineup: Marco Colonna - clarinet, baritone sax, AgustàFernández - piano and Zlatko KauÄÂiÄ - drums, percussion. “The three Mediterranean musicians - Italian clarinet and baritone sax player Marco Colonna, Catalan pianist AgustàFernández, and Slovenian drummer-percussionist Zlatko KauÄÂiÄÂ, have played with each other before, but their performance at the Italian Novara Jazz Festival on December 2017 was their first ever as a trio. Colonna has recorded two albums with Fernández - Desmadre (Fonterossa Records, 2014) and the self-released, live Birth of Shapes (2016). Fernández also recorded duets with KauÄÂiÄÂ, Sonic Poetry (Not Two, 2014), and played with him in a trio with Evan Parker. Colonna recorded with KauÄÂiÄ and Italian bass player Giovanni Maier the self-released Impressioni Astratte (2016).
The titles of their albums together offer an insight for their shared mode of operation. All three musicians are masters of the art of free-improvisation and all have developed a highly personal and resourceful language. AGRAKAL invites all to experience this unique art of free-improvisation “where even voices have roots and take on color.†Colonna, Fernández and KauÄÂiÄ don’t spend time on unnecessary introductions and the opening piece, the 22-minutes of “Waves of Perceptions†already demonstrate how this trio keep constructing and deconstructing, shifting and shaping immediate and urgent textures, without losing the focus or tension. The trio manages to form a new language where the extended breathing techniques of Colonna resonates organically with the inventive work of Fernández on the piano strings and the delicate cymbal work of KauÄÂiÄÂ. The trio covers an impressive spectrum of moods, colors, rhythmic patterns and sounds, from the refined chamber interplay through the quiet and abstract to the tough and stormy.
The following pieces are shorter, but each one suggests a distinct improvisation strategy and all together the rich and nuanced new language of this trio. “Drops†deepens the dense, uncompromising and conflictual interplay explored on “Waves of Perceptionsâ€Â. “Cellular†changes the dark and intense atmosphere with a playful game of inventive rhythmic patterns, where all the three musicians offer their own unconventional rhythmic angle. “From The Ground To The Sky†refuses stubbornly to settle on any course, pulse or clear structure and leads directly to “Textures of Nowhereâ€Â, that actually adopts a coherent texture, physical but also a lyrical and emotional one. This performance is concluded with another playful piece, the short “Coming Back†that shifts quickly from a sparse improvisation to a folk theme.†- Eyal Hareuveni
CD $17
PER-AKE HOLMLANDER with MIKOLAJ TRZASKA / SUSANA SANTOS SILVA / STEVE SWELL / TIM DAISY / et al - Carliot–It’s Never Too Late Orchestra (Not Two MW 976; Poland) Collective personnel: Per-Åke Holmlander - tuba & leader, Julie Kjaer alto sax & flute, Signe Dahlgreen - tenor sax, Anna Högberg - alto & baritone saxes, Mikołaj Trzaska - bass clarinet, alto & baritone saxes, Johan Norin - trumpet , Susana Santos Silva - trumpet, Steve Swell - trombone, Elsa Bergman - bass and Tim Daisy & Christopher Cantillo drums.
3 CD set $40
AKIRA SAKATA / NICOLAS FIELD - First Thirst, Live at Cave12 (Not Two MW 974; Poland) “One of the stalwarts of the Japanese avant-garde scene for the last 50 years, Akira Sakata plays tenor saxophone and clarinet with a passion. Here he’s paired with English drummer Nicholas Field, a jazz and improvised music percussionist able to keep up with the reedist’s wild flights. Although half Sakata’s age, it’s a great duo, very responsive to one another, with layers of sound and rhythm, and above all intense. Sakata blows wildly up and down the registers while Field provides a rumbling, shimmering backstop. While there’s some up-tempo madness, there’s also some variation, with traditional Japanese singing opening and closing one track (2) and a more restrained clarinet feature (3). Recorded live in Geneva in 2008, this is a sonic storm of a duet for liberated ears only.†- Carl Pearson, Jazz Director, WFHB Bloomington, IN
CD $17
More New CLEAN FEED & A SHHPUMA Releases for February 2019:
TGB with SERGIO CAROLINO / MARIO DEGADO / ALEXANDRE FRAZAO - III (Clean Feed 509; Portugal) Personnel: Sérgio Carolino - tuba, Mário Delgado - guitarra, Alexandre Frazão - drums. A their third album, Portuguese band TGB can’t be defined anymore by the unusual instrumentation of a tuba, a guitar and a drum set. An idiosyncratic music comes with it, «without frontiers and unconquerable», as Sérgio Carolino, Mário Delgado and Alexandre Frazão say themselves. They mixed jazz, rock, folk, country and more in ways impossible we to categorize like “fusionâ€Â. TGB expanded it so much, and with such unique results, that they blew the label in question, inventing their own «space of interception between contemporary creativity and critical thought». And they do make a point with that: in “III†there’s an explicit revisitation of the «hidden universe» of the Seventies rock, jazz, jazz-rock and rock. Jazz bands, which is also an analyze of their own identities, individually and as a group. The consequences are marvelous, taking the TGB concept many steps further. No, it doesn’t sound as a psychotherapy session there’s only some psychedelic moments. The music communicates with us easily, full of good rhythmic and melodic arguments, the kind you can even sing in the bath. If there was a deconstruction of materials and an evaluation of references in the process, the trio assembled their conclusions in consistent and coherent ways. Carolino’s tuba multiphonics are a wonder, Delgado’s guitar pyrotechnics don’t cease to surprise and Frazão’s drumming motions keep us wanting for more. An inevitable question arises: what the hell is happening in Portugal, explaining such incredible music?â€Â
CD $15
WSCHÓD with RODRIGO PINHEIRO / ZBIGNIEW KOZERA / KUBA SUCHAR - Wschod (Clean Feed 512; Portugal) “Personnel: Rodrigo Pinheiro - piano, Zbigniew Kozera - double bass and Kuba Suchar - drums. Pianist Rodrigo Pinheiro (you know him mostly from his contributions to Red Trio) is one of the most requested presences of Portuguese improvisers in Poland, resulting in several co-operative groups with musicians from both countries. Wschód reunites him with the double bassist Zbigniew Kozera and the drummer Kuba Suchar to fulfill a purpose: to go beyond the established norms for the piano jazz trio. And they indeed do it, breaking with the pyramidal hierarchization of that instrumental format by the redefinition of the solo and accompaniment roles and by unnusual approaches to rhythm, harmony and melody. And yes, the drumkit also act as a piano, the piano drums and the bass sometimes doesn’t sound like a bass at all. The music is either subtle or energetic, exploring timbres and incorporating extensive techniques in a virtuosic playing always submited to the concretization of musical ideas. All the musicians are on the top of their respective scenes, and this is music only possible when its actors are in full domain of their instruments and the process of improvisation. Pinheiro’s skills joined him to the likes of Nate Wooley, John Butcher, Lotte Anker, Joe McPhee, Jason Stein and Axel Dörner. Kozera played with Peter Brotzmann, Alexander von Schlippenbach, John Edwards and Steve Noble. Suchar had Joshua Abrams, Noel Akchoté, Rob Mazurek and Kazuhisa Uchihashi as partners. This gives you a clue of the marvels you’ll find inside…â€Â
CD $15
JORGEN MATHISEN ÃŒÂS INSTANT LIGHT - Mayhall’s Object (Clean Feed 508; Portugal) Personnel: Jørgen Mathisen - tenor & soprano sax, Erlend Slettevoll - piano, Trygve Waldemar Fiske - double bass and Dag Erik Knedal Andersen - drums. In what concerns the domains of symbolical relationships, Jorgen Mathisen’s Instant Light is to astronomy what the Sun Ra Arkestra is to science fiction, and the titles of “Mayhall’s Object†compositions are illustrative of that difference: “Magellanic Cloudâ€Â, “MACS0647-JD†and “Neutron Starâ€Â, for instance, are clinical names for existing cosmic bodies, not the doors of perception to mythological worlds. This distinction also define the differences in relation to the free jazz format, and not only because Ra was one of its inventors and this Norwegian quartet is recreating it for the 21st century. In what concerns the music itself, the terms are inverted: the Arkestra contributed in the Sixties to find a new reality with bits and parts of the classical jazz roots; Mathisen, Slettevoll, Fiske and Andersen are changing it now, and necessarily using a good amount of fantasy and invention as much as those same classical jazz roots. For good reason: we don’t know, empirically, how it is a Magellanic cloud and music has always the property to remain mysterious. That’s why these four musicians involved in several projects and bands decided to add one more to their agendas: there’s always more music to discover and explore. Space isn’t the last frontier and for sure you can’t label it anymore as free jazz. This is the music coming after. After Sun Ra, after Philip K. Dick, and after the spectacular collision of Mayhall’s objects. It’ the music after the gathering of all forces, a music of light.â€Â
CD $15
JOSÉ DIAS - After Silence, Vol. 1 (Clean Feed G 010; Portugal) “Personnel: José Dias - guitar. Here’s a solo guitar album that matters and makes a point. And here’s a good surprise, marking a turn in the musical career of Portuguese guitarist José Dias (also a researcher of the Contemporary Arts Department at Manchester Metropolitan University), who has been until recently committed to inoculate a sense of modernity in the tradition of jazz. The focus now goes way beyond the post-bop format of his previous records, either because the vocabulary is related to rock (the use of delays and electronic effects reminding us of Bill Frisell) or because the process and the purposes are experimental. Of course, Dias’ personal guitar style is touched by the great historical jazz guitar players, but in “After Silence†he’s more concerned with different elements, such as structure, shape, narrative and soundscaping, than with form, style or genre – the rock element coming only because José Dias adopts the kind of distorted and sustained sounds developed by rock guitarists. But that’s it: he’s not interested in the powerful capacities of the electric guitar, rather in exploring specific resources, an approach that reveals a rare poetic sense of economy. Each piece is the exploration and development of an idea, and Dias does so by contrasting conventional solutions with the unexpected, sometimes reserving to the little details the most important arguments of a composition or improvisation. Rarely such organic kind of music is also so elegant, showing us that the sound of electricity can express a classical feeling of Beauty.â€Â
CD $15
HIFIKLUB - “E Lisboa†(Shhpuma 047; Portugal) Personnel: Jean-Loup Faurat - guitar & effects, Nico Morcillo  guitar, Régis Laugier - bass & vocals and Anthony Belguise - drums, electronics plus numerous guests like: Carlos Zingaro on violin, Joana Gama on piano, nearly 20 in all. Mr. Zingaro (a gifted and busy improviser) and Ms. Gama, who has three previous discs as a leader. When I played this in the store earlier this week, I didn’t know what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect the opening song to sound like the Swans, dark and brooding with haunting, partially spoken creepy vocals. Each of the eight songs here have different vocalists and they sing in mostly Portuguese, I believe. The overall vibe of dark, solemn, eerie, calm, post-rock. There is quite a bit of slide guitar, sometimes buried in the mix, which gives this music a sort of Gun Club-like vibe at times. This disc sounds unlike anything that has been released previously by Clean Feed or Shhpuma. I found the overall spooky, smoky vibe to be most unsettling yet still enchanting in its own way. If this disc was on a more rock oriented label and was well promoted, it just might be a contender for the dark magic disc of the week or month or perhaps year. Don’t let it sink without a trace if this sounds enticing to you out there. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
Back in Stock:
WAYNE HORVITZ & ZONY MASH HORNS With TIM YOUNG/KEITH LOWE/ABDY ROTH/DAVE CARTER /SKERIK/BRIGGAN KRAUSS/STEVE MOORE - Live At The Royal Room, June 2012 (WH; USA) In 2012, a decade after the 'Farewell' shows, the band got back together AGAIN to record a live CD at The Royal Room [co-founded by Wayne] in Seattle, with a horn section consisting of Skerik, Dave Carter, Briggan Krauss and Steve Moore. Absolutely MINDBLOWING!
2 CD Set $18
WAYNE HORVITZ & SWEETER THAN THE DAY With TIMOTHY YOUNG/KEITH LOWE/ANDY ROTH [aka ZONY MASH ACOUSTIC] - Live At The Rendezvous 2004 Seattle, WA (Kufala 103; USA) Wayne Horvitz (piano), Timothy Young (guitars), Keith Lowe (acoustic bass), Andy Roth (drums. ‘Sweeter Than the Day’ commemorated the one year anniversary of the very last Zony Mash [their electric unit] show by playing four nights in a row at the intimate Jewel Box Theatre in the Rendevous, one of Seattle's finer drinking establishments. All four nights were recorded and edited down to a 2 CD set consisting of the best takes. Mixed by Wayne Horvitz this release is a insight to the genius songwriting of Wayne Horvitz as he leads this amazing group of musicians. Highlights include an interesting take on the Grateful Dead's 'Casey Jones' which adapts to an acoustic jazz quartet quite nicely.
2 CD Set $18
Recently, a customer asked me to recommend several discs by guitar great Bill Frisell. We had very few in stock, so I ordered a half dozen early CD’s by Mr. Frisell. They are listed below and are currently in stock. Since moving out of NY area in 1993 and moving to Seattle, I have had mixed feeling about much of his output. More than 25 years later, I still listen to most of what he does. Over the past decade, I have been digging anything that Mr. Frisell has done on the Tzadik label: solo, duo with Mary Halvorson and a half dozen discs from the Gnostic Trio (with Carol Emanuel & Kenny Wollesen). Just last month, a trio CD with Wadada Leo Smith, Andrew Cyrille & Mr. Frisell was released on ECM (called ‘Lebroba’) and it is quite extraordinary!
BILL FRISELL Early Restocked CD’s.
BILL FRISELL With ARILD ANDERSEN - In Line (ECM 1241; Germany) Personnel: Bill Frisell electric and acoustic guitars Arild Andersen bass Recorded August 1982. â€ÂThis is the closest Bill Frisell has come to an actual solo album, though he is joined on half of the set by bass player Arild Andersen. Frisell's electric and acoustic guitars are multi-tracked throughout. The title piece uses light dissonances to especially shimmering and vibratory effect.
‘In Line’ was produced by Manfred Eicher, whose customary pristine clarity makes an ideal setting for Frisell's subtly nuanced playing. Each of the nine pieces is distinct, but they also lend themselves to an over-arching feeling of connectedness. There is a real album identity to this work. Though quiet and meditative as both a guitarist and a composer, Frisell's style is broad enough to allow for a range of emotional settings--from introspective to celebratory.â€Â
CD $17
BILL FRISELL With PAUL MOTIAN / KENNY WHEELER / BOB STEWART / JEROME HARRIS - Rambler (ECM 1287; USA) This relatively early set from Bill Frisell is a fine showcase for the utterly unique guitarist. Frisell has the ability to play nearly any extroverted style of music and his humor (check out the date's "Music I Heard") is rarely far below the surface. This particular quintet (with trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, tuba player Bob Stewart, electric bassist Jerome Harris and drummer Paul Motian) is not exactly short of original personalities and their outing (featuring seven Frisell compositions) is one of the most lively of all the ones in the ECM catalog. Recorded August 1984 - Scott Yanow, AMG
CD $14
BILL FRISELL With DON BYRON / GUY KLUCEVSEK / KERMIT DRISCOLL / JOEY BARON - Have A Little Faith (Nonesuch/Elektra 79301; USA) Featuring Bill Frisell (guitar); Don Byron (clarinet, bass clarinet); Guy Klucevsek (accordion); Kermit Driscoll (bass); Joey Baron (drums).Recorded At RPM Studios, New York, New York in March 1992.This 1993 album is a perfect culmination of the varied strains which have informed Bill Frisell's music. His long-time rhythm section of drummer Joey Baron and bass player Kermit Driscoll are on hand, and other voicings come from clarinetist Don Byron and accordionist Guy Klucevsek.Coupled with Frisell's own varied and unique guitar tones and approaches, the quintet ably wraps itself around a diverse set of popular, jazz, and classical compositions. Frisell and his quintet take us from the music of Aaron Copland and Charles Ives to that of John Hiatt and Bob Dylan, with forays into works by Sonny Rollins, Muddy Waters, John Phillip Sousa and Stephen Foster. That everything works on its own, and sits so well together despite contrasting styles, speaks volumes for Frisell's musical vision. HAVE A LITTLE FAITH would be an ideal place to begin if you are unfamiliar with Frisell's work and are wondering where to start. Exhilarating and friendly, this label-defying work is a gem.â€Â
CD $17
BILL FRISELL With BILLY DREWES / CURTIS FOWLKES / DON BYRON / KERMIT DRISCOLL / JOEY BARON - This Land (Nonesuch/Elektra 79316; USA) Bill Frisell (guitar); Billy Drewes (alto saxophone); Curtis Fowlkes (trombone); Don Byron (clarinet, bass clarinet); Kermit Driscoll (acoustic & electric basses); Joey Baron (drums).Recorded at Mastersound, Astoria, New York in October 1992. Over the course of the last ten years, guitarist Bill Frisell has cemented his reputation for fearless originality with bands like Bass Desires and The Power Tools, and free-thinking leaders such as producer Hal Willner, drummer Paul Motian, and saxophonist/composers Julius Hemphill and John Zorn. Frisell is a jazz slowhand, and his solo style places a premium on melody and the creative use of chord voicings and space to generate tension and converse with the rhythm section. Others may have more garish chops, but Frisell is the master storyteller.And based on his remarkably consistent output for ECM and Elektra/Nonesuch, Bill Frisell has emerged as one of the premier composer/arrangers in a small band context. From his quartet with cellist Hank Roberts and longtime collaborators Kermit Driscoll on bass and Joey Baron on drums, to the expanded ensemble (with alto saxophonist Billy Drewes, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and clarinetist Don Byron) featured on THIS LAND, Frisell has become a great chronicler of the American panorama.Frisell employs the reeds and brass on THIS LAND to suggest an America of almost unlimited variety and vitality. On his two part suite "Jimmy Carter" and on the title tune, Frisell creates a classical ambience through a multiplicity of parts which at times suggest Charles Ives and Aaron Copeland. Frisell's singular feel for the blues surfaces on the southwestern flavored "Is It Sweet?" and an affectionate little dance called "Monica Jane" (his daughter). Even more telling are his extended blues variations on the spectral "Julius Hemphill," where long chord tones by the horns provide an eerie, evolving backdrop for a series of epic variations by trombone, clarinet and electric guitar over an ominously slow tempo (reminiscent of Miles Davis' "Yesternow" from JACK JOHNSON). THIS LAND is also notable for the way Frisell comes out from behind his curtain of ambient effects to reveal a guitar timbre that is raw, singing and in your face. From the Wes Montgomery-like variations of "Strange Meeting" and the jacked up rhythm changes of "Resistor," to the chicken-fried calypso dances of "Amarillo Barbados," THIS LAND is Frisell's breakthrough recordingâ€Â
CD $17
BILL FRISELL 858 QUARTET With HANK ROBERTS / EYVIND KANG / JENNY SCHEINMAN - Richter 858 [H-SACD] (Songlines 2551; Canada) Featuring Bill Frisell on guitars, electronics & compositions, Hank Roberts on cello, Jenny Scheinman on violin and Eyvind Kang on viola. This is quite a departure for our old pal and distinguished guitarist Bill Frisell. The music was inspired by the breathtaking and distinctive artwork of Gerhardt Richter, which graces the cover and is included in the enclosed booklet. Produced by David Breskin and not by Lee Townsend (and not on Nonesuch), so that the edge is still intact, something we haven't heard from Mr. Frisell in quite a while. The booklet also includes some informative notes and interviews with Mr. Frisell and Mr. Breskin, which do a great job of explaining how this unique project came to be. The CD opens with an intensely out intro of explosive strings and scary electric guitar, heart-attack time for some newer Frisell fans perhaps? It eventually calms down a bit and moves into some somber yet dark slightly bent strings and Frisell's unique, haunting sound and distinctive chords. Frisell spent a lot of time studying Richter's artwork and composing this music, giving the music a very focused, yet still dream-like vibe. We are only two weeks into the new year and already this appears to be one the best discs I've heard in recent memory. A strong return to true form from someone we always expect great things from. - BLG In 2002 Bill Frisell was commissioned by producer David Breskin to create the music for an elaborate art book project on the great German painter Gerhard Richter. The book, RICHTER 858, was published in connection with a comprehensive US retrospective of Richter's work, although it focused entirely on a recent series of eight small abstract paintings numbered 858 1-8. There were poems, essays, superb reproductions of the works, and Frisell's music on an inserted CD -- one piece for each painting. When Songlines' owner Tony Reif was approached about releasing the recording he suggested enhancing the music in two ways: remastering it from analogue to DSD for maximum sound quality as an SACD, and creating a CD-ROM slideshow that would present the paintings and their details together with the pieces they'd inspired, demonstrating analogies between visual art and music that Breskin and Frisell had been working with. According to Breskin (who had produced two previous Frisell records, Smash & Scatteration, duets with Vernon Reid, and Power Tools' Strange Meeting): "My attraction to Frisell wasn't because of his compositional style so much as his relationship with the electric guitar. What Richter does with paint in these abstractions Frisell does with sound: he shapes it, he torques it, he inverts it -- he reverses it in time... He uses all these signal-processing devices to take his original sound and transform it... It is very similar to Richter, in the sense that Richter knows well the effects he can get from running the squeegee over a wet section of paint, just like Bill knows the effects he can achieve by feeding a certain series of notes into his delay, and then letting them come back and playing over them. And yet neither Richter nor Frisell have perfect control of the process, and things happen which they can't predict." In fact this music is a departure for Frisell, although it builds on musical friendships going back years or decades. Having discussed the possibility of a project with strings since the '80s, Breskin and Frisell settled on the basic sound, electric guitar and three acoustic strings, and on the players -- gifted, far-ranging improvisers who would relish the aesthetic challenge. After viewing the paintings in a private showing and finding out more about Richter, Frisell set about composing. A few months later Breskin and the band rendezvoused in Seattle and after a couple of days' rehearsal the music was recorded in a live mix to 1" analogue in just one day by master engineer Joe Ferla. Frisell comments: "On most of my recordings I overdub, mix, obsess over it, go back and tweak things, but I wanted this one to somehow represent this gesture of paint going across aluminum or canvas, and you just have to deal with it being there... I was thinking of my role as the guy with the squeegee... If a melody could be the equivalent of a photograph or a recognizable visual image, then what I was doing was kind of smearing the paint around, but there was always some underlying structure that was more carefully worked out." There's a density to the music, a layered quality, and performance strategies that all clearly relate to Richter's art. But Frisell's RICHTER 858 also stands on its own as an evocative suite that straddles jazz and contemporary new music, moving between musical abstraction and something more melodic and "representational," from extremes of dissonance, energy and noise to darkly serene meditations. Inspired by the whole process, Frisell has since written much more for the band, which premiered this music January 11/03 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, has recorded as the string section of his latest Nonesuch project Unspeakable, and is undertaking its first US tour as the 858 Quartet in February.
CD $17
CUONG VU 4-TET [BILL FRISELL / LUKE BERGMAN / TED POOR] - Ballet - The Music of Michael Gibbs (Rare Noise 079; EEC) Featuring Cuong Vu on trumpet, Bill Frisell on guitar, Luke Bergman on bass and Ted Poor on drums. “On the heels of his acclaimed 2016 recording, Cuong Vu Trio Meets Pat Metheny (Nonesuch Records), and his 2014 collaboration with electro-acoustic pianist-composer and Director of the School of Music at the University of Washington Richard Karpen on their Ellington-Strayhorn tribute That The Days Go By And Never Come Again (RareNoiseRecords), trumpeter-composer Cuong Vu joins forces with guest guitarist Bill Frisell on Ballet, a tribute to renowned composer-arranger Michael Gibbs. With regular Vu 4Tet bassist Luke Bergman and drummer Ted Poor, the four exchange ideas in the moment in a collective fashion on the expansive opening track, “Ballet,†which gradually morphs into a kind of quirky, dissonant blues waltz featuring brilliant solos from Vu and Frisell. The ethereal ballad “Feelings and Things†showcases Frisell’s more sensitive and spacious side while Vu turns in a remarkably lyrical solo here. “Blue Comedy,†a tune recorded by the Gary Burton Quartet (with Larry Coryell, Steve Swallow and Bob Moses) on 1968’s In Concert, kicks off with a drum salvo from Poor before Frisell and Vu join together on some tight unisons through the intricate head. As the piece progresses, it picks up a kind of shuffle-swing momentum which Frisell solos over with his signature fractured phrasing and surprising detours. Vu and Poor engage in some spirited exchanges near the end of this jaunty number. The most dramatic piece on the album, “And on the Third Day,†which originally appeared on Gibbs’ 1970 self-titled debut album, evolves gradually from a peaceful opening drone to a turbulent crescendo featuring powerful. soaring solos from both Vu and Frisell, the latter power chording with impunity and kicking on his fuzz box and backwards pedal for maximum effect. “This recording came about as Bill’s wish to bring Mike Gibbs out to the University of Washington to do some of his arrangements of Bill’s music for orchestra,†says Vu. “Mike is indeed an iconic hero to Bill and it all came about from Bill’s desire to bring him to the UW. I asked the boss, Director of the School of Music, Richard Karpen, and he gave us the green light because he wanted to honor Bill. We did two nights with the first night being the orchestra night and the second being the big band night (both student ensembles). The quartet of Bill, Ted Poor, Luke Bergman and myself was a featured part of those (both the orchestra and the big band) performances. In addition to that, the quartet (sans orchestra/big band), played Mike’s music as the second set each night. This recording is from the second night.†Regarding this exhilarating Vu 4Tet project, Vu says, “This was a very collective/equal opportunity effort, so we just played and dealt with the cards collectively as they were dealt. I think it just comes down to the collection of players and our individual aesthetics coming together and trying to find a common goal/language.†- RepublicofJazz.Blogspot
CD $17
Historic & Archival Recordings and Reissues:
JEAN-JACQUES BIRGE & HELENE SAGE - Rendez-vous (Klanggallerie 283; Austria) "French group Un Drame Musical Instantané was founded in 1976. They present an original, unclassifiable, inventive music, which drifts from jazz to electronic sounds and contemporary music. Klanggalerie has started an extensive re-issue program with these unique avantgarde pioneers which will bring back their classic albums but also side projects like this one. Rendez-Vous was recorded in 1981 but never released. This is what group founder Birgé has to say about the recording: 'I met Hélène when she was doing a performance at Espace Palikao in Paris with choreographer Lulla Card Chourlin. She was singing whilst driving an old Mercedes Benz, trying to run over Lulla, and playing double bass on its roof! I proposed her to record some improvisations at Studio GRRR as I've always done with new musicians and as I'm still doing. The connection was so great, as one can hear on this record 37 years later, that I asked her to join the 15-piece orchestra of Un Drame Musical Instantané which had just been founded. She brought some crazy stuff into the group, playing strange instruments she had invented herself. She is a wonderful flute player, but I asked her to play all kinds of instruments and also to sing, leaving her often free to improvise besides the written score. In the next years we both played as a duo and she became the fourth member of the Drame. When I listen to these pieces today, I'm surprised by the high degree of composition, the quality and variety of our inventions. The mix of acoustic and electronic instruments sounds totally contemporary, plus with the energy of youth and the absolute love for innovative forms.'"
CD $20
FRANCOISE HARDY - Francoise Hardy / Canta Per Voi In Italiano / Swinging Jazz Guitarist (El Records 344; UK) "Françoise Hardy's dreamy debut album, recorded when she was just eighteen, features 'Tous Les Garçons Et Les Filles' (All The Boys And Girls), a song that was less a hit than a social phenomenon. The single sold five million copies worldwide. The public responded to Françoise' disarming naturalness; her singular, understated voice; the combination of intensity, intelligence and mystery. And the way she so effortlessly combined simplicity with sophistication. She was a breath of fresh air. Françoise' vital debut recordings are presented here alongside 'Françoise Hardy - Canta Per Voi In Italiano' (Sings For You In Italian), and complemented by an anthology of sublime instrumental jazz sessions by her friend and contemporary, Sacha Distel. In the period when these recordings were made -- before he became an international singing star -- Sacha was widely considered to be the finest jazz guitarist in France, winning many polls and recording prolifically. (Françoise would later appear as a guest on Sacha's TV show where they performed a duet, accompanied by his guitar, a beautiful version of 'Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour') The set includes historic sessions with John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet, with the Belgian saxophonist/flautist Bobby Jaspar and with guitarist Jean-Pierre Sasson; Sacha's tribute to the master, the Hommage A Django EP, and the first recording of his most famous composition, 'Marina (The Good Life)' -- the million selling song which would become one of the great standards of easy listening and prove over many decades to be a signature tune for Tony Bennett. It was written originally for Roger Vadim's contribution to the 'L'orgueil (Pride)' chapter of the portmanteau film, 'Les sept péchés capitaux (The Seven Deadly Sins)'; the sequence appearing alongside sketches by Godard, Chabrol and Demy."
3 CD Set $28
VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Down Town Albums Collection (Doctor Bird 020; UK) "After embarking on a career as a singer in the early 1960s, Robert Thompson aka Dandy achieved significant success on the British music scene with a series of popular ska and rock steady singles. In the summer of 1968, he proved instrumental in the launch of Trojan Records, which later in the year granted the budding singer-songwriter-producer his own Down Town subsidiary on which to showcase his work. The company's faith in Dandy's creative talents was promptly rewarded when he provided them with two of their earliest big sellers: 'Reggae In Your Jeggae' and Trojan's first official UK pop chart entry, 'Red Red Wine' by Tony Tribe. Soon after, an LP of the same title was compiled and released, with the collection comprising the hit, alongside another 11 Dandy produced tracks, lifted from his most popular Down Town singles to date. The album remained a best seller for Trojan well into 1970, when the company issued the similarly compiled Red Red Wine Volume 2, which like its predecessor proved hugely popular among UK reggae fans. Meanwhile, Dandy's work ethos was reflected in the release of an array of further 7" singles and another two long players: Blow Your Horn -- a set that largely showcasing the talents of ace trombonist Rico Rodriquez and top British reggae act, the Rudies - and Your Musical Doctor throughout which Dandy's own vocals took centre stage. Now, at long last, all four of these historically important albums have been gathered onto this superb two-disc set, with all but Blow Your Horn making their CD debut. The result is a timely celebration of the original boss reggae style championed by first generation skinheads half a century ago!"
2 CD set $25
VOLKER KRIEGEL With EBERHARD WEBER / MICAHEL DI PASQUA / et al - Schone Aussichten (Moosicus M 1308; Germany) "Volker Kriegel (born 1943, died 2003) is one of the best and most important German jazz guitarists of the post-war period. He is internationally highly acclaimed and pushed the innovation of jazz rock. The circle of friends around his wife Ev Kriegel has now made an incredible treasure of old recordings from his various creative phases audible again. Previously unreleased live recordings as well as well-known material from his albums have been digitized and lovingly remastered. These audiophile pearls form the Volker Kriegel Archive, which is now released on Moosicus. Schöne Aussichten was first released on vinyl in 1983. Volker Kriegel plays guitar, sitar and synthesizer. Hans Peter Ströer plays bass, synthesizer and guitar, Junior Weerasinghe, Evert Fraterman on drums, Ernst Ströer and Michael Di Pasqua on drums and percussion, Thomas Bettermann on keys, Frank Loef on saxophones, Wolfgang Schlüter on vibraphone and Eberhard Weber on bass. The bonus tracks 'Wellenmusik 1-3' were written by Volker Kriegel in 1982 for the experimental film 'Wellen' by W. Mackrodt (first broadcasted 1982 on WDR)."
CD $22
VOLKER KRIEGEL - Biton Grooves (Moosicus 1309; Germany) "Biton thus produced a total of five albums in which Volker Kriegel was involved - but which were forgotten for a long time and did not even appear in many early discographies. However, collectors in the completion mania then paid ever higher amounts for these LPs, and also some DJs had discovered the Biton sound and obtained beats & breaks for their own productions from it. With this release of the Volker Kriegel: Biton Grooves there are now 37 tracks in best quality, crackle-free and affordable, which Kriegel and his fellow musicians recorded in the sessions for the legendary LPs BIT 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008. And read the names of the participants, then it quickly becomes clear that this was the first league of German jazz and jazz rock at the start -- and all more or less line-ups, which one also knows from regular Kriegel albums of the respective phase: Rainer Brüninghaus and later Thomas Bettermann (e-piano), Peter Giger, Klaus Weiss, Joe Nay & Evert Fraterman (drums/percussion), Eberhard Weber, and Hans Peter Ströer (bass) and others.Yes, and what do you hear here now? Great instrumentalists, no question about it -- and music that would at least partly have fitted on one or the other Kriegel album of those years. OK, here and there the melodies and sounds are a bit simpler and more catchy, but Kriegel's trademarks -- his wonderful chords and double stops, the wah-wah and sitar interjections, his still impressive guitar licks in downward movement -- all this can be experienced 1:1 here. And of course, the partly bizarre distortion sounds of those years, which for many later born electric guitarists for a long time just sounded unbelievable to impossible. And long ago back again..."
2 CD Set $24
VOLKER KRIEGEL & SPECTRUM - Mild Maniac (Moosicus 1310; Germany) "The ingredients of a Kriegel style jazz rock are as simple as they are complex: an often pumping rock bass, whose stoic groove Eberhard Weber leaves behind in wide arcs on his corpus-less electro contrabass, and a drumset drumming crisply dry to the beat by Joe Nay, which is put under tension time and again by Peter Giger's shimmering percussions. Rainer Brüninghaus's flat-oscillating chord playing on the e-piano, which he breaks open with long, eloquently phrased garlands, and Kriegel's wide, slightly distorted legato bows on the semi-acoustic guitar. This is Kriegel's creative cosmos, so he sounds: The rudeness of rock and the suppleness of jazz go hand in hand with the melancholy of blues and the emotionality of soul. The five bonus tracks following the six Mild Maniac tracks on the original album are interesting for the re-release of this Kriegel recording, which has often been praised as a legendary recording. Kriegel played the last four numbers with his Mild Maniac Orchestra at the 1977 Schlossfestspiele in Idstein. But only in the last title, in Kriegel's long 'Schnellhörspiel', is the whole band with all the musical set pieces described above present."
CD $22
Last copies Found:
DONALD MILLER - Little Treatise on Morals (Audible Hiss 002; USA) This was released in 1995 and is/was a 2 LP set of solo electric guitar. Donald Miller is an experimental guitarist from Nyak, NY and whose is a founding member of the legendary noise/free/jazz band Borbetomagus. I’ve known Mr. Miller for nearly 40 years and can recall when he had an influential radio show on WKCR in the late seventies/early eighties. I’ve caught dozens of sets from Borbetomagus, one of the most extreme examples of free music at its most intense. I remember seeing Mr. Miller use a file and assorted objects on his guitar, coaxing a variety of sounds, some brutal at times. Outside of Borbetomagus, Mr. Miller has worked with William Hooker and once played a duo at DMG with New Music cellist Charles Curtis. While listening to this disc recently, I am reminded of a current experimental guitarist, Sandy Ewen. Each of the three long pieces were recorded in May of 1982. It is hard to tell exactly what Mr. Miller is playing at times, quiet feedback, bent string noises, subtle distortion, not much like the more extreme sounds he gets with Borbetomagus. Eventually Mr. Miller, increases the distortion, getting his guitar to groan, drone and expand. This is where the fun begins. - BLG
CD $20 (3 CD left at present, probably a few 2 LP sets as well)
LP Only Section:
MILANO AFTER PUNK - Rare And Unreleased Tracks From Milan's Underground New Wave Scene 1979-1984 (Spittle Records 092-LP; Italy) Milan, 1979, only two years had passed since the explosion of punk but it seemed like ten years had passed, 1977 had inexorably changed the destiny of a generation of musicians. Milan in those years felt a bit like Manchester, a city in black and white, with monuments grayed by smog, busy and still far from becoming the "Milan to drink" of the mid-80s. The music scene was totally disconnected from the rest of the Italian underground, the bands were born and imploded within a few months. The inputs that arrived thanks to the English weekly New Musical Express and some Italian fanzines were essential to know what happened across the channel almost in real time. The concerts at the 2001 Odyssey, a club where almost all the really important post-punk bands performed, were fundamental to understand and feel part of something that resembled a revolution, a movement that in those years produced little in terms of discography but that today, after almost forty years, Spittle Records reveal the absolute uniqueness of the proposals of the protagonists of that Milanese season. Sharp guitars, primordial drum machines, synthesizers bought at a high price and 4-track cassette recorders were the tools used to affirm their belonging to a creative movement that developed simultaneously throughout Europe. Concept and compilation by Fred Ventura. File under: minimal synth, post-punk, synth-pop, punk funk, no wave. Features Aus Decline, Oh Oh Art, Der Blaue Reiter, Other Side, Cast Of Thousands, 2 2=5, Monofonic Orchestra, After Budapest, La Mason, State Of Art, Nobody, Actor's Studio, and Jeunesse D'ivoire. Includes CD.
LP CD $25
PAUL DEMARINIS - Songs Without Throats (Black Truffle 041; Australia) Black Truffle announces the release of Songs Without Throats, a collection of recordings from Paul DeMarinis. A key figure in the history of electronic music since the 1970s and collaborator with the likes of Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and David Tudor, DeMarinis is a pioneer in the development of gallery sound installation and digital music technologies. All tracks have been selected in collaboration with the artist, focusing on DeMarinis's exploration of synthesized voice and the digital analysis and manipulation of speech sounds, recorded during the late '70s up until 1995. Drawing together tracks dispersed on compilations along with a number of pieces previously unheard in any form, Songs Without Throats offers a mind-blowing, revelatory look into DeMarinis's alternately accessible and uncompromising production. Opening with a mesmerizing piece from 1978 pairing the voice and tamboura of Anne Klingensmith with letters spat out by a Speak n' Spell to the accompaniment of the randomized melodic patterns of DeMarinis's homebuilt electronic instrument "The Pygmy Gamelan", the record then dispenses with the live human voice in favor of its recorded and synthetic doubles. One can follow DeMarinis's restless probing of the possibilities of technology, from the hacked Speak n' Spell (which gives us the austere "Et Tu, Klaatu" (1979), another duet with Klingensmith, on bowed psaltery, in which the toy's synthetic voice is stretched into an alien song) through to the use of digital samples manipulated with home computer technology in the early 1990s (including a remarkable collage piece that weaves a rare recording of Stalin's voice and bird-like electronic twittering derived from its formant - glides into a rich tapestry of samples reflective of the dictator's musical life). In between is a rich sampling of DeMarinis's signature work with speech melodies -- usually unnoticed melodic inflections that lie within speech patterns -- which he analyses and translates into synthesized musical accompaniment. These pieces draw on a wide variety of sources, which range from the hilarious to the menacing, combining elements as seemingly unlikely as Beethoven's piano sonatas and the sounds of '80s synth-pop. The results are an extraordinary combination of the alien and the familiar. As DeMarinis himself characterizes his work with vocal synthesis, this is "a kind of signal that simultaneously carried and obscured meaning and ideation, even as it created a sound world totally alien in esthetic". Deluxe gatefold sleeve with archival images and liners by DeMarinis; design by Stephen O'Malley. Mastered and cut by Rashad Becker at D&M, Berlin.
2 LP Set $38
THE MOMES With TIM HODGKINSON / MICK HOBBS - Spiralling (Mental Experience 026; Spain) Mental Experience present an expanded reissue and the first ever vinyl reissue of The Momes' Spiralling, originally released in 1989 on the Woof label. Featuring Tim Hodgkinson (Henry Cow, The Work) on Hawaiian laptop noisy guitar and keyboards, Mick Hobbs (Family Fodder, The Work, Officer!) on bass, and Andy Wake (Unrest, Work & Play) on drums, The Momes were a unique power trio with an abrasive sound channeling post-punk, psych-prog, and avant-rock. Spiralling is their sole album, recorded at This Heat's Cold Storage studio by Charles Bullen (This Heat, Lifetones) and originally released on the Woof label operated by Tim Hodgkinson and Bill Gilonis. Recommended for fans of This Heat, Wire, Sonic Youth, Faust, Amon Düül II, Can, MX-80 Sound, Mission Of Burma. Includes a bonus 7" with two tracks taken from the album sessions (originally released only on CD as bonus tracks); Includes insert with rare photos and memorabilia and liner notes by Byron Coley; Includes download with a previously unreleased bonus track from the same album sessions, "Wall Is Down". "They mix a kind of driving post-punk rock-lurch with beautiful lyrics, lovely Trout Mask guitar moments and plenty of twisted art-rock details" - Byron Coley
LP 7†$28
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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 - BILLY MARTIN - FEB 5–9
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 STONE RESIDENCIES - VICKY CHOW - FEB 12–16
Pianist extraordinaire Vicky Chow performs five completely different programs of music for solo piano. Includes several world premieres and some surprise guest artists!
2/12 Tuesday
8:30 pm - Vicky Chow (piano); New Solo Acoustic piano works written between 2012-2019 by Josue Collado, Felipe Lara, Caroline Shaw, Robert Andrew Scott and Jobina Tinnemans.
2/13 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Vicky Chow plays New Works with Andy Akiho and Ian David Rosenbaum
Vicky Chow (piano) Andy Akiho (steel pan) Ian David Rosenbaum (percussion)
2/14 Thursday
8:30 pm - Vicky Chow plays Philip Glass Etudes Book 1 - Vicky Chow (piano)
2/15 Friday
8:30 pm - Vicky Chow plays Philip Glass Etudes Book 2 - Vicky Chow (piano)
2/16 Saturday
8:30 pm Vicky Chow (piano); Solo Acoustic Works including Ann Southam's Glass Houses, Nik Bärtsch's Moduls, Toshi Ichiyanagi's Time Sequence and more!
THE (NEW) STONE is located in The New School’s Glass Box Theatre ÂÂ
All Sets at The New Stone start at 8:30pm Tickets: $20
There are no refreshments or merchandise at The Stone.ÂÂ
Only music. All ages are welcome. Cash Only at the door.ÂÂ
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
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 [6’40â€Â]
Le Merle Noir (1952) for Flute and Piano - Olivier Messiaen [6’32â€Â]
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 [16’30â€Â]
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 18th
7pm Faye Kilburn - theramin
Ras Moshe - tenor saxophone
Laura Feathers - synth
Dave Miller - drums
8pm Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Adam Lane - bass
Vijay Anderson - drums
9pm Paul Austerlitz - clarinets
JD Parran - clarinets
Isaiah Richardson - clarinets
9:45pm Matt Lavelle - trumpet
Lee Odom - bass
Jeremy Carlstedt - drums
10:45pm Nick Fraser - drums
Tony Malaby - saxophones
Darren Johnston - trumpet
Brandon Lopez - bass
11:30pm David Meier - drums
Michael Foster - saxophones
Joanna Mattrey - viola
Simon Hanes - bass
Downstairs @ Bushwick Public HouseÂÂ
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 â€â€Ã‚ Concerts, January-February 2019ÂÂ
COMING ATTRACTIONSÂÂ
Saturday February 9, 7:30pm â€â€Ã‚Â
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 â€â€Ã‚Â
Double-bill â€â€Ã‚ 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.comÂÂ
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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