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CJ Shearn
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Posts posted by CJ Shearn
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13 hours ago, Eric said:
Too bad the album cover is completely unimaginative.
I kind of like it but his daughter designed it apparently. I guess for recent BN covers Melissa Aldana's and Gerald Clayton's are more interesting
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Has anyone heard it? It's pretty good, I'm streaming until I can get the CD. Probably will review, but it's the best Blue Note I've heard from him besides Live At Montreux because there's no commercial pretense here, it's just Ronnie being Ronnie without the need to cater to capitalistic concerns like his 70's stuff. I think for many, YMMV, and may not to be to taste like the last two Dr. Lonnie albums on BN but I enjoyed this one.
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I'm not buying this... I already have Hub Tones, Hubcap, The Artistry of Freddie Hubbard and The Body And Soul on AP SACD and Open Sesame on Audiowave XRCD in my rebuilt collection. I used to have Ready For Freddie as a Connoisseur since I was 14, Breaking Point, Blue Spirits and Night Of the Cookers as RVG's, the only one I never owned was Goin Up which was OOP. Casual fans won't buy this so what's the aim? Is it Mosaic's way as they can do material from Universal, a way to counter cheap PD sets which do not have the sound, or documentation? I love Mosaic but sorry to say the Joe Henderson was probably the last set I'll ever buy from them.
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5 hours ago, Dub Modal said:
Great read.
Streaming platforms give BN the ability to tie in legacy albums and artists to new ones and I think that’s why sublabels don’t and/or won’t exist. Their monthly playlists do just this, as do their (and Impluse as well) artist-selected playlists. Was seems to be taking a big tent approach and while I haven’t looked at BNs bottom line among other Universal products, it’s probably doing decent enough.
Thanks for reading! And as said above, four new Blue Note releases I will stream before purchase are Chapel, Reboot, and The Spirit of Ntu. I also need to hear the first Julian Lage on the label before his new one.
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2 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:
Thanks for being willing to put yourself out there and posting your article.
My pleasure. I almost want to send it to my contact Cem Kurosman there but to keep in the good graces of their promo list I probably shouldn't.
2 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:Thanks for being willing to put yourself out there and posting your article.
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5 hours ago, danasgoodstuff said:
listening to Melissa A's 12 Stars as I type, I think Blue Note is doing about as well and is as Blue Notey as any time since the revival in the '80s and better than it was in the mid to late '70s. In particular, they have fine young talent like Joel Ross, Immanual Wilens, and Johnathon Blake, and better yet they play on each other's records just like the old days. As for possibly relegating non-'jazz' artists like Rosanne Cash or Al Green or Van Morrison or.... to a subsidiary label, I agree with Charlie Parker, 'there's no dividing line to art'. I was happy to see DOMi & JD Beck signed, and Trombone Shorty, and most of the current roster as well.
I like that balanced viewpoint actually. I will purchase Makhathini's new one and have to check out the new Joel Ross. It is true like the old days they do play on each others records. I like what I heard from DOMi and JD Beck so far. I love Derrick Hodge as a player, and composer at times, "Over There" on Blanchard's Flow is great, but though I was kind in my review his last one didn't really stick with me after review
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1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:
Thanks for the read. You open by saying that change is inevitable, and that Blue Note is nothing more than a brand now, both of which I agree with.
Your central question then seems to be: "My concern is less savvy new fans, unlike veterans like myself will be lead to thinking it’s emblematic of what mssrs. Lion and Wolff brought us."
I would think that someone who buys a Roseanne Cash album on Blue Note will either (a) not be familiar with Blue Note; (b) not particularly care that it is on Blue Note; or (c) understand that Blue Note, as you wrote, is nothing nothing more than a corporate imprint. Some people in the middle may legitimately wonder if Cash is trying to do a pseudo-jazz album. In the era of YouTube and audio samples, they can answer that question within minutes if not seconds.
Maybe the best thing would have been to put the brand to bed decades ago, and use it only for reissues, but even then, there would be disagreement about the cutoff date, based on all the Mizell-era albums I used to find in the dollar bin.
My biggest issue with Blue Note is their compilation albums. These will often include recordings that were on Blue Note, Capitol, Liberty, World Pacific, Roulette, and probably others that I am forgetting, and may throw in a couple of more recent tracks that stick out like a sore thumb. Talk about weakening the brand.
The new Melissa Aldana is nice, as is the singles from the new Ronnie Foster, the first Gerald Clayton, Happenings was great as was Nduduzo Makathini (though the sound sucked) I look forward to streaming Clayton's new one. I have to check out Immanuel Wilkins 7th Hand and see if I want to review. So hard to keep up streaming new music. I got the files from them from the Ornette box and they sound terrific. Why not do a set like the Complete Morgan Lighthouse set there on CD so fans like myself who never owned the initial CD's could own them? Did the Lee set on CD do bad numbers? I love that set
They are shitting the bed with the new Charles Lloyd by releasing the three separate CD's but LP is getting a nice box set. It sucks because Lloyds 8 Souls I never investigated on CD or streaming because the complete concert was only available on LP. The Tone Poet masterings I dont understand why they can't be available streaming, AT LEAST when say inferior masterings like some RVG'S are still physically available. Perhaps the brand should have gone under after Lundvall was replaced by Don Was
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This list is gold. Lots of new stuff to hear.
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9 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:
Thanks!
My pleasure
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4 hours ago, mikeweil said:
There are several Prestige issues from the 1960's with false personnel credits.
I figured
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What I've always been confused by is he's credited with playing drums on The New Boss Guitar of George Benson but the sound of the drums and the feel clearly is Joe Dukes. That was cut at Regent Studios. I have the George Benson and Jack McDuff Prestige 2fer reissue from 2006 or 7 Concord put out
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RIP. Last week, Bernard Wright now this.
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Hugely important for the trans community, as one of the first trans musicians, in the sense she didn't have to hide her identity, unlike Billy Tipton for exxample
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On 3/10/2022 at 7:12 AM, Rooster_Ties said:
I knew Bill through the board better than in person, though I saw him at a few jazz shows about 5 times total over 8 years.
He was a nice and thoughtful guy, and very kind. Joe, my dearest friend in Kansas City, knew Bill quite a bit better than I did — and he introduced us in about 2004 (and Joe called me about Bill’s passing last night).
Bill and his (then) wife had an adult son with developmental challenges (who required their constant supervision), and they made the brave decision not to institutionalize him. This kept Bill from going to very many live shows (maybe once a month, at most). And I think every time I saw Bill in person it was at The Blue Room in KC (and he always brought his son with him, which was usually challenging, and only enabled Bill to stay for one set, at most — and sometimes he had to leave early even from that one set).
But I never saw Bill ever complain, or show anything but an infinite amount of patience with his son. A truly remarkable father.
I also never had the opportunity to get to know Bill much in person — and knew him far better from his presence on the board (and also on the Steve Hoffman Forums).
Bill always seemed like one of the nicest guys you could ever think of.
Wow... Really shocking news to hear, RIP. The fact he and his wife had a developmentally disabled child really, my heart goes out, my late mother ignored the advice of those to institutionalize me and here I am.
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On 3/5/2022 at 11:11 AM, Ken Dryden said:
I'll probably pass on this release as well. The big mystery to me is Miles' Warner Bros. albums, as Marcus Miller's compositions bore the hell out of me. Too much vamping and the solos are uniinteresting.
Gotta disagree Ken. I reinvestigated the Warner Bros years and found a lot of great music there and live recordings show it was even better. What I found boring if we discuss vamps is Derrick Hodge's last album. I'm just not that into that strain of hip hop/R&B. The influence is fine but the actually contemporary genre I'm not that into but I have friends who are so it's all good.
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Oh shit! Great news. Ever since two different firms have handled ECM's digital promo distribution it's been harder to keep up. Their former PR, Tina Pelikan was terrific, I got new release download links in my email without fail. I still gotta listen to the new one with Vijay Iyer and Linda May Han Oh, Ayumi Tanaka Trio and Jorge Rossy Puerta
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On 12/20/2021 at 3:25 PM, JSngry said:
I do remember a time when a label like Columbia, or Atlantic, or RCA would make room for a few releases that were not expected to sell big. Even if it was a bookkeeping gambit, to get the write-offs, they would at least put some records out there. They don't even do that anymore, really.
Yes, the economics of the business ahs changed, but to use Bruce Lundvall as an example (again), if you want to find a way (and some hits to pay for it), a way is there.
But this was dying already by the middle 70s, really. It's not like it happened all at once, but it was obvious what was happening, imo.
Wow. Incredible article and one that offers
a lot of food for thought
Yeah I get what you mean how major labels would at least release some really cool stuff
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On 12/17/2021 at 1:48 PM, JSngry said:
I feel the draft, of course. But "Big Record Companies" had, by the late 1970s, ceased to be actual record companies - they were corporate holdings, damn near all of them. Cost centers dedicate, not to their honor/quality, but to their ability to deliver earnings up the chain.
That Bruce Lundvall was able to throw some weight "our" way for a little while was cool, but definitely an outlier, and really who should be surprised by that? Why should anybody be surprised by that?
Thinking that we were somehow "let down"...when will we ever learn? When will we ever stop begging? We are not now, nor will we ever be, a "common"music in a world where the majorities of the population want lifestyle accessories to go with their current trendfuns?
Not that there's anything wrong with that, music as lifestyle accessory is totally appropriate, BUT - what lifestyle are you leading? Whose lifestyle is it anyway? And why should anybody think that everybody else should have it? This music came from the underground, and the moment it ceases to be connected to the underground is the day it ceases to be itself.
In other words, if you can't handle the underground, get out of the music.
What's changed? Nothing really, just a transition to streaming and labels still kind of neglecting stuff beyond the big sellers.
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11 hours ago, Gheorghe said:
I think in my youth there were people who dug Bob James but didn´t know about other "Jazz Artists".
I think they played a tune of him on Radio (Jazz Shop) "El Verano" and I liked it. This must have been around 1977.
I hear Bob James on the "Chet Baker-Gerry Mulligan at Carnegie Hall 1974" and I like both the Fender and the acoustic. Thats really a good rhythm section with Bob James, Ron Carter and Harvey Mason.....
And the CBS All Stars in 1977, Both Bob James and George Duke on pianos/keyboards with all star horns. Stan Getz doing Night Crawler.....
Yeah, that one is great. Very upset I lost both Montreux Summit CD volumes in the fire. Looked up prices on discogs today, ridiculous. Will just have to stream those in the meantime.
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3 hours ago, Shrdlu said:
"Straight Life" is not a terribly exciting album. Two tracks cook a bit: "Stuffy" and "Jimmy's Blues". I wouldn't rush to buy this.
The title track too. I'm a Jimmy Smith Blue Note completist so I'll go for it again. I had before the fire his entire Blue Note output on CD, including the three Japanese albums. Started collecting JOS on CD at age 13 so that was a bit of a huge blow.
On 12/18/2021 at 1:42 AM, bertrand said:Did Quentin Warren ever take solos with Jimmy Smith?
Yes, the below posted videos, a few on Crazy! Baby (his best solos), Bucket!, one on Prayer Meetin' the Salle Pleyel, Mai 28 1965 discs, and I think a few solos on Bashin, the trio material. Was he the greatest guitarist ever? No when you look at who JOS had as guitarists, especially Burrell, Benson and Wes. Eddie McFadden was a better soloist IMO in regards to Jimmy's "regular" guitarists. Quentin? he was there to provide a buffer for Jimmy to cook, and when you view it at that angle, he's not half bad.
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On 12/18/2021 at 10:47 PM, Ken Dryden said:
CTI was never a label I explored in any depth, the dominant music on the label just didn't interest me. I have never been a big fan of electric piano, in most cases, I feel like it is a poor substitute for a grand piano. Bob James' electric piano in the Mulligan/Baker Carnegie Hall Reunion is a major disappointment for me. But there are times where the softer sound of an electric piano fits the song or arrangement better.
But then again, when I started reviewing jazz, I didn't review CTI stuff, even if some CD reissues were sent to me.
I always thought of a review as something to help me decide whether or not I wanted to check out the recording, nothing more. I am not expecting somebody to write 1500 words to describe a single disc, though I used to get a laugh out of those worthless one incomplete sentence AMG reviews by their first jazz editor ("Trio recording live at the Village Vanguard") that were worthless.
Norman Granz quoted Freddie Hubbard in a conversation they had at an English jazz festival where the trumpeter mentioned that he wanted to record with Oscar Peterson, "To get back to playing some real jazz and not this shit I'm into now," as it appears in the liner notes to the Pablo albums Trumpet Summit and Alternate Blues, all music from a session on March 10, 1980. The rest of the musicians included Dizzy Gillespie, Clark Terry, Joe Pass, Ray Brown and Bobby Durham.
Yes! That's right. I had both those albums pre fire.
On 12/18/2021 at 1:21 AM, danasgoodstuff said:Thanks for the link. different perspective from mine, but one that it'll probably do me some good to consider. Yanow is a hack.
You are welcome. Kind of surprised it brought forth quite a bit of discussion.
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1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:
But many of those CTI albums were not smooth jazz. Especially the ones with two long tracks per side that featured introspective, hallucinogenic, delirious grooves.
1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:I didn't listen to any CTI in the 1980s. I started buying them at a buck a throw in the 1990s. They fit in well with the turn-of-the-millennium vibe.
1 hour ago, Teasing the Korean said:But many of those CTI albums were not smooth jazz. Especially the ones with two long tracks per side that featured introspective, hallucinogenic, delirious grooves.
7 hours ago, HutchFan said:CJ,
I completely agree with your point that the "received wisdom" about what constitutes valid jazz often has been woefully narrow.
However, I think that sort of perspective is far less tenable now than it has been in the past. Of course, there are still traditionalists and there are still avant-gardists -- and everything in between. But the either/or clashes seem to have given way to something that's more open-ended and less rigid. ... Or maybe it's just that jazz has moved so far into the margins of culture -- and it's economic power is so diminished -- that no one has the impetus or desire to argue about it any more.
Either way, those old narratives seem to be breaking down. Or at least I think they are.
There's room enough for many, many different perspectives at the table. And there's no need for any one person or group to "own" the narrative.
That's my take.
Definitely many perspectives should be considered
7 hours ago, HutchFan said:CJ,
I completely agree with your point that the "received wisdom" about what constitutes valid jazz often has been woefully narrow.
However, I think that sort of perspective is far less tenable now than it has been in the past. Of course, there are still traditionalists and there are still avant-gardists -- and everything in between. But the either/or clashes seem to have given way to something that's more open-ended and less rigid. ... Or maybe it's just that jazz has moved so far into the margins of culture -- and it's economic power is so diminished -- that no one has the impetus or desire to argue about it any more.
Either way, those old narratives seem to be breaking down. Or at least I think they are.
There's room enough for many, many different perspectives at the table. And there's no need for any one person or group to "own" the narrative.
That's my take.
Yes... many of those CTI'S are not smooth in the least. Now once we get to David Matthews as arranger, that's where things get SUPER generic. There was an interview I read with Marcus Miller once, he said at first he thought Bob James was Black without seeing his picture which was really funny and quite a compliment. His arrangement of "Don't Mess With Mr. T" then using the same material for Grover's Soul Box is masterful IMO
Ronnie Foster: Reboot
in New Releases
Posted
Haha. Well retro is in for millennials, my generation though I was born in 1981 but I agree a lot of recent Blue Note covers are nondescript but at the same time, I think we have to move on since the Reid Miles era... that said, the last iconic Blue Note cover of the last 40 years for me is One Night With Blue Note Preserved
I kind of like it but his daughter designed it apparently. I guess for recent BN covers Melissa Aldana's and Gerald Clayton's are more interesting