clifford_thornton

That is a great record... but just because Dixon owns the tape doesn't mean someone can't bootleg it! After all, there was a BYG pressing done ostensibly off a copy of the Savoy LP. Still, the NYCF take it for me any day: that version of "Trio" on Volume 2 of the Sonet(/Delmark/Storyville/whatever else) set is really amazing.

I don't know if it's underrated or if it's just that no one cares, but that Charles Brackeen on Strata-East is something else. All those old Arhoolie SF jazz records are bitchin' -- you can still get all but the Sonny Simmons directly from the label, original backstock (the only reason the Simmons is gone is because some dealer bought all the remaining stock). Luna "Space Swell," Creative Arts Jazz Ensemble "Now!," the Smiley Winters double, all great records. But maybe it's not that they're blown off but just that they wallow in obscurity. Shit, I could sit here all night and think of obscure stuff that doesn't get props...

Huh, I forgot he was on that one... haven't heard the Redman in quite some time (don't even have it at this point). Thanks!

Anyone know anything about this character? He is/was a post-bop pianist with free leanings who recorded one record for International Polydor with a quartet featuring other Bay Area unknowns. I recently got the record, "Puzzle Box," and like it quite a bit but haven't seen him on anything else. Google yields nothing on his name. There's also a 'Robin' Young, pianist of a similar age on the "Now!" record on Arhoolie (Bert Wilson, Smiley Winters and company), that could be the same guy. They play and compose similarly, anyway. This is pretty obscure stuff, but there might be some Bay Area members that know... Thanks, CT

quirky indie rock from a new band called White Magic and the first two Will Ackerman LPs on Windham Hill, which are great. I'd always blown him off because of the way his label went, but he's a brilliant guitarist and was paying homage to Takoma way before it was cool.

The rainbow cover is the Pye reissue; Where Fortune Smiles originally came out on Dawn, DNLS 3018, with a matte forest green and gold gatefold cover, booklet inside (which most copies have lost). Great heavy session, some of which takes away all of the early Vandermark Five songbook! Side two is amazing. As for Surman... The Trio (Surman/Phillips/Martin) have LPs on Dawn, JG and Ogun (all are recommended, though not on CD unfortunately) as well as one on Futura augmented by Michel Portal and Jean-Pierre Drouet, called Alors!!! (this is on CD). Surman's two on Deram, both of which were reissued I believe, are also really stellar. So many of those Surman records from the later '70s don't really hit it for me, but those early sides where he stormed away on baritone are something else! CT

Hans Werner Henze, 5 Symphonien on DGG... had to 'mellow out' from listening to Mauricio Kagel records earlier this evening.

How did that quartet with Joachim Kuhn come out originally, anyway? I've got a nice big band date on Supraphon featuring Jiri Stivin, John Surman, Barre Phillips and Stu Martin among others, but the small-group stuff is a little more attractive to me. These rec's should be helpful...

I'd start off with some Ayler processional hymns, like "Mothers," and close it out with Frank Wright's "Church Number Nine." Get 'em feelin' the spirit, y'know?

Even without particularly being a fan of Cannonball or Miles, I love this record! It is a classic of the music, and certainly one of the best BNs.

I love those Friedman-Zoller records, especially "Metamorphosis" and "The Horizon Beyond." Great interplay, very free playing from all musicians and sickening runs through those heads! Mangelsdorff "Tension" (if you can find the fucker!) Nobody ever talks about Graham Collier, English bassist and bandleader/composer. His two LPs for Fontana UK -- "Songs for My Father" and "Down Another Road" are not to be missed, featuring fine fine playing from some of the cream-of-the-crop in British jazz. Unique modal/avant-garde jazz with a lot of orchestral weight for a small-ish band (six to eight pieces). Also, those first two Keith Tippett records (one on Polydor, one on Vertigo -- both reissued by BGO) are really hot.

Shit, mine's got more ringwear than that one! There's another session that was released by Ingo as "The Early Unit 1962" and features some weird pick-up Danish bassist, I forget whom. These are among my favorite Cecil LPs, if not my favorites. Lyons smokes...

I like my boobies with no strings attached, personally...

Shit, I just learned about this tonight. It is very upsetting how many greats we've lost lately, but at least the great orchestra in the sky has another great soprano chair... and he'll be playing with Mal again. I saw him here in MSP last fall and he looked pretty frail, but his playing was on form. I thought he'd be around forever, though...

I'm curious to hear that one -- love the PJQ record. Let us know how it is... CT

Got the new-ish Six Organs of Admittance (minimal folk-scraping buffoonery hybrid) and a Jackie*O Motherfucker LP. Oh, and reserved a few good jazz LPs online...

Ascension blows my mind every time -- thankfully there are two versions of it! Each offers something new that I never noticed every time I listen to it (which is to say often).

I would think that by this point there would be mention of his passing on his website, but there isn't. I sure hope this is a rumor and just that at present, because a world without Elvin would be kind of a drag. He's just one of those guys you feel that you can count on... not to mention an architect of the d-r-u-m.

Hmm. I've got the America record but didn't realize the IAI had different music. Will have to hunt that one down. Thanks for the review -- not that I wouldn't already be checking it out, but still, nice to read.

Ubu, I don't know if "For Mongesi" and "For Johnny" are on CD; I don't believe so. What's the deal with those Ogun discs anyway? Seems like they put out a couple (Ark, BOB in Wilisau) and then stopped. Someone ought to bootleg that Chris McGregor/Blue Notes LP on Polydor, "Very Urgent." I'm sick of looking for it!

Bobby Few signed my copy of his Center of the World record with a big smiley face with its tongue lolling out. Pretty funny. Steve Lacy signed my copy of Moon (before I really grasped the BYG debacle) with the comment, "these guys were gangsters!"

I was gonna say that my favorite 45 was the Albert Ayler/Ornette Coleman split on ESP (ever seen that one?), but that's off-subject. Always more of an LP fan than a single-fan, but I remember liking those Disney 45 and 33 seven-inches as a kid. I think my first 45 was a Shellac record, probably "The Rude Gesture" or some such. I was suspicious of the medium, but had to have it. Still don't like 45s as much, but what can you do?

Ubu, I believe mine is on Proper as well, but it has a few alternates. Can't remember which the alternates are, though! Moyake's a mother... think I'll bust it out tonight. C Edit: "The Blessing Light" and "Kay" have alternates on my copy, right after the first takes.

"Action" is one of my fave Jackie Mc dates. It'll be good to have that one readily available, as well as "Black Fire." But how come they don't wait till the distributors are all out of McMasters to RVG the discs? I mean, I see "Inner Urge" around quite a bit in its previous incarnation.

If you want, y'all can add me through Brandon; I really am Clifford (but not "Thornton"). Man, I never thought this would come up on Organissimo, and was always too embarrased to bring it up here. Friendster addict...