What Jazz are you listening to now?

[SimonNZ]

Horace Tapscott - Thoughts Of Dar Es Salaam (1997)

[SimonNZ]

tap. tap. tap. ...is this thing on?

today:



Horace Tapscott - Aiee! The Phantom (1996)

[San Antone]

For me, this box is all you need for this group.  The "Standards Trio" has made probably 20 or more recordings, but this live set, I believe, caught them at their best.

[SimonNZ]

Toni Harper ‎– Toni (1956)
Emily Remler - Catwalk (1985)



Eberhard Weber - Little Movements (1980)
Art Lande and Jan Garbarek - Red Lanta (1974)



Tomasz Stanko - From The Green Hill (1998)
Arlid Andersen - Electra (2005)



Steve Kuhn - Trance (1975)
Horace Tapscott - Live At Lobero, Vol.1 (1980)



Robin Kenyatta - Girl From Martinique (1970)
Adelhard Roidinger - Schattseite (1982)



Eddie Jefferson - Body And Soul (1968)

[SimonNZ]

Arlid Andersen / Ralph Towner / Nana Vasconcelos - If You Look Far Enough (1993)
Louis Armstrong - Ambassador Satch (1956)



Horace Tapscott - The Tapscott Sessions, Vol.11 (2007)
Art Lande / David Samuels / Paul McCandless - Skylight (1981)

[Alek Hidell]

I promise, SimonNZ, you're not the only one listening!

[king ubu]

I promise, SimonNZ, you're not the only one listening!

Me too ... but not enough time for regular postings these days, alas.

Some recent spins include these - catching up with some more 2017 releases:






(The one with the many b/w pics is "Duopoly" by Kris Davis")

Also finally got me this beauty:



And right now, first spin:

[SimonNZ]

Great listening, guys. Keep it coming.

today:



Sheila Jordan and Arlid Andersen - Sheila (1977)

[king ubu]

Those two followed later, after the Borderlands Trio - and they're different animals, all three, albeit all in Standard piano trio format. Crump has two terrific and very much awake cohorts in Kris Davis and Eric McPherson - the disc captures them live and it's exciting, surprising, taking many unexpected turns. Excellent in my book!

The Aaron Parks Album is more of a post-impressionist, Bill Evans-influenced album - subdued and yes, sometimes I found it pretty boring, alas. Was hoping Ben Street (I'm not sure I ever liked him as much as here, but maybe I just paid more attention than usual because the piano didn't capture me much?) and most of all Billy Hart would make a difference, but from my first impression, it's just a so-so Album, alas.

The Django Bates one is somewhat better - just in case: all of these were first spins and these are rough, first impressions. It covers a more varied ground - as is to be expected with Bates (who is very fine on the wonderful new album by Anouar Brahem - now that's easily THE current ECM rec!). Some of it though sounded unsurprising and pretty predictable again in that yurpeen frickle-dickle-pretended-energy-playing manner (the kind of "avantgarde" that ECM can really still take and actually has turned arrière-garde a while ago, but when done right can still work occasionally, I guess ... i.e. I never got what the fuss was about EST, although one should not speak badly about the dead).

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Ambrose Akinmusire--A Rift in Decorum: Very interesting stuff here. This ensemble sounds like Christian Scott meets Tyshawn Sorey. My favorite track is Moment in between the rest

[San Antone]

I've also been listening to some Anouar Brahem; and not long ago I listened to several of the Duke duo sessions, including that Ella album.

[SimonNZ]

Arlid Andersen - Hyperborean (1997)

[king ubu]

Already having the "At the Alhambra" disc from Pablo/Fantasy, I hesitated to buy this one for quite a while ... the first disc (and tracks 1 and 2 of the second) are taken from the same night (29th Oct 1958) as that Alhambra disc, but either of them contains some exclusive tracks it seems (and/or someone goofed with the dates/infos, who knows). The rest of disc two is from Nov 20th, 1958. The Ellington band was in great form in the late fifties, but any new Ellington is reason to celebrate, so this is blasting out now!

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Arlid Andersen - Hyperborean (1997)

As someone obsessed with both the Arctic and the ECM label, I would be interested to hear your thoughts...

[San Antone]

[SimonNZ]

As someone obsessed with both the Arctic and the ECM label, I would be interested to hear your thoughts...

Well...its's a very polished admirable album, but somehow not as individual as the other ECM Arlid Andersen albums I've heard recently. You'll heave no reason to complain of purchasing this one, but Electra in particular was a far more unusual and exciting album, imo.

[SimonNZ]

Edward Vesala - Nan Madol (1974)
Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral Beer (1981)

a couple of really strong first listens there

[SimonNZ]

Edward Vesala - Invisible Storm (1992)
Arlid Andersen - Mira (2013)

[king ubu]

Edward Vesala - Nan Madol (1974)
Bengt Berger - Bitter Funeral Beer (1981)

a couple of really strong first listens there

Two of the jewels of the ECM catalogue!

Thread duty:



Heard Root 70 live in May and was impressed, bought several discs off leader Nils Wogram after the concert and chatted a bit, too. Wogram (he lives near Zurich but is from Germany originally) is heard on trombone, New Zealander Hayden Chisholm is on alto, his countryman Matt Penman on bass, and Jochen Rückert (again from Germany) on drums. Their music is intimate (they played unamplified and had set up their gear on a large carpet in front of the stage, to be on the same level as the audience - that was more than just a nice gesture, and I admire those very, very few bands that are able to play unamplified, that's an art long lost in most types of music, alas, yet for jazz it should be as natural as it is for classical).

The tunes - mostly by Wogram - are often intricate, using odd meters and unusual structures, his 'bone playing is amazing, he uses microtones and harmonizes by adding his voice (Mangelsdorff did that often, too), while Chisholm is kind of a cool counterpoint with a sound that reminds me a bit of Paul Desmond, and an amazing fluidity, too ... the rhythm section is agile and handles those weird structures with such ease that often you don't even realize they're in 7 right now ... truly a great band, that maybe sometimes is a bit too chamber-jazz-like for my taste, but I reckon they would be right down the alley of several people posting here with some regularity (the "ECM fraction" if I may call you that ... I admire ECM but will always feel somewhat ambiguous and there are corners in the catalogue I have not felt like checking out at all so far and don't think that's going to change).

Either way, if you have the chance, check out Root 70 somewhere (youtube, streaming, what do I know, I'm the dinosaur that still buys tons of CDs all of the time ... note so self: get enough cash at the ATM tonight for tomorrow's afternoon concert with the Schlippenbach Trio ... they might have some CDs with 'em!)

[James]

https://www.youtube.com/v/S4PEf7yYCZE