What Jazz are you listening to now?

[Old Grumpy]

Gerry Richardson - this is... what we do

Gerry Richardson, one time band mate of one Gordon Sumner

Great live!

OG

[Beef Oven!]

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue. 1959

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Hank Crawford - "Soul Clinic" Atlantic c. 1961.

The GREAT Ray Charles small band/septet of that era, but minus Ray. If anyone doubts how good they were, ck/out "Lorelei's Lament" on Youtube, minimal perfection. Glorious.

BN.

[burning dog]

[burning dog]

[Ian Thumwood]

Angelique Kidjo's "Oyo" has been in my car all Christmas. Her music is usually beyond classification and always good fun. This line up features Christian Mc Bride, Kendick Scott and Lionel Loueke and is probably her most jazz-orientated record for ages.

[Ian Thumwood]

This is incredible!

[Serial_Apologist]

Who was it said either African musicians don't or can't swing?

[Ian Thumwood]

S-A

Actually I think that the band behind her may have been American. Christian McBride s clearly the bassist in the clip.

Angelique Kidjo is pretty amazing. (Not only for that fact that her records are the only ones of mine that my sister actually enjoys!) Her voice is credible and I love the way she introduces the Armstrong-esque growls in to her vocals. To be honest, her music is pretty much impossible not to enjoy. I believe that she started out studying jazz when she went to America and a number of jazz musicians like Dianne Reeves, Roy Hargrove, Cassandra Wilson, Branford Marsalis , Christian McBride and Lionel Loueke have cropped up on her discs from time to time. She is also pretty much conversant with pop and more traditional African music. I have had the fortune to hear her a number of times in concert where the music is further enhanced by the shear weight of her personality. Angelique Kidjo is like a musical firework when she performs on stage but I don't think this is unique amongst African performers. The two performances I have seen by Salif Keita , for example, have been exuberant enough to make Lionel Hampton sound like Tord Gustavsen in comparison. The best African / jazz collaboration I have seen was Robert Fonseca with Fatamadou Diawara yet I think Kidjo's music is more of a synthesis of so many influences as opposed to an outright collaboration. For my money, Kidjo is one of the greatest performers of today and someone who makes you realise just how rank and anodyne a European "artist" like Adele is by comparison. Who are this people buying Adele records?

[Ian Thumwood]

I have been playing a live recording by Horace Tapscott and Sonny Simmons called "Amongst friends. This was a disc that I had been sent when I had a membership with "Jazz Hot" many years ago. The disc is was a free "gift" when I renewed my subscription and I must admit that the play list of "Milestones", "Body and Soul", "So what " and "Caravan" made me think this would be unspectacular. The whole disc is, in fact, anything but. Simmons is an amazing alto player and the versions of "Body & soul" and the modal re-working of "Caravan" are pretty incredible, the pianist prodding all sorts of ideas out of his saxophonist pal. The bassist James Lewis and John Betsch are pretty unknown to me but I think that the latter delivers one of the best drum solo's I have heard on a live recording - Tapscott's playing inside the piano on "Caravan" transforms the mood from the Coltrane-ish workout to a piece that truly reflects the African nature of the tune's title. Shame that both Tapscott and Simmons seem to be so under the radar these days. The playing on this live session from a French tour in 1995 really gets to the nub of what jazz is about in my opinion.

[Jazzrook]

Have been listening to the exciting Clifford Jordan Big Band recorded live at Condon's in New York on the overlooked 1990 album 'Play What You Feel'(MAPLESHADE).
Here's Jordan's heartfelt 'Charlie Parker's Last Supper':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnGSIDMNSN0

[Jazzrook]

Love this live solo piano album from Sun Ra in 1977.
Wonder what Fats Waller would have made of Ra's deconstruction of 'Honeysuckle Rose'?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWqGh_WpB8c

[Ian Thumwood]

Michael Brecker with the UMO jazz orchestra live in 1995.- an absolutely incredible record that has just been released.

[Beef Oven!]

Michael Brecker with the UMO jazz orchestra live in 1995.- an absolutely incredible record that has just been released.

I have a couple of UMO CDs that were released on the Naxos Jazz label some years ago. Great music. Didn't know about the collaborations with other artists.

[Ian Thumwood]

I have a couple of UMO CDs that were released on the Naxos Jazz label some years ago. Great music. Didn't know about the collaborations with other artists.

Beef Oven

I have one of the Naxos discs too. They often collaborate with "foreign" artists and believe that they have released discs with Kenny Wheeler and John Surman in the past. The Brecker disc on;y came out in November and is very much in the style of the Nxoa material. The repertoire includes a number of Brecker originals including the catchy "Slang" but also features Horace Silver tunes "Nica's dream" and a rip-roaring version of "Nutville" which is probably the definitive version of the composition. If would strongly recommend this disc , especially if you appreciate the muscular combination of the great Mike Brecker and UMO. The band sound as good live as they do in the studio but this disc does have an extra edge about it.