Keep your head together
Accept reality
Don't become a druggie
Unless you're
too weak to face responsibility
Take initial action
Show them you are fair
Show them you're constructive
Abide by the laws
Or you will be nowhere
Tell the old ones what has got to be
Point the finger-
It's up to you and me
Get the nation aware of what is wrong
We need to feel
We've got a home where we belong
So study your behavior
Before you criticize
You'll need a lot of leaders
To clear away
Hypocrisy and wars and lies
Don't put off another day
What you could do today!
Wise words from one of the greatest Blues Crusaders of all time. I recall reading about John Mayall when I got the first Cream album, ‘Fresh Cream’, which was released in 1966. I was a Cream fanatic right from the beginning and found out that their lead guitarist Eric Clapton had started out with the Yardbirds and became a member of an early version of John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Clapton’s playing and tone on that first Bluesbreakers’ record (with the Beano comic on the cover) was immensely influential to budding blues/rock guitarists around the planet! John Mayall was a blues freak who studied and drew from the wide world of blues styles. Throughout his extra long (70 year) career, he had a talent for finding often little known (mostly) British blues musicians (especially guitarists) and putting them in the spotlight for their first time. Here’s a list of Mayall’s discoveries: Peter Green, John McVie & Mick Fleetwood (future Fleetwood Mac), Hughie Flint, Mick Taylor, Chris Mercer, Aynsley Dunbar, Keef Hartley, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Jon Mark, Johnny Almond, Harvey Mandel, Sugarcane Harris, Larry Taylor, Coco Montoya… I bought most of Mayall’s records in the 1960’s & 70’s and forgot about him for a long while after my initial interest. I did catch him live a few times with his Jazz/Blues Fusion band in the mid-seventies and later in a reunion band with Mick Taylor. Around a decade ago, an old customer of ours donated boxes of CD’s to the store, one a month for around a year. This customer seemed to enjoy the many white blues musicians, many of whom have been ignored or not given credit for what they do. One box contained around 30 CD’s from John Mayall. I didn’t know he had that many discs but I actually listened to every one and became a big John Mayall freak once again. I must admit that I dug each and every one of those discs and still go back to them when I’m in a blues mood. Word is that John Mayall lived a healthy life and took good care of himself. He passed away earlier this week at the ripe old age of 91! Mr. Mayall made two albums around 1970, ‘The Turning Point’ and ‘Empty Rooms’. Both of these featured a mostly acoustic quartet with no drummer: Jon Mark on acoustic guitar (later of Mark/Almond), Johnny Almond on saxes and Steve Thompson on bass. I still dig both of these albums. The above song, “Plan Your Revolution” comes from ‘Empty Rooms’. God bless John Mayall, bluesman and talent scout supreme. - MC-BruceLee, DMG
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THE PASSING OF ANOTHER GIANT - IRENE SCHWEIZER - June 2nd, 1941 - July 16th, 2024
As the DMG newsletter was just about to be transmitted last Thursday, I heard the news about the passing of Swiss avant/jazz pianist Irene Schweizer at the age of 83. Since I was attending college for one semester in London (in the fall of 1975), I started to branch out, checking out many of the European improvisers, some of whom were collaborating with their British counterparts like Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Tony Oxley, Keith Tippett and Lol Coxhill. I bought a collection of around 60 to 70 FMP records from Owen Maercks when I was living in Berkeley for a month in the late 1970’s. It was a new world of musicians for me to discover: Alex Von Schlippenbach, Peter Brotzmann, Hans Reichel, Peter Kowald, Paul Lovens and many more. The first time I heard Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer was on an album called ‘Ramifications’ with Rudiger Carl, Harry Miller, Radu Malfatti & Paul Lovens (on Ogum Records). Ms. Schweizer was the Queen of avant/jazz piano as I discovered through her half dozen records on the FMP label. Starting in 1968, Ms. Schweizer was a founding member and the first artist to have records on the Swiss-based Intakt label. For me, both Irene Schweizer and Marilyn Crispell were the two Grand Dames of avant/jazz piano and both were guests of the London Jazz Composer’s Orchestra and had a wonderful double piano CD on FMP called ‘Overlapping Hands’ released on the FMP label. I finally heard Ms. Schweizer live with Les Diaboliques (with Maggie Nichols & Joelle Leandre) at the Victo Fest in the 1990’s, as well as in a duo with Sylvie Courvoisier at Tonic and again at The Stone for an Intakt Music Festival in the aughts. The Intakt Festival ran for two weeks at The Stone and the label brought over a dozen Swiss musicians. Intakt asked me to help sponsor these musicians so I had to sign some forms for each musician. I was honored to do this and right before the fest began, Intakt had a meal/celebration at a fancy restaurant in Soho. After the meal, they lined up the musicians and gave me award for my sponsorship. I received a hug from each of those musicians and I was moved to tears for this honor. Ms. Schweizer performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1967 with Yusef Lateef, Uli Trepte (future member of Faust) and Mani Neumeier (future Guru Guru drummer). Ms. Schweizer loved performing duos with drummers and recorded several gems with Pierre Favre, Louis Moholo, Han Bennink, Hamid Drake and Joey Baron (each one released on Intakt). If you’ve never heard her playing, I urge you to check her out as she was one of the pianists ever! Although all of her FMP records are long out-of-print, all or most of her Intakt CD’s are still in print. A great toast to Irene Schweizer. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
**********
THE 33rd ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE CONCERT SERIES AT DMG CONTINUES WITH:
Tuesday, July 30th:
6:30: DAVID AARON / ANDY HAAS / DANIEL CARTER - New Reeds Trio Debut
7:30: NATHAN NAKADEGAWA-LEE - Tenor Sax / SHINYA LIN - Electronics / KEVIN MURRAY - Drums
8:30: BEN GOLDBERG - Clarinet / SPENCER HOEFERT - Electric Guitar / JOHN CAVALIER - Drums
Tuesday, August 6th:
6:30: MUSIQUE LIBRE FEMMES: CHERYL PYLE -c flute / bass flute / AYUMI ISHITO - Tenor Sax / YUKO TOGAMI - Percussion!
7:30: BEN GOLDBERG - Clarinet / JOHN HEBERT - Contrabass / HAMIR ATWAL - Drums!
8:30: AARON QUINN - Guitar / DIEGO HEDEZ - Trumpet / DERIC DICKENS - Drums!
9:30: KRIS GRUDA - Guitar / TOM WEEKS - Alto Sax / MIKE PRIDE - Drums!
Monday, August 12th: DMG Guitar Fest Volume Two!
6:30: KILLICK HINDS and H R - Guitar Duo!
7:30: EYAL MAOZ - Solo or Duo Guitar(s)!
8:30: SALLY GATES - Guitar / SIMON HANES - Bass!
**********
THIS WEEK’S GOODIES BEGIN WITH A RARE DISC FROM MY GOOD PAL FRED FRITH:
FRED FRITH / ANIL ERASIAN / CLARA WEIL / TOM MALMENDIER - there or here and that (Euxaem 02; Earth) Featuring Fred Frith on electric guitar, Anil Erasian on cello & FX, Clara Well on voice and Tom Malmendier on drums. Experimental guitarist and composer, Fred Frith, taught at Mills College for more than a decade and retired from that post a few years back. Since then, Mr. Frith has kept busy composing, touring and recording with a a variety of musicians from the US, Europe and elsewhere. During Frith’s time teaching at Mills, he taught and collaborated with a number of his students. You might’ve heard of the duo: Blectum From Blechdom, two of his more recognized former students, as well as the rhythm team from the Fred Frith Trio (Jason Hoopes & Jordan Glenn) who also played with Jack O’ The Clock (great former Bay Area prog band). Here’s a short list of some of the creative musicians that Frith has collaborated with over the past few years: Nava Dunkleman, gabby fluke-mogol, Susana Santos Silva, Karen Stackpole and Shelley Burgon. The reason I bring this up is that Mr. Frith has continued to search out and work with other like-minded creative musicians from around the world.
For this new disc, Mr. Frith is playing in a quartet with three musicians that I hadn’t heard of until now. After some research I found out the Turkish cellist, Anil Erasian, has around 10 discs out and has recorded with John Lindberg. Vocalist Clara Weil is in a group called Masked Pickle which includes drummer Tom Malmendier. Mr. Malmendier is in more than a half dozen different groups according to Discogs. Throughout Mr. Frith’s long career, he’s worked with a number of great experimental vocalists: Dagmar Krause, Robert Wyatt, Phil Minton, Shelley Hirsch and many others. Right from the opening the quartet takes off and is improvising freely with multiple layers swirling around one another. Ms. Weil often sounds like she is talking in tongues, twisting words and sounds inside out, creating a series of different characters. What’s interesting is that this is obviously a focused quartet effort with each member being integral to the group sound. There is no leader here, just a focused quartet of four strong improvisers. I still feel most fortunate, getting to become friends with Mr. Frith when he moved to NYC in 1979 and became an important part of the early Downtown Scene. I’ve caught Mr. Frith live hundreds of times since so I know his distinctive sound/approach which has evolved over the long haul. Still, there are a number of surprising twists and turns and combinations of sounds which still sound fresh and engaging. There is a moment when Ms. Weil starts to scream, her voice is manipulated with effects while the guitar and/or cello connect with her to produce a bizarre group sound. Over this hour-plus long disc, it sounds like an story or film has emerged with each musician like a character/actor in a play of film. This is free improv at its very best with a number of transcendent moments. Fred Frith has been touring in Europe is recent times and will be back at The Stone later this year. A word to the wise, if you get an opportunity to check him out live, here, there or anywhere, please do so! In the meantime, check out this disc for the magic music found within. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15
A PRIDE OF LIONS with JOE McPHEE / DAUNIK LAZRO / JOSH ABRAMS / CHAD TAYLOR / GUILLAUME SEGURN - No Questions No Answers (Rogue Art 0117; France) Featuring Joe McPhee on alto & soprano sax & pocket trumpet, Daunik Lazro on tenor & baritone saxes, Josh Abrams on contrabass & guembri, Guillaume Seguron on contrabass and Chad Taylor on drums. Thanks to two fine labels, Rogue Art and the Bridge Sessions, there is an ongoing series of recorded, live and workshop sessions going on with French musicians and musicians from Chicago. A Pride of Lions is a quintet which has emerged from these collaborations. Long before these sessions took place, upstate New York-based reeds & brass wiz, Joe McPhee, has spent his early days & beyond working with French musicians like Andre Jaume, Raymond Boni, Jerome Bourdellon and Daunik Lazro. Mr. McPhee and Mr. Lazro have recorded together on more than a half dozen previous discs going back to 1991. You should no doubt know of Chicago bassist Joshua Abrams from his band Natural Information Society as well as numerous sessions with other of Chicago’s best players. New York/Chicago drummer Chad Taylor is one of the best and most in-demand drummers that I know. His recent duo set with saxist James Brandon Lewis was one the highlights of the recent (2024) Vision Fest. French bassist Guillaume Séguron has worked in the Anthony Ortega Quartet and has a half-dozen discs from French musicians with whom I know little about. This is the second disc from A Pride of Lions, the first came out in 2018 on the Bridge Sessions label.
This disc was recorded in August of 2018, for the third short tour that this quintet did. I love the sound of the two contrabassists who are both bowing and plucking and creating a low-end cushion underneath. Chad Taylor is playing mallets, connecting with the bassists as well as both saxes which work quite well together. There is an organic flow and bond between these players which sounds strong throughout this disc. Both Joe McPhee (on alto & soprano saxes & pocket trumpet) and Daunik Lazro (on tenor & bar saxes) sound like they are having an ongoing conversation, lines going back and forth with an edge-of-your-seat type of excitement. Mr. Abrams picks up his guembri (a three string bass instrument from North Africa) about halfway through the first long piece and gives the music a warm, hypnotic, ritualistic groove/vibe. Mr. Abrams’ guembri is at the center of his group Natural Information Society and the funky ethnic throb sounds especially strong here. Joe McPhee switches to pocket trumpet on the second piece and sounds wonderful, expressive and engaged, even doing a bit or odd vocals which also adds to the overall spirited sound. There is a great section on the second piece where we just there the throb of the bass and subtle drumming with born horns (pocket trumpet & tenor sax) playing tightly around one another, using subtle squeaks for punctuation. On the last shorter piece there is some extraordinary exchange between the soprano sax and the tenor sax with the rhythm team pumping powerfully underneath. There is some true Cosmic Magic going on here which feels like tasty medicine to help us to be inspired no matter what other BS is weighing us down. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16
SORBD with EDITH STEYER / MIA DYBERG / RIEKO OKUDA / ISABEL ROBLER / SOFIA BORGES - Wild Peacock In Transit (Relative Pitch RPR 1189; USA) Featuring Edith Steyer – Bb clarinet; Mia Dyberg - alto saxophone; Rieko Okuda – piano; Isabel Rößler – bass and Sofia Borges - drums, percussion. The band name here , Sorbd, is taken from the names of the bandmembers. The Relative Pitch label continues to unearth/present a wide variety of improvisers from around the world. Sorbd features five women musicians from different scenes working together. I know Danish saxist Mia Dyberg from the time I attended the Jyderup workshop/camp in Denmark in 2015 plus I’ve reviewed her discs on Clean Feed. I don’t recognize the name of German saxist Edith Steyer, although she does have discs out on Creative Sources. Pianist Rieko Okuda has a dozen or so releases and has worked with Hanna Schörken & Udo Schindler. I can’t tell you much about German bassist Isabel Rößler, but I do see that percussionist Sofia Borges has worked with Helena Espvall and has a self-produced solo percussion double disc out.
“Liquid Tiles” is first and starts with a singular tapped out repeating note on the piano (like Morse code) with the rhythm team soon joining in and both reeds (alto sax & clarinet) playing their lines tightly together. The reeds often sound like they are playing several written lines, although this might be from just working closely together over time. On “Good Morning” the two reeds play their lines quietly around one another while the rest of the quintet play in a more subdued, skeletal fashion. There is an ethereal, floating quality which sounds rather hypnotic and cerebral. Although “Ende Gelände I” is only 45 seconds, quite a bit happens in it quickly with some tight interaction between all of the members playing in a furious burst. What makes this disc sound so special is that whoever edited it, picked the best parts of overall improvisations which give the quintet a tight, focused sound. The opening of “Pfaueninsel - Peacock Island” was obviously written and reminds me of something that Jimmy Giuffre might’ve written in his trio days (late 50’s/early 60’s). It soon turns into a freer piece with all the members floating around one another. The shrewd editing job often makes this sound like each piece is part of a connected suite. What makes the Relative Pitch label so great is that every disc they release captures a different Sonic Spirit. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
ANDY MOOR / MARTA WARELIS - Escape (Relative Pitch RPR 1188; USA) Featuring Andy Moor on guitar and Marta Warelis on piano. Andy Moor is/was a longtime member of the Dutch post-punk outfit The Ex & the Dog Faced Hermans and later part of Lean Left with Ken Vandermark & Paal Nilssen-Love. Marta Warelis is a Polish avant-jazz pianist who has worked with Eve Risser, Magda Mayas, Carlos Zingaro & John Dikeman. This session was recorded at Zaal100 in Amsterdam. The music starts off sparsely and with much suspense. The guitar and piano are playing in the same tonal range and sound especially great together, speeding up as this piece evolves. Ms. Warelis is muting her piano with her hand or something similar, the quick strumming and piano playing at the same heightened tempo. The music here casts a great spell over whomever is listening, taking us with them somewhere out of our regular lives and into another realm/sound-world. On “Highway Trajectory”, Ms. Warelis is rubbing the strings of the piano (perhaps) with a glass getting an eerie sound with Mr. Moor playing a series of bent-note chords, the two combining forces together and creating a disorienting undertow which pushes or pulls us into the waves surrounding us. It sounds as if time is slowing down and we are submerged deeper and deeper into an ocean of currents. What I noticed about this disc/session is that both Moor on electric guitar and Warelis on piano have a similar approach to note-bending, quick tapping and balancing the calm with the more fractured moments just right. Their combined talents/forces makes for another strange world where the extremes become one force, the flow sounds organic and never forced. This disc shows the best of what Relative Pitch often does, creating another Sound World to slip into like those old jeans that you still wear no matter how old and filled with holes they have. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
KLEIN / ROSALY / WARELIS - tendress (Relative Pitch RPR 1186; USA) Featuring Tobias Klein on bass clarinet & contrabass clarinet, Marta Warelis on piano and Frank Rosaly on drums. German reeds player, Tobias Klein, lives in the Netherlands and can be found on a dozen-plus discs on the Clean Feed & Attacca labels. Former Chicago-based drummer Frank Rosaly has worked with many of Chicago’s best: Dave Rempis, Jason Stein and National Information Society. Marta Warelis is a Polish avant-jazz pianist who has worked with Eve Risser, Magda Mayas, Carlos Zingaro & John Dikeman and can be found on three previous discs from the Relative Pitch label. This trio has been working together since 2020. Ms. Warelis’ playing on a recent duo disc with Andy Moor was extraordinary so I was excited to see/hear what she would do in this trio. This is an all acoustic session and it is superbly recorded and mixed. Thoughtful, warm, focused. Ever since hearing Eric Dolphy swing hard on bass clarinet from the early 1960’s, I’ve been a big fan of the bass clarinet. The trio is tight-knit, interweaving three lines together as one organic force. Ms. Warelis does a fine job of balancing her rhythmic excursions with the drums and her more melodic explorations with the bass or contrabass clarinet, often rubbing the strings inside the piano to add suspense or strange spirit sounds by bending the notes outside of their usual tonality. On the longest piece, “levensnevel”, the trio play in amoeba-light formations, in between short silent passages the trio erupt from quiet to more intense sections. It takes a while to see/hear who the different sections are connected but I did recognize a pattern after a while. All three members of this trio are listening closely and integral to the focused trio sound. How folks at Relative Pitch keep coming up with so much Magic Music remains a mystery especially considering that they’ve released some 20 plus discs over the past couple of months. We should just be glad that they remain on a roll. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
DIAMANDA GALAS - In Concert (Intravenal Sound Operations ISO 009CD; USA) "Diamanda Galás' In Concert is not simply a live album. With nothing but a piano and the full expressive range of her extraordinary voice, Diamanda Galás strips away the comforting patina of time, tradition and stylistic convention to expose and express the raw human emotion that is the living heart of a song. It explores an eclectic range of material; rembetika, soul, ranchera, country and free jazz, and her passionate eviscerations reveal their hidden kinship. Four of the songs -- 'O Prósfigas,' 'La Llorona,' 'Let My People Go,' and 'Ánoixe Pétra' -- are for and by the forsaken, outcast and debased; the other three are hardboiled love songs. In Concert features select recordings taken from performances at Thalia Hall in Chicago, and Neptune Theatre in Seattle from 2017. The songs are drawn from disparate sources. Diamanda is of Maniati Greek and Middle-Eastern Greek/Egyptian origin, but she was born near the border of San Diego and Mexico, hearing the corridos, ranchera, and ballades daily, so the album draws deeply from both sources. Crucial to her performance are song types with ancient roots, primarily the amané, a vocal improvisation of Anatolian Greek origin. Amanés can be defined as a last prayer to the mother by a dying soldier, with the word amané itself possibly deriving from the Greek word mana, mother. Echoes of amanés can be heard in the Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, but in origin it is a primal lament, expressing grief and loss. The origins of the amané are archaic; its spirit is urgent and timeless."
CD $16 / LP $28
KEIJI HAINO - Black Blues (Room40 4215; Australia) Keiji Haino is, without question, one of the truly iconic artists to rise beyond the dusk of the 20th century. An artist focused singularly of the beautiful visceral promise of music, his practice is a many-headed beast taking in movements from the gentlest of guitar play, through free improvisation and noise. As divergent as the work might be, it is held tightly by his unique way in sound, one that exists moment to moment with a force like no other. 20 years since its first release, Black Blues remains one of his most provocative recordings -- a collection of 6 songs, recorded twice over. One version "Violent," the other "Soft"; and the differences could not be more radical. Black Blues exists at both margins of Haino's sonic spectrum. At the Violent end, each piece is delivered with a sense of tangible intensity. In some moments it is as if listeners are inside Haino, his voice completely consuming all it comes in contact with. The guitar, carving a path that is part rhythm, part harmony, its tenderness cradling his voice with a determination and generosity. By contrast the Soft versions are almost lullabies, the ones that carry a mournful and anguish ladened atmosphere. Here the guitar splays out into clouds of reverb that shimmer at the edges, housing a voice which is constantly seeking a deeper resolution within the songs. Gentle but never settled. Black Blues captures the dynamic form of Keiji Haino's work in its most raw form; voice and guitar. The songs encapsulate a very particular portrait of an artist whose work only continues to grow deeper in is wonder and profundity.
2 CD Set $24
MERZBOW NICOLAS HORVATH - Pia-Noise (Sub Rosa 530CD; Belgium) Even the most experienced ear will not come out of Pia-Noise unscathed. Consecrating the meeting of two consummate artists, this release confronts their universe like a massive head-on shock in the eye of a sound storm. Masami Akita (Merzbow) has been surveying the territories of noise music for more than forty years, directing all sorts of instrumentaria, analogical or digital, instrument or software-based. For this record he relied on his favorite combination, a mix of various effects pedals and noise generators. Nicolas Horvath is a pianist of exceptional sensibility. More than well-versed in the classical repertoire, he also is fundamentally curious and multifaceted, as evidenced by his rescuing works and composers from oblivion, championing them on stage and patiently, carefully recording them. Nicolas Horvath also improvises and composes electronic music. Since the early 2000s, he has been active in the experimental and underground scene under many different names, especially Dapnom. A collaboration with Merzbow had already been considered some fifteen years ago. In the midst of forced isolation, it was all the more tempting to meet symbolically, following the ways of the World Wide Web. Pia-Noise is actually a project born from the health crisis and lockdowns, carried out from different homes in days of anguish and uncertainty. Both artists thus projected their worries about the ongoing crisis and today's ecological disaster. The music produced took on the shape of a constant struggle between, on the one hand, Merzbow's continuous release of energy, saturated sounds, masses, stridencies, powerful granulations, surrounding textures, chaotic rhythms and organized chaos, and on the other, Nicolas Horvath's improvisations, sometimes lyrical, sometimes harmonic, always deeply rooted in his classical culture and personal pantheon, like a memory of a golden age forever lost. No listener will escape it as they lend a careful and sometimes all but desperate ear to the raging soundwaves. The two continuous musical lines often collide and even seem to ignore each other every so often, but they also meet and complete each other, helping the compositions breath. This confrontation generates a great opulence of sound calling for an extremely active form of listening. In the midst of a global wreck and a period of upheaval, two artists still manage to communicate from one digital raft to another, and render the poetry of a moment. Comes in four-panel digipack with eight-page booklet.
CD $17
JON ROSE - Aeolian Tendency (Room40 4219; Australia) “A note from Jon Rose: "Characteristically invisible and inaudible, the wind is made manifest solely by its agency and performance on objects: huge waves crash to shore, sand dunes edge forward over millennia (rumbling as they go), cyclones uproot trees and houses, intergalactic winds confound the planets. On a more modest scale, I've been building aeolian instruments since 1979, part of my investigation into the innumerable aspects of the vibrating string. I designed the two recent aeolian instruments heard on this album, the Monolith 2021 and the Tube 2022, with a focus on engaging with the variable windy conditions experienced in central Australia. The bodies of these instruments are flanked on all sides by multiple strings. The 1.25-meter Monolith is made of plywood, with 36 strings of both piano wire and fishing line. The Tube is literally a 2-meter PVC pipe and is fitted with fishing line only. Discrete adjustments can be manually made if the wind shifts or if the operator wishes to engage other adjacent strings, often resulting in microtonal beats. The Monolith is set up with contact microphones cut into each bridge, and the Tube was recorded with air microphones inserted internally. Tuning rational has as much to do with tautness, thickness, and material quality of string as actual pitch when in a state of 'excitation' -- this violinist's intuition. These aeolian experiments are ongoing and may go some way to designing an instrument that simultaneously handles both the von Kárán vortex effect and unpredictable wind patterns. The results so far have generated numerous sonic surprises."
CD $18
STONE MUSIC - July 15, 2022 (Room40 4224CD; Australia) A note from Hasegawa: "The first LP by the Taj Mahal Travellers was recorded at Sogetsu Hall in Tokyo on July 15, 1972, which became the title of the work and was released the same year by CBS Sony Records. A live performance celebrating the 50th anniversary of this album was held on July 15, 2022. The only original members of the Taj Mahal Travellers who attended were myself and Seiji Nagai. This is because two of the six members passed away, two are religiously active and they cannot play music according to their belief, and the last one has lost touch with us. Therefore, young musicians were recruited to perform with us. This performance was a spark of improvisation that broke 50 years of my silence. Let me recall a little about the day of the concert. The venue was a live house called Forestlimit Hatagaya, about 20 minutes by car from Shibuya. In the pouring rain, we ended up entering a narrow alley from where it was impossible to reach the place by car, so after unloading my instruments, we had to head back to a wider road and find another route. The venue was small and located on the basement floor. Among performers and members we were more than ten people, and including the audience, in total about 60 people gathered on that day. Indeed, the place felt packed like a crowded train in Tokyo. Many of the performers were meeting each other for the first time, and not only the audience but the participating musicians themselves could not imagine what the performance would be like. For this live performance, I asked my friends to perform stone, shadow, bamboo, and gorilla."
CD $18
JEAN LUC FAFCHAMPS - Ensemble(s)(Sub Rosa 547CD; Belgium) Seen from the outside, Ensemble(s) is in a sense a kind of compilation of unreleased or rare pieces covering nearly three decades. Five essential pieces that count in the evolution of the Jean-Luc Fafchamps' writing. Post-spectral works that definitively position Fafchamps as one of the important European composers. It also weaves subtle links between him and Jean-Paul Dessy and Musiques Nouvelles, once created by Henri Pousseur. This disc is undoubtedly the best introduction to his work. Performed by Musiques Nouvelles. Conducted by Jean-Paul Dessy.
"At the instigation of Jean-Paul Dessy, the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble initiated all sorts of configurations to which I was often associated, and glad to be. This album is the journal of these criss-crossing collaborations: sometimes as part of the ECO (European Contemporary Orchestra) project, through which Musiques Nouvelles met the Ensemble Télémaque (from France) and Orkest de ereprijs (from the Netherlands) in a large orchestral formation; sometimes for a project produced with Art Zoyd (France); sometimes as a string ensemble or with Claire Bourdet as a soloist. I am glad to present, united in one album, such different periods, contrasting collaborations and multiple encounters not merely due to coincidence but also to affinities. May my style, and the story of my questionings, give a certain consistency to this ensemble of beautiful collaborations." - Jean-Luc Fachamps
CD $16
BILL CALLAHAN with NICK MAZZARELLA / JOSHUA ABRAMS / NATHAN BALLINGER / LISA ALVARADO - Resuscitate! (Drag City DC 900CD; YSA) "The date was March 6, 2023. Bill Callahan strode onto the stage at Chicago's Thalia Hall, flanked by Matt Kinsey on guitar, Dustin Laurenzi on tenor sax and Jim White on the kit. They all were feeling good, and it seemed like the crowd was also. But that wasn't all. They had some special surprises planned."
"This is a live album that was taken from the tour for YTI⅃AƎЯ. Songs tend to mutate after they've been recorded. These songs were mutating faster than usual. Like whatever happened to Bruce Banner in the lab -- I knew these songs were about to get superpowers. As far as I was concerned, this change needed to be documented. The best thing about documenting something is that it gives the creator permission to move on should they wish to move on. I usually prefer to move on. These songs were recorded in Chicago, America's heart. And at one of the best clubs in the country -- I try to only work with venues that are not entangled with LiveNation/Ticketmaster. Thalia Hall, baby. Stay free. The date was mid-point in the tour, so I knew we'd be as hot as we were going to get. Not too green, not too brown. There was the thought, 'let's take this op to make it something special.' So we took advantage of Chicago's easily accessible players -- we got Nick Mazzarella to add alto sax to one song, and from the opening band, Pascal Kerong'A to sing on a song, and Nathaniel Ballinger on piano on one song -- and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to invite Joshua Abrams and Lisa Alvarado to play on 'Natural Information.' The hardest part of making the record was cutting songs out -- it could have been a triple album. But I don't know, maybe the show should have been this short?" - Bill Callahan
CD $15
WAND - Vertigo (Drag City DC 865CD; USA) "Wand are back, and they're coming down slowly. With Vertigo, what hath Wand spawned? It's multichromatic, that's for sure, but it's too soon to tell. The way cells are replaced and all new again? That's it. Now they are ten and all new again, but in the sample set of the time between they've undergone the complex dimensional restructure, coming out a quartet. So, new-ish, in new ways anyway. The new Wand's built upon the exalted altars of old. There's flashes of sentiment and tension, nudity and evasion, theatrical elevation, giant pieces chunked throughout alongside little bits of things. Allowing for slippage, it's all one: the far horizon drawn in, nearer than ever before, allowing the chance for greater integration, if you stay open. Vertigo is the sound of feet lost, regained, lost again, equilibrium in soft focus, a swaying feeling, more automatic and associative: in time, direct. Determining to work backwards this time, Wand recorded everything in their own studio; pieces cut from improvisations and reshaped, writing from within the performance, without the woodshed. Unconsciously, in the shadow of themselves, and turning round and round (and round), they kept finding that empty space and playing what it implied. Everybody took on a new position in addition to the old one. It was intuitive, strangely ego-less, going somewhere they'd never been and not knowing what they were doing, but committing and recommitting, unafraid to eject in a constant positive forward momentum. It's like folk music for children, with synthesizers and other crap. Raw details with a lush velvet backing. Hear the articular evidence granular within the jams as it flows. Wand are funneling energy, pitching space your way -- more like to stand your hair on its toes with every verse-chorus. Pulling on segments of infinity, boiled down and resequenced, they've devised their own dream gear to drive the old moterik into wide open space, in atmospheric reverb, on perma-globular drift."
CD $15
NATHAN BOWLES TRIO - Are Possible (Drag City DC 881CD; USA) "The Nathan Bowles Trio's Are Possible is a spark-throwing, undulating fusion of styles played (mainly) on banjo, upright bass and drums. The individual perspectives of Nathan, double-bassist Casey Toll (Jake Xerxes Fussell, Mt. Moriah) and drummer Rex McMurry (CAVE) work together in an easy-rolling manner, but one that contains an expansive, ass-shaking confabulation of ideas. Nathan's solo music-making explorations with the banjo are evidence of the range of possible places to go in the world while still in contact with one's roots: clawhammer boogie, strummed, bowed and percussive techniques, original compositions and traditional tunes, all cutting a path between old-time Appalachian music and its long-lost cousin, ecstatic minimal drone. In conversation with Rex and Casey's own conceptions, with guitar, bass, mellowtone, keyboards, drums and percussion aboard, he continues to ride toward new vistas. It's been a long six years since these three players first appeared on Nathan's 2018 album, Plainly Mistaken, a stretch made weird by the period of time in which social music couldn't be played socially. But again, nothing ever really dies: the time since, experienced as individuals and as a band, informs everything about Are Possible's multitudinous group sound. The details along the road that the band traveled to get here, where one riff blossomed into ten, then melted back down, and parts were added and subtracted and became each other in moments of new collective understanding, lent a unique prog-nosticafication to the possibilities of Are Possible before they'd even recorded a note. Music is time in redux: Are Possible's many moments in time carry details from all over the place. Rex brought a rhythm to the table after drumming on buckets at work, Casey provided a bassline that redirected a previous jam, Nathan brought in a song he'd been fucking with forever and they figured it out together. Their diversity of sources moves easily within the arrangements, rendering a far-ranging set of feels, from transcendental to new country funk to good ol' jazz and the folk-rock, even -- all of it drawn out exquisitely when they mixed at Electrical Audio in Chicago with the delicate hands of Cooper Crain upon the faders. The Nathan Bowles Trio have done their due diligence, passing their music through time and space on their way to now; now, the real trip begins, as Are Possible travels on, through you."
CD $15
JOHN COLTRANE / RAY DRAPER - The Complete Ray Draper Quintet Sessions 1957-58 (Acrobat ACMCD 4375; EEC) Now regarded as one of the most iconic figures in jazz history, back in the late 1950s John Coltrane was a regular "gun for hire" participating in many sessions by studio-assembled bands led by a wide array of leaders. None were more unusual than the two albums he recorded with Ray Draper, a truly unique exponent of modern jazz tuba. Although still in his teens, the prodigal brassman was already a member of drummer Max Roach's group and had begun to emerge as an equally promising composer, highlighted by the number of themes from his pen featured on these two sets. Recorded during Coltrane's celebrated "sheets of sound" period, Draper's brace of albums are noteworthy for their inclusion of three compositions written by the other twin-peak of modern jazz saxophone, Sonny Rollins, two of which Coltrane did not record elsewhere. A fascinating and engaging footnote to Coltrane's career, these albums have been in and out of print for years but this is the first ever to bring them together on one CD release. Complete with a comprehensive booklet essay by noted saxophonist Simon Spillett, detailing Draper's short-lived and tragic career, this album is a forgotten gem of modern jazz.
CD $18
CHARLIE ROUSE with PAUL QUINCHETTE / FRANK FOSTER / HERBIE MANN / SAHIB SHIHAB / BLUE MITCHELL / KENNY BURRELL / FREDDIE GREENE / JULIUS WATKINS / MAL WALDRON / HANK JONES / WYNTON KELLY / WALTER DAVIS / WALTER BISHOP / GILDO MAHONES / SAM JONES / PAUL CHAMBERS / WENDELL MARSHALL / ED THIGPEN / ART TAYLOR / CHANO POZO / et al - The Classic Albums Collection (Enlightenment 9234; EEC) American hard bop tenor saxophonist and flautist Charlie Rouse, (April 6, 1924 - November 30, 1988) had a career marked by his collaboration with Thelonious Monk, which lasted for more than ten years. While not a household name in jazz circles, Charlie Rouse was nevertheless an important icon of the form and remains among the finest tenors from the golden era of post-bop. This 4CD set features eight original albums on which Charlie Rouse led or co-led between 1956 and 1963, the era when the great man's creative genius was at its peak. Serving as both a welcome introduction to this maverick musician's finest work, and as a classic collection of his superb talent and style, this set will delight anyone with a linking for classic American jazz music. Albums included are: Les Jazz Modes’, ‘The Chase is On’, ‘Just Wailin’ (1958), ‘Taylor’s Tenors’ (1959), ’The Jazz Modes’ (1959), ’Takin’ Care of Business’ (1960), ‘Yeah!’ (1961) and ‘Bossa Nova Bacchanal’ (1963),
4 CD Set $18
GARY BARTZ and NTU TROOP - Live in Bremen (Moosicus 1315-2; EEC) The musical life of the American jazz saxophonist Gary Bartz is busy and eventful. The eighty-year-old American Bartz jammed with Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Pharoah Sanders at a young age. In 1965 he became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In 1970 Bartz joined the Miles Davis Band, played with Davis at the Isle Of Wight - Festival and on his studio/live album ''Live Evil''.
In 1972 Gary Bartz founded his own band, NTU Troop. He borrowed the name from the Bantu language. Bartz: ''Ntu means unity in all things, in time and space, life and death, in the visible and the invisible. Musically, it stands for an alliance of bop, free, rock and African music. On 8th November 1975, Gary Bartz performed with the NTU Troop in Bremen's Post-Aula. Radio Bremen was there and now the recording is being released physically and digitally on Moosicus. Gary Bartz was joined on stage by drummer Howard King, bassist Curtis Robertson and pianist Charles Mims, an extraordinary, musically brilliant quartet that was well-rehearsed and coordinated. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, because quite soon after this performance, the NTU Troop went their separate ways again. For Gary Bartz, jazz is ''improvised composing'', which can be heard on this live album recorded 46 years ago.
Featuring Gary Bartz on alto & soprano saxes & vocals, Charles Mims on piano, electric piano & synth, Curtis Robertson on el bass and Howard King on drums. Saxist Gary Bartz’s first album was released in 1969 and his guests included Pharoah Sanders & Charles Tolliver. That same year, Mr. Bartz organized his own band NTU Troop, whose first album was released in 1970, the same year that Bartz was also playing in the Miles Davis Band. Mr. Bartz NTU Troop went on to record seven albums by 1974. Starting with their second album, ‘Harlem Bush Music’, Mr. Bartz was both singing and narrating with guest vocals by Andy Bey. Mr. Bey ended up staying with the band with Bartz using electric piano and electric bass added to his band.
We just got a copy of this 2 CD set in the mail from my sales guy at MVD (thanks Lou!). Generally I am not so sure about medleys but Mr. Bartz does an admirable job of keeping the flow between songs just right and picking all good songs. The opening medley is nearly 31 minutes long and features two songs, “Nation Time” and “Juju Man”. Both Mr. Bartz’s soprano sax is spirited and vocals are charming. His bassist sings back-up vocals and both singers sound great together. The words to “Celestial Blues” about someone’s mama are pretty hilarious and fit the music quite well. Bartz occasionally adds a bit of effects to his sax but there is nothing cheesy about this music whatsoever. The last song on CD 1 is “I’ve Known Rivers” which I used to hear on FM radio and have always dug. This version is 24 minutes long and it is superb throughout especially that lovely, laid back Spirit Jazz vibe. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD Set $22
AFRICA NEGRA - Antologia Vol. 2 (Bongo Joe Records BJR 068CD; Switzerland) Continuing the exploration of São Tomé and Príncipe with DJ Tom B., Les Disques Bongo Joe proudly announces the release of África Negra Anthology Vol. 2. The label has carefully selected and remastered 13 standout tracks for this volume, digitized from studio tapes by their tour manager. The album includes a booklet with updated liner notes and vintage photos of the group. África Negra, established in the early 1970s by Horacio and Emidio Pontes, is São Tomé and Príncipe's most renowned musical group. Their blend of Puxa and Rumba, infused with Leonildo Barros' guitar riffs, Armando Tito's bass lines, and vibrant percussion, gained them recognition beyond the archipelago. This volume offers a glimpse into their musical journey, featuring unreleased sessions from 1979 and 1990, showcasing lead vocalists like João Seria and Sergio Fonseca. This anthology is dedicated to the memory of General João Seria, Gabriel João, Sep 1, 1949 - May 4, 2023.
CD $17
CASSETTE SECTION:
LOREN CONNORS / CHRIS COCHRANE with gabby fluke-mogul / STEPHEN HAYNES / JAMES ILGENFRITZ - Artemisia (Infrequent Seams IS-2015; USA) Featuring Loren Connors & Chris Cochrane on guitars, gabby fluke-mogul on violin, Stephen Haynes on trumpets and James Ilgenfritz on bass. This is a live recording from I-Beam recorded on February 10th of 2023. Both guitarists Loren (Mazzacane) Connors and Chris Cochrane’s music careers go back to the mid-to-late 1980’s, although their trajectories are/were pretty different. While Mr. Connors played his own perspective of blues/rock/psych/atmospheric guitar in solo, duos and quartet (Haunted House) situations, Chris Cochrane used to play louder and skronkier in bands like No Safety, Curlew and various Zorn projects. According to the liner notes, this is the first time that Mr. Connor and Mr. Cochrane had played with each as well as the first that this combination of musicians played together. You should recognize the names of the other players here from different previous collaborations: Ms. fluke-mogul from her duos with Joanna Mattrey & Nava Dunkleman, Mr. Haynes (from work with Bill Dixon & Joseph Daley) and bassist James Ilgenfritz (who runs this, the Infrequent Seams label) & leading a variety of different projects.
The cassette begins with “Toxicodendron Vernix” and it has that Conner’s like swirling sound with all the instruments swirling around one another in a most ethereal way. Chris Cochrane has evolved stylistically over four decades and does well as a team player no matter who he is playing with. Most of the music here is solemn, restrained, dreamy, eerie and often hypnotic. Although Mr. Connors usually plays with bluesy swirls, Mr. Cochrane adds layers of bent guitar sounds carefully, sparsely and often at a low volume. Once our expectations and/or pulse is lowered, we start to hear the way things work here with the flame on low and the temperature on simmer. What some might find to be boring or not enough, what I hear is far richer in subtle details and somehow often mesmerizing overall. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Cassette $10
JAMES ILGENFRITZ QUINTET with JD PARRAN / RAS MOSHE / PAYTON MacDONALD / NAVA DUNKELMAN - Museum of Invisible Things (Infrequent Seams IS-2010; USA) Featuring JD Parran & Ras Moshe on woodwinds, James Ilgenfritz on contrabass, Payton MacDonlad on vibes and Nava Dunkelman on percussion. The ever-ambitious bassist James Ilgenfritz has been running the Infrequent Seams label for the past few years and releasing a variety of interesting music on CD, cassette and vinyl. The music can be improvised or composed or in between and the musicians often come from diverse backgrounds. Mr. Ilgenfritz organized this quintet and I don’t think that any of these players had worked with one another before. Both reed players, JD Parran & Ras Moshe, are a generation apart with Mr. Parran playing in a variety of composed & free situation while Mr. Moshe is more know for his freer and oft fire-like sound. Vibes & marimba player & professor, Payton MacDonald, organized a fine quartet called Void patrol whose members include Elliott Sharp, Colin Stetson & Billy Martin. Percussionist Nava Dunkelman studied and has collaborated with Fred Frith & Brandon Seabrook.
JD Parran usually plays clarinets, flutes and the larger saxes while Ras Moshe plays mainly tenor sax or flute. When this disc begins we hear a cushion of percussion (marimbas?), bass or alto clarinet and busy bass at the center holding things together. Both reed players play together thoughtfully as does both percussionists. Similar to what Mr. MacDonald does in Void Patrol with Billy Martin, both percussionists work together here quite well combining their unique abilities into layered percussion discussions. Mr. Ilgrenfritz’s bass is often at the center whether working closely with the percussionists and/or the reeds team and soloing superbly in spurts. What I still like about the cassette format is that there is minimal digital signal being utilized hence the sound is mostly warm and organic sounding with no (digital) distortion or compression. The term “free/jazz” no longer applies to this music since it is beyond or in between these categories. Mr. Moshe’s strong Trane-like tenor playing weaves in and out of the evolving sound mass which is often in flux. The bowing of the bass and perhaps the percussion also adds some ethereal drone-like sections. The music often transcends pigeonholing and becomes an eerie, hypnotic pulsating cloud which is slowly changing shapes and expectations. Often I would forget which release I was listening to and have to look over to my ancient tapedeck to remind myself of what’s what. Tasty medicine for the somewhat dismal, overcast and overly humid weather of late July (2024). - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
Cassette $10
LP SECTION:
BERNIE WORRELL / JOHN KING / CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA - Spherical (Infrequent Seams 1057; USA) Featuring Bernie Worrell on Hammond B3, clavinet & mini-Moog, John King on guitar and Cindy Blackman Santana on drums. I recall when guitarist & composer John King first appeared on the Downtown Scene, he played (lead) guitar in the second version of David Moss’ Dense Band. The original version of David Moss’ Dense Band was as all-star Downtown unit with John Zorn, Fred Frith, Tom Cora, Christina Marclay and Wayne Horvitz (CD in 1988), but the second version was a hard rocking quartet with John King on guitar, Anthony Coleman on keyboards, Jeane Chaine on bass and David Moss on drums & vocals. I caught that band live as a trio and was most impressed with Mr. King’s feisty, inventive lead guitar. Mr. King put together his own group known as Electric World, which made three discs between 1989 and 1993. Their third and last disc was called ‘Life=Love’ and was released on the MuWorks label just as the label was closing shop. The last Electric World featured King on guitar, Amin Ali on bass (son of Rashied & bassist for Blood Ulmer) and Abe Speller (from the Sonny Sharrock Band) on bass plus guest keyboard wizard Bernie Worrell (from Funkadelic & Talking Heads). Since MuWorks was going under when the CD was released (in 1993), it received very little promotion and was mostly forgotten soon after. That disc was & is still an overlooked gem and we might still have some CD copies in the back of the store. I will have to look & let you know. I recall speaking with Mr. King at the time and telling me how disappointed he was about what happened. John King continued to make other records, a live trio with David Moss & Otomo Yoshihide (for the Victo label) and with a group called Electric Sun which included Hoppy Kamiyama, Kato Hideki & Hideo Yamaki. A few years later, Mr. King recorded two discs for the Tzadik label of his classical music in 2006 and 2020, both of which I really like.
In 1994, soon after ‘Live=Love’ was released, King put together a new all star trio with Bernie Worrell on keyboards, Cindy Blackman (Santana) on drums & King on lead guitar. That trio recorded in a studio and unfortunately the tapes of the session were lost for 30 years and were recently found, hence this new release. John King chose his two collaborators extremely well since both are master musicians, perfect for this hard-hitting trio. Bernie Worrell was a child prodigy pianist, a founding & longtime member of Funkadelic and busy member of Bill Laswell’s various projects throughout the 1990’s and early aughts. Folks often under-estimate Cindy Blackman since she is beautiful looking and married to Carlos Santana. It turns out that she is an incredible jazz/rock drummer, whose drumming prowess has been compared with Tony Williams. I once caught here as a guest with Praxis (with Buckethead, Bill Laswell & Bernie Worrell) and later with Spectrum Road (with Jack Bruce, John Medeski & Vernon Reid). Her monster playing was just incredible in both bands!
Which brings us to Spherical, a long lost gem from 30 years ago. Starting with “Future Blues”, this album kick open with strong, funky clavinet by Mr. Worrell, a/k/a Dr. Woo, intense skronky guitar by Mr. King and the powerhouse drumming of Ms. Blackman. “Unfunkingstoppable” begins with some sly synth from Mr. Worrell, screaming, steaming, wah wah guitar from King and powerful jazz-rocking drumming. “Stomp-Time Shuffle” opens Side B with a slamming funk/rockin’ groove. Since there is no bassist here, Bernie Worrell often plays bass lines on his Hammond organ or synth with Ms. Blackman doubling up the groove with her bass pedal or her pounding drumming. John King himself is a powerful lead guitarist, playing dense, wah wah/fuzz lines, whipping up a storm, dancing on top of the groove with his growling guitar. Mr. Worrell plays some wailing organ on “Auguries” and snarling, wicked guitar as well. Although this album was improvised in the studio, it often doesn’t sound like it. The last piece, “Sonny’s Hand”, sounds like a great rockish anthem and it just keeps building with Worrell on exquisite piano, King on majestic guitar and Blackman creating a great sly groove underneath. The melody that John King is playing sounds like Jimi Hendrix, sort of, and it feels so good that you don’t want it to end. This is a true unearthed gem so dust off your turntables and give it a listen. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
LP $20
THE CONCORD STRING QUARTET // EARLE BROWN / JOHN CAGE / MORTON FELDMAN - Plays the Music of Brown, Cage and Feldman (Klimt MJJ 366LP; France) Last copies just found. "An accomplished group in the world of chamber music, the Concord String Quartet, active from 1971-1987, gained almost immediate attention from the press as well as a dedicated following, after winning the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1972. Although the quartet was a classical string quartet, these rare 1973 recordings show the group's affinity for the 'New York School' of avant-garde composers, like Earle Brown, John Cage, and Morton Feldman. Side B is entirely comprised of John Cage's 1950 String Quartet in Four Parts, where each section of the piece corresponds to one of the four seasons as well as a particular force: spring/creation, summer/preservation, autumn/ destruction, and winter/quiescence." Featured works: Earle Brown, String Quartet 2; Morton Feldman, Structures for String Quartet; John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts.
LP $25
FAIRPORT CONVENTION with RICHARD THOMPSON / SANDY DENNY / SIMON NICOL / IAN MATTHEWS / ASHLY HUTCHINGS / MARTIN LAMBLE / DAVE MATTACKS - The Broadcast Album 1968-1970 (Rhythm and Blues RANDB 096LP; UK) In this release, listeners navigate the uncharted waters of Fairport Convention's early voyages across the UK, European and American airwaves. Fairport initially focused on covers of future classics by US/Canadian singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Richard Farina, and Bob Dylan, but delivered these covers in increasingly extended electric versions, becoming England's answer to Jefferson Airplane. Within two years the band evolved into the prime-movers of British electric folk-rock, mixing electrified traditional songs with outstanding original material provided mainly by Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson.
LP $20
THE ROLLING STONES - The Rolling Stones On Tour '66 (Volume 2)(Rhythm and Blues 106LP; UK) By 1966, the Jagger/Richard songwriting partnership was now producing razor-sharp singles on a regular basis. Bringing these into the live act meant ditching most of the cover versions that the band had previously relied upon. The tracks selected for this LP combine the best of the Stones new material with a few older classics. Comes with complete recording details and liner notes.
LP $20
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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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THE STONE RESIDENCIES / STRING NOISE / JULY 24-27
7/24 Wednesday
8:30 pm - String Noise with Louis Michot
Conrad Harris (violin) Pauline Kim Harris (violin) Louis Michot (guitar, fiddle, vocals)
7/25 Thursday
8:30 pm - String Noise plays Philip Glass and Phill Niblock
Conrad Harris (violin) Pauline Kim Harris (violin)
7/26 Friday
8:30 pm - String Noise with David Behrman
Conrad Harris (violin) Pauline Kim Harris (violin) David Behrman (electronics)
7/27 Saturday
8:30 pm - Chaconne Project: World Premieres
Pauline Kim Harris (violin)
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / MATANA ROBERTS / JULY 31-AUG 3
7/31 Wednesday
8:30 pm - TRIO: Matana Roberts (axophone) Adi Myerson (bass) Rahul Nair (drums)
8/1 Thursday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Matana Roberts (saxophone) Fay Victor (voice) Rebekah Heller (bassoon)
8/2 Friday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Matana Roberts (saxophone) Pauline Roberts (vibraphone) Brandon Lopez (bass)
8/3 Saturday
8:30 pm - TRIO - Matana Roberts (saxophone) Tomas Fujiwara (drums) and a special guest
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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This comes from a friend and STEVE LACY Italian fan, Mauro Stocco:
www.stevelacymemorialscrapbook.org is a recent tribute portal dedicated to Steve Lacy, the great soprano sax genius who passed away twenty years ago, on June 4th, 2004. The website currently features contributions by Alvin Curran, Roberto Ottaviano, Gianni Mimmo, Zlatko Kaučič, Andrea Centazzo, Tino Tracanna, Vincent Lainè, Jason Weiss, and others will follow over time.
After having dedicated many years to collecting records, books and magazines about Steve, having met him several times and organized gigs for him in solo, trio, sextet and with Musica Elettronica Viva, I decided it was the time to create a simple, but heartfelt, tribute.
Steve Lacy was a genius of our time, a sort of Leonardo Da Vinci, capable of interacting with Dixieland, Monk, Ellington, free, Indian music, MEV, Giuseppe Chiari, dance, painting, sculpture, cinema, poetry, Living Theatre, philosophy, Tao, codifying the role of the modern soprano saxophone.
Anyone who feels they have a contribution to make to the site can contact the e-mail address listed.
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NEW VIDEOS from GUITAR MASTER HENRY KAISER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWJ20KEHAdQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuKk7GFtGls
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CHRIS CUTLER
Formerly of HENRY COW, THE ART BEARS, NEWS FOR BABEL & RECOMMENDED RECORDS (ReR) has been creating an ongoing series of podcasts called the Probes series. I am often fascinated at listening to each of these as Mr. Cutler does an incredible job of showing a deep history of Creative Music in the 20th century & beyond. I usually listen to these on the train to NYC that I take to get to work each day. The most recent Probes (#37) was released earlier this year, here are the links:
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-37
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-36
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-362-auxiliaries
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ATTENTION TO ALL DMG CUSTOMERS: NEW EMAIL ADDRESS: downtownmusicgalleryofficial@gmail.com
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