The first HUGE new release day of 2012, so strap in and get ready for a pretty comprehensive rundown! Dave Sumner's got your jazz picks, and I've got the rest. Here we go!
Cloud Nothings, Attack on Memory: ALBUM OF THE DAY. Dylan Baldi grows up in a nanosecond, making a snarling rock record that hurtles forward with the speed and fury of a meteor. The sonic touchstones here are '90s emo greats like Jawbreaker, the… more »
Few musicians brought as much passion to jazz as Charles Mingus (1922-1979). You can hear it all over his music in every period: the power, the lyricism, and the sheer propulsion. He loved independent melody lines interwoven in raucous counterpoint and infused with the emotional power of the sanctified church. As bass player he had few peers, in terms of agility, a big sound, and percussive plucking; his tender, singing work with a bow reflected… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-contained artifact. The great records certainly feel that way. But albums are more permeable than solid, their motivations, executions and inspirations informed by, and often stolen from, their peers and forbearers. It all sounds awfully formal, but it's not. It's the very nature of music — of art, even. The Six Degrees features examine the relationships between classic records and five… more »
A few years ago, Italian saxophonist Daniele D'Agaro was visiting Chicago, and a critic friend put on a fairly obscure record to stump him. D'Agaro listened for about three seconds, said: "Lucky."
Good ears. He knows the distinctive sound of Lucky Thompson after he started hanging out in Paris and playing sumptuous tenor saxophone ballads recalling old idol Don Byas's Parisian sides. On "Solitude" and "We'll Be Together Again," from Lucky in Paris 1959, his tenor's… more »
When Jaki Byard was with Charles Mingus in the 1960s, audiences would laugh when, mid-solo, Byard would burst into 1920s-style stride piano — the revved-up ragtime offshoot where the left hand bounds back and forth over the lower half of the keyboard. Its archaic quality struck listeners as comic — in that avant-garde age, stride was for antiquarians.
Nowadays every hip outside or inside pianist will drop a little stride science once in awhile — like… more »
Of all of bassist Charles Mingus’ bands, one of the most exciting was the sextet that he took to Europe in 1964. Consisting of the unique Eric Dolphy (on alto, bass clarinet and flute), tenor saxophonist Clifford Jordan, pianist Jaki Byard, drummer Dannie Richmond and trumpeter Johnny Coles, this band really stretched the limits of bebop. Mingus (greatly assisted by Richmond) constantly changed rhythms when the music became too comfortable and was always pushing his sidemen to play above their capabilities. Revenge, a two-CD set from the tour, was the first release on Sue Mingus’ label. She organized her company so as to combat the many bootleggers who illegally put out music by her late husband without paying anyone. The Revenge twofer has (despite saying that it is from April 18) the complete Paris concert of April 17. Coles, who unfortunately is not listed in the personnel, just appeares on “So Long Eric” (the same version previously out on Fantasy’s The Great Concert of Charles Mingus) before becoming ill; otherwise this is a brilliant quintet date of previously unavailable music. While the versions of “Peggy’s Blue Skylight” and “Orange Was the Color of Her Dress” have their moments, the band really digs in during the lengthy explorations of “Meditations on Integration,” “Parkeriana” (a tribute to Charlie Parker that is quite a bit different than the Fantasy version) and a definitive and very exciting “Fables of Faubus.” Eric Dolphy (particularly on alto) was at the peak of his powers during the tour (he died just a couple months later), Clifford Jordan (whose tone was quite distinctive) manages to keep up and Jaki Byard’s versatility (going from bop and free to Duke Ellington and stride) is a major asset to the colorful music. A highly recommended release. – Scott Yanow
![Jazz At Massey Hall (with Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus & Max Roach) [Bonus Track Version] album cover](http://images.emusic.com/music/images/album/130/498/13049887/300x300.jpg)
