DMG Newsletter for January 6, 2023

Although I hadn’t listened to much jazz or fusion music yet (except for Soft Machine or King Crimson), I was knocked out by the dark, turbulent, tight, mind-blowing power of Mahavishnu Orchestra. I bought their first album in 1972 and was blown away by it. I took a jazz history class at Glassboro State College in September of 1972 and the first album my professor (Manny Albam) played was ‘Bitches Brew’ by Miles Davis (with McLaughlin on guitar), which again blew my mind! Within a few years I acquired a number of John McLaughlin early albums: ‘Extrapolation’ (1969), ‘Devotion’ (1970), ‘My Goal’s Beyond’ (1971), ‘Where Fortune Smiles’ (1971) plus all three Mahavishnu Orchestra albums, catching them live on several occasions. I also caught the second Mahavishnu Orchestra (‘Apocalypse’ LP from 1974) live, as well as Shakti, the One Truth Band and Remember Shakti later on. I lost interest in McLaughlin’s output in the later seventies and beyond when fusion turned sour. I did see the final John McLaughlin tour a few years back with his band Fourth Dimension with the Jimmy Herring Band opening. Both bands played together at the end doing songs from the first Mahavishnu Orchestra albums. It was incredible and that music still sounds powerful today!

Nels Cline (guitar) and his brother Alex (drums & percussion) are twins and I’ve admired them since hearing them on a some early Vinny Golia albums from the late seventies. I finally caught Nels Cline live in the early 1990’s with his power trio at the old Knitting Factory. I recall standing on the back of the room with Thurston Moore, both of us completely blown away by this mighty, brutal trio. They made four albums which you should all own. I’ve been lucky to have caught Alex Cline a few times live with Gregg Bendian’s Interzone (also w/ Nels) and for a Cryptogramophone label concert several years back. Word is that Alex doesn’t like to fly or travel much, but I do admire anything I’ve heard him do. Alex also records infrequently and his last leader CD from 2017 (‘Ocean of Vows’) is a masterwork.

I’ve become good friends with Nels Cline over the past couple of decades and I dig everything he does, which is quite a bit: Mike Watt Trio, Nels Cline Singers, Jenny Scheinman’s Mischief & Mayhem, Willie Nelson tribute with Carla Bozulich, Phil Lesh & Friends and Wilco are just some of his many projects! Nels Cline may be a superstar some to some, but I know him as one of the nicest folks I’ve met. Completely down home, warm, friendly and generous. Nels has played at DMG on several occasions and I look forward to everything he does: live, on record and just talking in person about music, art and life. A special Birthday Toast to all three of these fabulous folks who have enriched our lives in so many ways! - Bruce Lee Gallanter & John Mori at DMG

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THUS BEGINS DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY’S 32nd ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!

THE Ongoing IN-STORE FREE MUSIC SERIES CONTINUES with:

Tuesday, January 10th: An Incredible Triple Bill featuring:
6:30: NICK LYONS / THEO GIRARD / PATRICK HOLMES / TODD CAPP
7:30: PATRICK BRENNAN / JASON HWANG / HILLIARD GREENE / MICHAEL TA THOMPSON
8:30: KEVIN MURRAY / WILL GREENE / TETE LEGUIA

Saturday, January 14th - GauciMusic Series Continues with:
6pm Brandon Terzakisz - guitar / Dan O'Brien - woodwinds / Aidan O’Connell - bass
7pm Stephen Gauci - tenor sax / Adam Lane - bass / Kevin Shea - drums
8pm James Paul Nadian Group w/ Ron Anderson - guitar & Tete Leguia on bass

Tuesday, January 17th:
6:30 - 9pm: MARC SLOAN Presents RITUAL TENSION & DIVINE BONE COLLECTION!

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THIS WEEK’S GROOVY NEWSLETTER BEGINS WITH THE THIRD ZORN ‘BAGATELLES’ BOX SET:

JOHN ZORN // ASMODEUS with MARC RIBOT - TREVOR DUNN - KENNY GROHOWSKY / JULIAN LAGE & GYAN RILEY / JIM BLACK QUARTET with JONATHAN GOLDBERGER - KEISUKE MATSUNO - SIMON JERMYN / CLERIC with MATT HOLLENBERG - Bagatelles Box 3 / Volumes 9 - 12 (Tzadik 5231-34; USA) From March to May 2015, John Zorn composed 300 new tunes that were eventually collected into a book of music he called The Bagatelles. After 5 years of performances around the world in venues large and small, the choicest ensembles have gone into the studio and the recordings are finally being made available in a series of limited edition 4-CD BOX sets. Each set will present four ensembles performing a unique program of Zorn’s Bagatelles. Bagatelles Box 3 is an all guitars affair features several amazing guitarists: Marc Ribot, Julian Lage, Gyan Riley, Matt Hollenberg, Jonathan Goldberger & Keisuke Matsuno.
4 CD Deluxe LTD Edition Box Set $95


ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO with ROSCOE MITCHELL / FAMOUDOU DON MOYE / MOOR MOTHER / TOMEKA REID / NICOLE MITCHELL / HUGH RAGIN / JEAN COOK / JARIBU SHAHID / et al - The Sixth Decade: From Paris To Paris (Rogue Art 0123; France) Recorded in France in 2020 at the Son d' hiver festival, this recording celebrates the legendary group's historic ties to Paris, where it was formed in 1968.
When trumpet great Lester Bowie died in 1999, followers of the Art Ensemble of Chicago couldn't help but wonder whether the legendary quintet, which owed so much to his special and outlandish gifts, would - or should - go on. That it did, in his memory, with no loss of spirit. But the subsequent passing of two other founding members Malachi Favors Maghostut in 2004 & Joseph Jarman in 2019, made it even more difficult to envision a future for the band.
Leave it to the AEC's proud surviving members, saxophonist/composer Roscoe Mitchell and drummer/percussionist Famoudou Don Moye to keep its flame glowing. In typically bold fashion, they not only extended the life of this beloved band, they redefined it in glorious & unexpected ways. With the addition of brilliant young players including poet and spoken word artist Moor Mother, cellist Tomeka Reid and violinist Jean Cook, & esteemed elders including trumpeter Hugh Ragin, flutist Nicole Mitchell, & bassist Jaribu Shahid, AEC became a full-fledged chamber orchestra.
"Come rejoice in a higher place!" urges the magnetic Moor Mother. In both honoring the band's illustrious history & soaring to new creative heights as a 17-member aggregation, Mitchell and Moye and company do just that.
Would AEC have become the creative force it is had it not gotten the opportunity to find itself in Paris all those years ago? Will AEC return to celebrate their seventh? "We can't control the clock, everything takes place in its own time," says Mitchell. Don't be surprised if the time continues to be right for the AEC for years to come.”
2 CD Set $28
2 LP Set $40

FRED FRITH / SUSANA SANTOS SILVA - Laying Demons to Rest (Rogue Art 0125; France) Featuring Fred Frith on electric guitar and Susana Santos Silva on trumpet. Recorded live for Radio France as part of the Festival Météo in August of 2021. I haven’t heard this yet aside from a 4 minute sample at the Rogue Art site. It does sound great! No doubt you know quite a bit about experimental guitar master Fred Frith, formerly of Henry Cow, Art Bears, Skeleton Crew, Naked City and many other great progressive and Downtown bands/musicians. I’ve been checking out Portuguese trumpet sorceress, Susana Santos Silva, for a while now and hearing her working with Torbjörn Zetterberg, Kaja Draksler, Lotte Anker, Chris Pitsiokos and Biliana Voutchkova. Review after we get those much desired promos. - BLG
CD $16

JOE McPHEE & JOHN EDWARDS - Joe McPhee & John Edwards - Tell Me How Long Has Trane Been Gone (for James Baldwin And John Coltrane)(Klanggalerie GG416; Germany) Recording of the first ever duo collaboration between sax player Joe McPhee and double bass player John Edwards. Joe McPhee, born 1939 in Florida, USA, is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, conceptualist and theoretician. He is currently the member of Trio X, Survival Unit III and has collaborated with Pauline Oliveros, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Raymond Boni, The Thing, Trespass Trio, and Universal Indians among many others. With a career spanning nearly 50 years and over 100 recordings, he continues to tour internationally, forge new connections and reach for music's outer limits. John Edwards is a true virtuoso on the double bass whose staggering range of techniques and boundless musical imagination have redefined the possibility of the double bass and dramatically expanded its role, whether playing solo or with others. Perpetually in demand, he has played with Evan Parker, Sunny Murray, Derek Bailey, Joe McPhee, Lol Coxhill, Peter Brötzmann, Mulatu Astatke and many others. In 2019 McPhee and Edwards met at Artacts festival in Austria and performed together as a duo for the first time. The concert was held at a public school with the duo performing in front of the Wilder Kaiser mountain and left the audience stunned and speechless. This CD is a recording of this amazing concert. Joe McPhee plays sax and sings, John Edwards plays the double bass.”
CD $18

HAMID DRAKE / THYMME JONES / TATSU AOKI / MAKO SICA - Formless (Feeding Tube Records 721CD; USA) "Gorgeous quintet improv space explored at Chicago's ProMusica studios. Long-time partners Przemyslaw Drazek (trumpet, strings, percussion) and Brent Fuscaldo (voice, guitar, percussion, harmonica) join up again with Hamid's percussion, Tatsu's bass and shamisen, and Thymme's piano and various, just as they did on last year's amazing Ourania (FTR 592LP). The sounds now are spacious, comfortable explorations of unknown sonic turf. There may be a bit less of the aggressive edge that marked their earlier work, but the music generates an equal amount of head-shaking wonder. Thymme's piano and the hails of percussive energy now sometimes set the stage in the way the band's trumpet and guitar once did. There's a magnificent moodiness to the way this music is put together. And trying to squeeze it into a genre definition is harder than ever. Rock, jazz and experimental textures are all allowed to roam freely throughout the session, with the result being a splendid sort of audio anarchy head birthing chunks of sound that are sculpted into boulders of cosmic beauty. There's almost no telling which way things are going to turn in the course of Formless, but the results are always warm blurs you can almost feel massaging your tympanic membranes. Amazing stuff. As usual! Also worth noting, the band will be dropping Mako Sica as a working name after this LP, and will henceforth be using Drazek/Fuscaldo, along with whatever special riders choose to come along. You have been warned." - Byron Coley, 2022
CD $12

TYLER MITCHELL OCTET Feating: MARSHALL ALLEN - Sun Ra’s Journey (Cellar Live CMSLF001; Earth) A deeply soulful journey into the music of Sun Ra, led by his long-time bassist Tyler Mitchell and featuring jazz legend Marshall Allen on saxophone. This new album is the first of a series of live recordings from Smalls Jazz Club and Mezzrow, in partnership with the label, Cellar Live. The SmallsLIVE Living Masters Series is funded entirely by grants from the SmallsLIVE Foundation, a not-for-profit art foundation founded in 2018 by club owner and pianist, Spike Wilner. This live date from the world famous Smalls Jazz Club is led by long-time Sun Ra bassist Tyler Mitchell, & features legendary saxophonist Marshall Allen in a deeply soulful journey into the music of Sun Ra.
Thanks to the grassroot donations from jazz fans and supporters world-wide, Smalls was able to meet the expenses of maintaining the Smalls and Mezrow jazz club venues that Spike Wilner runs, as they sat shuttered by New York City during the pandemic.” The previous disc by the Tyler Mitchell Octet was fabulous and a must-have for all of you crazy SUN RA fans! This is supposedly just as good and I will review it soon. - BLG
CD $14

FRANCOIS HOULE & JOE SORBARA - Hush (Hat Ezz-Thetics 1035; Switzerland) Featuring Francois Houle on clarinet and Joe Sorbara on drums, table percussion & back porch piano guts. Vancouver-based musician/bandleader, Francois Houle has long been one the most dedicated, crafty and diverse clarinetists in all of Canada and north America. Mr. Houle has had a number of great bands/projects: check out his work with Gordon Grdina, Benoit Delbeq and Tony Wilson. I don’t know of percussionist Joe Sorbara as well, although I have heard him with Ken Aldcroft, Evan Parker and the AIM Orchestra. This disc was recorded in Vancouver & Toronto in November & December of 2020. This starts off with what sounds like Mr. Sorbara playing the strings inside an old piano with Mr. Houle’s clarinet carefully conversing. The overall sound is rather spooky and filled suspense. I love the sound here., as the disc is superbly produced. Mr. Houle’s ever-expressive clarinet is at the center with Mr. Sorbara’s drums weaving or being panned to either side of the sound spectrum. Both musicians appear to be exploring different ways of playing their respective instruments. Houle combines some klez-like licks, slightly further out lower cases sounds and many sounds which are free of easy recognized genres. Sorbara also deals with a number of odd minimalist percussives on drums, gongs, cymbals, pieces of wood & metal, always cautious to never do too much. The duo play together extremely well as one force. Houle keeps coming up with assorted thematic material, spicy runs which are tightly orchestrated /matched by Sorbara’s ever-shifting drumming. There is also some occasional playfulness which balances just right with the other further out explorations: twisted clarinet runs with eerie bowed cymbals or similar weird sounds. Although this is a duo effort, these two musicians often sound like an entire band of gifted improvisers. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $17

WAXWING with PEGGY LEE / TONY WILSON / JON BENTLEY - Flicker Down (Songlines 1633; Canada) Vancouver's premier chamber jazz trio (formed in 2006) makes elegant, beautifully textured music, collectively developing their own compositions and in short improvs. Personnel: Peggy Lee (cello), Tony Wilson (guitar, harmonica, kalimba, ektara etc.) and Jon Bentley (tenor & soprano sax, tank drum, synths, percussion & bells) bring a wealth of experience to the group, whether it's in classical/contemporary classical music, songwriter/folk, or the use of overdubbed small instruments as well as sampling and programming to subtly heighten the music's effect.
This is Waxwing's second release on Songlines, and it's similar to A Bowl of Sixty Taxidermists (2015) in its combination of delicacy and strength with a reflective kind of lyricism, often tinged with tenderness or nostalgia - but be prepared for the unexpected as pieces move though different forms and emotional states. Bentley produced, mixed and sequenced the record, and in the process transformed some of the pieces, constructing hybrid improv/composed-sounding songs using Ableton Live and Serato Sample production software (uncommon in a chamber jazz setting), while taking care to retain the spontaneity of the original improvisation.
Bentley and Wilson both deserve wider recognition, but Peggy Lee is one of Canada's most celebrated cellists and jazz composers - her most recent large ensemble release, Echo Painting (Songlines, 2018) received great reviews nationally and internationally.”
CD $15

PNEUMA with AYELET ROSE GOTTLIEB / FRANCOIS HOULE / JAMES FALZONE / MICHAEL WINOGRAD - Who Has Seen The Wind? (Songlines 1629; Canada) This original avant jazz song cycle project draws on poetry (sung in English) from various places and eras. Its four composer-improvisors are Ayelet Rose Gottlieb (vocals) and clarinetists François Houle, James Falzone and Michael Winograd. The sound is kaleidoscopic - many worlds entangled - with extended techniques and layered effects blending with soulfulness and an exposed vulnerability. Jewish-music intertwines with contemporary classical compositions and free-jazz improvisations.
Pneuma (πνεῦμα) is an ancient Greek word for “breath”, “spirit” or “soul”, and group's instrumentation is unusual and full of breath, allowing every band member to re-imagine their role and find their ground in new and innovative ways. The quartet zooms in and out, shifting perspectives from the very personal to the global, from intimacy to a loud roar. The poetry comes from many corners of the world, including Christina Rossetti (England), Forugh Farrokhzad (Iran), James Joyce (Ireland), Mayumi Terada (Japan), and Ono no Komachi (9th century Japan). These texts alternate with wordless pieces such as Gottlieb's ''Neither You nor I,'' inspired by a solo by the late Israeli bassist Ora Boasson-Horev.
Pneuma premiered at the 2017 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, where critic Alexander Varty commented: ''It's strange to think that a band of three clarinets and a single voice can conjure up a world of infinite possibilities, but that's what Pneuma delivers. Gottlieb's caramel-rich voice and instrumentalists Falzone, Houle, and Winograd work together as one as they uncork everything from klezmer lamentation to out-there sonic surgery. Music this beautiful, intricate, and heartfelt deserves to be celebrated--and treasured.”
CD $15

CARLO COSTA - Silos (Neither Nor Records n/n 015; USA) Featuring Carlo Costa found objects, recorded in a silo in the countryside north of Rome, Italy in July of 2018. Downtown percussionist, Carlo Costa, runs the Neither Nor Records label which has released around 20 discs in the past decade, more than half of which include Carlo Coast as a member of the band/project. Although the lower case/onkyo/minimalist Creative Music movements have come and gone, there are still a handful of musicians from around the world who still deal with this aesthetic. Percussionist and label founder, Carlo Costa has continued to work with this within this field. Mr. Costa recently played here at DMG in a trio with Kyle Motl on contrabass and Nicolee Kuester on French horn. The set was a nice change from some of the over-the-top free improv sets which often take place during our Tuesdays and Saturday (GauciMusic) in-store music series shows. I like the way the this music gets the listener to focus on smaller, less intense, quieter and more spacious sounds. This disc is a good example of this approach. Mr. Costa is playing objects found inside a silo in the countryside north of Rome. The silo is naturally reverberant so each sound has a bit of organic reverb. There are certain sounds like tapping or striking a stone, which we can easily recognize. What I find interesting is this: each sound or small group of sounds, has an effect on us. Hence, we start to listen more closely to each sound, the textures and timbres of those sounds. One of the things I recognized here is that we each put these sounds within our imaginations, the music or intent we hear come from within ourselves. If someone says that there is no “music” here, this is true for them. For you or me, the serious listeners, there is quite a bit more going on. I find the shape, texture and unique sounds being produced to all have an interesting effect. I think this disc is pretty engaging and often fascinating. It feels good to take a break from the more familiar sounds of melodic music or even free improv which I’ve grown most accustomed to. Nice work Carlo. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

FLIN VAN HEMMEN - You Can Know Where the Bombs Fell (Neither Nor Records n/n 019; USA) Featuring Flin van Hemmen on production, sampling and various instruments. Flin van Hemmen is a Netherlands-based drummer who has worked with Frantz Loriot, Patrick Breiner and a number of other Dutch musicians. Mr. van Hemmen was living here in recent times and collaborating with Ben Gerstein, Michael Foster and Sean Ali. This disc is a solo effort which van Hemmen worked on for two years (2018-2020), using samples from a previous session he did for the same label which featured Todd Neufeld on acoustic guitar and Eivind Opsvik on contrabass. The music here sounds like keyboards (organ?, Hemmen does play one on his previous disc) with odd samples being placed selectively. Van Hemmen starts to stack several layers of (keyboard?) samples, repeating or looping a line or two, footsteps, a distant chorus, eerie dream-like spell casting ghosts… Mr. van Hemmen does a good job of creating haunting, somewhat disorienting moods which often shift over time into something else. Spooky voices, static or wind sounds, a throbbing central pulse enters and soon disappears. Overall, this disc sounds like a soundtrack for a film which evokes solemn and quietly fearful images. Today (1/4/23) it is foggy and overcast outside, drizzling a bit. This music fits the mood outside my kitchen window perfectly. It sounds like Flin van Hemmen has worked long and hard in order to keep this slowly shifting series of moods, vibes or sounds together as it flows from one scene or mood to the next one. Most impressive. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

BILL ORCUTT - Music for Four Guitars (Palilalia 068CD; USA) "In a trajectory full of about-faces, Music for Four Guitars splices the formal innovations of Bill Orcutt's software-based music into the lobe-frying, blown-out Fender hyperdrive of his most frenetic workouts with Corsano or Hoyos. And while the guitar tone here is resolutely treble-kicked -- or, as Orcutt puts it, 'a bridge pickup rather than a neck pickup record' -- it still wades the same melodic streams as his previous LPs (yet, as Heraclitus taught us, that stream is utterly different the second time around). Although it's a true left-field listen, Music for Four Guitars is bizarrely meditative, a Bill Orcutt Buddha Machine, a glimpse of the world of icy beauty haunting the latitudes high above the Delta (down where the climate suits your clothes). I've written before of the immediate misapprehension that greeted Harry Pussy on their first tour with my band Charalambides -- that this was a trio of crazed freaks spontaneously spewing sound from wherever their fingers or drumsticks happened to land -- but I'll grant the casual listener a certain amount of confusion based on the early recorded evidence (and the fact that the band COULD be a trio of crazed freaks letting fly, as we learned from later tours). But to my ears, the precision and composition of their tracks were immediately apparent, as if the band was some sort of 5-D music box with its handle cranked into oblivion by a calculating organ grinder, running through musical maps as pre-ordained as the road to a Calvinist's grave. That organ grinder, it turns out, was Bill Orcutt, whose solo guitar output until 2022 has tilted decidedly towards improvisation, while his fetish for relentless, gridlike composition has animated his electronic music (c.f. Live in LA, A Mechanical Joey). Music for Four Guitars, apparently percolating since 2015 as a loosely-conceived score for an actual meatspace guitar quartet, is the culmination of years ruminating on classical music, Magic Band miniatures, and (perhaps) The League of Crafty Guitarists, although when the Reich-isms got tossed in the brew is anyone's guess. And Reichian (Steve, not Wilhelm) it is. The album's form is startlingly minimalist -- four guitars, each consigned to a chattering melody in counterpoint, repeated in cells throughout the course of the track, selectively pulled in and out of the mix to build fugue-like drama over the course of 14 brief tracks. It's tempting to compare them to chamber music, but these pieces reflect little of the delicacy of Satie's Gymnopedies or Bach's Cantatas. Instead, they bulldoze their way through melodic content with a touch of the motorik romanticism of New Order or Bailter Space ('At a Distance'), but more often ('A Different View,' 'On the Horizon') with the gonad-crushing drive of Discipline-era Crimson, full of squared corners, coldly angled like Beefheart-via-Beat-Detective. Just to nail down the classical fetishism, the album features a download of an 80-page PDF score transcribed by guitarist Shane Parish. And while it'd be just as reproducible as a bit of code or a player piano roll, I can easily close my eyes and imagine folks with brows higher than mine squeezing into their difficult-listening hour folding chairs at Issue Project Room to soak up these sounds being played by real people reading a printed score 50 years from now. And as much as I want to bomb anyone's academy, that feels like a warm fuzzy future to sink into." --Tom Carter Recorded Winter/Spring 2021 at the Living Room, San Francisco. Mastered by James Plotkin. “
CD $16 or LP $17

THE MONKEY AND THE MONK with LYNN CASSIERS / AUGUSTO PIRODDA / LAURENT BLONDIAU / BEN SLUIJS / SAM COMERFORD / MANOLO CABRAS / MAREK PATRMAN - Concerto for Jazz Septet in Three Movements (el Negocito Records 101; Netherlands) Featuring Lynn Cassiers on voice & electronics, Augusto Pirodda on piano, Laurent Blondiau on trumpet & flugelhorn, Ben Sluijs on alto sax & flute, Sam Comerford on tenor bass sax & clarinet, Manolo Cabras bass and Marek Patrman on drums. This Netherlands-based label has released some 2 dozen discs so far, all of which I like although getting some of these discs has been not so easy. None of the musicians here are very well known, although each can be found by on other discs for Clean Feed (Cassiers), JazzwerkStatt (Pirodda), DeWerf (Sluijs) and Negocito (Charles Gayle Trio). Ms. Cassiers has two fine discs out on Clean Feed which also include the bass & drums from this project.
The music on the first movement is tight, spirited and well-written (by Mr. Pirodda, perhaps). The first section featuring some quick, spinning freeish horns (2 saxes & trumpet), with crazed electronic enhanced vocals over a spirited, daredevil piano-led rhythm team. On “Movement Two”, things calm down to a haunting, ballad-like reverie with soft, spacious, sensuous vocals over a skeletal somber cushion. On the third movement, Mr. Pirodda’s piano plays this one insistent lick at the center while each horn takes a solo in turn. Ms. Cassiers’ sly voice doubles up the piano line in the latter part of this section, and then it morphs into a haunting ballad with some especially enchanting vocals near the end. A good deal of preparation has gone into the making of this disc since all of it flows together nicely with each movement shifting between written themes, freeish bits and a number of well-inspired solos. If any of you have a problem with vocals, let me say this: Ms. Cassiers’ electronically enhanced voice is kept to a minimum and fits these pieces like all of the members of the sextet just right. She only gets one chance to solo at length and her altered voice sounds like a ghost from another dimension. We only have three copies of this disc right now (1/4/23) so a few of you will be lucky and the other will have to wait a bit since the label is not so well distributed. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15

ART OF PRIMITIVE SOUND with W. MAIOLI - Strumenti Musicali Della Preistoria: Il Paleolitico (Black Sweat Records 073; Italy) “Art Of Primitive Sound is a sensational journey to the origin of music. In his crucial research chapter on the Paleolithic, Walter Maioli between 1986 and 1991 investigates the soundscape of different geographical, climatic, and botanical environments, in which the mystery of the ancient human-nature relationship resides. What emerges is an expanded and unprecedented Paleorganology, with a range of acoustic and natural instruments from all over the world. Rubbing of fossils, animal artifacts, plant elements of all sorts, everything becomes sound and each object opens up forms of imaginary communication, psychic effect and unexplored languages. Whistles, flutes, leaf, and shell rattles, rhombuses, horns, bone pipes, slate slabs, bamboo arches, stones, vertebrae, seeds, stalagtites etc. How great can be the natural orchestra inherent in the spirit of forests, rivers, caves, seas, swamps or Amazon jungles? Thanks to an interdisciplinary partnership (Anthropology, Archaeology, Botany, Ethnomusicology) of collaborating friends, Maioli directs an opera of universal character inspired by the archaic essence of sound and infrasonic dimension.”
CD $18

HISTORIC / ARCHIVAL RECORDINGS, REISSUES & RESTOCKS:

SLIDE HAMPTON with GEORGE COLEMAN / YUSEF LATEEF / JAY CAMERON / BOOKER LITTLE / FREDDIE HUBBARD / HOBART DOTSON / RICAHRD WILLIAMS / HORACE PARLAN / EDDIE KHAN / PETE LAROCA / CHARLIE PERSIP / MAX ROACH / et al - The Classic Albums - 1959-1963 (Enlightenment 9216; EEC) “This four CD set compiles the finest albums Slide Hampton released as leader, all from his golden years, 1959 - 1963. Featuring too some of the finest American Jazz musicians around during this period, this collection will delight fans new and old, containing as it does some of the best hard bop released during the era in question.” Albums included are: ‘And His Horn of Plenty’, ’Two Sides of Slide’, ‘Jazz with a Twist’, ‘Exodus’, ‘Explosion! The Sound of Slide Hampton’, ’Sister Salvation’, ‘Drum Suite’ and ’Something Sanctified’.”
4 CD Set $18

ARCHIE SHEPP with JIMMY OWENS / GRACHAN MONCUR III / CHARLES DAVIS / MICHAEL ZWERIN / DAVE BURRELL / WALTER DAVIS / RON CARTER / REGGIE WORKMAN / BEAVER HARRIS / ROY HAYNES / ED BLACKWELL / et al - The Way Ahead / Kwanza / The Magic of Ju-Ju Revisited (Hat Ezz-thetics 1145; Switzerland) Three albums and three distinct groupings in this essential remaster & reissue of two late 60s and one 70s Impulse! albums from saxophonist and composer Archie Shepp, in configurations of septets and nonets with luminaries of the day performing Shepp's rhythm-centric jazz focused on the Afrocentric experience, drawing on blues and spirituals in free jazz settings.
CD $18

THELONIOUS MONK QUARTET with JOHNNY GRIFFIN / AHMED ABDUL-MALIK / ROY HAYNES - Live at the Five Spot Revisited (Hat Ezz-thetics 1147; Switzerland) Revisiting and remastering two 1958 albums on the Riverside Label (Monk in Action and Misterioso), then remastered as At The Five Spot on Milestone in 1977, this quartet show a different take on Monk's music through the authoritative playing and interpretations of Monk's music by tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, intensified by drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Ahmed Abdul-Malik's solid support.
CD $18

THELONIOUS MONK - Celebrating 75 Years Of His First Recordings (Hat Ezz-Thetics 1141; Switzerland) The foundational work of composer and pianist Thelonious Monk is heard in these six remastered studio sessions for Blue Note Records recorded between 1947 to 1952, performing twenty three original compositions in bands from trios to sextets with a who's who of emerging jazz leaders including Art Blakey, Max Roach, Lou Donaldson, Kenny Dorham, and Milt Jackson.
CD $18

JOHN MARTYN - The Apprentice (Esoteric Recordings 42821CD; UK) "An expanded four-disc edition of the 1990 album The Apprentice by late John Martyn. With a career that had begun in the late 1960s and had produced a succession of excellent albums throughout the '70s and '80s, Martyn recorded The Apprentice at the end of 1989 at a studio in Glasgow working with musicians including Foster Patterson (keyboards), Dave Taif-Ball (bass) and Aran Ahmun (drums) and guest saxophonist Andy Shepherd."
3 CD / 1 DVD Set $48

LP SECTION:

JIM O'ROURKE/GIOVANNI DI DOMENICO - Immanent in Nervous Activity (Die Schactel Zeitc 020LP; Italy) “Riding the razor's edge between bristling electroacoustic wizardry and the constrained structures and harmonic interplay of musical minimalism, Die Schachtel announce Immanent in Nervous Activity, a brand-new release from the creative partnership of Jim O'Rourke and Giovanni Di Domenico. Comprising a single long-form work, divided into two movements that culminate as a second chapter to the duo's 2015 LP, Arco (ZEITC 016LP) -- an album which endeavored, on visionary terms, after the potential of waiting and patience as means toward musical form. Delivering the long overdue follow-up to their brilliant 2015 outing, Arco, the duo of Giovanni Di Domenico and Jim O'Rourke return to Die Schachtel with Immanent in Nervous Activity. Their latest adventure -- recorded in Japan with further contributions by Eiko Ishibashi on flute and Tatsuhisa Yamamoto on snare -- rolls at a glacial pace, deftly weaving tension into restrained sheets of tonality, texture, and harmonic dissonance that ripple with microscopic detail and a stunning sense of structure. A bristling intervention the terms and possibilities of electronic music by one of the most exciting partnerships in the contemporary landscape of adventurous sound. Another defining statement by one of the most exciting partnerships in the contemporary landscape of adventurous sound. Printed in deep black and metallic silver on extra matte white heavy cardboard; includes black/silver limited "Zepelin" poster cm 30x90; original design by Bruno Stucchi/dinamomilano; edition of 400.
LP $30

ELIANE RADIGUE - In Memoriam-Ostinato / Danse des Dakinis (Alga Marghen NMN 170LP; Italy) Alga Marghen presents the last chapter from the Feedback Works documentation series, a brand-new LP including "In Memoriam-Ostinato" and "Danse des Dakinis", two previous unreleased tracks by Eliane Radigue. Among the works of fixed duration from the feedback period, "In Memoriam-Ostinato" is the link between "Jouet Electronique" (ALGA 029LP) and "Opus 17" (ALGA 045LP), and allows you to understand the evolution of her approach. "In Memoriam-Ostinato" is a game of mirroring symbols which glide into a non-measured, bent and elastic, temporality. Eliane Radigue's working method and her aesthetic direction are evident in this work from 1969: her very own unique temporal space of sonic experiences. Even though it bears the same name as the third part of "Adnos III", "Danse des Dakinis" is a peculiar work in Eliane's oeuvre. Conceived in a short time, with all kind of tapes from the composer's past work, it fluently shows a kaleidoscopic vision of Radigue's sensibility for sound. In 1998 she put together a curious self-portrait in sound. There is a feedback ostinato conceived around 1969 and which refers to "In Memoriam-Ostinato" and "Opus 17". All through "Danse des Dakinis" you plunge into the sound of a creek recorded at Mills College campus that brings you back to the field-recordings from the beginning of the 1960s, made on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Such elements construct "Elemental1" (ALGA 029LP) as well. There are also some discreet interventions on the ARP 2500 synthesizer. It is indeed a peculiar work, which doesn't have the same features of her other compositions, especially at that time of her compositional path. There is an explanation for the composer producing this kind of sound material in 1998, and not limited to the sound waves of the ARP synthesizer. Invited to a workshop at Mills College in 1998, Eliane Radigue could not load herself down with her bulky instrument on such a trip. So, she left with just a few tapes taken from her own collection, drawn from different periods, and composed "Danse des Dakinis" with those old elements. There is tension in this composition, a certain wildness, an unpredictability of elements, those which are recognized as fundamental elements, which give structure to the universe. "Dance des Dakinis" is an intimate and wild symphony, alive and unpredictable, which is to be the next-to-last gesture of the composer before completely stopping her work with electronics.
LP $30

ALFRED SCHNITTKE / EDISON DENISOV / SOFIA GUBAIDULINA / OLEG BULOSHKIN /EDWARD ARTEMIEV - Musical Offering (Modern Silence 016LP; Malta) Reduced prices, last copies. Modern Silence present a reissue of Musical Offering, originally released in 1990. Features works by Oleg Buloshkin, Sofia Gubaidulina, Edward Artemiev, Edison Denisov and Alfred Schnittke. From the original liner notes: "(...) Please, try to imagine a score sounding by itself without a conductor, an orchestra even without musical instruments. This magic is possible by using the musical synthesizer, ANS. ANS is an instrument with which a composer can not only create but even draw his music without notes and orchestra. A Soviet scientist Evgeny Murzin spent about 20 years creating this apparatus which can join together three processes: music creation, recording and performing. All these processes are rather complicated. You can see the twinkling of different lamps, the rotation of grooved discs made of glass - notes are cut on a glass disc covered with a special layer; The drawings on the glass are 'sounding notes'. To listen to the drawn picture you should press the button and a wonderful transformation will begin. Murzin dedicated his apparatus to Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, that's why he called it ANS. Scriabin, the creator of the 'Poem of Ecstasy', used in his works a highly chromatic, new type of harmonic style designed to express his beliefs, views and wishes. Soviet music lovers already know some recordings made on ANS from the films Into Space, Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), Siberiade (1979) and others. Works of well-known Soviet composers E. Artemiev, O. Buloshkin, E. Denisov, S. Gubaidulina, A. Schnittke featured on this LP were recorded at the Electronic Music Studio (...)"
LP $10

EDWARD ARTEMIEV, YURI BOGDANOV, VLADIMIR MARTYNOV - Metamorphoses: Electronic Interpretations Of Classic And Modern Musical Works (Modern Silence 015LP; Malta) Reduced pricing, last copies. Modern Silence present a reissue of Metamorphoses, originally released in 1980. A Russian album of electronic interpretations of "classical" pieces by Claude Debussy, Claudio Monteverdi along with John Bull, Vladimir Martynov, Sergei Prokofiev, J. S. Bach, Edward Artemiev and Yuri Bogdanov. Yuri Bogdanov is featured on every track, on some tracks together with Edward Artemiev, composer for Andrei Tarkovsky, and others. Other tracks feature Vladimir Martynov. From the original liner notes: "The record is made on the basis of a kaleidoscope: it is interspersed with pieces of various styles, genres and eras. For example, with these pieces, the authors wanted to show a variety of ways to use a synthesizer, starting with the direct simulation of now or once existing instruments, to the establishment of new not yet known sound systems. Thus, the record is like a small musical walk through time (...)"
LP $10

INCAPACITANTS - Feedback of N.M.S. (Urashima 163LP; Italy) Reissue, originally released in 1991. Incapacitants are the best noise band to ever come out of Japan; the group was formed in 1981 in Osaka, as the solo project of Toshiji Mikawa, a member of the amazing noise group Hijokaidan. Mikawa later moved to Tokyo, where he joined with Fumio Kosakai (also an occasional member of Hijokaidan, as well as a former member of C.C.C.C.) to make Incapacitants a duo and they released its first album Feedback of N.M.S. on Alchemy Records CD in 1991. Sometimes it's the result of luck. In others it's due to years of rigorous work or through unlikely combinations of individual creative practices. In the case of Feedback of N.M.S., the first release to feature the collaborative duo of Mikawa and Kosakai, all three are in play. Comprising three tracks of visionary expression -- incorporating elements of junk metal, modular synthesis, hand-made noisy objects, and real-time instrumental and vocal improvisation -- it encounters each artist entering a new stage of their career, harnessing the challenges posed by the other as a means to drive toward new creative unknowns. Central to this is the pair's unique approach to structure and form, in addition to their chosen instruments and electronics. The first track "Curse Of Ceauşescu", played on two sides of the first vinyl is something incredible. A truly stunning, visionary expanse of texture and tonality -- pushing noise practice and the very notions of language into uncharted realms. The others two tracks that fill the sides of the second vinyl complete this masterpiece increasingly pushing into more constrained of electronics phenomena, site specific resonance, and complex harmonic interplay, that consistently rethink the terms of noise, infusing it with tension, dissonance, and a deeply emotive, human touch. An absolutely masterful piece of work, threaded with risk, ambition, raw immediacy, and precision. While astounding artists in their own right, deserving every bit of the accolades they've thus far received, Toshiji Mikawa and Fumio Kosakai seem capable of something profound together that has yet to have heard. Feedback of N.M.S. is everything you would hope to hear from an experimental endeavor and so much more. Includes six cards reproducing Takuya Sakaguchi's original drawings and adding an unreleased drawing and extensive notes in Japanese and English; edition of 299.”
2 LP Set $44

HIJOKAIDAN - Zouroku No Kibyou (40th Anniversary Edition)(Urashima 164LP; Italy) Reissue, originally released in 1982. Zouroku No Kibyo is the first album by Hijokaidan, released in April 1982. It is a compilation of live recordings from 1981, when the extreme performances of Hijokaidan first attracted attention, and is a record of the chaotic inner energy of young people in their early 20s, influenced by rock, jazz, contemporary music, and avant-garde art, erupting outside. It was first released on the independent Osaka label Unbalance Records and came to be regarded as a historical masterpiece of independent recordings in Japan. It was later released on CD several times by Alchemy Records, and was also released by the major Japanese label Teichiku Entertainment. An analog reissue of the album was released in 2006 by the German label Vinyl On Demand in the form of a double LP set. This will be the first time that the album will be reissued in its original form as a single analog disc, this time on Urashima in 2022. Hijokaidan is a Japanese noise band with a turning lineup that has ranged from two members to as many as fourteen in its early days. The group is the project of guitarist Yoshiyuki "JOJO" Hiroshige, its one constant member, who is owner of the legendary Osaka-based Alchemy Records. The ensemble began at the very end of the '70s as a performance art-based unit whose anarchic shows would often involve destruction of venues and audio equipment, food and garbage being thrown around, and on-stage urination. As the group's lineup changed over time, their focus became less performance-based and more musically based, fine-tuning their sound into a dense wall of white noise created by each member both for live performances and for studio recordings. Zouroku no Kibyo resting at a fascinating juncture between space-harsh progressive, improv and noise, it was years ahead of its time when it first appeared becoming one of the great holy grails of Japan noise. Creatively thrilling -- filled with emotive highs and lows -- it's a crucial piece in the puzzle of Japan's wild and wonderful history of noise music. The album pushes noise practice and the very notions of language into uncharted realms, improvising with a ferocity different from that of hard rock or punk, and a chaos unlike that of free jazz. Released with original cover art with draw by Hideshi Hino, plus all the inserts that were on the original 1982 LP: live photo book (two A3 double face foldable), one Japanese sheet, and a lucky triangle card with, exclusively for this edition, extensive liner notes by JOJO in Japanese and English. Edition of 299.
LP $28

SMEGMA - Infringements (Alga Marghen 69LP; Italy) “Alga Marghen's third installment of Smegma's original "Suburban Primitive Avant-folk music" period (1973-1975) based in Pasadena, featuring three previously unreleased tracks from the deep vault of their home recordings. In the beginning, the band Smegma had only one rule. No musicians. Starting from scratch, they took the road much less traveled. They were inspired by outsider musical artists of the time such as John Cage, Sun Ra, Captain Beefheart, Wild Man Fisher, Art Ensemble Of Chicago, etc. and they recorded every experiment with youthful enthusiasm. Mostly they only succeeded in tormenting their own friends and neighbors (except for the few who joined the band) but somehow, they never chose imitation, but stumbles on a path that allowed past (shamanistic) and future (space) sounds to lead the way. The titled track gently pulls you in and carries you off with a way-out inner-mind group jamming/not-jamming trip, featuring prepared piano, modular synthesizer, human mouth sounds, pan pipes, tabla, and electric bass guitar. "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" (defiantly not the 1960s pop hit) rips you straight into a high energy New Years Eve Party jam, in a romping free jazz style with stream of consciousness vocals and exuberant alto sax solos. Side B starts with Beatnik finger popping and wild dogs barking from a record player, while breathless flute playing leads you down the rabbit hole of mysterious group vocalizing, including imitating the cry of the wild tropical parrots that lived in the palm trees in the front yard of the house in Pasadena that they had lived in. Always out of sync with their own time, 49 years later these tracks still throb and pulsate Beautifully with their own inner logic. Edition of 230.”
LP $28

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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.

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Loren Connors: A Coming to Shore
January 28–March 25, 2023
Opening 4–7 PM January 28
11am–6pm, Thursday–Saturday

Loren Connors and Alan Licht
January 28, 2023, 7 PM
Blank Forms
468 Grand Ave #1D
Brooklyn, NY 11238

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ARTS FOR ART PRESENTS:

Wednesday, January 4 - Sunday, January 8, 2023
Formerly Studio Rivbea / Currently Gene Frankel Theater
24 Bond Street, NYC - just east of Lafayette St.
TICKETS: In-person $25 in advance/ $30 at the door
Livestream $5 Fees

Full Schedule of Studio RIVBEA REVISITED Performers
Schedule subject to change without notice.
Get Tickets at Eventbrite - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/in-person-studio-rivbea-revisited-2023-0106-tickets-484412018387?aff=ebdsoporgprofile Livestream Pass $15 
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Friday, January 6
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7pm | Onyx Collective: Isaiah Barr - sax / Austin Williamson - perc, elec.
8:30| Anne Waldman - poetry
9pm | Centering Dance & Music (original title of their group in the 1970s) William Parker / Patricia Nicholson / Ellen Christi / Lisa Sokolov
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Saturday, January 7, 2023
7pm | Darius Jones Quartet: Darius Jones - alto sax / Nick Saia - guitar / Lester St. Louis - bass / Jason Nazary - perc.
8:30 | Bob Holman - poetry
9pm | Dave Burrell piano / Joe McPhee reeds and trumpet
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Sunday, January 8
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3:00pm |  Melanie Dyer We Free Strings: Melanie Dyer - viola / Charles Burnham, Gwen Laster - violin / Alex Waterman - cello / Rahsaan Carter - bass / Newman Taylor Baker - percussion
4:30pm | Amina Claudine Myers Solo - piano, voice 

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This from Chuck Bettis:

Sunday, January 29th at 7pm:
Hisham Bharoocha (drums) / Nana Futagawa (shamisen) / Chuck Bettis (electronics) trio

Angels & Demons
(Amirtha Kidambi - voice, Darius Jones - sax)

Mick Barr (guitar)

At Union Pool
484 Union Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11211
$15 / trains: L to Lorimer OR G to Metropolitan

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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… the new one just popped up today, 7/27/22:

https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-342-auxiliaries
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-332-auxiliaries

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THERE IS A RECENT INTERVIEW with FRED FRITH by Rick Rees that is found here: https://rickrees.substack.com/p/fred-frith-interview . Rick Rees has been working on a website/blog/book/whatever about the great producer/manager/instigator/raconteur Georgio Gomelsky. Gomelsky is someone I’ve long admired and Rees is doing a good job of documenting/interviewing numerous Gomelsky associates. The Fred Frith interview is great and if you are a Frith fan, you should want to know about a number of upcoming projects, tours, etc. This interview showed up in my email during the last hour of my birthday last Sunday and it made me smile. Fred Frith & myself are old friends and he is someone whose music and attitude I really admire. - BLG

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AMAZING SERIES OF PODCASTS PUT TOGETHER BY THE GREAT GUITARIST SAMO SALAMON:

The wonderful Slovenian guitarist/composer Samo Salamon has an incredible podcast on Youtube entitled "DR. JAZZ". He has interviewed many of the leading lights of contemporary improvisation including Bill Frisell, Hal Galper, Herb Robertson, Ben Monder, Bob Moses etc. and his conversations are deep and enlightening. Highly recommended for all curious listeners across the worlds of creative music. Here is the link: https://www.bing.com/video

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pm-BC98IoY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ55c11bR28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne82zmzvOm4

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ATTENTION TO ALL DMG CUSTOMERS: NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: downtownmusicgalleryofficial@gmail.com

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