...jAzz in books

Space is the Place

Wed, 22 May 2013 22:50:44 -0400

Space is the Place

Sun Ra That’s How I feel Lanquidity Evidence, 1978 While...

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:22:59 -0400

Sun Ra

That’s How I feel

Lanquidity

Evidence, 1978

While one can’t quite call it the Sun Ra dance album, this 1978 recording, made for a tiny Philadelphia record label, finds the Sun Ra Arkestra’s rhythm section settling into a steady groove on each of the lengthy tracks, while horns, reeds, guitars, and Sun Ra’s keyboards solo in overlapping patterns on top. The title number recalls Charles Mingus’ “Goodbye Porkpie Hat” in its slow pace and elegiac tone, while the middle three tracks have livelier beats with playing that often answers to the style of fusion played by many jazz groups in the late ’70s. “There Are Other Worlds (They Have Not Told You Of),” the nearly 11-minute concluding tune, is the closest to more familiar 1960s and early-’70s Sun Ra, with its less cohesive lead work and the “ethnic voices” that speak, sing, and whisper about outer space. Lanquidity was extremely rare in its original vinyl pressing. It was reissued by Evidence Music on September 26, 2000, with liner notes in which John Dilberto discussed Sun Ra’s 25-year residence in Philadelphia and Tom Buchler, who organized the recording session, discussed the making of the album.

Sun Ra

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:08:52 -0400

Sun Ra

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra Door of the...

Wed, 22 May 2013 07:08:42 -0400

Sun Ra & His Intergalactic Arkestra

Door of the Cosmos

Sleeping Beauty

Art Yard, 1979

The band had been working in a more groove-oriented setting off and on for over a year, as evidenced by the albums Lanquidity and On Jupiter, with both featuring prominent electric bass and electric guitar. Sleeping Beauty picks up right where On Jupiter left off, with the gentle, swaying “Springtime Again” echoing the same mellow vibe of “Seductive Fantasy” from On Jupiter. A skittering intro coalesces as different instruments pick up bits of the melody, which is then fully expressed by the horn section and ensemble vocals. It’s a simple two-chord vamp, with beautiful solos that seem to embody the reawakening and rebirth of springtime. “The Door of the Cosmos” starts with a gospel-like chant and handclaps, with comments from Ra’s electric piano and electric guitar. A strong bassline enters, very reminiscent of “A Love Supreme, Pt. 1: Acknowledgement,” but the accompanying chant celebrates the mysteries of the unknown rather than the universal truth of A Love Supreme. This track builds in intensity, but never loses its groove or becomes nearly as raucous as the Arkestra is sometimes known for. “Sleeping Beauty” is the album centerpiece, taking up all of side two. Ra’s beautiful electric piano gets things rolling, and the band falls into a peaceful groove before the vocals enter, led by the wonderful June Tyson. These songs are all built on the simplest of structures, and the playing from everyone is understated and sublime. Sleeping Beauty is truly a high point in an unwieldy discography, and something of an anomaly at the same time. There’s a good reason copies of this album go for several hundred dollars on the collector’s market, but it really deserves a proper release so more people can hear it. Outstanding.

Mary Lou Williams Syl-O-Gism Zoning Smithsonian Folkways...

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:18:52 -0400

Mary Lou Williams

Syl-O-Gism

Zoning

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 1974

Mary Lou Williams emerged in the early ’70s after a long period in which she worked in the Catholic church to resume her always stimulating career as a jazz pianist. On this CD reissue, one of her finest recordings of her later years has been brought back and augmented by two previously unissued performances. Williams performs in duos and trios with bassist Bob Cranshaw and drummer Mickey Roker, uses Zita Carno on second piano during a couple of the more avant-garde pieces, and also performs some trios with bassist Milton Suggs and Tony Waters on congas. Rather than sounding like a veteran of the 1920s, Mary Lou Williams sounds 40 years younger, shows the influence of McCoy Tyner, and hints at free jazz in spots. An often surprising set of modern jazz.

Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:53:24 -0400

Mary Lou Williams, jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

“Suit & Tie” - Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z (The...

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:22:19 -0400

“Suit & Tie” - Justin Timberlake ft. Jay-Z (The Stepkids’ Jazz Cover)

theycallmemrsharp: Let’s get clean and shine like our ancestors...

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:26:09 -0400

theycallmemrsharp:

Let’s get clean and shine like our ancestors intended, toast the heaven under the Sun while the vinyl keeps spinning, calling to the past, looking to the future, living in the present: Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Bessie Smith, Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, Jessie Faucet, Jean Toomer, Rudolph Fisher, Claude Mckay, Langston Hughes, James Weldon Johnson, Zora Neale Hurston, Arna Bontemps, Douglas, and Countee Cullen!!

Photo

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:25:56 -0400

acehotel: This Saturday at Ace Hotel New York, we’re hosting a...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:15:24 -0400

acehotel:

This Saturday at Ace Hotel New York, we’re hosting a Jazz & Technology Forum with Monthly Music Hackathon NYC as part of UNESCO International Jazz Day. It’s a chance to meet up and share knowledge, ideas and challenges among the jazz, music technology, music information research, and musicology communities, to brainstorm new possibilities and act on those possibilities quickly and in tandem. An evening concert will showcase music made that day, and the day’s discoveries will be presented on the web.

The day will start with two talks by Monthly Music Hackathon regulars Brian McFee and Ben Lacker, focusing on using new technology for research and creation, respectively. In the afternoon, you and your new best friends will share, think and make beautiful music together, culminating in a free concert open to everyone. See the full schedule on our calendar.

Alice Coltrane Paramahansa Lake Huntington Ashram...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:31:00 -0400

Alice Coltrane

Paramahansa Lake

Huntington Ashram Monastery

Impulse! 1969

This is for Richie Havens, as he journeys on to the next world to become one with the Ancestors; I know he’s in a much better place, with new challenges, wisdom to seek, and beauty to embrace. This hurts so much for me, my relationship with his music is of great proportions. His music spoke to me as a teen, and helped develop me into a man. My parents taught me how to survive the World, but Richie Havens helped me to understand my purpose in it. I met Mr. Havens in 2002, he was full of fire, and life just as I imagined. During this time his book “They Can’t Hide Us Anymore” had just hit the shelves; we spoke briefly, yet I will hold his words close to me, just as I always did, and always will.

Rest now… you have a long road ahead.

Charles Mingus Solo Dancer The Black Saint and the Sinner...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:31:00 -0400

Charles Mingus

Solo Dancer

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady

Impulse! 1963

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history. Charles Mingus consciously designed the six-part ballet as his magnum opus, and — implied in his famous inclusion of liner notes by his psychologist — it’s as much an examination of his own tortured psyche as it is a conceptual piece about love and struggle. It veers between so many emotions that it defies easy encapsulation; for that matter, it can be difficult just to assimilate in the first place. Yet the work soon reveals itself as a masterpiece of rich, multi-layered texture and swirling tonal colors, manipulated with a painter’s attention to detail. There are a few stylistic reference points —Ellington, the contemporary avant-garde, several flamenco guitar breaks — but the totality is quite unlike what came before it. Mingus relies heavily on the timbral contrasts between expressively vocal-like muted brass, a rumbling mass of low voices (including tuba and baritone sax), and achingly lyrical upper woodwinds, highlighted by altoist Charlie Mariano. Within that framework, Mingus plays shifting rhythms, moaning dissonances, and multiple lines off one another in the most complex, interlaced fashion he’d ever attempted. Mingus was sometimes pigeonholed as a firebrand, but the personal exorcism of Black Saint deserves the reputation — one needn’t be able to follow the story line to hear the suffering, mourning, frustration, and caged fury pouring out of the music. The 11-piece group rehearsed the original score during a Village Vanguard engagement, where Mingus allowed the players to mold the music further; in the studio, however, his exacting perfectionism made The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady the first jazz album to rely on overdubbing technology. The result is one of the high-water marks for avant-garde jazz in the ’60s and arguably Mingus’ most brilliant moment.

atane: “You, my audience, are all a bunch of poppaloppers. A...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:18:06 -0400

atane:

“You, my audience, are all a bunch of poppaloppers. A bunch of tumbling weeds, tumbling ’round, running from your subconscious unconscious minds…. Minds? Minds that won’t let you stop to listen to a word of artistic meaningful truth…. So you come to me, you sit in the front row, as noisy as can be. I listen to your millions of conversations, sometimes pulling them all up together and writing a symphony. But you never hear that symphony… You haven’t been told before that you’re phonies. You’re here because jazz is popular, jazz has publicity and you like to associate yourself with this sort of thing. But it doesn’t make you a connoisseur of the art because you follow it around. You’re dilettantes of style. A blind man can go to an exhibition of Picasso and Kline and not even see what works. And comment behind dark glasses. Wow! They’re the swingingest painters ever, crazy! Well, so can you. You’ve got your dark glasses and clogged-up ears…. You become the object you came to see, and you think you’re important and digging jazz when all the time all you’re doing is digging a blind, deaf scene that has nothing to do with any kind of music at all.”

Charles Mingus addressing the audience at the Five Spot in NYC.

(Photo Source)

Photo

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:16:18 -0400

Irascible, demanding, bullying, and probably a genius, Charles...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 11:14:27 -0400

Irascible, demanding, bullying, and probably a genius, Charles Mingus cut himself a uniquely iconoclastic path through jazz in the middle of the 20th century, creating a legacy that became universally lauded only after he was no longer around to bug people. As a bassist, he knew few peers, blessed with a powerful tone and pulsating sense of rhythm, capable of elevating the instrument into the front line of a band. But had he been just a string player, few would know his name today. Rather, he was the greatest bass-playing leader/composer jazz has ever known, one who always kept his ears and fingers on the pulse, spirit, spontaneity, and ferocious expressive power of jazz.

Paul Chambers Mopp Shoe Blues 1st Bassman Vee-Jay Records,...

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:08:00 -0400

Paul Chambers

Mopp Shoe Blues

1st Bassman

Vee-Jay Records, 1960

As a lead instrument in jazz, the acoustic bass was in many ways liberated by Paul Chambers, and paved the way for many others to follow. Though Pops Foster, Jimmy Blanton and Ray Brown also deserve credit, Chambers was allowed to put his bass on top, become a leader in his own right, and play lead melodies with a clear, ringing, well enunciated tone. 1st Bassman is anchored by rising stars from Detroit such as Yusef Lateef, Curtis Fuller, and adopted (from Pittsburgh) car city resident Chambers, with trumpeter Tommy Turrentine, pianist Wynton Kelly, and drummer Lex Humphries evenly balancing the session. Interestingly enough, it was recorded not in New York or the Motor City, but Chicago. Lateefwrote all of the material, save for Cannonball Adderley’s slow jam “Who’s Blues?” which was included only on the CD re-release. The emphasis on the compositions of Lateef all display a spare construct, rearing the horns to a marginal level except for solos, allowing Chambers to take care of business and control the shaping of the melodies, with little unison play involved. The small horn inserts of “Melody” give sway to the big bass strut of Chambers, with solos from Turrentine’s stoic trumpet, Lateef’s advanced tenor, and Fuller’s wanton but mushy trombone included. “Bass Region” is even more spare, a one note horn punctuation setting up lengthy solos. The slightly dour post-bopper “Retrogress” gives Kelly’s piano his due diligence, “Mopp Shoe Blues” completely offers Chambers his freedom to work out, and the ballad “Blessed” features the arco bowed bass of the leader in a mournful mood, brightened up by the effervescent and hopeful flute of the brilliant Lateef. This CD and its companion piece Go complement the preceding Blue Note sessions, comprising a small but potent body of work that few bassists have produced in modern jazz. If you are a student or lover of jazz bass, the complete Paul Chambers Vee Jay sessions, of which this is one, belongs in your home.

Goodies coming soon… Happy Record Store...

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 19:20:29 -0400

Goodies coming soon…

Happy Record Store Day

from

jAZZinBooks

Macklemore & Owuor Arunga jazz sessions: Volume 1

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:06:13 -0400

Macklemore & Owuor Arunga jazz sessions: Volume 1

Herbie Hancock Cantaloupe Island Empyrean Isles Blue Note,...

Sat, 13 Apr 2013 02:07:31 -0400

Herbie Hancock

Cantaloupe Island

Empyrean Isles

Blue Note, 1964

My Point of View and Inventions and Dimensions found Herbie Hancock exploring the fringes of hard bop, working with a big band and a Latin-flavored percussion section, respectively. On Empyrean Isles, he returns to hard bop, but the results are anything but conventional. Working with cornetist Freddie Hubbard, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams — a trio just as young and adventurous as he was — Hancock pushes at the borders of hard bop, finding a brilliantly evocative balance between traditional bop, soul-injected grooves, and experimental, post-modal jazz. Hancock’s four original concepts are loosely based on the myths of the Empyrean Isles, and they are designed to push the limits of the band and of hard bop. Even “Cantaloupe Island,” well-known for its funky piano riff, takes chances and doesn’t just ride the groove. “The Egg,” with its minimal melody and extended solo improvisations, is the riskiest number on the record, but it works because each musician spins inventive, challenging solos that defy convention. In comparison, “One Finger Snap” and “Oliloqui Valley” (alternate takes of both tracks are included as bonuses on the CD reissue) adhere to hard bop conventions, but each song finds the quartet vigorously searching for new sonic territory with convincing fire. That passion informs all of Empyrean Isles, a record that officially established Hancock as a major artist in his own right.

This weekend at MoCADA: FB Event In partnership with the...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 11:58:02 -0400

This weekend at MoCADA: FB Event

In partnership with the Farragut Houses Tenants’ Association and the Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival, MoCADA’s April Public Exchange Series will be celebrating Jazz Appreciation Month with an outdoor concert by Grammy Award winning trumpeter and producer, Maurice Brown. Join us as we celebrate Brooklyn, good music, and the Arts.