Д.Д.

Mike, thanks for compiling the BFT. I am not focusing on ID-ing too much, but just sharing my impressions as I go along. 1. Nice clarinet sound. Cute simple lullaby type of melody. Cheesy Rhodes. Basically, no improvisation, right? Way too long for what it is. Did not like it much. 2. Is this some Herbie Nichols composition? I don’t like Herbie Nichols. Some sort of piano preparation here – mini cymbals on piano strings? Piano player and the drummer play really well together, otherwise not too interesting for me. Piano improvisation is quite repetitive and limited in scope. Sounds Dutch - certain embedded wackiness. 3. I liked this one. The tenor is telling a story – interesting to hear the ideas unfold. The piano is way over-the-top behind the saxophone – would have been better if it were more economical. Not a good recording balance between bass and piano – the bass is too upfront (I like the bassist). The piano solo is OK overall, A LOT of notes for sure – but not as interesting as saxophone. Good stuff. 4. Well, this one is pleasant - not much else I can say about it. Sweet voice, not very original. Pretty music for large European outdoors festivals. Not something I would be interested in listening to more than once. 5. Really liked the solo drums intro. Was hoping it would be a 14-minute solo drums track, but no, here are these needless additional instruments. Piano solo OK, nothing special. Oh, there is tenor as well. Tenor is nice – forceful, rich sound. Very familiar, should know who this is. Could it be this gentleman? Second piano solo is really boring, IMHO. Feels like it’s two not particularly well coordinated pianists at times. A lot of notes, but still leaves me bored. Tenor is back, very nice, not too original. Getz influence apparent, IMHO. Good track, way too much piano, I liked the drummer the most. 6. Sounds like the same composer as on Track 2. Like the drummer. Very fluid flugelhorn solo, enjoy it a lot – some really fine non-trivial ideas, and such an effortless playing. My favorite solo in this BFT. The drummer is on fire! Piano solo. Ha-ha, was it a Shostakovich quote there? Man, I wish the bass was not amplified this aggressively – gets in the way of the piano. Very “composer-ish” type of solo. I like it, a bit messy, but a lot of good ideas. The drum solo is a bit too show-offish, but good. I am not familiar with modern European mainstream jazz bands (these are Europeans, I think), this is good stuff. 7. Nothing much I can say about this one. I think the tune is silly. The bass clarinet improvisation is not interesting. The piano is generic as well. Well, bass clarinet has a nice sound. 8. Good bluesy guitar. Somewhat unexpected groove from bass and drums – I like it. The tenor sound is beautiful with plentiful Phoroahisms, but the solo is noodling. Guitar / bass interplay – I think the improvisations are stagnating, both are marking time. A lot of blues licks from guitar. Again, I guess I like the drummer the most on this track – and the drumming is quite similar to a few previous tracks. Both guitarist and tenorist play well with gorgeous sound, but the improvisations are by the numbers and banal. 9. Well, this is a strange track. Bass and drums are playing horribly together, sounds like the bassist is actively sabotaging the proceedings – the timing and the accents are all wrong. The theme is sort of banal. I like the tenor sound a lot, and his / her playing too (somebody I definitely should know, but can’t ID to my shame), but the rhythm section support is just terrible. Oh, the tenor solo is over already? I think the guy (gal) just got started. The piano solo is OK (the mumbling less so). Annoyingly busy left hand. Why do the drummer and the piano player insist on keeping playing through the bass solo - is this revenge for ruining the track? Overall, curious about the tenorist (who is somewhat underutilized here, IMHO), that’s about the only interesting point for me here. 10. Did not like this one too much either, sorry. The solo bass beginning is good, but then in goes into start-stop potpourri sort of thing with no ideas developed long enough. Very show-offish piano, very few interesting ideas. Good drumming. Mike, thanks for the BFT. This is the music I normally would not listen to, which made this BFT interesting for me. The drumming style (which I mostly liked) is very similar on many tracks, and actually piano playing (which I strongly disliked) is of the same type too.

Just downloaded and listend to this one from 1983: https://destination-out.bandcamp.com/album/was-macht-ihr-denn First of all, the sound quality is excellent - Baby Sommer's drums sound is so full. Second, this is a great work by an excellent ensemble (Van Hove, Mark Charig, Phil Wachsmann and Günter "Baby" Sommer). Highly recommended.

This one by Mototeru Takagi released by good people at NoBusiness is very nice: http://nobusinessrecords.com/mototeru-takagi-live-at-little-john,-yokohama-1999.html . Quite lyrical.

Excellent, thanks.

I hope they don't spend half of the book on bitching about Helma Schleif.

There are a couple of classical CD stores that still manage it somehow (but pale shade of what they were back in a day) and a few second-hand CD / Vinyl stores (one of them, Black Monk, is actually quite good). I've seen a few new small Vinyl-only stores, but I have not been inside.

I saw this band as well, probably around 2002 in Washington, DC. It was an excellent concert, and Jamal's playing was the highlight - all these overtones... Love his trio album with Pierre Dorge and Johnny Dyani on SteepleChase, one of my most-listend jazz albums of the last 20 years or so.

Right you are! I put it in the list.

Denmark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Albertson

Scott, you might want to edit the first post in this thread adding the blog's URL.

Thanks, I might check it out since I like Knuffke, but I tend to avoid anything with William Parker.

Well, I didn't know who James Brandon Lewis was, so I checked his Molecular album on INTAKT. I though he was extremely boring. Safe robotic playing, generic compositions. Loved Brad Jones / Chad Taylor team though.

You might want to consider Martial Solal Trio "Triangle": https://www.discogs.com/release/4318656-Martial-Solal-Trio-Triangle - one of the best piano trio records of the last whatever decades, IMHO. But I like Solal in general.

Yeah, let's ban this earless pseudo jazz fan from JAZZ for life and beyond! No one shall doubt the jazz party line (as formulated by Milestone)! felser, thanks for the BFT. For me, the biggest surprise was Ahmed Abdullah's trumpet playing on track 11. I heard his nice (but not exactly earth-shattering) "Diaspora" album on CIMP - his playing is much more mellow there, didn't even consider it might be him. And I still have his Silkheart CD lying around sealed - probably about time I give it a listen. I have another Steve Reid record from the same period (with Arthur Blythe), haven't listened to it for 20 years or so. I seem to remember there were some sound balance issues there.

I love Scriabin, and I have this set. I think it is pretty weak. I the playing is timid and colorless and lacking in dynamics. My recommendation for Scriabin would be Sofronitsky.

Good, thanks, I put the Spotify links on the ist.

Is the trumpeter on track 11 Japanese?

Writing as I listen. Not focusing too much on identifying the musicians, which is something I am not good at anyway, but just sharing my impressions as I go along. 1. Funky Latin stuff. Nice as club music to talk to pretty ladies to. Otherwise, not too interesting IMHO. Competently played, predictable and repetitive. 2. I have this album, haven’t listened to it for ages. Used to like it a lot – not sure whether I would appreciate it these days... Good idea with reverb on the saxophone. All these exotic percussions create very nice effect. The pianist is doing some interesting comping – I find her harp playing is mostly decorative up-and-down arpeggios, but her piano playing is for real. Brutalist primitive violin playing. This violin player plays more or less the same solo everywhere – whether with John Handy or his own albums or here. Yeah, and here is the harp solo – pretty but pretty weak, IMHO. Man, is this bass groove solid. 3. Nothing that grabs me here. The vocalist is OK. The band is OK. The string arrangement is as bland as it can get (and totally unnecessary). The tune itself is a boring blues, never liked it. 4. Oh, tenor-drums duo. I like this format a lot – a lot of space for the horn. It is fairly obvious who these two are thanks to copious number of familiar licks that both used throughout their long careers. The drummer is considered one of the greats – I actually don’t like him that much and he ruins a few otherwise fine Blue Note dates for me. I think he played better late in life – like here – and equally important, his drums sound was recorded much fuller. The saxophonist is a watered-down Coltrane for me. I heard quite a few of his albums, and the only one I liked was the his ECM one with Abercrombie, the rest are all the same. Have not heard this particular album, not sure I want to, even though this particular track is nice enough. 5. Organ trio. Really not the stuff I am familiar or normally interested in, so I am curious. The tune is generic. The saxophone is playing VERY safe and by the numbers. Same goes for the organ player. Sorry, this one is very boring for me. 6. I like the tune! Soprano / trumpet (or is it flugelhorn?) front-line – interesting. Drummer is doing some impressive stuff in the background – would this be Jack DeJohnette by chance? No, not him, more rockfish. The trumpet solo is good, a bit shaky. Eddie Henderson? I definitely know the trumpeter but can’t come up with the name. Soprano solo is solid. I liked the tune, the drummer in particular. 7. This is great! Everything is just perfect here. I loved it. 8. The tune is cute. I am indifferent to vocals here – quite monotonous. The horn arrangement is nice. At 3 ½ minutes’ mark it feels like enough. Way too long for what it is. Would have liked to have more horn solos. 9. I can’t stand Latin music for the robotic oppressiveness of its rhythms. And I don’t like jazz flute either, although this solo is OK (not sure about the reverb). Nice propulsive bass. Some empty chatter from vibes – cute, though. OK, I guess. I definitely did not hate it. 10. I liked this one! Production is horrible with voices way up and cardboard box drum sound, but a great drive. Not sure I would be interested in a whole album of this stuff but at under two minutes – very enjoyable. 11. Long long intro. Strange piano sound. Oh, again soprano saxophone. What’s that around 1:10 behind soprano – overdubbed soprano or cello? Ugly, but entertaining. Soprano solo OK. Is that cello or bass arco? Either way, not very well played and too low in the mix! Aggressive trumpet solo – nice. Sounds like young Woody Shaw. The drummer is a bit overdoing it with cymbals, no? The bass vamp is really tiring. I like the manic piano solo, but what’s up with this piano sound? Is the piano prepared or just out-of-tune? Would this be Stanley Cowell? Oh, quite an abrupt end. It’s all rather clumsy, but I liked it. 12. More early 70’s spiritual staff. Alto sax solo starts OK. Man, a lot of percussion here. Oh, it’s not alto but tenor? Embarrassing, but I am not sure. Nice screeching! Piano is very cheesy. Is this early Billy Harper? Although this sounds less proficient than Harper to me. I liked it! 13. Is this some electric saxophone thing? The tune is very simplistic. Again a bashing overactive drummer. Keyboards solo OK. Electro-sax-whatever solo is not too exciting. Seems to be struggling with the instrument. Going through motions, as far as I am concerned. Again, as in a few tracks above an obtrusive repetitive bass vamp, I feel sorry for the bass player. Second keyboards solo – flashy, but no interesting ideas. Did not like this one at all, sorry. Thank you for compiling this BFT, looking forward to learning about a couple of tracks.

Glenn Ferris is an outstanding trombonist. He's on many recordings. I like his trio ones (and the trio is a peculiar one, trombone - cello - bass) in particular: https://www.discogs.com/artist/3097057-Glenn-Ferris-Trio .

Gianluca Petrella is an excellent trombonist. Check out this early release of his, for example: https://gianlucapetrella.bandcamp.com/album/x-ray From the older generation, Sebi Tramontana. This new one is good: https://inexhaustibleeditions.bandcamp.com/album/han-jiae

Yes! And Conny Bauer

Do you plan to have these expanded?

Yeah, I know this interview. She was talking specifically about when she started back in early 80's, forty years ago.

Well, because this is not a distinctive factor that has any effect on the music - and, hopefully, on a possibility to develop a "career" as a musician (nowadays, at least). Because many female musicians would strongly object to being referred to as "female musicians". Because there is no "female jazz". I imagine if you ask Joëlle Léandre about plying female jazz you'd get smacked on your head with a double bass. To quote from Shayna Dulberger's interview that Clifford linked to above: "I don’t play because I am female and my music is not about being female".

Seriously?