Now Spinning: The Jazz Version™ Thread

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Desert island stuff here:

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Spinning the 2-LP version. Only playing it since the vinyl is noisy (it is not a good pressing--I got it free though), and I won't worry if my worn stylus does anything to it. Which at the moment, seems to be only afflicted by mistracking more than anything else.

I've been watching for a better copy of this, but it's not cheap. :sigh: It was only released in Europe. A friend of mine thankfully has a better copy of this one that plays clean, so I know they're out there.
 
Listening to a real hip LP right now. Trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, bassist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Alphonse Mouzon perfroming live:

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Great stuff!


Capt. Bacardi
 
A lot of good playing on this album, comprised of primarily Italian jazz musicians. Til Bronner makes a cameo appearance on the lead-off track on vocals and trumpet. The style on this is aligned with the melodic style of jazz from the 1960s. Some of the vocals on a couple of the tracks aren't my cup of tea, but they fit into the general mood of the album. Definitely one of the fresher things I've played this year! I am looking forward to getting the vinyl release of this album.

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Conte himself seems enamored of the 60s, especially Bossa Nova. He has compiled five albums of rather rare tracks in the "Viagem" series, featuring some interesting obscurities from Brazil up through 1970.
 
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Finding lots of good music these past couple of months. Aside from spinning the Other Directions album above (and Conte's Jet Sounds which arrived on vinyl), I "discovered" this gem just this past week even though it was released a decade ago. :laugh:

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La Perfecta was Palmieri's legendary and influential salsa group from the 1960s. Some of the arrangements here were transcribed from the original LPs, while others are new. The icing on the cake (aside from Palmieri's piano work, which is as good as it's ever been) is the jazz soloing on top of the tracks. "Elena, Elena" is my favorite from the album. The digital recording is a bit antiseptic sounding (typical Concord recording as always) but thankfully, the music is so good that it is not distracting.

http://www.amazon.com/La-Perfecta-I...sr=8-1&keywords=eddie+palmieri+la+perfecta+II
 
I found the first (self-titled) Lyle Mays album yesterday on vinyl. The "Alaska Suite" on side two is very appropriate for our weather recently--the sounds are reminiscent of the frozen tundra, the northern lights, etc. Always a pleasure to hear Lyle's piano work.

I also picked up Nat King Cole's After Midnight 180g vinyl reissue. Won't play much until the new cartridge arrives, but this date was sort of a reunion of his instrumental trio, playing jazz, after having become a pop vocal star.

On the turntable currently: "Those test tubes and the scale, just get it all out of here." :D (Found an ABC pressing of this album, if anyone can guess what it is. :wink: )
 
I mentioned this one on another forum, now I'm having to spin it! :laugh: I almost think Klemmer went electric before Miles on this album. Blowin' Gold is a bit "out there" at times. :laugh:

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Also spinning this one, his first album (on the Chess/Cadet label):

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Several months later and I still can't warm to Fagen's Sunken Condos. Comparing to the others, it just seems like the production is weak. This album rarely has any rhythmic drive to it--it's all very subdued. "Out Of The Ghetto" has to be the worst song he's ever recorded--the production is so mushy and lifeless, and cliched, that it's totally unconvincing. He needs a producer with balls next time--bring Becker back. :agree:

Even Kamakiriad is more engaging than this one.

It's not too bad of a pressing for clear vinyl.
 
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I've actually enjoyed that album quite a bit. Sure, it's no Nightfly, but what is? There are a couple of duds on it, but for the most part I like it.



Capt. Bacardi
 
I've actually enjoyed that album quite a bit. Sure, it's no Nightfly, but what is? There are a couple of duds on it, but for the most part I like it.

I can't figure out why I don't like it either--that is what's puzzling. Nightfly was a desert island disc for me, and just about all of Fagen's solo albums and every Steely Dan album (except for Everything Must Go) have been played to a pile of dust here. "Out Of The Ghetto" reminds me of some old washed-up jazzer in a nightclub, trying to be hip with the younger kids, covering a song he had no business attempting to cover. Even his live stuff with the Rock 'n' Soul Revue runs circles around some of the songs on Condos.

I still think it's the production--Leonhart is no producer. A real producer like Walter Becker could have put the spark back in it, given it some life. The songs are basically good (except for those few duds)--I think it's the execution that left me cold. Maybe it's like Rush's Vapor Trails: it could use a good remix.

With Everything Must Go, I have a similar love/hate relationship with. There are some clever songs on there as well, but the whole performance is just so perfect, so clean, it borders on being sterile. At least sonically it was good--they actually ditched the digital multitrack and went back to analog.
 
In honor of Stan Getz's birthday I've got Stan Getz & J.J. Johnson At The Opera House playing right now while the Super Bowl pre-game crap is on the tube. One of my favorite tracks is "Billie's Bounce":





Capt. Bacardi
 
With our temps plummeting into the low 30's today I picked up a couple of CDs to listen to. I have the Pepper Adams/Jimmy Knepper Quintet playing right now, from their self-titled album from 1958. Good stuff!

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Capt. Bacardi
 
Kevin Eubanks, Zen Food, on 180g vinyl. Excellent pressing, quiet and flat. RTI did a nice job on this one. One of the few titles that Mack Avenue Records has put on vinyl. I'd buy more if they offered, such as a few of Kyle Eastwood's recent recordings.
 
I picked up a double LP by trombone great Curtis Fuller called All-Star Sextets that was originally on the old Savoy label, but this is a reissue by Arista records. Great sessions!

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Capt. Bacardi
 
Been in a trombone mood lately (surprise surprise) and started listening to a couple of CDs that I haven't played in a while.

First up, Robin Eubanks with Wake Up Call:
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Then a swinging big band led by John Fedchock with On The Edge:
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Killer bone playing by all!


Capt. Bacardi
 
I just ran across a Herbie Hancock album that for some reason I had always ignored. Man, was I wrong to do that.. The album is Man-Child, which was released in 1975, after Thrust. This album is very groove-oriented in a very good way.

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I'm really digging this thing big time! It even has a horn section on a couple of tracks. Here's a track called "Steppin' In It":




Capt. Bacardi
 
My "twin bro" @JH12"fanatic has that as one of his desert island discs--it's a nice follow-up to Thrust.

Was on a Shorty Rogers kick today. All RCA, except for one from a Warner "Stereo Workshop" series which was an odd concept, but the music was good. I forgot how good Chances Are It Swings was.
 
Recent spins during "homework season":

DeJohnette/Metheny/Hancock: Parallel Realities
DeJohnette/Metheny/Hancock/Holland: Parallel Realities Live
Ralph Towner: Batik
Pat Metheny Trio -> Live
Bill Evans: Complete Village Vanguard Recordings 1961
Lyle Mays: Fictionary
Praful: One Day Deep
Kevin Eubanks: Guitarist, Opening Night, Zen Food, and Turning Point
Bob Mintzer: One Music (aka the Great Lost Yellowjackets Album)
Yellowjackets: Greenhouse
Bobby Troup: Stars of Jazz (a great all-star west coast jazz recording)

Also just announced: Metheny is artist-in-residence at the Detroit Jazz Fest this year. Four (!) appearances during the festival, including an extended work written by Metheny in tribute to Eberhard Weber (who played on Metheny's second album, Watercolors). The other gigs include a duet with bassist Ron Carter, a Metheny Quartet featuring Detroit native Kenny Garrett, and a Gary Burton Quartet reunion (Burton records for Mack Avenue Records, the driving force behind the festival). Thanks to @Brasil_66_Fan for passing along the info!
 
Getting caught up in the corner... I like this thread. I particularly enjoyed Praful!

--Mr Bill
 
Getting caught up in the corner... I like this thread. I particularly enjoyed Praful!

--Mr Bill

:thumbsup:

He's definitely putting a different spin on things. I know just hearing one or two songs, one might slap a derogatory "smooth jazz" label on him, but his influences are all over the map. His album Pyramid In Your Backyard has a few middle-eastern influences on it, whereas One Day Deep has a few Brazilian-themed flavors. I can't say his own playing is something that is a standout, but it's the way he mixes up so many different sounds and influences, and filters it through so many different moods, that keeps it all interesting. I like listening to something that changes up the formula.
 
Here a track from the Parallel Realities album I've been listening to...



Or actually, here's the entire concert with Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock and Pat Metheny. It's notable in that it only takes two tracks from the Parallel Realities album, and the rest includes a jazz standard or two (like "Solar") or a track from one of the member's albums (Hancock's "Chameleon"):

 
Jazz-wise I've been playing Herb Alpert/Hugh Masekela to death in my car lately, switching it with Herb's Warm. (When I'm angry I throw in Phil Ochs or Hazel O'Connor's "Breaking Glass" sound track)...

--Mr Bill
 
What's the connection between "Praful" and "Jack DeJohnette" other than a similar sound on many cuts? Frankly, I like both based on what I'm hearing here. I've been listening also to some Japanese smooth jazz I picked up during my tour over there, a band called "Sonia." Nothing on YouTube from them, but some of their stuff is available on Amazon (at high Japan prices, of course). Capt. B would hate the stuff, but something about it is calming to me -- a good chaser after an Ochs listening binge!

--Mr Bill
 
No connection, other than me listening to them. :D

I've had the two Jack DeJohnette Parallel Realities albums on my music server for a couple of years but never really listened to them until now. Having Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock kept these quite accessible, yet not dumbed down or worse, not obtuse to the point of being annoying. I have been calling this a "lost Pat Metheny album" in fact.

Tonight it's Kevin Eubanks, Zen Food. It's very much in the spirit of albums like Opening Night and Turning Point, which are among the better albums he's recorded. Here's the opening track, "The Dancing Sea":

 
Mike Metheny's flugelhorn is as mellow as it gets. This is a good late-night chill out track from the album Street of Dreams, called "Old Wine/New Bossa". (This is also the title of a compilation CD he released a few years ago.) The EVI is similar to the EWI--the EVI is Electric Valve Instrument, basically an electronic instrument played like a trumpet. I seem to recall him describing it as resembling a "bug sprayer" at one point. :laugh: It is featured on this track along with the flugelhorn.



http://www.mikemetheny.com (Order the CDs here and support the artist directly!)

One I need to crack open again is his first album, Blue Jay Sessions. It's the only one that's never been released on CD. He had two albums on Impulse! that were in print briefly on CD, and I was lucky to snare them back in the day.

And on that note, I leave you with this gem...



From the liner notes: "There will be those who question the inclusion of track 10. All I can say in my defense there is: (a) I come from the same gene pool that gave the world "Zero Tolerance for Silence," and (b) this was our small way of paying tribute to the great 'Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.'" Mike is credited with playing the "clarinet d'amore" on this track. :laugh:
 
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