Hey guys, cathing a couple of sets of live jazz at the local club at the moment - I'll be in the thread later conveniently drunk to tell how all your opinions suck.

New to this. So do I give my thoughts right after listening to them or do I give them in a thread next week? Cuz in pastebin it says give thoughts next week, but in OP it says right after listening to them.

>>65204616
You can post them here in this thread whenever you're done with them.

The tracks for this week's thread were originally posted at the end of last week's thread so if you listened to them then, you'd wait a week. If you're just listening to them now then you don't need to wait.

>>65204794
Alright. Gotcha. Thanks. Gonna be going through it as the day goes on. Here's my thoughts on track 1. Sorry for any level of idiocy or ignorance in these, but I guess I gotta learn somehow.

>Track 1

Doesn't take advantage of the piano's ability to play lower notes. I don't know if maybe that's a particular way duos do their things, but I feel that for the sake of arrangement and having sounds in different frequencies of what we can listen to the piano didn't veer off too much from a particular range that it stayed in outside a couple bits. Like shit, you got two hands bro you can make the whole piece sound bigger. As for the saxophone sounding thing, it definitely had its cool “lyrical” moments (that thing that guys do in jazz where they mix a bunch of notes and rhythmic variation together to make it sound interesting) but a lot of it was more straight quarter note sounding stuff or a separate full section for just going really fast rather than melding them together. Yeah I know, I am new to this, but even I have listened to Coltrane who goes super fast, but does it with enough slower notes in between to make it feel like a living thing if that description makes sense at all. Even during the piano solo thing in the third minute the piano guy did the same thing where he did a really fast run and that's it. The pedal point sounding thing the piano did whether in the beginning or later on was kinda cool though. Hell that entire first few seconds was actually pretty cool with its “stumbling” rhythm thing. All in all I guess it's a pretty decent piece to me.

1. This is pretty cool. It sounds like a nice mix of older playing and more modern styles. Especially in the piano because sometimes he is playing things that almost sound like Duke Ellington influenced but then sometimes he uses more iddonance in his chords. The saxophone player didn't really stand out to me very much with what he was playing but his sound seemed familiar. I could see this being Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock I guess. 3 stars.

2. This sounds like an older live recording but then some of the things the piano player is doing are pretty cool. It reminds me of Art Tatum with all the fast runs he does. I like how the pianist and the saxophonist trade off doing fills around the melody. But then the rest of the band comes in so I guess it isn't really just a duet track. I liked this one better than the first duet though. 3.5 stars.

3. The biggest thing I'm picking up on here is classical influence and it makes me think of Dave Brubeck or the Modern jazz Quartet. I could definitely see this being Brubeck though so that will be my guess. There's not much else I can think to say about this except that it was enjoyable for what it was and nice and short. 3.5 stars.

4. Nothing really stands out to me about this one. I didn't like it nearly as much as the last one and it seemed like kind of the same idea but with not as much classical influence. The bass had a few cool moments but other than that I didn't get into this one that much. 2 stars.

5. This one doesn't stand out to me very much either. Based on the sounds of the instruments it seems like it might have been recorded in the 80's or 90's but the style of it seems more like 60's. I think because of the 3/4 time and the heavy bass lead it reminds me of Bill Evans. It's not bad but I think I've heard better things that are similar. Maybe this even is Bill Evans but just a later recording. 2.5 stars.

>>65205543
6. I liked this one right away. I usually like bass clarinet and I think it makes a nice combination with the vintage sounding organ. That's something I haven't heard before. It's also pretty interesting from the "arabic" sound of the melody. Honestly I think the only bass clarinet players I know are Dolphy and Chris Potter but I doubt this is either of them. It could be Chris Potter though. I liked the way the organ sound changed throughout and that they got pretty adventurous with it but still kept up that arabic sound. 4 stars.

7. This one seemed like an older ballad but then there were also some things that sounded influenced by free jazz sometimes too. So just a shot in the dark... maybe Archie Shepp? It got to be a little bit long toward the end but there were some spots that I enjoyed. The bass had some nice moments in there too. 3.5 stars.

8. I enjoyed this piano playing a lot but honestly it seemed like the trumpet player was just getting in the way. It never really changed up as it went either so I really think this would have been better as just solo piano. 2 stars.

9. Another piano and bass duet. This one has a different kind of feel to it. It feels very positive and happy. It doesn't sound very complicated but I like this one just because it sounds to me like the players were having fun playing the song. 3.5 stars.

10. Caravan! Wow this one is really cool and really brings out the gypsy vibe of the song. I love how crazy the piano goes for most of the time and how the violin matches what's going on. And even though it gets pretty crazy you can always hear how it's Caravan underneath. Very nice. 4 stars.

>>65205321
>but I guess I gotta learn somehow.
That's the idea. Glad to have you participating. I'll look forward to reading your thoughts.

>>65205630
Thanks.

>Track 2

Ahhh, this one's obviously a live recorded performance. Anyway, the first thing that came to my mind when it started was George Gershwin with how the intro went, which I thought was kinda cool. Both the piano and the sax here felt more “lyrical” to me than the first track's (hope I don't make lyrical into a buzzword here.) But even then, what kinda fascinated me here was that the piano for the most of it felt more like the “main instrument”. Normally when I hear piano/sax in my limited experience like say...Coltrane's Giant Steps, it's the sax that is usually the “main instrument.” To continue off with the George Gershwin thing, I wonder if this would be considered third stream because I definitely felt like this had classical music influence on it. What rubbed me the wrong way with this one was the increased reliance on sorta one way of doing things. So like the piano's at one point basically doing Rachmaninoff style runs up and down, while the sax for a whole lot of it did mostly quick jazzy bits between half notes and whole notes and just longer than quarter notes period. They would break that off with cool bits for a few seconds, but still majorly did that for a good part of the piece. Better than the first one for sure, pretty nice.

>>65206024
>So like the piano's at one point basically doing Rachmaninoff style runs up and down
That's what made me think of Art Tatum I think. I also liked track 2 better than the first one.

>>65206220
Word. Bouta hit track 3. Btw what is iddonance that you used to describe certain piano stuff in track 1?

>>65206501
lol that was supposed to say dissonance. I'm not sure where iddonance came from

I almost didn't make it today... I typed up all my thoughts yesterday and somehow it was gone from my computer this morning. I almost threw the thing off the balcony. But I managed to find the autosave file. So anyway...

>Track 1
For a little while I was thinking this was a piano duet. There were times it sounded like there were at least three hands playing those piano lines. In that way the pianist makes me think a little bit of Hank Jones. The sax player reminds me a little bit of Joe Henderson’s later sound. There’s a certain sound to the piano that I don’t really like. It sounds like maybe a digital piano but he’s sticking to a fairly old fashioned style for the most part but occasionally throwing in some cool shit. This is a standard or some tune that I’ve heard before. As I’m listening more it sounds like it’s probably not Henderson but somebody influenced by him. Joe Lovano maybe? Never heard him do something like this but maybe somebody in that vein?

>Track 2
Ha I recognized this just from the applause at the beginning. It took me a second but I got it right before the music came in. When I was in high school and first started getting into jazz I only knew one other person who was kind of into jazz and he was a drummer a year older than me. This record had just been released and he got it and loaned it to me. I’m pretty sure it was one of the earliest times I heard Coltrane or Monk and for a long time it was one of my favorites of both of theirs. I think I could actually play a good part of the piano intro when I was in high school. It’s actually been quite a while since I’ve listened to this. This is really a definitive piano/sax duet recording for me. The rubato feel works perfectly for both of their styles and lets them both add their own abstractions in the melody. Kind of funny how the rhythm section only comes in for just a little bit of the song. It’s been too long since I’ve heard this. Good pick.

>>65206771
>Track 3
A very pretty little tune and I like the counterpoint a lot. The pianist does a really incredible job of outlining the harmony while playing a very interesting solo. Cool phrasing and amazing accuracy. The part that was mostly right-hand single lines on piano was great, then he goes into doing a Bill Evans-style block-chord accompaniment that doesn’t work as well. I love the elements of baroque harmony but also with some more modern voicings worked in there. It works very well. It might have been cool if the bass had taken on a more active role at some point but it works well as-is. I’m not sure who this is. The “head” sounds like it could be something John Lewis would do, but the soloing seems pretty far out of his style.

>Track 4
Another piano and bass track. Maybe you’re also working a “pairs” theme into this week? I’m picking up some gospel influence here with the fairly simple harmony but interesting motion in the bass motion going on in the piano. The bass player’s got decent tone but doesn’t really say anything profound. I get the feeling both players are holding themselves back and are capable of playing a lot more. Sometimes that can make for very cool results but here I don’t know if it does. It’s hard to throw out any guesses of who the players might be because I don’t think either of them is really playing with much “character”. There’s not really that much here that interests me. It’s a pleasant little piece but I don’t think I’d get much more out of listening to it again.

>>65206790
>Track 5
Yuck. I said something about the “tone” of the piano on track one well this one is even worse. It’s so bright and dry. The bass tone sounds very similar to the last track. This is a nice sort of Bill Evans style waltz with the bass taking the melody. I said something else was Bill Evans-style earlier I think… I liked the duet interlude they did in the middle. That was pretty nice but the improv sounds kind of sloppy at times and also very-pattern based. So in summary- cool composition, unfortunate method of recording/mixing the piano, lackluster improv.

>Track 6
This is an interesting combo that you don’t hear every day. The tune itself has a sort of Eastern-european folk sound to it. Or Jewish folk song influenced ala Zorn. The organ’s accompaniment is a little bit bizarre during the melody. Bizarre isn’t always bad but here I think it’d be better if he’d play something a little more “definite” instead of just hinting around at things. When it moves more into a definite “surf organ” sound it’s bit better. I don’t know too many bass clarinet players but it sounds like this one has borrowed some from Dolphy. This was kind of cool. It’s a fairly abstract take on some kind of traditional music.

>Track 7
There’s something the sax player is doing at the end of his phrases that reminds me of Ornette. Actually I think it might be Ornette. Just playing with a lot more restraint than usual. There’s some interesting stuff happening in the bass so it could be Charlie Haden. I think they maybe did a duet on The Empty Foxhole. It feels a little bit funny once it goes into the walking swing but Ornette is playing some nice simple melodic ideas which are nice. Nice and bluesy and the way he bends the notes just slightly makes me pretty sure it’s Ornette. The bass playing actually sounds a little bit labored at times so maybe it’s not Haden after all though. A pretty cool track overall.

>>65206812
>Track 8
Seems like a lot of silence at the beginning… possibly the start of an ECM album? Ah once the trumpet comes in I realized it’s Wadada Smith/Vijay Iyer from this year. I believe this was one of the tracks I really liked from this album. I like how it’s so slow and atmospheric but you can hear Iyer reacting to what Smith is playing. It’s just little things but it’s kind of interesting how he can build and release tension around his sustained notes. Then again, Smith doesn’t really make it that easy for him. At some point I wish Smith would react more to what Iyer is doing. I think that sums up my feelings about this whole album pretty well actually.

>Track 9
Muted piano, then it switches to mostly regular piano. It’s kind of nice how they manage to keep up some strong interplay over the fairly simple tune. This “chorus” that they play at around 2:00 sounds very familiar. It’s got kind of a Vince Guaraldi feel to it. I think the chord progression goes I – bIII – bVI – bVII. It gives it kind of the sound of a rock song. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a cover of a rock song or a popular song. I think they’re a little bit limited harmonically and rhythmically with what they can do with something like this but they actually manage to do some fairly interesting things in there.

>Track 10
Caravan? Nope. Oh wait yeah it is Caravan. I knew that was a C7b9 that the piano was hinting at. This works really well to give it this sort of Gypsy feel. It almost sounds like a Liszt violin Sonata. The violin solo gets pretty far out though. I guess this could be Stephane Grappelli? It was a little bit tiring to listen to just because it’s so much going on but actually a really cool version of this tune. Good find.

Also I just picked up a solid block of lessons for Friday afternoons so I probably won't be able to participate as much in the Friday threads from now on.

>>65206547
Ahh that makes A LOT more sense hahaha.

>Track 3

Is this even jazz? Straight up sounds like classical music this time around. The interplay between the bass and piano definitely had its cool moments particularly during the second minute when the bass decided to get a bit more “jazzy” with its rhythms that sound like when you're trying to start a car. But there were just parts during the first minute and the third minute points where the bass was just playing more typical bass notes that really anyone doing beginner level music theory would write or any pop song would have. Bass like that doesn't work as well in classical or jazz imo since it ultimately doesn't bring variety or really any sense of movement outside the notes changing to adhere to what the piano is playing.

>Track 4

This sounds like some dumb smooth jazz level stuff to me. Sorry, but damn, okay you repeat the thing giving you the first 30 or so seconds, but then I was expecting it to really take off from there. But it didn't take off; rather just played another small variation on the same thing. Both instrumentalists really played this one super safe maybe there was like one moment from the bass where it does the BOOM sounding low thing and that one little bit from the piano where it veered off in a slightly different direction, but that's it. Back when I cared little for jazz music, my perception was that it all sounded like this. My least favorite track on the list so far BY FAR.

>>65206771
>Track 2
Wait so are you saying this Coltrane and Monk?

>>65206790
Great insights and recognitions as usual, some especially solid ideas on tracks you weren't familiar with

>>65207152
You certainly were off on a couple of things I'd think you'd get this week :)

>>65207222
Like what?

Hey guys. Sorry for missing so many weeks, things have been a bit hectic but I think I'll be around next week or if the thread lasts long enough I might be able to post tomorrow.
Hope it's a good thread regardless! I might be around if any general jazz discussion is going on but I'm hanging out with mates so I can't listen to playlist.

>>65207011
3 and 4 are certainly a package deal... Very curious how people perceive them, hopefully the reveal will be interesting to you all.

Got myself finished in time for Friday for a change:

>Track 1
Sax has that West Coast chill, and a fluid technique through some really fast runs. Maybe Lee Konitz? Can't tell if it's alto or tenor... Lovely reaction from the pianist when the sax starts shredding it up around 2:40 - reminds me of that bit in Freddie's solo in Maiden Voyage. They were really good together. I like how the pianist jumped straight into that vamp to rev up for his own solo. I don't know if I could listen to a whole album like this, but I'd like it if more small ensemble albums occasionally had tracks with just 2-3 of them to shake things up a bit.

>Track 2
Just based on the intro I've got a feeling I've heard this pianist play this song before, but I'll be damned if I know either the tune or the man. It's a Monk piece? There's West Coast feel in this sax too, so based on that and how free they're being with time, I'll take a guess at Jimmy Giuffre. They really give each other space to listen carefully, and it pays off.

Are you sure there's not a bass in here too?

>Track 3
Interesting how this pianist manages to mostly avoid jazzy chords and still produce what is unmistakeably a jazz solo by the end of it. Did seem very much like a solo though - the bass wasn't interacting with him at all. This was okay but I think they should both have been more adventurous.

>>65207493
>Track 4
Sounds like one of Bill Evans' bassists. It could well be him, too, but then I always identify him by the bass rather than his piano sound. Only I presume from the role it takes that the bass is the leader. More than half of the run time was taken up just stating the theme, so hard to make many comments on the playing. It was nice while it lasted though, can see this being good as a set closer at the end of a late night. Bassist did a good job decorating the melody - took advantage of his instrument without falling into some of the clichés that lots of bassists rely on when it's their turn.

It's really going to bother me all week trying to work out what this song is, too.

>Track 5
At first I thought this was pretty neat sounding, and had good potential, but there's a fairly long bit in the middle where they're playing almost in unison that kind of spoilt it for me. The bassist's solo before that was well played, but although this is a fairly nice tune, I don't feel like either of them did anything to take it to the next level as a jazz piece.

>Track 6
This sort of sounds it's being played backwards - at least the organ part. His technique (coupled with some of what the bass clarinet is doing with those sharp intakes of breath) is so hard to get my head around that I first I thought it was being manipulated electronically. The clarinet does a great job of accompanying him during his solo too - a good comparison to previous tracks where the second instrument drops out for the piano solo. This is another where I don't know if I could take a whole album of these sounds - they'd certainly have to mix it up harmonically - but it was a thoroughly enjoyable pair of solos.

>>65207520
>Track 7
This really isn't doing much for me. I can't really see the point - just sounds like a couple of guys messing around together rather than making an attempt to record something good. Near the end it gets a bit more interesting - I liked the thing they got going from 6:15-ish. But then it's over.

>Track 8
I like this more long-form approach to improvising. It lets the whole shape of the piece develop very organically. Trumpet player has a really nice tone for the long notes too - a bit like how Miles sounds in Aranjuez. I've not heard much by Kenny Wheeler but I can imagine him being involved in something like this.

>Track 9
The changes in this one sound quite prog-rock-y, or like it's a Return to Forever piece or something? I'm really not a fan of the piece anyway, nor of the way the they're playing it. It feels like they've planned out the different sections and what they both intend to do with them and they're so pleased with themselves that they dont feel the need to improvise around it The result is just soul-less.

>Track 10
Well, I'm definitely getting better at recognising all the different ways to start playing Caravan. I think this is a violin, but what was he drumming on at the beginning? He's clearly got mad skills, and the amount of bounce they both keep going is infectious. He's very good at using the textural possibilities of the violin to his advantage to keep that solo moving and make his sound bigger and more intense as it goes on. Pianist fucking kills it afterwards too. This has been my favourite this week.

>>65207267
Now that you ask... I thought 2, 7, 9 would ring more solid bells with regulars, but I guess that's the usual effect where you think all things are 'obvious' when you are doing the picking.

Also surprised that 1 isn't getting any recognition so far.

>>65207520
Track 6

I've actually always liked how the clarinet sticks around for the organ solo - it's a fun interaction

>>65207551
Track 9

On point insight!

>>65207152
Yeah. Monk's Dream. The first track from their live recording at Carnegie hall. It was just discovered and released about 10 years ago or so.

>>65207965
I was certainly expecting 100% Monk for comments :D

Coltrane is really enchanting on that track for me - totally spellbinding soloing for me.

>>65207493
>Maybe Lee Konitz? Can't tell if it's alto or tenor...
I'm pretty sure it's alto so probably not Konitz but Konitz did do some duet recordings with Dan Tepfer on piano and that got me thinking that this pianist sounds a little bit like him. I think he's done other duet stuff with saxophonists.

>>65207965
>>65208054
And here I was feeling pretty confident that I could recognize Monk. And I would have thought I'd recognize Coltrane too.

>>65207436
I am sure the reveals will be great. If Track 2 is indeed Monk and Coltrane my previous perceptions of who they were has completely changed from it.

>Track 5

Granted I have nowhere near the amount of jazz knowledge/experience everyone else here does, but this still sounds familiar to me. Not sure from where but still. Otherwise I am kinda split on this piece. On one side this is very cool, outside some bland moments like generic runs that bass was killing it and the piano added just enough variation in what it was doing for it to not feel boring. But I feel this one isn't that great from an arrangement perspective. So another anon already made the comment about the piano sounding bright here, which isn't necessarily bad, but honestly this would've sounded far better if the bass decided to stay more in its “bassy” range instead of trying to hit notes that are far higher relatively pitch wise. Just because something's being the “main instrument” or the one doing the solo or w/e it's called doesn't mean it has to hit the higher frequencies all the time for it. Also, the bass' soloing approach didn't seem as jazzy to me.

>>65208348
>Track 6

Honestly this might be my personal favorite track so far. That clarinet/or Oboe sounding thing really revs it up and keeps it jazzy with a variety of techniques and directions it takes throughout the piece. My favorite soloist so far. As for the organ, the intro where it almost sounded like it was pulling some kind of fade effects was awesome. Now I am wondering whether to say I dislike the mix because of how the organ sounded or whether to say that I wish the organ dude would hit his keys harder or whether to say that the organ guy should've used a more punchy version of that sound because that would've been one of things that would help it stand out more aside from its cool almost electronic but not really effect playing. The other would've been to play lower notes or higher notes than the clarinet/oboe thing so it would've given both instruments so much more space to do what they want. Not to mention that when the organ did its solo/melody thing, it wasn't that great sounding like a Doors solo without any rhythmic variation.

>>65208246
Have you listened to much of Monk's solo recordings? Probably the biggest giveaway that it's Monk is the open 10ths that he does. That and the runs that made you think of Art Tatum.

To me Coltrane is identifiable just by his tone most of the time but another big giveaway for Coltrane is all the whole tone stuff that he does.

This past couple of weeks I've felt dumb for missing Coltrane on a few tracks but listening again I never would have got him this week. Was becoming increasingly sure it was Monk on piano though, even though he was more fluid than usual.

I was actually listening to Monk with Hawk this morning (his first ever studio session) and it sounds a bit like this. Makes more sense there though because it was early in his career I guess before he fully found his voice.

>>65208117
>I'm pretty sure it's alto so probably not Konitz
Er, Konitz is an alto player?

>>65208363
>Track 7

This sounded kinda gimmicky to me. The first bass bit and the bass solo later on in the piece sounded like someone at home practicing bass stuff rather than an actual journey of musical ideas. Like both parts had a thing or two inspired by what to me sounds like minimalist classical stuff, for which the bassist stops, plays that part, stops, then plays something else. In the beginning the sax was going fine, but then after the bass solo in the middle, it really went all out on the “hey look now I am doing free jazz style stuff it's so cool right?” when the sax was doing such a better job of slightly transitioning it in earlier in the piece. At least the part between the bass intro and the bass solo sounds fine. Good variety of stuff from both instruments without either getting in the way and their usage of different techniques really gelled well during this part.

>>65208658
>This past couple of weeks I've felt dumb for missing Coltrane
Don't worry, you got me here now. I have no clue and have only listened to entry level stuff.

It's fascinating to see how good some of you guys are though at recognizing this stuff. Your comment on Monk being fluid really kinda catches that for me since I have always been taught like most casual guys that Monk never played that fluidly.

>>65208658
>Er, Konitz is an alto player?
Oops. Meant im pretty sure it's tenor.

>>65208363
I think you might be getting the oboe and the bassoon confused. Which is fair enough - that's something I always used to do too.

>>65208883
>Don't worry, you got me here now. I have no clue and have only listened to entry level stuff.
If it helps, these threads started in (I think) September last year and at that point the only jazz albums I'd ever heard we're Kind of Blue, Ah Um and Headhunters.

>>65208363
I'm loving your personal thoughts and insight this week, welcome to the gang <3

Detaild and personal is the best

>>65208952
Goddammit yes it's a bassoon that was exactly the word I was looking for! I always forget the damn bassoon. Thanks for reminding me.

>>65208992
That's quite the progress then considering your insight on some of this stuff.

>>65209068
Thank you! I love this idea of blindfold listens; already getting quite a bit to learn from the insight you guys are dolling out.

>Track 8

Wow...at first I was like “did I just listen to jazz's equivalent of a droning minimalist piece?” The dynamics this thing has...man...ThE DYNamiCS! This piece to me wasn't only about what they were playing, but how they played it. In terms of what they played, it really built up from nothing playing at all (which is why I think that static “you're now recording” sound in the beginning is also integral to this piece), to slowly building up with the piano through dynamics, and then the trumpet comes in. As the track goes on, both start to do more than just what they were doing in the beginning. In terms of how they played it, this piece may be far more microtonal than one thinks. It takes that approach I learned that Ornette took on A Shape Of Jazz To Come. On that album he really does the whole “even if you play the same note twice, they won't come out the same” aspect of microtonality. That really shows up here in what both the trumpet and piano played even though a lot of what they did here would've otherwise been something I criticize like the pieces before it. Put together the whole minimalist style build up thing, the dynamics, and the microtonal approach to playing and you get this really moody sounding piece. Tied, maybe even above Track 6 as my personal favorite so far. If this is truly the new Wadada like the other anon mentioned, I need to stop sleeping on that, and maybe also finally check out Ten Freedom Summers cuz that's been on my computer for months ever since that one anon almost a year ago was nice enough to upload the whole thing.

>>65208575
I have but apparently not enough.

>>65209616
>Track 9

Is this even jazz? Is this even a duo? This track screams cover. I am sure this is a cover of maybe a prog rock song or something. The cool parts of it is that they very cleverly do use just two instruments to cover a lot of ground, and of course the catchy chorus part is hype as fuck. BUT, what I don't like about this is that while again, there's clever usage of technique and whatnot to cover a lot of ground, this ground could be covered far better if there's a larger arrangement than just two instruments. Even worse that the two instruments are a piano and a bass. Obviously I have nothing against those instruments, but the kind of territory this was trying to go into isn't fit for those instruments. My value for this track is like how I would feel about a piano cover of some of my favorite metal stuff. It's kinda cool I guess, but those ideas work infinitely better with distorted ass guitars/bass, a drumset, and a guy with monstrous vocal ability.

>>65208575
>another big giveaway for Coltrane is all the whole tone stuff that he does
Can you or anyone else here go into more detail as to what this means? I am curious. What does this mean as opposed to the other thing you said which makes sense.

>>65209995
The whole tone scale is one built up of only whole tone intervals, whilst most scales (at least in western music) are built up of a mix of whole tones and semitones.

A whole tone scale starting on C would go:

C - D - E - F# - G# - A# - C

>>65210368
Holy shit I did NOT know he did that. Will look more into it. Straight up Ws, no Hs.

>Track 10

Wow...uhhh...I really don't have much bad to say here. I guess the duo got a bit disjointed during the loudest violin part in the middle? That's really all I can say. The pianist for me personally took each section and made the best out of them. So like a part would be really cool, but just when one would think it's overstaying its welcome, the pianist changes it up. Even during the later parts of the track where s/he revisits the main theme, it would sound like the beginning version of main theme for a bit before veering off into other territory. As for the violinist: easily the most “lyrical” soloist of the 10. There's just so much personality coming from the violin in this piece with the variety of moods demonstrated not only by different techniques but dynamics and way of playing in general. I heard a bit of the more typical jazzy stuff, some of that stuff that comes from the violin dude in Django Reinhardt's stuff, and even some stuff that sounded free jazz-like. Yet despite having all these different styles, they felt “in character” the whole time for what the violin was playing. The violin could've for example done some pizzicato stuff, too to add more variety but it rightfully didn't because that wouldn't have worked here. Probably actual track of the week for me.

Damn, what a fantastic ending. Thanks Jazzpossu for putting this together.

>>65210574
Whoops turned off trip for a second there. But yeah this is still me.

>>65206851
Spot on on Wadada/Vijay interaction - I find it reallly intriguing how highly Vijay thinks of the AACM crowd as well as hip hop and techno minimalism and all that while sticking to very basic guns.

Vijay Iyer appears to be a modern genius.

>>65211568
Jazzpossu's musing's here

Bumpin'

Surely someone has some idea of who's playing sax on track 1?

I'm also going to be very disappointed if no one has better guesses on 3 and 4 - no tricks there...

>>65211824
Jazz swagger here. Out with friends. My guess is that boring guy who I have heard on a few Monk recordings.

>>65211866
Any hints?

>>65212147
#3 is prominent as fuck if you know the right people or look in the right neigborhood

#4 may follow from there or...

>>65211568
>>65211568
Yeah, Iyer's never been my favorite modern piano player but he does bring an interesting mix of influences into his playing and composing. He brings a lot of classical influence too. Did you ever hear his album with strings from a year or two ago?

>Vijay Iyer appears to be a modern genius.
Didn't he actually just get a genius grant?

>>65212393
Any hints about the sax player on Track 1? Or the pianist?

I'll throw out some guesses of Mark Turner or Branford Marsalis? Is it a 90's recording?

>>65209995
>>65210368
To add to this...

Some cool things about the whole tone scale is that there are only really two distinct whole tone scales. There's the one that starts on any of the notes in the C whole tone scale that Clueless listed, or there's the one that starts on any of the notes up half a step from those.

One of the other cool things is that the whole tone scale actually is made up of two augmented triads C E G# and D F# A#. So you can think about the scales this way and create patterns that outline that augmented sound.

The scale works really well over dominant chords which is mostly how Coltrane uses it I think. A few weeks ago in one of the playlists there was a track with Coltrane playing over a 12 bar blues. On that track it was pretty easy to recognize his tone but he was also using a LOT of wholetone patterns over the dominant chords which really gave him a distinct sound in the late 50's when nobody else was really doing that.

>>65212706
>Yeah, Iyer's never been my favorite modern piano player
Who would you list as some of your favorite modern piano players? I'm assuming Orrin Evans from listening to your /blindfold/ playlists but I'm curious who else would be.

>>65213446
Long answer incoming.

In no particular order:

Orrin Evans- I love his playing for how imaginative it is. No matter what project he is a part of he finds some way to move the whole band in an interesting direction. He plays with a lot of humor (something a lot of other modern pianists seem to lack) and his playing always seems to challenge the rest of the group (in a good way).

Craig Taborn- I think what I really like about Taborn's playing is how he uses color. He obviously draws influence from people like Cecil Taylor and Andrew Hill, but nobody else voices their chords quite like Taborn. I think he brings a unique and recognizable sound to whatever group he plays with.

Dave Kikoski- Dave's an incredible soloist and plays with ridiculous technique that draws on all of jazz piano history but he's really special for his skill as an accompanist. When he's comping behind a solo he's always so actively involved in what they're playing and he always pushes the solo to a new level.

Fred Hersch- He's another master who brings a lot of history to his playing. I think he's probably the top of the game when it comes to playing solo piano. He knows how to use the piano to really "orchestrate" the music and I think that also really shines through when he plays with ensembles. He's got unbelievable technique but he also knows how to use restraint and let simplicity come first.

Luis Perdomo- He's Venezuelan and grew up playing Latin music and classical, but he's also incredible at straight-ahead jazz. What really impresses me about him is his precision and infallible sense of time, even while playing very complicated poly-rhythmic stuff. He can also play a beautiful ballad.

Honorary mentions to: David Virelles, John Escreet, and George Colligan.

>>65213930
Oh wow. Thanks for all the info. Those are some names I recognize from previous blindfold playlists but I'll be sure to watch out for them on upcoming lists.

>>65214145
That's what you get for asking a pianist.

Also starting right now at Smalls is the Abraham Burton quartet if anybody here is interested in some current jazz. You can stream live it for free.

Abraham Burton is a pretty good tenor player who's not really that widely known. I mostly have heard him on other people's albums so I'm interested to hear his music.

He's playing with the awesome Luis Perdomo on piano, Rashaan Carter on bass, and Donald Edwards on drums. Sounds like a lot of influence from the Coltrane quartet so far.

Could you guys recommend any good jazz bands to play bass? from I wanted to get into it but not sure whos best to learn from.

>>65215197
Like just what jazz bassists to listen to?

>>65215159
Oh cool. I might check this out later since you mentioned perdomo earlier.

>>65215159
I just turned this on now. It seems like they're on break?

I wrote these up this morning but didn't get a chance to post until now.

>1
This didn't do all that much for me. Neither the pianist nor the saxophonist really did anything that I found memorable. It sounded like they were intentionally holding themselves back from playing too interesting actually.

>2
This was more interesting but still not really that great. I liked it that the pianist and the saxophonist seemed to be listening to each other and taking turns playing more out there things but at the end of the track it seemed like they both just stayed at one level for too much of the song.

>3
This had a very classical sound to it which I usually don't really like but to be honest it really wasn't that bad here. It wasn't that great but I liked it better than I would have expected myself to. I can't really explain why.

>4
I liked this one much less. The last track I could tell they at least had a goal in mind how they wanted to sound. This one just sounded like they were using up time and trying not to play anything exciting.

>5
Slightly better than the last one but still not very exciting in the slightest. It sounds like a very generic piano trio sound minus the drums.

>>65216840
>6
Finally one that's pretty good. I obviously like stuff better that has unusual instruments and a unique sound but to me that just makes jazz so much more memorable and interesting. I like the combination of organ and bass clarinet. This is what I imagine Dolphy would sound like if he were around today and got interested in mid-east music.

>7
Nothing very interesting here. This leaves me pretty disappointed again because I get the feeling that these two could be doing some really cool things but it feels like they are trying to imitate older players or something.

>8
I like the unusual tone of the trumpet and the darkness of the piano sound but I kept waiting for this to develop into something more exciting. Another letdown.

>9
This one doesn't even sound like the players have very much potential. It sounds like easy listening jazz. The kind of thing that I imagine math teachers listened to in the 70's. Maybe my least favorite of the week.

>10
Well after posting and lurking these threads for a while I can recognize this as caravan. Violin isn't really that common in jazz but what I like most about this track is how urgent it sounds. It leaves you feeling kind of off balance. I think that's a good thing because at least it makes me feel something.

>In summary
I think my thoughts keep getting harsher and harsher every week. This week was especially frustrating for me because I felt like a lot of the players on the tracks had much more potential than what they showed here. There were some good tracks though.

>>65216678
Yeah but they're just about to start again. They're also playing tomorrow night at the same time.

>>65216868
Glad you made it this week. It's always fun reading your harsh criticisms.

>>65217080
Yeah I'm watching it now. I'm not really picking up much of a Coltrane vibe though. Then again I failed to recognize Coltrane this week so what do I know.

>>65217121
>I'm not really picking up much of a Coltrane vibe though.
Yeah the first thing they did in the first set was a shifting time-no-changes thing that had a Coltrane vibe. You can hear that Coltrane sound a little bit in his tone and the way he hits altissimo notes and overblows sometimes though.

>>65216868
>felt like a lot of the players on the tracks had much more potential than what they showed here.
I actually said something very similar to this about one of the tracks this week.

>>65216868
>I obviously like stuff better that has unusual instruments and a unique sound but to me that just makes jazz so much more memorable and interesting.
I've heard people say things like this before and I never really get it. To me it's much more interesting when jazz players can make memorable music even within constraints.

I've used this analogy before but to me it's like saying a book was memorable because it was written in a crazy font in unusual colors. I'm more interested in what the book has to say than just how they say it.

>>65217377
Yeah I definitely hear it more on that last faster song. The pianist is pretty good.

>>65217695
Oh and that last ballad thing they played was Naima, one of my favorite Coltrane compositions.

>>65217545
I see where you're coming from but I'm just trying to be honest about what makes jazz interesting and memorable for me.

last bump from me for tonight

>>65218981
I'll bump

>>65211824
My best guess now is Paul Desmond, from the tone...

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Also I'm working on a Prestige theme. Still doing a bit of research so I dunno if it'll be ready to post next week but hopefully the week after.

jazz is the fucking worst

>>65219799
Sounds great

>>65222665
Track 1 hints?

>>65222916
I don't know whether this helps but the two musicians have an age difference of almost 40 years.

bumpin'

I'll start the reveals in a couple of hours so there's still time to participate!

final bump before reveals

Bumping. Just up in time it seems for the reveals it seems.

Here's next week's playlist.

http://www107.zippyshare.com/v/OFcOBhrm/file.html

Theme is connecting links (every track has one player in common with the next track)

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Track 1:
Charles Lloyd & Jason Moran - Mood Indigo
From: Hagar's Song (ECM 2013)

Charles Lloyd - saxophone
Jason Moran - piano

Sax player Charles Lloyd had a meteoric rise to fame in the mid 60's with his quartet that introduced Jack DeJohnette and Keith Jarrett to the world. In the early 70's he all but disappeared from the jazz scene for over 10 years to pursue an inner journey in Big Sur only making a comeback to active performing in the 80's. Since then he's released a steady stream of albums over the years - he has a new album I Long To See You out this year on Blue Note.

This gentle take on Duke Ellington's Mood Indigo is from the last album of his time with ECM Records from a few years ago with Jason Moran on piano. The album Hagar's Song is a pretty nostalgia tinged album with standards and a suite dedicated to Lloyd's great-great-grandmother.

I figured someone would identify him because his playing here reminds me of his most famous track Forest Flower from the live album of the same name that was one of the first jazz albums to sell over a million copies.

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Track 2:
Thelonious Monk & John Coltrane - Monk's Mood
From: At Carnegie Hall (Mosaic Records 2005)

Thelonious Monk - piano
John Coltrane - saxophone

This live recording of Thelonious Monk Quartet featuring Coltrane on sax at Carnegie Hall in 1957 was discovered from an unmarked box in the Library of Congress in 2005. Originally produced by Voice of America, the concert was only broadcast outside the US before this discovery.

Yeah, the rest of the band makes an appearance, but I felt like the lengthy duo sections were enough to include this historic recording here.

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Track 3:
Jan Johansson & Georg Riedel - Emigrantvisa
From: Jazz på Svenska (Megafon 1964)

Jan Johansson - piano
Georg Riedel - bass

Jan Johansson's Jazz på Svenska may be the most influential Nordic jazz album ever, inspiring many Northern European jazz musicians in both making jazz arrangements of local folk songs as well as the sparse arrangements.

This tune Emigrantvisa (literally immigrant song) is one of the better known folk songs outside this album, dedicated to Swedish immigrants who sold their homes to seek a better life in the US in the 19th century.

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Track 4:
Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen & Kenny Drew - I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro
From: DUO (Steeplechase 1973)

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen - bass
Kenny Drew - piano

Continuing with the theme of Nordic folk songs, here's Danish bass giant Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen and pianist Kenny Drew who was one of the many jazz musicians to emigrate to Europe and a visible figure of the Copenhagen jazz scene of the time playing Danish folk song I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro.

Beautiful, melodic bass playing from Pedersen.

I know NHOP has been mentioned several times in /blindfolds/ (I particularly bring up his work with Joe Pass almost every time a guitar-bass duet is featured) but not sure if he's ever actually been featured in a list so I thought it would be about time.

>>65227448
There was a track from his Bird album with Archie Shepp one time a while back I think.

Enjoying the reveals - never would have got any of these so I don't feel too bad.

>>65226948
Interesting. I probably wouldn't have guessed either of these players.

>>65227448
I was kind of wondering if one of the bass feature tracks was NHOP as he's done a lot of duo stuff. It's been a long time since I listened to this record and I think some of the tracks area lot better than this one but I guess it makes sense if you were going for a pair of Nordic folk songs.

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Track 5:
Heikki Sarmanto & Pekka Sarmanto - Waltz for Bill Evans
From: Song for My Brother (Hi Hat 1982)

Heikki Sarmanto - piano
Pekka Sarmanto - bass

Here's this weeks history lesson on Finnish jazz. Brothers Heikki and Pekka Sarmanto were both influential figures of the first great generation of Finnish jazz who brought modern jazz to Finland in the 60's and created many of the important institutions that still define jazz here. Heikki was the first head of jazz studies and teaching at the Sibelius Academy and both were founding members of the state-sponsored UMO Big Band in the mid 70's.

Pekka Sarmanto was the most prominent jazz bassist in more traditional styles and was often in demand when foreign musicians needed a local band which lead him to play with Dizzy Gillespie, Ben Webster, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins (who apparently called him "the guy with the big ears").

This early 80's album consists of ten compositions for bass and piano by Heikki giving his bassist brother the chance to play lead for a change.

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Track 6:
David Krakauer & John Medeski - Paran
From: Bar Kokhba (Tzadik 1996)

David Krakauer - bass clarinet
John Medeski - organ

For all his jewish music influence, John Zorn's projects don't feature clarinet that often. Here contemporary kletzmer figure David Krakauer and John Medeski of Medeski, Martin & Wood fame play Zorn's Paran.

This is from an album with different small chamber ensembles playing Masada songbook compositions - pretty much every track has a different lineup.

For me the definite highlights are the two tracks with Krakauer on clarinet, his kletzmer-style phrasing works really well with Zorn's compositions. Medeski's eerie organ sound makes it almost sound like his trolling, but the track works out pretty nicely.

Here's the Masada quartet playing the same song for comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hpkekx-WZI

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Hmh.

The system has deemed track 7 reveal to be spam.

Testing whether this post goes through...

>>65228001

Track 7:
Ornette Coleman & Charlie Haden - Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
From: Soapsuds, Soapsuds (Artists House 1979)

Ornette Coleman - saxophone
Charlie Haden - bass

>>65228038

This album Soapsuds, Soapsuds is a pretty odd one in Ornette's discography following the electric free funk of the Prime Time band. It reunites Ornette with bassist Charlie Haden for some sparse duets including this take on the theme song of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDtlEBPWUpA ).

Ornette doing TV theme songs is a pretty absurd concept to me.

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Track 8:
Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith - Passage
from: A Cosmic Rhythm With Each Stroke (ECM 2016)

Vijay Iyer - piano
Wadada Leo Smith - trumpet

I think it's interesting that Vijay Iyer has apparently been heavily influenced by AACM characters like Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Roscoe Mitchell and Wadada Leo Smith because I certainly can't say I hear a lot of that in his music usually.

This is the opening track of Iyer's new collaboration with Wadada Leo Smith. A nice atmospheric track that has nice contrast between Iyer's more minimalistic piano work and Smith's rawer trumpet.

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Track 9:
Chick Corea & Stanley Clarke - The Hilltop
from: My Spanish Heart (Polydor 1976)

Chick Corea - piano
Stanley Clarke - bass

Chick Corea's My Spanish Heart is a double album from the mid-70's that does a bit of a balancing act between electric fusion with sounds that are well on their way to the cheesy 80's and more acoustic material such as this nice duet between Corea and Stanley Clarke on bass.

This track with it's nice interplay is a nice change of pace on the album amidst all the fusion wankery and four part suites and whatnot. Feels very human.

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Track 10:
Iiro Rantala & Adam Baldych - Caravan
from: My History of Jazz (ACT 2012)

Iiro Rantala - piano
Adam Baldych - violin

Iiro Rantala sure keeps ending up on my /blindfold/ lists a lot, but couldn't resist including this duo version of Caravan since I already had Monk, too. Both these gentlemen were also on the drumless list recently, that time with a cellist in tow.

There is a little bit of a connection to Track 9. My Spanish Heart is Rantala's all time favorite jazz album and you can pretty often hear shades of Corea's melodic 70's acoustic piano playing in Rantala's playing. This particular take on Caravan reminds me of Armando's Rhumba a bit (with Jean-Luc Ponty guesting on violin).

When I started making this week's list, I realized that I don't have that many duo albums and had particular difficulties finding some more uptempo choices,so this one fills that niche nicely as well.

and that wraps it up for this week - thanks to everyone who participated!

can't wait to hear what jtg did with the connecting links -theme

as a bonus track from the WTF-sector, here are Charles Lloyd, John McLaughlin and Mike Love performing California Girls.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex21XSzT2do

>>65227781
Figured this might be Zorn. I've actually heard the Masada version of this song before. I think Masada is probably my favorite thing that Zorn has been a part of.

>>65228113
Interesting find here. Maybe not Haden's best work.

>>65228532
I think I have this downloaded but never actually listened to it. Maybe I will give some of it a listen this week.

>>65228565
>can't wait to hear what jtg did with the connecting links -theme
I wouldn't get too excited... I'm not really happy with the way it turned out. I'm already considering attempting to re-do this theme maybe in a few months or something.

>>65227097
I'm still mad I didn't recognize them. Oh well, I'm sure both will show up on future blindfold tests.

>>65227340
>>65227670
I think these show that most of us are pretty clueless about Scandanavian jazz.

>>65228001
I'm also a little bit surprised I didn't recognize Coleman.

>>65226948
>pretty nostalgia tinged album
Makes sense for what some of us thought was going on here.

>>65227097
I listened to the version from Thelonious Himself after this; liked that one better. Still kinda cool about how it was found.

>>65227340
>>65227448
Wow...the tracks being jazz arrangements of folk songs starts make a lot more sense of how they sound, and particularly the simplicity of I Skovens Dybe Stille Ro.

>>65227670
>giving his bassist brother the chance to play lead for a change
I wish that didn't mean the bass would try to solo like an instrument that has a higher pitch range though. But I can totally see why Pekka would be in demand since he knows how to play his stuff.

>>65227781
Goddamn. John Zorn we meet again. Only listened to Naked City from him. Reading up on klezmer stuff now, and am getting why this piece took its particular approach.

>>65228113
>Ornette doing TV theme songs is a pretty absurd concept to me
Yeah, kinda fun but still on the gimmicky end as I said earlier.

>>65228258
I am getting this. It's fantastic.

>>65228390
This makes it the second time I have listened to something Chick Corea and not being all about it.

>>65228532
Reading up on the Rantala guy, he's a classical guy, too not just jazz. I can definitely hear that in what he's doing here.

Will definitely check out this album and more from both guys.

>>65228962
>Reading up on the Rantala guy, he's a classical guy, too not just jazz. I can definitely hear that in what he's doing here.
Makes sense. I definitely heard flashes of classical influence in there too.

Good thread this week. Hope everybody can make it back next week for connecting links.