Funny Rat

[Alexander Hawkins]

Mommy - the Harry Miller sound I don't like is that DI-heavy, twangy thing. Not his fault so much as the engineers, I guess, but it's a little obtrusive for me...e.g. on Spirits Rejoice, where he really dominates Dyani tone-wise.

His natural sound, everyone says, was really nice though - so not a slight on that!

[brownie]

Yeah--Shepp is a bitch when he cuts into that pianoless burnout bag. He can go a million places, but I've always enjoyed him the most just floating over a great bass/drum duo.

That trio on Horo looks intriguing; for whatever reason I never picked it up. Probably because it's a Horo and I rarely have kept any title on that label for very long.

Not among his vest best actually but Shepp could still perform and bring interesting developments to tenor:trio formula!

Glad I got that twofer when it was available!

[Nate Dorward]

Thought I'd pull this thread up again to mention that Gokhan Ertug (gnhrtg on this board) is doing a survey concerning free-jazz musicians and record labels as part of his thesis. This is not a musicology thesis but one in "Organizational Behavior"--i.e. statistics. Which might sound dry but I've corresponded a bit with him about the thesis & it seems like a very interesting endeavour to find models for the internal dynamics of the free-jazz scene. Anyway, he needs people to participate in the survey--it can be done online at

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=363962808493

and (in my experience) takes about 45 minutes to complete.

[gnhrtg]

Thank you, Nate.

A few from this board have already taken the survey and I thank them.

If you decide to give it a shot but find certain questions or response alternatives confusing, unclear, or poorly thought-out, please send me a pm (or an e-mail at gokhan.ertug@insead.edu) and I will clarify them. If you'd rather not do this, please skip that particular question. Otherwise it's difficult for me to figure out what exactly you were responding to and how to interpret your response.

[Aggie87]

I'm thinking of ordering Evan Parker's "Topography of the Lungs", but it appears to be unavailable at emanem.com. Can anyone tell me if there are other distributors for Psi recordings? Sorry in advance if this has been discussed in this thread, I can't keep up in here!

[John B]

I'm thinking of ordering Evan Parker's "Topography of the Lungs", but it appears to be unavailable at emanem.com. Can anyone tell me if there are other distributors for Psi recordings? Sorry in advance if this has been discussed in this thread, I can't keep up in here!

Squidco.com

$19.95 plus free shipping.

[John B]

New Brotzmann / Zerang live disc on a Lebanese label called Al Maslakh.

I haven't had the urge to listen to Brotz in a while but this one looks really tempting.

[Aggie87]

I'm thinking of ordering Evan Parker's "Topography of the Lungs", but it appears to be unavailable at emanem.com. Can anyone tell me if there are other distributors for Psi recordings? Sorry in advance if this has been discussed in this thread, I can't keep up in here!

Squidco.com

$19.95 plus free shipping.

Thanks John!

[Д.Д.]

I'm thinking of ordering Evan Parker's "Topography of the Lungs", but it appears to be unavailable at emanem.com. Can anyone tell me if there are other distributors for Psi recordings? Sorry in advance if this has been discussed in this thread, I can't keep up in here!

Squidco.com

$19.95 plus free shipping.

Or at jazzloft for $19 without free shipping: http://ssl.adhost.com/jazzloft/baskets/pos.cfm?CD=9897. I am pleasantly surprised it seems to sell this well (released in 2006 and already OOP), unless there are some other reasons for its current unavailability.

New Brotzmann / Zerang live disc on a Lebanese label called Al Maslakh.

I haven't had the urge to listen to Brotz in a while but this one looks really tempting.

I am curious about this one as well. I think Brötzmann sounds really well in duo with drummers (his duo with Hamid Drake "Dried Rat Dog" on Okka is one of his best ones ever, IMO).

I got Brötzmann's trio (with Wertmüller and Pliakas) "Full Blast" (recorded earlier this year), and it's some of the worst Brötzmann I've heard (together with his solo "Petrogliphs" on Long Arms)... But I believe in the man.

Edited November 22, 2006 by Д.Д.

[clifford_thornton]

New Brotzmann / Zerang live disc on a Lebanese label called Al Maslakh.

I haven't had the urge to listen to Brotz in a while but this one looks really tempting.

Looks like a good duo. I should pick up that BRO-B issue of '77 Brotz/Bennink, too. Hot off the presses!

[Alexander Hawkins]

Let's not forget Funny Rat itself numbers amongst the Brotzmann drummer duos...

That cover is great. Looks like the work of the wonderful trumpeter/cartoonist Mazen Kerbaj...

[Gary]

I orderd a copy of "The Topography of the Lungs" a couple of weeks ago from Emanem when it was listed as out of stock but a copy arrived 2 days later so it may still be worth ordering direct if it works out cheaper for you.

[WD45]

I'm thinking of ordering Evan Parker's "Topography of the Lungs", but it appears to be unavailable at emanem.com. Can anyone tell me if there are other distributors for Psi recordings? Sorry in advance if this has been discussed in this thread, I can't keep up in here!

I noticed the same thing on Monday.

[Gary]

The news page now states

EMANEM & PSI NEWS

The musicians pages have now been corrected so that they work with browsers other than Internet Explorer.

All Emanem & Psi CDs are now available

except 4002, 4015*, 4057 & 4067, which are currently out of stock

4098 & Psi 06.05 are available again

http://www.emanemdisc.com/news.html

[clifford_thornton]

Let's not forget Funny Rat itself numbers amongst the Brotzmann drummer duos...

That cover is great. Looks like the work of the wonderful trumpeter/cartoonist Mazen Kerbaj...

I've never listened to the record that started this thread!

Love Brotz with Waits, Moholo (tho no duo "exists"), Bennink, Perkins... not so much with Drake. Zerang is fine, especially on Tales out of Time.

Mazen Kerbaj - right, forgot about him. You're probably correct.

[Д.Д.]

Let's not forget Funny Rat itself numbers amongst the Brotzmann drummer duos...

That cover is great. Looks like the work of the wonderful trumpeter/cartoonist Mazen Kerbaj...

I've never listened to the record that started this thread!

Love Brotz with Waits, Moholo (tho no duo "exists"), Bennink, Perkins... not so much with Drake. Zerang is fine, especially on Tales out of Time.

Hope he gets to record a duo with Paal Nilssen-Love one day...

I am not a fan of Drake normally, but I think their duo works perfectly.

[ep1str0phy]

Don't forget Brotzmann and Ronald Shannon Jackson (which certainly popped up over the course of Last Exit's existence). It seems to force Brotz into a somewhat less liquid, "groovy" bag, but it certainly worked within the context of LE.

[Matthew]

I feel like getting back into that Funny Rat frame of mind. I notice that Jazz Loft has a HatHut Club -- is that a worthwhile deal, or just one of those "looks good but really isn't deals?" BTW, bought the Max Roach/Anthony Braxton duo recording last week -- WOW! but you guys knew that already.

[John B]

That cover is great. Looks like the work of the wonderful trumpeter/cartoonist Mazen Kerbaj...

I believe Kerbaj owns / runs the label this disc is on.

Derek Taylor has posted a positive, if not overly-enthusiastic, review of the Brotzmann / Zerang disc over at Dusted.

I'd be interested to hear a Brotzmann / Corsano duo. Or a Brotzmann playing with Flaherty and Corsano.

[Aggie87]

I haven't seen any mention of "Derek", the recent Derek Bailey/Cyro Baptista release on Amulet on the board, but I just picked it up last week, and am really enjoying it. Baptista is a good foil for Bailey on this recording. Worth checking out! I think it just got released in October.

Edited November 30, 2006 by Aggie87

[WD45]

New Brotzmann / Zerang live disc on a Lebanese label called Al Maslakh.

I haven't had the urge to listen to Brotz in a while but this one looks really tempting.

Looks like a good duo. I should pick up that BRO-B issue of '77 Brotz/Bennink, too. Hot off the presses!

Listening to that BRO-B disc at work right now! Weird coincidence!

I ordered Brotzmann / Zerang disc yesterday. I am pretty certain I am going to be wiretapped by the CIA, ordering from a label who's name is the Arabic term for "the slaughterhouse."

[David Ayers]

I haven't seen any mention of "Derek", the recent Derek Bailey/Cyro Baptista release on Amulet on the board, but I just picked it up last week, and am really enjoying it. Baptista is a good foil for Bailey on this recording. Worth checking out! I think it just got released in October.

I fancy this one, and the Brotzmann/Zerang, but haven't come across either listed over here yet.

[ep1str0phy]

I've seen that one all over the local stores. Now Bailey was a fine duet player...

On a related note, I just purchased the "unofficial" Material album Improvised Music New York 1981 featuring--get this--alongside Bill Laswell, John Zorn, and Charles K. Noyes, the nigh-holy triumvirate of Bailey, Fred Frith, and Sonny Sharrock. It's not quite the blowing affair it could be, but it's a wicked little surprise (and some nice quasi-EAI stuff).

[Д.Д.]

A 5-minute movie of Brötzmann/Bennink duo on the Eremite page.

Not bad, I say.

How is the Brötzmann/Bennink "total music meeting 1977" on brö (brö B)?

Edited December 3, 2006 by Д.Д.

[John B]

How is the Brötzmann/Bennink "total music meeting 1977" on brö (brö B)?

I ordered a copy from Eremite last week. I'll let you know what I think once I've had a chance to listen to it.

I recently received a copy of Topography of the Lungs. I agree with all of the praise that was posted regarding this disc. I can see how all of the hype might have been a bit overboard, based mainly on how rare this album was, but the music itself is very, very good.

I also got Evan Parker's second duo cd with Stan Tracey, "Crevulations," which I highly recommend. Parker and Tracey work really well together and I've found these two discs to contain some of Parker's most beautiful playing.

I'm still trying to find time for a second listen of the Evan Parker octet's new album "Crossing the River." On first listen I enjoyed it but I'll need more time to digest this one.