Rabshakeh

Anthony Davis, James Newton and Abdul Wadud - I've Known Rivers (1982, Gramavision)

I think it is. Possibly a Yazoo comp if I remember right. I had it on CD a long time ago.

John Surman - Upon Reflection (ECM, 1979) More Pachelbel than Bird, at times.

Najee - Najee’s Theme (EMI, 1986)

Mark Weinstein - In Jerusalem (Zoho, 2015)

Dudu Pukwana, Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani and Louis Moholo - Blue Notes in Concert A really superb release, from a 1977 London concert.

Thanks

It’s aged well, too. I haven’t caught up on this. Is it like his previous one or is it more of a conventional jazz record?

Lotte Anker, Sylvie Courvoisier and Ikue Mori - Alien Huddle (Intakt, 2008)

Live At I.U.C.C by Horace Tapscott and Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra

Ran Blake - All That Is Tied (Tompkins Square, 2006)

Lotte Anker - Floating Islands (ILK, 2008)

I find I prefer Heavy Spirits most. From the turn of the 1980s he seems to find his thing, which is less interesting to me.

Thank you.

Listening to Kenny Dorham Sings and Plays: This Is The Moment (Riverside, 1958), for the first time. What's the logic here? Was this an odd attempt at a Chet Baker Sings?

Dwight James - Inner Heat (Cadence, 1983) Great record, with Byard Lancaster and Khan Jamal. I have a big thing for this record. It is quite silly in its own way, and puts a huge smile on my face. It is one of a few albums I play that is guaranteed to cheer me up.

Hadn't realised this was out. I'm really looking forward to listening to this one.

Perhaps he misses that period because of his self imposed retreat to a meditation centre for the first half of the 1970s?

Nate Wooley - Seven Storey Mountain VI (Pyroclastic Records, 2020)

Right up there.

I've seen reports that Barney Rachabane, one of the greats of South African jazz, who played with Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor and Tete Mbambisa among many others, has died. Not that much coverage, even in the SA press.

Joe Henderson's my go to comparator. Same concept though - Gradual running out of self-belief in the Concept in the mid 70s in face of dwindling critical and audience enthusiasm, then triumphant traditionalist return in the Reagan era: 'Trane plays the American Songbook, Live at the Village Vanguard (Blue Note, 1981)', 'Night Trane' (GRM, 1986), etc etc. Like Henderson (and Shepp, if you like his later work) they'd probably be good records, but its not an entirely appealling thought. However, I'm not sure it's right. Coltrane's final period deepening comes at a time when free jazz is still riding high, rather than in the face of gathering indifference and bop revival in the late 70s, as with Shepp and Henderson. So, as always, it looks like he was leading the way into something else.

Gotta say, it does look an awful lot like a toupee.

Ditto.

What do you mean?