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What did you listen to most in 2007?


GA Russell

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I also listened to more ECM than I have since I went on an ECM kick about 20 years ago. I expect to be listening to a lot of ECM in January.

I've been checking out ECM big time for the past few months: Jarrett, Garbarek, Abercrombie, Holland, Stanko, Lloyd, a few others. I've become a pretty big fan of the label in general.

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I also listened to more ECM than I have since I went on an ECM kick about 20 years ago. I expect to be listening to a lot of ECM in January.

I've been checking out ECM big time for the past few months: Jarrett, Garbarek, Abercrombie, Holland, Stanko, Lloyd, a few others. I've become a pretty big fan of the label in general.

I've also been checking out ECM lately; I got the two :rarum sets, which helped a lot. Still can't take too much Garbarek after the early 80s though. And I have tried and failed to find much to like from recent Stanko or Tord Gustavsen

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According to iTunes, my top 25 most listened to songs were all by Sloan, the Canadian power pop band.

Of course, that doesn't count what I listened when I wasn't listening to my iPod, which is most of what I do listen to: This year, I'd guesstimate, Ellington, Monk, Bach, James Brown, Blue Mitchell, Johnny Griffin, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, "Lefty" Frizell, Art Farmer, Benny Golson, Gerry Mulligan, "Papa" John Phillips, Frank Hewitt, the Boswell Sisters, Abbey Lincoln, Arthur Russell, Lee Konitz, Steve Lacy, The Zombies, Misha Mengelberg, Pandelis Karayorgis, Steve Reich, and Organissimo!

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I know that most have you have probably covered this ground before now but 2007 was the year for me to discover David Murray.

Highlights:

We Is: Live At The Bop Shop (with Kahil El'Zabar)

Ballads For Bass Clarinet

Murray's Steps

Death Of A Sideman

Sacred Ground

And many, many more....and surely more to come in 2008!

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New discoveries that got a lot of listening time in 2007:

Cooper-Moore. He had a string of really strong releases and 2007 was the year where I spent a lot of time digging his music. Seeing Triptych Myth live a few months back was definitely a highlight.

Gigi Gryce. Prior to 2007 I'd heard Rat Race Blues once, but that was it. I've really been enjoying delving into his classic sides. I'm looking forward to receiving a copy of his bio.

Edited by John B
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It was mostly jazz reissues for me in 2007, trying to fill the enormous gaps in my collection. Lots of Jimmy Smith, Grant Green, Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Duke Ellington, Dollar Brand and Lee Morgan. What I listened to the most though were Kenny Dorham's RVGs, especially those with Joe Henderson (Una Mas still completely blows me away).

As for non-jazz stuff I revisited, among others, my Gene Clark and Half Japanese albums. Still love 'em!

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Well it's been light on jazz this year with the exception of lots of Mehldau, Crispell, Wasilewski and Gustavsen. I've always been an admirer of 'classical' music (when I was was courting Joanne, my wife, she played in lots of orchestras. I attended many, from age 17/18) but it was only in the last two years I started to get the music...... the role of the conductor etc., and with input from friends at this board, the ensembles/recordings worth listening to.

So with that in mind, it's been a year of Shostakovich, Brahms, Mahler, Sibelius, Dvorak and other 'greats'.

Would I get shot if I mentioned that I don't think I've played any Jimmy Smith this year? :unsure:

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Huge number of things I listened to once and then set aside.

CDs I listened to on a somewhat regular basis? Hmm

Pilgrimage by Michael Brecker

Time Lines by Andrew Hill

Terminal One by Benny Golson

Complete Africa Brass by Coltrane

The Spoiler by Turrentine

Steppin Out by Harold Vick

Golberg Variations played by Glenn Gould

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Musical & spiritual wake-up calls from the international "dance underground".

Electric Miles. Yet again.

Max Roach. The body may be gone, but the strength of spirit lives, as does some still relatively untapped (in jazz, but ironically(?) not in the more "advanced" corners of the dance underground) drum-centric ensemble compositional concepts.

Post-Mercy Cannonball, official & unofficial recordings. Mmmmm....subliminal! At times.

Big shift for 2007 - less and less (and less) new-ish "free" music (by any but the masters). It doesn't sound so free anymore. The notion of the music is still true, just not the execution, and, it feels to me, the awareness (dare I say "spirit"?). It's an established vocabulary now, and listening to a lot of this stuff feels/to me like maybe hard bop sounded/felt to some people in 19...62?

Major listening "theme" of 2007 (do you folks listen with a "purpose", or recreationally? No "right" answer, just wondering) - Looking for ways to move the eternal verities forward into the "new reality" coming (hell, here now!) thanks to digital presence in/reshaping of damn near every aspect of our lives. Plenty people moving into that reality seem more than happy to discard/disregard/disrespect them, but that seems pretty....suicidal to me.

Goals for 2008 - hopefully getting all this input coalesced into something tangible. Easier said than done, at least for me, and that's not a "good sign". You know, if you have to think about it to do it, then.... But we'll see!

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(do you folks listen with a "purpose", or recreationally? No "right" answer, just wondering)

Mostly recreational, but also purposive. 2007 has been, and 2008 will be a bit more, a time when I've consciously tried to explore pre-war styles. Lucky Millinder (thanks to the Big John Greer CD :) ), Andy Kirk and Teddy Wilson are at the top of my list for that. I go on so much about jazz being showbiz but I listen to so little of the music from the period when jazz was most explicitly showbiz. Also Zouglou music, if I can find any.

But I don't listen to any music with the intention of finding out how it's done, but mainly what it offers me.

MG

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I know that most have you have probably covered this ground before now but 2007 was the year for me to discover David Murray.

Highlights:

We Is: Live At The Bop Shop (with Kahil El'Zabar)

Ballads For Bass Clarinet

Murray's Steps

Death Of A Sideman

Sacred Ground

And many, many more....and surely more to come in 2008!

Good to find another Murray fan here.

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Would I get shot if I mentioned that I don't think I've played any Jimmy Smith this year? :unsure:

Yes :g

Ahem :w I did say "I don't think...". :P

However, as Moose added the Vandermark 5 and his School Days get up and also ejp reminded me that there have been several Andrew Hill discs on rotation this year, last year damnit... Time Lines, Dusk and Dance With Death mainly.

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