Third Stream Edition:
Post your favorite classical-jazz crossovers.
Also, general jazzy discussion:
>What have you been listening to lately?
>What did you think?
>JAOTYSF?
>Complaints about how hard /jazz/ is gonna dismiss the new Kamasi EP?youtube.com
>etc.
what do you think of midori's style of jazz fusion thanks
just came back from seeing Tigran Hamasyan live (pic related), so I've been listening to his An Ancient Observer lately - it's pleasant, but could use more stylistic variation
no solid pick for JAOYTSF, but I've been liking:
Olli Hirvonen - New Helsinki
Tomasz Stanko - December Avenue
Craig Taborn - Daylight Ghosts
Phronesis - The Behemoth
OK:KO - Land E.
Miguel Zenon - Tipico
David Binney - The Time Verses
Michael Attias Quartet - Nerve Dance
Bump
Love the strings and solos in this. Anyone know any more like this?
Also, I'm stoked for Kamasi's new album. "Truth" reminded me of Pharoah Sanders' 'Journey To The One'. I hope Kamasi screams more.
So jelly. Atmospheres was a damn strong contender for my aoty last year. Did he have anyone doing the live samples with him?
Strong choices for aotysf btw. Have you heard the new Chris Potter?
More horny than stringy, but you should check out Chris' big band stuff on pic related too. He's a hella creative arranger.
I've been listening to Chris Potter's The Dreamer is the Dream recently. Thanks to the user who shared it.
oh yeah, the new Potter is good as well!
it was a solo performance, he played a bit of synth to start with (in the picture) leaving a loop behind for a few minutes when he moved to piano, then later on during The Cave of Rebirth he played some percussion samples from his iphone, but that was all the electronics
>percussion samples from his iphone
Tres moderne.
I hope he puts something out this year. He's well one of the most interesting guys working atm.
any favorites from this year? pic related for me so far.
An Ancient Observer just came out at the end of March on Nonesuch
Did someone say Third Stream?
Link?
i'm a spotify pleb
fair enough
I want to like Kamasi's The Epic but it's mixed and mastered like a modern hip-hop record and I find that very distracting. It's also exceedingly long.
and it has 0 good solos...
My God tho, the head on Miss Understanding is fucking insane. I want Kamasi's drummer to get on a proper jazz album.
youtube.com
i mean i believe all the musicians are talented. it just doesn't feel like a jazz album to me in the same way that Thundercat doesn't
>i mean i believe all the musicians are talented
I don't. I think maybe 3 of them are talented. The rest are adequate-bad.
>it just doesn't feel like a jazz album to me in the same way that Thundercat doesn't
Most of the tracks do actually swing to some extent though. I didn't bother listening to the new Thundercat (he's by far one of the worst players on the album and the reason Miss Understanding actually works is the upright bassist) so I can't really comment, but I heard it was an R&B album.
I think it's way harsh to say there's no good solos. The sax and upright bass solos on Miss Understanding are pretty class.
Granted, often the soloists are just filling time (eg. the trumpet solo on Miss Understanding while we're talking about that track), the choir/string sections are normally corny and add little to the song,harmonically it's blase and there is a lot of superfluous time spent faffing about on repeats and sections that take too long to get where they're going.
It's deffinitely a jazz album though. That doesn't make it good or bad, but calling it an R&B album would be mischaracterizing the bulk of the marieral. It's Spiritual jazz/fusion.
you'd have to define 'bad' unless it's in the context of jazz as a whole, as in, they're probably more talented than your average musician. but if i'm being half-full and you're being half-empty on this point, i can understand that.
fair enough on miss understanding. i was def being half-empty there.
I wouldn't call it RnB either. It's like fusion but with barely any jazz and it's all rock-ish.
Do you guys post or lurk in any other music/jazz related forums/message boards/newsgroups out there?
>I want to criticize the album but i'll just paraphrase jtg's criticisms instead
I've never seen him post that before, but genuinely those are my qualms with the album. The compositions can be nice at times, but the whole package isn't that appealing.
Bump
Jazz needs more string quartets.
>muh mastering
>muh compression
>muh loudness war
literally all just a meme you idiot
good shit
Thoughts on Oliver Nelson?
>loudness war
>a meme
Enjoy your ""remasters"" that are loud at every level.
what do you guys think of this?
I enjoyed "We Insist!" a lot and his stuff with Brown, haven't heard any of his other albums.
pretty awesome. The choir adds a lot which i wouldn't have expected tee be aech.
Why is more sound per wave a bad thing, aren't they maximizing the potential?
>What have you been listening to lately?
>What did you think?
"Smithville" is the second and final recording that trumpeter Louis Smith would record for the Blue Note label. Releaased in July of 1958 on the label's 1500 series the album features label regulars Charlie Rouse on tenor, Sonny Clark on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Art Taylor on drums.
The set starts off with the title track, a slow blues that gives all the members a chance to solo. Smith and Rouse start off with fine, soulful statements, though they seldom explore beyond the familiar blues tropes one would expect. Clark's piano solo sticks even more to the realm of blues cliche, but luckily his solo is saved somewhat by Chambers' dynamic and consistently entertaining bass playing behind his solo. Chambers follows up with an excellent solo of his own before the band blows back through the head. The standard ballad "Embraceable You" serves to highlight Smith's ballad playing and his bright, full tone as he gives a fairly straight reading of the melody with a little embellishment. His solo is especially good, mixing elegant lyricism with flashes of perfectly-executed fast runs that he phrases creatively.
Smith's original "Wetu," is one of the clear highlights of the set, with the horns blazing through a tricky bebop head and then tearing into the solos. Rouse pushes the rhythm section in his solo, blowing fire, but also managing to fit in quite a few memorable melodic ideas. Smith's solo is less melodic, but no less fiery with plenty of long, blisteringly fast runs that inspire Taylor to take a more active role in the accompaniment with some busy drumming. "Later" takes a similarly beboppy approach, and though the solos aren't quite as memorable, there are still some good moments and the comping of the rhythm section is particularly good (especially Clark's comping behind Smith's solo). The standard "There Will Never Be Another You" is taken at a medium-up tempo, but the jam session approach to the head and solos doesn't yield as interesting results as the two uptempo original tunes on the album.
It's a fine example of late 50's hard bop, with the clear focus being on the soloists. Smith once again proves he is a strong and well-rounded player, though occasionally he is upstaged by Rouse's excellent solos. At times the tunes develop that almost inevitable blowing session feel, but the rhythm section's above average playing throughout the album usually manages to keep the music engaging and moving forward. It's a fine album of above average hard bop.
On this note how are the Rudy Van Gelder remasters? They're pretty much the only version of most major classic jazz releases available on streaming services or in record stores.
I'm exploring late Chet Baker, esp his SteepleChase albums. Anyone know about this era of him and if people actually like it? RYM only has a few people rating and stuff like Daybreak isn't even on there
I like those trio albums a lot, with NHOP and Doug Raney/Philip Catherine
I haven't heard any of his SteppleChase stuff, but if his earlier post comeback stuff, like on She Was Too Good to Me or Jim Hall's Concierto, are any indication, I'd imagine i's great. He really reinvented himself as an artist in a really positive way during the 70s. He became more lyrical, mature, melodically inventive and was altogether a different person from before he got his teeth knocked out.
Based on the other stuff I've heard from him, I think that late stuff is probs only rivaled by the early quartet with Mulligan.
Bump
favorite current jazz drummers?
Max Roach's ghost
Antonio Sanchez
Eric Harland
Tyshawn Sorey
Jeff Watts
Marcus Gilmore
Johnathan Blake
Ari Hoenig
Gerald Cleaver
Donald Edwards
Nasheet Waits
Airto Moreira
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Last jazz album I heard was The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery, which I loved. Why aren't there more guitar-based jazz albums nowadays?
I don't think the proportion has changed that much. Some really good albums out recently with great guitar playing include:
Rudresh Mahanthappa - Gamak
Zooid - In for a Penny In for a Pound
Jonathan Kreisberg - Shadowless
Tomasz Stanko - Dark Eyes
Mary Halvorson - Saturn Sings
Dave Holland's Aziza
John Abercrombie - Up and Coming
I'm probs missing some obvious people/albums with this list too. Point is, there's plenty of great and prolific players out there.
there are probably more nowadays than there were in 1960 when that album came out
look into Peter Bernstein, Bobby Broom, Jonathan Kreisberg, Adam Rogers, John Abercrombie, and Kurt Rosenwinkel
Oh yeah I loved Chet's Choice
and yeah his SteepleChase stuff is really good. I honestly like it way better than the early 50s stuff because he's now free to me more complex and musical than doing a simple cool jazz vocal + trumpet number
I'll check out She Was Too Good and Jim Hall's Concierto!
Yeah, it's weird in a way. Most artists who come to my mind who played cool jazz when it first became popular generally aimed pretty high compositionally in the spirit of the early pioneers like Miles. I don't think Chet Sings is a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it was selling out on the scale of On the Corner when compared with how ahead of it's time his pianoless quartet with Mulligan was.
Holy shit, I did not know Smith could write music this good.
I expected this to be a generic fusion album with strings.
Anybody listen to Roxy Coss?
>favorite 3rd stream
pic related
>lately listening
in the past 24 hours, Relaxin' and Kinda Blue by Miles. my theory class was told to listen to both and take comparative notes. overall recently
Coltrane Quartet Plays
Some Bird tunes
Zooid In for a Penny In for a Pound
everything Matt Shipp came out with this year which is like 10 records i think
Altitude- Joe Morris, William Parker, Gerald Cleaver
a bunch of Sam Rivers and Joe Henderson
>JAOTYSF
too early to tell but probably one of the recent Matt Shipp projects if i had to say something off the top of my head
>New Kamasi Track
GOD THIS GUY NEEDS A HARMONY CLASS AND AN EDITOR TO MAKE HIS SHIT SHORTER. srsly two chords with no developement for like 15 minutes...god damnit.
fuck you. keep this bullshit out of the jazz threads.
Killin. Loove londsome lover especially. abbey lincoln!
they dont bother me much so i guess i like them haha. theyre fine but i also have very little blue note records on vinyl to compare them to. Ive heard some of the steeplechase stuff but NHOP hurts my soul. chet sounds cool though.
oh man, i really dont like this record.
Gerald Cleaver is a big favorite and Tyshawn Sorey is killin. Kenny Washington is not necessarily the most adventurous or captavating but i saw him a few months ago and was kind of blown away by him live but on record its still nothing too special for me.
yeeeee
kind of seconding this guy but the only recent guitar record i can say i listen to and really enjoy is Zooid's In for a Penny In for a Pound. i know ive been shilling it but i love this album.
Hathut puts out some great records
whats hathut?
label that put out Emphasis and Flight
ooohhh yeah i like a bunch of stuff on that label but always forget the name. good cecil releases.
forgot to put my trip back on but Nuff Nuff
you can always tell them apart because their releases have the same font and style
word
>Favorite Jazz Album
>Favorite Non-Jazz Album
Go.
make another thread for this one
good idea, but it'll get snuffed quick here
bump
Just listened to the new Kamasi track.
Sounds pretty good, don't know why anybody has their panties in a bunch other than salt over the epic.
how to get better at writing about instrumental music? i know what i like and don't like but i can't explain why even a little bit
For anyone living in or going to New York City, there's a great place called the "Jazz Record Center" in Chelsea that I highly recommend you visit.
It's down at 238 West 26th Street in the old Capitol Building, which was and still is one of those pre-war (built in 1926) Georgian-style brick luxury apartment buildings.
You walk into what looks like an regular apartment building, get buzzed in, and take the elevator up to the 8th floor where there is just a record store next to residential living areas.
The original Jazz Record Center was a store was that was open in the 1940s and 1950s but shuttered soon after.
Fred Cohen, the guy who runs the current revived Jazz Record Center got his start running mail order auctions out of his apartment as an alternative to a lot of the local stores and chains that existed at the time. He opened the Jazz Record Store in '83 down on West 72nd Street in the Upper West Side before moving to West 29th in Chelsea in '87 and then finally settling in the current location in '92.
The Jazz Record Center managed to thrive when a lot of the contemporary jazz-minded record stores elsewhere in the city whose peak of operation was in the 1970s, began to die out in the 1980s and early 1990s. Part of that had to due with the store being a relatively early adapter of the CD format.
He even managed to outlast the very last of the specialty jazz shops (Village Jazz Shop closed in 2001) and the megashop music chain mainstays like HMV, Tower, Virgin, J&R. I'm not sure how much the vinyl boom of recent years has helped, but business seems to be alright. However, given the relative lack of space in the shop compared to something like Tower, customers have to be referred to the internet for certain records.
Anyway, they have a killer selection spanning the early blues/ragtime era to current releases. Mostly in the format of CDs and both LPs (not too much in the way of cassette tapes, 8-tracks, or 45s however). They stock reissues/newer boxsets and original pressings of well known releases, but also a ton of rare and out of print releases as well.
The store also has an impressive amount of books. Everything from biographies/autobiographies to history books to record collecting guides to photography collection to sheet music. There’s also back and current issues of various jazz periodicals.
Also, if you’re into physical videos, they have an additional section for a wide range of jazz performances and documentaries and such on mainly DVD and VHS (and some LaserDisc) too for very cheap.
And finally the store has a bunch of vintage memorabilia/historical items and posters and t-shirts and such.
They also still do auctions via mailing list and have an online store too.
I only had budget for music when I went by a few weeks ago, though there was some stuff that looked quite tempting. Here’s what I got:
>Sonny Rollins - The Complete Prestige Recordings boxset
>Sam Rivers - Dimensions and Extensions
>Clifford Brown - Memorial
>Wynton Marsalis Quintet - Live at the Village Vanguard (not a huge fan of Wynton and his revisionism, but I like his first records and he’s solid live -- plus it was $5 for a 7 CD set)
>Gerry Mulligan & Ben Webster - Gerry Mulligan Meets Ben Webster
>Ellery Eskelin, Andrea Parkins, & Jim Black - Arcanum Moderne
>Clifford Brown & Max Roach - Brown and Roach Incorporated
It’s the only jazz-specialty shop I’ve been to in the past few years, but I was really impressed. I highly recommend it.
I'm curious as to whether or not anyone else has been there or of any record store experiences you've had of late.
Noted
They sell used records?
Yes. Many.
Anybody up for making a MEGA link with "essentials" just like /classical/?
I'd suport that.
Though we should break them down into different eras/sub genres a bit more clearly and try to avoid it being a giant list of thousands of hours of listening like /classical/'s megas
i think 5 albums per era/subgenre would be good
>/classical/ essentials mega consists of over 650 releases
What did they mean by this?
yeah, I went there on my visit to New York - walked past that place many times looking for it since there seriously is no sign form the street that there would be a record store hidden away in that building
alongside Downtown Music Gallery the best store for jazz records in NY - Jazz Record Center leans more towards classics and straight-ahead, Downtown Music Gallery in the avant-garde and experimental
I was a little disappointed in New York record stores in general, though - on that US trips I bought a lot more jazz records from Portland, OR than New York.
Yeah, most record stores in NYC seem to be of the general mainstream pop-and-rock variety.
Portland definitely has some very cool stores though for the smaller size of the city. Everyday Music, Music Millenium, Jackpot, Exiled, and Anthem are all great.
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listening to pic related right now, some tracks are good but a bit boring overall
in Portland, Vinyl Resting Place on the northeast side has a very good jazz selection - kind of far away form the other record stores, but worth the visit for a jazz fan, Crossroads on Hawthorne a couple of blocks form Jackpot also had a lot of great jazz. Also for jazz fans Mississippi Records is worth a visit because they have a large selection of Japanese audiophile-loved reissues that you don't see in Western record stores often.
Definitely a nice city for jazz record hunting.
>Japanese audiophile-loved reissues
Oh sweet. Any in particular that you recall?
anyone heard this ? pretty good imo
p good famalam
I get the impression the mega links in /classical/ are more like a dump for a bunch of shares they've had over the years rather than a concerted effort to make the essentials available.
This is a good idea tho! It'd be nice to have something useful that /jazz/ is happy with. Might type up what I think should go on there and other people can do the same and we can discuss what works better as an essential.
This is good running music, it causes both the pain to disappear and lets the mind go blank.
Been listening to Pharoah Sanders lately. All the other contemporary musicians: Coltrane, Davis, Monk simply don't compare. There's something special about him, not a note out of place. Nothing grates on my ears no matter how avant-garde he gets. It's amazing.
has anyone listen to pic related?
i think it was great, better than magnetoception
thanks, i've had no idea
forgot pic
It was relatively enjoyable.
listening to the new tigran, i like i a lot.
Just downloaded this recently too. Gonna listen later today.
Sounds good
>Zooid's In for a Penny In for a Pound.
Have you heard Liberty Ellman's last album? I bet you would like it.
What do you guys think of Jacob Collier and Snarky Puppy?
Shit goes so hard
corny. This generation's Kenny G.
Best thing to do is to read what other people have written about music that you like or dislike. Decide where you agree and disagree with them. Where you agree, note carefully what they say and how they say it. Where you disagree try to verbalized why.
This is some tight shit
you dont hear peaks anyway
youtube.com
I've been obsessing over Scott Lafaro of late. Which isn't so much a new thing for me, I periodically like to get sad and listen to lofi live recordings featuring him. Might cry to the rehearsal of My Foolish Heart on Pieces of Jade later on or something.
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