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Zorn List Digest        Saturday, July 3 1999        Volume 02 : Number 693



In this issue:
-
       RE: Tonic Q&A--Duras
       shannon jackson
       polite
       previte mystery
       solo saxophone
       Re: previte mystery
       Re: cd collections
       Re: classic guide to strategy
       Lou, Laurie, Vaclav and Maddie
       Gramavision mystery
       Re: solo saxophone
       Re: previte mystery
       Where's Steve Smith Been? [was Re: shannon jackson]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 16:07:32 -0400
From: "Vanheumen, Robert" <[e-mail]>
Subject: RE: Tonic Q&A--Duras

<<  'can you tell us something about
 the compositional aspects of duras >>
>Please share JZ's answer to this one!!

wow. that's too hard. it went pretty deep, in how he uses specific 'themes'
to build a piece around. using a chord from an existing piece (sometimes
from himself) to build a melody, using an existing melody to build chords.
maybe the guy who asked this question is also on this list? he might be able
to elaborate. as he's a composer and i'm not (or maybe i should call myself
a beginning composer).

robert

- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 2 Jul 1999 17:15:39 -0400
From: "lava" <[e-mail]>
Subject: shannon jackson

hey yall,

here's the official site for ronald shannon jackson:
www.shannonshouse.com

also look out for major tribute coming up in january at k.fact. for his 60th
birthday (jan.12)
including big band and all kinda goodies--

love
lava


- -

------------------------------

Date: Fri, 02 Jul 1999 21:05:51 -0400
From: David Beardsley <[e-mail]>
Subject: polite

[e-mail] wrote:

> I saw Toni Morrison read in a park, got
> there early, sat on the ground, and was soon stomped by photographers forcing
> their way past me to stand in front of me.

Once at a composers concert at Princeton U.,
I shushed her during a performance. She was being
*nice* to a fan who couldn't shut the fuck up.


- --
* D a v i d         B e a r d s l e y
*           [e-mail]
*
* J u x t a p o s i t i o n     E z i n e
* M E L A  v i r t u a l  d r e a m house monitor
*
* http://www.virtulink.com/immp/lookhere.htm

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 17:41:23 +1000
From: "Julian" <[e-mail]>
Subject: previte mystery

Hmm I just checked cdnow and cduniverse for previte cds and it listed only
2 as leader "Dangerous Rip" and "My Man In Sydney", and three
collaborations (the 2 with Zorn, and one with Ducret). So, what's happened
to his other stuff??


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 3 Jul 1999 01:03:23 -0700
From: "david rothbaum" <[e-mail]>
Subject: solo saxophone

if anyone can recommend a few recordings of solo saxophone id appreciate it.
i am familiar with anthony braxton, steve lacy, evan parker, ned rothenberg,
jason dumars, claude delangle and eric dolphy.  id like to check out anyone
im not familiar with,  jazz or classical etc..

thanks,

david


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 07:01:12 -0400
From: "Caleb T. Deupree" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: previte mystery

At 05:41 PM 7/3/99 +1000, Julian wrote:
>Hmm I just checked cdnow and cduniverse for previte cds and it listed only
>2 as leader "Dangerous Rip" and "My Man In Sydney", and three
>collaborations (the 2 with Zorn, and one with Ducret). So, what's happened
>to his other stuff??

Most of his earlier work was on Gramavision, a label which is now sadly
defunct (or swallowed up by a major, who only releases the most popular
items -- amounts to the same thing).  I keep hoping that the current owners
will re-release LaMonte Young's Well Tuned Piano as well.

- --
Caleb Deupree
[e-mail]

It is pretty obvious that the debasement of the human mind caused by a
constant flow of fraudulent advertising is no trivial thing.  There is more
than one way to conquer a country.

- -- Raymond Chandler

- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 10:33:38 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: cd collections

"* %" wrote:

> would all the people who have 1000+ please tell
> me how long they've been collecting and basically what's your job or
> whatever.

I'm currently in the midst of cataloging my collection into a database (using
Filemaker Pro) and have just passed 1000 pieces on CD and LP (haven't gotten to
cassettes, singles or video yet).  And I'd say I'm about halfway through.  I'd
also add that I had a lot more about two years ago, but had to liquidate a great
deal of less-desired stuff to add to the cashflow (ouch, I know) over the last
year.  I also got rid of perhaps four-fifths of my vinyl when I moved to New
York six years ago, and my classical music collection is a mere shadow of what
it was two or three years ago, a diminution I now very much regret.

Part of that change has to do with the rise of second hand stores... not so much
for purchases, but for ready liquidation on a whim or on necessity, when I can
only make the rent by liquidating the dead wood.  I'd go through the collection
once or twice a year and weed it out... I'm not a collector who hangs on to
absoutely anything anymore.  (Five moves in the last six years have also made me
see the value of being able to travel just a bit lighter, for one thing...)

And, as has been previously established in years gone by on this list (I am not
nearly as active at present as I was a year ago and prior), I work in the music
business and have done so in some capacity for over ten years, and that does
mean that much of what I've amassed, I've done so without paying full retail,
with plenty added for free.  I also admit that I've indulged in that verboten
practice of trading in freebies towards stuff I actually wanted.

> are any of you college students?

No, but that's when the habit started...  I once owned a lot of rare free jazz
and improv stuff that I bought secondhand in Houston where the demand wasn't as
high so the prices were laughably low.  I think there's still a price sticker
for $4.99 on my copy of "The Topography of the Lungs" (Incus LP 1, by Derek
Bailey, Evan Parker and Han Bennink), to name but one glaring example.  Nowadays
you couldn't even find that in Houston, but 12 years ago...

> and if so how do you manage to
> afford buying so much without eating?  there's been a few times where i had
> to choose between a cd or eating properly and i would buy the CD.  silly me.

I'd guess that this is common to many of us.  But these days I do so far less
often.  I'll typically allow myself perhaps one or two new discs per weekly
paycheck, a little more now or then depending on overall fiscal health or if I'm
buying used.

I do have one friend who still goes out and buys armfuls of used vinyl on a
regular basis, and would have to guess that he's got upwards of 20K on vinyl and
perhaps 1000 CDs.  Don't know how he does it...

Steve Smith
[e-mail]


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 10:42:56 -0400
From: "Zachary J. Griffin" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: classic guide to strategy

My apologies, my copy of the book didn't have the "Classic Guide..."
subtitle.  Leading me to believe that they were two different books.

patRice wrote:

> Zachary J. Griffin wrote:
> >
>
> > > anyway: do any of you if said cd is based on the book of the same name
> > > by the greatest samurai of all times, miyamoto musashi?
> > >
> > > patRice
> > >
> > > -
> >
> > Right author, wrong book. According to the Zorn-written liner notes "The
> > Classic Guide to Strategy" is a five volume project, following the five
> > chapters of "The Book of Five Rings".
> >
> > Zach Griffin
>
> thanks for your answer, zach.
>
> it is the right book then. because the full title is: "a book of five
> rings. the classic guide to strategy." (and, to any of you who might be
> interested: it is available as one single book; amazon.com has it
> listed.)
>
> patRice


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 10:58:24 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Lou, Laurie, Vaclav and Maddie

[e-mail] wrote:

> Zorn and Madeleine -- this has gone round and round, and was even on the knit's
> web site. i guess about 2 yrs ago or so, vaclev havel and madeleine albright
> were hanging with havel's pals (i suppose) lou reed and laurie anderson. they
> went to see masade at the knit, sat in the balcony and yammered away all night.
> zorn fucked them off, loud and clear, apparently knowing and not caring who the
> disrupters were.

I was the official mouthpiece at the Knit at the time, and Kurt's got the story
right.  Here's a little more detail for the curious and the non-old timers, who got
all of this stuff first hand two years ago:

1. Vaclav Havel, aging hipster, was coming to the U.N. for some sort of official
function.  Wanting to get some cutting edge culture while in town, he approached his
old pal, underground icon Lou Reed.
2. Lou Reed, aging hipster who'd just bolstered his indie cred with two sold-out
shows at the Knit in February of that year, approached his new friend Michael Dorf
for some suggestions of what to do with Havel.
3. Dorf, savvy marketing genius, realizes that he's got the ne plus ultra of the NYC
avant-garde in his own crib that night - Bar Kokhba.  He has Lou invite Havel down.
Havel accepts.
4. In passing conversation during the day, aging non-hipster Madeleine Albright asks
Havel what he's doing that evening.  Havel gives her a brief precis.  Albright,
who's only recently disovered her Jewish heritage (this had just been in the news
recently), decides to schlep along for some Radical Jewish Culture.
5. Hurried preparations are made, including clearing the private party in the
balcony with Zorn.  He does indeed know who's going to be in the house that night.
6. You've never seen so many dark suits, walkie-talkies and guns in the Knit as on
that evening.
7. Reed, Laurie Anderson (the Eydie to his Steve) and Havel arrive for the show.
Albright arrives slightly later.
8. Havel and Albright carry on in the balcony, seemingly oblivious to the intent
music listening going on downstairs.  Irritation grows.  Finally Zorn fires off the
shot heard around the world:  "Hey, you up there in the balcony, shut the fuck up!
We're trying to play down here!"
9. Shutting up occurs, but no major multinational incidents follow.
10. After making a few phone calls the next morning, I'm able to get the incident
reported on the gossip pages of the Post and the Daily News.  It also goes out on
the wire and is picked up by papers from Seattle to London.  And I get a photo from
Havel's staff photographer to supply to Rolling Stone for the "Random Notes" page -
I distinctly recall that the Spice Girls were on the cover.

In my line of work, that's both a job well done and about as tough as shooting fish
in a barrel with a bazooka.

Shameless,
Steve Smith
[e-mail]

NP - Joni Mitchell, "Refuge of the Roads," _Hejira_


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 11:16:09 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gramavision mystery

"Caleb T. Deupree" wrote:

> Most of his earlier work was on Gramavision, a label which is now sadly
> defunct (or swallowed up by a major, who only releases the most popular
> items -- amounts to the same thing).  I keep hoping that the current owners
> will re-release LaMonte Young's Well Tuned Piano as well.

Not likely.  Gramavision was purchased by Rykodisc a few years ago, and the guy
they hired to run it, Hans Wendl, a well-known figure from the Bay Area, had
all the right ideas, issuing some nice stuff like the live Frisell Trio disc
and Myra Melford's The Same River, Twice.  But it eventually became clear to
Wendl that he wasn't going to be able to do all he wanted to do, and I seem to
recall hearing that he missed the Bay Area, as well.  So back he went, and
Gramavision returned to inactivity.  Alas.

I recently wrote a massive feature piece for an upcoming issue of Gramophone's
"Explorations" quarterly - kind of a silly survey of the history of "serious
composers in jazz" or some equally meaningless nomenclature.  I had to select
only a handful of composers, naturally.  Two of those I chose were John Carter
(for "Roots and Folklore") and Previte (not a conflict of interest since we
aren't working together anymore).  And when I went to write up the discography
for the piece, it galled me to realize that all of the discs I cited by these
two were on Gramavision, and therefore pretty much unavailable.

Steve Smith
[e-mail]


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 11:25:41 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: solo saxophone

david rothbaum wrote:

> if anyone can recommend a few recordings of solo saxophone id appreciate it.

You've mentioned most of the heavies, esp. Lacy, Braxton and Evan Parker, who
are the three I'd most readily cite as creating a significant body of work for
the solo saxophone.

To these I'd only add that Peter Brotzmann has recorded a series of solo
saxophone recitals which often shed new light on his overall conception and
range.  Try "14 Love Poems" (FMP, vinyl only) or "No Nothing" (FMP CD).

And John Butcher has also created some valuable and otherworldly racket on his
solo albums, although these are likely to be hard to find.  I've seen Butcher
dismissed as a pale imitation of Parker, but to my ears he goes in some
distinctly different directions: lots of quasi-mechanical sounds, some
interesting multi-tracking experiments.  I remember that his debut, "13 Friendly
Numbers" (Acta) really did a number on my ears, and "London and Cologne"
(Rastascan) can also be readily recommended.  Try finding these in Cadence if
you've not got a Tower nearby.

Mats Gustafsson has also recently released a solo disc, but so far I'm less
drawn to his work... others will disagree.

And let's not forget Zorn's "Classic Guide to Strategy," unreadable liner notes
or no... ;-)

Steve Smtih
[e-mail]


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 11:39:42 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Re: previte mystery

Julian wrote:

> Hmm I just checked cdnow and cduniverse for previte cds and it listed only
> 2 as leader "Dangerous Rip" and "My Man In Sydney", and three
> collaborations (the 2 with Zorn, and one with Ducret). So, what's happened
> to his other stuff??

I'm not working with Bobby anymore (time constraints and whatnot), but we're
still in touch, and I can clear this up.

As previously mentioned by another poster, the Gramavision stuff is out of
print.  And, although you can probably still find it in stores, the three
Weather Clear Track Fast discs on Enja (Weather Clear Track Fast, Hue and Cry,
Too Close to the Pole) are also currently out of print.  But this is only
because Bobby bought the masters back from Enja to re-release on Depth of
Field.

Bobby is planning to release a series of three box sets compiling his work.
The first will include the previously-released Dull Bang, Gushing Sound, Human
Shriek (reclaimed from Koch Jazz) and Bump the Renaissance (reclaimed from
Sound Aspects) along with his very first album, Pull to Open, previously on
Rift vinyl and not available on CD at all.  The second will include the three
WCTF discs mentioned above, and the third will be the long-awaited Horse box,
which, according to Bobby's website, has been delayed, "although the first
volume will be out in June."

Last I heard, there was no bonus material planned for the WCTF box, though I
do recall urging him to investigate licensing the amazing live tracks issued
by Jazz a Go-Go magazine in Poland to add some value to the box for those who
already own one or more of the WCTF discs.  Don't know if he followed up on
that...

Sadly, Depth of Field was dropped by Koch recently, so there's no telling just
how long any of his his discs will be easy to find, but I do believe that
Bobby's trying to shore up his website to make direct ordering easier.  By the
way, the site now lists a special offer through Downtown Music Gallery: if you
order either of the Latin for Travelers CDs from Bruce you'll get a FREE copy
of Weather Clear Track Fast.  See www.bobbyprevite.com for details.

Steve Smith
[e-mail]


- -

------------------------------

Date: Sat, 03 Jul 1999 12:13:59 -0400
From: Steve Smith <[e-mail]>
Subject: Where's Steve Smith Been? [was Re: shannon jackson]

"Patrice L. Roussel" wrote:

> Steve Smith should be able to help, but I have not seen any mail by him in
> a while. Still there?

Since someone already mentioned www.shannonshouse.com there's no need for me
to address the original question.  But I figured I'd at least step in and
address Patrice's question for the four or five people to whom it matters...
;-)  To anyone else, this might be a little long, so just hit "delete" and I
apologize for wasting your bandwidth...

Yes, I'm still here, and always have been.  Life has been really... ummm...
different in the last nine months since my wife and I separated, and that's
kept me from being as active a participant in the Z-List as I'd once been,
back in the days when I fired up the computer for three or four hours every
single night.  Nowadays my day job consumes my days, my freelance writing has
absorbed many of my night hours, and a new girlfriend has also occupied much
of my time and attention.  So it's not uncommon for three or four days to pass
without my going online at all.

(Can I just take a moment out to mention what a wonder it is to have a
girlfriend who's keenly interested in attending Zorn/Frith/Laswell/Lombardo
and Cecil Taylor shows with me, who is able to discuss them with me
intelligently and vigorously afterward, and who takes me to hear things like
Abbey Lincoln and a recent Vernon Reid-led multi-artist tribute to Joni
Mitchell in return?  Yes, of course I'm bragging, but Jody McAllister can
actually back me up on this one...  I feel like I've finally got a real live
soul mate...)

Still, I've been reading every single post to the Z-List with the same
customary interest, and still taking copious shopping list notes, if not
jumping in with answers and opinions quite as fervently as in years past.  In
fact, I hadn't really realized how absent I've seemed until bumping into a
pair of prominent 'listers at a concert the other night (more in a separate
post) and they both mentioned it.  (Thanks, guys...  I've missed bumping into
you as well.)   And at the same show Jim O'Rourke (who was with said 'listers)
looked at me like he was surprised I was even still *alive*...  whereas,
having been able to keep up with him through the mass media and the Z-List, I
just looked at him in amazement at his newly shaggy hair...  :-)

Anyway, Patrice, thanks for the prod.  You've no doubt noticed that I've spent
most of this morning swinging back into action with a vengeance.  But speaking
of absence... did Jeff Spirer totally bail on us when the Laswell list got
started?  I've missed his posts greatly - he led me to some swell literature.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...
Steve Smith
[e-mail]
NP - Joni Mitchell, "Judgement of the Moon and Stars," _For the Roses_
(awwww.... he's *WHIPPED!!!*)


- -

------------------------------

End of Zorn List Digest V2 #693
*******************************


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