New j***

Posted by: John C on 15 January 2001

As music of the week has disappeared

New Directions.. New Directions A reworking of Blue note classics from 60s (Blow Up theme, Sidewinder, Song for my father etc) featuring their young guns Greg Osby, Jason moran etc.
I was initially somewhat leary as it sounds like typical record company marketing but am coming around . Many of the versions are radically altered and rather tasty. Especially good is the Vibes player Stefon Harris (Bobby hutcherson kind of sound)who I hadnt heard before who does some really good stuff on Sidewinder . Good way to check out current players and maybe get some of their own work. Osby and Moran are both very good and work together on regular basis.

Esbjorn Svenson Trio "From Gargarins Point of View'
I love this Swedish piano trio. This record apparently made it into Swedish charts!!This preceded this years Good morning Susie Soho. Their sound is clearly influenced by Jarret trio but they also incorporate funky, rock, electronic elements though I hasten to add they are as far from fusion, jazz rock that you can imagine. Also for my personal taste less clearly classically influenced than Brad Mehldau (though he is ofcourse fantastic).Top quality modern jazz! Highly Recommended for you jazz adventurers.

Also got the RVG reissue of Cannonball Adderly Something Else. How good is Miles Davis on this, beautiful?

Johnh

Posted on: 15 January 2001 by ken c

john hi, we appear to have similar jazz tastes, though your probably know a lot more about this area of music than i do

talking about blue note, i revisited eric dolphy, "out to lunch" yesterday. first time i played this, i wondered that these guys are up to, but yesterday i quite enjoyed it.

i have quite a lot of the blue note classics, both no vinyl and on cd (different records) so in this case my vinyl complements the cd side. so sidewinder, son of the father, moanin, etc are all valued possessions. i agree "something else" is special. i am sure you also have hank mobley's "soul station". at one time this record was getting hard to get, but i got my 180g vinyl from grahams.

i will check out your Esbjorn Svenson Trio "From Gargarins Point of View' -- i love jazz piano.

later...

enjoy...

ken

Posted on: 16 January 2001 by John C

Hockman couldnt agree more about the hifi support forum. The jason moran disc is very good and I really like Osbys banned in New York.Blue Note seem to have pretty good up and comers at the moment. I also picked up the Dave Holland Prime Directive which you recommended a while ago and it is his best since Conference of the Birds. Rachel Z is playing in Ronnie Scotts in Februaury I may check her out.

John

Posted on: 18 January 2001 by John C

Hockman, she's with a trio and is playing the tribute to Wayne Shorter music. I would run a mile from a fusion gig. And I would also have run a mile from Pat Metheney! I find jazz guitar pretty hard to get into at the best of times for some reason but recently liked Kenny Burrell on a Woody Shaw record Rosewood, I think? I may be one of the few people who doesnt like Midnight Blue. Ive always thought I should get Extrapolation or something or maybe Ill try the Metheney. I also really like Points of View. I got both because Holland is touring the Uk in March with an octet (adding trumpet and saxes) and Im going to the London gig. I see enthusiastic reviews of the Holland records on an earlier thread and maybe I should have posted this one there. Jazz is bustin out, bustin out all over the naim forum

if you know what I mean.

John

By the way I really like Chris Potter with Dave Holland, any recommendations on him as solo or sideman?

Posted on: 23 January 2001 by fred simon

Rachel Z not only played with Steps Ahead, but with Wayne Shorter himself, live and on record. I'd like to hear her tribute.

I, too, love Chris Potter and think he's one of the best players around today. Fans of Potter might be interested in The Brighter Side, an album he appeared on led by Kelly Sill, bassist on my Naim album, Dreamhouse. It's earlier work, but shows that Potter was happening from the start.

I agree that the live Metheny Trio album, 00->01, is very fine; I actually prefer it to the studio date, especially the revisiting of old tunes from his first album, Bright Size Life, and the free form masterpiece Faith Healer, a powerful, emotional soundscape.

But I would hope that those folks digging the Metheny Trio would also give his work with Lyle Mays in the PMG the same discerning ear ... it is certainly not the work of a "muzak amateur" but rather full of substance, intelligence, passion, and invention ... one must listen beyond the container to the content within.

Which leads me to a few questions for John C: you say you would "run a mile from a fusion gig" ... what defines a "fusion gig" for you? Would you "run a mile" from any fusion gig, no matter the quality of the content? Or is all fusion suspect, ipso facto? If so, why?

Posted on: 23 January 2001 by John C

Fred, I am a relatively recent jazz enthusiast and have only spent the last five years or so trying to absorb this profound music. I'm open to almost anything but as an example I dont like/get Bitches Brew, Headhunters (though I'm coming round), and though I think Wayne Shorter is Gods gift to music, no matter how I try I cant quite get into Weather Report. Also I react to jazz music in a rather unsophisticated, visceral way having no conception of timing, pitch, rhythmn and am tone deaf. My analysis and opinions come from this perspective and I always feel in awe of the creativity or artists/poets/musicians. My favourite jazz musicians are Ellington, Armstrong, Mingus, Sonny Rollins,Eric Dolphy and the wondrous Andrew Hill. Why I cant tell you. Now I would also point out that if you started me on almost any other subject you would hear fearful pseudo intellectual rambling, but I just dont have the musical vocabulary, so its running a mile from fusion. By the way on that Dave Holland album theres a nice little reference to Headhunters on track 6. Oregon, Brad Mehdau are they really playing jazz or modern classical.

John

Good to see all this spirited jazzz talk on the forum

Posted on: 24 January 2001 by fred simon

quote:
though I think Wayne Shorter is Gods gift to music, no matter how I try I cant quite get into Weather Report

Wayne is certainly one of many gifts to music, and because you feel that way I think you ought to (if you want to, that is) trust in Wayne and investigate more deeply at least some of Weather Report. You may want to start with their eponymously titled first album because it serves as a good transition between more straight-ahead modern jazz and fusion. Same for the follow up, I Sing the Body Electric. A worthy companion to those albums is their Live In Tokyo, part of which comprises "side B" of I Sing the Body Electric.

One of my favorite of Wayne Shorter's albums (and therefore one of my favorite albums of all time from anyone) is Native Dancer, a stone-groove, life-affirming masterpiece if ever there was one. It features tunes by Wayne and songs by Brazilian singer-songwriter Milton Nascimento, as well as Herbie Hancock on acoustic piano, a Brazilian rhythm section ... joyous and passionate. Trust in Wayne.

quote:
Oregon, Brad Mehldau are they really playing jazz or modern classical

There are at least two valid answers to this question ...

1) Jazz is a very large umbrella, and it has always assimilated various styles and genres of music -- really, jazz has always been fusion music. It's not a fixed definition, but rather a continuum, in which different musicians and different eras fall. Sometimes even the same musicians; Brad Mehldau's solo piano Elegiac Cycle is certainly much closer to European classical music than his trio albums, even though there is plenty of classical influence in those and plenty of improvisation on the solo piano record. Oregon is a group whose music also varies widely in percentage of jazz content versus classical, with folk, pop, and other elements mixed in as well.

2) It's all good music; it doesn't matter whether it's jazz or not.

Posted on: 29 January 2001 by John C

Somtimes you go into shop, Mole jazz Friday, and come out with somthing that reaffirms that life is good.

Sonny Rollins " This is what I do" The title says it all, this is vintage Rollins and his best new release for years. Salvador a beautiful calyspo, some classic reworking of unexpected standars and new comps such Did you see Harold Vick. On some of the solos I was transported, floating. How great is this man? Im shaking with excitement at the prospect of seeing him live in April. Excellent supporting piano playing by Stephen Scott. Bob Cranshaw's electric bass I couldnt decide on initally hating it but coming round later.

Mc Coy Tyner :The real Mc Coy"
Wayne Shorter " The all seeing eye"

RVG re-releases Ł10 bargain for two classic late sixties bluenotes. The intensity and invention really is astounding. Joe Henderson is top class on the Mc Coy record.Great rhythmn sections on both records. You know while Coltrane gets all the plaudits and stifled all the later players with his influence the Hendersons, Shorters of this world really made some great great music.

Mulligan meets Monk. A somwhat unlikely meeting but intriguing nonetheless. Mulligan's baritone swings! he really had the big band, dancehall sound. Monk dances around the baritone like flyweight boxer jabbing and feinting. Great record.

The M and M is a 20 bit remaster by OJC and has a great warm sound. The RVGs tends to have the cymbals and drums pushed far forward and a much brighter sound, as the drummers are Elvin Jones and Joe Chambers this is no bad thing ofcourse. Anyone else notice this? I dont have any collctor type Bluenote original LPs, what do they sound like?

John

Posted on: 17 February 2001 by John C

Rachel Z , great recommendation Hockmeister!!
She had a week long residency at Ronnie Scotts, shared with Stacey Kent.The week was booked out so I had to go to the late set last night.
So I went to see Bennie Green Trio at Pizza Express first. Green is a great technician and played a lot of fast/slow Parker tunes Lady be good, Donna lee etc. I saw him years ago playing with Ray Brown and hes the same now. Technically great but ... no soul for me.
Stacey Kent is an adopted national treasure and I love her radio programme, her band was tight but I just dont love her singing Im afraid.I suspect she was the reason Scotts was sold out. The house half emptied and the Rachel Z,Miriam Sulllivan(bass) and Alison Miller(drums took the stage. Alison Miller on drums!! She rocked the house. They set off on a blistering 20 min Shorter number (Footsteps I think) and played a few new comps. Utterly compelling inspirational playing with great great improvisation. Sullivan played an accoustic bass for the first two numbers and then reverted to electric bass. They incorporated some Esbjorn Svensson (try this guy he's tremendous) songs and a great Brad Mehldau pastiche that had the audience and band laughing out loud.This is the best jazz concert Ive seen in many years. Only Bobby Watson and Herbie Hancock coming close. Although shes compared to hancock I couldnt hear it.I must get the record but this is a live band!!! Fred check her out.
By the way isnt the All seeing eye fantastic.

John
Still reeling and delighted