That guy’s actually been auctioning EP-owned stuff for awhile (several *rare* Warne Marsh LPs were listed last month). And there’s another person who did something similar with Fahey’s personal musical effects (as well as paintings, books, etc.) shortly after his passing.

I like the questions you pose, especially the one about how ‘name’ musicians acquire their new music & what they choose to listen to as a result. I think about this quite a bit given the amount of stuff that (thankfully) shows up in my own mailbox.

One of my favorite road stories, recounted me by Michael Ehlers of Eremite relates his driving long tour miles with the Die Like a Dog crew and digesting in awe large chunks of the Art Pepper Village Vanguard box.

Years ago I had the opportunity to organize a concert for Susie Ibarra & Assif Tsahar in Madison, WI. Shortly after they arrived, I asked Assif what had been in heavy rotation in the mini-van on the trip up and he replied: Dolphy’s ILLINOIS CONCERT and Blakey’s NIGHT IN TUNISIA. Later that eve at the gig he even quoted from the former’s reading of “God Bless the Child” on one of his bass clarinet features. This image of musicians logging the legs between tour stops with their own chosen soundtracks & the by-proxy effects the practice might have on their own music is an intriguing one to my mind. Maybe the Biv can share some past Unstable Ensemble playlists.

Addressing the third bullet, there’s folks like William Parker. On my infrequent visits to Rick Lopez’s online gig-ography I always find myself wondering whether WP has a closet full of concert tapes in his home and if so, how in the hell he catalogs it all. The whole informal/bootleg recording sphere is something I’ve consciously shied away from for expressly this reason. My ‘commercial recordings’ collection and attendant listening appetite is daunting enough. Add in a serious influx of concert ‘tapes’ and I’d not have time or the wherewithal to leave the house.

I was ecstatic to read in the liners of "America 2003" that Joe Henderson's "Our Thing" received regular play in the van. I used to spin that in my car on the way out to camp in W. Kansas in college, that beautiful white-spine hasn't left my glove box since.

On almost every tour I can remember for the last five years or so, we rarely play stuff that sounds anything like our music. Everyone brings a case of discs. There's usually a healthy mix of canonical jazz (always an Ellington, several 60s Blue Notes, etc.), 20th century classical (somebody always brings Feldman and Xenakis, and I usually slip in a Scelsi), and a huge amount of 70s funk, hip-hop, metal, and so forth. Sure, there's Braxton and stuff like that too.

On one tour, Ian and I had only Beefheart's "Mirror Man" and some Thomas Chapin. And on another tour, we only listened to radio. Fun fun fun.