I had the chance to see Chris Speeds Yeah No Ensemble last monday. After listening to the three great available recordings of the band over the last couple of years I've been really waiting to see this band. Chris Speed and Cuong Vu shared some improvisations in a masada style (different context though) with the band behind them. Ted Reichman added another color to the concept and this made the music dense in a positive way. I think Chris Speed developed a quite unique approach with this music, simple sounding lovely melodies burst into group improvisations. Jim Blacks rocks the drums and delivers a strong drive and yet another percussive color to the music. I saw Vu with is own trio last year and my impression is that he brought a lot of his style (those long anthem like trumpet lines) into Speeds band. Skuli on bass is a perfect match, the sometimes minimalistic electric bass sounds very appropriate. Catch them if you can. I just received a copy of DDs Moving Portrait, which is a fine and enjoyable jazz record and has some nice Joni Mitchell cover versions. As other avant CDs (like ribots first solo record many others) this one comes from japan and has a extra sheet with liner notes in japanese. As my japanese is very poor (in fact I don't know anything) I can't read it. Does anyone know where I could read these notes in english, maybe somewhere on the net. They must be available. thanks martin