Spontaneous Music Ensemble: Karyobin Recorded February 10, 1968 John Stevens: Drums Evan Parker: soprano saxophone Kenny Wheeler: trumpet Dave Holland: Double Bass Derek Bailey: guitar Maybe the first freely improvised recording of this sort. spellbinding AMAZING that a new release with Evan Parker & Dave Holland is coming out this spring - a 2 CD set which includes Craig Taborn on piano & Ches Smith on drums/vibraphone. 50 years later two of the greatest living jazz/improvising musicians re-unite. MORE exciting is that I believe Evan Parker is coming stateside in the Spring so I would imagine that appearance(s) in NYC are inevitable. Maybe if we are real lucky, we’ll get to hear Parker, Holland, Taborn & Smith as a quartet live. Seems to me that it makes sense for Parker’s Village Vanguard debut @ 74 as he turns 74 on April 5th. Certainly having Holland & Taborn in a quartet with Parker might help. It would be very very special if they would book him and if Evan would do it. Evan is well known not to be concerned about such things as he told a friend of mine a couple of years back that he prefers to “play for the front row”.
Topography of the Lungs Evan Parker: tenor & soprano saxophones Derek Bailey: guitar Han Bennink: drums Recorded July 13, 1970 in London
Listening to a great Pearl Jam AUD from 4/28/16 (Philly night 1). I can't believe I wasted two decades irrationally hating this band, when they should have been one of my absolute favorites. These guys play real rock and roll. The guitar solos on this show are particularly great. I am glad I came to my senses a year or two ago (when I saw PJ20 and realized Vedder isn't the stuck up jackass I pegged him for back in the day - and also when I watched that Toronto 2011 encore with Neil Young joining in and realized how much these guys love the music; it's one of the most joyful concert videos I have ever watched). It just means I have a lot of catching up to do.
My wife was out at a restaurant last night with her girl friends, so I warmed up the tubes and played Urban Hymns sorta loud, accompanied by a Flying Fish Brewery Extra Pale Ale. I've got the original UK double LP. Nice sound.
Got the Friday blues? Don't worry - the weekend's coming! Here's a jaunty little jam to cheer you up. It's in the same groove as "Tighten Up", "Soulful Strut", and "Grazing in the Grass": Kool and the Gang - "Chocolate Buttermilk"
Two miles in the air (no, really) and shuffling my biggest Steely Dan playlist, 65 And One More Chimp Who Isn’t Here. Np: Royal Scam > Night By Night > ...
Glad to be blessed with a system that can throw the thunder of this performance back at me. GC is chock full of funky moments and rock and roll power. Got to feel it as well as hear it. The Hsu gets a sweaty workout on this one.
My rock and roll jazz albums of the moment for fueling up for a short happy hour. Booker Ervin, the Texas Tenor with Cookin' and Freddie Hubbard's Goin' Up, w/outstanding work by Hank Mobley on tenor and Philly Jones on drums.
Acid Mothers Temple--for those keeping track of the details (@AxiomAcoustics), this time it's the Cosmic Inferno. "Om Riff from the Cosmic Inferno," which is a 50-minute jam on the riff from Gong's "Master Builder." My god, this is the best space rock track ever recorded maybe, and I don't say that lightly as a fan of Hawkwind and of course Gong, among others. How do they keep a jam on one riff engaging for 50 minutes? It's not just engaging, though, it blows the lid off the universe. AMT is not like listening to some recondite krautrock band or something, it doesn't take effort to get into this. They really tear the sucker to shreds. It's not like it's full of ideas. AMT is not really head music in that sense, it's very visceral. To do that for almost an hour and command attention throughout I consider an achievement!
Oh man, their pre-disco stuff is glorious. Check this one out - positive, joyous music that gets you groovin': Kool and the Gang -"Music is the Message" 1972 New Jersey funk at its best. I've got this one on LP ("vinyl" for the youngins that may be reading).
Cool, I bookmarked it because I just started AMT's Master Builder jam for the second time today...39 minutes to go. Anyone looking for the real space rock I encourage to give it a spin. And of course, if anyone here is unfamiliar with the source material, Gong's You is also celestial stuff.
My younger self would have been aghast but I paused the Om Riff and listened to this...excellent, it seems to me they aren't doing anything all that different from what they did come disco time too (at least as far as I can remember/imagine). Nothing to dislike about this sort of thing. I remember after a Dead show one time (Giants Stadium, I think) about 45 Deadheads going crazy to "Celebration" in the parking lot...so long as they were the type to be quiet during Stella Blue, I have no beef with them.
I found out yesterday that Acid Mothers Temple is playing in Vegas in a few months. I'll have to go! Kool and the Gang could also blow a mean jazz groove. Here's "Blowin' with the Wind" from the same Music is the Message LP: If any of you spin vinyl, I highly recommend the compilation of their jazzier side called Kool Jazz. I'm not sure if it was ever released on CD. Edit: I checked Discogs and there is a CD version from 1997. Awesome.
Still waiting for my Garcia copy -- did listen to Disc 1 - Garcia 91 Milwaukee release (Vol. 8) after the Morrison cd in anticipation. Now onto Pumpkins' Pisces Iscariot - it has to be 20 years or so that I heard this. Never have been the biggest Pumpkins' fan - but they are okay.
If they are playing anywhere near you you absolutely should. I only have seen them once, but they were epic. Absolutely a live band first and foremost, like all the best ones.
It is on youtube for any skeptics wanting to sample it! Titanic, I say. Here's the original song which all of us should know well and love, but I post it here just in case: Gong - Master Builder
