DMG Newsletter for November 21st, 2008

[PLEASE NOTE - this page also includes the items from the Nov. 14th newsletter, which was not posted separately]



John Brackett's book on John Zorn! David Byrne/Brian Eno together again! Zorn Film 22! J Spaceman/Matt Shipp! Charles Gayle 3 live 2007! Tamura/Fujii duet and Satoko Fuji NY Orchestra! Gebhard Ullman's Basement Research! A new Umezu Kiki Band CD! Herb Robertson MacroQuarktet!

Wu Fei! Peggy Lee! McCauley/Cline/Jenkins! John Esposito! John Escreet! Drumbo! Kaufmann/Dresser Eisenstadt! Christian Fennesz! Dave Fox/Bruce Eisenbeil! Hector Zazou! Xenakis! Chrome! Glass! Cage! Tyranny! .... Super-Rare vinyl Rarities! ...and much more!




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The Passing of Two Sixties Rock Drummer Legends -

We are sad to pass along this info, but two important members of key legendary sixties rock bands, the Mothers of Invention and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, have recently passed away.


On Saturday, November 1st, we lost Jimmy Carl Black, the original drummer for the Mothers, he was 70 this year. Jimmy was one of the most colorful and humorous members of the Mothers, you can hear his deep vocals all over the early Mothers records. "Hi boys & girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black & I'm the Indian of the group," can be heard on 'We're Only in it for the Money' album. After Frank Zappa broke up the original Mothers in 1969, he hired Jimmy to act in the movie '200 Motels' where he sings "Lonesome Cowboy Bert" and asks the eternal questions, "When do we get paid and where's the waitress?" Jimmy went on to work with Captain Beefheart and Arthur Brown. He formed his own band, Geronimo Brown and was in various versions of the Grandmothers. I got to hang out with Jimmy for one long booze and herb flavored night at my friend Bill Doob's place in the nineties when he played Wetlands. We talked, laughed and reminisced all night long, it is a memory I will always cherish. Over the last decade, Jimmy Carl Black has collaborated with our pal, Eugene Chadbourne, calling themselves the Jack & Jim Show. I caught them a few times at The Stone last year and was blown away by their performances, especially Jimmy singing on "Willie the Pimp"! They have several CD's together and two DVD's which we carry and which I greatly recommend. Jimmy Carl Black was living in Germany for the past few years and you can learn more about him at www.jimmycarlblack.com - Bruce Lee Gallanter, lifetime Mothers fan-addict


Mitch Mitchell, the original drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, passed way this week. He was 62 and had just finished doing the Experience Hendrix tribute tour. When the Jimi Hendrix Experience burst onto the music scene in 1966, there was no one quite like them. They were one the very first power trios and perhaps the first truly psychedelic bands to emerge from the sea of what would become thousands of bands around the world who were partially or fully psychedelic. The band only existed for about four years from 1966 to 1970, when Jimi Hendrix passed away under mysterious circumstances. I can still recall hearing their first album, "Are You Experienced?" in 1967 at the tender age of 13 and having my young mind blown away. The original band recorded just two more records while Jimi was still alive, "Axis: Bold as Love" and "Electric Ladyland" and both masterpieces still. Opening for the Hendrix Experience on a few different tours was Soft Machine, who became their friends. At the end of one of those tours, Mitchell gave his drums to Robert Wyatt as a matter of respect and friendship. Mr. Wyatt still has that set today. Mitch Mitchell was a wonderful, diverse and jazz influenced drummer, who could keep up with Jimi Hendrix's daredevil guitar playing, not an easy feat. Please check out any of the Hendrix Experience DVD's that exist to see those masters at work. He will be missed. - BLG


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First up - a book on ZORN!

JOHN BRACKETT//JOHN ZORN - John Zorn: Tradition and Transgression (Indiana U Press; USA) The first full-length study of avant-garde American composer John Zorn, one of the most prolific and active American composers/performers working today. He has been a fixture of New York's "Downtown Scene" since the mid-70s as a tireless proponent of avant-garde and experimental music. Despite the acclaim and respect he has achieved in America and abroad, very little attention has been paid to Zorn by musicologists or music theorists. Author John Brackett, Assistant Professor of Music at the University of Utah, suggests that the reason for the relative paucity of writing on Zorn's music and musical thought has to do with the difficulties and challenges they present both for listeners and scholars. Zorn's musical language - an amalgam of seemingly incongruous techniques, sounds, styles, and genres - creates complex and sometimes confusing listening experiences that are difficult to categorize in terms of overarching thematic or narrative design. Brackett offers a number of perspectives for understanding Zorn's music and musical practices, while challenging certain assumptions that limit the ways in which contemporary music is typically addressed.
"Brackett's groundbreaking book . . . confronts Zorn's contradictory modes of expression that couple the aesthetics of Stravinsky, Boulez, Duchamp and Godard with the transgressive sexuality and violence of Bataille, Genet and Maruo, brilliantly demonstrating how these powerful dualities of thought - real yet fantastic, pleasing yet horrifying - synergize to make Zorn's compositional voice unique and seminal in the 21st century." - Severine Neff, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill "A historically situated set of analyses is just what John Zorn deserves as a major artist of our time. The present volume will be important in furthering an understanding of his work." - George Lewis, Columbia University [and one of our fave trombonist/composers!]
BOOK $25


JOHN ZORN - FilmWorks XXII: The Last Supper [sndtck] (Tzadik 7371; USA) One of the strangest films Zorn has ever scored (and that's saying a LOT), The Last Supper is a science fiction/art film of wild imagination and style. The brainchild of French director Arno Bouchard, the film combines primal ritual with futuristic fantasy in images reminiscent of David Lynch or Alexandro Jodorowsky at their most bizarre. Drawing upon the world's first musical instruments (voice and drums), Zorn has created a beautiful and powerful score that simultaneously embraces the sensual and the repellant, the dark and the light, the ancient and the modern. Special packaging includes thick booklet. TZADIK ARCHIVAL SERIES
CD + Bklt for $18

WU FEI - Yuan (Tzadik 8063; USA) Wu Fei has composed music for solo instruments, string quartets, choirs, orchestras, modern and traditional dance, film and chamber ensembles. Performing on guzheng since the age of six, she studied composition at the China Conservatory and with Fred Frith at Mills College. She has since collaborated with Alvin Curran, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, Joelle Leandre, Meredith Monk, Ikue Mori, Pauline Oliveros, Kazue Sawai, Elliott Sharp, Cecil Taylor and many others. Her first CD for Tzadik presents a variety of pieces for ensembles, including a fabulous composition for percussion and Chinese traditional instruments and several solo pieces for piano, percussion and guzheng. Soulful, lyrical and powerful music from this remarkable young composer/performer from Beijing! TZADIK COMPOSER SERIES
CD $14

copies still available of..

WU FEI With FRED FRITH/KARLA KIHLSTEDT/HELGE A. NORBAKKEN - A Distant Youth (Forest Hill 03; EEC) Wu Fei is a young Chinese composer and guzheng virtuoso who breaks the traditional rules of her instrument to create a new and exciting form of Asian music. Her innovative ideas come from her free spirit and from artistic exchange and collaborations with astounding American and European innovators like Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt, and Helge A. Norbakken (all featured on this disc). A Distant Youth is her debut CD, recorded in the Italian Alps, Venice, Parma, and Guerrilla Studio in Oakland, CA. Wu Fei has composed music for solo instruments, string quartets, choirs, orchestras, modern and traditional dance, film, and various chamber ensembles. She is featured on Fred Frith's newest album of film music entitled 'Eye to Ear II', which received high acclaim from The Wire in April 2004.
CD $15


OK! Y'all can stop pestering us - IT'S HERE!

DAVID BYRNE/BRIAN ENO - Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todo Mundo; USA) Brian Eno and I recently finished our first collaboration in about 30 years. The name of the new record is Everything That Happens Will Happen Today. For the most part, Brian did the music and I wrote some tunes, words and sang. It's familiar but completely new as well. We're pretty excited. - David Byrne
David Byrne and Brian Eno retreated to pop's periphery years ago, but their influence is suddenly front and center. With their new album, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, the pair rejoin the rock conversation as if they'd never left. The last record Byrne and Eno made together was the groundbreaking 1981 avant-funk found-vocals tape collage project, My Life in the Bush of Ghosts, but the duo go back further. Everything recalls the three Talking Heads records that Eno produced, played on and/or wrote: 1978's More Songs About Buildings and Food, 1979's Fear of Music and 1980's Remain in Light. For those records, Eno was essentially a band member, bringing a darker, more layered and atmospheric sound to the group.
Everything sounds more like an early Heads record than anything Byrne's done since the band split in 1991. A radiantly tuneful set made with sidemen, from agile, young polymath drummer Seb Rochford to Roxy Music's Phil Manzanera, the album often evokes sublime, slow-to-midtempo Heads songs like "Heaven" and "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)," as well as dreamy Eno songs like "St. Elmo's Fire" and "I'll Come Running." The album was created with a fairly strict division of labor. Byrne wrote the words and sang lead. And Eno made the music, bringing an effervescent sonic gloom that adds some mystery and tension to Byrne's plainspoken lyrics - qualities missing from much of Byrne's solo work. "Poor Boy," for instance, sounds like a Bush of Ghosts outtake, all percolating bass bubbles, clattering percussion and spooky vocal samples. Byrne's words set a scene that would have appeared innocuous in 1981 but feels oddly menacing in 2008: "A truck parked this morning outside the grocery store."
Byrne has described the music as "folk electronic gospel," openly wondering at the songs' uplifting tone ("The Bush era was not a particularly hopeful time for many of us," he writes in the album notes, "so where did all this exuberance and hope come from?"). And Eno has credited his ongoing interest in gospel to hearing "Surrender to His Will," by Reverend Maceo Woods and the Christian Tabernacle Choir, way back when he was working with Talking Heads on More Songs About Buildings and Food. But this is a secular, practical sort of gospel. The opener, "Home," finds the singer longing for a nest, even if it's one with "neighbors fighting" and "cameras watching." Beautifully harmonized by both men over a vigorous acoustic-guitar strum with a soaring Joshua Tree-style solo, it finds beauty and fleeting peace in spite of the ugliness. On "Everything That Happens," Byrne coos over a morphine-drip soundscape about riding "on a perfect freeway" and savoring "the sound of someone laughing," when suddenly he sees a car explode. "Strange Overtones" is wistful dance-floor nostalgia, with a groove that recalls George McCrae's 1974 hit "Rock Your Baby." "My Big Nurse" is a gentle country tune with a narrator who's obsessed with dancing "on this lazy afternoon" amid fellow humans who are "in love with war."
Ultimately, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today is about how music heals even if it can't cure. On "The River," amid clapboard-church vocal harmonies, Byrne declares, "A change is gonna come/Like Sam Cooke sang in '63." Maybe it will. But what seems important here is the collective hope for it, channeled in song by a couple of old visionaries whose music should continue to inspire young bands and the rest of us. - Will Hermes, Rolling Stone
CD $15


New on Poland's 'Not Two' label!

CHARLES GAYLE TRIO - Forgiveness: Jazzga Club 2007 (Not Two 805; EEC) Charles Gayle - almost 70-year-old legend of free jazz. He spent almost 20 years playing on the streets of New York City. Gayle begun his professional career in mid 80s performing in clubs (e.g. Knitting Factory) and recording albums (the most important once for Silkheart, FMP, Thirsty Ear and Clean Feed). He cooperated with free jazz giants: William Parker, Rashid Ali and Chad Taylor among others. This new album was recorded at Jazzga Club, Lodz, Poland on April 25, 2007. Charles Gayle - saxophone; Hillard Greene - bass; Klaus Kugel - drums
CD $18

BASEMENT RESEARCH [GEBHARD ULLMANN/JULIAN ARGUELLES/STEVE SWELL/JOHN HEBERT/GERALD CLEAVER] - Don't Touch My Music vol.1 (Not Two 803; EEC) Gebhard Ullmann - bass clarinet & tenor saxophone; Julian Arguelles - soprano & baritone saxophones; Steve Swell - trombone; John Hebert - bass; Gerald Cleaver - drums. Recorded Live in concert at Alchemia, Krakow on October 22, 2007.
CD $18

KAZUTOKI UMEZU KIKI BAND With KIDO NATSUKI - Alchemic Life (Not Two 802; EEC) Kazutoki Umezu is one of the most important reed players in the world. One of his recent projects - Kazutoki Umezu "Kiki" Band" blends elements of middle Eastern music, rock and jazz. Their newest album was recorded at Alchemia, Krakow, Poland on October 15, 2007 by Michal Rosicki (MAQ Studio). Mixed and Mastered by Akinobu Mukaidani (D-Sound). Kazutoki Umezu - alto sax & clarinet; Natsuki Kido - guitar; Takeharu Hayakawa - electric bass; Joe Trump - drums
CD $18



Three new Treader CDs [John Coxon & Ashley Wales ltd ed label] - and the remaining backcatalog
..all at lower prices!
[originally $20]

J SPACEMAN & MATTHEW SHIPP - Spaceshipp [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 10; UK) "Spaceman and Shipp return to Treader with a collaboration first outed for Patti Smith's Meltdown festival. This is their studio corollary to that concert. Magic golden voice drone followed by celestial ecstasy."
CD $17

ALEX WARD - Cremated Thoughts [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 11; UK) "Extraordinary clarinetist Alex Ward in his first solo recording. In the tradition of For Alto and Monoceros: one musician and one instrument."
CD $17

ALEXIS TAYLOR - Rubbed Out [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 12; UK) Solo album from the singer of Hot Chip! Not necessarily a typical release for Treader, as this is very accessible song-based material. Vocals, guitar, organ, drum machine, etc. Guests include Treader's John Coxon (Spring Heel Jack). Has nothing to do with porn stars or pirates. And, includes a Paul McCartney cover. "Exclusively tailored in places, planes, hotel rooms and at home. Fifteen bespoke songs and instrumentals by Alexis Taylor."
CD $17

and the past issues:

HAN BENNINK With JOHN COXON/ASHLEY WALES - Amplified Trio [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 08; UK)
CD $17

JOHN COXSON/EDDIE PREVOST/ASHLEY WALES - Acoustic Trio [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 04; UK)
CD $17

JOHN COXSON/WADADA LEO SMITH - Brooklyn Duo [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 07; UK)
CD $17

EVAN PARKER/MARK SANDERS/JOHN COXON With ASHLEY WALES - Trio With Interludes [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 02; UK)
CD $17

EVAN PARKER/MATTHEW SHIPP - Abbey Road Duos [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 09; UK)
CD $17

MARK SANDERS - Swallow Chase [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 03; UK)
CD $17

J SPACEMAN - Guitar Loops [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 06; UK)
CD $17

JOHN TCHICAI - John Tchicai With Strings [Ltd 1000 copies] (Treader 05; UK)
CD $17


NATSUKI TAMURA & SATOKO FUJII - Chun (Libra 102-022; Japan) Featuring Natsuki Tamura on trumpet and Satoko Fujii on piano & all compositions. This is the third duo disc by our favorite Japanese couple, although they have also recorded in trios, quartets and various orchestras as well. I had originally thought that this might just be another fine duo improv disc by Natsuki and Satoko, but that is not the case. Satoko is an ambitious and diverse composer who rarely sits still. As Natsuki says in the liner notes, her composing is consistently challenging to play. The first track is called "Tokyo Rush Hour" and we can only imagine what this might be like since a NY rush hour can be somewhat nightmarish. I dig the opening theme, but it is Satoko's center piano solo that is so intense and explosive. On "Nudibranch," Satoko plays ominous undercurrents while Natsuki floats darkly on top. When Satoko holds the pedal down, we hear layers of shimmering chords and feel like we are at the bottom of the ocean. On "Infrared" the duo swirl quicks lines of notes around one another mischievously. There is a consistent connection of spirits here as both musicians work perfectly together. "Stone Flowers" is a stark, haunting work for fragile, melancholy trumpet and exquisite piano. For "Spiral Staircase," Satoko has written some quick, difficult lines for the trumpet and piano to play tightly together with an extraordinary solo from Natsuki's trumpet. The final piece is a long one called "Triangle" has Satoko rubbing the strings inside the piano when it begins and it is indeed quite eerie. Natsuki is also playing some strange extended sounds so it hard to tell who is doing what. The overall sound is mysterious and invokes those ghost-like spirits perfectly. Satoko sounds like she is playing a gamelan instrument here and I get the feeling we are wandering through a solemn graveyard in the pale moonlight. 'Chun' is yet another gem from the wonderful Fujii/Tamura team. - BLG
CD $18

SATOKO FUJII ORCHESTRA NY With TONY MALABY/ELLERY ESKELIN/OSCAR NORIEGA/BRIGGAN KRAUSS/ANDY LASTER/NATSUKI TAMURA/HERB ROBERTSON/STEVEN BERNSTEIN/DAVE BALLOU et al - Summer Suite (Libra 215-023; Japan) Featuring Briggan Krauss & Oscar Noriega on alto saxes, Ellery Eskelin & Tony Malaby on tenor saxes, Andy Laster on bari sax, Natsuki Tamura, Her Robertson, Steve Bernstein & dave Ballou on trumpets, Curtis Hasselbring, Joey Sellers & Joe Fiedler on trombones, Satoko Fujii on piano & compositions, Stomu Takeishi on bass and Aaron Alexander on drums. It may seem hard to believe, but this is the 7th discs from Satoko Fujii's New York Orchestra. The title track opens and is 39 minutes long. It starts suspensefully with just a lone trumpet, tenor sax, fretless bass and drums and evolves from there. I love Satoko's strong charts and engaging harmonies for all of the reeds and brass with inspired solos from the tenor sax and trombone, but it is the strong ensemble sections that really stand out. Satoko has chosen a great rhythm team with Stomu Takeishi and Aaron Alexander, they sound tight, crafty and inspired throughout. A number of superb solos are featured like Andy Laster on bari sax, a great trombone solo, as well as what sounds like some hand directed frenetic horn eruptions, where are rather Zappa-like. Satoko's great New York Orchestra has not played in New York in quite a while, we can only hope that they get an opportunity to do so in the not too distant future. In the meantime, you can get this treasure and enjoy their many layers of talent. - BLG
CD $18


RIDD QUARTET [REUBEN RADDING/JON IRABAGON/KRIS DAVIS/JEFF DAVIS] - Fiction Avalanche (Clean Feed 121; Portugal) What do you expect from musicians who played with the Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, the Indie Rock band Bright Eyes, and many of the prominent improvisers of our time? You get the collective group The RIDD quartet, who embrace all of these influences and create a unique
improvising approach on 'Fiction Avalanche'. Jon Irabagon is a member of the "self-destructing bebop cyborg band" Mostly Other People Do The Killing and saxophonist of the free improvised RIDD Quartet. In this new century and millenium, truth is less and less jazzmen feel the need to take sides. It makes much more sense to take jazz in all its dimensions. Lester Young and Evan Parker, Sonny Rollins and Maceo Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Ornette Coleman, they're all references to this emergent performer who also digs the electro-pop of the Eighties and digital beat experimentalists like Squarepusher and Aphex Twin. Pianist Kris Davis has the same kaleidoscopic approach to jazz, from her reiterated colaborations with Tony Malaby in the post-bop lineage to her researches of extended piano techniques with the French avant-garde player Benoit Delbecq. Contrabassist Reuben Radding is a central figure in both the New York and Seattle scenes, either in association with free jazz greats Roy Campbell, Daniel Carter, Rob Brown and Assif Tsahar or with creative minds like John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Marc Ribot, Stuart Dempster and Robert Dick. Drummer Jeff Davis is a frequent choice when hard bop forms meet with free-flowing collective improvisations, combining groove and textural work in equal measure. With these profiles, you have as result intense and inventive music, the kind you're not able to ignore.
CD $16


ACHIM KAUFMANN/MARK DRESSER/HARRIS EISENSTADT - Starmelodics (Nuscope 1021; USA) Starmelodics features pianist Achim Kaufmann with the great bassist Mark Dresser and drummer/ percussionist Harris Eisenstadt. This disc, which was recorded in Brooklyn, features challenging compositions by each musician and three well-realized improvisations. According to Bill Shoemaker's liner notes, "The album's six compositions and three improvisations circumscribe terrain Kaufmann, Dresser and Eisenstadt have respectively traversed many times, albeit taking different routes with various musicians."
"A most impressive piano trio that doesn't quite sound like a piano trio. What I find most interesting about this disc is that although I can hear what is most distinctive about each individual player, it is the unique group that is most surprising or unexpected. The full dynamic range is almost too much for my computer's speakers, so I must listen to this on a more expansive stereo. The title track is skeletal and stark, yet it still evokes something much bigger than it appears. There are three shorter pieces that are wholly improvised, they sound improvised, yet still have an air of mystery as to where they will land. I love the way Harris' "Vancouver" shifts through a variety of tempos, swinging joyously one moment and then turning in another direction soon thereafter. Achim's "Birdz" consists of some extremely minimal, eerie sounds, like small sounds from the inside of the piano, minimal hand percussion and rubbed bass strings, the sound is almost invisible but still felt. Perhaps it should be called "Insectz"? On Marc's "Flac", Dresser repeats this melodic figure throughout, while the rest of the trio moves around him without landing on the figure completely, adding a bit of dislocation, yet still retaining a sense of calm. On Achim's "Qualtinger", it sounds as if the trio is moving in separate waves, coming together, submerging and emerging within a form. Harris' "Seattle" is a solemn, ballad that is most touching and lyrical in a most haunting way. Sometimes patience is required to see or hear what lies beneath the surface of expectation." - BLG
CD $15



New on Herb Robertson's Ruby Flower label

THE MACROQUARKTET [HERB ROBERTSON/DAVE BALLOU/DREW GRESS/TOM RAINEY] - Each Part A Whole: Live at The Stone NYC (Ruby Flower 06; USA) "Featuring Herb Robertson on trumpet, cornet, megaphones & mutes, Dave Ballou on trumpets, flugelhorn, hoses & mutes, Drew Gress on acoustic bass and Tom Rainey on drums & cymbals. I caught this quartet live at The Stone on another occasion and was knocked out by their strange and wonderful set. This disc features three suites, "Neuroplasticity" is first. There is a strong bond between all four musicians here and the music builds organically right from the first note, eventually hitting its stride when Drew established a cosmic groove/pulse in the second section. Local sonic specialist and engineer, Jon Rosenberg has done a great job once again of capturing this quartet perfectly. The sound is warm, well-balanced and it is difficult to tell that his is a live document. There is a splendid bass and drums duo section here that is also just right. Sometimes Herb will play his small handheld electric megaphone and come up with some of those indescribable, bizarre sounds and Mr. Ballou like to play his horns through odd mutes and hoses, so we often don't know know exactly what we are hearing, but you can be certain that we are on a consistently fascinating and often kaleidoscopic journey that is impossible to dismiss. Late at night, I often watch one episode of 'Star Trek', just to unwind and be taken away. I find that this disc also has that magic to take us with it on a short journey to the stars and back." - BLG
CD $15

CLAUDE-MARC BOURGET - Second Time (Ruby Flower 05; USA) Pianist Claude Marc Bourget decided to come back to the spotlight with a magical release where improvisation and avant-garde jazz smoothly immixes into a surely mellifluous set played with his audacious musical spirit. The album strikes up this creation with a delightful Opening. Delineating poignant melodies, Bourget engrafts an explicit perimeter into the grand programme via his phrasing and clamouring tones.
Withal, Bourget deploys here a great deal of energy throughout these generally thrilling journeys. On Second Time he furnishes a contemporary styled pace, mixing it all up with classical connotations. In addition, Claude-Marc Bourget fuses rhythmic, but also long silent spaces with picturesque melodies during many of these tracks. Au fond, Bourget merrily clasps the extraneous realm of concerns with visceral crescendos. The Canadian pianist eventually boosts his freedom of movement with classical soundscapes, often pointed with ample improvisational moments.
This album transmits a reckless outlook, sporadically toned down with ambient interludes. Overall, Bourget's Second Time is a brave, yet remarkably lucid production translating into a highly approachable jazz album. For a second time, after many years of being out of the spotlight of music, Bourget has succeeded in what is not always easily attainable! - Ana Isabel Ordonez September 2008
CD $15

PANCHO BRANAS - Tango Susurrado (Ruby Flower 02; USA) Pancho Branas - Bateria y Percusion; Joan Mosana - Bajo; Antonio Campos - Cantaor y Percusion; Jose Luis Quesada - Saxos; Jesus Hernandez - Piano; Raul Mannola - Guitarra Flamenca
Pancho Branas is a gifted drummer and a high individual with versatility as an improviser who can move from classical to free. He's gained important experience playing and teaching at the Conservatory of Cordoba in Spain. This gentleman is intense, and his beats have a lot of lyricism. What we can appreciate even more in Pancho is his love to work in a variety of contexts. Tango Susurrado is a collection of many different reflected compositions.
Pancho Branas likes to work in quartet formations. But this recording is the result of a very special encounter between five musicians, who in essence adore music but live different experiences. Basically it is a meeting of two generations that have been cultivating a deep feeling of enchantment towards jazz CD $15

And back in stock..

HERB ROBERTSON & THE SPACE CADETS With FRANK GRATKOWSKI/JULIAN PETIT - Sketches From The Other Side, For A.I. (Ruby Flower 01; USA) Featuring Herb Robertson on trumpets & voices, Frank Gratkowski on alto sax, clarinet & voices and Julien Petit on saxes. "Serving as the auspicious debut of Herb Robertson and Ana Isabel Ordonez's collaborative Ruby Flower Records, this disc presents two suites recorded in October 2005 by the powerhouse trio of Herb Robertson (trumpet, cornet), Frank Gratkowski (alto sax, bass clarinet, clarinet, contrabass clarinet), and Julien Petit (tenor and bari sax). The music is partially improvised and partially notated at the hand of Robertson, whose ingenious sense of long-form strategy was also documented recently on the magnificent Downtown All-Stars disc with Berne, Rainey, Courvoisier, and Dresser. What strikes me most here is the utter precision of each tone and phrase; instead of passionate wild blowing these cats turn their passion inwards to nurse the details of conventional, rich timbres and coordinated phrases that feel calculated with a protracter. The payoff is clarity, elegance, and the sheer sumptuousness of the instruments in the mouths and hands of masters. The harmonies are sustained and rarely sound accidental, sometimes coming out as sweet as the hook in a classic soul tune, especially on "A.I.'s Theme" with Gratkowski's contrabass clarinet sounding as cosmic and clean as a vintage synth. "...an abstract blues felt recording with touches of pointillism and lyricism to boot! Three wind instruments... the breath of life... the prana..."." -Michael Anton Parker
CD $15

HERB ROBERTSON TRIO With EVAN PARKER/AGUSTI FERNANDEZ - Parallelisms (Ruby Flower 04; USA) Lines moving together and swerving everywhere, then flying apart into another and individual parallel universe, which is just the beginning of this triadic sound experience. This trio with Evan Parker, Agusti Fernandez and I was and is a very special collaboration. Ana Isabel has a knack at knowing what combinations of musicians might just coagulate together very nicely. The music takes on other-worldly sound elements along with the terrestrial earthly sounds. The trumpet, saxophone and piano start transcending their basic structure and the end result is an acoustic setting sounding eerily electronic. The space/time continuum distorts and warps upon itself in this trio and this is how these amazing soundscapes come into existence. Birth and death become one. The music (sounds) are created and destroyed simultaneously. This is always a delicate process with that big chance element coming into play. When it works, it is exuberating. It certainly seemed to work with this recording. In fact, it wasn't difficult at all. The master artists Evan Parker and Agusti Fernandez guaranteed that. I just had to fall into the right place at the right or even wrong time with my contribution. This made the parallel and non-parallel universes collide and meld and then fly apart like objects in space with a grand order to it. Spirituality takes over at this point and the 'music of the spheres' is the result. The physical is now meshed into the music and the music plays us. Let this music also play you. Listen to the trio and join in for a journey through the (K) osmosis, guaranteeing an exhilarating experience. - Clarence 'Herb' Robertson, March 2007
CD $15


JOHN ESPOSITO With JAYNA NELSON/MATT SCHULMAN/ERIC PERSON/JIM FINN/TONY UNDERWOOD/HILLIARD GREENE/PETER O'BRIEN - A Book Of Five Rings: Live At The Knitting Factory (Sunjump CD 05; USA) Jayna Nelson, Flute and Piccolo; Matt Schulman, Trumpet; Eric Person, Alto and Soprano Saxophone; James Finn, Tenor Sax and Bass Clarinet; Tony Underwood, Tuba; John Esposito, Piano; Hilliard Greene, Bass; Peter O'Brien, Drums. This great live set was recorded in August of 1997 at the Knitting Factory and hasn't been released until now. The long and circuitous story in the liner notes must be read to be believed to see why it has taken so long to get this disc to be released. I only know about half of the folks in this fine octet. All of the pieces here are relatively long, the entire CD is nearly 79 minutes long. "Bwarat" opens and Mr. Esposito has written some strong harmonies for the horns: bass clarinet, flute, soprano sax, trumpet and tuba. There are a number of long and inspired solos from the flute, soprano sax and trumpet. What is most striking is the support and interplay of the rhythm team, especially John's dynamic piano. On "Smitty", it is John's McCoy-like piano that is most astonishing and powerful, pushing the band higher and higher, with another burning solo from Matt Schulman's trumpet. The octet sounds like a little big band on "Two Worlds" with Peter O'Brien's drums creating a driving rhythmic force. The freer moments here are especially inspired and feature some fine soprano and bass clarinet swirling around one another intensely. The final piece, "...And His Spirit Ascended/Trane's Church" is an uplifting, epic-length, spiritual work which I find to be completely enchanting. The piano is rather harp-like and the flute and hand percussion create soft cosmic waves. Flutist Jayna Nelson is a particularly fine musician who I haven't heard of before or since this disc, we can only hope that will uncover more from her in the future. This is John Esposito's fifth disc on his own Sunjump label and each one has been another undiscovered gem ripe for the plucking. Do not miss out on these delectable hidden treasures! - BLG
CD $14


JOHN ESCREET With DAVID BINNEY/TYSHAWN SOREY - Consequences (Posi-tone 8042; USA) Featuring John Escreet on piano, Fender Rhodes & compositions (all but one), David Binney on alto sax, Ambros Akinmusire on trumpet, Matt Brewer on double bass and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. I had not heard of John Escreet before Marc from Posi-Tone left us with his CD. Certainly I knew of local heroes, Dave Binney, Tyshawn Sorey & Matt Brewer and heard that Ambrose Akinmusire had won the Thelonius Monk Jazz Competition. It turns out that Mr. Escreet is a British born pianist who moved to NY in 2006 to study and play music. This is John's second disc as a leader and he is also a member of The Story.
This disc begins with a long (30+ minutes) ambitious work called "The Suite of Consequence." This piece picks up from where the great Miles Davis Quintet of the sixties left off and evolves from there. John's writing is thoughtful and probing with some rich harmonies for the horns and piano. I dig the way this piece is stripped down and moves through sections. The first piano trio section is especially amazing with some rather Herbie Hancock & Tony Williams-like flourishes. Ambrose's first trumpet solo is outstanding and reminds me of Freddie Hubbard at his best during the mid-sixties. This is followed by a spacious section for haunting electronics, bowed bass, eerie piano and simmering trumpet smears. The third section of this suite has some tight, intricate ensemble playing that is most exciting and it has an explosive piano & drums duo segment. I dig the way John's piece develop in unexpected ways, turning the quintet inside out at times. "Wayne's World" begins with an intense yet sparse intro but soon moves through a complex charted quintet section with a strong solo from Dave Binney with Tyshawn whipping a rhythmic storm underneath. "Dilemma" features lush electric piano and sizzling harmonies for the trumpet and sax, followed by an expressive acoustic bass solo. "Somewhere Between Dreaming and Sleeping" is an aptly named, haunting piece for some especially eerie electronics, free floating sounds and drifting melodic ghosts. The final piece is Andrew Hill's "No Doubt" and it is a solemn, elegant closing theme. Once again, DMG receives a fine disc from someone we hadn't heard of before and is pleasantly surprised to have another gem in a sea of mediocrity. - BLG
CD $14

and back in stock..

SAM RIVERS TRIO - Celebration (Posi-tone 8017; USA) Third amazing offering [2004] from current Sam Rivers trio, featuring Sam on tenor & sopano sax, flute & piano; Doug Mathews on bass & bass clarinet and Anthony Cole on drums and tenor sax. The wonderful free spirited trio has been around for nearly a decade and they've blown me away on several occasions. Pretty f**king amazing, considering Sam is old enough to be someone's great-grand daddy, having played with Miles forty years ago this year!
CD $14


GOOD FOR COWS [DEVIN HOFF/CHES SMITH] - Bebop Fantasy (Asian Man 116; USA) The third release from string bass/drumset duo, Good for Cows. A follow-up to the band's critically acclaimed album, Less Than or Equal To, Bebop Fantasy aggressively, intensely and often lyrically explores instrumental compositions through minimal strategies, multidirectional rhythms, and playful improvisations. Coming out of a loose community of Northern California bands that includes Deerhoof, Xiu Xiu, and Hella, Good For Cows' members Devin Hoff on bass (Nels Cline Singers, Carla Bozulich's Red Headed Stranger) and Ches Smith on drums (Theory of Ruin, Trevor Dunn's Trio Convulsant, Secret Chiefs 3, & touring percussionist for Mr. Bungle) bring their considerable experience playing jazz, rock, punk and creative music to the table. As The Wire said, '...well defined, carefully executed and technically adept series of melodic sketches...it's easy enough to appreciate the stripped down pleasures and self-sufficiency of these acoustic tracks. Hoff and Smith's distilled musicianship [is] well worth seeking out.'
CD $12


JIM McAULEY With NELS CLINE/LEROY JENKINS/KEN FILIANO/ALEX CLINE - The Ultimate Frog [2 CD set] (Drip Audio 406; Canada) Jim McAuley's The Ultimate Frog is a two-CD collection of duets between the guitarist and four great musicians: Leroy Jenkins (violin, viola), Nels Cline (guitars), Ken Filiano (bass) and Alex Cline (drums/percussion). The result of these pairings is a diverse and richly textured set of music, which includes quick-witted open improvisations, freeform folk and blues tunes, aching ballads and earthy modal pieces. McAuley is one of those few musicians who are (as Ellington put it) genuinely "beyond category"; his playing is an intensely personal distillation of a huge range of influences--from fingerpicked blues to free jazz, not to mention Arabic oud music and Renaissance lute-song. The Ultimate Frog is a long-overdue collection of work from this too rarely documented master guitarist who ..has kept a low profile, supporting himself with gigging and teaching, though an earlier false start towards a recording career occurred in 1976, when he was signed to John Fahey's Takoma Records, then dropped when the label was sold to Chrysalis. In the 1990s he led a series of disparate groups for Cline's Alligator Lounge series--a constantly mutating project he dubbed "The Gongfarmers" (a gong farmer, if you really must know, is a medieval latrine cleaner). Despite this, McAuley's previous release under his own name, Gongfarmer 18 (Nine Winds), is actually a solo recording. His only other CD to date is the Acoustic Guitar Trio's self-titled debut, a collaboration with Nels Cline and Rod Poole exploring just intonation, regular temperament and many other tuning-systems (often simultaneously!), released on Derek Bailey's Incus label.
Aside from the leader himself, the musicians on The Ultimate Frog probably need little in the way of introduction. McAuley originally met the late, great Leroy Jenkins (arguably the most important violinist to emerge from the 1960s jazz avant-garde) when the latter's trio with Myra Melford and Joseph Jarman played LA in 2002. Their performances are the closest thing here to conventional free-improv duets. There's no precomposed material: they simply seized the moment and ran, producing some exceptionally searching and fast-moving exchanges. The other three players are key figures from the Los Angeles free jazz music scene, though Ken Filiano is currently based in New York, and nowadays Nels Cline splits his schedule between avant-jazz gigs and his work as a member of Wilco. Many of these tracks involve some loose premeditation or agreed-upon exploration of a specific texture, approach or lick (including some great blues hooks); there are even a few dots-on-paper tunes. What's apparent throughout all four sessions is McAuley's love of the sheer variety and depth of sound he and his partners can create--from the spellbound hush of "Bullfrogs and Fireflies" and "November Night" to the daft hullabaloo of "Froggie's Magic Twanger." The result is a fresh, often spellbinding collection of music that celebrates the improvised moment in all its temporary pleasures and perils. - Nate Dorward (Oct, 2008)
2 CD set for $20

PEGGY LEE BAND - New Code (Drip Audio 18; Canada) With: Brad Turner - trumpet; Jon Bentley - tenor sax; Jeremy Berkman - trombone; Peggy Lee - cello; Ron Samworth - guitar; Tony Wilson, guitar; Andre Lachance - electric bass and Dylan van der Schyff - drums.
The Peggy Lee Band was formed in 1998 as a vehicle to explore different strategies of improvisation within the context of Peggy's compositions. Although initially formed as a sextet, Peggy decided to expand the group in 2007 by adding tenor saxophone and another electric guitar. This is a group in which the unique contribution of each player is crucial to the ensemble's overall sound. The sextet has released three CDs on the Spool label and has toured nationally and internationally. "New Code" is the first album as an octet.
Peggy has written seven new compositions for the album which have been interspersed with three small group improvisations - two trios and one duo. She has book-ended the whole set of music with two covers, Bob Dylan's 'All I Really Want To Do' and Kurt Weill's 'Lost In The Stars'. The album opens with a full and joyous sound and travels through many moods: from agitated to defiant; from reflective to jubilant. The three horns blend beautifully for a warm, full sound and the two guitars take turns at covering written parts leaving the other free to colour the music with abstract textures or full out soloing. The band plays with complete commitment, honesty and inspiration throughout.
CD $14


CHRISTIAN FENNESZ - Black Sea (Touch 76; UK) Black Sea is the much-anticipated new album from Christian Fennesz, his first since Venice (2004), about which Stylus Magazine's Nick Southall wrote: "Fennesz does with sound what Stan Brakhage did with film, altering its very fabric and texture, employing disorder and error as forms of communication and expression. He forces you to learn a different method of perception and interpretation, to look beneath the chaos that seems to govern the movements of life and find the patterns beneath." Fennesz's career has come a long way since Instrument, his debut for Mego in 1995, and his first solo album Hotel Paral.lel which followed in 1998. Endless Summer (Mego, 2001) brought him to a much wider audience and Venice underlined his mastery of melody and dissonance. His songs usually embody the skillful application and manipulation of dense sonic textures with a genuine feel for the live, and real-time. Black Sea features guitars that rarely sound like guitars; the instrument is transformed into an orchestra. Fennesz lists the elements used to make the compositions: "Acoustic and electric guitars, synthesizers, electronics, computers and live-improvising software lloopp." On "Glide," Fennesz duets with New Zealand's Rosy Parlane, whose work is also released on Touch. Fennesz also teams up with eMego artist Anthony Pateras whose prepared piano features on "The Colour of Three." Fennesz pushes his work into a more classical domain, preferring the slow reveal to Venice's and Endless Summer's more song- based structures. Jon Wozencroft's artwork makes visible this carefully hidden world resting beneath the surface of "the first impression." A series of shots, taken in quick succession as the tide recedes, reveals a world of specific activity only visible at a particular time and place, histories appearing and disappearing.
CD $16


SUSANNA [SUSANNA KAROLINA WALLUMROD] - Flower Of Evil (Rune Grammofon 2080; EEC) Flower of Evil is the second solo album from Susanna Wallumrod, mostly known from two fine albums and a number of quietly powerful concerts with Susanna and the Magical Orchestra. Susanna has already proved herself as an original songwriter, "Believer" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's debut album from 2004 was named by Mojo as "one of the greatest break-up songs ever." And on her first solo album, Sonata Mix Dwarf Cosmos (2007) all 12 songs were her own. But Susanna is also known as an extraordinary interpreter of songs, "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Hallelujah" from Susanna and the Magical Orchestra's album Melody Mountain (2006) being two examples of her ability to renew "difficult" songs. Flower Of Evil is 12 sublime cover versions of mostly well-known songs as well as two Susanna originals, all beautifully sung by one of the most exceptional new voices of recent years, with lovely accompaniment by her trusted band members Helge Sten (Deathprod, Supersilent), Pal Hausken (In The Country) and with Bonnie "Prince" Billy guesting on two songs. Whether it's Thin Lizzy or Sandy Denny, Black Sabbath or Nico, Lou Reed or Abba, all are given the very personal Susanna treatment. Flower Of Evil was recorded in Atlantis Studio in Stockholm, a studio full of vintage, analog equipment and a wonderful engineer, Janne Hansson, who knows all there is to know about proper recording. And it is difficult to say something about this record without mentioning how good it sounds. While many are concerned about illegal downloading and the drop in CD sales, few seem troubled by the lost art of proper recording and the tyranny of compression and squeezing of music to make it sound as loud as possible on radio, mp3 players, cell phones and small PC speakers. Flower Of Evil is an old school recording of musicians playing and singing together with a bare minimum of compression being applied at the mixing and mastering stage, thus maintaining the natural dynamics of the performance.
CD $17


DAVE FOX GROUP With BRUCE EISENBEIL et al - Home Again (Konnex 5215; Germany) Featuring Dave Fox on keyboards, Bruce Eisenbeil on guitars, Pat Lawrence on bass and Jon Marc Ryan Dale on drums. Keyboard wiz, Dave Fox, has collaborated with Eugene Chadbourne & Frank Gratkowski, is on the staff of Greensboro College and is presently finishing up his Doctorate at Columbia University. This is Dave's second disc as a leader and it features the great local out/jazz guitar wizard Bruce Eisenbeil. This disc was recorded in Durham, North Carolina, not far from where all the members of the quartet except Bruce come from. Right from the opening piece, "Leaving the City", we are off into free but focused soaring. Dave Fox seems to be playing electric piano and organ, his tone at times somewhat similar to Bruce's guitar who often manipulates his tone with a variety of devices, wah-wah, distortion and such. The quartet often sound as if everything is in flux and moving in waves together. What this most reminds me of is the early seventies, before terms like fusion were invented. What makes this special is the way guitar and keyboards constantly swirl around one another, answering each others lines with inter-connected parts. Like the magic moments in a Grateful Dead jam, this quartet sounds like they've been playing together for a long time and can contemplate each others moves. I am not familiar with either rhythm team member, but they sound swell throughout as they weave their way around one another magnificently. It is hard to explain just what it is that makes this so incredible, you just feel the exhilaration as they all sail together ever so tightly. Time to check out Dave Fox's first disc [below]. If it is nearly as good as this one, it is indeed another must have. - BLG [limited time price; normally $18]
CD $15

DAVE FOX GROUP - Gatewalk (Assembled Sound 01; USA) Featuring Michael Collins on guitar, Dave Fox on keyboards, David Menestres on bass and Ian Davis on drums. First fine disc from the fabulous Dave Fox Group, one of those undiscovered free/fusion classics.
CD $15


ROB PRICE/REUBEN RADDING/MATT MORAN - Submarine Pictures (Gutbrain 07; USA) Featuring Rob Price on electric guitar, Reuben Radding on double bass and Matt Moran on vibes. You can never really peg a downtown musician since they seem to reinvent themselves with each release. This is downtown guitarist, Rob Price's 7th disc on his own Gutbrain Records label and it sounds nothing like any of his previous discs. Rob was once a member of Dim Sum Clip Job, an odd punk/noise/whatever band with the mysterious Dorgon. He has done a couple of trio improv records and a fine noise/improv duo with drummer, David Grollman. Then he did two all-star quartet dates with Ellery Eskelin, Trevor Dunn and Joey Baron or Jim Black. Both of those discs are great, but they sound nothing like this new trio effort.
'Submarine Pictures' deals with more suspense and space, like being in a submarine, perhaps. The opening track is also the title track and it is especially stark and haunting. This music is most carefully crafted and recorded with extreme subtly. In some ways it is most Erstwhile like, each note or sound is selectively placed in space. Over the past decade, Reuben Radding, has emerged as one of downtown best acoustic bassists. Here his bass is superbly recorded and fills up the horizon with a large yet crafty sound. Vibist, Matt Moran, who can also be heard in the Claudia Quintet, also lays back and takes a different approach to his vibes, creating odd sounds and rarely if ever soloing. Rob has really come into his own here, often playing bent sounds, evoking strange spirits without dealing with an obvious melodies. His guitar buzzes and hums, yet he knows when to add the right melodic fragments. On "Blue Caesar" it sounds as if the ghost of Jimmy Giuffre is hovering as the trio play a most poignant, evocative lullaby and then float off into the either. It sounds as if a great of time and effort went into this disc, since every time I play, another secret is revealed. One of thins I dig the most about it is that one doesn't need to solo or state the obvious to come up with something transcendent. Please take your time to let these spirits emerge, it is well worth the effort. - BLG
CD $14


LOL COXHILL With FRANZ KOGLMANN/GIANCARLO SCHIAFFINI/ANDREA CENTAZZO - Lol Coxhill Ictus Collection (Ictus 149; Italy) Eight NEVER BEFORE RELEASED tracks! Featuring Lol Coxhill on soprano sax playing in solos, duos and trios with Andrea Centazzo on percussion & electronics, Franz Koglmann on trumpet and Giancarlo Schiaffini on trombone. This is a fine collection of unreleased excerpts from 1979 and 1980 at various gigs in Italy and Austria. British soprano sax master, Lol Coxhill, has a long (over 50 years), rich and diverse career as one of the most distinctive improvisers around the planet. Although Lol can found on more than a dozen discs on Emanem, he is under-recorded, making each new disc worthy of our time. Lol does not sound like anyone else and as soon as we hear his tone/sound, we know it could only be him. This disc contains four duos with Italian percussion wiz, Andre Centazzo, who has also had a long and diverse career playing with improvisers from around the world. Each of the duos is superb in different ways and each is unique. The opening piece starts with a long, stunning soprano solo by Lol with Andrea's cosmic gongs coming in near the end and adding much suspense. The first trio is called "Caverns" and it features Lol on soprano, Giancarlo on trombone and Andrea on eerie gongs and electronics. It does sound it was recorded in a cavern, from a distance with that natural echo adding to the mysterious aura. Each member of the trio has their own sound, the combination unique and occasionally startling. On "The White Mask", Andrea plays powerfully with mallets on his drums while Lol spins out strong, slightly twisted lines in strong rhythmic sync. The other trio features Lol, Franz and Andreas and it is another splendid improv situation. Lol and Franz are well matched and even sound similar in their approach: splatters, close-miked twists and turns, with Andrea adding selective percussion here and there. Lol overdubs another layer of harmony on "The Frogs of Gabbiano" which is most charming. Lol begins "A Night in... Algeria" by quoting the famous bop standard with a similar name and this duo is especially excellent and inventive. The final piece is Lol solo soprano, but adding strange electronic sounds to his sound. It seems like a strange but appropriate way to end our journey featuring master saxist Lol Coxhill. - BLG
[limited time price; normally $17]
CD $15


DRUMBO [JOHN FRENCH] With ZOOT HORN ROLLO [BILL HARKLEROAD]/ROCKETTE MORTON [MARK BOSTON]/ELLA GURU [GREG DAVIDSON] et al - City Of Refuge (Proper 24; UK) Featuring John French (a/k/a Drumbo) on lead vocals, songs, drums, sax & harmonica, Bill Harkleroad (Zoot Horn Rollo) on lead & slide guitars, Greg Davidson (Ella Guru) on the other leader guitar, Mark Boston (Rockette Morton) on bass and John Thomas on keyboard bass. In 2001, John French, organized a new version of The Magic Band with previous members of Captain Beefheart's different band to do a few dates in Europe. The Magic Band went to do a couple of tours and record a couple of fine discs, doing great versions of Captain Beefheart's classic songs. Mr. French has since written some strong songs and put together an auspicious ensemble to play them. Yes, Drumbo's voice and songs are obviously Beefheart-influenced, but all of the material on this disc is wonderful, nonetheless. Getting a chance to hear Bill Harkleroad play his mighty and distinctive slide guitar once again is truly a delight! French's great drumming, strong singing and twisted songs are a marvel on many levels. I do hope we get a chance to hear these songs live, but in the meantime dig in and enjoy this extraordinary work. - BLG
CD $18


HECTOR ZAZOU & SWARA - In The House Of Mirrors (Crammed Craw 47/Ryko; USA) Hector Zazou invites four outstanding instrumentalists from India and Uzbekistan to step into a virtual hall of mirrors, in which sound is reflected from one note to another, like an aural equivalent of the legendary funhouse finale in Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai.
Twenty-five years after laying the foundations for Afro-electronic fusion with Congolese singer Bony Bikaye on the 'Noir & Blanc' album, and after many other groundbreaking albums, the ever-innovative Hector Zazou offers a fresh take on classical Asian music, in which the musicians' inspired performances are enhanced by his subtle reprocessing of the original sonic elements (no supplementary electronic sounds having been used).
The album was recorded in Mumbai with a core group of four musicians: Toir Kuziyev (tambur & oud), Milind Raykar (violin), Ronu Majumdar (flute) and Manish Pingle (Indian slide guitar). Guest players on the album include Spanish flute player Carlos Nunez, Nils Petter Molvaer on trumpet, flamenco pianist Diego Amador, Hungarian violinist Zoltan Lantos and percussionist Bill Rieflin (currently with R.E.M.).
Notes and resonances create waves which drive the instrumentalist to dive from the surface into the very heart of the sound, explains Zazou. The use of sound processing and reflections thus interacts with the way the musicians play, and reinforces the spiritual aspect of the music, just as church acoustics do with Gregorian chant.
Through its use of these reflection systems, "In The House Of Mirrors" might also be viewed as a discreet homage to the music produced in the '70s by the likes of Terry Riley and Fripp & Eno, translated for the first time into a classical Asian environment.
CD $14


IANNIS XENAKIS - Vol. 9: Electronic Works 2 - Polytope de Cluny (1972-1974)//Hibiki-hana-ma (1969-70) (mode 203; USA) (Please note; there is extra material on the surround-sound DVD [audio] edition not found on this CD edition)
Polytope de Cluny (1972-74) for 7-channel tape; and Hibiki-hana-ma (1969-70) for 7-channel tape Mode continues it's Xenakis Edition with the second volume dedicated to his electronic works, again restored from the best quality source materials. Both works commercially released in surround for the first time. Polytope de Cluny is accompanied by images of the actual production from the Festival d'Automne.New high-resolution transfers were made of Polytope de Cluny from the original analog master tapes. Hibiki hana ma has been restored from the existing digital masters.Hibiki hana ma was created for Expo 1970 World's Fair in Osaka, Japan, where it was experienced by thousands. It was designed to be played on a tape loop in a hall which boasted state-of-the-art acoustic equipment, with some 700 speakers scattered under the floor divided plus 128 surface and suspended speakers symmetrically distributed throughout the pavilion's amphitheatre. NOTE: there is no video for this work on the DVD.
Both works have been remixed for surround DVD by Gerard Pape, who worked closely with the composer as the former director of Xenakis' CCMIX studio in Paris. Essays by Sharon Kanach and Makis Solomos.
CD $15

IANNIS XENAKIS - Vol. 9: Electronic Works 2 - Polytope de Cluny (1972-1974)//Hibiki-hana-ma (1969-70)//Neg-ale (1960) [DVD] (mode 203; USA) (surround-sound DVD [audio] edition) Polytope de Cluny (1972-74) for 7-channel tape; and Hibiki-hana-ma (1969-70) for 7-channel tape - plus BONUS ON DVD ONLY: Neg-ale (1960), soundtrack for the film "Vasarely" with restored film and audio! SPECIAL DVD EDITION-ONLY FEATURE: In 1960, Xenakis composed the music NEG-ALE for P. Kassovitz's 'Vasarely', an abstract film on the artwork of Op-Art master Victor Vasarely. The film has been restored from a 16mm print, the audio remastered. This score for piccolo, horn, cello and percussion by Xenakis is unique to the film and has never been published elsewhere.
DVD $22

JOHN CAGE//DON GILLESPIE & ROBERTA FRIEDMAN, dirs. - 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs - A Complete Video Realization [DVD] (mode 204; USA) John Cage's artwork, 49 Waltzes for the Five Boroughs, appeared in the October 6, 1977 Rolling Stone magazine - a gala issue celebrating the magazine's move to New York His later published text-score consists of 147 specific sites in New York City which Cage determined by chance operations and arranged into individual groups of three locations ("waltzes"). His musical score is a 44"x64" colored (Hagstrom) map of New York City upon which he superimposed multi-colored triangles whose extremities indicate the various locations. Cage intended for the Performer or Listener or Record maker to go to each of the locations and to listen to the sounds (or "music") of the city.
Wanting to celebrate Cage's memory after his death in 1992, his longtime colleague Don Gillespie decided to collect the sights and sounds from all of Cage's specified locations. He set up a camera and recorded the surroundings with an impartial automatic panning device. There are 3 locations or "movements" for each "Waltz". This project took a year to complete. Its subject is unintentional music made by people, birds, planes, automobiles, police and fire sirens, and more. Deciding that 2 hours was an optimal length, composer Andrew Culver, was asked to determine the durations of the 147 locations. Using Cage's computerized I Ching software, Culver arrived at durations from 16 seconds to 3:44. The sequence of waltzes on the finished videotape was also chance determined. The finished video is a combination of spirited and zen-like visuals accompanied by the dynamic and musical soundtrack of the city's natural environment - and a time capsule of a New York circa 1994-95 that has long changed.
DVD $22


PHILIP GLASS//MICHAEL REISMAN - Philip Glass Soundtracks [sndtck s] (Orange Mountain 51; USA) "Michael Riesman is the conductor and producer of nearly every Philip Glass soundtrack recording. Riesman has artfully served Glass' music as a producer, conductor, transcriber and pianist. This disc presents his own transcriptions for solo piano of some of the best Philip Glass film scores. Included are the entire scores to The Hours and the Glass score to Dracula, which in concert, he performs live-to-film. Philip Glass' Soundtracks includes many new suites and transcriptions, including music which has never been heard before, including No Reservations, A Brief History Of Time, Anima Mundi, Neverwas, Candyman and much more."
CD $19


'BLUE' GENE TYRANNY - Just For The Record (Lovely Music 1062; USA) "Just For The Record is a musical snapshot of West Coast post-classical music via Mills College: multiple-keyboard works by Robert Ashley, Phil Harmonic, Paul DeMarinis and John Bischoff."
CD $13

'BLUE' GENE TYRANNY - The Intermediary (Lovely Music 1063; USA) "The Intermediary gathers all of 'Blue's' musical impulses together in one, sweeping work for prose, improvisation, electronics, and piano. A program records, processes, and plays back the changed sounds so that 'Blue' Gene must act as an 'intermediary': both the sender and receiver of information."
CD $13

PETER GORDON - Star Jaws (Lovely Music 1031; USA) Finally issued on CD! Peter Gordon and The Love of Life Orchestra; recorded and mixed by Peter Gordon and "Blue" Gene Tyranny; lyrics by Peter Gordon and Kathy Acker. Sensuous music expressed through a slick pop-rock language with simple harmony, generating a pop-classical hybrid. Saxophone solos, teenage-love lyrics, synthesizer effects, and conventional bass and drum parts mixed with quite a bit of intellect and abstraction.
"Peter Gordon and 'Blue' Gene Tyranny are long-time Lovely Music stalwarts, having contributed their talents to many a LML release: Peter Gordon has acted as producer for a few early Robert Ashley recordings; 'Blue' Gene Tyranny is Robert Ashley's go-to pianist. Gordon and Tyranny have also collaborated in Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra (aka LOLO) and on Jill Kroesen's Stop Vicious Cycles. So, it's only fitting that when we dug into our vaults to give some classic Lovely LPs a new lease on life, we decided to release these three en masse. Star Jaws is a panoply of art-pop, '60s folk revival, and '70s funk; an amalgam of downtown minimalism, new-wave synthesizers, and soulful sax solos; a musical snapshot of late '70s New York City."
CD $13


DAVID HYKES - Hearing Solar Winds (Signature 11009; France) "Selected as one of the ten best classical music recordings of 1983 by Newsweek, this Signature label reissue restores the groundbreaking choral recording Hearing Solar Winds to the active catalog. David Hykes founded The Harmonic Choir in 1975 and they have been active performers ever since. Hearing Solar Winds features vocal techniques drawn from Hoomi singing of western Mongolia and the overtone chanting of Tantric Buddhism. These techniques create spectacular shimmering sounds due to the clashing of overtones from clusters of fundamentals. Digitally re-mastered by the composer, the ambience of the resonant Thoronet Abbey in Provence can now be heard in all its sonic splendor."
CD $20



ITOH KIYOKO - Woman at 23 Hour-Love In (Showboat/Sky Station 58; Japan) "Identical and deluxe reissue of this deliriously mega-rare and hardly known Itoh Kiyoko record. Normally if you want to score a copy of the original vinyl you are required to donate most of your vital organs to some yakuza-typed black marketer, but luckily enough, this one here is easier to attain without ripping out a lung or a liver to pound off. The CD is housed in an eye-popping foldout jacket. It was the final album Itoh recorded in 1971 and on this effort she got backed up by again a bunch of Tokyo underground heavy weights such as J.A. Seazer and Kuni Kawauchi of the Happenings Four. On this album, Itoh's talent is fully flowering and apart from merely eargasmatic songs, she hushes into being, atmospheric city-life field recordings and well-balanced sound snippets find their way in and between her compositions. These flashes of cosmopolitan Tokyo city life grandeur and the feeling of desperate desolation it tails along elevate her impeccable melancholic love ballads and softly erotic excursions to even higher levels of artistic expression, catapulting the whole affair towards eerie, stratospheric, heavenly, delightful realms. Sadly enough, both of her albums failed to catch on, not poppy enough, too melancholic, way too creative, artistically too advanced, hard to categorize and probably even too erotically sophisticated without degrading herself to mere carnal sonic one-hit wonders. In one word, a delicate, soft, psychedelic wonderland avenue of an album that will entrap simple airhead listeners into a deadlock without giving them the chance to fully explore the absinthial pleasures it conceals. If one only cares to listen to what lies underneath its surface layer, a new form of aural addiction will commence to besiege you. One of the greatest underrated delicate psychedelic female vocal albums to seep out of Japan. Original copies just never surface and if they do, you have to trade in -- in most cases -- a limb in order to take one home with you. So this eye-popping delicately crafted reissue might be just the thing you need. If you got entangled into Kaji Meiko's sonic universe, you should try Itoh Kiyoko. All-time highest recommendation and forget about original vinyl copies, they are even scarcer that all your Blues Creation, Too Much and Oz Days records together. Highest recommendation."
CD $28

MINAMI MASATO With MIZUTANI OF HADAKA NO RALLIZES - The Tropics (Showboat/Sky Station 80; Japan) "This is the second pressing of 1975. First pressing came out in 1971 and is twice as expensive. The Tropics was Minami Masato's first record on which he got assisted by Mizutani Takeshi of the Rallizes Denudes, his only appearance on record ever. Minami Masato was one of Japan's first beatnik hippie scum singers, who before venturing into the music world, spent some time in Mexico where he indulged himself in the narcotic goodies the country had to offer, went to America and witnessed in 1964 the rise of the beatnik movement and saw one of Bob Dylan's early performances. Minami's life would never be the same again. He crossed the Atlantic Ocean, criss-crossed through Europe and returned to Tokyo in 1966. He participated at the 1968 Kyoto Folk Jamboree Festival. However, his debut single did not appear until October 1969, followed by a second single in 1970. This album, his debut appeared in July 1971 for which he got assisted by a loose collective of fan musicians and befriended artists. Hadaka no Rallizes' Mizutani Takeshi was such a fan collaborator since he was quite in awe for what Minami stood for, being the unattached beatnik and drugged singer-songwriter he was. He let loose some ear shattering electric guitar on the album's closing track. This is the sole recorded output of Mizutani on disc. At least officially, if one ignores the dozen bootlegs and unofficially released music of his (like the Arthur Doyle-Mizutani 2LP set that was released without his consent). An unbelievably valuable document of the early Japanese underground. Hyper-rare and demented all the way. For lovers of Hadaka no Rallizes, Tomokawa Kazuki, acid folk, Jandek, and obscure and psyched-out sounds."
CD $28


ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE & THE MELTING PARAISO U.F.O. - Glorify Astrological Martyrdom (Important 226; USA) "Acid Mother's Temple's Glorify Astrological Martyrdom is sure to appeal to the myriad AMT fans who have made Crystal Rainbow Pyramid a new fan favorite. Professionally recorded mega-riffage for a super defined clean sound. Kawabata and company deliver this focused rock explosion full of hyper repetitive heavy hooks and freaked-out, pitched-up vocals. Cover art by Seldon Hunt."
CD $14

BRETHREN OF THE FREE SPIRIT [JAMES BLACKSHAW/JOZEF VAN WISSEM] - The Wolf Shall also Dwell with the Lamb (Important Records 222; USA) "Brethren of the Free Spirit are guitarist/composer James Blackshaw and lutenist/composer Jozef van Wissem. Named after a cult of 13th-century Northern European religious heretics, this duo play with an appropriately zealous intensity. Brethren of the Free Spirit debuted in New York and went on a crusade through the Lowlands, Belgium, Spain, Ireland and London even appearing On the Dutch National VPRO TV show 'Vrije Geluiden.' Intricate phrases circle and spiral in on themselves, and in the end, it's the subtle shifts in rhythm and tonal coloration that provide a kind of transcendence in a sea of repetition. The Wolf Shall Also Dwell With The Lamb was recorded at Locksley Hall, Amsterdam in April 2008. It consists of 4 long circular compositions in which the duo employ all methods of contemporary performance styles to free the lute and merge the two instruments. Intentionally recorded in mono, it's occasionally impossible to tell the two instruments apart. Perhaps that's just what makes this duo so successful -- the players and the instruments become unified in historical references to the musics of both the ancient lute & contemporary acoustic guitar. For example, 'Into The Dust Of The Earth' is based on a classical baroque lute prelude from 1650 by an anonymous composer. The theme is mirrored midway, turning the piece into a palindrome, updating the material in the process. Blackshaw weaves his 12-string tapestry, hypnotically intertwining the lute and the guitar into one modern piece of ancient tunage, bringing the lute into the present day. The drawings on the cover by Belgian brethren Wouter Van Haelemeesch reference Greek myths as well as medieval alchemical emblems by the likes of Michael Maier."
CD $14


CHOI JOONYONG/HONG CHULKI/SACHIKO M [MATSUBARA]/OTOMO YOSHIHIDE - Sweet Cuts Distant Curves (Balloon & Needle 20; Japan) Choi Joonyong: CD players; Hong Chulki: turntable, electronics; Sachiko M: sinewaves; Otomo Yoshihide: turntable, guitar
Onkyo greets Noise in this Japan meets Korea musical summit with a heavy emphasis on the growing trend to bridge the gaps between these nations and musicians, utilizing the music as a message. Otomo, one of the most prolific ambassadors of Japan's thriving music scene, and his crew snaps, crackles, and pops their way through this disc to prepare for us for the inevitable perils of industrial stress, so we may embrace machine noise that encompasses our lives and be at one with our surroundings, to find beauty in the ugly. This is music that will make you revolt and twitch, but still come back for more. RECOMMENDED! - Chuck Bettis
CD $20


PETER REHBERG [PITA] - Work For GV 2004-2008 (Editions Mego 092; Austria) "This is Rehberg's music for the Gisele Vienne Productions, a theatre art piece involving dance, mannequins as catatonic actors, and of course humans. On this recording, Peter in more in a sound designer role. There is a thick layer of David Lynch eerie cinematic sound that haunts this disc (funny enough the vibe does remind me a bit of David Slusser's "Delight At The End Of The Tunnel" on Tzadik, Slusser used to work for Lynch). The music here is a grave departure to what we are used to hearing from his output under the moniker Pita, but nonetheless just as compelling. Controlled samples lay naked out there in the open along with synth tones which are largely left alone, unprocessed. The occasional vocals that emerge on these tracks, written and spoken by Dennis Cooper, are a dry reading of some script that on the surface comes off as pretentious until you actually listen to the words being spoken (if you are vocal-phobic, don't worry there are not much on this disc, you can always skip "ML6", the last minute of "Black Holes", and "ML3" and still have lots to enjoy). Peter Rehberg continues to amaze and inspire me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!" - Chuck Bettis/dmg
CD $16



ROBIN WILLIAMSON - Just Like The River And Other Songs With Guitar (Quadrant 12; EEC) "The Incredible String Band split in 1974 was the starting point of the solo careers of both their leaders. Mike Heron went into the rock scene, while Robin Williamson took the Celtic harp as his main instrument and soon became one of the biggest reformists of the traditional British music. For decades, many fans of Robin have been waiting him to take his acoustic guitar again and find out how his talent as songwriter and interpreter has remained the same. In the summer of 2007, Catalan label Quadrant proposed Robin recording an album like this, where the song concept stays higher than anything else and the instrumental pillars are acoustic guitar and vocals. Luckily Robin accepted, and Just Like The River And Other Songs With Guitar is the result of it. The album contains a good number of new songs, some new versions of old material, and great cover versions of Dylan and Jagger/Richards. Robin sings, plays acoustic guitar, bass drum, harp and also the organ on 'Song For Bina,' a psychedelic track that closes the album.
CD $23
also available as ltd LP edition for $30


THE GAMELAN SON OF LION - Sonogram [2 CD Set] (Innova 718; USA) "Gamelan Son of Lion is a New York City-based composers' collective and repertory ensemble exploring and expanding the variety of musical styles that may be performed using Javanese and Balinese percussion orchestra. The ensemble has performed around the greater New York area and on tours abroad since 1976. This newest collection of compositions for gamelan features premiers from recent concert seasons as well as a scattering of old favorites from the past. Works by ten composer-performers of the ensemble are represented: Barbara Benary, David Demnitz, Miguel Frasconi, Daniel Goode, Lisa Karrer, Jody Kruskal, Laura Liben, Denman Maroney, John Morton and David Simons. The Indonesian Gamelan is based on a core group of metallophones (gongs and keyboards) in the traditional Javanese/Balinese tunings slendro and pelog, supplemented by gongs and drums. To the beautiful sound of the metallophones many other sounds can be added, according to the composer's inspiration. On this CD, in addition to the core gamelan sound, are electronically-processed music boxes in Morton's 'She (Really) Had To Go' and glass instruments in Frasconi's 'Telling Time,' Scottish fiddle and Gaelic song in Benary's 'Jigalullaby,' and a hypnotic kaleidoscope of world music strings, winds and vocal styles in Karrer's 'Kacapi.'"
2 CD set for $20


GRAHAM COLLIER SEPTET/GRAHAM COLLIER MUSIC With HARRY BECKETT/KENNY WHEELER/KARL JENKINS/MIKE GIBBS et al - Deep Dark Blue Centre/Portraits/The Alternate Mosaics [2 CD set] (BGO 822; UK) Three complete albums [Deep Dark never before on CD, and the Alternate Mosaics NEVER previously released at all!] on two discs. Featuring Kenny Wheeler, Harry Beckett, Mike Gibbs, Karl Jenkins, Philip Lee, John Marshall, Alan Wakeman and others. As many of you may know, Graham Collier remains one of the finest British jazz composers and arrangers with more than a dozen great discs to his name since he began his career in the mid sixties. This fine double disc set collects three albums: 'Deep Dark Blue Centre' from 1967 (first time in stereo on C
D), a different version of 'Mosaics' from 1970 (than the original album version) and 'Portraits' from 1972. 'Deep Dark Blue Centre' was recorded in January of 1967 and it features: Kenny Wheeler or Harry Beckett on trumpet & flugel, Mike Gibbs on trombone, Dave Aaron on alto sax & flute, Karl Jenkins on bari sax & oboe, Philip Lee on guitar, Graham Collier on bass and John Marshall on drums. This is an early record for most of the musicians involved here. This music has charming, laid back quality with rich yet subtle writing and playing. Graham's arranging for trombone, flute, oboe, trumpet and guitar is quite mature considering this is the beginning of his long career and thoughtfully constructed. For 1967, there was nothing else like it to compare to. Graham explores Japanese scales on "Hirayoshi Suite", the Dorian mode on "Crumblin' Cookies" and even freer terrain elsewhere. The more I listen to this gem, the more intriguing it gets.
'The Alternate Mosaics' was recorded live in 1970 and it is a different version of an album called 'Mosaics' from the same year. The sextet featured Harry Beckett, Alan Wakeman & Bob Sydor on saxes, Geoff Castle on piano, Graham on bass and John Webb on drums. The original 'Mosaics' album is considered to be one of Graham's best works and this version is an equally startling masterwork. The first tenor solo is an incredible Trane-like delight by Alan Wakeman I believe, the rhythm team pumping hard and spinning powerfully underneath. 'Part 2' begins with a splendid unaccompanied piano solo from Mr. Castle, then some exquisite tenor sax. 'Part 3' features an inspired trumpet solo from Mr. Beckett with some fine support by Graham's acoustic bass. Again, it is Collier's superb writing that makes this ensemble so special to reckon with.
'Portraits' was recorded in November of 1972 and it features similar instrumentation but different players: Dick Pearce on flugel, Peter Hurt on alto sax, Ed Speight on guitar, Geoff Castle on piano, Graham on bass and John Webb on drums. 'Portraits' consists of three long pieces and it swings hard with some fine guitar playing from Mr. Speight, spinning piano from Castle. Dick Pearce's flugel solo is just gorgeous, as is Pete Hurt's luscious tone on alto sax and drummer John Webb is a master of dynamics and propulsion. Graham's writing and arranging are immensely rich and the sextet sounds much bigger than it actually is with some fascinating shifts in direction throughout. Bravo to all concerned. - BLG
2 CD set for $22


Last copies of this Out-of-Print Legendary Concert 4CD set. Perfect Gift For X-Mas/Hannukah/Kwaanza, etc - or for yrself!

INTERPRETATIONS OF MONK [THELONIOUS MONK Tribute Band with MUHAL RICHARD ABRAMS/MAL WALDRON/ANTHONY DAVIS/BARRY HARRIS/DON CHERRY/STEVE LACY/ROSWELL RUDD/CHARLIE ROUSE/ED BLACKWELL/RICHARD DAVIS/BEN RILEY] - Vol 1 & 2: Live At Soundscape Series - Columbia University November 1st 1981 [4 CD Set] (DIW 395-8; Japan) All-Star tribute to Thelonious Monk at Columbia U. NYC 11/1/81.
The band is Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Charlie Rouse, Roswell Rudd, Richard Davis, and Ben Riley (disc 1 & 3) or Ed Blackwell (disc 2 & 4)! On..
The 1st set (Disc 1) they are led by Muhal Richard Abrams on piano
The 2nd set (Disc 2) by Barry Harris on piano
The 3rd set (Disc 3) by Anthony Davis on piano
The 4th set (Disc 4) by Mal Waldron on piano
A few months before Thelonious Monk's death, four sets of music were played at an all-day tribute to Monk at Columbia University NYC November 1st 1981 (two in the afternoon concert and two in the evening) performed by an all-star group consisting of (get ready!) - soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy (long an expert on Monk's music), Thelonious' longtime tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, trombonist Roswell Rudd, trumpeter Don Cherry, bassist Richard Davis, either Ben Riley or Ed Blackwell on drums, and four different pianists: Muhal Richard Abrams (CD 1), Barry Harris (CD 2), and in the evening Anthony Davis (CD 3), and Mal Waldron (CD 4)
This was a unique band, and it is fortunate that it was put together in time; the only pity is that Thelonious Monk was not present to participate. Highly recommended to EVERYONE!
4 CD set for $60

Althought the above is permanently out-of-print, DIW has reissued the following five titles, now in stock:

MISHA MENGELBERG TRIO With GREG COHEN/JOEY BARON - No Idea (DIW 5006; Japan)Misha Mengelberg (p), Greg Cohen (b), Joey Baron (ds). Produced by John Zorn & Kazunori Sugiyama. Recorded at Sound On Sound, NYC on June 27, 1996.
With intelligence and humor, Dutch pianist/composer Misha Mengelberg has combined the spontaneity of free-form playing with the jazz traditions of Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols. He's recorded with Steve Lacy and other giants of the new music, and has taken his place alongside these giants as an intriguing soloist and composer. No Idea pairs Mengelberg with Masada's brilliant rhythm section, Greg Cohen and Joey Baron, and the trio offers original takes on classic tunes by Cole Porter (Begin The Beguine), George Gershwin (Someone To Watch Over Me), Kurt Weill (September Song), Duke Ellington (The Mooche) and more, including the wonderful House Party Starting by Herbie Nichols and Mengelberg's own title tune.
CD $17

GERI ALLEN/CHARLIE HADEN/PAUL MOTIAN - Segments (DIW 5002; Japan) Geri Allen (p), Charlie Haden (b), Paul Motian (ds) Recorded at Sound Ideas, NYC on April 6, 7 & 8, 1989. A most glorious piano trio; subtle, swingin, smart; with three of the finest players in modern jazz: Geri Allen (piano), Charlie Haden (bass) & Paul Motian (drums). They play tunes of their own plus individual versions of Marmaduke and Segment by Charlie Parker; the standards I'm All Smiles and You'll Never Know; and the rarely heard Law Years by Ornette Coleman. A studio recording from 1989 when this remarkable unit was performing and recording frequently. All three of the players get a full chance to shine as part of the group and as virtuoso soloists.
CD $17

STANLEY COWELL/FREDERICK WAITS/BUSTER WILLIAMS - We Three (DIW 5005; Japan) Stanley Cowell (p), Buster Williams, Freddie Waits (ds). Recorded at Big Box Studio, Tokyo, December 5, 1987. A beautiful collaborative trio with fine original tunes by all the players. High points are Williams' Air Dancing and Deceptacon and then Cowell's compositional landmark Sienna. Drummer Waits died less than a year after this session and this recording makes clear how brilliant a player and writer he was.
CD $17

JOHN HICKS TRIO With WALTER BOOKER/IDRIS MUHAMMAD - Inc. 1 (DIW 5001; Japan) John Hicks (p), Walter Booker (b), Idris Muhammad (ds). Recorded at Avaco Studio, Tokyo, April 4, 1985. John Hicks is the magician who makes the piano sound powerfully. In this album that recorded the golden age of his regular trio, he controls the speed of the sound with stoicism and uninhibitedness at will.
CD $17

GEORGE CABLES With CECIL McBEE/BILLY HART - Night And Day (DIW 5004; Japan) George Cables (p), Cecil McBee (b), Billy Hart (ds). Recorded at Skyline Studio, NYC on May 5, 1991. Back to the art of top-notch piano trio as another underrated master, George Cables takes us for a smart and swinging musical ride. Tunes by Jimmy Van Heusen, Cole Porter, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins and Jaco Pastorius plus two sharp originals by Cables.
CD $17

also, our last copies of this have been reduced in price:

TRIO TRANSITION [REGGIE WORKMAN/FREDDIE WAITS/MULGREW MILLER] - Trio Transition (DIW 808; Japan) Mulgrew Miller (p), Reggie Workman (b), Freddie Waits (ds) Recorded at Big Box Studio, Tokyo, December 16, 1987. The players in this trio have extraordinary experience in the world of modern jazz. They've played with everybody from Tony Williams and John Coltrane to Art Blakey and Max Roach. Each is also an able and talented composer and here they get a chance to shine - with three by Miller and one each by the Workman and the late Freddie Waits. The trio also works magic on the standards I Hear a Rhapsody and Like Someone in Love plus Freddie Hubbard's classic Up Jumped Spring.
CD $17


CHARLIE MUNRO QUARTET - Eastern Horizons (Votary 06; Australia) "Votary Records is very proud to announce the reissue of this 1967 Australian modern jazz masterpiece. Considered to be one of Australia's most important modern sessions, Eastern Horizons is an album of extraordinary force. A pioneering exploration of Eastern-influenced free jazz that stands as one of the earliest prototypes of the genre. Notably, this session from Sydney predates other more widely-acknowledged Eastern-influenced albums as well as other 'Indo jazz' recordings of the late '60s and early '70s. Following in the footsteps of early '60s Coltrane and the work of Ornette Coleman, The Charlie Munro Quartet were undoubtedly one of the most important groups to emerge from the Australian scene. Formed from the ashes of the Bryce Rohde Quartet, saxophonist and cellist Charlie Munro and drummer/percussionist Mark Bowden continued to explore the Lydian Mode with their new Quartet. Enlisting young players Neville Whitehead on bass (future Neil Ardley and Ian Carr) and top Sydney session trombonist Bob McIvor (Sven Libaek), they together delved deep into free form jazz exploration. Until now, this revolutionary session has been known only to a small group of loyal jazz aficionados and high-end record collectors, as the virtues of this quartet have yet to be documented. We are excited to offer this reissue as an important insight into Australian jazz from the 1960s."
CD $22


WILLIAM S BURROUGHS - Break Through In Grey Room (Sub Rosa 008; Belgium) Officially re-released -- one of our absolute classics, back in print at last. Extraordinary cut-up voices recorded during the mid-60's in hotel rooms in New York, Paris, London...It's impossible not to recognise the writer's voice -- the sonority of this voice -- a sonority also present in the silence of every text he wrote. An explosion of styles -- a blasting of borders -- the silence after a gunshot -- the overtaking of the fetishized word -- from the exploded painting to the cut tape. This record starts with a piece of more than 13 minutes, recorded around 1965 with Ian Sommerville somewhere in New York and London -- K-9 was in combat with the alien mind-screens, including various monologues, radio short waves and music...Tapes, cut and cut and cut up to the limit of sense -- emerged new structures of communication... and senses. Words gain power when loosing the boundaries of semantics. Including too Joujouka music recorded by WS Borroughs in the hills of Morocco with Ornette Coleman, circa 1973
CD $15
Also available as LP for $17

DASHIELL HEDAYAT With DAEVID ALLEN/GILLI SMYTH et al - Obsolete (Mantra 806191; EEC) Newly remastered CD version (from original tapes according to the cover info), in cardboard sleeve (aka "vinyl replica" packaging); edition of 999 copies. The LP was originally released on legendary Shandar label. Hedayat sang lead vocals, played keyboards and "cosmic-hedayat-rumble and cut-ups," coerced Daevid Allen and Gillie Smyth (of Gong), William Burroughs, Robert Wyatt's son Sam and others to join him in recording this stoned, prog-psych masterwork of two long tracks. The memorable message: "This record must be played as loud as possible, must be heard as stoned as impossible, and thank you everybody" is still intact. A classic deserving of its cult.
"When Obsolete was published in November of 1971, the reporter from the magazine of reference, Superpop Hebdo (Superpop Weekly), questioned the repetitive aspect of this disc. He couldn't know that this musical approach would take flight thanks to English and German groups like Hawkwind, Amon Dull, and soon after, Gong, in France, whose founding members (Daevid Allen, Didier Malherbe, Pip Pyle, Gilly Smith, Christian Tritsch) accompany Dashiell Hedayat. From this space-rock album is torn 'Chrysler Rose' -- a little known masterpiece in its day, but which has today become a cult anthem to the 'joint' at all hip celebrations, revered by multiple generations of partiers. Humor and derision exist alongside the unreal on 'Love Song for Zelda,' realized with the help of William Burroughs, author of the hippies' must-have bedside book Junkie. Drugs are omni-present in the hallucinatory texts of Dashiell Hedayat. The musical and lyrical composition date from the autumn of 1969, from whence the choice of the title Obsolete. An avant-garde disc so cool, it'll never go out of style! After having composed a second, very rare, opus under the pseudonym Melmoth (the beginning of intoxication), Dashiell Hedayat has since adopted a different type of writing, and today has authored novels and Hollywood screenplays under the name Jack-Alain Leger."
CD $20


ET CETERA - Et Cetera (Long Hair 071; EEC) "First ever released on CD, Et Cetera's eponymous album (1980 reissue on Brain titled Lady Blue), originally released in 1971 on Global is an extraordinary album of weirdly trippy fusion that rides somewhere between instrumental Amon Duul II, Embryo and Dauner's own earlier classic Output. Full of ethnic (Arabic and Indian) spice with lots of the ethnic color added by legendary guitar and sitar (et. al.) player Sigi Schwab (Embryo), odd keyboard sounds by Wolfgang Dauner, dreamy bass patterns by Eberhard Weber and driving percussions by Fred Braceful and Roland Wittich, this is spacy, crazy, krautrock and -- a bit jazzy. Alan and Steven Freeman (The Crack In The Cosmic Egg) present this album in their The Krautrock Top 100. Maybe the album was originally planned as a double-LP because there are three more titles from the same recording session, which really knock you out. 'Kabul' is a killer, especially because of Schwab's exploding electric guitar and Weber's driving bass. 'Tau Ceti' is a wonderfully dreamy delight presenting Schwab's gorgeous acoustic guitar playing. Last but not least the bonus track 'Behind The Stage' connects Schwab's special electric guitar with the band's atmospheric but rhythmic fundamental playing. This album will be a masterpiece for all time. It's unique. Digitally remastered from the original master tapes. The sound is brilliant. CD comes with informative booklet." Includes 3 bonus tracks.
CD $24


New CDs reissues already pulled from distribution - Jeez!

"These 3 albums (Alien Soundtracks, Half Machine Lip Moves, Third From The Sun) are classics and should never have gone out-of-print. But due to fighting within the band, these Noiseville CDs will not be repressed and most unfortunately, the LP counterparts never made it past the test pressing stage; until the dispute has been settled by the courts, this is it."

CHROME [HELIOS CREED/DAMON EDGE et al] - Alien Soundtracks (Noiseville 77; USA) "Noiseville is very proud to have the chance to reissue these absolutely must-have traces of interstellar psych perfection from San Francisco's Chrome. The sound was beefed up, and each was repackaged with the original art from their initial release back in the early '80s." This is Chrome's second album, [the first featuring their legendary industrial sound; the actual first mini-album 'The Visitation' was more like electro-pop] released in 1978, and comprised of members Gary Spain (bass, guitar, vocals), Damon Edge (drums, synthesizer), and Helios Creed. Alien Soundtracks is the first of their releases that would later mark them as early innovators of post-punk industrial experimentalism. This release is raw punk heavy on the Stoogeian vibe, featuring Creed's flanging, scrawling guitar sounds backed up by Edge's use of tape manipulation and samples.
CD $16

CHROME [HELIOS CREED/DAMON EDGE et al] - Half-Machine Lip Moves (Noiseville 78; USA) Originally released in 1979 on Siren/Beggars Banquet, Half Machine Lip Moves is Chrome's third album and is considered an absolute classic of raw punk/experimental genius, authored by the duo of Helios Creed and Damon Edge. "Half Machine Lip Moves was a curious and powerful hybrid, which fused a Stooges-styles aggression with a sci-fi and LSD-inspired otherworldliness, reflected in titles that evidenced their interest in aliens and contemporary technology. This album was arguably their finest moment ... Creed's searing, heavily FX-laden guitar and Edge's eerie Moog and vocals, underpinned by metallic drums, came together to create what could have become a radical new departure point for a nascent form of post-rock." --The Wire; "One of my Personal Top 25 albums of all time, this is certainly one of those records you can keep returning to and find new things buried in all those layers of ZOUND." --Julian Cope
CD $16

CHROME [HELIOS CREED/DAMON EDGE et al] - 3rd From The Sun (Noiseville 76; USA) Third From The Sun, their sixth [fifth released sequentially] album, was originally released on Siren Records in 1982, right before the band's break-up, with Damon Edge and Helios Creed chuddering out creepy post-garage industrial murk. Third From The Sun sounds more conventional rock than their prior releases, while still maintaining the garbage-y, weird-space psychonaut vibe that would be their trademark. Grinding guitars, terrifyingly creepazoid vocals, and a bass that sounds like rocks thudding off of someone's head.
CD $16


ELECTRONIC TOYS - Vol 1: A Retrospective of 70's Synthesizer Music (QDK 013; EEC) Features tracks by David Vorhaus, Ron Geesin, Mladen Franko, Steve Gray, Brian Benett, Heinz Funk, Eric Peters, Roland Hovac, Gerhard Trede, Ted Atking, Claude Larson & His Computer Controlled Oscillators, Dave Richmond, Rex Brown Company & Wersi-Electric-String Orchestra and Cecil Canterburn. "This compilation of Electronic tunes from the early 70's are real fun. 19 great tracks, morning cartoon like and way more experimental than most of the mainstream stuff released in those years. All tracks where taken from several library companies and that makes them so visual. They're composed for films and commercials. Electronic Pling-Plong-Music for Lounge Fans.
CD $15

ELECTRONIC TOYS - Vol 2: A Retrospective of 70's Synthesizer Music (QDK 028; EEC) Second in this highly regarded, much sought after import series of early synthesizer music. Artists include: Harry Breuer, Gil Trythall, Mort Garson/The Blobs, Jim Cuomo, Fred Weinberg, Bruce Haack, The Mindexpanders, Tom Dissevelt/Kid Baltan, Walter Sear."
CD $15


SCOTT WALKER - 'Til The Band Comes In (Water 226; USA) Reissue of 1970 album produced by John Franz & first released on the Philips label. "In discussions of Scott Walker's body of work 1970's 'Til The Band Comes In is unfairly left out or, even worse, derided as excruciatingly saccharine. However, the first ten songs on this album, all Walker originals, are on par with his finest work on classic albums Scott 3 and Scott 4. While the covers that close out the album (with the notable exception of 'It's Over') do feel like additions that reek of label pressure, it shouldn't detract from the rest of the record. Scott Walker's fifth solo album is a fine example of the early work from one of pop music's most idiosyncratic geniuses, reissued on CD for the first time domestically."
CD $15


STOMU YAMASHTA [YAMASH'TA] EAST WIND With GARY BOYLE/HUGH HOPPER et al - Freedom Is Frightening (Cherry Red/Esoteric 2087; UK) "Stomu Yamash'ta is a master percussionist who studied jazz drumming at Berklee School of Jazz. In the 1970's he recorded a string of innovative albums for Island records fusing his percussion talents with jazz, electronic and classical music. Freedom Is Frightening, Stomu's second album for Island, features a fine band including Soft Machine bass guitarist Hugh Hopper, guitarist Gary Boyle, Hisako Yamash'ta on violin, and Brian Gascoigne on keys, vibes and synths. It was a fine achievement which propelled Yamash'ta to a wider audience; it includes the track 'Wind Words' which was used in the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell To Earth. Never before released on CD, this Esoteric reissue has been remastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original vinyl artwork."
CD $20

STOMU YAMASHTA [YAMASH'TA] EAST WIND With GARY BOYLE/HUGH HOPPER et al - One By One [sndtck] (Cherry Red/Esoteric 2083; UK) Originally released in 1974; Stomu's fourth album on Island Records, One By One was the soundtrack to the racing movie, One By One, directed by Claude du Boc and released in 1975. East Wind [Hugh Hopper bass, Gary Boyle guitar, Hisako Yamash'ta violin, Brian Gascoigne keys, vibes and synths, Sammi Abu vocals, flute, and Stomu on percussions] is the basic band throughout. Although the film was said to be very disappointing, the soundtrack was another thing entirely. The opening piece is the main title theme,and it is a 3 part suite starting with a stomping, fusion epic, similar to Isotope, the great quartet that Boyle & Hopper were members of at the time, but adding another layer of percussion, flute and synth. The mid-section is a funky groove tune with some goofy but appropriate singing and a fine guitar solo from Boyle. Stomu's composing is often cinematic, like "Black Flame" which features eerie violin and synth with some orchestral brass accompaniment. Throughout, Stomu, weaves percussion, synth and violin various orchestral interludes. Often the synth has that 70's analogue sound (spacy, Krautrock-like) that many of us still dig. "Superstar/Loxcycle" is a long, rather funky, fusion tune with clavinet, violin and some get down sort of vocals. Instead of sounding corny or dated, it does have a certain charm which is hard to explain. While I wouldn't say that this is an amazing record, I would say that it is still worthy of your time, especially if you have some nostalgia for the heyday of fusion - and with that in mind I especially direct your attention to the 'Freedom Is Frightening CD above! - BLG
CD $20

STOMU YAMASHTA [YAMASH'TA] - Raindog (Cherry Red/Esoteric 2085; UK) Raindog, Stomu's fifth album for Island, was a fine achievement which propelled Yamashta to a wider audience. Includes the track 'Thirty Three and A Third' which was used in the soundtrack for The Man Who Fell To Earth. Never before released on CD, this Esoteric reissue of Raindog has been re-mastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original vinyl artwork and completes Esoteric's reissue series of Yamashta's seven albums for Island Records
CD $20.

EDDIE HARDIN & PETE YORK - The World's Smallest Big Band (Cherry Red/Esoteric 2090; UK) Keyboard player and vocalist Eddie Hardin and drummer Pete York had first played together in the second incarnation of the Spencer Davis Group, following Steve Winwood's departure to form Traffic. In 1969 Hardin & York struck out on their own to form a highly unique duo utilising powerful Hammond Organ work and percussion to record a series of wonderful albums in the Progressive / Jazz Rock vein. "The World's Smallest Big Band" was their second album and featured recordings made at Olympic Studios and material recorded live at De Lane Lea studios in front of a small audience. A popular attraction in Europe, the record remains a noted highlight of their career. This Esoteric Recordings reissue includes eight bonus tracks!
CD $20


MAX OCHS - Hooray For Another Day (Tompkins Square 1059; USA) "Max Ochs. Cousin of Phil Ochs. Poet. Schoolmate of John Fahey and Robbie Basho. Friend of Mississippi John Hurt and Skip James. Social activist. Takoma and Fonotone recording artist. Composer of the tune 'Imaginational Anthem.' Maryland's Max Ochs recorded two influential guitar pieces on a long out-of-print Takoma LP, Contemporary Guitar Spring '67, alongside tracks by John Fahey, Bukka White, Robbie Basho and Harry Taussig. Hooray For Another Day contains exciting new instrumental works from this American primitive master, including a new take on Fahey's arrangement of 'In Christ There Is No East or West.' The disc also contains several spoken word poems, one entitled 'Phil,' for Max's cousin, the late folk legend Phil Ochs. Max's tune 'Imaginational Anthem' inspired the guitar compilation series of the same name on Tompkins Square. This album is a stirring personal statement from an overlooked yet vital American artist."
CD $14


THE RASCALS - Peaceful World/The Island Of Real [2 CD set] (BGO 802; UK) a double album + a single album complete on TWO CDs!
Peaceful World is a wonderful blend of soul, jazz, and funk that never found an audience. Perhaps it was because the positive sentiments expressed in the lyrics were unfortunately becoming passe; perhaps it was the diversity of the two-record set itself. Despite its lack of commercial success, this was an artistic triumph for Felix Cavaliere. With a supporting cast including jazz luminaries Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Alice Coltrane, and Ron Carter, Cavaliere creates a musical vision of the Peaceful World conjured up by the album's title. The single, "Love Me," which barely cracked the Hot 100, is a piece of funk in a Sly Stone vein. Guitarist Buzz Feiten's "In and Out of Love" is one of those shoulda-been-a-hit-single songs. Many of the tracks, including the side-long (21:25) title track, are mellow jazz excursions. This ambitious album took the Rascals to the place Cavaliere had been headed over the course of the last couple of albums. Island Of Real: Some of Felix Cavaliere's funkiest songs, Crusaders bassist Robert "Pops" Popewell, the Butterfield Blues Band horn section (with David Sanborn), soulful vocals and jazz solos combine to create another great but overlooked album by the Rascals. With a groove at times like Tower of Power, at others like latter-day Sly & the Family Stone, this, the band's final recording, is worth seeking out.
2 CD set for $22


SMALL FACES - Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake ..PLUS! (Charly/Snapper 289; UK) 14 bonus tracks! "One of Britain's most influential bands of the '60s and a major influence on the new wave of Britpop bands, the Small Faces hit their creative and commercial high point with their psychedelic concept album Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake. A bona fide classic, it was released on the famous Immediate label in the summer of 1968 and went straight to the number one spot in the UK album chart and remained there for six weeks. A heady bled of cockney music hall humor, tough rock numbers, blues and psychedelia, it spawned two of the group's biggest hit single in 'Afterglow (Of Your Love)' and 'Lazy Sunday.' The six tracks which made up side two of the original LP are introduced by Stanley Unwin, one of Britain's most popular comedians of the day renowned for his inventive use of English. The fourteen bonus tracks are other highlights from the group's time with Immediate Records from 1967 to 1969. As well as hit singles such as 'Itchycoo Park,' 'Here Come the Nice' and 'The Universal,' these include live recordings of 'Tin Soldier' and their 1966 Decca number one single 'All Or Nothing,' plus their memorable duet with label mate P.P. Arnold."
CD $13


JAPANESE TRADITIONAL MUSIC [V.A.] - Gagaku, Buddhist Chant, Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai 1941 (World Arbiter 2009; USA) First in a series of 78 restorations, this one focuses on gagaku & Buddhist chant. Beautiful, lost-in-time recordings -- produced to perfection from one of the world's greats . In the words of World Arbiter's Allen Evans: "Current gagaku sounds brittle, easily cracked, very delicate. And in 1941 they used fewer performers but have a solidity, a weight. They were carrying on a tradition that was part of an immortal empire, a vision of permanence. Four years later it was over." "In 1942, a set of sixty 78 rpm discs documenting the most authentic traditions in Japanese music was privately issued. Due to the war and neglect, few copies survive. This disc marks the beginning of its restoration.
CD $17


CUBA [V.A.] - Punto And Trova Of Sancti Spiritus [2 CD set + Book] (Ocora 560208; France) Housed in a hardcover, full-color 66-page book in French and English. "Sancti Spiritus, in the center of Cuba now appears as the place where the cultures of Spain, Canaries and Africa, all deeply rooted locally, fused into original types of music. The many genres played here, guajira, trova, guaracha, bolero and diverse types of punto like the zesty controversias, are all spiced with popular poetry, subtle rhythms and harmonies, luminous timbres of the tres and the lute. This comprehensive collection explores both these types of music as well as the musical and cultural atmosphere of the region." 2 CD + book for $40


THE ART OF JENBE DRUMMING [V.A.] - The Mali Tradition Vol. 2 (Bibi Africa 30542; Germany) Recorded between 1995 and 2006 in Bamako (Mali). Performers: Jaraba Jakite, Drisa Kone, Jeli Madi Kuyate, (jenbe); Madu Jakite (Dunun). Recorded between1995 & 2006 in Bamako, Mali. "In the recordings, three masters of traditional jenbe dance drumming present the clear beauty and explosive power of their music. Of course the music of a jenbe dance celebration cannot be adequately documented because it represents part of a dynamic event, which can only be fully grasped by witnessing all its interlocking elements. The sound recording of a celebration would lack the movement of the dancers and the whole atmosphere of colors, smells, and enthusiasm. The recordings presented in this CD, moreover, were made not in the context of a celebration at all, but in a schoolyard in the Badialan quarter of Bamako. The drummers performed for the microphone, without rehearsals, without arrangements, and without an underlying notion on how to convey celebration music without a celebration. It was the first time to do a studio recording for all of them. They spontaneously created a kind of art music in a space without references, an abstract translation of music traditionally played for celebrations. The original live tracks were neither cut nor overdubbed.
CD $18


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SUPER-RARE VINYL ITEMS - received this week:

One copy each - condition as noted

SUN RA QUARTET With JOHN GILMORE/MICHAEL RAY/LUQMAN ALI - New Steps [2 LP set] (Horo 25/26 HDP; Italy) super rare Italian-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
Both LPs and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $200. [Two Hundred Dollars]

SUN RA QUARTET With JOHN GILMORE/MICHAEL RAY/LUQMAN ALI - Other Voices, Other Blues [2 LP set] (Horo 25/26 HDP; Italy) super rare Italian-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
Both LPs and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $200 [Two Hundred Dollars]

ELTON DEAN'S NINESENSE With ALAN SKIDMORE/HARRY BECKETT/MARK CHARIG/NICK EVANS/RADU MALFATTI/KEITH TIPPETT/HARRY MILLER/LOUIS MOHOLO - Happy Daze (Ogun 910; UK) super rare UK-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $100.

ELTON DEAN QUARTET [EDQ] With KEITH TIPPETT/LOUIS MOHOLO/CHRIS LAWRENCE - They All Be On This Old Road (Ogun 410; UK) super rare UK-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $100.

ELTON DEAN/JOE GALLIVAN/KENNY WHEELER - The Cheque Is In The Mail (Ogun 610; UK) super rare UK-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $60.

ELTON DEAN QUINTET With HARRY BECKETT/NICK EVANS/MARCIO MATTOS/LIAM GENOCKEY - The Bologna Tape (Ogun 530; UK) super rare UK-only release from 30 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $60.

ELTON DEAN QUINTET With HARRY BECKETT/PAUL RUTHERFORD/MARCIO MATTOS/LIAM GENOCKEY - Welcomet (Impetus 18506; UK) super rare UK-only release from 20 years ago
There has never been an official CD release!
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $70.

ELTON DEAN QUINTET With KEITH TIPPETT/MARC CHARIG/MARCIO MATTOS/LOUIS MOHOLO - Boundaries (ECM/JAPO 60033/UCCE 9074; Japan) super rare German-only release from 27 years ago
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $50

ELTON DEAN/ALAN SKIDMORE With JOHN MARSHALL & CHRIS LAURENCE - El Skid (Vinyl 103; UK) super rare UK-only release from 30 years ago
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $70.

HUGH HOPPER/ELTON DEAN/KEITH TIPPETT/JOE GALLIVAN - Mercy Dash (Culture Press; Italy) super rare Italian-only release from 23 years ago
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $60.

HUGH HOPPER/ELTON DEAN/KEITH TIPPETT/JOE GALLIVAN - Cruel but Fair (Compendium; Norway) super rare Norwegian-only release from 30 years ago
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $60.

HUGH HOPPER With ELTON DEAN/MARC CHARIG/GARY WINDO/DAVE STEWART/MIKE TRAVIS et al - Hopper Tunity Box (Compendium; Norway) super rare Norwegian-only release from 30 years ago
LP and cover are Mint Minus (M-) [virtually like new and unplayed]
LP for $60.


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