Friday, May 19th, 2006 ... 3:00 p.m. - 5:50 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

I don't often give away tickets on the show -- it's one more complication in what's often an already stressful afternoon, and much of the music in question doesn't jibe well with my show, even given the wide parameters I set for myself (I'll spin bluegrass occasionally, for example, but I can't do it every week; the gimmick would get old). Really, we're supposed to do one giveaway per show, so it's a bit irresponsible of me.

Anyway, had two opportunities to give tix for shows I really care about: William Parker, making a rare west-coast appearance at Yoshi's with his quartet, and John William Gordon, local guitarist playing at the Hotel Utah this coming Sunday, the 21st.

The giveaways, though, add just enough extra work to make it difficult for me to type this playlist (plus comments) in real time; hence, the typing here didn't get done til July. That's why a couple of CDs say "Further discussion here" instead of "previously noted" -- they're linked to a future playlist, completed before this one, where I bothered to type in some commentary.

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

* Dave Douglas -- "Tim Bits" -- Meaning and Mystery (Greenleaf, 2006)

Another album deeply inspired by Miles Davis' electric period, with Fender Rhodes piano all over (played by Uri Caine) and an overall warmness. Nice stuff. Maybe a bit too relaxed; DJ Ben says it's "'pleasant' rather than 'exciting,'" and I think he's got a point. It's a good listen nonetheless, and of course it's great seeing Douglas continue with this Greenleaf label.

Which reminds me. I should try to drag out that Kneebody CD from a year or so back; that was a really interesting one.

Bassist William Parker is a fixture of the NYC free-jazz scene. He's part of the downtown jazz generation that came up in the '80s, playing with folks like Ellen Christi and later joining other young out-jazz guys like Matthew Shipp. He made his name in the early '90s doing sideman work for just about everybody... David S. Ware comes to mind, but Parker was really all over the place. After I got to KZSU in 1998, it seemed like every week we'd get a new CD with William Parker somewhere on it.

During all that time, Parker was composing and writing poetry, and he's put out an amazing body of work. Even early on he dabbled in modern-classical kinds of forms (coincidentally, I recently aired some of that) and built up a big-band, the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, that performs excellent large-canvas pieces richly steeped in the jazz experience. Sadly, the economics of jazz means Little Huey can't convene all that often.

Anyway, Parker also has been putting out quartet CDs occasionally, with some of his most accessible work. I don't mean that like a backhanded complement; it's good stuff, recalling what was initially called "free jazz" in the '60s, the Ornette Coleman kinds of stuff that sounds so normal today. This CD and the Sound Unity disk, below, are representative of that. Great stuff.

Previously noted here.

* Ellen Burr -- "Senbazuru" -- Duos (pfMentum, 2006)

Arguably classical, these are pieces performed with graphical scores and John Cage-like instructions that include some randomness. Burr plays flute on all tracks (solo on two of the seven pieces), teaming up with other woodwinds, or drums, or bass, and usually coming out with an unavoidably abstract-jazz sound. This track pairs her with prepared bass -- that is, a bass with (probably) wood blocks/sticks in the strings, tapped for a percussive sound. Very cool. Other tracks get into more intellectual, modern-classical territory, a bit more cerebral. Nice listening all around.

Further discussion here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Further discussion here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

One of those gold nuggets that just shows up on the doorstep one day, this is the latest in a series of compilations coming to us from a guy in Croatia. There's some Croatian rock on each disk, but also U.S. artists -- Perry is from Tuscon, Ariz., the home of our former music director, who's become one of the champions of these compilations. "Strong undercurrent of swamp blues low fi rock," he notes on his review written for the station.

* = 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.