Steve Reynolds

Thanks for this. Some very enticing looking recordings. Any BIG favorites you would recommend? I’ve been aware of the label for years and I might have 1 or 2 discs that were sent to me years ago but I’ve not investigated their catalogue. no doubt I’ll be placing an order some time next month for a few of these titles

Plus it’s got Han Bennink on it. One of the greatest drummers alive then and now and in between.

Pre-ordered

Thanks no wonder I liked the first track so much!! When I’m streaming I don’t have my CD case to reference. In any event he sounds great as does the band

Streaming “The Fantastic Mrs. 10“ which is the newest on Intakt with Ryan Ferreira on electric guitar. Opening 12 minute title track hit me as hard as any Berne or Berne/Snakeoil piece maybe ever has. Fairly typical Berne type intro with those very long lines. The greatness of the piece was the mid-section (with Ferreira to the fore) where the music morphs into abstraction - and then organically comes back to the compositional materials. Not an unusual methodology of course but how it was done was wondrous. second 11:30 piece doesn’t seem to have the guitar - but now here it is....Sorry Colin....also this piece turns into seeming nothingness (which for my ears is by far the best aspect / I’d like to hear the band play a set of free improvisations but I’d almost always prefer that to notated music) let’s see what happens. Pretty great stuff. Listeners familiar with the group know his great Mitchell, Noriega & Smith are. Berne is Berne, of course but he’s never been intimidated by hiring or playing with more complete or advance improvisors. Surely both Mitchell & Smith are in the virtuoso category and Noriega is a subtle and captivating player. That being said Berne’s playing in this track is incendiary.

I’m adding Art Ensemble’s Early Combinations to my next order. It’s Prime at a regular price so now I will have more of the material from the original box set. I’m a huge fan of Old/Quartet. It’s become one of my favorite recordings of this era. Stunning precision & fire which is a very rare thing. Plus Philip Wilson. good to the one I’m ordering has some early Thurman Barker

I’ll check him out / anyone playing with Toyozumi has my attention as did the clip posted above. I’m in a free jazz saxophone mode lately so it seems Countryman will fit right in.

Older recordings from 2009 & 2017. When they were playing recently they played as a quartet or a quintet. One of the last shows I saw pre-pandemic (maybe February I think) was Berne with Malaby, Formanek, Ferreira & Elliott Kavee great 2 sets with Ferreira being a plus. Only quibble is Kavee was too restrained and didn’t push the band like Ches Smith, Tom Rainey or any number of other superior drummer would have. Both saxophonists were excellent and geared their playing towards Berne’s compositions.

Looking forward to this. I’ve gotten to really enjoy the band - with or without the guitar. Nice to see that Torn has again find the sound on this. I like that 6 of the 8 tracks are long which gives these dudes time to build on Berne's sometimes complicated and labyrinthian arrangements/compositions. Ches live is always incredible and I’m sure we will get strong evidence if this on these 2 expansive discs of music.

I can’t get past the firewall but I will never forget seeing Milford last June 2019with Andrew Cyrille at Vision Fest @ Roulette in Brooklyn. He couldn’t walk on his own and was not anywhere near full strength but what an experience for all of us to experience his presence for what we all knew would be the last time. and to go be able to to approach him and shake his hand before the show?? Priceless

Agree about the Snakeoil recordings after the first one - all are tremendous as they were not produced by Eicher. I believe David Torn did the sound. Son of Goldfinger with Torn & Ches Smith is also excellent. Any band with Ches Smith live up close & personal is usually great. Snakeoil live is very very good as Noriega sometimes doesn’t come across well on record. Matt Mitchell is brilliant.

I thought it was his sound but now I know where some of that famous sound came from!

Amazing to see the 23-24 year old Han Bennink with Wes!! plus I wasn’t aware that Wes played with his thumb like that!

Gotta dig through the large band stuff to find the nuggets. Yes - way too many but I’ve found the digging well worth it. More hits than misses, IMO

I agree - his playing is much improved and his ideation on many of his projects is top notch. Marker is another great new ensemble. Plus his incorporation of electronics is often very successful which IMO is not often the case in jazz idioms which is still where KV resides in for the most part. This would not be near the top of my list. Not the best DKV recording by a long shot. There are far better places to hear both Vandermark and the late, great Fred Anderson. for DKV try Live in Wels & Chicago from 1998 and maybe Latitude from 2014. for AALY, the silkheart (Hidden in the Stomach) is great (but very early (1996 I think) but Live at the Glenn Miller Cafe is even better. But the real star on these is Gustafsson, not KV. Head Above Water Feet out of the Fire on Not Two is an incredible 2 CD set from the Resonance Ensemble

I recommend any of the large groups or DKV trio KV strength is large form composing & arranging as well as riff based playing on tenor & baritone. The Transatlantic Band and Resonance Band have numerous great releases. Look on Okkadisk for the former and Not Two for the latter.

I also ordered this and I’m into it just as I am the first one. I’m still angry I missed their 2 set shows @ Jazz Gallery last year. It will NOT happen again. As much as I love Mary, Tomeka might be on a different plane. Last time I saw her with Taylor Ho Bynum’s 9 piece, she was a highlight among highlights within that extraordinary band.

Priceless you are the first person I’ve seen on any of the boards I frequent to be at the legendary May 69 Florida Festival shows. They are immortalized on Road Trips 4.1

33 & 34 are brilliant all-timers for me I’m not thrilled at all about the new 4/20/84 that is Dave’s 35. Cassette based soundboards sound awful and that is what this will be. Dave’s 27 & 31 were from cassettes and they both sound awful (especially compared to great Reel-to-Reel recordings like the above Dave’s 33 (10/29/77) and Dave’s 34 (6/23/74 with the amazing bonus disc of highlights from 6/22/74).

I’m not sure what I covered back when I was writing that stuff. I havn’t looked recently to see what most of it was. I’ve been mining much of the same territory. I think there is plenty there. For example I just ordered a Quintet that includes Agusti Fernandez, Albert Cirera & Rafal Mazur. Polish label I think - album called Flux Quintet. Plus I’m always looking at the new releases / read point of departure, free jazz blog, the NY jazz guide, etc. plus I look for large groups with my favorites - like Lonberg-Holm, Mazur, Lillinger, Edwards, Tomeka, Delius, etc - just to name a few

These all look interesting to me. I’m aware and a fan of many of these people due to my listening to many current and older erstwhile records recordings. are there 2 or 3 that you might recommend as extra special? the first two struck me as exciting as I love Stangl & Dieb 13 and the second one is a larger group including Muller & Weber - both of whom I’ve enjoyed on other recordings. Lo’r & Fracture Mechanics are the other two that piqued my interest

Mickey’s last show until 10/20/74 was 2/18/71 the show they are including is 2/21/71 looking forward to hearing it

Lost track of him recently but there was a time 20 years ago or so that with some of those odd creative large things he was doing that he had a large effect on my musical life. Way way too young. great bassist and big thinker RIP, Sir

Damn do I miss hearing drummers in the room

Lost track of recent music but Mujician was a defining band for me maybe 20 years ago. “Birdman” & “Colours Fulfilled” remain for me two of the ultimate fully improvised free jazz recordings with Tippett at the core of that incredible inventive beauty. As I once said about Mujician at it’s peak (and was mocked strongly) the greatest improvised music in the history of improvised music RIP to one of the true great voices of this music