The new Wayne Krantz record, "YOUR BASIC LIVE '06", features WK with a stellar cast of characters in this update of the previous CD, nicely recorded this time (it's in stereo, for starters) at NYCs 55 Bar, mostly during 2006 A.D.

Great versions of the current songs, lots of stunning playing, loads of improvising, tons of sex, "YOUR BASIC LIVE '06" is now available
for $18 US, including shipping worldwide.

To order, click HERE

From the liner notes of YBL '06:

For the last couple of years we've recorded 2 hours of live music every week and posted it all on waynekrantz.com for download. That's around 125 2CD-sets worth of stuff that has been available to anyone in the world who cared to download it. There were no plans to actually press another live CD - the last 3 were all various kinds of live. I was writing for a studio record while the tapes from the ongoing weekly gig at the 55 Bar in NYC continued to pile up.

Sometime in '06 a label called Vega re-released my first record, "Signals", in Japan. They wanted a few bonus tracks for the album so I listened to some of the 55 stuff to see if there was anything worth pressing. I immediately found 2 cuts that knocked me out, unedited: "blues" and "reggae". That got me thinking about putting together a more current live CD.

But as easy as it was to begin, it was hard to unearth similarly balanced things for the rest of the album. Maybe due to circumstances - lots of different combinations of musicians, gear, recording setups (couple of mics, direct to DAT) - or my expectations, sky high from the first 2 songs. But I didn't want to get into a lot of editing with this one so I kept recording gigs and digging through tapes.

In the end there was a lot of good stuff - much of it spectacular passages surrounded by things that wouldn't really work on a record, as often happens with music as improvisational as this. Some great playing by Ari Hoenig, Anton Fig and Lincoln Goines during '06 was fantastic musically, but for technical or programming reasons couldn't fit in. But to my ear, this CD includes the all-around, everything-considered best tracks of the period.

The writing for the studio thing is mostly done, so that's warmimg up in the bullpen. But for now I'm happy to officially document some of the incredible music that goes on down in that little place in the Village with so little fanfare, save by the fans. One of these nights the place will detach from its foundation and, with quiet dignity, lift slowly off the ground, rising higher and higher until it's lost in moonlit clouds, and then the stars.

Or it'll blow up, or something.

Wayne Krantz, NYC, 3.28.07