Steve Reynolds

I had Birds of Fire in college maybe in 1980 but it drove me more towards King Crimson, Gong et al. Loved Inner Mounting Flame as well. I tried some other fusion like RTF and I disliked it intensely.

Bought 3 jazz CD’s in 1991 Kind of Blue Mingus at Antibes Waltz for Debby

Light Trigger Mat Maneri & Randy Peterson

Phil Lesh became one of the greatest improvising musicians of the 20th century. The Grateful Dead was the first rock band to incorporate avant-garde into their long form improvised jams.

Sure sounds like it was. Maybe I’m wrong. Happens often. Why don’t you let Bertrand answer. Are you familiar with Phil Lesh’s experiences with Coltrane’s music?

Is this a sarcastic comment?

A great modern trio Ches Smith on drums/vibraphone Mat Maneri on viola Craig Taborn on piano only recording is The Bell on ECM / does not capture the group very well at all I've seen them live numerous times starting from their first show on a Sunday night in March 2013 @ Cornelia Street Cafe. This show remains among the best 5 or 10 shows I’ve ever seen. A few of the other shows were close. Incredible trio.

They played “All Things Being Equal” the second time I saw them. It was insane. Both volumes of American Landscapes are very good as well as At Molde 2007. Whenever I revisit this stuff, I’m always more taken in by the freely improvised stuff which started with these recordings. Regrettably I missed this tour and more regrettably it’s the last time the large band toured the US. At first I couldn’t or didn’t know how to take it all in. Repeated listens and my ears changing helped. Today I’m mostly interested in improvised music that has little or no compositional elements. Although not a hard rule, of course.

Instant Composers Pool & Clusone trio play or played a number of Herbie Nichols tunes.

Peter Evans, Agusti Fernandez & Mats Gustufsson A Quietness of Water / on Not Two records There is also a great live recording of this trio / both are from ~2012 I chose this as it doesn’t fit into any sort of “type”. it’s freely improvised but it fits under the “sound of surprise” descriptor. Also Tom Rainey trio with Mary (above) & Ingrid Laubrock. I’ve seen them live numerous times and they are truly spectacular from many vantage points. Hotel Grief might be the best place to hear them on record (Intakt)

Or Hank Mobley

I’d have to pick 5 from the late 50’s to very early 60’s which is the sweet spot pre-modal/pseudo free / then 5 more. This is the first jazz outside of Miles, Mingus & Monk that I fell for in the early 1990’s. Cool Struttin’ Soul Station Moanin’ New Soil Whistle Stop then from the next era Out to Lunch Point of Departure Oblique Inner Urge Adam’s Apple of course there are 30-40 others that fit right in or around these core records

They won’t but Walk Love Sleep might be as close as a recording can get:)

For me the best Tentet recordings are 2 of the last 3 later ones: Walk, Love, Sleep 2 CD set from April 22, 2011 3 Days in Oslo February 2009 5 CD box with 1st & 5th CD being the full band first 5-6 minutes of the set on disc 5 of the latter is among the most incredible slabs of fierce live music put on disc ever. these 4 sets are recorded in up-front sound and the band is burning, blazing hot throughout as good as the earlier recordings with Drake are (with notated music), I still struggle with them to some extent as they only offer a tiny sliver of what it was like to see the band live. Still the best live show of any kind I’ve ever seen were the 2 sets at Tonic in NYC on their second time through the States. Of the earlier discs Stone/Water comes closest to capturing the absurd energy & power of the mighty band. as an aside a great recording of a small Brotzmann group is Yatagarasu with Sato & Moriyama / on not two records The great man hits some incredible peaks and the pianist & drummer are pure fire. Two 30 minute pieces with Peter really building up momentum. Not sure I’ve ever heard a pianist more suited to his playing / including Van Hove. fwiw over the years the more I listen the more there is to hear from Brotzmann. This seems contradictory due to his singular approach but there is a depth to his playing and sound that is unmatched by the vast majority of musicians.

Glad you are now well, Larry I always look forward to your astute musical commentary

Fred Anderson, Kidd Jordan, William Parker & Hamid Drake 2 days in April

All my best wishes and fervent hope that you continue to summon the strength to move forward. I believe in the against all odds way of thinking & living. I find that within today’s “out” jazz that besides some interesting combinations of composition & improv, the most striking recordings and live shows are mostly without sheet music. One of the rare examples of the combination in a live setting was Taylor Ho Bynum 9-Tette before the pandemic 2 sets at Jazz Gallery. Astounding. They played the same compositions in each set only in varied order with different segues. The strength of the music was in the margins improvised and invented. In my listening experience over the past 15 years I’ve found the music without charts for the vast majority of the time to be the most explosive and most original. I find that the FIRE is still there and actually if more places were open and more improvising groups/ensembles were playing I’d say I’ve never been more excited about the actual music I love.

Fwiw it was the best show I’ve seen since Summer 2018. Astounding. Second set was a whole other level of intensity. Malaby playing at an extraordinary high level. Soprano great but his tenor playing is over the top. Rainey explosive and so imaginative as always. Monder is a unicorn.

Tony Malaby, Ben Monder & Tom Rainey fired up

Plus I’ve learned which of his releases/projects are of interest to me. I never liked the Vandermark 5 or his small form improvisations. Neither were or are his strength. He’s a great organizer of sounds and people although there is little humor or levity in his music. But he certainly combines various instruments and modes as well or more uniquely than anyone else I know of who is from the “jazz” tradition. Some of those large ensemble recordings are filled with some real gems.

Listening again to Stammer. This is an incredible recording. Mars & KV are a great combo and all of the amazing collage of electronics and voices is mind bending. Great drumming. Those who are still pigeonholing Vandermark might think about taking a current listen. No one is making music that is anything like this. Picked up the newer Pride of Lions on Rogue Art on 6/22 @ Vision Fest. Wonderful first spin.

Vision Fest / day 2 very excited to see & hear some of my favorites for the first time since before the pandemic Hamid & William at the top of the list. I’m sure it will be very emotional for me.

Illegal Crowns @ Jazz Gallery in NYC 7:30 & 9:30 sets Taylor Ho Bynum: trumpet/cornet Mary Halvorson: guitar Benoit Delbecq: grand piano Tomas Fujiwara: drums YEAH BABY!!

I love this recording. Fascinating from all perspectives. Some of the previous Momentum releases are also great / especially the 2 & 3 combo double CD. All of these are very abstract and do a great job mixing electronics into KV’s music. Like the best of the Territory band recordings. Vandermark is often criticized but within his huge discography are many gems. Company Switch is the one i think of from the Territory Band. His Resonance Ensemble has a few great records as well. His latest large group’s recording “Entr’Acte” is also tremendous.

The Pride of Lions disc from The Bridge Sessions is extraordinary. Sweet Oranges is close to that. Hoping the new one on Rogue Art comes near the first Pride of Lions recording. Chad Taylor really smokes on the Bridge Session CD. I’m still not much for saxophone duos or trios:)