(Free Improvisation) [CD] Howard Riley - Live in the USA - 2018, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

X Lossless Decoder version 20220917 (155.1)
XLD extraction logfile from 2023-02-13 17:30:10 +0100
Howard Riley / Live in the USA
Used drive : Apple SuperDrive (revision 2.03)
Media type : Pressed CD
Ripper mode             : XLD Secure Ripper
Disable audio cache     : OK for the drive with a cache less than 1375KiB
Make use of C2 pointers : NO
Read offset correction  : 6
Max retry count         : 20
Gap status              : Analyzed, Appended (except HTOA)
TOC of the extracted CD
     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  | 00:00:00 | 25:24:45 |         0    |   114344
        2  | 25:24:45 | 21:21:13 |    114345    |   210432
        3  | 46:45:58 | 13:09:27 |    210433    |   269634
        4  | 59:55:10 | 14:16:13 |    269635    |   333847
AccurateRip Summary
    Disc not found in AccurateRip DB.
All Tracks
    Album gain               : -0.54 dB
    Peak                     : 0.993652
    Statistics
        Read error                           : 0
        Jitter error (maybe fixed)           : 0
        Retry sector count                   : 0
        Damaged sector count                 : 0
Track 01
    Filename : /Users/xld/Howard Riley (2018) Live in the USA [FLAC]/01. Blocks.flac
    Pre-gap length : 00:02:00
    Track gain               : 0.11 dB
    Peak                     : 0.859528
    CRC32 hash (test run)    : 5296052B
    CRC32 hash               : 5296052B
    CRC32 hash (skip zero)   : A9EA1898
    AccurateRip v1 signature : 87984476
    AccurateRip v2 signature : 2C067C8B
        ->Track not present in AccurateRip database.
    Statistics
        Read error                           : 0
        Jitter error (maybe fixed)           : 0
        Retry sector count                   : 0
        Damaged sector count                 : 0
Track 02
    Filename : /Users/xld/Howard Riley (2018) Live in the USA [FLAC]/02. Big City.flac
    Pre-gap length : 00:03:00
    Track gain               : -1.25 dB
    Peak                     : 0.993652
    CRC32 hash (test run)    : 33474D19
    CRC32 hash               : 33474D19
    CRC32 hash (skip zero)   : E93DCBF0
    AccurateRip v1 signature : 8DE38940
    AccurateRip v2 signature : 0DDB2DB1
        ->Track not present in AccurateRip database.
    Statistics
        Read error                           : 0
        Jitter error (maybe fixed)           : 0
        Retry sector count                   : 0
        Damaged sector count                 : 0
Track 03
    Filename : /Users/xld/Howard Riley (2018) Live in the USA [FLAC]/03. Flower Street.flac
    Pre-gap length : 00:03:00
    Track gain               : 0.14 dB
    Peak                     : 0.802368
    CRC32 hash (test run)    : 2CEAE878
    CRC32 hash               : 2CEAE878
    CRC32 hash (skip zero)   : 6E3BAEA1
    AccurateRip v1 signature : A16148D2
    AccurateRip v2 signature : C32E4E2E
        ->Track not present in AccurateRip database.
    Statistics
        Read error                           : 0
        Jitter error (maybe fixed)           : 0
        Retry sector count                   : 0
        Damaged sector count                 : 0
Track 04
    Filename : /Users/xld/Howard Riley (2018) Live in the USA [FLAC]/04. Tolerance.flac
    Pre-gap length : 00:03:00
    Track gain               : -0.95 dB
    Peak                     : 0.892944
    CRC32 hash (test run)    : BD5C517F
    CRC32 hash               : BD5C517F
    CRC32 hash (skip zero)   : 3979D819
    AccurateRip v1 signature : F3A99FB7
    AccurateRip v2 signature : D433EE10
        ->Track not present in AccurateRip database.
    Statistics
        Read error                           : 0
        Jitter error (maybe fixed)           : 0
        Retry sector count                   : 0
        Damaged sector count                 : 0
No errors occurred
End of status report
-----BEGIN XLD SIGNATURE-----
8PmhwxMr90mwcLxJeKScw4KAjyHtiDPqI5WvHcVvDTBt8VsrNe98.hIpy6lsOpIX91xSuFvGWyxuZt32BVG2xtBPnMR7xQHSwYXNaVS
-----END XLD SIGNATURE-----

TITLE "Live in the USA"
PERFORMER "Howard Riley"
REM GENRE "Jazz"
REM DATE "2018"
REM DISCID 39116304
REM REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_GAIN -0.54 dB
REM REPLAYGAIN_ALBUM_PEAK 0.993652
FILE "01 - Blocks.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Blocks"
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN 0.11 dB
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK 0.859528
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Big City"
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN -1.25 dB
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK 0.993652
    INDEX 00 25:21:45
FILE "02 - Big City.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "Flower Street"
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN 0.14 dB
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK 0.802368
    INDEX 00 21:18:13
FILE "03 - Flower Street.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Tolerance"
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_GAIN -0.95 dB
    REM REPLAYGAIN_TRACK_PEAK 0.892944
    INDEX 00 13:06:27
FILE "04 - Tolerance.flac" WAVE
    INDEX 01 00:00:00

This archival issue should further bolster British pianist Howard Riley's place among the top rank. Riley first came to prominence with the advent of his pioneering trio with bassist Barry Guy and various drummers including Tony Oxley, which extended yet further the egalitarian template first established by Bill Evans and Paul Bley. However Live In the USA is a forward looking outing in the unaccompanied format Riley has made his own throughout a career which has seen more than fifteen solo dates released.
Riley lived in the US during the winter of 1976/77, and as he explains in the liners, it was during this spell that he started to develop his solo playing with a reconsideration of more orthodox approach. The 74-minute program comprises four selections culled from three dates, both live and in the studio, from that time. The lengthy pieces, which vary between 13 and 25 minutes, crest in a dense hyperspeed stream, as Riley explores a similar range of ideas with ferocious focus, stamina and technical facility.
"Blocks" begins with stuttered dampened notes and string resonances, and a rattling intro, all elements which persist in Riley's playing, and can still be heard on The Complete Short Stories (NoBusiness, 2011) and Constant Change (NoBusiness, 2017). Thereafter he shifts into rapid-fire lines in a rolling bass. There's an uncanny resemblance to Cecil Taylor in the cascade of clipped figures, the call and response between registers, and the repeated phrases which provide the seed for the next phrase in a relentlessly unfurling tapestry. Indeed if the attention slips while listening, one could easily be fooled into thinking that a forgotten Taylor masterpiece has mysteriously appeared in the CD player.
It begs the question of whether this is imitation, homage or what biologists term convergent evolution. At this time Taylor was a far from obvious role model, having recorded only one widely available album, Silent Tongues (Arista Freedom, 1975), since 1966, so there was little commercial benefit to be derived from emulation. Nonetheless, anyone aspiring to forge an individual voice on the piano would need to respond to the challenge Taylor's work represented. It's hard to think of any other pianists who recall Taylor so strongly, even now, let alone then, although Alexander von Schlippenbach and Yosuke Yamashita are plausible candidates. Certainly the Taylor influence was still evident in Riley's work in 1980, as apparent by a session from Debrecen in Hungary, included on Constant Change, but had been all but assimilated by 1983 as evidenced by a later session from the same album.
"Big City" starts with jangling dissonances before quickly resolving into a cavalcade of terse motifs one after the other, as like Taylor he favors energy and intensity over swing. But the reiterated strikes in the left hand are all Riley, as are the stately hymn-like chords at the close. "Tolerance" is a particular highlight, delivering the illusion of multiple brains at work as Riley unleashes a blizzard of notes and sweeping glissandos, against which certain discrete accents shine out in stark relief.
This was obviously a period of flux for Riley, but regardless of the inspiration, these are bravura performances.