Friday, November 5th, 2004 ... 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Subbing for Fo's "No Cover, No Minimum" show, which covers the bases of world, jazz, and blues music.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)

* Purnima Sen -- "Raga Khem Kalyan" part 1: Vilambit Bandish in Tintal -- Raga Khem Kalyan (India Archive, 2003)

Starting things off with a long, relaxing Indian raag. This particular one has been recorded only three times previously.

* (Nonesuch Explorer Series) -- "Dogumbo Song" -- Ghana: Ancient Ceremonies, Dance Music, and Songs (Nonesuch, 2002; orig. released 1979)

* Majmouat Abde Elhakim -- "Ash Dani/Kily Joly" -- Direct from the Djma al Fna (Post-World Industries, 2004)

* The Sons of Sepharad -- "Fel Sharah" -- The Sons of Shepharad (Sefarad, 2002)

Jewish music with oud and guitar, drawing from a host of Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern musics. Folky.

* Charbel Rouhana -- "Tamrin" -- The Art of the Middle Eastern Oud (ARC Music, 2004)

A nice album of upbeat solo perfomances on oud (stringed instrument similar to guitar.

* Raushan Orazbaeva -- "Aral Muny" -- Akku (Felmay, 2004)

I stumbled onto this one the last time I subbed for Fo. Solo performances on the kyl-kobyz, a two-stinged instrument that resembles a slender cello. The sounds are mournful and exotic, with lots of microtonal scales, meaning the tones often sound "off-key" to Western ears. You know ... my regular show, which deals with lots of avant-garde music, often features folks playing microtones on sax or violin. Probably sounds to listeners like they're just out of tune, but seriously -- they're consciously drawing from this kind of inidigenous music to expand their instruments' voices.

* (Nonesuch Explorer Series) -- "Fulani Ensemble" -- Brukina Faaso: Savannah Rhythms (Nonesuch, 2002; orig. released 1981)

A variety of music from Burkina Faso, the region formerly known as Upper Volta. This particular track featured lute and percussion, with a lively chanting rhythm not unlike African music.

* Rokia Traore -- "Kote Don" -- Bownboi (Warner Bros., 2004)

* Daby Toure -- "Yaw" -- Diam (Real World, 2004)

A couple shots of African pop here. Traore is a female singer-songwriter from Mali; Toure is a male singer raised by a Senegalese family in Muaritania, and he currently lives in Paris.

* Patricia Barber -- "Whiteworld" -- Live: A Fortnight in France (Blue Note, 2004)

A nice track to toss into a "world" music segment, because it's a song about U.S. hegemony in the Third World. Tight, fast jazzy rhythms that draw from Afro-pop.

* Dan Plonsey -- (Intro and sections A through D) -- Portcullis (Unlimited Sedition, 2004)

"The music of El Cerrito," Dan calls it. El Cerrito is Plonsey's exotic homeland ... actually, it's just north of Berkeley, here in California. The idea was to cash in on the world-music craze (you know, the Starbucks/Borders vector), in an

ironic way. I've played this CD on my regular show quite a bit. It's one continuous piece, a long chamber-music composition with an upbeat attack and some irreverent surprises (like the "Blaxploitation" funk that suddenly appears in section M).

-- 8:00 a.m. --

* Jonas Tauber -- "Waterfall" [excerpt] -- Storm Walking SInging (Origin, 2004)

Solo bass, a nice study in minimalist riffs (think Philip Glass, sort of).

* Art Ensemble of Chicago -- "The Council" -- Sirius Calling (Pi Recordings, 2004)

The last recording they did with Malachi Favors. As usual, it's got its share of fun freak-out sax/flute tracks, as well as percussion jams like this one.

* Don Byron -- "The Goon Drag" -- Ivey-Divey (Blue Note, 2002)

* Jelly Roll All-Stars -- "Baby Don't Say That No More" -- Must Be Jelly (Severn, 2004)

* Young Jazz Giants -- "Family" -- Young Jazz Giants (Birdman, 2004)

From L.A., a group of, well, young guys with great jazz chops. There's a bit too much reverence to Coltrane here (I'd like to see what these guys can develop beyond that) but it's a solid session, with Kamasi Washington doing some great "sheets of sound" soloing on sax. He's blazing fast but with the subtle touches needed to pull it off; tracks overall have that cool post-bop sound going, thanks in large part to Cameron Graves on piano. Really nice stuff from a promising group.

* Mario Pavone -- "Not Five Kimono" -- Boom (Playscape, 2004)

* The Mannish Boys with Johnny Dyer, vocals -- "Temperature" -- That Represent Man (Delta Groove, 2004)

* Rob Price -- "Night Vision" -- At Sunset (Gutbrain, 2004)

Jazz with a cowboy-music lilt to it. Tough to picture unless you've heard it, but it's upbeat and fun. Price leads on electric guitar -- the rock version, not jazz guitar -- and he's got an avant-garde cast behind him: Joey Baron (Naked City) on drums; Trever Dunn (Mr. Bungle) on bass; and free-jazz all-star Ellery Eskelin on sax.

* Kahil El'Zabar and David Murray -- "Blues Affirmation" -- We Is (Delmark, 2004)

A rich and rewarding jam session of drums and sax. Fellow DJ Ben calls it the best he's ever heard them play, and he might be right -- Murray's sax is as gutsy and meaty as I've ever heard him, and El'Zabar is just on fire. Awesome stuff in nice large doses (8-18 minutes per track).

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.