BFT 248 - Time To Play!!!

[Joe]

(1) This drummer feels familiar. Something about the crispness of the accents. And that turnaround or fill he plays… where have I encountered this groove before? (Vocal kicks in.) Ah, its the Headhunters. With or without Herbie? Not sure. But that’s Mike Clark drumming and, I suppose, singing. Bennie Maupin doing Bennie Maupin things. I totally forgot about this record.

(2) This starts out sounding like the Taj Mahal Travellers or something… ring modulated violin? Certainly sounds like a stringed instrument. “Hey Jude” I was not expecting, nor the brass. The sensibility says Carla Bley, but I can’t be sure. It might not be irreverent enough. (Trumpet solo with echo/delay) Ah, I think this might be a Don Ellis venture. Whatever it is, its a trip! (The late 60s truly were the golden age of ring mod. See also: Annette Peacock.) Yet somehow this is also carrying a certain progressive big band tradition forward.

(3) The vibrato and color of the tenor sounds a bit like Stan Getz. Could this be from his Burt Bacharach record? I don’t recognize the tune, but it has the outlines of a pop song. Bouncy but relaxed. The solo is as soaring as you might expect / hope from Getz during this era… if it’s Getz. But it almost has to be!

(4) No idea! But I like the “shadowing” of guitar and bass on the intro. What relationship does this have, if any, to Ellington’s “Star-Crossed Lovers”? (Instrumental break.) Ah, well, I guess it actually a cover / reinterpretation of same. Intriguing! The rap here feels less like the point that the ostensibly background vocal. I’m betting I’ll be saying “of course” once these names are named! Also, nice beat - VERY 90s.

(5) This feels “programmed” in a good way. The audio is warbly / crunchy in a J. Dilla kind of way. But how much is sampled? And who is this vocalist? (2:40.) This make me think this might be a remix. But of who? I’m just not up enough on my contemporary jazz vocalists to say. But whoever this is has got a little more soul (music) in him than, say, your Mark Murphy types. (No offense to Mark Murphy.) He’s no Marvin Gaye, but there’s something about how he plays wihin his pretty wide vocal range that evokes Marvin. Will be interested to learn who this is? Props to the bass player too!

(6) Milt Buckner? Tonally, maybe, but this player has a different relationship to the beat. Slippery! Something tells me this is a player who may be more at home in avant settings. Those changes under the sax soloist actually sound pretty Sun Ra-lke to me. And the sax soloist’s articulation sounds kinda Gilmore-like, too. If this is Ra, Its from a record I don’t know at all. Gotta listen to this one again and just listen to the bass pedals! Landing stuck… maybe not.

(7) The synth is really throwing me off in the sense that the horn players sound so familiar but this seems like the “wrong” (I just mean unexpected) setting for them. Is this late period Eddie Harris? He sounds like he’s laboring a bit here and there. (2:15-ish.) Those licks sure sound Sonny-like, but by way of Joe Henderson. The presence of trombone makes me think this might be Sonny with Clifton Anderson. There is a lot of bop in this line. Why am I not trusting that this is Sonny? Because I don’t really know his 80s and 90s records, but I’m going to say its Sonny in chameleon mode. Honestly, this is a bit of a mess, but its weirdly tight, too. (5:20-ish.) Gotta be Sonny!

(8) Pizzicato! Gary McFarland? Its certainly odd enough to be McFarland, and I do hear vibes. The writing for the string section is particularly out there. How long has this subverting of genres been going on? This drummer is shuffling to the beat of another, um, drummer for sure. And what is going on the last minute here? Now it's almost a different tune! Trombone… Kai Winding. It has a distinct mid-60s Verve vibe for sure. I suppose it could also be one of those JJ Johnson RCAs from about the same time. I don't know them, but I seem to recall they feature larger bands. I look forward to being surprised by the reveal on this one.

EDIT: OK, I could not help myself and had to do some sleuthing on this. DO NOT CLICK HERE UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS!

(9) The Godfather! And so we kind of come half-full circle to another funky drummer. Interesting to compare / contrast the BPM of this track with the first one. To paraphrase Jimi Hendrix: if 76 were 74. I think I might have slept on John Morgan. Jamming of the highest order. I mean, the way these classic JB tracks ebb and flow but maintain a consistent intensity.

A joyful note on which to end a joyful BFT!

Edited Sunday at 01:11 PM by Joe

[JSngry]

6 hours ago, Joe said:

(1) This drummer feels familiar. something about the crispness of the accents. And that turnaround or fill he plays… where have I encountered this groove before? (voval kicks in) Ah, its the Headhunters. With or without Herbie? Not sure. But that’s Mike Clark drumming and, I suppose, singing. Bennie Maupin doing Bennie Maupin things. I totally forgot about this record.

Not Mike Clark singing, but otherwise we'll call you George Washington because you're on the money! "Benny Maupin things", yes, and a lot of different things those things are! Have a look here as to how familiar the drum beat is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_of_the_Fittest_(album)

(2) This starts out sounding like the Taj Mahal Trellers or something… ring modulated violin? Certainly sounds like a stringed instruments. “Hey Jude” I was not expecting, nor the brass. The sensibility says Carla Bley, but I can’t be sure. It might not be irreverent enough. (Trumpet solo with echo/delay) Ah, I think this might be a Don Ellis venture. Whatever it is, its a trip! (The late 60s truly were the golden age of ring mod. See also: Annette Peacock.) Yet somehow this is also carrying a certain progressive big band tradition forward.

We played this once a while back at Shawn's place, and I recall your basic reaction being the same - that it's a trip. I concur, and for several reasons! First and foremost, no you're not expecting "Hey Jude". Why should you be? How COULD you be?!?!?!

(3) The vibrato and color of the tenor sounds a bit like Stan Getz. COuld this be from his Burt Bachrach record? I don’t recognize the tune, but it has the outlines of a pop song. Bouncy but relaxed. The solo is as soaring as you might expect / hope from Getz during this era… if it’s Getz. But it almost has to be!

Identified right away by Felser, but I like your description as "soaring". I find it to be very much that.

(4) No idea! But I like the “shadowing” of guitar and bass on the intro. What realtionship does this have, if any, to Ellington’s “Star-Crossed Lovers”? (Instrumental break) Ah, well, I guess it actually a cover / reinterpretation of same. Intriguing! The rap here feels less like th point that the ostensibly background vocal. I’m betting I’ll be saying “of course” once these names are named! Also, nice beat - VERY 90s.

Congrats! You're the first to recognize the Duke connection. I hope you do have an "of course" coming, because I have no idea who these people are. They seem to have some repute though.

(5) This feels “programmed” in a good way. The audio is warbly / crunchy in a J. Dilla kind of way. But how much is sampled? And who is this vocalist? (2:40), This make me think this might be a remix. But of who? I’m just not up enough on my contemporary jazz vocalists to say. But whoever this is has got a little more soul (music) in him than, say, your Mark Murphy types. (No offense to Mark Murphy.) He’s no Marvin Gaye, but there’s something about how he plays wihin his pretty wide vocal range that evokes Marvin. Will be interested to learn who this is? Props to the bass player too!

Your assessment of the construction  is correct. I will say that the tweaking of the original vocals brings out the Soul elements of the vocal that are maybe buried in the original.  I also heard some Marvin-ness here, btw. Your Mark Murphy comment is...interesting! But I'm not sure that's an actual basist?

(6) Milt Buckner? Tonally, maybe, but this player has a different relationship to the beat. Slippery! Something tells me this is a player who may be more at home in avant settings. Those changes under the sax soloist actually sounds pretty Sun Ra-lke to me. And the sax soloist’s articualtion sounds kinda Gilmore-like, too. If this is Ra, Its from a record I don’t know at all. Gotaa listen to this one again and just listen to the bass pedals! Landing stuck… maybe not.

Have confidence in your landing!

(7) The synth is really throwing me off in the sense that the horn players sound so familair but this seems llike the “wrong” (I just mean unexpected) setting for them. Is this late period Eddie Harris? He sounds like he’s laboring a bit here and there. (2:15-ish). Those licks sure sound Sonny-like, but by way of Joe Henderson. The presence of trombone makes me think this might be Sonny with Clifton Anderson. There is a lot of bop in this line. Why am I not trusting that this is Sonny? Becuase I don’t really know his 80s and 90s records, but I’m going to say its Sonny in chameleon mode. Honestly, this is a bit of a mess, but its weirdly tight, too. (5:20-ish) Gotta be Sonny!

It does indeed! And the messy tightness is as much a function of the drummer as well as Sonny himself (what you hear as messy, I hear as elastic). If you've got an "of course" coming, it will be there.

(8) Pizzicato! Gary McFarland? Its certainly odd enough to be McFarland, and I do hear vibes. The writing for the string section is particularly out there.How long has this subverting of genres been going on? This drummer is suffling to the beat of another, um, drummer for sure. And what is going on the last minute here - almost a different tune! Trombone… Kai Winding. It has a distinct mid-60s Verve vibe for sure. I suppose it could also be one of those JJ Johnson RCAs from about the same time. I don't know them, but I seem to recall they feature larger bands. I look forward to being surprised by the reveal on this one.

EDIT: OK, I could not help myself and had to do some sleuthing on this. DO NOT CLICK HERE UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND SPOILERS!

DAMN YOU!!!!

(9) The Godfather! And so we kind of come half-full circle to another funky drummer. Interesting to compare / contrast the BLM of this track with the first one. To paraphrase Jimi Hendrix: if 76 were 74. I think I might have slept on John Morgan. Jamming of the highest order. I mean, the way these classic JB tracks ebb and flow but maintain a consistent intensity.

Like I said, God made him funky. People who listen with one type of ears will just here a deathly repetition. But other ears will here the "ebb and flow" while at the same time not moving one micro-second.  Intensity indeed!

A joyful note on which to end a joyful BFT!

Thanks for feeling the joy, and thanks for your thorough and thoughtful responses!

[rostasi]

Just now got to this - and it sure was fun!
(I sure was surprised by you having #5 tho - LOL!).

thanks!

 

Edited Sunday at 06:32 PM by rostasi

[JSngry]

I've had it for years, courtesy of some blog! Been wanting to include it for a while but it didn't fit the flow of any of them until now.

[tkeith]

Well, you might be sorry you reminded me, man. 

Track 1 - Wha!?  Sorry man, not feeling this one at all.  I mean, it's not insulting, I just... meh.  Doesn't feel as funky as it thinks it is.

Track 2 - I'm lost.  Hey Jude just started, but why?  Man, I respect the hell out of your ears, but we're 0-for-2 here. I feel like I'm listening to The Shaggs.  I made it through, but no, thank you.

Track 3 - Sounds like Getz to me.  Maybe that awful record Herb Alpert produced?  Had it at the college radio station -- I was not a fan.  Definitely sounds like that (not a strong outing here from Stan).  It's musical, but not my bag.

Track 4 - I REALLY don't want to like this, but at the 2 minute mark, the horns came in and won me over.  I won't say I LIKE it, but it's pretty good.  I like the execution if not the style, how's that?

Track 5 - No.  I don't care for the voice, nor the execution.  I'd take Hal the drum machine and drop it off the top of the nearest building.  Hard pass.  Three minutes in and a very real chance I'm not going to make it out of this song.  Piano solo interested me enough to stay, but pity it's buried in horrid effects and that attrocious drum machine.  Vocals are back, I'm done.

Track 6 - The sound of this recording rubs (those drums are very compressed).  But this feels like it's REAL.  Didn't have that from the last one, at all.  Okay, that's Gilmore, so this explains much.  I know I have this, but clearly have not played it enough.  Gilmore is like Waldron for me, I'd listen to either set his glass on a piano, because it would be musical.  You were in the running for one of my least favorite BFTs, Jim (which shocks me!), but this fixes a whole lot.  I can think of some world leaders who should have been exposed to this earier in life.  (Yeah, I said it.)

Track 7 - Oof.  The geek who created that keyboard sound, if there is any justice, [self-deleted].  Not a great Sonny Rollins outing.  So, that must be Clifton.  I mean, the worst Sonny is still worth it to hear him, but this clearly somewhat later, when the time slipped a bit.  I think this is after I saw him (mid-90s).  I wish I'd gotten to see the late 70's (Don't Ask) band. Keys, sadly, sound exactly like a Snoopy compilation I have that has a track by Kenny G, and it's EXACTLY this horrid synth sound.  Ugh.  

Track 8 - Not sure why, but something about the creepy 60's-ness of this has me kind of liking it.  I'd never put it on, but it's got me at the moment.  

Track 9 - James gets me.  

Latter half of the test was a lot more to my liking.  Felser, pressure is on for December!   

On 11/8/2024 at 6:15 PM, JSngry said:

Not on my part, no. I think that's Thom Keith's doing. He's a car guy this year, it looks like. 😀 

248 area code.  I always try to link the photo to the number of the test in some way.  A little game to amuse myself.

On 11/9/2024 at 9:59 AM, Big Al said:

FWIW, I couldn't download this to my computer but I was able to listen to it directly from the site. Now for the ramblings:

 

Definitely worth knowing, for me.  It DL'd fine on my end.  Did you get an error?  If so, I'd like to know that (in general and for all).  If there are glitches on the site, I like to fix them, but I only learn of them when a user encounters them.  If anything is broken, if you and send me a screen shot of any error message and the browser you're using (including version, if possible).  This concludes this tech support moment. 

[JSngry]

18 minutes ago, tkeith said:

Well, you might be sorry you reminded me, man.  Honest responses are always welcome. Maybe you and Dan can compare notes on who likes it least!

Track 1 - Wha!?  Sorry man, not feeling this one at all.  I mean, it's not insulting, I just... meh.  Doesn't feel as funky as it thinks it is. Or maybe funkier than you think it is? Maybe? This is a group with serious funk cred...and the tenor player is a master player, this is just one of their bags. Oh well!

Track 2 - I'm lost.  Hey Jude just started, but why?  Man, I respect the hell out of your ears, but we're 0-for-2 here. I feel like I'm listening to The Shaggs.  I made it through, but no, thank you. Quite the antithesis of The Shaggs!!! OTOH, maybe with no reference point, it can be a bit, uh...weird...it is that, to be sure.

Track 3 - Sounds like Getz to me.  Maybe that awful record Herb Alpert produced?  Had it at the college radio station -- I was not a fan.  Definitely sounds like that (not a strong outing here from Stan).  It's musical, but not my bag. Nothing to do with Herb Alpert here...I know that record and don't like it either. I don't even like all of THIS record, but this cut just has a certain winsome vibe that I like. But vibes are subjective, to be sure.

Track 4 - I REALLY don't want to like this, but at the 2 minute mark, the horns came in and won me over.  I won't say I LIKE it, but it's pretty good.  I like the execution if not the style, how's that? It's another strange cut. The horns are what made it for me too. You might (should?) recognize what they are playing?

Track 5 - No.  I don't care for the voice, nor the execution.  I'd take Hal the drum machine and drop it off the top of the nearest building.  Hard pass.  Three minutes in and a very real chance I'm not going to make it out of this song.  Piano solo interested me enough to stay, but pity it's buried in horrid effects and that attrocious drum machine.  Vocals are back, I'm done. The singer is pretty well known, but this is a (totally unauthorized) digitally tweaked performance of one of his Blue Note records. I like the drum program both because in a weird way it reminds me of Vernel Fournier and because it sounds like feet shuffling on a dance floor. Like the dancers on the live version of Rite Of Spring (original choreography), the dancers become part of the music itself. I like dancers, and most of this compilations had dancers/dancing in mind.

Track 6 - The sound of this recording rubs (those drums are very compressed).  But this feels like it's REAL.  Didn't have that from the last one, at all.  Okay, that's Gilmore, so this explains much.  I know I have this, but clearly have not played it enough.  Gilmore is like Waldron for me, I'd listen to either set his glass on a piano, because it would be musical.  You were in the running for one of my least favorite BFTs, Jim (which shocks me!), but this fixes a whole lot.  I can think of some world leaders who should have been exposed to this earier in life.  (Yeah, I said it.) Same page here! And the title of this album...world leaders indeed!

Track 7 - Oof.  The geek who created that keyboard sound, if there is any justice, [self-deleted].  Not a great Sonny Rollins outing.  So, that must be Clifton.  I mean, the worst Sonny is still worth it to hear him, but this clearly somewhat later, when the time slipped a bit.  I think this is after I saw him (mid-90s).  I wish I'd gotten to see the late 70's (Don't Ask) band. Keys, sadly, sound exactly like a Snoopy compilation I have that has a track by Kenny G, and it's EXACTLY this horrid synth sound.  Ugh.  It's a DX7, and I'm finding out that there's not a lot of love for that sound these days. But as with analog synths, nostalgia will take hold and they'll be hip again. I might differ with you about Sonny's time, though, I don't think it's slipping, I think it's elasticizing. I listened to Sonny Please last night and his tone was starting to weaken, but the time was still dead on. I heard an NBA commentator talking about Klay Thompson's 3 and he said "he'll have that all his life, it's the last thing to go". I feel that way about Sonny's time.

Track 8 - Not sure why, but something about the creepy 60's-ness of this has me kind of liking it.  I'd never put it on, but it's got me at the moment.  

Avant-Garde Muzak. A very rare (and neglected!) genre. This album is a weird one, but you might put it one once in a while just to delight inhow something that seems so natural is apparently not easily accomplished. And then put it up for another 10 years or so....

Track 9 - James gets me.  

Hell yeah. As does Maceo, who can play inside this groove like none other.

Latter half of the test was a lot more to my liking. 

I never expect everybody to like everything (and am never disappointed about that!). Like I said, honest opinions are what counts, and if you have thoguhtful reasons for why you don't like something, that's all good. So thank you for participating!

51 minutes ago, tkeith said:

Definitely worth knowing, for me.  It DL'd fine on my end. 

Did your DL have thumbnails on two cuts? I tried everything to get rid of them and couldn't. I was just happy that the player itself didn't get hung on them.

[JSngry]

Homestretch hints/etc.

TRACK FOUR - Found on an album that was one of a themed multi-artist series that ran for several years.

TRACK FIVE - A totally underground release, but the singer might be familiar and is in no way unknown!

TRACK SEVEN - Any comments about the drummer?

[webbcity]

Finally got to this! An interesting listen for sure. Here are my thoughts as I listened... 

Track 1 - The drums! Perfection. Tasty! Hell yes... this is how you build a groove. I feel like I'm in a Masterclass. That guitar riff is killer and I love how it locks in with the bass part and the 2nd guitar. How do I not know this? God Made Me Funky? Damn. Love it. Getting shades of Larry Graham from the bass player. Sax solo unfortunately is a bit too "heady" for me though... I'm waiting for them to cut loose and it's not happening. Feels too controlled. The only thing out of place for me on what is a killer track. Oh hold the phone... wtf just happened? Is this another sax player? Or the same person with effects? I take it all back. Holy smokes... was not expecting that. Off the charts! Five stars for this.

Track 2 - And now for something completely different? This is very cool. Wasn't sure what was generating the sounds initially, but is this all triggered by a trumpet? Wow. Oh man, what the hell? Hey Jude? This is nuts! In the best possible way. Hahaha! This is epic. I seriously love this. The marching band part is fantastic. Damn! How big is this band? Hold everything... is this Don Ellis?? Zoinks. I really thought this was something much more recent. Never thought I liked Don a whole lot but I really dig this. Most excellent. Can only imagine what it must have been like to be in the audience at this show. Those hits near the end are POWERFUL. Yowwww!

Track 3 - Nice feel right from the beginning and I dig the horns a lot... the way they're recorded too. This is definitely "of a time" and that's a good thing. Is this another pop tune reinterpreted? Seems familiar... there are a few notes in the melody that sound suspiciously like "You've Got a Friend." Nothing earth-shattering for me on this one but it's very enjoyable. Wait, is this a Simon & Garfunkel tune? Damn, this is killing me.

Track 4 - A hip hop interpretation of Romeo & Juliet is not something I thought I needed, but what the hell? I like the groove but this is just ok for me. I really just dabble in hip hop and am pretty picky about what I like. This is obviously very good but doesn't push many buttons for me.

Track 5 - So this sounds like one of those DJ things where someone overlays new grooves & sounds over an older recording? I think this one will probably fall a little flat for me too. Would love to hear the original recording, I like the vocalist here a lot. But the "drums" are just annoying to me honestly. Wish I could do this but I can't.

Track 6 - The beginning of this is a bit distracting for me as I'm having trouble finding the downbeat! I assume that's intentional? Sounds like there's some rhythmic trickery happening but in the end the net effect for me is that it sounds very un-swinging. Or maybe the organist and drummer are from another planet and I'm just not advanced enough to get the language. The tenor player helps things along a bit. Boy. Yeah, I am having trouble with this one for sure. Just not getting it. Maybe I need to listen again.

Track 7 - Yikes, that keyboard sound. Once the tune gets going I can hear some good stuff happening here though. But wow this is dated. OK, is this 80s Sonny Rollins? I like some of that stuff quite a bit but not sure about this one so far. Feels very stilted and stiff. There are good moments here but overall this is just ok for me.

Track 8 - This is kind of interesting. Lush arrangement for sure! I like the wordless vocals and the strings. This is almost Esquivel-adjacent. The trombonist-- very nice. Great sound. Guitarist sounds a bit like Burrell to me maybe? This was fun. And I dig the drum hits there right at the end on the fade-out.

Track 9 - Well, it's the Godfather of Soul! 'Nuff said! Don't know this one though. What a great band. Is this Bootsy era? I like the bit of distortion on the bass, not to mention of course the actual playing which is killer. Give the bass a taste!! Yeah this is fantastic.

Definitely a mixed bag for me, but an interesting listen nonetheless! And there are a couple things in here I'm definitely curious to know more about. Thanks Jim! 

[tkeith]

20 hours ago, JSngry said:

I never expect everybody to like everything (and am never disappointed about that!). Like I said, honest opinions are what counts, and if you have thoguhtful reasons for why you don't like something, that's all good. So thank you for participating!

Did your DL have thumbnails on two cuts? I tried everything to get rid of them and couldn't. I was just happy that the player itself didn't get hung on them.

It did not.  I wiped the files with tag stripper, and was showing nothing on my computer.  Sometimes, an image gets through, though.  I had nada.

I DID recognize Star-Crossed Lovers, but it seemed obvious enough to not bother mentioning.  Probably a reflection of my mood the past few weeks.

[JSngry]

4 hours ago, webbcity said:

Finally got to this! An interesting listen for sure. Here are my thoughts as I listened... 

Track 1 - The drums! Perfection. Tasty! Hell yes... this is how you build a groove. I feel like I'm in a Masterclass. That guitar riff is killer and I love how it locks in with the bass part and the 2nd guitar. How do I not know this? God Made Me Funky? Damn. Love it. Getting shades of Larry Graham from the bass player. Sax solo unfortunately is a bit too "heady" for me though... I'm waiting for them to cut loose and it's not happening. Feels too controlled. The only thing out of place for me on what is a killer track. Oh hold the phone... wtf just happened? Is this another sax player? Or the same person with effects? I take it all back. Holy smokes... was not expecting that. Off the charts! Five stars for this.

"...wtf just happened?" Yeah, EXACTLY!!! Between praying to be made funky and being told that God can give you anything you want....just what IS happening? Unintended consequences perhaps? Or full electric realizations? Some might think that it's a joke song, but these people have enough of a rooted spirituality that I think not. You can decide for yourself after the reveal!!!

Track 2 - And now for something completely different? This is very cool. Wasn't sure what was generating the sounds initially, but is this all triggered by a trumpet? Wow. Oh man, what the hell? Hey Jude? This is nuts! In the best possible way. Hahaha! This is epic. I seriously love this. The marching band part is fantastic. Damn! How big is this band? Hold everything... is this Don Ellis?? Zoinks. I really thought this was something much more recent. Never thought I liked Don a whole lot but I really dig this. Most excellent. Can only imagine what it must have been like to be in the audience at this show. Those hits near the end are POWERFUL. Yowwww!

I will be forever ambivalent about Don Ellis, but that just means that the stuff that hits, HITS. And this one hits for me. Personally, I think it's a pretty brutal takedown, but maybe not. But if not, then what, exactly?????

Track 3 - Nice feel right from the beginning and I dig the horns a lot... the way they're recorded too. This is definitely "of a time" and that's a good thing. Is this another pop tune reinterpreted? Seems familiar... there are a few notes in the melody that sound suspiciously like "You've Got a Friend." Nothing earth-shattering for me on this one but it's very enjoyable. Wait, is this a Simon & Garfunkel tune? Damn, this is killing me.

Felser nailed this one right off the bat. I really like this one cut. Parts of the rest of the album are better than others, but this one nails a certain quality, tells a story that is inline with the story of the song.

Track 4 - A hip hop interpretation of Romeo & Juliet is not something I thought I needed, but what the hell? I like the groove but this is just ok for me. I really just dabble in hip hop and am pretty picky about what I like. This is obviously very good but doesn't push many buttons for me.

What does it for me is the incorporation of the horns, that ties it altogether in a very unique way to meet a specific objective. Wait for the reveal!

Track 5 - So this sounds like one of those DJ things where someone overlays new grooves & sounds over an older recording? I think this one will probably fall a little flat for me too. Would love to hear the original recording, I like the vocalist here a lot. But the "drums" are just annoying to me honestly. Wish I could do this but I can't.

I'll include the OG on the reveal. It's very good, but I like this tweaked version better. And about the drum machine...I'm not at all opposed to the when done well, and this is done well, imo. A test - take this beat to your favorite drummer and see if they can cop this feel, right down to the timbres. THEN see if they have enough patience and discipline to hit that groove an HOLD IT RIGHT THERE while everybody grooves with it. In my experience, only a few drummers can do that, and they are ones with deep dance music background. Jazz (or Rock) drummers will either grow impatient and/or get bored (EGO!!!!).  Which leads me back to my long-standing belief that a jazz musician with no experience successfully playing for GOOD dancers has had an incomplete training, and cannot be expected to truly swing.

Rant over.

Track 6 - The beginning of this is a bit distracting for me as I'm having trouble finding the downbeat! I assume that's intentional? Sounds like there's some rhythmic trickery happening but in the end the net effect for me is that it sounds very un-swinging. Or maybe the organist and drummer are from another planet and I'm just not advanced enough to get the language. The tenor player helps things along a bit. Boy. Yeah, I am having trouble with this one for sure. Just not getting it. Maybe I need to listen again.

From another planet, eh? Tell me more....

Track 7 - Yikes, that keyboard sound. Once the tune gets going I can hear some good stuff happening here though. But wow this is dated. OK, is this 80s Sonny Rollins? I like some of that stuff quite a bit but not sure about this one so far. Feels very stilted and stiff. There are good moments here but overall this is just ok for me.

I989, to be exact. I grew up when all these "dated" synths were in wide use in all kinds of settings (including straight-ahead jazz) , so they don't bother me at all. But that's just me. I would, however, wonder how the drummer here contributes to stilted and stiff?

Track 8 - This is kind of interesting. Lush arrangement for sure! I like the wordless vocals and the strings. This is almost Esquivel-adjacent. The trombonist-- very nice. Great sound. Guitarist sounds a bit like Burrell to me maybe? This was fun. And I dig the drum hits there right at the end on the fade-out.

No idea who any of the players are other than the leader/trombonist.  It's a fun (and strange) little record that only the trmboniest trombone geeks will know. Me, I found it in a Woolco cutout bin and was deligthed to hear that some of it had been getting played on the local FM EX station. Music does some weird shit sometimes!

Track 9 - Well, it's the Godfather of Soul! 'Nuff said! Don't know this one though. What a great band. Is this Bootsy era? I like the bit of distortion on the bass, not to mention of course the actual playing which is killer. Give the bass a taste!! Yeah this is fantastic.

This is after Bootsy, not too long before the bottom fell out of his mojo...well, not so much fell out as just got discombobulated. But this, this is so free as to be suprahuman. SHOES!!!!

Definitely a mixed bag for me, but an interesting listen nonetheless! And there are a couple things in here I'm definitely curious to know more about. Thanks Jim! 

Certainly do appreciate you putting in the time to both listen and then respond thoughtfully. Also appreciate that you obviously listened to the end of the tracks!

56 minutes ago, tkeith said:

It did not.  I wiped the files with tag stripper, and was showing nothing on my computer.  Sometimes, an image gets through, though.  I had nada.
 

SO glad that the thumbnails didn't get passed over. I really did try everything (including some registry(?) tweaking and they SHOULD have been removed. Yet there they were...