Storms/Nocturnes JLU 29.v.11

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

thanks hackneyvi for such a thoughtful commentary ....

i guess the outcome of so much thought going into their music is that it is a very rich experience on repeated listening .... i think they have cornered the market in a kind of grown up disciplined exuberance, not in the least ironic that tongue in cheek on Daily Avenue .... i wouldn't care to choose between the soloists performances myself, each has moments

reminded of that awesome combination of Red Norvo, Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow - a similar level of technique and interplay in an earlier time ... one can certainly appreciate Alyn's five star review .... being in the room must be exhilarating

[hackneyvi]

I completely agree with the latter statement, and would have said precisely the same thing, but you've said it better. You write well, hackneyvi, and maybe should consider taking up a bit of journalism and reviewing youself, yeah?

As to the earlier comment, there is an argument to the effect of, why not let vibes etc just be vibes, rather than trying to take on all the 'absent' roles? There can be value in letting unspoken spaces be, characterising the uniqueness of the instrumentation by as it were playing to it, and allowing the listener's imagination do the filling, in the way Azimuth for example would. This goes back to my earlier remark about over-enthusiiasm, and though it is a fairly minor point, I did feel a tendency in this group to want to fill in every available space.

S-A

Dear SA, you are very kind but I know absolutely nothing about music and my current (great) pleasure is finding joyous music that's new to me and then being able to share in enthusiasm with you guys.

I take your points about the vibes. I do have a liking for itchy music and the knitting clicks of the piano/vibes absorbed my 'intelligent' attention but I was still aware of the sensuousness of the sax. I liked the offering of both something fizzy for the mind and fuller flavours for the senses.

What struck me today, though, listening again (luxury!) was how elements can stand out at a single listen that one takes to be characteristics and yet a further listen reveals them to be details and even something one struggles to find again.

Having google-d them, I've heard of Winstone and Wheeler but their music is unknown to me but I'll look it up.

thanks hackneyvi for such a thoughtful commentary ....

i guess the outcome of so much thought going into their music is that it is a very rich experience on repeated listening .... i think they have cornered the market in a kind of grown up disciplined exuberance, not in the least ironic that tongue in cheek on Daily Avenue .... i wouldn't care to choose between the soloists performances myself, each has moments

reminded of that awesome combination of Red Norvo, Charles Mingus and Tal Farlow - a similar level of technique and interplay in an earlier time ... one can certainly appreciate Alyn's five star review .... being in the room must be exhilarating

I am just happy to have my nonsense tolerated so please forgive me if I express myself a bit primitively.

I see what you mean about Daily Avenue and liked it much more today. There was a better balance in my listening to all of the tracks a second time; the percussion rhythms stood out less to me and the sax more. Listening to I can't believe you're in love with me by the Red Norvo (never heard of him before), I am surprised to find that I prefer Storm/Nocturne's more modern way with melody. There is a suggestion that Storm/Nocturne may be doing some more gigs and I've emailed them for info.

[Tenor Freak]

Quick one: I was in Howarth's of London one day checking out a couple of tenors in one of the practice booths (no I couldn't afford them). In the next booth someone started up on a soprano and I thought, "Hello, this person's bloody good"...and it turned out to be Tim Garland.

I'm becoming interested in drummerless "chamber" groups - Azimuth obviously, but also the Power of Three group (Petrucciani, Hall, Shorter) which only made that one gig in Montreux, and a few other suggestions here...

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

...well i started out listening to the Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet and then this blew me away ... just the fluency and the drive from Mingus ...

but the chamber jazz trio that really explored improvised chamber music was the Jimmy Giuffre Paul Bley Steve Swallow group ... this is Where were we a really beautiful track to my ears ..

but back to the thread here are Garland Keezer Locke

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Calum - that tune reminds me of one by Monk. Eronel, perhaps.

[hackneyvi]

...well i started out listening to the Benny Goodman Trio and Quartet and then this blew me away ... just the fluency and the drive from Mingus ...

but the chamber jazz trio that really explored improvised chamber music was the Jimmy Giuffre Paul Bley Steve Swallow group ... this is Where were we a really beautiful track to my ears ..

but back to the thread here are Garland Keezer Locke

Hard to know what to say about Mingus, what does he sound like? It's a bit like a parent counting time for a child, the certainty with which he nearly whispers. Influential but unobtrusive, the definition of decorous. Somehow, I thought Mingus was a difficult guy but his playing seems so 'modest'.

Where were we? - The melody's almost "Food, glorious food"!, guitar's so feathery it has the breath of a flute; wind instrument, anyway.

Garland Keezer Locke - on the performances I've heard so far, I feel I like Garland (and the whole group) on the Keezer / Locke tunes more than his own. There's a lovely, full-hearted version of Swords of Whispers on the same page you link; is it too fullsome? I like its 'openness', its American breeze.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

hackneyvi that feathery windy guitar is Steve Swallow playing bass ....

here is another kind of Mingus with drummer Danny Richmond drums, Eric Dolphy sax/bs clarinet and Ted Curson trumpet ... among many other attributes Mingus was an absolutely exemplary bass player and dedicated musician who played in context ; and an angry iconoclast who savagely criticised and caricatured the racial attitudes of the America he knew ... but mostly he created his own contexts, the Norvo Trio was in his earlier career ...

[hackneyvi]

hackneyvi that feathery windy guitar is Steve Swallow playing bass ....

here is another kind of Mingus with drummer Danny Richmond drums, Eric Dolphy sax/bs clarinet and Ted Curson trumpet ... among many other attributes Mingus was an absolutely exemplary bass player and dedicated musician who played in context ; and an angry iconoclast who savagely criticised and caricatured the racial attitudes of the America he knew ... but mostly he created his own contexts, the Norvo Trio was in his earlier career ...

In the end, I deduced it must be the bass but what an incredible sound from a bass guitar!!

The only Mingus I've knowingly heard / had before were his discs with Duke Ellington and Joni Mitchell. By coincidence, this afternoon, I went to see Shadows by John Cassavetes at the NFT which turned out to have discreet incidental music by Mingus. What a fine film! The first Cassavetes I've seen.