Steve Reynolds

Genius on the house’s money for a long time glad he stayed as active as he could until the end Ray Gun Suitcase is the greatest unknown rock record of the last 50 years Final Solution indeed RIP, sir

Tyshawn beyond great. Roscoe played mostly bass sax with small percussion with a little sopranino. His last solo on the bass saxophone was a work of genius. Brought tears to my eyes. 44 minutes with 2 very short encores. A very moving experience for me.

Tyshawn Sorey & Roscoe Mitchell Solar Myth front row 8-9 feet from Roscoe:)

It’s a great room. I was there last Saturday for Nels Cline, Ingrid Laubrock, Chris Lightcap & Tom Rainey this Saturday Tyshawn with Roscoe

Look forward to seeing you at Solar Myth on July 19th excited for the great band of course

I still love Sounds of Joy & From the Soul he’s a fine player but I’m not into the ECM esthetic at all over 20 years ago I saw him with Mark Dresser & Gerry Hemingway and he was amazing. Talk about being in the right company. as an aside talking about cool nice guys, Marty Ehrlich & Mark Helias are simply the best. Last two shows I attended this past week they were there.

I’ve not seen him listed in years. Great to see him say hello to Marty Ehrlich. Seems like they had seen each other in years. my guess is with Hemingway being in town prompted the gig. Gerry hasn’t been here in almost 2 years. He lives in Switzerland. Summer 2023 he played with Marilyn Crispell & Mark Dresser on 7/1. Played with BassDrumBone a couple of days earlier with Ray Anderson & Mark Helias. Was hoping for a reprise this trip but alas, not happening.

Yes / great to see him live. Amazing.

Last night at Roulette Gerry Hemingway: drums, marimba, etc. Earl Howard: alto saxophone, saxello & electronics Anthony Davis: grand piano Kyle Motl: double bass 2 sets 45 & 50 minutes disparate, brilliant & organic improvisations. Each set 2 pieces. stunned by two of the four saxophone sections / each was maybe 7-8 minutes of each piece interspersed with the group which played from short solo through duos, trios and the full quartet. WAY beyond my high expectations.

Ballister is more rare! No improvising trio sound remotely like them. The opportunity to see them up close is very very special to those of us interested in this type of music. Grand Masters at play/work. I do understand the idea of a dude from England seeing a game at Wrigley. Maybe once in a lifetime. I love games/sports too. But I’m a music guy. Avant-garde guy. I go to over a hundred shows a year. plus I’m an objectavist (if that’s a valid term) as are most of my music friends & the few close musician friends I have. What’s great is great. When my musician friend is chatting with Mark Helias the other night we both agreed it’s not our opinion that he’s a master, it’s the truth. We both don’t “think” Randy Peterson & Nasheet Waits are genius level drummers, it’s obvious to those of us who witness it. The performance a week ago tomorrow was better than any game, save for Boston championship victories. Among the best 10–15 shows I’ve seen the last couple of years. They are great.

Ballister>>>>>>>>>>>>any game As great as Rempis is, Fred Lonberg-Holm is one of the greatest true improvisors on the planet.

Enjoy!!! If you read the above, I thought the Brooklyn show was incredible

I’ve seen them before. I like the band although it’s actually sometimes too controlled for my tastes:) I do love Ingrid, Nels & Tom I see them all many times a year in various configurations.

I’m seeing them on 4/12 in Philly. You will like Tom Rainey.

Last Thursday night Ballister which is: Dave Rempis on baritone, tenor, alto & soprano saxophones, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello/electronics & Paal Nilsson-Love on drums 30 minute opening set was great Luke Stewart augmented the band on double bass for the second 40 minute set which was an incredible , massive, extraordinary mind fuck. Fred is better than ever & I’ve never heard PNL play this great. Rempis best I’ve ever seen him. last night John Zorn’s Cobra including among others, Simon Levine, Trevor Dunn, Simon Hanes, Matt Hollenberg, Ikue Mori, etc. with the incredible William Winant, the great Ches Smith and the super cool groovemeister, Mr. Billy Martin 43 minutes of priceless invention in a pretty small room. Free for those lucky enough to hear about it a couple months ago. Zorn 6-8 feet from me conducting the madness. What a vibe of joy. And when the 3 drummers went off, holy shit. all praise William Winant:) no one remotely like him. Blessed to see this genius twice the last week. Was able to sit in front of his brilliant student Nava Dunkelman who I’ll see perform on my 65th birthday on the 25th of this month:) tonight 7:30 & 9:00 sets from Tamarindo Tony Malaby, Brandon Lopez & Nasheet Waits after next Thursday when I see Gerry Hemingway, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard & Kyle Motl, I’ll have seen the most extraordinary number of world class drummers all from with 10–15 over the last 5-6 weeks. Tyshawn Sorey, Nasheet Waits, Tom Rainey, Brian Chase, Randy Peterson, Ryan Sawyer, Ches Smith, William Winant, Billy Martin, Paal Nilsson-Love & Gerry Hemingway. life is good

Last night at Solar Myth Thurston Moore, Tom Surgal & the *great* William Winant 40 minute piece followed by a 5-6 minute soft coda immense, terrifying brilliant & mind altering majesty of sound standing 3-4 feet from Thurston Lordy Lordy

Ahmed was fantastic. Very demanding and stringent. Full house at Roulette. Probably 350-400 in the crowd. So many young people. Lots of the long time community in attendance. Very gratifying. Standing ovation which is rare.

Last Thursday Mat Maneri, Lucien Ban, John Hebert & Randy Peterson two 54-56 minute sets. 7 new pieces (5 from Mat & 2 from Lucien) which are to be recorded to become “Mist”. Mostly very slow & even slower. second set especially spectacular with Mat playing at the highest level. The group improvisations within these slow often molasses tempos were tear inducing in an extremely emotional way for me. Randy Peterson rules the universe. Best jazz drummer on the planet. At least in this context. Swing High, Swing Higher Seeing Ahmed tomorrow night Tamarindo with Malaby, Brandon Lopez & Nasheet Waits on 4/6. Another kind of greatest jazz drummer in the world John Zorn’s Cobra on 4/5 / Ches Smith has something to say about the above as well:)

Geniuses at play / love this trio. Saw them last year or earlier this year. saw Tomeka last week with Angelica Neiscler & Savannah Harris. The other 2 were very good but Tomeka was off the chain great.

Tensegrity & Intensegrity are the 2 box sets of the Blue Shroud band playing improvised segments in small formations. Brilliant throughout. the 2 more recent boxes are wonderful as well although a step slightly down from the above. along with the earlier Mad Dogs & Mad Dogs on the Loose (new orchestra in small formations), all 6 of these boxes (all on Not Two Records) are the most undervalued recordings of this century.

Stumps Sven Ake Johansen group some of the Ictus box some of the Zlatko Kaucic box / the trio with Doerner is great Ostertag/Rose/Hemingway from mid 2010’s is incredible Rotations with Schick, Hautzinger & Sven / amazing Nathan Hubbard/Kyle Motl: Obsedian worlds with Joelle, Lotte & Kresten Osgood is stunning Martina Verhoeven quartet: Indicator Light Blue Plum Bloom: Buck, Mayas & Brown Splitter Orchestra: splitter musik 3 CD set mind blowing look at my shows for new names or under the radar names to watch out for Sandy Ewen, Maggie Cox, Chuck Roth, Michael Foster, Hans Young Binter, Orchid McRae, Webb Crawford, Brian Chase, Tim Dahl, Jessica Pavone, Joanna Mattrey, Anna Abondolo, etc.

plus Mary always adds local small room improv gigs when she’s in town. Brandon Lopez plays even more. Has to be close to 300 gigs a year. fwiw Tyshawn had three drums. Snare, small Tom, bass drum. Ride cymbal & one other cymbal. Devastatingly great. 55 minutes. Micah elevated the last 15 or so. Tyshawn giving lessons.

Last night at The Stone: Micah Thomas on grand piano, Jessica Pavone on viola, Mary Halvorson on guitar & Leslie Mok on drums 40 minute improv followed by an 18 minute piece Mary & Jessica playing on another level Tonight is Micah with Tyshawn Sorey. Starts in about 10 minutes both nights front row center tomorrow night in Brooklyn Maggie Cox solo contrabass Brandon Lopez, Chuck Roth & Dennis Sullivan / saw this trio a year ago at The Stone. They were great. Have a feeling it’s gonna be even better as Chuck is on fire lately.

Last night at The Stone Wendy Eisenberg, Trevor Dunn (on electric bass) & Ches Smith 40 minute improv followed by a 10 minute coda Wendy about 20% too loud but a great performance by the band. Her tone is not my favorite but Trevor & Ches are genius level musicians and the power & occasional grace and mystery of the excursions was palpable. Plus as always sitting first row leaning in is an awe inspiring experience with that drum/bass combination.

Tim Berne, Elias Stemesedar, Nels Cline & Tom Rainey at Lowlands last night 3 improvisations lasting an hour. 18 minute encore. simply one of the greatest sets of music I’ve ever witnessed. 3 feet from Nels. Berne introduces Tom Rainey as the greatest drummer in the world and he’s not wrong. previous night among other sets, Jessica Pavone, Chris Cochrane & Brian Chase Incredible 30 minute improvisation. Pavone is a genius level player. golden age of this music continues maybe something tonight Saturday night: Malaby, Ehrlich, Hebert & Rainey / grand masters at play