Friday, January 9th, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

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

* Yeah No -- "Born in the Air" -- Swell Henry (Squealer, 2004)

* The Nels Cline Singers -- "Fly Fly" -- The Giant Pin (Cryptogramophone, 2004)

Another great outing from Nels, in trio with Devin Hoff (bass) and Scott Amendola (drums), two Bay Area favorites. No singers. Nice blend of spiky melodies and free-flowing noise.

Didn't realize this, but according to Michael Cooke (an acquaintance of Rudresh's; they played together as students at U. of North Texas), the tracks on this album have melodies based on speech patterns. Hm. That would explain the album's overall theme of language and the fact that many tracks appear to have language-based names ("English," "Tamil," etc.) Pianist Jason Moran has toyed with a similar idea; his album "The Bandwagon" includes a few tracks where he plays piano along with tapes of people speaking. Interesting idea.

Weller plays, sax, flute, etc. and teams up with various friends on different tracks of her album. Guests include George Lewis (trombone), Lisle Ellis (bass), Bertram Turetzky (bass), and Vinny Golia (woodwinds). Nice set of spirited improvisations.

* Dave Douglas -- "Cannonball Run" -- Mountain Passages (Greenleaf, 2004)

* Lucien Dubuis/Christophe Studer avec Les Pouces -- "1/2" -- Madame Chili (Unit, 2004)

What We Live -- "As Yet Unknown" -- Especially the Traveler Tomorrow (Metalanguage, 2002)

Great local trio of Lisle Ellis (bass), Donald Robinson (drums), and Larry Ochs (sax). They've been playing improvised jazz for several years together, and they've come up with a great musical rapport that leads to some fine instant pieces. I've played these guys several times in the past; just wanted to spin them today to note their upcoming show at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco, Feb. 10.

* Roger Reynolds -- "Process and Passion" for Violin and Cello [excerpt] -- Process and Passion (Pogus Productions, 2004)

* Archie Shepp and Mal Waldron -- "Easy Living" -- Left Alone Revisited (Synergy, 2004)

Recorded in 2002, making it one of Mal Waldron's last disks. These are "soulful, tender renditions of songs made famous by Billie Holiday," as fellow KZSU DJ Ben puts it. And it's made all the more poignant in the wake of Waldron's passing.

* Territory Band with Ken Vandermark -- "Framework" -- Map Theory (Okka Disk, 2004)

* Dominic Duval and Joe McPhee -- "Nexus" -- Rules of Engagement Vol. 2 (Drimala, 2004)

* Masashi Harada Condanction Ensemble -- "Spools" -- Enterprising Mass of Cilia (Emanem, 2004)

Wendell Harrison and the Clarinet Ensemble -- "The Hooptie" -- Rush and Hustle (WenHa, 1994)

* Biggie Vinkeloe, George Cremaschi, Miya Masaoka, Gino Robair -- "A Klanghausen Flower" -- Klan. Farbe. Melodie. (482 Music, 2004)

* Sandbox Trio -- "Headhunters" -- Urubamba (Frank Mark Arts, 2004)

*! Low -- "Death of a Salesman" -- The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop, 2004)

? Earl Howard and Denman Maroney -- "Pulse Field" -- Fire Song (Erstwhile, 1999)

Yoko Ono -- "Paper Shoes" -- Plastic Ono Band (Apple, 1970)

Colin, whose "Bump and Hustle Music" show precedes mine this quarter, decided to use this album as his transition, playing the "AOS" track (which includes Ornette Coleman and Charlie Haden) to close out his house/funk show. By this point in the show, I hadn't yet put the album away, and couldn't resist spinning a track myself. Thanks Colin!

Peter Apfelbaum -- "Song of Corrosion" -- Luminous Charms (Gramavision, 1996)

A rising star out of Berkeley High, Peter moved to NYC circa 1998 to further his career. To my knowledge, he hasn't released an album as a leader since. New Yorkers: Take note of this guy, and treat him well! Let's see more of his music make it to CD!

* = 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.