Happy to say that that mysterious je ne sais quoi was back, and I really enjoyed today’s program. The call counter gets another notch, although the guy who called seemed to think I was “Doug” (he thought he recognized my voice) — but he said he enjoyed the show anyway.
As I noted on the air, it’s really a shame that there’s only one “Steelwool Trio” CD, but we sure are lucky that there is one. I really liked seeing Curt Newton (drummer for that group) play when I had the chance, but he lives in Boston and I guess his family obligations prevent him from recording and travelling as much as he might. (You can also catch the members of Steelwool as half of the “Barrage Double Trio,” another album that I wish had led to more. On the otherhand, another Vandermark project, “School Days” has been flowering, and that’s worth some enthusiasm. Today’s track was from “In Our Times,” which has one of the best album covers in recent memory. That album also marked the very welcome addition of vibraphones by Kjell Nordeson, which really fleshes out the sound nicely. (Speaking of fleshing out the sound, that group has also just released a double-CD where they congealed with Atomic, a group which shares about half the members. That one is out on Okkadisk too, but hasn’t made the Okka site yet.
Finally, today’s last two tracks constituted a “long distance dedication” (if you can call the 2 miles or so from WNUR to where I live) to Jennifer, who finished her coursework for her Masters degree in Education last night. I figure you can think of one track as her school days as a student, and the other as her school days as a teacher, whichever way you like. And fortunately, this week she was awake to hear her name on the air!
Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)
ICP Orchestra: “Jubilee Varia Suite, part 3” – Jubilee Varia (Hatology)
Steelwool Trio: “Day Job” – International Front (Okka)
Dave Tarras Trio: “Branas Hassene” – Yiddish-American Klexmer Music, 1925-1956 (Yazoo)
Julius Hemphill Sextet: “The Hard Blues” – Fat Man and the Hard Blues (Black Saint)
Roy Campbell Pyramid Trio: “Camel Caravan” – Ancestral Homeland (No More Records)
Ray Anderson Trio: “Portrait of Mark Dresser” – Right Down Your Alley (Soul Note)
The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari: “Marbat… Passing Thru…” – Grounation (Dynamic Sound)
Trevor Watts Moire Music Group: “Tribute to Don Cherry” – Live at the Athens Concert Hall (Arc)
Don Cherry/Ed Blackwell: “Track 2” – mu (The Complete Sessions) (Affinity)
Samana: “Real Blue” – Samana (Storywiz)
David Boykin, Karl Siegfried & Mike Reed: “#6” – Boykin, Siegfried, & Reed (Imaginary Records)
George Lewis & Voyager Software: “Voyager Duo 4” – Voyager (Avant)
The Pharoahs: “Ibo” – Awakening (Luv ‘n Haight)
Cecil Taylor Segments II: “Cun-un-un-un-an” – Winged Serpent (Sliding Quadrants) (Soul Note)
Fred Ho and the Afro-Asian Music Ensemble: “The Underground Railroad To My Heart Suite” – The Underground Railroad To My Heart (Soul Note)
Steve Lacy/Roswell Rudd Quartet: “Pannonica” – School Days (Hat Art)
School Days: “Off the Top (for Larry Young)” – In Our Time (Okka)