Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

Charles Lloyd, who mostly leaves me cold, has a new album coming out March 12. The first single is a version of Ornette Coleman's "Ramblin'," one of my favorite OC tunes because Change of the Century was the first album of his I heard and it cracked my head wide open. And this version, with Bill Frisell on guitar, is surprisingly hot. So now I think I might have to hear the whole record.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGVIrck0pNI

Cool, I'll check out in due course. Last year's 8: Kindred Spirits was solid, albeit overlong.

As I say, I'm not a big fan, but his Blue Note albums have generally been better than his ECM albums were.

a new Trio Tapestry album (Joe Lovano/Marilyn Crispell/Carmen Castladi) Garden Of Expression is out on ECM.

Lloyd always seemed to me a little bit like a so-so musician who found a way to ride the hippie train. Also not a big fan. He has his moments though.

I liked Kindred Spirit but yeah it went on

I enjoyed Lloyd's duet album with Billy Higgins, Which Way Is East? Admittedly, it's more a document of them pursuing whatever eclectic ideas cross their minds than a conventional jazz record. I never heard Lloyd's early, "hippie jazz".

The late '60s albums on Atlantic are his best work by far. (With Keith Jarrett, Cecil McBee, and Jack DeJohnette, how could they not be?)

Mentions of Lloyd remind me of my Rolling Jazz 2019 post:
Looking for Charles Lloyd on Bandcamp, found Manhattan Stories (2014), comprised of
two 1965 New York Concerts, Disc 1 recorded at Judson Hall & Disc 2 recorded at Slugs' Saloon.
A remarkable and previously unrecorded quartet featuring three jazz giants: guitarist Gábor Szabó, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Pete La Roca.
'It was a specific time and place'; Lloyd told Manhattan Stories annotator Don Heckman. 'We all felt like the boundaries were being dissolved and we could do or try anything. This is a music of freedom and wonder -- we were young and on the move.''
Which is just what the sample track, "Sweet Georgia Brown," sounds like (17' 49", but quite spritely). Especially digging the interplay of guitar and sax, bass and cymbals, also succinct solos, esp. PLR's and Szabo's---the latter bright and brittle, autumn leaves, but def not drifting. What other Szabo should I check? Used to see his LPs...
https://charleslloyd.bandcamp.com/
(That was first reposted on the Szabo thread I later found, good 'un too.)

Very much enjoying Dyads, a double bass/tenor sax (or clarinet) duo between Michael Formanek and his son, Peter. I expected a bit of a self-indulgent family affair, but it held my attention throughout its 1h12 duration.

Very much enjoying _Dyads_, a double bass/tenor sax (or clarinet) duo between Michael Formanek and his son, Peter. I expected a bit of a self-indulgent family affair, but it held my attention throughout its 1h12 duration.

Derrida interviews Coleman in 1997 (around the time of his Lincoln Center concert w orchestra, trio w Haden & Higgins. and Prime Time): they talk about "the language of the other," incl. dealing with colonialism, gender, group behavior, other kinds of determinism. incl. music as and of language---both speaking English. but orig. transcript was lost, so this is translated "back" from the French translation (wonder where the tape is. or maybe the recording was in stenography) It's not very long, is very Ornette:
https://www.ubu.com/papers/Derrida-Interviews-Coleman_1997.pdf

And this is from The New Yorker---no indication here., but print ed. said it's streaming on the Criterion Channel, I think (never seen it, thought about getting a Blu-Ray player when read that there's more footage in that format):

Ornette: Made in America
Shirley Clarke’s 1985 documentary about the crucial jazz innovator Ornette Coleman unites an impressionistic portrait with an overview of his life, work, and ideas. It also poses painful questions about a mid-career artist whose restless curiosity is yoked to the glory and burden of a public persona. The film’s collage-like composition is anchored by Coleman’s 1984 visit to his home town of Fort Worth, where he receives official tributes and performs with the city’s symphony orchestra. Dramatizations of his youth, filmed performances from the sixties onward, and discussions with him and other musicians and associates (including William Burroughs and Brion Gysin) mesh with Clarke’s diverse video manipulations and rapid-fire editing, which evoke the visions and fantasies from which Coleman’s music arises. (His discussion of an earlier plan for sexual abstinence is as chilling as it is revealing.) Clarke relates Coleman’s grandly transformative multimedia projects (including one involving satellite transmissions) to her own; his troubled effort to rehabilitate a Lower East Side building highlights the free-flowing connection between art and life.

— Richard Brody

Found the print: yeah, Criterion Channel.

It's available on DVD (Blu-Ray seems a little harder to come by) but doesn't say anything about extra footage.

Seems like the Blu-Ray supposedly had for instance an extra or longer interview with Denardo. according to whatever magazine.

Chicago Reader's Jonathan Rosenbaum had one caveat: The film's biggest limitation may be its focus on a single piece, "Skies of America," through many performances and incarnations over a seven-year period, which stretch geographically from Fort Worth and Berkeley to Morocco and Italy—a good idea in theory, but the third-stream trappings of the piece make it less than ideal for this kind of workout. Sounds even better to me!

This is mostly about Clarke's adventures in film, overall, esp The Connection, which I know only from music incl. in and associated with it, but what I've seen of and read about her other work def. has jazz appeal:
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/movies/the-shirley-clarke-project-by-milestone-films.html?pagewanted=all

Oh yeah---re her work with Ornette. wiki sez: The opening of the now-defunct Caravan of Dreams nightclub serves as a catalyst for (Made In America's) production, but Shirley Clarke had actually been working on the film for a span of over 20 years. The 1968 footage with Ornette, his young son, Denardo, and frequent collaborator Charlie Haden was filmed by Clarke for a separate film that never came to fruition.[2]

The Caravan of Dreams is a whole story in itself, incl. the associated record label; I still have some of their newsletter catalogues.

The recent book on Ornette, The Territory and the Adventure, deals quite a bit with the Caravan; the author worked there for several years.

I love Ornette and saw that film in a theatre, but unhappily I only remember some brief unfortunate animated bits where Ornette's picture bounces around the screen.

I always just listened to Mary Halvorson for the playing but after paying for Artlessly Falling and getting the booklet, I started paying attention to some of her lyrics. I'm almost shocked at how good they are (at least from my v inexpert pov) - I honestly didn't expect one of the leading guitar virtuosi of the time would also have this command of poetic imagery; it adds a whole other layer to my enjoyment of the album.

Smell of grease and mint.
Glissando female laughter.
Thirsty one spinning
tops. Gold outline of her neck,
crimped at its deepest plastic.

As cartoon backdrop:
lemon trees darkening, wish-
bones bit from a life.
Private crisis of the now.
These indolent visions, parched.

I remember her old out-rock band People (duo w/ Kevin Shea from Storm and Stress on drums) having some good lines (w/ her on vox instead of someone else singing as in Code Girl, of course)

Ha, so she can sing too!

Ha, I only just noticed that the poetic form of the text of each lyric is indicated in the bottom right of the pages - that one is a double tanka.

https://www.actmusic.com/en/Artists/Diego-Pinera/Odd-Wisdom/Odd-Wisdom-CD

I quite like this one from Uruguayan drummer Diego Pinera.

the he brings some awful vox to one of the tracks and it spoils my mood!

a good one from last year I've not seen hardly mentioned anywhere was the Anthony Pirog/Michael Formanek/Ches Smith album Pocket Poem.

Another track teased from the upcoming Pino/Mills + Gendel album, this one backed by digital tabla in slinky sevens:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nq4hSD1LvAo

I've only just realized how good Pirog is, even after having seen him perform live only once or twice.

Yeah we were digging AF over on Robert Wyatt: Classic or Dud?:

He's good on that Code Girl album--sounds old, but vivid, to lingering impression after tracks are over---and alb is all good, by far the best Halvorson set I've heard so far, maybe because she's an accompanist here, to singers and instrumental "chamber" (but non-antiseptic) jazz combo & soloists.
Seems like this might pertain:

― dow, Tuesday, 5 January 2021 19:45 (one month ago) link

i was a little cooler on the album overall, maybe it needs a few more spins to grow on me, but agree that Wyatt is fantastic on it

― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Tuesday, 5 January 2021 19:50 (one month ago) link

It's a great setting for him and he sounds perfect on it even if I am not as high on as I was the first Code Girl record, but agreed I need some more time with it

― chr1sb3singer, Tuesday, 5 January 2021 20:47 (one month ago) link

I thought Amirtha Kidambi's vocals were very strong too, think she's the main singer other than Wyatt, although tenor saxophonist Maria Grand also gets voice credit on the bandcamp page. MH writing and picking but not singing is okay by me; People was like a Portlandia take off on jazz school nerds, although as such, could be entertaining, but it goes on a while. Anyway, this one is soooo much better, and whole thing is here:
https://maryhalvorson.bandcamp.com/album/artlessly-falling

Seems like this might pertain: Oops, meant to delete that along with something that did pertain to the Wyatt thread, but not this one so much.

Oh, tbc, I listened to the whole album a lot over the last year; I think I nominated it for the ILM poll. I just finally bought it on the last Bandcamp Friday. (I already owned the previous Code Girl album.)

Yeah, I figured you were pretty well familiar with it, that was just a link and reminder for those who are always trying catch up w bandcamp, like me.

Ah, yeah, right on

Grand must be doing backing vocals e.g. on the refrain of "Mexican War Streets (Pittsburgh)". Kidambi was the only credited vocalist on the previous Code Girl and the non-Wyatt lead vocals on this album sound like the exact same voice to me.

Going back to back to this Nicholas Payton album where he plays trumpet and Rhodes simultaneously, it's really pretty stunning how un-gimmicky it is. Also just a perfect sounding record. The Tiny Desk version is really good too.

https://open.spotify.com/album/3FXM1Oj2O936SuRHSl6Oc6?si=ANh9m0kRR8id3tdjjiq9SA

Saw he has a quarantine album but haven't checked it out yet.

Ok the quarantine album is a big nope

Tipitina's tv is showing New Orleans music docs all weekend plus on Mardi Gras. James Booker, Henry Butler, and brass bands ones may appeal to some on this thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwflNeY0HPM

Is it just me or is Jakob Bro almost inaudible on his latest for ECM, Uma Elmo? I assume this was a deliberate choice on his and Manfred Eicher's part, but the end result sounds like a duo between Arve Henriksen and Jorge Rossy, which is fine but false advertisement imo.

He's there, he's just the least interesting part of each track.

Hm, I really liked Streams and his live show a couple of years ago but maybe this means I should give this one a pass?

I love both Streams and Gefion, but on this one he sounds like he's about to dissolve into wispy insignificance. Perhaps he should've fully owned up to being the ambient guy in the team and taken his non-interventionist stance even further? It's still a decent album thanks to the other two (especially Henriksen), but I won't be revisiting it very often.

It makes me chuckle how, on Force Majeure, after they play the Sanders tune, Douglas declares "the Creator has a master plan for us all" and they jump straight into the Carpenters' "Sing". Kind of sweet to imagine that the plan is for us all to sing out loud and strong.

God moves in a mysterious way, maaaan.

More docs today Sunday

The Tipitina's virtual film festival continues today on the Tipitina's tv website and youtube page with the following lineup, which starts at 11am central and then repeats at 5:30pm.
11am Buckjumping
12:07pm Anders Osborne (2020)
12:30pm All On A Mardi Gras Day
1:30pm Treme Brass Band (2006)
2pm Tuba To Cuba
3:24pm Tipitina’s.TV Exclusive: Float Houses!
3:30pm Up From The Streets: New Orleans: The City of Music
5:14pm The Wild Magnolias (2004)
5:30pm Buckjumping
6:37pm Anders Osborne (2020)
7pm All On A Mardi Gras Day
8pm Treme Brass Band (2006)
8:30pm Tuba To Cuba
9:54pm Tipitina’s.TV Exclusive: Float Houses!
10pm Up From The Streets: New Orleans: The City of Music
11:44pm The Wild Magnolias (2004)

A little surprised nothing on Milford Graves' passing here.

In any case, RIP to one of the greats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi2kQ8JtPVw

See here:

I love you Milford graves!!!

Oh, sorry!

I need to remember to actually check New Answers more often— I rely on bookmarks too much.

From Luaka Bop:

On this day we are incredibly proud to announce Promises, a new album by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and artwork by Julie Mehretu.
https://www.listentopromises.com/

Interviewed Joe Chambers today for my podcast. He has Some Shit To Say on the subject of Milford Graves, let me tell you.

Shall I start a new thread?

Yes, please!

There already is one.

Rolling Jazz Thread 2022