When you go down to Deep Elem put your money in your socks
Getting to Deep Elem will put you on the rocks
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Elem blues
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Elem blues
When you go down to Deep Elem to have a little fun
Have your fifteen dollars when the police man come
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Elem blues
Oh, sweet mama, your daddy's got them Deep Elem blues
“Deep Elem Blues” is a traditional American folk song written about a neighborhood in East Dallas, Texas named Deep Ellum (also known as Deep Elm and Deep Elem). Deep Ellum has a rich history, in particular as an industrial area, arts and entertainment district, and African-American community and cultural center.
In the early 20th century, Deep Ellum had a thriving entertainment business, with an ever growing number of nightclubs, cafes, and domino parlors. The music scene was a hotbed for jazz and blues, with clubs hosting musicians such as Lead Belly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, and Sam Lightnin' Hopkins. In 1937 a local newspaper described Deep Ellum as “one spot in the city that needs no daylight saving time because there is no bedtime….the only place recorded on earth where business, religion, hoodooism, gambling and stealing goes on at the same time without friction”. Such was the backdrop for “Deep Elem Blues”. - Genius.com
Over the past month or so, I've had the Blues pretty bad. I am generally a positive old peace freak but the brutally cold weather and daily Bad News Political BS has really been getting to me. Ever since that last earthquake shook my oldest record shelving unit and the top row of blues albums crashed to the floor, I've been listening to my old blues collection, one album at a time, a couple each week. Sometimes sipping on some wine (spodee odee), sometimes taking a toke, but mostly savoring each of the many blues artists that I've come to love. I am working on a blues comp cassette which includes: Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Butterfield Blues Band, Fleetwood Mac, Canned Heat, King Biscuit Boy, Noah Lewis, Geoff Muldaur, Tracy Nelson, Rolling Stones, the Animals and many more. I first heard the above song played by the Dead when they used to open their shows with an acoustic set. There is a more recent version by bluegrass artist Jesse McReynolds that I really dig as well. Why do I feel better when I listen to and occasionally sing the words to ancient blues songs? According to the Willie Dixon book that I read a few years back, the Blues are an international, genderless, colorless, feeling or vibe that all humans can relate to at one time or another, since we are guinea pigs for the rich folks at the top who are guided by greed and not by God. Remember, brothers and sisters that if you go down to Deep Ellum, put your money in your socks! Who Loves you, bubbies?!?! - That's me, MC BruceLee
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UPDATES FOR BACK-ORDERED ITEMS:
These are being shipped to us tomorrow and should be here within a week
THE BOTTLE TAPES with PETER BROTZMANN CHICAGO TENTET / MILFORD GRAVES / BOBBY BRADFORD QT / CLUSONE 3 / WADADA LEO SMITH / et al - Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series (1996-2005)(Corbett Vs.Dempsey CVSD 126CD; USA) 6 CD Set $55
These are supposed in the US and should be at our distributor within the next week or two:
ANTHONY BRAXTON // ROLAND DAHINDEN / HILDEGARD KLEEB - Four Compositions (Wesleyan)(Prague Music Platform PMB 2301; Poland) 4 CD Set $70
Initially sold out and hopefully back by the end of this month:
BYRON COLEY / MATS GUSTAFSSON / THURSTON MOORE Now Jazz Now: 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings (1960-80) (Ecstatic Peace Library; UK) Big Book $46
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THE DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY 35th ANNIVERSARY IN-STORE CONCERT SERIES Continues with:
Saturday, February 14th, 2026: GauciMusic Series:
6:30: IGOR LUMPERT - tenor sax / BILLY MINTZ - drums
7:30: STEPHEN GAUCI - tenor sax - flute / SHOGO YAMGISHI - bass / JAMES PAUL NADIEN - Drums
8:30: JONATHAN HAFFNER - tenor sax / DALIUS NAUJO - drums - percussion
Tuesday, February 17th: Relative Pitch Presents: 6:30 - 8:30 Plus
Set 1: CHUCK ROTH - Guitar / ELIZA SALEM - Drums
Set 2: CHUCK ROTH - Guitar / NORA STANLEY - Alto Sax
Set 3: CHUCK ROTH / NORA STANLEY / ELIZA SALEM
Tuesday, February 24th:
6:30: COLIN HINTON - Drums / ERICA DICKER - Violin / SHAWN LOVATO - Bass
7:30: VIV CORRINGHAM - Vocals / MARCUS CUMMINS - Soprano Sax
8:30: JIM CLOUSE - Tenor-Soprano Saxes / MATT HOLLENBERG - Guitar / ADAM LANE - Bass / PATRICK GOLDEN - Drums
Tuesday, March 3rd:
6:30: ADAM LANE ELECTRIC BAND: NICK LYONS - Alto Sax / ADAM CAINE - El Guitar / ADAM LANE - El Bass / VIJAY ANDERSON - Drums
7:30: KRIS GRUDA - Guitar / EMILY HAY - Flutes - Voice - Electronics
8:30: RICH ROSENTHAL - Guitar / NICK GIANNI - Tenor Sax / KEVIN TKACZ - Bass / MICHAEL PAOLI - Drums
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THIS WEEK'S GOODIES BEGIN WITH GREAT DISCS FROM KENNY WHEELER & DAVE DOUGLAS:
KENNY WHEELER SEXTET with RAY WARLEIGH / STAN SULZMANN / JOHN PARRICELLI / CHRIS LAURENCE / TONY LEVIN - What Was (False Walls; UK) The first release of a 1995 studio session, produced by Evan Parker. The Kenny Wheeler Sextet includes Ray Warleigh, Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence and Tony Levin. Evan Parker instigated four recording sessions with Kenny Wheeler and members of this sextet between 1995 and 2003, with a compilation of Wheeler’s compositions from these sessions issued on Dream Sequence (2003); the only sextet track on Dream Sequence, “Kind Folk”, was taken from the 1995 session which is presented in full here for the first time. What Was includes compositions by Wheeler, Ray Warleigh, Stan Sulzmann, Mike Pyne and Lee Konitz.
“Any previously unreleased studio session from a great artist is an exciting prospect, especially an artist sadly no longer with us but one whose legacy is still being cared for and curated by many of the musicians with whom they were closest. Such is the case with this outstanding recording from Kenny Wheeler’s sextet at Gateway Studio in late 1995, capturing a special period in his life with a special group of colleagues.
On What Was we hear Kenny at 65 years old and still at the height of his musical powers, but with the mature finesse and refinement consistent with all his playing during the nineties and particularly on his most successful recording of all time, made just a few months after this session in February 1996, Angel Song (ECM).
This period is perhaps a kind of ‘second chapter’ in the evolution of his playing; after the fiery Wheeler of the 1970s we hear him now still full of passion and every bit as assured, but with the more reflective, glass-like quality that refined itself into his sound and self-expression around this time. In addition to that, this new release also brings together many of the people deeply connected with Kenny and his musical world throughout his entire career. It’s another treasure in the important legacy of a much missed, and irreplaceable musician.” - From Nick Smart’s sleevenotes
CD $17
DAVE DOUGLAS ALLOY with DAVID ADEWUMI / ALEXANDRA RIDOUT / PATRICIA BRENNAN / KATE PASS / RUDY ROYSTON - Alloy: Extras (Greenleaf GRE-CD-1117; USA) Featuring Dave Douglas on trumpet & compositions, David Adewumi & Alexandra Ridout on trumpets, Patricia Brennan on vibes, Kate Pass on contrabass and Rudy Royston on drums. Alloy is trumpet master Dave Douglas' second band with three trumpeters in the frontline of his current ensemble. The first Alloy CD was released in August of last year (2025) and was included on several best of lists for that year. I caught Alloy last month (January of 2026) at the Jazz Gallery during a Winter Jazz Fest celebration for Mr. Douglas' great Greenleaf label. Each night opened with a band featuring one of his guest trumpeters David Adewumi and Alexandra Ridout (England). I was most impressed with Alloy and both bands with either trumpeter were great as well. You should no doubt know about the other members of this fine band, especially vibist Patricia Brennan, whose recent CD's are consistently engaging and drummer Rudy Royston, is well known for his work for Bill Frisell, previous Dave Douglas projects as well as several swell leader dates.
This disc is an EP of sorts with 4 songs, written for a protest rally in 2003 as well as a cover of Thelonious Monk's "Friday the 13th". The opening piece is called "Invocation" and it has a solemn, prayer-like vibe. I love the way the three trumpets are harmonized to sound majestic on a more restrained level. Monk's classic gem "Friday the 13th" is next and slowed down and sensuously played as if it were played within a dream. While Mr. Douglas takes a long, moderately paced solo, the other trumpets play Monk's melody in a circular fashion underneath. Ms. Brennan's vibes play underneath, similar to the way a piano comps below the frontline's rising and falling lines. Kate Pass's bass is featured in the second half of this piece and she takes an extraordinary solo. "Demigods" is dedicated to Carla Bley and Steve Swallow since Mr. Swallow played in another more recent Dave Douglas band and the late Ms. Bley contributed songs to that project. Mr. Douglas takes another long, inspired solo here with Ms. Brennan's vibes simmering underneath and taking her own thoughtful solo to follow and keep the creative flow happening. "Standing Watch", is last piece here, features some of Mr. Douglas best orchestral-sounding composing/arranging. This piece is a blues of sorts, with great, dreamy, trumpet solos. The last section features the trumpets playing a most cerebral, calming conclusion. One thing that I've learned about much of Dave Douglas' catalogue is that one has to spend some time listening to his discs several times in order to hear the varied gems which are buried beneath whatever top layers that we often focus on. The rich rewards are often buried somewhat so take some time to absorb Dave Douglas' well thought out music. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $14 [27 minute 4 song CD-EP]
DAVE DOUGLAS GIFTS TRIO with RAFIQ BHATIA / IAN CHANG - Gifts Trio Live (Greenleaf GRE-CD-1109; USA) Featuring Dave Douglas on trumpet & most compositions, Rafiq Bhatia on guitar and Ian Chang on drums & mix. Recorded live at NOSPR Chamber Hall in Katowice, Poland in November of 2023. You have to admire trumpeter master, bandleader and composer Dave Douglas for consistently juggling several bands, composing & arranging new music and running this, the great Greenleaf label. This is the second disc from Mr. Douglas' Gifts Trio, a live recording with no guests. Douglas composed six of the eight songs here with two covers by Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington's most enduring collaborator. Guitarist Rafuq Bhatia is based in Brooklyn, has three discs as a leader and is a member of Son Lux. Drummer Ian Chang is also a member of Son Lux, as well as several other bands like Body Language, Brazos and Landlady.
For this live disc, the Gifts Trio stretches out each song which are often longer than the studio versions of the same songs. The opening piece is called "Gifts" and it starts with eerie guitar with ghostly effects, sizzling cymbals and Dave Douglas' distinctive warm, compelling trumpet sound. Although this is a live set, the sound is splendid, well-balanced and tastefully played. Ian Chang's tasteful, spacious cymbal & drum work is at the center here with Mr. Bhatia's sly guitar adding a layer haunting effects. Since this piece is played slowly, both Douglas' trumpet and Bhatia's guitar take their, building and making each note or sound of their solos count. Billy Strayhorn's "Take the A Train" was a signature/theme song for the Duke Ellington Orchestra and was play at most of their many gigs. It has been covered by many jazz groups over time and I recently heard a unique version by Yusef Lateef from 1957. Its main theme/riff is one you can't forget once you've heard it. The Gifts Trio strip it down and add a bit of funk to the groove. Mr. Bhatia takes a rather greasy solo which sounds more like electric bass than guitar. On "Third Dream", Douglas plays muted trumpet with an eerie grace, creating a haunting, ghost-like vibe for his skeletal trio. For "Small Bar", Mr. Bhatia adds several odd effects to his guitar, spinning a web of eerie space/rock sounds to the trio. Although Mr. Douglas is often the featured soloist on most of these pieces, it is guitarist Bhatia who often provides the structure and counterpoint to Douglas' playing. Bhatia does a great job of adding several layers of odd effects on "Seven Years Ago", volume pedal swells and space/rock guitar effects push this closer to jam band-like space/rock. One of Billy Strayhorn's best known songs is called "Blood Count" and the Gifts Trio do a unique version of this piece. Douglas plays the melody in most poignant, heart-warming way, as if he were a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, inspired by the buttery tones of several of Duke's men. Bhatia also takes an impressive solo here, somewhere between Jeff Beck and Bill Frisell in its tonal qualities. The final song is called "Goodbyes", which seems appropriate. It has Mr. Douglas playing off mic in the distance and taking a fine opening solo. When the guitar comes in, it has a snarling tone with Chang's inventive drumming pushing things higher. If you are an electric guitar freak/fan, then you should check out Rafiq Bhatia's playing as he is an integral part of this mighty trio. This is a marvelous disc on several levels so grab your copy now. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $16
COLIN HINTON with SANTIAGO LEIBSON / EIVIND OPSVIK - Three Suites (EMM 039; Earth) Featuring Santiago Leibson on piano & celeste, Eivind Opsvik on bass and Colin Hinton on drums and produced by Tyshawn Sorey. Over the past few years, I've seen & heard a number of drummers who have moved to town and who've played here at DMG. So many great ones, the list includes James Paul Nadien, Nick Neuberg, Patrick Golden, Raf Vertessen, Lesley Mok, Mike LaRocca and Colin Hinton. Colin Hinton has played here around a half dozen times and each time with different personnel. The trio here includes Mr. Hinton on drums, Santiago Leibson on piano & celeste and Eivind Opsvik on bass. Santiago Leibson is originally from Argentina and now lives in Brooklyn. He has around a half dozen releases and has worked with Drew Gress, Devin Gray, Ben Monder and Stephen Gauci. Norwegian bassist Eivind Opsvik, has been playing ion NYC since around 2000 and working with Tony Malaby, David Binney, Bill Frisell and Jacob Sacks. Opsvik has an ongoing jazz/rock/whatever group called Overseas, with some six releases worth hearing.
The music on this was first created during the pandemic in 2020, with Mr. Hinton spending much time at home (where we were all stuck), writing, listening, editing and formulating the way this music hangs together. There are three suites performed here, each one quite different in sound and approach. "In Absentia" is first and is in three parts. "Part 1" starts freely yet also sounds like there is a slow inner pulse at the center. The trio speed up the tempo quickly and slow back down again, stripping things down to a skeletal structure which is lush, haunting and spacious. "Part 2" is long and winds its way through valleys and peaks, it sounds like slow moving ballad at first, building or perhaps telling a tale as it evolves. Drummer/composer/bandleader/professor Tyshawn Sorey has done a fine job of producing this music as it warm, spacious and inviting to listen to. This piece builds into a more sweeping, dramatic sea of waves. "Part 3" starts off in near silence or space. This piece is filled with suspense, the trio creating a series of floating spirits or fleeting vibes. It sounds as if we were submerged deep in the sea, everything moving in slow motion, a few ghosts floating by.
The third suite is called "Elegy for Ralph", and it is dedicated to the late, great jazz drummer Ralph Peterson, who was a teacher of and an inspiration to Mr. Hinton. This suite starts out quietly, sparsely and suspensefully. This piece unfolds slowly, stretching out time, slowing things down until we enter a spacious dreamworld. It sounds like Mr. Hinton is also playing the vibes, each note reverberating one at a time. The sparseness allows us to consider the way each note is struck, the nuance of each sound. In the liner notes, Mr. Hinton mentions that he doesn't want this music to be like a regular jazz piano trio effort. It certainly does not as it each piece seems to evoke a different story, setting or deep feeling. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
2 CD Set $22
MAGDA MAYAS' FILAMENTAL with ZEENA PARKINS / RHODRI DAVIES / ANGHARAD DAVIES / CHRISTINE ABDELNOUR / MICHAEL THIEKE / ANTHEA CADDY / AIMEE THERIOT-RAMOS - Murmur (Relative Pitch RPR; USA) Featuring Zeena Parkins & Rhodri Davies on harps, Magda Mayas on piano, Anthea Caddy & Aimée on cellos, Angharad Davies on violin, Christine Abdenour on alto sax and Michael Thieke on clarinet. This is from Magda Mayas: "I am fascinated by the coordination and elegance of a flock of birds flying, forming beautiful murmurations, constantly changing, seemingly without effort. This communal act provides protection through the sheer number of birds and their changing position; it is an exchange of information amongst them and it has a clear collective ending when the flock decides to fly back to the ground. In Murmur, I want to explore how a large ensemble can make use of these instincts of communal movement, coordination, shape shifting and, eventually, potential simultaneous endings through distinct decisions around material and structure, but also shared memories of events that were created together."
Over the past two decades I've come to appreciate the music of and experimental playing of pianist Magda Mayas. Ms. Mayas can be found on more than three dozen discs since 2005, working with Tony Buck, John Butcher, Jim Denley and Polwechsel. This appears to be the third release from Ms. Mayas' ensemble called Filamental. In the notes, Ms. Mayas explains that she is fascinated with the way birds fly in flocks. There are eight musicians in Filamental, which is mostly a string-based ensemble. The sounds here are very carefully created, quiet, fragile, tapping on the bodies of the instruments for a subtle percussive effect and subtle drone notes being stretched out. It sounds like a hurdy gurdy which is wheezing slowly, in and out, in and out. What I like most about this is that there are numerous sounds which are hard to determine how they were created or on which instruments. The music is often cautious yet equally enchanting. A great deal of work and/or direction was involved in the creative of this piece. Consistently mesmerizing. - Bruce Lee Gallanter, DMG
CD $13
DAVID SHEA - Meditations (Room40 4254CD; Australia) A note from David Shea: "Meditations is a set of eight works based on the experience of meditation practice. Music made for both meditation and reflecting the realities of a life of daily practice. The breath, the quietness, the listening, the distracted dissonant and consonant thoughts that pass through. The texts throughout the pieces are fragments of the Buddhist Heart Sutra, the shortest and created from a mixture of traditions and sources, produced long after Buddha's death and meant to be chanted or sung as a ritual and personal meditation. The experience of meditation, so often covered in mythology and one dimensionally peaceful symbols, is in fact a complex set of traditions in all cultures and has roots in indigenous cultures world wide and involves the limitations of thought as well as the quietness of the mind as a source of understanding and health. The Buddhist teachings that are in focus in this album are in a sense a sequel to the record Rituals of 2015 in that they are adapted as Meditations that cross and combine traditions with any attempt consciously to synthesize them into a new whole. A conversation between traders, in the form here of musicians , languages, sound sources and the peace and struggle of maintaining a real meditational practice and living in the chaos and violence of society as well as accepting the world as it is, with all of the internal conflicts and release and rise of tension. The musicians on these pieces also are recorded live in a group setting listening to each other with a shared space and character I create and through this listening the connections that form the final piece are made. The Heart Sutra which I read in the last piece of the eight is a translation which has been collaged by many schools and cultures that adapted the teachings to their indigenous religions. The bonus track is a live mix (called a Metta Mix) of a performance and collage of all this material and other new pieces, performed in a virtual avatar world called 'Second Life' for a live audience who listens and attends in their own avatars. All pieces on this set of recordings are a version of this in some ways, with the mix being something both from me and for those that listen. Meditations is both a document of practice, past and present and an experience of listening, both personal and the connective mix of us and all the things that are not us."
CD $18
PETER KNIGHT - For A Moment The Sky Knew My Name (Room40 4263CD; Australia) "This is music inspired by the water and the wind. By the tattoo of the insects' beating wings and the soughing of the wattle in the sea breeze. By the dull roll of the surf and the rhythm of my breath against the pad of my feet as I walk along the sandy, leaf-littered path through the scrub to the beach. The fingers of the fire-blackened dead banksias clawing the vicious blue. Somewhere, a peal of laughter is torn from its source and flies for a moment on the thermals rising from the baking sand. It is the summer of 2024/25 in Australia as the ideas for this album coalesce from a dozen different threads. I'm camping with my family on Krowathunkooloong land in the south-east corner of the country. The place where I grew up. The same beach where I spent every summer through my childhood. We swim every day in the ocean and in the late afternoons in the calm of the Yeerung River. The water, stained red brown by Melaleuca, turns my hand into a bloody ghost as I watch it sink. This place asks questions of me about belonging, about the relationship of the body to the wind. Of memory, of history, and of forgetting. Sound braces us in the now but simultaneously connects us to the past - a porous membrane between inner and outer worlds. I am walking up the hill behind the Yeerung with my trumpet in my backpack. Stopping to play momentarily. Trying to find a space in which I can resonate the sounds I make with those around me. The river is full from earlier rain and is threatening to break through the thin sandbank that separates its deep red pool from the gunmetal blue ocean. The heat gathers and the pulsing of the crickets intensifies." - Peter Knight
CD $18
BLACK RAIN - Obliteration Bliss (Room40 4262CD; Australia) A note from Stuart Argabright: "Degraded, faded cities now empty of people. You can hear household appliances in the kitchens still talking, but only to each other. The phrases are distorted, unclear; broken English, Japanese and a few Korean and Chinese automated voices, syllables, shopping lists, play lists for dinner and recipes. Somewhere one of the machines is dialed in on an isolated pre-Buddhist monk chant, distant like from a high cliff meditation cell. The flow of the wide, long Black Mother River Kali Gandaki below them. Here is Obliteration Bliss A world in a flash of light. The world running faster and faster. Another biomorph escapes the facility...she disappears into a backwater jungle town. A witness to smoking remains and death after generation wars, ash snow dusted, scorched lands. Look into a huge room filled with ancient machines and stumble among the fossils by the old silver river. Before the wind reverses and chokes us with sand, grit and who knows what else direct from the Subcontinent. The evening fog closes around impossibly high tower buildings. A pack of racing bikes approaching, lights flaring. Still we linger in-between the shadows and the light. There's another voice calling, but its form is hazed in fading neon. It's raining again."
CD $18
BRAD E. ROSE - Sound Leaves (Room40 4251CD; Australia) A note from Brad Rose: "The Sound Leaves began as an interactive sound performance and installation based around humans' impact on the environment and how that impact is altering the sonic landscape of our world. As ecosystems change due to climate collapse, the sound of those ecosystems changes too. The Sound Leaves used an amplified collection of autumn leaves to encourage participants to listen closely to how their actions alter the sounds of the fallen leaves by walking on and through them for a period of time. By amplifying these sounds, processing and mixing them live, and playing them back via a set of speakers directed at the installation, the performance heightened the sonic changes participants' actions create. From that performance, a sound piece by the same name was composed using the recorded sounds with additional instrumentation. It was installed as a temporary exhibition on site at Philbrook Musuem of Art during the winter of 2023, emanating from a grove of oak and elm trees. A year later, as the climate crisis worsened, those same sounds were reprocessed and reconsidered, creating a more ghost-like approach, 'In Collapse.'"
CD $18
MIDORI HIRANO - OTONOMA (Thrill Jockey 643CD; USA) "The artistry of Midori Hirano lives in the resonance between sonic and visual worlds. Over her distinguished career the Berlin-based, Kyoto born composer, pianist, and synthesist has crafted a distinctive voice straddling the spheres of classical music and harmonies with abstraction and invention. In addition to works under her own name, Hirano has released dynamic experiments under her MimiCof moniker as well as composed for film, television, art exhibitions and architectural expos. Hirano has also been a prolific collaborator, working with CoH, Brueder Selke, Nils Mosh, Teodor Wolgers, Ben Lukas Boysen and Paul Emmerich, SPECIMENS, Mami Sakurai, Atsuko Hatano, and more, contributing to dozens of releases. Hirano is acclaimed for crafting emotive works that stimulate all the senses with impressionism, or painting with sound. OTONOMA is the culmination of her work synthesizing these elements and highlights her acumen as a practiced and intuitive artist. The album infuses Hirano's more classical sense of harmony on the piano with the endless textural possibilities of synthesizers. Like nebulas coalescing into galaxies, the pieces of OTONOMA emanate hues dense with subtle layers of color folded into gradients, arresting and radiant. In Japanese the word 'Oto' means 'sound' and 'Ma' refers to the 'space' or 'interval' between things. So, 'Otonoma' literally means 'the space between sounds.' In classical usage, 'Ma' can also mean 'room' which allows a different reading, 'a room of sounds.' 'Illuminance,' a foundational track on the album, has rich textures and a searching modular synth. 'Ame, Hikari' was initially composed for a photo exhibition of Japanese artist Rinko Kawauchi's work at Fotografiska Berlin and captures the rain (ame) and light (hikari) of Kawauchi's photos. The stately lone piano of 'Rainwalk' offers a minimalist, affecting snapshot of a moment in time while pieces like 'Aurora' take a more wide-eyed, macrocosmic view with fluttering electronics and a surging drone. Throughout OTONOMA, Hirano's compositions seep over their sonic borders and through the complex intersection of rhythm and tone are an affecting listen. The intersection between sound and space embodies the architecture of this beautiful impressionistic album. In the deft hands of its architect, Midori Hirano, the music is remarkable for its reflective and connective beauty, a sensational sensorial experience."
CD $16
MARIELLE V JAKOBSONS - The Patterns Lost to Air (Thrill Jockey 646CD; USA) "Marielle V Jakobsons has cultivated a signature voice molded by minimalist, ambient and spiritual traditions. Her recordings, from her early work with Date Palms, to the ongoing work with Chuck Johnson in Saariselka, and most definitively with The Patterns Lost to Air, show Jakobsons to be an exceptionally skillful sound sculptor, a musician who knows the value of patience and control. An artist able to derive maximum impact from her chosen sound elements, the album's layout is shaped by three primary voices of violin, Fender Rhodes, and Moog Matriarch and was recorded in 2024 in the studio Jakobsons built in Oakland, California, its huge windows overlooking a backyard with olive and palm trees, nesting towhees and hummingbirds. The Patterns lost to Air was also born of personal change for Jakobsons brought on by the health effects of long COVID, as well as an intentional musical shift from drones to working with scores and written music as she leaned in on her classical training, and harmonic writing. It was more than an evolution, it was a need to redefine who and what she was, down to the molecular level, because she could no longer create music in the same way, which became a galvanizing motif for The Patterns Lost to Air. On The Patterns Lost to Air, each piece emerges from a place of necessary restriction, discovering how limitation itself can become a portal to new territories of sound and meaning. The pieces make use of loops and slowly shifting patterns that gracefully decay with time. Through sonic landscapes of Fender Rhodes piano, synthesizers, and strings, the album investigates the space between those patterns like threads of memory, each tone transfiguring and dissolving together. Imagining the forms and shapes that sound takes as it's projected into a listening space, and how they are 'lost to air' as they morph and decay. This physicality of sound is a theme in her work in general, and this album is directly a conversation on that aspect." "The minutest vibrations are as expressive as the most sweeping gesture" - Pitchfork
CD $16
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ATTENTION ALL CREATIVE MUSICIANS OUT THERE, Around the world.
If you have a link for some music that you are working on and want to share it with the folks who read the DMG Newsletter, please send the link to DMG at BLGallanter@gmail.com
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THE STONE RESIDENCIES / TOMAS FUJIWARA / FEB 11-14
2/11 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Duo: Darius Jones (saxophone) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
2/12 Thursday
8:30 pm - Duo: Craig Taborn (piano) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
2/13 Friday
8:30 pm - Duo: Taylor Ho Bynum (cornet) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
2/14 Saturday
8:30 pm - The Out Louds: Ben Goldberg (clarinet) Mary Halvorson (guitar) Tomas Fujiwara (drums)
THE STONE RESIDENCIES / SYLVIE COURVOISIER / FEB 18-21
2/18 Wednesday
8:30 pm - Sylvie Courvoisier TRIO
Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Drew Gress (bass) Kenny Wollesen (drums)
2/19 Thursday
8:30 pm - Sylvie Courvoisier QUARTET with Miles Okazaki (guitar) Thomas Morgan (bass) Dan Weiss (drums)
2/20 Friday
8:30 pm - DUO - Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Ellery Eskelin (sax)
2/21 Saturday
8:30 pm - ShortCuts featuring Ikue Mori - Sylvie Courvoisier (piano) Ned Rothenberg (reeds) Nasheet Waits (drums) Ikue Mori (electronics)
THE STONE is located in
The New School at the Glass Box Theatre
55 West 13th Street - near 6th ave
For more info: https://thestonenyc.com/calendar.php?month=1
LIVE MUSIC
wed-sat - music at 8:30pm
ADMISSION - $20 per set
unless otherwise noted
cash only payment
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THE RECIRCULATION SERIES CONTINUES:
Thursday, February 12, 7pm
Uptown Out Presents
Implicit Arches -
Miguel Frasconi (electronics), Kurt Gottschalk (guitar)
Will Glass (drums) w/ Claire de Brunner (bassoon) guests
Recirculation
876 Riverside Dr @ 160th St, NY, NY
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NEW VIDEOS from GUITAR MASTER HENRY KAISER:
New one as of 1/19/2026:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyjcwHu5_1E
The above new Henry Kaiser show features Henry & friends using a variety of guitars, tremelo bars & effects and it is around 2 hours long!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KGp0VH4yQo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWn5MRUOTAc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ste9pdLiz_0
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From CHRIS CUTLER:
Formerly of HENRY COW, THE ART BEARS, NEWS FOR BABEL & RECOMMENDED RECORDS (ReR) has been creating an ongoing series of podcasts called the Probes series. I am often fascinated at listening to each of these as Mr. Cutler does an incredible job of showing a deep history of Creative Music in the 20th century & beyond. I usually listen to these on the train to NYC that I take to get to work each day. The most recent Probes (#37) was released earlier this year, here are the links:
This is a new one as of 1/19/2026:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simian-podcasts/id1754730297
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-37
https://rwm.macba.cat/en/research/probes-36
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