JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Sorcerer captures the Miles Davis’ 2nd great quintet at the height of their sophistication and collective abilities.
The performances are infinitely subtle, and the forms tend to expand or contract at will due to the supernatural level of communication between drummer Tony Williams, bassist Ron Carter, and pianist Herbie Hancock.
On Wayne Shorter’s […]

CLASSICS I HATE
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I hate to say this, but Mingus At Antibes is only for Mingus fanatics who really, really like Better Get Hit In Your Soul.
In a way, it’s hard to blame Mingus. In 1960, he had just invented the combination of gospel shouting and free jazz, set to a driving 6/8 beat. It’s […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Filles De Kilimanjaro represents one of many transition points for Miles Davis. It marks the end of the 2nd great quintet with Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, and Herbie Hancock. It was the last date before the epochal In A Silent Way.
Miles had just married Betty Mabry, a young […]

JAZZBO NOTE HIGHLY ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Bye Bye Blackbird (issued in 1981 on the Original Jazz Classics label) is taken from a 1962 performance in Europe and features only two tunes, the title track and Traneing In, both of which are developed quite extensively, at about eighteen minutes apiece.
Is it worth owning? If you’re more than a […]

DON’T BOTHER
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Okay, here’s a question for you. Imagine that you’ve come across a date you’ve never heard of before with the following personel: Jim Pepper on tenor, Larry Coryell on guitar, Steve Swallow on bass, Keith Jarrett on keys, and Bob Moses on drums. Would you be interested? Hell, yeah!
Sucker.
I’m always in favor of […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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Schizophrenia comes after the universally lauded Blue Note releases of Wayne Shorter, like Night Dreamer, Juju and Speak No Evil. On Schizophrenia (also on the Blue Note label), Wayne was edging into more overtly complex structures, approaching atonality and free jazz at times, which doubtless made the majority of critics more […]

CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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Boy, am I going to get in trouble for this review. Maybe I’m one of those philistines that just doesn’t get late Coltrane, even though I liked Sun Ship, which was recorded after Meditations. But I’ve got to say, I find Meditations (released on the Impulse label) difficult to sit through.
The first […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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Let’s admit one thing right away — the finest single CD of solo Monk material is undoubtedly 1964’s Solo Monk, in which Thelonious Monk exhibits miraculous powers of concentration and taste. Every single cut is a gem.
For those who want more, there’s Monk Alone: The Complete Columbia Solo Studio Recordings: 1962-1968, […]

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING
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There is a tendency to want to overpraise Archie Shepp’s Four For Trane (reissued on the GRP label), his first date as a leader. After all, you’ve got a photograph of John Coltrane on the cover, as if to give his seal of approval. Coltrane was Shepp’s bandleader at the time.
In […]

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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John Coltrane’s producer, Bob Thiele, persuaded Coltrane to record this release (on the Impulse label) with Duke Ellington in an effort to quiet jazz critics who were horrified at Coltrane’s innovations, labeling them “anti-jazz.” While the reasons for the date might be silly, the music is anything but.
For some of the […]