What Jazz are you listening to now?

[SimonNZ]

Nice Miles box! I find it's often interesting to consider the original 10" introduction people would have had to certain artists. Wrt Miles you'll see that Walkin was originally deemed a b-side (to Blues n Boogie).

[Alek Hidell]

That Lyons box is so good - it's one of very few items I pre-ordered ... terrific music!

Yep, sure is ... I continued it today, with the two long pieces, "Family" and "Heritage I" from the second disc. Listening to "Family" I think I could hear one reason why Cecil Taylor was drawn to his playing: the invention and stamina across a lengthy improvisation, much like Taylor's own playing.

I didn't mention it in my previous post, but all of this music is new to me - outside of Lyons' work with Taylor I've only heard the trio recording with Sunny Murray (Jump Up, recorded at Willisau in 1980). There are versions of a couple of the same tunes here ("Jump Up" and "Tortuga"), but they're different recordings with different musicians.

Great stuff, indeed.

[San Antone]

Thanks for the  Tchan-Tchou Vidal name, it's a new one to me. Yeah, I'm aware of some of the more current guys - Rosenberg Trio, Tchavalo/Dorado Schmitt.
Somewhere I've a compilation CD of gypsy jazz that appears to be mostly needle drops. And many of the artists featured seem to be accordionists but have guitar players in their band. The only one (accordion player, not guitarist) I can remember right now is Jo Privat.
But I'll definitely check out Vidal.

Btw, if you are looking for a Django box, this one, for me, is the best:

[asin]B002U031FO[/asin]

Nice Miles box! I find it's often interesting to consider the original 10" introduction people would have had to certain artists. Wrt Miles you'll see that Walkin was originally deemed a b-side (to Blues n Boogie).

I have had the Chronicles box for years but I found this one on Qobuz and thought it was interesting. 

[NikF4]

Btw, if you are looking for a Django box, this one, for me, is the best:

[asin]B002U031FO[/asin]

Cheers. I always appreciate recommendations and opinions on stuff. And trying to find a Django box in the midst of so many reissues and repackaging isn't the most straightforward.

[SimonNZ]

Clarence Wheeler And The Enforcers - Doin' What We Wanna  (1969)

[San Antone]

Antonio Carlos Jobim : "Jobim" (1972)

My favorite album by this Brazilian master, it debuted "Aguas de Marco" (in both Portuguese and English). 

Though this is one of the more obscure Jobim albums, it did introduce what some believe is Jobim's masterpiece, the hypnotically revolving song "Aguas de Marco" (heard here in Portuguese and English versions). Mostly, however, the record lets listeners in on another side of Jobim, the Debussy/Villa-Lobos-inspired creator of moody instrumental tone poems for films and whatnot, with the instrumental colors filled in by Jobim's old cohort, Claus Ogerman.

[George]

Lovely stuff, sound and performance.

[San Antone]

Lovely stuff, sound and performance.

Yep.

TD



Chick Corea : Return to Forever

Chick Corea – electric piano
Stanley Clarke – double bass, bass guitar
Joe Farrell – saxophone, flute
Airto Moreira – drums, percussion
Flora Purim – vocals, percussion

Classic fusion.

[SimonNZ]

Freddie Hubbard - The Black Angel (1969)

[king ubu]

lately, leading up to this morning with Masabumi Kikuchi:

[San Antone]

That Rex Stewart and the Byrd/Pepper (with Herbie) look really interesting to me.   

[king ubu]

That Rex Stewart and the Byrd/Pepper (with Herbie) look really interesting to me.   

The Stewart is marvellous! Henri Chaix was a Swiss piano player and bandleader with a style shaped after, I guess, mostly Teddy Wilson and some other of the old masters. He's pretty good actually, and his group provides fine backing and full freedom - and plenty of inspiration - to Stewart (who too often had to make pretty drab albums it seems). Chaix wrote some new arrangements and a couple of originals for the session, and it's totally worth checking out. Sackville discs should be rather easy to find on your side of the pond, I hope.

The Byrd/Pepper is a boot of course (on one of those uncountable Spanish imprints that I still think is really just one operation, and I'm not yet fully convinced that it's not the darker side of Fresh Sound, which operates with considerably more care than all of the others, but still doesn't offer prime quality - how could they, without access to good sources?) ... but a fine one indeed, and sound is more than acceptable, too.

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Thread duty:



Stumbled over Vol. 2 (a 2 disc set) recently. This (one disc, rec. 2005) was reissued as Vol. 1 when Vol. 2 came out ... good stuff by the once trombonist with George Russell's band (actually Baker's band, I think, which Russell kind of adopted) ... due to an accident involving his jaw, Baker had to stop play the trombone just about when he was to break through (1962), he turned into a composer and teacher of considerable talent and importance. Vol. 2 has a few prominent soloists (Rich Perry mostly) and guests, here I don't know anyone, but the band includes several former students of Baker's and is perfectly adept. Very good music!

[king ubu]

Steve Lacy - Momentum (Novus, rec. 1987) - Steve Lacy, Steve Potts, Bobby Few, Jean-Jacques Avenel, Oliver Johnson and Irène Aebi ... and luckily there's not too much (and not too bad at all anyway) Irène Aebi's singing - her cello is made great use of on another of the tracks, and her violin is heard as well.

[modified]

(1970) with Eddie Daniels, Roland Hanna, Richard Davis, Louis Hayes

[San Antone]

Stumbled over Vol. 2 (a 2 disc set) recently. This (one disc, rec. 2005) was reissued as Vol. 1 when Vol. 2 came out ... good stuff by the once trombonist with George Russell's band (actually Baker's band, I think, which Russell kind of adopted) ... due to an accident involving his jaw, Baker had to stop play the trombone just about when he was to break through (1962), he turned into a composer and teacher of considerable talent and importance. Vol. 2 has a few prominent soloists (Rich Perry mostly) and guests, here I don't know anyone, but the band includes several former students of Baker's and is perfectly adept. Very good music!

I seem to remember that David Baker authored a jazz textbook that was around at North Texas.

TD

Another good Jobim record, he had a side that was considerably beyond Bossa Nova (not that there's anything wrong with BN!):

Urubu is the album that MCA's Jobim probably aspired to be, a total break away from the bossa nova past that is both ambitious and strikingly original. The shock of dissonant strings, percussive and wind sounds from the Brazilian interior greet us on the first track "Bôto," the first of four songs in which a defiant Jobim throws structural complexities at us and sings in Portuguese only. The second four tracks are an even more radical departure; all are classical orchestral pieces, melancholy and even anguished in tone, owing little or nothing to anyone, streaked with imaginative, even avant-garde orchestral touches from Claus Ogerman. Clearly we are not on the Ipanema beach anymore, and although this may be rough going for jazz-minded Jobim fans, the pay-off is a glimpse into the depths of Jobim's soul.

[king ubu]

Baker was a pioneer in jazz education, so yes, that would make a lot of sense!

Don't know "Urubu", but "Jobim" was in the player a few times recently as well.

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Thread duty:

[San Antone]

Baker was a pioneer in jazz education, so yes, that would make a lot of sense!

Don't know "Urubu", but "Jobim" was in the player a few times recently as well.

I have mixed feelings about jazz pedagogy; with the explosive of jazz departments at a number of universities, they are turning out thousands of players who have been taught to improvise scales over changes in an almost robotic manner.  But I have two good friends teaching and I can't come down too hard since I know these guys are excellent players and are doing their best to pass along more than what is in the books.

TD

Another out of the way Jobim record:



Jobim : Live at Mina's

Live at Mina's (recorded in Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1981 but only made public in 2006), finds Jobim at the piano, informally even nervously early on, playing his biggest hits (obligatorily) but more importantly, a number of his lesser known gems.

This disc is a collector's item — there are few others in which you can hear the master in such an intimate format, without the "defenses of a large ensemble," as he says as he begins to play. This is a great document from one of the most prolific songwriters of his generation, even if a few moments are a bit flawed — Jobim was not exactly a performer, but his charm compensates for any imperfections.

[George]

king ubu and SimonNZ - do you guys own all your music or do you stream? If the former, your collections must be massive.

[Brian]

king ubu and SimonNZ - do you guys own all your music or do you stream? If the former, your collections must be massive.

I am especially impressed by how many albums they listen to that, when I google them to buy, are so deep out of print that there are only like 5 used copies left on earth.

[SimonNZ]

A lot of the first time "discovery" listening I do is via YT. I then decide what Iwant to buy or at least to know what to grab when they present themselves.