I don't know what they mean when they say 'swing hard' anyway. Rolling Jazz Dflat 2014 Thread

R.I.P. Steve Backer, championed Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, and Henry Threadgill (among others) at Arista and RCA.

there's definitely some guitar, though not on every track (i think so, only listened to it once). NPR mentions Marvin Sewell (not familiar) and Jeff Parker (!), definitely no Rosenwinkel.

Oh, Martin Sewell's good too, on Jason Moran's fairly ingenious jazz-bluesoid Same Mother; also did some things in the same vein with Cassandra Wilson, but Moran takes it further.

In a very good way!

Lots of good free music tonight at the QJOG Spring Jazz Festival. Check out the stellar lineup:

http://www.flushingtownhall.org/events/event.php?id=1167

So xpost Landmarksseems like the great outdoors, though lower case: not dark, but not bright, in terms of treble; mostly midrange to bass, with sensuous sonorities, held notes, drones both fluid and hovering, like walking through spring air and shin-high grass, under canopies of trees (nothing too intimating, mostly old groves and orchards, not currently being worked much, or not visibly), as bass and drums keep me on my toes, while never showboating. Horns change enough, especially in the long excursion through "Ark.La.Tex," that corner of the map. Good to listen to during this tornado week, if a little redundant. Sorry, I'm a jaded ol' Southerner. The album's a grower, and this track, especially, keeps developing right to the end.
The guitars infiltrate; at one point, they're all folded into reverb. In his NPR interview this weekend, Blade says he writes on guitar, then sits down behind his drums, to study this thing "this guy brought in" with everybody else in the band. Out today, but still streaming here at the moment: http://www.npr.org/2014/04/20/303773614/first-listen-brian-blade-the-fellowship-band-landmarks

The guitars show up occasionally.

Dang--somebody go see this and tell me about it please, on Thursday May 15:
Fay Victor’s Herbie Nichols Sung (Thursday) Herbie Nichols was a pianist and composer of spellbinding insight, mostly overlooked in his postwar prime and later claimed as a cult hero. He isn’t an obvious source of material for a singer — but then Ms. Victor isn’t an obvious kind of singer, as she has proved time and again. Putting her own lyrics to Nichols’s compositions in this inaugural Brooklyn presentation by the Sound It Out series, she enlists Michaël Attias on alto and baritone saxophones, Anthony Coleman on piano, Ratzo Harris on bass and Michael Sarin on drums. At 8 p.m., Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 Seventh Avenue, at Lincoln Place, Park Slope, 718-622-3300, bqcm.org; $20, $15 for students. (Chinen)

Don't know if I can go but I know someone who might.

And in fact, he is going. Maybe I should try to tag along.

After looking at that list was reminded for the second time this week that there are two bass players in town with names that are pronounced the same- Sean Conly and Shawn Conley. Almost posted that on the RONG DUDE thread.

Looking at that listing, I mean

What makes you so interested in that particular gig, don?

I'm intrigued by the idea of singing Nichols--hopefully not scatting only, but even so (with results to be YouTubed,pleeeze).

Apparently there is another bass player who does that gig who went to Hurting's alma mater. Wonder if he knows him.

https://twitter.com/JazzIsTheWorst

<3

Jazz is The Worst ‏@JazzIsTheWorst Jan 10
Hank Mobley's playing is the musical equivalent of a flaccid penis.
Expand Reply Retweet Favorite More
Jazz is The Worst ‏@JazzIsTheWorst Jan 9
Hank Mobley was a pioneer of mono-dynamic unexpressive emotionless jazz, which is what most Jazz today is based on
Expand

WAHT

hmm, actually I just put on No Room for Squares for the first time in a while, the band is great but he might have a point about Hank's solos

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/mise-en-abime-steve-lehman-pi-recordings-review-by-karl-ackermann.php#.U4tRBoUyyvQ

Repost from the Queens thread, in case anyone might be interested:
Music now starting at 8 on weeknights at Terraza. Check out their listings and new ad on page 48 of the NYC Jazz Record http://nycjazzrecord.com/

One of yr top drummers of today is over there playing his second set right now.

oh word? I'm stuck at the office though.

Do they pull a decent crowd on a weeknight?

Much bigger crowd on the weekend.

Another good drummer tonight, although not as well-known yet, in the States at least.

James, did your friend go to that thereFay Victor’s Herbie Nichols Sung? If so, would like to know what he said.

Yes. Said -and I quote- "it was great." Said producer recorded, but I don't know in what medium and whether it will be available.

Because I hate the soprano saxophone, I've always been kinda fascinated by the Steve Lacy repertory group Ideal Bread (instrumentation: baritone sax, cornet, bass, drums). Leonard Pierce reviews their new one, a double CD, for Burning Ambulance.

I have to admit I've always had a hard time listening to Steve Lacy records solely because of that squeaky soprano sound. They have all the other elements of something I would like. Coltrane is the exception for me on soprano.

Thought it was only a myth that Trane found the instrument left behind in a cab but I think it is more or less true.

Guess there are some other stories as well.

Went to the Jazz Gallery last night to see Jerome Sabbagh's quartet—Ben Monder on guitar, Joe Martin on bass, Jochen Rueckert on drums. I filmed the first piece, will post it on Burning Ambulance this week. They've got a new CD coming out on Sunnyside in September.

Cool. Looking forward to seeing that. Did you talk to them at all? Ben is a pretty interesting guy.

I talked to Jerome for a few minutes before the set. Nice guy. Looking forward to hearing the new album—the song I recorded is the title track, apparently.

Reviewed two new octet albums today on Burning Ambulance - the new Steve Lehman, and one by Chicago bassist Jason Roebke. I like the Roebke better. [link]

4th of July, so I thought of checking me out some Barbecue Dog, for the first time in ages: some bits (guitar synth, Massey's overdubbed saxes)* seemed a bit fusion-y cliche even in '83, but still a lot of wit and vitality bursting through the filigree, often enough. Except on "Mystery at Dawn, " where Reid's nice banjo conundrum is pretty much left alone with the damn saxes, but then, "Gossip," "When Cherry Trees..." and most of "Harlem Opera" (especially the end) mor than save the second half. This and Mandance were recently reissued as downloads, and I suppose remastering might help---anyway, Spotify's got several live albums I haven't heard yet, some with a later line-up; anybody know those?
*(Massey's okay solo; wish the trumpet got to solo more)

Of the ones available on Spotify, Earned Dreams and Montreux Jazz Festival feature that Vernon Reid/Melvin Gibbs iteration of the band, and both are great; I particularly love Montreux. Not sure about the others. I remember hearing some of the others, but I'm not 100% sure which ones, and I don't think they were as ferocious as the Reid/Gibbs material.

Thanks, I'll check those out. Also unearthed my ancient copy of Mandance, which I seem to recall preferring to Barbecue Dog(Justified? We'll see.)

Really been getting into this Argentinian composer/bandoneon player called Dino Saluzzi, his latest offering El Valle de la Infancia is the first I have heard of him and couldn't find any thread love on here. Nueva cancion jazz/improv/Argentinian folk/exquisite storytelling type music. It treads a fine line between too damn pretty and very nice at times but is worth checking out.

I heard a record of his on ECM from a few years ago that was really nice—Ojos Negros, a series of duets with cellist Anja Lechner.

Thanks I will check that one out.

I reviewed the new album by saxophonist Eric Wyatt (he's Sonny Rollins' godson, which makes picking up the saxophone a pretty ballsy move, if you ask me).

The New Yorker posted a satirical "interview" with Sonny Rollins. Jazz critics lost their shit on Twitter and Facebook. I had a few thoughts.

The jazz musicians I know have mostly remained silent. (A notable exception would be Nick Hempton, who tweeted, "I'M SO OUTRAGED AT SOMETHING I READ ON THE INTERNET, I'M THROWING MY COMPUTER OUT THE WINDOW!"

I did miss that - none of the musicians I'm friends with on FB posted anything.

Phil, do you subscribe to the Smalls newsletter?

long passages of squawking, clattering and clanging

Based on my reading of your blog and you on here, I thought you like this type of sound?

I do!

And no, I don't subscribe to the Smalls newsletter.

BTW, Nicholas Payton has now weighed in on the Rollins "controversy." TL;DR: He's as big an ignorant, gaping asshole as ever.

http://www.jazzwax.com/2014/08/sonny-rollins-and-the-new-yorker.html

He's as big an ignorant, gaping asshole as ever.

nah.