Rabshakeh

You mentioned them in another thread. I see he's on Phantom Navigator. Is there any records from that group itself?

I mean, the bass playing's great. Not so much the rhythm section as an entity though - it is very lockstep. But it's really a record for Scott Henderson, who is just not to my taste. I'm currently having a restorative bath of Phil Upchurch to revivify the senses.

Scott Henderson, Gary Willis, Tribal Tech – Illicit (1992) I asked Reddit to recommend some great fusion records and this is what I got. I can't believe that anyone who doesn't teach bass guitar could get into this record. It is very... arid music. I like the fake PMRC sticker. Best thing about the record.

I certainly prefer him to Micallef, who is just a YouTube grifter in my opinion. Shep's a real dude in a weird living room talking about records he likes, whilst his wife ans awkward stepson try to stay out of view.

He needs to wash his hair. Seriously.

Do you think it was all just at the behest of the record company then? Surely Hancock had been having enough hits that if he had not wanted to play acoustic stuff he would not have done it. I never met the guy, but I assumed that playing VSOP and those creaky acoustic records he's chunked out since the late 1970s was something he wanted to do. Shorter is a different story, because, after a similarly creaky start he did at least put a band together and take stuff in a direction. Anyway, Volume 2 was cool. Nice to hear Tyner and McLean like that.

On the second volume now, with McCoy Tyner. So much stronger.

Agreed, I just think that it's weird how much it hit these musicians specifically. Plenty of other musicians went acoustic again after playing electric or fusion and were really fine. Or maybe even went somewhere newish with it. Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams in particular just never seem to really readjust back. That record's fusion, and a lot of his 70s stuff really isn't the same as he'd been playing in the 60s: much more about groove. But Hutcherson is good at any stage of his career. A focus on groove or a fusion jaunt or two doesn't seem to hurt him when he wanted to return to bop. What era are you talking? I actually think his post CTI stuff is pretty good. I struggle with him too on his return to acoustic.

Various – One Night With Blue Note Preserved (Blue Note, 1985) Currently streaming Volume 1 of this, which has most of the ex-Second Quintet crowd. As with VSOP, I am a bit struck by how much weaker, to my ears, many of these artists sound when playing acoustic bop than they did in their 60s prime. That's in contrast to the majority of jazz musicians, who I don't think tend to diminish with age. I would put it down to the effect of adopting a crowd pleasing stadium stance during the Fusion years, but I think Joe Henderson is also quite weak on these general records, whereas Bobby Hutcherson, who experimented with fusion as much as anyone, is still really good.

That's a good one.

Don Byas – Anthropology (Black Lion, 1972)

John Fedchock New York Big Band – John Fedchock New York Big Band (Reservoir, 1995)

Well, then you'll love this one: Cosmosquad by Cosmosquad (Marmaduke, 1997) First impression: the guitarist only stops soloing when it's time for a show-off flamenco interlude (sensitive). Otherwise it is all guitar solos, all the time. Everyone involved looks like they are in a death metal band from Florida circa 1991. It could do with being faster: they have a lot to learn from Mr. Hammer.

Jan Hammer was really the king of this stuff.

This is great.

Thanks! Astigmatic and For K are the two I know most well. Clear classics. I'll sniff these others out. I remember that one coming up.

Zbigniew Namysłowski – Winobranie (Polskie Nagrania Muza, 1973) Currently listening to this one. Looking at the Discogs page (https://www.discogs.com/release/587981-Zbigniew-Namys%C5%82owski-Winobranie) the Recommended section is full of great looking stuff that I don't recognise, mainly in Polskie Nagrania Muza's Polish Jazz series. Does anyone know any of them? I don't know whether we have a dedicated page for the historic Polish jazz scene.

It drives engagement. He does an episode on Prestige piano trip records and they get 400 views. But if you mention Miles Davis it is instantly 1,500. If you sass Miles Davis he might even get to 2,000. He learned that trick from Micalef. At least with him he does the one to fund the other.

Tell you what, I'll give it a go.

Thanks. I'm so so on that sort of thing although I like hip hop just fine, so may pass.

He has cats. They get everywhere. It’s one of the better features of the channel.

Sorry to pick this random post, but I have seen these around and I wondered what they are.

It would be a struggle to pick 5 favourites from the vault releases alone (although Etcetera is obviously going to be in there).

Enjoying this one. Lots of cool synth concepts, even if the drumming isn't anything like in his 1970s classics. A third of the tunes are really great. The other two thirds are just plodding.

I watched a few of his videos during lockdown. I like his older videos on Bethlehem etc, which I didn't know that well before. Otherwise he's just a weird opinionated man who needs to wash his hair. You have to be impressed by the grinding commitment to putting out three videos a week to such a minute audience.