Friday, March 4, 2011

More Vandermark

My current passion is the DKV Trio: Hamid Drake on drums; Kent Kessler on bass; and Ken Vandermark on reeds.  DKV Trio discs are not easy to come by.  The eMusic folks have never heard of em, and there is nothing on Amazon.  I was able to order a couple directly from the label: Okka Disc.  They arrived by mail in less than four days. 

Trigonometry is a two disc set documenting a live performance in Rochester, New York and Kalamazoo, Michigan.  Although the discs are broken up by titled "index points", the liner notes inform us that each performance is really one long stream of music.  It works pretty much the same.  I wouldn't rank this quite as high as the Live at Chicago and Wels disc I reviewed recently, but it is superb anyway.  A lot of the music is abstract, as one would expect, but this morning when I listened to the first twenty minute cut I found myself slapping my knees and groovin down to the bedrock.  This is free jazz with a feelin. 

DKV Trio/Fred Anderson adds a tenor sax to make one mean quartet.  It is, frankly, more accessible than some of the stuff on the Trig disc.  It is very solid free jazz. 

I added a couple cuts from Trigonometry and one from the Fred Anderson disc to my Live365 page.  I also added a cut from the Vandermark 5 album, Elements of Style


Saturday, February 26, 2011

Jemeel Moondoc is Outta This World

One of the most satisfying things about jazz collecting is that I keep finding really brilliant jazz artists of whom I have never heard. Friday afternoon I chanced upon the entry for Jemeel Moondoc in the Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. That was an afternoon well spent.

Moondoc was born in 1951 in Chicago, which makes him relatively young in the circle of jazz geniuses.  He is an avant garde sax player who developed as a protege of Cecil Taylor.  Moondoc has also recorded frequently with master bass player and composer William Parker.  My love for Parker's Midas touch has deepened steadily over the last two years or so.  Everything Parker comes near turns to jazz gold.

Moondoc's album Nostalgia in Times Square is one glittering example.   In addition to Moondoc on alto and Parker on bass, Bern Nix plays guitar, Rahn Burton piano and Dennis Charles is on drums.  Don't get me wrong: this is Moondoc's work.  There are four cuts on the album including the title piece (a cover of a Mingus tune) and three Moondoc compositions.  I think that the original pieces are all better than the Mingus cover.  Best of all, you can get the MP3 download from Amazon for a cool $3.56.  You'd be very, very lucky to pick it up at a yard sale for that. 

The album is very accessible jazz with an avant garde bite to it.  I have added "Flora" to my Live365 play list.  That is the best of the four cuts, but all of them are good.  "In Walked Monk" is a nice piece of homage, but I think that the last cut, "Dance of the Clowns" is both better and more Monkish.  This is superb jazz.  Take my word for it and download the album.  I'll be picking up some more Moondoc after payday.

Thursday, February 17, 2011

DKV Trio Live at Wels & Chicago

Holy smoking reeds, Batman!  I didn't get around to listening to the second half of the two disc set: DKV Trio Live at Wels & Chicago until tonight.  As mentioned in the previous post, DKV is Hamid Drake on percussion, Kent Kessler on bass, and Ken Vandermark on reeds.  I read somewhere that Vandermark is the greatest living jazz horn player.  After listening to "Blues for Tomorrow", I can no longer dismiss that as hyperbole.  The power of Vandermark's bluesy solo is simply breathtaking.  He got a hold on my heart and squeezing it for nearly twenty minutes.  Pretty much the same goes for the other two tracks on the second disc. 

I uploaded the cut to my Live365 station.  I think you can order the disc from Okkadisk.  It seems to me a crime that no DKV recordings are available from eMusic or Amazon.  I do not understand why.  You'll have to wait for it to come around on my station, and there is almost nine hours of music on it now.  Take my word for it and order the recording from Okkadisk.  They are only asking 15 bucks.  Meanwhile, here is a clip from YouTube


Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Apologies for being AWOL

I haven't posted for weeks, and I feel bad about that.  I have been adding music to my live365 site.  I am filling it up gradually.  I wish I had time to post play lists, but right now I don't. 

I haven't entirely neglected my collecting.  Today I acquired a rare disc: DKV Trio-Live In Wels & Chicago.   It wasn't easy to come by.  The V is reed player Ken Vandermark.  Vandermark is one of the most inventive and expansive jazz artists I know of.  His group The Vandermark Five has produced a number of astonishing recordings.  I recommend Airports For Light, Burn the Incline, and Elements of Style

The D is Hamid Drake on drums and the K is Kent Kessler on bass.  This is a delicious and very edgy jazz trio.  The recording and the playing is brilliant.  The music is very soulful.  I put a couple of cuts on my 365 site. 

Monday, January 17, 2011

Some New Music on Live365

I've been swamped lately.  One of these days I'm going to get things right.  Or so says Mose Allison.  I have added an hour of music to my Live365 channel.  I started with a Mose Allison gem.  The rest are from albums that I purchased when I first began buying jazz records.  Here is a playlist:

  1. Mose Allison/Days Like This/The Word from Mose Allison
  2. Bill Evans Trio/Pensativa/Crosscurrents
  3. Warne Marsh/Blues in G Flat/The Unissued Copenhagen Studio Session
  4. Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane/Freight Trane/Kenny Burrell and John Coltrane
  5. Kenny Burrell/ Midnight Blue/Midnight Blue
  6. Zoot Sims/Jitterbug Waltz/Warm Tenor
  7. Zoot Sims/You Go To My Head/Warm Tenor
  8. Wes Montgomery/Come Rain or Shine/The Complete Riverside Recordings
  9. Bill Evans/The Days of Wine and Roses/Affinity
  10. Bill Evans/Blue and Green/Affinity
The Allison piece speaks for itself.  Crosscurrents, with Warne Marsh  Lee Konitz backing the Bill Evans Trio (Eddi Gomez on bass and Eliot Zigmund on drums), was one of the albums that hooked me into jazz.  I follow it with Warne Marsh from an unissued recording that got issued.  

I bought a bunch of albums with Kenny Burrell on them after I saw Burrell in concert in Southern California.  Burrell and Trane is a great example.  But I think that Midnight Blue is one of those albums that ought to be at the top of the list.  The recording is superb, and the playing is transcendental.  From Discogs.com:
Bass - Major Holley  Congas - Ray Barretto  Drums - Bill English Tenor Saxophone - Stanley Turrentine

Zoot Sims' Warm Tenor was one of my first purchases, back in Jonesboro Arkansas when I was still mowing my parent's lawn.  That is about as revealing an album title as ever I saw.  From the All Music Guide: This quartet set with pianist Jimmy Rowles, bassist George Mraz and drummer Mousie Alexander.  

I had a double album by Wes Montgomery.  I don't know for sure if this piece was on it, but it is a good sample of what I fell in love with.  If Zoot's horn was warm, Wes had about as warm a line as any guitar jazz man. Now that I think about it, I am sure that this was on the original album because I recorded it and played on the stereo at the liquor store where I worked.  My boss complained. 

I added a couple of pieces from Affinity, with Bill Evans and Toots Thielemans on harmonica.  Same trio as above, with Larry Schneider on horns.  This is just exquisite jazz. 


Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Insufficiently Sung Sidemen/Commentary

Intrepid reader had done a masterful job of interpreting my current playlist.  I am tempted to leave it at that.  But I will resist the temptation.  

I began with a duo by Mal Waldron and Marion Brown, because I wanted to feature Brown.  Brown is one of those big souls who leaves a small mark.  But don't miss it!  I followed that with a piece from John Coltrane's album Afro Blue Impressions.  This is part of a body of work recorded by Trane in Europe in 1963.  I think you can get a box with all of it.  The piece is Naima, one of the most beautiful ballads in modern jazz.  Bass - Jimmy Garrison, Drums - Elvin Jones , Piano - McCoy Tyner.  

I offered that only to set up the next piece by Archie Shepp from Four For Trane.  Listening to Trane's version, you can really appreciate the invention in Shepp's groundbreaking album.  Bass - Reggie Workman ,Drums - Charles Moffett ,Saxophone [Alto] - John Tchicai ,Saxophone [Tenor] - Archie Shepp, Trombone - Roswell Rudd , Trumpet - Alan Shorter.  I am simply amazed by this work. 

That got me to Marion Brown's album, Three For Shepp.  The connection is obvious, and it offers an example of how I listen to music: like a bloodhound following a trail.   Bass - Sirone, Drums - Bobby Capp ,Piano - Stanley Cowell, Trombone - Grachan Moncur III.  

The rest of the playlist is devoted to Andrew Cyrille, Grachan Moncur III, a lot of Reggie Workman, and Booker Ervin.  I hope to offer some more information, but for now this will have to do.  Love to all.  

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Insufficiently Sung Sidemen/Playlist

Here is the play list for the first Jazz Note of 2011.  This shows focuses on a number of jazz artists who made a big mark as sidemen but are relatively unheard of as leaders.  As always the show can be heard at http://www.live365.com/stations/kcblanchard. I will provide a list of musicians and some commentary as soon as I can.  

The show will debut about 8pm Central Time tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 2nd). 

  1. Mal Waldron & Marion Brown/Inch Worm/Much More!/Mal Waldron piano; Marion Brown Alto Sax
  2. John Coltrane/Naima/Afro Blue Impressions
  3. Archie Shepp/Naima/Four For Trane
  4. Marion Brown/West India/Three for Shepp
  5. Marion Brown/La Sorrella/Why Not?
  6. Mal Waldron & Marion Brown/Contemplation/Songs of Love and Regret
  7. Andrew Cyrille/Metamuscian's Stomp/Metamuscian's Stomp
  8. Andrew Cyrille/The Navigator/The Navigator
  9. Miles Davis/Stuff/Miles in the Sky
  10. Archie Shepp/Ujamma/Live in New York
  11. Grachan Moncur III/The Twins/Some Other Stuff
  12. Grachan Moncur III/The Coaster/Evolution
  13. Wayne Shorter/Genesis/The All Seeing Eye
  14. Wayne Shorter/502 Blues (Drinking and Driving)/Adam's Apple
  15. Wayne Shorter/Night Dreamer/Night Dreamer
  16. Reggie Workman/Meteor/Summit Conference
  17. Reggie Workman/Summit Conference/Summit Conference
  18. Horace Tapscott/Aiee! The Phantom/Aiee! The Phantom 
  19. Mal Waldron/Crowd Scene/Crowd Scene
  20. Booker Ervin/The Trance/The Trance
  21. Booker Ervin/You Don't Know What Love Is/Heavy!
  22. Booker Ervin/A Day To Mourn//Freedom Book
  23. Charles Mingus/You Better Git Hit In Your Soul/Mingus at Antibes
  24. Archie Shepp/Sophisticated Lady/The Way Ahead