What Jazz are you listening to now?

[vers la flamme]

One of my favorites. I just gave it a spin on the turntable the other day.

[T. D.]

Lester Bowie, The Great Pretender
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Avant Pop and I Only Have Eyes For You
from

[San Antone]

One of my favorites. I just gave it a spin on the turntable the other day.

I listen to it regularly.  I watched a film about the making of the record and Herbie Hancock considers it on the same standing as a Beethoven symphony, or other classical masterpieces, and people will be listening to it 200 years from now.  I must say I agree with him.

[SimonNZ]

Lester Bowie, The Great Pretender
Lester Bowie's Brass Fantasy, Avant Pop and I Only Have Eyes For You
from

Woah. Is that reissued material or new stuff from the vaults?

[T. D.]

Woah. Is that reissued material or new stuff from the vaults?

Reissued material, much of it not formally under AEC name (Bowie, Smith, De Johnette, Mitchell as leaders plus an Evan Parker title). Box came out in late 2018 iirc.
I saw the AEC live a couple of times in the 1974-80 time range but owned very few recordings (and few on ECM in general), so purchased the set. There are some discs I don't love and will rarely play, but more than enough material I enjoy to make it worthwhile.

[San Antone]

Music and paintings share so many characteristics – textures, colors, layers, line, form, shape – and when these two art forms come together, they create a bold new medium. Jazz and Art, the latest studio album from the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, lets listeners experience that transcendent combination firsthand through seven imaginative works from celebrated composers. Taking inspiration from artists like Romare Bearden, Piet Mondrian, and Stuart Davis, the Orchestra constructs elaborate, evocative soundscapes that joyously explore the act of creation. Wynton Marsalis Website

As is usually the case, the JLCO with Wynton Marsalis has released an excellent recording featuring great soloing, band arrangements and original compositions by a talented variety of musicians.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Stuart Davis for the Masses: The Mellow Pad - For Stuart Davis
Written & Arranged by Doug Wamble
Solo: Vincent Gardner (trombone)

2. Stuart Davis for the Masses: Garage Lights - For Stuart Davis
Written & Arranged by Doug Wamble
Solo: Marcus Printup (trumpet), Sherman Irby (alto saxophone)

3. Stuart Davis for the Masses: New York - For Stuart Davis
Written & Arranged by Doug Wamble
Solo: Dan Nimmer (piano)

4. Blue Twirl - For Sam Gilliam
Written & Arranged by Vincent Gardner
Solo: Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Ted Nash (alto saxophone), Elliot Mason (trombone)

5. Bearden (The Block) - For Romare Bearden
Written & Arranged by Chris Crenshaw
Solo: Dan Nimmer (piano), Victor Goines (tenor saxophone)

6. Air, Earth, Fire, Water (Orisha Medley) - For Wifredo Lam
Written & Arranged by Papo Vasquez
Solo: Papo Vazquez (trombone), Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)

7. Winslow Homer: Homer's Waltz - For Winslow Homer
Written by Bill Frisell
Arranged by Andy Farber
Solo: Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone)

8. Winslow Homer: Homer's Blues - For Winslow Homer
Written by Bill Frisell
Arranged by Andy Farber
Solo: Wynton Marsalis (trumpet), Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone), Dan Nimmer (piano)

9. The Repose in All Things - For Piet Mondrian
Written & Arranged by Tim Armacost
Solo: Sherman Irby (alto saxophone), Ryan Kisor (trumpet)

10. Twilight Sounds - For Norman Lewis
Written & Arranged by Sherman Irby
Solo: Victor Goines (bass clarinet), Wynton Marsalis (trumpet)

Personnel:

THE JAZZ AT LINCOLN CENTER ORCHESTRA WITH WYNTON MARSALIS

REEDS
Sherman Irby (alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute)
Ted Nash (alto saxophone, clarinet, and flute)
Victor Goines (tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and clarinet)
Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone)
Joe Temperley (baritone saxophone, bass clarinet)

TRUMPETS
Ryan Kisor
Marcus Printup
Kenny Rampton
Wynton Marsalis, trumpet and vocals

TROMBONES
Vincent Gardner
Chris Crenshaw
Elliot Mason

RHYTHM SECTION
Dan Nimmer, piano
Carlos Henriquez, bass
Ali Jackson, drums and tambourine

Special Guests:
Papo Vazquez, trombone
Iwao Sado, Batá drums
Xavier Rivera, Batá drums
Anthony Carrillo, Batá drums

Executive Producer: Wynton Marsalis

[SimonNZ]

Eighty-three WM albums listed in his Wikipedia discography 1982-2018, not including this one, and not including sideman work.

[San Antone]

Eighty-three WM albums listed in his Wikipedia discography 1982-2018, not including this one, and not including sideman work.

That one is the soundtrack for the 2019 film: "The soundtrack is made up of 26 tracks, including Marsalis originals, songs associated with Bolden and his musical descendant Louis Armstrong. Marsalis led recording sessions in New York City with the trumpeter joined by Ali Jackson (drums), Brianna Thomas (vocals), Carlos Henriquez (bass), Catherine Russell (vocals), Dan Nimmer (piano), Don Vappie (guitar, vocals), Julie Bruskin (cello), Marcus Printup (trumpet), Michael White (Bb clarinet), Reno Wilson (vocals), Sherman Irby (alto saxophone), Ted Nash (alto saxophone, clarinet), Victor Goines (alto saxophone, clarinet, C clarinet), Vincent Gardner (slide trombone, valve trombone), Walter Blanding (tenor saxophone, clarinet) and Wycliffe Gordon (slide trombone, valve trombone)."

It is included in his discography on his website.  While I did not think the film was very good, at least IMO, the music on that record is excellent.

TD

The Abyssinian Mass



JLCO with Wynton Marsalis and Chorale Le Chateau

In 2008 Wynton Marsalis was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. The result was a sacred celebration: a sweeping composition for a big band and 70-piece gospel choir. In 2013, award-winning recording artist Damien Sneed and his choir, Chorale Le Chateau, joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for a 16-city, 19-concert tour across the South that took the musicians into deep dialogue with the African American tradition. Now, The Abyssinian Mass—Marsalis's first original recorded composition in six years—documents this piece's immense power to make audiences clap their hands and sing along to its joyous spirituality, its profound swing, and its bluesy swagger.

[T. D.]

Continuing from yesterday,

[San Antone]

Marsalis Plays Monk - Standard Time, Vol. 4

Just as Thelonious Monk remains the most modern of jazz composers some twenty years after his death, so Wynton found inspiration for playing his music in the groundbreaking, and still avant-garde, music that Louis Armstrong created with his 1927 and 1928 jazz orchestras. Both Armstrong and Monk were artists of great surprise. On the evidence here – provocative interpretations of "Evidence," "Let's Cool One," "Brilliant Corners," and other Monk masterpieces – there's no doubt that Wynton is, too. Website

[George]

[T. D.]

   
I. Q. makes an excellent cameo appearance on one tune (Deep in a dream) of the Sonny Clark release.

[San Antone]

[T. D.]

Whoa, two giants! A classic recording.
Recent and planned listening for today:
 
I purchased the latter on a complete flyer, but it's one of the very best BS/SN boxes I've heard.

[San Antone]

Kandace Springs - The Women Who Raised Me



Singer and pianist Kandace Springs — whose soulful singing led her late mentor Prince to praise her "voice that can melt snow" — has announced her newest project, The Women Who Raised Me, out March 27 on Blue Note Records. Produced by GRAMMY-winning producer Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock) — who produced Springs' 2016 debut Soul Eyes — The Women Who Raised Me is a tribute album to the female vocalists who most impacted Springs' music, stylings, and journey.

[George]

Kandace Springs - The Women Who Raised Me

Wow! A new Kandace album? 

[San Antone]

Wow! A new Kandace album? 

Yep - landed about a week ago.

[George]

Yep - landed about a week ago.

Cool.

[T. D.]

Over a couple of days:
 
 

[Brian]

Random bit of news: 82-year-old bassist Reggie Workman has just won a Guggenheim Fellowship!

Last night first time listening to Thelonious Monk's complete sessions for "Les Liaisons Dangereuses". Luxurious packaging and notations. Barney Wilen doesn't get to improvise much at all, but when he plays he sounds like Coleman Hawkins Jr.