Schlippenbach Trio Complete Combustion recorded live on April 10 & 11, 1998 @ Workshop Freie Music Evan Parker: soprano & tenor saxophones Alexander von Schlippenbach: piano Paul Lovens: selected & unselected drums & cymbals scalding 44:27 piece then 7 shorter pieces totaling 30:53 peak or maybe slightly post-peak performance maybe “Physics” from the early 90’s or maybe the show from Evan’s 50th Birthday Release from 1994 might be a bit more intense but in any event the opening 44:28 piece is blazing smoking burning incendiary music with Parker on tenor. Certainly not for all ears but if one's ears are open maybe a connection can be made. This is the stuff that really got me into the radical free improvisors. Not that he plays like Cecil Taylor but at his best Schlippenbach is a force of nature. To my ears the great pianists in their 50’s & 60’s are still their peak in most cases and Alexander von Schlippenbach is no exception. The one time I saw him in 2003 was after Cecil Taylor (a duo with Tony Oxley) the greatest live performance I’ve ever seen.
Plus later the wife and I will taking a nice long ride to a local park and she likes to listen to the GOGD as do I. But she likes 77 Dead more than any other year so I’ll either go with Dave’s 29 (2/26/77) or maybe Fall 77 via Dave's 12 (11/4/77), Dave’s 33 (10/29/77) or Dave's 25 (11/6/77) I have a very hard time keeping these out of my CD player, especially the last 2. Amazing sound and huge energy. Could be my favorite post-hiatus tour.
The GOGD is an excellent alternative! Those '77 shows after Jerry brings back the Wolf are packed with Ontological Goodness.
The Industry of Entropy Matt Nelson: tenor saxophone Brandon Lopez: double bass Andria Nicodemou: vibraphone Gerald Cleaver: drums released in 2017 on Relative Pitch records 4 pieces including a big 23 minute piece with the relatively unknown Nelson screaming on tenor. Lopez & Cleaver are a great bass/drum tandem. One of my last live shows was in December 2019 with Steve Baczkowski joined by the two of them. Might have been the best show I saw last year. Too bad there is very little Baczkowski on record. As I’ve mentioned before go directly to Relative Pitch on bandcamp and get “Old Smoke” with Baczkowski, Lopez & Chris Corsano if you want you head blown off the top of your body. get this one at the same time - maybe a step or two below the great trio on “Old Smoke” but both are wonderful examples of today’s most burning energetic free jazz. No small measures on either of them. Very focused playing by some of the greatest youngish musicians in the world. Lopez is another one that @Archtop will ignore at his own risk. To my ears he’s just about the best bassist on the scene in NYC. Maybe the great veterans Dresser, Formanek, Filiano, Bisio and William Parker can be mentioned but Lopez is working in some abstract areas that maybe only Dresser & Filiano approach. Plus Pascal Niggenkemper is now based out of Europe again so who knows if we ever see him again with pandemic still ongoing. Yes the above is a bit of minutia of sorts but..... In a sane musical world,,, Matt Nelson destroying atoms as we pass 9 minutes of the huge 23 minute piece. He’s taking it OUT to places unknown and Lopez is making new new once more. Lordy Lordy
After 23 minute piece we get a slow 6 minute almost dirge like improvisation which in some ways is just as powerful. Then the album closes with an 11 minute even slower track which opens with Lopez alone without bow. Maybe a modern day freely improvised ballad with Nelson playing like a modern day swing era tenor. The dude has an amazing sound on his horn. He was too invisible on the scene before the shutdown. Here’s hoping for more gigs when the darkness lifts one day hopefully by mid next year. One way or another, this darkness got to give
Tonight. David Bowie, 1984. Sophisticated 80's pop. A couple of decades ago, I used to despise this kind of music. I guess I've grown up.
I definitely agree with those recommendations. The one I played is great too, early in their career; they released a great anthology in the early 90's called Another Band From East LA, which has all sorts of deep cuts on it. Then there's KIKO, and upon its release I declared it to be one the great records of my life. I saw them around then too. What did they play for an encore? Them From An Imaginary Western by Mountain... only the Lobos could do that. I got a t-shirt at that show that most proudly I wear today... cheers.
I really regret not seeing them more often. I saw them open for the Dead in 1989, and on the first Furthur Festival in 1996 and they kicked my ass both times. As good as How Will the Wolf Survive is, nothing on that album rocks like the live shows I saw. They were/are simply one of the great American rock bands.
Guided by Voices - Alien Lanes I've been making an effort to get into this band a little more, going through the catalog in order. The albums are usually an interesting listen... Tons of short songs with good melody, but nothing that jumps out and hits you over the head. I like the idea, and the DIY recording philosophy. Nothing too slick, which I love.
Zappa/ You Are What You Is Did the Hot Pockets company have to pay the Zappa estate to adapt this for their jingle? "Goblin Girl"
I am not a fan of lofi DIY recordings generally, which sucks because I would be all about GBV otherwise. I saw them open for Pearl Jam in 2012 and they had my jaw dropped. Id see them again in an instant if I could!
Maybe if the people would follow the rules, we wouldn’t have to bust out the cop. Without rules, we only have anarchy.
(A bad Simpsons episode —like almost every single one in the last twenty years— but I remember this scene anyway).
