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

recs don't really get me blubbing unless they have other, personal, associations, but agree that the Lewis is a fantastic disc (in fact all of his albs on black saint from this period are well worth checkin', imho - and am also pretty partial to YANKEES, the trio alb he made w/ bailey and zorn a cpl of years later)

THE GRAND WAZOO is prob zappa's best approximation of a pure jazz fusion rec (much more than HOT RATS, wtf?) - doesn't hurt that yer man doesn't sing on it

MACHINE GUN is one of those unassailable classics i don't actually listen to that often - among Brotz albs i tend to spin NIPPLES (again, cos of bailey) or SCHWARWALDFAHRT, the alb of duets he recorded w/ han bennink out in the black forest, lotsa wood and water sounds amongst the blatting

nice choices, wmc - and im pleased the konitz is hitting the spot, tannenbaum

That's some neato picks; hadn't heard of any of those.

ha i'm listening to Machine gun now by coincidence. it's so weird. but i sure love han bennink

and the record is awesome also of course. weird and awesome

I was googling around yesterday to see if the Lewis album was easy to ::cough:: FIND ::cough::, and came across a dude's blog with a live concert from Moers recorded roughly the same time as the album.

I listened to the show last night and it's really good -- both pieces are stretched out considerably, "Homage" to 36 minutes. The track listing is RONG though. The real listing is

1. Homage to Charles Parker
2. Blues
3. some piece I'm not familiar with

What other Zappa albums sound like this? Waka/Jawaka and Hot Rats? This is the first album of his I've heard that I like unreservedly. In fact, I love it.

Thanks for recommending the Lewis too. It is really beautiful and very original.

That's some lineup on the Brotzmann. It's definitely intense. I'll have to listen some more before saying more or forming a clear opinion. It's surely not the first European jazz recording, unless Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt did all their recording in America?

What other Zappa albums sound like this? Waka/Jawaka and Hot Rats?

Pretty much. Waka/Jawaka is most similar to Grand Wazoo, being from the same period. There's a 2CD live album from this period, Wazoo, with a 20-piece band, and a single CD live album, Imaginary Diseases, with a smaller 10-piece. Even the Petit Wazoo band was expensive to tour, so there weren't a lot of live shows from this period.

If you're interested in digging a little deeper and are more interested (like I am) in FZ the bandleader and composer than in FZ the smut/comedy songwriter, I'd recommend You Can't Do That On Stage Anymore vol 2 (the almighty Helsinki concert, 1974) and Make a Jazz Noise Here (1988 tour).

Oh, and the Jean-Luc Ponty album King Kong (1970), which is Ponty playing FZ compositions + one original. Zappa produced and arranged it, and played on one track.

tylerw: 9 June
Sparkle Motion: 16 June
forksclovetofu: 23 June
Turangalila: 30 June
tannenbaum: 7 July
Pfunk: 15 July
Elephant Rob: 22 July
Deej: 29 July

tylerw are you here?

ohhh shit yes i am. i'll post mine tomorrow!

Thought I'd do a trio of live records from through the ages for my week:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00005MIZA.01_SL75_.jpg
At the Cafe Bohemia, Vol. 1 is a 1955 live album release by jazz drummer Art Blakey for Blue Note Records. It featured the first incarnation of the Jazz Messengers, Blakey's career-spanning band, and is the first of two volumes recorded on November 23, 1955 at Cafe Bohemia, a famous night club in Greenwich Village in New York.
* Art Blakey — drums
* Horace Silver — piano
* Kenny Dorham — trumpet
* Hank Mobley — saxophone (tenor)
* Doug Watkins — bass

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IyDZgXq8QH0/SYwOUHzs_SI/AAAAAAAACcY/QPQrkcvBBcg/s400/Alice+Coltrane+-+Transfiguration.jpg
Following the death of her husband in '67, Alice Coltrane steadily recorded an album a year up until Transfiguration in 1978, a live session which consequently represents the culmination of her spiritual music via recordings and, for the most part, public appearances as well. After her first seven sessions through the late ‘60s and early '70s for Impulse!, Ms. Coltrane began recording for Warner in '75 around the time she founded a center for Eastern religious studies. The apex of that handful of sessions, Transfiguration features John Coltrane associates, bassist Reggie Workman (who appears on an earlier session, World Galaxy) and Roy Haynes on drums. "No finer people to let you feel what this force is really about," the leader matter of factly states in her introductions.

http://jazzbluesclub.com/uploads/posts/1212404396_pm_sound_fr.jpg
Paul Motian Trio - Sound of Love (Live at the Village Vanguard)
This is the second of two Live at the Village Vanguard albums from the Paul Motian trio (feat. Joe Lovano and Bill Frisell). Recorded in June 1995, it is a good sampling of what you'll hear if you go to their annual gig at that same club: some Monk, a standard, and a few Motian originals. The pot is sweetened by the Mingus ballad that gives this album its name.

doh - first two images didn't show
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YSqLW7GIhG4/SHkDjoEQmzI/AAAAAAAABvk/9B5geOZIE58/s400/TheJazzMessengersAtTheCafeBohemiaVolume1.jpg

oh wait yes they did wtf ... anyway

i'm in the US of A, so I don't have that newfangled spotify thing ... if someone wants to post links for these, that'd be fab!

Gah, missed the Brötzmann week. Changed my life, that record did. Seek out the most recent reissue on Atavistic, which bundles the original LP with a bunch of alternate takes, a live version and some excellent liner notes from PB himself (in which he describes the primitive conditions around the recording of the album).

What people need to bear in mind is that Brötzmann is still out there and doing upwards of 100 gigs a year at the age of 67 or something. Folk talk about his increasing lyricism and willingness to take it down a notch or two, but when you hear him play in a tiny club it's really just as hair-raising as ever.

re: Machine Gun -- think there is a live disc somewhere, I think I prefer that versh, if i correctly recall

listening to Transfiguration right now -- such beautiful, intense stuff. Wait for the strings on "Prema"! Wow. Alice sounds kind of out of it when she speaks to the crowd, but her playing is totally focused. Did she always sound that way?

looooooooove "Prema"!

Props to pfunk for looking after this thread while i've been distracted with real life shit.

I'm still running 2 weeks behind on listening, so got nothing to say 'cept saw Brotzman recently and he's was searing hot! and listening to Alice Coltrane is usually overwhelmingly special experience. Will put these at the top of the list.

Cant go wrong with that jazz messengers album either

yeah, there is no shortage of jazz messengers live albums, but this one is worth checking out. can't beat mobley + silver + blakey. hard bop at its best.

Yeah it's a great line-up

Hope I'm not jumping the gun here... I just won't get a chance to do this tomorrow.

1) Trio Transition Featuring Special Guest Oliver Lake (DIW, rec. 1988, released 2000)

Mulgrew Miller, piano
Reggie Workman, bass
Frederic Waits, drums
Oliver Lake, alto sax

I found this album at the Chicago Public Library some years back... a great freebop session. Like a fool I missed these guys last autumn at the SF Jazz fest.

AMG review:

This session with guest saxophonist Oliver Lake joining the collective Trio Transition -- bassist Reggie Workman, pianist Mulgrew Miller, and drummer Frederick Waits -- represents a free bop supergroup. Those names promise much, and the recording delivers that and more. This conjoining of talents results in an adventurous, free-swinging session informed by a keen sense of structure. The group's ability to match expansive free blowing with intriguing song forms is most pronounced on the ensemble's version of Stanley Cowell's joyful waltz, "Effie." The special rapport among the members of the core trio lifts the music, and at the heart of the trio is bassist Reggie Workman. The aptly named Workman moves up any session he's on a couple notches, and he's at his best here laying down a foundation of expansive, elastic lines and contributing powerful solos. On the opener he instigates pianist Mulgrew Miller's journey from bebop into the free beyond. The much-underrated Frederick Waits is at once colorful and earthbound. He also contributes two pieces, including a tribute to fellow drummer Ed Blackwell that features metric trickery and interlocking piano and saxophone lines. Guest Oliver Lake feasts on the support he receives, delivering a number of hearty orations.

2) Art Ensemble of Chicago - Tribute to Lester (ECM, rec. 2001, rel. 2003)

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000AGDA5.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Bass, Whistle, Gong - Malachi Favors
Drums, Percussion - Famoudou Don Moye
Saxophone, Flute, Whistle, Percussion - Roscoe Mitchell

I wanted to post a latter-day AEC record since I don't think they get as much credit as they ought. This one is probably the most atypical of them all, as the title and recording date indicate. I don't know if I'm just projecting a narrative onto this music, but it's hard not to come away with a profound sense of mourning while listening to this record. Perhaps it's Mitchell's fundamentally unswinging way of playing--"Suite for Lester" sounds like chamber music--that brings it out. From the first rumblings of Sangaredi, to the late-album "As Clear as the Sun" this is a band in crisis and catharsis, but presented with clarity, maturity, and depth. It's a typically sparkling ECM production--their first (and last) since the mid-80s. I'm curious to know what you all think.

Here's the AMG review:

The death of the AEC's colorful lab-coated trumpeter Lester Bowie in 1999 was a huge blow to the veteran avant-garde band but not a fatal one, for the surviving members -- Roscoe Mitchell, Malachi Favors Moghostut, and Famoudou Don Moye -- decided to carry on as a trio. The CD also marks the group's return to the ECM shelf after 19 years elsewhere -- and in turn, the group receives probably the most stunning, precisely etched recorded sound of its existence. Yet despite the retrospective nature of some of the selections, there is no overt nostalgia or compromise in the AEC's aesthetic stance, probably figuring that Bowie would have wanted it that way. "Sangaredi" leads off the disc with one of the AEC's more treasured percussion jams, a tribal ritual that picks up speed, with Mitchell's bass saxophone honking away, culminating in the grand clash of gongs. The trio merges Bowie's "Zero" with Mitchell's "Alternate Line" into a relatively straight-ahead walking-bass carpet for Mitchell's tenor to tread upon. "Tutankhamun" dates back to the AEC's early years in Paris, with Mitchell working his way toward a whirling North African-flavored solo on soprano against the free interplay of his colleagues. From this point on to the close, it's all collective improvisation, the threesome playing free and wild, yet with absolute empathy and telepathic precision. This stimulating homage to the AEC's beloved trumpeter was recorded in 2001 but not released until nearly two years later, by which time reedman Joseph Jarman had rejoined the band full-time.

3) Jonathan Lomax & Nicholas Wrigley - Lord of An Unerring Bow (Oro Neese, 2000)

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Ml_Yj8KBM7A/SgQjtMBD9UI/AAAAAAAADZk/iQ-14DdznmU/s400/lordbow-fr.JPG

Jonathan Lomax, Nicholas Wrigley: Rhodes, traps, wah, bells, thumb piano, percussion
Herrick Roy, percussion

I found this on il oxumare a while back, and have been delighted by it since. More than a little influenced by Alice Coltrane & Sun Ra, it's also more than just a well-intentioned tribute act, this is moving music in its own right. Also, aside from the place I found it, nobody seems to have any real information on either of these guys. Oro Neese was apparently a private label and the internet hasn't been much help. If anyone knows more, please share!

From Il Oxumare:

"Lord of an Unerring Bow" is similar in inspiration to "Suns," though by no means identical: the vibe is deepened by a switch from acoustic piano to Fender Rhodes electric piano. The switch, and the addition of extra percussion, gives them a chance to develop more of an original sound, I think. The sound remains introspective with a melancholy bent. The final track is my favorite: the rhodes dissolving into rhythmic thumb piano (kalimba) fading out like insects at dusk before the silence of night. It's really a beautiful album.

Non-spotify link to all three here

Just realized the link may not have gone anywhere

So here's:
Lomax/Wrigley
Art Ensemble
Trio Transition

thanks dude -- these all look cool! only one i've heard before is the Art Ensemble disc. will listen to the others over the weekend!

forksclovetofu: 23 June
Turangalila: 30 June
tannenbaum: 7 July
Pfunk: 15 July
Elephant Rob: 22 July
Deej: 29 July

Sorry I'm late; here's three of my favorites listed under "A"; all of these have been tremendously powerful influences on my listening taste and I'd be happy to discuss/write more about them if there's any interest in doing so. In the meantime try a few of the recommended tracks and see if you find these as moving as I do.

1) - Abbey Is Blue by Abbey Lincoln (1959)
http://img2.allposters.com/images/ACTPOD/OJCCD-069-2.jpg
Recommended Tracks: Afro Blue; Brother, Where Are You?; Laugh, Clown, Laugh; Softly As In a Morning Sunrise; Thursday's Child; Lonely House; Let Up; Come Sunday... goddamn, this whole album is pretty indispensable isn't it?
cough

2) - Jamal Plays Jamal by Ahmad Jamal (1974)
http://jazzbluesclub.com/uploads/posts/thumbs/1267678607_a.jpg
Recommended Tracks: Eclipse, Dialogue, Swahililand, Spanish Interlude; I think this might be a top five all-time album for me.
cough

3) - Journey in Satchidananda by Alice Coltrane (1970)
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_SAevTiHHVv8/SULrxPFZPbI/AAAAAAAAC0M/SyAFHGkNhj0/s400/Journey-In-Satchidananda-756709%5B1%5D.jpg
Recommended Tracks: Journey in Satchidananda, Something About John Coltrane, Isis and Osiris
cough

You certainly cant go wrong with the Alice Coltrane album,It's always been my favourite of hers, infact , I think it was the first album I heard by her some years back pre-ilm. This is the only one of her best known albums to NOT be on Spotify, how strange.
I thought there would be more discussion. Maybe we all got caught up on the world cup? I know I did so haven't listened to as much music as I normally would. Must make up for that.
Haven't heard the other 2 albums so will do that soon.

There might be too many listening clubs.

turangalila asked me to swap with him. Unless tannenbaum wants to go first?

Decided to get in on this since I have a long mindless work project and hence a lot of listening time. Have the Ahmad Jamal on right now. Good choice, b/c he's someone I've slept on.

I have to admit I never liked Abbey Lincoln but I will give that one a shot. Alice Coltrane is also someone I haven't given enough time.

Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou - Ethiopiques Vol. 21: Piano Solo

A curious hybrid of old time jazz and classical, but still truly Ethiopian. Dark and contemplative, moody but subtly playful as well. Culled mainly from recordings from the late 40's early 50's, a period during which Guebrou had recently left the convent due to illness, and then continued to compose and perform as a way of raising money for charity.

Dorothy Ashby - "Afro-Harping" (1968)

Cue up “Soul Vibrations,” the first track on Dorothy Ashby’s Afro-Harping, and revel: a one-note syncopated bassline over a slamming drumbeat that you’re sure you’ve heard sampled somewhere. Enter the double-tracked theremins, followed by swoopy strings. Next, over the relentless beat, an echo-plexed harp solo by Ashby, during which the strings return with 16-notes; then the theremins run the groove into a fade-out. And there you have it: 3’15’’ of pure aural time capsule in all its mod glory.

Afro-Harping was arranged by producer Richard Evans and recorded by Ashby with unknown musicians for Cadet Records in 1968. An unbeatable groove-heavy slice of late-’60s lounge. Actually, there are two styles on the album: a heavy funk, psychedelic groove showcased on the two side-openers, “Soul Vibrations” and “Afro-Harping”; and a genial, insinuating pop-jazz feel with more extensive displays of harp prowess. ~ Joshua Weiner

Alice Coltrane - "World Galaxy" (1971)

On the two days in November when World Galaxy was recorded, Coltrane chose drummer Ben Riley, bassist Reggie Workman, violinist Leroy Jenkins, saxophonist Frank Lowe, and timpanist Elayne Jones in addition to a string orchestra of 16 to help her realize her latest vision. Coltrane herself plays piano, harp, and organ on this date, sometimes within a single track, as she does on her glorious post-modal reworking of "My Favorite Things." This was a gutsy move, considering it was one of John Coltrane's signature tunes, but Alice has it firmly in hand as she moves from organ to harp to piano and back, turning the melody inside out wide enough for the strings to whip up an atmospheric texture that simultaneously evokes heaven and hell and skewers the prissy nature of the tune in favor of bent polyharmonics that allow the entire world of sound inside to play. The jazz modalism Coltrane presents on "Galaxy Around Olodumare" is quickly undone by Lowe in his solo and reconstructed into polyphony by the string section; it's remarkable. The harp work on "Galaxy in Turiya" (Alice's religious name) is among her most beautiful, creating her own wash of color and dynamic for the strings to fall like water from the sky into her mix. As colors shift and change, the rhythm section responds, and focuses them in the prism of Coltrane's textured harpistry. - Thom Jurek

*release date for World Galaxy is actually 1972

Just caught what I'm pretty sure is the sample from Jay-Z - Feelin' It off Reasonable Doubt, in Pastures from the Ahmad Jamal disc.

that ahmad is pretty great -- i think forksclovetofu turned my onto it on another thread. jamal is wonderful summer listening, so breezy, spritely, playful.

oh nice one sal, youve saved me quickly picking 3 albums! I dont know those first 2 albums either.

I played that Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou CD every morning for a long time when it came out. Not sure if it's jazz, but it's great. Can kind of drift off into the background, but when you pay attention to it, there's all kinds of wonderful melodies happening.

"Soul Vibrations" is so thoroughly badass that it overshadows the entirety of the rest of the album for me, which strays kind of close to easy listening imo; I still enjoy it but it often becomes background music to me in a way that the first track doesn't. Still, that first song could be on every mix from now on and it wouldn't wear out its welcome.

Very pleased with all the Alice Coltrane love these past weeks, though now I guess i probably won't pick one of hers on my week then! Agree with pfunkboy that Satchidananda is my favorite by her, though I'm kind of a breathless fan for her and World Galaxy was one of my favorite albums last year.

damn, so many Ethiopiques that I don't have...

tylerw recommended Alice Coltrane's Transfiguration upthread which is sometimes a bit too meandering for my taste. However, 'Prema' with the overdubbed strings on that album = GOD

I agree with every word you said :)

Universal Consciousness is another favorite from her; also everything she did before Satch, especially Ptah the El Daoud is excellent if a tad more traditional.

Ptah has the double tenor front line though. Really I haven't heard an Alice album I didn't like. Even listening to her and 14 year old JC Jr. stumble through a sidelong jam has its charms.

yeah, is that Pharoah and Joe Henderson? I also like her piano work, so yeah Ptah is great.

yeah yeah yeah

was just listening to a verrrry cool Alice Coltrane episode of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz from the early 80s, I think. really fun stuff -- and alice comes across as maybe a little more lucid/down to earth than she sometimes sounds in other interviews i've heard. mcpartland is such a fun interviewer -- she is kind of spacey herself, but seems to get a lot of enjoyment out of talking/playing with other musicians.

Yes! I've heard that. You know what's amazing, too? Those private recordings she did of chants. I know a lot of people are put off by the synths, but something like "Journey to Satchidananda" (a choral re-arrangement of the same composition from World Galaxy) from "Glorious Chants" sounds like a funeral chant for the end of the world.

i haven't delved into the post-70s stuff -- is it even on CD?

Only 'Glorious Chants' as far as I know. It's probably the weirdest thing I've ever heard from her. I found it on il oxumare.

Oh snap! Il Oxumare has a trove of post-70s Alice! I guess I hadn't been there in a long time.

rofl @ who forgot his week started today

tannenbaum: 7 July
Pfunk: 15 July
Elephant Rob: 22 July
Deej: 29 July

is jazz club still going? tannenbaum didnt take his shot last week, so he can take my turn and we move a week back?