Rabshakeh

Stanley Cowell, Billy Harper, Reggie Workman and Billy Hart - Such Great Friends (Strata-East, 1983). First time I’ve listened to this one. I’m enjoying it. A fuller and richer sound than you normally expect from the early 1980s. Now on: Blue Gene (Prestige, 1958) by Gene Ammons.

Still subtler than Peter Brotzmann.

I used to have a dedicated CD by a spin off of the punk band Neurosis that was supposedly field recordings of ants but just sounded like a cement mixer. It sounded and was pretty awful, but it did clear a room and, crucially, was at frequencies where it didn't wake the neighbours.

I had no idea that Threadgill ever had that sort of profile.

I think that's it. Like the return of the sharp suit, just a bit cruder. Maybe a hint of the 80s equivalence of wallet thickness with talent.

I don't know. Possibly. I think more in the sense that a lot of live footage and cover artwork prominently features very chunky and expensive luxury wristwatches accidentally in shot. Rolex jazz classic: Also, anything involving Wayne Shorter from 76 onwards.

A friend of mine has a theory that the late seventies through early 90s, starting with VSOP, was the wristwatch jazz / rolex jazz era. I'm not sure what the characteristics of the Rolex jazz genre are, but, since he pointed it out, I have had to concede that he has a point.

Snap! Just put this on.

Chris Potter - Concentric Circles (1994) I enjoy this much more now than I did at the time for some reason.

Charlie Rouse and Red Rodney - Social Call Now on: Julius Hemphill and Oliver Lake - Buster Bee

All fans of Avant Garde music (jazz or no jazz) keep a couple of records for precisely this purpose.

Quite an intriguing-looking one.

I primarily meant the two Ancestors disks. Comet too, although I'm less into that. But his playing elsewhere is good too, I think: particularly on that Makaya McCraven record and on Alexander Hawkins' Unit[e].

Thanks. I will certainly listen to it. I enjoyed but haven't really revisited Reptile. The tuba/soundsystem rhythm thing is definitely what makes me most interested in Sons of Kemet, although I prefer Hutchings' other records where you get to hear him play more.

I've noticed a couple of people mentioning that they've bought or listened to this one recently. Any views from anyone? It seems to have gotten rave reviews, but that seems to be standard these days, so it is hard to tell. Meanwhile, I'm listening to this for the first time: Lee Konitz Quartet - Ideal Scene (Soul Note, 1983). Recorded on an auspicious day for me, so I am pleased at how much I am enjoying it. Nice to hear Lee Konitz in a setting with a bit more group dynamics and arrangements than usual for him (not a criticism of his other records!).

Harold Mabern - Lookin’ On The Bright Side (DIW, 1993)

Pourtant les cimes des arbres (2011) by Daunik Lazro, Benjamin Duboc and Didier Lasserre

Just finished Song of the Unsung (Interplay, 1978) by Horace Tapscott. Now on: Lee Konitz' Jazz à Juan (Steeplechase, 1977).

Beins, Capace, Küchen and Vogel - Fracture Mechanics (Microton, 2017) Now on: Miles Davis - Black Beauty: At the Filmore West (CBS, 1973)

That’s another one I enjoy. I basically think that he became fore enjoyable from the mid 70s onwards.

John Butcher & Gino Robair - Liverpool (Bluecoat) Concert

I half agree. I never liked Revolutionary Ensemble or CCC much, and I would say that I don't really like Leroy Jenkins much overall. That album though really hits me hard.

It's a bit different to his other early ones, which tend to be more composed for want of a better word. To me, this record has the same appeal as classic 70s Braxton.

Freddie Hubbard - The Hub of Hubbard

Great cover.