Dub Modal

https://www.actiiiproductions.com/ As of 2000. Based in Beverly Hills.

Posted a few pages back by another listener, Dave Stryker's As We Are. Giving this one another go and really enjoying it. The string quartet is made up of Marika Hughes on cello, Benni von Gutzeit on viola, and 2 violins from Monica K. Davis & Sara Caswell; with the latter providing several solos throughout. Great compositions and a tranquil mood setting Notes say that Julian Shore did the arrangements for the strings, which makes sense as most of their accents seem to follow the piano.

Legendary album.

60 Minutes or some similar show did a piece on the musicians who recorded Muzak. Maybe it was MTV news? It was decades ago so I don’t remember who produced it but it was interesting and probably on YT somewhere.

I listened to some of this yesterday and enjoyed it. I think Danilo Perez also has a new one with strings. Meanwhile Rosenwinkel is playing piano...go figure.

I dig it

I think there's a chance that Uncle Kenny isn't even playing that sax part on the audio track - can't find an official credit online at least. So there's the possibility he was just a cameo in the video. This is similar to his cameo in that Bad Mom's Xmas movie where he's also self deprecating. If he is/isn't playing in this song, this seems like more in line with the hoot/toot pop playing Jim references above. Brecker definitely brought more sophistication and style to the table I'd say...

Regarding Brecker, I played the '96 album Tales from the Hudson...it was good, but not something I'd return to much and didn't inspire me to look at other solo records of his; although I have and enjoy that first Steps Ahead record. I also have him as sideman/appearance on a few records: Bob James' Heads, Fagan's Nightfly, and Mulligan's Little Big Horn (which I don't like much); and these are a bit outside the scope of a traditional jazz setting. But damn, his credits list is amazing and impressive. This guy worked a lot, so to his credit all his woodshedding definitely paid off. And barely 30 seconds of such...Gorelick wishes he could do something like that.

Several guys I know used to swear by JT when entertaining a date.

Listening this morning...the left hand on Island In The Sun

Admittedly I'm more familiar with the 12" version of Candy which is stripped down and IIRC doesn't have the solo...but that is badass.

Damn, I love Candy (and most Cameo for that matter) and didn't know he was on that.

Yeah, I recommend the new album with Moran. It's really good IMO.

Indeed. The mind-meld, coming together as one organism type thing. They play together and with feeling and you can hear that, and feel it yourself. Good stuff.

Ha, this reminds me of the complete opposite of sports writing these days. Take a mainstream national pub like USA Today - some good writers have come and gone out of that outfit. Scoff all you like (I mean, it's USA Today, I get it), but they could write some great profiles of athletes here and there. Now - for the most part - it's like they strive to offend not only the reader, but the athlete as well. There's got to be a happy medium somewhere...

A couple of Don Grolnick records today. Not a player I'm at all familiar with, but a track from Nighttown showed up on this month's Blue Note playlist and I was intrigued. Enjoyable records for sure, with some iffy choruses by the horn section on Nighttime. Dig Ehrlich's bass clarinet when it's spotted. I was way outside of the jazz scope in the early to mid 90s, so I'm guessing this was well within the mainstream of the time; and they honestly don't strike me as being much different than what Brian Lynch is doing currently. Very much in the pocket, thematic, with some cool solos.

Even pre-Covid, live jazz in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel-Hill) was much more sparse that it was in Mr. Keck's hey day when he was getting these signed. These are impressive in terms of representing that history and who came through here.

Yeah, good stuff. Regarding that McLean, I was listening to some tracks of his this morning and #6 sax sounded pretty similar. I now see Gene Harris and Percy France got ID'd. Looking forward to learning who the pianist is on 11. Especially since they're not American. Also glad I got a half point for locale and live recording on 9. I'll quit while I'm ahead on that and let others ID it totally.

Late to the party here and avoiding all previous comments: Tracks 1-4: Respect the playing, but the style of these tracks isn't really my thing. No guesses. I'm sure there are some legends involved on these... 5 - Slide Hampton? Not that I recognize his playing but the arrangement sounds similar to something he'd do. And I really like the arrangement here. Electric bass so if it's Slide then it's a later recording date. 6 - Sax player sounds similar to Jackie McLean. Whoever is on trumpet can play. Very fluid and a good sound - they are in the zone on this one, with a hat tip to the rhythm section who are keeping it tight. 7 - Great tune. No guesses (well, is it George Coleman?), just looking forward to the reveal (or the comments if it's been ID'd already) 8 - Like the interplay b/w the sax & bass in the beginning. Another good song. Strong bass player. 9 - Echo chamber recording, or inside of some grand hall - maybe a cave? One of those live Escardin tracks or wherever the French cave was? Nice grooving track. 10 - Familiar track. Sounds like a 70s recording b/c of the bass. Percussion break is cool. I'm thinking of Stanley Cowell but not sure it's him. 11 - Nice blues. Pinched sax sound. Helluva piano player. Could carry this all by themselves, which they do later on. Chicago player by chance? 12 - Another tune with some nice piano playing. Kind of reminds me of James Booker...is it him? Nice melody and song. 13 - Old school style playing. Webster-ish. All right, now I can read the other comments...enjoyed listening to these, thank you.

hey, why not? lol. Audio trainwrecks be damned.

I almost think I should listen to Wes' Road Song afterward for cover art continuity.

Trying again with this one. Jazz Times rated it highly among 2021 jazz albums (recorded in 2019). First listen was a miss for me. But second listen was on phones while walking the dog in the dark early morning hours and it worked much better. Especially the second half with the 12 piece band.

The SQ struck me also in terms of how well they were recorded. I listened via apple music, so the quality carried over into streaming.

Enjoy! I'm wondering how Kris Davis gets some of those sounds out of her piano...and is a sampler used anywhere on here? Amazing stuff for sure.