Rolling Jazz Thread 2021

This guy has great comedy chops too!

https://williamparker.bandcamp.com/album/mayan-space-station

William Parker: bass, compositions
Ava Mendoza: electric guitar
Gerald Cleaver: drums

very cool band is this and on first listen I'm very much enjoying it.

The sample track is very cool, like Parker doing noisy psych-rock.

Digging that, thanks for the tip.

Yeah, it's a good one. Mendoza's great; she did an album with Damon Smith on bass and William Hooker on drums in 2018 that I liked a lot.

Lol nice to see that Gerald Cleaver bought that album on Bandcamp.

yeah Mendoza is a great guitarist and there are a couple of her more noise type albums I liked in recent years as well.

My latest Stereogum column is up. Here's what I ultimately had to say about that new/old Alice Coltrane album:

In the late ’80s, the LA-based publisher Amok Books put out the Amok Assault Video, a compilation of racist old cartoons, news stories about cattle mutilations, footage of an animal control officer being attacked by a dog, R. Budd Dwyer’s suicide on live TV, a guy talking about the occult messaging behind She-Ra, and a lot more. It began with a segment from Eternity’s Pillar, Alice Coltrane’s public access cable TV show which she filmed at her California ashram. She wasn’t doing anything particularly bizarre; she was just discussing her beliefs and offering a metaphysical lecture to the viewer. But that was how Coltrane’s mystical/spiritual side was seen for years, by those who were aware of it at all: as a kind of weird joke for hip underground types to smirk at. These days, of course, her reputation has been thoroughly rehabilitated. Almost her entire catalog is back in print in one form or another, including the devotional music she recorded in the ’80s and ’90s and sold at the ashram and through a few New Age bookstores. Tracks from three of those releases (1987’s Divine Songs, 1990’s Infinite Chants, and 1995’s Glorious Chants) were reissued on a Luaka Bop compilation in 2017. But her first devotional release, 1982’s Turiya Sings, has always been the hardest to find. It was only ever available on cassette, except for a bootleg German CD. Which is too bad, because it’s a great record. Her synth and Wurlitzer organ are combined with harp and strings, and she sings in Sanskrit, but with a gospel-ish flavor. Now, Turiya Sings has been reissued… sort of. Coltrane’s son Ravi has found tapes of the basic tracks, before the strings and synthesizers were added, and released it. It’s nice; it has an intimate feel, like you’re in her house and she’s playing these songs just for you. Her voice is soft and maternal, and the organ swells all around. But this isn’t the finished product. After John Coltrane died, Alice released Infinity, an album on which she took recordings by his quartet and filled out the arrangements with strings, new keyboard solos, and in some cases overdubbed bass, replacing Jimmy Garrison with Charlie Haden. A lot of people bitched about the strings, but Coltrane herself responded, “‘Were you there? Did you hear [John’s] commentary and what he had to say?’ … We had a conversation about every detail; [John] was showing me how the piece could include other sounds, blends, tonalities and resonances such as strings.” Similarly, the strings and synths were key to Turiya Sings’ power, sending the music into wild otherworldly realms, and bringing it back down to earth this way feels a little like an attempt to sand down Alice Coltrane’s edges, so she can be “appreciated” instead of respected for what she was: a sonic visionary who made music in service of the divine.

https://mattmitchellkategentile.bandcamp.com/

this humungous 5-cd Snark Horse album is too fucking big! On the other hand it does sound very good though.

Herlin Riley is in town this week, should be able to catch him at least twice.

Damn, guitarist extraordinaire Mike Gamble put out this solo guitar record (attention sund4r) while recovering from a very serious accident:

https://mikegamble.bandcamp.com/album/reenvisions

As some of you know, on June 23rd I suffered from an unfortunate accident that led me to the hospital. After being diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and three fractures in my lower vertebrae I was sent home with a cocktail of painkillers, a slew of test results, and a hefty bill. Of course the entire heat-dome weekend came along and my caring and loving partner Devin was there by my side doing anything and everything to keep me alive and well. During those hot days and nights I endured amnesia, lengthy bedrest, excruciating pain, and a very small appetite. After an entire week ( that I barely recall ) I began to re-engage, remember things, and regain a semblance of life. My perspective came back and then my deepest fears settled in. Was I destined to relearn speech mannerisms? Would I still be able to play music like I could before the incident? Luckily my neurologist sent me to occupational, cognitive, and physical therapy appointments and I have been building strength and access to what could have been potentially lost.

This collection of 35 practice sessions documents the process of how uneasy it was to play everyday and proof that I could regain my ability to know my instrument with assurance, muscle memory, and untethered creative sparks flying. I feel confident that very little of my musical capacity has been diminished and my overall appreciation for anyone that has dealt with debilitating injuries that have compromised the work and artistry they love.

Halfway through, I'm liking this, although I'm a little surprised that you do, Jordan.:)

Ha, it's not fully my thing, but I love the way MG uses effects musically, and I'm a big fan of his playing from his band the InBetweens (w/Keith Jarrett's son) and from seeing him live with a few groups.

Just interviewed Pat Metheny. Fun guy to talk to. Still not remotely interested in his PMG albums, but much more inclined to explore the corners of his catalog. And he had some very interesting thoughts on Derek Bailey (they made an album together in the '90s, for those who don't know).

Picking up on a couple of the thread recommendations, that Jamie Branch album is GREAT, and the William Parker one is pretty cool.

Just interviewed Pat Metheny. Fun guy to talk to. Still not remotely interested in his PMG albums, but much more inclined to explore the corners of his catalog. And he had some very interesting thoughts on Derek Bailey (they made an album together in the '90s, for those who don't know).

Looking forward to hear/read that. I just finished this book on Metheny's ECM albums, although it contains a lot of references to later work. Even though Metheny is a perfectionist and the ECM records were done in a short time, they contain everything he did would be doing later in his career, but only with more time, budget and freedom (Metheny criticized Manfred Eicher's modus operandi quite a few times, with 'Rejoicing' as a breaking point).

Just recorded an interview with Andrew Cyrille for the next BA podcast. It'll be up next Friday.

Yeah, also interested in the Metheny interview; also - new McLaughlin?

Got to play tambourine with Herlin Riley on 'Caravan' last night, definitely a life moment
(full circle since I sat in with him at Donna's on my very first trip to New Orleans 20 years ago, and it was amazing but I had no idea what I was doing)

Riley is fantastic. I saw him play with Ahmad Jamal a couple of years ago; it was incredible.

The McLaughlin is sounding quite good on first listen. I wasn't sure he could still shred like this. I was wondering how his body still handles the physical demands of the instrument at his age and saw that he had been moving towards retirement due to arthritis but has been undergoing treatment and therapy.

By getting an injection in his hand every three months and following the advice of Dr. Joe Dispenza (the internationally known lecturer, researcher, workshop leader, author and educator), the guitarist has been rejuvenated. “Don’t ask me to undo the cap off a bottle with my right hand—I don’t have the strength for that,” he laughed. “But for playing, it’s amazing ... like nothing ever happened to me.”

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/john-mclaughlin-heads-out-on-the-road-again

Yeah, the McLaughlin album is surprisingly good.

Ben Monder joining Bad Plus??

Monder and Chris Speed, yeah. Big article here. I like Monder, I like Speed, but I think a name change might be in order at this point.

Yeah, I already thought a name change was in order when Iverson (whom I always thought of as the bandleader) was replaced. This is just not the same band at this point.

Oh, there's no piano at all now! Wow.

I never listened to the albums with Evans tbh. Are they any good?

I like them, but I was more of a fan of his than a fan of theirs to begin with. I only ever heard one of the Iverson albums, and that was a review assignment.

I agree that it's not really the band anymore, but also get the reality that this is their living, and it's tied to what they've built on that name. And I'm a lot more interested in hearing this version of the band than with another pianist, which just begs to be compared to the original trio. It'll be more fun to hear revolving versions of the Bad Plus than no Bad Plus at all (I'm down for that quartet version of 'Big Eater', that'll always be one of my faves).

I'm just concerned that Iverson could start a new Bad Plus piano trio and go on tour. Then this group would have to become Anderson King Monder Speed.

Heh, 'Ethan Iverson Plays the Music of the Bad Plus' would be pretty brutal, unless he was playing solo (which he would be perfectly within his rights to do, although it would seem a little sad). I have a harder time imagining TBP without Dave King than anyone else.

Revisiting every Miles Davis live tape from 1969 to 1975 in chronological order.
Yes, there are links.
https://theheatwarps.com/

for instance:
Miles made two visits to London’s Rainbow Theater in the latter half of 1973, both of which were documented by the band themselves using an on-stage tape recorder. Likely intended for more of a post-show critique session than any sort of official release, the tapes offer a distinctly different listening experience than our typical audience recording – the sound has an almost 3-dimensional quality, allowing you to place each instrument in the stereo field for pure sonic immersion.

And I seem to recall, from some interview, that Pete Cosey mentioned having recorded a bunch of his own tapes---maybe some of those are in here too; I haven't gotten very far.

I mentioned a couple of related things upthread, the first re my sometimes-frustrated take on Second Quintet, esp. re Shorter x Hancock:
I played one of those Legal-in-Italy CDs (from before Media Lord Berlusconi became PM), Double Image(Moon, 1989), live in Paris, 1969, and here Shorter's effective enough, switching back and forth from tenor to soprano, rattling along between Miles and Chick Corea, with Dave Holland and Tony Williams providing subway momentum...
Also:
Another formerly Legal-In-Italy set, Two Miles Live (Discarios, 19??), live in Vienna 11-05-71---boot sites usually say: Wiener Konzerthaus, Vienna (Austria)
Österreischer Rundfunk radio broadcast (B+)

Miles Davis (tpt); Gary Bartz (ss, as); Keith Jarrett (el-p, org); Michael Henderson (el-b); Ndugu Leon Chancler (d); Charles Don Alias (cga, perc); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)
Yeah, The Lost Septet, never as a full line-up, in the studio at the same time, apparently. Here. Miles draws dry ice and other smoke from the fractive frictions of wah-wah, Echoplex, pitch controls, whatevs, revealing passing patterns, aural indentations, on the inner surfaces of his glass headpiece, also for instance Jarrett's organ sustains metallic sheets which his electric piano hand taps more patterns into, while Gary B's alto and soprano go for microtones from the slaugherhaus, Henderson's bass is bruise as much as blues, drums are all around the town, in a supportive way---Disc One has a *bit* more variety, segmentation; Disc 2 grabs me by the back of neck right off and don't let go.

― dow, Thursday, March 4, 2021 6:05 PM (five months ago) bookmarkflaglink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO9tjkE-F5w

Just noticed Pi Records releases are now on Spotify.

Ethan Iverson
@ethan_iverson
·
8h
take away chord scales from jazz education and replace them with repertoire
Quote Tweet
Matt
@tiredgenerally
· Aug 22
What’s your most insane belief? Like something you *actually* support but that most people, including those inside your political circle, would find ridiculous
show this thread

Yeah, because jazz is 100 songs written between the 1920s and the 1960s. Ethan's a nice guy, but he's worse than Wynton in some ways.

Haha, I posted that to the theory thread.

There's definitely a debate to be had but "educators should spend more time on studying the repertoire and less on chordscale theory" does not add up to "jazz is 100 songs written between the 1920s and the 1960s" imo.

I don't know which is "the theory thread," but here's his follow-up:

By repertoire I mean dozens of standards played by Bird, Miles, and Trane, plus dozens of jazz compositions by Duke, Bird, Diz, Monk, Golson, Silver, Trane, [Joe Henderson] etc. Approx. 1940 through '65. The center of the mosaic.

I took it to mean that a strong sense of context should come before scales (have occasionally also seen teachers quoted as claiming that they have students learn the words first)

Although these are students who had to audition for the class, so it's a given that they have a certain level of proficiency, know some scales etc.

This is the theory thread: Rolling Music Theory Thread

He's expanded on the idea earlier here: https://ethaniverson.com/received-wisdom-jeff-goldblum-chord-scales-the-ireal-book-and-kamasi-washington/

Others with a deeper jazz bkgd can correct me but basically, chordscale theory is a specific way of teaching jazz improv based on the idea that you play certain scales over certain types of chords - it's largely meant to help people learn to play in an inside style to begin with (e.g. it is often commonly taught with those same standards) but Iverson's point is that it doesn't actually reflect the thought process of great jazz players, nor does it really get at the sound of the style it is meant to teach. His point is that analysing and studying the actual recorded material - which I think people do as well but the balance is wrong in his view - is a better way for students to learn the fundamentals of jazz improv than learning in the abstract to play the Mixolydian mode over V7 in a major key but Phrygian dominant over V7 in a minor key, etc., which is largely meant to help people play in a traditional style anyway. (Thinking that students should study the actual chorale harmonizations Bach wrote instead of learning a quasi-algorithmic set of rules for harmonization doesn't necessarily mean that one thinks that music should not progress beyond the style of Bach.) If your point is that people should be studying more modern repertoire, that's not really a defence of CST. I have a pretty strongly modern bias myself, and am far from an expert on the core repertoire he refers to, but I understand why jazz degree programmes teach "Autumn Leaves" before Ben Monder's "Echolalia". (I certainly do.)xps

Some stuff got restated in a couple of ways before I remembered to delete but the idea's there. i.e. I think the point is I should transcribe and study Joe Pass's version of "Autumn Leaves" instead of practising A Dorian - D mixolydian - G major - F# Locrian #2 - B Phrygian dominant - E Aeolian. (Something to be said for it but I also feel like CST can be useful as a way to get started.) I did try to check my knowledge of repertoire when I read the tweet by trying to sing "Blue Bossa" in the original key on the spot. My wife was trying to listen to something important and gave me an annoyed look. I did start transcribing Kenny Burrell's solo (not in the original key) afterwards so at least a half hour or so of practice came out of it.

Here’s a thread:
https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/theory/19046-jazz-theory-resources-bert-ligon-vs-jazzology-robert-rawlins.html
which links to an article:
https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.00.6.1/mto.00.6.1.rawlins.html
Feel like I must have linked both on the other thread.

I mean, Iverson did this. He's emphatically not a Marsalis/Crouch-style traditionalist:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHllxIfP2BE

Is that the “Maps” that…? I guess so.

Lots of guys who are far from hidebound moldy figs think that learning standards is important iirc.

Every jazz student should drop acid and listen to Ascension.