opinions sought on many albums...

[mikeweil]

ed thigpen-in copenhagen (resource/action re action)

frank tusa-father time

freddie hubbard-black angel

airto-promises of the sun

The above are the ones I have .... or have heard (Tusa)

The Thigpen is a reissue of two LPs - a little Bitches-Brew-like, atmospheric, with Sabu Martinez turning in some nice conga drumming, Palle Mikkelborg at his most milesian. If you like typical early 70's jazz in the wake of electric Miles ....

The Tusa is pretty much in the mood of the Dave Liebman band of the time that recorded Lookout Farm for ECM, nice companion.

Black Angel sufferes from Hubbard not letting anyone shine besides him - Spaulding plays some excellent stuff but is too low in the mix. There is some nice experimentation with overdubbed backwards solos in Space Track. Some fusionistic experimental stuff besides mainstreamish stuff that sounds a trifle too polished. But Hubbard is technically excellent here.

The Airto is one of his best, IMHO - a real working band working a tight groove, Hugo Fattoruso is great here. No flashy solos, but good ensemble work, nice vocals on some tracks. The opener is a batucada overdub by Airto alone, but after that it's the band all the way. Milton Nascimento guests on a moving rendition of one of his songs. Honestly one of my favourites, an underrated album.

[Guest akanalog]

mike, they also have "fingers", which i have on LP but was thinking i would upgrade to CD.

is "promises of the sun" preferable to "fingers", IYO?

personally, "fingers" is about my favorite airto i have heard.

and does the tusa have a lot of rhythmless duets? i am worried this is a lot of bierach/tusa and liebman/tusa action which i would find boring rather than the full band.

[mikeweil]

mike, they also have "fingers", which i have on LP but was thinking i would upgrade to CD.

is "promises of the sun" preferable to "fingers", IYO?

personally, "fingers" is about my favorite airto i have heard.

For me, Promises is a notch above Fingers, beacuse it is more relaxed, and a little more "Brazlian", but in a more modern, Airtonian way

and does the tusa have a lot of rhythmless duets? i am worried this is a lot of beirach/tusa and liebman/tusa action which i would find boring rather than the full band.

I have to admit I don't remember it that well ..... listened to it once at a friend's apartment almost thirty years ago .....

[Guest akanalog]

oh, i'm sorry-one more...

how is dannie richmond's "ode to mingus" if anyone knows...has bill saxton on it so i am interested.

[Cali]

I have the Hubbard on LP and very much enjoy listening to one side of it, the one w/"Coral Keys". The other side pretty much sucks.

Hey, but half a Hubbard is equal to a whole of . . . . . .

[felser]

Buy 'em all and learn via the bank account.

In some cases you can "learn" to appreciate your purchases. Sometimes not. Lesson learned anyway.

Buy, learn, buy, learn, etc.

Chuck, totally agree with this philosiphy and practice it. That's the great part of trading. You can learn about something totally new for the cost of mailing a CD to someone else on the board who also then gets to learn something new. Adam, my opinion on the Hubbard goes contrary to at least three postings here. I like the album quite a bit, especially the side with "Space Track", which is a great long modal piece, with amazing Reggie Workman bass work. Louis Hayes is the drummer - I know drummers are important to you. And I think the album cover is cheesy. But by all means, get the CD!

[Guest akanalog]

that is some good wu-nyc everything.

what about sing me a song of songmy, clem?

hubbard might have had a weird streak. people seem to enjoy that marmagoolu persons other works on blogs and whatnot but i haven't explored.

actually some of hubbard's rants from around that time period on live bootleg stuff are funny so maybe he did have some drug-addledness freakiness going on.

[clifford_thornton]

I dig Spaulding and Hubbard but the Atlantics never moved me (incl. & esp. the Mimaroglu, though I have enjoyed a few other Mimaroglu works). I say stick with the BNs, but...

You'll have to let me know how the Schoof/Kuhn split is; I have early LPs from both and really enjoy the music, so I can't imagine it's a) weak or b) anything I haven't heard before. Jaki is hip on the Schoof sides, though not as "singular" in his approach as he was with (The) Can.

Living in NYC is hip, as one may actually be able to find a halfway-decent copy of a later Pharaoh Impulse for less than $15, which is the most I'd pay for any of those LPs. I don't have Love In Us All, but I could imagine digging it...

[clifford_thornton]

p/s-- Randy, there's at least one more Abdullah that gets Ra-like... what's the side on Chiaroscuro w/Don Cherry & many others, for example? I ain't looking SHIT up anymore, going strictly old-school "memory." (Even it means I "misspell" Chiaroscuro.)

I remember hearing and liking that one, too, though it's been a while.

African Space Program is pretty wild, and great. Haven't heard it in years, though. There's one on Nadja with Cherry and Carlos Ward called Third World Underground that's also supposed to be good.

[Guest akanalog]

yes i have purchased other pharaoh LPs from this time (live at the east, the one with the black cover with the whole band on it and the song "the golden lamp" or something, village of the pharaohs) for $15 or under.

[Guest akanalog]

i have thirld world underground-ward, brand and cherry...live trio. i have it as a DMG CDR.

it is very good. very very good, IMO. not really wild. kind of groovy. my girlfriend thinks it is cheesy because it kind of gets into the kind of groove (though sparer) coopted by people like paul simon or you know...things like that so taken out of context (her not knowing what i was listening to) i think she thought it was a commercial and recent "third world ethnic" kind of thing.