What Cliff has been listening to lately -- August 2002

Here are some of the CDs that have been modulating my brainwaves lately:

Cuong Vu: Pure
This is, hands down, the best album I have gotten in a long time. Listening to this album, it quickly becomes obvious why Pat Metheny invited Cuong to join his group. There is a lot of open space on this album, consisting of just drums, bass, and trumpet. They make extensive of delays and looping to expand the sonic possibilities of their instruments. The extensive exploratory pieces on this album travel through sparse, freely improvised sections, then surge into beautiful and compelling melodies. Go to knittingfactory.com and buy this album.

Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey: All is One: Live in New York City
The Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is a trio posessing relentless genius. Night after night in their live shows, they shine their light on the future of jazz, with their high-energy, distorted, electric distilled joy. This recently-released live album chronicles their performance earlier this year at the Knitting Factory. It's great. You should get it. After you do, you should also e-mail me, and I'll hook you up with some live audience recordings of the group that are even better.

Erik Truffaz Quartet: The Mask
Trumpet, electric piano, bass, and drums. Sometimes this gets off into a drum-and-bass type trancey groove. Cool stuff.

Rush: Permanent Waves
I got this out and listened to it in anticipation of the upcoming Rush concert (which was awesome). It's really good. Get it out and listen to it again.

Pat Metheny Group: Quartet
Sonny Sharrock and Nicky Skopelitis: Faith Moves
Tortoise: TNT
I'm currently in the process of recording tracks for my first solo CD. These albums are some of my main sources of inspiration.

What I've been listening to not-so-lately