Friday, November 17th, 2006
... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ...
KZSU, 90.1 FM
Can I admit I was hung over? Actually that's the wrong word. I wasn't in
pain anywhere (hangovers imply headaches, right?) just wiped out from a
grueling week that included travel for work, an unexpected mile-plus walk
yesterday to get digital film converted to CD (long story involving mutliple
people forgetting to bring USB cables), a late night last night, and a plane
trip home this morning.
Luckily, there are a few CDs in rotation that have long tracks I'd been
meaning to put on the air. From each CD, I like to air a longer piece in its
entiretly at least once while it's in rotation ... plus, I try to give CDs one
last spin when it's their final week in rotation. That was the case for the
Brotzmann "Alarm" (19 minutes) and the Tapscott (29 minutes). Lucky break,
there.
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.
* Tony Bianco -- "Hanuman's Leap" -- Monkey Dance (FMR, 2006)
* Francois Carrier, Dewey Redman, Michel Donato, Ron Sequin, Michel Lambert -- "With the Flow" -- Open Spaces (Red Toucan, 2006)
Three long pieces recorded live in 1999, with saxophonists Carrier and
Redman at the fore. Dewey Redman passed away in September; I did a small celebration of his work
shortly after. As for Carrier, he had a fantastic two-CD set on Leo that I
played during the
summer.
About this disc, though ... this one's a keeper. Not a big frenzied
blowout but a nicely sculpted session with compositions that form a rich
platform for launching energetic solos. Each track follows the same kind of
pattern: intro and/or theme, then solos, with the bass solo coming late.
This one opens with a lovely, lonely unaccompanied sax for a couple minutes,
then digs into a nice frenzy late in the game.
* Peter Brotzmann Group -- "Alarm, Part 1" -- Alarm (Atavistic, 2006)
? Marco Eneidi,
Peter Kowald,
Damon Smith,
Spirit -- "A Tiny Hole in Tuva" -- (Not Two, 2006)
Briskly improvised jazz with two bassists (including the late Kowald,
who'd done quite a bit of work with Bay Area folks including Smith) and drums.
Recorded back in 2000. This track is just an introductory blip, at 2 minutes,
but it's got a nice bowed-bass drone at the start that was a nice segue from
the blaring "alarm" horns of the Brotzmann piece. It's also got some of
Kowald's throat singing, which I think is part of the mix in the bass
drone.
-- 4:00 p.m. --
* Horace Tapscott -- Inception -- Live at Lobero, Volume 1 (Nimbus West, 2006; recorded 1981)
Previously noted here. Played
the whole 29-minute piece this time. The first 30-40% consists of percussion:
some thumb piano for quite a while, followed by a drum solo. Only then do
Tapscott and the bassist join in. Quite a treat. As with the Brotzmann
"Alarm" piece, I'd been hoping for a chance to pack this entire track into a
show, and finally found it.
At this point in the show, I was finally starting to warm up. Figured it was time to put together a couple of real sets of music.
* Sound in Action Trio -- "Side Car" -- Gate (Atavistic, 2006)
*! T Bone Burnett -- "Seven Times Hotter Than Fire" -- The True False Identity (Columbia, 2006)
Yeah, I played this one before.
Couldn't get it out of my head, so it was time for a reprise. The tune itself
is a searing blues form, with ascending key changes after certain verses for a
different feel. Kind of dark overall. Really nice, and it fit the energey of
Sound In Action while making a nice segue into Ruth Brown.
! Ruth Brown -- "Wild Wild Young Men" -- Teardrops from My Eyes (Proper, 2005; recorded 1953)
! Ruth Brown -- "5-10-15 Hours" -- Teardrops from My Eyes (Proper, 2005; recorded 1952)
At age 78, Ruth Brown passed away yesterday. I didn't know much about
her, but it turns out she was a hit R&B singer in the early '50s, doing some
of that big-band-horns music that presaged rock 'n' roll. A key figure who
helped breathe life into a whole sector of music that we take for
granted. "Young Men" starts with a nice wail ("Wiiiiiild") and gets more
rockin' ... but I also wanted to play "Hours," which was one of her
bigger hits.
* Rudresh Mahanthappa -- "The Decider" -- Codebook (Pi Recordings, 2006)
* Chaos Butterfly + Biggi Vinkeloe -- "Joy, hmm... 1" -- Live at Studio Fabriken (Eld, 2005)
-- 5:00 p.m. --
* Jason Kao Hwang -- "Parallel Meditations" -- Edge
Exciting jazz and Asian music hybrid, in a suite from a quartet led by
violin (Hwang) and trumpet. Good tense energy and strong rhythms with touches
of ethnic flavor -- really nice, dramatic stuff with some wild soloing,
particularly by Hwang. Quite accessible, although there's plenty of adventure
and experimentation along the way. This particular track has some good fast
soloing, including some evil-grin violin aggression.
Ben Goldberg Quintet -- "Song and Dance" -- The Door, the Hat, the Chair, the Fact (Cryptogramophone, 2006)
Previously noted here.
Played this one to note the upcoming CD release concert at Yoshi's.
* Paul Flaherty -- "Compassion Lost and Found Again" -- Whirl of Nothingness (Family Vineyard, 2006)
Kronos Quartet -- "Dinner Music For A Pack Of Hungry Cannibals" [by Raymond Scott] -- Released: 1985-1995 (Nonesuch, 1995)
From the bonus disc of four unreleased tracks that came with this
greatest-hits package. Scott wrote a lot of cartoony jazz, and this is sort of a
classical take on his stuff. Active, bouncy ... you know, cartoony. Fun.
Kakalla -- "Euclid's Recursive Nightmare" -- The Voice of Twilight (Weltschmerz, 2003)
A bit more on these guys here.
* = 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.