Rabshakeh

I think that there is a lot of variety there. There aren't many musicians of whom I know whose sound varies so much with their playing partners. For my part, I think the Favre duo is my favourite for the reasons you mention above. As a drummer he is a bit heavier and more aggressive than the others and he pushes Schweitzer into a more Cecil Taylor-type zone, although always tempered with that late Romantic lyricism. Sommer, for example, seems to bring out a more playful side that I enjoyed too but found perhaps a little less convincing.

Thanks. That's an interesting article. Perhaps a little gushing and cozy in its presentation of Bandcamp. I am impressed at how serious the backlash has been to Daniel Ek's tone deaf and rather objectionable presentation at the end of last month. It seems to come just at the wrong time: with Bandcamp rising and the television / film equivalents to Spotify like Netflix finally encountering competition. On the edit, I should add how impressed I have been recently with the increasing depth of offering on Bandcamp. Increasingly all the new music I buy is from the service. There was a thread a few weeks ago when some others mentioned the same.

I love this record.

I've been on a bit of a Schweizer run in the last couple of days. Back in the late 80s / early 90s she did a terrific run of duo albums on Intakt where she paired with many of the great drummers from the European (and in a few cases US) jazz and improv scenes. A couple of them are mentioned in the above thread. It was a good concept and I like these albums a lot: each of them shows a different side of Schweizer's personality, and her ability to read and respond to a partner. The bright cover images give them a sort of penny candy / pick 'n' mix feel, too. In the spirit of making a rainy Wednesday afternoon pass quicker, I wondered if anyone on here has a favourite partnership from among those Intakt duets, and why they like that one particularly?

I always had a soft spot for that Pharoah record. One of the first LPs I bought.

DKV Trio: Wels/ Chicago, by Ken Vandermark, Kent Kessler and Hamid Drake.

That's an incredibly focused shopping list.

Lee Konitz, Live at the Half Note Blue Mitchell, Blue’s Moods Hank Mobley, Al Cohn, John Coltrane and Zoot Sims, Tenor Conclave. Those three helped to make an exhausting 9 hour car trip with a toddler and a newborn that little bit more survivable.

I did something similar: upgraded my stylus to a Nagaoka MP110. If you are at home and listening to music all day, it makes sense.

There's an interesting blog here: https://ecmreviews.com/catalogue/ by a guy who has listened to and reviewed the entire catalogue. That's endurance.

I've been working my way through these recommendations over the weekend (thanks again). One thing that jumps out is how varied Mitchell's sound, composition and ideas remained even in his 60s and 70s (and hopefully will continue to remain in his 80s!). His solos on albums like Solo [3], Conversations and the Otoroku one all have such a different sound and feel. I'd always know that was true for his earlier period - compare Nonaah to Snurdy - but it is impressive to see how he has kept it up, particularly when other greats are putting out records that are basically variations on themes they laid down in the 1970s.

Triple thumbs up.

Ornette! by Ornette Coleman.

It turns out they are available on Spotify and Apple Music, but under slightly tweaked names that make it difficult to spot them at first. It's not quite the same as owning them, but it is better than buying a CD player, I suppose. Also sad to be missing out on the text!

A new one came out very recently: Ricochet, with a trio with Barry Altschul and Dave Holland performing in January 1978⁰. I'd happily buy all three, particularly that second one with Charlie Persip and Joe Daley. Sadly they seem to be CD only for some reason.

Nice to see that this is now getting a spin.

Thanks!

I know it well. A stone cold classic album, and one of my favourites (probably up there with A Love Supreme in my own personal top list). My knowledge of Roscoe Mitchell is fairly good up to 1981 and then peters out. Listening to the Conversations one now. Very good so far. I like the mystery drummer concept.

Thanks! And this is exactly what I was looking for.

I've been listening to Solo [3] from 2004 an awful lot over the past week, and I am really impressed by what a great album it is. Really varied, and up there with his best solo works. I hadn't really explored "late" era Roscoe Mitchell before now. Are there any others that people on this board really rate? For these purposes, late = post-Snurdy, so '81 onwards. Thanks!

Thanks for the heads up. I quite enjoyed Nduduzo Makhathini's playing on those recent Shabaka and the Elders records, so interesting to know, and one I will check out.

The Köln Concert?

Definitely. There's a reason why record shops have dedicated ECM sections and not dedicated Intakt sections.

There's a bunch of those. Records like The Quest by Mal Waldron that just get swept under the carpet because they're not on Blue Note.

I hadn't come across that one, but I've been listening to it all today at work. It's brilliant. It's such a wall of sound and technique.