"You already know how to play. Now play wrong and make THAT right": Jazz D-Bags Thread 2010

Title comes from something Monk told Ben Riley, which appears on page 351 of the Robin D.G. Kelley bio, originally reported an interview with Ken Micaleff.

Dang, I spelt the guys name wrong. It's Micallef.

2010! I've decided this is the year that I get more into recent jazz ... so d-bags, what should I get? This Vijay Iyer thing?

I love how these jazz thread titles are all Your Favorite Jazz Quote From a Jazz God

2010! I've decided this is the year that I get more into recent jazz ... so d-bags, what should I get? This Vijay Iyer thing?
Can't help you there. This is the year I only listen to stuff that's at least fifty years old.

damn it

i am beginning my year of more recent jazz by listening to lester young. we're off!

Hah, I was j/k, mostly. Haven't heard the latest Vijay Iyer, but have seen him a few times and he's always been good. He's a good writer too. I believe Hurting saw his regular drummer, Marcus Gilmore, a few days ago.

(Note to self and perhaps to others: don't start thread with long title while you have long screenname)

2009 albums I liked a lot:

Derek Bailey & Steve Noble, Out Of The Past (guitar/drums duos, recorded in 1999 and released 10 years later, very loud and skronky)
Erik Deutsch, Hush Money (groove stuff, kinda reminds me of solo Donald Fagen, only instrumental)
Wayne Escoffery, Uptown (straightahead sax-organ-guitar-drums funky hard bop)
Fire!, You Liked Me Five Minutes Ago (skronk plus electronics; sometimes quite loud, sometimes almost ambient)
Nobuyasu Furuya Trio, Bendowa (Ayler/Brötzmann-esque trio date led by a brand-new Japanese saxophonist)
Joe Morris, Wildlife (raucous sax-bass-drums stuff with Morris on bass)
Wadada Leo Smith, Spiritual Dimensions (two-disc set; one mostly acoustic, one very electric - four guitarists incl. Nels Cline)
Tyshawn Sorey, Koan (guitar-bass-drums trio, more Morton Feldman than Grant Green)
Chad Taylor, Circle Down (adventurous piano trio stuff)
The Thing, Bag It! (very loud, skronky sax-bass-drums trio)
David S. Ware Quartet, Live In Vilnius (this group's last ever live show, from 2007; awesome but vinyl-only)
Matt Wilson Quartet, That's Gonna Leave A Mark (fun, funky hard bop)

That should get you started.

i am only a dabbler, but i like both of vijay iyer's last two albums a lot. (marcus gilmore is a big reason why.) and nels cline's coward may or may not count as jazz qua jazz -- parts of it certainly do -- but anyone who still hasn't heerd it really oughta. speaking of which, i would like to hear that wadada leo smith. i would like to hear all of those, actually.

oh, and cuong vu -- i only have pure, what else should i get?

I've never heard any of Cuong Vu's solo stuff but his playing on Myra Melford's upcoming disc, The Whole Tree Gone, is excellent. It's coming out on Firehouse 12 sometime this month. (I'll have a piece on Melford in the next issue of Jazziz.)

thanks for the recommendations! so the david s. ware thing isn't even available as a download? other than derek bailey he's the only one I'm familiar with ...

2010 is the year I might try to start going to see Latin jazz, non-Latin jazz and non-jazz Latin at La Fonda Boricua, located on East 106 between Lex & 3. This month they are going to have, among others, Louis Hayes, Mulgrew Miller, and the top-ten-album-having Bobby Sanabria Big Band. http://www.fondaboricua.com/NN_calendar.php. Also check out their youtube page.

Or maybe don't check out the youtube page. The shakey hand-held video is giving my inner ear problems.

Ben Ratliff got the New York Times to shell out for another piece about how jazz and metal are secretly the same music. He's been beating that drum since the mid '90s. Which is fine; I'm hardly disagreeing with him. But jazz has been metal for 40 years - he acts like nobody's ever heard of Sonny Sharrock (with or without Last Exit).

another thing going totally against my "getting into new jazz 2010," but I've just discovered that Jelly Roll Morton's 8-disc library of congress recordings are available via amazon mp3 for $19.98! :D
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Library-Congress-Recordings/dp/B0011CZSHQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1262318587&sr=8-1

Where do you live tylerw? Do you live in NYC? As part of your program, you should just go to gigs and eliminate the middleman.

er no, I live in Colorado ... Denver occasionally gets halfway decent stuff, but not anywhere near what the coasts get. The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra is coming this month! Yay? Should I go?

Sure. And if you like them, tell me and maybe I'll check them out sometime.

jazz has been metal for 40 years - he acts like nobody's ever heard of Sonny Sharrock (with or without Last Exit).

probably are some metalheads who haven't, and probably are some sonny sharrock fans who are too snobby to listen to metal. i think ratliff's basically trying to evangelize to get those two niche audiences together (probably aimed more at jazz fans than metalheads, really, just because jazz fans are more likely to read ben ratliff).

i haven't heard that whole vijay ayer album, but it seems to be more accessible than blood sutra or whatever.

a friend's experimental jazz-ish band just got reviewed in the ny times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/arts/music/04choice.html?emc=eta1

everyone in the trio is a motherfucker (incl. keith jarrett's son on bass)

everyone in the trio is a motherfucker (incl. keith jarrett's son on bass)

help! cannot get the image of keith jarrett's son and the son's mother, together on keith jarrett's son's base, outta my head now :/

JAZZ is metal.
tbh I'm glad he went with the over the top initial statement rather than what would have been the classic Arts & Leisure approach: "Jazz and Metal: The Same But Different." Which he kind of ended up doing anyway, but still.

i haven't heard that whole vijay ayer album, but it seems to be more accessible than blood sutra or whatever.

definitely. less abstract and brainy, more fun and funky.

er no, I live in Colorado ... Denver occasionally gets halfway decent stuff
Isn't there a really good trumpet player out of Denver named Ron Miles?

there is! http://www.sterlingcircle.com/Ron.html He is really good -- i last saw him play with Bill Frisell (who is also a Denver guy originally) out here. There is actually a decent scene of local musicians, but it sort of seems like every time you look one up, they're moving away! Miles has stuck it out, I guess.

I believe Hurting saw his regular drummer, Marcus Gilmore, a few days ago.

― the embed's too big without you (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 1 January 2010 23:36 (4 days ago) Permalink

Correct. I liked him although wasn't blown away. Granted I couldn't see him behind the organ, and also guitar/organ trio isn't really the best drummer vehicle.

really? i think drummers usually shine w/organ bass (elvin jones & larry young, bill stewart & larry goldings, brian blade & sam yahel).

I've seen some drummers do fine in that context, but maybe there's some danger of slipping into soul jazz cliches.

He is really good -- i last saw him play with Bill Frisell
Heard a live broadcast on the radio once and he played an amazing version of John Lennon's "Julia." Meant to see him when he passed through again but I couldn't make it.

Ron Miles's own CD Laughing Barrel (the only one I've heard, alas) is also really good.

The Lithuanian label, NoBusiness Records, that put out the David S. Ware Live in Vilnius double LP that I mentioned upthread is releasing a pretty amazing looking 3CD box by Jemeel Moondoc's 1970s band Muntu. It includes their first two albums, originally released on Moondoc's own label, and a previously unissued live date from 1975, plus a thick book with essays about the loft jazz scene, the Black Arts Movement, et cetera. More info here.

Friend of mine is going to this Winterfest thing tonight. Seems like a paid $30 for two-day pass.

2010! I've decided this is the year that I get more into recent jazz ... so d-bags, what should I get? This Vijay Iyer thing?

i have tragicomic and it's a fine listen. not sure to which Iyer you are referring

Vijay is playing at Winter Jazzfest tonight, actually: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/arts/music/08jazzfest.html

was referring to Historicity -- just cuz I saw the NY Times said it was one of the best jazz recordings of '09 ...

really? i think drummers usually shine w/organ bass (elvin jones & larry young, bill stewart & larry goldings, brian blade & sam yahel).

― hey trader joe's! i've got the new steely dan. (Jordan), Tuesday, January 5, 2010 2:30 PM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think it's more the guitar than the organ that's usually the drum-dampener for me. It's just such an unfiery, undynamic instrument. Honestly as a former jazz guitarist, I fucking hate the jazz guitar. Stupidest fucking instrument.

I could watch Brian Blade accompany a recorder for two hours though.

Oh man, I stopped by the 55 Bar on the way home on Friday and almost got into a fite with a guy who was talking about Clapton and the Grateful Dead.

Hurting, do you know who you sound like when you say you hate jazz guitar?

Answer: Sonny Sharrock.

ha

BTW I think I am in love with this woman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te9gBDT1J3c

Maybe I can get you into Martin Cohen's birthday party and introduce you.

j/k.

Was just looking at this new little Spanish language NYC handout called Pie Derecho and it had a small one page cheat sheat about Santeria and the various Orishas. It wasn't long ago that you weren't supposed to be teaching lay people about the bata, let alone on youtube.

I think a guy I know plays guitar with her

Then you must hate that guy because he plays jazz guitar.

What? She plays theramin too?

yeah fuck that guy

William Parker is releasing an album of Curtis Mayfield covers (going by the title anyway).

RIP

Ed Thigpen died in Kingdom Hospital in Copenhagen on January 13, 2010, after being ill for a long period of time.

RIP

Great drummer. Possibly the greatest awesomeness-to-complexity ratio of any drummer, in fact - always played simple and always sounded incredibly tasty.

Also wrote what I understand was pretty much the authoritative text on brush playing.

Hurting, you should get your jazz guitar-hating self over to The Jazz Standard tonight where Jack Wilkins is playing with the Mingus Orchestra and presumably you can get some kind of student discount with your law school ID for the second set and pay $12.50.

( Jazz Standard email has a big blurb about how great the Mingus Orchestra is written by m. coleman's old NY Rocker boss Andy Schwartz which I won't bother to past here)

William Parker is releasing an album of Curtis Mayfield covers (going by the title anyway).

Did you mean The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield from 2008? Or something else?

Yeah, I didn't realize that had already been out all this time.

Thanks for hipping me to that, I'll have to pick that up.

Jazz has been a genre that I've wanted to get into, but never could. Could you guys recommend me some jazz records you like, old or new, to get me started? Thanks, much appreciated.

from recent thread in which I discovered the classics: BEST EVER JAZZ ALBUM (from rateyourmusic.com) albums I recommend to a beginner

Miles Davis In a Silent Way (1969)
Charles Mingus The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady (1963)
Lee Morgan The Sidewinder (1964)
Eric Dolphy Out to Lunch! (1964)
Alice Coltrane Journey in Satchidananda (1971)
John Coltrane Olé Coltrane (1962)
Herbie Hancock Empyrean Isles (1964)
John Coltrane Ascension (1966)
Wayne Shorter Speak No Evil (1965)
McCoy Tyner The Real McCoy (1967)
John Coltrane Africa/Brass (1961)
Duke Ellington Far East Suite (1967)
Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come (1959)
Duke Ellington Money Jungle (1962)
Stan Getz & João Gilberto Getz/Gilberto [featuring Antônio Carlos Jobim] (1964)

I could list a lot more but its early and I am only in the mood to c&p

I'm not the best person to answer this question, but I'd like to recommend Fred Szwed's Jazz 101 (which is not at all written like a "Jazz for Dummies" sort of work):

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-101-Complete-Learning-Loving/dp/0786884967/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

Think you mean John Szwed, John F. Szwed, but thanks. Don't know that book, but might check it out, his Miles bio was really good and people like the Sun Ra book a lot.

Damn, yeah, I even had the link open, but for some reason my mind reverts to Fred. (And I've read the Sun Ra book too. I had read that first, actually.)

Thanks, I'll check all of those out, if you have anymore recommendations, I'd love to hear them.

Pat Metheny, The Way Up
Henry Threadgill and Make a Move, Where's Your Cup?
Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus
Jimmy Smith, The Sermon!
Hiromi, Brain
Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah Um and Oh Yeah, everything else ever
Thelonious Monk, Mysterioso, everything else ever

and my fave raves from this year so far:

Satoko Fuji, Desert Sun
Steve Raegele, Last Century

Currently listening to Marty Ehrlich's Things Have Got To Change, on Clean Feed. Ehrlich on alto sax, James Zollar on trumpet, Erik Friedlander on cello (though he frequently plucks it like a bass) and Pheeroan Aklaff on drums. Five Ehrlich pieces and three by Julius Hemphill, including a version of "Dogon A.D." Fucking excellent.

Can't think of the last thing Friedlander did that DIDN'T kick ass. And Aklaff is in the top five living jazz drummers. Mailtime at the Freeman compound must be like Christmas every day.

I've actually had this thing kicking around for a couple of months; a few times a year Clean Feed sends out about 10-12 discs at a shot, and I never get around to listening to the majority of them for quite a while. But some other folks raved about this one so I kinda kept an eye on it, sitting there, and finally I thought "Today is the day!"

The cello is not exactly my favorite instrument, but I find Erik Friedlander's playing generally pretty gripping.

The Friedlander I've heard has tended to be more modern chamber music than jazz per se (regardless of what bin it might end up in a record store--not that I spend too much time in them these days).

Listening to a tremendous three-CD set by Jemeel Moondoc on NoBusiness Records out of Lithuania - it collects the first two Muntu albums (from 1977 and 1979, originally self-released) plus a previously unreleased live date from 1975. The band was Moondoc on alto sax, William Parker on bass and Rashid Bakr on drums, with Roy Campbell on trumpet on one disc and Arthur Williams on trumpet and Mark Hennen on piano on another; the third disc is a trio date. The final package (I've only got CD-Rs right now) includes a 115-page book with essays by Moondoc and Ed Hazell about the loft jazz scene, the Black Arts Movement, etc. Available here, and highly, highly recommended.

wow, dave king put out a solo album where he plays drums & piano: http://www.amazon.com/Indelicate/dp/B0035D93NY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1265234626&sr=8-1

sounds cool and very bad plus-y (not sure if that should be surprising or not).

Any got any recommendations for Mats Gustafsson records? Caught him playing with the Ex last night (alongside Roy Paci, Wolter Wierbos and Ken Vandermark) and that guy played like a frigging bear.

If you're enjoying Gustafsson's really frantic, over-blowing style, The Thing records are probably the best place to hear more of that...

http://www.paalnilssen-love.com/band_thething.html
These albums are sort of interchangeable, I'd recommend maybe starting with the first one or Action Jazz maybe?

Thanks Jeff! Lots of their stuff on Spotify - have started with the collaboration with Otomo Yoshihide from last year. Awesome so far.

Nilssen Love's Townhouse Trio or whatever it's called with Evan Parker is devastating on a catastrophic scale. when i saw them at Konfrontationen everything within 50 meters of the stage began to shake... houses were toppled, roads destroyed, and everyone died.

These albums are sort of interchangeable, I'd recommend maybe starting with the first one or Action Jazz maybe?

Nah, the new one, Bag It!, is the place to start. Recorded by Steve Albini, it really ups the tear-your-face-offness of their sound.

unperson, you may well be right - I haven't listened to anything new in a couple of years from the tear-your-face off school of jazz, as I'm kinda burnt-out

yeah the devastation i was talking about was not skronk induced... but rather an otherworldly intensity which was very restrained... no time for skronk fests in my life at this point.

saw matt wilson's quartet last night, they killed it. even when they're doing free-ish stuff there's a level of clarity and humor that makes it really accessible, even to people who don't listen to jazz at all. awesome.

Wilson's new album with that group, That's Gonna Leave A Mark, is excellent.

Also, ESP-Disk is having a major sale - CDs are $6 each through 2/12. Very, very worthwhile - the remastering on these titles is terrific, and in some cases (most notably Frank Lowe's Black Beings) there's more music than on previous editions. The Lowe disc is about 15 minutes longer than any previous edition.

this Inbetw33ns record is sick, highly recommended. amazing post-jazz shit that hits a nice spot between freedom & structure, with some cool live loooping & electronics. hurting, you should check out dude's approach to the guitar in this context.

Hey, y'all...I want your money.

I've been working on this project for a couple of months: a new quarterly zine thing called Burning Ambulance. No conventional distribution; it's going through Lulu.com, just like my last book. I've managed to rope some pretty quality writers into contributing, including Kurt Gottschalk trawling through the entire Henry Threadgill discography; Matt Cibula writing about the Spanish doom metal/avant-jazz group Orthodox (plus some stuff about the Spanish Inquisition and torture generally); Stephen Haynes documenting the most recent Bill Dixon recording session (on which he played); and Phil Nugent writing about Christian pop culture from his horrifying childhood. I wrote two pieces - a profile of Matthew Shipp, and a review of several books on metal and punk. Another writer was supposed to do something on Marduk, but real life got in the way.

Anyway, the thing costs $10 in print, or $5 as a download. For that you get in-depth stories (my Shipp piece is almost 6000 words, the Threadgill thing is almost 8000, the Orthodox story is about 4000 - you get the idea) by people who know their shit and are passionate about it. All revenues are split more or less evenly among the contributors. There's also a blog which will feature supplemental material related to the contents of each issue, as well as other stuff in between.

Here's the link. Please spread the word far and wide, get all your friends and family members to buy copies, etc., etc.

I posted the full text of my Matthew Shipp profile from Burning Ambulance online; here's the link if you wanna check it out.

Let’s not mince words: Robert Glasper is likely the best piano player of his generation -Michael J. West in the Washington City paper (he also writes for Jazz Times)

Do you folks agree?

i want to like him since he's down with badu, mos, maxwell, etc., and he also has the best drummer of his generation (chris dave), but his playing hasn't really caught my ear at all. i haven't given his solo stuff much of a chance though, just watched some youtube clips to gawk at chris dave and listened to a few clips of his last record.

Do you remember who else was in that matt wilson quartet you saw last month, Jordan?

andrew d'angelo wasn't there, but it was chris lightcap (who was maybe the best musician in the band), jeff lederer, and a trumpet player who i didn't know.

I love glasper, every time i've seen him live he destroys.
i'm somewhat more inclined to lean to jason moran tho' and ethan iverson is also worth mentioning.

But are you all looking forward to the new Brad Mehldau with Jon Brion jazz and pop album as much as the NY Times is looking forward to it?

Dave Holland is selling digital versions of his quintet's 2007 live show on his site: http://www.daveholland.com/

Four songs, an hour long, one dollar for a 320 mp3, three dollars for lossless formats, whole thing is streaming on the site. I love this and am tempted to send him a buck, in spite of not being the world's biggest Dave Holland guy. Get people in the habit of paying for digital downloads, get e-mail addresses, get away from major label economics, get the music out there.

does anyone have any impressions on the mehldau record? it seems kind of exhausting whilst also not actually making much of an impression, somehow

Didn't like the new Mehldau at all (reviewed it for Jazziz). The orchestra is totally superfluous, the compositions are lazy and the playing is coma-inducing. I thought the presence of Joshua Redman would liven things up a little bit, as his last two albums have been really good. But no dice; it's just Brad being boring again.

haven't heard it but the clips didn't really entice me, as much as i like all the musicians involved.

xp

The new Dave Holland album Pathways is great, though. (Not the downloads from his site, which I haven't heard yet, but the actual album.)

Still plenty of seats for the 9:30 Darcy James Argue show tonight at the Jazz Standard. Just might head on over to see what all the fuss is about.

fucking A, the track they'll send you for your email address is an awesome tune. just awesome.

Herb Ellis, RIP ... not an expert on him, but the trio records w/ him, Oscar Peterson and Ray Brown I've heard are excellent. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/arts/music/31ellis.html?hpw

do the math has me wanted to check out some mal waldron records today

wanting

This blog is great: http://stomp-off.blogspot.com/

Wow

yeah. nice!

I first became aware of him through his pithy posts on organissimo.

Hope you'll all stop by and check this out when it gets rolling.

Looking forward to the new Mahanthappa & Lehman:
http://www.cleanfeed-records.com/disco2US.asp?intID=307
http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5578

Ameen Saleem - guy I played with in high school - killin it on bass
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4CCWDAcHw

Anybody see this doc and like it better than the Washington City Paper guy did?

Charlie Haden: Rambling Boy
The recording of his 2008 eponymous album is the framing device for this documentary about American jazz bassist Charlie Haden. A major theme of the film is that unlike countless musicians, Haden has been able to balance a fulfilling family life with his prodigious career. According to Steve Kolowich, the film suffers from a “Wikipedia-like structure and lack of dramatic arc.”

I guess not.

Donald Harrison
http://www.nola.com/jazzfest/index.ssf/2010/04/a_one-man_jazz_festival_-_dona.html

jason marsalis on some mo' betta blues shit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN5xyZvMjJc

Bummed out to hear about the passing of the great piano player John Bunch last month at the age of 88. Read his incredible story here: http://jazzmatters.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/john-bunch-obituary/

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/arts/27lees.html?ref=music

RIP Gene Lees. he was a character--former editor of Downbeat from '59 to '61 and later publishing (monthly at first, later at irregular intervals) the subscription-only Gene Lees Ad Libitum Jazzletter, mostly as an outlet for his own biographical and historical essays

“It is of course insane to classify someone who is seven-eighths white as black,” he wrote of New Orleans in the early days of jazz in “Cats of Any Color: Jazz Black and White” (Oxford University Press, 1994), a collection of his Jazzletter essays. “It was a fiction by which white racists kept light Creoles in their place. It is a fiction by which black racists maintain the definition of jazz as ‘Negro music.’ “

Mr. Lees supported his strong opinions with strong research. At times that research took him far afield of his ostensible subject. The first chapter of another essay collection, “Singers and the Song” (Oxford, 1987), for example, was a history of the English language from the 10th century to the present.

x-post --Wow, Bunch had quite a life.

http://www.cdsporch.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/jazz-loft-project-book-jacket_front72dpi.jpg
just finished reading this last night -- highly recommended would be an understatement.

The first of the 31 jazz reviews I'm gonna be writing for the Burning Ambulance blog is up; here's the link.

Very interested in this, considering that Newport "63 (w/ Roy Haynes has my favorite "My Favorite Things"):

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=8171299

Sorry for the weird grammar, I'm really tired.

Okay, I admit I'm more into her than her music so far, though she can definitely play and I think is worth listening out for: Ila Cantor.

http://www.corneliastreetcafe.com/data/IlaCantor.jpg

http://www.myspace.com/ilacantor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91DxDUSg23M
http://www.bfcafe.com/ila-cantors-big-music-adventure/658

"Electro" probably the most interesting thing to me on her myspace.

especially when she shreds and wails on guitar.

RIP Hank Jones: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/arts/music/18jones.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Played with ... pretty much everybody. Will probably play Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else in tribute today ... hopefully he's jamming with elvin and thad now.

oh and didn't even realize it was him playing on Johnny Hartman's I Just Dropped by to Say Hello -- sweet record.

I think Somethin' Else is one of the only records with him that I own. What else should I hear?

as for recent stuff, i'm no expert, but the albums with Joe Lovano are pretty nice.

My problem is, I just feel like his style wouldn't appeal to me (too quiet, subtle, dignified etc.) and then I'd feel guilty about not liking him.

yeah, from the stuff I've heard, he's kind of the definition of "restrained" ... But that's not a bad thing, imo. Listening to him on Bags & Trane right now - underrated record. Laid back Coltrane in a pretty conventional setting, but maybe the *best* example of Coltrane in a more conventional setting.

Wasteland Jazz Unit - Complete Tour 2009 [2009 Tour Complete...], 10-cassette box. A tremendous gift of joyous noise to wade through.

Here's another Hank Jones obit, from the Detroit Free Press: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100517/ENT04/100517032/1320/Legendary-jazz-pianist-Hank-Jones-dies&template=fullarticle

There is apparently going to be another big obit on Do The Math, but I'll leave that for Jordan to post.

The new Sunny Jain album is out and streaming on his site: http://www.sunnyjain.com/

The sentences "Some things shouldn't be discussed in public" or "Don't ask, don't tell," are archaic phrases that still persist when speaking about forbidden subjects. South Asian drummer/composer Sunny Jain addresses some of these forbidden topics in Taboo, a scintillating project where he artfully uses his music as a platform to address social issues such as "sexual orientation, inequality and violence upon women, and the juxtaposition of religions." While such topics may continue to be controversial, this release is equally thought provoking, riveting, and engaging. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=36583

Am only just listening now. Not really into the spoken word on the first track. I like the idea of someone working traditional Indian material into a jazz context also dealing with themes that are traditionally taboo (especially when the slant is as politically palatable as it sounds like this will be to me).

Definitely like the way he integrates vocals on this second track, as I did on Avaaz in general.

Thanks for the tip! Listening now. I liked Avaaz.

Not really into the spoken word on the first track.

Ha, me neither. Nice guitar lines though.

fyi:

http://www.najp.org/articles/2010/05/a-trained-musician.html

Christgau likes Wall Street Journal writer Terry Teachout's Louis Armstrong bio, but is otherwise critical of his writing and politics. I haven't read enough of Teachout on jazz to chime in.

I like every other track on Taboo (which I'm afraid to say means I don't like any of the ones in English): 2, 4, and 6. (And 7 is pleasant enough but I'm not really into it.) I'm thinking of buying them as individual downloads if they are available that way.

(Yes, there are only seven tracks, but they tend to run pretty long.)

(well not by jazz standards, but since they have vocals in them, people might be expecting them to come closer to pop song length.)

Loving this:

http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/291/115/187/11518721/300x300.jpg

I just sent in my first contribution to some arts-and-culture mag in Mexico, La Tempestad. I think my Spanish translation of the piece (a review of Vijay Iyer's Historicity) was basically awful, but I'm sure they'll clean it up.

I went to school with Sunny briefly (he was a senior the year I was a freshman) - always a standout drummer.

Rogue Art seems like an intriguing label:

http://web.roguart.com/shop

Anyway, I just ordered the new Marshall Allen/Matthew Shipp/Joe Morris album from this label.

(I've been doing good about saving money lately, but it wasn't supposed to be going to CDs. . .)

(It's like I'm feeling a mid-year itch to hear more things from 2010, even if it means paying for them before hearing them.)

http://nsa14.casimages.com/img/2010/04/04/10040403391457641.jpg

This album is so dope in a way that its record cover really fails to convey.

Listening to Night Logic now for the first time. Definitely not far removed from a Sun Ra sound and feel (obviously unsurprising considering that one third of the group is Marshall Allen and one third is a pianist who admires Sun Ra a great deal). Not the all out skronk that one might expect, not so far anyway.

I really hate the jazz poetry type liner notes though. Poetry mixed with jazz is generally a disaster, and why do the standards always seem so much lower for the poetry than the music?

I'm not big on contemporary poetry anyway, but there's still a lot that I have some grudging respect for. I will still say: that's pretty tight. Major Jackson is pretty tight. I might not like his work that much, but at least I have some appreciation for the craft. (Using him as an example mostly because I was just thinking about him lately in another context.)

"Oh look!
We do poetry too!
Baloobaloo-balooba!
And did I mention Jack Kerouac?"

I swear I didn't know Major Jackson did a poem in the voice of Sun Ra. (I was thinking mostly of his book Hoops.) Not that I'm surprised exactly, especially given his Philadelphia roots.

Night Logic is really good, at least as far as I've gotten in it.

Okay, more. Allen's EVI (electronic valve instrument) playing is pretty fresh sounding. I would certainly not have known it's him on "Bow in the Cloud" if I hadn't already know what I was listening to. His flute playing, on the other hand, I might have recognized, which is fine with me because I love his flute playing. "Night Logic" is one of the tracks that does feel pretty continuous with Sun Ra's output. I'm really happy that while Allen tends to be in the spotlight on this CD, he isn't simply there to as a symbol of a particular jazz lineage, and he isn't simply stuck in his more skronky mode (though there is some of that too).

only just found out that the great british jazz trumpeter harry beckett died a few weeks ago. saw him playing w/ his regular quartet four or five years ago, still sounded great:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/26/harry-beckett-obituary

RIP willem breuker too:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/29/willem-breuker-obituary

RIP jazz photographer Herman Leonard and singer Abbey Lincoln (she's mentioned on the jazz vocalist thread).

oh shit abbey died?

Damn, sad to hear about Abbey Lincoln. She & Betty Carter were the two singers that made me "get" jazz singing, though I have to admit that I don't know anything remotely recent of hers.
Playing "Left Alone" off her album _Straight Ahead_ now. RIP.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B0000046QN.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
RIP.

Here is a nice little post about Abbey on George Colligan's new blog that everyone is talking about: http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/2010/08/rip-abbey-lincoln.html

Interesting NYT story about the National Jazz Museum's acquisition of the Savory Collection ... about 1,000 recordings of pre-war broadcasts.

Here's the other thread re Abbey Lincoln:

Jazz Vocalists - CD/SD

rocking the vibraphonists today - Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson.

I seem to recall there was some Duke Ellington (Newport?) album from the mid-60s that had tons of vibes on it too, but I can't seem to locate it

RIP Abbey Lincoln -- love this record.
http://cover6.cduniverse.com/MuzeAudioArt/Large/70/69070.jpg
she was a very beautiful lady.

& that article on the Savory recordings is insane. wonder how long it'll be before some of that stuff is released?

'First' by Dawn of Midi (not MIDI, they mean 'noon') is mighty fresh:
http://www.accretions.com/artists/dawnofmidi.asp

x-post: issues re releasing William Savory 1930s to 1940 recordings

Mr. Schoenberg said the museum planned to make as much as possible of the Savory collection publicly available at its Harlem home and eventually online. But the copyright status of the recorded material is complicated, which could inhibit plans to share the music. While the museum has title to Mr. Savory’s discs as physical objects, the same cannot be said of the music on the discs.

“The short answer is that ownership is unclear,” said June M. Besek, executive director of the Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts at the Columbia University School of Law. “There was never any arrangement for distribution of copies” in contracts between performers and radio stations in the 1930s, she explained, “because it was never envisioned that there would be such a distribution, so somewhere between the radio station and the band is where the ownership would lay.”

At 70 years’ remove, however, the bands, and even some of the radio networks that broadcast the performances, no longer exist, and tracking down all the heirs of the individual musicians who played in the orchestras is nearly impossible.

In the meantime Mr. Pomeroy is plunging ahead. He has digitized just over 100 of the discs so far, and knows that additional challenges — and delights — await him.

“Every one of these discs is an unexpected discovery,” he said. “It’s an education for me. I can hardly wait to transfer some of this stuff because I am so eager to hear it, to find out what’s there and solve all the mysteries that are there.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/arts/music/17jazz.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

Oops, yea the NYT story is posted above.

I seem to recall there was some Duke Ellington (Newport?) album from the mid-60s that had tons of vibes on it too, but I can't seem to locate it

does this ring a bell with anyone?? It's driving me crazy

Don't know it, sorry.

Let me play SYOTOS street team for a moment and recommend the Latin Jazz quietstorm that is the new Chris Washburne album Fields of Moons.

Yeah, I liked that one.

Was out of town for their recent visit to DC (but I think it is video streaming on the Kennedy Center Millennium stage website archive).

Went to their last set on Sunday at Smoke over the weekend and then stayed on a few songs into the late show with the Bruce Harris quintet. I gotta do that again soon.

Now playing: John Carter & Bobby Bradford, Mosaic Select 3CD set. I felt pressured to buy this because all the Twitter jazzheads I follow seemed to be raving about it. A wise choice on my part.

Can anyone tell me what Stanley Cowell records are worth seeking out?

oh yeah wld love to hear that carter/bradford set - The Dark Tree by Horace Tapscott, w/ Carter and Andrew Cyrille, is one of my v. fave jazz discs

Woo-hoo; I'm going to Sonny Rollins' 80th birthday show at the Beacon Theater on 9/10. He's gonna have Jim Hall as a guest with the band, and some other as yet unannounced guests. I haven't seen Rollins live since the mid '90s; really looking forward to this.

wow, nice -- was just listening to those early 60s rollins/hall records. phenomenal stuff.

Yeah, that's probably some of my favorite jazz (Rollins w/Hall)

have they played together after those records? Don't think i have anything else.

Don't think so.

If you like Hall you should also search out him with the Art Farmer Quartet and him with Paul Desmond (assuming you haven't already). I think Hall did his best work in the 60s.

don't think i have the art farmer stuff, and i just have the jim hall 70s album w/ desmond, chet baker et al. and of course the bill evans/jim hall duet albums are classic.

Apparently there's this, which I didn't even realize existed:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CxZCecmaL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

It looks to be Live at the Half Note plus some other date that I don't know.

There's also a pretty good record where they do swedish folk tunes or something.

ooh that looks good... love the ron carter/jim hall Alone Together record too, though my jazz d-bag friend mocked me for it. thought it was too smooth or something.

I don't love the duo records. I find them a little too static.

Oh yeah but also Jimmy Giuffre 3 is a classic record with Hall.

That reminds me: NYC J-D alert! Ron Carter and Mulgrew Miller are both playing at Kitano next month with drummer Ulysses Owens on a Wednesday night which means no cover! It was almost sold out on Wednesday and may already be so but if you want to try to get a reservation act quickly.

listening to the Rollins/Coleman Hawkins LP now (on a Rollins kick lately). Man, is the end of "Lover Man" fucked UP or what? Rollins hits that high whistle/squeak, and you can practically hear everyone in the band going "uhhhhh...what?" one of the weirder, more disturbing moments in jazz! it's great.

What are the Rollins/Hall records to seek out?

They've been packaged a few different ways. I think "The Bridge" is one of the original albums and probably the best one if you're looking for an original. But I think there are a couple of different complete or near-complete or at least double-album repackagings.

hmm, The Quartets featuring Jim Hall has those tracks plus If I Ever Would Leave You and Night Has a Thousand Eyes, both of which are essential imo.

search for the original albums classics budget set -- five early 60s RCA albums: The Bridge (w/ Hall), Our Man In Jazz (w/ Don Cherry), What's New (w/ Hall), Sonny Meets Hawk (w/ Coleman Hawkins, Paul Bley), Standard Sonny Rollins (w/ a few tracks w/ hall and herbie hancock). I think I got it through Amazon third party sellers for under $10!

oh and all of those are the remastered versions w/ bonus tracks. packaging is bare bones, but music sounds great.

This is useful:
http://jimhalljazz.com/recordings-%E2%80%93-stellar-collaborations/

I'm almost finished giving Allen/Shipp/Morris's Night Logic the most attentive listen I've given it so far, and I am increasingly certain it's good, worthy of a place alongside more classic recordings of this sort of frequently contemplative small scale free jazz.

There's a big article on up-and-coming alto saxophonist Darius Jones, and a tribute to Bill Dixon by people who played with him (including William Parker, Alan Silva, Joe McPhee, Barry Guy, Rob Mazurek and others) in the second issue of Burning Ambulance, which is available here, now. End of commercial.

Apparently bassist Bob Bowen just passed, according to WKCR. I really didn't know anything about him previously, but I massively enjoyed listening to his work with the M.O.B. Trio today.

RIP

Don't know him but his resume looks pretty interesting. RIP.

Originally came to thread to say that I saw a link to something unperson wrote on A Blog Supreme.

what shannon powell's backyard sounds like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eJ0HobszQA

The M.O.B. trio stuff is really good. I didn't realize how up my alley Matt Wilson's drumming is - it's almost like a marriage of Tony Williams and Hamid Drake.

i don't hear much tony in his playing but he is great, and super engaging. lots of clarity and humor...the last time i saw his quintet, people who are not jazz heads at all were way into it.

People who like Matt Wilson should check out the Dena DeRose trio of which he is a member, along with a great bass player named Martin Wind, who also plays Don Friedman, among others.

http://www.denaderose.com

Looks like they'll be in Chicago for four nights in September.

Hm, maybe I should go upstate to that Kingston festival this weekend, looks pretty good.

http://www.wallstreetjazzfestival.com/artists.html

Actually this jazzkraut thing at the Iridium tonight looks kind of cool.

noah howard, RIP. haven't heard much of his stuff but black ark is real cool

wish i could go to chicago these weekend, st00ges brass band and brian blade and brad mehldau. instead i have my own jazz d-baggery to attend to.

and miles to go before I sleep

damm, only just heard abt noah howard, black ark is one of the real good'uns

Only just heard about Noah Howard... only 67. Been digging "Uhura Na Umoja" recently. "Black Ark" goes without saying. RIP dude.

Recently came across this interesting interview with Russell Malone: http://www.justjazzguitar.com/articles/art-01-malone.php3

RIP Buddy Collette: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-buddy-collette-20100921,0,4622077.story

If you wanna read the transcript of my Wire interview with Noah Howard from '06, it's up on their site.

Cool, thanks.

Pianist Jason Moran just got a $500,000 Macarthur Genius grant

Good news for Moran, then, and even bigger news for jazz: this is the fourth jazz musician in five years to win the fellowship, along with saxophonist Miguel Zenon in 2008, and violinist Regina Carter and saxophonist/all-around avant-garde impresario John Zorn in 2006.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2010/09/28/jason-moran-receives-macarthur-genius-grant/

awesome, he deserves it

i wonder if zorn is on the committee now

Oh man, Buddy Collete. He wrote Blue Sands, the great tune Chico Hamilton plays in Jazz on a Summer's Day (although I think it's Dolphy playing the flute in that film? I forget.)

I'm not actually convinced Moran does deserve the award. He's got some good records, but I'd rather have seen Matt Shipp get it (while realizing it's not a contest). Not only for the stylistic breadth of his discography, but because of his work running the Blue Series imprint for Thirsty Ear, getting a lot of other artists' work into stores.

Jason Moran >>> Matthew Shipp imo.

TBH Shipp records never deliver for me.

Jordan, saw your man Billy Drummond last night. The man can play. Had not known he and Tessa Souter were an item.

nice. not that i'm that in touch with the jazz scene these days, but i feel like i haven't heard about him, greg hutchinson, and dudes like that for awhile (same with jason moran for that matter). probably playing festivals in europe for lots of money.

Looking at Billy D's gig page looks like he plays some festivals but mainly plays around in the NYC area. I also saw him back in August at Smalls and last night they were talking about a gig he played last week at Dizzy's with Sheila Jordan and Karrin Allyson during a tornado! Well, a thunderstorm at least.

much prefer shipp to moran, don't like moran's heavy hands and besides he wasn't in the david s ware group

In another update, Greg Hutchinson is playing with Joshua Redman this weekend at the Jazz Standard.

holy smoke:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/arts/music/17jazz.html

Where you been, Tracer?

ahhhhhh

Apparently no news on Savory Collection releases yet, but they've got some clips up here

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/cuba-journal-jazz-at-lincoln-center-players-dance-to-students-beat/?ref=music

Marsalis and the Lincoln Center jazz orchestra are in Havana and the NY Times has been blogging about it:

A horde of students, teachers and passers-by began to dance as the Vancitos — clad in mustard-and-brown school uniforms — pumped out the Los Van Van classic “Muévete.” Before long, the percussionist Ali Jackson and the bassist Carlos Henriquez, both members of Jazz at Lincoln Center, were twirling Cuban dance partners around the patio.

Even Wynton Marsalis, the group’s leader, who has called himself a bad salsa dancer, was soon bopping with the guitar teacher Sandra Del Castillo.

“He’s got rhythm,” Ms. Castillo said afterward. “We just need to teach him some of our Latin thing.”

Has anyone ever heard this?
http://www.tkshare.com/pic/20100620/2010062012023045.jpeg

It's like this weird mix of smooth jazz, acid miles type stuff, almost chicago post rockish sound experiments, and other random stuff (a fela tribute and a shabba ranks parody, e.g.). Debating whether to just pull the trigger and spend a few emusic credits on it.

ha, i've heard that. not that memorable, but the live band at the time was just slamming.

I like the new Mary Halvorson Quintet album, Saturn Sings. You may know her guitar playing from various recent Anthony Braxton bands.

'then i met anthony braxton and dropped all my science classes.'

Loving the new Esperanza Spalding. New Vijay Iyer is pretty good, too.

Oh fuck me, this Spalding is fantastic. I liked her last a lot, but this is something else.

what's it like?

she's pretty special.

could you say more? i skimmed through a song or two and got kind of a finally-pop-music-with-the-sophistication-of-jazz!! vibe, but i fully admit it was a careless reaction.

the iyer solo album does seem good—i mean, obviously it's good, the question is how good it turns out to be. my first time through i just sat there and let it play out of sheer interest in what he was doing, rather than getting a taste and filing it away for later, so that's something. his 'epistrophy' was pretty captivating.

his piano seems to have been recorded as it was on 'historicity'. i'm kind of not a fan of that giant contemporary piano sound, lately. it seems sort of conspicuously mean to compete with other loud sounds.

'meant to'.

2010 jazz records i've heard and liked:

dave holland octet - pathways
jason ajemian - protest heaven
john butcher and claudia ulla bender - under the roof
allen/shipp/morris - night logic
steve coleman - harvesting semblances and affinities
urs leimgruber and evan parker - twine
iyer - solo
AMM - sounding music
mary halvorson quintet - saturn sings
anthony braxton - 19 standards (quartet) 2003

thanks for the recommending the halvorson, o. nate—she gets some really surprising sounds out of her guitar.

i skimmed through a song or two and got kind of a finally-pop-music-with-the-sophistication-of-jazz!! vibe

Isn't this kind of denigrating to the entire vocal jazz tradition? And didn't jazz start as pop before it became institutionalized art music?

Anyway, Chamber Music Society is quite a bit less song-oriented than Esperanza, although, sure, when it is, it tends to be less focused on band dynamics than her voice. But mostly the album is more focused on her instrumental compositions and that Portuguese-phoneme scat singing she does than on her songwriting or, kind of weirdly, her bass-playing (some of which might be with bow? not sure). "I Adore You" from Esperanza seems to be the starting point for a lot of this stuff, which suits me, being that it was my favorite track on that album. A lot of Brazillian type stuff, some Argentine (or at least to my uneducated ear) stuff, too. A lot of use of violin and cello as additional accompaniment to her usual trio. The more vocal-oriented tracks still add a nice counterpoint and break up the album nicely. Most of all, it's just really vibrant and enjoyable.

"Knowledge of Good and Evil" is pretty typical of the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh44U42pmJE

"Apple Blossom" is probably my favorite of the straight vocal tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5zhqOZGMbo

Isn't this kind of denigrating to the entire vocal jazz tradition? And didn't jazz start as pop before it became institutionalized art music?

sure, might be, and it did. i did say i wasn't really expressing a solid reaction. : ) but i've just never been way into vocal jazz. if i want to listen to some i might put on sharrock's 'black woman' or ornette's 'science fiction sessions', even though i've heard and found value in billie or ella or whatever. (i like the vocal cuts on ellington's blanton/webster sessions a lot.)

it may just be that i have a tic of hearing (without listening) post-50s vocal jazz as kind of a behind-the-times sound unless something else makes me think otherwise. i appreciate your post all the same.

btw, "pretty special" was my reference to past work and seeing her live a time or two; haven't cracked Chamber Music yet
she is v v pretty btw

that is true

also relevant

I posted a list of 21 jazz (or jazz-adjacent) albums that were likely to be candidates for my year-end list on my blog; here 'tis:

Carlos Barretto Lokomotiv, Labirintos (Clean Feed)
Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, Llyria (ECM)
Regina Carter, Reverse Thread (E1)
Decoy, Vol. 1: Spirit & Vol. 2: The Deep (Bo' Weavil)
Marc Edwards/Weasel Walter Group, Blood of the Earth (ugEXPLODE)
Elephant9, Walk the Nile (Rune Grammofon)
Amir ElSaffar/Hafez Modirzadeh, Radif Suite (Pi)
Exploding Star Orchestra, Stars Have Shapes (Delmark)
Rich Halley Quartet with Bobby Bradford, Live at the Penofin Jazz Festival (Pine Eagle)
John Hébert Trio, Spiritual Lover (Clean Feed)
Dave Holland Octet, Pathways (Dare2)
William Hooker, Earth's Orbit (NoBusiness)
Keefe Jackson Quartet, Seeing You See (Clean Feed)
Lawnmower, West (Clean Feed)
Little Women, Throat (AUM Fidelity)
Rudresh Mahanthappa & Steve Lehman, Dual Identity (Clean Feed)
William Parker, I Plan to Stay a Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (AUM Fidelity)
Odean Pope, Odean's List (In + Out)
Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, Toe the Line (Posi-Tone)
Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley, Ailanthus/Altissima (Triple Point)
David Weiss & Point of Departure, Snuck In (Sunnyside)

the iyer is a lot prettier than other stuff i've heard by him

j., glad to see someone else mention Night Logic.

i am but an empty conduit for music review blogs.

hey, reverend, there's quite a bit of singing on that new steve coleman album i listed upthread. some of it is scatted. some of it is not in english. i don't actually know if any of it is in english.

looking for reviews of the parker curtis mayfield set (which is wonderful) that unperson mentioned, i found <a href="http://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD31/PoD31MoreMoments4.html";>these,</a> which include a good review of the leimgruber/parker disc i mentioned above.

fie on nu-ilx

and on me

i've been looking into pi recordings, and i'm stunned by this 2009 steve lehman record -

http://www.pirecordings.com/cms/img/thumbs/pi30_270.jpg

steve lehman octet - travail, transformation, and flow

it's hard to know how to describe it because all the comparisons and influences i've read are accurate, but undersell it. it kind of feels like jazz that's actually influenced by modern classical (reich, a bunch, but maybe that's the vibes more than the harmonic ideas), electronic music, and rap (gza cover!) the way people are always saying things are, but in an integrated way—jazz that's conversant with those idioms (in the composition and the improvising, which it's hard to tell apart) instead of just borrowing some of their flavor.

the drummer is sick.

Saw Chad Taylor/Angelica Sanchez/Greg Ward/Sean Conly play to a nearly empty house at U. of the Streets last night. Greg Ward is a great young alto player who I had not heard before and I expect we'll be hearing more from. Whole band was great though.

I like the state of young jazz right now -- I mean this may just be my narrow/distorted perception, but it seems like things have pulled away both from 100% free/out playing and from young lion bop, and instead most younger players are choosing to continue the endless exploration of the vast space in between.

agreed, at this point it seems like everyone is fluent in basically all styles without having to make a big deal about it

I like that Lehman record a lot. His Dual Identity record with Rudresh Mahanthappa, from this year, is also great.

Re young players, I agree there are a bunch of really good people out there right now. The one caveat I would throw in, though, is that there are way too many players heavily indebted to Steve Coleman, and I really don't like that style (long-ass melody lines and weird meters, non-funky attempts at funk) at all. To get super-reductive for a minute, I prefer the young traditionalists on Posi-Tone, many of whom frequently step out in fascinating ways, to the post-Coleman, post-Threadgill players on Pi.

yeah, i saw that you listed it. i'm hoping to enjoy it, i liked mahanthappa's 'kinsmen'.

i had never heard coleman before recently. but i used to listen to dave holland a lot, and it's kind of refreshing to hear similar music that's less fussy about avoiding the blues (to use another unhappy reductive phrase).

given what you just said, what is it about the lehman record that does it for you? i would suppose it's like a lot of reviewers have noted, the jackie mclean thing. the blue note feel on the record is super strong. this year i've been listening a lot to andrew hill and sam rivers and others, and the lehman is kind of like those records without sounding anything less than contemporary.

agreed, at this point it seems like everyone is fluent in basically all styles without having to make a big deal about it

― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Sunday, October 31, 2010 4:10 PM Bookmark

Yeah, I like the fact that it's become less common to see records promoted as "a unique blend of jazz and reggae" or whatever, while musicians seem actually to have become more comfortable seamlessly incorporating ideas from other styles.

what is it about the lehman record that does it for you? i would suppose it's like a lot of reviewers have noted, the jackie mclean thing. the blue note feel on the record is super strong.

That's exactly what it is; it reminds me of a lot of stuff by the Blue Note class of '64 (Sam Rivers, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III, Bobby Hutcherson...).

Maybe I need to listen more, but I'm not wowed by the Chucho Valdes cd (it's getting lots of favorable reviews). The various musical tributes on it seem to formula for me. Chucho's quotes in this piece though make me wanna listen some more:

Meanwhile, Valdes has been busy touring the rest of the world, working with backup band the Afro-Cuban Messengers and writing a new batch of songs. The prolific composer was determined to create an album that would pay homage to the musicians who inspired him in his long career — including Austrian keyboardist and composer Joe Zawinul, the Marsalis family and Valdes' personal hero, John Coltrane.

"When Coltrane first played, he set a new standard for jazz music," Valdes said. "After that, the bar was high."

Valdes wrote the title track for his new record in the spirit of Coltrane. "'Chucho's Steps' is easily the most harmonically complicated song ever I've ever written, since it has 50 unrepeated bars," he explained. "After I recorded it, I wasn't even sure I could ever play it again."

There are also more personal hat-tips on the new disc, including a song for Valdes' son, Julian. "He's my youngest boy; he's only 3," the he explained. "He's a very musical child, though. When I played him his song, he listened very intently, then danced up and down and told me, 'That's for me. That's for me.'"

http://www.expressnightout.com/content/2010/10/chucho-valdes-chuchos-steps-warner-theatre.php

question: has anyone read last year's history of/introduction to jazz by gary giddins and scott deveaux? i'm curious how they handle post-1960 (especially post-1965 to present) jazz. i really like deveaux's book on bebop, but i don't know if i really need another retread of the first 50 years of jazz history.

what is it about the lehman record that does it for you? i would suppose it's like a lot of reviewers have noted, the jackie mclean thing. the blue note feel on the record is super strong.

I really, really like On Meaning by Lehman. I find it easier to listen to (the Octet record is almost too intense to follow).

I didn't know Amiri Baraka was on the Parker Mayfield thing!

he is and he's really good.

I wouldn't call his contribution "really good" as much as I'd call it "not a deal-breaker."

I'd heard the live in Rome record first, before the 2CD Mayfield thing came out. Baraka's on every track and at first I found it really annoying but now I love having him randomly belt out things during songs, I wouldn't want it any other way. I didn't realize it was Baraka though, I thought it was Parker.

Another somewhat under the radar recordings including Matthew Shipp:

http://www.amazon.com/Blink-Eye-Scanner/dp/B0041NZN2M/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1290657728&sr=1-1

Very similar palate to Equilibrium

Don't have time to read it right now but just hit this curious webpage: http://www.soundfountain.com/contemporary/contemporary.html, something about a Shelly Manne album with some interesting annotation.

makes me sad that no-one else seems to be picking up on what trioVD are doing at the moment

well I say that the press and a few jazz publications are all over it but it doesn’t seem to have crossed over that much which is a shame because I think a lot of people whose tastes veer more towards indie/rock/metal/hardcore/posthardcore/punk or whatever will find a lot to love in this stuff

their debut ‘fill it up with ghosts’ is on spotify...

guitar, sax and drums

ridiculous repetative grooves, that pointillst type thing, super complex but grooving lots and lots going on... err.. horizontally, those textures where the 100th time you listen to it you realise ‘oh right, there’s a pattern hidden in there that I hadn’t heard before’ every now and then they descend into something beautiful and open, or super heavy and metal or ‘jazz’

it can be a bit of headfuck at times because of the chaotic interplay between the guitar and the sax but that’s where the fun lies in listening for me. they keep the structures pretty simple and defined, which is one of their major strengths, because a lot of things become hooks and 'moments' that may have been lost in a free improvisation

bits of this fucking slay, shame the recording is a bit clean and shiny but ehh

they’re so much better live than on record, make sure you get out to see them if you can the few youtubes really don’t do them justice

the drummer, chris, is phenomenal, a real hard hitter but incredibly precise, so all you drum geeks should check it out

anyway, I think people should give it a go, I’d be interested in what other people think

this all sounds a bit fanboy doesn’t it? when I was studying a couple of these guys were doing their phds and I saw them all play in various formations, including the first trioVD stuff and they were always amazing but then I saw them in London last year and it was super interesting to see how far they’ve come and how the earlier stuff makes a lot more sense now

Overheard at the bar:

hairspray girl number 1 to barmaid - "We're leaving!"

hairspray girl 2 to barmaid - "If those 3 got on stage and started wanking it would be less offensive."

x-post- that Shelly Manne webpage is mostly about technical recording stuff-microphones and such

I just sent in my ballot for the Village Voice jazz critics' poll; here 'tis:

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

1. Cecil Taylor/Tony Oxley, Ailanthus/Altissima (Triple Point)
2. David Weiss and Point of Departure, Snuck In (Sunnyside)
3. John Zorn, Ipsissimus (Tzadik)
4. Little Women, Throat (AUM Fidelity)
5. Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, Toe the Line (Posi-Tone)
6. Dave Holland Octet, Pathways (Dare2)
7. Amir ElSaffar/Hafez Modirzadeh, Radif Suite (Pi)
8. William Parker, I Plan to Stay a Believer: The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield (AUM Fidelity)
9. John Escreet, Don’t Fight the Inevitable (Mythology)
10. Exploding Star Orchestra, Stars Have Shapes (Delmark)

REISSUES OF THE YEAR
1. Henry Threadgill, The Complete Novus/Columbia Recordings of Henry Threadgill & Air (Mosaic)
2. Jemeel Moondoc, Muntu Recordings (NoBusiness)
3. John Carter/Bobby Bradford, Mosaic Select (Mosaic)

Gotta say, Matthew Shipp manages to sound like himself alone even when he's laying down a pretty standard vamp. I don't quite understand how that works, honestly.

unperson, isn't it unusual for you to like a John Zorn album, or have I gotten a mistaken impression of your view of his music?

Scanner with the Post Modern Jazz Quartet - Blink of an Eye

You could kind of call this an Equilibrium 2, though that would probably annoy Matthew Shipp and is definitely a little wrong. However, it does feature Shipp and Khan Jamal. Scanner, who I had never heard of before, provides some electronic embellishment. I haven't quite made up my mind about his contribution as sometimes it sounds like: "That's a nice jazz recording, but what's wrong with this CD?" But I haven't given a really good listen to it yet. What's a little scary is that I was pretty sure I would like this just from the audio clips, and for the most part I do.

flying lotus: now sitting at a laptop while dudes play jazz

http://vimeo.com/15070800

MIGUEL ATWOOD-FERGUSON

how do they know he's not just checking his facebook page while they're all working?

It is indeed unusual for me to like a Zorn record. I loved Naked City, loved Painkiller, but very little else I've ever heard has done much for me, especially Masada. I walked into Downtown Music Gallery one time and said to Bruce Gallanter (the proprietor and a major Zorn fan/friend), "Sell me on Masada. Play me the one disc you think nobody could hear and not be converted." He threw one on and it just left me 100 percent cold. But Ipsissimus is the 5th release by the Moonchild band, which consists of Mike Patton on vocals, Trevor Dunn on bass and Joey Baron on drums, with Zorn composing the pieces and conducting the performances, and occasionally playing sax. Marc Ribot plays guitar on two or three of their albums, too. I think Moonchild is Zorn's best band since Painkiller, and they're totally unsung. I'm considering trying to get a mag to let me do a big-ass article about the piece.

I know some stuff about how that Scanner/Post Modern Jazz Quartet disc came together, but I'm saving it for a story I'm writing. I'll let you know when and where it runs.

Thanks, I would be interested in that. I've never been too big on Zorn (except maybe as label curator), but I do likely some of the Book of Angels installments, especially the Erik Friedlander one, and to some extent the Uri Caine one. I don't get all the easy listening surf band stuff or whatever it is he is putting out lately, but I have never really liked his skronky stuff either. That old "Asian Bar Bands" CD is pretty good though.

I'm not sold on Mike Patton, so I think I'll probably pass on Moonchild.

RIP James Moody

Just saw that. RIP.

he was a nice guy

Third issue of Burning Ambulance came out yesterday. It's particularly jazz-heavy this time around. Contents:

- long profile of Anthony Braxton by Kurt Gottschalk
- profile of trumpeter/bandleader David Weiss by Clifford Allen
- profile of saxophonist Jon Irabagon by Hank Shteamer
- essay on the Moritz von Oswald Trio by Justin Farrar
- essay on 1960s Hollywood (including extensive discussion of the Monkees movie Head) by Phil Nugent
- a chapter from Jeff Wagner's prog-metal history, Mean Deviation
- a piece on how to compose for an orchestra, by an actual composer/music professor, Steve Hicken

Also, a bonus deal: If you buy all three issues in hard-copy format, and email burningambulance at gmail dot com telling me so, I will send you a Mediafire link to download the digital versions for free. There's a grandfather clause, too, if you've bought issues 1 and 2 upon release and now buy issue 3 you can also claim your three free PDFs.

Link to purchase

i like the mahanthappa/lehman album, but i couldn't find a copy of the mahanthappa/bunky green album, 'apex', until just recently, and it's really surprising. the blend of sounds and the songwriting and playing seem really fresh even though they seem traditional. like, something about the rhythmic concepts, and the harmonic language, i guess. very modern jazz, but without the same sheen of suavity or gentility that can come with it—brighter and more brash. lyrical but twisty and jagged. i love the voicing of the group as a whole—the recording and production are amazing.

Just got Orchestrion, Pat Metheny's 2010 album where he accompanies himself with an orchestra of mechanical robot instruments that he controls via MIDI from his guitar and computers. Dude makes me want to give up music sometimes.

Article with video: http://blogcritics.org/music/article/music-review-pat-metheny-orchestrion/page-3/

huh, and jason moran is on that mahanthappa/green disc. so i guess i'm into jason moran now.

R.I.P. Dr. Billy Taylor.

One track from that Rudresh Mahanthappa/Bunky Green album comes as a freebie with the NPR app. Makes me want to check the rest of it out.

This solo Bachar Mar-Khalife album is pretty good, but by no means all jazz or even jazzy. This is probably the most jazz cut:

Bachar Mar-Khalifé - Distance

(He's the son of Lebanese singer/composer/oudist Marcel Khalife.)

this thread has one of the only ILX mentions of cuong vu

i'm listening to the album "come play with me"

this is really interesting/cool stuff

I can't even find the 2012 thread. Did we ever start one?

i saw cuong vu at least ten years ago (i know i was underage and had to sneak in the back) in a milwaukee rock club with chris speed, jim black, and some other dudes. happy apple opened. amazing show.

sounds it.

Maybe you started it in the sandbox.

I think unperson started one somewhere.

wasn't me boss

Let's keep this one going.
Saw Jason Moran last night, dude is so goddamn good. solid solid trio too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcjdTSaJuPU