Favorite long jazz tracks

[king ubu]

Flawed, but perfect.

So you found it, the quadrature of the circle!

[JSngry]

Flawed, but perfect.

So you found it, the quadrature of the circle!

It's only impossible if you try to find it.

[king ubu]

cheers!

Now back on topic ... don't think Art Pepper has been mentioned? Plenty of long tunes I love in his late recordings, but I can't nominate any favourites, would have to return to the music first ... but I do remember some particularly good stuff on the Ronnie Scott's sessions that Laurie put out (the "Blues for the Fisherman" tapes).

And another bit of hard-to-believe wonder: the twenty or so minutes track featuring Albert Ayler with the 1962 Cecil Taylor trio (Lyons/Murray) from the "Holy Ghost" box!

[Milestones]

For Coltrane, I'd go with "Africa": 16+ minutes. Of course, there is a lot of long stuff by Trane, especially if you get into the live recordings.

I'll grant that Ascension is monumental, but also very challenging.

Edited April 4, 2015 by Milestones

[CJ Shearn]

In addition to the Mingus and Miles tracks, all of these absolutely floored me..for live stuff I'd recommend Booker Ervin's 'Blue's To You' from 'Lament' on Enja, the 'Book' cooks for nearly half an hour.

Mal Waldron 'Crowd Scene'

Keith Jarrett 'Survivor's Suite' (part 1)

Archie Shepp 'The Magic of Juju'

Coltrane 'Africa Brass'

Horace Tapscott's 'Dark Tree'

Walt Dickerson 'To My Queen', (Dickerson's long tracks are uniformly excellent)

Kenny Wheeler 'Heyoke'

oh yeah, I just remembered this beauty.. 'A Sketch of City Life' the first 15 minute suite. Just about my favourite Japanese jazz.

I'll have to check out the latter, I like Ichikawa's playing with Joe Henderson "In Japan" even though it's heavily indebted to Herbie and Chick there, it's very nice.

[David Ayers]

East Broadway Rundown. Flawed, but perfect.

Funny, and not to start a long discussion, but I am so averse to that track. Relistened just recently to see if I still thought the same....

[BillF]

Not sure if it's disqualified as a suite, but Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige" is a great piece of music and a seminal influence. How many versions of "Come Sunday" have you heard? I have had it for many years on this vinyl album:

[David Ayers]

On another topic, as far as avant-garde/energy players go, it is interesting to ask how many really stay interesting for the 20+ minutes, which most of them seem to regard as little more than a warm-up and do as a matter of routine. Which tracks in those sort of post-Coltrane idioms strike people as compelling from beginning to end?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I forgot

Frantic diagnosis - George Freeman (with Von) - 19:06

and that's one of my all time favourites at ANY length.

MG

[soulpope]

paul bley trio - blood 18.43 (from touching - fontana)

randy weston+vishnu wood - african cookbook 15.10 (from perspective - denon)

and all the live stuff from rollins trio late 50`s/earla 60`s, mal waldron trio/quartet in the 70`s/80`s, cedar walton 4tet, hampton hawes trio in the 70`s.................

[JSngry]

East Broadway Rundown. Flawed, but perfect.

Funny, and not to start a long discussion, but I am so averse to that track. Relistened just recently to see if I still thought the same....

The first time I heard it was on a crackly AM station, with no idea what/who it was, or when how it would end.

That all made an impression.

It kept getting longer, and weirder, and more and more like it was never going to end, or come back again.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I know there was a period when Prestige would put out side long jams every now and then. Only a few of these have merit, and very few could be considered genuine classics.

NONSENSE

I like Red Garland's All Morning Long.

And some of the long Gene Ammons All-Stars pieces, too - quite creative.

Much as I love Jug, I can't say I really think much of those jam sessions. The one I like best is 'Blue greens and beans', which is a real classic, but is only 9:00. The only track of the jam sessions that's over 15 mins is 'Not really the blues', the one in which Art Taylor's squeaky hi hat pedal is so strongly featured

One long of his I do love is 'House warming' with Howard McGhee, but my LP doesn't give a time and I'm not going to listen to it with a fuckin' stopwatch going. I ain't Orrin Keepnews That AIN'T what it's all about.

MG

[Larry Kart]

Booker Ervin/Dexter Gordon -- "Setting the Pace" and "Dexter's Deck" (with Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman, and Alan Dawson)

Album ("Setting the Pace") has interesting liner notes, too, from David A. Himmelstein.

BTW, I haven't picked any so-called avant-garde works, as much as I love and admire, say, "Congliptious" and "Old/Quartet" because I think of the "long track" framework more or less in terms of a building groove, and the longish avant-garde recordings I like the most tend to be not in that bag -- e.g. the first two I just mentioned.

[Big Al]

Some of these have already been mentioned, but nonetheless:

Sonny Rollins, The Freedom Suite (19+)

Sonny Rollins, East Broadway Run Down (18+)

Dexter Gordon, Tanya (18+)

John Coltrane, Sweet Sapphire Blues (18+)

Red Garland, Lazy Mae (16+)

Freddie Hubbard, Straight Life (17+)

Hubert Laws, Mean Lene (15+)

Ben Webster & Associates, In a Mellow Tone (20+)

Jimmy Smith, The Sermon (20+)

Don Sebesky, Firebird/Birds of Fire (13+, but it takes up an entire side!)

Stanley Turrentine, Impressions (15+)

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Booker Ervin/Dexter Gordon -- "Setting the Pace" and "Dexter's Deck" (with Jaki Byard, Reggie Workman, and Alan Dawson)

Album ("Setting the Pace") has interesting liner notes, too, from David A. Himmelstein.

BTW, I haven't picked any so-called avant-garde works, as much as I love and admire, say, "Congliptious" and "Old/Quartet" because I think of the "long track" framework more or less in terms of a building groove, and the longish avant-garde recordings I like the most tend to be not in that bag -- e.g. the first two I just mentioned.

I like those Ervin/Gordon cuts, too. Also Booker's 'The trance', done the same time without Dex. But the two together were splendidly contrasted: Booker as the huskies, straining to get ahead, Dex having a ride at the back, flicking his whip occasionally and yelling 'MUSH!"

I get your point about the avant bag not being where the thread might have been pointed. But still there are tracks like 'The creator has a master plan' which point both ways (and maybe that makes them more accessible to the general public). Oh, and 'Free jazz' has a great groove throughout. (Ah, if only Joe Dukes had been the 3rd drummer )

MG

Dexter Gordon, Tanya (18+)

I'd have put this down, if I'd checked the time out on the CD

Stanley Turrentine, Impressions (15+)

I didn't put this down, because I HAD checked the time - 14:12

MG

[Larry Kart]

Von Freeman -- "Summertime" from "Vonski Speaks" (Nessa)

"I'll Close My Eyes" and "Young And Foolish" from “Young and Foolish” (Challenge)

Somewhat contradicting my last post, these long tracks (some 20, 25, and 17 minutes respectively) are not so much groove things as they are three-act plays.

(Ah, if only Joe Dukes had been the 3rd drummer )

MG

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Von Freeman -- "Summertime" from "Vonski Speaks" (Nessa)

"I'll Close My Eyes" and "Young And Foolish" from “Young and Foolish” (Challenge)

Somewhat contradicting my last post, these long tracks (some 20, 25, and 17 minutes respectively) are not so much groove things as they are three-act plays.

(Ah, if only Joe Dukes had been the 3rd drummer )

MG

Glad you liked that, Larry.

Hey, we're supposed to leave out live recordings!

I'd better get that Challenge album.

MG

[Larry Kart]

MG -- I know about the no live recordings restriction but prefer to modify it. If they are live and for that reason very loose weave, OK, but the three Freeman live performances above are not at all loose weave IMO and almost certainly would have run that long if they had been recorded in a studio and the producer had been in a hands-off mood.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

MG -- I know about the no live recordings restriction but prefer to modify it. If they are live and for that reason very loose weave, OK, but the three Freeman live performances above are not at all loose weave IMO and almost certainly would have run that long if they had been recorded in a studio and the producer had been in a hands-off mood.

I agree with what you're saying; there are some long live things I'd have put in, too.

One more I'd forgotten

C'mon in - Coleman Hawkins - don't have a time on my LP but it's surely over fifteen minutes.

MG

[Larry Kart]

One more I'd forgotten

C'mon in - Coleman Hawkins - don't have a time on my LP but it's surely over fifteen minutes.

MG

Great track, but it's 13:19. How about "Marchin' Along" (17:40) from Tiny Grimes and Hawkins' "Blues Groove"? Never let it be said that Bean couldn't play the blues -- at least eventually.

In case Grimes is not to your taste, Hawkins' epic solo begins at the 8:26 mark and lasts roughly 5:40.

[king ubu]

One more I'd forgotten

C'mon in - Coleman Hawkins - don't have a time on my LP but it's surely over fifteen minutes.

MG

Great track, but it's 13:19. How about "Marchin' Along" (17:40) from Tiny Grimes and Hawkins' "Blues Groove"? Never let it be said that Bean couldn't play the blues -- at least eventually.

In case Grimes is not to your taste, Hawkins' epic solo begins at the 8:26 mark and lasts roughly 5:40.

Oh yes, great track!

[Milestones]

I really like how this thread has taken off. I haven't seen much mention of avant garde stuff. I do have some minor interest in avant garde, but pretty minor indeed. On another Forum altogether I found there was a bit too much raving over avant garde artists. The long, long stuff by these artists is something I rarely find compelling. But that's me.

[Sundog]

I'm very surprised no one has mentioned this one yet but Herbie's Chameleon (15+) also came immediately to mind when is saw this thread.

[Ted O'Reilly]

Wow! 73 submissions, and no love for the Buck Clayton Jam Sessions produced for Columbia by George Avakian?

The first jazz records, I'd say, to really use the LP and tape recording to break away from the 78 limits...in 1953, 1954!

Not sessions that were "turn on the tape machine and let 'em blow", butr organized, with some lithe charts to encourage great soloists, some little riffs as springboards, and much love between players like Clayton, Hawkins, Urbie Green, Sir Charles, Freddie Green...

The Hucklebuck, Robbins' Nest, Christopher Columbus, and the SHORT ones ran 10 - 15 minutes. Great stuff that I still take off the shelf and realize that Time Goes By, but I don't notice....

[B. Clugston]

Duke Ellington, Black, Brown and/or Beige

Miles Davis, “He Loved Them Madly,” “On the Corner,” “Pharoah's Dance,” “Spanish Key,” etc.

Herbie Hancock, “Hornets,” (19:35)

Anthony Braxton, Compositions 70, 93, 96, 98, 192, etc.

Arni Cheatham/ Thing “Road Through the Wall,” (21:44).

Lee Morgan, “Search for the New Land”

Anatoly Vapirov, “The Mirror of Memory” (38)

Horace Tapscott, “The Dark Tree”

Muhal Richard Abrams, “The Bird Song” (22+)

Jackie McLean “A Long Drink of the Blues (20+)

Slava Guyvoronsky & Vladimir Volkov, “Skambha Gita” (20+)

Ned Rothenberg “Trials of the Argo” (22)