New Discs from: Sun Ra's 'Disco 3000 is back(!), 2 from Tzadik: Guy Klucevsek & La Mar Enfortuna w/ Oren Bloedow & Jennifer Charles, Four from Elliott Sharp: New Terraplane + 3 Rare Reissues, Two Discs from Emanem: Paul Rutherford Solo & Roger Smith / Pascal Marzan, Satoko Fujii Quartet

Three from Mode: Gavin Bryars Early Music, John Cage//Maria De Alvear, Peter Rehberg & Marcus Schmickler, The Cycling '74 Catalogue w/ Crater (w/ Scott Amendola, Nels Cline & Devin Hoff), Sarah Peebles w/ David Toop & Jin Hi Kim, Kim Cascone, Tetsu Inoue & Carl Stone, Interface, Tom Heasley & Toss Panos, Two from Peck Allmond, Two from Dana Leong, Ghost CD+DVD,

Plus Historic Reissues from: Graham Collier (3 LP's on 2 CD's), Roy Haynes (3 CD+DVD), Jimi Hendrix Experience CD & DVD 'Live at Monterey', Siren w/ Kevin Coyne 3 CD Set, 3 from Jandek, Yochk'o Seffer, A Stack from the Mosaic label: Bobby Hutcherson, Duke Ellington, Art Farmer, Art Blakey & Jazz Messengers, Charles Lloyd Qt, Paul Chambers, Andrew Hill, Liebman & Beirach & even more...


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The Sun Ra Reissue everyone has been waiting for!!

SUN RA/JOHN GILMORE/MICHAEL RAY/JUNE TYSON/LUQMAN ALI - Disco 3000 / Complete Milan Concert 1978 [2 CD Set] (Art Yard CD 001; UK) Rejoice my friends, the long-awaited and legendary Sun Ra 'Disco 3000' is finally here! Half of this incredibly rare artifact was available on a limited-edition LP a few years back, but is now out-of-print on vinyl. Recorded at The Teatro Cilak on January 23rd of 1978 in Milan, Italy. These CDs contain the entire concert from which Disco 3000 was taken, meaning more than an hour of previously unheard material, and the LP selections are here set in their original context. What is it about this disc that makes it so special?
This is one of Sun Ra's rare small group sessions, featuring Mr. Ra on piano, organ, Moog & Crumar Mainman synths & rhythm machine, John Gilmore on tenor sax & drums, Michael Ray on trumpet, June Tyson on vocals, Luqman Ali on drums with everyone also doing vocals. Most of the twelve pieces here are seldom-heard Sun Ra songs, not many of the same pieces that Ra has covered over and over through the years and myriad of recordings. The music has been mastered directly from the original concert tapes and has splendid stereo sound. "Disco 3000" actually has some creatively used rhythm machine beats flowing through, yet it constantly evolves with both Michael Ray's trumpet and John Gilmore's tenor swirling around with Sun Ra's cosmic synth. They break out into a spirited version of "Space is the Place" with a great chorus of voices. What makes this entire two disc so magical (or cosmic) is the way it unfolds organically and moves through interconnected sections. The quintet sounds relaxed, confident, exploratory and more focused than I usual. Sun Ra's keyboards are central to almost everything that happens here and he is constantly engaging the other members in layers of dialogue. What is astonishing is when Sun Ra will set up one layer of rhythmic lines with one hand, while he also will play duos or trios with the tenor and/or trumpet at the same time, with his other hand. The opening track, "Disco 3000" is 26-minutes long and is consistently fascinating throughout. Sun Ra's playing and bandleading is consistently orchestral in sound, thus making this the one Sun Ra classic gem that everyone who reads this must own. Need we say more? - BLG
2 CD Set for $26


Two New Discs from Tzadik

[note - the Secret Chiefs' Masada Book Two CD has been delayed a month]

GUY KLUCEVSEK - Song of Remembrance (Tzadik 8040; USA) Composer /accordionist Guy Klucevsek is one of the few musicians alive who is as comfortable working with Laurie Anderson, John Zorn or Bang on a Can as he is at Lincoln Center, in a Broadway pit or at Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood. His second CD for Tzadik presents four beautiful new works and includes a brilliant dance score for two pianos, an intimate solo for accordion and a charming chamber piece for voice and ensemble. TZADIK COMPOSER SERIES
CD $14

LA MAR ENFORTUNA [OREN BLOEDOW/JENNIFER CHARLES] - Conviviencia (Tzadik 8120; USA) Featuring the velvety vocals of Jennifer Charles and the imaginative arrangements of Oren Bloedow, the cutting edge downtown band Elysian Fields is an original blend of pop, funk and rock. Their first Tzadik CD, La Mar Enfortuna is a sensuous and lyrical interpretation of traditional Sephardic melodies and is one of the best selling CDs in the Tzadik catalog. This is the long awaited follow up and features Oren and Jennifer along with some of the best young players out of the downtown scene. TZADIK RADICAL JEWISH CULTURE SERIES
CD $14


New from Elliott Sharp + Three Rarities Reissued:

ELLIOTT SHARP'S TERRAPLANE - Forgery (Intuition; Germany) New 2007 recording from E#'s longtime avant-blues unit! With Curtis Fowlkes: trombone, background vocals / Alex Harding: baritone saxophone, background vocals / David Hofstra: bass, tuba / Toney Lewis: drums / Eric Mingus: vocals / Tracie Morris: vocals / E#: guitars, console steel guitar, glissentar, tenor saxophone, vocals. The title Forgery refers to the current condition in New York, a city that pretends to be on the pulse of the world but has in fact long since become a museum of itself. With Forgery Elliott Sharp is turning to a new audience. Terraplane is, as Sharp himself says, a pop band that lacks only popularity. That will surely change now with its most mature and yet most provocative album yet. Terraplane - the blues of the future, which gets by without the romance of the cotton field.
CD $17


and remasters of

ELLIOTT SHARP/TECTONICS - Errata: Elliot Sharp Edition Vol 1 (Neos Jazz 40702; Germany) [special limited time price] New 2007 re-master! "This is E. Sharp's third Tectonics CD. Tectonics is an ongoing solo project which combines his warped drum n' bass & beyond rhythmic foundations with his infinite/alien layers of guitar thangs & saxes. For me, most drum n' bass stuff is limited, monotonous and boring. Elliott knows better, constantly reinventing the boundaries and coming up with fresh environments. Each section of 'Errata' has a solid but fractured rhythmic scheme - post everything from the second half of this sad century, as well as Elliott's distinctive and often alien string manipulation & sax squealing & squawking. There is never an uninspired moment, just points when it gets to be too much to take in. There are a number of notable pieces where it all comes together - the shit hits the fan and we smile in awe of the riches. On "City of Sand", we find Beefheartian guitar fragments mixed with Hendrix's "Up from the Skies" like soothing psych guitar sound sailing on top of warped but funky rhythm samples. Some of the slower pieces seem to work best, ideas/sounds get a chance to breathe and create deep & dark suspenseful moments. A couple of these pieces have a particularly slamming almost jazz drum thing - kinda Bobby Previte-like, could this be a sample & not the real thing?!? On the final selection - "Errataka" all hell breaks loose and a cosmic eruption takes place, sounds like everything is being squished through static-inducing strainer! Oh no, the ghost of Smersh has arisen! Take a couple of aspirin & dig in!" - BLG
CD $18

ELLIOTT SHARP/ORCHESTRA CARBON - SyndaKit: Elliot Sharp Edition Vol 2 (Neos Jazz 40703; Germany) [special limited time price] New 2007 re-master. The SyndaKit CD was recorded to 16 tracks of DA88 in performance at the Knitting Factory in April 1999 and mixed and mastered at Studio zOaR.
Constructed of 144 composed cores and a set of simple instructions for their manipulation and use, SyndaKit's algorithms are based on the behavior of flocking birds, street gangs, recombinant RNA, and African drum choirs. The result is an ever-shifting rhythmic matrix with unpredictable outbursts of tangential activity. SyndaKit was premiered by Orchestra Carbon in November 1998 and has since been performed by Zeitkratzer in Berlin and by an ensemble of Austrian musicians directed by Sharp at the ORF Radiokulturhaus in Vienna.
Premiered in 1998 and constructed of 144 composed cores and a set of simple instructions for their manifestation and manipulation by the 12 players, SyndaKit creates an ever-shifting rhythmic matrix, a pulse bristling with vibrating detail based on the activities of flocking birds, African drum choirs, hunting packs, cellular automata, and recombinant RNA The ensemble on this disc includes Zeena Parkins, David Soldier, Joseph Trump, Judith Insell, Jim Pugliese, Ted Reichman, Marc Sloan, David Weinstein, Rea Mochiach, Tim Smith, Evan Spritzer, and E#. SyndaKit has been performed in Beijing, Tokyo, Berlin, Vienna, Palermo, Zurich, Los Angeles, and NYC.
CD $18

ELLIOTT SHARP/ORCHESTRA CARBON - Larynx: Elliot Sharp Edition Vol 3 (Neos Jazz 40704; Germany) [special limited time price] New 2007 remaster! This first composition for the expanded band known as Orchestra Carbon was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music for the Next Wave Festival and performed there in October 1987. This studio recording, first released by SST, comprises an all-star cast with the Soldier String Quartet; drummers Bobby Previte, David Linton, Samm Bennett, and Charles K. Noyes; and players Lesli Dalaba, Jim Staley, David Fulton, and Ken Heer doubling trombones and trrumpet and E#'s invented instruments, the slab and pantar. E# performs on doubleneck guitarbass, sampler, soprano & tenor saxes, and bass clarinet. "Larynx" represents the culmination of E#'s early research into fractal geometry and chaos theory as source material and tools for musical manifestation.
NY TImes: ''Larynx'' is in some ways a concerto for Mr. Sharp, who took virtuoso turns on all his instruments. More importantly, it celebrates the resonance of instruments tuned to the natural harmonic series, which produce and reinforce strong, clear overtones. Mr. Sharp's program notes link ''Larynx'' to Inuit (Eskimo) and Mongolian singing as well as to jaw-harp music - and there were stretches, with the ensemble in full cry and Mr. Sharp playing fast patterns on his guitarbass, when Carbon delivered a potent, high-powered twang. ''Larynx'' uses short, sharply delineated, well-proportioned sections; just as the ear got used to one kind of sound, something new erupted. Without a single melody found during its 52-minute length, ''Larynx'' shows a myriad of ways to organize tuned noise.
CD $18


New on Emanem:

PAUL RUTHERFORD - Solo In Berlin 1975 (Emanem 4144; UK) "Recorded a year after his acclaimed masterpiece, The Gentle Harm of the Bourgeoisie, these three festival sets are at least as good. They find Rutherford at his most original and inventive, making wild music by enhancing his trombone with his voice, with mutes and other objects, as well as using his awesome speed and stunning range. No-one else has made the trombone sound like this, before or since. 75 minutes. (5 minutes originally on an FMP sampler -- the rest is previously unissued)."
CD $20

PASCAL MARZAN & ROGER SMITH - Two Spanish Guitars (Emanem 4145; UK) "The meeting of two of the finest finger-picking guitarists around. Pascal Marzan has come from Paris to London several times and recorded duets with Roger Smith resulting in great music that ranges from the hyper-frantic to the laid-back pastoral. This CD should help give both guitarists the reputations they deserve."
CD $20


SATOKO FUJII QUARTET - Bacchus (On Off/Muzak 1136; Japan) Featuring Satoko Fujii on piano, Natsuki Tamura on trumpet, Takeharu Hayakawa on bass and Tatsuya Yoshida on drums. This is the fourth fabulous disc by Satoko Fujii's incredible quartet with hew husband & constant companion Natsuki Tamura on trumpet plus the amazing Ruins rhythm team of Takeharu Hayakawa on bass and the ubiquitous Tatsuya Yoshida on drums. Review soon.
CD $23

New on the great Mode composers label:

GAVIN BRYARS - The Marvelous Aphorisms of Gavin Bryars: The Early Years (Mode 177; USA) Performed by Seth Josel, Ulrich Krieger and others. "Gavin Bryars' (b.1943) music, post 'The Sinking of the Titanic' and 'Jesus' Blood...,' is well-known and often performed today. Some know of his aleatoric trio from the '60s with Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley named 'Joseph Holbrooke'. Less known, however, are the earlier compositional works featured on this CD, created during the years 1969-'7I. At that time, Bryars became associated with Michael Nyman, John Tilbury and Brian Eno - marrying ideas from Cage, Fluxus, free improvisation and experimentalism. Some of these works appeared on Eno's avant-garde Obscure label in the mid-1970s."
CD $15

JOHN CAGE//TRIO DULCE - Vol. 38: Number Pieces 4: Three/Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment of Two Voices in Canon, and Six Short Inventions on the Subject of the Solo (Mode 186; USA) The first recording of Cage's large scale composition for 3 recorder players. The Trio Dolce wrote Cage for permission to perform Solo with Obbligato Accompaniment on three alto recorders, one octave higher than the prescribed range. In a letter from March 1987 Cage replied: "Of course you may use the 3 alto recorders. I am glad that you are playing that piece." They performed it on July 1988 with Cage in attendance.
Cage's enthusiastic reaction to this performance encouraged Trio Dolce to ask Cage if he would consider writing a work for them which "could take into account the ranges of the recorders" the Trio then owned. Upon meeting the members of the Trio during his residency at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague in November 1988, Cage agreed to write a work for the Trio.
Three was completed in July 1989 and dedicated to Trio Dolce, who premiered it in July 1990 in the presence of the composer during a concert at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music. The performance instructions state that the indication "as legato as possible". It requires great virtuosity and breath control, while at the same time changing recorders and maintaining a continuous legato, resulting in a sometimes fragile balance between the durations and dynamics.
Both outer movements of Three are interpolated by nine movements lettered A through I, one or any number of which may be played. The listener may choose which of the middle movements to listen to by programming the CD player. The Trio Dolce was founded in 1986 by Christine Brelowski, Geesche Geddert, and Dorothea Winter. Although the ensemble also performs French and Spanish Medieval music, Italian and English Renaissance music and Baroque trios, it has specialized in contemporary recorder music.
CD $15

MARIA DE ALVEAR//EVE EGOYAN - Asking (Mode 187; USA) Asking is a large-scale work for piano solo that is a meditation and reflection on all of the meanings of the word "Asking". "Asking" was specially composed for Eve Egoyan. As with many of de Alvear's pieces for piano, it is based on a open structure that requires the pianist to make many little and big decisions while playing, so the work itself is asking questions of the pianist. De Alvear says: "The dialogue between the interpreter and the music is one of the main concerns in my music. It is very important for a work to focus, like a mantra does, the thinking energy of the pianist interpreting the score, so that there is enough space for the inner being of the interpreter to open up and blossom."
Maria de Alvear was born in 1960 in Madrid, Spain, and completed her studies at the Koln Musikhochschule with Mauricio Kagel. She has made musico-ethnological research in America, Scandinavia, Russia (Siberia) and North Africa, and was a pupil of Tsolagiu M.A. RuizRazo (Cherokee Nation) and Rahkweeskeh (Tuscarora Nation) in the USA. She works in interdisciplinary and multimedia contexts as well as in the field of visual arts. She received the Bernd Alois Zimmermann award in 1992.
Eve Egoyan is a Toronto based pianist who specializes in the performance of new works. Eve has performed many world and North American premieres, and has appeared as a solo recitalist in Canada, Europe, Japan, and the United States. Her creative partnership with Maria de Alvear began in 1996.
CD $15


R/S [PETER REHBERG & MARCUS SCHMICKLER] - One: Snow Mud Rain (Erstwhile 51; USA) This is a disc I have been anticipating for quite sometime. Peter Rehberg, the reason why I moved from analog electronics to laptop, and Marcus Schmickler in a duo recording for the first time! Rehberg and Schmickler performing in Washington, D.C back in 2000, was the first laptop show I ever witnessed and what they were doing with their instruments blew me away! Despite their inadvertently inspiration for a league of digital enthusiasts, they continue to hold their own and innovate the genre. The discs artwork, which besides the press release, has no indication that this is Rehberg and Schmickler besides the very cryptic "R/S" on the cover. Although, listening to the disc you can hear remnants of some familiar Pita from back in the day, and Schmickler (Wabi Sabi era), yet this was recorded in March of 2007. Dynamic juggling of "undefinable samples, pianissimo and fortissimo that straddles their beginnings and steps into untouched territory. This CD defied my expectations."One: Snow Mud Rain" is a bit crunched controlled chaos that is a one finger salute to snobbery in the same vein as an Hell's Angels chopper bike chugging muffler. A sonic equivalent of contact mic'ed Indy 500 race cars speeding around the track (if anyone actually does this, give me credit and send me the disc!). Yet this is neither a curmudgeonly low-brow noise nor a high-brow pretentious academic release. This is the new protest music of the people, to be soaked in without previous connotations of either musician's output. Highly recommended!!! - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $13



DMG presents Great Releases on 'Cycling' label:

SARAH PEEBLES With DAVID TOOP/JIN HI KIM - Insect Groove ('Cycling 74' 007; USA) "Observing an ecological system and the act of listening to music have much in common; both reveal their subtleties over time as a reward for the attentive eye and ear rather than presenting themselves in a single instant, and they both require a sense of relationship of their parts to the whole. Sarah Peebles' Insect Groove is a set of sonic landscapes for the ear that is, in the words of The Wire, '? a rewarding interface between digital abstraction, group improvisation, 21st century program music, Zen performance and ecological manifesto.' The disc collects a series of works by Sarah Peebles and an A-list of collaborators from the experimental music community (British composer and text artists David Toop and the extended guitar work of Nilan Pererra) and the work of Jin Hi Kim and Ko Ishikawa, traditional musicians known world-wide for their commitment to bringing the sounds of their respective traditional Korean and Japanese court instruments into the new century. The eight tracks on Insect Groove combine Sarah's performance on the sho, an ancient Japanese mouth organ found in the Japanese gagaku orchestra, with her own Max patches that she uses to access clusters of natural and mechanical samples."
" 'Insect Groove' features Sarah Peebles on Max, Sample Cell I & II, Unity-DS-1 & sho, David Toop doing spoken word, Nilan Perera on altered electric guitar, Boomerang, Whammy 2 & processors, Jin Hi Kim on electric komungo and Ko Ishikawa on sho. The two previous discs by Ms. Peebles on Innova and Spool both fascinated me with her unique sound and attention to small details. She is indeed a sorceress of sound. On 'Insect Groove', Sarah continues to take microscopic sounds and manipulate them in strange ways. "The Curse of Border Vacuums, Part 1" spins a kaleidoscopic array of natural sounds and radio-like transmissions into a dynamic tapestry. "where the Wild things Went" sounds like insects and small machines being ground up in a swirling vat. The feeling I get from this is quietly disturbing and almost calming at the same time. David Toop's haunting, whispered voice is at the center of "White Powder/The Spiders", telling a strange tale as Sarah creates ghost-like insect sounds floating in the space around his voice. I dig the way Sarah takes layers of high-pitched (drill-like) sounds and stretches them into mysterious elastic shapes on "Drillbit Skiploop." Mr. Perera's altered el. guitar and Ms. Kim's el. Komungo swirl around one another on "Insect Groove" with Sarah's subtle, hypnotic samples drifting through the mix. The final piece, "Listen to the Sound of the Sun Sinking into the Lake" is a most impressive closing piece with an eerie clanging of metal, the wheezing of a sho (bamboo flute-like thing) and other mysterious, haunting sounds floating down the stream. This is a completely bewildering and immensely enchanting effort." - BLG
CD $12

KIM CASCONE - Dust Theories ('Cycling 74' 004; USA) "Kim Cascone's c74 release brings together a number of current strands of his ongoing work as a microsound composer and performer. It presents two expansive slices of emergent pond life generated from the sonic materials familiar to fans of Kim's earlier 'residualist' recordings and a peek at the densely packed audioscapes of the 'New Density' with Edgeboundaries 123. Dust Theories further continues the recombinant themes by including two radically different reworkings of Edgeboundaries 123 by Ben Nevile and DJ4'33". This is the first c74 release to include Max/MSP patches and a standalone application on the CD that lets users experiment with the tools Ben Nevile and DJ4'33" used to generate remix material. Cover photograph by Man Ray."
From the creator of the "micro-sound" forum, Kim Cascone brings us bubbling brooks of electronic tones scattered upon a surface of migrating granulated samples. Sparse yet immersive, Cascone's scampering sonic blankets soothes as it speaks to you in a calm demeanor. Kim Cascone has worked with David Lynch, Thomas Dolby, Peter Rehberg, and Keith Rowe to name a few. Like the output of all of his aforementioned collaborators, one must pay close attention to the details to fully understand the story that is unfolding in front of you. From the aptly titled "Dust Theories" to the cover artwork by Duchamp, a well packaged product shining light upon a movement he has fostered so much time and interest in. Included are some Max/Msp (a versatile program language created by Cycling 74 and used by many great electronic musicans) patches for you to play around with.
Plus two remixes of his tracks by the likes of Ben.Sampl and DJ4'33" who brings in basically what is expected by someone who chooses John Cage's most controversial piece as his DJ name (despite not following the instructions for the initial piece, for his remix does contain traces of the original, just extremely faint). Recommended for fans of Erik Satie, Richard Chartier, or Brian Eno. - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $12

CRATER [JHNO & SCOTT AMENDOLA] With NELS CLINE/DEVIN HOFF - Proceed ('Cycling 74' 010; USA) A live recording is a similar pilgrimage to the source. Proceed, a c74 release by the improvising live ensemble Crater, documents two expansive and incendiary sets of groove-driven invention and interplay from Crater's central core of jhno (laptop) and Scott Amendola (drums, electronics, and percussion) and their companions-guitarists Nels Cline and Dave Mac Nab and bassists Devin Hoff and Todd Sickafoose. Their resultant interplay is a rich blend of emergent order that Greg Burke of the LA Weekly describes as "...certain moments from Miles Davis' 70's, adding elements of modern dread and substituting wonder for pain. It feels like now... There are no styles any more, only music."
This great disc consists of two long pieces, each recorded live in different places. "On the Heal of the Devil" was recorded in Santa Cruz in August of 2002 and it features Scott Amendola on drums & electronics, Jhno on laptop, Devin Hoff on electric bass and Nels Cline on guitar. It begins quietly with some sinister insect-like samples and other cautious spooky sounds. Scott seems to providing some sly electronic beats while Jhno adds other electronic spice, Devin plays a slow, minimal, hypnotic groove as Nels spins in a few more notes, bits at a time. Building into a great Miles-like jungle groove, which also draws from some feisty space/rock jamming. Very cool! "Binaural Reciprocity" features Nels Cline & Dave McNab on guitars, Jhno on laptop, Todd Sickafoose on el. bass and Scott Amendola on drums & percussion and was recorded in San Franciso in March of 2001. Again, the sextet take their time to build things in layers: skeletal drums and bass played their hushed groove as Jhano spins mysterious electronic samples and both guitarists slowly begin weaving their sounds within the somber web of activity. As the guitar strumming gets quicker, the tension/vibe escalates. Both guitars sound swell together as they swirl layers of lines around one another supremely. Magnifico! Powerful! Dynamite! - BLG
CD $12

TETSU INOUE AND CARL STONE - pict.soul ('Cycling 74' 005; USA) "pict.soul documents the first meeting between two giants in the experimental, ambient, and post-ambient world. The ten pieces here present a variety of approaches and ways of organizing sound that intermingle in ways guaranteed to vex and delight the serious trainspotter for either of the two artists, and -- like any good collaboration -- ventures to places where the individual artists might not visit while traveling solo."
Cutting right in with slow see-saw panning of clouds of clustered sine waves with skittering electronic glissandos. Hypnotized by the dynamic output, leaving just enough space to have you leaning forward in anticipation, like a good story keeper has you hanging on every word awaiting the denouement. To pigeonhole this as glitch would be an insult, for all tones are intentional and original, if they are not they sure sound this way. Surprises around every corner! Tetsu also has two amazing cds on Tzadik and this release lines right up to them, shoulder to shoulder. Carl Stone has studied with Morton Subotnick and James Tenney plus he has collaborated with the likes of Min Xiao-Fen amongst many others. These two electro-acoustic composers have created a wonderful tonal painting with pict. soul that I can't seem to get enough of. Highly recommended!!! - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $12

INTERFACE [CURTIS BAHN/DAN TRUEMAN/PERRY COOK] - /swank ('Cycling 74' 002; USA) Propelling music from a trio consisting of sensor based instruments, Max/Msp, and "spherical speaker arrays". Interface jams sound fresh and innovative. At times you question what you are listening to is electronic or acoustic, composed or improvised. Remnants of stringed instruments, archaic drum machines, and processed samples permeate this disc but never smother one another. The timeless interplay between Interface is the same as most avant-jazz improv, with its one foot in the moment and the next foot in the future. Interface transplants you from the 3rd dimension to the 12th dimension by defying acoustic boundaries and possibly fundamental physics! A very surprising and inspiring disc! Highly Recommended!!! - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $12


TOM HEASLEY & TOSS PANOS - Passages (Full Bleed Music 001; USA) Featuring Tom Heasley on tuba, voice, electronics & loops and Toss Panos on drums. Recorded live at Tossimo's in North Hollywood in December of 2006. The tone and textures of Tom Heasley's tuba is something special to behold. It is thick, warm and often mesmerizing. On the long opening track, "Different Worlds", there is a sublime balance/blend of Tom's whale-like tuba sounds and Toss' superb, laid-back drums. The feeling I get is like drifting on the water while a ship glides in the distance with foghorn blowing hypnotic drones from time to time. Toss plays some fine quick swinging jazz drumming while Tom plays these immense clouds of cosmic drones, sometimes humming through his tuba to add some harmony. The tuba has a rich, velvet-like tone that is often breathtaking. As Toss speeds up at times, Tom slows down, yet there is still an organic balance as they take their time to hook up at just the right moments. Even when Toss gets a bit funky, Tom rises to the occasion and grooves slowly on top. There is joyous balance between both of these players as each seems to work perfectly with the other's melodic and rhythmic sketches. This is another dynamic duo to should not be ignored. - BLG
CD $12


THE CAUTION CURVES - The Caution Curves (Initiated Eye 001; USA) Little is known about the burgeoning Washington, D.C. experimental scene. Caution Curves will change this phenomenon. Their debut release from Tristana Fiscella on angelic and eerie vocals, minimalist guitar alongside Rebecca Mills backdrop of electronics or as the liner notes refers to as "noise", while Amanda Huron is credited with drums (which are sparse and jagged) and "more noise". Whatever instruments are in use, they are utilized wisely and precisely so that the world of Caution Curves can breath and open up new worlds before your eyes. The music created by Caution Curves is original, hauntingly beautiful, and at the same time is a raucous good time, This undefinable trio blends elements of Joan LaBarbara (because of the vocal stylings), Suicide (for the minimalism spookiness of "Leslie"), and Art Ensemble Of Chicago (for the wisely use of propelling space and "small" instruments). Recorded and mastered in 2005 by Derek Morton. The initial trio has since changed its line up from it's original formation. Get this document while it still exists. - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $10


NISENNEN MONDAI - Tori (Nisennen/Dot Line Circle 02; Japan) Nisennen Mondai, which I am told means "2000 problems", will rock you! Ma-chan (guitar), Zai (bass), and Hime (drums) make up the vivacious instrumental (some vocalizations) trio known as Nisennen Mondai from Tokyo, Japan. These three 20 something year ladies present an intense, tight, and raw rock sound that is hard to pinpoint exact influences but one would not be far off to say some sort of Punk, Krautrock, Psych, and Jazz have made its way into their young ears. Their playing is impeccable! They have played with Keiji Haino, Afrirampo and others of that ilk. They definitely continue the rich tradition of imaginative music coming out of Japan. The disc's bonus feature is a quicktime video of the three young ladies having fun while playing their music, let's just say there is a bird heads involved. Plus there is a hidden track. All the fun and wackiness you would expect from the land of the rising sun. - Chuck Bettis/DMG
CD $13


PECK ALLMOND With CLAUDIA ACUNA/KENNY WOLLESEN - Kalimba Collage (SoniCulture 3901; USA) Featuring Peck Allmond on kalimbas, flutes, trumpet, trombonium, tuba, clarinets, saxes, zither, ocarina, xaphoon, flutophone & bells with Kenny Wollesen & Rob Garcia on drums, Catherine Bent on cello and Claudia Acuna on vocals. Peck Allmond is one of Steve Bernstein's oldest friends as they attended the same grammar school. Peck is an incredible multi-instrumentalist who plays dozens of horns and kalimbas. This disc is mostly a solo offering with some help from a handful of other musicians. Starting with "The Mountain Has Always Waited," Peck plays exquisite layers of kalimbas, wooden flutes, zither & percussion along with Catherine Bent's angelic cello. "Take a Look Outside" features an enchanting string trio behind Peck's delightful flute. Peck sets up a swell, somewhat funky groove on "Moliendo Cafˇ", layers of bari sax, tuba, trumpet and kalimba over Kenny Wollesen's wholesome funky drums. On "Chorale for Sal", Peck plays some elegant clarinet as the fourth member of a string quartet and the sound is both melancholy and quietly enchanting. Peck covers a few traditional songs from places like Scotland, Haiti and Kenya, bridging the gap of distance by illustrating the timelessness of an ancient melody. On "Dragon Run," Peck again gets into an infectious groove with three saxes and Kenny's fabulous drums. This entire disc makes me feel good by combining cultures and earthy instruments into an enticing blend. - BLG
CD $13

PECK ALLMOND GROUP With GARY GISHER/HANS TEUBER/KENNY WOLLESEN - Short Stories (Spirit Nectar 04; USA) In this age of cookie-cutter creativity, its so refreshing to hear the truly inspired stories portrayed on this CD. And stories they are: each piece takes you on a journey through emotional highs and lows, across different continents and along a musical narrative that always engages the listener. Allmond's instrumental versatility (he plays trumpet, saxes and a variety of other brass and woodwinds) is no mere gimic - he speaks through each instrument expertly and with his own musical voice. But perhaps his greatest accomplishment with Short Stories is the group of musicians Allmond has assembled: they are all virtuoso performers and bring each story to its full fruition with excitment, thoughfulness and - above all - partnership. A really fine debut album by Peck Allmond.- Mark Gilbert
CD $13

DANA LEONG - Anthems Of Life: Live At The Knitting Factory (self released; USA) Cellist/trombonist Leong's new album featuring 11 new tracks with NYC's hottest guest musical stars Sam Strange, Tod A, UE, Baba Israel, Core Rhythm, DJ Super Dane, Adam Platt and more
CD $10

DANA LEONG QUINTET With PAQUITO D'RIVERA/JASON LINDNER /CHRISTIAN McBRIDE - Leaving New York (self released; USA) You may remember cellist/trombonist Dana Leong from albums by Henry Threadgill's Zooid, Steve Coleman's Five Elements, and Vijay Iyer. "Dana Leong is a phenomenon: a creative and eclectic cellist, a gifted melodist and composer, and a wonderfully expressive trombonist. Leong's working quintet features Alan Grubner (viola and violin), Christian Howes (acoustic and electric violin), Jason Lindner (piano, organ and Moog) and Tony Escapa (drums). They are joined on Leaving New York by rap poet Baba Israel, who contributes "Poem" and "Beer Goggles," the latter an extended funk workout a la Bootsy Collins, with Escapa backbeating a tight dry snare drum behind Lindner's sci-fi organ, the string trio answering with conversational lines that weave in and around the flow-etry. Other special guests include Christian McBride, who plays a charismatic introduction and fleetfingered fills on "Sunrise," and Paquito D'Rivera, whose virtuosic clarinet dances effortlessly with the strings on "Insatiable." Violinist Christian Howes bows a rocking, wah-wahed solo on "Sunrise" and strums chicken scratch rhythms on "Beer Goggles," while Leong contributes a number of fine improvisations, particularly the melodically inventive trombone of "Storm Warning" and the dexterous cello of "Sunrise." Leong's writing is excellent throughout: "Sunrise," "Insatiable," and "The Way" contain intriguing string arrangements; "Poem," "Storm Warning," and the hymnlike "Amen" feature flowing, lyrical melodies. Leong's music is exemplary of the musical enthusiasm that seems to bubble up out of New York like no other place, offering its flavors and its Earth rhythms to the world at large. - Thomas Greenland / All About Jazz
CD $10


GHOST - Overture [CD + DVD] (Drag City 330; USA) "At sunset on the night of October 9th, 2006, a crowd gathered at Nippon Yusen Soko, a converted warehouse space located on Yokahama Bay. For this event, Ghost played entirely improvised material. Improvisation is the wellspring of creation for Ghost, both live and in the studio, though they've never made an entire album of improvisations until now. In order to not miss a single inspiration, Ghost brought their orchestra's-worth of instrumentation, playing bass, drums, piano, electric and acoustic guitars, saxophones, flute, tin-whistle, bells, frame drums, lute, tabla-baya, waterphone and even tapes! The performance space was chosen for its sonic qualities such as natural reverb as well as its resemblance to Potala Palace in Lhasa - an ancient meditation retreat. Band members were spaced apart to prevent eye contact and allow distance for the reverberations to unfold between them - which in turn, were recorded by four microphones spaced distantly from the band and faced toward the walls, in order to catch the sound in the room with the audience present as well as the echo of that sound. The CD performance is an edited version of the evening's events - but the DVD is a completely live, four-camera view into the collective journey of Ghost and their audience." DVD length: 1 hr., 30 mins, color, NTSC format; All-Region; Audio: Stereo & 5.1 Surround.
DVD $18


MARC WILKINSON - Blood On Satan's Claw (a/k/a Satan's Skin) [soundtrack] (Trunk 023; UK) "As you'd expect from the man who brought you such unusual delights as The Wicker Man, The Clangers soundtrack, and even the music from a few dirty movies, this is an extraordinary debut. Across the thirteen tracks you'll hear familiar styles of music mixed in a way you may not have heard before: imagine a musical cocktail of Mr. Scruff, Alfred Hitchcock and Tarantino, or David Holmes playing at a car boot sale. There is bizarre horror funk here, secret agent hip hop, a pastoral waltz on an abandoned ship, spooky beats, some very groovy sleaze, even twisted nursery rhymes you wouldn't play to children. Although some of this may sound dark or even a little challenging the music is remarkably accessible, and very radio friendly. Track One, 'Sister Woo', with all its yelping hip-hop madness has been playlisted by Radio One's Gilles Peterson. Track Two could have been lifted straight from One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest. Track Three is like a spaghetti western in space with an alien. 'The Wonk '(Track Four) is opening the Top Shop fashion show this week. 'Deep in a Dream' is half beats half trip, like a beautiful nightmare you can dance through. 'Curl One Out' will get you squirming in a painfully groovy way. We could go on, but it's best you listen."
CD $16.


JANDEK - Newcastle Sunday [DVD] (Corwood 0783; USA) DVD version. Filmed live at The Sage Gateshead England on May 22, 2005. NTSC format, theoretically Region 0. Aspect ratio: 4:3. The group is a trio, with Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Neilson on drums. The music is the same as the Newcastle Sunday 2CD, released in 2005. No bonus material, no Easter egg.
DVD $15

JANDEK - Glasgow Monday [DVD] (Corwood 0785; USA) DVD version. Filmed live at Center for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow, Scotland, May 23, 2005. NTSC format, theoretically Region 0. Aspect ratio: 16:9. The group is a trio, with Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Neilson on drums. The music is the same as the Glasgow Monday 2CD, released in 2006.
DVD $15

JANDEK - Glasgow Sunday [DVD] (Corwood 0779; USA) DVD version. Filmed live at the Arches in Glasgow, Scotland on 10/17/04. NTSC format, theoretically Region 0. Aspect ration: 4:3. As a viewer you get to chose: "Camera 1", "Camera 2" or the "2 camera mix edit." Wow. This DVD features the complete set from Jandek's historic concert in Glasgow, his first ever public performance. The group is a trio, with Richard Youngs on bass and Alex Nielson on drums. The "representative from Corwood" plays a black guitar, wears a black hat and sounds just right. The music is the same as the Glasgow Sunday CD, released one year earlier, but the visuals here are exceptional (in a basic "pro" fashion) and allow all sorts of new & vigorous insights into the Jandek portfolio. No bonus material, no Easter egg.
DVD $15



BRUCE LEE GALLANTER REVIEWS A FEW PREVIOUSLY LISTED DISCS:

PAOLO ANGELI - Tessuti: Plays Frith & Bjork (ReR PA3; UK) This is the third superb disc from that Italian custom-made guitar hero, Paolo Angeli. Paolo plays a unique custom-made Sardinian acoustic guitar that sounds and looks like no other guitar on this planet. Watching Paolo improvise with Hamid Drake's band at the last Vision Fest showed what an extraordinary musician he is. His new solo offering is something else again. Here Paolo takes the songs of Fred Frith & Bjork, as well as his own tunes and rearranges them for his own solo guitar. Simple, yes? Not quite. Beginning with his own tune, "La pianta del Piede," Paolo plucks in his own distinctive way, playing those enchanting harmonics and turning on that little fan inside his guitar that makes an alarm-like ring. He then fades into Fred Frith's "Ahead in the Sand", bowing the melody at the beginning, as well as tapping on the strings. What is beautiful is how he takes Frith's swell folky melody and adds layers of different guitar parts. Some electric, some acoustic, some bowed, but all wonderful, even taking an acoustic noise solo in the second half, as well an angelic acoustic solo. Paolo takes a number of lovely songs by Bjork like "Unravel, " "Desired Constellation", "One Day" and "Hyper-Ballad" and does splendid renditions. Sometimes transforming them and adding unexpected spice here and there. Similar to the idea that Fred's band Skeleton Crew split a drum-set amongst Fred & Tom Cora, Paolo doesn't use a percussionist, but still adds his own percussive elements (like rubbing the strings or using sand paper) instead. Paolo covers a Skeleton Crew song, "The Hand that Bites" and twists it into a handbone-like ditty by banging on his guitar and on the strings. Since I haven't heard that much Bjork, I can't compare Paolo's versions to hers, but I have to admit that each song here seems to fit within the same magical melody and gifted approach. - BLG
CD $16


THE FLATLANDS COLLECTIVE [With JORRIT DIJSKTRA/JEB BISHOP et al] - Gnomade (Skycap 035; Germany) Featuring Jorrit Dijkstra on alto sax, lyricon & analog synth, Jeb Bishop on trombone, James Falzone on clarinet, Fred Lonberg-Holm on cello, Jason Roebke on bass and Tim Mulvenna on drums. Dutch saxist, Jorrit Dijkstra, lives in Boston and more than a dozen discs out as a leader or collaborator on labels Songlines, Bvhaast & Geestgronden, as well as his own label Trytone. On this disc, Jorrit is collaborating with a number of musicians from Chicago. Besides his trusty alto sax, Jorrit plays a lyricon, an old electric sax-like device that adventurous saxists used in the seventies. "Wire Tap" opens with a quirky theme in which all of the frontine players swirl around one another (alto sax, clarinet, trombone and cello), playing a few ever-shifting lines. The title piece features a strange analog intro, yet soon the charted horns play their circular parts. I dig the way the bass and drums play intricate together while the rest of the players improvise in short spurts. Each piece is set-up differently, with layers of inter-connected musicians playing in different combinations, almost as is a few different songs are played at the same time. On "Five to Twelve", the cello, bass and drums seem to playing one charted piece while the three horns play a series different combinations. Tight but loose as well. Sounds like Jorrit is cueing certain events to take place while other subgroup(s) play something else. On "Flank" Jorrit leads the other horns in a slightly bent chorus twisted harmonies, it eventually quiets down so that the clarinet can take a long solo that evolves through other sections building back up to a swell swirling conclusion. Even the sparse, free-ish "Amp Doodler" seems to have some charted or directed focus, nothing is haphazard or what it may seem. When you least expect it, a song with a sly melody like "Rabbits" appears and gives the clarinetist a chance to solo at length, while everyone else swirls tightly around him. "Longtones" is a haunting, slow-moving work that features the cello and bass playing cerebral drones with some splendid mallet work by Mulvenna and dream-like horns floating on top. "The 4:08" sounds like one of those intense trombone-led songs on the recent Basement Research CD, when it begins, but soon breaks down into fragmented cello insanity. Each piece on this great disc is filled with surprising twists and turns and unique combinations of players and directions. Quite a wonderful offering! - BLG
CD $15


THE NU BAND - The Dope and The Ghost / Live in Vienna (Not Two 788; Poland) This is the third fantastic disc by the Nu Band featuring the same cast: Roy Campbell, Jr. on trumpet, flugel, flute & vocals, Mark Whitecage on alto sax, clarinet & newspeak, Joe Fonda on contrabass and Lou Grassi on drums, with guest Marco Eneidi on alto sax for one track. We live is very troubled times and here in the US, there is little to be proud of thanks to our "elected" politicians. The Nu Band, while playing live in Vienna, Austria across the pond, illustrates frustration many of us feel being betrayed by our leaders and left with little hope of things to come. Beginning with "BushWacked", Joe Fonda strums this great repeating riff while the members of the quartet sing/speak the righteous truth about our sad situation. It is both funny in presentation and sad in fact of what they are talking about. The frontline horns nail those feelings home by playing their spirited solos together and apart. Both Mr.'s Whitecage and Campbell do indeed deliver the goods. "Where Has My Father Gone?" was written by Roy Campbell, whose father recently passed away and this piece is a fitting tribute. It is a touching, poignant work that features Roy's heartfelt singing, Mark's swell alto sax and that great swirling rhythm team of Joe and Lou. When both horns take off for the stratusphere, spinning intensely together it is great and uplifting thing. The title piece is a long, free spacious work that starts with Roy on flute, Mark on clarinet, Joe on bowed bass and Joe on hand percussion. I dig the way this piece organically evolves with solemn muted trumpet, eerie string sounds and then into a great middle-eastern sort-of theme with strong solos from Roy and Mark. The quartet is joined by alto sax great Marco Eneidi on the final track, "Next Step", and again, it builds from a humble beginning. You can tell that these cats are master improvisers as they make cosmic connected music from their own vocabulary. There is some incredible, quick tight-knit three horn improv going on that is especially exciting as the rhythm team spins intensely underneath. Yeah! Go ahead guys! Building and building, escalating higher and higher, as each horn takes a solo, soaring into the skies. It is certainly a wonderful thing to go along for the amazing journey to the stars! - BLG
CD $17


GRAHAM COLLIER SEXTET/GRAHAM COLLIER MUSIC - Down Another Road/Songs For My Father/Mosaics [2 CD set] (BGO 767; UK) Three albums recorded between 1969 and '70 by Graham Collier Sextet/Music, originally released on Fontana (a subsidiary of Philips Records) At times his band included Harry Beckett, Kenny Wheeler and John Surman. British Modern Jazz is now being critically revalued and these albums are testament to some fine original music Digitally remastered and slipcased. All three of these albums were reissued on Disconforme a few years back and are now out-of-print as individual discs. All three of these albums are great and now available again.
'Down Another Road' - This is one of several splendid recordings of Collier reissued by the label and this one maintains the high level of quality achieved by the others. While Collier performs on bass it is his extraordinary compositional and organizational skills for which this recording will be remembered. The rather ordinary instrumentation of sax, trumpet, and trombone backed by a rhythm section might have seemed utterly conservative in the late 1960s, but Collier infuses the medium with a stately flair that lays the groundwork for some outstanding soloing by Harry Beckett on flugelhorn, Nick Evans on trombone, and Stan Sulzmann on saxes, all three of whom would to lead successful careers. Pianist Karl Jenkins makes a surprisingly good showing on oboe, and his interaction with Beckett on the lengthy "Danish Blue" features his sharply focused tone. At heart, Collier is an instigator: He sets up the framework for his improvisers. Sometimes he incorporates rock riffs but mostly he stays squarely within the boundaries of modern jazz writing. His arranging skills have been compared favorably and fairly to those of Gil Evans and Charles Mingus, and the influences are there, but Collier is an original writer. His works are generally tonally centered and contain melody, but he encourages collective improvisation and stretched harmonies. His pieces carefully balance emotional depth and intellectual rigor, with wonderful harmonies and consistently high levels of performance. This one hits the mark with its carefully constructed compositions and magnificent improvisations." - Steven Loewy / AMG
'Songs for My Father' - "Bassist, composer, and bandleader Graham Collier may have gotten the short shrift early in his career for not taking the same iconoclastic position Evan Parker and Derek Bailey did: "Forget American jazz, let's forge something uniquely British" (their pretensions were European though they weren't). His contributions to the jazz canon are finally being seen in light of what they actually are: very forward-looking works that extend the jazz boundary into new chromatic and harmonic regions and have an identity that is distinctly non-American. Collier's modalism is so far outside the norms as to speak an entirely different architectural language. Songs for My Father featured a Collier septet with Harry Beckett on trumpet, pianist John Taylor, saxophonists Alan Wakeman and Bob Sydor, and drummer John Webb. This unique look at shaping traditional jazz narratives in new modal and chromatic lights brings into consideration all of the developments of Coltrane's sonic inclusiveness (which Parker and Bailey did too, though they tried to minimize that aspect) and a dramatic range that leapt off from Gil Evans. The album's opener, "Song One," in elastic 7/4, is a case in point, where front lines collapse a hard bop figure into thirds and then extend the back of the line, where the horns become harmonic planks and Taylor moves around the time signature in counterpoint to the rhythm section. Wakeman's soprano solo is just breathtaking. The moving Spanish motif at the opening of "Song Two (Ballad)" is part of Collier's envisioning of a music he would later revisit with Day of the Dead. The shimmering angularity of "Song Five (Rubato)" is one of Collier's benchmarks as a jazz composer; his utilization of the interval as a way to stretch time in order to allow a melody to impose itself on the frame is remarkable. In sum, Songs for My Father is the first evidence listeners have of the maturing Collier, moving jazz aesthetics around in order to more fully articulate his sophisticated palette." - Thom Jurek / AMG
'Mosaics' - "The expansion of Graham Collier's modalist harmonic architecture is continued on Mosaics, which was recorded live in late 1970, and issued in early 1971. Using the same band as on Songs For My Father, with the exception of newcomer Geoff Castle replacing John Taylor on piano, Collier took Eastern motifs and wound them tightly into his intervallic articulations of melody and mode, and composed a pair of longer works, each one a section. Here, themes are striated with cadenzas, and rearticulated in the creation of new themes. African, Asian, and Indian melodic fragments are used inside Collier's harmonic universe, in which the color of the blues, or the muted emotionalism of swing, is never absent. Here jazz meets the old world, which in turns refashions itself into a newer one; a world where eloquent expressions of harmony, and the convergence of different melodics, are translated as one tongue, with multiple dialects holding discourse. Of particular interest here is the beautiful contrapuntal work between Collier and soprano saxophonist Alan Wakeman, in addition to the rocksteady elegance of trumpeter Harry Beckett. Simultaneously more outside, and yet still firmly "inside the tradition," Mosaics is one of Collier's most provocative works yet, and stands the test of time extremely well." - Thom Jurek / AMG
2 CD set for $22.



New from the MOSAIC label:

BOBBY HUTCHERSON With WOODY SHAW/MANNY BOYD/HAROLD LAND /GEORGE CABLES - Blue Note Recordings: Cirrus/Inner Glow/Waiting/The View From Inside/Knucklebean [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 026; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Bobby Hutcherson, one of the greatest vibists in jazz, had been a member of the Blue Note family since 1963 and he was one of the last artists to leave the label before it shut down in 1980. The '70s was a rough decade for pure jazz; funk and fusion had taken over the jazz market. The five albums in this collection, recorded between 1974 and 1977, were among the overlooked victims of that era. Each is a straight-ahead, small-group studio session and each contains a superb cast and excellent, varied compositions.
Cirrus features Bobby's working band of Woody Shaw, Bill Henderson, Ray Drummond and Larry Hancock with the saxophones of Harold Land and Manny Boyd added. It includes the first recording of Shaw's jazz standard Rosewood. Inner Glow, not released until 5 years later and even then only in Japan, features a three-horn front line with Harold Land, Oscar Brashear and Thurman Green.
Waiting, The View From The Inside and Knucklebean, all among Bobby's best work, revolve around his working band of the time: saxophonist Manny Boyd, bassist James Leary and drummer Eddie Marshall. George Cables or Larry Nash complete the group on piano and Freddie Hubbard is added as guest on Knucklebean. This band had developed an extraordinary empathy during its time and the musicians execute the exceptional material, most from Hutcherson and Leary, with ease, invention and enthusiasm. Added to the Waiting album is a tune from the session that was previously only issued on a Dutch compilation in 1979. These superb albums received shockingly little notice and quickly sank from sight. As a result of their obscurity, they have not been reissued on CD until now.
3 CD set for $48

DUKE ELLINGTON - Newport 1958: The Studio Recordings [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1014; USA) The Studio Sessions Restored! When Duke Ellington set out to make a live album at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, he set his sights high, targeting new material that had been played by the band only infrequently in the months leading up to the concert. After the performance, Ellington and producer Irving Townsend decided to re-cut eight pieces under more ideal studio conditions and dub in applause to recreate the Newport event. The subsequent Newport 1958 album contained the eight studio tracks with doctored audience and only two real Newport performances ("Just Scratchin' The Surface" and "Prima Bara Dubla" with guest soloist Gerry Mulligan). A 2-CD Live At Newport 1958 of all the real Ellington performances from the festival only served to prove that the original assessment by Ellington to re-cut a lot of the material was correct. That reissue also sentenced the musically-superior studio material to obscurity.
So for the Mosaic edition of Newport 1958, we have restored the mono masters of the studio material without the annoying dubbed-in audience, retained the two Newport tracks and added four more successful tracks from the concert, including a version "Feet Bone" which was not remade in the studio. "Ellington collectors have welcomed this issue as finally sorting out the shambling cut and paste tactics used in the earliest editions of this album." - Steve Voce, Jazz Journal, Intl.
CD $17

ART FARMER With JIMMY HEATH/ALBERT DAILEY/WALTER BOOKER/MICKEY ROKER - The Time And The Place: The Actual Concert Tapes [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1010; USA) A Mosaic Discovery of a Lost Concert. In 1967, Columbia issued The Time And The Place by the Art Farmer quintet, billing it as a concert from the Museum Of Modern Art. In fact, it was a studio recording with fake applause dubbed in. The real concert sat in the vaults until three tunes came out on a 1982 double LP reissue. Even then, no one seemed to discover the ruse. When Mosaic began researching Farmer's Columbia tapes, it became obvious that those three tracks were live and the original album was manipulated.
The actual concert took place on August 18, 1966 was recorded and, except for three tunes, has sat in the vaults ever since. We have uncovered the original three-track masters of the unedited performance, which contains seven superb extended performances and remixed them in 24-bit. This 72-minute CD contains the real concert as it happened by one of the finest, if unhearalded, hard bop bands of the '60s. The quintet with Jimmy Heath, Albert Dailey, Walter Booker and Mickey Roker was seven months old and had developed into a first-rate hard bop ensemble. Where tunes like On The Trail and The Time And The Place were under three and five minutes respectively on the released album, each is a ten-minute tour-de-force in concert.
CD $17

J J JOHNSON & KAI WINDING - Trombone For Two/Jay & Kai [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1015; USA) "You Can't Play All Night In a Club with Just Two Trombones and Rhythm!" Oh, Yeah? The J.J. Johnson-Kai Winding Quintet, known more concisely as Jay & Kai, was one of the surprise successes of modern jazz in the '50s, a universe dominated by piano trios and trumpet and tenor saxophone stars. Among the earliest modern jazz trombonists, they crafted well thought out, inventive arrangements that highlighted the blend of their sounds and featured a co-operative competition that set off their distinctive styles.
Such was their popularity that in 1955 they signed with Columbia Records and recorded Trombone For Two, a superb ten-tune album with Dick Katz, Paul Chambers and Osie Johnson. The program blended originals and standards with such unlikely bop fodder as "The Whiffenpoof Song" and "Let's Get Away From It All." In the next 13 months, the quintet went into the studio twice more, once with Katz, Milt Hinton and Shadow Wilson and then with Katz, Bill Crow and Kenny Clarke to record ten more tunes which appears Jay And Kai, which would become their final album apart from later reunion projects. All 20 Columbia studio tracks by this legendary quintet are now drawn together and mastered in 24-bit from the original analog tapes on this Mosaic edition of Trombone For Two.
CD $17
see further down for box set and single CD Mosaic restocks



KEVIN COYNE & SIREN - The Dandelion Years: Siren/Strange Locomotion /Case History [3 CD Box Set] (Cherry Red BX 02; UK) Following on from last years acclaimed Dandelion Records singles collection Cherry Red Records are delighted to announce the release of their second 3CD box set: Kevin Coyne (with Siren) - The Dandelion Years 1969-1972. Writer, painter and blessed with a voice of rare quality, the late Kevin Coyne was a much loved figure in British music circles and left behind an extraordinary body of work including over 30 albums. This package represents the first 3 chapters of his recording career as released by BBC DJ John Peel's Dandelion Records label between 1969 and 1972, including two albums with Siren, his first solo LP, 'Case History', which involved Siren personnel and bonus tracks. Beautifully packaged and lovingly restored with individual disc wallets and 48 page colour booklet telling the story of Kevin Coyne with contributions from Dave Clague, Clive Selwood (Dandelion Records co-founder) and John Fiddler (Medicine Head).
3 CD Set $40


ROBERT WYATT With PHIL MANZANERA/BRIAN ENO/PAUL WELLER - Comicopera [2 LP] (Domino; USA) With Dondestan, Shleep, Cuckooland and now Comicopera, Wyatt seems to have found his own 'home' music - each record intimate and sophisticated, played with (the suggestion of) ease and curiosity and also fun. Comicopera, divided into three Acts - 'Lost in Noise', 'The Here and The Now', and 'Away with the Fairies', continues where these albums had left off, but it is initially less dense than Cuckooland, and more light and live sounding. Robert says he was keen to have the sound of a group of musicians playing in the room together, but more importantly, to have friends (furthermore than musicians who play these particular instruments), playing together: "Music isn't just an abstract pleasure, it is company, when you play a record. Why I like Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus, the Big Bands - is because every character in the band is identifiable as that person - there's this group of humans in a room." (Wyatt)
2 LP set for $20
also available on CD for $15


JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - Live At Monterey (MCA/Experience Hendrix; USA) Forty years ago Jimi Hendrix returned to his native country and, in one fell swoop changed the musical landscape for all time. It was the galvanizing, US debut performance of The Jimi Hendrix Experience at The Monterey International Pop Festival that propelled Hendrix and his band mates, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding, to the top ranks of international rock royalty. On October 16, for the first time in more than 15 years, The Jimi Hendrix Experience: Live At Monterey will be released by Experience Hendrix/Geffen /UMe on CD and limited edition Vinyl. It's a remarkable musical document that reconfirms what the Monterey audience bore witness to on June 18, 1967: Hendrix's unbridled talent and flair for showmanship are unparalleled in the annals of music. The set of songs that the Jimi Hendrix Experience performed at Monterey was introduced by Brian Jones, the Rolling Stones' guitarist whose presence at the festival amounted to a kind of benediction by an acknowledged rock god. He knew full well who he was introducing as Hendrix had moved to London fewer than nine months earlier and achieved icon status in the U.K. in very short order. His conquest of his native land, though, would be achieved almost instantaneously at Monterey.
This 2007 edition of the Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey CD [the previous edition has been out of print for over 15 years] features a new stereo mix by Eddie Kramer, the engineer so closely associated with the Jimi Hendrix and his legacy, from the original eight-track live recordings made at the concert by remote engineer Wally Heider. Voluminous liner notes by Mitch Mitchell and Hendrix scholar and Experience Hendrix's catalog development director John McDermott, as well as numerous rare and previously unpublished photos of Hendrix, the band and memorabilia of the time are also part of the lavish package that is The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey. CD $15
Limited edition LP also available for $18

JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE - Live At Monterey [DVD] (MCA/Experience Hendrix; USA) The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey offers all existing film footage of that epochal performance presented in its original sequence. The original 16mm camera reversal footage shot by D.A. Pennebaker's Monterey Pop film crew has been transferred to high-definition specs and is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The DVD soundtrack features new 5.1 surround and 2.0 stereo mixes by Eddie Kramer, the engineer so closely associated with the Jimi Hendrix and his legacy, from the original eight-track live recordings made at the concert by remote engineer Wally Heider.
Beyond the performance of the band's set, The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Monterey offers numerous bonus features. A Second Look, a unique interactive feature allows the viewer to switch between multiple, previously unseen camera angles to view several of the performances as never before. In addition, American Landing, a new documentary that includes previously unreleased interviews with Mitchell and Redding - and Jimi Hendrix, himself -- is included. There's also Music, Love and Flowers, an inside look at the Monterey International Pop Festival with co-founder Lou Adler. Live performances of "Stone Free" and "Like A Rolling Stone, the two earliest known unreleased Jimi Hendrix Experience performances, shot February 25, 1967 at Chelmsford, England are also part of the package.
DVD $20



And more Historic and Reissued Recordings..and Restocks:

ROY HAYNES - A Life In Time: The Roy Haynes Story [3 CD + 1 DVD set] (Dreyfus/Koch; USA) A Life in Time not only tells Roy's story - it tells a thrilling story of jazz, and all of its glorious changes. Featuring highlights of Roy's work as a sideman and as a bandleader, this one-of-a-kind collection brings together a plethora of history-making recordings. Featuring a brand new essay by renowned author and jazz historian Ashley Kahn, and a wonderful bonus DVD of interviews and rare performance footage, A Life in Time: The Roy Haynes Story is the jazz event of the year! The three discs of music feature Roy Haynes playing seminal sessions for Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Eric Dolphy, Oliver Nelson, John Coltrane, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Chick Corea, Alice Coltrane and others, as well an entire disc of Roy as a bandleader.
3 CD + 1 DVD set $38


YOCHK'O SEFFER - Chromophonie (Musea 4184; France) "Yochk'o Seffer always created varied and interesting works during his long of career, be it with Magma, Zao, his teammate Fran¨ois Cahen or all alone. In each of his records, the French saxophone-player tries to pay tribute to his Hungarian roots. "Chromophonie" compiles the best of two albums, originally released in 1981 and 1982, with the notable support of Hungarian violinist Lajos Horvath and the Quatuor Margand, the string quartet who played so well with him on Ghigoul and with Zao."
CD $12


JEWFACE [various artists w/ Irving Berlin & Gus Kahn] - Jewface (Reboot Stereophonic 006; USA) "What did the dawn of American pop music sound like? The answer can be found through the new RebBoot Stereophonic release, Jewface, lost Jewish minstrel songs that took vaudeville stages by storm at the turn of the 20th century but that have become written out of history. Composed by legendary tunesmiths like Irving Berlin and Gus Kahn, many of the songs made use of authentically Jewish musical motifs fusing them with every Jewish stereotype under the sun. What may have sounded mournful, exotic, and 'Oriental' to non-Jewish audiences resonated in a unique way for new Jewish immigrants, thrilled at this cultural jujitsu: From 'Under the Matzos Tree' to 'I'm a Yiddish Cowboy,' and 'Cohen Owes Me 97 Dollars,' exploring the Jewface recordings reveals one of the dirty little secrets of American culture: some of the very first hit records were fiendishly catchy Jewish musical creations, created by Jews, for Jews. All of these songs have been hunted down and re-mastered from cylinder recordings to create one of the most remarkable and perhaps offensive albums ever."
CD $15


Last few copies of these limited Mosaic backcatalog items:

[ART BLAKEY &] THE JAZZ MESSENGERS With JACKIE McLEAN/BILL HARDMAN - Hard Bop: The Complete Sessions [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1005; USA) [Originally released on Columbia] After the dissolution of the original Jazz Messengers, Art Blakey formed a new edition with Jackie McLean, Bill Hardman, Sam Dockery and Spanky De Brest. Repertoire was always an important factor in the Jazz Messengers' sound, and this hard-swinging session of December 12 & 13, 1956 mixed excellent originals by McLean and Hardman with jazz tunes by Mal Waldron and Gigi Gryce, two standards and a Gershwin medley. The material was more than enough for one album so five tunes were selected for Hard Bop, another three comprised side two of Blakey's Drum Suite and Gershwin medley sat in the can until 1980.
In addition to finally gathering this band's December 12-13, 1956 output in one place at last, we also discovered, by going back to the original session tapes, that these sessions were recorded in an early (and successful from a sonic point of view) form of stereo. We have assembled the CD from those tapes, which also enabled us to issue the full version of My Heart Stood Still, which was edited on the mono LP.
CD $17.

J J JOHNSON - J. J. [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1004; USA) What a perfect record! In 1964, after leading his own small group and a quintet co-led by Kai Winding for more than a decade, the pioneer of modern jazz trombone marked his move from Columbia to RCA Victor with a dazzling album, brimming with beauty and growth. J.J. wrote six amazing, highly original big band arrangements for classics by Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and George Russell as well as his own El Camino Real and then commissioned two originals each from Gary McFarland and Tom McIntosh and one from Oliver Nelson. Then he assembled the best musicians in New York driven by the rhythm section of Hank Jones, Bob Cranshaw and Grady Tate to realize the music on three consecutive days in December 1964.
While J.J. is the prime soloist through the sessions, Thad Jones, Clark Terry, Jerome Richardson, Oliver Nelson and Hank Jones are also heard from to great advantage.
This CD is remixed from the original three-track master tapes with wonderful sonic results. Additionally, the two previously unissued Tom McIntosh charts (Ally and Supplication) have been added to complete the album. CD $17

CHARLES LLOYD QUARTET With GABOR SZABO/RON CARTER/TONY WILLIAMS - Of Course, Of Course [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1006; USA) [Originally released on Columbia] Charles Lloyd joined the last cello edition of the Chico Hamilton quintet in 1960, playing alto saxophone and flute. In 1962, Chico overhauled his group, bringing in Hungarian guitarist Gabor Szabo and developing a band book of new material by Charles, now on tenor as well as flute. Lloyd's musical identity and gift for melody quickly emerged. His originals were fresh and distinctive - at once, appealing and pushing the envelope. He and Szabo developed an uncanny empathy and instantly identifiable sound. That group made four stunning albums over the next two years, full of outstanding Lloyd originals.
'Of Course, Of Course' was recorded in May 1964 and March 1965, after Charles had left the Hamilton fold, so these sessions were a welcome reunion for Szabo and him. The recording group was completed by another extraordinarily empathetic team, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. Bringing two of the most creative pairings in jazz together makes for a hell of a quartet. The album is as cohesive as it is varied. For this disc, the album was newly remixed from the original four-track tapes and includes three bonus tracks approved by the artist. East Of The Sun is an extra tune from the album sessions. Island Blues and Sun Dance come from a later session with Szabo, Albert Stinson and Pete LaRoca, with Robbie Robertson of The Band added on guitar on the last tune. Amazingly, this is the first CD release of one of the most neglected masterpieces in an era of masterpieces.
CD $17

DUKE ELLINGTON'S SPACEMEN With CLARK TERRY/PAUL GONSALVES /JIMMY HAMILTON - The Cosmic Scene [Ltd Ed] (Mosaic Singles 1001; USA) [Originally released on Columbia] The whimsical title for this 1958 Ellington album comes from the launch of the first American satellite, not an intention to head in Sun Ra's direction. What makes this small group session unique is that it has a big sound to it. It features three soloists: Clark Terry on fluegelhorn, Paul Gonsalves on tenor sax and Jimmy Hamilton on clarinet. The rhythm section is Ellington, Jimmy Woode and Sam Woodyard. The larger ensemble feel is derived from adding Ellington's three trombonists in a strictly supportive, arranged role.
The repertoire is equal parts Ellingtonia and outside material. We've also included the previously unissued first take of this tune as well with a very different interpretation of the melody on the first chorus and another great solo.
Taped amid a flurry of extensive and important recording activity by the full orchestra in 1958-59, The Cosmic Scene was released only in monaural and received with little notice. For this long overdue reissue, we returned to the three-track masters, beautifully recorded at Columbia's legendary 30th Street Studio by Fred Plaut to construct a stereo master of the album plus alternate takes of Jones, issued at the time as a single and Body And Soul.
CD $17.

PAUL CHAMBERS - Aladdin/Transition/Blue Note Recording Sessions 1956-1959: Chambers' Music/Whims Of Chambers/Bass On Top..PLUS! [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 005; USA) (Mosaic Select 005; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] On March 2. 1956, just seven weeks shy of his twenty-first birthday, he made his first album as a leader for Aladdin's Jazz West label while the Miles Davis Quintet was ensconced at Jazz City in Los Angeles. For Chambers' Music, he used Coltrane, pianist Kenny Drew and Philly Joe. Two days before his April 22 birthday, Chambers, Coltrane, Jones, Curtis Fuller and Pepper Adams went into a Boston studio for the fledgling Transition label; of the three extended pieces made that day only "Trane's Strain" was released at the time.
That September, Paul signed with Blue Note and recorded the compositionally-rich Whims Of Chambers with Donald Byrd, Coltrane, Kenny Burrell, Horace Silver and Jones. His next album Paul Chambers Quintet was a Detroit reunion with Byrd, Tommy Flanagan and Elvin Jones plus Chicagoan Clifford Jordan. With his third Blue Note album Bass On Top, Chambers made a career masterpiece. With the sensitive, swinging support of Burrell, Hank Jones and Art Taylor, he moved the bass to the forefront in its role in the arrangements as well as solo space and proved himself to be consistently creative and exceptionally equipped. This set closes with two equally extraordinary duet tracks by Chambers and Art Blakey, made at the beginning of a Sonny Clark session. Chambers's bowing on Irving Berlin and Cole Porter standards is astounding.
3 CD set for $48

BENNIE GREEN With IKE QUEBEC/SONNY CLARK/ELVIN JONES et al - Back On The Scene/Soul Stirrin'/Walkin' & Talkin'/Congo Lament...........PLUS! [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 003; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Initially influenced by Trummy Young, trombonist Bennie Green hit the big leagues as a member of Earl Hines' orchestra in 1942, where he developed a close relationship with emerging bebop pioneer Dizzy Gillespie. He absorbed the expanding harmonies of bop without forsaking his big, rich natural trombone sound. Whether he was in Ellington's band or Charlie Ventura's Bop For The People combo, he sounded like ...well, like Bennie Green.
In the early fifties, Bennie found success as a band leader, playing what he liked: a joyful mix of jump tunes, blues, ballads and standards with a Latin tinge. Hit singles like Blow Your Horn and I Wanna Blow made him a popular jukebox artist of the day.
STRETCHING OUT - As the fifties progressed, the long-playing album became an important medium for a musician charged with keeping a band working. With roots in both swing and bop, Green had no trouble stretching out and sustaining interest on any musical piece. In 1958, he signed with Blue Note and made three impressive albums (Back On The Scene, Soul Stirrin' and Walkin' & Talkin') as well as a singles session.
With Soul Stirrin', the trombonist made his masterpiece. The presence of two tenors (Gene Ammons and Billy Root), the creative accompaniment of Sonny Clark, Ike Isaacs and Elvin Jones and the hypnotic compositions of Green and Babs Gonzales created a unique and often haunting sound. In 1962, this instrumentation was reprised with equally stunning results on Ike Quebec's Congo Lament with Green, Stanley Turrentine, Clark, Milt Hinton and Art Blakey. All four of Bennie Green's dates plus the Quebec session are in this Mosaic Select set which also includes Charlie Rouse, Eddy Williams, Gildo Mahones, George Tucker and Louis Hayes among the sidemen.
3 CD set for $48

ANDREW HILL - Solo: Unreleased + From California With Love [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 023; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES; except for the first two tracks on Disc 3, all material is PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED in any form! So much of Andrew's prime Blue Note recordings had depended on and been written for the interaction of empathetic improvisers, that his first solo recordings Hommage and Live At Montreux, both from 1975, came as a surprise to even his most die-hard fans. Those experiences whetted his appetite for more.
Living in a small Bay Area bedroom community, he began playing a lot of solo concerts at Arts Centers up and down the West Coast. In August and October 1978, he made three trips to the Fantasy Recording Studio in Berkeley for lengthy solo piano sessions. Two extended pieces were issued on the Artists House LP From California With Love. That album quickly became a collector's item when the label folded. Meanwhile over two hours of solo piano music by Andrew remained in the can until Mosaic discovered the session tapes in Hawaii. Now the complete sessions are gathered in this Select. THE THREE DISCS IN THIS BOX ARE THE COMPLETE 1978 SOLO SESSIONS!
Hearing a great pianist/composer in solo setting is like eavesdropping on the thought processes of a restless, creative mind. Unfettered by other instruments and input, the artist is free to go wherever his inner logic and imagination take him. Like Thelonious Monk and Randy Weston among others, Andrew Hill's most revealing and fascinating creations are often those made alone at a piano.
3 CD set for $48

ANDREW HILL With SAM RIVERS/CHARLES TOLLIVER/WOODY SHAW/PAT PATRICK/BENNIE MAUPIN/ROBIN KENYATTA et al - Five Unreleased Blue Note Sessions [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 016; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] The 2003 release of Andrew Hill's Passing Ships on Blue Note set off a torrent of requests for more unissued Hill material. After some discussions with the artist, we came up with a solution: clean out the closet in one fell swoop. With the release of these sessions, recorded between 1967 and '70, every piece of music from Andrew Hill's Blue Note recordings has been issued. This outstanding, unique pianist-composer is heard in a variety of contexts, and only six of the 31 selections on this set have ever been out in any form. Their common denominator is Andrew's brilliant improvisations and unique compositions.
The 1970 sextet with trumpeter Charles Tolliver and saxophonists Pat Patrick and Bennie Maupin features six challenging pieces played with drive and swing. Some of the best writing in the set comes from two 1969 dates that pair Hill's quartet (Maupin, Ron Carter and Mickey Roker or Carlos Garnett, Richard Davis and Freddie Waits) with a fully integrated string quartet. Three tunes from each of these projects were previously issued, but now the entire sessions have been newly remixed from the original eight-track tapes for release. A February 1967 session with saxophonists Robin Kenyatta and Sam Rivers features Hill's recorded debut at the organ on two selections, an instrument to which he returns for two pieces on his May 1967 trio date with Ron Carter and Teddy Robinson. From October 1967 comes a powerful septet date with Woody Shaw, Kenyatta, Rivers and Howard Johnson in the front line.
3 CD set for $48

CARMELL JONES With LAWRENCE TRICKY LOFTON/HAROLD LAND/FRANK STRAZZERI et al - The Remarkable Carmell Jones/Business Meetin'/Brass Bag/Jazz Impressions Of Folk Music...........PLUS! [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 002; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Carmell Jones -- steeped in all that Kansas City could offer him, including an undeniable mastery of technique - heard the call of Clifford Brown and had to follow. He was the first significant hard bop musician to emerge from Kansas City.
These newly remastered Los Angeles recordings from 1961 to 1963 document Carmell's dates as a leader and prominent sideman for Pacific Jazz. The material was originally recorded for his LPs entitled The Remarkable Carmell Jones and Business Meetin'. In addition, you'll find his work alongside trombonist Lawrence Tricky Lofton for Lofton's Brass Bag LP, and with frequent collaborator Harold Land on Land's Imperial LP Jazz Impressions of Folk Music, which is a terrific surprise if it's unfamiliar to you. Rounding out the package is a completely unreleased session from pianist Frank Strazzeri, one of Carmell's best friends and his pianist of choice.
If Carmell Jones isn't exactly a household name in the jazz world (although he was featured on such important recordings as Horace Silver's Song for My Father), blame his move in 1965 to Germany, where he lived and worked for the next 15 years. But before his move these recordings clearly demonstrate that Carmell was a musician who never disappointed. Trust us -- he's not about to start now.
3 CD set for $48

[DAVE] DAVID LIEBMAN & RICHIE BEIRACH - Unreleased Live Recordings 1976-1991 [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 012; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Saxophonist David Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach were among the brightest musicians to emerge in the '70s. They were among the first generation of musicians to be profoundly influenced by the music of the Coltrane quartet and the Miles Davis quintet as well as musical influences outside jazz (Indian, classical, R & B etc).
Their creative life together falls into three chapters, each of which is represented by a CD of live and previously unissued music on this set. In the '70s, their eclectic group Lookout Farm with Frank Tusa and Jeff Williams made its debut on ECM Records in 1973. The six extended pieces on this set come from San Francisco's Keystone Korner in 1976.The chemistry between Liebman and Beirach ran so deep that duet performances were a natural outgrowth of Lookout Farm. These duos, four of which are contained here from 1976 and 1990, were fascinating musical dialogues in the language of modern jazz that both men love and share.
The last chapter of this collaboration is Quest, a quartet with Ron McClure and Billy Hart that spanned 1982 to '91. This group wasted little time building up steam and deliver one brilliant, intense piece after another. They tackled challenging compositions and the improvisations and interaction were of the highest order. The five masterpieces here are from 1988 and 1991. The '70s and '80s were a confusing time for jazz and artists like Liebman and Beirach, as busy and prolific as they are, stand the chance of being overlooked when the history books are written. Hopefully the superb music on this set will help change that.
3 CD set for $48

GRACHAN MONCUR III With JACKIE McLEAN/BOBBY HUTCHERSON/LEE MORGAN/WOODY SHAW/HERBIE HANCOCK/BILLY HIGGINS/RASHIED ALI - The Moncur Blue Note Recordings: Evolution/Some New Stuff/One Step Beyond/Destination Out/Hipnosis/'Bout Soul [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 001; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Grachan Moncur III -- who played and recorded with Ray Charles and Benny Golson [along with Wayne Shorter] by the time he was 20 in '57, was, during the 1960s, virile, alert, determined, respectful of tradition, trained in composition and on his instrument, but eager for something new, to find what else.
This newly remastered Mosaic Select package captures Moncur in the act, with the aforementioned Jackie McLean (replaced by Wayne Shorter on the Some Other Stuff sessions) and with that exceptional young dynamo, Tony Williams on drums. In addition to the records already mentioned, this set also includes McLean's Hipnosis and most of 'Bout Soul. Sidemen include Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Kahn, Larry Ridley, Roy Haynes, Lee Morgan, Bob Cranshaw, Herbie Hancock, Cecil McBee, Woody Shaw, Lamont Johnson, Scotty Holt, Billy Higgins and Rashied Ali. The four sessions led by Jackie McLean include a number of Moncur compositions, and help bookend the material on the now out-of-print Mosaic package, The Complete Blue Note 1964-1966 Jackie McLean Sessions. This set is limited, too, and is certain to sell out... - Michael Cuscuna
"Moncur's compositions presaged the time when 'jazz' musicians actively broke out of the mold of 'jazz' music to become progenitors of creative new music, period. Shortly after this middle '60s period would follow the artists of the AACM, Braxton, the AEC, Leo Smith, and many more since then from all over the world. But to hear records on a 'jazz' label [Blue Note, to boot] that were actually closer to amazing 'modern classical' records - I actually prefer the phrase 'contemporary composer' - was unheard of at that time - notable exceptions include Jimmy Giuffre's 1954 Capitol album 'Tangents In Jazz' [sadly not in print on CD]. If you've never heard Moncur's 'Some Other Stuff' or 'Evolution', play them now, and hire a crane to lift your jaw back into position afterwards! And we know that Jackie Mac's 'Destination Out' and 'One Step Beyond' are among McLean's finest recordings: look at the writing credits - mostly Moncur! No exploration of 'creative music' or 'jazz' can be worth anything without hearing these discs. ALL TIME THUMBS UP!!!" - Mannylunch
3 CD set for $48

JOHN PATTON With BLUE MITCHELL/RICHARD WILLIAMS/JUNIOR COOK /HAROLD VICK/FRED JACKSON/CLIFFORD JARVIS - Blue Note Recordings: Along Came John/The Way I Feel/Oh Baby!/That Certain Feeling/Understanding [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 006; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES]
After years as Lloyd Price's pianist, John Patton emerged in 1962 as an explosive organist who could swing as hard as Jimmy Smith and who had the creative curiosity of Larry Young. He joined Lou Donaldson's quartet which promptly brought him to the attention of Blue Note Records where he became part of an unbeatable funky rhythm section with guitarist Grant Green and drummer/composer Ben Dixon.
Among this rhythm section's great achievements were Patton's first three albums as a leader: Along Came John with the tenors of Harold Vick and Fred Jackson, The Way I Feel with Jackson and trumpeter Richard Williams and Oh Baby! with Vick and trumpeter Blue Mitchell. Along Came John is a testament to the infinite variety that creative musicians can extract from the blues form. The music on these albums casts a groove behind which lesser musicians could slide by with cliches. These guys are in it to make a statement! This Mosaic Select set is built upon those three initial John Patton classics and includes two underrated 1968 gems: That Certain Feeling with tenor saxophonist Junior Cook, guitarist Jimmy Ponder and drummer Clifford Jarvis and Understanding with tenor saxophonist Harold Alexander and drummer Hugh Walker. The former is a swinging hard bop session with a decidedly smooth groove, while the latter is a stripped-down, cutting edge date with everyone pushing the boundaries. These albums are understandably obscure; they conform neither to the organ mold nor the direction of Patton's career up to that point. But they are two of the finest albums by this versatile, ever-growing artist.
3 CD set for $48

DUKE PEARSON With BOBBY HUTCHERSON/FRANK FOSTER/RALPH TOWNER/HERMETO PASCOAL/BOB CRANSHAW/MICKEY ROKER - Blue Note Recordings: The Phantom/I Don't Care Who Knows It/It Could Only Happen With You/How Insensitive/Merry Ole Soul [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 008; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] A MAN FOR ALL SESSIONS. As a recording artist, he led lyrical trios, soulful sextets and a roaring big band. But his final Blue Note sessions (1968-70) showed his palate expanding to embrace Brazilian rhythms and melodies and impressionistic harmonies.
The first album to mark a change in Pearson's direction was The Phantom which add two rhythm guitars and two percussionists to the rhythm section and featured Bobby Hutcherson's vibes and Jerry Dodgion's flute. Duke said at the time, "I was interested in trying to be somewhat more exotic than previously and in illuminating diverse moods within the exoticism".an evocative scope of colors. It also swings like hell. Subsequent sessions which were eventually issued in the '90s as I Don't Care Who Knows It add to that set-uo Airto Morreira's percussion and more horns which Pearson arranges magnificently. Andy Bey sings the title tune, a Buddy Johnson obscurity.
"It Only Happen With You" moves further into the Brazilian realm with the presence of Hermeto Pascoal and, on three selections, Flora Purim. How Insensitive combines two interesting sessions. With Flora Purim and an all Brazilian rhythm section, Duke recorded lilting, swinging versions of four Brazilian compositions. With the New York Group Singers' Big Band, a 16-voice chorus led by Jack Manno, he recorded seven pieces, including a reprise of his Christo Redentor which launched the wordless choral craze six years earlier on Donald Byrd's A New Perspective.
The set closes with the rarest of all Duke Pearson albums, Merry Ole Soul. Pearson, Bob Cranshaw, Mickey Roker and Airto swing ten Christmas classics with taste and class. All in all, a successful, varied program of music from a consummate artist who rarely sat still. The set includes two previously unissued tracks.
3 CD set for $48

DON PULLEN With GEORGE ADAMS/GARY PEACOCK/TONY WILLIAMS /DANNIE RICHMOND - Blue Note Recordings: Breakthrough/Song Everlasting/New Beginnings/Random Thoughts [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 013; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] "There is a searching bluesiness in Don which roots even his stunning pianistic runs and chromatics in the real, the concretely blue. For me, the pianistic pyrotechniques of Art Tatum and the crack-the-sound-barrier runs of Bud Powell are PullenXs obvious double-jointed God-fathers." - Amri Baraka, liner notes for "Breakthrough" These four albums, long unavailable, are standouts in career of one of jazz's true originals.
'Song Everlasting' - The Pullen/Adams Quartet -- comes out burning again in a jubilant followup to Breakthrough, which marked the group's American label debut. Here there is a little more stylistic diversity, along with plenty of melodic invention and fireworks on the outside from Pullen, Adams, Cameron Brown and Dannie Richmond. On "1529 Gunn Street," they crisply evoke the hard truckin' blues of the urban soul-jazzers -- without an organ, mind you, but with an incendiary quota of Pullen clusters -- and there are some Latin-tinged grooves as well. "Warm Up" contains some sudden, deft tempo changes that benefit from Richmond's experiences with Mingus. The CD version contains an extra Latin-flavored track, "Another Reason to Celebrate." - Richard Ginell / AMG
'New Beginnings' - Although it may be a bit of a simplification, on New Beginnings pianist Don Pullen sets up fairly simple structures (some of which could be grooves for Ramsey Lewis) and then, after stating the theme, tosses in playful runs that are often quite outside, essentially putting his original style from the 1960's in a slightly commercial 1980's setting. Pullen plays quite rhythmically during his more intense phrases and displays a sly sense of humor. Both bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Tony Williams get a generous amount of solo space on the trio date and they are not overshadowed by the leader's often-fanciful flights. However the set does have one strong fault: at under 28 minutes it is way too brief. - Scott Yanow / AMG
'Random Thoughts' - As bent upon pianistic mayhem as Don Pullen often seemed, this was one of his more user-friendly discs, despite having only a bass and drums between himself and tender-eared listeners. Quite often, Pullen starts a piece as if it were a conventional piano trio number, but before long, he's piling up his trademark keyboard-shuffling glissandos, playing the instrument as if it was a big, glittering, percussive crashing board. Yet everything always swings, thanks to Pullen's own early gospel leanings, Lewis Nash's loosey-goosey traps work and James Genus' flexible bass. Among the more ingratiating pieces is "Indio Gitano," a mesmerizing series of Spanish Phrygian couplets that groove irresistibly in 5/4 time, and "626 Fairfax" is notable for the way Pullen's glissandos fit seamlessly into the piece's swinging and harmonic contexts. Don't his identification with the avant-garde scare you away from this engaging CD, for Pullen manages to make even fearsome things seem approachable. - Rich Ginell /AMG
3 CD set for $48

CHARLES TOLLIVER/MUSIC INC. With STANLEY COWELL/CECIL McBEE or CLINT HOUSTON/JIMMY HOPPS or CLIFFORD BARBARO - The COMPLETE Live At Slugs' 1970 & Live In Tokyo 1973 [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 020; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] "Musically, the question on the table for Tolliver's generation at the dawn of Strata-East's inception was deciding what parts of bebop tradition remained visible in an age set on fire by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra. As can be heard on this and his other Strata-East releases, Tolliver's Music Inc group proposed clear answers to such questions, with meaty and melodious playing that celebrated the classical virtues of swing, virtuosity and the unbridled expressionism and spontaneity that were the 60's stock-in-trade. Call it a case of eating your cake and immolating it too." - Greg Tate, original CD liner notes
A quartet is a demanding setting for a trumpeter, but Tolliver was never at a loss for chops or ideas. He recorded the band live at Slug's in New York in 1970 and at a Tokyo concert in 1973 for his own Strata-East label. These have long since become collectors' items and are REISSUED HERE WITH XTRA UNRELEASED 75 MINUTES! [with 41 minutes of unissued material from Slug's and 34 minutes from Tokyo]. Stanley Cowell is the pianist (and contributing composer) throughout. Cecil McBee and Jimmy Hopps are on the Slug's session while Clint Houston and Clifford Barbaro are on the Japanese concert. With the exception of Neal Hefti's "Repetition" and Monk's "'Round Midnight", the band's book consisted of the exceptional originals by Tolliver, Cowell and McBee.
The musicians in Music, Inc challenged each other but never left the audience behind. This was state-of-the-art hard bop played in all its diversity from harmonically dense mazes to modal open forms to gorgeous ballads. And these men could sustain interest with each other and the listener through sheer creative power. As the music on this set proves, Tolliver's Music Inc met every challenge and then some. These live recordings from 1970 and '73 embrace hard bop in all its various approaches and epitomize the teamwork that is so essential to any successful jazz performance. And Charles's endurance is absolutely remarkable
3 CD set for $48

RANDY WESTON With COLEMAN HAWKINS/BOOKER ERVIN/KENNY DORHAM /CECI PAYNE/CLARK TERRY/KENNY BURRELL/GIGI GRYCE /FREDDY HUBBARD et al - Released & Unreleased 1957-1963: Piano-A-La-Mode/Little Niles/Live At The Five Spot/Uhuru Afrika...PLUS! [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 004; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] Like his early mentor Thelonious Monk, Randy Weston's piano style is both original and steeped in jazz history. He drew upon the rhythmic drive of the Harlem masters, the rich chords and wide voicings of Ellington and the spare, jabbing right hand of Count Basie. To this mix, he would later incorporate melodic and rhythmic forms from all over Africa. And from the outset, he was a gifted composer with an early penchant for time; many of his tunes would become jazz standards eclipsing their creator in popularity.
Despite the irresistible melodic and rhythmic appeal of his music, Weston has never achieved the popularity that he deserved. Throughout the decades, he has moved from label to label and from continent to continent making magnificent music and avid converts everywhere he played. This set, spanning 1957 to '63, offers highpoints of every facet of his music, all of which exudes a joyous spirit that is the nature of the man himself. The earliest, Piano-A-La-Mode (Jubilee) is a solo and trio date that focused on Randy's unique and vibrant piano style. A year later, Little Niles with a sextet featuring Johnny Griffin and Live At The Five Spot with Coleman Hawkins and Kenny Dorham, both for United Artists, reveal a prolific and startling fresh jazz composer as does a previously unissued 1960 Roulette album with Cecil Payne, Ron Carter and Roy Haynes.
Perhaps Weston's greatest contribution is fusing jazz with authentic forms of African music. His first albums in the field, Uhuru Afrika (Roulette, 1960) and Highlife (Colpix, 1963), are masterpieces that blended richly arranged ensembles with such great soloist as Clark Terry, Freddie Hubbard and Booker Ervin with galvanizing polyrhythmic drum ensembles. It is an honor to bring these extremely rare gems back to life; mastered in 24-bit from the original master tapes with astounding sonic results.
3 CD set for $48

TONY WILLIAMS QUINTET With WALLACE RONEY/MULGREW MILLER/BILL PIERCE/CHARNETT MOFFETT or ROBERT HURST or IRA COLEMAN - 1986-1991: Civilization/Angel Street/Native Heart/The Story Of Neptune [Ltd #'d 3 CD set] (Mosaic Select 024; USA) [LIMITED TO 5000 #'D COPIES] When Tony Williams came to New York in December 1962 at the age of 17 under the aegis of Jackie McLean, he knocked the jazz world on its ear. This kid hit the scene fully formed with an absolutely unique and revolutionary approach to jazz drumming at a time when Blakey, Roach, Elvin and Philly Joe were still in their prime and ubiquitous on the New York scene. Tony made his recording debut on Blue Note and was signed to the label by age 18.
When Blue Note was reactivated in 1985, Williams's mind was on acoustic jazz and composing and he returned to the label to make Foreign Intrigue with Wallace Roney, Donald Harrison, Bobby Hutcherson, Mulgrew Miller and Ron Carter. Excited by the results, the drummer formed a quintet with Roney, Miller, Bill Pierce and Charnett Moffett. That group lasted eight years with only the bass chair changing to Robert Hurst and eventually Ira Coleman.
The Tony Williams Quintet recorded four studio albums between 1986 and '91: Civilization, Angel Street, Native Heart and The Story Of Neptune. Each album was distinguished by Tony's distinctive, melodic compositions, unique arranging and extraordinary drumming. Roney, Pierce and Miller, all outstanding and concise soloists, quickly developed an empathy that grew with each album.
This was a band that made Tony immensely happy. He enjoyed the company of his sidemen and loved the way they interpreted his music. And from 1986 to '94, he had a consistent musical outlet for his music. Throughout a career filled with achievement and innovation, this body of work remains among his most satisfying music.
3 CD set for $48


New from Dusty Groove:

JORGE BEN - Forca Bruta (Dusty Groove 3005; USA) "First time on CD in the U.S. and first time in the world in over 15 years! A groundbreaking album from the young Jorge Ben -- one of Brazil's most soulful singers ever -- heard here at a pivotal point in his career. Forca Bruta is a record that forever transformed Brazilian music with its unique blend of samba and soul -- and it features some tremendous rhythm work from Trio Mocoto -- who bring in a wide variety of percussion techniques to make the whole thing groove. There's an earthy, laid-back feel to the whole set -- one that makes the album feel like a spontaneous expression of genius, even at the few points when larger orchestrations slide into the mix. The album is easily one of Jorge Ben's greatest -- and it's a much heralded Brazilian treasure that's finally getting reissued!"
CD $14

PETE JOLLY - Seasons (Dusty Groove 3004; USA) First time on CD for this treasure from A&M Records! Mad keyboards galore -- electric piano, Hammond, and more -- all played in a unique all-improvised session from the legendary Pete Jolly. The set's unlike anything else that Pete ever recorded -- and is in a space somewhere between CTI funk of the early 70s and some of Herbie Hancock's more experimental electric jams. Paul Humphrey handles the drums, alongside percussion from Milt Holland and Emil Richards -- and the album's filled with incredible mellow funk tracks that have a completely original flavor. Very much in tune with the current Fender Rhodes revival -- and a record that was decades ahead of it's time!
CD $14

LA CLAVE - La Clave (Dusty Groove 3003; USA) First time on CD -- ever! A lost bit of Latin funk from the early 70s -- the one and only album ever recorded by this hip San Francisco combo. The group's heavy on percussion, keyboards, and wah-wah guitar -- and they riff along mightily with a sound that's somewhere between Chicano soul and blacksploitation soundtrack funk. As an added bonus, Lalo Schifrin also had some mysterious role in the session -- playing a bit of keyboards and supposedly helping on arrangements. The album's a rare treasure in the Verve Records catalog -- easily one of the funkiest dates ever recorded for the label, and unavailable for decades. Their version of Sally Go Round The Roses must be heard!
CD $12

MELVIN JACKSON With PETE COSEY/LESTER BOWIE/LEO SMITH/ROSCOE MITCHELL - Funky Skull (Dusty Groove 3001; USA) "First time on CD. Amplified bass, electronic effects, and more, all served up in one of the headiest funk albums of the '60s. Eddie Harris' bassman Melvin Jackson works here in a Cadet Records-like session - with horns from members of the AACM (including Lester Bowie, Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell), guitar from Phil Upchurch and Pete Cosey, vocals from the Sound Of Feeling, and lots of funky rhythms on the stretched-out tracks.
CD $12

DOROTHY ASHBY - Rubaiyat of Dorothy Ashby (Dusty Groove 3002; USA) "First time on CD. arrangements from the legendary Richard Evans. Easily the funkiest record ever from the legendary jazz harpist Dorothy Ashby - a set of all-original tunes based on the writings of Omar Khayyam, done in a trans-cultural blend that inflects Ashby's jazz roots with Eastern styled instrumentation - and sends the whole thing home with beats and groove on the bottom."
CD $12

CHAKACHAS - Jungle Fever (Dusty Groove 3006; USA) First time on CD for the tripped-out Latin classic from the 70s -- a huge global hit for the Belgian group Chakachas, and used in countless soundtracks and hip hop samples over the years. Jungle Fever is probably best remembered for it's title hit -- a mad bit of funk with pounding drums, heavy breaks, and some of the sexiest mutterings ever set to wax. But the rest of the album is equally great too -- and offers a slightly different take on Latin music than you might get from a US group at the time. Rhythms are bold, horn parts are odd, and the vocals sometimes come across more like an instrument than a singer -- snapped in the groove with a real sense of tightness that goes way beyond language. Euro funk maestro Nico Gomez penned a few tunes for the set -- and the album's and instant party from the get-go!
CD $14


DINO & MONTEVIDEO BLUES - Dino & Montevideo Blues (Lion Prod. 614; Canada) "The one and only album by Dino & Montevideo Blues (Macondo GAM 551, 1972) deserves to be a serious contender as one of the most important, and as it happens, most grooving, records ever released in Uruguay. But there is another reason that the album has attained exalted status: the incisive power of the lyrics, which are all the more impressive considering the national turmoil out of which they were created. Montevideo Blues was founded by Uruguayan songwriting legend Gaston 'Dino' Ciarlo as a way to fuse the rawness of rock music with obscure native Uruguayan rhythms like malambo, milonga and chamarrita -a logical direction to pursue after Dino had attempted pop/candombe fusions in his solo recordings. The rest of the album tracks have an edgy, atonal quality, with terrific unconventional angular guitar and a kind of ragged glory, all driven along by insistent grooving rhythms, whether from native drums or the clicking of drumsticks. A 32-page booklet is packed with photos, detailed band history, and lyrics for this important Uruguayan band."
CD $17

ERGO SUM - Mexico (Lion Prod. 618; Canada) "Along with the two records by Nurse With Wound favorites Moving Gelatine Plates, Ergo Sum's weird and wonderful album Mexico is an unusual portal into the intense creativity of early 1970s French music. True, the bands are not musically similar; yet these three albums are distinguished not only by their instrumental richness, but by their unceasing sense of adventure. We'd go so far to say that Ergo Sum presents one of the most distinctive experiences in a rock idiom (apart from Zeuhl music juggernaut Magma) to ever come from France. The band's one and only album (1971) features the unique voice of Lionel Ledissez - his guttural sort-of-English language delivery described as being 'somewhere between Family's Roger Chapman and a drunken Champs-Elysees taxi driver,' although more sober comparisons to Tim and/or Jeff Buckley have also been made. The compositions develop at a relaxed pace; incredible jazz-inflected guitar, flute, piano and droning violin swirl around the vocals, and keep one submerged in, yet attentive to the intimate mood. A three o-clock in the morning, slow burn album if ever there was one."
CD $17

OPA - The Lost 1975 Sessions (Lion Prod. 617; Canada) "This disc is a departure from the other reissues in our Uruguayan music series. It's not remotely in a psychedelic or rock idiom; it was not released on the mighty Sondor label. Yet when given the opportunity to reissue these 'lost' sessions, we did not hesitate for a moment. This music is funky and jazzy, groovy and urban, even sounding like Fela (on 'Goldenwings' at least); it has the sunny feel of sweltering days on South American beaches, but it also has a heavy dose of the grittiness of mid-1970s New York City. There are connections to the great bands of Uruguay, of course: both Fattoruso brothers, so successful with their beat band Los Shakers, greatly admired the work of the much less successful Eduardo Mateo, Ruben Rada and their band, El Kinto. Opa had their own style, and the critical acclaim for their recorded legacy would soon eclipse on an international level that of anything else from their native land. A 16-page booklet includes band history and photos."
CD $17

OPHIUCUS - Ophiucus (Lion Prod. 619; Canada) "Ophiucus may be the name of an obscure constellation, but it's also the name of a French band that recorded an exceptional album in 1972 for the Barclay label. All the members of the band had already enjoyed ample success in music before musician/actor Emmanuel Booz brought them together in 1971: Jean-Pierre Pouret was a well-known session-man for Sylvie Vartan; brothers Alain and Bernard Labacci released albums as Tom & Jerry, and supported Jimi Hendrix for a TV appearance; Michel Bonnecarrere had founded the band Zoo (one of Andy Votel from the B-Music label's favorites), and was one of the composers, arrangers and musicians for that group's first two albums. Apropos of the period, the band members decided to live together as a small family in Flagy, a small town in France, where they lived a happy life and wrote the tracks that adorn this reissue. This ambitious album somehow manages to blend grungy psychedelic rock, acoustic blues and densely orchestrated French pop/psych (in an Ilous & Decuyper vein) into an impressive and cohesive whole. Sandy Spencer, cellist and member of Mormos contributed wonderful playing on 'Ne Cherche Plus' and 'Inachevee.' This reissue includes the original album plus eight bonus tracks in English meant to be the basis of an international album that was never issued. A fulsome 28-page booklet includes band history and commentaries on the songs written by Ophiucus, photos, lyrics (French and English), and a contemporary review."
CD $17


ELEPHANT MICAH - Hindu Windmills (Time-Lag 35; USA) "Digital version of the out-of-print LP. At long last, there's finally a full length Elephant Micah album born into this world. Stripped of all superfluous sound, and presented with the sort of stark realness that creates a deeply psychedelic mood without being in the least bit overt. Joe O'Connell has always been at the top of our favorite contemporary songwriters, and here the songs truly take center stage for the first time. Recorded direct to hand-held cassette recorder using only acoustic guitar and vocals, with just sparse backing from a little percussion, cello, electric piano and double-tracked vocals, the gauzy overdubs of past releases have all but vanished here. At the same time, the lyrical depth & intimacy have easily doubled, creating some of the most affecting country-tinged melancholy we've ever laid ears on. Hushed, heartaching and utterly timeless."
CD $15

PAINTING PETALS ON PLANET GHOST - Painting Petals on Planet Ghost (Time-Lag 30; USA) "Digital version of the out-of-print LP. Debut recording from Italy's Opalio brothers (My Cat Is An Alien) and Ramona Ponzini. An esoteric and mesmerizing trip through space, minimalism and emotion. Each track recorded at a different mystical location in the western Alps, and centered around Ramona's beautiful vocals, all of which are sung in traditional Japanese. Maurizio & Roberto add sparse accompaniment by means of toy piano, alien keyboard tones, antique accordion, percussion, tape effects, and some particularly evocative acoustic guitar. The whole thing comes off alternately as deeply meditative or chillingly haunted, depending on your attention & mood. Silence, space & ritual are hugely important here, with notes & words hovering frozen in time."
CD $15.





************RECOMMENDED NYC GIGS************



THE DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY 'FREE IN-STORE MUSIC' CONTINUES:

Thus Sunday, October 28th
6pm - DANIEL LEVIN & FORBES GRAHAM - New cello and trumpet duo!

Next Sunday, November 4th
6pm - RADIO I-CHING w/ANDY HAAS / DON FIORINO / DEE POP!
7pm - DAVID HANEY TRIO w/ David Haney (piano) / Ryan Snow (trombone) / Juan Pablo Carletti (drums)


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THE STONE is located at the NW corner of Avenue C & 2nd St.

October, 2007 curated by Paola Prestini / Steven Bernstein

10/26 Friday
8 and 10 pm - Steven Bernstein's Millennial Territory Orchestra w/ Steven Bernstein (trumpet) Art Baron (trombone) Charlie Burnham (violin) Doug Wieselman (clarinet) Peter Apfelbaum (tenor saxohone) Erik Lawrence (baritone, soprano saxophone) Matt Munisteri (guitar, vocals) Ben Allison (bass) Ben Perowsky (drums) First NYC show since premiering new scores to Laurel & Hardy films in Prospect Park, a rare opportunity to see MTO in Manhattan

10/27 Saturday
8 pm - Ben Perowsky Solo (drums, percussion and sincussion)
10 pm - Briggan Krauss' Tactics Server - Briggan Krauss (alto saxophone) Karen Waltuch (viola) Kato Hideki (electronics) Mike Sarin (drums, percussion)

10/28 Sunday
8 pm - Marcus Rojas Solo (tuba, tubapercussion, tubasinging)
10 pm - Gina Leishman (piano, voice, reeds) & guests; Kamikaze Ground Crew coleader, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer presents a special concert at the Stone

10/30 Tuesday
8 pm - Suave Swing comes to Downtown Deep Space w/ Art Baron (trombone) Fred Staton (tenor sax) Ben Waltzer (piano) Bill Crow (bass) Vinnie Johnson
10 pm - ScienSonic Laboratories presents DIVERGENCE THEOREM
Scott Robinson (saxophones, clarinets, theremin) Scott Robinson with Klaus Suonsaari, Dr. Sharon Robinson, Dr. Julian Thayer. Presenting a science-in-music kind of event called Divergence Theorem, Sharon will present a mathematical lecture with projection, blackboard, even handouts, within a piece of improvised music. She will be one of the performers, with math her instrument...and Jules is flying in from Ohio just to make this one-set performance.

10/31 Wednesday
8 and 10 pm - SPECIAL HALLOWEEN IMPROV NIGHT-A STONE BENEFIT
John Zorn and many VERY special surprise guests present an evening of music, magic and madness.
Come out on this sacred night and support The Stone! Twenty Dollars.

November, 2007 curated by Jeremiah Cymerman

11/1 Thursday
8 pm - Jessica Pavone-Quotidian (2007) and Walking, Sleeping, Breathing (2007) w/ Amy Cimini (viola) Katie Young (bassoon) Emily Manzo (piano) Loren Dempster (cello) Erica Dicker (violin) Jessica Pavone (viola, effects).Quotidian examines four temporal landmarks that occur within each single day. This work stems from a belief that the shifting balance between light and dark, as well as other environmental changes constantly affect us regardless of how conscious or aware we are of them. Our external environment has a direct effect on our moods and feelings & therefore, in a sense, has ultimate control over living beings. 10 pm - Jeremiah Cymerman-Silence & Solitude (2007) w/ Jeremiah Cymerman, Matt Bauder, Josh Sinton (clarinet) Christian Pincock (computer)
What has been described as "an impossible music" Cymerman and friends perform pieces from his upcoming Tzadik cd as well as recent works for improvisers.

11/2 Friday
8 pm - IOSONO w/ Christopher Hoffman (cello, compositions) Ryan Scott (guitar) Michael Attias (sax) John Hadfield (drums) Frank LoCastro (keys) Mike Savino (bass); CD release party.
10 pm - Little Women w/ Ben Greenberg (guitar) Travis Laplante (tenor sax) Darius Jones (sax) Jason Nazary (drums)

11/3 Saturday
8 and 10 pm - The Stares-Spine to Sea (2005) Mimicry Records
Angie Benintendi (voice, piano, keys) Drew Whittemore (voice, guitar) Don McGreevy (bass) Shahzad Ismaily (drums) Sam Amidon (violin)
The Stares are an easy obsession to acquire. The voices of songwriters Angie Benintendi and Drew Whittemore lead you with eyes fixated on some distant invisible expanse, treading so slowly, so beautifully, through landscapes familiar, but sprinkled with some kind of heavy magical realism that just can't be described. -Trey Spruance www.myspace.com/stares

11/4 Sunday
8 and 10 pm - Billy Martin (percussion, visuals)

Performances take place at 8 & 10 PM from Tuesday - Sunday nights,
There are no advance tickets, first come, first served, there is no phone
There is no food or beverage served or allowed, just a serious listening environment
Admission for each set is $10, unless otherwise indicated
Check out the website for The Stone at thestonenyc.com


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j a z z a t t h e s e a p o r t - Fridays at 8pm

october 26 berger, lindberg, belogenis & kugel
karl berger, piano and vibes
john lindberg, bass
louie belogenis, tenor saxophone
klaus kugel, drums

seaport district cultural association performance space
Front Street at Beekman Street (South Street Seaport)
rsvp: 1.212.393.9191
subway: 2,3,4,5 to Fulton Street or A to Broadway/Nassau


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Dee Pop presents: The Freestyle Creative Music Series
EVERY SUNDAY @ Jimmyās Restaurant
43 East 7th Street, NYC - 212-982-3006
Sets are at 7pm & 9pm $10 PER SHOW (cheap!)

OCTOBER: CURATED BY AMIR ELSAFFAR

October 28
7:00 Carlo DeRosa Trio with Justin Brown and Mark Shim


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Iridium Presents:

ENDANGERED SPECIES: THE MUSIC OF WAYNE SHORTER
With the Wayne Shorter Tribute Big Band Under the Direction of David Weiss)
Friday, October 26th / Sets at 8 & 10pm

With Special Guest:s
Wallace Roney- Trumpet (October 25)
James Spaulding- Alto Sax (October 26)
Grachan Moncur III- Trombone (October 26)
Joe Chambers- Drums (October 26)


The Wayne Shorter Tribute Band features:
Jeremy Pelt and Kenny Rampton- Trumpet; Miguel Zenon- Alto Sax; Jimmy Greene- Tenor and Soprano Sax; Bill McHenry (October 25) and Mark Turner (October 26)- Tenor Sax; Norbert Stachel- Baritone Sax and Bass Clarinet; Joe Fiedler and Stafford Hunter- Trombone; Orrin Evans (October 25) and George Colligan (October 26)- Piano; Dwayne Burno- Bass; Terreon Gully- Drums

Iridium Jazz Club - 212-582-2121
1650 Broadway (at 51st Street)


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Thursday November 1st at 7:30 PM

ROBERT FRIPP solo, & with The League Of Crafty Guitarists

at The Concert Hall at the Ethical Cultural Society
2 West 64th Street, New York, NY 10023

Mr Fripp will play the first set with electric guitar going through his 'Lunar Modue' tower of electronics

Mr Fripp will play the second set on acoustic guitar with The LOGC. This is the first NY appearance of LOGC in over 15 years!


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ROULETTE
October Concerts 2007

20 Greene St. (between Canal and Grand) 2 blocks west of Broadway
8:30 PM (unless otherwises noted) $15 at the Door
DTW members / students, seniors: $10
Reservations: 212.219.8242

Friday, October 26
Department of Hearts presents
The Violin Music of Stuart Saunders Smith
Sylvia Smith: Percussion; Airi Yoshioka: Violin

The Department of Hearts (Airi Yoshioka and Sylvia Smith) performs a retrospective concert of the violin music of Stuart Saunders Smith, a composer associated with rhythmically complex, finely wrought music. Our program features Hearts, a seven-movement work for unaccompanied violin, commissioned by Airi Yoshioka. Each movement creates a poetic expression of the ambivalent, deep regions of the heart. Hearts combines subtle theatrical elements with a hyper-expressive use of the violin and voice.

Saturday October 26th (9pm)
Sunday October 27th (3PM)

New West Electronic Arts & Music Organization
International Festival of Electro-Acoustic Music

WEAMO hosts annual international festivals of electro-acoustic music. These festivals distinctly seek to establish and showcase the similar modern-day evolutions of "art" and "popular" music, and do so by consistently calling for technology-based music. NWEAMO's festivals feature different nightly concerts in several cities (these have included Boulder (Colorado, USA), Morelia (Mexico), Portland (Oregon, USA), San Diego (California, USA), New York City (New York, USA), Mexico City (Mexico), Berlin (Germany) and Venice (Italy)..


Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007 - 9:00 PM

* Freida Abtan: "Yellow Flowers" - projected moving image + audio (DVD)
* Genevi¸ve Favre: "Electra" - clothing as musical instrument and movie screen
* SWARMIUS: "Grand Larceny" - violin, sax, snare drum, laptop - classical speed metal
* Charles Nichols: "De Grijze Boom" - metasaxophone
* Jack Vees: "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" - extended electric bass
* Hitoshi Akayama, Jonathon F. Lee, Akira Takaoka, Keiichi Tanaka: "Ambient Tide" - live projected image, lasers & electro music
* The Fearsome Sparrow: Experimental Rock


Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 - 3:00 PM

* Kinesthetech Sense - "The Color of Waiting" - interactive dance & projection
* Noah Keesecker: "Tonegoblin"
* Sonreel: "Emerge" - violin, percussion, laptop
* Angela Veomett : "Eve Song" - with Jessica Petrus, sporano, projected images, electro music
* Andres Subercaseaux: "Exit" live electronics & Video
* Paul Rudy "Vastly Shrinking Space" - with Madeleine Shapiro, cello/laptop
* Build: "Drivin'" indie-classical band


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Celestial Moonbeams Funk

Two Sundays, November 4 and 11 at 8pm
At The Living Theatre - 212-792-8050
21 Clinton Street, New York City
Between Houston and Stanton at Ave B


P. Nicholson's Celestial Moonbeams Funk Group

Dance: Patricia Nicholson, Miriam Parker, Julia Wilkins, Jason Jordan Capoeira: Solomon Nadaf + Jon Michael Leccia, Sax & Voice: Sabir Mateen - Sax: Rob Brown; Trpt + Voice: Roy Campbell (11/11 only) & Lewis BarnesViolin: Jason Kao Hwang, Bass: Todd Nicholson, Drums: Jackson Krall (11/4) then Gerald Cleaver (11/11)


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TREVOR WATTS & JAMIE HARRIS DUO!

Amalgam, SME & Moire Music legendary saxist with a great percussionist!
A rare stateside appearance

October 28th, 2007 at 5pm

At The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens
116 Pinehurst Ave at West 183rd St.

For more info, call 212-923-7800 ex. 1941


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ROB REDDY TO UNVEIL NEW WORK, NEW ENSEMBLE THIS OCTOBER in BROOKLYN, NY

Saxophonist/composer Rob Reddy and his new ensemble, Rob Reddy's Tenfold, will be in residence at

Brooklyn's Jalopy Theater every Friday night in October to perform his latest and most ambitious extended work, Episodes and Antinomies. The world premiere of this ten movement suite, commissioned by the American Composers Forum,

Three other performances will follow on October 12th, 19th and 26th respectively, further exploring the nuances and possibilities of this diverse music.

The opening acts will be the
Jon Margulies: Stone Tablet Interface (10/12)
Sarah Bernstein Unearthish (10/19)
Jessica Lurie Ensemble (10/26)

Admission to each of these four concerts will be $15 at the door. The Jalopy Theater is located at 315 Columbia Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Venue information is available at (718) 395-3214

Episodes and Antinomies, which takes roughly an hour and a half to perform, was written for Reddy's newly formed ten-piece ensemble featuring Douglas Yates (clarinets), John Carlson (trumpet), Mark Taylor (French horn), Charles Burnham (violin and mandolin), Rubin Kodheli (cello), Brandon Ross (guitars), Bryan Carrott (vibraphone and marimba), Dom Richards (double bass), and Pheeroan akLaff (drums). The music further explores many of the hallmarks of Reddy's most acclaimed musical projects, including a variety of time signatures, co-existing melodies, alternating through-composed and improvised movements, and the influence of genres ranging from traditional marches to modern rock to avant-garde jazz.

Episodes and Antinomies, the second of three commissioned Reddy works to receive its world premiere in New York this year, will be followed by the debut of a new book of music for his sextet, Rob Reddy's Gift Horse, at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center (TPAC) in late November.


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MATT SHIPP & THE NU-BOP QUARTET - Featuring:
MATT SHIPP / DANIEL CARTER / WILLIAM PARKER / GUILLERMO E. BROWN

Saturday, October 27th at 8pm
At Miller Theatre at Columbia University
2960 Broadway at 116th St.


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IRENE SCHWEIZER US & Canadian Tour Schedule for November, 2007:

November 5th - Solo - EUROJAZZ MEETS CHICAGO, USA

November 6th, Trio w/ FRED ANDERSON and MICHAEL ZERANG at VELVET LOUNGE, CHICAGO

November 9th - Trio with Jean Derome, jazz club MONTREAL

November 10th - Solo concert in Montreal, La chapelle historique du bon pasteur.

November 12th - Solo at ROULETTE, New York City


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October 2007:

New improved Superfast 'Advanced Search Engine' at our site. More choices of parameters for winnowing down to what you're really looking for! Go to

https://search2.downtownmusicgallery.com/first.cgi


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