October 23, 2010

Playlist Week of 10-23-10

* Buxtehude: Sonatas, Op.1 (Holloway/Mortensen/ter Linden) (Naxos CD)
* Buxtehude: Sonatas, Op.2 (Holloway/Mortensen/ter Linden) (Naxos CD)
* Buxtehude: Six Sonatas (Holloway/Mortensen/ter Linden) (Naxos CD)
* Biber: The Rosary Sonatas (Manze/Egarr) (Harmonia Mundi 2CD)†
* Rebel: Violin Sonatas (Manze/Egarr/ter Linden) (Harmonia Mundi CD)†
* Vivaldi: Late Violin Concertos, RV 177, etc. (VBO/Marcon/Carmignola) (Sony Classical CD)
* Duke Ellington: Money Jungle (Blue Note CD)
* Charles Mingus: Mingus Dynasty (Columbia/Legacy CD)
* Charles Mingus: Alternate Takes (Columbia/Legacy CD)
* Charles Mingus: Presents Charles Mingus (Candid CD)
* Charles Mingus: Mingus (Candid CD)
* Charles Mingus: Passions of a Man: Atlantic Recordings 1956-1961 (d.4-5) (Rhino 6CD)
* Sun Ra: Unknown venue, circa.1972 (AUD CDR)
* Sun Ra: The Great Lost Sun Ra Albums: Cymbals/Crystal Spears (Evidence 2CD)
* Sun Ra: Pathways to Unknown Worlds/Friendly Love (Evidence CD)
* Archie Shepp: Four for Trane (Impulse! CD)
* Marion Brown: Three for Shepp (Impulse! CD)
* Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (ECM—W. Germany LP)
* Anthony Braxton & Joe Morris: Four Improvisations (Duo) 2007 (d.1) (Clean Feed 4CD)
* Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra (Guelph) 2007 (AIMToronto Orchestra) (Spool CD)
* Anthony Braxton: Music for Brass: St. Mark’s Church, New York, NY 9-23-07 (AUD CDR)
* Anthony Braxton Septet: Algebra delle emozioni, Chiasso, Switzerland 1-26-08 (FM CDR)
* Anthony Braxton: Falling Water Music (Wesleyan University 5-07-08) (AUD 2CDR)
* Anthony Braxton/William Parker/Milford Graves: Beyond Quantum (Tzadik CD)
* Cecil Taylor Quartet with Anthony Braxton: Teatro Valli, Reggio Emilia, Italy 10-13-07 (FM 2CDR)
* Mary Halvorson & Weasel Walter: Opulence (ugEXPLODE CD)
* Mary Halvorson/Reuben Radding/Nate Wooley: Crackleknob (hatOLOGY CD)
* MAP (Halvorson/Radding/Nakatani): The Stone, New York, NY 5-21-09 (AUD CDR)
* Mary Halvorson Trio & Quintet: Joe’s Pub, New York, NY 6-28-09 (AUD CDR)
* Mary Halvorson & Jessica Pavone: (thin air) (Thirsty Ear CD)
* Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol.29 (May 19 & 22, 1977) (d.1-3) (GDP 6CD)‡
* Grateful Dead: Melk Weg, Amsterdam, Holland 10-16-81 (selections) (SBD 2CDR)‡
* Grateful Dead: Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, CA 5-21-82 (SBD 2CDR)
* Grateful Dead: Formerly the Warlocks (Hampton, VA 10-08/09-89) (d.1) (GDP/Rhino 6CD)†/‡
* Van Morrison: Hard Nose The Highway (Polydor CD)
* Van Morrison: Wavelength (Polydor CD)
* Big Star: Keep An Eye On The Sky (d.1) (Ardent/Rhino 4CD) †/‡
* Wilco: Palladium Ballroom, Dallas, TX 10-09-09 (SBD 2CDR)
* Circus Devils: Mother Skinny (GBV, Inc. CD)
* Boredoms: Vision Creation Newsun (Birdman CD)
* The Orb Featuring David Gilmour: Metallic Spheres (Columbia CD)

†=iPod
‡=car
†/‡=iPod in car

Commentary:

Mary Halvorson has new record out on Firehouse 12 entitled, Saturn Sings. I do not have it yet, but I’m pleased to see it has garnered plenty of good press. Lars Gotrich gushed on National Public Radio: “Mary Halvorson is the most future-seeking guitarist working right now, thinking out the instrument on a level most couldn’t comprehend” and the Washington City Paper anointed Halvorson “the most original jazz guitarist in a generation.” In our jaded and cynical world of disposable culture, such words appear to be just so much empty hype; but, believe me, Mary Halvorson is the real deal. As I wrote in my review of last year’s brilliant Dragon’s Head, Mary Halvorson is “the most ‘complete’ guitarist around” who can “do everything that can be done with an electric guitar.” With her usual trio expanded to a quintet, Halvorson’s new compositions luxuriate in the rich harmonic vocabularies made possible by the addition of horns, further demonstrating that her musical aspirations transcend the boundaries of being a mere “guitar player,” no matter how gifted and inventive. She is also an adept composer for improvisers, summoning a miraculously fresh take on the post-bop jazz tradition.

Halvorson has been busy this past year, appearing on albums by such luminaries as Ingrid Laubrock, Ches Smith, Tom Rainey, and Tomas Fujiwara while also releasing a second album by her free-improv trio, MAP, on a limited edition 2-LP set. Sadly, I don’t have any of these (admittedly obscure and hard to find) records either! Well, my birthday is coming up and I am hoping to plug these holes in my collection. Everything I have heard from Mary Halvorson has knocked my sox off and I can’t wait to hear these no doubt amazing records and share my enthusiasm with you here on my humble blog. In the meantime, see and hear for yourself! This is a fascinating 14-minute video from RouletteTV featuring an interview and live performances with her quintet, debuting some of the material that would appear on Saturn Sings:



Roulette TV: MARY HALVORSON from Roulette Intermedium on Vimeo.

5 comments:

Sam said...

Synchronicity overlap! We both listened to "Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus" (how about that Dolphy?)--wonder if we did it at the same time? Probably not.

Here's my list form last week:

Playlist 2010-10-25

*Art Ensemble of Chicago: A Jackson in Your House
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: The Spiritual
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Tutankhamun
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Message to Our Folks
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Reese and the Smooth Ones
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: Live in Paris
*Anthony Braxton Trio: 1979-11-17 Rome (CDR) disc 2
*Miles Davis Nonet: 1972-10-01 Palo Alto, CA (CDR)
*Mindbreath Trio 2010-01-15: Pyramid Atlantic, Silver Spring, MD (CDR)
*Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid)
*Nine Strings Trio: The Sounding Table
*Sun Ra: Disco 3000: The Complete Milan Concert 1978 (Art Yard) selections
*Sun Ra: Media Dreams (Art Yard)
*Tortoise: 2009-08-20 Munich (CDR)
*Tortoise: 2009-08-24 Cologne (CDR)
*Beatles: Unsurpassed Broadcasts, 2nd ed. (CDR) Vol. 1, 2, 3, 4
*Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story, disc 2
*DJ Spooky Vs. The Freight Elevator Quartet: File Under Futurism
*Lesley Gore: It's My Party: The Mercury Anthology (selections)
*Grateful Dead: Rockin' the Rhein (selections)
*Grateful Dead: View From the Vault II (selections)
*Tito Puente: The Essential Tito Puente (selections)
*Rolling Stones: Between the Buttons (US version)

Reading log 2010-10-25

*Connolly, Cyril. The Unquiet Grave (started)
*Gaiman, Neil, et al. The Absolute Sandman, vol. 2 (started)
*Truffaut, Francois. Hitchcock (rev.ed.) selections
*Gaiman, Neil, et al. The Absolute Sandman, vol. 1 (finished)
*Theobald, Lewis. Double Falsehood (Arden Shakespeare ed.) (finished)
*Tanner, Tony. Prefaces to Shakespeare (finished)

Rodger Coleman said...

Yes, I've been on a Mingus kick lately. Can't wait to dig into that 1964 stuff - now there's some Dolphy!

Rodger Coleman said...

Oh, and I worked myself up into such a fanboy frenzy, I went ahead and ordered all those Halvorson records! Can't wait to hear 'em!

Sam said...

That's wild! Can't wait to hear what you think about 'em. I really like that live Crackleknob stuff.

Mingus, yeah---much as I love the stuff with Dolphy, I think 1959 was his best year. "Dynasty" is my absolute all-time favorite Mingus record. Do you have "Pre-Bird"? 1960, I think, and Dolphy's on that too--but not in as prominent a role as on the European tour.

Rodger Coleman said...

"Dynasty" is an especially good one and it's recorded really well. I don't have Pre-Bird--it's a crucial record, apparently.

So many records! The Halvorson horde should arrive tomorrow! Yippee!

What is that DJ Spooky record? That looks interesting...