Milestones

I recently discovered John Abercrombie's Night, which has Brecker (sounding might fine indeed) in a prominent role. The late Abercrombie is absolutely superb as player, composer, and alchemist. To my ears, this sounds like one of his best records, though it seems to be seriously underrated.

I don't know much about Kenny's later years. I think he didn't have any official releases as a leader after 1964--and not much as a sideman either. I know health was one issue, but I guess another was adapting to rapidly changing times. I am currently spinning Quiet Kenny.

Yes, and now I feel I must play some KD.

To me the biggest jazz passing, by far, was Randy Weston. Who else have we lost this year?

Didn't see that, but that's some serious football stupidity.

Not a Steelers fan, and I have to say their series of offsides (three straight) at the end of the game was the stupidest football I've seen this year.

Some pretty cool stuff. I'm more 50's and 60s oriented, though I was quite intrigued (and for that matter enjoyed) early fusion. You seem to be concentrating on lesser known stuff--in other words, not Mahavishnu, Return to Forever, Weather Report. Some stuff here also represents the more accessible side of avant garde. I don't think I've ever heard Cedar Walton play electric piano! Could #5 be Leroy Jenkins? I don't know his music at all, but would like to explore it. I like #6. It seems to be in the vein of David Murray, Arthur Blythe, Chico Freeman; but it's none of them. Could it be DeJohnette on drums? The Rascals....just love that group, and I have a growing awareness of how much they brought in a jazz influence (and jazz musicians). Well, I'm not able to guess much on what is still unidentified.

This is pretty obscure stuff as my listening tastes go. I guess I should have known Weston, but this one is not in my collection, and I have to say that it's about as non-Weston sounding as anything he did. I think I'm most intrigued by Sophie Alour.

I would recommend these: Kenny Burrell: On Stage at the Five Spot Cafe Ron Carter: All Blues Jimmy Heath: Little Man Big Band

I've had relatives who lived to 90-years-old. I'm a mere 58, but I'm almost willing to bet that when I'm 90 they'll still be digging up and remixing Miles Davis tracks.

Are we talking about Frances Davis, one time spouse of Miles Davis, or Francis Davis, the writer on jazz?

I'm sure Michael Brekcer had a very diverse record collection.

Hal Galper is not a musician I know at all, other than his work on some Phil Woods records.

I'm curious to know what people think of Brecker's work as sideman. Of course, he did an enormous amount of this on pop and rock records, although I'm sure in most cases he is more of a "session man." The jazz stuff is big, but seemingly not huge in quantity. I'm familiar with a fair amount of it, notably records by Hancock, Corea, Tyner, Metheny, Palmieri, and Silver. But I have not found a list of such appearances, so I thought I'd come here for recommendations.

The man could really pick it!

I really liked, and was rather surprised by, the duet with Michael Buble on "Real Real Gone."

What else can you say about Van the Man. He is simply great and is the essence of living legend. Van unites rock, soul, celtic, mystical, jazz, blues, and God only know what else. I suppose he's getting a bit repetitive now, with many pieces showing up repeatedly, either as remakes or on live albums. And yet, as noted above, he still continues to write new songs. By the way, my favorite record that would be in the post-classic era is A Night in San Francisco, a 2-disc concert set that is surely the next best thing to actually seeing Van live. Talk about melting the grooves! I have two of his three quite recent records. One of these is You're Driving me Crazy, with Joey DeFrancesco as virtually a full partner. it is probably Van's jazziest record, and while not a full-blown classic it is top-of-the-line and should not be missed. Roll With the Punches, which is very blues-oriented, may be even better.

It is largely semantics. It's funny how so many of the classic big bands were actually dubbed as orchestras--everything from Count Basie to Glenn Miller. I think there is a considerable element of pretension here. A truer hybrid of jazz and classical came much later, and some are quite interesting and successful--as I pointed out in my first response. Also, these groups and works ARE rather different from "big band." Or what do you make of something like Steve Turre's Rhythm Within, with most tracks featuring 12 players including a lot of guys on trombones and/or "shells" and lots of percussion. I see virtually no resemblance to big band music as it is usually conceived. What of Gunther Schuller's giant ensemble playing Mingus' Epitaph?

I may not be the best guy to comment, since I tended to give fairly little attention to big band/orchestra--other than Ellington. But I would say this. In the golden age of the big band, there seemed to be a pretty standard setup--4 or 5 saxes (with some doubling on clarinet), 3 or 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, guitar (though not always), piano, bass, drums. You usually had 15-19 musicians. This has not even changed much, generally speaking. But you did get smaller groups like the Davis Birth of the Cool nonet and some of the early Gil Evans albums, such Gil Evans & Ten. Such ensembles were not just smaller, but generally more unusual in instrumentation--tuba, french horn, flute, violin, extra percussion, etc. We've some pretty notable bands of this sort, such as those by Carla Bley, George Gruntz, and for that matter the Mingus Orchestra. These better fit the concept of "orchestra." In addition, you have all those string orchestra albums; many of them seem entirely like mistakes, but there are some genuine classics too. Another variation is how the big band (however it is composed) is used to back a single soloist--such as Gil Evans with Miles and Cannonball Adderley and the band behind Coltrane on Africa/Brass.

All good examples, but I'm referring to records that are pretty much new, or at least within the last 4-5 years. Gerry Mulligan had a a pianoless quartet BEFORE Ornette.

Most definitely a loss. He was one of the few under-50 trumpet players that I really enjoyed. R.I.P., Roy.

We seem to be seeing a lot of these lately, though I don't mean to suggest that these are mere imitations. Most recently, we have Still Dreaming with Joshua Redman and Ron Miles (drawing most clearly on Old and New Dreams). We have The Creep with Ted Nash (alto) and Ron Horton. We have Trip with Tom Harrell and Mark Turner. Also, the new Christian McBride record is in this format. I'm finding some enjoyment. How about you?

I'd say this is officially a tough Blindfold Test. I've done some sampling of other tracks and I'm drawing blanks.

I listened to the first 6 tracks. Some good stuff, and I'm not able to identify much. Track 1 sounds like a piano trio version of "St. Thomas." It could be someone Like Hank Jones, though I feel it's not Hank. On Track 2 the trumpeter sounds like Art Farmer, but I wouldn't bet money on it. I can't say on 3 or 4. It's nice-sounding mainstream jazz, but I can't even guess who it might be. Track 5 is probably an alto-led date. Nice firm bass and loose, coloristic drumming. I can't identity anyone. Track 6 sounds like MJQ. The vibraphone player, at least, sounds like Milt. The piano player rarely sounds like John Lewis. But overall it does have that MJQ sound, or something akin to it.

Nice test...lots of good stuff. Some pieces were easy to identify, and some quite tough. I actually saw Catherine Russell in concert a year or so ago as opening act for Boz Scaggs. I may have downloaded an album too.