Rabshakeh

Thanks!

Freddie Hubbard - Windjammer I hadn't listened to this before. It's... not that bad? I was expecting Jackie McLean's Monuments, but this is actually 1/3 of a good disco record. What would you say are your favourite Schifrin soundtracks? I've been listening to a fair bit of Schif today, but mostly his arrangements (The Cat) and original records (Black Widow, and de Sade). I don't know the Soundtracks that well, though.

Thanks. I saw these. Some great album art out there. I've always been a bit suspicious about anything connected to Branch, but I was interested to hear about this.

I’m listening to a record by an artist whom I don’t know called Lon Moshe that was originally issued on a label called Black Fire. I’ve never heard of this label. It seems to have a connection with Plunky Branch from Juju. The music is very clearly influenced by Strata-East stuff. Very much in that standard spiritual jazz vein that seems to still be monopolising the reissue labels’ thinking at the moment. Bandcamp says: “due to a combination of personal and cashflow issues, many of Black Fire’s release were ultimately scrapped, before later being released on CD-only during the early ‘90s”, and it sounds like that applies to Mr Moshe too. Anyone know anything about the label? What was it and what happened to it? Are there any other releases that was worth checking out (not sure that Mr Moshe’s work really stands out from as special within the spiritual jazz basket)?

We have a record shop here which is a partnership with a Tokyo jazz vendor. You can immediately tell that something is unusual, simply by looking at the stock, which is noticeably different to what London sellers tend to stock.

Ron Miles – Circuit Rider (Yellowbird, 2014) Neither Ron Miles nor Bill Frisell is necessarily a draw for me (although I love them when I love them), but this record is really good. Improvisatory folk music on cornet and guitar. Sounds very fresh.

I love this record.

I'm vaguely obsessed with the opening version of "Just Friends" on this.

Elton Dean's Ninesense – Happy Daze (Ogun, 1977) Returning to this record after a long absence. It's amazing how many good records Ogun put out.

Kevin Rowland from Dexys Midnight Runners says hi. Edit: Apparently the woman who plays Eileen in the video to Come On Eileen, Maire Fahey, is the sister of one of the Bananaramas Siobhan Fahey. That's my new favourite dungaree based fact.

The Miles Davis/Tadd Dameron Quintet - In Paris Festival International De Jazz - May, 1949

That's a shame. I'd have liked to see that. Apparently dungarees is British English. I hadn't really thought about it before. Sorry to use an unusual term.

Shelly Manne & His Men – Yesterdays (Pablo, rec. 1960) What a great combination of musicians this is: Kamuca, Gordon, Freeman. A lovely record.

Who was John Dentz? It’s an hell of a line up for someone who doesn’t even have a Wikipedia page.

Just come across this great thread. Did the entire BLAKEY group have to wear dungarees? Are there any pictures? Did it continue during Wynton’s early tenure? I mean pictures of the whole group on stage, by the way.

The Teddy Charles New Directions Quartet* Feat. Booker Ervin And Booker Little – Metronome Presents Jazz In The Garden At The Museum Of Modern Art (Warwick, 1960)

Misha Mengelberg – Pech Onderweg (ICP, 1979) This is a good record.

The John Dentz Reunion Band – December 5 & 6 (M&K, 1981) AKA 4Tune by Ernie Watts and Chick Corea.

Ditto on the Bertramis.

I know they're time intensive but it's a shame no write ups this week. I always enjoy them, particularly the additional recommendations.

The LB Flamingo's a hell of a track. One of the few bits of music for which I remember exactly the experience of hearing it for the first time.

Neither, really. I think it just reflects the London scene through time. Vinyl is closely tied in with DJ culture.

This made me laugh. Still quite common in London. I know quite a few places that do reggae and jazz pretty much exclusively (e.g. Honest Jon's). Cosmos Records? They have a spin off in London called Yoyo that has interesting stuff, albeit at a sometimes silly premium. Another place that does jazz, hip hop and Brazilian music only and almost no rock. All of this I think represents the kind of music London DJs used to play. Lots of dubbier stuff and 'rare groove' type jazz. Less rock. It's quite a contrast when you travel and see how different things get.

What about differences in jazz buying habits? I think they're just as noticeable as the wider differences between genre.

I'm currently in Minneapolis, keeping myself amused by going record shopping and then wandering around the areas afterwards (fail-safe technique: areas of cities with record shops are always the best for strolling around). I'm always interested in how different the second hand record stock is in different cities, even within the same country or region. Generally, I think that what is widely available in a second hand shop essentially represents what was popular in the area 10-30 years ago, or so. In contrast to my home base of London, Minneapolis second hand racks are noticeably full of the lighter end of 1970s fusion (Spyrogyra) and CTI stuff (which are a lot cheaper than London, maybe because of the lack of a Giles Peterson effect). Phil Woods and Richie Cole were obviously huge here at one time, because they have huge sections. There's almost no cool jazz; barely anything on Prestige or the 70s bop labels, which show up all the time in London; and next to nothing avantgarde (jazzwise; lots of avantgarde rock and punk for some reason). My last trip to a major city was to Chicago pre-pandemic. Despite being in the same country, and close to Minneapolis, in geographic terms, it was a different world. Gene Ammons was everywhere on the second hand racks, and there was a lot of the more avant garde stuff. That's pretty understandable, given that Chicago is home to both. Soul and blues sections were both large and quite Chicago-specific. I'd be interested in other people's thoughts about record shopping and the differences in cities’ music tastes, and what other members have observed.