Where the slot-machine confusion and the plastic universe
Are objects of amusement in the fiction of their curse
Where the crazy white man and his tear-gas happiness
Lie long-since dead and buried by his own fantastic mess
Oh I hate the white man and his plastic excuse,
Oh I hate the white man and the man who turned him loose
And the rings of coloured thunder of the stallion of the dawn
Ride the coal-fire morning on the beach where all is borne
Where the emperor of meaning is burning up his fort
And sits to warm his toes around a fire made up of useless thoughts
And when the children tempt him with the riddles of their trance
He flings the flames of solstice casting laughs into their dance
And where the crazy white man in the desert of his bones
Lies as bleached as the paradise he likes to think he owns
Oh I hate the white man and his plastic excuse,
Oh I hate the white man and the man who turned him loose
And far across the reaches of the drifting yellow sands
The living carpet wilderness forever joins its hands
Where heaven's hell's attainment in a surging crest of fire
And more than all is thrown upon the ever-lasting pire
And through the countless counticles of Jason's charcoal fleece
Are song the songs of nothing in the timeless masterpiece
And there stood in the middle, it's the ever-lasting burst
Built by God's very own white man as he tries to rule the dust
Oh I hate the white man and his doctrinaire refuse,
Oh I hate the white man and the man who turned him loose
And the bowels of his city have been locked into a safe
Where the spew-stains on the side-walk are defenders of his faith
And his Gorgon-header scandal sheet presents its daily bite
To give the righteous news-believers drugs to keep them white
And back inside his kitchen the boller-hatted long haired saint
Cleans with soap and water but it's really just white paint
And outside in the white-wash where the guns are always, always right
The shooting-star has summoned death's dark angel from his night
And I hate the white man and his evergreen excuse
Oh I hate the white man and the man who turned him loose
... and the man who turned ya all loose.
I bought the first Mothers of Invention album, 'Freak-Out!' during the summer of 1967 at age 13. Although I wasn't sure what to make of it at first, after numerous listens and the reading the liner notes many times, it became my favorite album during that period. There is a rock protest song on side 3 called "Trouble Every Day", whose lyrics really struck me so I memorized all of the words and can still repeat them now more than a half century later. In between verses, Frank Zappa says, "Hey, you know something people, I'm not black but there's lots of times that I wished I could say that I'm not white". I wasn't sure what to make of that remark at first but after watching and reading about civil rights protests across the nation, participating in these protests and being taught to accept all folks as equal, I understand exactly what Frank meant. I've long studied the history of many minorities in this country and around the world and the way they've been treated (unjustly) by politicians and ignorant folks all over, often being scapegoated for other people's problems. Many great writers have written songs, poetry, essays and novels about these ongoing injustices. Reading and thinking about this helps to bring me (all of us) a better view of the way things still are and what we have to do to make this situation better and not worse. The above song was written by former British folk singer, Roy Harper, someone I've long admired and still collect and listen to his vast catalogue of recordings. This song first appeared on Harper's fourth album, 'Flat Baroque and Beserk' in 1970. This was Mr. Harper's most popular song for a while and it still makes me think today about being white. There are both bad and good things about this. Although there is nothing I can do about the color of my skin or the fact that I was born into a Jewish home in this country, I still have some hope for humanity although things do seem pretty dismal at times. Please keep that Hope alive! Peace and Love Always, Bruce Lee Gallanter at DMG
************
THE DMG 34th ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE CONCERT CELEBRATION CONTINUES with:
Tuesday, July 8th:
6:30: NICK NEUBERG - Drums / BRITTANY KARLSON - Bass
7:30: CHUCK ROTH / WEBB CRAWFORD - Guitar Duo
8:30: NOA FORT - Voice / MARTY EHRLICH - Alto Sax / SEAN CONLY - Contrabass
Tuesday, July 15th:
6:30: SABRINA SALAMONE - Violin / ROCIO SANCHEZ - Bass / NICK NEUBERG - Drums
7:30: TY CITERMAN - Guitar / JEN BAKER - Trombone / DAFNA NAPHTALI - Electronics
8:30: SYLVAIN LEROUX - Fula Flute - alto sax / HILL GREENE - Contrabass / DAN KURFIRST - Drums
9:30: MARK DATERMAN - Guitar / JAIR-ROHM PARKER WELLS - ContraBass / JOE HURTIN - Drums
Tuesday, July 22nd:
6:30: JOSE F. SOLARES - Tenor sax / MIRANDA AGNEW - Trumpet / ORCHID McRAE - Drums !
7:30: AIDAN O’CONNELL - ContraBass / MATT KNOEGEL - Sax / MICHAEL LAROCCA - Drums !
8:30: GREG SHERIFF from VOIDWARD - Drums, Digeridoo, Samples / SANDY EWEN - Guitar!
************
This weeks goodies begin with this one:
MATT MITCHELL - Sacrosanctity (Obliquity 004; USA) Featuring Matt Mitchell on solo piano. Each of Downtown's best pianists (Sylvie Courvoisier, Kris Davis, Angelica Sanchez, Cooper-Moore & Matt Mitchell) consistently keeps busy working in a variety of projects or situations. Matt Mitchell has recorded with Tim Berne, Dave Douglas, Anna Webber & Jon Irabagon, as well as recording his own music in solos, duos, trios and large ensembles. Solo records are pretty rare for Mr. Mitchell, with just two since 2018. Whereas his last solo piano effort was a 2 CD tour-de-force, this one is quite different. The music here is completely improvised and all pieces are first takes. The short intro is called "Gnomic" and it reminds me of one of those more restrained sections found on certain Matt Shipp records. "Hibernaculum" is also slowed down and spacious, showing a much different side to Mr. Mitchell's playing, which is often more difficult and shows his prog-like or metal-ish influences. The piece builds slowly, remaining stark yet sweeping with solemn waves crashing. It took me a while to calm down my expectations or inner pulse but once I did, the music seemed to have more meaning within. On "glyph scrying", Mitchell often plays one chord or line at a time, letting each note or chord ring and resonate over the suspense-filled space. Eventually Mitchell picks up the tempo for a series of sweeping waves, cascading nicely at times and growing more intense over time, actually most majestic sounding. I found these to be rather lovely and most captivating. This doesn't sound like anything I've heard from Matt Mitchell before. I am most impressed nonetheless and glad to hear this other side of Mr. Mitchell's music. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $15 [LTD Edition of 500]
GPS with GUILLERMO GREGORIO / JEFF PEARRING / CHARLEY SABATINO - Directions Destinations (577 Records 5972; USA) Featuring Guillermo Gregorio on clarinet, Jeff Pearring on alto sax and Charley Sabatino on contrabass with each musician contributing songs to this disc as well as several trio improvs. Recorded in August of 2023 and November of 2024 at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, NY. Over time I've come to appreciate the playing and composing of Argentina-born, Chicago-to-New York-based clarinetist, Guillermo Gregorio, through a half-dozen recordings and around a dozen sets here at DMG (with differing personnel) over the past decade or so. Alto saxist, Jeff Pearring, I don't know as well although he has played here at DMG on a couple of occasions and I dig his sound on sax. Mr. Pearring does have around five discs out under his own name. Bassist Charley Sabatino had played here only once so I don't know much about him.
One of the things I like most about Mr. Gregorio is that he always brings his own notated music to his gigs at DMG, unlike most of the mainly improvised sets that we usually have here. The first thing I noticed about this disc is how well it is recorded: warm, clear, careful-sounding. Mr. Sabatino's "GPS" sounds like modern chamber music with solemn bowed bass and eerie sounding clarinet and alto sax. "The Crooked Mile" shifts between uptempo bass passages with the clarinet & alto sax spiraling quickly around the central bass pumping. This piece is the longest one on this disc (18 minutes) and includes some quirky hand percussion sections (bells & cymbals) as well as solo clarinet and some focused spiraling by both reed players. Gregorio's "Coplanar 1 & 2" features more, written & well-played complex chamber modern chamber music. Every third piece here is an improv trio, which in some ways are not that different from the written ones except for when we hear obviously tightly written segments. Another thing I like about this disc is that each written piece deals with a different structure or strategy so if you listen closely, you start to hear the way the trio works so well together, so well balanced on several levels. This disc is modern day chamber/jazz at its best. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD-R $14
MATS GUSTAFSSON / KEN VANDERMARK / TOMEKA REID / CHAD TAYLOR - Pivot (Silkheart 168CD; Sweden) The band showed up, four folks from three different spots on the globe - Chicago (Vandermark, Reid); Nickelsdorf, Austria (Gustafsson); Philadelphia (Taylor). They assembled their gear and sound-checked at the studio. There was a four-way freedom at play, structures but liberties and no need for elaborate explanation. Everyone spoke the same shorthand. Cues were understood; timings were implicit and considered; space was made for chances to be taken. In creative music, you sometimes need to rehearse a band incessantly to get to a level of understanding, that "condition of secrecy" that Inger Christensen speaks of in relation to poetry. Not so with this ensemble. Some scores with directions and motifs that specify the relationships, but also the relationships prefiguring their being directed, relationships between the people themselves, the standing understanding between Mats and Ken, who worked together extensively for the last 30 years including the quartet version of Gustafsson's AALY and of course the Brötzmann Tentet. The relationship between Chad and Tomeka including the cellist's Hear in Now Expanded and in Rob Mazurek's bands; the one between Ken and Tomeka including a quartet with Hamid Drake and Lemuel Marc; one between Chad and Ken in the trio Side A, with pianist Håvard Wiik; one between Mats and Tomeka dating back to a 2017 studio session that might someday see light of day. The relationships and their prepositions. Not only simple prepositions, like "on" or "in," "above" or "below." More subtle ones, like "across" or "through." Relationships of duration and transfiguration. Not just "since," but "until." - John Corbett
CD $17
KRISTEN NOGUES & JOHN SURMAN - Diriaou (Souffle Continu Records FFL 099CD; France) When they performed a handful of concerts as a duo in the summer of 1998, Kristen Noguès and John Surman had already worked a lot on the interweaving of genres: Noguès had confronted traditional Breton music with contemporary music and Surman had changed his jazz into atmospheric numbers that would be amongst the finest recording on the ECM label. As a duo, the harpist and the saxophonist would go on to invent something different: free folk, traditional ambient, modal 'fest-noz'. It is difficult to label, because the duo Noguès/Surman is one of a kind. Diriaou means "Thursday" in Breton. It is also the title of the first piece that Kristen Noguès and John Surman played together in 1991. Noguès learned the Breton language as a child, at the same time as the Celtic harp, "taking lessons with Denise Mégevand, who would go on to teach others, notably Alan Stivell. At the beginning of the 1970s, she discovered the Breton song tradition (soniou and gwerziou) and became involved in Névénoé, a cooperative of traditional expression founded by Gérard Delahaye and Patrick Ewen. She recorded a single with the two musicians in 1974, then her first album, two years later. Everyone who has listened to Kristen Noguès debut Marc'h Gouez is now aware of her mysterious plucked strings. Her art, leaving Brittany, would go on to take in all landscapes and folklores, in the same as that of John Surman, conceived a little further north including vernacular jazz, international fusion with Chris McGregor or Miroslav Vitou, and exploring more personal territory. Kristen Noguèsand John Surman thus shared an "extra-Celtic" inspiration infused with free improvisation. On this recording, made in 1998 by Tanguy Le Doré at the Dre Ar Wenojenn festival, the duo uses original compositions which refer back to traditional songs (Maro Pontkalek, Le Scorff). The musicians then create fantastic impressions: Baz Valan, on which Noguès and Surman have a heavenly exchange; Kernow, on which the shared theme slowing disappears into the mist; Maro Pontkalek and Diriaou which move from the storm to the calm. Elsewhere, there is singing, first with Surman (Kleier) and then moving on to Noguès (Kerzhadenn and her signature song Berceuse). On a canvas of traditional music, the two musicians weave countless memorable landscapes.
CD $17
NEXUS with TIZIANO TONONI / DANIELE CAVALLANTI / EMANUELE PARRINI / et al - Plays Dolphy (RED Records 123345-2; Italy) "Full-bodied and lush sextet arrangements that revise without betraying the original performances. - AudioReview's Disc of the Month. These are more full-bodied and lush, both harmonically and because of the inclusion of various happy gimmicks, such as moments of collective improvisation and other insolitary ones - nonexistent in Dolphy's."The Nexus version introduces a linked suite of pieces that brims over with spirit - as does just about everything in the collected discography of Tiziano Tononi and Daniele Cavallanti. There is a big hearted quality to their work, always giving credit to their pantheon of heroes but also giving a lot back to the creative music tradition with the originality of their approach and the sheer verve of the playing. It's a performance that puts Dolphy's most famous quote to the test: "When you hear music, after it's over, it's gone in the air; you can never recapture it again." Far from disappearing, it finds harbour in the hearts and minds of those who have loved it, and continues to inspire."
CD $17
WES MONTGOMERY with PHIL BODNER / TOMMY FLANAGAN / ROGER KELLAWAY / DICK HYMAN / MEL RHYNE / PERCY HEATH / SAM JONES / BOB CRANSHAW / MILT HINTON / LOUIS HAYES / ALBERT "TOOTIE" HEATH / GRADY TATE / JIMMY COBBS / CANDIDO - The Classic 1960s Recordings (Enlightenment 9245; EEC) Jazz guitarist John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery, born March 6, 1923, is widely considered one of the major guitarists from the jazz genre, emerging in the late 1950s. Coming after such seminal figures as Django Reinhardt and Charlie Christian before him, he went on to influence countless others, from Kenny Burrell to Jimi Hendrix. This 4 CD collection features Wes Montgomery's complete recorded output between 1960 and 1965 - the finest music Wes Montgomery was ever to make during his short life. The albums included are 'The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery", "Movin' Along', "A Portrait of Wes Montgomery', 'Bumpin'', 'Fusion', 'Boss Guitar', etc.
4 CD Set $18
DYZAN - Time Machine & Electric Silence (MIG 03432; Germany) Formed in 1972 as a quintet, Dzyan recorded their self-titled debut album after only two months and released it on Aronda, a small Bad Homburg label owned by producer Günther Müller. The original line-up, which never performed live, broke up after a few months. Bassist Reinhard Karwatky soon formed a trio that took the band's name. Karwatky, guitarist Eddy Marron and drummer Peter Giger signed a contract with Bacillus/Bellaphon, Peter Hauke (Omega, Nektar, Jeronimo, etc.) produced and Dieter Dierks was the studio engineer.
On "Time Machine" (1973), the first album for Bacillus, Dzyan plays virtuoso jazz-rock that occasionally, especially on the 18-minute title track, reminds one of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. At the same time, the trio does not lack a certain herbaceous rawness.
On their second Bacillus album, "Electric Silence" (1974), the trio celebrates their Kraut-Jazzrock to perfection. In its review of the album, the leading German jazz magazine Jazz Podium concluded that "Electric Silence" would establish Dzyan as "probably the best German band" in the field of jazz rock. Achim Breiling of the online magazine "Babyblaue Seiten" said a few years ago: "'Electric Silence' is certainly one of the strangest, but also one of the most impressive and independent of what has been produced in Germany in the border area between jazz and rock.
I have an original CD copy of 'Electric Silence', which was first released on LP in 1974 and reissued on CD in 1993. The trio at this time was Eddy Marron on guitars, sitar, saz, tambura, mellotron & voice, (founding member) Reinhard Karwatky on electric & acoustic basses, Super Strings (an invented instrument), mellotron & synth and Peter Giger on drums & percussion. I knew nothing about any of the members of the trio before then although I do recall that Peter Giger did work with Albert Mangelsdorff, Trilok Gurtu & Doug Hammond. Listening to this album now (7/2/25), it sounds like some of the best German jazz/rock/space/ethnic music I've heard. Small acoustic percussion (balafon-sounding) is at the center of the sound on the first piece, "Back to Where We Come From". When guitarist Eddie Marron enters in the last section of this piece, he has a fine, Hendrix or Terje Rypdal-like sound. The blend of acoustic and electric instrumentation is seamless here. "A Day in the My Life" opens with sitar and tabla-like percussion. The producer adds some echo device on the sitar, pushing it further out to a spacey sound.
CD $17
SHIFA with RACHEL MUSSON / PAT THOMAS / MARK SANDERS - Ecliptic (Discus Music 194CD; UK) Shifa features Rachel Musson on tenor sax, Pat Thomas on piano and Mark Sanders on drums & percussion. This disc was recorded live at Cafe Oto in February of 2023. The name Shifa is taken from the Arabic word for healing. I've reviewed several discs from UK saxist Rachel Musson when she was working with Eddie Prevost, Alex Ward and Federico Ughi. British keyboard wiz, Pat Thomas, plays a variety of keyboards and recorded with dozens of UK musicians like Derek Bailey, Evan Parker and Eugene Chadbourne. Master drummer Mark Sanders also worked with Paul Dunmall, John Butcher and Jah Wobble. This is the second disc by this trio, the first one was also recorded at Cafe Oto and released in 2019. This disc consists of one long 46 minute set. The set is/was well-recorded and balanced superbly. The starts off explosively with rambunctious tenor sax, sprawling piano and drumming which erupts powerfully at times and then settles down into a calmer space. Mr. Sanders' strong mallet-work is at the center of the trio/storm. Things get more compelling when the trio slows down, stretching things out and using suspense or space to keep things interesting. The trio sounds truly connected about halfway through the set, the piano and drums both creating a spacious, dreamy aura while Musson's sax erupts on top. This free and forceful music is played with much intensity and often reaches a heavy plateau before settling down to some more calmer segments. If Creative Music is truly the Healing Force of the Universe, then this is some strong healing medicine. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
MARK CUNNINGHAM & JORGEN TELLER - Next (Feeding Tube Records 789CD; USA) "While they have collaborated a good many times, Next is the first recorded evidence of Danish guitarist (or more properly Bastardist) Jørgen Teller playing with American ex-pat multi-instrumentalist Mark Cunningham. The pair both have long histories on the fringes of known sounds. I first heard Teller as a member of the dizzily freakoid Tzarina Q Cut and Cunningham's decades of musical adventurism with Mars, Don King, Bestia Ferida, Blood Quartet, etc. have been well documented, not least by us. This is Mark's tenth FTR release! The four pieces here are improvised instrumental duets. The material was recorded in October 2023, as part of an ongoing residency Mark has at the Fabra I Coats creation center in Barcelona. Throughout, Teller plays Le Bastard (a Hofner 137 electric guitar with two bass strings and three guitar strings). Cunningham plays mostly trumpet and delays, but also whips out his old Dan Electro for one of the tracks. Overall, the sonic results are drony, druggy, softly-noisey slabs of brilliant buzz. In a general way, Jørgen's amped strings set up a humbucking sound-sheet against which he and Mark can each toss spontaneous squibs of creation and destruction, When Mark is playing trumpet and pedals, the music sometimes manifests a strange sort of charm that almost has the feel of a noise rock approach to the Canterbury Sound. By which, I mean the stuff is rackety, but there are built-in glissandos that make me think of nothing less Camel's brilliant live work on the Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dancehall. Of course, these moments resolve themselves in weirder ways than any Pete Bardens has ever dreamed up, but it demonstrates the duo's avant-prog game is strong! The doubled guitar track (called 'Next 3' to contrast it with 'Next 1,' 'Next 2,' and 'Next 4') is a superb piece of string work with rockist overtones that put fellow in mind of some of the best moments by classic two-man string units like the Smashchords or early Half Japanese. But with a more overtly hypnagogic overlay that forces your brain's receptors to stretch themselves in new ways. It's all amazing stuff. Sounding so fully evolved you'll be tempted to swear it weren't improvised! But you'd be wrong, friend. Some people just have the gift. To paraphrase that old softy, Lou Reed, their week beats your year. Get up with it!" --Byron Coley, 2025
CD $14
LAETITIA SONAMI - Dangerous Women: Early Works 1985-2005 (Lovely Music LCD 4011CD; USA) Laetitia Sonami was born in France, where she studied with Eliane Radigue. She moved to the United States to study electronic music, first with Joel Chadabe at SUNY Albany, then at Mills College where she was mentored by Robert Ashley and David Behrman. Laetitia Sonami is not only a gifted composer/designer of electronic music, but a compelling presence on stage. This collection of early works covers a period when Sonami transitioned from live mixing with cassettes, homemade analog synths and objects in the early eighties, to working with MIDI, MAX software and "off the shelf" synths and samplers. At the same time, she begins a long collaboration with Melody Sumner Carnahan, using her dramatic texts to evoke characters and behaviors to inhabit musically and visually. All but two of the works on this release utilize Sumner Carnahan's stories, and all but one use Sonami's famous invention, the lady's glove, an arm-length tailored glove fitted with movement sensors allowing the perform to fluidly control digital sound parameters and processing, as well as motors, lights and video playback. Sonami has since moved on to works for another of her inventions, the Spring Spyre, which applies Machine Learning to real time audio synthesis. On "The Road not Taken", the trio starts to ascend into some space-rock soaring with layers of effects-laden guitar(s), righteous bass and rumbling, powerful drums. A distant space/chorus-like sound opens "Khali", eerie sitar and other rather cosmic sounds.
2 CD Set $24
JAMES NEWTON - Compassion and Mustard Seeds in Perilous Times (New World Records 80829; USA) James Newton’s (b. 1953) third New World release continues and extends his musical testimony based on biblical scripture and his own spiritual discernment. It is a fascinating, if not mystical, experience of the intersection of Newton’s personal faith, creativity, and theological introspection.
Mr. Newton is a quintessential twenty-first-century composer whose influences and inspirations are many. Anyone familiar with his performance trajectory and formation as flautist, composer, and improvisor will recognize that he is the result of many influences and inspirations. Like many of his generation, he is heir to multiple musical legacies and musical/cultural traditions. Newton acknowledges these influences, from Monteverdi to Messiaen to Mahalia Jackson, from the music of John and Alice Coltrane to Javanese gamelan and the music of the Central African rainforest....
CD $16
ANQI LIU // KYLE MOTL / STEVEN SCHICK / SCHALLFELD ENSEMBLE / PALIMPSEST ENSEMBLE - Veiled Erosion (Kairos 0022063; Austria) Veiled Erosion, the debut album by Anqi Liu, invites listeners into a world of spectral nuance, cultural memory, and fragile connection. Her music breathes through thresholds - between noise and tone, breath and bow, self and other. In the closing Etude for Friends, Liu renders friendship as a sonic practice: intimate, unstable, and quietly transformative. Drawing from Mongolian long song and microtonal chamber traditions, she composes sound as a site of listening, learning, and being-together. Veiled Erosion is not about resolution but about staying with paradox - where sound becomes a trace of relation, and music a gentle method of knowing otherwise.
Contrabassist Kyle Motl plays here at DMG usually once a year and comes to visit on occasion as well. I always enjoy his performances, especially the string duo called TreeSearch. Mr. Motl was here earlier this week and left us with this disc. Although I hadn't heard of the composer, Anqi Liu, before now, I do recognize the names of a couple of the musicians: clarinetist Madison Greenstone (who played at our outdoor series) and conductor/percussionist Steven Schick. Each of the five pieces here for a different ensemble, as well as one piece for solo contrabass.
Anqi Liu comes from Inner Mongolia, where she spent time riding horses and with herding communities listening to the wind, sounds of animals and Mongolian long song singing practices. "While Snow..." has a most organic sound, a tapestry of eerie bowed strings or other bowed objects, spacious percussion, slightly bent notes floating or pulsating from within. As the piece unfolds, the sounds grow louder and more intense and then calming back down somewhat for the last section. "How Light Arrives..."is performed by the Palimpsest Ensemble, who I've heard cover some difficult music from Xenakis. Rather like the music of Penderecki or Xenakis, the music here consists of a series of elongated sounds which are stretched out and carefully manipulated. The low-end percussion sounds like thunder with a series of ghost-like slightly bent sounds floating above. "Etude for Echoes" is for a smaller quartet with Madison Greenstone on clarinets (plus trombone, violin & percussion). This piece moves slowly with each note being stretched out and droning. Although it sounds organic, there is also a feeling of uneasiness, as if we are slowly losing our balance while standing on moving ground or a raft. Stripping the ensemble even further, "Light Beams Through Dusts, Through a Mist of Moistures" is for solo contrabass. The concentration and attention to detail in this piece is fascinating as Kyle Motl works slowly, bowing and letting loose thick, haunting low-end drones which sound larger than life. The music bristles with intensity and suspense. As Motl bows those deep, dark low-end notes, it is as if we were balancing, slow dancing on quicksand. Some of the sounds here are quite scary. The last piece is called "Etude for Friends" and it is performed by a different quartet (flute, trumpets, violin & cello). In the liner notes it reads that Ms. Liu's music imagines "sound realms of personal history, cultural memory and political struggle", something that most of us serious listeners can relate to. Similar to the previous pieces, the music here is quite eerie and unfolds slowly, spaciously and organically. The tempo increases quickly as the nervous energy builds and expands. At times, it sounds like we are moving from scene to scene as the sounds seem to evoke different places or feelings. What I like most about this disc is the way it takes me somewhere else and considers the way certain sounds evoke different things within our conscious minds. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16
PHILIP GAYLE with FUUCHAN / HANA FUJINO / OKAKA / OMUSUBIASAN / SHOGO OSHIMA - Sunrise Crazy (Public Eyesore 162; USA) Featuring Philip Gayle on guitars, vocal, toy instruments & sundries with Shogo Oshioma on alto sax or bass clarinet and Fuuchan (on most tracks), Hana Fujino, Okaka & Omusubian on voices. Former Downtown musician, Philip Gayle, has been living in Japan for a number of years and now works with Japanese musicians. Mr. Gayle is an odd and unique character who plays a variety of guitars, does strange vocal sounds and has invented his own sonic world. On this disc Mr. Gayle works with four Japanese vocalists plus Shogo Oshima on alto sax & bass clarinet, none of whom I've heard of before now. There are some 19 pieces here and all but three are under 4 minutes. "It Is an Animal" has layers of strange guitar sounds all swirling together with weird vocals sounds added as well. A few of the vocal sounds sound like those snorting sounds the Frank Zappa used to put on records like 'Uncle Meat'. Some of the voices are child-like and even sounds like animals. On "Oh Wow", Okaka repeats the title phrase over and over while Gayle adds an infectious repeating melody underneath. The positive vibe is most infectious here. At times, it sounds like Mr. Gayle is conducting a chorus of crazed vocalists with snippets of guitars and/or percussion added to the brew. Although it does sound like some (most?) of this was recorded on a funny farm, the overall free, explosive yet focused vibe is most engaging. This is like a breath of fresh air after some of the more serious sounds that I've listened to and reviewed today (7/3/25). Dedicated to Susan Alcorn, Steve Dalachinsky & Michael Evans, three of favorite Downtown heroes. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $12
AMY CIMINI - See You When I Get There (Relative Pitch Records SS032; USA) Featuring Amy Cimini on viola and electronics. Amy Cimini is a professor at UC San Diego and the author os a book called: 'Wild Sound: Maryanne Amacher and the Tenses of Audible Life'. Ms. Cimini has played with Anthony Braxton's Tri-Centric Orchestra and Architeuthis Walks On Land. This is her first solo effort and it was recorded at Studio A at UC San Diego in May of 2022. Over the past decade I've noticed that there are more great violists than ever before: Jason Hwang, Mat Maneri, Jessica Pavone and Joanna Mattrey. The first piece here is actually dedicated to Downtown viola pioneer, Jessica Pavone.For this piece, Ms. Cimini adds layers of effects to her viola, making it more dense and intense with echoes. It sounds like a sea of strings with a flock of seagulls added to the haze, eventually a lone viola with eerie effects plays a solemn, prayer-like etude. "Now! Now! Now!" is dedicated to protest songwriter & labor organizer John Handcox and it is a more restrained, sparse work for a lone viola with subtle effects added and rumbling sounds down below. On "No Charming Silence", Ms. Cimino keeps shifting and bending the notes on her viola, making us all feel uneasy as our aural view of our reality keeps changing. At times, the viola is stripped down to just some pizzicato fragments which are echoed at times. It sounds like Ms. Cimino is banging on her strings as well as on the body of the viola. Although the sounds are rather strange, they evoke an unsettling vibe which remains throughout this disc. "Anyone's Song" ends this disc and has some abrupt, intense viola playing which hits hard. The music throughout this disc provides an angular, at times throttling intensity. Not for the timid amongst us. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
EREZ DESSEL - Pro Fake No Reject (Corbett Vs. Dempsey 119CD; USA) This is Dessel's first solo CD. One of the most astonishing young musicians to emerge in contemporary improvised music, Erez Dessel (b. 1998) is helping to revitalize the practice. An ace technician who studied at the New England Conservatory, Dessel is in no way conservative. Indeed, his bracing approach to the keyboard and deeply intuitive sense of form can be explosive, uncorked energy summoning references to Cecil Taylor and the Don Pullen/Milford Graves duets, and an almost Russian Romantic darkness -- imagine an improvised Mussorgsky -- offset by keen emotional intelligence, with joyful melodicism and an airborne quality. And nestled within Dessel's playing there's a perverse streak, a contrarianism that might call to mind Misha Mengelberg or Jim Baker. An active participant in Chicago's current creative music scene.
CD $15
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC - Koto - Shamisen (World Arbiter 2012CD; USA) ...Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai 1941. 2025 restock. The World Arbiter label presents 1941 recordings of the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai -- masters of the koto and shamisen, heard with excerpts from theater and songs performed by many artists born in the Meiji period. They represent the earliest examples of ancient classical traditions. In the late 1930s, Japanese musicologists and experts completed years of work on a project to record their country's musical cultures, starting with ritualized shamanic traditions of the palace's gagaku, Buddhist chant, Noh theater, blind lute (biwa) players chanting medieval epics, a body of koto music, shamisens of kabuki dances, folk songs of workers, artisans, farmers, and children's songs. Five volumes, each with 12 78 rpm discs, comprised the leading performers of the time, many born into a Japan that newly opened to the West in 1868, taught by masters of an earlier isolated Japan. These recordings were meant to be given only to educational institutions and not sold. Right before starting their distribution, war broke out in 1941. Beate Sirota Gordon, age 22, accompanied the U.S. Army to Japan in 1946. She had grown up in Tokyo with her parents, Russian pianists whose pupils included Yoko Ono and her father. Beate secretly wrote a pioneering section on women's rights in Japan's post-war Constitution. During her mission, Donald Ritchie, a noted film historian, discovered a set of these recordings and gave them to her. Gordon presented them to Arbiter in the late 1990s. Aside from her copy, only one other complete set is known to have survived the war in Japan, as they were possibly destroyed in a warehouse bombing. The people of post-war Japan and the rest of the world now have the chance to hear these lost recordings of Japan's broad cultural legacy. On these recordings, one is struck by a sense of eternity belonging to a culture living in a mind-set of immortality and permanence, an ease buoying virtuosity and intricate musical forms, revealing a gripping authenticity that later performers hint at. This third of five discs contains significant examples of the koto and shamisen literature, dances from Kabuki and puppet theater traditions, many originating in the 1700s. Full descriptions are included in a lengthy booklet, while complete translations are on Arbiter's web site. Arbiter loves Japan and its arts, and is honored to revive lost master performers.
CD $14
JAPANESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC - Shamisen and Songs - Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai 1941 (World Arbiter 2013CD; Earth) This is the fourth volume in World Arbiter's Japanese Traditional Music series. The World Arbiter label presents 1941 recordings of the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai -- masters of the shamisen. An extensive anthology of traditional Japanese music was created sometime around 1941-1942 by the Kokusai Bunka Shinkôkai (KBS), International Organization for the Promotion of Culture. KBS was established under the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1934 for cultural exchange between Japan and foreign countries, representing genres such as gagaku (court music), shômyô (Buddhist chants), nô (Noh medieval theater play), heikyoku (biwa-lute narratives of battles), shakuhachi (bamboo flute music), koto (long zither music), shamisen (three-stringed lute music), sairei bayashi (instrumental music for folk festivals), komori-uta (cradle songs, lullabies), warabe-uta (children songs), and riyou (min'you) (folk songs). Considering that 1941-1942 was a most daunting time for Japan's economy and international relationships with Asian and Western countries, it is remarkable that this excellent anthology of Japanese music was ever completed and published, as it contains judiciously selected pieces from various genres performed by top-level artists at that time. The KBS' recording project is of unique historical importance and culturally valuable as a document of musical practices in traditional Japanese genres during the wartime. Few copies of this collection exist in Japan. This CD restoration is taken from a set originally belonging to Donald Richie, a writer and scholar on Japanese culture (particularly on Japanese cinema), who had given it to Ms. Beate Sirota Gordon, known for her great contribution to the establishment of Japan's Constitution during the period of U.S. occupation after WWII. Gordon's father, Leo Sirota, a piano pupil of Busoni's, fostered many excellent Japanese pianists at the Tokyo Ongaku Gakko (Academy of Music, forerunner of present-day Music Department of Tokyo National University of The Arts) during 1928-1945. Shamisen, a three stringed lute, is said to have been imported from China through Okinawa into mainland Japan (Sakai, Osaka) in the latter half of the 16th century. It began to accompany popular songs and contributed in bringing about a variety of genres of shamisen music in the early 17th century. In the late Edo period (early 19th century), small-scale shamisen vocal genres such as ogie-bushi, hauta, utazawa, and kouta were performed by geisha in ozashiki chambers. This disc includes the shamisen music enjoyed in ozashiki. Jiuta music is mainly performed in houses or ozashiki chamber in the Kansai area and said to be the oldest shamisen music genre, born soon after the instrument's arrival in Japan. Kumiuta (combined pre-existent songs) music is also heard on this disc. Full descriptions are included in a 36-page booklet in English and Japanese.
CD $14
BALI 1928, VOL. II - Tembang Kuna: Songs from an Earlier Time (World Arbiter 2014; Earth) Vol. II in a five-disc series of 1928 Balinese recordings features Balinese vocal music, the first release of these recordings since they were first pressed to 78 rpm discs in 1929, the only commercially released recordings of music made in Bali before World War II. Originally recorded by a team from the German labels Odeon and Beka on a 1928-29 expedition to Bali and intended for a Balinese public that lacked any discs of its own music, many of these records have been reduced to single remaining copies by the ravages of time -- when the labels' (European) merchant in Bali destroyed the original discs in a fit of rage due to a complete lack of sales. Now, after a decade of global sleuthing, World Arbiter has located a surviving copy of every known vocal disc that escaped destruction, even one slumbering under a pile at an east Balinese raja's palace. The unaccompanied singing has been restored to the point that the listener is practically sitting inside the masters' throats to experience their microtonal miracles. The lyrics, fully translated, some from the archaic Old Javanese language and included in the liner notes, reveal intensely urgent erotic, mystical and romantic meanings. These extensive notes are supplemented with a 110-page PDF including an in-depth essay by Edward Herbst, contained on the disc and available online. Arbiter will continue to release its complete recovery of 111 three-minute sides, with five discs planned for the series, and a complete anthology to follow. Fully funded by a grant from The Andrew Mellon Foundation. Includes performances by Ida Bagus Oka Kerebuak, Ida Boda, Ni Dayu Madé Rai, Ida Bagus Ngurah, Ni Lemon, and the duo of Idu Bagus Wayan Buruan & Ida Madé Tianyar.
CD $14
BOOK SECTION:
WOLFGANG SEIDEL - Krautrock Eruption: An Alternative History Of German Underground In The '60s And '70s (Ventil Verlag 9783955752330; Germany) Krautrock as an escape from post-war Germany. Krautrock Eruption is a rousing counter-narrative to the usual depictions of Krautrock, written by Wolfgang Seidel, member of Conrad Schnitzler's band Eruption and co-founder of Ton Steine Scherben. Seidel's groundbreaking book, which includes unique historical photographs, paints a vivid picture of the old Federal Republic of Germany, with all of its contradictions and struggles. What is now celebrated as Krautrock emerged in this environment, and at the time was an attempt to contribute the soundtrack to the revolution. As a fly on the wall, Seidel recounts the squats, demos and first concerts of bands such as Cluster, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. Just as precisely and vividly, he recapitulates the influence of minimal music composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, the origins of many Krautrock musicians in jazz and the role of the synthesiser. Wolfgang Seidel delivers a captivating account on Krautrock that dispels many of the founding myths of the first genuinely German pop culture, which above all did not want to be German. In addition, the book is supplemented by a discography of the 50 most important Krautrock records, written by music journalist and Krautrock expert Holger Adam. Translated from German by Alexander Paulick (member of influential Düsseldorf-based avant-garde band Kreidler).
Book [paperback, 186 pages] $22
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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 0 ON KA'A DAVIS - JULY 2-3-5
The Stone is proud to present a rare appearance by mystical figure On Ka’a Davis who blends the psychedelia of Sun Ra, Miles Davis, and Jimi Hendrix with the ever-growing counterculture of Downtown New York. Performing on guitar, synth keyboard, programmed sounds, and percussion On is joined by his most recent cohorts for three nights of adventurous musical mayhem!
7/2 Wednesday
8:30 pm - ON KA'A DAVIS - On Ka'a Davis (guitars, synth keyboard, voice, percussion) Ali Ali (trumpet, eps percussion) Donald Sturge McKenzie II (drumset) Luke Stewart (bass)
7/3 Thursday
8:30 pm - ON KA'A DAVIS - On Ka'a Davis (guitars, synth keyboard, voice, percussion) James Nadien (drums) Theo Woodward (electronica, voice) Ras Moshe (horns)
7/5 Saturday
8:30 pm - ON KA'A DAVIS
- On Ka'a Davis (guitars, synth keyboard, voice, percussion) Ali Ali (trumpet, eps percussion) Donald Sturge McKenzie II (drumset) Diallo House (bass)
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / MATANA ROBERTS / JULY 9-12
Introducing Coin Coin Community: Sound Exploration with Heart and Purpose
Join me for an immersive solo experience that blends sound, storytelling, and collective vocalizations—rooted and inspired by my Coin Coin records( https://cstrecords.com/pages/matana-roberts?shpxid=fd17ddd1-5306-4e06-8a71-0c53b25de859). Each night, we’ll dive into soundscapes inspired by each recording in the series combined w/crucial causes impacted by today’s horrible political moment, from LGBT rights to reproductive justice and immigration. And the best part? All ticket proceeds will go directly to my fave grassroots organizations fighting for change.
It’s a healing, interactive work that needs your witness to thrive. I believe we can make a huge impact together, in community.
My dear mother called the Coin Coin project "a musical monument to the human experience" and she couldn't have been more right. Let’s keep the conversation and the experience of change—alive. This is just the beginning.
Thank you for the support. - Matana Roberts
7/9 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Coin Coin Community Solo I - Matana Roberts (winds, voice) - The Dedication (What are we fighting for): Trans rights
7/10 Thursday
8:30 pm - Coin Coin Community Solo II - Matana Roberts (winds, voice)
The Dedication (What are we fighting for): Immigrant Rights
7/11 Friday
8:30 pm - Coin Coin Community Solo III - Matana Roberts (winds, voice)
The Dedication (What are we fighting for): Educational Freedom
7/12 Saturday
8:30 pm - Coin Coin Community Solo IV
Matana Roberts (winds, voice)
The Dedication (What are we fighting for): Reproductive Justice/ We Will Not Be Silent
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 NOTE COMES FROM MY GOOD BUDDY JOEL HARRISON, Gifted Guitarist and Organizer. His yearly concerts at LPR have been a highlight for myself and other Guitar Freaks…
Dear Guitar Enthusiasts … There's a lot going:
—MIDWESTERNERS: please take note of the below dates. I'm lucky to be playing with two of the greatest B-3 organ players alive, and fantastic drummers as well. https://joelharrison.com/shows/
—On March 14 AGS (Alternative Guitar Summit) recordings releases ANUPAM SHOBHAKAR'S LIQUID REALITY, a tour de force on double neck guitar that fuses Indian music, jazz, and rock. If you like John McLaughlin this is for you. Preorder here: https://agsrecordings.bandcamp.com/
—We have uploaded some GREAT NEW PODCASTS to the AGS youtube channel with Ben Monder, Redd Volkaert, and more to come. Please check it out.
https://www.youtube.com/@alternativeguitarsummit
—For a couple of years I have been working on a major piece entitled "Burn Pit." The orchestration is jazz big band and a 16 person chorus. The subject matter is the deadly toxic burnpits from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that killed or sickened hundreds of thousands of military personnel. To fulfill my obligation to the NY State Council on the Arts and the Governors Office of NY, from whom I received a generous composition grant, I have posted a video discussing and playing excerpts from this work here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulyk1Pgrym8
Don't forget to sign up for our summer camp! Kevin Eubanks, Vernon Reid, Kurt Rosenwinkel, John Scofield...come on! https://www.alternativeguitarsummitcamp.com/ - Joel Harrison
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NEW VIDEOS from GUITAR MASTER HENRY KAISER:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgcxTkoIgQI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAWxt3EJSPw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcvoYygehqE
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From 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