Rabshakeh

Have No Fear by Von Freeman. A newish acquisition that’s been getting a lot of outings.

The Guardian newspaper had a nice two-way interview recently between the comedian Stewart Lee and Shirley Collins the folk singer. In it, Stewart Lee mentioned the effect that lockdown has had on his listening habits, and describes himself as having "returned to the sort of relationship with music that I had when I was a teenager, when you just had to stay in and no one would talk to you." I thought it was an interesting point, because I have also experienced something like a return of the total absorption / obsession with music that I had when I was much younger over this period. I've spent far more time working at a desk with headphones in than I had done for over a decade, with no interruptions, and I have found myself returning to a lot of the free improv and jazz records that I loved as a student, as well as delving into new areas that I'd never really thought of before, like Warne Marsh and friends, and Afro-Cuban records. I'd be interested in hearing from the rest of you. Has anyone else had a similar experience? How has it affected your listening habits? What musical rabbit holes have you been exploring? Sadly, one other effect that it has had on me has been that I've fallen off the wagon badly and plunged back into buying vinyl at a time when I can't really afford it.

Oof. I may start my V5 listening with that Elements of Style, Exercises in Surprise album you mentioned above. 12 CDs is a lifestyle choice.

Okay, thanks. The fact is I don't know enough to be able to even piece together the different groups, so this is helpful as a guide.

Thanks all for the recommendations. I am going to start with the Fred Anderson / DKV one (I'm a big fan of Fred Anderson, so that sounds like a risk free prospect).

Hi, I've got almost no Vandermark in my collection and I'm hoping to dip my foot in. It was an incredibly large and intimidating catalogue at the time this thread ended over a decade ago, and it hasn't got less intimidating since. Are there two or three Vandermark albums (whether under his, his various groups' or other leader's names) that people would particularly recommend as a starting point? Thank you

Tyshawn Sorey's Pillars (2019, Firehouse 12). Still getting to grips with it to tell the truth.

Kwanza by Archie Shepp - It’s been a gristly day, and it’s good to have something uplifting. Thumbs up on this one!

Oh yes. I was my birthday, so guilt free stuff. I picked up How Deep / How High by Warne Marsh and Sal Mosca, In Sommerhausen by Marion Brown, a tatty but decently priced Have No Fear by Von Freeman, Unpredictability of Predictability by Jerome Cooper and Tenor Conclave. As you say, it would have been easy to have bought that much again. Impressive for such a small shop. The guy at the desk said that a lot came from the founder of the original shop's own collection, and that they'd made the decision to change the focus of the King's Cross shop because rare jazz vinyl is selling again. They had some fairly serious stuff up on the walls. Early Wadada Leo Smith / Alabama Feeling, etc.; records I was surprised to see.

Just been there, and I can see that. They have redone one whole side of the shop so that it is all second hand jazz vinyl. Reasonable prices too.

That’s a pretty serious haul. Where did you go?

Thanks for these. I'll give them a listen. The earlier recommendations were fantastic so I am looking forward to these too.

Mama Rose, by Archie Shepp and a Dutch keyboardist called Jasper van 't Hof, from 1982, on Steeplechase. I don't know much about Shepp's eighties work, but it's a definite departure from his fire music or gospel days in tone.

That's a great cover. It must look fantastic as a full size LP.

Interesting. It has a nice cover: I can imagine it would great on LP. On the list and many thanks.

Thanks. I hadn’t realised that all three of them had actually recorded together. I will track it down, CD-r or no. Thank you. I randomly bought a scuzzy vinyl copy of Jazz Exchange Vol 1 a few weeks ago, and it’s absolutely great. I’ll check out the other (two?) volumes. Warne Out and How Deep are going on the list too. Thanks for the Kanan / Su recommendation, which sounds intriguing. There are a few references in the original thread to other, then current, players in this sort of vein, like Connie Crothers or Jimmy Halperin. If anyone has any views on them or others or any albums that they’d recommend, those would be very welcome too.

Sorry to bump up a very old thread, but, since Lee Konitz's death earlier this year, I have been listening to a lot of his music from the 60s and 70s (e.g., Satori, Lone-Lee and Motion) along with wonderful albums like Ne Plus Ultra and All Music by Warne Marsh. This had not been an area of jazz that I had explored or really thought about previously. I am very impressed at how neither of them is willing to play to expectations at all, whilst producing such strongly idiomatic work. I wondered if there are any other "Tristano-esque" (taking that term in the very loosest way possible) LPs or CDs (as opposed to box sets) that others on this board really love and would recommend.

Nice piece. Thanks for flagging it. Very sad news.

Basically just those two for me. I used to live round there so went into those a lot. They're really nice shopping experiences and basically next door to each other. WoE has a link to Treader of some sort. The Mare Street market one is I think only new stuff.

Last time that I checked HJ was still closed but shipping, although that may have changed this week. Which Hackney shops do you go to?

It's been fairly low key, but Monoceros has just had a nice vinyl reissue on Treader, one of the smaller London labels.

Done it. I found it in a shop on a post-COVID shopping trip and decided that it was so important to support struggling small businesses that I really needed to buy it on the spot (or something like that...). I haven’t played it yet, but I’m looking forward to it as it is one of my favourites from the early French scene.

I am going to start checking those more regularly. It’s been nice to catch up a little. Increasingly I’m finding that Bandcamp and Twitter are some of the best sources for finding out about this music (although more for reissues with the latter).

ECM like Sunday morning (sorry!).

A big thank you for linking to these, by the way. These are some great recommendations and it makes a difference to have the mini reviews with each of the recs. I am following them up gradually. Are you planning on posting on any more labels?