Now Spinning: The Jazz Version™ Thread

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Rudy said:
Bookending a couple of great albums by a favorite...

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This is my favorite Ponty album, hands down. Having Allan Holdsworth on guitar, and Alan Zavod on keyboards (fresh out of Maynard Ferguson's band) makes a stellar band. And most people don't realize that drummer Steve Smith went on to be Journey's drummer after this album.


Capt. Bacardi
 
Captain Bacardi said:
Speaking of Steve Smith I thought I'd put this great album on:

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Capt. Bacardi
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There was a track from one of the VI albums that one of the stations used to play all the time. Somewhere I had a promo cassette of the track also. But heck if I can think of the name of the track or which album it was from. Could have been Easier Done Than Said from 1992...
 
I'm not much of a jazz aficionado, but I did spin Pete Jolly's GIVE A DAMN today and cleaned up some ticks and pops. One of my old A&M favorites, and Nick Ceroli really swings on this one (along with Mr. Jolly, of course!).

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Harry
 
I like Cosmic Messenger as well, though it's not at the level that Enigmatic Ocean is at. Mystical Adventures is another good one.



Capt. Bacardi
 
Captain Bacardi said:
I like Cosmic Messenger as well, though it's not at the level that Enigmatic Ocean is at. Mystical Adventures is another good one.
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I have all of his titles from Upon The Wings Of Music onward, and pretty much like all of them. Tchokola is an acquired taste though.
 
Harry said:
I'm not much of a jazz aficionado, but I did spin Pete Jolly's GIVE A DAMN today and cleaned up some ticks and pops. One of my old A&M favorites, and Nick Ceroli really swings on this one (along with Mr. Jolly, of course!).
Click to expand...

This is what the "real" Pete Jolly sounds like. :agree: If you listen to his trio albums from the 50s and his last few on the VSOP label in the 90s, they are in the same mold. Only the horns are overdubbed here. "Whistle While You Work" dates back to his RCA days, incidentally.

The title track is a fake live track BTW. :wink:
 
Spinning this as I'm on the laptop:

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It's similar to the studio version, largely due to "The Way Up" being a 68 minute long-form piece. If anything the performance is a bit more polished than the studio version, and the solos feel a bit looser. And I'm happy to report that the trademark striped shirt is in attendance. :D

In today's mail, a somewhat unknown ECM LP:

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The self-titled Gallery album, ECM #1206. This group featured Dave Samuels on vibes, and dates back to 1973 IIRC. Others in the shipment (which I only got for $2 each or less):

Chick Corea: Septet
Ira Stein & Russel Walder: Transit
Shadowfax: Too Far To Whisper and The Dreams of Children
Eberhard Weber: Little Movements
William Ackerman: Past Light

 
This track is from Too Far To Whisper...Shadowfax IMHO would have been a more comfortable fit for the ECM label (especially some of their more atmospheric pieces) rather than Windham Hill. "The Orangutan Gang (Strikes Back)" is another good one, more like 80s fusion (with violin and lyricon in the mix).

 
Captain Bacardi said:
Been listening to this great album again:

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Did we plan to have the same title in two posts? :laugh:

The last tune on side 1 of the Shadowfax album reminds me of Chick Corea's Elektric Band with a violin in the guest spot. My "fusion" station on Pandora plays it frequently.
 
I pulled out my Don Ellis At The Fillmore LP a little while ago. Good album to listen to while we finally get a deluge of rain.

Here's a neat clip of the Ellis band from 1968. Look at how young saxman John Klemmer looks:





Capt. Bacardi
 
That's only an inch or two from being a pompadour. :laugh: Pretty easy to hear his style, even back then. BTW, what's with the trombonist having a spastic fit there? :D

I once asked a musician who had worked with him on one of his later albums, and was told that Klemmer was "a little strange". :laugh:

While Klemmer's albums tended to shift stylistically over time, the sides he cut for Chess/Cadet were among the best. Involvement was about as straight-ahead as he'd ever get on record. Excellent album! All The Children Cried is also well regarded, and he was starting to find his own unique style. Blowin' Gold is his "electric" album; I don't think I take the right kind of drugs to fully understand the appeal of that one. :D His was also one of the more unusual solos on a Steely Dan album ("Caves of Altamira").

He is still performing--there's a vid on YouTube where he appears with a group called Oui 3:

 
Yellowjackets Classic™. I remember WJZZ playing this one. Dig the shades. :D



This was from their fifth album Four Corners, Will Kennedy's first album with the group. Ricky Lawson is a good, straight-ahead rhythmic drummer, where Kennedy adds a lot of complexity and polyrhythms to the mix.
 
I picked up a neat box set of some older J.J. Johnson albums:

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It's 8 albums on 4 CDs:

The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 1
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson Volume 2
Blue Trombone
J.J. Inc.
J Is For Jazz
The Great Kai & JJ
A Touch Of Satin
First Place

I had half of these already so I'm getting a kick out of hearing the albums I never had. Good thing to listen to while I watch the Redskins/Broncos game.



Capt. Bacardi
 
I almost bought one of those 5-CD sets of early Jean-Luc Ponty albums, hoping for better sound, but it appears they only used existing masters. Makes sense, as these sets are dirt cheap--they would likely not go to the expense for catalog releases like these.

I do want to pick up that Columbia Brubeck set before the price goes astronomical.
 
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