WNUR Jazz Report, 7/29/96

GENERAL COMMENTS

• I (Seth Tisue) will be away during the month of August. (I'll be in Munich and Vienna -- E-mail me if you have any jazz clubs or record stores to recommend!) Jim Zanghi will be handling music director duties during this time. As always, you can reach us both at jazz-md@wnur.org.
• We were pleased to welcome several guests in our studios for interviews this month: Melvyn Poore (British tuba player and free improvisor, in town for a concert of duets with German percussionist Martin Blume), hosted by John Corbett, and Vandy Harris (see below) hosted by Len Bukowski.
• Some of our featured artists and albums on our "11:00 breaks" in July were Invite the Spirit (Charles K. Noyes, Sang Won Park, and Henry Kaiser; they played a concert at the Empty Bottle with Jim O'Rourke sitting in for Kaiser), Don Cherry (Complete Blue Note Recordings box on Mosaic), Miles Davis (Get Up With It), Charles Mingus (Blues and Roots), Ornette Coleman, Either/Orchestra (Across the Omniverse), Sun Ra, Lisle Ellis (in town for two concerts), Max Roach, and the NRG Ensemble.

NEW MUSIC COMMENTS

• Vandy Harris Jr. is a tenor saxophonist whose been involved with the AACM here in Chicago since the late 60's; his new disc, Pure Fire (Katumbi, P.O. Box 7667, Chicago IL 60680), is his first as a leader. It features an all-star cast of Chicagoans (Malachi Favors, Jodie Christian, Ken Chaney, Dushun Moseley, and about a dozen others!). Harris's tenor style, based on Albert Ayler and John Coltrane's late style, is fiery indeed, but there's a lot of musical variety on the disc -- even two songs with vocals. Listen to the title track, a duet with drummer Aye Aton, to sample Harris's playing straight up.
• William Hooker's new one is on a new Chicago label called Ummo (P.O. Box 478624, Chicago IL 60647-8624). He is joined on this recording by Donald Miller (of Borbetomagus), Charles Compo, and Mark Hennen.
• Reeds player (mostly soprano sax and bass clarinet) Philippe Micol's New York Interviews consists of trios and duets recorded during trips to New York and San Francisco in 1993 and 1994. The New Yorkers include Gregg Bendian, Sean G. Meehan, Jim Staley, Michael Lytle, Paul Hoskin, and cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm (now a Chicago resident); San Francisco is represented by William Winant and Lisle Ellis.
• Andrea Parkins is Zeena's cousin and played accordion and sampler on Ellery Eskelin's modern classic Jazz Trash (Songlines). Her new disc on Knitting Factory is her first as a leader and features Briggan Krauss on alto saxophone and Kenny Wollesen (a sometime member of Masada) on drums.

ADDS THIS WEEK

<New releases>

• Black Note: Nothin' But the Swing (Impulse!)
• Paquito D'Rivera: Portraits of Cuba (Chesky)
• Teddy Edwards & Houston Person: Horn to Horn (Muse)
• Wolfgang Fuchs: Bits & Pieces (FMP)
• Vandy Harris: Pure Fire (Katumbi)
• Honk, Wail and Moan: Mailbox Above (Uff Da)
• William Hooker: Tibet (Ummo)
• Philippe Micol: New York Interviews (Unit)
• Andrea Parkins: Cast Iron Fact (Knitting Factory)
• Peter Scharli: April Works (Unit)
• Shirley Scott: Great Scott! (Muse)
• George Van Eps & Howard Alden: Keepin' Time (Concord)
• Gerry Wiggins Trio: Soulidarity (Concord)

<New reissues>

• Nat King Cole Trio: Hit That Jive, Jack (Decca)
• Ella Fitzgerald: Ella & Friends (Decca)
• Wes Montgomery: Encores, Vol. 1: Body & Soul (Milestone)

<Not new, but new to WNUR>

• Anthony Braxton & Derek Bailey: Moment Precieux (Victo)
• Tom Djll: Mutootator (Soul on Rice)
• Lou Donaldson: Quartet/Quintet/Sextet (Blue Note)
• Gush: From Things to Sounds... (Dragon)
• Jazz Corps feat. Roland Kirk: The Jazz Corps (Pacific Jazz)
• Cliff Jordan & John Gilmore: Blowing In From Chicago (Blue Note)
• Grachan Moncur III: Evolution (Blue Note)
• Jimmy Smith: House Party (Blue Note)
• Leo Smith: Procession of the Great Ancestry (Nessa)
• Sun Ra: Out There a Minute (Blast First)
• Horace Tapscott: The Dark Tree 1 (hat ART)

JAZZ SHOW TOP 40

* denotes reissue, @ denotes not real new.

1. Ellis/Ochs/Robinson: What We Live (DIW)
2. Either/Orchestra: Across the Omniverse (Accurate)
3. Rob Brown Trio: High Wire (Soul Note)
4. Barondown@: Crackshot (Avant)
5. Don Byron Quintet: No-Vibe Zone (Knitting Factory)
6. Giuffre/Bley/Swallow: Conversations With a Goose (Soul Note)
7. John Butcher: London and Cologne (Rastascan)
8. Howard Riley*: Flight (FMR)
9. Aoki/Wong/Pavkovic Trio: Urban Reception (Southport)
10. Rova: Ptow!! (Victo)
11. Glenn Spearman Double Trio: The Fields (Black Saint)
12. Mark Dresser: Invocation (Knitting Factory)
13. Crispell/Jormin/Strid@: Spring Tour (Alice)
14. Christian Wolfarth: 3-3-2 (Percaso)
15. Stephane Furic: Crossing Brooklyn Ferry (Soul Note)
16. David Murray Big Band: South of the Border (DIW)
17. Geisser/Hennen/Hoyer/Parker: The Ropedancer (Leo Lab)
18. Feet Music: Assertions & Sketches (Chroma)
19. Arcado String Trio: Live in Europe (Avant)
20. Charles Sullivan: Kamau (Arabesque)
21. Marian McPartland Trio: Live at Yoshi's Nitespot (Concord)
22. Dave Douglas: Five (Soul Note)
23. Ivano Torre Quintetto: Urt' O Logique (Unit)
24. John Coltrane*: Complete Atlantic Recordings (Rhino)
25. Anthony Braxton: Solo Piano (Standards) 1995 (No More)
26. Ray Brown Trio: The Sax Players (Telarc)
27. Max Roach*: It's Time (Impulse!)
28. Ron Miles: My Cruel Heart (Gramavision)
29. various: Kansas City (soundtrack) (Verve)
30. Art Pepper & Zoot Sims@: Art'n'Zoot (Pablo)
31. Art Farmer*: Out of the Past (Chess)
32. Keystone Trio: Heart Beats (Milestone)
33. Alden/Vignola/Bruno: Concord Jazz Guitar Collective (Concord)
34. Joshua Breakstone: Remembering Grant Green (Evidence)
35. Moscow Composers Orchestra: An Italian Love Affair (Leo)
36. David Pavkovic & Tatsu Aoki: Actual Music (Toe)
37. Franklin Kiermeyer: Kairos (Evidence)
38. New York Classics Big Band: New York Dances (Mapleshade)
39. Ted Rosenthal Trio: Rosenthology (Concord)
40. Dennis Mitcheltree: Brooklyn (Dengor)

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