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

* Lindha Kallerdahl -- "Body and Soul" -- Gold (ESP-Disk, 2008)

Vocals are my weak spot. By which I mean: While I'll eagerly listen to any noisy, abrasive, crazed, abstract instrumentals, I just can't take it when the instrument used is the human voice.

I can deal with strangled, half-drowned sax, or electrocuted-cat violin screeches. I revel in all the weird, subtle little sounds drummers like Gino Robair and Jim Black pull from their bags of tricks.

But when vocalists do the analogous thing -- guttural croaks, whiny whistles, exaggerated phonetic shrieks -- it's just annoying. Apologies to Jaap Blonk, Phil Minton, assorted similar artists, and all their fans. It's just me. (Likewise, when people tell me they can't stand my music, I understand. We've got common ground.)

Kallerdahl is either a genius or a charlatan, which I guess can be said of most geniuses and charlatans. She combines jazz singing with wailing, careening sounds. She'll strike up a straight, loungy jazz standard that soon morphs into a wailing monologue. I appreciate the concept and the (oh god I hope) humor that's infused into it. I just don't like the sound of it. Luckily, all the tracks on here are quite short, and her voice isn't bad at its base -- tart and dry and loud, a good public speaking voice with a rubbery malleability that threatens to swing her out of control even when she's singing normally.

Anyway, judge for yourself with this video, which is mostly improvised speak/song vocalizing but gives you a feel for what she'd do to a jazz standard. In a more humorous vein, you can watch her mess with a cat.

I do appreciate that Kallerdahl is using her talents to do something beyond the pale and ordinary. That's cool. It's just not always my cup of tea. In Austin, Texas, Tina Marsh has worked along similar lines but generally sticks closer to jazz in her overall sound. The results might be less avant-garde, but I think they're more effective and sometimes quite powerful. Which reminds me, I'm way overdue to give "Riddles" another spin on the air.

* Fire Room -- "Line of Lead" -- Broken Music (Atavistic, 2008)

Previously noted here.

Washes of keyboard/synth with dancing acoustic piano. You could probably call it ambient, but I can't help thinking Windham Hill and New Age. It doesn't help that so many tracks start with an oh-so-serious Chord Of Atmosphere.

This particular track caught my ear with its hard-sawing cello at the beginning, but it dissolves into sugary synth tones later. Not my Cup of tea, but it could be useful to the show here and there.

Previously noted here.

* Junk Box -- "Back and Forth" -- Cloudy Then Sunny (Libra, 2008)

* Graham Reynolds and the Golden Arm Trio -- "The Triumph of Color" -- Cult of Color (Shamrock, 2008)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Wayne Horvitz -- "Action 3: Worth of His Food" -- Joe Hill: 16 Actions for Orchestra, Voices, and Soloist (New World, 2008)

Previously noted here.

*! Chumbawamba -- "Lord Bateman's Motorbike" -- The Boy Bands Have Won (PM/Trade Root, 2008)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Art Tatum -- "Tatum Pole Boogie" -- Piano Starts Here: Live at the Shrine (Sony, 2008; recorded 1949)

Tatum recorded these tracks live, but the tapes didn't come out well enough to be fully restored. So someone got the idea of programming a Disklavier (think player piano) to play each one exactly the way Tatum did. Theoretically, it should sound exactly the same as the master. Whether the experiment succeeds is up to you (not me; I haven't had time to listen closely enough, so I'm wimping out on making any judgement).

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

* Bloom Project -- "Spots" -- Prismatic Season (Edgetone, 2008)

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Previously noted here.

Wiseacres -- there's no piano! These are sax/drums duets. Or, maybe you're thinking piano, the term for quieter music playing; there's some of that on here. In fact, it's one of this pairing's great strengths.

With any CD, especially some of the more abstract stuff, the faster tracks tend to catch your ear the most. They're exciting, edge-walking, and just grab you, while the slower tracks take a patience you might not have at that precise moment. It's a sad, shallow fact of life. And "Sweeter Than a Plastic Bag" opens this CD with just that kind of crowd-pleasing fun.

Many of the pieces, though, put up a persistent yet restrained flow. They're not quiet, but they match up the sax and drums, softly played, with a backdrop of silence to create a kind of lush trio. The 14-minute "Rattlebag Jimmy" is a suite of these moments, often heating up to a medium-intensity boil but never losing control -- it's a terrific listen. I also like the warmly lonely feel of "A Strong Glue Is Not Necessary," which includes the effect of a sax played back at high speed and small volume, like a mosquito buzzing from ear to ear.

"Me Softly with His Kill" opens in a placid place, then lets the sax get increasingly edgy until you've got a nice jazzy groove going. "Moose Clock" features both musicians (I think) reciting a long, surreal menu in unison, a spoken-word answer to overdubbed unison saxes on tracks like "Philosophy of the World/Wiggins."

So, Piano Music could be a meaningful name for this project, indeed. Then again, if you look at those song titles ("Which Way to Domino's"?!?!), maybe they really are just screwing with us.

Billy Bang -- "Holiday for Flowers" -- Valve No. 10 (Soul Note, 1992)

* The Giants of Gender -- "Perennial Plant" -- The Giants of Gender (Edgetone, 2008)

Briefly noted here.

* Kahil El-Zabar -- "In the Land of Ooh!" -- Ooh Live! (Katalyst, 2008)

The kind of excellent post-bop jazz we've come to expect from El-Zabar, with earthly percussion and a grand sound that keeps in the tradition while opening itself up to something new. Pharoah Sanders adds some star power, and while he's done some questionable mellow-jazz coasting on some contemporary albums, this track has him setting the place on fire and stomping the ashes halfway to China. The CD consists of four long tracks, showing off the glory that can emerge in extended sessions (and reminding us how much incredible music was probably lost due to LP limitations in the '70s and earlier).

From a double-quartet project of ROVA's (adding four more saxes, basically). This one happens to be a catchy number that moves at a good rhythm, which I figured was a nice long lead-in to the Djll interview (and besides, ROVA was particpating in Mockracy).

Including some audio clips of the original Mockracy. See above.

* = 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.