Guy Berger

Alright, I'll get things started. This was the second Keith Jarrett album I ever picked up, after the excellent Whisper Not (and some sideman stuff with Miles and C Lloyd). As soon as the spiky vamp that opens "Misfits" started, I was totally sucked in. I put this album at the halfway point of this band's life. Their early recordings (for Atlantic and Columbia) are a grab-bag of different styles, not always totally well-integrated but also full of enthusiasm. Their later recordings show a greater maturity but less wild eclecticism and more self-conscious "seriousness", culminating in Mysteries, Shades, and The Survivor's Suite. Fort Yawuh mixes the best of both worlds. In addition, the live setting means you can hear the band stretch out; like some other working groups, these guys were much tamer in the studio. Dewey Redman in particular plays exceptionally well. And though I don't think Shorter or Lacy ever felt seriously threatened, this has some of the best soprano playing of Jarrett's career. Onto the individual tracks. "Misfits" showcases Jarrett debt to Ornette both as a composer and an improviser. The opening vamp sets up Keith and Dewey's solos are great, as is Paul Motian's free drumming underneath. At the end, Keith comes in on soprano and there's a nice bit of collective improv between him and Dewey. "Fort Yawuh" has a mysterious introduction with Keith plucking the piano strings, then a Coltrane-ish theme statement. Jarrett solos over a vamp, then Dewey comes in with an excellent solo on his musette. "De Drums" is the weak link on this album. The outer sections have a nice rock-ish groove and the middle part swings along nicely, but I think unlike the other performances on this disc this one never catches fire. "Still Life, Still Life" starts out as a solo Jarrett improv. It's a nice example of Keith's ability to merge lyrical and abstract playing. The Evans and Bley sides of his personality. I love it when Dewey Redman enters near the end of this performance (which unfortunately fades out!). "Roads Travelled, Roads Veiled" is maybe the most powerful performance on this CD. It opens up with a stunning Jarrett solo introduction before moving into the dramatic Coltrane-ish theme. Then there are two terrific reed solos, first by Jarrett on soprano and then by Dewey on clarinet (!!!), both with a distinct Middle-Eastern or North African flavor. Jarrett then returns for a piano solo. Haden's solo rambles a bit, but other than that I think this is the highlight of the album.

"Wavy Gravy" is one of the coolest song titles ever. Guy

There's an excellent Weather Report Discography here, or at least there used to be. Hopefully it will come back online soon. Guy

Am I the only one who thinks the blurb about Star Trek is a little weird/over-the-top? Is Oliveros (or McPhee) a hardcore Trekkie or am I missing something? Guy

Well, when your students are paying $40K/year to study at your institution, you have the luxury to splurge on trendy, expensive toys for them. What percentage of the people who are in the market for external hard drives buy iPods for that purpose? What about people in the market for PDAs? Guy

Chris, Nobody is denying that an iPod can do things beside storing a lot of music. My question is whether those things can be done better, or cheaper with something else. Guy

I'm with you, Jim. It seems to me that the live '65 stuff is where Coltrane fully realized a lot of his ideas for the quartet. And "Creation" is an unbelievable performance, even by the standards of '65 Trane. Guy

"Blue Valse" is a quartet version of "Ascension" from 1965. Guy

Two great albums, but I think these are more "hot, lazy summer afternoon" than "intimate late night". Guy

Good choices, Barak, though I don't think either album is quite as good as Midnight Blue. What about Idle Moments? It has that same late-night vibe. Guy

This set is essential if you are interested in Coltrane's live material, despite documentation problems. It makes the individual Pablo albums superfluous. My favorite stuff on this box is from 1963. (The last three CDs.) Guy

The Half Note date contains a stunning version of "Song of Praise", but I'd wait until Impulse's forthcoming reissue of this music. The Five Spot material has been released domestically by Blue Note. The Newport '65 CD actually has more Shepp than Trane. Not one of the most essential '65 quartet performances, but if you like this period you should pick it up. Live in Seattle is a live recording with Pharoah Sanders. Some intense free jazz, particularly on "Cosmos" and "Evolution", though some performances are lacking focus. The Newport '63 CD has the classic quartet with Roy Haynes replacing Elvin. Classic performances of "I Want to Talk About You", "MFT", and "Impressions". (An intense Roy-Trane duet on that last one.) Live at the Village Vanguard Again has the best-sounding recording of Coltrane's final group with Rashied Ali and Alice. The version of "Naima" is incredible, though you should pass on this if you dislike Pharoah. Guy

I realize that Miles, Herbie and Ron had been playing with Tony Williams for over 3 years by this date (and Wayne for over 2) and were used to all sorts of insane stuff happening behind the drum kit, but... ...when they finished recording "Footprints", do you guys think the thought "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED???" just crossed those four guys' minds? Guy

Oh crap... and Concord just picked up Fantasy. UMG is the last company I want near the Fantasy back catalogue. Guy

After my most recent binge, I'm going to have a ridiculous backlog of 40 (!!!) unlistened to CDs. I try to limit myself to listening to 8 new CDs a month (which is a lot), so no new purchases until at least October. Guy

A university giving freshmen expensive, trendy toys seems a little strange to me. Guy

This is pretty ridiculous... though slightly less ridiculous than paying $39K/year for an education. Guy

I went on a bit of a binge, but for $136 or so it was a great deal (all new): Mozart, The Symphonies 11 CD box (Pinnock) Haydn, Sturm und Drang Symphonies 6 CD box (Pinnock) Tony Williams, Spring Duke Ellington, Such Sweet Thunder Duke Ellington, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse Gateway, Gateway 2 Eric Dolphy, Far Cry Art Blakey, Three Blind Mice vol 2

No doubt about that. I'm of the opinion that the price was lowered because there are many alternatives that more or less perform equally well and cost much less. I think this is more or less right. In two years, you'll be able to get a 20GB MP3 player for $100 or less. Apple can claim some sort of "coolness" price premium, but as the competition gets fiercer... Guy

The alternates of Idle Moments also fit well into the mood of the CD -- it's one CD I'm not likely to stop or eject as soon as the original LP ends. Guy

A question about the 40 CD box -- how is the documentation relative to the Classics CDs? So I went for Eclipse (and Such Sweet Thunder, which I was set on picking up), though I'm sure a purchase of Uptown lies somewhere in my future. Hopefully in a couple of months, once I work off the backlog created by yesterday's CD purchasing insanity, I'll be able to get to work on the early Ellington stuff. Guy

I think an interesting tangential question is why there weren't any prominent "progressive" post-bop guitarists during the 1960s. This was a period where Miles, Trane, Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Grachan Moncur, Jackie McLean, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Hutcherson, Larry Young, Walt Dickerson, Elvin Jones, Richard Davis, Tony Williams and others were all slowly pushing the boundaries of bebop and moving in various degrees toward more challenging settings. But I have a hard time thinking of major guitarists playing in the same style -- they mostly seemed rooted in bebop language. For example, Grant Green plays on a couple of more "progressive" BN dates (Solid, Into Somethin') and while he holds his own, he's always the most conservative musician on the date. Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Wes Montgomery, Barney Kessel... same thing. There's Sonny Sharrock, but he's not really a post-bop guy. Actually, I just thought of one guy who might fit the bill -- Gabor Szabo. Some of his stuff with Chico does take jazz guitar past bebop. And of course, John McLaughlin records a major post-bop guitar date on Extrapolation, but that's near the end of the decade. And some of Pat Martino's playing during the late 60s fits the bill as well. Any thoughts?

I've been posting a bit too much on this thread, but just wanted to say that I had a surprising rediscovery of the last 12/23 set. (Disc 7.) It's shorter than the other sets but has some of the best playing. It has maybe the best "Stella" of the engagement and the performance of "Yesterdays" (particularly Hancock's solo -- I like how he alludes to "Giant Steps") is terrific. The version of "All Blues" actually reminded of Mingus. And this set also has one of the best "Theme"s in the box. Guy

Today I was listening to a recording of Miles in Portland (1966). A great performance, six months after the Plugged Nickel engagement, with Richard Davis subbing in on bass. Davis is (unsurprisingly) much more active than Carter -- a bit of foreshadowing for Dave Holland's role in the group. Anyway, Miles is absolutely smoking on this album. It's kind of a shock -- I'd been listening to the Plugged Nickel stuff a lot over the previous week, and yeah Miles plays better on 12/23/65 compared to 12/22/65, but on the May '66 date he's on fire. He's playing as well as he did on Miles Smiles. This date is also cool because it has the earliest (AFAIK) recorded version of this quintet doing "Gingerbread Boy". They do it over a straight-eight rhythm rather than the more Ornette-ish version of October. Guy

My question is whether Andrew!!! will ever get reissued separately on CD. I slept on the Hill Mosaic but I really want to hear this session. Guy