Rolling Jazz Thread 2018

Milford Graves' legendary 1976 album Bäbi, featuring Arthur Doyle and Hugh Glover on saxes, is being reissued by the Corbett vs. Dempsey label, with bonus material from 1969. It's not up on the label's website yet, but there's an ad for it in the new issue of The Wire, which came out digitally today.

yesssssssssss

new lionel loueke album is excellent

Such great news about the Milford reissue. And supposedly CvD are also preparing a reissue of the 1966 Yale duos with Don Pullen.

Yeah, Babi has been top of my want-as-a-physical-object list since Ornette Coleman's Crisis finally got put out on disc.

Deffo hope the Pullen duos follow (there are two live albs by them? think I have a vinyl-rip of one of them), the Andrew Cyrille duo too, an affordable edition of the Japanese stuff.

And while we're at it, Alabama Feeling also

Thom Jurek's review of the "new" live album by Jakob Bro otm:

There is so much here, in terms of melodic inference as well as articulation, that the music is mesmerizing. Who needs journeyman fireworks when the creation of music from these seasoned collaborators is so utterly compelling?

it's not bebop and unperson will probably find it too subtle, but for me it's as good as music gets

trio is on tour, currently in North America, highly recommend seeing them, a meditative and life-affirming experience (dates: https://www.ecmrecords.com/artists/1435047311/jakob-bro )

Are these guys good?

https://oudxs368zzf12nb073jgnmtc-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2018/10/Karl-Str%C3%B8mme-Quintet.jpg

What sets the Karl Strømme Quintet apart from their contemporaries is the way their respect for the modern jazz tradition is mixed with references and experiences from other musical styles, giving their music a fresh and exciting edge. Inspired by the likes of Miles Davis, Kenny Wheeler and Joe Zawinul, band leader and trumpeter Karl Strømme gives the music a unique flavour with the use of an analog synthesizer which he plays in tandem with the trumpet, and in his words ’gives simpler but stronger melodic lines when improvising – like painting with a broader paintbrush’.

With a classic line-up of trumpet (flugelhorn), tenor saxophone, double bass, guitar and drums Dynalyd is an album recorded with very few overdubs, thus keeping the live sound and achieving the desired vintage feel with minimal effects. Add in the synthesizer to this natural acoustic sound, following the trumpet like a shadow, and the music is given a beautiful contrasting texture. Listening to Dynalyd there is a palpable sense of synergy within the band with Karl having worked with saxophonist Hallvard Godal for almost twenty years in a variety of bands and collaborations. Completing the quintet are guitarist Per-Arne Ferner, drummer Per Oddvar Johansen and double bassist Trygve Waldemar Fiske, all cherry picked by Karl for this project, creating an ensemble with the shared desire and willingness to push the envelope of Nordic jazz.

The title track ‘Dynalyd’ means ‘dynamic sound’ in Norwegian and represents the creative hub of Karl’s work. The song has an African type of groove with a fun and playful melody. ‘Molladalen’ is another highlight, inspired by the spectacular valley in the mountains on the west coast of Norway and consists of a sequence of different minor chords. Embellished by a constantly changing melody throughout, each soloist applies subtle changes from fragments of the original melody. With its distinct melodic change, ‘Strømme’s Mood’ is a song about different emotions, with the musicians seamlessly improvising over the two different moods which merge at the end of the piece.

All songs were composed by Karl Strømme, with the emphasis being very much on the lyrical melodies and giving each song its own unique build up and structure. The final track ‘Portør’ is a beautiful example of this approach and is built around a simple rhythmic idea with a slowly changing harmonic background. Unlike the other tracks there is no soloist which allows the whole band to wind the album down to a fitting closure as one.

Release Date: 30 November 2018
Catalogue No: TUGCD1119
Barcode: 605633011920
Label: Riverboat Records

press at worldmusic.net

no idea, but sure sounds fancy!

ace noise guitarist Brandon Seabrook not only shares his name with my favoured brand of crisps and is arguably the star player of the Chris Pitsiokos Unit, he also has a good trio album out called Convulsionaries. In places it reminds me of early Zorn projects like Spillane.

And while we're at it, Alabama Feeling also

― Ward Fowler, Wednesday, October 10, 2018 4:25 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yes

Deffo hope the Pullen duos follow (there are two live albs by them? think I have a vinyl-rip of one of them)

Yep, two volumes. The first was In Concert At Yale University, some copies of which had a hand-painted cover. Many years ago, I held one in my hand (a collector friend let me make DAT copies of much of his collection).

The second volume was Nommo, which Milford reissued (credited to "Milford Graves featuring Don Pullen") on his label in 1977.

The duo with Cyrille (Dialogue Of The Drums) is surprisingly/relatively easy to find, as '70s private-press records of this music go.

I was about to say, "Hey, wasn't Alabama Feeling reissued not too long ago?" only to realize the CD came out in 1998 and is now super expensive.

same with the 2009 german vinyl reissue

as a massive fan of the short lived brilliance of the Legendary Hasaan - I'm interested in this one.

― calzino, Tuesday, October 9, 2018 10:29 AM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there was some news about that this summer, not sure if anyone posted about it here. odean pope in an interview from june i think:

(Hasaan) did make a recording under his
own name in 1965 with me and (bassist) Art
Davis and (drummer) Khalil Madi but it was never
released. Now there’s some talk about releasing
it … they say that tape was lost in a fire but
recently somebody found the tape and it may
be released. I was contacted by Atlantic
Records about that since I’m the only living
artist from the recording session. That was the
only recording date that Hassan ever had …

http://www.jazzinsidemagazine.com/LIBERTY/JazzInsideMagazine-2018-06-WEB.pdf

!!

about him i should have said

re: private press jazz rarities, jeanne lee's "conspiracy" was just reissued this year, and superior viaduct is doing joe mcphee's "nation time" in november

Nation Time has been reissued a bunch. The 4CD box from Corbett vs. Dempsey (if you can find it) is the one to have.

it's only been reissued in the US on cd, and the UK vinyl reissue from '04 regularly sells for $80 - $100 on the secondhand market

thanks for the tip on the 4xCD tho, maybe someday i'll snag a copy if i can find it on the cheaper end

Nicholas Payton's records can be a mixed bag but I'm really enjoying this one from 2015 with him on piano/organ/Rhodes and Bill Stewart on drums (one track for every letter of the alphabet):
https://paytone.bandcamp.com/album/letters

Also went back to Milwaukee organist Mel Rhyne's records with Peter Bernstein and Kenny Washington, they're all great but this one is a classic for me:
https://open.spotify.com/album/67BqYdcwTlzN8LEpo7WBI5?si=SglFb92sSEGaA9OUea96WA

It's partially because I've been practicing for some serious gigs this weekend, but I've just been wanting to hear really good feeling swing lately.

Like this '90s Joshua Redman track with Brian Blade, even though I still never listen to the rest of the (double) record:
https://open.spotify.com/track/306RrCH33aUp4C52Q0Th36?si=9wqt2TBGTvWct1AgJebopQ

Kamasi Washington has released a video for his version of Freddie Hubbard's "Hub-Tones" that looks like a video installation in an art museum:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-e6mOTK__Y

a jazz video!

Tarfumes, belated thanks for yr v helpful post. Babi now available:

http://www.corbettvsdempsey.com/2018/10/16/album-babi/?fbclid=IwAR3o_kqVCxjpUM8p3CfFdqdyZI2Kxz0XaLy8FHq1qSwLxBUYz3VLexK2Pjs

You're welcome, and thanks for that link! I had wondered for years why Babi never got reissued on CD, either by a label, or by Milford himself. I guess missing tapes is a pretty good reason (not that that prevented a number of BYG-Actuel records from being reissued in the '00s).

I'm super duper stoked for the new Makaya McCraven

Copy of Babi ordered.

that Sam Wilkes s/t semi-ambient album is so chilled out, it's totally growing on me.

Yeah, that one's really good.

Never been impressed with Phronesis. But out trudging through the mud in the wilderness and listening to their new one and it's hitting the spot.

i didn't notice this bit about the "babi" reissue:

In 2017, Graves discovered a previously unknown tape in his archives featuring the same trio at its inception, in home recordings made seven years earlier in 1969.

which of course means that, even though i'll hold on to my cherished original, i'm going in for the cd, too

is anybody into this new record by szun waves? or the group at all? i think the music is great but i'm curious what you jazzheads think, what with all that other jazz in your ears to compare it to.

https://szunwaves.bandcamp.com/

Yeah, I wrote about it last month for Stereogum:

Szun Waves, New Hymn To Freedom (The Leaf Label)
Szun Waves are a London-based sax-synths-drums trio; this is their second album, following a self-released debut. It includes six tracks ranging between five and 12 minutes, all of them fully improvised with no edits or overdubs. The first track, “Constellation,” almost feels like a King Crimson-esque prog band doing a big introductory fanfare to a song that’ll wind up being half an hour long, in four movements. Luke Abbott’s keyboards kick things off, with a shimmering repeated figure that drummer Laurence Pike accents with perfectly timed kick drum thumps and delicately tapped cymbals; saxophonist Jack Wyllie comes in cautiously, as more and more electronic sounds are being added to the mix seemingly every moment, including some bending-metal sounds reminiscent of early-2000s Autechre. By the halfway mark, Pike is playing an almost tribal doom beat as Wyllie seems to be playing through pedals, and the synths are a skull-rattling wave of sound.

https://www.stereogum.com/2015602/ugly-beauty-the-month-in-jazz-september-2018/franchises/ugly-beauty/

This is what I was wanting to listen to tonight, thanks.

that Sam Wilkes s/t semi-ambient album is so chilled out, it's totally growing on me.
yes, it is great

So Steve Coleman is suing the woman who accused him of sexually inappropriate behavior. It's a pretty ugly deal all around, it seems to me.

Thanks for the Szun Waves recommendation - perfect tonight. (I'm on the hills above Hastings. Crowley ended up here, the mad old prick. I'm dowsing among the ruins, hunting for old blood.)

enjoying the new Chris Lightcap – Superette alb, pretty much a load of bog standard psyche-rock jams, but good - might be a bad way of summarising it! Idk, that was my first impression - but I still like it.

That one slipped past me, but it's got Nels Cline and John Medeski on it so I'll give it a listen.

Peter Brötzmann was interviewed by Red Bull Music Academy:

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

An interesting Twitter thread from trombonist/composer Jacob Garchik:

Still think it’s bizarre that we walk around with several hundred Tin Pan Alley songs memorized but we don’t know the words. And no, I’m not gonna learn the words! What would be the point?

— Jacob Garchik (@JacobGarchik) October 24, 2018

Yeah, I think about that a lot (not that I have all those tunes memorized).

I think it's sort of the point of the Bad Plus, in a way.

I mean, tbf, I think a lot of jazz players DO listen to and study vocal performances of songbook tunes? And even the Real Book includes a lot of material from outside that repertoire.

I made a conscious effort to learn a lot of those old Cole Porter and Gershwin tunes so I'd recognize them in their twisted-up, mostly superior instrumental versions by jazz guys. It's made me a better jazz listener, I think. I can hear two bars of Art Pepper and know "oh, it's 'You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To.'"

Richard Davis always made us learn the lyrics.

Did you have to sing them onto his answering machine before you could receive full credit?

i love hearing how the educational jazz sausage is made -- more deets!

Richard Davis always made us learn the lyrics.

― change display name (Jordan), Wednesday, October 24, 2018 4:53 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Larry Ridley did the same. I think there's something to it -- these were written as songs to be sung, the first instrumental performances were likely imitating or evoking vocal performance, and even later, more abstracted instrumental performances are playing with the idea of the song. And the lyrics are a big part of what dictated the vocal phrasing in the first place. Otherwise you're sort of learning variations without knowing what the original was.

That said, I think standards in general were way overemphasized when I was in music school, and too much focus on the same set of 100-200 tin pan alley songs tends to hold jazz back imo. Today I feel like maybe that's already much less true, as I hear a lot more artists that manage to pull away from the gravity of the past.

New Esperanza Spalding sounded p sweet this morning.

xp admittedly I'm a moldy old fig, but I think contemporary jazz could stand to hew a little closer to the "gravity of the past"