Rabshakeh

Tyshawn Sorey Trio +1 With Greg Osby – The Off-Off Broadway Guide To Synergism (Pi, 2022) Just listening to the taster on Spotify at the moment, but I find this a little disappointing. Sorey is wonderful, but the record breathes the same sort of close air as some of the 00s Motian releases, but without the strength of ideas that Lovano and Frisell brought. I find Aaron Diehl particularly disappointing but Osby not far behind. I would be interested in finding out other members' views, particularly those who've heard the full set.

I'm pretty certain that we do.

On Bill Lee specifically, I have noticed that he is heavily involved in a number of later Strata-East records, many of which might be euphemistically described as "community projects", the record A Fresh Viewpoint being a good example. It is interesting that, at a time when many musicians were not able to record at all, Bill Lee was able to be comparatively prolific, and that he used this platform to release such odd records. Does anyone have any insight into how this came about, or Lee's network, standing, and behind the scenes role in what I assume was the New York scene at the time?

I find it interesting how current jazz fandom often compares Black Jazz to Strata-East. One of those labels is pure quality all the way through, whereas the other is pure peaks and troughs.

Is it good? Venus is an interesting label but with an uneven output. Now playing: Solomon Ilori And His Afro-Drum Ensemble – African High Life Not a great record, but it is still interesting for the way some tracks, particularly the more "jazz" tracks, prefigure the more recent London scene with their mix of West African-derived jazz rhythms and dance-minded saxophone solos.

Joe Farrell doesn't always turn up, but when he does, and he was pretty consistent for a while, I'll take him over his contemporaries mentioned above.

What's the lol for?

Maybe Clifford Thornton then? I'm counting Ben Dixon put on account of the fact that it doesn't really feel like it's his vibe.

Orchestra – Not In Our Name

Quarteto Negro – Quarteto Negro (Kuarup, 1987)

By the way, notwithstanding the original post, it isn't only fusion. Any suggestions for bop, post bop or free stuff welcome, acoustic or electric and cut with non-jazz idioms or otherwise.

Patricia Brennan – More Touch (Pyroclastic, 2022) This one's cool. Vibes with heavy pedal warping over diasporic (mostly Afro-Cuban) rhythms. Some old school electronics flourishes.

Mali Obomsawin - Sweet Tooth (Out of Your Head, 2022) This one seems to be impressing a lot of people on my twitter feed at the moment, so I thought that I would give it a listen.

I think you could have subbed either for her, and possibly someone else like Hannibal, Alan Shorter or Don Cherry. I think that in the context they'd all have been an improvement. The trumpet playing is one of the weaker points of that record.

Are there any good single disc records of his from the post war period?

And Firebirds!!!

That's a great record. I second this recommendation.

I have been listening to a lot of 2022 releases by newer artists this week, whilst away at a wedding in Singapore and holiday in Malaysia. I am not sure that it has been a bumper year for classics, or that there is all that much that I would recommend, but it does feel like the sudden upspring of newer younger players in around 2017-8 has suddenly this year turned into a flood. There is a lot of fairly populist jazz and jazz-ish music out there suddenly by newly emerging musicians, many of them from the UK or SA. That is on top of the now-usual stuff from International Anthem etc. Perhaps it is an effect of COVID causing records to be released early or to be delayed until now, suddenly leading to three years worth of new music at once.

Moor Mother – Jazz Codes (Anti, 2022) Another listen to this. It still sounds to my ears an awful lot like an early 00s Mike Ladd production.

Eli Soda - Honk If You’re Sad (2022) Lakecia Benjamin – Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope, 2022) I am not sure what I was expecting from this one. Great cover though.

Rather embarrassingly, I actually had not realised that there were five. I thought just it was LMO, Ballad and Dream Keeper. That's despite @JSngry's reference about to Not In Our Name.

Anthony Braxton - Echo Echo Mirror House (Victo, 2013) So dense, but some very good moments. My first listen but will certainly not be my last. I really agree with this. I find a box set to be a real turn off, and really like to here the original records, as (the producer) intended, and with the shorter and more digestible playing time. Also, what an excellent record this is.

The greatest.

Thanks! I know the first Opa but not the second. That YT stream looks great too. I meant Central and Southern - I was trying to find a way to include Brazil. Cuba in particular is, I think, a better explored area than the other local scenes, although any recommendations still appreciated.

My comment on “Spanish civil kitsch” is really a non-musical one, which reflects a personal irritation regarding the way that republican Spanish civil war themes, iconography and slogans continue to appear in modern cultural and political discourse. I think that this is one, very subjective, reason for my not really loving the first record, and preferring the later ones. The bigger issue for me is that the first record is really a concept album based around brass band interpretations of the songs from the era, interspersed with personal meditations. The treatment seems to move between nostalgic, martial and lachrymose, which is really not to my taste. The tunes are also handled quite directly, save for pauses for contemplative bass solos, or atonal and/or zany breakdowns. I find that I can see a lot of it coming, before it starts, which is not something that I could say for The Magic City or Seasons. I find that the other two records manage to avoid these traps (which probably only appear to be traps to me - this is all purely subjective). The Spanish Civil War becomes more inspiration and less subject matter, and Carla Bley’s arrangements are much more important. Bley had only gotten better in the intervening time, and I think that is a huge contributor to what I like about albums 2 and 3. I think that Bley also opens the second and third records out to the players, who get to say more interesting things. Anyway, it is all opinion, and I am aware that many people really love that first record, so I probably am the one who needs to revisit it.