"Music doesn't go seasonable to me." Rolling Jazz Dm7♭5 Thread 2017

Mention of the LJCO semi-reminded me of Gil Evans' The London Orchestra, actually The British Orchestra, who took it on the road in '83---this might be best suited for later tonight, but don't sleep on it---if don't show, they're doing "Little Wing", without trying to beat Hendrix at his own game, performance-wise anyway (they catch the vibe and pass it right along: no bogarting, despite the length). With John Surman and Ray Russell soloing, Mo Foster on bass, drums uncredited on my LP of 'em and here, other horns are into it without horning in:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC6ERO815Bg

Here's the album I have---think performances of all these songs, from this set or other gigs, are currently on the 'Tube:

https://www.discogs.com/Gil-Evans-The-British-Orchestra/release/1650253

And speaking of Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, NPR's still got several of his Newport sets, starting with this one from 2010, my first DJASS experience: http://www.npr.org/2010/08/07/128982169/darcy-james-argues-secret-society-in-concert-newport-jazz-festival-2010

first and best, if my memory serves me well

Hard to imagine something less appealing to me than a big band arrangement of a song from Hendrix's worst studio album.

Have you heard the jazz tribute to The Shaggs?

Ha, I have a copy of the whole Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix album. I remember liking it well enough.

Sorry, the ones above are from the same show, but here's the intended "Little Wing": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpXtc_iWyQ0

this is my jam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ3boiQ_UZA

those swede singers should listen to gil with urszula.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU-MUzq6kqM

Oh yeah, all of that. The xpost 70s Gil that got me the most was my first, There Comes A Time, so heavy and airborne. CD greatly expanded some tracks, but/and was even better.

i'm so in love with billy harper these days. need all billy harper. 1975 billy harper tony williams gil fire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n22YMAhOqoE

yah, see there ya go don.

i'll stop now though. sorry jazzers!

man, i used to play that public theater volume so much years ago. i even had the tape for my walkman.

How do you feel about Anna Webber? Currently listening to the new (new-ish) release Binary w her "Simple Trio", and it sounds pretty solid – knotty & concise.

Allaboutjazz review:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/binary-anna-webber-skirl-records-review-by-dave-wayne.php?width=375

Legendary jazz tuba dude Howard Johnson (there was an interview with him posted in the 2016 thread) has a new album coming out in March, with his band Gravity, which apparently features four tubas. Very interested to hear that.

Sorry, the ones above are from the same show, but here's the intended "Little Wing":

― dow

i'm still a big fan of the version of little wing by mr mcfall's chamber. tasteful, non-cheesy classical crossover!

xxpost Thanks, Scott! Here's one by and with Billy Harper: short but sweet, with some change-ups along the way, not disturbing the groove but as you'll see in the liner notes quoted here, Gil's reminded of the kind of songs that exotic dancers liked ("moody"). Trevor Koehler's on this perhaps pre-LSD but not pre-pot album (he played with Insect Trust, Lou Reed etc), also xpost Howard Johnson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvHcFZtBNog

Nat Hentoff is dead at 91. Can't even count how many albums I've owned with his liner notes in 'em. Spoke to him on the phone once, too. A genuine legend.

91 is old, travel the spaceways in peace and all, but man. Nat Hentoff is just a towering figure from an age whose towering figures are almost all gone.

ran across this this morning, I assume it made the '15 rolling jazz d-bags thread but I'd missed it so here it is - Charles Simic reminiscing about Slugs', some great memories and a couple of great pics

Thanks, link please.

Just got a PDF of this book:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41I94J4WPXL.jpg

Very interested to check it out. Soul jazz, and more generally what black audiences were listening to vs. what white (and many black) critics were focusing on, is a really under-discussed subject.

Cool. Is the author the WBGO jock who I was just listening to?

Of course he is.

Also, glad my Howard Johnson interview thread spanning had such a positive outcome.

In that same spirit, I will post this old, very interesting interview with Jay Leonhart that I just came across: http://jazztimes.com/articles/18702-jay-leonhart-overdue-ovation

Feel like I should just live blog this morning's WBGO listening.

Really dug Kurt Elling's guitar player on "Norwegian Wood," John McLean.

Lea Delaria's version of "Suffragette City" featuring Janis Siegel swung so hard I could have sworn it was Peggy Lee singing.

oops on link - here you go:

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2015/07/29/sundays-at-slugs-ornette-coleman/

Thanks.

To continue the radio live blog: I never knew anything about Bobby Scott before. Very interesting to learn about.

Just realized Cyrus Chestnut is doing a solo show here this Friday in a nice small room. Not at all versed in him, but for $25 it seems like a safe bet, yes?

I saw him at Dizzy's when he was part of that Pavement project which was a mixed bag or blessing. Based on that I would definitely try to see him do his own thing in a small venue like you mention.

the latest Terrell Stafford "Forgive and Forget" is excellent.

Yeah, that is a good album. I liked his previous one, too - it was a Lee Morgan tribute, but the performances were good enough that it stood on its own and didn't just make me wish I was listening to Lee Morgan.

So apparently there's a new album out with the Matthew Shipp Trio called Piano Song. Anyone heard it?

Yeah, I've heard it; it's good. It's his final album for Thirsty Ear - Michael Bisio on bass and Newman Taylor Baker on drums, same as his last one, The Conduct of Jazz. Baker is a really swinging, conventional drummer compared to other guys he's had in the band, so the album is much less "free jazz" than a lot of his work.

I wound up skipping Winter Jazzfest entirely, but went out last night to see an excellent triple bill at the Cell Theatre in Manhattan.

First up was the James Brandon Lewis Trio (Luke Stewart on electric bass; Warren G. Crudup III on drums) with guest guitar from Anthony Pirog. They were great - funky and almost rocking at times, and Pirog was shredding all over the place.

The second group was an eight-piece ensemble that was just stacked with really good players - Rob Reddy on soprano saxophone; John Carlson on trumpet; Josh Roseman on trombone; Charlie Burnham on violin; Christopher Hoffman on cello; Marvin Sewell on guitar; Dom Richards on double bass; and Pheeroan akLaff on drums. The music was a really interesting blend of old-style jazz (it was a tribute to Sidney Bechet) and chamber music; Burnham got the best solos.

The last group was Harriet Tubman - Brandon Ross on guitar, Melvin Gibbs on bass, and JT Lewis on drums. Gibbs had some minor sound problems early on, but got it under control on the second song, and they tore it up. They play a kind of ambient, post-rockish jazz-metal; I guess I'd compare them to Blind Idiot God, with less of an emphasis on Riffs and more on creating a huge, room-filling, weather system-type sound. Their new album - their first studio recording in 15 years - comes out next month on Sunnyside. It's got Wadada Leo Smith on it, and liner notes from Greg Tate, who was at the show last night.

Very exciting report--sure hope the octet incl. Burnham makes an album (have they?), and looking fwd to the new release by Harriet Tubman, who tore it up at an otherwise sometimes tentative re-gathering of Threadgill-related line-ups on Jazz Night In America.

now THIS is electro-free jazz i can get behind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwF7uJF5YL0

Thanks Scott! Reminds me I need to check out Republic of Mars, based on (joanie loves chachi)'s rec and your response.

Another friend alerted me to the recent death of Charles "Bobo" Shaw, whom I've heard on several records, but didn't know all this:

an overview:http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/charles-bobo-shaw-1947-2017.html"> http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/charles-bobo-shaw-1947-2017.html

A pair of killer 1973 cuts from the Human Arts Ensemble:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AqJamdqkcI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJ1OFu6mRM

An excellent 1978 recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weA2duvKbZo

A 1977 record he made with Lester Bowie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bCKNL8ejak

And a glimpse of him playing with a bunch of other drummers just a few years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqltK5d8qys

I first saw Bobo play in 1973 at Studio Rivbea, Sam Rivers's loft in SoHo, with the Black Artists Group, featuring Lester's brother Joe, future leader of Defunkt. I saw him gig around town a few more times in that jazz era of huge ambition and microscopic budgets, but didn't get to know him until late in the decade. Following the coterie success of the Lounge Lizards, many avant-garde jazz players started playing funk, like for dancing: Defunkt, Luther Thomas's Dazz, Oliver Lake's Jump Up, and a bunch more that either went unrecorded or were not recorded to their best advantage... Bobo was all over that scene, which was dominated by players from St. Louis.

The main venue for these outfits was the Squat Theater on 23rd Street, run by Hungarian expats including the parents of Eszter Balint (of Stranger Than Paradise fame, among other things)....

sorry, should have posted that first link this way:
http://stljazznotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/charles-bobo-shaw-1947-2017.html

Wynton Marsalis, clueless as ever, on facebook:

In the countdown to Friday's inauguration, I find myself being asked - at least once a day - whether or not I would agree to play at the festivities, if invited.

Yesterday, while fellowshipping with a number of college-aged youngsters, both my willingness to perform, and my interest in joining a protest were called into question. "Would I perform, if asked?" "Yes," I said. "Would you protest the accepted outcome of the election?" "No," I said, and quickly followed up with, "I'll at least wait for him (or them) to actually do something that I feel should be protested against.”

Well, not expecting these answers, the young people were extremely dissatisfied and became quite agitated. The conversation quickly shifted to what constitutes “selling out” and the somewhat rhetorical questioning of whether or not selling is a natural side effect of aging. It then detoured into uniformed suspicious speculation on the Electoral College, which gave way to pure conjecture about the role of Putin in the electronic balloting process. This, predictably, boiled down to a conclusion that the election itself was not legitimate (and by deduction, that voting itself is a waste of time).

It was all so sincere and heartfelt that the veteran in me had to smile, chuckle and shake my head. "What's funny?" they asked. I replied, "When a process yields results you really don't like, that's the perfect time to endorse that process. It proves your belief in the larger agenda. And that's why, if asked, I would be happy to play. As far as protesting goes, I did that on November 8th. The election was the protest."

It got me thinking about my great uncle, born in 1883 in rural Louisiana. He was known for going to vote on every Election Day, in spite of being turned away. He was said to be so persistent that after some absurdly large number of years, he was finally allowed to cast his vote. When I asked why he would return year after year to face that humiliation, he told me, "Make people cheat you to your face, son."

Being a child of the Civil Rights Movement, I grew up knowing that activists from all walks of life courageously faced injustice head on. They even had the theme song "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round." Being present was their calling card. I think that many of the people boycotting this inauguration seem to have forgotten our democratic mandate to participate and our responsibility to be present. Now is not the time for leaders to disappear and allow the national dialogue to be shifted away from the sometimes impossible negotiations of conflicting viewpoints that are essential to the well being of our democracy.
Participation is the way to honor all of the sacrifices of our ancestors and to create the world we would like to bequeath our descendants. Let's be present.

– Wynton

I bet if Trump went electric Wynton would be out there protesting.

I think his cut-off point of all music with a right to exist is about 1963 innit? He is an absolute tool when he talks politics or music.

The first installment of Ugly Beauty, my jazz column for Stereogum, just went live. Hopefully you'll find something you like.

Cool, thanks, will check out later.

nice, i'm enjoying going through these. really like the Shipp and the Art Hirahara so far. also going to check out a lot of stuff now that i realized that all the Criss Cross records have auto-generated videos on Youtube.

(really disliked that Henry Spencer thing, but whatevs)

also it's weird to me that contemporary jazz records that are essentially based on beats are still mixed like, well, jazz records. the cymbals/overheads are super upfront with the kick & snare de-emphasized, even though they are driving the music. thinking about this while listening to that Tom Tallitsch track. the Shipp recording does a good job of avoiding this, and sounds so much better than almost everything in the column.

Richard Williams
‏ @rwilliams1947
8h8 hours ago

RIP great trombonist Roswell Rudd, 82. Going to remember him by listening to School Days, Four for Trane, New York Art Quartet, New York Eye & Ear Control, Liberation Music Orchestra (“We Shall Overcome”!), JCOA, etc. A vital figure in the ‘60s new jazz. Even if reports of his death are wrong, this seems like a good list for the weekend.

Oh and just heard this, mostly re RR's 2016 album work:
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/22/572609610/trombonist-roswell-rudd-packs-a-lot-of-wisdom-into-every-note-of-embrace

this should be right up any spiritual hat head's alley:
https://open.spotify.com/album/7CRS4CTIm4E5uUcwSoQ2pL
^^Spiritual Jazz 7: Islam

This could be called chamber jazz, but these excerpts set off little lights in my morning fog, hocketing and all (beats the Radiohead I've heard, anyway): https://www.npr.org/2017/12/28/574044466/marta-s-nchez-creates-a-truly-international-sound-with-danza-imposible

Definitely; this is what I said about it for Stereogum:

Marta Sanchez, a pianist from Spain who’s lived in New York since 2011, recorded her third album with a great band: saxophonists Roman Filiu and Jerome Sabbagh, bassist Rick Rosato, and drummer Daniel Dor. Despite being written for a traditional jazz quintet, the compositions have a weird energy that reminds me of modern classical and/or abstract electronic music. The title track, “Danza Imposible,” begins with a just slightly off horn figure over a hypnotic piano melody. When the two saxophones begin to go their separate ways, coexisting without exactly harmonizing, Sanchez, Rosato and Dor create a lurching, fractured rhythmic bed for them. Her piano style is extremely delicate, but focused at the same time; she’s got a lot of power that she holds in reserve for just the right moment.

I see it has already been noted itt that ECM is streaming - it's fantastic!!

first albums I saved were Streams by Jakob Bro (with Thomas Morgan and Joey Baron), Swept Away by Marc Johnson and Eliane Elias (with Joey Baron and Joe Lovano) and One is the Other by Billy Hart Quartet (BH, Ethan Iverson, Ben Street and Mark Turner)

Crazy story about busted water pipe at Mezzrow.