If was any kind of writer I would do a ROW on Joe's duo with William Parker, "Invisible Weave". I Pulled it out last week in preparation for a duo with Kristian Aspelin.
That cd is a real master piece.

Thanks Damon for the advice, I'll certainly pick this one up.

Looking forward to listening to the Braxton/Morris duo on Clean Feed.

Seconds on Invisible Weave, though I fear it’s long oop along w/ the rest of the No More Records catalog- what a great label that was!

I’m two discs in on the Tony/Joe set and so far, soooo good. Unbroken hour-long improvs aren’t usually my thing, four of them stacked back-to-back even moreso, but btwn. Tony’s reed arsenal and Joe’s range of textures/attack (a stretch near the end of the first disc sounds like a cross btwn. a kora and Cooper-Moore’s diddley bow) there’s usually enough to sustain interest. Some of the interplay is downright extrasensory.

And, Damon, any time you’d like to do a ROW, just let me know. If writerly chops were a prerequisite, I would’ve been sidelined long ago.

"Seconds on Invisible Weave, though I fear it’s long oop along w/ the rest of the No More Records catalog- what a great label that was!"

For those who are atill interested, they still have some copies on Amazon. I just bought one...

Make that "still" interested.....

Ha, "Larkins Talent Associates"! I haven't seen/heard that phrase in a long time, since my KTRU days. Totally forgotten till now.

Yeah, i thought Invisible Weave was outstanding and that it perhaps didn't get the attention it deserved. This was probably due to it being released right about the time when the market for CD's of free jazz + improv was ramping up and getting flooded a bit. Remember the late 80's and early 90's when any release on Black Saint or Silkheart drew notice (from enthusiasts sure, but you know what I mean)? Around '97 or so it seemed like the sheer amount of discs released really increased dramatically.

Anyhow, Invisible Weave is a special record and one of Joe-M's very best, methinks. And come to think of it, full sessions of guitar/double bass duos are kinda rare. I can think of a couple Derek ones (w/Joelle - great one, and the one with Barre which I don't have/can't get these days). There's a really good Frisell/Peacock one on the Postcards label...

Any other guit/bs duos come to mind? I know William-P has played duo with Ribot, but no recordings released yet.

I can't stand that Frizzle/Peacock duo, but "Figuring" with Derek and Barre is amazing.

Don't forget Derek B. and Dave Holland, on ECM, what #2? Another album I "used to have."... pretty rarefied as I remember it, but maybe not by today's standards.

Oh, right -- that was Holland on 'cello...

http://www.bagatellen.com/archives/row/000057.html

That Holland/Bailey duo is is great. I actually like the Peacock/Ralph Towner duos on ECM.

Flip & Spike is a great record. I've been listening to it for 12 years or so. Sebastian plays upright on it, despite the above description. He is a really under-appreciated player.

whoa - a rare cambre/smith disagreement!

'tis ok. i'm a little easier on frissel than some folks for largely guitar-biased reasons. i even kinda like some of his more 'easy-listening' albums in a backdrop sorta way... that said, some of his stuff has dated badly - i recently heard "is that you" and it sounded just awful. all sortsa ill 80's gear sounds from bill + wayne horvitz. icky production too.

just out of friendly curiousity - what's yr main objections to that peackock/frisell disc, damon?

And to all = any other notable guitar/double-bass duo albums? I can't think of many, actually.

Frisell is as good as dead, but don't touch Horvitz - an underrated excellent composer. Robin Holcomb - idem.

Well, that duo with is just an example of how he can just lay a stinker with the best musicians. He is just too limp and boring and you can be sure it was not Peacock's plan to play not one but too boring versions of "Home on the Range".
I guess it is admirable that he can make an unlistenably dull album with both Peacock and Dave Holland/Elvin Jones.

When I was younger I used to like Frisell but he hasn't had the ability to shift gear at the right moment, choosing the easy money path instead. I gave him his last two chances with "Richter" and "Unspeakable": the first was a delusion, the second made me want to throw up - one of the worst albums of the last twenty years.

"Not one but two" I should say.

"And to all = any other notable guitar/double-bass duo albums? I can't think of many, actually."

Perhaps not so much notable as available.

Derek Bailey/Simon H. Fell – Sound 323
Didn’t Bailey record a couple of bits and pieces with Peter Kowald?

Dean Roberts/Werner Dafeldecker – Aluminium

Olaf Rupp/Joe Williamson – Kernel Panic

Bill Frisell (with Arild Andersen) – In Line

The Ralph Towner/Gary Peacock albums that Damon mentioned – A Closer View and Oracle

There’s going to be a Fred Firth/Barry Guy album this year.

I know this doesn’t really count because there’s singing too but I wish Richard Thompson and Danny Thompson had recorded as a duo. Their duo concerts were so much better than the album (Industry) they made.

That Rupp/Williamson duo is great. Roberts/Dafeldecker is a good one but they both play guitar.
Derek has a nice, long duo with Altena on the Pisa cd.

>> that said, some of his stuff has dated badly - i recently heard "is that you" and it sounded just awful. all sortsa ill 80's gear sounds from bill + wayne horvitz. icky production too.

I couldn't disagree more.

"Roberts/Dafeldecker is a good one but they both play guitar"

Damn, you're right! I must have been too eager to get an Erstwhile release on the list after having discounted Giuseppe Ielasi/Domenico Sciajno - Right After as that's all electronics.

Bill Frisell's all right by me..
Whoa, Kernel Panic, THAT'S a fuckin' trip!

I listen to Frisell regularly... on NPR, during the little interludes. Sometimes they play Tin Hat Trio, instead. :)

To get an idea of where Frisell could have been today as opposed to where it ended, the best CDs to grab are:

1) Smash and Scatteration (w/Vernon Reid)
2) ...Theoretically (w/Tim Berne)
and above all
3) Power Tools (trio w/Melvin Gibbs & Ronald Shannon Jackson. This last BURNS.)

Oh, and if you want to hear the best EVER Frisell piece, you'll need to tune in to Wayne Horvitz's "Miracle Mile" on Nonesuch. Their rendition of BF's "Yuba City" (including a fabulous performance by Bobby Previte on drums) is something to be heard to believe.

Ok, this is really good - I got solid, clear responses to both my inquiries...Nice work, all.

Dave Evans - good list there, and i'll be sure to check some of those out. I have heard to Derek/Kowald duo track on PK's Duos disc, but the others I need to hear.

Damon, thanks for the elucidating on the Peacock/Frisell disc. And i do see yr point, especially re: the "home on the range" bit, but mostly cuz what yr saying is pretty close to what i've felt about Charlie Haden in recent years. I saw a Haden/Kenny Barron concert here in '02 that was so dull it felt like someone had dosed my drink with barbiturates. Not a good kind of relaxation either, just felt totally deadened. I was hosting a Frode Gjerstad Trio gig later that night, and geez it felt good to be alive again!

But back on point to Joe Morris - Thinking back, I particularly enjoyed a gig of his I saw at the Alterknit right when "cloud of black birds" came out. Really amazing quartet extending a lot of ideas from Ornette/Bley, but with a great transparent string sound (guit, Maneri on violin/viola, Lightcap on bs, Deupree on dr).

Recently enjoyed the duo of Tetuzi Akiyama w/Juan Garcia (very good young double-bassist) at the NoIdea Festival in Austin. Would certainly welcome a disc from them...

frissell has the potential to sound great...he sounds great with the paul motian quintet "song of maryam" is a great one

Yes, he does have the potential. That's why he left me with a sour taste recently.

He sounds nice also in the couple of things he did with Ginger Baker, BTW.

Beyond guitar/bass duos Joe's duo with Braxton is really happening.

The duo CD by Charlie Haden and Carlos Paredes is the BOMB.
Haden's best record EVER. I also kinda like his duo with Christian Escoude, but it's pretty vanilla compared to the one with Paredes.

This self-quote needs attention indeed:

"Oh, and if you want to hear the best EVER Frisell piece, you'll need to tune in to Wayne Horvitz's "Miracle Mile" on Nonesuch. Their rendition of BF's "Yuba City" (including a fabulous performance by Bobby Previte on drums) is something to be heard to believe."

Well, one has to admit when the sun's starting to burn hot on his head. Yuba City was composed by HORVITZ, not Frisell. Sigh. On the other hand, now I understand why it was so over average for Frisell...

"Beyond guitar/bass duos Joe's duo with Braxton is really happening".
damon Smith

I need more details..

Clifford Allen should be reviewing this for the forthcoming issue of PT, Doug (though you'll have to wait until the end of August to see it out). I haven't heard it myself; OD'ed on Braxton with that Rastascan DVD and all the tasty 70s stuff I downloaded from inconstantsol

The Braxton/Morris set is great as expected, smooth and complex at one and the same time. I have to listen to it again and again to even put a few concepts down, but for now I'd say that it feels "natural".

Still working up a piece on the box (it's been gloriously slow going), but plan to have a finished review posted here by mid-July, weather & BBQ plans willing. What's been written so far rings true, IMO.

What's with keeping some of us in the dark re: a PT renascence, Dan?

Well I've been accumulating material for a while now, including two interviews - one with Michel Chion, the other with Philip Samartzis (and offers from others to do more..) - and Nate, Cliff and Massimo are as enthusiastic as ever, so, what the hell, why not.

Not exactly an answer to my question ;-), but good news nonetheless.

Hell - if Led Zeppelin reunited, why not PT?

Return of PT! Most welcome, Dan. I've really missed it, always found it one of the best reads on the inter-webz...

and on a related note, caught a really fine set of Joe-M solo banjo and banjo-uke in Brooklyn as part of that Kordova Milk Bar label mini-fest.... Was a total swelter in NY that week, the dripping of folks sweat in the room nearly as loud as the banj-uke...but Joe played some concentrated, beautiful music... intricate rhythmic patterns that put me in the mind of kora music, but not imitative a'tall.

This was followed by a burning duo set from Sabir Mateen + William Hooker. Best Hooker playing i've heard...his sonics include so much low-end activity on the bass drum + toms that I think he's often not recorded properly. I dunno, just noticed a lot more going on than is audible on some of the discs of his i've heard...

The Hooker on Cadence and the two on Reality Unit Concepts are great. I steer clear of him with guitarists, though...

Yes, yes the Morris/Toni duo is super-sweet. I felt OD'ed on Braxton a long time ago but this is my re-entry to the fold.

I have some gigs coming with Hooker, I have now been playing with him for a good while, and I have to say I enjoy it.
Some of the guitar stuff is very good, I really like Banquet with Ranaldo and Marclay.
Rob, I will return your email now, too.