Playlist Week of 2014-07-05

* Vivaldi/Richter: The Four Seasons Recomposed (DG 2LP)

* Adams: The Chairman Dances, etc. (San Francisco Symphony/De Waart) (Nonesuch LP)

* Eric Dolphy: Out There (Prestige/Fantasy LP)

* Warne Marsh/Lee Konitz Quintet: Live at the Monmartre Club (Storyville LP)
* Grachan Moncur III: New Africa (BYG/Actuel/Get Back LP)

* Alice Coltrane: Journey In Satchidananda (Impulse!/MCA LP)

* Muhal Richard Abrams: Vision Towards Essence (Pi CD)

* Dreams: Dreams (Columbia LP)

* Billy Cobham: Simplicity of Expression, Depth of Thought (Columbia LP)

* John Abercrombie Quartet: 39 Steps (ECM CD)

* George Benson: Weekend In LA (Warner Bros. 2LP)

* James “Blood” Ulmer: America - Do You Remember the Love? (Blue Note LP)
* George Duke: Liberated Fantasies (MSP/BASF LP)

* George Duke: Master of the Game (Epic LP)

* Prince: Sign O’ The Times (Paisley Park/Warner Bros. 2LP)

* P.M. Dawn: Of The Heart, Of The Soul and Of The Cross: The Utopian Experience (Gee St. CD)

* Grateful Dead: Sullivan Stadium, Foxboro, MA 1990-07-14 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Pink Floyd: Animals (PinkFloyd/EMI CD)

* Genesis: Abacab (Atlantic LP)

* Steve Hackett: Voyage of the Acolyte (Chrysalis LP)

* Chris Cutler & Fred Frith: Live in Prague and Washington (Re Records 45-RPM LP)
* Quiet Sun: Mainstream (Antilles LP)

* Rodriguez: Searching For Sugar Man OST (Light In The Attic 2LP)

* Steely Dan: Gaucho (MCA DVD-A)

* Dereck Higgins: Flyover (DVH LP)

* OM: Advaitic Songs (Drag City 2-45RPM LP)

* Boris: Noise (Sargent House 2LP)

* Anathema: Judgement (Music For Nations/Sony CD)

* Mastodon: Once More ‘Round The Sun (Reprise 2LP)

* Triptykon: Melana Chasmata (Century Media 2LP)

* Grails: Burning Off Impurities (Temporary Residence 2LP)

* Beach House: Teen Dream (Sub Pop 2LP)

* Akron/Family: Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free (Dead Oceans 2-45RPM LP)

* Akron/Family: S/T II: The Cosmic Birth and Journey of Shinju TNT (Dead Oceans 2LP)

* Broken Bells: After The Disco (Columbia LP)

* London Grammar: If We Wait (Columbia 2LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

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Commentary:

Patience...

Playlist Week of 2014-06-28

* Hesperion XXI (Savall): Esprit d’Arménie (Alia Vox SACD)

* Siegfried Palm: Intercommunicazione (DG CD)

* Sun Ra & His Solar Akestra: Visits Planet Earth (Saturn LP)

* Pharoah Sanders: In The Beginning 1963-1964 (ESP-Disk’ 4CD)

* Andrew Hill: Black Fire (Blue Note CD)

* Wayne Shorter: Speak No Evil (Blue Note LP)

* Wayne Shorter: Etcetera (Blue Note LP)

* Herbie Hancock & Foday Musa Suso: Village Life (Columbia EP)

* Billy Cobham: Crosswinds (Atlantic LP)

* Stanley Clarke: School Days (Epic/Friday Music LP)

* Lenny White: Venusian Summer (Nemperor LP)

* Jean-Luc Ponty: King Kong: Plays the Music of Frank Zappa (Liberty/Friday Music LP)

* Weather Report: Mr. Gone (Columbia LP)

* Derek Bailey/Pat Thomas/Steve Noble: And (Rectangle LP)

* Pat Metheny Group: Still Life (Talking) (Geffen LP)

* Ketil Bjornstad/David Darling/Terje Rypdal/Jon Christensen: The Sea (ECM CD)

* Marc Johnson: Shades Of Jade (ECM CD)

* Myra Melford The Same River Twice: Above Blue (Arabesque CD)

* Julia Hülsmann Quartet: In Full View (ECM CD)

* Vijay Iyer: Mutations (ECM CD)

* People: 3xaWoman: The Misplaced Files (Telegraph Harp LP)

* The Necks: Sex (Private Music CD)

* Buckethead: Colma (CyberOctave CD)

* Roni Size: Reprazent (d.1) (Mercury 2CD)

* Daft Punk: Random Access Memories (Columbia 2LP)

* Bill Laswell: Invisible Cuba (BMG CD)

* William Onyeabor: Who Is William Onyeabor? (Luaka Bop 3LP)

* Saturday Night Fever OST (RSO 2LP)

* Grateful Dead: Miami Arena, Miami FL 1989-10-26 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Genesis: Selling England By The Pound (Charisma LP)

* Robert Pollard: Silverfish Trivia (Prom Is Coming EP)

* Slint: Spiderland (Touch & Go LP)

* Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino 2LP)

* Anathema: Distant Satellites (KScope 2LP/CD/DVD)

* Mastodon: Once More ‘Round The Sun (Reprise 2LP/CD)

* Ray LaMontagne: Supernova (RCA LP)

* Psychic Ills: One Track Mind (Sacred Bones LP)

* Beach House: Beach House (Carpark/Heart Break Beat LP)

* Beach House: Devotion (Carpark 2LP)

* Kvelertak: Meir (Roadrunner 2LP)

* Angel Olsen: Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar LP)

†=iPod/iTunes

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Commentary:

We are in the home stretch in preparing the release of Cosmologies, my new limited-edition vinyl album with drummer Sam Byrd. Although I have not heard from United about a specific pressing date, I would expect to have my records in hand next week (or sometime after the July 4 holiday). So exciting! 

There is still a little bit of printing left to do on the first batch of covers, but I am loving how it is coming together. Griffin even cut some plates on Isle of Printing's nifty laser cutter to create additional imagery to layer on top of the red, which you can see above. Keep in the mind that the photograph is a detail from the center of print, where it will be folded, so not representative of what the final cover is going to look like (and there will be significant variations from print to print). In any event, it is truly going to be a one-of-a-kind work of art.

Please stay tuned!

In the meantime, you can download a FREE digital copy of Cosmologies and pre-order the vinyl over at Bandcamp. Thanks so much for your support!

Playlist Week of 2014-06-21

* Vivaldi: Concert for the Prince of Poland (AAM/Manze) (Harmonia Mundi CD)

* Vivaldi/Richter: The Four Seasons Recomposed (Deutsch Grammophon 2LP)

* Miles Davis: Miles Davis Quintet, 1965-‘68 (d.5-6) (Columbia/Legacy 6CD)

* Herbie Hancock: Perfect Machine (Columbia LP)

* Charles Lloyd: Love-In (Atlantic LP)

* Charles Lloyd: Hyperion With Higgins (ECM CD)

* Chico Freeman: Spirit Sensitive (India Navigation LP)

* Larry Coryell: The Restful Mind (Vanguard LP)

* Billy Cobham: Simplicity Of Expression/Depth Of Thought (Columbia LP)

* Return To Forever: Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy (Polydor LP)

* Jean Luc Ponty: Aurora (Atlantic LP)

* Jean Luc Ponty: Cosmic Messenger (Atlantic LP)

* Jean Luc Ponty: Mystical Adventures (Atlantic LP)

* Pat Metheny Group: Letter From Home (Geffen LP)

* Bill Laswell/Graham Haynes/Elliot Sharp/Jack DeJohnette: Willisau 1998-08-08 (SBD CDR)

* Material: Live in Japan (Restless CD)

* Fareed Haque: Voices Rising (Pangaea/IRS LP)

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

* Mandingo: New World Power (Axiom/Island CD)

* Sly & The Family Stone: Anthology (Epic/CBS CD)

* Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors (Epic LP)

* Grateful Dead: Meadowlands Arena, E. Rutherford, NJ 1988-03-30 (selections) (SBD 2CDR)
* Tangerine Dream: Cyclone (Virgin/Victor LP)

* Gentle Giant: The Power And The Glory (Capitol LP)

* Focus: Focus 3 (Sire 2LP)

* Goblin: Tour 2013 EP (Death Waltz EP)

* Allan Holdsworth: Road Games (Warner Bros. LP)

* Doctor Nerve: Out To Bomb Fresh Kings (Punos LP)

* Earth: The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Opeth: Blackwater Park (Music For Nations/Music on Vinyl 2LP)

* Anathema: Judgement (Music For Nations/Sony CD)

* Anathema: Distant Satellites (KScope 2LP/CD/DVD)

* Boris: Noise (Sargent House 2LP)

* Pelican: Forever Becoming (Southern Lord CD)

* Watter: This World (Temporary Residence LP)

* Locrian: Return To Annihilation (Relapse CD)

* People: 3xaWoman: The Misplaced Files (Telegraph Harp ALAC)†

* Angel Olsen: Burn Your Fire For No Witness (Jagjaguwar LP)

* Nothing: Guilty of Everything (Relapse LP)†

†=iPod/iTunes

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Commentary:

Busy!!!

Playlist Week of 2014-06-14

* Schoenberg, et al. (Boulez/Pollini): Lucerne, Switzerland 2004-09-16 (FM 2CDR)

* Cage: Sonatas & Interludes (Tilbury): Milan, Italy 2007-10-21 (FM CDR)

* John Coltrane: Impressions (Impulse! CD)

* Alice Coltrane: A Monastic Trio (Impulse!/Superior Viaduct LP)

* Eric Dolphy: Outward Bound (Prestige/Fantasy LP)

* Don Cherry: Organic Music Society (Caprice 2LP)

* Andrew Hill Quartet: Lugano, Switzerland 2004-03-13 (FM 2CDR)

* Bobby Hutcherson: Head On (Blue Note CD)

* Keith Jarrett: Arbour Zena (ECM LP)

* Keith Jarrett: The Celestial Hawk (ECM LP)

* Larry Coryell & The Eleventh House: Planet End (Vanguard LP)

* Al Dimeola: Electric Rendezvous (Columbia LP)

* Al Dimeola: Scenario (Columbia LP)

* Matthew Shipp Trio: Elastic Aspects (Thirsty Ear CD)

* Dawn of Midi: Live (iTunes MP3)†

* Dawn of Midi: Live at WFMU (WFMU MP3)†

* Grateful Dead: Giants Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ 1993-06-05 (selections) (SBD 3CDR)

* Santana: Caravanserai (Columbia/Mobile Fidelity SACD)

* Chicago: Chicago Transit Authority (Columbia/Rhino 2LP)

* Steven Wilson: Cover Version (KScope 2LP)

* Anathema: Distant Satellites (KScope 2LP/CD/DVD)

* Earth: Hex; Or Printing In The Infernal Method (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Earth: The Bees Made Honey In The Lion’s Skull (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Sunn O))): Monoliths & Dimensions (Southern Lord 2LP)

* Ambarchi/O’Malley/Dunn: Shade Themes From Kairos (Drag City 2LP)

* Alceste: Les Voyages De L’Ame (Prophecy Productions CD)†

* Jack White: Lazaretto (Third Man LP)

* Wild Nothing: Nocturne (Captured Tracks CD)

* Nothing: Guilty Of Everything (Relapse LP)†/‡

†=iPod/iTunes

‡=car

Commentary:

As we await the vinyl LPs of Cosmologies to arrive from United, work has begun in earnest on the album jacket. Collaborating again with Griffin Norman (who designed my CD), we are creating one-of-a-kind letterpress prints at Isle of Printing in Nashville.  And, in the spirit of the music, we are improvising with the press and having some serious fun with it.

Bryce McCloud, renowned artist and owner of Isle of Printing, kindly loaned us some laser-cut woodblocks of giant letter forms, which we are layering to create abstract images which subtly suggest an inchoate meaning. That is certainly in keeping with the title and they are looking very, very cool - though we still have a long way to go to finish the job.

Not really knowing anything about the letterpress process, I had no idea how time-consuming and labor-intensive it is, particularly when you are running each piece through the press multiple times (as we are). I did not initially think 200 copies was that many, but now I'm not so sure! In any event, they are going to be beautiful works of art and well worth the wait, believe me.

Thank you Bryce and Griffin for being so amazing and helping to make our vinyl album something special!