What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Joseph K]

Still never tire of this astonishing 1999 track (even by his exmeplary standards) from Allan Holdsworth.
Aside from the great writing, he really gets this guitar solo as effortlessly fast and fluid as Coltrane's sax.

I think that's his finest album. 'Above and Below' is incredibly beautiful, but my favourite would have to be '0274'.

[Joseph K]

P.S. I don't think any guitarist is as fast as Coltrane. I remember seeing a transcription of Trane on 'Ah-leu-cha' from the Miles Davis Newport record, where he plays semiquavers at over 300 BPM.

[Boilk]

I think that's his finest album. 'Above and Below' is incredibly beautiful, but my favourite would have to be '0274'.

Certainly his mellowest. And I think today the opener would have been recorded as '01274'

I discovered a nice 5-part memorial video to Bradford's greatest musical export starting here

[Bryn]

This evening: John Bucher and Steve Beresford at iklectik (as promoted on last Saturday's New Music Show), an open recording session. Given that promotion, a rather scant attendance. Only 19 audience members for the first set, growing to 24 for the second and (brief) third. Very fine playing and interplay from both. I look forward to its eventual release.

[Joseph K]

I discovered a nice 5-part memorial video to Bradford's greatest musical export starting here

Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

[Ian Thumwood]

Allan Holdsworth is a musician who has been totally off my radar. I have always associated him with jazz-rock and has never really held much appeal to me because of this association. I thought that the track was interesting because he sounds so much like John Abercrombie albeit the production makes it sound very unnatural.

[LMcD]

Petroc has just played 'Springtime In The Rockies' from Benny Goodman's famous Carnegie Hall concert - just the thing to take one's mind off all the surrounding political madness!

[burning dog]

Refrenced this inspired by the guitarist discussion but really like tenor sax


Mick Goodrick - guitar

Jerry Bergonzi - sax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D49pRXD0LIg

[Jazzrook]

Don Cherry, Charlie Haden & Ed Blackwell playing 'Art Deco' live in Montreal, 1989:

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

JR

[Boilk]

Allan Holdsworth is a musician who has been totally off my radar. I have always associated him with jazz-rock and has never really held much appeal to me because of this association. I thought that the track was interesting because he sounds so much like John Abercrombie albeit the production makes it sound very unnatural.

It was a millstone around Holdsworth's career that rock-oriented record labels/audiences considered Holdsworth too much in the jazz camp, and jazz labels/audiences considered him too rocky. His one album for Warner Bros (Road Games) had executives interfering and telling him to re-record material or bring in certain musicians to make it more commercially appealing. Prior to that, his first solo album was entitled I.O.U., because he apparently had to borrow the entire budget to put the record out!

[Stanfordian]

‘Soul Street’
Jimmy Forest - with Quintet, Sextet and Oliver Nelson Big Band & King Curtis
1960/62 New Jazz

[Serial_Apologist]

It was a millstone around Holdsworth's career that rock-oriented record labels/audiences considered Holdsworth too much in the jazz camp, and jazz labels/audiences considered him too rocky. His one album for Warner Bros (Road Games) had executives interfering and telling him to re-record material or bring in certain musicians to make it more commercially appealing. Prior to that, his first solo album was entitled I.O.U., because he apparently had to borrow the entire budget to put the record out!

I hadn't realised that.

In 1973 or 4, Allan was briefly with Ian Carr's Nucleus, and Jon Hiseman's Tempest. He also co-led a quintet with the altoist Ray Warleigh. They did a number of gigs and half of a broadcast which I am lucky enough to have on an increasingly worn out cassette - the first half of which was Gilgamesh. Unfortunately I can't find that one on youtube, but the band was re-formed for another broadcast in May 1981, with John Marshall replacing drummer Bryan Spring, and Chris Laurence replacing Ron Matthewson on bass, but he's nearly as good as Ron had been, one number from which is linked to below. This is bloody good stuff - and it's not in my category of jazz-rock fusion, but samba jazz with clear chord changes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cntwwl8TJCE

I now see it carries on automatically in sequence to further clips if left to its own devices on my computer - terrific!

For me Allan Holdsworth was the next major guitar stylist after McLaughlin, and I don't feel he's been superseded, though if you take Mike Walker, with him adding a bit more guts to something of the Holdsworth approach, he's as near as dammit, I think. Mike did a knockout broadcast in the early 2000s, again with John Marshall, and with Arild Anderson on bass - I think it was broadcast from Ronnie Scott's.

I could go on listening to this all day!

Pat Smythe was Joe Harriott's genius of a pianist in Joe's free form period; after he died an award was instituted in his name for young up and coming pianists which if I'm not mistaken is still going?

Here's an earlier date - probably from the time of that BBC broadcast from the early 1970s though from the commentary (some of it in Japanese!) there seems to be some controversy over date and place. But us nerds will be sufficiently interested for our lives to be transformed by knowing the truth of the matter! Perhaps someone may recognise the language of the announcer right at the end!! Smythe was on Fender Rhodes on my tape; combined with Ron's bass the whole sound was very opulent indeed. Humphrey Lyttelton was hosting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atOC5Ld4huA

[Serial_Apologist]

And how about this, which is pretty amazing - and which actually IS from the early 70s? Nearer to fusion, and it's got Smythe on the electric, and there's an amazing arco solo from Daryl Runswick, who was working mostly with John and Cleo at that time:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lJOkXETO70

Great contributions in the comments below this!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Talking of British guitarists, what of Ray Russell? "At the time he seemed the most excitingly experimental of them all" (Cook/Morton 6th edition). I only vaguely recall him but I see his "Rites & Rituals" 1969 has Nick Evans on it. Zis I will ckout on YouTube...

[burning dog]

Talking of British guitarists, what of Ray Russell? "At the time he seemed the most excitingly experimental of them all" (Cook/Morton 6th edition). I only vaguely recall him but I see his "Rites & Rituals" 1969 has Nick Evans on it. Zis I will ckout on YouTube...

Stylistically versatile!

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Haa6KBPlIQ

Prety sure I heard him with Nucleus or a similar lineup on Peter Claytons R2 show in the mid 70s

PS Now that's Jazzzz baby....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psyKpeB2n9Q