Friday, January 7th, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 5:25 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Taking a double shift interrupted by sports (so it comes out to just more than a regular 3-hour shift). I'll be doing the same next week.

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)

* Rudresh Mahanthappa -- [hidden track] -- Mother Tongue (Pi Recordings, 2004)

A really nice song, actually -- starts with mellow, pretty sax melodies and builds into a cool post-bop jam. The track finishes off with a collage of spoken voices, among them Mahanthappa (presumably) saying, "I don't speak 'Indian'" and "This is my mother tongue."

* Evan Parker and Kenny Wheeler -- "W2-1" -- V/A: Free Zone Appelby 2003 (Psi, 2004)

Nice choppy duet, very avant-garde improv. Evan Parker is famous for that kind of music, but not everyone knows Kenny Wheeler is into that stuff, too. Wheeler was hanging out in London developing this sound with folks like Evan back in the late '60s and early '70s -- and the Emanem record label has recently produced some nice Wheeler reissues to prove it.

Some really nice "ecstatic" jazz, fully improvised but with strong ties to the tradition. On some tracks (like this one) the trio gets into big, stormy blowing resonant with Coltrane/Tyner influence.

* Sagan -- "Jabpunplus (One Plus Two)"/"Rosetta Stoned" -- Unseen Forces (Vague Five, 2004)

* Nancy Turetzky and Bertram Turetzky -- "Primal Balance" [Richard Felciano, composer] -- Music for Flute(s) and Contrabass I (Nine winds, 2004)

* Faruq Z. Bey and Northwoods Improvisers -- "Vines" -- Auzar: Live at CMU Park Library Auditorium (Entropy Stereo, 2004)

* CKW Trio w/Michael Cooke, sax -- "Mondrian en Amerique" -- The Is (Black Hat, 2004)

* Makanda Ken McIntyre -- "Chasing the Sun" -- In the Wind (Passin' Thru, 2004)

*! Baby Carrot -- "Next Stop West" -- Live at KZSU (Outer A, 2004)

* Sonore -- "Elements of Refusal" -- No One Ever Works Alone (Okka Disk, 2004)

Mats Gustafsson, Ken Vandermark, and Peter Brotzmann, all on saxophones, with no other accompaniment. All three can play sensitive and soft ... but yeah, most of this album is big, brutal, and awesome.

* Fe-Mail -- "Gossip" -- Syklubb Fra Haelvete (Important, 2004)

Harsh and loud noise/electronics from a two-woman group from Norway. DJ Mike (who does the Baptism of Solitude show on KZSU) has been raving about these folks, particularly Maja Ratkje (one of the women) after seeing her play live a few months go. The CD comes in an innocuous looking pink package with a cute photo of the band members on the cover -- then it assaults you with bombs of noise. Wow.

Scott Amendola Band -- "A Cry for John Brown" -- Cry (Cryptogramophone, 2003)

* Ernest Dawkins' New Horizons Ensemble -- "Mean Ameen" -- Mean Ameen (Delmark, 2004)

Thomas Chapin -- "Radius" -- Radius (MU, 1990)

* Triage -- "2187" -- American Mythology (Okka Disk, 2004)

*! Andy Grooms Living Room -- "Keep It on the Road" -- Grateful to Burn (Makeshift, 2004)

Boostamonte -- "The Acrobat" -- (demo CD) (self-released, 2004)

* The Industrial Jazz Group -- "A Thousand Times No" -- The Star Chamber (Innova, 2004)

* Territory Band -- "A Certain Light" -- Map Theory (Okka Disk, 2004)

The third album from this Ken Vandermark big band. There are six tracks on this two-CD set. Two of them cover lots of free jazz territory in multiphased compositions (this is one of those), while the others get quieter and contemplative, including two versions of the improvised "Slides." One twist is that the band includes Kevin Drumm on electronics (the noisy, abstract kind) and he gets solos on some tracks.

Funky rockin'-out supergroup with Nels Cline on guitar and Mike Watt on bass.

* The Revolutionary Ensemble -- "Berlin Erfahrung" -- And Now ... (Pi Recordings, 2004)

Banyan -- "Oh My People" -- Live at Perkins' Palace (Sanctuary, 2004)

Playing them a second time because it's a nice lead-in to M-Smooth's hip-hop show, which is coming up next. Also to help promote their gig tomorrow at 12 Galaxies in San francisco.

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library

-- Go back to Memory Select playlists.
-- Bay Area free/improv music calendar: http://www.bayimproviser.com.