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And that reminded me of a post from awhile back that Dave wrote on the Complete Cellar Door recordings — one of my favorite of the Artist Thoughts posts. The archives of this blog have 5 years worth of these great posts. It’s been on my list of things to do to go through and repost some of these. Here’s a start anyway.

Illuminations on the Cellar Door
April 25th, 2006 | Author: Dave Douglas

I was listening to Miles Davis’ 1970 recordings from the Cellar Door, a space in Washington, DC. These recordings went into making the album Live Evil in 1970. It is an absolute classic of an album, and yet it falls in that controversial zone that separates lovers of early Miles from those entranced by the second half of his recorded tenure, the electric years.

Much has been said about Miles Davis and his music. Sometimes too much, and for that reason I have hesitated to jump in. But in the words of trombonist George Lewis, music doesn’t speak for itself. We have to talk about it because it doesn’t talk. I imagine Miles having the last laugh because like it or not everyone is still talking about his music. I’ll at least try to be concise.

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Vincent Chancey (not pictured) was on this tour and here’s what he had to say when I sent him this photo.

Dave,
That photo is from Brass Fantasy 1986. The other players are Malachi Thompson, Stanton Davis, and Rasul Siddik. That is the year we took the uniforms to the dry cleaners in Schwaz, and the people at the cleaners said “Hooray, the circus is in town.” The band had a number 1 song on the pop radio in Austria, so we did an 18 city tour only in Austria. The song was “No Shit.”
Vincent

That reminded me. Oliver Messiaen has a pretty extensive group of compositions inspired by bird calls. After listening to a few I have on a box set of his works, I stumbled on this page that compares a few bird calls that Messiaen used with how he used them.

Alright, enough sunshine and tulips. Back to work.

Destination:Out, unequivocally my most treasured source for discovering new jams, has a new post today following up a great post last week. The band, Amalgam; the record, Prayer for Peace. The two tracks posted are killer. Great way to start the day. Or end it. Really any time.

Next, a new Konono No.1 album was announced. Details via Pitchfork. The album titled Assume Crash Position hits the street June 8th. Here’s hoping for a stream to come soon. Info on a new Congotronics vinyl box with included Assume Crash Position LP over at the label site (Crammed).

Last, La Blogotheque (found via TwentyFourBit) is featuring a Wilco performance of “Country Disappeared.” Pretty cool performance — quiet, stripped-down, no vocal microphones. Definitely check it out.

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Some new music hit the web this month that I’ve been listening to — as I take a short break from my Alphabetical Listening Project. Definitely worth your time.

Brad Mehldau’s Highway Rider through Nonesuch. One of my favorite producers, Jon Brion, who did Largo, did a bang up job throughout.

Dave Holland’s newest, Pathways, for Octet sounds great. I’ll be picking that one up shortly. Check it out here.

Last, some reissued, remastered boxed sets from Black Saint / Soul Note are available now. I’m specifically excited about picking up the Charlie Haden box, but the others are on my To-Buy list as well. All are available here.

Anything I’ve missed? Pass on what’s found it’s way to your ears in the comments if you’d like.

First, Darcy continues his Composition Vivisection feature with his second post. For those interested in nerdy music analysis, these posts are not to be unclicked.

Next, check out the exclusive track stream of Vandermark/Haaker Flaten/Wiik from the forthcoming Gray Scale at Peter Margasak’s blog. This came after three performances with Atomic — shows that I regrettably missed, but heard were amazing (even when the weekend patrons at the Mill wouldn’t keep quiet).

D:O posted a great Max Roach and Archie Shepp track last week in case you missed it.

Last, a service delay prompts NYC Subway patrons at the Times Square stop to form an impromptu chorus as a busking band performs The Beatles’ “Hey Jude”.

Tweet props to Fully Altered for passing on that link and a million others.

The caveat:

WARNING: these vivisections are, necessarily, unapologetically technical. As I mentioned in the comments to the previous post, I don’t think listeners ought to feel they need to be concerned about process. The important thing is the art, not the steps along the way. That said, should you, for reasons of your own, actually want to see how the sausage is made, click below to continue reading.

Looking forward to the next installment.