I love this album. When I first got it, it stayed in my player and I played it over and over again, for months. Hancock's playing is so beautiful, as are the arrangements. This is probably my favorite Herbie Hancock album (though The Prisoner is a close second).
Are you looking for singers and/or bass players specifically, or just any female jazz musicians? The only person I can think of who, like Esperanza Spalding, is both a bassist and a singer is Joelle Leandre, though her approach is quite different.
OK, if you like Spalding, you might like Cassandra Wilson, Patricia Barber, or maybe Rickie Lee Jones's Pop Pop album. Other great female jazz musicians that haven't been mentioned yet: Marian McPartland, Mary Lou Williams, Eliane Elias, Ella Fitzgerald, Toshiko Akiyoshi. Most of these are pianists, because that's where my main interest lies. Cheers!
A unique album as there are horns but no horn solos. Can anyone think of another jazz album where there are horns but none solo?
Ingrid Laubrock (sax), Terry Pollard (piano), Terri Lyne Carrington (drums), Bobbi Humphrey (flute), Becca Stevens, Gretchen Parlato, Rebecca Martin, Lucy Reed, Blossom Dearie, Anita O’Day, Madeleine Peyroux, Chris Connor, Julie London.
Ingrid Jensen covering "Time of the Barracudas," from Here On Earth. Gary Bartz, George Colligan, Dwayne Bruno, and Bill Stewart are in the band. A couple years ago, she made an album with her sister Christine on sax & Ben Monder on guitar, called Infinitude, that I've really enjoyed, as well.
Listening to "Lou Donaldson - Light Foot" on Blue Note Lou Donaldson - alto saxophone Herman Foster - piano Peck Morrison - bass Jimmy Wormworth - drums Ray Barretto - congas
I was having a bit of trouble deciding what to put on, kinda felt like some familiar ol’ tried and true favorite but then again felt like something new. Instead I’ve opted to go off the deep end into The Abyss with Kevin Drumm & Jason Lescalleet. (Erstwhile Records, 2xCD), disc 1 Kevin Drumm - guitar, piano, electronics, tapes Jason Lescalleett - Hammond 136J, Casio SK5, Amplified Objects, Tapes, Dell XPS
Time to bring things back down to earth so to speak. Survival Unit III - Straylight (Pink Palace, PPCD002) Joe McPhee - pocket trumpet, soprano saxophone Fred Lonberg-Holm - cello, tenor guitar, electronics Michael Zerang - drums
Joey Calderazzo - Secrets (Audioquest) This album was heavily influenced by Herbie's album. It might be OOP since I don't think the label is still active but as usual you should be able to locate a used copy if you search around and it may be on one of the streaming sites but I don't stream so I can't help there. Highly recommended. NP Keith Jarrett/Charlie Haden - Jasmine (ECM)
Live in Zurich (Leo Records) Live in San Francisco (Music & Arts) Two of Marilyn Crispell's best. These date from the time she was a member of Anthony Braxton's great quartet.
One that I learned about from reading this thread--thanks to Six String posting about it--is Joey Calderazzo's album, Secrets. Edit: D'oh. Looks like Six String beat me to it!
I don't listen to much post-7o's jazz, with the exception of some ECM that I have, but the M Brecker is good in a way that I enjoy a Steely Dan outing, and his involvement on their latter records. It doesn't hurt that the man had immense talent either. MB charts this together with an airy flow that occasionally borders on what I don't like about this period in jazz, but never quite delves or goes into that territory. So a tip of my cup to another great fallen talent and his music...
WP: Tigran Hamasyan - An Ancient Observer [Nonesuch 559114-2] (2017) Is it jazz? Classical? Third stream? World music? I think it's all of these and more. I have been completely obsessed with the music of Armenian composer/pianist Tigran Hamasyan in general--and this album and its followup For Gyumri in particular--since discovering him a few months ago. Hamasyan is a pianist with insane pianistic chops--he won the 2006 Thelonious Monk Jazz Piano Competition (beating out Gerald Clayton and Aaron Parks, who placed 2nd and 3rd, respectively). When Herbie Hancock says, on-stage after your performance, "Tigran, you are my teacher now!" you know you've got something special. I would describe Hamasyan's music on this album and For Gyumri as Erik Satie + Keith Jarrett + Philip Glass by way of Gyorgi Ligeti and Conlon Nancarrow. His focus on rhythm is not unusual for a jazz pianist, but he brings a laser precision to it that is. On An Ancient Observer, the clearest example of this is probably "Etude No. 1" which is filled with eighth- and sixteenth-note rests sprinkled about to offset phrases from the main beat, creating a complex, studied exercise in subdividing the pulse of the music. From the recently-released official sheet music, it looks challenging to play. To me, even more fun and a bit less studious, is "Nairian Odyssey." There's a great moment at about 5:30 where Hamasyan establishes a steady pattern, and then, about 13 seconds later, cuts loose with a rip-roaring counter-rhythm erupting out of the bass region of the piano. It never fails to make me smile. He closes the album with the title cut, "Ancient Observer." It's in some kind of 11 meter (11/4 or 11/8, or something like that) grouped as a repeating pattern of 4, 4, 3. Early in the piece he establishes an 11-note repeating on-the-beat pattern. Then, keeping that pattern rock steady, he plays (and sings) a beautiful, free and easy melody over the top. Then, the variations begin. He syncopates the original pattern and suddenly, what had been calm and lovely is off on a loping gallup. At about 2:20 when he (I think) begins improvising over the now-steady-again pattern, his ability to keep that pattern going while improvising so effortlessly is pretty great. Then at the end he adds these off-set accents. How does count this stuff? NP: Tigran Hamasyan - For Gyumri [via HDtracks 96 khz/24-bit flac files] This year he released a follow-up "EP" For Gyumri, which is really more of a short album that sort of picks up where An Ancient Observer left off. "The American" on this album is a jaunty delight. But "Self-Portrait" really showcases Hamasyan's obsession with rhythms. If I didn't know better, and you told me this piece was a lost Ligeti etude, I would have no difficulty believing it. I'll leave you with a YouTube video of Hamasyan playing his piece, "What the Waves Brought," which he recorded on an earlier album (A Fable, also good). It shows many of the elements that characterize Hamasyan's compositions: repetition, a focus on rhythm, wordless vocals, incredible improvised passages (starting at around 3:20 after 30 seconds or so of establishing the steady bassline/chord progression), vocal counting/beatboxing, and more. It's hypnotic and virtuosic and completely has me in its thrall. I've got tickets to see him perform live next month and cannot wait!
