Back to Basics @ Jazz Note

The spiking of a previous post got me to reviewing the blog in general. It occurred to me of a sudden that, despite generally being careful with computer files, I didn't have a backup copy of the blog. I remedied that. It also occurs to me that I am less likely to draw fire from irate acronyms like IFPI if I do not leave my samples up permanently. So I am going back and removing old links. The entries will still be there, but the samples will no longer be available.

Finally, I am doing a little back to basics thinking. The original focus of the blog was Hard Bop, centering on the work of Miles Davis. I originally had in mind a structured approach to jazz collecting, and while I have provided some of that, I have been too lazy to keep much focus. Also, my tastes have developed a lot since I started this thing. As you may have noticed, I have acquired an affection for avant garde jazz.

Here is a nod, at least, to the Jazz Note banner. The period of jazz I focused on initially begins in the mid-fifties with Miles. One good point to pin a flag to would be the recordings issued under the title Blue Haze. It runs to about 1969, when Miles records In a Silent Way. I think that, between the two dates, almost all the jazz I listen to takes form in Miles' music and of course a lot of other jazz artists.

To appreciate the beginning, compare a cut from Miles' celebrated Complete Birth of the Cool, 1948-50, with one of the cuts from Blue Haze, from March, 1954. I think you will notice that, by comparison, the former has a rather antique feel to it.

Miles Davis/Israel/The Complete Birth of the Cool

Miles Davis/Four/Blue Haze