Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

The Hot Fives and Sevens box from the '90s was the key to me. It helped that it came out when I was spending a lot of time digging into '20s and '30s music, and it was just so obvious what a blaze of talent and inspiration he was. There was one point in my infatuation where I would have told you Satch was the most important American artist in any field in the first half of the 20th century. I wouldn't go that far these days, but he's on a shortlist for sure. I even have a lot of tolerance for his corny stuff, just because I feel like he was such an important cultural presence. (And a hell of a jazz singer, too, but definitely his playing is the magic stuff.)

(I guess that box was actually 2000, not the '90s.)

https://jamesbrandonlewis.bandcamp.com/album/jesup-wagon

the new JBL quintet is looking like a top notch band (inc William Parker on two tracks)

The JBL is gorgeous. Really strong writing and the combination of players/instruments is inspired. Particularly dig the cello/ngoni grooves on a couple of tracks. Lewis has been building up a really impressive catalogue, but this feels like a real breakthrough.

Sorry, guimbri not ngoni!

it sounds fucking tremendous on my first listen. I got it off slsk but will pay for it when it's officially available.

The self-titled Broken Shadows album (Tim Berne, Chris Speed, Reid Anderson and Dave King playing tunes by Ornette Coleman, Julius Hemphill, Charlie Haden and Dewey Redman) that was originally part of a super-expensive vinyl box from the Newvelle label a couple of years ago is being reissued on CD by Intakt, with two extra tracks. I saw Broken Shadows at the Jazz Standard and had a blast; glad this is gonna reach a slightly larger audience.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EzqGM30XEAE-Gor?format=jpg&name=small

there is this lost album by the "Legendary" Hasaan as well.

Funny, I've had Tutu in my head for a few weeks now (not the studio version, the Live Around the World version):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wv3EbfQtj2w

I'd like to hear that Broken Shadows record, I saw them in a small art gallery space and it was great, but pretty intense for that room. I preferred the more stripped down Dave King + Chris Potter trio gig a few months before, which hey, it looks like is all on youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi40sqsdglE

Wadada Leo Smith's very zen Sun Beans of Shimmering Light is his best album in years, even though apparently for some strange reason it has been been gathering dust on a shelf for years. Astral Spirits is quickly turning into one of my fave record labels.

^ The Chris Speed trio is so good--have given those two recent albums on Intakt plenty of listens over past small handful of years.

Speaking of Astral Spirits, the two opening tracks of this new Rob Frye sound great--slowed-down birdsong melodies (Given that all three members are part of this band, maybe a missed opp to call themselves Bitchin Birdies?): https://astralexoplanet.bandcamp.com/album/exoplanet

This Pitchfork review of Sonny Sharrock's Ask the Ages is kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, there's a lot of solid analysis of the record and good insight into Sharrock himself. On the other hand, to give Last Exit no more than a glance, and to ignore 1970's Monkey-Pockie-Boo and 1986's Guitar entirely, seem like pretty big oversights.

BTW, Real Gone Records put out a 2CD live Herbie Mann set, Live at the Whisky 1969: The Unreleased Masters, in 2016, that features a lot of Sonny (and Linda!) Sharrock; in addition to Mann's material, they got a mid-set interlude where they played a couple of pieces from Black Woman. Well worth digging up if you can find one.

lol can’t even tell you how many times i’ve pitched a sunday review of ask the ages

I don't bother pitching there anymore. Total silence every time.

I don't know why I had trouble appreciating Ask the Ages, I like Sharrock and Sanders otherwise. I found the drum sound clattery, but I liked Iron Path, also produced by Laswell, and that is mostly clatter!

Ethan Iverson sight-reads a number of standards from the original sheet music (thread):

*sight-read from the sheet music* No 1. "Stella by Starlight" (Victor Young & Ned Washington) #ivershow pic.twitter.com/Z3W5pLrWSy

— Ethan Iverson (@ethan_iverson) April 22, 2021

ha it really is "Sun Beans"

I like that Rob Frye record, and the Wadada Leo Smith record. I have to say, the 2021 subscription deal that Astral Spirits were running at the end of last year has shown to be a really great investment, will subscribe for next year too.

Just heard a version of “Cherokee” that was arranged like “Soulful Strut” and found out it was by this artist, these artists: https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/kamasi-washington-makaya-mccraven/Event?oid=19053645

is this where we're discussing the Arooj Aftab? It's very nice.

we were talking a little on the rolling outernational thread, but I am swooning for this one right so: Arooj Aftab

Thanks, that's lovely.

Some intriguing descriptions here, and I find Nezelhorns is an ensemble that demonstrates a harmonious nature, even when it feels like they’re coming apart at the seams especially relatable--time to take the plunge:
https://daily.bandcamp.com/best-jazz/the-best-jazz-on-bandcamp-april-2021

both of the sons of kemet singles are great but "to never forget the source" is best of the young year material.

agreed, at this point I'm in trying not to get too hyped mode wrt that album

Listening to that Silent Room record right now. It's gorgeous, exactly what I want right now.

big moon dog energy from sons of kemet

I know Evan Parker is an insane conspiracist, but my illegal download of the record with Natural Information Society is doing me really well this morning into afternoon. Really great record.

You should probably buy that despite the covidiot aspect because both Abrams and Eremite are doing good work and could probably use the dough, and also it's one of the best albums of the year

covidiocy as a justification for piracy = dud

Holding out in the hopes of a domestic CD issue.

there was an interview with Alexander Hawkins in the freejazz blog where he talked quite a bit about working with EP but no questions or mentions of the covidiocy. And then in the same blog a 5 star review of EP's latest album with also no mention of it. Quite odd really considering another reviewer fretted at great length over if he was even correct to be reviewing a Jerimiah Cymerman album with a title taken from a longread by some beyond the pale right-wing blogger arsehole.

$15 USD for four digital files? In my world, that's known as highway robbery. I support the label and I've supported Abrams in other ways by buying other records.

OTM!

I wouldn't give a fucking ha'penny to Parker.

That price is insane, but Abrams is a good dude and deserves support, imo. Of course I'm assuming that even collaborating with Parker will have folks looking at him askance, but this set was recorded two years ago.

I know Alexander Hawkins is definitely not an idiot of any stripe and I wouldn't judge him for working with Parker, and his contribution to his last album very good tbf.

The Broken Shadows (Berne/Speed/Anderson/King) digital reissue that Phi1 unperson typed about upthread on April 23rd is now up on Bandcamp for pre-order, and does indeed sound great to these ears: https://intaktrec.bandcamp.com/album/broken-shadows

Poet Anthony Joseph has a really good album with a jazz band coming out on Friday with the awesome title The Rich Are Only Defeated When Running For Their Lives; Shabaka Hutchings plays on two tracks.

https://anthonyjosephofficial.bandcamp.com/album/the-rich-are-only-defeated-when-running-for-their-lives

Recorded an hour-long interview with Wadada Leo Smith for my podcast today. A great conversation; I'll post it in about two weeks.

Cool! Looking forward to it.

Recorded an hour-long interview with Wadada Leo Smith for my podcast today. A great conversation; I'll post it in about two weeks.

That's great. Yesterday I discovered this interview from 2011. Someone should write a Primer on him for The Wire, as there are so many records to choose from.

Yeah, I did a cover story on him for them in 2009 but he's put out an absolute flood of material since then.

Drummer Jim Black's piano trio released an album in 2020 and it's sick:

https://jimblackintakt.bandcamp.com/album/reckon
https://open.spotify.com/album/4EQYsloQ9MVJ5YIlbDMxwu?si=WidwJ7jkQqezOsIjVV0Vtw

I wish all the recent Wadada material was available in the States without paying import prices. Most of the new material (box sets, collaborations, etc) on TUM looks super enticing but I can't afford physical copies of any of it.

ImportCDs.com has good prices on a lot of his stuff.

Going back through the Jim Black catalog today, the ones with Marc Ducret and Hank Roberts are really nice. Sort of avant Americana.

Those guys are all part of the Tim Berne Expanded Universe, so I should probably give a listen.

Welp, somebody just sent me Sacred Ceremonies, and I've so far given up, after the first six tracks: Graves is of course the ideal collaborator, constantly (but never obtrusively) spinning fresh ideas around and behind the trumpet, but a lot of times I wish he'd challenge or just bust through these repetitive, frequently draggy-ass lines---at first it works as contemplation, but then what the heck, not nearly fuck, zzzz. Maybe I'll try some more of it.

Reading about Curtis Fuller on FB, that he was some kind of word class punster, some kind of combination of JBL and Yogi Berra, if I may.