I'm listening to all of my records in my collection. It's not a huge collection, and I have some weird ones that I never listen to. This gives me a chance to listen to all of them and share my thoughts about them while I listen to them.
I only have a few classical records, but I like to have unique album covers which contain unique compositions. I remember learning about Alan Hovhaness' "Whales" in my first music appreciation course. I saw this album for sale at good old Maxwell Street Days in Cedarburg Wisconsin (Think gigantic flea market).
The composition contains actual recordings of whale songs. Nobody quite knows how the whales sing their songs... I'm sure someday a music theorist will categorize the types of whale songs in a very formulaic pattern.
I have realized that I am putting off listening to records because I am too concerned with what to write, so my future writings may be very short. I just want to listen to records sometimes, I don't always wanna blog about it. This exercise has been a good way for me to calculate exactly how many records I currently own.
Cool tunes on here... I especially like Steve Coleman's "The Dragon and the Samurai." Opening statement sounds similar (maybe an influence) to Stanley Clarke's score to Boyz N Tha Hood.
Listening to "Sunrise," this is quite interesting - it sounds more like modern chamber music. I think Wheeler is playing his mellow flugelhorn, which blends seamlessly with Coleman's flute. I thought Dave Holland's arco bass sounded a lot like cello, and it turns out as I double check the liner notes, he is playing the cello.
The top corner of my record is labeled ECM Digital. I wonder what ECM's stance was on switching into the digital realm. I think maybe people thought this was the way to go (it sounds technological and is futuristic, therefore, it must be better?). I wonder if people were thinking about data lost with digits... I'm not an expert at all on the matter, but it seems like analog is all the rage. Like I have mentioned, I have a very modest hi-fi system, so I'm not sure I can really judge the quality of sound of digital vs. non-digital.
I wish I (and the world) new more about Steve Ellington. he plays drums on this record. If my memory serves me right, I believe he is a nephew of the Duke. I know he played Sonor drums. I don't know a whole lot else about him. Did he lead his own group? Did he play a lot in a certain region of the country? Did he play on any other notable records? He is front and center on the back of the record sleeve:
Wow, look at that album cover. It is so... cheesy. Despite it's cheesiness, there is some pretty decent stuff on this record. Being a student of the vibraphone, I feel an importance to listening to different professionals on the vibes. Jay Hoggard is a great vibraphonist as well as marimbist (he plays a lot of auxiliary percussion on the latin tunes).
This record contains Harvey Mason (drummer from Herbie's Headhunters album), Chico Freeman (son of Vonski, and AACM artist), and a young Kenny Kirkland (rip).
This album apparently garnered an Original Jazz Classics label... I wonder if that label was slapped on to liberally to any jazz album ever. There is good music on this record, do not get me wrong, but I never once thought while listening to it that this is a jazz classic.
I wish this had a better album cover, because that is the main reason that I don't get this record out to listen to too much.
This is not the most extraordinary Andrew Hill album. I always wonder why some jazz albums don't have a consistent group throughout. This album is a prime example, why is Clifford Jordan only on some of the tracks? He is a great Tenor Sax player, but I think the songs that don't feature Clifford sound better. Right now I'm enjoying the groove of the second song: "Tripping."
Good 80's jazz from the Soul Note record label (great liner notes from Nat Hentoff as well).
I forgot that this album is actually very nice, I just really don't like the first track "Monk's Glimpse." I like the Mingus-esque "Ball Square" - with it's various recurring sections. At times it seems like the band is trading 4's with the drummer, then they come back in with a slow half time dirge with arco bass, then drum solo, then some very straight ahead jazzings. This is a cool song (maybe it's the drummer in me). It seriously is trading 4's (maybe it's actually 8's) the whole song! That is really neat, and the different sections that the trio play explore various feelings and tempi! Very cool.
I can't believe the only Joe Henderson record I own is this one: Live at the Village Vanguard vol 2. It is a great record, don't get me wrong, but Joe has some iconic blue note records from the 1960's. I have a ton of blue note cd's that feature Joe as a sideman (maybe my favorite is Larry Young's Unity).
I wish I had volume 1 of this series, which contains a reading of the Sam Rivers tune "Beatrice," a song I have become interested in after finding a lead sheet in a fake book a couple of years ago. I'm surprised that Sam Rivers, who has recorded many very avant garde recordings, has written such a melodic tune, which has become standard repertoire in the jazz canon.
This record does not have "Beatrice," but many other standards by Monk, Parker, Horace Silver, and some Henderson originals. Y Ya La Quiero is a cool latin number with a cool bass vamp. It's very rhythmic, and Al Foster does a good job of laying down unique latin rhythms without crowding up the song and getting in Joe's way. Ron Carter puts on a clinic of bass accompaniment for this entire record. No complaints at all with Mr. Carter on this record. Everything is in its right place.
This record also touches on a bit of nostalgia for me. In high school, prior to becoming a jazz nerd, a friend of mine showed me a DVD of One Night with Blue Note. The DVD was a performance celebrating the re-launch of Blue Note records in 1985. Many classic Blue Note session musicians perform in the concert (including Joe Henderson, an amazing version of "Recorda Me," which is not on this record)
The concert performance also weaves in a narration/quasi documentary of the history of Blue Note records. The record sleeve for this Joe Henderson is almost like a newspaper article of Blue Note records at this point of time; a neat little artifact. An article about Stanley Jordan is called "Tops in Taps."
