Rabshakeh

Charles Lloyd – Voice In The Night

Greg Howe – Introspection This one is pretty good. There's something actually at its heart, which isn't always the case with this music.

Thanks! Never heard of them. Will check out.

Frank Gambale – Live! This record cover is basically what I had in mind when I started this thread. Great AllMusic review, in its entirety: "You can't live without this intense live guitar album with over 64 minutes of blazing guitar virtuosity".

Which ones are these?

Flim & The BB's – Tricycle This one hasn't aged into greatness.

I'm with you. Blood On The Tracks and Desire both use a narrative approach that you don't get on those earlier records (or the later ones). I really like both of those records.

Rodrigo Amado, Joe McPhee, Kent Kessler, Chris Corsano – A History Of Nothing

Cassius Lambert – Quote (Kaprifol, 2015) Quite gimmicky record by a younger swedish bassist, but some of the gimmicks work (hand claps; accordion) and the melodies are decent. Not everything about it works. It feels a little overproduced (which given that it is recent probably means it was not sufficiently extensively produced to not sound overproduced) and there is a bit of an 'electronica chill' to it. But some nice fresh ideas.

Now moved on to this one: Muriel Grossmann – Birth Of The Mystery Not sure this is Grossman at her most inspired, solo-wise, but overall I think it is a pretty good record, in the ALS lineage. Grossman is very popular on the wider internet, but I don't see her posted that often on here. It may be that she falls between camps too much.

Morning listen so far, all first time listens: Omer Klein – Fearless Friday J.R. Monterose, Jon Eardley, Rein De Graaff, Henk Haverhoek, Pierre Courbois – Body And Soul Boney James – Shine Yesterdays New Quintet – Angles Without Edges The Omar Klein record is unexpectedly good. I had no expectations for it. It's got a lightly funky world/modal thing going. Nothing mopey or academic. Some Jewish / Israeli folk tunes and pop melodies handled in a non-cloying way. Not quite the full deal yet but worth checking out.

That's quite a trek. I crossed via the John Zorn landbridge from an extreme metal entry point at around the same time. In terms of recommendations, the one that I really do recommend is Niacin, probably starting with the record upthread.

The boundaries between prog, metal and fusion are pretty blurry in this period. These are some fun records. I haven't listened to Ozric Tentacles in many years but I'm having fun doing it now.

Tzadik no streaming curse. I will check it out if I can.

The 60s charts are all fire, no dire. There's very little easy listening stuff on them. The most easy listening it gets is Wes Montgomery's proto-CTI stuff, which I know was viewed as pap at the time but I think has aged very well. Lots of soul-adjacent stuff. Not much purist bop, but it is a generalised chart showing mass consumption trends. It's a bit like looking at rock charts in the 1970s. There are years when there isn't a single album that is not still regarded as a classic. Thanks, both.

This is great.

I was hungry and had a twenty year old's metabolism.

I never really connected with Previte. A little too rocky and stiff. Anthony Braxton – Nine Compositions (Hill) 2000 This one is really excellent. Nice to hear Braxton with actual arrangements. A good recommendation from @mjazzg, for which thanks!

When I worked as a waiter, every day at the end of shift I used to get French fries (i.e., US style chips), gravy and mayonnaise. That was my happy place. It helped that I was running up and down stairs and on my feet for 12 hours a day.

That's interesting. I actually had no idea. I assumed everyone just always mocked the stuff. Do you recall who the main spokespersons in favour of smooth jazz were?

Boyd is the one who surprises me the most. Great drummer, good interviews, scene leader. But the records just aren't great. Journey To The Mountain with Bunker Golding was okay, but had Evan Parker on blowing everyone else away. I'll keep a look out for Rosie Turton.

Agreed on this. Fyah is my favourite non-Shabaka record that the current crop have produced so far. I think it does the best job of assimilating what's going on, has the best songwriting and strongest ideas. Plus it's got that tuba sound. For the rest, I enjoy their playing and look forward to at least a handful more major albums coming out of the scene. If you're ever tempted, I am very interested. There's a whole crop of musicians there who are assumed to be well known enough to need no introduction, but who both predated the Internet and have yet to be rediscovered or have serious reissues, meaning that they are effectively invisible. That goes for the Loose Tubes as much as the Jazz Warriors sets.

I should add that, whilst I don't dislike Connick, I would definitely take a lifetime on smooth jazz island over a lifetime in Pop Does Sinatra villas. I'm pretty partial to the smooth stuff from time to time. Particularly the early greats like Turrentine, Crawford and Washington, but also stalwarts like Najee and Kirk Whalum. Even the Rippingtons are okay in doses, provided you have your insulin pump handy. Whereas Bublé I find a bit ersatz and joyless, even if not as bad as Robbie Williams etc.