What Jazz are you listening to now?

[James]

https://www.youtube.com/v/OMTXjmVd6AI

[SimonNZ]

On the other hand, Filles De Kilimanjaro isn't really clicking for me. Does that one take awhile to appreciate?

Filles de Kilimanjaro was the first Miles album I purchased/heard back when i was 15, so it has a sentimental attachment for me, though I do also feel it has much to recommend it objectively. Its seldom listed as anyone's favorite of the second quintet, but on the other hand its seldom dismissed either - except to call it "transitional", a term I've personally never liked for any of Miles' work. It's more of an understated 1am album in comparison to a lot of the other work the band did, perhaps closer in mood to the following In A Silent Way (and two of the tracks replace members of the old band with members of that album to come), so I'd say persevere but with out the expectation of it sounding like the others and you should warm to it at least a little more.

playing now:



Bill Barron - Higher Ground (1993)
Jim Snidero - Blue Afternoon (1993)



Hank Jones - Upon Reflection: The Music Of Thad Jones (1993)
Teodross Avery - In Other Words (1994)



Sonny Fortune - Four In One (1994)

[George]

Filles de Kilimanjaro was the first Miles album I purchased/heard back when i was 15, so it has a sentimental attachment for me, though I do also feel it has much to recommend it objectively. Its seldom listed as anyone's favorite of the second quintet, but on the other hand its seldom dismissed either - except to call it "transitional", a term I've personally never liked for any of Miles' work. It's more of an understated 1am album in comparison to a lot of the other work the band did, perhaps closer in mood to the following In A Silent Way (and two of the tracks replace members of the old band with members of that album to come), so I'd say persevere but with out the expectation of it sounding like the others and you should warm to it at least a little more.

Thanks. I am listening to it again now at work and enjoying it more.

[king ubu]

I lurve "Filles"! "Mademoiselle Mabry" is one of those silent pieces of genius, so typical of Gil Evans ... there's that moment towards the end where you can actually hear quite clearly what's behind it: Jimi's "The Wind Cries Mary". Goosebumps each time I hear that again!

[king ubu]

[king ubu]

Had not been aware of this disc at all, but stumbled over it last week when I looked for the two Red albums by JoeHen (finally had to get them in real):



Henderson guests on three tracks with the Todd Coolman trio (leader on bass, Renee Rosnes on piano and Lewis Nash on drums), rec. 1991, rel. 1995 on Double-Time Records.

[SimonNZ]

Sonny Fortune - A Better Understanding (1995)
Don Sickler - Night Watch (1995)



Steve Turre - Rhythm Within (1995)

[king ubu]

[NikF]

Ed Bickert: At the Garden Party.

[asin]B0001XAN2Q[/asin]

[SimonNZ]

Sonny Fortune - From Now On (1996)
Hank Crawford - Tight (1996)



Carlos Garnett - Resurgence (1996)
Renee Rosnes - As We Are Now (1997)

[king ubu]

Mention of this set on another forum had me take it off the shelves after way too long a period in time where I may have played a few stray tracks from it (like the wonderful one by Randy Weston), so now it will be the entire set:

Wildflowers - The New York Jazz Loft Sessions (Knit Classics, 3 CD, 1999)

CD 1 has cuts by Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre (with Chris White and Jumma Santos), Ken McIntyre (he gets two tracks - with Richard Harper, Andrei Strobert, Andy Vega), Sunny Murray + Untouchable Factor feat. Byard Lancaster (with Khan Jamal, Fred Hopkins, David Murray), Sam Rivers, Henry Threadgill's Air (with Fred Hopkins & Steve McCall), Sonelius Smith's Flight to Sanity (with Byard Lancaster, Art Bennett, Olu Dara, Benny Wilson and Don Moye), Anthony Braxton (with George Lewis, not *that* but the real Michael Jackson, Hopkins, Barry Altschul and Phillip Wilson), and Marion Brown (with Jack Gregg and Jumma Santos)

CD 2 then has Wadada Leo Smith (with Oliver Lake, Anthony Davis, Wes Brown, Paul Maddox and *that* Stanley "I'll punch yo face" Crouch), Randy Weston (with Alex Blake and Azzedin Weston), Michael Jackson (with Lake, Hopkins, Wilson), Dave Burrell (with Stafford James and Harold White), Ahmed Abdullah (with a great, great band: Charles Brackeen, Mashujaa, Leory Seals, Richie Evans, Rashid Sinan), Andrew Cyrille + Maono (Ted Daniel, David Ware, Lisle Atkinson), Hamiet Bluiett (with Dara, Butch Campbell, Billy Pastterson, Jooni Both, the late Charles "Bobo" Shaw and Moye), and Julius Hemphill (with Abdul Wadud, Bern Nix, Wilson and Moye).

CD 3 starts with normal-length three tracks (as all the rest of the set, roughly 5-10 minutes, one is shorter, a few are 10 or 12, the Maono track is an excerpt of a long performance, the Sonelius Smith misses the beginning due to technical problems) by Jimmy Lyons (with Karen Borca, Hayes Burnett and Henry Letcher), Oliver Lake (with Jackson, Hopkins and Wilson), and David Murray (Dara, Hopkins, Crouch - that's the shortest track, just 2:45 minutes). Then we get two long tracks by Sunny Murray + Untouchable Factor (same line-up as already listed, incl. Lancaster) and Roscoe Mitchell (at 25 minutes the longest, and what an amazing one! he is accompanied by Jerome Cooper and Moye).

The fact that several musicians turn up on several tracks (Hopkins, Moye, Jackson, D. Murray, Dara, Lake) shows how many of these musicians were part of the same scene(s) - and it helps forming a rather coherent, if very diverse and adventurous whole of this set. Amazing stuff, for sure!

[Ghost Sonata]

Not for everyone, but those attuned and turned on to the celestial vibrations emanating from Saturn, birthplace of the artist*, will appreciate it :

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*though some claim it was Alabama.

[SimonNZ]

Jack Sheldon - Playing For Change (1997)
Ron Carter - The Bass And I (1997)

Might have to call it an end with the RVG project at this point. There are a few more new albums, but they're mostly on obscure labels and I can't find them. But the majority of his time from here until his death was spent on reissue/remaster work.

[SimonNZ]

Time for another listen to this, then:



Miles Davis - Filles de Kilimanjaro (1968)

[SimonNZ]

Miles Davis - Live at Paul's Mall, Boston 1972

[George]

Miles Davis - Live at Paul's Mall, Boston 1972

Have not heard that. How is it?

Also, could I ask your opinion on these albums? I don't have them, nor have I heard them:

Blue Moods – 1955 – 26 minutes

Quiet Nights – 1963 – 27 minutes

Big Fun – 1974 - compilation

Get Up With It – 1974

Water Babies – 1976 (recorded in 1967)

You're Under Arrest – 1985

[SimonNZ]

Have not heard that. How is it?

Also, could I ask your pinion on these albums? I don't have them, nor have I heard them:

Blue Moods – 1955 – 26 minutes

Quiet Nights – 1963 – 27 minutes

Big Fun – 1974 - compilation

Get Up With It – 1974

Water Babies – 1976 (recorded in 1967)

You're Under Arrest – 1985

First time I'd heard that Boston, 72 bootleg. Originally, I think, a radio broadcast, but the sound isn't broadcast quality. It's post Bitches Brew funky meanderings with lots of pedal effects. I enjoyed it, but won't feel the need to play it again anytime soon.

Blue Moods is actually a favorite of mine, in my opinion an unfairly neglected album at least as good as the best of his Prestige work. I love all four of the early albums he made with vibes as part of the ensemble, and this one especially. Very relaxed tempos and very moody/introspective arrangements.

Quiet Nights, legend goes, was released without Miles' okay, rounding up unused and substandard bits from various sessions/experiments with Gil Evans. Though not actually bad, it is unanimously considered the least interesting album to have their names together, and I myself haven't felt the need to revisit in two decades.

Water Babies is really interesting. Like Filles it mixes tracks by the second quintet (Shorter-penned outakes from the Nefertiti sessions he would later record for his own Super Nova album) and tracks with Corea and Holland in the band looking forward to In A Silent Way. Not at all a mere album of leftovers.

You're Under Arrest I've personally never cared much for. A few people, though only a few, say its his best album of the eighties. Other say Aura, but my vote would be Tutu. Arrest I find equal parts undemanding and kitschy (and not the good kind). The two pop covers, which again some like, are for my money the closest he ever came to Easy Listening.

Big Fun and Get Up With It I need to hear again. I remember finding both fascinating last time I heard them, but no longer have a clear picture.

playing now:



The Swingle Singers and The Modern Jazz Quartet - Place Vendome (1966)
Mal Waldron - Meditations (1972)



Gabor Szabo - 1969

[George]

Thanks, Simon!

Seems like there's always more Miles out there to discover.

[kishnevi]

Earlier today
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A deliberately retro excursion into Cuban music, done well. 

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Not for everyone, but those attuned and turned on to the celestial vibrations emanating from Saturn, birthplace of the artist*, will appreciate it :

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*though some claim it was Alabama.

Maybe not for everyone, but everyone should at least give it a chance (listen all the way through) at least once. Along with Pharoah Sander's Karma, it is one of my favorite "out"/"free jazz" recordings.