xybert

If you get a chance i'd love to hear how these concerts went, particularly the Lehman. Did they perform any new stuff? I know there's a new Octet album coming out on Pi next year (as per Lehman's website). The Taylor Ho Bynum concert was canceled. I won't say anymore about how that all went down. The Steve Lehman Octet performance at the Atlas was excellent. Prior to the concert, Lehman did a Q&A with the audience that was illuminating and interesting The group played quite well. Lehman said that the material they were performing had been commissioned by an arts group (forgot who), and that it would appear on the next album, which they were about to record. It's interesting how one can hear Jackie McLean and Anthony Braxton influences during the performance (Lehman's two principal teachers). One does not often get to hear octet performances these days, so that was a treat, and this was really an all-star ensemble, so that made it even better. Cheers for that. The McLean and Braxton connection gets cited quite a bit, and as much as it's valid it amazes me how much Lehman has his own thing. In my head i don't really associate Lehman with Braxton at all; i associate him more with Steve Coleman if anything. Really looking forward to hearing that new octet material.

Interesting!

If you get a chance i'd love to hear how these concerts went, particularly the Lehman. Did they perform any new stuff? I know there's a new Octet album coming out on Pi next year (as per Lehman's website).

It's endlessly, frustratingly fascinating to wonder about where Coltrane's music would have gone had he lived, and what he would have to say about his 'late' music had he lived. We will never know. I think his later work gets framed in a certain way that would not be the case if his story didn't end where it did. Some people make out like Coltrane was on a trajectory that would have lead him to go deeper and deeper, further and further out until he transmorgafied himself into a holy beam of pure sound beyond human comprehension. The reality probably would have been more mundane. I think it is perfectly possible that Coltrane might have buttoned off and gone in a more conservative direction. It's perfectly possible that he was less than satisfied with the music of his late period. We will never know. It's not really necessary to make stuff up about what Coltrane thought or said in order to back up an agenda; there are a huge number of great's careers to cite, on either side of the fence, to suit your preferred point of view.

Cheers for the Nicole Mitchell feedback and recs all. Genuinely excited by what i'm hearing of her music... i won't gush too much but lets just say i think Mitchell is an artist that i will be following.

It's funny, there's some things that i am so OCD about, but other times it's like my brain lets me off the hook and goes "lets not even go there..." The "if i can't hear a problem, it's fine" method works for me, where as if i started getting into checking databases and what not i think that would drive me crazy. Different strokes and all that!

Some of you might be interested to read the AMA ('Ask Me Anything') that Matana did on Reddit a couple of days ago: http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1qbnpt/iama_musiciancomposeravant_negress_yes_matana/ Looks like she is still checking in if you feel like asking her anything.

How does that work? If you make a secure rip with XLD (or EAC) you can have it automatically compare the AccurateRip signature generated to the AccurateRip database. I think he means if he hears an audio defect on his CD copy, he can listen to the relevant song on Spotify and see if the same defect shows up there as well. I hadn't actually considered this as a plus for Spotify but i would find it useful; currently i do this type of cross checking using youtube but obviously there's a crapload of stuff that's not on youtube. My process: Buy CD. Rip CD using iTunes. Listen to audio files to make sure there are no audible defects. If there are, i listen to the CD to see if it's on audible on the original CD. If it isn't on the original CD, i re-rip the relevant song and usually it works out all good. If it continues to be an issue i'll use a friends computer (sometimes my computer just doesn't like a disc for whatever reason). If the audio defect can be heard on the original CD as well, i'll try to find the track on youtube or elsewhere online (bandcamp etc)to see if it's audible there as well. this is obviously not an exact science as if your lucky and the track in question is there it may be from a different release/format or mastering or whatever so it's not really conclusive (this would be the same for Spotify). TL/DR: Spotify can be useful for identyfing whether an audio defect is on your copy of the CD only, or whether it is likely on every copy and hence it's not worth worrying about.

I've had the Mitchell for a couple of days and I'm thoroughly enjoying it however it's almost designed for me as flute/vibes is a line up that would be close to the top of my list and Mitchell and Adasiewicz top of each instrumnets' 'must hear' players. There's some strong writing on the album and the playing's as good as you'd expect. I doubt you'll be disappointed I was blown away by Nicole Mitchell's performance on Harris Eisenstadt's Golden State album and made a mental note to check her music out further but kind of forgot about it. Stumbled across this album and just about couldn't think of a more perfect line up. Couldn't resist ordering it; had to divert some money i'd put aside for pre-orders for albums coming out in December but i've still got time to skip some meals between now and then. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPQFq9oMz98

Very interested to hear how this turns out. Don't think i've ever heard The Necks with a horn, let alone Evan Parker.

Greats wise i pretty much rotate around the usual suspects: Monk, Miles, Ornette, Ellington, Braxton, Threadgill, Mingus, Konitz, Zorn etc. Most recently it's been Stan Getz. On the less obvious side it would be John Hollenbeck, Steve Lehman, Harris Eisenstadt, Joe Morris and Ben Allison. On the less fashionable side it would be Chick Corea, Dave Brubeck and Wynton Marsalis (EDIT and Pat Metheny).

Ah, i thought that was just a thing over here.

Yeah it can be a bit of a red flag. You can hear some of it on track two of the samples posted on the label's website... it's in the same style as the spoken word sections of the recent Trio 3 + Jason Moran album so i'm guessing that style of poetic spoken word in is a thing... anyway, i liked it although it is a bit corny; i listened to that particular track sample about ten times to make sure i really was okay with the vocal before i made my order.

Marty Ehrlich Large Ensemble - A Trumpet In The Morning Album info and lengthy-ish samples can be heard here: http://www.newworldrecords.org/album.cgi?rm=view&album_id=92226 I haven't heard it yet so can't really add anything that you can't judge for yourself by checking out the info and song samples on the labels website. I'm quite looking forward to hearing this album in full. Here's the album personnel: E.J. Allen, trumpet; Ray Anderson, trombone; Uri Caine, piano; John Clark, French horn; Joseph Daley, tuba; Robert DeBellis, alto and soprano sax, clarinet; Michael Dessen, trombone; Curtis Fowlkes, trombone; Drew Gress, bass; Jerome Harris, guitar, slide guitar; Miki Hirose, trumpet; Ron Horton, trumpet; Howard Johnson, baritone sax; Brad Jones, bass; Adam Kolker, tenor sax, clarinet; Andy Laster, alto sax; Eric McPherson, drums; J.D. Parran, narrator, soprano and bass sax; Lisa Parrott, baritone sax, bass clarinet; Jason Robinson, tenor sax; Warren Smith, vibraphone, percussion; James Weidman, piano; Matt Wilson, drums; James Zollar, trumpet; Marty Ehrlich, conductor

There are still brick and mortar stores that i can go to in my city. There are a few issues that i have. For some reason in New Zealand they unseal the CD cases and keep the actual CDs in paper envelopes in cabinets behind the counter. The exposed CD case and booklet sits on the shelf and gets handled by multiple customers, you take the empty case to the counter and they then locate the CD and put it in the case for you. The CD is in a dusty cabinet and by the time you buy it it's been handled at least twice. If it's been there for a few years it might have been handled a few times when customers wanted to have a listen or someone may have even bought it, taken it home and then returned it. So my issue is that you are paying at new prices for a CD that is less than new, sometimes worse than a good condition second hand. When a Borders store got opened here it was a revelation, as they kept the CDs sealed. When i discovered you could order online and get sealed CDs, bada bing bada boom. Borders is gone but there is an Aussie chain store that has opened here in recent years called JB-Hi Fi that also keeps the CDs sealed, however they don't stock new releases outside of ECM and the occasional random gem. I could get them to order in stuff for me, but i still hold a grudge from back in the day when if you wanted to get something ordered in you were paying at least double and would have to wait like two months. It seems silly when i can just order it myself and get it straight to my mail box. I have reflected on the fact that i've spent thousands on CDs over the years that a local brick and mortar could've gotten a cut from, but at this stage i'm satisfied that the money is going to people that benefit from it and hopefully keep the ball rolling.

Glasper interviews where he goes on about stuff like this, it always comes off to me like he's trying to paint himself as some sort of lone rebel against this mythical jazz establishment, when in reality no one really gives a shit and there are numerous artists quietly going about their business incorparting all sorts of non-traditional elements in to their music. For the record i like Glasper's album In My Element and actually quite enjoyed Black Radio for what it was (which is surprising considering i generally loathed neo-soul in it's hey day).

I haven't purchased any of the latest batch (my CD budget got irresistably diverted to a Stan Getz bender out of the blue... the heart wants what it wants...) but i've been eyeing up the Lake set... previously i only had Heavy Spirits and Expandable Language with Lake as a leader... liked them enough but the recent Trio 3 album with Jason Moran has shed new light on Lake for me and i'm keen to dig deeper... i should really take advantage of the streaming on the Cam Jazz site.

If i'm listening to any Evans in the near future and something particularly Wynton like jumps out at me i'll actually make a note of it and report back here, FWIW. I'm curious to hear whether anyone is hearing it as i am... the brain can play tricks on the ears, and it may be that i'm just imagining things. I'm not trying to jack up a Marsalis/Evans conspiracy theory or anything, it's just interesting to me.

Ha ha, don't mind us. I was actually surprised that i wasn't the only one who didn't dig them.

I have a handful of his albums as a leader (Live in Lisbon, Ghosts, Zebulon... not a leader date as such but Scenes in the House of Music w/ Evan Parker et al) and really, really dig them. He's definitely got a unique flavour of his own that i like. I find the solo/'noise' stuff to be enjoyable and interesting when i'm in the mood but not enough to invest in the albums... wouldn't mind having it in my collection but i've been around long enough to know that i just won't get many spins for my money, no point fooling myself. Also probably worth noting that i found the solo Evans stuff jaw dropping at first but less and less interesting as time goes on. For the life of me i just can't warm to MOPDTK. Really dug the live album on clean feed but it was stuck in my CD player in my car for a while and i catastrophically went off it. Probably need to dig in to them further but its extremely rare for me to dislike music like this, especially when on paper it looks good. Possible controversial opinion: does anyone else hear something of Wynton Marsalis in Evans' playing? It seems like he's either listened to a lot of Marsalis' music or maybe it's that they both have classical music in their backgrounds(?). Obviously Evans' goes way further out at times but it's notable to me that there are always moments where i'm reminded of Wynton when i listen to Evans. I definitely associate the two in my mind. Edit to add that Zebulon is one of my favourite albums of the year. Awesome stuff.

I've been on a pretty big Stan Getz bender over the last few weeks; i came across this thread and have enjoyed referring back to it to 'compare notes' a few times over the course of my bender. Prior to my bender i only had a handful of Getz albums. Captain Marvel was one of the first jazz albums i really dug when i started really getting in to jazz around 2005/2006 and is still a firm favourite. After that i got Sweet Rain which i also dug to a slightly lesser extent, then over the years i picked up Focus, Getz/Gilberto and The Cool Sounds which i thought were good albums but got few spins and didn't really inspire me to dig further; i pretty much thought that would be enough Getz for me. I was keen to hear the stuff with Gary Burton but about a year ago picked up Getz Au Go Go and was very underwhelmed (i've since learned that Nobody Else But Me is a different kettle of fish and is still on my wish list). The thing that sparked my current bender was receiving a copy of the Kind Of Getz 10 CD box set, put out by House of Jazz, as a birthday present from a friend. It's one of those much maligned PD sets. My friend didn't know any better and i had no desire to be anything but thankful for the gift. It covers the years 1946-1957. The music was a revelation to me; i particularly love the stuff with Bob Brookmeyer and the S. Gold/J. Smith/E. Safranski/D. Lamond group from 1952 but as they say "it's all good." I really don't want to turn this in to a discussion about PD sets but i wanted to be straight up in noting that this is how i came to hear all this stuff and i'm so, so glad that i got to hear it. The music is wonderful, the sound quality is fine but i may look at reacquiring this stuff in more legit forms in the future. Moving on... I ended up getting the Complete Columbia set. I have a soft spot for fusion and oddities but there's also plenty of straight ahead stuff in this set to dig. With regards to that "Chick Corea and his space monkeys" quote, i'm pretty sure Getz is referring to fusion of the time in general as opposed to specifically dismissing the albums that he recorded with Chick in the past. Having said that, in the liner notes of either Another World or Children of the World he waxes pretty enthusiastically about the music and the players he's chosen to work with, so i guess he says a lot of things and is free to change his mind. Anyway, outside of Captain Marvel i don't think any of this stuff is favourite Getz for me but as a package on the whole i dig it. It's definitely a period that i'm happy to have represented in my Getz collection. Eighties wise I picked up Pure Getz, My Old Flame (The Dolphin/Spring Is Here twofer) and Voyage. I really dig all this stuff a lot. I also ordered and have yet to receive Cafe Montmarte, which is a compilation of tracks from Anniversary, Serenity and People Time. I know that those three albums on their own are very, very highly regarded but funds are limited and try as i might i just couldn't get excited about picking up the individual albums for some reason. The compilation was a perfect compromise for me although i may live to regret it. As highly regarded as Anniversary, Serenity and People Time are there's just something lacking to my ears that i get from Voyage and the earlier eighties albums (slightly more dreary/less vital?). I know this goes against conventional wisdom and i'm prepared to regret not having picked up the full lengths at some point. I also ordered Dynasty but am still waiting for that to arrive. Early to mid sixties Bossa Nova wise i picked up one of those 'Verve Jazz Masters' compilations. I like the Bossa Nova stuff but just not enough to invest too heavily in it at this stage. So anyway, with regards to Getz my horizons have been hugely broadened recently. Considering how excellent his eighties stuff was it seems particularly sad that Getz was a relatively young 64 when he passed away.

There's a song and a 'making of' video here: http://soundcheck.wnyc.org/story/song-premiere-ben-allison/ Definitely seems like he's continuing his path into fusion, the Ben Allison following his muse version of it circa 2013 that is.

Not sure that strategy will work - they might ship this when it's available, rather than wait (they have the tendendcy to ship larger sets separately anway - they might come from different warehouses, whatever ...) Yup, Amazon will ship items separately even if you choose the 'ship all items together in one package' option. It happens to me all the time with orders for multiple CDs that are all in stock and available... i'm pretty sure i've made orders where i've combined in stock stuff with pre-ordered stuff and thought i'd have to wait until the release date of the pre-ordered stuff for everything to ship... actually i had one recently where it was fairly close, like only 10 days or something away and it appeared that on this occasion they were going to hold everything and ship it together but then something like 2 days from the pre-order release date they shipped the in stock stuff separately. Pretty random really.

This was really confusing for me; following a bit of internet sleuthing it turns out i've always had The Residents, The Descendents and The Replacements mixed up in my head.

I actually really enjoy listening to music while watching TV or a movie with the sound on mute (particularly like watching animated stuff, The Simpsons etc; i found that Bill Dixon and The Simpsons go together really well) or while flicking through a book of art or a comic book. For whatever reason it tends to bring the music in to focus for me. I do sometimes enjoy listening with eyes closed, particularly if i drift in to that half awake/half asleep state.