I really like her Aquarius album with Jason Adasiewicz, but then I'm inclined to swoon over that flute/vibes sound. Artifacts with Tomeka Reid on cello and Mike Reed on drums also sounds good to me, but I didn't care for the Mandorla Awakening II record from last year. I'm curious to hear maroon cloud, but haven't tracked it down, yet.
The McCraven is on my top list of the year with all genres included. They almost go into some ambient music territory and other areas that are not really jazz per se but it's very unique (to me at least, I never heard his other record). Well worth a try if you can get in to the kind of meditative headspace it sometimes shoots for. There is improv but heavily edited. No jump cuts though, it's seemless and organic.
I normally like Phil Freeman’s viewpoints but I’m very dissapointed that he’s filled the top end of his list with watered down variants of the avant-garde music he often champions. I’ve heard a bit of Hutchins but 3 recordings with the saxophonist when there were countless terrific recordings released in 2018 that will fly under the radar of all these lists. Recordings that in my view blow all of these records out of the water. I’m working on Pillars but it really is less jazz than it is something else and the Threadgill is real good. I want to hear the Ingrid Laubrock recording and I’m a fan but her recordings have never lit any fires fir me as of yet. What’s upsetting is that there are some mind-blowing records that have been coming out on Not Two, No Business, Intakt, Nessa, Relative Pitch and other independents over the past number of years that remain unheard and as a whole dwarf most any of the more well known recordings I hear written or spoken about. Once in a while I buy one of these as I have been for 20+ years and I rarely surprised or impressed. Start with Journey to Parrazar with Joe McPhee, John Edwards & Klaus Kugel and then to go from there. There’s dozens of unheard (by me as well) exciting releases on numerous labels that get no press so how about growing some ears?? Certainly the truly great levels of the avant-garde must not be sending free copies to all these supposed critics.
Grant Green – Idle Moments Label: Blue Note – CDP 7 84154 2 Format: CD, Album, Reissue Country: US Released: 1988 Genre: Jazz
I don't mind the spliced together nature too much, but I'm just not that interested in beat and groove-forward kind of music anymore. Funny, since I grew up a hard core P.Funk fan, and James Brown was one of the towering musical figures of my childhood (when I got a chance to interview him, it was great, I mean, I was a professional, I interviewed a lot of people, but getting to speak with him was like getting to speak with Abe Lincoln or something). But it's just really not too much a part of my musical diet anymore. I've also never cared for ambient music, and especially not ambient techno beat music, so nothing about the McCraven album is really in my sweet spot. But I did sample some of it and it made me curious. Unlikely to be the kind of music I'd care to return to a lot, but I found that I did want to hear the rest of it, so I will give it a spin. There were a bunch of albums like that this year that I found curious and worth hearing -- Walking Distance's Freebird, Dana Murray's Negro Manifesto, but which I'm not sure are ever going to be substantial parts of my listening.
Cool I didn't know a label put out the concert. The sound is pretty awful but I think the music is tops. I've said this on the Bill Evans thread but I think this trio left more space between the notes which I like. Also of all his collaborators, imo it was Eddie Gomez that he had the most sympathetic, telepathic relationship with on stage. True musical soul mates.
Well, I don't mind what anyone puts on a best list if they think its the best. I'm not a particular fan of one subgenre of jazz over another and I'm not really that concerned with given a boost to the avant garde or anything -- I'm style agnostic -- just always curious if there's any consensus about the "big" albums of the year. I've heard some of Hutchins' music, including this years Son's of Kemit record, which I thought was fine, but it doesn't really scratch my jazz itch. I sampled a little bit of the Ingrid Laubrock and flagged it as music I have to come back to. It's not jazz either, it's composed chamber music, but I like her and I want to hear it.
Most of what Ingrid plays is jazz. She is a fine saxophonist and she has a lot of interesting compositional ideas. I’ve seen her play live many times over the past 10 years but I’m not convinced that her compositional ideas are anything more than just interesting to this point. My favorite group to hear her with is Tom Rainey’s Trio with her & Mary Halvorson.
I've never seen her, but I particularly liked her Anti-House recordings, with Halvorson and Rainey and Kris Davis and John Hebert. But the Contemporary Chaos Practices stuff is orchestral music plus outside soloists, not strictly jazz. The wonderful thing about streaming is that a lot of the stuff is available so I've given a lot of stuff at least a one time listen this year. The Contemporary Chaos Practices I just noticed was out so I literally sampled it for a minute or two and flagged it as something to come back to when I have some real listening time.
Hey dude Hurry up with that order, Don't Mess With Mister T A very tasty Stanley Turrentine album, probably my favorite of his.
Great choice Mirror. This text is not so much for you as you are already a fan but for other readers..... I dont know how hard it is to source this now but i managed to score a used copy for peanuts decades ago. Aside from my teenage interest in Lady Day which obviously still continues today, this set is what kick started my life long love affair with jazz vocalists. She epitomises the cool understated but passionate approach. Not a bad track on it. It led to decades exploring the genre. It is really special stuff. Jazz fans will find Clifford Brown and others here to help make the bridge. ( pun intended) If you only know Billy Ella Sarah ( and you should) this is a different sound and worth at least trying. There are many others in this school also worth knowing so its a rewarding path.
On Facebook, Ingrid has just pointed to one of the pieces from that being included in the New York Times list of 25 best classical tracks of 2018... The 25 Best Classical Music Tracks of 2018 Not that it really matters what people actually call it.
Thanks for the link to that article. I glanced that the lists in the paper last weekend, but in a very cursory way. Now, having seen the list, beside the Laubrock album, I'm curious about that Clusters: American Piano Explorations album by Rory Cowal, it has a jazz connection with a suite composed by Kris Davis and a piece by Muhal Richard Abrams. That's on New World, but sadly doesn't seem to be on Spotify or Tidal.
Yes, they had an underrated rapport, and in that era, I think Bill also developed a voice that was more assertive than his late '50s/early '60s self, but still very sensitive, lyrical, and left a lot of space, as you say. I've seen some people put down Marty, but I think he had just the right sensibility for Bill's music, too. On the Domino, it sounds like each instrument has a close mic; although I might like it if an engineer adjusted the levels a little, it sounds pretty good to me. I'm not sure if this sounds any different, but here is a YouTube upload of an earlier set of releases, from the France's Concert label, which includes the December return to Paris that year.
I don't know. "Ballad" is pretty straight ahead at the time Coltrane was heading elsewhere. Hope to see you Sunday, but be forewarned, I picked up seven pairs of speakers last night....
I said I wasn't going to buy anything until January but you just ruined it for me. This is great I've been playing it over my stereo from YouTube. Sounds way better than my ortf random untitled MP3 album. Thank you! And Marty Morell is awesome to me, I love how he toggles from brushes to sticks and sometimes Just kind of lays out...
For those who end up there, it's probably never too early. Having said that, I still love playing that song this time of year.
Of course. It's just that "a set up" is quite different from "a step up," isn't it, Mugrug? That's all.
