Rabshakeh

This is a great record. A real favourite.

It was a total mess! But they seemed very proud of what they had there. The best stuff involved squatting down in the area right in front on the till. Hard on the knees, but as I say above, I'm happy with the trip. The WSQ in particular is much better on vinyl. When I get the odd day off I like to make trips. My next plan is to revisit Alan's in Finchley, where I haven't been in a couple of years.

I don't know! There were CDs and LPs. The good stuff was in baskets at foot level below the display area in the jazz area in the front, and in the store room in the back, which they were happy for me to roam around, but which was in no apparent order. Eventually I found the seam I wanted. It was a schlep, but the price was right and I was happy with what I found.

Bought today from Soul Brother in South London.

Why the changing leadership?

Sex Mob or Brass Fantasy?

I swing wildly on Funky Donkey - one day it hits perfectly and the next it is just flat and chaotic. I also prefer Under the Sun, but I had not realised it had been reissued, or that there was another one out there called Whisper of Dharma.

Not a group that you tend to hear discussed much. Obviously there's the BAG / St. Louis angle, and a lot of the players/affiliates turn up at different points on mid/late 70s "loft" era NY records. It seems to have been alternately led by the underrated Luther Thomas, Charles Bobo Shaw or to have been a co-led affair. Funky Donkey is the record that seems to be recommended most, generally showing up in the context of discussions of just how funky the vanguard could get. That's a Luther Thomas led date, and is how I initially heard the name. But, I've had excellent experiences with other Human Arts Ensemble records, including Under The Sun (which is just credited to the group) and Junk Trap, which is a Charles Bobo Shaw led record. Like the better known Funky Donkey, these are basically grassroots 'loft' type jazz with the emphasis on excitement. Does anyone who much about the HAE? Was it just a loose name that was used from time to time for records for what we would now call brand purposes? Or was there an actual group? What's the deal with the different leadership accreditation? Who was Luther Thomas? Also, the group's records are so underexposed that I'd be interested to know of any other records that people rate highly.

Okay. Maybe time to revisit Om and Sunship again. Either way, I’m very excited about this new release. Has anyone tried the taster track that’s been uploaded to stream?

Grant Stewart - Plays the Music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn Greatly enjoying this one for the first time.

Ken McIntyre - Year of the Iron Sheep (Compulsion, 1962) A very provocative sound, he gets.

Sorey: so unique. I do love Lehman, though. How about: Rudresh Mahanthappa or Steve Lehman?

Stan Getz - Plays (Norgran, 1955)

What a beautiful cover.

The Roscoe Mitchell Sextet - Sound (Delmark, 1966)

I think that my issue with this period is not the rejection of the quartet setting and/or the change in side(wo)men, but Coltrane himself. To my ears, in the immediate aftermath of Ascension, Coltrane adopted a very aggressive free jazz style, which sounds to me like he might have been trying to keep up with the new trend of energy music initiated by Ayler and epitomised by younger players like early Pharaoh. I find that listening to it is the only time whilst listening to Coltrane that it doesn’t get me (and this is not a fear of freedom or abrasive playing). I have never been able to shake the suspicion that the tenor player one hears on tracks like The Father The Son and the Holy Ghost might have - far from leaving behind the safety of the Quartet to follow his own heart - actually been being caught up in a trend in which he was in part a follower. His playing sounds less personal and unique to me on those records than at any point since his earliest career. I think that the contrast between those immediately post-Ascension records on the one hand, and those recordings that preceded Coltrane’s death on the other, is very marked - Interstellar Space in particular being my favourite record of his. The language on those later records sounds wholly personal to my ears. To put it another way, I love the Second Quintet. It is very clear that Miles Davis found playing with Tony Williams and company invigorating and challenging. But I am glad that Davis never began to sound like Wayne Shorter.

I've always found something a little lacking about Coltrane's early free period (i.e., Ascension and onwards, to the end of 66), despite enjoying free jazz in general. I don't think it is Sanders so much as the rest of the group(s), including Coltrane. It doesn't click to my ears - perhaps the saxophone is a bit too macho. Those records from 65 / 66, regardless of who is on piano or drums, aren't my favourites, and I think they compare very poorly to the final trio of records from 67: Expression, Interstellar Space and Stellar Regions, which I think are masterpieces. Even so, I am excited about this new release.

Groundbreaking or not, I do really enjoy Eric Alexander's playing. Thank you everyone for these additional recommendations.

Thanks!

What is this one?

The Group (Ahmed Abdullah, Billy Bang, Marion Brown, Sirone, Fred Hopkins and Andrew Cyrille) - Live (2012, NoBusiness)

Nefertiti easy victor. Two similar albums, one better. E.S.P v. Miles Smiles is harder, as E.S.P is quite different, and still has its link to the past. I listen to ESP more, so that one. Push Push or Mister Magic, judged solely on cover art? Dameron, but narrowly. I think his compositions have more room for interpretation, whereas Silver's always remind you of who did them first.

I'm giving this one a long overdue relisten, off the back of the recent Ernie Watts thread. Charlie Haden's Quartet West - Always Say Goodbye (Verve Gitanes, 1994) The 90s had some incredible long term groups like Quartet West, the Fo'tet and Motian's Trio. I kick myself every time I listen to them for not remembering to put them on more.

No. Not mixed particularly well. Sometimes you can't even heard whether it is the synths or the guitar that's playing. At least Pastorius is prominent.

Have we done Miles Davis' First Quintet or Miles Davis' Second Quintet yet?