Ronald shannon jackson's the decoding society

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this has come up in my Jame blood ulmer thread.

Only thing I have by him is his paying in the cecil taylor unit LP from '78.

Did he also play in a duo rec with cecil? I'd imagine that would be pretty good.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 26 May 2003 08:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i dunno the only rsj&dc record i have is ok , on the cover he has dreadlocks with beads & chinese coins in em

― unknown or illegal user (doorag), Monday, 26 May 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Knitting Factory brought out some live RSJ/DC CDs (reissues?) two or three years back, shouldn't be too hard to track 'em down (also v. much Search the KF reish of 'Duo Exchange' by Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe) - think Ben Watson raved abt the RSJ discs in the Wire

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 26 May 2003 09:28 (twenty-two years ago)

saw em live a few years back and they sucked so bad until a trio jam EXPLODED the jazzfusionlite.
a lot of the records are pretty great. laswell almost ruins decode yourself with his brittle eighties sound unfortunately. apart from that even the later, less complicated records (when colors play) are really nice.
hey julio, you don't have Body Meta?

― gaz (gaz), Monday, 26 May 2003 09:38 (twenty-two years ago)

no i don't have that gaz but yeah I'll have to get 'duo exchange' too.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Monday, 26 May 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

did anyone besides me ever see the four guitar line-up the soc had for a while? i wanted to like it (in a dark magus meets sonic youth way) but like gaz i tht it kinda sucked except for moments (1988-ish i guess)

i thini i like that he is prepared to try risky projects which risk being super-lame but have the potential to explode into something completely out of nowhere

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 26 May 2003 10:34 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm listening to another record that i haven't listened to for ages which is pretty cool, "pulse", it's mainly drum solos (i like drum solos) plus he sings some blues & 1 song is a mashup of the "winter of discontent" speech from richard III/poe's "the raven", it's pretty mentalistic.

― duane, Monday, 26 May 2003 21:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I've no problem with solo percussion records. I'm very fond of those two milford graves albs on Tzadik and posted a thread abt him last week. another one to lookout for.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 10:52 (twenty-two years ago)

i listened to when colors play last night, first time for a long time

the Decoding Soc do stuff melodically and rhythmically I still don't think I heard anywhere else ever, before or since (not necessarily difficult or out-there stuff, just stuff that is totally THEIR signature)

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 10:56 (twenty-two years ago)

''Knitting Factory brought out some live RSJ/DC CDs (reissues?) two or three years back, shouldn't be too hard to track 'em down (also v. much Search the KF reish of 'Duo Exchange' by Rashied Ali and Frank Lowe) - think Ben Watson raved abt the RSJ discs in the Wire''

yeah I dug that review out: they are called 'live in greenwich' and 'live in warsaw'.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 11:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i love i love music...will dig out when colors play myself!

― gaz (gaz), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 11:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I lost touch (and interest) after the gruesome Laswell record, but Mandance and Barbecue Dog are pretty crucial in my book. I listen most often to the latter, which also features a young Vernon Reid on impressively skittery/metallic guitar. The solo percussion thing is pretty forgettable, at least for me.

A little-known RSJ side project I enjoy a lot is Power Tools, a trio with Bill Frisell and Melvin Gibbs. Jackson actually seems a bit like a bull in a china shop during parts of this, but Frisell should play with bulls more often. Anyhow, some nice tunes, some impressively noisy improvs, and RSJ sings "Unchained Melody"!

Also, don't sleep on Last Exit, about which I think there's been another thread somewhere.

― Lee G (Lee G), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 17:06 (twenty-two years ago)

It's been a (LONG) while, but here are the ones I used to swear by:

Mandance
Barbecue Dog
Decode Yourself
When Colors Play

(I will now make similar posts on the Sharrock and Ulmer threads.)

― chuck, Tuesday, 27 May 2003 19:29 (twenty-two years ago)

yes i wz always sad the power tool rec was the only one they did

― mark s (mark s), Tuesday, 27 May 2003 23:14 (twenty-two years ago)

two years pass...

I was a big fan for a time. In order of (man)love:

Mandance
When Colors Play
Barbeque Dog
Red Warrior

Red Warrior is the most Laswell-y, groova- boomalicious of the set (with wanko metalist Stevie Salas), but I thought the compositions were lean and tight. Plus, I always remember dancing w/ my dog to it (sadly, not barbequed).

When Colours Play was on that great Ornette label that came and died, as I recall -- Caravan of Dreams? Great record.

Guy's kind of like your jazzman's version of Ginger Baker (which Ginger Baker decidedly wasn't when he "went jazz").

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Wednesday, 24 August 2005 16:27 (twenty years ago)

eight years pass...

RIP

― Victor Immature (WilliamC), Saturday, 19 October 2013 22:53 (twelve years ago)

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