What Jazz are you listening to now?

[San Antone]

Ooops, sorry, put "Ellington" for "Coltrane" 

Oh.  I think of that as an Ellington album.  Speaking of which, Ellington's records with Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins are also fantastic.  I feel like I am forgetting another of Ellington's duo recordings.

[king ubu]

Oh.  I think of that as an Ellington album.  Speaking of which, Ellington's records with Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins are also fantastic.  I feel like I am forgetting another of Ellington's duo recordings.

Agreed! Great stuff. And "Money Jungle" falls into the same period as the Impulse albums.

Not sure what else you could have in mind - Duke & Ella, with Blanton, the hommage to Blanton with Ray Brown ... or maybe rather the Ellington/Hodges co-led 1,5 albums on Verve?

[San Antone]

Agreed! Great stuff. And "Money Jungle" falls into the same period as the Impulse albums.

Not sure what else you could have in mind - Duke & Ella, with Blanton, the hommage to Blanton with Ray Brown ... or maybe rather the Ellington/Hodges co-led 1,5 albums on Verve?

I was thinking the one with Mahalia Jackson, Black, Brown & Beige since I had just been listening to it recently, but I later also thought that Ella at Duke's Place as fitting the bill.

Frank Sinatra also did a "Duke meets" album, but it is not among my favorites.

The two with Johnny Hodges, Back to Back and Side by Side (I know, not really a Duke led session, and he only appears on half of the record) are great.  Money Jungle is good, but something about it does not appeal to me as do all these others.

[SimonNZ]

Roni Ben-Hur - Signature (2005)
Roscoe Mitchell - Duets with Tyshawn Sorey and Special Guest Hugh Ragin (2013)



David Binney and Edward Simon - Afinidad (2008)

[SimonNZ]

Of course.   



Sorry, that must have come off as harsh.   But I have a long involvement, over nearly fifty years, with jazz both as a listener and professional musician, having performed with many of the guys you know from their recordings.  So, yes, I have heard all of the basic literature and know the music.   

On the one hand I can see how you took the question that way. On the other hand I have also been listening to jazz for decades and know that I'm still constantly saying "despite being a huge fan of x I've never heard this album" or "despite being a big fan of x I've still heard only a fraction of their discography" or "somehow I've still not gotten around to x" or "somehow I've never found my way into liking x but will try again later" - and that I'll probably still be saying that decades from now.

So the question ism't as absurd or insulting or condescending as it might first appear, and was not my intention. And, again, I myself being a big fan of Dexter Gordon I know there's still plenty from his considerable output I've yet to hear for the first time.

[king ubu]

I was thinking the one with Mahalia Jackson, Black, Brown & Beige since I had just been listening to it recently, but I later also thought that Ella at Duke's Place as fitting the bill.

Frank Sinatra also did a "Duke meets" album, but it is not among my favorites.

The two with Johnny Hodges, Back to Back and Side by Side (I know, not really a Duke led session, and he only appears on half of the record) are great.  Money Jungle is good, but something about it does not appeal to me as do all these others.

Oh, wow, to me, "Money Jungle" is desert island stuff. The story behind it, the tensions and all ... I absolutely love it!

The one with Mahalia Jackson, while one of Ellington's finest, I tend to look at as a pure Ellington disc (with a guest spot for Mahalia), so that didn't come up. "Side by Side" completes the "Back to Back" session and adds more tracks from another Hodges session ... this was when Hodges was back with Ellington but still recording regularly as a leader for Verve. Some glorious music to be found there, that mostly is "ducal" of course. On "Back to Back", I really like the combination of some Basie-ites with Ellingtonians and some strangers (Les Spann - pretty good guitar player!)

The album with Sinatra doesn't really work that well for me either - Sinatra/Basie however does work very well!

And mentioning Basie twice now: there's of course also the nutty album where the full Basie and Ellington aggregations meet - and the result is pretty good, actually!

[San Antone]

Oh, wow, to me, "Money Jungle" is desert island stuff. The story behind it, the tensions and all ... I absolutely love it!

The back story is a bothersome distraction, imo.  As to the music itself, I don't think the trio jells (mainly because of Mingus, and I say this as a bass player myself) - but it is interesting as a historical document and there are some good things here and there.  I prefer many other Ellington sessions.

[San Antone]

Some good stuff here.

[San Antone]

Always worth hearing.

[SimonNZ]

Sarah Vaughan - You're Mine You (1962)
Roscoe Mitchell - Sound Songs (1994)



Brian Dickinson and Jerry Bergonzi - Soul Mission (2005)
Air - Air Song (1975)

[SimonNZ]

Carl Winther and Jerry Bergonzi - Inner Journey (2017)
Air - Air Time (1977)



Roscoe Mitchell - Conversations 2 (2014)
Hampton Hawes - Four (1958)

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Just heard on KCSM, added to list:

[SimonNZ]

Jerry Bergonzi - One Stone Two Birds (2004)

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

[Alek Hidell]

Previously:

Arne Domnérus: Jazz at the Pawnshop

Currently:

Arve Henriksen: Solidification

Arne to Arve. I'm using the Cover Flow on my iPod.

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Arve Henriksen is AMAZING. I've tried to preach to the locals here, but have been ignored! 

Have you tried World of Glass and Strjon? Currently I also have Atmospheres and the Magical Forest cued up and ready for listening.

What are your favorites?

[SimonNZ]

Phil Minton - Ways (1987)

[San Antone]

[Alek Hidell]

Arve Henriksen is AMAZING. I've tried to preach to the locals here, but have been ignored! 

Have you tried World of Glass and Strjon? Currently I also have Atmospheres and the Magical Forest cued up and ready for listening.

What are your favorites?

Strjon is a part of Solidification (Solidification is a convocation of Sakuteiki, Chiaroscuro, and Strjon, plus bonus tracks, and a new album called Chron). TBH, the only other Henriksen I've heard is his ECM album Cartography. It seems like I may have heard him playing on someone else's album, but if so I can't recall it right now.

I've just started listening (in the car - I'll pick it up again tomorrow) to Lomahongva, which came highly recommended on the Free Jazz Blog. Sounds good so far, but I've only just begun it.

His style is attractive to me - I'm very fond of Scandinavian jazz, and I love the variety of sounds he gets from his trumpet (though I realize that there could be a good deal of electronic manipulation involved). That Scandinavian kind of "atmospheric," "ambient" sound - Mathias Eick is another exponent of it - appeals to me.

So thanks for the recommendation of World of Glass! I listened to a couple of samples and it sounds like something that could be up my street. I'll make a note of it!

I also have Atmosphères, but I haven't listened to it yet. Let me know how you get on with it!

[Alek Hidell]

Two posts in a row. Sorry about that. 

But I guess I should do my thread duty:


Speak of the devil - I listened to it this morning.

Plus these chestnuts: