Friday, October 21st, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Show ended an hour early due to a special on Daniel Pearl, the reporter killed in Pakistan in 2002. Pearl was a Stanford student and even a KZSU DJ, so we thought today (an official alumni reunion day) would be a good time to invite his friends to talk on-air about him and spin some music of his, too.

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

* The Claudia Quintet -- "Two Teachers" -- Semi-Formal (Cuneiform, 2005)

Nice artsy stuff, as with their previous albums, led by a cool vibraphone and Chris Speed's wandering clarinet. This particular track features an awesome, knotty solo on accordion by Ted Reichman.

Go-Go Fightmaster -- "Buffy Is Dead" -- Go-Go Fightmaster (ADBSound/Pax, 2003)

Fun track that features lots of angry, quasi-metal guitar. On my review for the station I called it, "jazz meets Black Sabbath." Local band with Aaron Bennett on sax, John Finkbeiner on guitar, Adam Lane (since moved to NYC) on bass, and Vijay Anderson on drums. Really cool stuff.

Scheinman has become Bill Frisell's violinist since leaving the Bay Area for New York, and this album seems to show a big Frisell influence. It's got a lot of pastoral melodies to it, and I think the "12 Songs" moniker refers to an emphasis on songwriting (the instrumental kind, anyway) as opposed to using the composition as an improvising vehicle, as jazz normally does. Nice stuff, a bit different ... and Frisell is part of the band, too.

* Modular Set -- "Clown Car" -- Beached on the Half Landing (Howells Transmitter, 2005)

A short bit comprising cute warbly noises. Thought it was a nice punctuation mark to the swingy jazz of Khan Jamal's track.

* Ikue Mori -- "Possession" -- Myrninerest (Tzadik, 2005)

Wow -- a busy, flowery bustle of sounds.

Sax and banjo, improvising in a sort-of-traditional-folk motif but with weird electronics and distortion, making it a nice fit with Ikue Mori. I've commented on this CD before; I really like what these guys have done with, basically, perverting rootsy guitar music.

* James Finn -- "Stone Birds' Northward Helix" -- Opening the Gates (Cadence Jazz, 2005)

* M.O.B. Trio -- "Suspicion" -- Quite Live in Brooklyn (OmniTone, 2005)

* Greg Burk Trio -- "Look to the Neutrino" -- Nothing, Knowing (482 Music, 2005)

Cory Combs -- "Crossing Currents" -- Postcards from California (self-released, 2003)

* Avram Fefer and Michael Bisio -- "City Life/Tipping Point" -- Painting Breath, Stoking Fire (CIMP, 2005)

Nice sax/bass duets that get gutsy, energetic, and even raucous. Which was a surprise -- you see the duet personnel on some of these disks, and you expect carefully carved improvisations, quiet and studious. (Well, I do, anyway.)

Graham Connah's Jettison Slinky -- "The Band Is Over but the T-Shirt Lives On" -- Because of Wayne/The Only Song We Know (Evander, 2001)

A swirly, rockin' piece -- like Osric Tentacles meets surf music? -- that I always thought would be great backdrop for sports highlights. I hope Graham doesn't take that as an insult; I think his stuff is fantastic and underexposed. Anyway, by this point in the show I was sticking to longer and more accessible tracks (even the Marc Ducret, relatively speaking) to keep the audience around for the Daniel Pearl special and to give those folks time to set up, test the mics, etc.

* = 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.