So, What Are You Listening To NOW?

[BillF]

48 minutes ago, mikeweil said:

👍

Apparently they lodged together. Do you think they shared hats? 😄

[jazzcorner]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

 

Now playing for the evening

Giants Of Jazz GOJ LP-1007 - Stan Kenton " Painted Rhythm" - rec. 1945 - feat. young June Christy

 

 

Edited September 20, 2023 by jazzcorner

[John Tapscott]

2 hours ago, HutchFan said:

👍

Recently:

[BillF]

2 minutes ago, John Tapscott said:

 

👍

[John Tapscott]

 

[Chuck Nessa]

[jlhoots]

53 minutes ago, Chuck Nessa said:

Mine arrived too. Will listen soon.

[gmonahan]

Recently got the Condon Town Hall Concerts, but it's nice to break them up with some rare tracks from Nat.

[Chuck Nessa]

[dougcrates]

[dougcrates]

[Peter Friedman]

[BillF]

Now playing:

[jazzbo]

Cassandra Wilson “Live” Winter & Winter cd

 

 

Long time no play–system has improved since then. A great listen.

[Rabshakeh]

Jason Moran – From The Dancehall To The Battlefield

Re-visiting this one to see if feelings have changed.

They haven't really. I am still split on it, roughly 50/50.

The opening "Now, listen to teacher" introduction still grates very badly for me, and the first LP has what seems to me to be a few rather lifeless or overly academic readings of classics. They remind me a bit of the Jazz At The Lincoln Center big band records. I think that the version of "Darktown Strutter's Ball" at track 5 is one of the worst offenders, particularly the gimmick of the pre-war hokum stick percussion.

Then the second LP seems to me to brighten up. By the final side I really enjoy it. The iterations of the group that have been put on the second LP seem to swing more, and play with a bit more juice. It seems alive.

I also really enjoy Moran's own compositions on the record, including on the first LP. I might have preferred it if the first LP was just him playing between JRE's and Co's compositions and his own, as he does on "Bailin' The Jack", the second track.

Presumably it wasn't recorded in order, so hard to tell why there is such a stark divide. I'm streaming, so don't know whether there is any particular logic to the sequencing. Maybe I just enjoyed the record more the further I got from that opening monologue. 

I am still of the view that it overall amounts to a Major Work, whether I like it all the way through or not. I would not be surprised if it is well remembered and becomes regarded as one of the more important jazz records of the early 2020s. 

Edit: I should add as context that pre-war American 'roots' music is the music that I have probably listened to most in my life, and my reaction to the record may reflect personal anxiety. I spent enough of my university years giving glazed-eyed spittle-flecked lectures about how listening to the Mississippi Sheiks holds the key to understanding the birth of rock music to bewildered peers who had been hoping to just get stoned and listen to Pink Floyd, to have some residual anxiety about this stuff.

Post script to Edit: I was probably wrong about the Mississippi Sheiks. Don't skip track one of Wish You Were Here. It's the best bit.

Edited September 21, 2023 by Rabshakeh

[jazzbo]

Duke Ellington “The Great Paris Concert” Atlantic 2 cd set

 

A great Ellington concert . . . sound is very good.

If I had a time machine this would be a good destination for an evening out.

[Rabshakeh]

Bill Dixon -Papyrus Volume II

[mikeweil]

[BillF]

1 hour ago, mikeweil said:

👍

[dougcrates]

4 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Cassandra Wilson “Live” Winter & Winter cd

 

 

Long time no play–system has improved since then. A great listen.

 

For various reasons my system is lacking but good to know a vastly improved system can make older CDs sound good again.  

Edited September 21, 2023 by dougcrates

[mjazzg]

Break A Vase ep.28, ep.27 beforehand

https://www.mixcloud.com/AlexanderHawkinsMusic/break-a-vase-episode-28/

5 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Cassandra Wilson “Live” Winter & Winter cd

 

 

Long time no play–system has improved since then. A great listen.

 

Just realised that might be the one Wilson I'm missing. Need to check that.

About time she had a new release, it feels

[jazzbo]

36 minutes ago, mjazzg said:

Break A Vase ep.28, ep.27 beforehand

https://www.mixcloud.com/AlexanderHawkinsMusic/break-a-vase-episode-28/

Just realised that might be the one Wilson I'm missing. Need to check that.

About time she had a new release, it feels

Yes, I'd welcome another. Though she's very close to my age and I understand not working an ass off at this point of life.

Just want to suggest the Winter & Winter version of this album as it has always sounded good, it's better than the earlier release.

Edited September 21, 2023 by jazzbo

[dougcrates]

19 minutes ago, jazzbo said:

Just want to suggest the Winter & Winter version of this album as it has always sounded good, it's better than the earlier release.

Ah, gotcha.  I assumed you were playing the original CD.  

[jazzbo]

That said I do want to note my experience that improving my system does improve the playback of early cds.

[HutchFan]

5 hours ago, jazzbo said:

Duke Ellington “The Great Paris Concert” Atlantic 2 cd set

A great Ellington concert . . . sound is very good.

If I had a time machine this would be a good destination for an evening out.

 

Some live Duke Ellington for me too:

At the Alhambra: Recorded in Paris, 1958 (Pablo)