CraigP

Berkman has a couple of nice albums on Palmetto.

Nice, kh, you made the most of your time!

Sorry to hear this.

Wow, nice line-up on that Smith record. I still need to listen again to his Occupy The World set on that label.

That is nice, thanks for the heads-up.

Great photo.

That Matt Brewer looks interesting.

It seemed to me that there was too much background crowd chatter on the Homecoming LPs. Is the CD version better?

That sounds intriguing; I've never heard it. I see it's on Spotify under Basso Continuo.

Relative Pitch recently released Chasing Tales from Stephen Gauci, Kirk Knuffke, and Ken Filiano around the same time that the label also released Matthew Shipp’s Root of Things. Shipp’s album has gotten most of the attention, but Chasing Tales is a great little record. Here’s an excerpt from my review: “Six of the tracks are completely improvised, while Gauci contributes three compositions, and Knuffke and Filiano one each. The composed tracks have interesting arrangements and are crisply executed, with enough air in them to encourage dialog between the players. It’s a tribute to the group that the quality is consistent across all the tracks, whether composed or improvised. Gauchi has sometimes come across as tentative to these ears, perhaps thinking a little too much, but he sounds confident and in control here, more fluid than I’ve ever heard him. Knuffke is so consistent; I sang his praises on Max Johnson’s The Invisible Trio, and he delivers here as well… A few years ago I was on the fence about Ken Filiano, but he seems to get better and better…he's the glue for this record, whether walking under the other two players with a full, rich tone, adding his commentary, or playing unison phrases. Great spirit, great interaction, mutual respect.” You can read the full review of Chasing Tales on #improvisedblog.

I like Amado. I'm gonna pickup a couple of these for sure. Searching for Adam on not two is one of the strongest recordings I've bought over the past few years. Yes, Searching for Adam is great.

Rodrigo Amado has been very busy lately, with two releases on NoBusiness and this one on Clean Feed. Here's an excerpt from my review: "Rodrigo Amado is a free jazz musician whose sound harks back to the classic saxophonists of the jazz tradition. His thick tone, bluesy in quieter moments and containing an R&B edge, brings to mind players like Gene Ammons and Lockjaw Davis. When things get heated, his tone takes on a grainy quality that reminds me of a young Gato Barbieri... ...Probably the most fascinating part of...the record overall, is the tension of the interaction between Amado and Mota, where Amado’s rational explorations of thematic elements are juxtaposed with Mota’s frenzied finger-picking and bursts of noise. You would expect the bassist and drummer of the RED Trio to be hand-in-glove, and they are, but this is Amado’s and Mota’s show." You can read the full review of Wire Quartet on improvisedblog.

That's OK Scott - you only have about a hundred or so albums to go!

That one's been out for awhile, and it's great.

The Portuguese collective known as Fail Better! has released a recording of a 2013 concert. Here's an excerpt from my review: "What makes a free improv record successful can be an elusive thing to define. I think it comes down to how well the musicians listen to each other, how skilled they are at interacting, and if they generate some sort of forward momentum. I may be old school in my love of jazz, but for me merely exploring textures doesn't cut it. I still want a sense of the music starting at one point and traveling to another... The group is good at creating structures in real time. Even though it's free, there are places where each musician has a chance to shine out front, as it were, of the rest of the band...Luis Vicente again impresses here, asserting the trumpet’s natural leadership position while still leaving space for contributions from the rest of the musicians. The other group members were unknown to me, but all acquit themselves well; (guitarist) Dos Reis shows an intriguing approach, using spare single note lines, but also developing monolithic slabs of feedback to ratchet up more intense moments." You can read the entire review of Zero Sum on improvisedblog.

Another one from the Setola Di Maiale label, the group is Blaise Siwula on reeds, Harvey Valdes on electric guitar and Gian Luigi Diana on laptop/real-time sampling. Here’s an excerpt from my review: “Tesla Coils is a trio exploring “real-time electronic orchestration.” My experience with records featuring real-time sampling/signal processing is mixed. At times I think it works really well, such as on Evan Parker & his Electro-Acoustic Ensemble’s The Moment’s Energy, and at times it’s used in an overly harsh way, putting a heavy layer on top of the music. Tesla Coils is one of the best examples of this type of digital manipulation that I’ve yet heard. The sampling adds to the dialogue and never seems arbitrary or random... When I first encountered this CD my thought was, “Oh yeah Blaise Siwula, I see his name around, I’ve heard him on a couple of things.” At the end of the first track I was thinking, “Wow, I had no idea this guy was such a great soprano sax player!” And as it turns out, he’s not too shabby on alto or tenor either.” You can read the full review of Tesla Coils on improvisedblog.

You're one of a kind, Jim!

I wasn't bashing Norah for singing country music, I was bashing the name of the group. And I think her best stuff to date has been more in the indie-rock vein, not the work that produced her early hits.

Yes, my post was not meant to slight Mr. Wyatt, who I've not heard, but to point out an interesting commentary on the current "scene."

Phil Freeman of Burning Ambulance seems to have a love/hate relationship with modern jazz. He likes some avant-garde artists, but then he writes something like this in a review of Eric Wyatt’s album Borough of Kings: “When you read the phrase "Brooklyn jazz" in 2014, you probably don't think of a guy like Eric Wyatt. You probably think of young men in untucked plaid shirts with glasses and beards, and young women who look like substitute teachers, playing music that tumbles over its own feet, clatters and honks, and never quite convinces that its failure to swing is deliberate.” Personally I would have said librarians instead of substitute teachers.

So Norah Jones has a new album out on Blue Note with two women named Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper, performing country songs. I’ve seen a photo of the band, and the gals are wearing cowboy boots. The name of the band? Wait for it…Puss n’ Boots. Words fail me.

Chuck has 'em in his Good Times van, along with some bitchin' stereo speakers!

Boy me too!

That mix doesn't sound very appetizing. I hate it when I can't hear the bass on a recording (when it has one).

I was hoping it was the Monk stuff.