Album For Today

[burning dog]

Oblique - Bobby Hutcherson

[Serial_Apologist]

a britfunk classic recently re-released .....

Someone gave me a cassette of this band - I thought it was this recording; different numbers, but still jazz with the wry sarf Lunnon accent Don applies more to standards these days.

I hadn't realised Don had had a heart by-pass op: last time I saw him he'd lost a lot of weight. He's down for playing at the Croydon Clocktower with a trio (Geoff Castle (Nucleus etc) I understand on kbds, forget who's the bassist) on Thurs 22nd, 12 noon to 2 pm.

[grippie]

[Jazzrook]

An electrifying version of 'So What' from Miles surprisingly little-known album 'Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival'(MJF RECORDS) with the underrated George Coleman and 17-year old drummer Tony Williams who "lit a big fire under everyone in the group" according to Miles in his autobiography.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yp3WPBMTTE

[Ian Thumwood]

I was playing Vijay Iyer's "Solo" album in the car yesterday. I haven't played this for months and it was interesting to be re-acquainted with it. It's great to see jazz piano move away from the Brad Mehldau / EST type of trios of the 2000's and Iyer has been at the forefront of the next generation coming through. Playing without a bass and drums, the result is fascinating if a little bit austere is some instances. The best track is the re-working of Dukes ' "Black and tan fantasy" whereas the originals edge towards Cecil Taylor. The only standard , "Darn that dream", was always pretty wierd anyway and this treatment offers the most traditional of all the selections over which Ellington's approach casts a large shadow. ~I like his playing very much.

It's funny how the influence of Taylor is only now seeming to influence itself on the more contemporary mainstream. I've read interviews with the likes of Kenny Barron who have commented negatively on Taylor's approach but Iyer and the British pianist John Escreet have embraced this approach and incorporated it into styles of jazz wholly different from Taylor's own strident originals. Escreet's own "Don't fight the inveitable" is a prime example of this where he hooks up with David Binney and Ambrose Akinmusire. I didn't really warm to this album at first but I listened to it alot a few weeks ago and I eventually managed to understand it better. My opinion is now that this is a superb album and far more than an effort that promised something more rewarding in the future. If you want an idea of where jazz might be heading in the next ten years, I think you could do no worse than check out John Escreet - probably the best British pianist to head to the States since Shearing.

Escreet and Binney also pop up on Antonio Sanchez' "New Life" along with Donny McCaslin but the pianist seems anonymous on this record which is extremely tame. Given the stellar line up (and two musicians in Binney and Escreet who are usually more interested in taking the music to some really interesting places) the result is one of the biggest let downs on 2013. It is competent but includes a Coltran-ish vamp and several numbers that sound like rejects from a Pat Metheny album. I was hugely disappointed in this record. I would also have to say that Donny McCaslin's presence on this record is also a huge dampener and , coupled with his last record which was an absolute pile of crap. ("Casting for gravity" sounds like a 1980's jazz-fusion record) McCaslin is beginning to sound like a jazz robot and I'm beginning to sense elements within his work which reflect the same comments often levelled at the far superior Michael Brecker. I loved McCaslin's work during the last 5-6 years but I've not heard him produce anything as good as his work with Dave Douglas or on his own "In pursuit" and "Perpetual motion" (didn't like the latter to begin with, mind.) I'm beginning to find McCaslin's playing to be a bit predictable and certainly nothing like as refreshing and original as the jazz that is now coming out of Chicargo.

[burning dog]

In a contest between British pianists who have settled in the USA I wonder who would be the Victor?

[Ian Thumwood]

BD

I appreciate Feldman's work but I think John Escreet is someone who will be taking a lot of attention in the next few years. He has a new album out next month with a larger ensemble and has already started to feature in groups lead by some quite heavy-weight musicians. Loads of British pianists have gone over to the states (Shearing, Dill Jones, Victor Feldman, Marion McPartland, etc) to pursue a career in jazz - it is almost as if more piano players had established themselves in the US than any other instrumentalist.) For me, Escreet is the most adventurous and "outside" of these performers and is one of the younger players that I now found myself looking out for as you can usually anticipate the unexpected from him.

Check this out:-

[burning dog]

I'm not disputing Escreet's credentials Ian (and I guess he would be the most "outside". Feldman, for example, was born in 1934) It was the "best since Shearing" I'd question

[Ian Thumwood]

Fair enough. I was actually stating this from the point of view of actually admiring Shearing's playing. What I've heard of Feldman is good but I am aware of him more by reputation than by his recordings. I see that Simon SPillet, I believe, has been extollingthe virtues of Ronnie Shannon on another website - another British pianist who probably deserved greater recognition.

[Serial_Apologist]

Fair enough. I was actually stating this from the point of view of actually admiring Shearing's playing. What I've heard of Feldman is good but I am aware of him more by reputation than by his recordings. I see that Simon SPillet, I believe, has been extollingthe virtues of Ronnie Shannon on another website - another British pianist who probably deserved greater recognition.

Terry Shannon, ahem...

Sorry Ian, but I seem to be in the mood of correcting others' little slips tonight.

[Ian Thumwood]

Whoops....

Actually, I was hoping that you would have been interested in John Escreet as I would have thought that his approach would have appealed to you.

Yes, I have a CD of Wilton Gaynair where Terry Shannon on piano.

[Serial_Apologist]

Whoops....

Actually, I was hoping that you would have been interested in John Escreet as I would have thought that his approach would have appealed to you.

Haven't really heard enough of his stuff to make any kind of judgement, Ian, but from the clip he looks interesting I agree.

[Boilk]

Recently departed, George Duke 1946-2013

[Serial_Apologist]

Recently departed, George Duke 1946-2013

Many thanks for finding this and posting, Boilk

[charles t]

Four minutes of Brit piano-perfection: