- Arnold Schoenberg, Moses und Aron (Georg Solti) (disc 2)
- Fripp & Eno, Evening Star
- Lawrence English, Observation of Breath
- Okkyung Lee, Na-Reul
- Jim Shaw, Solo Works for Electric Guitar, Electronics, and Audiotape 1975–1979 (disc 1)
- Rudolph Grey, Mask of Light
- Peter Brötzmann, Machine Gun (feat. Fred Van Hove)
- Steve Lacy Trio, The Rent (disc 1)
- Miles Davis, The Complete On the Corner Sessions (disc 1) (feat. Badal Roy)
- To Live and Shave in L.A., An Interview with the Mitchell Brothers (feat. Tom Smith)
- Moreno Veloso, Every Single Night
Nudes! Nuclear explosions!
No-wave guitarist Rudolph Grey’s Mask of Light (1991) was a gateway, for many of us back in the early 90s, from out-rock into free-jazz. But there are other angles from which to approach it.
The credits reference Ray Russell, but Grey’s playing here puts me in mind more of Masayuki Takayanagi. (Though I didn’t actually manage to hear any Takayanagi until a decade later.)
The disc is a rare chance to hear Jim Sauter’s saxophone playing outside of Borbetomagus’s monolithic collective sound. Such chances aren’t too common even today, though the series of duo records he’s made with Kid Millions have welcomely expanded the menu.
Chances to hear latter-day Rashied Ali aren’t that common either. Ali, who died in 2008, remains best known for his 1960s recordings with John Coltrane, including the all-time classic drums/sax duo Interstellar Space. The relatively few records he made after Coltrane’s death, and before the recording opportunity floodgates opened for musicians of his generation in the mid-90s, are each precious. (Charles Gayle’s Touching on Trane (1993), with Ali on drums, is a landmark from the same era.)
And one track here is a notable very early example of Alan Licht venturing out as an improviser on guitar.
Historical affection aside, the whole CD still sounds great to me in 2022. It’s hard to fathom that more time has now passed since it was recorded than had passed, at that time, since Interstellar Space.
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