Dub Modal

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.

Streaming the deluxe edition of this classic. Typical of Tad's the extra tracks make no sense as some are maybe related to the original SF and some are definitely not. Regardless, it's the Cool Ruler and I love it.

Branding and aesthetics. I've seen where scolds on other audiophile forums have reminded others that ordinary vinyl is actually "colored" as it initially processes as clear. Some of these colorful pressings are cool to look at on the TT but other than that it's just marketing.

FWIW I didn't intend to imply anything was being missed if you didn't enjoy JBL. I just wanted to chime in as one who liked his playing, specifically Jesup Wagon as that's all I've heard. Listening to Borderlands Trio Wandersphere this morning based on the rec and endorsement above and really enjoying it. Much appreciate the tip on that one.

Some other notes on albums from that Jazz Times list (big thanks @HutchFanfor posting it): Amir ElSaffar Rivers of Sound - The Other Shore is very enjoyable. The rhythm section is based in what I would describe as North African influence (if I'm wrong on that, please LMK) while the horns seem anchored in the jazz idiom tradition but they're woven together near seamlessly. That separates it from that Ches Smith album, which I found way more Haitian drumming dominant (not much of a bad thing, but doesn't seem to belong on a jazz list...) I didn't feel smart enough to enjoy the Anna Webber album. Maybe I'll read a book and try again later. The Metheny Side Eye album is damn good. Lodger is a hard blues track where Pat makes it sound effortless. And James Francies, a sideman on that Metheny album, put out his own Purest Form. To me it's derivative of prior Chick Corea work and/or other 70s fusion. I'll listen again because there's a lot going on there but initial reaction wasn't too good. Really dug the Irreversible Entanglements album. There's poetry/rapping over the tracks but it really worked. That's in contrast to the Jamire Williams album which was more hip-hop than jazz. Nothing wrong with that, but again - why on a best-of jazz list?

Ha, well, that's surprising. It didn't seem to fit at all. Maybe their other stuff is better...?

Totally different reaction here to JBL. Loved his playing from jump. Would love to hear him live.

That's the Indaba Is comp...yeah, it's mostly good. The only track I skipped was by The Wretched (song lived up to the band's name for sure, but maybe that was the goal). There's a few in your top 10 that I need to listen to. Glad to see someone else giving love to that Blake album. Also not on the lists is Brandee Younger's Somewhere Different, also from 2021 and on Impulse. There's some really great songs there.

And I forgot to mention the Parker Migration of Silence…they only have the sampler on Apple Music. But I really liked what I heard there. Sent me into a bit of a Parker deep dive which was fun.

Ok, so spent some time listening through this list at those that I could stream. They definitely hit it right on the money with #1 being Jesup Wagon - wow, talk about an excellent album! Others I really dug that I hadn't heard before were the LeBoeuf big band stuff, Shepp & Moran (damn good), Brian Lynch (BN throwback sound and compositions), the Indaba Is comp, Jihye Lee Orchestra, Lovano & Douglas and the LeDonne album. LeDonne was, like Lynch, a throwback of sorts in terms of arrangements and style and was a nice contrast to the more modern Jihye Lee album. Of those that I couldn't get into: the Lloyd and Marvels - not my fave of his by far; the Ches Smith started good but the drumming overwhelmed any improv there; the Lonnie Smith - I typically like his albums but this wasn't hitting for me; and the Aarset was just ok.

Nice, interesting set. I didn't like that Mangione very much. Seemed stuck in a cul de sac, doing circles until they finally decided to drive up closer to the street...only to sit and wait longer. If they'd just made a turn either way on the avenue...

Have you listened to Ches Smith's Path of Seven Colors yet? Berne is there as sideman. It's an interesting album. A little outside of the idiom as the Haitian drumming drives the whole thing, but it's a good listen.

I have this, enjoyed the first few listens then set it aside for a while. Listened again recently and it's not my favorite Monk. Not bad, but it won't be the first of his albums/comps I'll play when the time comes.

People in North Carolina are weird.