thirsty ear has been around for a while, and has primarily been a rock label (tho a good one, lots of robert wyatt, pere ubu, etc.). matthew shipp met label head peter gordon through (of all people) henry rollins back in the 90s when shipp was interested in bridging the punk/free jazz division. together they developed the blue series, which shipp oversees. i think the blue series is one of the most exciting jazz labels in this country right now. really, i do. from the 'straighter' jazz (william parker's 'raining on the moon' and 'painter's spring' , tim berne's 'the shell game' and new 'the sublime and', mat maneri's 'sustain') to the electronica experiments. guillermo brown's disc was a fun surprise, as was dj spooky's. but all four spring heel jack records are esential - the three on blue (masses, amassed and live), but also one with john surman that came out before the blue series was born, called 'disappeared.' i'm curious how well they really sell, or how well they're even distributed. like i said, i'm pretty much in love with them. but i don't hear that much talk about them. kg _________________________________________________________________ Share your photos without swamping your Inbox. Get Hotmail Extra Storage today! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es