- The Dream Syndicate with La Monte Young, Day of the Holy Mountain (disc 1)
- Chris Corsano & Bill Orcutt, Made out of Sound
- Henry Kaiser & Jim O’Rourke, Tomorrow Knows Where You Live
- Peter Brötzmann / Keiji Haino / Jim O’Rourke, Two City Blues 2
- Ab Baars, Gawky Stride
- Jemeel Moondoc, Judy’s Bounce
- Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus
- Horace Tapscott with the Pan-Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, Live at I.U.C.C. (disc 2)
- Grateful Dead, Europe ’72 (disc 1)
- Michael Hurley, The Time of the Foxgloves
- Korla Pandit, Plays Music of the Exotic East
RIP Jemeel Moondoc; he died in August. I completely missed out on his music while he was alive. Well, I heard Tri-P-Let back in the 90s, but it didn’t make an impression. He played in Chicago in an era when I went to damn near every gig by an out-of-town free jazz player, yet I wasn’t there. Was I out of town myself, or what? Shame on me!
Anyway, now I wish I’d heard New World Pygmies (1998, with William Parker) and New World Pygmies II (2002, with Parker and Hamid Drake) so much sooner. They’re fantastic and now I’m a convert.
Judy’s Bounce is a 1982 trio date with another stellar rhythm section: Fred Hopkins and Ed Blackwell. It’s great too.
But seriously, those dates with Parker are next-level good. Moondoc taps into some endless gusher of melodic invention that holds my attention, and holds it and holds it, no matter how long the pieces go on. Ten minutes, twenty, thirty… he can play all day and I’m spellbound. These records are also near the top of my recommendations if you want to hear Parker and Drake, the greatest living jazz bassist and drummer, at the top of their games.
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