WNUR Jazz Report, 2/26/96

Jim's Comments

• New Music:
  • Byard Lancaster's CD was released last year, billed as "Afro Jazzy Dance". You figure it out. Anyhow Byard's been in Philadelphia for years playing with Sunny Murray, Odean Pope and some others. He recently moved to Chicago and seems pretty excited about getting into the Chicago scene.
  • I have to say that Roy Campbell's new release is more than a pleasant surprise. It features Roy on sax, William Parker on bass, and Reggie Nicholson on drums. I have a hunch it will be one of my favorites of '96.
  • The John Stevens CD is free improvised music with Gary Smith on guitar. It had been airing on our Rock Show and was released by a (primarily) indie rock label.
  • More music from Connie Crothers & Richard Tabnik, part of a batch of New Artist CD's sent courtesy of Richard.
  • Splatter Trio's from the Bay area, a mix of rock/jazz/improv/noise and everything in between. Check it out. We will be getting a second older Splatter/Debris CD from Music & Arts fairly soon.
  • Cindy Blackman is the half naked drummer for Lennie Kravitz. She's half naked on this CD too.
• The Knitting Factory now has an email list. Send mail to kfwmail@knittingfactory.com if interested.
• Evidence plans to release a 3 CD set of Sun Ra singles.
• Gert Anklam will be performing live in the WNUR studio on Tuesday, 2/27/96 at 11 AM. He plays baritone saxophone and released a few CD's on FMP. He's been in town for a week having performed at the Rhino Theartre Peformance Festival at the Lunar Cabaret.
• The beloved NRG Ensemble's Delmark release is finally out and will be added next week along with some other new things from the label. Their CD release party will be Mar. 8 at the Bop Shop. Ken Vandermark & Mars Williams and whoever else from NRG might stop in next week, probably on Monday or Tuesday, for interview/casual performance.
• Our annual Phonathon fundraiser is this week. You can support the WNUR jazz show by donating Wed - Fri during jazz hours. This pays the phone bill for John Corbett's interview with Joe McPhee last week :-)

Adds this week

New releases

• Horace Tapscott: Aiee! The Phantom (Arabesque)
• Byard Lancaster: My Pure Joy (Black Fire)
• Joe Lovano: Quartets (Blue Note)
• Gary Smith & John Stevens: Seven Improvisations (Ecstatic Peace)
• Freddie Hubbard: Blues for Miles (Evidence)
• Cindy Blackman: The Oracle (Muse)
• Antoine Roney: Whirling (Muse)
• Fred Hersch: Passion Flower (Nonesuch)
• Jorge Sylvester: MusiCollage (Postcards)
• Splatter Trio: Hi-Fi Junk Note (Rastascan)
• Roy Campbell: Communion (Silkheart)

New reissues

• Lester Young: The Complete Aladdin Recordings (Blue Note)

Not new, but new to WNUR

• Grant Calvin Weston: Dance Romance (In+Out)
• Jack Walrath & Larry Willis: Portraits in Ivory and Brass (Mapleshade)
• Connie Crothers & Richard Tabnik: Duo Dimensions (New Artists)
• John Coltrane, etc.: Interplay for 2 Trumpets and 2 Tenors (OJC)
• Billie Holiday: All or Nothing At All (Verve)

Jazz Show top 25

This is the top 25 releases based on collective airplay by the 20+ jazz DJ's for the week ending February 25, 1996.

* denotes reissue

1. David S. Ware: Dao (Homestead)
2. Curlew: Paradise (Cuneiform)
3. Jasper van't Hof: Face to Face (Intuition)
4. Anthony Braxton: Oakland July 1993 (Music & Arts)
5. Butch Morris: Testament: A Conduction Collection (New World)
6. Lou Donaldson*: Everything I Play is Funky (Blue Note)
7. Vijay Iyer: Memorophilia (Asian Improv)
8. Richard Tabnik Quartet: Life at the Core (New Artists)
9. Steuart Liebig: Quartetto Stig: Lingua Oscura (9 Winds)
10. Jim Hall: Dialogues (Telarc)
11. Monty Alexander: At Maybeck (Concord)
12. Gassmann/Battaglia/Zwiauer/ Gatto: An Italian Affair (Unit)
13. Chris Cutler: P53 (ReR)
14. Marc Ribot: Don't Blame Me (DIW)
15. Fats Waller & His Rhythms*: The Early Years (Part 2) (Bluebird)
16. Masada: Vav (DIW)
17. Jim Hobbs Fully Celebrated Orchestra: Peace and Pig Grease (Silkheart)
18. various: The Colossal Saxophone Sessions (Evidence)
19. Roy Haynes*: Out of the Afternoon (Impulse)
20. Henry Butler: For All Seasons (Atlantic)
21. Don Pullen: Sacred Common Ground (Blue Note)
22. Joe Lovano Wind Ensemble: Worlds (Evidence)
23. Jean-Francois Bovard: Flibuste (Unit)
24. Donat Fisch Quartet: Intervals and Melodies (Unit)
25. Donal Fox/David Murray: Ugly Beauty (Evidence)

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