New Jazz Releases

Started by San Antone, September 14, 2012, 10:59:02 AM

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San Antone

Quote from: Henk on June 12, 2015, 11:29:39 AM
I like older stuff as well. But nobody here seems to have interest in 80s jazz for instance.

Well maybe since this thread is for new jazz releases the '80s are off topic.  New jazz releases would be things coming out now - not 30 years ago.  You will probably find a lot of discussion of '80s jazz in other threads. 

Henk

Quote from: sanantonio on June 12, 2015, 11:32:06 AM
Well maybe since this thread is for new jazz releases the '80s are off topic.  New jazz releases would be things coming out now - not 30 years ago.  You will probably find a lot of discussion of '80s jazz in other threads.

I don't understand this post.  I still play old stuff however. Let's move ahead, ok?

San Antone

Quote from: Henk on June 12, 2015, 11:35:17 AM
I don't understand this post.  I still play old stuff however. Let's move ahead, ok?

I am not talking about listening I'm talking about the posts in this thread.  If people are not talking about '80s jazz in this thread I gave you a reason. 

James

Scott Henderson is best known as the guitarist for the legendary fusion group Tribal Tech, and also for his sideman work with Chick Corea, Jean-Luc Ponty, and Weather Report's Joe Zawinul. He also plays in the group HBC with bassist Jeff Berlin and drummer Dennis Chambers.

In 1991, Scott was named by Guitar World as the #1 Jazz Guitarist, and in January 1992, he was named #1 Jazz Guitarist in Guitar Player's Annual Reader's Poll. His first solo blues album "Dog Party" won best blues album of 1994 in Guitar Player Magazine.

Vibe Station is his most ambitious work to date, and features Travis Carlton on bass and Alan Hertz on drums. The music can only be described as a mixture of edgy blues rock, funk, and modern melodic jazz, amid a huge soundscape of guitar tones and textures.


"Besides his superior technical acumen, Henderson's compositions are inherently witty. One of the top guitarists in the biz, regardless of genre." allaboutjazz.com

"The Los Angeles based fusion hero is fully steeped in both jazz and rock traditions, and has woven them together to create one of the most powerful voices in fusion guitar." Guitar Player Magazine

"From humble beginnings on South Florida's club circuit, Scott Henderson has ascended to his current status as one of the world's most versatile guitarists." fusemag.com

"Scott's tone is pretty much perfect. His sound is always right on the money. Even when he stomps on the pedals and makes it sound like anything from a Far East jam to a hoedown, his sound is unmistakably his." Vintage Guitar

"Henderson is one of the few original electric guitar soloists capable of weaving an intelligent flurry of 128th notes with compelling emotional intensity and inventiveness, possessing ideas to match to his level of phrasing and technique." allaboutjazz.com

"Henderson's guitar soars high, sometimes tender. Sophisticated, technical and soulful, his playing bristles with intelligence, never crossing the line into excess." Guitar Player Magazine


[asin]B00X1B4YEI[/asin]
Scott Henderson: Vibe Station (2015)
By GLENN ASTARITA, Published: June 10, 2015   

Guitarist Scott Henderson is one of a select few artists who raised jazz fusion from the embers in the 80s, namely with the band, Tribal Tech. Indeed, this unit proffered a much needed uplift via a far-reaching perspective and armed with a torrential improvisational credo on numerous fronts. Since then, the guitarist has performed with other high-flying units but as a solo artist, he often kicks out the jazz rock, fusion and blues rock jams within the power trio format. Henderson's searing wizardry is vividly perceptible on Vibe Station, as he often converses with himself by modulating distortion-based tones on his electric guitar and by creating a polychromatic aural feast with variable currents and intensity levels.

Henderson wreaks havoc on his guitar amid howling bottleneck notes, multihued chord voicings and ungodly hype-mode licks atop the rhythm section's slamming grooves and agile progressions. He often harmonizes with bassist Travis Carlton and during a variety of movements the trio summons an Armageddon with supple and heightening choruses within the prog-metal domain.

The title track "Vibe Station," is centered on jazz and funk motifs, countered by the leader's gravelly phrasings, blazing runs and shock-therapy type cadenzas. Henderson uses an electric sitar or perhaps some electronics-based sampling process on the humming and buzzing jazz fusion fest "Manic Carpet," abetted by his fervent call and response dialogue with drummer Alan Hertz during the bridge. And the jazz influences resurface with a Thelonious Monk-like primary theme and prickly bop lines on "The Covered Head," as the band surges into a lofty and tempestuous improv segment, revved up by Henderson's caustic shadings, weeping breakouts and supersonic single note riffs.

"Dew Wot?" is another piece where the tide shifts and momentum builds upon a twirling and shuffling cadence, seguing into a hot n' nasty blues rock foray, contrasted with knotty time signatures, used as a passageway into an interminable abyss. Ultimately, Vibe Station should be deemed essential listening for Henderson's legion of admirers, along with curious students and others not thoroughly acquainted with his formidable legacy.

Track Listing: Church of Xotic Dance; Sphinx; Vibe Station; Manic Carpet; Calhoun; The Covered Head; Festival of Ghosts; Dew Wot?; Chelsea Bridge.

Personnel: Scott Henderson: guitar; Travis Carlton: bass; Alan Hertz: drums.

Record Label: Self Produced
Action is the only truth

Henk

#164
Quote from: king ubu on June 12, 2015, 05:34:20 AM
Not sure why there's so much venom in jazz threads here. Jazz is/was/will be the music of the 20th c. It still lives on as a point of reference and there's still plenty of good stuff going on, but it's far from what it was in its best days, as far as relevance/perception/influence goes. I for one prefer alive guys for concerts, that's for sure. As for listening at home ... it often puzzles me how little (very, very little) interest many self-proclaimed jazz lovers have in the history of their music. So please go listen to some Jelly Roll, Luis Russell, Fletcher Henderson or Jimmie Lunceford. At least every once in a while.

Pre-80s you mean maybe?

Maybe. I love to listen to new stuff however, maybe that's more my orientation. I know much old stuff however.

I guess I have a better opinion about new jazz however, because I follow closely what happens.

Henk

~
[asin]B00V435RIW[/asin]

king ubu

Quote from: Henk on June 12, 2015, 12:10:44 PM
Pre-80s you mean maybe?

Maybe. I love to listen to new stuff however, maybe that's more my orientation. I know much old stuff however.

I guess I have a better opinion about new jazz however, because I follow closely what happens.

Well, pre-Marsalis museum music/retro crap for sure, but there was a break in the forties (bebop) and another one in the sixties (rock) that had jazz venues disappear and made life increasingly hard for many a performing jazz musician. The music remained alive - and does so until today, but mostly in niches and not in any form that retains much relevance on a broader scope, I guess. If you want that later, today's jazz would be albums like D'Angelo's brilliant "Black Messiah" or Kendrick Lamar's "To Pimp a Butterfly" ... and yeah, that rather lengthy and partly boring "The Epic" by Kamasi Washington.

However, in creative music, if you allow me to use one more silly term that needs be filled with content first, there's still plenty of good stuff around. Haven't heard the Peacock, but ECM also brought out "Made in Chicago" recently, which is a terrific document and ample demonstration of the force the Chicago scene remains. Or there's Matana Roberts (also briefly touched by the windy city - Fred Anderson, Lin Halliday, Ira Sullivan ... and Sun Ra!) ... and of course jazz has long become global, which means in part at least far removed from its roots (which, I assume, never were quite as unambiguous as some would have it, but still, no denying who's music it initially was). But there are many great musicians out of France (Michel Portal, Martial Solal, Henri Texier, Louis Sclavis, Bernard Lubat, Emmanuel Bex, Géraldine Laurent, Sophie Alour), Italy (Giorgio Gaslini, Gianluigi Trovesi, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Tiziano Tononi, Roberto Ottaviano) or even little Switzerland (Irène Schweizer, Pierre Favre, Malcolm Braff, Colin Vallon, Elina Duni) ... and there are many, many more. One particularly outstanding young musician, in my opinion, is english pianist Alexander Hawkins. He performs solo, trio, and with his own combo, as well as with Louis Moholo (duo, quartet, larger groups) and is in the backing band of Mulatu Astatke.
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

escher

probably I'm missing great things, but I have to say that compared to old jazz I'm often very underwhelmed by new musicians.
Having a passion for guitar for instance when I hear people talking of people like Rosenwinkel like he's a sort of god it's not a great encouragement to listen more. I feel that a lot of that music (Rosenwinkel is just an example) is so academic and cold, but not like in a good way like Giuffre or Teddy Charles or George Russell etc. I mean I love cerebral and subtle jazz. But in the case of a lot of young musicians I simply find it boring, lifeless and "professional".

king ubu

#168
Guess the fact that I often felt (and feel,  if O stumble over stuff I mostly skip these days) similar is why I made use of the term "creative music" above.

Live, I enjoy lots of free improv and all kinds of contemporary stuff, from old guys like Anthony Braxton or Roscoe Mitchell who remain rooted in the jazz tradition to others like, say Evan Parker, John Butcher, Alexander von Schlippenbach, to young local guys ...
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

king ubu



Okay, on topic: got a parcel from Relative Pitch today, including the new solo disc by Matana Roberts, always - I'm a big fan of hers, but I've yet to hear any release that captures the burning intensity and depth of her live concerts ... Coin Coin Chapter 2 live was the best so far, Chapter 3 is studio-only of course and not bad at all, in fact probably pretty darn great, but it won't get people onto the dancefloor like Kamasi Washington's updated version of Incognito will ... anyways.



The true revelation though, turns out to be the disc I just added to my order to make sense of shipping costs, Matthew Shipp's new one on the same label, "The Gospel According to Matthew and Michael, a trio recording  with Michael Bisio (b) and Mat Maneri (vla). Highly recommended!
Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Henk


Henk

~
[asin]B00VUVD6DG[/asin] [asin]B00WGX6B84[/asin]

Purusha

Quote from: sanantonio on June 12, 2015, 05:54:11 AM
I agree that people should listen to new jazz recordings, of which there are many that are excellent and just as good as older recordings.

Ho? Can you name a modern recording that is as good as a Kind of Blue, or a Giant Steps?


king ubu

Es wollt ein meydlein grasen gan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Und do die roten röslein stan:
Fick mich, lieber Peter!
Fick mich mehr, du hast dein ehr.
Kannstu nit, ich wills dich lern.
Fick mich, lieber Peter!

http://ubus-notizen.blogspot.ch/

Henk


San Antone

Quote from: Purusha on June 21, 2015, 10:16:06 PM
Ho? Can you name a modern recording that is as good as a Kind of Blue, or a Giant Steps?

I don't do "as good as X" or rankings.  I prefer to just highlight good jazz recordings, released in the 21st century, like ...

Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood (2008).  Great straight ahead playing, which I think compares well with classic Blue Notes dates from the '60s.  But you may not agree.

Dave Holland Quintet – Extended Play: Live at Birdland (2003).  Some people think the Dave Holland Quintet is the Coltrane Quartet of today.  But you may not agree.

Jason Moran – Modernistic (2002).  Solo piano as anything from the 1950s-1960s.  But you may not agree.

Paul Motian / Bill Frisell / Joe Lovano – I Have the Room Above Her (2005).  Just very good. 

John Abercrombie – The Third Quartet (2007)

I could go on, but really, is there any point?  My guess is that you will never be convinced.

Henk

Quote from: sanantonio on June 24, 2015, 08:55:48 AM
I don't do "as good as X" or rankings.  I prefer to just highlight good jazz recordings, released in the 21st century, like ...

Roy Hargrove Quintet – Earfood (2008).  Great straight ahead playing, which I think compares well with classic Blue Notes dates from the '60s.  But you may not agree.

Dave Holland Quintet – Extended Play: Live at Birdland (2003).  Some people think the Dave Holland Quintet is the Coltrane Quartet of today.  But you may not agree.

Jason Moran – Modernistic (2002).  Solo piano as anything from the 1950s-1960s.  But you may not agree.

Paul Motian / Bill Frisell / Joe Lovano – I Have the Room Above Her (2005).  Just very good. 

John Abercrombie – The Third Quartet (2007)

I could go on, but really, is there any point?  My guess is that you will never be convinced.

Not one of the above would be a favorite of mine. With makes things just more complex for a layman..

Dancing Divertimentian

Quote from: Henk on June 24, 2015, 09:37:55 AM
Not one of the above would be a favorite of mine. With makes things just more complex for a layman..

Hmm...well, personally I'm intrigued by sanantonio's list and I've added the recordings to my "audition list". Looking forward to listening to them.

As far as the comparison game, it's a losing battle to go this route. It's as much a dead end as comparing "classical symphony X to Beethoven's 5th symphony".
   
For myself, I've enjoyed cherry-picking from contemporary jazz and have found recordings I like every bit as much as Kind Of Blue and Giant Steps. My formula is simple: if I like something I buy it...and enjoy it.

Veit Bach-a baker who found his greatest pleasure in a little cittern which he took with him even into the mill and played while the grinding was going on. In this way he had a chance to have the rhythm drilled into him. And this was the beginning of a musical inclination in his descendants. JS Bach

Mirror Image

Quote from: Purusha on June 21, 2015, 10:16:06 PM
Ho? Can you name a modern recording that is as good as a Kind of Blue, or a Giant Steps?

Since when did listening/enjoying a recording become some kind of contest? Did I miss one of the memos?

For me, this album is as good as Kind of Blue (don't like Giant Steps):



This album is so good that I can put it on repeat and never get tired of it, but, again, enjoying music shouldn't be about finding something better, it should be about finding the kind of music that moves you the most and people should just forget whether it's 'groundbreaking' or 'ahead of its time'. I think this kind of mentality completely drains the life out of listening to music.

Henk

#179