Can we actually talk about this album for real?
>>55614163
It's a mediocre Love Supreme circlejerk album and emblematic of the Modern Hipster's tendency to overhype and overrate that which will make them appear intellectual.
>>55614163
probably not if you insist on posting it several times a day
it's already hit meme status and is impossible to take seriously
>>55614180
>>55614244
I thought it was the best jazz album I've heard this year but before you ask I've only heard 3 other jazz albums so far
>>55614180
ya but i'm still going to like/talk about it to look cool and get laid ;-)
>>55614351
big surprise
Only fedoras listen to jazz
>>55614385
Fedora please
>>55614466
Fedoras listen to music.
>>55614163
It was a decent album but I can see why it's already getting a reputation as this year's meme jazz for people who don't actually listen to jazz
>>55614466
it's not a fedora it's a trilby ;-)
Gave it a listen last night. Summed up my thoughts about it-
It’s a very ambitious album that has some good ideas and concepts but sometimes falls a little short on execution. The inclusion of a string section and choir adds depth and a fairly unique texture to the music but often comes at the expense of spontaneity limits the music in certain ways. This is always a challenge on albums that utilize large ensembles and definitely presents a challenge for the composer/arranger and here the music sometimes suffers from the structure and predictability of the string/choir lines behind the solos. My other major complaint with the album is with Washington’s improvisation. He often seems to rely on a few tricks with his playing. His fast runs seldom deviate from the pentatonic and pentatonic blues scales, and he seems to resort to this rather than playing melodically and developing his melodic ideas. His phrasing also tends toward the unimaginative and predictable. There were several times on the album I heard him using the same exact lick- ti do (8va) re-do, and sometimes it seemed like he relied on layering in the background textures to build to the apex of his solo. Don’t get me wrong, he had some good moments in his solos, but that should really be the star of the show here and I found them to be inconsistent overall. Generally my favorite soloists were the piano player and the trombone player, both of whom seemed to want to push the band, though it seemed that the rest of the rhythm section was often reluctant to leave their written grooves and really let the soloists lead. The other soloists also weren’t always given enough time to develop their ideas whereas Washington often seemed to have more time than he did ideas. The tracks that featured vocals were also a weak point in my opinion. There were a lot of good things happening in this album but I don’t think there was enough to warrant its length.
(1/2)
>>55614765
(Continued)
I think the album could have easily been cut down to a 100 minute run-time- still a pretty “epic” length but without the weak spots.
7.4
Standout Tracks-
Change of the Guard
Final Thought
Seven Prayers
The Magnificent 7
Clair de Lune
Good but flawed Tracks-
The Next Step
Re-Run
Miss Understanding
Re-Run Home (great trumpet/trombone solo though)
Malcolm’s Theme
The Message
Weak Tracks-
Isabelle
The Rhythm Changes
LeRoy and Lanisha
Cherokee
>>55614765
>>55614798
>constructive criticism
Get the fuck out of here.
>>55614466
hilarious dude
>>55614765
>>55614798
Nice. Have you heard Makaya McCraven's In The Moment by anychance?
good album ruined by some of the most egregiously tacky piano parts in the history of recorded music.
horrible plastic sounding (sampled?) piano too.
>>55615090
nope. It's on my list though
>>55614163
this year's BBNG
>>55614765
>>55614798
it's a bit refreshing to see well thought out critique of an album beyond butt hurt jazz purists who don't know how to enjoy an album for what it is rather then comparing to some of the best.
Let's play a game-
Look up this album on RYM and see if you can find a user who gave this more than 4 stars who has also rate more than 15 other jazz albums.
>>55615562
refreshing is my middle name
>>55614765
>>55614798
>all these criticisms
>still rated almost a full point better than Julian Lage's album
what gives bro
>>55615590
How dare he made an accesible album that non-jazz fans can appreciate, we need to lynch this coon
Hope you never enjoyed Otis Redding without rating 15 other R&B records.
>>55615661
what 2015 jazz album would you recommend?
>>55615686
Fuck. A bunch of my ratings got messed up somehow on that list that I posted... The Julian Lage album is supposed to be a 7.1
It was good but not extremely creative or imaginative. It had some weak tracks and wasn't recorded/mixed the best imo.
>>55615789
That's fair, I'll take it. Tbh, I thought I would've liked a solo album from him a bit more on first listen, but it's a grower for me.
>>55614765
>>55614798
I have all the essential Bill Evans records, what part of his body should I tackle next?
Also have you listened to Jon Hassel or Eivind Aarset? And since I know the answer is no, why not?
>>55615747
Rudresh Mahanthappa- Birdcalls (9.5)
Chris Potter- Imaginary Cities (8.8)
Steve Coleman- Synovial Joints (8.3)
Tim Warfield- Spherical (8.2)
Alex Sipiagin- Balance 38-58 (8.0)
Vijay Iyer- Break Stuff (8.0)
Kenny Wheeler- Songs for Quintet (8.0)
Chris Lightcap’s Bigmouth- Epicenter (7.8)
Matthew Shipp- To Duke (7.8)
Jakob Bro- Gefion (7.6)
Jack DeJohnette- Made in Chicago (7.5)
Dave Liebman- Ceremony (7.5)
Kamasi Washington- The Epic (7.4)
Dayna Stephens- Reminiscent (7.4)
EJ Strickland- The Undying Spirit (7.2)
Julian Lage- World’s Fair (7.1)
Duane Eubanks- Things of that Particular Nature (7.0)
Burak Bedikyan- Leap of Faith (7.0)
Tootie Heath- Philadelphia Beat (7.0)
Eddie Henderson- Collective Portrait (6.8)
Lage Lund- Idlewild (6.7)
Steve Turre- Spiritman (6.7)
Ben Wolfe- The Whisperer (6.6)
Spike Wilner Trio- Live at Smalls (6.2)
Freddie Redd- Music for You (6.0)
Russell Malone- Love Looks Good on You
Eberhard Weber- Encore
SF Jazz Collective- The Music of Joe Henderson
Jeremy Pelt- Tales, Musings, and Other Reveries
Andy LaVerne- I Wan to Hold Your Hand
Gregory Tardy- With Songs of Joy
Jack Walrath- Unsafe at Any Speed
Cyrus Chestnut- A Million Colors in Your Mind
Wayne Escoffery- Live at Smalls
Harold Mabern- Afro Blue
Vincent Herring- Night and Day
Doug Webb- Triple Play
David Binney and Adam Rogers- R&B
Rodriguez Brothers- Impromptu
Zach Brock- Serendipity
Luis Perdomo- Twenty Two
David Chesky- Primal Scream
Pat Martino- Nexus
Steve Davis- Say When
Jeff Williams- The Listener
Makaya McCraven- In The Moment by anychance
Patrick Cornelius- Infinite Blue
Tim Berne's Snakeoil - You've Been Watching Me
John O'Ghallager- Anton Webern Project
Zhena Strigalev's Smiling Organism- Robin Goodie
Alex Conde- Descarga for Monk
Mark Wingfield- Proof of Light
Avishai Cohen
Atomic- Lucidity
Kirk Knuffke- Arms and Hands
The ones without ratings are ones that I haven't heard yet or haven't decided what to rate them.
>>55615816
A solo record has to be pretty great to measure up to some of the more ambitious projects people are putting out these days imo.
Also I'm not even sure I'd classify Lage's record as a jazz album...
>>55615866
wow, thanks dude
>>55615823
I'm not sure what you're asking about Bill Evans- which if his albums have you heard and which did you like best?
I've heard Eivend before on some of those other Scandinavian ECM records before (Ketil Bjornstad, Arild Andersen... probably some other people too) but never any of his stuff as a leader.
I'm not sure I know anything about Jon Hassell. What do you recommend and why do you recommend it?
>>55615899
True. I think Parks' Arborescence did it though. Not that it's from this year obviously, but it's one of my favorites of all time.
>>55616117
I did like that album.
Craig Taborn also put out a very good solo piano album on ECM in recent years
Meme Jazz
>>55614163
Why don't you start OP
This is they saxophonist from to pimp a butterfly right? I think i'll pass at least not rush to listen to it.
>>55615997
My favorites are "From Left to Right", "Moonbeams" and The Village Vanguard recordings from '61. I was asking for recommendations.
I was just trying to grind your gears, I remember asking you about a year ago whether you had heard Jon Hassel and what you thought about him. His collaboration with Brian Eno and his most recent, "Last Night the Moon Came Dropping His Clothes in the Street" are my favourites. He was a big inspiration to Eno and essentially fathered ambient jazz. He is also one of the most important figures in ethno-jazz.
For Eivind I recommend "Sonic Codex" and "Dream Logic"
>>55616554
Dream Logic is sooooooo good, do you know of any albums like it? I suppose it's more ambient than anything, huh
>>55614163
At least this album is fun and exciting and not just a bunch of academic jerk off like all the other jazz out there right now
>>55616554
Most of his trio albums before 1969 are pretty good. At least worth hearing. I really like California Here I Come, How My Heart Sings, and A Simple Matter of Conviction.
He has some good larger group albums too- Interplay is great and so is We Will Meet Again which is a later album of his with Tom Harrell and I think Larry Schneider on sax.
I've never really been all that much into that Scandanavian ambient jazz scene. Maybe I'll check out those records some day though
>>55615866
This list is great. I think I would rank Jakob Bro and Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth higher though.
You're probably right that Rudresh's is the best of the year. Chris Potter is boring to me. Vijay Iyer is probably second best.
>>55616644
>academic
this is such a stupid "criticism" of music. If you mean complex then just say that.
anyway what other albums have you heard from this year and in what ways were they "academic"?
>>55614163
set up a /mu/ irc channel
>>55614163
>this is a picture and not a drawing
>the epic thread
>everyone is stroking their jazz powerlevel
>>55614163
trying too hard to be Pharaoh Sanders
>>55616834
I found Jakob Bro's to be very boring on first listen but I decided to listen to it again and enjoyed it a lot more the second time around.
