Sound Unities

Steve Dalachinsky: For Billy Bang

2011-09-22T20:47:00.002-04:00

a hero’s welcome 2 / the rainbow gladiator
for Billy Bang

america is unkind to its heroes
few streets with plaques
few obscure country roads renamed
i being ignorant historian
will not even bother to name even one
used to be that things used to be that way
like being in a storm with no clouds to blame it on
sketching perfect stories
flag folded into a neat triangle
beckon / become these strings
that thought: lament
remaining full / brought toward your chin
exhaled
blown away
expelled / womb
emptied out of guts & self
inhaled

& now American hero you are in someone else’s hands
in a system far far away yet connected always to HERE
& the thirst one feels of apprehension when apparitions appear
the thirst one feels / the thirst one has for comprehension
the death of metaphor but not of soul

if everything we do is in the past then all our conversations are memories about to happen
& though you are gone your spirit has not even begun to touch down rest & reside here in
the present in the past in the future which is your music & your passion your occupation
& your light
so it would seem then that we have unlimited time in the past which is now to gather
& to speak / to make music & to sing
illuminating – warrior – translator of emotions - to those who knew you – soldier
now M.I.A. – unpredictable big sadness awaits us – big joy from your SOUND
your art a postcard of the world – its beauty – its horror – its tenderness - its ferocity
you had a way of opening up the silences from within – cluttering them with form –
taming then unleashing language – twisting it in & out –
your train of thought never drifting from your purpose - the hardship of battle
& the spaces between things

you no longer wait to be pulled away – the deities claim you now
welcome home hero – to a new birth every day - the clouds & birds possess you now
all manner of clouds & birds to praise the great upheaval that your music brings
bottled the way our dreams are - the way things reach us
the way we inhale & exhale the lyrical night

the way the music so sweetly assaults us from so many different directions
surrounding us with an aura of freedom that seeps into our blood
beyond ailments / pain &; bones - inside our life - as we grow “older”
sometimes weeping for the happy crowd

i could sing all day about the passing storm
tiny explorations of the horizon
the way the wind pronounces its name during the aftermath
limping home at war’s end / this never ending war

so march on / march on
a city is only as good as its music
your music filling the city’s voids & chaos’s
city boy from the country this will always be your home
& the song that sometimes comes out wrong
is always right -
so you do it your way
& i’ll do it my way
& this way it becomes a thing. mine. yours.
ours. memory’s. time’s.

Jeff Galindo the Genial Giant.

2011-09-11T18:52:00.000-04:00

Mr. Galindo is not merely tall, he is like Paul Bunyan or something. And yet his stature as a trombonist looms far beyond whatever the gene pool threw at him. He is among the Boston participants in the 'live to work' cohort.

By this I mean they make a good living at music from teaching and performance. We have another 'work to live' crew which has some non musical day job.

The Outpost is the meeting place where people from both camps mingle on a merit basis and your C.V. is irrelevant. The teachers often have a special delight in a chance to just cannonball into the pool of uninhibited, utterly engaged invention.

Mr. Galindo would be one of these. These concerts, however meagerly attended, help these souls recharge after the more constrained run of things they do as teachers.

His web site bio is pretty impressive:

"Born in San Francisco, California, Jeff Galindo attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts on scholarship after high school. He also studied with Hal Crook, Jerry Bergonzi, and George Garzone with grants by the National Endowment of the Arts and began free-lancing in the Boston area. His experience includes tours of Europe with Phil Woods and Japan with Makoto Ozone, and tours with the Artie Shaw Orchestra. Jeff has performed with such notables as Chick Corea, Clark Terry, Joe Lovano, Buddy DeFranco, Slide Hampton, and Johnny Griffin. He has also performed with Gunther Schuller, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Jerry Bergonzi, Bobby Shew, The Boston Pops Orchestra, and Sam Butera among many others. In Boston, Jeff performs regularly with the Greg Hopkins Big Band and Nonet, The Galindo/Phaneuf Sextet (with which he has released a new cd "Locking Horns" in 1998 and won Boston Magazines "Best of Boston" for a jazz group in 1999), plus his double quartet with George Garzone. He is currently one of the top free-lancing trombonists in the Boston area."

Jeff is an Assistant Professor at Berklee College of Music, teaching both trombone and jazz improvisation. He also has an extensive private teaching schedule. Jeff is in high demand as a guest artist and clinician at high schools and universities in Massachusetts, the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Here, he oversee's a clinic in Sacramento.

"One thing I teach every student is that music is a language. Like English or Spanish or Japanese, music tells a story and can make a person really feel different ways. Like a language, music has sentence structure, phrases, and paragraphs. I teach the students how to understand this and how to begin to interact and communicate as a band.

"Although I teach all the fundamentals of the music, I try to get the students beyond that. I teach students how to get this knowledge into their subconscious so they can really listen and play. I encourage students how to develop their own style by listening and being influenced by their favorite players and yet not just copying them.

"I want students to be inspired to grow in life as well as music and see how it's really the same thing. I teach the need for discipline and yet for looseness; to be able to learn something so well that one doesn't need to think about it, it's just there. I teach them that it's not what you play, it's how you play what you play."

He is a fixture in a number of big bands and the pieces below give you a sense of his work in that arena. Directly below we also have one of his composition, "Violet".

And we have a solo segment from the same ensemble.

Then there is a glimpse of him as a band leader in Chicago.

He spends a considerable amount of time in Latin Bands as well.

We even have him in Ryles.

But it is among the seekers of Free that you find his kind of home. He worked in the James Merenda elevation of the Mingus book called the Masked Marvels back in 1999.

He is an avid participant in the Charlie Kohlhase cornucopia of compositions and their robust exposition called the Explorers Club. This recording is an area high water mark, sad to say. Since the recession, there has been a general decline in release activity from many Boston participants. It may also be attributable to mid life exhaustion and exasperation with the slim pickings of an imploding music infrastructure.

"Adventures" is a septet with two drummers, Miki Matsuki and Chris Punis, chordal elements covered by Eric Hofbauer with guitar and Jef Charland with a bass and the lung powered triumvirate of Charlie, Matt Langley and Mr. Galindo. It was recorded in the James Merenda basement studio for a bit of continuity.

And his most recent recording is with the scholarly and yet whimsical Tom Hall in a charming and adventurous outing that complements the double drummer line up of Explorers Club by the complete absence of drums, just a pair of lung run things and the alert bass of Marty Ballou forming the trunk of the sonic tree.

Here we find them holding court in the Outpost Gallery.

Jacob William: Loaded Bass-ics.

2011-07-25T07:42:00.004-04:00

In my prior post and at various times in the past I've yapped about the unusual quality of the music scene here in Boston and it occurred to me that Jacob William is perfect for conveying this.

As a bassist, he is able to circulate readily in many situations and the past few years have seen a partial abandonment of fixed ensembles in favor of prolific recombination.

Mr. William came to the US from Madras on a scholarship to Berklee and expanded that opportunity to periods at the New England Conservatory and Wesleyan where he was an Anthony Braxton understudy.

He is now an adjunct instructor at the beefed up Bridgewater State University while covering several other endeavors such as child learning enhancement. His wife, Shiney and prodigious daughter Kriti are avid participants in his work, (I'm agitating to get Kriti the liner notes assignment for a coming release on Not Two).

He also composes extensively, writes theory treatises, and believes in the doctrine of 'Sweat' rising from a visceral engagement approach to drive the elements of heart and mind home.

He videotapes his performances extensively and the full trove can be found on his You Tube Channel.

The Early Outings.

His earliest recording, J.E.R.M, and performances include some striking bass guitar work.

"J.E.R.M features the young talents of: bassist Jacob William, drummer Ed Nicholson, tenor saxophonist Rolf Schloenvogt and pianist Michael Beck. This newly released outing brought to us by a multinational ensemble of Berklee School of Music grads, was recorded in 1999. And while the music is three years old, the bands outlook and symmetry offers a refreshing outlook, featuring ten melodically tinged tone poems. Throughout many of these pieces, Schloenvogt solos atop rolling and tumbling drums and piano motifs. Essentially, the quartet opts for an animated yet persuasively climactic approach consisting of wavering crescendos and nicely constructed dreamscapes. Although the bands modern jazz based initiatives provide the winning touch. In some respects, these frameworks rekindle thoughts of John Coltrane's spiritually inclined ballad-based works. The band's subtle vibrancy and focused modus operandi instills a flotation-like vibe. Hence, a strong outing that warrants repeated spins."
By Glenn Astarita (All About Jazz)

Among his early projects are two piano trios. The first, from 7/9/03, involves Enrique Haneine as pianist and Chris Carroll on drums.

The second, from 11/9/03, includes Vardan Ovsepian as pianist and Cem Mutlu as drummer.

There is also this example of a concert in Bangalore with guitarist Amit Heri and Ranjit Barot on drums.

The Ensemble Formation Period.

Secondary Deviations is the main document thus far for Jacob's ensemble models. Stalwart Stef gives it a decent go. I'm less puzzled by the opening segment but I'm an accepting sort when it comes to these decisions. As you'll notice, Jim Hobbs is in the thick of things throughout.

This is the original core of the quartet minus Forbes Graham.

The Parampara Quintet is a key vehicle for Mr. William. An early example of it's capabilities dates from an October 18th, 2008 show at the Lily Pad (of which, more later).
It includes Steve Lantner pianistics.

The second date is nearly two years later at U Mass, Boston on April 30th, 2010.

The Prolific Phase, (Inman Square).

For some reason, maybe it's the Recession, maybe it's fatigue from trying so hard and having so little to show for it or maybe it's just more fun, the Boston core, who inhabit these posts are mixing it up to beat the band, literally.

Instead of trying to follow the fixed ensemble model, there are churning recombinations of every description and a heightened sense of community. For example, Mr. Ken Field dropped in at a Jeff Platz show a few weeks ago.

He's still pretty devastated from the passing of his lifelong companion and the sudden weight of years have hit him hard. The crew did some grand child of Ascension for him. He needed to know we all were there and the grip of the handshake was intense.

It's like that now. The older mode of sniping and bickering is muted way down. And it tells of how, jazz, the national institution of marching bands and tavern gigs is just fine and getting healthier even as jazz commerce continues to choke on the mother of all ham sandwiches til it's grasping is diminished by it's gasping. And we all are better for it.

Inman Square has turned into this strange mini jazz district under city booster's noses and most of these videos are from the Lily Pad or The Outpost. Future aggregations will also add Ryles into the mix.

The last mentioned is the most conventional.

Yup, a dance joint. It goes nuts on Fridays when it is open til 2 am and the patrons spill into the parking lot next door to weave their ways home.

But that's upstairs. Down stairs, it still tries to be a jazz club and has a tolerable run of local things. The only problem is the stuff has to be loud to offset the thumpa thump from upstairs.

Jacob occasionally gets to play there with a Jim Hobbs project.

The Lily Pad moves a bit closer to an art space and like the Outpost, is a rent -a-recital space. The rate is significantly higher than the Outpost but it has three times the capacity, a number of appealing amenities and occasion based liquor licenses. It's main problem is inept listing and a hopelessly archaic web design that is poorly optimized.

This is a Renta Pit hazard.

The little Outpost is the runt of this litter and is a value with a minimal frills approach. Musicians have been known to use it just to do rehearsals as it has a nice room sound and only really holds around 30 people before it seems crowded. It's proprietor uses a crappy blog spot template, ( I keep reminding him I'll upgrade it), but it has all the functionality of a Google template in a Google world and Mr Chalfen has genuine enthusiasm for working promotion. He still gets a thrill when his place is cited in a print periodical.

He's generally much sharper at keeping his listings up than his two competitors. It is a nearly pure art space play like some little home chamber recital chamber you'd find in the time of Chopin. It's a never ending rent party.

Jacob's recent work there echoes his earliest in so far as pianist collaborations are concerned.

This segment is from late May of this year and is noteworthy because it is one of the few segments you'll find featuring the work of Dave Bryant, a former member of Prime Time and one of the most patient, thoughtful people you are likely to meet.

This one brings in Jeff Galindo on trombone, a tall, large, and very physical player, the genial giant.

Then there is a collaboration with Tom Hall and Allan Chase.

And this final one finds Jacob working with Eric Hofbauer and Pandelis Karayorgis.

Matthew Shipp Duets with Winds.

2011-07-18T17:38:00.005-04:00

Between 1987 and now Matthew Shipp has made duets with wind players a recurring pursuit to the point where there are a number of recordings and examples of these focused and fascinating benchmarks of his elaborate participations and contributions.

The earliest recorded one was a document of a collaboration with a friend. Several are projects where Mr. Shipp was specifically engaged to bring his potentials to a colleague.

Others follow the original plan and come from affinities and friendships strikingly shaped as sounds.

The summary of these duets makes the counterpart participants and their various roles the focus. Mr. Shipp is true to his essential outlook and aim throughout so a listener mainly follows the arc of his discoveries and excursions.

It all rests on ground of an easy familiarity with all that has preceded him and rises to seeking with each waking day. It is the search of the intrigued and wonder based outlook where a piece grows from some kernel or other and shifts as a stream runs its course.

He covers drums, bass and a counter voice to his wind rooted counterparts with a powerful and alert suppleness.

The highly portable and concentrated mini ensemble form that is a piano and wind duet has been a Shipp focus since he roamed Jordan Hall, at least.

The upper floors of Jordan Hall then were full of small piano practice rooms. The most readily available ones are too small for an ensemble or even an upright bass but a horn player can fit in. Matthew generally has a charitable and warm regard for pianos and will cut em slack if they work reasonably well. Sure, in a fair and thoughtful world he’d mainly be working high end Steinways and up but why let a little thing like humble provenance and a bit of wear get in the way?

In a life often reduced to a blur of flights, train trips and bus rides over the rind of the spinning globe, a piano, for Mr. Shipp, is home. When he arrived here on Mothers Day, he embraced the gallery upright the minute he got there so the flow of conversation met a stream of Ellington channeled as a spirit more than a structure.

Where others before him have been known to fuss mightily over breaking through boxes to offer up monumental edifices, he prefers to let the moment make the structure, to let the stream course shape the shore.

And so it was that a Piano and Saxophone duet became a valuable way to model sonic teamwork and ensemble dynamics. Practice room access wasn’t too restricted and the cat herding that attends getting a drum and bass involved was removed as an issue. There may be an early example of these duets from 84 to 85 involving Gary Joynes at the Brandeis Radio Station series, World Class Jazz at the Joint. The search is ongoing.

Rob Brown studied at Berklee at the same time and knew Gary from Virginia. He became a regular counterpart in these things. He joined Mr. Shipp in the inevitable migration to New York where a recording ensued with the low frills Cadence Label.

Rob Brown
Sonic Explorations
February 1987/88

The Jazz Loft has a succinct and useful capsule description.

“These are the first recordings of both Mr. Shipp and Mr. Brown. It’s a strong debut and the root of vast recording careers over the next few decades. Originally issued on LP, this CD issue retains the original 1988 interview with the players and supplies additional takes of “Oleo” and “Blue in Green.” Wonderful music and a historical document to boot. Recorded November 18, 1987 and February 14, 1988.”

Between 1988 and the next duet recording with Roscoe Mitchell were seven years of intensive ensemble work.

Chess: Roscoe Mitchell.

This pairing may well be the model for the future collaborations where some presence of focused exploration is a primary incentive.

Roscoe Mitchell 2-Z was recorded August 15, 1995 and it launched on October 8, 1996

"C.C.: …So, in some way,do you think that Roscoe Mitchell, with whom you played for many years in a double quartet [and besides the Note Factory, the two musicians played together in 1996’s duo record 2-Z, on Thirsty Ear label], is the nearest to your generation of players, kind of a middle figure between the old avant-garde generation and your generation?

M.S.: Oh, I’m older than I am … (laughs) Yeah, yeah, I agree with that, I think the great thing about Roscoe is that especially on the soprano playing he has a kind of approach opposed to Coltrane thing that he did with … you know, he doesn’t sound like Coltrane at all, so he stopped a very strong post Coltrane experience in sound and approaching; in many years of development Roscoe's music has been incorporated and many (now) have this kind of crazy Roscoe post bop feeling. So I think that what he really mixed and incorporated is not again the same thing of the sixties, in fact he is very conscious of the music having his stamp on it, and in another way he is a bridge between the older generation and my generation, definitely …"

Gian Paolo Galasi Complete Communion.

This has been skillfully appreciated by sturdy Rod Warner, a diligent blogger in the UK

“Coming relatively up-to-date... 1996. A duo performance by Matthew Shipp and Roscoe Mitchell. Starting off with dabbed at notes and short phrases, pointillism in action, the piece slowly expands into a swirl of dense lines, the sour-sweet horn of Mitchell swathed in the deep, cavernous sonorities of Shipp's piano. Which reminds me at times of our own Keith Tippett and his pounding storms of overtones. This is the last track from the album '2Z,' 2-Z-11 - also named 'The Physics of Angels,' which combines neatly the scientific and the spiritual. Or something. Wonderful, expansive music...” Rod Warner

The Bridge: Ivo Perelman.

Ivo Perelman Bendito of Santa Cruz January 1996

“The folk music of Ivo Perelman's native Brazil has been an ongoing source of inspiration for the saxophonist, who once again turned his attention to Brazilian folk songs on Bendito of Santa Cruz. This CD found Perelman forming a duo with pianist Matthew Shipp, and the two are very much in sync on "Cana Fita," "Macumba," "Ze Do Vale" and other traditional folk songs of Brazil. Of course, Perelman's arrangements of the songs are far from traditional rarely, if ever, have they been brought into such a radical avant-garde jazz environment.

Melody is a high priority on this session, and Perelman makes a point of stating recognizable melodies before venturing "outside" for some very intense and explosive improvising. The result is a rewarding CD that, although far from what was considered "mainstream jazz" in 1996, is easier to absorb than Perelman's completely atonal albums. Highly recommended.”
Alex Henderson

In this situation, Mr. Shipp is essential to the fulfillment of a project conceived and produced by Mr. Perelman. It is sequenced like a sonic film with an opening and closing theme. Mr. Shipp was meeting the material for the first time and channels drums and bass as the pivot point

Bendito is Saint Benedict,“the Moor”, a patron saint of South America and the African Diaspora. The next track, Macumba, veers to the other coin side of syncretic spirit seeking and the opening foghorn of God bellows, jumping from the tenor bell might suggest the moment when the orisha appears. It startles and works its way to the melody statement indicating it is the orisha and the theme greeting begins.

Cana Fita has one of those fundamental melodies known to dart around the planetary mindscape owned by everyone and no one. Cego also has some root in medieval times. A highlight of this recording is how Mr. Perelman carried bits of the melodic DNA from Brazil where it really lives, it's high school choruses, it's work whistling and so on rather than the trappings of Brazil Inc that becomes a predictable routine when industry head scratching turns its gaze to Copacabana.

And he carries it across this bridge to a robust and vivacious corner of free jazz. Mr. Shipp meets at the other side with knowing imagination and a sense of fun.

Road Trips: Rob Brown.

Rob Brown Duo with Matthew Shipp, Blink of an Eye - No More no.3
1996 Alto Sax, Flute.
Recording information: Roulette (10/12/1996).
"Recorded live in 1996, this reunion of Rob Brown and Matthew Shipp, who arrived in New York together in the mid-'80s, is a wealth of dialogue and a stellar example of musical camaraderie. Here is a three-part suite based on the immediacy of the sonic idea as it translates without gimmick or artifice from one mind to the next and back, shifted, stretched, or downright changed as an offering for further dissection and sonorous unction. There are interstitial elements of Brown's knife-edge tone that set particularly well with Shipp's crescendoing left hand, first hovering, then pounding the middle register as Brown reaches for a slot between high and middle. When Brown moves over to the flute, Shipp's left-handed arpeggios dance all around his timbral notions, creating an echo of vibratory nomenclature to enclose one frame of reference while articulating a further one and bringing in the idea of becoming still once more. Everything is full-speed ahead, though there are dynamic breaks and continuances and the unfolding of dramatic tonal architectures that are layered in such textured balance that they create a towering, yet gentle perceived aural structure. Deft, wooly, and elegant, this disc is hot." ~ Thom Jurek, All Music.

While there haven't been any videos of the Shipp/Brown Duets, there is a stunning collaboration of Mr. Brown with WIlliam Parker and Henry Grimes. And a series of these duets with Amiri Baraka, below, gives a sense of Mr. Brown's participation in a duet.

Blink Of An Eye finds these two friends at the point in life, the mid 30's, where the working language of an artist has a decade of experiences to shape it. Their familiarity makes the pieces flow like a road run through stimulating backwaters for fun where the role of driver and passenger shift in instants throughout.

Surveying: Evan Parker.

Evan Parker 2007 Abbey Road Duos. Treader. Soprano Sax, Tenor Sax. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios, 19 July 2006.

"It's a division perhaps more historically British than American, which is why when the pairing of Shipp with saxophonist Evan Parker showed up, it seemed long overdue. John Coxon and Ashley Wales—aka electronica duo Spring Heel Jack—have shown remarkable insight with their label Treader and Abbey Road Sessions is a beautifully engineered, exhilarating album. The warm, rich sound enhances the intelligent adventurousness of the session: two long suites in four parts each which push and pull, the alternating fury and restraint, make it the kind of meeting of masters that becomes greater than its parts."

Kurt Gottschalk All About Jazz

.

"Shipp and Parker move to very abstract, fragile territory, demonstrating what joint improvisation can mean for two absolute masters. The album is divided into two suites : a tenor suite and a soprano suite, and on each they create open environments with lots of space, offering room for the other player to join in, to accentuate, to echo, to contrast, yet at other times their interaction so immediate and coherent, that you would think it was composed. The tenor suite starts in a dark, brooding way, moving to a higher level of intensity on the second piece, exploratory and playful on the third, and becomes fully abstract and anguished on the fourth. The soprano suite starts in a peaceful, airy way, with Parker demonstrating his circular breathing skills, creating an almost monotonous sound over Shipp's sparse notes and occasional string-plucking, then moving into a melodious yet melodyless improvisation with lots of silence : tender, fragile, subdued. The second piece becomes more agitated, with short bursts of sound and rapid-fire conversational interchange, just to slow down again in the third piece for a digression into soft emotional tonal explorations on the sax, accompanied by eery piano arpeggios. The album ends with more abstract free forms. These two musicians' musical vision and coherence in the execution is truly amazing. Let's hope they will find much more opportunities to continue with this duo format. It's without a doubt among the best fully improvized CDs of the year, creating music which might even appeal to a broader jazz audience."
Stef Gijssels

This is an intriguing project on several levels. It shares a focused purposefulness with the John Butcher duet, below. It's as if Mr. Parker has been envisioning the possibilities and has some inquiries he needs Mr. Shipp to fulfill.

It maps sonic counterparts to Cotswolds, the Giants Causeway or the Badlands. It was recorded in 'that' Abbey Road where the very air is pregnant with promise and it sounds so. The piano must be made of heaven.

And it's very making as an artifact is redolent of yearning for the Arts and Crafts Movement. It is a simple yet clever design, evidently a facet of Treader records. It is made of simple quality card stock, folded like origami with space allocated for liner information, a charming 'oops' message printed on simple printer paper to inform you that the alto sax designation was a typo and a lizard embossed in a gold swoosh, evidently something from the monitor lizard family and simple elegant fonts at the top left to give you the artist/title stuff.

It somehow covers earnest and fun in one event.

Shooting the rapids: Sabir Mateen.

"Musical communions are always difficult to define or talk about it, to me. The pairing of the Great Matthew Shipp and myself is a natural hook up, something that came together naturally. We've talked about it for some time and we played a 10 minute or so duet and we felt so good after that we decided to record and the rest you know. We chose each other, not no promoter or record label. Every gig is like a spiritual awaking and a rebirth. It's never the same and we've been friends for over 20 years, talk regularly on the phone, have things in common (Professional Wrestling among many others). We've played in Europe and Russia twice and just made our America debut last week (at the Stone N.Y.C.). I had working duo relations with drummers Sunny Murray and Ben Karetnick, but this is my first with a pianist. I've played duets with pianists (Raymond A. King, Italian pianist Alberto Fiori, Horace Tapscott (not in performance) plus Linda Hill and Naoko Ono (the first pianist in my band) but this is the first working duo with a pianist and the first regularly working duet with anyone.

I feel we are playing even when we are not playing."

Sabir Mateen.

Sabir Mateen SAMA (March 2009) Clarinet. Recorded March 10, 2009 at Roulette Studio, Not Two
"... Matthew Shipp and Sabir Mateen, as the Italian public has learned in recent years are two of the most original and gifted members of the Black New York creative scene , both in the many projects that revolve around William Parker, and with their respective groups. This work sees them in a long suite improvised duet for piano and clarinet [Mateen renounces his natural multi-instrumentalist here to focus on a sound that is empathy instinctive with the wood of the piano], a work that proceeds from multiple internal rhythmic /textural architectures intertwined, each time bringing out the dynamics or the most lyrical moments. Those who know the language of the two musicians will find it hard to spot characteristics that make them instantly recognizable in the eight parts of the Sama : the spatiality of the sound percussiveness and Shipp's piano, as well as the sensual expansion of Mateen, whose experimental gesture is never moved to conceptual abstractions, but simply connects to 'urgency of the sonic body. A dialogue for expectations, full of ideas and wishes to share. (Enrico Bettinello, All About Jazz Italy)

Matthew Shipp and Sabir Mateen - SaMa Live in Moscow (SoLyd, 2011) Tenor Sax

November 28th 2009

If two men were ever born to perform together, pianist Matthew Shipp and saxophonist Sabir Mateen are those two. In this extraordinary duo performance, they expand on last year's excellent studio performance, SaMa, with a live performance which takes their improvised communication even closer to the edge. Mateen's tenor is strong and supple, honed to a razor's sharpness, and Shipp uses the entire keyboard, whether it's bombs of bass notes or rippling high register figures. They begin with a few shorter pieces including an excellent blues and solo piano feature before moving into the main event. A thirteen minute deconstruction of the standard "Yesterdays" is followed by the awesome twenty one minute improvisation "Inner Chambers" which shows both men in full flow, deeply plugged into the music, the Universe, and each other. In "Yesterdays" they deconstruct the standard, like an master mechanic might dismantle a fine sports car before re-tooling, giving it a tune up and taking it on the road for a full throttle test drive. "Inner Chambers" finds the duo exploring a complex labyrinth of sound that blurs the divide between free, melodic and pure sound. Like explorers plunging deep into the musical cosmos, they travel to places hitherto unimagined and returned unscathed for a quick encore and a round of rapturous applause from the audience.
Tim Niland

This duet project is marked by friendship and the neighborhood. Mr. Mateen and Mr. Shipp ordinarily work a different array of projects but this one 'jes grew' out of the kind of cogenial association akin to Sunny Murray and Frank Wright hanging out in the back room of
a store, watching TV and thinking of things done and things to do.

Matthew Shipp in Moscow A-One from The_Katerinas on Vimeo (uploaded March 2010).

Mountain Climbing. John Butcher.

John Butcher Feb 2010 Soprano Sax
2/14/10
"The previous week I’d played in the same venue, Cafe Oto in Dalston, with Matthew Shipp, the American jazz (in the broadest sense) pianist. Sticky pad sounds would have been a ridiculous contribution. Equally, most of what I found myself playing in this duo would have sounded nonsensical in the Nakamura quartet.

The freedom that comes with improvisation is actually the freedom to recognize and respect the uniqueness of each individual playing situation. Doing this entails making specific and restricting choices, intimately connected to thoughts about whom you are playing with (and what you do and don’t know about them), the acoustics of the environment and your own personal history. Most decisions relate to concerns that have evolved over many years but some are truly formed in the moment. Part of this means continually addressing the question of how to keep your own musical personality without bringing too fixed an agenda to each performance – how to get the right balance between playing what you know and what you
don’t yet know."
John Butcher. Point of Departure.

This duet project is newer, hasn't been issued as a recording, but evinces the philosphical striving and Mr. Butcher's conviction that Mr. Shipp is the best colleague to make these particular ascents.

Casting a Net: Darius Jones.

Darius Jones.Cosmic Lieder Aum Fidelity,(2011) Alto Sax

"Cosmic Lieder immediately brought to mind my favourite recording of Schuberts Die Winteriesse. Victor Braun is the Baritone and Antonin Kubalek is the pianist. (It's on the Dorian label and it's a five star performance in case you were wondering.) Though they are performing repertoire, they—they two of them combined— have a sound that is different than the sum of its parts. I think of that “sum” as a point on a graph, rather than on an axis. Fischer-Dieskau performed the same piece with Klaus Billing but created a different sound. Their two parts came up with a different “sum” than did the combination of Braun and Kubalek. It is important to remember that when we listen to music, we are listening to lives lived.

The sum of Jones and Shipp is no less glorious, sounding like a long standing musical relationship. Ironically, it isn't anywhere near as longstanding as Shipp's relationship with David S. Ware (for one)--and yet Shipp and Jones together function flawlessly.

Despite reminiscence of Schubert, Shipp's and Jones' harmonic sensibilities are clearly of this era—Motherboxxx makes that clear. It is Cosmic Leader's proportions, pacing and musical sentiment that are timeless and unanimous among the works we love in all music.

Shipp's playing favors harmonic luxury over virtuosity. Musical phrases are candid and direct without an ounce of noodling. For large segments, Shipps playing is so uncluttered it sounds “composed.” As with Rova, the progressive consumer of formal European concert music would have to try hard not to admire and enjoy Shipp's playing on Cosmic Lieder.
Darius Jones has me most captivated when he steps outside of the tempered scale reality a la Giuseppi Logan and Joe Maneri. Those moments are sparce as with Shipp, much of what Jones plays could have been written. I'm thinking of Ultima Thule. There are of course also those moments where Jones playing defies notation—Multiverse for example—and those are the moments why we read and write for this blog. Jones covers all bases more than adequately.
If recorded music can point to anything other than itself, it could be that Planetary and Cosmic Lieder point to a re-imagining of the third stream—the ultimate fusion, that of improvisations vitality and formal European concert music's capital. Oh the farmer and the cowman should be friends..."

Stanley Zappa

Mr. Zappa wins the 'nailed it' prize. His counterparts seem to be struggling with it. The structure nets yield the gleam of shivering discoveries pulled from the sound stream depths of conjoined unconscious applied.

Flight: Jim Hobbs.

Jim Hobbs Jazz Week, May 8 2011

For Jim Hobbs, his alto has become an appendage to a degree where it readily gives up on being saxophone-ish to become anything from a mockingbird to a close sonic mirror for a piano melody line. It's not just a stunt but a fundamental.

This thing was born, like Jim, in Indiana, in 1909,(Jim showed up much later). It was picked by the Selmer crafts team leaders of the time for testing due to it's unusual quality.

Two Indiana origins converge in Boston with a number five reed acting as the go between. Fives are really close to tongue depressors in thickness but Jim chews em down to where he wants em.

While nearly every child of Selmer or its counterparts generally resigns themselves to being a saxophone or what have you, Jim is having none of it. That thing is going to go where his imagination and hard won capacities move it.

He has been thinking about how to work out a killer duet with Mr. Shipp for 12 years. And all the while he's been heading to these places where saxophones just don't go.

He brings the living world on board. He has the acuity of a field ecologist as he watches the world outside his window on quiet mornings off. He informed me, for example, that Blue Jays function as cops to track the cat and have a noise for "cat" that squirrels also use, a common language between a corvid and a boreal rodent. How odd.

In his trio projects with Laurence Cook and Junko Simons he can become the cello or cymbals by turn. He's kind of like the Mayor for the best scene for this music Boston has ever known despite the audience scarcity and attending hazards.

For this duet, he thought a lot about the fun potential and the night was up to its ears in it.

Appreciation is due to Rick Lopez for his extensive Shipp Discography work and to Michael Ricci of All About Jazz for his support of the Shipp/Hobbs duet.

May 15th to May 22nd.

2011-05-14T16:19:00.006-04:00

Sunday 15 May @ Outpost, 8pm
Dr T presents Visual Music Live featuring
Duets Plus with
Glynis Lomon - cello / Andrea Pensado - electronics / Eric Crawley - harpejji & electronics / Dave Bryant - piano

Doctor T
Emile Tobenfeld (Doctor T) has been doing improvised projections to music since 1974 -- always with the goal of creating Visual Music, a music that combines imagery and sound. His projections are produced by mixing multiple DVD sources with a video mixer and effects processor. The sources consist of computer-manipulated original material derived from his still photography and videography. The original subject matter is usually recognizable, but sometimes processed to complete abstraction. The projections and music respond sometimes directly to each other -- at other times they simply co-exist.

His videos (including some recordings made at Outpost 186) can be viewed here. A photo essay of images taken at Outpost 86 can be viewed here.

Bill Dixon, Vade Mecum. Eric Zinman.

2011-03-26T21:43:00.000-04:00

Bill Dixon Vade Mecum 1994 Soul Note/ Milano

Bill Dixon - trumpet, flugelhorn

Barry Guy - doublebass

William Parker - doublebass

Tony Oxley - percussion

1. Moment - (4'24")

2. Anamorphosis - (12'28")

3. Viale Nino Bixio 20 - (9'16")

4. Pellucity - (9'04")

5. Vade Mecum - (15'51")

6. Twice Upon a Time - (13'12")

7. Acanthus - (13'24")

“ How motion hereby is sensed in the minutae of tones”

“implication dominates how rhythms and pulse function more for their coloristic value than as velocities in a metric framework. Sounds are juxtaposed to intervallic sense, one to another so that the focal point of any passage is its direction rather than a tonal center”

-Ben Young-

“A musicians is more than a person who plays an instrument. The musician is an engineer of sound and should utilize any and every aspect of sound in the production of music"

Musician/Composer Jimmy Stewart-

“every instrument encompasses an orchestra”

-Musician/Composer Bill Dixon –

All these comments summarize concepts that some musicians have been developing since the 60’s. Unlike many of the revivalist tendencies of today, the “jazz musician” (to use a common reference term which still has pejorative implications today) was formerly defined as someone who played the instrument like no one else.

Bill Dixon’s personal approach and mastery of the trumpet is rarely discussed in the United States. His brilliance and purity of sound is compelling. The sudden tutti entrance is a fitting first take. Here are beautiful phrases constructed of fourths and fifths embellished by warm scalar colorings, poignant changes in register, and a modality not unlike the work of Miles Davis and John Coltrane particularly in the way Mr. Dixon can reduce a musical event to one sound or a few slow notes contrasted with evocative silences and compressed phrases.

I remember Bill Dixon saying that any sound can be used. “Noise” is equally expressive as a pristine tone. The listener might occasionally confuse a bowed bass note with a trumpet tone or the reverse.

Beginning Anamorphosis ,(in contrast to Moment) Mr. Dixon plays speech like noises in the extreme registers of the trumpet. Witness also the sense of motion generated by two sudden airy bursts at the beginning of Viale Nino Bixio 29 which is immediately picked up by the basses and gradually builds to a soft but fast pulse and then a quick dissolution tapering to two long tones.

Beginnings and endings are arresting and clearly defined. Much of the intensity and momentum is accomplished without the density and volume associated with other artists in this music.

Cecil Taylor remarked that he learned from Ellington how instruments can sing together, if you choose the right timbre. Bill Dixon’s ensemble demonstrates an affinity for reflective timbre in the way instruments cross registers and imitate each other’s nuances. Notice this 6:30 into Pellucity where for about thirty seconds all the instruments alternate between blending and leaping out of the texture nearly indistinguishable from one another.

Bill Dixon may at times encompass several registers in one phrase. He has thought to use every possible register to create a musical orchestral spread. In this sense and because of the orchestration and rhythmic activity, four instruments can at times seem like many more.

The basses respond equally to the challenge. On Twice Upon a Time, Barry Guy’s arco seems to follow every timbre, gesture, and register presented by the trumpet while William Parker plays slow intermittent pizzicato at points building to a quick pace after which a section is developed as the drums stop playing. Listen to the last three minutes. Amidst shrieks and flutters from the trumpet, one bass responds with short quick phrases while the other bows low and softly, so softly that at first the listener senses its presence but not its individual sound (as if the attack is hidden). Barry Guy voices over the trumpet. A quick cadence is made as the trumpet returns with the basses playing in the trombone register. The abrupt changes in register impart a form eventful and captivating.

The immediacy and sensitivity by which each musician can begin, accompany, and end or continue each others musical statements, the sense of impact, the subtle reactions of human timing all indicate a high level of attunement and acuity.

For those who are musicians or for anyone who views music as a form of knowledge like other arts and sciences in these times where music is increasingly a commodity that provides comfort and reassurance, this recording is a testament to the sound potential and subtleties of instruments in the twentieth century.

We praise synthesis for its own sake. We praise whimsical gimmicks for their sense of the unusual. We praise reproductions and dedications to the past like offerings upon an alter. Rather than curious or mystified, we are uncomfortable with the unfamiliar, and so we claim that the artist is impoverished by his or her limitations, but I believe it is the way an individual adheres to a particular limitation that separates that person from the interpreter and makes that person an artist.

"Limitation of means determines style, engenders new form, and gives impulse to creation."

George Braque "Thoughts and reflections on Art 1917"

And so we can hear as Bill Dixon has said, how, “for some tradition can serve as a guide and for others it makes them a prisoner.”

-Eric Zinman-

Happy Birthday Matthew Shipp.

2010-12-07T22:24:00.001-05:00

Matthew meets his half decade today in his prime and fully immersed in Dionysian musings shaped by Apollonian sensibilities. It's quite a feat.

It turns on his use of the most basic primal song forms, the first ones most people here were exposed to... Frere Jacques, etc. The melody kernel that the "The New Fact" grows from is like some echo of Joshua, of Jericho fame in more stark and thus striking offspring and "3 in 1" might be a reshaped hologram of 'Rock a Bye Baby', one of those odd sinister children's songs with its soothing melody.I realized this connects with the primal right away, whether a listener consciously notices.

If you think about it, song making is probably a basic thing humans do and until the 20th century, songs were rarely that important. Schubert had his art songs as did others and every peasant and goatherd the world over makes up songs as do children. The oldest known song is said to be something used by Nile water bearers as a rhythm to operate their simple water bucket hoists.

And these songs that once just grew often became the soil for Symphonic music, especially in the late 19th century when every country had a composer who rummaged around the local songs, Greig, Bartok, dozens of Russians, Brahms and so on all turned these found root melodies into big ambitious works.

Now they become slices of sonic dna to recombine on the fly of pianistics at a moments notice. I haven't given the time a two disc set wants for detailed description but I'm confident there will be plenty from many more skillful than I am. I like the sound of the audience in Troy at the end. There are a lot of hands in a clamor and voices rise enthused.

1. How has this year treated you compared with last year?

"I get up each day and do what the day puts before me so don’t know how the year has treated me-I know I have treated myself well by staying productive---and I really feel blessed to have good friends in the music who have been colleagues for years and years and my bond with them grows even if we don’t play for a year or so."

2. What have been some of the highlights?

"Well without thinking I would say the duo tour with Mr Sabir Mateen. Sabir is a unique and is always fun to be around apart from being a mother you know what on his axes.

Playing with my trio with Whit Dickey and the great Mike Bisio has been a blessing and a tour I did with the Ivo Perelman quartet with Ivo, me, Joe Morris and Gerald Cleaver, also a duo tour Joe Morris and I did in Poland was a blast, music wise."

These efforts were lauded in Brazil...

"We will seldom get the chance again to see—on a cold Thursday night—someone like Matthew Shipp displaying his fine artistry. Shipp is the most important name in contemporary piano playing. He has entered the pantheon inhabited by Monk and Cecil Taylor. Listening to Shipp—and watching him—makes you realize that great music doesn't need comparisons such as "he plays like Coltrane" or "he plays like Miles.” With delicate melodic fragments rising over the force of his hammering left hand, Shipp forges his own path, his own course independent of affiliations."

And in Russia.

"Before talking about the concert, it makes sense to say a few words about the last mentioned album. For those who missed this performance and wanted to get an idea of how Shipp plays nowadays, I would recommend to listen to «Night Logic». First, simply because it is the very fresh recording (the album was recorded in late July this year).

Secondly, on this record Shipp is in the same musical environment - the instrumental trio of Moscow concert approximately repeats the one that can be heard on «Night Logic». On the album Matthew plays with Morris and the veteran of Sun Ra cosmic orchestras, Marshall Allen (alto saxophone, flute and EWI - electronic wind instrument). And anyway, it’s a standout album. When you have an opportunity - listen to it!

Finally, let’s talk about the concert. Shipp was an absolute leader. In the absence of a drummer he was the one who dictated the tempo of trio’s playing. This was definitely a journey of Matthew with Letov and Morris following him. Shipp led the way changing directions and mood, setting the intensity of playing. His music was violent, unstable and at the same time plastic and dainty.

Shipp was constantly searching, not staying with one idea for a long time. His improvisation was a kaleidoscope of changing, slightly defined themes. Developing a phrase with his left hand, Matthew put an accent in the upper register with his right hand (as a comma), and then formulated a new phrase or modified the same one in the way it would take him in another direction. Sometimes he picked up a piece of music, as a piece of puzzle, and moved forward building on it.

It seemed like Matthew was making his way with physical efforts. Perhaps the impression was created by Shipp’s motions while playing. Knowing about his repeated confessions in his love of boxing, it was difficult to escape the feeling of watching some kind of fight. He hit the keyboard with strength of the whole body, a single high note began somewhere in the arm, and so on. Moreover such "hitting" technique was used not only for loud, intense moments, the struggle continued even during the lightest passages where slight accents of his right hand were placed with sliding on a key.

Amazing how physical side of Shipp’s playing combined with its intellectual nature. An important component of Shipp’s philosophy linked to the exact sciences, formulas and mathematical aspects of music. Improvising he resembled both a boxer trying new combinations to break an enemy and a mathematician obsessed with going from one formula to another to prove a theorem.

Emotional and sensual aspects of jazz combine with European dramatic effects in Shipp’s music - it was often heard in Matthew’s playing chords or putting accents. A monotonic chords pulsation often used by the pianist obviously referred to American minimalism of 50s as well as repetitions of riffs and quiet sparse notes following the most intense moments of improvisation."

3. Has the situation for performing in the US improved or is it still hampered by NPR Nepotism, Gen X curator Narcissism and Uncle Tupelo glorification?

"Well in the 90s it seemed that things could change when we where on a kind of punk touring route but things never made that breakthrough for usa touring that it seemed was a possibility—the problems in all this are so deep and overwhelming I don’t know where to start as far as breaking it down into discourse as to what the problems are and what the solutions might be—lets just say between europe and usa and elsewhere you try to keep a continuum of stuff going to stay busy."

4. How has Music Piracy impacted your recording sales?

"What do you think?" ( I imagine it utterly sux.)

5. What are your performance plans for the coming year, more solo focus? Ensemble options?

"Well my upcoming cd-a 2 cd live set called ‘’art of the improviser’’ has one side solo and one side trio, and I want to concentrate on both of those formats in the next year for that is where my music is and also of course I want to promote the cd. This trio is really growing into something else and I want to keep developing in this format plus my solo playing is growing at the roots and extremities. Other than that I don’t know. I do not have much interest in quartets these days."

6. Are you seeing more opportunities for artist residencies?

"I have 2 residencies this year, but do not consider myself an educator-even though I have students, it's not my main focus. However, it should be fun to have some extended classroom time. I will try to present the essence of who I am in a way that will inspire others to come up with their own ideas. Maybe any part or fragment of what I can say or do can be a tool for someone else to build their own house."

7. What do you make of turning 50?

"I don’t make anything of it. I am the same yesterday and today and yet completely different yesterday and today.I do not feel washed up as a jazz musician and I do not feel cynical about the playing-I do about the business but I feel fresh as a player and person as if whatever language I have inside me keeps me young, Marian McPartland actually said that about me to someone--— and I don’t have that aged hardened bourgeois look that Wynton has in his stupid face—it must be hard to keep up that level of pretense."

8. What was the reason for selecting the live performance in Troy as the music for The Art of The Improviser?

"We got a good tape of it and it represented the trio in the way we want it to be represented. Really no cosmic or occult numbers except those pragmatic things. I will be on road a good deal with this trio and really look forward to developing the music more. I feel very strong about the trio and know my mates are willing to make a commitment to fully concentrate on taking the music wherever the music allows us to take it.

Oh and by the way as far as 2010 goes a lot of media attention I got centered around my polemic against Hancock in jazz times earlier this year.Well this year he came out with an almost universally panned horrific cd, despite the fact that it is grammy nominated and downbeat liked it, no surprise there,they have to hold up that paradigm and I heard him a couple of times over the years going through the motions, in my opinion with his cynical jazz festival filler material and feel completely justified in what I said as far as I was using what he has been doing to paint a picture of a cynical corpse-being the dying jazz business."

A slice of controversy side dish served for the teapot tempest from the ever embarrassing and dwindling New York media cohort stuck in regaling it's bygone days like some pot bellied wash-up at a barbecue reliving high school football glory days decades later. They yet cling to tinsel illusions of clout even as the evidence suggests the end of the line is near. Beyond New York the controversy is shrugged off in favor a look at what Matthew actually does. The examples from Brazil and Russia above attest to a happy obliviousness to it all and when Art of the Improviser is released there will be a useful and edifying array of descriptions from Ms Horton, Justin, Stef and Richard Kamins.

This will be a tough year for the old strategy of plugging the branded icons. It works for pop but jazz more often does numbers across its time swath. The money wasted on pretending that 'stars' still do workable numbers should have been spent on better SEO for the entire catalog or attending to ways to boost search page ranking. Matthew is finding his way. Max and Bobby have a lot in common besides presenting him in Vilnius and DC. More people like that are showing up while stalwarts like Dan Melnick in Chicago and John Gilbreath in Seattle ever improve their game. Timing the bloat implosion is never easy or sure but the wheezing increases with each year and the star making machinery is grinding its gears and running out of gas. It's abandonment is a precondition to future viability.

Forbes Gets Around.

2010-12-04T22:31:00.001-05:00

Photo Courtesy of Stephen Haynes.

The Outpost Chronology was a hit and now I'm looking over web video snippets for other area notables.

Forbes Graham is engaging in a run of performances over the course of December at the Outpost and he was recently featured in a piece by Gordon Marshall at All About Jazz. In many ways Mr. Graham is a consummate participant. He explores possibilities in situations from noise bands to big bands.

We begin with a St. Louis Kayo Dot outing in September of 2006 as I was crossing the country to New England in a train from Seattle and follow with Dennis Warren collaborations in December and then in February of 2007.

2008 was a day old when Forbes created Courtesan Dance and it was winding down when he participated in a tribute to Raphe Malik along with Ras Moshe and our own Mr. Lavelle.

Goodbye Blue Monday is from March of 2008 and involved a robust collaboration with Darius Jones and Shayna Dulberger and the following month found him in Attleboro with Kevin Frenette. At the onset of summer he joined Jim Hobbs and the Brothers of Heliopolis for a Jazz Week event at Roxbury Community College.

He made a trip to Dover New Hampshire in the depths of March 2009 to play with Equal Time.

A Baltimore solo arose in the early summer. October found him working again with Dennis Warren in a Full Metal Revolutionary experience enhanced by Dr. T live video using plenty of striking still shots from Lillian Helen Graham. He was also there for the convening of the Citizens Orchestra with participation and guidance from Bill Dixon in early November.

On Christmas night last year he joined the Jazz Composers Alliance at Johnny Dee's in Somerville for a rendition of I Like The Sunshine. By the end of January 2010 he was at the Knitting Factory with a Marc Edwards/Weasel Walter ensemble

April of 2010 brought him to Amherst for a duet with percussionist Johan Nystrom and May found him in New York for studio work with Marc Edwards and Weasel Walter. With late summer, he was at Weird Stalk Too in Jamaica Plain.

And now, with the year waning, Forbes is joined by Luther Gray with a sense of the year to come.

Transparency in DC with Bobby Hill.

2010-11-23T22:52:00.003-05:00

MOM2.

1.Describe your discovery of Music.

"I’m 51.    When you say discovery of music, I am assuming that you mean what we affectionally call “the music”. While still strongly into a jazz-fusion bag musically during my teens (Brand X, Return To Forever, Passport, Gong, etc.,), I sifted through my father’s record collection and came across a John Coltane LP entitled ‘Last Train’, a late 50’s Prestige release.   The opening selection ‘By the Numbers’ with Red Garland, Paul Chambers, and Art Taylor, forever opened my ears up towards this music.   I played this piece over and over for many days.   It continues to be to the opening selection of each new calendar year of my radio programming on WPFW. WPFW, 89.3FM and www.wpfw.org, is Pacifica’s Washington, DC outlet.   This progressive network also has stations in New York and Houston, and two stations in California.   WPFW is the only station in the network where jazz is a formal part of its aesthetic mission. I’ve been an on-air programmer with WPFW since 1983 and currently produce and host alternating Thursday nights from 11PM until 1AM.

I am also a member of the group MOM2 (Mind Over Matter, Music Over Mind), an improvisational creative music trio of laptops, freeboards, wave stations and MPC, for which I perform on record players.   Currently, some of our music is available on various District of Noise compilations."

2.Describe your research into various periods of the idiom as an ad hoc scholar and fan.

"As a fan of the music I read and learn from Wire, Signal to Noise, Wax Poetics, and Cadence magazines on a regular basis. I continue to purchase most of my music via Cadence (Note to artists and labels: I’m open to being serviced. Just contact me at bhill59@hotmail.com).

The three books that best provided my foundational understanding of the music are Amiri Baraka’s ‘Blues People’, Graham Lock’s ‘Forces in Motion’, and John Litweilers’s ‘The Freedom Principle’.

The three books that I am reading and enjoying currently are David Toop’s ‘Sinister Resonance’ and Philip Ball’s ‘The Music Instinct’.    I also recently completed Caleb Kelly’s ‘Cracked Media’.

And the three books that I would recommend to anyone to read for a better understanding of the music and it’s associated cultures through its three principle artist-based organizations are George Lewis’s ‘A Power Stronger Than Itself’ (Chicago’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians or AACM), Steve Isoardi’s ‘The Dark Tree’, (LA’s Union of God’s Musicians and Artists Ascension of UGMAA), and Benjamin Looker’s ‘Point From Which Creation Begins’ (St. Louis’s Black Artist Group or BAG).

I also try to attend a few major festivals each year. My wife and I make an annual trip to NY for the Vision Festival.   Earlier this year we had an opportunity to attend a few days of the Sons D’Hiver festival and also traveled to NY many times this past summer to catch different installations, discussions and performances of the Whitney Museum’s exhibition on the multi-media works of Christian Marclay. The DC area also offers it’s own yearly High Zero and Sonic Circuit festivals, which I attend.

When I started DJing on WPFW in the Fall of 1983, my first program was an overnight mixture of fusion and mainstream jazz. Within that initial year I made more avant expressions my primary on-air program focus. The wealth of my early illumination came from listening to legacy WPFW programmers like Art Cromwell (currently a professor in Ohio) and Greg Tate (writer and guitarist/band leader with Burnt Sugar).   Their early 80’s programs were called ‘Out of the Afternoon and Strange Vibrations from the Hardcore’, respectively. This was also around the time that District Curators, led by now-filmmaker Bill Warrell, was presenting near-weekly avant jazz music shows at an iconic club called D.C. Space.   I saw my first avant garde jazz show at D.C. Space.   The club was located just a few blocks from the National Gallery of Art and other such more venerated institutions.   This early-period D.C. Space show that I caught was a duet between trombonist Ray Anderson, whose music I knew, and multi-reedist Anthony Braxton, who I was only familiar with then by name. Braxton was playing the very large-sized contrabass saxophone. Of the maybe dozen or so people in the audience, some were asleep, some clearly wished that they were somewhere else, and the rest of us were pleasantly mesmerized.

In 1987, I began hosting an producing a progressive Hip Hop segment of my WPFW radio program called The B-side. The B-side ran for 9 years, and created the opportunity for me to further extend my knowledge through developing and teaching a Hip Hop Culture course as an adjunct professor at George Mason University. While there are many books that illuminate the subject in different ways, Jeff Chang’s ‘Hip Hop Don’t Stop’ and Fricke & Ahearn’s ‘’Yes Yes Y’all’ are vital reading.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to and creating recombinant sounds.   I do this live through MOM2, and on air radio through of a live layering process that I’ve done since 1985 called ‘ReStRuCtUrInGs’."

3. Describe the attractions and appeal of your favorite periods.

"Three periods move me most.

The 60s, because it birthed the music and organizations whose artists and sounds I most appreciate - Chicago’s AACM, St. Louis’s BAG, and LA’s UGMAA.   These musicians all reflected the brave new musical travelers of this, my bourgeoning generation.

The 80s, because it reflected the music of those artists that built on these 60’s frameworks with their own conceptions and ideas. From Steve Coleman’s (m)acro (b)asic (a)rray of (s)ystematic (e)xtemporizations, to William Parker’s Tone worlds, to Butch Morris’s Conductions. It’s a wealth of music waiting to be re-explored.

Regarding Hip Hop, 1988 to 1995 is considered Hip Hop’s Golden Years. Some of its most diverse creativity occurred during this period.   It was over these same years that I had the pleasure of hosting and producing The B-Side.

4. Describe the trajectory of your work as an advocate.

"Never thought of describing myself as that. I usually say something more slushy like…I’m about the music.

My launch pad was my work as a music programmer/DJ at WPFW, which I began in 1983 and continue to do today.

Again, WPFW is part of a world-renowned progressive radio network called Pacifica. It’s the original and still current home of Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now! In that way, my now 28-year participation there has gone beyond the music, and has also included leadership positions on our local governance board.

I was privileged to serve as the Program Director at WPFW from 2007 – 2009.   I am happy to have had the chance to implement a new programming schedule that, through the efforts of the many existing and new programmers, resulted in significantly increased listenership while also increasing our overall jazz programming, particularly programs devoted to more avant expressions. The 11PM to 1AM late night jazz slot that I host is also heard Monday through Wednesday with alternating hosts. My alternating host on Thursday night is my MOM2 band mate Thomas Stanley.

It’s a very tough financial time right now for much public radio though, and WPFW is no exception. Support of such non-commercial, non-corporate public media outlets is really vital.

The 1987 start of the radio program called The B-Side created the opportunity to present a staged production called “Dialogue of Transformation”, where in 1999, NY and DC-based poets recited the works of MCs such as Public Enemy, Leaders of the New School, Monie Love, The Roots, Aceyalone, and many others. Poets featured included Tracie Morris, and Michael Ivey of Basehead.

During much of the late 80s and early 90s I was a journalist for the Washington City Paper and Washington Post, writing exclusively on music, authoring Post feature articles on Butch Morris’s Conduction and The Roots still mostly underground debut.

This further led to co-developing and teaching a Hip Hop Culture course as adjunct professor at George Mason University from 2001 to 2007.

In 1997, I and a handful of other WPFW music programmers (Larry Appelbaum, Thomas Stanley, Herb Taylor) and then new city dweller Vince Kargetis formed a creative jazz presenting group called Transparent Productions as a vehicle for presenting cutting-edge jazz by both national and international artists in the DC area.   It has also broadened my understanding of the music through the invaluable discussions that I have had with artists, other presenters, as well as patrons and listeners. Thomas is the only other original Transparent member that remains, and Guy Fraser joined us during the past year. Transparent is all volunteer and not for profit. Transparent organizers in attendance even pay full admission for the performances that we present, which have ranged from $10 to $15 for individual admission.   Transparent group members take care of all advance performance coordination such as press, radio, and flyers, and list serve management. We also secure the performance space, which has primarily been donated and has ranged from small galleries to university halls.

During its 13-year existence Transparent has presented well over 200 performances of creative improvised music in the DC area. This 2010 season alone has included performances by The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, Jason Hwang’s The Edge, Ernest Dawkin’s New Horizon, Brandon Ross and Stomu Takeishi’s For Living Lovers, Ravish Momin’s Tarana, Lisa Sokolov and Yuko Fujiyama, Trio X, The Nu Band, Dave Burrell, Matthew Shipp, and Tracie Morris.   One of my favorites is our presentation of the djTRIO at the Hirshhorn Museum, with turnablist Christian Marclay, Toshio Kajiwara, and DJ Olive.

Over our lifetime, I’d say that our most well-received solo shows in terms of audience size were by William Parker, Matthew Shipp, and Jean-Paul Bourelly (all solo performances), as well as Bill Cole’s Untempered Ensemble, Dave Douglas’ Tiny Bell Trio, Steve Coleman’s 5 Elements, and The Thing with Joe McPhee.

The djTRIO show is one of three Transparent performances captured on publicly available CD recordings.   The djTRIO’s 2002 performance at the Hirshhorn Museum is captured on the recording djTRIO.   And William Hooker’s The Gift as well as The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble’s Mama’s House Live: 35^th Anniversary Project, are both recordings that were captured live at Takoma Park Maryland’s famed Sangha, which is now defunct."

5. Describe evolving methods that are a facet of your advocacy.

"The things I do and advocate through radio, writing, teaching, recording, performing – are all general categories that many of us participate in, and each contribute to differently.   I hope to continue to do just that."

6. What role does Web2 and other tech have in your work?

"My aesthetic needs are for now pretty minimal. Remember, I simply play records on the air and in an improvisational band that also utilizes MPC and wave station like technology. MOM2’s other members are Thomas Stanley,Chris Downing  and Luke Stewart. They are the truer technoids."

7. What old media elements are used?

"Wax (LPs). Tape. The occasional transistor. Film. Luke Stewart is also a very nice reedist and bassist, but we haven’t yet incorporated that yet into MOM2."

8. How has change in the economy impacted your work?

"Regarding WPFW, as I mentioned, times are tough financially. A bright light is that support for the more avant and experimental music that I share continues to grow.   The support that my program received during our recent Fall on-air membership drive was the highest in my 28 years on the air.

Regarding Transparent, for 11 of our 13 years we were able to obtain donated space, so that the full 100% of all proceeds (admission and CD sales) went to the artists. While the music has often been glorious, what we do is basically a glorified door gig. In these last years we’ve given financial renumeration to the presenting spaces. These very generously and reasonably reduced space fees are then deducted from artist’s admission revenue.    Though there is no financial gain or advantage to Transparent Productions, and no real gain to the venue because of the price reductions offered, it has lessened the financial glory of the artists. As I do feel that those spaces that lovingly support the music should somehow get to be a part of the economic equation, it is something that we hope to work out better for the interests of the artists.   We have been able to keep our performance admission fees to no more than $15, which helps the audiences to continue to be able to come and experience the music."

9. Describe aspirations, projects and future hopes.

"I’ll be on break from Transparent curating in 2011 to step back and assess ways and means of presenting.

I’ll also be aspiring to learn the upright bass, and continue with my radio, personal writing, MOM2, and my own personal music projects.

All that, and always trying to live up to these words from John Cage: “The wisest thing to do is open one’s ear’s immediately and hear a sound suddenly, before one’s thinking has a chance to turn it into something logical, symbolical, or abstract”.

Bobby Hill.

Outpost Video Chronology 2007 to 2010.

2010-11-11T22:47:00.002-05:00

I did some research for brother Chalfen to find out how many videos are out there for the gallery since it began.

Stephen Haynes.

I began with 2007 where we have Todd Brunel performing Messiaen's "Abîme des oiseaux" from November of 2007 and Chris Pert and an ensemble during the same month. Chris studied at NEC and plays trumpet.

2008 has fewer entries, so far, but Liana Stillman arrived in mid summer. To fill out the year I added a Jeff Platz/Jan Klare Quartett gig in Duisberg on 9/11

Dominic Duval

2009 is a relatively fat year as a the place begins to lean toward a surprisingly robust free jazz focus with a Jacob William Quintet in February and a mixed media project in early March from good old Zinman with the venerable Mr Voigt on bass and action painting from Linda Clave.

With April came a woman from Estonia named Ellom in a performance project by the Chagall Collective, mind child of Normika and Dennis.This particular Sequence was shot in Paris. Another gifted student from the NEC Jazz and Improvisation departments, Joe Moffett, managed to get his ephemeral Bird. Fly. Yellow. ensemble recorded a few days later on April 9th.

An Allan Chase and Bruno Raberg duo occurred in late spring with an example of the odd 'free improv' scene involving Bill Solomon, Lief Ellis and Matt Sargent from the Hartford Sound Alliance on June 9th. Two laptops get a real work out.

Luther Gray

July brought an example of regular stalwarts, the Dave Fox Four, also involving Mr. Raberg and David Tronzo and good old Zinman began his collaboration with singer Lo Galluccio. Tom Hall also began a series of improvisations and from early October we have Session III, Improvisation 2 and 3 involving the area's jaunty, jovial trombonist, Jeff Galindo, with Marty Ballou on bass.

Zinman bounces back with he legendary Halloween gig involving Ms Clave in a witch's get up and more acrylic splashery. Laurence Cook manages to work his kit over while deftly dodging the paint.

Glynis Lomon

2010 has seen fewer entries but was marked by the participation Dr. T., Emile Tobenfeld. All the photo's laced through this chronology also come from him. He bagan the year up at our colleague space, 119 Gallery ,in Lowell, with a Kevin Frenette collaboration and he worked with a Glynis Lomon and Forbes Graham duet involving water visuals in March.

A Todd Brunel production elsewhere involved a number of gallery regulars in July including Jim Hobbs and David Maxwell.

Finally, August saw a poetry marathon and we end with a Tobenfeld project from La Push, a small coastal place out on the Olympic peninsula in Washington State.

Steve Lantner

Junko Simons Cello Magic.

2010-11-09T22:45:00.001-05:00

Ms. Simons with Tom Plsek, (Courtesy of Thomas Simons)

This profile has migrated to All About Jazz.

Max Makes it happen.

2010-11-02T22:56:00.001-04:00

Maxim Micheliov is part of a robust Jazz advocacy community in Vilnius Lithuania that comes highly recommended by friends who have performed there.

Max with Roy Campbell jr.

1. Describe your discovery of music.

"The sounds of music have always been heard at our home. Both my parents love music. We had a quite big collection of LP discs that included some jazz records along with classical music and easy listening. From early years I was introduced to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin as well as selected recordings by people like Mingus, Gillespie and Miles Davis (though it took me years to re-discover them). My mother loves American easy listening from pre-Elvis era like Bing Crosby, Pat Boone, Doris Day and many others. Obviously we listened to a lot of European and Soviet songs. But my father’s main passion is European classical music.

At some point I started own quest that haven’t stopped to date. Instrumental music has absorbed my attention as it offers certain depths usually unseen in song/vocal genres... or maybe it’s just that I listened too many songs as a youngster. However no matter how far I am from the musics of my childhood a few aspects remain intact. I refer to such things as huge respect and admiration of melody, diversity of my interests and openness to the new and unknown."

Valerij Anosov (Thelonious, NB), Max, Howard Riley, Danas Mikailionis (NB)

2. Describe your research into various periods of the idiom as an advocate and fan.

"A fan, in the first place. My development as a listener has been quite typical - from popular genres and artists to more specific musics; things that can’t be heard unless one takes an effort to discover them. Let me mention a few “bridges” - musicians-bands-genres that linked entertainment with the art of jazz and improvisation.

Mike Patton - an MTV super-star, front-man of Faith No More and a leader/participant of various experimental bands and projects like Mr. Bungle, collaborations with John Zorn, Tomahawk, Fantomas and many others.
Rock, particularly “progressive” or “Art rock” was a good introduction into jazz rock and fusion.
Jazz rock came up around my final years at the university... All music was mostly on cassettes; also first CDs appeared [in my life]. I remember that my very first compact disc was “The Promise” by John McLaughlin. I thought it was a stunning piece of music. Soon after I got Tutu (Miles of course) and “The Mad Hatter” - Chick Corea. These recordings are some sort of keystones in my listening experience. The Mad Hatter is the one recording that today represents all Jazz rock/fusion music for me. I think it is just genius and also that it sort of closes the theme. Of course I can only speak for one not too sophisticated listener.
John Zorn, Masada, Naked City,... - that was great introduction into so called “avantgarde”. Speaking of advocacy, Zorn is one of the mightiest advocates for free music - everybody knows him or at least heard of him.

These were “bridges” that provided paths to other realms in music not covered by media and neglected by massive attention. Also it taught me to perceive more subtle matters.

After the university I went to London and stayed there for about 3 years doing various temporary jobs. That allowed an opportunity to hear more music. 10-15 years ago the CD market was thriving in Russia and Lithuania but concerts of big jazz musicians were still rare. London Barbican offered huge jazz program with the best international stars playing in various styles and directions. During one month you could listen to Wynton Marsalis with Lincoln Center Orchestra and a double bill Zorn’s Naked City + Derek Bailey... and that was just fine. That time i had no idea of divisions and cliques in the world of this music that I called “jazz”. And I loved most of performances ;)

Probably the first live encounter with the sound of saxophone in all it’s beauty and glory was at the concert of Joe Lovano. He introduced his “new” program “Rush hour”. I was carried away! Yet another stunning experience was a concert of Masada. I had a sit in the first row and could see them all - Zorn in his combat trousers, string trio - Mark Feldman, Greg Cohen, Eric Friedlander, and then Dave Douglass - his interplay with Zorn gave me one of the most vivid impressions ever, Marc Ribot, Joe Barron, Ciro Batista. It was an excellent concert!
Back in London I also saw Naked City and Mike Patton’s bands Mr. Bungle and Tomahawk. Such live experiences gave huge inspiration to learn more, see more, hear more and comprehend more.

I was already acquainted with the music shop Thelonious, its founder and owner Valerij Anosov and other guys - all music lovers and records’ collectors. I sent them letters with reports about my musical experiences. Valerij started concerts not long after my return from the UK. And that was when I really dived into free improvisation."

3. Describe the attractions and appeal of your favorite periods.

"Speaking of favorite periods - probably I have none. I don’t perceive music in context of its historical development. It is all about people for me - those who live among us and who passed away but left the gifts of their art.

Some of the musicians who I’d call the biggest attractions and inspirations are Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, San Ra, Stan Getz, Bill Dixon, Wadada Leo Smith, Andrew Hill, Kahil El Zabar, Fred Anderson, Joe McPhee, Dominic Duval, David S. Ware, Matthew Shipp, William Parker, David Murray, Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Howard Riley. Well, these are names that instantly come to mind; saved in my RAM memory :)
I am not afraid to sound pathetic when saying that these artists and people (i was privileged to meet some of them) support my hopes for better future for the mankind.

My attractions are well reflected in a discography of NoBusiness records and on the list of concerts carried out by music store Thelonious. Each such event opened up the whole new universe. Each concert required certain amount of preparation.

Back in 2005 a duo of Matthew Shipp and William Parker gave an absolutely ground shaking performance in Lithuanian National philharmonic. A couple of years later Thelonious carried out a concert of David S Ware Quartet. We had a pleasure to see Matt and William again. It was just an amazing episode, and the music released on NoBusiness as a double LP fully reflects that...fantastic!

Trio X is one more unforgettable music and humanitarian experience. The concert, a lot of communication with Joe McPhee, Dominic Duval and Jay Rosen, co-working on the documentary “The Train and The River” later released on CIMP (my technical part was to transcribe the audio track of this film for making DVD sub-titles)... They are among my greatest attractions ever."

"Recently my interview with Dominic Duval came out on All About Jazz.

Acquaintance with works of European improvisers - Mats Gustafsson, Barry Guy, Howard Riley have had a huge impact on my further listening education. All three were our guests in Vilnius. I took chances for interviews that can be found on Bagatellen (Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson) and All About Jazz (Howard Riley).

Also younger and lesser known musicians whose stunning works come to light through our label. Harris Eisenstadt released with NoBusiness an absolutely fabulous LP "Woodblock Prints". A bit earlier there were great recordings by Daniel Blacksberg Trio called “Bit Heads” and Adam Caine’s trio “Thousandfold”. These musicians appear among my favorites too!"

4. Describe the course of your work as an advocate.

"I help my friends at NoBusiness records (aka music shop Thelonious); occasionally I conduct interviews with musicians and write for Russian paper magazine Jazz.ru. In 2005 I started making websites for musicians. About half a year ago my work mate, Aleksej, joined my initiative and together we started design4music.org

The idea to offer my web design skills to musicians came up naturally. It “had to happen” sooner or later because design and music are not only my major interests but focuses of many efforts, certain hopes, expectations and beliefs.

As a designer I have concerns about personal responsibility for marketing things (because “design” is a technical sub-discipline of marketing). In most cases designers do not enjoy the luxury of choosing clients. A lot of things we dress up into a sleek package are pretty worthless if not harmful. This blog post rises some good points.
As a music fan i am not satisfied with passive consumption anymore. It’s cool of course to sit in the audience but it is thousand times more exciting “to be in”. Although “music speaks for itself” there are other channels that provide rich information on this phenomenon of human culture... for example a conversation with a musician.

Thus a web design service for musicians is a natural step; a much comprehended course of action that hopefully leads to self accomplishing both as a professional and music lover. My debut as a musicians’ webmaster was with Trio X. Within a year I built websites for the trio, Joe McPhee and for Dominic Duval. It was an important and joyful experience that charged me with confidence and inspired to continue along this path... and today design4music is here to provide excellent web design services to musicians, independent record labels, music (jazz) venues, festivals and organizations. We offer an inexpensive, while quality solutions! Check the proposal page."

5. Describe evolving methods that are a facet of your advocacy

"Firstly, and most importantly you’ve got to have a very clear understanding of what you are building and why. My answer: a website for a musician is a promo tool and an educational resource. In other words such website should “attract” wider audiences and contain comprehensive, frequently updated information about the musician and his works. Thus the website should satisfy 3 main concepts:

found-ability (how easy it is to find the website in search engines),
update-ability (how easy it is to update website’s content)
usability (how easy it is to use navigation, read texts, etc)

Max and the Bad Plus.

Found-ability (or visibility in search engines) is all about the right document structure, navigation and site tree. In our latest projects each recording receives a separate page with its unique, human friendly url address. For example a solo recording by Sabir Mateem “Other places, other spaces” lives on his website under: http://sabirmateen.com/recordings/leader/other-places-other-spaces.

Now google for “Other places, other spaces” - the search returns Sabir’s page in top 5 (my search shows #2 but it might vary). I did a check before... Sabir’s old website wasn’t in top 50 for this key phrase.

Search for “Earth People - Now Is Rising” - I can see this page http://www.sabirmateen.com/recordings/sideman/earth-people-now-is-rising as #1 and Sabir’s name is not even mentioned in our search phrases. Obviously these are just couple examples to illustrate how the correct approach can help musicians; make information about their works more accessible and found-able on the web. I write more about it in design4music blog.

Update-ability is a big pain in the neck for both clients and webmasters. Clients need to be able to post frequent updates and they need a really simple interface for it. Ideally the routine of posting updates is as easy as sending an e-mail. Webmasters should provide a convenient control panel. It should be “simple to use” but give “absolute control”.

I have tried several solutions from a very basic to literally “all-inclusive” in most recent projects. The original idea was to simplify the control panel at cost of functionality. But gradually I shifted to somewhat more flexible solutions. One of my most disciplined clients - a pianist and composer Michael Jefry Stevens showed me how a musician can be a restless website administrator. Over the course of working on michaeljefrystevens.com he gave a lot of valuable feedback and requested some features. His website is one of my best works namely because of his rich input! And it is alive, frequently visited resource.

Usability answers such questions as “how quickly you can find particular info on the website” or “how convenient to read the text”. There’s of course a lot more to it. For instance it is important to foresee directions of the content building - make the site scalable. I pay huge attention to structure and consider it top priority in our projects.

6. What role does Web 2.0 and other tech have in your work?

"I am not 100% sure what this term Web 2.0 refers to. I visited Ad Tech conference in London back in 2008. Earlier this year my colleagues went to Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Looks like Web 2.0 is used to pin down all the newest web trends.
Although one important tendency can be stressed out. Modern web is no more static. Successful websites are not books, but newspapers better if daily. As a webmaster I should provide a convenient publishing platform rather than “designs and illustrations”.

Something half a year ago we started using a content management system called MODx... after trying some others we came to a conclusion that MODx is probably the most scalable system to date; very easy to use both as a webmaster and site admin; extremely flexible. I do not hesitate calling MODx our team member, who takes care of all server site programming."

7. What old media elements are used?

"HTML is not going to leave the scene. More over, introduction of HTML5 will leave lesser space for Flash. But the main and the oldest media element which is the true King of the Internet and won’t give up its position within foreseeable future is the TEXT.
Text content is the king

I do explain it to all my clients and greatly encourage them preparing text descriptions for each project, collecting reviews, etc, etc... The new project usually starts from me sending a website content check list."

8. How has change in the economy impacted your work?

"My mates at NB are joking that the economy has always been bad for free music. But of course, the situation isn’t funny at all. Sadly enough the musicians often find it difficult to pay even a bottom line fee for a website... as it turns. This puts under a big question my hope and dream to set up a highly professional service for musicians. With such limited budgets I can’t get on board other people; I am always stretched between a regular job, occasional commercial projects and music websites. While creation of a website is quite a bit of work, that takes time and effort."

9. Describe aspirations, projects and future hopes

"There are 3 projects in work right now. A new website for a bassist Joe Fonda is almost completed. Websites for Daniel Levin (cello) and Angelica Sanchez (piano) are in a planning stage. We target at Christmas as a launch date for these two. At the moment i am so totally absorbed with these projects that completely stopped all activities on a marketing front. Hopefully there will be more inquiries by then. I would really love to offer my service to all my best favorite musicians as well as discover new music and wonderful people through these projects.

Also I would be interested to get a commission from some sort of organization, festival, label...

Speaking of more distant future I envision a web design agency that specializes on clients from music industry. 3-4 people, reasonable fees, high quality work, a lot of joy and satisfaction... But these are dreams. Until then, I will continue this design for music adventure. That’s all about hopes."

Billy.

2010-10-28T22:41:00.001-04:00

On the night it became known, my phone went nuts at around 9pm. "The Phoenix is reporting that Billy Ruane died...." The news moved through the system very fast.

And I flashed to one of our last face to face moments. He stopped by the gallery to give everyone food and make arrangements to get a disc of the night's concert with Junko Simons. My mission was to get it to him. We talked about getting old and he gave me an excited description of his disagreement with his physician about the meaning of blood pressure data and what was more important, with him insisting the opposite of conventional medicine's outlook was true. I had a feeling this would be a problem, in the back of my mind, but also thought, maybe he's right.

He wasn't and now he's gone. Billy loved his salt and his fatty stuff and had gained more weight than his short frame really wanted to handle. And he had three flights of stairs to traverse. I oughta know, I lived there myself. He also loved caffeine. Not coffee, no, his Eucharist was Vivarin and he was despondent when it was discontinued as No Doz would not do. One of my regular chores as his sidekick was to do vivarin runs to 7/11. I imagine whatever substitute he found..,red bull?? counter nostrums?, was the detonater in the ticking bomb of his poor old heart. I assumed he was sturdier.

He wasn't and now he's gone.

The 20 year old in the Untouchables outfit was Billy's beginning for me. I was in an early prototype used vinyl shop, 'Bojo's' holding the place down for the owner who was tanked and asleep somewhere. There were dozens of records with Billy's odd signature that was proto-graffiti. It looked eastern European like 'ruanej'. It was really Ruane Jr truncated and compressed by a hasty hand. We roamed around the merits of Dexter Gordon, Archie Shepp and he extolled Mal Waldron.

He had it figured out. Within a year or so he was inventing slam dancing, inadvertently. Billy was enthusiasm and saw getting carried away as an important job. He loved to bounce and jump around at punk rock shows. I remember one early version at a Decoders show at the Western Front. He was all over the place and in a packed bar that eventually means you crash into people. So he did and soon it became like hockey lite with people imitating and booze fueled crowd mania until... slam dancing.

Billy was here to point things out. He was the purest advocate ever seen. I worked the formal institutional side of advocacy for my philosophical reasons and he worked the free wheeling side for his. We respected each others methods. I worked to be the least visible as he easily became the most. 20th century art and music in all its daunting intricacy was for Billy to find and extol to the sky like some avid beach child roaming all over the strand to find tide carried things and rush back to the group to share the find. He was the best town crier and witness the avante garde ever had.

He claimed to be descended from Chicago bootleggers and his dad served in World War Two, got a GI Bill education and obtained a seat on the Exchange at Wall St. His classmate was Warren Buffett, Billy's honorary uncle. His father became one of the legendary old guys, value investors of the highest quality. I learned less about his mom but sensed she was the one who imparted his depth. She left him with some guidelines for life but marital despair and whatever else led her to a walk into Long Island Sound when he was in his mid teens.

That set his compass. I imagine there were high paternal hopes that he'd join the firm but Billy would have none of it. His initial run of boarding schools ' tightened the screws too much', he said, and he was determined to loosen em. Billy became ever more inventive at finding ways to expel money. While he was a tireless gatherer of stuff, he was unusual in that he was also soon up to his ears in the social and they were some wired ears. Billy became the mayor for life of what passes for the Boston scene. Much of this is now being covered by many as it was an American Marvel.

My Billy lore is another thing, my actual friend and the room he retired to. I helped him move into that room in 89 or so with a couple of band guys and a rental truck. He was bailing on some studio he had across the river on Beacon St. He had a lot of books and if you've ever been a furniture mover, you know a lot of books sucks. He had even more vinyl, even heavier. It was July. We had three flights of stairs. I did mention it sucked. His Middle East gig was hitting its peak and he soon had me covering video shifts and other club chores. He was flailing at a fairly high oscillation rate, maybe his highest.

His father decided it was time to tighten the screws with a regimen of high lithium salt doses and Depakote added to offset seizures.. yay. The quarrels over this landed him at McLean and at that point he trusted me to take over his Middle East duties as a caretaker..yay. You see, I never cared that much about the Boston Rock scene. My choice was to try and help jazz. That's why Billy felt comfortable about it. He knew I didn't give a shit and would happily hand it back to him any time. I was happy to be his stand in, he gave me his place, free, and handed it all over. The owners tossed me around 75 bucks a week, all the falafel sandwiches I could stand, free booze and lots of useless scene cred status with a bunch of people I hardly knew and wasn't psyched to know... yay.

Billy was still able to call a lot of the important shots from McLean and my first chore was low level Augean, to handle the mess of still unpacked stuff and make a home for him to return to. The place was swarming with roaches so their ouster was a first priority. I took care of all of his endless stuff and organized it in ways that would be easy for him to examine when he wanted to. I figured it would be a useful bridge to home coming. He paid unusually high fees for his favorite bands, usually the most disruptive and ridiculous ones out there and was often cheated and humiliated by an artist agent, some vile critter in Minnesota.

The rest of these very important people were decent enough. It was very competitive. Billy was ever looking over his shoulder at his counterparts who were more avid to be a business. They were trying to make money. Billy was trying to give it away. This made a difference and they were better at nailing the more toothsome crumbs that fell from the table of the arena promoter here who dominated anything that made real money.

Fear whiplashed him throughout. A part of him was always waiting for some ax to fall and he sought counsel from those among us who were less anxious. And I don't imagine many understood how lonely his existence was, when the last gin mill closed and sidewalks rolled up. His fervent wish for romance and intimacy was thwarted for most of his life. He had an archetype he yearned for, (always a problem). He wanted a lithe huggable woman near his stature, but most women really didn't quite know what to make of him and the whole calculus of attraction was complicated by his scene status.

He'd have aspirants he didn't quite know what to make of while longing for others who didn't quite know what to make of him. Everyone knows this experience. For some, it stops being important, you give up and move on to the remaining fat slice of life left you. This was not so for Billy. The cd delivery mission I had was to get the sound of Junko to a young cellist who became a focus of his yearning. He bought her a cello and it no doubt made the woman nervous.

I never thought I'd be bringing Billy to his final home that July day of endless boxes. It was a crappy classic three decker indifferently banged together around the time Johnny Hodges was born nearby. The floor plan was from hell and what would now be generously called 'non conforming'. There is a tiny room in the front right where he slept with doors opening out to the hall and to the next larger room where he kept his music and audio gear focused, the hatchery for his many mix tapes. Heading back, it was like a shotgun line of various rooms all with too many doors.. I got the one way in back near the kitchen.

The kitchen was circa 50s slum, a crappy gas stove readily encrusted, a wheezing fridge, bad outlet locations, a tired blue formica cabinet counter with some other wall cabinets. The sink was a massive porcelain 2 basin job. A back egress door opened out to a sagging three decker porch and the back stairs. The bathroom was wretched too. I tricked out shower curtains using wire coat hangers to cover the weird frame distance to normal curtain hang lengths.

Okay, so you get the floor plan. Throw in archaic wiring and floor to ceiling stuff, stuff in every closet, a few bedraggled couches, a deskish thing and thrift store bureaus and you have a fairly low cost life style. For all the resources he had, he really didn't give himself some lap of luxury. No, he had the zeal of a monk pursuing art elements. He needed another huge storage space in an old brick castle simulacrum near MIT that was like Jack Benny's vault. He could have easily bailed and got a place custom fit, but no. He was too busy circulating and extolling and inhaling it all.

It's important to me to bring this up. Billy didn't care about any old stuff. He had Sammy Davis Jr.s pants, a gift from Ted Widmer. Stuff had to answer his voracity for an eclectic universe of human creative strivings whether historic or from people down the street. We spent weeks hashing over inclusions for one Lee Morgan mix tape which he circulated to most of the people who ever played at Lallopalooza.

Another essential thing to understand about Billy. For all of his legendary public flamboyance and adventures, he really didn't like being a public focus. As he aged, he half hated to get credit for anything and really didn't like getting his mug in the paper.

Ben Deily's song bugged him.

And yet, it is one of the most compelling works by one of the most compelling songwriters ever born around here. It answers Billy like nothing else and it just became iconic.But Billy wanted to direct the attention beyond self, to his discoveries.

Fate gave Boston an overly generous dollop of grifters and Billy was their catnip. Boston is insular and stodgy so it viewed the like of him as an irritant. The Boston Rock scene was a ridiculous egocentric shark pit from hell in it's prime with Technicolor narcissism. Boston was soaked in heroin and blow with mobsters on the periphery. At least one club owner bullied Billy to a breaking point. Billy bullying was a sport. This was his working world for most of his life. It took lots of energy. No internet, endless mailings, hours on the phone and Billy would agonize about some band he supported to the point of zooming over to other crowded clubs on his scooter to hand out his small funny Helldorado Fliers cause he wasn't gonna let that band down, dammit. He might hit 5 dumps in a night.

He was like that to the end. Here at the gallery alone, in the past two years, Billy covered transportation and lodging for Matthew Shipp, Darius Jones, and Bern Nix and was always ready to help. He owned a luxury condo in Central square that was worth more than the building where he lived but made a bed and breakfast of it and a job for an old rocker. Shipp et al stayed in better accommodations than Billy lived in for the last two decades of his life.

I get the sense a lot of the scene lived vicariously through Billy. He was routinely exploited and called me, despondent, in Seattle about some junkie who was blackmailing and tormenting him. I wanted to get on a bus and find the guy. Billy had lots of fans but very few who went to bat for him through thick and thin. At some point, the magnificent Pat McGrath realized that Billy needed attentive and alert help and the worst of the trough point subsided and he began his years of puttering around. The music scene changed. It grew old and sclerotic. The kids don't give a shit about it, so it freed Billy up to just see the things he wanted to. His flier passing days were over.

Of course some will argue he was an adult and made his choices but I'd argue his choice was to run himself under the earth for the things he loved and for what he felt was his community, very loosly defined. You'd think the community would have done a bit more out of some reciprocal understanding of the mountain of effort he made. I like to think that a kindlier culture would have figured out what a treasure he was and it would have done a better job of rising to his occasions to the benefit of all. Those who did rise to his occasion may well be among our best, especially when there wasn't much status. I'm not about to include myself among them, cause in a way, I made out like a bandit. Free flops, phone and a job. In various situations, his home was mine for several memorable years. The best I can do is try and describe the now passed human and let others cover the thing he graced.

RIP Jack Powers.

2010-10-16T09:48:00.000-04:00

Jack Powers passed away recently. He made it to 73 although his last years were clouded by an increasingly debilitating series of strokes. Reading over his obituary, I was struck by how he was the role model I never knew.

He was born poor and died poor but spent his whole life more or less giving of himself to the things he cared about, particularly poetry. He became the local contact for a parade of legendary beats in a blue blood town inclined to despise them. He'd give you the coat off his back if you needed it. Personal philanthropy at the sidewalk level.

He was also helpful to musicians and had a scene when there was no other one. There beyond all that is grandiose, ostentatious and noxious would be Jack.

Sleep you well.

A Chris Forbes Trajectory.

2010-10-06T22:59:00.001-04:00

Photo Courtesy Chris Forbes.

Chris has become a helpful regular in the comment zone and actually likes to write so I badgered him to go through the profile question ordeal and ...voila.

1.What brought you to music?

I was interested in music pretty young according to my mother. She said I always seemed to gravitate towards the musical instrument toys at the expense of most of the others. My earliest musical memories revolve around the piano that we found in the parsonage at my Dad's third church posting. It was a South African made Steinway and I sat at it for hours playing clusters and the most dissonant things possible. I remember being really interested in the clash of overtones that low clusters made. I think that even then I had a real kinship with dissonant music. After about a year and a half my parents got me piano lessons. My teacher used a method that immediately encouraged improvisation and composition and those remained interests of mine all through my schooling. Back then actually I didn't see much difference between improv and composing and would often write pieces in my head through improv that I never committed to paper. Early on I was a fan of the twentieth century and luckily grew up in a small midwestern college town with good contemporary music being played all the time. Loved Stravinsky after hearing the Rite of Spring and continued exploring Schoenberg, Webern Ives and even Penderecki, who I met at the age of ten or so. When I was in seventh grade a hippie music teacher (technically he was a Dead Head) turned me on to Boulez and Stockhausen....and jazz improv. From there it was a quick journey of discovery from Bop and Bird to Ornette, Cecil, Braxton and the like. By the time I was in high school my parents were wishing I was into heavy metal like all my other friends instead of the cacophony that exploded from my room every night.

2.Describe your role models, muses and mentors.

I've always been a bit of an autodidact with jazz. My piano training was pretty classical up through college. I learned a bit about jazz harmony from a friend of my dad's who played a kind of jazz based church music. Much of the rest of what I know in jazz was from listening pretty carefully to the great bop pianists, Bill Evans and then McCoy, Paul Bley and of course Cecil. The defining role model for me musically is Cecil. I admire his tenacity and his insistence on being himself completely even when it has not been convenient for him. It's impossible to be a free jazz pianist without some debt to Cecil, even if you go in a totally different direction. His is a pretty amazing presence.

I ended up going to Berklee in Boston for college. There was a bit of a free music scene there at the time, mostly surrounding George Garzone and his avant-big band student ensemble. I was a regular for a while at Michael's Pub listening to the Fringe. But it was the early 80s and the avant-garde was really dying at the time...it was pretty lean. My piano teacher encouraged me to move more into composition and I took a traditional composition major with a minor in classical piano. That allowed me to apply for the Master's program at Juilliard where I was accepted and studied with American Master David Diamond. Diamond was definitely a major influence on me. He taught me that every note mattered and how not to settle for my first musical thoughts. He felt the biggest danger for improvisers is that our facility for musical ideas can sometimes mean we don't examine them as much as we could. I've tried to keep that lesson even though I don't compose concert music much any more.

I also have to give props to two individuals on the NYC scene who really helped me early in my time here. I'd kind of given up on free jazz during a long time in Washington DC where the scene was pretty dismal. When I turned 40 and moved to Chicago I had a sort of midlife creative crisis and went back to free playing. I did a little work in Chicago, but when I moved to New York I decided I would really put myself in a learning posture. I met Daniel Carter and spent a lot of time playing with him early on. Daniel is one of the most generous musicians and someone who has the gift to help you build your confidence as an improviser, plus he has an interesting take on just about everything from music to philosophy to politics. The other big influence was Sabir Mateen. Sabir gives workshops sometimes and when I moved to NY I was lucky enough to get into one. I learned more about playing free in a group there than I had in any experience in my life before. Sabir has a real gift for conceptualizing group situations and has a strong idea about what every member of a group should do. He has turned my mind around several times about the role of the piano in free music and unlocked some real mysteries for me...plus at Sabir's workshops I met some of the closet collaborators, Ras Moshe and Matt Lavelle. I will always be grateful for that.

3. Describe your community of colleagues and audiences.

Mostly I hang around the younger elements of the downtown scene. Matt Lavelle is one of my closet collaborators and a good friend. Matt is always on a journey and he really wants to bring all of us with him. Currently I play with him in Morcilla, a group that started out as a Latin/Free concept but has morphed into much more than that. I'm also working with him in a new group which will come out in a couple weeks at the Festival of New Trumpet and we're pretty excited about it...Matt is describing it as attacking Trane's concept, but in our own way. For my part I'm trying to imagine modal playing that doesn't involve either triads or McCoy....it's an interesting problem.

I also spend a lot of time playing in bands with Steve Swell. I'm involved with Steve's Nation of We band, which is pretty thrilling as it is a collection of really great known and lesser known players, many of whom have played with Cecil. Steve has a really interesting approach to composing for this band, which includes alot of conduction and I find our gigs to be real events...few and far between but really special.

I also am working in a new band with Steve, Rob Brown, Hill Greene and Michael Thompson. I'm excited about this group because the caliber of playing is really high and as a rhythm section we've reached an almost telepathic level fairly quickly. Steven is hoping to record and tour with this band soon. I hope it happens as it would be my first out of NYC touring.

The other major people I work with are people associated with Ras Moshe's Music Now. Ras is gifted with an uncanny ability to put people in musical situations and watch the sparks fly. His Music Now bands are almost always a rotating cast of characters...almost experiements in blending musical personalities. We've made some music I'm really proud of...alot of it is available on YouTube. And Ras is a deep cat...really uncompromising in his vision and very thoughtful.

4.What are the important elements you apply to your personal approach to performance, repertoire and composition?

I have an almost mystical relationship to harmony. Early in my life I read Schoenberg's Harmonielehre and I think I got infected with the old Austrian's note mysticism. Schoenberg felt the chord was actually the vertical expanding of the melodic tone. Though he never went far enough, I used him as a starting point for my conception, in which harmony is made out of the cellular structure of melodies and at least to my mind is just a thickening out of the melody and tone color. Various combinations of notes have deeply personal meanings to me. One six note chord I use obsessively came to me twenty years ago in a dream and has always represented the mysterious and numinous for me whenever I use it. Another might represent the earthy or the violent, or the erotic. I don't usually let anyone in on these personal meanings of chords...but it's more or less conscious on my part...like I'm telling a very literal story in tones.

As far as repertoire and composition, most of my work lately has been as a sideman so I haven't performed my own tunes much. I'm hoping to change that. I'm really interested in the line between the composed and the improvised. When I last had a working trio, we did mostly freely improvised work, but in such a way that most audiences thought that the material was pre-composed. I liked that...and I like writing tunes that sound like improvisations. I'm also finding myself more interested in open form composition, game pieces and music inspired by fractals and chaos algorithms.

5.What role does teaching have in your work?

I made my living primarily as a music teacher. I taught piano early in my career but since 1994 I've taught music in schools in Maryland and New York. I'm currently working as a teaching artist in Brooklyn, in a program that combines in school interdisciplinary arts and an afterschool comprehensive arts program housed in the Sunset Park neighborhood. I work with children from kindergarten all the way through high school. This work keeps me creatively fresh and challenged. Through it I have developed in interest in hip hop and how hip hop can be developed in creative ways. I have also learned a lot about world percussion, through my work with our percussion ensemble. And last year we did a musical based on a book by Salman Rushdie. To match the fantasy of the book, we decided to design and build our own orchestra. I immersed myself in instrument making theory and we ended up with many unique mallet and stringed instruments for our orchestra. The music itself combined composed music and conduction and has given me a new outlet for my own creativity. I've continued to experiment with new instruments and tuning systems. My significant other says I can't go into a china shop now without trying to ring all the glasses.

6. How have changes in the economy impacted your work?

I've never really earned a living out of playing or composing music. Oddly, I'm having the best performing year ever in my career, with more gigs per month than ever and most of them actually bringing in some real money. But the teaching artist work, which pays the bills, has been a little shakey. I was laid off for a while this summer, but hired back in the fall. I feel like I've dodged a bullet for now, but the chances of needing new work are greater than they've been before.

7. If you perform beyond your region or overseas, how has that changed over time?

I have yet to do the overseas thing. I am hoping for it, but also know that it's hard given my teaching schedule. The same is true for domestic touring in any extensive way. However there are some small things in the wings that I hope will pan out.

8.How has technology and changes in the way music circulates impacted your work?

Not really. I never recorded very much before 2004. In fact I had a 20 year hiatus in free jazz and in jazz in general. I've been a sideman in a handful of small label projects and put out my own CD back in 2005. I put out a small batch but I've still got about 100 of 'em left. I honestly love the freedom that the home recording boom has given us as musicians, and I think the internet can be a great marketing tool, but I also think that it's harder and harder to get noticed, even with this expanded market. There's so much out on the net and sooooo much of it is of questionable quality. It can be quite a job to get your small needle in the haystack noticed...quite as difficult as it was in the bad old days of record labels. So to me the answer, as it has always been for avant-garde musicians, is DIY. We need to take some pages from some of the punk bands or Dirty South hip hop. Too many of us are still thinking on a label model and that is almost totally dead, and I don't think it will be coming back for us. We have to create our own destiny.

9. Describe your current and potential future projects and collaborations along with things you would like to do.

Matt Lavelle has my whole career planned out for me! He says I should do a trio album, then a quartet or quintet, another trio album, and then maybe something with strings...the man's full of plans!

Actually I do want to start a working trio soon. I have a lot of ideas and even some people in mind for it, but I'm a really bad leader when it comes to shilling for gigs. I blame it some on my day job, which is really demanding on my time, but if I'm honest I can admit that I have a pretty big lazy streak. And also a bit of an easily bruised ego...rejection is hard and gigs where two people show up really get to me if it's my band.
I have two pieces I'm working on right now that I hope to one day play with bands...one's called The Infernal Machine and is based on a long series of melodies generated by a fractal algorithm, interrupted by free improvisations from the band. The other is called Major Arcana and is a series of notes, textures, scales, methods of improv, each based on a card from the Tarot. The performance while actually be ordered by dealing out a reading and then performing based on the spread of the cards...sort of like Zorn's game pieces but with a different twist I hope.

I've been lucky in the people I've worked with, especially people in Steve Swell's bands but there are a number of people I'd like to persue things with. I'd love to do something permanent with Will Connell, an amazing player who is underexposed in the community but played with Horace Tapscott and Cecil among others. I'd love to do a larger project that could shoot some work to people who've helped me like Matt, Ras, Sabir and Steve. And at some time I'd love to do something with a really large ensemble involving composition and conduction...and even some of my invented gamalan instruments. There's a lot in my mind...there's always a lot in my mind. The problem is bring it out.

A Dispatch From Steve Lantner.

2010-08-26T22:19:00.001-04:00

Mr Lantner works an acoustic piano like a trumpeter working different mutes. Of all the exemplary pianists who are regulars at the Outpost, Steve is the only one to really open the thing up, literally. He removes all removeable covers so the thing can really resonate getting into its sonic quintessence. He doesn't want a single potential sonic nuance to be hemmed in by cabinetry.

And the best part is he always puts it impeccably back together exactly the way he found it. The whole quartet is such a class act, Mr. Chase, Mr. Morris and Mr Gray each bring some comparable impeccability to bear.

And as the building gnome, this counts for a lot as they never leave me some cryptic silly mess to fix.

What brought you to music?

"As long as I can remember, I have been motivated by the notion of wonder. After years of uninspired and fruitless childhood piano lessons, I got an electric guitar at age thirteen, and taught myself how to play. It was partly the sense of mystery and exploration that the guitar afforded me that drew me in. There was a seminal moment at the age of seventeen, when listening to the radio I heard Albert Ayler for the first time (those were the days, when, in the middle of the afternoon, one could stumble upon a radio station broadcasting Albert Ayler).

It was like nothing I’d ever heard before and I was transfixed. It was at that point that I started drifting away from guitar and back toward the piano, and started exploring the music of Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor, among others. I have to say that at the time I really didn’t have the ears to understand what I was listening to, but I listened nonetheless. Again, it was the sense of wonder that appealed to me.

Describe your role models, muses and mentors.

"I find inspiration and support from the people I work with in my group: Joe Morris, Allan Chase, and Luther Gray. They are all amazing musicians, and I have learned so much from playing with, and being around them. Despite the amount of knowledge I have gained through my studies, I have a tendency to be a bit insular. Being exposed to the wealth of knowledge that these three individuals possess has allowed me to contextualize my musical vision in unimaginable ways." But I would have to single out Joe Morris as the person who has been the biggest influence of my musical growth. It was Joe who encouraged me to adopt an all-inclusive approach to playing, to absolutely play everything one can, and to trust one’s own vision to have validity.

Describe your community of colleagues and audiences.

"My community is small, but incredibly supportive. Locally, there is a core group of people who I can count on to come hear my groups’ performances. There were several recent years when I was fairly inactive as a musician, and since renewing my level of activity, I’ve been gratified to have their interest and support. I hope in the coming year to expand upon this, and get my group heard by more people. On a broader level, I have been fortunate to have a number of writer around the US, Canada and Europe, who have consistently expressed support of my work."

What are the important elements you apply to your personal approach to performance, repertoire and composition?

"Going back to what I said earlier, I would have to say that maintaining a sense of wonder is at the essence of my music. Because of this, my process involves a great deal of risk. By that I mean, despite the amount of work I do on my instrument (and I continually seek to grow as a pianist, to learn new things, and to develop capabilities that currently elude me), improvisation is always the prime element when I perform.

While I may work on specific material prior to a performance, when the time comes to play, there is rarely if ever anything more than the few notes of a motif or intervallic structure to inform the music. The work I do in preparation of a performance is always kept on a most abstract level, so that material is never worked out to the degree that it can be used directly in performance.

I try to maintain a balance between expanding my knowledge and understanding of music, while holding onto that sense of wonder and mystery that started me down this path. Despite the degree to which I am schooled, I have always been quite protective of what I consider my naive inspiration. I believe that one can only play what one knows, and that there is a direct relationship between how “free” an improvisation is with how broad a language the musician has at his/her disposal. Because of this, I am motivated to learn absolutely everything imaginable on my instrument - every style, every technique. I can’t have an opinion on a particular composer’s work unless I can play it.

Only after I have reached a point where I can actually play the music as intended, can I determine if it has relevance to my own music, and I have yet to find a body of work that hasn’t enriched my own. In terms of stylist elements, I want my music to express the vitality that is life’s potential. If I had to describe the sound that I am trying to create, it would be that of a snapshot of the entirety of human existence (on a good day). For me, the language of jazz (which for me means percussive, articulated, syncopated swing) is the best suited for that purpose. To put it more simply, I want my music to make people feel alive and happy to be so."

What role does teaching have in your work?

"I used to teach more than I do now, and unfortunately I haven’t created a situation for myself to teach the things that most interest me. But I have learned a great deal about my instrument helping others overcome their technical obstacles."

How have changes in the economy impacted your work?

"My professional trajectory has never been particularly steep, and the current economic climate has not helped in my most recent efforts to improve the grade. I do feel fortunate though, that I can continue to work with my group, growing the music."

If you perform beyond your region or overseas, how has that changed over time?

"It has only been in the past few years that I have had the opportunity to perform abroad. With the economy as it is, it has been a challenge to find situations abroad, particularly with the quartet. I am however hopeful that will change."

How has technology and changes in the way music circulates impacted your work?

"I admit to being a moderate Luddite. Up to this point I have not taken advantage of the networking potential that sites like Facebook and myspace have to offer, but I’m ready to join the 21st century. I would like more people to hear what my group is doing and I can think of no better means at this point."

Describe your current and potential future projects and collaborations along with things you would like to do.

"Right now I am focused on working with my core group of musicians, which is Allan Chase, Joe Morris, and Luther Gray. I am constantly amazed at what they can do, and how much they have helped me shape and realize my musical vision. We have a live quartet CD scheduled for release on Hat Hut in late 2009 titled “End Over End,” and beyond that I’m not yet certain what’s in store."

An Engine That Can.

2010-07-13T23:19:00.001-04:00

Early gig for Warren Smith.

Steven Walcott of Engine Records contacted me recently and when honest randoms look me up I always see if I can craft a story of it..mmmmm free content. He has an artisan label, hand crafted and limited distribution through ESP. He recorded the venerable wonder Warren Smith recently in a trio with Stephen Hayes.

Normally label owners are a close to chest bunch. Stephane at Ayler is one of the few others who give my worthless ass the time of day and I'll finally cover his benevolence soon with a look at the past year of things he has sent me. I like it that this heartfelt home spun effort is the first of what will hopefully be more reports from label people as they are the gardens in which the music grows.

1.How did you end up finding this music, in general.

"I had a pretty mainstream childhood in Massachusetts, musically mainstream. I grew up on fm radio and classic rock. Things changed when I ended up at Wesleyan University for college. There was music everywhere and most of it was not mainstream. Ed Blackwell was teaching there then as was Bill Barron and Bill Lowe who are lesser known. There were faculty concerts, and I worked at a summer jazz festival where I met and saw Max Roach and Don Cherry amongst others.

I also got pretty deep into punk music at Wesleyan. Fugazi came through a bunch, and i really got into the Minutemen and the Meat Puppets. Of course, Wesleyan being a strong music school it was discussed and pretty clear that the Minutemen had a lot of improvisation and solos in their music.

I moved to NYC and played music. I recorded the band I was in, and I ended up with an illegal rehearsal/recording joint in Chinatown. Those LES basements go back all the way back to 1920s as rehearsal spaces for jazz cats, that's what I was told. New York is full of great musicians, and i was renting a spot and doing a record with Jojo Kuo, one of fela kuti's drummers from the '80s. he had some connections with jazz musicians and I ended up meeting andrew lamb, and younger Columbia music students, and Warren Smith, and it just snowballed from there.

As punk kind of got stale for me, I saw the energy of jazz again and latched onto that."

2.What ever possessed you to launch a label?

"I have no clue. It's not a wise decision at all. I do really like recording, and I've become a pretty obsessive recording engineer. Having a label is far better for me as I get to record people, but it's not a commercial studio gig where you have no say in who you record and what music you're interacting with.

Jazz musicians are especially good to record and collaborate with as they're really aware of tone and balance and a lot of aspects of recording."

3. What array of artists and music forms would you like to include in your catalog.

"Without getting snobby about it, I like to put out music by musicians with chops and soul. If I go through my record collection you would see soulful players over chops players in almost every genre. Of course, the dream is to have equal parts chops and soul as that's when music gets really powerful. Folks who are devoted to their instruments, can play really well and have a lot of energy. I've recorded Warren Smith a bunch; he's around 75 and has been playing drums since he was 6 years old. That's a life time of music inside that cat, and it's challenging - when he rolls up with his custom made gretsch drum kit and his 60+ years of drums and percussion I want to do a good job of presenting that to folks.

I'm finishing up a record by a couple of Berklee gents (they're called whoarfrost), and it's really rough music with a lot of elements of metal/hardcore but with free sections and a lot of energy. I'm recording an 11 piece African band in august, so for me it's more about energy rather than genre."

4. Describe the day to day chores of getting music out, what sort of distribution you have found, writer support for reviews, etc.

"Right now my day to day chores revolve around recording, mixing, and mastering and producing the packaging for my releases. I have a lot of recording gear and I try hard to record all the releases on my label. Getting three jazz musicians into a room is not nearly as easy as it sounds, so I'm also doing a lot of planning. plan a session, record the session, mix it, and master it. There are a lot of steps in making a good record, and a lot of ways to mess up records, so I try to present a really powerful and organic representation of what the musicians are doing.

I have a circa 1920 letterpress and I print all the sleeves for my releases as I really want to be using recycled materials for my records to avoid the environmental damage from digipaks and jewel cases. So i'm banging on the press quite a bit, and cutting and scoring a lot of recycled chipboard. Some folks really dig my packaging, and some don't like it at all so I'm paying a price for that in the marketplace.

Right now, I'm a sub-distributed label of ESP-Disk, so I do some marketing but most of it is done by ESP. I know there are folks who get deep into marketing and selling products, but i'm not one of those guys. I have to get out there and tell people what I'm doing, but I'm really not into hyperbole and beating people over the head. i prefer to look at people as humans and not as consumers.

I really don't know what to say about writers and support for the musicians I release. I'm frustrated by the perception that free jazz or avant jazz is played by folks who can't play inside, and that in general it's too squonky and grating to be widely accepted. I think it's more that there are a lot of people (reviewers included) who want to consider themselves hip but are a uncomfortable without musical structure. If they don't get their head in, and the solos, and the standard components then it's automatically an uphill battle because they're not sure what to do with it.

What do you do with massive guitar feedback and thrashing double bass drum solos? You listen to them. It's the same for free jazz."

5. What are your hopes for it?

"I've found it's not a great idea to have a lot of hopes when you're selling jazz. I was at a session with a pretty well known jazz cat in january and he was talking about this being the jazz apocalypse. Jazz wasn't doing that well before this recession, and it appears to be struggling even more now. That said, it's not for me or anyone to save it -- I think up what I think are good ideas for records, do my best to treat the musicians on my label with respect and dignity, and after that there's not much I can do except hope enough people feel it for me to keep going.

I am branching out into musical styles that fit well with my free jazz releases, so I'm not opposed to selling records and I hope that will help me some day be able to have my boys go to college."

Urgent Exuberance

2010-06-26T20:42:00.000-04:00

Fully Celebrated Orchestra,
Lapis Exilis.
Skycap Records Cap 014.

Jim Hobbs and crew have been notable fixtures in the Boston music world since 86 or so and are yet another point of redemption for Boston jazz torpor. They have commonalities with punk rock bands in the urgent edge to their approach to live performance.

There is a similarity to anonymous street bands you might find in Nonesuch Explorer field recordings of samba escolas or Panamanian cumbia groups. By this I mean they play as if there were no music industry and all its troublesome trappings with a devil-may-care exuberance that belies the obvious levels of effort they apply to writing tunes and honing their playing.

Jim came from Indiana but his horn tone has the cry of all the legendary Texans so I take the liberty of putting him in a corner of the music that recalls people who played in huge dance halls before the days of PA amplifiers. Timo is his long standing alter ego and landed here from the desert counties east of LA. There is a bit of fandango pulsation and surging in his approach to bass work.

I am less familiar with Taylor Ho Bynum as he was only around 10 years old when Timo was my quasi roommate in a big ramshackle band dump in Somerville with a cantankerous Tracy Chapman next door and a retired Tip O'Neill dozing on his porch around the corner. But I feel I have come to know him through his blog Spider Monkey Stories and lucid writing for Destination Out.

Of Django Carranza, I know next to nothing beyond what he tells my geezer ears on this CD. You see, these guys are seemingly indifferent to the usual tasks of writing bios for their web site. They appear to adopt the posture of Charlie Parker quoted long ago in a film short, "Well, we're going to let the music speak for itself". And it surely does.

1.Lord Of Creatures. This is also a variation of a fanfare and I must say I like the convention of beginning a recorded sequence this way. Hobbs starts the melody for a few bars before Taylor joins. There is an initial likable sense of reverence for the idea of casting sounds upon the air that soon shifts to a ready confidence in it all and digs in to the feast with a hearty appetite.

Mr. Hobbs sings his part with less of the vast palette of timbre colors he will use in cuts to come. It is a striking warm singing of unabashed kindliness that has something important to care about. The Bynum element begins understated with initial phrases hit from different angles of hi to low, reverse and from the middle to ends in staccato bursts before giving way to a smear slalom run of longer tones deftly shaped with a fleet ear to timbre variety.

Timo Shanko introduces his fluttering rumble shuddering that at times convinces the bass it's a sitar while getting a rubbery flexibility that hangs in the higher register only to swoop to sudden lows as an accent and contrast. Mr. Django frames it all with deft snare and hat texture.

2.Throne of Osiris. Here we have an initial example of composition design with a stark tritone open space sound and a stepwise staccato motif for a kernel. Jim uses it for a flight take off that undulates in a wavy way that reminds me of how Goldfinches used to approach my Seattle window feeder.

There are short phrase motifs alternating with silence amid the bass and drumscape. Taylor replies to this with an agile pattern of growls and chirps in tight bar units jumping all around the cornet's range. Timo Shanko makes the architecture sturdy and striking while Django gives his entire kit a thorough visit. The closing section involves dense tight unisons.

3. Ol'Lady Who? It's as if someone read Zappa's old essay on humor in music. The loping melody might be a deconstruction of the old cowboy song, "Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie" with a mock weep of horns that adds to the run of jazz pieces evoking inebriation that probably date back to Spike Jones, at least.

And the melody development runs like a drunk bar argument between an old couple with the saxophone covering the wheedling side and the cornet handling the muttering with consummate plunger mute skill.

Then there is the reconciliation and the tune goes home. The Timo and Django part might be compared to the bartender and doorman keeping an eye on it all with sly asides. Or it could just as well evoke the clip clop of the horse at an easy stride. I find myself whistling the melody on the way back from a meeting with a sub sandwich.

4.The Mackie Burnette. They are on the march with this one. The rollicking recalls the days in New York when comparsa refugee bands from the Cuban boat lift paraded through New York traffic on a whim exasperating the motorists before pausing at some open space to really start the cooking.

It dances with lots of timbre texture from all including slap tongue reed percussions and bluesy counter theme and a stack of kitchen sinks tossed in by all. It is like a punk rock era grandchild of a thing called 'Theme de Yoyo' from a soundtrack called 'Les Stances A Sophie' by some magnificent old guys from Chicago. The Shanko ostinato alone could be used to disrupt a minor coma.

5.Apple Orchard and the Worm. Here we have a more cerebral side of FCO with composing in focus on something that is born as a nocturne almost pastel, suddenly contrasted by bold tonal primary colors that used to infuriate renaissance popes. It isn't terribly diabolical to any ears that made it past world war one.

A particularly striking feature is the way each ensemble member adopts distinct sonic positions. Hobbs makes his part a wide ranging display of his mastery of sound texture while Bynum covers a dense legato load of tiny notes, Timo decides to do bass pointillism and Django plays pulse. Wow, who' da thunk it?

6.Three Rivers. This opens with Timo making a saz of his bass in a Sufi-esque whirl. Django takes it up with snare and hat rides soon joined by horn flow of singing unisons as a voice vector for a Rumi lyric, only no words, just the allegory.

The texture thickens considerably with Django doing an exemplary kit roll with a nice hint of a dombek. Then it sings again with a Taylor ringing sing followed by Jim working lower registers in a manner most tenorish.

7.Billylillylillybilly. Jaunty freebop lilting away in a big Whee! Hobbs is up in a higher register to preface avid ensemble improvisation before Bynum works a solo of a very tight group of tones shifting through an exhausting run of interval sequence options that define "economy of means". Timo sprints through a rubber ball bouncy solo and Django keeps the snare at a steady sizzle.

8.Lapis Exilis. Balladish beginnings to a very deep piece that hints at the quieter Balinese form of gamelan initially to set a mood perhaps. There is a reason for this to be the title track and I now hazard a guess. In this quiet dawn beginning the bass simmers at its high end. Then come bits of silence wrapping little bell pings.

Then something rears up with long tones and Jim Hobbs takes a white phosphorous solo that seems to lament something held dear and Taylor runs with a multiphonics continuation and there is something devastatingly sincere and thought jabbing about it all and it moves me the way the Leningrad Symphony does as if these worthies glimpse something that echos what Shostakovitch went through. Of course it has no structural music resemblance to Leningrad whatever except an innocent harmless opening contrasted by evocation of something malign.

There's something about it that clouds my eyes and I'm on the edge of sobbing but maybe I'm just a haunted old idiot. There is a power in this that will resound with each participant all their days even if they never play another note and pursue IT careers.

9.Farewell. Now here it gets love songish in a way that shadows "Up On A Roof" or some similar old pop classic without any such musical reference. It's allegorical. There is a central core of a long weaving duet between alto and cornet that eschews unisons but twines instead. It farewells very well.

Jacob Zimmerman: Pathfinder.

2010-06-21T23:25:00.001-04:00

A fun alternative to the media hand wringing over what's up with Jazz is to engage in the time honored practice of 'Ask A musician'. Jacob Zimmerman contacted me last week wondering if I'd list a gig he is doing in the Gallery later this summer. After I explained that Bilious is not the most useful thing for localized performance listings, I asked him if he'd consider answering a few questions instead. He did and I made out like the lazy bandit I am.

And this rocks because Mr Zimmerman is no doubt in the same boat as many of the younger aspirants making their way to what audiences may be found and any testimony from someone attempting such a thing is a valuable contribution to discourse.

How have the venues been for receptivity?

"Most of the places I contacted are in small New England college towns like New Haven and New Bedford. The good news is that in general people definitely seemed receptive, but I've learned the hard lesson that the summer is a really bad time to be booking in New England. Since all the colleges aren't in session a lot of the audience is gone and these small improvised music series aren't running. I'm looking forward to coming out again at a different time of the year and following up with a lot of the people I corresponded with. I think we'll be able to line up at least twice as many shows next time round. The process was a learning experience for me as this is the first time I've ever really tried to set up a tour like this.

A while back I contacted Joe Morris, my former teacher from the New England Conservatory, and asked if he had any suggestions for venues to try. In turn Joe generously offered to do a recording session with me and the other people I'll be touring with who are also former students of his. I'm incredibly excited about that and hope that if the recording turns out we'll get it released in some form. Joe also connected me with Bruce Gallanter at the Downtown Music Gallery, and we'll be doing a show there on July 25th. This will be my first "self-produced" performance in NYC, and it's an honor to be doing it at one of the best record stores in the country."

Is there much coordination or cooperation between venues?

"Not that I'm aware of."

Do you use anything like Google analytics on your web page to determine where your constituents are?

"No. Besides Boston and New York, none of the people in the group have any sort of following in any of the other places we're playing. My main focus when booking this tour was to try and connect with active local improvising musicians because they are always the best resources for getting around local scenes. Because this group is so new we're pretty severely limited in terms of how much we can do to promote our shows to a wider audience. Not only are we all relatively young and new to the music world, we also don't have the luxury of any typical promotional devices such as a record. Basically we're a tough sell for audiences because even we don't know exactly what the "product" is yet. But I'm not too concerned about that for now because hopefully this trip is going to remedy that problem."

Is there much in the way of useful radio left?

"It actually seems like radio is becoming more and more viable as a way to promote new or lesser-known artists. Especially through sites like Pandora and LastFm. I'll actually be doing a radio appearance on Ken Field's show called the New Edge on WMBR in Cambridge on July 20th from 3-3:30pm to promote the show we'll be doing the next day at the Outpost in Inman Square. This will be my first time going on the radio to promote a show. I'm definitely interested to see if it has any effect on the audience turnout."

Are there particular places you are looking forward to?

"I'm really looking forward to playing Hartford on July 23rd. I connected with some doctoral students at the Hartt School of music who set up this show. They've started a collective called the Hartford Sound Alliance. I've never met them or heard their music, but they seem to be a pretty active group of them that are putting on shows there. I'm also pumped about playing in Philadelphia on July 29th because I've never been there and have always wanted to visit. That show will be at the Pageant Soloveev which I believe is an art gallery."

Describe the ensemble a bit and a summary of your itinerary, how many places you've found and how you are getting here and then getting around.

"As of now we have five shows lined up with the possibility of one or two more. Our basic itinerary is that Jesse and I are flying in to Boston, then we're all driving to Connecticut, then New York, Philadelphia, and back to New York. Joe is going to be able to borrow his parent's car for some gigs, and for the others we'll just be taking trains or buses. Also Joe and Randy have day jobs so their schedules are a little bit more complicated. For an updated schedule you can go to our tour page here."

Describe your ensemble concept, the instrumentation, any particular ares of expression you all enjoy like role of timbre contrast, melodic/interval role, highlights of things you learned from Joe etc.

"Here's the description I've been using for our press releases: 'Seeking to re-contextualize unique sonic vocabularies and develop new methods for improvisation, the newly-formed quartet of alto saxophonist Jacob Zimmerman (Berkeley, CA), trombonist Randy Pingrey (Boston, MA), guitarist Jesse Ward (Houston, TX) and trumpeter Joe Moffett (Brooklyn, NY) will be embarking on their very first tour this summer. Before dispersing to various parts of the country, the members met each other as jazz performance majors at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Their interests coalesced under a unique combination of mentorship and instruction – each studying under composer Anthony Coleman and free improvising guitarist Joe Morris. Long standing duo, and large ensemble work exists between the group, however this will be their first time reuniting to develop their music as a quartet. The focus of the tour will be to present original compositions by each member, as well as exploring and developing the group’s unique approach to improvisation.'"

I think one thing we have in common is an interest in being informing by the history of our respective instruments. I think we've all looked at the previous developments that have been made as a model for how we might continue to expand and develop our own individual approaches. I think Joe Morris definitely emphasized the value of looking at what you do from a very clear, concrete and technical standpoint. Also one of the benefits and challenges of working in this relatively unusual quartet instrumentation is that we'll all be forced to do a lot of work to step out of the typical roles are instruments traditionally play.

I've personally been very inspired by my recent experience studying with Roscoe Mitchell. He recently gave me a copy of the score for a piece of his called L-R-G that he wrote specifically for Leo Smith, himself, and George Lewis. The score is pretty extensive, and there is all of this interesting structure that is inherent in material. Yet all three players are taking a lot of liberties with how they approach it and are playing very independently a lot of the time. With the compositions of mine that we'll be performing I'm also looking to allow the other players to utilize their own skills to extend the material I give them."

John Blum, An Appreciation. Stanley Jason Zappa.

2010-06-19T23:27:00.001-04:00

Attention Attention: I have known and been friends with John for just about 20 years now, so please be cautioned that there is a bias and a partiality that may transgress the high standards of music journalism so righteously upheld both in print and on them interwebs. Those who are offended by “log rolling” (rare those it is in any North American journalism), now is the time to to stop reading and find a site of fitting journalistic integrity. (I like Maangchi.com)

John Blum: A wildly biased, brief, personal appreciation.

John does not eat the flesh of mammals or birds. This has complicated plans to get John to visit me at the feed lot, especially in the fall. I have some theories as to why John doesn't eat the flesh of mammals or birds. It could be that in college, when I met John, when not studying music or practising piano or performing, John spent a considerable amount of time studying a great deal of science. And not just the entry level non-major freshman level classes like “Guess my Gender”, but real live advanced college level biology and chemistry.

I am given to understand one of my other favourite piano players (Lowell Davidson) was no slouch when it came to Science. Not to compare one to the other, but there you go.

John has been playing this music, full tilt, for 20 years—to the year. My first witness of John 'in full flight' came around 1990 at a small restaurant/bar in North Bennington, Vermont called “the Villager” (or “the V” for short.) There John was performing with Marco Eneidi on alto saxophone, Jackson Krall on drums and I think, Xtopher Farris on
bass. Naturally, no effort was made to document these sessions, so you'll just have to take my word for it that the music was unbelievably awesome. What's more, John was playing a Rhodes keyboard. So thoroughly and completely did John play that Rhodes, that when investigating as to the possibility of John playing a “keyboard” (as actual pianos are an endangered species) at a theoretical gig, John asked if me I would like to play the recorder as opposed to the saxophone. Nevertheless, let there be no confusion:there isn't a musician on the face of this earth who can play the Rhodes like John Blum.

John does primary research. Maybe that's the scientist in him. When interested in something, John goes after it in a precise, thorough manner. John lived in Europe for a while, checking out that scene and sound, while others got jobs in children's publishing. I believe John met Antonio Grippi in jolly olde Europe, on one of those trips that
the record companies didn't pay for. I could be wrong about that. In any event, do you all know Antonio Grippi? He plays the Alto Clarinet (and Alto Saxophone) and plays them both quite well. An interesting counterpoint to the other Alto in John's life, Marco Eneidi, with whom John has made countless hours of music. Hands up, who digs Marco Eneidi? (Hands go up EVERYWHERE!)

Which is all to say if and when there is someone musical whom John admires, John makes real, meaningful personal contact as a fellow human, and usually winds up playing with them in some capacity. Like Dennis Charles. John and Dennis Charles made music together, but nowhere near enough. Perhaps there is a larger cosmic reason that Dennis Charles didn't live longer, and a reason why the John Blum Astrogeny quartet (with William Parker on Bass) couldn't have continued and continued and continued. Perhaps that reason is because the John Blum Astrogeny Quartet is an end. The “the head” and “the tune” are given their final treatment. That form is done. The John Blum Astrogeny Quartet closed that party down forever.

John then recorded Who Begat Eye (a solo piano follow up to Naked Mirror) as well as In the Shade of the Sun, a trio with William Parker and Sunny Murray. What's “neat” about both recordings is that they each give a look into how this music evolves. Listening to Who Begat Eye after Naked Mirror, you hear development. Listening to In the
Shade of the Sun, you hear continuity and fluency of music language between Blum, Parker and Murray—Blum and Murray having recorded together on Murray's Les Perles Noires. But you have all those, because you are fans of the music, and support artists like John who is performing at the Vision Festival on Day 6, July 25th at the Loft
Underground (Downstairs theater) at 9:45pm with 20 year musical colleague, Jackson Krall.