This record is brilliant!!! Tobias Delius 4tet-The Heron (ICP 033)

Labels: Artist Thoughts

There is a huge buzz in the news around the world surrounding the possible death of Fidel Castro. There will no doubt be so much discussed about Castro following his death, but one thing immediately comes to my mind.

Following Hurricaine Katrina, Castro initially offered to send 1,586 doctors and at least 26 tons of supplies and equipment. Each doctor would carry about 27 pounds of medicine.

This offer, supposedly due to "political reasons" recieved NO RESPONSE from the U.S. government.

I think my feelings regarding this are probably pretty obvious. This all coming from a supposed "enemy" of the United States of America, which turned out ironically to be more generous than what our own government offered OUR PEOPLE.

OUR PEOPLE. US.

How does that make you feel?

Listening: SF Jazz Collective, Mos Def, Betty Davis, John Cage "prepared" piano music, Beethoven's string quartet, Coltrane Late Music, Alice Coltrane's last album, Dudu Pukwana, Ethiopiques #4, 12, 14 and Bill Charlap.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

Today, I heard an EXTREMELY disturbing report on NPR, regarding the Israeli Detention Camps which house children from Palestine. Now, I’m far from an expert on the situation out there, even though I try to stay abreast of world events, but frankly I was unaware about the camps, the sheer number of children that are dying, being tortured, and having unimaginable crimes being committed against them.

I feel deeply saddened and helpless. To say that I’m bothered is an understatement. And then again, my feelings really don’t play into this whole thing. It’s the children, its INNOCENT people, and the condition of the world currently that allows for crimes like this to be committed.


In our country it has been increasingly fashionable to live in an ignorant bliss due to all the luxuries we have and freedoms we now feel entitled to. I am committing myself to learning more about these crimes, and looking for a way to help.

There is so much literature on the web that I have ready today regarding this, that I felt linking to one article over another wouldn’t be appropriate. Please read up for yourself.

Labels: Artist's Thoughts

With Blacksmith Brother Music & Noise Boutique we are setting up a system which will allow us to be able to document as much music as possible with the quickest turn around time possible. Dave Douglas & Greenleaf Music have been a huge inspiration in this regard from the recording Meaning & Mystery which was released just a month and a half after it was recorded, to the whole week of the Quintet playing at the Jazz Standard which was available for download just hours after the performance.

In March of 2007, the trio and I recorded a new CD named Manchester Born which we've been going on about for months about. But in addition to that I spent my summer keeping a very minimal performance, and a ridiculously intense recording schedule.
To date, we have recorded a total of 12 CDs worth of material that showcase a vast variety of music for many different ensembles that I've been leading.

So, the plan is to release all of them...yes, ALL of them by the end of the year. The first two releases will be Manchester Born and my solo "prepared rhodes" recording, "Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off." Of course, the CDs will be available through this website and Noise Boutique in addition to in a varity of stores. However, many of the other recordings will be released in limited quantities (our version of the paperback series) exclusively, through www.armennalbandian.com

If you haven't heard any of the new music yet, check out www.myspace.com\armennalbandian, or check out the Move on Up Radio Program on 88.1 KFCF\KPFA on September 7th where we will be doing the radio premiere of some of the tracks from the new trio disc.

So, I'm heading to Delgado Studios on Thursday night to record a follow-up solo CD to Young Kings Get Their Head Cut Off. I'm debating now on whether the CD will be fully improvised as Youngs Kings was, or whether it will feature some new compositions or even music by other musicians. I guess we'll see.


Listening: Keith Jarrett, Sunny Murray Trio, Whit Dickey, Marilyn Crispell, Rob Brown, Tony Bevan, & Don Cherry.

Labels: Artist Update

I have always enjoyed the San Francisco Jazz Festival. The first concert I attended was a Valentine's Day gift (the best ever recieved). It was a tribute to Wayne Shorter. Wayne's band (this pre-dates his quartet, though Brian Blade was in the group) played the first set, and the second set featured a rhythm section with Robert Hurst, Greg Hutchinson and Brad Mehldau. The frontline consisted of four tenor saxophones: Joshua Redman, Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano and Wayne himself. The tribute band played Wayne's sixties music from both his Blue Note Records and Miles Davis Quintet music. Needless to say the band band was wonderful and the concert was unforgetable.

About 5 years ago, Joshua Redman became the Artistic Director of the festival's Spring Season and the SF Jazz Collective was formed. The premise was to create an octet (the band was originally with Redman, Miguel Zenon, Nicholas Payton, Robert Hurst, Brian Blade, Renee Rosnes, Joshua Roseman, and Bobby Hutcherson) and perform the music of one Jazz great, and also have each member compose original works for the group. Each season's music was released via the festival website www.sfjazz.com on a limited edition CD. Since its first season the band has gone through a few changes, even though the band's repetoire has remainded the same in regards to ideology. The first year the band played the music of Ornette Coleman, followed by John Coltrane in year two, Herbie Hancock in year three and then last year was the music of Thelonious Monk.

With each artist, the musician's in group were each commisioned to write arrangements of the tunes of their choosing. Last year saw the replacement of Nicholas Payton with Dave Douglas, and this year Joe Lovano is playing the tenor sax chair with Stefon Harris taking over for Bobby Hutcherson. The current group's line-up appears below:

Joe Lovano
Dave Douglas
Miguel Zenon
Andre Hayward
Renee Rosnes
Matt Penman
Eric Harland
Stefon Harris

Prior to the replacement of Hutcherson and Redman, the band's concert tour was recorded for CD release, which consisted of Monk's music and original's by each member of the group. I had the great pleasure of not only seeing the band in concert a few times, but also checking out a rehearsal. The band is obviously excellent and the music on their new 2-disc CD is superb. This is great example of preserving one's tradition while still looking forward. Notably, Dave's San Francisco Suite is a great composition, which features movements entitled Alcatraz, Amoeba, and Assisi. The new CD is available now, and the Collective's catalogue is also available here.

Also, while your buying CD's on the web, don't forget to pick up the double disc compilation recording from Dave's Quintet on Greenleaf Music. The music featured is a great collection of new music dave had recently wrote for the group at the time of the recording. The music was recorded live, and infact the whole week was recorded and available for download just hours after the performance on Greenleaf site. For those interested in the best in modern music, I highly recommended investing in the whole week, or if that's too much to handle, check out the double disc CD. It's an incredibly worthy investment. Buy it HERE.

Below is a video of this group playing one of the newer composition's Earmarks, from just a few weeks ago.

Enjoy!









Listening: The Tiny Bell Trio, Aaron Copland's piano music, Roswell Rudd w/ John Tchicai, Graves, & Workman, Alice Coltrane, Uri Caine's Mozart CD, John Cage String Quartet, Joseph Jarman & Floratone.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

Labels: Rememberance

Max Roach has passed away.

I wanted to write about Max, but words can not express what a loss this is for the world and how horribly saddened I am.

May he rest in peace.

Labels: Rememberance

Check this out.

Also, it's funny how sometimes the world is connected. A few days ago, I was listening to Coltrane's Africa\Brass Sessions and became very emotional and very saddened. Ironically, enough bassist Art Davis, who plays on the record passed away on the 8th and I didn't even know that until I read my emails tonight. There are plenty to recommend with Davis on it. Ascension also features Davis and is of course an amazing recording.

Davis was also an instrumental (no pun intended) force behind the "blind audition" in the 1970's as a response to racism in the recording industry.

The world has lost a true master.


If it wasn't for the resignation of Karl Rove, this week might have been very very upsetting one.

Listening: Arthur Doyle, Evan Parker, George Lewis, Bartok String Quartets, Marc Ribot, & Floradora.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

I recieved an email last week from a young man from Spain asking for the contents on my IPOD. While I'm totally flattered at the thought that anyone would be interested in the contents of my IPOD, listing everything requires more time than I can devote. Plus, I am constantly taking albums on and off the IPOD especially when I'm working on a particular project. So, in lieu of typing all of the records, I've have posted 5 recordings that have never been removed from my IPOD (there are some more that fit into this category, perhaps on a later post). If you don't own any of these records, pick them up...they are all brilliant!

Labels: Artist Thoughts

Listening to a Milford Graves & Andrew Cyrille Duet Record

Labels: Artist Thoughts

I've been listening to this CD for months. You must own this record!



The GREAT Milford Graves w/ David Murray.




Listening to: Kidd Jordan, George Lewis, Braxton's Ghost Trane Musics, Andrew Hill, Zorn & Graves duets, Morton Feldman, & Butch Morris.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

This record is wonderful.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

It's almost 4am and I just got back into Fresno having played a duet gig with Derek Keller. My original intention was to write about the things I have on my mind including the gigs from the past week, upcoming compositions and the Umbria Jazz Festival incident with Keith Jarret. But as I write this, I am realizing that I am extremely tired and am looking forward to laying my head down, putting on my headphones and relaxing. So, as I head to bed I leave you with a quote by Anthony Braxton that pretty much sums up the thoughts I've had this week. I will eventually write about the subjects above.

"The word music is a convenient way to talk about what I'm interested in, but actually, in some ways, it's a limitation." -Anthony Braxton

Listening today while traveling: Arthur Doyle & Hamid Drake, Battles, Anthony Braxton, Cyro Baptista's Beat the Donkey, Dose One, Dave's new CD, & a great record by Kali Fasteau entitled Vivid.

Labels: Artist Thoughts

We don't determine music,
The music determines us;
We only follow it
To the end of our life:
Then it goes on without us.

-Steve Lacy



Listening to Lacy

Labels: Artist Thoughts