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

* Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog -- "Todo El Mundo Es Kitsch" -- Party Intellectuals (Pi Recordings, 2008)

Previously noted here.

* Bloom Project -- "Shattered Eventide" -- Prismatic Season (Edgetone, 2008)

Previously noted here

Previously noted here

* Peter Evans Quartet -- "!!!!" -- Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12, 2008)

A bright, upbeat free jazz session featuring Evans' rapid-fire, sparks-flying trumpet alongside guitar played by Brandon Seabrook ... and given what I've heard from Evans in other contexts, such as the band Mostly Other People Do the Killing, electric guitar is a more than suitable foil for him. Seabrook gets nice and loud with the guitar effects on a few tracks. This album's got a nice twist to it -- at least two of the songs here are based on the harmony patterns of standards, with newly written melodies and, of course, hyper and hard-charging solos. It's a terrific disc that shows why there's buzz around Evans in New York circles these days. I'm hoping we'll have occasion to play many more of his projects over the years. At some point, he'll have to do an album of slower, less fiery stuff, I suppose, but that'll be just as welcome.

Pulga is a duo that mixes some regular, "organic" improv -- sax and guitar, for instance -- with electronics and noise. Some tracks lean more heavily one way or another for a split-personality feel; my favorite moments blend the two or, as this track does, shift from one dimension to the other. "Shoes" gives you a repeating saxophone vamp that eventually dissolves into a dark gale of noise.

Fire Museum is a revolutionary label in a literal sense -- their recordings include a benefit CD for RAWA, an organization that was clandestinely helping educate women in Afghanistan. It was based on the upper floor of a duplex in the Castro, and I happened to see one of the final shows the label put on before vacating.

*

Bassist Ajemian has played with any number of avant-garde ensembles in Chicago, and some of that influence shows on this track, with its squirrelly, cranky saxophone intro. Most of this sextet album takes a straightahead tack, with plenty of air for ballads, but the curly twists like this track keep it edgy. The album isn't nearly as dreary as the title implies; it's got more of a normal jazz mood. Four tiny interludes are stuck in there as well, titled "The," "Art," "Of," and "Dying," and they're not that downcast either.

* David Leikam Trio and Quartet -- [Trio: Untitled track 3] -- Live (self-released, 2008)

A couple of sets played live at KZSU, featuring our own David Bug. The quartet tracks, a group called Tippo, are more abstract and noisy, partly because they include laptop electronics in the mix. The trio, z_bug, has a more "organic" sound despite being propelled by electric bass plus prodigious effects; that's because it's rounded out by two drummers, creating sounds and even beats that are more earthly. z_bug does get into a vicious swirling menace during track 2; I also like the groove they build up on track 3. (All tracks are untitled.)

Previously noted here.

* William Parker -- "Neptune's Mirror" -- Double Sunrise over Neptune (AUM Fidelity, 2008)

Previously noted here, and above, of course.

Because Sangeeta figures so prominantly on William Parker's Neptune album, I wanted to play something from one of her own CDs. This track takes lyrics from a poem set to melody written by Sangeeta. I'd played her music before, just before learning that she'd been part of the Neptune recording.

Previously noted here.

* Cuong Vu -- "Accelerated Thoughts" -- Vu-tet (ArtistShare, 2008)

Vu continues to put out compelling, romantic music with a challenging side. Great stuff but often a bit too syrupy for my taste -- which has been par for Cuong Vu's catalog, for me. That doesn't change the importance or stature of what he's doing. "Just a Memory" and "I Promise" are the tracks I have in mind here; they're powerful and sentimental, displaying the kind of gentle airflight that caught the ear of Pat Metheny. "Accelerated Thoughts" is a quirkier piece, with stacatto pepperings of trumpet and some menacing, rocking-out electric bass. It's more my style, but I don't fault Vu for having a muse that doesn't always tickle my ears.

* Joel Harrison -- "American Farewell" -- The Wheel (Innova, 2008)

Previously noted here.

Tom Heasley -- "29 Palms" [excerpt] -- Desert Triptych (Farfield, 2005)

Just like last week, I used the occasion of an upcoming Heasley solo tuba concert to play some of his stuff -- although this CD uses didjeridoo, instead. Similar result, though: long, compelling ambient flows.

Here's some actual tuba improv, with William Roper doing the honors. This track also features Elliot Kavee doing his trick of playing drums and cello simultaneously. Not sure if he still does that, but it was interesting when I saw it about 10 years ago.

Roper and Wong can also be found with Bobby Bradford in the trio Purple Gums, which has a couple of CDs out, one of which we've played before. Bradford, if I can stretch this tangent even further, gives an interesting interview here explaining the tough realities of trying to play cutting-edge jazz in Los Angeles. (Skip to the bottom, the question about John Carter.)

We get lots of very good chamber/improv duets, especially out of Europe, but this one stands out. It's active, goofy, and even sarcastic; it's vicious while sticking to a black-tie classical voice. What you get is music that sounds like a cross between jazz and chamber/classical -- those same motifs, anyway -- but pounded out with a jester's hand. I had loads of fun listening to this one, and I'll note that it does have a couple of serious tracks that are quite convincing. Tracks feature piano coupled with sax or clarinet.

Drowsy lo-fi experimental pices, using instruments like organ, guitar, and flute played in desultory, almost off-key-sounding tones. One of the people here is half of the Pulga duo noted above.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.