Burning Ambulance (website/newsletter/record label)
@burningambulance.bsky.social
All posts by Phil Freeman, co-founder/co-owner (and author of IN THE BREWING LUMINOUS: THE LIFE AND MUSIC OF CECIL TAYLOR). When in doubt, assume I'm kidding. I'll have forgotten whatever we were arguing about by tomorrow.
Huh! Spiritual jazz saxophonist Muriel Grossmann is putting out 3 albums this year (2 studio, 1 live), and the third one, out 12/29, consists of 2 pieces by McCoy Tyner and 2 by the Grateful Dead.
murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/plays-...
murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/plays-...
Plays the music of McCoy Tyner and Grateful Dead, by Muriel Grossmann
8 track album
murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com
November 27, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Huh! Spiritual jazz saxophonist Muriel Grossmann is putting out 3 albums this year (2 studio, 1 live), and the third one, out 12/29, consists of 2 pieces by McCoy Tyner and 2 by the Grateful Dead.
murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/plays-...
murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/plays-...
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Fushitsusha
King Sunny Ade 8 PM - 4 AM marathon show
Fela Kuti
Sonny Rollins w/special guest Ornette Coleman
Jandek (w/Loren Mazzacane Connors, Matt Heyner & Chris Corsano as his band)
Fushitsusha
King Sunny Ade 8 PM - 4 AM marathon show
Fela Kuti
Sonny Rollins w/special guest Ornette Coleman
Jandek (w/Loren Mazzacane Connors, Matt Heyner & Chris Corsano as his band)
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Autechre
Kate Bush
Datblygu
The Fall
My Bloody Valentine
Autechre
Kate Bush
Datblygu
The Fall
My Bloody Valentine
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Cocteau Twins
The Blue Nile
Kate Bush
David Sylvian
Frazier Chorus
Cocteau Twins
The Blue Nile
Kate Bush
David Sylvian
Frazier Chorus
November 27, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've been to:
Fushitsusha
King Sunny Ade 8 PM - 4 AM marathon show
Fela Kuti
Sonny Rollins w/special guest Ornette Coleman
Jandek (w/Loren Mazzacane Connors, Matt Heyner & Chris Corsano as his band)
Fushitsusha
King Sunny Ade 8 PM - 4 AM marathon show
Fela Kuti
Sonny Rollins w/special guest Ornette Coleman
Jandek (w/Loren Mazzacane Connors, Matt Heyner & Chris Corsano as his band)
I am working today (editing a nonfiction manuscript), so I’m listening to Led Zeppelin at 10 AM.
November 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
I am working today (editing a nonfiction manuscript), so I’m listening to Led Zeppelin at 10 AM.
My favorite part of the whole Nuzzi/Lizza thing is all the other stenographers to power crying out piteously on Twitter and Bluesky and their own Substacks, “I swear, we’re not all disgusting craven sociopathic whores - it’s just those two, we promise! You can totally still trust the rest of us!”
November 27, 2025 at 4:08 AM
My favorite part of the whole Nuzzi/Lizza thing is all the other stenographers to power crying out piteously on Twitter and Bluesky and their own Substacks, “I swear, we’re not all disgusting craven sociopathic whores - it’s just those two, we promise! You can totally still trust the rest of us!”
Evening soundtrack: Soundgarden, Live On I-5, recorded in 1996 but not released until 2011. It came in a boxed set of their A&M albums, otherwise I wouldn't own it. But it's pretty good, and I never actually got to see them live.
November 27, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Evening soundtrack: Soundgarden, Live On I-5, recorded in 1996 but not released until 2011. It came in a boxed set of their A&M albums, otherwise I wouldn't own it. But it's pretty good, and I never actually got to see them live.
"All I wanted to do was make people laugh... so I created a comic strip about children racked by existential despair."
“All I wanted to do was make people laugh.”—Charles M. Schulz
🎂 Today, we celebrate the birthday of Charles M. Schulz, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922.
Thank you, Mr. Schulz, for all the happiness and laughter.
Photo by Michael Myers, c. 1954 © Schulz Museum.
🎂 Today, we celebrate the birthday of Charles M. Schulz, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922.
Thank you, Mr. Schulz, for all the happiness and laughter.
Photo by Michael Myers, c. 1954 © Schulz Museum.
November 26, 2025 at 8:54 PM
"All I wanted to do was make people laugh... so I created a comic strip about children racked by existential despair."
This piece is well worth reading, though IMO it overlooks the impact of a century of recorded music (and in particular the continued availability/omnipresence, of music from the last six decades) on the music being made today.
chrispitsiokos.substack.com/p/why-innova...
chrispitsiokos.substack.com/p/why-innova...
Why Innovation in So-Called Creative or Experimental Music is Frozen Solid
Or How the Creative Music Community Became the Least Creative Music Community
chrispitsiokos.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:34 PM
This piece is well worth reading, though IMO it overlooks the impact of a century of recorded music (and in particular the continued availability/omnipresence, of music from the last six decades) on the music being made today.
chrispitsiokos.substack.com/p/why-innova...
chrispitsiokos.substack.com/p/why-innova...
HELL YES. Ava Mendoza, gabby fluke-mogul & Carolina Pérez's album MAMA KILLA made @popmatters.com' Best Metal Of 2025 list!
www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...
www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...
November 26, 2025 at 2:58 PM
HELL YES. Ava Mendoza, gabby fluke-mogul & Carolina Pérez's album MAMA KILLA made @popmatters.com' Best Metal Of 2025 list!
www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...
www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...
I absolutely believe extraterrestrial life exists, AND that it is present on Earth, just not in a form we're looking for. It's a kind of lichen, or an invisible gas, or those things that swim by in your eyeballs.
New polling on aliens
% of U.S. adult citizens who believe the following definitely or probably exist:
Aliens 56%
Bigfoot 28%
The Yeti 23%
The Loch Ness Monster 22%
Chupacabra 16%
today.yougov.com/health/artic...
% of U.S. adult citizens who believe the following definitely or probably exist:
Aliens 56%
Bigfoot 28%
The Yeti 23%
The Loch Ness Monster 22%
Chupacabra 16%
today.yougov.com/health/artic...
November 26, 2025 at 5:33 AM
I absolutely believe extraterrestrial life exists, AND that it is present on Earth, just not in a form we're looking for. It's a kind of lichen, or an invisible gas, or those things that swim by in your eyeballs.
It's too bad you have to wait until you hit 50 to realize that basically nobody under 35 knows anything or has any opinions worth listening to. But it's science!
November 26, 2025 at 5:07 AM
It's too bad you have to wait until you hit 50 to realize that basically nobody under 35 knows anything or has any opinions worth listening to. But it's science!
Seems about right.
November 26, 2025 at 2:11 AM
Seems about right.
I have just discovered that Pussy Galore's albums Right Now!, Dial "M" For Motherfucker, and Sugarshit Sharp are on Qobuz. They are not on Spotify or Tidal. Advantage: Qobuz.
November 25, 2025 at 4:38 PM
I have just discovered that Pussy Galore's albums Right Now!, Dial "M" For Motherfucker, and Sugarshit Sharp are on Qobuz. They are not on Spotify or Tidal. Advantage: Qobuz.
Today's newsletter is a list of Five Albums You Need To Hear. All jazz, but crossing a broad spectrum of styles and approaches, from big band to abstract trumpet/drums duo.
burningambulance.substack.com/p/five-jazz-...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/five-jazz-...
Five Jazz Albums You Need To Hear
A big band, a duo, two trios, and a quintet...
burningambulance.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:08 PM
Today's newsletter is a list of Five Albums You Need To Hear. All jazz, but crossing a broad spectrum of styles and approaches, from big band to abstract trumpet/drums duo.
burningambulance.substack.com/p/five-jazz-...
burningambulance.substack.com/p/five-jazz-...
The incredible thing about this record isn't that Lou Reed made it, it's that the label released it in this form. Lou Reed's career — convincing one major label after another to release his awful music for 40+ years, while never selling shit — baffles me to no end.
this work of art retained its original review and C+ rating, however
www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/g...
www.thevinyldistrict.com/storefront/g...
Graded on a Curve: <br>Lou Reed, <br><em>Live: Take No Prisoners</em> - The Vinyl District
It was the best of Lou; it was the worst of Lou. I’m talking, of course, about Lou Reed’s infamous 1978 “comedy” album, Live: Take No Prisoners, which was recorded over a 4-day period at the Bottom Li...
www.thevinyldistrict.com
November 25, 2025 at 3:39 PM
The incredible thing about this record isn't that Lou Reed made it, it's that the label released it in this form. Lou Reed's career — convincing one major label after another to release his awful music for 40+ years, while never selling shit — baffles me to no end.
Remember your mom's line, "If all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you do it, too?" I do. That's how come I've never heard 95% of the music on all the year-end lists.
November 25, 2025 at 3:18 PM
Remember your mom's line, "If all your friends were jumping off a bridge, would you do it, too?" I do. That's how come I've never heard 95% of the music on all the year-end lists.
"No, no, Nick Cave's not a right-wing chud, he's a free thinker!"
November 25, 2025 at 2:12 AM
"No, no, Nick Cave's not a right-wing chud, he's a free thinker!"
Seeking recommendations of poets with a jazz orientation who might be interested in writing something for a 2026 CD. Please do NOT recommend a woman with the initials H.H. Thanks!
November 25, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Seeking recommendations of poets with a jazz orientation who might be interested in writing something for a 2026 CD. Please do NOT recommend a woman with the initials H.H. Thanks!
The 2021 deluxe reissue of Mingus At Carnegie Hall is one of the greatest examples I know of a reissue improving on the original album. In 1974, the LP offered only two side-long cutting contests. The 2CD version contains the whole concert, which is amazing.
November 24, 2025 at 9:11 PM
The 2021 deluxe reissue of Mingus At Carnegie Hall is one of the greatest examples I know of a reissue improving on the original album. In 1974, the LP offered only two side-long cutting contests. The 2CD version contains the whole concert, which is amazing.
Ross Perot deserves just as much credit for Bill Clinton's electoral victory in 1992 as James Carville. Remember that whenever Carville unhinges his jaw and lets out another belch of death-fog.
November 24, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Ross Perot deserves just as much credit for Bill Clinton's electoral victory in 1992 as James Carville. Remember that whenever Carville unhinges his jaw and lets out another belch of death-fog.
Reposted by Burning Ambulance (website/newsletter/record label)
Digital sketchbook.
November 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
Digital sketchbook.
Morning editing soundtrack: Glorious Depravity, Death Never Sleeps. Knuckle-walking NYC death metal from members of Woe, Gravesend and Pyrrhon.
gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-...
gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-...
Death Never Sleeps, by GLORIOUS DEPRAVITY
9 track album
gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com
November 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Morning editing soundtrack: Glorious Depravity, Death Never Sleeps. Knuckle-walking NYC death metal from members of Woe, Gravesend and Pyrrhon.
gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-...
gloriousdepravity-label.bandcamp.com/album/death-...
RIP Udo Kier, who never appeared in a Star Wars or Harry Potter movie. (He was in one Marvel movie: BLADE.)
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
Udo Kier, German Actor Who Appeared in ‘My Own Private Idaho,’ ‘Andy Warhol’s Frankenstein,’ Dies at 81
Udo Kier, a German actor who collaborated with everyone from Andy Warhol to Lars von Trier to Madonna, died on Sunday morning. He was 81.
variety.com
November 24, 2025 at 12:58 AM
RIP Udo Kier, who never appeared in a Star Wars or Harry Potter movie. (He was in one Marvel movie: BLADE.)
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
variety.com/2025/film/ne...
Do you want total war
Throw out Christ and bring back Thor?
Do you want total war
Unleash the beast in man once more?
Do you want total war
Dance and do the lion's roar?
Throw out Christ and bring back Thor?
Do you want total war
Unleash the beast in man once more?
Do you want total war
Dance and do the lion's roar?
November 23, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Do you want total war
Throw out Christ and bring back Thor?
Do you want total war
Unleash the beast in man once more?
Do you want total war
Dance and do the lion's roar?
Throw out Christ and bring back Thor?
Do you want total war
Unleash the beast in man once more?
Do you want total war
Dance and do the lion's roar?
Wow, QUARTET (ENGLAND) 1985 got a mention — and a link — in that big Braxton article in the New York Times, thanks to Seth Colter Walls!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/a...
At 80, This Composer Is Easier Than Ever to Celebrate
www.nytimes.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Wow, QUARTET (ENGLAND) 1985 got a mention — and a link — in that big Braxton article in the New York Times, thanks to Seth Colter Walls!
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/a...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/a...
Good news; they're still naming NEA Jazz Masters. The 2026 honorees were announced this week — vocalist Carmen Lundy, percussionist Airto Moreira, keyboardist/vocalist Patrice Rushen, and DJ Rhonda Hamilton.
www.arts.gov/news/press-r...
www.arts.gov/news/press-r...
2026 NEA Jazz Masters Announced
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Jazz Masters Fellowship is the highest award bestowed by our nation on jazz musicians and advocates. The 2026 recipients of this honor are Carmen Lundy, Airto...
www.arts.gov
November 22, 2025 at 8:06 PM
Good news; they're still naming NEA Jazz Masters. The 2026 honorees were announced this week — vocalist Carmen Lundy, percussionist Airto Moreira, keyboardist/vocalist Patrice Rushen, and DJ Rhonda Hamilton.
www.arts.gov/news/press-r...
www.arts.gov/news/press-r...