Oliver Lake & Other New Music on Jazz Note

I've been grovin' to sax man (alto and soprano) Oliver Lake' magnificent Dat Love.  The album features Lyndon Achee on steel drums, which sounds weird.  On an Aurthur Blythe album that would make for a kind of Tiki Hut atmosphere.  On this album the drum simply replaces the piano.  The music is exquisite.  Reggie Washington plays electric bass and Damon Duewhite is on drums.  I've uploaded Stolen Moments, the Oliver Nelson composition that starts off the famous Blues and the Abstract Truth, and D2, a Lake composition. 

I also added 

• Dave Liebman Trio/Gallop's Gallop/Monk's Mood
• Dave Liebman Trio/Nutty/Monk's Mood
• Serge Chaloff/I've Got The World on a String/Blue Serge
• Mal Waldron Trio/Spaces/Our Colline's A Treasure
• Charlie Mingus/Black Bats and Poles/Changes Two
• Lars Guillin/Danny's Dream/Danny's Dream

New Music on Live365

Here is some more jazz uploaded to my Live365 station.  If you are listening to that station and happen to check this blog out, drop me a comment. 

1. Henri Texier/In The Years of the Dragon/Respect
2. Jim Snidero/Infant Eyes/Blue Afternoon
3. Mike DiRubbo Quartet/New Year's Dream/New York Accent: Live at the Kitano
4. Ornette Coleman/Street Woman/The Complete Science Fiction Sessions
5. Anthony Braxton/Dewey Square/Charlie Parker Project
6. Reid Anderson/Every Day is Beautiful/Abolish Bad Architecture
7. Thelonious Monk/Round Midnight/Live at the It Club
8. Wayne Shorter/Deluge/Juju

Recent Live365 Program

My Live365 program has about ten hours of jazz on it now.  I haven't had the time/energy to post a complete play list here, but I will try to list new stuff as I add it.  Here is what went up this week:

1. William Parker/Sunday Morning March/Scrapbook
2. Thelonious Monk/Misterioso/Misterioso
3. Steve Lacy and Eric Watson/Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/Spirit of Mingus
4. Rob Garcia Quartet/Perennial/Perennial
5. Joe Henderson/Y Todavia La Quiero/Relaxin' at Camarillo
6. David Murray/India/Octet Plays Trane
7. Chico Freeman/Infant Eyes/The Unspoken Word

That's a pretty good slice of music.  Most of it is relatively unknown.  The William Parker album is a "violin trio" with Parker on bass, Hamid Drake on drums, and Billy Bang on violin.  It gives the album a classical touch but the arrangements are a range of African American roots music.   The Steve Lacy/Eric Watson album is what you get when you get a Steve Lacy duet.  

I am still rather possessed by the DKV Trio albums I posted about earlier.  This is certainly the most captivating free jazz I have ever heard. 

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. 

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.

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

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.