Friday, April 20th, 2007 ... 5:30 p.m. - 9:10 p.m. ... KZSU, 90.1 FM

Late show due to an afternoon baseball game.

Big event in the week following this one: The April 25 screening of Noisy People, an hour-long documentary about the local improv music scene. Tim Perkis, a member of that scene, spent about a year filming profiles of some local favorites like Damon Smith and Gino Robair, then spent the subsequent three years stitching it into a film. It's a truly indie production -- like much of the music that musicians make, the film was a labor of love created without guarantee of an audience. Perkis found a sympathetic ear at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, which offered its theater for a comfortable, one-time screening.

What's the big deal? For me, I've been a spectator of the scene for about 12 years now, and it's gone through a lot of changes, from the glory days when Beanbender's and a half-dozen other venues collectively put on shows nearly every day of the week. Higher rents and an exodus of the more jazz-oriented folks to New York have changed the color of the scene, but it's still vibrant, even if the musicians themselves sometimes feel disappointed at the lack of recognition given to what's going on in the Bay Area.

This film, then, represents a validation, a documenting of the creative spirit that's connected all these people, a love letter to a community that perseveres and thrives outside an increasingly suffocating high-rent economy. And for me, personally, it's a bit of nostalgia -- the footage doesn't date back to 1996, but the musicians include folks who represent my earliest direct contacts with the music.

The screening on the 25th was fantastic, with a nearly full house packed with musicians and plenty of non-musicians. A cross between a class reunion and a weekend party. It felt like home, and the film came across as a well-deserved pat on the back for some people who've worked long and hard for their music.

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

Vijay Iyer/Mike Ladd -- "The Color of My Circumference IV" -- In What Language? (Pi Recordings, 2003)

One of my favorite tracks from one of my favorite albums of 2003/2004. This was a project of Iyer (piano) and Ladd (lyrics, poetic spoken word vocal) concerning various shades of race when in the realm of international travel, creating images of a bustling, confusing, 21st-century airport of glass and steel.

The characters are people of color, many from the third world, all feeling the pressure of the globalized economy and the heaviness of Western suspicions... and this was written BEFORE 9/11.

This track in particular is dynamic and bursting, and filled with crisp imagery (the narrator feeling "the curvature of the earth" under his head as he's thrown to the ground, for instance). Great stuff. This is one of the best albums that's crossed my way at the station.

A sampling of Vijay's earlier work, when his albums bore more resemblance to mainstream piano-trio fare. Actually, this track veers from that model already, getting into some free-jazz blowing with Francis Wong (sax) and George Lewis (trombone).

Previously noted here.

That's Oliver Lake (sax), John Tchicai (sax), Kresten Osgood (drums) and Jonas Westergaard (bass). It's a friendly sort of free-jazz session, with accessible composing and a mostly bright feel. I can't say the compositions always grab me, but Lake and Tchicai offer some nice turns in the soloing, as you'd expect. Osgood, on drums, gets into a military-snare space quite often, maybe as a tribute to Ayler's music... or maybe because that's just his style.

Previously noted here.

Cabaret/circus pop, often with slow, sad moods. Kind of a gentler Tom Waits vibe.

* Sam Rivers -- "Spots" -- Aurora (Rivbea, 2006)

Following up his other big-band albums Culmination and Inspiration, Rivers brings out another high-energy session. This one lacks the all-star cast of the first two, populated instead by musicians and college-level instructors from Rivers' native Florida. It's still intense, pounding stuff. Most tracks open with a big, big, loud unison attack from the horns, usually at a breakneck pace, then dive into some smaller-combo soloing that really cooks. I hope I have this kind of energy when I'm 83 years old.

* Don Byron -- "There It Is" -- Do the Boomerang (Blue Note, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here. This one definitely fit in the set, as it's a straight groove with a bit of funky kick. I imagine these guys had a lot of fun making this record.

* William Parker and Hamid Drake -- "First Communion I-B" -- First Communion/Piercing the Veil (AUM Fidelity, 2006)

A kind of sequel to Piercing the Veil, an excellent and varied album of duets with Parker and Drake taking on various instruments (Parker's best known for playing bass but also works with percussion and a variety of exotic reeds; Drake sticks to drums and percussion).

"First Communion" is a three-part concert with Parker and Drake, spanning about 1.3 CDs worth of time. To flesh out the last .7 of a CD, AUM Fidelity includes all of Piercing the Veil, which was released back in 2001. Part 1 of "First Communion" is a lengthy percussion duet, starting off in a hypnotic rhythm and then getting into some more sophisticated soloing (without losing the rhythm).

Part 2 involves an Asian-sounding flute and gets frenzied by the end. Part 3 brings out the bass and drums for a nice long jam.

Piercing the Veil was titled "Volume 1." There's finally a "Volume 2," Summer Snow, that's just been released.

More info here.

# Tim Perkis -- [untitled electronics solo] -- Myles Boisen/Jon Raskin: Music + One (Rastascan, 2006)

Previously noted here. This was where I started playing local folks' stuff as a preface to the Noisy People screening, spending long mic breaks talking about my experiences with the music.

(Moe! counts as one of these folks, by the way, but he's not in the film. I played his track as kind of a transition point, and to note a show he had coming up this week.)

The title here is a collective name for a shifting group of musicians recorded in different combinations, with Derek Bailey and Evan Parker tossed into the mix. The rest of the folks are local, including ROVA, Henry Kaiser, and others.

Previously noted here. Shiurba and Braxton have cameos in the movie.

Phillip is featured in the movie, giving some interesting insights as to the difference between jazz work in New York versus the west coast.

Bassist Damon Smith is the opening feature of Noisy People. He was a competitive trick-cyclist in his younger days, and he tries some of his old stunts for the camera -- with a decent level of success. It's impressive.

From an old vinyl album with a gatefold cover. Partch was an instrument builder and a theoretician in weird-ass scales with dozens of notes per octave (much more information on the link tied to his name, above). This particular track is a classic, even if you don't know it... the song's episodic intros ("Number 1" or "number 2" or etc.) got used every week in the Doctor Demento Funny Five.

Kind of a classical chamber ensemble with experimental/improv leanings, and some electronics for a sound too noisy to really be called classical. Nice stuff; I'm not explaining it well.

* Arthur Bull and Daniel Heikalo -- "La Solution de l'Enigme" -- Concentres et Amalgames (Ambiances Magnetiques, 2006)

A CD of duets. Many are two acoustic guitars in a nearly tuneful kind of improv picking, like this one. Others pair rattly percussion with an electric guitar. Nice stuff either way; it's the second CD we've gotten from this pair.

Previously noted here.

* Gebhard Ullmann, Chris Dahlgren, Art Lande -- "Das Tiefe A" - Die Blaue Nixe (Between the Lines, 2006)

Previously noted here. This track is just Ullmann on solo sax.

* Brad Dutz -- "Spongy Bark" -- When Manatees Attack (pfMentum, 2006)

Modern classical sounding stuff from an L.A. percussionist. Percussion heavy, of course (lots of tuned stuff like marimba) with some oboe, clarinet, and cello for added melody, and even more of a classical vibe. Kind of a relaxed feel.

Previously noted here.

* Charles Mingus -- "They Trespass the Land of the Sacred Sioux" -- Music Written for Monterey, 1965 (Sue Mingus, 2006; recorded 1965)

* Tom Nunn -- "Cross Rods/3" -- Identity (Edgetone, 2006)

Previously noted here.

Trio with Roy Campbell (trumpet), William Parker (bass), Zen Matsuura (drums). A gem from my early days at the station.

A low-key, soulful melody: "He's a bad man / He's a cruel man" ... interspersed with sound bites of George W. Bush. Catchy and topical!

* = Item in KZSU rotation
! = Pop anomaly
? = Item not in KZSU library
# = Noisy People people

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