Saturday, March 31, 2007

I have more albums by Anthony Braxton than anyone else. Maybe the AMM/Rowe combo will surpass it sometime...Haven't bought many in the last few years however, though I've liked a good bit of what I've heard, notably Composition 247 and some of the Ghost Trance discs (though a few of the infinite number of duo projects I've encountered have fallen very flat). I'm thinking, if I ever have the cash in pocket, of eventually getting the new 9-disc + DVD set, recorded at Iridium last year, just to have a good capsule picture of where he was mid-decade. Went over to Downtown Music yesterday and it was on the house system; not fair at all to go from ten minutes worth (out of nine hours plus) but it sounded OK, if naggingly similar to what I would have expected. We'll see.

Anyway, when I do pick me up some Brax these days, it tends to be earlier works I could never find on vinyl which gradually show up on disc. Yesterday, DMG had his Paris Recital 1971 available, on Futura. I'd always wanted this one but, even back then, it was difficult to find. Two tracks: a 25-minute rendition of "Come Sunday" and "GN6 (X'70B)...K'7" for four pianos. Ya gotta love someone in 1971 dedicating two pieces on an album to Johnny Hodges and David Tudor.

Also picked up the Skeleton Crew comp on Fred Records, consisting of the band's two albums (Learn to Talk and Country of Blinds) plus some extra stuff. I never had the first one (just Frith and Cora) but the latter had always been one of my favorite song-oriented albums from the 80s. Holds up reasonably well with minimal dating.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think I had close to 50 Braxton CDs at one point, but now I have only six left. Miles Davis is first on my current list (69 CDs), with Keith/AMM in second at 58.

Brian Olewnick said...

My Miles collection is relatively woeful, only a dozen or so. He was one of those musicians who, early on, I'd hear so often on radio I tended not to go out and purchase records, devoting my funds to lesser-heard folk. Rowe/AMM count currently at 53.

Anonymous said...

I have more albums by Anthony Braxton than anyone else

How would you know how many Anthony Braxton albums other people have?

Jon Abbey said...

*Pixelated smack across the back of the head.*

Anonymous said...

Now I get it;this is a numerology blog...