So, What Are You Listening To NOW?

[jlhoots]

4 hours ago, HutchFan said:

Michael Blake - The Kingdom of Champa (Intuition, 1997)

This is very, very impressive -- especially considering the fact that it's a debut recording.

Excellent!!

[Gheorghe]

On 10.11.2019 at 5:36 PM, jlhoots said:

Michael Cohen - hmmm??

 

On 10.11.2019 at 5:15 PM, JSngry said:

This is one of those records that I've been hearing for years about what a GREAT record it is, and I've always just assumed that, yeah, ok, I bet it's really good, sure, hey, Bert Wilson, and onward, etc.

So I bought this CD a few years ago thinking that same thing, put it in the pile, and didn't get to it until yesterday.

And as so often happens, I am a dumbass. This Is a GREAT record. Don't know how replicable it could/should be, but that's hardly the point. On that day at that moment, these people mad some really badass, damn near earth-shattering energy music. You'll reach a star because there are such things.

Mea culpa (especially to myself) and as a sidenote of illusory "importance - the line from Sonny Simmons to Stan Kenton (and vice-versa!) goes directly through here.

And Allan Praskin ! 

[soulpope]

28 minutes ago, Gheorghe said:

And Allan Praskin ! 

Underappreciated ....

[Gheorghe]

14 minutes ago, soulpope said:

Underappreciated ....

Over here in Europe he is most appreciated. I think he came here in the 70´s through Gunter Hampel´s Group and played everything from bop to free. My highest admiration for him.

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, Gheorghe said:

Over here in Europe he is most appreciated. I think he came here in the 70´s through Gunter Hampel´s Group and played everything from bop to free. My highest admiration for him.

Right .... my remark targeted "non Euopean soil .... mostly ....

[BillF]

[Coda]

[Coda]

[Coda]

[JSngry]

[Coda]

Alto Saxophone – Tim Berne
Bass, Electronics – Drew Gress
Drums – Tom Rainey
Piano – Craig Taborn
Trumpet – Ralph Alessi

[soulpope]

49 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Priceless ....

[Peter Friedman]

[jazzbo]

8 to 10 inches here so far overnight and this morning here in NE Ohio (Lake Effect area, Geauga County). And it's still falling. Just got back from clearing the deck, steps and driveway for the second time since 7 a.m.

I've been doing some comparison listening this morning. I first listened to the "Vol. 1" material on the Complete Blue Note Recordings of Miles Davis "Pure Audio Blu-ray" disc, and then listened to the same material on the Japanese "24 Bit by RVG" lp facsimile version. Different resolutions, different mastering. . . I have to say both had positive characteristics and I like them both! I could hear "further into" the Blu-ray, but the RVG had real snap, crackle and pop (in good ways!)

[Referentzhunter]

[Larry Kart]

The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions Box set, Extra tracks Edition by Davis, Miles (1998) Audio CD.webloc

 

Just picked this up (have no idea what took me so long) and discovered, much to my surprise, that Bob Belden's notes refer approvingly to a 1969 Down Beat review I wrote of a Plugged Nickel performance by the Lost Quintet.

 

The review FWIW: 

Outside of Charlie Parker’s best units, I don’t think there’s ever been a group so at ease at up tempos as Miles Davis’s current quintet. Their relaxation at  top speed enables them to move at will from the “hotness” up-tempo playing usually implies to a serene  lyricism in the midst of turmoil. 

This “inside-out” quality arises from the nature of human hearing, since, at a certain point, musical speed becomes slow motion or stillness (in the same way the eye reacts to a stroboscope). Yet the group doesn’t move into circular rhythms wholesale. They generally stay  right on the edge, and, when the rhythm does seem ready to spin endlessly like a Tibetan prayer wheel, one prodding note from Davis or Shorter is enough to send them hurtling into “our” time world, where speed means forward motion.

Recent changes in the group’s personnel and instrumentation have had important effects. Chick Corea is playing electric piano, and while this move may have been prompted by the variable nature of club pianos, Corea has made a virtue of necessity, discovering many useful qualities in the instrument. In backing the horns, its ability to sustain notes and produce a wide range of sonorities frees Holland and DeJohnette from these roles. Corea is now the principal pattern maker in the rhythm section, a task to which Ron Carter and Tony Williams previously  had given much attention. As a soloist, Corea has found a biting, nasal quality in the instrument  that can be very propulsive. I heard a number of first sets, and each time it seemed that the rhythm section really got together for the night during Corea’s solo on the first tune.

As mentioned above, Holland and DeJohnette don’t often set up the stop-and-go interludes of Carter and Williams. Instead, they burn straight ahead, creating a deep, luxurious groove for the soloists. Holland is as fast as anyone on the instrument, but it is the melodic and harmonic quality of his bass lines one remembers, as cohesive and austere as Lennie Tristano’s. Shorter, in particular, responds to this kind of musical thought, because it so closely resembles his own. At times it seems as if he and Holland could improvise in unison if they wished. Tony Williams had a greater range of timbres and moods under control than DeJohnette does, but the latter is just right for this group. He sounds something like Elvin Jones with a lighter touch, and he really loves to swing in a bashing, exuberant manner.

Wayne Shorter’s approach to improvisation, in which emotion is simultaneously expressed and “discussed” (i.e., spontaneously found motifs are worked out to their farthest implications with an eyes-open, conscious control), has a great appeal for me. The busyness and efficiency of a man at work can have an abstract beauty  apart from the task. Of course,  Shorter’s playing has more overt emotional qualities of tenderness or passion which can give pleasure to the listener. 

The problem with such an approach lies in keeping inspiration open and fresh, maintaining a balance  between spontaneity and control. Here, Shorter’s recent adoption of the soprano saxophone  is interesting. A master craftsman of the tenor, he already has great technical control of the second instrument, and its newness seems to have opened areas of emotion for him on both horns. Often, while Davis solos, one can see Shorter hesitate between the soprano and tenor before deciding which to play. It’s a fruitful kind of indecision. Shorter once referred to his soprano as “the baby”, and I think I know what he meant.

About Davis there’s not much new to say, except to note that he is to some degree responsible for every virtue of the group’s members mentioned above, and that he uses all of them to achieve the effects he wants. He is the leader in the best sense of the term. Playing almost constantly at the limit of his great ability, he inspires the others by his example. There is no shucking in this band, and if Davis occasionally is less than serious in his improvising, as he was one night on “Milestones,” mocking the symmetrical grace of his mid-fifties style, one soon realizes that he is serious after all.

With this version of the Miles Davis Quintet, one aspect of jazz has been brought to a degree of ripeness that has few parallels in the history of the music. Now let’s hope that Davis and Columbia decide to record the group in person.

[Peter Friedman]

[soulpope]

Before .... :

[soulpope]

[BillF]

[John Tapscott]

15 minutes ago, BillF said:

Now:

[Peter Friedman]

[HutchFan]

7 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

The review FWIW: 

Outside of Charlie Parker’s best units, I don’t think there’s ever been a group so at ease at up tempos as Miles Davis’s current quintet. Their relaxation at  top speed enables them to move at will from the “hotness” up-tempo playing usually implies to a serene  lyricism in the midst of turmoil. 

This “inside-out” quality arises from the nature of human hearing, since, at a certain point, musical speed becomes slow motion or stillness (in the same way the eye reacts to a stroboscope). Yet the group doesn’t move into circular rhythms wholesale. They generally stay  right on the edge, and, when the rhythm does seem ready to spin endlessly like a Tibetan prayer wheel, one prodding note from Davis or Shorter is enough to send them hurtling into “our” time world, where speed means forward motion.

Recent changes in the group’s personnel and instrumentation have had important effects. Chick Corea is playing electric piano, and while this move may have been prompted by the variable nature of club pianos, Corea has made a virtue of necessity, discovering many useful qualities in the instrument. In backing the horns, its ability to sustain notes and produce a wide range of sonorities frees Holland and DeJohnette from these roles. Corea is now the principal pattern maker in the rhythm section, a task to which Ron Carter and Tony Williams previously  had given much attention. As a soloist, Corea has found a biting, nasal quality in the instrument  that can be very propulsive. I heard a number of first sets, and each time it seemed that the rhythm section really got together for the night during Corea’s solo on the first tune.

As mentioned above, Holland and DeJohnette don’t often set up the stop-and-go interludes of Carter and Williams. Instead, they burn straight ahead, creating a deep, luxurious groove for the soloists. Holland is as fast as anyone on the instrument, but it is the melodic and harmonic quality of his bass lines one remembers, as cohesive and austere as Lennie Tristano’s. Shorter, in particular, responds to this kind of musical thought, because it so closely resembles his own. At times it seems as if he and Holland could improvise in unison if they wished. Tony Williams had a greater range of timbres and moods under control than DeJohnette does, but the latter is just right for this group. He sounds something like Elvin Jones with a lighter touch, and he really loves to swing in a bashing, exuberant manner.

Wayne Shorter’s approach to improvisation, in which emotion is simultaneously expressed and “discussed” (i.e., spontaneously found motifs are worked out to their farthest implications with an eyes-open, conscious control), has a great appeal for me. The busyness and efficiency of a man at work can have an abstract beauty  apart from the task. Of course,  Shorter’s playing has more overt emotional qualities of tenderness or passion which can give pleasure to the listener. 

The problem with such an approach lies in keeping inspiration open and fresh, maintaining a balance  between spontaneity and control. Here, Shorter’s recent adoption of the soprano saxophone  is interesting. A master craftsman of the tenor, he already has great technical control of the second instrument, and its newness seems to have opened areas of emotion for him on both horns. Often, while Davis solos, one can see Shorter hesitate between the soprano and tenor before deciding which to play. It’s a fruitful kind of indecision. Shorter once referred to his soprano as “the baby”, and I think I know what he meant.

About Davis there’s not much new to say, except to note that he is to some degree responsible for every virtue of the group’s members mentioned above, and that he uses all of them to achieve the effects he wants. He is the leader in the best sense of the term. Playing almost constantly at the limit of his great ability, he inspires the others by his example. There is no shucking in this band, and if Davis occasionally is less than serious in his improvising, as he was one night on “Milestones,” mocking the symmetrical grace of his mid-fifties style, one soon realizes that he is serious after all.

With this version of the Miles Davis Quintet, one aspect of jazz has been brought to a degree of ripeness that has few parallels in the history of the music. Now let’s hope that Davis and Columbia decide to record the group in person.

This is superb writing, Larry. Thanks so much for sharing. 

What a band the "Lost Quintet" was!

[Larry Kart]

I like that review myself, but the music and the band more or less wrote it. All I had to do was pay attention.

[HutchFan]

Abercrombie, Holland, DeJohnette - Gateway 2 (ECM, 1978)

 

 

1 hour ago, Larry Kart said:

I like that review myself, but the music and the band more or less wrote it. All I had to do was pay attention.

You're being modest.  If it was that easy, more people would be able to write well about music.

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by HutchFan