Jazz in the late 70s / early 80s (jazz goes pop, jazz goes disco)

this makes me wanna sit on the beach w/a fruity cocktail in my hand

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMldvm8pYYI

^ lalo schifrin produced/written etc. my 12" is called 'dream machine' not 'undercurrents'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVKAt8hAWBY&feature=share

amazing

ha, total jaxon jam

sweeeeeet

That came out two years before Miles Davis's Tutu. Chuck Mangione, cyber-jazz-funk pioneer!

before future shock too

Enjoyed that.

DAZZ DAZZ, DISCO JAZZ: It's the time of the season again, so revisiting this thread.

George Benson's In Flight!

Also, just got Ramsey Lewis's Sun Goddess, and getting Love Notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk3k7KYRE1A

Sun Goddess is so great! It sounds more like an Earth, Wind & Fire album with Ramsey Lewis as a guest than the other way around, but that's just a good thing. Not sure if it fits this thread though, as it's firmly in the early 70s jazz-funk camp. Anyway, besides the title tune, I particularly love the weird-ass goblin synth funk om "Tambura".

I would say Spring High from Love Notes does:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rAFUTaCa3k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzMuz5gK4yY

Really like this, I will buy this straight away if you can vouch for the rest of the album being as good as this (or at least close)?

this is the best music for january

http://www.vinylist-records.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/e/serpico-ost-soundtrack.jpg

I have been devouring this thread. So many favorites discussed, and definitely got put on to some new ones. Thought I'd offer up a recent discovery; the arrangements are Bob James. Some serious grooves amidst the standard backing fare. It's on Paramount, but it fits with the CTI catalogue.

Amazing thread. So much of this is right up my alley.

Idris Muhammad is fantastic. Had never heard of him before reading this thread.

Does anyone here have any thoughts on Azymuth?

The Azymuth album with the spade on the cover is pretty dope. "Mañana" especially.
And of course, "jazz carnival" is classic.

I got a 4CD box of albums by Jack DeJohnette's Special Edition, all released between 1979 and 1984 and now reissued on ECM. There is some seriously weird shit on here, including a version of "Monk's Mood" played with a truly horrifying '80s synth sound.

Nice, I love most of that era of DeJohnette. Are there any extra tracks on there? New notes?

I don't have a physical copy, only downloads. There may be new notes, but there are no new tracks. One of the big selling points is that one of the albums - Album Album, from 1981 - has never been on CD before.

Actually that's not true- I think maybe Album Album was never released on CD in the States, but I have a copy, and it's here:

http://www.amazon.com/Album-Jack-Dejohnette/dp/B00000DTF5/ref=sr_1_31?ie=UTF8&qid=1358531769&sr=8-31&keywords=dejohnette+special+edition

You're right - Inflation Blues is the one that's never been on CD before.

Ah right. And I do want Inflation Blues, so I'll probably pick up the box, despite having purchased 3 of the discs in the last few months. Argh.

i feel like donald byrd's recent passing has made me want to go and scoop up as much of this shit as i can

Always looking for a good reason to revive this thread. Found this today, features include George Duke, Marcos Valle, Flora Purim (of course), Joe Farrell and many of the CTI usual suspects, although it's a Warner release. Perfect for the first summery night in NYC.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6m4qBoeu-XM/TMKXMURgnmI/AAAAAAAAC-Q/vfpn5fxKzzo/s400/Airto_TouchingYouTouchingMe.jpg

I love "toque de cuica" on that.

I am really close to really digging the new Rudresh Mahanthappa, but I can't quite get into the way it sounds -- it has that shiny metallic 90s jazz sound that I thought had mostly died out. I hate the way the drums are recorded to sound more like rock drums.

oh durr, wrong jazz thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18Ff1Zib66U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt7Ltf-wjbY

Pharoah Sanders on the bandwagon;

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

I wanted to post his cover of "Got To Give It Up" off the same album but it's not on YouTube.

search: ramsey lewis' ramsey from 1979. a1 and b1 are disco. the rest is more on the jazz-funk side. production is excellent.

lol, the rest of the second side is "don't cry for me argentina"

So many of these records are completely forgotten. I guess jazz disco just doesn't fit well into the jazz mythology that prevailed.

i was wondering that recently - to what extent was this stuff considered 'jazz' at the time? especially when you get into the '80s. now i suppose the standard image of 'jazz' without any hyphens is something that stops really moving some time in the mid-60s, but did the critics and the public think of the pop and disco moves (as well as the funk etc moves before it) as more or less the same lineage, in the way that e.g. rock was allowed to be completely different over a span of decades but still be part of a tradition?

I would say no. There is the stodgier strain of jazz criticism that just acts like jazz died when Bitches Brew came out (or earlier), and there's a more open strain that accepts fusion and/or out and free stuff. But I don't think there's much critical love for the music this thread discusses.

I wrote a piece for Burning Ambulance today about George Duke's mid '70s albums for the MPS label, which overlapped with his time in Frank Zappa's band (a lot of Zappa sidemen show up, including FZ himself on one album, playing pseudonymous guitar, and there are compositional influences audible as well).

Nice, any chance you could recommend some similar stuff to that mid 70's George Duke sound? I've gotten really into the Brecker Brothers and Frank Zappa lately, but I can't seem to find much else.

i don't know, but i do want to recommend a pretty unknown george duke recording: a three-song studio demo from late 1972 (typically circulating, as bootlegs do, with the erroneous date of "1974 demo"). the songs are "for love (i come your friend)", and two instrumentals, "psychosomatic dung" and an instrumental take on "uncle remus". all three songs are superb (zappa plays guitar on all of them, but duke is clearly the leader here).

I will for sure check that out!

Does anybody know anything about Lenny White's late 70s/early 80s band Twennynine? There's a box out that compiles two of White's ultra-fusiony 70s albums and all three Twennynine albums, and I'm wondering whether to go for it. The band had two female vocalists, so I'm a little concerned that it's gonna be some corny, ultra-slick wannabe-Chic stuff.

i've been pretty obsessed with this brazilian jazz-funk album from 1979 all summer

antonio adolfo - viralata
https://img.discogs.com/Y3haOPvkGKKbLACf0jgmQBjbu7o=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-1928506-1324126080.jpeg.jpg

found out about it due to it being reissued (link) and apparently the opening track was a dancefloor classic (last song ever played at Plastic People) but, i've kind of burnt out on it. i checked out one of adolfo's other albums from the same era (tropical infinito) but it didn't quite hit the spot. Viralata has just incredible fucking melodies, and perfect playing.

have any of you heard it? can anyone recommend some other classics from that era? tia

brazillian jazz-funk = i'm in, thanx 4 sharing

don't know if it's similar but search: Deodato - Night Cruiser, "Whistle Bump"

bump

whistle bump is nice. bit more disco than the Adolfo, but i'm holding onto it for sure. thx brims

so dope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMP6AMS5e2Q