Last night with "Last Night"

James Salter might be my favorite author right now. had been having some trouble finding time/space/motivation to read books recently, but i just stormed through his '05 short-story collection, Last Night--a v. thoughtful recent gift from Laal--in like two days.

one thing that occurred to me as i finished the title story--which presents an awesomely fucked-up scenario that i'd rather not spoil by delineating--is that in a lot of ways Salter is a horror writer. his subject is basically relationships, or maybe the fucked-up messiness thereof, usually among affluent, intellectual couples, kind of like a more modern John Cheever. his scenarios are often predictable--basically once you're introduced to a marriage, you can pretty much just start the adultery countdown--but the emotions he describes are just breathtakingly sad and in the case of a story like "Last Night," downright terrifying and brutal, as much so as anything in a slasher flick.

there's some sense of morbid voyeurism, just gawking as people royally fuck up their lives in the name of pleasure, freedom, etc. (Spitzer could be a Salter character, for sure) but there are also moments where he describes blissful happiness in a very pure way. he's a skeptic, but it's not that he doesn't believe in love. it's more like he doesn't believe in faith or loyalty. or maybe monogamy?

and did i mention his absolutely exquisite sentencecraft? it's very much like reading Cormac McCarthy. you read and pause, read and pause, marveling at the audible poetics.

read A Sport and a Pastime while on tour and Light Years (also a gift, from an old friend/bandmate) a while back and was floored by both, but these stories manage to give you a whole lot of that effect in very tiny packages. i really really really recommend this one.

Keep on your altos

i rejoiced today to find WKCR being its awesome self and spinning Ornette Coleman all day in honor of his 78th birthday. many delights, including some of the 1958 Hillcrest sessions (was very intrigued to hear how recognizable his sound was at this point, though in the scheme of things "The Shape of Jazz to Come" was only a year later), the mighty aforementioned, ever-incredible "Shape," what i'm pretty sure was "The Empty Foxhole" and two others that really hit me hard: "Skies of America" and "Song X," the latter of which is actually spinning as i write this.

had never really given "Skies," Ornette's most well-known orchestral work, a try before, but i really enjoyed what i heard. the symphonic stuff comes across as a little heavy-handed, but Ornette's alto soars bravely over everything, concerto-style. the best parts are his frequent a cappella interludes, showing off that marvelous round, tart, wailing, singsongy concept of his. Ornette's musical signature on sax is one of the most potent and unmistakable there is, for sure.

and then "Song X," Ornette's collabo w/ Pat Metheny. this one sounds like nothing else. it's one of the most vibrant, alive recordings i can think of. the shit absolutely crackles with joy--it's got this very modern, frenetic quality but also a very big, friendly, sweet melodic aspect too. i guess one word for it would be "unabashed"--you imagine all the players grinning ear-to-ear as they play. intense speed and happy, positive vibes. one of the most inviting avant-garde jazz releases of all, no doubt. i think Metheny is a real good match for Ornette, just in terms of that pervasive sense of celebration in his playing. sure he can get cheesy sometimes, but this is a really beautiful team-up.

*****

speaking of altoists and team-ups, have also been listening to tons of Tim Berne, marveling once again at the guy's consistency, prolificness, sturdiness of concept, sincerity, etc. am really into the idea that he's got all these bands working simultaneously, all with almost the same personnel, but each with a totally different identity, e.g.

Hard Cell - w/ Craig Taborn and Tom Rainey
(the latter of whom is always on, always unassumingly badass. one of the few drummers whose name i'm never not psyched to see on the back of a CD.)
Big Satan - w/ Marc Ducret and Rainey
Science Friction - w/ Taborn, Ducret and Rainey
Paraphrase - w/ Drew Gress and Rainey

Hard Cell in particular really excites me. it's built around these extremely intricate yet burly vamps that to me have a very proggy, hypnotic character to them. as is so often the case in Berne's music, these patterns seem to just spring up from out of nowhere during the improvisations and all of the sudden the band will be grooving in this crazy lockstep. i definitely think all math-rock fans should take a listen to the latest Hard Cell disc, "Feign." some serious rhythm workouts happening there.

also really digging "Fulton Street Maul," a really gritty, fun and potent session from 1987 that actually came out on Columbia Records. awesome lineup of Hank Roberts on cello (playing Abdul Wadud to Berne's Julius Hemphill and serving up really intense vamp action), Bill Frisell on guitar (he can get too FX-happy for me sometimes, but he does give the record a lot of atmosphere) and Nels Cline's bro Alex on drums.

this one shows you how long Berne's been on top of his game. for my money, he's perhaps the most honest, ungimmicky voice in downtown music--unlike some of the more famous folks in this scene, all his core concepts are musical. he's got no use for buzzwords or fanciful looks-cool-on-paper type stuff. just a seriously funky, gritty player/writer who's intensely committed to digging in and finishing the job, improv-wise.

really dig the Screwgun operation, Berne's homegrown label. check out the website for a handy mp3 shop, where i recently picked up "Maul" for a mere 6 clams.

and check out this excellent example of the Berne/Rainey mindmeld. brutally delicate split-second funk:

DFSBP '08 Nods #s 1 and 2

it felt like the right time to resurrect the DFSBP Nod. here's to latent obsessions that never really go away...

1) Squash. have just rediscovered this glorious game and it feels like floss for the spirit.

2) "How the Gods Kill." whatever one thinks of so-called "gothic" music, this is as gorgeous a piece of aural moodmaking as you're likely to find. perhaps Danzig's finest hour? (by Danzig, i mean the band, not the man. if we were talking about the latter notion, we'd be here all night.) the camp occasionally overwhelmed the beauty with that band, but not here--this is real. and even though it's a ballad, you can still dig how much Chuck Biscuits straight-up RIPS on the drums. check out how swinging his beat is in the kicked-in "Would you let it go?" verse that starts around 3:35... (i can take or leave the video, but it's the handiest way to present the song to you.)

RIP Jared McGuiness

just heard the terribly sad news--a month late, actually--that Jared McGuinness of the Brooklyn noise-rock band PRINT has died. Jared and i weren't close friends, but Stay Fucked played with PRINT often, and it was always a great time. he was always really positive and supportive, and he helped us set up a bunch of shows. not to mention the fact that he was an awesome musician. basically i was always happy to see him around, and it's just awful to hear this news. my sincere condolences to his bandmates, friends and family members. read more from his associates here.

Monday Cecilophilia

wanted to weigh in on two fascinating mid-period Cecils that i got to spend some good time with today.

Spring of Two Blue-J's (1973) - A
this beauty (pictured above) was originally released on Cecil's private label Unit Core. i've never seen the original, but i've got a decent burn of it. side one is a 15-minute-ish solo piece, and side two is a roughly 20-minute quartet track w/ Jimmy Lyons on alto, Sirone on bass (dig his excellent solo near the end) and Andrew Cyrille on drums. both pieces are apparently titled "Spring of Two Blue-J's," suggesting that they're versions of the same composition (Cecil seems to do this sort of thing often, e.g., the several records entitled "Looking" that were recorded in '89), but i don't hear much continuity between them. the solo piece is an absolute stunner, containing some utterly crazed, demonically intense playing that sounds like a player piano with a jammed score. but also there's this stately, heartbreaking theme that Cecil plays right at the beginning and then about 11 minutes in, and he toys with and atomizes a second motif at about 7 minutes in that almost sounds like a jaunty klezmer melody. i feel like i've been noticing this kind of thematic material in the solo records a lot more lately (it's definitely there on "Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!," discussed a few posts down) and this aspect of Cecil's music really excites me. the quartet piece isn't *quite* as memorable--there's a lot of scampering, hectic playing that's kinetic yet slightly familiar--but it is an excellent example of the dynamic between these players. in the early minutes of the track, you can really hear how Lyons is a centering force in this group--his initial entrance is so elegant and the whole band sort of seems to mass around his fluid, tart, lyrical fanfares.

Student Studies - (1966) - A
this one really knocked me on my ass. it's not a record you hear a lot about, but truthfully, i feel as though it should be considered a vital companion to the Blue Notes of the same year. Student Studies was recorded in Paris in November, less than two months after Conquistador, and the band is a stripped-down version of the one on the record: Lyons, Cyrille and Alan Silva on bass. the title piece--spread across the first two long tracks--contains two successive themes, the first an insistent sax pulse laid over an ominous arco bass drone, and the second a darting, spirally sax line that the other instruments sort of scamper behind. the improvising here is very dramatic, with very little feeling of treading water. there's this awesome moment at about 2:10 into the first piece where Cecil pounds a few notes and Silva lets out this dissonant arco squeal right on his heels--really cool and memorable. anyway, the aforementioned themes are each woven in about three times, interspersed with some nicely diverse improv sections, including a Taylor/Cyrille duet section in the first piece and a Taylor/Silva duet section (gorgeous, slow, ominous, creepy, etc.) opening the second one. a really coherent piece! the third track, "Amplitude," is also a killer, definitely one of the most unique Taylor cuts i can think of. this piece really gets into a "little instruments" vibe reminiscent, to me, of early AACM stuff--interestingly the first major AACM document, Roscoe Mitchell's "Sound," was also recorded in '66, though i can't find the exact date. anyway, "Amplitude" features bells, gongs, woodblocks, whistles and all kinds of other auxiliary instruments, including (and this is really cool) some kind of preparation on the piano, i.e., metal objects presumably placed inside the instrument to generate a rattling sound. all this percussive texture really gives this piece a unique, adventuresome feel--wonderfully vivid recording too. the last piece, the crazily titled "Niggle Feuigle," kind of reminds me of the title track to Conquistador, with an upbeat, Latinish rhythm from Cyrille and boldly beautiful soloing from Lyons. all in all, a VERY diverse record and again, worthy of consideration alongside the other, better-known '66 masterworks, Unit Structures and Conquistador.

now i saved the best for last, an actual VIDEO (i was shocked when i found this) of the Student Studies band in action in Paris in November of '66. apparently it was manually taped off the TV, but still:



given the eclectic atmospherics going on here--note Taylor and Silva getting in on auxiliary percussion and Lyons LISTENING intently--i think it can reasonably be assumed that this is a version of "Amplitude." i haven't listened closely enough to determine if it is in fact the version from the record. wouldn't that be a trip... (has anyone seen any other footage from this period??? it's definitely the earliest video of Cecil, or any of these dudes, i've ever seen.)

Bro cycle

very psyched to see the Coens mop up at the Oscars. (you had to love Ethan's subverbal stage presence, no? not to mention how genuinely proud Frances McDormand looked.) "Barton Fink" was perhaps the first movie i felt strongly enough about to proclaim it My Favorite Movie. "Miller's Crossing" is absolutely unbeatable as well--could watch it a million times.

surely the coolest thing about the "No Country" semisweep, though, was seeing Cormac McCarthy on national TV!

Sorey does cut it // Academy fight song

Tyshawn Sorey and his quartet played an excellent set at Jazz Gallery last eve, to formally commemorate the release of the outstanding "that/not" available from Firehouse 12. Laal and i caught the first set and it was extremely packed, which made me happy. as previously reported, that double-disc set was one of my very favorite records of last year and there was an extended period during which it seemed to be glued in my Discman (RIP, since subbed out for iPod!).

anyway, the overall vibe of the show was meditative, in keeping with the record. there were a few breaks in the set, but overall there was a continuous flow happening--very long, mysterious ballad-like constructions played tautly and with a lot of mystery. Tyshawn is an intensely precise player and every gesture--whether it's hitting the butt end of the stick on the ride bell or flapping his brushes in the air for a swishing effect--carries an enormous amount of weight. it was cool to see him directing traffic with intense glances in the other players' directions. trombonist Ben Gerstein is great to watch and to hear, a very animated and searching player--his duo Moth, with Sam Hillmer of Zs, is well worth your time. bassist Thomas Morgan and pianist Cory Smythe played excellently as well; w/ Smythe in particular it really felt like he was inhabiting the music.

even after seeing this stuff live (the set consisted mostly of pieces from the record, though there were a few i didn't recognize), i still don't feel like i have any more of an idea how exactly it's put together. the compositions flow absolutely seamlessly into the improvising--as i wrote earlier, the music just feels sort of eternal and unbound by time, like you're wading into a stream that'll keep going long after you've gotten out. silly simile there, but the logic here is unique and strange and wondrous. can't wait to hear what Sorey comes up w/ next.

*****







Oscars! i actually am kind of excited, b/c i've seen four of the five Best Picture nominees. loved No Country, thought Daniel Day-Lewis ruled but that otherwise There Will Be Blood was kind of narratively limp, loved Michael Clayton (what a strange, complex, out-of-left-field flick; but i'll eat up anything w/ Sydney Pollack), and thought Juno was cute but ultimately kind of nauseating (it lays on the indie-(rock) quirk with a trowel; kudos to Jason Bateman though for an awesome turn as a fading rocker dude).

Life won't wait // More from your Cecil tailor

Extra Life--solo project of Charlie Looker, ex-Zs--played an awesome set at Union Pool last night. new songs made the show feel more well-rounded than a few others i'd seen recently--this is a band that can't help but improve exponentially. extremely aggressive, emotional, complex, occasionally kind of prog-poppy, which i very much enjoy. new drummer Nick (an astonishing player; check out Yukon) sounds super locked in. Tony was burly and awesome as usual (complete bias, but hey), Travis sounded great on sax and (!) Electronic Wind Instrument, and i could hear the violin more than i ever had before. very psyched to hear new record, "Secular Works," gettable from Planaria. go see them on tour!

*****












have been trying to figure out what is the best way to document recent torrent of Cecil Taylor listening. i think i'm just gonna try to do some brief capsule reviews of all the records that i've had a chance to really spend time with. for now, let's say A means "essential/terminally fulfilling, etc.," B means "less than that; maybe marred by poor recording or overlongness or something," and C would be "not so great." not sure if i can think of any Cecil records that fall into that latter category, but maybe they'll come up.

Conquistador! - 1966 - A
as i indicated earlier, i think this is a really outstanding record, definitely one of Cecil's most "together"-seeming group efforts ever. the themes on the two long tracks are really potent and memorable, and the pieces contrast nicely (title track is adventurous and kinetic, while "With (Exit)" is eerie and apprehensive). band is unimpeachable, everyone playing with strong attention and sensitivity. again, i'll take this one over "Unit Structures" in terms of classic '60s Cecil.

Live in the Black Forest - 1978 - A
not as well known as "The Cecil Taylor Unit" or "3 Phasis," but maybe even better in terms of representing the mighty late '70s Unit at full strength. was really psyched to hear that this one is VERY well-recorded, with a lot of body on all the instruments. you can hear the band's signature bold exuberance in the solos and wonderful habit of passing themes around, stating them in staggered chorus. two long pieces, the second fascinating and joyous due to some easygoing swing from drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson. a deep, deep band, with three star soloists (Lyons, Malik, Ameen); also a lot of variety in the arrangements, including an edge-of-your-seat duet between Taylor and Malik on the second piece, "Sperichill on Calling" (love that title).

Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly! - 1980 - A
very wondrous solo session, which (please correct me if i'm wrong) i believe to be the only solo Cecil recorded in a studio. this is a tough, tough nut to crack, but worth it. short pieces, incorporating much of Cecil's signature Lick and Flurry playing (as taxonomied in an earlier post here), but as Howard points out in his new "Miles Ornette Cecil" tome, which i've only skimmed but plan to fully tackle soon, but the session also features a lot of very unique motifs which pop up again and again. one of the coolest things about the record is that a lot of it sounds like Cecil's signature playing, but more sculpted, elegant, pretty, rhapsodic, maybe even sentimental at times. there are these little twists and twinges of emotion throughout that make this an unusually patient and sumptuous record. aside from some insanely dextrous runs, the longer, more aggressive pieces near the end didn't grab me *quite* as much, but overall this one is very much essential due to its uniqueness. weird to hear him divide up a long recital this way.

and might as well recap some of the others i've discussed in recent posts...

It Is in the Brewing Luminous - 1980 (recorded in February, whereas Fly! was made in September) - B
as mentioned before, the recording quality of this one knocks it out of essential territory. trouble hearing rhythm section, esp. bassist Alan Silva, throughout, and two drummers, Sunny Murray and Jerome Cooper, as well. very cool to hear a) Taylor reunited with Murray, who's moving into his mature "elephant walk" style here, and b) playing w/ Cooper, who offers crisp, idiosyncratic commentary, but sound is frustratingly spotty. definitely one of those marathon live sets that has its incendiary moments but probably goes on too long for its own good.

Unit Structures - 1966 - A
was a little hard on this one before--only b/c i believe that it's unfairly hyped over Conquistador--but it really is a very compelling record. again, the first track, "Steps" feels scattered and underrehearsed to me and the second, "Enter Evening," seems a little precious, but the long third track, "Unit Structure/As of a Now/Section," is marvelous, definitely up there w/ the Conquistador material in terms of poise and virtuoso architecture. again, the band kills--as w/ Conquistador, the basses (Silva and Henry Grimes) and drummer (Cyrille) are heroically sensitive throughout. still need to give a closer listen to the last (hornless) track, "Tales (8 Whisps)."

The Cecil Taylor Unit - 1978 - A
bold, bold band, discussed above in the Live at the Black Forest section. all their recordings are remarkable. EXCELLENT recording quality (yes, that's always really important to me), and fearless playing, esp. from the backbeat-happy Shannon Jackson. was really delighted by this one upon revisiting it--sometimes i feel as though Cecil's group music has become less intricately woven and well-thought-out over the years (i.e., since the Blue Note stuff), but this is a very tight session. as i mentioned before, the band seems to inhabit Cecil's choppy sense of time when it needs to but also offer its own sweeping, exuberant statements. marvelously alive, forceful, wizardlike, etc.

and i'd give Riobec (duo w/ Gunter Sommer from '88), Garden (solo action from '81) and Winged Serpent (all-star international biggish band from '84) all an A rating. first one finds Taylor meeting his match in terms of zany glee and totally diving in the deep end; second one is just prime, prime solo Cecil, typical (or maybe "representative" is a better word--i only mean in comparison to other solo Cecil) in some ways but maybe the most poised, virtuosic and forceful i've heard--a big leap from the previous benchmark "Silent Tongues" (another A, obviously); and the third is raggedy at times but very fun, with Lyons leading the charge on a variety of staggered fanfares and all players seeming to have fun massing around the master and at times murmuring and whooping vocally in crazy ritualistic fashion.

need to listen closer to all three of those and to the Willisau Concert from 2000, the latter definitely an A, but not terribly, terribly familiar to me. it's one of those marathon solo-concert Cecils and much-beloved by Gary Giddins and other trustworthy folks. what i need to get a handle on is how it differs and builds upon the earlier solo records.

(by the way, if anyone doesn't know about this rad online Taylor discography and this live sessionography, check them out. invaluable stuff.)

anyway, i've been buried in this stuff, so i'm just trying to make sense of it all. going to hear Tyshawn Sorey tonight, so i'll be sure to let you know how it sounds!

Confessor's Steve Shelton: Webbed feet

have you heard Confessor? (gotta credit Tony w/ reawakening me to this awesomeness, though i found 'em first! though i think it was Pat D who originally hipped me...) startlingly, inscrutably strange, strange (strange!) metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina. released an outstanding full-length, Condemned, in '91, broke up soon after and reformed in early aughts. a follow-up, Unraveled, appeared in '05.

i'm much more familiar with Condemned, and i wanted to post the first track:

Confessor - Alone

i guess i should admit--if it wasn't immediately clear from listening--that what gets me about this music is the drumming. intensely complicated prog-doom is one thing; intensely complicated prog-doom with weirdly powerful operatic vocals is another; add astonishingly dextrous, wiry, spacious, SMART drumming--imagine a nerdier, brainer Dale Crover--filled with expertly controlled (and not mindlessly space-filling) double bass and yeah, i'm freakin' sold.

drummer in question is one Steve Shelton, far left above. he's an absolute genius and intensely revered in underground circles. he's also in the extremely kick-ass instrumental math-metal band Loincloth, which also features dudes from Breadwinner, another outstanding, unsung early '90s group. anyway, check out how cool and soft-spoken he is in this demonstration video. he's like, "Oh, hello--i didn't see you there. Oh, you want me to kindly and gently parse out my insanely complex, double-bass-crammed math-doom-prog drum architecture for you? Let me just get a cup of tea and a scrunchy for my ponytail and we'll proceed..."



they talk about Coltrane's sheets of sound? Steve Shelton plays freakin' webs of rhythm--his parts are sticky as hell. they glue the riffs together. large gaps and then sudden clumps and clusters of toms. and those bass drums! i could listen to the tone all day. they sound REAL. just enjoy the architecture of it. if the vocals on the MP3 bug you, tune 'em out, but i've actually come to really dig them.

more about Confessor on their official site and MySpace. also, Loincloth will blow your mind. and Breadwinner (just a fan page) never hurt nobody neither.

Fame game

Joe and i had some good pizza (from Bella Via, really classy pie place just over the Pulaski Bridge in LIC; nice charring on the crust, etc.) and watched a good flick last night. had scored Mr. Warmth, a new Don Rickles doc, from work, so we checked that out.

i knew Rickles's name, of course, but i didn't really have an idea of the scope of his work. basically he's sort of a classic insult comic (race jokes, sex jokes, basically anything with a squirm factor), but he's also a film and TV star and more importantly, he's just a really potent example of what seems like a bygone age of what can only be called Showbiz. most of the doc consists of talking-head interviews, and the subjects are incredibly wide-ranging: Clint Eastwood, Joan Rivers, Bob Newhart, Ed McMahon, Regis Philbin, all the way to Sarah Silverman and Jimmy Kimmel and Chris Rock. all these folks express incredible affection for Rickles, and a lot of them hark back to this amazing moment in entertainment where there were just all these celebrities who seemed to be famous *because* they were famous, and people just loved watching them go on TV and act like themselves.

the highlight of the doc in this regard was a section on the repartee between Rickles and Johnny Carson. Rickles used to go on Carson's show and they'd have this acidic banter together. apparently at one point Rickles guest-hosted and broke Carson's prize cigarette case, so the next night, Carson notices and asks the camera crew to follow him to the adjacent studio where Rickles was filming his own show. so he bursts in on Rickles's taping and confronts him. hilarious stuff, but the great thing is how when Rickles is like "Ladies and gentleman, Johnny Carson," Carson is like "Why do you always do that? They know who i am!" then he intros Rickles in the same way. the message is sort of like, in that age of celebrity, you should just be KNOWN, no questions asked--the idea of unfamiliarity was insulting or something.

on that tip, many would say that celebrities (Sinatra, etc.) didn't feel they'd arrived until they'd been insulted by Rickles. today we always wonder why so and so could get famous for doing something so silly (William Hung, etc.), but w/ Rickles, you don't question it at all. he's famous just on the strength of who he is.

*****

checked out a few Cecil records over the weekend (duh), including the splendidly titled "It Is in the Brewing Luminous," a marathon live set from 1980 w/ Jimmy Lyons, Ramsey Ameen, Alan Silva, and both Jerome Cooper and Sunny Murray on drums. the drummers were the real draw for me, esp. since to my knowledge this is the only recording of Cecil w/ Murray after those classic '60s sessions.

unfortunately, though, the sound is really muddy and inconsistent and the bass and drums often get lost. Lyons sounds excellent as usual, but the majority of the hourlong disc is Cecil soloing alone or w/ Ameen. it's one of those classic Cecil live dates where he plays with demonic intensity, ramps it down, then plays with even more demonic intensity. this happens like ten times, and sometimes it seems as if the band is just exhausted. but Ameen does a good job of racing along with him.

wish the sound on this one were better, b/c from what you can hear Cooper and Murray really contrast with each other in a nice way.

in other news, the second track on the solo disc "Garden" might be the most intense single example of solo Cecil i've ever heard. absolutely--even scarily--turbocharged playing.