The Jazz Workshop

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Six String
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Six String » 09 Mar 2011, 19:07

Specbebop wrote:
Six String wrote:In recent years I have been enjoying his Standards Trio recordings more than his solo outings and I'm speaking of the more recent releases not older stuff. The trio is really special due to their fearless approach to improvising which really shows on their live recordings. I don't have that recording you mentioned but Tributaries sounds familiar to me. Have they recorded that before?


I don't think so.

Always Let Me Go (which is live in Tokyo) is unusual in the catalogue in that it doesn't rely on standards. I can't think of another album by the Trio like it.


I was using the Standards Trio name to identify the band members more than specifying their music. This album has been out a while hasn't it or am I getting it confused with another live album from Tokyo?
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Snarfyguy
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Snarfyguy » 09 Mar 2011, 19:41

neville harp wrote:
Snarfyguy wrote:Image

I'm a sucker for Vibraphone, be it MJQ, Bobby Hutcherson on Out to Lunch, Gong or whatever. This is a pretty sweet set, very funky and electric. Nice for a Sunday afternoon.


Have you heard Gary Burton & Keith Jarrett or Throb - both excellent, big-boned outings, Throb has tunes by Britjazz (actually South African) hero Mike Gibbs.

No, I don't know those ones. I'll keep an eye out, thanks.
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Spec
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 09 Mar 2011, 22:20

Six String wrote:I was using the Standards Trio name to identify the band members more than specifying their music. This album has been out a while hasn't it or am I getting it confused with another live album from Tokyo?


Sorry, I wasn't picking up on a love of standards (with a small s) over improv. I wanted to say that this stands out from much of the Standards Trio recordings because it doesn't rely on the standards.

It came out in about 2002. There is another live in Tokyo album which came out around the same time but was an earlier set. Jarrett does like his Japanese recordings doesn't he?

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Balboa
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Balboa » 10 Mar 2011, 07:45

Specbebop wrote:
Six String wrote:I was using the Standards Trio name to identify the band members more than specifying their music. This album has been out a while hasn't it or am I getting it confused with another live album from Tokyo?


Sorry, I wasn't picking up on a love of standards (with a small s) over improv. I wanted to say that this stands out from much of the Standards Trio recordings because it doesn't rely on the standards.



It's more than that I think - in some ways it sounds like a different band! They play some really 'out' stuff on that live album - I'll need to listen again I think. I've never heard Jarrett do anything else like it with that band.
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby BlueMeanie » 10 Mar 2011, 07:53

Specbebop wrote:Image

I like most things that Jarrett records whether it is solo (long form), solo (shorter pieces as in the most recent concerts), trio, or in other combinations. But I think this is one of the more interesting albums he has recorded. It is the trio in first class improvising form. The connection between the three players is as good as it has ever been and the music is always surprising.

Favourite moments: Tributaries which locks into the hypnotic groove and Relay


I've never got around to getting that one, but this is terrific:

Image

I can't pick any standouts on this, it's all brilliant.
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Nervous Ned
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Nervous Ned » 10 Mar 2011, 08:30

If you like Never Let Me Go ... and you shoud, it's great .. go for its immediate predecessor Inside Out. Trio recording from the Royal Festival Hall. Bar one standard at the very end, it is also completely improvised.

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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 10 Mar 2011, 09:49

Nervous Ned wrote:If you like Never Let Me Go ... and you shoud, it's great .. go for its immediate predecessor Inside Out. Trio recording from the Royal Festival Hall. Bar one standard at the very end, it is also completely improvised.


I'd forgotten that one - yes another great album.

As is Still Live.

In fact it is hard to pick a weak album from the trio in the last 15 years.

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Balboa
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Balboa » 10 Mar 2011, 13:04

I don't have 'Still Live' but I do have 'Inside Out' which I need to give some more airtime too. I can feel a bit of a Jarrett binge coming on!

He was the featured artist on Stuart Maconies Freak Zone where they played most of Koln - refreshing to hear that on the radio!
Of course, I was mostly stoned at the time.

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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 10 Mar 2011, 14:17

Balboa wrote:I don't have 'Still Live' but I do have 'Inside Out' which I need to give some more airtime too. I can feel a bit of a Jarrett binge coming on!

He was the featured artist on Stuart Maconies Freak Zone where they played most of Koln - refreshing to hear that on the radio!


I've heard that Koln is getting remastered but not been able to find anything official.

I'll be more impressed if they played the whole of La Scala on the radio.

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Balboa
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Balboa » 10 Mar 2011, 14:41

Specbebop wrote:
Balboa wrote:I don't have 'Still Live' but I do have 'Inside Out' which I need to give some more airtime too. I can feel a bit of a Jarrett binge coming on!

He was the featured artist on Stuart Maconies Freak Zone where they played most of Koln - refreshing to hear that on the radio!


I've heard that Koln is getting remastered but not been able to find anything official.

I'll be more impressed if they played the whole of La Scala on the radio.


La Scala is just incredible too - some moments of pure beauty.
Of course, I was mostly stoned at the time.

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Six String
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Six String » 10 Mar 2011, 18:24

Specbebop wrote:
Balboa wrote:I don't have 'Still Live' but I do have 'Inside Out' which I need to give some more airtime too. I can feel a bit of a Jarrett binge coming on!

He was the featured artist on Stuart Maconies Freak Zone where they played most of Koln - refreshing to hear that on the radio!


I've heard that Koln is getting remastered but not been able to find anything official.

I'll be more impressed if they played the whole of La Scala on the radio.


I've got a German pressing of Koln that sounds so great I can't imagine it getting any better.

I was looking at Inside Out the other day when I was trying to find the song Tributaries. Like Balboa, I haven't really heard it enough to really comment on it. I think I'll give it spin. Since I bought that Blue Note box of the trio I've been playing it quite a bit when I've gotten in the mood for his trio work. I've also been playing Jasmine quite a bit and I'm starting to enjoy it more after my original disappointment. I still prefer The Melody At Night With You but it doesn't have Charlie Haden on it.
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 10 Mar 2011, 20:15

Six String wrote:I've got a German pressing of Koln that sounds so great I can't imagine it getting any better.

I was looking at Inside Out the other day when I was trying to find the song Tributaries. Like Balboa, I haven't really heard it enough to really comment on it. I think I'll give it spin. Since I bought that Blue Note box of the trio I've been playing it quite a bit when I've gotten in the mood for his trio work. I've also been playing Jasmine quite a bit and I'm starting to enjoy it more after my original disappointment. I still prefer The Melody At Night With You but it doesn't have Charlie Haden on it.



Six String: I know you state a current preference for the trio over solo but have you heard either of the more recent solo albums (Paris/London and Carnegie Hall)? They are both beautiful.

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Six String
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Six String » 10 Mar 2011, 21:47

I have the Carnegie Hall discs which I bought the week it came out but I was a little underwhelmed by disc one although I did really like disc two. I haven't played it in a really long time so maybe I do need to have a Jarrett festival. I don't have the Paris/London recording. How does it compare, content wise to C-Hall?
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 11 Mar 2011, 12:37

Six String wrote:I have the Carnegie Hall discs which I bought the week it came out but I was a little underwhelmed by disc one although I did really like disc two. I haven't played it in a really long time so maybe I do need to have a Jarrett festival. I don't have the Paris/London recording. How does it compare, content wise to C-Hall?


The format is similar - a series of short improvised pieces. It is a format he has clearly preferred over recent years. Carnegie took it forward from Radiance and in Paris/London he reached a pinnacle. You can feel the tension building throughout the pieces. It is probably in my five favourite or so Jarrett recordings.

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Six String
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Six String » 11 Mar 2011, 21:14

I listened to disc one of the Carnegie Hall set and I remembered what I didn't like about it. The clapping and hooting is too loud between songs. It's especially annoying after the quieter cuts. I remember thinking when I first heard it that I would reburn the discs and edit out the audience to make it more pleasant. The other thing is I'm not fond of the way the program changes from high to low energy multiple times. Just as I start to relax a bit I'm suddenly thrown into a different mood. Even if I didn't want one speed throughout I'd prefer the order of the songs differntly. Maybe I should reburn the music to my liking.


On another subject, Lee Morgan, I've recently purchased The Last Session on Blue Note. I remember Kenji really liking this one and I have to agree. Billy Harper and Grachan Moncur take the music out a little, though not too much and this is my first time hearing Bobbi Humphrey. I had the feeling that she was more groove oriented based on album covers but her straight ahead style on this album sounds really good. I've said it before but most of my favorite Lee Morgan albums are in the second half of his career. His last few albums showed him really forming a style that was very forward sounding to me. It's a shame he didn't live long enough to take it further.
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 11 Mar 2011, 22:26

Six String wrote:I listened to disc one of the Carnegie Hall set and I remembered what I didn't like about it. The clapping and hooting is too loud between songs. It's especially annoying after the quieter cuts. I remember thinking when I first heard it that I would reburn the discs and edit out the audience to make it more pleasant. The other thing is I'm not fond of the way the program changes from high to low energy multiple times. Just as I start to relax a bit I'm suddenly thrown into a different mood. Even if I didn't want one speed throughout I'd prefer the order of the songs differntly. Maybe I should reburn the music to my liking.


Yes. I think it is one of the encores where it the clapping goes on for nearly 5 minutes. Jarrett said he insisted on it but it is very annoying.

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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Spec » 12 Mar 2011, 16:20

Some [brief] thoughts on a few 2011 jazz releases

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Kit Downes Trio - Quiet Tiger

Kit Downes is still young but seems to have been around a long time working in many bands. He came to most people's attention with his last album which was nominated for the Mercury Prize. It was a great album; this one is even better. It is broader, more complex and more accomplished. Brass and cello allow the band to expand their sound. Highly recommended.


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Brad Mehldau - Live in Mariac

I like Mehldau but have never really loved him. This is a double album solo live album. The recording is excellent, his technique faultless. It contains Mehldau's normal mix of originals, standards and pop/rock covers (Lithium, Martha My Dear, Exit Music, Lilac Wine). But despite all its qualities there is something missing. I find myself bored quite quickly and it all feels a little cold.

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Gwilym Simcock - Good Days at Schloss Elmau

Another live solo album, this one by the young welsh pianist. This shares the same qualities as the Mehldau - technically brilliant, beautifully recorded. But for a reason I can't identify I warm to this a lot more. Simcock is one of the most talented and interesting pianists around at the moment.

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Mostly Other People Do the Killing - The Coimbra Concert

And this is one of the most interesting jazz groups around. More than 2 hours of brilliant jazz, sometimes frantically played and dense, at other time spacious. There is humour throughout including the cover - there isn't even a pianist in the group. One line from a review captures the album "The band switches between a New Orleans' marching band on "Round Bottom, Square Top" to a piano-less Miles Davis/Coltrane ensemble on "Factoryville," that morphs a blues into an Indian raga with a ringing telephone". The interplay between Peter Evans on trumpet and Jon Irabagon on sax is superb. Sometimes verges on being a bit too free for me but this is probably my album of the year so far.

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Joe Lovano - Bird Songs

Lovano feels like the busiest man in jazz over the last few years and has released lots of very fine albums. His latest is a tribute to Charlie Parker and is a mixture of reasonably straight ahead interpretations and more dramatic reinventions. Like the Mehldau I can hear that this is a great album but I haven't really warmed to it yet.

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Aethenor - En Form for Blå

Finally an album that is on the edge of jazz. It reminds me of Supersilent and Miles Davis - On the Corner. It has drones, distortion (one of the members is in Sunn O)))), krautrock grooves and more ambient passages. Hard to define but very impressive.

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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Balboa » 13 Mar 2011, 11:31

Great post Spec - I haven't bought any music this year, so I haven't heard any of those jazz ones. I'll eventually catch up I guess! Stupid! I think modern jazz is in a really healthy state - the last 5 years or so have given us some incredible jazz sounds.

Really like the sound of the 'Mostly Other People Do The Killing' and 'Aethenor' which both sound right up my street. I'll check them out at some point for sure.

Re. Neil Ardley - I really, really like 'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows'. It has a great vibe. I listened to 'Harmony of Spheres' this morning for the first time and I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't dislike it, but I will need to listen again to see how I really feel.
Of course, I was mostly stoned at the time.

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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby clive gash » 13 Mar 2011, 15:17

Balboa wrote:Re. Neil Ardley - I really, really like 'Kaleidoscope of Rainbows'. It has a great vibe. I listened to 'Harmony of Spheres' this morning for the first time and I couldn't get into it at all. I didn't dislike it, but I will need to listen again to see how I really feel.


You're not alone B, I don't think Billy digs it either. It's a very artificial sounding record, very upfront - slap bass and John Martyn's electric soloing. I like it a lot, it's not a Sunday morning record though - more Saturday night on Venus.
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Six String
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Re: The Jazz Workshop

Postby Six String » 13 Mar 2011, 19:27

Thanks for that review Specbebop. Without your posts in this area I would be a lot less informed on the new stuff out there. I seem to rarely buy any new releases anymore. That Gwilym Simcock album sounds really nice.

When Brad Mehldau entered the scene I bought a few things by him but I don't find I play his music much even though I do appreciate his skills and what he's trying to do. There doesn't seem to be enough warmth to his music sometimes. I've tired of hearing someone deconctruct a tune over and over. After a while it just seems too cold or something.

Last night I played an old Art Farmer album on Prestige simply titled Art Farmer with Gigi Gryce. A few years ago I started paying attention to Gryce's compositions and playing and after reading a biography on him I became even more impressed with him. This album features five of the six songs by Gryce. The opened is Forecast by Duke Jordan who is the pianist on the date. The structure of Gryce's songs make them unusual in that they aren't the standard blues tunes or reworded Charlie Parker songs. This was one of those albums I think I picked up after reading the Gryce bio and played a few times and put away. Last night the album suddenly clicked with me in a big way. That seems to happen quite a bit with me and it's one of the things that keeps me listening to jazz and why I rarely get rid of jazz albums in my collection. Sometimes years can go by with an album and suddenly one day out of the blue the light goes on and the music takes on greater importance than before. I suppose it happens from time to time with rock but not as much.
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