Rolling Jazz Thread 2019

#FirstListen: Stream The Comet is Coming's (@cometcoming) 'Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery' before it comes out March 15. https://t.co/b5qfLSNn84 pic.twitter.com/dTEyL5mfaR

— NPR Music (@nprmusic) March 7, 2019

yes!

I can't tell whether I am going to go for the gimmick or not.

The TCIC album is really good. I didn't like their stuff at first but it's grown on me quite a bit. I interviewed all three members for a feature that'll be out next week on Tidal's website.

listening to both the new vijay iyer/craig taborn + alexander hawkins piano albums today. Love the hawkins one best at the moment.

Last night on the radio: didn't catch the titles, but first a Hank Mobley septet, incl. the aforementioned Sonny Greenwich, and Lee Morgan, who wrote this theme of some sharp-edged curvature--ace of spades, cut and folded from sheet metal, at least as played---from around the same time as Mobley's employment w Miles, sounds like; maybe this is what got him hired---followed by the steady jolt of a strict funk note--jackhammer meeting great resistance, but persisting---over which layers kept tilting and shifting: this was Bill Warfield and the Hell's Kitchen Orchestra, an octet, so one more than Mobley's group, duh, but more of an expansion and flourish (yet no BS) than Mobley's meld. Only seeing one album by this Warfield crew, Mercy Mercy Mercy---good? Anybody here heard them live?

Hell's Kitchen Funk Orchestra.

Wow, really into TCIC so far. It soundss fantastic.

Yeah, sounded great on first listen.

Here's a link to my TCIC feature.

Thanks!

unperson, enjoyed your Branford interview. I met him long ago in New Orleans and it's always entertaining to hear him talk shit (actually what most struck me is his lack of snobbery about basically any kind of music).

Also, I only say this with love, but you should really change the name of the podcast to "Yeah, Yeah" ;)

Also, I only say this with love, but you should really change the name of the podcast to "Yeah, Yeah" ;)

Oh, I have definitely had this thought, trust me.

the new christian scott is so so so so so good https://christianscott.bandcamp.com/album/ancestral-recall

otm

My album of the year so far, probably.

Weirdly, it reminds me (in overall vibe rather than style per se) to Shafiq Husayn's 'Shafiq En' A-Free-Ka' (which resonance led me to learn that there is a new Shafiq album out later this week!).

Anna Webber still my aoty, but Christian Scott is definitely up there

the Scott album is astonishing

I don't love the sound of processed trumpet, it just never sounds as cool or modern as it wants to, but I do love the percussion on this record.

Makaya is playing around the corner from me tonight, I should really go, right? I'm gonna go. I'm going.

Listening to that Christian Scott album a whole bunch. Most of the percussion on this is looped, right? Is that something that’s becoming more common in jazz?

There are def loops, the whole thing is very layered and constructed in a non-jazz manner. I guess it depends on what's considered 'jazz', but I think everyone these days is more comfortable with using software and production to various degrees.

I'm listening to the last Makaya album, which I had not fully dug into before (possibly because it's 90 min!), but it is indeed great.

Very glad I went, MM blew me away even more than I expected. It was his trio with Matt Gold on guitar and Junius Paul on bass (who has an impressive collection of tights).

More solo-based than his records, but no one ever really drops out. Hugely dynamic, everything is beat-based but in a way that avoids feeling idiomatic or cliched at all. He's so amazing at this certain 12/8 flow, where every note of the triplet is voiced...that's usually an Afro-Cuban thing, and it feels like that, but there isn't a specific clave, it's always moving and shifting. Dave King is good at this too (and he's actually playing here tonight in a duo, but I'm not making that).

Voted in the Down Beat critics' poll this week - well, about half of it, anyway. They've got a million stupid categories, many of which I have no opinion on at all. "Rising Star - Flute"? How the fuck should I know. Oh, well. It's hard for me to believe Anthony Braxton isn't already in the DB Hall of Fame, so I voted for him.

Would love to go to Birdland tonight to see Gabrielle Stravelli and then the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra but don’t think I can make it.

Two bands I really like - flugelhornist John Raymond's trio Real Feels (with Gilad Hekselman on guitar and Colin Stranahan on drums) and pianist Aaron Parks' Little, Big (with guitarist Greg Tuohey, bassist David Ginyard, and drummer Tommy Crane) are playing a co-headlining show at Rockwood Music Hall on Friday night. Looking forward to that.

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/15517942371680

frisell and morgan, another record from the village vanguard date that produced an earlier record, playing monk and james bond themes

sounds beautiful, the resonance of frisell's chords is amazing

the strange duality of despising Bond movies with every atom of my body but always being blown away by renditions of You Only Live Twice!

well John Barry was always the most defensible part of that franchise

I always quite have quite a strong emotional response to renditions of JB. There was a Midnight Cowboy break on a techno album from last year that did the same, despite being nothing special tbh!

I interviewed Dwight Trible for Bandcamp. Lots of people are hearing him on Kamasi Washington's albums, but he's done a lot more than that.

The new Joshua Abrams is rather lovely. He's playing his guimbri a fair bit and the overall method is one of slow build and gradual spreading tones.

I went to Jazz Alley in Seattle a couple weekends ago to see the Joey DeFrancesco Trio (Billy Hart and Troy Roberts, amazing) with special guest Pharaoh Sanders, touring their current album In The Key Of The Universe. On arriving we learned that Sanders had fallen at home and broken his hip, such a disappointment, I hadn't seen him perform since the mid-80s. Instead they had flown in Gary Bartz at short notice to sub in, and he was vital, charming and inspired. The album is really fine, especially on the tracks featuring Sanders that are its centrepiece. These include "The Creator Has A Master Plan" in a version I may prefer to the original.

Working on McLaughlin's "Follow Your Heart" with a student today. A really satisfying tune: there's a lot there! Other than the 1970 Joe Farrell Quartet version (which feels definitive to me) and the 1971 version on My Goals Beyond, does anyone have any favourite versions?

*Was working on

Wondering if should go see Larry Goldings at the Jazz Standard

All right I decided

Report back; I reviewed his trio's latest album (favorably) but I'm not sure I need to see that music played live.

Okay will do. Truth be told I just wanted to see something tonight and that was the venue I felt like going to, haven’t been there in a while.

I didn't know he had a new record, but LG is always delightful imo

That was great. Lots of groove, lots of energy, lots of space. They are there for one more night.

Who was the band?

The trio: Goldings, Bernstein, Stewart.

Frisell/Morgan sounds really pleasant on first listen. Really enjoyed the take on "Red River Valley".

Classic!

Is the Scary Pockets collab his most recent record? Cause yeah, I'm not into them, but mostly because I can't get past Pomplamoose/Patreon guy.

Xp

Dunno. Never listened, don’t like the idea of them, but do like that bass player.

Last trio album I see is from about a year ago, Toy Tunes. Assuming that is the one Phil reviewed, unless there was a more recent one. Scary Goldings album came out a few months after that.

https://michaelgregoryjackson.bandcamp.com/album/whenufindituwillknow-michael-gregory-jackson-clarity-quartet-2019

good is this.

Just had my press tickets confirmed to see Ahmad Jamal in Princeton on May 18. He's got James Cammack on bass, Herlin Riley on drums, and Manolo Badrena on percussion, which I believe is the band from his most recent album, Marseille (which rules). So excited about this.

Listened to Toy Tunes and Music from the Front Room today, both delightful.

That should be great, Herlin especially!