CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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The Lost Trident Sessions has long been considered one of the holy grails of fusion. At the time it was recorded, there was disagreement among the members of the group as to whether the music contained therein was underorchestrated or just fine the way it was. Eventually, the group decided to […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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Dave Liebman started his career playing with people like John McLaughlin, Miles Davis and Elvin Jones. His first group that I know of was Open Sky, a trio with drummer Bob Moses and bassist Frank Tusa. Then Liebman went on to found Lookout Farm, with Richie Beirach, Don Alias, John Abercrombie, […]

CLASSICS THAT I HATE
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After a brief two-album flirtation with Brazilian jazz, Return To Forever shifted to it’s most popular incarnation, a kind of swaggering but lightweight combination of funk, arena rock cliches, Chick Corea’s cheesy Latinisms, and a touch of jazz. That didn’t turn out to be such a bad thing ultimately, as it […]

DON’T BOTHER
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As much as I would like to, I can’t entirely dismiss Bireli Lagrene’s Standards.
First of all, there is the sheer virtuosity involved. Lagrene can play guitar very well, and of course Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen is one of the greats on the upright bass. Andre Ceccarelli is less impressive on drums, but […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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If Fourmost comes across as a little geriatric, there’s a reason: all of the players are senior citizens.
Alright, I’ll admit that’s not really fair. Many of the classic Blue Note organ dates were full of lazy renditions of tunes like Midnight Special, so Fourmost isn’t all that different in that […]

NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
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As implied by the title, A Paris is a concept album featuring mostly French songs, with the occasional non-French tune that has associations with Paris.
Keyboardist Jacky Terrasson strives for stylistic variety throughout A Paris. Some tunes are straight ahead trios, but listen to what Terrasson does on Narcisso Yepes’ Jeux Interdits, […]

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 […]

DON’T BOTHER
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A bunch of white guys getting together and playing Latin Jazz — sounds like a recipe for disaster, doesn’t it? Well, Sonando does has that feeling of oil slick deep Latin cliches, as on the snooze Done Estabas Anoche, but it isn’t as bad as it could be.
On the opener, Cancion del Rio […]

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 […]

DON’T BOTHER
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Regular readers of this site are probably well aware of my admiration for both Dave Liebman and Gil Goldstein. Dave Liebman has been one of the most important post-Coltrane saxophonists since the mid-70s. Gil Goldstein has distinguished himself mostly as an arranger, especially in his work with Michael Brecker (Wide Angles) and the SF […]