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

Though I was exposed to the traditional stuff from a young age, I got most excited by jazz when I discovered Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders (plus "On the Corner"), and I'm still very non-purist in my jazz tastes. I particularly love the kind of stuff discussed in this thread.

1. Yusuf Lateef, "Eastern Sounds" (1961)

http://blogs.opb.org/kmhd/files/2009/12/yusef2.jpg

Thom Jurek, AMG:

One of multi-instrumentalist and composer Yusef Lateef's most enduring recordings, Eastern Sounds was one of the last recordings made by the band that Lateef shared with pianist Barry Harris after the band moved to New York from Detroit, where the jazz scene was already dying. Lateef had long been interested in Eastern music, long before John Coltrane had ever shown any public interest anyway, so this Moodsville session (which meant it was supposed to be a laid-back ballad-like record), recorded in 1961, was drenched in Lateef's current explorations of Eastern mode and interval, as well as tonal and polytonal improvisation. That he could do so within a context that was accessible, and even "pretty," is an accomplishment that stands today. The quartet was rounded out by the inimitable Lex Humphries on drums -- whose brushwork was among the most deft and inventive of any player in the music with the possible exception of Connie Kay from the Modern Jazz Quartet -- and bass and rabat player Ernie Farrow. The set kicks off with "The Plum Blossom," a sweet oboe and flute piece that comes from an Eastern scale and works in repetitive rhythms and a single D minor mode to move through a blues progression and into something a bit more exotic, which sets up the oboe-driven "Blues for the Orient." Never has Barry Harris' playing stood up with more restraint to such striking effect than it does here. He moves the piece along with striking ostinatos and arpeggios that hold the center of the tune rather than stretch it. Lateef moans softly on the oboe as the rhythm section doubles, then triples, then half times the beat until it all feels like a drone. There are two cinematic themes here -- he cut themes from the films Spartacus and The Robe, which are strikingly, hauntingly beautiful -- revealing just how important accessibility was to Lateef. And not in the sense of selling out, but more in terms of bringing people to this music he was not only playing, but discovering as well. (Listen to Les Baxter and to the early-'60s recordings of Lateef -- which ones are more musically enduring?) However, the themes set up the deep blues and wondrous ballad extrapolations Lateef was working on, like "Don't Blame Me" and "Purple Flower," which add such depth and dimension to the Eastern-flavored music that it is hard to imagine them coming from the same band. Awesome.

2. Don Cherry, "Brown Rice" (1975)

http://www.parisdjs.com/images/covers/mind_radio_show/Don_Cherry-Brown_Rice_b.jpg

Steve Huey, AMG:

If Eternal Rhythm was Don Cherry's world fusion masterpiece of the '60s, then Brown Rice is its equivalent for the '70s. But where Eternal Rhythm set global influences in a free jazz framework, Brown Rice's core sound is substantially different, wedding Indian, African, and Arabic music to Miles Davis' electrified jazz-rock innovations. And although purists will likely react here the same way they did to post-Bitches Brew Davis, Brown Rice is a stunning success by any other standard. By turns hypnotic and exhilarating, the record sounds utterly otherworldly: the polyrhythmic grooves are deep and driving, the soloing spiritual and free, and the plentiful recording effects trippy and mysterious. The various ethnic influences lift the album's already mystical atmosphere to a whole new plane, plus Cherry adds mostly non-English vocals on three of the four tracks, whispering cryptic incantations that make the pieces resemble rituals of some alien shaman. The title cut has since become an acid jazz/rare-groove classic, filtering Charlie Haden's acoustic bass through a wah-wah pedal and melding it with psychedelic electric piano riffs, electric bongos, wordless female vocals, short snippets of tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe's free jazz screeching, and, of course, Cherry's whispers and trumpet. Closer "Degi-Degi" works a similarly mind-bending mixture, but the middle two pieces ("Malkauns" and "Chenrezig") are lengthy explorations where Cherry's languid trumpet solos echo off into infinity. Of all his world fusion efforts, Brown Rice is the most accessible entry point into Cherry's borderless ideal, jelling into a personal, unique, and seamless vision that's at once primitive and futuristic in the best possible senses of both words. While Cherry would record a great deal of fine work in the years to come, he would never quite reach this level of wild invention again.

3. Steve Reid, "Nova" (1976)

http://file.blog-shinjuku-jazz.diskunion.net/nova.jpg

Rob Ferrier, AMG:

This is an astounding record by an artist who has been criminally neglected. The list of those who could make out jazz funky is a short one. Ornette of course springs to mind as do the musicians of the Art Ensemble and their Chicago brethren. Drummer Steve Reid must now be added to that list. From the swaggering thunder of "Lions of Juda," to the gentler songs that close this album, there's nary a misstep. This music is as beautiful and dangerous as a shower of broken glass -- just when you think you've got a song figured out, this clever group of largely unsung musicians heightens the tension and takes things careening off in an unexpected direction. Have no fear though, these men are always nothing if not firmly in control. This is a wonderful document of a long vanished New York scene that was long on every emotion, not just fury. Find this album and buy it.

aye thats ok, tannenbaum missed his week so took mine and i go after deej

excellent choices btw. Dont know that steve reid album but i look forward to hearing it

Oh man, Nova is great, I'm sure you will love it. IIRC you already know and like Rhythmatism?

i believe deej is up

come on deej post your albums! ;)

Anyone up for restarting this?

OH SHIT

getting this together. have it up soon

AG, did you ever listen to Nova?

I think so, I dont recall much about it as it was so long ago. Will listen again after deej's picks

ok shall we resume this? Figured it might help ilxor out finding stuff if so I'll take weds. Who else wants a week?

i'm in!

Feb 2 - Algerian Goalkeeper
Feb 9 - Ilxor

Who else wants a shot? deej can have a go when he is unbanned if he still wants to

shakey? tuomas? ilx jazz crew?

okay wait deej and whiney are both banned now? someone explain this to me

but sure I'll take a week

also it's March now fyi

they were 51'd a few weeks ago

oh yeah

March 2 - Algerian Goalkeeper
March 9 - Ilxor
March 16 - Shakey Mo

did they have an img bomb war or something

Infact this is better

March 2 - Shakey Mo
March 9 - Ilxor
March 16 - Algerian Goalkeeper

you have a couple of days to select picks. email me and I'll get you spotify links (i only have your old email the one you never use i forget your proper one)

they have a beef thats been going on over ilx threads and they picked up 51 sb's. it just so happened they got it at the same time. dont think it was anything major. they must be due back v soon

you alright with this weeks picks?

I think ice cr?m has volunteered via pm. I didn't get your email to reply to. I'll send you those spotify links when it's your go. I will put you in before me.

March 2 - Shakey Mo
March 9 - Ilxor
March 16 - ice cr?m
March 23 - Algerian Goalie

hey goalkeeper- can u plz bump me toward the bottom of the list as it fills up? thx

ok
ice cr?m you want to swap places with ilxor?

i wouldn't mind a crack at this

Awesome, you're in!

March 2 - Shakey Mo
March 9 - Ilxor
March 16 - ice cr?m
March 23 - Ride
March 30 Algerian Goalie

switch spots w/ me AG

not if you have measles

I'll give it a shot...but I'm very much a jazz noob/novice. If that disqualifies me, I'll just happily join in the listening/following.

no way-- we're in the same boat!

ok it seems ice cr?m didnt volunteer it was just shaky webmailing me WITHOUT LEAVING AN EMAIL TO REPLY TO

March 2 - Shakey Mo
March 9 - Ilxor
March 16 - Algerian Goalie
March 23 - Ride
March 30 - xtian DC

ilxor youre staying there unless 1 of the other 2 want to swap with you!

webmail tuomas, im sure he will want a shot.

shakey you should post your albums tonight, will be weds here by then anyway.

my week's pics:

http://www.amiright.com/album-covers/images/album-Donald-Byrd-A-New-Perspective.jpg
Donald Byrd - A New Perspective

http://www.soundstagedirect.com/media/art_ensemble_chicago_message_folks.jpg
Art Ensemble of Chicago - Message to Our Folks

You could argue that both of these are worth picking up just for the iconic covers alone. They are roughly a decade apart, and both diverge rather widely from traditional jazz structures, albeit in completely different ways. A New Perspective is unlike anything else I've heard in Byrd's catalog and, tbh, I can't really think of any other jazz album quite like it. The emphasis is on the vocal ensemble arrangements, which marry trad gospel harmonizing with much looser jazz melodies and phrasing, and is gorgeous, tightly arranged, and beautifully slick from front to back. Possibly my favorite Byrd album. Message to Our Folks, on the other hand, goes in the opposite direction, and reflects AEC's penchant for wide-ranging genre explorations - going from field hollers to African percussion to free jazz skronk to blues grooves to elegiac soloing and back again. A lot of it seems of a piece with Can's various "ethnological forgery series", except that these are black American guys in Paris, rather than German hippies fantasizing about Africa/Asia/S. America.

lol sorry I am bad at following rules

(eh I guess the albums are only 6-7 years apart fwiw)

you were supposed to email me so i can provide spotify links

Donald Byrd - A New Perspective
http://open.spotify.com/album/2ZXECfiklUdtYcDZTU6jOF

Art Ensemble of Chicago - Message to Our Folks
http://open.spotify.com/album/5XvmZV63Y8OPDbD2cS0mXU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5ujEFsaInk

Heard much about A New Perspective...and had it in my hands the last time I was in the shop. Next time I'll be leaving with it.

BTW, for us non-UK, spotifyless folks, I've found that just about record can be at the very least be sample via youtube.

Best track off that great album IMO. Good picks, thanks.

btw the reason I ever even heard of the Byrd album in the first place:

http://mykec.net/mykec/images/mly/tone_loc__loced_after_dark.jpg

Didn't participate in the last one but am interested in a week this time. Still okay to post, uh, non-spotify links?

Agreed on Cristo, it's sublime.

you want to swap with ilxor then?
xp

Okay, I'll hit it on March 9.

wooo!

March 2 - Shakey Mo
March 9 - Doug Watson
March 16 - Algerian Goalie
March 23 - Ride
March 30 - xtian DC
April 6 - ilxor

Okay, here are some free fusion gems from the less obvious decades (read, I avoided anything from the 70s.)

Pinski Zoo - Introduce Me To The Doctor (Despatch, 1981)
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/8854/00introducemetothedocto.jpg
Not a Spotify link
The debut disc of this frenzied post-punk jazz outfit from the UK. Fronted by reed player Jan Kopinski and-- for this album at least-- keyboardist Steve Iliffe. Kinda like if Rip Rig & Panic had eschewed the vocals and had developed under the tutelage of Ornette Coleman rather than Don Cherry.

Corporate Art - Corporate Art (JMT, 1991)
http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7403/00corporateart.jpg
Not a Spotify link
A sort of supergroup that happily manages to deliver on expectations. Bobby Previte, Gary Thomas, Christy Doran and Mark Helias recorded this one-off session that blends angular jazz rock with the funky tensions of M-Base. Doran really shines here, with a style that reminds a bit of John McLaughlin's more soulful comping (Miles' "Right Off", Joe Farrell's "Follow Your Heart")

Date Course Pentagon Royal Garden - Report From Iron Mountain (P-Vine, 2001)
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/3597/00reportfromironmountai.jpg
Not a Spotify link
Don't know that much about this Japanese ensemble. There's some involvement by Otomo Yoshide and it's led by Naruyoshi Kikuchi, who may be related to keyboardist Masabumi Kikuchi (whose "Circle/Line" is covered here.) Actually, the whole affair pursues that digitized free funk filter that Masabumi stretched over Miles' apocalyptic funk concept. For more reading, Sonic Asymmetry has a very worthy read here.

lol never heard of any of this!

Hopefully that's a good thing?