Miles Davis Quintet with Sam Rivers, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter & Tony Williams live in Kyoto, July 15, 1964:
JR
JR
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It's been the case for a couple of years now that, during the time of year where I like to have my window open most if not all the time (late spring through to early autumn) I often smell marijuana from the garden of the house adjacent to us. I'm not sure if they can hear me practising Bach on the guitar, but I am now playing Miles Davis's 'Pharaoh's Dance' fairly loudly, which seems like an appropriate choice, since the distinctive and quite pungent aroma takes me back somewhat.
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Originally posted by Joseph K View PostIt's been the case for a couple of years now that, during the time of year where I like to have my window open most if not all the time (late spring through to early autumn) I often smell marijuana from the garden of the house adjacent to us. I'm not sure if they can hear me practising Bach on the guitar, but I am now playing Miles Davis's 'Pharaoh's Dance' fairly loudly, which seems like an appropriate choice, since the distinctive and quite pungent aroma takes me back somewhat.
I've been going back over the tracks and recordings which first got me into jazz around age 15, and then acted as gateways into subgenres. Why one does this is anybody's guess - it could be some sort of preparation. Happily I've kept all those early LPs and EPs - they're often a bit worn, some surprisingly less than others of more recent vintage... and I regret not having had more respect for the sleeves in my younger days.Comment
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‘Minor Move’ – Tina Brooks
with Sonny Clark, Doug Watkins & Art Blakey
Blue Note (1958)Comment
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‘Mode for Joe’ – Joe Henderson
with Lee Morgan, Curtis Fuller, Bobby Hutcherson, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter & Joe Chambers
Blue Note (1966)Comment
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Strange, but I've being doing that too! A core of formative recordings. I unfortunately don't have many of the early original items, so I've started to order them up, or if not available, resort to download to reliable C90. What else.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View Post
I've been going back over the tracks and recordings which first got me into jazz around age 15, and then acted as gateways into subgenres. Why one does this is anybody's guess - it could be some sort of preparation. Happily I've kept all those early LPs and EPs - they're often a bit worn, some surprisingly less than others of more recent vintage... and I regret not having had more respect for the sleeves in my younger days.
Oscar Petiford Qrt - Vienna Blues
Shelly Manne Quin - More Swinging Sounds
Barney Wilen - 1959
Gerry Mulligan/Brookmeyer - Paris 54
Mose Allison - Back Country Suite
Hank Crawford - Bout Soul
And many more.Comment
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I find that when I listen to music I go through phases of listening to particular styles in large doses. At the moment I have been listening to my Mum's CD collection of classical piano works which includes quite a bit of Chopin, Faure , Cheminade and Field who I am particularly impressed by. I suppose that these composers are all of an ilk whose sense of harmony has informed jazz. Chopin's Nocturnes sometimes remind me a bit of keith Jarrett's solo work. It is interesting to compare these composers with Scriabin whose music is the next step in the evolutionary line and perhaps a bit darker. I am not too sure about Cheminade but she does not deserve her reputation for being lightweight. The music seems very technical.
It is fascinating to return to the records that initially got you in to jazz. In my case, it is largely more vintage stuff but the first contemporary jazz recordings are quite mixed. I remember reading as a teenager a critic's comment about the 1950s being the era when recordings started to appear in abundance and that this made it a more complicated task to assess what was superior. I have been picking up a few of the Avid CDs lately although not quite the same volume as my Dad amassed. There is a habit of concentrating on classic recordings but the Avid series makes you realise just how much music was released at that time. Not all of it has aged particularly well - the Oscar Pettiford disc has some excellent big band tracks but the small group stuff has really dated. Ditto something like Art Pepper's "Surf Ride" where the overuse of contrafacts becomes annoying. In fact, I think there are moments throughout jazz where artistic choices of material as been underwhelming. Listening to Lang and Venuti last week, you keep finding tunes based on "Tiger Rag" just like the Be-boppers used the chord changes of standards. Even something like Ellington's "Blues in orbit" seems over-reliant on 12 bar blues which makes it markedly less interesting than a lot of the other work that band recorded.
For me, the weirdest label to listen to retrospectively is ECM. Some of the best albums they issued sound far better and more varied than what the label releases now. However, there are players on that label like Eberhard Weber and Jan Garbarek whose music sound really dated and not in the least radical as I had first percieved it. Then again, an album I have played a lot the last few weeks is Dino Saluzzi's "Once upon a time in the south..." with Palle Mikkelborg, Charlie Haden and Pierre Favre making up the quartet. Never seen Saluzzi's name mentioned in this board but I think this is one of the standout albums of the 1980s. I suppose you could best describe it as a very abstract version of what Miles Davis would have produced had he ever recorded a tango album. Saluzzi's bandoneon has an erie and brooding quality about it. From recollection, SA once made a comment in here about the extraordinary improvisatory powers of fellow ECm artist Egberto Gismonit and I feel the same can be ascribed to Saluzzi. The whole quartet is on top form and I think they all compliment each other. Granted it is a million miles away from Haden's work with Ornette, but the connections are there with the Liberation Orchestra whilst Palle Mikkelborg has never seemed better on record.Comment
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This is amazing....
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‘True Blue’ – Tina Brooks
with Freddie Hubbard, Duke Jordan, Sam Jones & Art Taylor
Blue Note (1960)
Likely my favourite Blue Note album currently.Comment
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Yusef Lateef with Barry Harris, Sam Jones & Louis Hayes playing 'I Need You' from the 1960 album 'Contemplation'(Vee-Jay):
JRComment
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At the gig last night I bought the two remaining absent albums by Ant Law and throughout today I have been playing Zero Sum World.Comment
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Enjoying the latest re issue of the Jazz Messengers Thelonious Monk 1957 Atlantic album including 3 alternate takes never previously issued. Nice to have these extra tracks from a favourite record, here is 'Purple Shades take 4'
elmoComment
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Wonderful stuff, and a favourite of mine also. I've just listened to the alternate of Blue Monk - not totally sure what's going on there, but Johnny Griffin suitably laconic, sarcastic? But even more so! And Bill Hardman with that very restrained almost traditional opening chorus. It's just a superb date. And the exhausted band had to push start the Baroness's flat battery Rolls in the morning... then Monk and Nica driving off leaving them sprawled in the road.Originally posted by elmo View PostEnjoying the latest re issue of the Jazz Messengers Thelonious Monk 1957 Atlantic album including 3 alternate takes never previously issued. Nice to have these extra tracks from a favourite record, here is 'Purple Shades take 4'
elmo
Jazz!Comment
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Donald Byrd with Jackie McLean, Pepper Adams, Wynton Kelly, Sam Jones & Art Taylor playing Sonny Rollins' 'Paul's Pal' from the 1958 album 'Off To The Races':
JRComment
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‘Way Out West’ – Sonny Rollins
with Ray Brown & Shelly Manne
Contemporary (1957)Comment
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