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Monday, April 2, 2018

No real point doing a "Music Week" post this week. I spent pretty much all of the week playing old favorites from the travel cases, so the rated count for the week was a mere +2. I also haven't catalogued the week's incoming mail -- not that there's much to report. So I'll roll those into next week's post, which should be back to normal.

I was preoccupied last week with my sister Kathy's memorial, on Saturday afternoon, and a family-and-friends get-together on Sunday. I tried to do what I could to help out, which mostly meant cooking a lot of food. For the reception following the service, I baked six cakes (sweet potato bundt with a glaze; oatmeal stout with a broiled topping; applesauce with raisins and walnuts in a loaf pan; and three 9x13 sheet cakes: fall spice, carrot, and chocolate) plus two pans of brownies.

For a savory snack alternative, I fixed Barbara Tropp's Chinese Crudités. I filled up three half-sheet baking pans with piles of vegetables cut into bite-sized chunks, some steamed (cauliflower, brussels sprouts), most blanched (asparagus, baby corn, broccoli, carrots, green beans, snap peas, zucchini) or raw (green/red/yellow bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, celery, cucumber). I bought a bag of brussels sprouts, way more than I needed, so I roasted half of them and added them to the tray. The vegetables could be dipped in four Chinese sauces: a rather spicy sesame, a very garlicky peanut, dijon mustard, and sweet and sour.

We also made a Moroccan fruit salad (apples, nectarines, pears, pineapple, banana, mejdol dates, macerated in orange juice and honey), a similar berry salad (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries), and vanilla cream.

For the Sunday get-together, I ordered barbecue meats from Hog Wild and made four large side dishes: baked beans topped with bacon; a Russian potato salad with smoked salmon, olives, capers, and dill; a sweet and sour cole slaw (nothing creamy), and mast va khiar (a Persian cucumber-yogurt with scallions, golden raising, black walnuts, and mint). I figured there'd be enough leftover dessert, and there was (barely). Several people helped with the cooking, especially Josi Hull on Friday and Mike, Morgan and Kirsten Saturday night.

Even before the cooking, much of the week was spent shopping and reconnoitering. I bought some very large bowls and baking sheets, and more cake pans than I actually used. Also things like tongs for serving and various containers for moving food around. I dumped a lot of tasks onto Josi, like picking up plates and plasticware and ice. The church people helped as well, especially with coffee and tea.

Ram planned out the memorial service ("celebration of life), and wrote and printed up the notes. He also set up a website with a selection of Kathy's writings, a (very partial) gallery of artwork, and a form for submitting "memories and reflections," promising to compile the latter into book form. (I started to collect some notes on my website as well.) The service was, well, unlike any I had ever attended.

Kathy joined the UU Church shortly after she moved back to Wichita, following a few months when she stayed with me in New Jersey. As children, we attended Disciples of Christ churches -- they were evangelical but not fundamentalist, preferring the New Testament (especially the Gospels) to the Old. As a young teen, I got very involved in the church, but a few years later I turned against it and the rest of the family lost interest, if not in religion at least in church-going. I flipped over into an extreme rationalism, but to the extent I ever bothered to try to understand it, Kathy flopped the other direction. Like me, she went through a period of examining all of the world's religions, but where I wound up rejecting them all, she found ways to synthesize them.

The one religion she felt the closest affinity to was Wicca, and she discovered that there was a sizable faction of Wiccans at the First UU Church in Wichita (sometimes, I gather, at odds with the other main faction, Humanists). Kathy joined First UU in 1991 (actually after she had started leading moon dances) and was very active off and on. I knew a little bit about Unitarians because I went through a phase where I looked into the history of early Protestant sects, especially Puritans, and I've read some modern feminist essays on medieval witchcraft, but I've never spent any time on Wicca, even having an expert in the family. So the rituals, chants, and song about the Goddess that opened and closed the service were lost on me. One of the songs, I think, was from a book Kathy wrote/compiled.

In between were a couple dozen tributes/memoirs by various people Kathy had touched. My brother Steve recalled the first time he saw Kathy, through a hospital window. My nephew Mike remembered Kathy as the first person to reveal that unorthodox opinions and unconventional lifestyles were even possible. (Kathy had an unofficial gay marriage ceremony when Mike was a teen, but the relationship didn't last long. She had a shorter still heterosexual marriage much earlier, but the father of her son was a casual acquaintance I never met, who played no role in Ram's life.) My cousin Ken Brown recounted how close our families were.

When Kathy got pregnant, she came to stay with us in New Jersey. After a few months, I got a job in Massachusetts, and we decided Kathy should return to Wichita. When she got here, she moved in with two other pregnant women, Cassandra and Lydia, and the three had baby boys within days of each other, the six (and eventually a few more) forming an extended family even long after they moved apart. Cassandra, Lydia, and a third woman I didn't know spoke about this unique relationship, and the third woman sang a Lakota funeral song -- a remarkable moment.

Many more people spoke about Kathy's full moon dances and other spiritual/community efforts. One colleague from the WSU art department spoke, as did several former students. One student Kathy effectively adopted was Matt Walston, who's become a notable artist in his own right. Kathy and Matt had talked about death, and one wish Kathy had was that Matt make a "death mask" from her face. (Matt had some experience at making masks, like this one.) Matt made molds and distributed several papier maché masks, while his wife, Carrie Armstrong, gave emotional testimony. Laura talked about how much she was amazed by Kathy's art. Only one speaker wandered off subject, ending the session on a bit of an off note.

There was some discussion of the "Sacred Spaces" project, which Kathy had been a driving force behind c. 2002. It's long been in storage, but WSU had agreed to exhibit it this summer, and Kathy had been talking to Mike about shooting a film around it. Several people vowed to make sure that still happens. I used to have a gallery of photos from the exhibit up on my site, but they got wiped out in a spat with the ISP. I just found the original CDR, so I'll make an effort to get them restored soon.

One thing we screwed up was not making any sort of announcements at the end of the service. Matt had set up a room with some of Kathy's art and a plaster death mask people could paint on, but most people weren't aware of that. It also took a while to set up my food, so many people took off before they got a chance to enjoy -- and I missed a number of people I wanted to talk to. Nonetheless, about 85-90% of the food was eaten. My estimate is that we had about 160 people present (the chapel holds 125, so the others had to sit on folding chairs in the foyer, and it looked like 30-40 people there).

The Sunday get-together was anticlimactic. Some people didn't know about it and had travel plans to get away. I figured it would drag on well past the advertised 1 PM start, so we didn't make much of an effort to get there early, and it turned out that most of the people who came had left by the time we got there. (I had sent the food ahead, so nobody missed us that bad.) We got there at 3:30, and stayed until 6 or so. I got back in time to cobble together a Weekend Roundup last night. But not early enough to do a Music Week today. Next time. Also, sometime this week I'll try to fill out a Downbeat Critics Poll ballot (assuming it's not too late yet -- I didn't even consider working on it when I got the ballot request).

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Sunday, April 1, 2018

I was prepared to skip this weekly exercise completely: I spent most of the last week preparing for my sister's funeral (or "celebration of life" as the official title went) and related social gatherings. But with the last such event ended this afternoon, and with various guests taking their leave, I found myself wanting to do something "normal." Not that much of what follows can be considered "normal" in any other regard. I recently read Allen Frances' Twilight of American Sanity: A Psychiatrist Analyzes the Age of Trump, which fell rather short of its titular ambition. Although there are occasional references to commonplace psychology, he mostly focuses on ubiquity and persistence of "delusional thinking" -- mostly defined as failure to recognize a long list of liberal political creeds. I don't have much quarrel with his platform planks, but I'm more suspicious of economic/class factors than psychological ones. Where I think insight into psychology might be helpful is in trying to model human behavior given the complexity of the world and our various limits in apprehending it. It's certainly credible that psychological traits that were advantageous in primitive societies malfunction in our changing world, but how does that work? And what sort of adjustments would work better?

Some scattered links this week:

• Matthew Yglesias: The 4 stories that drove this week in politics: David Shulkin is out at Veterans Affairs; Oklahoma teachers are going on strike; Conservative media feuded with Parkland students; Trump gave a weird speech: "one of the rambling, factually challenged addresses for which he's famous. . . . Trump will continue to walk the line between dishonest, uninformed, and inarticulate in a way that keeps people guessing." Other Yglesias pieces:

  • Trump-era politics is a surreal nightmare and we can't wake up: "Diving back in kind of reminds me of Charlton Heston waking from his space travel to discover that he's on a planet run by orangutans. Except instead of orangutans, we have the Republican Party."

  • Ousted VA secretary blasts privatization in a New York Times op-ed: The effect, I think, is to frame his firing as a policy dispute. Sure, there is a major policy divide between an ideological faction that wants to privatize VA health care and those, including virtually all veterans groups, who like the current fully socialized system. The privatisers were able to push Shulkin out not by winning their policy argument, but by characterizing Shulkin as insufficiently loyal to Trump.

  • David Shulkin is out as secretary of veterans affairs.

  • Let's not repeal the 2nd Amendment: Former Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens wrote an op-ed: Repeal the Second Amendment -- not a new idea as Stevens previously included changes to the second amendment in his 2014 book Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution. Yglesias argues that even under the precedent-setting Heller ruling, which Stevens dissented from and cites as reason for amending the constitution, there is still a lot of leeway for sensible regulation of guns -- indeed, much more than there is political will to implement. Moreover, just as Heller reversed over a hundred years of precedents, Yglesias proposes that new Supreme Court justices could reverse Heller. As a practical matter, he's probably right.

  • John Williams will likely be the next president of the New York Fed: "He's got a track record of poor forecasting and weak regulation."

  • Stormy Daniels' 60 Minutes interview raises 2 critical questions she can't answer:

    1. How many other sexual partners has Trump paid hush money to?
    2. How many foreign intelligence services know about one or more of these women?

• Dylan Curran: Are you ready? Here is all the data Facebook and Google have on you.

• Barbara Ehrenreich: It Is Expensive to Be Poor.

  If anything, the criminalization of poverty has accelerated since the recession, with growing numbers of states drug testing applicants for temporary assistance, imposing steep fines for school truancy, and imprisoning people for debt. Such measures constitute a cruel inversion of the Johnson-era principle that it is the responsibility of government to extend a helping hand to the poor. Sadly, this has become the means by which the wealthiest country in the world manages to remain complacent in the face of alarmingly high levels of poverty: by continuing to blame poverty not on the economy or inadequate social supports, but on the poor themselves.

• Joy Crane/Nick Tabor: 501 Days in Swampland: "A constant drip of self-dealing. And this is just what we know so far . . ."

• Thomas Frank: Dow dreamers show Trump's war on elites is pure fantasy: On Larry Kudlow and Kevin Hassett.

• Ann Hulbert: Today's Rebels Are Model Children: "The young protesters now on the march are responsible and mature -- and they're asking adults to grow up."

• Stephen Kinzer: Efraín Ríos Montt, Guatemalan Dictator Convicted of Genocide, Dies at 91.

• Jen Kirby: Here are 6 of the most bizarre things Trump said in his infrastructure speech.

• Paul Krugman: Putting the Ex-Con in Conservatism.

• Anna North: How Trump helped inspire a wave of strict new abortion laws.

• Richard Silverstein: IDF Murders 17 Gazans, Wounds 1,400 in Great Return March Protest; also Robert Mackey: Israel Opens Fire on Palestinian Protesters in Gaza; Trump Envoy Blames "Hostile March"; also James North: 'NY Times' covers up Israel's killing of nonviolent protesters along the Gaza border; and Philip Weiss: A brief, unhappy history of Israeli massacres.

• Matt Taibbi: Is the Two-Party System Doomed?: Reflecting on a comparative politics essay (US, France, UK) by Thomas Piketty called Brahmin Left vs. Merchant Right. I don't quite get it, but:

  But having two parties sponsored by the same donors simply can't work in the long-term. The situation ends up being what a Colombian politician once deemed "two horses with the same owner."

  From Mitt Romney's idiotic tirade against "the 47%" to Hillary Clinton's recent remarks about how she won all the "dynamic" parts of America, our political leaders have consistently showed that they don't see or understand the levels of resentment out there.

  Papers like Piketty's are a warning that if the intellectuals in both parties don't come up with a real plan for dealing with the income disparity problem before someone smarter than Donald Trump takes it on, they're screwed. Forget nativists vs. globalists. Think poor vs. rich. Think 99 to 1. While Washington waits with bated breath for the results of the Mueller probe, it's the other mystery -- how do we fix this seemingly unfixable economic system -- that is keeping the rest of the country awake at night.

  Taibbi notes that Trump at least took advantage of the resentments of the excluded, even if all he had to offer were lies. It's likely to be hard to pull that off again given his track record, but worth recalling that the only thing that made him seem credible in 2016 was how completely the Clintons had been discredited.

• Danny Vinik: How Trump favored Texas over Puerto Rico.

Ask a question, or send a comment.

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Entering what stands to be an extremely trying week for me, I thought it better to kick this out a few days early rather than hang around to see if I can find any more albums that click. Lots of things went into making March one of the least productive months I've had recently: 84 records below, slightly more than 75 in October 2017, 66 in June 2016, 63 in October 2014, 72 in June 2014, etc., but way behind the last two monthly totals: 157 and 165. Low totals in the past typically followed road trips, but nothing like that happened this time. It's just been a miserable month.

I'm probably more struck by the relative dearth of A-list records, but don't have the time to research comparisons.

Most of these are short notes/reviews based on streaming records from Napster (formerly Rhapsody; other sources are noted in brackets). They are snap judgments, usually based on one or two plays, accumulated since my last post along these lines, back on February 28. Past reviews and more information are available here (10933 records).

Recent Releases

Heather Bennett: Lazy Afternoon (2018, Summit): Standards singer, plays piano and did the arrangements here, sixth album, with Bill Mobley (trumpet), Pete McCann (guitar), bass and drums. Starts with Jobim, ends with a gospel, works Sting and Bono into her repertoire but still can't top "Pennies From Heaven." B [cd]

Blue Notes Tribute Orkestra: Live at the Bird's Eye (2012 [2017], self-released): Pianist Chris McGregor's integrated jazz group fled South Africa in the 1960s for Europe, where several musicians enjoyed notable careers in their own right: Mongezi Feza, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo. The tribute band of four South Africans and three Swiss -- on the latter's home territory in Basel -- can get the joyous township jive vibe right, but less often than the originals, and I'm not sure the voice helps. B+(*) [bc]

Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy (2018, Matador): Originally an alias for lo-fi singer-songwriter Will Tuxedo, who released a dozen albums on Bandcamp before landing on a semi-major label, but can fairly claim to be a band now. An old rule of thumb is that second albums are stronger musically but have weaker songs -- touring means you play more but have less time (especially after using your best songs up on the debut). Tuxedo gets around that here by remaking one of his DIY albums, muscling up the music without having to write new tunes. B+(***)

Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You (2018, Low Country Sound/Elektra): Singer-songwriter from Washington, sixth album since 2005, sometimes taken as Americana and when she keeps it simple she can pull that off -- maybe a third of the time here, but elsewhere she piles up extraneous sounds so high they suffocate, or maybe just disgust. B-

Lucy Dacus: Historian (2018, Matador): Singer-songwriter from Virginia, second album, a bit torchy. B+(*)

Chris Dave: Chris Dave and the Drumhedz (2018, Blue Note): Drummer, from Houston, mostly played in r&b, starting with Mint Condition, later with Me'shell Ndegeocello, Robert Glasper, Adele, Maxwell, D'Angelo, Justin Bieber, Anderson Paak. Not his debut, but some sort of social networking triumph, with "nearly 50 Drumhedz" -- including 18 ft. names spreading the shtick out beyond category. B

Caroline Davis: Heart Tonic (2018, Sunnyside): Alto saxophonist, born in Singapore (Swedish mother, British father), moved to US at age six, based in Brooklyn. Quintet with Marquis Hill (trumpet), Julian Shore on piano/keyboards, guests on a couple cuts. Leans toward postbop, harmonics and texture. B+(**)

Dogwood: Hecate's Hounds (2018, Nusica.org): Guitar-bass duo, based in Brooklyn, Nico Soffiato (from Italy) and Zach Swanson. Both write, keep this tight and intimate. B+(**) [cd]

Electric Squeezebox Orchestra: The Falling Dream (2015 [2018], OA2): Conventional 17-piece big band, led by trumpet player Erik Jekabson, based in San Francisco, second album, percussionist John Santos joins for three cuts. Some talent I recognize in the roster, but nothing here caught me by surprise. B [cd]

Bill Frisell: Music IS (2017 [2018], Okeh): Solo guitar, all original pieces, often continuing his well-established interest in evoking old Americana without indulging in it. B+(**)

Ezra Furman: Transangelic Exodus (2018, Bella Union): Singer-songwriter, seventh album since 2007, a couple good ones but I can't be sure about this one: I find it hard to hear, although bits break through anyway. B+(**)

Hal Galper Quartet: Cubist (2016 [2018], Origin): A superb pianist, side credits start with Chet Baker in 1964, his own albums from 1971, gets extra help here from tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, although a stretch late in the album where he's on his own doesn't let down. A- [cd]

Sergio Galvao/Lupa Santiago/Clement Landais/Franck Enouf: 2X2 (2017 [2018], Origin): Saxophone/guitar/bass/drums quartet. The saxophonist leads, but it's the guitar that gives this its uniquely Brazilian flair. B+(***) [cd]

Nubya Garcia: Nubya's 5ive (2017, Jazz Re:freshed): London-based tenor saxophonist, first album, backed by piano, bass, and drums, with guest trumpet on one track, tuba on two. One cover, from McCoy Tyner, and four originals (one reprised). Beatwise, nice flow. B+(**)

Gwenno: Le Kov (2018, Heavenly): Welsh singer-songwriter, previously in the Pipettes, second album, sings in Cornish over electropop -- an artifact that means much more to her than it will to you or me, who just have to take the shimmering sound as its own raison d'être. B+(**)

The Heavyweights Brass Band: This City (2017 [2018], Lulaworld): New Orleans brass band -- trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, tuba, drums, emphasis on the bottom end -- plus various friends, including Jackie Richardson singing Steve Earle's "This City" to close -- a benediction and a vow of defiance. B+(***) [cd]

Mike Jones/Penn Jillette: The Show Before the Show: Live at the Penn & Teller Theater (2017 [2018], Capri): Piano-bass duets, all standards, mostly swing era with a nod to Jobim. Jillette is better known as half of the magic act Penn & Teller. Here he reveals himself to be a pretty good bassist, his swing the foundations for the fancy tinkling. B+(***) [cd]

Peter Kuhn: Dependent Origination (2016 [2017], FMR): Clarinet player, also tenor sax, cut a couple of good avant records 1978-81 then dropped from sight until 2015, returning as strong as he had left. Quintet here with Dave Sewelson (baritone/sopranino sax), Dan Clucas (cornet), Scott Walton (bass), and Alex Cline (drums). Slow to develop. Grows on you when it does, especially when it gets rough. B+(***) [cd]

Peter Kuhn Trio: Intention (2017 [2018], FMR): Free jazz, the leader playing clarinet and bass clarinet, backed by bass (Kyle Motl) and drums (Nathan Hubbard). A- [cd]

Femi Kuti: One People One World (2018, Knitting Factory): Saxophone-playing son of Afrobeat founder Fela Anikulapo Kuti, carries on the family business, which includes political agitation as well as buoyant, exhilarating music. Still, not as impressively. B+(*)

Dave Liebman/Tatsuya Nakatani/Adam Rudolph: The Unknowable (2016 [2018], RareNoise): Saxophonist (tenor, soprano, various exotic flutes and a bit of keyboard), backed by two drummers -- the former mostly on drum kit, the latter hand drums and more exotic fare, with some electronics. Slow to start and patchy as it goes. B+(*) [cdr]

Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas: Sound Prints: Scandal (2017 [2018], Greenleaf Music): Superstars, their names towering over the group name, formed for a Monterey Jazz Festival gig in 2013 and now belatedly return for a studio album: tenor sax and trumpet backed by Lawrence Fields (piano), Linda May Han Oh (bass), and Joey Baron (drums). Douglas has a 5-4 song edge (plus two Wayne Shorter tunes), but the group's bop-to-swing feels closer to Lovano's taste. Reminds you of how great these musicians are without developing into a great album. B+(***) [cd]

Mast: Thelonious Sphere Monk (2018, World Galaxy): Alias for Tim Conley, third album, plays guitar, bass, keys, synths, drum programming, entertains eight guests on various horns, piano, drums -- most often (6/16 tracks) saxophonist Gavin Templeton and trumpeter Dan Rosenboom. The pieces are Monk classics, mostly given electro beats much steadier than the original -- I don't mind that treatment but I'm not sure it helps much either. B+(***)

Rae Morris: Someone Out There (2018, Atlantic): British electropop singer-songwriter, second album, all songs have co-credits (mostly Benjamin Garrett). B+(*)

Lucas Niggli: Alchemia Garden (2017 [2018], Intakt): Swiss drummer/percussionist, working solo here, which kind of limits the album's scope, keeping it thin and spare though not uninteresting. B+(*) [cd]

Adam Nussbaum: The Lead Belly Project (2018, Sunnyside): Drummer, many side credits since 1987 but not sure how much falls under his own name. Eleven Leadbelly songs, not really blues but simple folk songs, with the closer "Goodnight Irene" a good deal more. With Ohad Talmor (sax), Steve Cardenas (guitar) and Nate Radley (guitar). B+(**)

Aruán Ortiz Trio: Live in Zürich (2016 [2018], Intakt): Cuban pianist, with Brad Jones on bass and Chad Taylor on drums. Two long pieces and one short one, picking up bits from Chopin and Ornette Coleman, most impressive when they raise a rumble and the beat goes every which way. B+(***) [cd]

Bobby Previte: Rhapsody (2017 [2018], RareNoise): Drummer, substantial discography since 1986, eclectic postbop with some fusion strains. Has gotten arty of late, with a Mass I really disliked, and this one I didn't mind, even the harp (Zeena Parkins) and erhu (Jen Shyu), even Shyu's vocals. That must say something for Nels Cline and John Medeski, but I don't recall what. B [cdr]

Steve Reich: Pulse/Quartet (2018, Nonesuch): Two pieces composed by Reich, the 14:42 "Pulse" performed by International Contemporary Ensemble (a large group with strings and reeds) and the three-part 16:36 "Quartet" by the Colin Currie Group (two pianos, two vibraphones). Both employ repetitive pulse patterns but dress them up. B+(*)

Sara Serpa: Close Up (2017 [2018], Clean Feed): Singer, fifth album, all small groups -- three duos with pianist Ran Blake, this one a bit more expansive with Ingrid Laubrock on tenor and soprano sax, Erik Friedlander on cello but still pretty arty. B+(*) [cd]

Shakers n' Bakers: Heart Love: Play the Music of Albert Ayler and Mary Maria Parks (2017 [2018], Little i Music): Ayler, of course, is best remembered as an avant-sax pioneer with a deep spiritual strain -- Pharoah Sanders dubbed him the Holy Ghost -- but shortly before his untimely death he recorded a couple of strange albums with lyrics by Parks, and they're the focus of this Brooklyn group's third group. Jeff Lederer plays tenor sax and flute and did the arrangements, backed by Jamie Saft (keyboards), Chris Lightcap (bass), and Allison Miller (drums), with Mary LaRose and Miles Griffith singing leads, a bunch of background singers and guests. As trippy if not quite so strange as Ayler's originals, probably because the skills level is jacked way up, even if the spirit isn't. B+(*) [cd]

Superchunk: What a Time to Be Alive (2018, Merge): Bob Christgau called this "the most affecting political album of our brutally political era," so I needed to check it out, but it's pretty much lost on me. Admittedly, I caught more words the second spin, but the alt-rock thrash splits the difference between punk economy and metal overkill without the appeal of either. Probably a good guy, politically sound and all that. The one song I can parse is the title tune, but I'm too dismayed to think on it further. B+(**)

Emma-Jean Thackray's Walrus: Walrus EP (2017, Deptford Beach, EP): Trumpet/flugelhorn player, from England, first release, with Pie Eye Collective contributing electronics, backed by keyboards, drums, and tuba. Eight tracks, 16:11, with the longest track, "Baro Bop" (4:09), showing some promise. B+(*)

U.S. Girls: In a Poem Unlimited (2018, 4AD): Meghan Remy, based in Toronto, had a flurry of albums 2008-12 but only two since (signing with 4AD). Electropop, but denser, harder to pin down. B+(**)

Yo La Tengo: There's a Riot Going On (2018, Matador): Nothing riotous here, even as the world burns up in so many ways. NY Times headline puts it this way: "music is a sanctuary from chaos." B+(**)

Recent Reissues, Compilations, Vault Discoveries

Black Panther: The Album (Music From and Inspired By) (2018, Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope): Spinoff product rather than the actual soundtrack (available separately), tied to a blockbuster movie I'm not likely to see anytime soon, or gain any understanding of here. First among the various artists is Kendrick Lamar, featured on four tracks (two up front, two to close), with Lamar producing enough of the rest to be considered the auteur. Much of interest here, including a few pan-African airs, but only one song I really love, Babes Wodumo's "Redemption" -- and a couple N-songs I never want to hear again. B+(***)

Kang Tae Hwan: Live at Café Amores (1995 [2018], NoBusiness): Alto saxophonist from Seoul, Korea, born 1944, a free jazz pioneer since 1979. This is solo, live, a kindler, gentler, easier to follow For Alto. B+(**) [cd]

Bill Warfield Big Band: For Lew (1990-2014 [2018], Planet Arts): Trumpet player, has led big bands at least since 1990, picks a dozen pieces over a quarter century to honor the late Lew Soloff (1944-2015), another trumpet player who's played in lots of big bands -- including four tracks here. B+(**) [cd]

Old Music

The Barry Altschul Quartet: Irina (1983, Soul Note): Drummer, from New York, played with Paul Bley from 1965, with Anthony Braxton in the 1970s, with Billy Bang in the FAB Trio, had a bunch of records under his own name 1977-80, re-emerging in 2013 with his 3Dom Factor group. This is a freebop quartet with Enrico Rava (trumpet), John Surman (soprano/baritone sax), and Mark Helias (bass). B+(***)

The Barry Altschul Quartet: For Stu (1979 [1981], Soul Note): Drummer-led quartet, with Ray Anderson (trombone), Anthony Davis (piano), and Rick Rozie (bass). Dedicated to the late drummer Stu Martin, the title track one of two by Davis, with Altschul writing "Drum Role" and closing with Mingus. B+(**)

The Barry Altschul Quartet/Quintet: That's Nice (1985 [1986], Soul Note): Another two-horn quartet, this time with Sean Bergin (alto/tenor sax) and Glenn Ferris (trombone), plus Andy McKee on bass, with Mike Miello (piano) joining in for two quintet tracks (of five). Unlike Altschul's previous groups, none of those are marquee names, so they wind up settling for nice. B+(*)

Paul Bley/John Surman/Bill Frisell/Paul Motian: The Paul Bley Quartet (1987 [1988], ECM): Pianist, with soprano sax/bass clarinet, guitar, and drums. Five pieces, two by the leader and one each by his all-star bandmates. Intricate, comfortably postbop. B+(**)

Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970, ECM): Original cover just credits the alto saxophonist, although a later reissue adds some names from the band: Anthony Braxton (alto/soprano sax, clarinet, etc.), Chick Corea (piano, percussion), Andrew Cyrille (drums), Jeanne Lee (vocals), Bennie Maupin (tenor sax, other reeds and percussion), which still omits Jack Gregg (bass), Gayle Palmoré (voice, piano), William Green (top o'lin), Billy Malone (African drum), and Larry Curtis (percussion) -- many also credited with percussion. Two side-long pieces, 35:04 total. Still, all that talent is largely wasted in a scattered and rather scraggly soundscape. B

Marion Brown: Duets Vol. 1 (1970 [2012], 1201/Black Lion Vault): Alto saxophonist, teams with trumpet player Leo Smith (in his pre-Wadada days), although both are credited with percussion, turning the duets into horn + drums affairs. This set was subsequently combined with another from 1973 with Brown (on clarinet and piano) and Elliott Schwartz (piano/synthesizer) and released on Arista/Freedom simply as Duets. B+(**)

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band: Live (2010, Grigri Discs): Twelve-piece band from DC, heavy on the horns, heavy on the Afrobeat. Can't say as they get the subtle intricacies of Nigerian pop, but they do get the uplift. B+(***)

Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band: Chopteeth (2008, Grigri Discs): You can parse the artist name/title either way, so I went with future usage. Same deal, sounds a bit more authentically African, not that it is. Still, it helps, as does the politics: "get up, stand up, that's the key to release the handcuffs." And they do get you up. A-

Dorothy Donegan: Live at the 1990 Floating Jazz Festival (1990 [1991], Chiaroscuro): Pianist (1922-98), grew up in Chicago, recorded regularly from 1946 to 1995, had a dramatic, florid style -- Art Tatum said she's "the only woman who can make me practice." Trio with John Burr (bass) and Ray Mosca (drums). B+(**)

Chico Freeman: Tradition in Transition (1982, Elektra Musician): Tenor saxophonist, started out avant in the late 1970s but had moved to a fairly major label here and seems to be trying to find new roots for a new mainstream. Group for most cuts: Wallace Roney (trumpet), Clyde Criner (piano), Cecil McBee (bass), Billy Hart (drums). Starts with Monk, followed by originals (including one each by Criner and McBee). B+(*)

Chico Freeman/Mal Waldron: Up and Down (1992, Black Saint): Sax-piano duo, but not quite duets: vocalist Tiziani Ghighlioni ("featuring" on the cover) appears on 2 (of 6) tracks (nice on "My One and Only Love"), and Ricky Knauer (no mention on cover) plays bass. Waldron centers everything. B+(**)

Christof Lauer: Christof Lauer (1989, CMP): German tenor saxophonist, first album as leader although he had a number of side credits since 1978. Quartet, with Joachim Kühn (piano), Palle Danielsson (double bass), and Peter Erskine (drums) -- all hard and strong. B+(***)

Christof Lauer/Wolfgang Puschnig/Bob Stewart/Thomas Alkier: Bluebells (1992, CMP): Tenor/soprano sax, alto sax, tuba, drums, the three horn players splitting the writing. The saxes sort of melt together. B+(**)

Christof Lauer: Fragile Network (1998 [1999], ACT): With Marc Ducret (guitar), Anthony Cox (electric/acoustic bass), Michel Godard (tuba, serpent), and Gene Jackson (drums). Nice balance of instruments, especially how the tuba fits in. B+(***)

Christof Lauer/NDR Big Band: Christof Lauer & NDR Big Band Play Sidney Bechet: Petite Fleur (2013 [2014], ACT): Only five (of nine) tracks composed by Bechet, but aside from the Lauer original the others fit the era and are always welcome: "Honeysuckle Rose," "Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams," "On the Sunny Side of the Street." The Big Band is overblown, but often that works for context, with Lauer playing more soprano than tenor. B+(**)

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Between Nothingness & Eternity (1973, Columbia): British guitarist John McLaughlin made a big splash in the late 1960s -- side credits with Miles Davis and Tony Williams (and, a personal favorite, Gordon Beck's Experiments With Pops), capped by his solo debut Extrapolation (1969). He studied Indian music, adopted the honorific Mahavishnu, and by 1971 formed this fusion band with Jan Hammer (keyboards), Jerry Goodman (violin), Rick Laird (bass), and Billy Cobham (percussion). Their debut, The Inner Mounting Flame (1971), was their masterpiece. This live set came two albums later, with three long piece split up for two album sides (the long one 21:24). Feels a bit dated, but I've never been a Hammer fan. B+(*)

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Apocalypse (1974, Columbia): Aside from guitarist John McLaughlin, a new line up, with Gayle Moran taking over at keyboards, Jean-Luc Ponty at violin, Ralphe Armstrong on bass, and Narada Michael Walden on drums, plus the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas and a little aria. Doubt this is how the world ends, but should be the end of something. C+

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1974 [1975], Columbia): Same quintet, plus a string trio, plus -- well, I'm not sure what: the allusions point somewhere else, with airs of prog and classical, plus an occasional grind. Title from a poem by Sri Chinmoy. B-

Mahavishnu Orchestra/John McLaughlin: Inner Worlds (1975 [1976], Columbia): Cover adds the guitarist's name to a group name that had largely become his alias, all the more so with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty gone and Stu Goldberg replacing Gayle Moran on keybs, although Narada Michael Walden also plays some keybs. Music is a bit sharper, but not a good idea to add words. B-

Joe Maneri Quartet: Dahabenzapple (1993 [1996], Hat Art): Clarinet/saxophone player, also some piano, known especially for microtone techniques, had a tough time getting noticed -- one album he cut in 1963 was only released in 1998, one from 1964 was reissued in Atavistic's Unheard Music Series in 2009. But his discography picks up in 1995, slows down after 2001, before he died in 2009. Like Von Freeman, he seems to have slipped in on his son's coat tails, with Mat Maneri producing and playing violin here, the quartet filled out with Cecil McBee on bass and Randy Peterson on drums. B+(**)

Joe Maneri Quartet: In Full Cry (1996 [1997], ECM): John Lockwood takes over the bass slot. B+(*)

Joe Maneri/Mat Maneri: Blessed (1997 [1998], ECM): Duets, the father playing alto/tenor sax, clarinet, and piano; the son viola and several violins. One reason Mat is the better known Maneri is that he crowds the spotlite, but both partners manage to make their abstractions interesting. B+(**)

Joe Maneri Trio: The Trio Concerts (1997-98 [2001], Leo, 2CD): With Mat Maneri on violin and Randy Peterson on drums, one set per disc, both recorded in Massachusetts. B+(**)

John McLaughlin: Devotion (1970, Douglas): Second album, McLaughlin was reportedly unhappy with producer Alan Douglas' mix, and possibly that it's been reissued dozens of times by various labels, some reordering the songs. With Larry Young (organ/electric piano), Billy Rich (bass guitar), and Buddy Miles (drums). Fusion, the keyboards thick, the beat heavy. B+(**)

The Free Spirits Featuring John McLaughlin: Tokyo Live (1993 [1994], Verve): The fusion guitarist left Columbia after 1979 and was largely out of the spotlight during the 1980s, staging something of a comeback in the 1990s after signing to Verve in France. This is something more than a back-to-basics move: an organ trio, Joey De Francesco the maestro, Dennis Chambers on drums, but doesn't sound like any soul jazz I recall as the guitarist goes his own sweet way. B+(**)

John McLaughlin: The Heart of Things (1997, Verve): A decidedly middle-aged album, not so much slowing down as lightening up, with saxophonist Gary Thomas taking many of the leads, Jim Beard on keybs, Matthew Garrison on bass guitar, and Dennis Chambers on drums. B+(*)

John McLaughlin/Zakir Hussain/T.H. "Vikkur" Vinayakram/Hariprasad Chaurasia: Remember Shakti (1997 [1999], Verve, 2CD): Partial reunion of McLaughlin's Indian fusion group, which recorded three albums 1975-77 -- major omission is violinist Lakshminarayana Shankar, with Chaurasia (bansuri) joining on all but one 63:30 cut (most of second disc), and Uma Metha (tanpura) on two first disc tracks (41:08). More relaxed than the '70s albums, partly because the bamboo flute is airy where the violin was dense, but mostly they just seem to be pleased to be back in their groove. And that reminds us that Zakir Hussain is the real star. B+(***)

Jelly Roll Morton: The Piano Rolls (1924 [1997], Nonesuch): The first patents for player pianos were filed in 1867. and sales peaked in 1924 with sound recording rapidly gaining ground. Many pianists of the day punched out paper rolls, and those rolls offer an opportunity to bypass the poor recording quality of the day and get a fresh take, although reproducing them on modern technology isn't all that straightforward. Morton's piano rolls have been released before, but Artis Wodehouse gives them new vibrancy here. B+(**)

Walter Norris/George Mraz: Drifting (1974 [2007], Enja): Piano/bass duets. Mostly Norris originals, but covers ranging from "Maple Leaf Rag" to "Falling in Love With Love" stand out. B+(**)

Walter Norris/Aladár Pege: Winter Rose (1980, Enja): More piano/bass duets, the Hungarian bassist contributing two songs plus a trad. arrangement. B+(*)

Original Dixieland Jazz Band: The 75th Anniversary (1917-21 [1992], RCA Bluebird): White band from New Orleans led by cornet player Nick LaRocca, with clarinet and trombone alternating the horn attack, famed as the first group to record jazz records, which they did shortly after arriving in New York in 1917. To some extent that was just being the right faces in the right place, but the music is still pretty vibrant, the model for all trad jazz to follow. But unlike Louis Armstrong (or Fletcher Henderson, for that matter Bix Beiderbecke) they didn't evolve much in their first four years. B+(***)

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band: In London 1919-1920 Plus the Okeh Sessions 1922-1923 (1919-23 [2001], Retrieval): After their initial triumph in New York, ODJB went to London, where they wound up performing for King George V at Buckingham Palace. B+(**)

Shakti/John McLauglin: Shakti With John McLaughlin (1975 [1976], Columbia): The guitarist took a quick interest in Indian music, culminating here as he immerses himself in a quartet of authentic stars: T.S. Vinayakaram (ghatam/mridangam), R. Raghavan (mridangam), Zakir Hussain (tabla), and L. Shankar (violin). B+(***)

Shakti With John McLauglin: Natural Elements (1977, Columbia): Note that McLaughlin only plays acoustic guitar here. Also that he wrote seven (of eight) pieces here, four with violinist L. Shankar (who has sole credit on the other). Band down to four members, but sometimes the intensity is up. B+(**)

Shakti With John McLaughlin: A Handful of Beauty (1976 [1977], Columbia): Same quartet, McLaughlin on acoustic guitar, again sharing composition responsibilities with violinist Shankar, plus a trad. piece from South India. B+(***)

John Surman: Upon Reflection (1979, ECM): British saxophonist, had an interesting and varied first decade before landing on ECM, a tenure closing in on forty years. His ECM debut was a solo affair, playing soprano, baritone, and bass clarinet over his own minimalist synthesizer tracks. B+(**)

John Surman: The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon (1981, ECM): Not much different from the solo album, including some synth overdubs, but the saxophonist is joined by Jack DeJohnette, on drums, congas, and electric piano. B+(*)

John Surman: Such Winters of Memory (1982 [1983], ECM): With Karen Krog (voice, Oberheim ring modulator, tamboura) and Pierre Favre (drums). The vocals are a bit arty, but don't hurt and sometimes bring out more dynamic saxophone than on Surman's previous ECM records. B+(**)

John Surman: Withholding Pattern (1984 [1985], ECM): Overdubbed solo, with piano and recorder added to his usual horns and synth. B+(*)

John Surman: Private City (1987 [1988], ECM): Another solo effort, dubbing his various horns (bass clarinet, soprano and baritone saxophones) over his ambient synth backdrops. B+(*)

John Surman Quartet: Stranger Than Fiction (1993 [1994], ECM): With John Taylor (piano), Chris Laurence (bass), and John Marshall (drums), a couple pieces jointly credited. Still not as dynamic as his early work, but he seems finally to have figured out how to craft something that periodically rises from the ambient to delight. B+(***)

John Surman: A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Dawe (1994 [1995], ECM): Back to solo again, favoring alto and bass clarinet, the keyboards more for shadowing than rhythm. Nice pace, often gorgeous. B+(***)

John Surman/Jack DeJohnette: Invisible Nature (2000 [2002], ECM): Recorded live at Tempere Jazz Happening and JazzFest Berlin, which precludes overdubbing and lets these musicians break loose of the ECM studio aesthetic. Turns out to be all the space they need. A-

John Surman: Free and Equal (2001 [2003], ECM): With Jack DeJohnette again, plus London Brass -- ten musicians covering the gamut from trumpet to tuba. They push focus toward the compositions, but still offer a certain rowdiness. B+(**)

John Surman/Howard Moody: Rain on the Window (2006 [2008], ECM): Moody plays organ, a nice foil for Surman's usual reeds. B+(**)

Trio-X [Joe McPhee/Dominic Duval/Jay Rosen]: The Sugar Hill Suite (2004, CIMP): Avant-jazz trio formed in 1999, produced more than a dozen albums up to bassist Duval's death in 2016. McPhee only plays tenor sax here. Roots oriented, with two trad. pieces and looks back at Ellington and Hubbard. B+(**)

Notes

Everything streamed from Napster (ex Rhapsody), except as noted in brackets following the grade:

• [cd] based on physical cd
• [cdr] based on an advance or promo cd or cdr
• [bc] available at bandcamp.com

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Monday, March 26, 2018

Music: current count 29517 [29490] rated (+27), 367 [378] unrated (-11).

Tough week for me, although next week should be even rougher -- certainly harder to get anything done: memorial service for my sister is Saturday, March 31, and various family and friends will be arriving from Wednesday on. I'm going to try to wrap up Streamnotes early so I won't have to deal with it late in the week. In any case, it will be one of my shortest in many months, probably years. Also the grade curve seems to have slipped severely: A-list currently just two long each for new and old music, with a roughly even break. Possible, I suppose, that my personal malaise is dragging down my grade curve. Also possible I'm just not finding good tips. I will say that I gave Christgau's grade A jazz pick (Mast) four plays before I gave up on it. And I didn't find last year's Monk vault tape, Les Laisions Dangereuses 1960 any better. As for the Ornette Coleman twofer, the two Impulse albums it collects are the only official Colemans I still haven't heard.

By the way, Ram Lama Hull has set up a website for Kathy Hull, including a gallery of some of her artwork. A memorial service will be held for her at 1:00 PM at First UU, 7202 E. 21st St. N., Wichita, KS 67206.

New records rated this week:

• Heather Bennett: Lazy Afternoon (2018, Summit): [r]: B
• Chris Dave: Chris Dave and the Drumhedz (2018, Blue Note): [r]: B
• Caroline Davis: Heart Tonic (2018, Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
• Dogwood: Hecate's Hounds (2018, Nusica.org): [r]: B+(**)
• Bill Frisell: Music IS (2017 [2018], Okeh): [r]: B+(**)
• Gwenno: Le Kov (2018, Heavenly): [r]: B+(**)
• The Heavyweights Brass Band: This City (2018, Lulaworld): [cd]: B+(***)
• MAST: Thelonious Sphere Monk (2018, World Galaxy): [r]: B+(***)
• Adam Nussbaum: The Lead Belly Project (2018, Sunnyside): [r]: B+(**)
• Aruán Ortiz Trio: Live in Zürich (2016 [2018], Intakt): [cd]: B+(***)
• Bobby Previte: Rhapsody (2017 [2018], RareNoise): [cdr]: B
• Steve Reich: Pulse/Quartet (2018, Nonesuch): [r]: B+(*)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:

• Kang Tae Hwan: Live at Café Amores (1995 [2018], NoBusiness): [cd]: B+(**)
• Bill Warfield Big Band: For Lew (1990-2014 [2018], Planet Arts): [cd]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

• The Barry Altschul Quartet: For Stu (1979 [1981], Soul Note): [r]: B+(**)
• The Barry Altschul Quartet: Irina (1983, Soul Note): [r]: B+(***)
• The Barry Altschul Quartet/Quintet: That's Nice (1985 [1986], Soul Note): [r]: B+(*)
• Paul Bley/John Surman/Bill Frisell/Paul Motian: The Paul Bley Quartet (1987 [1988], ECM): [r]: B+(**)
• John Surman: Such Winters of Memory (1982 [1983], ECM): [r]: B+(**)
• John Surman: Withholding Pattern (1984 [1985], ECM): [r]: B+(*)
• John Surman: Private City (1987 [1988], ECM): [r]: B+(*)
• John Surman Quartet: Stranger Than Fiction (1993 [1994], ECM): [r]: B+(***)
• John Surman: A Biography of the Rev. Absalom Dawe (1994 [1995], ECM): [r]: B+(***)
• John Surman/Jack DeJohnette: Invisible Nature (2000 [2002], ECM): [r]: A-
• John Surman: Free and Equal (2001 [2003], ECM): [r]: B+(**)
• John Surman/Howard Moody: Rain on the Window (2006 [2008], ECM): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Roger Kellaway Trio: New Jazz Standards Vol. 3 (Summit)
• Otherworld Ensemble: Live at Malmitalo (Edgetone): April 3
• Rent Romus' Life's Blood Ensemble: Rogue Star (Edgetone): April 3

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Sunday, March 25, 2018

With Rex Tillerson and H.R. McMaster recently purged, Mike Pompeo promoted to Secretary of State, torture diva Gina Haspel taking over the CIA, and veteran blowhard John Bolton given the laughable title of National Security Adviser, the closest the administration can come to a moderating voice of sanity in foreign affairs is the guy nicknamed "Mad Dog." Trump continues to replace his first team of "yes men" with even more sycophantic wannabes, doubling down on his search for the least critical, least competent hacks in American politics. On the other hand, it's not as if delegating policy to the Republican Party apparatchiki was doing anything to accomplish his vision of "making America great again." Over the last few weeks he's not only made major strides at cleaning house, he's pushed out several of his signature trade initiatives. He seems determined to double down until he blows himself up -- and surely you realize by now the last thing he cares about is how that affects anyone else.

I don't say much about trade below, although I've probably read a dozen pieces complaining either about how ineffective his tariffs will be or how they'll lead to trade wars and other mischief that will make us poorer. The first thing to understand about trade is that business has already adjusted to whatever the status quo is, so anything that changes it is going to upset their apple cart, much faster than it's going to help anyone else out. So all restrictions on trade seem bad to someone prepared to shout out about it. On the other hand, business is eager to promote expansions to trade that offer short-term benefits, especially before anyone who's going to be hurt can get organized. So I take most of what I read with a grain of salt: not just because the dialogue is polluted by interested bodies but because it's kind of a sideshow. The question that matters is not whether there's more trade or less, but what is the power balance between capital and labor (and consumers, sure, but they're often touted by capitalists as the real beneficiaries of lower-priced imports, something capitalists wouldn't bother us with if they didn't stand to be bigger winners). The problem with TPP wasn't that it reduced trade barriers. It was that it reduced the power of people to regulate corporations, and that it sought to increase corporate rents through "intellectual property" claims.

Aside from raising tax revenues, the purpose of tariffs is to protect investment by organizing a captive, non-competitive market. However, in a world where there is already more steelmaking capacity than there is market, American steel companies won't make the investments to increase steel production. Rather, they'll reap excess profits while the tariffs last -- which probably won't be for long. Of course, that's not even what Trump's thinking. He thinks he's penalizing foreign misbehavior (like subsidizing investment then dumping overproduction). Maybe the real problem is that Americans aren't doing the same things? But there's a reason for that: we do all our business through private corporations, which workers and citizens have no stake in, so we don't even have the concept of directing investment where it might yield broad benefits.

On the other hand, note that if China decides to impose tariffs on American goods, they're likely to back those up with strategic investments to build competitive industries, temporarily protected behind those tariffs. For an example of the kind of piece I've been ignoring (but spurred some of my thinking above), see Eduardo Porter/Guilbert Gates: How Trump's Protectionism Could Backfire. Somewhat more amusing is Paul Krugman: Trump and Trade and Zombies. Also see Paul Krugman Explains Trade and Tariffs.

Some scattered links this week:

• Matthew Yglesias: The week's 4 most important political stories, explained: John Bolton will be the national security adviser (replacing H.R. McMaster; quote: "Bolton apparently promised Trump 'he wouldn't start any wars' as a condition for getting the job, so maybe he won't"); Trump switched trade wars (first, the steel tariffs got gutted by carving out exceptions for a bunch of countries which make up a large majority of US steel imports; then Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese goods); We have an omnibus ($1.3 trillion in government spending, including a little for the wall and a lot for the military); Facebook is in hot water over data leaks (above and beyond the mischief they do of their own). Other Yglesias pieces this week:

  • The partisan gender gap among millennials is staggeringly large: "Women born after 1980 favor Democrats 70-23."

  • The case against Facebook: actually, several cases, including that it "makes people depressed and lonely," and that it's poisoning society:

    Rumors, misinformation, and bad reporting can and do exist in any medium. But Facebook created a medium that is optimized for fakeness, not as an algorithmic quirk but due to the core conception of the platform. By turning news consumption and news discovery into a performative social process, Facebook turns itself into a confirmation bias machine -- a machine that can best be fed through deliberate engineering.

    In reputable newsrooms, that's engineering that focuses on graphic selection, headlines, and story angles while maintaining a commitment to accuracy and basic integrity. But relaxing the constraint that the story has to be accurate is a big leg up -- it lets you generate stories that are well-designed to be psychologically pleasing, like telling Trump-friendly white Catholics that the pope endorsed their man, while also guaranteeing that your outlet gets a scoop.

  • Everyone loves nurses and hates Mitch McConnell.

  • The myth of "forcing people out of their cars"

  • Donald Trump's threat to the rule of law is much bigger than Robert Mueller.

• Fred Kaplan: It's Time to Panic Now: "John Bolton's appointment as national security adviser puts us on a path to war." Bolton may or may not be the most consistent, most inflexible of neocon warmongers, but where he has really distinguished himself is in obstructing any option other than war. If he can't bully the other side into submission, he'll launch an attack, convinced of American omnipotence and oblivious to any evidence to the contrary. The job of National Security Adviser is to offer the president a range of options. Bolton sees no range, and Trump must know that. If Trump's been frustrated by being surrounded by advisers who argued against launching a "preventive" war with North Korea, he won't have any problems with Bolton.

  For more background on Bolton, see David Bosco: The World According to Bolton [PDF, originally from 2005]. More Bolton pieces:

  • Summer Concepcion: Bolton Set to 'Clean House' at NSC, Ousting Dozens of WH Officials.

  • Kary Lowe: If John Bolton Is Right, Pearl Harbor Was Perfectly Legal: Based on Bolton's argument that a "preventive war" against North Korea would be "legal." By the way, note that a peculiar thing about "preventive" is that the adjective becomes meaningless the moment you apply it to nouns like "war": "preventive war" == "war," plain and simple. The adjective hides nothing.

  • Gareth Porter: The Untold Story of John Bolton's Campaign for War With Iran.

  • Matt Purple: A Madman on the National Security Council.

  • Walter Shapiro: John Bolton is a hawk itching for war - and few are there to stop him: Actually, a pretty awful piece, scoring reasonable points against Bolton then squandering them by by focusing on "his Neville Chamberlain moustache." Worst is this:

    As for Bolton, he was the wild man in George W Bush's tragically misguided, but sane, administration. Under Trump, though, he may end up as the sanest man in the Land of the Crazy.

    Trump may be crazy but it was Bush's people who lambasted "the reality-based community" -- hardly a sane position. And doesn't "tragically" imply some sort of noble intentions? Bush seized on 9/11 as an excuse for becoming a "war president" mostly because he remembered war boosting his father's approval polls (which sunk like a rock after the Gulf War ended, a mistake GW never came close to repeating. As for Bolton being the sane one now, that's based on what?

  • Philip Weiss: War-loving, Muslim-hating John Bolton wants to give 'pieces' of Palestine to Jordan and Egypt: This, by the way, isn't necessarily a bad idea, at least compared to indefinitely extending the status quo -- evidently the agenda of virtually every party in Israel. Of course, it would depend on the sort of details you can't expect Bolton to support or even imagine: equal rights for all Palestinians left in Israel; local democracy for the Palestinian pieces (given that neither Egypt nor Jordan are remotely democratic); a complete shift of security responsibilities from Israel to Egypt/Jordan; some serious money for reconstruction and redevelopment.

  • Robin Wright: John ("Bomb Iran") Bolton, the New Warmonger in the White House.

• Jen Kirby: The March for Our Lives, explained: "Thousands turned out for rallies in Washington, DC, and hundreds of cities across the United States."

• Nomi Prins: Jared Kushner, You're Fired: "A Political Obituary for the President's Son-in-Law."

• Matt Taibbi: The Legacy of the Iraq War: Fifteen year anniversary piece of Bush's invasion of Iraq. I would put more stress on Bush's earlier invasion of Afghanistan, and indeed the whole premise that the overbloated US military should be trusted, if not to defend us from attacks like 9/11 at least to avenge them. On the other hand, Taibbi goes the extra step in showing how the misuse of the military in the Global War on Terror is rooted in the much older multi-faceted war the US fought against the workers and peasants of the world, the one we sanitize by calling it the Cold War. He also ends memorably on Trump:

  It was for sure a contributing factor in the election of Donald Trump, whose total ignorance and disrespect for both the law and the rights of people deviates not one iota from our official policies as they've evolved in the last fifteen years.

  Trump is just too stupid to use the antiseptic terminology we once thought we had to cook up to cloak our barbarism. He says "torture" instead of "enhanced interrogation" because he can't remember what the difference is supposed to be. Which is understandable. Fifteen years is a long time for a rotting brain to keep up a pretense.

  We flatter ourselves that Trump is an aberration. He isn't. He's a depraved, cowardly, above-the-law bully, just like the country we've allowed ourselves to become in the last fifteen years.

  Posted before Trump's Bolton pick, but the likeness is pretty glaring. Also looking back on America's recent wars: Andrew Bacevich: A Memo to the Publisher of the New York Times. One thing here is that I don't see how you can complain about the Times' contribution to "having tacitly accepted that, for the United States, war has become a permanent condition," without noting a single thing that the Times has published on Israel in the last, oh, sixty years.

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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Music: current count 29490 [29476] rated (+14), 378 [368] unrated (+10).

Miserable fucking week. I've developed an itch over much of my body, which dermatologist couldn't identify but it treating symptomatically: various steroid and non-steroid creams and lotions. Marginally better today, but on top of everything else has kept me from feeling like doing much of anything all week. One exception was that I did some cooking.

My nephew Mike, his wife Morgan and sister Kirsten flew into town to try to document my late sister's artwork, which they mostly did in my basement. First night they were working late and getting hungry, so I threw together a quick pad thai -- one of the few dishes I always have ingredients for, and takes less than an hour to prep and cook (mostly prep). I was originally hoping to do a more substantial dinner on Monday before they were to leave, but wound up fixing two more smaller dinners in the meantime: Saturday was shakshuka (eggs poached in Tunisian tomato sauce) and pan-roasted potatoes. Sunday was baked fish topped with tomato, olives and capers, along with roasted potatoes. (I had a bag of Yukon golds to work through). Also made an oatmeal stout cake. Those were just 4-5 people.

For Monday I planned on doing Greek, and finally did some shopping. We wound up crowded with ten adults and a two-year-old baby. I made baked shrimp with feta cheese, roasted brussels sprouts and various root vegetables (red potatoes, sweet potato, carrots, fennel, shallots) with a lemon-caper dressing, green bean ragout, fried lamb liver tidbits, horiatiki salad, and saganaki (fried kefalograviera cheese; also made a batch with haloumi). Also leftover cake.

Mostly listened to oldies last week, except for late nights on the computer. Even then, mostly picked pop records from recent Christgau reviews -- but two A and two A- records fell short for me, each getting two (some three) plays. I didn't find the latest Chopteeth album, but checked out two old ones. Only three records from my jazz queue, and they all got multiple chances.

Unpacking includes records I forgot to list last week.

Kathy's memorial service will be March 31, so things will start to get crazy again as that approaches. I'll probably post a Streamnotes early next week to get it out of the way, but it will be much shorter than usual.

New records rated this week:

• Car Seat Headrest: Twin Fantasy (2018, Matador, 2CD): [r]: B+(***)
• Ezra Furman: Transangelic Exodus (2018, Bella Union): [r]: B+(**)
• Hal Galper Quartet: Cubist (2016 [2018], Origin): [cd]: A-
• Sergio Galvao/Lupa Santiago/Clement Landais/Franck Enouf: 2X2 (2017 [2018], Origin): [cd]: B+(***)
• Lucas Niggli: Alchemia Garden (2017 [2018], Intakt): [cd]: B+(*)
• Superchunk: What a Time to Be Alive (2018, Merge): [r]: B+(**)
• Yo La Tengo: There's a Riot Going On (2018, Matador): [r]: B+(**)

Recent reissues, compilations, and vault discoveries rated this week:

• Black Panther: The Album (Music From and Inspired By) (2018, Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope): [r]: B+(***)

Old music rated this week:

• Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band: Chopteeth (2008, Grigri Discs): [r]: A-
• Chopteeth Afrofunk Big Band: Live (2010, Grigri Discs): [r]: B+(***)
• Walter Norris/George Mraz: Drifting (1974 [2007], Enja): [r]: B+(**)
• Walter Norris/Aladár Pege: Winter Rose (1980, Enja): [r]: B+(*)
• John Surman: Upon Reflection (1979, ECM): [r]: B+(**)
• John Surman: The Amazing Adventures of Simon Simon (1981, ECM): [r]: B+(*)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last two weeks:

• Chamber 3: Transatlantic (OA2): March 16
• Johan Graden: Olägenheter (Moserobie)
• Lauren Henderson: Ármame (Brontosaurus): March 30
• Monika Herzig: Sheroes (Whaling City Sound)
• Il Sogno: Birthday (Gotta Let It Out -17)
• Jon Irabagon Quartet: Dr. Quixotic's Traveling Exotics (Irabbagast): May 15
• Martin Küchen & Landaeus Trio: Vinyl (Moserobie)
• Dave Liebman/John Stowell: Petite Fleur: The Music of Sidney Bechet (Origin): March 16
• Johan Lindström Septett: Music for Empty Halls (Moserobie)
• The Maguire Twins: Seeking Higher Ground (Three Tree): March 30
• Diane Moser: Birdsongs (Planet Arts)
• Michael Moss/Accidental Orchestra: Helix (4th Stream): March 24
• William Parker: Lake of Light: Compositions for AquaSonics (Gotta Let It Out): May
• Sonar With David Torn: Vortex (RareNoise): advance, March 30
• Joshua Trinidad: In November (RareNoise): advance, March 30
• Frank Wagner: Floating Holiday (MEII)
• Håvard Wiik Trio: This Is Not a Waltz (Moserobie)

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Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Started this on Sunday, but too many distractions kept me from wrapping it up in a timely fashion. As I've noted already, my sister, Kathy Hull, died last week. We've had visitors and all sorts of chores to do, and I've been plagued by my own health problems. One thing that I did notice was that the sense of horror I felt on hearing the news was one I had experienced several times before: when, for instance, my first wife died, and most recently when Donald Trump was elected president. A big part of that sensation is the dread of facing a future not of unknown and unimaginable consequences but of quite certain pain and loss. The news since election day has merely born out that expected dread. Numerous examples follow, and I'm sure I'm missing at least as much more. One thing I suppose I should take comfort from is that when we finally have a memorial for Kathy (on March 31), we will have fond memories and a lot of art to celebrate. When Trump's term ends we're unlikely to recall a single shred of redeeming value.

Of course, the two events are not comparable in any regard except personal emotional impact on me. The key point is that the shock of the 2016 election, the immediate apprehension of what the American people just did to themselves, hit me pretty much as hard, with much the same body chemistry. Of course, the grief tracks have been/will be different. We will adjust to the impoverished world without her, but the blow has been struck, both final and finite. On the other hand, Trump and his Congress and Courts have barely started to take their toll, which will only grow over time and won't stop when his term ends. On the other hand, there are things that can be done to alter or even reverse the course Trump has set us on. And there is at least one thing I can take comfort in: I've spent literally all of my adult life in opposition to whoever has held political power, as indeed I would still be had Hillary Clinton won, but since the 1970s I've never been in such large or dynamic company. It's also nice to feel no need to defend Clinton when she says something tone-deaf (like her note that she won the urban areas that had fared best under her party's neoliberal advancement) or any of the other petty scandals she's prone to.

By the way, this week is the fifteenth anniversary of Bush's invasion of Iraq. I took another look at what I wrote on March 18, and much of what I wrote then holds up; especially:

As I write this, we cannot even remotely predict how this war will play out, how many people will die or have their lives tragically transfigured, how much property will be destroyed, how much damage will be done to the environment, what the long-term effects of this war will be on the economy and civilization, both regionally and throughout the world. In lauching his war, Bush is marching blithely into the unknown, and dragging the world with him.

I probably tried too hard to rationalize the Bush case, and I spent a lot of time fantasizing that Iraqis might wise up and figure out how to play the PR game in ways that might limit the destruction. That didn't happen first because the seemingly easy military victory unleashed an extraordinary degree of American hubris, and partly because it took very little resistance to change the American stance from would-be benefactor to occupier and schemer. My other mistake was in failing to see how much the US failure in Afghanistan, which was already obvious even if less observed, prefigured the very same failure in Iraq. Not that I was unaware of Afghanistan. Indeed, I've always known that the prime mistake Bush made after 9/11 was driving into Afghanistan.

Even though this isn't appearing until Tuesday, I've tried to limit the stories/links to last Sunday. Some later ones may have crept in -- especially on the Cambridge Analytica story.

Some scattered links this week:

• Matthew Yglesias: The four most important policy stories of the week, explained: Rex Tillerson finally got fired; Democrats won a very red House seat: Conor Lamb in PA-18, a district Trump won by 20 points; Good news at last for banks; The FDA proposed reducing cigarettes nicotine content. Other Yglesias posts:

  • Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe's fiery statement about Sessions's decision to fire him.

  • James Mattis is linked to a massive corporate fraud and nobody wants to talk about it.

  • Caught lying about trade with Canada, Trump tweets some new lies about trade with Canada.

  • Larry Kudlow will be Trump's next top economic adviser.

  • Conor Lamb shows that a pro-choice Democrat can win in Trump country.

  • How Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin became the Trump Cabinet's most endangered member.

  • Republicans are reaping the whirlwind: Quick take on Conor Lamb's PA-18 win.

    Despite the internal tension and the 2-point popular vote loss, Trump emerged victorious in 2016; the way was clear for a potential juggernaut moving forward. If the GOP could adopt Trump's ideological synthesis while backing away from his most disreputable personal qualities, they'd be positioned to do extremely well.

    But instead, they've done the opposite. Trump behaves as flagrantly inappropriately as ever, but now the entire party is complicit in it. In exchange, they've gotten Trump to largely drop his eclectic policy approach in favor of a less popular hard-right agenda. And now they're prepared to lose everywhere.

    He's remembering Trump's "ideological synthesis" as something more coherent than it ever was -- that Trump lost it so quickly just goes to show how little grasp he had on it in the first place. Yglesias goes on to say "America needs the GOP to pull out of the tailspin." Actually, America needs the GOP to crash and burn so badly that most current right-wing tenants are forgotten for a generation or more. You'd think the person who wrote the following would recognize that:

    On a policy level, the Trump-era GOP is pushing unpopular policies on all fronts, from the looming deportation of DREAMers to health care executive actions that are driving up premiums to a rollback net neutrality to the dismantling of consumer financial protection rules. These are enormously harmful to the short-term interests of millions of people and to the long-term interests of nearly the entire country.

    At the same time, Trump continues to act like a maniac -- just this week, he fired the secretary of state over Twitter, deployed inappropriate political rhetoric at an official speech to active-duty Marines, and denied Russian culpability for assassinations carried out on British soil -- and it's only Wednesday.

    At the same time, he's enmeshed in an unprecedented level of personal corruption; his business enterprises are set up as perfect vehicles for interest groups seeking favors from the government to line his pockets with cash. And the growing Stormy Daniels scandal suggests a whole new dimension of possible corruption and lawbreaking over and above the basic financial conflicts of interest and the shenanigans with the Russians.

  • Betsy DeVos tweeted a bizarre self-own about Michigan's public schools.

  • Maybe voters aren't as uninformed as elites like to think.

  • It's time to start taking the Stormy Daniels scandal seriously.

  • Everything we think about the political correctness debate is wrong.

• Tara Isabella Burton: Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for secretary of state, talks about politics as a battle of good and evil. I don't doubt that Pompeo holds such views, but his predecessor in the House (Todd Tiahrt) was so much worse Pompeo at first seemed like a breath of fresh air. That went stale with Benghazi!, which is undoubtedly what put him on Trump's radar, and he's gone over the top playing up his stance as a neocon hawk. The Senate should find his nomination alarming, but so far more people have expressed more worry about Gina Haspel, his (well, Trump's) pick to replace him as CIA director -- see, e.g., Matt Taibbi: Trump's CIA Pick Took Part in Silencing Torture Suspect. By the way, Taibbi also wrote It's Too Late to Worry About 'Normalizing' Trump. Decades of Policy Did That for Him: "The current president is just too stupid to be embarrassed about things his predecessors all did, too."

• Ted Golshan/Jen Kirby: Florida pedestrian bridge collapses, leaving at least 6 dead: what we know.

• Jeff Hauser: How Jeff Sessions Is Sneaking Trump Allies Into Key DOJ Positions That Normally Require Senate Confirmation.

• Doug Henwood: Here's Why Labor Should Resist Trump's Tariff: Some interesting numbers here:

  While steel employment is off 54 percent since 1990, the production of steel (by the Federal Reserve's measure) is up 18 percent. Between 1990 and 2015 (the latest year available), productivity per hour of labor in the steel sector was up 151 percent. Labor's share of value-added in the industry -- the portion of the difference between revenues and costs of raw materials that's paid out to workers -- fell from 23 percent in 1990 to 13 percent in 2015. . . .

  We have some recent experience with steel tariffs, the ones imposed by George W. Bush in March 2002. Bush lifted them in December 2003, under threat of retaliation by the EU, with another politically well-selected set of targets (Florida oranges, and Harleys again), and complaints by domestic steel users. During the 21 months they were in effect, steel employment fell by 9 percent, but production rose by 20 percent.

  Bottom line seems to be that tariffs will help producer profits but not jobs.

• Sean Illing: Team of sycophants: a presidential historian on Trump's White House: Interview with Robert Dallek. Starts by contrasting Franklin Roosevelt, who encouraged frank arguments among his staff, but doesn't point out the more critical difference: that FDR allowed airing all the views because he wanted to centralize decision making for himself, whereas Trump doesn't just delegate, he encourages his minions to make policy without him (at least on matters he doesn't understand or care about, which is to say that aren't directly tied up in his brand identity). Dallek goes on to slander Warren Harding ("you have to go all the way back to Warren G. Harding in 1921 to find a president as unqualified to hold office as Trump is"). The most obvious likeness isn't their lack of qualifications but the extraordinary level of corruption under both presidencies, but a big difference was that Harding was at worst indifferent, Trump is the foremost practitioner. Note that Paul Krugman came up with a similar theme in Springtime for Sycophants.

• Lauren Katz: Ryan Zinke spent his first year in office selling off rights to our public lands.

• John Lanchester: You Are the Product: Review, dated 17 August 2017, of three books about social media -- Tim Wu's The Attention Merchants, Antonio Garcia Martinez's Chaos Monkeys, and Jonathan Taplin's Move Fast and Break Things -- although he's mostly concerned with Facebook. Useful background when you consider, for instance, Sean Illing: Cambridge Analytica, the shady data firm that might be a key Trump-Russia link, explained; Eric Killelea: Cambridge Analytica: What We Know About the Facebook Data Scandal; Matthew Rosenberg: Cambridge Analytica, Trump-Tied Political Firm, Offered to Entrap Politicians; Nico Hines: Cambridge Analytica Offered to Blackmail Politicians With Prostitutes; Sam Biddle: Facebook Quietly Hid Webpages Bragging of Ability to Influence Elections.

• Dara Lind: The death penalty for drug dealers is a terrible idea. It's also part of the White House's new opioid strategy.

• Ganesh Sitaraman: The three crises of liberal democracy: Read this because I just finished the author's very fine book, The Crisis of the Middle-Class Constitution. Here he recommends another book, Yascha Mounk's The People Vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger & How to Save It, but I'm less than convinced. Mounk evidently argues that there are three essential groundings to liberal democracy: shared mass media controlled by responsible gatekeepers; relative economic equality; and national homogeneity (shared culture and identity). Mounk is right that all three are stressed recently, however I'd say that the three points have vastly different weights, and I'm not even sure that the first (de-centralized media) and third (greater diversity) are real problems. Inequality is not only vastly more important, it perverts the others.

• Jeff Spross: How vulture capitalists ate Toys 'R' Us: Seems like behind every business failure there's a private equity company with a long history of sucking cash out and piling on debt. In this case, well, KKR and Bain Capital.

• Emily Stewart: "We've been in a trade war for 30 years": a former Trump trade adviser explains the case for tariffs: Interview with Dan DiMicco, former chair and CEO of steel manufacturer Nucor.

• Alex Ward, et al: Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director targeted by Trump, was just fired: This story is most often presented as "now he might not get his pension" -- he had already resigned, pushing the effective date out to qualify for a pension, so his firing showed an uncommon degree of vindictiveness. But it raises other questions, like Emily Stewart: Jeff Sessions may have violated his recusal pledge when he fired Andrew McCabe.

• Robert Wright: How the New York Times Is Making War With Iran More Likely. Of course, one could also write a piece on how making Mike Pompeo Secretary of State makes war with Iran more likely -- indeed, war all over the place.

• Jason Zengerle: Eating Away at Government From the Inside: Review of David Cay Johnston's new book, It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America. And it's even worse now than it was when Johnston handed his manuscript in -- for instance, the book doesn't cover Trump's corporate tax cut. Still, one especially apt insight: "The Trump administration deposited political termites throughout the structure of our government. The endgame is not just a smaller government, which Republicans always say they want, but a weak government." This matters because weaker government makes corporations stronger and less accountable to the public -- indeed, to any moral constraint other than their bottom line.

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Monday, March 12, 2018

Music: current count 29476 [29452] rated (+24), 368 [368] unrated (+0).

Nothing to say about music this week. I woke up last Tuesday to the news that my sister had been struck by a car while walking from the parking lot to her work at Wichita State University. The car was not going especially fast, but knocked her to the ground, and she smashed the back of her skull on the pavement. The skull was cracked, and a CT scan showed multiple brain bleeds. The Wesley Hospital ER stapled the skull together, stabilized her, and put her in the Intensive Care Unit. When we saw her, she was conscious, incoherent, agitated, very frustrated. She developed respiratory problems, which they cleared up (mostly) with a 3-hour bronchoscopy operation. After that, she seemed to be improving, becoming calmer and more coherent, although she had bad periods as well. I never got any meaningful review of her brain scan tests. They were mostly described as "unchanged," and the bleeds were deemed inoperable, so they focused on palliative care. There was much discussion of transferring her to a "brain trauma hospital" in Nebraska, possibly early this week.

Last night, around 4AM, Kathy's heart stopped. This occurred during some form of respiratory therapy. Multiple attempts to revive her failed. A friend was staying overnight at the hospital with her, and tells me that they had "about half the floor in her room" and spent about 30 minutes before giving up. I don't know any more than that. The hospital called her son, Ram, who called me about 4:30 AM. Our brother, Steve, had come to Wichita on Wednesday, and planned on going in early morning. He found out when he woke up, and called me. I couldn't go to sleep, so I picked up and we talked about 7 AM.

I sent email to a couple of people before I went to bed. Ram posted something very brief on Facebook. I shared it, then added my own note. He'll be talking to a funeral director tomorrow, so we'll have a better idea of schedule then. I need to call some people, and to catch up with Ram and Steve, but in my current daze I figured I'd knock this out and get it out of the way. I've had a miserable week, with my own problems as well as this. Feeling shocked and helpless now.

New records rated this week:

• Blue Notes Tribute Orkestra: Live at the Bird's Eye (2012 [2017], self-released): [r]: B+(*)
• Nubya Garcia: Nubya's 5ive (2017, Jazz Re:freshed): [r]: B+(**)
• Peter Kuhn: Dependent Origination (2016 [2017], FMR): [cd]: B+(***)
• Peter Kuhn Trio: Intention (2017 [2018], FMR): [cd]: A-
• Emma-Jean Thackray's Walrus: Walrus EP (2017, Deptford Beach, EP): [r]: B+(*)

Old music rated this week:

• The Free Spirits Featuring John McLaughlin: Tokyo Live (1993 [1994], Verve): [r]: B+(**)
• Christof Lauer: Christof Lauer (1989, CMP): [r]: B+(***)
• Christof Lauer/Wolfgang Puschnig/Bob Stewart/Thomas Alkier: Bluebells (1992, CMP): [r]: B+(**)
• Christof Lauer: Fragile Network (1998 [1999], ACT): [r]: B+(***)
• Christof Lauer/NDR Big Band: Christof Lauer & NDR Big Band Play Sidney Bechet: Petite Fleur (2013 [2014], ACT): [r]: B+(**)
• Mahavishnu Orchestra: Between Nothingness & Eternity (1973, Columbia): [r]: B+(*)
• Mahavishnu Orchestra: Apocalypse (1974, Columbia): [r]: C+
• Mahavishnu Orchestra: Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1974 [1975], Columbia): [r]: B-
• Mahavishnu Orchestra/John McLaughlin: Inner Worlds (1975 [1976], Columbia): [r]: B-
• Joe Maneri Quartet: Dahabenzapple (1993 [1996], Hat Art): [r]: B+(**)
• Joe Maneri Quartet: In Full Cry (1996 [1997], ECM): [r]: B+(*)
• Joe Maneri/Mat Maneri: Blessed (1997 [1998], ECM): [r]: B+(**)
• Joe Maneri Trio: The Trio Concerts (1997-98 [2001], Leo, 2CD): [r]: B+(**)
• John McLaughlin: Devotion (1970, Douglas): [r]: B+(**)
• John McLaughlin: The Heart of Things (1997, Verve): [r]: B+(*)
• John McLaughlin/Zakir Hussain/T.H. "Vikkur" Vinayakram/Hariprasad Chaurasia: Remember Shakti (1997 [1999], Verve, 2CD): [r]: B+(***)
• Shakti/John McLaughlin: Shakti With John McLaughlin (1975 [1976], Columbia): [r]: B+(***)
• Shakti With John McLaughlin: Natural Elements (1977, Columbia): [r]: B+(**)
• Shakti With John McLaughlin: A Handful of Beauty (1976 [1977], Columbia): [r]: B+(***)

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Sunday, March 11, 2018

Didn't mean to write much this weekend. Just figured I'd go through the motions, starting with the usual Yglesias links, to have something for future reference, and to check how the update mechanism works on the transplanted website. Guess I got a little carried away.

Some scattered links this week:

• Matthew Yglesias: 4 stories that really mattered this week: Trump slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum; Gary Cohn says he's quitting: the top White House economic adviser, formerly of Goldman Sachs; Trump will (maybe) do a summit with Kim Jong Un; Red-state teachers are getting angry: in West Virginia, most obviously, with Oklahoma and Arizona in the wings. Other Yglesias pieces:

  • Globalists, explained: Evidently, some people view "globalist" as an anti-semitic term. Today's example: Trump describing the departing Gary Cohn as a "globalist." An older term is "cosmopolitan," although I've found the German more interesting: "weltbürgerlich" -- citizen of the world. Such allusions seem to be endemic with the alt-right, even more so with Trump, but I'm not sure that it's useful at all to dwell on them. Nearly everything that Trump and his ilk say that can be read as anti-semitic is also wrong for other reasons, and people miss that when they get hung up on anti-semitic stereotypes. One word that doesn't appear here is "neoliberal," which is actually a better description of Cohn -- including Cohn's differences from the Trumpian nationalists -- but doesn't seem to be part of their vocabulary.

  • The real danger to the US economy in Trump's trade policy: "It's not the tariffs; it's what happens next.".

  • The DCCC should chill out and do less to try to pick Democrats' nominees: "There's very little evidence that "electable" moderates do better."

  • Trump's trade demand to China is pathetically small: "The US-China trade deficit rose $28 billion last year. Trump is asking for a $1 billion cut." Actually, that understates the plan, as The actual trade deficit is $375.2 billion -- "a drop in the bucket." Moreover, the plan is just an ask: "Trump is asking the Chinese to find a way to cut it by less than 0.27 percent but acting like he's a tough guy."

  • Cory Booker's new Workers Dividend Act, explained: "A Bloomberg analysis shows that of America's $54 billion corporate tax windfall, so far $21.1 billion has been kicked to shareholders in the form of 'buybacks,' almost twice as much as has gone to employees in higher compensation and far more than has been spent on capital investments or research and development." Booker's bill seeks to rebalance that by giving people who work for companies that do stock buybacks a piece of the profit. That's nice for them, but doesn't help anyone else. It is, at best, a tiny step toward equality, piggybacked on a larger step in the opposite direction.

  • The 17 Democrats selling out on bank regulation is worse than it looks. I don't see a list or a vote total, so I'm not sure just who he's blaming, but the bill in question is the Republicans' gift to the industry that sunk the economy in 2008, a more/less significant rollback of the relatively feeble reform package known as Dodd-Frank. For more on the bill, see: Emily Stewart: The bank deregulation bill in the Senate, explained; also Ross Barkan: The rich and the right want to dynamite Dodd-Frank -- and Democrats are helping them do it:

    It's worth considering when bipartisanship can still exist in this deeply polarizing moment. It cannot live where there is a growing national consensus, as over the severity of climate change or the scourge of mass shootings.

    It cannot live in any kind of economic matter that benefits the working class or the poor, even after Donald Trump managed to shred rightwing economic orthodoxies on his way to the presidency -- never mind that he's governing like a Koch brothers pawn.

    Democrats and Republicans can only come together to feather the nests of the rich and powerful. Weakening Dodd-Frank confirms the worst suspicions of any cynical voter -- that the political class really is colluding to screw them over.

  • Trump's tariffs are a scary look at what happens when he actually tries to govern: Good point, but I certainly wouldn't go this far:

    The Trump era has, so far, gone better than anyone had any right to expect. It's true that as problems arise -- flu, drug overdoses, Hurricane Maria, school shootings -- Trump invariably fails to rise to the occasion. And, from time to time, he for no good reason opts to pour salt in America's racial wounds. His immigration policies are making us poorer and meaner, while his health care and tax policies make our economy more unequal.

    But on a day-to-day basis, life goes on.

    Despite the frightening concentration of incompetence in the West Wing, many critical posts -- most of all at the Departments of Defense and Treasury and the Federal Reserve -- appear to be in the hands of basically capable people. Trump's habit of relentlessly deferring to GOP congressional leadership on policy issues is disappointing if you were a true believer in Trumpism, but sort of vaguely reassuring if you found the idea of installing a narcissistic rage-holic in the Oval Office alarming.

    I'd submit that there's a lot more on the negative side of the ledger, and little if anything on the positive. I'll also stipulate that most folks won't understand the negative side until it comes crashing down on them like a ton of bricks, but the number of people who this has happened to already is non-trivial (especially immigrants of various degrees, and most people in Puerto Rico). Policies by their very nature have slow triggers, but that doesn't mean that today's decisions won't catch up with us sooner or later. And while it's true that some of Trump's administrators don't seem to be competent enough to destroy departments they loathe -- Rich Perry, Ben Carson, Betsy De Vos -- others are more than capable -- Ryan Zinke at Interior, Scott Pruitt at EPA, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. That Mattis and Mnuchin lack the same streak of nihilism has more to do with the usefulness of their departments to rich donors than relative sanity.

• James K Galbraith: Trump's steel tariffs are mere political theater: Points out something I haven't seen noted elsewhere: similar tariffs have been implemented twice before, first under Reagan and again by GW Bush. Neither had any real effect, least of all on rebuilding the American steel industry. Nor did they generate much controversy, as they were mere "political theater" by politicians who were otherwise reliable neoliberals. If Trump's generating more controversy, that's probably because he's ideologically less trustworthy -- not that he actually understands or believes in anything.

• Jeff Goodell: Welcome to the Age of Climate Migration: "Extreme weather due to climate change displaced more than a million people from their homes last year. It could soon reshape the nation." Key takeaway here: it's already happening, and it's measurable.

• Jane Mayer: Christopher Steele, the Man Behind the Trump Dossier. Long piece, dovetails with and expands upon what I know about the various Russia scandals.

• Heather Digby Parton: Running for the White House Exits: Who Would Want to Work for President Trump Anyway?

• Matt Shuman: At Political Rally, Trump Repeats Call to Give Drug Dealers the Death Penalty: Disturbing on many levels, partly because his ego seems to require the periodic stoking, partly because he clearly figures that what would appeal most to his base is public blood-letting. Curious, too, that he actually cites China as his authority on how effective the death penalty is at stopping drug traffic. (Of course, he could just as well have cited the Philippines' Duterte, who like trump believes "act first, due process later.")

• Matt Taibbi: Trump Is a Dangerous Idiot. So Why Are We Pushing Him Toward War? Provides many examples of people with serious foreign policy credentials (i.e., a track record of having been wrong many times in the past) doing just that: two that especially stick in my crawl are David Ignatius and Kenneth Pollack ("of the American Enterprise Institute").

  Meanwhile, in the States, the only thing about Donald Trump that any sane person ever had to be grateful for was that he entered the White House claiming to be isolationist and war-averse. That soon proved to be a lie like almost everything else about his campaign, but Jesus, do we have to help this clown down the road toward General Trump fantasies?

  We have the dumbest, least competent White House in history. Whatever else anyone in America has as a goal for Trump's remaining time in office, the single most important priority must to be keeping this guy away from the nuclear button. Almost anything else would be survivable.

  Which is why it makes no sense to be taunting Trump and basically calling him a wuss for negotiating with Kim Jong Un or being insufficiently aggressive in Syria.

  To get a glimpse of what passes for thinking in Pollack's brain, take a look at his Learning From Israel's Political Assassination Program, a review of Ronen Bergman's huge (753 pp.) book, Rise and Kill First: The Secret History of Israel's Targeted Assassinations. Israel has undertaken such "targeted killings" throughout its history, but the rate (and indifference to "collateral damage") increased dramatically after 2001. The US has followed suit:

  There have been many who have objected, claiming that the killings inspire more attacks on the United States, complicate our diplomacy and undermine our moral authority in the world. Yet the targeted killings drone on with no end in sight. Just counting the campaigns in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, the Bush administration conducted at least 47 targeted killings by drones, while under the Obama administration that number rose to 542.

  America's difficult relationship with targeted killing and the dilemmas we may face in the future are beautifully illuminated by the longer story of Israel's experiences with assassination in its own endless war against terrorism. Israel has always been just a bit farther down this slippery slope than the United States. If we're willing, we can learn where the bumps are along the way by watching the Israelis careening ahead of us.

  Pollack admits that "targeted killings" are a mere tactic in the larger effort to suppress terrorism, and that there's no reason to think they're particularly effective. He goes on to blather a lot about COIN theory, without recognizing that Israel has never been in the least interested in "winning hearts and minds." Israel's sole goal, at least since Independence and arguably a good deal earlier, has been to establish an ethnocracy and maintain it by overwhelming force. They understand that they cannot convince Palestinians to agree to a debased and subservient status, but they persist in believing that they can maintain their two-tier society by imposing domination and terror.

  Pollack does fault Israel for being unwilling to accept the "land-for-peace" option to actually resolve the conflict, but he fails to understand why. For "land-for-peace" to work, two things have to happen: the reason Israel might be willing to give up land is to rid itself of Palestinians, thus ensuring a stronger Jewish majority; having secured demographic dominance, Israel could then afford to offer its remaining Palestinians equal rights, ending the conflict. It is this latter point, equality, that Israelis cannot abide. They would rather endure perpetual conflict than to give up their superiority.

  I doubt Bergman's book reveals much "secret history." Israel has been bragging about their assassination program for many years, and now that the US is wrapped up in its own murderous program, they must feel little public relations risk. On the other hand, the US does at least go through the motions of presenting itself as "a beacon of freedom and justice" -- a stance which is instantly discredited by its murder program (not that many people outside America still believed it). For a better review of Rise and Kill First, see: "Rise and Kill First" Explores the Corrupting Effects of Israel's Assassination Program.

  Taibbi also wrote The New Blacklist: "Russiagate may have been aimed at Trump to start, but it's become a way of targeting all dissent." He notes the existence of an outfit named Hamilton 68, which tracks everything that seems to be approved by Russia's propagandists (especially through their bots), on the theory that whatever Russia promotes should be opposed. "In fact, unless you're a Hillary Clinton Democrat, you've probably been portrayed as having somehow been in on it, at one time or another."

• Peter Van Buren: What critics of North Korea summit get wrong: Well, first he disposes of the idea that simply meeting confers legitimacy on North Korea. He also makes a plausible case for starting the diplomatic process with a photo-op of the leaders in general agreement. He doesn't delve into the fact that the shakier of the leaders is Trump, both due to his massive ignorance and his relatively weak grasp on America's military and security establishments -- the clearest evidence there is how cheerfully he concedes policy direction to the generals (e.g., in Afghanistan).

• Alex Ward: The past 24 hours in Trump scandals, explained: Seems less like a headline than a feature column that could be rewritten each day. This particular one came out on Thursday, March 8, and covers Trump being sued by porn star Stormy Daniels, and Erik Prince lying about meeting Russians in the Seychelles to discuss setting up a back channel between Trump and Putin, and Trump attempting to influence people Mueller has interviewed in the Russia probe. Tomorrow, and next week, and next month, you'll get a slightly different list of scandals, but as long as the media limits them to things Trump actually knows and does, they'll most likely stay at this trivial level. The real scandals go much deeper, but unless Trump tweets about them, how will White House reporters know?

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Monday, March 5, 2018

Music: current count 29452 [29423] rated (+29), 368 [367] unrated (+1).

Most of what follows, including all of this week's A- ratings, already appeared in February's Streamnotes, posted last Wednesday. After that I guess I slowed down a bit. Damn little more to report.

I suppose I could offer a link to The new (UK) jazz family tree, although I should note that it actually offers only a rather thin slice of jazz in the UK, with nothing avant (aside from Evan Parker), nothing trad, huge omissions elsewhere (some names that leap to mind: Dave Holland, John McLaughlin, Howard Riley, Tommy Smith, and John Surman, as well as younger musicians like Neil Cowley and Alexander Hawkins). I haven't tried counting, but offhand I think I recognize about a third of the names, mostly falling down where band members are expanded (e.g., the other three-fourths of Camilla George Quartet). The author notes that she started with Emma-Jean Thackray and Sons of Kemet and worked her way out from there. Thackray didn't ring a bell, although I've heard of her group Walrus. Sons of Kemet have a couple albums I like, especially Lest We Forget What We Came Here to Do (2015).

New records rated this week:

• Laurie Anderson/Kronos Quartet: Landfall (2018, Nonesuch): [r]: A-
• Brandi Carlile: By the Way, I Forgive You (2018, Low Country Sound/Elektra): [r]: B-
• Roberta Donnay & the Prohibition Mob Band: My Heart Belongs to Satchmo (2018, Blujazz): [cd]: B+(**)
• Electric Squeezebox Orchestra: The Falling Dream (2015 [2018], OA2): [cd]: B
• GoGo Penguin: A Humdrum Star (2017 [2018], Blue Note): [r]: B+(*)
• Mike Jones/Penn Jillette: The Show Before the Show: Live at the Penn & Teller Theater (2017 [2018], Capri): [cd]: B+(***)
• Femi Kuti: One People One World (2018, Knitting Factory): [r]: B+(*)
• Les Filles De Illighadad: Eghass Malan (2017, Sahelsounds): [r]: B+(**)
• Dave Liebman/Tatsuya Nakatani/Adam Rudolph: The Unknowable (2016 [2018], RareNoise): [cdr]: B+(*)
• Joe Lovano & Dave Douglas: Sound Prints: Scandal (2017 [2018], Greenleaf Music): [cd]: B+(***)
• Youssou N'Dour: Raxas Bercy 2017 (2017, self-released): [dl]: A-
• Amy Rigby: The Old Guys (2018, Southern Domestic): [r]: A-
• Shakers n' Bakers: Heart Love: Plays the Music of Albert Ayler and Mary Maria Parks (2017 [2018], Little i Music): [cd]: B+(*)
• Shopping: The Official Body (2018, FatCat): [r]: A-
• Steve Tyrell: A Song for You (2018, New Design): [cd]: B+(**)
• U.S. Girls: In a Poem Unlimited (2018, 4AD): [r]: B+(**)

Old music rated this week:

• Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun (1970, ECM): [r]: B
• Marion Brown: Duets Vol. 1 (1970 [2012], 1201/Black Lion Vault): [r]: B+(**)
• Dorothy Donegan: Live at the 1990 Floating Jazz Festival (1990 [1991], Chiaroscuro): [r]: B+(**)
• Chico Freeman: Tradition in Transition (1982, Elektra Musician): [r]: B+(*)
• Chico Freeman/Mal Waldron: Up and Down (1992, Black Saint): [r]: B+(**)
• Jelly Roll Morton: The Piano Rolls (1924 [1997], Nonesuch): [r]: B+(**)
• Original Dixieland Jazz Band: The 75th Anniversary (1917-21 [1992], RCA Bluebird): [r]: B+(***)
• Original Dixieland Jazz Band: In London 1919-1920 Plus the Okeh Sessions 1922-1923 (1919-23 [2001], Retrieval): [r]: B+(**)
• Amy Rigby: Live at Cat's Cradle 02/26/2003 (2003 [2011], self-released): [r]: B+(**)
• Trio-X [Joe McPhee/Dominic Duval/Jay Rosen]: The Sugar Hill Suite (2004, CIMP): [r]: B+(**)

Unpacking: Found in the mail last week:

• Martin Blume/Tobias Delius/Achim Kaufmann/Dieter Manderscheid: Frames & Terrains (NoBusiness): cdr
• Satoko Fujii Orchestra Berlin: Ninety-Nine Years (Libra)
• Gerry Hemingway/Samuel Blaser: Oostum (NoBusiness): cdr
• Kang Tae Hwan: Live at Café Amores (1995, NoBusiness)
• The Doug MacDonald Quintet/The Roger Neumann Quintet: Two Quintets: Live Upstairs at Vitello's (2018, Blujazz, 2CD)
• Todd Marcus: On These Streets (Stricker Street): April 27
• Wynton Marsalis Septet: United We Swing: Best of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Galas (2003-07, Blue Engine): March 23
• Erin McDougald: Outside the Soirée (Miles High): March 16
• Michael Morreale: MilesSong: The Music of Miles Davis (Summit, 2CD)
• Peripheral Vision: More Songs About Error and Shame (self-released): March 30
• Barre Phillips/Motoharu Yoshizawa: Oh My, Those Boys! (1994, NoBusiness)
• Roberta Piket: West Coast Trio (13th Note): April 6
• Jim Snidero & Jeremy Pelt: Jubilation (Savant): advance, May 4
• Spin Cycle [Scott Neumann/Tom Christensen]: Assorted Colors (Sound Footing): April 6
• Dan Weiss: Starebaby (Pi): April 6

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