"Heroic smoke" (sorry, no Sun Ra content this time)

Dear Saturnites,=20

I hesitated to send this in to the list=20 because it's not about Sun Ra & / or the=20 Arkestra, but I know that people who love=20 their music will also love the music of the=20 great & glorious Joe McPhee, who is quite =20 other~worldly himself, & who will be playing=20 soon both hither & yon:=20

Sat., 3/24 with Dominic Duval & Jay Rosen=20 (Trio X) + Ken Vandermark / Kent Kessler /=20 Hamid Drake (DVK Trio), the Bug Jar,=20 Rochester, NY;=20

Sun., 3/25 with Dominic Duval & Jay Rosen=20 (Trio X), Church of St. George the Martyr,=20 Toronto, Ontario;=20

Tues., 4/3 with Philip Gelb & Davey Williams,=20 Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, MO;=20

Wed., 4/4 with Philip Gelb & Davey Williams,=20 Ragtag Cinema Cafe, Columbia, MO;=20

Fri., 4/13 with Peter Brotzmann / William=20 William Parker / Hamid Drake (Die Like a Dog=20 Trio), Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA;=20

Sat., 4/14 with the aforementioned Peter=20 Brotzmann / William Parker / Hamid Drake,=20 Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, Buffalo,=20 NY...=20 ... lots more to follow ...=20

For full details, please see Joe McPhee's=20 very own Web site,=20 www.joemcphee.com .=20

I could not possibly describe the splendor of=20 hearing Joe McPhee any better than did the=20 great master bassist William Parker (also=20 composer, improviser, bandleader, author,=20 community organizer, poet, philosopher, &=20 all~around visionary) in an article he wrote in=20 1998 after hearing Trio X:=20

"The music is breathing again please check=20 out the melody, the harmony. Check out the=20 spirits rising and falling. The burning straw. =20 The hot peppermint~stick dancing! Check out=20 the heroic smoke from the tenor sax. And get=20 with this now bass beyond basics get into the=20 memories of the unanswered question. This is=20 the music of McPhee, Duval and Rosen. Rosen=20 doing more with less. It is the cosmos. It is the=20 purple blues phrasing the call, blow baby blow,=20 it is the song of the pineapple forest and the=20 steelworkers. It is the new it is 1998 not the `6O's=20 so this is new music because it is being played=20 now check it out it is great music it is good! All part=20 of the continuum of the mountain sky. It is the=20 morning language. It sits on rooftops and spreads=20 over the city. What am I saying? I am saying check=20 out the music now! Listen to it, seek it, feel it, buy=20 some CD's that carry the names McPhee, Rosen,=20 Duval. Buy all you can carry get a truckload! Listen,=20 & listen, & listen some more. Let it fill you. Let it=20 bounce off the walls of your soul. "=20

<<>> <<>> <<>> <<>> <<>> <<>> <<>>=20 In love, music, & haste (my usual states=20 of being),=20 Margaret Davis, Editor & Publisher,=20 "Art Attack!,"=20 the publication for & about liberation musicians=20 in NYC,=20 on the Web at=20 www.jazznewyork.org .