relyles

I have the disc, have listened to it a couple of times while driving and am enjoying it thus far. I am a big fan of Mark Turner and he is featured in good form on this disc. I have the Iverson disc Nate mentioned and like that a lot, but have not heard any of Iverson with the Bad Plus. On this disc, Iverson seems to be using space a bit in his soloing and not trying to overwhelm anyone with technique. On the whole, the quartet plays well together. None of the compositions feature any catchy heads that you will be humming in the street and are instead what you may expect from the personnel, tunes that will require the attention of the listener to appreciate. That is not to say the recording is inaccessible in any way. I would hope it will appeal to a broad audience. There is simply a slight cerebral overtone to some of the original compositions. There is also a very interesting arrangement of a Coltrane tune that features the hardest tone from Turner I have ever heard. Interesting stuff and something I look forward to further investigation.

Who else is in the group?

I guess no one here is actually going to listen to the recording.

I just got it last week and had a chance to listen to it a couple of times during the commute. My initial reaction to the music is very positive. The quartet has played together a bit the past couple of years and there is a certain cohesiveness that is audible. None of the compositions made strong impression on first hearing, but the playing by the entire group is good. Basically straight ahead playing with a little bite, but completely accesible. Most of the compositions are by Hart and if you heard his compositions on any of his previous recordings, these are fairly similar. Overall the recording probably will not blow you away, but it gets better with repeated listenings and fans of any of the musicians involved, in particular Mark Turner, should be satisfied.

The word was that it was not anything life threatening and that he was expected to be back to performing this upcoming weekend.

I have heard several radio broadcasts featuring Schweizer and they made enough of an impression on me to want to investigate her music in more depth. Coindidentally I had printed out the page from the Intakt website regarding the recent solo disc as a reminder to purchase it sometime soon. Nice to read an enthusiatic recommendation to help ease any doubts. Thanks Ubu.

While in the process of compiling a Mark Turner discography I read some favorable reviews of Jon Gordon's Criss Cross releases, Witness and Along The Way. I have not had any meaningful exposure to Gordon's playing. Anyone have any substantive thoughts on Gordon generally and/or the aforementioned Criss Cross releases specifically?

I was fortunate to win tickets for all three days of this year's Litchfield Jazz Festival and spent the entire weekend listening to music. With the exceptions of Dionne Warwick and Dr. John, I saw the entire lineup for this year’s festival. Overall, there was something to enjoy about just about every act. I first went up Friday evening and caught Cyrus Chestnut’s trio. It had been over ten years since the last time I heard Chestnut live. The trio played an enjoyable straight ahead swinging set. I opted to skip Dionne Warwick to get home a little earlier and prepare myself for a full day of music on Saturday. The first performer on Saturday was Robert Glasper’s trio with Alan Hampton on bass and drummer Damion Reid. I was looking forward to hearing Glasper live after enjoying his first disc on Fresh Sound NT and a positive reaction to his playing on other discs. I think it is tough to be the first act at noon on a Saturday before the audience has fully arrived and warmed up, but Glasper’s trio was impressive. The set focused primarily on music from their most recent Blue Note release. The energy level went up a few notches when Terrell Stafford’s quintet with Don Braden, Bruce Barth, Chris Beck and Danton Boller hit the stage. Stafford and Braden both played several impressive solos and the whole group swung hard. Although I had heard of Trio da Paz, I had never heard any of their music. My first exposure to their brand of Brazilian Jazz was positive. One of the biggest surprises of the festival for me was Carol Sloane. I am not big on jazz vocalists, but I will confess to enjoying her set very much. She did a Duke Ellington tribute and although I have heard all the tunes thousands of times before, her performances were fresh and engaging. She is a very good performer. One of the highlights of the festival for me was Lee Konitz’s quartet with Peter Bernstein, Rufus Reid and Matt Wilson. It sounded like it took Konitz a couple of tunes to get warmed up, but the group interaction was fantastic – especially Rufus Reid and Matt Wilson. Every time I hear Wilson live he impresses me and his performance with Konitz was one of the best. Saturday ended with a predictable infectious Latin jazz performance by Eddie Palmieri that was highlighted by crowd pleading solos by Conrad Herwig and Craig Handy. I arrived a little late Sunday, but still caught just about all of Eddie Marshall’s set. I did not hear the announcement of the band members, but I think the saxophonist may have been Dave Ellis. The rest of the band was not musicians I am familiar with. Their set consisted primarily of tunes from the jazz repertory played relatively straight ahead. Next up was Dena DeRose’s trio, which for me was a pleasant surprise. The surprise was less for DeRose’s singing, which was fine enough, but more for the group which included Matt Wilson again on drums keeping everything interesting. A little less energetic, but still very satisfying was the piano duet by Bill Charlap & Renee Rosnes. The highlight for me was a rendition of a Monk tune – I believe “Criss Cross”. The only real disappointment for me was John Scofield’s trio with Steve Swallow and Bill Stewart. I enjoyed their recording and some other stuff I have heard by them, but Scofield’s guitar distortions were a little too much for me this time around. James Moody was scheduled to perform, but he was hospitalized. In his place at the last minute the festival put together a group that featured Don Braden, Jimmy Greene, Paul Bollenback, Peter Madsen, Joris Teepe and Steve Johns. The group performed a Braden original, a James Moody tune and a couple of other tunes and was joined on several other songs by Carol Sloane. Although I was looking forward to hearing Moody, this group more than made up for the disappointment. The energy and passionate playing by everyone really brought the crowd to its feet. I thought this was a fitting end to the festival for me and decided to skip Dr. John in favor of getting home in time to watch “The 4400”. Overall, a great weekend of music.

Bertrand, I located the LP last night and it does seem to have the same confusing info with the "*" for the musicians on a couple of tracks.

I will have to locate the LP when I go home this evening and get back to you.

If you do not already have the info, I have the LP and will try to dig it up to see what info is there.

That is where I got it quite a while ago. I do not know whether it is still on the tracker.

Thank you John. I did eventually locate info for all of the titles that are not in my collection.

It took me significantly longer than I originally planned, but the first draft of the Osby discography is now available on the Jazz Discography website. There are still some edits that will likely be made in the next few days, but all of the basic information is there. As always, I would appreciate hearing from anyone with any additions, corrections, etc.

I already taped this to my wall and definately plan to come down for the Saturday show and possibly Sunday. Since I have a lot of family in Harlem within walking distance of Marcus Garvey Park I always try to make this when I can.

I was recently reminded of these comments and wondered if you had any further updates other than the disappointment with the turn toward overt Rollins on his latest Criss Cross disc. I was reminded of these comments because I included a track from Stewart's 1995 Criss Cross date, More Urban Tones on a recent blindfold test compilation I did for another bulletin board. The above comments encouraged me to check out Stewart and the 1995 date was the first thing I heard. if you have not heard it I would strongly recommend it as I think Stewart's playing on this disc is very close to your description above.

Last night I had another opportunity to hear Newman live at the Monday Night Concert Series at Bushnell Park in Hartford. I had a special guest with me in my six year old daughter, Sierra, who really was the person that insisted we go when my enthusiasm for sitting in the park in the heat was low. Although she fell asleep some time during the second part of the performance, I am happy Sierra insisted. Newman's group included Curtis Fuller, the always entertaining Winard Harper and organist Radam Schwartz. They played a straight ahead set of mostly tunes from the jazz reportire. It wound up being a very pleasant night of music (once the sun went down it was not too hot) and even Sierra (who has a fascination with drums) enjoyed herself and thought Harper was great.

I think I heard him on something with Joe Chambers playing drums. Can't remember much about it right now.

different people take different approaches to BFT, and you ought to know that if you've participated in even a few (and I know you have). I frankly have more important things to deal with right now than in depth commentary on the songs you selected, or spending a few more hours trying to "get it". I listened; much of the music didn't grab me. BFD. These discs get a wide variety of responses. Hell, nine times out of ten, Evan gives some sort of variation on "I can't identify anyone, but I liked it. Thanks a lot". The fact is that you shouldn't be seeking validation by expecting universal acclaim for the songs you selected. I appreciate what you are saying, but isn't part of the point of this whole exercise to comment on who you honestly respond to the music? IMO it should not simply be an identification test. It takes a lot of thought and time to compile one of these discs and I can understand how it would be frustrating to go through all that work and then have participants not even take the time to comment. It is not a matter of seeking validation or acclaim. Regardless of whether the response is positive or negative I think the preparer of a BFT would appreciate a little more than a simple two line dismissal of an entire disc.

Disc Two was very enjoyable. To my ears the focus seemed to be young saxophonists on the scene now. Although I listened to the entire disc at least two times, I had hoped to listen to several of the tracks again before posting my comments. Since I forgot to bring the disc to work with me today, however, I am just going to post my thoughts I wrote down previously. If I get a chance to listen again I will post follow up comments. 1. I hear traces of Jackie McLean, but I am not confident it is him. The first time I listened to it I thought I heard Phil Woods. Whoever it is, it is a solid straight ahead track featuring good playing by the entire quartet. 2. Classic hard bop, which I do not seem to listen to as often as I once did. The tenor saxophonist sounds like Hank Mobley and the snap in the drums makes me think of Billy Higgins. I can’t identify any of the musicians with certainty, but this is like staple food to me – always satisfying. 3. A Monk tune played by contemporary musicians. After they play the head it kind of loses some of the feel of a Monk tune. The tenor saxophonist was very impressive although I have no clue who he/she is. Another solid track. 4. Very nice relaxed quartet track featuring a clarinetist with an appealing tone. I can’t identify any of the personnel, but I enjoyed the track. 5. Familiar sounding young tenor. I am sure I have heard him/her. Joshua Redman came to mind once. There seems to be a revitalization of electric piano among younger musicians but I don’t always hear as much distinctiveness in the instrument as I do piano. I would not mind hearing more. 6. I am sure I have heard this track, but I am not sure where. I thought about Jimmy Greene who is one of my favorites of the younger saxophonists. I enjoyed the composition and the performance. 7. the saxophonist on this track is very good, but whatever that synthesized instrument is that soloed after the saxophonist was a little annoying. I am not one of those people that objects to all electric instruments, but I just did not get this one. The keyboard player came to mind. Both Donny McCaslin and Chris Potter came to mind. 8. The beginning of the track had a similar groove to “Freedom Jazz Dance. The saxophonist sounded like Michael Brecker. 9 & 10. The two tracks are from the same live recording. Initially Kurt Rosenwinkel came to mind. I enjoy Rosenwinkel mostly for some of the saxophonists that he has played with such as Mark Turner and Chris Cheek. I am not certain who the saxophonist is on this date. Decent track, but these are two of the tracks I had hoped to listen to a little closer.

1. Pleasant unison playing on an attractive head. Solos by piano and soprano. Impressive extended solo by the piano and concise statement from soprano. Solid track to lead off the disc. 2. Older sounding recording featuring guitar bass and drums to open and horns come in later. Relaxed trumpet solo starts things. Guitar solo stays with the relaxed mode and the interjections by the horns during the solo keep it interesting. 3. Dramatic piece with a tango like rhythm. I like the clarinetist’s sound. It is somewhat familiar. The piece reminds me of some things I have heard out of California based clarinetist Mark Sowlakis – in particular the emphasis on the composition, the clarinetists pure tone and the deemphasis of solos. Interesting track. 4. I listened to this track several times and the alto saxophonist made me think about Greg Osby, but I don’t think it is him. Could be David Binney. No wait. Is that Vijay Iyer with Rudresh Mahanthappa? It is very familiar. I really liked the pianist. His solo had an edgy tension that kept my interest. The more I listen it is probably not Iyer so I will guess Binney with Craig Taborn. 5. The pianist reminded me of Geri Allen’s early recordings – that bounciness of some of her earlier compositions. It is not Allen though. Strong feeling of momentum in this track. As I listen now I find my head bobbing and my feet tapping. The pianist’s solo seems to build to a nice climax before winding down, but then it continued for a little too long. 6. The pianist’s initial statement though short, was very thoughtful. The bassist and drummer keep a nice groove throughout and the two tenors engage in an interesting exchange. Enjoyable track. 7. Something different. Sounds like an accordion and violin in the mix with a larger ensemble. Strangely the trumpet soloist sounds familiar. Not a monstrous display of chops, but effective on this track. Decent track, but not something I would be motivated to listen to on my own. 8. I tried, but I am not really getting into this particular solo piano track. Seemed to be going nowhere. 9. in some ways this pianist’s use of a slightly repetitive left hand figure is similar to the preceding track, but what he/she plays on top of that is more interesting. At about 2:20 into the track things loosen up a bit for a moment and alternate back and forth. It is kind of episodic. Something I think I would enjoy more with each listen. Could it be Jaki Byard? No. Very impressive track. 10. Sounds like Jim Hall with Greg Osby. Good stuff. Everyone seems to be listening to and playing off each other very well. 11. There were some things that reminded me of Mark Whitfield. I have not heard much of him since his Warner Brothers days, but I was very fond of his Grant Green influenced tone. If this is him from the most recent trio recording available on his website, that recording just got moved up a few places on my want list. Yes! Strong playing by the entire trio.

Other than one or two laughs, I could not wait for it to end.

I have long been a fan of Threadgill and in fact one of my the first live jazz performances I experienced when I really started to obsess over the music was a performance by the sextett at Cornell Univ. in the late eighties. Any reason more mention has not been made of the Air recordings? Seems to me that some of the music Threadgill made in collaborative trio with Fred Hopkins and Steve McCall is equally gratifying as the recordings made under his name alowe.

I suspect it is.

I have been following that thread for the past few days and as I commented there, I found the who discussion troubling. Mr. Crouch's reply did not help matters either.