Rabshakeh

Keith Papworth – Hard Hitter

I can't recall whether it was this thread, but to pick up on what someone said about liking big band music not being the same as liking jazz, this record is probably a good example: Billy May And His Orchestra – A Band Is Born Decent record, but clearly a certain crowd.

"Can Blue Men Sing the Whites" by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band

That seems to be the constant. I wonder if there's a shofar solo out there.

Move over, Mr Turre. There are a few jazz records out there where the list of instruments includes a ram's horn trumpet, such as the "shofar" used in Jewish ritual practice. On example is on The Diverse Yusef Lateef. I also believe that Lester Bowie played a shofar on at least one record (although I cannot recall which). However, I am not sure that I can recall any ram's horn solos. Does anyone know whether there are any recorded examples in jazz?

Yan Tregger – Pictures (Neuilly, 1971)

Limelites – Sax Sex Youtube has been insisting that I listen to this Brazilian record for a while. So here goes. Just finished with this indigestible Italian RIO mess, so anything is good right now:

Piero Umiliani – To-Day's Sound

Big Black – Lion Walk

I did, but I knew I wasn't going to make the leap. Well done for negotiating it down.

Tom T Hall - In Search of a Song

Very well done! Interesting to know as I had been sizing up the same copy.

George Lewis and Kid Thomas - Ragtime Stompers Not an easy record to come by.

Korla Pandit – Plays Music Of The Exotic East So great to learn about other cultures.

Michel Magne Et Son Grand Orchestre – Tropical Fantasy

Not sampled in hip hop, it turns out. Well, not really. "Tropical" (by Morton Gould), the opening track to the 1957 Stanley Black record I posted above, has a percussion hook that in this version is extremely similar to the very memorable jingly percussion intro to Shuggie Otis' 1971 tune "Strawberry Letter 23". Not a sample, but pretty damn similar. The Brothers Johnson had a hit with a cover of the Shuggie Otis tune in 1977, which includes the jingling melody but in a less foregrounded way and on a cheap sounding keyboard. Then, on to 00s hip hop at last. The melody to 2000 hit "Ms Jackson" by OutKast is similar to Strawberry Letter 23 (to the extent that you can sing the lyrics to Strawberry Letter 23 to the chorus of Ms Jackson without much modification, which is what I was doing in my misremembered version). The song actually samples the Brothers Johnson's cover. But it does not use the jingling percussion melody. But that's why I thought the Stanley Black tune had been sampled in a 00s hip hop tune. Glad to have sorted that one out as it has been annoying me all day. My apologies to Google and to WhoSampled.

Stanley Black And His Piano – Tropical Moonlight I'm trying to figure out which 00s hip hop song samples the opening track of this. I can remember snatches of the song (it had a list of "colours passing through my miiiind"). Unfortunately, in 2024 both Google and WhoSampled are too wretched to find the answer. I'm sure it's appreciated in France (hence which a dopey resource like a FNAC guide would have it). But strange it doesn't make it to the likes of e.g. RYM listicles as such as it should do.

And the whole Carnet series is another one.

I know the record and I second your recommendation. But it is only one of many Japanese jazz records from the 1970s that are clearly marked by the influence of electric Miles. Kikuchi's own Wishes is a good example. Or Hino's Double Rainbow. Often Japanese records of the era have one electric side, strongly influenced by Miles Davis, and one acoustic side. I get the point that Miles' electric turn upset a lot of people, but there's plenty of non-fusion electric jazz on the US scene. Its just that the avenues being explored by electric-curious bop musicians in the US in the US in e.g. 1972 aren't Miles Davis'. Maybe this is a question that could form its own thread.

Before that though. All that modal and spiritual stuff in the 1970s: Why did almost none of those players explore the avenues opened by IASW? Lots of examples in Japan and a many in Europe too; that record must really have landed in those countries. But few examples among the bigger names in the US. It’s such an obvious platform to explore undiscovered space.

Ahmad Jamal – Macanudo This is a cool record. Wrong genres for everyone but it isn't not good at any point. Jamal knew exactly how to land every one of those notes. I always find it strange that everyone else wasn't rushing to explore this era of Miles Davis.

Dizzy Gillespie - Something Old, Something New Some really excellent James Moody on this one.

I recently found a list of French shop FNAC's list of greatest ever jazz records. Lots of French stuff in there, unsurprisingly. Most of it Grappelli, obviously, but a fair bit of adventurous French stuff that I hadn't heard before. Accordionist Richard Galliano has been a good find.

He's really excellent on this

Louis Sclavis Trio – Ceux Qui Veillent La Nuit I think the French jazz scene of the 1990s needs a concerted rediscovery. There are so many great records on labels like Dreyfus, Bleu and Nato that barely form part of the conversation.