The place for jazz videos

[Serial_Apologist]

Miles Davis - Live in Vienna, 1973.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOA9_TdRFt4

I was alerted to this by the fact that the first tune on here appeared on my facebook. And actually, this is awesome - it's much better than what I recall of Miles's albums from around this time, but then Pangaea and Agharta are from 1975 when his health was worse and the saxophonist isn't Dave Liebman (someone not as good IMO...). But also - again, from what I recall - the sound-quality on albums like Dark Magus isn't quite there like it appears to be here, for me, although the texture here is a bit crowded, some instruments more than others cut through the texture, but it's still great ...

Many thanks for reproducing this, Joseph K.

[Joseph K]

You're welcome, SA.

Happy birthday, Kurt Rosenwinkel!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSvaFRQQZ80

[Jazzrook]

Billie Holiday singing 'Strange Fruit' in 1959:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=-DGY9HvChXk

JR

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

A really interesting and (passionate) recollection by Richie Beirach on recording for ECM and Manfred E. The highs and the lows and the final bust up (c. 15 minutes in). Good stuff and revealing on ECMs "priorities".

http://youtu.be/NrC8C210u2I

[Serial_Apologist]

A really interesting and (passionate) recollection by Richie Beirach on recording for ECM and Manfred E. The highs and the lows and the final bust up (c. 15 minutes in). Good stuff and revealing on ECMs "priorities".
http://youtu.be/NrC8C210u2I

A great pianist, Richie - one wishes one heard more of him. John Taylor would be the nearest to being his equivalent in this country - musically the two have lots in common.

[Ian Thumwood]

A really interesting and (passionate) recollection by Richie Beirach on recording for ECM and Manfred E. The highs and the lows and the final bust up (c. 15 minutes in). Good stuff and revealing on ECMs "priorities".
http://youtu.be/NrC8C210u2I

This is an interesting interview but it pretty much underscores my opinion of Manfred Eicher. There was a review on Amazon where someone made the comment about being depressed whenever someone he likes is signed up by ECM as they end up being transformed into something different and perhaps lose something of their identity. I have heard very similar comments as Beirach's regarding the ECM record production and there is obviously some kind of interference going on which sometimes works or other times compromises a musician's artistic vision.

The comparison with John Taylor is a good one although my over-riding impression of Richie Beirach is of a pianist who never seems to want to waste a finger if it can find another note to enhance a chord. Harmonically, he is alike a super-strength Bill Evans. Back in the 1990s there was a Blue Note album he issued called "Sunday Songs" where he took Classical repertoire and used it to produce jazz. Some of the music like the Chopin C-minor prelude were familiar and it is interesting to listen to what he would do with this repertoire. I was having piano lessons at the time and this record came out at the same moment my teacher was trying to explain how important the likes of Chopin and Debussy were to jazz. Beirach really under-scored this. Shame that "Elm " was deleted from the catalogue at the time.

I have a bit of a love/ hate relationship with ECM. They produce some brilliant albums but I also think that, perhaps through Eicher's influence, they produce equally as many anodyne and very average ones too. It is probably also worth noting that some of the label's music sounds pretty dated or even a bit flat. Adherents to ECM such as the critic John Kelman have been vociferous in their praise and fans of the label put a lot of confidence in Eicher's judgement. I am not surprised by the story about "snow Leopard" nor by Eicher's put down which clearly demonstrates he was no fan of Art Blakey! For me, it is an interesting scenario because if you have a love of jazz, you can take on board King Oliver as much as ECM. I appreciate that Eicher did not want to produce music which took it's cues from Blue Note and was careful to build up the label's identity and far play to him in that respect.

One ECM I have been playing this week is Enrico Rava's "The Pilgrim and the stars" which picks up from the earlier comments on this thread concerning Chet Baker. The opening track sounds like what would have happened if Chet had plugged in like Miles in the early 1970s. John Abercrombie sounds uncharacteristically rocky but there are other moments on the disc which sound like Ornette. I do not think that Rava is a lesser player than Baker and maybe he fills the same kind of role that Kenny Wheeler had in the UK. The record is about 45 years old and reflects where contemporary jazz was at that time. It is clearly "European" in feel and maybe the rockier element would have been more apparent in the 1970s now that this approach has been swallowed by the mainsteam. Jon Christenson's drumming is essential to the soundscape. The slower pieces work better and Rava's tone is the selling point. I would have to say that this record has a much harder edge than you associate with ECM and it grittier. It has a reputation as a classic although I prefer Rava's playing on the Aldo Romano disc which is more autumnal. The best track is the closing "Blancasnow" but the modal vamp "By the sea" quickly becomes irritating and takes the shone off the disc. I feel that the ECM was far "tougher" in the 1970s and maybe reflective of it's proximity to the freer approach to jazz of the time. The most recent ECM I have bought was the historical Paul Bley trio records which came out last year. Not too intrigued by the recent roster of players and feel that other labels have caught up with ECM. These days there are too many European names on there who I have never heard of and the fact that some of them have built up quite a discography for Eicher is illustrative of how much I have lost touch with elements of the contemporary scene.

[Joseph K]

Grasso**

[Jazzrook]

Max Roach 4 with Odean Pope, Cecil Bridgewater & Tyrone Brown playing 'Giant Steps in East Berlin, 1984:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=fub7bCayAHU

JR

[Jazzrook]

Horace Silver Quintet with Bennie Maupin, Bill Hardman, Johnny Williams & Billy Cobham playing 'Song For My Father' in Copenhagen, 1968:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=NFjmWI-d6d4

JR

[Jazzrook]

Miles Davis with Kenny Garrett, Adam Holzman, Bobby Irving, Darryl Jones, Joseph "Foley" McCreary, Rick Wellman & Mino Cinelu live in Germany, 1987:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=O51U38Y3gIE

Interview with Miles(1988):

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=KllwtKMtYTA

JR

[Jazzrook]

Miles Davis with Kenny Garrett, Bobby Irving, Adam Holzman, Joseph "Foley" McCreary, Benjamin Rietveld, Marilyn Mazur & Ricky Wellman playing 'The Senate' live in Munich, 1988:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=mpuLBAg9iS0

JR

[Joseph K]

[Jazzrook]

T-Bone Walker with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, James Moody, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, Bob Cranshaw & Louie Bellson - J.A.T.P. live in UK, 1966:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pFqK6PBq-hA

JR

[Joseph K]

T-Bone Walker with Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, James Moody, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, Bob Cranshaw & Louie Bellson - J.A.T.P. live in UK, 1966:

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=pFqK6PBq-hA

JR

Good stuff - I wonder why he positions it like a lap steel guitar.

[Jazzrook]

Good stuff - I wonder why he positions it like a lap steel guitar.

https://guitarsexchange.com/unplugged/701/t-bone-walker/

https://www.YouTube.com/watch?v=V1xvx0UHa0A

JR