Conquistador

My jazz investigations of late have taken me to Bill Dixon, trumpeting producer of The Marzette Watts Ensemble, member of The early New York Contemporary Five, founder of the Jazz Composer's Guild (which became the Jazz Composer's Orchestra), a sideman on Cecil Taylor's classic Conquistador, and cited as a major influence by just about everybody. His hyper-rare first album can be found here, and it's really amazing. Composed and clamorous, sometimes heavy but always subtle, this is wild, dense music, particularly "Metamorphosis", far and away my most exciting discovery in a long time. R.I.P.

Video

I decided to watch a movie online and stumbled into Tape, a Richard Linklater movie with Ethan Hawke, Robert Sean Leonard, and Uma Thurman. Stephen Belber's script is very play-y, but the actors are all so natural it's possible to forget that at times. Ethan Hawke is most impressively off the wall, but the main point of interest is Maryse Alberti's incredible cinematography, constantly adding dimension to the hotel room where the entire movie takes place. I can't say anything about the story without giving it away, but I'm sure it will not fail to interest. Quick, intense, highly recommended.