Steve Lacy was an American jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Coming to prominence in the 1950s as a progressive dixieland musician, Lacy went on to a long and prolific career. He worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but Lacy's music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times.
Joe McPhee is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is most notable for his free jazz work done from the late 1960s to the present day.
George Emanuel Lewis is an American composer, performer, and scholar of experimental music. He has been a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1971, when he joined the organization at the age of 19. He is renowned for his work as an improvising trombonist and considered a pioneer of computer music, which he began pursuing in the late 1970s; in the 1980s he created Voyager, an improvising software he has used in interactive performances. Lewis's many honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his book A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music received the American Book Award. Lewis is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music, Composition & Historical Musicology at Columbia University.
Billy Bang, born William Vincent Walker, was an American free jazz violinist and composer.
The Bells is the ninth solo studio album by American rock musician Lou Reed, released in May 1979 by Arista Records. It was recorded in binaural sound at Delta Studios in Wilster, West Germany. Production was handled by Reed with Michael Fonfara serving as executive producer. Three out of nine songs on the album are the product of a short-lived writing partnership between Reed and Nils Lofgren. More of the team's work appeared on Nils' solo studio album Nils, released the same year. Lofgren released his version of "Stupid Man" as "Driftin' Man" on Break Away Angel (2001). Lofgren resurrected five songs he wrote with Reed in the late 70s on Blue with Lou (2019).
John Corbett is an American writer, musician, radio host, teacher, record producer, concert promoter, and gallery owner based in Chicago, Illinois. He is best known among musicians and music fans as a champion of free jazz and free improvisation. In recent years he has become known in the visual art world as well through his Corbett vs. Dempsey gallery.
Radu Malfatti is an Austrian trombone and harmonica player, and composer. He was born in Innsbruck, in the province of Tyrol, on December 16, 1943. Malfatti is associated with the style of music known as reductionism and has been described as "among the leaders in redefining the avant-garde as truly on-the-edge art." His work "since the early nineties... has been investigating the edges of ultraminimalism in both his composed and improvised work." He also operates B-Boim, a CD-R-only record label focusing on improvised and composed music, much of it his own.
Jason Adasiewicz is an American jazz vibraphonist and composer.
Corona is a live album by Cecil Taylor recorded during the "Total Music Meeting" at the "Podewil", the headquarters of the Kulturprojekte Berlin non-profit organisation, on November 1, 1996, one day before the recording of the Taylor album Almeda, and two days before the recording of The Light of Corona. It was released in 2018 in digital format by the FMP label as part of their Archive Edition, and was reissued in 2021 in CD format by Corbett vs. Dempsey.
Push Pull is a three-LP live album by Jimmy Lyons. It was recorded on May 6, 1978, at the Collective for Living Cinema in New York City, and was released by Hat Hut Records in 1979. The album was reissued as a double-CD package in 2016 by Corbett vs. Dempsey. On the album, Lyons is joined by bassoonist Karen Borca, cellist Munner Bernard Fennell, bassist Hayes Burnett, and drummer Roger Blank.
Spirit Music is a live album by pianist Marilyn Crispell. It was recorded at New York University and Soundscape in New York City in May 1981 and January 1982, and was released in 1983 by Cadence Jazz Records. On the album, Crispell is joined by violinist Billy Bang, guitarist Wes Brown, and drummer John Betsch.
Live is a live album by the cooperative jazz ensemble known as The Group, featuring saxophonist Marion Brown, trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah, violinist Billy Bang, bassists Sirone and Fred Hopkins, and drummer Andrew Cyrille. The band's sole release, it was recorded on September 13, 1986, at the Jazz Center of New York in New York City, and was issued on LP and CD by NoBusiness Records in 2012, over 25 years after the concert.
Traveling the Spaceways is an album by trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. A tribute to his former employer, Sun Ra, it was recorded on February 27, 2004, at Clinton Studios in New York City, and was released later that year by Planet Arts Records. On the album, Abdullah is joined by members of the band known as Dispersions of the Spirit of Ra: saxophonists Salim Washington and Alex Harding, trumpeter Owuor Arunga, trombonist Craig Harris, violinist Billy Bang, guitarist Masujaa, vocalists Miles Griffith and Monique Ngozi Nri, bassist Radu Oluwu Ben Judah, and drummer Cody Moffett.
Bull Fiddle is a solo bass album by Kent Kessler, his first release under his own name. It was recorded on June 6, 2001, at Airwave Studios in Chicago, and was released in 2002 by Okka Disk. Kessler is joined by percussionist Michael Zerang on three tracks.
Tara's Song is an album by trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. It was recorded on May 10, 2004, at Loho Studios in New York City, and was released in 2005 by TUM Records. On the album, Abdullah is joined by members of his band Ebonic Tones: saxophonist Alex Harding, violinist Billy Bang, bassist Alex Blake, and drummer Andrei Strobert.
Billy Bang/Bill Cole is a live album by violinist Billy Bang and multi-instrumentalist Bill Cole. It was recorded on April 17, 2009, at the University of Virginia Chapel in Charlottesville, Virginia, and was released in 2010 by Cole's Shadrack label. On the album, which features three compositions and three free improvisations, Cole performs on flute, digeridoo, nadaswaram, suona, and shehnai.
Big Bang Theory is an album by violinist Billy Bang. It was recorded on August 20 and 21, 1999, at Sound on Sound Studios in New York City, and was released in 2000 by Justin Time Records. On the album, Bang is joined by pianist Alexis T. Pope, double bassist Curtis Lundy, and drummer Codaryl Moffett.
Da Bang! is an album by violinist Billy Bang. It was recorded on February 2 and 3, 2011, roughly two months before Bang's death, at Studio MI of the Finnish Broadcasting Company in Helsinki, Finland, and was released in 2013 by Tum Records. On the album, Bang is joined by trombonist Dick Griffin, pianist Andrew Bemkey, double bassist Hilliard Greene, and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. The recording features one composition each by Bang, Barry Altschul, Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, Miles Davis, and Sonny Rollins.
Bangception is a live album by violinist Billy Bang and drummer Dennis Charles. It was recorded on August 29, 1982, at the Jazz Festival Willisau in Willisau, Switzerland, and was released on vinyl in 1983 by the hat MUSICS label. In 1998, the album was reissued on CD with the title Bangception, Willisau 1982 on the hatOLOGY label.
Sweet Space is a live album by the Billy Bang Sextet, led by violinist Bang, and featuring tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe, alto saxophonist Luther Thomas, cornetist Butch Morris, pianist Curtis Clark, double bassist Wilber Morris, and drummer Steve McCall. It was recorded on November 15, 1979, at the Loeb Student Center of New York University in New York City, and was released on vinyl later that year by Anima Productions. In 2004, the 8th Harmonic Breakdown label reissued the album on CD, with four alternate takes, along with Bang's 1982 release Untitled Gift on the compilation Sweet Space/Untitled Gift.
