Joe Maneri / Peter Dolger

Editor's info:
A long-lost '60s treasure from the east coast rescued and produced by Ken Vandermark's father, Stu! The ''Peace Concert'', as performed in 1964 by living legend Joe Maneri (alto) and Peter Dolger (drums) has finally been exhumed and properly buffed for public consumption. This never-before released recording has been mastered from the original tapes, and includes an in-depth interview with Boston's elder statesman of improv, conducted by Stu Vandermark.

For those caught unawares, Mr. Maneri is the father of violinist Mat Maneri, and is highly regarded as one of the true pioneers of the ''language'' of the alto saxophone (in fact- Joe has also created a surreal, intense spoken dialect all his own as well that often accompanies his musical performances). Mr. Vandermark is a long-time co-conspirator, contributor and fixture on Boston's jazz & improvised music scene; he possesses a formidable ''lifetime of listening'' knowledge base on these matters. Check into this outer-orbiting destination in the Unheard Music Series galaxy (and find out why these two men's sons turned out so well)!

Phil Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble

Editor's Info:
Historical Jazz from some of the most influential musicians in Black Music.

Kelan Phil Cohran ('Kelan' is an honorific meaning 'holy scripture' bestowed on him by Chinese Muslims during a visit to China) was born on 8 May 1927 in Oxford, Mississippi and grew up in St Louis, Missouri, where he played trumpet with Chuck Terry in the late 40s. In January 1950, he joined the group led by that Okie from Muskogee, Jay McShann. ''I played with him for a year,'' Cohran says, reminiscing down the phone from his home in Chicago. ''It was the best year of my life, too, because I got to see the rest of the world. I'd been holed up in St Louis and Jefferson City, where I went to school at Lincoln University, and that little area was all that I knew. We had a fierce tradition back there then, and we had quite a few good musicians. But everywhere I went with McShann, I found good musicians and I was shocked because it seemed that if you were so good you would become famous. But that wasn't the case; we had giants around here in every town. . . The rock 'n' roll, I believe we had something to do with that because there was a record company called Peacock in Houston, Texas and we recorded for them all summer. Don Robey brought McShann in to be the house band. They brought singers in from Louisiana, Mississippi, everywhere [he probably recorded sides with Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown and Big Mama Thornton]. Five days a week we were in the studio, putting backgrounds to different singers. That was a great experience because that's what made me really a musical historian, a musicologist. During those sessions Walter Brown and Jay McShann would sit at the piano and go through thousands of old songs that I never heard of, and they would select certain backgrounds and idioms to go behind the vocals. We had to put heads to the stuff they were doing. I'm sure that's why I became a composer. In those days most musicians didn't think of being a composer, they thought of just playing other people's music and just being good at it.''

In October 1950 he was drafted, but managed to avoid going to Korea by joining a military band at the Naval Academy in Maryland, where he spent much of his time absorbing books in the library. ''In 1953 I came here [Chicago] because the market was dwindling in St Louis,'' he recalls. ''When I got out of the army I had the best gig in town, but it wasn't good enough. So I came to Chicago and I got completely out of it; it took me two or three years to get caught on here. In the meantime, the guys I was playing with in St Louis all became famous: Oliver Nelson, Jimmy Forrest, all of them. I stuck it out, but nothing really happened till I got with Sun Ra. . . John Gilmore and I were playing gigs with Walter Perkins before he left Chicago. He kept telling me about Sonny [Blount, Sun Ra's real name] because he would rehearse every day with him. And he said, 'I'm going to take you by there', so one day I went by there and the music was very challenging. You can imagine how a composer would be stimulated by Sun Ra's music. So I started rehearsing with him and the next thing I know, we were rehearsing six hours a day and playing six hours a night. I don't know, you looked up and three years had gone by. . . That opened my world up as a composer. I had written a few songs of merit before I got with him, but he taught me the one thing that really made a difference in my life, and that is: whatever you want to do, do it all the time. Once I learned that, there was no looking back.''

Cohran can be heard with The Arkestra on Rocket Number Nine, Fate In A Pleasant Mood, Holiday For Soul Dance and We Travel The Spaceways, but his most striking contribution was his ukelin zither playing on Angels And Demons At Play. Cohran's harp-like fills working against Sun Ra's organ on ''Music From The World Tomorrow'' and his abstract stabs against astral flute on the title track epitomise The Arkestra's 'black to the future' concept like no other early Sun Ra recordings. ''I saw a little instrument in a music store window and that was this little zither,'' Cohran recalls. ''The reason I wanted it was that it had tuning pins on it, and I wanted to tune my own instrument to some of the modes I had discovered through mathematics. In fact, that's why I really came to Chicago: to study the Schillinger system which was available here at the time, but they were charging $25 a lesson.

''The Schillinger system is a system of mathematical variations. You get an infinite number of melody and harmonies using this system. Anyway, I'm glad I never took it because everyone I've heard using it, they have no spirit, it sounds mechanical. Once I heard it was $25, I went to the library and I bumped into folk music accidentally. I saw that there was [Indian shenai player] Bismillah Khan on Folkways, and I made selections and I'd listen to them, and I began to see the common thread in all of the music. I began to pursue it and study its structures, and little by little, I made some discoveries that all the music had come from a single source, then it became a mission once I discovered that. The little instrument, I just kept developing my technique, how to play it. . .

''[The Arkestra] were playing in a place on the West Side called The Fifth Jack and everybody in the place was paralysed when we started playing ''Angels And Demons At Play'','' he continues. ''It was a multi-faceted place that had a bar, a tavern, a restaurant, a barber shop and something else. Everybody emptied all the other businesses and came over to our place - they even left the cash registers and stuff. Because we had them all mesmerised in this one corner of the building. I looked around and it was the first time I really realised how much power we had. Everybody in that place was holding their breath. It was proof that music had that power over people whether they're conscious or not. It gets inside of your body, inside your body rhythms, it mixes with your chemistry. Ever since then, I've lectured on those subjects. I've expanded on that for 40 years. That's what I deal with: music's effect on the body, and the ancient tuning systems and how ancient people were aware of these properties. They didn't have the analytical terms for it, but they knew it existed and they knew how to reach it. So with those forms of teaching, that was how we fit this concept, the modal concept really, of playing. I don't want to go into it really, but you know a lot of people got that concept from me, but they don't acknowledge it. I could name a lot of very well known people who came to me. Just like with Sun Ra, no one acknowledges anything. I'm not a crybaby or anything like that, but if people want to know the truth about how certain areas develop in an artform, then they would have to search for what happened here in the 60s. It had everything to do with the way it's being played today.''

Miles Davis and the rest of the Kind Of Blue group may beg to differ, but what is certain is that when Sun Ra and The Arkestra went to Montreal in 1961, Cohran stayed behind in Chicago. ''I stayed here because I decided to spend 24 hours a day on my thing,'' he says. ''It worked. As soon as I started out, I redefined music. I started in the ABCs and went through everything I ever learned and redefined it. That's when I started to study the sky; I went into flora and fauna, I was already a historian and a mathematician, so I was just broadening the bases. I composed songs according to principles that I had learned and discovered, so all of my over 500 songs are based on something that I learned. Let's take Gioseffo Zarlino [1517-90], he was the musical director of St Mark's Cathedral [in Renaissance Venice] for 25 years. His greatest composition was called Negra Sum which means 'black is great' [sic], so I wrote a composition to Zarlino. Vincenzo Galilei challenged his theories and he used his son Galileo Galilei, who was about 17 at the time, to help him construct his arguments against his teacher Zarlino. This was the deviation from the old music laws in Europe, because up to Zarlino's time they held to include the elements and everything in the music - the stars and all of that, the colours, the time of day - but after that they took it all out of the music. Galileo started the revolution you might say, and Bach probably ended it [laughs] with his Well-Tempered Clavier. That's a different spin on history than what is usually taught. So when I learn things like that, I write about them.''

Cohran tried out his compositions in his group The Story Tellers, and would also participate in some of Muhal Richard Abrams's Experimental Big Band sessions. With jobs for musicians becoming increasingly scarce, Cohran would also peddle his wares in the pit band of the Regal Theatre, and in various travelling companies, showbands and circuses - anywhere that would pay. Instead of completely relinquishing his soul to the paymasters, however, Cohran had a plan up his sleeve - one that would result in the formation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). ''We had 2000 musicians working out of the Southside union. Once it integrated, all of our jobs evaporated,'' he declares. ''All the professionals, and we carried a nice representation of good musicians, and there were a lot of great gigs and they all dried up, primarily from a cabaret law that was passed. Once the gigs dried up, everybody went to California or New York. . . I was walking in my neighbourhood by this old cemetery, and Steve McCall and Richard [Abrams] was coming up the street. We stopped and talked about things, and we said, since everybody had left there was nothing left in town. But we were committed to staying in Chicago, so we generally agreed that we should do something about it. I had a big apartment at the time, so I said, 'Let's send out postcards and next Saturday have everybody meet at my house.' So we sent out postcards and it turned out to be on my birthday, 8 May 1965, and we brought about 40 musicians to argue about what is creative music. At the end we said, 'We've got to organise, and we're gonna come back next week and set up our structure'.''

Cohran formed The Artistic Heritage Ensemble - Cohran on harp, drummer Ajramu, Larry King on bass, Eugene Easton on flute and vocalist [Amina] Claudine Myers - for the first AACM show. ''I named it that because there were no ensembles at the time except for classical ensembles,'' he proclaims. ''Now they've got ensembles everywhere [laughs]. My whole mission was to. . . most of the people here didn't even know that our music was our legacy. They really didn't look at it like that. It was either 'I like it' or 'I don't like it'. They didn't pay any attention. There was no one to stand up for the music. The music was constantly being pushed aside for something new or tricky. People didn't understand that there are some things that represent you. . . See, a lot of blues players get up and explain the blues, they don't know what they're doing, man. They know how to play, they know how to sing, but they don't understand the context in which it took place. . .

''That's the reason I didn't stay with the AACM: we had a difference in approach. I came from St Louis, where I had been in a tradition that did a lot of things, and those were some of the things I wanted to do with the AACM, and that's why I supported it. When we got into the actual nuts and bolts of how we were going to structure this thing, that's when we started having a lot of differences. My studies put me in the vein of studying the ancient music, and I became one who submits to his ancestors. In that way, I embrace their concepts of sound and thought, and I hope that someday I will be eligible to receive some of the knowledge they had and was lost. But most of the guys that came into the AACM wanted to take the music that Sun Ra was playing when they would play 'out'. They want to play 'out' all the time because it didn't require any discipline. That was my opinion. Later on, they developed tremendous discipline, but at that time it was just playing notes. That didn't do it for me. When we were playing with Sun Ra, we had objectives and sounds and we knew what we were doing. . . I supported it, but the people who came to my concerts came to other concerts and when they heard all of the 'out' music, they wouldn't hang, they'd get up and leave before the end of the concert. And they'd be like, 'Phil, what are you doing to me?' So here I was a defender of their concept, which I didn't appreciate either. But I stuck it out because I do believe that musicians should be provided the energy to go anywhere they choose in their art, so I supported them for that reason.''

Luckily, Cohran found a group of musicians who shared his respect and admiration for tradition, but who knew it so well that they could take it into rarely explored realms of trance and freedom. Musicians from the Chess Records session group - tuba player Aaron Dodd, bassist Louis Satterfield, saxophonist Donald Myrick, trumpet player Charles Handy, drummer Bob Crowder and guitarist Pete Cosey - joined The Artistic Heritage Ensemble in the summer of 1967, when the group was playing on the shores of Lake Michigan. ''Before that, no one played in the park,'' Cohran says of that time. ''We'd have a parade once a year or a band playing for a special group, but no one played in the parks for the general public before this grant we got from a sister named Betty Montgomery. She secured a grant from a wealthy man to have art exhibitions on the lakefront in an old boathouse that wasn't being used. So they brought together sculptors, writers, poets, dancers, painters and musicians and I had the music. It was next to Lake Shore Drive, so people would drive by and hear this strange music because we weren't playing like other people, and they would hear the thumb piano and the zithers, so they would come back and check us out. At our last performance we had 3000 people, so that place was just run over, and that's where we got established. That song, ''On The Beach'', was written August 16. I prayed at the lakefront - I have meditations at sunrise, and that particular morning the sunrise was perfect and I heard the music and wrote [it] down and went to rehearsal. In about three hours we were performing it. That first performance that we ran down is the one that's on the record; we tried to beat it, but we never got as good at that performance. . . Incidentally, that's how [Earth Wind & Fire's] Maurice White got on the bandwagon. He copied that. He would come to the theatre when he was playing with Ramsey Lewis and sit on my side of the stage. I understand that because he was Satterfield's friend, and Satterfield was sat on the other side of the stage [laughs]. Ramsey started at ten, we started at eight, he'd be at our place. Later, I found out what it was. [Maurice's brother] Verdeen also played with me in the summer of 70.''

In the autumn of 1967, Cohran set up the Affro-Arts Theatre as a permanent home for the kind of events that were taking place on the beach that summer. ''The band played Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that's how we paid our bills because we had a popular band,'' Cohran says. ''We trained music, history; we had Hebrew, Arabic and Swahili taught free; civilisation classes, forums. We also held conferences there, one conference of Third World countries.'' The reissue of On The Beach includes a live version of their most famous track, ''Unity'', recorded at the Affro-Arts Theatre on 15 February 1968. It features Cohran venturing close to Moroccan Joujouka territory with his zithers and an absolutely mindbending guitar solo from Pete Cosey, six years before his memorable contributions to Miles Davis's Agharta and Pangaea: splashes and prismatic shards of intense colour that not even Hendrix was approaching at the time. ''You see, when you get in an environment, it magnifies things in you,'' Cohran says of the milieu surrounding ''Unity''. ''All of those musicians were dedicated to music. At first I kind of questioned that about one of the musicians, but eventually he gave himself to it too. But we were all people who were born to play, and we knew that, and we weren't going to accept any alternatives because there's a tremendous energy against black musicians making a living. When I saw that, that was one of the things that stimulated me to look in other areas like schools and churches and places like that, just to keep a band working. That was a very difficult thing and we made it through the 60s. They were all great musicians, but the concept was something that we developed with Sun Ra. Being free and not having to be inhibited with specific chord structures gave me a sense of freedom that I didn't have before, and I began to explore the ancient approaches to that concept and that really opened it up. So that's what it's based on - the original system of speaking through musical mediums. There were times when through our circular energies we were able to transcend normal borders. That's one of the things I liked about that ''Unity'': it showed that we were locked in. There were places in there where we really became just one thought.''

Unfortunately, not everyone involved in the Affro-Arts Theatre was of one thought. After some internal turmoil, at the end of 1968 Cohran left the group and the theatre to teach at Malcolm X Junior College. The AHE mutated into The Pharoahs and later into Earth Wind & Fire, and the theatre eventually closed in 1970. ''Sammy Davis Jr and Lola Falana came down and promised to perform in the theatre,'' Cohran recollects. ''He got busy and couldn't perform there, but he sent us $5000. But by that time we had been split up by J Edgar Hoover and company. . . We all opened the theatre as a group, about 25 people, [gospel group] the Jackson Family, Darlene [Blackburn] and her dancers, equipment people, it was a whole staff. We did this out of our commitment to the community, we didn't accept salaries, we did it to further our mission. I had an interview with two guys at Look magazine, a photographer and a writer. At that time, Look was pretty big and they worked six months ahead. They sent this team in July or August and they asked everything, what colour was my toilet paper? They followed me around for four days. They went to my performances, they talked to people I performed with, they went in the theatre, they went in schools, they went everywhere asking people stuff. They left and said I would be in the January issue of Look.

''But in September the whole group disintegrated. Someone charged me with doing some negative things and we had a meeting and it got to arguing. I had taken each one of these people in on a basis of respect and so I separated from them. I told them they could run the theatre, but I'm not going to travel with the group in disrespect. So I left. I found out later on who it was and what had happened. I guess I responded a little wrong because we were all a bunch of victims. They were playing dirty pool with us, the government was, because of us setting our own agendas. We were marked. I guess we should have expected it. It didn't bother me,'' he concludes with a laugh. ''I call it respect.''

Sabertooth

Editor's info:
Saxophonists Cameron Pfiffner and Pat Mallinger are exciting jazz players who evoke the spirit of historic saxophone tandems like Johnny Griffin & Eddie ''Lockjaw'' Davis or Sonny Stitt & Gene Ammons. They formed Sabertooth in 1990 and have been doing the Green Mill Saturday night After Hours Jazz Party for fifteen years. Pete Benson's been Sabertooth's organist for five years and the group is anchored by drummer Ted Sirota. Blues to bop, Caribbean to cool, strange (Dr. Midnight) to odd (couple) - put this CD on and join the party!

Art Hodges

Black Moth Super Rainbow

Opis Wydawcy:
Black Moth Super Rainbow to zespół pochodzący z Pensylwani. Uznawani za czołowych amerykańskich eksperymentatorów, ich elektroniczno-rockowe kompozycje sprawiające czasami wrażenie dźwiękowego tła potrafią zaskoczyć skondensowaną psychodelią czy też prostotą folkowych wpływów.

Twórcza kontynuacja dokonań Godspeed You! Black Emperor i Thee Silver Mt. Zion!

John Burnett Swing Orchestra with special guest Randy Sandke

Editor's info:
In addition to being the host of WDCB's ''All Things Jazz'' John Burnett is the leader of ''maybe the best contemporary swing big band on the planet.'' Amazon.com.
Formed in 1999 this orchestra is comprised of top-notch Chicago musicians and features guest vocalist Frieda Lee. This liverecording was captured at Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL (the album title refers to the street location of the venue) and the band is joined by special guest trumpeter Randy Sandke. Groovin' High, Night In Tunisia, Struttin' With Some Barbeque, One O'Clock Jump, Sweet Georgia Brown, April In Paris and more. ''His object is to keep the big band aliveand swingin'. In this, he has done admirably well.'' -Louie Bellson.

Sleepy John Estes with Hammie Nixon

Editor's info:
John Adam Estes was born on January 25, 1904 in Ripley, Tennessee. His recording career spanned six decades from the '20s until his death on June 5, 1977. ''Sleepy John Estes was one of the most individual of all recorded blues singers. He sang with phrasing that fairly dripped with expressiveness in a high crying tone that seemed often like he was speaking to the listener. The songs he wrote were well suited to this treatment, dealing frequently with his and his neighbors' lives in Brownsville, Tennessee.'' Gerald Brennan. This session from July 19, 1974 was recorded just before Sleepy John and Hammie Nixon departed for a tour of Japan. None of these performances have ever been issued. Sleepy John Estes, vocals, guitar; Hammie Nixon, vocals, harmonica, kazoo.

Różni Wykonawcy

multikulti.com:
''. . .Najsłynniejsza bluesowo-jazzowa wytwórnia - chicagowski Delmark - obchodzi właśnie pięćdziesiąte piąte urodziny. Na tę okazję przygotowane zostały dwie podwójne (CD+DVD) płyty poświęcone obu gatunkom, które wydaje wytwórnia. Na jazzową cześć złożyły się fragmenty (po jednym utworze) najważniejszych płytowych wydawnictw przez lata ukazujących się nakładem Delmark Records. Wśród wykonawców m.in.Sun Ra, Coleman Hawkins, Malachi Thompson, Fred Anderson, Kahil El'Zabar, Ari Brown czy Rob Mazurek - chociaż warto przypomnieć że brakuje tu Jodie Christiana, Roscoe Mitchella i Art Ensemble of Chicago. Płyta jest nie tylko znakomitym wprowadzeniem w ofertę muzycznych nagrań wytwórni Delmark, ale także znakomitym przewodnikiem do historii, zwłaszcza chicagowskiego, jazzu gdyż oprócz sceny AACM-u czy tzw.młodego (Keefe Jackson, Jason Ajemian) Chicago dla Delmarku nagrywają także najważniejsze zespoły współcześnie wykonujące jazz tradycyjny. Współczesność jazzowej sceny w Chicago prezentuje płyta DVD, na którą składają się fragmenty - po jednym utworze - koncertowych realizacji Delmarku (Nicole Mitchell, Ari Brown, Fred Anderson, Ritual Trio). Polecamy!!!. . .''

Editor's info:
Contains one CD and one DVD! After wearing out Delmark's 2003 set celebrating 50 years of great jazz you probably thought you were going tohave to wait at least until 2013 for another such anniversary collection but when you've got a rich catalog like Delmark's and a label head like Bob Koester who is committed to keep expanding that catalog, why not seize every opportunity to throw a party for your enterprise-and all the great artists behind the candles on the cake? CD features Coleman Hawkins, Sun Ra, George Lewis, Curtis Fuller, Deep Blue Organ Trio, Francine Griffin and more. DVD features Nicole Mitchell, Ari Brown, Fred Anderson, Chicago Underground Trio and more.

Różni Wykonawcy

multikulti.com:
''. . .Najsłynniejsza bluesowa (i jazzowa) wytwórnia - chicagowski Delmark - obchodzi właśnie pięćdziesiąte piąte urodziny. Na tę okazję przygotowane zostały dwie podwójne (CD+DVD) płyty poświęcone obu gatunkom, które wydaje wytwórnia. Na bluesową złożyły się fragmenty (po jednym utworze) najważniejszych płytowych wydawnictw przez lata ukazujących się nakładem Delmark Records. Wśród wykonawców m.in. Junior Wells, Willie Kent, Laurie Bell, Carey Bell, Dave Specter, Otis Rush, Jimmy Dawkins i Magic Sam. Płyta jest nie tylko znakomitym wprowadzeniem w ofertę muzycznych nagrań wytwórni Delmark, ale także znakomitym przewodnikiem do historii, zwłaszcza chicagowskiego, bluesa. Współczesność bluesowej sceny w Chicago prezentuje płyta DVD, na którą składają się fragmenty - po jednym utworze - koncertowych realizacji Delmarku. Polecamy!!!. . .''

Editor's info:
Contains one CD and one DVD! Delmark 55th anniversary blues bash at Buddy Guy's Legends on March 7, 2008 was suitably festive, with most of Delmark's local blues roster on hand and a Delmark Day proclamation from Mayor Daley. The role that Bob Koester, his label and his Jazz Record Mart haveplayed since relocating some fifty years ago from St. Louis in nurturing and furthering the Chicago blues scene have broadened its horizons and benefitted virtually everyone involved in some way. CD features Junior Wells, Magic Sam, Otis Rush, Speckled Red, Willie Kent and more. DVD features Tail Dragger, Byther Smith, JimmyBurns, Zora Young's performance from the 55th anniversary bash and more.

Tammy McCann

Editor's Info:
When asked to describe Tammy McCann's voice, saxophonist Von Freeman declared 'Everyone who hears her loves her. She's a natural talent.' A bold proclamation from a renowned musician, but McCann fulfills, even surpasses, claims of her vocal prowess. Following her performance at a recent Mahalia Jackson tribute, McCann obliged new found admirers with autographs and copies of her latest CD, aptly entitled 'Classic.' Packed with moving renditions of jazz masterpieces, 'Classic' effectively reaffirms the admirable sentiment of Von Freeman and others. According to Chicago pianist Ramsey Lewis, listeners are not left aching for traditional versions of the selections on 'Classic.' Instead, Mr. Lewis depicts McCann as a 'performer who knows how to get the most out of' a chart, by breathing 'new life into [the] evergreens' of the vocal jazz tradition.
The album commences with a Latin tinged version of the Rogers and Hammerstein favorite 'Happy Talk,' allowing Tammy to demonstrate clarity and precision at a challenging tempo. While the tempo may relax on subsequent ballads like Nina Simone's 'Black is the Color' or Billy Strayhorn's 'Lush Life,' the emotional intensity remains.

Tammy McCann Biography

Power and Versatility - the vocals of Chicago native Tammy McCann provdie both qualities in a variety of musical settings. Studying with Kenwood Academy's Dr. Lena Mclin throughout her youth, McCann exposed her immense vocal talents with an opera recital at the tender age of fifteen. After receiving a classical voice scholarship to Virginia Union University, McCann's resume expanded rapidly. She graced Chicagoland hotspots including Park West, Green Dolphin, and Jazz Bulls before using her multi-lingual capabilities to spread her voice across the globe. Notable appearances include endeavors with the following artists: George Duke, Von and George Freeman, Ramsey Lewis, Voices of Glory, Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Wonderbrass, and Bernie Mac.
Tammy McCann's recent release entitled ''Classic'' continues to please listeners with insightful, innovative renditions of eleven jazz standards. Selections range from Latin versions of ''Happy Talk'' and ''Autumn Leaves'' to emotional, piano-driven ballads like ''Lush Life'' and ''Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair.'' Ramsey Lewis veterans Ari Brown (saxophones) and Ernie Adams (drums) join Dan McNaughton (bass) and Tom Vaitsas (piano) to support McCann's vocals.

Sun Ra & His Solar Arkestra

Editor's info:
The fourth deluxe RA reissue in the O-Card format from the UMS, released in conjunction with EL SATURN Records has arrived: A superb reissue of a mind-numbingly rare Saturn Records document from '62- with a previously unreleased 17 min. TRACK. . . all available for the first time on CD!

''SECRETS OF THE SUN is one of the last great early 60s Saturn LPs to be reissued-,and is one of his classic early New York releases. So rare that it is barely known even by hard-nosed Ra collectors, it contains music related in approach, acoustics, and arrangement to the more widely heard material on Out there a Minute (Blast First). From a fertile period in Ra's oeuvre, the ''Solar'' years, this group is more loose-limbed and ragged than the Chicago bands, and considerably more edgy.

To augment this reissue of SECRETS OF THE SUN, we have included a track that was originally designed to be the B-side of another Saturn record (catalog number 547, a great mystery among Ra-o-philes)- a production that was slated but never issued. Tracking in at the length of an LP side, ''Flight To Mars'' comes from the same period exactly, with an extremely unusual tape-collage introduction, spliced onto a tremendously swinging, aggressive feature for drums and extended solos all around. Needless to say, it's an honor and pleasure to finally issue this music after it had rested so long in the can. Perhaps you'll agree that it's only gotten better with age. A well-kept secret indeed. -John Corbett, Chicago/July, 2008

True West

Editor's info:
Encompassing their early signature 'desert psych', and featuring core members Russ Tolman, Gavin Blair & Richard McGrath, HOLLYWOOD HOLIDAY REVISITED includes TRUE WEST's landmark Hollywood Holiday mini-LP, the classic Drifters full-length, PLUS the demo sessions produced by Television's Tom Verlaine-- all framed up in a scintillating 20-page photo booklet, with liner notes from Russ and Jud Cost (who was there from day one and lived to tell about it all!).
From Jud's notes:. . . ''True West: a two-fisted, two-guitar band you're bound to love even if you despise the rest of the groups in the Paisley Underground. I have no idea who said that or who these people were who disliked the Dream Syndicate, Rain Parade, Green On Red, the Long Ryders, the Bangles and the Three O'Clock- the Los Angeles-based combos that comprised the Paisley Underground. Everybody I knew loved them! And True West in their prime were every bit as exhilarating and psychedelic in the best sense of the word as benchmark Paisley combos Dream Syndicate or Rain Parade. To stand transfixed in front of dueling True West guitarists Richard McGrath and Russ Tolman as they created a turbulent sea of noise under soaring vocalist Gavin Blair would keep you awake all night, long after those six cappuccinos had worn off.''


If California is America's ultimate Manifest Destiny prize, then True West's bleak neo-psych is the perfect soundtrack for the inevitable ''Is this all there is?'' moment. Sounding something like a trippier Gun Club crossed with a gothier Dream Syndicate, True West may have been the Paisley Underground's best band, and certainly the most deserving of a success they never attained. This fantastic Atavistic remaster of their debut HOLLYWOOD HOLIDAY (also featuring their self-titled EP) aims to correct that error.
The reissue reveals a band equally adept with cosmic guitar drone--''Steps to the Door'' and the Pink Floyd cover ''Lucifer Sam'' both presage Spacemen 3's hypnotic odysseys--as they are with dark Americana rave-ups (see ''Shot You Down'' and ''Burn the Roses''). Throughout the record, singer Gavin Blair and guitarist Russ Tolman, whose complicated dark jangles predate Johnny Marr's, trade riffs and yowls, but also know their way around some nice comedown balladry. A fierce, must-own gem for anyone remotely interested in L.A. indie rock in the early '80s.

Review:
Spin (p.96) - 3 stars out of 5 'This combo of True West's mid-'80s tag team, HOLLYWOOD HOLIDAY and DRIFTERS, will bring joy to a certain type of guitar-rock fiend.

Atomic / School Days

multikulti.com:
''. . .Podwójna, druga już płyta, sygnowana nazwą Atomic / School Days, jest owocem trasy koncertowej jaką po Stanach Zjednoczonych odbyli wspólnie Skandynawscy i Amerykańscy muzycy w 2006 roku. Nominalnie są to dwa kwintety ale na scenie podczas trasy koncertowej pojawiało się ośmiu członków obu grup, ponieważ sekcja rytmiczna - Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten Paal Nilssen-Love - występuje w obu tych zespołach. Na zakończenie trasy oktet grał dwa wieczory w chicagowskim klubie Green Mill i właśnie z tych dwóch wieczornych sesji pochodzą zarejestrowane utwory. Muzyka - co charakterystyczne dla obu grup - jest bardzo silnie osadzona w tradycji jazzu lat sześćdziesiątych, a znakomite kompozycje - zwłaszcza Fredrika Lungvista - saksofonisty i klarnecisty Atomica - na długo zapadają w pamięć. Tym wieksza szkoda, iż był to jednorazowy projekt (School Days Kena Vandermarka zakończyło bowiem już działalność) i nie dane nam będzie zakosztować koncertowych doznań przy współudziale ośmiu wybitnych osobowości współczesnego jazz. Tym bardziej więc polecamy Państwu drugą, i raczej już ostatnią, ich płytę. . .''
[Józef Paprocki]


Editor's info:
Two discs of new material culled from the group's April 21st & 22nd '06 dates at world-famous Chicago jazz club, the Green Mill. Distil is a melding of two outstanding groups with one wonderful rhythm section - and a great follow-up to Atomic / School Days 2004 Okka Disk release, Nuclear Assembly Hall.

Art Ensemble of Chicago & Don Pullen

multrikulti.com:
''. . .Wspólne nagranie Art Ensemble of Chicago z gościnnym udziałem Dona Pullena było niestety przedsięwzięciem jednorazowym i nigdy się już nie powtórzy. O tym jak wielka to szkoda świadczy nalepiej nagranie, które w ubiegłym roku ukazało się nakładem wytwórni Katalyst Entertainment Services. Muzyka na tej płycie zebrana jest przedziwna i niesamowita - muzycy działają bowiem na siebie przeciwstawnie: Don Pullen dyscyplinuje rozwichrzonych członków chicagowskiego kolektywu, a Art Ensemble uwalnia Pullena-pianistę z jakichkolwiek ram rytmicznych. Bliżej tej płycie do nagrania Art Ensemble of Chicago z Muhalem Richardem Abramsem (Kabalaba) - chociaż nie ma siły pierwotnego rytuału - niż do ich nagrań z gościnym udziałem Cecila Taylora. I choć płyta zwiastuje tylko początej drogi jaką wspólnie mogli przebyć muzycy, nie ma jednak charakteru tylko i wyłącznie dokumentacyjnego. Jest spójną, niezwykłą całością która długie godziny potrafi zadziwiać i którą długi czas można się rozkoszować. . .''
[Józef Paprocki]

Phil Cohran & the Artistic Heritage Ensemble

Editor's Info:
A re-reissue of the classic ''On the Beach'' recording of Phil Cohran and the Artistic Heritage Ensemble. This record was previously available in limited quantities and out of print until now due to the collaborative efforts of Kelan Zulu productions and Katalyst Entertainment This historic recording is the definitive representation of one of the most significant groups of this era in jazz history. With several legendary musicians including guitarist Pete Cosey, percussionist Henry Gibson, Louis Satterfield on bass, and Donald Myrick on sax, ''On the Beach'' is a must have for jazz fans everywhere.

Pharoah Sanders / Ritual Trio [Kahil El'Zabar, Malachi Favors, Ari Brown]

multrikulti.com:
Legendarny Pharoah Sanders był jednym z najbliższych współpracowników samego Johna Coltrane'a. Z Kahilem El'Zabarem łączy go długoletnia przyjaźń.
Ritual Trio to formacja złożona z trzech wielkich osobowości amerykańskiego jazzu, Malachi Favors to jeden z fundamentów Art Ensemble Of Chicago, kontrabasista operujący masywnym brzmieniem, do którego przylgnął przydomek ''malarz dźwięku''.
Pianista i saksofonista Ari Brown to kolejna legenda chicagowskiej sceny jazzowej, towarzyszył bluesmanom (B.B.King, Lou Rawls, Chuck Berry), z Lesterem Bowie nagrał dedykowaną Louisowi Armstrongowi ''All the Magic!''. Spotkamy go w składach Roscoe Mitchella, Anthony Braxtona , McCoy Tynera czy Elvina Jonesa.
W końcu Kahil El'Zabar, muzyk wyjątkowy, nawet na tle przebogatej sceny muzycznej ''wietrzneo miasta''. Jego obszerna dyskografia obejmuje nagrania z Dizzym Gillespiem, Davidem Murrayem, Cannonballem Aderleyem, Pharoaha Sandersem, Archie Sheppem, Hamietem Bluiettem, Billy Bang'iem, Paulem Simonem czy Stevie Wonderem.
Płyta ''Ooh Live!'' to zapis koncertu, promującego studyjną płytę ''Africa N'da Blues'', jaki odbył się w klubie Hot House w Chicago. Usłyszymy tutaj znany z niej ''Autumn Leaves'' Josepha Cosmy w blisko 20 minutowej wersji. Druga kompozycja autorstwa El'Zabara ''In The Land Of Ooh!'' to już sama esencja kolektywnej improwizacji, której każdy z czterech muzyków jest niedoścignionym mistrzem.
Tradycyjny ''This Little Light Of Mine'' przynosi uspokojenie, prosty, liryczny temat podany tutaj zostaje w pełen muzycznych interakcji sposób.
Płytę kończy afirmatywny ''Ka's Blues'', z charakterystycznym El'Zabarowskim transowym śpiewem, usłyszymy tutaj dwa saksofony, Ari Brown pod koniec utworu odchodzi od fortepianu i chwyta za swój drugi instrument, saksofon tenorowy. ''Ka's Blues'' to prawdziwa kulminacja tego muzycznego misterium.
Muzyka jazzowa jest tworzona z publicznością i dla publiczności, jazzmani z Chicago wiedzą to najlepiej, ten koncert to kolejny na to dowód.
autor: Krzysztof Szamot



Editor's Info:
Ooh Live! Is sure to be a modern jazz collector's item. The music is that powerful. This is one of Pharoah Sanders finest performances in years, and the Ritual Trio stays true to their unique magic of music making. There is a spellbounding quality for this entire performance, and upon listening, one will be completely transformed. The combination of these particular players in terms of who they have all performed with throu the years represents the pantheon of Jazz greats! Sure to become a legendary This historical unit of jazz luminaries is sure to recording in evidence to the prolific garner enormous press worldwide telepathy and technical execution of these endowed spirits. Extensive touring schedule throughout 2008.

Corey Wilkes

multikulti.com:
O Corey'u Wilkes'ie mawia się albo jako o wielkiej nadziei młodego, jazzowego Chicago albo jako o jednym z najzdolniejszych chicagowskich muzyków młodego pokolenia. A mawia się tak nie tylko w środowisku krytyków jazzowych, którzy w końcu mogą się mylić.
Przede wszystkim tak myśli wielu uznanych jazzmanów, którzy zapraszają go do swoich zespołów, wymienię tylko najważniejszych: Kahil El'Zabar, Kurt Elling, Von Freeman, DJ Logic, Ernest Dawkins, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Fred Anderson, Clark Terry, Harry ''Sweets'' Edison czy Mulgrew Miller.
Corey Wilkes jest członkiem nowego kwintetu Roscoe Mitchella, który można było usłyszeć podczas 5 Jazzowej Jesieni w Bielsku-Białej i trzeciej edycji Festiwalu Made In Chicago w Poznaniu.
Podczas festiwalu Made In Chicago Corey występował kilkukrotnie i można zaryzykować opinię, że to właśnie on był najbardziej oklaskiwanym muzykiem tegorocznej edycji festiwalu.
Prawdziwy zwrot jego kariery nastąpił w 2003 roku, kiedy to został zaproszony na trasę koncertową Art Ensemble of Chicago, w którym zajął miejsce legendarnego trębacza Lestera Bowie, zmarłego w 1999 roku.
Jego debiutancka płyta ''Drop It'', wydana właśnie przez chicagowską wytwórnię Delmark potwierdza tylko opinię o Corey'u, jako niesłychanie wszechstronnym trębaczu, z wielką swobodą poruszającym się po tym tak rozległym gatunku, jakim jest jazz. Tą jazzową omnibusowatością przypomina trochę saksofonistę Jamesa Cartera, który ma podobne korzenie.
Nie można też pominąć faktu, że Corey jest członkiem słynnego chicagowskiego kolektywu Exploding Star Orchestra, w którym można spotkać inne młode lwy współczesnego jazzu jak Jeff Parker, Jason Ajemian, Mike Reed, Jason Adasiewicz, Jim Baker, Matt Bauder.
Większość materiału na płytę napisał sam i słychać w tej muzyce wielobarwność muzyki jazzowej pojmowanej w bardzo otwarty sposób, od bluesa, funky, hip hop, spoken word po awangardę spod znaku AACM [stowarzyszenia na rzecz rozwoju kreatywnych muzyków] Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, którego jest członkiem.[multikulti.com]


Biography
Born: June 3, 1979
As a child, Corey Wilkes was surrounded by the sounds of Blues, R&B, Soul, Funk and Jazz. He picked up the trumpet for the first time at the age of 10. Starting with the school band, Corey's natural talent immediately began to flourish. He dominated his peers in both group and solo competitions, always taking first place.

His confidence and maturity were well beyond his years. As a student at Rich South High School in Richton Park, Illinois, his hard work and dedication secured a spot in the Illinois All State Honors Jazz Combo; the first student in the school's history to do so.

Corey further honed his craft at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While there, he studied trumpet under Tiger Okoshi and Charlie Lewis Jr. Leaving college for more hands on experience, Corey held down a trumpet seat for Carnival Cruise Lines for a short stint. Then in an even further effort to absorb the very essence of Jazz, he traveled to its heart, Louisiana. He integrated himself in to the local scene by frequenting jam sessions and playing with several different bands in New Orleans.

Since then, Corey has become an Artist in Residence for the Jazz Institute of Chicago, and a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. He has also shared the stage with numerous Jazz Masters including but not limited to; Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, James Moody, Kurt Elling, Von Freeman, Greg Osby, Roscoe Mitchell, Marcus Belgrave, Clark Terry, Harry 'Sweets' Edison, and Mulgrew Miller.

To top off all of Corey's accomplishments, he made history playing with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. No one else had filled the trumpet seat after the passing of Lester Bowie in 1999. In October of 2003, Corey was asked to tour with the group on the West Coast, where his performance received rave reviews. Consequently he joined the Art Ensemble of Chicago; which tours the United States, Europe, and beyond.

Corey is currently soothing souls at some of the most renowned clubs and festivals in the world. His soulful, sophisticated sound can be found on numerous projects ranging from jazz to hip-hop.


Editor's info:
Jazz trumpeter Corey Wilkes burst on the Chicago jazz scene in 2002. Corey took on the ghost of Lester Bowie and filled the vacant seat in the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Big shoes to fill for a new musician but Corey isn't an ordinary musician. He began at the age of 10, made the Illinois All State Honors Jazz Combo in high school and honed his talent at Berklee College of Music. His soulful notes can be heard gracing a variety of projects such as DJ sets by Logic, Osunlade and Josh Deep; tracks on Hidden Beach's Unwrapped Vol. 4, also recorded with Roscoe Mitchell, Art Ensemble, Tortoise, Ernest Dawkins, Nicole Mitchell and Ethnic Heritage Ensemble's Hot 'N' Heavy (Delmark DVD 1574, CD DE 574). With Chelsea Baratz, tenor sax; Jabari Liu, alto sax; Robert ''Baabe'' Irving III, piano and Fender Rhodes; Junius Paul, bass; Jeremy ''Bean'' Clemmons, drums. Drop It is Corey's debut CD as leader.

Peter Brotzmann / Fred Lonberg-Holm

Editor's info:
Peaked-out duo recordings from one of the founders of the form and his ever adventurous, cello-torque-ing protégé. Recorded live in November 2007 at Chicago's famed HIDEOUT destination, Brö & Brother FLH combine for the first time ever in this penultimately intimate configuration.
Although ''BRAINDOG'' (as we affectionately refer to these hypnotic tones around here) was recorded in an ultra-industrial urban warehouse district, the resulting music is über-organic, almost onomotopaeic at points. Certainly, fans of SCHWARZWALDFAHRT (alp/ums254cd) - Brötzmann & Bennink's now classic free-jazz camping trip deep into Germany's Black Forest -- are strongly urged to check into this seminal blast.
Listen, then if you will. . . for: THE BRAIN OF THE DOG IN SECTION feels as if you've entered another galaxy's notion of what an aviary should sound like.

Byther Smith

multikulti.com:
Byther Smith był w swoim życiu bokserem, złomiarzem i robotnikiem. Urodził się w Monticello w Mississippi i bardzo wcześnie - gdy nie miał jeszcze dwóch lat - stracił oboje rodziców. Od dzieciństwa, by przeżyć, imał się najrozmaitszych zajęć aż w końcu został bokserem. Na ringu stoczył 69 walk. W późnych latach 50-tych przybył do Chicago, a od wczesnych lat 60-tych występował chicagowskich klubach gdzie szybko stał się partnerem Juniora Wells'a. Nagrywał i występował m.in. z Big Mama Thornton, George 'Harmonica' Smith'em czy Otisem Rushem. Pierwszą płytę wydał w 1971 roku. Ta płyta jest czwartą w jego dorobku - ale pierwszą koncertową w dorobku tego niebanalnego gitarzysty i doświadczonego przez życie wokalisty. I jest to prezentacja współczesnego, chicagowskiego straight-ahead bluesa w czystej postaci. Polecamy!!!

Zapis koncertu jest dostępny także w formacie DVD Video.

Tim Daisy / Wacław Zimpel with Dave Rempis & Mark Tokar

Info wydawcy:
Pierwsze wspólne nagranie Tima Daisy'ego, Wacława Zimpla z gościnnym udziałem w dwóch utworach chicagowskiego saksofonisty Dave Rempisa (The Vandermark 5, Triage, Ken Vandermark's Territory Band, Dave Rempis Percussion Quartet, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten Quintet, Ken Vandermark's Resonance Project) i Marka Tokara (Ken Vandermark's Resonance Project, Yatoku). Materiał został zarejestrowany 4 kwietnia 2008 w krakowskim klubie Alchemia bez udziału publiczności. Płyta zawiera duetowe i kwartetowe improwizacje w oparciu o wcześniej uzgodnioną strukturę improwizacji - w jednym tylko utworze wykorzystano fragment kompozycji Antona Weberna z Kantaty II (Chorale). Płyta bdzie miała także swój ''dalszy ciąg'' - trasa koncertowa kwartetu Dave Rempis / Wacław Zimpel / Tim Daisy / Mark Tokar oraz rejestracja kolejnego materiału - tym razem w oparciu o autorskie kompozycje muzyków - odbędzie się dniach 16-22 lutego 2009 roku.


Przekrój; 17/11/2008, ocena: * * * *
Zimpel bez granic

Poezja i humor to siła wspólnej płyty Zimpla i Daisy'ego

Polski młody jazz coraz lepiej radzi sobie na arenie międzynarodowej. Coraz częściej także nasi artyści podejmują współpracę z czołowymi muzykami z Zachodu. 'Four Walls' to wspaniałe świadectwo takiej kooperacji. Grającemu na klarnecie basowym Wacławowi Zimplowi towarzyszy Tim Daisy, perkusista Vandermark 5, najważniejszej formacji światowego avant-jazzu ostatnej dekady.
Basklarnet to instrument z równym powodzeniem odnajdujący się w klimacie ludycznej groteski, jak i na gruncie nobliwej, poważnej kameralistyki. Zimpel oscyluje między tymi biegunami, sięgając po frywolne zagrywki, jak i pełne zadumy motywy. Jego partie, iście karkołomnymi, nie stroniącymi od sonorystycznych eksperymentów figurami obudowuje Daisy. Dialogi duetu nie są nazbyt ekspresyjne, raczej urzekają swoistą poetyckością, wyobraźnią, a niekiedy humorem. Więcej żaru wnoszą występujący gościnnie w kilku fragmentach: saksofonista Dave Rempis i kontrabasista Mark Tokar. Świetna płyta, na której coś dla siebie znaleźć powinni zarówno jazzowi koneserzy, zasłuchani w twórczość Erica Dolphy'ego, jak i fani freakowych eksperymentów Mazzolla.
autor: Łukasz Iwasiński

Lydia Lunch

Editor's info:
A fully-realized, thoroughly saturated archival reissue compiled by Lydia and longtime confidante / agent provocateur Tom Garretson, collecting rare, live and unreleased material from el No Wave flagship band.

This seminal combo was lead by primal screamer and guitarist Lydia Lunch, an individual who has fought her artistic way through the decades- always true to her own vision, and always brutally honest. In early 1978, artist and producer Brian Eno attended a series of shows put on to benefit the Artist's Space in Soho, and influenced Island Records to finance a compilation LP featuring four bands- Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Contortions, Mars and DNA. The resulting recording, entitled NO NEW YORK remains one of the most impressive and extraordinarily bold debuts of the time. Parallel to Teenage Jesus, Lunch formed Beirut Slump, a short-lived unit that released one single and recorded an album's worth of material, which are also included on this remarkable collection.

SHUT UP AND BLEED remains incredibly fresh and totally brash- even 30 years after the original recordings were made.

Yazzbot Mazut

Info wydawcy:
Grupa powstała po wyczerpaniu się formuły zespołu Prototyp (2003-2007). Dziedziczy po nim gitarzystę (Andrzej Szawara), basistę (Szczepan Kopyt) i perkusistę (Piotr Kowalski), którym zawsze marzyło się silne nawiązanie do początków fusion, a co umożliwiają im nowi instrumentaliści: grający na klarnetach (Piotr Mełech) i elektrycznym pianie (Darek Dobroszczyk). Zespół zapełnia lukę na scenie muzyki improwizowanej, jaka powstała wraz z upadkiem sceny yassowej. Z chaotycznego arché wyłania się więc motoryczny transowy potwór, kipiący energią i dlatego nie planujący paktowania z żadną partią w rodzaju: Oszczędność Formy, Pokora czy Odgrzewanie Kotletów Pseudoawangardy. Rytm jest pulsujący i rwany. Instrumenty harmoniczne gryzą się niemiłosiernie. Cała machina ryczy i idzie do przodu. ''Nie boimy się disco i nie boimy się porno!''. Debiutancki materiał wskazuje na to, że Yazzboci nie boją się także chininy i rastafarianiny. Sporo surowej improwizacji. Nasłuchujcie i strzeżcie się!


YAZZBOT MAZUT: W PUSTYNI I W PUSZCZY - PRZEWODNIK PO PŁYCIE

W pustyni i w puszczy, ale także w mokradłach, w stepach, w sawannie czy w wulkanicznych wyspach zapisana jest historia wypiętrzeń i zlodowaceń, tektonicznego dryfu i abrazji, zmiany polaryzacji biegunów i stopnia zalesienia - słowem: historia przeobrażeń, jakim ulega improwizująca we wszystkim Natura. W pustynię i w puszczę zaś konkretnie wpisana jest historia ucieczek.
Kim są uciekający? Mogą być kimkolwiek - nie wiemy nawet dokąd zaprowadzi ich Droga, nie możemy więc pytać o ich imiona i historie, wierzenia i wartości. Nie widzimy koloru ich oczu. Poznajemy ich tylko po zjedzonych po drodze owocach.

1. Mao Tse-Tse [13:16]
Gdyby była to stara, dobra narracja, moglibyśmy zacząć od początku. Ale początku nie ma, więc ''na początku'' zostajemy wrzuceni do kraju potężnego Mao Tse-Tse. Sroga, toksyczna ziemia szczypie w stopy i narzuca tu szybkie tempo podróży.
Pięcioro uciekinierów znacznie różni się od siebie.
Aby chronić się przed agentami Mao wyposażeni są w broń akustyczną. Cały pojazd jest napędzany także jej użyciem.
Na tym etapie potrzebne są wszystkie dźwiękodajne przedmioty: dzwonki, bębenki, grzechotki i talerze są stosowane naprzemiennie. Ciężka stopa słonia i równomierne szarpanie basu płoszy drobną zwierzynę. Reszta załogi przedrzeźnia hałaśliwe małpy i papugi gitarami i klawiszami. Klarnet, dla niepoznaki zaciera ślady powolną i usypiającą, hebanową nutą.

2. Golem Bambucha [6:34]
Z traktu Mao, który przebiegał wewnątrz wielkiej dżungli statek Yazzbot Mazut (bez dowódcy) ląduje wśród dziwnego plemienia. Różowe ludziki tańczą wokół totemu wyobrażającego Człowieka-Butelkę-Coca-Coli. Członkowie załogi podejmują więc próbę nawiązania dialogu z sympatycznie wyglądającymi stworzonkami. Powoli i ostrożnie, choć wszyscy naraz.
Dziwne plemię ukrywa jednak prawdę, o której Yazzboci nie mają pojęcia. Co pięć minut odbywa się tu ten sam koszmar zabawy: co chwila nowi przybysze biorą całe to zbiegowisko za ludową imprezę, tymczasem jest to żart potężnego Mao - pułapka czasowa, z której niewielu uszło z życiem.
Podniesiona rozmowa jakoś zbyt szybko przeradza się w zgiełk. Widzimy nagle całe gromady ludzików atakujących naszych uciekinierów mikroskopijnymi haczykami i szpileczkami.
Nasi bohaterowie zmęczeni ciężką drogą, w napięciu raz jeszcze muszą ze wszystkich sił tak nawigować statkiem Yazzbot Mazut, aby ostatecznie wyjść w teren mniej lesisty; choć na chwilę.
Zapada noc. Niebo jest czarne, lecz drogę oświetla księżyc. Wyczerpani rozbijają obóz w na sawannie. Ostatnie. . . wbijanie. . . śledzi. . ..

3. Čoki [9:54]
Jeśli ciekawi was co znaczy tytuł Čoki, to Tomaž Šalamun pisze w wierszu Moje drewniane ławki tak: 'Čoki? To jest zdrobnienie imienia kolegi, który/ nazywa się Zlatan'. Jesteśmy więc na krawędzi 'Krawędzi czego? Krawędzi/ najstraszliwszej dyspozycyjności'. Ostrzegałem chyba (ostrzegałem?), że droga nie będzie łatwa.
Zlatan, który co rano pomaduje swoje włosy, budzi członków załogi osobliwym hejnałem. Zlatan, który pachnie jedliną każe przymierzać Yazzbotom fatałaszki z 'epoki Prawdziwego Jazzu'.
'Kim jest Zlatan? Agentem Mao, czy zwyczajnym świrem? Czy jest niebezpieczny?' - myślą członkowie załogi Yazzbot Mazut, ale tańczą do jego osobliwego hejnału. Przedrzeźniają go (zobacz, a raczej słuchaj - to tu myśli każdego z osobna można doświadczyć w sposób najbardziej klarowny; to tu jest chwila prawdy, w przedrzeźnianiu!). 'Twoje hejnały są pełne wzruszeń, Čoki!'.
Yazzbot Mazut zapada w głęboki sen. Čoki wchodzi do ich głów i ucieka.

4. Dżdżownica, łuk, maczuga [1:27]
Wszyscy muzycy-uciekinierzy opowiedzieli sobie go rano. Nawet nie byli zdziwieni, że każdemu śniło się to samo. W wykonaniu Piotrka szło to mniej więcej tak: 'Śniło mi się, że używamy naszej broni do celów pokojowych. Nagrywamy płytę i czasami wychodzimy na zewnątrz studia na spacery. I właśnie w tym śnie wychodzimy sobie z jakichś ogromnych blokowisk i natrafiamy na most i rzeką. Pod mostem widzimy rozszarpane, jakby przez dzikie zwierzęta, kawałki drewna. Andrzej podchodzi do trzech, które wydają się mieć w sobie coś z symboli i robi im zdjęcia komórką. Potem patrzymy wszyscy na telefon i nazywamy pierwszy kawałek - dżdżownica, drugi - łuk, a trzeci - maczuga.'
W telefonie Andrzeja z tego snu pozostał materiał dowodowy, w postaci wspomnianych zdjęć.

5. Beast of Kommodo [7:07]
Ekspedycja, konwój, czy też po prostu grupa uciekinierów trafia do krainy afrykańskich fiordów. Biały starzec wyposażony w srogi zestaw brwi i długie aluminiowe włosy za pomocą saksofonu ukazuje im własną młodość.
Yazzbot Mazut (pojazd) zostaje w nocy oznakowany malunkiem przedstawiającym papierowego ptaka. Darek z niewiadomych względów zapada w śpiączkę i reszta załogi pracuje jeszcze ciężej idąc wciąż dalej, traktując ucieczkę przez białym czarownikiem z fiordów jako wyzwanie, obrzęd przejścia. . ..
'Kim jesteśmy kiedy łydki podgryzają nam piranie? Kim jesteśmy jeśli boimy się czarów? Kim jesteśmy w biegu, gdy nie mamy pewności czy drogi nie zasłoni nam szpaler hien, i czy rój szarańczy nie dobierze się w nocy do naszego latającego statku?'. Sny stają się dziwne, a we dnie halucynacje dają się wszystkim we znaki.
Po kilku dniach Yazzboci budzą się z tego haju i percepcyjnego letargu. Wszyscy oprócz Darka.
'Pan zesłał nam malarię z nieba!' - ogłasza napotkana grupa wędrownych breatharian, która jednak nie może pomóc naszym bohaterom w niczym.

6. Chinina dla Nel [15:09]
Aby zdobyć chininę, niezbędną do przeżycia, muzycy postanawiają sami użyć czarów. Najpierw proszą złe duchy o przychylność. Później proszą o deszcz.
W ciągu nocy widzimy jak rosną grzyby, klatka po klatce. Z samego rana każdy przynosi kilka gatunków ziół. Zgromadzona deszczówka posłuży na pustyni jako najlepszy napój.
Czary zaczynają się wraz z transowym biciem bębna. Yazzboci wędrują po różnych epokach trzymając się za ręce. Rytm, na jaki wpadną w tej narkotycznej podróży, naprowadzi ich na zapasy toniku z drogocenną chininą. Najpierw jednak konopny dym i proszek z potu makaka dodają mocy ich instrumentom, które przeobrażają się w słonie, nosorożce i drapieżne ptaki, pikujące precyzyjnie z wysokości kilku kilometrów i atakujące konsumentów cierpkiego napoju.
'Wielki rock jest immanentną częścią natury Yazzbotu' - zapisuje na bibułce Piotras skręcając kolejnego magicznego dziabąga.
Wzruszająca jest też scena, w której finally członkowie Yazzbot Mazut podają swojemu kompanowi dożylnie dwa litry toniku.
W tle kokosowe palmy, dwa tukany i czaszka goryla.

7. Grube ścieżki [13:44]
Darek budzi się ładując statek energią syntezatora. Unosi zespół nad pełnym morzem i mknie w stronę horyzontu, czyli w każdą stronę.
Co jakiś czas pojawiają się lekkie zakłócenia na łączach i zamiast kabiny pięciu pilotów widzisz światła neonów, coś jakby przejazd taksówką o czwartej w nocy. Szybki przejazd po grubych ścieżkach.
Jesteś sam i tracisz kontrolę nad percepcją. Co obudzi cię rano?
Mrowienie.
Kim są uciekający?
Uciekający starają się uciekać z gracją, gdyż w pustyni i w puszczy, ale także w mokradłach, w stepach, w sawannie czy w wulkanicznych wyspach, w skupiskach zwierząt w ich ruchach i języku zapisana jest historia przeobrażeń, jakim ulega improwizująca we wszystkim Natura. Uciekający są jej częścią, a Yazzbot Mazut jest jej potworkiem.
Jaka to muzyka?
Muzyka jest Drogą. Czy można mówić o niej inaczej?
Można.

Lydia Lunch

Editor's info:
This comprehensive visual retrospective of Lydia Lunch's musical collaborations from 1978-2006 is an incredible representation of her approach to art.
Hailed by the Boston Phoenix as ''one of the 10 most influential performers of the 90's'', no other artist of the 20th century has fought, forged, punched, and sculpted their own artistic vision in such a unique and original way.
Defying categorization, Lunch actively has conquered new territories, and has gained international recognition for the innovative quality of her work. Robert Palmer from THE NEW YORK TIMES writes ''Miss Lunch was always an effective vocal performer.
But rock has grown complacent again -- even the underground rock that has borrowed so much from Miss Lunch's various bands over the years. Perhaps it's time for her to administer it a few more rude shocks.
Featuring footage from TEENAGE JESUS & 8-EYED SPY, VH is an indispensible compendium & cornerstone; approx 70:00, Dolby 5.1, photo gallery feature, PLUS complete disc/film/bibliographies.

Poem Rocket

Willie ''The Lion'' Smith / Don Ewell

Editor's info:
Willie ''The Lion'' Smith in the 1920s was considered one of the big three of stride piano, along with James P. Johnson and Fats Waller. He was an influence on the young Duke Ellington. Although he was a braggart and (with his cigar and trademark derby hat) appeared to be a rough character, Smith was actually more colorful than menacing and a very sophisticated pianist. Because he remained active into the early '70s, Willie ''The Lion'' Smith was considered a living link to the glory days of early jazz. A major if underrated pianist, Don Ewell started leading his own trios in Baltimore in the mid-'30s; played during the New Orleans jazz revival (starting in the mid-'40s) and was with Jack Teagarden during 1957-1964. Ewell moved to New Orleans, where he worked regularly during his last years. This 1966 date, recorded live at the Golden Nugget in Toronto, features solo performances by Smith, Ewell and duets by the two.

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble [Kahil El'Zabar, Corey Wilkes, Ernest Dawkins]

multrikulti.com:
Kto by pomyślał, że Ethnic Heritage Ensemble liczy już sobie 35 lat. Formacja ta, założona przez Kahila El'Zabara dla wielu pozostaje najważniejszą obok Art Ensemble of Chicago grupą nurtu New Black Music. Od pierwszego koncertu w Child City Arts Center w Chicago w 1973 roku ich występy niosą w sobie nieomal misteryjną energię.
Klarowna jazzowa improwizacja budowana na transowym, afrykańskim rytmie stała się znakiem rozpoznawczym zespołu.
Liderem grupy jest wszechstronny perkusista Kahil El'Zabar, którego obszerna dyskografia obejmuje nagrania z Dizzym Gillespiem, Davidem Murrayem, Cannonballem Aderleyem, Pharoaha Sandersem, Archie Sheppem, Hamietem Bluiettem, Billy Bang'iem, Paulem Simonem czy Stevie Wonderem.
Najnowsza płyta nie ma nic z jubileuszowych, czysto koniunkturalnych wydawnictw, zespół brzmi niesłychanie surowo, długie, wyraziste improwizacje, medytacyjny walor kompozycji El'Zabara plus skupienie muzyków daje wielki efekt. Nowa krew w postaci robiącego coraz większą karierę trębacza Corey'a Wilkesa to kolejny atut tej wyjątkowej płyty.
Historia New Black Music wciąż zapisuje nowe karty!



Editor's Info:
It's hard to believe the Ethnic Heritage Ensemble is 35 years old -- especially when Kahil El'Zabar looks so young on the cover, and when the group's sound is fresher than ever! The album's got a really beautiful, timeless sort of feel -- spiritual jazz that few groups can play this well -- balanced between El'Zabar's percussion and kalimba, the trumpet of Corey Wilkes, and the saxes of Ernest Dawkins -- all key players in the Chicago scene, carrying on a rich tradition of AACM expression and other spiritual sounds. The album's wonderfully free from gimmicks -- some of the most back to basics work we've heard from Kahil in years, and a great reminder of why we first fell in love with his music a few decades back -- and the balance of the two horn players over percussion really creates a strong sense of power in the record -- a bold vision that comes through beautifully! Titles include ''Barundi'', ''Kari'', ''Oof'', ''All Blues'', and ''Ornette''.

Cy Touff / Sandy Mosse

Editor's info:
One of the few bass trumpet specialists in jazz history, Cy Touff (1927-2003) was a fixture in Chicago for decades. Touff recorded albums for Pacific Jazz and Chess' Argo in the '50s. He worked in the studios, performed in clubs and recorded with Chubby Jackson and Lorez Alexandria in 1957, and with the group Hyde Park After Dark in 1981. Tenor saxophonist Sandy Mosse (1929-1983) was born in Detroit but spent much of his American playing time in Chicago. He moved to Paris at age 22 and recorded historical sides in the bands of Henri Renaud and Django Rheinhardt. He returned to Chicago in '55 and recorded for Argo. Touff and Mosse co-led an octet in the late '50s/early '60s called Pieces of Eight. Mosse relocated to Amsterdam in the late '70s where he spent his last years. Tickle Toe is a swinging 1981 date with John Campbell, Kelly Sill and Jerry Coleman.

Kazutoki Umezu

Alan Glover

Editor's info:
His new cd Kings of Infinite Space has all kinds of beautiful things in it- things that show the range and depth of his creative vision. The first thing one notices about this music is the emotional range of the compositions. Each one is meticulously shaped and sculpted, much like the work of Thelonious Monk- not that the compositions sound like Monk-but that each song has a distinct personality and life history that is deeper than the notes that we are hearing. It is immediately telling stories that have a beginning, middle and end.

From the liner notes by world renowned bassist and composer William Parker

''Special guest ''Juice'', tenor saxophonist Alan Glover, took an extended solo, at first with the support of the trombones, but then over a loose cacophony from the other sections too. Glover played with Parker in the early 1970s when he ran a loft called the Firehouse. He preached over the orchestral anarchy in fluent post-Ayler style with more than a hint of Sonny Rollins, eschewing upper register screams for the middle ground. The horns dropped out to leave Leena Conquest singing ''Rocket ship to the moon'', giving a strong hint to the piece's title and dedicatee - ''Gilmore's Hat'', for the Sun Ra Arkestra mainstay , tenor saxophonist John Gilmore - Glover returned to duet in counterpoint to Conquest, before continuing his exposition.''
From the review by John Sharpe of the Vision Festival X day 6 June 19th 2005;
All About Jazz website

Silvia Bolognesi / Piero Bittolo Bon / Alberto Fiori / Simone Schirru / Simone Sfameli

multikulti.com; 2008-12
''. . .Niezależna, włoska wytwórnia Nu Bop prezentuje debiutancką płytę młodych muzyków z Półwyspu Apenińskiego. Bardzo mądrze czerpią oni zarówno z jazzowej tradycji (także jazz-rocka lat siedemdziesiątych) jak i współczesnej - nie tylko jazzowej - awangardy. Pobrzmiewają tu bowiem echa dokonań Johna Zorna (gdy Piero Bittolo Bon chwyta za saksofon) i Anthony'ego Braxtona z jego Goes Trance Music. Szczególną uwagę zwraca charyzmatyczna liderka kwintetu, basistka Silvia Bolonesi. To ona organizuje muzykę kwintety i to jej kompozycje są prawdziwym magnesem tego nagrania. Grywająca duety m.in. z Sabirem Mateenem kontrabasista jest na scenie prawdziwym wulkanem energii - urzeka lekkością gry, chociaż kontrabas zdaje się ją przerastać i niebanalną, zaskakującą muzyczną wyobraźnią. In to właśnie dzięki niej kwintet brzmi świeżo i zaskakująco harmonijnie łącząc tradycję z awangardową nowoczesnością. . .''
[Józef Paprocki]

Earth People [Andre Martinez / Doug Principato / Jason Candler / Sabir Mateen / Mark Hennen / Francois Grillot / Firehorse / Stephen Ayantoye Aniyikaye]

Imai Kazuo Trio

Namba Jazz [Yamamoto Seiichi, Yoshigaki Yasuhiro]

Editor's Info:
Namba Jazz is the improvisation duet by Yoshigaki Yasuhiro (drums, percussion) and Yamamoto Seiichi (guitar, misc.). ''Namba'' of Namba Jazz means not an area in Osaka but means Namba walking. And ''Jazz'' of Namba Jazz is not jazz but is actually Jazu.Namba Jazz has performed gigs 4 times in Japan. This CD is consisted great 10 tunes what selected in 3 gigs. The guitar playing by Yamamoto has a wide variety of the sound. He keeps a spark of genius and has never sounds the cliche of improvisation. He is genius for music absolutely. The drum and percussion master, Yoshigaki make the texture of Namba Jazz sound and he seems to look beyond Yamamoto's intimate feelings. His miraculous Fill-in or momentum of musical scene changes reflect his versatile in improvised music.Each of their various musical projects and groups, —ROVO, PARA, Rashinban, Omoide Hatoba, Orquesta Nudge! Nudge!, Vincent Atmicus, Altered States, ex-Boredoms, ex-Modern Choki Chokis, etc. . ., — are innumerable in this space, and what's more, they challenge to create the original sound. We would like you to listen the front line of improvised music, unrivaled sound of Namba Jazz !!

Blacksheep [Yoshida Ryuichi, Goto Atsushi, Suga Dairo]

Editor's Info:
''blacksheep'' is a trio group, consisting of Yoshida Ryuichi (baritone sax player in Shibusashirazu Orchestra, Fujii Satoko Orchestra, etc.), Goto Atsushi (trombone player in ''Tokyo Out'', ''Denki Slime'', etc.) and Suga Dairo (pianist in Shibusashirazu Orchestra,''Real Blue'', etc.).Sometime very beautiful, sometime intense improvisation and sometime humoresque and very serious, this, their first work is made up of protean improvisation and composition.

Nasuno Mitsuru

Achim Kaufmann / Mark Dresser / Harris Eisenstadt

Paolo Angeli / Evan Parker / Ned Rothenberg

Koichi Makigami

Otomo Yoshihide

Grosse Abfahrt

Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra

Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Orchestra

Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction for the Art

Masayuki Takayanagi New Direction Unit

Belghoul Quartet