Friday, September 23rd, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Highlights: Trying to spotlight the Birgit Ulher/Gino Robair CD (which we'll be adding to rotation soon) and the accompanying live shows next week. Also a spin for the Tim Berne CD that started the avant-jazz thing for me.

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

* Fieldwork -- "Headlong" -- Simulated Progress (Pi Recordings, 2005)

Second CD from this trio, with a different saxophonist (Steve Lehman instead of Aaron Taylor). Still the same awesome sound: Hammering, towering, futuristic piano trio led by Vijay Iyer pounding the keys and Elliott Humberto Kavee on the drums. You find traces of this stuff on Vijay's own albums -- such as his recent, excellent Reimagining -- but Fieldwork leaves out his lush side and goes for the attack. Big, stomping, exciting stuff that needs to be heard.

* Chef Menteur -- "Pontu Li" -- We Await Silent Tristero's Empire (Backporch Revolution, 2005)

Psych noise band, a powerful jam/drone in the case of this track. Made for a nice crossfade into:

... A quiet clarinet/accordion improv characterized by long, spare tones. This track happened to end a set, and I decided to carry on with the "guys from Italy" theme for the following set.

An album of solo saxophone pieces characterized by long runs of "circular breathing." Nice stuff with an "improv" feel but some touches of melody, too. Gebbia is an Italian who came to the Bay Area a number of times in the '90s, championed by local folks including Gino Robair, whose label put out this CD.

Interesting Italian trio, as mentioned last week. This one's a multiphased four-minute track, starting in calm jazz territory and shifting to noisier, faster stuff influenced by modern electronica. I like this CD's attitude -- it's got some serious tracks but it's mostly playful and smarmy, definitely interested in taking jazz to new places.

The matchup of Italian free-jazz group Zu and avant-guitar hero Eugene Chadbourne. The result is glorious loud chaos, very punk-minded. This track is a Coltrane cover, but other tracks are parodies of song titles: "For Those About to Chadbourne," "Somewhere over the Chadbourne," etc. (with each song having nothing to do with its namesake, of course.)

So ends my set of "Italian guys" music.

An Ayler-like parade march followed by some rolling free-jazz solos.

Great album led by Jewlia Eisenberg, featuring tight harmony vocals. Music is based on traditional Balkan musics but adding lots of modern touches such as "human beatbox" sounds, jazz improv, or outright avant-rock (folks might remember the original Charming Hostess, a sextet that included members of what's now Sleepytime Gorilla Museum). Anyway, this is one of the more traditional-leaning songs here, upbeat and happy even though the lyrics are about forced gender compliance (housewifey tasks) for Bulgarian Jewish girls.

* M.O.B. Trio -- "Play Some D" -- Quite Live in Brooklyn (OmniTone, 2005)

Band name taken from the guys' first names: Matt Wilson (drums), Ohad Talmor (sax), Bob Bowen (bass). Guess they could be the "M.O.R. Trio" if they wanted. Nice stuff, although I admit it doesn't knock my socks off -- these are accessible jazz jams that involve long group improvising but stay in jazz territory (as opposed to abstract sounds, etc.) and carry a slowish groove. Modern composing that doesn't involve walking bass or other traditional elements, but sticks to an accessible sound. Good overall, and probably more exciting to see live than to "hear" on a live CD like this one.

Celebrating the release of this one on the Winter & Winter record label this year! This is the CD that got me started on the whole avant-jazz track. I'd been exploring jazz for a couple of years and found myself unsatisfied with what I was hearing; I'd been hoping for more complexity, more pieces that I didn't immediately "get" (things like Monk, although I wouldn't realize that until later). Searching college radio for some answers, I heard this very track late one night. To my pleasant surprise, the CD was available at Tower Records (which was still a good source for new, interesting music even 10 years ago), and I was hooked.

This song features long stretches of untethered improv, but with compositional sections tying it all together. My favorite part comes in the middle, where two saxophones improvise in a slowish exploration that builds to a boil. Underneath that, surreptitiously, the bass starts repeating a very long and twining riff. Eventually it all comes together when the saxes play some rambling composed lines over that same riff. It's more rewarding than I'm making it sound here, trust me.

(All About Jazz feature on Winter & Winter.)

* Evan Parker and September Winds -- "Distant Voices" -- Short Stories (Leo Records, 2005)

*! Negativland -- "Favorite Things" -- No Business (Seeland, 2005)

An entertaining cut-up of Julie Andrews singing "My Favorite Things." This was part of Negativland's final live show a few years ago, an event attended by many KZSUers, as it was here in Palo Alto. The show culminated their "True/False?" tour, and it was awesome.

* Greg Osby -- "Vertical Hold" -- Channel Three (Blue Note, 2005)

Osby tries out the trio format: Sax, bass, drums. Specifically, there's no piano to add the jagged chords that characterize his material. I do miss the piano, but it's nice to hear Osby in a different context. He's probably doing all kinds of cool harmony-related things in this setting, but my ear isn't keen enough to pick them up (or maybe I'm just kidding myself here). Nice stuff, anyway.

Birgit Ulher and Gino Robair -- "Louche" -- Sputter (Creative Sources, 2005)

Sound experimentations with Ulher on trumpet and Robair on various noisemakers including drums and electronics. Playing this one to note Ulher's multiple appearances in the Bay Area; here's a calendar of them if you happen to be viewing this page before Sept. 30, 2005. Or, consult this calendar at www.bayimproviser.com, which includes a CD release concert for Ulher/Robair on Sunday, October 2, 2005, at an undisclosed location. E-mail Gino at gino at rastascan dot com if you're interested. Paid attendees receive a free copy of the Sputter CD.

Oh, as for the music itself -- it's abstract sound improv, with Ulher sticking to small, curled sounds and Robair creating strange, unexpected noises from the drums (curls, pops, rattles, etc.) Seeing this kind of music live is always interesting, as you can watch some of the sounds get developed. Lots of "lower-case" playing here (whispery quiet stuff) but some brash tracks too, like when Gino puts an E-bow on a snare drum for insistant rattling.

I followed this up with a solo track of Gino's from about 10 years ago (showing what he can do on the drums), then another track from Sputter.

Birgit Ulher and Gino Robair -- "Timoger's Formula" -- Sputter (Creative Sources, 2005)

You know, I felt bad about not contacting Gino before this week's shows. Would have been nice to get an interview in with him to help promote Birgit's appearances and their CD release show. Luckily, they're getting some radio exposure on KFJC, our bigger neighbor both on the dial and in real life (and in music/radio philosophy). They'll be performing on-air at 89.7 FM, 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2005.

A long chamber-jazz piece featuring Vinny Golia on sax. Other tracks on this CD feature Tom Varner, Nels Cline, and Mark Dresser -- each song being written for a particular guest star. This one didn't get too much airplay due to the song lengths (15 to 22 minutes) but I was really glad to have it in rotation.

* = 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.