Summer Avant-Jams

Explore the Burning Ambulance Music catalog!

The monthly radio show Such Music, hosted by journalist and artistic director of Latvia’s Skaņu Mežs festival Rihards Endriksons, 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 offers an early preview of Apocalypse Flower, Brazilian-American saxophonist Ivo Perelman’s new album with the Matthew Shipp String Trio: Shipp on piano, Mat Maneri on viola, William Parker on bass. (The group recently premiered this music as the Vision Festival.) You’ll also hear the music of Alex Ward, Stephen Gauci, Rodrigo Amado and Martín Escalante, as well as Paula Vītola, who will perform at Cafe OTO as part of a SHAPE+ platform showcase on June 16. Listen on Mixcloud.

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Mike Jurkovic has written a really nice review for AllAboutJazz of the Anthony Braxton live set, Quartet (England) 1985, that we released last week, on Braxton’s 80th birthday. He hears these slightly rough-edged mono recordings the way I do, it seems: as a kind of punk rock version of avant-garde jazz. “Maniacal, undaunted, unflinching, Quartet (England) 1985 place[s] the brave listener in the eye of the cacophonous tornado fury that was Anthony Braxton, pianist Marilyn Crispell, bassist Mark Dresser and drummer/percussionist Gerry Hemingway during the tumultuous November of 1985.” He calls the set “an unhinged glory from start to finish”, “a mind-sweeping, heraldic experience” and “a true monument to the warrior spirit.” I couldn’t agree more; every time I listen to one of the eight sets from the four concerts included, it sends a bolt of lightning through my brain. It’s only available on Bandcamp, so grab a copy and hear it for yourself.

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James Taylor (not the singer-songwriter) has written an equally favorable AllAboutJazz review of the Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley live album Flashing Spirits. He writes, “Oxley’s playing is fiery and free, with a dizzying array of cymbal washes and drum rolls pulling sounds from the drummer’s expansive kit. There are few percussionists as unique in their approach to the instrument as Oxley, and ‘Flashing Spirits’ captures him in peak form. Matching Oxley’s intensity, Cecil Taylor’s fingers seem to glide over the piano, summoning volume from the instrument that few others have been able to replicate. 30 years into his career at the time of this recording, Taylor seems as comfortable as ever.” He adds praise for the label as a whole, too, saying, “With Flashing Spirits, Burning Ambulance continues its excellent work as a blog-turned-record label.” Flashing Spirits is officially out July 11, but I’m already shipping CDs to buyers, so order yours today!

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Clockwise from top left: Polarity, Polarity 2, Polarity 3

Ivo Perelman puts out a lot of records. I know this, you know this. But I say with total honesty and confidence that the Polarity series — three volumes to date, with a fourth coming — is some of the most beautiful music he’s ever made. All of these albums are duos with trumpeter Nate Wooley, himself a brilliant improviser, composer, and conceptualist, and they stand alone, but heard as a series they’re stunning. The two of them seem to find deeper and more emotionally resonant ways to interact with every encounter, and the way Perelman sequences the results of their sessions (because these are not raw data dumps; they are carefully crafted albums) turns each disc into a journey. I feel incredibly privileged to have put these albums out, and I want as many people as possible to hear them.

I’m offering a special deal exclusively through our Bandcamp page: all three volumes of the Polarity series on CD for just $35 plus shipping. They’d be $45 if you bought them individually. And because I know that Bandcamp only gives you a single album as a download even if you’re buying a merch bundle, email me after your purchase and I will send you download codes for the other two albums.

And now, the paywall! If you’re a paying subscriber, stick around for articles on Catholic sacred music; bin stores; intimacy coordinators; and watching TV standing up. If you’re a free subscriber, I’ll see you on Tuesday, when we’ll be discussing Wynton Marsalis’s Black Codes (From the Underground), which turns 40 this month.