Fresh off his latest celebratory run at Iridium last week, Anthony Braxton was spotted by Hank Shteamer last night at a Bowery Ballroom show by Battles, in which Braxton’s son Tyondai plays with former Helmet drummer John Stanier among others. According to Hank’s brief eyewitness account on the TONY Blog, the elder Braxton appeared to be heartily enjoying his son’s efforts.

During that Iridium run, the generous Braxton took the time to have lunch at the BenAsh Deli with members of the Braxton discussion group on Yahoo Groups. Among the revelations provided in a lively, extensive report posted by Don Phipps is a series of upcoming European collaborations with Cecil Taylor:

He responded to a question about his upcoming concerts with Cecil Taylor by saying he is playing three concerts (these have still NOT been confirmed) with Cecil, two in Bologna, Italy (October 11 and 13) – a duo and a quartet (Tony Oxley will be the drummer but he could not say with certainty who the bass player would be), and a single concert in London on July 8 – a quartet (Tony Oxley again the drummer, bass player yet to be determined). He also said that he and Cecil had never played together, even though they hung out together at Antioch College during the 70s.

A subsequent post by Jan Carlsson made this news even juicier: The Southbank Centre in London has announced that the bassist for the Royal Festival Hall date of July 8 is to be none other than William Parker — thus reuniting Taylor’s epic Feel Trio of the ’90s, with Braxton added. The only member of the band which whom Braxton has previously played is Oxley, documented on a superb, long out-of-print and highly desirable disc on the Hat Art label, Seven Compositions (Trio) 1989.

[EDIT: Braxton has also played with Parker on a few occasions, as well — which I should have suspected, given how much that bassist gets around. See the appended comments for details.]

Please, please, someone book this quartet in New York.

Taylor will be involved in an even more unlikely collaboration here in town next month. On Sunday, May 6, Taylor’s excellent current group, the New AHA 3 (with bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Pheeroan akLaff), will play two sets at the Blue Note with the mellifluous vocalist Andy Bey. This is not a double bill: Bey is actually singing with Taylor’s group, a club representative has assured me.

Much as I adore Bey’s work, I literally cannot begin to imagine what this collaboration will be like. And as it happens, I’ll be driving a big truck full of furniture from Richmond, VA, to New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens that day. But if there’s any way I can make it to the Blue Note that night, I definitely plan to do so.