Re Cecil , I miraculously picked up a liberty early pressing of Conquistador ( which might Actually be a first pressing but thats another story) for 45 bucks 5 years back nd it is a fabulous explosive beast so If either that or the equally great Unit Structures sees the light of day , we would be in for a treat. I dont think either see many reissues.
What are the most accessible yet strong Ornette, Cecil and Don Cherry albums? Complete Communion appeals to me I can hear structure, theme and melody there yet with the free jazz avant garde thing going on. But when Cherry gets into the continual squaking an album loses me. I think I get the layers of emotion he is emoting, but its just too out there for me. And I wonder of that isnt the case for many. Albums such as Moncur's "Some Other Stuff" and Andrew Hill's "Compulsion" are examples of "out there" that my brain can access and make sense of. Just wondering which albums from Ornette, Cecil and Don Cherry are considered great or really good thaf are more accessible?
I was hoping we'd see Oleo so that we'd get all of the great Grant Green/Sonny Clark albums on MMJ/Tone Poet quality vinyl releases. I think Oleo completes that along with Nigeria, Born to Be Blue, and the MMJ of Gooden's Corner
I like the Hill and Moncur albums you referenced. My girlfriend bought me an original copy of Taylor's Conquistador (which I think was somewhat expensive) and I can't handle it. It's totally insane.
For Ornette and for don Cherry I always recommend Ornettes The Shape Of Jazz To Come as the gateway. ( you get both so theres less risk and an economy to it as well). Depending on where you are at on your journey into free jazz , this may or may not require multiple listens. It definately still has structure and soloing in a relatively conventional way and the songs and the group dynamics are sublime. Its well wirth buying and living with for a while. For an accessible Cecil Taylor just start at the beginning of his career in the 50s where he was much more conventional. A huge favourite for me is the somewhat transitional but very accessible Looking Ahead. Fabulous tunes indeed! Enjoy
A most excellent choice for a spin on my turntable this afternoon! Love this record and to my ears it sounds normal. But if I try and turn my wife or a friend on to it, I get a what the heck are you playing and would you please change the channel look. Oh well, not everyone is blessed with good taste like us here.
One additional Ornette recommendation: "Soapsuds, Soapsuds" -- a duet album with Charlie Haden. It's from 1978, but the goal was to recapture the spirit of the first jamming Charlie and Ornette ever did together in 1957. Charlie's liner notes emphasize how playing "free" with Ornette is all about *listening* and Soapsuds is a really wonderful way to appreciate that -- Charlie listening to Ornette, Ornette listening to Charlie, and developing this beautiful, melodic music together in real-time. That appreciation kind of unlocked Ornette for me. I had always felt like "free" jazz was all about intentional chaos and dissonance, but everything Ornette and Charlie ever played together now sounds pretty intuitively appealing to me.
The Cecil Taylors are probably the least listenable albums on the label, I imagine that either would really hit sales of the Tone Poet series, there are numerous things that should be reissued before them, if you want them reissues are readily available for less than a Tone Poet and even original stereos are cheap by Blue Note standards, I've owned both since the mid-eighties and every now and then try them to see if I finally get them, but so far the answer is no.
I agree with Stu. For Ornette and and Taylor, the farther back you go, the less out the music is. Ornette's albums on Contemporary are not really free at all so you could start there just to hear the unusual sounds Ornette makes within basically straight ahead forms. The Atlantic records are his first truly free music but the songs are so catchy much of the time. Shape of Jazz and Change of the century are both very accessible and they're also tops! Shape of Jazz is so iconic I would just start there if you want to hear the free stuff. Cecil Taylor is prolly the most out that BN ever got. If you want to hear him in a straight ahead setting just to get used to his playing check out "hard driving jazz" on UA. I think its a pretty bad album though, so maybe jump head first into unit structures, who knows! Don Cherry is on all those Ornette albums, but his best record is Complete Communion. Its one of the best and most unique BN's of all time, and except for the tenor sax, its not that weird. Or Im just used to it maybe... The album's bassist Henry Grimes is a legend.
There are a lot of in demand Donald Byrd albums that I would imagine would sell very well with the tone poet treatment. Places and Spaces, Stepping into Tomorrow, A New Perspective (my favorite), Electric Byrd, Fancy Free, and Free Form. Eddie Gales Ghetto Music would sell very well too, imo.
I think the early and late Donald Byrd albums appeal to two very different audiences, they both have an audience but the're not generally the same people. I'd like to see Free Form the most of those mentioned, I have it but think it's overlooked perhaps because it didn't come out til several years after it was recorded. To my ears, Pentecostal Feeling from that album is the first true BN Boogaloo since it was recorded in Dec. '61 before Herbie's Watermelon Man.
A lot of the Byrd titles have been recently released... The recent Places and Spaces reissue is really nice. Donald Byrd - Places And Spaces Vinyl Me Please did Fancy Free and Stepping Into Tomorrow as well. Donald Byrd - Fancy Free Donald Byrd - Stepping Into Tomorrow
Pretty much anything except the Cecils or rather before the Cecils, I was actually thinking beyond Blue Note and I'll once again suggest Ernest Ranglin's "Below The Bassline" which only had a very limited vinyl press in a plain sleeve, fetches big money and I believe would appeal to the average Tone Poet buyer, with regards to Blue Note I think TP need to start doing some of the MM titles, keeping them out of the reach of TP is rather short sighted and making some of the classics available as affordable audiophile pressings would reward the fans plus other artists such as Dizzy Reece deserve a wider audience. If you want specific Blue Note suggestions, then I'd agree with Lee Morgan At The Lighthouse though I'm guessing that would need to be a 5LP set for the complete performance, I'd also love to see the Grant Green Live At Club Mozambique which was also recently mentioned and I think I mentioned a long time ago, another suggestion, Kenny Burrell At The Five Spot, the fact those are all live albums is pure coincidence.
Free Form would be an excellent TP choice. It even gets a little “out there” with the 11 minute title track.
Regarding Don Cherry, his side man work with Steve Lacy on Evidence is great. However my favorite Cherry records are Where is Brooklyn, Mu The First Part & Eternal Now. Then there's Art Deco and Brown Rice which I also enjoy, but these get further out from the typical Blue Note style and sound. Don Cherry is an artist that has a pretty rewarding discography all the way through.
Went to my local record shop today was suprised to find both Grant Green TPs and even more impressively a Chet Baker Song TP for the original 32.98 price tag. Surprised no one picked that up since it ssold out and a decent price tag on secondary market
I guess it is clear you don't like Cecil No problems there. I will note that Blue Note 75th series did release titles from Cecil, Ornette, and Don Cherry. So that is some acknowledgement that these artists are not commercial suicide for the label, or they felt they were important albums for the label. Anyway, not sure what JH thinks about the artists, it's his series.
Looking Ahead is brilliant. As is Jazz Advance. Stay away from Coltrane Time. I still don’t quite know what’s going on there. If you can get past those (and the Blue Notes) check out Silent Tongues from 1974. Solo piano. Insane.
