cough cough

The last couple of days have been spent recovering from a cold/bug/whatever. While it's not the best timing (I have a busy week planned), it has given me the chance to listen to some music.

After trying (and failing) to work my way through the 2-disc sampler, "Critic's Choices & Other Voices," that came with Jazziz magazine, I listened to a selection of artists from the 1920s and 30s - Jabbo Smith, Tiny Parham, Mills Blue Rhythm Band, Lovie Austin, Mezz Mezzrow, Eddie South and Jimmy Lunceford among others. I've just wrapped up reading Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune which no doubt helped nudge me to revisit the 1920s and 30s. As I've made my way through the book I've been listening to some of the tracks mentioned and on Monday I created a few random playlists and hit play. A few years ago I spent a lot of time listening to jazz from the first 20 years of its recorded history but since then it has been a sporadic effort at best and it made for a refreshing change.

And while the 20s and 30s are on my mind....Charley Patton also has been getting some airtime. I picked up a 3-disc set a short while ago and I'm finally getting around to giving it a listen. The focus was on the first disc but I will make sure I get to the other two before the year is out. There will more acoustic blues added to my listening in the near future. Patton made a nice contrast to Evan Parker's As the Wind (which I'll write more on that later but I'm liking what I hear so far).

Christian Weidner's Every Hour of the Light and Dark arrived in the mail yesterday so I gave it a cursory listen this morning and again this afternoon. I'm not sure if brooding is an apt description, reflective maybe, but not overly introspective.

No blowing the horn, but I have been tapping out of various 8th notes and triplets groupings from Ed Saindon's Exploration in Rhythm. 

Lambic Jazz Vol.9

Frank Gratkowski Trio: Quicksand (Meniscus)

I reorganized my CDs last week and maybe Quicksand lodged somewhere in my mind as I’m not sure what made me reach for this album tonight. Pianist Georg Graewe and percussionist Paul Lovens join Frank’s alto sax, clarinet and bass clarinet for a set of four free improvisations recorded live at Stadtgarten in 1999. At times it's an intense 44 minutes and I'm pretty sure my wife would have preferred something else, but it suited me just fine (even with the volume down low).

I tend to go through periods of listening to Frank's music and it had been a while since I had one of his albums on. Last week I picked up his first solo recording, Artikulationen, but I'm yet to give it a spin so it (along with tonight's listening) might just get me revisiting a few of his albums.

I’ve been lucky to hear Frank in concert on a three occasions (with three different groups). Although his music sometimes moves away from my aesthetic preferences, there is always plenty to take away from the performance (or recording). Without question he is one of the best saxophone players I have heard in the flesh (he's ain't half bad on clarinets either!). One piece in particular by his trio with Achim Kaufmann and Wilbert de Joode from a gig at Roulette in 2009 featured some jaw-dropping alto playing I would love to hear again. Who knows, maybe it would disappoint on the second time around. Listening to recordings of gigs you attended is similar to listening recordings of your own playing - things get accented that you missed in the moment, other memories are lost on the recording. That in itself is interesting.

Even though I'm still finishing off the Mike Nock biography, I have started on Allen Lowe's That Devilin' Tune: A jazz history, 1900-1950. I started reading it a while back but got distracted and put it down and now I'm finally getting back in to it. Lowe spends a nice amount of time on pre-jazz without limiting himself self to the usual Africa-blues-ragtime-jazz timeline. It's an interesting read and recommended for those of you interested in the roots of the music.

Tonight's listening was accompanied by a dry Hanssens Artisanaal Oude Gueuze. And now it's time to tune into the second test between India and England (the first day of New Zealand v Pakistan was washed out).