Thirsty Ear Blue Series

[Librarian]

Just wondering what people may think about the albums that Matthew Shipp curates on the Thirsty Ear label. I have enjoyed many of them and find their "jazztronica" discs quite interesting. Shipp's Nu Bop and Equilibrium are favorites along with William Parker's Raining on the Moon (love the lyrics!)

Antipop vs. Matthew Shipp is growing on me, but I will need to give it some more time. William Parker seems to be left out or drowned out on some of the vocal numbers, does anyone else find that to be the case? Maybe I need to listen a little more closely. I really love the final composition, Free Hop, though.

[David Ayers]

I bought two of these and stopped.

One was Parker's Painter's Spring. The other was a Shipp quartet (I forget which).

My impression was that they were using this label to develop a user-friendly version of advanced jazz and were basically toning it down and playing 'educatively'.

I had a similar impression from the much acclamed O'Neal's Porch from Parker which, while I don't say it is a bad album, struck me as somewhat tamed - an attempt to be digestible and mildly avant which doesn't appeal to me.

[omar zamora]

Since this is a new release/reissue thread, I'll stick to recent ones:

Spring Heeled Jack - Amassed. Fantastic use of free improvisation as a source material for complex electronic manipulations. THe SHJ guys really know and love the music that the improvisors (Evan Parker, Han Bennink, Joe McPhee, etc) are bringing to the table.

Mat Maneri - Sustain. It combines that Miles Agharta period dark, brooding sound with great improvising and all-out rockin' from all the musicians. I didn't like it all that much at first, but it's grown a lot on me.

[Brian P]

Good to see you over here Libriarian ;) ...

While I have yet to purchase any of the Thirsty Ear titles I have been intrigued by what I've read and even picked up a $1.99 sampler at Borders yesterday. So far I think I dig the tracks by Matthew Shipp and Craig Taborn the most. Certainly worth furthur investigation ...

[FunkyGhost]

I just bought Matthew Shipp Eqilibrium. I do not know anything else that he did, so I cannot really compare it to something. His piano playing is really great. It is worth buying the CD. I am not so happy with the electronics from FLAM. They are OK, but I would have expected something more interesting. I have the impression that the whole CD would work as well in a completely acoustic setting. OK, there are some e-beats, but they are not too exiting and there are some sound effects, which sometimes are really good, but still it seems a bit unnecessary for the music. But as I said, this is not such an important point.

I

[Librarian]

Good to see you here too, Brian!

Funky Ghost, if you are interested in Shipp in an acoustic group, two of his earlier Thirsty Ear discs have him in an acoustic setting, Pastoral Composure is a very nice "free-bop" date with Roy Campbell in trumpet. New Orbit is a little more abstract and Wadadda Leo Smith takes over the trumpet chair.

[omar zamora]

I thought "Pastoral Composures" was kind of a bore. If you want acoustic Shipp, listen to some of his earlier dates like "The Flow of X".

That duo recording with Mat Maneri is quite good, too.

[marxmarvelous]

If you want some great acoustic Shipp, check out his Duet with Joe Morris "Thesis" or "The Multiplication Tables" both on HatHut.

[mist]

Sustain looks promising although I do find the violin hard to get into

[FunkyGhost]

Originally posted by Librarian

Funky Ghost, if you are interested in Shipp in an acoustic group, two of his earlier Thirsty Ear discs have him in an acoustic setting, Pastoral Composure is a very nice "free-bop" date with Roy Campbell in trumpet. New Orbit is a little more abstract and Wadadda Leo Smith takes over the trumpet chair.

Actually I checked out the CD because of the electronics. That is why I was a bit disappointed. As I said not because they are poorly done (which would be wrong to say) but because in my opinion they seem a bit unnecessary...they just do not add something meaningfull.

But thanks for the recommendations. I think I will listen so some of his acoustic stuff. Probably I will enjoy it.

[Donnybirdrhythm]

I have a half dozen or so, and my favourite is The Shell Game: Tim Berne (alto), Craig Taborn (keyboards and electronics) and Tom Rainey (drums). I'm a bit of diehard with Berne though.

Another good one is Taborn's piano trio: Light Made Lighter, with Chris Lightcap on bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums. The album feels a little short, and some tunes are little more than sketches but for a while I found myself continually reaching to put it on. Not really sure how it fits into the Thirsty Ear 'aesthetic'.

I haven't really gotten with the new Maneri one for some reason. There are definitely intense moments when Maneri puts some wah on the violin and cranks it up. I haven't quite come to terms with the album though, yet.

I'm ambivalent about the Shipp ones that I've heard (the early ones), but I haven't heard his encounters with "jazztronica" yet. The only Shipp-led album, so far, that I've really connected with is one on Hat, "Expansion, Power, Release".

I'm also lukewarm about the Spring Heel Jack disks, but the new one is starting to grow on me (or maybe I'm just trying to make it grow on me, to justify buying a second one).

[Usual Channels]

Hey there--I started a post about the new Shipp yesterday without having seen this thread--I'll try to pay better attention...

I like the Blue Series discs I've heard. Painter's Spring is a massive dissapointment for me. I'm a really big fan of Carter, Parker, and Drake, and while it doesn't sound to me like they're toning anything down, it also doesn't sound like much of interest occurs (and that the production is awkward).

Librarian - Yes, I think much more could be done with Parker's bass playing on the Antipop record. It seems like it might be awfully hard to sample what he does, since one of the best things about his playing is how NON-repetitive it is. Does that make sense? Still, the song that repeats "malfunction" loops such a great, unmistakeable Parker bass line, it makes me wish they did more of that...

Also, I love the Maneri disc, "Sustain." I don't usually go for this sort of thing--I guess I like more blues based stuff--but this is so well executed, so textural, that it's hard to resist. Sometimes I can't tell if I'm listening to McPhee or Maneri, and the electronics are tasteful and used to great effect.

David - I don't know how I feel about this stuff trying to be "user-friendly." It seems to me that the DJ Spooky, Maneri, the 1st Parker, and the Antipop CDs are anything but digestable. Things like "Raining on the Moon," however, I think have to be read in terms of how they're trying to reconfigure the tradition (bringing back vocas, etc.), maybe in ways that sound conventional, but also in ways that re-wire those conventions...