Various Artists
The Bottle Tapes, selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz and Improvised Music Series 1996-2005
Nov 1st release to coincide with a launch event / mini festival at the Empty Bottle
Tickets HERE
From 1996-2005, the Empty Bottle hosted a weekly series of Wednesday night jazz and improvised music concerts and an annual festival. These events were hailed by the international press as landmarks in creative music, and helped shift the focus in experimental jazz towards Chicago. Curated by writer and producer John Corbett and musician Ken Vandermark, much of the Bottle Jazz & Improvised Music Series was documented by legendary recordist Malachi Ritscher, and these recordings form the basis of a lavish new 6-CD set, The Bottle Tapes: Selections from the Empty Bottle Jazz & Improvised Music Series, 1996-2005, featuring nearly 70 artists including Milford Graves, Bobby Bradford, Joe McPhee, Thurston Moore, Available Jelly, Peter Brötzmann, and Nicole Mitchell's Black Earth Ensemble. Over 7.5 hours of music and a 64 page booklet replete with notes, recollections, photographs and ephemera reproduced in full color.
Joshua Abrams / Jason Ajemian / Fred Anderson / Michael
Attias / Jean-Jacques Avenel / Jim Baker / Harrison Bankhead /
Robert Barry / Conrad Bauer / Johannes Bauer / Han Bennink /
Peter van Bergen / John Betsch / Jeb Bishop / Eric Boeren /
Raymond Boni / David Boykin / Bobby Bradford / Peter
Brötzmann / John Butcher / Wilbur Campbell / Anthony Coleman /
Ron Dewar / Danielle D’Agaro / Tim Daisy / Tobias Delius /
Axel Dörner / Hamid Drake / Kevin Drumm / Savoir Faire /
Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Floros Floridis / Von Freeman / Erik
Friedlander / Wolfgang Fuchs / Cor Fuhler / Ernst Glerum /
Milford Graves / Mats Gustafsson / Klaas Hekmann / Tony
Herrera / François Houle / André Jaume / Kent Kessler / Hans
Koch / Toshinori Kondo / Peter Kowald / Noel Kupersmith /
Steve Lacy / Thomas Lehn / Fred Lonberg-Holm / Paul
Lytton / Miya Masaoka / Rob Mazurek / Nate McBride /
Joe McPhee / Nicole Mitchell / Misha Mengelberg / Michael
Moore / Thurston Moore / Torsten Müller / Kjell Nordeson /
Jim O’Rourke / Evan Parker / Jeff Parker / William Parker /
Willie Pickens / Avreeyel Ra / Ernst Reijseger / Dave Rempis /
Frank Rosaly / Ned Rothenberg / Roswell Rudd / Paul Rutherford /
Alexander Schlippenbach / Irene Schweizer / Wadada Leo
Smith / Günter Sommer / Chad Taylor / Ken Vandermark / Michael
Vatcher / Phil Wachsmann / Nasheet Waits / Wolter Wierbos /
Davey Williams / Mars Williams / Michael Zerang
In the spirit of the original series, the launch event/mini festival will include old guard and new blood. Joe McPhee, who is now internationally famed (also for his soundtrack music included in the TV show Severance), first played in Chicago at the Bottle in 1996. Nearly three decades later, he returns for a triumphant set of duets with drummer PNL, a frequent partner of McPhee's. Bottle Series co-curator Ken Vandermark will perform in a duet with Black Monument Ensemble's founder/leader Damon Locks, and Chicago improvisor Dorothy Carlos will perform a solo for cello and electronics. The afternoon festivities will include a new poster by Dan Grzeca, first dibs on the initial hundred copies of the box set, and a surprise set in the tradition of all Empty Bottle Jazz & Improvised Music festivals.