WD45

Ariel Shibolet - soprano sax fire

2007-03-08T08:42:00.000-06:00

Dig this three minute improvisation by Israeli soprano sax player Ariel Shibolet. Shades of Evan Parker's technique are certainly present, but there is something more assertive and firey in the message. Parker's soprano sax circular breathing expositions and improvisations have a more cerebral result. Shibolet sounds as if his bones are going to come through his skin.

Another delightful improvisation featuring Shibolet and bassist Damon Smith shows another facet of his skills.

At only 32, Shibolet looks like one to keep eyes on.

Anthony Braxton' s New Release Coming Soon

2007-03-07T14:39:00.000-06:00

Here is a delightful preview clip of the new Anthony Braxton release on Taylor Ho Bynum's Firehouse 12 Records.

Mr. Braxton seems to be surrounding himself with young players, all of which must be crack sight readers. Yow!

I saw him perform as the artist-in-residnece at the University of Wisconsin River Falls some years ago. There, too, he was surrounded by many young players. We met afterwords -- he asked if I played anything. I told him that I only played the records. He said, "Well, we are all musicians."

Peter Brötzmann at MN Sur Seine 2006

2006-10-16T21:01:00.000-05:00

What a night of music.

It was the second evening of the Minnesota Sur Seine Festival 2006. We were treated to two acts; first was the trio of Dominique Pifarely, from Paris, and Craig Taborn and Dave King of the Twin Cities. Taborn gained fame playing in James Carter's band for some time, and has recent garnered my devotion as a part of Tim Berne's groups. King has enjoyed wide press exposure with his involvement in the internationally-known piano trio The Bad Plus. Happy Apple, a sax / bass / drums trio from the Twin Cities occupies his time as well.

This gathering yielded much in the way of knotty improvisations. Taborn's piano stylings point to a varied approach; not just jazz, not just modern improvisation, not just classical. How refreshing to hear a pianist with wide open ears willing to take a lead or follow the group without cliche ridden licks dumbing down the proceedings. Pifarely's violin, played through three pedals and a 30-watt Peavy amp, showed the same informed thought process. Eschewing a hard, sawing aesthetic for more refined approach, Pifarely played quick figures and phrases, matching wits with Taborn.

Here is a clip of the group in a decidedly 20th Century mode:

King is a fine player, but a bit distracting at times, playing in affected manners. A couple of the tactics were beyond me -- at several times he would bear down on the floor tom drum head with his hand, making not discernable sound but creating a visual distraction from the proceedings. I think it was Chet Baker that said, "It takes a great drummer to be better than no drummer at all."

I do not have the same criticism of Mark Sanders. His playing in the grouping of German reed giant Peter Brötzmann and bassist Anthony Cox from the Twin Cities was marvelous. Unorthodox at times, most certainly, his playing in this context seemed to exhibit a total willingness to let the music come first. An impeccably tasteful player, Sanders is. His kit accoutrements added much to the discourse. A smallish drum and cymbal next to his rach tom were used often to great effect. His collection of bells and other percussion were employed in bold manners that offered logical ideas and soul.

Cox was a man of economic expression on this evening, favoring drone textures rather than copious amounts of busy figures that one might play in order to keep up with the torrent of notes put forth by Herr Brötzmann. He spent the evening playing a heavily mic'ed acoustic bass for a room-filling sound, especially when playing arco.

The pieces that this trio offered were really endless. Brötzmann would lay out at times to switch between instruments or to change reeds. He changed reeds on the clarinet and tenor at least once. As when I saw him last year, part of the way through the performance he stepped to side, produced a shockingly large folding pocketknife, and proceeded to whittle the reed to his specifications. How he gets that through customs I'll never know.

The first portion was performed with intensity right out of the gate, with Brötzmann on Tarogato. After the show, he told me that he bought the instrument in a Hungarian pawn shop many years ago. It was crafted in 1830 or 1840. Here is that first improvisation in its 8 minute entirety:

Improvistaions followed on clarinet and tenor. In discussing the other instruments, there were equally interesting stories to be had. His tenor is a King brand, which he now prefers over the Selmer Mark VI he played for 30 years. It has a silver neck which Brötzmann had "reinforced" to "stabilize" it. When one plays with the ferocity of this reed-whittling man, reinforcing the instrument comes as no surprise. [This can be seen in the photo to the right.] Also in the photo are the Tarogato and the clarinet. The clarinet was purchased for $100 in a Buffalo, NY pawn shop. His technician took the tarnished item and examined it, only to discover that it was crafted out of solid silver.

Here are clips of portions of two of the tenor improvisations. The first was possibly one of the most intense moments of the evening, and the second shows the band in a more subdued mode:

After the show, I spoke with Brötzmann about his upcoming endeavors. He is working with John Corbett on a compendium of his graphic designs that will cover the 40 years after the "Inexplicable Flyswatter" book of a few years ago. We look forward to that, for sure.

Tinariwen Live! 4/8/2006

2006-05-16T23:53:00.000-05:00

" Are you Touareg?" asks the tall thin gent behind me to another shorter man. He asked with enthusiasm, perhaps hoping to find some of his bretheren in the crowd. The accent was French-African. His appearance would lead one to believe that he himself was a transplant from the land of the Touareg [Northern Mali, Southern Algeria, etc.] A finely written background on the Touareg history and the birth of Tinariwen can be found here.

On stage, the familiar instrumentation was front and center. Guitar amps, a bass amp, and a seat clearly intended for the percussionist all sat atop a Persian rug. These amps and instruments were clearly American in origin: a Fender Tornado and an Epiphone Les Paul guitar, and the amps, a Fender Twin Reverb and a Roland give a hint at what is to come. Just as they take the instruments from American rock music and create their own language, they have done so with the acutal stylings of American rock music. This new style the band has pioneered is referred to simply as guitar. This is, in part, a nod to the defining feature of the music - guitars. If the guitars were replaced with koras, ngonis, or njarkas, it would be remarkably similar to some of the other music of Mali.

The music is not entirely Malian in descent - in the vocal melodic lines one can clearly hear the influence of Berber and Arab vocal inflections. Having listened to their two CD releases MANY times, this cross-pollination becomes more apparent. This is where the real music happens. When people of different traditions bring their histories to the table, and then view the recent cultural and musical happenings through that contextual lens, exciting things happen. Exciting things happend on this night for sure.

The band took the stage in their striking full-length wardrobe and face-covering scarfs. The textiles were a briliat white, with elaborate pattersn woven right in the cloth itself. The scarfs and head coverings were removed by almost all members as things heated up throughout the night. Most were in sandals, while the eldest wore black dress shoes and the bass player wore motorcycle boots. Again, another nod to the living musician, rather than the museum artifact or cultural curiosity; these people are real people. The music, on the other hand was unreal.

The first few songs were with an amplified acoustic guitar. While as many guitars on stage as those that could play them, only two played simultaneously during each song. One guitarist, the one closest to us, played rhythm guitar all night long. About 95% of his playing was a variation of a power chord; the 'A' string would be played with the thumb, followed closely by a quickly muted strum of the rest of the strings. This technique filled out the sound, kept rhythm, and most interestingly, turned the guitar into a percussion instrument. This phenomenon of using a traditionally melodic and chordal instrument as percussion can be observed in a numerous instances in West African music.

When one of the other men played lead guitar, they also sang. In each song there was a lead vocal part as well as a section for the rest of the group to join in chorus to drive everyone further into ecstasy. After the first 3 or 4 songs with the acoustic guitar in the lead were finished, the rest of the band took turns donning guitars and singing. Along with the wailing Fender Tornado mentioned above, the other lead electric guitar was a strikingly modern/retro Danelectro purple axe. It looked great, but the sound did not match the bite of the Tornado. One of the players even got this guitar to sound like a pedal steel guitar, just from the way he played!

Each tune followed a similar arc: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, insane blazing solo, verse, chorus. The voices were beautifully rich, and in the upper levels of their natural range, revealing the Northern African / Arabic influences. The single variation was a rap in French that one of the member had put together. The studio version of this tune, is on their most recent album, Amassakoul. The crowd went nuts for his smooth and convincing delivery. Look out Jay-Z!

The percussionist played a single hand drum similar to a doumbek for the entire evening. The rhythms were in 4/4 and 5/4 from what I could surmise, and all were comfortable with it. Never have I been at a concert where I was to be so enraptured by the rhythm -- while clapping along, I found myself nearly in a trance, with goosebumps. Several times. Amazing.

Totally Sweet Custom Guitar Nut

2006-04-14T09:19:00.000-05:00

After watching a fab DVD from Netflix titled African Guitar I was compelled to pull my own guitar off of the wall. I put the capo on the sixth fret and played for a while as I sat on the deck. Lovely. That is until I took the capo off. Snap. I busted the nut.

Being the preiswert guy that I am, rather than paying some professional to repair it, I thought I might be able to do it myself. I took a piece of the miraculous DuPont Corian material, and began shaping it into a new nut with the rotary tool laying right behind the vise.

I then marked the string spacing.

I used the wife's jeweler's files to do the fine cutting.

Details of the files and other tools.

Detail of the finished product, next to the old broken one.

After much sanding and finish-fitting, and then final adjustment, the new nut looks just like the old. But not broken. I win this round, guitar.

Gary Bartz played like a motherfu**er.

2006-04-11T21:14:00.000-05:00

Miles Davis The Cellar Door Sessions 1970

I know that this was Miles' band, and I know that Jack DeJohnette [drums] is a mother on this set, too, but man, Gary Bartz [alto & soprano sax]. Shit. Airto adds depth to the scene with his perscussion, and Michael Henderson [bass] ALWAYS lays the shit down. Keith Jarrett is nothing like his current self on this set. John McLaughlin sits in for two nights to lay some solos down and add to the fire Gary Bartz. Heavy.

This six-disc release has been a long time coming to Miles Davis fans. We all knew parts of it, as portions of these dates were edited together with some studio material to make the stone cold killer Live Evil 2LP set. Recorded at the Cellar Door club in Washington DC, these three nights give us a window into Miles' brain at the time. This band was as heavy and as hard as any he would put together, with the 1973-'75 band coming in as a close second.

The reason I focus on Bartz is because of my relative lack of experience in listening to his playing. I have heard a little of the NTU Troop material, but nothing was to prepare me for this. Certain players can hang behind the beat just enough to give such a heavy swing feel that it gives me a rush. Bartz is one of those players. To better that, he plays these solid blue-without-being-blues phrases that send me into fits. Backed by that killer band, the funk is so heavy I almost can't listen via headphones as I walk to work.

What must it have been like to be there? Get this set, and get the second best thing. Sony/BMG's music club www.yourmusic.com has this set for $35.94. Go there, sign up, and buy it already.

Tags: Miles Davis Cellar Door jazz

Jackie Mclean RIP

2006-04-04T23:23:00.000-05:00

The fantastic Jackie Mclean died last week at the age of 73. I can't let his passing go unnoticed. Jackie is my favorite alto sax player -- as with all of the greats, the ideas behind the axe are what makes the musician. Jackie had this sharp intonation on the horn that set him apart in seconds upon hearing of four notes. He used that tone to great effect; it lent a sense of urgency to his uptempo work, and kept his ballad readings from becoming overly sentimental or syrupy.

He was able to mix a total command of the bop language with an ear for the New Thing players of the day, including Ornette Coleman. They played together on the album featured above. This was one of Ornette's very rare sideman appearances. One might conclude that Coleman regarded Jackie so much as to play on his record. Quite a compliment.

I will treasure all of his mid-1960s recordings on the Blue Note label, with that piercing tone giving a gospel shout, a impassioned call for justice, or a tender sentiment. At least we will have them to remember the great Jackie Mac.

B.G. "Move Around"

2006-03-26T14:58:00.000-06:00

I saw this video on the MTV Jams channel. B.G., a.k.a. B. Gizzle is one of the crafters of a distinct style of hip-hop specific to New Orleans.

Whilst cleaving to the standard hip-hop tropes of bling, sex and power, B.G. and producer Mannie Fresh have also noted and seamlessly integrated the flooding that occured as a result of hurricane Katrina. Note these sample verses:

I'm representin the blocks from the east to the west (west)
It ain't no secret, down south is the shit (down south)
Yeah, New Orleans gone, yeah, New Orleans fucked (fucked)
But wherever we go you gotta deal wit us (deal wit it)

It is also noted more explicitly in the next verse:

We gon have the rap game back on lock (on lock)
I'm a real "G", career ain't near over
Got flooded, still representin VL and Magnolia (VL)
Still represent the whole New Orleans

The video itself contains footage of some of the aftermath of some of the hardest hit areas.

Again, hip-hop proves to be a chronicle of the times.

Dark Holler: Old Love Songs and Ballads

2005-12-28T21:55:00.000-06:00

This is spine chilling stuff. These a capella songs existed before, and were an integral part of what was to become Bill Monroe's bluegrass sound. Some of the cadences carried through, and the tonalities of the voices. The songs themselves vary in topic, some tragic, some humorous. Some will make your heart ache, others will have you slapping your knee in fits of laughter.

I have a soft spot for the more raw products of this region, and it doesn't get much more stripped down than this.

Folkways does it again with a superior reissue.

Derek Bailey, RIP

2005-12-27T10:13:00.000-06:00

Guitarist / visionary / humorist Derek Bailey died on Christmas Day.

It is with heavy heart that I write this today, as selfishly, I was never able to see this master at work in person. The world is minus one great mind once again. Mr. Bailey's innovations on records are one of the things that truly changed the way that I hear music.

The rig is now complete.

2005-12-26T21:44:00.000-06:00

Gratuitous gear post:

New and blue all-tube class-A Epiphone Galaxie 10 amp, and a Danelectro FAB distortion pedal. Oh, does it sound fine!

Dandy Warhols live 12-7-2005!

2005-12-09T09:45:00.000-06:00

This was a killer show.

More weed was smoked around me than when I went to the Wailers concert earlier this year. I could taste it when I left. Geez.

Courtney Taylor Taylor stuck to playing his hollow-body Fender guitar, whilst the other guitar slinger in the band switched between each song. He had all sorts of things - a Fender Jaguar, Gibson SG, etc. Zia McCabe [the hot key-bass and tabourine / maraca player] stood right in front of us, shaking the instruments.

I was quite surprised how many of the tunes I knew. I am quite familiar with their album from the late 90s that featured thier big hit "Not if you were the last junkie on earth"; they played a few tunes from that one included the somewhat obligatory "Minnesoter." Love that one.

Over two hours they played. That seems like a marathon for a non-jam band. Two thumbs up.

Race and Class: Hip-Hop

2005-12-07T13:13:00.000-06:00

The ever-fabulous Open Source from PRI radio show / podcast / blog is soon to feature an episode on 12/12 about race, class, and hip-hop. It should prove to be interesting.

Here's to hoping they don't get Stanley Crouch as a guest...

Pandora will steal your time.

2005-11-28T20:25:00.000-06:00

This is cool.

I don't know how deep their resources are, but it is still cool.

http://www.pandora.com/

Type in an artist, and they will play songs of people that have been pre-determined to have an affinity with that artist. You can vote thumbs up or down, and the music will be suited to that in your future use of the site.

I typed in The Stooges and they played the Moistboyz' "I Don't Give a Fuck Where the Eagle Flies," the antithesis of John "I am afraid of cats" Ashcroft's "Let the Mighty Eagle Soar." They get props for that.

US Postal Service Mishandles My CD

2005-11-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

Geez...

Peter Brötzmann / Nasheet Waits live! 10-14-2005

2005-10-14T22:30:00.000-05:00

So I walk in about 30 minutes before the gig was to go down. No problem, I think. Excpet for the fact that I walk in hearing the two men featured in tonight's performance warming up and setting levels for the taping of the show. As there was no green room at the venue, all they could do was warm up the chops behind a heavy felt curtain. I must say that this was quite revealing. Brötzmann worked his way through all of his horns. He was on the tenor when I started recognizing licks. One in particular sticks in my mind -- Brötzmann worked with a five note riff that is Sonny Rollins' "Blessing in Disguise" from the East Broadway Rundown album on Impulse! An interesting confirmation of his admiration for Rollins in that. My ears perked up right away. He played it pretty straight to start, and made that heavy-ass burr in his tone do all of the work. I knew I was to be in for a treat this night.

Waits spent some time tuning the head on the floor tom on the borrowed and bizarrely aqua colored drum kit. [He was rockin' a Bonham-style set-up as well.] Waits looks like Ice-T without the longish hair.

Both men left the stage and one chap remained, gaffe taping a cord to a mic stand. It was Michael Ehlers, the man behined the fabulous improv documenting label Eremite Records. I talked with him for a moment, and he said that they were taping all of the performances of the tour. This night was the last night, and each was to venture to their next journey-point, as this short-lived duo had come to a conclusion. I have heard from other people that visited with Ehlers at other points in the tour that they will almost certainly be releasing a recording from the tour.

After a few short announcements from the event coordinator they took the stage. She made the observation that it was interesting to have Brötzmann again playing at an art school, as he started his journey at an art school in the 60's. Brötzmann plays with the same fire you hear on those first recordings from the 60's -- he started on what was to be the first of four pieces of the evening on alto sax. To engage in cliché, they came out with guns blazing. They wasted no time digging right into the intensity bag. Having not seen the man play a horn in person, I was intrigued to see how he works the sounds out of the axes. The whole of his upper body seemed to be involved, not just the muscles in what must be an Olympic strongman-level embouchure. Part of his vibrato comes from shaking his head most vigorously from side-to-side, all while maintaining a consistnecy of tone. This is not a gentle motion; I was alarmed to see it in person, at first.

The melodic lines he creates must take an immense amout of thought. [It was difficult enough for me to keep up, to comprehend it all, and I was merely listening.] As with many horn players, Brötzmann's language is shaped in large part by what his body is capable of doing. His enormous lung capacity allows him to create phrases and lines with the volume and instensity that would fall to pieces in the hands of others. Not that hard and loud is the only arrow in the quiver; rather, it is part of the dialect. It is what makes his playing so appealing. We would find out later in the performance that he can summon the same level of expressiveness at pianissimo and quieter!

The second piece on bass clarinet started out very quietly and solo. Soon the notes were surging forth at great volume, especially considering it was a clarinet. This piece was more dynamic than the previous. He made great use of multiphonics as introduced by vocalizing throught the horn. Huge decending wails filled the room, joined soon by Waits' percussion.

Waits was much more than someone that is able to "keep up" with Brötzmann. To engage once again in cliché, this unit is greater than the sum of its parts. Absent was the copycat syndrome that is the poison of the duo format [where one player phrases, and the other repeats ad nauseum]. The dynamism of Waits' approach, and his ability to absorb the entirety of the conversation while organically adding to it made this more of an event than I would have ever hoped.

You will not be snapping a finger to these rhythms, but there was more than just an implication of rhythm. I would compare it to another player Brötzmann has worked with in recent years, Mr. Hamid Drake. Drake can swing as well as Waits, but the gear they engage in when in situations like this has that implicit groove. Very, ancient? In the third piece, with Brötzmann on tenor, this was more apparent as Waits started playing in this mode, but it morphed into a more explicit rhythm, quite nearly a ferocious swing. It was present for a few moments, and drifted away again.

Waits left the stage, and Brötzmann picked up the tenor. He launched into a truly frightening blast of scorched earth saxophonics that I was nowhere near prepared for. The sound his tenor makes when recorded on tape is at least somewhat misrepresentative. In person, that snarling, robust and wooly tone is larger than life. The intensity would lead the listener to believe that the reed is teetering on the edge of being blown into 100 splinters. He uses natural reeds, unlike one of his great influences Albert Ayler. Ayler, too, had that gravity of tine, but used plastic reeds. Brötzmann's reeds only fared so well. At a couple of points when he laid out to give the drummer some, he produced an alarmingly sizable folding pocket knife to whittle on them. This was new to me.

Waits joined Brötzmann on stage and was to reach his apex of the evening. He pulled more creativity and turned more inventive phrases out on a limited kit than any lesser could muster on a kit twice it's size.

The fourth and final piece featured a metal Bb clarinet. There would be no tarogato played tonight. This clarinet was again featured alone in the piece's introduction. Brötzmann once again showed the audience of about 125 people his abilities beyond that of being merely another firebreather. His fleet and facility on the clarinet were best demonstrated in the pianissimo and quiter passages. These were no schoolboy exercises performed under the guise of improvisation. These were witty and soulful thoughts poured forth on the last evening of a tour featuring an established legend, and quite possibly, another in the making.

View the Flickr photoset from my camera-phone here.

Daniel Lanois and Tortoise live! 10-13-2005

2005-10-14T22:27:00.000-05:00

What an interesting idea. Pair one group that makes albums that sound like soundtracks with a guy that actually creates soundtracks, and viola! An evening filled with music that sounded like soundtracks.

I have had a long-standing and well-documented preference for instrumental music. It can be traced back to the B-side of an Andy Taylor 45 in my youth. Some disposable rock-ish A-side from a movie did not stick with me. It was that solo instrumental voice, that freedom from the task of ascribing meaning to or interpreting lyrics. Music as sound.

Soundtrack music has appealed to me for some of the same superficial reasons that jazz holds my interest so completely. The mood set by soundtrack music [per its intentions] was often more profound that the music with words, to these ears. Due, in large part, as a result of the pop/rock of the day that filled my listening time in comparison to the more literate lyric-ed music that DOES hold my attention.

Putting two of these together gets us to another personal milestone: Lily was Here. This was a film whose soundtrack produced a sizable hit as played by Dave Stewart and Candy Dulfer. Soundtrack music and jazz. Instrumental. Moody. Solos. Big, adult sized impact on my 6th & 7th grade ears.

Then there were dad's Pink Floyd tapes.

All of that leads to the non-jaz soundtrack music to which I am professing a fondness. Granted, not all of the music I place in this category even has a movie. It gives me the rare chance to roll out the cliché of "soundtrack music without a movie." I think I'll go with that.

FF>> to 10-12-05 at the Fine Line Music Café in Minneapolis. Chicago's favorite sons Tortoise opened for Daniel Lanois, who was, paradoxically, backed by members of Tortoise.

The set-up on stage is present as it was when I saw them a couple of years ago at First Ave: two 'classic Bonham' drum kits, one real vibraphone and one MIDI, four amps for the two basses and two guitars, and a set of keyboards. They hit the stage with the opening salvo to which I can only refer to as "the first song on side A or B on the Standards LP." [Being the cleverly obfuscatious cats they are, you are only able to determine which side of the LP is which via the the suffix of the matrix number stamped in the dead wax. The song titles themselves are equally enigmatic.] This piece on LP and live reminds me, in its first section, of some heavy Sun Ra thing, with everyone playing a crashing, caucaphonus rubato melody. It settles into a groove after a while.

They do that groove well. It is no JB's or Meters' groove; more of a krautrock / motorik via dub groove. It is a groove nonetheless. I ain't complainin'.

They played half of the set with tunes I am not familiar with, and the other half I am familiar with but only able to reference as 'side A or B, cut 1' and 'side A or B, cut two.' Coincidentally, these are all of the cuts I love from that LP.

Being a jazz-o-phile, I am no stranger to the term 'multi-instrumenalist.' Tenor players double on flute or clarinet, drummers are vibraphone players, etc. These cats, however, acted like the concert was a game of musical chairs. Everyone doubled if not tripled. Everyone played some percussion. To invoke the name of Sun Ra again, a relevant quote came to mind -- on the back of the Space is the Place CD reissue, this quixotic gem appears: "As all Marines are riflemen, all members of the Arkestra are percussionists." Hmm...

Sometimes the two drummers played together [no easy feat, done properly]. Other times one could see that there were two bass players operating within the same song. It makes for some interesting possibilities, some of which they mined that night.

Daniel Lanois came out to the stage after a brief intermission. The guitar player / producer extraordinaire was backed in performance from anywhere between 0 and all of the Tortoise collective. His set was more of the moody textural business heard on his real soundtracks and soundtrack like albums. His gear consisted of a gold Les Paul, an old pedal steel, a Vox 2x12 combo amp, and a set of effects pedals. Perhaps most interesting was his final piece of equipment -- an octave of bass pedals as you would see under an organ. These were the bottom-most octave, as when he played, the sound was felt as much as heard -- a neat effect for this kind of music.

The man plays without a pick. He does some traditional fingerstyle picking in addition to picking up and down with the thumb and finger respectively. He did the thing with his so vigourously as to open a wound on it, causing blood to show up on various parts of the Les Paul. Not a serious wound, but enough for people to notice it form the front. He used no fingerpicks on the pedal steel, either.

Speaking of the pedal steel, it was a delight to see the device played in such close proximity. I stood there trying to figure out the relationship between the pedals and harmonic shifts. No luck. Great sound on it through the Vox and volume pedal. One of the highlights of the new album Belladonna, is the track titled "Frozen." It was done in a trio live, as on record. It's a great little moody dub-flavored thing. This was where I first noticed how nervous the Tortoise folk were in playing with Lanois. They were loose in there own, well rehearsed set, but when playing these arrangements [which Lanois said were largely created on the go] they seemed at least more ... alert to the whole of the situation. During "Frozen," as Lanois was making the pedal steel sing with the bar in his left hand, he motioned to the drummer [who was watching him like Count Basie was watched] to 'give him more.' Herndon the drummer obliged, turned up the heat, and prodded everyone to take the tune to a higher level. That was the story of the evening.

Lanois send the band packing for a couple of solo interludes and some songs. In fine voice, he sang songs of his that folks called out. Very nice.

So there it is. We have complicated the conundrum / cliché of the "soundtrack without a movie" by having it performed live. All the better, I say.

View the Flickr photoset from my camera-phone here.

Peter Brötzmann is coming to Minneapolis

2005-09-18T17:38:00.000-05:00

A man with an approach to Adolphe Sax's instruments that garnered him the nickname "Machine Gun" is coming to peel the paint off of the walls at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design [MCAD] on October 13th, 2005.

This firebrand of free jazz will be in duo with the fabulous drummer Nasheet Waits. That name may be familiar to some, as he is not only an accomplished musician and sideman himself, but the son of drummer Freddie Waits. The elder Waits appeared on several Blue Note dates with Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner, and others. Nasheet himself has taken up playing with Andrew Hill on some of his most recent recordings, and also on the acclaimed Jason Moran's Blue Note recordings of recent.

Should you not know of Herr Brötzmann, know this: he has been making recordings since the late 1960s in his own highly original sound. Having been a part of the Fluxus movement, his music drew upon a deconstructionism and strong political statement. His tone and lexicon on his instruments is immediately identifiable -- the volume of his sound and tone are bigger than life. At times, you might be convinced the reed is about to splinter into nothingness. The closest classic tenor player you might identify him with would be Albert Ayler, but with less vibrato and more "wooliness" in the tone. He has a fleet on the b flat clarinet that is more agile than his tenor conversation. That may be due to the instrument itself. Speaking of instruments, the third instrument in his artillery, the taragato [a hungarian free reed instrument reminiscent of the b flat clarinet with a more pronounced bell flare], is rare in the jazz world. Brötzmann has also been known to pick up the bass clarinet in performance to great effect as well. His tone on it is akin to his approach on tenor sax -- a broad and wooly tone.

The list of innovative recordings and luminous sidemen [Don Cherry, Sonny Sharrock, Peter Kowald, Johnny Dyani, Han Bennink, et al.] are a testament to the originality of his artistic vision. There have been people with a sound as large, but without the unwavering and pure vision he has poured forth. Though clearly an admirer of Albert Ayler, his music suggests a less blues influenced and more uniquely European post-WWII aesthetic.

His art is not limited to targato, tenor sax, and clarinet improvisations; it extends into another completely original expression in the art gallery. Many of his graphic designs have adorned album sleeves. Just as his compatriot artist/drummer/prankster Han Bennink has an undeniable originality, so do Brötzmann's visual arts. A single blocky font and woodcut-like silhouettes serve as the building blocks for his stark lithographs and paintings. A compendium of his works was released to coincide with gallery showings of some of the items in 2003: The Inexplicable Flyswatter.

I am looking to arrange an interview with the legend himself, for possible syndication, or a possible podcast you will see on this site. We shall see.

SOLD OUT-Grateful Dead "Fillmore West 1969-The Complete Recordings"-SOLD OUT

2005-09-08T21:52:00.000-05:00

That's right. This set is sold out. If you are trigger shy like me then you missed out before it was even available in stores. 10,000 copies sold out in pre-order. 10,000.

The Grateful Dead's "Fillmore West 1969-The Complete Recordings" was a holy grail of sorts for those fans of the Dead in their era mating the wild psychedelic workouts like Dark Star with their newfound songwriting skills. The seminal album "Live / Dead" was culled from concerts represented in this set, from four shows in late Feb and early March 1969.

I emailed customer service and pleaded with them over the phone. They will be releasing a three-disc distillation of this set this fall, but I was looking forward to hearing what was the building blocks of one of my favorite albums of all time -- the aforementioned "Live / Dead."

Here was my plea:

Hello,

I am more than sad about hearing the news that this set has sold out.I tried placing a pre-Order last Friday, but I was unable to get through on the telephone, for some unknown reason.

Is there any chance of getting in on a after-the-fact order? Given the speed at which this sold out, will this be issued again in a non-limited edition? It seems that enough people were clammoring for the release that it would have sold well on the market.

I think that issuing this set on a non-limited basis would be more consistent with the spirit of sharing the music that the Grateful Dead so long championed. I know tapes of this music are around, but only issuing it to a select 10,000 people in superior HDCD fidelity breaks my heart. I am not involved in the trader / taper community; I have been relying on Dick's Picks and related legit releases for all of my live Dead releases. Please don't disappoint by capping this set at 10,000!

In closing, I must say that the first Dead I ever heard was Live/Dead. It changed my life. Really. I was looking forward to the opportunity to hear the whole shows behind what was a seminal point in my music listening life. Please help!

Desperate Deadhead,
wd45

Maybe I can sell a kidney and buy it on eBay when one of those speculators sells. Damn.

Allman Brothers Band - live! 8-12-05

2005-08-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

Trouble No More
Ain't Wastin' Time No More
Midnight Rider
Hot 'Lanta *
(Call It) Stormy Monday
You Don't Love Me*
Dimples (Vocals: Jack Pearson)
Stand Back
Feel So Bad *
Leave My Blues At Home
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed *
One Way Out *
Encore: No One To Run With

* Ron Holloway, sax

We showed up in at the venue much earlier, as we stayed at the casino just a walk away. I had an opportunity to chat with some folks before the show, including a taper that had been setting up his rig. [I had seen this guy around the Twin Cities before.] He informed me that Warren Haynes was off for the night. Jack Pearson was the guy that would fill Warren's spot on this show. He went on further to explain that the "Instant Live" thing [getting CDs of the show right afterwards] was not happening, perhaps as a result. I asked a soundman later, and it turns out that they would have everything set up for the second night of this leg of the tour. Damn!

They hit the stage right at about 8pm. Right off of the bat, they came out with guns blazing. It was a varied setlist, with some items not worn pages out of the ABB setlist book. They dedicated "Feel So Bad" to LIttle Milton, who recently passed. This was one of the five songs of the evening to feature solos from seasoned jazz tenor sax player Ron Holloway. Ron's solos sound as if he is a veteran member. With a hard tone reminiscent of Trane, and a command of the entire range of the horn, the solos were stories and songs all by themselves.

Jack Pearson was something else. It is funny, he not only looks like Frank Zappa with shorter hair, but he also holds a guitar a bit like Zappa did. JP's chops were huge, and very wide-ranging. Throughout the evening, his solos were wide of dynamic and intense in tone. His black marble-finished strat was just slightly overdriven, moreso at times when he needed a bit more horsepower to cut through the ensemble. Octaves and string bends were some of his weapons, as well as a fleet on the neck that I have not yet witnessed elsewhere. He looked like he was having a great time back up on stage with the band. It turns out he will share the stage for the first week.

Oteil Burbridge, bass, stuck to the Fender jazz bass all night long. He had his six-string behind him, but never once picked it up. Certainly he was to pick it up after the Drums part of the evening, I thought, but he did not. I am gald he did not let the more-stringed instrument cloud his musical judgement. He was on on on.

The band was feeling unusually verbose when it came to solos this night; they came off feeling more jazz-oriented than before. Perhaps it was JP's stylings, or the prescence of Holloway -- whatever the reason we were in for a treat. This was especially evident in what I consider the evening's highlight: "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." Everyone was nice and loose, and things were going well. Derek Trucks, Gibson SG in hand, took the first solo [if I recall].

His soloing thus far was quite good, but maybe not up to the level of his recent performances with the band. I chalk it up to his inexperience of a playing environment with JP. Many times throughout the night, JP tried to engage Trucks into a "trading phrases" thing, and to these ears, it was not the thing to do. Trucks solos to his fullest when allowed room to breathe. He can summon the most delightful things when given a sympathetic rhythm section and sidemen that know how to comp well. It would be like trading licks with Trane in the middle of My Favorite Things. Trucks puts together solos with a specific trajectory in mind, and it felt like JP wasn't letting it flow.

Anyway, back to that first solo in "In Memory of..." -- Trucks started with a bit more volume than I am accustomed to. I think he may have been anticipating another round of sparring with JP, but this time only he comped in the background. [Superb comping, BTW. Inventive, yet not overpowering or distracting.] He started by playing without slide. This guy gets better and better with each performance. He worked up to a fever pitch and threw on the slide and proceeded to bring the house down. My hairs were on end. The whole band was into it too, taking up the energy in their backing to match Trucks'. When his solo was over the crowd went nuts. It is amazing what happens when he gets into the zone. He has a vocabulary all his own, and he makes it fit in with the band.

The closer of the evening, "No One to Run With" was quite nice, especially with the visuals of Allen Woody and Duane being shown in the background. It was a bit eerie to see the image of Duane super-imposed over Trucks playing slide guitar...

Ornette Coleman Quartet - live! 4-22-2005

2005-04-24T19:18:00.000-05:00

Before the concert, I listened to Ornette's Columbia Records album Science Fiction to get energized. Upon entering, I discovered a hefty crowd of people. More than I thought I ever would. The ratio of men to women was somewhat off balance, noted Dave King, drummer of The Bad Plus, as we stood in line at the men's room. He said "We should have had a tailgating party." I would have been down for that. Why don't we do that at jazz concerts?

It is interesting to note how the two bass players navigated what could have been a muddied aural situation. Falanga played arco for almost the entire show, putting down the bow to play pizzi but a couple of times. In that regard, he reminded me of David Izenzon. Not just because he was playing arco, but the contributions were similar -- he was able to play in the 'cello range high enough to stay out of the way of Greg Cohen, the other bass player that was walking most of the time. Falanga has some astounding ideas. I cannot believe this is the first time I have heard of the guy. By staying in the range above Cohen's walking basslines and below Ornette's arsenal, He was able to make the ensemble sound quite rich.

Flanaga was a very kind man; when I spoke with him afterwords, I thanked him for a great performance [which sometimes I think would be tiresome to hear night after night]. He replied with the deepest sincerity, "Thank you for being a part of it."

I haven't heard a great deal of Denardo Coleman's playing. My only point of reference comes from two recordings: The Empty Foxhole and Ornette at 12 performed at ages 10 and 12 respectively. He is not out of the metronome school of playing, nor the Buddy Rich chops monster school. His more relaxed approach to rhythm was befitting of the concept at hand. I'll just say that Dave Weckl would have been out of place. Stylistically, his playing reminded me of Sunny Murray. Ambitious, but not over-the-top.

I am terrible with song titles, and I know only that the last tune was "Song X" and the encore was "Lonely Woman." Many of the melodies were familar, or perhaps almost familiar, knowing some of his musical devices. Very little was said. He thanked the crowd for coming out, and said how grateful he was for the musical happening the night before when several ensembles got together to play the music of Ornette Coleman.

Some of the most interesting moments were when they came together as a string trio. Cohen did pick up the bow for one portion. Ornette has both an unusual musical vocabulary on the violin and an unusual physical manner of dealing with the instrument. If I recall, he was playing left-handed on a right-handed instrument. To these ears, his string chops are in quite great shape. [Having spent more time with recordings of African and Middle-Eastern violin players than Western "classical" players.]

He spent more time on the violin than he did on the other secondary instrument, the trumpet. His chops here were also in decent shape. It did not sound as if he was struggling to get the notes he wanted to pass from him and through the instrument. When the secondary instruments were called upon, it was always after starting the tune on his white plastic alto.

And that alto is as strong as ever. The ideas, volume and speed Ornette still gets from his main axe on those breakneck portions of some of the tunes belie this giant's age, as celebrated that night: 75 years.

That same visceral blues energy was somewhat in contrast to the gentle handshake and paper-thin skin of the man in person. I was lucky enought to make it backstage to meet one of my heroes. Smartly dressed in a pale blue suite and colorful shirt, topped with a pork-pie hat and moustache, Ornette was ever the gentleman.

He asked if played an instrument, and I said "No sir, I just play records." He responds, "Well, you can sure do both." It was as if he was telling me what to do. I think it is great advice. I'll take it.

Alice Coltrane - Translinear Light

2005-03-31T20:21:00.000-06:00

The Impulse! record label in the early and mid-1970s was home to a few jazz musicians interested in spiritual sounds. The output varied greatly, from the free-jazz blowouts of Sun Ra and reedsmen Albert Ayler and John Coltrane [posthumously released recordings], to the more tranquil African- and Asian-influenced explorations of Pharoah Sanders and Alice Coltrane. As the years have passed the label has become more mainstream, in contrast to those halcyon days of side-long tenor sax flights and searching meditative psalms.

However, the latest release from Alice Coltrane has brought it all full circle. When she was the pianist in husband John Coltrane's band, the recordings captured an even greater push away from standards, and towards the more searching and spiritual tunes that John penned. While those interpretations were often dizzyingly intense, polytonal and dissonant, Ms. Coltrane's interpretation of those same tunes as well as her original material recorded in the decade after John's death were often much more tranquil. Ms. Coltrane left the jazz world at the end of the 1970s to focus on the spiritual path that those recordings hinted at.

Having been out of the public eye for the most part of 20 years hasn't had a deletorius effect on Ms. Coltrane's music. This recording, "Translinear Light" seems to pick up where she left off.

The first statement sets the tone for the recording. The Wurlitzer organ she again uses on several of the tunes has a tone that will sound odd to many seasoned jazz listeners. Some of the pitch bends made me wonder if she was communicating with Sun Ra's spirit...

A reading of the old spiritual "Walk with Me" starts with Ms. Coltrane's huge Godspelized chords. The other players in this trio, James Genus on bass and Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums have no trouble in following her in and out of conventional rhythms.

"Translinear Light" is the first cut to feature Ms. Coltrane's son, Ravi Coltrane, on soprano sax. The mother / child duo introduce the tune for the first couple of minutes, with the ringing tones of the piano sustaining into eternity. When she hits these full, right-hand mid register chords, anchoring them with a crashing left hand you would think the earth would open up right in front of you.

Ravi's reading of his mother's tune "Jagadishwar" is arresting. The straight synthesizer backing takes some getting used to, but Ravi is most certainly pouring forth with ideas -- so much so that you start to froget that the synth instrument is the same one that ruined so many other jazz dates in the 1980s.

One of the highest points on this record is the reading of "This Train." Bassist Charlie Haden and percussionist Jack DeJohnette set up an undeniable groove for Ms. Coltrane's outerspaceways take on the old spritiual. This is no standard read, by any measure. Her approach to the Wurlitzer stands in contrast to her pianistic approach. This instrument is played like a sax, with the emphasis on the melodic line, rather than in harmonic movement. Apparently, she reserves all of that for the VERY full voicings she pulls from the acoustic piano.

The synth comes out again to accompany Ms. Coltrane's other reed-playing son, Oran Coltrane. That artificial tone is more distracting in this case, but still not enough to drown out that joyous and airy alto sax.

Genus & Tain set up a groove reminiscent of those seeking, spiritual records the Impulse! label was host to in the 70s. The bass vamps and very subltle harmonic movement [almost static, really] recall not only Ms. Coltrane's early 70s works, but also references some of John Coltrane's experiments with Middle-Eastern tonalities and forms in the early sixties. [Starting perhaps with the famous quartet's take on "My Favorite Things."]

Two John Coltrane penned tunes follow, one that was on the 1963 album of the same name, "Crescent," and the other that was first recorded in 1966 after Ms. Coltrane joined the band, "Leo." Her unique harmonic conception on piano is in full bloom on "Crescent;" the Wurlitzer and free drumming of DeJohnette show that at age 67, Ms. Coltrane is full of fire!

A positively gorgeous duo with piano and Haden's bass create the other high point on this album. Her wide dynamic range and the clipping of some runs while letting others ring out give Haden a great deal of room for his own singular phrasing, tone, and thoughts.

The closing number is a unique insight into what has kept her busy since leaving the jazz world. Her own Sai Anantam Singers on percussion an vocals, plus her organ playing make this an uplifting and entrancing bit of album punctuation. It fades out at the end, leaving one with the impression that the tune, and by extension, Alice Coltrane's music, will go on forever.

Motorhead live!

2005-03-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

Metal Jerry would have been proud.

Metal Jerry is a guy that used to frequent Co-Op Records, the little indie record shop I worked at for several years. He was what I consider to be the quintessential heavy metal fan -- it is ALL about the music to him. He would come to the store with his little rough Satan-goatee, leather jacket and black heavy metal t-shirts and order up some of the most obscure, scary cover-having, unpronouncablely-named shit you can imagine. If it was a good day, you might get to see the tattoo on his arm. Homemade for sure, its tattoo-blue letters about 1" high said simply one thing in a totally in-ornate script: METAL. Below it was an upside-down cross. That pretty well sums up the attitude.

I must say that the crowd was just as I thought they would be. Hardcore heavy-metal fans. Beards, black metal band t-shirts, leather jackets. No poseurs that I could see. 95% males. A few homemade tattoos on arms and you get the picture.

There were three opening bands. The first of which was Slunt, a NY based 4 piece with two ladies. They indeed rocked hard and pleased me greatly with a cover of Romeo Void's "Never Say Never." [Memories of rewinding my family's dubbed copy of the movie "Reckless" to hear that song over and over came back to me all at once.] The guitars were Gibson SGs, so a favorable nod is definitely in order. Apparently the orginal bass player quit -- the new player, Ilse, had been in the band for all of two weeks. I bought thier EP.

Then there was Zeke, a thrash-metal band of a certain intensity; they did a Minor Threat cover and generally tore shit up.

Corrosion of Conformity followed--their new vocalist kinda sucked. I used to be a big COC fan, but this new dude just makes them like every other second-rate Sabbath-wanabees.

Some other bands were playing in the 7th Street Entry, so I was able to escape the main-stage pain to see the Twin City Howlers. I know a guy in the band, and they kicked a great bit more ass than COC could think of doing. Stripped down 4 on the floor rock. Loved it.

I went back into the First Ave mainroom and in about two minutes Motorhead came on and taught everyone a fucking lesson. It was a sight to behold. Mikkey Dee, the drummer had some serious rock chops for sure. At one point Lemmy says to the audience "This is from our new album. Have any of you bought it?" Shouts from the audience were affirmative, but Lemmy says "Well, not fucking enough of you have. Go and fucking steal it, I don't care. I just want you to hear the music."

They played "Love You Like a Reptile" and "Fast and Loose" from the renowned "Ace of Spades" album, plus the crowd pleaser of "Ramones." Many other tunes that I am not familiar with were pounded out with a steeled rock fury that had to be witnessed to be believed. When Lemmy indicated that it was their last song, the crowd booed; he responded by saying, "Well, it isn't really the last song. We will leave the stage and you will make a bunch of noise and we will come back and play some more, alright?"

The three tune encore opened with Mikkey Dee joining the guitarist, both with acoustics in hand to perform "Whorehouse Blues." Lemmy even played some harp. Before they tore into the second tune, Lemmy sez "Are you ready? Well, here it comes." Everyone was waiting, and the time had come. "Ace of Spades!" As heavy and powerful as I had hoped.

Los Lobos played a show at a theatre on the same block as this club, and they came in after a while; they stood watching from the side. I thought "Shit, is that Los Lobos?" It was. I went up and said to Cesar Rosas, "Los Lobos at a Motorhead concert. Cool."

Bjork - Mouth's Cradle

2005-03-15T21:48:00.001-06:00

I have been listening to this album pretty regularly since I was lucky enough to receive it as a gift. As with Bjork's other albums, there is an abundance of positively heart-stopping melodic material. It may be in the back ground, as the production has obscured it in the past.

As you may know via the press surrounding this album that it is almost entirely made up of human voices. Quite a feat for those involved [arranging the material, and for the producers to assemble it into a cohesive musical expression.] There are reams of press about the whole of the record -- I want to spend a moment thinking about one song in particular.

Why it is buried twelve tracks in, I will never know. "Possibly Maybe" was 8 cuts into Post, and the same goes for "Alarm Call" on Homogenic. I see a pattern.

Some of the intervals and voicings of the Icelandic Choir remind me of 13th Century Parisian master of organum, Perotin. The simplicity of the grouping and alternation between spare chords gives it that feeling of no beginning and no end. Polyphony quickly gives way to the Mark Bell glitch production. Distortion [intentional, I would guess] from production in Bjork's vocal is almost emulated in the extend vocal [or ultra-natural?] techniques of the incredible Tanya Tagaq. Rahzel gives the song a solid boom-bap beat with serious forward motion. A swing, almost.

Aside from the singular tone of her voice, Bjork has always caught my ear from the inventiveness of her phrasing. She knows when to turn the faucet on and off. On Vespertine and Medulla she has reined in some of the more fantastic flights that she has been prone to. I enjoy them, but I must say that this less bombastic direction has allowed her to grow, to develop the instrument. It s much more easily accomplished when the volume isn't stuck on 11. That doesn't always come naturally. She writes the words with such care and forethought as to how and where they will fit in the final expression, that it lays on my chest like a cinder block. For example:

these teeth / are / a ladder up to / his mouth

Another example:

if you want / up to the mouth / the mouth's cradle

Those couplets paired with the production and hip-hop swing have me bobbing my head like the latest Neptunes production in the club. Mark Bell keeps the song buzzing with bits that Rahzel and Tagaq have created, and the Icelandic Choir lends a harmonic root to Bjork's flights.

The song rachets up the dissonance near its end. It sounds as if she is going to a bridge, but, not being one beholden to AABA structures, that dissonance ramps up and soon the song closes. It closes with some surprisingly political words:

i need a shelter to / build an altar away from / all the osamas and bushes

Hmm...