One of my favorite mp3-blogs Church Number Nine of Atanase recently put up a blindfold test. Thanks to the stuff that Atanase uploaded I have been able to fill in some significant gaps in my knowledge of seventies free jazz (Frank Lowe, Air, Sam Rivers, early Anthony Braxton). There is so much good music around, and so much great music made in the past…

http://churchnumber9.blogspot.com/.

I downloaded the 19 tracks of the blindfold test and have been listening to it for a week. I think I know quite a bit of free jazz and free improv, but I couldn’t do much better on this than wild guesses and just thinking, “well, this is great music, but I have no idea whatsoever who this is.” I only was certain that one track was Derek Bailey with Anthony Braxton and I was sure one other was Kaoru Abe.

These were the tracks:

1. Chicago Underground Quartet – Same – A Reoccurring Dream (Thrill Jockey USA)
2. Chicago Underground Duo – In Praise Of Shadows – Pangea (Thrill Jockey USA)
3. Flaherty, Corsano Duo- Full Bottle – Blanket Bombing (Ultra Eczema BELGIUM)
4. Rauhan Orkestri – Same – Suklaamuusi (LaLaLa FINLAND) Ltd 300
5. Masayoshi Urabe, Hiroshi Hasegawa – Duo 88 – Side B (Siwa USA)
6. Spontaneous Composition – Same – Bird Dirge (Private Press USA)
7. Braxton, Bailey – Live @ Wigmore – Another Rehearsal Extract – DBL LP ((Inner City USA)
8. Laterna – Laterna – Piesn Opuszczonej Latarni (OBUH POLAND)
9. The Pyramids – King Of Kings – Mogho Naba (Pyramid Records – Private Press USA)
10. Blowhole (Jeff Jerman) – Guerrilla Jazz – Frig (Zabriskie Point – Private Press USA)
11. Sphere (Larry Nozero, Eddie Nuccilli, Keith Vreeland, Jimmy Peluso, John Dana) – Inside Ourselves – Alicia (Strata USA)

DISC TWO:

1. Milo Fine (Fine, Maureen Mailey, John O’Brian, Curtis Wenzel) – Improvisations– Quartet (Shih Shih Wu Ai – Private Press USA)
2. Masahiko Togashi (Togashi, Albert Mangelsdorff, Takashi Kako, Jenny Clark) – Colour Of Dreams – Crystal (Take One JAPAN)
3. Nedley Elstak Trio + Voice (Elstak, Sofie van Lier, Martin van Duynhoven, Maarten van Regteren Altena) – The Machine – The Machine (Fontana-ESP UK)
4. Harrissa (Mark Sims, Mike Ellis, Jacques LeRoy, Raouf Jasouli, Beb Drewry) – Harrissa – Harrissa (Acoustic Life Records – Private Press FRANCE)
5. The Blue Notes (McGregor, Pukwana, Dyani, Moholo) – In Concert Vol 1 – Manje (Ogun UK)
6. The Trio (John Surman, Barre Phillips, Stu Martin) – Conflagration – Malachite (Dawn UK)
7. Jothan Callins – (Callins, Joseph Bonner, Norman Conners, Cecil McBee, Roland Duval) Winds Of Change – Winds Of Change (Triumph Records – Private Press USA)
8. Music Improvisation Company (Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Hugh Davis, Jamie Muir, Christine Jeffrey) – Same – Dragon Path (ECM GERMANY)

Huh? Okay, strange that I didn’t recognize The Blue Notes and, being Dutch, I should’ve guessed Nedley Elstak. I did get the Braxton right. But Kaoru Abe was Masayoshi Urabe with Hiroshi Hasegawa. And for the rest, so many names that I have never ever heard of… amongst a few known names. Yet it’s a great collection of 19 tracks…