What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Ian Thumwood]

[Stanfordian]

‘Somethin' Else’ - Cannonball Adderley
with Miles Davis, Hank Jones, Sam Jones & Art Blakey
Blue Note (1958)

A true 'classic'

[Joseph K]

Slightly irked by the fact amazon promised I'd be getting the new Allan Holdsworth CD/DVD today, now - on the day it's released - it says 23 March - 7 April.

So I'm going to console myself by sampling - just sampling, mind - one track from the album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLRgy5zLUfg&list=OLAK5uy_mAmeCx2u0Wb3-5tWUVN9196EelnY4sLsI&index=2

[Joseph K]

Miles Davis - 'Bitches Brew' https://youtu.be/cwcmT_85Gbs

Serious amount of magic in this. As I've said before, perhaps Chick Corea's most profound solo, at least that I've heard.

[elmo]

Art Blakey's Hard Bop album from 1956 with Jackie McLean and Bill Hardman - this track "Cranky Spanky" is a hard bop classic.

https://youtu.be/bgpfxbwVkBs

elmo

[Ian Thumwood]

On Jazzrook's recommendation, I snapped up a copy of the John Carter / Bobby Bradford album "Self determination music." It is regarded as something of a "classic" although perhaps not as much as "Castles of Ghana", an album that frustratingly has never been reissued yet which puts a spoke in the wheels that 1980s jazz was some how about the New Neos and the the Downtown scene contesting the void left by the barrenness of fusion. It is quite shocking how some really solid reputations earned by the likes of Arthur Blythe, Horace Tapscott and John Carter that put West Coast jazz back on the map have faded in the 21s century. Blythe even managed to secure a recording contract with Columbia with a serious of records which (generally) lost none of their integrity.

I find that John Carter's slide into obscurity is disconcerting. "Self determination music" takes a while to take on board but the concept is broadly akin to Ornette Coleman's quartet with Cherry, Haden and Blackwell but given over to Carter's very different compositional style. I don't think is is a "perfect" record. The addition of the second bassist add a degree of neuroticism to the record and the busy nature of the playing detracts from Bradford's measured trumpet work and Carter's pithy reed playing. Bradford sound like a cooler, more polished version of Don Cherry whereas Carter had already found his identity beyond the approach of Coleman. I have been struck by just how good Carter was on alto - he is now more renowned for playing a clarinet. Even though the drummer Bruz Freeman is pretty sensational of this record (why is it that "mainstream" drummers can sometimes sound invigorated in a free jazz context?) , Carter's playing is so good that you wonder why he has been over-looked in many quarters. Setting aside my reservations about the second bassist, I think Jazzrook's assessment of this record is a good call!

[Jazzrook]

Art Blakey's Hard Bop album from 1956 with Jackie McLean and Bill Hardman - this track "Cranky Spanky" is a hard bop classic.

https://youtu.be/bgpfxbwVkBs

elmo

An overlooked hard bop classic, elmo.
Even more overlooked is the album 'Tough!' by the same group which was recorded a few months later in 1957 but not released until 1966:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=TTcZqH8r9Hs

JR

[Tenor Freak]

"Friends" - Chick Corea w/Joe Farrell fl, Eddie Gomez b, Steve Gadd d. Polydor, 1977.

[Tenor Freak]

On Jazzrook's recommendation, I snapped up a copy of the John Carter / Bobby Bradford album "Self determination music." It is regarded as something of a "classic" although perhaps not as much as "Castles of Ghana", an album that frustratingly has never been reissued yet which puts a spoke in the wheels that 1980s jazz was some how about the New Neos and the the Downtown scene contesting the void left by the barrenness of fusion. It is quite shocking how some really solid reputations earned by the likes of Arthur Blythe, Horace Tapscott and John Carter that put West Coast jazz back on the map have faded in the 21s century. Blythe even managed to secure a recording contract with Columbia with a serious of records which (generally) lost none of their integrity.

I find that John Carter's slide into obscurity is disconcerting. "Self determination music" takes a while to take on board but the concept is broadly akin to Ornette Coleman's quartet with Cherry, Haden and Blackwell but given over to Carter's very different compositional style. I don't think is is a "perfect" record. The addition of the second bassist add a degree of neuroticism to the record and the busy nature of the playing detracts from Bradford's measured trumpet work and Carter's pithy reed playing. Bradford sound like a cooler, more polished version of Don Cherry whereas Carter had already found his identity beyond the approach of Coleman. I have been struck by just how good Carter was on alto - he is now more renowned for playing a clarinet. Even though the drummer Bruz Freeman is pretty sensational of this record (why is it that "mainstream" drummers can sometimes sound invigorated in a free jazz context?) , Carter's playing is so good that you wonder why he has been over-looked in many quarters. Setting aside my reservations about the second bassist, I think Jazzrook's assessment of this record is a good call!

I saw them at Bracknell, in 1987. Still one of the most impressive gigs I've seen.

[Tenor Freak]

NP: "125th Street Congress" - Joe Zawinul el p, elec; Wayne Shorter, ss; Miroslav Vitous b; Andrew White III el b; Eric Gravatt d, Herschell Dwellingham, d; Dom Um Romao, Muruga Booker, perc. Columbia Records, 1973.

[Stanfordian]

‘Street Singer’ – Jackie McLean & Tina Brooks
with Blue Mitchell, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Art Taylor
Blue Note (1960)

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Just play when you feel like man!" ..."Don't tell me when to play!" Wonderful studio conversation between Jackie McLean, Curtis Fuller, Gil Coggins, Paul Chambers & Louis Hayes at Jackie's "Long drink of the blues" Prestige date from the 1950s. On which track Jackie plays tenor VERY much in the style of Sonny Rollins. His only outing on tenor? Anyway...http://youtu.be/Jt429q1p7_8

The take...http://youtu.be/gmC1eWfqPKI

[Tenor Freak]

"Easy Living" - Tete Montoliu p; John Heard b; Albert "Tootie" Heath d. SteepleChase Records, rec. 1980.

[Tenor Freak]

"Just Friends" - Dexter Gordon, ts; Horace Parlan p; Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, b; Tony Inzalaco, d. SteepleChase Records, rec. 1975.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Lee Morgan Quintet (Hancock,Mobley) -"Ceora" from the "Cornbread" Bluenote album. It's a great & memorable tune by Lee from a time when so many original compositions were forgettable. http://youtu.be/ECw3WAX41OA