What Jazz are you listening to now?

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

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Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: aligreto on January 19, 2022, 09:55:19 AM
Burt Bacharach? Please explain.

Bacharach, one of my fav Jazz composers, was a student of Darius Milhaud and Bohuslav Martinů!

aligreto

Coltrane: Blue Train





I listened to this 2XLP [the same album in both stereo and mono modes] first in its stereo mode and then in mono. The stereo recording has a great presence but the mono has equal presence with much more focus and vitality to it if I am honest. Either way the album is very well recorded and the playing from all contributors is consistently nothing less than excellent and most enjoyable.

aligreto

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on January 19, 2022, 10:23:08 AM
Bacharach, one of my fav Jazz composers, was a student of Darius Milhaud and Bohuslav Martinů!

Thank you. More wonderful knowledge accrued.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: aligreto on January 19, 2022, 01:38:14 PM
Coltrane: Blue Train





I listened to this 2XLP [the same album in both stereo and mono modes] first in its stereo mode and then in mono. The stereo recording has a great presence but the mono has equal presence with much more focus and vitality to it if I am honest. Either way the album is very well recorded and the playing from all contributors is consistently nothing less than excellent and most enjoyable.

Interesting, and good, idea to combine the stereo and mono recordings. Interesting to hear that you found the mono recording somehow superior. I think previously you said similar things about the Beatles' recordings. Good performance by Lee Morgan as well.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: Roasted Swan on January 19, 2022, 02:18:14 AM
I follow a "Big Bands Only" facebook group.  Someone posted an extraordinary performance of Kenny Clare and a stellar line-up of British jazzers from 1974 backing Tony Bennett.  Not the first singer you think of as an out and out jazz singer but this cooks up an absolute storm......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fRuKT8UmAM

PS:  great hair and big velvet bow ties too!!

Yes, great drumming!

aligreto

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on January 19, 2022, 02:10:02 PM
Interesting, and good, idea to combine the stereo and mono recordings. Interesting to hear that you found the mono recording somehow superior. I think previously you said similar things about the Beatles' recordings. Good performance by Lee Morgan as well.

Possibly because there were less variables with the recording equipment and processes back then?

T. D.

Quote from: Dry Brett Kavanaugh on January 19, 2022, 02:10:02 PM
Interesting, and good, idea to combine the stereo and mono recordings. Interesting to hear that you found the mono recording somehow superior. I think previously you said similar things about the Beatles' recordings. Good performance by Lee Morgan as well.

I'm not enough of a collector to go for mono and stereo versions of the same recordings, but I don't consider "mono" a negative factor on hard bop era releases. There are lots of mono recordings I like just fine, and a number of early and "simulated" stereo recordings that don't sound very good.

I never got so much into Blue Train, even though it's Trane, an iconic Blue Note release, etc. But tastes vary and I'm more into later period Coltrane (though earlier stuff ain't chopped liver).

aligreto

Coltrane: Giant Steps





I liked the very easy flow of the music making on this album. It was my first time to hear the album and I found it to be a very easy and entertaining listen.

T. D.

I find Coltrane's Atlantic recordings (incl. Giant Steps) overall the most enjoyable part of his catalog. Kind of an intermediate/transition phase. The Impulse! recordings are awesome, but they cover a wide range of stylistic ground and can be pretty far "outside" (though I happen to like a lot of the late far-out music).

aligreto

Quote from: T. D. on January 21, 2022, 06:48:32 PM
I find Coltrane's Atlantic recordings (incl. Giant Steps) overall the most enjoyable part of his catalog. Kind of an intermediate/transition phase. The Impulse! recordings are awesome, but they cover a wide range of stylistic ground and can be pretty far "outside" (though I happen to like a lot of the late far-out music).

A friend has given me access to a large amount of Coltrane's music [16 CDs]. I do not know what is in there yet but I certainly look forward to exploring it.

Artem

Quote from: T. D. on January 21, 2022, 12:28:19 PM
I'm not enough of a collector to go for mono and stereo versions of the same recordings, but I don't consider "mono" a negative factor on hard bop era releases. There are lots of mono recordings I like just fine, and a number of early and "simulated" stereo recordings that don't sound very good.

I never got so much into Blue Train, even though it's Trane, an iconic Blue Note release, etc. But tastes vary and I'm more into later period Coltrane (though earlier stuff ain't chopped liver).
I never got into Blue Train myself either. To me it's a very straight forward Blue Note blowing session. The fact that it had mostly his own compositions also don't make it all that special. I feel like there was some kind of attempt on part of the Blue Note to capitalise on his album for the label. I can't image what would have happened if Coltrane stayed with the Blue Note. I find it odd whenever I see Blue Train mentioned alongside Kind of Blue, for example. Even Coltrane's records on Prestige are more interesting than Blue Train.

When exploring John Coltrane I think it is important to keep track of recording dates of the disks that one listens to. His style was changing very fast, but at the same time some record labels were putting out older, more standard oriented material.

aligreto

Quote from: T. D. on January 21, 2022, 06:48:32 PM
I find Coltrane's Atlantic recordings (incl. Giant Steps) overall the most enjoyable part of his catalog. Kind of an intermediate/transition phase. The Impulse! recordings are awesome, but they cover a wide range of stylistic ground and can be pretty far "outside" (though I happen to like a lot of the late far-out music).


Quote from: Artem on January 22, 2022, 05:17:49 AM
I never got into Blue Train myself either. To me it's a very straight forward Blue Note blowing session. The fact that it had mostly his own compositions also don't make it all that special. I feel like there was some kind of attempt on part of the Blue Note to capitalise on his album for the label. I can't image what would have happened if Coltrane stayed with the Blue Note. I find it odd whenever I see Blue Train mentioned alongside Kind of Blue, for example. Even Coltrane's records on Prestige are more interesting than Blue Train.

When exploring John Coltrane I think it is important to keep track of recording dates of the disks that one listens to. His style was changing very fast, but at the same time some record labels were putting out older, more standard oriented material.


Thank you both for your information and, for me, guidance. I will obviously need to do some research prior to undertaking a listening odyssey of 16 Coltrane CDs.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#5032
My Favorite Things, John Coltrane. Inspired by the fellow members' posts, just listened to the 2 versions.  The Newport track blew me away when I was a high school kid.

Artem

I'm not familiar with Newport, but that Pablo release is really good.

T. D.

After some analysis and research  ::), I concluded that I have all the Newport '63 material spread out among three other releases. The Coltrane discography can be rather...bewildering.

SimonNZ

I remember trying to make sense of the single year of 1965 for Coltrane:

Quote from: SimonNZ on November 28, 2016, 01:53:32 PM


The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (February 17-18 and May 17, 1965 - rel: 1965)
Transition (May 26 and June 10, 1965 - rel: 1970)



Living Space (June 10 and 16, 1965 - rel.(as album): 1998)
Kulu Sé Mama (June 10, 16 and October 14, 1965 - rel: 1967)



Ascension (June 28, 1965 - rel: 1966)
First Meditations For Quartet (September 2, 1965 - rel: 1977)



Meditations (November 23, 1965 - rel: 1966)

^About to start the seventh Coltrane album in a row, and man its been great hearing them all again and in context. These seven are on the RVG list for 1965. There's three others released from sessions that year which weren't recorded at the Van Gelder studios: New Thing At Newport (July 2, 1965 - rel: 1965), Sun Ship (August 26, 1965 - rel: 1971) and Om (October 1, 1965 - rel; 1968). I'll be playing those three tomorrow to complete this overview of Trane '65, and hopefully reading the section on his last years from the Lewis Porter study.



edit: I realise now that I have to also add to the 1965 discography Live At The Half-Note: One Up, One Down (March 26 and May 7, 1965 - rel: 2005) and Live In Seattle (September 30, 1965 - rel: 1971).



edit: Oh, and also the July 26, 1965 live performance of A Love Supreme from the second disc of the 2002 Deluxe edition of that album.



Notice of any other '65 omissions welcomed.

I notice now that since I last looked a helpful"sessionography" has been added to Coltrane's wikipwdia page

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#5036
Nice post, Simon.
Live in Paris/Antibes now.

Dry Brett Kavanaugh

Quote from: T. D. on January 22, 2022, 05:43:00 PM
After some analysis and research  ::), I concluded that I have all the Newport '63 material spread out among three other releases. The Coltrane discography can be rather...bewildering.

I believe only My Favorite Things was played with Roy Haynes. Wonder what happened to Elvin.

bhodges

Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles (full-length concert, live in Frankfurt, 2017) - Joyful and marvelous.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6cdrO2dMUk

--Bruce

T. D.

Documentary on free jazz:

Inside Out In The Open (An Expressionist Journey Into The World Known As Free Jazz) Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DdBVy2o2pY