ZORN@70 at ROULETTE PART TWO: Cobra
Sunday, August 13, 2023 AT 8:00 pm
Featuring:
Wendy Eisenberg guitar
Taylor Levine guitar
Trevor Dunn electric bass
Alexandra Simpson viola
Michael Nicolas cello
Jorge Roeder bass
John Medeski organ
Brian Marsella piano
Ikue Mori electronics
Kenny Wollesen drums, vibes
Sae Hashimoto vibes, percussion
Ches Smith drums, percussion
Cha Cha La Fox violin
John Zorn prompter
ZORN@70 at ROULETTE PART THREE:
JOHN ZORN / LAURIE ANDERSON / SEAN ONO LENNON
Sunday, August 27, 2023 at 8:00 pm
ZORN@70 at ROULETTE PART FOUR: Four World Premieres:
featuring The Junction Trio, Jennifer Choi, Jorge Roeder, Ches Smith,
Peter Evans and Sam Jones
Thursday, September 14, 2023 at 8:00 pm
To purchase tickets:
https://ci.ovationtix.com/36368/performance/11309030?performanceId=11309030
Roulette is in Brooklyn & not far from the Brooklyn Academy of Music
It is located at 509 Atlantic Avenue (Entrance on the Corner of Third Avenue;
Accessible Entrance on Atlantic Ave), Brooklyn, NY 11217 - phone: 917-267-0363
Box Office, General Informatio: roulette@roulette.org - 917-267-0368
JOHN ZORN @ 70 FESTIVAL - August 30th - September 3rd, 2023
15 concerts at The Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, California
Tickets: https://www.ticketsales.com/john-zorn-tickets?
JOHN ZORN / JESSE HARRIS - Love Songs
Live at National Sawdust
September 16th & 17th 2023
6:30pm doors / 7:30 pm
JOHN ZORN - Composer / JESSE HARRIS - Lyricist
Featuring: PETRA HADEN - Vocals
BRIAN MARSELLA - Piano
JORGE RODER - Contrabass
CHES SMITH - Drums
Love Songs tells the story of a young woman, her friends, their relationships both past and ongoing, and struggles with identity and trauma. This world-premiere concert performance features the remarkable voice of Petra Haden, accompanied by Brian Marsella on piano, Jorge Roeder on bass, and Ches Smith on drums. Blending influences from Burt Bacharach, Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill, and the Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building tradition, this is a lyrical and dramatic tribute to contemporary song that will appeal to young and old alike.
National Sawdust
80 North 6th St
Brooklyn, NY 11249
646 - 779 - 8455
info@nationalsawdust.org
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THE DMG 32nd ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE FREE MUSIC SERIES Continues with:
Tuesday, July 18th: Guitar Quadruple-Header!
6:30: SU$HI with GIAN PEREZ - Guitar / GREG LOU - Bass / ELIZA SALEM - Drums
7:30: CHRIS COCHRANE / MICHAEL FOSTER - El Guitar / Saxes
8:30: ROB PRICE / CHRIS CAWTHRAY - Guitar / Drums
9:30: EYAL MAOZ / ERIC ARN - Two Guitars - CD Debut Set
Tuesday, July 25th:
6:30: TBA
7:30: JONATHAN REISIN / NOA FORT / SHINYA LIN - Saxes / Vocal / Electronics
8:30: STEVE SWELL / THOMAS HEBERER - Trombone / Trumpet Duo
Tuesday, August 1st:
6:30: YOU’RE MOM BAND with MICHAEL SHAPIRA - Drums / ALEX FRONDELLI - Guitar
7:30: JAMES McKAIN / CHUCK ROTH - Sax / Guitar
8:30: DAVID GROLLMAN / RICHARD KAMERMAN
Downtown Music Gallery is located at 13 Monroe St, between Catherine & Market Sts. You can take the F train to East Broadway or the M15 bus to Madison & Catherine Sts. We are in a basement space below an art gallery & beauty salon. We are on the east side of Chinatown, not far from East Broadway & the end of the Bowery. Admission for all concerts is free and donations are always welcomed. We have concerts here every Tuesday starting at 6:30 plus Steve Gauci curates his own series here on the 2nd or 1st Saturday of each month. You can check out the weekly schedule here: https://www.downtownmusicgallery.com/shows.php
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THIS WEEK’S NEW RELEASES BEGIN WITH THE 4TH JOHN ZORN BAGATELLES BOX:
JOHN ZORN // CHRIS SPEED/JON IRABAGON QUARTET with CHRISTIAN McBRIDE / CHES SMITH // PETER EVANS // BEN GOLDBERG 4 with CRAIG TABORN / JORGE ROEDER / THOMAS MORGAN // SAM EASTMOND with CHARLOTTE KEEFFE / CHRIS WILLIAMS / ASHA PARKINSON / et al - Bagatelles Box Four - Volumes 13 - 16 (Tzadik 5240; USA) Volume 13: Jon Irabagon & Chris Speed on tenor saxes, Christian McBride on bass, Ches Smith on drums plus guest John Zorn on alto sax; Volume 14: Peter Evans - solo trumpet & piccolo trumpet; Volume 15: Ben Goldberg 4: Ben on clarinet, Craig Taborn on piano and Jorge Roeder & Thomas Morgan on basses and Volume 16: Sam Eastmond - conductor with Chris Williams, Asha Parkinson, Emma Rawicz & Mick Foster on saxes, Charlotte Keeffe & Noel Langley on trumpets, Joel Knee on trombone, Tom Briers on tuba, Moss Fried on guitar, Olly Chalk on piano, Fergus Quill on bass and Alasdair Pennington on drums.
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.
4 CD Limited Edition Box Set $95 [In stock now]
Previous Bagatelles Boxes:
JOHN ZORN // BAGATELLES BOX ONE - Set One: MARY HALVORSON QUARTET / ERIK FRIEDLANDER & MICHAEL NICOLAS / TRIGGER / IKUE MORI - Box One: Volumes 1-4 (Tzadik 5210; USA) - Sold out!
JOHN ZORN // KRIS DAVIS QUARTET: MARY HALVORSON / DREW GRESS / KENNY WOLLESEN / BRIAN MARSELLA TRIO: TREVOR DUNN / KENNY WOLLESEN / JOHN MEDESKI TRIO: DAVID FIUCZYNSKI - G. CALVIN WESTON / BRIAN MARSELLA Solo - Bagatelles Box 2 / Volumes 5 - 8 (Tzadik 5220; USA)
4 CD Limited Edition Box Set $95 - almost sold out! - back in stock in 1-2 weeks
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 5230; USA)
4 CD Limited Edition Box Set $95 - still available - back in stock in 1-2 weeks
ALAN SKIDMORE with ALEXIS KORNER / CHRIS PYNE / JIMMY SKIDMORE / PAUL DUNMALL / JON SURMAN / TONY COE / WAYNE SHORTER / KENNY WHEELER / IAN CARR / RAY WARLEIGH / JOE ZAWINUL / DANNY THOMPSON / DAVE HOLLAND / PAUL ROGERS / ALAN JACKSON / TERRY COX / ELVIN JONES / et al - A Supreme Love (Confront; UK) A 6-CD box set of a truly remarkable saxophonist, Alan Skidmore, whose seven-decade career takes him from traditional jazz into Coltrane-influenced free jazz and crossing into avant and jazz-rock forms, including work with Harry Miller, Tony Oxley, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Wayne Shorter, Soft Machine, Paul Dunmall, an essential overview and testament to an incredible career!
My longtime favorite British tenor saxists are: Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall and Alan Skidmore. Each of their careers started in the late sixties/early seventies so they span a half century of Creative Music making. I’ve been fortunate to have caught Evan Parker and Paul Dunmall live here, in London, Berlin & Amsterdam on several occasions. Sadly, I’ve had only one opportunity to see & hear Alan Skidmore live once with El Skid (w/ Elton Dean, Chris Laurence & Louis Moholo) in December of 1975 at the 100 Hundred Club in London. Of the three aforementioned British tenor saxists, Mr. Skidmore is the least well recorded. Mr. Skidmore has around two dozens records, most of which are long out-of-print and hard to find. Early in their music careers, Skidmore, Evan Parker & Dunmall were greatly influenced by jazz sax legend John Coltrane. Paul Dunmall has worked with both Evan Parker and Alan Skidmore on separate projects which includes the Paul Dunmall Sunship Quartet (a Coltrane tribute) with Mr. Skidmore as a guest. I am slowly working my way through this marvelous, spirited and adventurous 6 CD box set. If you are a big fan of the John Coltrane/Spiritual Jazz sound/music and appreciate the giants of British Modern Jazz, then this box is for you! Essential listening for all of of Free Music/Spirit Jazz freaks! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
6 CD Set $46
PAUL DUNMALL / OLIE BRICE - The Laughing Stone (Confront Core Series 31; UK) Featuring Paul Dunmall on tenor sax, alto sax, clarinet & flute and Olie Brice on contrabass. Recorded at Sansom Studios in Birmingham, UK in November of 2021. British reeds & bagpipes giant, Paul Dunmall, has long been a favorite the DMG crew with yours truly collecting all of his 150 releases. I’ve kept my eye on British bassist Olie Brice for the past decade as he works with Neil Metcalfe, Ingrid Laubrock, Alex Ward and Eddie Prevost. Mr. Dunmall and Mr. Brice have worked together on a couple of previous discs. There was a feature article on Paul Dunmall in the May issue of the Wire magazine, which was well written and most illuminating covering Dunmall’s long and often fascinating music career/journey. Although Dunmall often records in trios, quartets & large units, he still releases a number of duo and solo efforts. He has recorded a number of excellent duo offerings with contrabassist supreme Paul Rogers, who has been living in France for many years, not getting back to the UK very often. The duo begin quietly with “Shuffle and Barkâ€, with Dunmall’s tone on tenor tender, burring & warm (old school), with both players simmering nicely, Mr. Brice matching him wherever he goes. Mr. Dunmall switches to clarinet for “Dust Swirlingâ€, his playing is adventurous yet focused while Brice bows away, both players moving tightly together, swirling in circular lines. Dunmall sounds as if he is playing a history of styles on the clarinet, leaping between some freer and more fixed lines. Dunmall switches again to alto sax on “As Ripples Skip in a Shallowâ€, a reed he plays on rare occasion. His tone is similar to his tone on tenor, warm and thoughtful but with some more boppish lines being unfurled. Bassist Brice is in fine form here, revving up and spinning out quick lines to match Dunmall’s circular phrases tightly, even dropping a few lines which sound like a quote from an old standard. Both players spiral furiously at the start of “Let the Fox Have His Fillâ€, with Dunmall back on tenor. I like when Mr. Brice started to bow his strings while muting them with another object. Mr. Dunmall often sounds like he is telling a story while he plays, an endless stream of lines, scenes or detours, as well as melodic phrases which appear from nowhere and tickle our humanity. What is “The Laughing Stoneâ€? It is getting the rare opportunity to get a stone to break out of it’s shell and shake free. My guess. A solid duo offering all the way around. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
MAX EASTLEY / TERRY DAY / JOHN BUTCHER - Angles of Enquiry (Confront Core Series 34; UK) Featuring John Butcher on tenor & soprano saxes, Max Eastley on arc electroacoustic monochord (ancient instrument which has 1 string), percussion & bird call and Terry Day on drums. Terry Day is currently around 83 and has been recording since the 1960’s. In the early days (mid-to-late sixties) of the British avant jazz scene there were just a few ensembles who embraced the free/form concept in their own ways: SME (Spontaneous Music Ensemble), AMM, Company (w/ Derek Bailey) and The People Band. The People Band were a collective of mostly lesser known players whose personnel changed from gig to gig. You might’ve heard of these participants: George Khan, Lynn Dobson, Maggie Nicols and Terry Day (on drums). Their most recent record (from 2016), includes live extracts from 2008 - 2014. Max Eastley is another early British avant musician who plays home-made instruments and sound sculptures. Mr. Eastley can be found on some two dozens rather obscure records going back to 1975. British saxist John Butcher you should no doubt know considering how well recorded he is, as well as being known for recording in unlikely places.
This session was recorded at Iklectik in London in September of 2022. There is a long history of British free improv which goes back to the late 1960’s which involves jazz, classical, rock and other more eclectic musicians, who have evolved their own style or approach. This disc sounds like a good example of this sound. Although I do recognize John Butcher’s distinctive sound, there are some other odd sounds going on here: bird call, a monochord and odd percussion. Drummer Terry Day has been collaborating & recording for more than 50 years is a unique free player, whose playing has evolved over time. His playing changes from piece to piece, playing mostly free taking off when Butcher starts to soar. The Arc, which is a one-string electro-acoustic monochord is a rarely heard instrument, is played here by Mr. Eastley (it sounds like a bowed bass at times). I love the way that Mr. Eastley and Mr. Day push Mr. Butcher into further out waters, giving him something different to work with, which is great thing since Mr. Butcher is more of a experimental saxist, inventing his sound or approach. The monochord seems to create some eerie, somewhat disorienting sounds which will cast a spell on us listeners. This disc seems to created its own sound or reality. There is a special place in my heart for these sounds. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
CAMILLE EMAILLE / dieb13 / HANS KOCH - ABE (Confront Core Series 35; UK) Featuring Camille Émaille on percussion, dieb13 on turntables and Hans Koch on soprano sax, clarinet & bass clarinet. The London-based Confront label is run by Mark Wastell and has been around since 1996. The label has long promoted dozens of British improvisers, old, middle-aged & young, as well as a number of visiting European musicians. Here is a unique trio with musicians from different backgrounds. I had not heard of French percussionist Camille Émaille before now, although she does have a half dozen of her own discs out. I do know about Austrian turntablist Dieb13 from his lower case recordings made for the Erstwhile, Mego & Klanggalerie labels. Swiss reeds master, Hans Koch, I know quite well from his 3 dozen discs with Koch/Schutz/Studer, the Barry Guy New Orchestra and many other European associates.
Here we find a trio from very different scenes/backgrounds. Although some folks had a problem with the lower case/minimal/Onkyo/Wandelweiser style of playing and composing, I myself enjoyed it once I learned how to be patient while listening. The music here is often stripped down: subtle percussion, selective turntable sounds and the hissing or fractured sounds of playing a soprano sax or clarinets. Drums, cymbals, gongs or other metals are rubbed, struck or manipulated carefully. There is quite a bit of suspense going on here with silence or space in between many of the sounds. Since there is some extended sound techniques found here, it is difficult to tell who is doing what at times. I like the way these combinations of sounds work together. Some of this sounds like electronic music or a more minimalist noise music of sorts. I find most of this disc to be fascinating even though I can’t tell how some of the sounds are being made. After reviewing around a half dozen improv CD’s for this newsletter, I found that this is the one that I like the best. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
FINALLY BACK IN STOCK AFTER SEVERAL MONTHS:
ARTHUR DOYLE TRIO With CHARLES STEPHENS / RASHIED SINAN - Nature Boy (Homeboy Music; UK) Featuring Arthur Doyle on tenor sax, bass clarinet & flute, Charles Stephens on trombone and Rashied Sinan on drums, recorded live at Studio Rivbea, NYC in August of 1972. Cosmic reeds wizard, Arthur Doyle (1944-2014), remains a near mythic figure amongst the gods of Free Music. One of the most intense, over-the-top and often considered crazed of all the Free Jazz Giants, Mr. Doyle’s recorded around two dozen discs as a leader or collaborator, practically none of which are in print. Mr. Doyle did work with other legends like Sunny Murray, Milford Graves, Noah Howard and Rudolph Grey (in the Blue Humans). The only thing currently in print is Milford Graves’ ‘Bäbi’ CD on CorbettvsDempsey. I was fortunate enough to have heard Mr. Doyle twice, once with the Blue Humans and once at Tonic with the Q-Bico Allstars. The music on this disc is one 30 minute version of the standard, “Nature Boyâ€, which is twisted into all sorts of strange yet compelling ways. The trio features Mr. Doyle on tenor sax, bass clarinet & flute, Charles Stephens (from Sam Rivers, Sun Ra & Archie Shepp bands) on trombone and Rashied Sinan (from Ahmed Abdullah & Frank Lowe sessions) on drums. I have played this disc over and over and over again. This is fire-breathing, Free Jazz, Spirit Music at its very best! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $22 [Limited Edition CD-R]
FRODE GJERSTAD / MATTHEW SHIPP - We Speak (Relative Pitch Records 1154; USA) Featuring Frode Gjerstad on alto sax & B-flat clarinet and Matt Shipp on piano. Norwegian saxist Frode Gjerstad has had a long career as a world-traveling, international improviser, working with John Stevens (from SME) & Johnny Dyani (Blue Notes) in the early 1980’s, as well as working with Derek Bailey, Peter Brotzmann, William Parker & Hamid Drake, as well as with Louis Moholo & Paal Nilssen-Love. Mr. Gjerstad had toured in the USA for many years but has slowed down a bit the occasional customs hassles. The last couple of times that I met him, he was in town to visit & record but not play live. Mr. Gerstad was in town last year and recorded a studio date with pianist Matt Shipp in November of 2022 at Park West Studios. In 2019, Mr. Gerstad, Mr. Shipp and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm recorded a trio disc for the Iluso label. Park West Studios in Brooklyn are run by Jim Clouse, who is also a great saxist and has played at DMG several times in the past year. Ivo Perelman and Matt Shipp have recorded dozens of discs at this studio which seems like a perfect place to record improvised music.
Aside from the warm, clean sound on this disc, I also noticed that Mr. Gerstad’s sax is upfront with Mr. Shipp’s piano providing seasoned support, the balance just right. Gerstad switches to clarinet on “about freedom of expressionâ€, bending & twisting certain notes as Shipp matches Gjerstad’s fractured lines with some dark, turbulent chords midway and then calming down to a more solemn conclusion. The longest piece here is called, “about conspiracies†and things slow down for a more spacious, dream-like work, which simmers nicely for long periods with some occasional eruptions. Gjerstad and Shipp are well-matched, often completing and extending each other’s lines. Both of these musicians are elders that have been playing for many years. They often sound like they are in no hurry and are taking their time to play closely as one. This maturity adds a nice layer of warmth and depth to what they do. On “about silenceâ€, the duo play with some exquisite retraint, tender and touching. For the past week, our Discogs account (where we make much of sales) hasn’t been running due to some structural requirements installed by Discos, hence we’ve lost money. We just got back on line an hour ago so my stress level has gone down. I find that this music often embraces/reflects the same feelings that I deal with each day. The dialogue here is like life itself, difficult sometimes yet worthy of whatever struggles we have to deal with. A solid duo effort on all counts. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
MARK DRESSER - Tines of Change (Pyroclastic Records 25; USA) “Anyone familiar with the work of bassist Mark Dresser knows that he is an uncompromising innovator, always dedicated to pushing his music into new territory; and if that requires novel technical modifications to his instrument itself, then so be it. He has partnered with fellow bassist Kent McLagan as far back as 2001 to create adapted basses using additional pickups, which allow Dresser to create multiple pitches for each string of his bass. On his most recent solo project, Tines of Change, McLagan has augmented Dresser's bass with metal tines which allow for even more creative options. Although Dresser did introduce the McLagan tines during brief interludes on his outstanding septet release, Ain't Nothing But a Cyber Coup and You (Clean Feed, 2019), that tantalizing preview was just a hint of the possibilities they provide, making his latest effort both intriguing and ground-breaking.
Each of the album's twelve tracks carries Dresser's distinctive nomenclature, befitting the music's unique character. "Prolotine," the opener, embodies the dialogic aspect of the album, as Dresser combines bowed passages with percussive pizzicato to create something which has both palpable momentum and subtle charm, with the harmonic potential of his modified instrument developed fully. "Tynalogue" has an even livelier bent, with the tines taking on qualities reminiscent of an African mbira, as Dresser's rhythmic proclivities take over. As one might expect from the title, "Harmonity" has a rich palette of sounds at its disposal, with rapidly-plucked upper-register notes scurrying atop Dresser's deeper rumblings to create something akin to a spirited bass duo.
Dresser's playing is so impressive that it is sometimes difficult to move past mere technical appreciation for what he achieves here; but, once that happens, it becomes evident that the expansive compositional vision which has always animated his music is just as present. The sonorous, arresting beauty of "Melodine" reaches beyond its prodigious technique to captivate, as does "Augmentine," in which Dresser creates a striking pizzicato dialogue with melodic and rhythmic energy, before going into the lower register with some fiercely resonant bowing. The surging intensity of "Nakatanitine" conceals its aggression beneath its clever harmonic choices.
Also worth noting are the album's superior sonics, courtesy of producer Alexandria Smith, who was able to capture so many of the nuanced micro-tones that are essential to appreciating Dresser's pieces. A good pair of headphones is a real asset for enjoying the album's many subtleties. "Chordone" makes particularly good use of the overtones of the instrument, in which the notes' long decay is central to the track's allurements.
Dresser is no stranger to solo recordings, having released five prior to Tines of Change. Tthis one, like its predecessors, reveals yet more dimensions of the bassist's inimitable craft.†- Troy Dostert, AllAboutJazz
CD $15
HENRY KAISER - Mahalo Nui / Solo Guitar (Metalanguage ML-2023-1; USA) This is quite a bit more than just being a “Solo Guitar†offering. Former Bay-Area-based guitarist, Henry Kaiser has been playing music for around a half century, collecting guitars and being influenced by a wide variety of genres, musicians and bands. For this ambitious project, Mr. Kaiser plays a different guitar on each of the 10 pieces, you can see a few of them in a photo inside the CD. He also dedicates each piece to a different guitarist or artist or person who has passed away in recent times: Paul Plimley, Steffen Basho-Junghans and David Lindley are some of these. Aside from using different guitars, Mr. Kaiser has also been using studio rack effects for a long time as well, often altering the sounds of his different guitars. Mr. Kaiser also mentions being influenced by musicians & composers like: Cecil Taylor, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Conlon Nancarrow, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Iannis Xenakis.
Commencing with “Samadhi for Jordan Belsonâ€, Mr. Kaiser is playing a Totem guitar through various layers of effects, bending and stretching out certain notes/sounds, playing shimmering chords underneath some of that cosmic feedback sustain which is subtly manipulated as it goes/flows. On each piece Kaiser creates a different vibe, sometimes tranquil or calm, sometimes over-the-top. “Antarctic Requiem…†is long and dream-like, rather like floating in warm water and drifting out to sea. This piece has a certain sound that Mr. Kaiser occasionally applies which is has a lovely, calm, quietly psychedelic effect. It is also the longest track (nearly 23 minutes) and includes a series of infectious solos which take us along with them as we hang on to the inner flow that Kaiser often provides. On “Hard Time Killin’ Spoonful Requiem for…â€, Kaiser plays his own version of the blues standard, “Spoonful†(by Willie Dixon, made famous by Cream). I love the way that Mr. Kaiser taps into the universal blues vibe that we all share while we’re alive and contemplating the trials & tribulations of our own lives. One of the highlights here is called, “Some of The Great Ancestors Inside My Guitar†which is played on a Modulus MIDI guitar which sounds like a piano being played majestically. Considering that this disc is nearly 79 minutes long (something that Mr. Kaiser loves to do), there is quite a bit of extraordinary music going on here. Henry Kaiser is a master of multiple guitars, effects, genres and ideas. This disc is a treasure chest of guitar experimentation and a rich overview of what a/many guitars can do in the right hands with the right equipment. Thanks Henry, you continue to make us smile! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $10
STEVE SWELL - For Rhina P. Espaillat (Relative Pitch Records 1168; USA) Featuring Steve Swell on solo trombone. Mr. Swell dedicates this release to a poetess named Rhina P. Espaillat, whose poem “Why Publish?†has inspired him. Ms. Espaillat’s poem mentions someone a hundred years from now discovering one of her poems and wondering what that future person will get from reading it. This disc was recorded at two sessions, seven years apart. The opening piece is called “Hope†and it was recorded at a Leap of Faith (LoF) concert (in Brooklyn) in August of 2015, when Mr. Swell played a solo set in between two sets by LoF. The other pieces were recorded in a studio in Manhattan in December of 2022. Steve Swell remains one of Downtown’s most inventive and diverse trombonists, his career stretching back to the eighties, recording on a hundred plus records as playing live as often as is possible. Mr. Swell has recorded in dozens of different bands, as well as leading a number of his own projects. But solo trombone efforts are pretty rare, hence make this one even more special. His last and only other solo offering was from 2014.
Mr. Swell has worked long and hard on his playing, hence his sound is unique. The first, recorded live at author Cisco Bradley’s house series in 2015. Swell takes his time, playing those sizzling, lower-case radiator hissing-like sounds, as well as adding different trombone sounds here and there. Swell uses the resonance of the room to give his trombone a certain depth to his sound, as well as shifting his dynamics slowly throughout the piece. The studio recording is close mic’d and has a much different, clean, less hissy sound. Swell is experimenting here, tapping on the body of his trombone while he rubs or blows into the mouthpiece. Mr. Swell put a good deal of thought and preparation into the making of this disc. On each piece, he coaxes out different sounds, showing how many sounds one can get from a trombone. There a handful of solo trombone records by Paul Rutherford also Albert Mangelsdorff. We can add this one to the list of rare solo trombone gems. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
LESLEY MOK with ADAM O’FARRILL / DAVID LEON / CORY SMYTHE / JOANNA MATTREY / ALIYA ULTRAN / et al - The Living Collection (57 American Dream Records; USA) Personnel: David Leon & Yuma Uesaka on reeds, Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Kalun Leung on trombone, Joanna Mattrey on viola, Aliya Ultan on cello, Cory Smythe on piano, Florian Herzog on bass, Weston Olencki on electronics and Lesley Mok on drums & compositions. I would imagine that Ms. Mok has moved here in the past few years. She’s played at DMG a couple of times so far plus I caught her subbing for Susie Ibarra in Myra Melford’s Fire & Water Quintet at Roulette earlier this year. For Lesley Mok’s debut CD, she has organized a fine 10 piece band which includes several Downtowners that I know well: Adam O’Farrill (grandson of Chico & son of Arturo), David Leon, Yuma Uesaka (duo CD with Marilyn Crispell), Cory Smythe (great new duo CD with Sylvie Courvoisier), Joanna Mattrey (several great discs on Relative Pitch & Dear Life) and Aliya Ultan (in Simon Haynes Band).
Commencing with “It wantsâ€, we hear an eerie layer of electronics and other subtle, spacious and well-selected sounds, minimal and precisely placed. The music has a lush, floating, dreamy sound with elegant piano and solemn horns. I get the feeling that things are moving in slow motion here, unfolding, carefully, weaving several strands at the same time, creating their own environment. Considering that there are some ten musicians involved here, this music is never dense and is often sparse yet focused. Sometimes just 2 or 3 players will come together playing a part while Ms. Mok provides a rhythmic cushion under them. One of the musicians who stands out here is Weston Olencki who provides minimal yet well-selected electronics. There are a minimum of solos here since this seems to be more about ensemble playing. Adam O’Farrill does take a fine solo on “its silvery after-tomorrow†but few other players stretch out very much. Each time I listen to this disc I hear more connections between the musicians involved. On the final piece, “quite a spectacular duskâ€, things explode with several layers of intense eruptions, wave after wave after wave coming crashing upon us. A most enchanting disc that will take some time to fully absorb. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
SILKE EBERHARD / CELINE VOCCIA - Wild Knots (Relative Pitch Records 1165; USA) Featuring Silke Eberhard on alto sax and Celine Voccia on piano. German saxist, Silke Eberhard, has been playing live and recording for nearly two decades with close to two dozen discs as a leader or a collaborator. Her tributes to Eric Dolphy and Ornette Coleman are both well regarded. Ms. Eberhard has made a number of fine duo efforts with Dave Burrell, Uwe Oberg, Ake Takase & Ulrich Gumpert, all pianists with varied backgrounds. I hadn’t heard of French-born, Berlin-based pianist Céline Voccia before this disc arrived. She does have a couple of her own discs out, working with Jan Roder, Michael Griener, Anna Kaluza & Matthias Bauer. This disc was recorded in a Berlin studio in May of 2021. The first piece is aptly titled “Exuberance†and does have a forceful, intense sound with both musicians soaring freely around one another, tight-knit improvisations in which both players/instruments are well-matched. On “Indecision†the duo slow down to a more sparse sound, carefully crafting each note or phrase before they build, increasing the tempo and eventually erupting into a free form explosion. Ms. Eberhard shows off her warm, lovely tone on “Paradoxeâ€, with both musicians playing with the utmost restraint, once more ascending together as they go. Being a Gemini myself, I have an idea of what define Gemini’s, having mixed feelings about all kinds of different feelings and subjects. The next piece is called, “Gemini†and it does remind me of the way we Gemini’s are often troubled or confused by having opposing views or opinions by things we do in life. This pieces sounds like these two musicians have mastered (or tried to) opposite feelings or ideas. There are some sections where both women are matching each other’s more extreme freer lines which is not so easy to do. Considering that Ms. Eberhard has already recorded four other discs with different pianists, she has obviously found a strong bond of playing inventively with each one. This duo is also strong, spirited, inventive and filled with surprising twists and turns. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
LUTHER THOMAS with LUTHER C. PETTY / AJULE - 11th Street Fire Suite (Corbett vs Dempsey 097CD; USA) “First-ever reissue. 11th Street Fire Suite is a post-BAG (Black Artists Group) classic. An emotionally ranging set of blues-drenched duets by alto saxophonist Luther Thomas and flutist Luther C. Petty, it's one of the great documents of the St. Louis creative music diaspora, a wild ride through turbulent and beautiful terrain on a slab of vinyl that's as rare as hen's teeth in its original form. Relocated from their midwestern hometown to New York City, Thomas and Petty entered the studio in 1978 with a fellow musician, clarinetist Peter Kuhn, sympathetically recording and ultimately mixing their LP. The sound is extremely direct and penetrating, Thomas's keening, braying horn sending the proverbial needle popping, his brusque ballads captured in all their hoarse glory. Thomas was the loose cannon of the BAG gang. His debut record, Funky Donkey, which was released a year before 11th Street Fire Suite (1977), also on his own Creative Consciousness label, sewed together elements of free jazz, unbridled funk, and gutbucket blues in a garment with all its seams showing. In New York, his raw approach was somehow perfectly timely, a free jazz suited to no wave listeners. This was the pinnacle period for Thomas. His ongoing partnership with drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw resulted in the 1978 Black Saint LP, Junk Trap; Jef Gilson recorded a Thomas-led throwdown at PALM studios in Paris that was issued as I Can't Figure Out (Whatcha Doin' to Me) on the German Moers label in 1979, and Thomas formed his expressly funky band Dizazz in the early '80s, also recording for Moers. Back in NYC, Thomas was a regular at the Squat Theatre on West 23rd Street, working with James Chance and Defunkt, among others. Petty was hot, too, for a brief moment in these years, playing with Lester Bowie's Sho Nuff Orchestra and gigging actively around New York. A decade later, with a heroin addiction on his shoulder, Petty would make his living busking as "The Flute Man" outside Yankee Stadium. But here, midstride, in an intimate, often explosive woodwind suite, he and Thomas marshal all the forces of creative music, from the openness of the midwestern AACM-style space-play, replete with little instruments, to the ferocity and unforgivingness of the Big Apple and its competitive loft scene. Thomas spent his latter years living in Copenhagen. He died at the untimely age of 59 in 2009. 11th Street Fire Suite stands as one of Thomas's master strokes, a perfect encapsulation of the dark energy of its era and the brightness of its shooting star. Remastered from the original tapes. Features facsimile reproduction of the original cover.â€
CD $15
AL TANNER QUINTET with SMILEY WINTERS / EDAGR WILLIAMS / GEORGE ALEXANDER / ROY HENDERSON - Happiness Is... Takin' Care Of Natural Business... Dig? (Jazzman Records 135CD; UK) Reissue, originally released in 1967. In a 1990 interview, producer James Bronson described his Touché label as a "floating record label", comparing it to the "floating gambling houses" that Black people in his city had operated to try and avoid attention from the law. The label itself was a private enterprise, run from home, and had scant budget for promotion nor expansion. His slogan "Record companies don't make music, musicians do" spoke volumes as to his respect for the artist. Nevertheless, the Al Tanner LP Happiness Is... Takin' Care of Natural Business... Dig? was the first of just three albums the label was to release over the following 20 years. For an ambitious musician with ideas of fame and fortune, the situation may have appeared far from acceptable, but pianist Al Tanner didn't have such aspirations. He may have recorded an album for Bronson, but his ambition of living his life as a working musician was fulfilled -- he was a professional until the day he died -- and that of being a recording star wasn't a part of it. He was much more inclined to be a gigging jazzman, and was well-known as such in and around the local Bay Area nightspots. He was also heavily involved in musical education, and could be found performing at countless local community events, schools and recreation centers. He rarely travelled outside of the area. With Bronson's limited resources and Tanner's reluctance to put himself through the mill of touring, it was perhaps inevitable that the album would garner little attention nationally, or even within the wider California region. As noted in a 1967 review of Happiness Is... published in Downbeat Magazine, "Apparently, he [Tanner] is accorded a considerable amount of respect in San Francisco, though he has no national reputation. This isn't unusual. Many gifted jazzmen stay on their home base for years, playing well but attracting little attention, while other, sometimes less talented musicians gravitate to New York and make names for themselves." Nevertheless, reasons notwithstanding for a lack of commercial success, Tanner found happiness in the music that he made throughout his career. "I would say it's a spiritual thing. I find a lot of love for the piano, and a love for music. And I try and express myself on the piano as I love it. Jazz is a spirit to me, there's a spiritual side of jazz and there's a side of jazz where you playing a whole lot of notes and you're trying to get so many notes in one bar..." Includes extensive liner notes. CD version includes two additional tracks.â€
CD $16
CM VON HAUSSWOLFF & CHANDRA SHUKLA - Travelogue [Bali](Touch TO 122CD; UK) “Travelogue [Bali] is the second in an ongoing series of collected international audio diaries (Travelogue [Nepal] (TO 118CD) was released by Touch in 2020). The premise is quite simple: the two meet at a mutually agreed upon destination along with the facilitation of something to record audio of these experiences on. The intent is to capture and augment these sonic documentaries of their travels which then are sculpted into soundtracks. This is done by sourcing the culture, environment, persons, or events that make their voices available. In February 2020, CM von Hausswolff and Chandra Shukla met in Bali, Indonesia, over the course of nine days. Recordings were made at Pandawa Beach, Green Bowl Beach, Melasti Beach Ungasan, Uluwatu Temple, Pasar Senggol Gianyar, Pengosekan Kaja Ubud, Badung Market, Kintamani and Mt. Batur, Puri Saren Agung Ubud, Mandala Suci Wenara Wana (Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary) Ubud, Pura Tirta Empul Tampaksiring, Pandan Beach, and Kelingking Beach Nusa Penida. Mastered by Denis Blackham; Photography and design by Jon Wozencroft; Recorded February 6-16 2020 in Uluwatu, Ubud, Badung, Mount Batur and other locations in Bali, Indonesia. Composed and mixed at the Castle in Stockholm, Sweden and at Dissimulata in Asheville, NC USA, 2022.â€
CD $16
PHILIP JECK & CHRIS WATSON - Oxmardyke (Touch TONE 083CD; UK) “With thanks to Mary Prestidge, who writes: "At the end of January 2022, Philip was taken to A&E at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital suffering from severe back pain and was admitted for investigations. In the hospital ward, with some strong pain relief, he could more comfortably rest, mostly horizontally. During the day he could be angled slightly toward a sitting position. Over the following days, aiming to make sense of his current predicament, Philip regained a tiny level of normality. With his laptop in place, he tapped into familiar territory and, when finding the most favorable times, listened to and worked with the sound files that Chris Watson had sent him. During these brief, intense spells Philip gave all to his ear and heart to guide and shape the music forming at his fingertips. Oxmardyke is the album which resulted from this collaboration."
Chris Watson (August 2022): "Philip's laugh was infectious. Our conversations would usually begin with exchanges around the enthusiasm we had for each other's work and the respect we shared for other Touch artists. However, as we were most likely to have met over drinks at the Philharmonic Dining Rooms in Liverpool the evening would gradually dissolve into convivial disarray. What did emerge from these soirées over recent years was a desire to find ways and means for us to collaborate at a place where our ideas converged. In 2017, I was recording along the north bank of the Humber estuary and one morning driving back from Faxfleet I was stopped at the Oxmardyke rail crossing. The gates were down. After setting up a microphone array by the tracks for a passing freight train the signalman shouted an invitation to climb up into the gate box to make some more recordings. Over the following weeks I made several return trips to Oxmardyke and gathered a broad palette of recordings. I discussed the sounds, stories and history of the site with Philip after a show and we were both excited by the potential of making a work together. Philip was drawn to the ancient history of the area from 6th century Anglo-Saxon times to the Knights Templar and how the sounds, rhythms and textures from those periods may still inhabit the contemporary landscape. My thoughts took inspiration from 'The Signalman' by Charles Dickens and the painting 'Rain, Steam and Speed' by Joseph Mallord William Turner. We agreed to share ideas and exchange tracks. Oxmardyke gate box has now passed into history. I hope my contributions may frame Philip's exceptional work."
CD $16
ANNA ST. LOUIS - In The Air (Woodsist 106CD; USA) "Born of a thousand nights lost in a surrender to stillness and contemplation, In The Air is Anna St. Louis' second full length album and her most considered work yet. It's an outlook on the world that was formed when her immediate one was small. The intervening years since her last album found St. Louis in a small one-bedroom cabin in the middle of the woods of upstate New York with a new love and time to think of what she wanted to express with her music. For weeks on end, the only trips she took were to and from her job as the front desk clerk at a nearby hotel. The previous years she had spent on tour and performing constantly in the venues of Los Angeles felt like they had occurred in another lifetime. St. Louis describes the writing period as one of a slow harvest; a fertile time but one that required a newfound patience. Instead of documenting her first thoughts, she spent more time with each song, going deeper with the themes and ideas she wanted to express. This slower approach also guided the sonic textures of the album. Working with producer Jarvis Taveniere (Purple Mountains, Woods) in two extended recording sessions in Los Angeles in 2021, St. Louis used the studio in a previously unexplored way, opening up her songs to more experimentation featuring brighter tones and a more orchestral sound to accompany her new perspective. To that end, she was aided by a cast of friends and collaborators including Jess Williamson, Kacey Johansing, Oliver Hill (Kevin Morby, Vagabon) on strings, Alex Fischel (Spoon) on piano, Josh Adams on drums (Bedouine, Tim Heidecker) and Keven Lareau (Cut Worms, Hand Habits)." - Justin Sullivan
CD $16
LP SECTION:
AMALGAM with TREVOR WATTS / JEFF CLYNE / JOHN STEVENS BARRY GUY - Prayer For Peace (Trading Places TDP 54106LP; UK) “Reissue, originally released in 1969. While stationed in Germany in the RAF during the late 1950s and early 1960s, York-born alto and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts met the drummer John Stevens, with whom he would form the Spontaneous Music Ensemble upon returning to the UK in 1965, which became an important vehicle for British free improvisation. Watts's spin-off project Amalgam came two years later with Stevens and bassist Jeff Clyne, previously in the Jazz Couriers with Ronnie Scott; their debut LP Prayer For Peace is jazz improv at its most melodic, an unpredictable album of varying shades, with three unique takes of the song "Judy's Smile." Licensed from BMG.
“Outstanding early studio session from May of 1969 from an all-star SME offshoot trio featuring Trevor Watts on alto sax, John Stevens on drums, Jeff Clyne and Barry Guy (title piece only) on contrabasses. This is an aptly titled work - immensely spiritual, free flowing and sublimely cosmic. Trevor Watts has said of the title track, 'The mood of Prayer for Peace' is a very strong part of my musical personality The theme came to me during an improvisation. Afterwards I remembered it because the feeling was so beautiful for me I wanted to recreate it, and give the feeling of peace and beauty to others'.
LP $26
SANDY BULL - Live In San Francisco Late 1969 (Trading Places TDP 54111LP; UK)
Sandy Bull's unorthodox approach to guitar was as unique as his personal circumstances. Son of jazz harpist Daphne Hellman and brother to the sitarist Daisy Paradis, Bull became part of the bourgeoning Greenwich Village folk circuit. A move to San Francisco in 1963 found him sharing an apartment with Nubian oud master, Hamza El Din, which had a profound effect on his playing, spurring early world music experiments. The previously unreleased Live In San Francisco features bluesy electric "Memphis, Tennessee" and "Instrumental Blues," plus the abstract "Untitled Instrumental" and "Solo Experimental," all classic morsels of Bull wizardry. Licensed from Good Time Inc.â€
LP $26
SMEGMA - Infringements (Alga Marghen TES 169LP; Italy) “Limited restock. 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.â€
LP $26
FOOD PEOPLE - Many Glorious Petals (Feeding Tube Records 709LP; USA) "After a handful of whacked-out cassettes & CDRs, for labels as discerning as Chocolate Monk and Beartown, this Nottingham trio has final made their debut LP, and it is a beautiful, swirling cone of sounds. Unlike some of their more savage kith, Food People's basic template is based less on explosive dynamics than it is on twisted invention. Their music is rarely overtly aggressive or ornery. Its power is drawn from quietly disorienting musical details that are assembled and fiddled-with at a patient pace. Sometimes the sounds they use are taped, at others they come from various strings (both plucked and bowed), maybe some simple reeds and possibly even a key or percussion or two. Can't exactly tell without actually seeing them, but this confusion is part of the music's appeal. And Many Glorious Petals is as appealing as any instrumental record you'll spin this year. Genteel backwards-masking lends 'Cheese Dreams from Oxney Green' a feel akin to Fripp & Eno collaborating with Orchid Spangiafora. 'Eat Paper' combines guitar-string-buzz-riffing, imaginary percussion and fiddle sawing into a deep meditation on the transitive existence of form. The way the flute tones (or whatever they are) layer-up at the end of 'Old Thresh' put me in mind of Robert Dick's compositional gambits, before leading into a brief piece called 'Blue Solar Arrow,' which is redolent of the New Orleans tripping scene in Easy Rider. There are also tracks like 'Scrim,' impossible to unravel in terms of instrumentation, but managing to sound amazingly tripped-out in the way they flip toggle switches inside your brain's sonic-receptors. Many Glorious Petals is not a long album, but it's got more audio nooks and crannies than you can easily explore. And every spin reveals new dimensions of otherness. Burrow in today." --Byron Coley, 2023. Food People are: Matthew Hamblin, Lila Matsumoto, and Greg Thomas. Mastered by Caleb Mulkerin at Tank 28. Layout by Derwent. Artwork by Matthew.â€
LP $30
THE ELECTRIC NATURE - Old World Die Must (Feeding Tube Records 727LP; USA) "This is the 14th album released by this Georgia-based improv trio, but the first to come out on LP. The Electric Nature has gone through a variety of phases during its decade-plus history, but its recent work has been fairly abstract, and so it continues here. The basic threesome -- Michael Potter, Michael Pierce, and Thom Strickland -- are not credited with individual instruments here. It is merely noted that between them they play guitars, synthesizers, drums, percussion, samples and field recordings. Additionally, Jeff Tobias plays sax on one side, and John Kiran Fernandes adds clarinet and violin to the flip. Those with a serious working interest in the Athens GA sub-underground will associate these names with a variety of bands: Bleachy Asshole, Future Ape Tapes, Leisure Service, Smokedog, Wet Garden, as well as a couple of labels. Tobias and Fernandes bring another host of associations, from Arthur Doyle to Frank Hurricane, so we should assume this is a crew that knows exactly what it wants, as well as how to get it. In this instance, what they want are two side-long squalls of sound, so good they have an almost Japanese cast to their improvisational distentions. Despite their parallel intensity, the essential natures of these sides are disparate and distinct. On 'Enter Chapel Perilous,' field recordings give way to swampy sax blister, the sound of boots stuck in mud while spirits voices gibber in the background, and swirling horror-movie synth. These elements are twisted into a sonic fire storm that gets hotter and hotter. Eventually everyone gets spit out onto the parched sands of the Sahara. Meanwhile, on the title track, the team raises a sweetly muzzy curtain of drum splatter, amp roar and swoosh, through which curlicues of clarinet and shards of broken guitar are pushed like puppets at a Punch & Judy show. Anyway, that's my take. The Electric Nature surely have their own chronicle of this music. But who really cares what any says it sounds like. The proof is in the sonic pudding. And The Electric Nature have whipped up a very tasty batch of mystery. Yum." --Byron Coley, 2023â€
LP $18
WGANDA KENYA / KAMMPALA GRUPO - Wganda Kenya / Kammpala Grupo (Vampisoul 285LP; Spain) “First time reissue. By the time Discos Fuentes released the album Wganda Kenya Kammpala Grupo in 1977, Wganda Kenya's discography was expanding with many 45 singles and appearances in various artists collections. The group's 1975 debut record Ãfrica 5.000 was a full-length LP in the US and a various artists compilation in Colombia, which was followed by the self-titled long player the following year. However, Kammpala Grupo, which shared the album's title and was credited to three songs on the record, had never appeared before, yet was basically the same studio group as Wganda Kenya. The record kicks off with the joyful "El Gallo Africano" which features exquisite interplay between Sepúlveda's highlife style guitar and an authentic-sounding African style saxophone, perhaps played by Carlos Piña. In reality it was "Go Call Police Chief" by prolific Nigerian highlife guitarist Chief Oliver Sunday Akanite, aka Oliver De Coque. Next up is Kammpala Grupo's 'La Yuca Rayá' ('Grated Yuca'), written by Isaac Villanueva in a style he termed son haitiano which sounds much more like Zimbabwe Shona mbira music. Wganda Kenya's 'Caimito' (star apple, a type of tropical fruit), on the other hand, is actually a cover of a relatively well-known Haitian merengue song. Kammpala Grupo then takes us from the French Antilles to the multi-cultural discotheques of Paris, where a cover version of Black Soul's Afro-boogie anthem "Black Soul Music" is retooled and renamed "King Kong", perhaps in a nod to the 1976 remake of the monster flick of the same name. Side two introduces you to the infectious merengue rebita of Angola via "La riphyta" with "PaparÃ", aka Mariano Sepúlveda, doing the vocals and faithfully replicating the Angolan guitar style. "La Trompeta Loca" (The Crazy Trumpet), probably the nuttiest track on the album, is an ingenious cover of "Ye Gbawa Oo Baba (Tribute To Nigeria)" by Joe Mensah of Ghana. As with all their covers of African tunes, this rendition tightens up the original with some pop sheen. This is followed by one of the most powerfully original songs to come out of the entire Wganda Kenya project, Mike Char's reggae anthem "El Nativo" with Joe Arroyo on vocals. The record ends on a more authentically Caribbean sounding note with the instrumental "El testament", a cheerful islands banger with bright brass, syncopated calypso beats and chunky cuatro guitar (or ukulele). With all this wild and funky sounding Afro-based music in its grooves, Wganda Kenya Kammpala Grupo was ahead of its time. 180 gram vinyl.â€
LP $32
THE SUMMERTIME 2023 CD SALE:
The CD Sale list below is mainly discs that have come in more recently with a few older items thrown in. Thanks to those ongoing donations. I am working on a much larger list (100-200 items) which will take me a month or so to complete. The larger sale CD list will include free CDs for every so many purchased but not this list as it is much smaller and we might just sell out of some of these titles beforehand. Everything on this list is new, not used and we have at least a half dozen copies of each title. This is just a way to hopefully boost some sales during the usual Summertime Blues days.
BORAH BERGMAN / LOL COXHILL / PAUL HESSION - Acts Of Love (Mutable 17519; USA)
CD Sale $8
BORAH BERGMAN / STEFANO PASTOR - Live at Tortona (Mutable 17534; USA)
CD Sale $8
NELS CLINE / ANDREA PARKINS / TOM RAINEY - Out Trios Vol 3: Ash And Tabula (Atavistic 148; USA)
CD Sale $14
NELS CLINE 4 With JULIAN LAGE / SCOTT COLLEY / TOM RAINEY - Currents, Constellations (Blue Note 2811702; USA)
CD Sale $12
JEROME COOPER & THOMAS BUCKNER- Alone, Together, Apart (Mutable 17509; USA)
CD Sale $10
DAVE BURRELL - Jelly Roll Joys (Gazell 4003; USA)
CD Sale $8
DAVE BURRELL & DAVID MURRAY - Brother To Brother (Gazell 4006; USA)
CD Sale $8
CONNIE CROTHERS / MICHAEL BISIO Sessions at 475 Kent (Mutable 17537; USA)
CD Sale $10
MARK DRESSER/DENMAN MARONEY With ALEXANDRA MONTANO/MICHAEL SARIN - Time Changes (Cryptogramophone 124; USA)
CD Sale $6
MICHAEL FORMANEK With TIM BERNE / MARK FELDMAN / WAYNE KRANTZ / JEFF HIRSHFIELD - Extended Animation (Enja 7041; Earth)
CD Sale $10
THOMAS HEBERER with INGRID LAUBROCK / JOHN HEBERT / MICHAEL SARIN - The Day That Is (Sunnyside 1637; USA)
CD Sale $10
FRED HO and THE GREEN MONSTER BIG BAND With TAYLOR HO BYNUM / BOBBY ZANKEL / JIM HOBBS / SALIM WASHINGTON /MARY HALVORSON / et al - Celestial Green Monster (Mutable/Big Red Media 01; USA)
CD Sale $10
FRED HO and THE SAXOPHONE LIBERATION FRONT With BOBBY ZANKEL / SALIM WASHINGTON / HAFEZ MODIRZADEH - Snake-Eaters (Mutable/Big Red Media 02; USA)
CD Sale $10
FRED HO and THE GREEN MONSTER BIG BAND With BOBBY ZANKEL / JIM HOBBS / SALIM WASHINGTON / AMIR ElSAFFAR /AMANDA MONACO / ROYAL HARTIGAN - The Sweet Science Suite: A Scientific Soul Music Honoring Muhammad Ali (Mutable/Big Red Media 03; USA)
CD Sale $10
FRED HO & QUINCY SAUL with SALIM WASHINGTON / FRANK LACY / MELANIE DYER / WES BROWN / ROYAL HARTIGAN / et al - The Music of Cal Massey: A Tribute, Conducted by Whitney George (Mutable/Big Red Media 04; USA)
CD Sale $10
SCOTT JOPLIN // ANN CHARTERS - The Genius Of Scott Joplin: The First Recordings including Selections From 'Treemonisha' Opera (Gazell 6002/3; USA)
2 CD Set $8
LARK with INGRID LAUBROCK / RALPH ALESSI / KRIS DAVIS / TOM RAINEY - Lark (Skirl 22; USA)
CD Sale $10
SELWYN LISSACK'S FRIENDSHIP NEXT OF KIN With MIKE OSBORNE / MONGEZI FEZA / KENNETH TERROADE / HARRY MILLER / EARL FREEMAN - Facets Of The Univers (DMG ARC 702; USA)
CD Sale $6
THE MACRO-QUARKTET with HERB ROBERTSON / DAVE BALLOU / DREW GRESS / TOM RAINEY - Each Part A Whole: Live at The Stone NYC (Ruby Flower 06; USA) Out-of-print & rare!
CD Sale $12
DENMAN MARONEY - Double Zero: Hyperpiano (Porter 4063; USA)
CD Sale $8
DENMAN MARONEY With THEO BLECKMANN / SHELLEY HIRSCH / HERB ROBERTSON - Music For Words, Perhaps: The Poetry of W B Yeates and Wallace Stevens (Innova 717; USA)
CD Sale $6
NEW AND USED with DAVE DOUGLAS / MARK FELDMAN / ANDY LASTER / KERMIT DRISCOLL / TOM RAINEY - Souvenir (KnitWorks 125; USA)
CD Sale $10
NEW AND USED with DAVE DOUGLAS / MARK FELDMAN / ANDY LASTER / KERMIT DRISCOLL / TOM RAINEY - Consensus (KnitWorks 163; USA)
CD Sale $10
PARIS REUNION BAND with WOODY SHAW / DIZZY REECE / SLIDE HAMPTON / JOHNNY GRIFFIN / NATHAN DAVIS / KENNY DREW / JIMMY WOODE / BILLY BROOKS - French Cooking (Gazell 1002; USA)
CD Sale $8
KEN VANDERMARK / NATE WOOLEY / SYLVIE COURVOISIER / TOM RAINEY - Noise of Our Time (Intakt 310; Switzerland)
CD Sale $12
DAVE VAN RONK - Going Back To Brooklyn (Gazell 2006; USA)
CD Sale $10.00
DAVE VAN RONK With HARRY ALLEN / JOHN PIZZARELLI / KEITH INGRAM / EARL MAY / CHRISTINE INGRAM - Hummin' To Myself: Sings An American Songbook (Gazell 2004; USA)
CD Sale $10
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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
*******
NEW VIDEOS from GUITAR MASTER HENRY KAISER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy9PwsO5umk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFQ7nvA68pA
*******
THE STONE RESIDENCIES - JESSICA PAVONE - JULY 12–15
7/12 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Jessica Pavone and Tristan Kasten Krause
Jessica Pavone (viola) Tristan Kasten Krause (bass)
Original compositions for viola and double bass from their debut album "Images of One"
7/13 Thursday
8:30 pm - The J. Pavone String Ensemble
Jessica Pavone (compositions/viola) Aimee Neimann (violin) Abby Swidler (violin/viola)
7/14 Friday
8:30 pm - Jessica Pavone, Peter Evans, Brandon Lopez, Ryan Sawyer quartet
Jessica Pavone (viola) Peter Evans (trumpet) Brandon Lopez (double bass) Ryan Sawyer (drums)
7/15 Saturday
8:30 pm - No Fresh - Jessica Pavone (viola) Wendy Eisenberg (guitar) Henry Mermer (drums)
THE STONE RESIDENCIES - SUPHALA - JULY 19–22
**Due to planned maintenance of our regular space, this week's performances will be held in Stiefel Hall, which is on the 4th floor of the same building, 55 W 13th St**
7/19 Wednesday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Suphala (tabla, electronics) Laraaji (electric zither, piano) Vernon Reid (electric guitar)
7/20 Thursday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Suphala (tabla, electronics) Jonathan Maron (electric bass) Jason Lindner (keys)
7/21 Friday
8:30 pm - DUO - Suphala (tabla, electronics) Rajeev Maddela aka currency audio (electronic drums)
7/22 Saturday
8:30 pm - DUO - Suphala (tabla, electronics) Laraaji (electric zither, piano)
THE STONE is located in
The New School at the Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th Street - near 6th ave
LIVE MUSIC
wed-sat
music at 8:30pm
ADMISSION
$20 per set
unless otherwise noted
cash only payment
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Sunday, July 16th
Keith Fullerton Whitman
Ka Baird & Shelley Hirsch
Snake Union with Chuck Bettis and Dave Grant
at Union Pool
484 Union St.
Brklyn 11211, NY
Doors 8pm
$15 / Advance tix via the dice app.
Trains: L to Lorimer / G to Metropolitan
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John Cage's Japan at Japan Society
An Original Performance Series
Celebrating the Composer's Relationship with Japanese Culture
September 28 and September 29 at 7:30 pm
Paul Lazar's Cage Shuffle
Directed by Annie-B Parson
October 21 at 8:30 pm
John Cage's Ryoanji
with Tomomi Adachi, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE),
Hitomi Nakamura (hichiriki), and Maki Ota (voice)
November 16 at 7:30 pm
Tomomi Adachi's Noh-opera / Noh-tation: Decoding John Cage's Unrealized Project
with Gelsey Bell (voice), Wakako Matsuda (noh), and ICE
Thursday, December 7 at 7:30 pm
Cage Shock: An Homage to his First Japan Visit
with Tania Caroline Chen, Victoria Shen, Tomomi Adachi, and ICE
All Programs Commissioned and presented by Japan Society
Tickets On Sale to the General Public August 17 at JapanSociety.org
They called it the "Cage Shock." In 1962, the iconoclastic American composer John Cage toured Japan for a legendary series of concerts that served to draw attention to the rhymes between his works and the sounds of avant-garde and classical Japanese music. The tour cemented Cage as a pivotal figure in the East but the impact of that trip reverberated both directions. Cage had found truth and validation for his creative philosophy in Japan and returned to his experiences abroad as a wellspring of inspiration for the rest of his life.
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ATTENTION TO ALL DMG CUSTOMERS: NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: downtownmusicgalleryofficial@gmail.com
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