Rolling Jazz Thread 2020

The Jerry Granelli Trio Plays The Music Of Vince Guaraldi & Mose Allison w/Jamie Saft is a fucking cracking album, me hearties!

RIP Jimmy Cobb, you knew it was coming, but end of the era for sure.

it was pointed out to me that he was the last living member of the band from Kind of Blue

No doubt you accepted this novel piece of information with the grace you are accustomed to display.

He joins that roster of cats I have a tiny tinge of guilt or regret about never quite making it out to see them live such as Percy and Jimmy Heath. Did read Peter Bernstein's FB post about him, but not quite the same.

it was pointed out to me that he was the last living member of the band from Kind of Blue

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Tuesday, May 26, 2020 11:06 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i pointed this out elsewhere, but lee konitz (who passed away last month) was the last living member from the "birth of the cool" sessions

so two pretty huge miles bands are gone

Friend texted me that drummer-wise "only Roy Haynes left."

don't forget louis hayes, and maybe joe chambers too

Right. Tootie Heath was also mentioned, the one brother I have seen.

indeed, tootie is 84 but still touring

He had a near death experience a few years back though. Told my neighbor he told them to reserve a seat for him, the neighbor, in the underworld.

Hey, it's Miles's birthday today.

Friend texted me that drummer-wise "only Roy Haynes left."

Al Foster! 77.

A Polish label has just released a previously unheard live recording of Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley in Germany in 2011. I bought a copy of the physical CD (only 350 copies!) and am listening to the download now. It's recorded in a really small room — probably the size of the Village Vanguard, if that — and sounds amazing.

thanks for the tip.

the club where it was recorded has a video archive of its concerts, some of them from this year, which may be of interest:

https://www.birdland.de/videos/

last night I heard a couple of really good Eddie Harris tracks, didn't catch the titles, but they were followed by Frank Catalano's "Chicago Eddie," which the announcer said is a tribute to EH, and a good 'un too---where should I start with Harris albums? All I know by him is "Freedom Jazz Dance," the original and the Miles treatment. (Also should I check out more Catalano?)

The one with Freedom Jazz Dance on it - The In Sound -- and the follow up, Mean Greens, are both pretty good. I find all his work a little hit-or-miss. Some of it is very cheesy.

This is a great tune, with a drum sample you may recognize:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFHkVXt47fI

i think you might like "swiss movement" from '69:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8YOLY4Tats

his disco c. '74 - '79 is worth checking out for the titles / album art alone, though you may not find much to like amid the novelty tunes and weird experiments

Jimmy Cobb tribute all-day today on WKCR

cool

Thanks for the links and tips, guys. Reminds me, the invaluable Night Lights---Indiana Public Radio show---recently replayed a survey of soul jazz, based around the book of (approx?) same title by producer/interviewee Bob Porter: some of it was more imaginative (art of entertainment-wise) than I expected, and got better as it went along. Will def. check disco-era (novelty tunes and weird experiments) adventures of EH, along with earlier.

That show can be streamed/downloaded from Night Lights archive; most episodes delve into modern (though not recent) mainstream and progressive, with some fringe activity.

Published a piece (not by me) on Cobb today, focusing on his use of guitars in his bands and his work with Wes Montgomery.

Finally got all 12 volumes of Mack Avenue's Erroll Garner reissue series in the mail; the last one comes out next week. Thinking about diving into all of them for a big piece.

Something else that came in today's mail: a new CD (made up of outtakes from earlier recording sessions) by Throttle Elevator Music, a studio collective led by multi-instrumentalists Matt Montgomery and Greg Howe (owner of Wide Hive Records), with Kamasi Washington on tenor sax and a bunch of different horn players and drummers and guitarists (Ava Mendoza is on an earlier album). It's fairly punk-rock jazz, and KW blows hard. There are six CDs in all, definitely worth checking out.

WKCR tribute is playing Fantastic Frank Strozier featuring Booker Little, both of which names make me think of Harold Mabern. Seems like Jimmy and Harold must have played some dates together. Ah yes, I see.

ilx alum Andy Beta:
In 2017, I was invited to Robert Northern’s home in Takoma Park to chat about the music collected in Divine Music. With news of his passing today, I’m posting the full interview from this box set. I think often about his story about playing music for the wild animals in the Ngorongoro crater:
https://andybeta.com/2020/06/01/brother-ahh-interview/

When that set came out I interviewed Brother Ah for The Wire. An awesome guy.

Firehouse 12 Records is donating 100% of proceeds Friday June 5th

Purchases on Bandcamp today will be donated to LEAP in New Haven

LEAP was founded in 1992 by leading educators, students and community activists in New Haven to provide highly vulnerable youth of color with educational and enrichment opportunities that are often inaccessible due to financial and social barriers. From the beginning, LEAP has used a multi-tiered mentoring model that focuses on young people of color as the solution, rather than the problem.

https://firehouse12records.com/

Jamael Dean's "Oblivion" EP is really nice. I noticed his piano playing more here than on Black Space Tapes, which I quite like too but this is a lot more cogent. RIYL stuff like Hannibal Peterson's "Children of the Fire"

I don't normally gravitate to ballads, but I've been listening to Jeremy Pelt's all-ballad album from earlier this year a lot. Trumpet, piano, bass. It's nice to go all in on that, since it's a very soothing and consistent vibe all the way through, and he's a master.

i posted about wanting to get this. now i have it. it's very good.

https://www.forcedexposure.com/App_Themes/Default/Images/product_images/product_page/H/HOL124LP_PROD.jpg

Holiday Records present the first ever authorized reissue Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble's Heliopolis, originally released in 1970. Released under license from the artist. One of the great projects in Egyptian jazz, the Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble was formed by Salah Ragab and Hartmut Geerken as an avant-garde offshoot of The Cairo Jazz Band, the first jazz big band in the country.

https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/cairo-free-jazz-ensemble-heliopolis-lp/HOL.124LP.html

I've heard of that! Thanks for the news on release.
Just listened to about 24 minutes-worth of bandcamp sample tracks from Chad Taylor Trio's The Daily Biological: lyrical, sometimes witty, no-BS drums, tenor, piano.The absence of a bass means all three players sometimes step into the low-end role. A musical problem to be solved “we all approached it differently,” Taylor says. “All of our tunes explore different ways to utilize a trio without a bass. You need to be really strong in your playing.” They're well-anchored, secure in their bassless space, no need to fill it all up, no busywork, no waste either. Brian Settles starts "Swamp" all alone up there in the humid open air---tenor keeps a sense of fullness, at whatever elevation---then drums x bass come rumbling, ready for work, a truck under the trees. Fave so far is "Untethered": a waltz comes calling, kicking, sometimes crashing, keeps coming around---kinda reminds me of some of the writing, not nec. the playing, of the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet. Anyway:
https://cuneiformrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-daily-biological
Chad Taylor: Drums
Brian Settles: Tenor Saxophone
Neil Podgurski: Piano

eleased April 24, 2020

Tracks 5, 8, and 9 written by Chad Taylor: ctorb@ascap

Tracks 1 and 3 written by Brian Settles: The Poets House Publishing@BMI Tracks 2, 4, 6 and 7 written by Neil Podgurski: NeilPodgurski@ascap

Ha, drums x *piano*, obv., but the bass function is in there for sure.

That's a good record. I included it in my most recent Stereogum column.

Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire's got a new one coming out on Friday with his longtime quartet of pianist Sam Harris, bassist Harish Raghavan, and drummer Justin Brown. I realize now that I heard him premiere the music at Winter Jazzfest back in January. It's good stuff, abstract and squiggly but with the blues pulsing at the center of it.

oh that's good news. I was really looking forward to see him in Montreal this summer (cancelled now of course)

The Chad Taylor tracks that are streaming are great. Even though there is little to no jazz happening at the moment, it's been a really good year for jazz records so far.

You gotta like drums and percussion to dig this, but it's not (just) a show of chops, they build a soundscape in what might be a pyramid and/or train station---nice bit of cool sax, Cecilish piano, sunburst trumpet, other horns contribute just enough, for inst to the 3rd quarter stampede, and make pleasant whistling sounds occasionally---also instances of near-silence here and there, they're not afraid of that---one mic for 20 instruments? dunno, but it works, I think: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgD-mqo84CQ

If it doesn't show up, it's Cairo Free Jazz Ensemble, "Free Together" on youtube.

Their parent or previous name meets Sun Ra:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzPc40wllzA

Speaking of Chicago guys in the thrill jockey orbit who have albums on bandcamp, I've been enjoying Matt Lux's Communication Arts. That groove on the first track is an instant classic:
https://communicationartsquartet.bandcamp.com/

got excited by what i thought was a new muriel grossman release, but i can't tell if these are new recordings of previously released compositions, or just a mash up:

This Jazzman set draws a selection from her 2016 album Natural Time ('Your Pace', 'Peace For All') and from 2017's Momentum ('Elevation', 'Chant' and 'Rising'). Featuring her regular quartet of Radomir Milojkovic (guitar) Uros Stamenkovic (drums) and Gina Schwarz (bass), the music on Elevation is pure sound, soul and spirit!

https://www.jazzmanrecords.co.uk/muriel-grossmann-elevation

anyway, that has me revisiting "reverence" from late last year, which got a brief mention on last year's rolling thread and was also written up in unperson's stereogum column in january. i have really mixed feelings about the explicit "we are paying homage to AFRICA" in the music and especially the liner notes. does anybody want to talk about that ?

https://murielgrossmann.bandcamp.com/album/reverence

here's a nice video of the quartet playing live:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz5rCWuhKo4

That just sounds like they licensed tracks from two of her (self-released) albums for an LP-only compilation to draw in suckers vinyl enthusiasts.

Speaking of Chicago guys in the thrill jockey orbit who have albums on bandcamp, I've been enjoying Matt Lux's Communication Arts. Thanks man alive, I'm fixing to check that out! Here's something a bit different from my usual (especially Chicago) listening, but it fits, and has grown on me since this post on the post-Fahey thread, stylistically better suited for Rolling Jazz:

Tim Stine Trio, Fresh Demons: acoustic guitar (TS), upright bass (Anton Hatwich), drum kit(Frank Rosaly), all tending to lower-range, earthy, perky sounds, very well recorded, reminding me of McLaughlin's Extrapolation minus the sax, which isn't missed. Well, maybe they could use a little more instigation: I started out indifferent to the soon-predictable approach--then got hooked midway, as details seemed to open up more, climbing and rolling, moment to moment. I think, especially now that I know this set gets better, that the prelims will grow on me. 37 minuted, 37 seconds seems right: it's tight.
Excerpts from press sheet:
"Frank Rosaly...functions like a third melodic voice throughout the album, and takes every opportunity to add sounds and surprises to each track. Anton Hatwich works with and against Stine throughout the album, and adds to the overall feel of a chamber trio with each one improvising their own parts in real time.

Fresh Demons follows Knots (2019, Clean Feed) which enlisted Windy City peers Nick Mazzarella, Matt Ulery, and Quin Kirchner. In addition to leading his Trio and Quartet, Stine has played as a leader and sideman in the groups Loris, Stine/Roebke/Reed Trio, Jarod Bufe Quartet and Nick Mazzarella Quintet.

Out on Astral Spirits May 15." For more info, check with cody at clandestinelabelservices dot com.

― dow, Wednesday, 29 April 2020 21:40 (one month ago) link

xpost Stine *might* be using a pick-up, unobtrusively. As I said, it's all very well-recorded, anyway.

― dow, Wednesday, 29 April 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_SVp5QtuHI

In non-current jazz, I've been digging this a lot lately, had not previously really spent much time checking out Steve Grossman, who is pretty sick in this vid, although at times it feels a little like a random grab bag of Coltrane licks.

Special guest Rudresh Mahanthappa tonight, 8:30PM at Virtual Birdland with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra.

50 miles of elbow room has put together a collection of essays / interviews / photos / ephemera centered around the late great free jazz pioneer earl freeman:

Even within the underground free jazz world, where there is no shortage of distinct individuals, Earl Freeman (March 11, 1931 - July 25, 1994) stands out. An artist of wide-ranging interests, his means of expression included music, poetry, the visual arts (especially drawing), & fashion. While he presented himself in bold, eye-catching military garb (often with an aviator helmet & goggles, sometimes accentuated by a whip, & another time a parachute), his art was often more cryptic & elusive, feeling akin to a peek into a largely private world/view.

http://50milesofelbowroom.com/images/articleimgs/earlfreeman.howard.doyle.rivbea%20crop.jpg

http://50milesofelbowroom.com/articles/500-earl-freeman.html

https://jazztimes.com/features/profiles/how-jazz-is-coping-with-covid-19/

Not exactly sure which thread this should go in but I've been getting into the new album by bassist Michael Olatunjo, featuring everyone from Angelique Kidjo to Lionel Loueke to Joe Lovano. He describes it as "cinematic Afrobeat", and it took a little while for me to adjust to the pop elements, but there's some really good playing and good upbeat grooves: https://michaelolatuja.bandcamp.com/album/lagos-pepper-soup

https://saraserpa.bandcamp.com/album/recognition-2

Sara Serpa's brilliant wordless vocals led soundtrack to an experimental doc about Portuguese colonial history in Africa.