Joanne Brackeen - a jazz you-know-what thread

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No thread yet for the uncrowned queen of ultra-mathy post-post-bop jazz, I guess.

I have an album called Invitation from the 70s which I like, and I just downloaded a monster 18-minute live version of her composition "Picasso" w/Marvin Smitty Smith and Cecil McBee and Donald Harrison. A jazzbo once told me that Smitty was the only drummer besides Jack DeJohnette (on the original) that she felt could handle the ridiculously complicated form (the head alone is 3 minutes long and I can't even begin to figure out the time signature changes).

I will say a few things about her:

1) She is one of the few female jazz musicians I know of who really stands out to me as more than just a person to cite on a list of good female jazz musicians (Mary Lou Williams would be another).

2) She is really crazy looking!
http://www.artistdirect.com/Images/Sources/AMGPORTRAITS/music/portrait200/drp000/p008/p00823gdv2g.jpg http://www.opendoor.com/badcat/BadCat_GIFs/brakeen.gif

3) She has terrible some album covers!
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000I89T.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00004UESI.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000014M2.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

4) One of her albums is called "Fi-Fi Goes to Heaven!"

5) She seems to be one of the more interesting jazz composers that started out in the post-60s era.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 01:33 (nineteen years ago)

Aw ferfuckssake. Mods, move this to ILM please?

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 01:36 (nineteen years ago)

what, are we not good enough for your jazz thread?

― gear (gear), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 04:00 (nineteen years ago)

1) She is one of the few female jazz musicians I know of who really stands out to me as more than just a person to cite on a list of good female jazz musicians

what about Amina Claudine Myers, Alice Coltrane, Carla Bley, Patty Waters?

i just downloaded a trio track called Remembering from a Monterey Jazz comp and it's kinda not my thing. might not be prime period?

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 04:28 (nineteen years ago)

and whatsherface that plays with braxton... marilyn crispell?

― guess papers (eman), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 05:13 (nineteen years ago)

Geri Allen's good on piano, too, not as "out" as Marilyn Crispell. Shirley Scott did some boss Hammond organ stuff in the 60s. Somehow I've never heard Brackeen. Those album covers are a hoot.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, I've seen both Geri Allen and Shirley Scott and they're both really good. I also really like those recordings Scott made in the 60s (w/Eddie Lockjaw Davis, etc.) Not really familiar with Crispell, Myers or Waters. Alice Coltrane is good. Bley is great from what I've heard.

I don't really mean to put down any other female jazz musicians (I regret even putting that in there); Brackeen is just someone who seems to really have her own thing going on in a way that most musicians -- male and female -- don't.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 11:31 (nineteen years ago)

More covers:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000003OYY.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005HNPA.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000006IE.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
http://www.akustamusic.com/images/cd_buyuk/013431431626.jpg

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 11:35 (nineteen years ago)

E-mail me if you want a ewes-end-it of "Picasso"

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

my dad has probably seen Joanne live about 50 times. and i am not inflating that number. for real. he loves her. her and cecil mcbee are (or were) so good together. i, on the other hand, have only seen her live once. with cecil. (and someone else i can't remember)

― scott seward (scott seward), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 13:11 (nineteen years ago)

Your dad sounds like my kind of guy. Alas, I have never seen her live.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Wednesday, 24 May 2006 20:21 (nineteen years ago)

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