Milestones

I'm surprised Roy was never a member of the Ellington or Basie Orchestras. He would have been a great contributor in both.

I'll keep checking out some vocals and see if I come around.

My god, there is hardly any love for Johnny McLaughlin and any of this recent music (count that as 30 or 40 years). I'm not a fan of everything, but I certainly respect his adventure and eclecticism. And 4th Dimension strikes me as the best fusion band he's had since Mahavishnu. It should appeal to those who long for those days.

R.I.P for a wonderful man and musician. Would we even have the "Blue Note sound" without Horace? So many great tunes. So much that was catchy and simply joyful. Your music will always live with me.

Roy Eldridge (Little Jazz), my god, what a great player. I’ve always had some appreciation of the man, but I’ve come to realize he’s one of the greatest and most vital figures in jazz history. While not such a pioneering figure as Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, or Dizzy (the man he inspired most directly)—he is nonetheless right up there. I had mainly heard Eldridge with Dizzy and in a variety of sometimes interesting and (even add combos, such as with Mingus and Dolphy. More recently I’ve heard him on a Herb Ellis record and also the meeting with Art Tatum. I was looking through one of my old jazz references books, and they called the record with Tatum a failure. WTF! It’s great stuff. I can hear a tune like “I Won’t Dance” in my head all day long…so mellow and melodious. I grabbed a 4-CD set out of the library, covering 1930s through mid-1950s. It’s a lot to digest, but certainly plenty of jewels. I have to say, though, I’m not a big fan of Roy’s singing. I’ve also checked a bit into Swing Goes Dixie. I guess it is what the title suggests: stomping New Orleans music featuring the pulse of Walter Pages and Jo Jones. While my tastes have always run toward post-bebop, I have made a place for the older music. I think we all must do it; otherwise we are missing great treasures. I can now even see the point-of-view those who really don’t care much for jazz after the bebop revolution. I will always love most types of jazz from every era. And more than three decades into being an obsessive fan of jazz, I will keep searching for jazz greats that I have under-valued. Roy Eldridge is a big one. I once heard him described as the greatest trumpeter between Louis and Dizzy. Easy enough to accept, especially once you do some serious listening. But let’s just call him one of the greatest trumpeters the music has ever known.

I don't find Now Here This unlistenable in any respect. Man, some tough customers here.

I’ve been listening a lot to John McLaughlin, who strikes me as being in quite a renaissance. Certainly one of the most eclectic musicians of all time, he has never been one to do a certain type of music and then leave it forever. I came to McLaughlin through Mahavisnu and electric Miles. These were the first jazz records I ever owned, and they remain some of the best. The excitement of Maha is just amazing, especially on the first record. Anyway, I have followed the great guitarist through Shakti, orchestral stuff, fairly straight ahead jazz, acoustic guitar trios, etc. But I still think of McLaughlin as the great fusion man. He has come back to fusion many times, such as a revitalized Mahavishnu (didn’t do much for me), the Heart of Things, and other projects. But nothing has sounded as good as the 4th Dimension. To me it is very reminiscent of Maha—a bit stripped down, no violin. McLaughlin supposedly used the first record, To the One, as a tribute to Coltrane; but mainly it was a return to his own past. I don’t think it is fair to call the music nostalgic. This is fiery music that stands completely on its own, and McLaughlin has been cranking out plenty of new tunes. Only on the new Boston Record does he dig out an old Mahavishnu piece: “You Know, You Know.” McLaughlin’s playing sounds as great as ever he sure has a tight band. I especially love the firestorm of percussion from Ranjit Barot. The McLaughlin/Cobham connection was special, but so is this current one with Barot. Does McLaughlin love this group? I would say so, given the 3 straight releases. Each one is deeply rewarding.

Yep, that fits the bill!

Interesting comment about Metheny and Frisell having the influence of making Jim Hall sound more "placid." Hall, who from the beginning was one of the most subtle and genteel of all jazz players? Well, he could be adventurous, to be sure, but he tended to be low volume. "Raw" sounds can certainly be heard from Metheny and Frisell (both bearing rock influences), though more so in older days than nowadays.

Clearly a lot of great stuff. I'd forgotten about some of these records (usually trios) in my own collection.

Just responding to the Tony Williams comments. When he was playing in some jazz trios about a decade after the Miles period, he did not sound at all "too loud." Tony played just fine with such amazingly subtle pianists as Hank Jones and Tommy Flanagan.

It occurs to me that The World Saxophone Quartet (when they actually are a quartet) belongs here too.

Art Ensemble of Chicago without a drummer? There's also the String Trio of New York, though I don't think I've found one album I'd call a true masterpiece.

True, one has to credit Nat Cole and Oscar Peterson. I guess I'm thinking of a group where there's at least one horn or reed. There is also the News for Lulu group of Zorn, Lewis, Frisell. Kind of cool, but I find a little goes a long way.

I am first of all a big fan of jazz drumming. Nevertheless, I sometimes go for the soft side represented by the drummerless group. I am thinking not of solos or duos, but groups at least three in number. Most such configurations I have enjoyed are that size. My favorite would have to be Jimmy Giuffre 3 (the one "The Train and the River," "Crawdad Suite," etc). Giuffre is the pioneer in this kind of group, and perhaps the pinnacle. I have not heard a lot of the later trio with Bley and Swallow, though I do like Fly Away Litlte Bird, which must be among his last recordings. Another good one is Power of Three by Michel Pettrucianni, Jim Hall, and Wayne Shorter (though Shorter is absent on several tracks). Jim Hall is indeed one of the great figures in drummerless groups. We should also include Something Special; and there is quite a bit of drummelress work among the Telarc records (though often solo or duo). I don't think I would include records that use overdubs. Anyway, I am curious to hear your drummerless recommendations.

Hasn't Bill Frisell been playing in Lloyd's band lately--at least at certain times? That sound like an intriguing combination.

I've been listening to Steal Away the last couple of days. In recent years I acquired a lot of stuff by Great Jazz Trio--most of it nearly three decades after I discovered jazz. What a treat to hear these records, especially the ones with Carter and Williams.

It's a pretty wild idea, since the 1960s is either the second-best decade for jazz or the best (1950s). Of course, that's my opinion, but I think a lot of people would agree with me. My list would certainly contain Miles, Coltrane, and Mingus. If you are a fan of mainstream guitar (I am), then how can you leave off Wes, Grant Green, and Kenny Burrell? If you are a fan of free jazz, then you will include Ornette, Cecil, etc. Of course, it does say "favorite." Lately I've been listening to a lot of Blue Note records from the era. There is so much great stuff from Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Horace Silver, et al. How much would go into top 5 or top 10, maybe not much; but in terms of current listening favorites, they are well up there.

Seems like a guy who has been a bit below the radar. I've recently been listening to him on some Jim Hall records--and really enjoying his work. He's played quite a bit with Scofield, and he has done a lot of stuff in a trio with Peter Bernstein and Bill Stewart. Also on Brecker's "Time is of the Essence," which is my favorite by the late tenor man. Goldings is heard mostly on organ, but also sounds good on piano; his facility on both seems considerable. It can be hard to get a lot of notice when you play keyboards (especially organ), and Goldings is not the flashiest player in the world. But certainly he's a talent worthy of greater recognition.

A pretty cool group. Not too long ago I was listening to a couple of early albums: Out of the Woods and Roots in the Sky. Thse are solid works throughout, with a distinctive sound and a fine conception, with the group (as others have noted ) very unified. Good compositions too, like "Vessel" and "Water Wheel." Towner is the main man, but really more for his dominance as composer than as player. I've kept up more on Towner than the group. In fact, I was quite surprised to learn that have stayed together and releases have been steady, though relegated (I believe) to obscure labels.

A love supreme....

I guess it is true that ballads are usually a feature for one soloist primarily. Note how popular it was on Verve to have ballad medleys--three or four players would have relatively short features, each on a different song that segued together. Otherwise you usually get one main player, but with a shorter spot for another--usually the pianist. One of my all-time favorite ballads, though, is "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love," with lengthy solos by George Adams and Don Pullen (possibly my favorite piano solo ever), plus a longish solo by Mingus himself.

Two points. 1) Yes, there is that mystical/spiritual quality in the later work. There is "Welcome," "Dear Lord," "Wise One," "Alabama," and many more. I mean, how does "Alabama" fit at all into the Tin Pan Alley type of ballad? These are great pieces, and a large part of what makes Coltrane a distinctively great artist. 2) There is much to admire in the traditional ballads found mainly on Prestige. Trane surely loved this material to play it so well. I also read somewhere that Trane knew virtually everything in the Great American Songbook. If Trane and his group had never before played (together) the songs on the Ballads record (Impulse), I'm sure they knew them; these are not obscure standards. As with others, I would think, my appreciation of Ballads has grown with each repeated listen.

I don't think I've ever heard "Seraphic Light" or "Venus."

Coltrane is known for his incredible intensity, marathon solos, sheets of sound. But what of Trane in the opposite mode: the ballads player? As far as I’m concerned, he is one of the greatest who ever lived. The Atlantic and Impulse periods include the fine Ballads album, the Duke Ellington collaboration (most notably “In a Sentimental Mood”), and most importantly (IMO) his original ballads—if we are to consider tunes such as “Naima,” “Central Park West,” “Welcome,” After the Rain,” and “Wise One” as ballads. But he was already great in the Prestige era. What absolutely marvelous work on the likes of “Theme for Ernie,” “Violets for Your Furs,” “Don’t Take Your Love from Me,” “I See Your Face Before Me,” “Solutrane,” “I Want to Talk About You,” and many more. His was not the breathy tenor ballad style favored by most on the horn, but it was completely distinctive and displayed great sensitivity. It strikes me as odd that Trane often sat out on ballads in Miles’ groups. True, he is on “Round About Midnight,” but plays in anything but a ballad manner. It would have been intriguing indeed to hear Trane on “It Never Entered My Mind,” or for that matter Miles on “I See Your Face Before Me.”