Rabshakeh

I'm not blaming ECM. It's just that ECM-signed artists like Jarrett and Garbarek are the only ones who I can think of who do have much name recognition from that period. Perhaps being on ECM is a defence to the crime of coming of age musically at the very end of the sixties!

There’s a whole school of great musicians who have no general recognition because they committed the heinous crimes of coming of age musically at the very end of the sixties and not being on ECM.

Oh yeah...

I wanted to get the new release of The Flam too, which I see Juno is stocking. To make matters worse, Juno's insanely invasive advertising approach is ensuring that those two LPs are being pushed on me by every website I visit.

Ah. Ho, and, indeed, hum.

Mine's still stuck in Cleveland's USPS processing area. I'm trying to ignore the "glowing" reviews the USPS has been getting on this site.

I have a real soft spot for Kwanza. It just strikes me as being really joyous, even if it is quite silly. I find it does a good job of transforming a bad mood into a good one. For Losers seems to me to be the weakest of the albums, although it has its moments - very uneven, as you say.

Time Berne's Snakeoil - You've Been Watching Me (2018, ECM) Ferreira's guitar really makes this one, but it's a very good showing all round. I never get why this one isn't considered one of the basic top ten introductory jazz albums. It's got everything a 60s hard bop album needs, and Wynton Kelly in particular is absolutely fantastic.

Having relistened, I do definitely agree, but only really for that one short (brilliant) track. The other three tracks seem to me to be good examples of the quite different direction that he had been taking up to that point: that sort of New Thing-type skronk meets more traditional jazz orchestration. Perhaps it could be said that The Way Ahead developed the focus of the title track, and opened up "Avant-Grease" (or whatever it should be called) as an area for development. Shepp then mined that seam for a while (my favourite era of his) before moving on to his grand genre fusions of the early 70s. Either way, I am with Late on his assessment.

It was a mix. There were drop-down lists with suggestions, and space to enter your own choices - a bit like entering what state or country you live in when filling out an online form. What that meant of course is that readers must have slanted heavily towards the suggestions, particularly the earlier ones. The suggestions themselves were not too bad and certainly included more interesting fare than the bleakly predictable results.

I think it is interesting! Mama is my favourite of the earlier ones. Perhaps that’s why. I haven’t listened to it for while so I will give it a go.

I always felt that this album was the key to Shepp's whole catalogue. It is the point at which he develops from his New Thing stage towards a new, much greasier sound. It was hearing this one that made Shepp really click for me, and opened up his other mid period albums like Yasmina and Kwanza.

I wasn't aware of this one. I am a big fan of Schweizer + Favre (their intakt duo is great) so this looks pretty enticing. I see it is available to buy digitally, so I may give that go.

I got my tracking number today. Genuinely excited.

John Butcher - Stuck (Takuroku, 2020) A coronavirus solo piece. One of Butcher's best in while I think. Recommended if your... proclivities turn this way. Nate Wooley Quintet - (Dance To) The Early Music (Clean Feed, 2015) Nate Woolley's band playing creative interpretations of Wynton Marsalis tunes. One of my favourite records of the last decade.

Taylor Ho Bynum - Enter The Plustet (2015). Certainly one of my favourite big band releases of the last few years. So much detail in the massed arrangements, but it still leaves space for individual players to amaze, particularly Ken Filiano on bass. Shelley Manne - The Three & The Two Another beige record cover. The real surprise for me with this album isn’t Giuffe and Manne, who are obviously excellent here, but Shorty Rogers, who is so capable at moving in such uncharted waters. I normally associate Rogers with hokey orchestrated 50s fun (not a criticism!), but here he is at the harmonic cutting edge.

Nice idea. This is going on now.

Why was that? I know very little about Sanders as a person but always assumed, almost certainly wrongly, that he would have been quite mellow.

Kwanza's a very happy album. I'd like to own it so this is pretty tempting.

Mine too! Very excited.

The Jazz Times Readers’ Best of the 80s List is even drearier....

John Tchicai / Irene Schweizer Group - Willi the Pig (Willisau Live, 1975)

Sabu - Palo Congo (Blue Note, 1957) And then several levels up in the afrocuban stakes, with this gem.

Steven Bernstein - Diaspora Soul (Tzadik, 1999) Nice and swampy / sleazy. I like the mix of electric piano with subdued afrocuban percussion.

Thanks everyone. Smooth jazz is serious stuff. I feel better already.