DMG Newsletter for October 8th, 2021

Live at the Downtown Music Gallery 30th Anniversary Celebration Continues with:

This Saturday, October 9th - Double Header Outdoors & Indoors:
At Oliver Coffee on Oliver Street just east of the Bowery, 2 blocks south of DMG:
From 2 to 5pm - Free Admission, donations are greatly appreciated

2pm: SARAH BERNSTEIN VEER Quartet w/ SANA NAGANO, LEONOR FALCON, NICK JOZWIAK
3pm: THEA FARHADIAN - Solo Violin & Electronics
4pm: JR SAMUELS - Solo Guitar

Double CD Release Concert!
Saturday October 9, 2021 starting at 6:30:
6:30pm CD release concert for
"Jeff Davis/Stephen Gauci, Pandemic Duets"
Jeff Davis - drums
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
7:15pm CD release concert for "Jon Goldberger/Stephen Gauci, Pandemic Duets"
Jon Goldberger - guitar
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
8pm The Trio
w/ Jon Goldberger - guitar
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Jeff Davis - drums

Masked are required, thanks.

******************
DMG Newsletter for October 8th, 2021:

“Goodbye Reprise #54”
By American Music Club
From ‘The Restless Stranger’ released in 1984

As the silence between us begins to grow,
Here's the harvest that we have sewn
Planted in ground where nothing good can grow
I look at you and have no answer
There's no language that I understand
I only know how to lead with a losing hand
Just like it is above so it is down below
I guess I didn't know, I guess I didn't know
Nothing you say should ever matter to me
Cause I can see through your misery
And last night after your robbery
Well you took everything when you got away
Yeah, you got away

Idiot son's always trying to fall
Someone better nail that sucker to the wall
Idiot son and his boat of cheers
He's sailing on down to sea
And it's a sea of misery
The princess, she's eaten all of her own hair
A little bitch in a cycle of despair
And none of her good friends can ever die
None of them can say goodbye
But still she cries and she cries,
"I will lose you, I will forget you,
I will lose you, I will forget you,
I will lose you, I will forget you,
Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye"

Thus opens side B of the first album by the American Music Club. The first time I listened to this record, I thought that this was Side A since so it wasn’t that clear which was which. I knew right away that something magical, mysterious, disturbing and captivating was going on here. I bought this record as a cut-out (2 bucks) after a review of it I read in some fanzine. I liked the rest of the record although not as much except for one song which did get on my nerves. I became a big fan of the band and bought each of their 7 albums as they came and caught them live perhaps 10 times throughout the 1980’s. Along with Dream Syndicate and Gun Club, these were my favorite (non-punk) bands of that era. The thing that I dig most about AMC was that they captured a certain honest yet depressing aspect of their & our lives. I have long been a fan of depressing music, as well as the blues since none of our lives are perfect plus the ongoing unfairness of life keeps many of us with that buried anger which is found way deep inside. A good deal of my favorite songs are pretty depressing: Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Robert Wyatt, American Music Club, Jesse Sykes and the Great Hereafter and so many more. I recall my ex-fiance asking me why I loved these depressing, sad & angry songs so much. They still resonate with me since I still feel the ongoing unfairness of life going on around me and at times within me. AMC had stopped playing any songs (maybe one) from their first album by the time I caught them on their later tours. I once asked Mark Eitzel, their main songwriter when he was standing at the bar at the Old Knit why they never played “Goodbye Reprise 54” anymore live. He said that he hated that album and has decided to move on, not playing any of those older songs. I asked him if I could persuade him to play that song one more time and pulled a $100 bill from my wallet and told him that I would pay him to do this. He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Are you serious?”. I said very much so. He looked at me for a bit, thought about it and said, “Not going to happen”. I told that him offer stands in case he changed his mind. I still love that band and go back to their records from time to time. A special toast to Mark Eitzel & AMC and any band/singer/songwriter whose songs still reach us in the depths of our souls. - MC BruceLee

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

Live at the Downtown Music Gallery 30th Anniversary Celebration Continues with:

This Saturday, October 9th - Double Header Outdoors & Indoors:
At Oliver Coffee on Oliver Street just east of the Bowery, 2 blocks south of DMG:
From 2 to 5pm - Free Admission, donations are greatly appreciated

2pm: SARAH BERNSTEIN VEER Quartet w/ SANA NAGANO, LEONOR FALCON, NICK JOZWIAK
3pm: THEA FARHADIAN - Solo Violin & Electronics
4pm: JR SAMUELS - Solo Guitar

Double CD Release Concert!
Saturday October 9, 2021 starting at 6:30:
6:30pm CD release concert for
"Jeff Davis/Stephen Gauci, Pandemic Duets"
Jeff Davis - drums
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
7:15pm CD release concert for "Jon Goldberger/Stephen Gauci, Pandemic Duets"
Jon Goldberger - guitar
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
8pm The Trio
w/ Jon Goldberger - guitar
Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Jeff Davis - drums

Masked are required, thanks.

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

This Week’s Dynamite Discs Begin with a Long, Lost Treasure from the Late Cecil Taylor:

CECIL TAYLOR - Corona (CvsD 077CD; USA) A grand reunion of sorts in Berlin on the first day of November, 1996. Under the auspices of Free Music Production, Cecil Taylor, the great pianist and one of the premier musical minds of the 20th century, joined forces with his early comrade, drummer Sunny Murray, for a set of improvised duets. Murray was part of Taylor's important groups starting in 1959, including the trio with alto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, with which Taylor toured Europe in 1962 and 1963, recording the seminal Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come and Live at the Café Montmartre. On the latter tour, Murray met Albert Ayler when the saxophonist joined Taylor's group for some concerts; they would go on to record one of the greatest free jazz records in history, Ayler's Spiritual Unity (ESPDISK 1002CD/LP). Thirty-six years later, they were back together and better than ever. Never to do things a straightforward manner, Taylor began the concert by inviting eight members of his band to kick things off with an intonation choir, the master himself leading the sound poetry incantation. Taylor and Murray then moved into a 48-minute exchange of energies, peaks and valleys of expressive intensity rolling along, the two veteran improvisors slipping back into sync as if the decades had simply vanished. This extraordinary music has never been publicly released on CD. Gorgeously recorded, with action photos by Dagmar Gebers and a cover painting by Jacqueline Humphries, the music is released under license from FMP. And yes, the title was all Taylor's, as if he knew his music would be released during a virus of the same name.:
CD $15

TOM PREHN QUARTET - Centrifuga & Sohlverv (CvsD 079CD; USA) Danish pianist Tom Prehn was one of the first Europeans to deeply explore free music. With his quartet featuring Fritz Krogh on tenor saxophone, Poul Ehlers on bass, and Finn Slumstrup on drums, Prehn recorded Axiom in October, 1963, for Sonet, though it went unreleased until 2015 because the band felt that their music had moved beyond it already. To hear the music they were talking about, one could only turn to two privately-made reel-to-reel tapes, Centrifuga and Sohlverv, recorded in August, 1964, and January, 1965, respectively. Both sessions took place under casual circumstances at Prehn's summer cottage outside Aarhus, but the music was dead serious -- some of the most adventurous improvising yet made by a group on the continent. These tapes have been the stuff of legend. Only a couple copies of them exist, and they're spoken of in hushed tones by folks in the know, most of whom have never heard what they sound like. The earlier recording, which consists of a single magnificent 44-minute track, is one of the group's free jazz pinnacles, with Slumstrup featured as a soloist, playing in top form, with the band building structures around his propulsive and sensitive kit-work. On Sohlverv, which translates as "solstice," the band enters completely unknown terrain, working through a series of four sections with solos featured by each bandmember. Here Krogh reveals his incredible force as an idea generator. As Mats Gustafsson says in his liner notes: "Close-miked percussive sax-pad treatments that swing like mad and give the music a VERY radical profile and color. I have NEVER heard anything like it." This reissue is the product of a long process, working Prehn and with the generous and patient Center for Swedish Folk Music and Jazz Research. Mastered directly from the original reels, with notes by Gustafsson and facsimile reproductions of both tape covers. Never reissued in any form until now. Seriously, as the old adage goes, this is music that needs to be heard to be believed. “
CD $15

RUDIGER CARL / JOEL GRIP / SVEN-AKE JOHANSSON - In Early November (CvsD 078; USA) “Two historical heavyweights of European free music, clarinetist Rüdiger Carl and drummer Sven-Åke Johansson, join forces with younger bassist Joel Grip for a night of incredible trios. Recorded a few months before the pandemic clampdown, in November of 2019, at Berlin's Au Topsi Pohl, the music is exploratory and swinging, with Carl's viscous clarinet and a brilliant rhythm team steeped in time-based feel but loose and sometimes ambling. Johansson was part of the first Peter Brötzmann Trio to commit music to wax, on For Adolphe Sax (BRÖ/FMP, 1967), and he was on the legendary Brötzmann Octet date Machine Gun (BRÖ/FMP, 1968); the drummer's 1972 solo outing Schlingerland kicked off the SAJ sub-label of FMP, so named for Johansson's initials, and he has made a slew of great records for his own label, also called SÅJ. Playing tenor saxophone, Carl led a fiery group called Rüdiger Carl Inc., which recorded the classic King Alcohol (FMP, 1972); he was part of legendary groups with pianist Irene Schweizer, also playing clarinet and accordion, and has recorded with many of the leading improvisors in Europe. Johansson and Carl have recorded together numerous times, including Fünfunddreissigvierzig (FMP, 1986) and Djungelmusik met Sång (Hapna, 2000). This sparkling live set features three longer pieces, beautifully recorded, with a cover photo by Johansson and liner notes by Peter Margasak. Personnel: Rüdiger Carl - clarinet; Joel Grip - double bass; Sven-Åke Johansson - drums.
CD $15

ROSA BARBA and CHAD TAYLOR - In Perpetual Now of Instantaneous Visibility (CvsD 083; USA) Artist and musician Rosa Barba paired up with drummer Chad Taylor for their first duo record, In a Perpetual Now of Instantaneous Visibility. Documenting a September 2019 performance and installation at New York's Park Avenue Armory, part of an invitation by pianist Jason Moran, the CD's two mesmerizing tracks clock in at over 30-minutes each. Patiently built as collaborative soundscapes, they feature Barba's unorthodox conjoining of cello and film projector in which she uses the celluloid as an alternative bow, and the masterful trap-set and thumb-piano of Taylor. A low drone gently ebbs and flows, Taylor's malleted tom-toms and cymbals cresting along with the shifting dynamics of the intoned strings, sometimes polymetric patterns emerging in pools of spectacularly soulful drumming, then receding to reveal the hums and moans of Barba's mysterious mantra. Original cover art by Rosa Barba and Rupert Smyth with an interior photo of Rosa's rig. Limited edition of 500.”
CD $15

ROVA SAXOPHONE QUARTET - The Circumference of Reason (ESP-Disk 5061; USA) “Despite the obvious obstacles, this singular San Francisco Bay Area band is staying on mission, moving forward. Over its four-plus decades the quartet has defined itself by applying an array of improvisational strategies to an ever-expanding body of new music. The Circumference of Reason includes six tracks composed or, in the case of "NC17", designed between 2011 and 2016; then -- in typical ROVA fashion -- the pieces were worked over and performed by the quartet in rehearsals and concerts until perceived to be ready for recording. They include an arrangement of a Glenn Spearman piece as well as a piece dedicated to Glenn; the playing on both inspired by late saxophonist's spirited personality and playing. As well, this recording features two distinctly different versions of "NC17", another in the series of ROVA's structured improvisations, all of which have been culled from an ever-expanding set of visual and aural cues that the quartet has invented, or borrowed and adapted. On its face, "NC17" is simply a limited set of conceptual options to cue in, in any order, to then explore, populating the series of cued events with immersive music/sounds/energies etc. All the while -- as a group -- intending to create a palpable sonic architecture for each new performance of the piece. The takes on this CD are unique; no one take of "NC17" can be exactly the same as any other take of "NC17". "ROVA performances can reach the soaring lyrical intensity of bel canto, the rough-and-tumble tumult of a garage rock band, or the insistently patterned matrix of a minimalist chamber work." So wrote Andrew Gilbert in 2018. The piece from which the CD's title comes, "The Circumference of Reason", is a good example of a minimalist piece when penned by a ROVA composer, in this case Steve Adams. Overall, this album offers an excellent cross-section of the multi-faceted ROVA. Personnel: Bruce Ackley - soprano and tenor saxophones; Steve Adams - alto and sopranino saxophones; Larry Ochs - tenor sax; Jon Raskin - baritone sax. Recorded on 6/22/18, 9/23/18 and 7/1/19 at New Improved Recording by John Finkbeiner. Mixed on 1/16/19, 1/23/19 and 8/2/19 at New Improved Recording by John Finkbeiner and Steve Adams. Mastered by Myles Boisen at Headless Buddha Labs. Produced by Steve Adams.”
CD $12

TISZIJI MUNOZ with PAUL SHAFFER / DON PATE / TONY FALCO / ADAM BENHAM - The Paradox of Friendship (Anami Music AM 053; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on electric guitar, Paul Shaffer on piano & synth, Yaka Don Pate on acoustic bass and Sadhu-Bhav Tony Falco & Vija-Mu Adam Benham on drums. This set was recorded live at the Falcon in Marlboro, NY in September of 2014. Cosmic Free/Spirit Guitar god, Tisziji Munoz, rarely plays live so that each gig will be something special. As a longtime supporter and friend for two decades, I’ve gotten Mr. Munoz a few gigs at the Knitting Factory, Tonic and The Stone. Former David Letterman keyboard wiz, Paul Shaffer, has also gotten Munoz a handful of gigs as well including a great one at Dizzy’s and at The Underground, both of which were captured on CD. Over the past decade, young drummer Tony Falco, former student of Bob Moses (I believe), has also helped Munoz to get an occasional gig at the Falcon in Marlboro, NY, which is run by Falco’s family, hence several Munoz sets have been recorded there. Many of Munoz CD’s are part of a series, this series is called “The Paradox of…” Independence, Perfection, Completion and Friendship. I’m not sure what the connection is between the different parts of this series, although of Munoz’ music does have a certain spiritual/free-jazz sound.
This disc opens with “Chim Chim Cheree” which was also covered by John Coltrane (in 1965) and was featured in the ‘Mary Poppins’ movie from 1964 and written by the Sherman Brothers. ‘Mary Poppins’ was an extremely popular children’s film and the song itself has a most charming melody. Mr. Munoz’ bittersweet tone and playing are perfect for this song as is the piano playing by the often under-appreciated Paul Shaffer. The original pianist on the Coltrane album where this song first appeared was the great McCoy Tyner. Hence Mr. Shaffer does play in a most McCoy-like way. Longtime Munoz contrabassist Don Pate takes the first of several (unaccompanied) solos here and also sounds great! Munoz himself also takes the first of several mind-blowing guitar solos spinning out those furious lines as the quintet ascends higher and higher. The next four songs are Munoz originals, two of which he has played several times. Each of these original songs are something special have some dark, moving melodies which Munoz has long excelled at. Although Munoz’s main drummer, Rakalam Bob Moses. is not on this date, the other two drummers do a fine job of spinning their rhythms in a Moses-like way. “Motherhood” is an old Munoz song which I’ve hear several times. It has a charming, ballad-like melody that truly comes from the heart. Although it starts calmly, it soon breaks into another series of cosmic, furious-paced streams. My Favorite piece here is called, “Impermanence (NYC)” which has another poignant melody, it is slow and simmering at first before it escalates into another series of cosmic cascades which keep building higher and higher. The final piece is an song made famous by John Coltrane, “My Favorite Things”, which is also most uplifting. For those of you who want to check out Munoz and his band live, I am working on a big gig for the early Spring of 2022 at Artist Space in Tribeca. Until then, why not get prepared by picking up this or some other Munoz CD’s listed in this or last week’s newsletter. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

JOANNA MATTREY - Dirge (Dear Life Records 024; USA) Featuring Joanna Mattrey on strings, Steven Long on organ, Cleek Shrey on daxophone and Chaz Knapp on tape machine & organ. Over the past few years we’ve seen/heard Ms. Mattrey collaborating Anna Webber, Jessica Pavone and JG Thirwell, as well as creating an odd solo strings effort for the experimental Relative Pitch label. In other words, Ms. Mattrey is rather difficult to pin down. Hence, I had no idea what to expect from a disc called, ‘Dirge’, which might be somewhat dark. Like the guitar, the violin is a part of many cultures and genres, hence it has alot of baggage attached. The first piece here is called “Tryst” and it features some somewhat disorienting seesawing strings. As Ms. Mattrey bows back and forth, we hear a balance of bent notes, some more extreme than the others. It does take some effort/thought to make some of these bent notes work and this is what we find here. On “Lazulum”, Mattrey plays a drone note which keeps shifting as we heard a distant thud and some eerie organ underneath. After awhile, I realized that the way the notes are shaped and shifted gives a sense of of balancing on a raft and trying not to fall in. The organic in and out vibration reminds me of the way we breathe as we calm down. On “Last Dance”, the violin and daxophone, both of which incorporate a bow, sound great together as they keep crisscrossing those bent notes into a ever shifting haze. I’ve also been fascinated by ethnic string music like the erhu or Gypsy violins or the wheezing of traditional fiddle music (from the UK). On “Kamiza”, it sounds as if an ancient folk melody is buried inside circular strands. Mattrey speeds up the intense sawing on “Heart Murmur” which makes things even more disorienting as several lines on notes shift around one another making the aural quicksand harder to escape. For the final piece, “Bellows”, they are several layers of haunting sounds moving together and around one another. Although the sounds are heard from a distance, the overall vibe is one of a certain forlorn quality. It does sound like the title of ‘Dirge’ does fit this music in a few different ways. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

ALIX TUCOU - Portraits - Technology and Bones (TB 002; Earth) Featuring Alix Tucou on bass & tenor trombones, electronics & piano plus Kalun Leung on tenor & E trombones, Thomas Julienne on contrabass, Dustin Carlson on guitars, Simon Denizart on piano, plus Carla R.T & Julia Patinella on voices. Generally once a week or so, some musician will come visit our store, introduce themselves and leave me/us with a release to check out. This week’s guest of honor is bass trombonist Alix Tucuo. I know very little about Mr. Tucuo, plus playing bass trombone is a rare commodity. The only other bass trombonist that I know of and have heard live & on disc is David Taylor. Each of the eight pieces is a portrait of another person or an idea that has inspired Mr. Tucou. On “See You, See You”, Tucou’s solemn trombone is surrounded by samples of spoken voices, wind sounds, a siren and what sounds like backwards trombone. The piece eventually turns into a somber ballad with a majestic (sampled) chorus. There is a hypnotic, sped up (Philip Glass-like) repeating piano line at the center of “Dormire Can I Fantasmi”, which works well. On “Modernisme”, the trombone slows down as the samples speed up, all swirling together. On “Somewhere”, Tucou’s charming trombone is accompanied by the subtle sounds of a balafon or a mbira and a distant tympani, the vibe is gently mesmerizing. There is some haunting, majestic piano by a Simon Denizart on “Ce Balco”, another treat. Mr. Tucou’s bass trombone is bathed in mysterious waves of reverb on “E Qui Che Lascio”, with which seems to float through some other ballad-like detours. Alix Duclou turns his trombone an assortment of different characters on each piece, adding subtle sounds of other instruments to evoke different moods. Instead of being too experimental, Tucou does a better of creating different scenes on each piece. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

DAVID LEE MYERS - Room In A Moon House (Pulsewidth PW012; USA) David Lee Myers has been on a real tear in this year of 2021, yet amid lockdowns, uncertainty, and potential end times, he’s managed to create some of the most vital work of his career. Which is truly saying something, since his last few releases, under either his given name or longtime sobriquet Arcane Device, surely haven’t been chopped liver; his well of ideation and innovation appears bottomless. There’s something transcendent about this latest Pulsewidth missive, a ‘reimagining’ of sorts that manifests all kinds of literal and metaphorical influences (cf, early period Tangerine Dream, Tod Dockstader, Carl Stone, Pauline Oliveros, Asmus Tietchens) as the mutative sounds themselves replicate and transform into an entirely different beast altogether. It’s all steadfastly psychedelic too, despite the manner with which that word is casually tossed about; the shimmering synthetic lace curtains adorning “Room Northwest” might have been inspired foursquare from some askew Lynchian fever dream, filigrees of wow and flutter metastasizing in a bloom of digital aurorae. “The Temporal Void” is a classic representation of deeply-traveled space music, sounds mimicking the ultraviolet residue of quasars as they pulsate and radiate along some explorer’s perpetual star trek. Overall, the album reveals Myers’ fascination with area, region, nonplaces, twilight zones; the imagery of lost souls navigating within cosmic spaces, née rooms, is sketched out across time and infinity. The doors providing access to “Room Southwest” and “Room Center” might juggle the colors of the Matrix, one red, one blue; crossing either threshold, the listener is ultimately swallowed by reflections tone-bright and golden-eyed (“Southwest”) or cast into whirlpools of ecstatic organ and quicksand techno throb (“Center”). Myers’s command of his modules is absolute, his motifs riveting in the extreme, a contemporary spirit guide to high tech. Never has the phrase ‘ghost in the machine’ been any more apt. Luminous. - Darren Bergstein, DMG
CD $10

FROSTLAKE - The Weight of Clouds (Discus 121CD; UK) Frostlake centers around multi-instrumentalist Jan Todd (with assistance on acoustic/electric bass guitar and 12-string guitar from Terry Todd), who, on this third outing, strikes aural gold. Not that the previous two releases were but prelude, mind you. It just seems boldly apparent that Todd’s opened up vast, unheard worlds in his quest for the ideal copy. This entire album simply soars, adrift on the kind of strange, otherworldly cadences that so besot some of the finest British psych and experimental mindsets propagated throughout the 60s and 70s, when rock music wasn’t content with the vagaries of popularism and sought to reinvent itself in often arresting ways. Frostlake upholds those legacies without aping them wholecloth, both absorbing past influences and sucking the listener to its pastorally-piquant vortex. Jan Todd’s heavenly vocals, delicately threaded throughout the album's gentle fires, suggest shafts of sunlight glimpsed betwixt fog-enshrouded woodlands, the rustling of pinecones by unidentified fauna, and all sorts of Lewis B. Carroll hallucinogenics magically brought to life. The elegiac “Liquid Life”, with its miasmic coos and silvery whispers, augmented by will-o’-the-wisp electronics, soft-pawed beats, and the trilling throb of holiday-season bells, reveals this recording’s inventive soul in microcosm. But the delights hardly end there: “Give It Time” and “In the Stars” might be the bastard offspring of Lemon Kittens and the Legendary Pink Dots glimpsed through rose-colored glasses, with a decidedly feminine bent. And the acousmata of the closing “Clouds”, awash in airy drift and heavy-hearted melancholia, serves as nothing less than the perfect coda to Frostlake’s latest, enigmatic offering. - Darren Bergstein, DMG
CD $14

LOGAN STROSAHL with the CHARLES ROSEN ENSEMBLE - “Book II of Arthur: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” (Sunnyside 1640) Logan Strosahl’s latest CD for Sunnyside is his second to explicitly explore the narrative themes of Arthurian romance. A follow up companion to 2017’s more thematically broad “Book I of Arthur”, Book II hones in on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, a late 14th-century Middle English poem that has been adapted and translated countless times over the centuries, (notably in a summer blockbuster this year). Strosahl writes: “This work follows closely the late 14th-century poem.. but was written to be heard on its own, as “absolute” music..Although striking images and symbols abound in both poem and, I hope, music, my larger goal was to express the story, themes, and characters.. through that ineffable confluence of image, memory, psychology, emotion and energy which is the special province of music..I’ve merely tried to do justice to the kaleidoscopic resources of the text.” The composers ongoing fascination with the eternal adaptability of medieval legend is well-channeled into his compositional palette, and he seems to both embody and accompany the arc of epic narrative, allowing the music to carry its own drama, while also being modular enough to function as something like a film score. Indeed, much of the writing, while engaging on its own terms, leaves space for the listener’s imagination to pull in extraneous imagery, and allows lilting and recurring letimotifs to coax along a new experience from an ancient legend. While some of the more pulse-based sections are perhaps meant to evoke a medieval folk music ensemble, the harmonic language is firmly rooted in third stream jazz, and is most aptly described as a nod to Renaissance music from the vantage point of post-Gershwin 20th century film score pastiche. The track listing and episodic structure lean into the filmic (or perhaps stanzaic) qualities of the work, but there are soloistic moments (such as a cadenza from Strosahl on track 10, a highlight of the disc), that take us firmly out of the world of the story and into the word of the ensemble. Overall, very proficient and dextrous writing for a well-balanced ensemble, but I look most forward to the experience of being able to sit down with it on my stereo, and the poem in my lap. Works like this in my opinion need to lean into accompanying its source material, which Strosahl provides reference to in the liner notes. I am confident that pairing this music with the source text will provide a stimulating new range of experience from these already engaging ensemble works. - Frank Meadows for DMG
CD $14

JANE IN ETHER with MAGDA MAYAS / MIAKO KLEIN / BILIANA VOUTCHKOVA - Spoken / Unspoken (Confront Recordings 022; UK) "Each member of Jane In Ether is a formidable musician in her own right. The cream of the Berlin improv scene whose extended techniques of their respective instruments are, it's no exaggeration to say, ground breaking. I bore witness to this evolution in discipline as I've been fortunate enough to work with, and see all three perform in a variety of circumstances. When I heard Magda, Biliana, and Miako were forming a trio the news was both exciting and somehow inevitable as they complement one another sonically as they do in life. JIE's music has something of the quality of undiffused light, a clarity made all the more luminous and transparent by a true grounding in silence from which sounds emanate/resonate. Spare sentences where light slips through. Largely quiet conversations in a multiplicity of languages spoken as if sharing the same root. Roots of a tree displayed in a white gallery, in a Japanese garden. water, bells, air, wood, strings. the mechanics of chanting. The origins of the sounds unclear to the uninitiated. the forest speaks for itself, slowed until audible. what was spoken goes un." --David Sylvian Jane In Ether: Miako Klein - recorders; Magda Mayas - piano; Biliana Voutchkova - violin, voice.
CD $15

BALIGH HAMDI - Modal Instrumental Pop of 1970s Egypt (Sublime Frequencies 119CD; USA) “Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes its essential compilation from 1970s Egypt, produced and compiled by Hisham Mayet. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi -- one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Sabah, Warda, and many others). Features his legendary group the Diamond Orchestra with Omar Khorshid on guitar, Magdi al-Husseini on organ, Samir Sourour on saxophone, and Faruq Salama on accordion. All of these musicians were discovered and recruited by Hamdi to interpret his vision of a modernized, hybrid Arabic music. Under Hamdi's direction, this orchestra charted a new melodic direction and created a new musical language. This compilation is culled from a specific era of Hamdi's long career, a decade where he fully realized an international music which incorporated beat driven Eastern-tinged jazz, theremin draped orchestral noir, tracks that feature searing guitar solos from none other than Omar Khorshid, and a selection of buzzing, sitar driven, Indo-Arabic tracks establishing a meeting of mid-east and eastern psychedelic exotica, and a vision that created some of the hippest music coming out of the Middle East from the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Includes extensive liner notes by Hisham Mayet with rare photographs. CD version comes in a digipak with 12-page booklet.”
CD $17

BYRON WESTBROOK - Mirror Views (Ash International 13-8CD; UK) Ash International presents Mirror Views, a new long-form work from LA-based composer Byron Westbrook. While Westbrook's field recording process has been central for many years to both his composition and installation works, there has yet to be a major release showcasing this aspect of his artistic practice. On Mirror Views, he seamlessly blends cassette field recordings with "faked" synthesizer binaural environments created from noise and unstable tones. The album's four sections and 72 minutes unfold with patience, taking cues from Luc Ferrari and Maryanne Amacher to use the passage of time to create deeply immersive effects. Westbrook also incorporates animated phase relationships between speakers to simulate perspective shifts, blurring what is a documented event vs. electronic fabrication. This is a work of subtlety and sonic precision that is only possible to reproduce on CD and digital formats. Artwork & design by Philip Marshall. Photography by Byron Westbrook.
CD $14

ULRICH SCHNAUSS & MARK PETERS - Destiny Waiving (Bureau B 371; Germany) The new album by electronica producer Ulrich Schnauss and the Engineers guitarist Mark Peters Destiny Waiving is released via Bureau B. Hailing from Kiel in North Germany, it's now 20 years since the electronica prodigy Ulrich Schnauss released his debut album. His second, A Strangely Isolated Place cemented his reputation as both a pioneer and an artist who routinely creates inspirational music that is adored by many. As a full-time member of Tangerine Dream since 2014, his lifelong passion for their work inspired a creative resurgence for the band, resulting in their most successful new album for over 30 years, 2017's Quantum Gate. Liverpool born guitarist (and founder of the dream pop outfit Engineers) Mark Peters shared a similar musical path, exploring ambient textures and effect laden songwriting via a series of blissful albums for the band. In 2017 he released his first solo album, Innerland which was enthusiastically received by BBC6 music and later included in Rough Trade's top ten best albums of 2018. Destiny Waiving completes a collaborative trilogy that began with 2011's Underrated Silence (BB 094CD/LP) and followed by 2013's Tomorrow Is Another Day (BB 148CD/LP) (Schnauss also became a full-time member of Engineers at this time). Initial sessions began at Ulrich's East London home studio in early 2017 and final mixes were completed there in late 2020. Despite its extended conception, most tracks were completed during 2017, in part informed by improvisational sets in London, Dublin and St James' Church in Birmingham. Despite these exercises in exploration, Destiny Waiving is perhaps the most focused and concise collection of all three releases. Ranging in tone from precognitive foreboding to soaring optimism, the album delicately hones a particular atmosphere that is unmistakable in their work. While track titles such as "The Supposed Middle Class" acutely display a concern for society at large, compositions and performances reveal a great deal more light and shade. This inherent balance is a key facet of the duo's chemistry, signposted by the titles of "Chiaroscuro" and "Clair-Obscur" and the shifting moods within the tracks. For every rushing, upward sweep ("Hindsight Is 20/20", "Circular Time"), contemplative countering is evident in tracks such as "Words Can Be Dismissed" and "So Far", "The Moment".
CD $18

KMRU - Peel (Editions Mego 289CD; Austria) KMRU is the moniker of Joseph Kamaru, a sound artist and producer based in Nairobi. One of the leading exponents of the burgeoning experimental music scene in Nairobi and beyond, he was listed by Resident Advisor as one of "15 East African Artists You Need To Hear" in 2018 and is a regular performer at the fabled Nyege Nyege Festival having also presented live performances at CTM festival and Gamma Festival. Peel is KMRU's first release for Editions Mego. An exquisite mix of field recordings and electronics unravelling at a repetitive and leisurely pace to expose a rich tapestry of sound, revered for its ability to cross borders with the sheer undertow of emotional content. The subtle calming atmosphere within Peel belies the compositional prowess as layers of delicate sounds wrap around each other creating a hybrid new form ambient music both captivating through its textural depth and kaleidoscopic patterns. The track titles lend themselves to the themes and mood set within: "Why Are You Here", "Well", "Solace", "Klang", "Insubstantial", and the title track. This is a deep heartfelt journey with a new strong voice being expressed through the means of organically presented electronic ambient sounds, one which reveals further layers on repeat listens. All tracks written and produced by KMRU. Recorded and produced in Rimpa, (Nairobi, KE). Mastered by Stephan Mathieu at Schwebung Mastering, June 2020. Photography: Claudia Mock; Layout/Design: Nik Void.
CD $17

HISTORIC & ARCHIVAL RECORDS:

MICHAEL GARRICK SEXTET with DON RENDELL / NORMA WINSTONE / et al - A New Serious Music (Rhythm and Blues 076; USA) “Pianist Michael Garrick was among the most boldly ambitious British jazz figures of the late-1960s, tirelessly pioneering various new fusions uniting his first love -- straight-ahead jazz -- with Indian music, liturgy and poetry. Featuring two previously unreleased sessions taped in 1967 and 1969, this album charts the course of his music from post-bop convention towards an indisputably "English" jazz sound. Containing provocative live versions of several well-known Garrick compositions and an all-star cast, it truly captures the era in which UK jazz began to loosen its collar and let down its hair.”
CD $17

BEBOP with DIZZY GILLESPIE / CHARLIE CHRISTIAN / THELONIOUS MONK / FATS NAVARRO / BILLY ECKSTINE / MILES DAVIS / BUD POWELL / DEXTER GORDON / WARDELL GRAY / et al - Pioneers And Classic Performances 1941-49 (Acrobat 9113; UK) “With Acrobat's catalogue having grown substantially, and its product strategy evolved significantly over the years, we are occasionally looking to repurpose some of our early albums in the context of the product formats that are now more widely used in our releases. This 70-track 3-CD set comprises the complete contents, plus some added titles, of three products released in our ACRCD range more than fifteen years ago, and which offered the opportunity to assemble a nicely coherent, substantial and enhanced 3-CD product at a lower price than the three single CDs combined. Those products were ACRCD 117, 118 & 119 "Bebop Vols. 1, 2 & 3". The titles on those three CDs have now been re-compiled in chronological order, with duplicated titles removed and twelve new titles added, along with a substantial booklet. The collection comprises recordings which are seen as significant performances in the genesis and development of bebop as a genre, or regarded as important or notable examples of bebop. They tracks have also been selected so that a significant proportion of the artists regarded as pioneers, innovators or noted exponents of bebop are represented in the collection. On that basis, it features a host of great names not only in bebop but in the wider world of jazz, and the collection offers a highly entertaining an insightful trawl across a dynamic jazz decade.”
3 CD Set $20

CABARET VOLTAIRE - Archive #828285 Live (Intone 008CD; UK) “RIP Richard Kirk (1956-2021). These are the last copies of this classic live 3CD set from 2013.... The Intone label was originally founded back in 1992 as a vehicle for Richard H. Kirk's Sandoz project, initially a series of three 12" singles. Richard H. Kirk is perhaps best-known as co-founder and now sole member of the hugely influential Cabaret Voltaire. The Intone label is now re-launched with a 3CD boxed set of Cabaret Voltaire live recordings from 1982 and 1985: Live in Liverpool (1982), Live in Sheffield (1982), and Live in Toronto (1985). Further releases are planned for 2014, including a new album by Kirk and also a 3CD boxed set of previously-unreleased Kirk recordings from the mid-'90s. Cabaret Voltaire circa 1982 was kind of post-Rough Trade, pre-Some Bizarre/Virgin. Following on from and with the same line-up as the successful dates in Japan (Tokyo, Osaka), resulting in the live album Hai, the two live recordings from 1982 on these CDs come from what was referred to as the "2x45" tour. The performances here are unique in that they show Cabaret Voltaire in a period of transition, following the departure of co-founder Chris Watson, and had more studio recordings been made of this phase (see record 2 of "2x45"), it could have well developed into something very different from the subsequent albums made during the Some Bizarre/Virgin period of 1983-1985. The recording from Toronto was the next-to-last date of a North American tour from April/May 1985. The Cabaret Voltaire live concerts of the '83-'85 period were much more anarchic than the studio recordings and arguably just as interesting in their own way, like some kind of soundclash going on in real time. This release will be a good primer for the forthcoming Cabaret Voltaire boxed set, #8385 (Collected Works 1983-1985) out on Mute in November 2013.
3 CD Set $35

TISZIJI MUNOZ / ANAMI MUSIC CD SALE - Part 2:

It is taking me several weeks to go through the entire Tisziji Munoz/Anami Music catalogue to make sure that we listed all of their 55 releases in our database, on Discogs and on Ebay. We are almost done but have to check on the availability of certain later titles which are/were very limited. Thanks to the large donation from our friends at Anami, we now have around 45 of these in stock and on sale. I decided to start at or near the beginning and listen to every release one at a time to watch/listen to Tisziji evolve over his nearly 50 year musical/spiritual journey. I’ve checked out a half dozen discs so far of his early years and realized that although he did play many standards and John Coltrane related songs, he had that unique tone and ability to to play those cosmic flash of notes right from the beginning of his recordings. Here is the next batch of Munoz’s vast catalogue in chronological order with his three DVD’s listed at the end. There are also a handful of reviews listed further down below. for those curious about any one particular release. A few items have already sold out like the CD versions of the ‘Divine Radiance’ studio effort,’Space of Fire’ (Anami # 33). Those two items, along with three long-gone cassette releases and a half dozen other titles are still available as a download only here: https://www.tisziji.com/music. We do have between 2 & 10 copies of all of the titles below so dig in now before they disappear for good. - BLG

TISZIJI MUNOZ With BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / JUSTIN PURTILL - Love At First Sound (Anami Music 023; USA) rel on CD in 2005
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & JOHN MEDESKI With BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD - Beauty As Ugly (Anami Music 025; USA) Rel on CD in 2013
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & JOHN MEDESKI With BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / TUPOAC MANTILLA-GOMEZ / JOHN LOCKWOOD/TONY FALCO - Ugly As Ugliest (Anami Music 026; USA) rec December 14, 2009
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With STEVE KUHN / DAVID FINCK / RA-KALAM BOB MOSES - Incomprehensibly Gone (Anami Music 027; USA) rel 2010 on CD
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD / REBAZAR MUNOZ / KARIN WALSH - Omega Nebula: The Afterlife (Anami Music 028; USA) 2 CD set rel in 2013
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD / TUPAC MANTILLA / TONY FALCO - Parasamgate Nebula: The Death Of Death (Anami Music 029; USA)
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ - Divine Radiance Live! (Anami Music 030; USA) with Pharoah Sanders, Ravi Coltrane, Paul Shaffer, Don Pate and Rashied Ali - Rec live at the Village Underground on June 10th, 2013 / rel on CD in 2013
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ QUARTET With BERNIE SENENSKY / DON PATE / BOB MOSES PHAROAH SANDERS - Mountain Peak - Featuring Pharoah Sanders: Live At The Van Dyke, Schenectady NY 1998 (Anami Music 037; USA) 2 CD Set rel in October, 2014
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ & PAUL SHAFFER With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / DON PATE - Taking You Out There! Live at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca Cola February 7 2011 (Anami Music 040; USA) Rel as a 2 CD set in October, 2014
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ With LAM SOBO JOHN MEDESKI / RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / DAVID FINCK / TUPAC MANTILLA - Realization of Paradox: Melting the Mind of Logic (Anami Music 041; USA) Rec February 5, 2012 at Anami Music / Rel on CD in 2014
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RAVI COLTRANE / RASHIED ALI / BERNIE SENENSKY / DON PATE - Sky Worlds - Heaven Born (Anami Music 042; USA) rel on CD in 2014
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & MARILYN CRISPELL - Beautiful Empty Fullness (Anami Music 048; USA) Rec April 2001 & July 2002 / rel on CD in 2014
CD $10

3 Munoz/Anami DVD’s:

TISZIJI MUNOZ / PAUL SCHAFFER with LAM-SOBO JOHN MEDESKI / DON APTE / BOB MOSES / TONY FALCO / ADAM BENHAM - The Anniversary Concert - Live at the Falcon in Marlboro, New York (Anami Music 044; USA) The first twenty minutes of this DVD is a interview/discussion between Tisziji Munoz and Paul Shaffer. They talk about when they first met in 1969 and how Paul learned from Tisziji, first learning Munoz' music and then letting go. The ever spiritual Munoz talks about learning through the native elders who give visions and guide us from the outer worlds or solar system and eventually landing on the planet earth when we are born. Paul asks Tisziji how the band prepared for this gig, but Tisziji says that there was no rehearsal, he knew how to choose the right musicians. The concert footage is well captured and everyone in the band is in great form. Everyone gets a chance to solo and each solo is something else. The sextet is completely transcendent, lifting the audience out of their seats and into another dimension. Since this was filmed, the great Rashied Ali has passed away and the Village Underground has closed or turned into just another village dive. This disc is about 48 minutes long and it features a cosmic event, a meeting of six spirits coming together to help us travel to other worlds. You can tell that something special was going on that night. To hear the complete live set, check out the 'Divine Radiance Live' CD! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
DVD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ / LAM-SOBO JOHN MEDESKI DON PATE / TONY FALCO / ADAM BENHAM - The Heart Is The Universe / Live at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, NY (Anami Music 047; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on electric guitar, Lam-Sobo John Medeski on keyboards, Don Pate on acoustic bass and Adam Benham & Tony Falco on drums. Listening to Tisziji Munoz on record is just one way of checking out his cosmic music but seeing him live is something else entirely. Unfortunately for many of his fans outside of the US, he has only played in New England and Ontario and not very often. This is his first DVD of an entire performance with a strong band that includes his friend & keyboard greatJohn Medeski. This is a multi-camera shoot and the look and sound are both superb, warm and tasty. Like most sets of Munoz' that I've caught here in NY or up at Guelph, it starts with somber, lovely slow-burning beauty/fire. Tisziji takes his time, playing slower yet still spiritual lines, caressing the notes into they turn into streams. It seems most appropriate that his quintet are playing in a church, since this music certainly does have that spirit-filled vibe, uniting all who listen and watch what is going on here. John Medeski is playing an electric keyboard (Kurzweil) which has an acoustic piano like sound. After Tisziji takes the superb opening solo, Medeski follows suit, his solo an extention of what Munoz started. Munoz always chooses the right piano player to work with: Bernie Senensky, Marilyn Crispell and Paul Shaeffer. Medeski sounds like the perfect player for this band, he fits like a tight glove and takes off with Tisziji and the rest of the band upwards, higher and higher. His solos are often astonishing! While both drummers play great together, swirling endlessly like a cosmic hurricane, it is acoustic bass playing of Munoz's longtime partner Don Pate who also holds down the band, giving them a heart-like center/pulse/drive. Finally, those of you who only know of Munoz' music from his more than two dozen iscs can now see the way reaches for the stars, connecting all of us with the infinite. This is joyous music and it makes me feel good to be alive! You can all join in nd take a ride with us. WATCH this DVD, it will make your life feel better! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
DVD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ with PAUL SHAFFER / DON PATE / RA KALAM BOB MOSES - Burning The Bed! Live at The Tonic (Anami Music 069; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar & compositions, Paul Shaffer on piano, Don Pate on contrabass and RaKalam Bob Moses on drums. Deep, spiritual, strong, powerful, well captured, like wow! Starting out slowly yet intensely, building, Trane-like cosmic, spirit jazz connection. Tisziji looks great in his white suit with a small round ball of hair on the top of his head.The two camera shoot captures the entire quartet superbly. Hard to believe how quickly the intensity increases and erupts... too much, too soon?!?!? Great to see and hear the rest of the band so clearly. Munoz inspires Paul Shaffer to play in a more McCoy Tyner-like way, casting wave upon wave at the piano. Mr. Shaffer takes a beautiful, spirit-filled solo with the able support of Don Pate's bass and RaKalam Bob Moses distinctive drums. The great Don Pate also takes a fine bass solo with Moses stirring up strong support underneath. It seems hard to believe at times that Mr. Munoz is actually playing those furious, dizzying lines but we can watch as he pulls off those superhuman licks. Midway, he slows way down and rubs the strings in a most unusual way. The three original songs here have enchanting, oddly lyrical themes which sound somewhat familiar. The first long piece, "Ode to the Mother" is dedicated to Munoz's mother, who was there that night and has since passed away. The second piece is called "Fatherhood" and it is another powerful, excursion with waves of cascading lines by the entire quartet together. The interplay between Munoz and RaKalam is especially amazing since they sound locked into the same storm-like force. The sight and sound of this set will astonish those who have never witnessed the unique presence / power of this quartet. Utterly jaw-dropping. It doesn't get any better thank this so enjoy it while it lasts. It does seem sad that Tonic, where this took place, has been closed for more than a decade now. This DVD makes a perfect souvenir from the special place and time. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
DVD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ / ANAMI MUSIC CD SALE PART 2: With Reviews added:

TISZIJI MUNOZ With BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / JUSTIN PURTILL - Love At First Sound (Anami Music 023; USA) Featuring Cosmic vibrations from Tisziji Munoz on lead guitar & synth, John Lockwood & Justin Purtill on contrabasses and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses on drums. It has been a couple of years since the last disc by our favorite guitarist/guru, Tisziji Munoz, so many of us have been jonesing for a new treat from our main man.DMG get phone-calls & e-mail from those who need to hear those cosmic streams of notes that Tisziji always delivers and as always it has been well worth the long wait. 'Love at First Sound' was recorded live at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Mass., yet it sounds so warm like a studio date in that sympathetic-sounding room. Our journey begins with "Visiting This Planet", which drifts in slowly, ascending in calm waves. Both bassists are buzzing together as Ra-Kalam spins his web on the drums. Tisziji takes his, building and occasionally bending those streams of notes upwards to other worlds. The constantly shifting tide, moves in waves of rhythm and washes over us, putting us into a dream-like state. Munoz composed all but one of the tunes here and each one has a hypnotic inner melody that shines through the dense motion of the constant stream. This music seems to be vibrating between opposite worlds: the struggle between the darkness and the light, a breath-taking lyrical melody caressed vs. lightning-like layers of shimmering notes and very free-flowing vs. focused pulsating rhythms. "No Self, No Thought, No Mind" ends with an enchanting, rapturous, slow-motion lullaby that brings me to tears whenever I hear it. About halfway through "and No Time", the quartet reach for and hit another level as the intensity is turned up to full blast. It reminds me of when Trane hits his stride and the streams of notes start to vibrate and we are lifted higher and higher. This is a rarity in most musical experiences, yet when it happens we know we are witnessing something special. Bob Moses is in amazing form this night, both he and Tisziji, sound completely hooked up, sailing together, unleashing their stream into the cosmic flow, like lava from a volcano. John Lockwood is featured on "Ode to the Mother", first on bowed and then plucked bass, both sounding splendid, setting up this touching tune for Munoz's haunting melody which burns at the center. What makes this so special is the way Tisziji reaches for the stars with his waterfall of notes, yet he holds back enough so that we can always go a little higher with each cascading wave. It is hard to come back down to mother earth after journeying to the stars, yet this where we all must end up. Thanks once more to Tisziji Munoz and his truly cosmic quartet for their spiritual healing-force music. Next stop Jupiter. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & JOHN MEDESKI With BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD - Beauty As Ugly (Anami Music 025; USA) This is the second part of a trilogy and it features: Tisziji Munoz on guitar, John Medeski on piano, Don Pate & John Lockwood on acoustic basses and Bob "Rakalam" Moses on drums. The first part of this trilogy, "Beauty as Beauty" was one of the loveliest, most laid-back discs that I've ever heard from the usually over-the-top spirit/jazz guitar god Tisziji Munoz and his cosmic crew. For this session, part two of the trilogy, Mr. Munoz promised that his crew would ascend once again into deeper, darker waters and of course, it is true. Tisziji composed all of the songs here and at the center of this music is something special, something quite lyrical and directly from the heart. Why are there two bass players on this session? Probably for the same reason that John Coltrane used two bassists on the 'Africa-Brass' and 'Ole' sessions: to add a certain interweaving of bass waves to the flow. Sometimes one will bow while the other plucks the strings, but these both of these bassists work together superbly. Downtown keyboard master, John Medeski, has been collaborating with Munoz (and John Zorn) for the past decade or so. Medeski, who is well-known for his organ work, plays just piano here and he also understand the essence of spiritual/jazz. His work with Munoz is forged in a tight, flow of molten waves. The rhythmic heart of this and many of Munoz discs for the past dozen years is the legendary Bob "Rakalam" Moses, who teaches in Boston and who has a magical, organic way of supporting Munoz, is the perfect drummer for this band. Each of Munoz' and Medeski's solos seems to tell a story and/or take us on a journey. Each one is something else, a gem to enrich out days. There is a sweet and sour vibe here or perhaps a mellow and intense depth that occurs simultaneously. It is the best of both or many worlds. Whoa! Take a roller-coaster ride and travel to unknown worlds with Tisziji Munoz, John Medeski and their special forces. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & JOHN MEDESKI With BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / TUPOAC MANTILLA-GOMEZ / JOHN LOCKWOOD/TONY FALCO - Ugly As Ugliest (Anami Music 026; USA) This is the third part of the trilogy that Tisziji Munoz and John Medeski have been working on for the past few years. The personnel is the same with the addition of Tupac Mantilla-Gomez and Tony Falco on percussion. 'Ugly as Ugliest' (UAU) is much different from the first two parts as it a spoken meditation in five movements with musical accompaniment. Besides being known as an amazing electric jazz guitarist and composer, Mr. Munoz has written several books on religion and meditation, being a sort of guru or inspiration for musicians and listeners alike. Tisziji speaks in a calm voice and gives us his observations about life on Earth and consequences of living during this period of time. The music, which is in the background throughout is lovely, calming, exquisite, heavenly in sound. Tisziji plays a shenai which is a double reed, it radiates a distant drone which permeates the music throughout. I find the music to be consistently enchanting here but I find the words to be captivating in another way. Munoz makes many interesting observations which will take some time to fully observe and consider. Perhaps it would be better to listen to one section at a time since there is so much to think about. Take some time and give these words and ideas a chance to a way to better understand the world. That is what I am doing now and will do again until I have absorbed what Munoz is telling or trying to tell us. - BLG / rec December 14, 2009
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With STEVE KUHN / DAVID FINCK / RA-KALAM BOB MOSES - Incomprehensibly Gone (Anami Music 027; USA) Tisziji Munoz on electric & acoustic guitar & bells, Steve Kuhn on piano, David Finck on bass and Ra-Kalam Bob Moses on drums. Spiritual jazz guitarist and guru, Tisziji Munoz has long been influenced by the cosmic explorations of the music and playing of saxist John Coltane. Mr. Munoz has worked with Coltrane collaborators like Rashied Ali, Pharoah Sanders and McCoy Tyner. Munoz has always chosen strong pianists to work with: Marilyn Crispell, John Hicks, Bernie Senensky, Hilton Ruiz, John Medesky and Paul Shaffer. All of the these pianists shine when they play with Munoz, he seems to inspire them to new heights. For Tisziji's 27th (!) recording for his own Anami label, Munoz has chosen another marvelous pianist - Steve Kuhn. What is interesting is this, Mr. Kuhn was the perhaps first pianist that John Coltrane tried out around 1960 before deciding on McCoy Tyner for Trane's soon-to-be famous quartet. "We Meet Again in Spirit" is mostly piano and bells and it is quite sublime. Mr. Kuhn plays with elegance and grace like a harpist creating soft waves. Each piece builds in intensity and spirit as the quartet merges their energy and creativity. Most of the songs begin as a trio of piano, bass and drums, the interplay is consistently astonishing. I am not that familiar with bassist David Finck but I know that he has been the bassist in Mr. Kuhn's trio for quite a while. I've heard recent trio recordings by Mr. Kuhn and felt they were very restrained but this is not the case so much here. Legendary drummer Ra-Kalam often adds a subtle yet steady underlying propulsion and dialogue, engaging the pianist and bassist to go even further. Since Munoz has written all of the music here, he gives the trio a chance to explore his themes without playing himself. His melodies are often soothing, uplifting and inspiring. When Tisziji's guitar finally enters, the vibration ascends, the turbulence increases and a light shines through. For those of you, like myself, who need those cosmic, searching, swirling, sustained-tone guitar solos, Mr Munoz unleashes the floodgates during the second half, the final thirty minutes. It feels so good to have those cascading notes wash over us like bathing in a waterfall on a cool spring day. A fine release and a good way to kick off the new year. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD / REBAZAR MUNOZ / KARIN WALSH - Omega Nebula: The Afterlife (Anami Music 028; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on electric guitar, John Lockwood on bass and Bob 'Ra-Kalam' Moses on drums. This is the second part of the 'Nebula' trilogy that Tisziji Munoz had been working on. This double disc set is comprised of some fifty pieces, many very short spoken words bits where Tisziji discusses his philosophy with quiet background music provided by Tisziji on multiple instruments, Karin Walsh on oboe, Don Pate on bass, Ra-Kalam Moses on drums and Rebazar Munoz on voice. Disc one is a suite of mostly short pieces with Tisziji's calm voice speaking in short bits (just one line or so to ponder) in between the cosmic flights of guitar-led trio which often soars together. Both Bob 'Ra-Kalam' Moses and John Lockwood have been playing with Munoz for many years so they know how to support and slowly burn underneath Tisziji's stream of notes. This disc does a good job of balancing the calm with the storm, with the guitar often at the center of explosive excursions. Even when Tisziji slows down, he is in control of the vibe which effects us, making each note or stream of notes count. At times it sounds as if Tisziji is taking off for other planets, reaching for the stars and beyond. Listening to this music does make me feel better as we are calm at the center although at times it is as if we are on the verge of passing into another dimension or state of mind. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / JOHN LOCKWOOD / TUPAC MANTILLA / TONY FALCO - Parasamgate Nebula: The Death Of Death (Anami Music 029; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar & shenai, John Lockwood & Don Pate on basses, Tupac Mantilla Gomez on percussion and Bob 'Ra-Kalam' Moses & Tony Falco on drums, plus guest John Medeski on synth. 'Parasamgate Nebula' is the third part of the Nebula trilogy following "Alpha Nebula' [Anami 13] and 'Omega Nebula' [Anami 28]. 'Parasamgate Nebula' deals with "death and ascending as well as the living who are learning to let go and accept the sacred function of death as a transition". Tisziji starts off our journey with a few words as an intro, his voice calm and soothing, his words worth reflecting upon. Any of the spoken word parts are short and kept to a minimum. From this point onwards the ensemble takes off soaring together heavenwards. Tisziji's stream of notes sails at the center of a powerful storm comprised of a double rhythm team with two basses and two or three drummers/percussionists. In between several flights, Munoz speaks short bits of philosophy to think about. His guitar playing is always at the center, the endless stream of notes cascading like large waves washing over us. Munoz often balances between daredevil high speed lines of notes and slower passages where he circles on certain notes, twisting them inside out, giving us and band some breathing space to consider whatever passage has erupted previously. Tisziji inserts bits of shenai, a double reed instrument, here and there just to add some Middle-eastern spice. Munoz always picks musicians who consistently support his vision and flow of ideas. The two bassists and two or three percussionists are always weaving their lines around one another in cosmic currents. Constantly uplifting. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ with PHARAOH SANSERS / RAVI COLTRANE / PAUL SHAFFER / DON PATE / RAHIED ALI - Divine Radiance Live! (Anami Music 030; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar, songs & vision, Pharoah Sanders & Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxes, Paul Shaffer on piano, Don Pate on bass and Rashied Ali on drums. It seems hard to believe that this incredible live set was ten years ago in June of 2003! What is even more amazing is that this special concert was organized through the hard work of Paul Shaffer, ace keyboard player and longtime bandleader for the weekday night David Letterman TV show. Mr. Shaffer met Mr. Munoz on the streets of Toronto more than forty years in 1969 and they have been friends ever since with Mr. Shaffer helping out his inspiration whenever he can. Although the often mysterious and misunderstood Mr. Munoz remains under the radar at times, those with their ears to the ground recognize his amazing guitar playing and transcendent music. One of Tisziji's main inspirations has been the sax playing, music of and spiritual journey of John Coltrane. Hence, Mr. Munoz played and recorded with Trane-collaborator Pharoah Sanders in the early seventies, as well as later working Trane's last drummer Rashied Ali. Coming full circle is Ravi Coltrane, son of John, who along with Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali, who were a part of the special cosmic gathering. All of the stars were aligned on this night at the now defunked Village Underground, a truly cosmic all-star sextet took the stage and blew all of the minds in attendance. What we have left is a 70 minute CD which you should be holding in your hands to help you enter another world, healing music for all of those who need to healed, whether they recognize it or not. This is the sh*t! There are those who don't take Paul Shaffer seriously since he is a well-recognized figure on major network TV, the sideman or fall-guy for David Letterman. Shame on them. I've caught Mr. Shaffer with Munoz on several occasions as well as on record. Paul is a most impressive keyboard player and he shines like everyone else in this special sextet, every solo stunning. What I love about this disc and that concert is that the band takes their time, slowly building upon a firm foundation, one great solo at a time. What I find so interesting is that Munoz inspires his bandmates to play their best, better than they often play with their own bands since is filled with that burning, inner-flame. Whenever Pharoah or Ravi take solos, Tisziji and Paul exchange lines, pushing each other and the soloists higher and higher. Besides the great sax solos, the interplay between the guitar, piano, bass and drums is consistently astonishing. For those of you who need that spirit/force/jazz tapestry, this is your medicine to take it and heal yourself! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ QUARTET With BERNIE SENENSKY / DON PATE / BOB MOSES PHAROAH SANDERS - Mountain Peak - Featuring Pharoah Sanders: Live At The Van Dyke, Schenectady NY 1998 (Anami Music 037; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar, Pharoah Sanders on tenor sax, Bernie Senensky on piano, Don Yaka Pate on bass and Bob Ra-Kalam Moses on drums. Are those goose-bumps erupting on your arms and the back of your necks?!? (They are on mine!) Finally, we have a contender for the "cosmic" release of the year! Pharaoh and Tisziji: a Match Made in the Heavenly Cosmos! Whoa! 'Mountain Peaks' is a stunning live, two disc, two set release, recorded in Schenectady, NY where Mr. Munoz used to live. It captures Mr. Munoz's fabulous quartet with their special guest, the legendary Pharoah Sanders, at their best, soaring together to those 'Mountain Peaks'. There are only seven songs played here, four standards and four originals by Munoz or Sanders. Commencing with "My Favorite Things", perhaps John Coltrane's most popular cover, taken at calm yet hypnotic pace. Tisziji, Pharoah and pianist Senensky all take long, slow-burning, dream-like solos with some amazing interplay between all three, notes spiralling around one another like a school of fish swimming in a stream. One of the oldest and most often played standards is "Body and Soul", made popular by Coleman Hawkins and played by hundreds of saxists, (and many other instruments) worldwide. The version here features a long, lovely, warm-toned solo from Mr. Sanders which is a stunning gem! Mr. Senensky, Mr. Pate, Mr. Munoz all take sublime, elegant solos, keeping the flow going righteously. When Munoz plays his original songs, this is when the fireworks really take out. The group ends the first set with "Purification by Fire #2", which is almost too much. The opening solo by Tisziji erupts from the first note with both Tisziji and Pharoah both unleashing those sheets of sounds that John Coltrane invented nearly fifty years ago. What is even more astonishing is the playing and support of Munoz' longtime rhythm team: Senensky on piano, Pate on contrabass and Ra-Kalam Moses on drums. The colossal power of the entire band is phenomenal with Pharoah letting out a few (vocal) screams to show the exhilaration going on. Toronto-based pianist, Bernie Senensky, is another under-recognized secret weapon, often playing those streams on the piano in a similar way to McCoy Tyner, a member of John Coltrane's legendary quartet, which Pharoah often sat in with. The second set kicks off with a half hour version a two standards in a medley: Jobim's Dindi" into Coltrane's "Lonnie Lament" back into "Dindi" again. "Dindi" is an old Brazilian song which was popular in the early 1960's. Munoz has a special way of playing these old chestnuts with his own bittersweet tone. Mr. Sanders' splendid, graceful tone and playing also add some magic top this superb medley. Once more than bands ascends together reaching higher and higher into the stratosphere. The piano trio by itself gets a chance to stretch out here and again do a marvelous, most cerebral job. It is again lift-off time on the last two Munoz originals, "Final Words" and "Visiting This Planet", which was also one of the highlights of the second set with Medeski a few weeks back. "Visiting This Planet" is a most appropriate title since it does take one directly to the stars or other planets along the way. Although everyone here solos with power and passion, it is those solos by Munoz that really push (us & them) the to the limits. The final song is an ecstatic version of Mr. Sanders' theme, "The Creator Has a Master Plan", with Pharoah singing and sounding just right at delivering those spiritual, uplifting words. It is a perfect ending to perhaps the most "cosmic" CD of the year. Nothing else comes close! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ & PAUL SHAFFER With RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / JOHN LOCKWOOD / DON PATE - Taking You Out There! Live at Lincoln Center's Dizzy's Club Coca Cola February 7 2011 (Anami Music 040; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar & compositions, Paul Shaffer on piano, Don Pate & John Lockwood on acoustic basses and Rakalam Bob Moses on drums. Dizzy's Club at Lincoln Center is a lovely room with a fine view of Central Park behind the band. I have only been there a few times since it is a bit expensive and rarely has the type of jazz I really enjoy (ie: too mainstream). My friend and inspiration, Tisziji Munoz, invited me to check out his band a few years ago and I was delighted hear some spiritual jazz in a room that rarely has that type of music. Longtime keyboard player for the David Letterman Show, Paul Shaffer, was the one who helped get the gig, so special thanks to him for that opportunity. Although the music here is a bit more restrained than the usual Munoz fireworks, it is still spirit jazz with that special Coltrane influence. Most or all of the songs were written by Tisziji and it shows how much of gifted songwriter he is: beautiful, heartfelt melodies most of the time. Mr. Shaffer, who rarely gets recognition as a great keyboard player, plays exclusively piano here and is the perfect choice for this music. Shaffer's playing is superb throughout, obviously inspired by Munoz delectable melodies and occasionally restrained yet still cosmic guitar playing. The rhythm team here of Don Pate (Munoz' regular bassist), John Lockwood (bassist for the Fringe & Joe Maneri) and drummer Rakalam Moses (a world-class musician & teacher), are also superb throughout both sets, spinning a fine web of rhythms, pulses and incredible interaction underneath. If you haven't heard the amazing Tisziji Munoz yet, this would be a perfect place to start. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD Set $18

TISZIJI MUNOZ With LAM SOBO JOHN MEDESKI / RA-KALAM BOB MOSES / DON PATE / DAVID FINCK / TUPAC MANTILLA - Realization of Paradox: Melting the Mind of Logic (Anami Music 041; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on spoken words & piano, John Medeski on piano, Don Pate & David Finck on basses, Tupac Mantilla on assorted percussion and Bob Ra-Kalam Moses on drums & gongs. For this offering, Tisziji Munoz does not play his usual role as the lead guitarist. This disc features the spoken words and piano of Mr. Munoz. The music is revelatory spirit-music and it feels good to let it wash over us in waves upon waves.
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ With RAVI COLTRANE / RASHIED ALI / BERNIE SENENSKY / DON PATE - Sky Worlds - Heaven Born (Anami Music 042; USA) Featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar, Ravi Coltrane on sax, Bernie Senensky on piano, Don Pate on bass and Rashied Ali on drums. This disc is dedicated to the famous producer, Phil Ramone, who was the executive producer for this disc. Phil Ramone was a legendary mainstream producer who won 14 Grammy's and produced Bob Dylan, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder. It turned that that mutual friends brought these two giants together and they turned out to have mutual respect. They of course didn't see eye to eye yet helped to bring a different side of each other's vision to the light. Hence, this is a very different sounding recording by Munoz with his guitar tone more restrained than usual. The music remains filled with that cosmic fire that Tisziji excels at. Munoz put together a superb quintet for this session which includes his usual collaborators Mr. Senensky, Mr. Pate and Mr. Ali plus an occasional collaborator Ravi Coltrane on tenor sax. Ravi is of course the son of the great innovator John Coltrane, whom has long been one of Munpz' biggest inspirations. Tisziji wrote all six songs here and each one is special, memorable. Although Munoz does lay back a bit, by the time we get to the second song, "We Meet Again in Spirit", he starts to unleash those furious, mind-blowing, Trane-inspired sheets or streams of notes. One of Munoz's gifts which are often occasionally overlooked is/are the enchanting melodies he writes. They are filled with a variety of feelings and emotions: happy, sad, intense, uplifting, hypnotic, often at the same time. Both these songs and Munoz's ecstatic playing inspire the musicians he chooses to new heights. Solos by Ravi Coltrane and Bernie Senenesky as well as the rhythm team action by Mr. Pate and Mr Ali are extraordinary. Sadly both Phil Ramone and Rashied Ali have since passed away. Their spirit does live on through this music. This music makes me feel better about life, it helps me to smile during some of those more stressed filled times. Thanks to the ever enlightening Tisziji Munoz and his cosmic crew. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

TISZIJI MUNOZ & MARILYN CRISPELL - Beautiful Empty Fullness (Anami Music 048; USA) This is a duo offering featuring Tisziji Munoz on guitar & compositions and Marilyn Crispell on piano. Ms. Crispell and Mr. Munoz have worked together on a couple of previous discs but this is their first CD as just a duo. Considering that both of these musicians are longtime devotees to the music and spirit of John Coltrane, there is no doubt a bond between them. Although Mr. Munoz known by guitar fanatics as an amazing player, he is less well known for his compositions. It turns out that Munoz is also a wonderful songwriter, whose music comes directly from the heart. Unlike some of Munoz regular band rapid fire lines, both he and Ms. Crispell do a beautiful job of fleshing out this lovely music in all of its supreme splendor. Tisziji sweet & sour tone is what makes this music so human, so real, so touching. This is healing music and it reaches deeply into our hearts and souls, soothing us from the day's more difficult encounters. These are twelve perfect gems, songs which balance between somber and being filled with lovely sparks. AlthoughMs. Crispell has been through several periods of changes in her more than two deacde career: from freer terrain to Braxtonian quartet complexity to the more reflective side of her ECM CDs, Mr. Munoz brings something else out of her, a perfect balance of deeply personal, spiritual melodies with the occasional fire to push the vibe into near cosmic territories. This is an extraordinary duo that should not be overlooked. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10

LP SECTION:

JOE McPHEE, JEN CLARE PAULSON, BRIAN LABYCZ - The Mystery J (CvsD 001LP; USA) “As well as being a return to public programming, this live event is also a record launch for The Mystery J, Corbett Vs. Dempsey's new vinyl LP which features improvised music by Joe McPhee, violist Jen Clare Paulson, and Brian Labycz on electronics. Recorded in 2014 at Okka Fest 6 in Milwaukee, it contains some of the most bristling trumpet work ever heard from McPhee's lips, in a super-responsive, sometimes uncommonly quiet musical context. Another side of the master improviser -- subtle dialogue with two younger maestros. Taking its title from the rum-running yacht on which McPhee's father sailed from Nassau to Miami, The Mystery J is CvsD's inaugural long-playing vinyl. Pressed in Chicago at Smashed Plastic and featuring a design with artwork by one of the original Chicago imagists, Richard Wetzel. You will be morose when you have missed your chance to spin it on your own home table, so as McPhee says don't postpone joy! Edition of 500.”
LP $21

MARCEL DUCHAMP - The Entire Musical Work Of Marcel Duchamp (Song Cycle CY 989; UK) “Last copies, reduced price. Song Cycle Records present a reissue of The Entire Musical Work Of Marcel Duchamp, originally released by Multhipla Records in 1976. The Entire Musical Work Of Marcel Duchamp is a collection of experimental pieces composed in 1913 by the legendary artist, and executed by Petr Kotik and the S.E.M. Ensemble in 1976. Employing chance operations and non-musical sounds, Marcel Duchamp's musical oeuvre predated some radical concepts developed forty years later by John Cage. Presented here on 180 gram vinyl.”
LP $12

MICHAEL SNOW - The Last LP: Unique Last Recordings of the Music of Ancient Cultures (Song Cycle 991LP; UK) ”Last copies/reduced price. Song Cycle Records present a reissue of Michael Snow's The Last LP: Unique Last Recordings of the Music of Ancient Cultures, originally issued in 1987. The album is an extraordinary collection of tracks "of rare music derived from threatened, obsolete, or now-extinct cultures from around the world" that although the claiming of being field recordings of ancient musical experiences, are in fact pieces played, conceived and recorded by the artist himself. As it was for Musics For Piano, Whistling, Microphone And Tape Recorder (CY 999LP, 2016), with this issue the Canadian artist further developed his conceptual investigation around the object-LP where the single elements (the record, the music, the text and the jacket) are so indissolubly intertwined to create what the artist calls a "sonics-sculpture-text". Partly motivated by the announced obsolescence of the vinyl format, The Last LP is also a critical reflection on the impact of new technologies on the relationship between played and recorded music. Presented with remastered sound from the original tapes and a faithful reproduction of the original artwork. Gatefold sleeve, 180 gram virgin vinyl. Edition of 500.”
LP $12

OLD MILLION EYE - The Incandescent Switch (Feeding Tube Records 606; USA) "First LP, after several fine cassettes & CDRs, by this psych project helmed by Brian Lucas. Lucas is best known these days for his bass work with Dire Wolves Just Exactly Perfect Sisters Band, but he has a hand in many other California psych outfits. The Wolves have been quiet vis-a-vis new recordings lately, but Old Million Eye has been pretty busy. Often the OME moniker represents solo work, but this time Brian has recruited Dena Goldsmith-Stanley (3 Moons) and Steven R Smith (an old band mate from Mirza) to assist with his journey. And the results are beautiful. The most basic elements of The Incandescent Switch are swirls of kosmiche keyboard, with vocals buried in the clouds, melodic bass lines moving through like slow-motion lightning, and various instrumental events darting hither and yon. The overall feel is something like a collision between a mid '70s album on the German Sky label and a '68 Bay Area acid-flash sensibility. The one track featuring both Goldsmith-Stanley and Smith, 'I Labour Upwards into Futurity,' is especially neat. The dynamic shifts between the three players give it an organic, interactive breath-shape that really makes me want to see them work together in a live setting. But even when he's working alone, handling guitars, percussion and who knows what else, Lucas creates fully inhabited dreamscapes of sound. I, for one, cannot wait to trip while spinning The Incandescent Switch. It seems like a very winning combination." - Byron Coley, 2021
LP $24

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

ATTENTION ALL CREATIVE MUSICIANS OUT THERE, Around the world.

If you have a link for some music that you are working on and want to share it with the folks who read the DMG Newsletter, please send the link to DMG at DMG@Downtownmusicgallery.com.

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

This one is from CHRIS CUTLER, original member of Henry Cow, Art Bears, News from Babel, respected author and founder of Recommended Records. This is Chris’ wonderful podcast and I urge you all to give it a listen… https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-30

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

Guitarist and DMG-pal HENRY KAISER has a monthly Video Solo Series on Cuneiform’s Youtube page:

Here’s HENRY KAISER’s Halloween show:

A Halloween EXTRAVAGANZA with a cavalcade of luminary guests: Buckethead, Jim Clark, Scott Colby, Sandy Ewen, Ed DeGenaro, Danielle DeGruttola, Brandy Gale, Vanessa Gould, Marco Minnemann, ChrIs Muir, Wayne Peet, Prairie PrInce, Jill Sobule, The Big Kitty, Trip Wamsley, and Vince Welnick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yeOIVqGLKY

https://www.youtube.com/c/CuneiformRecords/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGc9OI16hcE

**********

gaucimusic presents:

Live at Scholes Street Studio
Saturday October 16th, 2021

Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Matt Mitchell - piano
Eivind Opsvik - bass
Billy Mintz - drums
8pm & 9:30pm sets
Live recording/Live audience!
$15 at the door
**vaccination & masks required inside venue**

@ Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn
718-964-8763

***********

UPCOMING AT ROULETTE In Brooklyn, NYC:

Wednesday, October 13. 8pm EDT
Steph Richards’ Supersense and Sounds for Butch & Dino

Saturday, October 16, 2021. 8:00 pm
Relevant Tones Tenth Anniversary Festival: Necessary MonstersNecessary Monsters is a collaboration between composer/musician Carla Kihlstedt and poet Rafael Osés. It is a contemporary song cycle based on Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings — a collection of fantastical creatures culled from literary and mythological traditions around the world.
With an all-star 10-piece band as your guide, Necessary Monsters takes you on a psychological safari to visit with some of these chimeras living in the fertile landscape of our collective mind, each one a manifestation of our complicated humanness.
This show celebrates the long-awaited release of the Necessary Monsters limited edition book/album.

THE BAND: Carla Kihlstedt: violin/voice
Eddy Kwon: viola/voice
Emily Hope Price: cello/voice
Melissa Weikart: piano/voice
Marié Abe: accordion
Cole Kamen-Green: trumpet
Wendy Eisenberg: guitars
Grace Ward: bass/electric bass
Clara Warnaar: drums/percussion
Rafael Osés: narrator
Speakers: Carla Kihlstedt, Stephen Asma

Thursday, October 21st - 23rd at 8:00 pm
Robert Ashley: eL/Aficionado

Tuesday, October 26, 2021. 8:00 pm
Ches Smith and We All Break:
“Path of Seven Colors” Record Release Show
Musicians:
Sirene Dantor Rene — vocals
Lalin St Juste — vocals
Tossie Long — vocals
Miguel Zenón — alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell — piano
Nick Dunston — bass
Daniel Brevil — tanbou, vocals
Markus Schwartz — tanbou, vocals
Fanfan Jean Guy Rene — tanbou, vocals
Ches Smith — drums, vocals

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

ATTENTION ALL CREATIVE MUSICIANS OUT THERE, Around the world.

If you have a link for some music that you are working on and want to share it with the folks who read the DMG Newsletter, please send the link to DMG at DMG@Downtownmusicgallery.com.

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

This one is from CHRIS CUTLER, original member of Henry Cow, Art Bears, News from Babel, respected author and founder of Recommended Records. This is Chris’ wonderful podcast and I urge you all to give it a listen… https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-30

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

Guitarist and DMG-pal HENRY KAISER has a monthly Video Solo Series on Cuneiform’s Youtube page:

Here’s HENRY KAISER’s Halloween show:

A Halloween EXTRAVAGANZA with a cavalcade of luminary guests: Buckethead, Jim Clark, Scott Colby, Sandy Ewen, Ed DeGenaro, Danielle DeGruttola, Brandy Gale, Vanessa Gould, Marco Minnemann, ChrIs Muir, Wayne Peet, Prairie PrInce, Jill Sobule, The Big Kitty, Trip Wamsley, and Vince Welnick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yeOIVqGLKY

https://www.youtube.com/c/CuneiformRecords/videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGc9OI16hcE

**********

gaucimusic presents:

Live at Scholes Street Studio
Saturday October 16th, 2021

Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Matt Mitchell - piano
Eivind Opsvik - bass
Billy Mintz - drums
8pm & 9:30pm sets
Live recording/Live audience!
$15 at the door
**vaccination & masks required inside venue**

@ Scholes Street Studio
375 Lorimer Street, Brooklyn
718-964-8763

***********

UPCOMING AT ROULETTE In Brooklyn, NYC:

Wednesday, October 13. 8pm EDT
Steph Richards’ Supersense and Sounds for Butch & Dino

Saturday, October 16, 2021. 8:00 pm
Relevant Tones Tenth Anniversary Festival: Necessary MonstersNecessary Monsters is a collaboration between composer/musician Carla Kihlstedt and poet Rafael Osés. It is a contemporary song cycle based on Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges’ Book of Imaginary Beings — a collection of fantastical creatures culled from literary and mythological traditions around the world.
With an all-star 10-piece band as your guide, Necessary Monsters takes you on a psychological safari to visit with some of these chimeras living in the fertile landscape of our collective mind, each one a manifestation of our complicated humanness.
This show celebrates the long-awaited release of the Necessary Monsters limited edition book/album.

THE BAND: Carla Kihlstedt: violin/voice
Eddy Kwon: viola/voice
Emily Hope Price: cello/voice
Melissa Weikart: piano/voice
Marié Abe: accordion
Cole Kamen-Green: trumpet
Wendy Eisenberg: guitars
Grace Ward: bass/electric bass
Clara Warnaar: drums/percussion
Rafael Osés: narrator
Speakers: Carla Kihlstedt, Stephen Asma

Thursday, October 21st - 23rd at 8:00 pm
Robert Ashley: eL/Aficionado

Tuesday, October 26, 2021. 8:00 pm
Ches Smith and We All Break:
“Path of Seven Colors” Record Release Show
Musicians:
Sirene Dantor Rene — vocals
Lalin St Juste — vocals
Tossie Long — vocals
Miguel Zenón — alto saxophone
Matt Mitchell — piano
Nick Dunston — bass
Daniel Brevil — tanbou, vocals
Markus Schwartz — tanbou, vocals
Fanfan Jean Guy Rene — tanbou, vocals
Ches Smith — drums, vocals