Saturday, August 26, 2006

Playing catchup

I haven't exactly been blogging at the speed of life lately - I've been immersed in writing new music for the Indigone Trio + Strings project. Last week I saw Matt Haimovitz and Patrick Wedd play the music of Ligeti as part of Jusqu'aux Oreilles (Up To Your Ears), followed within a couple of days by Dan Thouin's improv project, Sprung. More detailed posts on those to follow.

Ethan Iverson responds to the post-Vietnam War jazz history discussion with a fantastic list. Most of his list are records I have not yet heard, or have not listened to in a long while. I would add the following entries:
1974 - Keith Jarrett: Belonging (the first record by the European quartet, alternating between his dual lexicons of driving melodic vamps and ethereal open space).
Herbie Hancock: Thrust (though Headhunters was the shot heard 'round the world, I find Thrust grooves harder and hangs together better as a full record).
1976 - Anthony Braxton: Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (as Darcy commented in an earlier post mentioning this album, it's "fucking amazing," and still stands as the weirdest group of personnel I've ever seen on paper).
Jaco Pastorius: s/t (versatility, virtuosity, and the juxtaposition of Bird with Sam & Dave in the first two tracks).
1981 - Chick Corea: Trio Music (Now He Sings, Now He Sobs group revisited with free improv and Monk tunes).
1988 - Motian/Frisell/Lovano: Monk in Motian (Monk music with proper irreverence, with guests Dewey Redman and Geri Allen).
1990 - Kenny Wheeler: Music for Large and Small Ensembles (I for some reason thought this was done sometime in the mid-'80s; "Gentle Piece" is stunning).
Pat Metheny: Question and Answer (Pat's trio records are always his strongest, I find).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to say thanks for reminding me of MONK IN MOTIAN, an LP I loved. Now badly warped, I'm afraid.