DMG Newsletter for September 22nd, 2017

Back from Guelph and I Had a Blast
Great Weather and a Fine International Cast
of Friends Made this a Most Worthy Trip
A Shout Out to Great Sets from Matt Shipp, John Butcher, Peggy Lee, Rene Lussier,
BassDrumBone, Peter Brotzmann Solo and the Sandcatchers from Brooklyn!?!
Back to DMG for Another Week’s Worth of Incredible Discs from:

John Zorn - The Interpretations of Dreams! ARCANA VIII: Musicians on Music - Ten Year Anniversary Edition Book! Irene Schweizer & Joey Baron! Tom Rainey Obbligato: Ingrid Laubrock / Ralph Alessi / Kris Davis / Drew Gress! John Butcher / Damon Smith / Weasel Walter! Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet & Solo Sax Debut!

Boneshaker: Mars Williams/Kent Kessler/Paal Nilsson-Love! Scottish Sax Great Raymond MacDonald CD & LP sale: GIO, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Satoko Fujii, Natsuki Tamura..! Brooklyn Raga Massive: Terry Riley’s ‘In C’! The Return of the Italian Surf Academy!

Joan La Barbara! John Cage ‘Works for Percussion 4’! Wolfgang Rihm! Philip Jeck! Whitehouse! More Rare Sun Ra Vinyl! The Thing & James Blood Ulmer LP! Sven-Ake Johansson & Alex Von Schlippenbach! The Ashra Tempel Experience! And Even More..!

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THE DMG 26TH ANNIVERSARY SERIES OF SONIC CELEBRATIONS Continue with:

Sunday, September 24th:
6pm: KYOKO KITAMURA / KEN FILIANO / DAYEON SEOK - Vocals / ContraBass / Percussion
7pm: IRENE KEPL and DAVID GROLLMAN - Violin and Snare Drum

Sunday, October 1st:
6pm: JEREMY CARLSTEDT & RICK PARKER - Drums & Trombone/Electronics
7pm: WILL GREENE / ZOE CHRISTIANSEN / DANIEL PENCER WOODWIND TRIO

Sunday, October 8th:
6pm: LEONOR FALCON & SANA NAGANO - All New String Duo

Sunday, October 15th:
6pm: ROBERTO OTTAVIANO - Rare Solo Sax Set
7pm: JUDI SILVANO & BRUCE ARNOLD ELECTRO-ACOUSTIC DUO - CD Release Set

Sunday, October 22nd:
6pm: PATRICK BRENNAN / JASON KAO HWANG / PATRICK HOLMES / BRIAN GRODER
7pm: LUIS CONDE & JOSH SINTON

DMG is located at 13 Monroe St. (between Catherine & Market Sts) in a basement below a small gallery. Take the F train to East Broadway or the 6 train to Canal or the B or D to Grand, or the M-15 bus to Madison & Catherine. Come on Down, the Sunday Music Series is Always Free & the Vibes are Always Cosy

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* JOHN ZORN // STEPHEN GOSLING / SHANIR BLUMENKRANZ / TYSHAWN SOREY / JACK QUARTET / SAE HASHIMOTO - The Interpretations of Dreams (Tzadik 8355; USA) “This powerful collection of new work inspired by the surrealism of Luis Buñuel and the psychotropic dream world of William Burroughs comprises three remarkable compositions—two stream-of-consciousness tours de force for vibraphone and rhythm section and the sensual piano quintet Obscure Objects of Desire, one of Zorn’s most evocative new works. Performing is the powerful young vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto, along with JACK quartet, Steve Gosling, Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz and Tyshawn Sorey from Zorn’s devoted inner circle. A colorful and varied program of breathtakingly transcendent compositions conjuring dreams and obsessions both real and imaginary!”
CD $14

ARCANA [JOHN ZORN, Editor] - Arcana VIII: Musicians on Music - Ten Year Anniversary Edition (Hips Road; USA) Contributors: Jad Atoui, Steve Beresford, Per Bloland, Brian Chase, Kris Davis, Robert Dick, Rinde Eckert, Harris Eisenstadt, Dave Fiuczynski, David Garland, Michael Gordon, Simon Haynes, John Hollenbeck, Jon Irabagon, Julian Lage, Ava Mendoza, Matt Mitchell, Nicole Mitchell, Shane Parish, Chris Pitsiokos, Sofia Rey, Ted Reichman, Marc Urselli, Ken Vandermark, et al
Initiated in 1997 and now in its eighth installment, John Zorn’s acclaimed Arcana series is a major source of new music theory and practice in the 21st century. To date over 250 musicians (spanning three generations) have contributed, addressing the inner workings of composing, improvising, teaching, living, touring and thinking about music via essays, manifestoes, interviews, notes, critical papers and more. This special anniversary edition presents writings spanning classical music, jazz, rock, improvisation, world music, film soundtracks and more by exciting young artists, established masters and visionary mavericks.
BOOK $35

* Attention John Zorn Fans: I started a ZornFanBlast Newsletter last year which includes a comprehensive list of Zorn performances from around the world and as well as CD, LP & Book releases. It is sent out just two or three times a year. If you which to subscribe to the this newsletter, you can respond to this newsletter and say yes to the ZornFanBlast. It is of course free. - BLG / DMG


IRENE SCHWEIZER / JOEY BARON - Live! (Intakt 293; Switzerland) “The performance of the two was one of the highlights of the Unerhört-Festival in Zürich, 2015. Their encounter had every-thing you could hope for: energy, drive and mesmerizing exchanges paired with the magical tunes Schweizer is famous for. "This beautiful recording documents a marvelous evening in Zürich," John Corbett writes in the liner notes.”
Improvising pianist extraordinary, Irene Schweizer’s long music career is closing on the half century mark in the next year or two. Ms. Schweizer has had a long history of playing many duos with great drummers: Han Bennink, Louis Moholo, Pierre Favre and Andrew Cyrille. For this live set, recorded in Zurich in November of 2015, Ms. Schweizer played with yet another amazing drummer: the one and only Joey Baron. A founding member of two Zorn bands: Naked City and Masada, Joey Baron has been stretching out for the past two decades and working with John Abercrombie, Steve Kuhn and Enrico Pieranunzi. Instead of of being a totally improvised affair, both Ms. Schweizer and Mr. Baron each contributed 3 or 4 pieces each. The sound here is superb, perfectly balanced on several levels. “Free for All” starts off freely but soon evolves into an infectious, soulful groove-fest. Mr. Baron’s short succinct drum solo midway is just the icing on the cake for an already perfect opening dialogue. “Up the Ladder” is a long, episodic piece with Mr. Baron’s playing the drums with his hands, a specialty of his that always works well with whomever he is playing with. The music here has an earthy near folk-like vibe as if the lovely melody was written by Mother Nature herself. On “String Fever” Ms. Schweizer plays inside the piano, tapping lightly and muting the strings to produce some hypnotic effects which works well with Baron’s subtle percussion. When Ms. Schweizer erupts on “Jungle Beat II”, Mr. Baron shadows her every move, increasing and decreasing the tempo and dynamics as one integrated force. My favorite piece here is called, “Blues for Crelier” which has a joyous, vibe and will make you smile no matter what is happening around you at the time. Music to help us feel better and deal with life in a most uplifting way is what makes this disc so intoxicating. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $18

TOM RAINEY OBBLIGATO With INGRID LAUBROCK / RALPH ALESSI / KRIS DAVIS / DREW GRESS - Float Upsteam (Intakt 292; Switzerland) “On this second CD with his band Obbligato Tom Rainey surprises with standards and beautiful love songs like «Stella by Starlight», «What Is This Thing Called Love» or «I Fall in Love too Easily». Tom Rainey has played in bands with Tim Berne, Fred Hirsch and Craig Taborn, and his own trio with Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson. For this ensemble he chose some of the finest players New York has to offer: Ingrid Laubrock, Ralph Alessi, Kris Davis and Drew Gress.
Christian Broecking writes (liner notes): «With Obbligato, Rainey brings two familiar acquaintances from Jazz history to the fore – collective playing and improvising on Standards – the actual material itself, the well-known melodies and chord progressions are not overly taken apart. With Obbligato he wanted to find his own way of playing the milestones of Jazz history.”
CD $18

JOHN BUTCHER / DAMON SMITH / WEASEL WALTER - The Catastrophe of Minimalism (UgExplode 017; USA) From the liner notes: “I first time I ever heard John Butcher play was at Colchester Arts Centre on 26th November 1992. I'd spotted a poster in the town library advertising an evening of John Cage's music to be performed by John, Chris Burn and Max Eastley. Admittedly, I hadn't too much previous knowledge of the musicians but I had read some bits and pieces about Cage. It was just a name thought, little more. The concert intrigued me nonetheless.
Colchester is the oldest recorded town in Great Britain, predating the Roman conquest of AD 43. The Arts Centre is located in St. Mary's at the Walls Church dating from 1206, some of the original parts were built against the old Roman wall (which still stands in modern Colchester).
I was no stranger to those thick stone walls at St. Mary's. Much of my formative gig going had taken place there via the monthly jazz club offerings. Charlie Rouse, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, Harry Sweets Edison, Stan Tracey, Teddy Edwards, Tommy Smith, Danny Thompson, Paul Dunmall and Jack Walrath were just some of the visitors I had seen there. The Cage concert, along with a number of London based gigs I'd been discovering, helped kick start…” - LTD Edition of 200
CD $15

WEASEL WALTER - A Pound of Flesh (UgExplode ; USA) “Pound Of Flesh’ is a tour de force solo offering by musical polymath Weasel Walter. Known for his wide ranging work with ensembles like The Flying Luttenbachers, Cellular Chaos, XBXRX, Behold The Arctopus, and Lydia Lunch Retrovirus, as well as his prolific career as an improviser, producer, and composer, Walter reveals almost 5 hours of long, abstract forms in this monolithic set. Ranging from detailed electro-acoustic music to athletic solo drumming, skronkily deconstructed power trio improvisations to minimalistic horrorscapes, harsh noise walls to solo guitar deconstructions, "A Pound Of Flesh" is a manifesto of internal coherence and brutal aesthetics. This box contains 4 CDs as well as a full color 12 page booklet discussing the compositions.” LTD Edition of 50.
4 CD Set $30

Two New Releases from Dave Rempis’ Aerophonics Records. Bruce reviews next week.

DAVE REMPIS PERCUSSION QUARTET With INGEBRIGT HAKER FLATEN / FRANK ROSALY / TIM DAISY - Cochonnerie (Aerophonics Records 014; USA) Featuring Dave Rempis on alto, tenor & bari saxes, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten on bass and Tim Daisy & Frank Rosaly on drums. Considering that Chicago multi-reeds wiz, Dave Rempis, has more than a half dozen different bands currently running on his own Aerophonic label, his Percussion Quartet is the most prolific. This is their eighth release after several discs on 482 Music, Utech and Not Two. The two drummers have remained the same throughout their history, only the bassist has changed once from Anton Hatwich to Ingebrigt Haker Flaten. The quartet sounds well-weathered, as if they have been playing together for a long while. The opening piece, “Straggler”, is very long, nearly 33 minutes, powerful, with Rempis erupting over waves of churning rhythms. Both drummers work well together and sound like great master-percussionist. Mr. Rempis has come a long way since his tenure with the Vandermark 5. He seems to work hard on each and every project so that each one is successful. At times he is on fire, erupting with molten cascades. soaring higher and higher, the rhythm team matching his fury whether over-the-top and sailing back down to more calm sections. Extraordinary! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

DAVE REMPIS - Lattice (Aerophonics 015: USA) Solo sax debut featuring Dave Rempis on alto, tenor and baritone saxes. “Dave Rempis is a mid-career artist whose deep roots in the Chicago improvised music scene have by now stretched themselves out across the world through his multiple ongoing collaborations. But he waited a long time to put out this first solo recording. Highly aware of the singular statements in this context put forth by artists such as Coleman Hawkins, Eric Dolphy, Anthony Braxton, Steve Lacy, Joe McPhee, Ab Baars, and Mats Gustafsson to name just a few, left him wary of taking this challenge on too soon. But in the fall of 2016, the time felt right. So he decided to combine the development of a unique solo vocabulary on his instrument into the larger goal of exploring and expanding the crucial network of artists, presenters, and fans that support improvised music in the United States. In the spring of 2017, he brought the idea to fruition by undertaking a massive journey across the country, performing thirty-one solo concerts in twenty-seven different cities, while also collaborating with local artists at each stop. This singular odyssey gave him the opportunity to delve methodically, night after night, into his own process towards solo improvisation. It also gave him a new understanding of the multiplicity of perspectives playing themselves out in the improvised music scene across the country. These lessons had a great effect on the music presented on this recording, culled from several live performances along the way. And the record and overall project were titled with this informal but essential artistic network in mind – Lattice.
The music on Lattice is expansive, incorporating Rempis’ interest in his own Greek musical heritage, his longstanding interest in the many varied musical traditions of Africa, his love for American jazz, and his enthusiasm for the seemingly endless sonic possibilities of the saxophone itself. The sheer physicality of his approach – sometimes achingly gentle, and sometimes a full blown fervor that feels as though it may burst the horn open at its seams, is palpable on all of these pieces. But that raw, human, almost vocal quality combines with a studied control of spontaneous form and structure in each piece to produce explorations of remarkable depth and focus.”
CD $14

BONESHAKER With MARS WILLIAMS / KENT KESSLER / PAAL NILSSON-LOVE - Thinking Out Loud (Trost 158; Austria) Boneshaker are Mars Williams (reeds, toy instruments), Paal Nilssen-Love (drums & percussion) and Kent Kessler (bass), three prolific powerhouse musicians, carrying among them a Grammy nomination and decades of experience with the top ensembles in the world. Thinking Out Loud is their third album. Personnel: Mars Williams - reeds; Paal Nilssen-Love - drums; Kent Kessler - bass.
CD $17 (In stock early next week)

PATRICK ZIMMERLI QUARTET With KEVIN HAYS / LARRY GRENADIER / TOM RAINEY SATOSHI TAKEISHI - Shores Against Silence (Songlines 1619; Canada) “This recording of New York saxophonist-composer Zimmerli's first quartet (Kevin Hays, piano; Larry Grenadier, bass; Tom Rainey, drums) went unreleased at the time. His first released recording was with his Ensemble (Songlines, 1995, followed by three other Songlines releases). Now he has returned to Shores and edited it for release in preparation for recording his new quartet, Clockworks, featuring The Bad Plus's Ethan Iverson (to be released on Songlines later in 2017). Shores includes "The Paw," a Zimmerli composition that won first prize in the first BMI/Thelonious Monk Institute competition. Like the other compositions on the record it draws on techniques that Zimmerli had analyzed in his studies of composers such as Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt. You can hear these ideas in the ear-catching intervals and melodic turns, and they are also there in the complex rhythmic structures which the musicians have to negotiate. But this is not avant-garde experimentation for its own sake. Zimmerli's music is always strongly rooted in traditional forms, no matter how far he may stretch them. And even at its most contrapuntally dense or pointillistic it still makes use of traditional harmonies, which serve as beds for the players to improvise on. As with the best Third Stream music, he adds the sparkle and burnish of the new to the modern jazz tradition. Vibrant, lively and urbane, this music is perhaps even more relevant to jazz today than when it was made. Zimmerli's career as a composer of classical as well as classical/jazz hybrid music has gained him worldwide recognition.
CD $15


A few weeks back (8/9/2017) a fabulous duo from Glasgow, Scotland made a rare appearance here at DMG: Raymond MacDonald on alto sax and George Burt on electric guitar. It was one of the most enchanting nights of international improv/free music that I’ve witnessed here at DMG in many years. You could tell that these two men have been playing together in various formations for many years. Mr. MacDonald and Mr. Burt are also members of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, an extraordinary large ensemble who have collaborated with: Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Maggie Nicols and George Lewis but rarely get the recognition they well deserve. Both Mr. MacDonald (and Mr. Burt) record prolifically and just sent us a big box of ten different titles on CD and a rare LP as well. Everything I’ve heard so far is consistently strong so I will include some short blurbs for the below list. We have about a half dozen copies of each, so dig in and grab them soon!

LOL COXHILL & RAMOND MacDONALD - Morphometry (Glo-Spot 1108; UK)“Asked in 2014 what he would like for his birthday, the Scottish producer and broadcaster John Cavanagh suggested that a crowd-funder be set up to release an album he had recorded by the saxophonists Lol Coxhill and Raymond MacDonald in July 2008. Now that present is here, resplendent on custard-coloured vinyl, with a delightful front cover woodcut by Ian Barrett. Coxhill, who died in 2012, was a regular visitor to Scotland, and struck up a warm relationship in his later years with Cavanagh, Bill Wells and Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, of whom MacDonald is a key member. That quality comes through in these duets, recorded over an evening with a single malt to hand. Coxhill is on typically inquisitive and generous form, offering finely spun threads of soprano sax for MacDonald to elaborate on with his alto. Together they conjure a gently surreal world of chirruping blackbirds, Bashovian frogs, and skylarks improvising freely on Rodgers & Hart.” - Stewart Smith for The Quietus
LP $25 [LTD Edition of 100]


RAYMOND MacDONALD RARE CD SALE: Take 3 or more and get $1 off of each one.

GEORGE BURT / RAYMOND MacDONALD SEXTET KEITH TIPPETT - A Day for a Reason (Tob Records 020; UK) Featuring George Burt - guitar, Raymond MacDonald - alto & soprano saxophones, George Lyle - double bass, Nicola MacDonald - voice, melodica, Alyn Cosker - drums and Keith Tippett - piano. Newly music commissioned by An Tobar for the centenary of the Tobermory town clock "A Day for a Reason" is a suite celebrating the intrepid victorian traveller Isabella Bird and her stay-at-home sister, Henrietta. The Town Clock in Tobermory (the Island's capital) commemorates them.
CD $16

RAYMOND MacDONALD & MARILYN CRISPELL - Parallel Moments (Babel 13125; UK) Featuring Raymond MacDonald on alto & soprano saxes and Marilyn Crispell on piano. This disc was recorded at both the Vortex Club and at Premises studio in London in November of 2010. In the ever-expanding list of great female pianists, Marilyn Crispell as long remained near the top. Although she records infrequently nowadays, I savor her collaborations with Tisziji Munoz, Barry Guy and Anthony Braxton.
The opening piece sounds like an ancient ballad, quite poignant and rather sad. MacDonald has a lovely, well-worn, warm tone on his alto as if he was trying to evoke a memory/melody from the Ellington songbook. Things become stark on “Town and City Halls”, while MacDonald slowly bends his notes ever so carefully on his soprano sax while Ms. Crispell plays minimal fragments underneath. As things evolve, the duo start traveling further out, freer, more frenzied at times but always tightly together. Both of these folks are gifted improvisers who always wind up in a similar place winding their way around one another in a cosmic communion. From calm to explosive. it all works like a fascinating dialogue between two old friends. If this is their first meeting, it certainly doesn’t sound like it. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16

GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA With LOL COXHILL & EVAN PARKER - Improcherto for (for HB) by George Burt (Iorram Records GN 82; Scotland) “If you want to have a description of Improcherto you only have to look at the cover: it is a very simple graphic score (based on the ones Barry Guy has developed for his orchestras) for the piece by the orchestra’s guitarist George Burt, who wanted to write a more complicated composition but also tried to limit melodramatic conduction. According to his liner notes he was “trying to get to the essence of how (these scores) work” drawing little diagrams on post-its. The result is that Improcherto is a really dense nearly 40-minute-orchestral composition with a lot of space for solos and tight group interaction. Sometimes the whole orchestra takes a break to give the soloists space just to come back even more forceful.
What distinguishes GIO from related larger ensembles (like the London Jazz Composer’s Orchestra or the London Improviser’s Orchestra) is its unusual line up, it is less brass dominated and therefore makes room for a more open display of softer textures through its strings, flutes, and woodwinds but most of all because of its strong, yet delicate rhythm section. But don’t be misled: there can be powerful chords and sudden swells to structure the composition. Very often “Improcherto” sounds like classical music, there are allusions to Schönberg or Hindemith, but there is also a great visuality in the piece, an almost soundtrack-like component.
The architecture of the piece follows a similar basic structure: four of the five solo parts start with the soloist completely on his own before the orchestra integrates the player again allowing him to float over the other instruments. Particularly Evan Parker (who simply is a great team player) shows what a great listener he is. Although he delivers his typical Parker specifics and sounds, his solo is a marvelous part in the context of the composition. Even when he is out there all on his own, you can conceive your own score supporting him before the orchestra picks him up elegantly after all. The only exception in this sequence of things is Ray MacDonald’s solo which is only backed up by the rhythm section (the trumpet and the baritone) providing a broken rumba beat. If you want to find a week spot in this composition, you might call this uniformity, although the splendid soloists – besides Parker and MacDonald the late Lol Coxhill, Neil Davidson with his Derek-Bailey-like approach and John Burgess - compensate for that easily. And there is a good deal of humor as well, for example when Coxhill stops his solo abruptly to remind the band: “Don’t forget to stop me”.
The album is dedicated to the British trumpet and cornet player Harry Beckett, an old companion of Parker and Coxhill, who died while George Burt was composing the piece.” - Martin Schray, FreeJazzBlog
CD $16

GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA With GEORGE LEWIS - Metamorphic Rock (Iorram Records ML 83; Scotland) 40 minutes of free improvisation form George Lewis and GIO recorded in December 2007 mid way through preparatory work on Lewis's new piece, 'Artificial Life 2007' for the orchestra. One continuous take revealing the group in its subtlest and most raucous modes. Artwork by Sarah Tripp. CD 500 copies "This is the fifth disc the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra that we've mentioned, each of the previous ones have included collaborations with Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Maggie Nicols and the London Improvisers Orchestra. 'Metamorphic Rock' is a most impressive collaboration between George Lewis and the Glasgow Improvers Orchestra recorded in December of 2007. This disc was recorded during preparation for a George Lewis piece called "Artificial Life 2007". This version of the Scottish orchestra consisted of 18 members including George Burt (acoustic guitar) & Raymond MacDonald (alto & soprano sax) who are co-leaders of a fine ensemble with a half dozen releases out. Besides the regular instrumentation of four reeds, 3 brass, 2 guitars, piano, cello, 3 double basses, 2 drums & voice, Nick Fells adds shakuhachi & laptop. Although this piece is improvised, you can tell that this large ensemble has been active for a while. It is superbly recorded and well-balanced, you can pick out where each instrument is in the stereo spectrum. There is a dynamic duo exchange between acoustic bass & quiet, fractured electric guitar in the first section. Slowly other instruments fade in: flute, trombone, acoustic guitar, all hovering underneath the waves floating above. The piece often sounds as if it is being conducted or directed, building in tempo and density as it evolves. I like the way certain sounds combine and wrap themselves around one another. There is section where perhaps a bowed string, high-end reed, voice, laptop & acoustic bass blend into a singular, mysterious sound that is hard to define yet still fascinating to hear. I am reminded of the better moments in life where a large group of individuals communicate in a most positive way, listening closely and entering into a spirited dialogue. This entire session unfolds like a novel without the use of words, where action and interaction remain focused and mesmerizing throughout. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $14

GLASGOW IMPROVISERS ORCHESTRA - Sevens (Tob Records 0036; UK) GIO Sevens was recorded in 2013 at Dunollie Castle, when the mighty Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra was invited to perform in Oban. This small grouping were able to get to Oban early enough to make this record and, for my money, it is as good as anything to come out of the GIO stable.
GIO Sevens reminds me of those qualities that I find irresistible in key improvising ensembles such as the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, the Jimmy Giuffre 3 (with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow), Sun Ra and his Arkestra and the Ganelin Trio. Not that the music here sounds like any of these. Rather it has a similar timeless feel to it that exists on its own terms and in its own space.
Music is intentionally organized sound, often (or only) acquiring its meaning for the listener within a social and cultural context. To be considered 'music,' it must have form and structure. With free improv, the form is best described as 'contingent form.' That is form that is contingent on the actions of the individuals performing, the abilities and experiences they bring to bear, their interactions, the space in which they perform and the presence of any ambient sounds in the performance space. It arises in the moment, though contingent on the (musical) histories of the performer(s). But it is no more random than my childhood recollections of Ms Nicholls.
The final track, "The Garden" (recorded in the castle garden), illustrates this perfectly. The listener hears birdsong in the background. Bird-song and other non-human sounds of nature are so familiar that we accept such sounds as having a kind of form. With improvised music, the problem for some lies in the fact that the sounds produced cannot be accommodated easily into received notions of melody, harmony, rhythm and structure.
Yet, the fifteen minutes of "The Garden" contain both a number of different and beautiful melodic episodes. These come mainly Raymond MacDonald's saxophone, Emma Roche's gorgeously birdlike flute, Nicole McNeilly on trombone and the voice of Nicola MacDonald. The improvisation also features a repeating, swirling pulse produced by Stuart Brown's percussion and the percussive effects of George Burt and Neil Davidson on guitars. Nicola MacDonald's melodica also contributes a drone-like counter to the percussion. And there are harmonies too—in the long notes held by brass and woodwinds and from the interweaving melodic lines. This is music that emerges with a naturalness that seems bathed in the warm hues and colours of the environment in which it was recorded.” - Duncan Heining, AllAboutJazz, excerpt of longer review
CD $14

RAYMOND MacDONALD / SATOKO FUJII / NATSUKI TAMURA / NEIL DAVIDSON / TOM BANCROFT - Cities (Nu-Jazz 0509; EEC) Featuring Raymond MacDonald on alto & soprano sax, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Neil Davidson on electric guitar, Satoko Fujii on piano and Tom Bancroft on drums. Satoko Fujii and Natsuki Tamura are both longtime musical partners as well as married partners and keep several bands going on as well as working with other improvisers from around the world: New York, Bay Area, Berlin and Italy. The couple were involved with the Porta Palace Collective from Italy, whose release last year was not very well distributed. For this disc, Fujii and Tamura work with three musicians from Glasgow: MacDonald, Davidson and Bancroft. This disc was recorded live at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow in April of 2005. When this disc begins, we hear the ever-enchanting interplay between Ms. Fujii who is playing inside the piano and Mr. Tamura, who is playing those odd lower-case sound smears on trumpet. Cautious at first, slowly the other members of the ensemble come in. These musicians sound like kindred spirits as they interact and play in different combinations. Ms. Fujii is in especially fine form here and appears to be at the center of what is going on here, she is often balancing between lyrical fragments with unexpected twists and turns. The quintet listen closely and calm down to some suspense-filled sparse sections, quite eerie and mysterious at times. The music is superbly recorded, ever so carefully so we can hear all five members equally. When Ms. Fujii starts rubbing the strings inside the piano midway through this disc, the music moves into a dream-like haze with Mr. MacDonald’s soprano sax weaving through the clouds. There is a great deal going on here just below the waves, like different schools of fish shifting with the currents. Another superb outing from this first time cross-cultural quintet. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

RAMOND MacDONALD / TATSUYA NAKATANI / NEIL DAVIDSON / PETER NICHOLSON / NICK FELLS - Aporias (Creative Sources 077; Portugal) Featuring Raymond MacDonald on alto & soprano sax, Neil Davidson on electric guitar, Peter Nicholson on cello, Nick Fells on laptop and Tatsuya Nakatani on percussion. This disc was recorded live at University of Glasgow, where Raymond MacDonald still teaches. It is always great to hear local percussion hero and restless international traveler, Tatsuya Nakatani. The other members of this quintet are mostly also from the Glasgow area and I recognize their names from a handful of other discs with Raymond MacDonald or as members of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. The international language of free improv is what is being spoken here. The results are eerie, quietly industrial sounding rubbed surfaces or cymbals and bent drones. This reminds me of the first Music Improvisation Company album on ECM. Time is slowed down while strings are being stretched. The music is both slightly disorienting and somehow fascinating. Although most of the members of this quintet appear to evoke some darker, more mysterious spirits, Mr. MacDonald’s saxes occasionally break on through providing short bits of oddly lyrical sax lines, he never takes over or forces things into his own court. This unique line-up sound like they’ve been developing their own thing for a long while and in a way they have just with the same members but adding appropriate guests. Derek Bailey should be smiling by now wherever he resides with this his cosmic kinfolk. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

GEORGE BURT / RAYMOND MacDONALD OCTET LOL COXHILL - Popcorn (FMR 136; UK)Featuring: George Burt (guitar), Aileen Campbell (voice, popcorn machine, hairdryer), Lol Coxhill (soprano saxophone), George Lyle (double bass), Nicola MacDonald (voice, melodica), Raymond MacDonald (alto/soprano saxophone), Allan Pendreigh (drums), Christoph Reiserer (soprano saxophone) Scotlands Burt/MacDonald axis continues its partnership with Englands Lol Coxhill on FMR with this larger group offering, featuring special guests Christoph Reiser, doubling with Coxhill on soprano sax, and Aileen Campbell providing voice, hairdryer and popcorn machine (hence the name!). This is another formidable example of truly great group improvisation!!
CD $10

GEORGE BURT / RAYMOND MacDONALD QUARTET LOL COXHILL / NICOLA MacDONALD - Coxhill Street (FMR 92; UK) This unknown gem features the same personnel as the previous release, which is Lol Coxhill & Raymond MacDonald on saxes, George Burt on guitar, George Lyle on double bass and Allan Pendreigh on drums, with Nicola MacDonald added on melodica & a bit of vocals. This was recorded in June of 2001 in Glasgow and consists of the best bits drawn from solos, duos, trios, quartet and sextet sections. First both sopranos swerve and sail tentatively together, then an eruption occurs as the guitar, melodica, acoustic bass and drums leap in and the entire sextet takes off with restrained power. When Raymond reaches down for the deep bellow of his alto sax, Lol drifts high above on his fragile soprano as guitar and percussion play cautious fragments in the middle. "Anatomy of Uselessness" is a long epic in which Lol's soprano and George's guitar slowly bend notes around each other, sounding somewhat like Lol's old duo with guitarist Gerry Fitzgerald from 1975. George does a fine job of twisting his jazz-toned guitar into quite a variety of odd shapes, rarely changing his tone with any devices. On "Will Bells", things get a bit more dense, although George switches to acoustic guitar, as Raymond plays some haunting, slow moving alto sax. There is a good deal of suspense and spaciousness in between the well placed minimum of altered, alien notes. No matter how many players are involved, everyone takes their time to let things occur in an organic way. Like Paul Dunmall, Lol appears to have found an entire group of like-minded, free spirits who are quite adventurous in their playing, the same free-floating grace. This is yet another buried treasure from the great, but often impossible to find FMR catalogue.
CD $10


TERRY RILEY // BROOKLYN RAGA MASSIVE With NEEL MURGAI / SAMEER GUPTA / AARON SHRAGGE / et al - Terry Riley In C (Northern Spy 094; USA) Brooklyn Raga Massive (BRM) is a collective of mostly Brooklyn-based musicians who have been playing a weekly concert series and jam session, as well as organizing an annual 24-hour Ragas Festival. This appears to be their third release, a previous one was a tribute to John Coltrane, which makes perfect sense since Coltrane was indeed greatly influenced by Indian music. For this disc, the ensemble is rather massive with some 18 members. They are led by Neel Murgai (on sitar), who used to play percussion for Haunted House, Loren Mazzacane’s old blues/rock quartet. Other members include Aaron Shragge (on Dragon Mouth trumpet), former FONT Fest organizer and Sameer Gupta (tabla), who has a fine duo CD out with our pal Ross Hammond, great guitarist from Sacramento, CA.
Beloved minimalist composer, Terry Riley’s most famous and influential work is/was “In C”, composed in 1964 and first released in 1968 by CBS Masterworks. “In C” has been recorded more than a dozen times, with varying instrumentation and ever-changing ensemble size. This piece remains a favorite of many New Music fans, myself included, so I do collect as many versions as I can find. This piece always seemed to be been influenced by Indian music so it makes sense that this ensemble would do a fine job. This piece is based on a pulse several repeating patterns. When it begins, it does sound like a raga and features sitar, bansuri flute, tabla, violin, trumpet and voice. There is something immensely hypnotic going on here as the those repeating patterns keep pulsating throughout. What keeps things interesting is the way several patterns overlap with various common pulse points that connects the different layers or sections. Unlike an actual raga usually for a small number of players, like sitar, tambura and tablas, things are not so paired down. The several rivers here are always shifting as different solo occur usually one at a time. I find this version to be completely enchanting and doing us a good job of providing a magic carpet ride for our minds and pulsating bodies. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14

Four Relatively New Ones from Mode Records, In Stock Early Next Week:

* ITALIAN SURF ACADEMY [MARCO CAPPELLI / LUCA LO BLANCO / FRANCESCO CUSA] - Barbarella Reloaded (Mode/ Avant 18; USA) Featuring: Marco Cappelli – guitars, Luca Lo Bianco – bass guitar, Francesco Cusa – drums & percussion plus VJ Andrea "Lapsus" Pennisi - visuals and JD Foster - piano, toy piano, Farfisa organ, music box, sound effects. Take one Italian guitarist active in the Downtown Improvisation and New Music scene – combine with youthful influences of movie music and Spaghetti Westerns – mix well with a love of ‘60s Surf sound bathed in reverb – top with bass and drums… and you get the Italian Surf Academy!
The Italian Surf Academy are back, bringing their surf-rock/jazz/improv sound to the musical soundtrack of Roger Vadim’s 1968 psychedelic science fiction sex comedy starring Jane Fonda — the cult classic Barbarella. A terrific follow-up to their first album, "The American Dream", revisiting the sound of '60s/'70s Italian spaghetti westerns, noir and horror soundtracks.
CD $15

* Italian Surf Academy CD release set tomorrow night, September 22nd at 8pm at Littlefield (635 Sackett St, Brooklyn / https://www.littlefieldnyc.com)


JOAN LA BARBARA - The Early Immersive Music of Joan La Barbara (Mode 298; USA) “Joan La Barbara is a long recognized pioneer of extended vocal techniques and a champion of new music. She emerged from the New York Downtown scene to perform in the ensembles of Steve Reich and Philip Glass, including the premiere of Glass’ Einstein on the Beach. She has performed and recorded works by composers including John Cage, Robert Ashley, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Alvin Lucier, and Morton Subotnick.
Composer/Vocalist La Barbara has created a rich body of experimental works, many initially produced on analog tape. This collection includes a first release of the award-winning CYCLONE, first presented at a the ISCM World Music Days festival in Bonn, Germany in 1977. The other two works were initially issued on LP on the Wizard label, but now in new mixes.
The reissues offered here remixed to her original surround concept: as lightning comes, in flashes explores a vast array of La Barbara’s signature extended vocal techniques. Autumn Signal is a rare example of the composer’s work with Buchla synthesizer, which she utilized for spatialization as well as modification of vocals.
For this release, fresh 96khz/24-bit transfers were made from the original multi-track analog tapes. Then all new stereo and surround mixes were created under the supervision of the composer. Liner notes by Bernard Gendron trace La Barbara’s beginnings in the New Music world from the early 1970s Downtown Scene and her evolution as an avant-garde vocalist and composer. In addition, La Barbara contributes detailed notes on the works.”
“as lightning comes in flashes” (1981) for 8-track tape. New 2017 stereo mix; Joan La Barbara, all voices - 22:05
“Autumn Signal”  (1978) for 8-track tape, mixed to 4-channels - Joan La Barbara, all voices - 13:20
“CYCLONE” (1976–77) for 16-track tape - Joan La Barbara, voices, percussion, phase shifters; Bruce Ditmas, ARP 2600 synthesizer, steel guitar, percussion - 30:39
CD $15
BluRay $24

JOHN CAGE // BONNIE WHITING/ALLEN OTTE - The Works for Percussion 4 (Mode 296; USA) John Cage allowed for some of his works to be combined and performed simultaneously. Percussionist Bonnie Whiting has created uniquely virtuosic solo-simultaneous realizations of some of these works for “speaking percussionist.”
51’15.657” for a speaking percussionist is Whiting’s solo simultaneous realization of all of 45’ for a speaker (1954) and 27’10.554” for a percussionist (1956). Cage wrote 45’ for a speaker to perform him- self. He wrote on thirty-two subjects and added a series of gestures (gargling, lighting a match, etc.) to be performed during the delivery. Like the percussion piece, each page is one minute long.
Between 1984 and 1987 Cage composed 17 pieces called Music for______. Any of these pieces can be performed alone or together in any combination. Here Whiting combines one of the percussion ver- sions with the version for voice.
Her recital is completed by Cage’s two beautiful, classic, early pieces for voice and piano: The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs and A Flower. Here the piano is used as a percussion instrument, never played on the keys but rather knocked and slapped on by the pianist. Like the larger works, Whiting performs a tour de force of performing both parts simultaneously.
As a bonus, Whiting’s mentor Allen Otte (of Percussion Group Cincinnati) performs his work for speaking pianist/percussionist which is created around works of Cage and utilizing Cage’s compositional “tools” for both the music and text.
CD $15

SARAH MARIA SUN/JAN PHILIP SCHULZE //SCIARRINO / HOLLIGER / LACHENMANN / RIHM / KURTAG / LANG - Modern Lied (Mode 297; USA) The idea for a recital of “Modern Lied” came about over breakfast following the first concert Sun and Schulze performed together. Realiz- ing that they enjoy the same things, Schulze said: “Our next program should be harder. It should be the hardest program ever. We should put some of the greatest contemporary masterpieces of Lied in one program. It should be just insanely beautiful and hard and most of all insanely good. No old stuff included.” This recital is the result of that idea. More info on this disc is found in the DMG database.
CD $15

WOLFGANG RIHM - Spharen (Neos 11520; Germany) Performed by oenm österreichisches ensemble für neue musik. Wolfgang Rihm is doubtless one of the most successful composers of modern times and can meanwhile look back on an enormous oeuvre that can hardly be classified within a single stylistic direction. Until 2008, Andreas Schablas was a member of the Mozarteumorchester Salzburg, after which he became deputy solo clarinetist of the Bavarian State Orchestra, where he has been solo clarinetist since 2010. Andreas Schablas has been appointed Professor at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg starting in October 2017. The oenm . österreichisches ensemble für neue musik has dedicated itself to the performance of contemporary music for over 40 years and has established itself internationally as one of the leading ensembles of its kind. With over 300 world premieres since its founding and regular participation at numerous major festivals, the ensemble residing in Salzburg has meanwhile become indispensable on the world's great concert stages. Rupert Huber has conducted many premieres (works by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luigi Nono, Jani Christou and others); he is the founder of the Jani Christou Institute in Athens. Rupert Huber has received prizes for various CD productions (works by Schumann and Nono, e.g.), and was awarded the German Music Critics' Award. He regularly conducts ensembles for new music and orchestras within the German ARD. As a composer, his main lines of thought concentrate on the immediate effect of music itself, and music as a tangible phenomenon ("contact singing"). Altered sentient states created by music such as ecstasy and trance form part of his performance art. Workshops at various conservatories and other institutions on the subject of "research into the effect of music" remain an important part of his work, as do his intensive investigations into the shaman tradition of Nepal. Performed by oenm . österreichisches ensemble für neue musik: Rupert Huber - conductor Andreas Schablas - clarinet.
CD/DVD $16 (In stock Next Week)

DAS KLARINETTENDUO - Double Concertos by Atli Ingolfsson, Adriana Holszky and Nikolaus Brass (Neos 11708; Germany) Performed by Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers; Caput Ensemble. The two clarinetists Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers have worked together since 1980 as Das Klarinettenduo. Their concerts have taken them throughout Europe as well as North America and Japan. Recordings of their classical and modern repertoire have been made in almost all of Germany's radio houses in addition to many foreign stations throughout the world. David Smeyers is professor for contemporary music at the Academy of Music and Dance in Cologne where he founded and directs ensemble 20.21. The Caput Ensemble was founded in 1987 by young Icelandic musicians. It started as a small chamber group but grew rapidly into a sinfonietta with up to 18 players. Most Icelandic composers have worked with Caput, some of them from the beginning. The Munich Chamber Orchestra (MKO) is a shining beacon in German orchestral life approximately 65 years after its founding. The MKO's programs -- inspired, exciting and often surprising -- juxtapose works from the past with music from our own time. The MKO has presented over 70 world premieres ever since the former artistic director Christoph Poppen established its unmistakably dynamic profile during the 1990s. Composers such as Iannis Xenakis, Wolfgang Rihm, Tan Dun, Chaya Czernowin, and Jörg Widmann have written works for the ensemble. In the 2016/2017 season, Clemens Schuldt commenced his position as principal conductor. Arturo Tamayo was born in Madrid and studied at the local school of law. At the same time he took a degree in music at the Real Conservatorio de Música, winning an honorary prize in composition. He works with leading European orchestras, appears at the major international festivals and is much sought-after as a conductor of premieres. All the works on this CD were composed for and dedicated to Beate Zelinsky and David Smeyers, who also performed their world premieres. The CD features works composed by Atli Ingolfsson, Adriana Hölszky, and Nikolaus Brass.
CD $16 (In stock Next Week)

CHRISTOPHE GUIRAUD - Hiera Picra Hellebores (Collection 2011-2016)(Sub Rosa 436; Belgium) Christophe Guiraud uses old instruments such as the Hotteterre flute, the viola da gamba, or the viola bass, and combines them with electronics. Christophe Guiraud, born in Toulouse (south of France) in the mid-seventies, lives between Brussels and Paris. His early works come from alternative rock, free jazz, and harsh noise (he released two records on Angström Records as Tellemake). His more recent pieces mix the beauty of the polyphonies of Ars Nova (XIVè century) and noise. This nonesuch hybridization creates a music easily recognizable, and at the same time harmonious and deeply intense. Christophe Guiraud composes for a few important ensembles and performers, like Ictus, Ensemble 21, Sturm und Klang, Kwartludium, Musiques Nouvelles, Fractales, Stephane Ginsburgh, and Tom Pauwels. Guiraud is regularly invited to festivals Sonar, Le printemps de Septembre, Loop, Nuits du Beau Tas et Ars musica. Performed by: Ictus Ensemble, Catherine Guesde & Nina Garcia, Ensemble Tresse, Ensemble La Grive, André-Marc Delcourt, Ensemble 21, Ryan/Mitchell/Zeitlin/Blunt Quartet, Christophe Guiraud, Ensemble/Collectif Bin°oculaire, and Ensemble Sturm und Klang.
2 CD Set $16

PHILIP JECK - Iklectik (Touch 058; UK) The sixth in the series of limited edition compact disc live recordings -- following releases in the series by Thomas Köner & Jana Winderen (TONE 051CD), Simon Scott (TONE 053CD), Bethan Kellough (TONE 054CD), Yann Novak (TONE 055CD), Robert Crouch (TONE 056CD) -- offers a recording of Philip Jeck live at Iklectik, London. Philip Jeck studied visual arts at Dartington College of Arts in the 1970s and has been creating sound with record-players since the early '80s. He has worked with many dance and theatre companies and played with musicians/composers such as Jah Wobble, Steve Lacy, Gavin Bryars, Jaki Liebezeit, David Sylvian, Sidsel Endresen, and Bernhard Lang. He has released eleven solo albums, the most recent Cardinal, a double vinyl release on Touch (TO 098LP, 2015). Suite, another vinyl-only release, won a Distinction at The Prix Ars Electronica, and a cassette release on The Tapeworm, Spool (2009), sees him playing only bass guitar. His CD Sand (TO 067CD, 2008) was second in The Wire's top 50 of the year. His largest work made with Lol Sargent, Vinyl Requiem was for 180 record-players, nine slide-projectors, and two 16mm movie-projectors. It received a Time Out Performance Award. Vinyl Coda I-III, a commission from Bavarian Radio in 1999 won the Karl Sczuka Foderpreis for Radio Art. Philip also still works as a visual artist, usually incorporating sound and has shown installations at The Bluecoat, Liverpool, Hayward Gallery, London, The Hamburger Bahnhof Gallery, Berlin, ZKM in Karlsruhe, and The Shanghai and Liverpool Bienalles. Philip Jeck has won the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Composers 2009. A presentation ceremony took place at The Royal Institute of British Architects, London, on November 9th, 2009. He has toured in an Opera North production playing live to the silent movie Pandora's Box (composed by Hildur Gudnadottir and Johann Johannson). He has also worked again with Gavin Bryars on a composition "Pneuma" for a ballet choreographed by Carolyn Carlson for The Opera de Bordeaux and has recently made and performed the sound for The Ballad Of Ray & Julie at the Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Recorded and mastered by Jeff Ardron of St. Austral Sound. Artwork and photography by Jon Wozencroft. CD comes in a slipcase; Edition of 500.
CD $12

WHITEHOUSE - Birthdeath Experience (Susan Lawly 006; UK) Susan Lawly present a reissue of the seminal and classic first Whitehouse album, originally released in 1980. Birthdeath Experience is one of the most important and influential records from the embryonic field of electronic and industrial music. Includes an eight-page booklet with lyrics, technical information, and reviews.
CD $15

TERRI KAPSALIS & JOHN CORBETT - Dead Level (CvsD 001sp; USA) Commissioned by Experimental Sound Studio in 2000 to create a radio work for the Outer Ear Festival, Terri Kapsalis and John Corbett returned to their investigation of film noir and pulp fiction, creating a half-hour work of non-narrative radio theater featuring music and text collage, as well as Kapsalis on violin and Corbett on analog synthesizer. Drawing on writers like Jim Thompson and David Goodis, as well as a lexicon of criminal terminology, it offers a Dada roller-coaster ride through diners, speakeasies, and crime scenes. Recorded by Lou Mallozzi at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago; Commissioned by ESS for the Outer Ear Festival, 2000. Cover image by Corey Escoto; Design by David Giordano.
CD $15

AMADOU & MARIAM - La Confusion (Because Music 5543140; France) La Confusion is the eighth full-length album from Malian musical duo and Grammy-award nominees Amadou & Mariam. The album includes the hit single "Bofou Safou", which Stereogum calls "the funk, the whole funk, and nothing but the funk." The term "bofou safou" is a Bambara (Malian national language) nickname given to nonchalant young men who would rather dance than work. Over the span of three decades, Amadou (guitar and vocals) and Mariam (vocals) have developed an international following, recorded eight full-length albums, and toured around the world. Their album Welcome to Mali (BEC 5156468, 2008) was nominated for "Best Contemporary World Music Album" at the 52nd Grammy Awards. On the ensuing tour they supported U2 on their U2 360 Tour, performed at the 2010 World Cup for FIFA's Kick-Off Celebration, and performed alongside a host of major acts. Don't expect a still frame of African music; Stillness has never been part of their repertoire. The road stretches far behind them as Amadou & Mariam march on, bound by an unbreakable chain in their tireless search for new horizons. Creativity and generosity have never ceased to shine through their eight full-length albums. At their core lies a skillful fusion of heritage and cutting-edge music.
CD $15

THE JOY OF COOKING - Fillmore West - San Francisco 1971 (Air Cuts 8038; UK) The Joy Of Cooking, live from the Fillmore West, San Francisco, May 1971. Unusual for the era, this Berkeley quintet centered on two women, Toni Brown and Terry Garthwaite. Formed in the late '60s, they shared bills with all the leading underground bands of the day, and released their classic debut in February 1971. This superb live set was recorded for radio broadcast on KSAN-FM at the legendary Fillmore West that May, and finds them tackling several of their best-loved tracks. The entire original KSAN-FM broadcast is presented here, professionally re-mastered, with background notes and images.
CD $16

SCIENTIST - Heavy Metal Dub (Clocktower 124; Canada) Recorded at Channel One Studio in 1982. Tracks include "Having Fun With The Klingons," "Rocking Time Warp Dub," "Jah Love All Aliens," "Conversation With Kahn," and "Smerf Wak Head Beat."
CD $15


Vinyl Section:

SUN RA & HIS MYTH SCIENCE SOLAR ARKESTRA - The Lost Arkestra Series Vol 1 & 2 (Art Yard 102; UK) A double 10" set featuring Sun Ra recordings. Initially released on two separate 10"s back in 2010/13. Volume 1 features "Along Came Ra", a previously unissued live track recorded in Paris in 1983. The legendary Disco 3000 concert tapes are on the flip. Volume 2 lifts three fine selections from the Sub-Underground Saturn LPs. "Love Is For Always" and the driving, roots-y "The World Of Africa" come from 1974's Temple U; while the myth-science poetics of "Space Is The Place/We Roam The Cosmos" comes from the 1975 What's New set.
2 - 10” EPs $22

THE THING & JAMES BLOOD ULMER - Baby Talk (The Thing Records 006; Norway) Live at Molde International Jazz Festival 2015. All music by James Blood Ulmer. Viking jazz band The Thing team up with one of the legendary men of jazz and blues. Guitarist and singer Ulmer combines (free) jazz, blues, funk, and rock -- always on the edge, melting it to some kind of free funk... In 1980, Ulmer recorded the genre milestone No Wave with John Zorn and Pharoah Sanders. Personnel: James Blood Ulmer - guitar; Mats Gustafsson - tenor and baritone saxophones; Ingebrigt HÃ¥ker Flaten - electric and double bass; Paal Nilssen-Love - drums, percussion. CD version soon.
LP $22

SVEN-AKE JOHANSSON & ALEXANDER VON SCHLIPPENBACH - Schraubenlieder (Trost 159; Austria) Trost present Schraubenlieder, unreleased songs by Sven-Ake Johansson and Alexander von Schlippenbach from 1988, recorded by Radio DRS Bern. Personnel: Sven-Ake Johansson - vocals; Alexander von Schlippenbach - piano.
LP $22

ASH RA TEMPEL EXPERIENCE With MANUEL GOTTSCHING / OREN AMBARCHI / ARIEL PINK / SHAGS CHAMBERAIN - Live In Melbourne (MG.ART 602; Germany) LP version. Gatefold sleeve; Includes printed inner sleeve. 2015 live recording from the Supersense Festival in Melbourne, previously unreleased, featuring a supergroup of Manuel Göttsching, Ariel Pink, Oren Ambarchi, and Shags Chamberlain playing material from classic Ash Ra Tempel releases, 1972's Schwingungen (MGART 112CD) and 1973's Seven Up (MGART 113CD). Taken from Göttsching on the release: "Out of the blue -- I was invited to perform in Melbourne, Australia. It happened thanks to my dear old friend Mick Glossop, who made the suggestion to Sophia Brous, at the time the curator of a music-festival called 'Supersense' at the Melbourne Arts Centre in summer 2015. In addition to the solo performance I'd planned, Sophia proposed an additional collaboration or session performances with some of the other participating musicians. I had never been very happy in performing 'public sessions'. I've always tried to first look for a conceptual approach, and my wife, Ilona J. Ziok, came up with the idea of performing some Ash Ra Tempel classics. That's when the idea for an 'Experience' was born. I decided that pieces from the second and third Ash Ra Tempel albums Schwingungen and Seven Up would be most appropriate for a group performance with Ariel Pink, Shags Chamberlain, and Oren Ambarchi. We conversed by email, and much to my surprise, they all claimed to be very familiar with this music. . . . We finally met in Melbourne for a relaxed afternoon rehearsal, just two days before the actual concert performance took place. After a technical set-up we went straight into 'Look At Your Sun' and it was as if we had performed it only yesterday. It continued like that with the other tracks. For the first part of Schwingungen I decided for a little variation, so that all four of us were standing around the vibraphone at the beginning, playing it with four/eight hands -- like an imaginary 'Music for Four Musicians' (a bit reminiscent of the early works of Steve Reich). . . . In return, it was only natural to ask Mick Glossop to make a mix of our concert recording, and quite happily he agreed. He has put together a wonderful and subtle mix, perfectly representing the atmosphere of the concert." Includes liner notes by Mick Glossop and Manuel Göttsching and photographs of the rehearsal and live performance.
LP $27

Back in stock`:

JOSHUA ABRAMS AND NATURAL INFORMATION SOCIETY - Simultonality (Eremite 068; USA)
2017 repress. ‘Simultonality’ is the follow-up to Joshua Abrams's critically acclaimed 2015 album Magnetoception (MTE 063-64LP, 2015). Credited to Joshua Abrams and Natural Information Society (NIS), it is the first recording in the project's nine year, four album history made by a regularly gigging manifestation, rather than a special assembly of friends. Recorded in 2014 and 2015 in single takes by the full ensemble during and after tours of the US and Canada, Simultonality once more affirms the project's unique approach to joining traditional musics, American minimalism, and jazz with the Gnawa ceremonial instrument the guimbri. Stasis, continuity, and repetition, central qualities of Abrams language, defined Magnetoception, listed by many as one of the best records of 2015. These same qualities form the heart of Abrams's music on Simultonality. But where Abrams once said Magnetoception is about "winter and death", Simultonality, in Abrams's words, is an album of "pure motion". Without sounding frenetic it is the most explosive NIS music on record, and without sounding over-determined, it is Abrams's most structured and through-composed music yet. Much of it is also fast, a mass of densely patterned elements swiftly orbiting constantly reconfiguring centers that are variously harmonic and rhythmic, clearly stated or implied. The music is at no time any more disorderly than a colony of bees pollinating a vast garden. Its many moving parts function in mutualistic relationship toward fulfilling Abrams's long stated intention for the project: to help listener's achieve a meditative center and to consciously use music as a gateway to living. Abrams credits William Parker as an inspiration for this intention. The musicians on Simultonality date back to the nascency of NIS. Along with Hamid Drake, Mikel Avery and Frank Rosaly are Abrams first-call drummers for the project. On Simultonality, Avery is in the left channel, Rosaly the right. Astute heads may recognize the rhythm in "Sideways Fall" as Jaki Leibezeit's drum break in Can's "Vitamin C". At Abrams behest, the two drummers divided the beat into separate parts. According to Hamid Drake, the rhythm was popularized, if not originated, by John "Jabo" Starks and Clyde Stubblefield of the J.B.'s. Nearly ten years into its existence, Abrams and the NIS wear their influences with creativity and ease. Long standing NIS members, Ben Boye and Emmett Kelly, were previously together with Abrams, or not, in Bonnie Prince Billy's band, and Abrams and Boye have at different times played in Kelly's band The Cairo Gang. Harmonium player Lisa Alvarado contributes the large format pattern paintings used by NIS at concerts and for its album covers. Personnel: Joshua Abrams - guimbri, bass, small harp, bells; Lisa Alvarado - harmonium, Leslie, percussion; Michael Avery - drums and percussion; Ben Boye - chromatic electric autoharp, piano, Wurlitzer; Ari Brown - tenor saxophone (on "2128½"); Emmett Kelly - electric guitar; Frank Rosaly - drums and percussion, resonator bells. Pressed on premium quality audiophile vinyl by RTI, presented in replica audiophile dust sleeves and heavyweight Stoughton LaserDisc jackets screenprinted by Alan Sherry/Siwa.
2 LP Set $32

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Bruce Lee Gallanter’s Recommended Gig List for September of 2017

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - JULIAN LAGE - SEPT 19-24

THE STONE AT THE NEW SCHOOL—55 WEST 13TH STREET
NED ROTHENBERG - FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS SEPTEMBER 22-23 AT 830PM
FRIDAY SEPT 22—Shakuhachi Summit with Riley Lee, Ralph Samuelson and Ned Rothenberg (shakuhachi flutes): including Rothenberg's compositions Arbor Vitae for shakuhachi and clarinet, Stand in Turn, for 1.8,2.4 and 2.7 shakuhachi trio and Cloud Hands, for 2.4 duo.
SATURDAY SEPT 23—Kudzu Oshitashi (guitar, daxophone) Shoko Nagai (piano, accordion) Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) Ned Rothenberg (woodwinds)

9/22 Friday
830 pm - Julian Lage (guitar), Jorge Roeder (bass) & Dave King (drums)

9/23 Saturday
8:30 pm - Quartet with Scott Colley, Dave King, Chris Potter
Julian Lage (guitar) Scott Colley (bass) Dave King (drums) Chris Potter (sax)

9/24 Sunday
830 pm - Julian Lage (guitar) and Steve Swallow (bass)

9/25 Monday
830 pm - M2duO-20th anniversary - Machiko Ozawa (violin, composition) Makia Matsumura (piano, composition); The 2duO is a duo of two Japanese girls who graduated from Juilliard and Tokyo Gei Dai and have a passion for tango music. This concert celebrates their 20 years in NYC!

THE STONE RESIDENCIES - DARIUS JONES - SEPT 26-OCT 1

9/26 Tuesday
830 pm - Duo - Darius Jones (alto sax) & Kush Abadey (drums)

THE STONE COMMISSIONS - WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27: KRIS DAVIS - In collaboration with National Sawdust The Stone presents a series of World Premieres the last Wednesday of every month through 2017. Pianist Rory Cowal premiering 8 piano pieces for the Vernal Equinox—1. Calluna 2. Abelia 3. Vitex 4. Choisya 5. Nerium 6. Raphiolepis 7. Pieris 8. Photinia
Kris Davis Capricorn Climber with special guest Michael Nicolas—Michael Nicolas (cello) Mat Maneri (viola) Trevor Dunn (bass) Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone) Kris Davis (piano) Tom Rainey (drums)
7pm at National Sawdust in Williamsburg. For details check https://nationalsawdust.org/event/jazz-stone-commissioning-series/TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS

9/27 Wednesday
830 pm - Darius Jones Trio
Darius Jones (alto sax) Dan Weiss (drums) Dezron Douglas (bass)

THE STONE AT RUSS AND DAUGHTERS CAFE!
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 28: GUY KLUCEVSEK - ONE SET AT 8PM—ADMISSION FREE!
The Stone is proud to present music at Russ and Daughters Cafe at 127 Orchard Street the last Thursday of every month! Drop by for smoked fish, pickles and great music!

9/28 Thursday
830 pm - Darius Jones Quartet - Darius Jones (alto sax) Kush Abadey (drums) Dezron Douglas (bass) Kris Davis (piano)

THE STONE AT THE NEW SCHOOL—55 WEST 13TH STREET
MARY HALVORSON - FRIDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHTS SEPTEMBER 29-30 AT 830PM
FRIDAY SEPT 29—Thumbscrew plays originals: Mary Halvorson (guitar) Michael Formanek (bass) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
SATURDAY SEPT 30—Thumbscrew plays standards: Mary Halvorson (guitar) Michael Formanek (bass) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)

9/29 Friday
830 pm - Darius Jones Quintet - Darius Jones (alto sax) Kush Abadey (drums) Dezron Douglas (bass) Kris Davis (piano) Charlie Looker (guitar)

9/30 Saturday
830 pm - Darius Jones Sextet - Darius Jones (alto sax) Kush Abadey (drums) Sean Conly (bass) Kris Davis (piano) Charlie Looker (guitar) Ben Gerstein

10/1 Sunday
8:30 pm - The mind has no form, but sometimes it can have form - Darius Jones (alto sax) Daniel Marcellus Givens (electronics) Sean Conly (bass) Shahzad Ismaily (drums, guitar, synths), Fay Victor (voice), Emilie Lesbros (voice), Sugar Vendil (piano, synths)

10/2 Monday
8:30 pm - Wasser Works - Luisa Muhr (voice, concept, image score) Richie Barshay (drums, percussion) Patricia Brennan (vibraphone)

All Sets start at 8:30pm Tickets: $20
There are no refreshments or merchandise at The Stone.
Only music. All ages are welcome.
Cash Only at the door. There is no phone.
There is no food or beverage served or allowed
just a serious listening environment.
The Stone is booked purely on a curatorial basis

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The CORNELIA STREET CAFE - 212-989-9319
29 Cornelia St in the heart of the West Greenwich Village, NYC

Friday Sep 22
6:00PM FROM WHITMAN TO GINSBERG: POEMS THAT CHALLENGE CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Erica Mapp; Barbara Newsome; Peter Blaxill; Anthony Moscini
8:35PM GEORGE GARZONE TRIO - George Garzone, tenor sax; John Lockwood, bass; Francesco Mela, drums

Saturday Sep 23
6:00PM ZERO POINT FEAT. MANABU KITADA - Daniel Carter, reeds, trumpet, piano; Marius Duboule, electric guitar; Michael Bates, bass; Deric Dickens, drums; Manabu Kitada, clarinet, bass clarinet; James Carney, piano8:35PM GEORGE GARZONE FRINGE DUO - George Garzone, tenor sax; Bob Gullotti, dance

Sunday Sep 24
8:00PM ELV TRIO - Elias Stemeseder, piano; Jeonglim Yang, bass; Vinnie
9:30PM LIPPI/MINAIE/PILC - Jean-Michel Pilc, piano; Sam Minaie, bass; Jerad Lippi, drums

Mon Sept 25th:
8:30PM ROD MACDONALD & MARK DANN - Rod MacDonald, guitar, harmonica, and vocals; Mark Dann, bass and vocals

Tuesday Sep 26
8:00PM FAQUINI & GONÇALVES - Ian Faquini, guitar; Vitor Gonçalves, accordion piano
9:30PM CRESSMAN & BONO - Natalie Cressman, voice, trombone; Mike Bono, guitar

Wed Sept 27th:
6:00PM ANNIE CHEN QUARTET - Annie Chen, vocals, composition; Marius Duboule, guitar; Mathew Muntz, bass; Deric Dickens, drums
8:01PM OR BAREKET QUARTET, CD RELEASE: OB1 - Nitai Hershkovits, guitar; Keita Ogawa, percussion; Or Bareket, bass; John Hadfield, drums

Thursday Sep 28
8:01PM JIM BLACK TRIO - Elias Stemeseder, piano; Desmond White, bass; Jim Black , drums

Friday Sep 29
8:30PM AUBREY JOHNSON GROUP - Aubrey Johnson, voice, comp.; Matt Sheens, piano, comp.; Michael Sachs, alto sax, bass clarinet; Alex Goodman, guitar; Matt Aronoff, bass; Jeremy Noller, drums
10:00PM LISANNE TREMBLAY “ECDYSES” - Lisanne Tremblay, violin, comp.; Liberty Ellman, guitar; Carlo De Rosa, bass; Vinnie Sperrazza, drums

Saturday Sep 30
8:35PM MARIO PAVONE, VERTICAL SEXTET - Mario Pavone, bass, comp.; Dave Ballou, trumpet; Tony Malaby, tenor, soprano sax; Oscar Noriega, clarinet, bass clarinet; Peter McEachern, trombone; Michael Sarin , drums

Sunday Oct 01
8:35PM DJANGO AT CORNELIA STREET, DAN LEVINSON - Dan Levinson, clarinet; Koran Agan, guitar; Josh Kaye, guitar; Danny Weller, bass

*****

I-Beam Presents:

Friday, September 22nd 8:30 PM $15 Suggested Donation
Javier Moreno: Bass and compositions
Michael Attias: Alto sax
Hery Paz: Tenor Sax, clarinet, flute
Santiago Leibson: Piano
Eden Bareket: Bass Clarinet, baritone Sax

Friday, October 6th 12:00 AM
8:00pm: Fish Dreams
Jochem van Dijk, solo bass guitar
8:45pm and 9:45pm (2 sets): Darren Johnston’s Wind Over Walls
Darren Johnston – trumpet
Carmen Staaf – piano
Alison Miller – drums
Noah Garabedian – upright bass.

Saturday, October 7th 8:30 PM
Stein / Sacks / Fujiwara
Jason Stein – Bass Clarinet
Jacob Sacks – Piano
Tomas Fujiwara – Drums
Cochrane/Popejoy Looney/Bernstein/Radding

Friday, October 20th 8:30 PM
8:30 pm
Chris Cochrane – guitar
Stuart Popejoy – bass
9:30 pm
Scott R. Looney – piano
Sarah Bernstein – violin
Reuben Radding – bass

I-Beam is located at 168 7th Street in Brooklyn, NY 11215 - Directions: SUBWAY: Take the F or R trains to 4th Ave & 9th Street. Walk down 4th ave to 7th street. Make a left on 7th and walk past 3rd ave. We are located on the ground floor, the grey doors to the right of the stairs of #168.

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Sound It Out series @ Greenwich House – Concerts, September & October 2017 2017

Upcoming Concerts…

Friday, September 22, 7:30 p.m. – Double-bill season kickoff!
Cooper-Moore & Mara Rosenbloom - pianos, Nioka Workman, cello; Michael Wimberly, drums
 
Thursday, September 28, 8:00 p.m. – All-star quartet!
Jeff Davis’s Holyoke - Jeff Davis, drums/compositions; Tony Malaby, saxophone; Russ Lossing, piano Eivind Opsvik, double-bass


October 6: Stephan Crump's Rhombal w/ Adam O'Farrill, Ellery Eskelin & Kassa Overall

October 9: Ethan Iverson & Orrin Evans play Monk!

November 10: Ricardo Grilli

November 11: Double-bill – Marc Hannaford Trio Satoshi Takeishi, etc

December 14: Mike Baggetta & Anders Nilsson with Jerome Harris & Satoshi Takeishi

Greenwich House Music School:
46 Barrow Street, just west of 7th Avenue South in New York City’s West Village
www.greenwichhouse.org / 212-242-4770. 

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The Bushwick Improvised Music Series
Continues on September 25th @ Bushwick Public House!
 
Monday September 25th
7pm Blaise Siwula - woodwinds
Aron Namenwirth - banjo/guitar
John Loggia - drums
8pm Stephen Gauci - tenor saxophone
Adam Lane - bass
Kevin Shea - drums
9pm Satoshi Takeishi - drums
Shoko Nagai- electric pump organ/electronics
9:30pm Yoni Kretzmer - tenor saxophone
Sean Conly - bass
Tomas Fujiwara - drums
10:30pm Carlo Costa - drums
Jonathan Moritz - tenor/soprano saxophones
Sean Ali - bass

Downstairs @ Bushwick Public House 
https://bushwickpublichouse.com/
1288 Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick
(Across the street from M train Central Ave stop)
$10 music cover