Rabshakeh

I’m enjoying him on Big John Patton’s Got A Good Thing Goin’ On right now. I don’t want to exaggerate, but it just might be the greatest human artistic endeavour of all time.

I feel like there's an infinite pool of great Grant Green albums.

Lee Konitz - Zounds (Soul Note, 1990) Just when I think I've heard every angle of Lee Konitz' music.

David Binney - South (ACT, 2003) Enjoying this one a lot on first listen. In a forward-thinking modern jazz vein, with Binney and Potter on the front line.

I agree. I think they are a strong partnership. Boyd is a Very Good Thing for the London scene in my opinion. Golding's style is a little pastichey, I think, but I enjoy what he does. It's particularly good here because the bass and percussionist get to push him around with a bit of freedom, which draws him out. I agree on that leader date, although for me it is partly down to the cover photo, which does agree with me.

Binker Golding - Moon Day (2021) I always think of Golding as a young up and coming talent, but he's not much younger than me.

Why no bop revival for Mr. McLean? (* Disclaimer: I may be overstating the extent to which there really was a sales uptick and/or the market was actually juiced for a McLean comeback. Perhaps Monuments looked like it might sell, or help him reconnect with the "kids". Maybe he was just really into slick lifeless disco or it was a comedy bit, or something. I'd take all that if it was Ayler or Harris, but harder to believe it with McLean).

Although having now scrolled down, I see that there was indeed a connection. A Woolworths-type scenario.

Mtume - Rebirth Cycle (1974) Again. I didn't know this. I assumed they were the same company.

I like Carter a fair bit. Certainly a lot more than his peers. It's nice that he tried something that was a bit different. The Django thing sounds worth checking out at least.

Definitely, and even more so Don Pullen, who gets the Saturday Night / Sunday morning feel exactly.

Ah hah! Thank you for being so polite. I hadn’t realised they were different labels.

What was it like before that?

I definitely agree on the honker heritage. With the above set, there is also something a bit different though - Polished mass market pop music from the African American tradition, as opposed to the grittier stuff like McNeely or the "greasier" stuff (I'm never sure whether that term is okay, but I don't know an alternative), both of which are for a slightly more selective adult audience. I think Shepp probably drew on it all, whilst keeping the distinctions between source material, where Kirk and Byard in particular seem to be coming out of that precise point in the tradition and commenting on it. Not that Ray Charles isn't one of the greatest soul screamers of history, but he was also a smooth big band pop star too. Showing influence from that latter side (or the tradition from which it emanates) feels like quite a statement. The only other artist who comes to mind is Bowie, who did something similar but two decades advanced in style with Brass Fantasy - a twist on a pop big band.

Kenny Clarke & Others - Pieces of Time (Soul Note, 1984) Thanks. It has a strange edge to it. It might be a clever bite effect that he worked out.

Grant Green - Green Is Beautiful (Blue Note, 1970) A great funk record. Does anyone know what that deep sounding reed instrument is on The Windjammer? It sounds like a bassoon, but it might just be a strange organ effect. Les Discogues is helping me not at all.

It feels like the link between artists like Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jaki Byard, and Archie Shepp doesn't get explored enough. All of these artists essentially riff on a certain sort of African American pop music, somewhere between soul, pop and jazz (but not "soul jazz") that is epitomised to my wooden British ears by Ray Charles' big band work. The first named set of musicians take this very populist music down (for the 1950s) quite avant garde paths, emphasising dissonance and going outside. It's a form of postmodernism that stands out in the 1950s and 1960s, during which "high culture" modernist vanguard thinking seems to have remained paramount. I found Kirk's (in particular) populism shocking when I first heard it. Their work is noticeably different to other vanguardists and traditionalists from the time, and even from the soul jazzers or retro/swing guys. Only Archie Shepp really seems to fit within the "New Thing", and, even then, it seems that this "post-modernist" streak emerged after he made his name, and then (unless I am wrong) did him no favours in the eyes of contemporary critics. I think that all of this changed significantly with the late 70s, when The Tradition came back into style, but even then, the soul/pop source material has continued unexplored. I'd be interested in people's thoughts on this mode of music making. Is there a link, or is this all just desperate Monday morning procrastination. Are there any other musicians that fit into this category?

It feels like the link between artists like Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Jaki Byard, and Archie Shepp doesn't get explored enough. All of these artists essentially riff on a certain sort of African American pop music, somewhere between soul, pop and jazz (but not "soul jazz") that is epitomised to my idiot ears by Ray Charles' big band work. The first named set of musicians take this very populist music down (for the 1950s) quite avant garde paths, emphasising dissonance and going outside. It's a form of postmodernism that stands out in the 1950s and 1960s, during which "high culture" modernist vanguard thinking seems to have remained paramount. I found Kirk's (in particular) populism shocking when I first heard it. Their work is noticeably different to other vanguardists and traditionalists from the time, and even from the soul jazzers or retro/swing guys. Only Archie Shepp really seems to fit within the "New Thing", and, even then, it seems that this "post-modernist" streak emerged after he made his name, and then (unless I am wrong) did him no favours in the eyes of contemporary critics. I think that all of this changed significantly with the late 70s, when The Tradition came back into style, but even then, the soul/pop source material has continued unexplored. I'd be interested in people's thoughts on this mode of music making. Is there a link, or is this all just desperate Monday morning procrastination. Are there any other musicians that fit into this category?

Michael Garrick - Troppo (Argo, 1974) Why was this released on Argo? Was Argo recording unfashionable British artists at that point? I thought that it was struggling at this point in time.

Marsalis did a series of teaching videos from his bleak looking music room over lockdown. They were surprisingly poor for such a professional talker, which is a shame, because I was so starved of entertainment at that point that I'd have watched Marsalis making a cup of tea at that point. The rap and hip hop thing is an old talking point and Marsalis and his ilk need to move on. In 2021 rap music (no longer just hip hop) is not so much a genre as it is just popular music, full stop. As far as I can tell, the primary lyrical subject matter these days is just depression and teenaged angst. The old gangster rappers spend most of their time posting confused Facebook memes on Twitter. I doubt Marsalis has listened to rap music since 1994, which might explain why his talking points are as stale as his views on jazz history.

I'd never seen this cover. It looks great. Distinctly un-Xanadu.

He’s not the only one…

Herbie Hancock - Mr. Hands (Columbia, 1980) Underrated.

I remember getting blown away by IASWIn A Silent Way so hard. My closest friend's dad is a bit of a fried ex hippy, and gave my friend the middle name "Zawinul". Noone knows why, because he's not a bit Weather Report fan, but it meant that we hit Heavy Weather and Mercy Mercy quote early on, long before proper jazz investigations began. But In A Silent Way was the first time I really got into Joe Zawinul.

I'd actually not heard of this until today