Playlist Week of 2015-05-09

* Handel: Complete Violin Sonatas (Manze/Egarr) (Harmonia Mundi CD)

* Luciano Berio: Berio Conducts Berio (RCA LP)

* Miles Davis: Cookin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige/DCC CD)

* Miles Davis: Relaxin’ With The Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige/DCC CD)

* Miles Davis: At The Fillmore (d.3) (Columbia/Legacy 4CD)

* Return To Forever: Where Have I Known You Before? (Polydor LP)

* Ingrid Laubrock Anti-House: Cornelia St. Café, NYC 2013-06-28 (AUD WAV)

* Ingrid Laubrock Quintet: Barbès, Brooklyn, NY 2014-01-22 (AUD WAV)

* Rodger Coleman & Sam Byrd: Heeltop Home Studio, December 2014 (selections) (WAV)

* Grateful Dead: Dick’s Picks Vol.30: Academy of Music, NYC 3/72 (bonus disc) (GDP 4+1HDCD)

* Grateful Dead: Daves’ Picks Vol.14: Academy of Music, NYC 3/26/72(+) (GDP/Rhino 3+1HDCD)

* Dr. John: Dr. John’s Gumbo/In The Right Place (Atlantic/Mobile Fidelity CD)

* Lucinda Williams: West (Lost Highway CD)

* David Sylvian: Dead Bees On A Cake (Virgin CD)

* Robert Rich: Seven Veils (Hearts of Space CD)

* Robert Rich & Lisa Muskow: Yearning (Hearts of Space CD)

* Kevin Braheny: The Way Home (Hearts of Space CD)

* Kevin Braheny & Tim Clark: The Spell (Hearts of Space CD)

* Steve Roach: Structures From Silence (Fortuna CD)

* Ray Lynch: The Best of Ray Lynch Vol.1 (Windham Hill CD)

* Steven Wilson: The Raven That Refused To Sing (KScope CD) †

* Meshuggah: Catch Thirtythree (Nuclear Blast CD)

* Meshuggah: Nothing (Nuclear Blast CD/DVD)

* BORIS: New Album (Sargent House CD)

* Flying Lotus: You’re Dead!!! (Warp 2LP) †

* Watter: This World (Temporary Residence LP) †/‡

* Intronaut: Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) (Century Media CD)

* Ryley Walker: Primrose Green (Dead Oceans LP) †

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

I am absolutely thrilled to be appearing with Sam Byrd at The Black Box Theatre in Centennial Park here in Nashville this coming Friday, 5/15/15—an auspicious date, to be sure! This will be only the second time we have performed live since we recorded Indeterminate (Improvisations for Piano and Drums) at (the old) Zeitgeist Gallery back in 2012. I want to thank Mike Teaney at Metro Parks & Recreation for extending us this invitation to take it to the stage. What an honor! I also want to thank Sam in advance for driving all the way over here from Richmond, Virginia to make it happen (I couldn't do it without you!). We go on at 9:00 and admission is FREE. I can't wait.

Sam and I are really excited about the new direction our music has taken—or, rather, how it has gotten back to our punk-jazz Boston roots. It feels good to be playing the electric guitar again, along with keyboards and piano, to create a densely layered sound-world which recalls UYA at its most spaced-out. Although I plan to make a rudimentary recording of Friday's gig, we will also get to spend some time in my home studio while Sam is here, as work on the forthcoming LP continues. You can check out our new/old sound on our latest digital-only release, Aphelion, which is available for free (or pay what you want) over at Bandcamp.

After the demise of the band in 1995 and my relocation to Nashville in 1997, I never expected to play another gig ever again. In fact, there was a time when I hardly touched an instrument and, if it weren't for Sam's annual visits to the area, I might have withdrawn completely from the world of music-making. But Sam's enthusiasm has been unflagging and infectious over the decades. He always believed in what we were doing, even if I did not. I am eternally grateful to Sam not only for his loyal friendship, but for his encouragement (and living example) to never give up searching for "that other, better world" in sound. I am also thankful to L. Lesley Beeman and Lain York at Zeitgeist Gallery who listened to some of our crude recordings and asked us to perform at "Indeterminacies," much to my astonishment. And if it weren't for my nephew, Brian Totoro (who engineered Indeterminate, re-built Heeltop Home Studio and taught me how to use Pro Tools), NuVoid Jazz Records would be but an empty dream. None of this would be even remotely possible without the support of these kind and generous people. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

So it looks like Sam and I have another gig lined up at the prestigious Sonic Circuits Festival in Washington D.C. in September. Kudos to Sam for working that out--totally amazing! Who knows where this all goes from here, but Sam and I are in complete agreement: we have finally found our sound are making some of most interesting, vital and uniquely personal music ever. The possibilities are limitless! See for yourself on Friday.