WNUR Jazz Report, 3/31/97

NEWS

• Mandi Isaacs is our new jazz producer, replacing Matt Aron. She can be reached by E-mail at jazz-producer@wnur.nwu.edu, or by phone at 847/491-7101.
• Appearing this Saturday on WNUR on our live music show Airplay, between 2 and 5 pm: Ron Dewar (tenor) with Josh Abrams (bass) and Arkestra alumnus Robert Barry (drums). This trio appears every Thursday night at the Logan Beach Cafe (2537 N. Kedzie). Also on Airplay this Saturday: Palace (Will Oldham).

ADDS THIS WEEK

[New releases]

• Ed Blackwell Trio: Walls-Bridges (Black Saint)
  With Dewey Redman (tenor), Cameron Brown (bass), on a program of standards and Redman originals recorded live in 1992 not long before Blackwell's death.
• Fareed Haque: Deja Vu (Blue Note)
  Song-by-song update of the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young record.
• Charlie Hunter Quartet: Natty Dread (Blue Note)
  Song-by-song update of the Bob Marley record.
• Tatsu Aoki: Eigen (IEL)
  Solo bass; the disc is named after Aoki's son. CD release party/concert is Saturday April 19th at the Blue Rider Theater in Chicago. Another solo CD is being released simultaneously; we'll add it later. Information about Aoki is on the web at http://www.petey.com/tatsu/; he performed live on WNUR last Saturday in duet with David Pavkovic.
• Anthony Braxton & Brett Larner: 11 Compositions (Duo) 1995 (Leo)
  Larner is a young koto player; all the pieces on this disc were composed by Braxton in the late 70's, some previously unrecorded. "A 'groove' in the 'hunch' of the sound space... a 'get down' type of music..."
• Sun Ra & his Intergalaxtic Arkestra: Stardust From Tomorrow (2 CD's) (Leo)
  Yet another live recording of the late eighties Arkestra.
• Benny Carter: New York Nights (MusicMasters)
• Duke Ellington: Cornell University: Second Set (MusicMasters)
  Previously unreleased 1948 recording of Ellington and his band.
• Barrage Double Trio@: Utility Hitter (Quinnah)
  Doubled reeds (Ken Vandermark, Mars Williams), bass (Nate McBride, Kent Kessler), drums (Curt Newton, Hamid Drake); all Vandermark tunes (alternating with free improvisations by subsets of the full group).
• Herbie Nichols Project: Love is Proximity (Soul Note)
  Frank Kimbrough led quintet performs a set of all Nichols tunes, including some that he was never able to record in his lifetime, or only ever recorded in solo piano versions.
• Enrico Pieranunzi Trio: Seaward (Soul Note)
• Jorge@: L'Inferno Dei Polli (Splasc(h))
  Italian sextet led by reeds player Guglielmo Pagnozzi.
• Roy Nathanson & Anthony Coleman: I Could've Been a Drum (Tzadik)
• John Zorn: Filmworks III (Tzadik)
  Early Masada recordings, Zorn/Ribot duets, and a whole slew of 30-60 second pieces recorded for TV commercials.
• Droles d'Oiseaux: Droles d'Oiseaux (Unit)
  Quartet consisting of Christine Schaller, Jacques Soron, Jean-Jacques Pedretti, and Robert Morgenthaler.

[New reissues]

• various: Critics' Pick Sampler Vol. 1 (Black Saint/Soul Note)
  Black Saint/Soul Note polled sixty critics about their favorite BS/SN releases since the Italian pair of labels began in 1975. This CD contains a track each from eleven of the winners; a second volume is planned. The poll results are on the web at http://www.blacksaint.com/top10.html.
• Hamiet Bluiett: Im/possible to Keep (2 CD's) (India Navigation)
  Complete 1977 concert (only a fourth of which was ever originally released on LP) with Don Pullen, Fred Hopkins, and Don Moye.
• Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (India Navigation)
  1977 recording with guitar, harmonium, and organ plus rhythm.
• Charlie Parker: Yardbird Suite (2 CD's) (Rhino)
  Career-spanning compilation of recordings originally released on Dial, Savoy, Guild, Clef, and other labels, ranging from early Dizzy Gillespie dates all the way up to "Bird with strings" (represented by live recordings; the studio recordings could not be licensed). "No vocalists, no guest spots, no tenor sax, no false starts, no alternate takes..."

[Not new, but new to our collection]

• Hal Russell NRG Ensemble & Charles Tyler: Generation (Chief/Nessa)

JAZZ SHOW TOP 25

* denotes reissue, @ denotes not real new.

1. Tim Berne's Bloodcount: Unwound (3 CD's) (Screwgun)
2. Lou Grassi Saxtet: Quick Wits (CJR)
3. various: The Thunderclaps CD (X-OR)
4. Jemeel Moondoc: Tri-P-Let (Eremite)
5. Assif Tsahar: Shekhina (Eremite)
6. Mingus Big Band: Live in Time (2 CD's) (Dreyfus)
7. Blonk/Gustafsson/Zerang: Blonk, Gustafsson & Zerang (Kontrans)
8. Jimmy McGriff*: Electric Funk (Blue Note)
9. Masada: Zayin (Seven) (DIW)
10. Fred Anderson*: The Missing Link (Nessa)
11. Vandermark Five: Single Piece Flow (Atavistic)
12. John Zorn Masada Chamber Ensembles@: Bar Kokhba (2 CD's) (Tzadik)
13. Briggan Krauss: Good Kitty (Knitting Factory Works)
14. Hamid Drake & Michael Zerang: Ask the Sun (OkkaDisk)
15. David S. Ware Quartet: Godspelized (DIW)
16. Prima Materia: Bells (Knitting Factory Works)
17. John Patton*: Accent on the Blues (Blue Note)
18. Cecil McBee: Unspoken (Palmetto)
19. Junko Onishi: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)
20. Eugene Chadbourne: Boogie With the Hook (Leo)
21. Bevan/Frangenheim/Noble: Twisters (Scatter)
22. Vinny Golia Quintet@: Razor (9 Winds)
23. Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls: Rebel Roots (Naim)
24. Conrad Herwig@: The Latin Side of John Coltrane (Astor Place)
25. Roy Haynes: True or False (Evidence)

MONTHLY TOP 50

* denotes reissue, @ denotes not real new.

1. Fred Anderson*: The Missing Link (Nessa)
2. Tim Berne's Bloodcount: Unwound (3 CD's) (Screwgun)
3. Blonk/Gustafsson/Zerang: Blonk, Gustafsson & Zerang (Kontrans)
4. Assif Tsahar: Shekhina ( Eremite)
5. Vandermark Five: Single Piece Flow (Atavistic)
6. Lou Grassi Saxtet: Quick Wits (CJR)
7. Jemeel Moondoc: Tri-P-Let (Eremite)
8. John Zorn Masada Chamber Ensembles@: Bar Kokhba (2 CD's) (Tzadik)
9. Ellery Eskelin & Andrea Parkins: Green Bermudas (Eremite)
10. Mingus Big Band: Live in Time (2 CD's) (Dreyfus)
11. Briggan Krauss: Good Kitty (Knitting Factory Works)
12. John Patton*: Accent on the Blues (Blue Note)
13. Jimmy McGriff*: Electric Funk (Blue Note)
14. Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny: Beyond the Missouri Sky (Verve)
15. Cecil McBee: Unspoken (Palmetto)
16. various: The Thunderclaps CD (X-OR)
17. Junko Onishi: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note)
18. Hamid Drake & Michael Zerang: Ask the Sun (OkkaDisk)
19. Gregg Bendian: Gregg Bendian's Interzone (Eremite)
20. Roy Haynes: True or False (Evidence)
21. David S. Ware Quartet: Godspelized (DIW)
22. Masada: Zayin (Seven) (DIW)
23. Earl Hines*: At Home (Delmark)
24. Kenny Barron & Mino Cinelu: Swamp Sally (Verve)
25. Conrad Herwig@: The Latin Side of John Coltrane (Astor Place)
26. Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls: Rebel Roots (Naim)
27. Stanley Turrentine*: Easy Walker (Blue Note)
28. John Carter & Bobby Bradford: Tandem 2 (Emanem)
29. Prima Materia: Bells (Knitting Factory Works)
30. Frank Morgan: Bop! ( Telarc)
31. Manhattan Projects: We Remember Cannonball (Evidence)
32. Lennie Tristano*: Manhattan Studio (Jazz Records)
33. Jimmy McGriff: The Dream Team (Milestone)
34. Albert Nicholas/Art Hodes Quartet*: The New Orleans-Chicago Connection (Delmark)
35. Northwoods Improvisers: Spinning (Arc)
36. Vinny Golia Quintet@: Razor (9 Winds)
37. Branford Marsalis Trio: The Dark Keys (Columbia)
38. George Lewis & Don Ewell*: Reunion (Delmark)
39. Glenn Horiuchi@: Hilltop View (Music & Arts)
40. Wayne Horvitz & Zony Mash: Cold Spell (Knitting Factory Works)
41. Marc Cary: Listen (Arabesque)
42. Scott Fields: Disaster at Sea (Music & Arts)
43. Donald Byrd*: Street Lady (Blue Note)
44. Brian Gephart & Bob Long Quartet: Water Logic (no label)
45. David Murray@: David Murray/James Newton Quintet (DIW)
46. Lewis/Brown/etc.: Clear Blue (Darwin Gross)
47. Frank Foster: Leo Rising (Arabesque)
48. Bert Wilson & Rebirth: Endless Fingers (Arabesque)
49. Ella Fitzgerald*: Sings the Blues (Prestige)
50. Bob Nieske's Wolf Soup: My Desire (GM)