Friday, February 2nd, 2007 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Some weeks it just seems there's so much in rotation that it's hard to play anything else.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.

* Green Light -- "Action Packed" -- Patient Like the Moon (Starving Arts, 2006)

Previously noted here.

* Kahil El'Zabar Ritual Trio -- "Crumb-Puck-U-Lent" -- Big M: A Tribute to Malachi Favors (Delmark, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Trio release from veteran pianist Burrell, featuring tunes that sound mainstream on the surface but get into stormy or tricky/free soloing underneath. Kind of a dark cast to many tracks, like this one, although Burrell deals some pleasant, sparkly numbers as well. The most "straight" track on the disk happens to be the last one, which is given the lovely title "Coup d'Etat."

Interesting sax trio led by bassist Shayla Dulberger. Definitely on the freer side of the jazz camp, with occasional bursts of Peter Brotzmann-like screaming from sax player Darius Jones. Writing is pretty good, didn't grab me immediately, but I like the overall package here, enough that I hope they stick around a while.

* Rich West -- "Bloomsday" -- Heavenly Breakfast (pfMentum, 2006)

Very interesting project, with long (10-12 minutes) pieces that shift through motifs/themes multiple times, creating kind of an epic feel. West is the drummer, with the band fronted by a trumpet and sax and anchored by electric bass and keyboards. Hard to describe the music given the multiple personalities to most tracks, but there's a lot of modern free-jazz composing, some disconnected free-improv segments, some catchy and danceable beats, some artsy wandering. This track is in the minority, as it keeps to one idea for the entire 11-minute length, staying mostly in an upbeat, swinging place with occasional dropouts for quiet solos.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here. This track features lots of percussion and what sounds like an African chant; very "world" and primal feeling. Nice.

* Kali Z. Fasteau and Kidd Jordan -- "Concentration Dome" -- People of the Ninth (Flying Note, 2006)

Previously noted here. I'd been meaning to give the two New Orleans free-jazz Katrina-inspired CDs a spin back-to-back sometime.

* Andrew Lamb -- "Dyes and Lyes" -- New Orleans Suite (Engine Studios, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Longtime improv-jazz trio of Lisle Ellis (bass), Donald Robinson (drums), and Larry Ochs (sax), who have developed a kind of melodic flow to their group improvisations. For me, much of WWL's sound is defined by the light tough Donald Robinson can have on drums, creating lingering, mysterious moods for sustained periods.

For this CD, they're teamed up with Turkish singer Saadet Turkoz, who toured with them for a time. A nice addition to the lineup, her voice can add tension to the mood or help keep a flowing segment going.

Previously noted here.

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

Ha! Excellent jazz quartet that convened for one album and haven't been together since -- until now! Go-Go Fightmaster's members are all busy local artists and as such, so I always took the band to be a temporary thing. They reconvened for a show in January, though, and they'll be part of a "Death Jazz" night at the Hotel Utah next week, so it was a nice chance to bring this CD out again.

This particular track is like Black Sabbath goes jazzy, starting with a heavy plodding riff and getting into saxophone athletics later. Elsewhere on the album, they're more directly jazz-related, with bristling, fast free jazz and even a Monk cover. "Buffy Is Dead" has an irresistably different sound, though, and especially with that title, it became a hit among KZSU DJs.

The band, at least back then, was: Aaron Bennett (sax), John Finkbeiner (guitar), Adam Lane (bass), and Vijay Anderson (drums). Lane has since moved to NYC, so I'm guessing he's been replaced -- but the other three remain local (Finkbeiner and Anderson both played in the version of Kipple that I saw recently).

* Scorch Trio -- "Snaekje Rojnd Naevinj" -- Luggumt (Rune Grammofon, 2004)

Speaking of death jazz. Previously noted here.

Piano-based singer-songwriter stuff with a decent dose of attitude. Apparently she's from Sweden, so she mixes nicely with the Scorch Trio. Well, not really, but the abrupt change to this bouncy, old-time folky number sounded good to me.

Previously noted here.

* Ellery Eskelin -- "Coordinated Universal Time" -- Quiet Music (Prime Source, 2006)

Previously noted here. This is the opening track on the two-CD set, starting with a saxophone buzz and developing into a nearly placid solo atop a things-falling-apart background. Nice effect.

* John Zorn -- "Why Me?" -- Film Works XVIII: The Treatment (Tzadik, 2006)

Charming Euro-cafe/gypsy styled jazz, quite a departure from some of Zorn's more eerie soundtracks and certainly nothing like Naked City. Downright pleasant stuff.

? Tin Hat -- "Blind Paper Dragon" -- The Sad Machinery of Spring (Hannibal/(Ryko, 2007)
? Tin Hat -- "Dionysus" -- The Sad Machinery of Spring (Hannibal/(Ryko, 2007)

Speaking of the gypsy-jazz thing. This album starts from that premise but goes off on tangents, some of them like a hearty Django Reinhardt tribute, others more experimental and jumpy, still others sad and lurking. This CD came out just days before the show, so I was glad to find a copy and slap it onto the airwaves in time for the group's show at the Freight & Salvage tonight.

Formerly Tin Hat Trio, the group has evolved to a quintet with violin (Carla Kihlstedt), clarinet (Ben Goldberg), and trumpet (Ara Anderson), with harp (Zeena Parkins). Original guitarist Mark Orton, who founded the group IIRC, is still around too.

At first listen, the new CD is quite nice, taking advantage of the new lineup to explore quite a few new directions. "Blind Paper Dragon" is an exciting piece at a pretty good tempo, while "Dionysus" is, ironically, more moderate and easygoing.

Kind of in a Euro-jazz vein, sort of touching on the gypsy thing. This CD consists of longish songs (8-12 minutes mostly) that feature lots of clarinet; a slowish, nostalgic feel; and a lamenting male vocal in French. And then they throw in some electric guitar for some incongruous rock moments.

(My soundbed coming out of the KZSU Concert Calendar reading.)

Myra Melford/Be Bread -- "Fear Slips Behind" -- The Image of Your Body (Cryptogramophone, 2006)
Edmund Welles: The Bass Clarinet Quartet -- "Big Bottom" -- Agrippa's 3 Books (Zeroth Law, 2005)

Found out just today that Myra Melford ("plus ensemble") and Edmund Welles were both playing at this weekend's MilkBar International Live Film Festival. I'll admit ignorance on the festival, but it was a nice excuse to pull out these CDs, both of which I'd played heavily during 2006. More info on Myra here, and on Edmund Welles here.

Previously noted here.

*! The Curtains -- "Wysteria" -- Calamity (Astmatic Kitty, 2006)

Spinoff of Deerhoof, basically guitar and vocals by Chris Cohen. The Curtains had actually sent me a demo EP once upon a time, which I got onto the air a couple of times. Now, they've become "name" enough on their own to get chosen for a KZSU-sponsored concert that was apparently quite successful. Good for them.

Previously noted here.

* Matthew Burtner -- "Spectral for O*" -- The Art of the Virtual Rhythmicon (Innova, 2006)

The Rhythmicon is a musical instrument built by Leon Theremin, creator of, you know, the theremin. The Virtual Rhythmicon is an online instantiation of the rhythmicon. This CD collects various modern composers who have created pieces on the virtual rhythmicon. Burtner has two tracks on here, both rather shimmery and metallic, reminiscent of what you could call classical electronic music. Others, such as Robert Normandeau, do a lot more sound sampling on their tracks.

Previously noted here.

Fun stuff, a set of Django Reinhardt-like gypsy music, covering jazz and traditional sounds, with vocals and a carefree air.

* Gypsy Schaeffer -- "Portmental" -- Portamental (Peacetime, 2006)

Previously noted here. I'd wanted to showcase "Faces in the Sand," which has a cool, relaxed feel that's unlike most of the other tracks here and really worth digging into. But I was using this track for my mic break, and it's got such a cool seasick avant-garde warbling sound that I decided to leave it on.

Previously noted here. You gotta love that title.

Wanted some blues to punctuate the Microscopics, so I grabbed this one... gotta say, it's a rare misstep for our blues choices, with a loungy slick vocal that just turns me off. Billy can play harmonica, though, so this instrumental was plenty good for this set.

* Charles Tolliver Big Band -- "With Love" -- With Love (Blue Note, 2006)

Noted 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.