Friday, May 27th, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM
My regular shift, after pulling a lengthy a.m. shift. Used the extra time to
plug a few local shows coming up for the long Memorial Day weekend.
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Bobby Previte and Bump -- "Counterclockwise" -- Counterclockwise (Palmetto, 2003)
* The Fringe -- "All Aboard" -- Live at Zeitgeist (Resolution Recordings, 2005)
A veteran Boston-area trio that plays at the Zeitgeist Art Gallery Monday nights. Great
free-jazz energy, and they're joined on this track by Joe Lovano, who
shows he can really tear it up.
* William Parker -- "Luc's Lantern" -- Luc's Lantern (Thirsty Ear, 2005)
* The Fonda/Stevens Group -- "Relentlessness" -- Forever Real (482 Music, 2005)
* Gebhard Ullmann, Chris Dalhgren, Peter Herbert -- "Yeah Mbira" -- BassX3 (Drimala, 2005)
Steve Reich -- "Drumming" ("Maximum Drum Formula" remix by Mantronix) -- Reich Remixed (Nonesuch, 1999)
Steve Reich -- "Eight Lines (Octet)" -- New York Counterpoint (Nonesuch, 2000)
Playing some Reich to promote the local ensemble sfSoundGroup,
which is performing Reich's "Drumming" on May 30. We don't have a recording
of "Drumming" in our library, so the best I could do was a remix -- which was
unfortunate. Reich's music depends on the subtle interweaving interplay
of overlapping rhythms. Add a dance/electronica beat over it, and you
wipe out the entire point. To compensate, I played some "real" Reich.
I hate to be snobbish and normally enjoy experimental twists to music,
but certain things just don't work.
-- 4:00 p.m. --
* Kneebody -- "Coat Rack" -- Kneebody (Greenleaf, 2005)
*! The Decemberists -- "The Sporting Life" -- Picaresque (Kill Rock Stars, 2005)
Really happy pop in a '60s British Invasion vein. Quite the
lovable CD.
* Chicago Luzern Exchange -- "Slips" -- Several Lights (Delmark, 2005)
Interesting improv quartet of sax, cornet, tuba, drums. Very
brassy sound, as you might imagine, and lots of patience and white space
in their playing -- yet, the stuff's not slow and quiet.
* Sun Ra -- "Intercosmosis" -- Heliocentric Worlds Vol. 3 (ESP-Disk, 2005; recorded 1965)
* Albert Ayler -- "Island Harvest" -- Live on the Riviera (ESP-Disk, 2005; recorded 1970)
Two great releases from the revitalied ESP-Disk record label, which
recorded some essential sides back in the late '60s.
Paul Smoker -- "Coast West" -- Large Music 1 (CIMP, 2000)
Really nice free-bop session with Smoker on trumpet and
Paul Magnuson on sax. Smoker is in town this weekend with Oliver Lake
(see below), playing at Scott Looney's 1510 8th St. Performance Space
in Oakland...
Oliver Lake -- "Matador of 1st and 1st" -- Matador of 1st and 1st (Passin' Thru, 1996)
Solo CD of saxophone with poetry and singing, all from Lake. This track
is particularly cool, the tale of a street person strolling obliviously
through traffic, stopping that whole section of Manhattan: The matador
of 1st and 1st!
-- 5:00 p.m. --
Oliver Lake -- "Hat and Beard" -- Dedicated to Dolphy (Black Saint, 1996)
It's kind of surprising to see Smoker and particularly Lake just
pop up for this one concert (see above); as far as I know, they don't have other
Bay Area appearances scheduled. The only way I even know about the
1510 8th St. show is the listing on Bayimproviser.com.
Which, by the way, is an awesome resource for Bay Area events
(full disclosure: I've helped enter data on the site in the past but
can't take credit for its existence.)
* Drew Gress -- "Bright Idea" -- 7 Black Butterflies (Premonition, 2005)
Awesome track. A modern-bebop setting that's quite accessible but
is full of ferocious playing, this track being a great example. Gress
hangs out with the avant-jazz crowd in NYC, and the band is populated
by those folks: Tim Berne (sax), Tom Rainey (drums)
Craig Taborn (piano), Ralph Alessi (trumpet).
Gress has put out something like three albums by now, and they've
gotten progressively more interesting and energetic (if my rusty memory
serves). This one packs a real punch and swings hard.
Lou Donaldson -- "Back Street" -- Back Street (Muse, 1983)
*! Vashti Bunyan -- "Rose Hip November" -- Just Another Diamond Day (Revolver, 2004; orig. released 1970)
Rerelease that's getting a lot of attention. Folky music, simple
sparse and sad, with a delicate female vocal recorded with a very close
mic for a wonderful effect.
* Veryan Weston, John Edwards, Mark Sanders -- "Gateway Four" [excerpt] -- Gateway to Vienna (Emanem, 2004)
Very nice piano-bass-drums improvisations. Lots of energy and
some rich jazz-derived veins of material.
* Greg Davis -- "Diaphonous (edit)" -- Somnia (Kranky, 2004)
Moe! Staiano -- "Slurrrr" -- The Lateness of Yearly Presentations (Dephine Knormal, 2003?)
Nice noisy piece from uber percussionist Moe! and a small band.
Moe! Staiano -- "Conducted Improvisation Piece No. 5" -- Two Forms of Multitudes: Conducted Improvistations (Dephine Knormal/Pax/Edgetone, 2003?)
Miles Davis -- "Well You Needn't" -- In Person, Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Volume 2 (Columbia, 1988; recorded 1961)
* Normand Guilbeault Ensemble -- "All the Things You Could Be By Now If Sigmond Freud's Wife Was Your Mother" -- Mingus Erectus (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2005)
* = 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.