-
Posts
19,509 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Donations
0.00 USD
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Everything posted by A Lark Ascending
-
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Another marvellous passage, this time from the Shelly Manne chapter: -
Expanding your musical horizons, 'growing' by listening to music, is clearly an option but hardly an imperative. It's not hard to see why adopting such an outlook can be immensly rewarding personally to a listener; and vital for at least some musicians in order to create new music. At the same time, I can completely understand those who come home at the end of the day or at the end of a long week and just want something easy on the ear - they are probably getting all the growth they need in other aspects of their lives. I'm rarely in a state at the end of the day to tackle something knotty. I choose to listen to unfamiliar music (often music that has not moved me when I've listened before) because I've experienced that thrill since the age of 14 of deliberately pushing past the tolerance zone and discovering a whole new musical world. I've never really thought of it as growth; more the equivalent of taking a holiday somewhere unusual where the support mechanisms are not as obvious as in the main resorts. I'll buy this set not to 'grow' but in the hope it will open out another area of beauty and interest.
-
I have an idea what to expect (I have one of the lps) . . . but I ordered it anyway! It's been some time since I've had a challenging "listening project". This should keep me busy well into next year. What can I say, I'm a glutton for punishment. I'm intending to order one for the same reason. Always good to confront ones prejudices.
-
I loved Ron Mathewson's playing - very prominent on 'Serious Gold'. Only saw him once, backing Jimmy Giuffre.
-
Things you wish nobody had thought up...
A Lark Ascending replied to Christiern's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
Fits the title to perfection! -
That's the one - terrible pressing. I brought one back and the one I stuck with was only a bit better. Thus the desire for a nicely sorted new version on CD. I wonder if Ronnie was influence by Henderson playing his club (not sure if he did). The one time I saw him he did 'Blue Bossa' and 'Recorda Me' and I've got earlier versions of 'Lazy Afternoon' (which is also on Serious Gold) and 'Invitation' on Henderson discs from that era.
-
I've enjoyed the Ronnie Scott records I've heard from the 50s/60s without needing to hear them often. But this one from the late 70s is one of my desert island discs: I think it might have been where I first heard John Taylor; certainly my first hearing of Louis Stewart (who is outstanding and plays in a contemporary Methenyesque style, quite different from his usual swing/bebop approach). Think the sort of lightly electrified jazz (rather than 'fusion') that Stan Getz or Joe Henderson were doing at the time. Crying out for a CD issue.
-
Things you wish nobody had thought up...
A Lark Ascending replied to Christiern's topic in Miscellaneous - Non-Political
The shrink-wrap on CDs. I assume they do it so it seems the CD is really new. Has driven me to downloading! -
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
You can carry the 'musician outside the main development' thing a stage further. I suspect most of us as listeners have favourites who rarely get a mention but figure highly for us just because we get the chance to hear them frequently and follow how they develop. Over-emphasising the linear 'who is the most important' line takes no notice of the fact that jazz still has many local elements and often quite separated local audiences. So what figures large for me may be inconsequential for someone in LA. And if...as is often asserted...jazz is best live, then most of us are going to be having our best, regular listening experiences with musicians who are, at least, local to our countries. I get to see Julian Siegal or Tom Arthurs in a range of contexts; I'm unlikely to see Joe Lovano or Roy Hargrove outside some major concert hall or festival stage. -
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
I agree. But some critics are very quick to assert the latter without considering that it might be one of the first two. -
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
I think I heard it about the same time. Imagine checking it out because McLaughlin from Mahavishnu was on it. That bass clarinet sounded pretty strange! McLaughlin was also the draw for me. What stumped me was the way the music rarely seemed to stray from a single chord base for long stretches. Although I'd (subconsciously) heard this in the more 'jamming' type of rock, my tastes were very much towards rich harmony, unusual chord progressions and unexpected key changes (the rock of the likes of Yes, Genesis etc). It took the experienceof listening to much more jazz before I could really start to enjoy what the musicians were doing by deliberately restricting their harmonic foundations. -
There's an interview with Gilmour in a recent Mojo magazine where he comments on how bemused he was at having to do those solo sets. Maybe it was the same with Wright. 10 minutes to fill - out come all the bits and bobs from his training. There's certainly some very 'Romantic' piano...all a bit Rachmaninov (or maybe Addinsell).
-
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Exactly! I remember the 1st time i encountered what I thought was an "odd" combination in Brazilian music - a clarinet/guitar duo album by Paulo Moura and the late Raphael Rabello. The idea of those 2 instruments together was baffling to me, until I listened to the CD. (I don't think this pairing would be though of as strange in Brazil, but I would have to ask around to be sure.) Yes. I try to be cautious when I'm put off by an unusual combination. So many times I've come back at a later time, probably benefiting from hearing lots of other things in the mean time, and wondered how I missed it. 'Bitches Brew' sounded like a mess when I first heard it in '76. On the other hand there are things that sound no better many years on. And a fair few things that sound worse! -
Best exemplified for me (early PF) by the live version of Astronomy Domine where he takes his solo after the guitar. His organ lines follows the chorus effect with a fading and rising that creates that other-worldly atmosphere. I was on a Messiaen binge last month and I came across something...can't remember what...that took me straight to the organ sound of the live album of 'Umma Gumma'. I always loved the swirling space age pastoralism of 'Cirrus Minor' - an English country meadow transported to Jupiter. I might be wrong, but I get the impression that you had to work harder to generate strange effects on an organ compared with a later synth.
-
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Gioia makes quite clear that he doesn't care for Kenton overall - but he goes out of his way to recognise positive traits. He's especially praising on the later Cuban influenced music. Three other bits that warmed the cockles of my heart. On the use of oboe/flute (Shank/Cooper) in some of this music. He obviously dislikes it and quotes musicians themselves in later life dismissing their earlier experiments. But: I like that recognition that something that 'doesn't work' might just not work because we're not used to hearing it. Again, relevant to the criticism of fusion musics in many forms. Then this splendid observation on Jimmy Giuffre: I'm only passingly familiar with most of the musicians he describes, but stumbled on Giuffre way back and have always liked his music (even saw him once in a half empty upstairs pub room in Nottingham)! The chapter devoted to him held me spellbound. And Gioia has a sense of humour: (promise I won't quote the whole book!) -
One of the key sounds of my teenage years. Never flash but incredibly atmospheric. Very sad.
-
I went from a 20gb mp3 to an 80gb ipod in the summer. The 20gb was rapidly filling up (thus the purchase of the new one). The 80gb is less than 1/3 full and has so much music on it that I don't think I'll be needing anything bigger. What a wonderful invention.
-
I am a complete and total fraud...
A Lark Ascending replied to Jazzmoose's topic in Miscellaneous Music
Great song...No 1 hit I believe in the UK in 1969. I associate it with walking to school in Newquay, Cornwall in the spring of that year, a good year or so before I started buying my own records. Very much a record that conjures up 'The Sixties' for me. Was used in an advert here recently. Thunderclap Newman were touted to be a really big thing...I think they managed another half-successful single and then vanished. Restore your all-knowing pop credibility here: http://www.thunderclapnewman.com/tn/ Even they are on the revival circuit! [Actually, I can imagine Neil singing it....] -
Many thanks, everyone. 1 x 16 it is then, for the present.
-
Thanks. That's what I'm trying to establish - should I just go for the quickest.
-
When you burn a CD-R you are offered a wide range of burn speeds. I've never really got my head round this. In my mind the lower the speed, the more accurate the burn. But, audio technicalities are rarely that logical. At present I use 1 x 10 on Winamp. Any suggestions (please don't get too technical...it would zoom over my head!)?
-
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending replied to A Lark Ascending's topic in Miscellaneous Music
I agree with everything you say there, Jsngry. One of the reasons I was so taken by the passage was its parallels in other areas of music. I first started listening to music in a 'crossover' era (the early 70s - jazz-rock, folk-rock etc); a fair bit of what I listen to today from this side of the pond involves collisions between jazz and other forms of music and I often read similar criticisms to the ones Gioia cites (ECM anyone?). And, I can also find myself disturbed by some collisions - my own internal compass goes haywire when faced with drum machines, hip-hop etc (not just in jazz but also in folk music where I'm drawn to a more acoustic, scratchy approach). In those cases my brain just isn't making the necessary jump to the new worlds being created. One of the things I really like about Gioia's book is how hard he works to take the different musicians on their own terms and see the good in them. Overall, he echoes the view I've most frequently read about Kenton (whose music I don't know apart from the odd track - I've clearly been brainwashed not to go near him!) as making music that over-ices the cake; yet he takes care to point out what he thinks was good in the music. Dave Brubeck, someone who had the reputation that smooth jazzers have today when I was first listening, gets a very good write up. I've just finished the Chet Baker chapter and once again, he's not afraid to pan certain albums, but the overall feel is of great admiration for his music, especially in the 50s. -
Crossover...Fusion...Third Stream...Whatever!
A Lark Ascending posted a topic in Miscellaneous Music
I started Ted Gioia's 'West Coast Jazz' in the spring but got distracted; finally settled down again today. I was particularly struck by this passage: From Chapter 8: centred around Stan Kenton. -
One that seems to have sneaked into the new releases: http://www.triorecords.toucansurf.com/Trio...s_Products.html I love those venue names. Can you imagine 'Miles in Pinner' or 'Sony Rollins at the Panshanger Golf Complex , Welwyn Garden City.' Along with the new Ingrid Laubrock, this week's buys.
-
At $18 you've got a marvellous range of the label on those 12 CDs. It's so inexpensive that even if you don't like what you hear you've hardly lost anything.