CraigP

I was thinking that same thing after the concert!

I don't know - Dennis mentioned (wryly) during the show that " metal punk" was the sons' musical roots.

Yells At Eels played the Dallas Museum of Art last Thursday evening as part of the "Jazz in the Atrium" series. Yells is of course led by trumpeter Dennis Gonzalaz, and in addition to the core group of his sons Aaron on bass and Stefan on drums, they added guitarist Greg Prickett, who was part of Ronald Shannon Jackson's last Decoding Society group when they played the Kessler Theatre back in 2012. Here's an excerpt from my review, which I posted on my blog: "It hit me as I was sitting there that here we have the successor to Ronald Shannon Jackson. Stefan brings the intensity and attack of rock drumming, and combines it with the shifting rhythms and shadings of free jazz drumming…”

Agreed, I got a lot out of reading about jazz when I first started listening.

Can't wait to hear this.

I must be dense tonight, Chuck, but who is ATR?

To King Ubu's point, Pi is a label that consciously limits the number of records they release, because they want to keep quality high and properly promote each one. So far, it seems to be working for them, although as Ubu pointed out a lot of their past releases, such as those by some AACM stalwarts, are not that essential. And while there may be an over-abundance of mediocre music, my "problem" is that there's too much really good music! It takes a lot of time (and potentially money) to keep up with all of it. I don't know what the answer is, but I'm having to be more particular in what I buy. (Now, how many of those Clean Feeds am I going to order..?)

Leeway, to your list of labels I would add Firehouse 12, especially last year when they released great records from Mary Halvorson, Myra Melford and Taylor Ho Bynum.

I do find myself being more picky; a couple of years ago I'd sometimes buy the whole batch.

I think the Clean Feeds that tend to be most successful are those in which the groups proceed from some sort of compositional base, rather than ones that are more "free" oriented. But that may be my listening bias.

Bauder's "Day in Pictures" group is very different from Memorize the Sky, a cooperative trio exploring lower case improv. Dessen is on the recent Mark Dresser disc on Clean Feed.

As xybert mentioned, we were due for a new batch from Clean Feed and they're now listed on their site: Kris Davis Trio - Waiting for You to Grow Kullhammar/Aalberg/Zetterberg - Basement Sessions Vol. 2 Michael Dessen Trio2 - Resonating Abstractions John Hebert Trio - Floodstage Matt Bauder & Day in Pictures - Nightshades I'm excited for the Davis, Hebert and Bauder discs especially, although I'm still trying to catch up with Davis' output from last year! The first Day in Pictures CD, also on Clean Feed, was really great.

Yes, thanks, that's an amazing price, even with shipping to the U.S.

Oh, you beat me to it!

Yes Jim, "Tania" is based on the Patty Hearst story.

I need to revisit this; I remember liking it more than Tania, the other opera of his that I own. I really like Davis, especially his early albums on India Navigation. He did a duet album with Jason Robinson a couple of years ago, but he doesn't seem to be very active, and I wish he would do some new small group recordings.

Would love to be there!

My review of the excellent new CD from Nuscope, fourth landscape, by Samuel Blaser, Benoit Delbecq and Gerry Hemingway is now up on my blog. Here's an excerpt: "fourth landscape draws you into these musicians’ world of sound and creates a space with its own internal logic. It’s a wonderful combination of composition that allows for freedom, and free playing that sounds composed. It’s a gem, and perhaps the best thing that Nuscope has ever released." You can read the full review on my blog.

Why is he hiding? Did he have anything to do with Gov. Christie and that bridge thing??? From this YouTube clip description: "mythical master madman Roscoe Mitchell & palpitation jester harpoon shinobu Kikanju Baku improvise live in London Jan 2013!!!" Palpitation jester?

It's on Spotify, FYI.

Which bio do you recommend?

Braxton is a special problem for me, because I love his music so much. I manage it by subscribing to his monthly downloads and I've stopped buying any more of his back catalog. But he still releases plenty of stuff!

Thanks for the heads-up, kh1958. I get the UNT weekly email but I haven't seen anything about Harper.

That goes on my "must have" list.

A couple of salient points from recent posts: From Xybert: "I've been reflecting a bit lately on my unnecessary need to preorder stuff. What's wrong with just waiting and letting the dust settle?" My strategy is changing to more of this in 2014, along with previewing more through Spotify, Bandcamp, Soundcloud etc. Got to rein it in a little. From Jeffcrom: "I still remember the first time I heard him (David Murray) - I was extremely excited that a young musician was influenced by Albert Ayler and Ben Webster seemingly equally, and that he had such a strong and recognizable style. " I had this exact reaction when I bought Low Class Conspiracy - it still might be my favorite Murray album because of the rawness and the potential.