Recent Reviews:
Albert Ayler Trio 1964:
Prophecy Revisited
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
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Cat Hope / Erkki Veltheim:
Works for Travelled Pianos
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
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The Dinner Party (Adrian Northover / Pierpaolo Martino / Vladimir Miller):
Wednesday Afternoon
(FMR)
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Burkhard Beins / Mazen Kerbaj / Michael Vorfeld:
Sawt Out
(Herbal International)
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Keune / Russell / Schneider / Lovens:
Nothing Particularly Horrible (Live In Bochum '93)
(FMR)
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Milo Fine / Joseph Damman:
Acceptance Of Sorrow
(Aural Terrains)
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Adrian Democ / Apartment House:
Ziadba
(Another Timbre)
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Judith Wegmann:
Le Souffle du Temps II — Réflexion
(ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
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Dunmall / Sanchez / Sanders:
A Songbirds Temple
(FMR)
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Karayorgis / McBride / Smith / Gray / Rosenthal:
CliffPools
(Driff Records)
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Facebook: Squidco Sales
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Op-Ed
(Opinions and Editorials)
August 5, 2020:
The intention was to take a few days off for my birthday, getting right back to the very active purchase cycles we've been in for the last 3 months; surprising for the summer, but this summer brings nothing but surprises.
This week's surprise was Hurricane Isaias, which took our region a bit by surprise as we expected a subtropical storm, but received a category 1 hurricane instead. Squidco lost power for the better part of a day, really not bad considering, with no physical damage. My house and shed, not so much:
I tell you this not out of hope for birthday wishes or homeowner sympathy — after Florence I knew exactly what to do, and once the insurance sorts itself out, I have everyone lined up to get things removed, repaired, and back to normal, however long that might take.... — but to let you know why I have written so little about the music these last two weeks. Especially given the flood of Not Two, NoBusiness, Clean Feed, Shhpuma, Astral Spirits, Aerophonic, Doubtmusic, Cuneiform, Trost, and Listen! Foundations albums we've added to our catalog.
Equally exciting as birthdays and hurricanes is what's been ordered and is on its way to us right now.
You can ask us to notify you when any of these releases are available, with no obligation to purchase, by using our upcoming release page.
Gerry Hemingway / Barre Phillips / Michael Moore: Splips (Ramboy)
Fragile Quartet (Moore / Fraanje / van der Feen / Hemingway): Cretan Dialogues (Ramboy)
Michael Moore & NDR Bigband: Sanctuary (Ramboy)
Rumback, Charles: June Holiday (Astral Spirits)
Christian Ronn & Aram Shelton: Multiring [CASSETTE] (Astral Spirits)
Laurenzi, Dustin Snaketime: Behold [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)
Mike Pride & Jonatha Moritz: The Invitation [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)
Carol Genetti & Claire Rousay: Live At Elastic Arts [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)
Amirtha Kidambi & Lea Bertucci: End of Softness [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)
PISAURA (Michael Pisaro and Zizia): Asteraceae (Sedimental)
OLIVIA BLOCK: Karren [VINYL] (Sedimental)
Guilherme Rodrigues: Cascata (Creative Sources)
Forsén / Axelsson / Dimming: Mollymawk (Creative Sources)
Rasmus Borg: Improvisations (Creative Sources)
DICEROS: Symbolic Boundary (Creative Sources)
Kim / Beneš / Haag / Alsadi / Saremi: I had a dream (Creative Sources)
Phillip Greenlief: Barbedwire (Creative Sources)
LISBON STRING TRIO & LUIS LOPES: Isotropy (Creative Sources)
Gill / Franklin: To my left is where the lake is (Creative Sources)
Rodrigues / Lonberg-Holm / Pinheiro: Multiforms (Creative Sources)
Krennerich / Schubert / Osswald / Fischer: Degrees Above (Creative Sources)
Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Almeida / Hencleeday / Parrinha / Parrinha / Santos / Valinho: SPIEGEL II (Creative Sources)
Schindler / Kepl: FABULIERBLÄTTCHEN (Creative Sources)
Kita / Rodrigues / Yamagishi (Creative Sources)
Ohta / Schindler: music in space (Creative Sources)
López / Navarro / Serra: Alusión (Creative Sources)
Rodrigues / Torres / Mira: Setúbal (Creative Sources)
Lynch / Northover / Mengersend: Grappling with the Orange Porpoise (Creative Sources)
Sysoev / Gorlinsky / Müller: Universal Vitamin (Creative Sources)
RED LIST ENSEMBLE: Scope (Creative Sources)
STRING THEORY: Rodrigues / Do Mar / Mira / Mitzlaff / Jacinto / Orê-ibir / Faustino / Bicho / Moimême / Carvalho: TIN (Creative Sources)
Rodrigues / Rodrigues / Faustino / Pinheiro / Carneiro: Book of Spirals (Creative Sources)
Skrijelj / Rodrigues / Mira / Malmendier: lluvia (Creative Sources)
Ballister: Znachki Stilyag (Aerophonic)
Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe (Joos / Eichhorn / Zimmer / Buhler / Thellman): Four Men Only - Complete Recordings [3-CD BOX SET] (NoBusiness)
Milford Graves & Don Pullen: The Complete Yale Concert, 1966 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Alexander von Schlippenbach Quartet: Three Nails Left (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
Joe McPhee: Black Is The Color: Live in Poughkeepsie and New Windsor, 1969-70 (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
On top of that, we've put in some essential requests for restocks, including the Topographie box on Fou Records (these will be the last copies of this phenomenal box), the recent Barre Phillips double CD on Victo, and the Sam Rivers Ricochet CD on NoBusiness, as well as Francois Carrier's Japan Suite. We're on our 2nd batch of the absolutely phenomenal Not Two 20th Anniversary concert box, with plans to restock that in the next week as well. Some of these restocks are necessitated by changes to global post offices, making smaller packages a necessity, and therefore our life a bit more challenging. But great music must flow, and we're doing what we can in the midst of pandemics, birthdays, and hurricanes to keep these great albums available. I think I just equated my birthday to a scourge...
 Bailey, Derek / Han Bennink / Evan Parker: Topographie Parisienne [4 CDs] (Fou Records)
Recorded in 1981 by audio engineer and label owner Jean-Marc Foussat, the trio of guitarist Derek Bailey, saxophonist Evan Parker, and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Han Bennink are heard in an amazing evening of performance at 28 rue Dunois, in Paris, France, in duo and trio configurations, exploring material similar to Parker's "Topography of the Lungs"; essential.
 Phillips, Barre: Thirty Years In Between [2 CDs] (Victo)
The title to be taken literally, these two solo concerts recorded in Canada by French-based US bassist Barre Phillips, the first recorded at Vancouver Western Front in 1989, the 2nd from the 35th International Festival Music Festival of Victoriaville in 2019, both exemplary concerts showing his masterful skills and ability to captivate then and now.
 Rivers, Sam Trio feat Dave Holland / Barry Altschul: Ricochet (NoBusiness)
Captured live in San Francisco in 1978, the lastest in the NoBusiness Sam Rivers Archive series finds the masterful wind player in peak form with the trio of Dave Holland on bass & cello, and Barry Altschul on drums, Rivers on tenor & soprano sax, flute & piano, in the 52 minute free jazz epic "Ricochet", a high-energy work of diverse mood and character; superb!
 Carrier, Francois / Masayo Koketsu / Daisuke Fuwa / Takashi Itani: Japan Suite (NoBusiness)
Saxophonist Francois Carrier joins Shibusashirazu director & double bassist Daisuke Fuwa, drummer Takashi Itani, and alto saxophonist Masayo Koketsu (also of Shibusashirazu) for a live performance at Yamaneko-ken, in Saitama to capture this 6-part suite of intensely creative free jazz, the inventive rhythm section driving both saxophonists into both raucous and beautiful territory.
 Various Artists (Barry Guy/Joelle Leandre/Rafal Mazur/Paal Nilssen-Love/Zlatko Kaucic/Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson/Ken Vandermark/Mikolaj Trzaska/Peter Brotzmann/Steve Swell/Per Ake Holmlander/Maya Homburger): Not Two... But Twenty [5 CDs in Wooden Box] (Not Two)
Not Two Records celebrates their 20th Anniversary with a festival in Wlen, Poland, inviting 13 of the finest European & US improvisers--Guy, Leandre, Mazur, Nilssen-Love, Kaucic, Fernandez, Gustafsson, Vandermark, Trzaska, Brotzmann, Swell, Holmlander, & Homburg--performing in configurations from duo to quintet, released in a limited 5-CD wooden box set.
If (when) life ever returns to normal and I catch up with the wealth of new material we're working on — 33 In-stock items on our site looking to be fully cataloged as I write this, with 2 more ready for me to activate, and a big stack of albums on Carl's desk that will make their way to me by the weekend! — then I'll write more specifically about the music. I also have some updates to The Squid's Ear planned in the next few weeks that will make the site more useful that I hope to complete before the next couple of weeks are over. So here's my promise to steer the Squid's ship away from storms, swarms and pestilence and get some great new music out for all of us to share!
Here are the updates to our site and The Squid's Ear since the middle of last month. As a reminder, you can see new albums listed as they enter our Just In Stock Section, meaning that we physically have an album and are able to ship it with an order, but that we're not satisfied that we've added all the information we can about that release. You can also see recent restocks of previous items at our Recently Restocked page.
July 29, 2020: New @ Squidco:
Stirrup + 6 (Lonberg-Holdm/Macri/Rumback) -The Avondale Addition [CD] (Cuneiform)
Tashi Dorji/Tyler Damon -To Catch A Bird In A Net Of Wind [VINYL] (Trost Records)
BROM (Lapshin/Ponomarev/Mikensky/Kurilo) -Dance With An Idiot [VINYL] (Trost Records)
Berangere Maximin -Land of Waves [VINYL 2 LPs + DOWNLOAD] (KARLRECORDS)
Sun City Girls -Live at the Sky Church - September 3rd, 2004 [VINYL LP & DVD] (Twenty One Eighty Two Recording Company)
Matias Riquelme/Fernando Ulzion -La Trahison Des Mots [CD] (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Machinefabriek/Anne Bakker -Short Scenes [CD] (Zoharum)
Master Oogway -Earth And Other Worlds [CD] (Rune Grammofon)
Master Oogway -Earth And Other Worlds [VINYL] (Rune Grammofon)
July 29, 2020: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Burkhard Beins / Mazen Kerbaj / Michael Vorfeld - Sawt Out (Herbal International) by Massimo Ricci.
July 23, 2020: New @ Squidco:
Thumbscrew (Fujiwara/Halvorson/Formanek) -The Anthony Braxton Project [CD] (Cuneiform)
Toyozumi/Yandsen/Countryman -Future of Change [CD] (ChapChap Records)
Bonjintan (Akira Sakata/Jim O'Rourke/Giovanni Di Domenico/Tatsuhisa Yamamoto) -Dental Kafka [CD] (Trost Records)
Bonjintan (Akira Sakata/Jim O'Rourke/Giovanni Di Domenico/Tatsuhisa Yamamoto) -Dental Kafka [VINYL] (Trost Records)
Various Artists (Barry Guy/Joelle Leandre/Rafal Mazur/Paal Nilssen-Love/Zlatko Kaucic/Agusti Fernandez/Mats Gustafsson/Ken Vandermark/Mikolaj Trzaska/Peter Brotzmann/Steve Swell/Per Ake Holmlander/Maya Homburger) -Not Two... But Twenty [5 CDs in Wooden Box] (Not Two)
Dustin Laurenzi Snaketime -Behold [CASSETTE w/ DOWNLOAD] (Astral Spirits)
Giuliano d'Angiolini -Antifona [CD] (Another Timbre)
Alva Noto -Xerrox Vol. 4 [CD] (Noton)
Alva Noto -Xerrox Vol. 4 [VINYL 2 LPs ] (Noton)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. feat. Geoff Leigh -Chosen Star Child's Confession [CD] (RIOT SEASON)
Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso U.F.O. feat. Geoff Leigh -Chosen Star Child's Confession [VINYL] (RIOT SEASON)
July 22, 2020: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Keune / Russell / Schneider / Lovens - Nothing Particularly Horrible (Live In Bochum '93) (FMR) by Jeph Jerman.
July 20, 2020: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Milo Fine / Joseph Damman - Acceptance Of Sorrow (Aural Terrains) by Massimo Ricci.
July 17, 2020:
Just a short entry this week, a reflection of a number of extra projects here, and some work in my yard at home during the week. The weather here is intensely hot, and working in the yard is probably not my best recent decision, but in the mid-South of the US coast the vines and weeds simply won't stop...
A theme in this forum for the last few months... the NoBusiness albums that we stocked this week came in 3 packages. The first two provided copies of all new releases, but not our complete order. Those arrived within a day of each other, but a third box with the remainder of our order, particularly the excellent new Sam Rivers Archive CD, Ricochet, is held up somewhere between Indianapolis, IN and Wilmington, NC. We expect to see the package arrive by early next week, so don't be dismayed at our "out of stock" notice on the CD, more should be here soon!
Rivers, Sam Trio feat Dave Holland / Barry Altschul: Ricochet (NoBusiness)
Captured live in San Francisco in 1978, the lastest in the NoBusiness Sam Rivers Archive series finds the masterful wind player in peak form with the trio of Dave Holland on bass & cello, and Barry Altschul on drums, Rivers on tenor & soprano sax, flute & piano, in the 52 minute free jazz epic "Ricochet", a high-energy work of diverse mood and character; superb!
The biggest news of the week was the addition of two Charlie Parker CDs on the ezz-thetics by Hat Hut label. These two CD are beautifully remastered selections from Parker's landmark Dial and Savoy sessions in the 1940s. Recorded on the US East Coast in NYC for the Savoy label, and on the West Coast in Hollywood for the Dial label, these are Parker's most essential recordings, providing a large framework for a new music named bop or bebop, and a path ahead that led to cool jazz and hard bop; arguably this is the foundation also of free jazz, emphasizing small group jazz and an exploration of new approaches to improvised music. The personnel on the various sessions is a who's who of the upcoming hard bop or "Blue Note" era, including Miles Davis, Max Roach, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell, &c. Hat Hut's go-to remastering wizard Peter Pfister brings these albums to life as they've not been heard before, and the intimacy and energy of each grouping is brought the foreground.
Label leader Werner X. Uehlinger writes of his personal relationship with this material in the afterword of each album's liner notes:
"In 1953 for my 18th birthday my father presented me a small turntable with an integrated loudspeaker to play singles and 10-inch LPs. In addition I got a Charlie Parker 10-inch LP on Jazztone with the California Dial sessions and others. Hearing Parker was my introduction to modern jazz, and his music sounds amazing to this day. Recently I went back to these recordings and discovered that August 29th, 2020 is Parker's 100th Birthday, which created the idea to work on a pair of Remastered/Revisited CDs for this event. I presented the idea to Bernhard "Benne" Vischer, also about my age, and he reacted within two minutes that he would support the project."-Werner X. Uehlinger, Basel, May 2020
This reminiscence connects with my own recollections of this material. In 1980 I began my own collection and study of jazz, connecting at first with hard bop artists like Miles Davis through his 50s Columbia sessions, Charles Mingus Ah Um period, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, &c. I was attending college at Oswego State and collected with two other jazz enthusiasts. As a student surviving on hot dogs and beer, I often scoured classified ads to find garage sales listing records, in the hopes of finding some used treasure at a reasonable price. One of the ads I responded to was from a former radio DJ, now retired, who was trying to reduce a large collection of jazz and popular records.
I was invited into his "library" where an incredible stack of albums met me that I knew very little about, recognizing a number of names and some albums I already, and others that were tantalizing and curiosities that my meager funds told me I couldn't adequately explore. However, he had several albums by Charlie Parker, who I knew of, many on the Dial label. I didn't understand the significance of this find, but I was interested in hearing these albums, which in my backward comprehension I thought of as important for influencing Miles Davis and Mingus. I bought 3 of the albums while the DJ expressed to me that he didn't really care for that new bop music as much as he did swing, or Billie Holiday — I managed to get a 10" Columbia copy of "Lover Man" from him as he complained that I was taking a part of his soul!
I took the albums back to my dorm room and gave them a spin, quite taken by their succinct expressiveness and the inventiveness of melody. Each seemed a miniature history of the music I was pursuing, and I was hooked. Putting that into perspective to my modern ears, this was an essential step in my understanding the potential of non-commercial jazz. What sounds so comfortable to my ears now was then a radical rift with the jazz of its day, sparking a bad-boy attitude that inevitably leads to 60s free players seeking the ability to express themselves in their own interpretations of jazz. Considering releases like Anthony Braxton's Sextet (Parker), I don't feel alone in this connection. Uehlinger's comments echo to mine, and for all the incredible forward-thinking music his label has released, this connection to Parker's work simply makes sense to me.
 Charlie Parker : Selections From The DIAL Recordings (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The first of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Dial label on the US West Coast between 1946-47, performing with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Lucky Thompson, Erroll Garner, Barney Kessel, Red Calender, JJ Johson, Max Roach, &c. for some of Parker's best known and essential compositions.
 Charlie Parker : Selections From The SAVOY Recordings (ezz-thetics by Hat Hut Records Ltd)
The second of two volumes in celebration of legendary saxophonist Charlie Parker's 100th birthday, here remastering his landmark recordings for the Savoy label in New York City between 1945-48, performing with jazz greats including Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, John Lewis, Curley Russel, Max Roach, &c. for some of be-bop's finest and best known compositions.
A few updates from the last week of additions to our catalog and reviews on The Squid's Ear. As a reminder, you can see new albums listed as they enter our Just In Stock Section, meaning that we physically have an album and are able to ship it with an order, but that we're not satisfied that we've added all the information we can about that release. You can also see recent restocks of previous items at our Recently Restocked page.
July 17, 2020: New Review @ The Squid's Ear: Adrian Democ / Apartment House - Ziadba (Another Timbre) by John Eyles.
July 16, 2020: New @ Squidco:
Francois Carrier/Masayo Koketsu/Daisuke Fuwa /Takashi Itani -Japan Suite [CD] (NoBusiness)
Sam Rivers Trio feat Dave Holland/Barry Altschul -Ricochet [CD] (NoBusiness)
I Like To Sleep -Daymare [CD] (Rune Grammofon)
I Like To Sleep -Daymare [VINYL] (Rune Grammofon)
Roland Dahinden/Hildegarde Kleeb/Harris -Dancing A Stone [CD] (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!))
Machinefabriek/Anne Bakker -Oehoe [CD] (Where To Now?)
Ernstalbrecht Stiebler -Fur Biliana [CD] (Another Timbre)
Cyril Bondi/Pierre-Yves Martel/Christoph Schiller -Hyazo [CD] (Another Timbre)
Pierre Gerard -Architect [CD] (Senufo Editions)
continued...
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