Friday, February 23rd, 2007
... 3:00 p.m. - 4:50 p.m. ...
KZSU, 90.1 FM
Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.
* Assif Tsahar, Cooper-Moore, Chad Taylor -- "Human Interface" -- Digital Primitives (Hopscotch, 2006)
Grooving little pieces from three guys who are equally comfortable in
the improv sphere. Kind of nice to hear them having this kind of fun; the
stuff is accessible but still substantial. Tsahar and Cooper-Moore have been
dabbling in this more traditional stuff for their last few albums; the result
is a nice feel of back-porch music or even sidewalk buskers. Cooper-Moore
spends most of his time on this album on the diddly-bo, a homemade stringed
instrument that produces a twangy bass sound.
* Kris Davis -- "Once" -- The Slightest Shift (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2006)
* Yellowcake -- "The Price of Wrongdoing (Mr. Unwilling Symptom)" -- Yellowcake (Rastascan, 2006)
* What We Live -- "Native Girl with Big Ears" -- (Fire Museum, 2006)
* Albrecht Maurer and Norbert Rodenkirchen -- "Craquele" -- Hidden Fresco (Nemu, 2006)
*! Sally Nyolo "and the original Bands of Yaounde" -- "Esclaves" [performed by the Edmond Fils Nkoa Band] -- Studio Cameroon (World Music Net, 2006)
African pop with male vocals; Nyolo herself doesn't appear on this
track (I think). The story is that Nyolo, a Zap Mama member, went back
to Cameroon to record some local bands, resulting in this CD.
* Ellery Eskelin -- "Split the Difference" -- Quiet Music (Prime Source, 2006)
* Grilly Biggs -- "Twenty-One, Part 1" -- New Orleans / Katrina = Santa Fe + Chicago (High Mayhem, 2006)
I'm using the slash "/" in place of the "divided-by sign" that's in
the actual title. A band with two drummers, vibes, and a turntablist.
Beat-driven tracks, like this little jam, come across strong and tight,
nice stuff. They also do some improv/noisy stuff that, frankly, leaves
me flat; it's wandering and feels like they're stalling.
* Dave Soldier -- "Barney Music" -- Hip Hop Raskalz (Mulatta, 2006)
Cool -- an album of chants and hip-hop beats recorded by kids,
age 5-10, from Amber Charter School in East Harlem, NYC. The CD is the
product of Soldier's work with the kids, giving them hands-on exposure
to music. They played all the instruments and did all the vocals.
* Don Byron -- "Do the Boomerang" -- Do the Boomerang (Blue Note, 2006)
Byron's band does the music of Junior Walker (and, for
one track, James Brown). Straight funky stuff, quite
faithful to the original. Nice. Byron's involved in so many
projects -- of course, he did "Bug Music," a similar theme-album
for Duke Ellington's work, and a recent modern-classical CD
with Bang on a Can.
* Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell -- "Scrape" -- Streaming (Pi Recordings, 2006)
Eastern Rebellion -- "Groundwork" -- Eastern Rebellion 4 (Timeless, 1984)
Interesting supergroup sextet with Cedar Walton, Bob Berg, and Billy
Higgins. Straight jazz, nicely done, maybe with a few cheesy '80s touches
in the production but nothing overwhelmingly wrong.
Brad Dutz -- "Realtor" -- Krin (Interworld, 1995)
L.A.-based percussionist who happens to be in town to drum
with Kenny Endo and Stanford Taiko in a sold-out show tonight.
* Tomoe-Ryo Yutakadaiko -- "Shutsujin/Daiko" -- Japanese Drums (Arc, 2007)
Endo's performance tonight is excuse enough to give this another
spin, right?
* Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake, William Parker -- "Resolution" -- Palm of Soul (AUM Fidelity, 2006)
* Mingus Big Band -- "Opus Four" -- Live in Tokyo (Sue Mingus Music, 2006)
* = 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.