Ah, here she comes, here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
She'll scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs from your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
You gave your heart to every bedsit room
At least a picture on my wall
And you sat behind a million pair of eyes
And told them how they saw
Then we lost your train of thought
The paintings are all your own
While troubles are rising, we'd rather be scared
Together than alone
Ah, here she comes, here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
She'll scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs from your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Now hear this Robert Zimmerman
Though I don't suppose we'll meet
Ask your good friend Dylan
If he'd gaze a while down the old street
Tell him we've lost his poems
So we're writing on the walls
Give us back our unity
And give us back our family
You're every nation's refugee
Don't leave us with their sanity
Ah, here she comes, here she comes
Here she comes again
The same old painted lady
From the brow of a superbrain
She'll scratch this world to pieces
As she comes on like a friend
But a couple of songs from your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Ah, a couple of songs from your old scrapbook
Could send her home again
Oh, here she comes, ooh, here she comes
Oh, here she comes, ooh
I recall hearing David Bowie's debut single, "Space Oddity" on Scott Muni's 'Things from England' show when it was released in 1969 and being completely enchanted with that song. It still sounds transcendent to me like the space trip that it is portraying and narrated by Mr. Bowie. I bought the single perhaps the next year and bought Bowie's "Hunky Dory" in 1971. I bought every David Bowie record when they were released up until 'Scary Monsters' in 1980. After that, I lost track since I felt that Bowie had lost his chameleon-like magic which made every album different from the last. I particularly like this trilogy: 'Station to Station', 'Low' and 'Heroes'. I caught David Bowie and his band (with Adrian Belew on lead guitar) when he toured in 1978 at Madison Square Garden and I was blown away by that concert (and yes, I was tripping for that one). I did end up acquiring all of his later records and like most of them although I found to be spotty. After several listens, I thought that his final studio album, 'Blackstar' (2016) was a return to his better days. I loved the way that David Bowie always messed with people's expectations as he kept changing styles and costumes on each release. I was deeply saddened when he passed away in 2016 after a short battle with cancer. I like the way that Mr. Bowie characterizes Bob Dylan in the above song. Bob Dylan, one of the greatest lyricists and songwriters ever, was also a mysterious chameleon-like figure who is nearly impossible to pin down to any one persona. A hefty toast to both of these revered artists. - MC-BruceLee at DMG
************
THE DMG 35th ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE CONCERT SERIES Continues with:
Saturday, July 18th, The Gauci-Music Series Continues:
6:30: JAMES McKAIN - Bari Sax / TJ BORDEN - Cello / KAELEN GHANDHI - Tenor-Soprano Sax / SANDY EWEN - Prepared Guitar
7:30: STEPHEN GAUCI - Tenor Sax - Flute / ADAM LANE - Bass / KEVIN SHEA - Drums
8:30: PATRICK GOLDEN - Drums / JIM CLOUSE - Tenor - Soprano Saxes / DAVE SEWELSON - Bari Sax
July 21st:
6:30: DAN KURFIRST - Drums / NICK LYONS, STAN ZENKOV, DANIEL CARTER - Reeds / DUSTIN CARLSON - Guitar / EVAN CRANE - Bass
7:30: MICHAEL COLEMAN - Synth - Guitar / KATIE JACOBSON - Vocals / IVAN ARTEAGA - Sax / KURT KOTHEIMER - Bass-Computer
8:30: ANDERS NILSSON / JONATHAN GOLDBERGER - Guitar Duo
July 28th:
6:30: DANIEL GALOW - alto sax / AARON RUBUNSTEIN - guitar / KEVIN MURRAY - Drums
7:30: JAMES WENGROW - guitar / KAELEN GHANDI - sax / LIM YANG - bass / PATRICK GOLDEN - Drums
8:30: JAMES PAUL NADIEN - Drums / LUKE POLIPNICK - Bass-Guitar / KAELIN GHANDHI - Sax
**************
THIS WEEK'S SONIC TREASURES BEGIN WITH A GREAT SAX DUO:
EVAN PARKER and JOHN ZORN - Those Landings (Tzadik 9331; USA) Friends and colleagues since the late 1970s, Evan Parker and John Zorn are two of contemporary music’s most uncompromising saxophone innovators, and here they collaborate on a surprising and long overdue studio project. Recorded in New York and Britain from 2025 to 2026 “Those Landings” is an achingly beautiful exploration of modern reed music with an ambient touch from two radical musical philosophers who use the saxophone as a sound source. Astonishing! - Release date: July 17th, 2026
CD $16
HARTMUT GEERKEN / CHRIS TRENT - Omniverse Sun Ra (Expanded And Revised 3rd Edition: 2026)(Art Yard 9780993351426; UK) 304 pages. Hardcover. Omniverse - Sun Ra by Hartmut Geerken and Chris Trent. Expanded and revised hardback third edition. Published by Art Yard. Over thirty years after its first publication, Art Yard present the revised third edition of Hartmut Geerken's Omniverse - Sun Ra, a definitive hitch-hiker's guide to the Sun Ra galaxy. This new revised edition features a fully revised discography by Chris Trent, co-author of The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra. Includes hundreds of images of Sun Ra album covers, posters, handbills and ephemera, including reproductions of rare hand drawn and colored LP sleeves. Bound in French fold cover, metallic foil blocking on blue Faimei cloth hardback. Comprehensive pictorial and annotated discography, including chronological discography and alphabetical record title, composition, personnel and record label indexes. Also features jackets and label indexes and hundreds of photographs of Sun Ra and His Arkestra in New York 1966 and Germany 1979 by Val Wilmer and Hartmut Geerken from Heliopolis Cairo Egypt 1971 an updated discography by Chris Trent, co-author of The Earthly Recordings of Sun Ra. With essays, photo documents by Hartmut Geerken, Val Wilmer, Amiri Baraka, Robert L. Campbell, Chris Cutler, Gabi Geist, Salah Ragab, Sigrid Hauff, and Karl Heinz Kessler.
BOOK $75
GERRY HEMINGWAY with IZUMI KIMURA / FRANK GRATKOWSKI / CHRISTIAN WEBER - Live at Bau 4 (Hat ezz-thetics 1070; Switzerland) Featuring Izumi Kimura on piano, Frank Gratkowski on clarinets, alto sax & alto flute, Christian Weber on contrabass and Gerry Hemingway on drums, voice and (most) co positions. Since moving to Switzerland, percussionist Gerry Hemingway has been working European musicians like Rodrigo Amado, Georg Graewe, Om and Izumi Kimura. Mr. Hemingway has recorded three discs with Japanese-born, Ireland-based pianist Izumi Kimura. Mr. Hemingway and Frank Gratkowski have around dozen discs together with either as a leader or with Simon Nabatov ot Georg Graewe, Swiss bassist, Christian Weber, can be found on some three dozen discs, but just one previously with Hemingway.
This set was recorded live at Bau 4 in Altburon, Switzerland in February of 2025. “Slivers” is up first and I like the way it is recorded, close mic’s, clear and warm. Frank Gratkowski is playing (bass?) clarinet in quick spiral while the bass and drums play more skeletally around him. Gratkowski eventually switches to alto sax and begins playing more robustly, the bass and drums playing tightly around him. Things slow down as Mr. Weber starts bowing his bass slowly, creating a low-end drone which is most hypnotic. The piece winds up with a lovely old-school clarinet solo in the last section. “Third Story Variation” is relatively short and has a dreamy, slightly disorienting vibe, like swimming under water in slow motion. “Bay 4 Assembly” is (36 minutes) long and goes through a number of sections. Hemingway provides some compelling writing here with each section exploring a different theme with long solos and strong interplay between all four members of this fine quartet. The piece erupts intensely pretty early with an explosive clarinet solo before calming down to a more reflective segment. There is section where Ms. Kimura plays muted (with her hand) piano while Heminqway plays similar rhythm patterns tightly with her which works well. This piece goes through quieter and more rambunctious sections, yet they fit together like an ongoing story or film, scene by scene. There is a section where Gratkowski slowly stretches out each note on his alto sax while bass and piano create appropriate drones and Hemingway creates suspense with his drumming. I love this disc since it reminds of a beloved film that we still enjoy viewing. Solid jackson, as we used to say. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $18 [In stock in a week or so]
DAN ROSENBOOM with DAVID BINNEY / GAVIN TEMPLETON / JIMMY JOHNSON / TIM LEFEBVRE / ZACH DANZIGER / VINNIE COLAIUTA / et al - Absurd in the Anthropocene (Gearbox GB 1557; UK) Absurd in the Anthropocene is in line with Dan Rosenboom's abstract musicianship and virtuous experimentalism, and continually pushes the envelope. The album's inspirations run the gamut from Miles Davis and Ornette Coleman to Frank Zappa, Soundgarden, and Squarepusher, and its title refers to the complicated and often surreal times in which people live. Rosenboom, a musician at the forefront of Los Angeles' ever-thriving creative music scene, boasts an international reputation for boundary-pushing projects and relentless productivity. A trumpet virtuoso equally at home in improvised and classical music, the prolific musician has been featured on stages and festivals all over the world, and has been described as "a phenomenon" by the Los Angeles Times. Absurd in the Anthropocene is loaded with an absurd crew of musicians, including producer and keyboard master Jeff Babko, legendary drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Gary Novak, and Zach Danziger, renowned bassists Jimmy Johnson, Tim Lefebvre and Jerry Watts Jr., Rosenboom's longtime collaborator Gavin Templeton and jazz icon David Binney on saxophones, guitarists Tim Conley, Alexander Noice, and Jake Vossler, electronics wizard Troy Ziegler, and horn-playing colleagues Brian Walsh, Ryan Dragon, Juliane Graile, and Javier Gonzalez.
CD $17 / 2 LP Set $38
SAMUEL BLASER QUARTET with RUSS LOSSING / MASA KAMAGUCHI / BILLY MINTZ - Rosina (Blaser Music Bm019; EEC) Drawing on Italian folk melodies, family memory, and the legacy of Blaser's maternal grandmother, Resistance fighter Rosina Pierina Scarpioni, trombonist Samuel Blaser joins Russ Lossing on piano, Masa Kamaguchi on bass, and Billy Mintz on drums in a deeply personal quartet session of open spaces, raucous interplay, lyrical intimacy, and contemporary improvisation shaped by heritage, song, and identity.
CD $15
DON CHERRY with MOGENS BOLLERUP / ATLI BJORN / BENNY NIELSEN / SIMON KOPPEL - Cherry Jam (Gearbox GB 1559; UK) Originally released in 2021. After having released Don Cherry's Cherry Jam as a limited Record Store Day title in the Autumn of 2020, Gearbox presents this essential release. Cherry Jam sets the scene in '60s Copenhagen, a city which at the time proved instrumental in the hosting and development of jazz musicians both local and American. Cherry had performed and recorded there with Archie Shepp in 1963, toured with Albert Ayler in the autumn of 1964, and would go on to have a residency at the hip Cafe Montmartre in 1966. This recording is taken from the original tape of a 1965 radio broadcast, programmed by Denmark's national radio station (Danmark's Radio.) It was in this same year that Cherry would record his landmark Blue Note recording, Complete Communion, with Leandro "Gato" Barbieri on tenor saxophone, Henry Grimes on double bass, and Edward Blackwell on drums, as well as feature on fellow American expatriate George Russell's live album George Russell Sextet at Beethoven Hall. This particular line-up however, consisting of Danish musicians, has never been heard after its original broadcast date, and neither have the three original Don Cherry compositions that are featured on the recording credits. These four pieces show Don Cherry in the midst of his transformation from pivotal sideman in New York's avant-garde jazz scene to leader of his own groups and world traveler. His endless curiosity, free-thinking openness to different cultures, and rejection of musical boundaries paved the way for future creators in jazz, world music, and beyond.
CD $17 // LP $30
DON CHERRY and GRAEME EWENS - Eternal Rhythm: Conversations and Travelations With (Ars Nova Workshop 9798218849962; USA) 200 pages. "Eternal Rhythm: Conversations & Travelations with Don Cherry and Graeme Ewens offers an intimate, free-flowing portrait of a legendary improviser and musical visionary. Drawn from priceless cassette-taped interviews gathered since 1979, the book is woven together by writer Graeme Ewens -- a confidant, travel companion, and close friend of Don Cherry. Through Ewens' vivid storytelling and Cherry's own reflections, Eternal Rhythm traces a life lived in constant motion -- artistically, spiritually, and geographically. The result is an unfiltered insight into the evolution and working life of a musician globally recognized as one of the most unique, innovative voices to emerge from the '60s free-jazz movement. It's a rich exploration of creativity without borders, capturing the essence of Cherry's expansive global musical journey. Printed in black and white and color.
BOOK $30 [In stock in 1-2 weeks]
CHARLES TOLLIVER with BINKER GOLDING / KEITH BROWN / BUSTER WILLIAMS / LENNY WHITE - Connect (Gearbox GB 1561; UK) New York-based trumpeter, composer and educator Charles Tolliver presents Connect. Recorded to tape at RAK Studios last November by Tony Platt (Bob Marley, Jazz Jamaica All Stars, Abdullah Ibrahim), the line-up features top musicians from the New York jazz scene who have collectively played with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Nancy Wilson, and Chick Corea. Forming as the Charles Tolliver All Stars, the band includes Jesse Davis on alto saxophone, Keith Brown on piano, Buster Williams on double bass, and Lenny White on drums. The album also bridges together New York and London by featuring leading British saxophonist Binker Golding on two tracks, (Binker & Moses, Moses Boyd Exodus, Zara McFarlane). Active since the 1960s, Charles Tolliver has been carrying the torch for jazz through his activities as accomplished trumpeter, educator at The New School, arranger for big band, and founder of the iconic Strata-East label which was responsible for releasing albums by Gil Scott-Heron, Clifford Jordan, Charlie Rouse, and Shirley Scott. As an entirely self-taught musician, he has collaborated with renowned artists such as Roy Haynes, Hank Mobley, Horace Silver, and McCoy Tyner.
CD $17 / LP $34
ALAN WAKEMAN with ALAN SKIDMORE / ART THEMEN / PAUL RUTHERFORD / HENRY LOWTHER / JOHN TAYLOR GORDON BECK / LINDSAY COOPER / PAUL LYTTON / et al - The Octet Broadcasts 1969 and 1979 (Gearbox 1562; UK) Originally released in 2020. "The next young generation of British jazz" has been applied many times to London's current jazz scene, but this headline from Melody Maker was also used to describe Alan Wakeman and his band back in 1970. And if a prototype for Binker and Moses' viscerally energetic, semi-free sound is sought, you would be hard pressed to find a closer relative than the second part of climactic highlight "Dreams." The Octet Broadcasts is made up of two BBC sessions from 1969 and 1979 respectively. Taken and mastered from the original analogue tapes by Gearbox, the album offers a snapshot of a time when British jazz was at another high, featuring such names as John Taylor, Alan Skidmore, Paul Lytton, and Art Themen, who themselves were contemporaries of and collaborated with the likes of Evan Parker, Michael Garrick, Ian Carr, and Roscoe Mitchell. Wakeman, influenced by Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus and mentored by Mike Westbrook, was composing singular, large ensemble pieces at a time when jazz had long left the limelight and rock was in the foreground. His brand of warm, pastoral jazz, reminiscent of brass bands and traditional chorales whilst also fit to bursting with free improvisation and dramatic motifs, is representative of a magical period in British jazz which deserves to be unearthed and heard again.
2 CD Set $24
THIAGO NASSIF - Mente (Gearbox GB 1560; UK) Thiago Nassif is a Brazilian musician, composer and producer based in Rio de Janeiro, whose impactful mélange of pop, jarring no-wave, and edgy Tropicália has slowly been turning heads the world over. Gearbox Records presents his latest album Mente, co-produced by no wave icon Arto Lindsay, and representative, via its diverse list of accredited musicians, of the progressive, new-generational music scene that is bubbling away in Rio. The album's title is a Portuguese homonym meaning "mind" and "to lie," and represents Thiago's attitude towards what he calls the "post-truth" state of Brazil's political regime. Mixing together the languages of Portuguese and English, Thiago goes deep into no-wave, experimental electronic music, Tropicalismo, jazz and rock, moving between funk carioca to dystopian, distorted bossa nova, and beyond. "It's music of nowhere and everywhere, disappearance and arrival, the archive becoming the now." - The New York Times
CD $17
BINKER GOLDING with JOE ARMON-JONES / DANIEL CASIMIR / SAM JONES - Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers (Gearbox 1555; UK) Binker Golding truly is the saxophonist of the moment. A highly skilled musician, accomplished composer, and occasional conductor, Golding has performed with everyone from Moses Boyd and Yussef Dayes to Evan Parker and Denys Baptise. Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers is his first quartet album, and typically, it goes against the grain. The album constitutes a departure from Binker's more rhythm and riff-heavy collaboration with Moses Boyd as well as his avant-garde project with Elliott Galvin. With all compositions and arrangements by the band leader, there is a greater emphasis on harmonic and melodic development, harking back to the more through-composed jazz fusion of the '80s and '90s. All tracks were recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios and mixed by James Farber, whose prolific discography includes albums by Brad Meldhau, Michael Brecker, and Joe Lovano. Expect a contemporary twist in the form of London jazz scene heavyweights; Joe Armon-Jones on piano, Daniel Casimir on double bass, and Sam Jones on drums.
CD $17
MARTIN ARCHER / CLAIRE McALLISTER with LAURA COLE / JAN TODD / STEVE DINSDALE / et al - Mast Year (Discus Music 297CD; UK) Featuring Claire McAllister on vocals, lyrics & songs, Martin Archer on clarinets, keyboards & electronics, Jan Todd on harps & electronics, Laura Cole on el piano, Gary Houghton on guitar, Graham South on trumpet, Nathan Bettany on oboe, Yvonna Magda on violin, a choir and even more. ‘Mast Year’ is yet another ambitious Martin Archer disc for his own Discus Music label. This disc features the vocals of Claire McAllister with music provided by Jan Todd, Yvonne Magda, Martin Archer and Ms. McAllister herself. The personnel changes on each piece from four to ten musicians. I know of some/most of the musicians from other discs on the Discus label: Jan Todd (with Fjall & Frostlake), Laura Cole (Caines/Archer Axis) and Yvonna Magda (Orchestra of the Upper Atmosphere).
I hadn’t heard of Ms. McAllister before this disc arrived but I must admit that I am most enchated by her lovely and often haunting voice. Starting with “Underground”, Ms. McAllister chants quietly “What do you want from me?, What do you need from me?”. As she repeats these lines, there are layers of dreamy drones provided by a chorus of voices, angelic harp, organ, trumpet, flute, clarinet and oboe. On “Still Beating” Mr. Archer layers singing and spoken word voice with a collage of violin, flute, organ, electronics and drums. Ms. McAllister’s enchanting wordless voice is often matched with enticing instrumental harmonies from the flute, keyboards and violin. The lyric here were inspired by a novel called, “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben, which explains the long live and evolution of trees. The lyrics are printed in the enclosed booklet and give us a trees’ point of view as it grows. What I like most about this is that the music and voice(s) is/are never too dense, there is an organic flow which feels right as the disc unfolds. There is a UK-based electronics trio called Radio Massacre International (3 CD’s on Cuneiform) who provide some hypnotic sequencers for the title track with a mesmerizing chorus of voices and Frippish guitar. On “Fall”, Ms. McAllister uses her wordless voice to express the feelings (of a tree perhaps), with minimal, eerie sounding shimmering around her. No matter how many musicians play on each piece, the enchanting vocals are at the center, never screaming and most often singing with sublime restraint. I listened to this entire disc on headphones since the amp in my listening room is old and starting to sputter at times. The entire disc took me on a solemn journey with Martin Archer’s superb production being consistently mesmerizing. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14
CONRAD SCHNITZLER - Conal (Bureau B 502CD; Germany) When Conal was released in 1981 on the Norwegian independent label Uniton Records with an initial run of 4,000 LPs, Schnitzler had already long been known beyond the borders of the Federal Republic of Germany and was now appreciated worldwide as a media artist and musician. In addition to the many cassette and LP editions he released himself, international labels were now increasingly releasing his music. In the same year as Conal, for example, the album Control was released on the American label DYS, followed in 1986 by Concert in the USA and Consequenz 2 in Spain. Schnitzler worked tirelessly and his total work of art, including his music, was becoming increasingly multifaceted. Conal is a good example of this development.
"The two tracks, each around 21 minutes long ('N1' and 'N2'), are not cast from the same mold, but consist of several parts blended together, which are not noted as such in the credits. This sequence creates the character of a narrative divided into several chapters, which, however, does not offer the listener a concrete plot. Schnitzler was not a storyteller. When he divides long pieces into clearly distinguishable sections, as he does here in Conal, it is in order to create a kind of panoramic view of his current work phase in condensed form. The complexity of the individual sections and the extraordinarily skillful and technically flawless crossfades and layering suggest that Conal was once again produced in Peter Baumann's studio. Although the good relationship between the two musicians never led to a musical collaboration, Baumann repeatedly made his extremely well-equipped Paragon Studio available to Schnitzler. It is also conceivable that Baumann and his brilliant sound engineer Will Roper provided useful technical suggestions for the realization of Schnitzler's music. Conal is one of those albums that, when it was released in the early 1980s, astonished Schnitzler listeners in a positive way: Schnitzler had once again dared to take an artistic step forward. It is hard to comprehend that this restless, uncompromising artist released one high-caliber album after another in relatively quick succession. For he was not only a musician, but also a media artist, performer and author of art theory texts. Fortunately, Conal is one of the treasures from his catalogue of works, and I have already asked elsewhere: How many other treasures are waiting to be rediscovered. The grand mosaic that is Schnitzler still has gaps, even when the contours are clearly visible." --Asmus Tietchens, 2025
CD $18 / LP $30
SOWAS VON EGAL 3 - German Synth Wave Underground 1981-1986 - Various Artists (Bureau B 507CD; Germany) With Sowas von Egal Vol 3, the Hamburg-based Damaged Goods DJ team continues its compilation series on Bureau B, once again turning its attention to the underground scenes of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland in the early 1980s. The selected tracks originate from a period in which, alongside the commercial Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW), a number of innovative and often more abrasive bands and artists operated outside the mainstream. They combined influences from new wave, synthwave, post-punk, and the avant-garde with German lyrics -- and occasionally other languages -- releasing their music in very small editions on indie labels or entirely DIY. As a result, many of these records are now rare and highly sought after. The tracks emerged in a cultural climate strongly shaped by the rupture brought about by punk. Five years after the second installment, the search for hard-to-find artists and rights holders began again. Thanks to the cohesion and supportive network within the scene, it has once more been possible to assemble a carefully curated and lovingly compiled selection. As with the first two volumes, part three follows an approach closely aligned with the DJ repertoire of the Damaged Goods nights. The focus is on captivating, danceable, and catchy tracks. Songs that often reveal their full impact on first listen in a club setting. The aim is to make forgotten or hard-to-access pieces audible and available again. The artwork is once again by Biljana Tomic, drawing on an industrial-apocalyptic sensibility and referencing the iconic facades of Horten department stores, evoking a visual aesthetic of the 1980s. The sound has once again been carefully remastered by Tom Morgenstern. Sowas von Egal Vol 3 seamlessly continues the series and presents itself as a lovingly curated snapshot of a highly productive yet often overlooked phase in German, Austrian, and Swiss pop history. Featuring Guyer's Connection, Starter, Bergtraum, Die Shadocks, Isolierband, Bizarre Leidenschaft, Ziggy & Eno, André Szigethy, Zero Zero, JaJaJa, Ti-Tho, Vorgruppe, X-Beliebig, Trick 17, Die Egozentrischen 2, and Tommi Stumpff.
CD $18
THE HILLMEN with CHRIS HILLMAN / VERN GOSDIN / REX GOSDIN / DON PARMLEY - The Hillmen (Liberation Hall 2194; EEC) The Hillmen is the seminal bluegrass LP recorded by a super-group of players including mandolin prodigy (and future Byrd) Chris Hillman, country music legends Vern and Rex Gosdin, and banjoist Don Parmley. Recorded in 1963-'64, these recordings would not see official release until 1970 as an 11-track LP. The Hillmen displays their unique takes on Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie and Maybelle Carter, alongside several original songs by the Gosdin Brothers. The original 11-track album is now enhanced with 6 bonus tracks and will recreate the original artwork by Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean fame. Produced by Byrds manager Jim Dickson, all of the tracks were mixed from the original 3-track tapes in 1970 by engineer Dave Hassinger (Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Jackson 5). This new expanded release is a must-have for fans of bluegrass music and is a true treasure of Americana.
CD $15
BURIED TREASURES Dept:
We've been cleaning, re-organizing, dusting and shifting large amounts of CD's here at DMG recently. We've been making more room as our Discogs understock expands. In the process, we've been finding all sorts of odd discs that we've forgotten about over time. As we do this in the front and back of our store, we've found some gems which we will list on a timely basis. Here's a short list of a few of these buried treasures:
THEO TRIO with THEO MAY / KEITH TIPPETT / JULIE TIPPETTS - Theo Trio (SouthWestMusic 04; UK) "Ever since the great pianist Keith Tippett and the wonderful jazz/pop vocalist Julie Driscoll began collaborating more than four decades ago, they have always created special music together. Julie has been featured on a number of Keith's best albums (like 'Ovary Lodge' & 'Centipede'), but when they finally recorded their first duo effort, 'Couple in Spirit', it brought the best in each and remains a true jewel. They have recorded a handful of other duo or trio efforts since and each one has been special. Their new one features them in a 'supporting' role to a brilliant young (age: 13) violinist named Theo May; and again, something quite remarkable has occurred. You might expect that the age gap of nearly fifty years might mean something but this is never the case. All three musicians are in fine form and remain inspired throughout. This set was superbly recorded and the sound is consistently splendid, perfectly balanced. Julie plays a wide variety of small percussion while Keith uses woodblocks & pebbles inside the piano. Each of the six pieces creates a different vibe or space and takes us on an enchanting journey. Certain sounds or ideas are started by one musician and completed by another as if one musical thought has occurred and been transferred from person to person, from musician to listener. This is indeed magic music which casts a spell and it doesn't get any better than this." - Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery
CD $18 [Not listed on Discogs, Super-rare & 5 left of now!]
ARTHUR DOYLE TRIO With CHARLES STEPHENS / RASHIED SINAN - Nature Boy (Homeboy Music; UK) Featuring Arthur Doyle on tenor sax, bass clarinet & flute, Charles Stephens on trombone and Rashied Sinan on drums, recorded live at Studio Rivbea, NYC in August of 1972. Cosmic reeds wizard, Arthur Doyle (1944-2014), remains a near mythic figure amongst the gods of Free Music. One of the most intense, over-the-top and often considered crazed of all the Free Jazz Giants, Mr. Doyle's recorded around two dozen discs as a leader or collaborator, practically none of which are in print. Mr. Doyle did work with other legends like Sunny Murray, Milford Graves, Noah Howard and Rudolph Grey (in the Blue Humans). The only thing currently in print is Milford Graves' "B֤bi' CD on CorbettvsDempsey. I was fortunate enough to have heard Mr. Doyle twice, once with the Blue Humans and once at Tonic with the Q-Bico Allstars. The music on this disc is one 30 minute version of the standard, "Nature Boy", which is twisted into all sorts of strange yet compelling ways. The trio features Mr. Doyle on tenor sax, bass clarinet & flute, Charles Stephens (from Sam Rivers, Sun Ra & Archie Shepp bands) on trombone and Rashied Sinan (from Ahmed Abdullah & Frank Lowe sessions) on drums. I have played this disc over and over and over again. This is fire-breathing, Free Jazz, Spirit Music at its very best! - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD-R $22
CURLEW with GEORGE CARTWRIGHT / TOM CORA / NICKY SKOPELITIS / BILL LASWELL / BILL BACON or DENARDO COLEMAN - Curlew (1st Album) Live at CBGB 1980 (DMG ARC 704; USA) "When looking back at the heydays of New York City's so-called "downtown scene," it seems surprising that Curlew aren't mentioned more frequently, but perhaps this tremendous two-disc set issued by the Downtown Music Gallery will help remedy that situation. Although downtown music of the '80s and '90s was always about erasing musical boundaries (among other things), Curlew might have erased musical boundaries too well; after all, it's never been too difficult to assign Sonic Youth to the "rock" box and Dave Douglas to "jazz" (John Zorn is one person who blew up the box from the get-go) for marketing purposes. But what about a band that combined elements of free jazz, avant rock, and interludes of textural improv with saxophonist/leader George Cartwright's Mississippi-bred R&B/funk sensibility and down-home friendly tunefulness? Where does that fit, exactly? Well, how about right in your ears. Bill Laswell is probably the most "famous" musician on Curlew's eponymous debut LP reissued here, and it's interesting to note that not only had he not fallen into his more well-known ambient dub persona at the time of this 1980 recording -- but the first Material album had not even been released, nor his first solo effort, Baselines. On tracks like the opening "Panther Burn" his slippery, rubbery bass is all over the place and far from deep and dubby. Laswell is more interested in playing in-your-face funk-jazz than in building up layers of "atmosphere" (although there is atmosphere of a different sort on the collective improv "But Get It," spacious but disturbed more than calming), and the same goes for guitarist Nicky Skopelitis, a future ongoing partner in Laswell's sonic universe who emerges as a fleet-fingered fusoid six-stringer here ("Bitter Thumbs"). Drummer Bill Bacon from Material alternately nails the groove and rolls and tumbles along, and cellist Tom Cora makes every effort to transport his instrument as far as possible from the world of "chamber music" -- his earthy and abrasive tone and jagged interjections are as wonderful on this disc as they ever would be (and his "Rudders" is a great Curlew tune).
Then of course there is the leader, with his sax staking out territory somewhere between R&B, funk, harmolodics, and free jazz/improv, screaming with passion one moment and then rolling out a melody so insistently catchy and good-natured that you might wonder if downtown avant types were thrown into a conundrum at Curlew gigs: "Will we still be hip if somebody catches us dancing the Funky Chicken to this stuff?" And while Cartwright can wail with the best of them, he is more interested in a group sound than in hogging the solo spotlight, as he would continue to prove through numerous Curlew incarnations on Cuneiform albums up to and including 2003's Mercury.
The DMG reissue of Curlew is nicely digitally remastered with a slew of unreleased live bonus tracks recorded at CBGB in February 1980, plus an entire second disc of previously unreleased live tracks also recorded at CBGB in October of that year and featuring none other than Denardo Coleman on drums. The second disc -- also digitally mastered -- presents two complete live sets (nearly all the tunes therefore appear twice) of often raucous and funked-up Curlew with fiery soloing by Cartwright, Cora, and Skopelitis over the skittering Laswell-Coleman rhythm section. With informative historical liner notes from DMG's Manny "Lunch" Maris and featuring the original album artwork from James Flournoy Holmes. Curlew 1st Album & Live at CBGB 1980 amply proves Curlew's status as a downtown band of historic proportions. A big thank you to DMG for helping to set the record straight." - Lindsey Planer, AMG
2 CD Set $14
ANTHONY BRAXTON SEXTET With ROLAND DAHINDEN / JASON KAO HWANG / TED REICHMANN / JOE FONDA / KEVIN NORTON - Sextet (Istanbul) 1996: Composition Nos 185 & 186 (Braxton House 001; USA) Of the Braxton House recordings, the Sextet (Istanbul, 1996) issue is the best of the instrumental recordings released by the label. Recorded at the Akbank Jazz Festival in October of 1995, the sextet Braxton employs to perform the first compositions in his Ghost Trance Musics series is made of veteran improvisers rather than students: Braxton plays all of his usual instruments, while Roland Dahinden plays tenor and alto trombones, Jason Hwang appears on violin, Ted Reichman on accordion, Joe Fonda on bass, and Kevin Norton holds down an entire percussion section, including marimbas, glockenspiels, a drum kit, vibraphone, and other assorted instruments. The Ghost Trance Musics make up roughly Compositions 185-195 in Braxton's oeuvre thus far. Here "Composition 185" and "Composition 186" are performed in their entirety without any of the side-walling or mainstays from the middles of other compositions skating their way into the mix. Essentially, both compositions are engaged thoroughly with theme and variation. Ostinato is the heartbeat, the pulse of each of the works. The improvisational sections take place in the middle of these scalar thematics, which are designed in multiples of three-instruments, measures, bars, melodies, etc. Braxton seems to be going after something he can't quite nail down here, and the band knows it. This is when he's at his best, when in pursuit of an ethereal something that gives him glimpses of an ideal but then slips away like mercury under the thumb. Here tonal studies match contrapuntal ones; timbral intrigues are given host to melodic threads and augmented harmonic passageways into the maze. Make no mistake, this ensemble isn't nearly as capable of careening through Braxton's music as the classic quartet was, but they don't have to be because this music is far more structured and doesn't lend itself as much to individual improvisational voice or to fiery pyrotechnics. Instead the sextet is a unit that relies of nuance and the trace elements in the composition that lend themselves to acts of surprise and spontaneity. ~ Thom Jurek, AMG
2 CD Set $16
PRE-ORDERS FOR UPCOMING RELEASES ON THE TROST LABEL:
Three months ago, we ordered a half dozen copies of the last disc from Rodrigo Amado, which are on the Trost label. We are still waiting on copies from our main distributor. We just got a new pre-order list for the next 5 discs from Trost & Random Acoustics labels which are supposed to be in the first two weeks of August. This will help order enough copies for all interested parties:
OTOMO YOSHIHIDE / KEI MATSUMARU - Shutsumin (Trost 249CD; Austria) The debut recording from the generation spanning duo of Japanese legend Otomo Yoshihide, toggling between guitar and turntables, and rising saxophonist Kei Matsumaru, a native of Papua New Guinea, who moved to Tokyo after studying jazz at the Berkelee College of Music in Boston, where he's become a close collaborator of Eiko Ishibashi in addition to leading his own genre-defying solo projects. Both musicians casually ignore lines between jazz, experimental music, and noise, fashioning a bracing set of improvisations marked by visceral timbres, quicksilver gestural exchanges, and charged interactivity. Recorded live at Shinjuku PIT INN, Tokyo, Japan, April 13, 2024. Mixed by Otomo Yoshihide, mastered by Lasse Marhaug. Photos by Kaoru Ashiwa. Artwork by Lasse Marhaug.
CD $18
MATS GUSTAFSSON / KIMMO POHJONEN - Two Balls Are Enough (Trost 258; Austria) Trost Records presents Two Balls Are Enough, the debut album from the duo of Finnish accordionist Kimmo Pohjonen and Swedish reedist Mats Gustafsson. Both musicians have routinely blown past the rules of the traditions from which first emerged -- folk and free jazz, respectively -- to explore constantly expanding worlds. It was only a matter of time before these iconoclasts collided to create something wonderfully raw and unexpected. Recorded Feb 24-25th, 2026 by Martin Siewert, Vienna. Mixed May 18-19th, 2026 by Martin Siewert, Pohjonen and Gustafsson. Mastered June 2nd, 2026 by Martin Siewert. Photos by Olof Madsen and Ziga Koritnik.
Thanks to the Victo Fest in Quebec, I was able to check out Finnish accordionist, Kimmo Pohjpnen, on a couple of live dates, once in a duo with a sampler player and then in a fabulous quartet called KTU with the then King Crimson rhythm team of Trey Gunn & Pat Mastelotto. Mr. Pohjonen has also worked with the Kronos Quartet and Tapiola Sinfonietta. Pohjonen is a master accordionist and does a great job of running around the stage as he plays with abandon. I am also a big fan of Mats Gustafsson who I've hear with The Thing and The Fire! Orchestra.
CD $18
SONIC FICTION with EARL HOWARD / FRANK GRATKOWSKI / LAURA STROBL / GEORG GRAEWE / GERRY HEMINGWAY - Banding Patterns (Random Acoustics RA 043CD; Germany) Featuring Earl Howard on electronics & alto sax, Frank Gratkowski on clarinets, Laura Strobl on viola, Georg Graewe on piano and Gerry Hemingway on drums & percussion. Sonic Fiction is the name that pianist Georg Graewe uses for his orchestra and they have two previous discs on the Random Acoustics label. This is a quintet version of this ensemble with special guest Earl Howard added.
CD $18
LAURA STROBL / GEORG GRAEWE / MARK SANDERS - Acutance (Random Acoustics RA 044CD; Germany) Laura Strobl is a Viennese, classically trained violist (and violinist), who focuses on featuring the viola as a contemporary solo instrument. She is a long-time member of German pianist and composer Georg Graewe's Sonic Fiction Orchestra, which is based in Vienna. Stroble has played with such innovative improvisers as Frank Gratkowski, François Houle, Gerry Hemingway, Martin Siewert, and Günter "Baby" Sommer. She initiated the free-improvising trio with her mentor Graewe and British master drummer Mark Sanders, who has worked with many greats in the British, European, and American free jazz and free improvised music scenes. Sanders first collaborated with Graewe in his quintet in the 1990s (Concert in Berlin 1996, Wobbly Rail, 1999), and continued to work with Graewe in the Frisque Concordance band. This trio first performed live at London's Cafe OTO in March 2026 during Sanders' three-day residency in the club. Actuance was recorded in Vienna in November 2025 and offers eleven chamber pieces for the uncommon instrumentation of viola, piano, and drums. The album's title refers to the abrupt transition from light to dark in a physical, objective measure of an image at the edges of objects. It defines the steepness of the tonal gradient across boundaries, directly influencing the human eye's perception of sharpness and clarity in a photograph. It is an apt description of how spontaneous, improvised ideas, a brief and evocative melody, or just an abstract sound gravitate organically into instant, coherent, and often complex and intense compositions.
CD $18
LAO DAN CHICAGO QUARTET with MABEL KWAN / JOSHUA ABRAMS / MICHAEL ZERANG - Klotski (Trost 267CD; Austria) Chinese multi-instrumental Lao Dan, a rising star of free jazz with a deep background in traditional music from his homeland, debuts a blistering new quartet recording featuring three of the most important figures from the Chicago scene -- percussionist Michael Zerang, bassist Joshua Abrams, and pianist Mabel Kwan. Over the last decade or so the Chinese multi-instrumentalist Lao Dan has emerged as one of the most hard-driven, skilled, and versatile figures of the improvised music community. While his earliest work found him exploring new, improvisational terrain with the dizi, a traditional Chinese bamboo flute used in many regional musical approaches, his lyric delicacy on that device has been countered by his ferocious energy and searing tone on the tenor saxophone. He first surfaced on the global scene in 2019 with Live at Willimantic Records, a fiery live date recorded a year earlier in Connecticut with stalwart Western Massachusetts free jazz figures Randall Colbourne and Paul Flaherty, along with double bassist Damon Smith. Dan's restless spirit has led him to travel the planet, building new connections, collaborating with many different musicians. Dan's dual interest in folkloric traditions and free jazz led to an interest in the duo work of Chicago percussionists Michael Zerang and Hamid Drake, whom he first heard on recordings as members of the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet. In the spring of 2024 he arranged for a trip to play in Chicago, and while Drake wasn't in town, he performed with a variety of local figures, including a sterling quartet with Zerang, double bassist Joshua Abrams -- leader of Natural Information Society -- and pianist Mabel Kwan, a rising star whose improvisational brilliance has complemented her deep roots in contemporary music. Trost Records is proud to present Lao Dan's Klotski, a searing recording of that live quartet performance at Elastic Arts where the opening tenor cries on "Green Tongue" can't help but evoke the spirit of Peter Brötzmann's galvanic opening blasts, but the music that follows belongs to this agile quartet alone. While Dan's fire-breathing extremes lead the way through a rumbling, shape-shifting thicket on the opening piece, his crystalline tone, peerless technique and melodic gifts on flute distinguish the rollicking "Wandering Donkey." Throughout the set the music toggles between such polarities, fed by the versatility of the quartet members who reveal an almost instant rapport and keen listening abilities, particularly the nubby sonic fabrics woven behind Dan's blowing by Abrams and Kwan.
CD $18
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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 BLGallanter@gmail.com
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THE STONE is LOCATED AT THE NEW SCHOOL,
Here is the upcoming schedule:
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / YOONA KIM / JULY 15-18
7/15 Wednesday
8:30 pm; DUO - Greg Kelley (trumpet) Yoona Kim (ajaeng)
7/16 Thursday
8:30 pm: TRIO - Anthony Coleman (piano) Tom Rainey (drums) Yoona Kim (ajaeng)
7/17 Friday
8:30 pm: TRIO - Chris Corsano (drums) Joe Morris (guitar) Yoona Kim (ajaeng)
7/18 Saturday
8:30 pm: TRIO - Shoko Nagai (piano, electronics) Yoona Kim (ajaeng, electronic ajaeng) and a special guest
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / LARRY OCHS / JULY 22-25
7/22 Wednesday
8:30 pm: TRIO - Larry Ochs (saxes) Joe Morris (bass) Michael Wimberly (drums)
7/23 Thursday
8:30 pm: SPECTRAL - Larry Ochs (saxes) Dave Rempis (alto sax) Darren Johnston (trumpet)
7/24 Friday
8:30 pm: TRIO - Larry Ochs (saxes) Simon Hanes (electric bass) Billy Martin (drums)
7/25 Saturday
8:30 pm - LARRY OCHS with HIGHSMITH - Larry Ochs (saxes) Craig Taborn (piano) Ikue Mori (electronics)
THE STONE is located in
The New School at the Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th Street - near 6th ave
For more info: https://thestonenyc.com/calendar.php?month=1
LIVE MUSIC
wed-sat - music at 8:30pm
ADMISSION - $20 per set
unless otherwise noted
cash only payment
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THIS COMES FROM MY GOOD FRIENDS AT THE BURNT SUGAR ARKESTRA:
Saturday, July 18th
J. Dilla’s Donuts reimagined by Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber
with Special Detroit Guests Jessica CARE Moore, DONAVAN GLOVER,
Monica “mbtheLightLIGHT” Blaire, Jon Dixon & Duminie Desporres.
Concert of Colors 2026
Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA)
North Lawn Stage
5200 Woodward Avenue
Detroit Michigan 48202
6:30PM
All Ages
Free to the People
Presented in loving acknowledgement of Ismael “Ish” Ahmed & Margaret King-Ahmed
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber (J Dilla Donuts Re-Imagined Edition) Featuring: Jessica CARE Moore - mc/spoken word / LaFrae Sci - trap drums/electronic drums/conduction / Miss Olithea - vocals / electronics / Monica “mBtheLIGHT” Blaire - vocals/electronics / Bruce Mack - vocals/synthesizer/conduction / DONAVAN GLOVER - turntables/electronics / JS Williams - trumpet / V. Jeffrey Smith - soprano & tenor sax/electronics / Duminie Deporres - electric guitar / Jonathan Dixon - keyboards/electronics / Leon Gruenbaum - keyboards/samchillian/talk box / Jared Michael Nickerson - electric bubble bass
Thursday, July 30th / Friday, July 31st / Saturday, August 1st
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber “Caramelizes” The Summer of LoveConcert of Joe Henderson Lab
SF Jazz Center
201 Franklin Street
San Francisco CA 94102
415-788-7353
All Ages
Two Shows @ Night @ 7PM & 8:30PM - $39.00
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber / sfjazz.org
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber (SF Jazz Summer of Love Edition) - Featuring: Shelley Nicole - vocals/conduction / Bruce Mack - vocals/synthesizer/conduction / Miss Olithea - vocals/electronics / JS Williams - trumpet / V. Jeffrey Smith - soprano & tenor sax/electronics / Ben Tyree - electric guitar / Leon Gruenbaum - keyboards/samchillian/talk box / LaFrae Sci - trap drums/electronic drums/conduction / Jared Michael Nickerson - electric bubble bass
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ZURCHER GALLERY Presentation:
Thursday, September 24th at 8:30 PM
Density 2036: part xi Album Release
Terry Riley’s The Holy Liftoff (2024)
Realization by Samuel Clay Birmaher
Performed by Claire Chase (flutes) and JACK Quartet
At the Zürcher Gallery
33 Bleecker Street
New York, NY 10012
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