What Jazz are you listening to now?

[bwv 1080]

[San Antone]

Dave Holland double-bass
Steve Nelson vibraphone, marimba
Eric Person alto, soprano saxophones
Gene Jackson drums
Cassandra Wilson vocal
Recorded March 1995, Power Station, New York



Recorded during the period after the break up of Holland's first quintet and prior to the formation of his second quintet, this recording has a foretaste of things to come: it includes mallet-man Steve Nelson who will continue with Holland as a member of his second great working band. 

Somewhat atypical for an ECM release, almost evoking a '60s Blue Note vibe, this is a solid outing for Holland & Co.

[San Antone]

Eberhard Weber
Endless Days

Eberhard Weber bass
Paul McCandless oboe, english horn, bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
Rainer Brüninghaus piano, keyboards
Michael DiPasqua drums, percussion
Recorded April 2000 at Rainbow Studio, Oslo



I've been an Eberhard Weber fan since I heard Colours of Chloe, must have in the mid-70s.  A true original.

[Alek Hidell]

From the old ...



... to the new.

[SimonNZ]

Cecil Payne - Performing Charlie Parker Music (1962)
Revolutionary Ensemble - s/t (1977)

[San Antone]

Andrew Hill : Dusk

Andrew Hill - piano
Marty Ehrlich - bass clarinet (track 2), alto saxophone (tracks 1, 3 & 5-7)
Greg Tardy - bass clarinet (track 2), tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 3 & 5-7)
Ron Horton - trumpet (tracks 1-3 & 5-7)
Scott Colley - bass (tracks 1-3 & 5-7)
Billy Drummond - drums (tracks 1-3 & 5-7)



A really good session from Hill's late period, I think it is comparable to his classic '60s Blue Note dates.  Scott Colley and Billy Drummond are a solid and swinging rhythm section and the horn soloists are solid.  Marty Ehrlich is someone I briefly jammed with with my good friend Michael Jefry Stevens on piano.  Ehrlich's sessions leading his own group are exceptional examples of some of the best of the NYC experimental jazz scene.

Interesting how much Hill lays out and lets the group carry the weight, but the composing is some of his best.

[San Antone]

Andrew Hill : Pax
Blue Note 58297. Recorded in 1965, not released until 1975 on One for One.

Andrew Hill - piano
Freddie Hubbard - cornet
Joe Henderson - tenor sax
Richard Davis - bass
Joe Chambers - drums

One of the most creative rhythm sections; rivals Tony Williams + Ron Carter.



This not your contemplative Andrew Hill but an exuberant and rambunctious Andrew Hill.  A GREAT band.  It is odd that Blue Note delayed ten years before releasing this session.  Joe Henderson is at the top of his game on this sessions, and from what I've heard really loved playing with Andrew Hill.  Great rhythm section.  Freddie Hubbard has never been one of my favorites but he knocks his playing up a notch or two here, on cornet - which is a bit unusual.

[SimonNZ]

Flaga - Flaga: John Zorn's Book Of Angels, Vol.27 (2016)

[SimonNZ]

M'Boom - Collage (1984)
Nana Vasconcelos - Storytelling (1995)

[Alek Hidell]

Nana Vasconcelos - Storytelling (1995)

D'oh! Ha - For some reason I always assumed Nana Vasconcelos was a woman. Never even thought to check.

Anyway, more Daniel Levin here:

[SimonNZ]

D'oh! Ha - For some reason I always assumed Nana Vasconcelos was a woman. Never even thought to check.

Heh. For some reason I never assumed that, though maybe I should have.

That's a really interesting album of his, by the way. Not really jazz, more exploring various Brazillian folk musics (hence EMIs Hemisphere series). Recommended.

now:



Art Blakey - Gypsy Folk Tales (1977)
Steve Tibbetts - Safe Journey (1984)

[San Antone]

Miles Davis : The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions



At North Texas we'd jam at different houses, Bob Belden's was often the venue.  Back then, circa 1977, Belden had all these Miles bootlegs and we'd be sitting on the floor getting stoned and Belden would go on and on about who, when and what was great each concert  Well, he graduated from there to co-producing these Miles "Complete Sessions" recordings with Michael Cuscuna.  Pretty cool.  He is a good sax player too.

[king ubu]

"The Ghetto Walk"!!! How come that amazing track never saw the light of the day previously to the box being released?

Blakey's "Gypsy Folk Tales" is on its way to me right now ... how is it?

[San Antone]

"The Ghetto Walk"!!! How come that amazing track never saw the light of the day previously to the box being released?

There's so much that had been unreleased until these boxes came out; I wonder what else there might be?  I'd ask Belden, but through a mutual friend last night on Facebook I found out that Bob died in 2015.  Bummer.

[king ubu]

There's so much that had been unreleased until these boxes came out; I wonder what else there might be?  I'd ask Belden, but through a mutual friend last night on Facebook I found out that Bob died in 2015.  Bummer.

Yeah, there's lots of goodies ... but "The Ghetto Walk", in my opinion, is outstanding.

The only box I have some doubts about is the "On the Corner" one - not that it isn't effin' amazing all the way through, it's some of the most thought-provoking music ever made, I think ... but contrary to most of the other boxes that really seemed to be more or less complete (according to Pete Losin's sessionography etc.), this one left off quite a bit of music that has been in circulation before via bootlegs and traders - of course those sources are never quite reliable and it's a pity thus, that the mess wasn't cleaned up by Sony in a more encompassing way. Also, while the design is great, the notes are lacking in that box, compared to the others with their very knowledgeable track-by-track commentary.

[San Antone]

Yeah, there's lots of goodies ... but "The Ghetto Walk", in my opinion, is outstanding.

The only box I have some doubts about is the "On the Corner" one - not that it isn't effin' amazing all the way through, it's some of the most thought-provoking music ever made, I think ... but contrary to most of the other boxes that really seemed to be more or less complete (according to Pete Losin's sessionography etc.), this one left off quite a bit of music that has been in circulation before via bootlegs and traders - of course those sources are never quite reliable and it's a pity thus, that the mess wasn't cleaned up by Sony in a more encompassing way. Also, while the design is great, the notes are lacking in that box, compared to the others with their very knowledgeable track-by-track commentary.

For some reason I stopped buying these boxes as they came out, around the time of the Seven Steps Complete.  But last year I plugged the gaps by finding "like new" used copies of Seven Steps and On The Corner.  I still haven't gone through the Complete On The Corner.  But I LOVE that record and am sure to find many wonderful tracks in that box. 

[George]

Miles Davis : The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions



At North Texas we'd jam at different houses, Bob Belden's was often the venue.  Back then, circa 1977, Belden had all these Miles bootlegs and we'd be sitting on the floor getting stoned and Belden would go on and on about who, when and what was great each concert  Well, he graduated from there to co-producing these Miles "Complete Sessions" recordings with Michael Cuscuna.  Pretty cool.  He is a good sax player too.

Love that set!!

[king ubu]

For some reason I stopped buying these boxes as they came out, around the time of the Seven Steps Complete.  But last year I plugged the gaps by finding "like new" used copies of Seven Steps and On The Corner.  I still haven't gone through the Complete On The Corner.  But I LOVE that record and am sure to find many wonderful tracks in that box.

Yeah, the record is one of the most amazing of all records, that's for sure!

But there's alas not that much new material in the box, quite some of it is known already, most notably from "Get Up with It", but also from "Big Fun". To me, those never played much a role (neither did "Directions" and "Circle in the Round" ... also "Water Babies" I only had on loan once on vinyl, when in my teens in the nineties), so the series of boxes was most welcome to put things into (chronological) perspective. I've been following the releases since their start, buying the first three or four (that includes the amazing Plugged Nickel live box) while still in high school and with very little money (most of what I earned when I got small jobs during school vacations was spent on music: a couple of saxophones, a stereo set, and plenty of CDs, including huge orders from Mosaic Records).

The "Seven Steps" box is maybe the greatest, design-wise, but it also contains very little (just a handful of tracks) new material ... I love the new band with George Coleman though, while I see why Miles wasn't happy with him nor with Sam Rivers, and obvously Wayne Shorter was the missing piece (it seems Coltrane had recommended him in 1960 as a viable successor already, but he had his job with Blakey which he only quite late in 1964 ... which is cool, as during that time he helped make some great Jazz Messengers records - "Free for All" is one of my desert island discs). Anyway, I think it's great that Sony/Mosaic/MD estate did the "Seven Steps" set. They should have also done a Mobley box, because putting things in perspective, that period is the one that they failed to document in a nice box and it kind of perpetuates Miles' own lack of respect/appreciation for Mobley and the club band (the Wynton Kelly trio, that is) ... "Someday My Prince Will Come" is the one Columbia studio album that was not knighted by being included fully in those box sets (not taking into account the post comeback material of course - a box of that would be cool, too, if there's additional music to be heard, not idea ... the big Warner box was shelved alas, only to be replaced by a couple - a French first and then a US - of lesser sets). The live material has of course been out: Carnegie Hall with that terrific take on "Concierto de Aranjuez", and some very spirited Mobley, and then the Blackhawk material that shows the band working a club ... some hip sh*t there, though of course none of it ranks with Miles' masterpieces.

[George]

[San Antone]

A great Bill Evans hard bop recording.  There is a "sessions" version of Interplay with extra stuff, plus there is another recording from the same period called Loose Blues which is cool because it features more of Zoot Sims.

I guess the "carrot" here is the better sound?