Friday, December 16th, 2005 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

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

* Dave Douglas -- "Just Another Murder" -- Keystone (Greenleaf, 2005)

I keep playing this track. It's got a great start to it (for cool song transitions). Kind of the hit single of the album. Slow, warm, and a bit bluesy, with hip electronics in the percussion (you know, that drawn-out WHAP! for the snare, that kind of thing).

* The Redressers -- "Motive Force" -- To Each According ... (Free Porcupine Society, 2005)

* Jenny Scheinman -- "Moe Hawk" -- 12 Songs (Cryptogramophone, 2005)

So begins the show, with four songs in a row that I've played before. Not sure I've ever done that. Whatever, they're all good tracks and I hope someone out there remembers a name or two from the set.

An album of classical-influenced solos. Most tracks come in phases separated by pauses, giving it an off-the-cuff feel; it's probably all improvised. Very interesting contrast to the more sardonic CDs he sent earlier this year, which had a jazzier sound and even more of an "out" lilt. I've got to catch this guy live sometime.

A slower one from this disc -- or more precisely, a more sparse, studious one (the actual tempo still is rather fast). No flute, just sax and trombone like the rest of the CD. Some nice jazzy explorations that land in a spirited composition towards the end.

A noise project, basically, featuring a couple of musicians per track, recorded in various cities around the eastern U.S. This particular track features two laptop artists adding distorted, spooky voice over their sounds.

Mauro Avanzini, Claudio Capurro, Claudio Lugo, Cristina Alioto -- "La Volta del Suono" [8th segment, of 9] -- La Volta del Suono (Felmay, 2000)

Project featuring three saxophonists and one female vocalist (Alioto), recorded in a palace for a gorgeous echoey sound. The CD is one long piece, thankfully split into tracks for radio wonks like me. Really nice.

Scott Amendola Band -- "Bantu" -- Cry (Cryptogramophone, 2003)

Another "hit single" kind of track -- a small, snappy number rooted in Afropop sounds. Really nice stuff from a great "local" band (Nels Cline, from L.A. is in it, as is Jenny Scheinman, who now lives in New York, but they do try to convene the band regularly).

From Bela's first album, recently re-released. It's a straight bluegrass album, but a couple of tracks -- like this one, and a Spanish dramatic one called "Spain" -- show off the twisty jazz composing that would come to define his career.

Another track from the jazz album of Pavement covers. This one's the opening track, gets off to a nice quick start leading into an easygoing jam.

I'm a bit ambivalent towards this one. It's got some nice jazz jamming on it and a soulful feel, the kind of summery/mellow air that made so many '60s/'70s groups great. But it dips way too much into the smooth jazz well, getting sappy and downright unbearable at times. That's a problem with a lot of these "groove"-oriented projects, I've found. Some great guest stars on here, including Oliver Lake, Don Byron, and Cassandra Wilson.

Example of DJ miscalculation. I don't mean the choice of CD or track; I wanted to play this one, which is a sprawling, atmospheric landscape of avant-fusion, heavy in guitar synth and regular synth. Great stuff, by the way. But in transitioning to the next track, I figured I'd cross-fade the solid-wall sound of this one with the solid-wall cacophony of the Globe Unity Orchestra. Being unprepared, I didn't note that this track actually coalesces into a solid slow groove with rhythmic acoustic piano -- not at all the sound that would segue well into Globe Unity. I did the cross-fade anyway, and I'm guessing it didn't come across too well (haven't listened to the tape yet.) So, that's the kind of thinking (and non-thinking) that goes into music selection sometimes, and the price for trying to be all artsy.

Glorious improvising big band led by pianist Schlippenbach and featuring plenty of names who are still famous in the Euro-jazz scene: Evan Parker, Willem Breuker, Peter Brotzmann. Big and loud, with the orchestra frequently stepping down a notch to let soloists take center stage.

Guitar-strummed version of the classic spiritual, here reduced to chords that come out in a spaghetti-western kind of sound. Kane is the drummer for The Swans, and while this disk has a bright and fast sound, it's mired in repetition, to the point where some tracks get unbearable. This one's nice, but did it have to be stre-e-e-etched out to six minutes?

Ari Brown -- "Motherless Child" -- Ultimate Frontier (Delmark, 2005)

A jazz version of the spiritual, which has been a favorite of jazz musicians for decades. Ari takes some crazy turns on here, too, for a nice adventurous sound. Couldn't resist playing two takes of the song back-to-back.

Patrick Cress' Telepathy -- "Zum Bolly Boli"/"Root Chakra" -- Meditation, Realization (Odd Shaped Case, 2005)

Nice local band whose CD will be in rotation here in a couple weeks. Played it here because it was on hand, and because two of the members are performing with Lisle Ellis (bass) on Sunday night (in a show that also features Modular Set). The music is nicely adventurous jazz, with lots of twists and turns.

The grand, sweeping, closing track of the album. Very nice.

Lots of clanky noises, starting out sparse and slow enough that it made a nice "come-down" from the Cuong Vu track.

The trio of Roy Campbell (trumpet), William Hooker (drums), and Jason Hwang (violin, with electronics). An hour-long improvisation done really nicely, with lots of easygoing contemplative segments and a couple of sparkling faster phases. Cool stuff; I'll be looking forward to playing different segments of it in weeks to come. Whether there'll be time/space for playing the full hour uninterrupted -- well, that's always the trick with these long performances. We'll see.

* = 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.