Nature’s Table Archives Project on WEFT-FM

Posted on July 31, 2019July 31, 2019 by Sean Kutzko

Sean Kutzko (L) and Jeff Machota (R) discuss the Nature’s Table Archives Project on Machota’s jazz show on WEFT-FM, July 31, 2019.

Jeff Machota, the host of the Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting jazz show on WEFT 90.1 FM since 1991 and a former Nature’s Table employee, interviewed Sean Kutzko of the Nature’s Table Archives Project on his show on July 31, 2019. The 90-minute segment includes several selections of music recorded at the Table in the Archive, as well as conversation about ongoing efforts and why people are still talking about the Table almost 30 years after it closed.

Tracks included in the segment include:
The Jack Webb Band – “Tiger Rag” February 22, 1980
Jeff Helgesen Quintet – “Ah-Leu-Cha” and “I Remember Clifford,” October 4, 1990.
The Quintet (w/Ray Sasaki & Morgan Powell) – “Willow Weep For Me” May 1980
Ron Dewar Quartet (w/Guido Sinclair) – “I Love You” September 28, 1980
Sorgum – “So What > Impressions > So What” April 5, 1986

All recordings are from performances already posted in the Archive.

Listen below:

Jeff Machota interviews NTAP’s Sean Kutzko on WEFT-FM’s Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting jazz program, July 31, 2019.

Nature’s Table Archive Vol 18: Nebula with Tom Paynter – March 5, 1990

Posted on July 19, 2019July 19, 2019 by Sean Kutzko

We’re pleased to offer another example of one of C-U’s more complex jazz composers, Tom Paynter. Tom passed away suddenly on May 25, 2019, and the pianist and flutist left behind his vast, impressive body of work. Paynter’s compositions cover a lot of musical territory, from delicate solo pieces to intense, full-on aural assault.

This recording highlights the more complex side of Paynter’s work. The band’s official title is Nebula: The Music Of Diffused Gassers, led by Tom Paynter. The recording is mostly Tom’s original compositions, although there are covers by Ornette Coleman, Chick Corea and Charlie Parker as well.

C-U’s Ben Grosser was one of the musicians in Nebula. Here’s what he had to say about Nebula, and playing with Tom in general:

Nebula, the Music of Diffused Gassers was a quartet in action around 1990-91. Led by Tom Paynter, the group focused on avant-garde / free / experimental jazz, and, as far as I can recall, all of the band’s charts (aside from occasional standards) were written by Tom. The environment Tom created here was quite supportive of experimentation, as evidenced by our flexible approaches to form, the way we blended tunes together, and the multi-instrument roles each member took on. During a performance, any member of the band might tweak the group’s trajectory, even when doing so meant we turned Tom’s carefully crafted chord changes into something, well, less careful. The core group included Alex Lazarevich on tenor sax and bass/Bb clarinets, myself (Ben Grosser) on trumpets and tenor sax, and Danny Deckard on drums and percussion. All but Danny had an occasional turn on the keyboards, and all of us also sang and played wood chimes. Taimur Sullivan [now member of the highly acclaimed PRISM Quartet] sat in on alto sax for part of this session. I should also note that Tom’s synthesizer chops were in full force with this group. He was extremely adept at crafting timbres with his ARP 2600 synth, and could be seen patching new sounds on the fly during performances. This tape may be the only recording of the band. We played a number of gigs at the Table–and also did a live session on WEFT–but I am unaware of any other tapes.

Enjoy this rare recording of Tom Paynter with some extremely forward-thinking and experimental musicians. Please attend the Tom Paynter Memorial on Sunday, June 21, 2019 from 2pm – 6pm at the Iron Post, 120 S. Race St, Urbana.

Nebula: The Music of Diffused Gassers – Led by Tom Paynter. March 5, 1990

Nature’s Table Archive Vol 8: Russell Cheatham and Friends – May 24, 1990

Posted on January 1, 2015January 25, 2015 by Sean Kutzko

Updated January 24, 2015

I originally released this set (NTA Volume 8) on December 21, 2014 as “Mitch Paliga Quintet, May 23, 1990.” It turns out that date and band is likely incorrect. Bear with us for an explanation.

This was originally thought to be a recording of the Mitch Paliga Quintet from May 24, 1990. The source tape came from Jeff Machota’s collection and was labeled Mitch Paliga 5/23/90.

The recording sounded very well-balanced to me, and was a cut above the standard “boom box on the bandstand” recording a lot of our material comes from. The recording levels in Audacity were pretty even, the visual audio wave patterns looked remarkably even and well-formed in the audio editing software, and it sounded like the recording was a couple cassette generations away from the source tape. There was also approximately 60 minutes of usable material, with 30 minutes of very distorted audio on the remainder of the recording. It sounded like digital noise to me, the kind where a digital tape machine misreads the material. This digital noise, coupled with a very uniform, clean wave pattern on the recording, led me to believe it was recorded by Paul Wienke for airing on WILL-FM at a later date, and he’d had some sort of digital error when recording the second set.

However, a few weeks after posting the show, there developed two rubs:

1) Mitch Paliga had no recollection of this gig, which would be strange if he was the bandleader.

2) My theory of the source of the recording was questioned by Jeff Helgesen, who played on this gig.

Mitch, Jeff Helgesen and Scott Frillman are listed as personnel this night, and all agree that the lineup is correct. Jeff Machota found the monthly flyer advertising the coming shows, and saw that Russell Cheatham and Friends was booked on Saturday, May 24, the day after Paliga was headliner.

Then, a rather nice thing happened: Paul Wienke chimed in out of the blue, and stated he didn’t record the gig. While it turned out my theory on the recording source was completely incorrect, it’s far better to have concrete information.

The common accepted information among the musicians who played the gig is that this is the Russell Cheatham and Friends gig from the next night, May 24, 1990. The recording is likely what Jeff Helgesen speculated: a recorder of unknown origin set up on the front table. Jeff Machota had the source tape in his personal collection; it was likely he asked the original recordier for a dub of the tape, which was made shortly after the gig, and either he or the original recorder simply mislabeled it.

In any case, the statements I made at the time of the original posting are still true. We find Scott Frillman playing baritone sax. This is the first recording I’ve heard that has Scott on bari, and he’s certainly doing a great job with it. Second is Russell Cheatham playing in a group that’s not Sorgum. While I’m an unabashed Sorgum junkie and love the funk-jazz they made, it’s great to hear him in a more bop and standards-oriented group, too. Jeff Machota told me this gig occurred when Sorgum guitarist Chuck Tripp was out of town, hence the different lineup.

So, my apologies for getting the info wrong the first time. Even with all of the collective brain power used to try and get as many of the details on these tapes correct, there will no doubt be some mistakes along the way.

The Band:
Mitch Paliga – alto, tenor, soprano sax
Jeff Helgesen – trumpet
Scott Frillman – baritone sax
Russell Cheatham – organ
Danny Deckard – drums
Russell Cheatham and Friends – May 24, 1990 (NTA Vol 8)