Welcome to the weekly Sup Forums jazz Blindfold Test thread. Every Friday and Saturday.
If you're new, the point of these threads is to have fun and encourage critical listening, discussion, and general enjoyment of jazz. All critical music listeners are welcome. The more participation we have, the more fun and successful these threads will be. In the interest of keeping the thread alive and bumped, any general jazz discussion is welcomed here as well.
For more information about how the threads work and listening suggestions, please refer to the pastebin: pastebin.com/UiCCG28N
THIS WEEK'S THEME: Ornette Coleman Compositions COMPILED BY: JTG
NEXT WEEK: ??? COMPILED BY: ???
If you missed last week's thread, DON'T WORRY. It's not too late. Here are the links for the mystery tracklist. Download the tracks, record your thoughts/guesses/evaluations for each one, and then come back and post them in the thread. Remember, people will be posting guesses and thoughts in this thread so don't read the thread until you have listened to the music and collected your thoughts in order to avoid spoilers. Track info for this week's tracks will be posted on Saturday, so if you see the thread is close to dying before then, give it a bump.
1. I can tell that the song is Lonely Woman. But other than that I can’t really tell what’s going on. It’s pretty cool how it seems like just a free improvisation thing but then you can start to hear the Lonely Woman theme come out of it. Not too long too. 3 stars.
2. I don’t know if I recognize this one but I can hear the Coleman influence. The trumpet player is good but it’s just not the same as Don Cherry. Same with the sax player. I do like the drumming though. This one wasn’t bad but comparing it to the Coleman quartet makes it seem not as good. Plus it was kind of too long. 2.5 stars.
3. This has to be Pat Metheny. I’ve never heard it before but I know he has some albums related to Ornette Coleman stuff. I like it. It’s different than I’ve heard Pat Metheny play before and more bluesy. Drumming is good too. 3.5 stars.
4. I’m liking this one a lot. Very free but also lots of interplay. Once again some more great drumming too. Pretty nice bass solo that I could follow. My favorite so far. 4 stars.
5. This is pretty enjoyable. The piano playing is pretty cool. It seems like it’s technical but also somehow messy in a way that seems fitting for a Coleman tribute. The drum solo wasn’t my favorite but other than that I like this one. 3.5 stars.
Jose Roberts
6. This one sounds very familiar. I actually don’t like the drumming very much on this one. Everything else is pretty good though. Especially the sax playing. 3.5 stars.
7. This seems like a pretty good representation of Ornette Coleman’s style on the piano. Maybe even better than the trio on track 5. The bass and piano are great too. I like how they start swinging when the piano player leads them into it. Great bass solo too. 4 stars.
8. Nice interplay. It reminds me of Chris Potter. I think there was another version of this same song earlier on the list. I thought at the beginning that this one would probably feel too long but it doesn’t really. I don’t know if I’d want to listen to a whole album of this though. 3.5 stars.
9. More nice sax playing. Decent piano solo too but I really like the bass playing on this one. Pretty good overall. 3.5 stars.
10. This is one I recognize too. I think it’s called Blues Connotation. The sax player reminds me of Charlie Parker. It seems more like a bebop interpretation of Coleman which is kind of different. This is good playing but it’s one of the less interesting ones from this week. It’s like they took Ornette’s style and made it into a standard jam session tune. 3 stars.
Connor King
bump
Gabriel Gonzalez
I'll be in the thread in a little bit
Gavin Taylor
>1 >But other than that I can’t really tell what’s going on It's definitely an unusual instrumentation. I'd say inspired by a famous Ornette Coleman album.
>3 >This has to be Pat Metheny. Nice
>5 >It seems like it’s technical but also somehow messy in a way that seems fitting for a Coleman tribute. Yeah I'd agree with that
>6 >This one sounds very familiar. Probably the most well-known album from this week
>8 >Nice interplay. It reminds me of Chris Potter. This track isn't Chris Potter but he does show up on another track this week
Jason Johnson
>Track 1 An abstract piece, I think it's interesting in sound but I can't really tell what's going on and enjoy it too much. >Track 2 This one has more of a Coleman sound, but it doesn't do much else with it. There's some good moments but it's still not too remarkable. >Track 3 Nice track, I'm a fan of the guitar, reminds me of Jim Hall but it's also different. The drums sound more like they could be on an Ornette record but work well with the guitar too. >Track 4 Great stuff, fast paced playing that feels very fluid throughout with great execution. Very nice bass solo. >Track 5 The piano here is very vivid, the pianist has a lot to say, very fascinating. The drum solo contrasts with the piano playing as it leaves a lot more of space and I'm not so much into it. >Track 6 Overall very groovy, guess especially because of the drums that are kinda upfront, and the vibraphone is very good. It's really enjoyable stuff. >Track 7 This is another nice piano trio with a very nice pianist, but I feel on this track the bassist and drummer do a great job too, there's great interplay in this track. >Track 8 This one has nice interplay too, really dig the saxophone playing and the piano is interesting too. >Track 9 This one's very well played, the piano feels distinct in a good way. Good stuff. >Track 10 The playing on here is very hasty, feels like something out of the Ornette! record. I like the style, the speed and energy remind me of bebop sometimes.
Juan Hughes
No guesses about artists? There are some on here that I bet you'd know.
Ethan Fisher
Overall yes, familiar sounds but nothing too clear, after black metal November I'm barely putting stuff together again I guess. Track 8 had me thinking of somebody in the style of Coltrane, who's the one I've been listening to mostly these days. It's weird. Other than that I had in mind you might put something off the Notes on Ornette record I've seen you post around, but I'm not sure (I haven't heard it) and the trio tracks didn't really sound like Bley I'm used to, which is much more sparse.
