... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

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

* Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey -- "The Maestro" -- The Sameness of Difference (Hyena, 2006)

Another "acoustic" album from the hip trio ... by that, I mean Brian Haas sticks to acoustic piano. Reed Mathis adds plenty of electric bass and bass effects, so it's not truly acoustic this time. Enjoyable stuff, although I'll admit I've never really gotten into these guys. They're too noodly -- which is usually a good thing in my book; I guess I'm looking for more jazz chops or more abstraction. Stuff in between seems more rambling and less thoughtful to my ears.

Improvising trio of guitar, electric bass, and drums, with electronics and loops tossed into the mix. Turns into a nicely cacophonous wall, becoming a hypnotic blur at its loudest (and least decipherable) points.

Fairly straight track with a smoky, bluesy jazz feel. One week, when I have enough time in the show, I'll trot out one of the longer, more experimental pieces -- or maybe one of the slow-moving artsy ones.

One of those DJ-challenging titles. Like a lot of tracks on here, this one ends in a nicely cooking vamp based on a twisty Berne-composed line, excellent stuff. Tim Berne on sax, Craig Taborn on acoustic piano, and Tom Rainey on drums.

A special farewell for Louis Moholo-Moholo, a drummer who'd lived in London while escaping Apartheid in South Africa. He became part of the improv music scene out in London, and this session was put together as a farewell as Moholo readied his move back to South Africa. With Evan Parker on sax -- sounding a lot more jazzy than usual, and eschewing his circular-breathing monologues -- and John Edwards (bass) and Steve Beresford (piano). They'd recorded previously on an album titled "Foxes Fox," so this was kind of a reprise. Really nice stuff.

Don't let all the German fool you -- these guys are from Austin, Texas, recording on a French label. Tenor saxophonist Carl Smith is the driving force here, usually accompanied by Jason Friedrich on drums and James Alexander on viola, with a second saxophone added to round out the quartet on most tracks. Upbeat stuff, modern composing with some free-jazz ideas and a nice dynamic ethic.

Nice modern jazz, with an accessibly mellow flow. Abbasi is a guitarist and sitarist, and his albums are rife with references to Indian musics (he's even studied tabla in India). But he's got an organ on here for some jazz grounding and Dave Liebman on two tracks for some cred.

It's the final week in rotation for this one, so I gave it a spin. (Turns out I was the only one who spun it, oh well -- that's what having one 60-minute track on your CD will do.) Picked a favorite excerpt from the opening minutes this time, about a 10-minute stretch with Roy Campbell delivering a solo and Jason Hwang adding color with violin effects (also bass-like pizzacatto here for a stretch). William Hooker adds a manic but restrained patter throughout.

* Mats Gustafsson and David Stackenas -- "You Have To Get Low as a Toad Again" [excerpt] -- Blues (Atavistic, 2005)
* Tom Heasley -- "Joshua Tree" [excerpt] -- Destert Triptych (Farfield, 2005)
Chaos Butterfly -- "Parallel" -- Three Living Things (Pitch-a-Tent/Magnetic, 2005)

The "ambient" section. Starting with Gustafsson/Stackenas on sax and guitar. About half this album is devoted to tracks where the instruments are electronically distorted beyond recognition; this was one, where the sounds congeal into a foggy soup, an otherworldy swamp. It heats up in the last couple of minutes, but I didn't let it go that far -- didn't want to break the mood.

Tom Heasley's CD is the only one in the set that "really" counts as Ambient. It's a trio of long (16-30 minute) pieces for didjeridoo, voice, and electronics. This one starts with the familiar low him of didgeridoo (I'm honoring as many spellings as possible here) and eventually blends into a soft ambient drone. Relaxing, evoking the space of the desert.

Chaos Butterfly isn't ambient at all but fit the mood, sure. The duo of Dina Emerson and Jonathan Segel, mixing lots of computer samples with Emerson's voice and wine glasses, and Segel's guitar and violin. This one's a bouncier, almost catchy piece; nice way to exit.

Played these tracks to highlight Dresser and Melford playing tomorrow night at U.C. Berkeley, along with electronics guys Bob Ostertag and David Wessel, in what should be a fun quartet. It's being put on by Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT).

A glorious two-CD set that I don't play nearly enough, featuring Mengelberg with various small groups of Chicago artists. This one's got Mengelberg (piano), Kent Kessler (bass), Hamid Drake (drums), and the great Fred Anderson (sax). A brisk free-jazz improv.

* = 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.