After @robesimo posted electric Miles, I thought I'd expand a bit in that general direction. Released about two months after Davis's Bitches Brew in May 1970, the great trumpeter Freddie Hubbard released what is today usually considered not just his best album, but one of the greatest fusion albums of all time, Red Clay.
The core band is Hubbard, tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, keyboardist Herbie Hancock (on acoustic and electric pianos), bassist Ron Carter (on acoustic and electric basses), and drummer Lenny White. The title track is legendary, having become what Hubbard is known for, and the album proper is a masterpiece of soul-rock-jazz. (A CD reissue includes a take on John Lennon's "Cold Turkey," jazzmen having decades more experience dealing with kicking--and/or dying from--heroin.)
Unlike many fusion albums, Red Clay doesn't sound neutered and sexless. It's hard to imagine Kenny G lookalikes dressed in their pastel Miami Vice finest posing their keytars skyward: like some of Miles's electric output, this is funky stuff. Unlike most of Miles's electric output, it also stays truer to song forms and isn't the product of a producer/engineer splicing together interesting things to create a post hoc album.
Lovely track, with some super playing all round.
Thanks once again, Cap'n. I'll become a jazz buff yet!
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
Woaaah you actually got to see them live? I just checked the track of MO you posted earlier and damn, no matter what lineup they had it was always fire! I'm a big Jean-Luc Ponty fan, almost every project he's ever been involved with is interesting.
I used to have his King Kong album. Wonderful stuff:
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
John Coltrane's Sun Ship was probably my first "conscious" jazz listen, I didn't know basically any artist or album of the genre but this friend of mine who's a big jazz fan kept saying to me that I had to listen to it, and I did. As soon as the title track started, I was like what the hell is this sh*t? But after giving it another try I just couldn't stop listening the album, I was so intrigued by the chaos that I ended up loving it a lot.
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
I used to have his King Kong album. Wonderful stuff:
I'm a sucker for that tune anyway...
I love that album. I've always thought of it as a Zappa album as much as a Ponty album, considering they're his tunes, he arranged them, and musicians involved in many cases had come from his world. Regardless of the name on the marquee, great music.
jk (and if you're feeling informed/interested enough--I know you said you're not exactly a jazz fan [yet]--@robesimo) and anyone else who may have an opinion...
Do you have a favorite type/subgenre of jazz? Or alternatively something you really dislike?
Just curious, because with jk, I've seen anything from very traditional and somewhat formal to electric, experimental, adventurous atonal fare.
For me, the early to mid '60s seem to be where a lot of my favorites emerge: it's Miles's second great quintet, some of his other work with expanded groups around then, and a lot of music from others (many of whom worked for him) in something you might call modal jazz and post-bop. Mostly acoustic, though not only. Mostly tonal, though not only.
What about you? Dixieland, big band swing, bebop, cool, modal, free, electric, fusion...?
I was seriously put off Dixieland in the early 60's during the "Trad" boom when we were swamped with the British strain, which wasn't always pleasing on the ear (a bit too strident for my liking). I got the impression it was being pushed as the next big British-based music trend after skiffle.
Luckily it soon became clear that it wasn't popular and it faded out. Of course there were one or two exceptions (notably Chris Barber) but they had been there before it was blown up out of all proportion. These days I can appreciate the real thing.
As for likes... it's cherry-picking really. I haven't been bitten by the jazz bug (yet)!
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
As for likes... it's cherry-picking really. I haven't been bitten by the jazz bug (yet)!
This is hilarious to me considering the breadth of what I have seen you post over the past few years. I hate to imagine what you'll be like once you've been bitten... (It took every ounce of strength within me to avoid the Ian Hunter song reference.)
Hey Kap. Two weeks ago I said I still couldn't call myself a jazz fan but I'm getting closer each day. I don't think I listened to any non jazz music for the past 9 days, I'm really diving into the genre! However, I'm not listening to the most traditional stuff yet, but not due to lack of interest, it's just because there are so many albums and artists that I don't even know where to start exploring it (Please recommend me some albums!).
As for favourite subgenre, I'll have to say avant-garde, free and electric/fusion are definetly the ones I listen and enjoy the most, but there's still plenty to discover.
I think as a rule, Miles Davis is a great way to explore jazz. I say that not just because I love his music and playing--which I do, and which I do--but because he was somehow always at the center of the forefront, too. No one had better taste in composers, arrangers, and other musicians than he did. I think when you find his best albums, you can then radiate outward from them to find great things.
As for albums to recommend...Miles Smiles! Without question. I can't explain why I hold it in so much higher esteem than maybe anyone else ever, but to me it is the greatest accomplishment of his second great quintet. This band focused A LOT on improvisation, but not quite free. There were song structures, there were melodies, but there was a lot of open space with which to play.
Wayne Shorter on tenor, Herbie Hancock on piano, Tony Williams on drums, and Ron Carter on bass made for a remarkable group. Williams didn't hold down the beat the way most jazz drummers had done previously; he was all over the map. Carter served as the rhythmic and tonal center more often than not. Hancock, Shorter, and Davis each brought ridiculous intuition and education, with deep understandings of theory and also fabulous feels for different styles. This quintet had a wonderful feeling for mood. And Shorter was writing great music.
Sometimes it sounds chaotic, but it never really is.
"Footprints" is one of my favorites ever--probing, searching, prodding--but the whole album is fantastic. Here is that one. The whole album playlist is there for reference, too.
Cap'n, maybe you can help me with this. Yesterday I heard on the radio a fantastic jazz version of "We Three Kings". It had a seriously Coltrane-y feel to it. Even the drums and piano sounded a lot like Jones and Tyner. Could it have been Coltrane? I can't find a link anywhere between him and the song.
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
This is by a big band (led by Wynton Marsalis and done at Lincoln Center, no less), but the solo section definitely evokes Coltrane and his group to me. I can't imagine you'd have heard the whole thing and thought Trane, but maybe just this bit? Otherwise I'm afraid I've got no clue.
This is by a big band (led by Wynton Marsalis and done at Lincoln Center, no less), but the solo section definitely evokes Coltrane and his group to me. I can't imagine you'd have heard the whole thing and thought Trane, but maybe just this bit? Otherwise I'm afraid I've got no clue.
Start at about 2:28 for the section I mean.
I think this must have been the one. I came in on the melody just prior to the section you isolated and the ensuing quartet work must have blotted from my mind the fact that the melody had been played by a bigger ensemble.
Thank you very much, Cap'n!
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
A "newbie" at EH included among his listens for yesterday an album by Stan Kenton called City of Glass. It then struck me that this was music composed by Robert Graettinger, to whom Irwin Chusid devotes a chapter in his brilliant book on outsider music, Songs in the Key of Z. One wonders what Stan Kenton fans thought of this nightmarish stuff back in the late '40s, early '50s. Thermopylae (in the video) was the first piece Graettinger offered (in 1947) to Kenton, who decided to record it.
I was half-expecting to see Graettinger's name in the list of influences on the cover of Freak Out! Some aspects of this piece and City of Glass are decidedly Zappaesque. Other aspects are like nothing on earth.
Bob Graettinger has a face that can only be described as haunted:
"I've never liked the term 'superfan'. It smacks of elitism ... you can just have the original Sounds Of Summer and be just as big, or as passionate, a fan as the guy who's got every release from 'Surfin'' on Candix 331 on and owns Brian's bowling shoes." ~ AGD Handel French Ouvertures ~ JH The Beard of Love: A Satire
That's a classic album, City of Glass. Though I admit my familiarity with it is minimal, having only listened to it as an assignment way back when (in college). I admit I don't know anything else by Graettinger.
I have always liked Kenton, though the allegations of his racism leave a bad taste. He was somewhat forward looking musically, and seemingly obsessed with respectability and perceived sophistication in jazz, so I don't think his willingness to do that kind of music ought to be too surprising.
Ever since playing it as part of our "all-state jazz band" concert when I was in high school, I've loved the tune popularized by Kenton's band, Bill Holman's "Malaga."
I really like Evans (Bill and Gil, actually) very much. Here's one from '62 with an all-star band of sorts--Philly Joe Jones on drums; Percy Heath on bass; Freddie Hubbard on Trumpet; and Jim Hall on guitar--doing the standard "When You Wish Upon a Star."
Kapitan: "This Whole World" v "Heaven" voting is up until midnight, Sunday, March 3.
Feb 29, 2024 16:29:05 GMT
Kapitan: "Forever" v "All Summer Long" is up until midnight, Thursday, March 7.
Mar 4, 2024 12:39:22 GMT
Kapitan: A new #1 in the Hot 100 thread: the King is back for his third chart-topper of 1960 (and first of 1961)
Mar 6, 2024 16:38:13 GMT
Kapitan: "Catch a Wave" v "It's OK" up for a vote in the Strange World thread (until midnight Thursday, March 14).
Mar 10, 2024 13:49:18 GMT
Kapitan: The semifinals have begun: The Warmth of the Sun v All Summer Long is up in the Strange World thread until midnight Thursday, March 21.
Mar 17, 2024 13:58:54 GMT
Kapitan: A new #1 in the Hot 100 threaad. It lasted 3 weeks atop the charts, but I'd never heard of it (or the artist)...
Mar 18, 2024 17:47:38 GMT
Kapitan: Second semifinal matchup: This Whole World v Catch a Wave, up in Strange World until midnight Sunday, March 24.
Mar 21, 2024 12:46:38 GMT
Kapitan: Final matchup: This Whole World v All Summer Long, voting is live until midnight Thursday, March 28.
Mar 24, 2024 11:43:42 GMT
Kapitan: An important Goffin/King tune performed by an influential girl-group is the latest in our Hot 100 #1s thread.
Mar 25, 2024 14:41:49 GMT
Kapitan: A little "champagne style" music for the latest #1 on the Hot 100 thread.
Apr 2, 2024 17:33:08 GMT
Sheriff John Stone: ...and there's a connection between the conductor of that "champagne music" and a Beach Boys' family member.
Apr 2, 2024 18:16:47 GMT
jk: Oh yes, now you mention it, Sheriff. An older family member, right?
Apr 2, 2024 19:47:08 GMT
*
Sheriff John Stone: Maybe we could incorporate Kapitan's (and my) post from the New Articles, Interviews, Etc. thread and The Cincinnati Kid's post from The Photo Thread into the Brian's Conservatorship and Dementia Diagnosis thread so we can better track/follow that journey.
Apr 9, 2024 11:51:30 GMT
The Cincinnati Kid: I'd rather not have every time Brian is seen out (which may not be much) presented under the guise of him having dementia. If something relevant to his conservatorship or dementia is published, it can be put there.
Apr 10, 2024 1:18:15 GMT
Sheriff John Stone: Since I/you/we're going to publish articles/photos/etc. of the current Brian anyway, I thought it would more...economical...to put it all in the same thread. It is in no way meant to "expose" Brian or his condition. Actually, I praised the recent article/
Apr 10, 2024 11:02:11 GMT
*
Sheriff John Stone: event. I don't find posting about it or discussing it offensive or insensitive. We could remove the word "dementia" from the thread title. No problem, though.
Apr 10, 2024 11:06:58 GMT
Kapitan: A new #1 from a familiar face in the Hot 100 thread.
Apr 10, 2024 15:40:39 GMT
Kapitan: A new Hot 100 #1: another European, pre-rock standard repurposed for American pop audiences.
Apr 15, 2024 18:56:58 GMT