What Jazz are you listening to now?

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

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Alek Hidell

Not much jazz recently, but did give a first listen to these three:

   

Tyshawn Sorey: Verisimilitude (2017)
Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot: Kiss the Brain (2014)
Wadada Leo Smith: Kulture Jazz (1993)

Impressed by all three of these. Smith's is a solo album, a format of which I'm not always too fond (no matter what the instrument). But here it isn't just him playing his trumpet: he plays (and sings a little, too - not a bad voice!) multiple instruments, including koto and mbira, and overdubs them to produce a varied and enthralling whole.
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Hélder Pessoa Câmara

SimonNZ

#3981


Albert Wynn - And His Gutbucket Seven (1962)
Gonzalo Rubalcaba - Antiguo (1997)

NikF4


king ubu

Quote from: San Antone on March 02, 2019, 06:46:11 AM
They were already in trouble and this 3LP release certainly didn't help.  Naxos remastered it and re-released it as a 2CD set, that's what I have.

I've got the older (late 90s, I think?) Avenue Jazz/Rhino US reissue of it ... guess I'll have to give it a spin again soon!

--

Now playing the second half of the new Monk set by Frank Kimbrough:



Enjoying it immensely!
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

#3984


Chico Freeman - Tradition In Transition (1982)
George Lewis - Trios And Bands 1943-45

Alek Hidell

Quote from: NikF4 on March 02, 2019, 11:27:27 PM
Paul Desmond: Pure Desmond.

[asin][height=200]B0000AK0D4[/asin]

Ah, I remember that cover. I had it on LP. CTI was something of a controversial label, despite founder Creed Taylor's previously-established bona fides, but I recall this one as being pretty nice - and how could it not be, with a rhythm section like Ron Carter and Connie Kay? I recalled that Jim Hall played guitar on it, but I see now that it's Ed Bickert. I may need to get hold of it and reacquaint myself.

Quote from: king ubu on March 03, 2019, 06:41:52 AM
Now playing the second half of the new Monk set by Frank Kimbrough:


Enjoying it immensely!

ubu, this is probably a silly question even to ask, but have you heard the Schlippenbach traversal of the entire Monk corpus (Monk's Casino)?
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Hélder Pessoa Câmara

SimonNZ


Alek Hidell

"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Hélder Pessoa Câmara

SimonNZ

Quote from: Alek Hidell on March 03, 2019, 08:02:07 PM
There's a discussion of it here:
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/why-was-cti-records-a-controversial-label.102748/

Ah I see. I know there are some slick crossover albums that now sound like products of their times, but there's also a healthy percentage of their albums that have aged well. Probably about the same ratio as other labels of the time, Impulse included, imo.

now:



James P. Johnson - 1921-1926

Alek Hidell

Quote from: SimonNZ on March 03, 2019, 08:17:26 PM
Ah I see. I know there are some slick crossover albums that now sound like products of their times, but there's also a healthy percentage of their albums that have aged well. Probably about the same ratio as other labels of the time, Impulse included.

I agree. Jazz was having an identity crisis in the Seventies, and so there was a lot of hand-wringing going on about where it might be headed. A new label like CTI made a convenient scapegoat.
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." - Hélder Pessoa Câmara

San Antone

CTI was a real mixed bag.  Jazz went through hard times during the '70s, mainly because of Disco, and CTI managed to give a lot of jazz players some exposure and some of those records were their biggest sellers.  Milt Jackson's Sunflower was excellent, as was Freddie Hubbard's Red Clay.  Ron Carter put out several good records, Joe Farrell, Hubert Laws, Jim Hall, all had good CTI releases.  Jobim's Stone Flower was one of his best.

My problem with CTI was not release's like Thus Spoke Zarathustra from Deodato and other pop crossover efforts but the sound on all of them.  They utilized isolation booths for all the instruments giving the band a real compressed sound, especially the bass.  Ron Carter's bass took on a very distinctive sound, but it was not natural at all.

Still it was tough during that decade and CTI single-handedly made a number of jazz artists some money and despite the engineering some of those records are still worth listening to.

king ubu

@Alek Hidell Yup, I've heard Die Enttàuschung/Schlippenbach (he hopped the wagon, it wasn't his project I understand, but he has the biggest name) Monk programme ... in concert, spread over two late night concerts, at a festival a few years ago, and a few years after they made their somewhat too early/tentative recording. It was amazing - and to reinforce Schlippenbach's somewhat marginal position in it, he did hardly any substantial playing the first night, but was much more involved the second. I don't think the Kimbrough project can be compared, the approach is totally different, much more coming from the inside (geography, tradition, style), and yet it sounds much more edgy to me. The rhythm section - namely Billy Drummond on drums - does a fantastic job, Kimbrough does his thing, but he really sneaks into Monk's world ... and Scott Robinson is a wonderful musician whom I've never heard at comparable length yet (I've got him only on all those glorious Maria Schneider albums, with George Gruntz and a few other sideman appearances so far). His tenor can sound "narrow" (for lack of a better word) and almost clarinet-like in clarity of tone and line, but he has a huge range and yet seems to be quite his own man. He plays trumpet and bass saxophone on a few tunes, that weird echo cornet on one, and bass sarrousaphone on one or two tracks. The set includes, I think, two or three tunes not on the "Monk's Casino" set.

Regarding CTI, I'm in the same camp as San Antone: it's the sound that bugs me most. However, on the other hand it seems for the high-gloss stuff that Creed Taylor was after (that started during his tenure with Verve and continued when he moved on to A&M), the entire design of the records (sound, cover design/photography, glossy foldout think cardboard ...) were quite "right". There are certainly a dozen plus albums I really like, but none that I'd take to that desert island, I think (the first two by Freddie Hubbard come closest I guess).

Thread duty, last night's late listen:



Wonderful!
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/

NikF4

Quote from: Alek Hidell on March 03, 2019, 07:43:02 PM
Ah, I remember that cover. I had it on LP. CTI was something of a controversial label, despite founder Creed Taylor's previously-established bona fides, but I recall this one as being pretty nice - and how could it not be, with a rhythm section like Ron Carter and Connie Kay? I recalled that Jim Hall played guitar on it, but I see now that it's Ed Bickert. I may need to get hold of it and reacquaint myself.



Alex, I'm prone to doing the same thing sometimes. But I think that speaks volumes about both of them as far as ability is concerned. And almost as an aside: on hearing about the passing of Bickert, my first stop was to give a listen to his interpretation of Strayhorn's A Flower is a Lovesome Thing - an exercise in getting out of the way of the tune.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ywTyy25tE9I

San Antone



Sanfona : Egberto Gismonti & Academia de Dancas

Recorded in 1980 and 1981 and released on the ECM label, this double album features one disc of studio material with Gismonti's quartet and one disc of solo material recorded live.

Egberto Gismonti - 10 string guitar, super 8 guitar, Indian organ, piano, voice
Mauro Senise - soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, flute
Zeca Assumpção - bass
Nene - drums, percussion

SimonNZ


SimonNZ

#3995


Joe Pass - I Remember Charlie Parker (1979)
Cedar Walton - Piano Solos (1981)



Johnny Griffin - Blues For Harvey (1973)

San Antone



The Abyssinian Mass : Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis

QuoteWynton Marsalis was commissioned to write a piece commemorating the 200th anniversary of Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. The result was a sacred celebration: a sweeping composition for a big band and 70-piece gospel choir. In 2013, award-winning recording artist Damien Sneed and his choir, Chorale Le Chateau, joined the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis for a 16-city, 19-concert tour across the South that took the musicians into deep dialogue with the African American tradition. Now, The Abyssinian Mass—Marsalis's first original recorded composition in six years—documents this piece's immense power to make audiences clap their hands and sing along to its joyous spirituality, its profound swing, and its bluesy swagger.

Great record.

king ubu



After a concert with Heinz Holliger and Oliver Schnyder (the piano/winds quintets by LvB and Wolferl and piano pieces by Kurtág and Holliger in between) this was the perfect late night Music yesterday - first spin, new acquisition ... getting more and more into Jessica Williams' playing!
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/

SurprisedByBeauty

I'd listen to some Jacques Loussier, seeing that he died last night, but I can't find 'em for the life of me.  :'(

George

Quote from: SurprisedByBeauty on March 06, 2019, 12:15:42 PM
I'd listen to some Jacques Loussier, seeing that he died last night, but I can't find 'em for the life of me.  :'(

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgytUKXsKJ4
"I can't live without music, because music is life." - Yvonne Lefébure