Soul Jazz's 'New Thing!' comp

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surprisingly free (huh) of totally "free"-sounding stuff, at least rhythmically although also in terms of tone none of it seems to jettison everything, at least not for the whole length of a track. which seems odd to me since "new thing!" i thought was more out-there: 'eighty-eight tuned drums', etc.

my favorite bits:
joanne gales stevens' guitar playing on eddie gales' 'black rhythm happening'
'lalune blanche' by steve davis, which i would like to know more about where it comes from and if there is more like it: it reminds me of the tracks on that jazzactual comp with a soft machine connection, kinda
'pentatonia' by paris smith, a solo vibraphone thing which sounds a little like 'another green world'
'have mercy upon us' by amina claudine myers, which simultaneously brings to mind john bonham and young marble giants

anyone else?

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

my reference points are all really lame, sorry

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:45 (twenty years ago)

Righteous jazz from the American underground -- mostly work recorded in the 70s by a variety of some of the most cutting-edge players in the US! The sound here is beautifully spiritual and extremely soulful -- a post-Coltrane exploration of the deeper sides of jazz expression, free to explore new dimensions in sound and space! Soul Jazz have gone back to the territory of their classic Tribe, Strata East, and Universal Sounds Of America collections -- but have spread their reach even wider, to encompass work from a variety of labels and local scenes. The scope here is really tremendous -- and the set is an extremely thorough look at the period, one that manages to keep things remarkably fresh throughout. 2CD set features a total of 16 tracks in all -- including "Street Rap" by Maulawi, "Funky AECO" by Art Ensemble Of Chicago, "Pentatonia" by Paris Smith, "Home Rule" by Llyod McNeil, "Lalune Blanche" by Steve Davis, "El Space-O" by Stanley Cowell, "Androids" by Robert Rockwell III, "Little Sunflower" by East New York Ensemble, "Duo Exchange" by Rashied Ali & Frank Lowe, and "Tibetan Serenity" by Travis Biggs.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

theres three "great lost albums" coming out on the back of this too i think. the maulawi is one - anyone heard?

― sir koala taco gobblr (bulbs), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 00:51 (twenty years ago)

yeah -

Maulawi, s/t
Hannibal Peterson and the Sunrise Orchestra, 'Children of the Fire'
Travis Biggs, 'Challenge'

all three are on the backa the last wire along w/ 'new thing!' isself.

Lots of the other stuff on the comp is stronger, I think: the Sunrise Orchestra track is nicely semi-menko in its orchestration, though. The Travis Biggs track is called 'Tibetan Serenity' although as a description that doesn't seem too accurate.

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 01:06 (twenty years ago)

not related to the 'new thing' at all, but soul jazz is about to release a brazilian no wave/post-punk comp called "Sexual Life Of The Savage"!! so fucking excited.

there's also another one listed at dustygroove called Nao Wave on another label.

seriously, how the fuck do they do it? every thing soul jazz puts out is amazing

― [that bastard] jaxon (jaxon), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 03:31 (twenty years ago)

are you serious? "sexual life of the savage"? wow, i'm jazzed!!

"new thing" looks good, though i already have way too much of it to spend money on it. which i'm actually pretty bummed about, i really like the design, i'll bet the liners are pretty good. i'm not too proud to admit my soul jazz fetishism.

so how about they reissue souljazzlovestrataeast???

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 03:51 (twenty years ago)

aaah fuck it i think i'll get it anyway. $20- for 30 minutes of music ain't too bad...

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 04:00 (twenty years ago)

o man i want that no wave thing now too. my poor kids.

― sir koala taco gobblr (bulbs), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 04:03 (twenty years ago)

"deep jazz" -- give me a fucking break.

the new wave brazil thing sounds interesting though.

"deep jazz" -- jesus christ.

― jack cole (jackcole), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 05:30 (twenty years ago)

the tracks from the albums they're reissuing are the worst on there (especially the travis biggs) amusing review: http://www.sundayherald.com/48922

― a, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 06:46 (twenty years ago)

i don't really think of "duo exchange" as new thing, more free, but hey it's cool it's on there.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 06:48 (twenty years ago)

i'll bet the liners are pretty good.

Man, the CD booklet is almost too thick to fit into the jewel case. It requires considerable struggle. You can't put it and the Soul Jazz catalogue it comes with in the CD prongs together. And it probably is the best designed package the lable has put out.

As for the music, I only sorta skimmed through the 2 discs last night, but so far I think the Universal Sounds of America comp was better.

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

Whoa! Speaking of future Soul Jazz releases, how come nobody mentioned these?!

"Also coming soon is Acid – Can You Jack? Chicago Acid and Experimental House 1985-95 featuring Marshall Jefferson, Larry Heard, Adonis, Phuture, Lil Louis, Armando, Tyree, Roy Davis Jnr, Cajmere….A massive 2-cd, 2 double lp (vol 1 and vol2) release featuring the cream of Chicago’s creative artists that gave rise to a new sound. Featuring sleevenotes by Tim Lawrence (who wrote the book Love Saves The Day) as well as exclusive interviews and photos with the artists, this is one of our essential releases. Available from 9 Apr, 2005. For those of you who wish to look even more into the future... Mark Stewart – Kiss The Future, An anthology of his work with legendary Pop Group, The Maffia etc up to the present day."

― Vic Funk, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:44 (twenty years ago)

I have dive into the SOUL JAZZ catalog.
Can someone recommend some real good compilations for me???

― meister, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

I just had a search and couldn't find a S/D thread for Soul Jazz, this might be a good time to start one ;-)

― basic lurker, Tuesday, 26 April 2005 11:08 (twenty years ago)

hstencil can you clarify this "new thing" vs "free" thing for please?

― tom west (thomp), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 16:32 (twenty years ago)

That Chicago house thing looks useless.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

yeah, seriously. ENOUGH TRAX REVIVAL ALREADY.

― vahid (vahid), Tuesday, 26 April 2005 18:26 (twenty years ago)

So is it a good thing to get (especially for non-jazz afficionados like me)?

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 29 April 2005 12:03 (twenty years ago)

That Chicago house thing looks useless.

Have you seen a final tracklisting? I'm willing to give Soul Jazz a chance to at least come up with a few great and out of leftfield tracks based on their other comps. I was more excited by the Mark Stewart collection, though.

― Vic Funk, Friday, 29 April 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

I don't know if it's a good thing to get. The music on it, what I've heard, is uniformly great, it's just that if you're not into this stuff at all, it gives a rather skewed vision of "jazz" or "jazz after the '60s" or whatever it's attempting. The comp seems sort of tangentially related to loft jazz stuff of the 70s, is not entirely technically 'new thing', has some big names, goes all the way up to 1985, calls itself 'Deep Jazz' (whatever the hell that means), etc. So while it's probably fun to listen to, I don't know if it will clue you in to what any of this really means, where to go next if you like this stuff, or even why the tracks are all on one CD. Granted, I've not seen or heard the comp yet, so.

xpost

― mcd (mcd), Friday, 29 April 2005 12:41 (twenty years ago)

I don't suppose anyone's heard that Marcus Belgrave reissue that Soul Jazz put out recently?

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 29 April 2005 14:04 (twenty years ago)

Gemini? Yeah, I have it. It's really good - much better than the Steve Reid disc, Rhythmatism, that was reissued at the same time. The Belgrave has some cool electronic stuff on it.

― pdf (Phil Freeman), Friday, 29 April 2005 16:06 (twenty years ago)

dog latin, i'm listening to this now and i totally think you would dig it! it's fucking great.

― jed_ (jed), Sunday, 1 May 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

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