What jazz are you listening to right now?

[rousseau]

I heard about it on Ted Gioia's Substack Blog today. I'll have to spin my only record of Jamal's tomorrow in honour.

Gioia's blog is well worth subscribing to, btw:

The Honest Broker | Ted Gioia | Substack

A trustworthy guide to music, books, arts, media & culture by Ted Gioia. Click to read The Honest Broker, by Ted Gioia, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of readers.

tedgioia.substack.com

 

[rousseau]

Here's a selection from a decent album I picked out of Ian Carr's Encyclopedia of Jazz. From an African jazz artist, Ahmed Abdul-Malik:



I've been straying from my jazz phase earlier this year, but bought a few classics after getting a new turntable.

 

[Elixir]

Backing tracks.
I have been trying (with very limited success) to recover some of the proficiency I had with guitar thirty years ago. Been playing along with rock and blues backing tracks, but the people creating them are …
not so creative.
Most are 2-4 chord progressions with the only variation being from soft/sparse to loud/full and back to soft/sparse, and maybe a “bridge” in a relative key.
The jazz tracks tend to be slightly more adventurous - at least they use non-dominant chords like 6th, sus5, 9ths etc. and tend to mix it up - some even have dramatic bridge sections. So, even though I don’t cotton much to ritual dissonance, jazz has at least held my attention for the moment.

 

[rousseau]

For the most part jazz has kept it's grip on musical integrity, most artists who have been or are classified that way are usually trying to do something interesting with their instruments. I've been having a second major pass of the genre lately, although I've never stopped listening entirely since about 2015.

A lot of the popular music from the 90s and 00s I listened to prior to that sounds either cloying or pretentious now. But jazz usually has an authentic and interesting feel.

 

[rousseau]

I mentioned buying some classics after getting a new turntable. Here are the few I bought:







Ian Carr's Encyclopedia of Jazz had me realize that the big names were big names for a reason, they were all very talented musicians. I've hit on a few gems in his book, but for the most part you can sense a level of mastery missing in many of the albums.

So I'm becoming a little more interested in listening to the big albums again. In the past I was never a huge Coltrane fan, but A Love Supreme is a very good album.

 

[Mediancat]

I love Charles Mingus.



Rob

 

[CosmicJellyfish]

 

[CosmicJellyfish]

 

[rousseau]

 

[rousseau]

I spent some time yesterday researching more recent names and saving them to Spotify. If I'm ever going to listen to current stuff I can't rely on vinyl, because most of the time it doesn't exist.

 

[CosmicJellyfish]

 

[rousseau]

Years ago, maybe over a decade ago I overheard a musician claim that Cannonball Adderley's 'Somethin' Else' is the quintessential jazz album. Hearing that, I went out and bought it when I first got into vinyl around 2012.

Over ten years later and it's still one of the most played records in my collection, I might appreciate it even more now. Adderley had a good helping of fire in his belly, and it shows.

 

[Tharmas]

For those who never heard of Dorothy Donegan, this 15 minute clip gives a good introduction, although the sound quality is not that great. Still, you get the idea.



Here's another example, with perhaps somewhat better quality:

 

[rousseau]

I picked this record up from Discogs a few weeks ago:



It's a live show he played in Toronto in 1985, as far as I know there are no clips of it online. He plays Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, Art Tatum, a number of other tracks, and his own 'Equipoise'. I was mainly looking for the live aspect, but it turns out this is Allmusic's 'pick' for Stanley Cowell. It's a nice record.

I'm hoping to pick up a few more of his records that aren't on Spotify eventually, but some of them are on Youtube, so I've been listening that way. Musa Ancestral Streams is a nice listen:



And for @Tharmas, I know you were checking him out. If you didn't stumble on it yet, Brilliant Circles was his big work. That one is on Spotify, but I'm not seeing a Youtube version.

 

[Tharmas]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Brilliant Circles, which I haven't heard yet. Being old school (why not? I'm an old guy.) I download my music, then upload it from computer to phone so I can listen on long plane trips (I do a couple a year) or while working out. I like "MUSA: Ancestral Streams" a lot, and have it in my collection already.
Edited to add: actually, it may be hard to find the complete album for much under $50, and that's a Japanese CD.

 

[rousseau]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Brilliant Circles, which I haven't heard yet. Being old school (why not? I'm an old guy.) I download my music, then upload it from computer to phone so I can listen on long plane trips (I do a couple a year) or while working out. I like "MUSA: Ancestral Streams" a lot, and have it in my collection already.
Edited to add: actually, it may be hard to find the complete album for much under $50, and that's a Japanese CD.

Before you buy, I'd warn that Brilliant Circles is a mix of advanced bop / avante-garde, and definitely an odd sound. It's a phenomenal achievement, but you might consider signing up for the free version of Spotify and listening before you buy.

 

[Tharmas]

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out Brilliant Circles, which I haven't heard yet. Being old school (why not? I'm an old guy.) I download my music, then upload it from computer to phone so I can listen on long plane trips (I do a couple a year) or while working out. I like "MUSA: Ancestral Streams" a lot, and have it in my collection already.
Edited to add: actually, it may be hard to find the complete album for much under $50, and that's a Japanese CD.

Before you buy, I'd warn that Brilliant Circles is a mix of advanced bop / avante-garde, and definitely an odd sound. It's a phenomenal achievement, but you might consider signing up for the free version of Spotify and listening before you buy.

I didn't take your advice, but went ahead and ordered the CD without listening to anything. It was a Japanese market production, and when it came, over a month after I ordered it, it came from France. Fortunately I like it a lot. The CD case is a shrunk down version of the original record jacket, so I can read the titles and musicians etc. with a magnifying app on my phone. It turns out the CD has two bonus tracks which are alternate takes of two of the original tracks.

 

[Tharmas]

It turns out the CD has two bonus tracks which are alternate takes of two of the original tracks.

I mispoke a bit in the above. Now that I've researched a little more, the CD has a cut, "Musical Prayers," which is unique. Then the other bonus cut is an alternate take of "Brilliant Circles." The CD tracks are not labeled, which always ticks me off.

 

[rousseau]

To confuse things further, from the Wikipedia on the album:

Brilliant Circles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is a consensus among many collectors that the Black Lion CD edition, which includes one bonus track and an alternate take of the title track, was very poorly mastered (with reduced volume in the right channel, resulting in the virtual inaudibility of Tyrone Washington's woodwinds).

I've taken a look at some copies online, but noticed that the vinyl edition is missing the two tracks you mention. I'm still debating whether to buy a hard copy or let Spotify suffice.

 

[Tharmas]

To confuse things further, from the Wikipedia on the album:

Brilliant Circles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

There is a consensus among many collectors that the Black Lion CD edition, which includes one bonus track and an alternate take of the title track, was very poorly mastered (with reduced volume in the right channel, resulting in the virtual inaudibility of Tyrone Washington's woodwinds).

I've taken a look at some copies online, but noticed that the vinyl edition is missing the two tracks you mention. I'm still debating whether to buy a hard copy or let Spotify suffice.

Jeez, I'll have to listen to mine more carefully to hear the difference. Mine is a "Freedom" CD, not Black Lion. I wonder if it's remastered or just a copy of the Black Lion.

Ah, I see Freedom was a division of Black Lion. I'll have a closer listen.