Portrait of Miles Davis, circa 1975

T. Renner, "Portrait of Miles Davis, circa 1975," 2008, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7".

"Leo Young"

T. Renner, "Leo Young," 2008, ink over newspaper tracing on paper, 4" x 6".

Four More Improvisations for Derek Bailey

T. Renner, "Improvisations for Derek Bailey #'s 5-8," 2008, acrylic on coated card stock, 7" x 5".

"Irk Bee Delay," a track from my musical homage to Derek Bailey [ANAGRAMS, 2008, Echolocation Recordings] has been included on a massive net-only compilation recently released on Clinical Archives. Excerpts from a review from Free Albums Galore follow:

One of the most exciting net labels to show up recently is Clinical Archives. There is a huge amount of music on this label which is described as the "independent netlabel for eclectic and illogical music". Their release Clinical Jazz may be of some help in defining the music of this label but it may not be too helpful because the anthology album itself is so huge! It has over 10 hours of music and is the equivalent of 9 CDs. Once you get past the size of this collection, you will find an exceptionally consistent quality of music that is either in the jazz genre or outside the genre of jazz but beholden to the the influence of this improvisatory music. Not everything here fits my definition of jazz but that is not the point. Clinical Archives is about expanding the definition of music and that is certainly the intent in these 94 tracks from all over the globe.

There ’s just too much to go through on each CD but the variety of music as well as the high quality of the artists is extremely impressive. [...] Much of CD 5 is also avant-garde improvisation but sounding more post classical than jazz. Check out guitarist Tony Renner’s "Irk Bee Delay" which is a nice Derek Bailey styled improv.

You can download the entire compilation or listen to selected tracks here.

Three Variations for Anthony Braxton

T. Renner, Variations for Anthony Braxton #'s 3-5," 2008, acrylic on paper, 5" x 7".

These three pieces will be on display as part of the exhibition "Works on Paper (Chance)" on display from January 16 through March 15 at Subterranean Books, 6275 Delmar in the heart of the Loop in University City, Missouri.

Playlist: January 8

1. Bascomb Lamar Lunsford * * * I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground * * * Anthology of American Folk Music * * * Smithsonian-Folkways

2. Don Cherry & Ed Blackwell * * * Mysticism of My Soul * * * Mu * * * Actuel

3. Anthony Braxton, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins, Steve McCall * * * The Light on the Dalta * * * Anthony Braxton * * * Actuel

4. Archie Shepp * * * There Is A Balm In Gilead * * * Blase * * * Actuel

5. Gerry Mulligan * * * Night Lights * * * Night Lights * * * Mercury

6. Creative Music Studio (Chick Corea, Anthony Braxton, Jack DeJohnette, Lee Konitz, Pat Metheny, Miroslav Vitous) * * * Impressions * * * Woodstock Jazz Festival 2 * * * Knit Classics

7. Fred Tompkins * * * Compound * * * Compositions of Fred Tompkins * * * Festival

8. Dewey Redman * * * Seeds & Deeds * * * Ear of the Behearer * * * Impulse

9. Art Ensemble of Chicago * * * Yobu-Sun * * * Live at the 6th Tokyo Music Joy '90 * * * DIW

10. Ned Rothenberg * * * Epistrophical Notions * * * The Crux * * * Leo

11. Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio * * * Ka's Blues * * * Ooh Live! * * * Bright Moments/Katalyst

Note: show ran from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

In Memorium: Black Artists Group II

T. Renner, "In Memoriam: Black Artists Group II [detail], 2008, acrylic on plywood.