GA Russell Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 (edited) Guy started a thread the other day called "Get Used to It", which discusses European music and whether it swings. You can see it here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=28450 The thread deals tangentially with Trygve Seim, but since most of the discussion is not about him, I thought I would start a new thread. ECM sent me his two most recent releases this week, and I have listened to the one from 2004 called Sangam. Apparently Seim is enjoying a promotional push from his label. I enjoy Sangam, but I'm not sure how much of it is jazz. The first half of the album does not appear to contain any improvisation. I would call this 21st Century third stream. Seim plays the tenor and soprano sax. The band is nine people, plus a string section and two trombones on one four-part suite. This suite is the jazziest part of the album. There is no piano or bass, but there is an accordion and a cello, with drums. The other six members are horns, including a french horn and a tuba. It is very tranquil music, relaxing and soothing, maybe too much so for some people. I wouldn't play it while driving a car for fear of falling asleep at the wheel. I can definitely recommend Sangam to those here who enjoy classical music. edit for typo 8/22 edit title and sub-title Edited August 23, 2006 by GA Russell Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 so you get ECM to send you stuff for the purpose of recommending it on organissimo or do you review them for another board and this is just you talking? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 so you get ECM to send you stuff for the purpose of recommending it on organissimo or do you review them for another board and this is just you talking? akanalog, this needs to be said, and I'm saying this as a friend. It's not healthy to always maintain a negative attitude and always piss on people's threads like you do. Have you talked to a doctor about your moods? It may be that you have inherited a chemical imbalance or mood disorder, and maybe you should be taking medicine for it. In addition to whatever you learn from a visit to the doctor, I suggest that you make a deliberate effort to break this non-stop negativity. I suggest that you make a habit of every week starting a thread in the Recommendations Forum, and recommend an album you have recently picked up. Make a habit of the effort to say something positive. Peace. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 chuck, are you suggesting i seek professional help? you are such an instigator. every time i get into a lick of trouble you are there with a "smiley". and all i do is compliment your business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 so you get ECM to send you stuff for the purpose of recommending it on organissimo or do you review them for another board and this is just you talking? I don't understand what your problem with GA is. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chuck Nessa Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 so you get ECM to send you stuff for the purpose of recommending it on organissimo or do you review them for another board and this is just you talking? I don't understand what your problem with GA is. Guy Georgia Russell frequently posts positive stuff about cds he "gets for free" and his posts are always positive. I think the question by Akanalog is fair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 Georgia Russell frequently posts positive stuff about cds he "gets for free" and his posts are always positive. I think the question by Akanalog is fair. Well, I am aware that there are plenty of people who disagree with my tastes, but this is news to me that my integrity would be questioned. Most of my reviews are positive because I like most of the albums I am sent. My contacts know that I like mainstream jazz, mostly of the 50s and 60s variety, as well as new music that fits the bill. I have received unsolicited albums that I don't like, most often by people I have never heard of, and I don't see any point in giving a bad review to an album by someone who most likely isn't going to make another one. So I never post about such an album. Right off the bat, I can think of four albums I have panned here: Neenna Freelon's Portrait of a Lady (nominated for a Grammy) on Concord, Disc #4 (the bonus disc) of the Miles First Quintet box on Prestige, and the two recent guitar albums on Adventure Music. (By the way, I got a new Adventure Music album that's great. I'll try to post about it this weekend.) But for the most part I think we should all focus on what we like, and make recommendations which fairly describe the album so that those who might be interested will have a notion of what they are getting before they plunk down their money. Last week I posted a review of the new Nels Cline album New Monastery, which I like a lot because it reminds me of the music of the 70s I listened to so much of the time back then. akanalog suggested that I was spamming the board. That's an attack on my character, and it's uncalled for. My album reviews often get 100 views in the first 24 hours, and typically die with about 500 views. Apparently there are folks who are interested in what my take on an album is. I don't think anyone swears by my opinion. I think most of us here are interested in everybody's takes on their new albums. Reading record reviews is fun. If you don't like my reviews, don't read them! That's easy enough. But I don't come here to be with negative people. I don't think anyone does. I come here to share the joy I get from jazz. I enjoy reading when others have joy to share with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 ok i dunno http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...opic=26987&st=0 i think this kind of thread speaks for itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 but also... how is this thread so much different than this one? http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=28931 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest akanalog Posted August 12, 2006 Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 and also i'm sorry but i don't know you or know why you are getting these CDs but i feel like you get some discs from the labels because you contact them and say you will mention or "review" them on the organissimo board. and it isn't the positivity that bothers me but just the fact you are using jim and team's website as basically an avenue to get free shit. maybe this is all in my mind and i am paranoid. but it seems yucky to me. ok i said it. and politely as well. sorry for my negative view on the situation. enjoy your discs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 but also... how is this thread so much different than this one? http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=28931 The difference as I see it is that the guy who posted about Wayman Tisdale has not established any credibility. This was his first post. If someone who had often contributed to music-related threads posted the same thing, I wouldn't find his comment on Tisdale objectionable even though I don't like what little of Tisdale's music I've heard. Same feeling if the musician in question were avant garde. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 12, 2006 i feel like you get some discs from the labels because you contact them and say you will mention or "review" them on the organissimo board...you are using jim and team's website as basically an avenue to get free shit. . I got on the mailing lists when I reviewed albums for AAJ, before I started posting here. By the way, if anyone is really interested in getting free albums, I recommend that he do what I did and review albums for AAJ. I haven't been in contact with Mike Ricci for a while, but my last impression was that he is always looking for volunteers to review albums. Mike drowned me with CDs. I receive far fewer now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted August 13, 2006 Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 Has anyone heard "The Source"? Its a new release on ECM, and I believe Trygve Seim is in the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 I listened to Sangam again today, and confirmed what I believed. It's perfect for a Sunday afternoon, but probably too mellow for me on a weekday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2006 ECM sent me his two most recent releases this week, and I have listened to the one from 2004 called Sangam. Has anyone heard "The Source"? Its a new release on ECM, and I believe Trygve Seim is in the group. The Source is the other of the two ECM sent me. I thought I would wait a week and absorb Sangam before I opened up The Source. Anyone like David who has heard one or both is welcome to chime in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sal Posted August 14, 2006 Report Share Posted August 14, 2006 Yeah, if anyone has any thoughts on "The Source", please post. The sound clips sound facinating. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 "The Source" is the name of the band that Seim co-leads with trombonist Oyvind Braekke and drummer Per Oddvar Johansen, both of whom appear on Sangam as well. I was sent press releases about each album, and the one for Sangam says that it was released in February, 2005. "Sangam" is a Sanskrit word meaning confluence or coming together, like three rivers. Sangam is Seim's second ECM release, the first being Different Rivers, which won the 2001 German Music Critics' Album of the Year award. A critic for the Guardian in Britain said that Seim's sound was like that of wooden flutes. I agree with that. Seim plays an intrument I have never seen before which is called a curved soprano sax. It looks like a tiny alto sax; and although its register is high, in Seim's hands its sound is smooth and rich rather than the snake charmer squeak that most soprano sax players create. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Berger Posted August 15, 2006 Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 A critic for the Guardian in Britain said that Seim's sound was like that of wooden flutes. I agree with that. Seim plays an intrument I have never seen before which is called a curved soprano sax. It looks like a tiny alto sax; and although its register is high, in Seim's hands its sound is smooth and rich rather than the snake charmer squeak that most soprano sax players create. I think Garby Garbarek plays one too. Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2006 Guy, you're on the mark! The press release says so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 16, 2006 Listened to Sangam again this evening, and a couple of thoughts came to mind. The first is how much the curved soprano saxophone in his hands sounds like a flute. Also, with all the horns, the primary sound of the music is the chords of the horns. Maybe in a similar vein to the effect of Birth of the Cool. I find the wind instruments with the most effect in those chords are the clarinet and the bass clarinet. The other thing that occured to me is that a greater than usual amount of the spotlight is given to the trumpet, considering that this is Seim's album. I guess he's generous that way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted August 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 23, 2006 The Source has been a group since 1993, but this self-titled CD is only its second album. The lineup is tenor or soprano sax, trombone, bass and drums. All four intruments are equal partners; the bass and drums are in the fore along with the horns. Trygve Seim says that without a piano the group's sound is "more open". I agree, but I'm not sure that a piano wouldn't pay for itself. The album has 13 songs totalling 74:25. None of the songs have hummable melodies. There are different tempos and moods to the selections. Unlike Sangam, this doesn't sound like a dark-mood ECM album of old. It also doesn't sound like the classical music of Sangam. This is pure jazz. Even with the uptempo numbers the playing is relaxed. The entire album is pleasant to listen to, despite the sometimes free aspect of the playing. Often when one horn takes a solo the other horn will lay out, resulting in a power trio horn, bass and drums thing going on. Some of the music reminds me of Dave Holland's Prime Directive album, perhaps because of the trombone. Unlike Sangam, which doesn't remind me of anything else, I have the nagging feeling that I have heard much of The Source before. It's good, but I wouldn't say it's original. Like Sangam, The Source isn't something that I'll play every day, but I'll probably play both once a week for many months to come. Sangam, as I said above, I'll be playing on Sundays. The Source I'll be playing during the week. I recommend both albums for when you are in the mood for songs you can't hum. By the way, The Source was recorded in Oslo, and it sounds great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted October 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 I listened to Sangam today. It had been a number of weeks since I last pulled it out. It occurred to me early, listening today, that Sangam is a jazz requiem. If Seim didn't intend it to be, it is anyway. I really enjoyed it thinking of it that way, although it's probably ten minutes too long, clocking in at 69:35. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe Posted October 30, 2006 Report Share Posted October 30, 2006 Has anyone heard "The Source"? Its a new release on ECM, and I believe Trygve Seim is in the group. He is. His music with the Source (sax,trb,b,dr) is quite different from on Sangram - more jazz, a little Ornettish at times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GA Russell Posted January 13, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2007 I'm listening to Sangam now. I don't put it on very often, but when I do I always enjoy it. I suppose I ought to get Charles Lloyd's Sangam to compare the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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