20th ANNIVERSARY VICTO FEST REVIEW & NEW THINGS
for the END of MAY 2003 from FRIEDLANDER, EXUBERANCE,
OLUYEMI, NELS plus the Return of the
BLACK SAINT/SOUL NOTE CATALOGUE of CLASSICS!!!

ERIK FRIEDLANDER - Quake (Cryptogramophone 118) Formerly known as
Topaz, Quake features Andy Laster on alto sax, Stomu Takeishi (from
Threadgill's Make a Move) on electric bass, Satoshi Takeishi (for
Myra Melford) on percussion and Masada String Trio cellist
extraordinaire, Erik Friedlander as leader, main composer and cello
wiz. Just caught this great quartet last month at Tonic and they
soared. Right from the opening tune, "Consternation", they soar here
as well, the complex theme is nailed by cello and alto sax as Stomu's
superb fretless bass and Satoshi's spirited percussion also spin and
weave the intricate, quick changing layers of lines. "After Hours"
is aptly titled as a smoky, late night, laid back tune with
exquisitely plucked cello and dreamy alto sax solos. "Bedlam" floats
freely, as member of the quartet swirls around each other and then
spin tightly together in the second half. "Gol Gham" is by Googoosh
and is an eloquent piece with some lovely cello and sax being played
delicately together. "Beauty Beauty" is the one long piece here and
it moves slowly and is filled with suspense and haunting solos from
Andy and Erik, sailing over dreamy cushion of their supple rhythm
team. The title track is another of those tight, quirky tunes with
an intricate theme that the quartet must navigate through a few
difficult sections. Another rich and varied offering from Erik's
excellent Quake quartet. Quake will also contribute to the next
third volume of Masada tribute cds, 'The Unknown Masada'.
CD release for $14.

EXUBERANCE [LOUIE BELOGENIS/ROY CAMPBELL QT.] - The Other Shore
(Boxholder 040) Exuberance is Prima Materia's Louie Belogenis on
tenor sax, Other Dimensions' Roy Campbell on trumpets, Hill Greene
(for Charles Gayle & Dave Douglas) and Michael Wimberley (for Charles
Gayle) on drums. Their set at the Vision Fest last week was an
outstanding one and this, their debut studio effort is also a great
thing. Both frontline horn players here keep very busy in many
different projects, this is Louie's second great cd this month, the
other was his other quartet with Tony Malaby and Roy Campbell played
nearly every night with a different project at the Vision Fest. The
opening here is the melancholy "Offering" for both horns and bells in
a hushed reverie. "Afro Eurasian Sketches" starts with congas and
more eloquent, somber horns caressing each other as they build in
intensity and spirit, with both horn taking slow burning, but
powerful solos. "Fulcrum" is a fine duo for both horns and they
sound great together, the spirit-force connecting each. "Walking in
Loisaida" has the quartet spinning intensely with swirling bowed bass
and sizzling drums and both horns sailing freely together on top.
"Terpsichord" is a similar quartet piece in which the rhythm team is
featured as they spin webs around and beneath both horns, pushing
them higher and higher, with inspired solos from each horn. The
title track is an epic length journey which breathes and builds
organically. Hushed muted trumpet and tenor sax weave together in
dream world, while both Louie's and Roy's tones take on an immensely
mesmerizing sound, blending their voices into spicy potion,
intoxicating us as it evolves. "Exuberance" is aptly titled, since
it has a hard charging funk rockin' groove with some slamming drums,
kicking the quartet into high gear and burnin' throughout. "Elegy
for Wilber Morris" closes our grand journey with a transcendent and
heartfelt tribute. It's a beautiful thing, this Exuberance!
CD release for $15.

ASSIF TSAHAR/PETER KOWALD/SUNNY MURRAY - MA: Live at Fundacio Juan
Miro (Hopscotch 15) This immensely powerful trio date features a
first time meeting with three giants of avant-jazz from much
different backgrounds/experiences who sound as if they have been
playing together for many years. Recorded live in Barcelona in July
of 2002 and another cosmic gem from the recently departed contrabass
legend Peter Kowald. Assif plays tenor sax and bass clarinet and
Sunny Murray helped invent free-jazz drums some forty years ago!?!
CD release for $14.

HENRY KAISER & GLENN PHILLIPS - Guitar Party (Gaff) Our favorite west
coast guitar hero (HK) returns with a gem for all you guitar freaks
out there! 'Guitar Party' is a psychedelic jam-based meeting of two
visionary guitarists: Henry Kaiser and Glenn Phillips. Phillips once
played amazing guitar with the legendary Hampton Grease Band from
Atlanta and is one of the unsung heroes of rock/prog electric guitar.
In the spirit of fun, they mix original tunes with particular covers
associated with Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane,
The Byrds, Neil Young, Bob Dylan and Tim Buckley. Bob Weir of The
Grateful Dead joins the jam for an outside-in rendition of Jimi
Hendrix's "If 6 Was 9". Guitar Party is more than a 'musician's
musician' all star outing. It is a collection of songs that prove
the credibility that a mix of covers and originals can carry when
placed in the right hands. Henry will finally come to play in NY
next February for a possible trio set with Raoul Bjorkenheim and
Lukas Ligeti and a solo acoustic set here at DMG!! Hallelujah!!
CD release for $14.

HENRY KAISER - A Bunch Of Guitar Solos [NTSC DVD] Henry Kaiser is
widely recognized as one of the most creative and innovative
guitarists, improvisers and producers in the field of rock, jazz and
experimental music. This DVD reissued an excellent video tape he
released a few years ago with bonus material and it presents "25
amazing guitar solos on 25 unusual guitars", recorded live in the
studio, along with a special bonus: In the austral summer of
2001-2002, Henry traveled to Antarctica under the auspices of a
United States Antarctic Program Artists and Writers Grant. His
official job was to record a solo guitar CD about Antarctica,
entitled "Antarctic Guitar". This DVD features in-the-field video
performances with Henry from the frozen Southern continent, including
using the South Pole as a guitar slide(!), performing inside an ice
cave atop the active volcano Mount Erebus and much more. An
incredibly cool collection!
DVD only release for $20.

POSITIVE KNOWLEDGE - Live in New York (Edgetone Records 4018) West
coast reeds wizard Oluyemi Thomas returns with another cosmic
offering from his grand quartet which features his partner Ijeoma
Thomas on poetic/space vocals, Wilber Morris on acoustic bass,
Michael Wimberly on drums and Oluyemi on bass clarinet, c-melody &
soprano saxes, flute and musette. This set was recorded live at the
2001 Vision Festival at the Knit. After a couple of cds on Music &
Arts, a duo with Alan Silva on Eremite and a previous quartet cd on
his own Earlight label, 'Live in New York' captures an amazing set of
free-spirit avant-jazz at its best. Ijeoma's voice is often riveting
and a bit scary in the way she bends her notes into odd shapes and
occasionally shrieks. Oluyemi breathes fire, passion and intense
energy on his bass clarinet, which has a completely distinctive
voice. The wonderful rhythm team is also incredible throughout,
providing a powerful cushion underneath both voices which fly high
above. Legendary contrabassist Wilber Morris has since passed away,
making this date all the more important. Each piece unfolds
organically and flows together as one solid force of nature. Oluyemi
also plays the rarely heard c-melody sax with equal resourcefulness
and both he and Ijeoma consistently push each other higher and weave
their lines with an intricate tapestry that only a close relationship
can provide. "In One Heart" is a tribute to the late Jeanne Lee,
whose spirit was also celebrated at the final night of the Vision
Fest this year and it is both a provocative poem and an engaging
performance. This is a particularly spirited and powerful set
throughout and will certainly take us a great journey of timelessness
and communion.
CD release for $14.

SCOT RAY QUINTET - Active Vapor Recovery (Cryptogramophone 117)
Featuring Nels Cline on guitars, Jeff Gauthier on electric violin,
Steuart Liebig on contrabass guitars, Alex Cline on drums and Scot
Ray on trombone and all compositions. Although I am not familiar the
leader on this date, I am very familiar and quite fond of the other
four musicians from there many recordings on the Nine Winds and
Crypto labels. Commencing with "Three Quarks", Scot has written a
dark, quirky theme that the guitar, violin and trombone play with
complex finesse. The rhythm team play a twisted sort-of funk groove
with the guitar and violin playing their difficult parts on top and
the trombone flies high above, Nels brings things to a close with
some a great noise guitar as it ends. "Above Breath" is an amazing
piece with layers of interconnected parts and sections, closer to
progressive electric jazz/rock than anything else, which keeps
shifting between tempos. "In Cleveland" has a goofy, old-time jazzy
theme as it begins, but moves through more difficult sections with
great solos from Jeff's violin and a fine guitar and trombone duo
section. "Man as Kite" starts a somber, dreamy piece, with elegant
harmonies for the bone and violin to play together as Nels plays his
continuous, quietly swinging lines with the rhythm team throughout,
with Jeff playing a lovely violin solo and then the guitar and
trombone solo together exquisitely with elegant fire later. Both
Nels and Scot wail on "Scarabaeus" with some wicked wah wah and
distortion guitar and burning bone. Scot's impressive compositions
also push the rhythm team through constantly shifting and difficult
navigation throughout and both Stueart and Alex do a fabulous job
from the beginning to the end. The one long track, "Trouble with
Sugar", moves through a variety of sections, some free and
mysterious, some laid back with another fine solos from Scot's great
trombone and the guitar and violin swirling around him magnificently.
This is a consistently wonderful release with strong playing and
solid compositions, plus a handful of amazing solos from my main man
Nels Cline. What more could we want?!?
CD release for $14.

MICHAEL JEFRY STEVENS - The Survivor's Suite (Jazz Halo 015) Former
downtown piano great, Michael J. Stevens, recently moved to Memphis
and turned 50. To celebrate this great change, he did his first ever
solo piano tour in Europe. The final concert of that tour took place
at De Werf in Belgium and was recorded, thus becoming this fine
release. I have always dug Michael's grand piano playing from the
dozen or so releases often with Joe Fonda on bass on labels like Leo
and Imaginary. Michael composed four of the six pieces on this cd,
which includes one Monk cover and one song by Federico Mompou. "For
Galo" opens with spacious, somber, sprinkles, which slowly drift by
like leaves floating on the soft wind. Quiet, lyrical, reflections
graciously unfold a few notes at a time. Michael plays Monk's "Ask
Me Now" with subdued, yet infectious glee, not nearly as angular as
Monk can get. Mompou's "Musica Callada #1" is an elegant, dreamy
ballad that also floats gently on clouds as they roll by. "Quiet" is
also an exquisite, haunting and drifting piece, which is a fine intro
for a great tune called "The Search", an intense, sprawling and
probing piece. The title track is 33 minutes long improvised suite
which is a grand journey exploring different textures, terrain and
scenery as it evolves. It moves through suspenseful episodes,
sometimes dancing like elves around a fire, taking its time to move
through sections filled with quiet drama and occasional mystery.
This is an extraordinary work, which will take some time to fully
absorb as the entire story becomes more apparent through repeated
listening sessions. Bravo!
CD release for $14.

KEN VANDERMARK - Furniture Music (Okkadisc 046) Solo saxophone music
from Chicago's finest, busiest and most influential bandleader and
reeds hero. Could this be his first solo sax effort?
CD release for $14.

TRIAGE - Twenty Minute Cliff (Okkadisc 045) Triage is Dave Rempis on
saxes, Jay Ajemain on bass and Tim Daisey on drums. Both Dave and
Tim are/were members of the fabulous Vandermark 5 and word is that
this trio project is also pretty great.
CD release for $14.

The LONG AWAITED RETURN of BLACK SAINT & SOUL NOTE LABELS:

MARILYN CRISPELL & STEFANO MALTESE - Red (Black Saint 120199) CD $15
MARILYN CRISPELL & STEFANO MALTESE - Blue (Black Saint 120209)
Marilyn is the wizard of Woodstock and of course, one of the giants
of avant/jazz piano. Stefano is an amazing Italian multi-reeds hero
with numerous releases out on Splasch, and certainly an
under-recognized and ever-engaging saxist. A possible review will
follow soon, if our pal Steve Holtje comes through (yo!). Only
available in Europe until now.
Each CD release is $15

ED BLACKWELL TRIO - Wall-Bridges (Black Saint 120153) Featuring Dewey
Redman on tenor sax, Cameron Brown on acoustic bass and the late,
great drummer for Ornette's original quartet - Ed Blackwell. This is
supposedly a reissue, but I can't recall it from before.
2 CD set for $17

GLENN SPEARMAN - Free World (Black Saint 120207) Featuring Raphe
Malik on trumpet, Marco Eneidi on alto sax, Paul Plimley on piano,
Lisle Ellis on bass and Donald Robinson on drums. Glenn was an
extraordinarily powerful saxist, who passed away a few years back.
This should burn!
CD release for $15.

ROSCOE MITCHELL & THE NOTE FACTORY - Bad Guys (Around 96) Featuring
Leo Smith, Matt Shipp, Grig Taborn, Spencer Barefield, Gerard Cleaver
& others. Master saxist and Art Ensemble leader Roscoe Mitchell must
have recorded this a few years back.
CD release for $16.

DON MOYE - Ancestral Memories (Around 98) Featuring Ari Brown on
tenor sax and Billy Brimfield on trumpet.
DON MOYE - Sun Percussion Summit & More (Around 97)
CD releases for $16.

STEVE LACY - Meets the Riccardo Fassi Trio: Dummy (Splasch 843)
Riccardo is a fine pianist with numerous releases out on Splasch.
CD release for $17.

HORACE TAPSCOTT - Solo Piano - Volume Ten (Nimbus 2370) Another
wonderful gem from the late, legendary big and small band leader,
teacher and extraordinary jazz pianist from L.A.
CD only release for $14.

HAN BENNINK & KENNY MILLIONS - Bootleg (Hum Ha 00) Han is the
incredibly creative jazz drummer and occasional prankster for the ICP
Orchestra and Kenny is a great tenor saxist formerly known as Keshvan
Maslak Probably great.
CD release for $14.

HISTORIC RELEASES, REISSUES & RESTOCKS for the End of May, 2003:

NUCLEUS - Pretty Redhead (Hux 038) Two important live sets from 1971
and 1981 from the legendary British jazz/rock/fusion ensemble who ran
a parallel path and shared members with Soft Machine. On the superb
set from 1971, the personnel features Chris Spedding on electric
guitar, Karl Jenkins on electric piano, bari sax & oboe, Ian Carr on
trumpet, Brian Smith on saxes, Jeff Clyne on bass and John Marshall
on drums. If you are Soft Machine fan-addict, like many who shop
here at DMG and don't already own Nucleus' 'Live in Bremen' cd
(Cuneiform), which came out last month, I would urge you to grab that
one first. Both are worthy of your time and moolah.
CD release for $17.

TEMPEST - Tempest (Castle) This excellent, extremely hard-rocking
band that was formed by drummer Jon Hiseman after the demise of his
early progressive jazz/blues/rock band Colosseum. This album is
notable as it features Allan Holdsworth very early in his career
before he went on to play with Ian Carr and join Soft Machine. Also
featured on this album is bassist Mark Clarke and singer Paul
Williams, who Allan brought back as the singer for him with I.O.U.
Probably the least jazzy, most hard rock thing Allan's ever done,
there is some totally smoking guitar work here. This recent reissue
features good sound and brief notes about the band.
7 for the price of 6 CD sale list item - $10.

TEMPEST - Living In Fear (Castle) After recording their first album,
vocalist Paul Williams and guitarist Allan Holdsworth left Tempest in
the summer of 1973. Seems like the end of the band, doesn't it?
Instead, they recruited the equally incredible, lightning speed and
daredevil guitarist Ollie Halsall from Patto and proceeded on as a
trio, with vocals by bassist Mark Clarke and Ollie. This album was
recorded in late 1973 and it features an even more hard rockin' sound
than their first, but jeezus, Ollie Halsall really plays amazingly
well on this, which makes it well worth a listen, especially as they
do a great cover one of a favorite Beatles song, "Paperback Writer
"!?!
7 for the price of 6 CD sale list item - $10.

FAMILY - Masters From The Vault [NTSC DVD] (Intense) In the early
1970's, Belgian TV ran a series of 30 minute programs of then-current
rock bands, recorded live without an audience in professional
lighting and staging. Someone has finally found these original tapes
and licensed the masters! I can't believe that this 1971 Family show
has surfaced; until this, the only footage of Family I'd ever seen
was from the Isle of Wight from the year before. This is a fantastic
five song set from one of their greatest periods, circa "Anyway",
with Roger "the electric goat" Chapman, Rob Townsend, Charlie
Whitney, John Weider and Poli Palmer playing "Dim", "Part of the
Load", "Good News - Bad News", "No Mule's Fool" and "The Weaver's
Answer". How does one explain Family 30 years later? Take a
idiosyncratic vocalist, who, like Peter Hammill or Don Van Vliet you
either grow to love or hate (Roger Chapman) combine his talents with
a standard guitar-led rock format, but add a multi-instrumentalist
who plays vibes/piano/flute, a bassist who plays violin, and have a
fine guitarist. Stir this wild and creative mix of hard rock and
progressive and folk and shake it all up with a lot of thought and
experimentation, while still keeping it 'song format' based with
almost all of the songs being well under 5 minutes and you have this
phenomenal band! Their first record, "Music from a Doll's House", was
a quirky, psych masterwork, so this is highly recommended.
DVD only release for $23.

SHUFFLE BOIL - Issue No. 1/Winter 2002 [a magazine of poets and
music] A most impressive new zine based in Berkeley, California. 50
pages long with articles on or by and poetry of Leo Smith, Captain
Beefheart, Sonny Stitt, Thelonius Monk, Sonny Clark, Cecil Taylor,
Jeanne Lee, Larry Ochs, Billy Strayhorn, Steve Lacy, Thurston Moore,
Morton Feldman, Jerry Gonzalez, Dave McKenna, Joe Dodge (long
interview with original Dave Brubeck drummer), Bunny Berrigan, Warne
Marsh, Barry Wallenstein, Joe Meek and many more. Reminds me of
early Op magazine.
50 page magazine for $5.

SHUFFLE BOIL - Issue No. 2/summer 2002 [a magazine of poets and
music] Published 3 times a year and now up to 74 pages. Articles on
or by and poetry of Marilyn Crispell, Fred Hopkins, Moondog, Jim
Pepper, Buffy St. Marie, Charles Curtis, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd,
tribute to Pete Brown(!), John Lee Hooker, Danieleson Familie, Joey
Ramone, Chet Baker, Thelonius Monk, Stuff Smith, Anne Waldman plus a
fabulous clarinet section featuring Eric Dolphy, John Carter, Pee Wee
Russell, Tony Scott, Jimmy Giuffre, Benny Goodman and many more.
74 page magazine for $5.

SHUFFLE BOIL - Issue No. 3/winter 2003 [a magazine of poets and
music] Just released and still up to 74 pages. Featuring articles
and poetry on or by Bud Powell, Richard Twardzik, Elmo Hope, Herbie
Nichols, Cecil Taylor, Kip Hanrahan, Red Norvo, Astor Piazzolla, Mike
Zwerin, Tina Brooks, Mal Waldron, Steve Dalachinsky, Albert Ayler,
Horace Tapscott, Mahalia Jackson, Jewlis Eisenberg, ICP Orchestra,
Pauline Oliveros, Peter Garland, Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski,
Stockhausen and many more.
74 page magazine for $5.

20th ANNUAL FESTIVAL MUSIQUE ACTUELLE VICTORIAVILLE Review:

This was the 15th Victo fest I've attended and it was once again
an incredible experience of live new music adventure in the center of
Quebec, about half way between Montreal and Quebec City. There were
some 24 concerts spread out over five days, from May 15th through May
19th. Since this was the 20th Victo fest, grand-master Michel
Levasseur had to outdo himself with an amazing, diverse line-up of
challenging music from around the world and he did a fine job.
Here's the story:
Six of us split from the Inwood section of NY at around noon on
Wed. May 14. Fellow journalist Kurt Gottschalk, Bibi from Taiwan,
Jon Diaz born in Peru, Len Seigfried who has been going up to Victo
for nearly as long as me, had hurt his leg badly and almost did not
make it and Jason Roth- young stud from Brooklyn and all around good
guy. We were detained at the border for about 20 minutes, but soon
sailed through. We made it up to Montreal to visit my good pal Luc
from L'Oblique Records on Rivard and had our customary dinner at that
great Peruvian restaurant not far away. We met Marc Chenard on the
street and found out about a free gig at the Café de Popolo later
that night, which has become the Tonic of Montreal for the past two
years. We were able to catch Antoine Berthiaume who has a duos cd
out with Fred Frith and Derek Bailey on Ambiances Magnitiques. He
was playing in a trio with Michel Coté & Bernard Falaise (percussion
& guitar-in-lap). Very cool, but the room was too smoky and folks
chatted too much. Nice to check out Popolo though. We made up to
Victoriaville by 2am, but the Hotel Colibri is not known for its
professionalism, so a series of mishaps were in store. We were
mighty tired after our ten-hour journey so we slept anyway and got
prepared for the first day of the fest. Saw our old pals Frith and
René Lussier at the front desk and said hi. The weather was sunny
and perfect. What more could we want? Dinner at our favorite
(Greek) restaurant Mykonos was the best way to begin Victo's 20th
anniversary celebration.
I am not going to review every set, just the ones that had a
profound effect on me or us. The first Victo concert was the René
Lussier (9 piece) Orchestra at the colleseum. The only musicians I
knew up there were Fred Frith, Tom Walsh on trombone, Lori Freedman
on clarinets plus 2 strings, piano, el bass and drums. The set was
mostly charming, a fine blend of some progressive elements, folk
tunes (French Canadian & Hawaiian), a few with nice vocals by René,
which is rare. Both René and Fred both switched off on various
guitars and both were ever inventive at combining their wealth of
talent and ideas. René played some (acoustic) dobro on a few tunes
which also was a nice change from the usually all electric sets up
here. The entire ensemble played beautifully, strong arrangements,
with little soloing, just a few clarinet and violin solos here and
there. It was more about the quaint and engaging songs. It went on
a bit too long, but other than that it was a fine way to begin our
Victo journey.
Mephista at the Cinema were next with Sylvie Courvoisiér on
piano, Ikue Mori on sampler and Susie Ibarra on drums. They just got
back from a European tour and it was easy to tell, since they were
completely focused and actually played some skeletally notated
pieces. I've seen these women (my good friends) many times, but this
set was quite special. They were even more magical than usual.
There were layers of suspense, mystery, dark and deep forces at work.
The balance and sound was perfect, so it became hard to tell who was
doing what when Sylvie played inside the piano and Ikue sounded as if
she sampling her companions and then inserting twisted versions of
their sounds in the mix. There was a constant shifting of textures,
sonorities, waves crashing and well placed violent punctuation. Here
were three sorceresses at work, casting their spells over all of us
and I was immensely proud of my downtown friends.
The night ended with JP Gauthiér, Mirko Sabatini and Vincenzo
Vasi at the college (Cegep). They had strange sound sculptures which
looked like a bicycle or a dancing spider which played themselves and
made odd sounds. The trio played a wide variety of toys and toy
keyboards, samplers, mostly older analogue technology and everything
was altered or mixed in a variety of ways. Their set was a limited
yet intriguing blend of the subtle alien sounds which took a long
time to evolve through some glacial sections. It went on for a bit
too long, but it was also late since it started at midnight and we
were all pretty tired. Close to the end, one dude played some
ancient Farfisa sounding keyboard and I thought they might go into In
a Gadda Da Vida, but thank the lord, they didn't.
Another old pal-o'mine playing was Oren Ambarchi, formerly of Phlegm
and from Australia and who has been garnering much praise for his
sonic manipulations over the past few years. Although Oren played an
altered electric guitar is his old free punk/jazz band, nowadays he
deals mainly with altering the few notes he coaxes from his old
guitar. At the cegep, he performed in a duo with Tim Hecker, another
sonic alchemist from Montreal. Their set started out with a minimum
of electronic sounds/specks and gradually grew thicker as they added
layers of electronic tapestry. It built into a dense mass with a
pounding, near-tribal bass-line that washed over us in waves of sonic
assault and felt great.
As some of us had predicted David Moss' Vocal/Global Quintet was
one of the festival's highlights. This all-star vocals-only project
featured the hilarious antics of Makigami Koichi, Jaap Blonk, Phil
Minton, Paul Dutton (from CCMC) and David Moss himself. All five of
these characters are wonderful and distinctive vocalists on their
own, so it was indeed a marvel to see/hear them together in different
combinations and as a whole. They twisted their mouths, as well as
their bodies into a variety of ridiculous sounds and shapes.
Tradition vocal snippets, haunting drones, growling, screaming, wacky
cartoon characters, snoring, chattering, barking, howling, crying,
kissing sounds, face slapping and all sorts of hilarious antics.
They switched off on conducting certain sections and often had us in
stitches. Michel says that this set will probably be released on cd,
but the visual side will certainly be missed for those who couldn't
attend.

John Zorn's All-Star American/Canadian Cobra was next and was
also one of the fest's highlights and best-attended sets. This
larger than usual Cobra included all members of Electric Masada and
Mephista plus Canadians René Lussier, John Oswald on sampler, Diane
Labrosse on sampler, Ron Samworth on guitar and Dylan Van Der Schyff
on drums. Cobra is a complex game piece with a variety of rules and
strategies and it is Zorn's most popular and most widely performed
work, done a numerous cities around the world. Zorn is the prompter
(a conductor of sorts) who stands/sits at a table with rows of cards
which he holds up to signal the semi-circle of players in front of
him on stage. It can be both fun and challenging to observe, hear
and as well as play, when the circumstances are right. Different
players try to change direction or take over through guerilla
tactics. There is constant shifting of textures, densities,
eruptions, themes established, submerged and often brought back.
Combinations of solos, duos and trios are explored, as well as
numerous genres or styles of music. Certain players really stood out
and added their own unique magic - Cyro Baptista, Lussier, Marc Ribot
and Oswald's insertion of some classical music. Zorn brought out
special guest vocalist Makigami Koichi toward the end of the set and
this brought the excitement factor even higher with multi-cultural
calamity swirling all around. The large crowd roared with approval
throughout the set and this was a great thing!
The third day began with the immensely charming duo of Joan
Hetu and Jean Derome, who both play saxes and assorted reeds and work
with the great Ambiances Magnetiques label. This couple have a
devilish, natural sense of humor and seem to capture the joyous
spirit of children at play with both silly and weird vocals plus a
quirky layers of sax and flute combinations. It was riveting set of
(innocent) naked songs and a great way to begin a day with five more
sets to deal with.
The next set was a quintet of French and French-Canadian
electro-acoustic musicians. They played in the center of the
colleseum, so that we all could walk around them and watch each
player individually and hear the set from different perspectives.
The quintet included Martin Tetreault on turntables, Diane Labrosse
on sampler, Xavier Charles on clarinet and a duo called Kristoff K.
Roll who played an assortment of toys and electronic contraptions.
This was perhaps the best set of electronic based improv at Victo and
was an engaging blend of both acoustic (clarinet and guitar on table)
and electronic manipulations. Tetreault often dealt with
near-violent turntable abuse and harsh static noise, while the others
slowly built up layers of drones, buzzing, spinning and twisting
sounds inside-out. I stayed put through most of the performance,
since it was also fun to watch others walk and sit slowly in circles
around the stage, plus the numerous speakers around the big room had
the many sounds moving in different directions. It was fun to try
and figure out how many of the sounds were being made and noticed
later that their were toys, balloons, styrofoam and a strange
assortment of objects used to get weird sounds into the mix.
Another extraordinary set of magical improv was an acoustic
Japanese/French fivesome which featured Michel Doneda on soprano sax,
Le Quan Ninh on percussion, Kazue Sawaii on koto, Tetsu Saitoh on
contrabass and Kazuo Imai on guitar. Mr. Doneda had just played here
at DMG with Jack Wright the day before we left for Victo and is an
adventurous saxist who works with textures and shapes, often one at a
time. I've caught French-based percussionist Le Quan Ninh on a few
occasions and he mostly plays bass drum and cymbals and is an
amazingly distinctive player. Ms. Sawaii is one of the world's best
koto players and we were lucky to witness her mysterious approach to
the koto, most often heard in a more traditional context. Both
Japanese bassist and guitarist were players I was only vaguely
familiar with, but both were marvels at manipulating their
instruments in a wide variety of ways. This was a thoroughly
outstanding set of focused improvisations which swirled and moved in
enchanting waves. The perfect sound at the cinema also added to the
superb balance of five great players blend their sounds into focused
mass of inter-connected tapestry.
John Zorn's Electric Masada were in fine, fire-breathing form
and blew the minds (and ears) of their sold-out 1,100 capacity
audience at the colleseum. This version of Electric Masada featured
Marc Ribot on lead guitar, John Medeski on organ, Jamie Saft on el.
piano/analogue synth, Trevor Dunn on el. bass, Cyro Baptista on
percussion, Ben Perowsky on drums and John Zorn on alto sax and
director. This version of Masada has only been around for less than
a year, with Kenny Wollesen on drums at times. If you are interested
in their history and evolution, check out my lengthy notes in the
Victo program, which I was honored to. Electric Masada were a
powerful force to be reckoned with and even though I've caught them
in Tonic on several occasions, witnessing their awesome power in the
vast colleseum space at Victo was a grand spectacle brutal intensity.
Although most of the tunes here are familiar to those who have heard
the Masada songbook (ten studio cds, six live cd & four tributes so
far), the Jewish melodies at the center of these songs are merely
touch-stones for what they become in this arena. The septet sounds
like an extension early seventies period electric Miles with hard
charging rhythm team (Cyro really adds his own Brazilian percussive
magic) and long, inspired solos from Ribot, Medeski, Saft and Zorn
himself, who also conducts with one arm while screaming and blasting
out sax solos is his own unique way. Some critics have complained
that the band sound too derivative of early seventies Miles and
Santana, as always they've over-simplified the case and missed the
point. Yes, Electric Masada are a sort-of jamband, but there are
none more exciting or exhilarating!! I just wish they would drop
that "Black Shabos" tune from their sets, it continues to give me
nightmares, but then so does George W.
Day 4 began with the ultra-subtle duo of Annette Krebs with her
guitar-on-table and Andrea Neumann playing the small horizontal harp
from inside a piano. Both women put their instruments through some
sonic manipulation and we were treated to some ethereal,
Ertswhile-like blips, bleeps, static, noise fragments and other
carefully crafted and well placed electronic ghost sounds. A good
way to begin another six set day, although I was not as impressed as
Kurt.
The great bay area legends Rova Sax Quartet are celebrating
their 25th anniversary this year and they also played in the center
of the colleseum, surrounded by the audience. They did sound as if
they were around for a long time, since each piece explored a variety
of genres (avant-jazz, classical), textures, sub-groups and soloists.
Sometimes they would play bluesy, grooving riffs while one person
would honk on top. The aptly titled "Ruins" was more explosive and
had different duos spiraling around the central theme. "5" seemed to
involve some cool school subtly in the first part and which becomes
morse code like tapping in the next part. What Rova does best is
playing inter-connected parts which pile up in layers with intricate
harmonies and constantly changing textures.
Ron Anderson on electric guitar, Camel Zekri on acoustic guitar
and Olivier Paquotte on el. bass were back at the cegep and their set
was almost too much - sort of punk/jazz/noise with some pound bass
thrown in to toast our minds and bodies. It became a blur of dense
and twisted sonic architecture and was pretty scary at times. The
complete opposite of the next set, which wasS
The four great contrabasses of William Parker, Joelle Leandre,
Barre Phillips and Tetsu Saitoh performed in the cinema. Dedicated
to fallen hero and recently departed bass legend Peter Kowald, whose
duo with William Parker was one of last year's highlights at Victo
and recently came out on cd. Although all four of these bassists are
virtuosos of extended techniques on their own, they held back and
played often restrained and haunting drones and bowed bass ghost-like
spirits. Their set ascended into cosmic layers of plucking, bowing
and flurries of buzzing bass tones. They did a wonderful job of
evoking Kowald's special spiritual sound, all that was missing was
Peter's final throat singing chant he used to begin and end each solo
with.
It was a joy and revelation to finally hear Fred Frith's "The
Traffic Continues" which was performed by Nouvel Ensemble Moderne
(from Montreal) with Fred adding his special guitar sounds and doing
some directing. "TrafficS" is one of Fred's most serious and
evocative works, but sadly has never been performed in the US, only
in Europe by Ensemble Moderne from Germany. For this performance,
Fred had rearranged this work and added parts of four other pieces.
The entire concert was now an additional half hour longer, seamlessly
flowed as one work. The sixteen piece large chamber orchestra played
beautifully and was well conducted by Lorraine Vaillancourt. Except
for the rambunctious (Zappa-like) spirit of "TrafficS", the rest of
the music was often delicate, fragile, haunting, suspenseful and
quietly mesmerizing. At 75 minutes, it seemed a bit too long in
parts, but had a number of amazing sections, especially Fred's
well-placed noise guitar segments.
The fifth and final day began with a splendid Euro improv trio
of Urs Leimgruber on saxes, Jacques Demierre working mostly inside
the piano and Barre Phillips on acoustic bass. Much of this set was
cautious, fragile, breathy which built into dense flurries of
pounding piano, cerebral and rubbery bass and even some bluesy,
swaggering tenor sax segments. Another great way to begin our
(final) day.
The much-anticipated set by the Evan Parker/Peter Brotzmann
Double Trio was next and was definitely the best set of this fest!
The all-star assemblage featured Alex Von Sclippenbach on piano,
William Parker on acoustic bass, Paul Lytton & Hamid Drake on drums
and the two tenor titans with Evan also on soprano and Peter also on
clarinets. The sextet began together with both Trane-like tenor
saxes swirling ferociously together on a riff. After the intense
opening, they slimmed down to the Alex/Evan/Paul trio and played
together as one colossal force of close listening and solid
interaction. Schlippenbach, who hasn't been in America in over a
decade until this current tour, was spectacular throughout the entire
set. From a solo section to mysterious inside-the-piano episodes to
a magnificent trio with both drummers, he is amongst the best of all
modern avant-piano giants. Both Evan and Peter also magical in their
own distinctive ways on all the reeds they played. William Parker
pumped hard and provided the centering force or gluewhich held the
storm together. Both drummers were completely different in their
approach, yet worked well together. Lytton would add his bent sounds
with broken cymbals on top of his drums and Hamid would provide an
occasional groove or even swing a bit and even played some hypnotic
frame drum at one point. This set was a complete marvel and Michel
hopes to have it released on a future Victo cd, we can only hope.
Master contrabassist Joelle Leandre worked with sonic
manipulator Joel Ryan, who also works with Evan Parker, back at the
cegep. This set was also one of this year's best. Joelle is always
amazing on her trusty acoustic bass, as she showed us at the old DMG
store last year. Here her organic sound of wood and strings being
plucked, bowed and manipulated by hand were altered by Joel's
electronics in a variety of strange ways. Blurring her sound into
cosmic, swirling electronics, the buzzing of ghost/echoes and other
sonic sorcery. To balance the set there were two solo pieces, one
with Joel just taking Joelle's sounds/samples and creating a flurry
of mysterious sonic scenery (while Joelle left the stage) and an
acoustic solo piece by Joelle which was marvelous in its own purely
acoustic way.
The final set of Victo 2003 was the Fantomas/Melvins Big (or
Double) Band, which featured two lead guitars, two electric basses,
two drummers and Mike Patton on most lead vocals. Although I do dig
the Fantomas for their twisted sense of humor, I was not that
familiar with the heavy sounds of the highly influential Melvins.
There were no chairs at the vast colleseum to sit in, so us old folks
had to stand with kiddies who populated this nearly sold-out show. I
didn't get too close to the front, since I nearly got killed at a
Buttholes show over a decade ago, hence my slamming days are long
over. I must admit to being impressed with their tight,
sludge/metal/punk rock sound and at just one hour in length, for me
it was just enough. It was fun to dance around and act silly,
nodding to their ridiculous Black Sabbath-like heaviness, just as
long body surfing stayed up front. It was certainly an odd way to
end the 20th Victoriaville New Music Festival, but still liberating
from the more serious side of challenging music that makes up most of
our overwhelming Victo experience.
Very special thanks to Michel Levasseur and his entire crew for
another monumental effort!!!

Bruce's recommendations for next year's Victo fest:
1.TISZIJI MUNOZ/PHAROAH SANDERS COSMIC OFFERING
2.SOFT WORKS [ELTON DEAN/ALAN HOLDSWORTH/HUGH HOPPER/JOHN MARSHALL]
3.SLAPP HAPPY [REUNION]
4.BILL LASWELL & TABLA BEAT SCIENCE
5.THINKING PLAGUE
6.DEUX EX MACHINA
7.PRESENT
8.RAOUL BJORKENHEIM'S SCORCH TRIO
9.DAEVID ALLEN & ORIGINAL GONG
10.PHIL MILLER'S IN CAHOOTS

DMG FREE IN-STORE PERFORMANCES FOR JUNE 2003:

This Sunday June 1st at 7pm-
RAOUL BJORKENHEIM & LUKAS LIGETI!!
Finnish guitar hero from the Scorch Trio, Phantom City & Krakatau - Raoul!
Joins forces with the great drummer, percussionist & composer - Lukas!

Sunday June 8th at 7pm-
ANDREW DRURY-JESSICA LURIE-CHRIS HOFFMAN!!
Andrew is a fabulous drummer & composer with a new cd out on Innova!
Jessica Lurie plays w/ the Billy Tipton Memorial Sax Qt. & has a
great solo cd out now!
Chris Hoffman plays cello and has got to be happening to be in this great trio!

Sunday June 15th at 7pm-
ANDY HAAS & DON FIORINO!!
Andy plays alto sax & has a groovy cd on Avant & Don plays great guitar!
Their last set at DMG was a beautiful experience!

Sunday June 22nd at 7pm-
MATT LAVELLE solo trumpet & bass clarinet!!
Matt works at Tower uptown & is one of the up and coming heroes of
the downtown scene!

Sunday June 29th -
No in-store performance as Manny and Bruce will be attending the
NEAR-Fest in Trenton, NJ and checking out Magma, Camel, Sleepytime
Gorilla Museum & more!!

DMG RECOMMENDED CALENDER OF GIGS FOR EARLY JUNE 2003:

Friday May 30th-
ARTO LINDSAY & JOHN ZORN at Tonic at 8 & 10pm - always a blast!!!

Saturday May 31st-
ROBERT DICK & DAVID SOLDIER at Engine 27 (173 Franklin St., bet.
Hudson & Greenwich Sts) reception at 6pm for installation & concert
at 8pm! Robert Dick is an amazing flutist & composer who is finally
back in NYC after a decade in Switzerland!!! Hooray for us!
MELVIN GIBBS BAND at Tonic at 8pm - Melvin is an amazing el. bassist
& fine bandleader, so...
ARTO LINDSAY BAND at Tonic at 10pm - surprises are always in store w/ Arto!
Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto sax, Carlo de Rosa on acoustic bass &
Elliot Humberto Kavee on drums at the Jazz Gallery (290 Hudson &
Spring) at 9 & 10:30 - Rudresh plays burnin' sax with Vijay Iyer and
he rules!!

Sunday June 1st-
RAOUL BJORKENHEIM & LUKAS LIGETI here at DMG at 7pm for free!!
Finnish guitar hero from the Scorch Trio, Phantom City and Krakatau
joins forces with the great drummer, percussionist and composer!!
DEE POP'S FREE-STYLE FEST at CB's Lounge starts at 7pm - bill
mchenry; 8pm - rare bird rhumba ranch; 9pm - roy campbell, joe
giardulla, joe mcphee, ravish momin, adam lane; 10pm - Russ Johnson -
trumpet, Jason Gillenwater - tenor sax, Jon Goldberger - electric
guitar, Eivind Opsvik - electric bass, Jeff Davis - drums - another
great line-up!!
DAVID GRUBBS & HAMISH KILGOUR at Tonic!

Tuesday June 3rd
TISZIJI MUNOZ will sit-in with PAUL SHAFFER and the Letterman band
to promote the 'Divine Radiance' release on The Late Show with David
Letterman airing on June 3 2003.

Wednesday June 4th-
NINA SIMONE TRIBUTE at Tonic at 8pm w/ Run On, Sue Garner & others!

Thursday June 5th-
LOVE w/ chamber orchestra & rock band at Town Hall at 8pm performing
their late 60's classic 'Forever Changes' in its entirety!! Not to
be missed by us psych relics!
PAULINE OLIVEROS' NEW CIRCLE QUINTET at Tonic at 8pm! New CD out!

Friday June 6th-
GARY LUCAS/GODS & MONSTERS/DU-TELLS 15th Anniversary celebration at
the Knit's new tap-bar performance space at 9pm - certain to blow
minds, so be there!
TIM BERNE'S BIG SATAN w/ MARC DUCRET at KFOO at 9 & 11pm! Yeah!!
TISZIJI MUNOZ & PAUL SHAFFER duet at Isaac Stern Auditorium, Carnegie
Hall. Doors open at 8:00 PM Tix - $50-$150

Saturday June 7th-
HENRY THREADGILL BAND at Joe's Pub at 7:30 & 9:30 - awesome, no matter!
ROCKET from the TOMBS at Village Underground at 7:30 - legendary
punk/noise band featuring David Thomas (Pere Ubu), Richard Lloyd
(Television) and Cheetah Chrome (Dead Boys) - first gig in more than
twenty years!!

Sunday June 8th-
ANDREW DRURY-JESSICA LURIE-CHRIS HOFFMAN here at DMG at 7pm for
free!! Andrew is a fabulous drummer & composer with a new cd out on
Innova! Jessica plays w/ the Billy Tipton Memorial Sax Qt. & has a
great solo cd out now! Chris Hoffman plays cello and has got to be
happening to be in this great trio!

Tuesday June 10th-
TISZIJI MUNOZ-PHAROAH SANDERS-RAVI COLTRANE-PAUL SHAFFER-DON
PATE-RASHIED ALI!! CD release set at the Village Underground on W.
3rd near 6th Ave at 8:30!! Cosmic gig of the year!!!!!

Wednesday June 11th-
DOWNTOWN MUSIC GALLERY 12th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION at Tonic starting
at 8pm w/ JOHN ZORN & ANTON FIER, RAOUL BJORKENHEIM-ELLIOTT
SHARP-LUKAS LIGETI & BOB MUSSO-DAVE DREIWITZ-LANCE CARTER [DMC]
TRIO!! Come on down & help us celebrate this great occasion!!

--
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and books are at a proportionately higher rate.

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We reserve the right to insure large packages (generally about
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______________________________________________________

For a current list of our NEW/SEALED VINYl [LPs, EPs, 12"ers], click
on or go to:

http://DownTownMusicGallery.com/WWW_DMG_Search.cgi?stocklps

____________________________________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: WE HAVE CHANGED OUR ADDRESS!
(We are 2 blocks south of our previous location)

Downtown Music Gallery
13 Monroe St.
New York, NY 10002-7351
USA

(located on Bowery [aka Third Ave] between Great Jones [E. 3rd st.] &
Bond [E. 2nd st.])

Closest Subway stops:
"N" to 8th street [& Bdwy.]
"F" to 2nd Ave [& Houston]
"6" to Astor Place [aka E. 8th st. & Fourth Ave.]

Tel: 212 473-0043 / 800 622-1387
Fax: 212-533-5059

www.dtmgallery.com

dmg@downtownmusicgallery.com

Hours:
Sun. - Thurs. 12 noon 'til 9pm
Fri. & Sat. 12 noon 'til 10pm.

Closed Independence Day (7/4), Thanksgiving, Christmas (12/25), New Years Day

Sundays we have in-store concerts from 7 to 8:30, please
don't call then.
____________________________________________________________

OUR WEBSITE (DTMGallery.com) NOW HAS A SEARCH ENGINE!
Since Oct 26th '02 you are now able to search for items by
Artist Name, or Title, or Keyword In Description text (or
an"Everything Search" which encompasses these first three searches),
and/or Label, as well as othersub-search features like which items
are LP/Vinyl, or only items included in the "Buy 6, get 7th CD Free"
Sale, etc, etc, Or ANY COMBINATION OF THESE SEARCHES!
We've only loaded a small portion of the cornucopia to be found when
one visits the store - most of the recent 25 newsletters and the
complete catalogs of many of the main labels which we specialize in
and/or represent. We hope to add at least 200 items from our current
stock each week (including the contents of each latest newsletter)
until we catch up with our basic available stock somewhere in the
next few months.

You may begin using this immediately to search for stuff you remember
reading about in our newsletters (the information/compiled
newsletters at the site have never been in a [re]searchable order)
and we welcome your comments and criticisms as to how helpful you
find it.

The search page is found at
http://DownTownMusicGallery.com

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Regards,

--DMG.

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