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| Author |
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| 7 new of 65 responses total. |
oddie
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response 59 of 65:
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Aug 18 04:33 UTC 2000 |
Today I went down to one of the used cd stores in Boulder, SecondSpin, and
bought four cds - three classical (Stravinsky Rite of Spring, Britten's Four
Sea Interludes, Sibelius' & Walton's respective second symphonies, among other
stuff) and one jazz - Chick Corea's "Akoustic Band," which despite the yucky
spelling is a very good cd. (I think it was mentioned in one of the responses
above, actually). It's a trio - Chick, John Patitucci on Bass, and Dave Weckl
on drums. They play six standards - the first by Coltrane, the others classic
swing tunes ("My One and Only Love," "Autumn Leaves," "Someday my Prince Will
Come," among others) - and four of Chick's own compositions, the only one of
which I recognize is "Spain." The performances were quite an eye-opener for
me: I hadn't previously realized, from listening to some of Chick Corea's
electric work (Bitches Brew, Return to Forever) what an excellent pianist he
is technically. The drummer (who even when "in the background" is as much of
an improviser as he is a beat-keeper) and bassist are also very good,
especially for their ability to keep up with Chick's unpredictable
alterations of tempo and chordal structure. His playing alternately reminds
me of Thelonious Monk (in the use of dissonances) and Bill Evans, especially
in the free-form, rubato introductions and cadenzas. It's great stuff.
I've been listening a bit more to an Eric Dolphy cd I bought some months ago,
being impressed with his playing on the Coltrane live CD mentioned some
responses above. The Dolphy cd is called _Out to Lunch_, is a quintet recording
(Dolphy on alto sax, flute and bass clarinet, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet,
Bobby Hutcherson on vibes, Richard Davis on bass, Anthony Williams on drums),
and is in a style substantially different and more difficult to listen to.
When I first heard it I found it random-sounding and annoying, so I put it
away for a bit; upon listening to it again I found some of it much more
listenable. My favorite track so far is the perfectly named "Something Sweet,
Something Tender."
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scott
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response 60 of 65:
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Aug 18 13:02 UTC 2000 |
(A really really good Chick Corea CD is "3 Quartets", which is all acoustic
with sidemen like Steve Gadd and Eddie Gomez.
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oddie
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response 61 of 65:
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Aug 19 03:24 UTC 2000 |
I like Eddie Gomez' playing a lot. Thanks for the recommendation.
(you mentioned it above, resp:7, but i forgot about it. oops :)
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oddie
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response 62 of 65:
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Sep 7 04:46 UTC 2000 |
Since entering the resp. in which I mentioned the B sharp quartet, I've heard
some of their other stuff (they have a total of four cds out on a
not-for-profit label called the "MAMA foundation," if anyone's curious...)
and liked it quite a bit better. The other albums were, I thought, more varied
both in song selection and instrumentation (the pianist played a couple of
different kinds of electric keyboard, and I was somewhat surprised to discover
that I actually liked the sound of it...) and I like albums with variety. They
also had one album that opened and closed with the quartet augmented by a
spoken-word performer, great resonant voice, and although it verged on rap
or hip-hop I liked it much more than either - slower tempo, acoustic backing,
and great literate lyrics.
Anyway I just thought I should enter that in the interests of fairness. I'd
actually like to buy one of their albums now, but they're more expensive
than most as they have to be special ordered.... :(
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oddie
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response 63 of 65:
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Sep 15 04:03 UTC 2000 |
I checked out a John McLaughlin cd from the library last week (was somewhat
surprised to see that a nominally checked in cd actually *was* on
the shelves ;). It's entitled "The Promise," has a different group of
musicians with John on each track, and I'm somewhat disappointed with it. The
first two tracks were great, the first a tuneful duet with Jeff Beck on the
MJQ's "Django," the second a tribute to Thelonious Monk with just Hammond
organ and drums backing. Then there was a piece on which JM overdubs both
synthesizers and acoustic guitar, a bit overdone and muzak-y for my taste.
Then came "No Return," a stunningly tasteless jazz-techno mess which I
couldn't listen to for my than about ten seconds on second hearing. Tracks
5 and 6 I couldn't hear because they were too scratched up (library cds...)
though I suspect 5 was probably good since it was with Al di Meola and Paco de
Lucia and I liked the "Guitar Trio" cd. Track 7 is a Shakti-ish tune, I
liked it well enough but I don't think the electric guitar blends very well
with the rest of the ensemble. Then there was a minute-long snippet of a wild
jam session with Sting on bass and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, wish they'd put
more of it on. A pointless 30-second long snippet of electronica and something
with David Sanborn on sax which I found annoyingly smooth and cloying follow.
The album closes with a wonderful wonderful piece, "The Peacocks" (forgot the
composer's name), played by JM, another acoustic guitarist, and an acoustic
bass guitarist (I never knew there were such things...).
It would have a made a good EP, minus the awful stuff.
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oddie
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response 64 of 65:
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May 2 20:47 UTC 2001 |
I got another Miles Davis fusion album, _In a Silent Way_. THis came out in
68 or 69 IIRC, the album just before Bitches Brew. It might be described as
a "lighter" version of _Bitches Brew_. There is only one bassist (Dave
Holland if I recall, playing acoustic) and one drummer (Tony Williams) who
stays in the background almost entirely, so it is both much less aggressive
and more "loose" than on the later album. In a lot of ways the album is like
_Kind of Blue_ on electric instruments. The solos are even longer and less
"shaped" than on _Kind of Blue_, and annoyed me a bit at first (with the
exception of Wayne Shorter's), but after several listenings they "make
sense."
The second track is both longer (almost 18 minutes) and more interesting
than the first...it opens with some lovely major-key noodling by John
McLaughlin and one of the pianists over a bass drone, after which Shorter
and Miles repeat a lyrical, folky melody. The main section consists of two
repeated bass lines, one very austere and the other reminiscent of "81" from
_ESP_. The soloists cue the change from the first to the second, like
"Flamenco Sketches" on _Blue_ and whatever the first track on disc 2
of _Bitches Brew_ is.
Anyway, a good album...calmer and more peaceful than _Bitches Brew_ without
being any less interesting.
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micklpkl
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response 65 of 65:
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May 22 00:03 UTC 2001 |
It might be too late to post this; if so, I'm truly sorry. I've been meaning
to write about this for a few days.
On our local public radio affiliate, hosts Paul Ray and Jay Trachtenburg are
commemorating the 75th birth anniversary of MILES DAVIS with eight hours of
Miles. On Tuesday, 22 May 2001, at 8pm CDT/9pm EDT, Paul will serve up four
hours of acoustic Miles on his show (Paul Ray's Jazz). Then again on
Wednesday, 23 May 2001, 8 Central/9 Eastern, Jay's JAZZ ETC. will feature four
hours of electric Miles.
There is a fair-quality RealAudio stream here:
http://www.utexas.edu/kut/kutradio.ram
or, I can tape it for whoever might be interested.
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