What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Ian Thumwood]

Allan Holdsworth - Frankfurt '86

Only just finished listening to the second tune, but already this is superb! Mainly due to Holdsworth's stellar tone, it is truly beautiful, every notes shines. The group make these compositions sound more luscious than ever.

Annoyingly though, the case does not tell you who is in the band - there are pictures, and I recognise all but the keyboard player, who I have since discovered is Kei Akagi.

Kei Akagi played keyboards in Miles Davis' last band. I used to have a video of the band's gig in Paris when the only other well known name was Kenny Garrett. At that time I liked Miles' work but the music from the concert was only memorable for the alto saxophonist. I seem to recall the percussionist was John Bigham. I was strange how his later groups deteriorated so quickly after the move away from CBS. Back in the early - mid 80s he had employed the likes of Mike Stern, John Scofield, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Bob Berg and Branford Marsalis in his bands although none of them can have been considered to have made their best work with the trumpeter. By the end of the decade, he was almost irrelevant in comparison where jazz was heading and his music was edging increasingly towards pop. Kei Akagi is not someone I was aware of outside of his work with Miles and I had always assumed was a studio musician . Not really surprised to see him cropping up with a fusion musician like Allan Holdsworth.

[Jazzrook]

Kei Akagi played keyboards in Miles Davis' last band. I used to have a video of the band's gig in Paris when the only other well known name was Kenny Garrett. At that time I liked Miles' work but the music from the concert was only memorable for the alto saxophonist. I seem to recall the percussionist was John Bigham. I was strange how his later groups deteriorated so quickly after the move away from CBS. Back in the early - mid 80s he had employed the likes of Mike Stern, John Scofield, Marcus Miller, Kenny Garrett, Bob Berg and Branford Marsalis in his bands although none of them can have been considered to have made their best work with the trumpeter. By the end of the decade, he was almost irrelevant in comparison where jazz was heading and his music was edging increasingly towards pop. Kei Akagi is not someone I was aware of outside of his work with Miles and I had always assumed was a studio musician . Not really surprised to see him cropping up with a fusion musician like Allan Holdsworth.

Not sure where this is but here's Miles' band with Kei Akagi in 1991:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=HJ8UNJpU-HM

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘Song for My Father’ - Horace Silver Quintet
Horace Silver with Carmell Jones, Joe Henderson, Teddy Smith, Roger Humphries +
Blue Mitchell, Junior Cook, Gene Taylor, Roy Brooks + Gene Taylor, Roy Brooks
Blue Note (1963/64)

[Joseph K]

Dizzy Gillespie - Carnegie Hall Concert

[eighthobstruction]

....Listening to Trevor Watts : i so lated 1.........in an edition of R3 Freshness....great....

[Serial_Apologist]

....Listening to Trevor Watts : i so lated 1.........in an edition of R3 Freshness....great....

(Actually, when the BBC ran out of Lynx, they were forced to re-name the programme).

[Joseph K]

Gillespiana, now.

[Ian Thumwood]

Not sure where this is but here's Miles' band with Kei Akagi in 1991:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=HJ8UNJpU-HM

JR

Jazzrook

This looks like another gig from the video I had. I binned mine when I threw the video recorder out about 20 years ago. Akagi's solos is odd as for a moment, the music goes in to 2nd quintet terrain. As for Miles, he was clearly unwell and the playing does not sound great. On the second number the music seems to have aged terribly and you would have thought that Kenny Garrett would have found this format limiting in comparison with his own stuff. I have to admit that I love Kenny Garrett's playing as he fills a familiar to niche to someone like Cannonball Adderley. Having heard him a few times in concert, he is incredible. It is sad seeing and hearing Miles in this context as it isn't great. Listening to it makes you understand Branford Marsalis' comment that when he played with Miles all the leader was doing was playing on vamps. There are some nice chords from the keyboards on the next track from Vienne yet I don't think Miles actually says anything. There was a lot more happening in jazz in 1991 that this rather lame stuff.

[Stanfordian]

‘Grab This!’ - Johnny Griffin featuring Paul Bryant
with Joe Pass, Jimmy Bond & Doug Sides
Riverside (1962)

[Jazzrook]

Dizzy Reece Quintet with John Gilmore, Siegfried Kessler, Patrice Caratini & Art Taylor from the 1970 album 'From In To Out' recorded in Paris:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=aUfvAa_hKIg

JR

[eighthobstruction]

Dizzy Reece Quintet with John Gilmore, Siegfried Kessler, Patrice Caratini & Art Taylor from the 1970 album 'From In To Out' recorded in Paris:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=aUfvAa_hKIg

JR

...flavour

[Serial_Apologist]

Ex-Henry Cow's Lindsay Cooper (d.18/9.2013) doing her electric bassoon thang in Mike Westbrook's "Democratie", from "The Cortège".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp9KZvwOl9M

[Joseph K]

Miles Davis - Tribute to Jack Johnson

[Joseph K]

Miles Davis - Tribute to Jack Johnson

Jack DeJohnette's drumming in the latter half of the second track is amongst the most exquisite I've heard.

[Padraig]

From The Hot Fives/Hot sevens :

Potato Head Blues, Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven, 1927

Note the extended coda.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeBn_TZ4Iak