Author: Mike

Jazzman Wayne Horvitz is never idle for long. His latest efforts include playing with Naked City, covering Naked City, his own bands, etc., etc.

Prolific drummer/percussionist Jim Black who has played with many of NY’s finest jazzers (including Tim Berne, Ellery Eskelin, Pachora and his own project AlasNoAxis has a very informative site that also acts as a great portal via the many links to other downtown NY jazz sites.

Perpetually touring, SGM will be on the road for most of the summer.

Squonk Opera’s summer tour schedule includes one whole month of shows in Scotland as well as a number of shows in Philadephia.

Sad news…apparently Berio has passed away. Cause of death is not certain at this time, but it is possibly related to his recent spinal problems.

One of the most unique and long running avant efforts, Biota’s music is notoriously difficult to describe. A recent set of reviews do a reasonably good job.

Los Angeles based Cryptogramophone has released two new titles.

Erik Friedlander “Quake”
“The new CD by the incredible NY ‘cellist is his most exciting and beautiful yet. Featuring Andy Laster on saxophones, Stomu Takeishi on bass and Satoshi Takeishi on percussion, this CD has many fine Friedlander compositions, taking you on an exciting journey from the popular music of India to the Downtown scene.”

Scot Ray Quintet
“The CD combines extreme Jazz, avant funk, liquid Americana and skronk blues. Think-James Brown meets Sun Ra on a front porch somewhere in rural Montana. Scot Ray (trombone), Nels Cline (e. guitars), Alex Cline (drums), Steuart Liebig (contrabassguitars) and Jeff Gauthier (electric violin).”

Never one to shy away from booking creative, boundry-pushing music, plans are underway for the seventh annual Kerrytown Concert House Edgefest in Ann Arbor Michigan.

The dates of the festival are October 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Scheduled to apprear are the Guy Klucevsek-Phillip Johnston Duo, Trevor Watts Ensembles, Trevor Watts Celebration Band, Hamster Theater, Fonda-Stevens Group, Mat Maneri Quartet, L’Ensemble Pierre Labbe (from Les Projectionistes) and Trio 3 (Andrew Cyrille, Oliver Lake and Reggie Workman). Various workshops with the muscians are also scheduled.

The festival is a presentation of Kerrytown Concert House which handles all the reservations for tickets etc. More information available by phoning the KCH at (734) 769-2999 or visiting the website.

Henry Grimes was a bassist who played with Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins in the 60’s, then just disappeared. Thought dead by most, he was recently tracked down living in LA. Given a bass by William Parker, he’s now playing again. There’s a lot of press on this rather interesting story:

Audio from NPR

New York Times (free reg required)

More info and a discography

Apparently Grimes has been rehearsing with Nels and Alex Cline.

On the heels of their BBC Radio Soft Machine release, Hux Records continues to release archival material from the BBC vaults. British jazz/rock band Nucleus is their latest effort and this release is from performances in 1971 and 1982 and is called “The Pretty Redhead”.