While DMG Head Honcho, BLG, Travels up to the FIMAV Festival in Quebec this week (May 17th-22nd), the store still will remain open the regular hours, everyday from noon til 6pm. Dave Miller, Anders Zelinski & Chris Pitsiokos will be here to serve you, so come on down, say hello and support your fave store!
As the New get Weirder and Hard to Believe
We seek out Special Sounds that Can Receive
Another Great Week of Inspiring Music from:
Craig Taborn & Ikue Mori! Peter Brotzmann & Heather Leigh! Ten from Clean Feed: Mario Pavone/Dave Ballou/Tony Malaby/Oscar Noriega/Peter McEachern/Mike Sarin! Mat Maneri / Evan Parker / Lucian Ban! Rova/Henry Kaiser/Kyle Bruckmann Play Steve Lacy’s Sax Special! Meridian Trio: Nick Mazzarella/Matt Ulery..! David Stackenas Solo Guitar! Stale Storlokken/Thomas Stronen!
Pre-orders for Willem Breuker Kollektief 11 CD Set! Historic: Billy Bang Solo from 1979! Two essential from Hans Reichel! Rudiger Carl/Gunter Christmann Trio! Black Cube Marriage with Rob Mazurek & Steve Jansen! Leap of Faith! Tony Conrad! Trad, Gras Och Stenar! Tony Conrad Rarities! Kevin Drumm 6 CD Set! New from Neos: Vinko Globakar! Edward Ka-Spel!
Restocks from ICP Orchestra! Jewels & Binoculars Tribute to Bob Dylan: Michael Moore/Lindsey Horner/Michael Vatcher! Lee Perry! John Hartford. Three LP Rarities from Peter Brotzmann/Fred Van Hove/Han Bennink Albert Mangelsdorff! 3 from Ned Rothenberg Double Band with Thomas Chapin! Lee Perry!John Hartford! Charelmagne Palestine!
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The FREE DMG Weekly New Music In-Store Series Continues on Sundays with:
Sunday, May 21st - No In-store while Bruce is attending FIMAV in Quebec
Sunday, May 28th - No In-store during the opening night of the Vision Festival
The Legend of Downtown Music Gallery on film! DMG turns 26 years, this month! Check out our history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MAbS09Cv8M
THE DMG 26TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES OF SONIC CELEBRATIONS Continue with:
Sunday, June 4th at Downtown Music Gallery:
6pm: THOMAS HELTON / JAIMIE BRANCH / MICHAEL EVANS!
7pm: KALABALIK Returns: RAOUL BJORKENHEIM / ANDERS NILSSON / GERALD CLEAVER!
Monday, June 5th at ZURCHER GALLERY (33 Bleecker St, east of Lafayette)
7pm: Debut Gig: RAOUL BJORKENHEIM / JOE FONDA / GERALD CLEAVER New TRIO!
Monday, June 19th at THE STONE:
Bruce’s Birthday Celebration & Concert of Spiritual Jazz!
7pm: UNBROKEN: LOUIE BELOGENIS / SHANIR BLUMENKRANZ / KENNY WOLLESON!
8:30: FRANKLIN KIERMYER QUARTET Featuring: JOVAN ALEXANDRE - Tenor Sax /
DAVIS WHITFIELD - Piano / OTTO GARDNER - Bass / FRANKLIN KIERMYER - Drums!
July, 2017 is the 50th Anniversary of the Passing of John Coltrane - We Embrace his Spirit!
Saturday, July 15th at DMG: Super Rare Solo Performance by:
6pm: HENRY KAISER - Solo Electric Guitar!
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 Cosy
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Next Week We will be receiving a large box from our favorite Dutch Distributor which will include nearly a dozen newer discs from an assortment of ICP Orchestra, Willem Breuker Kollektief and many more great Dutch musicians. One of the most highly anticipated sets if an 11 CD box set from the Willem Breuker Kollektief. If you pre-order it this week, you will get a nice discount so think out it. We have a half dozen coming in shortly and another half dozen a few weeks later… We will list all eleven new discs next week and the lists is looking great!
WILLEM BREUKER KOLLEKTIEF - Out of the Box [11 CD Set 84 page Book] (Bvhaast 12016; Netherlands) Discs: CD 01 - Big Chunks; CD 02 - Songs and More; CD 03: Plays and Movies; CD 04: Heibel / Fuss; CD 05:Strings - Zaanse Pegels; CD 06: Umea 1978; CD 07: Angouleme 1980; CD 8 & 9: Faust; CD 11: Happy End. Produced and compiled by Bernard Hunnekink and Arjen Gorter for BVHAAST and the Willem Breuker Foundation.
For over 45 years, Willem Breuker played a large part in the musical life of the Netherlands, as a musician, composer, arranger and organizer.
Between 1974 and 2012, the Willem Breuker Kollektief presented an adventurous and innovative mix of jazz, free improvisation, contemporary classical and theatre and circus music, often enlivened by a personal sense of humor.
From this huge body of work, original Kollektief members Arjen Gorter and Bernard Hunnekink have now compiled an anthology, to be found on these 11 beautifully remastered CD’s. Themes such as music for film, theatre and strings are featured, as well as songs and longer, more complex pieces. Many of the pieces presented here are either no longer available elsewhere, or are now released for the first time, including the complete sound track for the film Faust and the farewell concert Happy End. - Organissimo.org
11 CD Set $90 (If ordered before May 26th, take $4 off = $86) will ship next Friday
New Things in Stock and Ready to Ship:
CRAIG TABORN and IKUE MORI - Highsmith (Tzadik 4017; USA) Two of the most creative, elusive and modest musicians in the Downtown scene in an intimate and free wheeling duo session. Mutual admirers for well over a decade, Ikue and Craig first performed as a duo at the Village Vanguard in December 2016 and now step into the recording studio for an astonishing session of duo improvisations. Inspiring and dynamic music for piano and electronics that explode every expectation. Essential listening for all interested in music that defies ALL categorization.
CD $14
PETER BROTZMANN/HEATHER LEIGH - Sex Tape (Trost 163; Austria) Recording of Heather Leigh and Peter Brötzmann's great set at Unlimited Festival, Wels, 2016. Personnel: Heather Leigh - pedal steel guitar; Peter Brötzmann - tenor saxophone. “Capable of extreme dynamics and subtleties, the duo began their musical partnership in May 2015 at the Tectonics Festival in Glasgow, Scotland. Since that time, they’ve furthered their collaboration into a dialogue that, in the words of The Wire’s Richard Thomas, “spews a raucous, unrelenting, spiteful, acid-drenched, caterwauling hate-bomb; a maelstrom; a toxic dreamscape; a grotesque collision of desperate lungs and screaming metal; a romantic Taser blast to the heart."
Peter Brotzmann and Heather Leigh will be performing live for their first time in NYC on Wednesday, June 7th at Issue Project Room!
CD $17
10 Fantastic New Discs from the Clean Feed and Shhpuma Empire:
MARIO PAVONE With DAVE BALLOU / TONY MALABY / OSCAR NOREIGA / PETER McEACHERN / MIKE SARIN - Vertical (Clean Feed 423; Portugal) By now, Mario Pavone doesn’t need more presentations: he’s on the top of the jazz nobility of today, after a life of partnerships with the greatest, namely Paul Bley, Bill Dixon, Thomas Chapin, Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Marty Ehrlich and others of similar status. In his own bands, Pavone chooses the best in activity: his new opus, “Verticalâ€Â, include the contributions of Tony Malaby, Oscar Noriega, Dave Ballou, Peter McEachern and Mike Sarin. With such luminaries, the music could only have a solar quality: it’s colorful, bright, warm and intense. The compositions extend the percussive approach to the double bass which immediatly identifies this extraordinary musician: Pavone’s integrated work with drummer Sarin is propulsive, nervous and energetic, cutting through the clouds of sound formed by the reeds and the brass instruments. The horn frontline can be formed by only four contributors, but sometimes it seems we’re in front of an entire orchestra. This is dense and intense music, full of grain and humanity, powerful and fragile at the same time, meticulously structured and spontaneous in the same measure, with motivating theme lines and loose improvisations. It has everything you can ask for in just a jazz album.
CD $15
ROVA / KYLE BRUCKMANN / HENRY KAISER//STEVE LACY - Saxophone Special Revisited (Clean Feed 415; Portugal) This is not the first time we hear ROVA – the Californian saxophone quartet composed of Bruce Ackley, Steve Adams, Larry Ochs and Jon Raskin – picking up a jazz icon’s music and turning it radically into their own. It happened a few years ago with John Coltrane and “Electric Ascensionâ€Â. This time, Steve Lacy and his “Saxophone Special†album are the subjects of the musical reinvention, giving a new life to the late maverick soprano saxophonist and his very personal concepts. In “Saxophone Special Revisitedâ€Â, Rova joins forces with guitarist Henry Kaiser and modular electronics ace, Kyle Bruckmann. These players are precisely in-line with the first “Saxophone Special": Lacy included Michel Waiswisz’s synths and Derek Bailey’s electric guitar in the original proceedings, and this means that the present “revisitation†is closer to the Lacy’s original project with Steve Potts, Evan Parker and Trevor Watts than “Electric Ascension†was to Coltrane’s original “Ascensionâ€Â. Here is a tribute to the revolutionary ideas put to practice by Steve Lacy, in a period – beginning of the Seventies – when the saxophone quartet was a practically nonexistent format in Creative Music – one track on Anthony Braxton’s “New York, Fall 1974†was the only concurrent example, and the World Saxophone Quartet appeared a year later. This new release is also the renewal of an old recording/performing partnership between ROVA and Kaiser which began with “Cinema Rovate†and “Daredevils†40 years ago. It is guaranteed to surprise, illuminate, and delight today's listeners.
CD $15
MAT MANERI / EVAN PARKER / LUCIAN BAN - Sounding Tears (Clean Feed 425; Portugal) For Sounding Tears, Mat Maneri’s first release under his own name (not as co-leader or collaborator) in 12 years, Maneri has enlisted legendary British saxophonist Evan Parker, one of European avant-garde's leading voices for the past four decades, alongside his long-standing collaborator, Romanian expat, pianist Lucian Ban.
The improvisations conjured by these improvisers bespeak a music of the new millennium – tender and lyrical while also angular, gritty and suspenseful. Reflecting on Sounding Tears Maneri says: “Music begins before music. As an improviser the first note I play sets in motion the whole world. As a trio, where does musical intimacy come from? Is it improvisation, is it chamber music? Is it jazz? The music on this album, the experience, empathy and the shared history that Evan and Lucian bring to Sounding Tears, is our answer to those questions."
Maneri and Ban have been working together for close to a decade spanning a number of different projects. They met while working on Ban and bassist John Hebert’s Enesco Re-Imagined (Sunnyside, 2009). On one piece played a memorable duo, so remarkable that they didn’t hesitate to begin touring as a duo. This touring relationship ultimately resulted in their acclaimed recording, Transylvanian Concert (ECM, 2013). It was at the Bucharest release show for Transylvanian Concert that they invited Parker to be a special guest. The music was elevated to a new plane. The three played a few more times together before heading to Tedesco Studios in New Jersey in 2016 to record what would become Sounding Tears.
The music on the album showcases a side of the saxophonist’s playing not often heard on record – a more introverted, crooked way of phrasing, tenderly enveloped in Maneri and Ban’s sonic universe. Over the course of eight free improvisations and two written melodies, this trio showcases a distinct language; a language built on equality and listening with no grandstanding or hierarchical principles at play.
A notable influence on this album’s concept was the seminal 1995 ECM album Time Will Tell by Paul Bley, Evan Parker and Barre Phillips. This album meant an immeasurable amount to both Maneri and Ban. A sense of space invoked throughout and the collective phrasing were influential to both musicians. Bley was also one of the first people to give Joe Maneri and Mat Maneri the recognition they so deserved. Bley recommended them to ECM Records' Manfred Eicher, with whom they went on to record with Barre Phillips and many others in a series of albums which are still cherished for their inventiveness.
Maneri sums up the spirit of Sounding Tears. “It’s like Lester Young mixed with something insane; rooted in the past of an alternate universe which may have never existed.†No other words can describe the dualities that this record holds within itself – the music is both cutting-edge and remarkably progressive while also being firmly rooted in tradition, song, and improvisational tactics which recall 20th century modern classical music in addition to jazz. The sound of Sounding Tears is the sound of three master musicians playing with integrity and heart, listening as much as asserting, letting silence dictate as much as sonic density. It’s a treat and a delight to hear a recontextualized Evan Parker sitting patiently, enmeshing himself in a codified universe that Maneri and Ban have been crafting for several years.
CD $15
MERIDIAN TRIO With NICK MAZZARELLA / MATT ULERY / JEREMY CUNNINGHAM - Triangulum (Clean Feed 422; Portugal) Artists like Nick Mazzarella, Matt Ulery and Jeremy Cunningham, the members of Meridian Trio, are keeping the Chicago jazz scene alive and as strong as ever. All of them are highly demanded sidemen and also the leaders of their own projects, including the popular Nick Mazzarella Quintet, Matt Ulery's folkish, chamber jazz group Loom, and the ambient Jeremy Cunningham Quartet. But this triangular combo organized in 2014 by Mazzarella, the group's composer, is a vehicle for the three musicians to stretch their respective skills and develop new ideas. All three have the capacity to move in many musical directions, and they do. “Triangulum†keeps links with the jazz tradition and goes to unknown territories, destroying all the remaining distinctions that some more distracted listeners (and players) still make between “mainstream†and “avant-gardeâ€Â. The music is very affirmative, but it’s also flexible. It can get complex but always swings, and even if there’s a triangular hierarchy, with Mazzarella’s alto saxophone on the top and Ulery’s double bass and Cunningham’s drum set occupying the bottom, they all have strong personalities and the music reflects it. The references of open form jazz adopted by the band couldn’t be more uplifting – Ornette Coleman’s Golden Circle Trio and Henry Threadgill’s Air. But take notice – though these models may serve as inspiration for Meridian Trio, listening to this record we quickly have the impression that new ground is being covered. Chicago has more to offer, and here it is.
CD $15
HONEST JOHN With OLE-HENRIK MOE / KIM JOHANNESEN / OLA HøYER / ERIK NYLANDER / KLAUS ELLERHUSEN - International Breakthrough (Clean Feed 420; Portugal) Personnel: Ole-Henrik Moe - violin, Kim Johannesen guitar & guitar-banjo, Ola Høyer - double bass, Erik Nylander drums, Roland tr-77 drum machine, Klaus Ellerhusen Holm alto saxophone, Bb-clarinet. Something like the band Honest John could only come from the Scandinavian scene. It seems that only the musicians born and living in the top of the world have the vision, the ingenuity and the guts to combine elements nobody else would dare to, with the preconceived idea that it wouldn’t work, and further more making things in such a way that everything seems natural and just the continuation of old procedures. You certainly noticed that before: the results use to be new and different, qualities that you only achieve taking risks and walking in no man’s land. The Norwegian and Swedish quintet formed by some of the most important musicians of the creative jazz and free improvised circuits in those two countries (we can hear them in groups like Sheriffs of Nothingness, Cortex, Large Unit, Ballrogg and Trondheim Jazz Orchestra) gathered inspiration in the most improbable sources, namely Dutch free jazz (the one established around Misha Mengelberg and the legendary Instant Composers Pool), Brazilian rooted styles like bossa nova and samba and – even more surprisingly – the contemporary classical music of Webern and Sciarrino. That’s what makes this a highly original project, combining a special richness of materials and language to another Scandinavian particularity: the energetic way everything is delivered to us.
CD $15
RUNE YOUR DAY With JORGEN MATHISEN / ANDRE ROLIGHTETEN / RUNE NERGAARD / AXEL SKALSTAD - Rune Your Day (Clean Feed 424; Portugal) Don’t trust the phonetic double sense of this CD’s title as something that will “ruin your day†if you take it home. And no, there aren’t any Germanic runes on auditory range, taking you to the Pagan mythical past of the European countries the same way a few Swedish and Norwegian doom metal bands do. It just happens that the composer and leader of Rune Your Day is Rune Nergaard, the same of groups like Bushman’s Revenge, Astro Sonic, Scent of Soil and Marvel Machine. Yes, the musicians gathered here – Jørgen Mathisen, André Roligheten and Axel Skalstad besides Nergaard – are from the lands formerly ruled by gods like Odin and Thor, but the imaginary involved is very much profane and of the present, as we can testify by the songs “Living in the Pink Bubble of Hubba Bubbaâ€Â, “Crazy ‘Bout Oatmeal†and “Go Ahead, Punk!â€Â. Each piece included in this recording is a chronicle of our mundane contemporaneity, coming from a hyperrealistic vision of American jazz which could only denounce a Scandinavian perspective. Almost no-one in the United States is self-conscious enough to play jazz like this – you need to have a distance to perceive all the nuances, and in Norway they do have it. Rune Your Day are the Denis Petersons of North European jazz and that’s so, so good.
CD $15
CHAMBER 4 With MARCELO DOS REIS / LUIS VICENTE / THEO & VALENTIN CECCALDI - City of Light (Clean Feed 426; Portugal) Personnel: LuÃÂs Vicente - trumpet, Théo Ceccaldi violin and voice, Valentin Ceccaldi cello and voice, Marcelo dos Reis acoustic guitar & prepared guitar and voice. This is the second volume of the in-progress cross pollination of two geographical forces in the domains of creative jazz and free improvisation, a Portuguese one, represented by trumpeter LuÃÂs Vicente and guitarist Marcelo dos Reis, and a French one, put to action by the brothers Théo and Valentin Ceccaldi. The ground for this collaborative work is chamber music, the way we perceive it in the 21st century, and both the technical and the aesthetics of the renewed encounter happening inside Chamber 4 are in full improvisation: no scores, no structures of any kind, no previous discussions about what to do or not to do or any type of conceptual reasoning. What comes up is what naturally happens in the given context, and that’s why the liner notes refer the interplay of chaos and order. The order, we can understand while listening, emerging from chaos itself, and the in-the-moment intuition becoming a compositional tool, via sedimentation of elements, elliptical spontaneous organization, repetition and a sense of collective completeness based on controlled individual contributions. This is why the quartet seems to «move as one», even if «in all directions», «out of joy» and «out of distress», as Stef Gijssels writes. Who said everything was already done in the contains of improvised music? Not at all, and “City of Light†is a fundamental new chapter of that always unfinished enterprise.
CD $15
THE SELVA With RICARDO JACINTO / GONCALO ALMEIDA / NUNO MORãO - The Selva (Clean Feed 427; Portugal) The Selva personnel are Ricardo Jacinto cello, Gonçalo Almeida double bass and Nuno Morão drums. The Portuguese trio The Selva likes to make musical references, to symbolize and to propose dubious significations. The debut album of the group starts with a piece full of indeterminate allusions to the Far-Eastern traditional music expressions. It goes on with a virtual journey through Renaissance times and its aesthetic values, seeming to invite us to care more for the beauty of life. Only in the third track we find recognizable ground as improvised music, but the motives and the obsessive repetitions are clearly African. From then on we hear either wales or machines operating, and when we less expect it is also a distillation of the blues form, but involved in a dreamy fog, as if reminding us from where this kind of music comes from. We’ll soon understand it as the introduction of what comes next: jazz in its more naked and crude essence. But we’re not yet at the destination of this semiotic use of sound – there’s also an acoustic / performative approach to concrete music, twice presented and twice changing into something else. This enterprise combining two string instruments, the cello of Ricardo Jacinto and the double bass of Gonçalo Almeida, with the percussion devices of Nuno Morão never rests in the chamber domain and that is an absolute novelty. This is different from everything already done with this instrumental format, but so naturally that makes you think why it didn’t happen before.â€Ââ€Â
CD $15
DAVID STACKENÄS - Bricks (Clean Feed 421; Portugal) The last solo CD (“Separatorâ€Â) recorded by David Stackenäs with acoustic guitars was released 8 years ago. Too much time without having a close listening of the developments taken by the continuous research this Swedish guitarist is doing of the unplugged instrument that, even being the most popular in the world, still has some secrets to explore. The focus may be the same, with a similar succession of sketches (“bricksâ€Â), but there’s much more happening than before: both the musician and the music grew considerably. The sound is raw but its contents are exquisite. The structures can be complex, but the Delta blues roots we always recognized in this improviser’s guitar language appear in the cracks and sometimes stay at the surface. Nothing is excluded in this musical microcosm – after all, Stackenäs is one of those jazz musicians we find either in the mainstream and the creative fields, equally at ease when exploring tonality and melody or abstract noisy textures. He has a unique way of playing guitar, and some of the applied techniques are his own. David Stackenas uses preparations and conventional procedures as he sees fit and with no preconceptions. After this fundamental work, you’re certainly going to add his name among your favorite guitar players.
CD $15
STALE STORLOKKEN / THOMAS STRONEN - Enter Humcrush (Shhpuma 030; Portugal) o, there’s five now. The latest one is Humcrush with Sidsel Endresen – a partnership with one of Norway's most legendary singers and improvisers, showing specific coordinates because of that circumstance. And if “Ha!†was different from the previous albums, here is the new “Humcrush†introducing some profound changes in relation to “Humcrushâ€Â, “Hornswoggle†and “Rest at World’s Endâ€Â. Between the last refered one and the record now in distribution are six years of interval: that’s too much time, time enough for a transformation of the musical concepts applied by Stale Storløkken and Thomas Strønen to their common project, thanks to the experiences they had with all the other bands with which they’re involved: Supersilent with or without John Paul Jones, Food, Elephant9, Time is a blind guide, Meadow or Motorpsycho.
It happens that “Humcrush†has less of the electro-acoustic experimentalism, of ambient music and of the space music factor we used to find in the earliest Humcrush, and more of its rock side, a kind of rock with roots in prog and psychedelic, yes, but electrocuted by a punk attitude. The influences from both jazz, electronica and rock continues to this day, and probably more than before, but there was a weight loss of the resources and, in consequence, of the music itself. This one was subtracted to find its essence: the keyboard and percussion panoplies of the past, and all of the virtual orchestrations, aren’t present anymore. This edition was recorded with just a Fender Rhodes connected to a guitarist pedalboard (sounding more as a guitar than an electric piano), a synthesizer (with few appearances) and a drum kit, nothing more. The old and dominant electronic processing gave place to a focus on distortion and fuzz, in line with a futuristic (and futurist, considering the importance, here, of noise) vision of the most improbable encounter imaginable: the one between the Herbie Hancock of “Crossing†and those genius junkies named Hawkwind. In the form of an improvised music proudly idiomatic, a sort of free jazz / free rock with the groove of funk. At the fifth record, Humcrush are better than ever.
CD $15
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Five Fabulous Discs from the Corbett Vs. Dempsey Label:
BILLY BANG - Distinction Without a Difference (CvsD 035; USA) The long out-of-print first solo record by American violinist Billy Bang (1947-2011), recorded in 1979 and first released on Hat Hut Records, featuring his own compositions, extrapolated at length in the intimate live concert, as well as traditional and improvised material. Remastered from original tapes and augmented by newly discovered recordings from the same concert. Part of the large cache of historical Hat Hut records that Corbett vs. Dempsey continues to release. Original cover, reprinted in all its glory with a tip-on gatefold. Classic American creative music on CD for the first time!
CD $15
HANS REICHEL - Bonobo (CvsD 034 / FMP 0280; USA) Second LP in the catalog of German guitarist and instrument inventor Hans Reichel (1949-2011), a program of microtonal string investigations that is still beguiling and fresh four decades later. Originally released by FMP in 1976, with a hilarious cover by Reichel himself. Never before available on CD, remastered from original tapes, packaged with gatefold and tip-on cover reprinting the original design. Like Reichel's debut, a super-rare slice of musical otherness.
CD $15
HANS REICHEL - Wichlinghauser Blues (CvsD 033/FMP 0150; USA) Originally released on FMP in 1973, this is the debut LP by legendary German guitar improvisor and instrument inventor Hans Reichel (1949-2011), a resonant and hilarious document of the nascent genius, recording his peculiar and wondrous music alone in a studio. Acoustic and unfiltered electric guitars turned back into the supremely malleable instruments they were before they'd been firmly encoded as tools for rock or pop or jazz. Hans Reichel is like an improvising Harry Partch, investigating the genesis of lute music. Never before available on CD, remastered from original tapes, packaged lovingly with a gatefold and tip-on cover, reprinting the original design, which was by Reichel.
CD $15
RUDIGER CARL INC. With GUNTER CHRISTMANN / DETLEF SCHONENBERG - King Alcohol (CvsD 032/FMP 060; USA) Recorded for the German FMP label in 1972, this is one of the landmark recordings of free jazz in Europe, a mind-blowing studio session featuring Carl on tenor saxophone, Günter Christmann on trombone, and the astonishing Detlef Schonenberg on drums. Volatile and precise, anticipating much of the future sound of free music in Europe but also paying homage to American antecedents like Roswell Rudd and Archie Shepp, King Alcohol is truly a lost jewel. This is its first time on CD, remastered from the original tapes, and featuring a full disc of newly discovered, previously unreleased bonus tracks. Reproducing the insanely rare first-pressing cover with its black and white line drawing by Carl himself.
2 CD Set $16
WENDY GONDELN With NORBERT MOSLANG / MICHEAL WEWRTMULLER / WOLFGANG VOIGT / et al - Projections (CvsD 036; USA) First CD compilation of recent seven-inch and twelve-inch records by the enigmatic Wendy Gondeln, mixing electronic music, sawed violin, and Martian intelligence into a thoroughly spicy and utterly confounding goulash. Featured collaborations include Tim Berrescheim, Norbert Möslang (from Voice Crack), JB Slik, Wolfgang Voigt, and Michael Wertmüller. Projections also includes some of the art installation projects for Albert Oehlen works of recent vintage, such as "Alarm," composed by Wertmüller, well known among other things as the drummer in Peter Brötzmann's Full Blast Trio.
CD $15
BLACK CUBE MARRIAGE [With ROB MAZUREK / STEVE JANSEN / JONATHAN HORNE] - Astral Cube (El Paraiso 040; Denmark) Black Cube Marriage is an ensemble consisting of legendary Chicago-based cornetist and sound manipulator Rob Mazurek (Tortoise, Exploding Star Orchestra, Isotope 217), members of his Brazilian connection São Paulo Underground, Austin-based freeform unit Marriage, and special guests Jonathan Horne (guitar, saxophone) and Steve Jansen (tapes, guitar). Formed after shows in late 2015, this 11-person ensemble creates waves of sound that can best be described as cathartic. Astral Cube draws from multiple styles and traditions, and the result is a sonic eruption where past, present, north, east, south, organic, and electronic collide and is poured into the unknown. Traces of cosmic jazz -- think Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra -- appear alongside abstract electronics and heavily manipulated instruments -- not unlike Autechre or Matmos. Occasionally the sounds this group creates conjures mental imagery of flourishing nature, colorful wildlife, flowing mountain streams, and ancient rituals -- other times the glistening sonic textures evoke images of buzzing urban power lines or technology gone haywire. It's ceremonial, yet deeply futuristic music. Powerful, unknown, surreal. A sonic outpouring of light an energy. This is post-everything psychedelia at the outer limits of musical possibilities.
CD $15
LEAP OF FAITH With PEK / GLYNIS LOMON / STEVE NORTON / ANDRIA NICODEMOU / YURI ZBITNOV DAN O’BRIEN / ZACH BARTOLOMEI - Unbounded Sets (Evil Clown 9140; USA) This disc shows features two different sides of Leap of Faith with one set from Somerville, MA on June 4 of 2016 and a very recent set from just last week at Spectrum in NYC on May 5th of 2017. The main difference is/was the recent departure of longtime member Steve Norton (on sopranino, alto & bari saxes & clarinets) who plays on the earlier set with addition of two younger reeds players: Dan O’Brien on flutes, clarinets & tenor sax and Zach Bartolomei on soprano & alto sax, clarinet & percussion.
The first set starts off quietly with Ms. Lomon’s hypnotic bowed cello, subtle percussion, vibes, an organic interweaving of several reeds, double-reeds… This must be the most laid-back of the many sets of Leap of Faith that I’ve caught or reviewed. The second set which I attended a few weeks back was also one of the more the restrained sets I’ve caught and was captured in the small, cosy setting of the Spectrum, just 1 subway stop away from the store. Again, this was a relaxed, calm set at first, slowly building its way amongst ruins of our current (not so) civilization. The three reeds players work well together with their kaleidoscopic, ever shifting blend of various reeds. Consistently engaging yet still holding back and never giving in to unnecessary extremes. This was one of their best sets and not to hard to swallow. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10
TRAD, GRAS OCH STENAR - Tack For Kaffet (So Long)(Subliminal Sounds 119; Sweden) The long-awaited new album from the legendary pioneers of transcendental psychedelic rock music and DIY culture in general. Tack För Kaffet (So Long) is a tribute to the deceased band members and dearest friends Torbjörn Abelli and Thomas Mera Gartz. It becomes something of a farewell show for the old Träd, Gräs Och Stenar because all the old and new members, including founder Bo Anders, Torbjörn and Mera, and Reine Fiske (Dungen, The Amazing), are all contributing to this album. The sounds were captured on tape in their music workshop in the countryside and consists mainly of improvised moments where the sounds travels beyond time and space, something that has been TGS hallmark over the years. Perhaps there's a form of melancholy over some of the album, much depending on how cruelly and suddenly Mera and Torbjörn passed away, but also on a little lighter and crazier whim. Everything is recorded live so there are no euphemistic circumstances, rather everything is pared down, bared bone drones, sounds traveling in the magical improvised unknown with no makeup, just as life can be when the feeling has control. A manifestation of improvised timelessly organic music and free creation. Real life!
CD $14
TONY CONRAD - Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain (Superior Viaduct 049; USA) "Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain is the quintessential work of artist/filmmaker/composer Tony Conrad. Comprised of both film installation and minimalist score for amplified strings, Ten Years leaps across genre and medium to connect his revolutionary structural filmmaking with the experiments in long-duration sound that Conrad had begun in the 1960s as part of the Theatre of Eternal Music. 'Ten Years began with image before sound,' writes Andrew Lampert, 'a row of quadruple projections arranged side-by-side, all the shuffling stripes cascading into each other. Over the next two hours the music throbbed and the projectors incrementally shifted inwards, their beams gradually uniting to form one pulsating, overlapping picture.' For its 1972 premiere at New York's The Kitchen, Ten Years included Conrad on violin as well as Rhys Chatham and Laurie Spiegel performing on instruments of the composer's own making. Chatham played the Long String Drone -- a 6-foot long strip of wood with bass strings, electric pickup, tuning keys, tape, rubber band and metal hardware -- while Spiegel carried out an arrhythmic bass pulse throughout. Superior Viaduct is honored to present this previously unreleased recording of Ten Years Alive On The Infinite Plain's breathtaking premier performance. As Chatham recounts in the liner notes, 'When I first listened to this recording after not hearing it for over 40 years, it transported me back to the early Kitchen and the heyday of early minimalism, played outside the Dream Syndicate.'"
2 CD Set $24
KEVIN DRUMM - Elapsed Time (Sonoris 013; France) Since his emergence in the experimental music scene, about 20 years ago now, Kevin Drumm has perpetually shaken up conventions of various sub-genres with his major albums, for example, shifting from the tabletop/prepared guitar with his first self-titled album (1997), to noise with Sheer Hell Miasma (EMEGO 053LP, 2002), to ambient/drone with Imperial Distortion (HOS 134LP, 2008). He has been notably prolific recently, with numerous self-released CDR and digital releases. Elapsed Time is a collection of some of these recent works, dating from 2012 to 2016: desolate ambient drone (Middle Of Nothing (2016), February (2016)), "cassette tape music" or raw musique concrete, (Earrach (2013), The Whole House (2012)), computer assisted live electronics and rough spectral music (Crooked Abode (2015), Bolero Muter (2015)), with additional tracks from Tannenbaum (2013) and Shut-In (2014). Elapsed Time documents one of the key figures in American avant-garde at his peak of creativity. Remastered by Giuseppe Ielasi; Hi-fi system recommended.
"'Elapsed Time' is undoubtedly destined to be a classic, and one of the finest experimental tomes to emerge over the last years. . . . despite his noisy reputation, KD music can be overwhelmingly sensual even at its loudest, providing a form of minimalism replete with a delicate, melancholic motion. How wildly divergent emotions rise, hover, and fall using so little is a mystery that only Kevin Drumm can provide. While you may not find an answer, you can certainly get lost in the question." - Fabio Carboni (SoundOhm/Die Schachtel)
6 CD Set $50
New from Neos:
VINKO GLOBOKAR - Musica Viva 27 (Neos 11627; Germany) Vinko Globokar talks about the development of Exil 3 (Das Leben des Emigranten Edvard): "Four years ago a group of musicians from the former Yugoslavia requested a short composition from me. At that time I was reading a book of poems about exile. I selected several texts from it and wrote a piece for five instrumentalists and a soprano. That was Exile No. 1. As for No. 2, it remained an attempt. Then came the commission from Munich, and for that, taking Exile No. 1 as the point of departure, I have now written a large work of about fifty minutes. The orchestra consists of 32 solo instruments, with the four strings amplified. Then there are 48 choral singers and four soloists: a high soprano, a narrator, a contrabass clarinetist and an anonymous improviser who remains unseen by the audience."
CD/SA-CD $16
ALEPH GITARREN QUARTETT - Vol. 2 (Neos 11710; Germany) The four musicians of the Aleph Guitar Quartet are enthusiastically committed to the music of modern times. Since the Quartet was founded in 1994, through intensive collaboration with composers, sound engineers and acousticians, their work has been to present, promote, and make headway with the musical language and playing techniques of the 20th and 21st centuries. In the meantime, they have helped create a new, extensive and future-orientated repertoire for the classical guitar which is being constantly expanded by a large number of both renowned and younger composers. Andrés Hernández Alba, Tillmann Reinbeck, Wolfgang Sehringer, and Christian Wernicke perform regularly at such international music festivals as MaerzMusik (Berlin), Guitar Foundation of America (USA), Eclat (Stuttgart), Styrian Autumn (Graz), Warsaw Autumn, Archipel (Geneva), MusicadHoy (Madrid), Pan Music (Seoul), Klangspuren Schwaz (Austria) and Time of Music (Viitasaari). Works performed on Vol. 2 were written by Nicolaus A. Huber, Alberto Hortigüela, Irene Galindo Quero, and Mathias Spahlinger.
CD $16
ANDREAS GRAU/GOTZ SCHUMACHER//ALEXANDER SCRIABIN/FRANZ SCHUBERT/HENRY PURCELL/SERGEI RACHMANINOFF - Fantasias (Neos 21501; Germany) Andreas Grau and Götz Schumacher, with their talent for putting together clever and innovative programs, have established themselves as one of the world's top piano duos. Like no other piano duo, their repertoire ranges from Bach to contemporary music in all its facets. Their collaboration at the piano is evidence that the two expert pianists are nothing short of musical soul mates. The vast breadth of the duo's expressiveness has garnered it invitations to various festivals and concert halls such as the Cologne Philharmonie, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Konzerthaus, Cité de la Musique Paris, Salzburg Festival, Lucerne Festival and Wigmore Hall London and has resulted in partnerships with renowned conductors such as Emanuel Krivine, Kent Nagano, Andrej Boreyko, Peter Eötvös, and Zubin Mehta. Their orchestra projects include concerts with the SWR Symphonieorchester, DSO Berlin, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, RSO Wien, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. Their keen ability to conceive carefully considered programs is also evident in their numerous recordings which appear, among others, in their own series on Neos. On Fantasias, they perform compositions written by Henry Purcell (arranged by György Kurtág), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arranged by Ferruccio Busoni), Franz Schubert, Alexander Scriabin, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
CD $16
HELMUT OEHRING//VERTIGO ENSEMBLE - Angelus Novus II (Neos 11700; Germany) Helmut Oehring was born in East Berlin in 1961. A self-taught guitarist and composer, he was a master student of Georg Katzer at the Berlin Academy of Arts between 1992 and 1994. The recipient of a scholarship at the Villa Massimo in Rome in 1994/95, he has since garnered many awards such as the Hindemith Prize (1997) and the Arnold Schönberg Prize (2008) for his oeuvre as a whole, which today comprises more than 350 works across virtually all genres. His autobiography entitled Mit anderen Augen. Vom Kind gehörloser Eltern zum Komponisten (With different eyes. From child of deaf parents to composer) was published in 2011 and, under his direction, it was produced as an audio play on SWR in 2015. Helmut Oehring's oeuvre focuses on composition and music theater staging of instrumental-vocal and audio-visual works that blend poetic and documentary content and form, orientated around topical reality.
CD $16
RUBEN SEROUSSI//MEITAR ENSEMBLE - Chamber Music (Neos 11705; Germany) Ruben Seroussi, composer and guitarist, born in Montevideo, Uruguay January 1st, 1959, settled in Israel in 1974. He finished "magna cum laude" his composition studies at Tel Aviv University's Academy of Music under the guidance of Leon Schidlowsky. His works, for various musical formations, have been performed in Israel by the best performers and orchestras, and are frequently performed abroad by well-known ensembles, such as Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Oriol, New Juilliard Ensemble, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Continuum New York, Moscow's Studio for New Music, Ensemble Mosaik, and others, in Chicago, Köln, Berlin, Dresden, Thessalonika, New York, Luxemburg, Bern, Budapest, Helsinki, Stuttgart, Hamburg, Rome, London, Moscow, Ljubljana, Madrid, Victoria, and Belgrad. In addition, Seroussi is an active concert guitarist, who plays as recitalist, in chamber formations and as soloist in Israel and abroad. He has also recorded for such labels as Nuova Era and Meridian Records. Ruben Seroussi has been the Head of Composition Studies at the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music, Tel Aviv University since 2004, where he has taught since 1994.
CD $16
EDWARD KA-SPEL - High On Station Yellow Moon (Soleilmoon Recordings 194; USA)
"There is a station where the train never arrives, where the Waiting Room is always occupied, where the conversation is inevitably awkward and where you're never quite alone, but perpetually almost alone. Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to Station Yellow Moon, the final bastion of humanity, the last stuttering blip on the life support system, the domain where Access Is Denied perpetually - but who the Hell would want to go there anyhow? Well, some pay handsomely for the Great Escape, despite the risks... High On Station Yellow Moon is a new solo album by Edward Ka-spel of The Legendary Pink Dots, and marks the beginning of his collaboration with longtime friend and fellow traveller Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls. It doesn't get more conceptual than this."
CD $15
LP $17
THE SONIC DAWN - Into The Long Night (Heavy Psych Sounds 053; Italy) Into The Long Night is the second album by The Sonic Dawn, one of the most remarkable bands to come out of the new psychedelic wave in Denmark. Just a few seconds into this album, you will realize that you are in for a mind altering experience. "It's a trip! By taking the listeners to places they didn't expect to go, we hope to make them aware -- that they'll stop up and think about life for a minute. Awareness is the first step to change in the world," says guitarist and vocalist Emil Bureau. To achieve the dramatic changes of mood and feeling that The Sonic Dawn excel at, they mix a wide range of styles, from jazzy sitar pop to heavy acid rock. A pleasant-sounding, analog production makes the album easy to approach, not to water it down, but rather to pull the unsuspecting listener into the deep. The songs were written by day and recorded at night, during a month of complete isolation in a remote house by The North Sea. The track list can be interpreted as a trip through the night, into a new dawn. Close your eyes and see it: Go through the hill country with its long yellow grass, to the beach where the setting sun dances on the cold waves. Slide into the darkest hours, alone with your thoughts and doubts. Suddenly come the first blue rays, separating past from present, before a golden dawn is born and everything takes its right shape, perhaps for the very first time. Into The Long Night was made in collaboration with some of Scandinavia's most regarded personnel. It features Swedish Hammond legend Erik "Errka" Petersson on keys and Morten Grønvad on vibraphone and percussion, which adds to its soundtrack-like qualities. Mixed in The Village Recording with jazz producer Thomas Vang (Oscar Peterson, Randy Brecker, etc.). Mastered in Svenska Grammofonstudion with Hans Olsson Brookes (Graveyard, Blues Pills, José González, etc.). Fans of psychedelic rock, neo-psych, freak beat, and classic rock will surely enjoy this record.
CD $17
THE COSMIC DEAD - Psych Is Dead (Riot Season 420; UK) Scotland's favorite space-psych-rock-gods The Cosmic Dead return with a new album Psych Is Dead. Formed in 2010, The Cosmic Dead are a quartet from Glasgow, Scotland who share their music through good vibes and better vibrations. Known for their improv, chaos strewn, Buckfast smashed-against-the-wall take on space music, they have roamed from Roadburn to Las Vegas, Dundee to Bangalore, with each album offering a meditative window into a certain time and space. Psych Is Dead is the sixth full-length album from the band, the glowing embers of a few days spent recording in a sweaty Sardinian kitchen overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Psych Is Dead is an aural exploration of their tumultuous universe. CD version comes in a digipack; Edition of 500.
CD $15
Back in Stock After Several Years (Check Out Reviews in DMG Database: www.downtownmusicgallery.com/wishlist.php
Five ICP ORCHESTRA CDs Finally Back in Stock:
ICP ORCHESTRA MATTIJS DE WOERD With HAN BENNINK/TRISTAN HONSINGER/MICHAEL MOORE/GUUS JANSSEN/ et al - Restless in Pieces (ICP 054; Netherlands)
CD $18
ICP ORCHESTRA - East of the Sun (ICP 051; Netherlands) Featuring: GUUS JANSSEN/HAN BENNINK/TRISTAN HONSINGER/MICHAEL MOORE/THOMAS HEBERER et al]
CD $18
ICP ORCHESTRA [INSTANT COMPOSERS POOL: MISHA MENGELBERG/HAN BENNINK/TRISTAN HONSINGER/MICHAEL MOORE et al] - Live at the BIMhuis (ICP 046; Netherlands)
CD $18
ICP ORCHESTRA ICP ORCHESTRA [INSTANT COMPOSERS POOL: MISHA MENGELBERG/HAN BENNINK/TRISTAN HONSINGER/MICHAEL MOORE et al] - Aan & Uit (ICP 042; Netherlands)
CD $18
ICP ORCHESTRA [INSTANT COMPOSERS POOL: MISHA MENGELBERG/HAN BENNINK/TRISTAN HONSINGER/MICHAEL MOORE et al] - Bospaadje Konijnenhol 1 (ICP 028; Netherlands)
CD $18
JEWELS AND BINOCULARS [MICHAEL MOORE / LINDSEY HORNER / MICHAEL VATCHER]//BOB DYLAN - 'Jewels and Binoculars': The Music of Bob Dylan (Ramboy 15 ,Netherlands)
CD $16
JEWELS AND BINOCULARS [MICHAEL MOORE / LINDSEY HORNER / MICHAEL VATCHER]//BOB DYLAN - Floater: Play music of Bob Dylan (Vol 2) (Ramboy 20 ,Netherlands)
CD $16
JEWELS AND BINOCULARS [MICHAEL MOORE / LINDSEY HORNER / MICHAEL VATCHER] BILL FRISELL//BOB DYLAN - Ships With Tattooed Sails: Play music of Bob Dylan (Vol 3) (Upshot 02 ,USA)
CD $16
More Rare and Essential Discs from Ned Rothenberg’s Double Band, Finally back in stock after many years!!
NED ROTHENBERG DOUBLE BAND With THOMAS CHAPIN / JEROME HARRIS / KERMIT DRISCOLL / BILLY MARTIN / ADAM RUDOLPH - Overlays (Moers 2074; Germany)
CD $18
NED ROTHENBERG DOUBLE BAND With THOMAS CHAPIN / JEROME HARRIS / CHRIS WOOD / BILLY MARTIN / JIM BLACK - Real and Imagined Time (Moers 3006; Germany)
CD $18
NED ROTHENBERG DOUBLE BAND With THOMAS CHAPIN / JEROME HARRIS / TONY SCHERR / MICHAEL SARIN /SAMM BENNETT - Parting (Moers 3012; Germany)
CD $18
Historic & Archival Recordings, Restock & Reissues:
LEE PERRY - Scratch Attack! (Clocktower LTCH 220; Canada) "A reissue of two excellent and long-unavailable Lee 'Scratch' Perry LPs, The Upsetters: Chapter 1 (1981) and Blackboard Jungle Dub (1981). The material is weirdly wonderful and represents some of Perry's earliest and most unrestrained efforts at dub madness. Issued on one disc, they ebb and flow seamlessly (set your CD player or playlist on 'shuffle' for proof), with tracks like 'Scratch The Dub Organizer' and 'Dub From Africa' especially delicious. This is a great way to dig deep into Perry's unique mindset without spending a ton of money." --John Dougan, AllMusic
CD $13
JOHN HARTFORD - Aereo Plain Band (Klondike 5086; UK) John Hartford, live in Cincinnati on WABN-FM, November 9th, 1971. After success as a country-pop songwriter in the late 1960s, John Hartford applied his compositional wit to purer bluegrass in the early 1970s. Broadcast on WABN-FM in Cincinnati, these recordings from a November 9th, 1971 performance features musicians from his acclaimed album of the same year, Aereo-Plain. Several songs from that record are performed on this 70-minute disc, along with some traditional folk tunes and a couple songs from Hartford's late-'60s LPs. The entire WABN-FM broadcast is included here, digitally remastered, and includes background liners.
CD $17
LP Section:
PETER BROTZMANN /FRED VAN HOVE / PETER BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFF - Elements (Cien Fuegos 016; Austria) Featuring: Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0030). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue.
"What reveals itself in the über energetics on display here is the ability of one quartet to take so much for granted and yet express so much in the process. Van Hove, for instance, shuns all conventions in his approach to the piano: he quotes Liszt and Schubert as well as Ellington and Peterson then wipes all of them out with his elbows as if erasing a chalkboard. His 'Florence Nightingale' is a perfect example. Texturally, he creates diversions from the fury while never disengaging from it. Brötzmann and Mangelsdorff are out and out challenging each other to see who can destroy their instruments first, and Han Bennick is the most proactive percussionist in jazz history. His use of anything and everything while simultaneously playing a trap kit that creates time is astonishing. Elsewhere, on Brötzmann's 'Elements,' African percussion and slow, long opened tonal drones by Mangelsdorff create a backdrop for the other two to explore without rushing in. Brötzmann enters almost tenderly, looking for a room to exit out of, but engaging himself in the microtonalities created by the rhythm section. Van Hove's long augmented chords create a mode for not opening but splintering that exit and Brötzmann ushers the band through in a hurry heading for the outer reaches of the possible. . . . one of the best documents of the period on any continent." --Thom Jurek, AllMusic, 1991
LP $30
PETER BROTZMANN / FRED VAN HOVE/ HAN BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFF - Couscouss de la Mauresque (Cien Fuegos 017; Austria) Featuring: Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0040). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue.
"Brötzmann's regular trio was joined by the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, one of the most respected German jazz musicians, who has managed to keep abreast of musical developments for more than a decade. Those who remember him only for those fine early-sixties albums (like Tension, on German CBS) will be in for a shock, because he's updated his playing all the way. On 'Couscouss De La Mauresque', for instance, his tonal distortions rival those of Paul Rutherford, as he backs Brötzmann's wailing with a rip-snorting obligato. He has the advantage of being a virtuous technician, so that some of his wilder flights are truly breathtaking. . . . Mangelsdorff's technique doesn't hinder his fire, either, and he's well able to stand up to the rest of this very hairy band. Van Hove and Bennink obviously know each other inside out by now, and you'll hear few more exciting passages of music than their interlude during the trombonist's solo on 'Couscouss'. Bennink is getting further into textures every day, and on this album makes great play with his steel-drum and many unidentifiable implements, thus giving the music a great deal of variety. If you wanted to buy just one of these records, it would be very hard to choose because the level is so high throughout." --Richard Williams, Melody Maker, February 5, 1972
LP $30
PETER BROTZMANN / FRED VAN HOVE / HAN BENNINK PLUS ALBERT MANGELSDORFF - The End (Cien Fuegos 018; Austria) Peter Brötzmann: tenor saxophone; Fred Van Hove: piano; Han Bennink: drums, voice; Albert Mangelsdorff: trombone. Recorded during the Free Music Market, August 27 and 28, 1971, in Berlin. Designed by Peter Brötzmann. Part of the legendary "Berlin Trilogy" originally released by FMP in 1971 (FMP 0050). 180-gram vinyl. One-time pressing of 500. First standalone reissue.
The great thing about this trilogy/set is how naturally everything flows. . . . each subdividing of the group, each solo excursion, feels smooth and logical, as though the player(s) in question had nodded to the others as if to say 'Gimme a minute here, I've got an idea,' and received assent in response. There's all the ferocity any free jazz diehard could ask for, but it never goes on so long that it becomes schtick, and it's always countered by passages that are genuinely beautiful in the most conventional, you-could-play-this-for-your-mom sense. Even without Mangelsdorff, Brötzmann, Van Hove and Bennink were a remarkably empathetic and attuned team, and when he joined them (and these records document their second and third times playing together, ever), everyone's game was raised." - Phil Freeman, Burning Ambulance, 2013
LP $30
CHARLEMAGNE PALESTINE & GRUMBLING FUR TIME MACHINE ORCHESTRA - Omminggg And Schlomminggg (Important 448; USA) Important Records present Omminggg and Schlomminggg, the second release by continuous music pioneer Charlemagne Palestine and Grumbling Fur, consisting of London based multi-disciplinary artists Daniel O'Sullivan and Alexander Tucker; the Time Machine Orchestra being the extended drone arm of Tucker and O'Sullivan's experimental avant-pop conception. This double LP captures a performance of the trio at Copenhagen's illustrious Jazzhouse on November 28th, 2016. The pin-drop acoustic clarity of the venue providing an ideal setting for this mesmeric recital of eternal music. A Grumbling Fur redux/remodel constitutes side four. The signature strumming of Palestine's piano augmented by Tucker and O'Sullivan's earthware electronics and processed strings create seamless sonic ripples in a constant state of unfolding. This is perhaps the most demonstrative document of Palestine's powerful vocal delivery - an alien hybrid of sacred music drawing deep from the well of the cantorial synagogue and Hindustani classical styles in a bid to channel inter-dimensional beings from ancient cultures. In some respects, this could be thought of as Charlemagne in dub as Grumbling Fur carefully twist and mangle their palette of electrified harp, viola, bowed mandolin, percussion, tapes, and voice transformers through chains of loopers, resulting in a slowly dilating vapor. A unique document of portal opening music that defies time and space. Gatefold sleeve art by Alexander Tucker; Inside art by Daniel O'Sullivan. Assembled and mixed by Grumbling Fur; Mixed at O'Sullivan's Dream Lion Studio; Cut by Matt Colton, Alchemy Mastering.
2 LP Set $36
OUTRO TEMPO - Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1978-1992 (Music from Memory 016; Netherlands) For their first multi-artist compilation, Music From Memory take a trip to the heart of the Amazon rainforest. Outro Tempo: Electronic And Contemporary Music From Brazil, 1978-1992 is a double LP that explores the outer reaches of Brazilian music, where indigenous rhythms mix with synthesizers and where MPB mingles with drum computers. As Brazil faced the last years of its military dictatorship and transition to democracy, a generation of forward-thinking musicians developed an alternative vision of Brazilian music and culture. They embraced traditionally shunned electronic production methods and infused their music with elements of ambient, jazz-fusion, and minimalism. At the same time they referenced the musical forms and spirituality of indigenous tribes from the Amazon. The music they produced was a complex and mesmerizing tapestry that vividly evoked Brazilian landscapes and simultaneously reached out to the world beyond its borders. The product of extensive research, this compilation is a unique introduction to this visionary music and features many fresh discoveries in a country well-trodden by record diggers. It gathers tracks from obscure albums that have for too long been neglected by even the most avid collectors of Brazilian music. It includes now highly sought after music by Andréa Daltro, Maria Rita, and Fernando Falcão, as well as unknown gems like those of Cinema, Carlinhos Santos, and Anno Luz. This is an essential release that reveals a broader spectrum of Brazilian music, striking a unique sonic signature that is full of innovation, experimentation, and beauty. Compiled by John Gómez and featuring extensive liner notes, Outro Tempo showcases this overlooked corner in Brazil's rich music history for the first time. Also features: Piry Reis, Nando Carneiro, Os Mulheres Negras, Bené Fonteles, Priscilla Ermel, Carioca, Marco Bosco, and Luhli E Lucina.
2 LP Set $34
ALVARO - Live In Brussels (Feeding Time 280; USA) "Although me, you and the guy-next-door all tend to think of Alvaro (The Chilean with the Singing Nose) as an avant-garde artist by one measure or another, it is also true that he has a cunning way with pop melodicism and delivery. This has never been clearer than one the Live In Brussels LP. Recorded in October 2015 at Les Ateliers Claus, Alvaro is at peak form here. Playing piano (and a little nose flute), he sings through a great program of faves ('Valaparaiso,' 'Mum's Milk,' 'She's So Pretty,' etc.) like the Bizzaro World cabaret star he has been since Drinkin My Own Sperm (FTR 174LP) was released back in '77. Playing in front of roomful of blasted Belgian artists (you can easily hear Dennis Tyfus singing and choking along to the proceedings) Alvaro sounds relaxed, assured and brilliant. For all of its inherent strangeness, this is music you could play for your mom without scaring the curlers out of her wig. The tunes are humane and funny and beautiful. His between-songs raps are revelatory. Just pour yourself a cocktail, sit back in a comfortable chair, and be prepared to have a beautiful goddamn day." --Byron Coley, 2017 Silk-screened covers; Edition of 200 (numbered).
LP $24
JEE JEE BAND - Holy Yolk (Feeding Tube 304; USA) "The third, perhaps ultimate, album by Jee Jee Band is now in our possession. And even more than its predecessors, Holy Yolk is a unique balancing act between aesthetic poles. On one hand, there is the somewhat unhinged K-Pop snack-attack that marked the duo's earliest recordings. On the other, there are the tracks that offer something more like a twisted take on Pioneer Valley bedroom creationism. Jee Jee Band has always consisted -- in its most protean form -- as Jee Eun Lim and Matt Jones. From different sides of the world, they met while Matt was teaching English in South Korea. Various peregrinations followed, and the pair found themselves in Western Mass, San Francisco and various other places over the past years. Matt is originally from Ware, MA and has roots and branches entangled with several of the oddball musicians who inhabit the area. This is why people like Bob Fay (Sebadoh, Deluxx), John Moloney (Sunburned, Caught On Tape) and Tim Sheldon (Fat Worm Of Error) seem to pop up whenever he turns on a tape recorder. Earlier albums have usually leaned one way or another in terms of what musical direction they favor, but Holy Yolk has a fully syncretic heft. While the organized lightness of K-Pop remains a core belief, the anarcho tendencies of the Valley weasel their fingers deep into the music's guts. This allows the songs to exist as pop musings about long distance loss, while also being larded with a sort of noise-froth that is antithetical to the actual genre. No yin without yang, right? Holy Yolk is a weird and lovely masterpiece of longing, obsession, air travel and delicious food. Exactly what it celebrates is never abundantly clear, but it really does feel like a hosanna. And these days, we can surely use all of those we can get." --Byron Coley, 2017 Silk-screened covers; Edition of 300 (numbered).
LP $24
DIRE WOLVES - Oceans Of Green (Feeding Tube 315; USA) "From the timbers of Fennario, which are located on some low ground near the Presidio, come Dire Wolves. The two members of this Bay Area sextet with whom I'm most familiar are guitarist, etceteraist, Jeffrey Alexander, a tireless exponent of sub-underground psychedelia when he was based in Providence. Mr. Alexander was previously involved with such protean volk-psych ensembles at the Iditarod and Black Forest/Black Sea, and was an early proponent of the deep Finnish underground, releasing several Avarus albums on his Secret Eye label, and touring with the band in the States. The other familiar name is Lau Nau, a Finnish vocalist/composer whose discography is as long as it is weird. Dire Wolves' sound is a wailing alloy merging a sort of Neu American psych-folk formalism with Finnish-style free-form space and an open process improv pulse that feels utterly original. Small flurries of notes might resemble several models (not least of whom is the '68 Constanten-era Dead). And certainly, the floatational vocals of Lau Nau provide a deeply forested continuum, but the rest of the band seem more interested in connecting with a slowly-evolving vibe that actually makes me think more of the high desert and its vistas. The music on Ocean Of Green is full of pointillistic stonerist movement, but the individual elements hold together well enough that anyone who enjoys a single moment will soon find themselves pulled into the music's midst. There are no sharp edges here. The Dire Wolves' sound is as welcoming as any band that has ever been heard. But it will slide through your portals like honey through a warm coil. Breathe deep. Breathe often. Soak this one in before your brain even knows it's under attack. Nice..." - Byron Coley, 2017
LP $19
RUSALNAIA - Time Takes Away (Feeding Tube 316; USA) "Rusalnaia is an incredible duo, formed early in the century by England's Sharron Kraus and Philadelphia's Gillian Chadwick. Their exquisite eponymous debut album was issued as a CD by Tony Dale's Camera Obscura label back in 2007, and we did it on vinyl last year (FTR 235LP, 2016). People pretty much swooned when they heard it. So when we learned the pair was recording a new album, our ears were immediately alert. Time Takes Away shares elements with its predecessor in terms of song construction, vocal overlay and general mystery action, but certain tunes manifest a bit more of psychedelic rock aspect, bespeaking antecedents such as the Trees. All of the wild electric string presence is provided by Sharron and Gillian, although Mark Wilden (who has previously backed Sharron) shows up as a steady percussive element. But, for all the band-like elements, this is primarily a vocal album as strong as their debut. None of the instrumental works flashes more prominently than the voices, and Sharron's decision to employ more of her Denny-register than she has in the past definitely colors the proceedings. Time Takes Away is a classic slab of UK folk invention. Like all of the best examples of the genre, it's impossible to tag the music to a year or even decade. It just sounds great and timeless. As though it has existed for aeons before you'd ever heard it. Even though the Cambrian CD only came out last year. At a rate, we suggest you relax and enjoy. Full lyric insert and printed inner sleeve provided for your additional pleasure." - Byron Coley, 2017
LP $19
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Bruce Lee Gallanter’s Recommended Gig List for May of 2017
THE STONE RESIDENCIES - SATOSHI TAKEISHI - MAY 16-21
5/19 Friday
830 pm - Shoko Nagai (Piano, Moog and Electronics), Satoshi Takeishi (Drums and Electronics)
5/20 Saturday
830 pm - Shoko Nagai (Piano, Moog and Electronics), Jonathan Goldberger (Guitar), Tsutomu Takeishi (Bass), Satoshi Takeishi (Drums)
5/21 Sunday
830 pm - Ned Rothenberg (Clarinet), Fay Victor (Voice), Satoshi Takeishi (Drums)
5/22 Monday
830 pm - Vadim Neselovskyi Trio plays Get Up And Go - Vadim Neselovskyi (piano) Dan Loomis (bass) Ronen Itzik (drums) Sara Serpa (vocals) - Get Up And Go CD RELEASE CONCERT BY THIS BRILLIANT UKRANIAN BORN PIANIST! DONT MISS!
THE STONE RESIDENCIES - ANTHONY COLEMAN - MAY 23-28
5/23 Tuesday
8:30pm: TRIO - Anthony Coleman (piano) Marty Ehrlich (reeds) Kim Cass (bass)
5/24 Wednesday
8:30pm: QUARTET Anthony Coleman (piano) JT Lewis (drums) Kim Cass (bass) James Brandon Lewis (tenor sax); Threnody - a suite dedicated to the memory of Bernie Worrell.
THE STONE AT RUSS AND DAUGHTERS CAFE! THURSDAY MAY 25: PAUL SHAPIRO
ONE SET AT 8PMâ€â€ADMISSION FREE! The Stone is proud to present music at Russ and Daughters Cafe at 127 Orchard Street the last Thursday of every month! Drop by for smoked fish, pickles and great music!
5/25 Thursday
8:30pm: DUO - Anthony Coleman (piano) Brian Chase (drums)
5/26 Friday
8:30pm: SEXTET Anthony Coleman (piano, organ) Simon Hanes (electric bass) Connor Baker (drums) Ron Anderson (guitar) Alexandria Smith (trumpet) Sarah Hughes (alto sax)
5/27 Saturday
8:30pm: SOLO Anthony Coleman (piano)
5/28 Sunday
8:30pm: IMPROV NIGHTâ€â€A STONE BENEFIT! Anthony Coleman (piano) John Zorn (sax) Okkyung Lee (cello) & many special guests; Come on down & support The Stone!
All Sets 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. There is no phone.
There is no food or beverage served or allowed
just a serious listening environment.
The Stone is booked purely on a curatorial basis
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The CORNELIA STREET CAFE - 212-989-9319
29 Cornelia St in the heart of the West Greenwich Village, NYC
Friday May 19
9:00PM & 10:30PM KINAN AZMEH CITY BAND - Kinan Azmeh, clarinet; Kyle Sanna, guitar; Josh Myers, bass; John Hadfield, percussion, drums
Saturday May 20
6:00PM JASPER DUTZ QUARTET - Jasper Dutz, alto sax/bass clarinet; Anthony Pearlman, piano; Tony Lannen, bass; Connor Parks, drums; special guest Chris Fishman, piano, synth
9:00PM & 10:30PM FRANCISCO MELA & THE CRASH TRIO “FE†- Tony Malaby, tenor sax; Leo Genovese, piano; Gerald Cannon, bass; Francisco Mela, drums
Sunday May 21
8:30PM JANE IRA BLOOM TRIO - Jane Ira Bloom, soprano sax; Mark Helias, bass; Bobby Previte - drums
Monday, May 22nd:
8:30PM YANIV TAUBENHOUSE TRIO - Yaniv Taubenhouse, piano; Rick Rosato, bass; Jerad Lippi, drums
Tues May 23rd:
8:00PM ISRAELI JAZZ SPOTLIGHT: ITAMAR BOROCHOV CD RELEASE PARTY - Itamar Borochov, trumpet; Rob Clearfield, piano; Rick Rosato, bass; Jay Sawyer, drums
9:30PM ISRAELI JAZZ SPOTLIGHT: EDEN BAREKET TRIO - Eden Bareket, baritone sax; Or Bareket, bass; Felix Lecaros, drums
Wednesday May 24
8:30PM TICKER TAPE PARADE - Natasha Thweatt; Tracy Michailidis; Laura Yen Solito; Sabina Petra
Thursday May 25
8:01PM STREAMS - Yago Vazquez, piano; Scott Lee, bass; Jeff Hirshfield, drums
Friday May 26
9:00PM & 10:30PM NOAH PREMINGER TRIO - Noah Preminger, tenor sax; Kim Cass, bass; Dan Weiss, drums
Saturday May 27
6:00PM AN EVENING OF SONG,POETRY AND MUSIC - Barry Wallenstein, poems, vocals; Luigi Archetti, guitars, electronics; Mario Marchisella, drums, typewriter, stylophone; Poppy Perez, guest poet; Neal Haiduck, clarinet
9:00PM & 10:30PM GUILLERMO KLEIN SEXTET - Guillermo Klein, piano, voice; Miguel Zenon, alto sax; Seamus Blake, tenor sax; Tirman Deus, bandoneon; Matt Pavolka , bass; Rodrigo Recabarren, drums
Sunday May 28
8:35PM MOSTLY OTHER PEOPLE DO THE KILLING, CD RELEASE: LOAFER'S HOLLOW
Ron Stabinsky, piano; Moppa Elliott, bass; Kevin Shea, drums
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Shapeshifter May, 2017:
May 19
A is for Accordion
The Four Bags (7PM)
Anti-Social Music (8:15 PM)
9:30p - Noah Kaplan Quartet "Cluster Swerve" Album Release Concert
Noah Kaplan (tenor and soprano saxophones), Joe Morris (guitar), Giacomo Merega (electric bass), Jason Nazary (drums & electronics)
May 22
7p - Voyager - Neshamah in collaboration with Alon Ilsar
May 23
8:15p
Bruno RÃ¥berg - acoustic bass
Layth Sidiq - violin
Bengisu Gokce - violin
David Wallace - viola
Naseem Alatrash - cello
May 24
7pm: Michel Maurer’s 4Bandits
Peyton Pleninger, tenor saxophone
Alex Levine, guitar
Dan Martinez, bass
Michel Maurer, drums
May 26
7pm: Renma music
9:30p- Harry Smith Quartet
Daniel Berkey (tenor sax)
Alex Karakis (piano)
Nick Dunston (bass)
Harry Smith (drums)
May 28
7p - Gary Thomas - Tenor/ Flute
Mark Whitfield - Guitar
Davis Whitfield - Piano
Lonnie Plaxico - Bass
Ralph Peterson Drums
Shapeshifter is located at
18 Whitwell Place in Brooklyn, NY
R train to Union stop
*****
I-Beam Presents:
Friday, May 26th 8:00 PM
8pm: Deric Dickens and Friends
9pm: Aaron Quinn, Guitar / Deric Dickens Drums Duo
Ben Cohen Tenor Saxophone
Dustin Carlson , Guitar
Tim Cohen, Drums
Tuesday, May 30th 8:00 PM
Jermyn/Drye/Wolleson Anna Webber’s “Rectanglesâ€Â
8pm – Simon Jermyn/Brian Drye/Kenny Wolleson
Simon Jermyn – Bass
Brian Drye – Trombone
Kenny Wolleson – Drums
9pm – Anna Webber’s “Rectanglesâ€Â
Anna Webber – Saxophone
Marc Hannaford – Piano
Adam Hopkins – Bass
Mark Ferber – Bass
Friday, June 2nd 8:30 PM
Innocent When You Dream: The Music of Tom Waits CD Launch
8pm - Brian Drye – Solo Trombone
8:45pm - Innocent When You Dream
Aaron Shragge – trumpet/shakuhachi
Ryan Anselmi – tenor sax
Myk Freedman – lap steel guitar
Mike Gam – bass
Deric Dickens – Drums
Friday, June 9th 9:00 PM
Eva Novoa Trio
Novoa / Gress / Gray
Eva Novoa, piano & compositions
Drew Gress, bass
Devin Gray, drums
Novoa / Kamaguchi / Takeishi
Saturday, June 10th 8:00 PM
Eva Novoa, piano & gongs
Masatoshi Kamaguchi, bass
Satoshi Takeishi, drums
8pm & 9pm (2sets)
Friday, June 23rd 8:30 PM
Satoko Fujii KAZE
Kappa Maki – trumpet
Christian Bezos - trumpet
Satoko Fujii – piano
Peter Ménard – drums
I-Beam is located at 168 7th Street in Brooklyn, NY 11215 - Directions: SUBWAY: Take the F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street. Walk down 4th ave to 7th street. Make a left on 7th and walk past 3rd ave. We are located on the ground floor, the grey doors to the right of the stairs of #168.
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GREENWICH HOUSE SOUND IT OUT SERIES:
Sound It Out series @ Greenwich House – Concerts, January-June 2017
Saturday, May 20, 7:30 p.m. – Double album release show!
André Matos David Ambrose/Russ Meissner Sextet
André Matos, guitar solo
David Ambrose, double-bass; Russ Meissner, drums; Loren Stillman, alto saxophone; Matt Renzi, tenor saxophone; Nate Radley, guitar; Leonard Thompson, piano
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
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Bushwick Improvisers Collective Concert Series
Every Monday starting May 1st. Steps from the Jefferson stop L train
Cutting edge improvised music, full bar, great pizza, all ages. Check it out!

Monday May 22nd - *Curated by Ras Moshe*
6:30pm Aron Namenwirth - guitar/banjo, Adam Dym - woodwinds, Erik Plaks - keyboard, John Loggia
8pm Stephen Gauci - tenor sax, Adam Lane - bass & Kevin Shea - drums
9pm Ras Moshe- reeds Dafna Naphtali - electronics Sean Conly - bass Dave Miller - drums
10pm Lauren Lee - vocals Charley Sabatino - bass
Downstairs @ Artichoke Bar & Pizza
Corner of Wyckoff Ave & Troutman St, Bushwick
All Ages/$10 cover - gaucimusic.com/bushwick-series