Dear Faithful Reader,

Here we continue coverage of some recent disc arrivals, some old, some new.

EL- P. High Water (Mark). Thirsty Ear Blue Series THI 57143.2, advance pressing, 50:59

Starting of with a rehearsal fragment of “Yesterday When I Was Young,” this followup to the wonderful 10” Sunrise Over Brooklyn follows through with works of a non-electro trancelike momentum, as builds in the great extended r’n’b ballads from Charles Wright and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band or Isaac Hayes’ psychedelic workouts, Matthew Shipp’s vamping being the great sustainer. With trumpeter Roy Campbell and multi-reedist Daniel Carter on board, the improv side is never in doubt. This is perhaps the most successful of the Blue Series in terms of a unity of disparate styles.

SCOTT FIELDS ENSEMBLE. Mamet. Delmark DE-527, time, delmark.com;

96 Gestures, 3 CDs, CRI Blueshift 20012, 68:54 + 66:57+ 62:26, composersrecordings.com

Scott Fields is a guitarist with a marvelous range of compositions, often for trio, and here for a large ensemble of superb musicians, Jarman, Houle and Melford only the most famous of them, all conducted by Stephen Dembski. Each of the three discs is a separate performance of 96 Gestures. The extended work has magical alto/vibe duets, loping percussion/clarinet sojourns, and...

This is a “modular work,” with “thirty five feet of score,” tells conductor Dembski in the liner notes. There are, if I understand, six lines which can be played, although in various sequences with improvisations. At times the work floats above time like any of Mingus’ performances of “Meditation On A Pair of Wirecutters.” Sections rise and crest, swing like a jazz big band; it seems to incorporate everything good in the music, but in an appropriate flow: it’s not just the kitchen sink. The three takes here provide excellent music I will enjoy for a long, long time. Sometimes I think about the construction, but more often I just get lost in the whole. Highly recommended.

Fields comes up with a smaller but superb ensemble in Mamet, this one with Michael Formanek on bass and drummer Michael Zerang, two National Treasures, in my estimate. The five tracks are inspired by five David Mamet plays. If you don’t have a taste for Mamet, that will not be a problem. I have a general distaste for those of Mamet’s works I’ve seen performed, feeling the plays, generally speaking, extoll rather than reveal the miserable characters of miserable people. The works here are notated, with much improvisation. Fields’ clear notes, liner notes, that is, but guitar notes as well, make “the notated parts reflect the way people speak English.” This works well for its purpose, but more significant, it makes strong music qua music. To be clear: the music on Mamet is not background music written for these plays. This is highly recommended to all lovers of free improv as well as those who appreciate the semi-composed aspect of the same genre. I look forward to hearing Fields’ other works inspired by Pinter and Shepard. Excuse me now while I risk watching the DVD of American Buffalo, which I just borrowed.

JONAS HELLBORG. Icon. Bardo 042, 59:23.
JONAS HELLBORG. Temporal Analogues of Paradise. Bardo Retrospective 136, 59:05.
JONAS HELLBORG. Time Is The Enemy. Bardo Retrospective 137, 52:44, bardorecords.com

Electric bassist Hellborg has a strong series of varied releases, taking jazz to the proggy plus ethnic side of things, and to his credit, nearly all are greater than the sum of their parts. In Temporal Aspects, longtime collaborator guitarist Shawn Lane and drummer Apt.Q258 (Jeff Sipe) create a Dead-trippy slow march which speeds up; instrumental progrocky territory broken into two half-hour “movements.” With a few tokes or beers, these might have been exciting concerts, but musically it’s an old road, and an overly busy one. Then again, I still don’t get what people liked about Cream. The meager notes make this disc appears to have been pieced together from several undated live performances all over Europe, perhaps the reason for the Retrospective designation. With the same personnel as above, Time Is The Enemy is the weakest set of Hellborg’s I’ve heard, remastered from a 1997 release: pleasant extended rock-guitar stuff, probably seconds taken from the above tour. For fans and arena-proggers.

Icon is a totally different story. Hellborg is joined by Indian vocalist V. Unamahesh, and percussionists (and vocalists) V. Selvaganesh and V. Umashankar. “Anchor” anchors the proceedings, with a strong funk riff; a sort of slowed down take on the guitar riff at the end of Sly’s “You Can Make It Of You Try,” Unamahesh is a strong singer; one feels the power of the traditional raag or ghazal immediately. The pieces has a break with a low-level drone where the three Indian vocalists do traditional tak-tim scat, and do it well. “Mirror” takes it out further, with the vocal and harmonium trippy yet not what we’ve come to call drone music; this combines Indian dance rhythms with rock bass solo; powerful stuff. “Vehicle,” however, rides in the dreamy side lane. The brief “Escape” is pleasant enough. The combined 38 minutes of the first two tracks make this a more than worthy acquisition. This joins the excellent Aram of The Two Rivers with a Syrian ensemble (Bardo 038) as my favorite Hellborg.

METAMORPHOSIS. Dip. Leo CD LR 357, 46:07, leorecords.com

This string quartet (cello, violin, two guitars) is dawgmusic by way of Astor Piazzolla, eurofolk, and moody Frisell, Bill more than Lefty. The textures range from quartet to resonantly orchestral. “Love and Napalm” sounds like a punk/darkambient title, but is a swirling mix of bluegrass-improv. The lyric and structure of “Under the Sun” are pure ‘70s prog-rock, but acoustic, until the break, where it sounds like FrithFrenchThompson with Industrial vocals, sonically and politicosocially. A mix of Pentangle and Gentle Giant. The only freely improvised piece is the closer, “Sudler’s Nightmare.” The scraped strings are not particularly scary, nor original.

WOLFGANG MITTERER. Radio Fractal/Beat Music. hatOLOGY 2-606, 65:58 + 48:30, cadencebuilding.com; hathut.com

Mitterer created a computer track of 1h45m length for a graphically-notated performance with improvisers, here the best known being Max Nagl on saxophone, joining a slew of electronics (sic) folks and Herbert Reisinger on drums. This was commissioned for the Danaueshinger Festival. I haven’t heard one of hatHut’s earliest CD releases, similarly a tape piece called Der Reisse (The Journey), which got critical brickbats for not doing much beyond the obvious. Sadly, the same can be said of this double disc of a single work which combines the two pieces. The sound is crystal clear and gorgeous, but there’s no here here. If I want ambient beats, I prefer Rapoon. If I want improvisers with electronics, I prefer nearly any release on Erstwhile Records (try Gerry Hemingway’s with Thomas Lehn, for starters).

DRORI MONDLAK AND STRAIGHT CIRCLE. Wake-Up Call. DM1492, 70:18, droridrums.com

The strikingly handsome cover photo of a the sun rising over a river, the sky dark amber above, clarifies the title. Others have used Wake-Up Call as a moniker for a call to arms, an Abrams before it’s too late. Drummer Mondlak and his ensemble have no apparent political agenda, nor is this morning myuzak. Evidence the opener, Monk’s “Evidence.” It starts out building as a Coltrane piece might. When the melody enters, it is neither a smoothed-out cover version nor a Monk clone. There is enough crag to hang you hat, but this is a totally original take, and exciting. Most of the other tracks are strong mainstream jazz pieces. (Managing Editor Craig Nixon and I are debating what positive appellation to apply to modern jazz music clearly not the spawn of pop, bop, nor fusion; a type which he often loves, but I respect. I’m more of an extended-techniques or compositionally-Duke/Mingus guy). Well, Karolina Strassmayer, on alto, soprano and flutes, can play post-bop or anything else with the best in this genre, evidence the title track. An extended take of Brubeck’s “In Your Own Sweet Way” goes modal on you. Guitarist Cary DeNegris and drummer Paul Ramsey and the leader listen closely to each other. In the liners Mondlak uses words such as: belief, heart, flow, unbroken circle. This is nobody’s new age music. It’s more conservative than is my taste, but in its own often introspective way, this is a fine jazz album. As my mother often scolds me, “Life is not all chili peppers.” Sample the “Evidence” and the beautiful flute work on a Mondlak original, “Maya’s Lullabye.”

NO SPAGHETTI EDITION. Real Time Satellite Data. Sofa 513, 72:33.
IVAR GRYDELAND/ TONNY KLUFTEN/ PAUL LOVENS. These Six. Sofa 512, sofamusic.no

With a name like No Spaghetti Edition they had better be good, and this edition of the Euro-supergroup includes Xavier Charles (c.), Michel Doneda (sax), Rhodri Davies (harp) and Axel Dörner (tpt). Their last two releases, both on the Sofa label out of Oslo, made my top ten list of the previous years. Sad to say, this outing didn’t last a few innings. It’s low-key improv, and none of it stuck a chord with me, despite several listenings. I continue to exalt Listen... and tell me what it was (Sofa 506) featuring Paal Nilssen-Love on drums (check out his own discs) and pianist Pat Thomas (who in other contexts usually loses me), and its follow-up, the live Pasta Variations (Sofa 509), featuring Thomas and genius vocalist Phil Minton.

Now that that’s out of the way, let me crow again. Spaghetti mainstays guitarist Grydeland and bassist Tonny Kluften (percussionist Ingar Zach taking a break here, doing his own disc) join drummer Paul Lovens, one of the few musicians I feel can do no wrong. These Six, referring to the number of tracks, reminds me of Japanese gagaku, the ancient ritual court music, not because of gagaku’s sonorities (although at time, that too), but rather its spaciousness, its thought out deliberateness, and its improvisatory quality. This, of course, is pure improvisation: Lovens even plays “selected and unselected drums and cymbals.” Grydeland also plays banjo, joining Eugene Chadbourne as the leading exponents of free-improv banjo. This is the kind of disc that leaves you with quiet chills and long memories. As a bonus, the music is captured, credit to Audun Strype, in the highest fidelity, all colors and dynamics intact. Stop reading. You already have an idea whether you might like this; if so, grab it. I’m going to file it on my shelf beside No Spaghetti Edition.

WILLIAM PARKER. Painting On The Moon. Thirsty Ear THI 57119, 48:47, thirstyear.com

First I must say this has become one of my favorite William Parker discs, but also one of my favorite discs. I didn’t expect it because, historically, improvising musicians have recorded with singers who are friends rather than singers who are good. Leena Conquest, here-- and there are no notes to tell me her background and no mention if the texts are hers or Parker’s-- is a joyous addition to Rob Brown on flute and alto sax, trumpeter Lewis Barnes, and drummer Hamid Drake. “Hunk Papa Blues,” the opening instrumental, has a touch of New Orleans sound, as if Ray Anderson met a fiery Bootsy Collins during the Great Migration.

The title track is a riff based with a strong, timeless bass-line that you must dance or sway to while listening to Leena intone an also-timeless hyper-real and surreal text about faith, “inner city blues” and possibilities that, amazingly, through the use of a few well chosen images, even at fourteen minutes, never become trite. What a wonderful work this is.

The lyrics on this disc are positive and socio-political, yet never preachy or smarmy. This, for example, from “James Baldwin To The Rescue”: “What do I see/ I see madness and sadness, a superficial gladness/ Angels ringing, singing, tossing turning/Throw ourselves over/ James Baldwin to the rescue again and again.” Even a devout atheist like me can appreciate “I know it must be hard/ to be made after God”; it reminds me of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.

Most of the tracks are physically driven by the rhythm section, but it touches the mind as well as the kinetic part of you. A few shorter tracks have Parker’s bass playing the role of a kora, with Drake’s rims and hand-drumming and Conquest; griots for our time. This is the Parker that in a less-manipulated world would gets tons of radio play, while never conceding to commercialism or risking loss of their “avant-garde” fan base. Although (p)2002, this is one of my year’s favorites discs, with no reason to believe my feelings will fade.

WILLIAM PARKER TRIO. Painter’s Spring. Thirsty Ear THI 57088.2, thirstyear.com

Bassist William Parker is one of those musicians who consistently takes my breath away in concert. On disc, he fares almost equally well. Painter’s Spring is a solid jazz outing, as dependable in own genres, as a solid ‘60s Blue Note, with saxophonist Daniel Carter (member of Other Dimensions In Music) and Chicago drummer Hamid Drake. The cuts range from a tasty jazz blues (“Blues For Percy”) to a bit of freeplay (“Flash”) to a superb bass solo both earthy yet with discreet multiphonics which take the earth to a heavenly plane on “There’s A Balm In Gilead.” The groove Parker creates during “Foundation #2” with Carter’s alto searching, insistent and yet leading as much as the rhythm does, is a jazz equivalent to what James Brown creates in his genre; to both I dance. Drake’s kit and hand-drumming both are so integral that it is rare one notices it for its own sake, yet while my ears may focus on either Parker or Carter, they yet perk up for a particular note or riff from the planet-schooled Drake.

My favorite Parker discs, out of many worthies, are the solo CDs Testimony (Zero In Records, matrix # 301581) and Lifting The Sanctions (No More Records No. 6), Compassion Seizes Bed-Stuy (Homestead HMS231-2) by his small group In Order To Survive (Susie Ibarra, Rob Brown, sometimes Assif Tsahar), and the earliest recorded outing by his exciting Little Huey Creative Orchestra, Flowers Grow In Your Room (Centering CD 1002), and Painting On The Moon (Thirsty Ear THI 57119) with Rob Brown, Lewis Barnes, Hamid Drake and singer Leena Conquest.

IVO PERELMAN DOUBLE TRIO. Suite for Helen F. Boxholder BXH 038/039, cadencebuilding.com

This gets a “Just Buy It” rating. Tenor saxer Perelman has a slew of discs out, on many labels, from his own Ibeji label to continued support from Leo Records. A recent press release from Leo opined that Perelman had been focussing on his art career, as it brought him a living income as compared with music. Well blessings on this double-talent, for this tribute to painter helen Frankenthaler includes eight Perelman’s painting on the five-panel foldout booklet, plus the labels and traycard.

NICK PARKIN. Entropolis. Soleilmoon SOL 112, 64:55. Geomorphic Resonance. SOL 113, 50:12. soleilmoon.com

This pair of limited editions of 500 are fine examples of the kind of stuff Soleilmoon does better than almost anybody. Parkin’s discs may end up easily filed in the ambient or electronic sections of the shops, but his strong works eschew beats or droneywhoosh cliché. True, they are not groundbreakers, but each track averages six minutes, offers its own sound world made from processed sounds, and could work beautifully as an individual 7” single of the type often found on Drone Records. I find Entropolis to be the stronger of the two discs, for it is more abstract, the titles reflecting the entropy theme: “Corrosion.” “Distillate,” “Pluvial,” etc. Geomorphic Resonance, as its name implies, processes water and stone sounds. The packaging is strikingly attractive simple without being minimalist; beautiful photos of earth and metal; similar to ECM’s style but more visceral than ethereal.

PSEUDO BUDDHA. Hooka-Jooka Vol. IV: Three Months in Fat City! Dogfingers DF 05, 65:52, dogfingers.com

This is an hour of non-overdubbed music seamlessly pasted together from four live performances of what the band dubs “space rock-raga-psych-improv” music, which is what I was going to call it anyway. Less droney, more of a dance-your-own-dance to the tabla beat, with plenty of electric-solos, bells and bongos and conga keeping rhythm on a journey this San Antonio band claims took them “through Rajastan and Saturn.” Well, as space is the place, if you’re in the mood for a trip, this is most enjoyable. Toy instruments, ocarinas, G3s (lately the preferred instrument over the B3s), veena, and saxes.

CHRISTOS RAFALIDES’ MANHATTAN VIBES. Khaeon KWM 200201, 58:30, khaeonworldmusic.com

Even though this is tagged world music, it is jazz with ethnic and true-funk rhythms rather than “worldbeat” slodge. It does have that made-for-radio sound, but it is well-engineered and doesn’t seem too compressed. “Pocket” struts like the Meters or Young-Holt, and other tracks have a Latin sound. Surprisingly, “Fool On The Hill” works well; I’m still surprised so many cover this tune, starting with Sergio Mendes and Brasil ‘66, and most recently, Peter Cincotti. Here the crunching steps of the percussion create a mysterious undermood; fascinating stuff. More surprisingly, the cover of “Caravan” is a flop; the rhythmic slides don’t provide enough momentum or phrasing of interest. Rafalides plays vibes, marimba and synth pads, but the electric aspects of this ensemble shouldn’t scare off most listeners.

RE:COOPERATION. TransCollaboration. Dogfinger/Uncle Buzz UBR14, 60:10, unclebuzz.com

By now we all know the art of “remixing” not not just a new way to breathe new life into dance records. Guitarist James H Sidlo met guitarist David Cooper Orton via Looper’s Delight on-line forum, at loopers-delight.com, and sent each other their tapes, overdubbing or processing, and back and forth and so on. It’s interesting watching some of the sequential changes on some of the tracks here. Most of the sounds are or become shimmering guitar galaxies; a bunch use Sidlo’s drum programming. The result: This is where ambient touches fingers with new age.

THE REMOTE VIEWERS. Sudden Rooms in Different Buildings. General Ear GE5, 46:03, theremoteviewers.com

Strangely, this arrived moments after I was glancing at the four discs in my Remote Viewers section, all on Leo Records. The Remote Viewers are a special ensemble, basically a sax trio with electronics. They fascinate me. Louise has an exceptionally striking voice, and I revel in it as well as in their saxing and electronics. Their weakness, for my taste, is their frequent reliance on beats. Writing about them, violinist/critic Dan Warburton likened their sound to that of Björk and Portishead.

This disc is a bit more on the eerie, electronic side than the Leo discs, and is described by Louise Petts as “a series of composed gritty scapes, mostly electronic, originating from an improvised base.” You might expect it to appear on the Touch label. Here, Louise Petts handles alto sax, voice and electronics; tenor sax David Petts also plays with the electrons, and soprano sax Adrian Northover whooshes “wind synthesizer.” The strength of this set often comes from Louise Pett’s voice, whether with texts or an ambient ooo. The electronics are varied. High toy-like metallic squeal notes, as the same time as low bass motor-start rumbles, and electronic storm thunder.

“Inside the Unwanted Bond” is an excellent mix of free sax improv where it seems the multiphonics come from the electronics rather than the saxes, say, the World Sax Quartet meets Australasian panpipes buzzing inside a whistling tea kettle; a strong piece whatever the genre. The final track is especially strong, “The Frontier of Presence,” a drone with a plinking kalimba-like riff, starting out with what I assume is the theremin Louise has used well on other discs. It continues with real and processed voices calling out like ghosts in the winds.

Sudden Rooms in Different Buildings is not my favorite of the Remotes (the ten-minute, simplistic beat-laden “External Securements” is far beneath their own standards, but again, I hate beats), but if this sounds at all interesting, I suspect you will like it. Excellent sonics; the voice, the sax and all electronics sizzling and alive, but I’m obliged to note the CD-R had some tracking problems. A coming release, GE6, will comprise compositions for sax trio. If you see Obliques Before Pale Skin (Leo Lab 063), don’t hesitate; it is their best, and, at the risk of belaboring a point, beatless and hard to beat. The Minimum Programme of Humanity (Leo LR 342) uses Brecht texts in a manner totally different from, of course, Eisler or Weill, and its beautifully packaged, of course, in commie red.

JEFFREY RODEN. The Floor Of The Forest. The Big Tree BTCDJR-003, jgroden@earthlink.net

Languishing guitar strums against cymbal wavers. This tranquil music is inspired by Hemingway’s For Whom The Bell Tolls. Roden claims an attempt to “reconcile” Hemingway’s butch image with “his real and absolute genius of fixing men’s hearts and loves upon the page without flinching or effeminate gesture.” Hmm. The music is sometimes pretty but mostly neuter. Stronger than new age. I can’t hear a connection to Hemingway or either aesthetic. Roden is the nephew of “lower text sound” master Steve Roden, who here offers “sounds, loops and electronics.” Another master of experimental, often quiet music is Brandon LaBelle, here playing straightforward drums, with skins clearly resonating. Jennifer Hardaway provides vocalise on some tracks. This isn’t for the John Fahey quiet/folky/fingerpicking crowd nor is it for the Steve Roach ambient-with-ethnic-instruments crew. It’s the floor of the forest, very early.

ROMANE. Djangovision. Iris Music 3001 873, 48:53, iris-music.com

Okay, we’re all tired of these Django Reinhardt imitators, and, frankly, Django’s recordings never impressed me that much anyway. Romane has over a dozen discs, and his previous release, Acoustic Quartet, is strum-strum-strum-strum-dull. Despite the barely legible cover title, this, however, is an excellent disc of delightfully skilled and unpretentious music: guitar, Hammond organ, bass and drums. All ten tracks are Reinhardt compositions, written toward the end of his life. Romane’s quartet plays strong, often with an inherent funk, never relegating the music to the lounge, with special praise to organist Benoît Sourisse. In some ways it reminds me of Stan Getz’ surprising and expansive organ quartet with Eddie Louiss, Dynasty (Verve 839 118-2).

Comparing some tracks with the gypsy guitarist’s originals in transfers on Flapper PAST CD 9712 and ASV Living Era 5137, well, there were no titles in common. Ok, I guess it’s time to open the shrinkwrap on the Charly four-disc longbox Swing du Paris (Charly CD DIG 12) I bought a few years back. I totally expected to pass this on as a gift, but it’s on the permanent shelf. Now I’m curious to hear Romane’s other recordings. Maybe I’ll file this under Romane rather than Reinhardt. Excellent liner notes by Gilles Tordman, informative of both Django and Romane.

JOVINO SANTOS NETO QUINTETO. Canto de Rio. Liquid City LQC 34453, 66:53, liquidcity.com

Santos Neto is a pianist, here also on fender Rhodes, leading a quintet-plus-guests of lively jazz Brasiliero. Despite the back tray proclaiming “primeval grooves,” this is jazz, left of center, using Brasilian rhythms and vocalise by Flora McGill and Pernambuco. McGill is excellent, invoking not only the obvious Flora Purim but also more out singers like Ellen Christie. Can’t help liking this a lot, even though its not my usual kind of thing. If it is yours, you’ll probably be ecstatic. Despite the dreaded word “grooves,” the rhythms are varied and I assume deep-rooted. Recommended to those even slightly intrigued. He’s based in Seattle, so if you live there, look for his gigs.

THE SEALED KNOT. Surface/Plane. Meniscus MNSCS 012, meniscus.com

On the cover is the grabber rather than the aggregate: Burkhard Beins, Rhodri Davies and Mark Wastell; respectively percussion, harp and cello, plus “preparations” which I assume means not electronics. Meniscus continues an excellent series of improv/sound texture music with these two pieces, “Surface” recorded at All Angels, London (now known worldwide thanks to the Emanem label’s series of that church’s improv festival), and the longer “Plane” at St. Paul’s Hall, Huddersfield. “Surface” is more so; the sounds of of the surfaces of these instruments stroked, rubbed, otherwise made love to, and it is an interesting sixteen minutes, although it fades should you listen to it without paying attention. “Plane,” however, finds this trio on a much higher level of energy and connection, the twenty-seven minute improv consistently riveting, more varied and with that you-never-know-when-it’s-going-to-happen click when everything just goes right. Intense.

WALLY SHOUP TRIO. Fusillades & Lamentations. Leo CD LR 364, leorecords.com

Fusillades indeed. Seattle-based alto player Shoup is a powerhouse player, his partners equally so. Annotator Byron Coley described this as “post-Fire Music,” although I hear more late Coltrane, in tone and energy, than that Archie Shepp reference. This is, which is what Coley meant, high energy music, even in the laments. Shoup conjures cornucopias of sound. I kept thinking, “ESP-disk in modern sound.” Bassist Reuben Radding and drummer Bob Rees are equilateral in this triangle. Their interplay reminds me of the tangible tightness between Mat Maneri, Ed Schuller and Randy Peterson. This is my first encounter with Rees, but he is a master drummer. Every note is for a reason, even when there are many many many of them, and he has a wide ranging vocabulary. This is super stuff that gets stronger each play. I highly recommend an earlier Shoup disc, Project W, with cellist Brent Arnold and drummer Ed Pias (Apraxia pxd 17442) and his slightly more abstract duo Rescue Mission (Shrat 9905) with drummer Jeph Jerman, who is well known for his recordings manipulating sound environments.

SIX FING THING. Self-Portrait As A Venerable Shrub. Dogfingers DF06, 69:38, dogfingers.com

Tag-line first: This should appeal to those who like those Thirsty Ear Blue Series stuff which use electronics, and the progrock-jazz often found on Cuneiform records. From my only other experience with this label, I expected a pasted together, amateur sampler thing, but here’s wisdom in the groove, as listenable as it is danceable, at least on the first track. A slow groove, with haunting Magical Mystery strings, garbled Funkadelic/Axis: Bold As Love spacecreature talk, and a Rahsaan Roland Kirk flute. The xylophone and male vocalise are unexpectedly apt, and now my fing is Six Thing. That’s just “The Basic Nobility of A Small Boy.” Thing’s strength is that it is fun rather than just clever. It runs the gamut of styles as much as, say, Oatmeal Banana or Optical 8, and it’s not trying to show off a bag’o’trix or influences. There are organ-like synths doing swells channelled from Fink Ployd. Nancarrow meets Gentle Giant. Picture a John Surman disc with synths. Wait; those exist already. You know that weird-sounding horn in Captain Beefheart’s “Tarotplane”? It lives here too. Aha!: The Residents. Thingman James Cobb, tagged a visual artist in the press release, is a musician. This disc makes Twisty, who I do like, sound manufactured, by contrast, or by Don Kirchner. A total delight from outer left-field that even avant-jazzbos should enjoy. Excellent audio, by the way.

SKERIK’S SYNCOPATED TAINT SEPTET. Ropeadope/Atlantic Records 93183-2, time, ropeadope.com

In earlier days this would probably be on Knitting Factory Records. Skerik (one name only) plays tenor and baritone sax, and the band plays a delightful mix of free improv, jazz-funk, and plain-out fun Raymond Scott/Ray Anderson type of hip(shaking) with hip stuff like “let Me Be Your Voodoo Doll.” If you like groups like Ballin’ The Jack (that reminds me, I’ve gotta plays those again; they’re on a bottom shelf so I overlook that great ensemble of Matt Darriau, Frank London, Andy Laster, Ben Sher, Curtis Hasselbring, joe Fitzgerald; George Schuller, Anthony Coleman), here is another excellent band with brains and ass. I have an advance copy with no notes, or else I’d tell you more than that I really dig this, and that this septet includes two bari players, and a Hammond (Joe Doria) plus a Wurlitzer!

OMAR SOSA and ADAM RUDOLPH. Pictures of Soul. Otá/Meta OTA 1012, 56:45, metarecords.com; melodia.com

Adam Rudolph is a well-loved percussionist based on the west coast. I have happy, vivid recollections of a performance he did at Merkin Hall, NYC, a few years back. Omar Sosa has been putting out a series of strong more-jazz-than-worldbeat CDs on his Otá label. Here Sosa plays piano, “modified piano” and Fender Rhodes. The milieu is somewhat midway between jazz and ethnic, more like Steve Roach and Carlos Zepeda if you took away their ambient/electronica aspects and replaced them with Rudolph’s always impressive multi-ethnic percussion (and flutes). Handsome cover photo, and beautiful, colorful interior booklet with photos and notes. Sosa’s 2000 disc Prietos (Otá 1008) can be highly recommended for its Latin and jazz music super-saboroso, and the coro is superb, but the many parts with rap-like (to me, weak Def Po Jelly) poetry-like intonation are only bearable to those who like that stuff.

JEREMY STARK and PAUL CORIO. No Time Like The Present. Rent Control RCRCD010, 60:11, rentcontrolrecords.com

This feels good and homey, like the best of ‘70s loft jazz. Stark plays soprano saxophone and bass clarinet, Corio the drums. Stark sounds like his own man even while using familiar dialects of wiggling around a note like Lacy or playing shenai-like lines like ‘60s Anthony Braxton. Corio could be likened to Andrew Cyrille in that he can simultaneously play in tandem with, in response to, and horizontally parallel to a partner. He plays not only rhythm but texture; his drums, though not ideally recorded, are played carefully for tuning. One easily hears melody as well as rhythm, but rarely time. On the title track, the two play a call and response, or is it just an amazing conversation. They give each other plenty of space, including solo space, and stretch out for a leisurely encounter. It’s only by contrast with the brilliant opener that the other tracks aren’t quite as strong. Truly excellent, the best among a spate of recent fine duo discs received lately. Their previous duet, on RCRCD001, which I’ve first heard now, has eight tracks, including Mal Waldron’s “Boo” and Robert Johnson’s “Drunken-Hearted Man,” a It too is an excellent record, and although the title track of “No Time Like The Present” is truly something special, the variety afforded here makes for easier listening all the way through.

RICH STEIN. Unspoken. Clearsteer Music csm2003, 42:33, cleersteer.com

I’ve recently been revisiting my collection of discs by Bert Jansch, the legendary British acoustic guitarist, once also part of Pentangle, the only one of the great ‘sixties British folk revival bands which incorporated jazz rather than rock into their sound. Stein’s title track invokes Jansch’s style, and this Unspoken, whether intentional or not, tribute, starts off this disc in good form. The ten instrumental tracks are substantial. I get so many guitar discs that are neither/nor and wind up being nothing, yet Stein manages to eschew anything remotely avant-garde without pandering to any New Age or NPR myoozakers. Here Stein plays classical, steel-string, and what he calls e-bow electric guitar (isn’t the e-bow a separate device for any electric gitbox?), not to mention violin, viola, and on the concluding “Invocation,” “loops.” Other friends join Stein, and although on various tracks he is joined by djembe, bass, steel guitar, snare, and loops, it never descends to world-pap. The wistful but not sad “Family Gathering” features a lovely country-sounding vocalise by Jane Ross. Fan of Ry Cooder and folk guitar music might do well to check out this instrumental disc. I see it also as a fine opportunity to sneak a holiday gift of substance for those friends who usually listen to musik lite. Kudos to the art department.

STILL POINT. Assumed Possibilities. Rossbin RS 007, 50:43, rossbin.com

Rossbin is an Italian label which has presented a series of excellent CDs of improvised music often coming from the pointillistic sound-exploration subgenre. The Assumed Possibilities aggregation consists of artists well-known for working in this style, often found on the Erstwhile and Emanem labels. In this well-recorded London session at Gateway Studios, Chris Burn plays pianos, both toy and grownup, and harpist Rhodri Davies, violinist Phil Durrant and cellist Mark Wastell complete the quartet. There are no liner notes, other than that all are group improvisations save one apiece by Davies and Wastell, so one simply sits back and enjoys the concert. The nine tracks are all worth hearing, but only “Starwhyte,” “Styrin” and the forceful “Riwe” cohere for repeated, riveting listening.

Fans will want this; I commend newcomers to nearly any disc under the musicians own names. Previous Rossbins have been attractively packaged in thin cardboard gatefolds; this is the first I’ve seen in a standard jewelbox. Only one complaint about nearly all Rossbin packaging: the graphics are always handsome, but it is usually hard to discern the group name from the disc title. They are often misfiled in the shops. On my shelf, it winds up filed between Enja’s improv group Association Urbanetique and Fred Astaire.

AKIRA TANA. Moon Over The World. Sons of Sound SSPCD 018, 63:48, akiratana.com

This is a reissue of the drummer’s 1993 Paddlewheel (Japan) recording with longtime collaborators bassist Rufus Reid and pianist Ted Lo. It’s good mainstream jazz on the low key. Some are traditional Chinese tunes, and there are covers of Horace Silver’s “Sweet Stuff” and Jaco P.’s “Three Views of a Secret.” Tana’s updated notes pay homage to the late Glenn Horiuchi and Gerald Oshita, but this work is nowhere near as exciting as the more advanced composition and improvisation of those two. “Chinese Fingers,” by Hiroshi Miyagawa, features a curious “Chopsticks”-like theme that leads to an excellent jazz improv by all three. Nothing to complain about. It has the label’s standard delightfully mock-’60s art jackets. Excellent cover photo of Tana holding his drum to his face.

TROUM. Tjukurrpa (Part Two: Drones). Transgredient Records TR-01 (all three parts have same catalog #), 66:36, dronetroum@aol.com

Tjukurrpa: Drones begins with a sound more reminiscent of the physical scratching often found in free improvisation. An airplane-like drone flies in, slowly, with higher metallic overtones coloring the main grey one with yellow and bronze. There are five tracks, but they work as a beautiful whole. The drones vary much in volume and texture, and it never gets boring for close listening. I first heard Troum on their wonderful 10” packaged in cork and mirror, which I play frequently. This second of three discs is packaged between two circles of card, one using an Australian aboriginal design, the other a colorful abstract incorporating spirals and snakes and galaxies. Inside, the minimal notes are circular as well, and read “These are dreams, dreamed by dreamers who are awake.” It may sound shallow, but it is significant, as so much of trance music seems made for and by robots. Troum demands and earns your attention.

TROUM. Tjukurrpa (Part Three: Rhythms and Pulsations). Transgredient Records TR-01 (all three parts have same catalog #), 66:28, dronetroum@aol.com

This arrived on the heels of Part Two, with a different attitude and equal high quality. “Orphne” has a clank, or is it struck strings, with a slow whoosh like a manipulated train in a tunnel, or is it the voice of a ghost? It reminds me, bizarrely, of Midnight’s 1976 underground disco “Workin’ & Slavin’” at superslow speed; it’s the ambient cry of the enslaved Nibelungen. “Saiwala” brings the controlled power of insistent (American Indian?) drum rhythms, as spirits rise from them. The trilogy is an exemplar of this type of music. I’ve been enjoying it repeatedly.

THE UNEXPECTED. On The Line. Trytone TT559-010, 54:35, trytone.org

Unexpected, indeed, when this disc of dawg-music (what prog-rock is to rock, dawg-music is to country) arrived from the Netherlands. Although it’s not my genre, the fiddling, the wah-wah guitar, and piano are certainly more exiting than most of that stuff PBS plays, with a much more improvisatory feel. Imagine Take Five-era Dave Brubeck filtered through Appalachia.

WILT. Amidst A Spacious Fabric. Ad Noiseum No. 3, 63:30, adnoiseum.net

It starts off with a midrange whoosh, quiet almost, slow and smooth, like being inside a car on a highway with the windows shut, but these rubber band notes like an acoustic bass boinging punctuate until metallic rumble forces its way in. There are eleven tracks and although the basic materials are similar, each piece follows its own special path, the hour passing by quickly in a well programmed album. It’s not heavy industrial, or particularly dark. Amidst A Spacious Fabric is notable for not sounding like most other noise or ambient projects, and it eschews electronica beats. Anyone who likes the noisier, electronic, often guitar side of free improv (say, Lee Ranaldo, Elliott Sharp), will appreciate Wilt. The pieces are all processed from a zither as a the only sound source; I wouldn’t have guessed so without reading the liner, but there is an analog, earthy quality to this spacious fabric. Highly recommended to the converted as well as unfamiliar freethinkers.

ZONA FUMATORI. Enteng. Stichting Mixer Mix-R1, staalplaat.com

Thirteen tracks, on this Dutch label of avant and accessible experiments. Zona Fumatori is Sagi Groner and Martijn Tellinga. The first track of this Smoking Zone takes us instrumentally on a camel-lope through an open bazaar, which segues to track two via groaning guitar or bass with clicking percussion or sampling effects, contrasting with watery electronic loon calls and grating (a descriptor, not a slur) sounds. I haven’t been watching the display and so the tracks go by, each interesting and well-sequenced. A midbass drone with a buzzing overtones is punctuated by softened percussive blows and they drop out to flannel gongs with jet air flowing by, mosquitos being electronically zapped time to time. Low register trombone growls.