Friday, September 26th, 2008 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

(Return to playlists.)

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

* Fire Room -- "Broken Music 1" -- Broken Music (Atavistic, 2008)

Previously noted here.

* Yuganaut -- "Running" -- This Musicship (ESP-Disk, 2008)

Previously noted here.

*

Spacey free jazz led by Smith on trumpet and KZSU fave Vijay Iyer on piano. Each track gets into some good ferocious playing, but it's surrounded by restrained, thoughtful exploration. It's got a direct and jazzy sound, yet Iyer spins some gorgeously abstract piano lines (track 2 especially).

Check out the band -- three grizzled veterans in Smith, John Lindberg on bass, and Shannon Jackson on drums -- plus Iyer. Kind of a testament to his playing level.

Previously noted here.

* Don Cherry Quintet -- "Suite for Albert Ayler" -- Live at Cafe Montmartre, Vol. 2 (ESP-Disk, 2007; recorded 1966)

Previously noted here.

Snappy little piece from a sax-led trio, taken off a compilation of tracks from the Without Fear creative-music series in Ohio.

Tom Djll -- "Brother Can You Spare a Dime" -- Bellerophone (Soul on Rice, 2007)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Turi Fuka -- "Interzona" -- Taze Hitoya (Slusaj Najglasnije!, 2007?)

Talk about unknowns: I don't even know if "Turi Fuka" is the name of a guy, a band, or what? This is an album full of small, pleasant, odd snippets, something that's going to be useful for a show like mine. I should mention about Slusaj Najglasnije ... it's a Croatian label that's given us lots of interesting stuff, but I have no idea how old any of these CDs are. Some identify themselves as rereleases of older material; other than that, the timings are a mystery to me. In any event, we've got a stack of material from them that we're gladly working through.

* Neil Welch -- "Narmada" -- Narmada (Belle, 2007)

Granted, it's more than a Coltrane worship session. There's a sitar, featured prominently in this particular track and on the final cut. Many tracks build to a kind of frenzy that's a step apart from Coltrane -- not better, but different, informed by the punk, noise, and even free jazz that 'Trane wasn't around to hear. But most tracks build from material that's a carbon copy of the classic quartet with McCoy Tyner. Worthy heroes, to be sure, but after 40 years, shouldn't the bar be raised more than that?

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

Previously noted here.

An interesting project combining Indian musicians with musicians who've played with Miles Davis, the point being to put a strong Indian emphasis on Miles' classic works. Miles was one of the musicians who helped bring Indian influences into Western music, of course, so the concept is appropriate. The 2-CD set splits its time between Kind of Blue and the electric-period albums circa Bitches Brew -- which is kind of predictable, but you can't fault them for wanting to keep the concept audience-friendly.

* Peter Evans Quartet -- "Bodies and Souls" -- Peter Evans Quartet (Firehouse 12, 2008)

Previously noted here.

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

Previously noted here.

* Glass Farm Ensemble -- "Holonyms" (composer Elizabeth Hoffman) -- In Four (Innova, 2008)

Previously noted here.

An improvising quartet of strings, an interesting project that includes Jeff Hobbs (violin) and Bob Marsh (cello). I don't think I've seen them do any shows for years, but for an Oct. 5 gig, they'll be covening a sextet called just "The Emergency Strings."

From a string of pretty good albums Holland did for ECM. This one's a particularly fun, manic track, sounding less like gridlock and more like a crazy driver darting through NYC traffic. The band throws in a lot of chatter at the beginning, for that big-city feel, and there's fading "woooo!" at the end that's exhilarate but also sounds a little like a cartoon character that's being catapulted over those mountains way off yonder.

Previously noted here.

* The Giants of Gender -- "A Turtle Lives in the Waters" -- The Giants of Gender (Edgetone, 2008)

Briefly noted here.

Previously 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.