December 5, 2009

Playlist 12-5-09

* Dowland: Complete Lute Works, Vol.2 (O’Dette) (Harmonia Mundi CD)
* Marais: Suite d’un Goût Etranger: Pieces de Viole, 1717 (Savall) (Alia Vox 2SACD)
* Geminiani: Cello Sonatas, Op.5 (ter Linden/Mortensen) (Brilliant Classics CD)
* J.S. Bach: 7 Harpsichord Concertos (AAM/Manze/Egarr) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)
* Herbie Nichols: Love, Gloom, Cash, Love (Bethlehem CD)
* Miles Davis Quintet: Relaxin’ (Prestige/DCC CD)
* Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Complete Columbia Recordings (d.1) (Columbia 6CD)
* Wayne Shorter: JuJu (Blue Note CD)
* Wayne Shorter: Schizophrenia (Blue Note LP)
* Wayne Shorter Quintet: Circus, Copenhagen 7-13-96 (FM 2CDR)
* Wayne Shorter Quartet: Sala Sinopoli, Roma 11-07-06 (AUD CDR)
* Herbie Hancock & The New Standard All-Stars: Warsaw 6-29-97 (SBD 2CDR)
* Sun Ra: Nuits de la Fondation Maeght, Vol.1 (Universe CD)
* Sun Ra: Black Myth/Out in Space (Motor Music/MPS 2CD)
* Cecil Taylor Unit: Ann Arbor, MI 4-15-76 (FM CDR)
* Cecil Taylor Unit: Saalfelden 9-4-83 (AUD 2CDR)
* Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley: Moers Festival 5-12-08 (FM CDR)
* Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley: Strasbourg Auditorium 10-2-09 (AUD 2CDR)
* David S. Ware Quartet: Corridors and Parallels (AUM Fidelity CD)
* Anthony Braxton Diamond Curtain Wall Trio: hr-Sendsaal, Frankfurt 10-30-09 (FM CDR)
* Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone: On and Off (Skirl CD)
* King Crimson: Red (DGM/Virgin CD)
* Grateful Dead: Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hall, Kansas City, MO 12-11-79 (SBD 3CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Civic Center, Hartford 3-19-90 (d.2-3) (pre-FM 3CDR)
* The Style Council: My Ever Changing Moods (Geffen LP)
* Cocteau Twins: Victorialand (4AD/Capitol CD)
* Aphex Twin: Drukqs (Warp/Sire 2CD)
* Guided By Voices: Hardcore UFOs: Disc 2: Demons & Painkillers (Matador 5CD+DVD)
* Robert Pollard: Silverfish Trivia (Prom Is Coming 12”EP)
* Boston Spaceships: Licking Stamps and Drinking Shitty Coffee (APC 2LP)
* Gastr Del Sol: Mirror Repair (Drag City CDEP)
* Gastr Del Sol: Crookt, Crackt, or Fly (Drag City LP)
* Jim O’Rourke: Insignificance (Drag City LP)
* The Flaming Lips: Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots 5.1 (stereo) (Warner Bros. DVD-A)

Commentary:

What? December already? Ugh.

We are really looking forward to the Solstice, when this awful period of diminishing light will end and the days will begin to get longer. I’m finding that as I get older, the slow retreat of the sun each fall has become increasingly difficult. Thankfully, after December 21st, there will gradually be more and more light in the sky. That will be reason enough to celebrate!

+++

The return to the workaday world after a long holiday weekend was pretty rough as well, which is reflected in the appearance of several Cecil Taylor recordings on the playlist. I realize it is stereotypical to describe Taylor’s music as “agitated” and “aggressive” and most clichéd of all, “dissonant and noisy”; but it is just these qualities that feel so reassuring (to me) when life feels agitated, aggressive, dissonant and noisy. And yet to actually immerse oneself in Taylor’s soundworld reveals that his music transcends these stereotypes and encompasses the entire emotional spectrum, as infinite and profound as life itself. In other words, I have to be in the right mood to listen to Cecil, but whenever I do, I find his music incredibly life-affirming. At eighty years old, Cecil Taylor is still going strong -- now that is truly inspiring!
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1 comment:

  1. Sam9:20 AM

    I hear you about Cecil! I have found, over the last 10 years or so, that it's much easier for me to get into his music than ever before--either my ears were finally stretched enough, or just the ever-ongoing passage of time, a deeper appreciation of the overall structure of each piece, or what, I don;t know, but I find myself deeply attached to and moved by his music. For the past year or so I've been listening to all my Braxton chronologically --I'm up to 2007-- and after I finish that, I plan to go through all my Cecil. Ongoing study.

    Here's my listening and reading for this past week:

    Playlist 2009-12-07

    *Beethoven: The Late String Quartets (Emerson String Quartet) disc 3
    *Anthony Braxton Sextet + 1: 2007-05-26 Moers Festival (CDR)
    *Anthony Braxton: Quartet (Moscow) 2008
    *Miles Davis: The Complete On the Corner Sessions, disc 5
    *Bill Evans: The Complete Riverside Recordings, disc 4
    *George Lewis: Shadowgraph
    *Thelonious Monk: Monk Alone: the Complete Columbia Solo Recordings 1962-1968 disc 1
    *New Loft: 2009-11 Nobody Can Hear You See (wav)
    *Sun Ra: 1971-10-14 Helsinki (CDR)
    *Sun Ra: 1971-11-29 Paris (CDR)
    *Sun Ra: Detroit Jazz Center, disc 4 (1980-12-27) (CDR)
    *Cecil Taylor: Olu Iwa
    *David Torn & Prezens: 2008-01-10 Stadtgarten, Cologne (CDR)
    *Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: St. Captain Freak Out and the Magic Bamboo Request
    *Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion
    *Fela: Beasts of No Nation
    *Tim Gane & Sean O'Hagan: La Vie d'Artiste
    *Grateful Dead: 1969-05-23 Hollywood, FL (CDR)
    *Grateful Dead: 1969-05-31 Eugene, OR (CDR)
    *Mickey Hart & the Hartbeats: 1968-12-16 Matrix, S.F. (CDR)
    *Eddie Hinton: Very Blue Highway
    *Eddie Hinton: Letters From Mississippi
    *OOIOO: Armonico Hewa
    *Them Against Them: Night Returns With a Gallup
    *Baby Washington: The Sue Singles

    Reading log 2009-12-07

    *Baker, Nicholson. Room Temperature (started)
    *Gibson, William. All Tomorrow's Parties (finished)
    *Meyer, Stephanie. Twilight (started/finished)
    *Irwin, Robert. Arabian Nights: A Companion (in progress)

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