Looking Ahead

driving out of chicago today on the skyway, it's bright and cold, whitecaps on the lake (city lives up to its nickname), and sun is reflecting off these massive tarpaulins stretched over giant mounds of something off the side of the highway in the industrial areas once you leave the city. dialed up Cecil Taylor's album "Looking Ahead" on the ipod as i originally bought the record at the Chicago Jazz Record Mart in 91 or 92, one of the first Superchunk tours, on the recommendation of Peter Margasak and my jazz listening took a severe left turn at that point. what a great record, it's cecil taylor so yeah there's some spikiness, but the tone is warm at the same time and there's some real lyricism and moments of beauty that i think people don't associate with Taylor. it's not the mountains of sound that would come later, but it's still pretty radical in its context and also inviting. there was some jazz happening last night in town i would like to have seen -- a Peter Brotzmann group featuring occasional Portastatic member Jeb Bishop -- but couldn't catch their set and play ours so, next time.

on to columbus, where there will be trash in the streets for sure after last night's football game....