Rabshakeh

Bobby Bland - Two Steps from the Blues Billy Boy Arnold - More Blues On The South Side

Thanks!

Not so lucky. Here for work and very tense. Today will be the first time I am leaving my hotel or the work location in a week, even to eat. Hoping to get some goodies to cheer myself up.

How is this one?

What did you think of the later tracks, starting with "Memphis Blues" and going on? I had a very similar, very negative, reaction to yours in relation to the first half of the record - particularly the opening monologue and then the rather awkwardly educational (to my ears) large group tracks which felt to me to be stiff and like they were missing a point. But then I really enjoyed the second half, where Moran's piano is more prominent and the treatment of the mid sized group tunes is looser and more daring. A lot of the stiff studio quality of the first half seemed to drop away. It did not quite redeem the first half of the record for me, but it did change my overall view of the project. I think that if it had not had that opening monologue and perhaps had fewer of the larger group tracks I would have regarded it much more highly. As it is, I thought it was an interesting experiment that I would return to, but perhaps not all of it.

Love this one.

I used to love the Amazon user edited lists. Long gone but very formative for me.

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-04-14/chatgpt-ai-is-knock-knock-knockin-on-spotify-s-door#xj4y7vzkg

I like reviews because they often lead to recommendations and references that you would not get in an article. I find reviews really valuable for that reason alone.

Having re-listened off the back of this, I find it interesting how "cool" the playing is from many of the participants.

I don't know. Jazz seems to be popular at the moment. I know lots of young people who like jazz. It isn't always quite my definition of jazz, but it is theirs.

There was a leaked industry release requesting submissions back when they initially fired people, which suggested that was the future direction.

I'm thinking 2023 Iyer and Iverson in particular. Both musicians who I certainly have enjoyed in the past, at points.

Are we not missing the point? Jazz Times has fired all of its staff and is not proposing to take on new permanent staff, as far as I know. Instead I thought that the model was going to be paid for advertorials plus near-unpaid fan submissions, probably on a level with the universally lauded Wayne Shorter obit. I have no objection to an entirely African-American staffed jazz magazine, and in fact think it is a perfectly good idea, but Jazz Times' recent direction is not that. This is all just marketing led trolling in the wake of the backlash, surely?

Moran is not the only piano-playing jazz educator that I think sells this sort of socially edifying (nice way to describe it) but rather arid stuff. I like this record quite a lot more than other socially edifying recent albums by some of Moran's piano-playing jazz educator peers, where the music comes packed with some sort of Albert Murray-meets-academic lecture but wouldn't be able to locate a sense of swing if it was in a playground. At least I remember it.

This reflected half of my view, but I found the record greatly improved in the second half, when there was more Moran. In the first half it had a very academic stiffness, which felt pedagogical. It reminded me of some of the dreaded later era Wynton Marsalis records, where he is doing little more than re-enact early jazz as an educational tool.

Thanks!

Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band - XXL The long 1990s.

Is this or any of their other records something you'd recommend?

I thought I had read somewhere that it was not going to have permanent writing staff anymore. Is this just a fig leaf covering that?

I'm not a huge 70s big band guy but that one is a classic

Gave it a listen. Pleasant enough but it misses the original by quite a way. It is anything but innovative.

East German trombone quartet. Slightly jazz funk and slightly free jazz. Very gritty. I really enjoyed it on my first listen. Easily streamed. I'm the same with Amiga.

An excellent record. Surprised that noone has mentioned Budd Johnson so far, as I love his solos on this one.