Д.Д. Posted October 20, 2004 Report Posted October 20, 2004 (edited) Anyone heard Barry Guy's latest outing on Intakt, Ithaca, with Marilyn Crispell and Paul Lytton? Hans, I will receive it soon (as I am INTAKT subscriber) - and I will review it here. I listened to this one, and found it absolutely mediocre - really had problems listening to it till the end (I listend to it twice, and it's even worse second time around). Crispell is doing a lot of uninspired mindless noodling, and seems to be thowing all possible piano cliches ("romantic Bill Evans thing", "Cecil Taylor thing", "dark-pensive-brooding thing") without much thought or feeling - and however expertly performed, it is becoming extremely annoying almost immidiately. Guy is not particulalry supportive and is creating twice more sound than is probably required, IMO -and given that Crispell's piano is very heavy on the low end, on some tracks there is a constant bass "porridge" of sound. The best one is Lytton who is a pleasure to listen to, and seems to be the only one trying to create something and actually suport other two players. There are a couple of nice moments (it can't be all that bad with musicians of this calibre) - there is a solo arco Guy thing somewhere near the end - amazingly played (with sparce and tasteful use of of sounds - for once), and the last track - slow, melodic balladish thing is OK - but overall, the impression is of a forced work, not bringing joy neither to the musicinas nor to listeners. I have a couple more Crispell CDs in my collection (bot hon Leo, don't remember how they are called... one is with a symphonic orchestra, I think), and I will listen to them in the near future to see if she is any better there. Edited October 20, 2004 by Д.Д. Quote
John B Posted October 20, 2004 Report Posted October 20, 2004 These tracks might be too experimental for most here, but some of you might be interested in checking this out: "Antiopic's Allegorical Power Series was a series of online MP3 releases issued monthly from June through December 2003. This series was meant to address the possibilities and roles of abstract or experimental music as social and political response; it attempted to provide a forum and space for artists to present new work as protest and as an exploration of the meaning and potential of sound art in the context of and as response to global injustice. The series was completed with the seventh release in December. All sixty audio tracks will remain online and available indefinitely." Allegorical Power Series There are a few names I am familiar with here but, for the most part, these artists are new to me. If anyone is interested I'll post my thoughts on which tracks are winners and which are worth passing by. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Got a press release from Leo Records. There are 6 more releases upcoming, including one more solo Braxton from Milano 1979, more Wally Shoup trio, and new Frank Gratkowski project release. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Speaking of Brotz, this one's excellent and out in only two days: Peter Brötzmann - Medicina (Atavistic 149) Oct 19 -- 2003 trio studio recording of Peter Brotzmann (alto & tenor saxes, tarogato, a-cl), Peter Friis Nielsen (el-bass), Peeter Uuskyla (drums); recorded in Sweden This is teh same lineup as on Live at Nefertiti, on Ayler, which I really enjoy. I'm glad to hear it is worth listening to. Have you heard the disc on Ayler and are you able to compare the two? No, I haven't heard the one on Ayler! Hopefully, someone will have listened to both in a bit... Someone will, for sure. He-he. Quote
John B Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Speaking of Brotz, this one's excellent and out in only two days: Peter Brötzmann - Medicina (Atavistic 149) Oct 19 -- 2003 trio studio recording of Peter Brotzmann (alto & tenor saxes, tarogato, a-cl), Peter Friis Nielsen (el-bass), Peeter Uuskyla (drums); recorded in Sweden This is teh same lineup as on Live at Nefertiti, on Ayler, which I really enjoy. I'm glad to hear it is worth listening to. Have you heard the disc on Ayler and are you able to compare the two? No, I haven't heard the one on Ayler! Hopefully, someone will have listened to both in a bit... Someone will, for sure. He-he. I just ordered Medicina and already own the Ayler disc, so I'll compare them when I have a chance. I'm guessing that "someone" who already owns the third disc just ordered this new one and will be able to compare all three soon, however. Quote
Nate Dorward Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Is Ithaca from the same session as Odyssey, the Guy/Crispell/Lytton trio's previous trio disc, or is it a fresh recording? (Cute pairing of titles, incidentally.) I didn't like Odyssey at all so I'm inclined to give the new one a pass too. I have no idea what's up with Crispell but little I've heard of hers since about 1996 has done much for me (hated the new Storyteller), though I did attend a seraphically beautiful concert she gave in Toronto a few years ago. In the meantime--been listening among other things to: T. Taylor & Chris Forbes, Spoken Once. Appallingly lo-fi, buzzy sound, which is a pity as the music's terrific. Two younger guys (tenor sax & piano) with an interesting take on free jazz (Taylor's extremophile sax in particular is quite stirring; Forbes tends to work with shifting, slow-moving clouds of carefully selected notes, rather than hammering the instrument). Forbes I'd actually encountered before as "weirdears", author of some of the best freelance reviews on Amazon. Anyway, I was glad I heard this but it's a bit hard to recommend because of the crap sound. Michael Jefry Stevens/Michael Rabinowitz, Play. Very beautiful bassoon/piano duos; may be a little too quiescent & languorous for some Funny Rat folks but on balance I like it. John Butcher/Toshimaru Nakamura, Cavern with Nightlife. Only listened to the solo tracks on this yet (not the final cut with Nakamura)--but they're astonishing, not least because of the enormous echo from the icy underground cavern Butcher's playing in. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 (edited) I'm guessing that "someone" who already owns the third disc just ordered this new one and will be able to compare all three soon, however. I have a feeling that someone will. Meanwhile, I will elaborate a bit on differences between Live at Nefertiti (Ayler) and Noise of Wings (Slask). So this is the same trio of Brötzman (reeeds), Uuskyla (drums), Friis-Nielsen (bass guitar), with Noise... being recorded one day later than Ayler live date date in the studio. To begin with, I really enjoy both, and would highly recommend both to anybody interested in imporovised music in general, and Peter Brötzmann in particular. However, between the two I would give a slight edge to Noise.... On Nefertiti... there are several tracks where Brötzmann seems to be stuck without ideas and just does a bit of an ornamental playing (well, hmmm... "ornamental" in a Brötzm. way) - this is particullarly true for his taragoto and clarinet playing. Also, there are moments where he sounds just... lazy: that is, there is still this beautiful hoarse sound, but it dose not have that underlying energy to it - and I do not like it too much this way. Noise... on the onther hand is all no-nonsense - with Brötzmann totally focused. He sounds just superb on this one (and studio sound is excellent - more rich than (good) concert recording of Nefertiti...), with more nuance and attention to detail in his playing than on Nefertiti..., IMO. It is equally diverse, with some pretty lyrical pieces and some burning stuff. Also Uuskyla and Friis-Nielsen have a bit more of a solo space (there is some excellent duo in the middle), and they are a fascinating rhythm team to listen to - both have interesting and non-typical sound (very "shallow" sounding, I would say - but good), and a bit paradoxical sense of timing (Friis-Nielse's bass first created an immagery of some random bubbles coming up and exploding in the poot of boling water, without much system - but it makes perfect sense with Uuskyla's drumming). Thus, I formally change my #1 recommendation to Brötzmann novice to Noise of Wings (now good like finding it), although this might change after I hear Medecina. Edited December 11, 2004 by Д.Д. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Is Ithaca from the same session as Odyssey, the Guy/Crispell/Lytton trio's previous trio disc, or is it a fresh recording? No, it's a different session from 2003. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 John Butcher/Toshimaru Nakamura, Cavern with Nightlife. Only listened to the solo tracks on this yet (not the final cut with Nakamura)--but they're astonishing, not least because of the enormous echo from the icy underground cavern Butcher's playing in. What's the label? I like Butcher a lot, but can't catch up with his output (and he put out a lot of stuff - and everything I've heard was good - amazing consistency). Quote
J.A.W. Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 Funny, I like most Crispell sessions you guys hate... Haven't heard Ithaca yet, though. What is it you don't like, a certain kind of lyricism she seems to have adopted lately? Quote
John B Posted October 21, 2004 Report Posted October 21, 2004 John Butcher/Toshimaru Nakamura, Cavern with Nightlife. Only listened to the solo tracks on this yet (not the final cut with Nakamura)--but they're astonishing, not least because of the enormous echo from the icy underground cavern Butcher's playing in. What's the label? I like Butcher a lot, but can't catch up with his output (and he put out a lot of stuff - and everything I've heard was good - amazing consistency). Weight of Wax Quote
Nate Dorward Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 I like Crispell's lyrical side plenty, but not the creeping preciousness of her later work. & in general Odyssey just seems a bit uneventful & short on ideas. Quote
king ubu Posted October 22, 2004 Report Posted October 22, 2004 Had a wonderful time listening to this one: Wow! I really really like it! Music of great purity and beauty. Then: John Zorn The Gift Quite nice stuff. Zorn himself only plays piano and theremin on one of ten tracks, the band is Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Joey Baron, Cyro Baptista and Trevor Dunn, with a couple of guests sitting in, among them on one tune Dave Douglas, shining on his trumpet. The music is well, rather - what should I call that? - conventional? easy? It's got that southern laid-back feeling you alse have on Joey Baron's projects (mainly the band with Blythe-Frisell-Carter I'm thinking of, but also the band with Shepik-Cardenas-Scherr), and some south-of-the-border sounds. Ribot is playing quite undistorted, most of the time, with a sweet sound not unlike Bill Frisell's. Then, having dinner, I continued with: A great album! Ribot is on this one, as well, providing quite much to the success of the whole sound. While this may be (or: seem?) quite accessible upon the first encounter (which was the case tonight, never listened to it before, just got it, in fact), I really think it will reward repeated listens, and I have a feeling it may grow quite some over the years. It's all relatively simple, of course there's Waits' usual bag o'tricks, but there's no horns, no Tom-goes-Ol' Blue Eyes stuff, but just songs, with some guitars, a bass, and most often also some percussion. Among the songs are a few that I consider quite good, indeed. One of them, "Sins of My Father," grows to biblical lenghts and heights and depths, not unlike the quarter of an hour song Highlands on Dylan's great album "Time out of Mind". ubu Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 Had a wonderful time listening to this one: Hannes Wienert / Peter Niklas Wilson "Alphea" (Leo) Wow! I really really like it! Music of great purity and beauty. Glad you enjoyed it! "Pure" is a good word to desibe it. I listen to this disc quite often, and it never fails to amaze me. It's a shame we won't hear any new material from this duo. ------------------------------------------------------- I've been listening a bit mor to Braxton's 23 Standards, and my initial negative impression only deepens. As I said, Braxton seems to me repeating the same same ideas in his solos (thus the solos sound twice long than they should be), and his sound is flat and colorless. His playing on soprano (or is it sopranino) saxophone is shockingly close to embarassing on some tracks. [being annoyed this much by Braxton's playoing here, I thought I might be in some anti-Braxton stage, so I pulled out Solo (Milano) 1979 (Leo) as a benchmark... and found it truly brilliant! - with more ideas in each track than I heard in a discfull of standards and with a beatiful and controllled sound. So I do like Braxton!]. Moreover, the troubles with 23 Standards do not end with Braxton. Rythm section is EXTREMELY BORING. I am not sure why mainstream (and rythm section plays as mainstream as you can imagine) should be boring, but this is the way they play it here. Competent, but totally uneventful. This is exacerbate by very prominent bass in the mix, and unless you like to hear endless (since the tracks are so fucking long!) standard changes repeated, you might feel it is slightly repetative. Bass and drums solos are equally bland. The most interesting aspect of 23 Standards is Kevin O'Neal's guitar playing, but after some time you his trikcs also become somewhat predictable (I think this might stem fro mthe metronome rythm section "support" - you have to be a very imaginative and optimistic musician to be inspired for cretive soloing with such backing), and his solos also are a bit excesive in length. I still have two more CDs to go, so I can find something of interest in the set - so far I haven't. Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 (edited) Oh-la-la - looks like Emarcy/Universal are reissuing some nice nice stuff in December, including AEoC (3 CDs!), Alan Shorter (!), Frank Wright, Braxton (2 CDs, one of them a double one!), Lacy, Waldron, Rudd, Bley, Shepp, Thornton.... whew! What the fuck is going on at Universal?!?! Looks like a coup d'etat happened, and some irrisponsible free jazz guerrilla fighters seized the power! Here is the list from amazon.de (skip the first vynil items in the list): http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/search-ha...2835388-2126158 OK, so the search link does not work. Then, you can find it yourself plugging emarcy is the search for, and then choosing Erscheinungsdatum: Neue zuerst in Ordnen nach list. These upcoming reissues will be on the top. A related jazzcorner thread: http://jazzcornertalk.com/speakeasy/showthread.php?t=8011 Edited October 23, 2004 by Д.Д. Quote
king ubu Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 David, these Emarcy's look mighty fine, though I don't know any of them yet! I guess Amazon France might end up having them for a nicer prize (they don't list any prize yet, though). Keep us posted! ubu Quote
J.A.W. Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 I guess Amazon France might end up having them for a nicer prize (they don't list any prize yet, though). In my experience Amazon Germany's prices are usually lower. Quote
king ubu Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 I guess Amazon France might end up having them for a nicer prize (they don't list any prize yet, though). In my experience Amazon Germany's prices are usually lower. Yes, but as the Emarcy releases *might* be produced by French Universal... no idea, was just a guess. The prizes are a bit steep. But how about the music? Any of you heard any of these albums? ubu Quote
king ubu Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 this has been discussed before Thanks, John! I missed that thread. Looks like some real fine stuff! ubu Quote
alankin Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 this has been discussed before Thanks, John! I missed that thread. Looks like some real fine stuff! ubu I missed the thread, too! I have some of these on vinyl (the AEC's, the Shepp, the Paul Bley, the Lacy's), but haven't heard them for quite a while. [if only my wife hadn't broken my turntable.] Anyone heard the Roswell Rudd or the solo Braxton? Quote
brownie Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 [Anyone heard the Roswell Rudd or the solo Braxton? The Roswell Rudd is one of his best. The music comes from a Radio Hilversum concert in Holland. With John Tchicai, Dutch bass player Finn von Eyven and Louis Moholo. Understand Rudd made the tape available to America for release. The Braxton solo album showed up at the start of the deluge of Braxton records. Got quite a number of them but not that one. Quote
John B Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 this is really going to be painful for my wallet. Looks like some "must have" reissues on that list! Quote
Д.Д. Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 Anyone heard [...] the solo Braxton? I still have to hear a bad solo Braxton. I will probably go for them all. They might show up at zwei at some point, and might be somewhat cheaper there... Quote
Guest Chaney Posted October 23, 2004 Report Posted October 23, 2004 Oh-la-la - looks like Emarcy/Universal are reissuing some nice nice stuff in December, including AEoC (3 CDs!), Alan Shorter (!), Frank Wright, Braxton (2 CDs, one of them a double one!), Lacy, Waldron, Rudd, Bley, Shepp, Thornton.... whew! What the fuck is going on at Universal?!?! Looks like a coup d'etat happened, and some irrisponsible free jazz guerrilla fighters seized the power! Here is the list from amazon.de (skip the first vynil items in the list): http://www.amazon.de/exec/obidos/search-ha...2835388-2126158 OK, so the search link does not work. Then, you can find it yourself plugging emarcy is the search for, and then choosing Erscheinungsdatum: Neue zuerst in Ordnen nach list. These upcoming reissues will be on the top. A related jazzcorner thread: http://jazzcornertalk.com/speakeasy/showthread.php?t=8011 C'mon December! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thanks David for your posts on the Braxton 23 Standards set. Thus far, it sounds like a miss. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anyone have an opinion on Steve Lacy: Anthem? RCA/Novus 3079 USA cd Paris, Family Sound 6/27/89 6/28/89 Steve Lacy-ss, Bobby Few-p, Steve Potts-ss, Jean-Jacques Avenel-b, kora John Betsch-d, Irene Aebi-voc, La Velle-voc, Glen Ferris-tb. Quote
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