What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Stanfordian]

‘A Blowin’ Session’ – Johnny Griffin
with John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Lee Morgan, Paul Chambers & Art Blakey
Blue Note (1957)

[Jazzrook]

West Coast altoist Earl Anderza(1933-82) with Jack Wilson, George Morrow & Donald Dean playing the title track from the 1962 album 'Outa Sight'(Pacific Jazz):

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=LYKmm3tXX7I

JR

[Serial_Apologist]

Chicago pianist Willie Pickens (1931-2017) "Straight No Chaser".

Extraordinary! Sort of cross between Don Pullen and Jaki Byard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Anb0VZoLiE

Have we mentioned him before?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Chicago pianist Willie Pickens (1931-2017) "Straight No Chaser".

Extraordinary! Sort of cross between Don Pullen and Jaki Byard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Anb0VZoLiE

Have we mentioned him before?

Pickens had a decent discography, Eddie Harris, then Elvin and was highly regarded chez Chicago. As mentor & teacher.

Here he is with Art Pepper in Chicago in 1977. Great version of My Funny Valentine. I seem to recall there was maybe some tension, but it's one of my favourites...

http://youtu.be/wPn7TERvg0Q

[Joseph K]

I currently have a blocked right-ear. But I'm listening to John Coltrane's tune 'Impressions' from the album of that name and it feels like I'm listening to it with fresh ears.

[Ian Thumwood]

Willie Pickens can be heard to good advantage of Malachi Thompson's "Talking Horns" record along with the great Maiet Bluiett and Oliver Lake. Not sure if this is still available but it is a good example of the kind of jazz Delmark used to put out. The record was very much billed as AACM meets St. Louis BAG and is very much typical of certain kinds of "radical" players who always had one foot firmly in a much earlier tradition. Pickens hailed from Chicago and SA's analogy is good. I think some people are put off by the tag "avant garde" but Thompson always struck me as someone who could make this music really accessible. Chicago players tend not to get the credit they deserve.

[Jazzrook]

Willie Pickens can be heard to good advantage of Malachi Thompson's "Talking Horns" record along with the great Maiet Bluiett and Oliver Lake. Not sure if this is still available but it is a good example of the kind of jazz Delmark used to put out. The record was very much billed as AACM meets St. Louis BAG and is very much typical of certain kinds of "radical" players who always had one foot firmly in a much earlier tradition. Pickens hailed from Chicago and SA's analogy is good. I think some people are put off by the tag "avant garde" but Thompson always struck me as someone who could make this music really accessible. Chicago players tend not to get the credit they deserve.

'Talking Horns' is a fantastic album, Ian.
Here's 'Way Back When We Didn't Understand' with Malachi Thompson, Oliver Lake, Hamiet Bluiett, Willie Pickens, Harrison Bankhead & Reggie Nicholson recorded in Chicago, 1999:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=2VVO4426OjE

JR

[Stanfordian]

‘Soul Street’– Jimmy Forrest
Quintet, Sextet with the Oliver Nelson Big Band
New Jazz (1960/62)

[Ian Thumwood]

Running with the idea of jazz pianists from Chicago, I bought a box set of Herbie Hancock's Blue Note recordings last week. The collection is intriguing because both "Maiden Voyage" and "Empyrean Isles" are not included and these albums are generally cncsidered to be his finest work on this label. I previously had acquired both these albums but was not familiar with the discs in this collection. Only "Takin' Off" has any kind of reputation beyond thr other two records.

Last month I was listening to loads of Wayne Shorter. From time to time, I have a need to delve in to my Blue Notes and start to get a bit obsessive about the records. Shorter's recorded legacy for Blue Note is extremely strong. The back catalogue of Herbie Hancock is more nuanced. I have to say that my three favourite pianists are probably Herbie Hanccok, Andrew Hill and Paul Bley. OF those three, I think that Herbie Hancock nailed jazz harmony in a fashion that has not been matched. Playing through the 5 discs, I have to conclude that they are actually quite mixed.

I like "Takin' Off" very much and this is perhaps the only true "Hard Bop" session of the lot. Anything with Dexter Gordon is good and pairing him with Freddie Hubbard is the icing on the cake. I feel that the follow up "My point of view" is something of an all-star session but massively under-whelming. This is another of those Blue Note sessions where Hank Mobley seems not with it. "The prisoner" takes the same kind of format and runs with it yet I think it is really demonstrative of how Herbie always has one ear towards the popular. I need to listen to this album again to get a better understanding.

The remaining two are perhaps more interesting . "Speak like a child" also seems like an attempt to emulate Gil Evans but with a smaller ensemble. The two trio tracks are blistering and I would also say that the music will take several listens to assimulate. The best of the bunch is "Inventions & Dimensions" which is effectively a trio plus percussion session. This disc is not that celebrated but I think is the most fascinating one in the set. It is quite adventurous but the unorthodox nature pf the session does make it intriguing.

It has crossed my mind that Herbie's Blue Note never really get that much truck in here. I think Wayne Shorter's efforts are better and, I would have to say, Hancock is usually exceptional on other people's records - I think his work with Shorter and Hutcherson is outstanding. I am just wondering what others think of the Blue Note albums under his own name. I have a feeling that Bruce will give a "thumbs up" but they are not a set of recordings that comes under much scrutiny in here.

[Joseph K]

Running with the idea of jazz pianists from Chicago, I bought a box set of Herbie Hancock's Blue Note recordings last week. The collection is intriguing because both "Maiden Voyage" and "Empyrean Isles" are not included and these albums are generally cncsidered to be his finest work on this label. I previously had acquired both these albums but was not familiar with the discs in this collection. Only "Takin' Off" has any kind of reputation beyond thr other two records.
... but they are not a set of recordings that comes under much scrutiny in here.

I think I have the box you're talking about - 5 Original Albums? I must have mentioned listening to them on here before. I think my reaction is similar to yours - mixed, some are underwhelming, most need more than a few listens to assimilate - probably, alas, more than I have given them. Yes, Takin' Off is great.

This arrived today and is currently spinning:

[Ian Thumwood]

Joseph

I love Hancock's playing with other artists and there are musicians such as Watne Shorter and Bobby Hutcherson who seem to bring out the best in his playing. He also crops up in some rather unusual contexts include Stantley Turrentine's "Joyride" where the saxophonist if pitted against Oliver Nelson's gospelish arrangements. Hancock's playing is the best thing on that record, as much as I like so much else on it. However, the Blue Note records under his own name strike me as far more conservative and almost "commercial" despite albums like "Inventions and Dimensions" being consider part of the avant garde at the time. What I like about Hancock's playing is his ability to find a harmonic solution to really outside playing but I feel he keeps this in check on the records with larger groups. "My point of View" is surprisingly mundane and too many of the b"ig names " such as Hank Mobley and Grant Green are below par. It was interesting to hear trumpeter Johnny Coles away from the context of Gil Evans' orchestra where I felt he always seemed really suited. I am afraid to say that he is not so impressive on "The Prisoner."

I suppose the odd thing about some of these records is that they are aypically much smoother than alot of the jazz of that period. Of the five discs on the collection, only "Takin' off" and "inventions & Dimensions" are that edgy although the former is easily the one Herbie album that is firmly in the tradition. None of them match "Maiden Voyage" or "Epytean Isles" in my opinion. The Wayne Shorter set in the same series does the same trick with missing the two most iconic Blue Note albums but it merely does to show just how consistent he was. Of the two sets, Shorter's is far superior.

[Stanfordian]

‘Headin’ South’ – Horace Parlan
with George Tucker, Al Harewood & Ray Barretto
Blue Note (1960)

[elmo]

[B]Jackie McLean "Poor Eric"

Jackie's powerful and moving tribute to Eric Dolphy on the Larry Willis composition with Bob Cranshaw and Clifford Jarvis

https://youtu.be/5bJc6MdR7KU

elmo

[Jazzrook]

[B]Jackie McLean "Poor Eric"

Jackie's powerful and moving tribute to Eric Dolphy on the Larry Willis composition with Bob Cranshaw and Clifford Jarvis

https://youtu.be/5bJc6MdR7KU

elmo

A haunting tribute, elmo.
Here's a moving article on Eric Dolphy:

https://www.varsity.co.uk/music/19677

JR

[elmo]

A haunting tribute, elmo.
Here's a moving article on Eric Dolphy:

https://www.varsity.co.uk/music/19677

JR

Thanks JR - A very good article.

Here is the great man himself with George Russell playing "Round Midnight" with a Musique Concrete intro.

https://youtu.be/6Wee2HSvClY

elmo