Unlikely pairings

[Brian]

Inspired by a listen to the Mingus jam with both old-school-cool Roy Eldridge and on-the-edge Eric Dolphy, I thought it would be fun to have a thread where we talk about our favorite recordings featuring unlikely combos of very different performers.

What are your favorite jazz examples of "opposites attract"? 

[Bogey]

Johnny Hartman and John Coltrane

Miles Davis and Gil Evans

[king ubu]

Not sure ... I guess it works when they're not really as "opposite" as it may seem. Eldridge was always a probing, forward-looking musician (and never "cool" in a musical sense), while Mingus and Dolphy both had done their homework and were bringing lots of tradition into their iconoclastic music.

Miles Davis and Gil Evans may have been different personalities, but musically, I'd never look at them as opposites - they worked together for many years, after all (Evans was in the studio often, even when they didn't do one of their two-few albums).

Another one that I love - and that again makes lots of sense if you look closer:

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John Coltrane and Cecil Taylor in 1958 didn't work ... might seem weird but once you get deeper into Coltrane's music, it's pretty obvious that he wasn't ready for that. Same for the album he made with Don Cherry and the rest of Ornette Coleman's then quartet. Wrong point in time, parallel developments that went at different paces and in different directions.

Max Roach made it work with Archie Shepp and Cecil Taylor and Anthony Braxton - though again none of those seem "unlikely" to me if I give it some thought.

Coltrane/Hartman was rather unlikely though, agreed on that ... and I guess Coltrane/Ellington wasn't really on the wall either, though it comes as no surprise that it worked out so beautifully. Speaking of these Impulse pairings, I guess Coleman Hawkins made plenty of albums with musicians that would seem odd if you take his 1930s and 1940s personality ... but even more than Eldridge, he was always hungry and eager to keep up with what was happening (and he went into sad demise when he lost his appetite).

One that did surprise me quite a bit, in much more recent times: Roscoe Mitchell and Evan Parker (two discs on ECM, pretty good I think, though not among either's best).

[SimonNZ]

Miles Davis and Gil Evans

Miles Davis and Easy Mo Bee

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

...

Miles Davis and Gil Evans

Some of Miles' very best work IMO!

Here's one--not so much for the personnel, but for the instruments involved:
Joe Pass (guitar, of course) and Oscar Peterson on clavichord, playing tunes from Porgy and Bess (Pablo). Very interesting combination of sounds! I honestly am sick of Porgy and Bess--not that it's not good stuff, but it seems everyone has done songs from it--but I never tire of this album.

I also LP of Joe Pass and J.J. Johnson "We'll Be Together Again"--guitar and trombone is surely another unusual pairing (have not gotten around to listening to this one yet).

[bob_cart]

Can Gary Burton and Astor Piazzolla count as an unlikely pairing? Anyhow; that was fun.

[NJ Joe]

This seemed like an unlikely pairing to me when I bought it, but it actually works quite well.  Breau plays guitar and Brad Terry plays clarinet and whistles (he doesn't play whistles, he actually whistles). The disc includes both solo and duet performances.  It was released by Terry after Breau's death.

[SimonNZ]

Pat Metheney and Ornette Coleman?

(I'm told Song X is actually a great album but I've <blush> not heard it yet.)

[James]

Pat Metheney and Ornette Coleman?

(I'm told Song X is actually a great album but I've <blush> not heard it yet.)

Metheny is actually a fanboy of Ornette .. and it's evident in his playing & approach.

I got Song X when it was released and have live video concert footage of Metheny sitting in with the band too, all of it is such a let down and incredibly lazy .. skip it.

[SimonNZ]

Metheny is actually a fanboy of Ornette .. and it's evident in his playing & approach.

I got Song X when it was released and have live video concert footage of Metheny sitting in with the band too, all of it is such a let down and incredibly lazy .. skip it.

I can't just skip it because its been praised by a large number of critics, I think it even gets a crown in the Penguin guide.

Also: I admire both musicians, so am naturally curious about albums of theirs i haven't yet heard.

Hmm...might try and hear that later today.

[king ubu]

No need to skip it at all, I think! It may not be the great masterpiece some may have hoped for, but it's interesting at least.

Also, if you want to check out that aspect of Metheny, I think "Rejoicing", a trio album with Charlie Haden and Billy Higgins, is very good. It contains a couple of Ornette tunes and some by Haden and Metheny, though the opening "Lonely Woman" is actually the (beautiful) Horace Silver tune of that name. Beautiful rekkid in my opinion, one of my Metheny favourites. Here's a review:
https://ecmreviews.com/2011/12/21/rejoicing/

[James]

I can't just skip it because its been praised by a large number of critics, I think it even gets a crown in the Penguin guide.

LOL

[James]

He's more indepted to Ornette from a chronological/historical standpoint .. being more open, more free .. where improvisational direction & content are not restricted. Not copying him or playing his tunes. And of course, doesn't mean chaos etc. .. you know, throw a bunch of shit against the wall and see what sticks ... that most people narrowly associate with "free jazz". Unfortunately, Song X ends up falling into that trapping & stereotype, and the result is a lot of BS. It's no secret that most critics haven't got a clue and aren't qualified to write about music, they see the big "brand musical names, Ornette? Metheny? .. classic!" and instantly laud .. ditto these guides that pollute the market, full of garbage .. a really good, deep, insightful critic/writer is a rarity. Listen to The Shape of Jazz to Come, pretty good album, and tinkering with form, freedom/looseness in the playing (in moderation), yet musical.

[SimonNZ]

Man, I don't even know which of my twenty points of disagreement to begin with in response to that doggerel.

Except to say that I played Song X for the first time yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[James]

Except to say that I played Song X for the first time yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it.

And you would, but I doubt you'd notice the "differences" anyhow. So enjoy.