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Late
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Posts posted by Late
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2 hours ago, T.D. said:
Enjoying this Aketagawa album (Erotical Piano Solo & Grotesque Piano Trio) on Youtube:
👍 My first exposure to Aketagawa. The record that comes right after this one is also good. His piano is almost microtonal. 😁
12 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:Maybe Stanley Crouch was a Kaoru Abe fan too.
Crouch informed me that he only listened to Miles Davis up to Phyllis D. Killy Man Jar-Oh.
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11 hours ago, corto maltese said:
...you will probably also like his trio album "Heart" from the same period. Nothing earth-shattering, but a fine record of Polish "New Thing"-jazz.
👏
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5 hours ago, Rabshakeh said:
My friend described going into a Shibuya jazz record shop and asking to buy an Abe record as being a bit like giving a secret masonic handshake.
Yes. 😁
The one time I met Stanley Crouch, he shook my hand. It was the weirdest of grips. Wynton was there and gave Stanley a look.
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Dusty Groove currently has this title for under $5. Required listening in a Jug-A-Thon.
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7 hours ago, Д.Д. said:
I have both. I listened to a couple of CDs from the solo set, they are excellent. I have listened to only the first CD of the duo / solo set, and it's a nice one as well, very lyrical.
👍 Thank for the heads-up. I have to poke around the internet to see if I can find sound samples. Every disc I have on NoBusiness (only six) I really enjoy. I'll probably pick up the Takagi on NoBusiness at some point. I still haven't spent enough time with the Sam Rivers on NoBusiness though, so should take my time. 🤭
1 hour ago, T.D. said:Shuko Mizuno, Jazz Orchestra 73
Yosuke Yamashita, Clay
Shoji Aketagawa, Alone in Tokuyama (great Monkish playing, will have to get used to the vocals)
Tsunoda Hiro, Summer Samba (love Aketagawa's playing here, with fewer vocalisations but wonkily tuned piano 😉
Great picks. The Mizuno, I think, is iconic. The Yamashita is well-recorded, and just kills. The Aketagawas—it'll be interesting to hear your impressions. "Wonky" is right, but in the best of ways. The vocalizations, to me, aren't a distraction, but rather a reflection of his utter commitment to what he's doing (even if it sounds like at times he doesn't have a clue). Sometimes it's as if the piano sounds are an accompaniment to the man's chants and groans. Definitely not for everyone, but for me there's a certain hypnotic sense once a listener drops their defenses and just walks into the wave. One thing is true—he meant every note he played.
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14 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:
Johnny's Disk was/is connected to the jazz cafe/club Kaiunbashi No Johnny in Iwate. The Eiji Nakayama records on the label are intensely introspective post-bop, and very strong, and there's "Lee Won Hui" aka Mototeru Takagi, "Grow," which is a beautifully out soprano (mostly) and drums duo.
Will look into those. 👍
Johnny's Disk on Discogs.
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10 hours ago, HutchFan said:
For my money, Nayutagenjo is the pick of the bunch...
👉👍👈
Thank you for bringing this album to this thread's attention—great stuff!!
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Just saw this on CD Japan's site: 15 Japanese Jazz Masterpieces reissued. Cardboard sleeves.
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55 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:
And yes, I am awaiting my Dusty package with those boxed sets!
Nice! Would be interested in your impressions when you've had a chance to go through them.
56 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:The Aketa's Disk label is actually a pretty important independent label though the releases are hard to find. Johnny's Disk as well -- some of the jazz cafes/clubs had their own imprints and released a pretty interesting variety of artists, from straight-ahead or post-Coltrane "modal" work to very free.
In December 2019, coinciding with the "beginning" of COVID, Deep Jazz Reality reissued over a dozen titles from Aketa's Disk. Excellent remastering. I picked up eight Aketagawa discs as well as the latest reissue of Takayanagi's Angry Waves. My favorite Aketagawa album is:
Sometimes I think Aketagawa is the true heir (if such a thing exists and/or matters) to Monk's legacy. I also think Monk would've thought Aketagawa was absolutely bonkers—and then stayed to listen to his whole set. Aketagawa isn't at all the composer that Monk is, but their stubborn individuality makes them (in my mind) kinsmen. I can see Aketagawa adoring Monk, and Monk being cracked up by Aketagawa's playing. They both share the most idiosyncratic sense of humor and melody.
I don't know the Johnny's Disk label. Will have to look into it.
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4 hours ago, T.D. said:
Appreciate the Aketagawa mention. I'm going to root around Youtube and Bandcamp.
A word of warning about Aketagawa—he prefers out-of-tune pianos, and his "singing" along with his solos...makes Keith Jarrett sound like...an actual singer. 🙃 An acquired taste to be sure.
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2 hours ago, T.D. said:
I'm kind of a pianophile and have really enjoyed the freeish Japanese piano jazz I've heard.
Which albums?
Do you have any Shoji Aketagawa? He's free, but not at all in the way that Yamashita is. As much as I like Yamashita, who I think is amazing, it's Aketagawa who I spin the most. But...they're two very different vibes.
And since this is a Japanese Jazz thread, and since Yamashita has been mentioned, I just want to put this one out there as perhaps one of the earliest (1969) examples of the "free" Japanese scene. Strongly recommended:
Akira Sakata is not on this one. Instead it's Yamashita's first horn player: Seiichi Nakamura. He holds his own, though perhaps not at the level of mastery that Sakata brings to the table. I didn't know that Light In The Attic reissued this one. (I have the Japanese reissue.) Sound is crunchy, but the vibe is amazing, especially given the circumstances the album was recorded under. The protest call that begins the album, even though I don't understand any of it, sets the mood perfectly.
This album is on a level with Spiritual Unity and Machine Gun. That important, I'd say.
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These are the Yamashita albums I'd like to see reissued. Both were on compact disc circa 2008. I missed the short window of opportunity.
Frozen Days in particular is very strong. I think it's a better album than the two Yamashita albums linked to above. (Still, I'm glad to have them.) I hope Octave Lab keeps reissuing Japanese Jazz and 70's jazz. Another Japanese jazz album, from 1980, that I'd love to see reissued (there was a compact disc reissue out in 2015; once again, I missed the window) is Akira Sakata's Pochi:
I haven't heard everything by Sakata, but this one has to rate as containing some of his very finest playing. The album is intense and shockingly beautiful.
8 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:Sorry for hijacking this thread, but since there do not seem to be other threads about Japanese jazz around ...
Hijacking welcome! 😁 Interesting read about that Victor album. 👌
Anyone pick up this 3-disc set from Dusty Groove (or elsewhere)?
Curious to hear reviews...
Or this one?
5 discs might be a bit much, but maybe not?
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On 4/23/2005 at 6:21 AM, J.A.W. said:
My recommendations would be:
Vol.1: The Quintets
Vol.3: The Octet #2
Vol.5: The Sextet
These are the three Niehaus CDs I own. All excellent, though I do think Niehaus's writing works best when a piano isn't present. The quintet and sextet work seems to get more music out of fewer horns. The octet work often (but not always) doubles parts, which effectively reduces the number of voices. That said, "You And The Night And The Music" is a great octet track—some wonderful weaving there.
I also think that Shelly Manne really, really elevates any track he's on. He had an intuitive sense about writing like this.
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The Jug-A-Thon transformed into a Lock-A-Thon. This one is so well-recorded. Rudy got the bass level just right. The music in total is fabulous:
Weird thought—sometimes Lock reminds me of Eric Dolphy. Not the interval leaps, but the smearing of certain phrases (Lock's "cork" moments?) that are notes/not notes at the same time. I actually think a Dolphy/Lock frontline pairing, at least for one album, would've worked.
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"For Jazz Buffs"
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On 3/15/2023 at 2:50 PM, Joe said:
This one is so obscure I forgot about it until the question was posed.
Yes! Originally Casual Affair, I believe. It has excellent Dorham on it indeed. He kind of sounds like Chet on this record.
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2 hours ago, mikeweil said:
...these sessions with Dorham were Ernie Henry's last before he died of a heroin overdose on December 29, 1957.
At the age of 31 I believe. 😔 Not too many trumpet players, it seems, directly list Dorham as an influence, while many are fans. I met Tim Hagans once, and he put Kenny on top of his list ("tied" with Freddie Hubbard, he said). I believe Don Sickler is a big fan as well. And I think Kenny, as opposed to Miles, was who Chet Baker listed as an influence.
Tangential question—what would you list as the least well-known Dorham record, either leader or sideman? Cecil Payne's Zodiac perhaps? I need to listen to that one again.
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9 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:
In the early '80s I was on a mission to collect BN 78s, concentrating on the 12" discs.
I imagine those are pretty scarce these days. I wonder how many were in the initial runs.
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23 hours ago, Larry Kart said:
The unlikely choice of "Is It True What They Say About Dixie"? is a great track; it really pops.
That's one of the album's best tracks. 👌
23 hours ago, Larry Kart said:Bassists Wilbur Ware and the fairly obscure Eddie Matthias have a lot to do with the success of the album.
Eddie Matthias on Discogs. Outside of work with Dorham, he recorded with Roland Kirk and Rusty Bryant, but not too many others. I wondered at first if "Eddie Matthias" might for some reason be a nom de plume for Eddie de Haas, but I guess not.
On 3/13/2023 at 7:53 PM, Larry Kart said:Bought it when it came out...
1958?
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2 hours ago, Chuck Nessa said:
I have Blue Note 48 (12" 78) [...] How Long, How Long Blues.
That is a great track. (I've only heard it through YouTube.)
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For some reason, this album often makes me think of/want to play Lee Konitz's Motion. Also interesting (well, to me) that this record pre-dates Ornette's piano-less recordings (and post-dates Mulligan's).
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2 hours ago, T.D. said:
You guys wondered about the cover but didn't check the liner notes?
Aha! I only have the album in my iTunes. But I located and ordered a physical copy just yesterday—so now I can finally read about this mysterious Bunsen. 😉
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6 hours ago, romualdo said:
...or have they been released on some individual TOCJ CDs?
I don't think so. The Shirley tracks have appeared on some UK comps. The Bernhardt tracks have appeared on a Fresh Sounds CD, and the Markham...I'm not sure. The Vic Dickenson tracks...have they appeared anywhere else?
Perhaps the Japanese market will reconsider these "lost" tracks for reissue upon Blue Note's centennial. We'll just have to stick around for 16 more years. 😛🤔
That box set is probably the best way to comprehensively hear the early years of Blue Note.
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...and the cover art. Is that a paint can covered with plastic wrap? An ominous totem from Lord of The Rings? Or maybe someone stepped on Kenny's bell?
Japanese Jazz Revisited
in Re-issues
Posted
She hired Armando Korea to do some electronic keywork I hear.