Friday, April 21st, 2006 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:45 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

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

* Erik Friedlander -- "Najime" -- Prowl (Cryptogramophone, 2006)

A brisk and upbeat piece, one of the louder tracks on this session. The whole CD is good though, featuring a band Friedlander has toured and recorded with for years now. In fact, the liner notes even discuss what a valuable thing that's been, considering jazz economics these days don't let musicians maintain groups for very long. The CD overall is really good; straightish jazz with Klezmer twists here and there. With Andy Laster (sax), Stomu Takeishi (electric bass), Satoshi Takeishi (hand percussion, for a quiet "world music" kind of sound) and Friedlander (cello).

Re-release, on 2 CDs, of a live quintet session from late in Ayler's career. The sound quality is middling (hey, it was 1966) and some tracks start or end awkwardly, like the tape was started/stopped in the wrong spot -- but the music in between is awesome. With sax, trumpet, and violin, often soloing simultaneously for an energetic group-improv feel, driven by solid free-jazz bass and drums. A great listen.

From local drummer Amendola, an upbeat track that draws from African pop for its light melody and rolling percussive feel. Kind of the "hit single" off this great CD, which I played relentlessly last year. Played it this time sort of by request. A knowledgeable listener called up to comment on the Friedlander piece, saying she's a fan of the Cryptogramophone label and really like this Amendola CD. So I suggested we play a track, she said "Sure." Granted, she probably owns the thing and isn't so thrilled to hear it on the radio, but the extra exposure for Scott is always a good thing.

Prominently featuring Matthew Shipp on piano, for a truly dark sound to "The Dark Side." Part of Minasi's free-jazz concept album around the Anne Rice novels. Previously noted here.

Part of a Chomsky speech given in Toronto in 2004, a segment discussing the administration's battle against the "great beast" of public opinion (the term was coined by some of the founding fathers 'way back when, and you have to admit it's appropriate -- just look at Nielsen ratings and Billboard charts). Not the most hard-hitting or thought-provoking of the tracks on here, but it's one of the more concise, and it keeps a focus on Bush without getting into long discussions of foreign policy in general (which would be relevant but weren't what I was going after).

Underlying Chomsky, I played some blurry low-key noise from a compilation album, The Invisible Pyramid. I just liked the way it sounded (our DJ "Your Imaginary Friend" does this often, especially under stand-up comic acts) and the way it could lead into the next track.

Modern-day war protest song, with guests Pete Seeger on some spoken vocals and Deen Ween on guitar.

That concluded the special "Dubya" set, but we continued the theme with instrumentals "inspired" by the president.

An old favorite from a cool set of SoCal folks. Check out the IJG here; they've got a new CD called Industrial Jazz a Go Go! that we'll start playing in a week or two. Fun stuff, big-band sensibilities in a modern, often humorous context, with lots and lots of compositional shifts. They even came to the studio once!

Improv local trio: Philip Gelb (shakuhachi), Pauline Oliveros (accordion), and Dana Reason (piano), joined here by bassist Barre Phillips, who's been on a number of ECM disks. As you'd expect from seeing Pauline Oliveros included, they've got a quiet aesthetic most of the time. Nice stuff; they've done a number of albums on 482.

Previously noted here.

Another strong session from U.K. vets, this time a 1989 LP being rereleased by Emanem. Lots of clicky-clacky improv sounds, often in a quiet aesthetic but with its aggressive moments; makes for a really nice mix. The CD adds a few tracks that didn't fit the LP. A couple of them are quite quiet, but there's one that really catches my ear -- "Crooke's Dark Space," a 5-minute low-level rustle that opens with musical saw (!) and builds to a louder ending. I'll be playing that one sometime in the next few weeks.

Previously noted here.

Fun, fun stuff. Crazy jazz band and comedy troupe from Canada who recorded from 1986 to 1993. Loose, goofy stuff played fast, often digging into free/avant-territory without the audience suspecting a thing; these guys did thousands of sellout shows back in the day.

* Edmund Welles: The Bass Clarinet Quartet -- "Big Bottom" -- Agrippa's 3 Books (Zeroth Law, 2005)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Bill Frisell -- "Goodnight Irene" -- East/West (Nonesuch, 2005)

Interesting 2-CD set, one in a West-coast trio and the other with an East-coast trio. In both cases, Frisell goes beyond the Americana-sounding stuff into more straight jazz and even R&B (although this particular track has a floaty country-ish lilt to it). "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" is the opening track, to give you an idea... although i have to admit, that's the one track where I found myself thinking, "Do I really need another version of this in my life?"

Mackey is a modern-classical composer who writes dynamic, exciting pieces that tickle the rock side of my brain, even though they don't follow easy rock chords or melodies. Maybe it's just because he plays electric guitar, or because he brings a rock kind of energy to his writing. The Boston Modern Orchestra Project did a CD in 2005 featuring Mackey's music; more notes available at the end of this playlist.

Previously noted here and here.

A CD of Parker's early works, mostly in an avant-classical realm. This track uses a small group of strings and flute, playing serious long lines with plenty of dissonance and shrill urgency.

Marco Eneidi -- "B up to A down to CT" -- Final Disconnect Notice (Botticelli, 1994)

Great free-jazz from formerly local hero Eneidi. It's not like I knew him all that well, but I do miss having him around. He left for Vienna late in 2004. "CT" refers to Cecil Taylor, an early mentor of Eneidi's. If you even remotely like Cecil, check out Marco's firey, passionate saxophone playing.

A CD celebrating late recordings of 1930s trumpeter Billy Butterfield, a forgotten star of traditional jazz. This particular track is one of a few that doesn't have Butterfield; instead, it's just Bartha's band. Nice upbeat New Orleans jamming. No, it doesn't fit the so-called free-jazz ethic of my show, but I do respect and even like this stuff. This was the CD's last week in rotation, so I figured I should give it one more spin.

Previously noted here. This is more of a modern and even avant date, but it's based on an upbeat horn line that's brash and fast enough to make for a decent transition from the Andy Bartha track.

Interesting instrumental group with a kind of prog-rock aesthetic but with lots more "noise" elements than you'd usually find in prog. Hard to place. I grabbed this one off the shelf that carries all our rotation CDs; the DJ notes on the cover intrigued me, and I fitted it into the program. Most of my really great finds at KZSU happen that way, by checking out the stuff that got approval from other DJs.

Previously noted here.

Tenor saxophonist whose taste leans towards the west-coast-cool aesthetic of the '50s. But she also loves to base songs on odd time signatures, in ways that are more subtle and natural than the Dave Brubeck experiments, and with a stronger swing too. Beyond that, it's straightforward straight jazz, nice enough. Great CD cover has Mayhew squaring off with karate grandmaster Kaicho Nakamura, the two of them using long sticks to do battle over a saxophone. It's not as cheesy as I'm making it sound; it's a dramatic and eye-catching shot.

You can see it on Virginia's Web site. I could just include a picture here, but that would open the question of, "why don't you put more of the CD covers on the site," and that would mean loading scans or pics and ... ugh. I'm having enough trouble just keeping these text files straight. Don't underestimate how much I suck at this Web stuff.

* = 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.