Rabshakeh

Anteloper – Pink Dolphins (International Anthem, 2022) I liked Anteloper's first record better than this, and Jaimie Branch's own stuff more. Feels like International Anthem is putting out too many weak or mediocre records nowadays, after such a strong start. It doesn't help that I have just been listening to this classic: Ray Bryant – Alone With The Blues (New Jazz, 1959) Now on to this recent release: Moor Mother - Jazz Codes (Anti, 2022) I think this one was summed up in my eyes by the review in the Guardian, which called it "essential", before going on to give it a generous, but not very "essential"-looking, four stars out of five. Nothing here that wasn't already making the rounds among smug grad student hip hop listeners back in the early 00s, and not even really up to that low bar. It seems squarely aimed at desperate relevance-hungry middle aged critics, rather than any demographic of listeners.

Kirk Whalum – The Gospel According To Jazz - Chapter I (Warner Gospel, 1998)

Thanks both!

Don Ellis – Tears Of Joy (Columbia, 2011) Still exploring 60s/70s big band records (Jones/Lewis, Gerald Wilson, Maynard Ferguson, CBBB, etc), which, as noted elsewhere, was not an area I really had explored before. This is a fun one.

Thanks. I read that. It was a little hard to identify what is actually good from the descriptions though. Most of the shops look like they're out of the centre and I am nervous of showing up after a 40 minute detour to find that the shop I have picked only sells achingly cool white label techno singles and house plants.

Once back in 2014, which was lovely although I suspect that it has changed a bit since then. I don't recall any record shops either, but then I was in the centre of town.

... Lisbon in Portugal! I'm going to be there this weekend and hoping to slink off and have a look about. Does anyone have any recommendations for second hand jazz vinyl?

David Murray Octet – Octet Plays Trane (Justin Time 2000)

Thank you

Milt Raskin – Kapu (Forbidden) (Crown, 1959)

Thanks. What Jamael Dean would you go for?

I used to just buy anything I could find on that label. Currently listening to that record Shipp did with Anti-Pop Consortium. That's aged less well, I think. Possibly that sort of early 00s 'alternative' Hip Hop only made sense at the time as an alternative in the era of 50 Cent's dominance. In post-Kanye post-Trap retrospect, the whole CloudDead / Mike Ladd / Anti-Pop Consortium bunch just seem to me to have been a smug and talentless road to nowhere. Edit: Not sure why this record is riling me up so much this morning. No one likes to be confronted with their younger self.

Do any of these stand out?

Isotope 217° – The Unstable Molecule (Thrill Jockey, 1997)

I'm not sure whether this was posted here before, but there are companies that run music themed cruises. They are very specific. For example there is a cruise dedicated to the in-no-way-missed 90s rap metal genre. There is a specific jazz one, which, despite an incredible line up, looks pretty dire: the attendees are precisely the sort of pale, thin lipped, straw hat wearing retirees that give jazz a bad name. Pretty much the only one that looks fun is the smooth jazz one! The audience looks great. Everyone is smiling and having a fantastic time. https://thesmoothjazzcruise.com/experience/photos/

She was a Bride of Funkenstein!

Khan Jamal's presence really makes it.

The recent discussion on Smooth Jazz made me realize that we have no Windham Hill thread. I've scanned through the mentions of the label on this forum and most of them are... less than complementary. On the other hand, some members do occasionally post WH records on the Listening To... page. So... Any favourites? Windham Hill or adjacent.

I have just found this old thread and am filled with nostalgia. Equilibrium and The Sublime And... were probably the two first modern jazz records I bought. I spun them so hard that I can still remember every note. It was a bad era for music in general but a strong era for forward thinking modern jazz.

Count Basie And His Orchestra – Basie's Beatle Bag (Verve, 1966)

There's something about that 1980s guitar playing that really turns me off. At times, it is halfway to hair metal.

Thanks for this interesting article. I actually enjoy a lot of this music. Those Grover Washington, David Sanford, Hank Crawford and George Benson records are great (presumably not a contraversial perspective around here). But even a lot of the records from the "bad" era of smooth jazz generally have a good single or two (albeit they are maybe better seen as Quiet Storm / R&B records designed for smooching or root canals, rather than jazz). A lot of modern gospel music also draws very heavily on this sort of smooth jazz. I think that in ten years, when the taint of Mr Gorelick has finally worn off, some enterprising young Gilles Peterson type DJ is going to make his or her name by "discovering" this stuff for a hip young audience. "Smoothtone" will be the new "rare groove" or "yacht rock". All the kids will be namedropping Najee and Kirk Whalum. Light In The Attic will put out four volume ultra glossy compilations with gorgeous cover art. You heard it here first. Two comments on areas that I think the articles don't pay attention to, which could also be included: (1) The quiet storm / smooth jazz intersection - the article touches on Sade and Kirk Whalum, but I think that this 'section' of the smooth jazz genre: instrumental urban contemporary pop, is the most interesting. As noted above, I do reckon that this part of the genre is due a repackaged and heavily marketed comeback. (2) What about the New Age music of the late 1970s? Surely artists like Shadowfax and George Winston (or just all of the Windham Hill label) are also part of the development and maturation of fusion into the smooth jazz genre?

Kenny Clarke's Sextet – Plays André Hodeir (Philips, 1956)

Yes.

Was this the one with the clip with Mtume that was passed around a lot on social media recently after his death?