What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been listening to Leo Janacek's "On an overgrown path" which I have always been intrigued by but never really made much attention to. Listening again, I really like this music. Janacek is a curious composer because he is not a Romantic but, by the same token, you would struggle to consider him a modernist. He sometimes feels like a Czech version of Bartok although I think he is probably easier to appreciate. I have always loved the "Symphonia" but never paid much attention to the piano work. Been listening to a lot of Scriabin piano Preludes last year.

[Stanfordian]

‘Free’ – Benny Golson Quartet
Benny Golson with Tommy Flanagan Ron Carter & Art Taylor
Argo (1963)

[Tenor Freak]

"The Lydiot" - from "Jazz in the Space Age" by George Russell, featuring Evans the Keys and Paul Bley. (1960)

[Joseph K]

Not having spun much John Coltrane in a while I've opted to put on the first disk from the European Tour 1962 box.

[Ian Thumwood]

"The Lydiot" - from "Jazz in the Space Age" by George Russell, featuring Evans the Keys and Paul Bley. (1960)

Bruce

I was obsessed with this record when I was a teenager. I still think it represents Bill Evans' most adventurous engagement even if it was relatively early in his career. I have not listened to George Russell for ages. I dug out some old LPs by him during the pandemic and was surprised how badly dated records like "African Game" now sound. The "Jazz in the Space Age" record is George Russell at his best. I feel his work from the late 50s and early 60s coincided with the point at which he was most in sync with the way jazz was going in those days. The fascination with funkier sounds in the 1970s was not really shrugged off in the 80s and 90s and softened the more radical elements of his composition.

I love the whole concept of jazz composition which I feel is often under-valued. Last week I was listening to Guillermo Klein's record with the Swiss Jazz Orchestra. I do not think that this band is as good as Klein's own American band but it did make me think just how far jazz composition has now come. "Cristal" by his Guachos band was one of the best albums of 2019 for my money but even on lesser albums like the one with the SJO the ambition has stretched far beyond what was considered experimental in the 50 and 60s. The music bumps around in all different time signatures and you can hear elements of Gil Evans, Tango and composers such as Steve Reich in the mix. There is a definite Argentinian feel to the music and I suppose you would best describe it as being like a progressive Latin dance orchestra that has been dropped on it's edge so the music is buckled into something wholly original. The music is experimental but in a much different way to George Russell.

Amazed that Klien's name never comes up in these threads as he is one of the best writers for larger ensembles at the moment.

[Tenor Freak]

Bruce

I was obsessed with this record when I was a teenager. I still think it represents Bill Evans' most adventurous engagement even if it was relatively early in his career. I have not listened to George Russell for ages. I dug out some old LPs by him during the pandemic and was surprised how badly dated records like "African Game" now sound. The "Jazz in the Space Age" record is George Russell at his best. I feel his work from the late 50s and early 60s coincided with the point at which he was most in sync with the way jazz was going in those days. The fascination with funkier sounds in the 1970s was not really shrugged off in the 80s and 90s and softened the more radical elements of his composition.

Hi Ian, I first heard a track from this LP - it was "Waltz From Outer Space" - on Radio Mercury, of all places! It was an ILR station in Surrey (think it was Reigate) that had a signal that carried quite well into London. They had a jazz prog on Saturday mornings and this was played. (I also remember them playing Rahsaan's "The Inflated Tear".) That was it, had to get the album! It had just been re-issued; I still have that licorice pizza somewhere. Still one of my favourites: I still have a fantasy that one day, there will be a Prom where this is played, along with other important big band works such as "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers". But that will never happen.

Don't know of Guillermo Klein, I'll have to check him out. The problem is that these days, there really are so many highly talented musicians working in this field that it's often difficult to keep up!

[elmo]

Louis Hayes/Junior cook "All the things...

This is from one of those "live from Onkel Po" sessions that Ian highlighted a couple of months ago. Onkel certainly brought out the best in the musicians that played there. I don't think I have heard better Junior Cook than this, equally so for the rest of the band.

https://youtu.be/tPctS7atl3M

elmo

[Ian Thumwood]

Elmo

That track sounds terrific. The album I bought was good too although it made me think just how much jazz has changed since that point in time. Playters like Junior Cook and Woody Shaw run the risk of being overlooked these days. Not sure this kind of jazz is so fashionable these days but I think this generation of jazz musicians certainly have an edge.

[Stanfordian]

‘Setting the Pace’ – Booker Ervin with Dexter Gordon
& Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman, Alan Dawson
Prestige (1965)

[Jazzrook]

Junior Cook with Cedar Walton, Buster Williams & Billy Higgins playing 'Fiesta Espanol' from the 1981 album 'Something's Cookin''(MUSE):

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=YJBoRhyM8Oc

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Elmo

That track sounds terrific. The album I bought was good too although it made me think just how much jazz has changed since that point in time. Playters like Junior Cook and Woody Shaw run the risk of being overlooked these days. Not sure this kind of jazz is so fashionable these days but I think this generation of jazz musicians certainly have an edge.

Maybe not fashionable, but still plenty like that to be found in suburban pubs of a Sunday lunchtime, pre-Covid.

I see Junior Cook was born in 1934 - an older player than I realised. Died in 1992.

BTW anybody know who the rest of the line-up are? The trumpet player phrases very like Booker Little, but that would of course be impossible!

[Jazzrook]

Maybe not fashionable, but still plenty like that to be found in suburban pubs of a Sunday lunchtime, pre-Covid.

I see Junior Cook was born in 1934 - an older player than I realised. Died in 1992.

BTW anybody know who the rest of the line-up are? The trumpet player phrases very like Booker Little, but that would of course be impossible!

The rest of the line-up are Woody Shaw, Ronnie Matthews & Stafford James, recorded on March 11, 1976.

JR

[Jazzrook]

Joe Harriott Quintet with Kenny Wheeler, Pat Smythe, Ron Mathewson & Bill Eyden playing 'Shadow' in 1968:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=bZ1to9gYh7w

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

The rest of the line-up are Woody Shaw, Ronnie Matthews & Stafford James, recorded on March 11, 1976.

JR

Thanks JR.

[Serial_Apologist]

Joe Harriott Quintet with Kenny Wheeler, Pat Smythe, Ron Mathewson & Bill Eyden playing 'Shadow' in 1968:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=bZ1to9gYh7w

JR

Histories on Joe Harriott often assert that he gave up completely on free form after 1964 on grounds that those experiments had come too early for audiences to appreciate, but there is plenty of evidence to show that this was not the case.