NOW JAZZ NOW 100 Essential Free Jazz & Improvisation Recordings 1960-80

[cayetano]

"The three authors, music writer Byron Coley and musicians Mats Gustafsson and Thurston Moore, share a life-long mutual obsession to record collecting with a distinct focus on the recorded history of Free Music".

https://www.ecstaticpeace.net/now-jazz-now

Edited October 18 by cayetano

[clifford_thornton]

I'll be interested to read this, although I suppose it'll be a recap of some of what I've read in Mats's auction catalogs/Discaholic Corner, Thurston's Grand Royal Magazine article, etc.

[dnsrrlls]

Gotta say, while I'm mildly interested in what made the cut (and am also guilty of being a collector of absurdly expensive free jazz records), I'm not sure what the purpose of a book like this is other than as a "flex." The title deems these as 100 "essential" recordings, but the majority are almost certainly going to be prohibitively expensive, collector-chased items and not anything practical for someone interested in the actual history of the music. I can see some argument for it being a NWW-list-type guide for future enthusiasts who don't care about acquiring OG copies of things, but at the end of the day this feels more like boast from the authors than anything truly in service of the music.

(And if you actually are a collector and don't already own these records, prepare for it to stay that way...🤑)

[clifford_thornton]

Judging from the labels on the verso, I see only a few that are super expensive, and all of those have been reissued (Ra, Pullen-Graves, Black Unity Trio, and Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble). Cautiously hoping that it won’t be all flexing…