12/01/2005 - 01/01/2006

With a rare mid-week day off, I caught up on some of my reading while letting Winamp's shuffle setting provide the music. Here were the selections:

Jelly Roll Morton - King Porter Stomp
Bud Powell - John's Abbey
Miles Davis and John Coltrane - Tadd's Delight (Alternate Take)
Afrodisiac - Body And Soul - William Onyeabor
McCoy Tyner - Love Samba
String Trio Of New York - Ode
Sonny Rollins - Oleo
Libertines - What Katie Did (Babyshambles Sessions)
Grateful Dead - Operator
Tabla Beat Science - Nafekeñ
Woody Shaw - The Legend Of Cheops
Trio 3 - Willow Song
Muddy Waters - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl
Sun Ra - Big John's Special
Howlin' Wolf - Built For Comfort
Jelly Roll Morton - Cannon Ball Blues
Eric Dolphy - Woody'N You
Henry Threadgill's Zooid - Unknown Live Track

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: "My favorite jazz record released this year, and one of my favorites of any year, was made in 1957.

I first heard 'Thelonious Monk Quartet With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall' (Blue Note) at the Library of Congress in April, after the news of its discovery had been made public. It sounded pretty good then, but you can never really tell when hearing something over a high-quality sound system in front of interested parties. I have listened to it repeatedly since, and it seems to be much better than I first thought - solid, juicy, truly great.

" - Ben Ratliff

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

This sounds like it was quite a concert with Dr. John and Marcia Ball in a small, intimite theater

Dr.

John and Marcia Ball - who long have celebrated the lusty culture of the Gulf Coast - still sit behind 88 keys and let the music rip. That they did this weekend in Chicago, though in an unconventional setting: Steppenwolf Theatre, where the ongoing Traffic series offers audiences an intimate look at artists who typically appear in larger, rowdier auditoriums.

Greenleaf Music has posted a of the Live Chat trumpeter Dave Douglas hosted last week:

I will be recording a new studio album with the Quintet. That should come out in the Spring, and we'll be out on the road. We'll also do some new Paperbacks, one from KneeBody coming out really soon.

I am torn between putting out a Paperback of the Keystone band from this recent tour, there are some great live tapes. OR: I also have some great tapes from the 90s. Sanctuary from 1997.

Tiny Bell Trio from 1994, our first tour. Many other things. We'll see.

But there will definitely be one of those in the spring a swell.

Pharoah Sanders career now stretches over forty years, from his ground-breaking work with John Coltrane to the spiritual jazz he has dedicated his life to for the remainder of his career, he is one of the music's preeminent seekers.

This two-disc collection is the first to measure the scope of his career as a band leader, incorporating not only his well-known early work on the Impulse label, but later music recorded for Theresa and Verve. Although there has been a gradual mellowing in the ferocity of his music over the years, his sound still maintains the aura of a profound spiritual quest.
'Upper and Lower Egypt' begins the compilation with a very melodic groove that eventually turns more caustic as Sanders tenor saxophone, still very raw at this stage, enters the mix.

'The Creator Has a Master Plan' has become his theme song over the years and something of an underground hit. This masterpiece of spiritual jazz features Leon Thomas on the memorable yodeling vocal over a large group with percussion. One thing that could irritate Sanders fans about this compilation is the fact that some tracks such as this one have been edited so that a variety of compositions could fit on the discs.

The edits are done with taste, so each performance retains its core elements. The remainder of the first disc and the beginning of the second tracks Sanders tenure with the Impulse label culminating in the epic un-cut version of 'Love Is Everywhere' which is the title track to his final Impulse album.
The rest of the compilation cherry-picks from recordings that have come since.

Pharoah Sanders has drifted to a number of different record labels in the intervening years, perhaps the most successful being the three albums he cut for the Theresa label in the 1980s which are represented here by the exuberant 'You've Got to Have Freedom' with its chanted vocals and wailing saxophone. While some of Sanders later period music involved an ill-fated flirtation with disco, he returned to his spiritual path with his Bill Laswell produced albums for the 1990s of which 'Nozipho' represents here with some excellent saxophone work. The hardcore Sanders collector will not find anything they do not already own here, but for anyone curious about Sanders music, this makes for an excellent place to begin the exploration.

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