HutchFan

Jane Ira Bloom - Slalom (Columbia, 1988) and Harvie Swartz - Smart Moves (Gramavision, 1986)

For sure! In no small part because of Jimmy Rowles.

Heroes - J.J. Johnson CD. And Heroes - Philip Glass/David Bowie/Brian Eno CD. Right?

Jessica Williams - Nothin' But the Truth (BlackHawk, 1986)

Tony Williams - Native Heart (Blue Note, 1990) with Wallace Roney, Billy Pierce, Mulgrew Miller, and Ira Coleman (or Robert Hurst on half the cuts) What a great band. I love Tony's hookup with Mulgrew. It was a perfect hand-in-glove fit. and Jaco Pastorius - Word of Mouth (Warner Brothers, 1981)

Yes. Absolutely! For EH in the 80s sans electronics, I'd recommend Homecoming (Spindletop) with Ellis Marsalis. Gorgeous playing by both men. I was listening to this earlier today. For EH in the 80s that's more reminiscent of his 70s Atlantic years, I'd recommend People Get Funny... (Timeless) with William Henderson, Larry Gales, and Carl Burnett. I'm sure there are more. Probably many more. These two are just a couple that I happen to know well.

Gil Evans & the Monday Night Orchestra - Live at Sweet Basil (Evidence) Hooray for George Adams on "Orange Was the Color of Her Dress" !!!

Eddie Harris & Ellis Marsalis - Homecoming (Spindletop Records, 1985)

Jessica Williams - Update (Clean Cuts, 1982) with Eddie Harris

First listen to the other Oliver Lake LP that I ordered: Oliver Lake - Gallery (Gramavision, 1986) with Geri Allen, Fred Hopkins, Pheeroan AkLaff, and (on one cut) Rasul Sidduk Just as good as Impala. Maybe even better. Too soon to tell.

Santi Debriano - Soldiers of Fortune (Evidence; originally released on Free Lance)

Yes!!! Great "companion record" to The Window.

Oh yeah. IMO, Castles of Ghana and Fields should be any short-list of "Essential 80s Jazz" !!! soulpope - These two don't qualify because they were recorded in the 1970s -- even though they were released in the 1980s. The only reason I know this: They were both on my "Favorite Jazz from the 1970s" blog. IIRC, I first heard that Jerry Gonzalez record based on your recommendation... and I first heard that Bill Barron LP because of Jim Sangrey's often-noted Bill Barron-ophila! Thanks Peter! Not familiar with these two! Great list. Thanks D.D.!!!

Donald Brown - Sources of Inspiration (Muse) Beautiful '89 session with Eddie Henderson, Gary Bartz, Buster Williams & Carl Allen. I've not heard that one either, Gheorghe. (It's impossible to keep up with Liebman's new releases. He records so prolifically. It seems like he has a new record every month! ) In any case, as a fellow Liebman fan, I'd love to hear your impressions. I dig Hamid Drake's work with Fred Anderson. But I imagine this could be quite different.

Yessir! Enjoying them both very much. I'm not familiar with that one. Will keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the heads-up!

Jerry González & the Fort Apache Band - Obatalá (Enja)

Impala is excellent. The band includes Geri Allen, Santi Debriano, and Pheeroan Aklaff. It's available on YT here. I also ordered Lake's LP Gallery from the same discogs seller. Planning on listening to it later today.

Greg Osby - Mindgames (JMT) and

Jim, Thanks for sharing your thoughts and recollections on James Brown -- and all else too. Today, I spent about ten hours on the road traveling home from an unexpected trip, but I was mulling our conversation for much of the day. I appreciate your knowledge... and your love of the music! THAT is the thing, right there! That's what carries the day. The USPS delivered a package with this LP in it while I was out of town:

Keep looking for it. It's well worth the search!

O.K. My thinking about the timing of their departure was incorrect.

Maybe so. I'm just going on what Miles had to say about JB's influence on him. He openly admitted that Brown had a huge impact on his music in the 1970s. I don't know as much about Ornette, how he got from point A (Free Jazz) to point B (electric Avant-Funk). Of course Ornette preceded JB with his dispensing of conventional "Western Harmony." There's that. But I would still argue that Brown's music is a sort of -- to use your word -- distillation, no? If Ornette stripped away the convention of harmony but left conventional melodies, then JB stripped away the melody too, leaving rhythm as the music's central element -- the "new" Funk. (This is post-Pee Wee, post-Fred Wesley.) But maybe that's an over-simplification. I'm certainly not a musicologist or music historian. ... And god knows that I can't speak to this stuff from life experience. As much as I love this music -- and I do -- I'm a white dude who grew up in the suburbs. ********** As far as JB's band members getting credit... Sure, they deserve some of it. I won't begrudge them that. But isn't their relationship comparable to Ellington's relationship with his band? I'm thinking of Juan Tizol and "Caravan." Tizol got his "half" songwriting credit. That said: no Duke, no "Caravan" -- songwriter's credit or not. Duke was the catalyst. Likewise, it's hard to imagine someone doing what James Brown did without James Brown. And of course there were precedents for what JB did, Ornette did. There are always precedents. Nothing happens in a vacuum. Didn't mean to imply otherwise. ********** Thanks for the tip on the Fred Wesley bio. I'll read it.

Agreed. Preceding both Miles and Ornette, however, was James Brown. From my point of view, Brown's late-60s and early-70s "new" Funk is the wellspring of all these Avant-Funk experiments -- whether it's Ornette or Miles in the 70s, M-Base, or Rap. To me, that's the connection. Not sure whether Steve Coleman ever said that. I'm just using my ears.