Rabshakeh

Barney Wilen - Le Ça: New York Romance

Are there figures available? I’d love to know how they compared.

Albert Ayler - Music Is The Healing Force of the Universe (Impulse!, 1696) Bobby Few is one of those pianists like John Hicks who you barely notice until the third or fourth listen, but who can single handedly elevate an album.

I recently got a friend who enjoys and listens to a lot of the more well known jazz musicians into Stanley Turrentine (Blue Note era). He is the type of listener who likes backstory and narrative, and has been asking me awkward questions about him, his style and, for want of a better term, his place in the GRAND NARRATIVE of JAZZ HISTORY. I realise that I don't actually know anything at all about Stanley Turrentine, outside of the records and the fact that he was married to Shirley Scott and had a brother called Thomas who had a trumpet, and that he started at Blue Note and then went to CTI. I don't think any history of jazz I have ever seen has even mentioned his name, who his inspirations were, etc. Stylistically, I have always placed him in what I think of as "Ammons music". Uplifting blues based hard bop that doesn't quite step into soul jazz. Likewise Ike Quebec, Sonny Stitt (when wearing his blues hat), Blue Mitchell or Lou Donaldson (in his early Blue Note heyday). This unnamed style seems to slip between the cracks when it comes to critical attention (contemporary or retrospective), other than by reference to the "Jug Phenomenon" (itself rarely mentioned by the Gioias of the world) or Jimmy Smith. I have tried Bob Porter's book, but even that book is quite Prestige and Ammons heavy. So, two questions: First, the specific one, where did Turrentine himself come from, musically, both in terms of influences and immediate peers? Secondly, what is the relationship between this wider network of players - particularly players like Lou Donaldson and Gene Ammons? Were there any particular figures, groups, industry events, A&R networks, or hit records that stand out that might have inspired or caused them to coalesce around this sound? On this second question, I am particularly interested in hearing the recollections of those forum members who were lucky enough to be there are the time. Thank you, in advance.

Keith Jarrett - My Song (ECM, 1978)

What are some good Rushing records without the Count?

Mark Weinstein - Latin Jazz Underground (Zoho, 2014) I’m extremely impressed by this one. Flutes + piano trio (led by Aruan Ortiz, with Gerald Cleaver on drums) plus percussionist playing music with links to Andrew Hill. Does anyone know anything about Ortiz or Weinstein? They’re new names to me.

I think they had a sweet spot, but sort of overdid it after this period. I never understood the regard that Electric Masada or the various books of compositions Zorn did are held in some other corners of the internet. Sorry to hear about the loss of the Masada CDs.

Terumasa Hino & Others - Vibrations (Enja, 1971)

Nice to see that the run of British jazz reissues are now stretching into the Fusion era a bit.

Wayne Shorter - Atlantis (Columbia, 1985) A better album than I remember. First time around I was shocked because it's barely jazz. This time round I was pleased to find that it wasn't the limp quiet storm / smooth fest I'd recalled it being. There's more of a link between this sort of thing, Miles Davis and people like Steve Coleman than is commonly discussed. A new sort of fusion in an era of quiet storm, new wave, electro and smooth jazz.

Unforeseeably, I found myself there today, with a record bag. A great shop. Some good fresh stock that you don't always see in England and lots of Japanese stuff (although a little too Watanabe heavy for me). I plugged some fairly basic holes in my collection that I've wanted to fill for a while. Apparently they have a turnover of stock in November some time.

I enjoyed her Notes From The Village.

Thanks. I'm certainly interested, and will look into picking this up. I'm still rewatching that Keijo Haino shoot interview that someone posted a couple of months ago.

I love the idea of the two genres of soul jazz: greasy and healthy. Thank you for the list of favourites. Digging to do.

Definitely! I never understood for a second why he’s considered so ‘populaire’. All those clashes and dissonances…

Thanks. I'll check it out.

This post is 100% new material to me. I actually did not know that there was a late 70s / 80s soul jazz revival. We don't have a thread on this, do we?

Despite qualms, I am enjoying this thread. The "best albums of the 2000s" towards the end of 2019 didn't have anything like this wealth of new recommendations. Go on, give us a hint at where to start. Pretty please.

Thanks. I'll start with that Intakt one with all three. Are they British? I don't believe I have ever seen their names.

I don't know her. Whats a good starting point? Sonny Simmons and Barbara Donaldson have been mentioned a couple of times here too. I guess that the jazz avant garde was not really "progressive" in today's sense of the term. No reason why it would or should have been. On that note, have we forgotten Carla Bley?

Old and New Dreams - Old and New Dreams (ECM, 1979) I started listening to jazz in the late 1990s, when the "ECM sound" was definitely too much of a thing. I can't imagine how it must have felt to have bought a record like this one when it came out, and suddenly be transported for the first time into a sound world/production that was so crisp you could almost see under Charlie Haden's fingernails or count each individual droplet on the bell of Don Cherry's trumpet.

I've never heard of this film. It looks about as low budget as anything I've ever imagined. I'm impressed that it has a score, let alone one composed by Les Baxter.

Hideo Shiraki - In Fiesta (Teichiku, 1961) Having just finished: Matana Roberts - The Chicago Project (Central Control, 2007)

Nat Birchall - Ancient Africa (2021) I'm not the biggest Birchall fan but I enjoyed this. Retro genre work, but the genre is A Love Supreme, rather than Relaxin' or Moanin'.