Rabshakeh

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.

Black Saint would certainly make a good thread, although I'm enjoying this one.

I love Sonny Simmons. Firebirds with Prince Lasha and Ancient Ritual were my entry points and they're the ones I would start with. They are different enough in setting and period that you get a good well rounded picture. There's a documentary out there about him on Amazon called "The Multiple X-Rated Truth". It has lots of footage of him and, weirdly, Anthony Braxton. It's compellingly unpolished as a documentary and worth tracking down.

Nice! That really is a binge. Let us know how you get on when you get to the crazy listening binge part. I'm planning something similar on Bandcamp this Friday (my self-deluding justification being that it is important to support artists at this time). If anyone has any crucial recommendations burning a hole in their head let me know - including any of the above (although Clean Feed's presence on Bandcamp is spottier than some of the other labels mentioned above). I hadn't seen this list before. Thanks - there are a couple that had escaped my notice. Useful stuff when, as you say, these records aren't really being discussed. Given the barriers to entry, lists like this aren't just a pissing contest, but serve a real purpose as a route to discovery.

The family are away so... Nonaah by Roscoe Mitchell. Currently on side 3.

He's 80 today. A real hero.

That's definitely the look! I'm partial to that Jack McDuff too. He's also a man with a killer art department.

All album covers should look like this.