Jazz Fans-- Name some of your favorite, less well known recordings
Just ordered an early British fusion record I hadn't heard before... Ian Carr's "Belladona". . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgDgM2sJe24&list=OLAK5uy_murbl2kM2bAN9P1nijRkSmj0daUqzQZ2U Now, I'm going to have to explore more British Jazz from this era! |
I've added links to my initial list: Some4 links are to entire albums , others to just a cut or two. I've stuck with Amazon. Spotify probably has more to offer. Next batch will be somewhat quirkier... Art Farmer Quintet "Blame it On My Youth" 1988. Contemporary https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDVeGWiE1k Gary Bartz and Sonny Fortune "Alto Memories" 1994 Verve Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzfGuKuBFU8 Nick Brignola "On A Different Level" 1990 Reservoir https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=niock+brignola+on+a+different+level Joanne Brackeen: "Where Legends Dwell" 1992 Ken Joanne Brackeen: piano/Eddie Gomez: Bass/Jack deJohnette: Drums https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJFAo2PZ5kU Jerry Bergonzi: "Tenor of the TImes" 2006 Savant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsO7ES2WPYY&list=PLccpwGk_xup_DPl8TUwU48GKjQWWII6Sq Hal Galper Quintet: "Reach Out" 1995 Steeplechase https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc2x_WEUUKo&list=OLAK5uy_mioYOHYuIKwHuQjQ6vJro6a0tvCAjC5Ps Stan Getz: "Dynasty" Re-release 2009 Verve https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Tms3V-275A&list=OLAK5uy_lb5W9kVw6YFwETtuiG8o1-4gikHrAkG34 Don Grolnick: "The Complete Blue Note Recordings" 1977 Blue Note https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDSgV3F8WyI The anthology brings together two albums: "Weaver of Dreams" and "Nightown" Slide Hampton: "Roots" 1985 Criss Cross Jazz https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Slide+Hampton+Roots Booker Ervin "Booker 'N Brass" 1998 Pacific Jazz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttj2SN5bOw And just for fun, since I mentioned it, here is Don Grolnick with Linda Rondstadt, performing "Someone to Lay Down Beside Me". Check out Grolnick's extended piano intro... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttj2SN5bOw |
Dave Holland Quartet: Conference of the Birds A 1973 ECM release featuring Holland with Barry Altschul, Anthony Braxton and Sam Rivers, One of 2 records I bought when I was in high school that opened my ears to different flavors of harmony. The other being Alice Coltrane: Universal Consciousness, from 1971. With Jimmy Garrison, Jack DeJohnette, Rashied Ali, Clifford Jarvis, Leroy Jenkins. Otherworldly string arrangements by Alice, transcribed by Ornette Coleman. Her harp arpeggios at the end of the last track on side 2 are like she is flying off into the sky as the record ends. |
I view jazz as an evolving living art form, and not a museum piece, so, I will try to focus my recommendations on recent artists and music. But i will still recommend some older stuff too, that I feel may be more obscure. It's not that I don't love all the 50's and 60's post-bop giants (Coltrane, Miles, Mingus, Dolphy, Evans, Shorter, Hill, etc. But there is so much incredible jazz being made now to discover. ECM: I include this sort of a subgenre since so much of ECM's releases have a similar aesthetic. Michael Formanek - great bass player lead quartet. 3 releases on ECM, with Craig Taborn on piano, Gerald Cleaver on drums, Tim Berne on sax. Complex time signatures abound, with great playing by all. Pretty progressive stuff, without being too out there. He also has a big band called Ensemble Colossus that is very good. All the other players listed above, have their own discography, which are very good, and progressive. Dominque Pifarely - lesser known French violinist, with excellent chops and creativity. Haven't heard all his releases, but what I have heard has been very good. Eberhard Weber - might be better known here, but he can't get enough press, AFAIC. Colors of Chloe is brilliant, but all his releases are worth checking out. Tomasz Stanko - Polish trumpet player, known as a free jazz innovator, but for ECM, he tends to be less out there. Still very creative. M-Base collective: this is a school of jazz started by Steve Coleman in the 90's. It tends to quite rhythmically complex, but still retains a groove. Steve Coleman (2014 MacArthur winner) - records in small ensembles, and larger ones. His sax playing is as good as it gets, but his composing is truly innovative. His more recent releases; Functional Arrhythmias, Synovial Joints, Morphogenesis are incredible. Other artists to check out: Ravi Coltrane (John's son), Greg Osby, Jonathan Finlayson, David Gilmore (a guitarist but not the Pink Floyd guy), Andrew Milne, and others. Fusion: Iceberg - Spanish band from the 70's, lead by the great, Max Sune on guitar. Fiery, RtF influenced stuff, with great guitar and key interplay. Alex Machacek - one of the most innovative of the modern crop of fusion guitarists. Writes and plays a quite complex version of fusion. His FAT trio recordings, and his work with Terry Bozio, and his CD [sic] are all great. McGill/Manring/Stevens - released a few recordings in the 00's. Very intense fusion, that at times can seem a bit dissonant. But loaded with jaw dropping musicianship. Forgas Band Phenomena - French fusion band, with keys, guitar, violin, trumpet, sax, drums. Great melodies all over their their releases. Hiromi - Japanese fusion phenom. She's got Chops from hell, with great sense of melody. Spaced Out - Canadian band, with one of the best current bass players, Antoine Farfad. Started as a pretty straight forward fusion band, but has added more metal influences into their heavy brand of fusion. I like this thread. I will continue to add to it, in other subgenres in the near future. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighbourhood_(album) ^^ my contribution to this thread today ^^ brilliant... 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 |
