Pif Paf.

C'est l'histoire du Président et de Greg de Villanova dans un avion. Ils volent au-dessus de la Belgique, mais il n'y a plus de pilote et il ne reste qu'un seul parachute. Une histoire très drôle - deux heures d'émission nocturne quand les enfants sont couchés - une histoire où l'on ne comprend qu'à la fin où les deux protagonistes voulaient en venir. Aux mains. Se battre pour la supériorité de leurs vinyles de jazz respectifs. Forcément, il y a un peu de violence. Mais pas trop. Juste ce qu'il faut pour que le perdant ait la sensation de s'écraser pour de vrai.

🌎 Battle Jazz Galactica serves up full-length jazz tracks on vinyl, with le Président and Greg de Villanova trading Parisian jabs between sides. This one moves from Marco Di Marco & Chris Woods Sextet’s bossa groove to Miles Davis’ modal monument “So What”, then into Donald Byrd, Oliver Nelson and Horace Silver. Hard bop, modal jazz and a touch of soul jazz, with enough swagger to keep the feud simmering.

1. Bossa With Regarde - Marco Di Marco & Chris Wood Sextet.
2. Get Out of Town - Thad Jones.
3. Neo - J.J.Johnson.
4. So What - Miles Davis.
5. John Coltrane - Clifford Jordan Quartet.
6. (Fallin’ Like) Dominoes - Donald Byrd.
7. Skull Session - Oliver Nelson.
8. Fly Me To The Moon (At the Sands) - Frank Sinatra.
9. Oh Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess - Cannonball Adderley Quintet.
10. Cartoon - Paul Bley.
11. The Belly Dancer - Horace Silver.
12. I Am All Smiles - The Kenny Clarke-Francy Bolland Big Band.
13. Fearless Warriors - Life Force.
14. Shiny Stockings - Joe Newman.
15. The Emperor - Donald Byrd.

📝 Yz₃·∇-42⋮G, 16 December 2024(Planet number 18)

Hide tents stand in bright clusters across the rolling grassland, their solar seams weighted against the wind. At the communal fire, travellers dry their socks beside a notice listing roads closed by the war.

Le Président insists their tent faces sunrise. Greg de Villanova produces a compass. Neither releases the centre pole; a woman waiting to reclaim her washing line asks them to settle it.

Marco Di Marco’s grooved wooden bowls attract devoted collectors. Chris Woods, formerly quartermaster to several enormous caravans, eats from one beside him, testing whether the fashionable shallow rim actually retains stew.

Thad Jones and Mel Lewis jointly run the passenger sledges. At Market Lane, Jones reserves two adjoining seats for his sweetheart; Lewis points to the queue extending past the checkpoint.

J.J. Johnson now writes dramas for tent-wall projectors. At the Weaving Circle, his wife reads a declaration of love over his shoulder and asks which neighbour supplied the dialogue.

Miles Davis abandons his academy course for an apprenticeship among the crowded city tents. Now he cooks supper on an electric griddle; his aunt keeps offering him perfectly serviceable charcoal.

Clifford Jordan lays two glass-bead boards beside the fire, one honouring John Coltrane, another Eddie Harris. Players exchange partners between rounds. Billy Higgins remains referee, keeping both bowls of sweets.

Donald Byrd’s black sunshades outsell everything else in the blue-dyers’ cooperative. Along Market Lane, customers compare discounts beneath his demonstration canopy while he discreetly lowers its rear edge against the wind.

Oliver Nelson is known for stealing short rests behind the communal water tank. He wedges his appointment slate beneath one foot, so arriving clients must wake him to retrieve it.

Frank Sinatra officiates at weddings on the Sunset Overlook. His delivery borrows from auctioneers and long-distance herd callers; even the bride’s deaf grandfather hears the question about previous marriages.

Cannonball Adderley, formerly a schoolteacher, queues twice for roast marrow. His old pupils still call him Cannibal. He checks their arithmetic while they calculate how many portions he owes them.

Paul Bley, a northerner with a reputation for experiments, abandons straight tent walls altogether. Visitors to his inflatable dining room sit wherever the wind briefly permits a corner to form.

Horace Silver leaves the messenger service he founded with Art Blakey to simmer his father’s island bean recipe. Three cousins dispute the seasoning; he gives each a separate spoon.

Kenny Clarke and Francy Boland run a travelling bathhouse staffed by veteran foreign attendants and leading local steam specialists. At dusk, everyone competes to make the smallest ration of soap last.

Life Force founders Howard Nicholson and Joe Jennings sell stamped pendants honouring equal-rights campaigners at the Central Gathering. The batch sells out; their die-caster files for bankruptcy during lunch.

Joe Newman, long in Count Basie’s household, fishes beside the migration ford. He favours a leisurely blue-lure technique and declines to hurry when the count’s cook arrives carrying an empty bucket.

Donald Byrd teaches at several travelling colleges while managing his sunshade business. Today’s seminar concerns heat transfer; students beneath a patched hide awning ask whether their lecturer offers an educational discount.

The dishwasher makes a clicking noise.

BATTLE JAZZ GALACTICA

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