Good to see the Cartwright, Lounge Lizards and especially the Philip Johnston recommendations (his Big trouble and Normalology discs are percussively very interesting and beautifully rich with textural detail).
Bruce Fowler, Entropy- Some great Zappa alums on this. McGettrick's baritone sax grunts swell and move in and out of the bottom of the audible range as if trying to escape dive bombing trombones and trumpets. The best tracks here are breathtaking, unfortunately, there are no F.Z. discs w/ this kind of fidelity.
Tom Guralnick Trio, Pitchin'- Defies easy categorizing, these guys are great listeners who play meticuluously crafted compositions that allow for some improvised moments that really work. The overlapping tones and imaging on this disc are exceptional. It might remind you of the best Ornette stuff w/ Don Cherry, Ed Blackwell and Charlie Haden, except there is bass trombone and low tenor sax instead of an upright bass. This is also recorded way better and shows that alot has been learned from those older players.
Jerry Granelli, Another Place-One of the best Lee Townsend produced discs, often transcending any genre designation. The woven quality of trombone (Julian Priester), sax and acoustic bass resonances alone make this one a stunner. Granelli's drumming is sensitive and inspired throughout, and David Friedman's vibe work has never been recorded better.
Nils Wogram, Speed Life- About as close to the Eric Dolphy of trombone as there is. Not a noisy wankfest in any way. There are alot of gifted very inventive young European players out there, and Wogram is a good one to keep up on. If you listen to this and it soaks in, it's obvious that there's alot of fertile ground left to work.
Kamikaze Ground Crew, The Senic Route- Superb recording of reeds, brass piano and percussion. The horn and percussion textures are prominent and create narcotic atmospheres that are mostly subtle and sometimes jarring. The players always seem to listen and choose carefully. Like all of the above it gets better after repeated listenings.
Recordings by New and Used, Jurgen Friedrich trio, New York Composers Orch., Andy Laster, L'Orkestre des Pas Perdus, White Widow, Ken Vandermark and Christer Bothen are also worth checking out.
