Rabshakeh

I saw them live a few years back. On of my most treasured live music experiences.

I didn't mean to suggest Sanders was dead. From his playing on this one he certainly sounds alive.

I do find it interesting how much this album has polarised opinions. On the one hand, I have read think pieces on how it represents an unacceptable "gentrification" of free jazz, which privileges historical figures that are perceived to have cultural cache whilst ignoring the living music. On the other hand, there's been adulation on the level of this article: https://4columns.org/holiday-harmony/pharoah-sanders (warning: do not read on a full stomach). Having listened to it a few times now, I really enjoy it, although I'd have preferred a little more Pharaoh and less of the slightly soupy orchestrations.

I’ve never heard of this group, although I love Slaves Mass. of the four you mention, which is your favourite? (i.e., where to start?)

Plus a lot of records that were judged bad at the time but have since emerged as classics as a result of changing tastes or values. There are plenty of "rare groove" or "spiritual jazz" records that fall into that category: classic examples of a genre that did not actually exist at the time.

I got very excited there are the prospect of a Sam Rivers / Reggie Workman trio I didn't know about, for about one minute before realising that Sam Rivers never looked that well kempt. How is it? I saw the review today on the FJB.

Joe Lovano Us Five - Folk Art (Blue Note, 2009) I rarely have an itch to listen to Lovano these days, but I still think this one has stood the test of time fairly well. Now playing: Gravitational Systems (Hatology, 2000) by Matthew Shipp and Mat Manieri. This is one of my favourite Shipps from the era, two decades ago, when I was first getting into jazz. His harmonic interplay with Maneri is particularly excellent.

That looks like a good one. I’ll check it out.

The Nabatov and Seabrook one is very good.

I will pass on your regards. Breaking up the journey because, midway through the organ solo on "Favours" off Dr. Lonnie Smith's Afro-Desia, the three year old suddenly uncovered the fountain of youth, so to speak. It's going to be a long drive...

Driving down to Devon for a "sunny" family "holiday". First up: Accent on Africa by the Cannonball Adderley "Quintet" Now playing: Azymuth's Light As A Feather

Agreed. I always felt it was pretty silly, although presumably an imaginative reaction to seeing supermarket jazz sections stocked entirely by Kenny G CDs.

Smooth jazz saxophone definitely seems to be something that exists independently of the genres's emergance as a radio format. I hear a lot.of smooth jazz in some Pharaoh Sanders records.

I find my reissue LP copy of Tauhid is very muddy when compared to the digital or CD versions. Sonny Sharrock is submerged complely. How does the original compare?

Thanks!

I loved the concentration on what was commercially a hit in the community as the key metric of success. It helped cut through the general critical noise we all take for granted.

A very old (but interesting) thread. Alexander Hawkins brings up an interesting point at a tangent to the main discussion at the end, regarding John Butcher being influenced by gospel saxophone playing. This is news to me. But interesting news. If anyone knows anything about this, I’d be fascinated to know (including the names that escaped the poster back in 2006).

That's a great post. Answers my question and more. Thanks so much.

Don't knock the turtle neck. That's how you know the compositions are serious. And you're right. It is Ghost Trance, not Ghost Dance. Ghost Dance is a great Prince Buster tune. Ghost Trance was a particularly turgid era of Braxton.

That's very sad. I finished his Soul Jazz book last month and enjoyed it, as I have enjoyed many albums he produced over the years.

They've taken the obvious ones from the 70s. The catchier ones. It's not ghost dance stuff, I promise. Oh yes. I cannot wait for the return of live music. I am kicking myself for every gig I didn't attend.

I think you've hit upon the background to the query. Regardless of their faults, Baraka and Kofsky were fairly instrumental in forming the (friendly, supporters') narrative regarding the "freedom music" of the 60s "New Thing". Their views on what was and wasn't happening or important still shape how people talk about the scene even now. I think that there's a fairly well rehearsed critical viewpoint that their coverage was responsible for a certain image of free jazz which places greater emphasis on radical self expression in comparison to radical composition. There are already some threads on this forum which have covered the question of whether Baraka's and Kofsky's views had an impact on the careers of those musicians that did not conform to this narrative, such as Bill Dixon, who was definitely in the radical composition camp. I'm not 100% sure on this, given that Baraka and Kaufsky were both pretty sweet on Sun Ra who presumably falls into that camp too. But what I have never seen is how Baraka in particular responded to the rise of Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, Leo Smith, Leroy Jenkins and the rest. Those are artists who certainly don't fit the fire music mould, and are steeped in compositional ideas and strategies. This seems strange given that both critics were presumably still at the height of their prestige at the point that the AACM artists were making a splash in the early 70s in NY.

Nice one!.

Andrew Hill’s A Beautiful Day Surely one of the best big band records of the last thirty years. Now playing: Ibsen’s Ghosts by Joe McPhee. I love his and Jen Bishop’s fat tones on this record. Much gutsier than the competition.

Those Bruised records are really something.