Getting the word out, part 9.3

The Braxton Iridium box comes in at #38 in The Wire's best-of-2007 poll -- though if you eliminate non-improv titles, it'd be something like #3.

There is, however, another Braxton closer to the top of that list: Tyondai, via the (awesome) group Battles.

Getting the word out, part 9

The best-of lists have started to roll out, and these jazz journalists have chosen the Braxton Iridium 2006 box as one of the best new releases of the year:

• Stuart Broomer
• Rahsaan Clark Morris
• John Szwed

UPDATE: One more, via the Village Voice's 2007 Jazz Poll:

• Ted Panken

Getting the word out, part 8

Among Time Out Chicago's holiday box set picks:

9 Compositions (Iridium) 2006 (Firehouse 12)

Appease the snob in the family (Uncle Steve, come out from under your vinyl) with this loaded new work from avant-garde hero Anthony Braxton. Recorded live over four nights at Manhattan’s Iridium Jazz Club with Braxton’s sprawling 12(+1)tet, the nine-CD, one-DVD box presents a jaw-dropping display of discipline and wild imagination. Never mind that the Chicago expat and AACM pioneer commands a group bigger—and more coordinated—than this year’s Bears. It’s that the players, like Chicago’s own Nicole Mitchell (on flute), attack everything from serialism to minimalism to Albert Ayler–style preaching with the same feverish level of intensity. —Matthew Lurie

Barking Dogs & Deaf Lizards (for K.S.)

When a certain piece of music penetrates a person, a resonance is set in motion and an inner voice says: "I like this resonance. It elevates me. It develops hitherto unknown possibilities in me. I don't recognize myself. This is very interesting."

This place is terribly underdeveloped. It's a place of barking dogs and deaf lizards.

-- Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007)

Damn You, Jeff Lorber!!

Even though the Braxton Iridium box failed to receive a Grammy nomination (no doubt due to the lack of a Best Ghost Trance Music Album category), the music-lover in your life would surely be thrilled to receive this 9-CD + DVD set as a gift this holiday season!