Playlist, Week of 2017-10-22

The Henry Threadgill sweep continues, with more Air and also Threadgill's early masterpiece X-75 Volume 1, one of my favorite jazz albums of the late '70s... with its unusual instrumentation of four woodwinds (mostly flutes), four basses, and the wonderful Amina Claudine Myers on vocals, the album casts a wonderful spell unique to Threadgill's discography... the Mosaic box set devoted to his complete Novus and Columbia recordings adds a full album's worth of unreleased material to constitute a Volume 2... the only difference being the lack of Myers... still, great stuff... and Threadgill's alto sax solo on "Fe Fi Fo Fum" is a showstopper... I recently dug out Apogee again and reminded myself of what a masterpiece it is... definitely one of the greatest tenor sax albums out there... the pairing of Pete Christlieb and Warne Marsh is sublime... Christlieb's playing is soulful and satisfying in a "Deacon Blues" kind of way, while Marsh is more abstract and angular, demonstrating conclusively how massive an influence on Anthony Braxton he has been... together, their playing sparks so much I swear I can see flames coming off the turntable... Always a pleasure to hear new Tom Rainey and Ingrid Laubrock... I love Rainey's approach to standards that he uses with his Obbligato group...

Playlist 2017-10-23:

*Air: Montreux Suisse Air
*Air: Air Lore
*Art Ensemble of Chicago: People in Sorrow
*Pete Christlieb/Warne Marsh Quintet: Apogee
*Ornette Coleman: Prime Design/Time Design
*Decoy with Joe McPhee: Spontaneous Combustion (disc 1)
*Dave Holland Quartet: 1972-12-01 Studio Rivbea, NYC (CDR) (disc 1)
*Roland Kirk Quartet: Rip, Rig, and Panic
*Steve Miller/Lol Coxhill: "The Story So Far​.​.​." ".​.​.​Oh Really?" (disc 2)
*Roscoe Mitchell: Bells for the South Side
*New Ting Ting Loft: 2017-10-09 "Fight Back in the Kitchen" (wav)
*Charlie Parker: Unheard Bird: The Unissued Takes (disc 1)
*Evan Parker/Derek Bailey/Han Bennink: The Topography of the Lungs
*Evan Parker: Monoceros
*Evan Parker & AMM: Title Goes Here
*RAIC: 2017-10-14 Etching Tin Recording Studio, RVA "Balance of the Three" (wav)
*Tom Rainey Obbligato: Float Upstream
*Tom Rainey Trio: 2017-09-09 Jazz Gallery, NYC (wav)
*Return to Forever: Where Have I Known You Before
*Matana Roberts: Coin Coin Chapter One: Les Gens de Couleur Libres
*Henry Threadgill: X-75 Volume 1
*Henry Threadgill: X-75 Volume 2
*Charles Tyler: Saga of the Outlaws
*Animal Collective: Painting With
*Tommy Bolin & Friends: Live at Ebbets Field June 3 & 4, 1974
*Bob Dylan: The 1966 Live Recordings (discs 6, 7, 8)
*Funkadelic: Music for Your Mother: Funkadelic 45s  (disc 2)
*Elvis Presley: A Boy From Tupelo: The Complete 1953-55 Recordings (disc 1)
*Space Debris: Behind the Gate (disc 1)
*Steely Dan: Gaucho Outtakes and Demos (1979-80)
*Various artists: Ethiopiques Vol. 24: Golden Years of Modern Ethiopian Music (1969-1975)