Rabshakeh

Surprisingly enjoyable. I like it more than I did then now that the hype is long gone. Agreed, re Crosby.

The Jazz Warriors - Out of Many, One People (Antilles, 1987)

Three Blind Mice records in particular go for eye watering prices sometimes. I see that there was a 70s Japan thread: I see that it covers many of the classics, including Kosuke Mine and his associates, who are currently being streamed pretty regularly over at chez Rabshakeh's.

Mind you, that cover photograph...

I only know Sonnet and Spanish Flower, which I enjoyed without necessarily falling in love. Like many other Three Blind Mice records, they are on the borderline between electric post bop and fusion. The group had Masayuki Takayanagi on guitar, which is less explosive than you'd expect in the circumstances, although his playing is unusual. The bass playing sometimes gives the group a slightly more prog rock sound than some other Japanese groups in the fusion-ish space from the time, which I confess to not really enjoying. My view is that they are good records, but, given how fertile the Japanese scene was at that time, not necessarily stand outs. I've been listening to a lot of records from this era recently, and had been thinking of starting a thread when I get the time. There's such an embarrassment of riches there.

Al Di Meola?

How did Stitt react to that? I've seen videos of Stitt getting pretty irrascible.

I'm always surprised at how rarely this approach is audibly adopted, not just for old "Standards" (capital S) but also by groups or players like The Bad Plus (whose Mr. Iverson started all this) or Vijay Iyer when they pick new tunes by Nirvana or Radiohead or whoever, and then just treat them as a bunch of chord changes, but with updated harmonies.

Berrios always equals magic.

Does anyone know the cause of Perry's death?

I had never made that connection!

I don't know this one. Another one to check out. I'm currently on 1973's Astro Black. Not the greatest Sun Ra release (is there one?) but in some way the most characteristic.

Who else has recorded it? The version on the Turrentine album of the same name is incredible, in line with the rest of that, severely underrated, album.

That sounds correct. Pleased to hear that you were there.

Hilton Ruiz - El Camino (Novus, 1988) I love the contrast between the brass section and Sam Rivers.

There's been a recent, and predictably tedious, flare up on social media of the old question of whether standards are good or bad over the past fortnight. This latest came out of a blog / Twitter post by Ethan Iverson to the effect that jazz standards should be the core curriculum for jazz education, which was then attacked by Phil Freeman of the Burning Ambulance blog and record label. The usual dull stuff, with the usual predetermined sides. However, it did make me think of the question of whether, leaving aside the issue of whether jazz standards are nice or whether they are Satan, there are any standards that I actually really enjoy hearing to the extent that I am actually interested to hear how an artist tackles them. I think, for me it is really just two tunes: "Just Friends", which I note does not even make it into the above list, but which has quite a dramatic shift in the tune early on that can be tackled in a number of ways, and which seems to me to be one of the most adventurous platforms for improvisation of any of the standards (although I am not musician, so have no authority in that respect); and "Angel Eyes", which gives performers the option of whether to include the Sinatra refrain, and in any case allows for some very smokey playing. There are plenty of other standards that I enjoy hearing: "Beatrice", "Autumn Rain", "Lover man", and half of the Monks, Carla Bleys and Damerons, but I'm not sure I'd be sad if they were never recorded again, given the wealth of recordings already available.

The orchestra was certainly on the festival circuit. I saw it at Primavera in the mid teens. One of his tunes was sampled in a track by the rapper Nas, so he is very popular among hip hop fans. For anyone unfamiliar with Nas, he is Olu Dara's son, and frequently makes use of both jazz samples and playing (most notably by Stanley Cowell on Nas' most famous record) on his records. So the Mulatu sample is in good company.

Dave Holland Quintet - Not For Nothin' (ECM, 2001) With Chris Potter, Steve Nelson and Robin Eubanks on front line.

Don Braden - After Dark (Criss Cross, 1993) One of my favourite Criss Crosses.

One of the great records of all time, in a large part down to the production.

I thought this was a little known Sam Rivers record for a second. Identical wardrobe.

I only recently discovered Straight Ahead, which is on New Jazz rather than Prestige proper. As far as can tell it is basically a gift date to Eric Dolphy, who gets almost more solo time than Nelson. One of Dolphy's best early albums, I think.

I'm currently listening to Low Flame. Stitt's playing is great - precise, yet emotional, but also capable of little unexpected steps, like tweaks in embouchure that you don't expect. For all that, it is noticeable how uninterested he sounds in the date. There's a sense that he just turned up, played, and left, without giving it a moment's thought.

Michael Gregory Jackson - Clarity (Bija, 1977)

Andre Hodair - American Jazzmen Play Andre Hodeir's Essais (Savoy, 1953) Looking at Discogs, I'm surprised at the very low price for which this one goes. Most of the records that were referred to in the recent European jazz modernism thread seem to go for inflated values (possibly due to be highly prized rarities in the Japanese market, as someone noted on that thread). This one goes for £3.