colinmce

As to the second point, probably not, but how can we say? As to the first, again, this is not an avant garde vs. mainstream thing. Josh Berman, Keefe Jackson, or Mike Reed are not working in strictly avant garde contexts. Neither is Sylvie Courvoisier, nor Tarbaby or Trio 3, nor Nicole Mitchell, Steve Lehman, Tony Malaby, Angelica Sanchez, Wadada Leo Smith, Dennis Gonzalez, Harris Eisenstadt ... It's a question of accurately representing the landscape of modern jazz. If you like the new Dave Douglas & Uri Cane record, there's nothing that would scare you away from anyone I listed above. There's no reason to ignore what's actually happening.

This just feels like a "straw-that-broke-the-camel's-back" situation for me, and I guess it's just a accident that it's localized around a Jason Moran record. I have no beef with him (or, uh, ECM, Craig Taborn, or David Vierelles for that matter). I know his interest in the music of Fats Waller goes back a long time, and he's a true scholar. I'm sure the record is just fine, and certainly much better than it would've been if made by someone else. But this NPR bullshit? Fuck it. Fuck them. They couldn't kill the music faster if they tried. Or should I say "Music". Because how can it possibly be worth your time and attention without the ever-precious angle? Who is this a tribute to? What non-jazz personality is "collaborating"? How, oh how will we connect it to the past? Or what fusion brings in the "present"? OK, we'll skip the conceits if it's an octegenarian, that's hook enough... And then there's the closed loop aspect: Newport, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Wynton, Piano Jazz... And the quotas: singers, latin jazz, and cultural fusion... Anything in the WORLD to avoid dealing with people engaged in the stultifying act of writing and performing new music in and of the present moment. It might be hard to believe I'm not just on some pro-avant garde crusade, but I think people confuse AG with contemporary jazz more often than not. A free improvisation from Mark Sanders, John Edwards, and John Tilbury is worlds away from the new Sylvie Courvosier trio, or even Anti-House, or Sun Rooms. So I'm not simply saying mainstream outlets should feature more avant garde jazz (though let it be said that public radio in Europe has been a primary outlet for that music for over 40 years). All I want to know is what they think is wrong with plain old original music? Why is that so bad? And to go back to my "more harm than good" assertion: jazz gets little to no attention anywhere else. Not in independent music media (a whole other thing I will post about another time), not on TV, not in what little entertainment print is left. NPR is failing the music as well as the audience by presenting jazz this way. No wonder people think it's a dead music. Sorry to derail the thread.

I don't want to be snarky about this but ... it's just irritating. Just is. No shit this is on Blue Note, and big surprise it's streaming on NPR. I woke up cranky, but really, this is dumb. I'm not too sure what's 'dumb'. My post? The concept of Moran, Meshell and Bandwagon together? The concept of the album or the music itself. It's on Blue Note because Moran's been signed to them for a couple of album's worth already As soon as I heard it I thought this would create strong reactions - the groove and the musical style seems to do so especially amongst keepers of the Jazz flame (not referring to colinmce here). I'd expected comments about 'popularism' and maybe comparisons to Glasper's recent work. I like what Moran does and i like what Ndgeocello does (most of the time) so I'm hanging in. I'll be giving it some more listens not least because like Xybert I tend to find longer listening to Moran pays dividends. Rest assured, it's not your post. I'll explain my feelings in a bit...

I did not understand a word of that.

I don't want to be snarky about this but ... it's just irritating. Just is. No shit this is on Blue Note, and big surprise it's streaming on NPR. I woke up cranky, but really, this is dumb.

A few ebay deals: Bill Dixon - Collection (Cadence) $7.66 Muhal Richard Abrams/George Lewis/Fred Anderson - SoundDance (Pi) $6.99 Pharoah Sanders - In The Beginning (ESP) $11.99

Arrangements aside, Chris Connor's voice is what matters. If they can put out that Buddy Hackett, this wouldn't be a stretch. I wish they would...

On the site MD said it is "awaiting reissue". Not sure if that means through him or just in general. Unfortunately it's probably the latter.

Yes! Every note from Ed Blackwell is precious-- you could get by listening to any album just because he's on it. Walls & Bridges, though, is especially good and is presented in its rare two-disc incarnation.

Great news!

Pepper is monstrous on that record.

No use getting bent out of shape about it-- I see merit on both ends. I just wish music as historically important as the NYAQ material ended up someplace where it could be heard. The CT or Lowe sets are there if you want them, which is fine. But locking up such a crucial piece of the puzzle bums me out. That said, I don't much blame the label-- clearly no one else saw fit to release the stuff.

The Hemphill is mondo essential. Do not hesitate.

Right you are. Oops.

I'd to turn this into an Underrated BN thread but one record which never fails to blow my mind is Anthony Williams - Life Time. To me, this date is equal to any of the vaunted avant albums of the day, and maybe even more accomplished. I sometimes wonder if I'm just untrained or easily impressed or what, but for my money it's one of the most brilliant, ahead-of-its-time records ever made. I don't get why it doesn't have a status equal to anything else-- I find it beyond category. Maybe this is a post for the new Motian thread...

One longtime favorite is Johnny Griffin's Change Of Pace. Some really, really interesting stuff happening on there with two basses. Julius Watkins plays on some of it too but what I really dig is the double bass thing-- Bill Lee & Larry Gales with Ben Riley underneath. They stretch a huge canvas for Griffin to play over. Fantastic art, too.

Geez, this thread got nuts! My two cents: the Golden Circle albums are Ornette's greatest work.

I can't speak to the 70s, but I do look back fondly on the 90s when I spent hundreds and hundreds of hours browsing at record stores both chain and independent. That said, it is indeed worth remembering that the chains-- Tower and Virgin included-- priced CDs through the roof at this time, to say nothing of the Imports section. I remember the ill-fated Blockbuster Music priced CDs at 18.99 in the mid-90s. The dream selection outweighed this, I suppose, but still.

Given present company, I'm not confident I have the depth of knowledge to assemble a suitable list of overlooked recordings throughout jazz, but here are 20 albums from the last 10 years that I think everyone should hear: 2004 Dave Douglas/Louis Sclavis/Peggy Lee/Dylan Van Der Schyff - Bow River Falls (Koch) 2005 Dennis Gonzalez's Spirit Meridian - Idlewild (Clean Feed) 2006 Peter Brotzmann Chicago Tentet - Be Music, Night (Okkadisk) 2006 Kidd Jordan/William Parker/Hamid Drake - Palm of Soul (AUM Fidelity) 2006 Ran Blake - All That is Tied (Thompkins Square) 2007 Tyshawn Sorey - That/Not (Firehouse 12) 2007 Available Jelly - Baarle Nassau Set 1 & 2 (Ramboy) 2007-11 Nate Wooley - Seven Storey Mountain I-IV (Important & Pleasure of the Text) 2007 John Tchicai/Charlie Kohlhase/Garrison Fewell/Cecil McBee/Billy Hart - Tribal Ghost (No Business) 2008 Bill Dixon - Tapestries For Small Orchestra (Firehouse 12) 2010 Taylor Ho Bynum/Tomas Fujiwara - Stepwise (Not Two) 2010 Bobby Bradford/Frode Gjerstad/Paal Nilssen-Love - Dragon (PNL) 2010 Irene Schweizer - To Whom It May Concern: Piano Solo Tonhalle, Zurich (Intakt) 2011 Lee Konitz - Live At Birdland (ECM) 2011 Nate Wooley Quintet - (Put Your) Hands Together (Clean Feed) 2012 The Resonance Ensemble - What Country Is This? (Not Two) 2013 Paul Flaherty/Steve Swell/C Spencer Yeh/Weasel Walter - Dragonfly Breath (Not Two) 2013 Josh Abrams Quartet - Uknown Known (Rogue Art) 2013 Tim Berne's Snakeoil - Shadow Man (ECM) 2013 Dave Rempis/Tim Daisy - Second Spring (Aerophonic) 2014 Mikolai Trzaska/Steve Swell/Per-Ake Holmlander/Tim Daisy - Inner Ear: Return From The Center of the Earth (Bocian)

Great stuff! I have all the Jimmy Lyons albums, but anyone who doesn't is in for a brilliant time. Those are incredible records, all. felser, the Lacy albums are Abei-lite. She pops up a bit on Troubles and The Condor, is on pretty much all of Vespers and The Cry, but doesn't appear on Trickles, Revenue, Dutch Masters, Change of Season, or Regeneration. I think The Cry is pretty for only the most committed Lacyphiles, but the rest of the albums are some of his very best.

A very powerful, moving performance. RIP.

I did, but have been doing that terrible thing wherein I've bought about 25 albums in the last month and listened to them very little. I need to sit down and go through them and stop buying!

I wish, though there are copies for $80 floating around the retailers so I should think about that. It's not for lack of desire! Still haven't gotten word from Reckless. Not looking good....

I haven't gotten around to them so much; I just have Strictly For Our Friends, which I like a lot. I need to pick up some others soon. The story of that disc alone is pretty wild.

PM on the Fred Anderson & Dennis Gonzalez titles. Highest of recommendations for the Jeff Albertson, Rempis/Daisy and Mike Reed discs!