xybert

Damn that place! Yeah! You know what i'm talking about brother!

A recent album of his, The Creep (edit: not 'The Creeper), was on my radar but i never got round to pulling the trigger on it. I'm still keen but i think it might be lost to wishlist hell.

Congrats!

My Ellington Small Group set is on track to arrive today! Hopefully i can get some work done in between constantly refreshing the UPS tracking site.

Off the top of my head, Joe Morris and Jim Hobbs. Love them apart, love them even more together.

I've been on a major Ellington bender lately. I've been a fan for a while, previously had what i thought was a semi-decent collection of about 45-50 discs; although i knew i had some holes i felt like i had enough covered in terms of the in-print essentials, and would be satisfied picking up the occasional album every now and again. Something about seeing that video of the Perfume Suite with the stop motion puppets set me off. As i say, i was already a fan of Ellington and, you know, totally 'got' him but it's like the more i hear the more i need to hear and the greater my 'getting' gets. Some random thoughts as i was planning a big rant but i'm already running out of steam/need to get back to some urgent work: - What a piano player, in terms of the sheer flavour. Fast becoming one of my favourites in that regard. No dull technician was he. - What a distinctive sound on the piano! Not sure if he was ahead of his time or more just a time unto himself. - Been watching a lot of interviews on youtube: he comes off as a really cool guy! - His music is super addictive. - The music, just such amazing music (no steam left to get in to it too much. It would all be pretty much variations on 'the way he does this is awesome, the way he does that is awesome' anyway). A lot of these are going to be 'no shit, Sherlock' for long term fans... but yeah! Anyway, i really need to do some reading, i guess. Although i know that Ellington is regarded as one of the greatest of the great, i'm still finding it hard to get my head totally around how he was perceived 'at the time'. When did he start getting attention? At what point was he regarded as a star? At what point did he start being regarded as a living legend? When were the ups and downs? How much is our perception of Ellington retroactive? How was he percieved in the sixties, the seventies? Although i was already familiar with the music and the fact that he was active in to the seventies, it's increasingly blowing my mind that he was 'around' during the time of woodstock and vietnam and Rolling Stone etc. You could go see Led Zeppelin perform and in the same week you could go see Duke Ellington perform. If you wanted to. Did anyone want to? Anyway, i'm rambling. Cheers, just had to get some of my enthusiasm off my chest.

Not sure if i'm off the mark, but what about this type of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9Woc1NRwAg

Yeah, i was going to say, my picks are a bit of both... there's the associations with the time that i was listening to them, which happened to be mostly Autumn, but the music itself kind of has a distinctly chilly atmosphere to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBJghl_wmto

Not jazz, but i strongly associate autumn with the Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox. It came out in 2001, and by autumn 2002 the instrumental album had been released as well as Def Jux Presents Vol. 2. There's just something about that music that takes me back to that period and those clear, chilly autumn days. Trying to think of some jazz albums that i associate with Autumn and coming up short, but i might report back later.

Thanks for the brilliant post Daniel. Extremely useful on multiple levels. FWIW i think the 1000 yen japanese/EU warner version of TFJB sounds way better than the previous CD release mentioned in post #2, to the point where it was well worth the repurchase for me.

I like The Stars Look Very Different Today but despite repeated listens have never been able to fully connect with it. Theres an odd tinge to it for me that just makes it ever so slightly unappealing. It's almost like i was maybe feeling a low-level weirdness on the day when i first heard the album (i honestly don't remember), and now i associate that low-level weird feeling with this album (yeah i wanted to slap myself and go work a 24 hour shift in a coal mine as i wrote that but it is what it is!). It's like when you're feeling sick and you eat or drink something and from then on you associate that sick feeling with that food/drink. Anyway, i look forward to his next album. I wonder which direction he will take.

I was this close to pulling the trigger on the Hamp set and adding it to this order but got cold feet... i may live to regret it but i don't regret what the money got spent on instead (filling other gaps in my Ellington collection).

I've been wondering about that one too... i've been keeping an eye out for it; I check the Firehouse 12 site every now and again when i'm doing my bookmark rounds: they haven't released anything this year let alone the Braxton.

Yeah! In my excitement though i forgot that this is supposed to be getting put aside as my Christmas present from my wife when it arrives... seemed like a good idea at the time when it was still on backorder for the foreseeable future, but now that it's on it's way i want it now now now!

John Hollenbeck is a firm favourite.

Bump. Hells yeah just got my shipping notice for this set from Mosaic... it's still showing as being on backorder until the end of 2014 on their website but maybe that will be updated soon. So stoked, i was expecting to have to wait at least a bit longer.

I'd been listening to this one a lot via Spotify and the CD arrived yesterday... really nice album, a great mix of inside and outside stuff... there's some really pretty stuff in there (i've listened to the minute thirty version of 'Where is the Love' dozens of times already). It's been a really nice companion to The Root of Things in my recent listening.

Not to single people out too much (as i'm sure we'd be forgetting some other cool regulars) but i'd really like to see Hutchfan and Walkin' (sp) over here. I don't think that it would hurt to have any of the AAJ regulars from the last few years that i can think of join here... all in all a good bunch.

One of those where i saw this movie as a kid and thought "yeah, Iceman is rad." Now it's like, "who the fudge chomps at someone like that? It's completely bizarre."

Someone should attempt to replicate the MOPDTK version of KOB as exactly as possible and release it, and then someone should try to replicate that version as exactly as possible and release it, and then someone should try to replicate that version etc in to infinity! Whoa.

These are the Treasury Shows right? What a steal. I'm only just starting to pick up the CD versions...

I've been digging this album too. At this stage it still loses me a bit in the second half leading up to the excellent Really OK. More spins required etc. An excellent album, i'm still knocked out by Chris Speed here, his playing adds the perfect amount of bite.

Great to see you here 1/2 Baked! 1/2 Baked/His Boy Elroy is good people, folks.

Got Art of the Improvisor, it's excellent! Actually revisiting it recently is what prompted me to order The Root of Things. Funny thing is i wasn't even that hugely enthusiastic about ordering The Root of Things, but i was ordering something else from Relative Pitch and wanted to get some more Shipp so thought "what the hell." It's amazing how albums that you didn't think you really wanted that much often turn out to be the real gems. I really need to check out some of the trio albums with Morris on bass.

My thoughts in a nutshell: - I think there is a gag/publicity stunt element to it, whether they acknowledge it or are even conscious of it, and that's fine. - This is an attempt to replicate the original as precisely as possible. It's nothing like a traditional cover version or a tribute or whatever. No one will mistake Supersax for Bird. - It gets interesting because although they are trying to replicate the original as perfectly as possible, it's impossible for so many of the reasons that they themselves have noted (everything from their race to what they had for breakfast that morning and you can go on endlessly about 'the environment' and all that entails from the year to the weather to the type of etc). - This project provides a lot of food for thought. - I don't think that anyone will be throwing out their copy of Miles' KOB, nor is that the intention. Although again, it's funny to think about it from that angle, it adds to the comedy value of the project. They should market it they way, a photo of a smarmy yuppy marvelling at this new and improved version. It's funny to think of a bunch of dudes setting out with that as their intention. - I have a massive soft spot for the shot-for-shot Psycho remake, although i don't think anyone would confuse Vince Vaughn for Anthony Perkins. - I'm not a fan of MOPDTK at all, just haven't been able to get in to their music in any lasting way, but i'm definitely interested to hear Blue at least once.