What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Stanfordian]

‘Step Lightly – Blue Mitchell
with Leo Wright, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Gene Taylor & Roy Brooks
Blue Note (1963, released 1980)

[Joseph K]

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (live in Antibes)

[Bert]

New York Fall 1974 - Anthony Braxton
Recorded Sept & Oct 1974
Released 1975.
Label. Arista




I first came across this album in 1993 and was blown away!


Beg, borrow, steal or stream it!!!!




Anthony Braxton - sopranino saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute
Kenny Wheeler - trumpet, flugelhorn (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Dave Holland - double bass (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Jerome Cooper - drums (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Julius Hemphill - alto saxophone (track 4)
Oliver Lake - tenor saxophone (track 4)
Hamiet Bluiett - baritone saxophone (track 4)
Leroy Jenkins - violin (track 5)
Richard Teitelbaum - Moog synthesizer (track 6)


Track listing
All compositions by Anthony Braxton.

Composition No. 23B2.svg (Composition 23 B) - 8:50
Composition No. 23C2.svg (Composition 23 C) - 3:07
Composition No. 23D2.svg (Composition 23 D) - 7:03
Composition No. 37.svg (Composition 37) - 8:18
Composition No. 23A.svg (Composition 23 A) - 5:29
Composition No. 38A.svg (Composition 38 A) - 6:33
Recorded at Generation Sound Studios in New York on September 27 (tracks 1-5) and October 16 (track 6), 1974

[Serial_Apologist]

New York Fall 1974 - Anthony Braxton
Recorded Sept & Oct 1974
Released 1975.
Label. Arista




I first came across this album in 1993 and was blown away!


Beg, borrow, steal or stream it!!!!




Anthony Braxton - sopranino saxophone, alto saxophone, clarinet, contrabass clarinet, flute
Kenny Wheeler - trumpet, flugelhorn (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Dave Holland - double bass (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Jerome Cooper - drums (tracks 1-3 & 5)
Julius Hemphill - alto saxophone (track 4)
Oliver Lake - tenor saxophone (track 4)
Hamiet Bluiett - baritone saxophone (track 4)
Leroy Jenkins - violin (track 5)
Richard Teitelbaum - Moog synthesizer (track 6)


Track listing
All compositions by Anthony Braxton.

Composition No. 23B2.svg (Composition 23 B) - 8:50
Composition No. 23C2.svg (Composition 23 C) - 3:07
Composition No. 23D2.svg (Composition 23 D) - 7:03
Composition No. 37.svg (Composition 37) - 8:18
Composition No. 23A.svg (Composition 23 A) - 5:29
Composition No. 38A.svg (Composition 38 A) - 6:33
Recorded at Generation Sound Studios in New York on September 27 (tracks 1-5) and October 16 (track 6), 1974

Kenny Wheeler said that Braxton's was the most difficult music he ever played. Modest, as always!

[Stanfordian]

‘Heavy Soul’ - Ike Quebec
with Freddie Roach, Milt Hinton, Al Harewood
Blue Note (1961)

[Ian Thumwood]

‘Heavy Soul’ - Ike Quebec
with Freddie Roach, Milt Hinton, Al Harewood
Blue Note (1961)

My quantity surveying lecturer at college once loaned me a batch of LPs he had bought 2nd hand which fascinated me as they were largely records that were either obscure or by musicians I had never heard of. One of the albums was "Hootin' & tootin'" by Fred Jackson which I always felt was what a Soul Jazz record by John Coltrane might have sounded like. It has always been a favourite of mine. The other intriguing album was "Mo's Greens please" by Freddie Roach which I did not really like so much. At the time, it struck me as dated.

Roach is quite a strange artist as there is a suspicion that Blue Note never really promoted him. There was a comment on one of the sites that suggests Blue Note's neglect was done on purpose. The final album he made for the label included a female choir and is considered to be outside of jazz. His albums included the likes of Kenny Burrell and Joe Henderson on some of them but they largely featured musicians who had little reputation. Allmusic praise Roach's organ playing yet you never hear of his music being praised the way other "obscure" names in that soul jazz oeuvre like Baby Face Willette or Big John Patton have. I believe he ended up working in Hollywood.

Just wondered whether anyone had any thoughts about his work. The soul jazz / organ stuff from the late 50s and 1960s has always struck me as being a sub-genre in jazz where elements such as funkiness tend to score heavily and the criteria by which other forms of jazz are judged do not apply. It is an really cultish field in jazz and it's niche appeal borders on fanaticism. That said, Freddie Roach's name rarely comes up in these kinds of discussions.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

He's highly regarded on Organissimo...not such a surprise, given the Hammond. The one album of his that I like is "Down to Earth" (Bluenote 1962), his first. Mainly because it sounds exactly like the kind of stuff Georgie Fame and band used to launch into at the Flamingo at 1am. But this has Kenny Burrell and Percy France. It's not subtle but there's some neat solos, Roach doesn't "gurgle" too much, and the feel is all.
http://youtu.be/wVF4QWGwCw0 "De Bug" from Down to Earth, 1962 Bluenote. Btw, there's a white US boxer/trainer of the same name...people on the Net get them confused.

[Joseph K]

John McLaughlin - Devotion

[Jazzrook]

Sonny Stitt, Booker Ervin, Don Patterson & Billy James playing 'Flying Home' in 1964:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=KJDoe5I4wFs

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘Back to the Tracks’ - Tina Brooks
with Jackie McLean (track 2 only), Blue Mitchell, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers & Art Taylor
Blue Note (1960, released 1998)

[Stanfordian]

‘Shades of Redd’ – Freddie Redd Quintet
Freddie Redd with Jackie McLean, Tina Brooks, Paul Chambers & Louis Hayes
Blue Note (1960)

[Jazzrook]

Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman & Elvin Jones playing 'Nine' from the 1998 album 'Momentum Space':

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=7T3WEBPB6NQ

JR

[Ian Thumwood]

Dave Brubeck -"Time out." - It is funny how your perception of records changes over time. I have been listening to this quite a bit lately and think it is very much a mixed bag. The weaker tracks like "Pick up sticks" still strike me as being a bit twee but it is fascinating how a track like "Blue Rondo a la Turk" now seems completely out if it's time and remarkably contemporary. It could easily be something written by any number of European jazz musicians in the 21st century and you could perhaps imagine being culled from a record label like ACT. The better material on this record is very good and it is not too difficult to hear this music out of context - a bit like Brookmeyer and Guiffre's "Traditionalism revisited" where Jim Hall's guitar and the whole approach of the music seems to anticipate Bill Frisell. My perception of Brubeck is changing and I think he is perhaps more interesting than most jazz fans give him credit.

[Stanfordian]

‘Mode for Joe’ – Joe Henderson
with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter & Joe Chambers
Blue Note (1966)

[Serial_Apologist]

Cecil Taylor, Dewey Redman & Elvin Jones playing 'Nine' from the 1998 album 'Momentum Space':

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=7T3WEBPB6NQ

JR

That's the first I knew of Elvin playing with Cecil! Will have a listen when I've got a mo later.