Playlist Week Of 10-29-11

* Tristan Perich: 1-Bit Symphony (Cantaloupe Music)
* John Coltrane: Live Trane: The European Tours (d.1) (Pablo 7CD)
* Andrew Hill: Judgment! (Blue Note CD)†/‡
* New Air: Live At Montreal International Jazz Festival (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* New Air: Air Show No.1 (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus: Spirit Of Nuff…Nuff (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Henry Threadgill: Song Out Of My Trees (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Henry Threadgill’s Flute Force 4: Flutistry (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Henry Threadgill’s Very Very Circus: Too Much Sugar For A Dime (Axiom/Island CD)†
* Bill Dixon: November 1981 (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Bill Dixon: Thoughts (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Bill Dixon: Son Of Sisyphus (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Bill Dixon: Vade Mecum (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Bill Dixon: Vade Mecum II (Black Saint/Soul Note CD)
* Roscoe Mitchell Trans-Atlantic Art Ensemble: Composition/Improvisation No.1-3 (ECM CD)†
* Evan Parker Trans-Atlantic Art Ensemble: Boustrophedon (ECM CD)†
* Steve Noble/John Edwards/Ingrid Laubrock: BBC Jazz on 3, London, England 2-21-08(FM CDR)
* Paradoxical Frog (Davis/Laubrock/Maneri/Sorey) Vision Festival, NYC 6-11-11 (FM CDR)
* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Anti-House (Intakt CD)†
* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: The Vortex, London, England 1-18-10 (FM CDR)
* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Agosto Jazz Festival, Lisbon, Portugal 8-06-11 (AUD 2CDR)
* Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: Red Hook Jazz Festival, Brooklyn, NY 6-18-11 (AUD CDR)
* Mephista: Black Narcissus (Tzadik CD)
* Mephista: Entomological Reflections (Tzadik CD)
* Spring Heel Jack: Masses (Thirsty Ear CD)†
* Spring Heel Jack: Amassed (Thirsty Ear CD)†
* David Torn: Best Laid Plans (ECM CD)†
* David Torn: Cloud About Mercury (ECM CD)†
* Tortoise: TNT (Thrill Jockey CD)†
* Tortoise: Standards (Thrill Jockey CD)†
* The Disco Box (d.1-2) (Rhino 4CD)
* Emmylou Harris: Spyboy (Eminent/ CD)
* Grateful Dead: Musikhalle, Hamburg, W. Germany 4/29/72 (GDP/Rhino 3CD)
* Grateful Dead: Olympia Theare, Paris, France 5/3/72 (GDP/Rhino 4CD)
* Santana: Caravanserai (Columbia/MoFi SACD)
* Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon (Experience Edition) (d.1) (Pinkfloyd/EMI 2CD)†
* Pink Floyd: Wish You Were Here (Pinkfloyd/EMI CD)†
* Pink Floyd: Animals (Pinkfloyd/EMI CD)†
* King Crimson: Discipline (DGM CD)†
* King Crimson: Beat (DGM CD)†
* King Crimson: Three Of A Perfect Pair (DGM CD)†
* King Crimson: Thrak (DGM CD)†
* Tom Waits: Bad As Me (Anti LP)
* Chris Bell: I Am The Cosmos (Deluxe Edition) (Ardent/Rhino Handmade 2CD)†/‡
* Sonic Youth: Sonic Nurse (Geffen CD)†(‡)
* Thurston Moore: Demolished Thoughts (Matador 2LP)
* Robert Pollard: Let It Beard Boombox Demos (GBV, Inc. CD)
* Boston Spaceships: Let it Beard (GBV, Inc. CD)†
* Circus Devils: Capsized! (Happy Jack Rock Records LP)
* Those Bastard Souls: Debt And Departure (V2 CD)† (‡)
* Animal Collective: Strawberry Jam (Domino CD)†
* Animal Collective: “Peacebone” (Domino CDEP)†
* Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino CD)†
* Deerhoof: Friend Opportunity (Kill Rock Stars CD)†

†=iPod
‡=car

Commentary:

What a week! I’m still catching up from our trip to New York, processing photographs and slowly going through the batch of rare and wonderful CDs I picked up at Downtown Music Gallery—stuff that is pretty much unavailable anywhere else. Of course, I expected to like the box set of Henry Threadgill’s Black Saint/Soul Note records (and I do!) but I was completely blown away by the Bill Dixon box on the same label, which I bought purely upon the enthusiastic recommendation of a friend. I was mostly unfamiliar with his music until now but, wow, this stuff is beautiful! I have to admit I’m not the biggest fan of the trumpet as a solo instrument but Dixon’s playing is superb: moody, dark, spacious, deeply melodious with a rich, burnished tone—and his compositions for improvising ensembles are uniquely compelling, unlike anything else I’ve ever heard. I’m still not through all nine discs, but each one is a masterpiece of understated genius. There’s more great stuff in the pile of discs I brought home but I can barely begin to comment on any of it. Frankly, it’s been a crazy week, what with going back to work after a long vacation (and the intendant backlog), capped off with seeing Adrian Belew Power Trio with Tony Levin’s Stickmen at the Belcourt Theater last night. It was a long evening of prog-rock mayhem and, man, I’m beat! Sometimes, I think I’m too old to rock’n’roll…Anyway, I hope to get back into the swing of writing on the blog next week, so please stay tuned.