“Monk could have just picked my little ass up and thrown me through a wall”: 2007 Jazz D-bags Thread

Got Andrew Hill's Change from Amazon yesterday. It's a 1966 quartet date with Sam Rivers, originally paired with Rivers' Dimensions & Extensions under the double-album title Involutions, now out as part of Blue Note's Connoisseur Series. It's not as free as Compulsion, but it's pretty out with some nice trio cuts to moderate the generally headlong pace, and highly recommended.

I've really been liking Eric Reed - "Here." I forget when it's from at the moment (2004?) -- trio album with Rodney Whitaker and Willie Jones. It's not groundbreaking, but it's such a nice, tight piano trio album and it sounds so good. Falls on the headier side of straight-ahead, with a lot exploration in the middle range of the piano and very little pyrotechnic work. Maybe a bit of Herbie Nichols in it, and a bit of Keith Jarrett.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51uR47Id14L._SS500_.jpg

I don't even really like John McLaughlin, but that cover!

Dear Jazz Douche-Bags,

Four years after leaving Boston for LA, I still miss going to see The Fringe at the Lizard Lounge. "Pretend" I know nothing about jazz. Where can I go or what can I legally buy to get a similar experience?

xoxo,

Lukas

Went to see Franciso Mela lead a quartet at Cachaça last night. Hardly anybody was there for the 9 o'clock set so they waited until almost ten to start. It was cool, especially the young dude on guitar, Nir Felder, who was really burning it up.

Does anyone have anything interesting to say about Paul Desmond? I always enjoyed his playing with Dave Brubeck a lot more than Brubeck's playing. I just picked up a quartet recording of him w/Jim Hall - Desmond has some really nice improvisatory surprises in his playing, although at other times he sounds kind of rudimentary - at least he generally avoids bop cliches of his time though. Great sound, obv.

Sorry, I got nothing for you.

i haven't heard all that much Desmond -- just the big Brubeck recordings. One of my favorites is the Jazz Impressions of Japan LP, which at first glance sounds kind of cringe-worthy, but it's actually a really deep, melancholy recording. Desmond sounds great on that one. He's good on that Concierto record with Jim Hall, too. That's a nice album, for sure -- Chet Baker and Ron Carter are on there as well.

I originally opened this thread to rep for my neighbor, guitar player Jim Hershman, who last night did excellent versions of "Embraceable You" and then "Little Wing," with all the bells and whistles, at his usual Monday night gig at a nice bar/restaurant down the block called Novo.

what city?

New York. Borough of Queens.

A funny thing happened last night while I was at the jazz club- you know those weird humming/grunting noises you sometimes hear on jazz recordings, presumably from one of the players being picked up by a drum or piano mic? (I think they have their own thread). Well, I heard some yesterday, but they weren't coming from the stage, but from the audience.

It was the guy next to me. He was a musician himself, but I don't know if that is a valid excuse.

Here's that other thread: Jazz pianists who make weird humming noises during their improvisations

guys that new meshell ndegeocello record is really good

Cooper-Moore going wild on mouth bow

I went looking for videos because I put on Cooper-Moore/Assif Tsahar's America earlier, and it remains one of my favorite albums from the last several years. I like the degree of control on this album, and I like the variety.

just saw George Cartwright, who lives in Mpls now but has been in the free/improv scene forever and played with Ornette, Sharrock and a bunch of famous people...Saw him with a standup bass, drummer, and Andrew Broder from The Fog on guitar...was really great, Cartwright can flat out wail and Broder, who's def. not a school musician in the same way obv as the other dudes, does well by not trying to keep up, but using lots of delay and volume pedals to do atmospheric and textural stuff...they also did a stellar version of "Oxford Town" by Dylan that sounded like Dylan fronting Crazy Horse circa 72 with Steve Mackaye from the Stooges records... so great, I bought a CD by Cartwright called "A Tenacious Slew" which is poetry and the some pretty funky free/funk/improv stuff....local mpls super drummer JT Bates is on that.

http://www.georgecartwright.com/

also bought this record with is fucking AMAZING...

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Q73F5BZRL._AA240_.jpg

the vinyl orig. i bought has a way better cover though...

also bought Louis Armstrong - The Town Hall Concert Plus...am liking it...i really like it mostly...for some reason i have trouble with listening to armstrong on the vocal stuff, which i feel bad about for some reason, i guess it seems cheesy to me, but it shouldn't...too much overexposure to "what a wonderful world" over the years...also this is late 40s so maybe a little past his prime?

any Byrd/Armstrong recommendations would be very welcome..thx jazz d-bags thread.

if yo don't already have the hot 5/hot 7 armstrong stuff, you need it. there are various versions of this material floating around -- I've got the Columbia/Legacy 4-disc set, which can be found for pretty cheap, I think. It's as good as everybody says. I also like some of Armstrong's 50s recordings -- his albums of Fats Waller and W.C. Handy are very nice. As for Donald Byrd, you need "Black Byrd"! One of my fave jazz/fusion/disco/funk records. I actually haven't heard a lot of his earlier hard bop records, though he's good as a sideman on the prestige Coltrane dates.

i have trouble listening to the good armstrong stuff because of the recording quality :(

This has a lot of fans over at AAJ. Has anyone here heard it?

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=094639153220&itm=1

That's: Terence Blanchard: A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem For Katrina)

Only listened to clips. I was hoping it would have the second-linish track that plays over the photo montage on the When the Levees Broke dvd, but I don't think it does.

have you guys heard david sanchez?

i saw him live in chicago on a weekend trip....live was amazing, not sure if he has any good records...

ok guys what are our best of 07 lists

mine is predictable

Mingus & Dolphy - Cornell 64
Erik Friedlander - Block Ice & Propane
Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Joe Lovano, - Time and Time Again
Herbie - River: The Joni Letters
Robert Glasper - In My Element

that's all i got.

My list is currently being thrown into turmoil by the fact that I'm listening to everything from this year, like, all at once. DAMN, this Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra album, which I thought was small cheese at the time, is actually shit-hot and fabulous, he's leading a huge band of French jazz dudes through his very AACM pieces, and only soloing once on the balafon, and whoa it's maybe making its way onto my overall list and I only have a couple of days left to firm that up, argh.

I'll make a top 20 jazz list in a couple of days.

okay not really in order except for the top ten or so

1. Kahil El'Zabar's Infinity Orchestra, Transmigration
2. Hiromi's Sonicbloom, Time Control
3. Helene Corrini / Beatrice Graf, 2 Ailes
4. Sean Noonan Brewed by Noon, Stories to Tell
5. Jerry Granelli V16, The Sonic Temple
6. Dee Dee Bridgewater, Red Earth -- A Malian Journey
7. Bobby Santabria, Big Band Urban Folktales
8. Lafayette Gilchrist, 3
9. Norah Jones, Not Too Late
10. Jan Larsen, Strange News From Mars
11. Muiza Adnet, Sings Moacir Santos
12. Marlon Simon & the Nagual Spirits, In Case You Missed It
13. Jose Peixoto f/ Maria Joao, Pele
14. Misha Piatagorsky, Aya
15. James Carney, Green-Wood
16. Josh Roseman & New Constellations, Live in Vienna
17. David Binney & Edward Simon, Oceanos
18. Anat Cohen, Noir
19. Misha Piatagorsky, Uncommon Circumstance
20. Brad Shepik Trio, Places You Go
21. Baja, Maps/Systemalheur
22. Anat Fort, A Long Story
23. Kartet, The Bay Window
24. Myra Melford & Tanya Kalmanovitch, Heart Mountain
25. Anat Cohen, Poetica

wow the Lafayette Gilchrist album is way too low at #8, and Muiza Adnet should be higher. also I have to find that Baja album, that thing is KRAYZEE.

significant things I haven't heard:

David Murray, Sacred Ground
William Parker, Corn Meal Dance
Mingus at Cornell '64
the new Paul Motian

(xpost)
Wow, I didn't know anybody else had that Lafayette Gilchrist record. I saw him play with David Murray, Ray Drummond and Andrew Cyrille in the Black Saint Quartet (stepping in the shoes of the late John Hicks) and it was very nice.

I want to hear that Erik Friedlander album, but I want to hear his installment of Zorn's Book of Angels even more. (I guess I don't need to mention that his playing on Ned Rothenberg's Inner Diaspora is excellent, since even Sundar was teasing me about mentioning the Rothenberg album over and over again.)

I loved Friedlander's last solo record. Also pissed that I haven't heard the new Cuong Vu (we used to be like THIS) or the Maria Schneider record that everyone is oohing and aahing about.

And yeah GILCHRIST IS FUNKY YO.

My favorite (so far, I usually end up buying a bunch more stuff after seeing the best of the year lists) is that wonderful live Billy Bang/Frank Lowe album.

Oh I love Billy Bang, haven't heard that record though.

also I forgot Chris Gestrin's after the city has gone: quiet and Michael Blake Sextet and Colin Vallon Trio.

This Trio M thing sounds promising (was on somebody's personal list over at AAJ):

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7517504

Oh crap that's another one I liked! On the same label as an even better one, Alan Pasqua's The Anti-Social Club!

Last night I went to see Toninho Horta play at Cachaça. It was cool, but too much fusion-y noodling for my taste, and no sing-along Brazilians in the audience like I read about in the review of the last time he played there.

"I want my money back, there were no sing-along Brazilians!"

Word up! THEY TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE SING-ALONG BRAZILIANS.

There were three world-weary Italians at the next table, but that did not compensate.

Here's the Ben Ratliff review of the other show, if you think I am inventing.

Also available here.

There was also some glad-hander promoter/manager/crony type with a Cousin Brucie DJ voice trying to strong-arm the good people into buying CDs.

My favorite jazz albums of 2007:

1. Ned Rothenberg - Inner Diaspora
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My favorite albums (all categories) of 2007:

1. Ned Rothenberg - Inner Diaspora
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Miranda Lambert - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
8.
9.
10. Tokyo Jihen - Variety
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Five albums I suspect will eventually make it onto the general list: Rahim AlHaj - Home Again; Wu Fei - Distant Youth; Erik Friendlander - Book of Angels Vol. 8; Nina Virdee - Gurbani Keertan; Nejo & Dalmata - Broke and Famous.

sorry I didn't get back to you about that show KL. Couldn't have gone anyway.

band practice

Maybe I should have bought you one of those CDs off of Cousin Brucie.

The Top 10 I submitted to the Voice jazz poll (haven't come up with a Pazz & Jop 10 yet):

Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake, From The River To The Ocean<BR>David Torn, Prezens<BR>Arve Henriksen, Strjon<BR>Supersilent, 8<BR>Satoko Fujii Quartet, When We Were There<BR>David S. Ware, Renunciation<BR>Matthew Shipp, Piano Vortex<BR>Jacques Coursil, Clameurs<BR>Other Dimensions In Music, Live At The Sunset<BR>Burnt Sugar, Live From Minnegiggle Falls<BR><BR>Reissues of the year:<BR>Miles Davis, The Complete On The Corner Sessions (duh)<BR>Andrew Hill, Compulsion (John Gilmore, fuck yeah!)<BR>Noah Howard, The Black Ark<BR><BR>Honorable mention (couldn't vote for it because a Wire piece I wrote was borrowed for the liner notes): Borbetomagus, Live In Allentown.

The Top 10 I submitted to the Voice jazz poll (haven't come up with a Pazz & Jop 10 yet):

Fred Anderson & Hamid Drake, From The River To The Ocean
David Torn, Prezens
Arve Henriksen, Strjon
Supersilent, 8
Satoko Fujii Quartet, When We Were There
David S. Ware, Renunciation
Matthew Shipp, Piano Vortex
Jacques Coursil, Clameurs
Other Dimensions In Music, Live At The Sunset
Burnt Sugar, Live From Minnegiggle Falls

Reissues of the year:
Miles Davis, The Complete On The Corner Sessions (duh)
Andrew Hill, Compulsion (John Gilmore, fuck yeah!)
Noah Howard, The Black Ark

Honorable mention (couldn't vote for it because a Wire piece I wrote was borrowed for the liner notes): Borbetomagus, Live In Allentown.