ILX0RS: JAZZ IS THE TEACHER. YEAH, IT'S A JAZZ THING >> THE ILM JAZZ LISTENING CLUB! [NEW CHOICES EVERY WEDNESDAY!]

I read that Alfred Lion knew what a session was going to sound like before Van Gelder pressed record. If you listen to enough Blue Note albums, I think this becomes apparent, and problematic...I mean to say that consistent excellence slides into consistent sameness on occasion. But that's about my only complaint with Blue Note as a label.

I have no problem with consistent brilliance myself!

Yeah, it only bothers me if I try to listen to too much BN in a short span of time. Taken individually the vast majority of it is good to genius. Also, even though I know where you're coming from, the "sameness" argument is maybe harder to make in light of this specific album.

Yeah, I wasn't referring to this album in particular--I haven't even heard it yet! One of the best things that Lion & co. did was record & support Hutcherson, Rivers, Hill & Taylor even though they weren't ever going to do the same kind of business that his stalwarts were going to do.

There's lots of great obscure Blue Note artists.

btw I might want to do one of these

the main criticism of Blue Note might be that they kind of milked a lot of artists dry -- Jimmy Smith in particular. He put out more than two dozen records in like 4 years, I think! I guess they were enthusiastic about him ... but really, you only need 3 or 4 Jimmy Smith records in your life. He's great, but there's not a lot of variety.

root down is my jimmy smith jam

btw I might want to do one of these

― Turangalila, Wednesday, 28 April 2010 21:08 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark

pfunk: 28 April
a hoy hoy: 5 May
local garda: 12 May
ward fowler: 19 May
Cave17Matt: 26 May
Nom Nom Nom Chomsky (WmC): 2 June
tylerw: 9 June
Sparkle Motion: 16 June
forksclovetofu: 23 June
Turangalila: 30 June
tannenbaum: 7 July
Pfunk: 15 July

Oh, I could do one too, assuming there are plenty of reminders between now and 22 July!

Love Donald Smith's (Lonnie's brother) vocals on Expansions, the bubblin' bassline, the propulsiveness yet calm air.

Lonnie was one of the players on Pharoah Sander's Karma as well

And I enjoyed the Lonnie Liston Smith quite a bit. While I can tell why my younger more cynical self would have balked at a song like "Summer Days", it was perfect for a lovely day. Also, Cecil McBee is one of my favorite bassists.

That's what made me choose the Lonnie Liston Smith (do not confuse with Lonnie Smith) because he's on Karma and I thought it was a nice link. Plus the Bobby Hutcherson had Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard on it rather than picking one of their best known albums.

a hoy hoy: 5 May
local garda: 12 May
ward fowler: 19 May
Cave17Matt: 26 May
Nom Nom Nom Chomsky (WmC): 2 June
tylerw: 9 June
Sparkle Motion: 16 June
forksclovetofu: 23 June
Turangalila: 30 June
tannenbaum: 7 July
Pfunk: 15 July
Elephant Rob: 22 July

if anyone else wants to curate a week, just private message me and I'll maintain a list off-thread, rather than clog the thread up with updates to the schedule :) /or just wait till July before requesting.

I'll post a monthly reminder, so as you long as you check in once in a while you should be okay to see when you're up

You could PM the person a week beforehand?

will do for the June and July ones.

The 2nd half of Components is where the album really comes alive for me.

Things get a little more "out" on side 2, don't they? Kind of an interesting split -- the first half is pretty straight ahead bop ... Listening to Components now. Love this sound. Carter's bass! For a guy who played on a bajillion records, he always sounds fresh, engaged and into it.

The albums of this period all kind of do that--move between straight ahead and more out playing...from 65 to 70 or so there isn't one Hutcherson album that I haven't liked.

Agreed, Bobby Hutcherson released great stuff then

Looking at the Allmusic discography, there are a few I haven't heard, and 1970's 'Now' isn't very good. The one directly after that, "Head On" is fantastic though--a great blend of the straight-ahead and more exploratory elements of the years preceding.

Head On is pretty nice -- though surprisingly, I think I might like the bonus tracks that are on the recent CD reissue better than the album itself! San Francisco is worht checking out too. I've got Natural Illusions (from 74, I think?) -- it's got string orchestrations on it, some of which works some of which doesn't.

I agree about the bonus tracks. An instance of bonus material being truly worthwhile rather than the usual alt take.

San Francisco is definitely worth having.

I find parts of Karma is to be amazing, but I've always found Leon Thomas' vocals to be something of a distraction. I don't necessarily mind his voice per se, but it distracts from everything else in the recording that I find so interesting and arresting. It's the one unimaginative element in the mix, and it's perhaps the number one reason Karma has always been an album I admire more than like.

That said, I do love the fluctuations in Sanders' tone on this album. He gets very abrasive (especially in the midsection), but he always seems compelled to then swoop back into a voluptuous, sweet sound just as his sax makes direct contact with chaos. I'm also amused by his significantly swinging cadence, especially at the 24 minutes mark, that finds a midpoint between Ben Webster and Steve Mackay . It makes an interesting contrast to Coltrane, whose single major limitation, I think, is that he couldn't swing very well (Monk tries to get him to on the Carnegie Hall recording, but he sounds unwilling to play along).

I enjoy his "vocals" actually.

Me too.

This Hutcherson album is GREAT! I love Blue Note from this period -- generally a consistently interesting combination of balls and taste.

Bit of a jazz neophyte but i'm about 6 minutes into "The Creator Has A Master Plan" and it's blowing me away. How does he get that tone?

Hard work and clean living?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overblowing

that tone?

That'll be it. As i said, don't really listen to that much jazz (although i have heard Journey in Satchidananda) but the first thing that struck me with this album was the "roughness" of the tone. It just sounds cool basically.

been listening to Karma a lot in the last week independently of this thread, walking around singing "yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah" in my head. I don't really dig Thomas' solo stuff but I love him on this record.

Hutcherson had a great working relationship w/pianist Andrew Hill on Blue Note, too. check out Hutch's Dialogue or Hill's Judgement LP. my favorite straight-ahead Bobby is The Stick-Up w/Joe Henderson at his most Coltranesque.

Andrew Hill was terrific too back then.

listened to Karma (twice!) on the way to work today. beautiful record. thing i was digging the most about "creator" this time around was the percussion -- all that shimmering, jangling sound going on.

I think I hear new things everytime I hear it tbh. Either that or I'm focussing on something different each time. It's just the perfect album for me (along with Mingus - Black Saint And Sinner Lady)

Karma is definitely my favourite jazz lp, and definitely in my top 5 of all time regarddless of genre

glad to hear that

Here is a Spotify Playlist for both weeks(minus unavailable album)
Will add to it each week

just a reminder for the May's pickers:

a hoy hoy: 5 May
local garda: 12 May
ward fowler: 19 May
Cave17Matt: 26 May

i think i have decided my 3. there is no link other than they may be my fav 3 jazz records evererer

how do they rate as arsenal players?

Vieira, Song and Keown?

the 1st one is a classy thuggish album by an artist who was past their best?

ok vieira when he was an arsenal player.

hard edged classy with a great ability to move forward?

What will a jazz fabregas be?

Hmm, I was thinking 'kinda african and/or hard as hell' w/ my picks. a cesc would be some dainty european thing that can leave a giant smiley smile on yr face.

and an arshavin?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a4/Machinegunbrotz.jpg/200px-Machinegunbrotz.jpg