WNUR Jazz Report, 7/1/96

GENERAL COMMENTS

• English saxophonist and free improvisor John Butcher visited John Corbett's show on Tuesday for an interview, the day before his concert at the Empty Bottle. He also played a short piece on soprano saxophone live over the air. Butcher's new solo disc on Rastascan is among our adds this week.
• The previous Tuesday, all three members of the Swedish group Gush were in for an interview. Saxophonist Mats Gustafsson's visits to Chicago are practically a tradition by now, but it was the first time here for other members Sten Sandell (piano) and Raymond Strid (drums). A Marilyn Crispell featuring Strid is among our adds this week; look for a Gush disc and some Sten Standell discs in coming weeks.
• Our local music show Airplay hosted the Vandermark Five in the auditorium here on Saturday for a live broadcast and performance. Our thanks to Ken Vandermark (reeds), Mars Williams (reeds), Jeb Bishop (trombone, electric guitar), Kent Kessler (bass), and Tim Mulvenna (drums) for sweating it through high temperatures and playing a great set. Look for the recording they'll be making for local label Atavistic this summer and catch them around town at the Lunar Cabaret and other venues.
• The previous Saturday, another fine jazz band was heard on Airplay: the Chicago Underground Orchestra, broadcasting from our performance studio. The Orchestra includes our DJ Josh Abrams (bass) as well as Jeff Parker (guitar), Rob Mazurek (trumpet), and Robert Barry (drums). Barry is the drummer on a number of Sun Ra recordings made back in the day when the Arkestra was Chicago-based. See the Chicago Underground Orchestra every Wednesday evening at the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park.

NEW MUSIC COMMENTS

• Larry Ochs is featured on three new discs this week, as a member of What We Live, Rova, and the Glenn Spearman Double Trio. My pick of the batch is the What We Live disc, and wonderfully lively and sensitive free jazz disc with a great rhythm section of Lisle Ellis (bass) and Donald Robinson (drums).
• Of Blue Note's current batch of limited edition reissues, Bobby Hutcherson's Happenings is a real winner. The hornless lineup (Herbie Hancock (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Joe Chambers (drums)) means you can really focus in on Hutcherson's vibes playing, which was never better than during this period (1966). One track, "Happenings", which Hutcherson says was inspired by the music of Erik Satie, is a slow, almost motionless piece that's simultaneously very peaceful and incredibly focused. The album closes with a "sound" improvisation called "The Omen" with Hancock doubling on a box of rocks and Chambers and Hutcherson swapping instruments mid-track. The more straight ahead tracks are great too.

ADDS THIS WEEK

<New releases>

• What We Live (Ellis/Ochs/Robinson): What We Live (DIW)
• Charles Sullivan: Kamau (Arabesque)
• Glenn Spearman Double Trio: The Fields (Black Saint)
• Horace Silver: The Hardbop Grandpop (Impulse!)
• Rova: Ptow!! (Victo)
• Marian McPartland Trio: Live at Yoshi's Nitespot (Concord)
• Antonio Carlos Jobim: and Friends (Verve)
• Giuffre/Bley/Swallow: Conversations With a Goose (Soul Note)
• Stephane Furic: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (Soul Note)
• Either/Orchestra: Across the Omniverse (2 CD's) (Accurate)
• Mark Dresser: Invocation (Knitting Factory)
• Crispell/Jormin/Strid@: Spring Tour (Alice)
• Don Byron Quintet: No-Vibe Zone (Knitting Factory)
• John Butcher: London and Cologne (Rastascan)
• Rob Brown Trio: High Wire (Soul Note)

<New reissues>

• Howard Riley@: Flight (FMR)

<Not new, but new to WNUR>

• Art Taylor: A.T.'s Delight (Blue Note)
• Bobby Hutcherson: Happenings (Blue Note)
• Jimmy Giuffre: The Jimmy Giuffre 3 (Atlantic)
• Anthony Davis: I've Known Rivers (Gramavision)
• Don Cherry: Complete Blue Note Recordings (2 CD's) (Mosaic)

JAZZ SHOW TOP 25

* denotes reissue, @ denotes not real new.

1. Barondown@: Crackshot (Avant)
2. Aoki/Wong/Pavkovic Trio: Urban Reception (Southport)
3. Dave Douglas: Five (Soul Note)
4. AMA Jazz: In One Breath (Leo)
5. Ghost in the Machine: Featuring Evan Parker (Leo)
6. Michael Zerang: Frankenstein (Garlic)
7. Saxemble: Saxemble (Qwest)
8. Moscow Composers Orchestra: An Italian Love Affair (Leo)
9. Art Pepper & Zoot Sims@: Art'n'Zoot (Pablo)
10. Wadada Leo Smith: Tao-Njia (Tzadik)
11. Carlos Garnett: Resurgence (Muse)
12. Oliver Lake Quintet: Dedicated to Dolphy (Black Saint)
13. New York Classics Big Band: New York Dances (Mapleshade)
14. David Murray Big Band: South of the Border (DIW)
15. Feet Music: Assertions & Sketches (Chroma)
16. Ron Miles: My Cruel Heart (Gramavision)
17. World Saxophone Quartet: Four Now (Justin Time)
18. various: Kansas City (soundtrack) (Verve)
19. Brotzmann/Crispell/Drake@: Hyperion (Music & Arts)
20. Von Freeman: Fire (Southport)
21. Jay Hoggard: A Night in Greenwich Village (Muse)
22. Geisser/Hennen/Hoyer/Parker: The Ropedancer (Leo)
23. Matthew Shipp: Symbol Systems (No More)
24. Joshua Breakstone: Remembering Grant Green (Evidence)
25. Ray Charles: Berlin, 1962 (Pablo)

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