I've been thinking about starting a web site where musicians review free jazz/free improvisation music from an insider perspective. This is not a completely original idea, because I know that other musicians do this for sites like allmusic and others, but I'd like to do this from a different perspective.

1) Can a player be an Accompanist in Free Music?

If so please list your favorite Free Music players who often play more of a an accompanist role

2) If people are playing in a manner that sounds like "everybody soling at once"
can you think of examples of Free Jazz or Free Music where nobody sounds like they are soloing not even one person?

At almost 81 yeasr old maestro Cecil Taylor doesn't stop to create. He's now involved in a project "Diction and Contra Diction" . He wants to inlcude on this a groovy band. Last 15th January the maestro was at the Knitting Factory to check out guitarist Gary Lucas playing.

He liked the way "God and Monsters" grooved and had the idea to invite Gary Lucas to perform together on this new project including his music, poetry and rock stuff!. Awesome!!!

Haven't seen many comments about this anywhere - but I'm absolutely gobsmacked. 108 minutes of solo trumpet is a rather daunting proposition (and that's just for the listener) - but there's scarcely a wasted second. Seems to be a step beyond his previous solo CD. Well worth checking out.

Disclaimer - as usual no integrity was harmed in the making of this infomercial.

I eagarly awaited listening to this album when it finally arrived in the mail. it was july, and i was living in hawaii at the time. the item itself had been on back order through forced exposure for weeks, and i had no idea when or if it would ever arrive. so, it was a pleasant suprise. my eyes glittered like a kids would i guess. but the more grown up aspect of me wanted to wait for the right time, which i had decided later that day: the first appearance of snow (as i was set to move back to michigan soon).

Maybe I'm growing soft in my old age, but I'm liking quite a lot of recent CDs.

Had read praise of Mary Halvorson over the past couple of years, but what I'd read didn't mesh with the folk-chamber-jazz duet I saw a year or so ago. Was also rather put off by the efficiency of the Firehouse 12 publicity machine - announcements seemed to be cropping up everywhere, every day.

But, the modem needed some exercise and I downloaded...

It's been quiet recently, so here's a suggestion to warm up those winter evenings.

Been finding recent small-group Brotzmann sessions a little formulaic (never really cared for the larger group, Octet or Tentet?).

But this one comes across like a breath of fresh air - duo with Fred Lonberg-Holm. Seems to pull Brotzmann out of his cruise control (was similarly taken when I saw Lonberg-Holm perform with Joe McPhee some while ago). Worth checking out if you've become a bit jaded in recent months. But a warning if you buy CDs by quantity - playing time is only 37 minutes.

Anybody go? Anything to say? Anything else happen simultaneously?

Unexpected travel problems kept me away this time around. I'd really like to know how things were. Was the venue better/worse than earlier years?

As I looked over the programme I felt that they'd missed an opportunity for parallel sessions of "big names in the big room" and "up-and-comers in the other".

Did Guiseppi Logan put in an appearance?

Hello all-
Does anyone know of mp3 blogs that review newer music? I'm somewhat familiar with ones that unearth forgotten gems and try to let the people know about artists that are more obscure. What about ones that are working with music being released right now.

Thanks for your help
-F

As I type this, I'm listening to the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet blast their way through a triple CD set on Okkadisk. But there's something curious about the credits on this release that I'd like to get people's opinions on. All the tracks have a composition credit. On three of the twelve tracks, the credit goes to Brötzmann himself. On the other nine, it goes to other members of the tentet. So, my question is: to what extent was this music composed by individual members of the ensemble?