Downloaded the FLAC of Henry Threadgill's most recent one -- Dirt...and More Dirt from Bandcamp while I'm waiting for the CD to arrive and used it to configure my JRiver with the Riva Festival wireless system I set up in my living room and kitchen for my wife (it was lovely setting it up for her and setting her up with Spotify and putting music back into her life. We're very different listeners, well, I'm a listener, she's a blast-it-and-sing-alonger, but I love it when she's happy and singing along). I've just begun dipping into this one and not with very focused listening because my main goal was getting the system working, but man, Threadgill is amazing and on an amazing late career tear. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up with his music of the last 10 years. This one's not a Zooid record, it's by a group he's calling 14 or 15 Kestra: Agg, but its in the same compositional/improvisational system as Zooid, just for a really huge ensemble -- 14 or 15 pieces. Can't wait to get it on the big system and give it my undivided attention.
To be released on February 15, 2019 (my birthday) ... Guess they did it on purpose . Unreleased session recorded at RPM Studios in NYC in 1979 featuring 8 compositions by pianist Andy LaVerne. Long thought lost, this recording features top of the line playing from an all-star band: guitarist John Abercrombie, saxophonist Stan Getz on two tracks (Come To Me, Hymn For Her), bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Billy Hart. I know nothing about Andy unfortunately , but with Abercrombie and Getz together ... I'm in.
The thing about Miles' oeuvre is that there's kind of something in it for everyone. You like cool jazz, he's got you covered. Down for some hard bop, Miles is your man. Into a modal bag, Miles is with it. Orchestrated jazz, check. Jazz-rock fusion, OK. Skronky jazzy-funk, no problem. Smoother sort of contemporary fusion, natch. Bebop, well, you can go back and listen to him playing with Bird.
NP Art Blakey Free For All. Im new to this one having only streamed it a few times before getting it. On most of this Blakey plays with an angry and relentless pounding at a fearsome pace. Shorter plays out of his head with screaming menance ... this is a crazy intense album. Not for the feint of heart. To me it almost sounds like a live album. I wish I had known of it earlier. Ill have to check out the group of albums he put out around this time as I read that they are similar.
Looking for help with this album. I have the Fresh Sound CD and although I love the modal music and especially John Gilmore’s playing, the drums sound like they were in another room under a wet blanket (ironic since it is the drummer’s date as leader). I can get the reissued Douglas LP for about $10 but curious if that is an improvment in sound?
I went to a charity shop today to check their records and CDs (a true charity shop, not like Goodwill, a business meant to enrich its CEO). While there, I spotted some rare Blossom Dearie (the stuff on her private label). Though I had them, I bought them to give to a friend. What really surprised me was that the cashier knew all about Blossom Dearie. That was cool. Once home, I decided to search once more for Blossom's last record, a rare single only sold at her last shows. But what I found was this new release of rarities only available in Europe. Amazon UK and Germany have it. Ordered. Still hope to find Blossom's last single, a post 9-11 song The hippest lady on the planet an unusual image of her and a rare early photo
I suspect someone’s been partaking of the SRX. I’ve been reading about Music Matters here for quite a while and thought I’d never go there until I got the Blue Note Review box for Christmas and heard the two Harley produced LPs in it. I just received my first MMs in the mail today as well and just finished playing my first Grant Green album. I’ve always enjoyed his guitar playing on Search for the New Land so I decided to check out one of his own albums. Another first for me here is that this is my first jazz guitar album (technically, first where the leader plays guitar as I do have several jazz albums with a guitarist on board). Grant Green: Talkin’ About
I've heard about four versions of this musical session. They all sound. . . bad. It's the nature of the beast I'm afraid.
Well you are in good company. As recent as 4 years ago I never really listened to jazz guitar. I picked up Grant Greens Idle Moments and became obsessed with him. In fact he kind of exploded the whole jazz guitar door off its hinges , (actually the door was never found) I dig other jazz guitarists now a lot but he is different for me. I dont know why I love his stuff so much ..... ( yes SRX but I only bought a few. Too pricy)
I fell in love with Grant Green too (my entree was "Workout") because he's different. He just seemed to be relaxed in a different way and he seemed to make the notes take on a new meaning in comparison with more conventional jazz guitarists. I loved his phrasing and his use of repetition as a rhythmic and structural device. The fact that he came into jazz from a different background than many jazz guitarists I think was a big plus for him. He opened the door for me for a few other guitarists that began to record around this time and later such as Jimmy Ponder and Marvin Sparks. . . . I love the funky flow of these guys.
That was my fear, thanks for confirming Lonson. You saved me from a long and potentially costly search for the “best” sounding Turkish Woman at the Bath (which is also under Chick Corea’s name as Bliss for those that don’t know).
Currently: Bill Evans: Portraiture Next up: Charles Mingus Sextet (featuring Eric Dolphy): Cornell 1964 (Disc 2)
Indeed. There’s no need to go over The Jazz Beat whenever it’s perfectly acceptable to post what you’re listening to here.
There was a period a while ago when I would listen to Miles in between anything else I was listening to. I wouldn't listen to the same things, but I'm pretty welded to the plugged in music now. The first quintet had its time as my go to listening with Miles, and then for a while it was the Milestones band. Then I was rotating in the Seven Steps box between anything from In A Silent Way to Get Up With It. I still pick up most of the Bootleg Series. I thought that both the Coltrane live and Newport boxes were outstanding, and Bitches Brew in multichannel was a gas. But I don't go back to his music quite as often as I used to.
Both of the Threadgill releases of last year are pretty solid. It's interesting that he's been writing so much for piano. I know that he has always used a piano himself to compose.
Yeah, it's taking me a while, I'm just catching up with so much music since the end of Make a Move, it's a lot to take in, I can't try to absorb too much at once. In contrast to a lot of people around here who seem to listen to a ton of music every day, and must be constantly listening to music, I listen to music more like reading a book or watching a movie -- one thing at a time, and I don't put it on as background to other activities (except when I'm driving). And I also get, not burned out, but kind of mentally tired. I can listen to one album at a time and then go to bed (same thing when I go to a museum -- I'll blow through a large special exhibit that's closing when I have to, like I saw the Hilma af Klint exhibit at the Guggenheim on New Year's Day, and I may not get down there again before the show closes so I had to see it all, but I get wiped out. I'd rather if I can just go and look at two or three or for paintings for a while and that's enough and then come back another time or another day and look at some more). With latter day Threadgill, I was playing In for a Penny, In for A Pound a lot at mid year, then I bought This Brings Us To when Pi was having a Black Friday promotion. I haven't finished with either of those albums yet at all, but now I'm adding Dirt and More Dirt into the mix. I'll have to get to the Double Up stuff eventually, but I have a lot of catching up to do and I need to take it slowly and spend some quality time with the music bit by bit.