Rabshakeh

Johnny Richards And His Orchestra – Walk Softly / Run Wild!

Other than Lopez, are they recording? The younger London musicians @mjazzg mentioned are prolific gigging musicians who I enjoy seeing and are releasing on bandcamp, even getting into mainstream publications like The Wire, although I still think they're yet to break through properly. It will be nice when they start to show up in year end polls.

John Wolf Brennan – Shooting Stars And Traffic Lights

That's who I meant. I really meant up to the pandemic. The energies seem to have dissipated since then, although I still like their work. Tomeka Reid, who at one point along with Jaime Branch was making me feel really excited about the future, has faded out a bit. I'd love to hear more from her. It's okay. But it's really an outtakes record. I enjoyed hearing it but it's not end of year list material. Sorry - you're right. But it is on a lot of the editors' lists and comments. I usually treat those as having roughly similar standing. Zoh Amba I quite like too.

Or Chicago pre-pandemic. Those are the last real flushes of new faces I can think of in this part of the scene.

Evan Parker & Paul Lytton – Collective Calls (Urban) (Two Microphones) (1972) A bit of early European Free Jazz fire from before the names Parker and Lytton stood for an established style.

That was what I thought too. A bit tired, maybe. I know what half of it will sound like before I listen, which I will do. Any Darius Jones record is a reason for interest. I quite liked it on my first listen. I was a bit surprised by Cleaver's drumming, which I felt was wrong (strange, as Cleaver is a player whom I typically enjoy). I liked the interplay between the strings and the saxophone, although maybe a little constrained and not quite impulsive enough. But lots of good bits. I look forward to re-listening. There are a few records showing up that I felt were on there because they had to be - The Jaime Branch record and the Matana Roberts records were only solid B+ records to my ears, although clearly a lot of people liked them. Overall, a little disappointed by what I've seen coming up. As I mentioned mid-last year, I have been feeling that the scene is offering slightly diminishing returns (although I don't want to overstate this), and possibly failing to renew, and as always am hoping for something fresh. Over the past year I have been returning to the free improv records of the late 70s to early 90s, and it's amazing how much impact they have. If anyone has any suggestions for newer stuff that they really rate, I'd love to see them here.

Did you receive this in the end? How is it?

Darius Jones - fLuXkit Vancouver (its suite but sacred) Some enjoyable writing for string quartet vs saxophone. Probably needs another listen.

https://www.freejazzblog.org/2023/12/free-jazz-blogs-2023-top-10-lists.html?m=1 Free Jazz Collective's end of year lists are up. Akira Sakata & Entasis - Live in Europe 2022 (Trost) Anna Webber - Shimmer Wince (Intakt) Fire Orchestra - Echoes (Rune Grammofon) Irreversible Entanglements - Protect your Light (Impulse) King Übü Örchestrü – Roi (FMR, 2023) Lina Allemano - Canons (Lumo Records, 2023) Matana Roberts - Coin Coin Chapter Five: In the Garden (Constellation, 2023) Matthew Shipp - The Intrinsic Nature of Shipp (Mahakala, 2023) Mendoza Hoff Revels - Echolocation (AUM Fidelity) Rodrigo Amado The Bridge - Beyond the Margins (Trost, 2023) Maybe not a particularly distinguished list, but always nice to see, and the comments give their own suggestions.

Lou Donaldson - Here 'Tis Streaming this one (would love to own it) in honour of Dave Bailey's passing. Best taken with a fistful of statins. Does anyone know who the cigar smoking gentleman in white is? Now on to this solid archival release of Parker in the days of his springtime freshness. Evan Parker – NYC 1978 From a user comment to the slightly underwhelming FJC blog end of year list.

What a wonderful player. Hard stomp but with a supple loose gait. One of my favourites in a hard bop context for the level of excitement he always brought. Those leader records are all excellent and will be played today.

Eugene Chadbourne / John Zorn – School Zentralquartett – Zentralquartett

WSQ - Yes We Can I didn't bother with later WSQ records for years, but these days I actually possibly like them more than the earlier classics. They're not as conceptual and they're not as deep, but they make up for it by maxing out the soul, and letting Bluiett really anchor the thing. James Carter is surprisingly excellent on this. I'm with the forum consensus that regards him as decent but gimmicky, but the WSQ is clearly a good place for him.

I love it! What a record.

It's not the same at all, is it! Actually I do like this record, but it's a commercial smooth jazz / funk record with a slightly weaker Latin second side.

Dave Valentin – Land Of The Third Eye

Yuck.

Mike Westbrook - The Cortege

Herbie Harper Sextet – Herbie Harper Sextet Who was tenor player Jay Coré?

Mototeru Takagi - Live at Little John Veeery good.

Steve Beresford – The Bath Of Surprise

Oscar Rocchi Quintet – Jazz Progression