favorite modern jazz RECORDINGS w/ 10+ players

[Joe G]

Bob Moses - Visit With The Great Spirit

also, When Elephants Dream of Music

[Dmitry]

John Tchicai - Merlin Vibrations

Never heard of this? Is it on CD?

I don't know if it's on cd.

It's on the Plainisphere label [swiss?], from 1983.

[Alon Marcus]

Another great Gruntz.

The trumpet section contains Wallace Roney, Randy Brecker and Jon Faddis.

Also participating: Bob Mintzer, Ray Anderson, John Scofield.

Highly recommended.

[king ubu]

John Tchicai - Merlin Vibrations

Never heard of this? Is it on CD?

I don't know if it's on cd.

It's on the Plainisphere label [swiss?], from 1983.

Swiss indeed, and as you can see here, it has never been on CD.

Care to give some more info about it, Dmitry?

ubu

[king ubu]

I love this one on the Plainisphare site:

Spécial incompétence:

Capitol se fait imprimeur de T-shirt (plutôt que de rééditer le disque de Grachan Moncur III)

Edited December 1, 2004 by king ubu

[king ubu]

big

[gslade]

Steve Lacy Itinerary

[sonic1]

And I heartily second George Gruntz recommendations, adding:

[Dennis_M]

Wow, a Don Ellis fan. At least there are two of us. Those albums were recorded in the early 70's, if I remember correctly. Also in the same time frame is "Live at Monterey". Don died in 1978. A great loss for jazz. His best work was probably still ahead of him.

Dennis

[Bright Moments]

i'm trying to squeak this one in. i think they number 8 or 9.

you will really enjoy them! B-)

http://www.mingusamungus.com/

becuase they are sa damn good!!!

[Bright Moments]

[John Tapscott]

Phil Norman Tentet - Wide Range

Phil Norman Tentet - Live at the Lighthouse

Phil Kelly & the Northwest Prevailing Winds - Convergence Zone

[gdogus]

 

Dave Holland Big Band - What Goes Around (ECM, 2002) and Overtime (Sunnyside, 2005)

 

Joe Henderson - Big Band (Verve, 1996)

[clifford_thornton]

John Tchicai and Cadentia Nova Danica - Afrodisiaca (MPS)

Lester Bowie - Gittin' to Know Y'all (MPS)

Alan Silva - Seasons (BYG Actuel)

Alan Silva - My Country (Leo)

Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra - Ode (Incus)

These are the ones I often pull out, anyway... and a third for the Don Ellis stuff.

[White Lightning]

Lester Bowie's Brass Orchestra Fantasy

Brotherhood of Breath

Sam Rivers' RivBea Orchestra

[gdogus]

I can't beleive I didn't mention this outfit in my earlier post, but...

Malachi Thompson and Africa Brass!

Specifically, these three:

    

Lift Every Voice (Delmark, 1992)    Buddy Bolden's Rag (Delmark, 1995)

Blue Jazz (Delmark, 2003)

Aside from his work with smaller groups, Malachi Thompson, the great Chicago trumpeter, often leads Africa Brass - a band comprising five trumpets, four trombones, sax, clarinet, and rhythm section, plus vocalists and usually some guest players like Gary Bartz, Billy Harper, and Lester Bowie.

This is innovative and adventurous music. All three of these albums are very highly recommended, but to choose just one, I say try out Blue Jazz and work backwards from there.

Edited November 25, 2005 by gdogus

[Johnny E]

Monktail Creative Music Concern - Non Grata

[Johnny E]

big

Big from me too.

btw, is the recording any good?

[Allan Songer]

This is a CRAZYILY good album with the typical Holman TIGHT arrangement that are always full of surprises. The charts were all written for this date and for the players Holman had in mind.

I know of no other big band record of the era that swings as hard or has the richness of timbre and crazy counterpoint-- well, it's just a freaking GREAT record.

The band includes Bill Perkins, Pete Christeib, Bob Enevoldsen and all the usual hotshot LA players.

Sadly, I think this one is now out of print, but you should be able to track it down.

KILLER!

Edited December 20, 2005 by Allan Songer

[Peter Friedman]

The new CD by Gerald Wilson is a winner in my book.

Gerald Wilson Orchestra - In My Time - Mack Avenue

[king ubu]

bumping this up because of this thread over here: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=36577

[Niko]

if you don't mind vocals i definitely recommend the first two albums by thärichen's tentet, lady moon and the thin edge on minor music,

soundsamples here: http://www.thaerichen.de/

[king ubu]

another great one:

http://www.newjungleorchestra.com/

Pierre Dørge & New Jungle Orchestra

Has been around since 1980 - with some changes in the crew. They play worldmusic at the highest level, and they are in a class of their own. With a mixture of jazz, Asian, African and European music - and general madness - they create their own dadaistic universe, which gives the audience a unique and extraordinary experience. As it´s often the case, they are best live on stage, where you can hear music created by the saxophonist chewing on his leaf or Pierre playing a musical box as you know it from the kids room. Other instruments are sea shells used as trumpets or various Asian and African remedies. There are no limits and the catching joy and humour almost always guaranties a memorable concert for years to come. Pierre Dørge is a worthy heir to the Ellingtonian legacy.

(from the homepage)

I've got three of their Steeplechase discs (the self-titled one, Brikama & Johnny Lives) and like them a lot. Also got a live show on DVD - terrific! Harry Beckett, holy crap! And John Tchicai, Johnny Dyani, Marilyn Mazur and others were all part of this group at one time, keyboardist Irene Becker still is with them, it seems. Great outfit, for sure! I think I'd recommend "Johnny Lives" for those not familiar, but I don't know any of their more recent efforts.

[Matthew]

Since the Funny Rat thread doesn't seem to get too many looks, I'm going to again recommend this box set, which I absolutely love. My post from Funny Rat:

For the past couple of months I've been listening to Andrea Centazzo / Mitteleuropa Orchestra: The Complete Recordings, and it is a very interesting listen. Counter to, for want of a better term I would call, "The New York School of Large Groups," the Mitteleuropa Orchestra has a much more composed feel to it, and I'm becoming convinced that Andrea Centazzo is very much an underrated musician/composer in todays music world. There are such artists as Franz Koglmann, Theo Jorgensmann, Gino Commisso, and a host of others. If you like large group music, that has a free jazz/composed feel to them, this box set is worth checking out. One word of warning: It is very poorly packaged, the cds come in a six-pack dvd case, and the liners look like the secretary went to the back room copier and then put them in the case. When it came to my home, the interior of the box was all broken up, so I had to buy a new, sturdier box for the cds. Given that though, I really enjoy the music.

[king ubu]

I've seen your listening to this again and again... but I'm broke now and shouldn't buy too much, really! Sounds definitely interesting to me, though...