Kris Davis’ Latest Shift

Kris Davis — Rye Eclipse (Fresh Sound New Talent, 2008 )

I find I’m having trouble writing about the latest Kris Davis CD. It’s good, and it’s free jazz, but saying that alone doesn’t do it justice. It’s different, and it’s clearly an evolutionary step and a gutsy one, for a pianist whose quartet started out with a more conventional sound.

The excellent Free Jazz blog has noted Davis’ progression into more abstract musical forms. Her quartet, formed in 2004, includes Tony Malaby on saxophone, who’s not exactly dinner-jazz material himself, but the debut Lifeline CD stuck to a comforting kind of sound, with plenty of towering piano and sax work, but an overall quilted feel that goes over well with jazz-club audiences. Have a listen here, on Davis’ Web page.

The Slightest Shift pushed the limits into some very interesting open-ended improvising, and Rye Eclipse completes the ascent into full-on madness. I love it.

Playlist: Jan 6, 2009 (Long Tracks)

One thing I enjoy about college radio, both as a listener and a DJ, is that longer tracks get a chance to fully stretch out. I don’t always have the space to spare, though; I’ll often use excerpts of 15- and 30-minute pieces as a way to flit from one mood to another, but because I’ve usually got a stack of music I’m hoping to play, I’m stingy with the time I give those tracks.

Given a big expanse of time to fill today, with folks still returning from Xmas break, I decided to take the chance to feature only long tracks: 15 minutes or more. It might sound lazy, but 15 minutes goes by really fast when you’re the DJ, trust me.

It turned out to be a fortuitous bit of programming, since a mild cold left me with a sore throat and not much energy today.

As of this writing, the stack of music beside me includes: Tim Berne, Weasel Walter, Aruna Sairam, Todd Rundgren, Magma, Tanmoy Bose (do I dare play a 32-minute tabla solo?) and others.

Here’s the playlist, being updated quasi-real-time. Most album titles link into KZSU’s Zookeeper database; the icon means there’s a review or description there as well.

Playlist for The Long Form	Tuesday, 6 January 2009 9am – 3pm	DJ: Wedge

Artist	Track		Album/Label
Hartigan, Royal Ensemble	Anlo Kete		Blood Drum Spirit: The Royal Hartigan Ensemble Live In China Innova Recordings
Allen, Tony	No Accomodation For Lagos		Afro Disco Beat Vampi Soul
Zappa, Frank	The Purple Lagoon		Läther Rykodisc
	— (10:00 a.m.) —
Taylor, Cecil	Amplitude		Great Paris Concert Get Back
E.S.T.	Premonition		Leucocyte Decca Music Group Ltd.
Sairam, Aruna	Bandanodi		Divine Inspiration Harmonia Mundi Usa
	— (11:00 a.m.) —
Sairam, Aruna	Bandanodi [cont’d]		Divine Inspiration Harmonia Mundi Usa
Krause, Drew	Go-Round		Ding Capstone Records
Bose, Tanmoy	Slow Tintal		Solo Tabla Bol Records
	— (12:00 noon) —
Garnas, Agnes Buen/Jan Garbarek	Margjit Og Targjei Risvollo		Rosensfole Ecm Records
New Haven Improvisers Collective	Quantum Decoherence		Interference Self Release
Evans, Peter/Weasel Walter Group	The Eyes of Hell		Oculus ex Abyssus ugEXPLODE
	— (1:00 p.m.) —
Magma	Mekanik Zain		Magma Live Rca Records (Modern)
Kalhor, Kayhan & Brooklyn Rider	Silent City		Silent City Harmonia Mundi Usa
	— (2:00 p.m.) —
Smith, Chas	Descent		Descent Cold Blue
Berne, Tim/Copenhagen Art Ens	Impacted Wisdom		Open, Coma Screwgun Records

EPILOGUE: There, it’s done. Rewarding, and relaxing at first, but kind of boring later on — there’s a lot of sitting around involved, as you’d imagine. Tim Berne will clock out the final 40 minutes of the show now… ‘turns out “Impacted Wisdom” is the one track of the Open, Coma CD that no one’s played on the air ever at KZSU, so, what the heck.