Whoops, didn’t manage to get this posted before skipping town, but here we go a bit late…

I believe I am settling in to using “Conference of the Birds” as the name of the show, although as I mentioned on air, it still feels a little bit like a costume.  Speaking of “on air,” this week I finally set up Audio Hijack to archive the show, and I am happy to offer it here for your enjoyment.  (Thanks to Andy A. for getting me off my butt to do it!)  Not sure what the best way to share this is, so here are two ways. The segments are not thematic, but simply split the show up into roughly equal size chunks based on announcement breaks.

• complete program (144 MB, 2 hrs 37 min)
• Segment A (Start through “Into the Air”) (40 MB, 44 min)
• Segment B (“Improvisations and Tukras” through “Astawesalèhu”) (40 MB, 43 min)
• Segment C (“Blood Count” through “That’s True, That’s True”) (34 MB, 37 min)
• Segment D (“Gatur Bait” through end) (31 MB, 33 min)

Finally, as race is resuming a place in the national conversation, I thought this epigraph from Vijay Iyer’s new album Tragicomic was worth sharing:

Cornel West decodes the blues aesthetic as a tragicomic sensibility stemming from a sustained encounter with arguably history’s greatest, cruelest absurdity—the kind in which “even ultimate purpose and objective order are called into question,” the kind that cannot be survived “unless we are buffered by ritual, cushioned by community or sustained by art.”^* In our perilous moment of global transition, we have everything to learn from this sensibility.  A tragicomic outlook can ease our pains of metamorphosis and help us dream the next phase into being. That’s how and why this music was made. Thanks for listening.” —Vijay Iyer

artist: “track” – album   (label)

« begin archive segment a »
David Holland: “Conference of the Birds” – Conference of the Birds (ECM)
Wayne Horvitz Gravitas Quartet: “A Fond Farewell (for Nica)”^** – One Dance Alone (Songlines)
Marty Ehrlich/Myra Melford: “Night” – Spark! (Palmetto)
Johnny Dyani/Mal Waldron duo: “Safari” – Some Jive Ass Boer (Jazz Unité)
Jimmy Giuffre/André Jaume: “Jeux Libres” – River Station (CELP)
Jimmy Giuffre: “Dichotomy” – Free Fall (Columbia)
Free Fall: “Into the Air (for Eric Dolphy)” – Furnace (Wobbly Rail)
« begin archive segment b »
Eric Dolphy: “Improvisations and Tukras” – Other Aspects (Blue Note)
Nicole Mitchell’s Black Earth Ensemble: “Adrenalin” – Xenogenesis Suite: A tribute to Octavia Butler (Firehouse 12)
Vijay Iyer: “Macaca Please” – Tragicomic (Sunnyside)
Sean Bergin and M.O.B.: “Thoko’s Tune” – Kids Mysteries (Nimbus)
Sun Ra and his Arkestra: “State Street” – The Singles (Evidence)
Lèmma Dèmissèw: “Astawesalèhu” – Éthiopiques 8: Swinging Addis (Buda Musique)
« begin archive segment c »
John Tchcai/Charlie Kohlhase Quintet: “Blood Count” – Life Overflowing (Nada Music)
Jimmy Giuffre and Lee Konitz: “Blues in the Closet” – IAI Festival (Improvising Artists, Inc.)
Steelwool Trio: “Dime Store Novel (dedicated to Kent Kessler)” – International Front (Okkadisk)
Eric Dolphy Quartet: “Hypochristmutreefuzz” – Last Date (Fontana)
Jimmy Giuffre 3: “Scootin’ About” – 1961: Fusion (ECM)
Jimmy Giuffre 3: “That’s True, That’s True” – 1961: Thesis (ECM)
« begin archive segment d »
The Gaturs: “Gatur Bait” – Wasted (Tuff City)
Quincy Jones and Bill Cosby: “Groovy Gravy” – The Original Jam Sessions 1969 (Concord)
Herbie Hancock: “Hang Up Your Hang Ups” – Man-child (Columbia)
Dyke and the Blazers: “We Got More Soul” – We Got More Soul (Beat Goes Public)
The Engines: “Jet Lag” – The Engines (Okkadisk)

^*from “Black Strivings in a Twilight Civilization,” in The Cornel West Reader, p. 89-90
^**Elliott Smith cover (thanks to Andrew A for the pointer!)