Rabshakeh

Which are these? Sorry if I missed it.

From a comment early in that thread (my comment - I was being egomaniacal). In contrast to TKK's view of 1950s/60s jazz modernism in Europe being sunshine, Vespas and existentialism, I suggested it was more drizzle, chips and a desperate yearning for all things American. Italy excepted, of course.

I can't believe I missed that Ellington wasn't there. What the hell? Lists like this are always going to be a disaster. I think by that definition you'd have to have Keith Jarrett, Tony Williams, and a bunch of guitarists. But that's never how it's going to be.

Currently on: Miles Davis - Live In Berlin (CBS, 1967) I haven't listened to this one in years. Listening to it now, one particular thing strikes me: was Miles... trying to impress his new young friends? Quite aside from the fact that he is actually playing with commitment (not a criticism of Miles Davis, but nonchalant cool (AKA playing like he doesn't give a single shit) is what I normally associate with him, rising to apparent indifference once you get past the Plugged Nickel stage), Davis uses all kinds of funny techniques that I don't associate with him at all. Check out 'Stella by Starlight' as one example. On an entirely different note, it's good to hear Art Blakey's young tenor Wayne Shorter (which is how he still sounds here) making contact with Hancock, Carter and Williams.

The cover of this is just missing the bag of chips that was needed to create the definitive euromodernism image.

Yeah. Him, Fletcher and King Oliver and possibly Bix. That's if you're taking the approach of just listing the most high profile names viewed from a contemporary standpoint who flourished before 1960. Query how many people on this board would equate that list concept to "genius" though (or even be comfortable with the "genius" concept). I think a more serious approach would need to have Clifford Brown on, at least, even if you are still sticking to the pre-1960 idea. But he was on the wrong label and hasn't had the late career and/or posthumous marketing campaigns that have benefited other musicians' name recognition. As for the fact that they are all from more than half a century ago - that's another matter entirely.

Seems a odd exercise to undertake, and the choices just seem to me to be a list of the most high profile jazz musicians, with Charles Mingus and some 20s/30s jazz musicians conspicuous in their absence.

Do you class those two as exotica records? They’re quite different to your Jazz Espagnoles or Afro Temples.

Toon van Vliet - s/t (BV Haast, 1959) A recommendation from the recent jazz modernism thread. Rudy Pronk has quite an original flick to his drum playing.

That's a good story. It looks beautiful.

John Law Quartet - Exploded On Impact (Slam, 1992) Just finished this one: Together Alone by Joseph Jarman and Anthony Braxton (Delmark, 1972) There are a lot of fun ideas on this one. It seems surprisingly ahead of itself for 1972 - closer in ideas terms at times to latter day AACM and adjacent artists likes Nicole Mitchell and Matana Roberts. Thanks to @mjazzg, who I think first mentioned it (probably about a year ago!).

K Curtis Lyle / Julius Hemphill - The Collected Poem For Blind Lemon Lemon Jefferson I put this on in the background whilst I was working. I really have no idea what I was thinking! 50 minutes of achievement, but no work done.

Oh, that's it. I was struggling to place it. A particularly harrowing exploration of the implacable silence of God, in the face of Man's increasingly desperate accordion playing.

Great cover. It could be a poster from a particularly austere early Bergman film, except there is an accordion bottom right.

Pat Thomas - Al-Khwarizmi Variations (Fataka, 2013) Revisiting one I haven't listened to in a while.

Yep. Three Waves too.

Art Farmer Quartet - Sing Me Softly of the Blues (Atlantic, 1965) That rhythm section of Steve Kuhn, Steve Swallow and Pete La Roca was one of the most magical from the 1960s.

Nothing quite like feeling you are being made to do homework. I am currently enjoying: Dob Pullen and the African Brazilian Connection's Kele Mou Bana. Just finished: Lee Konitz' and Peggy Stern's The Jobim Collection on Philology.

Lee Konitz - Meets Warne Marsh Again (Pausa, 1977) Picked on vinyl after @JSngry's recommendation back in May. Definitely worth it.

Wildflowers, Vol. 5 (Casablanca, 1977) A real gem of Roscoe Mitchell on the second side of this one. Jerome Cooper and Don Moye in tow on percussion, traps and saw.

Bit of a Roscoe Mitchell / AEC marathon today chez Rabshakeh, to celebrate his 81st.

Thanks everyone!

Yep. That's the one. I am slightly intimidated by Tony Scott's hairline.

John Lindberg Trio - Give and Take (Black Saint, 1982) I hadn't realised that, not only is there another George Lewis, but there is another John Lindberg Trio. In the latter case, it is a Swedish rockabilly combo that sometimes goes by "JLT".

A short film about Brown, made by Harry English in 1967. Interesting for me is the fact that he was clearly listening to Roscoe Mitchell even in 1967 before Paris: there is a lingering shot of an implausibly clean apartment with a copy of Sounds propped on the wall. Brown, of all the NY Ascension crowd, seems to be the only one who attempted to assimilate what he was hearing from the Chicagoans.