Thursday, March 2nd, 2006 ... 6:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Freaky coincidence: This quarter, a DJ named Ben decided to take a break from the station. Ben is my cohort in jazz/experimental musics, especially the crazy free jazz likes of Peter Brotzmann and Ken Vandermark, and European improvisers like Evan Parker. Who should step in but another DJ named Ben, who's also into some of that stuff. Ben W. is debuting this quarter with "Rock in a Position," a show that includes prog rock and some acoustic/folky stuff, but also touches on weird noises and the occasional out-jazz track.

When Ben W. asked for a substitute for today's show, I just had to step up. Particularly since my regular time slot, tomorrow, is 70% pre-empted by a baseball game. Since I won't be here next week, this lets me get my on-air fix in -- aaahhhhhh.

As usual, in trying to conform closer to what Ben would play than what I would play, I opened up a lot of new directions; it's like exercise for the mind. I was left with a lot of unused ideas that I'll be trying to pack into my show in weeks to come.

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

* Wayne Peet Quartet -- "Five Swirls" -- Wayne Peet Quartet: Live at Al's Bar (pfMentum, 2005)

Swirly organ with two guitars; shifts between happy surf music and ascerbic experimental noise. Cool! It's a 15-minute track; long ago, when I had a 6:00 a.m. show, I realized that no one would be listening to the very beginning (we're usually off the air from 3:00 to 6:00 a.m.), so why not toss on a long track, allowing a few listeners to gather before wasting breath on a mic break.

Kind of a misnomer; there are four guitarists in the band, but they're rarely playing all at once. Much of the album consists of solo takes. All tracks are blended together into a whole, and some of the track consist of multiple titles (note the punctuation above -- I played tracks 2 and 3, with track 2 consisting of two segments.) Nice stuff with long stretches of droney or rumbly sound punctuated by quick, quirky composed segments of spiky guitar unison.

Sort of dance-electronica, but with sparse experimental leanings. This track is mostly a dry drum beat, with a subtle keyboard line eventually floating up top. Fast but thoughtful. This is a CD I found randomly in the drawers while looking for something else -- I love sampling random stuff out of the library.

One of the quieter tracks from this album, at least at first. Then they leap into faster, aggressive playing. Woo hoo! Berne on sax, Craig Taborn on acoustic piano, Tom Rainey on drums.

Tossed in a prog-rock set, since Ben's show description highlights prog as part of his show (he once opened with "Supper's Ready" from Genesis, apparently using the same long-track strategy that I do). Picked this track at random from the one vinyl HtM we have -- it turned out to be a bit cheesy, with sax (presumably Mel Collins) leaning almost in a smooth-jazz direction. Luckily the keyboards kept to proggy chords. Phew.

*! Mats Morgan Band -- "Sinus" -- Thanks for Flying with us (Cuneiform, 2005)

The Cuneiform label has become our source for modern prog. They put out prodigious amounts of the stuff and it's all quite good. This is from a couple of Swedish guys (Mats and Morgan) plus a full band, and it really harkens back to the glory days of prog while adding some new material to the argument.

* Steuart Liebig Stigtette -- "Alchemy" -- Delta (pfMentum, 2005)

Chamber music, really, with vaguely jazz leanings. Liebig on contrabass guitar is joined by woodwinds: flute, bassoon, clarinet, for some wandering, academic pieces. Good stuff with a strange sound, especially due to Liebig's thick, gnarled bass sound.

An honest-to-goodness string quartet with lots of Bang-on-a-Can attitude. Fun modern stuff; this track starts out with a delicious bluesy drawl, for instance. The Cantaloupe label has lots of this sort of stuff, plus some really interesting jazz (Gutbucket, e.g.); we've got to talk to them about servicing KZSU.

I've expounded on the genius of this band before, but it's worth saying again: They're really cool. Led by bassist Devin Hoff, half of Good for Cows, the band also includes Ches Smith (the drummer from Good for Cows), Carla Kihlstedt (violinst-about-town, appearing in Tin Hat Trio, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and 2 Foot Yard), and Marika Hughes (cello, from 2 Food Yard and the later versions of Charming Hostess). I was lucky enough to catch one of their few live shows -- as you can see, they're all busy with other projects -- and they were fantastic. Here's hoping Devin can reconvene them for a sequel sometime.

Yes! "Heavy chamber music," they call it. Leader Cornelius Boots plays a mean bass clarinet but listens to all sorts of rock and metal. For this Bay Area quartet, he enlisted some top-notch jazzsters (Aaron Novik is one, as I recall) for a fast-paced, complex, rollicking set that includes a cover of Spinal Tap's "Big Bottom." The CD is at the crux of jazz, classical, and metal (at least in attitude).

* Dirty Three -- "Even Since" -- Cinders (Touch and Go, 2005

* The Stares -- "From the Sky" -- Spine to Sea (Web of Mimicry, 2005)

Slow, slow, really slow "pop" with soft guitars and soft vocals, both male and female. Takes some patience, but it's pretty stuff.

Amy Denio -- "Car Life" -- Birthing Chair Blues (Knitting Factory, 1991)

Brisk galloping jazzy beat with cool vocals atop. I used to play lots of stuff like this on my show and have gotten lazy in recent years; doing Ben's show (which tends to be less jazzy than mine) is really forcing me down some adventurous paths I haven't traveled in ages. Always a good thing.

* The Vandermark 5 -- "That was Now" -- The Color of Memory (Atavistic, 2005)

Starting off what I'd declared to be the Jazz set. That idea didn't last long...

Wonderful improv session of bass, koto, drums, from German legend Kowald and local legends Masaoka and Robair. There's a bright, tumbling energy throughout this CD, and I remember being very impressed with it upon first listen. That Kowald had recently passed away added to the emotion, I guess.

Anyway, here's an interesting example of how DJ improvisation can operate. During the Vandermark track, I got a call from a listener who'd heard my comment about taking the show into Jazz mode and specifically requested this CD. Great request; I had to play it. But the two jazz tracks I'd planned for the rest of this set just wouldn't "fit" with the ending to this one, so ...

Taiko drums! Plus flutes, with a quiet start and a raucous section later. A perfect complement to the Kowald track, albeit more music/festival stuff than jazz. So, out went the jazz idea, for now. I used the cool transition I had in mind (Moutin to John William Gordon) in the next set.

This duo sent us a CD of tracks midyear 2005, just before they put out a "proper" CD. Sax and drums, or sometimes just two saxes, played with metal ferocity. Cool stuff, more appropriate for a rock club than a jazz club. A very Hemlock Tavern kind of band.

Crisp mainstream jazz, nicely modern.

Bay Area guitarist with a knack for twisted, oddball music. Complicated composing and quirky solos. It's a trio format, with bass and drums, so there's some jazz roots in there. Definitely a unique voice worth hearing.

Some guitar noise to top it all off.

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Prog set
? = Item not in KZSU library

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