What Jazz are you listening to now?

Started by Gurn Blanston, June 12, 2015, 06:16:31 AM

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SimonNZ

#2400


Vic Juris - Pastels (1995)
David Murray - Live At Sweet Basil Vol.1 (1984)



David Liebman - Lookout Farm (1973)


king ubu

#2401
Loads of Martial Solal lately ... dude was born in Algiers (to French parents) in 1927, started classical piano at 6, fell for jazz during WWII, was heard on radio in Algeria in Morocco in the forties, took a couple of attempts to make it in Paris until he really made it. Recorded with Django Reinhardt in 1953 (Django's final session) and used the same rhythm section for his own debut in trio format ... played with Fats Sadi, the Belgian vibraphone player (aka Sadi, officially Sadi Lallemand), met to record with Kentonians and other greats of the day (Allen Eager!), played on a gorgeous Sidney Bechet album full with standards and joy (with two beboppers alternating on drums, Al Levitt and Kenny "Klook" Clarke), played often with Lucky Thompson when the later was in Paris (in between 1956 and 1961, the later being the year Thompson's masterpiece" "Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know" was put down for Candid, only to be released in 1997 - with Solal, Klook and the great Peter Trunk on bass), collaborated various times with André Hodeir (at least from the fifties to the eighties, as far as recordings go), led various incarnations of a fantastic piano trio often with the great Daniel Humair on drums, had a longstanding partnership with Lee Konitz (that yielded various great records over roughly a 15 year period from the late sixties into the eighties), led his big band, his Dodecaband (3 t, 2 tb, tuba, 3 sax + 3 rhythm), has made duo records with other greats such as Johnny Griffin, Stéphane Grappelli, Joachim Kühn (sorry, don't like him, don't really like their duo album much either) or Dave Douglas ... and can be considered one of the very, very few true heirs to Art Tatum in terms of technical prowess. Yet he is full of humour and very serious as a musician (of course, humour without that wouldn't be funny, would it?) and knew in the fifties already how to temper his amazing virtuosity in order not to overdo it. Got it? Oh, of course he wrote the music for JLG's "A bout de souffle" and following that for various other films ("Le procès" anyone? The old Gare d'Orsay was good for something after all, even before being turned into one of the world's greatest art museums!), he tried some electronic stuff, went back to the roots and did plenty of solo piano ... and he crossed over (ha! that's the same direction I took) into classical, too, composing a piano concerto and then some (there is a new recording just out of his piano music, not sure I need to check it out ... his own Erato discs I mostly don't have, too rich as far as prices go these days, alas).

So, how's that? Check him out!



Martial Solal - The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol. 2 (BMG France, 1998; contains his debut in and various other trio sessions, rec. 1953-55)
Martial Solal - The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol. 2 (BMG France, 1998; contains the 12 sides with Sadi and his 14 earliest solo titles)



Martial Solal - The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol. 3 (BMG France, 1999; contains the 1956 album "Escale à Paris" with Vinnie Tano, Carl Fontana, Don Rendell, Curtis Counce and Mel Lewis, and Solal's first big band date from the same year)
Kenny Clarke's Sextet Plays André Hodeir (Philips/Universal France, 2000; rec. 1957 - third-streamish but good stuff with Roger Guérin, Billy Byers, Solal, René Urtreger a.o.)



Martial Solal - Live 1959/85: The Best (Flat & Sharp, 1986; rec. 1959-85)
Martial Solal - Live 1964/85: Encores (Flat & Sharp, 1986; rec. 1964-85)

These were extracted from a 4 LP set and include a host of live and radio sessions feat. the likes of Roger Guerin, Guy Pedersen, Daniel Humair, as well as solos and duos with Lee Konitz, John Lewis, Jean-Louis Chautemps, Stéphane Grappelli etc.



Lucky Thompson - Lucky in Paris (Highnote, 1999; rec. 1959 - more of Lucky's finest!)
Django Reinhardt - Nuages (Blue Star/Decca, Universal France, 2002; rec. 1953 - Solal is on the final four tracks - Sadi on vibes also present - recorded for Decca, the other eight tracks were done for Blue Star with Maurice Vander on piano)



Martial Solal Trio - Sans tambour ni trompette (RCA/BMG France, 2004; rec. 1970, trio with two bassists: Gilbert Rovère & Jean-François Jenny Clark)
Martial Solal - En Solo (RCA/BMG France, 2004; rec. 1971)



Martial Solal/NHOP/Daniel Humair - Suite for Trio (MPS/PolyGram, 1990; rec. 1978)
Martial Solal Trio - Longitude (CAM Jazz, 2008; rec. 2007)



Martial Solal Trio feat. Peter Erskine & Marc Johnson - Triangle (JMS, 1995)
Lucky Thompson - Lord, Lord, Am I Ever Gonna Know? (Candid, 1997; rec. 1961 - the aforementioned masterpiece)



Sidney Bechet/Martial Solal Quartet (Vogue/BMG France, 2004; rec. 1957)
Martial Solal - The Complete Vogue Recordings Vol. 4 (contains the 1957 album "Reunion à Paris" with Allen Eager, Klook, Jimmy Deuchar, Billy Byers, Benoît Quersin & some 1957/58 big band sessions by Solal et son grand orchestre)



Hans Koller & Friends - Legends Live (Jazzhaus/SWR Music, 2013; Solal is on the 1959 session)
Attila Zoller/Hans Koller/Martial Solal - Zoller/Koller/Solal (aka ZoKoSo) (MPS/Universal, 2003; rec. 1965)



Stéphane Grappelli/Martial Solal - Reunion (Owl, 2001; rec. 1980)
Martial Solal/Joachim Kühn - Duo in Paris (Dreyfus, 1991; rec. live 1975)



Lee Konitz/Martial Solal - European Episode/Impressive Rome (CAM Jazz, 2 CD, 2006; rec. 1968)
Lee Konitz Quartet - Jazz à Juan (Steeplechase, 1986; rec. live 1974)



Lee Konitz & Martial Solal - Star Eyes: Hamburg 1983 (hatOLOGY, 1998; rec. live 1983)
Martial Solal/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian - Just Friends (Dreyfus, 1997)



Martial Solal & The Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra/Martial Solal Jazzpar Trio - Contrastes (Storyville, 1999 - artwork by Daniel Humair, btw)
Martial Solal et son orchestre jouent André Hodeir (Carlyne, 1984)



Martial Solal & Johnny Griffin - In'n'Out (Dreyfus, 2000; rec. 1999)
Martial Solal & Eric Le Lann - Portrait in Black and White (Nocturne, 2000; rec. live 1999)



Martial Solal Dodecaband Plays Ellington (Dreyfus, 2000; rec. 1997)
Martial Solal - NY-1: Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 2003; rec. live 2001, a week after 9-11)



Martial Solal Trio - Balade du 10 Mars (Soul Note, 1999; rec. 1998)
Martial Solal - Live at the Village Vanguard: I Can't Give You Anything But Love (CAM Jazz, 2008; rec. 2007 - back at the Vanguard, this time solo)
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

More Martial Solal - what else?

Late last night:



Martial Solal/Dave Douglas - Rue de Seine (CAM Jazz, 2006; rec. 2005)
Martial Solal - Solitude (CAM Jazz, 2007; rec. 2005)

The duo with Douglas is okay I guess (first listen), but the one with Eric Le Lann is definitely a lot more charming! The solo one on CAM is the most played disc of the past days/weeks. It's gorgeous!



Martial Solal/Didier Lockwood (JMS, 1993) - Got this today ... and it's much nicer than the Owl disc with Grappelli (whom I tend to find boring - as in: way too polished and somewhat lifeless though his elegant virtuosity would make that last attribute seem odd - if he doesn't happen to have that wonderful Sinto on guitar next to him).

Also, while commuting and sitting on trains for other purposes (ha, travelling places to hear live music of course), I had these on, recently - none of them on CD, and that is a pity, as his sixties output (mostly on French Columbia, those Milestones are US versions of Columbia albums, or compilations in the case of the one on top, which has two tracks from Gaveau and five from Gaveau Vol. 1):




The Erato one is much more recent (and I have it on order right now, hope it'll come through) ... on Erato, there's a duo with Toots Thielemans (don't know it yet but it can be found used) as well as some classical stuff that is over the top pricewise, alas. Got some of it electronically, need to do some digging ...



The Newport 1963 (studio with fake applause) has Solal with what then was Bill Evans' rhythm section (Teddy Kotick, Paul Motian) ... it was reissued by Sony/Legacy in 2016 and I just got that reissue as my old French RCA/BMG disc missed the four bonus tracks (one take of "Fine and Dandy", three of "I Got Rhythm", both not on the LP), the Newdecaband is a follow up to the Dodecaband I guess, this time thy play Solal's stuff, Eric Le Lann is there on trumpet (as is Claude Egea), Solal's daughter Claudia is singing, theres two 'bones, a french horn, a tuba, plus bass/drums.

And happily, I just found there is a new album coming out, a duo with David Liebman:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/masters-in-bordeaux-martial-solal-dave-liebman-sunnyside-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php
It can be pre-ordered at amazon.de - maybe it's out already in the US ... anyway, there's some 2015 material from Paris' Sunside from late in 2015 up on YT:
https://youtu.be/36Q3nEYBzm4
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



Fantastic!

Read about here, for instance:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/17/vijay-iyer-sextet-far-from-over-review-ecm

This is spot on:
QuoteAn object lesson in music for the heart, the head and the feet, Far from Over often sounds like vivacious folk music or displaced blues, reflects the hipness of Miles Davis's 1960s postbop bands and 70s electronic ones or the contemporaneity of slow-burn Bad Plus buildups, and yet is consistently spine-tingling in improvisations that sound simultaneously inside and outside the harmonies.
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/

SimonNZ

#2404


Randy Weston - Tanjah (1973)
Wilbur Ware - The Chicago Sound (1957)

king ubu

Hey, finally no longer alone here ...  :)

Played some fine Randy Weston too, yesterday:



Randy Weston - The Spirits of Our Ancestors

Then followed up with some funky stuff, from the on-going japanese Mainstream reissue series:



Charles Kynard - Charles Kynard
Charles Kynard - Woga
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



Started with this box from 2016 late last night and finished it today - five discs (plus a DVD I've not watched yet), of which the first two are okay-ish (with too much pop and kitsch, some fairly good, and some excellent tracks), while discs 3-5 definitely make it worth acquiring! There's a review of it here:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/the-incomparable-fiddler-svend-asmussen-storyville-records-review-by-chris-mosey.php

And the WaPo obit (Asmussen died in February, just a few days short of his 101st birthday) is worth reading, too:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/svend-asmussen-irreverent-jazz-violin-virtuoso-dies-at-100/2017/02/07/e3aee760-ed59-11e6-9662-6eedf1627882_story.html

Sticking with the violin, but still entirely different - and now ... (to paraphrase the title of their late album on Pi Recordings) the Revolutionary Ensemble:

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/

SimonNZ

#2407


Sonny Rollins - What's New (1962)
Walt Dickerson - Impressions Of A Patch Of Blue (1966)

SimonNZ



Walt Dickerson - To My Queen Revisited (1978)

king ubu



Walter Davis – Scorpio Rising
Hank Jones – Bluesette

The former is amazing - and can be found as part of a Japanese reissue series ... carpe diem! The later (first spin) is good - and good fun - for sure, but likely won't become a favourite in the crowded field of piano trio albums.



Buddy Tate – Texas Tenor
Buddy Tate – Texas Tenor

How creative they get with album titles! The former is wonderful, the unknown rhythm section (out of Toronto) is fine, and Tate is in terrific form. The later (another first spin) combines another great album, recorded live with Tete Montoliu, Bo Stief and Sven-Erik Norregaard (plus the violin of Finn Ziegler on two tracks), and a studio date that has a nice jam atmosphere and some more great piano playing, but all in all is good, not outstanding (the line-up: Doc Cheatham, Vic Dickenson, Tate, Johnny Guarnieri, George Duvivier, Oliver Jackson). Both albums were put down in 1975.
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/

George

"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure

king ubu



Zoot Sims - For Lady Day
Hank Jones & Cheick-Tidiane Seck & the Mandinkas - Sarala



Count Basie & Zoot Sims - Basie & Zoot
Zoot Sims and the Gershwin Brothers

Always had a soft spot for "Basie & Zoot", they're a natural match - but then I guess Zoot was a natural match for anybody who swung ... his albums with Jimmy Rowles may be the most wonderful amongst the many he made - the Lady Day hommage is so beautiful it almost hurts ... and the Gershwin album (with Joe Pass added) is maybe the one Zoot album I love most.

The Hank Jones is really not a jazz album but his meeting with some of the finest pop musicians from Mali - and it works wonderfully indeed. Jones plays his own self, and his solos, sometimes short but always marvelous, do match the loping grooves perfectly well.
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/

SimonNZ

#2412


Walt Dickerson - Tell Us Only The Beautiful Things (1975)
Arild Andersen - Shimri (1977)

motoboy

I love me some Warren

Brian

Quote from: king ubu on September 11, 2017, 09:38:01 PMand the Gershwin album (with Joe Pass added) is maybe the one Zoot album I love most.
Hmm, I chose well then, I've never heard any Zoot at all but the Gershwin album just arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

king ubu

Quote from: Brian on September 12, 2017, 06:18:56 AM
Hmm, I chose well then, I've never heard any Zoot at all but the Gershwin album just arrived in my mailbox yesterday.

Ha, you sure did! But of course it's not with Rowles ... I'd go with one of the Sims/Rowles albums (why not the Lady Day one) next, and with some Al & Zoot, too (Al Cohn that is), I guess there I'd go with any of the following ones: Al & Zoot (1957), You'n'Me (1960 - both with Mose Allison), Body and Soul (1973 - with Jaki Byard!), Motoring Along (1974 - with Horace Parlan). In a similar vein, "The Four Brothers ... Together Again!" (RCA/Vik) has just been reissued in Sony's most recent and pretty cheap series, that one  has Al & Zoot with Herbie Steward and Serge Chaloff.

Thread duty - first spin, just finally arrived (took over a month from Japan):

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/

Dancing Divertimentian

John Ellis (sax), By A Thread. Some mighty fine soloing chops from each member of the band to highlight some truly imaginative writing.



[asin]B000F3UICW[/asin]
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

SimonNZ

#2417


Sonny Rollins - Easy Living (1977)
David Murray - Lovers (1988)

SimonNZ

#2418


Cannonball Adderley - And Strings (1955)
Jaco Pastorius / Pat Metheny / Bruce Ditmas / Paul Bley - s/t (1974)



Sonny Rollins - The Cutting Edge (1974)

king ubu

Was offline at home for most of the week ... only got it fixed yesterday (somebody had to come and tweak stuff) - some of the jazz played, most of them (not the Sanderses, not the Kaddouch) new arrivals/first listens:



Pharoah Sanders - Love In Us All
Pharoah Sanders - Black Unity

don't think I ever loved "Black Unity" as much as this time, first listen after I assume around ten years ... was reading the chapters about the end of Impulse in the Ashley Kahn book



Gene Russell - New Direction
Cleveland Eaton - Plenty Good Eaton

a nice and easy piano trio (with the mighty Henry "Skipper" Franklin on bass and some added percussion), and a mighty fonky album by bassist Cleveland Eaton



Robert Kaddouch invite Martial Solal - Balade pour deux pianos
Martial Solal - Bluesine

oddball stuff, not sure who Kaddouch actually is (an educator/classical performer it seems), but still continuing to listen to Solal ... also finally got a copy of "Bluesine", a gorgeous solo album (alas he only made two albums for Soul Note, both not quite easy to find - not enough for CAM Jazz to box 'em up)



Stuff Smith - Swingin' Stuff

Swingin' Stuff indeed - and white hot! This guy was climbing the same heights that in early jazz only very, very few climbed - think Coleman Hawkins. Seriously now! This is a Copenhagen live recording from 1965 with the regulars (Kenny Drew, NHOP, Alex Riel).



Gene Ludwig/Pat Martino - Young Guns
Wynton Kelly Trio/Wes Montgomery - Smokin' in Seattle

The Ludwig/Martino is from around 1968-69 and is hot indeed! Not sure why I missed it when it came out in 2014 ... better late then never! The same trio at the end of its two year existence made an album with Sonny Stitt that can be found on the twofer "Night Letter" (it's not that album, that one has McDuff, but rather the second one in the package ... recommended, too). The Wynton/Wes I found somewhat underwhelming on first listen (hey, this had been around since April - at least in announcements ... not even sure it needed to be released after all that premature ejac ... ahm, hype-i-sation. Will listen to it again within the next few days for sure though. I'm aware Wes M. is not the guitar player screaming at you and I love that quality in his playing, but somehow he'll probably never be amongst my top favorites on the instrument, I'm afraid.



Stefano Bollani - Napoli Trip
Terumasa Hino - Taro's Mood

The Bollani came out last year and I had been eyeing it ... loved it. Manu Katché sounds good here (I got bored in recent years, stopped following his jazz - or any at that - work) ... there's waltzes and dirges and dances, there's solos, duos, quartets (the core band is Nico Gori on cl/bcl, Daniele Sepe on ts, Bollani on p/fender rhodes and Katché on d), two extended pieces (arr. Sepe), two Jan Bang numbers (the first is opening the album and has haunting trumpet by Arve Henriksen, the other one has Audun Kleive), there's miniatures, too (including the closing piece by Bollani and Hamilton de Hollanda on bandolim). The Hino has lots of music, and lots of hot playing by both him and the band (his brother is a hell of a drummer!)



Now digging into this four-disc set for the first time ... the title is weird (recordings are from: 1968, 1972, 1975 and 1978 ... thus there's only one from the "early seventies" ... and the 1975 one is by Conte Candoli/Frank Rosolino, thus could just as well be from 1955 in many respects). The Pony Poindexter set, the first one, from 1968, with Benny Bailey sitting and a fine rhythm section (Jan Hammer-p/org, George Mraz-b and Michael Denner-d - don't know Dennert at all) was the main draw for me, and it's quite nice indeed. The second set disc is the 1975 Candoli/Rosolino one (with Rob Pronk-p, Isla Eckinger-b and Todd Canedy-d), the third is Fritz Pauer from 1972 (with Jimmy Woode-b, Erich Bachträgl-d and Joe Harris-perc), the final disc is by Art Farmer (with Gerd Francesconi-p, Günter Lenz-b and Billie Brooks-d - Francesconi is the second musician in the set that I've never encountered anywhere before). Farmer has recorded *a lot* and mostly good stuff ... Pauer will never be a real favourite, but his disc will be pleasant for sure, as will be the Candoli/Rosolino set ... so not must have for me, I guess, but a nice addition.
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/