Steve Reynolds

other great shows One of the Eskelin/Parkins/Black shows at Tonic was so beyond incredible. Maybe 1999. Berne/Gress/Rainey maybe 98 or 99 stunning Drake with Mat Maneri & Rob Brown / stunning DKV on 3/27/2001 / unbelievable Evan Parker, Berne, Gress & Mark Sanders May 2001 at Knitting Factory / set 2 !!!! Trio 3 Knitting Factory Dunmall with Rogers & Norton knitting factory in a small room!!!!!! With bagpipes!!!

This!!! Emphasis on Denis Charles, Eskelin-Parkins-Black, Clusone 3, Thomas Chapin, Tapscott eremite records was a force / 2 Days in April with Fred, Kidd, William & Hamid seeing that band circa year 2000 was incredible. add What We Live / the 2 CD’s with Dave Douglas & Wadada Leo Smith Even The Sounds Shine, baby!!

Some of the greatest things ever from the 90’s are: Braxton’s hat ART classic quartet Willisau & Santa Cruz Gerry Hemingway’s hat ART European quintet recordings Joe Maneri’s great recordings on hat ART & Leo Ivo Perelman on Leo DKV trio live in Wels/Chicago from 1998 Evan Parker’s peak period was the 90’s Paul Dunmall & Mujician from the 90’s is extraordinary David Murray’s numerous quartet & quintets from the early 90’s are great (although not my ring these days) Fred Anderson’s stuff / plus all the great okkadisk releases in general started here Mats Gustafsson’s great early trio stuff with Barry Guy I saw a bunch of shows in the late 90’s and early 2000’s in NYC and none of it was warmed over free jazz. Tim Berne, Mark Whitecage, Andrew Hill, Dave Holland, Marty Ehrlich, Ray Anderson, Fred Anderson, Joe Maneri, David S Ware, Instant Composers Pool, Willem Breuker, Joe Maneri, Gerry Hemingway, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman, Marilyn Crispell with Barry Guy & Gerry Hemingway. Etc. Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet, Die Like a Dog, Evan Parker with Mark Dresser & Bobby Previte, Dunmall with Paul Rogers & Kevin Norton. John Lindberg, etc. this live music changed my life

Tomeka Reid Quartet @ Jazz Gallery in NYC 7:30 & 9:30 sets Tomeka on cello Mary Halvorson on guitar Jason Roebke on bass Tomas Fujiwara on drums center table first row:)

The last real connection to Coltrane’s working band(s) loved the early screaming wailing beautiful music. Some said it was ugly but Beauty is a Rare Thing. Oh to have been there. RIP, sir

Sorry but the Dead never played “Impressions” at a live concert. You must have it mixed up with something similar. In their later years they riffed on So What a bit but that is really ancillary to what they were doing. Not from you CJ, but I hear more opinions about the music of the Grateful Dead from those who know songs like Sugar Magnolia, Truckin’, Casey Jones or Touch of Grey than those who have actually made an effort to listen closely to some of their famous shows - most of which are commercially available and often in very good to excellent sound. The reason it’s apt for this thread is that they are really the *only* extremely popular rock group whose music has a huge component of improvisation. The classic live performances of one period as an example: 1972 through 1974 has some of the most astonishing improvised passages of music ever created. Just the Dark Stars played and recorded in 1972 reveal musical depth that many are still coming to terms with. Jerry, Phil & Bob in that year (and from 1969 through 1978 in general) are playing at a very high level. Keith Godchaux in the years 1972 & 73 (to a lesser extent in 74-77) is improvising on a surreal level. He was a truly great pianist from an improvising perspective. But Garcia & Lesh were the true core and both were masters at their craft. It’s my view that Jerry Garcia was just about the best guitarist I’ve ever heard. I used to mock Dead Heads who thought like this. It took me hearing a massive amount of improvised music from the greatest musicians in the world to think about Garcia like this. In fact he stands right next to all my favorites as an improvisor. Current & historical. From Coltrane to Evan Parker to Cecil to Misha to John Butcher to Nate Wooley to Joe McPhee to any of them. Don’t let the overwhelming “thing” that is the Grateful Dead cloud what actually happened. Certainly the “scene” is insular and many of it's most fervent followers/listeners don’t know a thing about jazz, other improvised musics, etc. This was a huge turnoff for me as well in my formative musical years when I was amazed many of them never heard of King Crimson or other creative rock groups. As the decades have passed my musical tastes have gotten much more geared to the avant-garde. Especially the last 10-15 years. But rediscovering the Dead 7-8 years ago revealed a group that at their peak played the most extraordinary improvised music with a rock vibe I’ve ever heard. So to me they are all that and often more.

Thanks for the post. I haven’t listened to a Dead studio album in years. Mars Hotel & Wake of the Flood were the last ok records. Live shows from 68-78 are mostly tremendous and thankfully we have many great officially releases recordings from 2-track reels and quite a few great multi-track recordings as well. Thankfully I love most of the Garcia/Hunter songs and I’m in recovery so I don’t concern myself with those who smoke weed or do whatever they do!! As far as the improvisation I used to think the same thing but like some of the best jazz & free improvisation it took some time for me to truly “hear” Lesh, Garcia & Weir. Their collective improv with Jerry mostly in front driven by Phil created some music that has no point of comparison to any other music I know of. I certainly had no idea that starting ~2015 that I would feel this way about The Grateful Dead.

The “Dead” culture and music is often mocked but that judgment is usually made by those unfamiliar with the music (especially the genius level improvisational aspect of the music). Just because they played in front of more people than any band in the history of music doesn’t mean what some thinks it means. At 57 I went to my first Grateful Dead related concert since seeing the actual band on 5/11/79 and over the last 5 years have experienced a loving culture of music and spirit while attending maybe 16 to 20 theatre shows from bands that play Grateful Dead related music. I’m also thrilled to be seeing Tomeka Reid’s quartet with Mary Halvorson on 9/27, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead on 9/30 (Russo is one of the greatest drummers on the planet including my jazz heroes), Pavement on 10/3 - seeing this band is a dream of mine and it’s happening - and then 3 shows with maybe the greatest living electric bassist on the planet, the *great* Phil Lesh for 3 shows in October at The Capital Theatre. Then Billy Strings in November. Myra Melford’s Fire & Water Quartet in November and Sylvie Courvoisier with Nate Wooley & Wadada Leo Smith in December. what did Duke Ellington say about great music?

Pillars is my favorite by a good bit. Last 2 shows I’ve seen Tyshawn have been “jazz” shows. One pre-pandemic and the other earlier this year. At the show earlier this year Greg Osby played a fine alto saxophone with a good straight ahead bassist (who did not once use his bow:() and a decent but flowery pianist. Osby never exploded the music so I came away disappointed. I didn’t stay for the second set as I knew what I’d hear so no “sound of surprise” which is still what I’m looking for at live shows. Very good but nothing like a few years back with Mary Halvorson & Jon Irabagon as one of a few examples of seeing Tyshawn & band mates destroy the room.

In my Bandcamp cart Not that new but just have to say that the 3 CD set from AMM Unintended Legacy is beyond incredible. These 3 concerts from December 2015 thru June 2016 sound great and hearing Rowe once again with Tilbury & Prevost is priceless for me. I’ve come back to this set numerous times since I bought it maybe 18 months ago. The long set from December (65 minutes) is especially dynamic. As expected Prevost plays in the manner that he did on Fine - no standard drums, almost all cymbals and drony scratches. As always there is nothing in this world remotely like this trio version of AMM. Without Rowe it was never the same and it’s pretty incredible that Rowe & Prevost dropped their little tiff and even appeared together a short time ago at Cafe Oto despite Rowe’s declining health. Too bad Tilbury was not able (health?) to appear.

Not a Futterman fan I’ll buy the second disc. I’ll also probably get the recent release with Lonberg-Holm, Steve Swell, Ben Stapp & Marco Colona although I normally far more prefer longer pieces that little mini improvs. One of the previous sets of recordings back much more interesting to me. I mentioned 3 of them above but add Substantial Myths. Quartet session with unfamiliar players to me save for John Edwards. Takes a bit to get going but it evolves into drony wonderment through the second half of the improvisation. Why I buy so many of these releases.

The last one might be the best. They are all sui generis to any other music. As I’ve mentioned before I’m not a big fan of Carter’s very subdued playing and his seemingly rote switching from one horn to another but this stuff is captivating. another nice one: Room with no name Luis Vicente on trumpet, Seppe Gebruers on piano & Onno Govaert on drums 30:57 18:47 recorded live on 7/10/2019 very special sound quality on this one / lots of space Fundacja SLUCHAJ

Lots of GREAT stuff available and I’m limiting my purchases to select CD releases the 4 Playfield recordings are amazing with Daniel Carter quieting leading ethereal freely improvised music with a fine drummer, singer, another horn and 2 guitars. I’ve been taken. Among others the John Dikeman quartet with Pat Thomas, Edwards & Noble is blazing. From Cafe Oto on 2/24/2019 577 records for all of the above. Look for the 2 large ensemble releases on Fundacja SLUCHAJ. One with some of the older Dutch & Italians, Soundscapes 3, the other from the Samo Salomon Freequestra. The latter is especially incredible. More good ones depending on one’s taste from this amazing label.

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