Friday, July 6th, 2007 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Very glad to have gotten to see William Hooker last night at the Hemlock Tavern, playing in trio with Oluyemi Thomas and Damon Smith. It's the first of what Hooker apparently intends to be annual concerts out here, and he hinted at the end of his show that he wants next year's to be more of an orchestra-sized event. He's serious -- unlike many east-coast musicians who come out here, Hooker had no other string of shows lined up, nor a festival nearby that he was playing at. He came out here for this one show.

Around 40 people came out to see him -- great crowd that packed the Hemlock's music room. The crowd was stock still during the music, too -- a single 40-minute set, uninterrupted, that used a Hooker poem called "Subway" as its base. "I'm so glad that there are people in the Bay that are listening to the tones of silence," he said by way of thanks after the set. Hooker has a lot of stage presence; he can truly command a room and pull off the poetry-jazz thing.

Weasel Walter opened the set, with Liz Allbee and Aram Shelton on trumpet and sax, respectively -- a nice set of mostly improv stuff, although there were stands and sheet music present. A very fitting supporting act.

Elsewhere... today is of course one day off from the mystical 7/7/07. My good luck that put me on-air on 9/9/99 has run out, probably in revenge for my not thinking to play "Revolution 9" at 9:09 p.m. on that date. (Yes, I could have known years in advance that 7/7/07 was a Saturday. Just let me dwell in my numermanic hallucinations, OK?) To find a 7/8 tune to commemorate the day would be just too damn easy, I thought to myself; a 7/8 set or an all-7/8 show would be appropriate. I went for the set. A full show would be prog-heavy and just too damned annoying.

To pay proper tribute to the date, I started that set with a song in a pattern of 7 then 6, for a total of 13/8 or 13/4, depending on who's counting. I know of at least three such songs, only one of which was suitable for the show. Another is Marillion's "Lord of the Backstage," which is just plain embarrassing except in the context of our Prog Mountain shows. And "Turn It On Again" didn't even get consideration -- pul-leeze.

IIRC, the closing track of Chris Squire's Fish out of Water has a slow 7/4 + 6/4 pattern to it, but it's big and orchestral and again, just too much. (That's a great album though; a real find for any Yes-minded prog head.)

As a crowning touch, I wanted to spin that old "Multiplication Rock" tune, because I didn't trust the 7/7 DJs to think to do that. And if they do, well, so much the better. Anyway, the results are below.

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

Andrew Bishop -- "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" -- "Hank Williams Project" (Envoi, 2006)

A set of Hank Williams covers, faithful to the country aesthetic but with jazz elements like Bishop's saxophone added in, of course. This particular track is deliciously slow, with vocals.

? William Hooker and Sabir Mateen -- "Acts of Worth"/"Hermitage" -- Dharma (KMB Jazz, 2007)

Drums and sax duets, often energetic but not at the fierceness or intensity of Hooker's work with the Sonic Youth guys, which isn't a good or bad thing. Hooker does mention that he's done experimenting with those avant-rock kinds of lineups; it was the necessary thing to do at the time, artistically, but it's simply played out.

"Acts of Worth" is a drum solo that gets ferocious but also pauses for breath several times towards the end, a nice effect. "Hermitage" brings Mateen's sax into the picture.

? Weasel Walter Quartet -- "We Have Revolted" -- Revolt Music (ugEXPLODE, 2006)

Jazz with a punk attack: Vicious saxes slashing away in front of busy drums and bass, pelting out the sound. Fierce and mostly unrelenting, great high-energy stuff. Damon Smith is on bass for nearly every track. The lead horns vary, and Henry Kaiser takes a turn on one track. It's apparently not just an improvised free-for-all; the CD's back cover notes that "improvisation itself is only a means to an end. It is only powerful when strong ideas and concepts are behind it."

* Flatlands Collective -- "Five to Twelve" -- Gnomade (Skycap, 2007)

Chamber jazz but with a sense of clowning around a bit; some playful themes and pretty crazy solos. Led by saxophonist Jorrit Dijkstra, who we last heard from in electronics duets here.

Soft, slow electric-guitar pop. Local favorites who are having their "Adios" show tonight; apparently they'll still be around, but given the other projects they're doing, they won't use the "Court and Spark" name any more.

Previously noted here.

* Jeremiah Cymerman -- "Down in the Cellar" -- Big Exploitation (Solponticello, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Eddie the Rat -- "Once Around the Butterfly Bush" -- Once Around the Butterfly Bush (Edgetone, 2006)

Jangly, circusy art-pop, with plenty of avant-garde departures and clattery noise, and a female lead vocal -- comparisons to the sextet version of Charming Hostess are apt.

* Zero Point -- "Improv 2" -- Plays Albert Ayler (Ayler, 2007)

Trio from Mexico: German Bringas (sax), Itzam Cano (bass), Gabriel Lauber (drums). This one features just Bringas and Lauber, a prickly, energetic, and very "out" exercise. I haven't heard the Ayler covers yet, but I suspect they emphasize the nutty, gnarly side rather than the N'Orleans marching influence. We'll see.

Great stuff from the Ayler label out of Sweden, which has begun offering radio stations high-quality downloads, saving on CD shipping costs. That's where radio promotions are headed in the future, I think; for now, we continue to burn the music to CDs, because we haven't settled on a way to store and organize tracks (not that we'd have the hardware to do it yet anyway) -- but also because the visibility of a CD helps with airplay. I can't count the number of good CDs that languished in rotation simply because they were in thin sleeves that became invisible among the jewel cases.

Previously noted here.

So, yes, Native American flutes have become a staple of the new age genre, and this CD is no exception, with its wannabe-subtle synth treatments augmenting the flute. But the Dubois track had a Native American lilt to it, the same kind of rhythm and solemn tone, and with this one sitting in rotation nearby, the connection was too obvious to pass on. To right my street cred, I faded this one early (it's only 5 minutes) and made way for the quiet countoff that launches:

Not as exteme as I could have gone! It's a choppy punkish Japanese spasm of a song, but doesn't go for the white noise jugular like Merzbow (which is more what I had in mind for the transition from the flutes -- but how could I pass up a song title like "Pierced Eye"?) Melt Banana is playing a show at The Independent this evening. There's a pit warning. Go figure.

* William Parker and Hamid Drake -- "Anaya Dancing" -- Summer Snow (AUM Fidelity, 2007)

Previously noted here.

Roaring '20s jazz, joyously delivered by a sexted that (judging from the writing credits) is led by trombonist Earl Sachais. Actually, that record label name suggests the same. Fun stuff, mixing some old chestnuts with those original tracks for a fresh take on an old sound.

Previously noted here.

Bill Bruford's Earthworks -- "My Heart Declares a Holiday" -- Bill Bruford's Earthworks (E.G., 1987)

I'll expound on this elsewhere. Short version: Earthworks is what I then considered cutting-edge jazz, and it kind of is, but in a very poppy, melodic way, with dated '80s electronics. They did get into some free-form wackiness occasionally; dunno if that's true of the current version.

This is a 13/8 track that's built of one bar of 6 then one of 7. Pretend it's the other way around, and you've got a good July 6 celebratory piece. Humor me here.

A chugging little rocker, from a very rock-minded project of Liebig's, full of catchy tunes that, to me, evoke the kinds of lost desert towns you find in Stan Ridgway's music. In 7/8.

Previously noted here. This is a friendly blues track, in 7/8.

Schoolhouse Rock -- "Lucky Seven Sampson" -- Schoolhouse Rock (Kid Rhino, 1996; orig "released" 1973)

In 4/4, but it's a song that steps through the 7s times tables. For the uninitiated, "Schoolhouse Rock" was a series of shorts that ABC used to show between Saturday morning cartoons. They were awesome. The first set taught multiplication, and a followup season went into grammar and parts of speech (noun, verb, etc.) An American history series was well received, but as we all later, learned it included some, well, propaganda, such as a song championing Manifest Destiny while ignoring the consequent destruction of Native American lands, culture, pride, etc. And then, there was a science series that no one cared about, and an ill-fated, ill-advised set of computer-related songs.

For the multiplication and grammar series, what made the songs sing was the charm of jazz songwriter Bob Dorough, who did many of the vocals himself, including this one. The "Seven" song was always my favorite of the multiplication set.

* The Nels Cline Singers -- "Confection" -- Draw Breath (Cryptogramophone, 2007)

Previously noted here. This one's Nels in indie-rock mode, a smashing of guitar chords in your face.

Previously noted here. I've yet to listen to this album all the way through, and it must be a strange experience, given how disparate some of the tracks seem. Overall energetic and weird, though. This, the opening track, includes some guy yelling at you about goin' out and gettin' a real job, not one where you fix some woman's sink and she has to look at yer ass all day. I don't know if they performed that part or found it somewhere; either way, it starts out feeling like a random short sample, but it just doesn't stop, until it's taken over the whole mood of the song.

Trio led by saxophonist Riley, playing standards but showing a propensity to stretch out quite a bit. This one's done at such a slow, languid pace as to nearly obscure the melody. Still very much in the pocket but with the sense of exploration I always hope for in mainstream jazz.

Beth Custer -- "The General of Godeus" -- Bernal Heights Suite (BC, 2006)

Custer's latest project features her vocals against a string quartet, with varied and whimsical lyrics. One track involves a trip to the farmer's market and has a catchy, fast flow to the words. This one seems to be about a proud neighborhood eccentric. (I haven't listened carefully; I could be way off base here.) The music combines Custer's theatrical song styles with a crisp strings sound that fits together well.

Mostly it's a straight-jazz quartet, but they get into such fiery soloing, with such a youthful passion, that it's got a bit of that indie-jazz feel -- you know, like real jazz made by folks who'd hang out with indie rockers. (As opposed to indie rockers who think they can do jazz; totally different subject.) The band winds its way through some standards, including the title track, and some standards-tinged originals, but as the songs wind into their sixth or eighth minute, the two-sax lead line gets into some gusty, hard-blowing fireworks. Impressive. This one's a more middle-east-tinged track, so they're not all about standards.

Previously noted here.

Tim Berne's Science Friction -- "Van Gundy's Retreat" -- The Sublime And (Thirsty Ear, 2003)

I figured Tim would make a great lead-in to the rock/punk show that was following me today (the mighty Dr. Furious, subbing for Mike). Back in 2003, I described this album as, "Upbeat and jaggedly swinging avant-jazz, with a hint of menace to every track. ... The tempos might not be super fast and blurry, but the energy level is way up there.

* = 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.