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

* David Borgo -- "Are You?" -- Initial Conditions (Circumvention, 2007)

Sax/bass/drums trio. Accessible composing backed by some energetic, creative soloing. A mostly straight sound that flashes occasional modern compositional tricks and some energetic soloing; doesn't go too far afield, although the sax gets a TINY bit avant-garde squeaky in spots.

* Tony Wilson, Peggy Lee, Jon Bentley -- "Laxing Lizards Resume" -- Escondido Dreams (Drip Audio, 2007)

Alongside Tony Wilson's rollicking sextet album comes this release, a more conventionally serious/improv trio with Peggy Lee on cello and Jon Bentley on sax. Often chambery and folky, a warm feel.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Mike Khoury and Will Soderberg -- [untitled track #6] -- Volume II: Demons of Noon (White Rose Media, 2007)

Most of what Mike sends us is good acoustic improv; here, there's lots of moog-like synths and electronic garblings to make for groany, ghosty sounds. Overall feel is still dry and bright, though. Interesting new sound (apparently not that new, if it's Volume II).

Previously noted here. This one's a solo piano piece with Geoffrey Douglas Madge doing the honors.

Previously noted here.

* Mike Ellis -- "Part 2" [excerpt] -- Chicago Spontaneous Combustion Suite (AlphaPocket, 2007)

A free-improv quintet performing what I guess is a coordinated album-long suite. The tracks are definitely separate, but towards the end they give each member a couple of minutes of unaccompanied soloing, for instance. Most tracks come in snippets of under 4 minutes, and they're quite well put together. The nine-minute-plus tracks aren't bad either, but somehow they don't grab me the same way. Ellis has managed to find a voice for this group that's a touch different from the European free-improv model; I'm having trouble dissecting why, but there's a different air going on here, and I like that.

Indie rock, an oh-so-serious, mainstream-radio-friendly sound that I'm not that enamored with. This track is a 14-minute extravaganza of indulgent mopiness, but it's got quieter segments that made a suitable segue into ...

? Adrian Belew -- "Tango Zebra" -- Desire Caught by the Tail (Island, 1986)

An old, old favorite! Weird guitar instrumentals where Belew pulls out all the electronics stops for all sorts of odd sounds. It was one of my first introductions to following non-standard melodies, and a nice gateway into eventual jazz listening. "Tango Zebra" is sprawling and particularly odd, although the melodies get catchy once you get used to them. There's plenty of straightforward stuff on the album, but for tracks like "Guernica," Belew goes all-out experimental. The whole project seems to be an homage to Pablo Picasso, by the way.

Rahsaan Roland Kirk -- "Multi-Horn Variations" -- The Man Who Cried Fire (Virgin, 1991)

A lo-fi recording from a date that's not specified in the liner notes, but Kirk's vamping turns it into an enjoyable listen. This track features the multiple-horn schtick as well as the infusion of "Yankee Doodle" type tunes into the soloing. Elsewhere on the album, Kirk goes through a 12-minute New Orleans romp. Nice stuff that deserves a shinier package.

Previously noted here.

Real Klezmer music, with a richly Eastern European feel. It's folky stuff, but you can easily hear why so many jazz musicians gravitate towards the jazz/Klezmer mixture.

Previously noted here.

? Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra -- "Entrances/One" -- Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra (Thrill Jockey, 2008)

Sprawling big-band pieces in a relaxed free-jazz flow. The Exploding Star Orchestra is really a project of Rob Mazurek, of Chicago Underground Trio/Duo/whatever fame, but for this album he's brought in old timer Bill Dixon to help run the show. The album consists of three long pieces, each alternating some lucious free-jazz group work with sparse, introspective stretches. A few composed melodies pop up, particularly in the Mazurek-written "Constellations for Innerlight Projections," where some Christmaslike tubular bells play a nice descending riff as backdrop for the group.

I've seen the Exploding Star Orchestra play in their natural habitat, Chicago, and they're amazing. Mazurek strings together suites based on some sharp jazz composing and gives the group plenty of free reign to make a nice big noise when they have to. I do think I prefer the set I saw to this Dixon session, but this album is still a worthwhile find.

* Tom Heasley and Toss Panos -- "Cliffs of Moher" [excerpt] -- Passages (Full Bleed, 2007)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Really soft, nice sounding stuff that wouldn't be kicked off of NPR. For avant-garde cred, barely, it's got Mark Feldman on violin and Tom Rainey (Tim Berne's drummer of choice lately) on the traps.

I happened to see these guys live during my only trip so far to Amsterdam's Bimhuis, a haven for avant-garde jazz shows. Of course, the one night I show up, they've got these guys playing -- nice-sounding jazz, and by Americans, to boot. It's a lot lke my first experience at The Stone in New York, come to think of it. Anyway, the music was enjoyable and Feldman really tore it up during the set, so they won me over.

* The Vandermark 5 -- "New Acrylic" -- Beat Reader (Atavistic, 2007)

What's there to say? Another top-notch modern-jazz outing from Vandermark, with Fred Lonberg-Holm still holding down the cello seat in the band, and sometimes electrifying his instrument to become a faux rock guitar. Exciting and hard-pumping jazz with take-no-prisoners soloing.

A limited number of the CDs came with a bonus disk, a live performance of "The New York Suite," recorded in 2007 at the Hideout in Chicago. Downtown Music Gallery reported selling out of its stash of these within a half hour, a testament to Vandermark's following. The three-part suite, covering about 45 minutes, is divided into three movements. The first, dedicated to painters, opens with a bright jazz feel. Part 2, for composers, uses a slower, thoughtful pace that reminds me of Vandermark's Territory Band work. By the end, it gets into a growly, dark solo by Lonberg-Holm on amplified cello. The final section, dedicated to improvisers, ironically goes for a straight-jazz swing -- with some gutsy sax soloing, of course -- before dissolving into some free-jazz tumult near the end.

Dedications: Part 1 (Willem De Kooning, Hans Hofmann, Jackson Pollack, Mark Rothko) ... Part 2 (Earle Brown, John Cage, Morton Feldman, Christian Wolff) ... Part 3 (Don Cherry, Steve Lacy, Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor).

Previously noted here.

Edward Vesala -- "Satu" [excerpt] -- Satu (ECM, 1977)

A 14-minute track from which I'd planned to take just a couple minutes. The first half is soaring and loud, with Terje Rypdal on guitar and Tomasz Stanko on trumpet (ECM stalwarts, both). Then it gets into a quieter, soothing flow -- which is what I used for my excerpt. Should have given the louder side some play, too.

I've noted this one in passing here, but it seems I've never put a full explanation of the CD on this site. Kihlstedt is one of the stars of the local scene, in part because her work has crossed so many boundaries, from the most difficult of improv settings to modern classical music to outright rock bands. Projects include Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, and the first incarnation of Charming Hostess.

This is her first solo CD, in trio with cello and drums, featuring her violin and voice up front. Songs range from spritely to eerie, from melodic to spiky and aggressive. A subversive undercurrent ties the songs together. The CD booklet includes an image of a note Kihlstedt wrote to her parents as a child, apologizing for falling asleep during a Mozart concert -- which sums up her musical direction nicely.

Kihlstedt has now adopted 2 Foot Yard as a band moniker; they've got a performance coming up March 8 at the Yerba Buena Center in San Francisco, in fact. I think I've seen mention of a second album, but with all the bands and projects she has going on, it's going to be understandably slow in coming.

Interesting and even gloomy improv on mostly acoustic/orchestral instruments. Long pieces worthy of the "noise" category, although there's a lot of concentration and attention to space here.

Atmospheric guitar pieces, with the guitar sounding sometimes like a flute or organ. Lots of short blips that play like bumper interludes; also some long pieces that add more of a band, including saxophone. I don't have a good read on this one yet; I think I like it, but it doesn't carry much weight with me.

Previously noted here.

Nicely dealt club jazz, from one of the contemporary Chicago giants.

* = 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.