Rabshakeh

I love it. Pruning a record collection is probably one of the only areas of pure control and agency left in the modern world. Nowhere else in my life do I have that kind of power.

What a cover! I'm currently listening to The Declaration of Musical Independence (ECM, 2016) by the Andrew Cyrille Quartet, starring Bill Frisell, Richard Teitelbaum and Ben Street. I'm pretty disappointed by it. The combination of Bill Frisell and Richard Teitelbaum got me really excited, but to my ears it is just a noodley ECM reverbfest.

Most of it. Kamasi Washington too. I listen to and love a lot of recent jazz music, but I honestly find it hard to get excited over some of the stuff Chinen is pushing as being the cream of the crop.

Hopping along.

Hmm. It's the sort of book that gets put on first year university reading lists, or which mainstream non-jazz fan music critics read and refer to so that they feel they are keeping current. I'm not sure that's a reason, either. But I'm reading it anyway. It is very zippy. It is okay. Okay, a lot of the music that Chinen is so enthusiastic about and considers to represent an "explosion of creativity", or whatever, makes me want to chew off my own leg to escape, but I can get through that.

I've picked this up and started it because it has been getting quite a lot of mentions on social media. People seem to really enjoy it and refer to it a lot as an authority on where jazz is going. From what I have seen so far, I am not sure that people on this board will be quite as favourable. It is very much an exploration of the "modern mainstream" jazz space (Mehldau, Iverson, etc.) and some more current genres like neo soul which have had some influence on that sort of jazz. Avant garde genres and Criss Cross / Steeplechase type retro genre work are pretty much ignored, save for stuff like David S Ware and John Zorn. I note that most of the above thread is people discussing the book before reading it. Has anyone else read it?

Give Me The Night is a great album. Not jazz as you say, but it benefits from Benson’s guitar too. That QJ production with those taut but silky bass lines is incredible. Benson is also one of the few people to look no worse with age. Sure, he got a whole lot of expensive work done, but, like going commercial, that rarely actually works out for most people (Al Di Meola’s incredible encroaching hairline providing perhaps the only other notable exception in jazz). Happy birthday to Mr. Benson!

Herbie Hancock and Others - A Tribute To Miles (Qwest, 1992). Very surprised at how much I enjoyed this one, and even more surprised that one of my favourite aspects is Wallace Roney's playing, which, derivative as it is, still comes across as very fresh.

Gary Todd, Nigel Coombes, Steve Beresford, Dave Solomon and the sadly recently deceased John Russell on Teatime (Incus, 1975).

Is this a selection of the original LPs as packaged or a box set of all the tunes from them? Those tracks with Dizzy on piano, if he really was, are classics.

Currently listening to Tropos' Axioms // 75ab (Biophilia, 2020). I am listening to it on Bandcamp, but is by a small label that apparently sells hard copy versions in the form of a download code wrapped in biodegradable origami packaging. An odd idea, that seems a little gimmicky to me, particularly given the rather meaty price.

Yonder (Bugle, 2013) by The Catholics Nice for a Monday morning.

CD of the box set borrowed from an aunt, following interest piqued by the Bob Porter book Soul Jazz. It had never occurred to me to listen to them before now, because I’d heard mixed things, but these Jacquet sides at least are fantastic, and I’m going to burrow in a bit more. Any recommendations from the set would be appreciated.

Currently listening to the July 1944 JATP with Illinois Jacquet roaring away.

Currently reading Soul Jazz by Bob Porter off the back of some recommendations on this board.

Konitz / Solal - European Episode (Campi, 1968). As far as I am concerned, this is one.of the classics of the 60s avant garde.

I always wondered why it was so cheap when I saw it.

Currently listening to Engraved In The Wind (RogueArt, 2013) by Nicole Mitchell. Now this is a jazz flute album. I just wish that RogueArt sold downloads. I don't really buy CDs anymore. But there is so much quality on that label.

Not just a leather jacket, but leather trousers too.

Big John Patton's Accent on the Blues (Blue Note, 1969) For some reason I like this one a lot more than Boogaloo. Now listening to: Marchin' On by the Heath Brothers (Strata-East 1975).

Oh no. Wishing you a swift recovery!

Thanks! I like the idea of the Jazz Thermidorian Reaction. A necessary corrective to the previous Jazz Reign of Terror. And leading inevitably to the period of the Jazz Directory!

The Sam Rivers Quartet with Anthony Braxton playing on Live San Francisco 1978. A really good performance, and a real kick to hear such different musicians play against each other. This time with added tuba. It also has a rare chance to hear Rivers comping on piano behind a horn player - something that I don't think I have heard before. I think it is just a boot, but it sounds fantastic and could really do with a formal release. I think that Ricochet, one of the recent live releases on NoBusiness, came from the same residency.

After over a month of what appears to be quite intense listening to jazz from the 1980s (on the basis of the Listening to... thread), I would be interested to know any preliminary conclusions...

I think I saw a vinyl copy at Honest Jon's in London quite recently. Not sure whether that helps.