Nefertitti-Miles Davis

this time it's love-kurt elling

At work, I stream wwoz live from New Orleans. No cd can beat the variety of music they play, so I can't offer a favorite.

coltrane; kind of blue, miles davis; bitches brew, don cherry; multi culti, art ensemble of chicago; urban bushman, dizzy gillespie;bird songs, mustafa kandirali; caz roman.

any thing by Thelonious Monk

Anything recorded live by Joshua Redmond. Coltrane and Davis of course. Also this great CD that has Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan, and Al Belleto all together - a few fantastic tracks on that.
Also - for all youse in New York City, track down Jimmy Green or Wayne Escoffey playing out live somewheres.

of course monk, coltrane and davis...

just bought McCoy Tyner "Expansions" by bue note & the "kansas city" sessions of Lester Young (lester without basie)

in a silent way- davis

rollins/ gillespie- duets

red clay- freddie hubbard

joe henderson has some mean shit, too.

All the usuals, plus

Lee Morgan--Taru, Rumproller, Sidewinder
Jimmy Smith--The Sermon!, the Cat
Miles--Bitches Brew

post some net streaming link here?

John Coltrane - Blue Train/Coltrane's Sound/A Love Supreme
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (the best jazz album of all time)
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Grant Green - Am I Blue/Born to be blue(great jazz guitar)

sum 41...oh wait they arent jazz.

check this guy out Ronald Muldrow. He might be hard to find, but he's good

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue & Ascensuer Pour L'Echafaud

Charles Lloyd - live at Monterey!

got this doubble CD wich contains both the live album, called Forest flower and a studio album, called Soundtrack. Amazing stuff!

John Coltrane - "A Love Supreme", "Ascension"
Miles Davis - "Nefertiti"
Wayne Shorter - "Speak no Evil"
Peter Brötzmann - "Machine Gun"

I agree with ekims, Kind of Blue by Miles Davies is awesome.
I have the twin disc "best of Nina Simone" she rocks
Also anything by Stan Getz (best west coast jazz musician) and Theolonius Monk <- no better on the piano trust mi!

also if you can find some Edipuss Spedipuss <- sixties jazz fusion - out of this world!

cannot believe that people have attributed "Kind of Blue" to Coltrane! sure he played on it, but it's MILES man....

Keith Jarrett's Koln, Vienna, and Paris Concerts.
Herbie Mann, Live at the Village Gate
Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah-Um
Charlie Parker, Jam Session

more recently I also seem to be liking stuff from Kip Hanrahan and the American Clave label, including nuevo-tango master Astor Piazzolla

db - I agree...How could you confuse "Kind of Blue" as a Coltrane Album?

Another to add:

Cannonball Adderley - 74 Miles Away

i meant "blue train". apologies.

furthermore. album names in jazz somewhat have less significance when it comes to, who is the artist. i've yet to hear bad coltrane or alvin jones. there are also many beautiful rendetions of fellow jazz artists' work. i think jazz is the most important music since the classics. most rock musicians will agree to this also.

i agree with OA.

I also feel that if you are a musician you should be able to play it all, jazz, funk, rock, country, etc. etc. etc. The worst case is when artists fall into a particular style or genre. I feel that goes the same for architecture.

i'm with db on that herbie mann- live at the village gate.

that album is off the hook.

a-f:

given your namechecks of coltrane and brötz...
if you haven't already, check out the amazing recordings of albert ayler, especially the esp stuff: spiritual unity, bells, new york eye and ear control.

the later fmp releases by brötzmann are fantastic: three points and a mountain, the nearer the bone the sweeter the meat, no nothing, songlines (with rashied ali, coltrane's drummer on interstellar space)...
his latest recordings for okka-disk feature some of his most beautiful playing yet, amazing to see an artist of his stature evolve through the years.

while on the subject of saxophonists, i would be disingenuous not to props to and recommend ken vandermark and mats gustafsson as two of the finest younger musicians on the scene - these are indeed good times for improvised modern music. the vandermark five are redefining small group compositions and ensemble playing, and mats is the most innovative soloist of our generation.

billy- those sound great...any links to something we can hear?

As for the classics, I'll definitely agree with Blue Train, Love Supreme and pretty much anything by Coltrane.

Also, I really enjoy Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus,
Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else,
and Chick Corea's Now He Sings Now He Sobs

wow FlowB, I had to look so hard for that album that I was sure no one else in current circulation liked it as much as me (--it was the first jazz album I remember my mom playing; that and Mark Murphy). Nice to know someone else out there appreciates wicked-ass jazz-flute playing!

now, tman: are you suggesting that because Miles never went country we shouldn't give a damn? I'm all for "range" (and certainly Miles showed more than most) but there is something (also) to be said for doing something (and perhaps a few other related things) really well. I suppose you're dismissing Gehry as doing "swoopy stuff," and H&dM as "minimalists" ??? There is something (quite a bit really) to be said for inventing and being the absolute best at what you do. Though I guess from your unending list of mediocrity on another post, you're more a middle-of-the-road/quantity-over-quality kinda person.

Marc Pittsley -

the latest vandermark 5 lp 'elements of surpise - excercises in style' may be heard in it's entirety via quicktime at http://kenvandermark.com, as well as excerpts from other recordings

snippets of the rest seem to be scattered about the epitonic, artist direct, and okka-disk websites -- though you can get half of of peter brötzmann's brilliant 'nipples', and some amazing stuff (whole tunes) from rova, schlippenbach quartet, and mount everest trio from epitonic in both mp3 and wma

also worth visiting are the archives of bethany ryker's show on wfmu, which covers the noisy sonic waterfront from stockhausen to cecil taylor to the stooges:
http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/HP

sloppy, sorry

Coltrane - Blue train

Booker Erwin - All his 'Books' albums

Miles - Kind of Blue

Charles Mingus-The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

I'm very much into jazz that pulls elements from other genres such as soul, R&B, and Blues...

A great example:

Les McCann and Eddie Harris - Swiss Movement (Live at the Montreux Jazz Festival)

The performance of "Compared to What" can't be described, only heard...."God Damn it!"

billy:
Yes, I've heard some Ayler and really enjoy it, although I'm completely blown away by all Coltrane's late "spiritual" stuff: "Transition", "Stellar Regions", "Crescent", "Ascension" etc. But I read that some hard-to-find stuff by Ayler has been rereleased, maybe it's time to have a closer look.

Brötzmann was thrown in as a little provocation, but I saw him recently in a duet with Keiji Haino which was excellent. It's true that he's become more and more interesting as an improvisor over the years. I also enjoy Gustafsson - especially in scandinavian all-star band "The Thing" which I also saw live with Joe McPhee in Stockholm - incredible! Some other nice contemporary impro-stuff: Paul Bley's "Not two, not one", Otomo Yoshihide's New Jazz Quintet's "Flutter", Derek Bailey's "Ballads".

Hey, a-f, do you like any of the more sort of icy jazz hybrids that are coming out of Scandinavia right now? I'm thinking of artists on Rune Grammofon, especially Supersilent. If you don't know them, I really recommend checking them out immediately. Their earlier stuff is the most "free" and noisy, but I'm especially fond of their slow-burning, glacial recent output. Their drummer also plays, oddly enough, in the Tord Gustavson trio, which released a totally non-challenging (but nice enough) Bill Evans-influenced album on ECM last year. I'm also on the verge of buying that Deathprod box set that was just released by RG.

Also, have you heard any of the Viennese bands that feature Martin Brandlmyer, like Radian or Trapist? Radian is more propulsive and tidy, Trapist more contemplative and improvised, but both have great albums available domestically on Thrill Jockey.

I've also (despite earlier reservations) become a big fan of the Improvised Music From Japan label, especially the "Meeting at Off-Site" discs. Have you heard much from the younger guys in the Onkyo scene, like Minamo for instance? Stylistically, they're indebted to the big names in that scene (Tetuzi Akiyama, et al.), but without the utter aversion to tonality. Cubic Music has released a comp called "Lib." last year that's a great place to start.

benji zenkoji:

Yes, I love Supersilent! Although I myself enjoy their earlier stuff more, as quite unique electronic improvisation compared to the flirtation with jazz-fusion on the recent discs (5-6). Have heard very little of Deathprod, but I'm also trying to find "Morals and Dogma". Also the harsher stuff on RG, like Jazzkammer, can be quite alright sometimes. And then there are the "happier" younger musicians of Jaga Jazzist and Lars Horntveth, sometimes too academic but ok.

More interesting things are coming out of Scandinavia presently, my favourite being the band Tape, which sounds a bit like instrumental Gastr del Sol at their most introspective moments. Very good mix of quiet pop, jazz, and musique concrete. Have a look at the tiny Häpna label.

I'll check out your recommendations, although it's difficult to find things from Improvised Music From Japan where I live... Trapist sounds vaguely familiar. Have you heard Shoji Inaba?

This discussion is moving very far away from "Kind of Blue", but...

And that's fine, honestly. "Kind of Blue" is a masterpiece of modern music, but honestly, it's so ubiquitous, why even mention it?

I love Tape! I only have the first Tape album, which I listen to a lot, but I've been meaning to get the second one for a while now. I also picked up a collaboration on Hapna between Jonas Berthling (of Tape) and Oren Ambarchi called "My Days are Darker Than Your Nights." I'm a sucker for Ambarchi, especially his album "Suspension" on Touch (another one of my favorite labels). While interesting, "My Days..." isn't really what I was expecting: it's an extended suite of extremely metallic drones, sort of in the style of Charlemagne Palestine.

If you like Tape, I bet you'd also really like Minamo. Theirs is a very similar sound, although Minamo are focused more on delicate, barely-there electronic tones and rippling guitars (though they have a few tracks where woodwinds are put to haunting use). I recommend their album "Beautiful," on the Apestaartje label, based in Brooklyn. Check their website: staartje.com. There's also a great limited edition CD of two of live Minamo performances in Japan, for sale through apestaartje's online shop. It's called "Shrine/Nest."

I don't know Shoji Inaba. What does he play?

Where are you located? You can the Deathprod box from aquariusrecords.org, a great online resource based in San Francisco, if you've never checked it out. Tons of online sound samples and a consistently interesting crop of new releases every other week.

benji zenkoji:

I'm writing down all your recommendations! Thanks a lot. Shuji Inaba is a Japanese artist who mixes spoken-word/singing with haunting guitars. What initially seems like free improvisation is actually written, harmonically dense clusters of chords.

I'm in Amsterdam, closer to Norway but with a smaller selection of record stores. Will start to order things on-line instead though. But seriously, you know more about Scandinavian music than I do (and I am Scandinavian). I'm feeling that I'm running out of recommendations here. Maybe the early trio of Sten Sandell, Mats Gustafsson and Raymond Strid: Gush? I saw them in Gothenburg years ago. We were five people in the audience. Always a sign of quality. :) Another fantastic band was cello/drums/saxophone trio Gul3 which seems to have broken up. The drummer later started the extremely lo-fi band Sheriff (also on Häpna).

The only reason to go into the jazz section of your favorite record store is that you don't yet own anything by John Zorn's Naked City.

By the way, Pete Brotzmann has nothing on his avant-offspring Caspar. His work with Massaker is fucking brilliant.

I second Stan Getz....one of the sweetest Sax tones you'll ever hear from that guy. Check out his work with Gilberto.

A great bass player / composer to hear is Christian McBride (guy is really good). He plays not only jazz, but funk and more. I think he played with Sting for a while. Seriously check out his 1995 debut album Gettin' To It.

a-f:
gush are brilliant. 'live at fasching', along with 'nothing to read' are probably my two favorite early gustafsson discs.

have you heard quintet moderne (paul lovens, paul rutherford, teppo hauta-aho, harri sjöström, phil wachsmann) - sort of an offshoot of one of cecil taylor's more recent ensembles - what little i have heard (i think all that has been released is a single-sided lp!) has been absolutely amazing.

Ornette Coleman - his stuff is aural pharmaceuticals

One of my favorites is Jim Hall's Concierto album, specifically the track Concierto de Aranjuez.

Late-night thread bumping out of complete boredom at the office on a Sunday night.

I don't really have a favorite Jazz CD per say... but no one has mentioned Yusef Lateef, Art Pepper and Archie Shepp (all saxophonists because I'm biased). And no Billie Holiday fans? I remember just walking around aimlessly around Philly one day and I saw the places John Coltrane and Billie Holiday lived here. Cool, but at the same time I have a sneaking suspicion that those years coincide with some of their drug addictions.

Random Tangent - Whats up with great jazz musicians and their link with drugs? Man if Charlie Parker lived longer...

So anyone actually play jazz? I dabbled in HS, college, and recently picked up my tenor sax again hoping to get back into it. Turns out I forgot all the scales in my head, but my fingers and ears remember them.

anything by Ornette Coleman, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Albert Aylers, Yusef Lateef, Thelonious Monk, Pharaoh Sanders as well as the usual suspects such as Coltrane and Davis.

In high school, I played in a band with Susie Ibarra

all of the following around the late 60's are good for me

lou donaldson
grant green
jimmy mcgriff
idris muhammed
lonnie smith
jimmy smith
ruben wilson

last week was Thelonious Monk -especially the songs Bemsha Swing, Misterioso, Round Midnight and Straight No Chaser-... this week is Wes Montgomery, great guitar, I got two albums to play: Movin' Wes and Tequila

strange to see the bitches brew mentions above... i really don't like that album.

philarch, years coinciding with drug addiction? how bout careers coinciding with addicition. Miles' autobiography "Miles" is a terrific insight into the jazz world. (also a great dirty book to read in high school, that your teachers will say, "my that book about jazz history is big"

also, nobody mentioning super recent additions to the jazz scene, brecker, redman, etc.

for some reason, i've put my classic jazz albums away, though i pull out one every once and a great while for one reason or another. my current "obsession" within the jazz world is stanton moore's "Flying the Koop"

(oh i played sax in HS, and when i picked up my alto 4-5 yrs after i graduated, i found i had lost all the strength in my mouth, and didn't have the motivation to go out and buy softer reeds)

I remember hearing stories about Charlie Parker shooting up between his toes... Sad lives a lot of these Jazz greats led.

Postal - Depends on the mouthpiece and the sax, but I don't think its a big deal using softer reeds, especially for jazz. 2.5 - 3 is actually pretty good for jazz.

I don't know why, but I don't necessarily find the newer jazz musicians as good. I find the late works of older musicians more fresh than some of these newer younger ones. (Kind of like the late works of Kahn compared with some of the newer architects of today)And I think the problem also is the fact that there was so much productivity with these older musicians that I would never go through them all anyway.

Charlie Parker, Miles Davies, Theolenius Monk were all heavy drug users...but in those days/as was up to very recently, to be a musician meant intense drug use

I think Thelonious had some other kind of "concentration" problems besides drugs as well... there's this documentary Straight, No Chaser which shows how he behave in airports, backstage, at hotel rooms with wife Nellie, etc.. plus a great series of live and studio performances.. highly recommended!

here's an excerpt with Monk's son talkin' about his father (I think there's the whole film splitted @ YouTube actually)