Postponement
April 28, 2011
From "Trip Photos Free"
No post tomorrow – hopefully will return early next week…
Space has no Beginning
April 15, 2011
We end a week filled with free jazz and ambient music with one of the most important figures in free jazz – Sun Ra doing some decidedly non avant-garde work on ‘Enlightenment’ the first track on his fantastic Jazz in Silhouette album. Modern listeners tend to focus on Sun Ra’s more exploratory work in the 60′s ignoring Sun Ra’s magical Chicago period entirely in which he recorded some of the best music of the 50′s. Jazz in Silhouette is particularly amazing as it pulls together all of Sun Ra’s skills as a arranger while offering hints of what was to come when Sun Ra moved to New York and pushed jazz toward the psychedelic. For those who have always been interested in Sun Ra but unsure about avant-garde jazz I would suggest dipping into his Chicago work and seeing if you like that before going any further because after about 1961 things get more then a little crazy – and needless to say its not for everyone.
From West to West
April 14, 2011
After the little ambient interlude we move back to jazz – in this case free jazz improv centered around heavy West African percussion. The Rempis Percussion Quartet’s ’1.2′ is a great example of the world music’s continued influence on postmodern jazz – Dave Rempis’ soaring saxophone might be the star of the show – but its the drum work of Tim Daisy and Frank Rosaly make sure everything stays in balance and keep the music from veering into complete chaos. Much like Tim Hecker work posted yesterday – this isn’t always the easiest listen but for those who are willing to give it a try – it is extremely rewarding.
