This week’s show was fun, but for some reason I didn’t feel like it clicked quite as much as the last few weeks. I was feeling that way even before
the “phone-call streak” was broken. Still, Jennifer liked the show, which surprised me a little; I thought I played a fair amount of stuff that only appeals to the true WNUR-style-jazz aficionados.

Since playlists are boring if you don’t know any of the music, I like to highlight a few tracks. From music I brought in for the show, I have to point out one of my all-time favorites, Julius Hemphill’s “G Song”. It is a strange piece, beginning and ending with rubbery riffing on a jaunty theme, punctuated with lots of small instruments and fun sounds and a big dollop of pretty free wailing in the middle. Not too noisy, given the trio instrumentation, but still out there. I just love the head. I was pleased to see this one turn up on the Vandermark Five’s “Free Jazz Classics” CD. I also waxed enthusiastically on-air about the Roscoe Mitchell cut, “Linefine Lyon Seven”, which is one of the jazzier pieces on an otherwise pretty experimental album (which also features the landmark Roscoe Mitchell rap, “You Wastin’ My Tyme”).

The show was pretty heavy from my collection, but one of the nice new finds at the station was Tatsuya Nakatani’s solo percussion album “Green Report 12” — the track I played was bowed metal, for which I have a fondness. Another one I liked, but couldn’t really fit into the show, was Kyle Bruckmann’s “gasps and fissures“. It’s another one with a fairly high barrier for the uninitiated, but which is worth checking out if you like quiet, exploratory free improv.

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)

Mary Lou Williams: “Rosa Mae” – Zoning (Folkways)
Lars Gullin: “Birk’s Works” – Stockholm Street (Dragon)
The Lounge Lizards: “Tango #3, Determination For Rosa Parks” – No Pain for Cakes (Antilles)
Ahmed Abdul-Malik: “Isma’a (Listen)” – Jazz Sahara (Riverside)
Zahava Seewald, Michaél Grébil, Tuur Florizoone: “Shagal” – The Unknown Masada (John Zorn, Composer) (Tzadik)
New Winds: “Hat and Beard” – Traction (Sound Aspects)
Dierdre Murray and Fred Hopkins: “Dedication to Wilbur Little” – Firestorm (Victo)
Julius Hemphill, Abdul Wadud, Don Moye: “G Song” – Raw Materials and Residuals (Black Saint)
Hassan Hakmoun/Adam Rudolph/Don Cherry/Richard Horowitz: “Marahaba” – Gift of the Gnawa (Flying Fish)
Tatsuya Nakatani: “Circle Modern Way” – Green Report 12 (H&H Production)
Grey Ghost: “When You Say Go, Leave” – Grey Ghost (Self-produced)
Roscoe Mitchell: “Linefine Lyon Seven” – R.M. and the Sound and Space Ensembles (Black Saint)
Human Feel: “Sich Reped” – Welcome to Malpesta (New World)
Sven-Åke Johansson: “rasche achtel” – Six Little Pieces for Quintet (Hatology)
Kent Kessler/Joe McPhee/Ken Vandermark: “Empty Bottle Blues” – A Meeting in Chicago (Okka)
Ab Baars: “Portret van P.W. Russell” – Verderame (GeestGronden)
Plunge: “Beneath the Wheel” – Falling With Grace (Accurate)
Leroy Jenkins’ Sting: “O.W. Frederick” – Urban Blues (Black Saint)
Max Roach featuring Anthony Braxton: “Dance Griot” – Birth and Rebirth (Black Saint)
Dennis Gonzalez New Dallasangeles: “Hymn for Julius Hemphill” – The Desert Wind (Silkheart)

For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed today’s show. As opposed to last week, where i’d built up the playlist during the week, much of today’s music just came from running through the A-F section of my CD collection while I was filing music last night. I came across a couple of real gem-albums which deserve wider notice: The Clarinet Family, an ensemble of eight clarinetists (plus bass and drums) led by Hamiet Bluiett, and Andrew Cyrille’s great Metamusicians’ Stomp. As I noted on the air, I took gratuituous advantage to play the only other song I could think of with “stomp” in the name, Jarman/Moye’s “Treibhaus Tribal Stomp.” Cyrille’s group (Maono) actually do stomp on record though: each musician is credited with playing “foot” in addition to their other instruments.

This week also makes it two weeks straight that someone bothered to call in to ask about a track which was played, which is very rewarding. This week, it was the Ray Anderson Trio’s “Paucartambo” which earned the call, no doubt in part because of Gerry Hemingway’s excellent steel pan work on the track.

Artist: “Track” – Album (Label)

Hamiett Bluiett: “Sub-jump” – The Clarinet Family (Black Saint)
Ari Brown: “Lester Bowie’s Gumbo Stew” – Ultimate Frontier (Delmark)
Ted Sirota’s Rebel Souls: “Saro-wiwa” – Breeding Resistance (Delmark)
Pierre Dørge‘s New Jungle Orchestra: “The Root Eating Rag” – Johnny Lives (Steeplechase)
Larry Young: “Sunshine Fly Away” – Lawrence of Newark (Castle)
Andrew Cyrille & Maono: “Metamusicans’ Stomp” – Metamusicans’ Stomp (Black Saint)
Joseph Jarman/Famoudou Don Moye’s Magic Triangle: “Treibhaus Tribal Stomp” – Calypso’s Smile (AECO)
Wadada Leo Smith and N’Da Kulture/Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited: “Regal Tione/Jealousy” – Dreams and Secrets (Anonym)
Erik Friedlander/Marty Ehrlich/Pheeroan Aklaff: “Savanna Suite” – One Atmosphere (Julius Hemphill compositions) (Tzadik)
Atomic/School Days: “Transparent Taylor” – Nuclear Assembly Hall (Okka)
Mario Schiano: “From New York: Nothing” – On the Waiting-List (Unheard Music Series)
Orkes Kroncong Mutiara: “Langgam Di Bawah Sinar Bulan” – Indonesian Guitars (Music of Indonesia #20) (Smithsonian Folkways)
Tomato Box: “Rockstar” – Any Road (Rattle Tick Buzz)
Ray Anderson Trio: “Paucartambo” – Right Down Your Alley (Soul Note)
Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet: “Sabiha” – Saxhouse (Knitting Factory)
Dave Rempis Quartet: “Never At A Loss” – Out of Season (482 Records)