king ubu

grown men patting, throwing and kicking around balls are just as stupid... (that's not a defense of cycling, rather another offense at sports...)

Here's a bagatellen review on Nagl's "Quartier du Faisan" and Theo Jörgensmann's "Fellowship": source: http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/reviews/001056.html EDIT: I have "Fellowship", too, but it didn't really grab me... will have to play it again - kind of a likeable disc, but not really a great one, as I remember it.

alas I am to young to have known much of the old hat CD series... just have maybe a dozen of stray discs I found here and there (including a few great ones, such as "Jump Up"). As Uehlinger said in the interview I did: he is not doing any systematical work, so it's most definitely not his goal to document any scene in broad fashion. Anyway, your point is valuable, I suppose. Further (re: editing needed) Uehlinger is not an expert or a person with lots of inside knowledge... rather he seems to decide based on his guts. Not that one thing is better than the other, I think. On "Bookends" and Liebman: I have a short live broadcast of the duo (w/Copland) and that's pretty nice. Also Liebman's Willisau concert (I think it's out on hat, too, I heard it twice on radio) was pretty nice. Still, I don't often feel like listening to Liebman... A younger artist rather new to the hat roster that I enjoy quite some is austrian sax player Max Nagl. His "Quartier du faisan" is good, so is his Mingus trio (I only know it from a live recording), and I also like (contrary to gnhrtg) his "Big Four" with Bernstein & Akchoté quite a bit (again I only am familiar with their 2005 Willisau gig, not yet with the hat disc), same again for "Ramasuri": very nice band, but I still need to get the hat release. Of course Nagl has released discs on other labels, too, but going from a statement in a very recent interview (in a swiss daily paper), he is very happy about his working relationship with Uehlinger, and mentioned that Uehlinger gave him lots of impulses on which he would build new bands/projects etc. I don't have the new Polwechsel - got the other two cheap last year, but haven't played them yet... hélas! (I hereby promise a serious buying freeze, with the exception of... [fill in yourself])

Thanks a lot for these recommendations!

I have not yet read anything by Chabon or Lethem, never heard the names of Goldberg and Cooper, but I loved Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior... although some time after having read it ("Everything is illuminated", that is), I had some doubts about how good it actually is... sure, it's "brilliant", and his use of language indeed is creative and often hilariously funny, but still... the worst criticism about that book that I heard (and from a person for whom I have much esteem) was that Foer was some kid who knew how to use google and was good as pasting things together... I am not absolutely certain that this criticism is totally off the point. I don't really follow the US/UK book market, but some authors are being discussed in some Swiss and German newspapers... usually, though, only once their books are out in German, which is when I start looking for the english editions... I also read "Corrections" - terrific! Would he fit into that group of younger writers, too? Oh, and one of the better books I've read just for fun (most of the stuff I read is for University and not always all that funny...) was E.L. Doctorow's "City of God".

Seems to me the same thing can be said, that certain non-Americans simply cannot stand that an American has dominated a European sport, and no matter what is shown, he will always be guilty. Of being an American dominating a European sport. the attitude towards sport (any kinds of) is the only known bound between me and sir winston...

must be hard to get to grips with the fact that not every all american hero is a hero... jimmy didn't shoot liberty... was john who did...

Any particular discs you dislike? I think I might tend to agree with you, but I am not sure... I mean, to be honest, guys like Dave Liebman and Marc Copland are not the ones that grab my attention, and they did quite a number of discs for Uehlinger - but then when we interviewed him, one of the discs he gave us was Copland's "Time" solo recording, which contrary to my expectations, I like quite a bit.

I found this with Google but already lost the link (it was a downloadable .doc file): Several names in there that are not yet on the list (Jay Camerion, William Boucaya, Charles Tyler, Maurice Simon... best you pick out the more relevant names yourself, Rodney! As for swiss baritone players... I cannot come up with anyone whom I'd describe as mainly (or even less exclusively) a barisax player! There's Werner Lüdi (1936-2000), a much beloved sort of father figure he was, but he played alto as much as baritone, I think. His hat album "Lunatico" is considered a swiss jazz classic. Urs Blöchlinger (his hat album "Neurotica" being another swiss classic - both albums not yet on CD, by the way) is another alto/baritone player (he also played bass sax, I think). Beat Blaser works for swiss radio (DRS) and may be the closest thing to a jazz barisax player that comes to my mind right now. That's all that comes to mind... not sure if any of the above deserves being listed... Then, if you want to go down another octave, check this out:

Must have missed this (was in the army for most of May...) - belated best wishes, Jim!

loved it!

I always thought Swallow *was* "laying it down" - he just doesn't use the low range of the bass that often, to do it, but I'd find it difficult to point out a contemporary bassist who "lays it down" as uniquely recognizable and as groovy, as Swallow does! I agree on "Deconstructed", by the way. I first got "Always Pack Your Uniform on Top" and loved that one a bit better - just because I had it first, I guess. Also the discs with Carla Bley & Andy Sheppard ("Songs with Legs" and more recently, with Billy Drummond added, "The Lost Chords") are very nice!

Rodney, you should add Stephen Schorn to your list! He's a great baritone player (also doubles on bass sax and various clarinets, but I'm quite safe that he can be rated as mainly baritone player). I am not sure if you'd enjoy the discs he did with Nils Wogram, but he's also a very solid big band player (with George Gruntz, Peter Herbolzheimer, the WDR and NDR radio big bands...) Here's his website: http://www.baritone-sax.com/ Also this chap, Herwig Gradischnig, main baritone man of the Vienna Art Orchestra since 1993 and a more than able soloist: profile on VAO website He too doubles, and I think I have him on disc on tenor sax, too, but again I'd say it's rather safe to rate him as baritone man, since that's what he's been doing for more than a decade with Rüegg's VAO.

one of the more fascinating early modern paintings for many reasons! needless to say I'd love to see that exhibition! Last I saw was the latest exhibition at the Fotomuseum Winterthur, a selection of young swiss photographers, some of them doing great work. Not sure what'll be next, but I'll try and make it to Basel as long as they have the Holbein exhibition up!

my two most recent acquisitions:

I got some of the Bean OJCs since I posted here last... "Soul" is terrific, so is "Hawk Flies High". I also got the one with Charlie Shavers ("Hawk Eyes") and Kenny Burrell's very nice "Bluesy Burrell". I guess I need more, and I guess I'll need to look for the Alive (never saw it, only have the one with Hodges and Eldridge, which I like a lot).

David, how was the Brotz gang? They got quite a good review here! On Bennink: I saw the ICP orchestra last november and that was one of the most beautiful concerts I've seen of late... Bennink did not clown around at all. How about Michael Vatcher? I thought he was wonderful with Michael Moore and Lindsay Horner when I saw them with their Dylan outfit, "Jewels and Binocculars".

on the more traditional side: Still to be found easily in its LPR incarnation - a lightweight disc, but a fun one! (The "Bass Hit" album - on CD in the Verve Elite Edition - has much more meat, in my opinion, but I'm not sure if he plays cello there, and if, only on one or two tunes.)

welcome! back from undercover... if you want to check out Schütz or rather the great Koch-Schütz-Studer gang, I'd go for "Heavy Cairo Traffic", their meeting with traditional egyptian musicians - a great disc! I think it's on the Intuition label - I have no idea if you can find that in the US... but you should find it somewhere on the net, I suppose.

I am aware the above quote's from Winckelmann's site, but still there's an addition to me made: with discs by Gianluigi Trovesi, Michel Godard, Gabriele Mirabassi, Pino Minafra, Jean-Louis Matinier, and the great 2CD La Banda set and a few others, Enja Winckelmann has also done a great job in documenting some of the more interesting folsky/mediterranean music. Funny also to note that Enja Weber has done Godard discs, too (two duo discs with Dave Bargeron) and that both Weber and Winckelmann did record Charlie Mariano ("Deep in a Dream" on Winckelmann's label is terrific, Sangrey started a thread about it some time ago). I seem to remember that the US outfit Sunnyside did release some Enja discs in the US, no?

What a pity in case of the Hodges! That Brown album ("Inspired Abandon" - what a great and fitting title!) is terrific!

Swiss cellist Martin Schütz is another great musician, member of the "hardcore chamber trio" Koch-Schütz-Studer (with Hans Koch and Fredy Studer). I have "Heavy Cairo Traffic" and "Fidel" by this trio and will prob. get "Life Tied" (got rave reviews in the swiss press) - definitely not cello-music of any kind, and definitely not too easy on anyone's ears, but worth checking out all the more! Schütz can also be heard on what's a classic of swiss jazz, "Accélération" (ECM 1357, 1987, out on CD):