mjzee

Just saw this on Dusty Groove: A fantastic never-heard 70s performance from alto genius Arthur Blythe – one captured a few years before his rise to fame on a major label, and with a vibe that's very different than those well-known classics! Blythe here is working in the free, open space of the loft jazz generation – spinning out these stunning long solos on alto sax, in a spare lineup that features Juni Booth on bass, Steve Reid on drums, and Muhammad Abdullah on conga – no piano or other horns at all, which means that Blythe gets plenty of room to step out and solo! And in fact, the first track on the set is a solo alto number of brilliance – and things only get better as the other players come into the mix, especially Booth, who's got a very melodic way of handling the bass, creating these tones that are almost as if there's a secret keyboardist hanging there at times. The music moves beautifully from spiritual to freer modes – and titles include "Lower Nile", "Miss Nancy", "Spirits In The Field", and a "Medley Of Unidentified Titles"

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir - The Complete Decca Recordings, disc 4.

I've wondered whether there's a Morris Levy connection, "The Jazz Corner Of The World" being another name for Birdland, which Levy owned. Another intriguing question is why these weren't simply called "Live At Birdland."

The one time I saw him was participating in a panel discussion on Mingus, sitting next to Nat Hentoff. Spiffy dresser.

Each symphony is 15 - 20 minutes long, so it's pretty easy. They're gorgeous to listen to, and are very upbeat and sprightly. I have the Dennis Russell Davies box.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 8.

How could I forget his killer recordings with Grant Green and BJP? I couldn't.

Was wondering when... when there's radio silence you kinda figure... but the shoe finally dropped. A life well lived, with so much great music, including my favorite My Favorite Things:

Nicky was also a member of this one-off group Sweet Thursday, along with Alun Davies and Jon Mark. The album had some tracks that were "FM hits": The Dealer and Gilbert Street.

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir - The Complete Decca Recordings, disc 3.

Nicky was great. Surprised his work with Jerry Garcia wasn't mentioned:

RIP. As someone here said, perhaps it was inevitable, but sad and poignant nonetheless. A life well lived.

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 7.

Me too.

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir - The Complete Decca Recordings, disc 2. That is a very cool piano(s).

I miss The Magnificent Goldberg's posts. Anyone know what happened to him?

Riccardo Muti - The Complete Warner Symphonic Recordings, disc 6.

Bracha Eden and Alexander Tamir - The Complete Decca Recordings, disc 1.

https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/music/quincy-jones-celebrated-music-producer-to-stars-dies-at-91-4e03cb0d?st=5EbL5E&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink Excellent obituary in the WSJ. Quincy had a harrowing early life. A remarkable career, a remarkable life. RIP.

Release date December 6: Dynamic extremes are explored and tuneful hooks - some melody, some harmony, others beat-based - patiently assembled, often completed in mesmerizing fashion. Where subtle rhythmic twists and harmonic progressions constructed around piano triads recall cutting-edge inspirations from the world of art-rock, other expositions reveal a tight-knit jazz trio elaborating a chamber sound focused on close listening and reacting. Recorded at Lugano's Auditorio Stelio Molo in 2023, Samares was produced by Manfred Eicher.

Release date November 15:

Release date November 15: When you wish upon a star… that turns out to be Saturn. Previously unheard Ra culled from the archives and compiled based on their association to that children's film corporation with the cartoon rodent. Features almost a half hour of non-LP bonus material! Jazz aficionados and Disney nerds alike will marvel at how seamlessly Sun Ra and his Arkestra put their own unique twist on both well-known and overlooked Disney songs. Pink Elephants on Parade takes nine songs from Disney’s storied catalog and recontextualizes them as beautiful, fun, and sometimes terrifying pieces of Afrofuturist jazz. The collection also shows further proof of how Ra was always willing to transcend conventions of jazz. Listen to the full album and you will likely never look at the Disney music catalog the same way ever again. Originally known for accompanying Dumbo and Timothy’s colorful alcohol-induced hallucinations, this song is given a whole new life by Ra and the Arkestra in more ways than one. It also feels faithful to the original at the same time, with the cacophony of horns, drums, percussion, and cowbell resembling that of a marching band. However, the demented grandeur of the song is turned up to eleven with zany vocal lines (hence the high-pitched “What’ll I do” inflections) and other performances that somehow sound more evil and gruff here than they did on Oliver Wallace and Ned Washington’s version. Though the Sportsmen’s vocals from that particular arrangement had a certain creepiness to it, the Arkestra takes a previously innocent sounding song and makes Pink Elephants On Parade sound even more terrifying. 1. The Forest Of No Return (9:30 Club) 2. Someday My Prince Will Come (9:30 Club) 3. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Virginia 1988) 4. Let's Go Fly A Kite (Zurich 1987) 5. Second Star To The Right (Virginia 1988) 6. Pink Elephants On Parade (Regatta Bar 1990) 7. Whistle While You Work (9:30 Club) 8. Wishing Well (9:30 Club) 9. Never Never Land (Staches 1985) 10. Second Star To The Right (Alternate, Virginia 1988)

Release date November 29: When eminent jazz practitioners with shared histories convene in the studio without rehearsal or preparatory gigs, a perfunctory, by-the-numbers session is often the outcome. That is decidedly not the case on Solid Jackson, whose personnel, four of whom participated on the well-wrought day-after-Christmas of 1994 Criss Cross album titled Consenting Adults, reside in any hardcore jazz connoisseur's "top-five." This second gathering of M.T.B. (titled for the surnames of Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner and Peter Bernstein, and to signify upon the late '80s "young lion" band OTB) is an intense, focused recital that reinforces the exalted position each member holds in the 2024 jazz landscape. Everyone listens. No one overplays or goes for "house." The ambiance is one of concentrated excellence.All in all, the session is, as the cliche goes, "all killer, no filler, " performed at a level that might have provoked Charlie Haden to respond with a hearty "Solid Jackson." "There was a natural blend, " Bernstein says. "We all go way back, and everyone was very comfortable being around each other. One thing I like about making a record is that you're able to spend a day with people you've been meaning to hang out with for a long time. It's not just a party. You're working, too. But that's how we interact socially - by playing music. I was amazed. It's 30 years after we did the first one, but everyone is relatively intact. It's really a miracle. We're all still here; we get to play together again."The Album was recorded November 25 / 26, 2024 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, NYC. Recording engineer Mike Marciano. Sound engineer Mike Marciano also did the mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NYC. Photography by Anna Yatskevich. Some might think that guitarist Oz Noy, a celebrated voice in jazz-fusion over the last quarter century for applying his formidable guitar chops to funky rhythms and blues-based changes on 13 leader albums and hundreds of plugged-in concert performances, is not an obvious fit for Criss Cross, whose 420+-album catalog connects almost exclusively to the various tributaries of the hardcore acoustic jazz river. Noy, 52, begs to differ. "I've known about Criss Cross since my brother brought home albums when I was a teenager, " he says, discussing the back story of his label debut, Fun One, a creative, sophisticated and, shall we say, swinging trio encounter with pianist David Kikoski, bassist James Genus and drummer Clarence Penn. "I know Peter Bernstein's albums and Adam Rogers' albums. I love Mike Moreno's last album. I know how the albums sound. I started to study jazz chords and harmony when I was 13. I started making a living playing pop and rock music when I was 15 or 16, and for all my years in New York I've had an electric trio that plays groove music mixed with jazz and funk that's enabled me to get a record deal and make albums. But I've been playing standards and jazz all my life, and probably since 2017 with this quartet. I've just never recorded it."From 2017 until March 2020, when COVID shut down New York City, the group's encounters transpired on Thursday nights at the 55 Bar, the Greenwich Village basement where high-level practitioners like alto saxophonist-composer (and frequent Criss Cross artist) Dave Binney and guitarists Mike Stern and Wayne Krantz held years-long weekly sinecures. After the Christopher Street landmark shut down two years later, Noy "moved our operation" to the Bitter End on Bleecker Street, a signpost venue in the development of comedy and various streams of second-half-of-the-20th-century popular music where Noy has played regularly with his power trios for more than two decades. From the beginning of 2024 until the end of July, when Noy recorded Fun One, he frequently workshopped this repertoire there "with some form of this band."The Album was recorded July 26 / 27, 2024 at the Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, NYC. Recording engineer Mike Marciano. Sound engineer Mike Marciano also did the mixing and mastering at Systems Two in NYC. Photography by Anna Yatskevich.