Links 'n' Such: February 7, 2025

New Leo Records reissues, the latest episode of Such Music, Fushitsusha(!) and more

A photo shot out my back window in mid-January

Hey, all! This is the first paid-subscribers-only newsletter of 2025. You’ll get one of these every Friday, with a collection of links to, and thoughts on, things that have piqued my interest. And three times a year, when there are five Tuesdays in a given month (April, July, September — mark your calendars!), you’ll get a bonus newsletter then, too. And when Burning Ambulance Music releases a new album, which will happen four times this year, you’ll be entitled to a free Bandcamp download code.

Let’s kick things off with something really unexpected and special: 27 minutes of new Fushitsusha music! This piece was uploaded to YouTube with no fanfare a month ago, and it’s absolutely gorgeous:

I didn’t publish any newsletters in January, so 20 Leo Records reissues just kinda dripped out onto Bandcamp right after the new year. They included titles by Anthony Braxton, Joëlle Léandre, Evan Parker and others. Dig through them here.

The monthly online radio show Such Music, hosted by Rihards Endriksons, journalist and artistic director of Latvia’s Skaņu Mežs festival, is devoted to new works of free improvised music, either previously unheard or created specifically for the show. The show is produced in collaboration with Burning Ambulance, and this month’s episode features the premiere of “Runcorn Shopping City”, a solo piece by saxophonist Mark Hanslip created exclusively for Such Music, as well as previews of upcoming albums by Jon Irabagon (Server Farm) and Eleonora Kampe (Breath. Play.), both out on February 21. Recent music by FURT and the quartet of Stian Larsen, Ruth Goller, Colin Webster, and Andrew Lisle is also included. Listen here.

In the latest issue of DownBeat, Howard Mandel has a really nice review of the reissues of Cecil Taylor’s Live In Bologna and Live In Vienna, which were put up in December, making the full-length performances, formerly issued only on rare double LPs, available digitally for the first time. He says, in part:

Taylor was all about surprise…conservatory-educated, he nonetheless set an angular, abstracting path in the mid ’50s with a uniquely physical approach to the piano. He created dense, architectural compositions, excelled in solo improvisation and drove high-energy, expansive, dissonant, “free” yet directed group blowouts, too.

Live In Bologna begins just so wildly, testing players and listeners alike. Although only a foursome, the Unit is orchestral. Taylor’s single-note runs are done with two jabbing index fingers. His bass roars are matched by upper-register echoes. He sweeps the keys in one direction, upending them from the other. He lunges into grandiose motifs, juggles several, dares us to keep up.

The Unit’s mission was in part to create and explore unknown musical dimensions; William Parker’s plucky bass, [violinist Leroy] Jenkins’s sawed overtones and [Thurman] Barker’s percussive work throughout both albums contribute richly to that. Barker is, in fact, the unsung hero; his marimba playing coaxes lyricism from Taylor in duet passages, and some of the prettiest, quietest group play. In contrast, [Carlos] Ward on alto strives for variety and burns with urgency, but Taylor seems to play through rather than with him. The ensemble storms on both albums, demanding immersion, hard to follow but worth the effort.

Live In Bologna is available here; Live In Vienna here.

And today, 14 more Leo Records reissues have gone up! They are:

Pandelis Karayorgis, Seventeen Pieces (solo piano)

Pandelis Karayorgis Trio, Blood Ballad (trio with bassist Nate McBride and drummer Randy Peterson)

Lauren Newton/Joëlle Léandre, 18 Colors (bass & vocals)

Lauren Newton/Joëlle Léandre/Urs Leimgruber, Out Of Sound (bass, vocals & saxophone)

Evan Parker, Live At Les Instants Chavires (w/guitarist Noël Akchoté, Lawrence Casserley on electronics & Joel Ryan on laptop)

Carlos Zingaro/Joëlle Léandre/Sebi Tramontana, The Chicken Check In Complex (violin, bass & trombone)

And we’ve got a whole string of releases featuring guitarist Mark O’Leary:

Mark O’Leary/Uri Caine/Ben Perowsky, Closure (guitar/piano/drums)

Mark O’Leary/John Herndon/Matt Lux, Radio Free Europa Underground Jazz Trio (guitar/bass/drums)

Mark O’Leary/Eyvind Kang/Dylan Van Der Schyff, Zemlya (guitar/viola/drums)

Mark O’Leary/Ståle Storløkken/Stein Inge Braekhus, St Fin Barre’s (guitar/church organ/drums)

Mark O’Leary/Tomasz Stanko/Billy Hart, Levitation (guitar/trumpet/drums)

Mark O’Leary/Steve Swallow/Pierre Favre, Awakening (guitar/bass/percussion)

Mark O’Leary/Cuong Vu/Tom Rainey, Waiting (guitar/trumpet/drums)

Mark O’Leary/Kenny Wollesen/Jamie Saft, The Synth Show (guitar/synth/drums)

You can stream and purchase all of those albums and many more at leorecords.bandcamp.com. And please note that today, February 7, Bandcamp is donating its share of all sales revenue (which is 10% of anything you buy from Leo Records or Burning Ambulance Music) to MusiCares to help artists impacted by the recent fires in Los Angeles. So buy some music, won’t you?

Thanks for reading. If you’re a free subscriber, this is the end of today’s newsletter. If you’re a paying subscriber, there are a bunch of interesting links below the paywall, and I welcome your thoughts on all of them in comments or via email. See you there!