What Jazz are you listening to now?

[elmo]

Listening to the new release of previously unissued Larry Young tracks recorded in Paris in 1964/1965. These were Radio broadcasts from the INA fr vaults, the recording quality is excellent.

There are 10 tracks on a 2 CD set and although I have only played half of the set as yet the music is superb. the music is like listening to live versions of the classic Blue note albums "Into Something" and "Unity". The core band on most tracks are Larry Young, Nathan Davis - tenor, Woody Shaw - tpt, Billy Brooks - drums. Some of the tracks are live versions of compositions from the above Blue Note albums like "Zoltan", Talkin about J.C. and Luny Tune, a tremendous version of Wayne Shorter's "Black Nile".

The album is called Larry Young In Paris - The ORTF Recordings - on the Resonance label.

Also playing lots of Oscar Pettiford, I just love great Bass players and they don't come better than Oscar, love his cello playing as well.

[Ian Thumwood]

Elmo

One of my friends used to play drums with Nathan Davis - not a name you hear banded about too much these days.

I always think of Larry Young as eventually edging more towards the rockier edge of things following his collaboration with Jimi Hendrix but leaving behind a huge influence on the next generation of players to the extent that his playing seems like the source of things whenever you now hear a Hammond in a jazz context. The only player I would exclude would be someone like John Medeski but if you check out the likes of Larry Golding, Gary Versace, Dan Wall and Mike LaDonne, they all seem to have come from this context.

Wondered if you had checked out any of Mike LeDonne's records ? I have bought a few a presents for my Dad in the past and they are very well crafted and often include some good covers of pop material which , in his hands, make good jazz vehicles. I would also suggest that Bluesnik would be a fan too. His bands usually include people like Eric Alexander in the line up and are pretty much of the kind of jazz that isn;t too fussed with being "cutting edge" but just lets the quality of the music soak through. Probably a bit more savvy than Joey DeFrancesco, who can also be pretty useful on his day. Prefer Mike LeDonne though.

[Ian Thumwood]

The two albums my Dad has are "The Burner" and "Keep the faith." (Nothing to do with Delia Smith / Norwich City, BTW.)

This is typical of their work;-

[elmo]

Ian

Thanks for the Mike Ledonne video - yes he is very good, I have a number of his Savant and Criss Cross albums.

There is a very good contemporary organist called Jamie Saft, he plays with trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and the marvellous Hamid Drake on Kirk's latest trio album for steeplechase.
Jamie plays in a style derived from Larry Young but adopting the advances of post Coltrane jazz - well worth a listen.

elmo

[Serial_Apologist]

Ian

Thanks for the Mike Ledonne video - yes he is very good, I have a number of his Savant and Criss Cross albums.

There is a very good contemporary organist called Jamie Saft, he plays with trumpeter Kirk Knuffke and the marvellous Hamid Drake on Kirk's latest trio album for steeplechase.
Jamie plays in a style derived from Larry Young but adopting the advances of post Coltrane jazz - well worth a listen.

elmo

As does a gifted young London-based chappie called Ross Stanley, who also plays wonderful piano, and has worked recently with the likes of Norma Winstone and Stan Sulzmann.

[Beef Oven!]

Duke Ellington - Black, Brown & Beige (1943)

[teamsaint]

Duke Ellington - Black, Brown & Beige (1943)

I bought that on your recommendation.

Another of your better suggestions.

Currently:

Oh Yeah .
Charles Mingus.

[Beef Oven!]

I bought that on your recommendation.

Another of your better suggestions.

Today, I was marvelling at the drums on this work. Great sound, too.

[Ian Thumwood]

I would probably distil the three records that had a massive bearing on me getting in to jazz as a teenager as Benny Goodman's Carnegie Hall Concert from 1938, the Thelonious Monk trio on Prestige and Gil Evans' "out of the cool." I have been listening to the latter this evening having not played it for ages and I was staggered at how good a record it is.

As a teenager I must have worn out the side with "La Nevada" on it. I always found the drumming and guitar playing on this record to be sensational and Evan's piano voicings really evocative. The solos by Budd Johnson ( a veteran of Earl Hines' 1930's big band - his trombone playing brother Keg is also on this Evans disc too) and Johnny Coles was nothing short of sensational. Listening again, it is surprising that this no longer seems the best track to my ears. It is effectively an extended modal jam session and I think there is actually very little that was written down / arranged. These days it is cited as marking the point at which Evans set on the path towards the open jamming with the band that played Sweet Basil in the 1980's and is best remember these days as being the influence for MM&W.

Far better is the simplistic but amazingly effective "Where flamingos fly" where the writing for the reeds gives the impression of flight in the way that the motif comes to a stop before the trombone break. Evans never wrote anything quite as dissonant as "Stratosphunk" where Russell's tune is given it's ultimate performance. "Sunken Treasure" also hints at his more minimal later work. However, the one arrangement that sticks out is "Bilbao Song." This was the first tune I ever heard Evans play and it has always mesmerised me. for my money, it is probably the most successful arrangement Evans wrote. It still sounds shockingly modern and the scoring with the soprano saxophone does have a striking quality that immediately grabs your attention. The only downside is the fact the ensemble comes in early after Ron carter's reading of the theme - there is no improvisation, as such, on this Kurt Weill tune.

As a teenager , Gil Evans knocked me out. He is still a towering genius in my opinion and I can now appreciate that is isn't just the scoring of instruments that makes his music instantly recognisable, but the chords and the signature fashion in which he phrases the written passages. It was the first Evans record I heard and I am of the opinion that it is his most consistent. "Individualism" used to be the album that I liked the most yet parts of the playing by the ensemble is rugged. The brass accents in "Las Vegas Tango" are badly out of time, for example and some of the musicians sound like the are playing the incorrect notes. Once I discovered this, it took the shine of this arrangement. Other tracks like "Hotel Me" ramble on whereas "Barbara Story" is another high point. The collection of jazz standards is terrific and another favourite but it isn't quite as original as the Impulse disc. "Out of the cool" is more concise but I do think that the playing is both better and the ideas more ambitious. It was tragic that he never really followed this up and, for an artist of his calibre, he was under-recorded at the point of his artistic zenith. "Out of the cool" is the starting point, I think, to exploring his post-Miles work and also for considering more advanced forms of ensemble writing.

[Beef Oven!]

...As a teenager , Gil Evans knocked me out. He is still a towering genius in my opinion and I can now appreciate that is isn't just the scoring of instruments that makes his music instantly recognisable, but the chords and the signature fashion in which he phrases the written passages.......

Ian, you do realise he's white?

[Serial_Apologist]

Ian, you do realise he's white?

[Ian Thumwood]

Regarding the Monk trio disc, here is an interesting link to a site that explains who bassist Gary Mapp was and how be managed to appear on a seminal jazz record before disappearing from view. The sentiments of the article are spot on and it is good to be able to resolve one of the enduring jazz mysteries as to who this bassist was. It is really strange to discover that he was a policeman who worked semi-pro. It is strange that his name was so familiar when I was discovering jazz as I was so enthused by this record. I had no idea that he never recorded anything else other than in r n' b groups.

http://wallacebass.com/?p=1549

[elmo]

Listening to a lot of Oscar Pettiford lately - his bass and cello playing are very special, I find the cello and bass solo's very melodic as well rhythmic and really fluid "walking".

"The Orchestra in Hi Fi" Album is excellent, recorded in 1956 (this ought to be in the 1956 thread) good orchestration. I really like their arrangement of Horace Silvers "Speculation" - the writing behind Art Farmer's solo reminiscent of Gil Evans. A brilliant cello solo introduction and a band full of great musicians like Ray Copeland, Benny Golson, Lucky Thompson, Sahib Shihab, Tommy Flanagan, Gigi Gryce, Jimmy Cleveland etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0-x7CAlSuA&feature=player_embedded

elmo

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Listening to a lot of Oscar Pettiford lately - his bass and cello playing are very special, I find the cello and bass solo's very melodic as well rhythmic and really fluid "walking".

"The Orchestra in Hi Fi" Album is excellent, recorded in 1956 (this ought to be in the 1956 thread) good orchestration. I really like their arrangement of Horace Silvers "Speculation" - the writing behind Art Farmer's solo reminiscent of Gil Evans. A brilliant cello solo introduction and a band full of great musicians like Ray Copeland, Benny Golson, Lucky Thompson, Sahib Shihab, Tommy Flanagan, Gigi Gryce, Jimmy Cleveland etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0-x7CAlSuA&feature=player_embedded

elmo

His "Vienna Blues" set, a pianoless quartet with Hans Koller is a bit special to me as I bought it on a school trip to Austria well over fifty years ago. Black Lion reissued it. There's also some very good stuff in the same idiom from the Baden Baden radio archive that slipped out a year or so back.

I was always going to request "Blues in the closet" with Koller on JRR. One day I must.

BN.

[Ian Thumwood]

Elmo / Bluesnik

As fans of Oscar Pettiford, wondered if you were both aware of this record? It seems quite interesting.

http://jazztimes.com/articles/171484-oscalypso-erik-friedlander