KAT EDMONSON — Dreamers Do (2020) Two Version | FLAC (image+tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist:

1.     A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes     2:48

Mack David / Al Hoffman / Jerry Livingston

2.     Go To Sleep     2:51

Victor Herbert / Mel Levin

3.     In A World Of My Own    3:52

Sammy Fain / Oliver Wallace

    Featuring – Duchess
4.     Night Walk (Interlude)     1:02

5.     When You Wish Upon A Star     5:17

Leigh Harline / Ned Washington

6.     The Parlor (Interlude)     0:23

7.     Chim Chim Cher-Ee     2:36

Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman

8.     This Old House (Interlude)     0:17

9.     Someone’s In The House     2:04

Kat Edmonson

10.     Carlyle (Interlude)     0:18

11.     Very Good Advice     3:03

Sammy Fain / Bob Hilliard

12.     Too Late To Dream     3:42

Kat Edmonson

13.     A Little Night Music? (Interlude)     0:51

14.     All I Do Is Dream Of You     3:03

Nacio Herb Brown / Arthur Freed

15.     Be Careful How You Wish     5:24

Harold Adamson / Sammy Fain

16.     The Second Star To The Right     3:53

Sammy Cahn / Sammy Fain

17.     The Age Of Not Believing    4:21

Richard M. Sherman / Robert B. Sherman

    Featuring – Bill Frisell

18.     Morning (Interlude)     0:05

Robert Thiele / George David Weiss

19.     What A Wonderful World     2:44

Robert Thiele / George David Weiss

20.     A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes (Reprise)     2:52

Mack David / Al Hoffman / Jerry Livingston

Credits:

Evan Arntzen - Clarinet
Trina Basu, Ali Bello,  Janey Choi,  Christina Courtin, Kiku Enomoto, Rachel Golub, Fung Chern Hwei, Dana Lyn,  Elena Park, Justin Smith, Mazz Swift - Violin
Avi Bortnick - Guitars
Amy Cervini, Hilary Gardner - Vocals
Duchess - Primary Artist
Roy Dunlap - Organ, Piano, Vocals
Kat Edmonson - Arranger, Composer, Primary Artist, Producer, String Arrangements, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals
Eduardo Da Fonseca    Drums, Percussion, Vocals
Bill Frisell - Featured Artist, Guitars
Bob Hart - Bass, Vocals
Marika Hughes, Clara Kennedy - Cello
Mathias Kunzli - Bird Calls, Drums, Percussion
Neil Miner - Bass
Matt Munisteri - Guitars, Vocals
Jose Luis Oliveira, Tim Ruedeman - Flute
Victor Provost - Steel Pan
Matt Ray - Celeste, Piano, String Arrangements
Rob Schwimmer - Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, Synthesizer, Theremin
Jaleel Shaw - Sax (Alto)
Jiaju Shen - Pipa
Deeper Singh - Tabla
Yacouba Sissoko - Kora
Pete Smith - Guitars, Vocals
Melissa Stylianou - Vocals
Aaron Thurston - Arranger, Bongos, Congas, Cymbals, Drums, Maracas, Percussion, Producer, Prophet Synthesizer, Wood Block
Jessica Troy, Karen Waltuch, Miranda Sielaff - Viola
Yang Wang - Erhu
Anthony Wilson - String Arrangements
Brandee Younger - Harp 

MARC JOHNSON — The Sound of Summer Running (1998) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This date is a surprisingly mellow and melodic affair, particularly when one considers the personnel (bassist Marc Johnson, both Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny on guitars and drummer Joey Baron). Much of the music is comprised of unclassifiable, folkish melodies filled with lyrical guitar solos. Frisell is quite restrained throughout (adding a country feel to many of the songs) and Metheny is less distinctive than usual, alternating between his electric and acoustic guitars, as well as his 42-string pikasso guitar. The quartet performs seven Johnson originals (most memorable is "Union Pacific"), two by Frisell and one from Metheny. The overall results are pleasing and relaxed music that falls a little bit short of being the classic date one might expect; more fire was needed. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1.      Faith In You    5:53
 Marc Johnson 
2.    Ghost Town    5:35
 Bill Frisell 
3.    Summer Running    5:56
 Marc Johnson 
4.    With My Boots On    4:25
 Marc Johnson 
5.    Union Pacific    5:29
 Marc Johnson 
6.    Porch Swing    4:12
 Marc Johnson 
7.    Dingy-Dong Day    3:51
 Marc Johnson 
8.    The Adventures Of Max And Ben    6:08
 Bill Frisell 
9.    In A Quiet Place    5:17
 Eliane Elias / Marc Johnson 
10.    For A Thousand Years    6:28
 Marc Johnson / Pat Metheny 
Credits :
Bass – Marc Johnson 
Drums, Tambourine – Joey Baron
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Bill Frisell
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Guitar [42-string Pikasso] – Pat Metheny

KRIS DAVIS — Duopoly (2016) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Album features originals, three covers and free improvisations in an inventive palindromic sequence.

CD + DVD includes full film of Davis in duet with Bill Frisell, Craig Taborn, Tim Berne, Don Byron, Julian Lage, Marcus Gilmore, Billy Drummond, Angelica Sanchez — and all artists with whom Davis had never before recorded. krisdavis.bandcamp.com
Music Tunes :
1.    Prairie Eyes 6:02
Composed By – Kris Davis
2.    Surf Curl  4:15
Composed By – Kris Davis
3.    Fox Fire  8:55
Composed By – Kris Davis
4.    Beneath The Leaves  5:55
Composed By – Angelica Sanchez
5.    Eronel  5:28
Composed By – Idrees Sulieman, Sadik Hakim, Thelonious Monk
6.    Dig & Dump  6:02
Composed By – Kris Davis
7.    Trip Dance For Tim  6:33
Composed By – Kris Davis
8.    Prelude To A Kiss  4:17
Composed By – Duke Ellington
Free Improvisations    
9.    Don Byron  4:02
Composed By – Don Byron, Kris Davis
10.    Tim Berne  4:03
Composed By – Kris Davis, Tim Berne
11.    Marcus Gilmore  3:31
Composed By – Kris Davis, Marcus Gilmore
12.    Billy Drummond  4:14
Composed By – Billy Drummond, Kris Davis
13.    Angelica Sanchez  4:09
Composed By – Angelica Sanchez, Kris Davis
14.    Craig Taborn  4:24
Composed By – Craig Taborn, Kris Davis
15.    Julian Lage  3:22
Composed By – Julian Lage, Kris Davis
16.    Bill Frisell  3:09
Composed By – Bill Frisell, Kris Davis
All Credits : 

PAUL MOTIAN TRIO — It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago (1984) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

This trio, the root of the Paul Motian Quintet that also included the late Jim Pepper and bass player Ed Schuller, is among the most "songish" that ECM ever recorded. All three men are masters of understatement and heartbreakingly beautiful melodic invention, and also possess a collective well of deep lyricism in their improvisations. They had another thing in common, all having been sidemen for many years before becoming bandleaders in their own right. In fact, Lovano was only then, in 1984, beginning to consider himself a bandleader. There isn't a display of ego anywhere on this recording or the quintet's wonderful The Story of Maryam (Soul Note 1074). Motian is credited with all the compositions here, but it's obvious they come from the collective. While the title track that opens the record is full of the lilting melodic invention Frisell is well known for, it is actually the short sonorous lines that Lovano feeds to Motian that illumine the cut and give it its sense of open space and interval. "Fiasco" is a study in three part counterpoint: From Frisell to Motian to Lovano, the fury of the improvisation is tempered only by dynamic restraint and the intention on the part of the trio to hear the harmonics they are creating as microtones. Elsewhere, such as on "India" and the closer "Two Women of Padua," the tonal registers of the guitars and saxophone become the voices in "songs" offered up in different emotional and musical circumstances, but in the manner of singing nonetheless. Intervallic invention here becomes its own m.o. and, given the depth of melodic interplay, a fluid musicality is ensured. This is one of the finest recordings that came from ECM in the '80s. Paul Bley led another, which featured Motian and Frisell -- as well as John Surman. This set is made of the kind of music that made Manfred Eicher's ECM such a force to be reckoned with. It placed three musicians in a context that was comfortable enough to make them want to sing to one another.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    It Should've Happened a Long Time Ago 6:06
Paul Motian 
2.    Fiasco 7:49
Paul Motian 
3.    Conception Vessel 4:31
Paul Motian 
4.    Introduction 3:05
Paul Motian 
5.    India  7:26
Paul Motian 
6.    In the Year of the Dragon 5:57
Paul Motian 
7.    Two Women from Padua  5:13
Paul Motian 
Credits : 
Drums, Percussion, Composed By, Photography By – Paul Motian
Guitar, Guitar Synthesizer – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone – Joe Lovano 

BILL FRISELL — Bill Frisell with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Ever prolific avant-Americana guitarist Bill Frisell continues his Nonesuch odyssey with this trio that includes two jazz heavyweights: bassist Dave Holland (former Miles Davis band member and current ECM recording artist) and drum legend Elvin Jones (one-quarter of the classic John Coltrane Quartet of the '60s and still an indefatigable rhythmist). Frisell leads the threesome through a book of his own highly individual, atmospherically compelling tunes, including such recent favorites as "Strange Meeting" and "Blues Dream"; the trio also essays two vintage numbers that do a good job of bookending Frisell's own brand of rootsy lyricism - Henry Mancini's "Moon River" and Stephen Foster's "Hard Times." Hardly obvious candidates as Frisell collaborators, Holland and Jones warm well to the folk-inflected material, complementing the guitarist's offbeat charm and unerring taste with their muscular authority. Frisell fans will rejoice once again, and newcomers might find this an ideal introduction.
Tracklist :
1. Outlaws 7:55
 Bill Frisell
2. Twenty Years 3:15
 Bill Frisell
3. Coffaro's Theme 4:51
 Bill Frisell
4. Blues Dream 4:48
 Bill Frisell
5. Moon River 6:26
 Bill Frisell / Henry Mancini
6. Tell Your Ma, Tell Your Pa 9:07
 Bill Frisell
7. Strange Meeting 5:26
 Bill Frisell
8. Convict 13 3:56
 Bill Frisell
9. Again 7:33
 Bill Frisell
10. Hard Times 3:41
 Stephen Foster / Bill Frisell
11. Justice And Honor 4:49
 Bill Frisell
12. Smilin' Jones 5:02
 Bill Frisell
Credits :
Bill Frisell - Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Loops
Dave Holland - Bass
Elvin Jones - Drums

JIM HALL — Dialogues (1995) Telarc 20, Telarc Jazz Series | Two Version | APE (image+.cue), lossless + FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Guitarist Jim Hall has long been one of the most open-minded of the important stylists to emerge during the 1950s, and his harmonically advanced style remains quite modern while hinting at its foundations in bop. For this Telarc CD, Hall teams up with five major players on two numbers apiece: Guitarists Bill Frisell and Mike Stern, Joe Lovano on tenor, flugelhornist Tom Harrell, and Gil Goldstein on accordion. Bassist Scott Colley and drummer Andy Watson are on the Frisell and Lovano tracks, and part of the Harrell and Stern performances. All of the compositions but "Skylark" are Hall originals and, although they are usually a bit dry, there are some exceptions: "Uncle Ed" and "Frisell Frazzle" are a little nutty. The emphasis throughout is on interplay between the lead voices and advanced improvising. Despite his strong sidemen (Stern and Harrell fare best), Jim Hall ends up as the dominant voice on virtually every selection, making this a set his fans will enjoy. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1     Frisell Frazzle  4:47
Written-By – Jim Hall
2     Simple Things      6:26
Written-By – Jim Hall
3     Calypso Joe      5:17
Written-By – Jim Hall
4     Bon Ami      6:37
Written-By – Jim Hall
5     Dream Steps      4:45
Written-By – Jim Hall
6     Snowbound      6:19
Written-By – Jim Hall
7     Stern Stuff      5:12
Written-By – Jim Hall
8     Dialogue      4:34
Written-By – Jim Hall
9     Uncle Ed      5:03
Written-By – Jim Hall
10     Skylark          5:35
Written-By – Hoagy Carmichael
Credits :
Guitar – Jim Hall, Bill Frisell (tracks: 1, 2), Mike Stern (tracks: 7, 9)
Accordion – Gil Goldstein (tracks: 6, 8)
Bass – Scott Colley (tracks: 1 to 4, 7, 10)
Drums – Andy Watson (tracks: 1 to 5, 7, 9, 10)
Flugelhorn – Tom Harrell (tracks: 5, 10)    
Tenor Saxophone – Joe Lovano (tracks: 3, 4)

BILL FRISELL — Beautiful Dreamers (2010) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Beautiful Dreamers is Bill Frisell's debut for Savoy Jazz. He left longstanding label Nonesuch in 2009, claiming he needed to release more than one record per year in order to to document his various bands, film score commitments, and commissions. This set features the guitarist in the company of violist Eyvind Kang and drummer Rudy Royston on a program of ten originals and six covers. While this trio is well known for using various effects in concert to expand its sonic palette, and jamming on various tunes for long periods of time, here the musicians are virtually a mirror image of that incarnation, playing with restraint, brevity, and melodic sensitivity. Frisell's originals range between speculative, atmospherically mysterious numbers such as "Love Sick" and more rhythmically pronounced exercises that engage in contrapuntal play between the guitarist and Kang, as on "Winslow Homer," which also flirts with bluegrass while Royston lays down breaks inside hip-hop drums. "Better Than a Machine" is dedicated to the late Vic Chesnutt, and employs two of his themes in a perky, rockist tribute with some nice dissonance from Kang and power chords from Frisell. But they also underscore the covers, which are typical of Frisell; they reflect his wide interest in American music and his sense of humor. There's a parlor-room reading of Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer," an elegant version of "Goin' Out of My Head" that features killer pizzicato playing from Kang (and refers more to the original hit version by Little Anthony & the Imperials than the version by Sergio Mendes), the forlorn, wary blues of Blind Willie Johnson's "It's Nobody's Fault But Mine" stretched to the breaking point, and a swinging read of "Benny's Bugle." The blues also appears on "Worried Woman," with a direct quote from John Lennon's "I Found Out" and great rhythmic and harmonic interplay between all members of the trio. There's a sparkling cover of A.P. Carter's "Keep on the Sunny Side" that underscores Frisell's well-documented love of Americana and country music. At an hour in length, this can seem like an overly long exercise at times -- "Tea for Two" feels like an eternity and some of Frisell's originals are a tad amorphous, like cues left off film scores -- but these are minor complaints. Ultimately, Beautiful Dreamers is a wonderfully balanced trio exercise.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1.    Love Sick  1:03
 Bill Frisell
2.    Winslow Homer 3:32
 Bill Frisell
3.    Beautiful Dreamer (for Karle Seydel)  3:02
Stephen Foster
4.    A Worthy Endeavor (for Cajori) 5:24
 Bill Frisell
5.    It's Nobody's Fault But My Own 4:34
 Blind Willie Johnson
6.    Baby Cry 6:21
 Bill Frisell
7.    Benny's Bugle 3:31
 Benny Goodman
8.    Tea For Two   4:28
 Vincent Youmans
9.    No Time To Cry 1:36
 Bill Frisell
10.    Better Than A Machine (for Vic Chestnut) 2:49
 Bill Frisell
11.    Goin' Out Of My Head 2:46
 Bobby Weinstein, Teddy Randazzo
12.    Worried Woman  4:44
 Bill Frisell
13.    Keep On The Sunny Side 2:26
 A.P. Carter
14.    Sweetie 4;28
 Bill Frisell
15.    All We Can Do 6:16
 Bill Frisell
16.    Who Was That Girl? 6:14
 Bill Frisell
Credits :
Bill Frisell - Guitar
Eyvind Kang - Viola
Rudy Royston - Drums

BILL FRISELL — Is That You? (1990) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded in 1989 while Frisell was still a member of Naked City, Is That You? finds the guitarist already trending away from that band's scattershot assault and toward the more pastoral leanings he would embrace in the upcoming decade. At its best, as on the title track, Frisell creates nostalgic but heartfelt melodies that have the sense of being a soundtrack to a bittersweet movie. Wayne Horvitz' "Yuba City" is also evocative and very much in keeping with his other work from around that time, all sumptuous melodic hooks overlaying somewhat clunky rhythms. There are other nice touches here and there (the charming "Rag," for instance), but too often the gauziness that is an inherent problem with much of Frisell's music comes to the fore. While his cover of "Chain of Fools" chugs along with some dopey panache, "The Days of Wine and Roses" threatens to evaporate into the mist altogether. Fans of his later work may welcome this approach and, indeed, consider it one of his most attractive attributes, but those listeners hoping to hear more of the bite and devil-may-care attitude shown in his work with Zorn may feel suffocated. Brian Olewnick

Tracklist :
1    No Man's Land    6:40
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
2    Someone In My Backyard    2:45
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
3    Rag    4:00
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
4    Is That You? 6:50
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
Tuba – Dave Hofstra
5    The Way Home    6:00
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
6    Twenty Years    2:43
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
7    Chain Of Fools 3:30
 Composed By – Don Covay
Bass – Dave Hofstra
8    Hello Nellie 4:07
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
Tuba – Dave Hofstra
9    The Days Of Wine And Roses    3:35
 Composed By – Henry Mancini
10    Yuba City    5:42
 Composed By – Wayne Horvitz
11    Half A Million    4:00
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
12    Hope And Fear    1:06
 Composed By – Bill Frisell
Credits :
Commissioned By – Kronos Quartet (tracks: 10), Ravinia Festival (tracks: 10)
Drums – Joey Baron
Guitar [Guitars], Bass, Banjo, Ukulele, Clarinet – Bill Frisell
Keyboards, Drum Programming, Bass [Momentary Bass], Producer [Produced By] – Wayne Horvitz

ANDREW CYRILLE | WADADA LEO SMITH | BILL FRISELL — Lebroba (2018) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lebroba, Andrew Cyrille's second leader date for ECM, finds the septuagenarian rhythm explorer trading in all but guitarist Bill Frisell from the quartet that recorded 2016's fine The Declaration of Musical Independence (with bassist Ben Street and pianist Richard Teitelbaum). This bass-less trio also features trumpeter/composer Wadada Leo Smith. While this setting is somewhat unusual, Frisell is quite familiar with it, performing in this same setting on Ron Miles' 2014 offering Circuit Rider. Back in 2010, the guitarist led another unusual trio for Beautiful Dreamers with sidemen Eyvind Kang on viola and Rudy Royston on drums.
In fact, this set's opener is a redo of the guitarist's "Worried Woman," from the latter album, a lithe charmer of a melody wherein Frisell envelops himself in a call-and-response conversation on the lyric with Smith's as Cyrille colors time around the beat rather than on it. The longest piece here is Smith's nearly formless "Turiya: Alice Coltrane Meditations and Dreams: Love" at over 17 minutes. The tune is mostly "free," though the trumpeter, in true signature fashion, sketches out spaces for emphasis on dialogic exchanges that evolve from melodic fragments to dissonance and back again, with Cyrille's colorful, textured rhythmic pulses bridging the gap between frontline players. Despite the fragmented nature of the piece, the intuitive interplay between the trio's members is canny, welcoming, and thoroughly enjoyable. Cyrille's title track is based on an eight-bar blues, but it's a chameleon-like work. There are lyric aspects that recall Charles Mingus' "Good-Bye Pork Pie Hat," but Smith's soulful, muted trumpet abstractions -- ever the picture of tasteful economy -- highlight and underscore Frisell's turnarounds and expressionist reflections of deep blue Americana from the Delta to Chicago. The five-plus-minute "TGD" is credited to the group, commencing with Cyrille's dancing snares and whispering cymbals through Frisell's effects-laden soloing and sonic smears and fills and Smith's interrogatory improvisation above and around the paying of his bandmates. The only complaint is that given the nearly symbiotic nature of communication in this improvisation, the track doesn’t go on long enough. The juxtaposition of Frisell's subtly shaded chordal voicings and long single notes by Smith in the intro to the drummer's closing rubato ballad, "Pretty Beauty," are breathtakingly poignant. Cyrille's hushed and spacious use of brushes around the lyric line, highlight its dips and subtle assertions, which are exchanged by guitarist and trumpeter to create an achingly beautiful groupspeak that seemingly creates a narrative language from air. While much of Lebroba is gentle, none of it is nebulous or speculative. This trio engages in the kind of magical interplay that only extremely experienced players can conjure.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1    Worried Woman 7:35
Music By – Bill Frisell
2    Turiya:Alice Coltrane / Meditations And Dreams:Love 17:24
Music By – Wadada Leo Smith
3    Lebroba 5:44
Music By – Andrew Cyrille
4    TGD 5:17
Music By – Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Wadada Leo Smith
5    Pretty Beauty 6:24
Music By – Andrew Cyrille
Credits :
Drums – Andrew Cyrille
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Trumpet – Wadada Leo Smith

LYLE MAYS — Lyle Mays (1986) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Lyle Mays waited a long, long time before straying from the Pat Metheny Group to issue his first solo album, but when he did, the results were at once removed but not totally untethered to the Metheny sound and feeling. On his own, Mays' synthesizer solos and textures are close in sound to what he was doing in the Metheny group, but the turns of phrases in his acoustic piano solos reflect the heavy shadow of Keith Jarrett. "Highland Aire" naturally has a buoyant, wistful Scottish flavor; "Teiko" begins with a wash of synths and then offers a mechanical rhythm that is vaguely Asian in feeling; and "Slink" is the closest the album comes to the floating Metheny groove. Although the 14-minute "Alaskan Suite" forms the centerpiece of the LP's side two, the entire side could be considered a suite as a whole, with a ruminative piano solo "Mirror of the Heart" preceding "Alaskan Suite," and "Close to Home" reprising the twinkling, burbling shafts of synthesizer of "Alaskan Suite"'s opening. Bill Frisell gives Mays a different yet no less musical and enterprising guitar foil; drummer Alex Acuna and Metheny group percussionist Nana Vasconcelos are as flexible a team as Mays could want. Marc Johnson is on bass and Billy Drewes is on alto and soprano sax. A very pleasing, thoroughly musical solo debut. Richard S. Ginell  
Tracklist : 
1. Highland Aire  7:02
Bagpipes [Uilleann] – Patrick Sky
2. Teiko 7:21
3. Slink 8:17
4. Mirror Of The Heart 4:58
Alaskan Suite (14:12)
5. Northern Lights
6. Invocation
7. Ascent
8. Close To Home 6:10
Credits :
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Billy Drewes
Composed By, Piano, Synthesizer, Autoharp, Producer – Lyle Mays
Double Bass – Marc Johnson
Drums – Alejandro N, Acuña
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Percussion – Naná Vasconcelos

JOHN ZORN — Naked City (1990) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The violent cover photo (which shows a man after he was shot dead) sets the stage for the rather passionate music on this John Zorn set. With guitarist Bill Frisell, keyboardist Wayne Horvitz, bassist Fred Frith, drummer Joey Baron, and guest vocalist Yamatsuka Eye making intense contributions, altoist Zorn performs his unpredictable originals, abstract versions of some movie themes (including "A Shot in the Dark," "I Want to Live," "Chinatown," and "The James Bond Theme"), plus Ornette Coleman's "Lonely Woman." The stimulating music rewards repeated listenings by more open-minded listeners. Scott Yanow
Tracklist :
1     Batman 1'58
John Zorn
2     The Sicilian Clan 3'27
Ennio Morricone
3     You Will Be Shot 1'29
John Zorn
4     Latin Quarter 4'05
John Zorn
5     A Shot in the Dark 3'09
Henry Mancini
6     Reanimator 1'34
John Zorn
7     Snagglepuss 2'44
John Zorn
8     I Want to Live 2'08
Johnny Mandel
9     Lonely Woman 2'38
Ornette Coleman
10     Igneous Ejaculation 0'20
John Zorn
11     Blood Duster 0'13
John Zorn
12     Hammerhead 0'08
John Zorn
13     Demon Sanctuary 0'38
John Zorn
14     Obeah Man 0'17
John Zorn
15     Ujaku 0'27
John Zorn
16     Fuck the Facts 0'11
John Zorn
17     Speedball 0'37
John Zorn
18     Chinatown 4'23
Jerry Goldsmith
19     Punk China Doll 3'01
John Zorn
20     N.Y. Flat Top Box 0'43
John Zorn
21     Saigon Pickup 4'46
John Zorn
22     The James Bond Theme 3'02
John Barry
23     Den of Sins 1'08
John Zorn
24     Contempt 2'49
Georges Delerue
25     Graveyard Shift 3'25
John Zorn
26     Inside Straight 4'10
John Zorn
Credits :
Arranged By – John Zorn, Naked City
Bass – Fred Frith
Drums – Joey Baron
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Keyboards – Wayne Horvitz
Vocals – Yamatsuka Eye

PAUL BLEY — Fragments (1986) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Having worked early on with everyone from Charlie Parker and Charles Mingus to Chet Baker and Jimmy Giuffre, Canadian pianist Paul Bley created a solid jazz base for his own distinctly sparse and plaintive style. In the '60s he gravitated toward free jazz, but with less of the freneticism of a Cecil Taylor and more as a melancholic minimalist who would leave his mark on such introverted tinklers as Keith Jarrett. Since the dawn of the '70s, Bley has elaborated on his brand of chamber jazz via a slew of independent jazz labels, including Steeplechase, Soul Note, Owl, and hatART. But it's on the German ECM label where he has scored some of his most impressive triumphs; this 1986 session ranks high among his many solo and group outings for the label. Nicely assisted by '60s cohort and drummer Paul Motian, guitarist Bill Frisell, and saxophonist John Surman, Bley ranges wide, from his own diffusely meditative opener ("Memories") and two wintry ballads by Carla Bley ("Seven" and "Closer") to a noisy workout by Surman ("Line Down") and a mercurial swinger from Motian ("Once Around the Park"). Adding to the wealth of quality material here are cuts by Frisell and Annette Peacock. Overcast and a bit icy as one might expect, but nevertheless Bley's Fragments makes for a consistently provocative and enjoyable listen. Stephen Cook  Tracklist & Credits :

PAUL BLEY — The Paul Bley Quartet (1988) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This 1987 date teams the iconoclastic pianist with guitarist Bill Frisell, drummer Paul Motian, and British saxophonist John Surman. While it's easy to argue that, with Manfred Eicher's icy, crystalline production, this was a stock date for both the artists and the label, that argument would be flat wrong. Bley was looking for a new lyricism in his own playing and in his compositions. He was coming from a different place than the large harmonies offered by augmented and suspended chords and writing for piano trios. The other band members -- two other extremely lyrical improvisers in Surman and Frisell (who prized understatement as the veritable doorway to lyricism) and a drummer who was better known for his dancing through rhythms than playing them in Motian -- were the perfect foils. For the opening solos of "Interplay," Bley traipses around Frisell with a sparse elegance as the guitarist single notes his way into the heart of the piece's silence before Surman draws the entire band out of it with Bley painting the backdrops in the exit. Or there's Surman's "One in Four," written for Bley, in which the pianist moves ahead, stating large middle- and low-register chords as a melody, settling it in D minor and waiting for the band to fill in the pieces before expanding the textural palette to include his own sense of rhythm and a folk song melody in his solo. Breathtaking. The only dud is Frisell's skronk piece, "After Dark," which would have been fine for Naked City, but feels completely out of place here.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-  
Tracklist & Credits :

LEE KONITZ - Rhapsody (1995) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lee Konitz's Evidence release has seven selections from the veteran altoist that utilize different all-star personnel. The performances all have a similar commitment to relaxed and melodic freedom, but some work better than others. "I Hear a Rhapsody" (featuring a haunting vocal by Helen Merrill) precedes a more abstract "Rhapsody" (titled "Lo-Ko-Mo-And Frizz") which has wandering interplay by Konitz (on alto, soprano, and tenor), Joe Lovano (switching between tenor, alto clarinet, and soprano), guitarist Bill Frisell, and drummer Paul Motian. Jay Clayton's beautiful voice and adventurous style is well displayed on "The Aerie," and baritone great Gerry Mulligan sounds reasonably comfortable on a free improvisation with Konitz and pianist Peggy Stern, but a fairly straightforward vocal by Judy Niemack on "All the Things You Are" is followed by an overlong (19-minute) exploration of the same chord changes (renamed "Exposition") by the quartet of Konitz, clarinetist Jimmy Giuffre, pianist Paul Bley, and bassist Gary Peacock; their different approaches never really mesh together, and this selection is a bit of a bore. The final performance, an extroverted duet by Konitz (on soprano) and flügelhornist Clark Terry (titled "Flyin': Mumbles and Jumbles") adds some badly needed humor to the set. While one can admire Lee Konitz for still challenging himself after all this time, some of the dryer material on the CD (especially the two quartet numbers) should have been performed again; maybe the next versions would have been more inspired. Scott Yanow  
Tracklist :
1     I Hear a Rhapsody 4:31
Jack Baker / George Fragos / Dick Gasparre
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Piano – Peggy Stern
Vocals – Helen Merrill
2     Lo-Ko-Mo-And Frizz 12:05
Bill Frisell / Lee Konitz / Joe Lovano / Paul Motian
Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Drums – Paul Motian
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Clarinet, Soprano Saxophone – Joe Lovano
3     The Aerie 7:11
Peggy Stern
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Bass – Ben Allison
Drums – Jeff Williams
Piano – Peggy Stern
Vocals – Jay Clayton
4     Trio, No. 1 8:52
Lee Konitz / Gerry Mulligan / Peggy Stern
Baritone Saxophone – Gerry Mulligan
Piano – Peggy Stern
Soprano Saxophone – Lee Konitz
5     All the Things You Are 5:07
Oscar Hammerstein II / Jerome Kern
Guitar – Jean François Prins
Soprano Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Vocals – Judy Niemack
6     Exposition 19:00
Paul Bely / Paul Bley / Jimmy Giuffre / Lee Konitz / Gary Peacock
Bass – Gary Peacock
Clarinet – Jimmy Giuffre
Piano – Paul Bley
Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
7     Flyin': Mumbles and Jumbles 5:55
Lee Konitz / Clark Terry
Flugelhorn, Scat – Clark Terry
Soprano Saxophone, Scat – Lee Konitz

LEE KONITZ · BILL FRISELL · GARY PEACOCK · JOEY BARON — Enfants Terribles : Live at the Blue Note (2012) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Lee Konitz joined forces with Bill Frisell, Gary Peacock, and Joey Baron for a week-long booking at the Blue Note in New York City in early June 2011 (though no one was officially designated as the leader), with highlights from two nights being selected for this CD. The always-surprising alto saxophonist has worked with numerous configurations of musicians during his six-decade career, always staying fresh and avoiding predictability; this meeting finds the quartet covering six standards in an introspective yet stimulating manner. "What Is This Thing Called Love" often sounds like an exercise for jazz groups as they travel its familiar path, yet only a hint of its structure remains in this version, which deftly utilizes space and darting lines. "Body & Soul" is a bit closer to its theme, with Konitz's brilliant improvisation leading the way as Frisell provides striking backgrounds then solos with equal gusto. It's likely that Konitz has played "I'll Remember April" for most of his career, but Frisell opens it alone with a striking, deliberate solo, followed by the rest of the quartet weaving superb countermelodies around him. Baron introduces "I Remember You" on drums, keeping the audience in suspense until the group reveals it gradually in a manner more humorous than sentimental. There is never a dull moment throughout these brilliant live performances. Ken Dryden  
Tracklist :
1.     What Is This Thing Called Love 6:04
Cole Porter
2.     Body and Soul 12:07
Johnny Green / Edward Heyman / Robert Sour
3.     Stella by Starlight 11:01
Ned Washington / Victor Young
4.     I'll Remember April 10:13
Gene DePaul / Patricia Johnston / Don Raye
5.     I Remember You 11:43
Johnny Mercer / Victor Schertzinger
6.     I Can't Get Started 9:18
Vernon Duke / George Gershwin
Credits :
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Bass – Gary Peacock
Drums – Joey Baron
Guitar – Bill Frisell

CHARLES LLOYD & THE MARVELS - I Long to See You (2016) Digipack | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd has been working with guitarists periodically since the 1950s: Calvin Newborn, Gabor Szabo, John Abercrombie, and others have played in his bands. On I Long to See You, he (with his stellar rhythm section -- bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland) renews that relationship with two gifted players: Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz (the latter on lap and pedal steel). This program yields folk and spiritual songs, re-recordings of Lloyd's own tunes, a pop nugget, and a new original. In what feels like the input from the label, there are two guest vocal appearances to boot: Willie Nelson beautifully delivers Ed McCurdy's antiwar classic "Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream," and Norah Jones offers a slow, dreamy reading of "You Are So Beautiful." I Long to See You feels more like a collaboration between Lloyd and Frisell than a leader date, which is sometimes problematic: these men can be overly deferential to one another. The album starts promisingly with a brooding read of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War" that threatens to explode at any moment. Frisell and Leisz (who have worked together a lot) take it through deep winding blues, building tension before Lloyd enters and carries it toward the outside before returning to blues, while Harland's circular drumming becomes somberly hypnotic. Lloyd plays flute on "Of Course, of Course" (originally recorded for an album of the same name for Columbia in 1964). Like its predecessor, it's tough, swinging post-bop with colorful slide guitar work and rim-shot syncopations. "La Llorona," from Lloyd's ECM years, is a standout: it captures his open, mournful, Spanish-tinged wail, fleshed out by elegant, timbral guitars, a sad bassline, and Harland's magical timekeeping. "Shenandoah" (which Frisell has recorded before), "All My Trials," and "Abide with Me" are all melodically attractive, but they lack the undercurrent of passion Lloyd has imbued traditional material with in the past. He and Frisell appear so seduced by their melodies, they treat them as fragile objects, not songs whose meanings need to be further explored. Frisell's speculative solo intro on "Sombrero Sam" is overly long; Lloyd's rhythmic sweeping flute doesn't enter until five minutes in, and slips out too quickly. The lone new tune, "Barche Lamsel," more than compensates. Over 16 minutes in length, it's easily the most exploratory thing here. It commences slowly but starts cooking five minutes in. Lloyd and the rhythm section are at their modal improvisational best, moving through folk, funk, blues, Eastern modes, and post-bop. Frisell and Leisz lend fine solos as well as layered textural and atmospheric support. The tune is a journey that ends in a question mark. I Long to See You is well worth investigating even if, at times, it is overly tentative.
|> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <|
Tracklist :
1    Masters of War 8'05
Bob Dylan   
2     Of Course, of Course 6'03
Charles Lloyd   
3     La Llorona 6'02
Traditional   
4     Shenandoah 6'23
Traditional   
5     Sombrero Sam 7'31
Charles Lloyd   
6     All My Trials 5'02
Traditional   
7     Last Night I Had the Strangest Dream 4'48
Ed McCurdy   
8     Abide with Me 1'22
Traditional   
9     You Are So Beautiful 6'05
Bruce Fisher / Billy Preston   
10     Barche Lamsel 16'25
Charles Lloyd
Credits :
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Featuring, Vocals – Norah Jones (pistas: 9)
Featuring, Vocals, Guitar – Willie Nelson (pistas: 7)
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Producer [Produced By] – Charles Lloyd, Don Was, Dorothy Darr
Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD & THE MARVELS + LUCINDA WILLIAMS - Vanished Gardens (2018) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On Charles Lloyd & the Marvels 2016 debut, I Long to See You, the ensemble -- the saxophonist's rhythm section, drummer Eric Harland and bassist Reuben Rogers, and guitarists Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz -- delivered an honorable but overly deferential outing that somewhat belied the promise of its personnel. On Vanished Gardens, the Marvels leave deference in the dustbin. Here, with the assistance of Lucinda Williams, they create a music that draws on the sum total of experience and shared emotion. Lloyd, Frisell, and Leisz have all worked with rockers and country and blues players, while Harland and Rogers are jazz modernists rooted in tradition. The addition of Williams on four of her own tunes and a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Angel" transforms this band into a genre-blurring ensemble whose abilities mine the jazz and Americana traditions to redefine them in the new century.

"Defiant" commences as an extended showcase for Lloyd's modal and melodic soloing with loping pedal steel inside a 4/4 shuffle with Frisell's lonesome, lyrical playing. Williams enters on "Dust." The song originally appeared on 2016's Ghosts of Highway 20. In waltz time, Frisell's rockist power chords and Leisz's lap steel wails meet Lloyd's swirling, loping tenor that offers blues vamps amid post-bop swells to frame Williams' haunted, grainy vocal as she sings: "You couldn’t cry if you wanted to/Even your thoughts are dust," before erupting in a post-Coltrane solo with Frisell climbing behind him. The title track, with its skittering rhythms, wavelike pedal steel passes, and matched solos by Frisell and Lloyd, is a bluesy exercise in improvisation. The arrangement in Williams' "Ventura," (that appeared on West), remains startlingly close to that of the original, but Lloyd's soulful phrasing undergirds her singing with a particularly Southern grace. The inclusion of the standard "Ballad of the Sad Young Men" feels like an outlier. It's a skeletal, impressionistic ballad that lacks an anchoring center, it simply hovers and floats. Not so with the singer's raggedy gospel in "We've Come Too Far to Turn Around," where the weariness in the lyric meets the band's ability to braid Williams' voice with an emotional color palette that matches her own. The 11-plus-minute reading of her "Unsuffer Me" is the perfect meld of rock, blues, and modern post-bop jazz as both guitarists engage one another and Lloyd, who serves as the bridge between them and the singer with squeals, blurts, and flutters with his moaning horn. "Monk's Mood" is lovely, but only because of Lloyd's playing. The closing Hendrix cover is presented as a country-gospel meditation on love and eternity. Williams treats the tune as if it were her own; Frisell and Leisz surround her in soft, luxuriant textures as Lloyd accompanies her in a kind of spacy, hooky duet. Interestingly, the uneven moments on Vanished Gardens have more to do with the Marvels' reticence on the standards. Otherwise, the pairing of this band with Williams sounds natural, effortless, and holistic. There's definitely room for a sequel.
|>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<|
Tracklist :
1    Defiant 8'41
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
2    Dust 7'58
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Vocals – Lucinda Williams
Written-By – Lucinda Williams
3    Vanished Gardens 9'03
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar, Dobro – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
4    Ventura 6'22
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Vocals – Lucinda Williams
Written-By – Lucinda Williams
5    Ballad Of The Sad Young Men 6'17
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Written-By – Fran Landesman, Tommy Wolf
6    We've Come Too Far To Turn Around 6'30
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Dobro – Greg Leisz
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Vocals – Lucinda Williams
Written-By – Lucinda Williams
7    Blues For Langston And LaRue 5'38
Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
8    Unsuffer Me 11'42
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Pedal Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone, Vocals [Ghost Vocals] – Charles Lloyd
Vocals – Lucinda Williams
Written-By – Lucinda Williams
9    Monk's Mood 5'15
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Written-By – Thelonious Monk
10    Angel 5'53
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone – Charles Lloyd
Vocals – Lucinda Williams
Written-By – Jimi Hendrix

CHARLES LLOYD & the MARVELS - Tone Poem (2021) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tone Poem is the third album by saxophonist Charles Lloyd's Americana jazz quintet the Marvels -- guitarist Bill Frisell, pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Reuben Rogers, and drummer Eric Harland. Cut over several years in California studios and from a Madrid stage, it comprises six covers and three Lloyd originals. The album marks the first time the band have recorded without singers. At 82, Lloyd is a master of the form who knows what he wants from his sidemen and how to get it.

Reinventions of two Ornette Coleman classics introduce the set. The composer's bluesy feel comes through immediately in "Peace" as Leisz, Frisell, and Lloyd engage its relaxed, syncopated melody even more slowly than on the original. Lloyd's solo underscores the Middle Eastern modalism in Coleman's tags as the string players extrapolate on the blues. On "Ramblin'," Leisz's pedal steel choogles, emulating a train (perhaps the Midnight Flyer out of Lloyd's native Memphis). The saxophonist adds a few notes from American folk song "Shortnin' Bread" before grabbing on to Coleman's mutant bop head. Frisell's playing is all sparking blues and shuffling alongside Leisz's. Harland's martial rim shots could lead a NOLA second line parade as the jam departs for open spaces. Songwriter Leonard Cohen loved and celebrated traditional country music -- he often carried a copy of Hank Williams' collected lyrics on tour. The Marvels' version of Cohen's "Anthem" would have earned his deep appreciation. While the string players follow the languid tempo and harmony, Lloyd solos up and down the melody, expanding it incrementally as if it were being imparted to him in a dream. The musician's sensitivity and spiritual empathy are redolent. His "Dismal Swamp" is a funky soul-jazz wherein he leads the band with punchy flute vamps as Frisell paints the margins with Harland, Leisz, and Rogers roiling the groove. "Monk's Mood" is rendered with lush nocturnal atmospherics as steel and sax share the melody. The pedal steel adds a touch of exotica, but Frisell's comping keeps it earthbound. "Ay Amor" is a reinvention of Cuban singer, songwriter, and pianist Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández (aka Bola de Nieve). Lloyd and company render it with breezy elegance, poignant emotion, and deep respect. Both Gábor Szabó's "Lady Gabor" and Lloyd's "Prayer" date to the early 1960s when the guitarist and saxophonist were with Chico Hamilton's group. On the former, dancing drums and bass meet spiky flute jabs that feed Frisell's biting garagey psychedelia. "Prayer" commences as a spectral ballad featuring Rogers' glorious arco playing before Lloyd's tenor carries it outside briefly to the tumult that exists beyond the margin. Frisell's shard-like chords and Leisz's atmospherics frame Harland's tense tom-tom pulse and muted cymbals. Over nearly nine minutes, it changes shapes several times before the tenor whispers the set out. While the singers on earlier Marvels albums offered ready accessibility, Tone Poem is perhaps more resonant given its consummate musicality and masterful tune curation.
|>This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa'<|
Tracklist :
1     Peace 3'12
Ornette Coleman    
2     Ramblin 4'59
Ornette Coleman
3     Anthem 6'19
Leonard Cohen    
4     Dismal Swamp 6'31
Charles Lloyd    
5     Tone Poem 9'04
Charles Lloyd    
6     Monk’s Mood 10'26
Thelonious Monk    
7     Ay Amor 10'05
Ignacio Jacinto Villa Fernández    
8     Lady Gabor 10'50
Gabor Szabo
9     Prayer 8'34
Charles Lloyd
Credits :
Bass – Reuben Rogers
Drums – Eric Harland
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Steel Guitar – Greg Leisz
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd

CHARLES LLOYD - Trios : Chapel (2022) FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Blood Count 7:24
Written-By – Billy Strayhorn
2    Song My Lady Sings 9:00
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
3    Ay Amor 7:20
Written-By – Villa Fernandez Ignacio Jacinto
4    Beyond Darkness 9:49
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
5    Dorotea's Studio 12:20
Written-By – Charles Lloyd
Credits :
Artwork [Cover Art], Cover [Cover Art], Photography By [Photos], Design – Dorothy Darr
Bass – Thomas Morgan
Guitar – Bill Frisell
Tenor Saxophone, Alto Flute – Charles Lloyd

JOHN ZORN - Cobra (1989) 2CD | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

John Zorn's Cobra game piece has enjoyed quite a life of its own since this, its original recording, from 1985-1986. Zorn developed several similar pieces, but Cobra would see renditions by various ensembles with varying instrumentation, with the composer at the helm and without, and would become something of a staple for undergraduate musicians exploring improvisational strategies. One of the central sources for the conception behind this piece, oddly enough, was the Avalon Hill game company, which created strategic simulation games involving arcane sets of rules, dice rolls, etc., in an effort to approximate, for example, war planning and theory. Zorn, a games aficionado with an affinity for elastic rules systems, developed a unique, expansive, and highly flexible series of prompts and rules, taught and distributed them to many of the downtown New York City musicians of the early '80s, and staged numerous highly entertaining performances of the ensuing "conflicts." At such an event, inevitably more viscerally enjoyable than a recording of same, Zorn would hold up cards with symbols, usually choosing certain small combinations of players. These symbols could instruct, among many other things, that the musicians improvise in a certain style (surf guitar, free noise, punk, etc.) and/or could delimit the duration, volume, and so on. He would thus spontaneously organize a composition that, for all its apparent anarchy, was actually following a relatively strict set of assumptions. The kicker was that the players could counteract his commands, forming ad hoc blocs, cooperate or betray said blocs, form alliances "against" other players, etc. As an audience member, one saw a wonderful display of real-time politics combined with art creation, and the result was often spectacular. Unfortunately, an enormous amount is sacrificed when Cobra is encountered as only an aural document (here, one live session and one in the studio). The kernels of collective sound tend to appear arbitrary, any strategic rationale necessarily going unseen. Listened to at home, one hears a series of sonic postcards, enjoyable or otherwise on their own but bearing little obvious relationship to what came before or after. One can certainly appreciate the music in just that manner, as a random, Cage-ian series of musical fragments, but one is left with the nagging (and correct) sense of something crucial being missed. As a document in Zorn's career, Cobra is essential. As a purely musical experience, it is, quite unfortunately, less so. Brian Olewnick  

Cobra: Studio Version    59:25
1    Opening    0:59
2    Allegro    4:32
3    Largo    6:13
4    Moderato    7:42
5    Fantasia    3:44
6    Presto    1:39
7    Adagio Maestoso    2:40
8    Violento    4:16
9    Allegro Scorrevole    2:35
10    Capricciocongusto    4:40
11    False Start/ Giocoso    0:52
12    Scherzo    5:47
13    Maestoso Meccanico    1:22
14    Variations/Furioso    8:40
15    Epilogue    3:44
Cobra: Live Version    53:25
1    Prologue/Maestoso    6:05
2    Capriccio    13:23
3    Prestissimo    14:04
4    Lento/Mysterioso    9:29
5    Allegro    10:24
Credits :
Accordion – Guy Klucevsek
Celesta – David Weinstein (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Conductor [Prompter], Composed By – John Zorn
Electric Guitar – Bill Frisell
Electric Guitar, Voice – Arto Lindsay (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Electronic Drums – Bobby Previte (pistas: 2-1 to 2-5)
Guitar [Doubleneck], Bass [Doubleneck], Voice – Elliott Sharp
Guitar [Soprano] – Elliott Sharp (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Harp – Carol Emanuel (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15), Zeena Parkins (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Harpsichord, Celesta – Anthony Coleman (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Organ [Hammond], Celesta – Wayne Horvitz (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Organ [Pipe] – Anthony Coleman (pistas: 2-1 to 2-5)
Percussion – Bobby Previte (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Piano, Organ [Yamaha] – Anthony Coleman
Piano, Synthesizer [DX7] – Wayne Horvitz
Synthesizer [Trombone Synthesizer], Electronics – J.A. Deane (pistas: 2-1 to 2-5)
Tape – Bob James
Trombone – Jim Staley (pistas: 1-1 to 1-15)
Turntables – Christian Marclay