#^d 2017-03-20
#^h Music Week
Music: Current count 27921 [27888] rated (+33), 403 [389] unrated (+14).
More old music than new this week. For one thing, I've been playing
CDs from the travel case when I get up in the afternoon instead of things
I'd have to work on. Rated count still seems robust as I spent the late
nights picking off old Ken Vandermark records I had missed (my rated list
here, although this doesn't pick up things where his name wasn't
listed first -- a quick count shows 35 of those, including a couple of
groups I catalog separately; my chart shows 11 more records I haven't
gotten to, including several multi-disc sets). And over the weekend
I started listening to the late Chuck Berry's old albums. I must have
heard some Berry singles during his heyday, but never owned any of
his records until I got to St. Louis and picked up Chuck Berry's
Golden Decade (released 1967) and followed up with Vol. 2
(1973) -- though I don't recall Vol. 3 (1974). So I've always
known him through compilations, especially the canon-defining The
Great Twenty-Eight (1982), and the even better The Definitive
Collection (2006), but also the 3-CD Chess Box (1988),
which shows the pickings thin out past one disc, but don't disappear
entirely.
I mentioned three deaths up top in yesterday's
Weekend
Roundup post: Chuck Berry, Jimmy Breslin, and James Hull. One
more troubling still is pending: Mary McDonough Harren, reportedly
in the final stage of her terminal cancer. She is the grande
dame of the Wichita peace movement, a founder of the
Peace and Social Justice Center
of South Central Kansas, and a dear friend over the last 15
years. Her passing will leave an unfathomable hole in our lives.
A couple links that popped up on Chuck Berry:
New records rated this week:
- Jason Anick & Jason Yeager: United (2016 [2017], Inner Circle Music): [cd]: B+(**)
- Bat for Lashes: The Bride (2016, Parlophone): [r]: B-
- Alex Cline's Flower Garland Orchestra: Oceans of Vows (2016 [2017], self-released, 2CD): [cdr]: B+(***)
- Akua Dixon: Akua's Dance (2016 [2017], Akua's Music): [cd]: B+(**)
- Jill Jack and the American SongBook Band: Pure Imagination (2016, UpHill Productions): [cd]: B+(*)
- Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra: Common Ground (2015 [2017, Addo, 2CD): [cd]: B
- Ben Markley Big Band: Clockwise: The Music of Cedar Walton (2016 [2017], OA2): [cd]: B+(*)
- Nate Wooley/Ken Vandermark: All Directions Home (2015, Audiographic): [bc]: B+(***)
Old music rated this week:
- Chuck Berry: After School Session (1955-57 [1957], Chess): [r]: B+(***)
- Chuck Berry: One Dozen Berrys (1957 [1958], Chess): [r]: B+(***)
- Chuck Berry: Chuck Berry Is on Top (1955-59 [1959], Chess): [r]: A-
- Chuck Berry: Rockin' at the Hops (1960, Chess): [r]: B+(**)
- Chuck Berry: New Juke Box Hits (1961, Chess): [r]: B+(*)
- Chuck Berry: Twist (1955-61 [1962], Chess): [r]: A-
- Chuck Berry: On Stage (1963, Chess): [r]: B-
- Chuck Berry: St. Louis to Liverpool (1957-64 [2004], Chess): A-
- Chuck Berry: Chuck Berry in London (1965, Chess): [r]: B+(***)
- Chuck Berry: Fresh Berry's (1965, Chess): [r]: B+(**)
- Chuck Berry: Chuck Berry in Memphis (1967, Mercury): [r]: B+(*)
- Chuck Berry: Live at Fillmore Auditorium (1967, Mercury): [r]: B
- Bob Brookmeyer: The Dual Role of Bob Brookmeyer (1954-55 [1990], Prestige/OJC): [r]: B+(**)
- Cinghiale [Mars Williams and Ken Vandermark]: Hoofbeats of the Snorting Swine (1995-96 [1996], Eighth Day Music): [bc]: B+(***)
- Bo Diddley/Chuck Berry: Two Great Guitars (1964, Chess): [r]: B+(*)
- Vic Juris: Songbook (1999 [2000], SteepleChase): [r]: B
- Barney Kessel With Shelly Manne and Ray Brown: The Poll Winners (1957 [1988], Contemporary/OJC): [r]: B+(*)
- Barney Kessel With Shelly Manne & Ray Brown: Poll Winners Three! (1959 [1992], Contemporary/OJC): [r]: B+(***)
- Rara Avis: Mutations/Multicelluars Mutations (2012 [2013], dEN, 2CD): [bc]: B+(*)
- Rara Avis (2013 [2015], Not Two): [bc]: B+(**)
- Reed Trio: Last Train to the First Station (2008-10 [2011], Kilogram): [bc]: B+(*)
- The Vandermark Quartet: Big Head Eddie (1993, Platypus): [bc]: B
- Vandermark 5: Drink, Don't Drown (1997, Savage Sound Syndicate): [bc]: B+(*)
- Vandermark 5: Thinking on One's Feet (1998, Savage Sound Syndicate) B+(**)
- Ken Vandermark/Tim Daisy: August Music (2006 [2007], self-released): [bc]: A-
- Ken Vandermark/Tim Daisy: The Conversation (2010-11 [2011], Multikulti): [bc]: B+(***)
- Ken Vandermark/Paal Nilssen-Love: Letter to a Stranger (2011 [2012], Smalltown Superjazz): [bc]: B+(***)
- Witches & Devils: Empty Bottle Chicago (1997 [2000], Savage Sound Syndicate): [bc]: B+(*)
Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:
- Antonio Adolfo: Hybrido: From Rio to Wayne Shorter (AAM): April 7
- Bryan and the Aardvarks: Sounds From the Deep Field (Biophilia): April 28
- Ernest Dawkins New Horizons Ensemble: Transient Takes (Malcom)
- Duo Baars Henneman & Dave Burrell: Transdans (Wig)
- Tristan Honsinger/Antonio Borghini/Tobias Delius/Axel Dörner: Hook, Line and Sinker (De Platenbakakkerij)
- Abdullah Ibrahim: Ancient Africa (1973, Delmark/Sackville): March 24
- Jentsch Group Quartet: Fractured Pop (Fleur de Son): April 7
- Mike Longo Trio: Only Time Will Tell (2017, CAP): March 31
- Linda May Han Oh: Walk Against Wind (Biophilia): April 14
- Michael Rabinowitz: Uncharted Waters (Cats Paw): April 28
- Sult/Lasse Marhaug: Harpoon (Conrad Sound/Pica Disk): advance
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 1: Titan (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 2: Tarvos (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 3: Pandora (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 4: Hyperion (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 5: Rhea (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 6: Saturn (Leo)
- Ivo Perelman/Matthew Shipp: The Art of Perelman-Shipp, Volume 7: Dione (Leo)