Close Enough for Jazz

We open the vault for the second installment of our Blind Pig series, traveling back 14 years to July 23, 2012, for a rare bootleg recording of Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic's Bomb X. Captured on an iPod left on the floor of the Brooklyn venue Sycamore, this unreleased set features an incredible lineup with Michael Attias on saxophone, Art Hirahara on piano, and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. We unpack the context of this performance—which shared a bill with Alan's band, Smirk—and reflect on what these heavyweights were up to in 2012, from Letman-Burtinovic's extended arco techniques to Tyshawn Sorey's prestigious ICE fellowship.

Note: Please go find and enjoy the music of Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic, Michael Attias, Art Hirahara and Tyshawn Sorey. A few clips of their music were reposted in this episode. Birch Grove Media does not claim ownership of these performances or musical works, and is not monetizing this episode. This is shared purely for educational and archival appreciation.

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Intro: What is a Blind Pig speakeasy?
• 01:48 - Traveling back 14 years to July 23, 2012
• 02:17 - Introducing Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic's Bomb X
• 03:22 - Discovering the gig was recorded on an iPod
• 06:53 - Art Hirahara’s unexpected avant-garde piano playing
• 07:18 - Playing a double bill with Smirk at Sycamore in Brooklyn
• 09:45 - Michael Attias and the lost Brown House bootleg tapes
• 16:29 - Nicolas Letman-Burtinovic's extended bass techniques and protest music
• 22:49 - A snapshot of Michael Attias's 2012 album releases
• 23:44 - What Art Hirahara and Tyshawn Sorey were up to in 2012
• 29:15 - Outro: Tyshawn Sorey's abrupt endings

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

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We step back to the gritty 2009 Brooklyn loft scene to announce the upcoming Birch Grove Media vinyl release of Fall 2009 by Alan's acoustic avant-garde band, Face. In this episode, we explore the origins of the group, tracking their evolution from high school friendships to playing lost Brooklyn venues like Goodbye Blue Monday and Evening Time Place. Alan breaks down the cast of characters, including the late Andrew Carrico, David Schnug, Pascal Niggenkemper, Cody Brown, and vocalist Matt Scollante—whose intense, yelling spoken-word performance at The Stone gave this album an explicit warning. We also take a clinical look at the realities of early DIY recording, with Alan explaining how he salvaged a highly flawed, 44.1kHz session recorded on cheap gear using modern audio plugins. Packed with stories about the "Almost V-Day Suite" and the parallel run of his electric band Smirk, this episode captures a definitive era of Brooklyn music ahead of the album's double vinyl release alongside Bear Skinner later this year.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: A yelling vocalist at The Stone 

00:30 - Announcing the release of Face's Fall 2009 album 

01:05 - The cast of characters: David Schnug, Pascal Niggenkemper, and more 

02:00 - High school connections and moving to a Brooklyn Bedford Avenue apartment 

03:45 - How the band's instrumentation evolved from the "Actually Actually" trio 

05:27 - Remembering baritone saxophonist Andrew Carrico 

06:43 - Recording the album on Halloween 2009 at the "Evening Time Place" loft 

08:19 - The thriving 2009-2012 Bushwick loft scene and lost Brooklyn venues 

10:00 - Face as a working acoustic band vs. the electric Smirk project 

12:58 - Matt Scollante's unique spoken word performance 

14:26 - Writing the "Almost V-Day Suite" over four years 

16:56 - Salvaging a flawed 44.1kHz DIY recording with modern audio plugins 

19:11 - The double vinyl release plan for Face and Bear Skinner 

19:57 - Outro: Pick up the Smirk vinyl 

Podcast Footer:

• BIRCH GROVE MEDIA
• Web: birchgrove.io
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• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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We unearth a 41-year-old time capsule from the first edition of OPtion Magazine that accurately predicted the rise of AI in music. We review a 1985 article by computer scientist Eric Mueller, who envisioned "interactive works" where AI reacts to live human improvisation and "distributed works" that use dial-up phone lines to connect musicians and computers in a massive feedback loop. The conversation traces Mueller's impressive background—from developing the DAYDREAMER program at UCLA to his work on IBM's Watson—and contrasts his highly experimental, avant-garde vision of AI with the style-cloning algorithms of today. We also discuss the LISP programming language, Stefon Harris's Harmony Cloud, and the debate over whether software is truly more interesting than hardware. Note: Birch Grove Media does not own the recordings featured in this episode.

Featured Musical Examples:

George Lewis Rainbow Family Premiere: https://youtu.be/i4bS-0tsVEg

Laurie Spiegel on Algorithmic Composition: https://youtu.be/aJBDHxyLEHg

Timestamps:

• 00:00 - Intro: What happens when the AI freezes up?
• 00:31 - Unearthing a 1985 AI music time capsule from OPtion Magazine
• 01:46 - Eric Mueller's "Entangling Computers and Music"
• 03:23 - The concept of "interactive works" and reactionary AI
• 04:34 - Comparing early AI ideas to Stefon Harris's Harmony Cloud
• 08:43 - Will musicians become programmers and vice versa?
• 10:42 - Feeding the program multiple source elements for complex reactions
• 13:22 - "Distributed works" and the concept of dial-up avant-garde music
• 17:52 - Learning the LISP programming language in 1985
• 20:04 - Debating if software is truly more interesting than hardware
• 22:41 - Eric Mueller's background with UCLA, MIT, and IBM's Watson
• 26:41 - Why 1980s AI concepts lend themselves perfectly to avant-garde jazz
• 27:28 - Interactive free improvisation vs. modern AI cloning apps
• 29:14 - The legacy of OPtion Magazine and its focus on experimental music

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

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• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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To celebrate America's 250th birthday, we explore the wild stories of three legendary jazz musicians whose time in the US military permanently altered their musical paths. We start the conversation with Albert Ayler, who spent his Cold War deployment in France testing out his early free-jazz concepts on GI’s and civilians alike, eventually carrying those twisted military marches into his own quintets. Next, we look at John Coltrane’s strategic enlistment into the Navy to avoid the Army infantry, a move that led to his first public recordings at Pearl Harbor. Finally, we recount Henry Threadgill’s harrowing experience in Vietnam, where a controversial arrangement of "America the Beautiful" resulted in a front-line deployment, surviving the Tet Offensive, and returning home with a reshaped perspective that ultimately defined his compositional voice. 

Note: Birch Grove Media does not own the recordings featured in this episode.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Celebrating America's 250th with jazz and military history

00:42 - Albert Ayler joins the Army during the Cold War

01:46 - Testing avant-garde solos in Parisian cafes and barracks

04:01 - Weaponizing military marches in his later music

05:14 - Listening to Ayler's 1959 Army band recordings

08:23 - John Coltrane’s strategic enlistment in the US Navy

11:17 - Kitchen patrol and the segregated military band at Pearl Harbor

12:53 - Listening to Coltrane's first-ever recording in Honolulu

16:47 - Henry Threadgill gets drafted out of Chicago

17:48 - An avant-garde arrangement gets Threadgill sent to Vietnam

18:46 - Trading a saxophone for an M-16 during the Tet Offensive

20:31 - How surviving the war shaped Threadgill's compositions

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

• Web: birchgrove.io
• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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We open the vault to launch "The Blind Pig," a new ongoing series featuring rare, unreleased bootleg recordings of legendary live performances. To kick things off, we go back exactly 22 years to June 25, 2004, at the Village Vanguard for the JVC Jazz Festival. The featured recording captures Uri Caine’s "Blue Wail" project, featuring Greg Osby, Drew Gress, and Ben Perowsky. We explore the context of the 2004 jazz scene while listening to the MiniDisc audio capture, and reflect on the era. 

Note: Please go find and enjoy the music of Uri Caine, Greg Osby, Drew Gress, and Ben Perowsky. A few clips of their music were reposted in this episode. Birch Grove Media does not claim ownership of these performances or musical works, and is not monetizing this episode. This is shared purely for educational and archival appreciation.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: Launching the Blind Pig bootleg series

01:17 - Traveling back 22 years to June 25, 2004

01:46 - Uri Caine's Blue Wail at the JVC Jazz Festival

03:35 - Cheesy Vanguard marketing and Uri Caine's legendary week-long run

07:40 - The impressive audio quality of 2000s MiniDisc recorders

10:08 - Disclaimer: Birch Grove Media makes zero money on these recordings

10:36 - Listening to the trio swing and Ben Perowsky’s deep feel

18:22 - Where Uri Caine, Greg Osby, and Drew Gress were in 2004

21:04 - Alan reflects on his sophomore year at William Paterson

27:43 - Giving bass players generous solos and listening to Drew Gress

32:03 - Listening to Greg Osby's original composition "Equalatogram"

33:57 - Playing Osby charts in James Weidman's ensemble

36:09 - Outro

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

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• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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This week we take a step back to reintroduce the mission of Birch Grove Media and provide a behind the scenes tour of the studio driving the podcast. They detail their decade of experience in the industry, explaining the technical workflow of their sister company, Podfuel. The conversation transitions into a critique of AI editing tools, detailing why algorithmic cuts destroy conversational nuance and why human editors remain essential for quality short-form content. They also explore the podcast's role as a scene-building tool to support upcoming record releases and avant-garde musicians.

• Timestamps:

00:00 - Reintroducing Birch Grove Media and Podfuel

02:04 - A decade of podcasting experience turning into a business

02:50 - Behind the scenes of the studio and camera setup

04:34 - Timecode syncing and the technical workflow

05:40 - Why Riverside beats Zoom for remote podcast recording

06:53 - Using a teleprompter setup for direct eye contact

07:27 - The documentary style of the show and skipping cheesy intros

08:58 - Why AI ruins podcast edits and short-form content

11:32 - Using AI strictly as an administrative tool for audio cleanup

13:41 - A tour of the control room and audio gear

14:45 - The human-led quality assurance process for Podfuel

16:24 - Using the podcast to build the Birch Grove Media community

18:33 - Calling for future guest recommendations

Podcast Footer:

• BIRCH GROVE MEDIA
• Web: birchgrove.io
• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Keyboardist and producer Carlos Homs sits down with Lindsay to trace his journey from the highly intellectual avant-garde jazz scene back to his roots in hip-hop production. Carlos shares stories from his time in the NJPAC Jazz for Teens program, watching a young Tyshawn Sorey play out-of-this-world piano, and cutting his teeth with heavyweights like Peter Evans and Steve Lehman. The conversation unpacks how Lehman’s Sélébéyone project and the psychotic work ethic of super-producer Cirkut pushed Carlos to team up with bassist Brady Watt and eventually work out of DJ Premier’s studio. They also tackle the debt traps of jazz education, the esoteric nature of channeling music, the 440Hz conspiracies behind his 2020 trio album, and the realities of collaborating with his wife, vocalist Jamie Homs.

Please go find and enjoy the music of Aaron Burnett, Brady Watt and Steve Lehman. A few clips of their music was reposted in this episode, Birch Grove Media does not claim ownership of these performances or musical works.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: Couples working together & transitioning to hip-hop

00:49 - Growing up on 90s hip-hop and discovering sampling

02:03 - Entering the NJ jazz scene and meeting Tyshawn Sorey & Alan Bjorklund

04:51 - The intense contrast between playing with Peter Evans and Steve Lehman

06:26 - How Steve Lehman’s Sélébéyone brought Carlos back to hip-hop

09:27 - Classical piano lessons and the unique New Jersey jazz ecosystem

11:12 - NJPAC Jazz for Teens and Tyshawn Sorey's lunchtime concerts

15:33 - Berklee dropouts, the problem with jazz education, and college debt

22:57 - The Berklee networker who never paid tuition

24:12 - Reconnecting with Brady Watt and working out of DJ Premier’s studio

27:49 - Learning a "psychotic work ethic" from super-producer Cirkut

34:07 - Treating music like entrepreneurship and overcoming the fear of failure

37:22 - Is improvisation creating or channeling?

45:21 - The Theory Conspiracy: Lizard people, 440Hz, and spontaneous studio albums

52:39 - Navigating the industry and keeping collaborations organic with his wife, Jamie Homs

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

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• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Drummer and composer Danny Sher sits down to discuss the tug-of-war between highly intellectualized composition and raw emotion. Danny breaks down his desire to dodge "accounting jazz" and write music that forces the audience to feel the rhythm before they can analyze it. Tracing his wild musical evolution, Danny shares hilarious early memories of acting as a "Dog Star Commander" mascot for Manchild, getting humbled at early sessions, and watching a young Tyshawn Sorey casually drum in 15. Danny explains his strategy for writing "jazz disguised as rock" with Horse Torso, navigating the brutal polyrhythms of Atomic Pigeons, and pivoting from insane technical compositions to the catchy verse-chorus songs that got Crippling Alcoholism signed to The Flenser.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: Feeling the rhythm before judging the music

00:38 - The "Dog Star Commander" mascot in Manchild

05:10 - A humbling session

07:06 - Sitting behind a young Tyshawn Sorey playing in 15

08:48 - Forming Horse Torso and blending dissonance with relatable grooves

13:42 - Discovering the Mathcore Index Podcast and playing Saint Vitus

17:15 - Pivoting from insane technical music to catchy verse-chorus songs

20:39 - Getting signed to The Flenser with Crippling Alcoholism

24:42 - Dodging "accounting jazz" and focusing on emotion

26:10 - Navigating the otherworldly polyrhythms of Atomic Pigeons & Shardik

28:07 - Recording with legendary no-wave producer Martin Bisi

30:33 - Peter Apfelbaum's early funk days with Les Claypool

32:36 - Disguising jazz as rock: Writing for Travis Reuter and Andrew Smiley

38:51 - Writing cliches head-on for the hardcore band Unsee

40:04 - Outro: Keeping up with @HorseTorso

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

• Web: birchgrove.io
• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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In this Special Edition episode, Lindsay and Alan tackle the massive disruption of Artificial Intelligence in music. They break down the controversy surrounding the first AI-generated Billboard charting artist, the fierce pushback from working musicians, and the surreal "uncanny valley" of algorithmic audio. Shifting to the jazz ecosystem, they analyze new tech like Neural Audio Synthesis and Stefon Harris’s Harmony Cloud, before subjecting themselves to some truly horrific Suno AI generations attempting to mimic modern jazz artists.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro: Going in blind on AI

01:13 - Meet Xania Monet: The first AI artist on the Billboard R&B charts

05:11 - Alan reacts to the cookie-cutter AI pop track in real-time

09:45 - The Gayle King interview and the ethics of "putting in the work"

16:18 - Kehlani’s backlash: AI stealing the spotlight from real musicians

24:00 - The "Uncanny Valley" effect of perfectly tuned AI audio

25:26 - Transitioning to the reality of AI in the Jazz ecosystem

27:22 - Neural Audio Synthesis and improvising live with AI models

31:40 - Stefon Harris’s Harmony Cloud ear-training app

36:39 - Suno AI Experiments: Prompting an Eric Dolphy jazz standard

43:24 - Forcing AI to simulate Tyshawn Sorey drumming for Steve Lehman

46:30 - Why jazz audiences won't tolerate fake, algorithm-generated music

49:09 - The Gen-Z analog revival and getting away from technology

50:09 - Birch Grove Media's official anti-AI label stance

51:04 - Outro: Podfuel and supporting human-made music

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

• Web: birchgrove.io
• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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Guitarist and composer Josh Lopes opens up about the intersection of classical chamber music discipline and underground experimentation. He walks through the collaborative history of Dither, the psychology of working directly under John Zorn, translating Laurie Spiegel’s planetary orbit tracking data to fretted instruments, and how an iPad mechanical failure turned a performance at the Stone into a living nightmare.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

00:25 - From Rhode Island to the Avant-Garde Scene

01:46 - Euphoniums, Marching Band, and Transferring Schools

03:44 - William Paterson University and the "Bossa Nova" Trap

05:44 - Unlearning Jazz Robot Habits and Developing Soft Skills

06:39 - Getting Academic Probation for Breaking Into Shea

09:25 - The Difference Between Chamber Musicians and Jazz Players

11:47 - Forming the Electric Guitar Quartet

14:22 - The Intensity of Performing John Zorn's Game Pieces

18:39 - A Shattered iPad During a Solo Bagatelle

20:09 - A Weird Mother's Day Encounter with John Zorn

22:23 - Playing "Rugby" at The Kitchen

23:22 - Translating Laurie Spiegel's Electronic Scores

26:50 - The Pretentious Venice Biennale Concert

28:37 - Blasting White Noise for Sensory Deprivation Music

33:03 - The $100 Vintage Japanese Guitar Project

35:15 - Learning Tuvan Throat Singing in a Trader Joe's Milk Cooler

37:37 - Discovering "Genghis Blues" and Ham Radio Harmonics

41:56 - Teaching Music in Newark to Kids Who Don't Listen to Music

44:29 - Replacing Standard Notation with YouTube QR Codes

49:49 - Why Good Guitarists Secretly Have Mental Disorders

51:13 - Missing the Grit of the Old Stone

BIRCH GROVE MEDIA

• Web: birchgrove.io
• Follow us: @birch.grove.media on Instagram.
• Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@BirchGroveMedia
• Get the Record: Shop our current 180g LP and digital releases on our website. Rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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