Recent Listening

Due to aggravating a thumb injury it has a been a quiet week for the saxophone. Not the best timing - off to NYC at easter. There have been plenty of listening sessions.

Steve Lacy: Anthem (Novus) Found this at Reckless Records. They have some good prices on used stuff - this one was $1.99. A larger group work from the late 80's. Lacy's output is always high quality though I tend to prefer his smaller groups.

I picked these next two up at Dusty Groove a week or so ago. Not sure why I hadn't made it out there before. Ken Vandermark and Mats Gustafsson are playing at the gallery upstairs on March 24th so I'll probably duck into the store then.
Roscoe Mitchell: Live at the Muhle Hunziken (cecma) A solo concert from 1986

Chris Kelsey: The Ingenious Gentle of the Lower East Side (CIMP) I preferred this disc over the one other of Kelsey's I had heard. The trio works nicely together - kiwi bonus points for Ed Ware.

Bernie McGann: Bundeena (rufus) Recently I have started revisiting albums that I used to listen to a lot that haven't made the rotation for a while. This one is a gem - McGann has such a distinctive sound. Check him out!

Hayden Chisholm: Auto Poetica - Works for Saxophone (Moontower) At the end of 2012 Hayden released the box set "13 Views of the Hearts Cargo." This disc features an eight piece alto sax ensemble playing works that developed out of Hayden's annual saxophone workshop in Greece.

Johnny Hodges: Everybody Loves Johnny Hodges (Impulse) Decided to put one of my early sax inspirations while getting dinner ready.

Messiaen: Petites Esquisses & Etudes de Rythmes - Roger Muraro solo piano. Some classical music to refresh the ears.

Jimmy Giuffre:
Piece for Clarinet & String Orchestra (Verve)
Mobiles (Verve)
These two albums were reissued by Verve on "Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre". I've been listening to a bit of Giuffre lately.

John Lewis: Jazz Abstractions (Atlantic) I hadn't heard this album in over 10 years. Seems funny that this was released under Lewis's name as it's really Gunter Schuller's album. Be sure to compare "Abstraction" (here with Ornette Coleman as soloist) with the one Eric Dolphy recorded a few years later - it was released on "Vintage Dolphy".

Frank Trumbauer: The Complete Okeh & Brunswick (Mosaic) The first was on while we were tidying up and doing dishes on Saturday. A request from my wonderful wife!

Charles Mingus:
Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic)
The Clown (Atlantic)
Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid)
I had a morning listening to these three albums. Eric Dolphy wails on the Candid disc which also contains the vocal version of “Fables of Faubus”. Doesn’t get as much attention as the Columbia albums from around the same time but it’s a top shelf quartet with Ted Curson & Dannie Richmond.

George Russell:
The Outer View (Riverside)
Jazz In The Space Age (Decca)
I was reading bits a pieces from the Russell biography while I was at the library last week and unsurprisingly it led me to out on some of his music.