Friday, November 3rd, 2006 ... 3:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Crazy week, as there were a lot of upcoming shows I wanted to promote. Managed to pack them all in somehow.

Trying something new here, where I'm adding horizonal lines to denote where the mic breaks were (the parts when I talk). It's something we've started doing this week in KZSU's online database of playlists. Hopefully it can help in cases where someone heard me descibe a song but couldn't recall the artist name (which happens a lot, judging from the calls I get at the station and from my own experience listening to other DJs).

Format:
ARTIST -- "TRACK TITLE" -- ALBUM TITLE (LABEL, YEAR)
Horizontal lines denote microphone breaks.

* Tomasz Stanko Quartet -- "Kattorna" -- Lontano (ECM, 2006)

Another round of pretty, relaxing stuff from trumpeter Stanko and his Poland-based piano-trio backing. They do get into some adventuresome stuff, though; three title tracks ("Lontano 1," "Lontano 2," "Lontano 3") each clock in at 15 minutes, with a gentle intro followed by some kinda crazy free jamming.

This quartet did some sprawling, ferocious stuff, often with an underlying lyricism (they covered "The Way We Were," IIRC). This recording session happened immediately after a grueling European tour, and -- according to the promo notes we were given -- the band was so exhausted that they couldn't keep up the normal energy level. So they made the conscious decision to try something else, a lower level of energy while performing the same usual songs.

The result was this CD, which still gets wild and stormy but does so in more gradual buildups. The pieces are like dark ocean landscapes, complex and still twisted but with a tamer edge than before. I have to admit, it doesn't always work -- some pieces just languish.

The marketing material calls this a "one of a kind" session, but I don't know ... Ware's music started adopting more and more of this feeling after this point, on albums like "Surrendered" and his Strings Project. Maybe he discovered something during these recordings.

This puts three Ken Vandermark CDs onto rotation at once, but who's counting? I like to think of this band as his main project (hey, it's got his name on it, right?), a laboratory for concocting new amalgams of free jazz. The formation is still two saxes, cello, bass, drums (there used to be a guitar, as I recall). Bright stuff with a good sense of swing and some nice, crazy solos.

Snappy little tune, kind of a light funk step. It's got one of those great sudden starts that makes for a nice snappy end to a mic break.

Previously noted here.

I've played this song a ton in the past, and I feel a little bit bad about it, because it's not written by Carla. But it's a gorgeous song, a traditional rural folk piece filled with the aching and sorrow that came with the "simple life" way back when -- atop which Carla adds various harmonies that recall Egyptian singer Oum Kolthoum (I've asked her about this in the past, so I'm not just guessing here). Goregeous stuff.

Previously noted here. In the past I've played pieces that had exotic elements (like Abdul-Malik soloing on oud) but were still cloaked in the then-popular jazz sound. A couple of the longer tracks, like this one and "Nights on Saturn," are more into the "African" side of the album's title, though. This one's a 10-minute piece with long, long stretches of many African drums rattling away. It was during the drum segment that I snuck in the "KZSU, Stanford" legal ID.

* Antoine Berthiaume, Michel Donato, Pierre Tanguay -- "Attitude Frank" -- Ellen's Bar (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2006)

Nicely jumping straight-jazz trio led by Berthiaume on guitar ... which is interesting, because his other recordings have been avant-garde soundscape types of things (see below).

In the liner notes, Berthiaume says he heard of Derek Bailey's death only days after finishing this album.

Abstract guitar duets (and one Bailey solo). This one's got Berthiaume and Frith making wooden clacks and clicks, eventually getting into some near- tonal blues noodling (probably Berthiaume) next to extended guitar effects (probably Frith). See now, this is the kind of stuff Berthiaume has done in the short time we've known him through his CDs.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

One of the more accessible tracks on here, although I picked it more for the length (4:30) than the style, I have to admit. These are varying solo palettes on different wind instruments, most of them dipping into sparse modern-classical modes. Another of the performers appearing during the coming weekend.

Previously noted here. Never did give this one the airplay it deserved (that single 45-minute track is daunting even to excerpt). Here I went for a middle segment that gets quite jazzy, with Keith Tippett's piano leading the way.

Previously noted here. Moran and Iyer are a double-bill at a U.C. Berkeley concert tomorrow night, so I packed them into a mini-set here.

Vijay Iyer -- "Configurations" -- Panoptic Modes (Red Giant, 2001)

Great stomping piano from Vijay. His 2005 disk on Savoy is more lush, more adapted to mainstream ears, but with some of the same fire and complexity still there; see here.

* Myra Melford/Be Bread -- "Equal Grace" -- The Image of Your Body (Cryptogramophone, 2006)

Reprising a bit of interview & CD from last week. I replayed the part where Myra explains "The Whole Place Goes Up," the suite being performed by her quintet Nov. 2 and 4. Then into "Equal Grace," a track that starts slowly and gradually builds into an aggressive, gliding landscape.

Previously noted here.

Nicely delicate rendition with Bruckmann's oboe as the lead voice. He's got a new album out with this band, which (on this first CD at least) emphasizes some odd instruments -- like, well, the oboe, and trombone and viola.

Previously noted here. The Leandre/Cooke duet, about 18 minutes long split into three tracks, is a highlight of this 2-CD set for me. They'll be playing again as a duet next week, so I really had to toss this one in there. It also served as backdrop for the Concert Calendar.

Previously noted here. This piece is a jazzy one, in a pensive way, with clarinet and vibes.

Previously noted here. I've got to give this one a little more attention; the track lengths are good for jazz radio (5 or 6 minutes), and it's got Robert Barry from the Arkestra on it, fer chrissakes.

* = 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.