Steve Reynolds

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

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.