Jazz - What's your bag, man?

[mcq]

Tonight, some great jazz piano to wind down the night. I was listening to Marc Copland's solo album, Alone, a few nights ago and tonight I played Voices (with Gary Peacock on bass and Paul Motian on drums) and Night Whispers (with Drew Gress on bass and Bill Stewart on drums). Copland's a subtle player who takes time over his solos but rewards your attention. And, he is just as happy to lay out and let his fellow musicians develop the music. The choice of repertoire is wide - there is newly composed material by Copland and his fellow musicians - as well as standards like Miles' All Blues and So What (the latter track is one of the best versions of this classic I have ever heard). As I mentioned before in relation to Copland's solo recording, this is music that takes time to develop and absorb. But it's worth the effort.

[Gerry D]

Bought this a few weeks ago. Got around to listening to it last night. Brilliant.
Meldau, Joshua Redman, Matt Chamberlain, Chamber Orchestra, Vocals.
Excellent recording.

5 out of 5 in my humble opinion.

Strongly recommended.

[mcq]

I must pick that one up, Gerry. I'm a great fan of Mehldau's and always try to catch him when he plays Vicar Street. His last two performances there - last year with his band and the previous year in a solo performance - were particularly good. It's a shame he's bypassing Dublin this year and just playing a single (solo) date in Galway but I'm sure he'll be back next year. My favourite recordings of his are the Art of the Trio series and his Live in Japan solo performance (there's an extraordinary rendition of Radiohead's Paranoid Android on the latter).

[mcq]

I've been listening to John Coltrane's 4-CD Live in Japan today. Engrossing, adventurous but, above all, deeply rewarding music. Perhaps the high water mark of Coltrane's "other" quartet, this is one of the man's most intriguing works, perhaps because he never expected it to get a commercial release. Part of this was released in the late 1970s but the entire set was only released in the early 1990s.

Perhaps the greatest difference between Coltrane's two bands in the 1960s was between Elvin Jones' polyrhythmic approach and his successor Rashied Ali's more fluid and textured style. Ali really does create a different sound that sometimes strikes me as being outside the Western tradition and looks East toward India and Japan, and, aside from Coltrane, was the most important member of the group. He is ably assisted by Coltrane's wife Alice on piano whose contributions to this band have taken me quite a while to fully appreciate. When I first heard this set, I considered Alice's playing to be a significant weak link, consisting of nothing more than endless arpeggiations that go nowhere. There is something more subtle going on, however, in her shimmering approach that aligns perfectly with Ali. The only survivor from Coltrane's old band, Jimmy Garrison, is - more often than not - lost in the mix in these mono recordings from Japanese radio, but his long and expansive solo introductions to the hour-long renditions of Crescent and My Favourite Things have a lovely meditative calm that set the scene beautifully for the ensuing drama. And then we have Pharoah Sanders' wild, exuberant overblowing whose sound was absolutely crucial to Coltrane's masterpiece, Ascension (in my opinion, the only record that is the equal of A Love Supreme in Coltrane's discography, and I sometimes feel it transcends its achievement).

Perhaps the most important thing about these musicians was the sheer empathy on display in the midst of this great and often difficult music. As well as that, they were probably the only musicians that could do justice to the sheer creativity that was spinning forth from Coltrane's mind around this time. Much has been spoken about the perceived difficulty of this music - and, indeed, it does take time to fully absorb - but I do believe that it represents one of the most overwhelmingly emotional - as opposed to cerebral - performances in all recorded music. There is an almost ecstatic feeling of transcendental bliss in this music. There is a lot of rage too, but it is a cathartic rage, and when it works itself out, the music plateaus into an overwhelming sense of calm. It's worthwhile to compare this to what Miles was doing in Japan nine years later (released as Agharta and Pangaea). In both cases, these were extreme expressions of each man's astonishing creativity, so much so that they sharply divided audiences. Both men had lost significant parts of their audience and were routinely castigated in the press and by their fellow musicians for perceived offences against the music. But, for me, Agharta/Pangeaa and Live in Japan remain emotional touchstones of 20th century music and are among the bravest creative statements I know.

Thankfully, some enterprising soul on YouTube has uploaded the genuinely incredible hour-long version of My Favourite Things that can be found in Live in Japan. This is music that requires a lot of patient listening to fully absorb but the effort is richly rewarded. I've been astounded by this music for almost 20 years and I still keep hearing new things. It's a staggering achievement and it remains instructive to compare this to the man's first version of this song as recorded on an album of the same name for Atlantic in 1961 to get a sense of how far this great man travelled in in five years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOPsiaPa ... re=related (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cuvJ9At22Q (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/user/Praguedive# ... _2H0iV-VUo (Part 3)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TS0LZ23I ... re=related (Part 4)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg5izfnKKx8 (Part 5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89aco4orYWc (Part 6)

And here's the 1961 version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQsvMf8X0FY (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt9iLDma ... re=related (Part 2)

[cybot]

All that work and no response! Where are you all hiding? Anyway I enjoyed reading (and listening) to your piece on Coltrane - well done ! It is miraculous and life changing music going place that only the great musicians go...... Thanks :-)

[Gussy Finknottle]

All that work and no response! Where are you all hiding? Anyway I enjoyed reading (and listening) to your piece on Coltrane - well done ! It is miraculous and life changing music going place that only the great musicians go...... Thanks :-)

You mean all in bed and no response.You know there is no work in the country and we have no where else to go.): %"-(-

[cybot]

All that work and no response! Where are you all hiding? Anyway I enjoyed reading (and listening) to your piece on Coltrane - well done ! It is miraculous and life changing music going place that only the great musicians go...... Thanks :-)

You mean all in bed and no response.You know there is no work in the country and we have no where else to go.): %"-(-

LOL :-)

[Seán]

All that work and no response! Where are you all hiding?

Well said Dermot. I aopolgise to mcq, I haven't had the time to visit the Forum lately and post items.

Anyway I enjoyed reading (and listening) to your piece on Coltrane - well done ! It is miraculous and life changing music going place that only the great musicians go...... Thanks :-)

And so did I.

Well done mcq, your post makes for very enjoyable reading, keep posting.

[Gussy Finknottle]

http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/images/l ... 9C6C40.jpg

Just having a listen to this tonight,Another album you have to hear before you die

[cybot]

All that work and no response! Where are you all hiding?

Well said Dermot. I aopolgise to mcq, I haven't had the time to visit the Forum lately and post items.

Anyway I enjoyed reading (and listening) to your piece on Coltrane - well done ! It is miraculous and life changing music going place that only the great musicians go...... Thanks :-)

And so did I.

Well done mcq, your post makes for very enjoyable reading, keep posting.

THANK YOU Seán :-)