Jazz Fusion & Progressive Rock

[Shawn]

I've been spending quite a bit of time recently listening to these styles. They are basically twins that seemed to develop almost simultaneously, one feeding off the other. They also had similar trajectories, reaching creative peaks quickly...then being watered down and dying...partially by their own hands, partially by record label interference...before they were killed off entirely by the retro hard bop uprising and punk. (I know, that's kind of a simplified view, but seems fairly accurate).

I've been listening to progressive rock since I was a kid and the first jazz albums I ever heard were fusion records (McLaughlin, DiMeola, etc.). But I wasn't around to witness this stuff firsthand and we all know that time changes perceptions.

So what was it like at the time? Where does it really begin? The common "legend" is that Bitches Brew was the catalyst...but that seems too easy. Miles of course is at the center since everyone that played with him during the late 60's ended up in major league fusion or rock acts. So did it start with Hendrix? The Beatles?

What REALLY caused this explosion of creativity that spawned bands as diverse as Weather Report & King Crimson? How important is John McLaughlin's role in all this?

Most importantly, to those that were around at the time, how exciting was this era?

[A Lark Ascending]

You might enjoy Stuart Nicholson's 'Jazz-Rock' which dates the origins of what was called fusion in the States much earlier than BB - he tends to give a lot of credit to the blues boom era. Use with caution - Nicholson (like most critics) has his own construction of the past he wants to foist on us and it is Britocentric.

I was very much of that era - first started listening properly to music in 1969. A bit late to be in on the very start of the Prog era but there at its height and saw its very sudden decline and fall (which in UK terms was 1976 - I know it lasted longer elsewhere). It was an exciting time, though probably more so for middle class boys with a smattering of higher education than for the public at large. But then I imagine being in on the early to peak of any musical movement is exciting.

There was an overlap between prog (which we didn't call prog) and fusion (which in the UK we didn't call fusion) - mainly through Mahavishnu and Santana who certainly got me curious about who Miles Davis and John Coltrane were. But most of the American fusion bands had only a limited popularity amongst prog listeners (though I recall Weather Report being quite popular here). Probably had more of an influence on the musicians. I veered more towards the more whimsical Canterbury scene which had fusiony elements but with daft, endearing vocals to make it all seem less self-important.

That whole era has been terribly misrepresented by the orthodoxies of post-punk/New Wave popular music writing. What I remember - with both jazz-rock (or fusion) and prog - is a time when musicians thought anything was possible and went off on all manner of flights of fancy, often turning up something daft, sometimes music I can still listen to with joy today. This, in the official musical interpretation, is call pretension. I prefer the word aspiration.

The best reimagining of that era I know is Jonathan Coe's marvellous novel 'The Rotter's Club'. At times it reads like the story of my late teens!

Edited April 9, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[JSngry]

No time to post much right now, but before Mahavishnu-esque fusuion, there was a lot of activity in the "jazz-rock" horn bands and the now beloved, then no so beloved Soul Jazz that was all about thinking of jazz in rhythmic terms that refelcted an awareness and an acceptance of the popular rhythms of the day.

Mahavishnu really turned things around, almost immediately, and although they themselves were a band of staggering power and originality, what they inspired a lot of other people to go for was kind of a drage, just becuase mst people had neither the chops nor the organic vision they had.

[Jazzjet]

The best reimagining of that era I know is Jonathan Coe's marvellous novel 'The Rotter's Club'. At times it reads like the story of my late teens!

Ah, wearing those ex-Army greatcoats and carrying the 'right' albums under one arm so that the covers could be recognised. Those were the days!

[Jim Alfredson]

Seems to me it all stems from the psychedelic era as a whole. The jazzers took it one way, the rockers another.

[Shawn]

Seems to me it all stems from the psychedelic era as a whole. The jazzers took it one way, the rockers another.

Yeah, that's definitely a valid perception I would say. One thing I love about that era is the gap between the "jazzers" and "rockers" was alot more narrow than it became later. Plus music was still able to be music and hadn't been "sub-categorized" to death the way it is now.

[JSngry]

Seems to me it all stems from the psychedelic era as a whole. The jazzers took it one way, the rockers another.

Yeah, that's definitely a valid perception I would say. One thing I love about that era is the gap between the "jazzers" and "rockers" was alot more narrow than it became later. Plus music was still able to be music and hadn't been "sub-categorized" to death the way it is now.

Keep in mind also that the "psychedelic era" was the beginning of the incorporation of real improvisation into post-Swing popular music. So opportunioties for "common grond" (or possible pursuit of possibly discoverable areas of common ground) suddenly existed where none had really been before.

[A Lark Ascending]

Apologies for dragging this back if it had already died but I've been away.

Whilst I can see the big impact the "psychedelic era" had on both 'prog' and 'fusion', I think it has a much wider origin. If you think that McLaughlin came up via the English version of blues; a fair few of the UK jazz-rockers and straight jazzers cut their teeth there. A group like Colosseum - one of the very earliest UK proggers - came straight out of the John Mayall line. Many of the John Mayall players were in the thick of prog and people like Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker hopped between the two.

It's also worth noting that both prog and fusion musicians also fed off jazz pure and simple. You can hear the Roland Kirk influence in everything from Colosseum to Jethro Tull. I'm convinced I can hear the Jimmy Giuffre/Jim Hall Trio in parts of In the Court of the Crimson King (and the centre part of 21st Century Schizoid Man' sounds like he music of people who were familiar with free jazz. Just like the Beatles were listening to avant garde classical (however superficially), the Soft Machine clearly knew their early minimalism as well as more abstract jazz (Robert Wyatt says he grew up on jazz and thn went on to discover pop). Dave Brubeck can be heard in various prog pieces - from direct lifts like The Nice's 'Rondo' to the fascination with odd time signatures. I suspect Bill Bruford's new autobiography will have some interesting things to say about this - he too was a jazzer who found himself in a pop band.

Something very interesting happened to pop music between the mid-60s and mid-70s. However it has subsequently been interpreted it was mainly seen as something throwaway for teenagers until the mid-60s with few musicians aspiring to do much more (I bet they are pretty surprised to read some of the learned articles written about them). From the mid 60s to the mid-70s you get a period when anything was possible - the idea that pop/rock music could do much more than just put out a three minute burst of melody or energy was positively encouraged. From the late 70s onwards the aspirations shrank again as everyone was told that pop should be about the street, ordinary experience, things ordinary kids could play or relate too etc. And it seems to have remained that way ever since (despite mavericks at the side).

Which is why, for those of us who did come of age at that time, it still continues to charm. I imagine to many of those whose musical tastes had already formed by 1965 in jazz, folk or whatever, it all must have sounded like a terrible din!

[A Lark Ascending]

The best reimagining of that era I know is Jonathan Coe's marvellous novel 'The Rotter's Club'. At times it reads like the story of my late teens!

Ah, wearing those ex-Army greatcoats and carrying the 'right' albums under one arm so that the covers could be recognised. Those were the days!

Never had an ex-Army greatcoat...I've always been fashion-clothing-challenged...but I did the album carrying thing! The equivalent today seems to be kids walking around with their mobile phones blaring out their techno-sensibility!

Edited April 15, 2009 by Bev Stapleton

[Hot Ptah]

I agree with Jim Sangry's account of the history. I was there, as a rock listener into the early King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Yes, ELP. The horn bands, Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago and Chase, were very popular and their albums were played on the radio and in my friends' homes, but they did not make jazz seem all that exciting to me. I vaguely knew that Bitches Brew existed but did not buy it, and there was no jazz on the radio where I lived.

Then the Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Inner Mounting Flame" came out, and it changed everything for me. I was then open to the jazz side of the electric music of the time, and got into the electric Miles, Weather Report, and other jazz fusion groups. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was on ABC-TV's "In Concert" show, and it had a big impact on me. I thought that they were an amazing group, like the guitar improvising bands of the time, only much better at playing, and without vocals.

There was very little rock or jazz on TV at the time. There were three network stations and one public station where I lived. ABC's "In Concert" was just about it for seeing something new on TV.

For a while, it was a pretty exciting time, although I always found some of the prog rock music and the jazz fusion music rather dull, and some of it great. But there was a noticeable drop off in quality at some point, in the mid to late 1970s, and then a major drop off in quality, in the early 1980s.

Weather Report was huge in all of this to me. I saw them live several times, and their albums were played often in my circle of friends. They seemed to be building in artistry--but then we were mildly disappointed in "Heavy Weather" when it came out, as it did not seem to be as good as the albums which had preceded it.

Zappa was also big in this time, with his George Duke band, before he became more slick, and opened my ears to a lot of jazz sounds.

Then I heard McCoy Tyner and acoustic jazz opened up for me in a huge way, and the rest was history.

[Hot Ptah]

Another thing I just thought of about that time. There were some listeners in the mid-1970s, who liked prog rock and jazz fusion, who were generally open to about anything, like me. I would have dug deeper into acoustic jazz at an earlier time than I did, if I had found a friendly mentor to guide me.

But there were also music heads who were heavily into rock, who were doctrinaire about what jazz fusion they would listen to. It had to be loud, electric, guitar dominated, and enough like rock to be "O.K." If it sounded too much like mainstream jazz, they were against it. They would not consider listening to any acoustic jazz or earlier jazz. To these people, Weather Report became acceptable only when Jaco Pastorius joined, because he was like a rock guitar idol.

So I would come into contact with that group, and would have to "hide" my early acoustic jazz passions, or else they would ridicule me as uncool. That just seemed to be too much of a drag to endure, especially as I was really excited about my first acoustic jazz discoveries.

Then there were other people who would listen to Weather Report and my first Duke Ellington album, both, and like both of them.

Needless to say, I was in a high school/college/grad school situation throughout the 1970s--that's the only way you can get such concentrated, frequent face to face contact with many other music lovers, as far as I can tell.

[A Lark Ascending]

I experienced it a bit differently - I recall a general feeling that jazz was something that 'grown ups' listened to. I had an English teacher at school who talked music with us - he would usually urge us to try jazz but I didn't know where to start.

I recall hearing things like the jazzy bit at the end of Buffalo Springfield's 'Broken Arrow' and being attracted but did not know where to turn to. I was also listening to things like Keith Tippett's Centipede which also suggested some later lines of enquiry - that fitted nicely with Soft Machine and Henry Cow.

I think by 1975 I was growing weary of electricity, volume and, above all, the rock beat. Straight jazz was still too distant but I found what I was looking for in Keith Jarrett, Ralph Towner, Eberhard Weber etc. In a very different, acoustic way they were also 'fusion'. They almost seemed like an acoustic version of what I liked in the instrumental part of prog or fusion. I also started to follow up the Tippett/Soft Machine musicians into the much more pure jazz Ogun records.

After that it was a case of randomly buying/borrowing things by Miles/Coltrane/Mingus/MJQ and finding my way.

Though this was not happening in isolation - I was also following pointers from early 70s rock into folk and classical music. Again, I think it was the less electric sound and more subtle use of rhythm that drew me in.

[Shawn]

Thanks for sharing your insights guys...I'm glad the thread didn't die off completely, I was hoping for some more people's experiences.

I came in a good decade too late (born in 1970), but eventually found my way down all these paths. In the 80's I was listening primarily to underground metal and bands like Rush, Pink Floyd & Yes. I always liked the more progressive sections that bands like Iron Maiden would work into their songs. I was also a subscriber to Guitar magazine at the time and kept reading about people like John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola and Robert Fripp being influences on alot of the 80's guitar players. So eventually I picked up a few albums like "Friday Night In San Francisco", "Land Of The Midnight Sun", etc.

Then in the early 90s I finally got hipped to King Crimson and was completely floored. Luckily I was working in a music store at the time with a couple jazz lovers, they schooled me quick. A few years later I stumbled upon the Blue Note board, started corresponding with people like Lon and Jim R...then moved to Dallas and met Joe and Sangrey...which was like going to "living genius post-graduate school".

Even though I've circled back around more towards the prog rock/fusion thing in the past couple years, I still see it as all parts of a very interesting period in music, to me one of the most important times in history (personally speaking).

Edited April 15, 2009 by Shawn

[.:.impossible]

I'd be curious to hear what you guys thought of the upcoming release from a quartet out of Richmond, VA, which in my mind, very well fits into the avant-rock era. I wouldn't call it fusion or prog, though I feel like it certainly could have come out during those times and would have been well received.

The compositions are written by Bryan Hooten (trombone, Fight The Big Bull). Trey Pollard plays electric guitar, Cameron Ralston plays bass (my brother), and Brian Jones plays drums. Based on reviews, the album has been well-received, though I seem to be hearing the music very differently than the reviewers. As a whole, the album has so much space and atmosphere. I don't quite know what to compare it to. Maybe one of you will have a frame of reference.

I have recommended a handful of albums from this Richmond scene in recent months (Fight The Big Bull, M.A.P. Trio, Glows In The Dark, etc.), and I think this is yet another album that will further strengthen the "up and coming" status that many have pinned.

The official album release date is the last week of April, but I have had a copy for some time. I designed the packaging.

Give it a listen and let me know what you think.

OMBAK | Framing the Void

Though I think the album works best as a whole, two tunes can be sampled here:

Click here.

Edited April 15, 2009 by .:.impossible

[Hot Ptah]

I experienced it a bit differently - I recall a general feeling that jazz was something that 'grown ups' listened to. I had an English teacher at school who talked music with us - he would usually urge us to try jazz but I didn't know where to start.

I recall hearing things like the jazzy bit at the end of Buffalo Springfield's 'Broken Arrow' and being attracted but did not know where to turn to. I was also listening to things like Keith Tippett's Centipede which also suggested some later lines of enquiry - that fitted nicely with Soft Machine and Henry Cow.

I think by 1975 I was growing weary of electricity, volume and, above all, the rock beat. Straight jazz was still too distant but I found what I was looking for in Keith Jarrett, Ralph Towner, Eberhard Weber etc. In a very different, acoustic way they were also 'fusion'. They almost seemed like an acoustic version of what I liked in the instrumental part of prog or fusion. I also started to follow up the Tippett/Soft Machine musicians into the much more pure jazz Ogun records.

After that it was a case of randomly buying/borrowing things by Miles/Coltrane/Mingus/MJQ and finding my way.

Though this was not happening in isolation - I was also following pointers from early 70s rock into folk and classical music. Again, I think it was the less electric sound and more subtle use of rhythm that drew me in.

Bev, That is really interesting. The ECM label was another big part of the scene in America, too. Around 1976-78, even the listeners who did not want to delve into mainstream acoustic jazz would accept ECM. It was a different vibe than the older jazz. Gary Burton, Ralph Towner, Keith Jarrett, Weber's "The Colors of Chloe"--they were "cool" for college age students.

Then Pat Metheny came along, and everyone seemed to like him, among the prog rock, jazz fusion and ECM listeners.

I remember very clearly that some, but not all, of my friends who liked prog rock, jazz fusion, and ECM, jumped over the chasm in those years, to Dexter Gordon, the VSOP Quintet (1977--on tour and the cover of Newsweek: Hubbard, Shorter, Hancock, Carter, T. Williams) and the other then-current acoustic mainstream jazz which was then about as popular as acoustic mainstream jazz ever gets. It was like a conversion experience to some of them.

[Hot Ptah]

Thanks for sharing your insights guys...I'm glad the thread didn't die off completely, I was hoping for some more people's experiences.

I came in a good decade too late (born in 1970), but eventually found my way down all these paths. In the 80's I was listening primarily to underground metal and bands like Rush, Pink Floyd & Yes. I always liked the more progressive sections that bands like Iron Maiden would work into their songs. I was also a subscriber to Guitar magazine at the time and kept reading about people like John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola and Robert Fripp being influences on alot of the 80's guitar players. So eventually I picked up a few albums like "Friday Night In San Francisco", "Land Of The Midnight Sun", etc.

Then in the early 90s I finally got hipped to King Crimson and was completely floored. Luckily I was working in a music store at the time with a couple jazz lovers, they schooled me quick. A few years later I stumbled upon the Blue Note board, started corresponding with people like Lon and Jim R...then moved to Dallas and met Joe and Sangrey...which was like going to "living genius post-graduate school".

Even though I've circled back around more towards the prog rock/fusion thing in the past couple years, I still see it as all parts of a very interesting period in music, to me one of the most important times in history (personally speaking).

Shawn, I think that everyone tends to romanticize the music of their high school years as "the best music ever." However, I will say that it felt to me like rock music was very interesting and always potentially creative and innovative from about 1966--75. Then to me, the creative spirit seemed to be leaving rock music. That could have been subjective on my part. I then found the same excitement in the electric and acoustic jazz I was hearing from about 1975 to 1982 or so. It did in fact explicitly feel like an exciting, creative time to me. Not so much since.

Mentors such as your music store guys, and the members of this board, can be so helpful in moving further into jazz. For me, it was a very helpful, very knowledgable clerk at Discount Records in Madison, Wisconsin, who had been trained by the store manager, Chuck Nessa, a few years earlier--and then my big bang, the jazz history class with Richard Davis. I have often wondered if my jazz love would have faded somewhat if it had not been shot into interstellar space at maximum warp at just the right time by Richard Davis in 1978. That class made sure that my jazz love would only deepen with the passing years. I was very lucky.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[Hot Ptah]

Also, Bev, I have found it very interesting to read about your listening to Keith Tippett, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, and other British musicians in that era. I had never heard of any of them during the 1970s. I knew the name Soft Machine, but that was about it. It was a whole area of exciting music of that time that just passed me by completely. I have enjoyed learning about it from you on these boards.

[A Lark Ascending]

I remember very clearly that some, but not all, of my friends who liked prog rock, jazz fusion, and ECM, jumped over the chasm in those years, to Dexter Gordon, the VSOP Quintet (1977--on tour and the cover of Newsweek: Hubbard, Shorter, Hancock, Carter, T. Williams) and the other then-current acoustic mainstream jazz which was then about as popular as acoustic mainstream jazz ever gets. It was like a conversion experience to some of them.

I recall chancing it with Dexter Gordon's 'Homecoming' album in late '77 around the same time as I bought 'My Favourite Things', a Rollins twofer and the Coltrane Pablo double LP from early 60s European concerts. Those records convinced me I could venture into 'proper jazz' and get rewards. I was also being hurried that way by the fact that the music I was used to listening to had been almost completely swept away by the punk revolution. I'm not suggesting punk destroyed experimental, improvisational rock - it had run out of steam by itself. But I was driven to look elsewhere. When I started earning money in a paid job in early '78 it was jazz and classical music that got my attention.

[A Lark Ascending]

Also, Bev, I have found it very interesting to read about your listening to Keith Tippett, Soft Machine, Henry Cow, and other British musicians in that era. I had never heard of any of them during the 1970s. I knew the name Soft Machine, but that was about it. It was a whole area of exciting music of that time that just passed me by completely. I have enjoyed learning about it from you on these boards.

I suspect this was a very British/European student experience. They were never wildly popular even here.

One marvellous band who somehow started up and kept going for a couple of years during the punk years was National Health - essentially built around Dave Stewart, the keyboard player from Egg and Hatfield and the North. I went to their first concert at the London School of Economics where Bill Bruford played drums - I think alongside Pip Pyle...not sure there.

There's a 2CD box of the three National Health albums that I'd strongly recommend. Stewart is insistent he doesn't play jazz but rock but there's plenty in the music to interest a jazz fan. More melodic and 'straight' than Henry Cow but with the whimsy of Caravan or early Soft Machine.

There was a more funk based jazz rock in the UK too that seemed to relate to Nucleus - Morrissey-Mullen, for example or Barbara Thompson's Paraphenalia. That had a livespan well into the 80s but never interested me that much. I think I'd convinced myself I liked 'authentic' jazz by that stage!!!!

[Hot Ptah]

I remember very clearly that some, but not all, of my friends who liked prog rock, jazz fusion, and ECM, jumped over the chasm in those years, to Dexter Gordon, the VSOP Quintet (1977--on tour and the cover of Newsweek: Hubbard, Shorter, Hancock, Carter, T. Williams) and the other then-current acoustic mainstream jazz which was then about as popular as acoustic mainstream jazz ever gets. It was like a conversion experience to some of them.

I recall chancing it with Dexter Gordon's 'Homecoming' album in late '77 around the same time as I bought 'My Favourite Things', a Rollins twofer and the Coltrane Pablo double LP from early 60s European concerts. Those records convinced me I could venture into 'proper jazz' and get rewards. I was also being hurried that way by the fact that the music I was used to listening to had been almost completely swept away by the punk revolution. I'm not suggesting punk destroyed experimental, improvisational rock - it had run out of steam by itself. But I was driven to look elsewhere. When I started earning money in a paid job in early '78 it was jazz and classical music that got my attention.

The mention of those albums really bring back memories. Dexter Gordon's "Homecoming" seemed like such an important, common album. Maybe it was promoted heavily by Columbia. Anyway, it seemed like "the" acoustic jazz album to get then.

By the Rollins twofer, do you mean the Prestige twofer series--they were two LP sets with the name of the artist on them in big letters. I now realize that they were reissues of parts of three or more 1950s Prestige or Riverside albums cobbled together. Still, they seemed to be everywhere back then, among young people getting into acoustic jazz.

Those twofers were important because so much acoustic jazz, even from the 1950s, was unavailable, out of print, and there was no internet or any other way to find it easily. So to be able to hear an older jazz album, even if you read about it and wanted to, was a hit and miss proposition.

Pablo was a popular label then, and you could get its releases fairly easily. I remember the Coltrane double LP from early 1960s European concerts--the one I am thinking of had a map of Africa on the cover.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[A Lark Ascending]

The mention of those albums really bring back memories. Dexter Gordon's "Homecoming" seemed like such an important, common album. Maybe it was promoted heavily by Columbia. Anyway, it seemed like "the" acoustic jazz album to get then.

By the Rollins twofer, do you mean the Prestige twofer series--they were two LP sets with the name of the artist on them in big letters. I now realize that they were reissues of parts of three or more 1950s Prestige or Riverside albums cobbled together. Still, they seemed to be everywhere back then, among young people getting into acoustic jazz.

Those twofers were important because so much acoustic jazz, even from the 1950s, was unavailable, out of print, and there was no internet or any other way to find it easily. So to be able to hear an older jazz album, even if you read about it and wanted to, was a hit and miss proposition.

Pablo was a popular label then, and you could get its releases fairly easily. I remember the Coltrane double LP from early 1960s European concerts--the one I am thinking of had a map of Africa on the cover.

Absolutely right on all counts. It was actually the tunes that I later learnt were from 'Crescent' that grabbed me off the Pablo album.

I had many of the Prestige Miles albums, and the Bill Evans Riversides along with Monk albums and other things on those twofers.

There were also a number of twofers from a reactivated Blue Note around that time - I had things by Gil Evans and the Tal Farlow/Mingus trio as well as a Konitz/Mulligan set that I've only recently acquired in original album form via various CDs.

[Hot Ptah]

The mention of those albums really bring back memories. Dexter Gordon's "Homecoming" seemed like such an important, common album. Maybe it was promoted heavily by Columbia. Anyway, it seemed like "the" acoustic jazz album to get then.

By the Rollins twofer, do you mean the Prestige twofer series--they were two LP sets with the name of the artist on them in big letters. I now realize that they were reissues of parts of three or more 1950s Prestige or Riverside albums cobbled together. Still, they seemed to be everywhere back then, among young people getting into acoustic jazz.

Those twofers were important because so much acoustic jazz, even from the 1950s, was unavailable, out of print, and there was no internet or any other way to find it easily. So to be able to hear an older jazz album, even if you read about it and wanted to, was a hit and miss proposition.

Pablo was a popular label then, and you could get its releases fairly easily. I remember the Coltrane double LP from early 1960s European concerts--the one I am thinking of had a map of Africa on the cover.

Absolutely right on all counts. It was actually the tunes that I later learnt were from 'Crescent' that grabbed me off the Pablo album.

I had many of the Prestige Miles albums, and the Bill Evans Riversides along with Monk albums and other things on those twofers.

There were also a number of twofers from a reactivated Blue Note around that time - I had things by Gil Evans and the Tal Farlow/Mingus trio as well as a Konitz/Mulligan set that I've only recently acquired in original album form via various CDs.

I remember those Blue Note twofers, with black and white covers, not really very attractive covers. Still, I got some excellent albums in that Blue Note series: Randy Weston--Little Niles; some very early recordings by Wes Montgomery; a Sonny Rollins set.

Then there were the A&M Horizon albums, with the cover that opened up and had a lot of writing and artwork on both sides of the inner cover. Those had very attractive covers, and were easy to find in stores. I remember getting Charlie Haden: Closeness and The Golden Number; Don Cherry (with "Brown Rice'); some Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band albums; David Liebman, with Richard Beirach; and others.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[A Lark Ascending]

I remember those Blue Note twofers, with black and white covers, not really very attractive covers. Still, I got some excellent albums in that Blue Note series: Randy Weston--Little Niles; some very early recordings by Wes Montgomery; a Sonny Rollins set.

Then there were the A&M Horizon albums, with the cover that opened up and had a lot of writing and artwork on both sides of the inner cover. Those had very attractive covers, and were easy to find in stores. I remember getting Charlie Haden: Closeness and The Golden Number; Don Cherry (with "Brown Rice'); some Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band albums; David Liebman, with Richard Beirach; and others.

The Blue Note twofers I remember were beige with orange writing on. The Mingus/Farlow was actually a Savoy twofer reissue - another series of that time. I had a Charlie Parker double in that same series.

I recall those A&M albums - only lasted a short time. I had 'Closeness' and one that I don't think has ever been reissued - a marvellous Jim Hall record called 'Commitment'. Very much a studio record with each track quite different to the next - duets, trios, full band etc. Would probably have seemed to much of a 'concept' in later times but I still play it and love it. A beautiful version of the Albinoni Adagio (a track that has been cross-overed to death) with Art Farmer playing exquisitely.

[Hot Ptah]

I remember those Blue Note twofers, with black and white covers, not really very attractive covers. Still, I got some excellent albums in that Blue Note series: Randy Weston--Little Niles; some very early recordings by Wes Montgomery; a Sonny Rollins set.

Then there were the A&M Horizon albums, with the cover that opened up and had a lot of writing and artwork on both sides of the inner cover. Those had very attractive covers, and were easy to find in stores. I remember getting Charlie Haden: Closeness and The Golden Number; Don Cherry (with "Brown Rice'); some Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Big Band albums; David Liebman, with Richard Beirach; and others.

The Blue Note twofers I remember were beige with orange writing on. The Mingus/Farlow was actually a Savoy twofer reissue - another series of that time. I had a Charlie Parker double in that same series.

I recall those A&M albums - only lasted a short time. I had 'Closeness' and one that I don't think has ever been reissued - a marvellous Jim Hall record called 'Commitment'. Very much a studio record with each track quite different to the next - duets, trios, full band etc. Would probably have seemed to much of a 'concept' in later times but I still play it and love it. A beautiful version of the Albinoni Adagio (a track that has been cross-overed to death) with Art Farmer playing exquisitely.

I remember Jim Hall's Commitment--it is a wonderful album.

The Savoy reissues were great too. I got the Charlie Parker 2 LP set ("Bird/The Savoy Sessions") because it was the lead album reviewed in Rolling Stone magazine, which seemed much more important then, and much more geared toward music. It was very unusual for a jazz album to have that lead spot in the album reviews, with a big photo and everything.

And to top it off, I was reading Stereo Review, every issue, for the album reviews, and buying as many of their recommended albums as I could. Chris Albertson wrote those reviews. I thought he was a great music writer.

Edited April 15, 2009 by Hot Ptah

[7/4]

OK, knock it off you guys, you're not discussing Jazz Fusion & Progressive Rock enough for this thread.